Hermione sighed for what seemed to be the millionth time that night. She reached out to take another sip from her mug of coffee just to find that it was empty. She desperately wanted to pour herself another cup, but she figured 4 cups would probably be too much caffeine. It was half past 4 in the morning and Hermione was in the library doing all the research that she could on spells for immortality. All she wanted was to be in her warm cozy bed sleeping her problems away, with Voldemort's impending attack at the very top of the list. However, Hermione, the token bookworm friend, had been asked by Harry to find out as much as she could about ways to gain immortality, which they knew was Voldemort's goal. Thus, she was stuck in the Hogwarts library, doing the research that nobody else wanted to do. She'd already looked into immortality potions and she had just exhausted the immortality spell section, not that she was able to find anything. According to both theorists and people crazy, or desperate, enough to try these methods, nothing worked.

There must be something I'm missing, Hermione thought to herself, carefully closing yet another large and ancient book. She opened a book entitled "The Fountain of Youth: Myth or Reality?" and got ready to dive in when suddenly, she heard a noise. It sounded as though someone had closed the library door. She was sure it wasn't Filch, as Harry had distracted the house elves in the kitchen while Ron slipped some sleeping potion in Filch's pumpkin juice, knowing that Hermione would need full access to the library after hours if they were going to make any progress in their search. Hermione, unsure of who could possibly be in the library, quickly disillusioned herself, shoved her notes in her bag, and charmed the area to look as though nothing was out of the ordinary. For extra safety, she put on Harry's invisibility cloak and started to make her way to the entrance of the library, where she'd here the noise.

Just as she'd suspected, someone had breached the wards she had placed on the library's entrance. Yet, there was nobody in sight. Whoever it was must be disillusioned, which meant that they were probably a student who didn't want to get caught. Hermione was torn between revealing herself and trying to come to an agreement with whomever it was so that she could get back to her research, and staying hidden to find out why the person was even in the library. After a few seconds of mental debate, her curiosity got the best of her and she silently cast a Homenum Revelio over the part of the library that she could see. Almost immediately, a brilliant red marker appeared, for her eyes only, over the body of the trespasser. The person was hastily making his or her way into the restricted section, piquing Hermione's interest even more.

Hermione quietly began to trail the mystery person, relying on the marker to see where he or she was headed. At the entrance to the restricted section, the person stopped and de-warded the area skillfully. Clearly not their first time breaking into the restricted section after hours, Hermione noted as she slipped through the door before it shut, gracefully dodging the cushioning charm the person directed towards the door, to prevent it from closing loudly. Hermione was beginning to gain some respect for the disillusioned student, appreciated how careful they were being so as not to get caught.

The person seemed to know exactly where to go, as they beelined straight to the seventh row down and started searching the stacks. Hermione went as close to the person as she was willing to go, and was immensely surprised to see that they were standing in the section of immortality. The person had stopped moving, so Hermione stood stock still and waited to see what would happen, once again torn between throwing off the cloak to confront the person and waiting it out. She decided on the latter and had only been waiting for a few minutes when the marker moved down a few feet and then a small book, very thin and hidden between large daunting books slowly began inching its way off of the shelf. Hermione could feel waves of dark energy coming from the book and unconsciously backed up a few inches. All of a sudden, without even having opened the book, the person slid the book back into place and started heading for the door. Making a mental note to come back and take a look at the book, Hermione took off behind the person, intent of discovering who it was that was looking at dark books in the restricted section well past closing time.

By the time the pair got back to the entrance, Hermione had nearly lost all hope in her tactic and revealed herself to the person. It seemed luck was on her side, however, as right before the person slid out the library doors, their disillusionment charm let up a bit and Hermione was able to catch a glimpse of their back and hair.

That was all she needed, however, as after six years of intense verbal sparring and having to stay on her guard 24/7, Hermione was absolutely positive that she could pick Draco Malfoy and his ridiculously blonde hair out of a group of hundreds. Now, not only was she curious as to what the book was about, Hermione was also suspicious. The ferret was always up to no good, and Hermione's gut told her that this time was no different.

Thanking the gods that she did not reveal herself to him, Hermione retraced Malfoy's initial steps, heading back into the restricted section for a better look at that book. She had no intention of touching it, not knowing what a dark book like that might do to a person of her blood status, but now she definitely needed to find out what book it was. She finally reached the section and tilted her head to get a better look at the book's spine. It did not have any words on it, but there was a very small owl engraved on the bottom, so faded that it would not have been noticeable to someone who was not closely examining the book.

Hermione was getting really bad vibes from the book, so she decided she'd inspected it enough and started making her way out of the restricted section. Why was Malfoy even here? Is he using this books to help Voldemort become immortal? Hermione was so full of questions that she didn't remember to cushion the door to the restricted section, and it closed with a loud click. Not wanting to get caught, she briskly went back over to her workspace, silently and magically re-shelved the books she'd been using, and grabbed her bag.

Making sure she was still fully covered by the cloak, Hermione exited the library and made her way back to Gryffindor Tower, ready to sleep, even if she would only be getting 2 to 3 hours of it. Hermione took the secret entrance into the common room that she'd discovered in her third year but withheld from sharing with anyone else. She did not want to alert the (sleeping) Fat Lady that she was not in the Tower when she very well should be.

By the time Hermione finally dragged herself into bed, it was nearly 6 in the morning. She pulled the curtains around her bed closed, intending on skipping breakfast and sleeping for as long as possible before her class in the morning. Hermione pulled her duvet up to her chin and settled in, but three questions were floating around in her brain, preventing her from drifting off. She sighed softly, resolving to write the questions down and return to them once she had some sleep in her. She reached for her journal and wand, both of which were conveniently located right in her pillowcase, and proceeded to write the questions down:

What business does Draco Malfoy have with that book and topic?

What does that owl on the spine of the book mean, and why does it seem so familiar?

What am I missing?

Hermione returned her wand and journal to their places and promptly drifted off for some well-deserved and much needed sleep.