The Three-Headed Dog / Can You Keep It as a Pet?

"You—you broke the rules!" It took him quite a while before he finally found something to argue with. "I clearly arranged a wizard's duel with Potter. She hasn't even made a move yet! You're her assistant—how could you attack me directly?!"

Harry gripped her wand and stepped forward, placing herself in front of Vera. "If you want me to do it, I'll fight you to the end!"

Malfoy's gaze shifted between the two of them. For some reason, a sly look flashed across his face.

"Fine, then let Potter do it!" he suddenly said, a calculating glint in his gray eyes. "According to the rules of a wizard's duel, assistants can only intervene when the duelist is injured or surrenders—Black, do you dare follow that rule?"

Vera narrowed her eyes slightly. Malfoy had suddenly made this demand; he clearly had some scheme in mind.

But before she could speak, Harry eagerly agreed. "No problem! Vera, let me teach him a lesson!"

Hermione poked her head out from hiding and warned anxiously in a low voice, "Harry, don't fall for it! He must be planning something!"

Harry turned back and gave them a confident smile. "Don't worry. I can handle it."

After thinking for a moment, Vera wheeled herself back a few steps. At the same time, she released Crabbe and Goyle from their petrification, signaling that they could continue.

"Very well, then we'll begin now!"

As he spoke, he turned to Crabbe, who had just been freed. "By tradition, a duel needs assistants... Crabbe, you'll be mine!"

With that, he prepared to point his wand at Harry.

"Wait!" Harry suddenly called out loudly. "According to the rules of a wizard's duel, both sides must first bow to one another as a sign of respect. Then they assume the standard dueling stance. Only after counting to three may they attack."

She paused, her eyes flicking uncertainly toward Vera. Then, as though she had been given a shot of courage, she puffed out her chest. "A wizard's duel—that was your idea. As the heir to the Malfoy family, surely you aren't going to deny this traditional rule in front of them?"

Malfoy's face turned green, then white. In the end, he reluctantly dipped forward in a perfunctory bow.

Harry, meanwhile, gave a serious bow in accordance with traditional etiquette.

Both raised their wands and assumed dueling stances.

"One!" Malfoy began counting.

Vera remained at the side, her wand resting lightly on her knee as she calmly observed their surroundings.

Just as Malfoy said "two," she finally caught sight of Peeves drifting past a corner of the ceiling, winking at her.

The corner of Vera's mouth lifted almost imperceptibly. While no one else was paying attention, she raised her wand high. "Lumos!"

A dazzling light burst from the tip of her wand, instantly illuminating the entire Trophy Room.

It not only interrupted the "three" Malfoy was about to say, but also gave Harry time to quickly put on the Invisibility Cloak from her pocket. At the instant the light flared, she and Vera hid beneath it together.

Malfoy was blinded by the sudden glare and shouted angrily, "Despicable! Potter! Black! Where did you hide?!"

Crabbe and Goyle clumsily looked around, but they could see nothing in the blinding light.

Just as the glare finally faded, the door to the Trophy Room was violently pushed open. Filch's gloomy face appeared in the doorway, with Mrs Norris crouched at his feet, her yellow eyes gleaming in the darkness.

"Ha! I knew it!" Filch panted excitedly. "I knew little rats would sneak out tonight! Peeves was right—"

The lamplight swept over the room, immediately revealing Malfoy and his two henchmen, frozen where they stood with nowhere to run.

His gaze fell on the stunned trio, and a sickly delight gleamed in his eyes. "Slytherin students? What are you doing in the Trophy Room in the middle of the night?"

Malfoy stammered as he tried to explain. "We—we were just..."

"Out after curfew! Breaking school rules!" Filch shrieked, grabbing Malfoy by the arm. "I'm taking you to see Professor Snape!"

"No!" Malfoy turned his head in panic to look behind him. "Potter! And Vera Black... they're here too!"

Filch suspiciously looked around. "Other than you three, where is anyone else?"

Sweat beaded on Malfoy's forehead. In exasperation, he pointed at the empty Trophy Room. "Really! They were just here! They must have used some magic to hide!"

Just as Filch, having heard him, was about to search more carefully, Peeves suddenly hung upside down from the ceiling and let out a piercing laugh.

"Lies! Peeves only saw three naughty little Slytherins!"

Filch gave Malfoy a suspicious look. "Come with me! Don't try any tricks!"

Malfoy's face instantly turned deathly pale. He looked around desperately, but could no longer find any sign of Harry or Vera.

It was as if they had never been there at all.

"No, impossible!" Malfoy's voice was nearly tearful. "Potter was clearly here just now! She—"

"Enough!" Filch cut him off harshly. "I've had enough of you students' lies! You're coming to see your Head of House!"

Filch dragged Malfoy out by the arm, while Crabbe and Goyle followed behind with their heads hanging.

Just then, Mrs Norris suddenly pricked up her ears and warily looked toward the display case where Hermione was hiding—because Harry had quietly wheeled Vera over at just that moment and pulled Hermione beneath the Invisibility Cloak with them.

Vera quickly reached out and pressed a hand onto Hermione's shoulder, signaling for her not to make a sound. Harry held her breath nervously, her fingers beneath the cloak gripping Vera's wheelchair armrest tightly.

Mrs Norris's yellow eyes shone with an eerie light in the darkness as she slowly padded toward the display case.

At that moment, Peeves suddenly swooped down from the ceiling with a shrill cry. "Filch! Your cat is chasing mice again!"

Filch's attention was immediately diverted. "What? Mrs Norris, come back!"

The cat had no choice but to stop and follow Filch out.

The Three-Headed Dog

Only after their footsteps had completely faded did Harry cautiously lift the Invisibility Cloak, excitement sparkling in her eyes. "That was brilliant! Malfoy got caught red-handed!"

Hermione let out a long breath, though her face was still rather pale. "Oh my God, that was far too thrilling... We almost got discovered!"

Harry turned to Vera. "Vera, so you deliberately made a commotion just now to lure Filch here?"

"Mm." Vera gave a soft reply, deliberately ignoring the fact that Peeves had appeared and helped them just now.

Fortunately, Harry and Hermione did not become suspicious either.

After all, over the past week, the newly enrolled first-years had already experienced how troublesome Peeves could be. It was even less likely that they would think Peeves would come help them for no reason.

Harry crouched down and gently took Vera's hand. "Thank you, Vera... If you hadn't reminded me just now, Malfoy's provocation really would have made me forget why we came here in the first place."

"It was what I should have done." Vera gently shook her head. "You were the one who carried out the plan, Harry. You did very well."

Harry's face reddened slightly at the praise. She scratched her hair awkwardly. "I only did what you told me to do."

"Will you two stop being so modest with each other?" Hermione looked at their exchange with an expression of deep discomfort. Then she suddenly remembered something and frowned worriedly. "Right, we need to get back quickly. What if Malfoy convinces Filch to turn around and come search this place..."

Vera nodded. "Hermione's right. We should go."

The three girls quickly gathered the Invisibility Cloak and quietly left the Trophy Room.

Harry went ahead to scout the way, while Hermione pushed Vera's wheelchair. The three carefully crossed the moonlit corridor.

"Wait!" Harry suddenly stopped and lowered her voice. "Someone's ahead!"

They quickly hid in the shadow of the building, holding their breaths.

Sure enough, Filch's grumbling voice drifted over from nearby, along with Malfoy's indignant protests.

"I told you, they must have used some way to hide!" Malfoy's voice was clearly irritated. "If you go look, you'll definitely find something!"

"Boy, do you know what will happen to you if you've lied to me?"

Seeing Filch's tone growing increasingly less firm, Vera glanced toward the small room on the same fourth floor but in another direction—the one Dumbledore had strictly forbidden anyone from entering—and said softly, "Let's go another way."

Harry nodded. The three silently changed direction, preparing to take another corridor.

At that moment, Mrs Norris suddenly darted out from around the corner. Her yellow eyes gleamed in the dark as she stared directly toward them.

"Oh no! Has she found us?" Hermione sucked in a breath and instinctively gripped Vera's wheelchair armrest.

"Meow—" Mrs Norris gave a sharp cry, immediately drawing Filch's attention.

"What is it, my sweet?" Filch's voice came closer and closer. "Did you find something?"

Harry's heart nearly leaped out of her chest. She instinctively tightened her grip on her wand.

Vera quickly pressed down on her hand and gently shook her head, then pointed to the locked door not far away.

Harry nodded and immediately pushed her wheelchair. The three raced down the corridor, quickly reaching its end.

Before them stood an old-looking oak door. It seemed utterly ordinary, with nothing special about it.

"Let's go in there first!"

Harry was about to rush over without hesitation when Vera urgently stopped her.

"Wait!"

Harry braked sharply, and the wheelchair scraped across the floor with a harsh screech.

Hermione nearly crashed into them from behind, only managing to steady herself by grabbing Harry's shoulder in panic.

"What is it?" Harry asked urgently, her eyes constantly flicking toward the footsteps drawing closer behind them.

Vera stared intently at the door, her voice extremely low. "That is the right-hand corridor on the fourth floor. It's the place Dumbledore explicitly forbade us from entering at the start of term."

Hermione sucked in a breath. "Oh my God! Then we almost—"

"There's no time!" Harry interrupted her. Filch's footsteps were already close at hand. "If we don't go in, we might get caught!"

Vera glanced behind them. In truth, Filch probably had not discovered them yet, but Mrs Norris in his arms clearly had much sharper senses than he did.

Under normal circumstances, Vera had plenty of ways to shake off the search of one man and one cat.

But... she looked at the wooden door right before them. If she remembered correctly, this was the plot point in the original story where the Golden Trio discovered Fluffy, the Three-Headed Dog guarding this place.

It was also because Hermione noticed the trapdoor beneath the Three-Headed Dog's paws and guessed that it was protecting something that she led Harry to recall the package Hagrid had taken away when she went to Gringotts before enrolling at Hogwarts.

And compared to the various troubles and crises Harry would face in the following years because of Voldemort, this year felt more like a test Dumbledore had specifically arranged for Harry.

From Dumbledore's perspective, it was easy enough to understand. Harry had been raised by her aunt and uncle for so long—who knew whether she had turned out wrong?

Before truly training her into a savior specifically meant to take down Voldemort, he naturally had to examine her carefully.

And now, faced with such an obvious test, Vera turned to look at the still-panicked Harry beside her. After a brief hesitation, she gently placed her hand over Harry's. "Let's go in."

"Alohomora." With Vera's spell, the lock clicked open, and the three girls quickly slipped inside.

The door silently closed behind them, shutting out Filch's footsteps.

The room was pitch-black, lit only by a sliver of moonlight coming through a narrow window high above.

"Strange..." Filch's voice came from outside. "I clearly heard something here..."

Mrs Norris lingered outside the door for a while, but Filch eventually called her away.

In the dark room, the three girls let out long breaths.

Then a low rumbling breath came from the darkness, accompanied by heavy panting.

Harry and Hermione froze in place, even their breathing stopping.

Vera secretly held her breath, slowly raised her wand, and softly said, "Lumos."

A faint light illuminated the room, and the sight before them made their blood freeze instantly—

It was a gigantic Three-Headed Dog looking down at them. Its enormous body nearly filled every inch of space from ceiling to floor, radiating an overwhelming sense of pressure.

Can It Be Kept as a Pet?

With every breath the Three-Headed Dog took, its three ferocious heads hung low, six vicious eyes gleaming dangerously in the faint wandlight.

Its heavy breath washed over the three girls' faces. Drool hung like sticky ropes from its yellowed fangs.

"Don't move yet..." Vera's voice was nearly forced out through clenched teeth. She could feel Harry's hand trembling on her shoulder. "Back away slowly..."

Hermione clamped a hand tightly over her mouth, terrified of making the slightest sound.

The middle head of the Three-Headed Dog sniffed, as if it were catching their scent.

The Magic Circuit inside Vera's body spun madly, ready at any moment to release the strongest defensive spell she could currently cast.

At that critical moment, a line of text suddenly appeared in Vera's vision:

[Tameable Magical Creature: Three-Headed Dog]

[Taming Reward: Magic Circuit level increased, maximum magic power +30, obtain control of Fluffy, the Three-Headed Dog]

Vera's eyes widened slightly. She had not expected the Magic Circuit to have such a function.

Even more strangely, the instant the words vanished, she felt an unusual energy surge out from the Magic Circuit and flow through her fingertips into her wand.

The light at the tip of her wand gradually changed from white to pale gold, spreading outward in rippling waves.

All three heads of the Three-Headed Dog stopped growling at once, and its six eyes watched the golden light in confusion.

In that instant, Vera felt a wondrous connection forming, as though an invisible thread were linking her to the enormous beast.