Chapter 148: Through the trap door (Edited)

The three of them cautiously dodged the ghosts and Lady Norris roaming the castle and reached the end of the third floor corridor.

The wooden door was still tightly closed, and Hermione pulled out her wand and whispered an Incantation into it...

"(Alohomora)."

The lock on the wooden door popped slightly and a crack slowly opened.

"Come in." urged Hermione quietly, and the three of them pushed the door shut behind them.

As they stepped through the wooden door, the sound of Fluffy's barking was immediately heard.

Just as Fish had said, Fluffy couldn't see Harry and the others with the invisibility cloak, but his three noses sniffed frantically in their direction.

"Come on! Music!" warned Ron under his breath, and Harry hurriedly pulled out the flute Hagrid had given him, stuck it in his mouth and played.

Harry didn't even have to think about what to play, but when the flute sounded like a lord of the night, Fluffy's six eyelids began to droop and his body shuddered.

Within moments, Fluffy couldn't resist sleep and fell to the floor with a thump, his three heads snoring in unison.

"I can't believe it was that easy..."

Hermione smiled as she heard Harry's strange flute playing out of tune, vaguely thinking that Dumbledore had made some noise with those levels.

She lifted her invisibility cloak, stepped around the sleeping dog and made her way to the trapdoor, pulling the top ring to open it.

"It's as deep as Fish said it would be." Ron poked his head out, peering into the darkness. "Just as we agreed, I'll jump first..."

Ron looked back at Harry, who was still playing the flute, and Hermione, who was standing next to him with a nervous look on her face, and took a deep breath.

Just as he was deciding to jump, Hermione suddenly reminded him, "Get your wand out, and remember to use the Charm (Incendio) the first thing you do on the way down, otherwise you won't have time to get your wand out when the Devil's Snare entangles you."

"Got it, got it."

Ron waved his hand impatiently, but pulled out the wand as he had been told, nodded again to Hermione and Harry with a serious expression and jumped up.

After a few seconds, Hermione saw a faint firelight below, followed by Ron's voice coming out of the hole.

"No problem, it's a soft landing! You can come down now."

So Hermione and Harry jumped down, one by one, and easily escaped the Devil's Snare.

"Good thing Fish told us, otherwise we would have been in big trouble."

Harry, the last to jump, sighed softly as Hermione helped him pull the tendrils away from the Devil's Snare.

At that moment, Hermione sensed something was wrong, she didn't think that something a first year student could turn down with a little preparation could stop a dark wizard like Snape.

She remembered exactly what Professor Sprout had said about the Devil's Snare in Herbology class: it was a bit of a problem, but it wasn't a difficult plant for most wizards to handle, as long as you kept your cool.

So, is there really a Philosopher's Stone hidden here?

Hermione couldn't help but wonder.

In fact, the idea had been going around in Hermione's head ever since she'd heard about Fish's experiences, but she hadn't been able to go through the levels herself, and knowing that Fish's concerns tended to be different from those of ordinary people, it was difficult to make an accurate assessment.

But now...

Hermione licked her lips, and began to suspect that that place was nothing more than a front to fool Snape, and that the real Philosopher's Stone was probably hidden elsewhere by Dumbledore.

"What are you looking at, Hermione?"

At that moment, Ron suddenly interrupted Hermione's musings, "We have to hurry and get the Philosopher's Stone before Snape does, but there's no extra time to waste here!"

Hermione hesitated, not voicing her suspicions, after all they had just come down, there were still several levels to see, and they had to wait to see them.

So she kept silent and followed Harry and Ron into the first room.

Several winged keys were flying through the sky, making soft rustling and tinkling sounds.

"This is so beautiful, should this be Professor Flitwick's or Professor McGonagall's spell?" Ron cocked his head to the side, looking at the glowing keys flying in the sky, and exclaimed.

"This is no time for sentimentality!" Harry led the way to the heavy, locked wooden door.

"(Alohomora)!"

He cast the (Alohomora) spell on the door without hesitation, but there was no response.

"Damn, looks like we'll have to find the right one among all these keys!"

Hermione was slightly stunned, if the (Alohomora) spell didn't work on this door, then why wasn't the door to the corridor sealed the same way?

Besides, the anti-Alohomora spell was not an unusual spell, it had been mentioned in the spell book.

The gaps grew, and so did Hermione's suspicions.

"But there are hundreds of keys up there!"

Ron and Harry, oblivious to the discrepancy, were still discussing the solution.

After looking closely at the door lock, Ron said, "We're looking for a big old key...probably silver and shaped like a doorknob."

And Harry, after looking around, excitedly pointed to a row of flying brooms in one corner, "Look, guys, flying brooms! We can rely on them to catch the key to this door."

Hermione grew even quieter as she looked at the flying brooms in view.

"Hmph...looks like your little trick has been seen by the all-knowing lady, only fools like Potter and Weasley would think a prank like this would stop an adult wizard."

An unseen Snape grimaced, looking at Dumbledore.

Dumbledore sighed and explained, "Because, aside from the fact that these levels are for Harry to get some exercise, I thought I would remind Quirinus to see if he would come to his senses, but alas, both he and his master have been blinded by the Philosopher's Stone."

As he explained, Dumbledore stepped back a little, letting Snape know that even Voldemort, to whom he had been loyal, had missed the flaw.

"Hmph!"

Hearing Dumbledore's subtext, Snape curbed his mocking expression and grimaced.

It wasn't that he had nothing to say, but he knew that if he kept arguing with Dumbledore, he would be dragged down by his love and beliefs and all that.

"Potter and Weasley were too worried about the Philosopher's Stone falling into the wrong hands to think about it," Professor McGonagall argued on behalf of her students, not picking up on Dumbledore's stinging subtext, "Hermione was always a clever girl."

Snape, whom Harry and the others had identified as the "bad guy," snorted and remained silent.

The debate between recklessness and bravery was an old one for Slytherin and Gryffindor, and he had no interest in discussing it again with Professor McGonagall.

"Minerva," Fish, who had come over to watch, tugged on Professor McGonagall's sleeve, "Why didn't Scarhead and the others break down the door?"

Professor McGonagall looked puzzled at the kitten, Harry and the others had at least used their brains to find the right solution, whereas Fish would have been foolhardy to have gone ahead.

"This door can't be broken down now," Dumbledore stroked his beard cheerfully, "I reinforced it with a spell after you broke it down last time."

"Meow! how do you know I broke this door down, you old meanie?!" ∑(●ΦΦДΦ●)

"Hmm? When did you sneak in, you little rascal?!"

The voices of the two McGonagalls sounded almost simultaneously.

Professor McGonagall had felt a bit strange at that moment, Harry and the others were too well prepared and seemed to know the level from the start....

So it was Fish's fault?

Fish met Professor McGonagall's compelling gaze and blinked....

"hehehe." (●?●)