"Ahhhhhhh..."
In the early hours, a series of utterly bloodcurdling screams suddenly rang out through Hogwarts Castle, jolting the students who had just fallen asleep awake.
"It's started, it's started!"
Listening to the commotion in the dormitory, Albert lazily rolled over. Lee Jordan's voice came from the other end of the room. He fumbled aside the curtains around his bed and looked at the Weasley Twins and Lee Jordan, who were preparing to go watch the excitement. Covering a yawn, he muttered, "That woman should behave herself for quite a long time after this."
"Get up!"
Grinning, Lee Jordan poured Albert a cup of strong tea.
Albert looked at the strong tea with considerable distaste. If he drank that, how was he supposed to get back to sleep later?
He covered another yawn, climbed out of bed, picked up the cloak hanging beside him, draped it over himself, and followed the other curiosity-driven students to the Common Room.
A large crowd had already gathered there—students who had just crawled out of bed in their pyjamas and thrown cloaks over themselves. They clustered together in twos and threes, whispering about the scream they had heard.
"Quiet. Does anyone know what happened?" Albert looked around and asked, "I heard screaming just now."
"Something seems to have happened in the castle," one boy said, raising his hand first.
"It sounded like a Banshee screaming."
"I think it sounded more like someone being horribly tortured."
"I suspect it was the toad screaming?"
Everyone chimed in with their own guesses. In the end, the idea that it had been the toad's scream gained widespread approval, because this was not the first time the toad had made such noises in the middle of the night—though this time, it had been especially shrill.
"Prefects, are there any