Fourth floor of the castle.
The Weasley Brothers and Cedric didn't notice that as they hurriedly escaped, the door that had been opened slowly closed again.
"Creak..."
The tightly shut door blocked out Fluffy's growling, and the corridor returned to silence.
Inside the door, Fluffy stood there, three noses constantly sniffing toward the corner of the wall.
Fluffy got closer and closer, and just as its nose was about to touch the corner, a sudden arm extended out of thin air.
"Smack!"
The arm seemed very disdainful of Fluffy's actions, and with a round swing, slapped one of its dog heads.
"Get out of the way!"
"Woof!"
Far from being angry, Fluffy wagged its tail excitedly and approached with all three heads.
It remembered this voice, and it remembered this scent; it was the person who could understand what it said and brought delicious snacks every time they met.
Fluffy happily went over, three big heads nudging repeatedly.
"Alright Fluffy... back off."
In resignation, Kael had to lift the invisibility cloak, pat Fluffy's big head, and take out three large packets of pre-prepared snacks from his pocket, placing them on the ground.
Each head had its share, no need to compete.
Fluffy quickly lowered its head and began feasting.
This jerky was the most delicious food it had ever tasted, but Hagrid never made it for him.
While Fluffy was eating, a clatter of footsteps sounded outside the door.
"Clang..." The door was pulled fiercely.
"Oh no, the door's locked." Ron's whimpering voice came from outside. "We're doomed, dead meat!"
"Oh… come over here!" said a somewhat harsh voice.
Kael glanced outside, frowned, and put the invisibility cloak back on.
"Alohomora!"
The lock clicked and the door suddenly opened.
In the next second, four panic-stricken young wizards rushed in, then turned around and shut the door, pressing their ears against it.
After a while, Ron whispered, "He thinks it's locked here; I think nothing else will happen…"
"Ron, I have a bad feeling."
Harry took a deep breath and said, "Remember the growls we just heard? I think they came out of this room… What's wrong, Neville?"
As he spoke, Harry noticed Neville was tugging at his sleeve persistently, turning around, he found Neville's face suddenly pale, and sweat drops rolled down his forehead.
No need for inquiry, Harry quickly knew what had scared Neville.
He saw the three-headed dog.
Interrupted from its meal, Fluffy's mood was quite irritable; it glared angrily at the young wizards with its three heads growling furiously.
Ron and Neville were dumbfounded, standing still, thinking of running but their legs wouldn't listen, shivering.
In the crucial moment, Harry's reaction was the swiftest; he fumbled to open the door behind him and with Hermione, dragged Ron and Neville and dashed out.
Fluffy didn't chase after them, only symbolically barked a few times, and then lowered its head to finish eating the jerky.
But Harry and the others didn't know that; like their predecessors, they fled the fourth floor without looking back.
They didn't stop until they reached the Fat Lady's portrait, panting heavily.
"Where have you all been!" the Fat Lady asked, "What's today? Counting those two just now, there were six young wizards on night adventures."
"Don't ask…"
"Pig snout, pig snout…"
Pig snout was the password, the Fat Lady asked no more, spun forward and opened the way. They stumbled into the common room, trembling as they sat down in the armchairs.
For quite some time, no one spoke, especially Neville, who seemed as if he'd never speak again.
"Strange…"
Hermione, catching her breath, was the first to speak, "Did you notice? The dog was eating."
"Yeah, it almost ate us," Ron hadn't recovered, said fearfully, "It was definitely thinking about how to eat us all in one bite."
"What are your eyes for?" Hermione said angrily, "I mean it was eating before we went in, and there were three portions, packaged food."
"What does that mean?" Harry asked.
"Can't you think?" Hermione replied impatiently, "Remember those growls we heard? It means someone entered that room before us and pacified the three-headed dog with food for a reason."
"You overthink it, we should thank him." Ron said heartily, "If he hadn't brought food beforehand, we might've been…"
"Didn't you notice where Fluffy was standing?" Hermione asked pointedly.
"On the floor?" Ron said carelessly, "I didn't look at its feet, just its heads – it has three, you might not have noticed."
"Not the floor, the trapdoor, obviously guarding something."
"Guarding something?"
"Yes!" Hermione stood furiously, glaring at them.
"If you don't mind, I'll sleep now… before another brilliant idea sends you to death or worse… expulsion!"
Ron stared at her back, stunned silent.
"Which is worse, she should really think before speaking."
On the other side.
After Harry and the others left, Kael lifted the invisibility cloak again, went beside Fluffy, trying to open the trapdoor beneath it.
At first, Fluffy pressed down stubbornly, refusing to let Kael pass.
Not until Kael brought out Fawkes' feather did Fluffy finally move its paw.
"Told you I was representing Dumbledore, you didn't believe it."
Kael said sternly, "As punishment, no Murtlap jerky next time."
Fluffy panicked at hearing this, rolled around on the ground whining, then neared Kael, three heads looking at him imploringly.
Were it a tabby cat making that face, Kael would've been helpless.
But Fluffy was just too ugly for that approach; Kael glanced at it once more, feeling the pulse thumping in his forehead.
To have peace, and spare his eyes, Kael casually took out a large packet of Murtlap jerky, throwing it aside.
Fluffy ran over joyfully.
Kael ignored it, lifted the trapdoor by himself, peeking below.
But beneath was pitch black, nothing visible.