‘Hagrid's little brother,’ said Ron promptly

‘Hagrid's little brother,’ said Ron promptly. ‘Anyway, never mind that now. Harry, what did you find out in the fire? Has You-Know-Who got Sirius or—?’

‘Yes,’ said Harry, as his scar gave another painful prickle, ‘and I'm sure Sirius is still alive, but I can't see how we're going to get there to help him.’

They all fell silent, looking rather scared; the problem facing them seemed insurmountable.

‘Well, we'll have to fly, won't we?’ said Luna, in the closest thing to a matter-of-fact voice Harry had ever heard her use.

‘OK,’ said Harry irritably, rounding on her. ‘First of all, “we” aren't doing anything if you're including yourself in that, and second of all, Ron's me only one with a broomstick that isn't being guarded by a security troll, so—’

‘I've got a broom!’ said Ginny.

‘Yeah, but you're not coming,’ said Ron angrily.

‘Excuse me, but I care what happens to Sirius as much as you do!’ said Ginny, her jaw set so that her resemblance to Fred and George was suddenly striking.

‘You're too—’ Harry began, but Ginny said fiercely, ‘I'm three years older than you were when you fought You-Know-Who over the Philosophers Stone, and it's because of me that Malfoy's stuck back in Umbridge's office with giant flying bogies attacking him—’

‘Yeah, but—’

‘We were all in the DA together,’ said Neville quietly. ‘It was all supposed to be about fighting You-Know-Who, wasn't it? And this is the first chance we've had to do something real—or was that all just a game or something?’

‘No—of course it wasn't—’ said Harry impatiently.

‘Then we should come too,’ said Neville simply. ‘We want to help.’

‘That's right,’ said Luna, smiling happily.

Harry's eyes met Ron's. He knew Ron was thinking exactly what he was: if he could have chosen any members of the DA, in addition to himself, Ron and Hermione, to join him in the attempt to rescue Sirius, he would not have picked Ginny, Neville or Luna.

‘Well, it doesn't matter, anyway,’ said Harry through gritted teeth, ‘because we still don't know how to get there—’

‘I thought we'd settled that,’ said Luna maddeningly. ‘We're flying!’

‘Look,’ said Ron, barely containing his anger, ‘you might be able to fly without a broomstick but the rest of us can't sprout wings whenever we—’

‘There are ways of flying other than with broomsticks,’ said Luna serenely.

‘I s'pose we're going to ride on the back of the Kacky Snorgle or whatever it is?’ Ron demanded.

‘The Crumple-Horned Snorkack can't fly,’ said Luna in a dignified voice, ‘but they can, and Hagrid says they're very good at finding places their riders are looking for.’

Harry whirled round. Standing between two trees, their white eyes gleaming eerily, were two Thestrals, watching the whispered conversation as though they understood every word.

‘Yes!’ he whispered, moving towards them. They tossed their reptilian heads, throwing back long black manes, and Harry stretched out his hand eagerly and patted the nearest one's shining neck; how could he ever have thought them ugly?

‘Is it those mad horse things?’ said Ron uncertainly, staring at a point slightly to the left of the Thestral Harry was patting. ‘Those ones you can't see unless you've watched someone snuff it?’

‘Yeah,’ said Harry.

‘How many?’

‘Just two.’

‘Well, we need three,’ said Hermione, who was still looking a little shaken, but determined just the same.

‘Four, Hermione,’ said Ginny, scowling.

‘I think there are six of us, actually,’ said Luna calmly, counting.

‘Don't be stupid, we can't all go!’ said Harry angrily. ‘Look, you three—’ he pointed at Neville, Ginny and Luna, ‘you're not involved in this, you're not—’

They burst into more protests. His scar gave another, more painful, twinge. Every moment they delayed was precious; he did not have time to argue.

‘OK, fine, it's your choice,’ he said curtly, ‘but unless we can find more Thestrals you're not going to be able—’

‘Oh, more of them will come,’ said Ginny confidently, who like Ron was squinting in quite the wrong direction, apparently under the impression that she was looking at the horses.

‘What makes you think that?’

‘Because, in case you hadn't noticed, you and Hermione are both covered in blood,’ she said coolly, ‘and we know Hagrid lures Thestrals with raw meat. That's probably why these two turned up in the first place.’