Dylan, We Ran Into the Three-Headed Dog!

Ron scratched his head, just about to speak when Harry clapped a hand over his mouth.

"Ahaha, good evening, Dylan... Hurry, hurry up and sleep, haha..."

With his mouth covered, Ron could not say a word, but he nodded frantically like a pecking chicken.

"Go, go, go. We're leaving." Harry dragged Ron away.

The two turned around in a panic, stumbling awkwardly as they held their breath, afraid of making too much noise.

They gently lifted their feet, then slowly set them back down.

They looked exactly like two guilty thieves.

Their hands stretched slightly forward, grasping at empty air to keep their balance.

Only after they had shuffled all the way to the door did they take off running, though they still carefully closed it behind them.

Ron even mouthed through the crack in the door, "Go to sleep."

"Do these two... have something wrong with their heads?"

Dylan had watched the entire scene and was at a loss for words.

He was not sleepy anymore. Those two idiots had completely chased away his drowsiness with their antics.

"Didn't I say I wasn't getting involved in this? It's the middle of the night, and they actually woke me up?"

To be honest, Dylan was a little unhappy.

Of course, this had absolutely nothing to do with his morning temper~

After pondering for a moment, he sighed helplessly.

"Ah..."

He lowered his head and looked at Coal Ball, which had already poked its head out from under the blankets. Its eyes, like his own, gleamed with a deep, eerie light.

Dylan reached out with two fingers and pinched its little head.

"They're my friends too. Follow them and help them out if the situation calls for it."

"Moo!"

Coal Ball let out a low cry.

It knew there were other people sleeping in the dormitory.

"Go on. Haven't you made plenty of friends here already?"

Although Dylan had told Coal Ball to stay obediently in the dormitory after bringing it here today, the little fellow had definitely snuck out to have some fun.

Because...

when Professor McGonagall had been giving him Private Tutoring earlier that evening, she had casually mentioned something.

There was a Little Shadow sneaking around all over the school.

It had even run all the way to the Forbidden Forest and gotten along famously with a group of wild Magical Creatures.

The important thing was that, after this Little Shadow returned to Hogwarts, although it had not attracted much attention from the Young Wizards, it had slipped into the restricted area.

Professor McGonagall had only noticed the little fellow when she passed by.

Since Hagrid had mentioned Dylan's desire to raise a Shadow to both her and Dumbledore, she immediately suspected that it might be Dylan's pet and had a House-elf bring it back to the dormitory.

Otherwise, if the Little Shadow had kept wandering around, Filch might have caught it.

After hearing Professor McGonagall, Dylan immediately realized that she was subtly warning him.

What else could he say?

He could only vaguely explain to Professor McGonagall that he was raising a Shadow.

Fortunately, Professor McGonagall did not press him for further details afterward. She merely told him not to waste too much time on his pet, while also reminding him to take good care of it.

Naturally, Dylan agreed again and again.

Of course, Dylan had never intended to blame Coal Ball for this.

Ever since Coal Ball had started following him, it had spent nearly all its time in the Pet Space.

Now that it could finally come out openly, what was wrong with letting it have a little fun?

It had not bitten off and eaten some Young Wizard's head. It had only gone for a walk. Dylan saw no problem with that.

"Moo..."

Coal Ball had originally held its head high with great pride.

But after hearing Dylan's words, it guiltily blinked and shrank its neck.

"Go on, and remember not to overdo it."

He tapped Coal Ball on the head with his index finger.

Whoosh

Coal Ball shot off in an instant.

As Coal Ball neared the door, its body strangely blurred before passing straight through it.

Dylan lay back down on the bed.

Fortunately, he really did sleep well.

Before long, he had fallen asleep again.

This time, no one disturbed him, and he slept straight through until dawn.

Since Harry and the others had woken him up in the middle of the night, interrupting his sleep once, he did not get up particularly early this time.

He checked the time. It was around six thirty in the morning.

Turning his head, he saw that Harry and Ron had already returned and were still sleeping soundly.

Coal Ball was lazily curled up between his legs.

He shook his head and told Coal Ball to stay in the dormitory.

He got up to freshen himself up, planning to go check on his owl, then look through his Potions Notes before having breakfast and preparing for class.

Coal Ball's fur was like black satin. Sensing its owner's movements, it twitched its ears, rolled over, and curled directly into the blankets.

Stepping out into the morning light, Dylan went through his usual morning routine.

He then headed to the Great Hall.

By then, many young wizards had already come to eat.

Several professors were seated at the High Table as well.

"Hey! Dylan, over here!"

The moment he entered the Great Hall, Dylan spotted Harry and Ron at the Gryffindor table, waving vigorously at him.

He slowly walked over and sat beside Harry.

Ron's face was brimming with excitement.

He looked around.

Then he lowered his head, dropped his voice, and said to Dylan, "God, you have no idea how exciting last night was!"

Dylan blinked. "Wow. How exciting?"

Ron did not catch the flatness in Dylan's tone at first and grinned crookedly.

"It was such a shame you didn't come!"

"And that Malfoy really is a piece of work. He clearly agreed to duel, but then he played dirty and secretly notified Filch!"

"That wasn't what you said would happen, Dylan. He didn't notify Professor Snape."

Seeing Ron's smug expression, Dylan opened his mouth. "Wow! Then he really was awful."

"Right?" At the thought of Malfoy, Ron could not help curling his lip.

Beside them, Hermione pressed a hand to her forehead.

Had this idiot still not noticed Dylan's attitude?

"You're the idiot. No matter who Malfoy notified, didn't he still tell the teachers in the end? Dylan's warning was right too!"

This time, Ron blinked.

But he did not dwell on the matter and continued, "Then Filch kept chasing us, and that Mrs. Norris wouldn't stop hounding us either!"

"Luckily, they were suddenly distracted by something else. I don't know if it was other students, but then we ran into Peeves. That guy drove us all the way to the restricted area on the Fourth Floor!"

"And guess what? We actually saw a Three-Headed Dog there! God, that Three-Headed Dog was terrifyingly huge. It looked like it could swallow me in one bite!"

Dylan speared a piece of salad, chewing as he gave Ron the emotional reaction he wanted.

"Oh! That sounds terrifying."

Only then did Ron catch on.

He looked at Dylan and widened his eyes.

"Hey!"