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 carefully placed the red stone under his pillow together with his wand and lay down, still feeling very excited from the stunt, which he had pulled together with Mrs. Norris. He was just about to drift off to sleep, when a faint pop right next to his head made him open his eyes once more.
An Unspeakable was standing right next to him. "Harry," his mother said, as she lowered her hood. "Congratulations for pulling the prank of the century. Your father and your godfathers are very proud of you," she added, chuckling, and held out her hand. "Give me the stone. I'll hand it to Nicholas Flamel. He's the rightful owner."
Harry stared at his mother, wide-eyed. "It belongs to Professor Flamel? But why is the stone so important and why was it kept at Hogwarts? I mean…?" He slowly trailed off.
His mother shook her head. "That, we must ask Professor Flamel. Merlin is already summoning him as we speak. Anyway, please do not tell anyone about this. It is not a simple prank that you played on the headmaster. The stone is the so-called 'Philosopher's Stone'. Correctly used, it allows people to brew the so-called Elixir of Life, a potion, which grants immortality to the consumer. Fortunately, the stone will be much safer on the North Pole than anywhere else, so I suppose that it was a good thing you did what you did. Just keep this information to yourself. It was good that your friends already swore you an oath."
Harry nodded and somehow felt relieved, when he handed the stone over to his mother. "Thanks, Mum, for coming here and telling me all about it. I'm glad I won't have the stone here. It would be too dangerous."
"I believe so, too. Now, good night, Harry. Sleep well." With that, she placed a kiss onto his forehead, before she pulled up her hood and simply popped away.
HP
Meanwhile on the North Pole, Merlin and the Marauders were informing Nicholas Flamel that his Philosopher's Stone had been stolen from Hogwarts and told him the whole story, much to everyone's amusement.
"Two cats outmanoeuvred the headmaster. That's not only funny but absolutely brilliant." The old wizard chuckled, just when Lily returned to the screen room and handed him the red stone.
"Nicholas, I believe that you must find a safer place."
"Thank Merlin we only have dogs on the North Pole but no cats," Merlin quipped.
"May I remind you that it was one of our Mini Marauders who did this? In the form of a cat?" Remus chuckled.
"Nicholas." Santa sighed. "If you wish, I can offer you a small room here in our workshop. We can add a lab, where you can brew the elixir whenever you need it."
"Thank you so much, Santa. A secure place to keep the stone would be nice. I don't have to brew the elixir anymore, as we have so many doses left that it will last for longer than Perenelle and I probably wish to be alive."
"Look at the screen!" Merlin in the painting suddenly diverted their attention to the headmaster's office at Hogwarts.
HP
Hagrid stumbled into the headmaster's office, where Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall were just enjoying a quiet time of late-night tea together. The half-giant looked dishevelled and beside himself.
"Professor McGonagall, Professor Dumbledore, we're 'avin' a problem. Just now, Fluffy came home."
"Fluffy as in the three-headed dog who is standing guard on the third floor?" Dumbledore enquired, blanching visibly, as he leaned forward in his seat.
"Yes sir."
"Let's go and have a look." Dumbledore rose from his chair and left the office in a speed that did not give away his age.
Someone set the screen to follow Dumbledore, and Lily and the others observed how the headmaster, his deputy and the half-giant made their way to a certain corridor on the third floor. The trapdoor lay in plain sight, and the chains that had held the Cerberus were gone. Dumbledore opened the trapdoor and cast a Lumos spell, nodding in apparent contentedness at the sight below.
"Whoever freed the Cerberus, as I don't believe that he got away on his own, apparently did not know about the trapdoor and what is below it. Everything is still in place. No one went down there." Turning to the half-giant, he demanded, "Hagrid, bring the Cerberus back here immediately. I will properly secure him this time."
HP
"The poor dog." Sirius cast Lily a pleading look. "Lily, Merlin, Charlus, can any of you quickly pop me to Hagrid's hut? I'm going to free the Cerberus."
Charlus nodded. "Come."
Lily and the others observed how the two wizards arrived in front of Hagrid's hut. While Charlus turned himself invisible, Sirius entered the hut and transformed into his canine Animagus form. He quickly explained the matter to the Cerberus and offered to free him.
=Yes please.= All three heads replied, unison.
=Can you promise that you won't bite the students?=
=We won't.=
A moment later, Padfoot followed the Cerberus out of the hut. =Head into the forest,= he instructed the larger dog, just when he noticed that Hagrid was striding over the grounds in a fast pace. He made his way over to where he sensed Charlus, and the Unspeakable reached out for his left front paw and swiftly popped them away.
"That was a close call." Sirius laughed, when he transformed back in the screen room. "Thanks, Charlus."
"Did Hagrid notice you?" Lily asked in concern.
Charlus shook his head. "I don't think that he could see him in the dark. He probably didn't even see the Cerberus flee from his hut. We could only see Hagrid, because he was carrying that huge lamp."
To their horror, Hagrid was crying, when he arrived back in the small room on the third floor.
"Poor Hagrid," Lily spoke up, "but we can't tell him the truth, considering that he worships the ground the headmaster walks on."
"Well, we just can't help everyone at all times," James replied, reasonably. "Come, Lils, let's go to bed. Our children are safe, and that's what is most important."
HP
At breakfast the following morning, the headmaster informed the students that someone had freed a Cerberus first from inside the school and then from inside Hagrid's hut.
"Excuse me, but what is a Cerberus?" one of the Ravenclaw students spoke up.
"A very dangerous, three-headed dog," Dumbledore replied. "Freeing him was not a simple prank. I ask the student who did this to come to either me or your head of house and admit what you did. If we find the culprit by other means, the respective student will be expelled from Hogwarts."
'Someone freed him from Hagrid's hut?' Bobby thought to his twin in disbelief. 'You didn't do that now, did you?'
Harry returned a chuckle. 'No, that wasn't me. I can only imagine one person to do such a thing. He must be a dog Animagus and able to talk to the Cerberus. Plus, he must have known about the Cerberus in the first place.'
'Uncle Sirius? Considering that Mum told you that they watched everything on the screen.'
'Yes.'
HP
The mystery about the three-headed dog and who freed him remained the main topic at Hogwarts for a few days – much to the twins' amusement.
It was at the end of the last afternoon class on Friday that Hermione kept Harry back.
"Harry, you know that three-headed dog…"
"Yes?" Harry stared at their friend in amusement.
"What about it?" Bobby added, innocently.
"Was it you who freed it?" Hermione looked from one twin to the other.
"Ah, but why would I do such a thing in the first place?"
"So, you don't deny it."
"So what?" Bobby glared at the girl.
"Will you give me out to the headmaster?"
Hermione shook her head. "Of course not. I like you, and I don't want you to get into trouble let alone expelled."
"Harry only freed him from the corridor…"
"… but not from Hagrid's hut…"
"… and we don't know who did that…"
"… but we have nothing to do with it."
Hermione let out a sigh of apparent relied. "Oh, thank God."
'Strange that no one said anything about the stone,' Harry thought to his twin.
'Yes, that's extremely strange, but as we're going to meet Merlin and the Unspeakables on Sunday morning…'
'Yeah, that's right, we can ask Mum about it.'
tbc...
Thank you for the kind reviews for the previous chapter. Please continue feeding my muse. Any ideas, suggestions or opinions are welcome.
