Don't Worry, The Professor Should Be Able to Handle It Himself

Evan nodded indifferently, as he hadn't planned to do anything anyway.

Returning to Hogwarts Castle, Dumbledore suddenly stopped and gently patted Harry on the shoulder.

"You should all return to your dormitory. The upcoming matters are not suitable for you to participate in."

Fudge nodded, not worried about Evan and the others alerting anyone since they were already here.

After parting ways, Evan walked towards the Gryffindor common room with Harry, Hermione, and Ron, all looking worried.

"What if Minister Fudge discovers the Cerberus on the fourth floor? Will Professor Dumbledore be dismissed?" Harry asked.

"Relax, the professor can handle it himself," Evan confidently replied, not believing Dumbledore would be easily outmaneuvered.

Perhaps during his confrontation with Fudge, Dumbledore had already devised a solution, which explained his composure throughout.

"But I don't think the professor can handle it himself..." Hermione suddenly stopped, staring at Harry's shoulder.

"What's wrong? Is there something on my face?" Harry asked, puzzled.

"It's on your shoulder, there seem to be words," Ron said, dumbfounded.

Evan saw the golden light forming words and wanted to ignore it, but unfortunately, he wasn't the only one present.

"This must be from Professor Dumbledore. It says 'secret passage'... 'fourth floor'! Professor Dumbledore wants us to take a shortcut to the fourth floor through a secret passage," Hermione exclaimed excitedly.

Harry and Ron were also excited, feeling they could contribute again.

But where was this secret passage?

All three looked at Evan, assuming since Dumbledore left the message, someone must know about the passage.

Evan wanted to say he knew nothing, but considering he still had to study at Hogwarts, he decided to deal with the issue to avoid trouble with Dumbledore.

"You'd better be prepared; this passage isn't easy to navigate," Evan sighed, wondering how Dumbledore knew he knew about these passages.

Evan led them in a sprint, stopping at a small passage on the first floor, where a statue of a soldier with a sword stood.

Evan tapped the wall next to the statue with his wand, startling Ron as the statue suddenly lifted its sword, revealing a narrow passage behind the recessed bricks.

Inside was a bizarre space with walls of bricks moving and extending constantly, creating a maze-like environment.

As they paused, the passage to the left was quickly engulfed by bricks, and their current space was about to be swallowed as well. Evan hurriedly led Hermione and the others away.

They moved right, ascending as the path behind them was blocked by new bricks. Evan suddenly charged at a gray wall, making Harry think he had gone mad, but Evan passed right through it.

"Hurry, this secret door changes!"

Evan's voice came from the other side, and realizing it was similar to Platform 9¾, Harry and the others followed without hesitation.

Upon entering, Harry felt like he passed through a watery barrier. Hermione, last to cross, felt increasing pressure, which was solidifying, turning back into a wall...

Fortunately, Hermione made it out just in time, and touching behind her, found solid wall.

"What would have happened if I hadn't made it out in time?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Then we wouldn't see you," Evan replied seriously.

Hermione felt a chill, and Harry and Ron were also frightened. Just as they vowed never to enter such dangerous passages again, Evan chuckled:

"I meant temporarily. You would have been transported to another part of the castle."

After all, this was Hogwarts; the traps and secret doors were non-lethal, or the school would have closed long ago due to countless reckless students.

Hermione glared at Evan, and if not for the urgency, they would have teamed up to teach him a lesson.

"Where are we now?" Harry looked around.

"Of course, we're on the fourth floor," Evan led them to the forbidden corridor.

The wooden door was still closed, but they knew a ferocious Cerberus was inside.

"Harry, do you still have the music box I gave you?" Evan turned and asked.

"Of course, it's a great gift..." Harry didn't understand why Evan mentioned it but took it out from his pocket.

"Right, Hagrid said the Cerberus, Fluffy, likes music and falls asleep when he hears it!" Hermione immediately remembered, and Harry and Ron became excited, realizing they wouldn't need to confront the Cerberus.

Evan nodded, glad he wouldn't need to conjure a musical instrument with a Transfiguration spell.

Opening the corridor door, Evan signaled Harry to prepare the music box, but they found the Cerberus, Fluffy, already asleep.

However, the noise from entering stirred Fluffy, whose eyelids twitched, about to wake up.

Without needing prompting, Harry opened the music box as Fluffy showed signs of waking, and the cheerful Christmas carol played, lulling Fluffy back to sleep.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief but didn't know what to do next with the massive Cerberus.

"I mean, maybe we should just leave it? How can we move such a huge Cerberus outside?" Ron looked at Fluffy's three heads with sharp teeth and gulped, unable to think of a way to hide it.

"There's a trapdoor here, isn't there?" Evan ignored Ron and walked straight to the trapdoor, opening it and using an Extension Charm to enlarge it by a full double.

If not for Evan's significantly increased magical power and skill after the fusion ritual, he wouldn't have been able to accomplish this.

"Are you planning to just drop it down there?" Hermione worried Fluffy might get injured or cause a commotion below.

"So, we need to do some additional work..." Evan said.