Math got easier and plus I started this chapter last night! I know this chapter has a lot of wording from the book, but I felt it was important and I really didn't have much wiggle room. So to make up for that I gave you a strong sense of how much Harmony loves trouble. She is like James in that way, which I think is totally awesome, but unlike James she won't go looking hard for trouble she'll just enjoy it when it comes so no worries. I'll try to get the next chapter up ASAP, but until then enjoy!

The Duel and the Dog

"You're joking."

It was dinner time. Harry and Harmony had just finished telling Ron what had happened when they'd left the grounds with Professor McGonagall. Ron had a piece of steak and kidney pie halfway to his mouth, but he'd forgotten all about it.

"Seeker? Chaser?" he said. "But first years never – you must be the youngest House players in about –"

"—a century," said Harmony, eating slowly unlike her brother. She had been reading a book so she needed time to process what she was reading. "Wood told us."

Ron was so amazed, so impressed, he just sat and gaped at them.

"We start training next week," said Harry. "Only don't tell anyone, Wood want to keep it a secret."

Fred and George Weasley now came into the hall, spotted Harry and Harmony, and hurried over.

"Well done," said George in a low voice. "Wood told us. We're on the team too – Beaters."

"I tell you, we're going to win that Quidditch Cup for sure this year," said Fred. " We haven't won since Charlie left, but this year's team is going to be brilliant. You must be good. Wood was almost skipping when he told us."

"Anyway, we've got to go, Lee Jordan reckons he's found a new secret passageway out of the school."

"Bet it's that one behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy that we found in our first week. See you."

Fred and George had hardly disappeared when someone far less welcome turned up: Malfoy, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle.

"Having a last meal? When are you getting the train back to the Muggles?"

"You're a lot braver now that you're back on the ground and you've got your little friends with you," Harry said coolly. There was of course nothing at all little about Crabbe and Goyle, but as the High Table was full of teachers, neither of them could do more than crack their knuckles and scowl.

"I'd take you on anytime on my own," said Malfoy. "Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only – no contact. What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before, I suppose?"

"Of course he has," said Ron, wheeling around. "I'm his second, who's yours?"

Malfoy looked at Crabbe and Goyle sizing them up.

"Crabbe," he said. "Midnight all right? We'll meet you in the trophy room; that's always unlocked."

Malfoy began to walk away when Harmony decided to put in her piece.

"I'm going to be there too." She said her eyes back on her book. "To make sure you don't try anything dirty."

"Fine, as long as you don't interfere." Malfoy said.

"I won't." Harmony replied.

Malfoy nodded and left. Harmony looked up at the two boys.

"What is a wizard's duel?" said Harry. "And what do you mean, you're my second?"

"Well, a second's there to take over if you die," said Ron casually, getting started at last on his cold pie. Catching the look on Harry and Harmony's faces, he added quickly, "But people only die in proper duels, you know, with real wizards. The most you and Malfoy'll be able to do is send sparks at each other. Neither of you knows enough magic to do any read damage. I bet he expected you to refuse. anyway."

"And what if I wave my wand and nothing happens?"

"Throw it away and punch him in the face." Harmony suggested smiling.

"Excuse me."

All three of them looked up. It was Hermione Granger.

"Can't a person eat in peace in this place?" said Ron.

Hermione ignored him and spoke to Harry.

"I couldn't help overhearing what you and Malfoy were saying—"

"Bet you could," Ron muttered.

"—and you mustn't go wandering around the school at night, think of the points you'll lose Gryffindor if you're caught, and you're bound to be, It's really very selfish of you."

"And it's really none of your business," said Harry.

"Good-bye," said Ron.

Later that night Harmony lay in bed. She was waiting for midnight to go watch Harry duel Malfoy. There was a good chance they'd get caught by Filch or his cat. She was excited though, she'd never caused this much trouble in one day, ever. She also had to be there to make sure Malfoy didn't do anything dirty and end up hurting Harry.

"Half-past eleven," Ron muttered out of the darkness. "we'd better go."

Harmony pulled on a old t-shirt over her tank top and a bathrobe on top of that, she grabbed her wand, and crept across the tower room with the other two, down the spiral staircase, and into the Gryffindor common room. A few embers were still glowing in the fireplace. They had almost reached the portrait hole when a voice spoke from the chair nearest them, "I can't believe you're going to do this, Harry."

A lamp flickered on. It was Hermione Granger, wearing a pink bathrobe and a frown.

"You!" said Ron furiously. "Go back to bed!"

"I almost told your brother," Hermione snapped, "Percy—he's a prefect, he'd put a stop to this."

Harmony had been a goody-goody in her other life, but this was way beyond what she had ever done. How could anyone be so interfering?

"Come on," he said to Ron and Harmony. He pushed open the portrait of the Fat Lady and climbed through the hole.

Hermione wasn't going to give up that easily. She followed Ron through the portrait hole, hissing at them like an angry goose.

"Don't you care about Gryffindor, do you only care about yourselves, I don't want Slytherin to win the House Cup, and you'll lose all the points I got from Professor McGonagall for knowing about Switching Spells."

"If you don't like it Hermione then don't be a part of it." Harmony said.

"Go away." The boys said in unison to back up Harmony's point.

"All right, but I warned you, you just remember what I said when you're on the train home tomorrow, you're so –"

But what they were, they didn't find out. Hermione had turned to the portrait of the Fat Lady to get back inside and found herself facing an empty painting. The Fat Lady had gone on a nighttime visit and Hermione was locked out of Gryffindor Tower. Harmony was resisting the urge to laugh, that is what Miss Hermione Goody-Two-Shoes Granger got for not minding her own business.

"Now what am I going to do?" Hermione asked shrilly.

"That's your problem." said Ron. "We've got to go, we're going to be late."

They hadn't even reached the end of the corridor when Hermione caught up with them.

"I'm coming with you," she said.

"You are not."

"D'you think I'm going to stand out here and wait for Filch to catch me? If he finds all three of us I'll tell him the truth, that I was trying to stop you, and you can back me up."

"You've got some nerve –" said Ron loudly.

It was true. Hermione Granger was the biggest tattletale Harmony had ever met in her life and that was saying something. Harmony was about to say something when she heard a noise.

"Shut up, both of you!" Harmony said sharply. "I heard something."

It was sort of a snuffling sound. Suddenly Harmony got tense, could it be Mrs. Norris? Harmony decided she would check in the only way she could think of.

"Mrs. Norris?" Harmony breathed, looking through the darkness hoping not to see anything.

It wasn't Mrs. Norris. It was Neville. He was curled up on the floor, fast asleep, but jerked suddenly awake as they crept nearer.

"Thank goodness you found me! I've been out here for hours, I couldn't remember the new password to get in to bed."

"Keep your voice down, Neville. The password's 'Pig snout' but it won't help you now, the Fat Lady's gone off somewhere."

"How's your arm?" Harmony asked sympathetically.

"Fine," said Neville, showing them. " Madam Pomfrey mended it in about a minute."

"Good – well, look, Neville, we've got to be somewhere, we'll see you later—"

"Don't leave me!" said Neville, scrambling to his feet, " I don't want to stay here alone, the Bloody Baron's been past twice already."

Ron looked at his watch and then glared furiously at Hermione and Neville.

"If either of you get us caught, I'll never rest until I've learned that Curse of the Bogies Quirrell told us about, and used it on you."

Hermione opened her mouth, perhaps to tell Ron exactly how to use the Curse of the Bogies, but Harry hissed at her to be quiet and beckoned them all forward.

Harmony was laughing internally at what she was doing. She had never broken this many rules in her life. This was a change, but a good one. It was as if rule breaking had awaked something inside her that had been dormant until that point. Adrenaline pumped inside her all the way to the trophy room.

Malfoy and Crabbe weren't there yet. Harmony looked at all the trophies around the room and found herself impressed. The way all the gold and silver caught the moonlight was enchanting. She stared around the room as the minutes ticked away.

"He's late, maybe he's chickened out," Ron whispered.

Then a noise in the next room made them jump. Harmony looked around wildly to see what the noise was when they heard someone speak – and it wasn't Malfoy.

"Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner."

It was Filch speaking to Mrs. Norris. Harmony's mind began working furiously looking for a way out, and then she saw a door away from where Filch's voice was coming from. She started toward it and motioned for the other four to follow her. Neville's robes had barely whipped round the corner when they heard Filch enter the trophy room.

"They're in here somewhere," they heard him mutter, "probably hiding."

"This way!" Harmony mouthed to the others and, petrified, they began to creep down a long gallery full of suits of armor. They could hear Filch getting nearer. Neville suddenly let out a frightened squeak and broke into a run – he tripped, grabbed Ron around the waist, and the pair of them toppled right into a suit of armor.

The clanging and crashing was enough to wake the whole castle.

"RUN!" Harry shouted and the five of them sprinted down the gallery, not looking back to see whether Filch was following – they swung around the doorpost and galloped down one corridor then another, Harmony in the lead, without any idea where they were or where they were going – they ripped through a tapestry and found themselves in a hidden passageway, hurtled along it and came out near their Charms classroom, which they knew was miles from the trophy room.

"I think we've lost him," Harry panted, leaning against the cold wall and wiping his forehead, Neville was bent double, wheezing and spluttering.

"I—told—you," Hermione gasped, clutching at the stitch in her chest, "I—told—you."

Harmony began to laugh softly, that had been so fun! They had been so close to being caught, but they had gotten away. She liked the feeling, it was invigorating somehow.

"We've go to get back to Gryffindor Tower," said Ron, "quickly as possible."

"Malfoy tricked you," Hermione said to Harry. " You realize that, don't you? He was never going to meet you – Filch knew someone was going to be in the trophy room, Malfoy must have tipped him off."

Harmony knew Hermione was right, but she was to busy grinning from ear to ear to care.

"Let's go." Harmony said letting her smile disappear.

It wasn't going to be that simple. They hadn't gone more than a dozen paces when a doorknob rattled and something came shooting out of a classroom in front of them.

It was Peeves. He caught sight of them and gave a squeal of delight.

"Shut up, Peeves – please – you'll get us thrown out."

Peeves cackled.

"Wandering around at midnight, Ickle Firsties? Tut, tut, tut. Naughty, naughty, you'll get caughty."

"Not if you don't give us away, Peeves, please."

"Should tell Filch, I should," said Peeves in a saintly voice, but his eyes glittered wickedly. "It's for your own good, you know."

"Get out of the way," snapped Ron, taking a swipe at Peeves—this was a big mistake.

"STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" Peeves bellowed, "STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!"

Ducking under Peeves, they ran for their lives, right to the end of the corridor where they slammed into a door – and it was locked.

"This is it!" Ron moaned, as they pushed helplessly at the door, "We're done for! This is the end!"

They could hear footsteps, Filch running as fast as he could toward Peeves's shouts.

"Oh, move over," Hermione snarled. She grabbed Harry's wand, tapped the lock and whispered, "Alohormora!"

The lock clicked and the door swung open – they piled through it, shut it quickly, and pressed their ears against it, listening. Harmony felt stupid that Hermione had remembered the unlocking spell and she hadn't.

"Which way did they go, Peeves?" Filch was saying, "Quick, tell me."

"Say 'please'."

"Don't mess with me, Peeves, now where did they go?"

"Shan't say nothing if you don't say please," said Peeves in his annoying singsong voice.

"All right – please."

"NOTHING! Ha haaa! Told you I wouldn't say nothing gif you didn't say please! Ha ha! Haaaaaa!" And they heard the sound of Peeves whooshing away and Filch cursing in rage.

Harmony was very surprised, Peeves could have given them away, but then again he was a trickster. What he had said actually sounded like something Harmony would have said in his place. Harmony swore she would thank Peeves the next time she got the chance or maybe she wouldn't as it had been him that had gotten them into that mess in the first place.

"He thinks this door is locked," Harry whispered. " I think we'll be okay – get off, Neville! What?"

Harmony turned to see what all the commotion was about and what she saw chilled her to the core.

They weren't in a room, as she had supposed. They were in a corridor. The forbidden corridor on the third floor. And now they knew why it was forbidden.

They were looking straight into the eyes of a monstrous dog, a dog that filled the whole space between ceiling and floor. It had three heads. Three pairs of rolling, mad eyes; three noses, twitching and quivering in their direction; three drooling mouths, saliva hanging in slippery ropes from yellowish fangs.

It was standing quite still, all six eyes staring at them, and Harmony knew that the only reason they weren't already dead was that their sudden appearance had taken it by surprise, but it was quickly getting over that, there was no mistaking what those thunderous growls meant.

Harmony heard Harry feeling for the doorknob and knew what his train of thought was—between Filch and death, she'd take Filch too.

They fell backward – Harry slammed the door shut, and they ran; they almost flew, back down the corridor. Filch must have hurried off to look for them somewhere else, because they didn't see him anywhere, but they hardly cared—all they wanted to do was put as much space as possible between them and that monster. They didn't stop running until they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady on the seventh floor.

"Where on earth have you all been?" she asked, looking at their bathrobes hanging off their shoulders and their flushed, sweaty faces.

"Never mind that – pig snout, pig snout," Harmony panted, and the portrait swung forward. They scrambled into the common room and collapsed, trembling, into armchairs.

Harmony sat and concentrated on her breathing, trying to get her heart rate back to normal. She was thinking about the three-headed dog. Cerberus, was the three-headed dog Hades the Greek god was rumored to have. What a coincidence if this dog was named Cerberus also.

"What do they think they're doing, keeping a thing like that lock up in a school?" said Ron finally. "If any dog needs exercise, that one does."

Hermione had gotten both her breath and her bad temper back again.

"You don't use your eyes, any of you, do you?" she snapped. "Didn't you see what it was standing on?"

"The floor?" Harry suggested.

"I don't think anyone but you were looking at its feet, Hermione. I think the rest of us were too busy with its heads." Harmony said being a little snobbish.

"No, not the floor. It was standing on a trapdoor. It's obviously guarding something."

Hermione stood up, glaring at them.

"I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed—or worse, expelled. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed."

Ron stared after her, his mouth open.

"No, we don't mind," he said. "You'd think we dragged her along, wouldn't you?"

"Agreed. 'I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could have been killed or worse, expelled. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to bed.'" Harmony mocked. " Last time I checked if you died you were automatically expelled."

They all headed to bed then. Harmony pulled off the robe and t-shirt that she had on over her tank top. She climbed into bed putting her hands under her head and thinking. That dog was guarding, something . . . Hagrid had said something about Hogwarts being safer than Gringotts.

Harmony had located where the package from vault seven hundred and thirteen was. Right here, right here at Hogwarts. Now what was in that package Harmony didn't know, but she intended to find out.