An empty (mostly) library.

Beyond this was the library. Students. Real danger. She made herself be still for a moment and listen before doing anything else.

She leaned forward and pressed her ear against the heavy wood, eyes closed, focusing entirely on what came through it. One hand stayed on the door for balance. The other pressed flat against the stone wall beside it.

Silence. Complete silence from beyond.

No voices. No footsteps. No rustle of parchment, no soft thud of books being set down, no sounds of movement at all. She held the position longer than she needed to, making absolutely sure. Still nothing.

That was promising. The Restricted Section should be empty at this hour — students needed special permission to enter, and on a regular weeknight she couldn't imagine many having it. But the complete silence was almost eerie; she'd expected to hear something bleeding through from the main library beyond, even faintly.

Hermione pulled back from the door and took a breath. She had to look. Listening only told her so much.

She grasped the handle and eased the door open just a crack — barely an inch, just enough to press one eye to the gap while keeping the rest of herself back in the stairwell.

The Restricted Section opened before her in a narrow slice of view. Tall bookshelves stretched away from her position, their dark wood and densely packed volumes rising high above the floor, close enough together that the aisles between them were almost corridors in themselves. The lighting was dimmer here than in the main library — fewer lamps, more shadow — giving the space that particular hushed quality she'd always associated with books that weren't meant to be read.

And it was empty. No students visible anywhere in her line of sight. No one browsing, no one hunched over a forbidden text. Just rows of silent shelves disappearing into shadow.

Hermione tracked the space methodically through the gap. She knew the library well — had spent more hours here than almost anywhere else in the castle. The Restricted Section occupied the back corner, and from where this door opened, she could see a clear path through the aisles. If she stayed between the tall shelves, she could navigate most of the way to the main library without ever stepping into open space.

But eventually the shelves would end. The Restricted Section opened into the main area — larger, brighter, with the checkout desk positioned to give Madam Pince a clear view of almost everything. That was where the exit was. That was what she couldn't see from here, and what she'd have to deal with when she got there.

The immediate path was clear. That was enough to go on.

Hermione pulled the door open wider, slipped through into the Restricted Section, and let it close quietly behind her.

She was in the library. Naked.

The smell hit her first — old parchment, leather bindings, the particular dry scent of knowledge accumulated over centuries. Familiar, almost comforting. This was where she belonged. Under very different circumstances.

She pushed the thought away and started moving.