Susan opened her mouth to argue, and Harry shook his head, cutting her off before she could speak. "Susan, you said the mirror only shows you what you want. Well, do you think your parents would want you to sit in front of a mirror all day?"
"No," she muttered, looking down.
"Susan, please don't go back to the mirror," Harry pleaded. "More than anyone I understand the temptation, and if you'd told me about this a year ago, I'd have gone with you to find it in a heartbeat. But now… now I have friends. People who like me. And I don't want to see any of them become sad. That includes you. And you will become sad if you try to rely on that mirror."
"You…" Susan huffed, tears in her eyes, but she nodded before wiping her face with her sleeves. "Fine. I won't go."
"Thank you," Harry said. Then, for some reason that he didn't really understand, he leaned in and hugged her. Susan went stiff in his arms, before relaxing after a second and returning his embrace.
"You suck at hugging," Susan murmured.
"I haven't had a lot of practice," he replied apologetically.
"We'll have to fix that," she said with a firm nod, and Harry meekly nodded back.
"Come on, let's go before they wonder where we are and why we're taking so long," Susan suggested as they broke apart. Then, they hurried off to find their friends so they could head down to Hagrid's hut. It was time to find out about this new mystery on the 3rd floor.
A few minutes later, Harry and his 'study group' were down at the hut near the edge of the Forbidden Forest. A quick knock on the door summoned a round of barking from Fang, as expected, but it took longer for it to open up than usual.
"Hullo?" Hagrid uttered, opening the door to his hut and looking down at the six of them with red, bleary eyes.
"Hagrid, have you been crying?" Ron asked, before letting out an "Oof!" as Hannah elbowed him in the ribs for his insensitive query.
"Sorry 'bout that, kids," he apologized. "I just miss little Norbert."
"We're very sorry we got Charlie to take Norbert away," Harry told him. "But it was for the best."
"I know that," Hagrid grumped. "Doesn't make it any easier to see yer baby leave."
"I'm sure if you ask, Charlie wouldn't mind letting visit in the future," Ron said, offering an olive branch to the large Groundskeeper.
That worked to cheer him up, and that made the kids themselves happy. Seeing Hagrid sad was no fun. Harry private felt like it was akin to looking at a depressed puppy. A very big and strong puppy with no sense of danger, but a puppy all the same.
'And thinking of puppies…' Harry thought to himself, feeling a faint flicker of amusement at the comparison.
"Hey, Hagrid, we had a question for you," Harry said as they filed inside the Groundkeeper's hut.
"Oh? Ask away," Hagrid replied, wiping his eyes with a handkerchief the size of a tablecloth.
"I had a question about magical creatures. What do you know about three-headed dogs?" Harry asked curiously.
"How'd you find out about Fluffy?!" Hagrid demanded, staring at the students in shock.
"Fluffy?" Hermione uttered in bewilderment, while Neville and Hannah shared an exasperated 'of course he'd name it that!' moment. Ron and Susan just looked like they were trying not to laugh.
"Yer not supposed t'be in the third-floor corridor! Dumbledore said it was off-limits!" Hagrid huffed.
"I never said anything about the third floor," Harry said slyly. "I was just curious because Muggles have a legend about three-headed dogs and I wanted to know what the wizards had."
"Ah, err, that is, I mean," Hagrid stammered as he realized he'd been caught.
"Hagrid, there wouldn't happen to be a giant, deadly dog-monster guarding a room in the third-floor corridor, would there?" Harry pressed. "Because that sounds incredibly risky."
"Well, first off, Fluffy is no monster," Hagrid huffed. "He's a Hellhound, and he's a good boy! Easy to take care of, even though he's stuck in the room guarding the… I mean, uh, he's not guarding anything!"
"Hagrid, if Dumbledore really wanted people to stay away from the hallway and that room, then he'd have done more than warn us away and keep the door closed with a lock a second-year charm could open," Susan pointed out dryly.
"Keeping a giant dog, three-headed or otherwise, inside a tiny room to guard something is very irresponsible and dangerous!" Hermione exclaimed. "And probably breaks a whole bunch of rules!"
"Of course, that is what she focuses on," Ron muttered to Neville and Hannah, who both snickered and nodded.
"Oh, no, Fluffy is very kind and playful! Perfectly safe! He'd never attack a student! And if he ever does get upset and rowdy, a little bit of music is enough to calm him down…" Hagrid protested, only to trail off as he realized he'd spilled the beans. Again.
"Hagrid… have you told anyone else about Fluffy?" Harry couldn't help but wonder.
"Err, no, of course not!" Hagrid quickly replied. Too quickly.
"Oh, lord, you told the person you got the dragon egg from, didn't you?" Harry realized as he stared at the nervous half-giant.
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