"Ah! P-Professor Annie! Hello!"
Harry was standing at the very edge of the crowd. When he saw Annie walking toward them, he hurriedly greeted her and helped the soaking-wet Ron move out of the middle of the corridor.
The rest of Ron's body had more or less recovered, but his right hand was still rigidly pointing forward, which looked a little ridiculous. As she walked past, Little Annie couldn't help taking a couple of curious glances at him.
She suddenly thought he was hilarious! Annie could tell that traces of a spell still clung to the boy's finger, and the magic in his entire right hand was still in disarray! Had the spell exploded inside his finger? Ha! He must have botched the spell and been hit by the backlash! Who used their own finger as a wand? What an idiot!
"It's Annie! You know, something awful just happened here!" Hermione was quite familiar with Annie. As long as they weren't in class, she called her by her name instead of adding "Professor."
Now that Little Annie had shown up, Hermione immediately felt as if she had someone to rely on. She no longer had to worry about being falsely accused! Little Annie was fiercely protective of her friends. Forget a false accusation—even if Hermione really had killed the cat, the little girl could still smooth things over!
"Mr. Filch's cat was murdered by someone! That one hanging on the wall over there!" As Hermione explained the situation to Annie, she also made sure to clear herself and her two friends of suspicion. After all, the three of them hadn't killed the cat. They had merely happened to pass by and come across it!
"Huh? A cat was murdered?" Hermione's words left Annie a little dazed. Then she looked at