The screams were coming from the Entrance Hall; they grew louder as Hermione ran towards the stone steps leading up from the dungeons. When she reached the top she found the Entrance Hall packed; students had come flooding out of the Great Hall, where dinner was still in progress, to see what was going on; others had crammed themselves onto the marble staircase. Hermione pushed forward to the group where all Slytherins stood near the very front and saw that the onlookers had formed a great ring, some of them looking shocked, others even frightened. Professor McGonagall was across the Hall; she looked as though what she was watching made her feel faintly sick.