Chapter 21: The Three-Headed Dog
[Please Vote Stones]
"This is the ability I gained, to transform into any creature I've touched," Tom explained, and Hermione nodded, marveling at the lifelike transformation. But after the initial novelty wore off, both of them soon had a strange feeling.
"Is this what it feels like to be a girl..." Tom found it a bit strange, a whole new experience. He looked at the ring in his hand and noticed that the second facet of the six-sided ring had a new humanoid mark.
Hermione blushed slightly, feeling that something was off. She felt a bit uncomfortable.
"Can you please respect my privacy a little?" She gave Tom an annoyed look. "Don't ever turn into my likeness again! And don't use my appearance for weird things!"
Tom nodded and reverted to his original form.
"It's truly a remarkable ability," Hermione said admiringly. "Let's go back; we have classes early tomorrow."
"Alright," Tom said as he walked to the door. Before opening it, he glanced back at Hermione with a strange look.
"What's wrong?" Hermione noticed his peculiar gaze. She realized that Tom was looking at her shoes?
"Don't your feet get sweaty wearing shoes like that? I felt suffocated when I transformed into this form earlier..." Tom didn't finish the sentence because he noticed Hermione's expression turning dangerously cold.
After leaving the Room of Requirement, Tom and Hermione intended to return to their common room, but an unexpected event occurred: a suit of armor suddenly started moving, swaying and creaking as if walking, making a loud clattering noise in the otherwise quiet castle corridor.
The sudden movement of the armor startled both of them.
"What is this thing? A magical school item?" Hermione whispered to Tom.
"I think it's more likely another kind of creature, an elf – Peeves, is that you?"
The armor stopped its comical gait, and a small, mischievous-looking creature emerged from it. It had a pair of gleaming black eyes and a large mouth. After extricating itself from the armor, it floated in mid-air, letting the now unsupported armor crash to the ground with a deafening clatter.
"Peeves! Keep it down! If you attract a professor or Filch—" Hermione began to say in a worried tone.
"You'll be expelled!" Peeves interrupted her, showing no intention of lowering his voice. Instead, he shouted gleefully, "Naughty new students, wandering around in the middle of the night. Tsk, tsk, tsk, mischievous, mischievous, you'll be caught!"
"It won't happen as long as you keep quiet, Peeves, please," Hermione pleaded, feeling a sense of panic as she spoke.
"I should tell Filch, hehe." Peeves' eyes sparkled mischievously, speaking in a self-important tone. "This is for your own good, you know?"
"Let's ignore it and run," Tom whispered to Hermione. They both took off running along the corridor, not daring to look back. As long as they didn't show their faces, everything would be fine.
They ran for a while and finally spotted a staircase. Even though they had no idea where the staircase would lead, they descended it in haste. Peeves, still causing a commotion behind them, threw various pieces of armor and helmets in their direction. The cacophony of clanging and crashing sounded like thunder, loud enough to wake up the entire castle.
They passed through one door after another, racing through corridor after corridor. At first, Tom could roughly identify which floor they were on, but soon he lost all sense of direction. He didn't know where they were or which way they were going. However, Peeves was getting closer and closer.
In the end, in their panicked flight, they rushed into a dead-end corridor. At the end of the corridor was a locked door. They heard footsteps approaching from behind, and Filch was evidently catching up.
Tom pushed the door and realized it was locked. Hermione pushed him aside, drew her wand, and tapped the lock, whispering, "Alohomora!" The lock clicked open, and Hermione pulled Tom inside, closing the door and pressing her ear against it to listen to the sounds outside.
"Where did they go, Peeves?" Filch had arrived at the scene and was questioning the mischievous poltergeist.
"They're right behind the door," Peeves said in his sing-song voice, sending a shiver down Hermione's spine.
Filch sneered, "Don't play tricks with me, Peeves. Do you really think a simple trap like this can fool me? It seems like this is all just part of your act. I'll report this to Professor Dumbledore tomorrow, and he'll expel you for sure!"
Filch stormed away angrily, muttering to himself about the trouble Peeves had caused him. Hermione sighed with relief and whispered, "I think we should be safe now—what's wrong, Tom?" She felt Tom tugging at her sleeve. When she turned around, she witnessed a scene that she would remember for the rest of her life—a massive, three-headed dog blocked their path!
The space behind the door was not a room, as they had initially thought, but a corridor. Hermione quickly realized that they were in the forbidden corridor on the third floor, and she now understood why it was off-limits.
The gigantic creature filled the entire space from floor to ceiling. What was even more horrifying than its size was the fact that it had three heads, and all three pairs of eyes were locked onto Hermione and Tom. Its three moist, pink noses twitched and quivered, drool oozing from its yellowed fangs and falling to the floor with a putrid stench.
At that moment, Hermione felt like she was living a nightmare.
(End Of Chapter)