Acromantulas (Was: Arianna / Thestral/Selkies/Lavender)

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 184293

Carol earlier:
> I had the idea, perhaps mistaken, that their lair had been
destroyed, and I doubt that any parents would want their children to
attend Hogwarts until the entire colony had been wiped out. 
> <snip>
> > Carol, sincerely hoping that every trace of the murderous,
> > cannibalistic brutes was wiped out
> >
Pippin responded:
> Wiping them out would be tossing the baby with the bath water, since
their venom is highly valuable. I don't recall if canon mentions what
it's used for, but it must be important, or wizards wouldn't pay
premium prices to get it.
> 
> Why would the parents object to acromantulas if they don't object to
werewolves and centaurs, also highly dangerous if precautions are not
taken? The acromantulas like the dark and quiet; normally they stay
far away from the bustling, brightly lit castle and don't attack
unless they're disturbed in their lair. The ones who invaded the
school must have been under the Imperius Curse, otherwise they'd have
been just as dangerous to the Death Eaters.

Carol responds:

I hadn't thought about the venom being valuable, but I still think
that Hogwarts parents would object much more to Acromantulas than to
Centaurs or (rumored) werewolves. There's no evidence that the
Acromantulas were under the Imperius Curse--the whole lot of them?--or
even that arachnids are susceptible to that curse. I think it's just
as likely, if not more likely, that Voldemort dealt with them as he
did with the Werewolves and the Giants, sending ambassadors and
bribing them with a chance to have as many victims as they like as
long as they fought on his side. Or maybe Hagrid was their reward
since they specifically went for him. After all, Acromantulas aren't
just big, hairy monsters. They have near-human intelligence (greater,
apparently, than Giants since they can learn human speech). They're
just not trainable (with the exception of Aragog, and even he had no
objection to his family killing and eating friends of Hagrid). But if
you can bribe a Giant (as Hagrid did the Gurg and Macnair apparently
did his successor) or a Werewolf as savage as Fenrir Greyback (as LV
definitely did), I suspect that you can also bribe a colony of
Acromantulas (who seem capable of following the dictates of their
leader--not eating Hagrid because Aragog forbade it, for example).

At any rate, if I were a WW parent newly aware of the existence of a
colony of Acromantulas capable of getting into Hogwarts (darkness or
no darkness), I would refuse to send my child there until the beasts
were exterminated. Meantime, Slughorn could get an infinite supply of
Acromantula venom from the newly slaughtered beasts and make his
fortune. Too bad he doesn't have any descendants to inherit it. YMMV,
of course.

Carol, who expects JKR to reveal the fate of the colony in her
encyclopedia (which she now has no excuse not to write)

Carol,