greenhouses.
The Herbology class was very subdued; there were now two missing
from their number, Justin and Hermione.
Professor Sprout set them all to work pruning the Abyssinian
Shrivelfigs. Harry went to tip an armful of withered stalks onto the
compost heap and found himself face-to-face with Ernie Macmillan.
Ernie took a deep breath and said, very formally, "I just want to say,
Harry, that I'm sorry I ever suspected you. I know you'd never attack
Hermione Granger, and I apologize for all the stuff I said. We're all in
the same boat now, and, well -"
He held out a pudgy hand, and Harry shook it.
Ernie and his friend Hannah came to work at the same Shrivelfig as
Harry and Ron.
"That Draco Malfoy character," said Ernie, breaking off dead twigs,
"he seems very pleased about all this, doesn't he? D'you know, I think
he might be Slytherin's heir."
"That's clever of you," said Ron, who didn't seem to have forgiven
Ernie as readily as Harry.
"Do you think it's Malfoy, Harry?" Ernie asked.
"No," said Harry, so firmly that Ernie and Hannah stared.
A second later, Harry spotted something.
Several large spiders were scuttling over the ground on the other side
of the glass, moving in an unnaturally straight line as though taking the
shortest route to a prearranged meeting. Harry hit Ron over the hand
with his pruning shears.
"Ouch! What're you -"
228
Harry pointed out the spiders, following their progress with his eyes
screwed up against the sun.
"Oh, yeah," said Ron, trying, and failing, to look pleased. "But we can't
follow them now -"
Ernie and Hannah were listening curiously.
Harry's eyes narrowed as he focused on the spiders. If they pursued
their fixed course, there could be no doubt about where they would
end up.
"Looks like they're heading for the Forbidden Forest . . . ."
And Ron looked even unhappier about that.
At the end of the lesson Professor Sprout escorted the class to their
Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson. Harry and Ron lagged behind
the others so they could talk out of earshot.
"We'll have to use the Invisibility Cloak again," Harry told Ron. "We
can take Fang with us. He's used to going into the forest with Hagrid,
he might be some help."
"Right," said Ron, who was twirling his wand nervously in his fingers.
"Er - aren't there - aren't there supposed to be werewolves in the
forest?" he added as they took their usual places at the back of
Lockhart's classroom.
Preferring not to answer that question, Harry said, "There are good
things in there, too. The centaurs are all right, and the unicorns ...
Ron had never been into the Forbidden Forest before. Harry had
entered it only once and had hoped never to do so again.
Lockhart bounded into the room and the class stared at him. Every
other teacher in the place was looking grimmer than usual, but
Lockhart appeared nothing short of buoyant.
2 69
"Come now," he cried, beaming around him. "Why all these long