Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
$Parseltongue$
Chapter 17
Visiting Hagrid
"I guess you are not going to be playing Quidditch any time soon ehh Harry?" Susan teased.
"We agree not to talk about that again." Harry was trying to focus on his breakfast. Anything to not remember the disastrous first flying lesson.
"I have never seen a broom explode like that," Hannah exclaimed cheerfully.
"I don't want to hear about it," Harry said with a straight face. This was going to be a long breakfast.
"Oohh c'mon Harry doesn't worry, I'm sure you'll do better next time." Susan was trying and failing to contain her laugh.
'Why do I allow those two to tease me like that?. In the past, no one would dare to speak to me in such a way. Not even Bella, who I will admit. I had a soft spot for her. Is it because I am no longer a dark lord or could it be that I am becoming softer. Even now, with those two girls making jokes at me I feel no need to crucio them, right here in the great hall. Maybe my current circumstances have begun to change me and make me less aggressive and cruel.'
"HEY POTTER" Malfoy came swiftly to the Hufflepuff table. Following him were the two usual gorillas.
"I SAID, HEY POTTER" He got close to Harry in order to get his attention. And everyone else in the hall, considering how loud he was being.
"I heard that you couldn't even fly a broom!. I mean how useless do you have to be?. Even Longbottom over there managed to fly a few feet, before falling down and breaking his wrist."
Harry just looked at him for a moment and decided. 'That's it. I'm killing this little shite tonight.'
"Leave him alone Malfoy" Susan stood close to Harry
"Yeah, stop bothering us!" Hannah added
Two of the Hufflepuff prefects stood up and told Malfoy to stop disturbing their breakfast. Malfoy was going to tell them off, but then he saw that he has gathered the attention of some of the teachers and decided it was better to leave for now.
When the time for breakfast was about to end. A white owl flew through the great hall and landed in front of Harry.
"Wow, what a beautiful owl," Hannah said while getting close.
"Is it yours, Harry? Can I pet her?" Susan was already stretching her hand.
The owl seems to have gathered the attention of most of the table at this point.
"I suppose she won't mind." Harry took the parchment on the owl's beak and gave her some ham from his plate.
He was going to start to read the letter when Hannah asked. "What's her name? "
"That's Nagini III," Harry said absentmindedly.
He then ignored their complaints about giving his owl weird names and read the letter.
It was from Hagrid. Inviting him to have some tea after classes.
He had no reason to refuse. And besides Hagrid might have known if Dumbledore is keeping the philosopher's stone somewhere inside the castle.
His first guess was that supposedly dangerous room on the third floor that the Headmaster mention during the opening feast. Off course, if you are going to keep something as valuable as the Philosopher stone hidden in the castle, the last thing you want is to call attention to the location you are keeping it.
But at this point, he strongly believes Dumbledore is going senile. so i won't be that surprising.
—-
The door of the cabin opened after a couple of knocks.
"Arry!. C'mon in. Ohh and you brought company." Hagrid said while looking at the two girls.
"Hello. I'm Susan Bones, and this is Hannah Abbott. We are Harry's friends" Susan cheerfully said.
Harry was a bit surprised at the claim. He thought they were merely acquaintances. Although they have spent a lot of time together, he can't blame her for reaching that conclusion. Before he could ponder further about the utility of having friends to someone who was trying to achieve immortality Hagrid gave him a strong pat on the shoulder and said.
"HAHA, way to go Harry. Not even a week at Hogwarts and you have already made two good friends. Come on! , sit down you three. And tell me about your first week. I made tea and cake."
—-
After an hour of telling Hagrid all about their week, although most of the talk was made by Susan and Hannah, it was getting time to leave. But before that Harry wanted to find out what Hagrid knew about the stone.
He could just delve into his mind and look all around for the information he wanted, but that would take time and there is a risk that Hagrid will notice, even if he only knows a little bit of occlumency.
However, there is a better method. If you ask someone what they ate for dinner the day before, they will instinctively bring forth all of their memories about that particular event so they can answer the question. Reading those surface memories is very easy to do and almost impossible to detect.
"Oi Hagrid. Do you know by any chance what's at the end of the third-floor corridor?. The headmaster said that whoever goes there would suffer a terrible death but forgot to say what the danger actually is."
Susan and Hannah perked up at the question. They obviously were also curious about that. In fact, most of the school was.
Hagrid seems to get a bit nervous at the question.
"Ohh…that…I am afraid I am not allowed to talk about that."
Harry quickly started to read Hagrid's surface thoughts. There were images of the room on the third floor. A giant dog with three heads. The headmaster…and the stone.
"I cannot tell you what's there. But you three have to promise me that you will never go there" Hagrid said, very seriously. Susan and Hannah were nodding rapidly.
Harry was now getting some pieces of conversation. Hagrid gives Dumbledore the stone and asks him if it is really safe to have something like this in the school when they know there is someone dangerous after it. But Hagrid doesn't seem to know who it is.
Dumble gives him his typical grandfatherly smile and tells him not to worry.
There is another conversation. A more recent one. Dumbledore is telling Hagrid that they are almost done preparing the traps and once they are finished, Hagrid must move his Cerberus to the room and have him guard the hatch that's inside the room.
Hagrid tried to express his concerns. Even though he thinks Fluffy is an adorable puppy, he knows how dangerous it can be for anyone else to approach him. Especially a student.
Once again Dumbledore gave him his grandfatherly smile and said that everything was under control.
'So, the stone is going to be placed in that room on the third floor. Dumbledore also prepared some traps and Hagrid is going to put a Cerberus to guard the entrance.' Harry smiled. 'This is going to be fun.'