"But Professor Slughorn is still in there—doesn't Peeves never dare mess with professors?"
"He only doesn't dare mess with the four Heads of House. He gives the other professors a bit of face at most." Kael said. "Though he might be in a pretty bad mood tonight.
"Remember what the Fat Friar said at the banquet? Peeves threw a tantrum because he didn't get his pumpkin statue, and went wild upstairs smashing suits of armor.
"I'm guessing that's why he wanted to crash the ball and make trouble."
Kael batted away another water balloon, then grabbed Conna and ran for the doors.
While most people still hadn't reacted, it was better to leave as soon as possible, in case everyone rushed at once and ended up blocking the doorway.
Very soon, the two of them were out in the corridor.
Conna lifted her arm and sniffed her sleeve, frowning. "I was just about to say—have you smelled that sour stink?"
"It's vinegar." Kael lowered his voice. "Actually, I was the one who told Peeves that adding a bit of vinegar to the water makes the hit more powerful."
Conna gave Kael a thoroughly disgusted look.
"Don't look at me like that, it was ages ago." Kael shrugged. "Back then I asked him to help me find a Ghost, and that idea was his payment.
"First–years always mess up when they knock on the barrels, and all that vinegar spraying out and going to waste is a shame…"
"Anyone who's been hit by one of Peeves' water balloons is going to hate you to death."
"You could just say you mean Filch." Kael said with a grin. "He spent all of last year helping Umbridge torment students; think of it as a little payback."
The two of them followed the stairs down.
Behind them came a burst of noisy shouting and Incantations… sounded like most people had finally reacted and started using Magic to drive Peeves off.
By that time, though, Peeves had already chucked all his balloons and shot off.
When Kael and Conna reached the entrance hall on the first floor, they ran right into him.
"Oh, it's you, lad Kael. I didn't notice you were there just now." Peeves said happily, but then he seemed to remember something and immediately tried to bolt.
"Uh–oh, they're coming after me…"
"Wait." Kael hurriedly stopped him. "It's been ages—how's that thing I asked you to do going?"
Peeves' semi–transparent body froze in place.
A moment later he turned around a bit stiffly, unusually putting away his smile. "All right, you wanted me to find that no–smile, poker–faced Witch. I reckon she's already left Hogwarts."
"Impossible." Kael shook his head, certain. "Ms. Grey would never leave Hogwarts."
"But she really isn't in the castle." Peeves said. "Even the Bloody Baron is looking for her, and he's come up empty too. She must've run off."
He hadn't gotten the answer he wanted, but since he'd already half–expected this result, Kael wasn't too disappointed.
"Forget it if you can't find her." He waved his hand and was about to keep walking toward the common room.
"Hey, little rascal Kael, I'm not trying to fob you off." Peeves had no idea what Kael was thinking; seeing him turn to leave, he hurried to explain:
"I really have been looking for her… Oh, I think she's been kidnapped by the Bloody Baron and locked up in a room with no door on the second floor."
"Oh?"
Kael stopped and turned back to look at Peeves. "A room with no door on the second floor?"
If it were on the eighth floor, that would obviously be the Room of Requirement—but on the second floor… was there a similar room there too?
"Ah, yes." A smug grin crept back onto Peeves' face. "No one knows this castle better than me. There's a place like that in Hogwarts—very mysterious—where the treasures of a thousand years of students are hidden. But nobody knows where it is."
Hearing that, Kael was sure Peeves was talking about the Room of Requirement; the reason he said the second floor was probably just that he'd got the location wrong.
Just then, Conna suddenly asked from the side, "But Peeves, didn't you just say the Bloody Baron was also looking for Ms. Grey?"
At the mention of the Bloody Baron, Peeves couldn't help shuddering, but still insisted, "He's putting on an act, just to throw people off.
Half an hour ago I saw that little Slytherin brat suddenly appear at the door of a storage room on the second floor, muttering 'gone… can't find it…' and things like that.
"I reckon the Bloody Baron must've sent him to check things out, and it turned out the never–smiling Ms. Grey had already run away."
Peeves nodded firmly. "Mm, that's definitely it."
Whether Kael believed it or not, Peeves himself clearly did, and the Bloody Baron did have a motive. Every Ghost knew he was the one who killed Ravenclaw's Ms. Grey—if he suddenly got it into his head to recreate the scene, who knew?
Peeves looked deadly serious, convincing himself more and more as he thought about it.
But still, even if Kael didn't know the real story, there was no way he'd buy it.
Ms. Grey had vanished together with Ravenclaw's Diadem, and the Diadem contained a fragment of Rowena Ravenclaw's own memories. What was the Bloody Baron going to do, personally deliver it?
And there's no way a storage room could hold a Ghost that can walk through walls—that much was obvious without even thinking about it.
The next second, though, another question occurred to Kael.
"Wait, Peeves—just now, that Slytherin you said you saw on the second floor, who was he?"