With those parting words, Snape turned on his heal and walked away. Hermione was left with a funny feeling in her stomach, but it disappeared when she began to walk down the hall and up the stairs towards Dumbledore’s office. On arriving at the gargoyle that guarded the stairs to the headmaster’s office, Hermione said the password, and it immediately sprung aside and allowed her to pass, the stairs moving in a spiral upwards and hastening her journey to the tower.