Chapter 20: The Transition and Discussion About Cerberus
Chapter 20: The Transition and Discussion About Cerberus
The next morning, Liam yawned as he made his way to the Great Hall for breakfast. He hadn't slept well the night before, too excited from the events of the previous day.
Despite his physical fatigue, Liam was still very excited mentally. He even found himself smiling occasionally during breakfast.
This behavior earned him a disapproving glance from Hermione, who was sitting next to him. "What exactly did you do this weekend? You keep zoning out and staring into space, and then you start smiling to yourself. Are you sure there's nothing wrong?"
After Liam repeatedly assured her that everything was fine, Hermione finally let it go. They then went to the Library for their morning study session.
Life returned to its normal routine. Liam quietly attended his classes and focused on his studies. He felt that it wasn't the right time to traverse to other worlds until he had fully mastered the two new abilities he had learned. After all, it was better to thoroughly understand and apply the powers he already had before learning new ones.
In addition, Liam showed a keen interest in magical plants during his Herbology class on Wednesday. He even stayed after class to help clean up, just to spend more time with the magical plants. Only by interacting with them could Liam truly absorb Crazy Dave's knowledge and make it his own.
Seeing Liam's obvious fondness for the plants, Professor Sprout was quite pleased. As a teacher, it was very satisfying to see a student genuinely interested in the subject.
So, Professor Sprout told Liam that he could come to her office whenever he had questions about the magical plants. This was an unexpected bonus for Liam, in addition to improving his abilities.
However, practicing mechanical skills was more challenging, especially in the Wizarding World, where the Reparo Charm could fix anything. This left little room for practice. Fortunately, the charm wasn't very useful in the Wizarding World, so he could always practice later when the opportunity arose.
After finishing his homework in the evening, Liam noticed a crowd gathered around the fireplace in the Common Room. The Weasley Twins were demonstrating some new invention.
Liam was just about to stand up to see what was happening when the Common Room door opened, and Hermione climbed in.
She looked around the room, then walked over to Liam, clearly seeking him out.
Liam sat back down, and Hermione soon joined him, sitting across from him and looking a bit nervous as she glanced around. Most of the people in the Common Room were distracted by the Weasley Twins' new trick, so no one paid attention to this corner.
Hermione put down her book bag and pulled out a thick, old book. The cover was made of some kind of reptilian skin, and the title, written in faded gold, read: Rare European Magical Creatures.
"Look what I found", Hermione said.
She opened the book to a specific page, which featured a detailed illustration of a Cerberus. The artist had done an excellent job, making the Cerberus look lifelike and constantly changing its position, as if it were alive.
Liam immediately recognized the Cerberus in the illustration as almost identical to the one they had encountered in the forbidden room on the fourth floor.
Below the illustration was a description of the creature: Cerberus, a magical creature with terrestrial ancestry, a remnant of the mythic era. Due to its three heads, it has inherent advantages in perception, resistance to dizziness, panic, and unconsciousness.
This creature has exceptional night vision, and its claws and teeth are venomous, capable of inflicting wounds that are difficult to heal. With multiple heads, it can take turns resting, making it nearly impossible to ambush. Its mythological lineage also grants it extreme resistance to both magical and physical attacks.
"Why are you showing me this?" Liam asked, then he seemed to have an idea. "I swear I won't take such risks again. Encountering such a terrifying beast and escaping unscathed was just luck, and I can't count on luck always being on my side. Besides, I unintentionally dragged you into it last time. I apologize again."
"It's good that you have this mindset, but that's not why I'm showing you this book. Look at this part", Hermione said, pointing to a small note at the bottom of the page that Liam had overlooked: "A Cerberus can be tamed by a powerful master. Once tamed, it will only obey its master's commands, making it the most suitable and loyal guardian."
"That day in the room, we saw a trapdoor beneath the Cerberus. This suggests that the Cerberus is there to guard something. What do you think could be so important that the school would risk placing such a dangerous creature here?"
When did Hermione become this curious? In the original story, she didn't start paying attention to this issue until she became friends with Harry and Ron.
Liam thought about Hermione's change and realized: as a top student, Hermione must have a great curiosity about the unknown. Especially after escaping from such a large Cerberus, it would be strange not to be curious about the creature. If Liam didn't already know the answer, he would be looking for information about the dog as well.
In the original world, Hermione didn't have many friends in Gryffindor, so she couldn't discuss her thoughts with anyone and could only think about it in her mind.
Hermione noticed that Liam seemed to be daydreaming and pressed on, "I don't believe you're not curious about the Cerberus and the trapdoor. What do you think?"
Liam knew the secret beneath the trapdoor but couldn't reveal it directly. After some thought, he said, "From the information you gave me today, the only thing I can be certain of is that the dog is guarding something, and that something must be very important. Otherwise, they wouldn't use such a dangerous creature to guard it."
"However", Liam continued, "I find it strange that Hogwarts is just a school, not a vault. How could it be used to store treasures?"
"Wait, a vault. I think I remember something", Hermione said. "I've been subscribing to the Daily Prophet. The paper mentioned an intrusion at Gringotts during the summer. The Gringotts spokesperson said the vault that was invaded was empty, and the contents had been removed earlier that day. Could the thing hidden in Hogwarts be the same item that was taken from Gringotts?"
Impressive deduction, Liam thought, amazed at Hermione's reasoning. He realized he was staring and cleared his throat. "Your guess makes a lot of sense. After all, the only place in the wizarding world that could be safer than Gringotts is Hogwarts, with the great Dumbledore as headmaster. However, if someone was bold enough to rob Gringotts, they might also try to rob Hogwarts."
"Then, what should we do?" Hermione asked, a bit nervously.
Liam waved his hand and smiled. "Don't worry. We have the greatest White Wizard of the century as our headmaster. If anything happens, it won't be our job as first-year students to worry about it."
(End of Chapter)
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