Chapter 59: The kind Fluffy (Edited)

After eating Fish's snacks, Harry and the others had regained some strength and soon finished the rest of their work.

When Mrs. Norris saw that they were finished, she jumped up and looked around for Filch.

"Some evil bondage magic must have been used between Filch and his cat," whispered Ron in Harry's ear, who nodded thoughtfully.

How else would Mrs. Norris have managed to find Filch so quickly in a castle as large and complex as Hogwarts?

Back in the basement, Filch was unaware that Harry and Ron, the two young wizards, were gossiping about him, and he carried the oil lamp that barely left the darkness of night, checking the basement inch by inch, hoping to find some area that had not been cleaned and thus increase Harry's punishment for his confinement.

Unfortunately, because Filch had such a good reputation among the students, even Goyle and Crabbe, the two silly boys, had checked again and again very carefully, so Filch didn't get away with it.

"Come back," Filch waved his hand in disinterest, "And report to the Great Dining Hall on time tomorrow afternoon."

With a sigh of relief, Harry and the others rushed out of the cellar, not wanting to be there any longer.

When they emerged from the cellar, Harry and Ron went straight up the stairs, but Malfoy and the others, who were supposed to return to the cellar, followed them down the stairs.

Harry stopped and looked at Malfoy.

Malfoy, in turn, returned his gaze.

After a brief exchange of glances, fearful of Filch's presence, they quickly came to an understanding and stopped their pointless confrontation, making their way to the third floor in silence.

"By the way, did Fish say where he was on the third floor?", Halfway up the stairs, Ron suddenly asked in a whisper, "And who was this Fluffy he was talking about?".

"Some kind of animal, like Mrs. Norris, he created?" Harry scratched his head uncertainly, "We just have to listen to which side of the third floor makes the most noise, we should be able to find Fish."

"It doesn't matter if we don't find him," Malfoy said smugly, pulling a bag of smoked cod out of his pocket, showing it off with a smug look, "Fish loves the smoked cod my father sends, I just have to open the bag and he'll show up when he smells it."

"It's a good selection of cod, hand-smoked by experts in their craft, it's not like the normal cod you eat.... I don't think you'll ever get to eat it in your life Weasley.... Oh, perhaps Fish will be kind enough to give you some, so I'll take pity on you."

Apparently concerned that Harry and the others didn't know about the products, Malfoy also explained specifically and, incidentally, teased Ron's family.

"I don't even care about your...!", Ron snarled through gritted teeth, red in the face, he was about to say "you stinky fish" but swallowed when he thought it was directed at Fish.

Luckily, Malfoy didn't get the chance to pretend anymore, as they reached the third floor and soon heard a small noise in the hallway to their right.

"If I remember correctly, I think Dumbledore said at the beginning of the term not to go near there," After hearing the sound, Harry didn't go first, but pulled Ron and frowned.

He had made a point of asking Percy about it, so he was under the impression.

"And he said not to break school rules," Malfoy grumbled, half indignantly and half mockingly, as he touched the still sore wound on his face.

With that, and without waiting for Harry's reaction, he led Goyle and Crabbe down the hallway to the right.

Ron sneered at Malfoy,

It also seemed to him that Harry was making too much of a fuss.

"If there is any real danger, how could Fish stay there, Dumbledore has always been a bit of a madman, one shouldn't take his word too seriously," Harry thought better of it, patted his head in embarrassment and moved forward with Ron.

The two groups reached the wooden door at the end of the corridor, and Fish, who had sensed their arrival, jumped out of Fluffy's head and opened the door in human form.

"There you are, meow!"

Fish stood in the doorway, inviting them in.

As Malfoy and the others entered, Fish stepped aside and ran to Fluffy, greeting them.

"This is Fluffy, a friend I met a while back, meow." (●ΦωΦ●)?

"!!!!"

Ron, the last to enter and close the door behind him, heard Fish's call, looked in the direction of the sound and, like the first four, froze.

Ron's heart nearly leapt out of his throat at the sight of Fish nonchalantly tugging at the lips of the huge three-headed dog.

"Meow?" Fish looked at the five who hadn't moved and cocked his head, "You guys don't like Fluffy either?"

Fish had already taken Mrs. Norris to Fluffy 's room, but when she saw Fluffy, she became so frightened that she ran away and refused to come back, no matter how hard Fish tried to persuade her.

"Don't be afraid, Fluffy has a very good temperament," Fish said.

As if to prove his own statement, Fish reached out and grabbed Fluffy's nose again, but the big, fierce-looking dog just stuck out his tongue and let Fish bully him, even lowering his head to make it easier for Fish to reach his nose.

Harry and the others were relieved to see how docile Fluffy was behaving.

At the same time, Harry noticed that there was a trap door under Fluffy's feet.

Was Fluffy protecting something...?

The thought occurred to Harry, and he quickly thought of the dirty bag Hagrid had taken out of Gringotts' subway vault 713.

What did Hagrid say then?

"If you want to hide something, Gringotts is the safest place in the world, apart from Hogwarts, probably."

As Harry was lost in thought, Fish called out to them again, "Don't just stand there, come and play, meow."

They all looked at each other hesitantly, but finally lifted their feet and slowly approached Fish.

As their fear diminished, their interest in the three-headed dog, Fluffy, also increased.

After all, every child dreams of taming a beast.

The five of them approached Fluffy and touched him gently.

Fluffy looked at them, stuck one head out to block Fish's view, and the other two heads changed their expressions, smiling at Harry and the others, revealing two sharp, razor-sharp white teeth.

It was clear to Harry that the only reason they had been able to approach Fluffy was because the three-headed dog hadn't bothered with them for Fish's sake, and that, had Fish not been there, they would have been lucky to die bitten.

The five young wizards quickly withdrew their hands and took two silent steps backwards, the fear that had previously subsided instantly resurfaced again, and now that they were closer, the fear had increased exponentially.

'No! I have to find an excuse to leave quickly!',' Looking at the sharp teeth in his grasp and feeling the hot, stinking wind Fluffy was spitting in his face, the insecure Harry screamed in his mind.

And Malfoy was obviously thinking the same thing, as he faked a yawn and then said to Fish with a very stiff expression and tone, "Ah, I'm a bit sleepy...I have to get back to bed, I have classes tomorrow."

"Yeah, yeah," Ron agreed, oblivious to his feud with Malfoy, "And I'm a bit tired from all the work I did in confinement."

Knowing that humans don't work the same way as cats, Fish didn't keep them any longer, as he just followed the book on a whim and introduced his friends to the others, "Bye, meow~" (●ΦωΦ●)?

"Goodbye!"

The five young wizards quickly said their goodbyes, retreated as fast as they could and then made a mad dash for their dormitories without looking back.