Better Be Slytherin!

'No . . . I don't think so. Well, I'm not sure where he is. I think . . . I think he's going after the Stone. I heard him and Millicent talking earlier, and they said the Headmaster had been called away. I think Harry believes someone will try to get the Stone tonight.'

Unsaid, of course, was that Harry thought Severus was going to steal the Stone. But Harry might actually be right about someone would try for it; this would be the perfect chance, after all, for Quirrell, who had been growing more furtive -- and pungent -- every day.

If Potter was right and Quirrell (who was working for the Dark Lord somehow) was trying to steal the Stone, and if the boy was giving in to his Gryffindor tendencies, then he was in a boatload of trouble, not least when Severus got his hands on him!

'How long ago?'

The boy startled. 'How long?'

'When did you hear them talking?'

'This afternoon, just before dinner.'

Just after he had spoken to Harry on the stairs then. No wonder the boy had been frazzled, making plans to sneak out, and then caught by the Professor he thought loathed him. 'Why did you not tell me sooner?'

The boy bit his lip, uncharacteristically appearing worried. 'I was keeping an eye on him tonight, and I would have stopped him from going . . . but he must have sneaked out with that cloak of his because I didn't see him leave, and when I checked a bit ago, he just wasn't there. That's why I came to you, sir.'

'Very well,' Severus said, his mind racing ahead to what Harry might be encountering at this very minute. 'Thank you for telling me. Go back to your dormitory now.'

'But, sir!'

'No arguments. Go to your dormitory now!' He opened the door to the corridor and fairly shoved the boy through it.

'Please, sir, I just wanted to say . . . Fluffy likes music.'

Severus paled but nodded, then closed his door on the boy. He turned quickly and made his way to the fireplace. He would take the Floo to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, and if he had any kind of luck at all, Quirrell would be there and not stealing Stones nor killing Harry Potter.

The Floo billowed green flames around him, leaving him to stalk out of the fireplace and into the dark and deserted classroom. Damn. He stalked to the door and into the second floor corridor and continued stalking until he reached the third floor corridor where the door to Fluffy's room was.

As he approached, he saw the door already opened the merest bit. Deep throated growls emanated from the room. The monster was awake, it seemed, and in a temper. Well, what had the Nott boy said? That the beast liked music?

Severus eased the door farther open and slid inside the room whilst humming the school song, the rendition the Headmaster seemed fond of singing each benighted Opening Day Feast. The three-headed hell hound with sharp, pointy teeth turned towards him, jaws opening wider. Severus hummed louder.

Then the beast yawned, blinked heavily and turned around three times and laid down, his third muzzle resting half on the trapdoor leading to the maze below. Double Damn. Still humming like mad, Severus grabbed an armful of Cerberus mouth and thrust it off the trapdoor. The hell hound squirmed and murmured in his sleep like a happy puppy. For Merlin's sake . . .

Severus kept humming until he had the trapdoor open and had dropped down into the Devil's Snare below. The vines pulled tight around him and wrapped him in their coils, but he simply relaxed and the snare loosened, letting him fall through into the room below.

That must've been Pomona's contribution, he thought, as he brushed off his robes.

He walked forward, keeping one eye peeled for anything charmed (by Filius) or transfigured (by Minerva) and the other watching for a foolish Slytherin boy who was liable to get them both killed.

TBC . . .

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reads and/or reviews! Sorry this chapter has been so long in coming, but RL has hit me pretty hard of late. There are only a couple chapters left in this story, and then it will be on to Year Two!

*Chapter 49*: Chapter 49

Better Be Slytherin! – Chapter 49

By jharad17

Warnings for language and some violence.

--HPHPHPHPHPHPHP--

Previously on Better Be Slytherin:

Harry closed his mouth and fumed. He had no idea, really, how he could save the Stone. He couldn't tell Dumbledore, as if he'd be believed anyway . . . maybe he could tell the Bloody Baron, if he could find the ghost, but he wasn't sure that would do any good. As it was, the Bloody Baron couldn't stop anyone from stealing the Stone, either, as he didn't have a real body. Unless . . .

'See?' Millie said evenly. 'I can go see him if you--'

'No,' he interrupted. 'I know what I can do.'

With a frown, she said, 'What?'