Harry Potter 02 - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

purpose, trying to finish the games quickly, but even so, it was well past midnight when Fred, George and Ginny finally went to bed.
    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 tailed 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 fudge 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.
    Harry took out his 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 Ron on the shoulder, pointing at the grass. Two solitary spiders were hurrying away from the wandlight into the shade of the trees.
    ‘OK,’ 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 Harry’s wand, they followed the steady trickle of spiders moving along the path. They walked 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 Harry’s wand shone alone in the sea of dark, they saw their spider guides leaving the path.
    Harry paused, trying to see where the spiders were going, but everything outside his little sphere of light was pitch black. He had never been this deep into the Forest before. He could vividly remember Hagrid advising him not to leave the Forest path last time he’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.
    Something wet touched Harry’s hand and he jumped backwards, crushing Ron’s foot, but it was only Fang’s nose.
    ‘What d’you reckon?’ Harry said to Ron, whose eyes he could just make out, reflecting the light from his wand.
    ‘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. Harry could feel Fang’s hot breath on his hand. 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. After a while, they noticed that the ground seemed to be sloping downwards, though the trees were as thick as ever.
    Then Fang suddenly let loose a great, echoing bark, making both Harry and Ron jump out of their skins.
    ‘What?’ said Ron loudly, looking around into the pitch dark, and gripping Harry’s elbow very hard.
    ‘There’s something moving over there,’ Harry breathed. ‘Listen … Sounds like something big.’
    They listened. Some distance to their right, the something big was snapping branches as it carved a path through the trees.
    ‘Oh no,’ said Ron. ‘Oh no, oh no, oh –’
    ‘Shut up,’ said Harry frantically. ‘It’ll hear you.’
    ‘Hear me ?’ said Ron in an unnaturally high voice. ‘It’s already heard Fang!’
    The darkness seemed to be pressing on their