A Web Of Magic

Magnus was searching in the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest along with Fred and George this afternoon. They had no classes in the noon so they decided to spent some time refilling their supplies. Since none of them had enough money to spare to purchase some of the rarer ingredients, they decided to find them here after an inadvertent tip from Prof. Sprout. Magnus decided to do it today as a form of relaxation. The past few days were hectic not because of his schoolwork but due to his extra side-projects.

Apart from his own experiments, he had been trying to complete the Ravenclaw trials put forth by the Grey Lady. She said it was just third year knowledge, but Magnus soon realized that third year knowledge a thousand years ago was much different than that of today. He had to scour the library and the Room of Requirement for those old books and spend points like water to use [Instant Read] and [Comprehend Mode]. All of that knowledge cramming was beginning to give him a headache despite his mind stat which was among the higher end for a.d.u.l.t wizards. By now he spent about 400 points and he's only close to the solution. He didn't even get a boost to his mind stat despite all of that. 'At least I made some improvements and can easily pick up languages this way,' he consoled himself. He already learnt German this way, a happy side effect of using [Instant Read] and [Comprehend Mode] on foreign language books and dictionaries at the same time. But it was strictly limited to reading and writing, his speaking isn't natural and many nuances are missed. He ruminated over his findings as he looked at the interface.

[Magnus Webb

Title: Seer Descendant

Traits: Beast Blood (Magic), Blood Curse (inactive), Beast Blood (Deformation)

Body: 3

Mind: 16

Magic: 26

Impact Points: 1032

School: Divination Lv3 (80%), Healing Lv3 (80%), Charms Lv3 (90%), Transfiguration Lv3 (90%), DADA Lv3 (80%), Potions Lv4 (10%), Herbology Lv3 (90%), Astronomy Lv3 (60%), Magical Theory Lv4 (10%), Mind Arts Lv2 (90%), Care of Magical Creatures Lv2(60%), Runes Lv2(10%), Arithmancy Lv2(10%)

Skills: Wand Magic Lv4 (10%), Wandless Magic Lv3 (80%)]

He was here today to only relax and find some ingredients for free. As his thoughts moved towards relaxing, he heard loud shouts and cursing from further beyond his position. 'Shit! When did these guys move forwards that much?' He started running towards the sound. He had been carefully leading them towards their required ingredients while maneuvering away from dangers using Divination with his crystal focus. The twins must have moved forward while he was lost in thought.

Soon, the twins came in sight. Fred was rolling around on the ground wrestling with what looked like a Redcap. George was using the Fire-making spell to keep another at bay. It would be just fine if it was just these two, but Magnus spotted a group of over ten Red caps running towards them. He had no time to think as to why they are here when they aren't supposed to come close to the outskirts of the forest.

Magnus pulled out his wand and quickly knocked back the Redcap George was trying to fend off with fire. He used his left hand and used wandless magic to throw back the other redcap that Fred was wrestling with. This was much simpler than using a wand spell which might hit Fred mistakenly. Once both the twins were freed up, Magnus called, "Quick, come close to me."

Fred and George complied quickly. They were only caught off guard as the redcaps jumped on them out of nowhere. "Why are there redcaps here? They aren't supposed to be here!" Fred exclaimed.

"We can search for answers later. Use the knockback jinx, don't use fire. It might set the forest ablaze. Quick, here they come," Magnus instructed. As the first group of redcaps came close, they three fired at once, "Flippendo." This knocked back the redcaps and they quickly got ready to cast the next volley. What Fred and George didn't notice was that every cast didn't just knockback three redcaps but four, a silent handiwork of Magnus's wandless magic. The second round, Fred and Magnus hit true but George missed his spell as the redcap dodged out of the way. But its joy didn't last as it got George's boot to the face and was stunned nonetheless. Twice more they cast their spells and all of the redcaps lay around the clearing in various states of dizziness and unconsciousness. Redcaps were only a threat to muggles and unsuspecting wizards and witches. Once you are able to stop panicking and cast spells, they aren't much of a threat.

Magnus didn't relax after they stunned them all. He quickly transfigured some of the grass and soil that were displaced into ropes and bound all of the redcaps. Only then did he relax. "Thanks mate. That was very intense. Nasty buggers," Fred and George thanked him while panting. Although the fight only lasted five minutes, they felt mentally tired as it was intense.

"Maybe you should move your hideout from the forest guys. We don't know when another accident might happen," Magnus advised.

"Maybe. We'll think about it," George replied while catching his breath. "Now why are these guys here," Magnus stood in front of the redcaps as he got into a thinking pose. Only then did he notice that the focus crystal that was grey before- denoting mild danger, was now turning reddish black. That meant highly dangerous with a possibility of death. "Quick, ready your wands. We're not out of danger yet," Magnus warned them as he swiftly moved back. No sooner did he move back when a giant furry shape landed in front, right over the tied-up redcaps. Magnus spied one unlucky redcap that got crushed under the weight of what he saw now as a giant spider.

"An Acromantula? What's that doing here? There's no record of acromantulas being in the Forbidden Forest. They were only rumors!" Magnus was more exasperated than scared. 'I'm not blindly believing these books again!'

"Mate, you are also seeing that giant spider in front, right? George did you spike my drink today?" Fred asked nervously.

"No Fred, that was yesterday. Today I spiked Jordan's drink. But that just turns him red," George too gulped nervously.

"It's alright mate, don't be scared. It's only one spider. We should deal with it quickly and get out of here before more of them come," Magnus said softly as he didn't remove his eyes from the giant spider before him, his wand at the ready.

''There's more?" Fred asked in a high-pitched tone.

"Well, duh! Acromantulas live in colonies," Magnus explained in a neutral tone. He was waiting for the spider's move and move it did towards them swiftly with its front legs raised. Magnus's wand moved just as quickly," Arania Exumai."

"Petrificus Totalus," Fred and George cast a moment later. Magnus's spell blasted the spider back and overturned it. The twin's charm arrived a moment later and stopped the twitching legs of the arachnid. Acromantula does have some magic resistance so it didn't completely bind the spider but only slowed it down extremely. Magnus didn't waste the chance as he transfigured the nearby fallen branches into ropes and bound the spider's legs and pinned them to the forest floor. Only then did he clearly look at the acromantula. It was a giant of a spider, 8-9 feet in width and over 7 ft in height. It was clearly an a.d.u.l.t.

Once the spider was firmly secured and it stopped moving, the trio moved around it while admiring their handiwork. "Brilliant mate! We brought down a dozen redcaps and a giant spider all in one afternoon. We are shaping up to be quite the Champions eh?" Fred said impressed, his previous fear forgotten.

"Imagine the stories that would be told about us. The songs that will be sung in our honor," George went on.

"Yes, and the detentions that will be waiting for us once what we did here comes out. You do realize we aren't supposed to be here? So, not a word leaves this place," Magnus's words poured cold water on their heads. They just smiled sheepishly, "We were just excited. Too bad no one will know about our achievements. It'd probably get us a lot of points. That'd get Percy off of our backs for losing too many house points," Fred shook his head.

"Well. it's not all bad mate. I heard acromantula venom is very rare and sells for a lot of galleons. Around a 100 for a pint if I remember correctly," Magnus looked at them with a smirk.

"Who cares about glory!" the twins looked at Magnus with a matching smirk. The imprisoned acromantula felt shivers all over its body all of a sudden. It had a bad feeling.