Over the next week, they followed the movements of the mysterious girl, which made her even more mysterious. The only people they saw her talk with were five professors and Madame Pince, which she only spoke to before she went to the Restricted Section. They also discovered that she did not go to any House dorms, but her own private quarters. The Marauders were shocked to see that the woman had access to every secret passageway in the castle.
Prongs, Padfoot and Moony were all curious to meet the strange girl, so they decided to accidentally run into her in the Room of Requirement. The Marauders knew her exact schedule. They felt it was their duty to see this mysterious girl and discover what she was. She wasn't a student, or a teacher or a well-known guest to the castle. That meant she was either a personal friend of Dumbledore, or a Death Eater.
On the following Friday, the Marauders decided that tonight was the night. They would interrogate this "Hermione Granger" and see why she spent so much time on the Quidditch Pitch. They also chose then because they had watched her (on the map) running laps around the Quidditch Pitch for four hours before they went to see her.
James was waiting for them in the dormitories when they arrived back from dinner. Prongs pulled out his priceless Invisibility Cloak and flung it over himself and his two friends. Keeping the map with them to check where the mysterious girl was, they walked swiftly and in perfect in concert, all the way to the Room of Requirement corridor.
Finding that the door was already there, but blended into the wall, the boys took a deep breath and slipped in.
∞
Hermione was having a rough night. All the extra hours of not sleeping were ganging up on her. She still gave her practice all her effort. She was only an hour into her rhythm when the door slipped open silently behind her. The brown haired girl continued firing spells at a practice dummy version of a Death Eater.
She first preformed the appearance changing charm, which made her appearance into any she could think of as long as it was female and human. She launched a Patronus and watched the otter jumping around the room. She noticed in slight surprise that the silver was a darker color than usual. It may have been because her happy thought was getting revenge on Voldemort for Harry and Ron.
She practiced Expelliarmus and Impedimenta, throwing the dummy several times across the room. She then practiced a Dark spell that relieves all pain and emotion for five minutes, knowing that if Dumbledore knew she had done it she may have been kicked out.
She then recited and practiced every repelling and defensive charm known to wizards (and a few that weren't). After a few more spells she cast the Awareness Charm, which was bad news for all spies.
∞
Moony watched in fascination for almost an hour as the girl in front of them used more Defensive magic than the Marauders had seen in a lifetime. He was shocked at her Patronus, knowing that color only came from sad or mean happy thoughts. He recoiled slightly when she used Dark Magic and the boys watched for an hour as she hexed the stuffing out of the Death Eater doll. He noticed Sirius looking amazed at the muscular and in front of them, but he knew Sirius wouldn't do anything rash to get her attention. She was too lethal. The three Gryffindors waited for more amazing spells when she muttered, "Senarus Awarenus."
Remus, a second too late, recognized the spell. It would enhance all her senses to extreme levels. The girl whirled around. Moony swiftly covered up his friends mouths, and held his own breath. Foolishly, Prongs slipped away from his hand and shouted, "Expelliarmus!"
Granger reacted faster than Remus could catch. "Protego." She hissed in the quickest voice he had ever heard. The spell bounced back and hit the Invisibility Cloak. The cloak flew off, leaving the boys staring at a very wide eyed Granger. "Oh," sighed the brown haired witch, and she fainted from shock and exhaustion.
Moony stood in shock and surprise. The female had shown no sign of tiredness as she had produced every fighting spell he had ever heard of. So why was she now unconscious in front of them? Sirius went over to the motionless girl and put two fingers to her neck
"She's alive." He said in a slightly careless tone. James rushed over.
"Dude, did you guys see that?! She must be some kind of fighting machine! I mean, dude." Prongs ended, obviously to astounded to form a logical sentence. James often resorted to surfer mode when he was deeply amazed at something. Remus watched in confusion as Padfoot took her wand.
Seeing the werewolf's inquisitive look he explained, "We wouldn't want her waking up and hexing us all, would you? I mean, look at the Death Eater." James went over to the doll. It was burned in various places and had lost several limbs. Remus frowned, "We should take her to Dumbledore. Maybe he can explain."
The other Marauders nodded silently and quickly covered her body with the Invisibility Cloak. "Locomortis Hermione" recited Remus. Her invisible body rose and they strode casually out the door.
"Wait!" Moony hissed. He whispered a spell so her legs and hands were tied, and her mouth was gagged. "Just in case," he muttered guiltily at the boys' shocked looks.
The Marauders jogged all the way to the professor's office, keeping the unconscious girl in between them. As they reached the stone gargoyle, Sirius sighed, "Chips Ahoy." At Remus' slightly amazed look he grinned, "I was in here yesterday for a detention." With a small nod of recognition, he walked up the stairs to the imposing doorway. James, being in front, knocked the griffin knocker.