The next day, Hermione saw the professors during breakfast. After the owls had delivered their letters, the Principal told the entire school the story they had agreed on the night before and awarded points to both Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.
The blue hourglass rustled as the count inside rose by a considerable amount, and what she had done would also be recorded in the school's history.
Perhaps the Principal thought Hermione had contributed more, since he gave her more points than the other two girls combined. But Hermione did not care; the House Cup held almost no appeal for her.
She noticed that at the Gryffindor table, The Boy Who Lived was looking at her with an envious expression, as though he desperately wanted those points.
In truth, Potter was also feeling rather lost at the moment, because all sorts of signs yesterday had suggested that someone wanted to lure him to the fourth-floor corridor.
There had been a slip of paper marked "4F" soaking in his drinking cup, eerie laughter whenever he passed the fourth floor, birds outside the window flying into the shape of a "4," and so on.
Of course, he only understood the result now, in hindsight. When he had asked Ron and Neville about those "omens" yesterday, they had both thought he was overthinking things.
Not only had Ron failed to offer any useful advice, he had also said Potter was being paranoid and told him to go to bed early.
As a result, Harry had had a strange dream last night.
Hermione sensed Harry's envious gaze, but thought he was childish. The House Cup was obviously nothing special, and striving for it seemed rather foolish.
Yet when the Principal called on all the students to applaud her, the little girl still lifted her head with