Devil of A Wizard

Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Seven Sorcerous Stumbles

Late that night, Harry made sure he had everything he needed for tonight. His shrunken sword, his wand, his Invisibility Cloak, and Samael in case of his venom was needed. Ron and Hermione also decided to bring their wands before meeting Harry at the stairwell to the common room. All three were wearing regular clothes instead of their Hogwarts robes as they figured they would be more of a hindrance if they needed to move quickly. "Ready," Harry asked his friends as they nodded and headed down the stairs. As they were ready to leave for the third floor, they heard the sound of croaking and saw a large toad on one of the armchairs. They knew this was Neville's pet toad. "Trevor..."

"Trevor, go away. You shouldn't be here," Ron said in a low tone, not wanting to get caught.

"Neither should you," Neville said as he stood up from the chair Trevor was on, still in his pajamas. "You're sneaking out again, aren't you?"

"Now, Neville, listen," Harry spoke, trying diplomacy before resorting to power. "We were-"

"No! I won't let you. You'll get Gryffindor into trouble again. I-I'll fight you," Neville said as he stood his ground. Harry saw that despite his time in the Sorting Ceremony wanting to be in Hufflepuff, Neville had the bravery to face off against the three of his friends with only his bare hands.

"Neville, I'm really really sorry about this," Hermione said to the boy as she pulled out her wand. "Petrificus Totalus," she said with her wand aimed at Neville. Immediately, the boy was frozen stiff with his arms to his sides before he fell backward like a tree knocked over by the wind.

Seeing their friend's body hit the floor with a light thud, Ron and Harry looked at their friend. "You can be scary sometimes. Brilliant, but scary," Ron said as he gulped.

"Let's go," Harry told his friends as they passed by Neville each saying sorry as they passed him. Once they were near the exit to Gryffindor Tower, Harry covered everyone with the Invisibility Cloak and headed to the third floor. They walked slowly as they didn't want to trip over each other and ended up coming face to face with Filch or any of the other teachers. Once they reached the door, Hermione pulled out her wand and whispered Alohomora as the door unlocked and they stepped inside.

Once they were inside the room, they could see that Fluffy was fast asleep. His snoring was extremely loud and powerful that it blew the cloak right off of the trio. "Ugh, his breath stinks," Ron gagged as he smelled his breath, all three of them.

"How do we know Snape's been around," Hermoine asked as she checked around.

"Because of that," Harry pointed to the trapdoor to see blood near the trap door. "He must have got bitten again before setting Fluffy to sleep," he said while looking at the giant three-headed dog. "Ron, Hermione get behind me."

"Why," Ron asked before he stood right behind his best friend.

"Because I'm going to wake him."

Ron's eyes shot up as if they were going to escape from its sockets. "Are you mad!? He's going to rip us to shreds!"

"He won't, Ron. You and Hermione said it yourself. Besides Hagrid and Dumbledore, Charlie and I are the only ones who can keep him calm. Plus, his paws are in the way," Harry pointed out. Ron and Hermione had to agree with Harry on this one, it would be easier than lifting its paw. Harry looked away from his friends as he faced the three-headed dog. "Fluffy! Wake up," he shouted as loud as he could. The dog opened its eyes as each of his heads yawned and stood up. At first, the three-headed dog bared its fangs at them, only to stop and sniff Harry. Seeing it was the boy who was affectionate toward him like Hagrid, he panted happily when he saw the boy. Each head started to lick Harry, covering him in dog drool once again. "It's good to see you too, but we need to find the man you bit," Harry told the giant guard dog.