If Peeves finds out that the place I headed for after sneaking away from the Christmas feast was the Girls' Bathroom, my life as a student at Hogwarts will definitely be over, won't it? With that thought, Harry crept quietly along the Castle corridor.
He was not actually being all that careful, because he was wearing the Invisibility Cloak his father had left him.
Harry felt lucky that he had stuffed the Invisibility Cloak into his robe pocket before leaving today-it had originally been meant for sneaking off with Ron after the feast to visit Percy in the Hospital Wing. Poor Percy had been left exceptionally weak by the aftereffects of his last serious illness, and over the past two days he had caught a nasty cold. Madam Pomfrey had confined him to a bed in the Hospital Wing and forbidden him to go anywhere.
Harry kept walking as these thoughts ran through his head. As he descended the stairs, he raised his hands a little higher, lest he step on the hem of the cloak and stumble, startling the stairs, which were unusually sensitive because of the holiday.
He did not want to get stuck in midair-not today or any other day. Besides, there was something he had to do today. Halfway through enjoying the food in the Great Hall, he had felt a strange summons arise within him, guiding him precisely toward the second-floor Girls' Bathroom.
Unless the house-elves' peppermints had hallucinogenic effects, this strange summons had to be connected to his recent dreams. In truth, Harry was not very sure, but for now, at least, there was nothing else unusual he could connect it to.
He had tried to find Professor Dumbledore during the day, but Professor Dumbledore was not at Hogwarts, so he had had to