| She picked up the book and then walked back past him into the tent, but as she did so, she brushed the top of his head lightly with her handHe closed his eyes at her touch, and hated himself for wishing that what she said was true: that Dumbledore had really cared
\p\C0="Chapter Nineteen: The Silver Doe"
\bChapter Nineteen
\iThe Silver Doe\i\b
It was snowing by the time Hermione took over the watch at midnightHarry's dreams were confused and disturbing: Nagini wove in and out of them, first through a wreath of Christmas rosesHe woke repeatedly, panicky, convinced that somebody had called out to him in the distance, imagining that the wind whipping around the tent was footsteps or voices
Finally he got up in the darkness and joined Hermione, who was huddled in the entrance to the tent reading \iA History of Magic\i by the light of her wandThe snow was falling thickly, and she greeted with relief his suggestion of packing up early and moving on
"We'll somewhere more sheltered," she agreed, shivering as she pulled on a sweatshirt over her pajamas"I kept thinking I could hear people moving cheap chanel purses outsideI even though I saw somebody one or twice
Harry paused in the act of pulling on a jumper and glanced at the silent, motionless Sneakoscope on the table
"I'm sure I imagined it," said Hermione, looking nervous"The snow the dark, it plays tricks on your eyesBut perhaps we ought to Disapparate under the Invisibility Cloak, just in case?"
Half an hour later, with the tent packed, Harry wearing the Horcrux, and Hermione clutching the beaded bag, they DisapparatedThe usual tightness engulfed them; Harry's feet parted company with the snowy ground, then slammed hard onto what felt like frozen earth covered in leaves
"Where are we?" he asked, peering around at the fresh mass of trees as Hermione opened the beaded bag and began tugging out the tent poles
"The Forest of Dean," she said, "I came camping here once with my mum and dad
Here too snow lay on the trees all around and it was bitterly cold, but they were at least protected from the windThey spent most of the day inside the tent, huddled for warmth around the useful bright blue flames that Hermione was adept at producing, and which could ladies cartier watch sales be scooped up and carried in a jarHarry felt as though he was recuperating from some brief but severe, an impression reinforced by Hermione's solicitousnessThat afternoon fresh flakes drifted down upon them, so that even their sheltered clearing had a fresh dusting of powdery snow
After two nights of little sleep, Harry's senses seemed more alert than usualTheir escape from Godric's Hollow had been so narrow that Voldemort seemed somehow closer than before, more threateningAs darkness drove in again Harry refused Hermione's offer to keep watch and told her to go to bed
Harry moved an old cushion into the tent mouth and sat down, wearing all the sweaters he owned but even so, still shiveryThe darkness deepened with the passing hours until it was virtually impenetrableHe was on the point of taking out the Marauder's Map, so as to watch Ginny's dot for a while, before he remembered that it was the Christmas holidays and that she would be back at the Burrow
Every tiny movement seemed magnified in the vastness of the forestHarry knew that it must be full of living creatures, but he wished they would louis vuitton pochette all remain still and silent so that he could separate their innocent scurryings and prowlings from noises that might proclaim other, sinister movementsHe remembered the sound of a cloak slithering over dead leaves many years ago, and at once thought he heard it again before mentally shaking himselfTheir protective enchantments had worked for weeks; why should they break now? And yet he could no throw off the feeling that something was different tonight
Several times he jerked upright, his neck aching because he had fallen asleep, slumped at an awkward angle against the side of the tentThe night reached such a depth of velvety blackness that he might have been suspended in limbo between Disapparation and ApparationHe had just held a hand in front of his face to see whether he could make out his fingers when it happened
A bright silver light appeared right ahead of him, moving through the treesWhatever the source, it was moving soundlesslyThe light seemed simply to drift toward him
He jumped to his feet, his voice frozen in his throat, and raised Hermione's wandHe screwed up his eyes as the light cartier ladies santos series replica watches became blinding, the trees in front of it pitch black in silhouette, and still the thing came closer
And then the source of the light stepped out from behind an oakIt was a silver white doe, moon-bright and dazzling, picking her way over the ground, still silent, and leaving no hoofprints in the fine powdering of snowShe stepped toward him, her beautiful head with its wide, long-lashed eyes held high
Harry stared at the creature, filled with wonder, not at her strangeness, but her inexplicable familiarityHe felt that he had been waiting for her to come, but that he had forgotten, until this moment, that they had arranged to meetHis impulse to shout for Hermione, which had been so strong a moment ago, had goneHe knew, he would have staked his life on it, that she had come for him, and him alone
They gazed at each other for several long moments and then she turned and walked away
"No," he said, and his voice was cracked with lack of use"Come back!"
She continued to step deliberately through the trees, and soon he brightness was striped by their thick black trunksFor one trembling second he black and white chanel handbag hesit |
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