After the meeting ended, the house-elves posted several notices about changes to Hogwarts staff on the four houses' noticeboards.
It was a busy morning. Students in every year had scheduled lessons, leaving the common rooms deserted-it was not until noon that students crowded around the noticeboards, carrying textbooks or materials for Transfiguration.
Cries rang out in one common room after another, with the Gryffindor Common Room especially lively.
"Merlin's beard! Am I reading this right? No!!" wailed a student holding a mouse with a bird's beak. The beaked mouse began frantically pecking his friend's hand.
His friend noticed none of this, merely crying out in a tone that begged Merlin for help, "Who can save poor Professor Quirrell? And who can save poor us?"
Most students were crying out in much the same despondent fashion, though a few had more distinctive reactions.
"A new record! How long had Quirrell been in his new post? A few dozen days?" marveled a student who loved records. Suddenly, his expression changed. "Wait-won't we have to change textbooks again?"
A sweet lover chewed his sweets and said indistinctly:
"What? New textbooks? I spent all the money Mum gave me for books on sweets! Does anyone know where to buy cheap secondhand books?"
"Oh, oh, so that's it... I understand now, I understand! Snape must have caused the explosion! There's no mistake! This definitely wasn't a simple accident!"
A student with a fake pipe between his lips declared confidently,
"I'm writing to my uncle at the Ministry of Magic's Improper Use of Magic Office right now and getting him to come to Hogwarts to investigate! Just you wait, Snape. I'll catch you!"
This student was a devoted fan of detective novels-clearly, there were quite a few people who enjoyed them,
for another stood right beside