The truth was bound to come out.
More precisely, all kinds of stories had circulated that morning, but by the end of the morning's classes, most of what had happened the night before had come to light.
Quirrell was dead. That much had been confirmed.
He was not just a Hogwarts professor; he was someone's son. Even though he could hardly be said to have died in the line of duty, the school had notified his family, and the ghosts had witnessed it.
Students who had been up during the night had visited Hagrid out of curiosity and confirmed that the carriage they had seen really had carried passengers. Judging by how things looked that morning and the fact that no school alarm had gone off, everyone guessed the arrivals had been Aurors called in to help.
"If Dumbledore called for help, he'd have called Aurors at the very least. They couldn't have been Hit Wizards—"
That was what the Gryffindor Student said.
With their classes turned into study periods, the students had plenty of time to mull over the morning's discussion. Because of the corridor ban introduced that year, they naturally assumed Quirrell had tried to sneak in there. The fighting must have started by that corridor and continued all the way to his Office.
Others guessed the corridor itself had been a trap, and Aurors lying in wait had ambushed Quirrell when he fled it in a panic. Dumbledore, unable to bring himself to do it, had not attacked him personally.
Even Harry got dragged into it. Some speculated that Quirrell had cursed him, intending to use the commotion of Harry's trip to the hospital as cover for his own move on the corridor.
Every version had its holes, but everyone was having a wonderful time discussing them.