elara walked in pace with hermione as they headed down the corridor outside umbridge's office, knowing it would look very suspicious if elara or harry appeared not to know where they were going. elara did not dare attempt to talk to harry or hermione; umbridge was walking so closely behind them that elara could hear her ragged breathing.

hermione 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 elara that twenty feet away were people who were enjoying dinner, celebrating the end of exams, not a care in the world. . . .

hermione 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 hermione 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 elara's ear.

"of course not," said hermione scathingly. "hagrid might have set it off accidentally."

"yes," said umbridge, whose excitement seemed to be mounting. "yes, he would have done, of course, the great half-breed oaf. . . ."

she laughed. elara felt a strong urge to swing around and seize umbridge by the throat, but resisted.

"then . . . where is it?" asked umbridge, with a hint of uncertainty in her voice as hermione continued to stride toward the forest.

"in there, of course," said hermione, pointing into the dark trees. "it had to be somewhere that students weren't going to find it accidentally, didn't it?"

"of course," said umbridge, though she sounded a little apprehensive now. "of course . . . very well, then . . . you three 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."

the urge to throttle umbridge was almost overwhelming

as they reached the cool shade of the first trees, it clicked.she knew what hermione was doing. she nudged hermione slightly and nodded as they 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.

"oh yes," said elara. "yes, it's well hidden."

"er — are you sure this is the right way?" asked harry 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; elara and hermione merely strode on, calling loudly over their shoulders, "it's a bit further in!"

"lara, hermione, keep your voice down," harry muttered, hurrying to catch up with her. "anything could be listening in here —"

"i want us heard," answered hermione quietly, as umbridge jogged noisily after them. "you'll see. . . ."

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. elara had the feeling she had had before in the forest, one of being watched by unseen eyes. . . .

"how much further?" demanded umbridge angrily from behind him.

"not far now!" shouted hermione, as they emerged into a dim, dank clearing. "just a little bit —"

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. elaraa could feel the forest floor trembling; umbridge gave a little scream and pushed elara in front of her like a shield —

elara wrenched herself free of her and turned. around fifty centaurs were emerging on every side, their bows raised and loaded, pointing at elara, harry, hermione, and umbridge, who backed slowly into the center of the clearing, umbridge uttering odd little whimpers of terror. elara looked sideways at hermione. she was wearing a triumphant smile.

"who are you?" said a voice.

elara looked left. the chestnut-bodied centaur called magorian was walking toward them out of the circle; his bow, like the others', was raised. on elara'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.

"she is responsible for the reduction of your territory," said elara, and the centaurs pawed the ground angrily.

"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 —"

elara winced.

"what did you call us?" shouted a wild-looking black centaur, whom elara recognized as bane. there was a great deal of angry muttering and tightening of bowstrings around them.

"don't call them that!" hermione said furiously, 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 —' "

"no, hermione," said elara quietly. "don't — "

" '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 elara had seen on her many trips 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!"

"be quiet!" shouted hermione, 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. elara jumped for umbridge's wand, wrestling it from her. elara was able to pull the wand free just as the centaurs charged.

harry grabbed elara and hermione and pulled her to the ground. facedown on the forest floor she knew a moment of terror as hooves thundered around her, but the centaurs leapt over and around them, bellowing and screaming with rage.

"nooooo!" elara heard umbridge shriek. "noooooo . . . i am denior undersecretary . . . you cannot . . . unhand me, you animals . . . nooooo!"

elara pointed the wand at magorian and muttered the counter-curse to the spell — magorian stopped wrestling with the ropes as they vanished. then umbridge screamed very loudly. lifting her head a few inches, elara saw that umbridge had been seized from behind by bane and lifted high into the air, wriggling and yelling with fright.

in a moment of spite, elara through the wand across the forest floor. a centaur's hoof descended upon the wand and it broke cleanly in half.

"now!" roared a voice in elara's ear and a thick hairy arm descended from thin air and dragged her upright; hermione and harry too had been pulled to her feet. over the plunging, many-colored backs and heads of the centaurs elara 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 hermione.

"they are young," said a slow, doleful voice from the centaur holding elara. "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. . . . the black haired girl has a great aura of power. . . ."

"please," said elara, forcing the shakiness out of her voice. "we're terribly sorry. that woman — she's been harming children. . . . do you know of aurora brightwind?"

"yes," replied ronan as his tail flicked. "she is one of two students we tolerate in our forest."

"that woman, she's been forcing aurora to carve 'i am nothing' into her skin. we wanted to drive her away. we didn't know how, we just wanted her gone. but you showed up and did it for us — "

elara knew at once from the look on the face of the gray centaur holding hermione 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 hermione in a horrorstruck squeak. "please — we didn't mean that! i just hoped you'd be able to — to help us —"

but it 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 —"

there was a wind going through the trees. a whisper settled on elara's shoulders. tell them about me. tell them about your destiny.

nobody seemed to be listening to harry. a bearded centaur toward the back of the crowd shouted, "they came here unasked, they must pay the consequences!"

"the vocar ad feram!" said elara desperately, and the centaurs quieted. "anya, the lady who lives in the loco veteres."

"how do you know who the vocar ad feram is?" said the gray centaur suspiciously.

"i've been in my dreams. i'm — i'm the praedo malorum."

"you must prove it. when nature speaks — "

the gray centaur wasn't able to finish his sentence as a powerful gust of wind coursed through the trees and began to swirl around elara as if she were in the middle of a tornado.

" — we listen," said the gray centaur, almost in awe.

one by one, the centaurs began to drop into a short bow. when they rose, ronan stepped forward.

"did the ministry woman allow harm befall you?"

"er — " elara was almost in shock that the centaurs had become docile, "yes, she carved words into my skin like aurora."

she lifted her hand to show the words 'i must not disrespect'. the centaurs began stamping their hooves in anger. hermione squeaked and hid behind elara.

"we will take care of her. we shall stand by you, praedo malorum. you are our savior."

"just — just elara is fine. you don't have to call me that. erm — yeah, thank you, i appreciate it."

"would you like us to dispose of these two?" said ronan, gesturing to hermione and harry.

"no! no — it's okay. they're fine. they're good people."

"have you begun seeing yet?" asked the grey centaur.

"uh — yes, yeah, i have."

"then it is almost your time. you will one day save us all from the snake."

"er — yes, thank you. i will — i will save us."

elara was more confused than she ever had been in her life. they bowed again, turned away, and began running to where umbridge was being kept (and hopefully tortured). the sounds of the galloping centaurs were growing fainter and fainter. elara sighed in immense relief. they weren't killed. however, harry thought much differently.

"smart plan," harry spat at elara and hermione, keen to release some of his fury. "really smart plan. where do we go from here?"

"we need to get back up to the castle," said hermione faintly.

"by the time we've done that, sirius'll probably be dead!" said harry, kicking a nearby tree in temper.

"harry james potter," said elara stiffly. "neither of us have the power to control everything."

"you couldn't've come up with a smarter plan? you two are supposed to be the smart ones!"

elara sighed and marched over to where harry was seething. instead of berating him, she wrapped her arms tightly around him. it was only after a moment's hesitation, harry hugged her back. she rested her head on his chest. his heart bet began to slow.

"better?" said elara as she pulled away.

harry nodded.

"we can't do anything without wands," said hermione hopelessly, dragging herself up again. "anyway, harry, lara, how exactly were you planning to get all the way to london?"

"yeah, we were just wondering that," said a familiar voice from behind her.

elara, harry, and hermione moved instinctively together, peering through the trees, as ron came into sight, with ginny, 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 ginny's cheek, a large purple lump was swelling above neville's right eye, ron's lip was bleeding worse than ever — but all were looking rather pleased with themselves.

"so," said ron, pushing aside a low-hanging branch and holding out the wands, "had any ideas?"

"how did you get away?" asked harry in amazement, taking his wand from ron.

"couple of stunners, a disarming charm, neville brought off a really nice little Impediment jinx," said ron airily, now handing back elara's and hermione's wand too. "but ginny was best, she got malfoy — bat-bogey hex — it was superb, his whole face was covered in the great flapping things. anyway, we saw you heading into the forest out of the window and followed. what've you done with umbridge?"

"she got carried away," said harry. "by a herd of centaurs."

"and they left you behind?" asked ginny, looking astonished.

"they were going to take us until elara mentioned the savior thing," said harry.

"anyway, never mind that now." said ron, "harry, what did you find out in the fire? has you-know-who got sirius or — ?"

"yes," said harry, "and i'm sure sirius is still alive, but ican'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 elara 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, ron's the only one with a broomstick that isn't being guarded by a security troll, so —"

"i've got a broom!" said ginny.

"yeah, but you're not coming," said ron angrily.

"excuse me, but i care what happens to sirius as much as you do!" said ginny, her jaw set so that her resemblance to fred and george was suddenly striking.

"you're too —" harry began.

"i'm three years older than you were when you fought you-know-who over the sorcerer's stone," she said fiercely, "and it's because of me malfoy's stuck back in umbridge's office with giant flying bogeys attacking him —"

"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.

"oh," said elara brightly, "let them come! ginny's terrifying, neville's pretty good, and i'm eighty percent sure luna is some sort of secret genius. they can help."

"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!"

"look," said ron, barely containing his anger, "you might be able to fly without a broomstick but the rest of us can't sprout wings whenever we —"

"there are other ways of flying than with broomsticks," said luna serenely.

"i s'pose we're going to ride on the back of the kacky snorgle or whatever it is?" ron demanded.