A Pointed Hat on the Teeth

To be honest, Silvan was a little stunned. He stood there blankly for a second before reacting.

His original plan had been to open the door and draw their aggro first, then find a chance to escape in the chaos.

After all, both the three-headed dog and the troll were huge. He was just a tiny little thing, so there was a good chance they would overlook him.

He just had not expected the troll to be so cooperative, charging straight inside.

It seemed he did not even need to wait for chaos now.

Listening to the deafening hisses and roars behind the door, along with the chaotic footsteps downstairs, Silvan grabbed the Bowtruckle crawling out of the lock and took off running.

A moment later, someone arrived.

Snape was the first to rush over, sprinting all the way to the locked door. McGonagall followed close behind, with Quirrell bringing up the rear.

The door was yanked open, and the next second, the stench of blood mixed with foul odor hit them head-on.

Especially when they saw the scene beyond the door, even Snape—who dealt with large quantities of rat spleens and leech juice year-round—rapidly went pale, his stomach churning violently.

Quirrell took one look and immediately vomited all over the floor. He retched again and again, unable to stop.

McGonagall was doing better. She had personally witnessed far more gruesome scenes. Compared to those, this was nothing. Although her hands trembled slightly, she quickly composed herself.

McGonagall pressed her lips tightly together and raised her wand. More than a dozen thick iron chains wrapped tightly around the three-headed dog and hoisted it into the air.

"Severus!" McGonagall shouted.

Snape nodded and dragged half of the troll's body out.

"Urgh..." Quirrell vomited even more violently, tears and snot smeared all over his face.

McGonagall's face showed undisguised disgust. They were all professors. Fine if he would not help, but why was he making things worse?

She wanted to say something, but at that moment, a reassuring figure appeared at the end of the corridor.

"Dumbledore." McGonagall hurriedly said, "Here..."

"Yes, Minerva, I saw it all," Dumbledore said calmly. His gaze shifted elsewhere. "Potter, Weasley, and Granger, could I trouble you to take Professor Quirrell to the hospital wing?"

"Y-Yes, sir."

In the corner, Harry, Hermione, and Ron emerged with their heads hanging low.

They had thought they were well hidden. They had not expected to be discovered so quickly.

Halfway there, Harry could not suppress his curiosity and secretly glanced toward the corridor.

But he saw nothing.

At some point, a cloud of white smoke had filled the middle of the corridor, blocking his view. All he could hear was McGonagall's furious voice.

"Out wandering the castle instead of returning to your dormitory, even though you knew it was dangerous—what on earth were you playing at? Gryffindor loses five points. Five points each!"

Faced with McGonagall's anger, Harry could not help shrinking his neck. Ron and Hermione did not even dare say a word.

Looking at the silent Dumbledore, Harry felt that he needed to explain. "Headmaster... we were not playing any tricks. We came to find Silvan."

"Mr. Ollivander?" Dumbledore's expression did not change. "Then Gryffindor will lose another five points."

"No, no, it wasn't like that," Harry hurriedly explained. "He said he had gone back to get something, so he could not attend the feast right away. He also did not know about the troll. We wanted to warn him."

"I see." Dumbledore nodded. "Then why did you not tell a professor? If I remember correctly, Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout had been with the students the entire time."

"We... forgot," Harry said, with little conviction.

"Then can you help take Professor Quirrell to the hospital wing now? He seems about to vomit himself unconscious."

This time, Harry said nothing more. He ran over with Ron and dragged Quirrell away.

Their movements were a little rough, but no one pointed it out. Dumbledore merely pretended not to see.

How could three first-year students possibly carry an adult wizard? Dragging him away was perfectly reasonable.

Only after the three of them and Quirrell had disappeared did Dumbledore walk over and carefully inspect the scene.

Five minutes later, Hagrid arrived as well.

"Oh, Fluffy..." Seeing the three-headed dog tightly bound in chains, blood still dripping from its mouths, Hagrid clutched his chest, tears streaming down his face.

"Don't be like this, Minerva. It's still just a child..."

"Do you know that the 'child' you speak of just killed a troll?" McGonagall said expressionlessly, then pointed at the troll's corpse on the ground.

That was a troll. It had been chewed up like a fried pork chop. Was that really appropriate?

Hagrid let out a strange cry, sounding like a wild duck with its neck being squeezed.

"Truly terrifying," Snape said coldly from the side. "From the time we heard the noise to the time we arrived, it could not have been more than two minutes. Yet it managed to tear an adult troll in half in such a short time.

"Dumbledore, this monster cannot remain in the school."

"No, it's not..." Hagrid stammered in defense. "Fluffy is usually very, very obedient. The troll must have angered it."

"So you mean a troll with a brain smaller than a walnut would take the initiative to provoke a three-headed dog?" Snape drawled.

Hagrid grew even more flustered, stammering without being able to say anything.

He looked at Dumbledore, his eyes full of pleading.

"I believe Hagrid."

"Dumbledore..."

"Do not be hasty, Severus." Dumbledore pointed to the three-headed dog's leftmost head. "Look here."

Snape looked over instinctively, then frowned slightly.

That mouth was injured. The flesh inside was mangled, and two teeth were missing.

"This was done by the troll?" His voice was full of doubt.

Was that a joke? It was a three-headed dog. On the ground, it could even eat a flightless dragon. How fierce would a troll have to be to injure it like this? Was it a giant?

"From the current evidence, that seems to be the only explanation." Dumbledore straightened up.

"The troll accidentally entered Hogwarts, then accidentally came to the fourth floor, opened the door, injured the three-headed dog with its club, and was finally torn in half by the enraged three-headed dog."

Dumbledore's tone was calm, but the people beside him were not.

That sequence of events... even hearing it from the side felt absurd. It was far too ridiculous.

"But that raises a new question." Dumbledore continued, "How did it get in? I noticed just now that the main doors were intact, with no signs of forced entry. Did the troll open the doors with a key?"

"Perhaps we can ask the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor," Snape suddenly said. "He was the first to discover the troll in the underground classroom."

"Quirinus is still in the hospital wing, Severus," Dumbledore said. "He was badly frightened."

"Heh heh..." Snape sneered. "If necessary, I can help him brew a potion to calm his nerves."