The Hufflepuff duo leaves the room about an hour and a half later, when the Cerberus has been thoroughly scritched and petted and loved.
"See?" Blaise raves. "Wasn't that fantastic?"
"I guess," Hermione agrees. "But you know what I wonder?"
"Where the best bathrooms are?" Blaise guesses. "Because I still didn't finish finding them."
"No," Hermione says. She looks intrigued. "Although, if there's a really good one by the library...no. No, not that. I'm wondering what was up with that trapdoor."
"What trapdoor?" Blaise asks.
"The one on the floor," Hermione says. "I'd bet anything that Winnie, Kevin and Paul were put there to guard the door."
"But why?" Blaise asks. "Why would you guard a trapdoor...unless there's something inside...oh goddammit."
Hermione grins. "Yes."
"We're going to end up investigating, aren't we," Blaise says flatly.
"Yes," Hermione says.
"And this is my punishment for not letting you read your books in peace," Blaise concludes.
"It is," Hermione agrees.
Blaise pinches the bridge of his nose. "I'm not going to deal with this on an empty stomach. To Qdoba!"
Blaise and Hermione settle in on opposite sides of a booth, a plate of chips and guacamole between them.
"Why did I have to pay for the chips?" Hermione complains. "You're the one with all the money."
"I forgot my wallet," Blaise defends himself. "How was I supposed to know we were going to Qdoba?"
"You dragged me here!"
"I did no such thing! I dragged you to see the Cerberus!"
"What Cerberus?" a pair of voices interrupt.
Blaise swivels around and sees Ron and Draco peering at him from the next booth.
"What are you two doing here?" Hermione asks disgustedly.
Ron and Draco look down at the plate they're sharing. "Eating nachos," they say simultaneously.
"And why were you spying on us?" Blaise asks pointedly.
"I'm not a spy!" Ron says, defending himself through a mouthful of queso, steak, and tortilla chips.
Draco steeples his fingers, trying to look sinister. "The better question is, what do we know?"
"Nothing," Hermione says flatly. "Because we just sat down."
"Wrong!" Draco shoots back. "I know that Blaise forgot his wallet!"
The two Hufflepuffs stare at him.
"...and?" Ron eventually prompts.
"That means he can't get guacamole and queso with his chips!" Draco explains.
"Yes, and?" Hermione prompts.
"I happen to know for a fact that Blaise loves queso!" Draco says.
"Everybody loves queso," Ron mumbles through another mouthful of nachos.
"That is true," Hermione agrees. "Although it is rather fattening."
Ron swallows. "So what does a Cerberus have to do with anything?"
"Why should we tell you anything?" Blaise asks. "You crept up on us!"
"You should tell me because..." Draco pauses, trying to think of a reason.
"That's what I thought," Hermione sniffs.
"Yeah," Blaise agrees.
Hermione and Blaise turn back to their chips and commence eating. A few minutes later, though, Hermione can't take it anymore.
"Alright, fine!" Hermione blurts. "But you two have to come to our booth if you want to talk."
Draco and Ron glance at each other, pick up their mostly-eaten plate of nachos, and move back one booth to hem in Hermione and Blaise.
"So?" Draco demands greedily. "What's the Cerberus?"
"There's a Cerberus in the school," Blaise explains. "It likes being petted."
"...and?" Ron prompts.
"That's it," Hermione confirms.
Draco groans. "Well that was a waste of time. I should've known that Hufflepuffs wouldn't have anything interesting to say."
In one deft move, Ron swoops a chip through the last of the nachos, picking up the remnants of the steak, cheese, jalapeƱos, pico, queso, and other chips, and jams it into his mouth.
"And now he's finished off our nachos," Draco says sourly. "Thanks a lot. He ate three-quarters of the plate because of you!"
Ron swallows. "Yeah," he says, panting heavily. "Usually I only get to eat two-thirds."
"To be fair, you usually only eat half of whatever it is at restaurants and then send it back to the kitchen," Blaise points out.
Draco glares at him. "That's not the point."
"What is the point, then?" Hermione asks sweetly.
"The point is that HUFFLEPUFF IS LAME!"
"YEAH!" Ron agrees, hi-fiving him.
And with that, Ron and Draco leave the Qdoba.
"Finally," Hermione says, rolling her eyes. "So what's under the trapdoor?"
"Why do you think there's anything under it?" Blaise asks.
"Because they left a large, three-headed dog to guard it," Hermione says. "I did the reading. You only use guard dogs if you're guarding something."
Blaise rolls his eyes. "It's a school, Hermione. What, you think it's the answers to the OWLs?"
"It might be," someone chimes in. "But if I had to bet, I'd say it's something Dumbledore wants hidden."
Hermione and Blaise whip their heads around. Millicent Bullstrode is sitting on a stool at a nearby table.
"Where did you come from?" Blaise asks, shocked.
"I've been here this whole time," Millicent says. She takes a bite of her burrito. "It's not my fault you didn't notice me."
Hermione's mouth opens and closes a couple of times before she decides what she wants to say. "What do you mean, Dumbledore's hiding something? He's the headmaster of the school!"
"So?" Millicent asks. "Just because he's in charge doesn't mean he's a good guy."
"Yeah," Blaise agrees. "I mean, Sprout's in charge of our house, and she's really mean."
"But Dumbledore's nice," Hermione points out.
"Nice people can be up to stuff too," Millicent says.
"Fine," Blaise says. "Then what's Dumbledore up to?"
Millicent takes another bite of her burrito and chews on it contemplatively before swallowing and sitting down next to Hermione. "I'll tell you what I know...if you make a deal with me."
"Deal!" Hermione says, just as Blaise suspiciously asks "What kind of deal?"
"You two let me in on whatever you're doing," Millicent says.
Hermione and Blaise glance at each other and then nod.
"Fine," Millicent says. "When I was getting my school supplies, I saw Hagrid stomping around Gringotts, yelling about having to take care of something top secret for Professor Dumbledore. If I had to bet, I'd say that whatever he's hiding is somewhere under that trapdoor."
Blaise and Hermione glance at each other again. Hermione scowls.
"That doesn't really tell us anything," Hermione says.
"I'm not so sure," Blaise says. "It tells us that Dumbledore wants whatever it is to be hidden right under his nose, and that he's willing to put a three-headed guard dog in charge of it. And that's just the first line of defense."
Millicent smiles viciously. "So what do we do now?"
"Now, we all finish our food, go back to our dorms, and forget about the trapdoor because THERE IS A DOG THAT LIKES BEING PETTED IN THIS SCHOOL!" Blaise exclaims loudly. "Honestly, you'd think both of you were in Gryffindor."
