Advance Arrangement
by Teddylonglong

All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story. I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.


Harry patiently waited for Mrs. Norris to make her way over to him, before he lightly sniffed her behind in greeting, having learned from Granny Minerva that cats were not so different from dogs in that hindsight. She sniffed at him, before she asked, =Who are you, and what are you doing here? I can't recall having seen you around.=

=I am Nero, and I only came to live here recently. I got lost and followed some students. We ended up in the room with the three headed dog. Why do they have such a large dog in a school? He is very friendly though.=

=He's guarding some kind of stone, which is important.= Mrs. Norris shook her fur. =Are you friendly with him?=

Harry nodded. =I can change into a dog like him.=

=You're originally human, aren't you? Like McGonagall. She's an Animagus, too.=

=I hope you don't mind.=

=No. You seem nicer than her. Well, I have an idea. Are you up to some cat burglary?=

=Of course.=

HP

With mixed feelings, Harry followed the other cat back into the room of the Cerberus, where Harry once more changed into a dog and following Mrs. Norris' instruction asked his new friend to allow them through the trop door.

=We will.=

=But you must promise to see to it that they will let us out of here.=

=Can you promise that?=

=I will try,= Harry promised, and the larger dog slowly moved aside, revealing the trap door. Changing back into his human form, Harry opened the door, before he resumed his Nero form and followed Mrs. Norris down into the dark opening.

=This is fun.= The older cat dashed ahead in apparent pleasure, and Harry swiftly followed, just when his brother's thought penetrated his mind.

'Harry, where are you? Are you all right?'

'Roaming the castle together with Mrs. Norris. We're fine,' he quickly replied. Surprised how well a cat was able to see in the dark, he followed the older cat though what seemed to be all kinds of obstacles, which for two cats were no hindrance at all. An oversized chess set caught his attention, however, his feline friend continued ahead, until their reached a small room, of which she told him that it was their destination.

=See the red stone in the mirror?= she pointed out. =That's what they're hiding. I secretly observed them, when the professors came here and applied all kinds of charms.= She sounded highly amused, and Harry inwardly grinned.

He only sobered, when she instructed him to change into his human form and summon the red stone.

"Achio stone." Harry had not even expected it to work and was shocked, when he suddenly felt the bright red item in his right hand.

=Transform back and let's leave here,= Mrs. Norris instructed him, only to add, =This is the best prank on the headmaster I've played in a long time.=

HP

Back in the room of the Cerberus, Harry thanked his friend profusely, before he firmly shut the trapdoor.

=Now, are you going to free us?= the left head asked.

=Hey, you promised,= the right head agreed.

=Hurry up, before I'm going to devour your feline fur bag in a blink.=

=Wait a moment.= Transforming back into his Nero form, Harry conferred with Mrs. Norris, and the two cats decided to free the dog, who told Harry that his name was Fluffy and that he belonged to the half-giant living outside the castle.

Using a spell that Devil had taught him, he banished the dog's chains, before he transformed back into his cat form. The thought of making himself invisible either in his paciguise Animagus form or with a concealment charm crossed his mind; however, not wanting to possibly anger Mrs. Norris, he dismissed the idea.

Together, they managed to manoeuvre Fluffy out of the castle. 'Thank Merlin we didn't meet anyone on the way,' Harry thought, as he followed Mrs. Norris back into the entrance hall in relief.

HP

However, he stopped dead in his tracks upon seeing no other than Minerva in her feline form enter the entrance hall.

=Hello Mrs. Norris. Oh, you have a visitor tonight?=

=Hello Minerva. This is my friend, Nero,= the older cat introduced him. =We were just going to catch some rats.=

=Have a nice evening.=

Harry tried his best to keep up with the cat, when she dashed away, evading erroneous staircases by a few selective jumps.

He spent an hour roaming the castle with his new friend, before he bade her good night. =I need to return to my dormitory or I'm going to be in big trouble with Professor Snape.=

=Thanks for tonight. I haven't had so much fun in at least a decade.=

=I had fun, too. Thank you very much.=

=Don't tell anyone about what we did tonight. I's going to be our secret.=

Harry nodded in confirmation, before he swiftly changed into his paciguise form and further into a phoenix, so that he could simply flash back into his dormitory.

HP

"Where have you been? Bobby said you went on a rampage with Mrs. Norris?" Three pairs of eyes glared at him, causing Harry to chuckle.

"Yes, in fact, it was quite interesting. I got to know a couple of shortcuts all around the school."

"Did she tell you anything about the three-headed dog?" Bobby stared at him in clear expectation.

"Was there really a three-headed dog?" Dudley looked from Bobby to him in apparent bewilderment. "I thought Bobby was kidding."

Harry shook his head. "There was that dog, and Mrs. Norris told me that he was guarding some kind of stone. That's all she knew."

"He was sitting on some kind of trapdoor in any case." Bobby let out a huge yawn. "Oh well, good night, everyone."

Harry remained pensive for a moment. "Wait. Can the three of you swear me a wizard's oath to keep Mrs. Norris' and my secret please?"

His friends complied, even his twin, although Harry had not even asked him.

Harry slowly pulled the stone out of his robe pocket. "Actually, this is what the dog was guarding, before we stole it and freed him."

"You what?!"

Apparently alerted by the loud quadruple response, Severus appeared in the doorframe, causing the twins, Draco, Dudley and Blub to stare at the professor in shock.

"It seems to have escaped your attention that it is already two hours after the beginning of curfew. Is there any problem?"

"No sir. Sorry, sir. Good night," Draco beat everyone to a response, while Blub turned invisible in apparent fright.

"Go to bed. Good night." Severus turned on his heels and left, silently closing the door, as he left.

tbc...

Thank you for the kind reviews for the previous chapter. Please continue feeding my muse. Any ideas, suggestions or opinions are welcome.