A brief war occurred in his mind as Leon was met with innocent curiosity of Hannah and a suspicious glint in Susan's eyes.
Lying or changing the topic would be easy but they were going to be his friends for at least the next seven years.
So, the question was, does he want to continue lying to his friends?
'Nah! Even if they go to Professor Sprout, I will just get detentions or something.'
Decided, Leon beckoned the duo to a corner of the common room.
Ignoring the plants which were merrily dancing even in the absence of the wind, Leon explained where he went.
"I and someone else went to check out the third floor. You won't believe what's up there. The other student said there is a 7-X creature there."
Leon felt little guilt at directing their minds towards the existence of the Cerberus as he didn't want them to think about his apparent lack of concern for rules or painful death as Dumbles said. But it needed to be done.
"Impossible!" "Squeak!"
Leon cracked a smile at Hannah's scream as Susan eyed him looking for telltale signs of a prank.
"Really! I didn't know that the spells fizzle away near the 7 X magical creatures. But the other student pointed it out."
Hannah shrunk behind Susan as her childhood friend narrowed her eyes at him.
Leon took a seat, smiling at the different reactions of the best friends.
"Is it trained? Is that why it didn't hurt you?"
"Dunno! We didn't see it. It was behind an enchanted door."
"Are you going to tell Auntie, Susie?" Hannah softly whispered.
'Damn! I forgot about that… Meh! I think Dumbles can explain himself to Susan's aunt. Which department head she is again?'
"Yes, maybe! I don't know. But that's not important now."
Susan invaded his private space and stared down at him.
"How can you be so reckless you broke school rules on top of going into an area where the headmaster, the most powerful wizard, himself said death awaits you?"
Words started to flow from Susan's mouth battering Leon.
The smile on his face slowly became stiff under Susan's colorful description of how he was a reckless bumbling idiot with the intelligence of a Troll.
While Leon could understand where she was coming from, he was a little awkward with things like this.
With his mother not caring about him and his grandfather in bed, he essentially grew up doing what he thought was right.
And later on, most of his friends were reckless idiots too as they met due to their likeness of extreme sports. So safety, even though paramount, was the last thing on the adrenaline junkies' mind.
For most of his friends, a dashing escapade comes first and then they will hash out safety details.
Thus, Leon wasn't sure how to react to Susan's rant.
Hannah dragged her friend away breaking her rant and both came back again a little time later.
He could see Susan suppressing her urge to rant again as she looked at him.
Leon gets her.
She didn't know that he knew what was up on the third floor.
Even he would curse someone to hell if they just waltzed into an apparent death zone, especially a first year. But he couldn't exactly tell her that he knew what the danger was. Thus, Leon was in a dilemma.
'Damn! Here I thought I successfully skipped over any dilemmas…. I decided to come with them.. and I don't regret it.'
It was nice to see someone worked up over his safety, though it was a little less nice to think he didn't know what he was doing.
"Susan! I knew what I was doing. Aren't I here safe and sound?"
"You-" Susan shook her head and continued.
"Rules are there for a reason, Leon. You can't flout them for meager curiosity, especially in the wizarding world."
Tears started to form in her eyes as she looked at him.
'Damn! What should I do?'
"You were bad, Leo," Hannah added her bit and started to sniffle like she was in sync with Susan's emotions.
"Ok! I am sorry."
"What are you sorry for?" Susan rubbed her eyes on her sleeves and asked in a strict tone, prodding him.
'Girl!'
"I won't recklessly go into apparent death zones anymore."
'It feels stupid now I say it out loud, but their extenuating circumstances I say.'
The stupid look on his face as he said that cracked up Susan making her smile.
"It's just that consequences are severe if you try to involve yourself in things above your power, Leon. I am sorry for badgering you."
Susan softly spoke and sat down in front of him.
A peaceful silence enveloped the trio as they ruminated in their thoughts.
'Damn! I should think more before I get myself into these social situations.'
"So, what magical being is locked up on the third floor?" Hannah asked, with a thoughtful look.
Only for Susan to glare at her.
"What! I was just curious." Ignoring the petulant response, Leon moved forward.
"What's this domain the 7-X creatures have?" he asked.
Susan turned her glare towards him but relented under two innocent gazes which shown with curiosity.
"While a witch's magic is formless and flexible, depending upon the witch's intent, the magical creatures' magic is set in stone for their whole species. Their magic takes form as a type of ability- Hyppogriff's strength, Niffler's nose, Unicorn's unbound speed, and such."
She collected her thoughts for a second.
"The 7-X classified beasts are so powerful their magic externalizes and forms a very weak imitation of a wizard's magic's flexibility. This domain helps them in various tasks and makes them more powerful. For example, a dragon's domain is mainly oriented towards burning things and can also help it in its flight."
'So, a Cerberus domain can act as a shield as it depends on its nigh invulnerability to both magic and physical attacks. And its bites are tough to heal like a dragon has its magical breath.'
"I know that creatures classified above 4-X are called magical beings instead of magical beasts. It's because they are said to embody their magic on such a high level that they break chains of flesh. I don't know what that means but a three-month-old dragon is 3-X and a 111-year-old one is 7-X classified beast. Their average lifespan is around 200."
Susan went silent to let them digest the information.
"Hannah, can you get me those puddings?" She asked pointing at the trays present in the centre of the common room.
"Sure."
Hannah smacked her lips and skipped towards the snacks.
"111 is around the same age when people become quasi-sorcerers as long as they use magic, any kind of magic, for at least three hours a day. Of course, the difference between a natural sorcerer and a quasi sorcerer is said to be huge but I don't know why."
Hannah returned with a wide- very wide- variety of snacks, the house elves filled the common room with.
She kept them down with a shy smile at their gobsmacked face and started munching away.
The trio departed to their rooms after demolishing the snacks.
......
"Hey! Hey!" The next day Leon accosted Rose away from her group as students moved towards their classroom.
"Do you have an idea which beast is in there?" He asked, ignoring the glances he was getting from both his friends and hers.
"No! Do you?"
"Don't you wanna see it?" Leon asked with bated breath.
"I do, but how can we?" Rose questioned looking thoughtful.
'Oh! Come on, Isn't Hagrid your family friend or something? Chicken buddies at least?'
"Do you think your house head will make an exception for you I believe you guys are close, no?"
"Pfft! Of course not! Auntie is too strict for that. But wait a minute.."
'Yes, Yes, please tell me you will ask Hagrid.'
A mischievous smile graced Rose's face as she looked at him with a glint in her eyes.
"I have a way, but you should do something for me if you want to join me."
'What is this? Is this any time for a side quest?'
Holding back a sigh, he asked.
"What do you want?"
"Nothing right now. Let's say a favor in the future."
"Fine! When will we go." A smile threatened to split his face as he readily agreed.
'I mean she can't ask for crazier things than I generally do, right?'
"Don't be in a hurry. I will need time, but we will see the beastie hiding on the third floor soon."
"Awesome!" The two quickly entered the classroom and took their seats.
Leon's mind flew into clouds as thought about seeing the mighty doggy, so he didn't notice the whispers or Susan holding Hannah back when she tried to ask him something.
The class quickly ended, unlike the DADA class which is so long that sometimes Leon thinks Voldy was torturing them by slowing the time down with some spell.
'Really! If Quirrel wanted to show off his talent for acting he should have joined a drama or something.'
With Rose taking care of Cerberus, he didn't have to pour over books to create the original Lumos spell, freeing his time for something else.
'It's finally time to meet Professor Flitwick regarding the ingredients I need for enchantment.' Leon didn't think Professor would give him a book on how to make artifacts if he couldn't do that in Hogwarts.
'Maybe I can create something that can lead me to the Mirror of Erised.'
But with Christmas just a month away, he does not even know if the mirror is in Hogwarts.
He vaguely remembers Harry visiting the mirror daily after and before Christmas.
Leon wasn't positive about finding the mirror of Erised because Dumble's approach towards Rose is different from Canon's.
So, there may be no mirror of Erised in an abandoned classroom with no protections whatsoever so that a firstie can stumble across it.
And of course, the vastness of Hogwarts will make bumbling around foolish instead of doing something useful like creating a spell.
......….
"Ah! Mr Leon, I was waiting for you to reach me. A little late than I thought but go on."
Professor Flitwick looked amused as Leon waited until the other students left before walking towards the professor.
"How can I practice enchanting, professor? The book implied a rope needs to be soaked in various potions just to animate it permanently."
"You can use my lab, of course." Professor Flitwick spoke like it was just common sense.
"Really?" Leon couldn't believe what he heard.
'Maybe, he meant some lab of a club he supervises.'
That was more likely than inviting a first-year wizard to his own personal lab where he keeps his projects.
'And Professor Flitwick is the type to have some really volatile projects.' Leon thought, looking at the books the professor used to stand and the clutter on his desk.
"Seeing that I am still afraid your brilliance will burn others and masking it, isn't fair you get some compensation for it?"
"Yes! It is only fair."
Leon didn't mind it, not a bit. But he wouldn't say no to more magic, especially enchanting.
'Maybe I can create my own flying car. No, I am thinking too small. A car that flies, swims, dives, and drives? Hmm! A car that can turn into a spaceship while doing everything above?'
"Follow me, Mr Leon. You can daydream after you see the lab." Professor Flitwick hopped from his makeshift stand and left the classroom.
After some twists and turns, they reached a classroom at a dead end.
Flitwick tapped the door, turning the old standard wooden door into sleek purple steel.
'I think it is enchanted.' Like it was listening to his inner monologue, multiple runes lit up on the door and shifted around before it swung open.
"Here we are! This is where my enchantment club meets. How is it?" Professor walked right in like he had done it thousands of times.
The room was not how Leon imagined it to be.