With a squeal of delight, Peeves crooned, "Four naughty firsties out of bed! One from green, the other three red! When mean ol' Filch hears them skulking ahead, expulsion will be upon their heads!"
"Peeves, please," Hermione begged while looking back over her shoulder, "if Filch catches us, we're done for."
Reasoning with the poltergeist she knew was probably pointless, but desperation was pushing her to try their luck. But Harry's gutsy demand would only fuel Peeves's desire to see them all caught and disciplined.
"Shut up, Peeves – please – you'll get us thrown out."
His response was a fiendish cackle. "Wandering around at midnight Ickle Firsties? Tut, tut, tut. Naughty, naughty, you'll get caughty."
"Enough of this!" Ron said, shoving past both Harry and Hermione. "Get out of our way, you spectral menace!"
Anticipating Ron's next move at the very second he stepped forward, Hermione whimpered, "Ron, no –"
He took a swipe at Peeves- big mistake.
"STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" Peeves bellowed. "STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!"
The quartet ducked under Peeves and ran for their lives to the end of a corridor – only to collide into a locked door.
Ron pushed helplessly at the door. "We're done for!"
Clearly she was the only one who paid attention in Charms.
"Out of the way, useless!" she snarled, shoving him aside and whipping out her wand. "Alohomora!"
The lock clicked and the door swung open. As they all piled through, she mulled over how many points she would've won to Slytherin for knowing that spell.
Peeves was taunting a furious Filch further down where they had all ran as they shut the door. Hermione hissed at the three boys for silence while she pressed her ear against it.
"Which way did they go, Peeves?" she heard Filch demand. "Tell me!"
"Shan't say nothing if you don't say please," sang the poltergeist annoyingly.
"Alright – please!"
"NOTHING! HA haaa! Told you I wouldn't say nothing if you didn't say please! Ha haaaaa!"
Hermione heard Peeves swoosh away and Filch shouting out some rather colorful words as he stomped past the door. Realizing that Filch believed the door to still be locked, Hermione sighed in relief. Two of their obstacles were off their backs – which was more than she could say for the warm gusts of breath ghosting down the back of her neck. Hermione surveyed her surroundings in her peripheral vision and, to her horror, realized where they were...
The third-floor corridor.
The very corridor that Professor Dumbledore had ominously warned all students against entering moments before the start-of-term feast ended.
"And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death," he had proclaimed.
Hermione racked her brains for what form of lethal magic the wise Headmaster could've furtively had at play in this room. She realized at that moment she hadn't made it to any chapters on magical traps, thus she wouldn't be able to recognize any concealed triggers of any kind.
"Will the three of you stop breathing down my neck?!" Hermione spat, her eyes paranoid of every stone of the floor beneath them.
"That's not us," Neville moaned, his voice submerged in great terror.
"Hermione..." Harry whispered.
She groaned in frustration before wheeling around and looking up into the six eyes of the reason why this corridor had been forbidden. A colossal, three-headed dog stood stationed before them, scrutinizing the four young morsels who had so foolishly loped into its territory. The beast took up all space between the floor and the high ceiling.
Harry watched the sickening streams of saliva slide down its canines and realized that Professor Greyback was no longer the most fearsome presence employed in the school.
"Sweet Merlin..." gasped Ron.
Under the giant dog's paw, Hermione took notice of what appeared to be a door of some kind. What it could've been guarding, however, was not the primary concern at the moment. No. What was imperative was escaping the three sets of snarling teeth she could practically feel tearing apart her flesh.
Between expulsion and death, the former without a doubt was the winning option. Hermione groped for the doorknob and ran out of the room with the others in her wake. She was grateful for one of them remembering to shut the door as the dog lunged; its snarls were now muffled behind the door's thick wood.
The four broke off into different directions, the boys to Gryffindor's tower, and Hermione all by her lonesome to the dungeons. Evading Filch no longer held any importance, only putting as much space between herself and that monster as possible.
She fell to her knees once she was safe within the common room. She had just saved Harry and his friends and reluctantly discovered what resided in the forbidden corridor.
The only question that lingered as she peered to the green windows was it could've been protecting?