The Fallout from the Second Petrification Incident (VI)

She saw Professor McGonagall's face, white as paper, and the cold curve at the corner of Severus Snape's mouth.

She saw Harry standing in the middle of the crowd, his face deathly pale, his lips pressed into a thin line, like someone nailed to a pillar of shame.

She did not stop.

Her gaze kept moving, from Colin's body to the puddle on the floor, from the puddle to the tiny crack in Colin's camera lens, from the crack to the nearly vanished trace in the gap between the shadows, like thin black smoke. Her eyes became intensely focused in that instant.

"Professor McGonagall!" Her voice was clear and urgent, carrying a sincere, unwavering certainty. "Please don't make a decision yet. Give me a few minutes. I have several questions—no, several facts—that need you to confirm."

Professor McGonagall looked at her, her brow furrowing slightly. Not because she did not trust her, but because Hermione had appeared too suddenly and spoken too quickly, as though she were an accelerating train that had rushed past before you could make out its shape.

"Miss Granger," Professor McGonagall said, her voice somewhat dry, "this is not the—"

"Please examine Harry's wand," Hermione interrupted. It was not rudeness, but the urgency of someone thinking, This is too urgent to wait for you to finish. She pointed at the holly wand sticking out of Harry's robe pocket, her words rapid and dense, like raindrops striking glass. "Use the Flashback Charm. See what spells he has used recently. If he really petrified Colin, there must be traces on his wand. A Petrification Curse cannot be handled with Silent Casting. It requires an enormous output of magic and precise incantation, and any wand would leave an imprint."

Professor McGonagall's gaze fell on Harry. Harry froze for a