Chapter 50: Fluffy
Harry's mouth was hanging open in an 'O' shape. This was the first time he had ever seen such a domineering way of opening a door. But he had to admit, this surprise-filled entrance was indeed very effective.
Fluffy, who had already smelled the people outside the door and was preparing to give them a big surprise the moment it opened, was instead kissed hard on the nose by a flying wooden door. As a 'little cutie' raised by Hagrid, he was, without a doubt, a ferocious beast.
With a shoulder height of two and a half meters and three bucket-sized dog heads, the creature known as a three-headed dog but called a "little cutie" was originally from Greece. It was a fierce existence that would make local wizards scream and Apparate on sight. As the gatekeeper of the Underworld in Muggle mythology, it had an incredibly intimidating physique and a ferocious appearance, enough to stop a child's nightly crying.
Although his three pairs of doggy eyes could clearly see the trajectory of the flying door, due to the wrist-thick steel chain around his necks, his range of motion was not large. He could only watch helplessly as the wooden door coldly slapped him across the face.
"Awooo! Woof woof woof!"
The unexpectedly powerful force knocked the real Fluffy out of him. He suddenly felt a bit wronged. Wasn't he promised that he would have all the meat he could eat here, and all he had to do was sleep and scare the young wizards who came looking for a thrill at night? It was the middle of the day! And they hadn't said anything about someone smacking him with a door panel!
"Whoa!" Harry exclaimed again. "He's huge!" He took two steps back, away from the doorway. He was a bit scared by the giant dog squatting behind the door. "But, Ezio, did you make him cry?"
The kind-hearted little Harry felt that the dog was a bit pitiful. The loud 'BANG~CRACK~' from just now sounded very painful, and it had hit him right on the doggy face.
"Is he crying?"
Ezio looked up and met the eyes of Fluffy's middle head—the same one that had been hit by the door.
"WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF!!!"
The moment their eyes met, Fluffy bared his teeth and lunged like a vicious dog. This time, he was really a little angry. One of his large heads got stuck directly in the doorway, but that was as far as he could go. He couldn't get out. The chain Hagrid had made for him was strong enough to truss up a dragon in a tortoise-shell shibari. A three-headed dog was very powerful, but Fluffy was not yet an adult, only a little over a year old, and simply couldn't break free.
Looking at the big dog barking madly at him and spraying saliva everywhere, Ezio scratched his chin, then reached into his bag and pulled out a large wooden carpenter's mallet, something a normal person wouldn't usually carry around. The head of the mallet was almost as big as a human head.
Fluffy, his vision blocked by the doorframe, couldn't see what was happening outside. Right now, he just wanted to scare the two little guys outside into running away in terror, and not disturb his daytime nap.
And at this moment, Harry suddenly took two more steps back, because Ezio had already swung the wooden mallet up!
"Heave-ho!"
With an exhalation of effort, the wooden mallet swung in a semicircle and smashed directly onto Fluffy's wet nose. In that instant, the barking disappeared, and a pained, whimpering howl of "Awooo" filled their ears.
"Alright, now he's crying." Ezio put the mallet away with satisfaction and used a Scouring Charm to wipe away the saliva that had splattered on him.
Fluffy, who had shot back behind the door with a 'whoosh', cowered into a ball. His large tongue licked his own nose, and a paw thicker than a human waist carefully touched the tip of it, then he shivered in pain.
"Barking and barking without even sniffing who's here. Showing off, are you?!" Ezio, the door-kicker, was the first to complain, pointing at Fluffy from the doorway with an owner's reprimand.
"Woof?" Fluffy's three heads huddled together and looked at each other, a trace of confusion in their eyes. "Ruff?" It was as if he were saying, 'Do I know you?'
"Hagrid told me all the details about how he used to bottle-feed you."
Ezio cleaned his ear. He made a point of visiting Hagrid almost every week, partly to relax his mind, and partly to get some magical ingredients that were hard to buy on the market but were available in the Forbidden Forest. It wasn't for free, though. He had sent a letter to the Three Broomsticks and ordered a dozen barrels of Hagrid's favorite whiskey for him.
After a few drinks, Hagrid would dare to say anything in front of Ezio. After all, Ezio had a high degree of trust in Hagrid's mind, and Ezio had also used Dumbledore as a guarantor, so Hagrid naturally spoke his mind freely.
"Hagrid even tried to set you up with Fang back then, right? I really don't get what he was thinking. You were only three months old at the time. It's a good thing Fang is such a coward, otherwise I'm afraid his doggy life would have been in danger."
After hearing these words, Fluffy was somewhat convinced. After all, only he and Hagrid knew about this kind of thing. But Fang... one of Fluffy's heads sneered. Even if Fang had had the guts back then, he wouldn't have been enough for even one of his heads to eat.
Did he really think a three-headed dog just had two extra heads?
By the time he was one year old, he was already running rampant in the Forbidden Forest. Only a few magical creatures posed a slight threat to him. When he became an adult, he would be the big boss of the Forbidden Forest. The venom secreted from his own mouth could make even a dragon scream and curse in a rage and fly away after a single bite.
High magic resistance, fast, strong, three hearts and three lives, with a corrosive, potent venom in his mouth, ranking at the top of the ecosystem along with dragons. Besides not being able to fly, he was all advantages. And he could have his three heads sleep in shifts, staying awake 24 hours a day. The ultimate guard dog. Although the difficulty of taming him was very high, he was very obedient after being tamed.
Realizing that the people outside might be on his side, Fluffy licked his doggy face and came closer. He carefully sniffed Ezio and Harry's scents. Sure enough, they had had a lot of contact with Hagrid. Anyone who was treated to Rock Cakes by Hagrid had to be a friend.
The long, snake-like tail behind him wagged back and forth with a 'crack', as if creating a sonic boom.
"Woof!"
Fluffy lay down on the ground, his three heads in a row. As a good dog who had been raised by Hagrid since he was a puppy and had endured his old father's iron fist of love, Fluffy's personality was much more docile than other three-headed dogs. If it weren't for Fluffy being obedient and smart, Dumbledore wouldn't have put him here to guard the door. He knew Fluffy had a sense of proportion and wouldn't really harm the young wizards, only scare them on command.
"You know him?" Harry asked, looking in amazement at Ezio and the tail-wagging big dog.
"You were still flying on Buckbeak at the time. Hagrid and I were chatting in the hut and mentioned Fluffy."
"Fluffy? A male? Then how could he and Fang..."
"Female," Ezio said, shaking his head. He then walked through the door and ruffled Fluffy's large dog heads. "You'd better not have any expectations for Hagrid's naming skills. He just picks them randomly. But female three-headed dogs are larger than males and look more majestic."
"Don't scare people randomly next time, got it?"
Fluffy, who was feeling a bit comfortable from being petted by Ezio, whimpered a few times. He had been a bit bored these past few months.
"I'll bring you some of your favorite fresh beef next time I come. Sorry for hitting you on the head just now."
The previously ferocious dog face was now very docile. And after hearing that there would be an extra meal, Fluffy was even happier. For him, the two hits just now were a bit painful, but not even a fraction of Hagrid's iron fist of love. When he was younger and teething, he had dismantled Hagrid's bed and had been held down by Hagrid and spanked hard on the bottom. He had howled miserably. Hagrid had spent half a day trying to fix the bed and failed, and had to sleep on the floor for a night, waking up in a very bad mood.
The super-large dog satisfied their urge to pet. Fluffy's fur was smooth and supple, and the feel was amazing. After promising to come and see him again next time, Fluffy wagged his tail and obediently saw them off.
"Mm, got the venom too. This is good stuff, very hard to buy on the market."
Ezio put away his spoils with satisfaction. Since he had come all this way, he couldn't go back empty-handed. If this ingredient were to be exchanged for money, it would be enough to buy ten cows for Fluffy to feast on. It was more expensive than gold.
*****
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