A/N: Thank you for your time!
Chapter 9: Cerberus
Hermione stalked out of the potions classroom bristling with barely contained anger, Neville trotting meekly by her side. Even the glares of the Slytherins hadn't been enough to cow her and Draco Malfoy had actually physically recoiled at the venom in her eyes. Harry and Ron followed quietly, eyebrows raised.
"What a horrid man!"
Hermione threw her book bag down onto the desk with a clatter in an abandoned classroom and whirled to face the three boys.
"What an absolutely horrid man!"
Neville tripped over his feet as he backed away from her, wincing at her screech.
"Hermione," murmured Harry, looking genuinely concerned at her outburst.
"No, Harry! That was just unbelievable! For a professor at a school to behave in this way is just- just-"
Unable to manage an adequate descriptor for Professor Snape's conduct she made an inarticulate sound of rage and slammed herself into one of the chairs, fuming silently.
"Hermione, it's alright," Harry tried again, eyebrows disappearing under his fringe and he reached over and tentatively patted her on the shoulder. To his horror, Hermione burst into tears and a quick glance over his shoulder proved to him that Ron and Neville were just as bemused as he was.
"Teachers are - are supposed to be fair," she hiccupped, furious at herself for her tears which only made them fall harder - to the boys' collective discomfort and her absolute frustration.
Potions had progressed just as badly as it had begun. Professor Snape took an inordinate amount of pleasure in needling Harry, asking questions well beyond the scope of the first half of their Magical Drafts and Potions book to the delighted giggles of the Slytherin students. Hermione had even stood up at one point, arm stretched high into the air in an attempt to distract the professor from his relentless assault, but had sat down in her chair in shock at his snarled rebuke.
She had spent the rest of the lesson on high alert, grabbing Neville's wrist before he had dropped in the porcupine quills at the wrong moment - but had lost points for interfering with another student's potion. The Slytherins did all they could to unnerve Neville, like a vicious pack of wolves targeting the weakest in the herd, hissing insults that she was sure the professor could very well hear. What had sent her over the edge from incredulous anger to rage however was Professor Snape's name-calling.
'Idiot boy', he had spat at Neville, berating him for nearly botching the potion, all the while conveniently ignoring the smoking curdled lump that sat at the bottom of Crabbe's cauldron.
Hermione had seethed for the remainder of the lesson, methodically completing her potion to what she knew was a very high standard, hair sparking at the ends at the praise she should have received but didn't. Draco Malfoy had paraded past at the end of the lesson with his aristocratic nose stuck high in the air, a vial of his admittedly near perfect potion clutched in his slender fingers and an aggravating smirk curling his lips.
"My brothers told me to watch out for Snape," Ron began, ignoring Hermione's muffled objection at not using his academic title. "He's been like this for as long as he's been here - even before he was a professor."
"I can't believe he's allowed to teach."
Hermione wiped her face with the sleeve of her robe, smiling gently at Neville who had offered her a clean but crumpled white handkerchief and stood, brushing the dust from her skirt.
"In my world this wouldn't have gone on for so long," she said, gathering her book bag and walking out of the room.
Harry, Ron and Neville followed Hermione as she silently wound her way through the corridors to a nondescript door on the fourth floor. Professor McGonagall answered after a single crisp knock, frowning down at her four students.
"Shouldn't you all be at lunch?"
"Please Professor, could we have a minute of your time?"
Harry glanced at Hermione who was looking up at their professor, eyes wide and innocent, fringed with lashes that had been darkened by her earlier tears. Even his heart tugged at the sight and he couldn't help his little grin as he realised what Hermione was doing.
Professor McGonagall placed a gentle hand on Hermione's shoulder and guided them into the room.
"I thought you couldn't lie," smirked Harry after they were shown out of the professor's office. Hermione huffed and strode away from them, starting to descend down a nearby staircase.
"I wasn't lying! I told the truth," she snapped. Ron shook his head as he followed her, motioning for Neville and Harry to come along. Hermione paused and looked back at them, eyebrows pulling into a frown.
"I just made the truth a little more compelling," she murmured. "It didn't help though - at least, not for now."
The sound of grinding stone was nearly deafening as the staircase suddenly began to shift. Neville squeaked and grabbed onto the railing as Ron snorted with laughter.
"What do you mean, 'not for now'," asked Neville, ignoring Ron.
"Well, to get anything done you need to gather enough evidence. We've told our head of house and we have to keep doing it so she can keep a record. She basically told us as much - weren't you listening?"
"Well, to be fair Hermione it was hard to keep up. You sounded like you were speaking in code."
"She can't outright tell us to try and get Professor Snape fired, can she?" Hermione shot back at Harry.
The boys stepped off the staircase onto the new landing and walked into the darkened corridor, Hermione muttering furiously under her breath as she followed.
"Where are we?"
Neville's whisper jolted Hermione out of her whirling thoughts and she glanced around in alarm.
"Oh, no," she whispered fretfully. "This is the third floor corridor - the one we aren't supposed to be in!"
They turned to leave but a shadow crossed the landing and a sinister voice echoed down the hallway.
"Is someone there, my darling?"
There was a little yowl and a hiss.
"Mrs Norris," Ron gasped, face pale with horror as he turned to Harry.
"Quick," whispered Harry, turning to a door and attempting to open it without making too much noise.
"Move over," Hermione said, nudging him out of the way and unlocking the door with a twist of her wand and a whisper.
The four first years tiptoed into the darkened room, shutting the door quietly behind them. Hermione rested her forehead against the closed door, straining to hear what was happening outside.
She registered in the back of her mind that Neville was mumbling her name but she was too busy having her own whispered conversation with Harry and Ron.
"- can't believe you led us into a forbidden corridor, I mean you of all people -"
"- that's a little unfair Ron -"
"- a little unfair, Harry!? Don't tell me you're siding with her -"
"- siding with me?! You led us here, I got us through the door -"
"Hermione," Neville squeaked louder, to which the remaining three first years whirled around, annoyed.
"What, Neville?!" Ron's snarl died in his throat as his eyes landed on the monster laying in the far corner of the cavernous room.
Hermione's heart thudded loudly in her chest.
"Is that a cerberus," she whispered, eyes roaming over its three gigantic heads with their bloodshot eyes just starting to flutter open and focus horrifyingly on them. Its magic was like an earthquake heaving violently against hers and Hermione felt almost suffocated by the musty smell of rain-drenched fields that saturated the air.
"Back away slowly," Harry said quietly, reaching out his arms and pressing them back against the other three first years.
There was a thunderous growl that rattled the door in its frame and the dog stumbled to its feet, the flagstone floor shuddering under its immense paws. The fine hairs at the back of Hermione's neck stood on end and her entire body felt numb, legs trembling as Harry began to frantically shove them back towards their only exit.
Ron's nails scraped against the door as he wrenched it open, tumbling out with Neville at his heels. Harry and Hermione flew out after them, an ear-splitting bark half muffled behind them as they slammed the door shut.
Neville hadn't stopped chanting ohmerlinohmerlinohmerlin since they had laid their eyes on the dog. He was sitting on the cold stone floor, eyes wide and unblinking, lips moving ceaselessly before Hermione sat next to him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.
"What are they thinking?" Hermione hissed. "To keep a cerberus in a school!"
"Dumbledore did warn us not to come up here," panted Ron, leaning against a nearby pillar for support.
"I mean," Hermione continued, gasping for air. "There isn't enough room for it to move!"
Ron turned and looked at her incredulously.
"Room for it to move? It almost ate us!"
Professor McGonagall sat primly in the headmasters office, sipping at a cup of fresh tea. The potions master was glowering in a corner, having refused the headmaster's offer of both tea and lemon drops.
"Now, Minerva," began Professor Dumbledore placatingly.
"Albus, don't even start with me. If I have told you once, I have told you a thousand times. This is no way to treat children!"
Professor Snape scoffed from the corner.
"Severus made a big sacrifice-"
"No, Albus! We all made sacrifices! All of us!"
Professor McGonagall slammed her cup and saucer on the desk, standing abruptly.
"You continue to refuse to listen to me. Children are being affected-"
"Children," Professor Snape spat. "I was spared no kindness at their age!"
"And that is a good enough reason to torture them now?!"
"Now, Minerva, surely you exaggerate-"
"I do not, Albus," she hissed. "I cannot imagine why you are still protecting this man!"
Professor McGonagall stood and drew herself up to her full height, witch's hat quivering in her rage.
"Listen to me well, Albus. I will not continue to stand for this. You have witches and wizards that have been loyal to you from the beginning - I think it is time you heeded their concerns."
Professor McGonagall turned with a withering glare and a snap of her cloak and stormed out of the office, leaving two silent wizards in her wake.
Neville sat silently in the flickering firelight, Hermione perched on the arm of his chair. They had spent the afternoon in the library, Neville with a large encyclopaedia of desert plants which seemed to calm him, and Hermione with a dusty old book of Grecian magical creatures. Harry and Ron, who had thrown themselves into the large plush couch after their visit with Hagrid, were quietly discussing their lunchtime adventure.
"Did you see what it was standing on?"
Ron turned to look at Hermione at her interruption.
"I was a little busy concentrating on its heads!"
"A trap door. It's guarding something. Why else would they keep it in the castle?"
Harry glanced at Ron, then leant forward towards Hermione and Neville, lowering his voice even further.
"When Hagrid told me I was a wizard he took me to Diagon Alley. We stopped at Gringott's to pick up some money for my Hogwarts things, but Hagrid stopped at a vault as well. Vault 713."
"His vault?"
"No, I don't think so. He said he was on a special mission for Professor Dumbledore."
"What was in it?"
"A package - a grubby little package. Maybe the size of my fist. He definitely didn't want to tell me too much about it."
Neville looked up from the fire, his voice trembling.
"But what could it be though? Something so important that they needed that thing to guard it?"
Hermione patted him on the shoulder as he shuddered, then turned to Harry.
"What's interesting is that they needed to move it from Gringott's to Hogwarts."
"No," murmured Harry. "What's interesting is that Gringott's was robbed that same day. Ron told me about it on the train. When we visited Hagrid today-"
"- he definitely knew something about it. Whoever robbed Gringott's wanted whatever Hagrid took out, and I bet that's what the dog was guarding," interrupted Ron quietly.
The hiss and crackle of the fire was the only sound in the Gryffindor Common Room as the four first years stared into the flames, deep in thought. Ron suddenly snorted and the other three jumped, startled.
"Room to move," he chuckled. "Honestly Hermione, you've got to sort out your priorities."
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