Hermione awoke the next morning on time, in her sleepwear, feeling fully rested and rejuvenated. She didn't feel as if she'd spend half the night wassailing in the trees at all, and she briefly wondered if she had dreamed the entire thing.

As she sat up, rubbing her eyes, her vision snagged on an apple left on her nightstand.

She smiled.

Breakfast with the others was a grumpy affair, as was the day. The students at large were still hugely annoyed with having to travel in pairs, and it showed. Hermione alone seemed to be in good cheer, but she was careful to conceal it from her friends throughout the day, listening to them complain and letting them grumble.

At least it wasn't just the Slytherins sulking about being treated like children. The other houses seemed just as put out, too. Gryffindors roamed the halls in moody duos, grumbling and grousing. The Ravenclaws clearly resented the restrictions on their freedom to go to the library and study where they wanted, alone, and they went about glaring at teachers and staging loud conversations about how many students a monster could eat at once (answer: a lot more than two). Even the Hufflepuffs were sulky - large groups of them had taken to going everywhere together in little pods, clogging the hallways and innocently defending themselves to the teachers, citing how they 'just wanted to be safe'.

Hermione didn't realize that Hufflepuffs could be so facetious.

After dinner, Theo agreed to go along with her to the library, and Hermione spent the evening looking through books on color-changing charms and spells.

"Not going to do your homework?" Theo commented, looking at her stack judgmentally.

"I did the Transfiguration essay while Binns was prattling on," Hermione said.

Theo made a face. "How? McGonagall wanted information not in the textbook."

"I had a supplemental book in my bag," Hermione said lightly. "It just so happened to help a lot."

Theo rolled his eyes in exasperation and sighed over-dramatically, and Hermione smirked in amusement as she went back to her research.

When Theo and Hermione returned to the common room shortly before curfew, they were surprised to enter into a large, loud gathering. The entire house seemed to be crowded around in a circle and yelling, with the prefects in the center, trying to manage things and calm people down.

"This is dragonshit!" a guy cried from the crowd. "I'm of age! I should be able to go where I want, when I want!"

"We should be allowed to go alone if we accept the danger," a girl agreed loudly. "I, for one, am not scared in the slightest of the Heir or the Monster coming after me."

The prefects called out over the crowd, fighting to regain control, but the frustrations and objections of the crowd seemed overwhelming, the Slytherins' fury at the security changes boiling over. Hermione caught Jade shoot another prefect a helpless look, and the other prefect only looked resigned and shrugged.

"We shouldn't have to do this!"

"It's not our fault the Heir hasn't been caught!"

"None of this is fair!"

"Yeah!"

The arguing grew louder as the crowd pressed in on the prefects from the outside, when the common room door opened abruptly. A chill wind blew into the common room, sending all the lamps and candles flickering ominously, and the room fell into a hush.

Professor Snape emerged from the darkness as the candle flames steadied themselves, his cloak billowing behind him. He looked down at them with cold, glittering eyes.

"What," he breathed, "is the meaning of all this?"

Hermione nearly moaned aloud in her jealousy. She wanted to learn how to make a dramatic entrance like that.

The clamber of noise broke out again at a lower volume, several of the older Slytherins all telling Snape their complaints at once. Snape just stood there, one eyebrow raised, as he listened to them all go on about how unfair it was. After a few minutes he raised a hand, and the common room rapidly fell silent. Snape moved to stand in front of the window that peered out into the lake, the eerie green glow of the lake illuminating him from behind.

"I understand you are frustrated," Snape said, his voice soft. "Security discussions among the staff were fierce; I voted against having such measures put into place. Obviously, I was outvoted, and here we are."

Fierce expressions of outrage flickered throughout the crowd, and Hermione wondered if cruel pranks against professors would see a sudden uptick.

"Nevertheless, these restrictions are what is in place," Snape said, "for the entire school, until the perpetrator is caught, be it man or monster. The Ministry is alarmed about the monster and students' safety." His eyes took on a dark glint. "How do you think it would look to the rest of the world, if everyone but Slytherin was worried about being attacked?"

Students exchanged uneasy glances, Hermione and Theo glancing at each other as well. It was fairly clear that if they were the only ones not afraid of the monster, everyone else would pin the blame for the entire thing on them.

"The staff and the Headmaster are working tirelessly on the matter. You are not the only frustrated ones." He paused, his own annoyance at having to deal with this weighing heavily in the air. "I will share this with you, though I expect it not to leave the House." Snape's eyes gleamed in the shadows. "The Headmaster suspects a Dark object to have been brought into Hogwarts. He is convinced the Dark Lord is somehow behind this."

Loud objections broke out at that, students protesting that that was ridiculous, the Dark Lord was vanquished, an object wasn't a monster, and all manner of other thoughts. Snape held up his hand once more, and they all fell silent.

"I tell this to you so you might keep your eyes sharp from the shadows," he said softly. "Slytherin has a skill for noticing Dark objects more easily because of our history; of any students in the school, you are the most likely recognize such objects amongst your classmates." His eyes scanned the crowd, making eye contact. "Understand that until the perpetrator is caught, these restrictions will remain in place, and they will only grow more stringent as time passes."

The group murmured, and Snape looked out over them all.

"Any questions?" he asked.

"Sir?"

Hermione turned to see Draco raising his hand, looking pale up determined. Snape seemed to fight the urge to sigh.

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy?"

"Sir, if the Headmaster seems to think that a Dark object is causing all of this," Draco said, "is he likely to send people to search through students' things?"

There was a murmur and expressions of shock at this. Hermione herself felt a bolt of terror – if she were ever caught with the trunk of Voldemort's books…

"At this time, it is unlikely." Snape's lips curled. "The outrage from parents over the violation of their children's privacy would far outweigh the benefits of doing such a thing." He paused. "If there is another attack, however…" He trailed off, his eyes flickering with meaning. "Who could say?"

Draco nodded, shaken. "Thank you, sir."

Note to self: Hermione thought. Catch the Heir or kill the monster before Dumbledore goes through our stuff.

With no further questions, Snape gave them a tight nod and swept from the common room, several of them turning to watch him go, robes billowing in his wake. Hermione was one of them, watching the professor leave as Blaise sidled up to her.

"I wonder how he does that," Hermione murmured. "Do you think he charms his robes?"

"I doubt it," Blaise said. "Too easy to have the charm wear off if someone casts Finite Incantantem, then. Clothing charms only really hold properly if they're done while the garment is being constructed."

Hermione considered if it was likely Snape had asked a tailor for such charms to be laid into the construction of his robes, or if it was likely Snape had decided to sew his own robes, before dismissing both ideas.

"He might just be taking really long strides," Blaise said, his lips quirked, and Hermione sighed.

"That's not the answer I was hoping for," she said. "I'll never be as tall as all that."

Blaise laughed. "Would you want to?" he teased. "I imagine it'd be awfully difficult to find those tight muggle trousers in a size like that for a woman."

"Find what?"

Hermione looked up to see Draco joining them. Blaise's lips twitched with amusement.

"Hermione and I were just discussing Snape's robes," Blaise said. "I pointed out that they might billow from his taking long strides, and Hermione bemoaned that she'd never be able to mimic that because she'll never be that tall."

Hermione rolled her eyes while Draco snickered, before giving Hermione a cursory glance up and down.

"You're rather tall for a girl, though," he pointed out. "How tall are you?"

"I'm 5'8", I think?" Hermione said. "Though I think I'm done with my growth spurt."

Draco smirked, pleased. "My father is 5'10". I think I'll end up at least as tall as him."

"And Hermione would care… because?" Blaise drawled. He raised an eyebrow, and Hermione again felt envious of the move. "I would think you would be more concerned with the possibility of the Headmaster searching your things, Malfoy."

Draco scoffed. "Snape said that—"

"—we weren't likely to get searched unless another attack happened," Blaise finished. His eyes gleamed. "Do you think it's likely the Heir would just… stop?"

Draco paled, and Blaise's lip curled. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"We'll have a few weeks, at least," she said. "The Heir was spacing out attacks before, and they're not likely to attack anyone right now with all the new security measures. Those would take time to figure out a way around."

Draco looked slightly relieved.

"Both very good points," he said. "Though, it's getting late. If you would excuse me…"

He nodded to them as he went off to the dorm rooms, Blaise smirking after him.

"How many Dark things to you think he'll need to hide?" Blaise asked. "Over/under five?"

"Talk to Tracey if you want to make bets," Hermione said, amused. "I haven't the slightest. I bet not as many as he lets people think, though – I doubt he'd take the risk."

"Oh?" Blaise questioned, raising an eyebrow. "Do you think there's someone in Slytherin who would have more forbidden things than Draco?"

"Oh," Hermione said, her mind flying to the trunk locked under her bed. "You never know."