Later that evening, McGonagall followed by the Weasleys came to the corridor. All four of the boys looked shaken. Percy's eyes looked wild and the normally smart boy looked disheveled and unsure.
"I regret to inform you that there has been another attack. Ginny Weasley was found paraylyzed earlier today along with Penelope Clearwater, a Ravenclaw prefect," McGonagall said.
There some gasps and Dudley and Dean looked darkly at each other.
"All students will return to their House common rooms by six o'clock in the evening. No student is to leave the dormitories after that time. You will be escorted to each lesson by a teacher. No student is to use the bathroom unaccompanied by a teacher. All further Quidditch training and matches are to be postponed. There will be no more evening activities."
The Gryffindors packed inside the common room listened to Professor McGonagall in silence. She rolled up the parchment from which she had been reading and said in a somewhat choked voice, "I need hardly add that I have rarely been so distressed. It is likely that the school will be closed unless the culprit behind these attacks is caught. I would urge anyone who thinks they might know anything about them to come forward."
She climbed somewhat awkwardly out of the portrait hole, and the Gryffindors began talking immediately.
"That's two Gryffindors down, not counting a Gryffindor ghost, one Ravenclaw, and one Hufflepuff," said the Weasley twins' friend Lee Jordan, counting on his fingers. "Haven't any of the teachers noticed that the Slytherins are all safe? Isn't it obvious all this stuff's coming from Slytherin? The Heir of Slytherin, the monster of Slytherin - why don't they just chuck all the Slytherins out?" he roared, to nods and scattered applause.
Dudley and Dean joined Ron who was looking shaken. "Is she ok?" Dean asked.
Ron shrugged. "Paralyzed. Pomfrey says it won't be long until the mandrake potions are ready, but still …"
Dean and Dudley nodded understandably. They sat in silence. The twins were slumped at a table with Lee, not talking. Percy was sat alone by the fire. Colin Creevey was sat by himself, looking upset.
Hermione had her nose in a book called "Ancient Monsters."
"Find anything?" Dudley asked.
"A lot of possibilities," Hermione said, putting the book down. "There's cockatrice, medusas, basilisks, some types of gargoyles, acromantula …" she trailed off.
The gears in Dudley's head were turning. "It's a Medusa," he said, suddenly.
Hermione looked at him.
"Think about it," Dudley said. "Heir of Slytherin, right? What more fitting than a Medusa."
Dean and Ron were listening.
"It's possible," Hermione agreed. "But there are others too—the basilisk can kill you with its glare …"
"Nobody has died though," Ron interjected. "No, I reckon Dudley's on to something here."
Dudley smiled smugly. It wasn't often he had good ideas.
"I suppose …" Hermione flicked back to the Medusa section and started reading up on it.
"Find how to kill it," Ron said. "That's the key thing."
"In the movie I watched, they used a sort of shield," Dudley said. "The Medusa paralyzed itself after seeing its reflection."
"So, what, you're saying we all need to carry a mirror?" Dean asked, skeptically.
"It can't hurt," Ron said, fairly. "If we see a snake-haired woman coming towards us, hold up a mirror."
Hermione though, looked unsure. "It could be any of a number of things. There's a type of ghoul that has a paralyzing cry, and of course it could be potions. But it's a good suggestion, Dudley."
The next morning, Dudley was woken up by Dean bearing news.
"Get up!" he shouted, shaking both Ron and Dudley awake.
"What's up?" Dudley mumbled, rubbing his eyes.
"The Ministry have made an arrest. You'll never guess who!"
Ron looked at him. "Go on, then!"
"Hagrid!"
Dudley and Ron gaped at each other. Hagrid had never entered their minds as a suspect until now.
Dean filled them in on how he had woke up early and heard the news from Lee Jordan who heard it from a ghost.
"I always said he was suspicious," Dudley said. "Remember last year, how he had a dragon?"
"Yeah, he's always liked monsters. The brute." Ron snarled.
"And …" Dudley said, suddenly remembering. "I saw him lurking around Knockturn Alley the day I went there."
Ron and Dean looked at each other, to their mind, that seemed to confirm it.
Hermione, however looked unsure. "Wasn't he a Gryffindor though?"
"The Minstry wouldn't have arrested Hagrid for no reason, Hermione. They must have known something."
At breakfast, the whole hallw as gossiping about Hagrid's arrest. A fifth year was overheard saying how Hagrid kept giant spiders in the forest. There was even a rumor that he had been raising a chimera and it had escaped. By the middle of the day, there was no doubt in anybody's minds that Hagrid was guilty.
Even Fred and George, who had always liked Hagrid, were convinced. "He is obsessed with dangerous creatures," Fred had said. "I don't think he'd deliberately harm people. But he'd definitely think it was harmless."
The discussion about Hagrid being arrested ended at midday in the Great Hall when a group of stern looking wizards stood up for their attention. Among them, Dudley spotted Malfoy's father and a man wearing a lime-green bowler hat.
"For those who don't know, I am Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic," the man said, stepping forward. "Some of you have already heard that we have made an arrest of Rubeus Hagrid on suspicion of harboring a dangerous magical creature which has been attacking students of this school. What you don't know, and what I am here to announce is that the board of governors has also decided to remove Albus Dumbledore as headmaster of Hogwarts."
There was an explosion of angry shouts and mutterings at this. Over at the staff table, the teachers were looking either stunned by this news or furious.
"Sack Dumbledore? What are they thinking?" Ron said.
Lucius Malfoy stepped forward. "Albus Dumbledore has failed in his duty to the school," he drawled. "Under his supervision we have seen four students attacked. This is a place of learning. Not a place of fear. Removing Albus Dumbledore is not a decision we took lightly, but it is the right one."
