Chapter 131: A Healthy Aragog, Newt's Designs
In a hollow of the Forbidden Forest.
Aragog, now the size of an elephant, paced his territory with steady steps.
The grey‑white sheen of his carapace was slowly deepening toward a dark purple. The bristles covering his body were changing too, their roots darkening from white to black. All eight eyes held a clear, cold light, nothing like the dull, lifeless stare they had worn only a few months before.
A pang of hunger twisted in his belly. Aragog shook his great head and prepared to hunt.
His offspring had been bringing him prey for some time, but once his body recovered and his sight sharpened, Aragog had taken up the chase again. He relished the thrill of stalking and pursuit. With such vitality surging through him, he had no wish to lurk any longer in that dark, tedious cave.
"How are you feeling lately, Aragog?"
The familiar voice behind him no longer startled him. He turned his massive body with practised ease, his mouthparts rasping together like scraping iron.
"Thank you for your concern, Leonardo," he replied. "I have been feeling excellent."
Every week or two, Aragog received a single drop of crystal‑clear liquid from Leonardo. He did not know what it was, only that every time he swallowed it, a tide of life would roll through his body.
His gratitude was sincere.
To rot with age, then claw one's way back toward health and vigour, was a temptation no creature could lightly refuse.
Leonardo nodded. "Good."
Judging by Aragog's steady recovery, long‑term use of Qilin spittle truly could give life back. Qilin blood would be even more potent.
Yes. Stick in one hand, carrot in the other.
After the first, very physical, demonstration of power, and the benefits that followed, it was no wonder Aragog was behaving so "docilely".
Of course, that was also because Aragog was not stupid. He could converse, and he knew which way the wind blew.
At Leonardo's side, Newt studied the huge, aged Acromantula.
From its external traits and size, he estimated that this spider was at least forty years old. Its behaviour surprised him. Its movements were still reasonably agile, its reactions not sluggish at all. For an Acromantula of that age, it was almost too healthy.
In Newt's experience, an Acromantula's body began to fail after thirty. By forty, it should be feeble and worn.
Its manner was unusually "gentle" as well. The species was notorious for raw cruelty and savagery, a danger to wizards and magical creatures alike.
Newt glanced at Leonardo again. Seeing such a beast show the boy goodwill only firmed his thoughts.
With Leonardo there as a bridge, Newt exchanged a few simple questions with Aragog about its usual range, prey, colony size and so on.
Then, guided by Aragog, they toured the Acromantulas' territory. Newt saw specimens of every age.
Now he understood perfectly how Leonardo had compiled such detailed observations on the species. When he had first read them, he had doubted. How could a whole Acromantula colony have taken shape in the Forest in just a few decades? A nest of that scale was a first in Scotland.
Once the visit was over, Newt and Leonardo left the hollow, walking through the Forest, looking for other magical creatures, and talking as they went.
"Mr Scamander, what do you make of the Acromantulas here?" Leonardo asked.
"They are thriving," Newt said. "The colony is strong. Perhaps… rather too strong."
Leonardo took his meaning. In a Forest like this, Acromantulas were a high‑grade threat to everything else that lived there.
There was one thing Newt did not know and Leonardo did: the colony's origin. Aragog and his mate had been released into the Forest by Hagrid. Strictly speaking, they were an invasive species, disrupting the original ecology.
"So you mean to move them back to their native habitat?" Leonardo asked.
Newt nodded, then shook his head. "For the sake of the local environment, relocation would be for the best. But it would not do to move them all at once…"
They batted the question back and forth for some time. When Newt finally asked Leonardo to help monitor the state of the colony and assist with the eventual relocation, Leonardo agreed readily.
He visited Aragog often anyway, to watch and record the effects of Qilin spittle. He was already, effectively, carrying out the monitoring.
As for relocation, he approved. He had taken in a few Acromantulas of his own, not only to collect venom more easily but also to keep their numbers in check and slow their spread.
If Newt had the same idea, then helping him was only natural.
Newt was delighted by the quick agreement. He had his own, small ulterior motive.
Let Leonardo try his hand at magical creature protection work. If he took to it, perhaps once he left school, he would simply carry on.
He had recovered from the shock of Leonardo being a first‑year. Now he saw the boy's ability more clearly than ever.
Dumbledore said Leonardo would make a fine teacher. Newt could not speak to that. He did know that, in the realm of magical creatures, Leonardo was a talent they could not afford to lose.
Teaching was commendable, but there were many magical creatures in the world that needed help.
Newt felt he had already pushed protective legislation a long way, but it was work that needed successors.
"Mr Scamander," Leonardo said, "I have heard that you care for many magical creatures.
"If I may, would I have the honour of observing them? I am very interested in these magical beings."
Newt's case held an absurd number of creatures. For Leonardo's work on magical‑creature Transfiguration, he needed to observe and record a vast number of magical pathways. Other than the expert before him, there was no second person in the world who could give him that access so quickly.
Leonardo slid a hand into his pocket and closed his fingers around a small stone tablet, while dark vortices surfaced in his eyes.
Interest is good, Newt thought, delighted. "Of course you may."
He set the case on the ground and flicked it open with a click.
A stairway led down from within.
Newt went first, then held a hand up to Leonardo. "Bring Aurelius as well. It might find it interesting."
Leonardo had been about to ask the Qilin to stand guard outside, but with Newt's invitation, he let the thought go.
In any case, wild beasts and magical creatures were not in the habit of running off with unattended suitcases.
They were not people.
Leonardo and Aurelius descended into the world of the case, followed Newt through a workshop piled with tools, ingredients, and foodstuffs.
As they walked, the space suddenly opened out.
A vast African savannah spread before Leonardo's eyes. A breeze stroked the grasses, sending them rippling.
All at once, a sharp twinge of intuition rang in his mind.
He turned toward the source of danger. On the crest of a rocky outcrop lay a huge leopard, spines bristling along its back, the sacs around its neck swelling and shrinking.
The lazy beast seemed to notice the new arrivals. Its dead‑black eyes turned toward him.
Leonardo narrowed his gaze. The vortices in his eyes spun faster.
A Nundu.