The plan was a simple one; as Professor McGonagall noted, with just the barest trace of acid in her voice, subtlety was likely to be wasted on their foes. The defenders of Hogwarts were divided into teams of three, without regard for friendships or House allegiances, and sent into the corridors, staircases, and hallways to await their prey. Dawn was just beginning to lighten the sky, and there was no time for delay. Although some of their foes slept late, others were prone to early morning jogs and martial arts sparring sessions. Then, too, there were a select few who would need to leave the rooms of their lovers, whether student or teacher, and sneak back to their own dorms before breakfast. It was best to get an early start.
Hermione had, much to her dismay, found herself paired with Pansy Parkinson and Cho Chang. She didn't like Parkinson much, but at least she knew the Slytherin girl had a varied repertoire of curses at her disposal, some of them quite nasty. Cho, on the other hand, could very well turn out to be dead useless in a fight situation. But there was nothing for it; even as they approached their destination, they saw their target emerging from Severus Snape's office. "Well," Pansy muttered, drawing her wand. "I suppose that explains her ridiculously high marks in Potions, doesn't it?"
Suppressing a smirk, Hermione drew her own wand and stepped forward, Cho following close behind. Their quarry, one Anastasia Capricia Violet Sawney-Beane, saw her and smiled hugely, stretching with luxurious grace. Her long, flame-colored hair swayed as if stirred by a loving breeze, and her eyes blazed forth with such luminosity that Hermione wished, for a moment, that she'd thought to bring her sunglasses. "Morning, Mia!" the girl chirped, and Hermione winced at the unwelcome familiarity. "How come you're up and about so early?"
"We're hunting," Hermione replied, a faint smile on her lips, wand at the ready.
"Really?" The target retained her languorous ease, but Hermione noted the slight resettling of her feet, as though she were preparing for combat. "What are you hunting?"
Pansy stepped up to join her teammates, aristocratic features twisting with faint disdain. "You," she said.
Before the target could so much as blink, Hermione, Cho, and Pansy raised their wands as one and cried out "Stupefy!" Beams of red light shot from their wands, striking their quarry full in the chest, knocking her back off her feet. There was, however, no chance for celebration. Even as she stumbled, the target began to shimmer, her perfect form dissolving into a haze of coruscating colors. Hermione took a tentative step forward, straining to see. After a few moments of uncertainty, she began to pick out the details. Claws. Fangs. Red, metallic scales that reflected an unearthly light. Pansy swore with great creativity. Cho let out a little shriek. Seconds earlier, they had been facing an unusually attractive, but otherwise rather ordinary girl. Now they were nose to nose with a dragon.
The dragon tipped its head back, letting out a great roar that seemed to shake Hogwarts to its very foundations. Clutching her wand, forcing herself to keep a level head, Hermione noticed something odd. The hallway was not a very big one, but the dragon was somehow just able to fit within it, despite its being at least ten metres high and a good fifteen from snout to tip of tail. Nor had anyone come running to find out what the disturbance was, although the roar must have been audible all the way to Hogsmeade. There was something odd about it, something familiar...
"But Professor McGonagall," Hannah said, her voice still a little trembly. "What about their powers? They can do things that even He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named..."
"We've all seen their powers in action, this is true," Professor McGonagall replied. "But you'll notice, ladies -" She smiled, and corrected herself before Ginny could interrupt - "and Neville, that there never seem to be any... any notable repercussions to their actions. They rampage about as werewolves no matter what phase of the moon, and yet never bite any of their other students. They have all the abilities of vampires, but never seem to fear the sunlight or show any pressing need for blood. We've seen their powers, this is true. But we've never really seen their powers do much of anything."
"It's some sort of an illusion," Ginny suggested, thoughtfully.
"It's not an illusion, Miss Weasley." Yet there was a trace of a smile playing about the corners of McGonagall's lips. "There are ways of detecting such things, and I'm familiar with nearly all of them. Nonetheless, it's safe to say that these girls are not quite as they seem." McGonagall's eyes had settled first on Hermione, and next on Neville, and there was an odd twinkle to them, a look vaguely reminiscent of Albus Dumbledore himself...
"Granger!" Pansy dove to the side, a rolling tumble of robes, as she dodged the enormous claws of the dragon. "A little help might be nice!" Cho was desperately firing stunners at the dragon, although her curses seemed to bounce off its broad chest without causing the slightest bit of damage.
Hermione pushed the sleeves of her robes back, bit her lip, and concentrated as hard as she could. "Riddikulus!" she cried. In an instant, the dragon shrank to the size of a child's plaything. It let out another roar, but its voice was now approximately as frightening as that of a particularly meek and fluffy kitten.
"I don't believe it," Pansy breathed, pushing herself to her feet again. She contemplated the tiny dragon for a moment before raising her wand and crying "Riddikulus!" in her turn. The dragon ceased to merely sound like a meek and fluffy kitten; in fact, it turned into a meek and fluffy kitten, complete with an enormous pink bow.
"Finish it, Cho," Hermione said, staring down at the kitten. It glared back at her with hate-filled eyes, although the effect was spoiled somewhat by its little pink nose and trembling whiskers.
Cho swallowed, slack-jawed with astonishment. "Ri-Riddikulus," she finally managed, her voice weak and tremulous. The kitten exploded into a thousand tiny wisps of smoke and disappeared.
The girls stood in silence for a few moments, trying to make sense of it all. Hermione herself, despite having correctly deduced that the girl was in fact nothing more than a boggart, could scarcely believe it. "A boggart," Pansy said, unconsciously echoing Hermione's thoughts.
"It makes perfect sense when you think about it," Hermione said, but her voice contained none of the smug satisfaction that usually accompanied an important realization. "She was perfect in every way, got along with everyone, never failed at anything, and had no personality whatsoever. It's every reader's worst nightmare."
"R-reader?" Cho asked, apparently still a little bit too shocked to think clearly. "But... But Hermione, this isn't a book."
Hermione's eyes met Pansy's, and for a moment, they were in complete agreement on something. Cho was, if not a total idiot, painfully naive. Fortunately, before they had to trouble Cho's delicate sensibilities with a few home truths, a shriek came from a nearby stairwell. "Ginny," Hermione said, her hand clenched around her wand.
"Come on," Pansy said, and sprinted down the hall, her robes billowing around her ankles. Hermione followed after, feeling her grudging respect for Parkinson growing with each step she took.