"Just one... I'll only feed her one. I'll leave as soon as I've seen Little Red eat an earthworm. It'll take a minute or two, not long enough for me to get sick. And I promise I won't tell Percy!"
"No, you can't promise that!"
Hermione didn't want to argue with Ginny in the doorway any longer. She took Ginny by the wrist and strode forward, pulling hard.
"Luo Bin, hurry up!"
"Yeah, coming!"
Ginny begged through her tears as Hermione dragged her along, but Hermione had made up her mind. She wasn't handing over the cabin key!
"Hermione Granger, what are you doing to my sister?"
Percy happened to be passing through the Entrance Hall. Seeing Ginny in tears and Hermione looking upset, he immediately pictured a second-year bullying a first-year. He rushed over and pulled his sister protectively into his arms.
"Ginny, tell him. Have I bullied you?"
Hermione folded her arms across her chest, looking remarkably like an angry goose. Ginny met her eyes and grew so frightened she started hiccuping through her sobs!
"Granger, I'm not afraid to take this to Professor Minerva McGonagall!"
"Neither am I... Ginny, say something! Did I bully you or not?"
Hermione had meant to say she wasn't afraid either, but she suddenly realized that taking this to a professor would mean explaining where Little Red had come from and why they were keeping her. A flimsy excuse about Hagrid asking them to wouldn't fool a professor. So Hermione changed course and asked Ginny to back her up.
"I... no. No, Percy. Her... Hermione didn't bully me. Waaaah!"
Ginny gave Hermione a frightened glance before speaking between sobs. Anyone watching would have thought poor Little Ginny had not only been bullied into tears but threatened into keeping quiet about it.
"Granger,