Harry was positioned at the very back of the group, and was momentarily stunned by the sudden onslaught of the jaws.
The stench of it hit Harry in the face, making him nauseous, and as despair spread through his body, Ivan's voice rang out in his ear.
"It's full of obstacles!"
The three-headed dog's head was stopped in mid-air by an invisible barrier, but in the next second, the barrier that Ivan had created with his magic was torn apart by another fang-like mouth!
Fortunately, Harry was able to react in time and narrowly escaped death.
Ron shouted "Run!" and threw himself against the door. He tried to pull it open, but it was locked.
"Who the hell locked the door!" Ron exclaimed in despair.
Ivan, who had temporarily restrained the three-headed dog with a Stunning Spell and a Petrification Charm, rolled his eyes. 'Didn't you lock the door yourself?'
Ron panicked, suspecting that he might die there, and Hermione pushed him away, placing her wand on the lock.
"Alohomora!"
Hermione violently broke the lock with the Unlocking Charm, and the five escaped as fast as they could, then slammed the door shut before the three-headed dog, Fluffy, could get out.
Bang… Bang Bang!
When they were some distance away, they heard the faint sounds of crashing doors and roaring from afar, and they breathed a sigh of relief, especially Ivan, who had somehow been dragged into this mess.
When Ivan was trying to pin down the three-headed dog Fluffy, he found that his magic level was too low, so the Stunning Spell could only affect the three-headed dog at most.
If Hermione had opened the door any later, he might have been forced to eat his lunch, as there was nowhere to hide in such a confined space.
This made Ivan realise how weak he was. He might have had an easy time dealing with a first-year wizard like Malfoy, but in the face of real danger, he could not even struggle.
"That monster's not going to crash its way out, is it?" Ron grumbled as he glanced at the door behind him.
"No, the door is probably made of special material, otherwise it would be broken," Ivan explained.
"Why would Professor Dumbledore keep such a creature in his castle?" Harry was still in shock. He had never expected to encounter such a terrible creature at Hogwarts, and he had almost been eaten by it!
Hermione, on the other hand, snapped a warning.
"I'm sure you remember when we first started school, Dumbledore told us that we were not supposed to be here. If we hadn't broken the school rules and come out in the middle of the night, we wouldn't have stumbled into this place!"
Perhaps because she had just escaped death, Hermione's tone was sharper than usual.
Harry and Ron knew at once that Hermione was about to launch into another tirade, and Neville nearly burst into tears.
However, instead of complaining, Hermione revealed that she had seen a trapdoor under the three-headed dog, as well as her suspicion that the dog was guarding something.
However, before leaving, Hermione warned Harry and the others that whatever was down there had nothing to do with them, and that this should be something for Professor Dumbledore to consider!
Hermione's attitude was a little hard to read for Harry and the others, but fortunately Hermione was unlikely to tell Professor McGonagall that they had broken school rules tonight.
"I didn't expect Malfoy to be so sinister. He must have told Filch about what happened in the trophy room!" Ron was still furious when they returned to the dormitory, and he threatened to beat Malfoy up the next day.
"Ivan, we should have listened to you," Harry said sheepishly, as Ivan had mentioned the possibility earlier that afternoon.
"Forget it." Ivan waved his hand, indicating that he didn't mind. After all, he didn't expect Harry and Ron to resist the temptation to stay in the dormitory.
"By the way, Ivan, why were you in the corridor?" Harry asked curiously.
"I'm here for you," Ivan said dismissively. He couldn't very well reveal that he had sneaked into the Restricted Section in the middle of the night to read.
Harry and the others felt even more ashamed of themselves, but after only a few minutes of silence, they began discussing the trap door that Cerberus was guarding and trying to guess what was behind it.
Ivan was not involved. The newly-activated Challenge Mission was enough of a headache for him, and he had no interest in meddling in Dumbledore's affairs.
The only good thing was that he still had some time to prepare for the troll-infested Halloween.
…
Ivan spent the next week or two trying to improve himself, and the rest of the time searching the library for books on trolls.
Common Magical Creature Detail… Guide to the Taming of Dangerous Monsters… On the Possibility of Giant-Troll Interbreeding…
Even the copy of Travels with Trolls was unearthed by Ivan.
It was written by Gilderoy Lockhart, who replaced Chino in teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts next term.
Even though Ivan knew Lockhart was a trickster who only knew how to forget spells, this did not prevent the book from being authentic and professional, which is why he was able to find it in the Hogwarts Library.
In all honesty, Ivan didn't want to open the cover to Lockhart's signature white-toothed smile.
However, the contents of the first few books were unreliable, and The Common Fantastic Creature only mentioned that trolls had no medicinal value, and that nothing tasted good from the brain to the torso…
The Domestication Guide to Dangerous Monsters describes trolls as being able to be subdued by wizards with greater force…
Wasn't that bullshit?
If he had the ability to defeat a troll, why would he be here flipping through books?
The book On the Possibility of Giant-Troll Transbreeding was an academic riposte to Ivan's book.
On the contrary, Travels with Trolls is a biographical account of troll habits and weaknesses.
For example, trolls tend to be unintelligent, eat a lot of food, and eat almost anything, so it would be a good idea to place bait in a trap.
There is also the fact that the troll's bean-like head and massive body make it less stable overall. If you hit the troll's legs with a powerful charm, it might upset the balance and knock it down, allowing you to run a few more steps before being eaten…
Finally, the head of a troll is itself a weakness, much more vulnerable than the rest of the body, and can be knocked out by gravity.