The Stone

Chapter Twelve

Okay not gonna lie...when I was younger the three-headed dog used to scare the crap outta me :/ 

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For a moment, Bella thought she had walked into a nightmare - this was too much on top of everything that happened so far. They weren't in a room, as they had supposed they were, they were in fact in a corridor. The forbidden corridor on the third floor to be exact. And well now, they all knew why it was forbidden. 

They were all looking straight into the eyes of a monstrous dog, a dog that filled the whole space between the ceiling and the floor. It had not one, but three huge heads, three pairs of rolling, mad eyes, three noses twitching and quivering in their direction; three drooling mouths, saliva hanging in the slippery ropes from yellowish fangs.

It was standing quite still, all six eyes staring at them. Harry covered Bella's mouth to stop her from screaming with his hand. Bella licked his hand to get it off her mouth and stared at the three-headed dog knowing the only reason they were still alive was that because their sudden appearance had taken it by surprise. But it was quickly getting over that, there was no mistaking what those thunderous growls meant. 

Bella groped for the doorknob. "I'd rather take Filch on then face certain death" she whispered. 

The door opened and they all fell backwards - Harry slammed the door shut and they ran, almost flying back down the corridor. Filch must have hurried off to look for them somewhere else because they didn't see him anywhere, not like anyone cared - all they wanted to do was put as much space as possible between them and that monster of a dog. They didn't stop running until they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady on the seventh floor. 

"Where on earth have you all been?" she asked, looking at their dressing-gowns hanging off their shoulders and their flushed, sweaty faces. 

"You wouldn't believe us even if we told you" Panted Bella.

"Pig snout, pig snout," said Harry wanting nothing more than to escape through the portrait hole and hide away from the danger on the third floor. The portrait swung open and they all scrambled into the common room and collapsed, trembling into the armchairs. 

It was a while before any of them said anything. Neville, indeed, looked as if he'd never speak again.

"What do they think they're doing, keeping a thing like that locked up in a school?" asked Ron finally. "If any dog needs exercise, that one does"

By this point, Hermione had got both her breath and her bad temper back again. 

"You don't use your eyes, any of you, do you?" she snapped. "Didn't you see what it was standing on?"

Bella rolled her eyes. "I was too busy watching my life flash across my eyes, Hermione"

"The floor?" Harry suggested. "I wasn't looking at its feet, I was too busy with its heads"

"No, not the floor. It was standing on a trapdoor. It's obviously guarding something," she stood up and glared at them. "I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed - or worse, expelled. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed"

Ron stared after her, his mouth open. "No, we don't mind"

Bella nodded and watched as Hermione went up the stairs. "You'd think we dragged her along, wouldn't you?"

As Bella climbed into bed later on, she thought back to what Hermione had told them. The dog was guarding something.. but what? 

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