Dumbledore spoke softly. "Miss Clearwater, would you wait a moment, please? I'd like to get a few things straight."
Penelope quickly nodded and said nothing more.
Dumbledore looked behind him. "Professor McGonagall, if you please."
Professor McGonagall, her lips pressed tight, stepped forward, her gaze falling on Harry and the others.
"Headmaster Dumbledore told everyone to return to their common rooms. When I went to check, Percy came running to tell me someone was missing..."
"Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger, do you have any idea how dangerous that was?"
"The wall collapsed and buried all of you inside! Thank goodness none of you were hurt! But luck will not be with you every time!"
When Professor McGonagall called them out by name, Harry and the others raised their heads as if startled, then all lowered them again in perfect unison.
The three of them meekly turned their heads, looked at one another, and still did not say a word.
Snape, however, spoke from the side. "That is what the Boy Who Lived is like... always thinking he can do something even more outrageous, to show how different he is from everyone else."
His voice was cold, flat, without the slightest rise or fall, yet it was thick with sarcasm.
Professor McGonagall's voice grew stern. "Explain yourselves! Why did you not return to your common room, and instead remain on the first floor?"
"Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, I saw you in the Great Hall earlier. Why did you not follow Percy and stay properly in the common room?"
Perhaps provoked by Snape, Harry raised his head, stiffened his neck, and said, "Professor McGonagall, we had a reason for staying!"
Professor McGonagall's tone softened a little. "Mr. Potter, then please tell me."
But at Professor McGonagall's words, Harry's mind went blank