Peeves struggled for a long time but couldn't pull his tongue from the roof of his mouth. Then, his eyes darted around, and he flew off, grumbling and cursing incessantly.
Ron muttered, "I bet he didn't say anything good just now, and he's definitely going to find Filch!"
Harry rolled his eyes, "Isn't that obvious!"
The four once again began their nighttime escape.
Chen Yu ran, wondering if it would have been better to use a Full Body-Bind Curse to immobilize Peeves and prevent him from running around.
When they reached the end of the corridor, Ron crashed into a door again.
Ron colliding with the door made a crisp sound in the dark.
One could tell it was a 'good hit' just by the sound.
The door was locked.
Ron, clutching his forehead, choked out, "This time we're finished!"
At the same time, everyone heard footsteps and meowing.
Filch and Madam Norris were rushing over.
Hermione immediately pulled out her wand, aimed at the door lock, and chanted, "Alohomora!"
This was the Alohomora spell, capable of opening most locks.
With a click, the lock opened, and everyone surged in, quickly closing the door behind them.
Ron and Hermione pressed their ears to the door, listening for sounds outside.
"My dear Madam Norris, can you smell which way the Little Wizards ran?"
"Meow! Meow! Meow!"
Madam Norris meowed a few times at Filch. She smelled the scent of the Little Wizards who had stepped on her tail behind the door and wanted to go in for revenge, but she was wary of the monster inside. She looked at the door, then at Filch, then meowed at Filch a few more times before leading him away from the door that made her feel dangerous.
Filch naturally knew what kind of monster was kept behind the door and didn't believe the Little Wizards would dare to enter that room. He thought Madam Norris had found the Little Wizards had escaped elsewhere, so he followed her and left.
Hearing Filch's retreating footsteps, Hermione and Ron both sighed in relief.
"Filch is gone."
"Maybe he thought the door was locked and no one could get in."
Harry, trembling, looked at the behemoth behind him and offered a starkly different opinion: "There's a reason the door was locked..."
Hermione and Ron turned around and were completely dumbfounded, as if scared senseless.
Oh no, they had just escaped the wolf's den only to fall into the tiger's mouth.
Unlike the once again terrified Ron, Harry, and Hermione, Chen Yu watched the huge creature, which was just waking up from its sleep, with great interest.
It had three heads, three pairs of eyes, and three drooling mouths.
Its body was excessively large for the Little Wizards, a robust physique that almost filled the entire room.
This was Hagrid's beloved dog, Fluffy, the three-headed dog Dumbledore had Hagrid assign to guard the Philosopher's Stone.
It is recorded in books that its origin is Greece, and it greatly resembles the descendant of Cerberus, the guardian dog of the underworld in Greek and Roman mythology.
It possesses strong magical resistance; most spells are simply ineffective against it.
In the original story, it had a fatal weakness: it would fall asleep upon hearing music.
The three-headed dog was a bit bewildered. It hadn't expected that Little Wizards would suddenly burst into the room after the locked door made a sound.
After giving a 'yawn' with its three heads, it shook them, making itself appear more awake.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione, when choosing between Filch and the three-headed dog as more dangerous, chose Filch.
If caught by Filch, they'd at most be expelled. If caught by this three-headed dog, they might not even live.
So, between possible expulsion and possible death, they decisively chose possible expulsion.
Fortunately, they were closer to the door. Amidst Fluffy's roar, Harry immediately opened the door, Ron followed closely, and Hermione yanked Chen Yu out.
"Don't just stand there, escaping is the priority now!"
Once the four had fled the room, Harry immediately closed the door, and then the three of them began their frantic escape again.
Being dragged by the arm by Hermione, Chen Yu felt something was off.
"Guys, stop, stop, didn't you see that the dog was chained up? It didn't chase us at all!"
The three of them listened to Chen Yu, slowed their pace, turned back, and indeed, the three-headed dog hadn't chased them.
"This is just awful!" Ron continued to grumble, "How could a professor allow that thing in the school?"
Hermione leaned against the wall, catching her breath, released Chen Yu's arm, and said to Harry and Ron, annoyed, "Didn't you two see that thing? What's the point of having eyes?"
"See what? I only looked at its heads, I didn't notice anything else."
"It was standing on a board, like it was guarding something."
Ron was astonished and retorted, "What thing? That needs that kind of protection?"
Chen Yu joked, "What if it's the answers to the wizarding exam?"
"Hey, that's not funny..."
"Alright."
Even with Chen Yu trying to lighten the mood, the relationship between Hermione, Harry, and Ron plummeted to an all-time low.
In Hermione's view, if Harry and Ron hadn't been so headstrong, she wouldn't have encountered so many thrilling things tonight, and might even have been bitten to death by the three-headed dog.
Four Little Wizards, crunchy in one bite, with one left over for a snack.
The four returned to the Gryffindor common room entrance. By this time, the Fat Lady had returned to her painting and was surprised, asking them where they had been.
Harry and the others didn't want to answer. After giving the password, they went straight into the common room.
As soon as they reached the common room, Hermione wanted to immediately return to the girls' dormitory, not wanting to deal with Harry and Ron.
Harry and Ron were the same; the night's harrowing experience had left them both physically and mentally exhausted.
Chen Yu stopped everyone who was about to split up and asked, somewhat confused, "Are you just going to let it end like this?"
Harry and Ron gave him puzzled looks, their eyes again showing clear stupidity, clearly not grasping Chen Yu's meaning.
Hermione stopped, and after realizing, looked angrily at Ron and Harry, worried about their intelligence.
Chen Yu had no choice but to explain further, "Are you just going to let Malfoy off the hook? Let the culprit of tonight's events get away scot-free?"
Harry and Ron quickly shook their heads, "Of course not."
"Then what are you going to do?"
"Next time we see him, we'll beat him up."
Chen Yu looked at Harry and Ron with a subtle gaze.
Could it be that Gryffindor really produced so many hotheads?
"What if the professors find out?"
"As for fighting, besides Snape who favors Slytherin, the other professors won't punish only one side. At most, we'll get punished along with Malfoy."
Ron spoke lightly, as if as long as Malfoy suffered punishment, a little 'flesh and blood suffering' for himself was nothing.
Chen Yu looked at Harry, who nodded in agreement, seemingly saying, "Me too!"
Chen Yu immediately put his hand over his face, unable to watch.
Gryffindor is hopeless... "Do you two only have fighting in your brains? Can't you think of a way to punish Malfoy without getting yourselves dragged into it? Please, stop, spare Gryffindor's pitiful house points!"
Hermione again glared angrily at Harry and Ron.
Harry spread his hands, not knowing what to do, and looked at Chen Yu with hopeful eyes, wishing he could provide a good solution that satisfied both sides.
Under everyone's expectant gazes, Chen Yu stated his idea and asked Ron to relay the content he had fabricated to his twin brothers.
He believed that with the help of their big-mouthed twin brothers, the rumor would spread very quickly.
Sure enough, by the next day, a rumor titled 'The Lion and the Snake' quickly spread throughout Gryffindor and rapidly diffused to other houses.
"There was a lion and a snake in the forest."
"To prove which was greater, courage or glory."
"The lion and the snake agreed to a duel tonight."
"The lion arrived at the dueling spot and waited,"
"But the snake was nowhere to be seen."
"From dusk till sunset,"
"From sunset till dusk,"
"The snake still showed no sign."
"The lion, proving its courage, left the scene with its head held high,"
"The snake's glory rotted in the mud."
"Hey, run away, cowardly snake."
"Hey, run away, timid snake."
"Hey, run away, faithless snake."