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(Final of the three chapters I finished while on vacation, next update will be whenever I finish the next chapter.)
Chapter Thirty-Five: Fight and Flight
Harry had no idea what Allison was planning, he was barely convinced she had a plan at all. Umbridge undid her restraints and Harry walked half a pace behind Allison as they headed down the corridor outside Umbridge’s office, knowing it would look very suspicious if he appeared not to know where they were going. He did not dare attempt to talk to her; Umbridge was walking so closely behind them that he could hear her ragged breathing.
Allison led the way down the stairs into the entrance hall. The din of loud voices and the clatter of cutlery on plates echoed from out of the double doors to the Great Hall. It seemed incredible to Harry that twenty feet away were people who were enjoying dinner, celebrating the end of exams, not a care in the world…
Allison walked straight out of the oak front doors and down the stone steps into the balmy evening air. The sun was falling toward the tops of the trees in the Forbidden Forest now as Allison marched purposefully across the grass, Umbridge jogging to keep up. Their long dark shadows rippled over the grass behind them like cloaks.
‘It’s hidden in Hagrid’s hut, is it?’ said Umbridge eagerly in Harry’s ear.
‘What? No!’ said Allison scathingly. ‘Anyone could have found it if it was there. And let’s be honest, Hagrid probably would have accidentally broken it.’
‘Yes,’ said Umbridge, whose excitement seemed to be mounting. ‘Yes, he would have done, of course, the great half-breed oaf…’
She laughed. Harry felt a strong urge to swing around and seize her by the throat, but resisted. His scar was throbbing in the soft evening air but it had not yet burned white-hot, as he knew it would if Voldemort had moved in for the kill…
‘Then…where is it?’ asked Umbridge, with a hint of uncertainty in her voice as Allison continued to stride toward the forest.
‘In the forest, obviously,’ said Allison, pointing into the dark trees. ‘It had to be built somewhere where no one would find it accidentally.’
‘Of course,’ said Umbridge, though she sounded a little apprehensive now. ‘Of course…very well, then…you two stay ahead of me.’
‘Can we have your wand, then, if we’re going first?’ Harry asked her.
‘No, I don’t think so, Mr Potter,’ said Umbridge sweetly, poking him in the back with it. ‘The Ministry places a rather higher value on my life than yours, I’m afraid.’
As they reached the cool shade of the first trees, Harry tried to catch Allison’s eye; walking into the forest without wands seemed to him to be more foolhardy than anything they had done so far this evening. She, however, merely gave Umbridge a contemptuous glance and plunged straight into the trees, moving at such a pace that Umbridge, with her shorter legs, had difficulty in keeping up.
‘Is it very far in?’ Umbridge asked, as her robe ripped on a bramble.
‘It is, yes,’ said Allison. ‘It was very well hidden.’
Harry’s misgivings increased. Allison was not taking the path they had followed to visit Grawp, but the one they had followed three years ago to the lair of the monster Aragog. Allison had been on that journey and like Harry had barely survived, and that was with their wands; he doubted she had any idea where she was going.
‘Er—are you sure this is the right way?’ he asked her pointedly.
‘Oh yes,’ she said in a steely voice, crashing through the undergrowth with what he thought was a wholly unnecessary amount of noise.
Behind them, Umbridge tripped over a fallen sapling. Neither of them paused to help her up again; Allison merely strode on, calling loudly over her shoulder, ‘We’re almost there!’
‘Allison, keep your voice down,’ Harry muttered, hurrying to catch up with her. ‘Anything could be listening in here—‘
‘I know, that’s the point,’ she answered quietly, as Umbridge jogged noisily after them. ‘Don’t worry…’
They walked on for what seemed a long time, until they were once again so deep into the forest that the dense tree canopy blocked out all light. Harry had the feeling he had had before in the forest, one of being watched by unseen eyes…
‘How much further?’ demanded Umbridge angrily from behind him.
‘Nearly there!’ shouted Allison, as they emerged into a dim, dank clearing. ‘Just up ahead—‘
An arrow flew through the air and landed with a menacing thud in the tree just over her head. The air was suddenly full of the sound of hooves. Harry could feel the forest floor trembling; Umbridge gave a little scream and pushed him in front of her like a shield—
He wrenched himself free of her and turned. Around fifty centaurs were emerging on every side, their bows raised and loaded, pointing at Harry, Allison, and Umbridge, who backed slowly into the center of the clearing, Umbridge uttering odd little whimpers of terror. Harry looked sideways at Allison. She was wearing a triumphant smile.
’Who are you?’ said a voice.
Harry looked left. The chestnut-bodied centaur called Magorian was walking toward them out of the circle; his bow, like the others’, was raised. On Harry’s right, Umbridge was still whimpering, her wand trembling violently as she pointed it at the advancing centaur.
‘I asked you who are you, human,’ said Magorian roughly.
‘I am Dolores Umbridge!’ said Umbridge in a high-pitched, terrified voice. ‘Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic and Headmistress and High Inquisitor of Hogwarts!’
‘You are from the Ministry of Magic?’ said Magorian, as many of the centaurs in the surrounding circle shifted restlessly.
‘That’s right!’ said Umbridge in an even higher voice. ‘So be very careful! By the laws laid down by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, any attack by half-breeds such as yourselves on a human—‘
‘What did you call us?’ shouted a wild-looking black centaur, whom Harry recognized as Bane. There was a great deal of angry muttering and tightening of bowstrings around them.
‘You shouldn’t call them that!’ Allison said loudly, but Umbridge did not appear to have heard her. Still pointing her shaking wand at Magorian, she continued, ‘Law Fifteen B states clearly that “Any attack by a magical creature who is deemed to have near-human intelligence, and therefore considered responsible for its actions—“‘
‘“Near-human intelligence”?’ repeated Magorian, as Bane and several others roared with rage and pawed the ground. ‘We consider that a great insult, human! Our intelligence, thankfully, far outstrips your own—‘
‘What are you doing in our forest?’ bellowed the hard-faced gray centaur whom Harry and Allison had seen on their last trip into the forest. ‘Why are you here?’
‘Your forest?’ said Umbridge, shaking now not only with fright but also, it seemed, with indignation. ‘I would remind you that you live here only because the Ministry of Magic permits you certain areas of land—‘
An arrow flew so close to her head that it caught at her mousy hair in passing. She let out an earsplitting scream and threw her hands over her head while some of the centaurs bellowed their approval and others laughed raucously. The sound of their wild, neighing laughter echoing around the dimly lit clearing and the sight of their pawing hooves was extremely unnerving.
‘Whose forest is it now, human?’ bellowed Bane.
‘Filthy half-breeds!’ she screamed, her hands still tight over her head. ‘Beasts! Uncontrolled animals!’
‘Shut up!’ shouted Allison, but it was too late—Umbridge pointed her wand at Magorian and screamed, ‘Incarcerous!’
Ropes flew out of midair like thick snakes, wrapping themselves tightly around the centaur’s torso and trapping his arms. He gave a cry of rage and reared onto his hind legs, attempting to free himself, while the other centaurs charged.
Harry grabbed Allison and pulled her to the ground. Facedown on the forest floor he knew a moment of terror as hooves thundered around him, but the centaurs leapt over and around them, bellowing and screaming with rage.
‘Nooooo!’ he heard Umbridge shriek. ‘Noooooo…I am Senior Undersecretary…you cannot…unhand me, you animals…nooooo!’
He saw a flash of red light and knew that she had attempted to Stun one of them—then she screamed very loudly. Lifting his head a few inches, Harry saw that Umbridge had been seized from behind by Bane and lifted high into the air, wriggling and yelling with fright. Her wand fell from her hand to the ground and Harry’s heart leapt, if he could just reach it—But as he stretched out a hand toward it, a centaur’s hoof descended upon the wand and it broke cleanly in half.
‘Now!’ roared a voice in Harry’s ear and a thick hairy arm descended from thin air and dragged him upright; Allison too had been pulled to her feet. Over the plunging, many-colored backs and heads of the centaurs Harry saw Umbridge being borne away through the trees by Bane, still screaming nonstop; her voice grew fainter and fainter until they could no longer hear it over the trampling of hooves surrounding them.
‘And these?’ said the hard-faced, gray centaur holding Allison.
‘They are young,’ said a slow, doleful voice from behind Harry. ‘We do not attack foals.’
‘They brought her here, Ronan,’ replied the centaur who had such a firm grip on Harry. ‘And they are not so young…He is nearing manhood, this one…’
He shook Harry by the neck of his robes.
‘Please,’ said Allison breathlessly, ‘please, don’t kill us, we don’t have her bigoted views, and we aren’t from the Ministry! We only entered the forest to try and get something to get rid of her for us—‘
Harry knew at once from the look on the face of the gray centaur holding Allison that she had made a terrible mistake in saying this. The gray centaur threw back his head, his back legs stamping furiously, and bellowed, ‘You see, Ronan? They already have the arrogance of their kind! So we were to do your dirty work, were we, human girl? We were to act as your servants, drive away your enemies like obedient hounds?’
‘No!’ said Allison in a horrorstruck squeak. ‘I apologize—I didn’t mean it like that! We were just hoping someone would—would help us—‘
But she seemed to be going from bad to worse.
‘We do not help humans!’ snarled the centaur holding Harry, tightening his grip and rearing a little at the same time, so that Harry’s feet left the ground momentarily. ‘We are a race apart and proud to be so…We will not permit you to walk from here, boasting that we did your bidding!’
‘We’re not going to say anything like that!’ Harry shouted. ‘We know you didn’t do anything because we wanted you to—‘
But nobody seemed to be listening to him. A bearded centaur toward the back of the crowd shouted, ‘They came here unasked, they must pay the consequences!’
A roar of approval met these words and a dun-colored centaur shouted, ‘They can join the woman!’
‘But you claim you don’t hurt the innocent!’ shouted Allison, ears of terror sliding down her face now. ‘We have not done anything against you, we haven’t insulted you, we haven’t attacked you with our wands. We just want to go back to our school so we can learn—‘
‘We are not all like the traitor Firenze, human girl!’ shouted the gray centaur, to more neighing roars of approval from his fellows. ‘Perhaps you thought us pretty talking horses? We are an ancient people who will not stand wizard invasions and insults! We do not recognize your laws, we do not acknowledge your superiority, we are—‘
But they did not hear what else centaurs were, for at that moment there came a crashing noise on the edge of the clearing so loud that all of them—Harry, Allison, and the fifty or so centaurs filling the clearing—looked around. Harry’s centaur let him fall to the ground again as his hands flew to his bow and quiver of arrows; Allison had been dropped too, and Harry hurried toward her as two thick tree trunks parted ominously and the monstrous form of Grawp the giant appeared in the gap.
The centaurs nearest him backed into those behind. The clearing was now a forest of bows and arrows waiting to be fired, all pointing upward at the enormous grayish face now looming over them from just beneath the thick canopy of branches. Grawp’s lopsided mouth was gaping stupidly. They could see his bricklike yellow teeth glimmering in the half-light, his dull sludge-colored eyes narrowed as he squinted down at the creatures at his feet. Broken ropes trailed from both ankles.
He opened his mouth even wider.
‘Hagger.’
Harry did not know what ‘hagger’ meant, or what language it was from, nor did he much care—he was watching Grawp’s feet, which were almost as long as Harry’s whole body. Allison gripped his arm tightly; the centaurs were quite silent, staring up at the giant, whose huge, round head moved from side to side as he continued to peer amongst them as though looking for something he had dropped.
‘Hagger!’ he said again, more insistently.
‘Get away from here, giant!’ called Magorian. ‘You are not welcome among us!’
These words seemed to make no impression whatsoever on Grawp. He stooped a little (the centaurs’ arms tensed on their bows) and then bellowed, ‘HAGGER!’
A few of the centaurs looked worried now. Allison, however, gave a gasp.
‘Harry!’ she whispered. ‘I think what he’s trying to say is “Hagrid”!’
At this precise moment Grawp caught sight of them, the only two humans in a sea of centaurs. He lowered his head another foot or so, staring intently at them. Harry could feel Allison shaking as Grawp opened his mouth wide again and said, in a deep, rumbling voice, ‘Alli?’
‘Impossible,’ whispered Allison, gripping Harry’s arm so tightly it was growing numb and looking as though she was about to pass out, ‘he—he remembered my name!’
‘ALLI!’ roared Grawp. ‘WHERE HAGGER?’
‘I don’t know!’ squealed Allison, terrified. ‘I’m so sorry, Grawp, but I don’t know where Hagrid is!’
‘GRAWP WANT HAGGER!’
One of the giant’s massive hands swooped down upon them—Allison let out a scream, ran a few steps backward and tripped over a branch. Wandless, Harry braced himself to punch, kick, bite, or whatever else it took as the hand flew toward him and knocked a snow-white centaur off his legs.
It was what the centaurs had been waiting for—Grawp’s out-stretched fingers were a foot from Harry when fifty arrows went soaring through the air at the giant, peppering his enormous face, causing him to howl with pain and rage and straighten up again, rubbing his face with his enormous hands, breaking off the arrow shafts but forcing the heads in still deeper.
He yelled and stamped his enormous feet and the centaurs scattered out of the way. Pebble-sized droplets of Grawp’s blood showered Harry as he pulled Allison to her feet and the pair of them ran as fast as they could for the shelter of the trees. Once there they looked back—Grawp was snatching blindly at the centaurs as blood ran all down his face; they were retreating in disorder, galloping away through the trees on the other side of the clearing. As Harry and Allison watched, Grawp gave another roar of fury and plunged after them, smashing more trees aside as he went.
‘No,’ said Allison, quaking so badly that her knees gave way. ‘Oh, I’m going to be sick. What if they kill him Harry?’
‘I’m not that fussed, to be honest,’ said Harry bitterly, then Allison threw up what little she had for lunch.
The sounds of the galloping centaurs and the blundering giant were growing fainter and fainter. As Harry listened to them his scar gave another great throb and a wave of terror swept over him.
They had wasted so much time—they were even further from rescuing Sirius than they had been when he had had the vision. Not only had Harry managed to lose his wand but they were stuck in the middle of the Forbidden Forest with no means of transport whatsoever.
‘Smart plan,’ he spat at Allison as she regained her composure, keen to release some of his fury. ‘Really smart plan. Where do we go from here?’
‘We got to get back to the castle,’ said Allison, colour slowly returning to her face.
‘By the time we’ve done that, Sirius’ll probably be dead!’ said Harry, kicking a nearby tree in temper; there was a high-pitched
chattering overhead and he looked up to see an angry bowtruckle flexing its long twiglike fingers at him.
‘Harry, we’ll our wands to rescue Sirius,’ said Allison hopelessly, dragging herself up again. ‘Anyway, how were you planning us to get to London?’
‘Yeah, that was something we were thinking about too,’ said a familiar voice from behind her.
Harry and Allison moved instinctively together, peering through the trees, as Tracey came into sight, with Theodore, Canini, Neville, and Luna hurrying along behind him. All of them looked a little the worse for wear—there were several long scratches running the length of Canini’s already scarred cheek, a large purple lump was swelling above Neville’s right eye, Tracey was favouring her left leg—but all were looking rather pleased with themselves.
‘So Harry,’ said Theodore, pushing aside a low-hanging branch and holding out Harry and Allison’s wands, ‘got any ideas?’
‘How did you get away?’ asked Harry in amazement, taking his wand from Theodore as Allison did the same.’
‘Seven Disarming Charms, a few Stun Spells, Neville produced a really nice Impediment Jinx,’ said Tracey airily. ‘But Canini was the most successful, she pretended she was about to transform and it scared Pansy so much she nearly peed herself, she and a few other ran for their lives. Idiots, they it isn’t even a full moon.’
‘Once we were all free we came here,’ said Theodore. ‘I had seen you heading towards the forest through Umbridge’s window…speaking of the hag where is she?’
‘She got carried away,’ said Harry. ‘By a herd of centaurs.’
‘And they let you go unharmed?’ asked Tracey, looking astonished.
‘No, they got chased off by Grawp,’ said Harry.
‘Who’s Grawp?’ Luna asked interestedly.
‘Hagrid’s younger brother,’ said Allison promptly. ‘Now Harry, what did you find out from your floo chat? Does You-Know-Who have your godfather—?’
‘Yes,’ said Harry, as his scar gave another painful prickle, ‘and I’m sure Sirius is still alive, but I can’t see how we’re going to get there to help him.’
They all fell silent, looking rather scared. The problem facing them seemed insurmountable.
‘Well, we’ll have to fly, won’t we?’ said Luna in the closest thing to a matter-of-fact voice Harry had ever heard her use.
‘Okay,’ said Harry irritably, rounding on her, ‘first of all, “we” aren’t doing anything if you’re including yourself in that, and second of all, Allison’s the only one with a broomstick that isn’t being guarded by a security troll, so—‘
‘I’m coming!’ said Canini, as though that were the end of the discussion.
‘You are not!’ said Harry angrily.
‘Nothing you say will change my mind, Sirius is my father too!’
‘You’re too—‘ Harry began.
‘I’m older than you were when you fought You-Know-Who over the Philosopher’s Stone, and when you fought him to save Hermione,’ she said fiercely, ‘and I know more defensive spells now than you did at my age—‘
‘Yeah, but—‘
‘We were all in the D.A. together,’ said Neville quietly. ‘It was all supposed to be about fighting You-Know-Who, wasn’t it? And this is the first chance we’ve had to do something real—or was that all just a game or something?’
‘No—of course it wasn’t—‘ said Harry impatiently.
‘Then we should come too,’ said Neville simply. ‘We want to help.’
‘That’s right,’ said Luna, smiling happily.
Harry’s eyes met Theodore’s. He knew that Theodore was thinking exactly what he was: If he could have chosen any members of the D.A. in addition to himself, Theodore, Allison, and Tracey, to join him in the attempt to rescue Sirius, he would not have picked Neville, Luna, or their little sister.
‘Well, it doesn’t matter anyway,’ said Harry frustratedly, ‘because we still don’t know how to get there—‘
‘I thought we’d settled that?’ said Luna maddeningly. ‘We’re flying!’
‘Luna,’ said an exhausted Allison, ‘you might somehow be able to fly to London, but the rest of us can’t just fly by sheer will—‘
‘There are other ways of flying than with broomsticks,’ said Luna serenely.
‘Then what,’ said Allison, ‘are you going to have us ride one of your imaginary creatures?’
‘Not every REAL creature I know can fly,’ said Luna in a dignified voice, ‘but they can, and Hagrid says they’re very good at finding places their riders are looking for.’
Harry whirled around. Standing between two trees, their white eyes gleaming eerily, were two thestrals, watching the whispered conversation as though they understood every word.
‘Yes!’ he whispered, moving toward them. They tossed their reptilian heads, throwing back long black manes, and Harry stretched out his hand eagerly and patted the nearest one’s shining neck. How could he ever have thought them ugly?
‘Are those horse thingies there?’ asked Tracey uncertainly, staring at a point slightly to the left of the thestral Harry was patting. ‘The ones untouched can only see if you’ve seen someone die?’
‘Yeah,’ said Harry.
‘How many are there?’ asked Allison.
‘Just two.’
‘Then we need to find two more,’ said Allison, who was still looking a little shaken, but determined just the same.
‘Five, we need five!’ said Canini, scowling.
‘I believe there are seven of us, actually,’ said Luna calmly, counting.
‘Don’t be stupid, we can’t all go!’ said Harry angrily. ‘Look, you two’— he pointed at Neville Luna— ‘you’re not involved in this, and’— he now looked at Canini, —‘I can’t risk anything happening to my little sister, so you all aren’t—‘
They burst into more protests. His scar gave another, more painful, twinge. Every moment they delayed was precious; he did not have time to argue.
‘Okay, fine, it’s your choice,’ he said curtly. ‘But unless we can find more thestrals you’re not going to be able—‘
‘Don’t worry, more are on their way,’ said Theodore confidently, as he went two the second Thestral and began petting its neck as well.
‘What makes you think that?’
‘I know a lot was happening, but did you not pay attention to Hagrid’s lesson at all?’ said Theodore with curiosity in his voice. ‘You and Allison are covered in blood, they eat raw meat, you two are probably the reason these ones showed up and you’re the reason more will be here very soon.’
Harry felt a soft tug on his robes at that moment and looked down to see the closest thestral licking his sleeve, which was damp with Grawp’s blood.
‘Okay, then,’ he said, a bright idea occurring. ‘Allison and I are the ones covered in blood, Theodore, Neville, Luna, and I are the ones that can see them, so I’ll take Tracey and fly ahead and Theodore and Allison can wait behind for more thestrals to arrive—‘
‘I’m not getting left behind!’ said Allison furiously.
‘There’s no need,’ said Luna, smiling. ‘Look, here come more now…You two must really smell…’
Harry turned. No fewer than six or seven thestrals were picking their way through the trees now, their great leathery wings folded tight to their bodies, their eyes gleaming through the darkness. He had no excuse now…
‘All right,’ he said angrily, ‘pick one and get on, then.’
