Chapter 40

Victor readily agreed to Dumbledore's request. He even found the request all too familiar—in the past, eight out of ten of his friends had been asked to do similar things, as they usually had substantial wealth or magical items to protect.

So he has a whole collection of this kind of magic at his disposal.

It's not just one or two, but a whole package, encompassing various types of magic and physical defense.

If needed, Victor could even casually sketch out a fortress for Dumbledore, including twelve rickety, shaky, narrow paths with mechanisms that would sway, eight moving bricks that would shoot poison arrows if stepped on, two cable elevators that would slam people into the ceiling spikes, and a biting box that could pretend to be a treasure.

Don't ask who used this, but as far as he knows, no one has ever gotten through this fortress with only one life.

It's a pity that Hogwarts doesn't need such an exquisite design.

After reaching an agreement, Victor went back to his office and retrieved a strange little bag. Then, Dumbledore led him directly to the end of the fourth-floor corridor, in front of a locked door.

"The Arahu Cave Opens."

"Dumbledore said in a low voice."

The door lock opened immediately.

Victor raised an eyebrow: "This is just a basic lockpicking charm, isn't it a bit insufficient for protection?"

“That’s true, but if it’s locked up, Hagrid won’t be able to get in or out,” Dumbledore said. “That would be really unfair to Fluffy. To be honest, I already feel a little bad about locking him up in such a small place.”

Victor didn't recognize the name Lou Williams.

But the moment Dumbledore cracked the door open, Victor immediately understood who the name belonged to—

It was a giant dog with three heads.

When they opened the door, the first thing the two saw was the eyes of the monstrous dog—six in total, filled with winding blood vessels and a menacing hostility.

The dog was so big it filled the entire space from ceiling to floor. It had three heads and three noses—twitching and trembling toward them—and three drooling mouths, the drool hanging like sticky ropes from its yellowed teeth.

Its three heads are also connected in a twisted way, and even though they are covered by black dog fur, Victor can still see the twisted structure of the facial bones that are stuck together.

It stared at them for a moment, then let out three deafening roars:

"roar--!!"

"Don't be fooled by its appearance—it looks terrifying—" Dumbledore said, raising his voice slightly amidst its roar, "but Hagrid has trained Fluffy—it will deliberately give it time to escape—so that no student might stumble upon it—"

"Well, it's quite well-behaved."

Victor glanced at the dog, then took a few steps back in disgust, avoiding the sticky drool that spilled out as the three-headed dog barked.

After a while, the three-headed dog finally stopped barking, scratching at the ground with its claws, as if it wanted to charge.

But Dumbledore drew his wand from behind him—a strange wand covered in joints, its off-white shaft possessing an odd, jade-like quality. The moment it appeared, it caught Victor's attention.

Dumbledore simply waved his wand, and stone hands appeared on the surrounding walls, the ground, and even the doors, firmly restraining the three-headed dog.

"Transfiguration isn't allowed in most places at Hogwarts," Dumbledore said with a smile, putting down his wand. "But the headmaster always has some privileges."

Victor nodded in agreement.

After Lou Williams was pinned down, the trapdoor beneath his feet became conspicuous.

"Over here."

Dumbledore walked forward, while Fluffy was held down by several stone hands, only able to bark beside them. Of course, it was an exceptionally deafening bark.

As it barked, its yellow teeth kept trying to bite forward, drooling a lot, which made Victor frown and glance at it.

"Woof, woof..."

The three-headed dog, which was still trying to bite, seemed to suddenly sense something. It tucked its six ears back on its head and shrank back.

But by then Victor had already reached the trapdoor, watched Dumbledore jump down, and then took a step forward and jumped down as well.

……

The wind whistled past my ears, and beneath the trapdoor lay a dark, deep passageway. Although an adult might only fall for a few seconds at most, the drop was high enough to cause a broken bone.

But just as they were about to hit the ground, Dumbledore suddenly moved his wand, creating a gust of wind that gently supported the two of them.

Victor withdrew his raised hand.

"Click".

The two people's shoes touched the ground.

"I'm so sorry, did I affect your ability to perform?" Dumbledore smiled and glanced at Victor.

Victor shook his head: "It's just some tricks to stop the fall. You can't expect a wizard to be killed by a fall."

From the gaps in the cloak behind him, some black, feather-like objects seemed to disappear along with the shadows...

"The fireflies are twinkling."

A small blue dot appeared in the unlit room, illuminating the surroundings. At that moment, some winding vines were climbing all over the walls, seemingly about to scratch at the two people's faces.

Although the light didn't stop them, the two hadn't gotten entangled because they fell too quickly and didn't land in the middle of the vines.

"Let's hurry up and move along. This is a protective measure set up by Professor Sprout. We'd better not test it," Dumbledore said with a smile, using Transfiguration to stop the large number of vines that were trying to climb forward.

The two eventually arrived at a room full of flying keys.

"I'm sorry, Victor, your spell will have to share with Professor Flitwick's. I'll move it over once I can find a room for it."

"So how would you like to decorate? I'd love to see."

Dumbledore looked over curiously.

Victor simply took out the small bag he had brought, opened it, placed it in the middle of the room, and then made a move—

All sorts of grains gushed out of the opening like a fountain, gradually covering the ground! The grains were golden, gray, beige, and all sorts of shapes were mixed together.

Dumbledore's smile froze, a hint of confusion in his eyes. "Professor Victor, what are you planning to do?"

"Let the intruder pick the grains."

Victor said matter-of-factly.

"I will prepare several small boxes and have them separate all the different grains. Intruders will need to peel off the husks and put the grains into the boxes by color. The door will not open until enough weight has been added."

Dumbledore paused for a moment, then said hesitantly, "...Oh, but that must take a lot of time, right? And while it's difficult for ordinary novice wizards to pick these things out, some wizards skilled in spells won't be stumped..."

Victor said, "Spending time is actually one way to stall the intruder, Headmaster. As long as we can hold them off until we discover them, the intruder will be captured."

"But you're right, the point isn't really picking the grains; that's not difficult for the wizards here."

"Among these tens of thousands of grains, five thousand actually conceal a special curse magic. Stepping on one will turn a person into a swan that cannot fly. Another four thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine will cause a person to age rapidly, turning them into a dying old woman. And among these nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine grains, only one ear of grain exists randomly in any grain for thirty seconds. Once picked out, it can give a person the opportunity to walk down."

"Of course, this is just the first step I want to take."