Security continues to tighten at Hogwarts. Harry and Ron wonder how Black got into the castle again, and why he fled before killing Harry. Hagrid invites Ron and Harry to have tea with him, and he confronts the boys about how they have been treating Hermione. He says that he expected them to value their friend “more’n broomsticks or rats” (274). On the next Hogsmeade weekend, Harry takes his Invisibility Cloak, sneaks into the village again, and meets up with Ron. As they are admiring the Shrieking Shack, “the most haunted dwelling in Britain” (279), Malfoy and his friends appear and begin to mock Ron’s family and Hagrid. Still wearing his Invisibility Cloak, Harry throws mud at them, but part of the cloak slips and Malfoy sees Harry’s head floating in Hogsmeade.

The Slytherins run away, and Harry quickly returns to the castle, where he is confronted by Snape. Harry tries to feign innocence as Snape retells the story of what happened outside of the Shrieking Shack. Snape remarks that “Famous Harry Potter goes where he wants to, with no thought for the consequences,” and that “[Harry’s father] too was exceedingly arrogant” (284). Snape tells Harry that his father and his friends played a joke on Snape when they were students at Hogwarts, and it could have cost Snape his life.