Harry Potter 06 - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

he panted, disentangling himself from the hedgerow into which he had fallen.
    ‘Harry!’ said Hagrid, who had sleet trapped in his eyebrows and beard, and was wearing his great, shaggy beaverskin coat. ‘Jus’ bin visitin’ Grawp, he’s comin’ on so well yeh wouldn’ –’
    ‘Hagrid, someone’s hurt back there, or cursed, or something –’
    ‘Wha’?’ said Hagrid, bending lower to hear what Harry was saying over the raging wind.
    ‘Someone’s been cursed!’ bellowed Harry.
    ‘Cursed? Who’s bin cursed – not Ron? Hermione?’
    ‘No, it’s not them, it’s Katie Bell – this way …’
    Together they ran back along the lane. It took them no time to find the little group of people around Katie, who was still writhing and screaming on the ground; Ron, Hermione and Leanne were all trying to quieten her.
    ‘Get back!’ shouted Hagrid. ‘Lemme see her!’
    ‘Something’s happened to her!’ sobbed Leanne. ‘I don’t know what –’
    Hagrid stared at Katie for a second, then, without a word, bent down, scooped her into his arms and ran off towards the castle with her. Within seconds, Katie’s piercing screams had died away and the only sound was the roar of the wind.
    Hermione hurried over to Katie’s wailing friend and put an arm around her.
    ‘It’s Leanne, isn’t it?’
    The girl nodded.
    ‘Did it just happen all of a sudden, or –?’
    ‘It was when that package tore,’ sobbed Leanne, pointing at the now sodden brown-paper package on the ground, which had split open to reveal a greenish glitter. Ron bent down, his hand outstretched, but Harry seized his arm and pulled him back.
    ‘Don’t touch it!’
    He crouched down. An ornate opal necklace was visible, poking out of the paper.
    ‘I’ve seen that before,’ said Harry, staring at the thing. ‘It was on display in Borgin and Burkes ages ago. The label said it was cursed. Katie must have touched it.’ He looked up at Leanne, who had started to shake uncontrollably. ‘How did Katie get hold of this?’
    ‘Well, that’s why we were arguing. She came back from the bathroom in the Three Broomsticks holding it, said it was a surprise for somebody at Hogwarts and she had to deliver it. She looked all funny when she said it … oh no, oh no, I bet she’d been Imperiused, and I didn’t realise!’
    Leanne shook with renewed sobs. Hermione patted her shoulder gently.
    ‘She didn’t say who’d given it to her, Leanne?’
    ‘No … she wouldn’t tell me … and I said she was being stupid and not to take it up to school, but she just wouldn’t listen and … and then I tried to grab it from her … and – and –’ Leanne let out a wail of despair.
    ‘We’d better get up to school,’ said Hermione, her arm still around Leanne, ‘we’ll be able to find out how she is. Come on …’
    Harry hesitated for a moment, then pulled his scarf from around his face and, ignoring Ron’s gasp, carefully covered the necklace in it and picked it up.
    ‘We’ll need to show this to Madam Pomfrey,’ he said.
    As they followed Hermione and Leanne up the road, Harry was thinking furiously. They had just entered the grounds when he spoke, unable to keep his thoughts to himself any longer.
    ‘Malfoy knows about this necklace. It was in a case at Borgin and Burkes four years ago, I saw him having a good look at it while I was hiding from him and his dad. This is what he was buying that day when we followed him! He remembered it and he went back for it!’
    ‘I – I dunno, Harry,’ said Ron hesitantly. ‘Loads of people go to Borgin and Burkes … and didn’t that girl say Katie got it in the girls’ bathroom?’
    ‘She said she came back from the bathroom with it, she didn’t necessarily get it in the bathroom itself –’
    ‘McGonagall!’ said Ron warningly.
    Harry looked up. Sure enough, Professor McGonagall was hurrying down the stone steps through swirling sleet to meet them.
    ‘Hagrid says you four saw what happened to Katie Bell – upstairs to my office at once, please! What’s that you’re holding, Potter?’
    ‘It’s the thing she touched,’ said Harry.
    ‘Good Lord,’ said Professor McGonagall, looking alarmed as she took the necklace from Harry. ‘No, no, Filch, they’re with me!’ she added hastily, as Filch came shuffling eagerly across the Entrance Hall holding his Secrecy Sensor aloft. ‘Take this necklace to Professor Snape at once, but be sure not to touch it, keep it wrapped in the