Content Notes: Past child abuse and neglect (discussed), past sexual abuse (discussed), minor canon character death.
A special thanks to my beta reader EmeraldSnakes who has spent the past two months listening to me chatter about my fic and Harry Potter, and who graciously has edited this fic.
This fic updates on Saturdays and is cross-posted on AO3.
On Monday afternoon Rachel waited until Hermione and Neville showed up in the library and sat down with her and Millie at their table before she set out the piece of parchment she'd spent the previous night writing.
"What's this?" Hermione asked.
Rachel looked at the parchment and then around at Hermione, Millie, and Neville.
"You want all of us to read this?" Millie asked.
Rachel nodded. Over the past two months Millie had gotten really good at asking Rachel questions she could answer by nodding or shaking her head.
Millie moved around to the opposite side of the table, bending down to read over Hermione's shoulder.
Rachel nervously played with the soft bits of feather on her quill as she waited. She had written about how she had gone with Hagrid to Gringotts on her birthday, and the package Hagrid had collected from vault 713 for Professor Dumbledore, and then the newspaper clipping she'd found at Hagrid's that said there had been a break-in but the vault had been emptied earlier that day. She had also written about how she found the giant three-headed dog in the room in the third floor corridor and the trap door it was guarding.
Hermione finished reading first and looked at Rachel thoughtfully. "So that's why Professor McGonagall gave our House a lecture on bullying."
"What are they thinking, keeping a Cerberus locked up in a school?" Neville asked, looking horrified. "It could have eaten you!"
"A Cerberus, like in the Greek myth? Or, not a myth, I suppose," Hermione said. "I can never tell what is going to turn out to be real. Merlin was a real person. Unicorns exist. Now a Cerberus."
Rachel knew exactly how Hermione felt. Also, apparently unicorns were real.
"Why doesn't Professor Dumbledore just keep whatever it is with him? It sounds like it's small enough," Millie said as she sat back down.
"Maybe it's not safe to keep with you for extended periods of time," Hermione suggested. "Without knowing what it is, it's hard to say for sure. Okay, I think we need to do some research. I'm going to the Daily Prophet archives and seeing if I can find that article. The rest of you look in the magical creatures section for anything you can find about Cerberus'. Let's meet back here in thirty minutes."
Hermione disappeared in one direction and Rachel, Millie, and Neville walked through the shelves until they found the books about magical creatures. Rachel started opening books and scanning through the indexes at the back, or in the ones without an index, the chapter headings at the front. By the time they were done looking they'd each found two or three books.
"Here it is," Hermione said as they returned to the table. She had a newspaper folded open to a section. It showed the same article Rachel had seen at Hagrid's house.
Millie and Neville leaned in to read the article.
"That doesn't tell us much more than we already knew," Millie said. "I think we can assume whoever broke in was looking for the package Hagrid collected, and that they're still after it if Professor Dumbledore is guarding it with a Cerberus."
"How would they get into Hogwarts though? Hogwarts has wards," Neville said.
"So does Gringotts," Millie pointed out. "It's a lot harder to get past the Goblins to get into Gringotts than it is to get into Hogwarts."
"It would have to be, given how many people there are here," Hermione agreed. "Let's see what we can find out about Cerberus' then."
The four of them bent over their books and read in silence except when they shared a particularly interesting piece of information.
Rachel learned that all Cerberus' were descended from the original Cerberus that guarded the gates of Hell. She wasn't sure if that meant Hell was a real place too - the book didn't go into detail. Cerberus' were extremely rare and were native to Greece. She also learned that having more than one head was known as polycephaly. In a caretaking of rare creatures guide Rachel found something that caught her attention. She pushed her book over to Millie and held her finger under the sentence she wanted her to read.
"All Cerberus' share much in common with the original Cerberus from which they are bred; they are fierce and extremely strong, they are excellent guard dogs, and they fall asleep to the sound of music," Millie read out loud. "So all someone who wants to steal the package would have to do is get into Hogwarts and play the Cerberus some music?"
"Assuming they don't get eaten alive before they can start playing," Neville said. The book he was reading was open to a rather gory illustration of a man being torn apart by a Cerberus. The illustration was animated.
"And assuming they know what is in there and have done the research ahead of time," Hermione said. "And, maybe it's not just the Cerberus that is guarding the package. Maybe there are other protections beneath the trapdoor."
Rachel nodded. It made sense not to only have one protection.
"It would really help if we knew what the Cerberus was guarding. Then we could figure out the motive, and from there figure out who wants to steal it," Hermione said. "Next time we visit Hagrid let's ask him what he knows about Cerberus'."
"You really think Hagrid would tell us?" Millie asked.
Hermione smiled. "Hagrid loves to talk about his animals, and even if this Cerberus isn't his, I bet he knows about it."
"She's a nightmare! I mean she must notice she hasn't got any friends."
Rachel looked up the staircase to see that the speaker was a red-haired Gryffindor boy just in time to see Hermione shove past him, her face wet with tears.
"Hermione," Millie called out as Hermione reached the bottom of the staircase and turned down one of the corridors.
Rachel went after her, Millie right behind Rachel, and they managed to catch a glimpse of Hermione racing into the first floor girls bathroom. They hurried into the bathroom after her.
"Leave me alone!" Hermione called from inside of one of the stalls.
"It's me and Rachel," Millie called back.
"I just want to be alone," Hermione said, clearly crying.
Rachel walked over to the stall that Hermione occupied and sat down on the floor. Millie hesitated but then sat down next to Rachel.
"Weasley doesn't know what he's talking about. Rachel and I are your friends," Millie said, looking uncomfortable as they listened to Hermione sob.
"It's not fair," Hermione said in between gasps for air. "I was just trying to help him. He was saying it wrong and I was trying to help him."
Rachel looked at Millie and then shrugged. She had no idea what Hermione was talking about either.
Millie shrugged in return. "Then he's stupid for not wanting your help. Everyone knows you're the best in our class."
That only made Hermione cry harder. "I don't want to just be the one everyone goes to for help. I want them to like me for me."
"Well, I like you. And I like our study group and that you help us study, but I don't like you just for that," Millie said.
Rachel nodded.
"Rachel's nodding too, which means she likes you too," Millie added.
Hermione sniffled. "I know. I just wish I wasn't in Gryffindor. They don't understand me. And I'm all alone there. Parvati and Lavender don't care about studying at all. And the boys, they think I'm a bossy know-it-all."
"Well, if you were in Ravenclaw, you would have had your study group there, and you never would have met me and Rachel," Millie reasoned. "But, you could go to the Headmaster. Maybe he'd be willing to re-sort you?"
"I don't think so. The only historic case of re-sorting was over two hundred years ago, when a student had a bludger hit him on the head and he had permanent amnesia," Hermione said, her voice a little more steady.
"You read about this in Hogwarts: A History?" Millie asked, smiling at Rachel.
"Yes," Hermione said, laughing a little bit. "Just so you know, Professor Flitwick is having us use the levitation charm in class today."
"About time," Millie said. "We've only been studying it for a month. Do you feel like going to lunch? We could go in, grab something, and then eat on the steps outside."
Hermione opened the door to her stall and looked down at them. "Yeah. Just let me wash my face."
Rachel and Millie stood up and Hermione threw her arms around them. "Thanks. For following me. I'm lucky that you're my friends."
"We're glad to be your friends," Millie said, Rachel nodding.
Rachel smiled as she watched Hermione step over to the sinks. She didn't remember anyone ever hugging her before. She supposed her parents must have before they died, but she couldn't remember that far back. It was a little uncomfortable, but also kind of nice.
They left the bathroom and found Neville waiting for them.
"I would have come in, but it's the girls bathroom," he said, looking uncomfortable. "And Ron's an idiot."
Hermione hugged Neville too, Neville blushing brightly in response. "Thanks. Come on, we're going to grab some lunch and eat out on the steps."
They went to the Great Hall together, Hermione and Neville coming with them to the Slytherin table to collect food they could take with them, and then they went outside. It was a brisk Halloween day and they ate while watching the wind blow multicolored leaves across the grounds.
Just before dinner time Rachel and Millie went to the Great Hall for the Halloween Feast. The upper years had been talking about the feast for days and Rachel was glad for something to look forward to.
The first thing Rachel noticed was the abundance of bats flying around the ceiling. There seemed to be quite a lot of them, which she thought was potentially unsanitary since they were flying over plates of food, and weren't bats known to be carriers of rabies?
The rest of the decorations were more palatable. There were giant carved pumpkins from Hagrid's garden on each of the tables, with candles lighting them from the inside. Orange and black streamers with glowing balloons every few feet decorated the walls along with animated pictures of ghosts and skeletons.
Strangely enough, none of the school ghosts seemed to be in attendance of the feast. Maybe they had something better to do on Halloween? Rachel had heard legends in the muggle world about ghosts using Halloween to return to the living for the night. Maybe that was actually true.
Rachel and Millie sat down near Theo and Blaise to get out of the way as more and more people joined the feast.
"Pumpkin pie!" Millie said happily as she looked over the dishes on the table.
There were platters of roasted beef, bowls of mashed potatoes, boats of thick gravy, turrens of pumpkin soup, dishes of mashed pumpkin, and more desserts and sweets than Rachel could name.
"Try to eat some real food before the desserts," Gemma said, pausing next to them as Millie reached for the pumpkin pie.
Millie sighed heavily but redirected herself toward the platter of roast beef instead. Gemma nodded approvingly and went further down the table to sit with the rest of the upper-years.
Rachel had just served herself some mashed potatoes when the doors to the Great Hall slammed opened. She startled and turned, along with the rest of the students, to watch as Professor Quirrell ran through the doorway, his arms spread wide.
He kept running, all the way up to the staff table. "Troll in the dungeons!" he shouted, even though he was standing right in front of Professor Dumbledore. Professor Quirrell then collapsed.
There was a bubble of silence in the Great Hall that was broken by someone screaming. Then chaos. Students jumped to their feet in panic as they shouted to each other. A few made to run for the doors.
Rachel ducked down as the person to her left clumsily jumped up and tried to disentangle themselves from the bench.
"Order!" Professor Dumbledore shouted, his voice magically loud. "Order! Prefects, escort your Houses to their common rooms. Staff with me."
"First years and second years with me," Gemma called, standing on one of the benches. Other prefects began calling out for different years to go join them. The room slowly became less chaotic as students filtered out with their prefects leading the way.
"But our common room is in the dungeons," Draco said, his expression uncharacteristically fearful. "Quirrell said the troll is in the dungeons."
"The upper years will be going first and our common room isn't very far into the dungeons," Gemma said, glancing over the group of first and second years surrounding her. "Besides, you can smell a troll long before you see them. We'll have plenty of warning if the troll is near our common room. Let's go."
They followed Gemma out one of the side doors and went down into the dungeons in a cluster. Draco was clutching his wand and peering down at where the third and fourth years were walking about twenty paces ahead.
"How could a troll even get into Hogwarts?" Millie asked Rachel in a whisper.
Rachel shrugged. Until about five minutes ago she hadn't known that trolls were a real thing. There had to be some sort of primer for students from the muggle world that went through and listed what was real and what was still fiction. If there wasn't one, Rachel thought she would like to write one when she was grown up.
Millie looked around and then tugged on Rachel's sleeve and guided her to the back of the group. "What if someone let the troll in, so that they could try to steal whatever was in Hagrid's package?" Millie whispered.
Rachel thought about it and then nodded. That made a lot of sense. If all of the staff were searching for the troll, then whoever it was could go up to the third floor without anyone noticing.
Millie frowned. "Should we do something about it?"
What could they do? Tell a teacher? They might not even know about the package or the three-headed dog. Go to the third floor themselves? Rachel couldn't do any magic and Millie could only transfigure a matchstick into a needle and levitate a feather. They weren't any match against a thief.
Rachel shrugged and then shook her head.
"Yeah," Millie agreed, sighing. "I don't even know what we'd do. We can't just go find Professor Dumbledore."
"Keep up, girls," Gemma called.
Rachel and Millie hurried to catch up with the rest of the group and when they entered the common room they found that the food from the feast had been brought to them. They got plates of food - Millie took two slices of pumpkin pie - and they went to sit in an out of the way corner of the room.
A little while later, after Rachel was stuffed on pie and fudge, Gemma came over to them. "Are you both alright? I know that was a little scary."
Rachel nodded.
"What are they going to do to the troll when they find it?" Millie asked.
"Well, if they can, they'll knock it out and send it back to a troll reserve," Gemma said. "If they can't contain it, they'll have to kill it."
"Can trolls swim?" Millie asked.
Gemma blinked, nonplussed. "Swim? Well, in general no, though river trolls can submerge themselves for extended periods of time. Why?"
"David Zeek was taking bets on how the troll got into the castle. I thought maybe it had gone through the pipes that empty into the Great Lake," Millie said.
Gemma sighed. "I will deal with David. I trust both of you were smart enough not to place bets."
Rachel and Millie nodded, though they'd seen Draco place five galleons that the troll had been lurking in the Forbidden Forest.
"Good. Let me know if you need anything," Gemma said and then departed.
Someone turned on the gramophone and Rachel winced at the loud noise.
"Want to go back to our dorm?" Millie said, nearly shouting in order to be heard over the music.
Rachel nodded. While the food had been good, Halloween parties just weren't her favorite thing.
Severus hurried up the stairs between the second and third floor, his mind back on Quirrell collapsed in the Great Hall. If Quirrell was being tended to by Poppy, he couldn't be going to the third floor corridor. That wouldn't stop the Dark Lord from sending someone else.
Currently they had no proof that Quirrell was working with the Dark Lord, but Severus had little doubt. The man had been swayed while on his sabbatical, Severus was certain. He knew the Dark Lord, as well as any man could, and he'd seen the duplicity in Quirrell's eyes.
He scowled as he hurried down the corridor. Albus had felt it was better to keep Quirrell at Hogwarts, where they could watch him. Albus had said it was better to have more information than less. Albus had said they didn't have proof.
Albus said a lot of things.
Severus cast a silent unlocking charm at the door and then carefully eased it open. He didn't want to alert anyone who might be inside to his presence. When there was no outcry he opened the door wider and stepped inside, quickly scanning the room for any signs of intruders.
Faster than he could react one of the giant dog's heads came for him and its jaws latched onto his leg. "Stupefy!" he cried out, his wand pointing directly at the head that had bit down on his leg. The dog didn't lose consciousness but withdrew.
Severus stumbled out of the room and shoved the door closed. "Colloportus," he said, his wand aimed at the door while he reached for his leg with his other hand. He was bleeding, though not badly. He would have to get a better look at his leg to see how deeply the dog's teeth had pierced his skin.
Satisfied that the Stone was not in danger, not tonight at least, Severus went to the nearby Defense classroom and used one of the small pouches of floo powder that he carried with him to return to his office. He sank down into the chair behind his desk and summoned his jar of healing salve.
It took him about five minutes to tend to his leg. The wounds would heal within a few days and a quick bandaging charm prevented him from getting blood and healing salve on his clothing.
He added more floo powder to the pouch he'd used and then tossed another handful of floo powder into the fireplace. "Headmaster's office."
Once the connection was established he called out "Albus, are you there?"
"Come on through, Severus," Albus called back.
Severus stepped through the green flames and out into the Headmaster's office. Albus and Minerva were both there. "The Stone is secure," Severus reported. "I detected no intrusions."
"Excellent," Albus said. "Minerva and Filius dealt with the troll. We found it on the first floor. Hagrid and Silvanus are preparing it to have it transported to a reserve in Gwydir."
Severus nodded to Minerva, acknowledging her prowess as a witch. "I would think it would be unwise to ignore that Quirinus has a known affinity for trolls," he said, looking from Minerva to Albus.
"I do agree that it's likely Quirinus let the troll into Hogwarts, though how he arranged it, I'm still uncertain," Albus said.
"You think he did so You-Know-Who's bidding?" Minerva asked, her features drawn tight in concern.
"In an attempt to get the Stone, yes," Albus said. He sat down behind his desk, looking troubled.
Severus knew not to ask whether Albus thought it was wise to keep Quirrell on staff. Instead he tried another approach. "I've been keeping an eye on him. I haven't seen him leave the castle, though he had a free period this afternoon when he could have let in the troll. It's likely he's flooing from his office or his quarters to meet with the Dark Lord. Perhaps we should be monitoring the Hogwarts floos?"
Albus nodded. "That seems wise, though I regret the intrusion of privacy to my staff."
"Under the circumstances, Albus, I think it's forgivable. If Voldemort, in whatever form he may currently be in, is providing instructions to Quirinus, we cannot be caught unaware," Minerva said.
Severus nodded sharply. "If there's nothing more, I would like to see that my House has settled in for the evening."
"Of course, Severus," Albus said.
Severus flooed back to his quarters and paused for a moment to take a Pain Soothing Potion. The sharp pains in his leg eased some and he decided to go check on his Slytherins and spread the word that the troll was now out of the castle.
Severus sat in his office on Saturday evening. There had been no new developments about the troll getting into the castle, though speculation among staff and students alike was rampant. The throbbing in his leg had dulled with several applications of healing salve over the past two days.
He was waiting for Rachel. He'd sent her a note inviting her for dinner after reading her potions essay yesterday evening. Amazingly, she had written two questions to him at the bottom of the essay. Severus couldn't help but think that was an improvement compared to the start of the year. Her questions, on the other hand, had given him some more insight into Rachel's life with her relatives.
Severus had contemplated visiting Rachel's relatives multiple times. Surely it would help him if he used legilimency on them and learned exactly what had happened to Rachel? He wasn't above cursing them either. The only thing that held him back was that Albus would undoubtedly know what he'd done. For all that Albus said that he trusted Severus, Severus knew that trust was tempered with knowledge of what Severus had done as a Death Eater.
A light knock on his office door let him know that Rachel had arrived. He opened the door and found her looking up at him. "Come in," he said.
Rachel stepped inside and Severus closed the door behind her.
"We'll be dining in my quarters," Severus explained, walking over to the empty wall near the fireplace. "Come here and press your hand against the wall."
Rachel seemed slightly nervous but did as instructed.
When her hand was in place, Severus placed his wand against the back of it and began modifying his wards to recognize her. The wards to his quarters only admitted himself, Albus, Minerva, Poppy, and now Rachel.
Severus lifted his wand away and Rachel's hand began to sink into the wall. She pulled it back, clearly alarmed.
"This allows you to enter my quarters through the wall," Severus explained. He put his hand against the wall and let it sink through before pulling it back again. "Place your hand against the wall, and when it sinks through, you can step through the wall into my quarters."
She looked at him, clearly uncertain, but placed her hand on the wall. When her hand sank through she closed her eyes and stepped through the wall.
Severus followed her and nearly bumped into her as he stepped through. "Have a seat at the table and I will order us some dinner," he said.
Rachel went to the table, her eyes darting around as she took in her surroundings.
He didn't mind. It was reasonable that she was curious - most students never saw the inside of their professors' quarters. He went to the fireplace and tossed in a handful of floo powder from the jar on the mantle. "Hogwarts Kitchens."
"How may we help you, sirs?" came a squeaky voice of a House Elf once the flames had turned green.
"Dinner for two in my quarters. We'll have whatever the main dish is that's being served in the Great Hall," Severus instructed.
"Right away, sirs," the House Elf answered.
Severus left the fireplace and by the time he sat down at the table two plates of shepherd's pie with bread rolls and buttered peas appeared, along with a glass of wine for Severus and a glass of pumpkin juice for Rachel.
Rachel watched as he picked up his silverware and cut into the shepherd's pie.
"You can eat," Severus said, when she didn't pick up her own silverware.
She began eating, her gaze going back and forth between her plate and Severus.
"I'd like to talk to you about the questions you asked at the end of your essay," Severus said. "First, that seems like a good way to communicate for now. Feel free to include any questions you have to me in your essays, or just send me a note by owl."
Rachel ducked her head and nodded.
"As for your first question, you need not pay me back for your clothes or your glasses. I am your guardian, that means that I'm responsible for purchasing whatever you need. You're welcome to use money from your vault to pay for frivolities within reason, such as sweets, but I will pay for your clothes, your school books, and other necessities," Severus explained.
Rachel just blinked, her fork resting in her peas.
"I can guess that your relatives made an issue out of spending money on you," Severus continued when Rachel didn't move. He remembered the sneer on his own father's face when he had seen the list of items Severus needed to attend his first year at Hogwarts. "They were not good people and the way they treated you was appalling. Parents and guardians are responsible for their children's welfare, including buying them the things they need. You are not a burden."
Rachel looked away, focusing on her plate.
Severus felt that was about the best he could do without knowing more specifics about the way her relatives treated her. "As to your second question, we will be spending school holidays, such as Christmas and Easter, here at Hogwarts. As Head of House I'm responsible for any Slytherin students that choose to remain behind, and thus must remain at Hogwarts. During the summer holidays, I have a house that we will stay at, once I've finished my obligations here at Hogwarts. You are not ever returning to your relatives because they are no longer your guardians, I am."
Rachel's shoulders relaxed a little and she nodded.
He resumed eating and after a moment Rachel started to eat again as well.
"Are your classes going alright?" Severus asked once they had both finished their plates. Their empty plates disappeared a moment later.
Rachel nodded again.
"Are any of the professors still taking points because you can't answer questions or perform spells?" he asked.
Rachel shook her head.
"Good," Severus said. Two smaller plates appeared with a piece of custard tart for each of them.
"You're doing very well in Potions. Your essays are thorough and the potions you brew are accurate. In your essays, I would suggest spending some time on why ingredients have the reactions they do," Severus said, then taking a bite of his tart.
Rachel nodded, digging into her own dessert.
Severus nodded to himself, uncertain of what else to say. He was bad at making small talk under most circumstances, and to do so with someone who couldn't speak was even more difficult.
They finished their desserts in silence and Severus guided Rachel back through the permeable wall that led into his office and sent her back to the common room.
It was a start.