Raised By Wolfstar: Slytherin Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix

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!'