▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

spiralling around the spiders who, in turn, were spiralling around them, creating a tight circle around them, hissing and clicking at them longingly. It was evident that they were outnumbered. All she felt like she could do was wait for one of the spiders to lunge towards them and to then try and retaliate with a knockback jinx. That was all she had.

But before any spider did lunge towards them, a bright light shone through the circle and a loud noise that sounded like the horn of a car was being beeped constantly made the spiders look away from them for a moment. As the Weasleys car was coming bounding towards them, ploughing through several spiders until it came to an abrupt halt right in front of the Gryffindors.

Sighing with relief, Saffron wasted no time in jumping into the back of the car and started to scream at Harry and Ron to leave Fang and to hurry. No sooner had she gotten into the car, the spiders had started to close in on them and Saffron had to hold onto the door to stop one spider from completely yanking it off. She felt the magic flowing through her, mustering every bit of strength she had to remain strong until Harry, Ron and Fang were all secure in the car and they could at the very least, attempt to leave.

"DRIVE DRIVE DRIVE!" Saffron screamed as the window above the other back seat shattered by the force of a spider crashing into the side of it, indenting the car.

Neither of the boys had to drive, as the car did so without any human interference. It sped off and crashed into more spiders, until it made its way into the clear, in a manner of speaking. As the clear consisted of the thick trees and sharp branches that belonged to them of the forest, not to mention the roots that made the car jolt every few seconds. It felt precisely like Saffron imagined a rollercoaster would feel like, the ups and downs, sudden sharp movements to either side and the urge to vomit at any given second.

"Are you two okay?" Harry asked them breathlessly.

Ron responded with shocked silence, realising that his worst nightmare had actually been a reality whilst Saffron said: "No, I'm not,"

The journey probably lasted another ten minutes, which only highlighted how much of an ungodly hour it must be, and then finally, they saw some light from above the thick sheltered forest. Saffron did not hesitate and hurried out of the car quickly. Ron, however, seemed to need a minute to regain some composure before following them too. Harry quickly retrieved the cloak from Hagrid's hut, meanwhile, Saffron had her eyes firmly shut, patting Ron on the back as he vomited into the pumpkin patch.

"Just get it all out," said Saffron bracingly, feeling a strong urge to vomit too at the mere sight of Ron doing so. She didn't want to hear the strangled sound of vomit leaving his mouth, but she knew that if she was in his position she would want help from someone. Moreover, as horrific as the experience of the forest had been for her, she had no doubt that it was immeasurably worse for Ron. Saffron was quite impressed that the boy hadn't urinated during the ordeal and was just vomiting in the aftermath, not fainting or shaking from head to toe. It truly was a testament to his inner Gryffindor, something she often found herself doubting when it came to herself. Seeing Ron compose himself in such a manner only made her want to do better. "You'll be okay, it's over now,"

"Follow the spiders," said Ron weakly, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. "I'll never forgive Hagrid. We're lucky to be alive."

"If he doesn't die in prison, I'm going to make sure I kill him if he manages to get out," Saffron remarked bitterly, as Harry emerged from the hut with the invisibility cloak in hand. "Honestly, you would think he wanted us to die a horrible death. He's such a joke,"

"Who, Hagrid?" Harry asked her as Ron stood up straight.

"Yes, Hagrid," replied Saffron pointedly. "And don't even try to defend him on this one,"

"Well. . ." began Harry slowly, clearly trying to muster up a defence. "I reckon he didn't think Aragog would hurt friends of his,"

"That's exactly Hagrid's problem!" snapped Ron in frustration."He always thinks monsters aren't as bad as they're made out and look where it's got him! A cell in Azkaban! What was the point of sending us in there? What have we found out, I'd like to know?"

"Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets," Harry said, "That he's innocent,"

Saffron rolled her eyes and Ron gave a dismissive snort. Both of them were angry at Hagrid, but also at Harry for constantly trying to make excuses for him. Saffron despised how defensive Harry got. Hagrid was a grown man, but at the same time, he wasn't. He was a boy within the manliest giant body that they had ever seen. Saffron felt confident that she, at the age of thirteen, had more responsibility in her pinky that Hagrid had in that whole giant body of his. She hadn't the faintest as to how Dumbledore could trust such a man.

Therefore, they acted accordingly and refused to say a word to Harry all the way up to the castle. The only sounds they made were their footsteps and the ever so often groans that Ron let out. Saffron was filled with pure relief when they got back to their common room. Luckily, the Fat Lady was there, although she didn't seem too pleased to see them. Harry took the cloak off them and Saffron said one "Goodnight," mainly to Ron, which was shocking considering the pair of them had bonded the least out of her five main friends in Gryffindor house. But at that particular moment, she couldn't stand to look at Harry knowing he wouldn't under any circumstance admit that Hagrid was in the wrong, and was quite simply a basket case.

When Saffron tip-toed through the room, trying not to wake Lavender and Parvati (whom Saffron felt certain had waited up for her for a while, curious as to why she was out) and slid under her bed covers, thinking long and hard not about what Aragog had to say, no. But rather about how much they needed Hermione, about how much she needed Hermione. She would have been their voice of reason. She probably would have figured out the mystery of the Chamber of Secrets at this point.

But she was gone. Hermione wasn't going to be able to get them out of this one. But channelling everything that Hermione represented in terms of the work she put in and the clever way of thinking that the girl carried with her everywhere she went, might. Saffron didn't have those characteristics, not by any stretch of the imagination. Regardless, she was going to have to try, because she needed this daily nightmare of living in fear to end.