ALENA WALKED IN PACE WITH HARRY AS THEY HEADED DOWN THE CORRIDOR OUTSIDE UMBRIDGE'S OFFICE, KNOWING IT WOULD LOOK VERY SUSPICIOUS IF ALENA OR HARRY APPEARED NOT TO KNOW WHERE THEY WERE GOING. Umbridge was walking so close to Alena she could hear her ragged breathing.
Alena 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...
Alena walked straight out of the oak front doors and down the stone steps into the balmy evening air. The sun was falling towards the tops of the trees in the Forbidden Forest now, and as Alena 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.
"No," said Alena. "Hagrid would've set it off by accident ages ago. Have some sense, will you, Professor?"
"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 round 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 m.
"Then ... where is it?" asked Umbridge, with a hint of uncertainty in her voice as Alena continued to stride towards the Forest.
