Hermione and the Hellhound

For Gryffindor students, Potions class was an excruciating ordeal.

Professor Snape went all out, grilling them with all sorts of tricky questions.

Among them, Harry bore the brunt of it.

For some reason, the Potions professor seemed to have it out for him, bringing up Potter every few sentences, leaving Harry flustered and overwhelmed.

And the other students didn't fare much better—aside from Hermione, nearly every Gryffindor got criticized by him.

Neville was so flustered he knocked over a classmate's cauldron, drenching himself in potion, which left his arms and legs covered in angry red boils, making him howl in pain.

As a result, by the time class ended, almost all Gryffindors, including Harry and Ron, had lost the will to talk, leaving in silence.

Of course, Slytherin was not included in this.

Professor Snape made no effort to hide his favoritism toward his own house.

Not only did he not deduct points, but he even awarded points for Malfoy's successful steaming of tentacle-bearing slugs.

So much so that the two houses in the same class presented completely different scenes.

"Got a moment, Glenn? I want to talk to you about something."

Unexpectedly, Hermione Granger walked over to the Slytherins and called out to Glenn, who was about to leave.

Glenn thought for a moment—this class was the last one of the week, and he had nothing afterward.

"Sure, what is it?"

Feeling the strange looks from the surrounding Slytherins, Hermione's cheeks flushed slightly, and she hesitated for a moment.

"It doesn't seem convenient here. Let's find another place," Glenn said with a smile.

Hearing this, Hermione breathed a sigh of relief and readily agreed.

Perhaps intentionally or not, after Harry and Ron fled the classroom like they were escaping, Snape watched the retreating figures of Hermione and Glenn, his brow unable to relax.

The other Slytherins all agreed that their Head of House thoroughly disapproved of such behavior.

"A Slytherin, actually associating with a Gryffindor Mudblood," Malfoy snorted, saying it almost instinctively. "How degrading."

He expected Professor Snape to agree with him, but Snape just cast a sidelong glance at Draco Malfoy.

"Draco, I think there were still some issues with your experiment just now..."

In an empty classroom, Hermione closed the door and recounted what Ron and Harry had told her earlier—the details of that night's duel with Malfoy.

"I already warned them," Hermione said, rubbing her messy hair somewhat roughly.

"They knew full well Malfoy wasn't the type to have the guts for a duel, but they still risked getting the house points deducted to go—this, this is just so selfish..."

Even though he'd heard it before, Glenn didn't interrupt her.

If he wasn't mistaken, this Miss Granger probably didn't fit in well with Gryffindor.

Because normally, this kind of topic would be better discussed with girls from her own house.

Even if he'd left a decent impression on her during the train ride to Hogwarts, Slytherin's reputation wasn't great right now.

Coming to him to vent was definitely not a good choice—unless she had no one else to talk to.

Of course, Glenn didn't mind listening for a while, letting Hermione blow off some steam within reasonable limits.

Turning around Slytherin's negative image started with little things like this.

On the other hand, based on his initial impression of Hermione, something like this didn't seem enough to make her brave the strange looks of others just to come talk to him.

She wasn't that fragile.

Sure enough, after she finished talking about the Malfoy incident, she took a deep breath.

"To make sure they didn't get into trouble, I followed them, and then..." Hermione stood up, walked to the door of the empty classroom, checked that no one was passing by, and then sat back down.

"We went to the corridor that Dumbledore strictly forbade anyone from entering." Her voice trembled a little as she said this, but she forced herself to stay calm.

"'Those who do not wish to encounter accidents, painful deaths, please do not enter the corridor on the right side of the fourth floor'?" Glenn recalled.

After the Sorting, the headmaster named Albus Dumbledore had given that warning.

And in the letter Gemma Farley had written, she'd mentioned it too.

"Yes," Hermione swallowed, still shaken. "I used a spell called 'Alohomora' to open the door, and in there, we saw a three-headed dog bigger than a house..."

Glenn sat up straight, his expression turning serious.

"How did you survive?"

"I think it didn't react at first, but then it started roaring at us. If we'd left any later, it would have eaten us for sure!" As she spoke, Hermione's body trembled, her eyes going vacant, as if she was reliving the terror of that night.

"And I saw it standing on a trapdoor. I think it must be guarding something—but how could they do this?! Completely disregarding safety!"

"Harry and Ron?"

"No, the school... well, them too." Hermione let out a bitter laugh, which helped her panic subside a little.

"How could they put something so dangerous in the school! What if some other idiot wanders in by accident, then wouldn't they... I mean, Glenn, should we report this to the school?"

"You're right about that, but I think Hermione, you're not an idiot—quite the opposite, you're very smart." Glenn affirmed first, then made a small joke at her expense based on what she'd just said.

It was clear Hermione was in an unusually conflicted state.

On one hand, she didn't want to report Harry and Ron—not only because she was involved herself, but also because she didn't want Gryffindor to lose points.

On the other hand, knowing that such a dangerous Three-Headed Dog was right there in the school—even if a student actually got hurt later, it wouldn't be her fault—her conscience still wouldn't let her rest easy.

She felt that only students from other houses could look at this matter fairly.

Perhaps coming specifically to confide in him, a Slytherin, was part of that consideration.

After weighing his words, Glenn spoke up. "If I'm not mistaken, this should be a kind of Greek Magical Creature—quite ferocious, quite dangerous, and extremely aggressive."

Hermione's face paled a little. She opened her mouth, and the scales in her heart seemed to tip.

"And that's exactly why it's so fast—fast enough to bite off someone's arm before they even have time to react." Glenn didn't give her a chance to speak, continuing, "I think, if it really intended to attack you, the time it took to open and close that door would have been enough for it to pounce on you a dozen times, not just roar."

"You mean—"

"I'm guessing the school, or Dumbledore, might have placed some kind of restriction on it. So it won't actually harm students who stumble in by mistake—just scare them off."

Hearing this, scenes kept flashing through Hermione's mind, along with knowledge from books, all lining up with Glenn's words one by one.

Gradually, her eyes widened.

That's right—if that Three-Headed Dog really meant to attack them, with its speed, one head per person, none of them would have escaped!

How could it have waited for them to open the door a second time?

It was simple logic, but panic had clouded her judgment.

"Glenn, you're right!" Hermione suddenly stood up, the heavy weight pressing on her heart all morning finally lifting.

"Of course, if someone really wanted to go further than that, I can't guarantee anything—after all, it's guarding something." Glenn shrugged with a smile.

Still, that didn't stop Hermione from breathing a huge sigh of relief. In her view, no student would see a monster like that and still want to explore the Trapdoor.

That was enough!

"Thank you, Glenn. Talking with you was really pleasant." The corners of Hermione's mouth lifted, her mood visibly improved.

"Are you interested in reading? I mean, if you're free, we could go to the library together—well, if you don't want to, just pretend I didn't say anything..."

"Sure." Glenn agreed quickly.

As discouraging as it was, even as a first-year, he had homework to do, and the quiet library was indeed a good choice.

After getting a positive answer, Hermione left the empty classroom with a bounce in her step.

Sitting alone in the empty classroom, Glenn slowly let his smile fade.

"Harry Potter, Filch, Three-Headed Dog..."

"Whoever does not wish to meet with accident, or die a painful death, should not enter the corridor on the right-hand side of the fourth floor." Headmaster Dumbledore's voice from the Sorting night echoed in his ears.

As a warning, that was fine on its own.

But facing a danger that could cost students their lives like this—even a Muggle school would seal it off with a heavy, strict lock.

Let alone here, at Hogwarts, a school of magic!

They could even make students unaware that the door holding the Three-Headed Dog existed.

Yet the reality was that a first-year, less than a month into term, had opened it with the most basic Unlocking Charm!

Unless they intended to let people in, Glenn couldn't think of any other reason.