Su Er narrowly avoided the young Gryffindor wizard on the sofa, stepped back, then twisted himself into an awkward position to dodge the young witch walking toward him.
Only after finding an empty space in the Gryffindor Common Room large enough to stand in without disturbing anyone did Su Er let out a quiet sigh of relief. He looked up at the clock. It was twenty-five past eight in the evening.
He was a little early, but that was no problem. It left him just enough spare time to go to the Library.
And at this time...
He and Hermione, who should have been in the Library, ought to have been leaving under Madam Pince's urging. Just as Su Er reached the entrance beneath his Invisibility Cloak, Sir Cadogan moved aside of his own accord.
Su Er's expression shifted, and he hurriedly pressed himself against the wall. Hermione was coming straight toward him, her books in her arms and a somewhat dejected look on her face. She brushed past him, along with, of course, his past self, who was currently playing the creepy stalker. Su Er could not see him, but he knew he was there.
Keeping to Professor Dumbledore's rule of making no contact with anyone from the past, Su Er waited until the portrait was about to close before slipping gently through.
Sir Cadogan did not notice a thing.
Su Er followed the stone stairs down. Between the Library nearing closing time and the students sneaking out for nighttime dates or trips to the Kitchen for food, the Castle seemed frozen at two or three in the morning.
Utter silence was the most fitting description.
And that made it convenient for Su Er to roam the Castle in search of Hermione. As he passed the fourth floor, he