Chapter 96 - Fluffy
The staircase set itself towards the right hand side of the third floor and we slowly climbed the staircase towards the forbidden corridor.
The castle was unusually quiet at night. Only the muted sound of our footsteps echoed slightly through the empty corridors.
Soon, we reached the room in the forbidden corridor behind which was Fluffy, the giant three-headed dog.
I stopped outside the large wooden door and turned around and looked at Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
"I repeat, the three of you will do exactly what I tell you. No one will recklessly run ahead. And most importantly, no one will scream unnecessarily when facing whatever is inside."
They nodded.
"We understand."
I shook my head.
"No, you don't. If there is unnecessary shouting or screaming, then your biggest problem won't be the thief or whatever waits below."
"It will be me."
"I don't like unnecessary noise. Especially screaming. Understood?"
This time they understood I was completely serious.
All three nodded together.
"Understood."
I gave a small nod.
"Good. Now let's go and uncover the mystery."
I slowly pushed the door open. The room was dimly lit.
Just as I expected, we found Fluffy across the room, asleep.
His three huge heads rested on the floor while loud snores filled the room.
Beside him, a magical harp was playing by itself. The soft music echoed gently through the chamber.
Harry's eyes widened while Hermione stared at the harp in surprise.
Ron whispered, in realisation,
"Someone's already been here. The three headed dog is asleep."
"The thief has already gone through," Hermione said quietly.
I looked at the harp and replied, "Most likely. This is a magical instrument. It was left here to keep Fluffy asleep. Whatever you lot feared, I think its already started."
The three of them became more serious.
"So the thief is already here?" Harry asked.
"Yes," I answered.
Then Ron pointed.
"There, that's the trapdoor!"
I looked at where he was pointing, and sure enough, under one of Fluffy's enormous paws was the trapdoor.
The three of them looked at each other and almost went ahead to drag his paw aside. Almost.
Because I stopped them.
"Stop."
All three froze, mid-stride just as they had started.
"Did you already forget what I told you?"
They remembered and looked at one another awkwardly and smiled embarassingly.
"No." "Sorry."
I nodded.
"Good. Let me handle this."
I pointed my wand at the magical harp. With a simple charm, the harp stopped playing instantly.
The room became silent, for only two seconds.
Just after the music stopped, in a couple of seconds, one of Fluffy's heads twitched.
Another lifted slightly while the third yawned loudly.
Slowly, all six eyes opened and it woke up.
The giant Cerberus looked straight at us. For one brief moment, he looked confused.
Then all three heads realized strangers were intruding his room. He was surprised for a moment and then he turned enraged.
Like it thought, 'How dare these puny creatures enter his domain and disturb him?'
His lips pulled back and three rows of enormous teeth appeared. A deep growl filled the room.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione instinctively stepped back.
Just as Fluffy was about to bark, I stepped forward.
"Hey, Fluffy. How are you?"
The growl stopped and turned to a whine instead.
Three pairs of eyes blinked. Then all three heads hurried toward me.
The giant dog sniffed the air, his noses twitching several times.
Behind me, Harry whispered, in alarm, "Arthur..."
Ron grabbed Hermione's sleeve.
The three of them probably thought Fluffy was about to eat me.
Instead, all three noses came close and sniffed me carefully. Fluffy recognized my scent and immediately, his tail began wagging.
His angry growl disappeared. Instead, he let out three happy whines.
And in the next moment, his three tongues came out.
I was alarmed, "Oh no!"
Harry and the others were confused.
I quickly raised both hands.
"Stop, Fluffy! No licking. Remember?"
All three heads froze and the giant tongues stopped only inches away from me.
I let out a relieved breath.
'Just to tell you, each of his tongues were bigger than me. If all three licked me at once, you could imagine how drenched I would become.'
I petted his heads, "Good boy."
Fluffy happily panted instead.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione stared at the scene with completely open mouths.
Ron finally managed to speak.
"Bloody hell! How did you do that?"
I smiled.
"You know Fluffy belongs to Hagrid, right? And Hagrid has raised him."
They nodded, "Yes."
"I have met Fluffy several times before he was brought here, back when he was still in the forbidden forest."
Harry blinked, "How?"
"Hagrid took me to see him more than once. We became friends easily. He is a really good boy."
I gently scratched Fluffy's heads behind the ear one by one. All three heads closed their eyes happily.
"You remember me, don't you, Fluffy?"
Fluffy barked once with all three heads. The sound echoed through the room.
I laughed, "I'll take that as a yes in the Dog language. We need to go down now, Fluffy. There is someone below. You know that already, don't you?"
All the three heads nodded together.
Harry gasped while Hermione watched carefully.
"How does Fluffy understand everything you're saying?"
I looked back at him.
"You guys, don't think of him as an ordinary dog."
"He is a Cerberus, a magical creature. Even normal, common dogs understand many words and commands from the people they trust. So why wouldn't Fluffy?"
"And they're much smarter than most people think."
Hermione nodded slowly.
"That... actually makes sense."
I smiled at Fluffy and rubbed him gently under one chin.
"I know."
Then I pointed toward the trapdoor beneath his paw.
"Could you move your foot for me?"
For a second, Fluffy simply stared at me. Then, without any hesitation, he slowly lifted one enormous paw away from the trapdoor.
The wooden trapdoor was now completely clear.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked from Fluffy to me in complete amazement.
None of them had expected the giant three-headed guardian to obey so willingly.
I smiled at Fluffy.
"Thank you, my friend."
Fluffy wagged his tail again, looking as proud as any dog receiving praise.
Then I turned toward the others.
"Now," I said quietly, "the real challenge begins."
---
End of Chapter 96 - Fluffy