Ivan nodded nonchalantly. He had no intention of doing anything anyway.
When they reached Hogwarts Castle, Dumbledore suddenly stopped and patted Harry on the shoulder.
"Go back to the dormitory. It's not convenient for you to be involved in what happens next."
Fudge nodded. Since they were already here, he wasn't worried about Ivan and the others relaying the news.
When they left, Ivan walked down the corridor to the Gryffindor House Lounge, where Harry, Hermione, and Ron were sitting looking worried.
"What if Minister Fudge finds the three-headed dog locked up on the fourth floor? Professor Dumbledore won't be sacked, will he?" said Harry.
"Don't worry, the Professor will manage on his own," Ivan said confidently. He didn't think Dumbledore was easy to deal with.
Perhaps Dumbledore had come up with a solution during the confrontation with Fudge, or he would not have been so calm throughout the journey.
"But I don't think the Professor is going to be able to cope on his own…" Hermione suddenly stopped and looked over Harry's shoulder.
"What is it? Is there something on my face?" Harry asked curiously.
"It's on his shoulder. I think there's writing on it," Ron said blankly.
Ivan's mouth twitched as he read the words, which were composed of golden points of light. He wanted to pretend that he could not see them, but he was not alone.
"This must have been left by Professor Dumbledore. It says secret passage… fourth floor! Professor Dumbledore told us to take the secret passage to the fourth floor," Hermione said excitedly.
Harry and Ron were also excited and felt they could do something about it.
But where was this secret passage?
Bewildered, the trio turned to Ivan. If it was a message from Dumbledore, it meant that someone knew about the secret passage.
Yvonne wanted to say that she didn't know anything, but considering that she would be studying at Hogwarts for some time to come, she decided to get rid of the problem.
"You'd better be prepared for the difficult passages," Ivan said with a sigh, wondering how Dumbledore had guessed he knew about them.
Ivan led them on a wild run, then stopped at a footpath on the first floor, where there was a statue of a sword-wielding soldier.
Ivan tapped his wand lightly on the wall next to the statue, and the statue jerked its sword up, startling Ron, and then the stonework on the wall fell in, revealing a narrow passageway.
It was a strange space, with walls made of brick that extended in all directions. The walls seemed to be alive, moving and growing.
During the brief pause, the space leading to the left was completely swallowed up by the large amount of bricks, and Ivan pulled Hermione and the others away.
To the right, the terrain got higher and higher, and the path behind them was blocked by new bricks. Ivan suddenly crashed into a grey wall, and Harry thought he had lost his mind.
"Come on, the trapdoor changes!"
Ivan's voice came from the other end, and Harry and the others realised that this was similar to the situation on Platforms Nine and Three-quarters. Without hesitation, they crashed into the platform.
Once inside, Harry felt as if he were passing through a wall of water, and Hermione, who was at the very back of the group, could feel the pressure building around her, slowly solidifying, as if it were turning into a real wall…
Luckily, Hermione managed to get out at the last minute, and when she touched the wall behind her, it was solid.
"What if I hadn't got out in time?" Hermione asked curiously.
"Then we won't see you," Ivan said sternly.
Hermione was horrified, as were Harry and Ron, and they were about to swear to never enter these dangerous passages again when Ivan chuckled.
"I mean not for a while. You'll be transported somewhere in the castle."
This was Hogwarts, and the traps and hidden doors were, of course, non-lethal. Otherwise, the school would have been closed long ago due to the number of suicidal young wizards and witches throughout history.
Hermione scowled at Ivan, and if it weren't for the emergency, they would have joined forces to beat him up.
"Where are we?" Harry looked around.
"The fourth floor, of course," Ivan said, leading the way to the forbidden corridor.
The wooden door was still closed, but they both knew that a ferocious three-headed dog was locked inside.
"Harry, do you still have the music box I gave you?" Ivan asked, turning to look behind him.
"Of course, it was a wonderful gift…" Harry wondered why Ivan had brought it up, but took it out of his pocket anyway.
"Oh yes, Hagrid once said Fluffy liked to listen to music, and would fall asleep listening to it!" Hermione immediately remembered, and Harry and Ron felt a rush of excitement, as they wouldn't have to deal with Cerberus.
Ivan nodded. With this music box, he wouldn't have to use the Transfiguration Charm to create a temporary musical instrument.
Pushing open the wooden door to the corridor, Ivan motioned for Harry to open the music box, only to find the three-headed dog Fluffy asleep.
However, the noise of the door opening had some effect. Fluffy's eyelids fluttered and he looked like he was about to wake up.
Without prompting, Harry had the music box open when Fluffy moved again, and the cheerful Christmas song filled the corridor.
There was a collective sigh of relief, but no one knew what to do with such a large dog.
"I mean, why don't we just forget it? How are we supposed to get a three-headed dog this big out of here?" Ron asked as he looked at Fluffy's three fangs-filled mouths. He couldn't think of a way to hide it.
"There's a trapdoor, isn't there?" Ivan asked, ignoring Ron as he went to open it and double it with an Extension Charm.
Ivan would not have been able to complete the Merge if his magic and spell-casting skills had not improved so dramatically.
"Are you going to just drop it?" Hermione was worried that Fluffy would simply fall to his death, or make a noise underneath.
"So there's other work that needs to be done…" Ivan said.