The common room was empty and dark, the last to leave had been a pair of tipsy third years who had snuck in a bottle of Firewhisky from Hogsmeade. As their doors slammed closed another opened, a few levels up. Hurried steps and a swirl of cloth were the only indications that someone was up and about. The entrance portrait was opened slowly, so as to not wake its inhabitant. The Fat Lady was snoring up a storm, unpreoccupied with the escapades of a daring Gryffindor. Careful steps were taken down the staircases, not forgetting to take a jump on the vanishing step. Ron had borrowed the Marauder's Map for Merlin knew what, so only the Cloak was available. It would have made the trip across the castle faster, running into Mrs. Norris or Snape was all it took to cut the night short.
Instead Peeves was found roaming the second floor corridor. The Poltergeist was hanging upside down in mid-air, a potions textbook and a pot of ink in each hand. No doubt the ghost had been up to some act of vandalism.
The way to the library was at the other end of the hall. Sure another route could be taken but the night was growing short and what was a Cloak of Invisibility for after all?
Keeping to the walls was the best way, as long as the suit of armors were carefully navigated. One careless bump and it was game over.
Peeves cackled gleefully to himself as he destroyed school property, unaware of the mission impossible situation happening below him. Then, growing bored of his mischief, he threw the book with the purpose of knocking down a suit of armor. Instead it collided with someone's head.
"OW!" The cloak tumbled down as Hermione clutched her head in pain where the book struck her.
"Hey I know you. You're the one that's always with Potty", sneered Peeves drifting closer.
"You shouldn't throw things you know", grumbled Hermione her head throbbing.
"Oh you mean like this?", Peeves said as he kicked one of the suits over. It made a terrible noise of falling especially as it knocked into the others, and they all tumbled down in a great clamor that echoed and reverberated down the empty halls.
Hermione just stared at the mess, eyes wide and mouth agape, then she angrily looked at Peeves who looked pretty smug. On cue running footsteps could be heard in the distance, no doubt a flurry of professors ready to fall upon whoever had dared to break the after hours rule. Giving Peeves some vicious side eye, she threw the cloak on again.
"That wasn't even a throw", she hissed angrily at the poltergeist as she sprinted towards the library. Peeves just cackled before disappearing into a wall.
Damn ghost, now she would have to hide in the library and wait until the coast was clear. With the intention of finding a corner to hide until the excitement settled she grabbed a book off a shelf and not paying attention she tripped over something soft and long legged.
"What the bloody hell!", said the soft and long legged creature.
Hermione had managed to catch herself on a shelf but enough of the cloak had slipped to reveal her. She let it fall and to her surprise found Malfoy giving her an ugly look down by the floor.
"Malfoy?", she said, "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same question", he said rubbing his toe where Hermione had stepped on it.
"Well I came here to read as one does in a library obviously" she said.
Malfoy stood up, "Oh who knew goody two shoes Granger was such a rule break-",
"Shhh!", hushed Hermione. Malfoy looked like he had been slapped.
"You dare shush me-?", he started but was cut off again.
"Shush! Can't you hear?", said Hermione, peeking through the shelves. The light from a lantern and angry muttering were the tale tell signs of a very disgruntled caretaker.
"Filch! Hide!", she said in low tones. Unfortunately they were located in a dead end and Filch was fast approaching. Malfoy looked about ready to make a run for it, but luckily she came prepared. She picked up the cloak and motioned for him to join her. His eyes bugged out in amazement at the disappearing effect. Time was of the essence though so she couldn't afford him more time to gawk in amazement, so she reached out and pulled him close under the cloak. He didn't have a chance to make any other noise of indignation since Filch appeared just then, unknowingly shining light on them.
He held up the lantern, flooding the space with light.
"Where you, ya little assholes?", he muttered. Draco and Hermione stood stock still, not daring to breathe. In a few seconds, the older man was gone, shuffling to another part of the library. Once he was sufficiently out of earshot, Hermione turned to Draco, who was way too close for comfort.
"Well, I'm heading back to bed, since it looks like I wont be able to read at all tonight", she said, "I can get you out of the library but after that you're on your own". She didn't fancy escorting him all the way to the dungeons, the sooner they separated the better.
He looked like he was about to refuse but he held his tongue and curtly nodded. He was trying his best to not bump into her, but the cloak was only so big and he was taller than her.
They made it out of the library with no incident, Filch was still in the library so they decided to go their own ways a little farther ahead. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to be the case. Professor Snape was patrolling the stairs that led to the dungeons, perhaps he had been tipped off about a Slytherin student out of bed which meant Draco could not slip past undetected.
"Fancy dropping me off in the dungeons Granger?", he said
She scoffed. "And risk getting caught by Professor Snape not once, but twice? You're dreaming Malfoy".
"Then what the bloody hell am I supposed to do?", he said, scowling. "Hide out in the boys' lavatory until morning?"
"Doesn't sound like a bad plan to me", she said, enjoying watching him get irritated. Gosh, Harry's strong dislike for Malfoy was rubbing off on her.
"You're joking I hope", he said. "Cause if you're leaving me stranded you got another thing-"
She snatched the cloak off of him, leaving him exposed. Lifting it up enough so he could see her face she said, "If you're going to be annoying I won't help you at all".
He looked ready to pull out his wand but thought better of it.
"Fine", he said, "Now will you let me back in? I can't handle another detention right now".
"Don't worry I have just the right place in mind. Fancy a trip to the seventh floor?", she said. And so they climbed the stairs and walked down hallways in relative quiet. They came close to bumping to patrolling professors once or twice, but slipped by without notice. Hermione couldn't wait to drop him off and move on. He kept brushing against her and it was an unsettling feeling, unused to not being touched by any other male that wasn't a Weasley or Harry. Plus having Malfoy so close to her made it feel like a complete surreal experience.
They were almost to their destination when Malfoy broke the silence.
"So...nice pajamas, Granger", he said smirking. He looked at her shirt, "What's that say? Stars..what?"
"It's 'Star Wars'", she said blushing, embarrassed. "It's a muggle film"
Before he could make fun of her, they heard a distinct meow from behind them. They turned around and saw Mrs. Norris a few paces away. Staring at them.
"Can she see us?", Malfoy whispered.
"She shouldn't, perhaps she can smell us.", Hermione replied. Mrs Norris went up to them and lifted a paw as if to swat away the cloak.
"Oh, she definitely knows we're here. Do you think she has been following us all along?", he said. Mrs. Norris pricked up her ears suddenly and went running in the other direction, no doubt in search of her master.
"Bloody- run! We're almost there!", she said. They sprinted down the hall, but it proved too difficult to move at such speed with the cloak covering them, so Malfoy just took it off and sprinted ahead. Hermione stopped in front of where the room of requirement should be, trying to think of a suitable place to go. She noticed Malfoy hadn't stopped.
"Malfoy come back, it's right here!", she said. Honestly Slytherins were real cowards sometimes.
He came jogging back, a panicked look on his face. "Mcgonagall is coming! I heard her from the other end of the hall", he said. "Where do we go!"
"Hush I'm trying to concentrate", she said. "I have to walk three times past and it will appear".
"Well hurry up", he said, nervous. Really for someone who sneaks out at night he was turning out to really not be suited for it.
Hermione hadn't noticed though that Malfoy had already done the pacing for them, in his running around, so a door began to appear. Footsteps were growing closer on both ends of the corridor, a few more seconds and they would be discovered.
Not wasting any time they both ran through the door, practically tumbling over each other in their haste.
They fell in and the door slammed behind them, disappearing. Hermione groaned in pain because Malfoy had fallen on top of her.
"Malfoy do you mind moving?", she said.
"Granger where the bloody hell are we?", said Malfoy, sounding genuinely scared.
Convinced he was being dramatic, she shoved him off and took her first look around, and her jaw dropped.
There was sand. And it was everywhere.