Happy Hours
After a long and treacherous day of Transfiguration, Charms, and Potions, the sound of Hermione, a Hufflepuff, trudging through the hallways of Hogwarts reverberated off of the walls. She had just left the Great Hall after scarfing down dinner and was making her way to the Hufflepuff dormitory to try and complete the boatload of assignments that were given to her the past week. After quickly tapping the barrel, she crawled through the tight passageway and enters the Hufflepuff common room.
A few of her acquaintances greet her warmly as they notice her entering, and she smiles brightly at them before she notices Ginny comfortably reclining on a plush couch in the common room, dozing by a burning fireplace.
Ginny noticed her approaching and sat up, “Hey, Hermione! I’ve been waiting forever, where have you been? You weren’t at dinner, everyone was so worried!” She exclaimed.
“Ah, I wanted to join you guys for dinner but I was stuck at the library finishing that dreadful essay Snape assigned to us,” Hermione replied.
“Um, wasn’t that essay due two weeks ago?” questioned Ginny.
“I- Well- I just haven’t had the time to finish it!” Hermione's cheeks burned as Ginny looked amused at her reaction.
“I- I’ve got to go.. I still have a lot of other assignments I need to finish..” Hermione broke off as she looked longingly at how comfortable Ginny was, lounging beside the warm fireplace with no cares in the world.
Noticing her longing expression, Ginny stood up and expertly steered Hermione towards the couch that she had previously occupied.
“Hermione, you should really get some rest. You look very tired, how about taking a quick nap and then getting back to work, hm?” Ginny coaxed her onto the couch and conjured up a velvety yellow blanket.
The second Hermione’s head hit the back of the couch, she had dozed off. Ginny smiled contentedly and left to head off to bed.
Hours passed, and the Hufflepuff common room slowly emptied out, with a steady stream of students trickling back into their dormitories to sleep. Soon, the common room consisted of only Hermione, sleeping soundly on the couch. The fireplace had burned out hours ago, and the embers sat uselessly and provided no warmth.
The clock suddenly struck two, and Hermione awoke with a gasp.
“Shit.. shit why did nobody wake me up?” She sat up in hysterics and anxiously looked at the clock. Should she go back to sleep? Hermione contemplated the idea, but the thought of entering Potions empty-handed and having to face Snape after having still not finished the essay.. She decided she would have to work through the night.
After hastily gathering her things, she crept through the passageway that led outside of the Hufflepuff room and quietly began walking towards the library. She couldn’t have properly focused inside of the Hufflepuff common room, not with its sleepy atmosphere and comfortable couches.
Ducking behind corners and creeping on her toes, Hermione snuck towards the library and uttered a sigh of relief when she finally saw the great oak door of the library approach after having to walk through the frigid, creepy corridors for the past ten minutes.
However, her relief was short-lived when she heard the sound of footsteps rapidly approaching.
She froze. Fear struck her veins and caused her to start speed walking in the other direction, up the stairs. Clambering up the stairs in a hurry, she had forgotten that one of the steps in the staircase was a deception, and she fell into the gaping hole so that she was stuck in the stairway and half of her body was dangling below the stairs.
“Fuck!” She whisper-yelled as she heard the footsteps getting closer.
After mustering all of her strength, Hermione successfully heaved herself up from the stairs that had trapped her.
Hurriedly gathering her dropped scrolls and quills from the floor, she didn’t notice the shadow that was approaching and froze when she felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder.