"If your whole life turns out to be a lie, what will you do then?"
"If everything you knew turns out to be a hoax, what will you do then?"
Graciana Duerre Weasley, twin sister of Ron Weasley, is a troublemaker. Mischievous but a little introvert, bo...
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GRACE HAD A SHREWD IDEA to what Hermione was doing. She walked in pace with her as they headed down the corridor outside Umbridge's office, knowing it would look very suspicious if Grace or Harry appeared not to know where they were going. They did not dare attempt to talk to her; Umbridge was walking so closely behind them that she 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 Grace 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 Grace'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. Grace felt a strong urge to swing around and seize her 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."
As they reached the cool shade of the first trees, it clicked. She knew what Hermione was doing. Hermione was not taking the path they had followed to visit Grawp, but the one Grace had followed three years ago to the lair of the monster Aragog. Grace then 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.
