After the class ended, the students clustered around talking with each other.
Susan and Hannah were giggling with the Gryffindor girls.
It was weird to see Susan giggling. Normally, she gives off a strict but kind vibe, while some of her laughs can be called giggles, they cannot compare to the giggling fit she is under now.
He was a little curious about what they were talking about, but he just shook his head and walked towards the loudest group.
Weasley was talking something about Chudley cannons under the disdainful gaze of Rose and the disbelief of another Gryffindor.
Rose saw him walking towards them, so Leon signaled her to come near him.
Rose slinked away from their group ignoring Hermoine’s protests.
She followed Leon into a corner under the watchful gaze of Hermoine.
“Do you know what is on the third floor?”
“No! Do you?” Rose asked him with a raised eyebrow.
“Were you able to reach the third floor?” He asked, ignoring her question.
“I didn’t try after the troll fiasco. What’s this about?”
“Do you want to? I reached the third floor, and I know a way you can too.”
“Hell, yeah!” Rose''s gaze drifted from him, prompting him to turn back.
It seems Weasely noticed the missing member of their group prompting him to beeline toward them.
“How about a half an hour from now? Meet me near the staircase point.” Leon murmured.
Rose eagerly nodded her head and left to meet her group.
“Make sure your bladder and bowels are clear.” Rose looked at him with a strange glint in her eyes before nodding.
Rose ignored the rapid questions from the Weasley and Hermoine.
“Don’t be a nag, Ron. I know what I am doing.”
The trio left the classroom whispering at each other.
‘Hmm! I wonder if Ron likes Rose like in every female Harry fic. Or did Hermione’s changes make him notice her early?’
While Leon agreed with those fanfics- a female Harry was someone who ticks every box of an immature, young Ron- he just shrugged and eyed the more immediate problem.
His friends were still gigging and talking about something.
Looking at Hannah’s red face, he didn’t know whether interrupting them was a good idea.
‘Yeah! I will take this time to plan.’
Leon quickly left the classroom and hurried towards the abandoned classroom in which he hid the rope.
Tying it around his body he left for a washroom.
‘I was lucky I didn’t spoil my underwear last time.’
A little luck and his daily habit of waking up early were the reason his pants were fine that day. Otherwise, with him losing the capacity to even generate thoughts there isn’t any doubt about what would happen to his involuntary muscle control.
Thanking his lucky stars again, Leon leaned against a wall, waiting for Rose.
His stealth spell combo made him disappear from the world, letting him relax.
Slowly his thoughts drifted towards his failure in reaching the Unstage and creating a Lumos variant to detect Hagrid.
He was stuck with the mental exercises, unlike the Lumos variant spell which just needed more time.
Leon looked above him, gazing in the direction of the Cerberus.
‘Maybe today will be the day I will reach the Un stage.’ He had more than one reason for going to the third floor today.
While he wasn’t sure if the results would be as he desired, he had to try.
Two girls in Gryffindor’s robes stopped before the stairs.
‘Rose and Hermoine.’
Shaking his head, Leon dispelled his spells and clapped his hands, making them jump in fright.
They turned around and spotted him leaning against the wall with a mischievous grin.
“Where did you come from?” Hermoine glared at him, her eyes searching for something.
“It doesn’t matter, Hermione. Let’s go.” Rose beckoned him, eyeing the rope around his shoulder.
The trio quickly got on the moving staircase.
As the staircase moved towards the third floor, Leon made the footholds, this time even more elaborate to help the newbies.
With a wave and whisper the rope became alive and swiftly attached its end to the third floor’s roof.
“Quick we don’t want anyone seeing us.”
Rose didn’t need further prompting, she caught the rope with a grin and swung towards the third floor.
Rolling on the ground to stop her momentum, she safely landed and grinned at them.
The rope flew back.
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“Granger, be quick.”
“But but.”
Seeing the panic in her eyes, Leon knew she wasn’t going to be quick.
“Climb on my back and close your eyes.”
Hermione didn’t react, froze with indecision.
“NOW!” He shouted, making her follow his instructions.
“Close your eyes.” Leon struggled to speak as the girl was choking the life out of him.
He ignored her iron grip for now and Tarzan’ed towards the third floor.
Generally, he would have left the rope and rolled on the ground to spend his momentum.
But with a koala crushing him to death, he had to improvise.
Like a pendulum, he let the rope’s momentum carry them across the third-floor hallway and reach its peak.
And when they were going to swing back, with a wave of his wand, the lower end of the rope got itself attached to the floor, halting them after a couple of seconds.
Rose hurried towards them and glared at Leon.
‘What did I do now?’ he wondered.
“You thought I couldn’t take Hermoine with me? I was hoping she would turn back after seeing that she had to swing over a five-story height and risk a deathly fall.”
It wasn’t a ‘deathly’ fall by any means. He knew after the practice he put into it, that the Spongify spell could safely stop the fall from this height.
Even if Hermione slipped, he could have caught her with a Leviosa spell, he didn’t freeze any situations.
Something that came naturally to him after a few tousles with some extreme sports.
But Leon knew that wasn’t the point she was making so he stayed silent.
As the silence became awkward, Hermoine shakily stood up with heavy breathing and glared at Rose, making her wilt.
‘Payback!’ he yelled in his mind.
“Anyways, I hope you guys followed my instructions, if not we can find a washroom here.” He clapped, gathering their attention.
“What?” Hermoine snapped at him.
“Your bladd-” Rose hit him before taking her friend away.
“We will be back.” The two left and came back after a dozen minutes.
“You better have a good reason, Astraeus.” Hermione gave him a heated look, blushing.
Leon just shrugged and gestured towards an inconspicuous door.
“You will thank me after you move towards that door. And I am warning you, I became paralyzed and felt the presence of something that scared my soul out of me.”
‘I wonder if Dumbles gave Rose and co a special exemption from suffering under the gaze of a mythical predator.’
“Awesome!” Rose yelled before running towards the door.
Casting a skeptical glance at him, Hermoine followed her friend.
Just as they reached three meters away from the door, both collapsed on the floor.
Followed by a wave of his wand and a whisper, they were dragged across the floor, away from the guardian of hell.
‘Well! Well! This does change things.’
“What was that?” Rose was first to gather her thoughts.
Hermoine too took some deep breaths and stood up.
Unlike Leon who was subjected to the interest of the Cerberus for seven whole minutes, Rose and Hermoine were quickly pulled away, so they regained their bearing quickly.
“I think a magical creature is in there.”
Rose waved her wand and a spell hit the floor.
Nothing happened.
“Was something supposed to happen?” He asked, curious.
“No! Well, yes. Argh! Whatever creature in there is friendly.” Rose still looked disturbed from her earlier experience, but she braved on.
“How can you tell?” Hermione and Leon questioned at the same time.
Smirking at the pair, Rose replied.
“Weak spells fizzle away in the presence of a creature that powerful. You were able to drag us away and my spell was able to touch the door, only because the creature didn’t think of us as an enemy or a threat.”
Rose explained, twirling her wand, and eyeing the door.
“Where did you read that?” Hermione eyed Rose, looking impressed.
“Uncle Sirius told us when we went to a dragon sanctuary. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to feel the presence of the dragon, they had wards against it. He did say that he soiled himself when he first faced a dragon guarding their vau-. Doesn’t matter!”
She glared at the duo, daring them to continue the line of questioning.
“So, we can open the door, and the creature won’t attack us.” Leon was excited, he didn’t want to wrestle with Cerberus like a Greek hero, he just wanted to see it.
‘Wait! Now I think about it, wrestling with a guardian of hell sounds awesome- Play wrestling though.’
“Probably, but the door is enchanted. We can’t open it.”
Just like that, his excitement was gone.
“Ok! Then let’s go back.” Hermione turned around.
“Wait! I want to try something, just drag me away from there after 3 minutes.”
Not waiting for their reply, he quickly walked towards the door.
Leon had three reasons for coming to the third floor today- To see if Potter is somehow protected from Cerberus''s presence or has some method to resist it, to use her connection with Hagrid if Dumbles didn’t specifically key the trio into wards to let them see the Cerberus, and to feel the presence of the guardian of hell’s gate again.
Like a puppet cut off from its string, he fell onto the floor after reaching three meters from the door.
Leon could feel three different emotions emanating from the presence behind the door- Indifference, Excitement, and Curiosity- unlike the overwhelming curiosity of the last time.
His mind was slowly becoming tired under the weight of Cerberus''s presence. Just like last time, his thoughts were slowing down.
There wasn’t even a need to talk about his body, he couldn’t even twitch.
Ignoring everything, Leon tried to feel his mind, as said by the book.
Only after he could feel his mind, he can be said to have reached Un-stage. While it wasn’t even 11 days since he learned the mental exercises, he wasn’t making progress. And he thought why not use the mythical monster of hell in the children’s school to train his mind?
As his mind strained not to become undone under the weight of Cerberus’s interest, he tried and tried to feel his mind, but he couldn’t.
He couldn’t.
There was an ethereal step missing in the staircase that led to his mind.
Just like that, he was dragged back.
Leon wasn’t shaken much this time. After all, he knew what he was doing, and he came to terms with his position in the food chain last time.
Thoughts ran wild in his mind as he looked at the door.
The two Gryffindors were silent as the trio walked towards the staircase, catching onto his somber mood.
“Do you need a piggyback ride again, Granger?” Leon joked, trying to break the silence.
Rose cracked a grin before a mischievous glint flashed in her eyes.
“Oh! You are still calling her Granger even after she left you breathless and tried to meld your bodies together?”
Hermoine blushed at that.
“Yes, I can still feel her love suffocating me. What do you say, Granger? As you are the first girl who took my breath away, I should be allowed to call you Hermoine, right?”
Rose snickered as her friend blushed.
“Fine!” Hermione muttered through, gritted teeth, glaring at Leon and Rose, with the blush still prominent on her face.
“You won’t get to touch this fair lady without slaying a dragon, Noble Astraeus.” Rose smiled at him as Hermoine climbed on her back.
“Don’t leave the rope even after you land. I will use the Spongify spell to drain your momentum.” He said before handing them the rope.
The duo swung towards a moving staircase after Leon’s spell turned it into a magical cushion.
“Keek!”
The high-pitched scream made Leon grimace.
Before someone could come to check, Leon too jumped.
They ran across the second-floor corridor and entered an abandoned classroom.
“I am sorry!” Hermoine said, looking away guilty.
Her scream could have attracted attention, but it didn’t. So, Leon just waved his hand at her.
“No worries, No one saw us. It was a nice trip, see you guys later.”
As curfew was nearly upon them, the trio quickly departed towards their houses.
Both of Leon’s aims weren’t completed today. But he knows that Rose will be the key to his Cerberus obsession.
‘Hagrid.’
Shaking his head, Leon thought back on how spells fizzle away in the presence of magical beasts.
Hearing that magical beasts like Cerberus have some type of domain that blocks spells, was a little shocking.
But it wasn’t much of a shock when you consider you will be dead before you know it if you meet a wild Cerberus.
After all, they are predators. Sneaking up on people is their thing.
‘I wonder what type of beasts have domain, I bet only 7-X beasts have that. I guess the domain ensures a magical beast can’t be defeated with numbers. Other than that, I don’t see much of a use.’
Leon tossed the thought of defeating or surviving a Cerberus to the back of his mind after he felt its presence.
He will certainly be able to defeat Cerberus, but not yet.
For now, he wants to see it and take advantage of its overbearing presence- domain- to reach the Un stage.
‘Trying to connect to my mind under pressure, while difficult, wasn’t a success. Maybe performing the mental exercises under pressure will help.’
Lost in thought, he opened the Hufflepuff’s entrance and entered his house’s spacious common room.
“Where were you?”
The curious looks of Susan and Hannah stopped him in his tracks.