Disclaimer: None of this is mine, blah blah blah, it all belongs to JKRowling and if you don't know that then why are you reading it?
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Slowly, quietly, Harry crept through the abandoned corridors. Each footfall muffled by the weight of the invisibility cloak shrouding him. His heart was still pounding from the -almost- fateful encounter with Mrs. Norris minutes before. Around him the inhabitants of several portraits slept peacefully, oblivious to the tension in the atmosphere. A newcomer to the castle would have thought all was well, but Harry knew Hogwarts and something wasn't right. There was an itchy feeling to the air that made his skin tingle. At this hour, the owls should have been swooping around the grounds, hunting for an unwary supper. But Harry, from his vantage point up in the castle, could see that the grounds were deserted. Or were they? What was that, down by the forest? Tiptoeing up to the window, Harry pressed his face against the glass to get a better look. After several tense moments he finally caught another glimpse of what he was looking for. There! Down on the fringes of the forest, almost hidden between the gnarled trunks of several particularly old trees, a flickering light cast rippling shadows on the smooth lawns. He hesitated for barely a moment before padding towards the Entrance Hall.
Something was seriously wrong
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Something's wrong. Hermione sat bolt upright in bed sweating as though she had just run the seven flights up to the Astronomy Tower. The air felt sour, and she had a niggling feeling that someone was in danger. After nearly seven years that meant only one thing.
"Harry!" she croaked, throwing back the bed covers. As she reached for her dressing gown, she glanced of the window and saw a small, black robed figure streaking full pelt towards the forest. Guessing who the figure must be Hermione raced out of the dormitory passed her sleeping peers, and without retrieving her wand dashed down the stairs and across the common room. As she struggled through the she was in no mood for the Fat Lady's sardonic, "Bit late for a stroll isn't it?" Hermione didn't bother to reply, but carried on running as quietly as possible down to the Entrance Hall. A tiny part of her registered the fact that she would be in serious trouble if she was caught running around the school late at night, a part that still spoke as the person she was before she had met Harry and Ron. She quashed the feeling and on reaching the great arched doorway she silently slipped back the bolts that secured it and vanished out into the night.
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AN: Hope you like it; I'm not so good at writing all this tense spooky stuff. It does get better though I promise - or at least I think it does! This was the first fic I wrote so I just thought I'd post it. Please tell me if you like it so I know whether to post the rest!
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