"What's wrong?"
Fred and George immediately crowded forward.
Morris pointed at the wooden door that had just closed, his tone calm, "There's a dog inside. It's huge, and it smells a bit."
A very unpretentious description.
"What's so incredible about a dog?"
Fred shrugged and pushed the wooden door wide open.
Then, the air froze for a second.
"Run-!"
Fred had never reacted so fast in his life.
He slammed the door shut with a bang, not even waiting for George and Morris to react, and grabbed both of them by the arm, running outward.
George was yanked into a stagger and almost fell to the ground.
"Calm down, Fred!" Morris explained while running along, "That guy is chained up!"
This sentence made Fred halt his steps.
He turned around, still shaken, and stared fixedly at that wooden door.
No sound came from behind the door.
It seemed they hadn't disturbed that beast.
Morris shook his arm, which had been twisted bright red, and said helplessly, "That dog has a chain around its neck; we can go back and take a look."
Isn't it just a dog?
Though it was a bit large, had three heads, and carried a bit of bad breath... it shouldn't be enough to scare people like this.
The three returned to the doorway, and Morris pushed the door open first.
Fred and George cautiously followed behind as well.
Now, Morris was finally able to observe the uniquely shaped big guy before him.
Illuminated by the dim wall lamps, an elephant-sized Three-Headed Dog lay on the floor, its three heads currently drooping, eyes half-closed, emitting dull snores.
The earlier commotion seemed to have only made it change its sleeping posture.
Around its neck, a string of shiny iron chains was particularly conspicuous.
"Merlin..." George sighed lowly, "They actually keep an animal like this locked up here."
Fred also drew in a sharp breath, "I suppose I finally know why Professor Dumbledore didn't let us in here."
Morris, meanwhile, calmly crossed his arms, "It looks like your curiosity is satisfied. Speaking of which, when are we leaving? It looks like it's waking up."
Just as his voice fell, the rightmost head of the Three-Headed Dog suddenly twitched its nose, its eyelids lifting a crack.
Scarlet pupils focused in the dimness, instantly locking onto the three uninvited guests.
Threatening low growls emanated simultaneously from the depths of its three throats.
"Look, it's already seeing guests out," Morris said. "Let's go."
He really didn't want to stay in this fishy-smelling room.
Fred didn't know why Morris could be so calm, but leaving now truly was a sensible decision.
"Get outside first."
As he spoke, he turned around and prepared to pull open the wooden door.
However, at that moment, George's voice rang out from the side, "Wait! Fred, someone's coming! Right in the corridor!"
Morris looked toward George's direction and discovered that a piece of parchment had appeared in his hand at some unknown point-it looked like a map.
"Who is it?" Fred asked quickly.
"Professor Dumbledore," George answered solemnly, "getting closer and closer! The target is very likely this room."
Fred's expression turned ugly, and he immediately waved his wand, casting the Disillusionment Charm on all three of them.
Now, things were troublesome.
He could only hope Dumbledore had no intention of entering this room; if he did, the Disillusionment Charm would probably just be fooling oneself.
For a wizard like Dumbledore, seeing through his Disillusionment Charm was simply a breeze.
And...
He glanced toward the Three-Headed Dog; this brute's three pairs of eyes had been staring straight at them all along.
Even using the Disillusionment Charm was the same!
What should they do?
Morris edged up beside George and looked at the map in his hand.
It was a structural diagram of the castle composed of minimalist ink lines.
A dot labeled "Albus Dumbledore" was steadily moving along the corridor in front of them, and had almost reached the door of the room they were in.
At the same time, clear, steady footsteps sounded outside the door.
The footsteps were unhurried, and eventually stopped outside the wooden door.
He was coming in!
Fred and George's faces instantly tensed.
Getting caught out of bed by Dumbledore? That was no joke.
Morris knew he had to do something.
"Relax."
He grabbed the twins by the arms and said quietly, "You'd better close your eyes. It might get a little cramped."
Before Fred and George could react,
"Shadow Concealment!"
A curtain of darkness covered the three of them, and they instantly warped and vanished from where they stood.
Fred and George felt as if they had been stuffed into a narrow, cramped box.
They looked around, but couldn't see anything. There was only darkness before them.
"What is this place?" Fred and George blurted out at the same time, feeling a little short of breath.
"Don't talk," Morris's voice sounded in the darkness. "We'll be discovered."
Hearing the familiar voice, the two felt a little more at ease.
That was right. Morris's Shadow Concealment could take other people into the shadows with him. However, anyone he brought along had to maintain physical contact with him. If he let go, the twins would be squeezed out of the shadows at once.
Besides, in the shadows, he could "see outside."
In his perception, the world outside was being reconstructed in his mind in a completely different way-it wasn't vision.
He could sense the floor, the walls, the Three-Headed Dog, and the outline of the person who had opened the door and come in.
The person was tall, had a long beard, and walked very slowly.
He couldn't directly "make out" the other person's face. At most, he could tell that they had two eyes, a nose, and a mouth.
But based on the information on the map George had been holding earlier, this person was undoubtedly Dumbledore.
Dumbledore wandered around the room for a while, seemingly checking on the Three-Headed Dog.
About two minutes later, he turned toward the door and left at the same leisurely pace as before.
Morris secretly felt relieved.
It seemed that even Dumbledore couldn't break his Shadow Concealment.
That was very good news.
Another three minutes passed before Morris ended the Shadow Concealment.
The three of them reappeared in the room.
George glanced at the map in his hand, then led the two of them out of the room and into an abandoned classroom next door.
"Phew-"
The twins let out a long sigh at the same time.
"Are we safe?" Morris asked.
"Completely safe," Fred said with a nod. "No one will come to search this classroom."
Morris's gaze fell on the map in George's hand. He asked about the thing he was most curious about at the moment: "By the way, what is that map? Why can you see other people's names on it?"
George looked at Fred, and after the latter gave his approval, explained, "It's called the Marauder's Map. As for what it does, I think you've already seen for yourself."
"You made it yourselves?" Morris looked curious.
"That's a secret," George said.
"All right."
Morris felt a little disappointed.
But he wouldn't press them for an answer.
Still, since they'd put it that way, there was probably something questionable about where the map came from.
"So," Fred leaned against a dusty desk and looked at Morris, "what was that... magic you just used?"
If not for the Shadow Concealment, they probably would have been discovered in that situation.
Morris smiled slightly.
"That's a secret."