Unity/Division and Fluffy/Cerberus

[gregory_lynn]

No: HPFGUIDX 98008

I've been doing a little examination of the examples of unity and 
division in the books as part of a little theory I've been thinking 
about, and it occurred to me that most of the beasts Hagrid has 
trouble with are mixed breeds.  Centaurs, Hippogriffs, Thestrals, 
Unicorns, they all are--or at least seem to be--the product of 
breeding different species.  Even blast ended skrewts are the result 
of interbreeding fire crabs and manticores.

So I got to wondering about Fluffy and looked up the obvious Cerberus 
reference.

I found this:

In Greek mythology, the three-headed watchdog who guards the entrance 
to the lower world, the Hades. It is a child of the giant Typhon and 
Echidna, a monstrous creature herself, being half woman and half 
snake. 

Originally, the dog was portrayed having fifty or hundred heads but 
was later pictured with only three heads (and sometimes with the tail 
of a serpent). Cerberus permitted new spirits to enter the realm of 
dead, but allowed none of them to leave. Only a few ever managed to 
sneak past the creature, among which Orpheus, who lulled it to sleep 
by playing his lyre, and Heracles, who brought it to the land of the 
living for a while (being the last of his Twelve Labors). 

In Roman mythology, the Trojan prince Aeneas and Psyche were able to 
pacify it with honey cake. (See also: Garm.) 

Here:

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/c/cerberus.html

I find it quite interesting that Cerberus is the offspring of 
something that is half serpent.