The wheelchair-bound warrior is speedrunning Hogwarts.

"You...you've broken the rules!" After a long while, he finally managed to come up with a rebuttal. "I was supposed to have a wizard duel with Potter, and she hasn't even made a move yet. You're her assistant, how can you attack me directly?!"

Harley gripped her wand tightly and stepped forward to block Vera's path: "If you want me to do this, I'm happy to oblige!"

Malfoy's gaze shifted between the two men for a moment, and then, as if he had thought of something, a sly look flashed across his face.

“Alright, then let Potter handle this!” he said suddenly, a calculating glint in his gray eyes. “According to the rules of wizard duels, an assistant can only intervene when the duelist is injured or concedes defeat—Black, do you dare to abide by this rule?”

Vera narrowed her eyes slightly. Malfoy's sudden request clearly indicated some kind of conspiracy.

But before she could even speak, Harley eagerly agreed, "No problem! Vera, let me teach him a lesson!"

Hermione peeked out from her hiding place and anxiously whispered, "Harley, don't fall for it! He's definitely up to something!"

Harley turned back and gave them a confident smile: "Don't worry, I can handle it."

Vera pondered for a moment, then pushed her wheelchair back a few steps, simultaneously releasing the petrified Crabbe and Goyle, and signaling with her eyes that they could continue.

"Great, let's get started now!"

As he spoke, he turned to look at Crabbe, who had just been freed from his restraints, "According to tradition, a duel requires an assistant... Crabbe, you are my assistant!"

After saying that, he prepared to point his wand at Harley.

"Wait a minute!" Harley suddenly shouted to stop. "According to the rules of wizard duels, both sides must first bow to each other as a sign of respect, then assume the standard dueling stance, and only after counting to three can they attack."

She paused, glancing hesitantly at Vera, then straightened her back as if energized: "Wizard duels, you said it yourself. As the heir to the Malfoy family, you wouldn't want to deny this traditional rule in front of them, would you?"

Malfoy's face turned pale and then red, and finally he reluctantly bowed slightly.

Harley bowed deeply in accordance with traditional etiquette.

The two raised their wands simultaneously, assuming a dueling stance.

"One!" Malfoy began to count.

Vera stood nearby, her wand resting lightly on her knees, calmly observing her surroundings.

Just as Malfoy uttered the word "two," she finally caught a glimpse of Peeves drifting past from a corner of the ceiling and winking at her.

Vera's lips curled up almost imperceptibly, and taking advantage of everyone's inattention, she raised her wand high: "Fluorescence!"

A dazzling light burst forth from the tip of her wand, instantly illuminating the entire prize display room.

Not only did it interrupt Malfoy's impending "three," it also gave Harley time to quickly put on the invisibility cloak from her pocket. In the instant the light flashed, she and Vera hid together under the cloak.

Malfoy was blinded by the sudden bright light and shouted angrily, "Despicable! Potter! Black! Where have you been hiding?"

Crabbe and Gore looked around awkwardly, but could see nothing in the dazzling light.

Just as the fluorescence finally faded, the door to the prize display room was suddenly pushed open, and Filch's gloomy face appeared in the doorway. Mrs. Lorris squatted at his feet, her yellow eyes gleaming in the darkness.

"Haha! I knew it!" Filch panted excitedly. "I knew a little mouse would sneak out tonight! Pee-Pee was right—"

The light from the oil lamp swept across the room, immediately illuminating Malfoy, who was frozen in place, and his two henchmen who had nowhere to run.

His gaze fell on the Malfoy trio, who stood there dumbfounded, his eyes gleaming with a morbid joy: "Slytherin students? What are they doing in the prize room in the middle of the night?"

Malfoy stammered, trying to explain, "We...we just..."

"Night outing! Violation of school rules!" Filch announced shrilly, grabbing Malfoy's arm. "I'm taking you to see Professor Snape!"

"No!" Malfoy turned his head frantically to look behind him. "Potter! And Vera Black...they're all here!"

Filch looked around suspiciously: "Besides the three of you, who else is here?"

Malfoy was sweating profusely with anxiety. He pointed furiously at the empty showroom: "It really is! They were just here a moment ago! They must have used some kind of magic to hide them!"

Just as Filch listened to his words and prepared to search more carefully, Peeves suddenly fell upside down from the ceiling and let out a piercing laugh:

"Liar! Peeves only saw three Slytherin rascals!"

Filch gave Malfoy a suspicious look: "Come with me! Don't try anything funny!"

Malfoy's face turned deathly pale. He looked around in despair, but could no longer find any trace of Harley and Vera.

It was as if they had never existed.

"No, no way!" Malfoy's voice was almost choked with tears. "Potter was right here! She—"

"Enough!" Filch interrupted him sharply. "I've had enough of your lies, students! Come with me to see your dean!"

Malfoy was dragged out by Filch by the arm, with Crabbe and Goyle following behind dejectedly.

Just then, Mrs. Lorris suddenly perked up her ears and looked warily at the display case where Hermione was hiding—because Harry had just quietly moved over with Vera, pulling Hermione into the Invisibility Cloak along with her.

Vera quickly reached out and pressed Hermione's shoulder, signaling her to be quiet, while Harley nervously held her breath, her fingers under the Invisibility Cloak gripping Vera's wheelchair armrests tightly.

Mrs. Lorris's yellow eyes gleamed eerily in the darkness as she slowly strode toward the display case.

Just then, Peeves suddenly swooped down from the ceiling, letting out a piercing scream: "Filch! Your cat's chasing mice again!"

Filch's attention was immediately diverted: "What? Loris, come back!"

The cat had no choice but to stop and follow Filch outside.

Chapter Forty: The Three-Headed Dog

Once their footsteps had completely faded away, Harley cautiously lifted her Invisibility Cloak, her eyes gleaming with excitement: "Fantastic! Malfoy's been caught red-handed!"

Hermione let out a long sigh of relief, her face still a little pale: "Oh my god, that was a bit too thrilling...we almost got caught!"

Harley turned to Vera: "Vera, so you deliberately made a commotion to lure Filch over?"

"Hmm," Vera responded softly, deliberately ignoring the fact that Pikachu had appeared here earlier and even offered their help.

Fortunately, neither Harley nor Hermione suspected anything.

After all, the freshmen had already witnessed the power of Pikachu in the past week, let alone expect that Pikachu would come to help them for no reason.

Harley knelt down and gently took Vera's hand: "Thank you, Vera... If you hadn't reminded me just now, I would have really been so enraged by Malfoy's provocation that I forgot the real purpose of coming here."

“It’s all what I should do,” Vera shook her head gently. “You’re the one who actually carried out the plan, Harley. You did a great job.”

Harley's face flushed slightly at the compliment, and she scratched her head shyly. "I just did what you said."

“You two stop with the polite formalities,” Hermione said, looking constipated as she watched the two exchanging pleasantries. Suddenly remembering something, she frowned worriedly. “Right, we need to get back quickly. What if Malfoy manages to convince Filch to come back and check this place out…”

Vera nodded. "Hermione's right, we should go."

The three girls quickly packed up their invisibility cloaks and tiptoed out of the prize display room.

Harley walked ahead to scout the way, while Hermione pushed Vera's wheelchair. The three of them carefully made their way through the moonlit corridor.

"Wait!" Harley suddenly stopped and whispered, "There's someone ahead!"

They quickly hid in the shadows of the building, holding their breath.

Sure enough, Filch's cursing voice and Malfoy's unwilling explanation could be heard from not far away.

"I told you, they must have hidden it somehow!" Malfoy's voice was clearly annoyed. "If you go looking, you're sure to find something!"

"Kid, you know what will happen to you if you lie to me!"

Seeing that Filch's tone was softening, Vera glanced at the small room on the fourth floor, but in a different direction, which Dumbledore had strictly forbidden her to enter, and said softly, "Let's go in another direction."

Harley nodded, and the three of them quietly changed direction, preparing to go to another corridor.

Just then, Mrs. Lorice suddenly darted out from around the corner, her yellow eyes gleaming in the darkness, staring intently in their direction.

"Oh no! Has it spotted us?!" Hermione gasped, instinctively gripping Vera's wheelchair armrest.

"Meow—" Mrs. Lorris let out a sharp cry, immediately attracting Filch's attention.

"What's wrong, my sweetheart?" Filch's voice came closer. "Did you find something?"

Harley's heart was pounding so hard it felt like it would burst out of her chest, and she instinctively gripped her wand tightly.

Vera quickly pressed her hand down, shook her head slightly, and then pointed to the locked door not far away.

Harley nodded, immediately pushed her wheelchair, and the three of them quickly ran down the corridor, soon arriving at the end of the corridor.

Standing before me was an old-looking oak door, unremarkable and unremarkable.

"Let's go inside first!"

Harley was about to rush over without hesitation, but Vera stopped her abruptly.

"Wait a moment!"

Harley slammed to the brakes, the wheelchair screeching on the floor.

Hermione, who was behind them, almost bumped into them, and grabbed Harley's shoulder in a panic to steady herself.

"What's wrong?" Harley asked anxiously, her eyes constantly glancing at the approaching footsteps behind her.

Vera's gaze was fixed on the door, her voice extremely low: "That's the right-hand corridor on the fourth floor, a place Dumbledore explicitly forbade people from entering when school started."

Hermione gasped. "Oh my god! We almost—"

“There’s no time!” Harley interrupted her, Filch’s footsteps were already close by. “If we don’t go in, we might get caught!”

Vera glanced behind her. In fact, Filch probably hadn't noticed them yet, but Mrs. Lorris in his arms was clearly much more sensitive than him.

Normally, Vera would have plenty of ways to escape the search by the man and the cat.

But... she looked at the wooden door so close to her, and if she remembered correctly, this was the plot point in the original story where the trio discovered the Cerberus, Lou Williams, who was guarding this place.

It was because Hermione discovered a trapdoor on the sole of Cerberus's paws and deduced that it was guarding something that Harley was led to recall the package Hagrid took when she went to Gringotts before she even enrolled.

Compared to the various troubles or crises that Harry would have to face from Voldemort in the following years, this year seems more like a test that Dumbledore deliberately set up for Harry.

From Dumbledore's perspective, it's easy to understand. After all, Harry had been raised by her aunt and uncle for so long, who knows if she had been raised in the wrong way?

Before truly training him to be the savior of Voldemort, we must certainly conduct a thorough investigation.

Now, faced with such a blatant test, Vera turned to look at Harley, who was still quite panicked, and after a moment's hesitation, gently placed her hand on the back of Harley's hand: "Let's go in."

"Open the Arahomon!" With Vera's incantation, the lock opened, and the three quickly slipped inside.

The door closed silently behind him, shutting out Filch's footsteps.

The room was pitch black, with only a sliver of moonlight filtering in from a small window high up.

“Strange…” Filch’s voice came from outside the door, “I clearly heard some noise here…”

Mrs. Lorris lingered outside the door for a while before being called away by Filch.

In the dark room, the three girls breathed a sigh of relief.

Just then, a low breathing sound came from the darkness, accompanied by a heavy breathing sound.

Harley and Hermione stood frozen in place, their breaths catching in their throats.

Vera held her breath, slowly raised her wand, and whispered, "Flash."

A faint light illuminated the room, and the sight before them made their blood freeze instantly—

It was a huge three-headed dog, looking down at them. Its massive body almost filled the entire space from the ceiling to the floor, creating an extremely oppressive atmosphere.

Chapter 41 Can they still be kept as pets?

With each breath of the three-headed dog, its three ferocious heads drooped, and its six malevolent eyes gleamed dangerously in the dim light of the wand.

Its heavy breathing sprayed onto the three girls' faces, and saliva, like sticky ropes, dripped from its yellowed dog teeth.

“Don’t move…” Vera’s voice was almost forced out through clenched teeth as she felt Harley’s hand trembling on her shoulder. “Slowly back away…”

Hermione covered her mouth tightly, afraid of making a sound.

The middle head of the three-headed dog sticks out its nose, as if sniffing their scent.

Vera's magical circuits were operating at full speed, ready to unleash the strongest defensive spell she could currently use.

At this critical moment, a line of text suddenly appeared on Vera's retina:

[Tamerable magical creature: Cerberus]

[Taming Rewards: Magic Circuit Level Increased, Maximum Mana +30, Gain Control of Cerberus Fulve]

Vera's eyes widened slightly; she hadn't expected the magic circuits to have this function.

Even more miraculously, the instant the words disappeared, she felt a strange energy surge from her magic circuit, flowing from her fingertips to her wand.

The light at the tip of the staff gradually changed from white to pale gold, spreading out in concentric ripples.

The three heads of the three-headed dog stopped growling at the same time, and its six eyes stared in confusion at the golden light.

In an instant, Vera felt a strange connection being established, as if an invisible thread was connecting her to the giant beast.