The new term started in a blaze of excitement for Harry. He couldn't wait to tell Ron and Hermione about his Christmas. That snowball fight had been wonderful! Poppy had allowed Ron to come to Hogsmeade for a weekend after Christmas and the two boys had spent a lot of time flying and discussing Quidditch, so there was all that to tell as well!
They talked about that and much more besides. Hermione had struggled to adapt to being a muggle again and the rest of her town had ignored her even more now she went to a "talented" boarding school. She had had a nice family Christmas though, she said.
The following day was Saturday and Harry decided to show his friends Fluffy. He had the tennis ball in his pocket and he knew the poor beast must be sad that he hadn't been around.
Sure enough, there were excited barks as Harry opened the door and took out the ball.
"Harry what are you doing?" Hermione shrieked "this is the forbidden third floor and that is a Cerberus!"
Fluffy growled at the sudden noise and started to stand.
"Hermione quieten down! You're scaring her! She's just bored and likes to play catch."
Harry approached the three headed dog as he spoke and now he put a hand on her left head. He had seen Hagrid do this before to quieten her.
"There girl. See Hermione is just frightened of you. Want to play?" he held out the ball. "Looks like you do! Alright then!"
Harry proceeded to throw the ball at each of the heads, running to catch them again as his friends looked on in awe. Once it landed by Ron's feet.
"Go on!" Harry urged "try it!"
"Ronald you'll kill yourself!" shrieked Hermione again. She had withdrawn to the space as close to the door as she could with her wand out.
Ron glared at her and muttered "know-it-all" under his breath before picking up the ball and throwing it at the middle head. When the three of them finished, half an hour or so later, Hermione was nowhere to be seen.
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Hermione had run as fast as she could towards McGonagall's office. It was down a couple of flights of stairs and she was breathless by the time she reached it.
After banging on the door for what seemed like ages, it was opened by the stern witch.
"Professor, Harry and Ron are in the third floor corridor and they were playing catch with the Cerberus!" Hermione blurted out.
"Miss Granger are you quite well? You are breathless and look rather flushed."
"Yes Professor I'm just not used to running so much, can you help the boys please Professor, that beast is a killer. I don't want to see Harry die!"
Minerva handed Hermione a glass of water laced with Calming Draught. "Drink. Then tell me the whole story. Then I'll see what to do."
Shortly into Hermione's tale, Minerva had realised that there was no real danger to the boys as long as they treated the creature with respect and didn't try to get past it, but she had visited the third floor later on anyway. As she expected, the boys had gone and the Cerberus started growling at her as soon as she opened the door.
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Two school owls landed in front of Harry and Ron that dinner time, each bearing a letter. The boys took them and read, each of their faces showing dread and fear by the time they reached the end.
"Did you get the same as me?" Harry asked Ron
"If it's to go to McGonagall after dinner then yes." Ron replied
"Auntie Minnie is going to skin me alive. Or tell Auntie Poppy - that would be worse."
"How did she find out about us playing catch with Fluffy?" Ron asked
"Hermione." Both answered together.
Later on they headed up a floor to Minerva's office. The closer they got, the more nervous they got. The door was open and Minerva saw them as they approached.
"Come in." she said "would you care for tea? Or would you prefer hot chocolate?"
This confused the boys to no end. She was treating this like a social call, but her letter had explicitly mentioned a Cerberus on the third floor where they were not allowed to be. They just stood dumbly in the doorway.
Minerva sighed. "Alright then, take a seat." She sat down behind her desk, inviting the boys to join her. "You both know you were where you shouldn't have been and you were with a very dangerous creature. Just one of those heads could have killed you before you had chance to open you mouth or raise your wand."
"Fluffy wouldn't harm a fly!" Harry protested.
"Harry be quiet and let me finish. You knew that you were doing wrong and I had a very distraught Miss Granger in here who wanted me to save you. I know that creature respects those who respect it and I am very glad no harm was done, but in future this breaking of rules could have very severe consequences. Tell me why you went there in the first place. I am sure Molly Weasley did not bring up her youngest son so differently to the rest and you are not the rule breaking type Harry. So tell me, why did you do it?"
Both boys stared at the desk in front of them. Eventually Ron mumbled "the ball rolled by my feet and Hermione said not to."
"Not to what?" Minerva asked gently
"Not to throw it, not to join in with my game of catch" Harry answered for his friend. He was a Gryffindor and it had been his idea. He took a deep breath and looked up at his Head of House. "I'd been there before Christmas, I knew Fluffy wouldn't hurt me and I knew she loved to play with the ball. When it landed next to Ron I couldn't catch it so I told him to throw it instead. I knew Fluffy wouldn't hurt us."
"So why was Miss Granger so afraid it would?" Minerva thought she knew the answer to that but she wanted to know if Harry did.
"She was afraid of her." Harry answered promptly. "She only saw Fluffy's bad sides, not that she was a creature with needs of her own."
Minerva was impressed by that answer. He would be good around creatures. She was also impressed by how Harry taken responsibility and because of it was becoming less scared at being summoned here.
"Mr Weasley you may go. If you break any more school rules in such a fashion then there will be consequences and your mother will hear about it, especially if they put your life at risk. Fortunately this one did not. Do not let that go to your head. Magical creatures are dangerous."
"Thankyou Professor" Ron mumbled.
When Ron had gone Minerva turned to Harry.
"That's all well and good, but why did you go in the first place? Tell me it all or I will tell Poppy what you've been up to."
Harry grimaced but he had no choice. If Auntie Poppy found out he'd be grounded to the Hospital Wing for a month whilst she did every check on his physical and mental wellbeing she could. Even then she would be worried that he had been affected in some way.
"Dumbledore obviously wanted me to." Harry started. He told her everything from what he'd overheard to the strange conversation with the Headmaster to his fear and then his peculiar idea to play catch to Hagrid arriving to Fluffy knocking him over.
Minerva listened attentively. He seemed to finish once he had got to the Hospital Wing. Minerva was sure there was more to it than that. If Albus had set up an elaborate plan to get Harry injured then there must have been more to it.
"Did anything happen in the Hospital Wing Harry?" she asked gently.
"Not much." Harry replied "I had a headache and Auntie Poppy gave me some potions before going back to do the Headmaster's medical."
So that was it! Meddlesome fool, she thought. If he was going to play this game with her adopted nephew then she was going to see that he got all the information he needed.
"Did you see what Fluffy was standing on?" Minerva asked
"A trapdoor. She's protecting that stone thing that Professor Snape was talking about isn't she?"
"Correct Harry. Her and other things. Have you ever heard of Nicolas Flamel?"
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During the next few weeks, Minerva told Harry everything she thought he might need to know. The history of the Philosopher's Stone, its powers and what she knew of the protections all featured in the lessons she gave Harry in the evenings. No-one, save the Headmaster himself, knew what all of the protections were to keep it safer and Minerva also had a sneaky suspicion that Severus might have added a few other things. He might be the Potions Master but he did have NEWTs in Transfiguration, Charms and Ancient Runes as well. If it was anything, he was likely to have added a rune based protection, so she had tutored Harry in basic runes as well.