Dumbledore entered the room first, with Snape following close behind. He observed the three-headed dog contentedly gnawing on the enormous pork rib, raising an eyebrow with mild curiosity.
"Hagrid wouldn't come feed the dog at this hour, would he?"
Dumbledore chuckled softly, "Perhaps the visitor just now was a dog lover?"
Snape ignored Dumbledore's attempt at levity, his expression remaining stern.
The two approached the massive three-headed dog. Fluffy, catching Dumbledore's familiar scent among the arrivals, didn't display any defensive behaviour.
Both men immediately noticed the burn marks of various sizes scattered across the three-headed dog's dark body. But regardless of severity, these burns were all healing automatically—flesh knitting together, fur beginning to regrow.
The two frowned simultaneously. The three-headed dog's magical resistance was formidable—ordinary spells couldn't affect it whatsoever, and as for normal flames, they probably couldn't even singe its fur.
"Dumbledore, such methods don't seem like what students could produce," Snape said pointedly, wanting to remind the headmaster that Quirrell had been behaving very strangely, especially since this semester began.
"Indeed, the power of that fire seems quite significant," Dumbledore acknowledged thoughtfully. "Severus, check Fluffy's injuries first to determine if potion treatment is necessary."
Dumbledore's mind inexplicably wandered to his old "friend"—Grindelwald's Fiendfyre curse had been most terrifying, the blue sea of flame nearly consuming the entire city that fateful year.
Seeing Dumbledore dismiss his veiled warning, the shadows on Snape's face deepened. This old man possessed extensive information, always maintained his own hidden plans, and never revealed the complete picture to anyone.
Just as Snape was about to approach the three-headed dog for examination, Fluffy bared all three sets of teeth with a low, rumbling growl, even hunching protectively over the pork rib.
This made Snape's expression darken considerably—this ridiculous dog was actually guarding its food! Who would want to steal what it was eating anyway?
"Dumbledore, this stupid dog only recognises you and Hagrid," Snape muttered sourly.
Dumbledore shook his head helplessly, beginning to soothe Fluffy with gentle words while signalling Snape to quickly complete his examination.
With an increasingly sour expression, Snape inspected the three-headed dog's injuries. The more he examined, the more gravity and peculiarity showed in his dark eyes.
"This creature's injuries were quite severe initially, possibly even affecting bones and internal organs, but now they're almost completely healed." Snape didn't mention that based on the accelerated healing rate, if they'd arrived any later, those wounds would have vanished entirely! "I recall the three-headed dog's self-healing ability, while respectable, doesn't remotely approach such astonishing speed?"
Facing Snape's pointed question, Dumbledore nodded slowly, "Indeed not to this degree. It seems that visitor was also quite skilled in healing magic."
Snape continued, gesturing toward Fluffy's massive jaws, "You should have noticed as well—the curse naturally present on the three-headed dog's teeth has been almost completely eliminated. That's hardly a common method either."
"Yes, Severus, let's check if there are any other clues in the chamber."
Since the three-headed dog appeared fine, the two began methodically searching the room for additional evidence.
When Dumbledore approached the trapdoor, a gleam of interest appeared behind his half-moon spectacles, as if finding something quite fascinating.
"Solidified Transfiguration?"
Dumbledore waved his wand with practised ease, and the door panel was quickly restored to its original form—a small iron container.
Examining the transformed object carefully, Dumbledore marvelled at the craftsmanship. "Impressive Transfiguration skills, and healing proficiency too—this description sounds rather familiar."
Dumbledore connected this evidence with information he'd obtained from the castle ghosts and Hagrid—Harry had most likely been healed by Leo, and Leo's extraordinary Transfiguration talent had long been evident to the faculty.
Dumbledore increasingly felt that child was exceptional, already planning to casually discuss this incident with Leo during this week's afternoon tea appointment.
Casually transforming the container back into a door panel and reapplying the solidification charms, Dumbledore restored it to proper condition.
"Dumbledore, I suddenly recalled something—Grafton seems to be tutoring Potter lately," Snape mentioned, seemingly as an afterthought.
Hearing Snape's sudden observation, Dumbledore replied cheerfully, "I know."
This made Snape's attempt at conversation falter completely, and he simply abandoned his desire to continue. No matter what information he presented to Dumbledore, it always produced the infuriating sensation that the headmaster already knew everything.
Back at Hagrid's hut, the cauldron bubbled steadily. "Gurgle gurgle—"
Leo added precisely seven millilitres of three-headed dog blood to the simmering mixture. The potion instantly became viscous and dark crimson, the originally bubbling surface suddenly quieting to an almost ominous stillness.
After some finishing touches and allowing the adhesive to cool properly, he'd know how effective it was.
During the waiting process, Leo wasn't idle, beginning to use Transfiguration to shape the mechanical animal's body components with meticulous precision. Each small piece was enchanted with semi-permanent solidified transformation, so as long as a wizard could periodically supplement magical power, the mechanical animal's complete functionality could be maintained indefinitely.
As for what type of mechanical animal to create, Leo glanced at Fang beside him, the large dog sprawled out and yawning with boredom.
"I'll make you a playmate as compensation for last time," Leo said with a slight smile.
Although Fang couldn't comprehend Leo's words, he still looked curiously toward the cauldron with hopeful eyes. Not detecting the promising aroma of braised pork ribs, he lowered his head disappointedly once more.
When Leo finished processing and preparing all the components, the adhesive had also cooled to the proper temperature. According to the textbook's description and his own modified design, Leo waved his wand in complex patterns.
Various parts and alchemical preparations flew and danced through the air like orchestrated performers, assembling in precise order mid-flight. From core to torso, limbs, head and tail—each part rapidly took shape with mechanical precision.
Within mere moments, a white mechanical dog with elegant, smooth lines materialised in the room. Sounds of gears turning and slots fitting together emanated rhythmically from inside its brass framework.
"Woof!"
A surprisingly realistic dog's bark emerged from the mechanical construct's mouth.
This immediately startled the sprawled Fang, who scrambled to his feet and darted away to examine this strange "fellow creature" from a cautious distance, tail tucked uncertainly.
Leo gestured with his wand, and the mechanical dog immediately performed various standard movements—rolling, jumping, sitting, and even executing several perfect backflips with mechanical grace.
After watching the mechanical dog demonstrate its full range of motion, Leo was thoroughly satisfied and lowered his wand. Not bad at all—his creation could genuinely perform backflips now.
"System, does this mechanical animal meet the loan requirements?"
[Congratulations host, you have created a controllable mechanical animal and also mastered semi-permanent solidified transformation.]
[Mechanical Transformation Pocket Watch loan has been repaid.]
[In view of the host's dedication to learning and exceeding loan completion standards, you may obtain one custom loan opportunity, with a maximum not exceeding monthly loan level.]
This was unexpected—there was this kind of bonus benefit?
Custom loans normally only applied to daily loans where he could specify content himself, while weekly loans and above depended entirely on the system's selection. Since the maximum was monthly loans, he'd definitely request a monthly loan. Although the loan difficulty was considerably higher, monthly loan rewards were also substantially better.
Anyway, he'd just completed the transformation pocket watch monthly loan, and the Diligent Little Gardener loan requiring ten Carnivorous Cabbages planted only needed routine fertilising and pest control—the rest was simply waiting for growth.
He'd previously recorded three-headed dog information, but with only one individual specimen, it didn't meet the loan requirement standard. The pet growth loan only needed one more magical creature species documented—another expedition to the Forbidden Forest would suffice.
Leo considered his options carefully—he completely had the capacity to undertake another monthly loan challenge.
As for the loan content itself... Leo withdrew the transformation pocket watch from his robes, turning it over thoughtfully. Through analysing this remarkable device, he'd made extraordinarily rapid progress in both Alchemy and solidified Transfiguration theory.
And one of his primary goals this year was to master all Transfiguration knowledge comprehensively and develop entirely new Transfiguration applications and directions.
So he should definitely customise a Transfiguration-related loan to continue advancing his expertise in this field.