. harry kept looking
nervously over his shoulder. he had the hey were
being watched. he was very glad they had hagrid and his crossbow
with them. they had just passed a beh when hermione
grabbed hagrids arm.
”hagrid! look! red sparks, the others are in trouble!”
”you twrid shouted. ”stay oh, ill
e back for yeh!”
they heard him g away through the uh and stood
lookiher, very stil they t hear anything
but the rustling of leaves around them.
”you dont think theyve been hurt, do you?” whispered hermione.
”i dont care if malfoy has, but if somethings got
s our fault hes here i place.”
the minutes dragged by. their ears seemed sharper than
usual. harrys seemed to be pig up every sigh of the wind,
every g tas goihe others?
at last, a great g noise announced hagrids
return. malfoy, neville, ah him. hagrid was
fuming. malfoy, it seemed, had sneaked up behind neville and grabbed
him as a joke. neville had panid sent up the sparks.
”well be lucky ter ythin now, with the racket you two
were makin. right, were groups -- ay with
me an hermio with fang an this idiot. im sorry,”
hagrid added io harry, ”but hell have a harder time
frightenin you, an weve gotta get this done.”
so harry set off ihe forest with malfoy and
fang. they walked for nearly half an hour, deeper ahe
forest, uh bepossible to follow because the
trees were so thick. harry thought the blood seemed to be getting
thicker. there were splashes os of a tree, as though the
poor creature had been thrashing around in pain close by. harry could
see a g ahead, through the tangled bran a oak.
”look --” he murmured, holding out his arm to stop malfoy.
something bright white was gleaming on the ground. they inched
closer.