“Alohomoclose!” If a locking counter-charm existed, Kyle guessed that had to be it!
Slamming the door shut as fast as he ever had in his life, Kyle wore a look of utter exasperation.
Logical thinking?
Deductive reasoning?
Kyle could only lament that Detective Conan was just a comic book—what kind of real deduction skills could it possibly hone anyway?
Without stopping for a second, Kyle briskly headed up toward the fourth floor.
The three-headed dog behind the door had delivered a resounding slap to his ego, though he obviously didn’t dwell on it too much.
His previous deduction had been based on normal circumstances and logical thinking.
Clearly, the scene he had just witnessed fell well outside the realm of normal.
Kyle moved like the wind, but that didn’t slow the rapid spinning of his internal gears.
Those three Gryffindor brats hadn’t lied after all: the three-headed dog really was guarding something.
The third-floor corridor had been declared a forbidden zone precisely because of the creature’s extreme aggressiveness.
*”Anyone who does not wish to die a most painful death should avoid the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side.”* That really wasn’t an exaggeration.
What on earth required such a dangerous magical creature to guard it?
Were there other guardians beyond the trapdoor?
Had all the professors agreed to this, or had the Headmaster decided it on his own?
Did the board of school governors know their children were sharing a school with a three-headed dog?
Most importantly, what had prompted the creation of the third-floor forbidden zone in the first place?
Setting aside whether there were other defenses behind the door, the three-headed dog alone was proof enough of how precious the item inside must be.
If a Class XXXXX magical beast was hard to grasp, put it another way: it was on the exact same danger tier as a dragon.
Granted, the creature behind the door was clearly still a pup, nowhere near adult size, and far from the legendary Cerberus of myth.
But adult or not, its danger to young witches and wizards was identical!
Guarding it behind a door that a tiny first-year could open with a basic charm—what was the school administration thinking?
For the first time, Kyle felt genuine dissatisfaction with the school authorities.
To be fair, his first two years at Hogwarts had been a terrible experience.
But that wasn’t the administration’s fault; on the contrary, his Head of House had constantly protected him, shielding him from every unfair hit outside the rules.
As for the other teachers and the Headmaster, though they hadn’t said anything explicitly, they had all shown him quiet favor.
All those good impressions crumbled today.
Not against any single teacher, but against everyone involved in this security plan.
What the three-headed dog was guarding was obviously the Philosopher’s Stone.
Only an item as rare and priceless as the Philosopher’s Stone warranted such extreme defenses.
The Savior trio’s first-year adventure must be happening right in that third-floor corridor.
He really had no idea how they were supposed to get past the dog.
Kyle, who originally had no interest in the Savior’s adventures, decided he needed to keep a closer eye on Potter.
If a three-headed dog was the starting point for Year One, who knew what crazy stunts he would pull in the remaining six years?
An adult dragon???
Kyle reasoned that the first year’s adventure was likely the least dangerous, making it the perfect opportunity to observe the methods and motives of whoever was pulling the strings behind the scenes—whether that meant the ultimate villain or the school’s top brass.
*”Wait…
could this year’s villain already be inside the school?”* The thought suddenly popped into his head.
Now that he was certain the Philosopher’s Stone was at Hogwarts, his previous theory—that Potter had encountered the villain outside of school—was completely shattered, which annoyed him greatly.
He had spent a lot of effort trying to deduce this year’s main plotline.
Unfortunately, all that hard work had gone down the drain.
Following this new line of thought, Kyle kept pondering.
The villain couldn’t possibly force their way into the school; Hogwarts’ overt strength was no joke.
If Albus Dumbledore let the main villain break in and then relied on a bunch of first-year kids to save the day, he might as well retire and check into St.
Mungo’s to get his head examined.
Stealing the stone would require a meticulous plan, and that required sufficient intelligence to back it up.
Kyle could only think of two possibilities.
First, there was an insider at school feeding the villain information.
But sneaking in remained an issue: the distance from a secret passage to the third-floor corridor provided countless opportunities to be exposed, though an Invisibility Cloak or a Disillusionment Charm could solve that.
Second, the villain had already infiltrated the school.
Kyle had even figured out the method for them—Polyjuice Potion.
Following this train of thought…
if the person replaced was a teacher, the staff interacted frequently and ate together at the High Table every day.
Moreover, the professors who knew about the arrangement would definitely be on guard, making exposure easier—though the upside was much easier access to information.
If the replaced person was a student, picking a lonely, antisocial student would minimize the risk.
The downside was that information would be hard to come by, forcing the villain to explore behind the door step by step themselves.
All in all, the school had gotten quite dangerous this year, Kyle thought, narrowing his eyes.
Not that any of this really concerned Kyle, since he had no intention of jumping into foreseeable danger.
He just wanted to understand what was happening, along with the motives and positions of everyone involved.
The protagonist had arrived, meaning the next few years were bound to be chaotic.
Preparing in advance was always better than being caught off guard.
But as he thought it through, a terrifying thought suddenly struck him: *”Do the Harry Potter books really cover seven years of his school life?
What if they’re a biography that spans Potter’s whole life?”* The moment this thought appeared, Kyle felt his face ache—yes, literally ache with exasperation.
*”If the book is about him finding the Philosopher’s Stone at eighteen, entering the Chamber of Secrets at twenty, and acquiring the Deathly Hallows on his deathbed to cheat death, then I’ve been playing 4D chess against thin air,”* Kyle thought helplessly.
After all, seven years of school life might just be a single line in the book: *”The story begins after Harry Potter graduated from Hogwarts, as an outstanding Gryffindor…”* If that were the case, Kyle felt he’d end up with a nervous breakdown.
Fortunately, now that the three-headed dog had shown up, the plot of the first book, *The Philosopher’s Stone*, was likely underway.
Of course, there was still the terrifying possibility that this was just another passing line: *”Harry was fairly knowledgeable about Class XXXXX magical beasts; back in his first year, he had faced a three-headed dog and eventually befriended it.”* Thinking of this, Kyle’s head throbbed even harder.
This was the downside of half-baked plot knowledge.
Everything looked plausible yet uncertain; his limited information had become a cage binding his thoughts.
Having pondered for ages to no avail and completely muddying his own train of thought, Kyle decisively gave up.
He wasn’t trying to profit from the situation anyway, so there was no need to overthink the plot.
He just needed to keep an eye on Potter’s actions.
That way, he could gather intelligence on both the school and the villain while determining the exact timeline of the plot.
If he confirmed it was a story about seven school years, he would just need to be extra cautious over the next few years.
If it covered Potter’s entire life, even better—it meant Kyle could enjoy a peaceful remaining few years at school.
Putting these headache-inducing thoughts out of his mind, Kyle walked straight into the classroom and pulled out the parchment he had prepared to ask Professor McGonagall about.
Imagining the professor’s reaction when she found out what Transfiguration topic he was researching, Kyle knew her expression would be absolutely priceless!