Harry Potter was bored.
It was the middle of a double Charms lesson, and Harry was finding it very hard to concentrate. Admittedly, the lessons had become much more interesting since the Professors had decided that their students had mastered the basics, but that had been a week ago now, and the sudden step up in difficulty had lost it's novelty.
If he was quite honest with himself, Harry wished it would get harder again. Looking around the classroom, however, he severely doubted that would happen any time soon.
They were learning about levitating charms today, and each student had been given a feather to practice with. Harry stared at his as it lay, quite limply, on his desk before him.
It wasn't that the charm hadn't been difficult to cast initially. Hermione Granger had been the one to receive points for being the first to actually preform the charm correctly, as per usual, but Harry had been close behind her.
Also, 'as per usual'.
See, the problem wasn't that he didn't enjoy the work. He did, especially when it was new and challenging. The problem was that it always seemed to come naturally to him. All he had to do was concentrate on understanding how it worked for a few minutes, and the solution would pop into his head, fully formed. It was as if he'd read up on the subject beforehand, like Hermione was prone to do, except, the only reason he'd been in the library recently was to look up a good stinging hex to attack Malfoy with. Strangely, there wasn't a book for that sort of magic, but the Weasley twins had been in there researching something about transfiguring foodstuffs, and were more than happy to oblige.
Harry sighed and flicked his wand at his feather, and sat back to absently watch it rise and fall. So bored was he that he didn't realise he'd just done it wordlessly. Luckily, neither did anyone else.
The minutes ticked by, and soon he was really bored. Without much else to do but practice the same charm over and over, Harry had turned to helping Neville, who he'd been paired with.
"You're wand movement is a little off." he said, absently reaching out and grabbing the feather out of the air as it tried to fly away. That, essentially, was Neville's problem with this spell. He could make it work, but he had no control over where the feather went once it was in the air. It was frustrating to no end. "If you hold it wonky like that, of course the feather is going to wander off. Here, try this." Harry leaned over and subtly altering Neville's grip on his wand, "Now try."
Neville nodded, narrowing his eyes at his newly replaced feather.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" he cried, swishing and flicking as he went. The feather shot into the air, coming to an abrupt stop about a meter off the table. Neville and Harry held a collective breath as they watched for the tale-tale signs of the feather slipping to the sides and out of Neville's control.
"Concentrate..." Harry murmured as a loud cry of alarm from Dean caused the feather to wobble in the air. Harry allowed himself a look, and saw that Seamus had managed to set alight not only to his feather, but Dean's tie. The Londoner was not happy about it either.
Smiling, Harry turned back to stare at the feather, and was pleasantly surprised to see it still hovering over Neville's desk. "Good," he said, "Now, bring it back down."
Neville frowned. The few time's he'd managed to get this far, bringing the feather back down (without simply letting it drop under gravity) had proven a feat of concentration too far. Nodding, he started flicking his wand gently back towards the desk.
Harry watched with bated breath as the feather slowly 'wafted' back to the desk, landing soundlessly other than for Neville's loud exhale.
"Very good, Mr Longbottom!" a squeaky but cheerful voice said from over the boy's shoulder. Both Neville and Harry turned to find the tiny Charms Professor smiling widely at the boy-who-lived. "A magnificent display of superior control! Five points to Gryffindor!"
"T-thank you, sir!" Neville spluttered, obviously surprised by the praise. Harry didn't quite understand why: the boy's proficiency with magic had improved considerably in the past weeks, and points like these were becoming more and more common. 'Still', he considered, as Professor Flitwick flashed them both a bright smile and walked off to help Lavender Brown remove her feather from the chandelier, 'his confidence is increasing. Slowly. Painfully. But it is.'
"Those points should have been yours." Neville said eventually. The words 'painfully slowly' flashed through Harry's mind.
"Nonsense, Nev." Harry said, waving off the comment, "I wasn't the one controlling the feather. It was all you."
"Yeh, but you told me how to do it. If it wasn't for you, I'd still be as bad as...as bad as..." he paused, looking around the room for a suitable example.
Harry had one lined up for him, "As bad as Ron?" he nodded towards the boy and his partner – Hermione Granger. Harry couldn't help but snigger as he watched the pair squabble ("You're saying it wrong! It's Wing-GAR-dium Levi-O-sa, not Win-GARD-ium Levio-SAR!"). [1]
"Well, yeh, I suppose..."
Harry smirked. "They're the perfect example. Hermione is easily the smartest witch in our class, but that doesn't mean Ron's suddenly learnt how to preform a levitation charm, despite the fact that she's trying to help him." As if on cue, Ron attempted another swish of his wand, but put too much energy into it and accidentally let go, making it fly across the room and smack a very shocked Ernie McMillan in the forehead. Harry turned and grinned at Neville. "So, you see, mate. I might be nudging you along a little, but you're the one that's learning."
"Hmm." the boy replied, a smirk poorly hidden on his face as he watched Ron apologising to the stunned Hufflepuff. "Perhaps."
--
The class ended without Ron successfully preforming the spell, indeed, only about half the class had managed the feat, causing Flitwick to set them all extra homework:
"Those who can cast the spell are to help those that have yet to. By the time we meet again, I expect every one of you to have cast the levitation charm correctly. You may keep your feathers."
Something about that particular wording didn't sit right with Ron, who's ears were tinged with red as he walked out the Charms classroom.
"It was that Granger's fault that I couldn't cast the spell! As long as I don't have to listen to that girl's voice again, I bet I could learn to levitate a suit of armour in no time."
Harry frowned. "That's a little harsh, don't you think, Ron? She was just trying to help."
"Help?!" Ron scoffed, "If she'd just shut up for five minutes, I could've worked out how to do it myself! But no! She just had to tell me exactly what I was doing wrong. I mean, it's no wonder nobody likes her! She's a bloody nightmare!"
Something roughly shoved past Harry's shoulder, bringing him out of his thoughts, which had been growing steadily darker as Ron continued his tirade. He quickly identified the mane of bushy brown hair.
"I think she heard you."
"So?" Ron replied. Harry was relieved to see his face showed signs of regret. However, it was all ruined with Ron's next comment. "She must've noticed she's got no friends. Hey!"
Before he knew what he was doing, Harry found himself running after the girl. He was vaguely aware of the chaos he was causing in the crowded corridor, but it seemed to pale in comparison to his mission – catch up with Hermione.
The next corridor was much less crowded, and Harry was able to speed up a little, catching sight of Hermione turning the next corridor. She was heading to the main staircase, he realised.
Without thinking about it, Harry dove straight for a tapestry to his right, surprising himself when he didn't crash straight into the wall on the other side. Instead, he found himself in a dark stone passage. It didn't rise or fall, but Harry could tell from the direction it curved that it would end up somewhere near the staircases.
He sprinted down it at full speed, flying out of the tapestry on the other end and sending a very surprised third year Ravenclaw sprawling. Harry shouted an apology over his shoulder, but kept on running to the end of the corridor.
He appeared at the third-floor landing of the main staircases, and a quick look down the wide steps told him that Hermione hadn't beaten him to it either. However, before he had time for this to register, she appeared around another corner, almost running him over in her haste. He only just managed to grab hold of her arm before she swept past him.
"Hermione, wait." she blinked at him, obviously shocked that he'd been waiting for her, but must have ultimately decided it wasn't something important as she shook her arm free of his hand. Harry moved to stand in front of her, blocking her escape route down the stairs. "You shouldn't listen to him, 'Mione. You know what Ron's like when he gets frustrated."
Hermione stared at him, tears still falling down her cheeks, but at least she didn't look like she was about to bolt any more.
"W-what did you call me?" she said. It was Harry's turn to be confused. He could count the amount of times he'd spoken to the girl on his fingers. Admittedly, it was more times than most the rest of the year, but he couldn't ever remember giving her a nickname.
"''Mione'... Isn't that short for Hermione?" Harry said, playing the innocence card.
The girl shrugged, "Sure, I suppose... It's just... no one's ever called me it before." she paused, eyeing him suspiciously, "Why're you being so nice to me?"
Harry didn't quite know what to say to that, but was saved the trouble by the arrival of Ron and Neville.
"Harry! Why'd you run... Oh..." Ron said, coming to an abrupt stop as he spotted the mass of frizzy brown hair. Harry didn't quite understand how the boy hadn't spotted her earlier.
Hermione looked over her shoulder at the voice, took one look at Ron and shot off into a nearby corridor, sobbing. Harry, who was still standing at the top of the stairs, sighed.
"You really upset her, Ron." he said, hoping to appeal to the boy's more sensible side by not shouting the comment like he wanted to.
"Yeh, well... I didn't think she'd hear, did I?" he shrugged, "I didn't deliberately mean to upset her."
"Does that make it any better? You still said it!"
Ron looked down and played with the hem of his sleeve, which was coming apart, but said nothing.
"Whatever," Harry said, throwing Ron a dirty look, "I'm going after her. You coming or not?"
Ron didn't appear to have heard the question, but after a few moments, he walked forward, passing Harry and entering the corridor that Hermione had disappeared into. Sighing, Harry turned to follow, catching Neville's eye. The boy had stood back a little from the conversation, but smiled encouragingly and followed him into the corridor.
--
Three three friends walked down the empty passageways for a number of minutes, before decided that they'd lost Hermione in the maze of hallways that made up the third floor. Even Harry, who very rarely found himself lost in the castle, started to worry that they'd been walking around in circles for the past few minutes.
"This is hopeless," Ron wined as they rounded yet another empty corner. Harry peered suspiciously at a suit of armour, sure that he'd seen that particular dent in the helmet before. "We'll never find her at this rate."
"Perhaps she used a different set of stairs?" Neville suggested, "Didn't you say there were over a hundred of them in the castle, Harry?"
"A hundred and forty two, according to 'Hogwarts: A History', but there are probably more."
"Yeh," agreed Ron, "Fred and George say that they discover new ones every week, but then again, they also say that the Giant Squid likes to play the fiddle when all the students have gone to bed, so they're not the most reliable of sources."
The trio decided that Hermione had probably gone to lunch, which they were late for already, and headed to where Harry was sure the nearest stairs were. However, before they'd gone two paces, a voice broke the tranquil air of the castle, a very angry voice that Harry didn't think they wanted to meet. Instinctively, he grabbed hold of the two boys beside him and dragged them behind the suit of armour he'd been previously inspecting. Luckily, it was standing in a recess, and therefore hid them quite well from anyone who walked on by.
"Quirrell!" the very angry voice shouted once more. This time, Harry instantly recognised it as belonging to the one Professor he shouldn't be spotted by this close to the forbidden corridor – Professor Snape.
Just as he thought it, the hook nosed man walked into the corridor, stopping right in front of their hiding place. All three students held their breath as Professor Quirrell walked in from the opposite direction, coming to stand before his colleague. If Harry had been paying more attention to the Professors, and less on being invisible, he might have noticed that Quirrell seemed very on-edge, not that this was particularly unusual.
"Severus, w-what can I d-do for you?"
It appeared that Snape didn't buy Quirrell's act of nervousness, as the man's glare didn't abate in the slightest.
"I don't know what game you're playing, Quirrell, but last time I checked, your office was on the second floor. What are you doing up here?"
Quirrell to his credit, didn't flinch, much. "I-I m-m-might ask you the s-same q-question, S-Severus."
Snape scowled. "I, Quirinus, was asked to guard the package from all that might want to steal it. I'm just doing my job."
Harry frowned. What was Snape implying? That Quirrell wanted to steal something? What?
"I-I was asked to p-protect the S-Stone too, Severus!" Quirrell said, growing annoyed for what Harry assumed was the first time ever, because his eyes immediately widened and backed away in fright, as if surprised of his actions. Even Snape looked a little taken aback.
"I am more than aware of Dumbledore's trusting nature, Quirinus." he growled. "Many believe him to be foolish for trusting me, but I am more worried about others in his service that go overlooked because of his say-so." he paused, eyeing up Quirrell's purple turban.
"Tell me, Quirinus, what exactly did you come across in Albania?"
Quirrell appeared to flinch away from the question.
"I-I have p-papers that need t-to be m-m-marked." Quirrell said very suddenly, attempting to step around Snape. However, the larger man moved to block his path. "Please, S-Severus. I-I'm very b-busy."
Snape narrowed his eyes at the man, closing the distance between them so that their noses were practically touching. "If you're so busy, Quirrell, I ask you again, why are you up here?"
When Quirrell didn't answer, Snape stood back and settled a harsh glare on the man. Harry felt himself shiver from it's coldness, and was glad he wasn't standing where Quirrell was.
"Very well, Quirinus. Keep your secrets, but know this: I'm watching you."
He said the last three words with so much promise of hurt that beside Harry, Neville flinched at them.
Snape shot one more icy glare at the Defence Professor before stepping around the man and disappearing into the maze of corridors. Quirrell stood where he was for a few moments, silently shaking on the spot, but soon snapped out of it, a hard look forming on his face that was so out of character that Harry almost called out in shock.
Then he too was gone, and all that was left in the corridor were three perplexed first years and a slight odour of onion.
"Blimey," said Ron, walking out of their hiding spot. "What d'you reckon that was all about?"
Harry shook his head. "Snape thinks Quirrell is trying to steal something. But what? And why?!"
"Quirrell is the last person I'd suspect of stealing anything." Neville said, "He has trouble taking points off Hufflepuffs, for heaven's sake! He just doesn't have what it takes."
Harry nodded. "That doesn't change the fact that Snape just accused Quirrell of trying to steal something. Did he say something about a stone?"
Ron's eyes widened. "Yeh! Hey, you don't think..."
Unfortunately, what Ron was about to say was lost in blood-curdling scream that sounded through the corridor. All three boys froze, looked at each other, and then spoke simultaneously.
"Hermione!"
Turning on the spot, they took off in the direction of the cry.
They rushed through the passageways with abandon, Neville brushing close enough to a poorly-placed suit of armour that it swayed dangerously on it's pedestal. Harry vaguely recognised that they were running head-long into the forbidden corridor that Dumbledore had warned about at the start of term, but another ear-splitting scream drove all thoughts of stopping from his mind.
The trio came up against a large wooden door, lit only by eerie blue flames sitting in lanterns either side of the door. Quite what possessed Hermione to enter such a foreboding looking place was lost on Harry.
Ron was the first to get there, throwing his weight against the door in an effort to open it. Quite to his surprise, he went flying as he found the door to already be open and quite easy to move. He ended up stumbling into the room, swearing loudly.
"Who charmed that door to be light?!" he ranted.
Harry stepped into the room with Neville behind him, both gasped when the saw what the room contained.
"Err... Ron?"
"No, seriously!" Ron continued, completely oblivious to his friends' distraction and warning. "Somebody could hurt themselves on that! It's a bloody safety hazard!"
"There's another safety hazard in this room, Ron." Harry said softly, backing up against the wall, "And one if it's heads seems very interested in you..."
Ron frowned, "One of it's heads?" he swivelled on the spot, and promptly went white. "Oh, bugger..."
There, before Ron, was the angry-looking head of a Cerberus – a very rare and dangerous magical creature that resembled an over-sized dog, except for the fact that it had three heads.
And one of those heads was slobbering in Ron's direction.
Before Harry knew what he was doing, his wand was in his hand, and he was casting a spell.
"Impedimenta!" he cried, just as the head made to take a swipe at Ron with it's gaping jaw. The spell connected with it's eye, and whilst it slowed down the head long enough for Ron to react and scramble out of the way, the effects were temporary at best, and within seconds the other two heads had rounded on Harry.
Backing up against the wall, Harry fired off another impediment jinx, not realising in his panic that no first year should be able to cast that particular spell.
"Hermione!" Ron cried as he got back to his feet, presumably because he'd caught sight of her. Harry would have looked, but he was currently dodging various attempts at his neck by the furthest right of the heads.
"Rictusempra!" cried Neville, the tickling charm doing little more than distract the beast for a few seconds, but it was all that Harry needed. As the head that was attacking him turned to look at it's new foe, Harry ducked under it's neck and ran to the other side of the room. The loud growl that followed Harry told him that the thing didn't like the fact that it's quarry had escaped.
However, now that he wasn't about to be snapped in two, Harry was able to take a look around the room. Hermione was curled up defensively against the back wall, looking absolutely petrified. Her eyes were wide with fright, although she didn't appear to be focusing on anything much. Ron was at her side, for all the good it was doing, as she was ignoring him too.
On the other side of the chamber Neville was still firing off spells, using the doorway as cover. As Harry watched the boy-who-lived duck back into the corridor beyond, it struck him quite how brave his friend was. It wasn't just anyone who would deliberately fire off tickling charms at a giant three headed dog for you. Harry made a note to thank him later.
Harry watched as the Cerberus lunged at Neville, the boy ducking back outside the doorway just in time to avoid loosing his head. Worried about his friend, Harry went to fire off a spell of his own when it suddenly occurred to him that the doorway appeared too small for the Cerberus to fit through.
Instantaneously, a plan flickered into existence in his mind.
"Ron!" he called, catching the boy's attention. "Get Hermione up! I'm going to distract the Cerberus, and you need to get her out of here! Once you're through the door, it won't be able to follow you!"
Ron's eyes flicked over to the door, then the Cerberus. He must have come to the same conclusion, because he nodded, stooping down to swing one of Hermione's arms around his neck. She wasn't amazingly responsive, but she allowed herself to be stood.
Good. They were ready.
Harry jogged around to the other side of the chamber, stumbling over the iron pull-ring of a trap door as he went. The noise was enough to remind the Cerberus that there were other people in the room, and the thing turned on the spot, showing that it had the agility of the dog it resembled.
Harry gulped. All the spells he had prepared in his mind to distract the thing died on his lips as the massive canine bounded towards him. In the small space of the chamber, it would reach him in a matter of seconds, but still nothing came to mind other than the need to scream.
"HARRY!"
The shout destroyed the shocked state he'd fallen into, and Harry was able to take control of his body and dive to the side, just as all three of the Cerberus' heads ripped through the air he'd previously occupied.
"Stupefy!" he roared automatically from his position on the floor. A bright red beam of light issued from his wand, striking the closest head in the eye. The beast stumbled, and the head fell limp, but the other two barked at him angrily.
Harry gulped and got back to his feet, sprinting towards the doorway as if the very hounds of hell were behind him. Morbidly, in the part of his mind that seemed to always be absurdly calm in theses situations, he realised that in a way, the hounds of hell really were behind him.
'Lovely.'
He ducked his head as both Neville and Ron fired spells at the thing that was following him. One of them must have struck their mark, because a loud yelp issued from somewhere behind Harry, and he was very aware of it's proximity. Luckily, in this case, the chamber wasn't very big and Harry was able to throw himself through the doorway in little more than ten paces.
Harry couldn't think of a time when he'd been more happy to slide across a cold, very hard stone floor. He looked over his shoulder just in time to see Neville and Ron jump backwards as the Cerberus crashed into the hole that was much too small for it. The world shook, and a loud 'crunch' was heard. Dust fell from nearly every conceivable place in the corridor.
"Let's get out of here..." Ron said, getting back to his feet after the mini-earthquake. Eyeing the Cerberus that was still snarling in their direction, Harry couldn't agree more.
The four students scrambled out of the forbidden corridor, thankfully not meeting any Professors along the way. Once safe, they decided to skip lunch and instead walk slowly back to the Gryffindor common room. Hermione was initially supported by both Neville and Ron, but by the time they reached the portrait hole Hermione was walking by herself, although Ron was sticking close to her in case she lost her footing. Either that or through guilt, Harry couldn't be sure which.
"Dumbledore's Socks." Harry mumbled to the Fat Lady, and she swung open with a sigh. He went to step through, but a hand on his arm stopped him.
"Harry, wait."
It was Hermione.
"I-I just want to say...thanks for... you know..." she turned to the other two, "To all of you." she corrected, "Even you, Ron."
The boy looked down and started playing with his sleeve again. "M'sorry," he said quietly, "S'my fault you were there in the first place."
"No, I should never have run down there." Hermione replied, looking cross with herself, "I knew where I was going, you know, but all I could think about was that nobody would be there. If you hadn't found me..."
Silence descended over the group of friends, and not the good kind as they all knew exactly what that particular 'if' implied.
"Let's just say we're all sorry, and leave it at that?" Neville said eventually. Harry was going to ask what exactly Neville had to be sorry for, but one look at the grateful smile on Hermione's face told him to shut up. Instead he nodded, and climbed through the portrait hole and into the chaos that was the Gryffindor common room at midday.
From that moment on, Hermione Granger became their friend. There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and rescuing a friend from a giant three-headed dog is one of them. [2]
Quotes from the book (UK version):
[1] - PS.10 (pp.127)
[2] - PS.10 (pp.132)