front door on Halloween."
"Did you see anyone near here that night?" said Harry.
"I wasn't paying attention," said Myrtle dramatically. "Peeves upset me
so much I came in here and tried to kill myself Then, of course, I
remembered that I'm - that I'm "
"Already dead," said Ron helpfully.
* IL 56*
Myrtle gave a tragic sob, rose up in the air, turned over, and dived
headfirst into the toilet, splashing water all over them and vanishing
from sight, although from the direction of her muffled sobs, she had
come to rest somewhere in the U-bend.
Harry and Ron stood with their mouths open, but Hermione shrugged
wearily and said, "Honestly, that was almost cheerful for Myrtle ....
Come on, let's go."
Harry had barely closed the door on Myrtle's gurgling sobs when a
loud voice made all three of them jump.
"RON!"
Percy Weasley had stopped dead at the head of the stairs, prefect
badge agleam, an expression of complete shock on his face.
"That's a girls' bathroom!" he gasped. "What were you -?"
"Just having a look around," Ron shrugged. "Clues, you know -"
132
Percy swelled in a manner that reminded Harry forcefully of Mrs.
Weasley.
"Get - away - from - there -" Perry said, striding toward them and
starting to bustle them along, flapping his arms. "Don't you care what
this looks like? Coming back here while everyone's at dinner -"
"Why shouldn't we be here?" said Ron hotly, stopping short and glaring
at Percy. "Listen, we never laid a finger on that cat!"
"That's what I told Ginny," said Percy fiercely, "but she still seems to
think you're going to be expelled, I've never seen her so upset, crying
her eyes out, you might think of her, all the first years are thoroughly
overexcited by this business -"
"You don't care about Ginny," said Ron, whose ears were now
*157*
reddening. "You're just worried I'm going to mess up your chances of
being Head Boy -"
"Five points from Gryffindor!" Percy said tersely, fingering his prefect
badge. "And I hope it teaches you a lesson! No more detective work, or
I'll write to Mum!"
And he strode off, the back of his neck as red as Ron's ears.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione chose seats as far as possible from Percy
in the common room that night. Ron was still in a very bad temper and
kept blotting his Charms homework. When he reached absently for his
wand to remove the smudges, it ignited the parchment. Fuming almost
as much as his homework, Ron slammed The Standard Book of Spells,
Grade 2 shut. To Harry's surprise, Hermione followed suit.
"Who can it be, though?" she said in a quiet voice, as though
continuing a conversation they had just been having. "Who'd want to
frighten all the Squibs and Muggle-borns out of Hogwarts?"
"Let's think," said Ron in mock puzzlement. "Who do we know who
thinks Muggle-borns are scum?"
133
He looked at Hermione. Hermione looked back, unconvinced.
"If you're talking about Malfoy -"
"Of course I am!" said Ron. "You heard him - `You'll be next,