But as he stretched out a hand towards it, a centaur’s hoof descended upon the wand and it broke cleanly in half.
“Now!” roared a voice in Harry’s ear and a thick hairy arm descended from thin air and dragged him upright. Hermione, too, had been pulled to her feet. Over the plunging, many-coloured backs and heads of the centaurs, Harry saw Umbridge being borne away through the trees by Bane. Screaming non-stop, her voice grew fainter and fainter until they could no longer hear it over the trampling of hooves surrounding them.
“And these?” said the hard-faced, grey centaur holding Hermione.
“They are young,” said a slow, doleful voice from behind Harry. “We do not attack foals.”
“They brought her here, Ronan,” replied the centaur who had such a firm grip on Harry. “And they are not so young… he is nearing manhood, this one.”
He shook Harry by the neck of his robes.
“Please,” said Hermione breathlessly, “please, don’t attack us, we don’t think like her, we aren’t Ministry of Magic employees! We only came in here because we hoped you’d drive her off for us.”
Harry knew at once, from the look on the face of the grey centaur holding Hermione, that she had made a terrible mistake in saying this. The grey centaur threw back his head, his back legs stamping furiously, and bellowed, “You see, Ronan? They already have the arrogance of their kind! So we were to do your dirty work, were we, human girl? We were to act as your servants, drive away your enemies like obedient hounds?”
“No!” said Hermione in a horrorstruck squeak. “Please—I didn’t mean that! I just hoped you’d be able to—to help us—”
But she seemed to be going from bad to worse.
“We do not help humans!” snarled the centaur holding Harry, tightening his grip and rearing a little at the same time, so that Harry’s feet left the ground momentarily. “We are a race apart and proud to be so. We will not permit you to walk from here, boasting that we did your bidding!”
“We’re not going to say anything like that!” Harry shouted. “We know you didn’t do what you did because we wanted you to—”