Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures - H.P.S.T Chapter 1454: Drink, Drink

In the back garden, Evan and Harry stopped at a distance.

Elaine stepped a bit closer to Aragog, saw the hairy, massive head and eight grotesquely curled spider legs, then immediately stuck out her tongue in disgust and backed away.

Slughorn, on the other hand, followed Hagrid to the spider’s head and looked at it carefully from a close distance.

Its eight milky eyes stared blankly at the sky, and the two huge, curved pincers shone, motionless in the moonlight, which was frightening.

“This must be Aragog. Magnificent,” said Slughorn, bending over the pincers, apparently examining the enormous hairy head.

As he moved, the tinkle of bottles could be vaguely heard.

“It’s not ev’ryone appreciates how beau’iful they are, but for those who understand them, Aragog’s appeal is infinite,” said Hagrid affectionately to Slughorn’s back, tears leaking from the corners of his crinkled eyes. “I didn’ know yeh were int’rested in creatures like Aragog, Horace.”

“Interested? My dear Hagrid, I revere them,” said Slughorn, stepping back from the body, and the glint of a bottle disappeared beneath his cloak.

Evan blinked — he’d done it? Already?! That was fast.

Sure enough, a Potions Master was also a master of ingredient collection.

Hagrid, who was mopping his eyes once more, didn’t notice Slughorn’s little move.

“Now … shall we proceed to the burial?”

Hagrid nodded and moved forward. He heaved the gigantic spider into his arms and, with an enormous grunt, rolled it into the dark pit. It hit the bottom with a rather horrible, crunchy thud. Hagrid started to cry again.

“Of course, it’s difficult for you, who knew him best,” said Slughorn, who like Evan and Harry could reach no higher than Hagrid’s elbow, but patted it all the same. “Why don’t I say a few words?”

He stepped up to the rim of the pit, wearing a satisfied smirk on his face.

Slughorn said in a slow, impressive voice, “Farewell, Aragog, king of arachnids, whose long and faithful friendship those who knew you won’t forget! Though your body will decay, your spirit lingers on in the quiet, web-spun places of your forest home. May your many-eyed descendants ever flourish and your human friends find solace for the loss they have sustained.”

“Tha’ was … tha’ was … beau’iful!” howled Hagrid, and he collapsed onto the compost heap, crying harder than ever. “Oh, it’s great yeh came, I can never say such words.”

“There, there, don’t be too sad, Hagrid,” said Slughorn, waving his wand so that the huge pile of earth rose up and then fell, with a muffled sort of crash, onto the dead spider, forming a smooth mound. “Let’s get inside and have a drink. Boys, help him up, um, let Evan and Harry do it, Elaine, you don’t need to help.”

Under Slughorn’s direction, Evan and Harry struggled to help the overly sad Hagrid in a chair at the table, and they all sat around him.

Fang, who had been skulking in his basket during the burial, now came padding softly across to them and put his heavy head into Hagrid’s lap as usual.

Slughorn uncorked one of the bottles of wine he had brought and poured most of the first bottle into Hagrid’s bucket-sized mug, making a glug-glug sound.

“I have had it all tested for poison,” he said. “Had a house-elf taste every bottle after what happened to your poor friend Rupert, Harry.”

This was a typical case of abuse of house-elves. Fortunately, Hermione was not here.

“One for me, one for Evan, and one for Harry…” said Slughorn, dividing a second bottle between three mugs, then stopped at Elaine and asked uncertainly, “Elaine, can you drink?”

“She drinks milk!” said Evan, taking out a bottle of milk and pouring it into Elaine’s mug.

“I want to taste the wine,” said Elaine.  

“You can’t drink!” Evan still remembered the terrible things that happened to Elaine after she drank some wine last time.

“I can drink!” Elaine protested.

“Relax, Evan, our Elaine is a big girl now, old enough to try a drink. And what better time than a moment like this?” said Slughorn.

“Alright then, give her a little,” said Evan reluctantly. At the moment, the focus wasn’t on whether Elaine should drink — it was on getting Slughorn to hand over the memory.

Evan took the bottle and, under Elaine’s eager gaze, poured her a small amount.

“More!”

“It’s enough, just taste it,” said Evan, shooting her a warning look not to overdo it — who knew what she’d become after drinking?.

With Hermione not around, Evan wouldn’t be able to handle Elaine on his own.

“Well,” said Slughorn raising his mug high, “to Aragog.”

“Aragog.” Everyone said, raising their mugs.

Both Slughorn and Hagrid drank deeply. Harry, however, with the way ahead illuminated for him by Felix Felicis, knew that he must not drink, so he merely pretended to take a gulp and then set the mug back on the table before him.

Evan took a sip and glanced at Elaine with some concern.

Elaine carefully picked up her mug and took a sip of the strange mixture of blood, milk, and wine, then sat there smacking her lips with no visible reaction.

“I had him from an egg, yeh know,” said Hagrid morosely, slamming his mug down on the table. “Tiny little thing he was when he hatched. ’Bout the size of a Pekingese.”

“Sweet,” said Slughorn.

“Used ter keep him in a cupboard up at the school until … well …”

Hagrid’s face darkened, as he recalled that he had been thrown out of school.

Slughorn, however, did not seem to be listening; he was looking up at the ceiling, from which a number of brass pots hung, and also a long, silky skein of bright white hair.

“That’s never unicorn hair, Hagrid?”

“Oh, yeah,” said Hagrid indifferently. “Gets pulled out of their tails, they catch it on branches an’ stuff in the forest, yeh know …”

“But my dear chap, do you know how much that’s worth?”

“Not worth much. I use it fer bindin’ on bandages an’ stuff if a creature gets injured,” said Hagrid, shrugging. “It’s dead useful … very strong, see.”

He casually grabbed the strand of unicorn tail hair and gave it a hard tug.

There, Evan suddenly realized that Hagrid might be the wealthiest man. No other wizard would be so extravagant as to use unicorn hair for bandages.

While Evan, Harry, and Slughorn were watching Hagrid show how strong the unicorn’s tail hair was, Elaine picked up her mug and took another sip. …

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