AN: Welcome to the first chapter I've posted that didn't have the next one finished before this one hit the internet! Next week's will come out as scheduled though, it's mostly done. Question for the readership though, is this moving too slow? I'm worried that it's taken me 11 chapters to make it to Christmas break of year one, as that means this story will be 300 chapters if I move at that rate, and I figure you guys will want this done before 2028. We'll see how it goes after I finish up year one. As it stands, on with the chapter!
The first two weeks of November have shown the Sphinx Club to continue their reign as the top students of their year, quite easily outperforming their peers across all classes. Even Professor Snape's blatant favoritism towards the Slytherins in his class is unable to compare to the average Potions prowess in the group, due to Daphne's exceptional teaching skills. Neville, who admits he is the worst at Potions of the group, has managed to score at least an Acceptable on every potion he has brewed since the end of September. This has done little to curb Professor Snape's distaste towards the two boys in the Sphinx Club though, as point deductions for both are common. Hermione believes that it is only through Snape's deductions that Harry and Neville are not the highest point earners in the school, although the entire Sphinx club is well aware that Hermione earns more points than anyone else by a wide margin.
Harry, Hermione, Padma, Daphne, Tracey, and Stephen Cornfoot are having a brief conversation about today's potion lesson, mainly how Harry had managed to even out-do Daphne's brewing skills today to create an incredibly potent Wiggenweld potion, which even Professor Snape was unable to give less than an Exceeds Expectations on. Daphne assured him however that his work was outstanding.
"Yeah, I guess I just really got that one. I remembered your instructions from our lessons, and had overheard Penelope talking about how you could crush the lionfish spines before putting them in the pot for extra potency, since Professor Snape was going to tell me off even if it turned out well, I figured it was worth trying." Harry says, explaining his steps to the gathered group.
"Oh, Harry, should you be going against the book's instructions like that? What if it's dangerous?" Hermione says, a worried frustration visible on her face.
"Well, we were in a safe environment, and technically the book doesn't say HOW to add the lionfish spines, it just says add them so I was probably following the book." Harry says, a smug grin on his face.
"Why… you… guh. You're right." Hermione says, her face red with frustration, but without any malice.
"I'm more impressed with your performance in Defense earlier today," Stephen says. "How did you know everything about Zombies? You even looked like you told Professor Quirrel something he didn't know."
"Oh, I found a book in the common room, I think it might have been one of the prefects, but it was 'The Definitive Defensive Dictionary of Dark Creatures and other Daemons', I had the expected list of creatures we were supposed to cover and just copied down the information the book had on those. It's proved really helpful, I'm probably going to see if I can order a copy from Flourish & Blotts, it's been a good reference." Harry says.
"Hopefully you'll save some questions to answer for the rest of us next time!" Daphne says, a good-natured smile behind her snarky tone.
"Know-It-All Potter? Letting anyone else hog some of his spotlight? He's incapable." A sneering Draco Malfoy says, flanked either side by his ever present goons, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle Jr.
"What do you want, Malfoy? If you're just here to insult me, you can just save your breath. I've heard much worse from much scarier people." Harry says, attempting to dismiss the would-be bully. Daphne had taken to giving Harry some tips on how to deal with Malfoy, as the pompous peacock of a Slytherin was only really threatening if you let him believe he had power over you.
"I'll have you know Potter, that I am far more threatening than anyone you could meet. You'll find out tonight. We shall have a duel, third-floor corridor, second door on the right. Ten o'clock." Malfoy says, puffing out his chest to appear larger and more intimidating.
Harry recognized that room as being where the headmaster said that you would 'Die a most gruesome death' if you entered. As Harry was about to decline though…
"You're on! He'll see you there and kick your ponce rear end to the curb!" Stephen says, an anger in his voice that Harry was shocked at.
"See you then Potter, I hope you're prepared to lose it all." Malfoy says, before attempting to dramatically swish his robes like his head of house and walk off.
"Stephen, why? I don't think I had any real reason to accept that." Harry asks, looking over to his roommate.
"For starters, I wasn't thinking very much. Malfoy has always thought himself better than all of the rest of us since we were kids, so any chance to put him in his place is something to leap on. Secondly, if you hadn't accepted Malfoy could call you a coward, saying you were too scared to fight him. Third, it's not like Malfoy has a chance anyway, you killed a troll! What's he able to do to you since you did that?" Stephen explains, all in one breath.
"Malfoy's words don't really get to me, but as for the troll bit, I got really lucky. Malfoy has probably had dueling practice before, I've got nothing that we haven't worked on in class." Harry says calmly.
"That's not quite true Harry, you've got all of this year's DADA spells down, to the point that you've taught all of us the spells. Second, you're far and away the most powerful of all of us in the club in terms of raw magic. Your dueling chances are pretty good. Professor Flitwick even said so himself." Daphne says, looking at Harry. She did have a point, Professor Flitwick saw potential in Harry's dueling abilities, and while Harry wasn't sure about the power aspect, he did know all of the first year Charms and Defense spells.
"I guess I don't have much of a choice as it is, if I don't show up Malfoy can call me both a liar and a coward. At least by showing up I can win and maybe show him how futile it is to keep trying to mess with me." Harry says frustratedly. "He's set the time for after curfew, and the location in the forbidden corridor, that probably means he's more likely to not show up himself and instead send someone there to get me in trouble. What do you think?"
"Malfoy's too much of an idiot to come up with that plan. He's probably just thinking you're an upstart who needs to be put in his place, and this certain spell his father showed him will be perfect to do just that." Daphne says confidently. "You showing up and knocking him aside will bruise his ego, hopefully beyond the point of recovery."
"From everything I know about Malfoy, Daphne's right." Tracey says, backing up her friend. "Although I don't think you winning will do more than make him complacent for a time while he licks his wounds."
"Well, what am I going to do then? I'll need to find some way to stay out of trouble for this." Harry says, putting his hand under his chin and thinking.
"The guys and I can cover for you, since I got you into this mess. We'll just have a night in and say you're playing exploding snap with us or something. That should stop people from looking for you after curfew." Stephen says.
"You shouldn't go alone, so someone can keep an eye out while you're focused on everything else." Hermione says, looking worried. "I don't like breaking school rules, what if we get detention?"
"Then we'll rest easy knowing Malfoy will also get a detention. We have five people here who can all give a memory of Malfoy challenging me to meet him there." Harry says. "Professor Flitwick will at least give us the benefit of a doubt that I wouldn't be breaking the rules for no reason."
"You can go with him, Hermione! I'll cover for you so you can keep an eye on him." Padma says.
"I suppose that is our only option, since I wouldn't be able to lie about where you are if you went with him. " Hermione says, looking downtrodden. "We'll meet in the common room at 9, hopefully no one will pay too much attention to us, or think that we're just heading to the Sphinx Club room."
"Sounds like a plan. I'll head straight to the club room after dinner and practice until then." Harry says.
"And we'll say that you guys are in bed asleep." Stephen says pumping his fist up. "You just worry about putting Malfoy in his place.
"Tracey and I will keep our ear to the ground about what Malfoy's plans might be, as boisterous as he is, he's bound to want to tell someone. If we hear anything, we'll let you know as soon as we can." Daphne says, Tracey nods alongside her.
"Alright, guess it's a plan." Harry says, resolving himself. He has around 3 hours after dinner to prepare for his duel. He can only hope it's enough.
9 comes and Harry and Hermione meet up in the common room. "I really don't like this Harry." Hermione says, wringing her hands. "I don't know what I'd do if I got detention."
"Relax Hermione, you're going to give us away with your nervousness." Harry says, he takes her hands in his. "Do you trust me Hermione?" Harry asks.
"More than anything," Hermione says, looking into his eyes, flushing a bit that he's holding her hands.
"Then trust me when I say that it's going to be fine. The worst a detention could be is writing lines or scrubbing the floors. They might just take points, and we all know that we make enough points that it doesn't really matter. This even assumes we're caught. Remember what our cover story is." Harry says, reassuring his friend.
"We're leaving because you left your Potions book in the Sphinx Club room." Hermione says.
"Yup, now, let's make our way to the corridor." Harry says getting up and making his way towards the portrait.
The pair then begin to stealthily make their way to the third floor corridor, arriving just outside the room at five minutes until 10.
"Do you think he'll be here, Harry?" Hermione asks, looking around nervously. Hermione had been an absolute nervous wreck the entire walk to the room, and Harry was convinced that if he had had any doubts about being here, she would have turned him around before they left the Ravenclaw wing of the school.
"Honestly, no. The fact that I am though, at least means I was 'man' enough to accept his challenge. Just keep an ear out for someone coming." Harry whispers, crouching low behind one of the various suits of armor that line the halls. He'd be fairly visible if someone was specifically looking for him, but he hoped that the fear of the corridor would keep most away. Hermione crouches next to him.
A series of footsteps are then heard down the hall. "Yes Ms. Norris I know, I too smell students out after curfew… maybe Dumbedore will let me use my cat o' nine tails on these ones." Filch's voice rings out.
"Malfoy set us up." Harry harshly whispers. "We need to get someplace else he'll see us for sure here."
"What about that room? It's supposed to be dangerous so maybe he won't look in there." Hermione says pointing to the room he was supposed to meet Malfoy inside.
"Worth a shot, lets go." Harry says, slinking out from behind the statue and heading inside, Hermione following closely behind.
The pair have just managed to mostly shut to door as they see Flich and Ms. Norris glancing down the hallway. Seeing nothing though, the man and his cat move on to another hallway.
"Phew, that was close." Harry says, letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding. From behind him he can feel a few large puffs of hot air. "I understand your concern Hermione, but can you pack up a bit? You're breathing down my neck."
"Harry, I'm beside you." Hermione said, her voice in fact coming from his left. Harry turns around and comes face to face with an absolutely massive three-headed dog.
The dog lets out a deep growl that courses through the pair's entire body before lunging at them, stopping from snapping their faces off by mere inches as a sturdy chain attaches it to the back of the room. In a panic, Harry and Hermione fling open the door and escape into the hallway, too terrified to even scream.
"What was that?" Harry manages to breathe out between his adrenaline filled pants.
"A cerberus from greek mythology? One was said to guard the gates of the underworld. I had no idea they were real!" Hermione says, equally struggling to maintain her composure. "It was standing on a trapdoor though. What do you think was down there?"
"I've no clue, and at this moment I don't want to find out. Obviously Malfoy isn't showing up. Let's just head back to the common room and hope no one paid attention to the fact that we were gone.
"We should tell Professor Flitwick about this tomorrow, what if that creature got loose? It'd be worse than the troll!" Hermione says, her mind flooding back to the deep primal fear she felt in the bathroom that night.
"We will, don't worry Hermione. You saw it was chained up, and there's a whole castle full of powerful wizards here. Even if it got out it couldn't get very far." Harry says, rubbing his friend's back in an attempt to calm her down.
"It's just so big and scary… I never liked dogs, my neighbor had this big bulldog named Brutus who would always bark at me from his fence. I lost a stuffed animal on the other side of it once and he just shredded it to pieces." Hermione says, shaking a bit.
"It's okay… if it'll make you feel any better, I'll keep you safe. I'll learn everything I can about how to deal with Cerberuses. Why didn't you say something about it when we went to see Hagrid? Fang is a big dog." Harry asks.
"Fang never made any noises, and then he just sat calmly with Padma most of the time. I don't know, he just felt safe and nice. Maybe it was because Hagrid was there." Hermione says, flustered. Apparently not understanding why Fang didn't scare her when Brutus did is driving her a little mad.
The pair, frightened by their experience, begin making their way back to the Ravenclaw common room, thankfully not seeing anyone on their way back. The few students still milling about the common room pay them little heed as they make their way to their dorms and crawl into bed, determined to sleep this night away.
The following morning, Padma and Stephen confront the pair at the breakfast table.
"So what happened? Did Draco show?" Padma asks, concern evident on her face. Hermione had entirely refused to speak the previous night before she managed to force herself to sleep.
"No, the coward sent Filch to report us for sneaking out after curfew. We almost got caught before we hid in the room that is forbidden. Turns out there was a cerberus in there and it nearly ate us." Harry says bitterly, angrily shoving his fork into his bacon.
"Figures. Well, at least you made it out okay." Stephen says, looking sheepish. "I'm really sorry I put you up to it, I never thought it'd be that bad."
"You couldn't have known, and I'd love more than anything to properly put Malfoy in his place. It just wasn't in the cards last night. We need to talk to Professor Flitwick though, if that cerberus got out it could do a lot more damage than that troll did." Harry says.
"Even then, I feel bad. You need anything you let me and the guys know. We Claws gotta stick together right? Good idea about talking to Flitwick about it though." Stephen says.
"Professor Flitwick, Stephen." Hermione corrects, although her heart doesn't seem to be in it.
"Right, Professor Flitwick. He's getting up from his seat now, probably a good time to catch him. You might want to see if he'll listen to you in his office, less likely to have someone else overhear you that way," Stephen says, pointing at the diminutive professor getting up and leaving the head table.
"Good idea Stephen, thanks for that. Come on Hermione." Harry says, standing up and helping his friend up. She's obviously still shaken from the experience, and barely makes a noise as Harry pulls her along.
The pair catch up with Professor Flitwick in the stairwell moving up to his office. "Ah! Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger, what do I owe the pleasure of this morning meeting?" The short professor says, looking at the pair.
"Could we speak in your office Professor? It's important." Harry says, looking at his head of house.
"Certainly, come along then." Flitwick says, eyes suddenly filled with concern.
The trio arrive in Flitwick's office and he takes his seat in his custom chair opposite HArry and Hermione. "Now then, care to clue me in as to what seems to be the problem? Ms. Granger looks as though she's seen a ghost! Although I believe that even our Bloody Baron wouldn't be such a surprise to her anymore."
"Sir, we found a cerberus in the school last night. I don't know much about them, but after our experience with the troll I'm incredibly wary of how it might have come to be here. Hermione is scared of normal dogs, so one roughly the size of a bus isn't exactly comforting for her." Harry says, holding onto Hermione's hand, trying to offer her some level of comfort.
"While I'm certainly glad you are okay, I am very disappointed in the pair of you. Headmaster Dumbledore made it very clear during the opening feast that entering that corridor would get you killed in a manner most gruesome. The cerberus is intended to be there as Hogwarts is currently holding a number of powerful magical artifacts for safekeeping and the cerberus is one of many security measures in place to keep one of them safe. Why were you even in that corridor in the first place?" Flitwick asks, his demeanor calm.
"Draco Malfoy had been insulting me and challenged me to a duel. Another student accepted on my behalf because Malfoy had been bullying a large portion of the first year class, and they hoped that by him losing a duel he would ease off because his ego would be bruised. I had no intention of accepting the duel, but I certainly can't stand by and allow my friends and classmates to be bullied." Harry says, his eyes focused.
"I see. Normally I would be required to report you for suspension for breaking school rules in such a way. However, given how frightened you are of this encounter, I believe that will suffice as a sufficient punishment, although that will be fifteen points apiece from Ravenclaw. I however, highly doubt that it will take you long to make those up." Flitwick says.
"Thank you for your leniency Professor." Harry says, bowing his head down.
"I wouldn't give it if you didn't deserve it. Your Sphinx club has been proving to be a boon to the entire school Mr. Potter. Your drive to succeed has sparked a joy in learning I haven't seen in years. Your first year class is the highest scoring in over a decade, in no small part to you. Now then, unless you have anything else to discuss with me, I believe you should get going, classes will be starting soon. Here is a note in case you happen to be late." Professor Flitwick says, handing them a small piece of parchment.
Harry felt that he was very lucky that he did not receive a harsher punishment, but feeling how frightened Hermione is in his arms even still has redoubled his resolve, and he has finally reached his decision. "Professor Flitwick, I would also like to say that I am interested in receiving your dueling lessons. While I hope I will never have to use them, I couldn't stand if someone or something were trying to hurt my friends and I was unable to stop them."
"I'm glad you feel that way Mr. Potter. We'll start your training at the beginning of the new year, while you may not need to worry too much about your exams, I need to worry about grading them. In the mean-time you could work on getting some proper exercise. I expect to put you through your paces!" The short professor says, looking at Harry with a sparkle in his eyes.
"Yes sir, I'll get on that right away." Harry says, looking resolutely at his professor.
His legs may hate him for it, but Harry Potter isn't someone to only half-ass something.