"Ron, Harry, I think we should go back to the Gryffindor common room."

Ron who was holding his wand high in case Draco randomly sprung out of nowhere, snorted, "Just a little longer, Alex. If he's not here within five more minutes we're going."

Alex could only roll his eyes, he had said that half an hour ago. They were standing on the third floor near the forbidden corridor and it was close to midnight.

"I really don't think he's coming." Said Harry shrugging.

Harry didn't get in trouble for flying. Professor McGonagall had ended up making him seeker for the Gryffindor quidditch team. She only told Harry not to go around telling too many people (so far, he only told Alex and Ron). Alex had never heard of 'quidditch' before during his short time in the magical world but quickly found out that it was deemed as an important and popular sport.

"I think Malfoy is far too chicken," Ron concluded after a short silence, "He's not even man enough to face us."

Harry shook his head, "We're only a couple of weeks in, Ron. The best we could have done to each other is throw sparks and probably set each other's clothes on fire."

"Besides, we would have been bound to get in trouble any way," Alex added.

'Meow!'

To their horror, they turned around to find Argus Filch's cat, Mrs Norris standing beside them hissing. The animal was highly annoying and it was a deep desire of many of the Hogwarts residents to give the vindictive feline a good kick. None of the other students knew why her owner, Filch, had to be so spiteful towards the students. Even during their short time at Hogwarts, they knew that where Mrs Norris was, her owner was sure to be near.

"Shit!" Ron whispered, "Hide!"

The three boys looked around awkwardly for a place to hide. There was nothing around that would be able to hide them. Then they looked at the forbidden corridor door, brown - secret, out-of bounds, inconspicuous and aged - it would be the perfect place to hide.

They could all hear Filch's heavy feet walk towards them, accompanied by the usual heavy breathing. Without thinking, they all rushed inside.

The forbidden corridor was dark and had enough dust to make Alex believe that nobody had been in here for a thousand years. There were statues in this room that were more menacing than the usual unusual statues around Hogwarts. The place also gave off the aura that it was isolated from the rest of the castle. It was obvious that they weren't supposed to be here.

"Why did you come in here?" Whispered a girl's voice, all three boys had been too preoccupied to notice that a fourth person had followed them into the forbidden corridor.

They turned around to find Hermione Granger standing behind them.

Ron was the first the respond, "Hermione, goodness sakes, what are you doing here?"

"I was making sure you boys wouldn't get out late and get into trouble. You could get expelled."

"By following us and putting yourself at risk?" Retorted Harry. For someone who was very academically brainy, Hermione obviously lacked some common sense. The bossy girl took this as an insult and pouted.

"How long have you been following us?" Alex inquired.

"Since you all left the common room."

Ron's eyes narrowed, "You sly fox, Hermione!"

Suddenly, there was a rattling and the corridor door opened, leaking more light into the dusty room.

It was Filch looking for them.

"I know you're in here," his unpleasant voice croaked, "You can't hide."

They all hid behind statues. It was dusty and disgusting behind the statues and Alex swore he felt a spider crawl on his left hand, but it was better than being found by Filch. At least there was also some dim light.

It was a little while before Filch left after walking up and down the corridor several times, leaving the four first years in the forbidden corridor. They waited a little longer to make sure that Filch would definitely be gone.

"Come on, let's get out of here." Harry muttered while dusting himself off.

"Which door did we come in?" asked Ron.

They had all forgotten which door they had gone in. There were plenty of doors in the corridor; they only hoped that they would open the right one.

"I think it's this one," Hermione pointed at a door. She instantly pushed her way towards it and tried to fiddle with the handle. It was locked. Alex didn't think it was the right one but didn't bother to say so.

"Maybe Filch locked it when he closed it," she muttered, "I know a spell."

Ron shrugged, "I didn't hear him lock it."

Hermione pointed her wand at the lock, swished and chanted, "Alohomora."

She opened the door wide but it was obvious that it was the wrong one. The four were mortified to learn that there was actually a beast inside. A gigantic three headed dog. Alex had never seen anything so terrifying in his life. It was made worse by the fact that they had disturbed it from slumber; two of its heads gave off a big yawn. It didn't take long before the beast noticed them and broke into a bark, then tried to lunge at them. It's heads tried to compete for the place to snap at them.

All four children combined their strength to shut the door. It was hard effort as the beast was strong, but they had managed to do it. Alex ran for the door that he knew was the right one and the rest followed.

After that, they all ran back to the Gryffindor common room. They didn't dare to speak in the meantime.

Ron was the first to lament, "Bloody hell, what was that thing?"

"I don't know and I don't think I really want to find out any time soon." Harry panted.

Alex frowned, "I've always liked dogs but that was the scariest thing I've ever seen."

The other boys nodded.

"That was incredibly stupid," Hermione pompously snapped, "We could have been killed, or worse, expelled."

"Well, as I remember, you were stupid enough to follow us." Ron retorted.

"It's guarding something," Hermione continued ignoring the insult, "Did you see the trap door it was standing on?"

Ron gave her a look of disbelief, "I wasn't looking at the ground! I was far more preoccupied with its heads."

"Any way, I'm going to bed. Before you boys think of another way to get yourselves killed."

To their relief, Hermione stormed off to the girl's dorm without another word.

Her last statement really annoyed Ron, "Blimey, she's a brat isn't she? Why is she trying to blame us? It was her that actually opened the door to the monster, wasn't it? No wonder no one likes her."

Although it was a pretty mean thing to say about someone, Alex and Harry both had to agree. They all went back to the dorm and went to sleep. Alex was intrigued though, Hermione said that the beast was guarding something. He wondered what it could be.

The next day came as if nothing had ever happened. They didn't let Draco or his gang of Slytherins know that they had actually left the bed that night. Alex had written his misadventure to his uncle and Jack, both of whom were concerned and curious at the same time. His uncle had given him tips to avoid dog attacks but was unsure whether they would work on three headed magical breeds.

He had even mentioned it to his group of library friends which now included Hermione, Harry and Ron. They were nice enough to let Hermione join them, as she didn't want to sit on her own. Harry and Ron had become closer to Alex. They also realised that they needed to study.

Tracey's eyes widened, "You guys actually did go out and accidentally went into the forbidden corridor? You. Must. Tell."

Alex was a little reluctant to tell Tracey, knowing that she had a tendency to gossip. Alex, Ron, Harry and Hermione gave their alternative (and sometimes conflicting) versions of the story.

"I think I know what it is," Lisa said, "Mum keeps a vast reference book on magical creatures at home. I spent hours reading it. I think they are called Cerberus; they are species of three headed canines native to Greece. There's bound to be a book on them somewhere."

Theodore smiled with curiosity, "I really wonder what it could be guarding. It must be something interesting and relatively precious. Father said that some professors bring artefacts from their travels back to the school. The school is fairly well guarded by magic. Hogwarts is hard to locate and break into, even for adept wizards but something really precious would be held in Gringotts. Gringotts is actually quite invincible. I don't think it's dangerous if they put it in a school."

"Well," Hermione began, "I recently came across a newspaper article about a break in at Gringotts."

"Yeah," Ron intervened, "Someone actually managed to break into a vault but they didn't get to steal anything as it had already been cleared. They were the first person to even get away with an attempt alive."

Theodore frowned, "But what are the chances that the contents of this vault are hidden in the forbidden corridor? The owners of the vault could have transferred their belongings anywhere. It could just be coincidence."

"True, true," Hermione agreed. It was the first time Alex had ever seen her be cooperative and accept one of her peers' opinions as being possibly more correct than her own.

"It might not be," Ron refuted, still believing in the possibility that the two events were linked.

"How big is this three headed dog?" Asked Tracey, obviously interested.

"Umm, from memory," Lisa's eyes flicked upwards as her mind accessed the information, "About 9 to 19 feet on average. It depends on whether it is male or female. Males are generally bigger."

Harry nodded, "This one was definitely higher than 10 feet."

Tracey cringed, "I might not consider checking it out for myself then."

The seven children quickly forgot about doing any kind of homework and went into discussion into what could possibly be guarded by fluffy. It went from the boringly logical such as gold (Hermione and Lisa) to the more cunning (Theodore, Alex and Harry) and went into the more bizarre and unlikely (Ron and Tracey). Madame Pince eventually kicked them out after a while, by that time it was already seven thirty and they had half an hour to rush to the dining hall and eat.

A/N: I know it won't go exactly according to the book but that can't really be helped, Alex's presence at Hogwarts is going to cause interference with the magical (as well as spy) world. It's been a while since I last read HPatPS. Oh, for readers who live in countries that use the metric system not the imperial or American (like me) 9 to 19 feet is roughly around 3 to 6 meters. I had to use a distance and length conversion site for that one. Next chapter will be Halloween.