Charmolypi

Chapter 18

The quartet were walking in the courtyard with Hagrid, telling him about the incident that had happened at the Quidditch match.

"Nonesense. Why would Snape put a curse on Harry's broom?" Hagrid said, as though it's an absurd thing.

"Who knows? Why was he trying to get past that three-headed dog on Halloween?" Harry asked.

Hagrid looked at the group suspiciously. "Who told you about Fluffy?"

"Fluffy?" Ron laughed slightly.

"That thing has a name?" Hermione asks.

"That thing is a hellhound and Staffordshire Bull Terrier mixed breed. And it's still a baby." Thea told them. She shrugged when they gave her weird looks.

McGonagall sighed and started rubbing her temple at the girl's behavior. This earned her a few giggles from her colleagues.

"You're right, Thea. And Hermione, of course he's got a name. He's mine. I bought him off an Irish feller I med down at the pub last year. Then I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the..." Hagrid trailed off.

"Yes...?" Harry asked.

"Shouldn't have said that. No more questions. Don't ask any more questions. That's top secret, that is."

"But, Hagrid, whatever Fluffy's guarding, Snape's trying to steal it." Harry insisted.

"Codswallop. Professor snape is a Hogwarts teacher."

"Hogwarts teacher or not, I know a spell when I see one. I've read all about them. You've got to keep eye contact, and Snape wasn't blinking." Hermione said determinedly.

"Exactly!" Harry said.

"Now you listen to me, all four of you. You're meddling in things that ought not to be meddled in. it's dangerous. What that dog is guarding is strictly between Professor Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel."

"Nicholas Flamel?" Harry asked and Hagrid's eyes widened.

"I shouldn't have said that." He told the kids before he turned and walked away muttering the same thing.

"Nicholas Flamel... who is Nicholas Flamel?" Harry whispered. Ron and Hermione shrugged, while Thea looked deep in thought. "Thea?"

"I could've sworn I've. Heard that name somewhere. But I can't remember where." Thea told them as she shook her head.

Almost everyone turned to Hagrid who was looking quite flustered.

"As Theas said, I trust Hagrid with my life, but not my secrets." James said.

The scene changed, snow decorated Hogwarts. Hagrid was shown carrying a Christmas tree through the courtyard. In the courtyard, Fred, George, and Thea were in a fully blown snowball fight. They were laughing and running around, throwing snow at each other. When Thea aimed for George's head, he dodged it, and instead it hit professor Quirrell on the back of his head, causing him to fall face forward into the snow.

The Marauders howled with laughter for a few minutes at the scene.

The three Gryffindors froze for a second before they took off running. They passed students of all ages, carrying their trunks and getting ready to go home for the holidays.

In the great hall, Professor Flitwick was magically decorating the large Christmas tree. Ron and Harry were sitting at a table playing chess, when Hermione entered with her trunk in hand.

"Knight to E-5." Harry said.

"Queen to E-5." Ron said smugly. The queen piece moved forward and smashed the knight.

Beside the boys, Hermione gasped. "That's totally barbaric!"

"I thought the same thing when I first got here" Lily whispered to her friends, who giggled quietly.

"That's Wizard's Chess." He told her before his eyes landed on her trunk. "I see you've packed."

"See you haven't," she responded.

"Change of plans; my parents decided to go to Romania to visit my brother, Charlie. He's studying dragons there."

"Good. You can help Harry and Thea then. They're supposed to go look in the library for information about Nicholas Flamel." She looked around the hall, as though she was searching for something.

"We've looked a hundred times." Ron whined.

Hermione lowered her voice and got closer to the boys. "Not in the restricted section." She straightened her back. "Where is Thea, by the way?" As if on que, Thea and the twins stumbled into the Great Hall, faces red from laughing and running, and they were covered in snow. "Happy Christmas." Hermione told the boys and went towards the trio that had just entered. "Take care of yourself." Hermione told Thea, as she hugged her and left for the train.

"I think we've had a bad influence on her." Ron told Harry.

When Harry looked at the two girls, he shook his head. "Maybe she's just spending a lot of time with Thea. She has that effect on people."

The three mischievous kids who had just entered, took off their jackets and joined they younger duo. When the two resumed their game, the twins got bored and left to play a prank on someone, while Thea went and assisted Professor Flitwick with the decorations.