See the end for notes :) Enjoy!

Neville couldn't help but worry about his brother as they ate breakfast that morning. They sat together like they usually did for meals, just because they were placed in different houses didn't mean that was going to change, and today was at the Gryffindor table. As soon as Harry sat down he was asleep again, slumped against Neville's side and resting his head on his shoulder while he dozed.

The young Gryffindor was worried this would happen, and it looked like he was right. The magic they had used last night fighting off that three-headed beast had put a strain on their core, but it affected Harry more so than Neville. The young Slytherin had been fending off the beast for quite some time before Neville managed to get there and help him end the fight. He wasn't able to get the full story of what happened from Harry yet, and was impatiently waiting until his brother was awake enough to explain what happened. He needed to make sure Harry hadn't strained his core enough to go to the infirmary—Neville wasn't sure what spell Remus used to check their core levels, so he couldn't very well check himself.

He let out a shaky sigh as he took a long drink of the pumpkin juice in his giblet. Last night was terrifying in so many different ways and he still hasn't sorted through everything that happened in his head. One minute he was sitting in his Common Room, only slightly anxious to hear back from Harry on if he made the Quidditch team or not, when he was overcome with a wave of adrenaline and terror.

At that moment, he felt like he could run across the world and barely even break a sweat. There was an instantaneous feeling of power and protectiveness that surged through him at that moment and he was up off the couch and running out of the Common Room before his brain caught up to what he was doing. The run was a blur, twisting in and out of the crowds of students walking through the halls as the day came to a close. Screams and shouts of surprise and anger followed him, but he ignored them, his mind holding only one focus—rescue Slytherin.

In the blink of an eye he was at Harry's side fighting the three-headed beast. What had Hermione called it? Cerberus? Neville had only heard of those in stories his grandmother used to tell him. To see one in person… it was frightening, to say the least. But it had been attacking Harry, so the fear was easy to ignore in favor of keeping his brother safe.

Once the threat was finally gone (using one of Neville personally favorite spells, he was always fond of bubbles), the strange feeling of protectiveness had disappeared for the most part, and the rush of strength he had felt disappeared like an adrenaline rush—a rush so familiar he had just shrugged it off.

But now he was beginning to think he shouldn't have dismissed it so quickly.

But at the time, he had been too distracted about Harry's injuries to think anymore about it. It made his heart race just thinking about it again, and he had to glance over to his dozing brother at his side to reassure himself he was alright. He's never seen Harry come that close to death before, have an injury that severe. Sure, Snape was able to heal it fairly quickly, but before he had gotten him… Merlin… all that blood… Nothing that had trained for had prepared him for that.

Neville stabbed at his eggs angrily. It took everything he had, every bit of common sense, to not go searching for Dumbledore himself. What in Morgana's name was he thinking putting something like that in the school? A beats like that was a danger to even trained wizards. Only the training Neville and Harry had received before they came here by Sirius and Remus kept them alive. If they hadn't been there, and that beast had run into other students—

A warm hand covered his own. "I think you've scrambled those poor eggs up enough, Nev."

Neville blinked and refocused on his eyes, slowly relaxing the death grip he had on his fork and wincing at the sight of his eggs. Maybe the house elves would be kind enough to bring him some to replace them. Harry's hand moved off his own and Neville looked over at him in relief. "Oh good, you're awake."

"Only slightly." Harry yawned hugely before grabbing a muffin from the tray in front of them. He reluctantly started eating it, glancing at Neville as he did so. "See? Food. I'm eating."

"Finish the whole thing." Neville ordered, looking at the table and placing an orange in front of him as well, next to the muffin. "And that."

"The entire thing?" Harry whined in protest, pressing his head against Neville's shoulder as he munched on the muffin.

"Yes." he said firmly, unimpressed at his brother's pouting. He was always like this when his magic was drained too much—he never wanted to eat, so Neville had to sit there next to him and make sure he ate everything or else he'd be tired and snappy with everyone for the rest of the day. "Come on, you know the rules. If you don't eat, it's going to take longer for your magic to replenish. I can cover for you today, but you'll have to go to class tomorrow."

He felt a small sense of satisfaction as Harry reluctantly opened his eyes and sat up next to him. The young Gryffindor munched unhappily on his muffin, shooting dirty looks in Neville's direction, but Neville just chuckled and ignored them. He knew he didn't mean, and he knew Harry appreciated it, no matter how much he would deny it.

"Rest up for today. You're exhausted. I'll take your notes in the classes we share, and Hermione has already agreed to take notes for your other classes. You need to rest so your core can gain its strength back." Neville said, shoveling a forkful of smushed eggs in his mouth.

Harry chewed silently for a moment before he started arguing with him. This was something familiar, something calming, something Neville had done with Harry hundreds of times after particularly hard training sessions. Neville felt himself relax as they argued, trading half-heartedly insults and gentle nudges to get a point across.

Surprisingly, Harry only argued with him for around seven minutes before he caved, which is how Neville knew Harry was feeling worse than he let on. "Fine." Harry scowled down at his plate, but Neville could see the relief in his eyes.

"I know you don't want to," Neville began, feeling guilty but not at the same time, "but Moony said—"

"Always rest after using too much magic or else you could damage your magical core." Harry interrupted him, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I know." he let out another large yawn after he had finished off his orange and clapped Neville on the back, giving him a tired smile. "I'll be fine, I promise. I'm taking your bed though." he added as he started to stand up, throwing his backpack over his shoulder. "Your Common Room is a lot warmer than ours."

Neville nodded absently, only half listening to him as he tried to stab a blueberry into submission before what his brother said finally processed. :Wait, what do you mean my bed? How do you know how to get in there? Harry? Harry?!" Neville called after him, sighing as he was ignored while Harry walked off. He turned back to his breakfast, grinning in triumph as he finally managed to get that damned blueberry. He may as well finish eating—he still wasn't at 100% either.

"Hey Neville." Susan's bright voice caused him to look up as she sat across from him. "Was that Harry I just saw walk away?"

Neville nodded as he popped the blueberry into his mouth. "Yeah, he's going to go rest. His core is still drained, so Hermione and I are going to take notes for him today."

Susan frowned slightly, giving Neville a pointed look as she stole one of his strawberries, ignoring his indignant 'Hey!'. "Shouldn't you be resting too? You both used a pretty strong spell for first-years last night."

"I'm fine." he shrugged off her concern. "It was one spell, and Hart and I have used it enough that it doesn't drain me out like it used to." Anxiety clenched in his gut, rearing its ugly as he once again thought about the amount of magic Harry might have used last night. "But Harry was fighting that beast for a while before we got there and he must have used some advanced spells. He could barely keep his eyes open long enough to eat some food."

With a scoff, Neville roughly spread some jam across his bread, his worry being quickly replaced by anger. "I still can't believe Dumbledore was hiding that thing in the school. Endangering so many children like that…" he trailed off, taking a vicious bite of his toast.

Anger was easy. Anger he could do. Neville had been angry all the time for as long as he could remember, even after Harry came into his life. Anger was familiar, comforting.

Susan reached out and placed her hadn't over his comfortingly. "I know, I'm angry too." she murmured, her eyes shining with understanding. Normally, Neville would've hated that kind of fake understanding, but from Susan, he knew it was genuine. Because Susan's parents had been taken from her too. "And don't worry, he's not going to just get away with it. Have you talked to your Grandmother?"

Neville slumped in his seat, as if all of the fight had been drained out of him at Susan's touch. Suddenly. his anger at the situation didn't seem as important. "No. I tried fire-calling her but she didn't answer. I'm going to try again tonight, but if she doesn't answer again I'll probably just have to send her a letter. She's got to do something!"

Susan nodded in agreement as she finished off the last of her toast, squeezing Neville's hand reassuringly. "I'm going to write a letter to my Aunt. She'll want to know about this immediately, and I know that she'll know what to do." she said confidently, and her smile was reassuring enough to put out the last sparks of anger that were still burning in Neville's gut.

Susan was right. Neville was too caught up in his own anger at Dumbledore to make a rational decision about what to do, but the adults would know how to handle the situation. At least they know that with the beast gone, there was no more danger for any of the students. Now they just needed to figure out why Dumbledore had put it there in the first place.

"Come on, we need to get to class before we're late." the young Hufflepuff advised, snatching one of the blueberry muffins off of the table. "We can't do anything about it now."

Neville sighed and nodded, a small smile forming on his face as he grabbed his bag and stood up, joining Susan's side as they walked to class. "Since when did you grow up to be right all of the time?"

Susan smirked, lightly shoving Neville with her shoulder as she munched on her muffin. "I've always been right," she said haughtily, a teasing glint in her eyes. "It just took you this long to notice.

Neville, feeling greatly offended, opened his mouth to retry but was interrupted by the soft chime of his two-way mirror going off in his bag. Curious, he reached into his bag and pulled it out, automatically reaching for Susan's hand so she could guide him through the halls to their class while he took the call.

"Padfoot?" Neville asked, slightly surprised to see Harry's godfather contacting him. He looked tired—there were dark bags prominent under his eyes in a way that reminded Neville of how he looked after a weeks worth of nonstop pranks. His hair was an absolute mess, similar to how Harry's looked most of the time, but it was the worry in his eyes that caught Neville's attention. "What's wrong? You look awful." he added.

Sirius still managed to be offended over Neville's comment on his appearance, despite how true it was. "Excuse you, but I am a walking talking model over here, so I don't know who you're talking about, unless you've got a real mirror in your hands." Then he sighed, rubbing his hand over his face. "Please tell me you're not hurt as well. You're grandmother would kill me."

"I'm fine, Padfoot." Neville reassured him, though a little confused on why Sirius thought he would be injured in the first pla—"Harry called and told you what happened lat night, didn't he?"

"No, well, yes, he did, but Snivellus called first." Sirius grimaced, his lip curling in displeasure at the mention of Harry's other godfather.

That statement made Neville trip over his feet and if it hadn't been for Susan, he most definitely would have face planted into the stone floors. "What?" he spluttered, regaining his balance and shooting an apologetic look at Susan, who just rolled her eyes in response. "Did you just say Snape told you? Why would he do that?" he asked, returning his attention back to Sirius.

"School policy. If a a student is harmed or threatened in anyway it must be reported by the Head of House to that student's guardians. It's more of a formality than anything else. There was some uproar a few years ago when a Muggleborn's parents weren't informed when their son broke his arm after he tripped on the stairs. Magic heals students so quickly it never used to be a priority, but the teachers all agreed it was probably a good idea to tell the parents if something happened to avoid a messy lawsuit." Sirius vaguely explained. His gaze sharpened with concern. "What the hell happened, Neville? Snape told me Harry was attacked by a Cerebrus?"

"Yeah, I think that's what Hermione called it." Neville nodded. "You know, three headed dog that guards the gates of the underworld? Dumbledore somehow snuck one into the castle before school started, and we think he kept it in the third floor corridor in the east wing. He mentioned something at the beginning of the year about staying away from there unless we wanted to die a very painful death." Neville winced, imagining those large claws ripping through—he shook his head to clear his mind. "I guess he wasn't joking."

Sirius was quiet, and that was how Neville knew he was pissed. Sirius was never quiet. "What happened?" he asked.

"Um, it attacked Harry and one of the Slytherin prefects in the dungeons. The prefect tried to protect Harry but it knocked him out pretty quick, he's still in the infirmary. Anyway, Harry managed to fend it off enough for me to get there and we were able to take it out, but it had hurt Harry's leg. Snape healed him, and he seemed okay at breakfast, just tired and favoring his right shoulder a bit." Neville reassured Sirius, struggling to keep up with Susan's increasing pace down the halls.

"Are you sure?" Sirius demanded, visibly shaken by the story. "He mentioned using too much magic— is he resting? Did you make him eat something? You know how he is when he drains his core, he's far too stubborn about it, just like his mother."

"Yes, Sirius, he's fine." Neville reassured him again, glancing up when he felt a tight tug on his arm. Susan gestured at the classroom in front of them and Neville hurried to finish the conversation. "I got him to eat and he's not going to classes today, he's resting in my room. Look, I have to go to class but I promise I'll have Harry call you later, okay? Bye!" He hung up quickly before Sirius could respond and quickly moved the mirror into his bag as he followed Susan into the classroom. Professor McGonagall gave them a stern look, but they weren't quite late, so she didn't say anything, much to Neville's relief.

"Sorry," he murmured to Susan as they sat down next to each other at their desk in the back of the classroom.

Susan shrugged, keeping most of her focus on McGonagall. "It's fine. But later, the four of us need to sit down and talk about that… thing, that happened." she said quietly, shooting him a pointed glance and he nodded in agreement. There were things that happened last night that they didn't have enough time to talk about, but they needed to figure it out.

Neville was about to answer but held his tongue when McGonagall walked up to them. She placed a few pieces of parchment on their desk and said, "For Potter." Her eyes were understanding and Neville nodded before she walked off.

Well, it looks like word had gotten around to the other teachers. Hopefully, the rest of them would be just as understanding on why Harry wasn't in class today.

/xxxx/

When Harry woke from his nap, he felt 10,000% better than he did before breakfast. Granted, his shoulder still ached and his leg still felt sore if he put too much weight on it at once, but hey, we was still alive. And he was starving. He was familiar with the side effects of over expending his magic, but that didn't make it anymore pleasant. He felt like he could eat an entire horse.

Raising his hand, he cast a gentle lumos in the dark room and smiled slightly at the lack of pull he felt on his core. Good. Looks like that rest did him some good.

He really didn't want to get out of Neville's bed though. When they were back home, the two of them shamelessly shared beds quite often, despite having their own rooms. It was embarrassing at first, how much safer Harry felt when he slept with Neville when he first escaped his horrible Muggle family. He got nightmares almost every night then and would eventually find his way into Neville's room and the older boy's mere presence was soothing enough that Neville never had to say anything, he simply offered open arms and a warm, constant presence.

When Harry had nightmares, he craved physical comfort, touch, reassurance there was someone there who cared about him. Neville was different than that. When he had nightmares that were bad enough he sought out Harry, he needed a distraction. Harry could do distractions. Neville would wake him up and exhaustion would leave Harry in an instant, leaving in its wake only a determination to get Neville's mind off his nightmare and make him laugh. Some of their best pranks came in the middle of the night, huddled over a piece of parchment scribbling ideas and laughing at each other until Neville's dream was nothing but a distant memory.

Today, Harry just needed Neville's presence to keep him calm and since he wasn't here to do that, his bed was the next best thing. Besides, it was very warm, he thought as he burrowed deeper in the pile of blankets he had collected. Much warmer than his own dorm room in the dungeons.

Harry's thoughts were interrupted when he suddenly heard the door squeak open and loud, obnoxious laughter followed. With a groan, Harry held a pillow tightly over his head, desperately trying to get back to the quiet, safe area he had been in before they had walked in.\

It wasn't working.

"Hey, Neville, mate, what're you doing in bed? I thought you went down to the lake with your friends? We're going to play a round of gobstones, you want in?" Someone pulled back the curtains surrounding the four poster bed. "Come on, you've been sleeping long enough! Let's go!" the pillow was ripped forcibly from his hands and Harry turned in the bed to glare up at the stupid person who decided to interrupt his sleep.

Ronald Weasley. Of course.

The Gryffindor stumbled back a few steps, his eyes wide as he looked at Harry as the young Slytherin sat up in the bed, annoyingly readjusting his tie with a huff.

"You-You're not Neville!"

Harry tried to refrain from rolling his eyes. He really did! But it was quite difficult considering who he was speaking with. "Marvelous observation skills, Weasley."

Weasley's face turned almost as red as his hair and he growled, "What are you doing here? This is the Gryffindor Tower!"

"I am aware of that fact, yes. However, Neville is my brother," he explained patiently, shoving down his annoyance. Neville would be so proud. "Siblings are allowed in each other's common rooms if they've been given permission by the Head of House. Though, I wouldn't expect you to know that considering all of your siblings are in Gryffindor. Not a lot of diversity in your family, huh?"

Weasley narrowed his in anger. "You're lying. That's not a rule! You Slytherins are always lying about one thing or another. Get out!"

Harry was tempted to stay, he was still tired, and staying and lounging around for another reason than to piss off Weasley was very tempting, but he knew when to pick his battles. Besides, Neville was supposed to be by the lake? He was probably with Hermione and Susan, and maybe he could sneak in a nap in the sun while they talked before dinner.

With a dramatic sigh and a roll of his eyes (because Harry was nothing if not dramatic), he jumped off the bed, feeling particularly smug when Weasley startled back a step. With a curt nod, Harry smirked in his general direction as he left the room. "Have a quite fantastic day, Weasley."

Thankfully, the students he met on his way out of the Common Room were much more understanding than Weasley. Though a couple of them looked curiously his way when he passed as he left the Common Room, for the most part they ignored him, thank Merlin.

Interestingly enough, he noticed the more time he spent at the school the less people seemed to see Harry Potter the Chosen One and just saw Harry Potter from Slytherin,

Fighting back a yawn as he left the tower, Harry glanced down at his wristwatch and checked the time. It was around four in the afternoon, which wasn't terribly surprising. He usually slept quite a lot later than that, and if he wasn't so rudely awakened, he probably would have slept until dinner.

Sleep. Naps. Neville. Lake. He'd go there.

It was a beautiful day and despite the clinging exhaustion he felt even he had to admit that. October was ending, but it was still warm enough on some days that the slight chill in the air wasn't too uncomfortable at this time of day. As Harry walked across the grounds towards the lake, he spotted Hermione and Susan lounging together at the base of the tree, their laughter carried towards him but the gentle breeze in the air.

An unintentional smile grew on Harry's face at the sight. He was relieved that Susan and Hermione were getting along so well and that Susan finally had another girl to talk to. For the longest time it had just been the three of them, him, Neville, and Susan, and despite how close they were, Harry knew Susan longed for another female friend for her to gossip with and braid hair. Susan really loved braiding hair, for some reason, though Harry wasn't necessarily complaining. It calmed her when she was stressed, and so for that reason Neville and Harry had had many tiny braids in their over the years.

"Hey guys!" Harry greeted his friends, settling down on the ground next to Susan with his back pressed up against the large oak tree behind them. He chuckled slightly at Susan braiding Hermione's hair, her skilled fingers twisting and pulling it into some complicated braid that Harry had no hope in following. "I see Susan convinced you to let her braid your hair again."

Hermione shot him a smile over her shoulder. "It wasn't hard. My hair is harder to tame than yours most days."

"How're you feeling, Harry?" Susan asked, shooting him a concerned glance.

Harry shrugged, then winced at the motion and immediately regretted it. His shoulder felt ten times better since Severus had healed it last night, but it still ached and felt stiff. "I'm fine." he reassured them. "Snape is giving me a salve for my shoulder, and my leg is healed. It's still sore, but I'll be fine in a couple of days."

Susan hummed noncommittally, eyeing his with an unreadable look in her eyes as she finished braiding Hermione's hair. "There!" she exclaimed as she wrapped the rubber band around the end of the braid, looking quite proud of her work. She sighed happily, leaning against Harry's side as Hermione turned to face them.

Harry mouthed 'thank you' at Hermione and she grinned in response. Susan was always much more relaxed after braiding someone's hair, and a relaxed Susan was always better than a stressed Susan because when Susan was stressed, so was everyone else.

"So… are we going to talk about what happened last night?" Hermione asked quietly after a beat of silence. She was staring down at her hands with a contemplative look on her face. "Because I have looked through every book I can think of and I can't come up with any logical expiation for what happened."

Harry frowned. "What are you talking about?"

Hermione glanced up at him, an incredulous look on her face. "Seriously? You're not even the least bit curious about how the three of us knew you were in trouble?"

"Well, I mean, a bit, yeah, now that you mention it." Harry admitted. "I didn't really think much about it at first. Neville and I have always known when the other was in some kind of trouble. Besides, I've been too tired to think about it."

"Wait, you've known when each other is in trouble?" Hermione asked, looking curious. "When did it start?"

That made Harry have to stop and think. "Well…" he began slowly, "I think it started after we met each other. It was just big things at first, like one time Neville fell into the pool at the mansion but he didn't know how to swim yet. I was with Sirius at the time, and I just remember feeling this horrible, terrible pressure on my chest. Sirius says I screamed and bolted to the pool like a bat out of hell but I don't really remember much. He followed me and dove into the pool when he saw Neville in there." he shrugged. "It was weird, but according to Sirius it's not unheard of among magical siblings, especially ones who are as close as Neville and I are, so we didn't really think much about it at the time."

"But—" Hermione started and then stopped, shifting uncomfortably. "But you two aren't actually related?" she questioned, looking slightly embarrassed and hesitant.

Harry smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, it's fine, you can ask. No, Neville and I technically weren't born as siblings," he acknowledged. "But when I escaped my Muggle family, the first year was… hard." he sighed. "I was still terrified they were going to find me and make me go back to them, and Neville's Gran was worried about the legality of everything so she… kind go adopted me? The Potter and Longbottom families have a very strong loyalty too each, have for centuries, so she decided Neville and I should complete a blood bond."

"Blood bond?" Hermione repeated. "I've never read abo—" Her eyes unfocused for a moment, staring at something far away from Harry, before they cleared and she blinked, nodding in understanding. "Blood bond—when two individuals undergo a sacred and private ritual which creates a physical, magical, and legal connection between the two. It can be platonic or romantic, connecting the two individuals until death or mutual breaking of the bond."

"Um, yeah." Harry shared an amused glance with Susan. "Yeah, that's the gist of it, anyway. So in the eyes of magic, Neville and I are brothers. Even some of our physical features are the same—it's the reason I'm not super short anymore and why Neville has some freckles. Basically, magic recognized our bond and so Neville's Gran was able to become my guardian until they freed Padfoot and he could take over."

Hermione hummed noncommittally, but there was a spark in her eyes that let Harry know she was probably going to study the subject in depth later tonight. "Okay. So is that why you know when the other is in trouble? Because of the blood bond?"

"Yes?" Harry answered, unsure. "I mean, technically it's because of the blood bond. But, I don't have one with the rest of you so I have no idea why you guys knew I was in trouble."

Hermione frowned, absently trailing her fingers down the designs woven on her wand. "Maybe… Maybe it has something to do with our wands—something to do with the power they gave us." she said slowly, glancing up at Harry and Susan. "I mean, when we got our wands, we all felt that. That… power. It gave us these skills. I know things I shouldn't be able to know, things I haven't read yet. If these really are the original Founder's wands, then maybe that connection the four of them had transferred to us?"

"Hermione's right." Neville appeared and sat at Harry's other side, nodding tot he Ravenclaw girl. "This connection Harry and I have from the blood bond is stronger than it was before. And I imagine that if either of you were in a life-or-death situation, we would know." he turned to Harry with a small frown. "Are you alright? You didn't sleep for as long as I thought you were going to." he sighed in frustration. "I wish Remus had taught me that spell to check your core levels."

"Oh, I can do that!" Hermione spoke up brightly. Her unfocused again, like they did earlier, Harry noticed, before she blinked and was staring at Harry with a confident gaze. She lifted her wand and pointed it at Harry. "I found it the other night. Cor revelare." she stated, and a soft blue mist emitted from her wand and surrounded Harry.

The young Gryffindor shivered slightly as the cool mist flowed over him. The spell always made him feel like he had just been dunked in a bucket of cold water.

Hermione hummed softly before canceling the spell and pocketing her wand. "He's still recovering. If my research is right, I'd caution about a day or so more before his core magic is back to healthy levels."

Neville frowned a little at that, but Harry was quick to dispel his worries. "Nev, I'm fine, really." he smiled reassuringly and nudged his shoulder with his own for good measure. "My left shoulder's still a bit sore, but my magic is itching to do something." And it was. He'd been trying to ignore it, but he could feel it thrumming under his skin, excited and mischievous.

Neville smiled slightly at him, looking a little less worried, before sighing and leaning back against the oak tree. "Can we avoid doing anything like that again?" he asked, putting his hand over his heart dramatically. "I'm not sure my heart can take another scare like that."

"Now you sounded like Padfoot." Harry snickered, ignoring the offended 'hey!' and narrowly avoiding the elbow to his side.

"Boys, we're trying to have a serious conversation over here." Susan chided, a small smile betraying her words.

Neville huffed dismissively. "Talk about what? Harry's no longer in any immediate danger, the beast is gone, and you wrote a letter to your Aunt. What else can we do? We know it was Dumbledore, but its not like we can do anything to him. No one would believe us."

"But we can still try and figure out why he would have that beast in the castle." Hermione said, a disapproving frown on her face. "We have to do something. We can't just let him get away with endangering so many students like that. Not everyone is skilled enough like you two to take a beast like that down."

"Okay, fine. So why would Dumbledore have a Cerberus?" Neville asked, raising an eyebrow at Hermione.

Straightening her posture, Hermione crossed her arms over her chest in defiance. "Well, as we know, Cerberus guards the gates of hell—"

"And poachers have been know to breed them and sell them on the highest market." Susan piped in.

"Right, so, if these are basically big, giant guard dogs—"

"The what was in that corridor that Dumbledore felt the need to guard. And why put something that valuable in Hogwarts of all places? Why not Gringotts?" Harry questioned, tapping his fingers absently against his thigh.

"We need to go to the corridor and find out." Neville stated. "It's the only way. Plus, who knows, he might get something even worse than that to guard… whatever it is. And if something worse than a Cerberus gets loose?" he trailed off, shaking his head.

"I agree, as much as I usually disagree with your dangerous ideas." Susan sighed. "But we only go there to look." she said pointedly, eyeing Neville and Harry. "We make sure if there is a replacement, it won't be able to get loose. And if there's nothing there, we see if we can try to find out what Dumbledore is hiding.

Besides, we might be able to find something that would help Aunt Amelia crack down on him. She's been trying to put him away for ages after all the corruption and other things he's involved in that she wont tell me about, but she said she can never get any charges to stick because she doesn't have anything more than circumstantial proof and witnesses who refuse to talk or mysteriously disappear."

"And if we can prove he put the Cerberus there, or at least knew it was there, we could prove that he was endangering the students. There's no way he would be able to remain Headmaster after that." Harry added.

Hermione pursed her lips together. "We need to be careful, though," she cautioned. "We have no idea what Dumbledore could have related the beast with, and if it is worse than the Cerberus, we need to make sure none of us get hurt. Or worse."

"Then we'll just have to be prepared." Harry said, that familiar burn of anger at Dumbledore flickering in his chest. If he did replace it with something worse than that horrid beast, then Hermione was right, they needed to be prepared in case it escaped like the last one did. Harry would never forgive himself if one of his friends got hurt. "Guys, we need to start back up Operation Moonlight. Hermione, you can join us." he smiled. "You're the brightest witch or our age and know, like, a gazillion spells so it shouldn't be too hard for you to catch up with us."

"No!" Susan whined, falling against Hermione's side. "Not Operation Moonlight!"

"What's Operation Moonlight?" Hermione asked, looked bemused.

"It's this training regime Moony came up with for us. It's awful," Neville admitted. "But effective. It's mostly just a bunch of physical and magical conditioning. We run and strengthen our bodies so they can handle the amount of magic we use, and then we practice using magic so we can learn how to fight more effectively and how to fight when we're magically exhausted."

"So you and Susan will probably team up together, which is great, because now we won't have to take turns." Harry nodded.

"Yes!" Susan sat up and grinned, her eyes sparkling mischievously. "Oh, you guys are definitely going to get beat this time. The only time I've ever beat either one of them was because I don't use spells as powerful as they do, so my magic doesn't drain as fast." she explained, chuckling. "Usually I just wait them out."

Harry groaned good-naturedly and slumped against Neville's shoulder. "This is it, Neville. We're doomed. By the end of this year, they're going to outmatch us."

"Oh, you couldn't be more right, dear brother." Neville patted his brother's arm consolingly as Susan gave a dramatic retelling to Hermione about one of they training sessions. He glanced down at him and frowned slightly. "Why don't you rest here. I'll wake you up when it's time for dinner."

Harry was about to argue, but he yawned instead and had to concede that maybe if rested for just a little while longer, his eyes may not feel so heavy when he woke up. Besides, Weasley had interrupted his sleep earlier, so a little extra nap wouldn't be such a bad thing.

Nodding, Harry shifted slightly as Neville extended his legs and he laid his head on Neville's thigh, letting out a small noise of content when he felt a hand start threading through his hair. Enjoying the brief moment of peace, knowing they had a plan in place to make Dumbledore pay for his actions, Harry allowed himself to relax, lulled asleep by Susan's calming voice, Hermione's soft laughter, and Neville's hand running through his hair.

I really hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Leave a review and let me know what you think and where you would like to see the story go next! Don't forget to tap that follow button to get updates of my next chapter :)