Milo continued to stand in front of the three-headed dog, his feet firmly planted in place when he knew damn well that he should have run like the others did. He couldn't help it though, he just found himself in a happy state of shock to learn why the students had been forbidden to come down the specific corridor. In most scenarios, people would have condemned the school for having such a dangerous beast on the grounds, let alone in the actual castle, but Milo knew there had to be a reason. Surely, his mother and the rest of the staff were aware, so what were they doing hiding a giant three-headed dog in a room for?
He was surprised that Hagrid wasn't there at that exact moment, giving the dog a belly rub, the man often expressed his love for the big beasties. But that shouldn't have been what went through the boy's mind initially, his fight or flight survival instincts should have kicked it right away as he was faced with danger. But as the dog beast continued to near him, Milo didn't feel the need to run. No matter how much they snarled or growled at him, he remained perfectly still. He suddenly heard the sounds of Harry and the others attempting to get back into the room, but the dog had that taken care of as one of the massive paws was suddenly pressed against the door, keeping it closed.
The head in the middle lowered down first, nearing Milo with all of its teeth exposed. Finally, Milo seemed to snap back into reality as a small gasp escaped from him and he took a step back.
"Sorry to interrupt your nap, Mr. Beastie," Milo said quietly, making sure not to make direct eye contact as he focused on the wooden floor. "But I can offer an explanation."
The dogs barked simultaneously, drowning out Milo's words and causing his hair to flutter about.
"Or not," he muttered. "I perfectly understand, I don't like when people disrupt my sleep either. In fact, I would probably react the same way as you, but perhaps with less drool and barking. My mother would never allow that sort of behavior."
Suddenly, the dog on the right began to sniff the air as its head grew closer and closer to Milo, sniffing the boy's robes. He stood perfectly still in place when all three heads started to sniff at him. He began to shiver out of fear even though he was fully aware that animals could sense fear, but he really didn't care at that point. He could hear Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Neville, pounding on the door and calling him to come out.
But before he could respond and tell them that he was okay for the time being, he was suddenly nudged by one of the heads, nearly knocking him back in the wall. The three heads were no longer growling or barking, they were just staring at him expectantly. Perhaps they were having a mental debate about who would get the first bite out of him. But they made no attempt to attack him, they would simply sniff at his robes and nudge him.
"I'm afraid I don't...."
Milo shoved his hands into the pocket of his robes to figure out what they were sniffing at when he suddenly felt a small wrapped parcel in his pocket. He quickly took it out, to see that Bitsy had actually still packed him a midnight treat even though he had declined earlier. It was a small parcel but full of biscuits and small pastries that she was fully aware that the boy enjoyed. As soon as he held the treats in hand, the room suddenly became quiet and he saw the three dogs just staring directly at the food.
"Oh," Milo said with a small grin. He glanced up at the three heads, their eyes alert and begging. "You three are begging!"
He let out a laugh, some of it to release the nerves, the rest in total disbelief. He quickly threw one of the biscuits into the air where the one of the left snatched it up. The other two appeared angered that he was fed first. Quickly, Milo saw how he was going to get out of the room as he launched all the goodies into the air and allowed them to scramble about. With the massive paw off the door, Milo was able to yank it open and run out, only to crash into the four younger students.
"You're okay?!" Harry said, wondering if he was seeing another ghost as he looked over at his older brother, lying on the ground on his back. Milo was staring up at the ceiling attempting to collect his breath when he glanced over at Harry in confusion. Had he just heard the concern in his brother's voice or did the giant three-headed dog bark cause his hearing to become a bit distorted.
"I'm alright, 'Arry," Milo smiled as he rested his head back. Even if Harry wasn't concerned, he was going to pretend that he was for the time being to make himself feel better. However, there was little time to rejoice as they heard Filch's voice.
"You four need to get back to the Gryffindor Tower," Milo said quickly pushing himself up and helping all of them stand. "No more detours, just go back! I can cause a distraction to lure Filch and Mrs. Norris off your path."
"But what about you?" Harry asked him as the other three were preparing to head back.
"Don't worry about me, I've been training with Fred and George since lat year, I know how to plan my escape better than most. Go on."
Harry lingered for just a second more before turning on his heel and running along with the others to escape the wrath of the caretaker and his cat. Milo ran off in the opposite direction, opening a few doors along the way of the corridor to make sure that Filch would check each one to see if a student was hiding. He also made plenty of noise to deter Filch from heading in the direction of his brother and friends.
Finally, he reached the kitchens and slipped to the Hufflepuff barrels.
"Mr. Potter!"
Milo spun around, fully prepared to start apologizing and come up with some terrible excuse as to why he was out of bed past curfew, only to see Bitsy standing before him, a few feet away. For the second time in one night, the house-elf had managed to scare the living hell out of him.
"Bitsy," he sighed in relief. "What are you doing out here?"
"Did Mr. Potter eat the treats that Bitsy hid?" She asked with a small smile. Milo couldn't help but smile in return before he let out a small laugh.
"Actually, Bitsy, I don't think you understand how those treats saved my life this evening, thank you so much. I owe you one!"
"Mr. Potter does not owe Bitsy anything. Bitsy was glad to be of help." She gave a small nod of her head before she disappeared, leaving Milo to tap on the barrels and get inside the Hufflepuff Common Room for safety. He had managed to get Filch off his tail, hopefully, it meant that Harry and the others had made it back safely as well.
He was definitely going to need a shower before bed as he noted all the excess drool that had made its way onto his robes.
"Ew."
The next morning, Milo headed to the Great Hall as early as possible as he wanted to make sure to see if the others were okay. However, he didn't understand that he had gotten himself out of bed for nothing as they were probably going to sleep in as much as possible due to all the crazed events that had taken place the night before. It had lft him quite sleepy as he continued to doze off at the Hufflepuff table, hovering over his cereal bowl.
Minerva had walked in to take her place among the other staff at the front table, only to catch sight of her son, nodding off and nearly going face first into his bowl. She shook her head with a small smile before making her way over to stand behind him.
"Mr. Potter!" She called to him in a stern tone, causing him to jerk his head up and immediately turn around on the bench. "How dare you!"
Instantly, his eyes widened and he realized that word had somehow gotten out about what had occurred the night before.
"Mum!" He whimpered with a terrified look. "I um...look, Mum, I'm really sorry!"
"How dare you not come and tell me yourself that you made the quidditch team!" Her voice ended with a smile bringing Milo to nearly choke on his own words.
"Wh-what?"
"I heard from Professor Sprout before she signed off the roster, you made Chaser!"
He just stared at the woman with a blank expression as he didn't hear any mention of being out past curfew, outrunning Filch, meeting up with Peeves, or discovering the three-headed dog that was hidden in the school.
"Uh....sorry? I guess I was too excited because...everyone was excited and we went back to the common room to celebrate."
"Well, I gather that's why you're so tired to the point where you can't keep your head up. You're nearly drowning in your cereal. "
Milo quickly pushed the bowl away from him and averted his gaze from hs mother's. He knew all too well that she had the ability like no other to know when someone was lying to her and it didn't help that Milo was not a master liar either. She could figure out things just by looking at him if he kept eye contact with her long enough. She didn't seem to catch on that time as she congratulated him once more and left to sit with Professor Flitwick. Milo let out a loud exhale when he saw Harry enter the Great Hall finally with Ron at his side.
However, neither boy made an attempt to walk over to Milo making him frown as he studied back on his breakfast. Perhaps it was just distorted hearing when Milo thought he had heard the concern in his brother's voice, but it also made Milo feel quite bitter. If it wasn't for Hermione or Milo acting fast, they would have been possibly expelled because of Malfoy's trap.
Suddenly, someone did sit with him as he looked up to see Neville sitting across the way.
"H-hello Milo," the boy greeted him quietly.
"Hello, Neville," Milo smiled at him. "Are you alright?"
Neville nodded his head. "I'm a bit tired and...s-sore but I'm okay. I just wanted to thank you for last night. You really did help us."
"You don't have to thank me, Neville."
"Well, I guess Harry won't but I will. You really helped up and...you were awfully brave to stay in that room for as long as you did. Those things looked so mean and I guess because they were guarding that door-"
"Come again?" Milo interrupted him. "What did you say? Guarding a door?"
Neville's eyes widened as if he had said too much but he pressed his lips together, debating whether he should go on or not. Eventually, he just let out a small sigh and nodded his head.
"Hermione said last night that it was guarding a door."
"That's odd."
"Well, I don't care what it was guarding, I just don't ever want to see something like it again!"
Leave it to Hermione to make the observation and now that she had informed the others about it, Milo had to wonder what Harry was going to do with that sort of information. He was sure it wasn't going to be anything good.
Milo remained at the Hufflepuff table when Neville left to eat some breakfast when Katie sat across from him, looking awfully concerned by the boy's expression.
"Are you alright, Milo? You look a little rough," she told him. Suddenly, Milo let out a small laugh before looking across the way at his friend.
"Don't you mean ruff?"
"What?"