Fire And Ice - Yin and Yang (Harry Potter fanfiction)

The Reaper strikes

"It was Snape", Ron was explaining later in Hagrid's hut, "Hermione and I saw him. He was cursing Perry's broomstick, muttering, he wouldn't take his eyes off her."

"Snape?", squeaked Periwinkle baffled.

"Rubbish", said Hagrid gruffly. "Why would Snape do somethin' like that?"

Periwinkle, Azalea, Ron, and Hermione looked at one another, wondering what to tell him.

"We think we found out something about him," Azalea quietly told Hagrid. "He tried to get past a three-headed dog that's guarding what you got from Gringotts."

Hagrid dropped the teapot and blanched.
"How do you know about Fluffy?" he stammered.

"Fluffy?", said Periwinkle skeptically. "You named a three-headed dog Fluffy?"

"Yeah - he's mine -bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub las' year - I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the-"
Hagrid broke off.

"Yes?" said Ron eagerly.

"Now, don't ask me anymore," said Hagrid gruffly. "That's top secret, that is. "

"But Snape's trying to steal it!", said Azalea impatiently.

"Rubbish," grumbled Hagrid again and picked up the pieces of the teapot. "Snape's a Hogwarts teacher, he'd do nothin' of the sort. "

"So why did he just try and kill Perry?" cried Hermione. "And Azalea's broom was bucking too!"

The afternoon's events certainly seemed to have changed her mind about Snape.

"I know a jinx when I see one, Hagrid, I've read all about them! You've got to keep eye contact, and Snape wasn't blinking at all, I saw him!"

"I'm tellin' yeh, yer wrong!" said Hagrid hotly. "I don' know why those brooms acted like that, but Snape wouldn' try an' kill a student! Now, listen to me, all four of yeh - yer meddlin' in things that don' concern yeh. It's dangerous. You forget that dog, an' you forget what it's guardin', that's between Professor Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel-"

He turned red.

When he refused to say anything else about Nicholas Flamel, Periwinkle leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms.
"Technically", she told Hagrid, "you should have given that dog three names. It has three heads."

Hagrid did not seem to be in the mood for jokes and grabbed a burned cookie, which he sullenly munched on.

"How about Uno, Dos and Tres?"

Ron rolled his eyes, still worked up about the idea that Snape was after something in Hogwarts.
"Those are weird names."

"Not really. Imagine a dude goes to the dog and counts 'Uno, Dos-', then the heads eat him and he vanishes without a 'Tres'.
Periwinkle grinned.

———————————————

As the weeks passed, Hermione continued to urge the twins about telling at least Professor McGonagall about the Reaper.

"In the Christmas holidays", Azalea would answer evasively, hoping Hermione would forget it by then.

Christmas was coming. One morning in mid-December, Hogwarts woke to find itself covered in several feet of snow. The lake froze solid and the Weasley twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban. The few owls that managed to battle their way through the stormy sky to deliver mail had to be nursed back to health by Hagrid before they could fly off again.