N.E.W.T. Monster
The air was still in the dimly lit room, veils of cobwebs hanging from the walls due to the room's lack of occupation.
The portrait door swung open and a giggling couple stumbled into the room, hands roaming each other feverishly.
"You rascal, Dean…" the girl said, sloppily pulling at the boy's vest.
"Merlin, I want you, Lav," he growled, dipping his mouth to Lavender's eager lips.
Scratch, scratch, scratch.
The couple froze, listening intently.
"What's that sound?" Lavender whispered, eyes wide as she clung to Dean. Cautiously, they looked around the room, but found it as empty as when they had first entered.
"I thought you said no one would be here – " Lavender began accusingly, only to be silenced by Dean's palm against her lips.
"Shut up. It's coming… I think… from over there," he breathed, pointing towards the far left corner, which was barricaded by a wall of books, charts and diagrams.
The couple stared silently at the corner, waiting for a sound.
Scratch, scratch, scratch.
"I told you this room place was haunted! We should have listened to Peeves." Lavender looked ready to bolt.
"It's not haunted! Since when is Peeves ever serious? It's probably just… erm… go look," he ordered at last, pushing the girl towards in the direction of the sound.
"No!" she gasped, tearing away from his grip and darting behind him. "You go, macho man!"
Swallowing, Dean took a deep breath and hesitantly began to walk towards the corner.
Scratch, scratch, THUNK!
The couple jumped at the unexpected sound, and clutched at their racing hearts. A book had slipped from the pile and crashed to the floor. The scratching stopped.
They heard movement from behind the wall of tomes, and with a squeak Dean bolted away from the corner and shoved Lavender in front of him, using her as a human shield.
"Hey!" she protested shrilly, but her voice died out when she saw the creature coming out from behind the books.
They stared in open mouthed horror at it's monstrous mane of lion-like hair, it's sullen and sunken golden eyes, it's skin a terrible pallid color, splotched with mysterious black blobs, it's claws reaching out for the fallen book, no doubt planning on devouring it…
"Let's get out of here!" Dean cried shrilly, and the two hurtled towards the portrait hole, scrambling against each other to get out first.
"I'm never making out with you again, Thomas!" Lavender shrieked as they finally squeezed through the hole, the sound of their panicked running echoing against the walls.
Hermione stared at the gaping portrait hole, bemused.
Shrugging, she scooped up her book and sat down behind her desk.
"Honestly, it's nearly NEWT time, they should be studying… lazy bums…"
Hastily pushing her messy, bushy curls over her shoulder, the studious Griffindor readjusted her grip on the quill and continued writing, thinking about how foolish her house mates were.
A/n: Another little one-shot. My undergrad sister is going through finals right now, and she looks like a monster around this time. She's the inspiration for this.
