178
The Order of the Athropods
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You hold out your hand to Azog and he puts his tiny spider legs on the tip of your finger. Looking into your eyes, he nods his head and climbs up onto your hand then up your arm and onto your shoulder.

"Wait - what?" enquires Daniel looking troubled.

"Trust me," you tell him. "I have a clever idea."

Azog is not troubled at all, he is delighted that you have joined him.

"Athropods, prepare yourselves!" shouts out Azog from his position on your shoulder. Out of the walls and ceiling untold millions of insects emerge, each one pitifully small but together forming a huge unstoppable army.

"Today we have a new leader! He is the chosen one whose coming to the dungeon was foretold. He stands here before you: Arthur Otley!"

Marvelling at the hordes of insects at your command you feel amazed and excited. You realise that the insects of the world do deserve justice. You wonder what they are capable of and how easy they will be to control - or not.

"For too long has the insect world been downtrodden - literally - in this school," you say. "From now on there will be a new house, above the four houses of Lionpaw, Ravenwing, Snakefang and Hedgehog. It will be a new Order standing aside from all the rest! The Order of the Arthropods! Our purpose will be human-insect harmony but first... we must earn the respect of the school."

At the head of the insect army you, Daniel and Azog pour out of the dungeon and into the school.

You stride into Slumblebore's office with Azog on your shoulder and millions of insects crawling on the floor, walls and ceiling just behind you.

Slumblebore is inside and you explain to him that there are about to be some big changes around here, and with a vast insect army behind you there is nothing he can do to stop them.

With a defeated sigh Slumblebore agrees to your demands.

The next morning Slumblebore calls a general assembly of the school and reads out your demands. The insect army is hidden in cracks in the walls but ready to leap out if necessary.

"Firstly" Slumblebore begins, "No one must squash, damage or belittle an insect, unless it is for the purpose of magical study."

"Secondly there will be a new House, the Order of the Arthropods, which will take precedence over all other houses, and even over myself as headmaster. Arthur Otley is the head of the Order of the Arthropods and he will rule for life. Daniel Colliers-Wood is second in command."

"Thirdly, a new program of insect-human magical hybridisation will begin. A tribe of new super-children will be formed. Anyone wishing to be enhanced with magical insect powers must provide a DNA sample to Arthur or Daniel at the end of this assembly."

There are murmurs of surprise and shock. The students realise that nothing will be the same again - the Order of the Arthropods has begun!