At first glance, the ground appeared deserted. Dumbledore scanned the grounds one more time before turning and heading back to his study to finish grading the fifth years' essays on the Laws of Transfiguration. If he hadn't been so preoccupied with the piles of papers that needed to be graded before the morning, he might have noticed the small fifth year girl dozing off at the base of the Whomping Willow after curfew.
Long after Dumbledore had returned to his office, Abigail awoke with a start. Her eyes darting around the darkened and deserted grounds the girl sighed. This wasn't the first time she had fallen asleep at the base of the giant ferocious tree and missed curfew. For a moment anger and exasperation flashed through her – she may not have friends here but surely someone would have the courtesy to wake up a fellow student as curfew approached. The feelings passed as quickly as they had come. Her entire life had been spent with people acting as if she were invisible. A year or two ago she just decided to stop being bitter about it. Bitterness did nothing for her except distract her from her studies. As a dutiful Ravenclaw she couldn't stand to let precious time be wasted with pitying herself.
Speaking of time, the girl looked down at her wristwatch (a gift from her brother and one of the few Muggle technologies that worked at Hogwarts) to find that it was one o'clock in the morning. She sighed again and stole a look at the castle. If curfew had just passed she may have been able to sneak back into the castle without too many questions. But at one in the morning? The annoying old groundskeeper would have cast his Caterwauling Charm over the entrance by now.
She had found out about the charm the hard way two months ago when she was in a very similar situation. As punishment she had gotten a month's worth of Saturday detentions that was spent cleaning the schools bathrooms. Shuddering at the memory, Abigail turned back to the base of the old tree. Another night in the shack then. She silently thanked Mrs. Norris again for finding this place. She bent down and began crawling through the small passageway until she got to the abandoned shack.
Shortly after getting caught sneaking into the school after curfew, Abigail had found this place. Correction, her cat (and only friend) led her to the secret passageway beneath the Whomping Willow. It had been a cool October night one week after she was caught for breaking curfew. She had fallen asleep under the shade of her favorite tree by the lake again and awoke to the dreadful thoughts of cleaning more bathrooms. In desperation she had woken her cat, Mrs. Norris, to voice their predicament in the hopes that somehow by saying it allowed she would be able to find a solution.
After Abigail's near hysteric rehash of the situation, Mrs. Norris looked calmly up at her, then towards the castle, then back to Abigail, before turning to stare at the Whomping Willow. Releasing a single meow, Mrs. Norris stalked off towards the tree. Although startled and confused, Abigail still had the sense to follow her intelligent cat as she made her way across the grounds to the giant willow. Mrs. Norris darted in between the wildly swinging branches and hit a notch on the trunk. All of a sudden the willow froze and Abigail was able to walk safely to the base of the tree. There she finally caught up to her cat and they looked at each other for a moment. Then, with another meow, Mrs. Norris slipped through a small opening in the trunk and seemingly disappeared. It was obvious that Abigail was meant to follow so, trusting her cat wholeheartedly, she slipped through the opening.
The space under the tree was much larger and longer than what Abigail had anticipated. Spotting Mrs. Norris halfway down the passageway, Abigail rushed forward, crawling most of the way. After what felt like an hour, the passage ended and Abigail stood up in an abandoned shack. Though not very big, the shack did have a few small, albeit barren, rooms perfect for spending the night in. Abigail snuggled up with Mrs. Norris in one of the less drafty rooms and slept the rest of the night away, avoiding both frostbite and detention. Ever since then Abigail made use of the shack whenever necessary and she thanked her friend every time for it.
She couldn't thank her friend tonight, however. Two weeks ago her dearest friend died and the pain was still too much to bear. Abigail tried shaking off the tendrils of sadness curling around her heart but only managed to keep the pain at bay until she reached her favorite room in the shack. Not able to hold back anymore, she sat down on the floor and released a few tears for her lost friend. After she cried herself out for the night, Abigail pulled herself over to the pile of blankets and wiped her eyes dry. The room looked a lot different from that first night. After telling her brother about her new sanctuary he sent over a ton of blankets and some small things to decorate the room with. The only thing still in its original place in the room was a large ornate mirror that was so beautiful Abigail couldn't bear to move it.
It was while staring into this mirror that Abigail began debating with herself. Should she go ahead and sleep? Or should she continue studying transfiguration? She silently laughed to herself, there was no debate. Her first class tomorrow was at nine. She set her watch to go off at seven and pulled The Art of the Animagus: From Theory to Practice from her bag. There were only three more chapters until she was done with the book. So close, she was so close. After two years of studying Abigail had read everything but three chapters about Animagi. Tomorrow she would be able to start attempting the practical portion of the magic. Thinking of this she settled down to read. Four hours later, she groggily closed the book and collapsed into the blankets.