A/N: A late Friday the Thirteenth one shot I wrote (set in 6th year). Excuse the grammatical errors, I did not reread and edit this. Excuse the OOCness too. Oh, and sorry for not writing for a long time. Now, enjoy reading!

Disclaimer: All characters belong to JK Rowling.

Friday the Thirteenth

Hermione smiled as she came downstairs for breakfast in the Great Hall. It was sixth year and it was a day people were very scared of. Yes, it was Friday the thirteenth. Unlike other people, she didn't believe all that crap that was rumored to happen on these days. She didn't even think it was unlucky for the slightest. Remember, this is Hermione Granger we are talking about.

In fact, she even admitted to Harry and Ron that Friday the thirteenth was kind of a lucky day for her. Whereas everyone else was dodging everything (especially at night), she seemed to be on the flip side every year. For example, in 1st year she had received top marks on a pop quiz that Flitwick had assigned, and then later on received a surprise gift from her parents, telling her she's being missed. And just last year, Friday the thirteenth was when Crookshanks had brought to her a locket that had been missing for a long time – one she loved dearly. All in all, Friday the thirteenths were considered lovely to Hermione.

As far as she was concerned, Friday the thirteenth was only scary to those who were scared of it. It's all the psychology of the mind.

She hummed cheerfully, making her way to where Harry and Ron were seated. Ron looked up from his plate and grinned sheepishly. "Good mood?" He asked her. They were still on fairly good terms at this point, so she nodded back enthusiastically. She grabbed a piece of toast and took a bite of it, chewing carefully.

"Hermione!" She glanced up; Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan were standing close to her. She was surprised; usually they wouldn't greet just her, but Harry and Ron as well. "We already told Ron and Harry," oh, no wonder. "But a bunch of us are going to sneak out and hang around the castle tonight. Want to come?" She wrinkled her nose slightly. She was a prefect yet they informed her they were going to roam around the castle after hours, and even invited her along! Then her sense of adventure kicked in and she saw Harry beam at her. He knew she would give in.

"Sure, sounds fun." Dean and Seamus high-fived. Seems like they have been planning it for a while. Their expressions changed, however, when they saw Luna walk towards the group. She was bearing a sort of halo or crown made of branches on the top of her head. Their expressions had changed to astonishment.

"Hey Luna," Harry greeted, and the rest of them forced a smile. "What's with the crown?" Luna looked at him dreamily and answered.

"It helps steer away the evil spirits."

"Like," Seamus laughed, "the muggle superstitious contraptions?" He laughed it off as if it was completely ridiculous, and Hermione couldn't help but agree with that. Luna always thought of really weird things.

"Don't look down on the muggles." Luna said softly and he shut up immediately. "They are quite smart, really." She motioned towards her crown. "The crown protects me from the evil spirits." She smiled knowingly. "You know, the ones that come out on Friday the thirteenth." Hermione scoffed a little but held back any interruptions. She knew better than to try to argue with Luna's beliefs. She's known that for over a year now.

"Friday the thirteenth?" Ron asked, a confused expression falling onto his face. Hermione finally let her face break into a small smile.

"A muggle superstition." She informed him, "They say it brings bad luck and people live in fear of that day, afraid of what will happen. And there are muggle movies – you know the moving things they watch –", she added as she saw him open his mouth again, "that make Friday the thirteenth seem like some sort of horror story." Ron's face turned a bit paler than before and everyone laughed.

"Didn't you know that's why we wanted to hang around after curfew?" Seamus inquired, chuckling. Ron shook his head and looked to Luna for more information.

"There is proof of the evil spirits that come out, especially during the night of that day." She said, "They go into bodies of people and attempt to kill others." Ron turned even whiter. "Do you want me to make all of you a crown of protection too?"

Dean exclaimed loudly, "Luna, you are so coming with us tonight too." Everyone shushed him and gazed towards the table where all the Professors were seated. Luckily, none of them had turned their way. Their secret was still safe.

Hermione grinned again; Friday the Thirteenths were especially good days for her. And tonight was going to be interesting.

"Ron! Stop stepping on my feet!" Hermione complained. They were really getting too big to all fit underneath Harry's Invisibility Cloak. They had agreed to meet everyone else in one of the Astronomy towers and most left in small groups together. Ron, Harry and Hermione had decided to set up precautions and thus were using the cloak to get up there.

Hermione seemed it appropriate to keep on nagging the boys on how dangerous this was, but only because she had to keep up her good-girl image. She herself felt the adrenaline in her, wanting to experience something exciting.

"I think it's this one," Harry hissed. Well, Hermione hoped it was. Otherwise they would've climbed up all those stairs for nothing. They slowly creaked the door open and saw the dim light inside.

"Who's there?" They heard a familiar voice call out from inside and they recognized it as Lavender's. They ripped off the Invisibility cloak and revealed themselves. They looked around the room and gaped. It was not just the Gryffindor six years in the room. In fact, the room held people of nearly all houses (except Slytherin), but nearly all sixth years.

"Woah," Ron said, "Dean, Seamus, nice!" He gestured at the people and some smiled, nodded or waved in greeting. They saw Luna and Ginny sitting in a corner together (one of the few fifth years) and Hermione saw that Luna still beheld the crown.

A few more people came but once everyone gathered around, Dean began to speak.

"Listen, we're going to play massive hide and seek." One person groaned and Dean looked at him crossly and continued, "If you think it's too childish, you are free to leave. But anyway, we are going to delegate the job of seeker," some people nudged Harry teasingly, "and there will be roughly…four seekers. The people hiding can roam around the school but you must remain on school grounds. Actually, you have to remain inside the school building," he decided. "We have these coins," he started passing them around – they were the ones used by the D.A last year, "so if you get caught by a teacher, you can communicate with the rest of us so that we can go back to our common rooms. If you have been found, you are a seeker too. This means if you are still hiding, hide from everyone, its every wizard for himself." He grinned, "or witch," he added as he saw some girls give him looks. "To catch someone, you have to either tag them or hit them with this some sparks out of your wand." He demonstrated, waving his wand quickly. "Any questions?" People all started whispering, this sounded really exciting!

Hermione couldn't wait to get started on the game!

"Oh, by the way," Seamus cut in. "I heard around that the Slytherins are playing a similar game in the castle, just avoid them if you meet up. We don't want any trouble." Everyone nodded in agreement. No one wanted to be surrounded by a bunch of Slytherins by themselves.

"Okay, well let's start. Ron, Ernie, Hannah and Padma, you guys are the first seekers. We'll see how much time we have, and then we'll decide how many games we can play. Keep on looking at your coins people, and stay quiet!" People started piling out of the room, climbing down the stairs, getting the five minutes head start (from the seekers). Harry and Hermione ran side by side, wands outstretched and alit.

"Where should we go?" Hermione wondered out loud, and glanced at Harry.

"Room of Requirement?" He suggested but was turned down.

"Because of last year everyone from the D.A knows about it, it's too obvious." They slowed down to a walk and dimmed their wands slightly because some paintings were beginning to voice their complaints. They decided that they'd just keep on walking and work with their gut instincts.

"So," Hermione started conversationally. She had been wanting to ask him something for a while now. "How are you and Ginny doing?"

"Well, we are – ", he stopped abruptly, "how did you know?" He asked, eyes widening and completely lost.

"Oh don't be silly, Harry." She giggled, "I'm your best friend. And I'm a girl." She reasoned, "I can tell." He let out a sigh and rubbed his palm against his forehead where his scar lay. "Don't worry, Harry. I won't tell." He smiled appreciatively at her but then they heard a voice in the distance.

"I hear you!" It was Ron and he was a few corridors behind them. Oh, damn. Harry and Hermione started running quickly and their footsteps echoed in the hallway. They could hear Ron behind them, catching up pace and they came to a courtyard.

"Hermione, you go that way, I'll go this way. We'll confuse him!" Harry said frantically and they ran in two different directions. After a few minutes, Hermione stopped running. She was panting heavily and was laughing too. This was really fun. And it seems like Ron must have followed Harry instead, which is a good thing.

Hermione felt like she needed some rest and saw that the library was – if it was even possible – quieter than usual. She entered slowly and gazed around, it seemed empty enough. She found a corner in the room and sat herself down on the ground. She found a book on a table and had brought it with her. "Pride and Prejudice", the title proclaimed. She was surprised, it wasn't often you would find a muggle book in the library here. And it was a muggle novel that she loved dearly.

But she didn't have the heart to read it now; she was just so excited and full of adrenaline. Nonetheless, it was not as if she could start running around the room right now. So instead, she began to softly sing a song that she knew off by heart. She kept her wand out, so that she could throw a curse at a seeker who came in. She found that funny and began to think of the curses that she could throw. Maybe Tarantallegra or Levicorpus, especially if it were Ron.

"Hermione?" She whipped around and thought 'Levicorpus'. The person flipped over and was suspended in the air by her ankle. She recognized the crown that fell to the ground. It was Luna.

"Are you a seeker?" Hermione inquired cautiously, still pointing her wand out and getting ready to sprint. Luna shook her head no and Hermione let her down. "I heard your singing, it's really good." Hermione laughed and shook her head, saying that it was bad.

"I was running away from Padma, and I managed to outrun her so I headed to the library because it's got a lot of hiding spaces." Luna answered when Hermione asked her. The fifth year tried to untangle some of her hair and once again placed the crown on top of her head. "Hermione, you should stick very close to me." Hermione shot her a confused look. "Maybe my crown will ward off the spirits around me, so maybe you'll be safe if you're close." Hermione tried to send her – what she hoped to be – a thankful look.

Something creaked.

Hermione jumped and pointed her wand into the slight darkness around them (there was still some light since there were many windows in the library). What always seemed to her as a safe refuge seemed kind of spooky this night. She supposed it was because of the thought that people were chasing her and ready to jump out any second made her nervous. Or it could be that Luna's stories were getting to her…

Of course not. Hermione was a strong Gryffindor who didn't believe in that crap. She was not one of those superstitious, frightened girls who got terrorized by simple 'ghost stories.' She –

Hermione shrieked, something had just touched her! Then she realized that it was Luna's hand on her arm. Luna inspected Hermione's facial features and scrunched up her face.

"Let's go." Said Luna, and they stood up to walk over to the door. Hermione was now keeping a close distance to Luna. It was getting seriously creepy. "Friday the thirteenth is a bit scary, isn't it?" Luna's face had turned dreamy again as she took a stride out of the library.

"Of-of course not. Friday the thirteenth is simply a myth. The bad luck stuff is all gobbledygook. It's just to scare little kids, sort of like Halloween." Hermione stated, glancing all around her and shining her wand everywhere.

"Well, I think the bad luck stuff is nonsense too." Hermione raised her eyebrows, she did? She would have thought that Luna would believe in such things. "But the evil spirits is true. It was in the Quibbler just last month." Hermione couldn't help herself, she snorted. Luna turned to stare at her.

"It's true. The spirits will come, believe me. They might enter your body or someone else's and they will turn you into a semi-zombie. You will kill people. So be careful when we meet up with others later on, they might be possessed." Hermione scoffed, but saw that nothing would unhinge Luna. Luna's expression of seriousness was now beginning to get sort of creepy. "It's true." She repeated.

Hermione gulped, Merlin's beard! This was getting weird! "How can you tell if someone's possessed then?" She tried to sound as if she couldn't care less, but she truly wanted to know.

"Their eyes will turn a different color than usual. If their eyes are mainly dark, they will turn a pale grayish. If their eyes are light, they will turn pitch black." They continued walking for a minute or two but then Luna drew her arm out and pulled Hermione back. "Do you hear that?" When the other shook her head, she cocked her head sideways and put her hand by her ear. "Listen then."

Hermione listened carefully. She could hear close footsteps in front of them, coming into their direction.

"Oh crap." She muttered to Luna, "it might be a seeker, we've got to get away without them knowing we're here." She began to spin around to leave but Luna stopped her.

"It isn't a seeker," she told her determinedly.

"How do you know?"

"I can tell. It's a person possessed by a spirit." Both of Hermione's eyebrows went up significantly but when she heard the footsteps grow closer her heart began to pound loudly.

"How can you be sure?" She hissed and pulled Luna close to her.

"By the way the person is walking," Luna whispered back, as if it were so obvious. Hermione pulled Luna even closer to her, praying that Luna's crown would protect the both of them. The footsteps were in this corridor now and both the girls' wands were not lit; they didn't want to draw any attention to themselves. But Hermione thought it didn't matter anyway, she was breathing so heavily and her heart was beating so wildly that anyone from a mile away could hear her.

Suddenly, a wand was lit right in front of them. Hermione screamed and tried to run but tripped on the ground. So much for Gryffindor bravery. She could not sense Luna around her anymore, but she scrambled on the ground. She fumbled and pointed her wand into the air. "Lumos," she whispered and her wand lit up.

She saw a pair of eyes.

And they were a shocking pale grey. She gasped in fright but then saw the face attached to the pair of eyes. It was Draco Malfoy. It was not an evil spirit possessed human/zombie. It was only the bouncing ferret.

"Bloody hell!" She exclaimed, shaking with relief. It was only Malfoy! And he was by himself so she had nothing to worry about, she could have taken him in a duel any day.

"Weasley?" He shone his wand into her face and saw who it really was. "Oh, Granger," he acknowledged her presence with a grimace.

"Weasley? Why in Merlin's name did you think I was Ron or Ginny or…whichever Weasley?" She pulled herself up and stood up tall, facing the tired looking blonde. His eyes had bags underneath them. If you asked her, she'd have to say Harry was right. Draco Malfoy was up to something.

"Because you sounded like him." He smirked with amusement. "Bloody Hell? That's what the Weasel would say." She scowled, and pulled her cloak tighter around her. When he continued smirking, she couldn't suppress her own smirk. It was kind of true after all. She sometimes had reprimanded Ron for never expanding his vocabulary.

"Well, why are you out here by yourself?" She stopped smiling and became serious, remembering who he was and how dangerous her friends assumed him to be.

"I could ask you the same question."

"It's Friday the thirteenth," she blurted out and wondered why she even bothered explaining herself to him. "Playing hide and seek with loads of people." He raised his eyebrow aristocratically.

"Actually, us Slytherins are doing something pretty similar." He frowned, "they dragged me into it, I didn't want to play." She found something very odd about his behavior. It seemed like he was just so tired, that he didn't bother insulting her anymore. He sighed, another demonstration of his reluctance to come out.

"We thought you were an evil spirit," she asserted, laughing at herself. Now, why the hell did she tell him that? He was probably going to make some sort of stupid statement from it.

Surprisingly, he didn't. "We?" She looked around, where was Luna? Luna came out from behind a statue where she was hiding. She was brushing the air around her with her hands, as if swatting flies away. Hermione believed that she was probably swatting away some sort of creature that did not actually exist. "Ah, Luna Lovegood." He sneered, "Loony, I hear they call her," he said as if she were not there.

Hermione retaliated. "Stop being a git, Ferret." Her eyes flashed in anger and she made sure her wand was in her hand, in case a duel broke out.

"Sorry, just a joke," he apologized and her jaw nearly fell to the floor. Malfoy was apologizing? For insulting someone? Hell certainly has frozen over. Maybe next, Snape and McGonagall will be caught snogging behind some bushes.

Luna spoke up, "I do not think he is possessed yet, Hermione." Her friend nodded in agreement and yet still in amazement of what just had happened. Malfoy gazed at them and his pale face seemed to be nearly glowing in the light. He seemed unwell.

"I think I should be going, in case one of the Slytherins come and tag me." He gave a brief but rare smile, "see you around, Granger." He nodded at them both, "Lovegood." He went in the direction of where they were standing but then passed them and continued down the hallway.

"That was odd," Hermione informed her friend. "Malfoy was acting nice for some reason, the only thing he called me was Granger."

"Oh, yes, he's very much attracted to you." Luna said bluntly, picking up her dropped wand. When she saw Hermione's dumbfounded face, she explained. "I could see the way he was looking at you. There was also an aura around him, I could feel it being projected."

Luna was once again being ridiculous. Malfoy would never have had such feelings towards Hermione, the mere idea of it sounds preposterous! Malfoy loathed her and the feeling was mutual…

But the way he smiled at her briefly was kind of sweet.

She shook her head, ridding herself of that thought. "Let's go, before the seekers come and catch us," she told Luna and they made their way to find another place to hide together. Hermione did not feel that scared or creeped out anymore, she knew there were no evil spirits in the castle ready to attack her. She knew that the only people they were running and hiding from were the seekers. As a matter of fact, she felt kind of warm inside; maybe it was her adrenaline kicking again.

She smiled, with the satisfaction that she was correct again. Friday the thirteenths were good days for her.

A/N: So...Good? Bad? Absolutely horrible? You tell me. Thanks for reading and please review! You don't know how happy it will make me be. Want a virtual cookie? Ask and you shall receive. :)

And, woah, this is like the longest one shot i have ever written, haha. My one shots usually tend to be short. Check out the rest of my work if you haven't already!

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