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RON'S PREDICTION HAD been surprisingly inaccurate. For the next few weeks, the group of four put their ears to the door where Fluffy was and heard him growling inside, still guarding the Sorcerer's Stone under the trapdoor.
Snape also remained furious as ever, even worse that it had been throughout the year. He targeted Harry more than usual, and Archer really hoped he hadn't seen Harry stalking him in the Forbidden Forest.
Archer, Harry, and Ron tried to be as encouraging as possible towards Quirrell, such as yelling at people who mocked his stutter and giving him smiles whenever they saw him in the hallways.
Hermione had more on her mind than just the stone, to which Archer said, "Come on, Granger, we're looking at a wizard using one of the most powerful objects in the world for his own benefit!" Hermione was quite worried about exams, which no one else was too worried about.
"Hermione, exams are ages away." Archer reminded her.
"Ten weeks," she warned. "So, not ages. That's like ten seconds for Nicholas Flamel."
"We're not six hundred, though." Ron said. "Anyways, what do you need to study for? You'll get an A no matter what."
This comment seemed to set off Hermione, as she scoffed and waved her arms violently. "What am I studying for? Are you crazy? You realize we need to pass these exams to get into the second year? They're very important, I should have started studying a month ago, I don't know what's gotten into me..."
The teachers gave them so much homework during Easter break that Archer often put the answers for Potions onto his Transfiguration homework. And of course, Hermione trying to yell at him for getting stuff wrong, (he never did, however) only made it worse. She dragged the boys to the library every single day without fail.
Ron was mumbling under his breath while Archer continued to read up on stuff in Herbology, which he'd gotten slightly better at thanks to Neville.
"Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?" Harry asked, making Archer look up. Hagrid was standing awkwardly near a shelf. His eyes widened, as if he wasn't expecting to see them. He held his one hand behind his back.
"Jus' lookin'," he said suspiciously, making Archer raise an eyebrow. "An' what're you lot up ter?" He looked from one student to another. "Yer not still lookin' fer Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?"
"No, we found out about him ages ago." Ron said, looking quite proud of himself. "We know what the dog is guarding, it's the Sorcerer's-"
"Shh!" Hagrid hissed loudly. "Don' go around yellin' it!"
"There are a few things we wanted to ask you, as a matter of fact," said Harry, "about what's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy-"
"Shh!" Hagrid repeated, looking around the library to make sure that no one was listening in to the conversation. "Listen... come to my hut later tonight. I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anything, but don't go yellin' about it in the library. They'll think I've told yeh..."
