Bones - 1/50 for the Halloween Boot Camp Challenge
The corridor was empty and very, very dark.
Then, slowly, light appeared. On one end, the dim illumination from a wand appeared, and a girl with very big, dark hair turned the corner.
She took small steps, so as not to make her movements loud, and slowly tiptoed to the door that she wanted. The handle was a shiny silver that glinted in the dark, and she extinguished her wand to press down on it.
It turned slowly, almost ominously, and she shivered a little at contact with the cool surface.
It was drafty in the old castle, she thought, and despite being bundled up in a thick jumper - from last year's Christmas, one of Mrs Weasley's creations (ironic given that it was Halloween) - Hermione's teeth were clacking.
The door opened easily, and she was grateful that Madam Pince kept the library orderly, starting with keeping the door oiled appropriately. She was about to take the customary breath of musty library air, full of that bookish smell she adored, when there was a loud click from somewhere above her.
Something swooped down. It was loud, shouting something unintelligible, mostly babble. Everything was sped up and slowed down, at the same time. The garbled sounds filled her head, and she was very confused.
Whatever it was hit her across the forehead and sent her careening back into the corridor, breath coming in sharp gusts. She shook, trying to gather her brains about her.
Hermione trembled, eyes wide and wand at the ready. She didn't know what she was facing, though, and refrained from casting any spells. There were old creatures that fed off of energy, and if she'd just set one off...
Cautiously, she called, "Who's - who's there? Whatever you're doi-"
She screamed louder than she ever had before, making her own ears ring, as she saw a bone roll towards her.
And then came the sound of scuffling. As though someone was grabbing at the ground, trying to escape.
She froze, eyes on the pale white of the bone, so focused that she hardly noticed a bony foot step through the dark doorway of the library. When she did see it, she screamed again, feeling faint.
The figure that appeared from the shadowy library was all bones, bare and clacking in a disgusting way. Something squished beneath the foot, and she wondered if she'd be able to keep her dinner down. It stood still.
Hermione, in the few moments she had to look around and think, didn't reckon she'd ever be able to forget those deep, empty eye sockets, the way she thought it could sense her by the way its head turned in her direction, despite the darkness shrouding the corridor.
She kept her breathing shallow, but it seemed to loom ever closer, taller than she by nearly half a meter. It looked like it might topple over. She couldn't move for the absolute fear that gripped her.
Seconds that seemed like eternities ticked past, her muscles tensed and ready to act, should it move.
And- what was that?
She cocked her head, eyes on the mass of bones that had frightened her so deeply, fearing it would pounce if she made any overt movements, and listened. Laughter?
"Got you, Granger," came Malfoy's drawl from behind her. She jumped and whirled around, hair flying and heart thumping madly up once again. She heard low chuckles come from around her and knew Crabbe and Goyle had surrounded her other side. Malfoy and his idiot hangers-on. What perfect timing, she thought wildly.
He eyed her, gaze full of a stinging kind of mirth, a malicious kind. "Umbridge wanted me to catch the one who keeps breaking into the library, you know. I should've guessed it was you," he sneered. "Granger, I believe you've just earned yourself detention."
She didn't quite understand what he was saying, and raised a finger to point at the figure that was still standing at the doorway. "Sk-skeleton. It's - alive!"
He looked at her strangely and then snorted. "Filthy mudblood," then he pointed his wand at the skeleton, muttered a few words, and it collapsed to the ground. "Those were cheap parlor tricks meant to keep the perpetrator in place for us." He turned to his two friends, "leave it to Muddy over here to make something big out of it."
Hermione didn't know if the prickling at her eyes meant she was about to cry, die of humiliation, or pass out.
Fright seemed to overwhelm her, and then she processed what he'd said.
"You... planned this?" Then, more importantly, "Detention?" Hermione questioned. "But- Malfoy! You scared me!"
"The ends justify the means, Granger. I did what Umbridge asked of me." He shrugged, pulling something out from the deep pocket on the front of his robe. "Besides, who was I to know that a silly Halloween prank was going to scare you?" He shared a cold, calculating glance with his two friends. "But now that I do know...watch out." She shivered as he nearly hissed the words at her, leaning over her head and making her feel small and vulnerable.
He gave a small laugh and slapped a pink piece of parchment into her hand. "Detention tomorrow night with Umbridge. Be there or it's double the punishment and a letter home. Have fun."
He turned his back to her and disappeared into the shadows, his (apparently) mute friends following directly behind. The thing in her hand made a small noise, and she felt it move. Her heart stopped.
Hermione looked down at what she'd assumed was the detention slip and nearly fell over in shock at what it'd somehow transformed into.
It was a bat. A live bat. With wings that were fluttering against her palm. She dropped it as though it had burned her and screamed, throat raw. Another pink slip of paper fluttered down from above her with a cold chuckle, courtesy of Draco Malfoy, and once she'd ascertained that it wasn't going to give her a heart attack, she gingerly picked it up.
Detention, 7:30, Madam Umbridge's office.
Hermione, unimpressed, pocketed the note and ran as fast as she could to Gryffindor tower. No more midnight strolls for her, that she was sure of.