Chapter 50. Gaynor

The Acromantula turned her head in confusion, still looking at my ankles with no reason to look up since she was completely blind. My fear of her possibly wanting to eat me, greatly diminishing. She then realized something and yelled while moving away. “Human from Hogwarts? No Hogwarts!!” I scoffed a bit at her before shaking my head, of course no effect since she couldn’t see. “No Hogwarts, I promise.” The spider was silent, her blind gaze a thousand miles away.

She finally moved closer to me, standing right beside me. “More food?” She asked as I began leading the way outside the forest. I nodded with a chuckle. “Of course, I’ll make sure to feed you well.” While the lights of the castle started to pierce through the plentiful trees surrounding us, I wondered for a name I could call her. It was a sudden thought that came to my mind that I muttered instinctually. “Gaynor. I’ll name you, Gaynor.” I said, looking down at the large spider, easily my size if I were laying down.

She froze for a moment, and I stopped to watch her blank stare as she thought, her eyes not seeing anything anyway. “Gaynor… Like!” She moved faster to my side, pleased to have a name. Exiting the forest, I made my way towards the Whomping Willow Tree, pressing the knot at the base to freeze its wrath. ‘It’s early, I don’t need to expel energy early, and normally I don’t have Val, but it’s cleaner now for him, and it’s already past curfew.’ “Down here.” I said, pointing into the small cave, Gaynor skittering inside at lightning speed, somehow knowing it was there despite not seeing.

She skittered along the walls and ceiling of the dirt, preferring that over the soggy ground I walked on. “Cave… Like! Like… Nest!” Gaynor yelled, racing in front of me like a child with a new toy. I finally caught up when we reached the trap door. Opening it, allowed Gaynor to skitter with wonder at everything beneath her feet. Like a different world, she had to touch and feel everything to ‘see’ it for herself.

I finally led her to the other room opposite of mine. “You can stay here.” It was the shabby and torn up room that I had never gotten around to cleaning, but from what I knew about spiders, is that they preferred making ‘homes’ themselves. She skittered all around, from floor to ceiling, leaving a trail of her webbing behind to create her nest.

I left her to it, and went inside my own room, locking the door behind me, just in case. I slipped under the covers, the feeling of Vitamix still present in my body, not allowing me to sleep peacefully. I tossed and turned under the covers, making sure that Val was always above me so I wouldn’t crush him. It took a long time, but eventually everything faded into blackness as I finally fell asleep.

I sighed while waking up, a strange warmth covered my body, and restrained me as I tried to move around. Opening my eyes I could see the close up image of Gaynor’s face, her pedipalps twitching as she slept peacefully. “What the- urk-!?” I muttered, before a strong pain in my brain, similar to the migraines I would have before a magical release panged. I found that my body was naked aside from mostly torn underwear, and I was inside another room than the one I slept in. ‘It can’t be… I only sleepwalk on those nights, like tonight… The side effects of sleeping with Vitamix!?’

“No, no. Please no!” I began panicking, less over the man-eating spider I was sleeping around, but over the looming feeling of dread that overtook every fiber in my mind. Trying to get up, I began struggling against the webbing I had inadvertently slept inside. Gaynor’s many legs slowly began to shiver as she stood up, and her pale white eyes opened. Her legs then twitched over, feeling my body under her sharpened claws at the end of each foot. “Change already?” She asked, a bit disheartened.

I was confused over what that meant, but shook those thoughts away for more pressing matters. “Y-yes. Gaynor, would you mind helping me out of your webs so I can get you breakfast?” Gaynor chittered while using her multitude of legs to cut me free from her webbing. “Had meal… Not Hungry.” She mumbled tiredly. I quickly checked my arms and legs for anything missing, but I was still whole. I wondered what she ate, perhaps if I gave her something while sleepwalking, but instead of asking her, I took the opportunity to leave without her getting hungry again.

The air was frigid outside of her den, and I shivered while heading back to my room. I noticed the door was left open from last night, but headed inside regardless. “There you are! Where are we?” Valdemar yelled, slithering over the sheets of the bed. I sighed in relief, the back of my mind wondering ‘what’ Gaynor’s meal was. “This is my special room that Dumbledore lets me use.” I explained, searching for my wand. Val hissed while looking around. “It’s nice, but I like our normal room better.”

I scoffed while repairing my clothes with magic. “I’ll get you back to your tank, and you can have plenty of breakfast.” Val hurriedly slithered up my arm as I got dressed. “Hey, if this is your room, who is in the other one you slept in?” I paused, knowing that snakes and spiders didn’t usually get along, but decided to just break that ice. “Her name is Gaynor, she is Acromantula.” Val coiled up to my neck as I placed my robes on. “Wow… I never seen one of those before.” I scoffed at his childlike reaction, devoid of prejudice. “Maybe you can meet her tomorrow, I think I’ll need to come back here then anyway.” I said, a slight headache already forming for some reason.

Getting into school, my mind was busy wondering why of all the places I sleep-walked, it was Gaynor’s nest. ‘This isn’t the first time I’ve woken up in strange places. Last time I was asleep in the woods on our property… However it still feels unnerving to know I’ve moved about without remembering it.’ I frowned while heading inside my room. It was still early in the morning, and many students weren’t up yet, so I slipped inside my room without anyone noticing I was gone.

Giving Val his breakfast, and letting him splash around in his tank, I sighed while resting at my desk. “A monster raised in Hogwarts… One that only a true Heir of Slytherin, who created it, could release. A monster spiders fear above all else.” I murmured all the pieces of information, looking over the burnt pages of the destroyed book, the sinking feeling in my stomach growing larger over what is happening this year as I took my medicine. “Monster? What kind?” Val asked, understanding that word amongst my English. I shook my head, hardly processing his words with my mind still spinning. “Who knows?”

‘Well, either way, no matter what creature it is, if I can stop that creature then this will stop happening. Doesn’t matter if even through sleepwalking I’m…’ I couldn’t finish my thought at the idea of me doing something so vile in my sleep, so I continued on. “The best lead I have is what the creature does…” Just as I was about to continue my thoughts, I heard a loud knock at my door, much different from Pansy’s usual calming knock.

“Hide in my sleeve.” I said to Val, holding out my hand. He quickly coiled around my arm as the loud knocking on my door grew to pounding. I rushed to the door, and opened it to see. “Professor Snape?” I asked, seeing him glaring down at me. “The Headmaster… Has summoned you.” I stared at him in shock and confusion, but soon gulped in worry over whether Dumbledore also suspects me. I nodded silently, and followed Professor Snape as he led me to Dumbledore’s office.

At the base of the stairs, he used his hand to direct my way, while showcasing he would be staying down here. “Good luck… Mr. Peterson.” I nodded at him, before going up the multitude of stairs to Dumbledore’s office again. Once at the top, I entered through the slightly ajar door, and silently glanced around. I immediately looked towards Fawkes’ perch, but nothing was there, not even ash underneath.

However my attention was soon turned over towards Dumbledore’s desk, a large full length mirror glinted the sun’s rays through the window. I got closer, and saw my mirrored image match my movements. The mirror had a strange, almost cloudiness to the image. I couldn’t see the room around me in the image, only myself, but that soon changed.