Following the stairs, she began climbing upward—blessed with an unusually good sense of direction, she remembered the staircases' movement patterns and knew exactly where she was.

Thus, Jane easily reached the fourth-floor corridor, which was completely deserted.

She walked along until she came to a door.

She pushed against it, but it wouldn't budge—it was locked.

"Of course getting to the surprise would involve some challenges," she thought, convinced this was Dumbledore's test for the students.

She felt for her wand in her robe and tried to bend it—since she planned to drop out anyway, breaking it wouldn't matter.

But the wand proved surprisingly flexible, refusing to snap. It seemed to contain some sort of wire that, under her manipulation, stretched and twisted into an odd shape.

Jane inserted the wand's tip into the lock, adjusting its angle and position repeatedly.

Finally, with a crisp "click," the lock gave way.

She carefully opened the door and entered the room.

Inside was a creature with three heads, sleeping soundly—but beginning to stir.

"A dog?" Jane wondered aloud.

"So magical dogs have three heads!" she marveled.

"Tsk-tsk-tsk..." She made the traditional Chinese dog-calling sound.

She had never been afraid of dogs, possibly because she often treated stray cats and dogs, and they were always friendly toward her.

In his slumber, Fluffy felt a mysterious force calling to him.

"Tsk-tsk-tsk"

The sound continued, and he couldn't help but wake from his dream, rising to walk toward its source.

"It must be master calling!" This was instinct encoded in his DNA.

But instead, he found a small wizard in black and green robes standing before him.

He was confused—his keeper didn't look like this in his memory. His keeper was male, much larger than this person—and didn't wear black and green robes.

However, these doubts vanished when the small wizard pulled out beef, lamb, and pork chops from their robe.

That big oaf fed him raw meat every day until he was sick of it!

Food and music were what he truly desired in his dog life!

"Mom, food, hungry!" Fluffy's eyes welled up with emotional tears.

Had Jane understood what he was saying, she would have dismissed him with disgust.

But with the language barrier between them, she only thought these meat chops were too awful for human consumption and perfect for feeding a dog.

So she tossed the meat chops one by one toward the three heads.

"One piece per head—how's that for fair distribution?" she thought with satisfaction.

After three meat chops, the dog's belly still looked hollow.

"Poor thing," she sighed, looking at him sympathetically. "Locked up in here like this. The headmaster is so cruel, not even feeding the dog properly."

By now, Fluffy had flopped onto his side beside her, tongue lolling out, belly exposed, tail wagging like a rattle.

He really wanted more of those lamb chops!

Jane couldn't resist reaching out to pat his heads—hmm, the fur was rather coarse and prickly, not silky at all.

The three heads began squabbling, each trying to push under her hand for pets.

"I'll bring you more meat tomorrow! And give you a fur spa treatment later," she promised, then pulled out another napkin containing three cookies to feed him.

Honey cakes!

Something stirred in Fluffy's ancestral memory.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

His ancestor Cerberus had loved honey cakes throughout his life. Though he was the guardian of the underworld, he often neglected his duties for honey cakes—Fluffy shouldn't follow in his ancestor's pawsteps, but these treats smelled so good!

He reasoned with himself: since he couldn't match his great ancestor anyway, why sacrifice treats for duty?

A dog's life isn't easy, Fluffy sighed.

Having convinced himself, he began devouring the treats with gusto.

However, Jane had discovered the trapdoor.

"So it's a series of challenges?" she picked the lock.

Below was pitch darkness, impossible to gauge its depth or what lay at the bottom.

Seeing her hesitation, Fluffy's eyes showed an almost human-like exasperation, thinking his new master was rather timid!

Growing impatient, he stuck his heads down and spat out a large glob of flaming saliva.

That should have killed all the plants down there, he thought with satisfaction.

But then he saw Jane starting to undress.

Minutes later, her black and green wizard robes had been torn into strips. She tied them together into a long rope, putting one end in the dog's mouth and dropping the other through the trapdoor.

"Hold tight, baby!"

Oh! By my ancestor Cerberus's three heads! She called me baby!

The thoroughly won-over dog was especially cooperative, with his middle head firmly gripping the cloth rope and lying still.

Using the rope, Jane slid down, landing easily on her feet among a bed of ashes.

She kicked at the ashes in disgust, noting her shoes were now dirty.

"The headmaster really isn't clean, doesn't even sweep the rooms?"

She proceeded down a stone corridor, reaching a brightly lit chamber with a high arched ceiling. Countless birds were flying about, and across the room stood a heavy wooden door.

"Flying keys?"

Once again she marveled at the magic, though still hadn't found the promised surprise.

She approached the wooden door and applied her now-practiced wand-lockpicking technique.

The door opened.

Inside was a giant chessboard with enormous black pieces facing her, and white pieces on the opposite side. The white pieces, faceless, turned to look at her expressionlessly.

"Let's see... wizard's chess?"

Jane analyzed the situation, hand on chin, and quickly noticed something was wrong.

The black side was clearly at a disadvantage—if she took their position, she'd likely be crushed.

"If you can't beat them, join them." She gazed fondly at the black knight. "Farewell, my dark friend!"

She walked to the opposite side and mounted the white king: "Brothers and sisters, let's destroy them!"

The chess set's creator clearly hadn't anticipated this loophole. The game began, with white pieces automatically demolishing the black pieces and dragging them off the board. Soon the wall was lined with lifeless black pieces strewn about.

"Checkmate!"

The black king removed his crown—white had won. The white pieces, now considering Jane their ally, made no move to stop her as she approached the next door.

Jane pushed it open.

A horrible stench hit her, like unwashed grandmother's foot wrappings mixed with years-old dirty socks. Her eyes watered from the smell. Through tear-blurred vision, she saw an enormous figure.

It stood twelve feet tall, with greenish skin and hideous features.

"Really now... what is the headmaster doing? This thing hasn't been washed in decades!"

Her mental image of Dumbledore as unhygienic and negligent of pet care was now firmly cemented.

She examined the monster carefully—its chest was wrapped in rags, resembling an ancient caveperson who had developed primitive modesty.

This must be a female troll.

But she had no time to contemplate how to deal with this behemoth, as the smell was absolutely overwhelming!

"Ugh—"

So Jane pulled a perfume bottle from her robe and began spraying the air frantically.

The troll's tiny brain couldn't process complex thoughts, but it had a sense of smell, and living in constant stench had made it quite irritable. Seeing this tiny insect enter its room, it only wanted to flatten her with its club.

But it moved slowly, and before it could raise its club, an unusual scent entered its nostrils.

It hesitated, standing still, nostrils flaring. This scent mysteriously calmed its irritation, making the surrounding walls feel less like a prison and more like a flower garden.

"Never strike a smiling face" and "Courtesy is never wasted"—Jane understood these social principles well.

Gifts work on any species with a brain, even if that brain is only walnut-sized.

She opened the perfume bottle and offered it to the troll.

The troll took the perfume, sat down heavily, and began sniffing it desperately.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, she opened the next door.

As soon as she crossed the threshold, purple flames sprang up behind her, blocking the doorway. Simultaneously, black flames appeared in the doorway ahead.

On a table before her stood seven differently shaped bottles, with a roll of parchment beside them.

She tried to read it, but her limited English vocabulary held her back.

"What wine?"

"Largest bottle and smallest bottle... both drinkable?"

"Forward... backward?"

What was all this? She couldn't understand! Jane felt frustrated by English's complexity.

Surely she needed to find the wine among these bottles and drink it to proceed!

Who knew the headmaster was such a drunk, testing students' alcohol tolerance!

But if there was one thing Jane wasn't afraid of, it was drinking—she could handle a liter of strong baijiu!

So she uncorked all seven bottles and sniffed each one carefully.

The second and sixth bottles had an alcoholic smell—must be wine.

She drained both bottles.

Hmm... must be about 50% alcohol, quite strong, making her head spin a bit.

That's the floating sensation she was looking for!

Since both the largest and smallest bottles were supposedly drinkable, the tiny third bottle must also contain wine.

She raised this small bottle in a toast to the air, then downed it in one gulp.

"Pfft! Disgusting!"

This wine must have gone bad, tasting rancid. An icy sensation spread from her throat to her stomach, nearly making her lose her dinner.

"I'm out of here, magical world's wine isn't for me." She walked toward the black flames blocking the final door.

Being cautious, she plucked out a hair and tossed it through.

The hair passed through unburned.

"Excellent, I've passed the headmaster's test."

Jane nodded with satisfaction and stepped through the flames into the final chamber.

The room was empty except for a wrapped bundle in the center.

"Is this the surprise the headmaster mentioned?"

She opened the bundle curiously, revealing a bright red stone.

Examining it from all angles, she couldn't see anything special about it.

Looks just like an ordinary ruby, she thought.

Little did she know that back in the Slytherin common room, chaos had already erupted.