The girls are already at the tree, and they're not alone

Hermione jogged near the castle walls, knowing it would be her best chance to not be seen out of the windows. The only office on the first floor was McGonagall's old office, which she had ceased to use since becoming headmistress. Hogwarts was still looking for a new Transfiguration professor to occupy this office, so it should be safe to make her way across the grounds if she stayed near the walls and crouched under the windows, in the event that there were glancing eyes.

As she neared the whomping willow, she heard a voice, half shouting, scolding someone. As she got nearer, she saw the unmistakable hat of Professor Sprout, and she was facing Slytherin girls!

Hermione jumped into the nearby shrubbery and made her way close enough to hear what was going on. The sticks and foliage poked and tickled her everywhere. She caught herself from making a noise when one particular leaf rubbed right against her g-spot. After a short crawl, she began to make out what they were saying.

"-Already having enough trouble with plants being disturbed, and I don't need you bothering this rare specimen! Besides, after the stunts you pulled last year, you know you have a lifelong ban from Hogsmeade!"

Pansy spoke up. "What does this tree have to do with Hogsmeade?"

"Never you mind!" Professor Sprout retorted. "Now, what size shoes do you wear?"

"I-what?!" Daphne exclaimed.

The head of Hufflepuff pulled out a piece of parchment from her bag and unrolled it. Hermione could just barely make out a bare footprint. Her print from last night when she was leaving the greenhouse window!

"Put your feet next to this. Now!"

The three girls removed one shoe each and lined up next to it. "No, Miss Bulstrode, yours is too big. Miss Greengrass, yours is too small. Miss Parkinson is the right length, but too narrow..." She sighed and put the roll of parchment back in. "Fine, you're all innocent. Now get back into the castle!"

Pansy, playing dumb, decided to ask a question while they put their shoes back on. "What is that footprint about, professor?"

"Someone took a rare specimen from the greenhouse last night."

"What was it?"

"Never you mind!" Professor Sprout answered, sternly. "It's just a plant that I grow here to trade for some of the more exotic specimens we keep for N.E.W.T. students. Now to the castle, all of you!"

Without another word, the three Slytherins turned around and made their way to the front doors. As they passed the shrubs Hermione was hiding in, she could hear them whispering.

"Should we check on the mudblood?"

"Nah, Professor Sprout ordered us inside. With all her clothes."

"But Potter's cloak!"

"We'll have to deal with that little detail later. We can add that to our planning."

After they had gone a sufficient distance, Hermione turned her attention to Professor Sprout, who was using her wand to gather every stick around the tree! "Don't want those girls getting to the knot so easily... " she muttered. "If they get into Hogsmeade through this, McGonagall will make me transplant you, won't she? And that would give you so much stress, you might not be able to take it!"

Hermione had to stifle a giggle. It seemed that Professor Sprout was talking to the tree. She immediately stopped when she realized that, since Sprout was taking all of the sticks, she'd have nothing to press the knot with!

As Sprout walked away, carrying the bundle of sticks, Hermione weighed her options. She could go back into the castle naked and try to get some clothes again, which wasn't very ideal. She needed that cloak! But she could either risk injury by trying to crawl under the branches of the willow to grab the cloak, or she could try to find a stick somewhere else.

She didn't know which option to go for, but she desperately wanted to be in the safety of Gryffindor tower as soon as possible.