"He's gone?" Harry asked in disbelief. "Of all times — did Quirrell lure him away on purpose?"
Kate was still turning over what had just happened and answered distractedly: Dumbledore wasn't the sort of man who could be easily deceived.
Most likely, he had left of his own accord.
But Harry wasn't interested in the nuance. "Final exams ended today, and Dumbledore just happens to be away — if I were Quirrell, I'd choose tonight to make my move!"
"Exactly, it has to be!" He paced the corridor anxiously, working through his theory. "We have to get to the three-headed dog's room tonight and take the Philosopher's Stone before he does!"
Hermione frowned. "Harry, calm down. Getting caught wandering the castle at night means losing House Points."
"I agree with Harry." Kate raised her hand. "Same as Harry, Voldemort destroyed my family. I don't want there to ever be a day when he comes back."
Harry looked at her in surprise. It had never occurred to him that the first person to stand up for him at a moment like this would be Kate.
After a long silence, Hermione shook her head, defeated. "All right. You're both right."
"Then tonight we go to the three-headed dog's room together under the Invisibility Cloak." Harry nodded eagerly. "The problem is, the cloak probably can't cover all four of us."
Kate immediately spread her hands. "I don't need the Invisibility Cloak. You three come out under it, and I'll meet you at the door to the three-headed dog's room."
"But —" Ron hesitated. "Does anyone actually know how to get past the three-headed dog?"
Hagrid had been about to say something earlier, but Kate had cut him off. Everyone looked at one another blankly.
Kate put her hands on her hips with a resigned sigh. "All right, fine. I actually asked my Teacher a few days ago about how to deal with three-headed dogs."
"Perfect!" Harry said, brightening. "Then we'll be able to get through the room without any trouble!"
Looking at the three of them wearing the expressions of people who had already won, Kate quietly rubbed her nose.
Sorry. She was going to stand them up tonight.
Steering Harry toward the three-headed dog's room was all well and good for keeping the plot on track — she had no intention of coming face to face with Voldemort this early, even if he was only a wraith at this point.
But as someone who had already crossed paths with wraith-Voldemort twice, if she accidentally revealed her identity, she would be the very first person on his list when he came back.
Absolutely not. Hard pass.
The four of them went to the Great Hall for dinner, and then Kate excused herself with a vague reason and headed back to the Common Room early.
Malfoy, who had clearly recovered her spirits after finishing the exams, was looking considerably more refreshed. Though the only people in the entire house who would talk to her were her little entourage, Pansy, and Blaise, it was still enough to keep her in high spirits within that small circle.
"Hey, Shafiq!" The moment she spotted Kate, Malfoy came sauntering over for their daily quarrel as usual. "How did the exams go?"
Kate answered modestly. "Not bad. The actual scores won't be out for another week though, so no need to rush."
"Who's rushing?" Malfoy's face went through several shades of red and white, and she scrambled to cover herself. "I naturally did better than you!"
"Sure, good for you." Kate brushed her off and looked past Malfoy at the others behind her, jerking her chin in a silent signal for them to reel her back in.
Pansy caught the look, gave a small cough, and deftly steered Malfoy back toward the group. "Draco, didn't you say your father was planning to buy you a new broomstick?"
"That's right!" Malfoy tossed her head proudly. "A Nimbus 2001. I bet you've never even seen one, Sha—"
She turned around, only to find that Kate had somehow already disappeared into the girls' dormitory.
Malfoy bit her lip, mildly irritated, then turned back and continued loudly singing the praises of her father's affection for her.
Kate returned to the dormitory to find Fluffball — noticeably rounder than before — tumbling into her arms, its fluffy little head nuzzling warmly against her chin.
"So you've finally got your energy back, Fluffball." Kate let out a quiet laugh, sat down on her bed with it in her lap, and began gently combing through its fur.
The little creature had been asleep for practically the entire school year. She'd been starting to wonder if it was going to sleep itself to death.
Still, judging by its size, Fluffball was growing fast — but genuine adulthood was still some ways off. Diricawls could teleport freely on their own, but carrying a passenger required waiting until they were fully grown to be safe about it.
With the boost from the phoenix saliva, what would have otherwise been three to five more years of growing had been cut down considerably.
At this rate, another half year of natural development at most, and it would be fully grown.
Kate played with Fluffball for a while, then settled it back on its perch and sat down to go through her textbooks.
She waited until the noise from the Common Room outside had gradually died away, then stretched, got to her feet, and closed her eyes.
When she opened them again, her consciousness had transferred into the armored warrior stationed in the second-floor armor corridor.
The corridor was pitch black as always. At this hour, well into curfew, almost no one ever passed through here — except for Filch.
Almost, however, was not the same as never.
Kate stood motionless and waited for half an hour before she finally saw a black-robed figure scramble quickly over from the far end of the corridor.
Well, well. Quite light on his feet — the injury must have healed up nicely.
She watched the black-robed figure slip cautiously into the three-headed dog's room. A moment later, a flowing, melodious harp tune drifted out from inside.
Another seven or eight minutes passed before she tried shifting her current steel body.
Good. No rust.
Just as she was about to move toward the room, she heard several young voices emerge from somewhere nearby — from within a patch of seemingly empty air.
"Don't push, we're almost there."
"Ron, you're standing on my foot!"
"Sorry, sorry!"
Hm. Three little lions, full of beans.
Perhaps because a Phantom Clone perceived its surroundings differently, Kate could sense quite clearly the three tiny clusters of magical energy making their way toward the three-headed dog's room.
She smiled silently, and once all three had entered the room, she began to stroll after them.
An armored warrior moving through a pitch-black corridor in the dead of night — if anyone were to see this scene, it would probably spawn a whole new round of school ghost stories.
Meanwhile, the trio had already removed the Invisibility Cloak and spotted the harp left in the room.
Under its magical compulsion, it continued to play its gentle melody, and the three-headed dog — ordinarily ferocious — had all three of its heads resting on the floor, swaying drowsily in sleep.
"Did Kate do this?" Harry whispered.
Only Hagrid, Kate, and Quirrell knew how to handle the three-headed dog. Hagrid could be ruled out, which left only Kate or Quirrell.
In that moment, Harry desperately hoped Kate would appear — because that would mean it wasn't Quirrell who had snuck in.
But Harry was disappointed.
Kate was nowhere to be seen. And then, behind them, the door creaked open.
A large, imposing figure cast its shadow over all three of them.
The three turned back in apprehension, and found a figure in full steel armor standing behind them, face entirely obscured.
It slowly drew the sword at its side. The gleaming blade reflected back three small, terrified faces.
"AAHH!"
All three screamed at once — and, predictably, startled the three-headed dog right out of the sleep it had only just been lulled into.
The great dog lurched upright in an instant, all three pairs of drowsy eyelids snapping wide open to reveal a savage gleam. Three massive jaws swung toward them with a roar, sending the three little lions scrambling in every direction.
It was the armored warrior who moved first — raising its sharp blade to block the lunge of the middle head.
But the middle head kept pressing forward with its full weight against her shoulder, and although the sword held it off, the force of the impact sent her body lurching to the left.
Kate had no choice but to grip the hilt with all her strength to keep herself upright, while glancing sideways at the three dumbstruck little lions.
The Phantom Clone couldn't speak, and the armored warrior had no voice at all — she could only use her actions to urge them to hurry up and go.
At that moment, the three-headed dog's other two heads began attacking simultaneously from left and right.
Kate swept her sword upward to knock the left head flying, while the right head crashed against the shield on her back, sending a sharp clang reverberating through the armor.
"I think it's trying to help us." Hermione was the quickest to catch on, recognizing that the armored warrior's movements were shielding them.
Harry didn't stop to think twice. His eyes had already found the trapdoor left unguarded now that the three-headed dog had moved away.
"Quick, let's get down there!"
He dashed over and grabbed the iron ring on the trapdoor. It swung open at once, revealing a bottomless dark pit below.
"Hey! Are you coming with us?"
Even as she was about to drop down, Hermione turned back to call out to the armored warrior, now backed into a corner by the three-headed dog.
"Move it, he won't last long!" Ron shoved her toward the hole in his urgency.
He would take jumping into a dark pit over being mauled by a three-headed dog any day.
One by one, the three little lions dropped through the trapdoor.
The moment the last of them went down, the shield — taking blow after relentless blow — finally gave way under the force and shattered with a thunderous crack.
Kate seized the split second of the shield's breaking, drove the pommel of her sword hard into one of the three-headed dog's eyes, and the moment it recoiled in pain, launched herself off the half-shattered remains of the shield and dove headfirst through the trapdoor.
She fell, and kept falling, dropping for several long seconds before she finally hit solid ground.
Hm?
According to the original works, the drop should have landed them in Professor Sprout's Devil's Snare — that was supposed to be the next obstacle. Had they already cleared it that quickly?
Kate shook her head and had barely pushed herself up off the ground before three wands were shoved in her face.
"Who are you!" Hermione demanded fiercely. "Take the helmet off!"
Taking it off was not an option — these three would probably have nightmares about headless horsemen for a week.
Kate hesitated for a moment, then slowly tilted her steel head toward Hermione's wand and gently — gently — nuzzled it against her hand.
I mean no harm. Please don't hurt me.
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