Familiarizing Himself with the Grounds in Advance

It wasn't that Silvan had never set his sights on the three-headed dog. In fact, it was one of the reasons he had come to study at Hogwarts.

One of the ancient and powerful magical creatures, as rare as a phoenix—what wandmaker could resist such a temptation?

Silvan didn't know, but he was certain he wasn't one of them.

So after term began, he had often gone up to the fourth floor, yet he had never once seen the three-headed dog. He hadn't even been able to get close to that locked door.

Silvan remembered that his first attempt had been on the first weekend after term started, at two in the morning, when people were at their sleepiest.

He had thought it foolproof, only to nearly run into McGonagall patrolling the corridor. Fortunately, Fred and George had also been sneaking around that night and had promptly led him away through a secret passage.

Otherwise, he might have been caught back then.

Afterward, Silvan learned from his mistakes. Since people patrolled at night, he would go during the day.

So he chose 3:20 on Friday afternoon for his second attempt.

It was still that same corridor. He ran into Professor Aurora Sinistra from Astronomy, but he had picked his timing well. Class began at 3:30, so he claimed he had gotten lost.

Professor Sinistra not only didn't suspect him, but enthusiastically led him to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom.

For his third attempt, he didn't even go himself. He sent Tom ahead to scout it out, only for Tom to be caught by another tabby cat—McGonagall in her Animagus form—and given several days of detention... studying the school rules, pet edition.

Being so easily subdued by a tabby cat, even if she was really a witch, left Tom depressed for several days. He only recovered after thoroughly beating up Mrs Norris.

But that wasn't the point.

The point was that McGonagall was using her Animagus form to catch people on the fourth floor.

Was that really necessary?

Were they guarding against students as if they were Voldemort?

But after that incident, Silvan gave up on getting close to the three-headed dog.

And thinking about it carefully, had he really run into Fred and George by chance that night?

Dumbledore had specifically mentioned it during the start-of-term feast: "Anyone who does not wish to die a most painful death should avoid the corridor on the right-hand side of the fourth floor."

Would Fred and George be so obedient that they would stay away just because they had been told to?

Impossible. With their personalities, the more something was forbidden, the more they would want to investigate it.

Yet so much time had passed since term began, and no matter how often Silvan had probed indirectly, he had not heard the slightest bit of news from them about the room on the fourth floor.

That meant they had not gone in either... even though they had the Marauder's Map, which could observe the entire castle.

Who would have thought that a place guarded so tightly could be entered so easily by Harry and the others?

Could it be that the professors on patrol just happened not to be nearby?

The chance of that was practically zero. Harry and the others had been deliberately allowed in.

Silvan thumped his thigh in frustration.

How had he forgotten something so important?

That place was Dumbledore's "training ground" for Harry. Naturally, Harry had to be allowed to familiarize himself with it in advance.

And Ron, Hermione, and Neville had been with Harry at the time, which showed that Dumbledore didn't mind others watching.

If Silvan had also found an excuse like "I want to stop them from breaking school rules," he probably could have slipped in with them.

Then he certainly could have plucked a few dog hairs amid the chaos.

What a pity. He had missed it.

Silvan sighed... Malfoy really deserved to die. Why couldn't he have waited a few more days before arranging that duel?

"W-what's wrong with you?" Seeing Silvan suddenly sighing and thumping his own leg, Harry and Ron exchanged a glance and couldn't help scooting their chairs back.

He even hit himself. That was a little scary.

"Ah, it's nothing. Nothing." Silvan forced a smile.

Even so, the two of them didn't really dare continue chatting with Silvan.

Silvan wasn't in the mood either, making the latter half of History of Magic even more boring and somewhat oppressive.

That feeling continued into the second lesson, Charms. Silvan didn't catch a single word Professor Flitwick said, but fortunately, the lesson was on the Mending Charm, which he already knew. During the inspection before class ended, he even awarded Gryffindor two points.

He was one step closer to reaching twenty points.

The morning lessons were over. Silvan headed to the Great Hall for lunch with everyone else and even took the initiative to approach Harry and Ron.

"Are you... feeling better?" Harry asked hesitantly.

"What could possibly be wrong with me? I just didn't rest well last night," Silvan said carelessly.

He had suddenly realized that he seemed to have been getting worked up over nothing.

The three-headed dog was great, but McGonagall's wand was important too—especially its extremely rare [Disguise] trait. Who knew whether it would still be available at another time?

If Silvan had to choose between [Disguise], which could increase the odds of succeeding as an Animagus, and the three-headed dog, he would definitely choose the former without hesitation.

After all, good traits were hard to come by, while the three-headed dog would always be there.

And there was one more crucial point: it wasn't as though he had no chance... There was one particularly special time when he could find an opportunity to slip in, even without Harry tagging along.

Halloween.

He had thought of it during Charms class when he saw the pumpkins being used as teaching aids.

According to Hogwarts tradition, there would be a feast on Halloween, second in importance only to the start-of-term feast and the Christmas feast.

The school would invite performance troupes to put on shows, and every professor, including Headmaster Dumbledore, would appear in the Hogwarts Great Hall on time. That meant no professor would be watching that door.

As for Filch...

That would be easy. He only needed to let Tom loose. After being thoroughly beaten twice, Mrs Norris now ran whenever she saw Tom. And once she ran, Filch would definitely chase after his cat.

The more Silvan thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.

Perhaps Dumbledore and Snape would keep a close watch on Quirrell, but they certainly would not care about a first-year student.

Besides, Silvan's target wasn't the Philosopher's Stone, but the three-headed dog. There was no conflict between the two.

Of course, he could also ask Hagrid, Fluffy's owner, for help. That would be the safest option, but he would have to wait.

After all, Fluffy was currently on loan to Dumbledore and had an important task to perform. Hagrid was unlikely to come help Silvan pluck fur halfway through.

He could only wait until the end of the school year, when everything had settled, before doing anything.

But that would take too long. Silvan didn't have the patience to wait more than half a year.

Halloween was definitely better.

He would pluck the fur and leave. As long as he moved quickly and timed it well, he definitely wouldn't delay Snape getting his leg bitten off.

Perfect!

Once he had made up his mind, Silvan felt much more relaxed. He was no longer sleepy as he chatted with Harry and walked into the Great Hall.