"Please let me explain, Professor Brian," the stark-naked Cedric Diggory said awkwardly. "It isn't what you think-"
"Put your robes on first." Brian was embarrassed too-the only person present who wasn't embarrassed was Moaning Myrtle. Besides her tearful eyes, her mouth had now begun to water as well.
As Cedric Diggory took the robes and solemnly assured Brian that he was "not some pervert who harassed ghosts," while Myrtle sobbed and screamed, "You heartbreaker!" beside him, the scene escalated until it drew Professor McGonagall over from her night patrol. Meanwhile, on the other side of the castle, the two prefects assigned to patrol that night faced a crisis of their own-a crisis that even the sturdy defensive wards of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the safest place in all Britain, could not prevent, a crisis that grew out of the human heart-a romantic crisis.
"Sometimes I really can't stand certain things-why does that idiot brother of mine insist on getting so close to our house's Little Know-It-All? What good qualities does she have besides always wanting to raise her hand? Ron actually talked back to my face over her, and he even wanted to fight me! I seriously suspect she's given Ron a Love Potion. If there hadn't been so many people around, and someone hadn't needed to escort the first-years, I'd have taught Ron a lesson on Mum and Dad's behalf."
Percy went on and on-
As far as he was concerned, his disagreement with Penelope Clearwater had already been resolved, because Penelope Clearwater had just apologized to him-it was only a slap, after all, and he was quite happy to regard it as a little romantic spice.
"Oh, speaking of Granger, she stayed at our house for quite a while over the holidays. Ginny and Ron seemed