The New Trio and the Philosopher's Stone

Chapter 10: Hallowe'en

The trio laughed themselves silly when they heard that Goldstein had gotten a week's worth detention from Filch, and that Terry hadn't because he'd chickened out, telling Goldstein that he'd do fine by himself. They managed to avoid getting detention from an irate McGonagall by telling her that they hadn't actually thought he was being serious, and that they'd been asleep long before they'd been supposed to meet. Hermione confirmed their story, saying that she'd seen them go up to their dorm at around nine, and that she'd stayed up another hour and a half, reading up on rare magical creatures.

As it turned out, this was her way of telling the trio that she was working on why there was a Cerberus hidden in the school, and that she would appreciate help from them. Harry didn't see the harm in finding out the extra information, he just didn't want to get into trouble for being somewhere they shouldn't have been, so during lunch, they hastily stuffed down some sandwiches and made their way to the library. Unfortunately, their search quickly came to an end when Professor Snape spotted them in the library, surrounded by books on violent magical creatures.

"I know for a fact that the four of you cannot take Care of Magical Creatures for another two years, so would one of you kindly explain why you are searching tirelessly through books on," he said as he picked up a random book and became deathly still, "the legendary Cerberus?"

They looked at each other, wincing, and Harry knew he would have to tell him everything, since he was a stronger legilimens than they were occlumens, and he was the only teacher they could trust to be as impartial as possible.

"Not... not here, sir. It's too open," Harry said, glancing pointedly at a portrait on the wall.

Snape raised one sardonic eyebrow, noticing Harry's look, but waved his wand to return the books to their original positions and motioned for them to follow. He led them through the winding corridors that made up the dungeons, until he placed his palm on what appeared to be solid wall. It shimmered and became a wooden door, then opened, and Snape led them inside.

"Well?" he questioned as soon as everyone had taken a seat in the surprisingly comfortable sitting room in his quarters.

"I have Magesight," Harry started, shocking the professor out of his typical scowl, "and the first night here, I Saw a vision."

"Of what?" Snape asked, enthralled in the mystery.

"Of Professor Quirrell, muttering to himself in a corner, then a door, and finally a ruby surrounded by fire. I Saw the ruby once before, on my tenth birthday, before my blocks were removed. Last night, the four of us did go out to meet Goldstein, but he didn't show and we were almost caught by Filch and Peeves. We escaped, and we ended up in front of the door, which turned out to be the one in the forbidden corridor. I wanted to see what was inside, so Hermione said a spell and we saw a Cerberus sleeping. We locked it again and went back to the tower."

Through the story, Snape had been getting more and more pale, and when Harry stopped, he cleared his throat and said in a rather hoarse voice, "You... have told no one else?"

All four shook their heads, and Draco stated, "Harry doesn't trust Dumbledore, or Quirrell, and our Head of House seems the type to take points but ignore the danger."

Neville added, "Out of the remaining teachers, you're the only one who already knows some of Harry's secrets, and all four of us trust you to some extent."

Their professor pinched the bridge of his nose. "Mr Potter-Black, you understand that I must inform your guardians of this? I do believe they will be understanding, as they, along with your father, were insufferable rule-breakers as well."

Harry grinned. "I sent them a letter on the first full day, because they made me promise that I would tell them if I had a vision, and I also sent them one this morning, to tell them about the Cerberus."