There was a renewed hatred of Severus Snape spreading through the halls these days as well, seeing as how he was the one to have given the red eyed monster fighter two weeks of detention, of which Harry served every one scrubbing floors, but Severus had grown lax and favored giving him multiple breaks. The rumors and spiteful remarks muttered behind his back only served to strengthen his harsh reputation however, especially concerning the younger students, sans Harry and his friends, whom he had told the truth to.

Severus shook his head as he sat at his desk and tried to push thoughts away so that he could concentrate on grading. Something about the comments he was now receiving, and the extra attempts to behead him with fanged frisbees was gnawing at him inside like a worm that would not die. In one way, he was pleased, as he had always been since becoming a teacher, because discipline had now become easier with students who were frightened of him. On the other hand, he liked how it felt to be... admired, by another student. He was sure now that Potter did admire him, asking what he had back at the house. When in private Harry was fully determined to call him ‘uncle Severus' every chance he got. A few times he thought he heard a slip, where Harry had almost called him the other name, but the boy easily pawned it off as a stutter and kept on speaking whatever was on his mind, as he often did now.

What must it be like, he mused, giving up on his grading, to be seen in the light of Albus or Minerva, or even Hagrid or one of the other professors? His own students gave him a sort of grudging respect in that he looked out for them, but they did not show him favor in the way other students gave their own heads of house. Pomona was going on endlessly about the little gifts and drawings she had gotten for Christmas from her Hufflepuffs, and Minerva had the few gifts she had received displayed in her office on her desk. Even Albus had trinkets from years gone by from adoring students lining his shelves and desk. And now Severus had something too, something more valuable than little drawings or trinkets or books, and it too sat on his desk where he could see it. He allowed himself to gaze at the Snitch for a moment and then looked away. What had Potter done to him? He'd made him weak in the heart was what. He'd never craved student affection before now, and here he sat wasting half an hour wishing he'd gotten gifts from other students too. He shook his head, and went back to his work.

* * *

"Run!" Ron shouted it out faster than Harry could start to sputter, and they clambered over each other and Hermione to get out the ancient wooden door, slamming it closed and trying to hold it shut so the enormous three-headed beast would not escape and eat them alive.

"I don't care what you say Harry," Ron panted, clutching at his heart, "that thing was worse than any red-eyed man."

Harry nodded and Hermione closed her eyes, leaning against the opposite wall and breathing hard.

"It wasn't just a thing Ron, it was a Cerberus."

"A what?" Ron looked horrified that she was giving him some sort of lesson at a time like this, and Harry gave a short laugh, glad that his heart had not exploded in the panic of escaping the room.

"A three headed dog Ronald."

"That, was not, a dog." He gave her a serious look. "It was a monster!"

"Even so, did you see what was under its feet?"

"Its feet! Its feet? I was looking at its sharp pointed fangs Hermione! Not its feet!"

She ignored him and looking at Harry instead said, "It was standing on a trap door. Its guarding something."

Harry screwed up his face in thought, and said, "The p package."

"What are you on about now? Don't tell me you've been reading that Hogwarts book too," Ron said, wondering if he was the only one out of the loop."

"No," Harry said. "The package f from G G Gringotts. Th the day Hagrid t took me. He took a p package and later th that vault was b broken into."

"I remember that article from the paper," Hermione said. "Do you know what was inside?"

Harry shook his head. "Hagrid said it w was secret."

"Maybe it's time we pay Hagrid a visit then."

"During the day time," Harry clarified, not wanting to venture out near the forest at night.

"We have to go at night. We don't have time in the day. We can use that cloak you found waiting for you when you got back from Christmas break," she told him.

Ron had such a look of confusion on his face now that Harry thought about laughing before deciding it might be rude to do so.

"You're telling me you actually want to go out after curfew, and break school rules?"

"We have to find out what that thing is guarding Ron. It obviously has something to do with the stolen item from the vault."

Ron sighed and crossed his arms. "I'm going to bed," he said to Harry. "I think I'm tired enough I've gone barmy, because I think Hermione just asked us to break school rules with her."

"She did," Harry said, nodding.

"Better do it tomorrow night then, because I need to sleep before my head falls off."

Harry laughed as they followed Ron back to the tower, listening to him mutter all the way about how confusing girls were.

* * *

"Ow, that was my foot Ron," Hermione prodded him in the dark.

"Wasn't me," he said indignantly as they made their way across the crisp grass towards Hagrid's hut the next night.

"Sorry," Harry said, "I tripped."

"Shh!" Hermione held a finger up to her lips. "Do you want more detention?"

Harry shook his head in the dark and tried to huddle closer to his friends so that they all three stayed concealed under the cloak.

"We're almost there," Ron whispered, as they neared Hagrid's cabin, and tried not to alert the boarhound sleeping on the back step.

Hermione lifted the cloak enough to get her arm out and knocked on the door three times, making the dog lift its head and sniff the air.

"It's not a good time!" came Hagrid's booming voice from inside. "Come back tomorrow!"

"Hagrid, it's us, open up!" Ron called. They heard some scuffling inside, and after a few moments the heavy door cracked open to reveal Hagrid's scruffy face and tangled hair.

"Ron?" They pulled the cloak off and Hagrid stepped back. "Get inside then, hurry now, can't be seen tonight." He ushered them in and they were almost overwhelmed by the stifling heat of the roaring fire.

"Geeze Hagrid, it's not that cold outside," Ron said, pulling at his shirt.

"Just mind yer manners," Hagrid said, and turned to the kitchen table, hiding something from their view.

"What's that?" Harry asked, edging around the man's large frame to see a wobbling oval shaped something with cracks running from top to bottom.

Ron and Hermione came around to have a look to, and Ron's eyes got wide. "Hagrid, that isn't... where did you get it?"

"It is and a man in a pub gave it ter me. Like I said, mind yer manners. I don' barge in on yer private affairs."

"But Hagrid, what will you do with it?"

Hermione seemed as confused as Harry, and Ron said, "It's illegal to keep dragon's in Britain."

"That's a dragon egg?" Hermione asked.

"Yes it is now hu-" there was a cracking noise and Hagrid paused for a second. "Oh look, ‘ere he comes!" The egg split in two and an ugly little dragon head appeared, eyes struggling to open.

"Look, he knows his mommy," Hagrid beamed as the dragon hiccupped and fire shot out of its mouth, making the four of them jump back as Hagrid's beard caught fire.

"Hagrid, what did the package you took from the Gringotts vault have in it?" Hermione wasted no more time getting to the subject as Hagrid rushed to pat his beard down.

"Whassat? The package? Now tha's not mindin' yer manners is it?"

"We need t to know Hagrid," Harry said, stepping around the side of him to pat down another little flame that had the edge of his shirt.

"Yeah, big three headed dog nearly bites our heads off, so naturally Hermione thinks we need to know what it's guarding," Ron said with sarcasm hanging on his words.

"Yeh met Fluffy then? Beauty isn't she?"

"That thing is called Fluffy? Who would name it that?"

"Well I would," Hagrid said, moving to pick up the dragon, who was now trying to walk on unsteady little legs. He cradled the dragon to him and began rocking it back and forth. Matter of fact the man who gave me Norbert said he was a breeder and wanted to know all kinds of things about Fluffy."

"And you told him?" Hermione asked. "Did you tell him what Fluffy is guarding Hagrid?"

"Now I've told yeh too many times already tonigh'," Hagrid said, starting to sound a little irritated. "Yehr not bein' nice askin' abou' what I already told yeh that yeh couldn' know. What Fluffy is guarding is none o' yer business. It's between Albus Dumbledore and Nicholas Flammel."

Hermione's eyes widened, and Hagrid realized his mistake. "I shouldn'ta said that. Just forget it. Yer goin' ter get yerselves in more trouble than Harry chasin' after beasts in the forest."

"I told you th that was made u up," Harry said.

"Then yeh shouldn' be spreadin' it around should yeh?" Hagrid said, giving him a pointed look that Harry shrank back from. Why not? Severus said it was ok.

Suddenly Hagrid looked up at the window and said, "Who's that starin' in the window?"

They looked up just in time to catch Malfoy's face, and Ron said, "Gotta go Hagrid!"

Without waving goodbye, Harry grabbed his cloak and the three of them dashed out the door and up the lawns, too far behind Malfoy to catch up and make him promise not to tell anything he'd heard so far.

Inside the castle they followed Draco up the stairs, confused that he wasn't going back to the dungeons, but Harry's heart fell as he saw Draco being let into Professor McGonagall's office up the long corridor ahead of them.

"He's telling on us," Ron said stopping short of the door, and Harry nodded, noticing that Hermione looked pale. She'd already lost points for lying about the troll, and Harry and Ron had already gotten detention for dueling with Draco, not to mention Harry's two weeks of detention for running away.

When they made it to the door, it opened of its own accord, and Professor McGonagall stood there in her nightgown looking unhappy.

"Inside, all of you," she said crossly.

Draco was standing by her desk, arms crossed and looking smug.

"Well, what do you have to say for yourself?"

"Nothing good," Ron said, unable to come up with an excuse for being out on the grounds at two in the morning.

"Is it true that you were visiting the gamekeeper?"

"Yes maam," Ron said, head bowed.

"And that he has a dragon?"

Harry and Ron shot Draco a look of pure contempt, and Draco smiled wider, lip curling a little.

"Yes Professor," Harry said when Ron still hadn't answered.

"Miss Granger. I have come to expect such mischief from these two, but I am disappointed in you. I expected that you had become a voice of reason for them and were leading by example."

Draco sniggered now and saved Hermione from having to answer, because McGonagall rounded on him now and said, "Do not be so cocky Mr. Malfoy. You too were out after hours, however noble you believed your intentions to be. Therefore you will be serving in detention yet again with your classmates."

"Professor?"

"You heard me. Your head of house has already been notified."

On cue, Professor Snape opened the door and stepped inside, eyes sweeping over the four students in trouble. His gaze paused on Harry for a moment, and Harry looked away, catching the look of disappointment lingering there.

"Professor," he greeted his colleague. "What have they done this time?" she spent the next few minutes filling him in, and he asked, "What will the punishment be?"

"I will handle Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger. I believe Miss Granger would benefit from some time spent cleaning with Argus and Mr. Weasley would benefit from doing 100 lines about rule breaking. Perhaps it will be best if you take Mister's Potter and Malfoy, since they seem to benefit from your authority more than they would mine."

"Indeed. I will be having many, words with Potter and Malfoy." He shot Harry and Draco a pointed look that bordered on nasty, and both boys looked away.

With instructions to show up the next morning at 5 am, which was a punishment in itself because it was Saturday and that only gave them two and a half hours to sleep, Severus left with Draco in tow, and Harry was allowed to return to the tower with Ron and Hermione, who didn't have detention until two the next afternoon.

"At least we know where to start looking," Hermione said, just before they got back to the portrait of the fat lady.

"Looking at what?" Ron asked, stifling a yawn.

"Looking for what was in that package. It's got something to do with Nicolas Flammel."