A/N: Hi, me again. I'll have to start putting AU now as I couldn't get this done before the 16th of July. Well, here goes nothing. I hope I don't disappoint my muse.

Chapter 7: The Disturbance

The glare than was fixed on Hermione's face had taken up permanent residence there for the last three days. True to form, Harry and Ron weren't talking to her; in fact, they avoided her on most occasions, going the other way when she entered a corridor and turning their backs when she entered a classroom. For this reason, she had ended up partnering Neville in every class. It wasn't too difficult as most people still felt the need to steer clear when he came into too close contact with anything magical.

Hermione couldn't seem to shake the glare because when her friends weren't around to avoid her, she was doing the best that she could to avoid Draco Malfoy; the bane of her existence. Hermione found that this new-found ability to look at anybody hatefully stopped the younger and older people from walking all over her when she patrolled the corridors. It made her life a lot easier in one aspect at least.

She had yet to properly come across the Slytherin Prefect and in her opinion, that was a very impressive feat; mostly because it should be a lot harder to avoid somebody if you actually lived in the same quarters as them.

"You know," Susan appeared out of nowhere. "running from your problems is not something I would have expected of a Gryffindor, especially not this Gryffindor. You've faced death quite a few times, been hurt pretty badly – physically, defied the Ministry, yet you can't face a Slytherin, a Slytherin who – I might add – is younger than you."

Hermione could have beaten that pompous look off the Hufflepuff's face but she was too much of a lady to do so. "He's taller than me(!)" She growled before increasing her pace.

Susan caught up with her quite easily. "He'll find you soon, you know?"

Hermione looked around the empty corridor as her scowl deepened. Any child misbehaving had better hope that they did not cross Hermione Jane Granger tonight. "Well then let him find me. Until then, I'm working so go and do your own job." She had every intention of checking the library next; it was her last job before turning in for the night.

Susan mock bowed. "I'll see you back at the common room. Don't kill the children, alright?"

Hermione could still hear Susan's laugh in her ears ten minutes later, when she pushed the doors to the library open. This place was like a haven and like most places that people loved, they liked to make a good entrance. This was why whenever she entered the library, Hermione always opened both doors. It was second nature to her now, she barely thought about it when she did it.

It was instantly obvious, as soon as she entered the room, that the place was deserted. That alone should have been enough to make her turn around and go back. With it being almost one in the morning, she really needed her rest if she was to be up early tomorrow for her lessons but something pulled her inside; something that she barely registered.

The back window of the library was filled with books. Books on every shelf and they completely covered the windows so anybody walking past from outside would be able to see nothing but a lot of books in many rows, pressed up against the window. Most of the time, it felt secluded but tonight, it made Hermione feel claustrophobic. She had never realised how stale the air was down here; like the books were too far along to be remembered so they were never dusted or looked after. She touched a spine lightly and glanced at the open latch of the lock that held the doors to the restricted section of the library shut. She squinted at it, confused, before hearing a noise behind her.

It was soft; a rustling like cloth on cloth or the soft padding of footsteps by somebody trying too hard to be quiet and just falling short. She spun around but stopped when she saw nothing. There was only one problem; she was sure that she'd heard it and Hermione had never been wrong when it came to hearing things, not once in her life so she knew now that even if she couldn't see anything or anyone, it didn't necessarily mean that nobody was there; especially in the magical world where anything was possible.

"Who's there?" She called, louder and in a much stronger voice than she felt she could muster.

There was a very long pause while nothing happened and nothing was said. Hermione waited patiently for a response. Just when she thought that she would get nothing, she heard a squeak and the door to the library cracked open, remained for a while and then thudded closed.

Without thinking, she rushed to the door and yanked it open, intent on running after then thing or person even if she was blind to their whereabouts. Her entire being screamed at her to leave, to run away and forget that she had even witnessed it, but she couldn't. A minute voice in the very distant recess of her mind hoped that it was Harry, in his invisibility cloak, hoping to talk to her and help to mend the rift that was driving her to the worst depression she could ever remember feeling.

There was only one problem with that hope; she knew for a fact that Harry was asleep in Gryffindor tower right now and also, Ginny had his cloak. She being the only person allowed to take it from him as she was the only person other than Ron and – formally – herself that he trusted with something as precious as his dad's infamous cloak.

Hermione followed the direction she believed the person to have gone while a loud voice in her head continued to shout at her. She was aware that she should listen to it. After all, it was that voice that told her that the basilisk travelled through the plumbing, that Remus Lupin could only be a werewolf, that Sirius was innocent, that Voldemort and Sirius were not in the Department of Mysteries and that Harry liked Ginny long before he admitted to himself. Not once had it ever been wrong so she knew that she should be listening to it… but she couldn't. Something was in her school and she needed to find it.

Her heart raced as she chased something that gave its location away every now and again. She was gaining on it fast when she saw Draco Malfoy appear. It threw her for a loop and she stopped momentarily. In that moment, he was shoved aside slightly as the thing collided with his left side before moving on.

"What the-" He hissed as he turned to see what had walked into him. He turned back when he saw nothing.

Hermione shook her head and rushed after it, it had only just gone past the Slytherin so she may still be able to catch up with it if she hurried.

She had just passed him when he grabbed a hold of her arm. It didn't surprise her ho how tight his grip was, she expected it, but she did try to pull her arm out of his grip. He held on tighter. "Where do you think you're going?" It sounded more like a demand. This was nothing new; Draco Malfoy did not commonly ask questions and most of the ones he did ask, he already knew the answer to.

She struggled a bit more before glaring at him. "Let me go. I have to go after it." She stared on, hoping to catch a glimpse of the thing though she knew it wasn't likely to happen. "The restricted section's doors were open. It was looking for something."

He frowned at her, confusion written all over his face. "What do you mean the restricted section's doors were open?"

In all the chase and mystery, Hermione had forgotten to be embarrassed, but as she looked into his silver eyes, the feeling came rushing back and she stumbled back. She realised that she must sound extremely stupid. Only, he seemed to have forgotten about the impromptu revelation of her feelings almost half a week ago.

"The latch was unlocked and the door was open. I need to find the student that broke into the library so that I can report them." Hermione tried to keep eye contact but she lost it after a few seconds.

Malfoy scoffed at her. "Stop trying to be such a goody-two-shoes. That latch couldn't have been open, Pince would never close up the library without checking every door and visible crack."

Hermione did not like being insulted. It was the ultimate degradation in her opinion, especially for her as she tried to be the best in everything that she attempted. "You don't believe me? Fine. I'll show you."

He followed her back to the library and they stood in front of the restricted section. The latch was as she'd left it. "See," She was talking to herself more than anything else. "it's unlocked."

She looked at him and saw a war of emotions pass behind his eyes. They ranged from confused to contemplative. "What?" Hermione didn't like being on the other side of knowledge.

He bent down and looked closely at the latch but she was aware that he made sure not to touch it. He straightened back up and looked at her. He still said nothing.

Hermione was getting immensely impatient with him. "What!"

He sighed. "Madam Pince would have checked the lock before she left. I'm sure she does it every time she leaves the library, considering how long she's worked here and how obsessive she is about any book that passes under this ceiling, even if they don't belong in the library."

Hermione didn't see the point of this. She knew that a student had done it and thanks to him, they had gotten away. "Yes, so a student-"

"The restricted section is protected by spells so that students can't gain access to it when the librarian has left and they feel the need to make a nuisance of themselves." He cut her off.

"Like you, you mean?" Hermione countered.

Malfoy spared her a veiled look before continuing. "The only way to open it is if a student is granted access by their teacher. Like you in second year; Lockhart signed the slip and Pince opened the restricted section."

Hermione's thought process froze. He knew about the Polyjuice Potion and how they had done it. She would ask him about that later but right now, this was more important. "What are you getting at?"

He paused for a long moment as he thought about and formed the words. "I mean that considering the librarian did not leave any student down in the library alone with the entire restricted section to themselves with no supervision, it was either a teacher… or somebody who doesn't study here; because this would have needed a powerful, dark form of magic."

Hermione gaped at him for a long while before a smile broke out over her face. The whole concept seemed too farfetched. "Oh, come on, Malfoy, that's ridiculous. No teacher would do that and there is no way that anybody could have gotten into the castle."

He looked at her pityingly. "After everything you've seen, you still believe that it's not possible? Quirrell, Lockhart, Moody and Umbridge would never have done it, right? Anything is possible. There's something in there that they want… or something that they already took."

Hermione was adamant not to believe it. The reality seemed too awful. There was only one kind of person who would want a book from the restricted section. "No, you're wrong. It's not like that anymore."

He glared at her. "The person bumped me. Trust me, Granger, when I say that that was no student. What student, apart from Potter, do you know that has the ability to become invisible?" His eyebrows drew together as he got lost in thought. "There is too strong a possibility that a teacher is involved in this in some way; whether it is directly or indirectly."

Hermione glowered impatiently, with the fading tension, her embarrassment was returning alarmingly fast in his company and she wanted to hold on to her annoyance before she found it difficult to respond to any of the following questions. "Well, I have to tell Dumbledore at least. He's Headmaster and he has a right to know."

"You can't tell him tonight." He murmured, looking around at the library, probably to see if anything else had been disturbed or broken.

Hermione narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him. Dumbledore would definitely want to be informed about a possible break-in no matter what the time. It wasn't even that late. "Why? It's only eleven pm. I'm sure he wouldn't mind being bothered."

He stared straight at her. "You can't tell him because he's not in the castle. He left yesterday evening."

Hermione's mind went blank. How could that be true? As Prefect, she should have been told that he was going; all of the Prefect's should have been informed. "But… why? Are you sure?"

Malfoy's gaze hardened. If the one thing Hermione hated was not knowing answers, he definitely hated his knowledge being questioned. "I went to see him this morning and McGonagall told me he had left really late last night which is why we were not told about it and she wouldn't tell me why. If you want answers, ask her yourself."

There was one thing that she was thankful for; he was pissing her off enough for her to forget about her feelings for him. It just left her with a burning desire to kick him. "Well then who do we tell?"

His shrug was so indifferent that Hermione almost slugged him but she restrained herself. "No one. It was probably nothing and your overactive Gryffindor imagination has you cooking up all sorts of ridiculous theories but that doesn't mean that there's any basis of truth in them. Just forget about it." Without another word, he turned and strode out of the library.

She frowned at the doors as they thudded closed again, this time behind Draco Malfoy. She shook her head slowly, in confusion. He was an enigma that she could not figure out. His moods changed more often than any girls she knew. One minute he was concerned about the broken chain and the next, he had literally told her to ignore it.

She sighed and looked at the chain again. The person had already escaped so there was probably no point in alerting any teachers. It could wait until morning. Disturbing Dumbledore at eleven in the evening seemed a lot safer than disturbing McGonagall. She would definitely not be pleased.

With Malfoy's departure, Hermione's confidence has also fled. She didn't feel safe in here anymore and she quickly walked to the door and out into the corridor, making sure to take the route the invisible person hadn't. It would mean that her journey back to the prefect's room would take twice as long but if it meant a feeling of added safety, she wasn't going to complain.

She walked quickly down each corridor, forcing herself to take every step and adamant not to turn and look around to make sure that she was alone. The whole point of her role as Prefect meant that she was supposed to be able to cope with situations other students could not.

It was probably this attempt at willing herself into forced stubbornness that kept her from noticing the noise before it was too late. There was a loud noise behind her before her world went black and she crumpled to the floor.

OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

I know, I changed the mood, but I had to. I flat-out refuse to make Malfoy fall for Hermione or suddenly realise he loves her just because he finally knows her feelings for him. It's not right and more importantly, it would not happen. I will however, strive to keep it as different from 'An Unlikely Outcome' as possible. After all, Voldemort's dead in this one, isn't he? This chapter only had one scene but I needed to get it over with and show how totally unaffected but Hermione's secret he really is (as it should be).

Please review and please don't flame. Thank you :)

X Dina