Good or bad, does it matter?

A few minutes later, a large boar was walking through a dark, densely populated forest, on whose back sat a man in a robe, looking with slight interest to the right, from where a small creature was watching him from the lush, green bushes, judging by the level at which its eyes were. 

Snape could not clearly see it because of the thickets, and even magic could not help in this matter, because when he tried to concentrate on it, all that Snape could feel was only a thin thread of magic, which was very surprising, because his strength at the moment could rival the "Masters" at the top of the ranks.

And the creature's eyes were quite interesting: one was white and the other black with vertical pupils, which immediately reminded him of a cat's and in size; if it was a cat, then most likely he was being watched by a kitten, possessing a "skill" that is terrifying for this world.

 Of course, such a creature interested Snape, and these eyes, without knowing why, gave him some kind of familiar feeling, as if he had seen them before... a very long time ago, but the Wizard could not remember. 

But the Prince did not feel any danger or alertness, which was very unusual for him, because this animal was too dangerous, since even he could hardly sense it, it even seemed to him that it deliberately allowed itself to be discovered, and even after these thoughts, The Slytherin still did not feel any nervousness and this began to scare him a little.

But even after testing himself with all the analyzing spells known to him, he did not feel any influence on his mind and this put him into a stupor. 

Snape simply did not understand what was happening to him and where these strange feelings came from, because he had definitely never seen this creature in his life.

"What happened to you?" noticing the frown on Snape's face, Nagaina asked in a puzzled manner, also looking in the direction where his gaze was directed, but she could not see anything except the swaying bushes, "Did you notice something there?"

"No... never mind, I was just thinking," the Wizard sighed, smiled softly and shook his head, because at the moment when the snake spoke and he was distracted for a moment, the creature disappeared, "What was that?" 

"what?" Looking him straight in the eyes, she asked with concern, his behaviour was not like usual.

"Calm down, there's nothing I can't handle," he chuckled and stroked her on the top of her head, and then, looking down at the boar, he tapped the thorn in front of him, "A little to the right."

 "~ Grunt!" As if understanding him, the monster quickly nodded, following his order.

The wizard's gaze fell again on those same bushes and a tired sigh escaped his mouth.

 'More and more monsters are appearing, and if this is really a cub, then it's even scary to imagine what could grow out of it…'

---

A few hours later, having covered about ten kilometres at a fairly calm pace, enjoying the gloomy but pleasing to the eye landscapes along the way, the boar suddenly stopped, and then raised an intense gaze at the man, pointing with its hoof at a thin, almost invisible cobweb, and then to a huge number of small spiders going in the same direction.

" ~Oink! Oink, oink-oink-oink!"

 "I don't understand a damn thing," a fireball lit up on Snape's finger, which, right under the dumbfounded gaze of the magical creature, he threw into the thread and it burned in an instant, and the beast turned pale, "Let's go," Severus patted him on the back, "Don't worry so much." 

"They won't do anything to us," he grinned and looked deeper into where huge areas covered with cobwebs could already be seen. 

And after these words, a large black spider with eight eyes, the size of a large dog, appeared on one of the trees, and behind it, on other trees several more appeared, and with every second, there were more and more of them.

The boar trembled like an aspen leaf in the wind, he understood that this was all, the end, because it was simply impossible to escape from such a horde of acromantulas, possessing enormous speed and deadly poison. 

"~ Oink…" the monster grunted sadly, he didn't even think about retreating, because it was already useless.

"I'm Snape's friend, let me through," and after these words, the spiders, which, like rain, were already falling from the trees, froze abruptly and after a few seconds, quickly began to climb back and disappear into the thick foliage, but two of them still landed in front of boar and pointed their paws forward, and then towards themselves.

"Okay, follow them," Severus again patted his "transport" on the back, which, from this gesture, shuddered all over. 

"~Oink…" the monster looked at him with tears in its eyes, although it was happy that its life was no longer in danger, but it really didn't want to go into the lair of these creatures. 

"We should have left the bear alive, he seemed to be braver, eh... we'll have to look for another mount, and we can give you to Aragog as a present..." 

"OINK! OINK OINK!" the boar instantly cheered up and the tears immediately disappeared, and then, sticking out its chest, it followed the spider.

" And they say that only people can be shameless…"

 Nagini nodded in agreement, turning her gaze to the spiders, "But still, let's leave quickly, I never liked them, but such huge ones really make me shiver." 

"Okay," such a reaction from the snake amused him a little, if we remember that the Basilisk's favourite food is acromantulas. 

Almost the entire territory through which they walked was covered with a cobweb connecting trees that grew close to each other anyway, and spiders were hiding in the branches, and some, without hiding, simply moved along it and watched the guests, and maybe dinner.

And although if you just look closely, there were not so many of them, but using Detection Magic, Snape counted exactly two thousand seven hundred and two large individuals, within a kilometre radius, but how many arthropods there actually were, it's even scary to imagine, and about the small ones, which, like a stream, moved in the same direction and inhabited the web, and it was not worth talking about.

It was a real nightmare for any arachnophobe. After a few minutes, they finally reached a large hole where small acromantulas were "floating away," and the boar howled sadly at the sight of it, but it still continued to move forward. 

The tunnel was not particularly wide, but it would have easily allowed the passage of Aragog, the same spider that ran into the forest the day Snape was arrested.

 The magical creature was about three and a half metres high, and at least nine metres long with legs, while the female was slightly larger than the male.

And after crossing a small tunnel, they emerged into an open area.

It was a colossal area covered with scattered, and in places thick, fog and dotted with huge, web-covered roots, from which huge tree trunks went straight up and among them, without any problems, one could notice spiders, much larger than those that led him inside and gradually.

"Why did Snape send you here...?" an indifferent, bass voice sounded from behind the root behind which the hole was located, the acromantula, which was Aragog, slowly began to emerge, its eight eyes at the same second rushed towards the man in the robe.

 "I'm sorry, I lied, Snape didn't send me, I came here myself for one reason."

"You shouldn't have come here, Human..." 

"Not so much in vain, I thought there were a lot more of you in thirty years, but that's enough," and a large wooden barrel appeared next to the wizard, "Be so kind as to fill it with poison for me." 

"… you're crazy?" A bit of surprise slipped into the monster's voice, from the words of simple food, "Only on my orders, the children do not touch Snape, but I cannot deny them the pleasure of trying fresh human flesh…"

"And you are a rather self-confident insect…". The Prince said, baring his teeth, with a mockery , watching how spiders rushed towards him from all sides.

"But do you know what the main fear of any insects is...?"around the deathly pale boar, a flame slowly began to flare up, at the sight of which, the acromantulas, as if scalded, squeaked and began to run away in horror, but with every second the fire flared up more and more, and the squeak became more and more violent, until it turned into a real tornado, the epicentre of which was Severus, "This is a flame!"

And the next moment, dozens of bundles burst out of the pillar and rushed to the side, in the direction of the fleeing spiders, and the smell of burning began to spread throughout the space...

"STOP IT! HUMAN!" Aragog shouted in panic, he could not watch without pain as his children died in incredible agony, when he himself could not do anything, because fire was their nemesis.

"Why would I do this after you threatened to feed me to your children?" Snape looked indifferently in his direction through the flames.

"We'll give you poison! But stop killing my children! " shooting a web from the back of his body, he managed at the last moment to pull out from under the fiery tentacle a small spider, which, after losing its target, immediately rushed to another.

"HUMAN!" and after this cry, filled with pain and anger, the tourniquets froze. "Two barrels and one every next year, and I also forbid you to leave your territory more than three kilometres and if I find out that one of you was seen on the outskirts, I will return and destroy your colony," Severus said in an icy voice. the wizard dispelled the flames and looked straight into the eyes of the huge spider.

"Yes... " the monster glanced bitterly at the burned alive children lying on the ground, and then, with difficulty suppressing his rage, he looked at the man in the robe.

At the same moment the cold, oppressive aura hanging in the air evaporated and a second barrel appeared next to Snape, "You have an hour to fill them, and if you don't have time, we will continue our game, but I'm already very tired and I won't leave anyone alive, including that spider that is hiding in the hole behind your back..." at the last words of the unknown man, his eight eyes trembled and, trying to hide his hatred, he shot a web into the barrels and pulled it towards him.

"Leave this place, my children will bring them to you…"

"As you say, you have fifty-eight minutes left," and patting the boar on the back, they headed towards the exit. 

Although Aragog was tempted to try to attack from behind and avenge the death of his children and humiliation, he suppressed it in the bud, assuming that this was most likely what the man was waiting for. 

And only after the man left their house, the acromantula began to call his children to fill the barrels with poison…

[A/N: I know at many places, "him" is used for an animal like Ararog instead of "IT" but it is just because it is more suitable here as it will emphasise the spider's intellect.]