half past two
He had just got into bed when he was struck with a brilliant idea . Why waste the precious hours in sleep ? What was that saying of somebody 's , `` Five hours for a wise man , six for somebody else -- he forgot whom -- eight for a fool , nine for an idiot , '' or words to that effect ? Five hours sleep would mean that he need not go to bed till half past two . In the meanwhile he could be finding out exactly what the hero _ did _ do when he found out -LRB- to his horror -RRB- that it was his cousin Jasper who had really killed the old gentleman in the wood . The only question was -- how was he to do his reading ? Prefects were allowed to work on after lights out in their dormitories by the aid of a candle , but to the ordinary mortal this was forbidden .