Fear: Hogwarts

Hermione sat alone in the library for the past half hour. There was no telling how long her essay was going to take.

Then something funny happened.

The librarian, Madam Pince, walked up to her. "Miss Granger, do you need a certain book?" All of the books Hermione had meticulously compiled from her research had disappeared from the table, leaving only her textbooks.

Hermione smiled at Madam Pince. "No, I think I can find what I am looking for." She smiled even brighter, but Madam Pince did not smile back. Stiffly, the librarian walked back to her desk and Hermione scoured the shelves for the books she'd picked up earlier. Thinking nothing of what had just happened, she re-read the books. So engrossed was she in her studies that she failed to notice the other students in the library.

After finally finishing her essay, Hermione decided to take a break by walking outside for some fresh air. Sitting inside the library for hours at a time made her legs cramp.

As she strolled the grounds of Hogwarts, she caught sight of a man walking purposefully towards the school, entering by a way she had never noticed before. He did not look at her at all--she noted the scared features on his face, as if he were scared to walk into Hogwarts.

Hermione followed the mysterious stranger closely. She fumed silently, trying to muffle the small noise her bag made as it bumped up against the door the man had entered. He suddenly turned and shot a glance in her direction. He called out hesitantly--"Hello?" He looked afraid.

She looked at him closely and debated for a moment before stepping forward from the shadows that covered her. Her curiosity to find out what he was doing consumed her usually cautious nature. "Are you alright?" She asked him as she slowly approached him. To her dismay, he did not respond in kind--he looked immensely unhappy to see her.

In fact, he screamed. "AHHH!....." He broke into a run, through the dark hall to create as wide a distance from her as possible.

Strange, she thought to herself. I never thought I looked menacing to anyone. Is he making fun of me? She kept following, but kept a greater distance from him. For awhile she thought she'd lost him completely--until she practically collided into him down a side hall. He looked at her in ashen-faced shock. "G-g-g-o away."

This made Hermione mad. "No! I want to know why you are here. How did you find that entrance? Where did it come from?"

He continued to stare at her in fright. His lower jaw trembled and his eyes started to tear up. Slowly, he raised a little black device in one of his hands to his face and spoke in barely a whisper. "Guys, someone is here. Please. Talk to me. Dear God, don't let my radio die on me now." Whatever he expected to have happen did not, Hermione noticed, for he started pressing random buttons frantically. His voice rose as he shook his radio violently. "Shit...Dan! Teri! Amber! Anyone???"

Hermione raised a hand to him in the hope of calming the stranger down. "Now, the situation isn't as dire as it seems. We're just...lost, is all."

"You are lost?" He sounded incredulous.

The radio in the stranger's hand crackled as it came alive and an other-worldly voice spoke through it. "In the year 1997, a girl was found in this tunnel. It is not known how she died--but if you appear lost, she will help you find your way back out. She was found on January 10th at 9:00 p.m. Her name was Hermione Granger. When she isn't spotted in this tunnel, she is often seen in what used to be the library."

Hermione stared at the radio in his hand oddly, then looked back up at him. "Do you...need any help at all?" She searched his face for anything familiar but all she could recognize was a sense of startledness.

"No." He finally squeaked. Hermione tried to disarm him with a smile before she turned around and headed back down the hall from whence she came. She suddenly remembered how she had just found something very important in her library research that afternoon, something she felt was pivotal to the struggle against Lord Voldemort before he stormed the school--and he was bound to strike soon. Her firm footsteps became heavy-footed clops echoing behind her as she raced out of the building. But she never got out. She was met by a blast of green light from the end of a wand held by a tall, thin man with red eyes and slits for nostrils.

The man with the wand killed her like that every night since the day she died.

Back in the bowels of the building, the stranger with the radio yelled into it hysterically. "I quit! Get me the hell out of here."

The voice in the radio crackled. "Are you sure you want to forfeit your share of the prize money?"

The guy never answered. He had already dropped the radio and ran as fast as he could to get out of the building.

The End.