"Are we... are we really going in there, Big D?"
Looking at the dark, empty corridor ahead, Ron gripped his wand nervously, squeezing so hard his knuckles turned white.
Under Dudley's leadership, they had come to the place they hadn't entered during their previous night wandering—the right-hand corridor on the fourth floor.
Ron's nervous expression infected Malfoy and Harry as well. Dumbledore's words from before the term started still echoed in their ears: Anyone who does not wish to die a most painful death should avoid the corridor on the right-hand side.
"Of course, this is Professor Dumbledore's test."
Dudley pulled out several pendants from his pocket and distributed them to the others, having them put them on.
"What are these things?" Everyone was puzzled.
"Lucky charms that will bring you good fortune." As he spoke, Dudley had already taken the lead and walked in. The others exchanged glances, confused but still putting them on, and then immediately followed.
At the end of the corridor was a locked door. Dudley didn't even bother clapping his hands together. He simply grabbed the lock and snapped it with force—the seemingly solid iron lock immediately broke in two.
"Alohomora (Physical)"
With a creak, he pushed open the door. What met their eyes was an enormous three-headed dog—the very one that had bitten Snape.
The three-headed dog was looking down at them from above, staring with six amber-yellow eyes. Under its gaze, Harry and the others were frozen in place with fear. Due to their close proximity, they could even feel the foul-smelling breath emanating from the three abyssal maws.
They were just young wizards new to the magical world—where would they have seen such a scene? Under the three-headed dog's stare, they stood rigid as if petrified. This was a creature that could bite even Snape—definitely not something first-year students could handle.
Fortunately, the three-headed dog's neck was chained with a thick iron chain, unable to actively leave the room or attack them.
"You go ahead quickly, and leave this to me."
Dudley's voice was like a shot of adrenaline, invisibly injecting courage into the group. He pulled out an iron ingot from his waist pouch, clapped his hands together, and the ingot transformed into countless iron chains that bound the three-headed dog's limbs from different angles.
Harry and the others took this opportunity to open the trapdoor beside the three-headed dog and jumped in one by one. Before entering the trapdoor, Hermione looked at Dudley with slight concern. Seeing Dudley smile at her unhurriedly, she jumped down.
After confirming that Hermione and the others had all left, Dudley released the chains binding the three-headed dog. Feeling its body loosen, the three-headed dog immediately lunged at Dudley. Their duty was to guard this room and prevent anyone from entering. Now several people had already gone in, but at least not everyone could enter.
The next moment, all three heads froze in bewilderment. Dudley's original 1.8-meter height suddenly ballooned to 2.3 meters like an inflating balloon.
He walked unhurriedly to the three-headed dog, and the moment two of its heads bit toward him, he grabbed one head in each hand and knocked them together forcefully.
"Like to bite people."
THUNK
"I'll teach you to bite people."
Another knock.
THUNK
"Try biting again."
Another knock.
THUNK
Dull sounds echoed back and forth in the room. When Dudley released his hands, the two heads collapsed with a thud. They seemed to see stars all over the sky, twinkling and spinning in circles around their heads, eyes crossed and tongues lolling out unconsciously—a completely dazed expression.
Familiar sensation, familiar force, terrifying strength.
At that moment, the middle head that hadn't been attacked remembered its keeper—that guy called Hagrid. Hagrid used to "play" with them like this too, always leaving them completely overwhelmed. This was truly psychological trauma.
So Dudley's move directly intimidated the three-headed dog, making its only remaining conscious head dare not attack rashly. It just stared at Dudley intently, eyes full of wariness.
It was big, but it wasn't a stupid dog. It could tell the difference between what it could and couldn't fight.
When Dudley stepped forward, it stepped back. Another step forward, another step back... until it retreated to the wall's edge. Then Dudley took another step forward.
No more room to retreat.
This step seemed to trigger some mechanism in the three-headed dog. It let out a mournful howl.
"Awoooo~"
Then it tightly closed its dog eyes and began flailing its limbs wildly at the air in front of it, thrashing about in place.
The three-headed dog used Fury Swipes? Or did it use Splash?
Dudley didn't know why the opponent suddenly went crazy. After giving the three-headed dog a suspicious look—he could understand magical creature language but not unconscious random barking—he decisively opened the trapdoor and jumped down.
He really hadn't planned to beat up the three-headed dog again. But this kind of spastic behavior made Dudley seriously wonder if it had contracted rabies. Hopefully Snape was alright. After all, he had been bitten on the thigh before—a penetrating wound at that.
After Dudley had been gone for a while, the three-headed dog, eyes still closed, sniffed around forcefully. Finding that Dudley's scent was getting fainter, it slowly opened one eye and cautiously surveyed the surroundings.
Gone?
After confirming Dudley was really not there, it opened both eyes and let out a very human-like long sigh of relief. It was certain the opponent possessed power similar to its keeper. If they fought, it would definitely get beaten.
Most importantly, it had just caught a whiff of rock cake scent on the opponent. That's right, definitely Hagrid's rock cakes. Might as well play dumb.
Everyone called it a stupid dog, but it wasn't stupid at all—sometimes it was quite clever.
Before it could wake up the two knocked-out heads on either side, it caught the scent of another stranger.
'Whoever it is, you're in for it this time!'
The three-headed dog bared its teeth, showing sharp fangs. However, after waiting quite a while without seeing anyone, it instead heard melodious harp music echoing from outside the room.
Before long, a harp with two legs came hopping and skipping into the room. The remaining head, as if under a sleeping charm, slowly... slowly lay down, its eyelids growing heavier and heavier... then came the sound of loud snoring.
At this moment, a man wearing a turban sneakily poked half his head out from the door's edge, trying to observe the situation inside the room. After confirming the three-headed dog was fast asleep, he finally relaxed, changing from tiptoeing to bold strides.
That three-headed dogs could be hypnotized by music was information he'd obtained from that big fool Hagrid at no small cost—he'd paid a dragon egg for it.
Unfortunately, this turban-wearing man didn't know that while three-headed dogs could normally be hypnotized by music, things were different when they had mild concussions.
Just as he opened the trapdoor, the two heads that had been knocked unconscious suddenly awakened. With one eye looking up and one eye looking down, necks askew and drooling, they approached him and opened their mouths toward his buttocks...
[Chapter Complete]
***
Want more? Check out my Patreon for:
✓ Advanced chapters of all my stories
✓ Exclusive novels & fanfics
✓ Early access content www.p@treon.com/meowthtl
💪 Community Goal: 500 Power Stones unlocks a bonus chapter!
Thanks for reading and supporting the story!