Making Trouble!

When Mrs. Norris, the cat, appeared at the doorway, it meant that Filch, the caretaker, was already very close.

Tierra prepared to make one last dash for it and rush out into the corridor. As long as they reached the stairs, as long as Filch did not catch them red-handed, then even if he knew they had entered the restricted area, there was nothing he could do to them.

But clearly, the other young wizards did not think so.

Ron was the first to run, except he did not run toward the stairs. He ran toward the door at the end of the corridor.

Hermione, who was breaking school rules for the first time, panicked as well and followed Ron.

Harry did the same. As he ran, he grabbed Tierra, who had been about to flee in the opposite direction, nearly making him stumble.

Tierra: ...

Well, thank you very much.

They tore down the corridor, heads lowered as they dodged the junk and dust Peeves threw at them.

Clearly, Peeves had no intention of letting them go. He shouted and yelled while trying to stop them.

"Bang—" Ron was the first to crash into the door at the end of the corridor. He reached out and tugged at it.

"We're done for, it's locked, we—"

"Alohomora!" Hermione, running second, waved her wand at the door.

"Click—" The massive wooden door opened at once, and the four young wizards filed inside.

The moment Tierra saw this, he found it absurd.

You were keeping the only Philosopher's Stone left in the world here, and you could not put one more spell on the door?

With your intelligence, Dumbledore, could you not have made it so that four wizards had to cast a specific spell together to open it?

Tierra could think for ten days and ten nights and still not understand why the safeguards for the Philosopher's Stone were so childish.

It was almost as if they had been specifically designed to train...

Wait?

Could this really have been Dumbledore's way of training Harry?

When he had read this in his previous life, he had always thought the several trials guarding the Philosopher's Stone were far too simplistic. Before, he had only assumed that was because it was children's literature.

But now that he put himself in the situation, he realized those trials were practically levels in some dungeon-crawling game.

Thinking about it that way, Peeves's timing was suspicious too. How could he have just happened to block them off like that?

But since it had already happened, Tierra would not dwell too much on the reasons behind it. He would plan for the worst-case scenario.

Scenario one: this really was Dumbledore's challenge for Harry, the Boy Who Lived, and Tierra had merely been innocently dragged into it. He needed to figure out what further benefits he could gain from the whole affair.

Scenario two: Dumbledore had noticed something unusual about him. He needed to decide how to behave in order to earn Dumbledore's trust.

Perhaps... Tierra thought, he could gain both benefits and trust at once.

The four of them were pressed against the wooden door, listening to the sounds in the corridor gradually fade away. Only Tierra noticed that the six eyes of the Three-Headed Dog lying behind him had slowly opened.

Tierra squeezed the Stink Pellet in his pocket. He had bought it during Summer Vacation at Gambol and Japes in Diagon Alley after passing through the Leaky Cauldron. It could be filled with whatever smell its user wanted.

Tierra had bought a large quantity of Realgar from a Traditional Chinese Medicine shop in Chinatown, London.

It had originally been a specialized weapon against the Basilisk, but it was equally effective against the Three-Headed Dog, whose sense of smell was keen.

The Three-Headed Dog had a formidable reputation in Muggle history and mythology. It was depicted as the gatekeeper of hell, capable of breathing clouds and spitting fire.

But in truth, Three-Headed Dogs in the Wizarding World were merely Class 3X magical creatures with tough hides, extremely high resistance to magic, immense strength, keen noses, and dependable loyalty.

Though they were not especially dangerous, that was only for adult wizards or tough-skinned Half-giants like Hagrid.

It was hard to say whether four young wizards would be in danger facing such a colossal beast.

Tierra had no desire to spend the time until Christmas lying in the hospital wing.

"Ah—" Hermione was the first to scream.

She had seen the three heads behind them, with their three pairs of eyes, three noses, and three huge mouths snuffling toward them.

Three gaping, blood-red mouths dripped foul-smelling saliva, drop by drop.

They moved as quickly as they had when they entered.

They yanked open the wooden door, slammed it shut behind them with another "Bang—," and sprinted down the corridor. They did not stop until they had reached the moving staircases, where the four young wizards finally caught their breath.

"What on earth do they want with something like that locked up in the school?" Ron finally gasped.

Once Hermione had caught her breath, her annoying habit of lecturing returned. She planted her hands on her hips and pointed at Harry and Ron.

"You, you, and you, what are your eyes for?" she said furiously. "Didn't you see what it was standing on?"

"The floor?" Harry guessed. "I didn't look at its feet. I was too busy looking at its heads."

"No, not the floor. It was standing on a trapdoor. It was obviously guarding something. The reason students are forbidden from entering the fourth-floor corridor must be because something extremely important is kept there."

She straightened up and glared angrily at Harry and Ron.

"I hope you'll watch where you're going next time, so you don't drag us somewhere we shouldn't be," Hermione said. "We nearly got bitten to death... or worse... expelled."

It was dinnertime. The four of them had just returned from the library after exhausting a great deal of brainpower, only to go through that heart-pounding chase. By now, they were all starving.

Harry ordered a glass of orange juice, a bowl of cherries, and a serving of black pepper steak. Ron ordered half a honey-roasted chicken and a glass of lemon tea.

Even Hermione, who usually ate little, ordered an extra serving of fries.

Only Tierra's portions remained unchanged. He silently ate a serving of salt-and-pepper poached chicken breast, a plate of English fried rice with only cucumber and egg, a salad without dressing, and a glass of milk.

There was simply too little edible food in the United Kingdom, and most of it was heavy on oil and salt. After spending over a month repeatedly visiting the kitchen, Tierra had finally taught the House-elves how to use less salt when cooking meat, how to poach chicken breast, and how to use less butter and salt in fried rice, adding only cucumber and egg.

Of course, he did not eat chicken breast for every meal. Even Tierra would not be able to stand that. So he occasionally ordered grilled fish, pan-fried steak, or lamb and pea soup.

"You think..." Harry suddenly asked after they had eaten and drunk their fill. "What do you think the teachers are guarding with a Three-Headed Dog?"

"Do you think it could be the thing Hagrid took from Vault 713?" Harry suddenly looked at Tierra and asked.

"After all, Hagrid told us that the safest place in the world, besides Gringotts, is Hogwarts!"

Harry, who had been watching Tierra the whole time, noticed that Tierra rolled his eyes slightly before lifting his head from his book.

I'm terribly sorry, everyone. My advisor suddenly dragged me off to plant rice today, so this update came a little late. There may only be one chapter today, but I'll make up for it with five updates tomorrow!