A/N: In the aftermath of Severus' and Carmichael's fight, we return to an event a bit more familiar to canon that would've had no reason to change in this fic. Harry's and Draco's duel but with a few added twists. As I mentioned before, this year won't be that canon-divergent in the grand scheme of things, the major splits from canon will really start to appear in Book 2 onwards. So for this first year, expect the flow of events to loosely mirror what transpired in PS, except with Severus and Lily along for the ride with Harry, Ron and Hermione.
Chapter 10 Duels at Midnight
Come next week, an uneasy sense of peace had been fostered between Severus and Carmichael, much to Lily, Mandy and Anthony's satisfaction. The two boys had even developed a grudging respect for each other in the aftermath of their brawl, and although they no longer fought, they certainly weren't friends and wisely kept their distance from one another. They didn't want to risk testing the Headmaster and losing their house any points, after all. Severus had his lone detention that following night with Professor Flitwick and Carmichael, with only the latter returning for the two following nights for his role in instigating the violence. Other than Harry's troubles in Potions with Snape, and Severus' run-in with Carmichael—coupled with the detention that followed, they all could agree that their first week had gone alright. Now come the second week, it was time for their first flying lessons. Lily, Severus, Mandy and Anthony would all be learning alongside the Hufflepuffs. While Harry and Ron would be learning with the Slytherins. Their first ever flying lessons were all scheduled on Thursday of their second week, with the Gryffindor/Slytherin cohort going in the morning, and the Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw cohort having their turn in the afternoon.
That very morning, Harry and Ron made it to the Great Hall bright and early, just beating out Severus, Lily and their friends. The two Gryffindors made their way to their table and plopped down on the bench beside Neville, Finnegan and Patil. The Gryffindors discussed what they thought would happen later in the first flying lesson, but their conversation was curtailed by the arrival of Hermione who quickly began reading aloud from the plethora of Quidditch books she'd checked out of the library. Harry noted that Neville seemed to be hanging onto her every word, he didn't seem excited about going flying in the least. On the other side of the Hall, Severus, Lily and their friends found their seats at the Ravenclaw table. Lily sat beside Mandy, and Severus beside Anthony.
"Guys take a look behind you," Anthony snickered, his gaze directed over the two witches' shoulders. "It looks like Granger's trying to rally the troops for their flying lesson."
"I wouldn't say rally them so much as bore them to death," Severus chimed in.
He received a swift whack on the hand for that from Lily. "Be nice, she's trying. Besides, I might do the same thing later," she muttered.
"You wouldn't dare!" Anthony scoffed, scandalized at the very thought of Lily reciting from a Quidditch text for all of Ravenclaw to hear.
"No, I wouldn't. But if I did then you shouldn't have had a problem with it."
The foursome ate their meal in peace, discussing what they expected for Potions first thing and how they'd gone about completing their assignments. Professor Snape had given them an assignment to write eight inches of parchment on the properties of a Cure for Boils potion, something Lily and Severus accomplished fairly easily but some of their housemates had struggled with. Lily proudly displayed her extra-credit assignment that she and Severus had been given, which was a six-inch addition to their eight inch essay on the cure for boils detailing possible adjustments to the standard recipe. When they finished their breakfast, they made their way over to the Gryffindor table where Harry, Ron, Neville and Hermione were just standing up from their bench.
Harry gave them a smile as they approached.
"Ready for your flying lesson?" Lily asked as the two groups converged.
Harry shrugged. "Supposedly my father was pretty good so hopefully I'll be decent. I just don't wanna embarrass myself in front of the Slytherins."
"Harry'll be fine," Ron said assuredly, giving his friend a slap on the back. "If anything…I'd be worried about Neville. He's been a nervous wreck ever since we learned we were going flying today."
"You'll be fine Neville," Harry assured his friend. Neville was darting nervous looks left, right and center; terrified of the prospect of going flying. Despite being from a pureblood family, he'd never been flying before in his life, unless you counted his Uncle Algie tossing him off a pier in Blackpool and nearly killing him in the process. And he feared that he'd invoke his Grandma's eire if word got out that he stunk at flying. Merlin, how he wished everything came as naturally to him as Herbology.
The two groups split, with the Gryffindors making for the school Quidditch Pitch where they'd have their flying lesson, and the Ravenclaws for their early morning Potions lesson with the Hufflepuffs. Professor Snape had warned them before term began to arrive early to his classes, so they arrived five minutes to nine and waited patiently outside the door. When the clock struck nine, they filed their way in and claimed their usual seats on the first row. Severus and Lily shared one workbench, Mandy and Anthony shared another. The last Hufflepuffs had barely claimed their seats when the door banged open and in strode Severus Snape. Silence fell over the class as the imperious teacher took his place at the front and set about taking attendance. It wasn't long before Professor Snape learned that Zacharias Smith had failed to even attempt the homework, the angry Professor wasn't even halfway through his verbal tirade when the realization set in amongst the four friends that they were in for a very long morning indeed.
Come lunchtime, they spotted Harry and the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain leaving McGonagall's office on the way to the Great Hall. Harry was grinning as widely as a banshee as Lily, Severus, Mandy and Anthony approached.
"What's got you looking so chipper?" Lily called out as they approached.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Harry said in return, his grin broadening.
"Ah so what is it then?" Anthony asked eagerly.
"I could tell you…but I think I'll let you guys find out on your own. It'll be more fun that way," he grinned, chuckling to himself at the disappointed looks on the faces of the four Ravenclaws.
"Hold on a minute though, weren't you supposed to be at Flying Class?" Severus asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. "We just got let out and Flying is supposed to be on the other side of the school!"
Harry awkwardly ran his hand through his perpetually-messy hair and adopted a sheepish grin. "Yeah…about that. I may or may not have gotten in trouble just a little bit for standing up to Malfoy."
Lily's eyes narrowed at the mention of Malfoy's name, she was the only Muggleborn among the group and had already of his blood-supremacist views by now.
"What about Malfoy," Lily snapped, her words cold and clipped.
Harry heaved a sigh and let his head fall into his hands. "Malfoy stole Neville's Remembrall. So I told him to give it back, and then he took off and chucked the ball—"
"Why didn't madam Hooch stop you before any of this?" Severus interrupted.
Harry's mouth twitched upwards into a sort-of, lopsided smile. "She was gone. Neville had fallen off his broom and broken his wrist…so Madam Hooch was sending him to the Hospital Wing. As for me…well, no one else wanted to stand up to Malfoy and someone had to get Neville's ball back, right?"
"Do you still have it?" Lily asked.
"No. No I gave it to Professor McGonagall, I think she's gonna go see Neville in the Hospital Wing after this, I think."
"A broken wrist is easily healed," Severus supplied. "Just a bone-mending draught and he should be right as rain, I think."
"Hopefully. Although if I'm being honest Severus, I think his confidence took even more of a dent than before. Not to mention with how Snape—" he gave Severus a meaningful look, "—has been treating him…Neville's confidence has been down the gutter. Flitwick doesn't seem to like him either…called the poor guy a baboon."
"You should have a chat with him, Lily," Mandy said, grinning at the redheaded muggleborn. "Snape seems to like you, and you too Severus, funny that you share the same first name though…"
"We're related…somewhat loosely, on my father's and his mother's side, at least that's what I've been told," Severus explained.
Mandy shrugged. "In any case, Professor Snape'll likely listen to you two, what with you being his relative and all—"
"Distant," Severus corrected.
"Right. Distant. And with Lily being his favorite…I think if anyone's got a shot at it, it's you two."
Lily smiled and shrugged. "Who knows."
Later that day, Lily, Severus, Mandy and Anthony as well as their fellow first year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs gathered on the front lawn of the castle for their flying lesson. Madam Hooch had just showed up and with her came their beat-up school brooms that they'd be using.
"Listen up everyone, and listen well. I do not want a single, one of you on your broom without my expressed permission, is that clear?"
"Yes Madam Hooch," the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws chorused. Severus noted that a few of the Hufflepuff boys, Zacharias Smith—someone he was coming to dislike immensely already, and Wayne Hopkins both seemed to find the flying instructor's statement funny."
"Good. Now extend your dominant hand over the broom, and with a firm voice, say 'up'."
For some, the broom leapt upwards into their hand. Anthony had his immediately, as did Megan Jones, Zacharias Smith, and Terry Boot. The rest…took a bit more time. Lily's broom was rolling about on the ground, Severus' was rising half-way, then descending back to the ground again, in a perpetual state of limbo. Mandy suffered worst of all, her broom just flat out refused to move.
With some time, all the students eventually managed to get their brooms into their hand and were now holding the enchanted cleaning objects firmly in their grasp.
"Well done," Madam Hooch congratulated. "Now, I want all of you to mount your brooms, about a few centimeters above the bristles, and grasp the handle firmly."
The students did as they were asked, although a few of the brooms bucked about a bit. Lily was sweating bullets, as was Severus and Mandy; Anthony on the other hand seemed quite calm and at peace on his broom.
"To ascend, pull the broom upwards, to descend, you must push the brown down and away from you. Now, on my whistle I want all of you to kick off the ground, and immediately push the handles of your broom down, is that understood?"
"Yes ma'am," the students sang.
Madam Hooch put the whistle in her mouth, but hadn't blown it yet and already a few brooms were lifting off the ground before so much as a sound had been made. Madam Hooch was having none of it though. The Flying instructor immediately dispensed with any verbal warnings and instead just used her wand to manually lower all the offending flyers to the ground against their will. In the end, Smith and Hopkins were slapped with a couple of detentions with Sprout and a five point loss apiece.
Once Madam Hooch had finished chewing out Smith and Hopkins, she stuck their brooms to the ground and planned to only unstick them when the rest were airborne.
"We go together, Sev?" Lily asked nervously, her arms shaking slightly as she held her broom.
Severus seemed just as terrified as Lily, but he managed a jerky nod in return. It would be better if they did this together indeed.
Once Hooch blew her whistle, the students did as they were told and kicked off the ground. Severus' broom was unstable, but he managed to keep from rolling himself and immediately pushed the handle back towards the ground. His landing was a bit hard, and his knees ached from the force of the impact, but he was back on solid ground after a few harrowing seconds in the air. Lily landed a few moments later, a little bit more softly than he did, but her legs were shaking just as much, if not more than his were.
'I'm never doing this again' she mouthed towards him.
"Me neither. I swear, I'm gonna do my best to invent some broom-less flying technique so we never have to do this again," Severus stage-whispered back.
Hooch couldn't hear him as she was too busy with trying to corral two Hufflepuff girls and a Ravenclaw boy that had accidentally shot up too high and were struggling to come down.
"When you invent that, let me know. Better yet, we can work on it together so we don't have to rely on these stupid things," Lily muttered. The broom in her hand bucked about wildly at her last few words.
Once Hooch had wrangled the two girls and boy back to Terra Firma, Lily, Severus and Mandy resigned themselves to what would amount to be a long session of flying. As time went on, none of the trio seemed to enjoy flying anymore than they had in the beginning, but they were improving at it and making incremental improvements to their technique here and there. Anthony was having a ball of a time, soaring about as high and as fast as Madam Hooch would allow them. The Halfblood had some experience when it came to flying, and he was easily amongst the best of their group. Madam Hooch commended Anthony for his skills and the boy puffed his chest out proudly with her praise. Hooch even said that he should try out for the Quidditch Team next year.
Come the end of the session, Lily, Mandy and Severus had all gained a basic grasp of the concept of flying and were now comfortable flying up to twenty feet off the ground. More than that though, they had yet to try. Hooch had separated the students into two groups about halfway through the session, the advanced group was allowed to fly up to forty feet off the ground by the session. Generally speaking, the advanced group was reserved to Purebloods, Halfbloods and the occasional Muggleborn who had a strong grasp of the concept of flying.
The less advanced group had their flight ceiling set at twenty feet, Severus, Lily and Mandy belonged to this group of less experienced flyers. It was mostly comprised of Halfbloods and Muggleborns, like Severus and Lily were, but there were a handful of Purebloods there too, like Mandy. So while they'd grown a bit more comfortable on their brooms and had a basic grasp of the mechanics of magical flight, they weren't all flying to the same standard as one another yet. When the session ended, Severus, Lily and Mandy were delighted to have their feet on the ground once more, and were also grateful that none of them had suffered a dreaded fall from their school brooms. Anthony on the other hand was devastated once the lesson was over. He was also one of the last students to put their feet on solid ground, and was only brought down to earth when Madam Hooch threatened to ground the halfblood herself.
Later that day after their flying lesson, Lily and Severus were on their way to the Great Hall for dinner with Mandy and Anthony. As they descended the grand staircase towards the Entrance Hall, they spotted Harry and Ron a few flights ahead surrounded by a small pride of other Gryffindor first years including Hermione and Neville. With Severus—and his excellent sense of direction leading the way, the quartet of Ravenclaws quickly navigated the moving staircases down towards them and caught up to them in mere moments.
Once they were in earshot, Severus cupped his hands by his mouth and shouted; "Oi Harry! Weasley! Wait up!"
The tall, gangly form of Ron turned around, as did Harry, whose green eyes widened at the sound of the familiar midlands-drawl. Severus and the rest of the Ravenclaws descended the flights towards them quickly while the rest of the Gryffindors went on without them. Hermione seemed torn between the two, but the unfriendly look Ron sent her way made up her mind for her and she scurried after the rest of the Lions.
"Was that really necessary Ron?" Lily scowled as the two groups converged.
"Was what necessary?" Ron challenged, feigning ignorance to Lily's argument.
"You just glared at Hermione to scare her off! What's she done to you?"
"Well she's annoying!" Ron insisted, loud enough so that the bushy-haired Muggleborn could hear him. "She's always being annoying and blurting out stuff I don't give a rat's—"
"Ron don't," Harry said, siding with Lily on this. "Lily's right. I mean…yeah, sure I find Hermione annoying on occasion, but she can be really helpful and nice too if you bothered."
"Since when have you spoken to her?" Ron challenged, "and since when is she Hermione, to you?"
"Since last night," Harry said, now openly glaring at his friend. His eyes seemed to radiate that same fierceness Lily's did whenever she got mad at Petunia, or him, Severus thought. "She's quite helpful and she went out of her way to help me with my Transfiguration work. And if you actually spoke to her, you'd learn she's not half-bad as you think she is."
"Is that why you came up late to the dorm last night? Because Granger was helping you with homework?"
"Yes," Harry said, feeling more angry and defensive by the minute. "I don't want to argue about it, let's just…let's go get dinner, I'm starved."
"Flying upset your stomach eh, Potter?" Anthony jibed, wearing a wide grin.
"No, it went quite well actually. Flying was…was good fun, all around," Harry replied.
"Same here," Anthony said proudly. "Hooch even recommended that I should try out for my house team next year, it's a shame we're not allowed to play for our houses as first years though, I'd loved to have given it a go."
Ron and Harry exchanged a mischievous look, a silent message passing between them.
"Yeah…a shame indeed," Harry agreed.
They parted ways once entering the Hall, with Harry and Ron plopping down opposite from Hermione Granger and Parvati Patil, while Severus, Lily, Anthony and Mandy all sat down in their little quartet at the far end of the Ravenclaw table. As Harry settled down to eat, he was approached by someone far less welcome than Neville, or Ron, or any of his other friends. Draco Malfoy and his two goons in Goyle and Crabbe had turned up.
"Enjoying your last meal before they expel you from Hogwarts, eh Potter? Not even being the Headmaster's ward will save you from that," Malfoy drawled, wearing that insufferable smirk of his.
"You're a lot braver now that we're back on the ground and you've got your goon-squad with you," Harry said coolly. Ron was taller than both Crabbe and Goyle, but far less…big, but still he stood behind him to back him up.
"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, standing tall by his side. "I'm his second, who's yours?"
Malfoy turned around to regard his two lackeys, sizing them up. "Crabbe," he said. "Midnight alright? We'll meet you in the trophy room, that's always unlocked."
Ron and Harry replied with a stiff nod. Smirking, Malfoy flounced off with his two hulking bodyguards trailing behind in his wake.
"So what is a Wizard's duel?" Harry asked, once Malfoy had gone.
"You mean Dumbledore never told you?"
Harry shook his head. "I suspect it wasn't one of the more important aspects of the wizarding world he wanted to teach me about."
Ron nodded in understanding. "Okay. Well basically, you and Malfoy will duel, and if either of you die, Crabbe or I will step in and finish it off. That's what a second is for. Usually though, killing in a wizard's duel is quite rare, and I know for a fact that Malfoy won't have learnt any spells quite like that just yet. So me 'n Crabbe won't actually do anything," he explained.
"What if I get disarmed or my wand doesn't work?"
"Forget the wand and just sock him on the jaw," Ron suggested. "You grew up with Muggles didn't you? Just throw him a good punch and deck him if your wand doesn't work."
"Excuse me."
They both looked up, only to see Hermione glaring at them with a disapproving look.
"Can't a person eat in peace in this place?" Ron groaned.
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."
"I won't get caught, I've been living here at the school for the past few months, I'm familiar with the layout by now" Harry said. "And either way, it's really none of your business."
"Goodbye."
Hermione sighed resignedly and turned her attention back to her half-eaten meal.
Harry and Ron finished up their meal and made to leave the Hall. They hadn't made it three steps past the exit when Severus had caught up to them, causing their progress to grind to a halt.
"What were you talking to Malfoy about?" he asked, his narrowed, black eyes darting between the pair of them with a hint of suspicion.
"Can't tell you—"
"It's fine, Ron, Severus is trustworthy," Harry said swiftly, cutting his fellow Gryffindor off mid sentence. "Me 'n Malfoy are having a duel at midnight," he told Severus. "At the trophy room, to settle our dispute."
"The trophy room?"
Harry nodded once.
"So who's your second?"
"Ron is," Harry said. "Although on second thought maybe I should've picked you instead Severus."
"Hey!" Ron protested. "I'm right here!"
"I know that," Harry said, smirking slightly at Ron's petulant outburst. "But Severus has actually learned a couple of hexes and jinxes already so if need be, he could jump in and avenge me if I lose."
"I know hexes too," Ron grumbled, "just never had the chance to try them yet."
"Yeah well, we'd better go now, don't want to—"
"Wait a moment Harry," Severus said, before Harry and Ron could leave. "You said your duel is happening in the Trophy Room, right?"
"Yeah, why?"
"It might be a trap," Severus said ominously. "Maybe you should wait outside the room for Malfoy to show, if he doesn't, then hightail it out of there. I'd be careful if I were you."
Harry mulled over his friend's words for a moment, then nodded in agreement. "Sounds like a good idea. Just don't tell Lily about this, she'd go ballistic if she found out."
Severus seemed to pale even more just thinking about it. "Your secret's safe with me," he said.
Harry nodded. "Right. Well I'll see you tomorrow Severus."
"G'night," Ron said.
The two Gryffindors and the Ravenclaw parted ways and ascended the stairs to their respective towers. Later that evening, while the castle slumbered, Ron and Harry sat awake in their beds waiting for the midnight hour. In the peace of their dormitory, all that kept the two boys company was the light of the moon, the croaking of Neville's toad, and the loud snores of Seamus Finnegan. Harry had been doing some last minute reading on some jinxes and hexes he thought might suit him well for his coming bout with Malfoy. He wanted to beat him desperately, so that the arrogant ponce would finally leave him alone and go about his own business. When the clock struck eleven thirty, Ron stood from his bed and padded across the darkened dorm room to Harry's four-poster. He pulled back the blinds and motioned his head towards the door.
"We should go now," Ron whispered. "It's eleven thirty already so don't want to be late."
Harry nodded and set aside his book on hexes and jinxes. "You're right. Let's go." He grabbed his trusty Holly and Phoenix feather wand and slipped on his shoes before treading lightly from the dorm and down the spiraling stairs of the tower towards the common room.
The fire was still crackling away in the hearth, casting long shadows on the densely packed furniture of the common room. Like mice, they silently crept across the carpeted floor towards the portrait hole and pried it open. So far, there hadn't been any interruptions for the two boys, but unfortunately that wasn't to last as they made their way from the seventh floor corridor, the faint sound of sniffling was heard in the distance.
"What is that?" Harry wondered aloud in a whisper.
"Dunno mate, could be a…a mouse, maybe?"
They crept closer to the source of the noise, only to find Neville curled up in a ball in a corner, fast asleep on the cold stone surface. He suddenly jerked awake, his eyes wide with fright as they neared, fright that was quickly replaced by relief.
"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 you 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?" said Harry.
"Fine," Neville replied, flexing it about to show his regained mobility. "Madam Pomfrey healed it in about a minute."
"Good—well, look, Neville, we've got to be somewhere shortly, we'll see you later—"
"Don't leave me!" Neville shouted, scrambling to his feet in a hurry. "I don't want to stay here alone, the Bloody Baron's been past twice already."
Ron gave Neville an angry look. "Well you'd better not get us caught. Harry's got a good layout of the castle so stick with him, y'hear?"
The three boys silently crept around the castle towards the Trophy room. Harry had a good enough handle on Filch's routes when it came to patrolling at night so he was careful to avoid the foul-tempered caretaker and his beastly cat Mrs. Norris.
Maybe Severus should sic Merlin on him once he's fully grown. Teach that flea ball a lesson about butting into other people's business, Harry thought.
As they neared the trophy room, they had successfully evaded Filch, the ghosts and other potential nighttime wanderers of the castle. Harry instructed his two friends to take cover behind a statue of Wallenby the Wicked, silently waiting for the two Slytherins to show up. The minutes ticked by, and neither Malfoy nor Crabbe was anywhere to be seen, it was already five past twelve and by rights, if someone showed up more than five minutes late to a duel, it would be called off. According to Ron, that is, who looked suspiciously tired as he said it.
"Perhaps he's chickened out," said Ron, stifling a mid-sentence yawn.
All of a sudden, shuffling footsteps and the faint sound of a voice that was decidedly not Malfoy's or Crabbe's, met their ears. To their horror, Filch had turned up early and was only a few corridors away and quickly making his way nearer.
"He's not supposed to be here this quickly," Harry hissed. "Come on, Malfoy's a no-show! We've got to go!"
The three boys dashed away from the oncoming noise that was Argus Filch. The caretaker's scuffed shoes shuffled against the ground as he spoke to his cat on the potential whereabouts of the late-night miscreants.
Filch crept into the trophy room, searching through the polished trophies for signs of any out-of-bed miscreants hiding. Harry could hear the cantankerous, old caretaker muttering to himself as he went.
'This way,' Harry mouthed to Ron and Neville, the began to creep down a long gallery full of suits of armor—all of which were expertly polished and gleaming brightly in the moonlight. Filch crept closer, close enough that Neville accidentally tripped and bowled into one of the many polished suits. The resulting bang and crash would've been enough to wake the entire castle.
"Run!" Harry shouted, and the three boys broke out into a sprint down the gallery. They hurtled through corridors, without a care in the world for where they were headed, only seeking to put distance between themselves and Filch, whose voice grew fainter and fainter the further they went. Harry hardly had the time to check his surroundings as to where they were, only focusing on the fading sound of Filch's voice, until the noise vanished entirely.
"I think we've lost him," Harry said, his chest heaving as he caught his breath. "That…that Malfoy…he tricked us, he never showed!"
"We've got to get back to Gryffindor tower, as soon as possible, before Filch or someone worse comes along."
"Someone worse?" cackled a maniacal voice. The doorknob to one of the nearby classrooms rattled, and shooting out of the door—through the door—was Peeves. The poltergeist caught sight of them and gave a squeal of delight.
"Shut up, Peeves—please, you'll get us thrown out."
"Wandering around at midnight, Ickle Firsties? Tut, tut, tut. I wonder what Dumbledore will make of this, naughty, naughty when you get caughty."
"Not if you give us away Peeves, please," Harry pleaded.
"Should tell Filch, I should," Peeves said in a saintly voice, but with wickedly glittering eyes. "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, cackling devilishly. "Students out of bed down the charms corridor!"
Ducking under Peeves, Harry, Ron and Neville ran for their lives to escape the maniacal poltergeist and the equally insane caretaker. They ran right to the end of the corridor, but to their horror, it was locked, and Filch was coming nearer.
"This is it," Ron moaned despairingly. "We're done for! This is the end!"
The sound of shuffling feet moving as fast as they could met their ears. Filch had zeroed in on their location and was coming nearer and nearer, it was only a matter of—
"Wait a minute! Ron, out of the way!" Harry said. He tapped his wand to the lock and whispered, "Alohomora." The lock clicked and the door edged open ajar. Harry mentally noted to thank Lily later for helping him learn that, and without further delay, the three Gryffindors ducked through the door and out of sight of the rapidly-approaching caretaker.
When it seemed Peeves had left, and Filch following behind in a fit of rage having lost his quarry, the three Gryffindors breathed a sigh of relief. Filch was gone, and somehow, Peeves had decided against betraying their location. When Filch had gone, and his shuffling footsteps were but a distant memory, Harry whispered; "He thinks this door is locked, I think we'll be okay—get off Neville!"
For Neville had been tugging on the sleeve of Harry's bathrobe for the last minute. "What?"
Harry and Ron turned around, and saw, quite clearly, what. For a moment, he was sure he'd walked into a nightmare. This was too much, on top of everything that had happened so far.
They weren't in a room as they 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 menacing eyes of a monstrous dog, a dog that filled the corridor from floor to ceiling. It had three heads, three noses, and three pairs of rolling, mad-looking eyes, and three twitching noses all snuffling in their direction. They couldn't help but look into the dog's six, menacing, yellowed eyes—they were the only source of light after all in the dimly lit corridor. The only reason they hadn't been eaten yet was likely down to the dog's surprise at receiving visitors—it was rapidly getting over its surprise, baring its fangs and getting ready to make mincemeat out of a three, trespassing first years. When faced with certain death at the jaws of a monstrous three-headed dog, or expulsion via Filch, Harry would take expulsion any day of the week and twice on Sundays—even if it meant going back to the Dursleys.
Harry and Ron bowled over the door and with Neville in tow, they bolted from the room as fast as they could move. The dog howled and growled from the forbidden corridor and they slammed the previously-locked door shut in their wake before the beast could poke one of its snouts through. With the door locked, they ran back the way they came, thankful that Filch had gone off to search elsewhere in the castle to search for them. They didn't stop running until they reached the portrait hole on the seventh floor to the Gryffindor Common room. Thankfully, the Fat Lady had returned from her midnight rendezvous and allowed them passage into the common room after a hastily uttered; 'pig snout.' Only when the portrait hole slammed shut did the three boys breath a heavy sigh of relief.
Entirely spent, the boys trudged up the stairs to their dormitory for some much needed shuteye.