The morning was peaceful and quiet, the relaxing noise of the water lapping across the windows woke Harrison up. He woke up first and it looked like it was early. Even Ollyth was still asleep and she usually woke up before Harrison.

Harrison sat up on his bed and looked at Draco and Blaise who were still fast asleep. He walked to his drawer and looked for his watch, it buried under his parchment paper. He read the time and it was a quarter till eight. That meant he had about fifteen minutes to get ready and wake the others up in time for breakfast.

"Blaise! Blaise! Blaaaissse!" Harrison repeated his friend's name over and over again until he stirred. "Okay! I'm up." Blaise yelped, sitting up in his bed. "Hurry up and get dressed. Breakfast is in seven minutes. I know you're hungry even after all that food you ate last night." Harrison teased; Blaise threw his pillow at Harrison as he got out of his bed.

It didn't take Harrison much effort to wake Draco up since he was a light sleeper. By the time all the boys were ready to go it was ten past eight and they rushed upstairs into the Great Hall.

The Great Hall was not as filled as last night, some students were just sitting down and some were just arriving the same time the three boys did. They sat down near the middle of the table since they saw neither the girls nor Theo anywhere. While Harrison had reached for another piece of toast he felt someone fill in the empty space next to him. It was Delphi. Then Daphne, Pansy and Theo came and sat near the three boys.

"Took you guys long enough." Draco commented, receiving a sneer from Delphi.

"How was the night with dumb and dumber?" Harrison asked Theo. The brunet sighed and shook his head, "All I could hear was snoring all night."

Harrison chuckled. He heard fluttering and hoots of all sorts fill the hall. A paper dropped down onto his plate, spilling his food everywhere. Other Slytherins had caught their papers before it touched their plates.

"Ugh, these owls need better aim." Harrison heard a Ravenclaw complain.

Harrison waved his wand above his food and it disappeared with a blink of an eye. He took the paper that sat on his plate to see it was the prophet. He had never got to read the prophet before because Tom said, "You have no use in reading that." Now that he was in Hogwarts Tom had little say on what he could read and couldn't read.

On the front page was:

GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST

Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 31 July, widely believed to be the work of Dark wizards or witches unknown. Some even think it is he-who-must-not-be-named.

Gringotts goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied the same day.

"But we're not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses out if you know what's good for you," said a Gringotts spokesgoblin this afternoon.

Harrison looked up at his friends to see they were looking at him. "What?" He asked.

"Was that your father?" Draco whispered, making sure nobody heard. Harrison shrugged, he hadn't heard anything about a Gringotts robbery and his father never told him about it. It most likely was him though, only very skilled Wizards could break into Gringotts and it was definitely not Dumbledore, leaving Voldemort as the only suspect.

He glanced up at the staff table to see Dumbledore was staring at him. Harrison looked back to Draco, "Tom never told me about robbing Gringotts. But it must've been him, who else would try to rob that place?"

Around a quarter till nine the Slytherin Prefects told everyone to start leaving for class so they won't be late. Harrison and his friends listened to the advice and walked to their first class which was Transfiguration. With the help from Emery they found their way just fine.

While in Transfiguration McGonagall had taken up the first half of an hour of class for everyone to introduce themselves, which surprised Harrison because she seemed like the type of teacher to care about her lesson more.

"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she said. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned." The Ravenclaws and Slytherins sat on the edge of their seats, waiting for McGonalgall to begin her lessons, but she sat down at her desk. She got a few cocked eyebrows in response.

"But, before we begin our lesson, I've been instructed by our Headmaster to have you lot introduce yourselves." There were groans and moans all around the classroom. McGonalgall raised a hand and the noise stopped, "This is mandatory. Homesickness was a big problem last year and Professor Dumbledore beleives if everyone got to know each other it won't be as much of a problem this year."

Harrison had to force himself not to roll his eyes, that was the dumbest plan he had ever heard of. Houses never got along with each other, especially with Slytherins. Gryffindors have held the grudge against Slytherins ever since the beginning of Hogwarts, Hufflepuffs are just scared of Slytherins, and Ravenclaws barely bother talking to Slytherins unless they're smart. Saying your name and something about you wasn't going to break the barriers.

"Riddle," she began, bringing Harrison back to focus. "how about you start for us."

Harrison forced a smile onto his face, "I'm Harrison Riddle and I like the concept of Muggle things." A few Slytherins scowled while the mudblood Ravenclaws smiled. Harrison hated himself for saying that.

"Thank you Riddle. Boot, how about you." Harrison hadn't bothered listening to anybody introduce themselves since it was a waste of brain space.

"Good, that's everybody." she noted. McGonalgall pulled out her wand and changed her desk into a pig then back. The first years gasped and clapped, thinking they were about to learn how to do that. They were disappointed when they realized they weren't going to be changing desks into pigs for a while. Instead Professor McGonalgall had given them a match and told them to turn it into a needle.

Harrison did it with ease, his friends getting it on their second or third try. "Very good, I see some Slytherins have already completed it." McGonalgall looked in Harrison's way with a smirk on her face. "Fifteen points to Slytherin."

Ravenclaws glanced over to the Slytherins and were surprised when some of them had the perfect needles already. When class was over other students had barely suceeded in transfiguring their matches into a needle, some changed it into something else like a twig, or a straw.

After their break was Potions and Harrison was excited, especially since their lesson was with Gryffindor. All the mistakes and accidents could happen in that class.

"What'd you think Snape's class is going to be like?" Draco asked Harrison.

He shrugged, "Probably exciting. Knowing Snape he'll probably favor us over Gryffindors." Delphi overheard their conversation and chimed in, "I can keep up the family tradition of torturing Longbottoms if he does." Harrison and Draco snickered.

Snape's classroom was creepy and cold, it reminded Harrison of Riddle Manor's dungeons; minus the screams.

Harrison sat next to Draco while Delphi and Blaise sat behind them. Snape took roll call and stopped momentarily on Harrison's name. He looked up and a faint smirk appeared on his face. He continued ending with Blaise.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making," he began. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death —if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach." He glanced over to the Gryffindors when he said 'dunderheads.'

Harrison exchanged smirks with Draco. Silence filled the room as everyone waited for Snape to continue. Harrison glanced over to the Gryffindors to see Hermione was on the edge of her seat.

"Riddle!" he said suddenly, "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" Harrison paused and thought about the question, from the corner of his eye he saw Hermione's hand shoot up.

"The Draught of Living Death." Harrison answered confidently.

"Great job, ten points to Slytherin." Snape paused again, scanning the room for his next victim. "Weasely!" The redhead who had wanted to punch Harrison in sorting had jumped a foot out of his seat.

"Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?" The redhead stayed quiet and sunk into his seat. "Well?" Snape asked, waiting for an answer from Ron. Hermione got up from her seat with her hand raised high. "Sit." He told her and she sunk back down into her seat.

"I don't know." He whispered, his ears turning a bright pink. Harrison heard sniggers come from his friends, the redhead turned around to look at them with a hard glare.

"Tut, tut. Perhaps Longbottom knows the next question." The oversized boy was already shaking with fear. "What is the difference, Longbottom, between monkshood and wolfsbane?" He could've fainted from how pale he was, it didn't help with Delphi trying to hold back her laughter.

"I-I don't know P-professor." Longbottom stuttered. "Hermione seems to know." Ron said suddenly, nodding towards the mudblood who couldn't refrain from standing with excitement. "Why don't you ask her." It was the Gryffindor's turn to snicker, however that wasn't the smartest idea.

"Sit down Granger." He repeated through his teeth and the mudblood sat down again. "For your information, Weasley, a bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. And for you Longbottom, monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite."

"For two people who grew up in Wizarding families it is sure embarrassing that a muggleborn knows more than you." Harrison couldn't resist laughing this time along with his friends. Weasley turned around to glare at both Hermione and the Slytherins. "Well? Why aren't you all writing the information I just gave down?"

Everyone rummaged for the quills and parchment and noted what Snape had taught them. "And ten points from Gryffindor for your cheek Weasley." Ronald sighed, as he wrote down his notes.

Things only got better for Slytherin as class went on. Snape put them into pairs and set them up to create the simple potion of curing boils. He swept around in his long black cloak, watching them weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs, criticizing almost everyone except Harrison and Draco. He even used their brew as an example for everyone else, and from a look at Longbottom's cauldron, it was nowhere close to Harrison's and Draco's and probably messed up. And Harrison's hunch was correct because in seconds of looking over there the class was standing on their stools, while Longbottom's potion spilled all over himself. Within seconds he was covered all over in boils, screaming in pain.

"Idiot boy!" Snape snarled. With a wave of his wand, the potions on the floor disappeared and Harrison sat back down. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?" Longbottom had no response except for his whimpers.

"Finnigan, take him to the Hospital Wing." Snape snapped at one of the Gryffindors, it wasn't clear since he kept his gaze on Weasley.

"Weasley! Why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought it would make you look better if he got it wrong?" Weasley opened his mouth to argue but Snape talked before him, "Another ten points from Gryffindor."

After class Harrison and his friends didn't hold back from laughing at Longbottom's fail with the potion. "Snape didn't hold back from embarrassing the Gryffindors in our first potions class." Harrison hollered, Draco, Delphi and Blaise laughing along with him.

"Longbottom is what I call a waste of pureblood. Granger would be better off with it." Blaise said.

They walked into the Great Hall for lunch and retold the story for the older years and they had as much amusement from the story as Harrison did from watching it unfold.

Later that night Harrison had shown the locket to Blaise and Draco. He came up with a lie and said someone was trying to steal the Locket and Voldemort gave it to him to keep it safe. Blaise and Draco seemed to beleive it.

"Lets ask the girls tomorrow. Maybe they have some ideas." Blaise suggested. Harrison agreed and had a dreamless sleep. He woke up earlier than yesterday, giving him enough time to get ready at a steady pace and wake up his friend's.

When they left, Harrison hid the locket in his pocket and tried his best to make the lump in his robes unnoticeable.

"Delphi." Harrison called and his cousin turned her head. "What is it?" she asked.

"My father gave me Salazar's locket to keep it safe for the time being. Someone has tried to steal it."

Delphi choked slightly on her drink.

"And he said keep it safe until he finds a hiding spot for it. Any ideas?" Harrison asked.

"Why don't you hide it in your room? Put one of those fancy parselmouth spells on it." Delphi suggested, stabbing her pancake and placing it into her mouth. "You know I'm not good with those spells." Harrison sighed and looked down at his pocket. "I'll just keep it in the trunk in my room. I don't think somebody would steal it if it was in there."

Their first class of the day was Potions with Ravenclaws. Snape wasn't as hard on the Ravenclaws as he was with Gryffindors but still favored Slytherins over them. Today they only took notes and didn't brew anything to many student's disappointment. Next was their first class of Defense Against the Dark Arts with the Hufflepuffs, and as soon as Harrison stepped into that classroom he wanted to leave immediately. The classroom reeked of garlic which the older years warned him of. They said Quirrell wanted to make sure a vampire he fought off in Romania didn't come back to kill him. He told them that the hideous turban he wore on his head was a gift from a Prince in Africa that gave it to him as thanks for getting rid of a troublesome zombie. When asked on how he defeated it he shook nervously and changed the topic. Harrison would call his class a joke.

After Lunch the Slytherins had flying class with the Gryffindors. Delphi had promised she would 'accidently' push one of the Gryffindors off their brooms.

The Slytherins had arrived before the Gryffindors which gained them a couple of house points. They picked out the brooms that didn't look like it would snap in half if you sat on it.

Around five minutes later the Gryffindors arrived with stupid looks on their faces not walking over to the brooms like an intelectual would.

"Well, what are you all waiting for?" she barked. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up." The Gryffindors scattered to pick up a broom, one of them somehow tripping when passing Delphi.

"Stick out your right hand over your broom," called Madam Hooch at the front, "and say 'Up!'"

Harrison stuck his hand out and the broom had already shot up into his hand while everyone bellowed 'up.'

"Longbottom!" Delphi whispered, getting the attention of Harrison and Longbottom. "You might snap your broom in half, they have weight limits y'know." Longbottom's cheeks turned pink while Delphi and Harrison snickered.

"Something funny Lestrange? Riddle?" They stopped laughing and shook their heads. Harrison heard Weasley snort along with his friends that Harrison didn't bother to learn about.

"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard," said Madam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle —three —two —"

But Neville, nervous and jumpy and frightened of being left on the ground, pushed off hard before the whistle had touched Madam Hooch's lips.

"Come back, boy!" she shouted, but Neville was rising straight up like a cork shot out of a bottle —twelve feet —twenty feet.

Harrison saw his scared white face look down at the ground falling away, saw him gasp, slip sideways off the broom and —WHAM —a thud and a nasty crack and Neville lay face down on the grass in a heap. His broomstick was still rising higher and higher, and started to drift lazily toward the forbidden forest and out of sight.

Madam Hooch was bending over Neville, her face as white as his. "Broken wrist," Harrison heard her mutter. "Come on, boy —it's all right, up you get."

She turned to the rest of the class. "None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch.' Come on, dear."

Once they were out of earshot the Slytherins bursted into laughter while the Gryffindors gave them stern glares and nasty looks. "Nothing is funny about that!" Lavender Brown squeaked and the other Gryffindors nodded in agreement.

"What if he died?" Hermione asked nervously. Delphi glared at the mudblood for opening her mouth. "That would've been better. Even better if it was you instead." There were outraged yelling and arguing from both Houses and insults flying around.

Harrison watched silently, a smirk playing on his lips. What would make this all better is a duel so he could embarrass the Gryffindors even more by beating them.

Someone bumped into Harrison, making his locket fall out of his pocket. It was the Weasel of course. Before Harrison could pick it up and pretend to forgive the Weasel, the latter already had his filthy hands on it. "What's this?" Ronald asked thoughtfully, examining the locket.

Harrison went to snatch it back but Ronald jerked it away. "Bloody hell! This is-" Harrison covered Ronald's mouth with his hand and glared at him. "Shut up and give me my locket back." Harrison growled.

Weasley pushed Harrison away and got onto his broom. "I'll find a better place for this locket. Perhaps the trees." Ronald launched upwards and away, followed along were gasp and the two houses had stopped their arguing.

Harrison's stomach lurched and he didn't hesitate to get on his broom and follow the Weasel. "No!" shouted Hermione Granger. "Madam Hooch told us not to move —you'll get us all into trouble."

"Shut up you mudblood! This is gonna be fun to watch." Delphi snapped at her, watching as Harrison sent spells Weasley's way as they flew around.

"You Weasel! Give me my locket back!" Harrison barked, sending a stunner at Ronald. It barely scraped his face, scaring the Weasel a bit. "I'm gonna to knock you off that bloody broom!" Harrison shouted at him.

"I guess you don't care about this anymore then." Weasley let the locket out of his grasp and it raced down towards a tree where it'll be impossible to find the locket. Harrison panicked and dived right down with it. He wasn't going to catch up to it unless he thought fast. And he probably thought too fast because he jumped off his broom.

Screams erupted from both houses and they stared dumbfounded. "Harrison!" He heard Delphi scream. Harrison pulled out his wand and pointed at the ground. "Molliare!" He bellowed. He reached outwards for the locket and grasped it in his hand.

Everyone watched as Harrison fell to the ground, some closing their eyes when he got too close to the ground.

Harrison however, landed painlessly on his stomach, getting right up after a couple of seconds. He looked up to see his broom drifting off to the same direction Neville's did earlier. He looked at the locket and it was still in perfect shape.

Harrison walked back over to the group of students and Delphi started a screaming fit on how he could've died, while everyone just watched silently.

"HARRISON RIDDLE!" Harrison paled and turned to see Snape marching angrily with Madam Hooch right by his side. "Never have I seen a Slytherin commit such foolish acts. What do you have to say for yourself?" Harrison fixed his gaze on the redhead who had been trying to hide behind his fellow housemates.

"Weasley stole my locket and tried to throw it in the trees." Harrison announced and Snape turned his head towards the pale blood traitor. "Like the idiot he is, he didn't know this Locket has much value and it would be a great pain to my family if we lost it. That's why I jumped off my broom to retrieve it." Severus took a closer look at the locket in Harrison's hands and his face softened when he realised what it was.

"Riddle you are to come with me. And for you Weasley." Ronald looked down at his feet, knowing whatever Snape was about to say wasn't going to be good. "A hundred points from Gryffindor." There were gasps and outraged comments. "For stealing property and putting another's student life in danger."

"You can't do that! We're not even close to a hundred house points yet!" Finnigan argued.

"There is something called negative numbers Finnigan. If you really have a problem with that I suggest you talk about it with Mister Weasley." Seamus glared at Snape as he turned his attention back to Ronald.

"I will also be contacting your head house Weasley. She'll decide your final punishment." Ronald sighed, looking down at his feet shamefully.

"Come Riddle." Harrison buried his locket into his pocket, giving one last glare at Weasley before he followed Snape.


Severus knocked twice on Minerva's door, he heard footsteps before her door swung open. "Good. You're here." She opened the door wider so Severus could step in.

"What did you need?" He asked, examining her office. She had a large big fireplace which made her office look more like a small living area than an office. Her window stared right into the Quidditch pitch where he could see his Slytherins standing with their brooms.

"I wanted to talk about the third floor." Severus' head snapped back towards her, listening closely now. "Specifically the corridor. Do you think we secured it enough?" Minerva asked him, with a hint of paranoia.

"I believe so. Even if any of the students got into the corridor they would run at the first sight of 'Fluffy.'" That was the name Hagrid had given the cerberus, he thought it was quite stupid.

"What about Riddle? Do you think you-know-who sent him to get inside?" Severus shook his head, "Tom doesn't trust the boy with valuable information. He most likely just heard of the Gringotts break in today."

There was loud banging on the door and Severus and Minerva already knew who it was. "Peeves."

Minerva opened the door and standing there was of course Peeves. "Madam Promfrey has one of your ickly Gryffindors in the Hospital Wing. Thought you ought to know!" Peeves yelled, as he ran down the hallway banging on all the doors as he did.

"I hope he isn't lying. I'll be right back Severus." McGonagall left her office and Snape sighed. He sat down in one of the chairs and looked out the window, watching the students. He could barely hear the faint arguing coming from the two houses.

After about ten minutes of the groups quarrelling Severus saw one of the Gryffindors shoot up into the air. Almost immediately one of his Slytherins shot up into the air following the Gryffindors. He scowled and got up and walked up to the window. A closer look at the two he could make out the Gryffindor to be Weasley and the Slytherin to be Harrison.

He thought they were just practicing but when he looked down at the students and saw no Madam Hooch his blood began to boil. Harrison was embarrassing the Slytherin house by chasing after that idiot, he better have good reason or he wouldn't hear the end of it.

He watched a while longer as Harrison spent spells towards the Weasel, in an attempt to stop him. The more Severus watched the angrier he got. What sent him off the edge was when Harrison jumped off his broom. His heart sank but was relieved when Harrison had saved himself. However, that just brought back all the anger.

Severus had told himself he would continue his conversation with Minerva later, right now he would have to go scold Harrison for acting like a stupid Gryffindor.

He marched through the hallways, students making sure to steer clear of him. When he was close to the Quidditch Field he heard Madam Hooch call his name. "Snape! Why are you heading to Quidditch Field?" She asked, catching up with him.

"Why aren't you at the Quidditch Field?" Snape snapped at her.

"I was delivering Longbottom to the Hospital Wing, he fell off his broom. What happened?"

"I was observing my Slytherins and the Gryffindors when two of them shot into the air. More specifically, Weasley and Riddle." Madam Hooch's face became red, Snape could tell she was as annoyed with the students as he was.

They both angrily marched onto the Quidditch Field and as soon as he saw Harrison he bellowed, "HARRISON RIDDLE!"


"Don't do that again." Severus told him once they reached the staircase down into the dungeons. "I thought you were going to die. If you did Voldemort would blame me and Quirrell and kill us off." Harrison chuckled, Snape giving a faint smirk.

Snape brought him into his office, and the environment was gloomy and dark. Snape had no windows for obvious reasons, on the walls were shelves filled with jars of animal bits or plants that floated in a slimy liquid.

"Well, what's my punishment?" Harrison asked mockingly, sitting down in the chair behind Snape's desk.

"You will not receive a punishment today. However, I think I have a better idea. Stay here." Snape left the office, minutes later he came back with another student.

Once Harrison got a better view of the student he could tell it was Marcus Flint.

"Harrison, this is Marcus. I believe you two already met." They both nodded. "Flint, I've found you a new seeker." Both of the boy's faces lit up with joy.

"Seriously? I get to play Quidditch with you-know-who's son!" Marcus exclaimed. It looked like his dreams had just come true. "Absolutely, Riddle is a natural flyer. You should've seen the way he dived for his locket, no doubt he'll do the same for the snitch."

"He's just the build for a Seeker, too," Flint acknowledged, now walking around Harrison and staring at him. "Light —speedy —we'll have to get him a decent broom, Professor —a Nimbus Two Thousand, I'd say."

"I'll see what I can do. As for you Riddle," Snape turned his gaze onto Harrison with a rare smile. "Train hard. I plan on keeping the cup in my office for another year."

"Seeker?" Draco repeated with jealousy in his voice. "You're probably the first eleven year old to get on the team in years." Blaise chimed.

"When you play your first match try to knock off some of the Gryffindors." Delphi suggested.

When they walked into the Great Hall the first thing Harrison wanted to see was Gryffindor's hourglass. Severus wasn't lying when he said there were negatives, they had negative one hundred fifty-five points. "Would you look at that." Blaise chuckled looking up at the hourglass too.

"McGonagall probably took away points too." Harrison mumbled, glancing over at the staff table to see she looked upset.

"Gives us a better chance of winning the house cup then." Harrison glanced over to Slytherin's hourglass and they were in the lead with one hundred-fifteen points.

They sat down to eat dinner, explaining to everyone how Gryffindors got into the negatives. It was a hilarious dinner, everyone slipping a joke about Gryffindors being in the negatives every now and then.

After dinner Harrison had rehidden the locket in his trunk and thought about it no more afterwards.

The next three weeks were not how Harrison expected them to be. He feuded with Weasel more often than he liked, he had private training sessions with Marcus because he was scared news of Harrison being on the team would leak out if he practiced with the team. Which was no use because it leaked out anyways, Harrison suspected it was Pansy's fault. He had befriended a couple of Ravenclaws and a few Hufflepuffs, his attempts with Gryffindors failed after he got them into the negatives. Hermione still talked to him though which made her an outcast and easy target for bullying which Delphi was amused by.

"Still don't know how Riddle earned a spot on the Quidditch Team and all I got was two hundred points taken away." Harrison heard Weasley complain to Neville as they left Herbology.

"Perhaps because I actually know how to work a broom Weasel." Harrison snapped at him. Weasley and Longbottom turned and looked at Harrison with anger on their faces.

"From the way you were flying in class you probably can't even play beater." Weasley balled his fists until his fingers went pale. "I challenge you to a Wizarding Duel!"

Delphi looked back after she heard 'Wizarding Duel.'

A smile lit up on Delphi's face and she skipped over to Harrison. "I wanna be your second. Please!" She asked in a whiny voice. Harrison nodded in agreement and smirked when he saw Longbottom's horrid expression.

"Delphi is my second. Who is yours?"

"Neville." Weasley stood confidently while his second looked like a ghost had just passed through him. "Wands only —no contact. Trophy room at midnight, it's always unlocked." The four of them agreed and went their separate ways.

"Why were you two talking to dumb and dumber?" Draco asked when the two of them rejoined him and Blaise.

"The Weasel was dumb enough to challenge Harrison to Wizarding Duel.'' Blaise and Draco both snorted. "I wanna come and see that blood traitor get that stupid look wiped off his face." Draco said.

"Why don't you just set the two idiots up? Tell Filch they are going to be there tonight and Gryffidnor will be back in the negatives." Blaise suggested. Harrison had to admit it was a good plan but the satisfaction of knocking out Weasley would be better than making the chance of Gryffindor winning the house cup impossible.

"I think beating the blood traitors will be more satisfying than having points taken away."

At midnight Harrison, Delphi and Draco waited in the trophy room for Weasley and Longbottom. It had reached ten past twelve when they were about to leave but the two blood traitors made it just in time. Hermione had joined them too.

"Who invited her?" Delphi scoffed glaring at Hermione. It seemed the latter didn't even hear Delphi's remark because she kept glaring at the blood traitors. "What you guys are about to do is idotic. You can get expelled." Hermione said, eyeing everyone one of them.

"You can get expelled too Granger." Draco pointed out. "If Filch or anyone finds us you won't be excluded from the punishment." Hermione gulped nervously and looked around.

"Enough chatting. I hope you're ready Longbottom cause you'll be next." Harrison pulled out his wand the same time Weasley did. "Stu-"

A noise in the next room made them jump. Harrison had only just raised his wand when they heard someone speak and it wasn't a ghost.

"Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner." It was Filch speaking to Mrs. Norris as if she was a dog.

Horror-struck, Harrison waved madly at everyone to follow him as quickly as possible; they scurried silently toward the door, away from Filch's voice. 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!"Harrison 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 were enough to wake the whole castle.

"You idiots!" Harrison barked at them, glancing down the hallway. "RUN!" Harrison yelled, and the six 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, Harrison 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," Harrison 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."

"We've got to get back to Gryffindor tower," said Ron, "quickly as possible."

"And we need to get back to the Dungeons." Harrison said to Draco and Delphi.

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." Harrison snapped at him.

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." Hermione begged.

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

"Get out of the way," Ronald snapped, taking a swipe at Peeves, this was a big mistake. "STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" Peeves bellowed, "STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR"

"I'm sending Bloody Baron after you!" Harrison swore.

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!" Ronald 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." Harrison snarled. He grabbed his wand, tapped the lock, and whispered, "Alohomora!"

The lock clicked and the door swung open —they piled through it, shutting it quickly.

"We should've listened to Blaise." Draco whispered, taking in long breaths.

"He thinks this door is locked," Harrison whispered. "I think we'll be okay — get off, Longbottom!" For Neville had been tugging on the sleeve of Harrison's bathrobe for the last minute. "What?"

Harrison slowly turned around and his heart stopped beating. He wished they weren't in the forbidden corridor to the right, but by what stood in front of them all, suggested that they were.

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 a Three-Headed-Dog.

It was standing quite still, all six eyes staring at them, and Harrison 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.

Harrison grasped the doorknob and pushed everyone out of the door when the Ceberus barked at them. The group split up and ran back to their common rooms not caring if they were caught by Filch.

"Serpent! Serpent!" Draco repeated frantically to the stone wall. The passageway opened and the three of them filled into the common room, panting heavily.

"Why in Salazar's name is Dumbledore keeping a Three Headed Dog in Hogwarts?" Delphi asked in a whisper scream.

"I think it was guarding something." Harrison murmured. "It looked like a trap door."

"I'm going to bed. I swear if I almost die again you two are going to die with me." Delphi told them, marching away to the girl's dormitory.

Now Harrison had something to think about that night. What was the dog gaurding?