At the start of the Easter long weekend, Hagrid invited Flynn out for another outing into the Forbidden Forest to meet an old friend of his. Flynn accepted the offer easily, but was surprised when, on the morning that they would set out to go, he saw that Hagrid had barely packed anything for their trip.

"It's only a day trip, Flynn," Hagrid said. "We're only going a few hours into the edge of the forest. We won't even need te stay overnight. In fact, I encourage ye not te."

"What do you mean by that?" Flynn asked.

"Spiders are nocturnal hunters," Hagrid said casually, as if that explained everything. "Aragog'll keep his kids in line, but they can be a bit rowdy sometimes, 'specially when they're hungry. Won't be a problem either way, but might as well spare him the trouble."

Despite Hagrid's explanation being much more ominous than he'd hoped for, he trusted Hagrid's expertise enough to accept that there wouldn't be any danger.

Setting off with a backpack that was actually lighter than what he usually carried around, Flynn and Hagrid marched into the Forbidden Forest.

With Hagrid's vague hint that his "old friend" was somehow related to spiders, Flynn kept a lookout for any unusual signs of any eight legged creatures that might be showing off any unusual behaviour as they walked further into the forest. He didn't see any signs of spiders whatsoever during the first hour or so of their walk, but at some point, the forest around them suddenly became surrounded in enormous webs that seemed to cover the entire forest canopy in a very unsubtle way, and he couldn't help but feel a little silly for focusing so intensely to try and spot the tiniest hints of the presence of hidden spiders before that point.

Thinking nothing of the fact that they were obviously wandering into the territory of something dangerous, Hagrid continued onwards, treading lightly and taking care to step on the parts of the forest floor that were covered in webbing, though he did occasionally reach up to tap a gentle finger against some of the webs hanging over him.

"Try not te step on any of the webs," Hagrid said. "It's not the end of the world if ye do, but it might be a pain te wash it off yer shoes."

Flynn nodded, and heeded Hagrid's advice, taking long steps to avoid the webs on the ground, even if it became increasingly difficult to keep his eyes on the floor after he noticed a large dog-sized spider hanging lazily from the underside of a tree branch about twenty feet above him.

He glared at it, waiting for it to make any sort of movements, but before he could determine if it was dead, sleeping, or getting ready to pounce on his head, he noticed another spider out of the corner of his eye, resting in the hollow of a fallen log. Glancing around, he couldn't see any more spiders lurking around, but he couldn't help but shiver when he imagined how many of them were in this area that were creeping just out of sight.

As Flynn looked around, noting all the paths that he could run down to escape the spider-infested area of the forest, he noticed Hagrid staring at him with a look of distressed embarrassment plastered over his face.

Flynn glared at him.

"If yer uncomfortable-"

"Fuck off," Flynn hissed, pushing past Hagrid to continue towards what he assumed was the center of the spiders' territory. "I ain't a fucking pussy. Let's go meet your friend."

As they walked deeper into the webbed area of the forest, more and more spiders started to appear in the peripherals of Flynn's vision, though he tried not to focus on them too much, knowing that there was no point since he wouldn't be able to keep an eye on all of them.

But even out of the corners of his eyes, he could see that unlike the ones that he'd seen at the edges of the webbed territory, the ones that he saw now were more active, even if it was only slight. An errant twitch of a limb here, a wave of the feelers there. None of the movements were strong enough to make Flynn want to flinch, but he started to wonder if he should start asking Hagrid about what they would be doing on their expeditions to the Forbidden Forest instead of just blindly trusting him like he usually did.

Flynn blinked a few times in surprise and shook his head with a scowl.

Purging any more traitorous thoughts from his head, Flynn walked forward with a scowl, until Hagrid slowed to a halt in front of him.

Once Flynn looked up, it became clear to him exactly who and what Hagrid's friend was, as it rested unmoving on an enormous web hanging in the nook of an enormous pair of redwood trees.

"Aragog," Hagrid half-whispered, like he was trying to wake up the elephant-sized spider from an afternoon nap as gently as possible.

The spider's eyes, though they had already been open, blinked a few times as its feelers waved in the air. From how dimly the light of the sun bounced off its milky eyes, Flynn assumed that the thing was blind.

"Hagrid?" the spider asked in a deep voice that was difficult to understand.

"It's me, buddy," Hagrid said again, keeping his voice low as he spread his arms wide, as if asking for a hug. "It's been a while, hasn't it, old friend?"

Though the spider technically moved slowly for its size, Flynn had to struggle not to flinch as it took a few steps forward towards Hagrid, and by extension, Flynn. Thankfully, instead of having to choose between running immediately, or staying still in the face of a monster with fangs as long as his head was tall, the spider stopped suddenly and shuffled backwards into its web.

"Ah, yes, Hagrid." it said, clicking its fangs together as it spoke. "It has been a while, hasn't it?"

Flynn blinked in confusion as he felt his muscles relaxing unconsciously.

While Flynn would never call himself a people person, he was at least capable of reading and recognizing the more common emotions of annoyance, anger, and desperation from a person's voice and body language, but with Aragog's voice and body not being anywhere close to being human, he had to wonder if he was imagining the sense of annoyance that Aragog was exuding.

"Aragog?" Hagrid asked, still with his arms raised in the air. "Buddy?"

Aragog turned slightly to the side, and tucked its feelers into its body, in a way that reminded Flynn of the way a human might cross their arms over their chest.

"Aragog?" Hagrid asked. "Is something wrong?"

Aragog stayed silent for a moment before shifting and turning even further away.

"I think I should be asking you that question, Hagrid," it grumbled, clicking its fangs together at every syllable.

"What do you mean?" Hagrid asked, his concern quickly melting away to confusion.

Aragog gnashed its teeth together as it turned back to Hagrid. Around it, Flynn gripped his wand when he noticed the rest of the visible spiders surrounding them creeping forward carefully. Aragog let out a loud snarl, but before Flynn could pull out his wand to start blasting anything with more than two legs, he realised that rather than taking it as a signal to attack, the smaller spiders immediately scattered away.

"Why are you here, Hagrid?" Aragog asked, with a strange sound that sounded vaguely like a huff.

"Do I really need a reason to see my buddy?" Hagrid asked, opening his arms again in another request for a hug.

For some reason, the question seemed to annoy Aragog even more, as it gnashed its fangs together aggressively.

"That is a question I have asked myself many times, Hagrid," Aragog said. "After all, it has been many moons since you last visited, perhaps a year in your time, and my children are not interested in conversation as you are, so I did not have anyone to ask other than myself. Do you need a reason to see me, or did I unknowingly give you a reason not to see me?"

Hagrid's mouth gaped open and his face paled, as he seemed to finally realize what Aragog was saying.

"Aragog, no!" Hagrid said. "That's not true!"

"Oh, is it not?" Aragog asked. "Then tell me Hagrid. Why has it been so long since we've last spoken? Do you really need a reason to see your buddy, or not?"

"I don't!" Hagrid shouted out. "It's just… I've been really busy lately."

"Quite," Aragog responded. "I understand, Hagrid. You are a great man, after all. You must be involved with many great things."

Immediately, Hagrid blushed and scratched at the back of his head, while Flynn wondered how a fucking spider managed to convey sarcasm so clearly.

"Oh, I wouldn't dare te say I'm anything close te great," Hagrid said, clearly not getting the same impression from it.

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"Oh, but you are," Aragog said. "And I'm sure you have many other great things to attend to, even now. Perhaps you should go attend to them."

Hagrid didn't respond immediately, but when he did, Flynn started to wonder if anyone would notice him if he just left. He was confident that he could make it back home, even without Hagrid's help.

"Are you angry at me?"

Immediately, Aragog's fangs stopped clacking together, but somehow the absence of sound was more deafening than the presence of it.

"What's his name?" Aragog asked.

"Who?" Hagrid asked, flinching back when Aragog snarled at him.

"Do not take me for a fool, Rubeus Hagrid," Aragog hissed. "Do not think that I haven't noticed you sneaking around the forest to play with your new pet. Your new buddy to replace the old," it said, spitting venom along with the last few words, both figuratively and quite possibly literally, depending on the identity of the liquid that flew out of Aragog's mouth.

Hagrid stared at Aragog, his mouth opening and closing but no sound coming out.

"Not even going to try and deny it, then?" Aragog asked. "A wise choice. It would not do you well to insult me any more than you already have."

"Aragog, buddy," Hagrid said.

"Do not call me, buddy," Aragog said, cutting Hagrid off before he could continue.

"Aragog," Hagrid tried again. "I was gonna tell ye about her, I swear. She's a girl, actually. A real sweetheart. I think ye'd love her. Her name's Norberta."

Aragog didn't respond with words, but instead it clashed its fangs together angrily and flailed around in its web, digging deeper into it and tossing webbing over itself in an attempt to bury its entire body in it.

"I do not care what her name is," Aragog hissed.

"But you-"

Flynn kicked the back of Hagrid's legs.

Hagrid jumped, probably more from the surprise than any actual pain, but nodded back at Flynn in thanks, giving him a sheepish grimace.

"Aragog," Hagrid tried again.

Aragog simply burrowed deeper into its impromptu pile of webs.

"I was always gonna introduce ye to her," Hagrid said, speaking gently. "Ye believe me, don't ye?"

There was a long silence, before a muffled response came from the pile of webs.

"I thought I did."

"Ye still do," Hagrid said softly, kneeling down to pat at the pile of webs. "I'm still the same scared ole kid I was fifty sumthin years ago. You know me."

"Then why, Hagrid?"

"She was jes' a baby," Hagrid said. "I had te take care of her, day n night, just doin my best with my clumsy ole self to keep her fed and happy. You remember how it's like."

The pile of webbing shook a bit, though it settled after a moment.

"I suppose I do," Aragog said. "I'm sorry for how much of a burden I was on you."

"Ye weren't no burden," Hagrid said quickly, admonishing Aragog gently.

"I was," Aragog replied, with a sigh. "If I had hunted for myself, perhaps I wouldn't have been discovered."

"Hey now," Hagrid said. "Ye were a baby. Ye would've died."

"Maybe it would've been for the best. Then you wouldn't have been wrongfully expelled for opening the Chamber of Secrets," Aragog scoffed. "Foolish humans, thinking that I was the monster in that horrid Chamber, but I suppose they weren't so wrong to think that. Chamber or not, I am a monster."

"Aragog!" Hagrid said, his voice suddenly firm. "Don't ye ever say something so horrid. Yer no monster and ye never were. I'd get expelled a hundred times over if it meant that I could keep ye safe."

Aragog didn't respond immediately, but eventually let out a loud sigh before the pile of webbing started to shake, falling down in loose strands until Aragog started to appear once again.

"I suppose you are and always will be the same Hagrid that I have always known," it grumbled.

"I'll always be yer buddy," Hagrid said, beaming up at the spider, opening his arms wide once more. "Even if ye don't want te be mine."

"Please forget that I ever said that," Aragog grumbled, as it reached forward to gently lay its feelers on Hagrid's shoulders for a second, before quickly drawing them away. "You promise that you do not hate me?"

"I promise," Hagrid responded easily.

"And you promise that you were going to introduce this Norberta to me, even if I did not ask?"

"O' course."

"Why not earlier?" Aragog asked.

"Well," Hagrid said, scratching the back of his head. "I know you can't move much, so I would've had to bring her here, and I thought that'd be dangerous, ye know, with the fire-breathing and all. I know she's technically been a grown lady fer a bit now, but I just wanted te make sure she wouldn't have any accidents."

"This Norberta can breathe fire?" Aragog asked, recoiling back at the thought. "I can see why you thought it wise to delay our inevitable meetup."

"I think she's embarrassed about it. So don't mention it to her that I told ye."

Aragog chuckled at that. "Oh, Hagrid. I think it's much too late for that."

Hagrid frowned. "What de ye mean?"

Aragog clacked its fangs together and shook its head in a distinctly human way, shambling slowly forwards. Hagrid smiled and spread his arms out again, but was gently pushed to the side by one of Aragog's long legs as it continued to walk slowly forward towards Flynn.

"I apologise for the display, young one. But I'm certain you are aware of Hagrid's antics by this point," Aragog said, extending a feeler towards Flynn, offering it like a handshake. "From one pet to another, I greet you warmly, dear Norberta. Please refrain from burning down my home."

There was a long pause of silence, as Flynn stared blankly at Aragog, before he gave Hagrid a flat stare, not willing to expend the energy to give any sort of explanation when it wasn't his mess in the first place.

Hagrid gave Flynn a stiff smile, but didn't speak up until the silence dragged on for long enough that Aragog realised that something might be wrong.

"Does Norberta not hear me, Hagrid?" it asked. "Or have I done something to offend her?"

There was a short paused before Hagrid spoke up, wincing preemptively.

"Actually, Aragog," Hagrid said. "I didn't bring Norberta today."

Aragog blinked with all of its many eyes at the same time.

"Then what is this?" Aragog asked.

"That's Flynn."

There was a short pause before Aragog lifted its head and let out a loud, dry screeching noise that Flynn might've winced at if it weren't for the internal debate he was having on whether he should just try to knock himself out to avoid all the pointless drama he had no intention of acknowledging.

"Another pet, Rubeus Hagrid?!" Aragog screeched. "How many more are there?!"

"Aragog! Buddy! He's just a friend, I swear!"

Somehow, Hagrid managed to calm down the elephant sized spider down long enough to convince it that Flynn was indeed just a friend, and though Aragog still showed a small amount of suspicion towards Hagrid, it finally seemed to accept Flynn as someone who Hagrid cared deeply for (though not as much as he would a pet), and offered Flynn an apology for the unsightly display.

When Aragog offered to give Flynn something in return for forcing him to watch such an unsightly display, Flynn ignored Aragog's instructions to cup his hands in front of him.

His defiance was rewarded when a glob of pale green liquid fell down, through where Flynn's hands would have been and hit the floor, melting through the forest debris with a harsh hissing sound. Aragog stared at it for a few seconds, before apologising once more and insisting it forgot that most living things could not resist the venom of a grown acromantula.

Though Hagrid took out his hip flask, downing its contents to fill it with the offered venom the second time around, the venom melted through the cheap metal and Hagrid threw the flask away instinctively, and Aragog apologized once again for forgetting that many nonliving things wouldn't be able to resist the venom either.

Having given up on finding a way to give Flynn his gift, Aragog promised that he would gift Flynn some acromantula venom the next time he came around, as long as he brought something that could contain it, as a friend of Hagrid's was a friend of his. Wanting nothing more than to just leave, Flynn numbly nodded and turned around, heading straight towards the castle.

It was only when they arrived back at Hagrid's hut, when Flynn turned around to glare at a very sheepish looking Hagrid.

"Next time you want to air out your dirty laundry, don't invite me."

"Sorry," Hagrid mumbled.