Hermione Granger was good at keeping her head about her when dealing with pressure.
She always raised her hands in classes, despite how much her peers scorned her for it. She had retained enough mental capacity to understand what Ron was trying to do and guide him through the movements of the spell he had failed when the troll was attacking her. She remembered the spell to open doors so they could escape Filch and Ms Norris. Then, she was aware enough of her surroundings to notice the door Fluffy was protecting. She stayed calm when Harry's broom was being cursed and ran against time to stop the curser before Harry plummeted to dead, - granted she set the wrong person on fire, but it worked well enough-. She knew what to do when they fell on the Devil's Snare and then when Ron panicked. She lost a bit of her coolness with the chess set because she didn't know how to play but then Ron, surprisingly, was useful there. And then she figured out Professor Snape's puzzle.
So, she knew how to work under pressure. In fact, some of her best work was under pressure.
Which was why when this whole ordeal of the Chamber of Secrets being open and people started getting petrified, she started to research about in every possible way, even going as far as to lie to Professor Lockhart to get access to the Restrict Session in the Library. With each new petrification, she found herself getting more and more nervous. And she understood that everyone was nervous, but it was different for muggle-borns. It was scary, terrifying even. Even more so for her, knowing that the last time the Chamber was opened a muggle-born student died.
As soon as her incident with Polyjuice Potion was resolved she doubled down on her research, to try and ignore the side effects the anthropomorphic transfiguration had left and the writing on the wall that was the Slytherin Monster.
She knew things wouldn't be easy when she found out she had to attend a magic school, but her current year was proving to be an eye opener and she was begging to think that she was woefully underprepared to enter this new society. There was so much she didn't know. At first, she liked that. She loved studying and discovering new things and learning so much. But the wonder was beginning to fade, and she was faced with the reality that what she didn't know about the culture, about the society in this new world, was more likely to kill her than not knowing about the magic itself.
So now she was walking the corridor of the second floor, alone, trying to be as cautious and as quick as possible. She had missed curfew that night, tucked away in a corner of the library, reading any books she could find that seemed to have a clue about the Chamber or the monster inside. She didn't find anything on the Chamber itself, but she had finally found the monster. And after a moment of triumph for finding a much-needed answer, her whole body went cold and rigid.
She was out alone, at night, with a creature that could kill her with a glance roaming the halls and hunting for someone just like her to claim as its victim. The possibilities ran through her mind as she rushed to gather her things and fought against the instinct to just bolt through the corridor until she was safe and sound inside Gryffindor Tower. She needed to be cautious, and she needed to keep her ears open to any suspect sound.
She couldn't help but be thankful for the lingering side effects of being turned into a human cat when she couldn't find the mirror, she kept inside her bag. Her sense of hearing and smell was still heightened so she could use that to protect herself.
Except that didn't help Ms Norris.
She shook her head to try and dispel her thoughts. It wouldn't do to panic. She could hold it together until she was safe inside the curtains of her bed and cried herself to sleep. She would tell Harry and Ron about her findings tomorrow. That night had been filled with too much stress already.
I can do this. Just turn around the corner, cross the corridor and repeat for more than five floors. With a murderous snake on the loose… Calm down.
She took a deep breath just before turning the corner, stopping for a couple of moments to try to hear if something was afoot. Not hearing anything, she turned the corridor, hurrying to the stairs. She was halfway through when a sound caught her ear and she turned towards the bathroom door. Hermione stilled for a second, forcing down the bile that rose in her throat, her muscles coiling as she prepared to sprint back to the dorms like the devil was chasing her.
She only managed one step before the door opened and locked gazes with a pair of sulfurous yellow eyes.