Normally, a single night would not have been enough for Skele-Gro to regrow all the bones in an entire arm. But the Hospital Wing was clearly no place to recuperate now, so Harry left early.
Even so, it was already noon the next day by the time Harry left the Hospital Wing.
Since it was the weekend, news actually spread more slowly around the school without classes. As a result, not many people yet knew that Colin had been petrified in an unexplained attack and was now lying in the Hospital Wing.
But in the Gryffindor Common Room, people had already begun discussing it.
That was because Colin's roommates had found him missing when they woke up that morning.
The students who had gone to visit Harry that morning had also brought back word that a corner of the Hospital Wing had been screened off with white curtains.
After Harry returned, he told Ron, Hermione, and the others what he had seen the night before.
The Twins happened to be nearby and heard about it too, so before long, all of Gryffindor knew, followed by the entire school.
Harry had done it deliberately. He felt people ought to know about this. At the very least, everyone needed to know that danger was close at hand.
"Before this, I thought someone might have been playing a prank. After all, Mrs. Norris was only a cat." After hearing Harry's account, Ron looked grim.
"But now, I'm afraid everything written there was true. It really was the Heir of Slytherin. He opened the Chamber of Secrets and let the monster inside out!"
"Do you think it could be because Slytherin lost the match yesterday?" Hermione looked just as grim as Ron.
"Colin was a little too excited yesterday, so he angered the heir?"