Unfold (Sirius Black & Hermione Granger)

Chapter One

NOTE: I don't own any of the characters in this story. They belong to J.K. Rowling. I'm just a fangirl writing a fanfiction. Hope you enjoy it!

Hermione's PoV

Hermione walked out of the library, not quite satisfied with her work. She had been having a hard time concentrating all day after Harry found the old copy of Advanced Potion Making.  She had had an odd feeling about it since she first laid eyes on it, and had come to the conclusion that there was something not quite right about the old book. It had scribblings all over and included alternative potion making methods and spells she'd never even heard of, probably dark magic. But what concerned her the most was the fact that Harry wasn't suspicious at all as to whom the previous owner was. It was obvious that the person was brainy, but that didn't necessarily mean that he or she was good. What if it was a death eater? She tried to shrug the nasty feeling away, but failed miserably and got dragged deeper into thoughts about the mysterious book's previous owner.

What should have been on her mind, however, was the Arithmancy essay on the witch who first discovered the magical properties of the number seven, Bridget Wenlock. Hermione had found it quite challenging, and she had spent her entire afternoon trying to work on it, but with no success. She usually had no problems doing her homework, but after being shown the old book, her thoughts wouldn't leave her alone. She sighed while planning to give the essay another try the following morning.

It would be extremely important to keep up her work. The N.E.W.T.s were coming up next year, and only the thought made Hermione shudder. How would she pass the most complicated exams in her time at Hogwarts when she couldn't even focus on doing a regular Arithmancy essay without being distracted?

She had just crossed a corner near the Muggle Studies classroom when she heard voices.

"How thick are you, Goyle?" The annoyed voice of Draco Malfoy sneered. "I've told you a thousand times now. Just drink the damn thing, get up to the seventh floor and do as I told you to." He said the last sentence a bit hushed, as if he didn't want to be overheard.

What is going on? Hermione thought, but Malfoy was getting closer, so she didn't have time to dwell on it. She then did something Ron and Harry would describe as a necessity, but she was quite certain they would both agree it was a very un-Hermione thing to do; As quick and quiet as a fox, she ran over to the vast wardrobe on her left to hide, preparing to spy on the blonde Slytherin boy.

The door knobs were slippery, round and the size of marbles, but she managed to get inside the huge, wooden thing just in time.

It was dark and the only source of light came from a slim sliver of light that shone through a tiny crack in the door. The heavy and dense air embraced her, making every pore feel as though it was clogged with dust. She looked around as well as she could with such bad lighting. The wardrobe didn't actually contain anything. She wondered why it was there in the first place. She had never seen it before, and what was the meaning of having an empty wardrobe in a random corridor?

Ugh! Focus! She mentally slapped herself. She did not hide in a dusty wardrobe to contemplate its history.

She could hear Draco Malfoy's rushed steps a few feet away from the wardrobe, but he had stopped talking. She put her Arithmancy book on the floor and leaned forward to press her eye to the small crack in hope to get a glimpse of something, but it was too small to see through. The stuff she had heard Draco say to Goyle was quite peculiar, and she was a bit curious. She wondered whether he would say something more, so she pressed her ear to the crack instead, but, to Hermione's disappointment, Malfoy didn't say anything.

He had just passed the wardrobe when she felt a sneeze coming. It probably had something to do with being in the dusty, old wardrobe. As she didn't want Malfoy to find her spying on him, she backed away while holding her right hand over her mouth and nose, supporting herself to the wardrobe wall with the left.

Right before unleashing the beast of a sneeze, she felt a small button under her left hand. It was rough and uneven. She wondered wha-

"Achoo!"

Shoot, Hermione thought, Malfoy must have heard that.

She was just about to get her wand out when the wardrobe started shaking uncontrollably. The grey dust flew everywhere, and Hermione had to sit down not to bang her head against the wardrobe wall, or was it roof? She wasn't too certain anymore. The shaking wardrobe had turned into a cartwheeling wardrobe. Hermione tried to keep her hands over her head to protect herself from the Arithmancy book which bounced in sync with the crazy wardrobe. She racked her brain for spells and was just about to try out a bombarda charm to blow out one of the wardrobe walls when one of the sharp corners of the book smacked into her head and she passed out.