Harry Potter: Dudley From LOTM

Bang!

With a deafening crash, Dudley's body flew backward, propelled by the force of his punch. At the same instant, the colossal three-headed dog let out a sharp, painful whimper.

"Close the door!" Dudley, who had instinctively rolled with the impact, landed on the stone corridor floor and immediately bellowed.

Harry, quick-witted despite his shock, slammed the heavy door shut and twisted the lock. The moment the door clicked, all sounds from within the chamber ceased. The corridor outside fell into an eerie, profound silence, punctuated only by their ragged breathing. Half of it was due to sheer terror, half due to bewildered awe.

"Hiss~" Dudley gasped, a sharp, searing pain shooting through his hand, making him wince.

"Dudley, are you alright?" Harry rushed to his side, his face etched with concern.

Dudley's hand was covered in glistening liquid—a mixture of the creature's drool, some of its silver blood, and his own scraped skin. "Just a minor injury," he mumbled, glancing at the rapidly healing abrasions. "Nothing serious." His Barbarian physique, while impressive, had limits against a creature of that magnitude. Still, no broken bones. He'd recover quickly.

"Are they mad?" Ron whispered, his voice trembling with horror. "They're keeping such a fierce beast in the school!"

"Didn't you see what it was doing?" Hermione asked, still shaken, her eyes wide.

"Doing what?" Ron exclaimed, exasperated. "I didn't have time to care what it was doing! Maybe you didn't notice, but that thing has three heads!"

Hermione closed her eyes for a moment in exasperation, then opened them. "It was standing on a trapdoor. Obviously, it's guarding something."

"Guarding something?" Harry's expression shifted, and he immediately looked at Dudley.

Dudley met his gaze and gave a slight nod. Harry understood. The item guarded by the Cerberus was almost certainly the one from Vault 713. Only something of immense value would warrant such extreme security.

After confirming that Filch had truly left the area, the four of them cautiously returned to the Gryffindor common room. Ron and Hermione bickered the entire way, their usual animosity flaring up despite their shared ordeal. They seemed to disagree on everything, each word from one sparking a fiery retort from the other. If Harry hadn't repeatedly reminded them that their noisy arguments might attract Filch again, they would have likely argued endlessly in the corridor.

"Alright, I'm going to bed," Hermione announced curtly, once they were safely inside the common room. "I hope you don't come up with any more idiotic ideas to trouble yourselves, and end up either eaten by a monster or expelled." She turned and stalked towards the girls' dormitory.

Ron watched her leave with wide eyes. "What was that about? As if we dragged her along! Didn't she also violate school rules and run out with us?"

Harry just patted Ron's shoulder, saying nothing.

Dudley, meanwhile, simply treated the wound on his hand. The scraped area, thanks to his rapidly advancing Barbarian healing abilities, had almost completely closed. He had to admit, the Barbarian physique was indeed impressive.

"Dudley, the thing that Cerberus was guarding…" Harry began hesitantly.

"It should be the item from Vault 713," Dudley confirmed. "But I'm not sure what it is exactly. However, one thing has made me connect some dots." His voice dropped, taking on a conspiratorial tone. "Remember the dark wizard we found in the Forbidden Forest earlier? If that person was the dark-robed figure we encountered at Gringotts, do you think his objective might be the item guarded by that Cerberus?"

Hearing this, Harry and Ron fell silent, the implications slowly dawning on them.

"Do you think… it's possible that the dark-robed figure is someone from our school?" Harry speculated. "It's not easy for outsiders to enter the Forbidden Forest. I asked Hagrid about it before."

"It's possible," Dudley nodded. Professor Quirrell's image flashed through his mind. Quirrell, possessed by an evil spirit. Anything was possible for him. But was he truly the same dark-robed figure from Gringotts? Dudley wasn't entirely certain. At Gringotts, their skirmish had been brief, the distance considerable, and the figure had emitted almost no magical aura, as if carefully prepared. Moreover, Dudley's own strength at that time was only Sequence 9; he had only elevated his status by using Trunsoest Brass Book, appearing, and fighting in spirit form. Under those circumstances, it was difficult to make an accurate judgment.

"You guys," Ron suddenly exclaimed, his eyes wide, "do you think it could be Professor Snape?"

"I suspect it's him too!" Harry immediately nodded. "And Dudley just said he ran into Professor Snape in the fourth-floor corridor. Oh my goodness, was he perhaps trying to sneak in, and Dudley bumped into him?" Ron said, a dawning horror on his face.

Once people start making connections, they tend to link many unrelated things to support their own views. The more they talked, the more suspicious Snape seemed.

Dudley shook his head helplessly. Compared to Snape, he suspected Quirrell far more. Snape, while annoying, didn't seem truly evil. At least, Dudley hadn't sensed too much genuine malice from him, save for the faint evil aura constantly emanating from his left forearm, likely a remnant of the Dark Mark. Dudley didn't correct Harry and Ron's conclusions; he let them speculate. After all, Snape's demeanor practically screamed, 'I am the villain.'

As for Quirrell, was being possessed by an evil spirit truly being a bad person? It was hard to say. At least during this period, Dudley hadn't found him doing anything overtly abnormal.

Early the next morning, as Dudley, Harry, and Ron were having breakfast in the Great Hall, Hermione appeared in a rush, a whirlwind of frantic energy. She plopped down beside Dudley, completely ignoring Harry and Ron.

"Oh my goodness!" she exclaimed, speaking in a rapid-fire manner. "I almost overlooked something extremely important yesterday! Thankfully, I remembered it this morning!"

"What is it?" Dudley asked, genuinely puzzled. Harry and Ron cast inquisitive glances. Clearly, Hermione was talking about last night's events. Had they overlooked something critical?

"Last night," Hermione whispered, her eyes wide and excited, "when you cast that spell on the door, you didn't use a wand at all! Wandless magic! I almost overlooked it! How did you do that? Can you teach me?"

"Uh, this…" Dudley stammered, trying to formulate a plausible excuse. "It's just that, perhaps in a moment of extreme excitement, it naturally came out. You know, wizards can sometimes display abilities beyond the norm when their emotions are highly volatile."

"Really?" Hermione said, a note of disappointment in her voice. Wandless magic was rare, even among highly skilled wizards like Dumbledore. For Dudley, a first-year who had only just begun his magical education, to perform it was shocking.

[Chapter Complete]

***

Want more? Check out my Patreon for:

✓ Advanced chapters of all my stories

✓ Exclusive novels & fanfics

✓ Early access content www.patreon.com/meowthtl

💪 Community Goal: 500 Power Stones unlocks a bonus chapter!

Thanks for reading and supporting the story!