Treacherous | Hermione Granger Book II

|29| Chapter Twenty-Nine

T W E N T Y  N I N E 

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"Can we have a little poke around?" Ron asked Saffron, Hermione and Harry as they continued on their trek around the castle, after their final period of the day.  There was a spark in his eyes at the prospect of adventure. It was evident that Ron was excited at the possibility of meddling in another mystery.

"I'd rather not," said Saffron with honesty. "But I will if you want to, Harry,"

She felt that way because yet again so many eyes were on Harry and if examining the crime scene of the attack on Mrs. Norris would help find a new suspect or even discover who the identity of the culprit was, then she was game to do so. 

Harry didn't answer for a while. He seemed genuinely indecisive in regard to what he should do. On one hand, he obviously didn't want to be seen near the scene again in order to avoid suspicion. But, at the same time, he wanted to know who did it. That want dictated his decision. 

"Just for a few minutes,"

While they continued down the corridors in pursuit of the writing on the wall, Colin Creevy walked past them.

"Hiya, Harry!"

"Hullo, Colin," replied Harry on cue.

"Harry - Harry - a boy in my class has been saying you're--"

But what Harry was, Colin never said out loud as he was pushed by the large crowd that was heading out of the dungeons in pursuit of the Great Hall.

"What's a boy in his class saying about you?" Hermione thought out loud. Saffron didn't need to ask the question, she thought it was obvious.

"That I'm Slytherin's heir, I expect," answered Harry coolly.

"Just ignore it, Harry," Saffron told him, sympathetically. "It'll all die down in a few weeks."

"People here'll believe anything," said Ron disgustedly.

When they went up the next staircase, they crowd dispersed and instead there were just pockets of students here and there. They walked to the very end of the corridor and saw the scene looking almost identical to how it looked last night. The message in blood was still there but the cat and puddle of water were both gone. An empty rocking chair was present too.

"That's where Filch has been keeping guard," Ron muttered, glancing anxiously over his shoulder to see if they were being watched.

"Alright," announced Hermione formally, once sure they were alone. "Let's get to it,"

"Scorch marks!" Harry yelped triumphantly. "Here - and here--"

"Come and look at this!" said Hermione a moment later. "This is funny..."

Saffron stood up from her crouched position below the message and walked over to Hermione. She was examining a window, where two dozen or so spiders were making their way through a tiny crack in the pane at the top of it.

"Have you ever seen spiders act like that?" Hermione asked them.

"I haven't," answered Saffron, staring at them in confusion. "It looks like they're scared of something,"

"Like they're running away from something," Harry nodded in agreement. He looked over his shoulder to see that Ron was standing away from them all and looked to be on the verge of darting away from them all.