Percy slept badly and woke annoyed with himself. A comfortable bed was available. He had spent most of the night arguing with his own thoughts instead.
Ron noticed at breakfast.
"You look as if someone hit you."
"No. I would remember that part."
Harry looked up. Percy could see the question he had not yet asked.
Hermione was reading beside her plate. She turned a page, reached for her toast, and found that Ron had taken it.
Ron gave it back before she spoke.
Percy watched the exchange. He would have preferred that to be the morning's main problem.
He glanced toward the staff table. Hagrid sat with a large plate of sausages.
Harry followed his gaze.
"What?"
"I saw someone near the forest last night."
Ron stopped eating.
"Someone from the school?"
"I could not see a face."
"Then why are you looking at Hagrid?"
"He might know who goes there."
Harry put down his knife.
"We can ask him after lessons."
Ron looked between them.
"After lessons, from his house. We are not searching the forest."
Percy agreed readily enough that Ron seemed suspicious.
Charms began with feathers. Professor Flitwick stood on a stack of books and demonstrated the Levitation Charm.
Percy looked at the feather on his desk. It was lighter than the book he had used at the orphanage.
That should reduce the damage.
Hermione raised hers on the first attempt. Ron waved his wand with more force than the movement required.
His feather remained on the desk.
"Swish, then flick," Hermione said.
"I did that."
"You jabbed it."
Percy tried before the discussion became longer. His feather rose an inch, turned, and fell.
Ron looked at him.
"At least yours moved."
"I would prefer it to stay moved."
Flitwick stopped beside them and corrected Percy's grip. He asked Percy to make the movement without a spell first.
Percy followed the instruction. He had held a sword for years in another life, but that did not make this movement familiar.
The next attempt worked better. The feather remained above the desk until Percy looked away to check Ron's result.
Then it fell.
"Attention, Mr. Jackson," Flitwick said.
Percy retrieved it from the floor. Attention sounded simple until several things needed it at once.
By the end of the lesson, he could raise the feather and keep it still. He had also confirmed that forcing more power into the spell did not replace doing it correctly.
Hermione seemed pleased when he said that.
Ron seemed pleased when the lesson ended.
They reached Hagrid's hut after their last class. Fang greeted them with enough enthusiasm to leave Percy cleaning his sleeve.
Hagrid brought tea. He offered them food that Harry examined before attempting to bite it.
Percy asked his question while Ron was still considering a piece.
"Did you see anyone near the forest last night?"
Hagrid stopped with his cup halfway to his mouth.
"What makes you ask?"
"I saw a hooded figure from the common-room window."
Harry watched Hagrid as he answered.
"People have work out there. Best leave it to them."
"Was it a teacher?"
Hagrid put down his cup.
"The forest is dangerous. You three are to keep out of it."
Ron looked at Percy as if he had just received welcome professional support.
"We were planning to ask here."
Hagrid did not look reassured.
Harry leaned forward.
"Percy felt something wrong. I felt it too, earlier in class."
"Which class?"
"Defence."
Hagrid's expression changed before he made it still again.
Percy noticed. So did Harry.
"Professor Quirrell travels," Hagrid said. "Seen things most people would rather avoid. That can leave a person unsettled."
Percy thought of the figure looking toward the castle. He did not think that explanation was enough.
"Do you know who I saw?"
Hagrid stood to fill the cups. He took longer than he needed.
"Keep to your lessons. Tell a professor if something troubles you."
"Are you going to tell one?" Harry asked.
Hagrid looked at him.
"I will speak to the right people."
That was the most useful answer they had received. Percy could not tell whether it was also a request to stop asking.
They finished their tea. Nobody touched the food again.
Outside, Ron waited until they were far enough from the door.
"He knows something."
"Yes," Harry said.
"He also told us to stay out of the forest."
"We heard him," Percy said.
Ron looked doubtful. Percy could not blame him.
At dinner, Hermione asked where they had been. Harry explained the visit while Percy watched the staff table.
Hagrid was speaking quietly to a professor. Percy could not hear the words, but at least their report had not remained inside the hut.
He tried to accept that as progress.
Later, Hermione asked him about the feeling in Quirrell's class.
"Was it pain?"
"No. It felt like danger."
"That is not very specific."
"I know."
She considered him for a moment.
"Write down when it happens. You might find something more specific."
Percy took a piece of parchment. He wrote the class, the time, and the figure near the forest.
The small list looked much less certain than the memory of the books in his head.
He put it inside his textbook rather than throwing it away.
That night, he tried to stay in bed. The room was quiet, and Harry had finally fallen asleep.
Percy lasted until the fire below had stopped making much noise.
Then he got up.
He reached the common-room window with his wand in his hand. He did not light it.
The forest was dark. He looked along the edge, where the figure had stood the night before.
Nothing moved.
He almost turned away when he noticed a person nearer the trees.
There was no hood this time. Percy could see the outline of a head and one hand at the figure's side.
The person faced the castle.
Percy held still. He could not make out enough detail to name them.
Then a pale shape at the face changed. It might have been a smile.
He stepped closer to the window.
The figure was gone.
Percy searched the nearby ground, then the trees. He saw no one walking away.
After a minute, he lowered his wand.
He went back to the table, found the parchment, and added a third entry. His writing was less steady than he wanted.
Someone was watching the castle.
He could no longer pretend that staying at a window meant he was only watching them.