Sirius Black daughter - Athena Black (Book 2)

Twenty

The Gryffindor common room was always very crowded these days, because from six o'clock onward the Gryffindors had nowhere else to go. They also had plenty to talk about, with the result that the common room often didn't empty until past midnight. Fred and George challenged Athena, Harry and Ron to a few games of Exploding Snap, and Ginny sat watching them, very subdued in Hermione's usual chair. Athena, Harry and Ron kept losing on purpose, trying to finish the games quickly, but even so, it was well past midnight when Fred, George, and Ginny finally went to bed. Athena, Harry and Ron waited for the distant sounds of two dormitory doors closing before seizing the cloak, throwing it over themselves, and climbing through the portrait hole. It was another difficult journey through the castle, dodging all the teachers. At last they reached the entrance hall, slid back the lock on the oak front doors, squeezed between them, trying to stop any creaking, and stepped out into the moonlit grounds. 

" 'Course," said Ron abruptly as they strode across the black grass, "we might get to the forest and find there's nothing to follow. Those spiders might not've been going there at all. I know it looked like they were moving in that sort of general direction, but ..." His voice trailed away hopefully. 

They reached Hagrid's house, sad and sorry-looking with its blank windows. When Harry pushed the door open, Fang went mad with joy at the sight of them. Worried he might wake everyone at the castle with his deep, booming barks, they hastily fed him treacle toffee from a tin on the mantelpiece, which glued his teeth together. Harry left the Invisibility Cloak on Hagrid's table. There would be no need for it in the pitch-dark forest. 

"C'mon, Fang, we're going for a walk," said Harry, patting his leg, and Fang bounded happily out of the house behind them, dashed to the edge of the forest, and lifted his leg against a large sycamore tree. Athena took out her wand, murmured, "Lumos!" and a tiny light appeared at the end of it, just enough to let them watch the path for signs of spiders. 

"Good thinking," said Ron. "I'd light mine, too, but you know — it'd probably blow up or something. ..." 

Harry tapped Athena and Ron on the shoulder, pointing at the grass. Two solitary spiders were hurrying away from the wand light into the shade of the trees. 

"Okay," Ron sighed as though resigned to the worst, "I'm ready. Let's go." 

So, with Fang scampering around them, sniffing tree roots and leaves, they entered the forest. By the glow of Athena's and Harry's wand, they followed the steady trickle of spiders moving along the path. They walked behind them for about twenty minutes, not speaking, listening hard for noises other than breaking twigs and rustling leaves. Then, when the trees had become thicker than ever, so that the stars overhead were no longer visible, and Athena's and Harry's wand shone alone in the sea of dark, they saw their spider guides leaving the path. They paused, trying to see where the spiders were going, but everything outside their little sphere of light was pitch-black. 

They had never been this deep into the forest before. Athena could vividly remember Hagrid advising them not to leave the forest path last time they'd been in here. But Hagrid was miles away now, probably sitting in a cell in Azkaban, and he had also said to follow the spiders. Harry suddenly jumped back jerking Athena back to her senses. 

"What d'you reckon?" Harry said to Athena and Ron.

"We've come this far," said Ron.

So they followed the darting shadows of the spiders into the trees. They couldn't move very quickly now; there were tree roots and stumps in their way, barely visible in the near blackness.  More than once, they had to stop, so that Harry could crouch down and find the spiders in the wandlight. They walked for what seemed like at least half an hour, their robes snagging on low-slung branches and brambles. Athena's oversized T-shirt was now tattered. After a while, they noticed that the ground seemed to be sloping downward, though the trees were as thick as ever. Then Fang suddenly let loose a great, echoing bark,making Athena, Harry and Ron jump out of their skins.