CHAPTER NINETY-ONE

Following her brief little nap, Tonks felt much better than a few nights ago, at least in terms of her feverish state of mind she'd suffered while under the effects of those Merlin-damned stupid Bleeding Mulberries.

Slowly, her eyelids fluttered open and she found as soon as she got up and stretched her arms and legs that her entire body ached.

The finger-markings on her abdomen still sent swells of stinging pain throughout her entire body every now and again.

Remus had noticed them last night during their first time together spent as husband and wife, though he had made no comment on them.

Though Tonks wasn't fooled. She liked to think she knew her new husband well enough by now to know when he was troubled and fretting over her, and she could tell he was worried the bruises on her abdomen and near her pelvis would spell danger for little baby Lupin currently growing inside her. She didn't think that was going to be the case.

At least, I hope not, she thought and bit down on her tongue, rolling her neck to crack. But she didn't feel dizzy and light-headed anymore, so that was an improvement.

Lupin's quiet, concerned voice broke Tonks out of her thoughts. "Are you feeling well enough to move on, Dora?" he asked, and he offered her a curt nod as she smiled.

"Yes, I think so," Tonks answered her husband by way of reply. "But…truth be told, I—I don't know how I feel about leaving the forest," she confessed, biting her lip.

She couldn't quite shake the feeling of dread that crept down her spine, leaving it tingling, like a spider leaving a careful trail of silk, and Tonks repressed a light little shake.

Remus looked towards her and nodded. "I know. I was just thinking the same thing. It's easy to get lost in here, love, but there's more danger outside of these trees than within the Forest, and with Norah leading the way, we'll be safer if we stick together."

Tonks sighed and nodded. As much as she wanted to leave the Forbidden Forest behind her for good, she knew that time was not on their side and was, like it or not, of the essence here. There was no telling what the centaurs would do to Dolores Umbridge.

Going through the Forbidden Forest rather than around it to get to the centaurs' camps would certainly prove quicker than going around, assuming, of course, that the Forest only 'sort of' got them lost, though they hoped that by having Norah here, they wouldn't.

But more importantly, they wanted to avoid more centaurs if they could help it. Norah had expressed a desire to deal with only Astelos and only him, given that out of all of them, she claimed that he, as the herd's leader, was the most reasonable of them.

Tonks highly doubted it, considering this was the same beast who'd held the knife to her throat and would have killed her had her instincts not caused her to break the creature's nose, though she said nothing in that regard, thinking it would be best if she didn't bring it up.

She sighed and toyed with a lock with her now dark chocolate brown hair, almost jet-black in color, furrowing her brows at Ollie's vehement insistence she changes the color of her hair for the duration of their trek through the forest, though she understood.

Astelos, at the time of that unpleasant first encounter when the centaur had so unceremoniously, shoved the edge of his blade at her throat (Tonks shuddered at that thought as the memory flitted through her mind), had only seen her with purple hair.

It was a hell of a long shot, though going into the centaurs' encampments with a new outfit and her hair a different color this morning just might—might—work out.

Tonks's frown deepened as she caught sight of Ollie exchanging a worried glance with Norah, sensing there was something that either one or both of them weren't telling her, but she decided that whatever it was if it was important enough, they would have said.

Tonks sighed as she waved her wand and cleared up the last of their campsite, not wanting to leave any evidence behind for any creature here in the Forest to discover their whereabouts.

She heaved a little groan as she slung the straps of her little travel-sized canvas knapsack over her shoulders, adjusting its weight to evenly distribute across her back.

Tonks knew she would have gladly gotten herself lost in the Forbidden Forest for the rest of her natural days if it meant she wouldn't have to run into any more centaurs.

"Well. I'm ready to go whenever you are, Norah," she murmured, yawning.

The blonde werewolf smiled and clapped Tonks on the shoulder. "Good. We're going to try to make as much time as possible, but given your condition, let me know if you need to rest. I won't hold it against you if you do," Norah offered in a quiet voice.

Tonks gave a curt nod, still toying with a lock of her new dark hair, wondering as to the reason for the change other than Astelos hopefully not recognizing her whenever Norah met with the herd's leader to discuss negotiations in letting Umbridge go free.

"I should be fine, Norah," she said, offering the young blonde a light little smile that she was relieved to see the She-Wolf return. "Once we get moving, at least. Everything still kind of hurts from a few nights ago, but probably from…sleeping so much," she murmured, trying to ignore the intense fiery heat that crept its way onto her cheeks, and she was displeased to see both Ollie and Norah exchange amused smirks.

"Something tells me the two of you didn't sleep much at all last night, and that's the reason you woke up late," Ollie snorted, rolling his eyes blue eyes in good jest at her.

Tonks's blush intensified, and Merlin blesses his soul, Remus intervened before another jab could be made fun at their expense.

"I should check on your wounds, Dora, before we go any further," Lupin murmured, gently tugging her arm away from Ollie and Norah, who quickly nodded their agreement and moved to stand off to the side.

Hesitating, Tonks stuck out her bottom lip and bit down on it in a slight pout. She really didn't want Rem fussing over her any more than he was already likely to do.

"But I feel fine, honey," she insisted, though she let out a low groan as Remus lifted his gaze and fixed his wife with a pointed stare that she knew he was going to win.

"Let me see it, Dora. It's not good to allow injures like yours to go unchecked," Lupin growled, and briefly, the shadow of the Wolf within darted across his pale features, and Tonks flinched, biting the inside wall of her cheek. "I'd feel better knowing that your bruises and scratches are on the mend and stay uninfected. Now. Let me see them, love."

Tonks groaned and stomped her foot in a moment of agitation, a temporary release of her frustration at Remus's mollycoddling over her, though as quickly as her annoyance could surge to an unhealthy level, she froze, and bit the wall of her cheek in thought.

He cares about you, T, Ollie's voice spoke up, and she didn't even have to look behind her to imagine her best friend probably leaning against the trunk of a tree with his arms folded across his chest. Tonks could feel her friend's stare burning a hole in the back of her skull. He's your husband now, Tonks. He cares for you, wants you and your baby healthy. If you don't let him see it now, then he's just going to put up even more of a fuss and is going to delay us up in getting to the centaurs camp and getting Umbridge…

Merlin damn him, Tonks thought, swearing under her breath through gritted teeth. Ollie was right. As usual, and she let out a reluctant, defeated sigh and nodded, reaching up with slightly trembling fingers to undo a few of the buttons on her red shirt.

"Okay, Rem," she whispered after a somewhat uneasy silence. "You win."

She shrugged out of her red leather jacket and loosened the buttons near the top of her shirt and allowed Lupin to gingerly run the pads of his fingertips over the wound near the edge of her collarbone, and let out a shiver when his hands wandered further beneath her shirt, trying to ignore the immense heat speckling along her cheeks as her mind wandered to inappropriate thoughts of last night, their time spent together in bed.

Tonks drew in a sharp breath of cold November air that pained her lungs, watching in silence as Lupin scrutinized the bruises purpling and forming on her stomach.

The wounds still stung of course, but they felt a little better than they had a few nights ago when they were fresher.

At last, Lupin broke the somewhat awkward silence. "Well, the good news, Dora, is they don't seem infected to me yet," Remus spoke, sounding thoughtful as he looked over the various scratches and bruises on her stomach. "But if you'll let me help you, sweetheart, I'd like to be able to keep a closer eye on them. I don't want these to cause harm to you or our baby. The second we get back to Hogwarts once we get Umbridge out of here, I'd like for Madam Pomfrey to take a look at you, Tonks. Those centaurs could have done far worse damage to you than they did, and the markings aren't particularly deep, which is a good thing, but they're still deep enough that I don't like the way they're looking, and they need to be taken seriously. There is every possibility if they aren't treated soon, they could become infected, Dora."

Tonks nodded in understanding, her brows furrowed in contemplative thought, letting out the tiniest sigh of disappointment as Remus removed his hand and she buttoned up her shirt and shrugged back into her red leather jacket for warmth as best as she could.

She missed the warmth Remus gave off, and she could only hope that the next time the two of them went to bed together, they would be back in their own bed, in Remus's cottage in Wales, now that she had moved in with him prior to marrying him last night.

"Do you think the markings will leave scars, Remus?" she murmured in a low enough voice so that only Remus heard her, unable to disguise the note of fear in her voice as she zipped up her jacket, shifting the straps of her knapsack on her back and instinctively reaching for her husband's hand as they walked to join Ollie and Norah, who were deep in a conversation of their own, their voices way too low to make out.

Lupin shrugged, glancing at Tonks out of the corner of his vision and offering his wife what he hoped was a reassuring smile, though he did not want to lie to his wife.

"I couldn't say," he murmured, pulling Tonks close and giving her hand a gentle squeeze. "I hope not, but I would guess even if your wounds were to scar, they'd be faint, in time. Madam Pomfrey I'm sure will have something that will reduce them, love."

"All right," Tonks sounded, not so sure she was entirely convinced by her husband's words. She sincerely hoped the markings wouldn't scar.

Tonks did not want to be reminded of her encounter with the centaurs every time she showered or got undressed when they were back home in the safety of their cottage on the hill in Wales.

"Are you lot ready to get going?" Norah barked from her position underneath the shade of an old elm tree, her arms folded across her chest. "We've got a way to walk."

Tonks nodded. So did Remus.

"Good." Norah shook her head in slight amusement as she waved them on, in the direction of the northwest part of the Forbidden Forest. "Remember. Speak up at any time if you need a break," the She-Wolf reminded Tonks. "The last thing we need is for you to get sick again and slow us down. Do you have any questions, Tonks?"

Norah fixed her with a pointed stare as the four of them went on their way, her blue eyes feeling like they were piercing a hole straight through to Tonks's beating heart.

Tonks bit her bottom lip. Only one question she wanted to ask of Norah and Ollie, so badly that it ached. It burned on the edge of her tongue, just begging to be asked.

Finally, she could hold it back no longer and it tumbled out before she could stop herself. She felt the corners of her lips turn upward into a deliciously evil little smirk.

"Yeah. Only one." Tonks's grin widened as she looked at Norah and Ollie with a mischievous glint twinkling in her light gray eyes. "Did you do it?"


Tonks let out a tiny growl as she almost stumbled over a gnarled tree root, a big one, hidden underneath a pile of fallen leaves.

They couldn't have been walking for more than an hour or two when Tonks began to notice something unusual and rather strange.

"Oh, my Merlin…wha—what is that?!" she whispered, craning her neck upward, trying to look this way and that, swallowing down hard past the hard lump in her throat.

The four of them had entered into a section of the Forbidden Forest that seemed to be coated in a sort of sticky webbing, almost like spider webs, really enormous ones.

Though it was much too plenty to be that, though Tonks could not shake the vision of the baby Acromantula spider that had bitten Ollie by command of Barty Crouch.

Unless thousands of spiders just happened to live in the depths of the Forbidden Forest, and she guessed considering there was a herd of angry centaurs that lived in these woods and remembering the big spider that had almost poisoned Ollie a few nights back, she supposed she couldn't rule anything out.

But the emotional side of her brain sincerely hoped that it was just some kind of residue from an unfamiliar plant that grew in here.

"Wh—what is that, Norah? Remus?" Tonks heard herself croak in a hoarse voice that did not sound like herself at all as her brows furrowed as she looked at the substance.

"Looks like spider webs to me, T," Ollie noted with a frown of his own as he moved to walk in sync to Tonks's left, with Remus on her right, and Norah up ahead.

"B—but… that's not possible. It—it can't be," she squeaked, looking at Remus as she proceeded to pinch at a section of the sticky string on a nearby tree root with her thumb and forefinger.

The substance proceeded to cling to her finger, though fortunately, if this really was a spider web, it was stuck more to the tree than to her, thank Merlin.

Up ahead, Norah made a muffled little strangled noise at the back of her throat and let out what sounded like a snort through her nose.

"Oh, yes, it can, Tonks," she called out, turning her head to regard the three of them with a bemused smirk on her face. She raised her eyebrows as she spoke to Ollie, Tonks, and Remus. "Do you truly know nothing about the Forbidden Forest? Has Dumbledore taught you nothing, huh?"

Tonks shook her head and swallowed nervously. "W—well, the Forest wasn't exactly welcome for Hogwarts students to just go exploring, Jameson," she barked, feeling the beginnings of fear begin to creep into her voice as it hardened and grew clipped. "Does…I—I heard rumors of Acromantula living in this forest. Is this their territory?"

Norah shrugged. "Oh, I've heard mention of one in particular. Goes by Aragog, I think. I guess he's a personal friend of Hagrid's," she grumbled darkly under her breath, though she shuddered at the thought of encountering an Acromantula of any size of form.

Oh, my Merlin. Tonks let out a tiny whine and clutched even tighter onto Remus's hand for support, and for extra measure, looped her other free arm around Ollie.

She bit the inside of her cheek. Leave it to Hagrid of all people to befriend a fully grown adult talking Acromantula, she thought, squeezing her eyes tightly shut in fear.

"S—surely it's not true, though," Tonks called out, allowing a nervous little chuckle to escape her lips as she looked skittishly around the three of them for any signs of an impending attack.

She could not quite bring herself to believe there was such a thing as giant spiders. She couldn't. Not one any huger than the one that attacked Ollie.

Tonks gulped and looked back towards Norah, who was still walking well ahead of them, leading the way. "People… people embellish stories all the time, Jameson!"

Norah snorted and shook her head in mock disappointment, as though she had expected better of Tonks. "Have you ever known the Hogwarts Gamekeeper to lie?!"

Tonks frowned, feeling her heart sink to the pit of her churning stomach. Merlin damn her too. Norah was bloody right. Hagrid had always been a terrible liar, this was true.

If there really were a giant spider living in this section of the Forbidden Forest, and Hagrid did happen to know the creature, then perhaps their only hope of getting out of their turf alive was to mention Hagrid's name to it and pray Aragog didn't kill them.

The young witch felt her shoulders slump in disappointment, and a fresh stab of a fear prick at her heartstrings as she didn't bother to tamp down the groan that left her lips.

"You could have told us that this morning, Norah!" Tonks bellowed, momentarily forgetting to keep her voice down. "If I would have known we were going to be traipsing through the woods on spiderwebs and—and fear of the pain of death, then I might have bloody taken my chances going around the Forest with more of those centaurs!" she cried, glancing around at the massive white sticky substances that lined the branches of the tree, and covered the very ground that they walked on. "How big is it?"

She was, of course, referring to Aragog, and Tonks sincerely hoped their group didn't find out for themselves.

While Tonks didn't mind spiders so much as long as they were small, a spider that was bigger than her hand or the one that had attacked Ollie a few nights ago would terrify the living daylights out of her, and judging by the size of these massive webs, the spider that Norah was referring to was much larger than her hand.

Norah huffed in frustration. "Like I said to you before," she grumbled with a shrug of her shoulders. "I've never met this Aragog and I don't bloody plan to today or any other day."

Tonks frowned at the blonde werewolf's response and felt her hand instinctively wander to her front black jeans pocket, of which she'd performed an extension charm so her wand would fit securely without risk of falling out.

Though she thought herself foolish for thinking that her wand of all things would warn her to the dangers of these spiders.

She let out a tired sigh and squinted ahead at the path in front of them. "Norah!" she yelled as she looked ahead.

Not even twelve yards in front of them rested what looked to be a small pile of very large spiders, all of them dead and lying on their backs, with their spindly legs stiffly in the air, and arrows from the centaurs protruding out of them.

"Oh, my Merlin," she moaned. The spiders were much bigger than Tonks, larger than Remus and Ollie, even. Maybe even as large as the centaurs she had encountered.

Tonks visibly winced and took a faltering step backward in her haste to put as much distance between herself and the dead spiders as possible, and almost tripped over a stupid tree root, and would have if Ollie hadn't shot out her arm to catch her abrupt fall.

"Th—thanks, Ol," she managed to gasp out with a pained and shaking breath as she clutched onto his arms. "Oh, my…those things are bloody huge, Norah! Horrifyingly huge…Norah, I—I've changed my mind. I don't think we should go this way anymore!"

But the young blonde merely proceeded to shake her head by way of response, ignoring Tonks's pitiful mewling whimpers as she began to make her way towards the dead spiders.

"These aren't fully grown Acromantula," Norah observed with a cautious eye. "I'd wager a guess that a group of Astelos's fought these ones and killed them all," she growled, bearing her sharp canines as she poked at one of the arrows protruding in one of the spiders' bellies.

Norah furrowed her brows and frowned, lifting her head and searched the perimeter near the fallen creatures for any signs of more centaurs in the area.

Tonks offered a mute nod, glancing around the Forbidden Forest with nervous trepidation, a sheen of sweat beginning to throng on her forehead and her throat hurt.

And then…she saw it. "R-Rem…" she squeaked in a horrible pitiful whimper, tugging harshly on her husband's jacket sleeve, and pointing with a shaking hand towards what appeared to be an old hollow. "Wh—what is that?! Is that…is that the father of all of these little ones?"

It was there amid the branches of the trees, stretched outwards by tall and confident tress that the fully-grown adult Acromantula roughly the size of a house-made his web.

He was the color of the night sky, currently creating his web with such delicate and loving care, ever the artist of woodland trees, though it was quick to notice the noise.

Tonks let out a whine as the enormous spider took a cautious half-step forward to investigate the humans into its territory, its beady black eyes the size of Quaffles surveying the area until it landed on Tonks, and Tonks swallowed down past the lump in her throat.

She heard Remus's gasp of surprise, though one glance at her husband out of the corner of her eyes was more than enough. He was just as stunned and shocked as she was.

Tonks barely managed a scream of terror as the spider's pinchers clicked as it addressed the four of them, having to shove her white-boned knuckles into her mouth to stifle her scream. Somehow, she doubted the Acromantula would appreciate the noise.

"Y—you're Aragog, aren't you?" Tonks whispered hoarsely, her voice escaping her lips as a terrified little squeak. Honestly, she was amazed she could even find her voice.

"Yes," the creature spoke to her in a low baritone voice that reminded Tonks of the sound of a wooden crate being scraped against a cobblestoned street, rough, coarse, and unforgiving. "It has been a long time since you have wandered into my hollow, Bellatrix Lestrange," it offered by way of a greeting, leaving Tonks utterly perplexed.

She blinked owlishly at the beast standing before them near its massive hollow. Tonks cast a suspicious gaze towards Ollie and Norah, both of whom were shooting her and Remus furtive, guilty looks, and she felt her blood boil within her veins.

"Y—you knew?" she whispered hoarsely, tugging on a lock of her now-dark hair as she immediately rounded on Ollie, careful to keep her voice to a low whisper, all the while never taking her gaze off Aragog. "Ollie, you—you lied to me and Remus!" she cried angrily.

Ollie shot her and her husband an apologetic look, swallowing down hard as his nervous blue eyes met Remus's, who had such a look of outrage on his face, that Tonks was kind of surprised her best friend didn't bolt the moment the shadow of the Wolf crossed his lined but handsome face.

"I'm sorry, T," Ollie begged, whisper-hissing his words through gritted teeth, flinging out an arm in front of Tonks as he noticed the Acromantula slowly beginning to advance upon them. "This is the only way to get through to the centaurs' encampments, a—and I thought that…since Crouch said to us in the clearing just before the-the spider bit me, that he had saved its life, m—maybe he'd brought Bellatrix in here once, a—and maybe the spiders are friendly to her and Crouch and don't harm either one of them so th—that was the reason that I suggested you change your hair this morning, and it bloody worked!" he whispered, a note of triumph in his voice now.

Remus parted his lips open slightly to speak, his face flushed in rage as he thought over how he and Tonks had purposefully been lied to by both Norah and Ollie by means of omission.

They had kept the fact that they would have to venture straight into Aragog's lair a secret from them both, and now, they were the ones about to pay the ultimate price.

Though he did not get a chance to speak as the spider spoke up in its low tone, the edges of his voice clipped and hardened as its beady, listless black eyes settled once again on Tonks, lingering on her dark hair. Tonks swallowed nervously and blinked at it.

"Hagrid did not inform me that I would be expecting company this week, Miss Lestrange," it growled, a slight accusatory note in the massive creature's hardened and angered voice.

Play along with this, T, Ollie warned her in his impossible telepathy. You're going to want to go along with this, Tonks. He thinks you're Bellatrix Lestrange. The hair….

Tonks opened her mouth to speak but all she could manage was a soft mewling of fear, little more than a breathy little squeak.

She was staring face-to-face with a fully grown adult Acromantula who was mistaking her for her aunt, and no idea what to do.

A slight nudge to her ribcage from Remus momentarily broke her out of her fear.

She glanced towards Lupin out of the corner of her eye, who was silently communicating with her to address the creature in its growing impatience as it waited for her to answer.

Tonks had no idea how to address an Acromantula. What was the proper procedure here? Should they—should they bow as a sign of respect? Bend the right knee and kneel? Show this—this Aragog, this monster, this beast, that they meant it no harm?

She swallowed and opted instead to merely bow her head in what she hoped was a gesture of apologetic submission and nervously fidgeted with her fingers, weaving her knuckles in between her fingers, biting down hard on her tongue before addressing it.

"F—Forgive me, Aragog," Tonks murmured, purposefully hardening the edges of her voice in a vain attempt to sound more like her despised Aunt Bellatrix, though she still thought she sounded much too polite to pass as her aunt. "My…companions and I are merely passing through your territory on official business for the Dark Lord. If Hagrid did not inform you of our presence, it's the blind bloody oaf's fault, and I should flay him for not informing you, the idiotic, half-witted moron," she growled, wincing at the insult she'd just spat referring to the Groundskeeper.

It felt so bloody wrong to insult Hagrid in this degrading manner, but if this beast thought she was Bellatrix, then she was going to have to act like her aunt, like it or not.

The Acromantula, however, did not seem convinced of Tonks's weak response, for the creature proceeded to narrow its beady black eyes in suspicion, glowering at her.

"You know, Bellatrix, that my kin and I do not harm you nor Mr. Crouch after the part Master Crouch played in saving my children from those disgusting creatures that did this," he snarled, snapping its pinchers violently, gesturing with a twitch of its large front leg towards its dead offspring that lay directly behind the four of them. "Murderers, all of them. You are quite safe, rest assured, Miss Lestrange. Your companions, however, are not."

Tonks blanched as she felt her face drain of color. "Um, we—we did not mean to intrude upon you this morning, Aragog, oh great, wise, merciful, compassionate creature that you are. If—if you will excuse us, we will continue about our business, and we'll be going now and we shall leave you and your children to your hollow in peace," she murmured, allowing a lock of her hair to tumble in front of her face, effectively shielding her line of sight from Aragog and the others.

Though she heard the light scuttling of what sounded like dozens of feet encroaching upon the hollow clearing where they were. She swallowed down hard as her throat hollowed and constricted, cutting off air.

"Go?" growled Aragog, sounding on the brink of disbelief and anger. "Did you really think flattery will keep your companions alive, Bellatrix? I think not, Miss Lestrange. I cannot deny my dwindling children the opportunity of fresh meat when it wanders so willingly into my domain, Bellatrix. Hagrid is not here to command otherwise, and my children obey Hagrid upon my command, but as Hagrid is not here, I cannot deprive them of this wondrous opportunity…"

The massive, hulking creature clicked its pinchers and snapped as if to emphasize its point, and Tonks frowned and let out a squeak as she looked up towards Norah, just in time to see a large spider the size of a small pony slowly stalking up behind her friend.

"Norah!" Tonks screamed. "Look out!" She plunged her hand into the pocket of her black jeans in time to draw her wand, just as the blonde werewolf spun around on the heel of her boot quickly, just in the nick of time to avoid being bitten by one of Aragog's children, and she could see and hear the flashing and whizzing of jinxes as they flew past her as now Ollie and Remus were firing spells at the encroaching spiders.

Aragog's offspring that had been stalking Norah, made a horrifying shrieking sound, not like that of a banshee, before lunging at her again.

Norah unsheathed the Sword of Gryffindor which she had been carrying around her waist, that Tonks had quite forgotten she'd still had it and swung it at the spider, though the monster dodged the blow and then jumped back at the werewolf again, who skirted another lunging attack.

Just this one spider was huge and fast, and clearly wasn't going to go down so easily. Not without a fight.

But if it was a fight it wanted, then Tonks would give it to the creature. Tonks raised her wand and pointed it squarely at the spider's pinching clickers.

"Bombarda!" she bellowed and was instantly rewarded with the loudest exploding sound she thought she had ever heard.

Tonks had only ever used this spell on locked doors, and each time, the effect was always the same, with splintering wood of the doors shattering everywhere.

Though this time, in this regard, the spider exploded, sending its remnants everywhere in a burst of scarlet crimson blood, and the horrible, shrieking grief-stricken screech of Aragog coming directly from behind her told her that she had just made a big mistake.

One that she was not sure there was going to be a way out of as Aragog lunged for her and Lupin.


A/N: Oooh, a cliffhanger! Will Tonks and co. be able to fight their way out of this one?

At the very least, she has her wand back now after like 20 chapters of not having it in her possession! I felt like I couldn't do such a lengthy section of this HP story in the Forest without featuring the all-too-familiar talking spider of Hagrid's.