Do You Want to Hear a Lullaby, Baby?

Luring the Three-Headed Dog away was far easier than sneaking past it. Gemini had no doubt Quirrell was capable of doing that.

So what defenses still protected the Philosopher's Stone?

Devil's Snare, Flying Keys, Wizard Chess, Snape's potion, and the Mirror of Erised.

No, wait. If he remembered correctly, the mirror had only been moved in after Christmas. That meant the Philosopher's Stone currently lacked its strongest protection...

This was really bad!

Gemini had some ideas about the Philosopher's Stone, after all. It was a treasure capable of turning stone into gold.

Now, never mind whatever ideas he had—the Philosopher's Stone might actually be taken by Voldemort if things went wrong. And once Voldemort had it, he could use it to rebuild his body.

And that was not even the worst part—

Right now, two trolls and a Three-Headed Dog were glaring hungrily at him...

What the hell kind of absurd plot was this?

Gemini sighed helplessly. He had only wanted to make a few minor changes to what was going to happen. He had never expected things to turn into this mess...

Beside him, Hermione's face was deathly pale, her eyes filled with fear as her delicate body trembled nonstop.

"Miss Granger?"

"Hmm?"

"I need to ask something of you." Gemini turned and held Hermione by the shoulders, meeting her eyes with a serious gaze as he spoke quickly. "I'll help you break through those two trolls. Run to the Great Hall as fast as you can and notify Professor Dumbledore. Tell him Quirrell is trying to get through that trapdoor."

Hermione opened her mouth, surprise in her eyes as though she wanted to say something. But Gemini gave her no chance to speak, wrapping one arm around her instead.

Then Gemini turned. A strand of web shot onto the middle head of the Three-Headed Dog, instantly enraging it. It charged toward Gemini from the other end of the corridor, its three furious roars piercing Gemini's eardrums and reverberating through his mind.

"This looks pretty exciting." Gemini leaped up, firing two strands of web that covered the two trolls' faces. Then he vaulted over their heads and set Hermione down.

"Now hurry and find Dumbledore."

Hermione looked at Gemini with concern written all over her face. "I want to help you!"

"You can't help me!" Gemini's expression hardened as he snapped, "The only thing you can do is find Dumbledore quickly and keep the students away from here. You'll only hold me back if you stay! Leave immediately!"

Hermione gave Gemini a wounded look. He had never been this harsh with her before. Fortunately, she still understood what mattered most, turning and running off at full speed.

The little girl might have been a bit reckless, but she was still smart enough to know what was most important right now.

Watching Hermione race away, Gemini sealed off the corridor behind him with several webs. Then he turned, lowering his center of gravity into the stance of a hunting spider as his gaze swept over the trolls and the Three-Headed Dog.

"Tsk, tsk... Look at how thick-skinned you are. I doubt my spells would have much effect on you."

There were four creatures in the corridor. Judging by size alone, the hellish Three-Headed Dog undoubtedly stood at the very top of the food chain. The two trolls had originally wanted to avoid it, but Gemini gave them no such chance.

He drew the Three-Headed Dog's hatred, then leaped over the two trolls. As the dog charged at him, it immediately began fighting the trolls.

Logically speaking, trolls should have occupied the upper half of the magical creature food chain. These two were Mountain Trolls, the largest and most aggressive variety of troll.

But even so, their mere dozen-foot frames were still not much to look at before the hellish Three-Headed Dog raised by Hagrid.

Two thick, tree-trunk-like clubs smashed viciously into the left and right heads of the Three-Headed Dog. The damage was mediocre, but the provocation worked perfectly—the Three-Headed Dog went berserk.

Deafening barks and the trolls' miserable roars echoed endlessly through the corridor.

With a crunch, one Mountain Troll's head was bitten clean off by the Three-Headed Dog's left head. Blood spurted from its enormous body like a fountain.

Gemini was a little dumbfounded. Snape had actually managed to keep his leg after being bitten by this thing. That guy really had some skills.

The other troll seemed frightened by the sight as well. Its stupid brain could not comprehend what it was seeing, but its instincts as a living creature still drove it to flee.

Then Gemini saw the troll wrench itself free from the Three-Headed Dog's furry paw and charge straight toward him.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Gemini felt as if a tank were charging directly at him.

The huge club swung toward Gemini's head. Gemini ducked sharply beneath it, and two strands of web shot toward the troll's legs, which were thicker than an elephant's.

Then he sprang into the air and landed against the wall, webs firing out as though they cost nothing and wrapping the troll from head to toe.

But in those brief few seconds, a massive dog head lunged over and bit at Gemini.

"I bet you could bite off more than half my body in one go?" Gemini nimbly dodged the razor-sharp teeth, jumped onto the ceiling, then dropped down and drove one leg hard into the troll's tiny head.

Several tons of force crashed down without restraint, instantly smashing its skull.

A troll's weakness was its stupid little head.

Though they had highly magic-resistant skin and powerful limbs, trolls' heads were actually very fragile. Quirrell had taught him that, of all people.

"Good. Now that both trolls are dead, how about we call a truce?" Gemini dodged the collapsing troll corpse and smiled at the hellish Three-Headed Dog.

"Grrr... Roar—"

"Dogs are supposed to go woof, woof~ But I get what you mean." Gemini smiled. "Is it because I look especially tender and juicy?"

The black Three-Headed Dog charged toward Gemini, its huge body completely blocking the corridor. The close-quarters fighting Gemini excelled at had now become a restraint instead.

"Left head~"

Whoosh—

"Right head~"

Whoosh—

"And of course, I won't forget the middle one!"

Whoosh—

Three webs successively covered the mouths and noses of its three heads, but that delay was only temporary. Gemini used the chance to put a great distance between himself and the Three-Headed Dog.

After the Three-Headed Dog tore away the webs with its claws, it saw Gemini standing at the far end of the corridor.

Gemini smiled at it and casually tossed over several grenades.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

A chain of explosions erupted through the corridor, fierce flames and thick smoke swallowing the Three-Headed Dog's whimpers and roars.

Yet very quickly, the Three-Headed Dog burst from the flames, covered in blood and wreathed in fire. Red light gleamed in its eyes as it charged savagely at Gemini, truly looking as though it had crawled out of hell.

The grenades had only given it a few flesh wounds...

Watching the rampaging Three-Headed Dog, Gemini could not help giving a dry laugh. He realized that without tools, he currently had no way to harm it. His wand was out of the question; this thing's magic resistance was absurdly high, and even several tons of force gave him no real advantage against it.

"Is it still not too late to sing you a lullaby? Sleep, sleep, my dear—"

Bang!

Gemini was slapped straight into the wall by a paw...