Son of the Dark Lord

Chapter 14: Fluffy

"Draco, shouldn't you be going to dinner too?" Harry noticed his friend looked hesitant.
"Harry, would you like to find Fluffy tonight?"
"Are you mad? Why would I want to do that?"
"Well, it'd be exciting. And besides how bad could it be? Whatever it is, its name is Fluffy."
"Well, I suppose you have a point. And with the map, we definitely won't get caught." Draco grinned.
"There you go, Harry. Spoken like a true Slytherin. We should hurry for dinner, though, or there won't be any left." They rushed to the Great Hall, sinking into the empty spaces left on either side of Hermione.
"What took you two so long? It only takes a moment to leave your broom in the dormitory."
"We were...discussing new plans." Hermione's eyes narrowed at Draco's evasive tone.
"These new plans wouldn't have anything to do with that map, would they?" Harry and Draco looked at her guiltily. "We'll talk about this after diner." Harry and Draco nodded, relieved, and helped themselves to dinner.
After dinner, Hermione marched the two of them off to the boys' dormitory. She sat them on Harry's bed and glared at them.
"Now...just what are you two planning?"
"Well, technically it was Draco's idea." Draco glared at his friend.
"Gee, thanks for the help, Harry." He turned back to Hermione. "We were going to go find Fluffy."
"You WHAT?! Idiot boys, do you have any idea how many house points we could lose?" Draco looked guilty.
"Well, I thought of that. Really, I was hoping we could find out why something so massive is being kept in the castle. Based on the map it must be as large as Hagrid—maybe larger. Doesn't that intrigue you?" Harry could see Draco had said the right thing. He smirked at his friend. Hermione took a moment to answer.
"Well...I was curious about that, yes. But still, think of the trouble we would get in." Harry spoke this time.
"But Hermione, we'd have the map. We could avoid anyone. I mean, it even shows secret passageways. It shouldn't be too difficult to make it there and back unnoticed. We'd only be going up three floors." They could see they were wearing her down. Her curiosity was definitely getting the better of her. Draco suddenly gave her a one-armed hug.
"Come on, Hermione. What's life without any adventure? And this one will be grand!"
"Oh, very well. But we can't go too late. We have classes tomorrow morning." They both grinned, and Harry dashed out to the common room to bring Vincent and Gregory back to the room.
They quickly formulated a plan. They would visit the library, and when it closed, they would head down to the corridor. With the map, they should have no problem reaching the corridor, and as they just wanted a quick peek, they could look at Fluffy and be back to the common room before curfew.
They were all relatively pleased with the plan, so at seven they headed up to the library. They (and the rest of the first through fourth years) were kicked out at precisely 7:45.
Under the pretense of Hermione reading them a passage from the book she had checked out, they walked slowly. When the influx of students had passed them, they pulled out the map, and, with its help, made it to the third floor corridor. It was locked, naturally, but Hermione opened the door with a whispered, "Alohomora."
Rather impressed with her knowledge, the boys followed after her. As Harry was last, he closed the door behind him. They followed the corridor until it dead-ended at a door.
"Well, if you trust the map, Fluffy is right behind that door." That all turned to Harry, who was reading the map, then looked at the door.
"Here goes nothing," whispered Hermione. "Alohomora." Hermione reached forward and pulled the door open. They all stood there in shock for a moment, even Fluffy. They were looking straight into the eyes of a monstrous dog, a dog that filled the whole space between ceiling and floor. It had three heads. That meant three pairs of rolling, mad eyes; three noses, twitching and quivering in their direction; and three drooling mouths, saliva hanging in slippery ropes from yellowish fangs. It was standing quite still, all six eyes staring at them, and Harry knew that the only reason they weren't already dead was that their sudden appearance had taken it by surprise, but it was quickly getting over that, there was no mistaking what those thunderous growls meant. They all seemed to recover at the same time. Fluffy started barking madly at the same time they all started screaming.
"Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!" Both Vincent and Gregory screamed at the top of their lungs.
"Shut up! You'll provoke it." Hermione, of course.
"Close the damn door!"
"What he said!" Harry and Draco. Hermione kept enough of her wits to slam the door closed and magically lock it. They ran, they almost flew, back down the corridor. They didn't check the map as they made a mad dash for their common room; they didn't care if they came across anyone—all they wanted to do was put as much space as possible between them and that monster. They didn't stop running until they reached the bare stretch of wall in the dungeons.
"Proper manners!" panted Harry, and the door slid open. They scrambled into the common room and quickly retired to the boys' dormitory. Thankfully, no one else was in there. It was a while before any of them said anything. Vincent, 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?" said Draco finally. "If any dog needs exercise, that one does." Hermione had got her breath back again.
"You don't use your eyes, any of you, do you?" she snapped. "Didn't you see what it was standing on?"
"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, glaring at them. "I hope you're pleased with yourselves." She turned to Draco. "You especially! We could all have been killed. Nothing terrible, indeed! Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed."
"Wait, Hermione!" She turned around at Harry's voice.
"What!"
"You said it was standing on a trapdoor?"
"Yes."
"Any thoughts as to what it might be guarding?"
"How would I know? Now, as I said. I'm going to bed. We have classes tomorrow."
Draco stood as she left. "Good-night, Hermione!"
She looked back over her shoulder and gave him a small smile. "Good-night, Draco." As soon as the door closed behind her, Draco sighed.
"Awww...Draco lurrrrves 'Mione!"
Draco shoved Harry. "Do not!"
"Of course you do, Draco," said Vincent.
"It is completely obvious," added Gregory.
"I do not love her! I just appreciate how smart, funny, talented, and beaut..." He snapped his mouth closed.
"And beautiful? Is that what you were going to say, Draco? Sounds like love to me," Vincent threw in.
"Now, come on. We shouldn't be so harsh on him. Draco can love whomever he pleases." Draco smiled at Harry in appreciation. "Just don't snog her in front of us, Draco!" That set them all off laughing again, as Draco contemplated the idea.
By 10:30, they all admitted they had best go to bed, as the next day was sure to be just as challenging as the week before had been. It wouldn't do for them to fall asleep in class.