"I can't believe I did that," Hermione groaned.
"Look, everyone falls asleep studying at one point or another," James said. "You're just lucky we found you instead of Peeves."
Hermione sighed softly. She hadn't exactly expected to fall asleep. It had only been right after dinner that she had found a quiet corridor to study in. She had needed some space that wasn't the common room or the dorm.
"Look, if Snape found me I don't think it would have been the end of the world," she argued. "But if it was Filch it would be." She frowned as she realized the counter to her own argument.
"And most people fall asleep studying at a table or in their bed," Draco teased. "Most people don't do it in the stairwell."
Hermione glared at him. "Maybe if you could keep people from bothering my studying, I might find a table."
"You two might want to be quiet," James hissed.
They hunkered down as Peeves floated nearby. They didn't want to get caught. And Peeves wasn't nice to most students. Even though he occasionally listened to the Bloody Baron and the Slytherin students used that to their advantage, first years had next to no sway.
"Ohh, what do we have here?" Peeves cried in delight. "Firsties out of bed!"
"Hush Peeves," James said. "You don't want me to get the Bloody Baron, do you?"
"Firsties can't get the Baron to do anything," Peeves said. "Stu-"
"They can if they're on the quidditch team," James interjected.
Peeves paused. He frowned. "This needs more information." He floated up, in search of someone with more information.
Draco tugged them down the nearest corridor as soon as Peeves was out of sight. He wasn't thrilled about the fib that James had told. And he didn't want to be caught when Peeves inevitably found out.
"Why are we going this way?" Hermione asked. "Don't we want to go back to the common room?"
"Of course we do," James said.
"Alohomora," Draco said to the first door and shoved them in.
"How long are we going to be here?" Hermione asked. She shifted her homework more securely into her bag. She didn't want to have to make a dash for it, or sneak around, with her homework scattering all over the place.
"I hope not long," James said. "Because, if I'm not mistaken, that's a huge three headed dog behind us."
The other two turned around to find exactly what James had described. There was indeed a huge three headed dog standing on top of a trapdoor behind them. A small, muffled, gurgly noise came out of Hermione's throat.
"Okay. Leaving. Now." Draco had the door open and them out before Hermione could scream.
They hit the ground in a thump. Hermione quickly jumped up and relocked the door.
"Well, that was an adventure," she said.
"Only if you count almost getting eaten as an adventure," James said.
"We play quidditch," Draco said. "I think it counts."
"At least then I can control when I die," Hermione said. "Now I'd like to get back to bed if that's an option."
They did manage to get back to their dorm without incident. Hermione nearly collapsed onto the nearest couch. She wasn't intending on staying there long. She just needed to catch her breath.
But slowly, her exhaustion managed to catch up with her. Though she doubted she was as tired as the two boys. They hadn't had a nap. At least to her knowledge.
She did have a minute. That was all she let herself have on the couch. Which was better since she didn't sink into it. And she didn't dare close her eyes. She feared that she wouldn't open them till the next morning if she did.
And then she headed to her bed. She was so tired that once she'd brushed her teeth and changed into her pajamas, she fell straight asleep.
The next morning they all felt much better. Sleep made some of the fear of the night before look less awful than it had. And then there was the matter that the dog was definitely guarding something.
"Any ideas?" Draco asked.
"Something valuable," James said. "Otherwise it wouldn't be hiding."
"Something secret," Hermione added. "Dumbledore isn't very good at keeping secrets and he's trying too hard for this."
"That was pretty much obvious from day one of school," Draco said. "I'm fairly certain that only the Gryffindors haven't noticed that much."
"I'm certain the Ravenclaws have," James added. "They seem to know everything. Maybe they know."
"I doubt it," Draco said. "I mean, we could ask."
"If they'll even talk to us," Hermione interjected.
"But they mostly like intelectual puzzles," Draco continued. "If they know anything it probably won't be useful to getting through there."
"But they might know what's hiding there," James insisted.
"More likely they'll have a theoretical idea of what's hiding down there," Hermione said. "Nothing practical. And if we want to get through the mess ourselves. Well..."
"I'm afraid we might need someone from Gryffindor to help with that," Draco finished for her.
"Why are we voluntarily working with Gryffindors?" Blaise asked.
"We aren't," Hermione said. "We're considering getting someone to help us. But it's not exactly voluntary."
"Are you sure? It certainly sounds like asking would be voluntary," Theo added.
Draco, Hermione, and James quickly explained the situation.
"I think we're going to need some more info," Blaise said.
"So, what do you think that we should do?" Theo asked. "I'm pretty sure that these three have figured out as much as anyone can without going to someone."
"I can only think of one professor who might be able to help. Snape."
Everyone froze a little. As much as it was likely that Snape might be able to help them, he still frightened them a smidge. Not nearly to the extent that some people experienced. But he wasn't the first person a student necessarily wanted to go to.
"Maybe we should hold off on that for a bit," Draco said. "We'll see if we can't think of any other options first."
A/N: again James is Harry. But we're trying to be consistent here. I'm personally just glad to be updating this at all. Have fun guys.