Chapter - 47 Alex, who just entered the room, saw a humongous white furry butt right at his face. But not bothered by it, Alex bent to look, and through below that butt, he saw a trap door. The three-headed dog was looking into it as if trying to find something. Just when Alex was thinking of sneaking his way beneath the dog, "Achoo!" he sneezed. 'Oh crap,' he thought. It's going to be trouble now. Fluffy stopped looking deep down in the trap door and slowly turned around to look at the new guest that has come. "Hello there, would you mind letting me pass?" Hearing Alex, Fluffy's growling increased. He was ready to attack at any moment. "I guess that's a no. Sorry for intruding then." Alex took out his wand, and without waiting for the oversized dog to attack him, he began casting spells. "Petrificus Totalus" Alex threw the spell against the ready to pounce dog. The dog slumped on the floor wriggling but was not able to move. Alex has never used the petrifying spell on such a large and powerful creature. He was not sure how long he would be able to keep the dog tied down. He needed to make it quick. "Wingardium Leviosa" Now that the dog was no more a threat. Alex levitated him and dashed towards the trap door because he won't be able to hold that dog in the air for a long time because of his extreme weight. "Sorry" By saying this, Alex jumped down the trap door. Just as he jumped, the dog dropped and covered the trap door again. Sliding through the narrow tunnels, Alex dropped on something soft. It was so dark that he was barely able to see his hands. "Lumos Maxima," and the surroundings were filled with bright light. It took a few moments before Alex could adjust himself. After Alex had adjusted to the light, he looked around himself, but there were only walls surrounding him. There was no obvious way for him to walk towards to. Thinking about what to do next, unknowingly, he pointed his wand towards his feet to look. "Devil's snare? What's this doing here?" Alex thought, looking at the snakelike tendrils wriggling as if in pain. Then he looked at his wand, emitting a bright light straight at them. 'Oh, crap!' Just as Alex thought of moving, a hole appeared below his feet, and he dropped down yet again. Luckily this was not a huge drop, and he suffered no injuries. 'Looks like the traps here are not to be taken lightly. But how did they manage to get past that dog and Devil's snare?' Dusting his clothes, Alex thought to himself. This time Alex dropped in a passageway, which was not as dark as the previous room. Behind him, the passageway was closed, so he could only walk forward. Just before the hole in the Devil's snare closed, something dropped on Alex's head. Alex was swift to react, but that thing was even faster than Alex, and it stuck to his head. When Alex touched his head, he felt something soft sitting on himself. Feeling something familiar, Alex murmured, "Erebus?" Erebus brushed his face with the back of Alex's palm, "Meow!" Alex grabbed him and brought him in front of his face, "What are you doing here Erebus? Did you follow me all the way? How can you be so reckless? The situation can get dangerous anytime here." Alex began to reprimand the tiny kneazle. Sensing that his master was angry with him, Erebus's face dropped. He did not dare look into Alex's eyes. That pitiful face was enough to melt anyone's heart, but not Alex. If it was some other day, he would surely think of a way to punish this naughty cat, but today he was in a hurry. "I won't pursue this right now, but be mindful after we get out of here, you are due for a nice beating," Alex said and put the kneazle back on his head, "And don't think about running around without my permission," Alex added. Now that the passageway was lit with lamps on both sides, Alex walked forward faster than usual. He was blind here since the map was useless to him, which made him worried that something might happen to the trio. When Alex reached the end of the passageway, he saw before him a brilliantly lit chamber. It was full of small, jewel-bright birds, fluttering and tumbling all around the room. On the opposite side of the chamber was a heavy wooden door. Alex walked towards the door cautiously, waiting for the birds to attack him, but none of them bothered with him. He walked up to the door without a glitch. When he tried to open the door, he understood that things were not as simple as it seems. Alex tried to use the Alohomora spell and a couple of other charms, but nothing seems to work on the door. Giving up on the magic, he focused on looking around to find a key to the door. Only then did he notice that the birds over him looked like they were glittering. On closer look, he noticed that the bodies of the birds were in the shape of a key, mostly rusty. 'So I need to look for an odd one here,' Alex continued to look until he finally found the one different from others. It was a silvery key shining brighter than the others. But there was another problem now, 'How am I going to grab that key?' Alex continued to look around in hopes of getting some clue, but he found nothing other than a broken broom. 'Since I can't reach it, I should bring that key to me, ' with this thought in his mind, Alex began throwing the petrification spell at the key. But it was all for nought. Every time he was about to hit the silver key, one of the other keys would jump in and take the hit. If this goes on, he would have to strike down more than a hundred keys before he gets the silver one. Just after Alex struck down a dozen or so keys, he was already getting tired. It would have been nothing if he were to hit something stationary, but these keys were constantly moving around unpredictably. Alex was about to start his next onslaught after a bit of rest when he felt his head go light. And the next thing he saw was a silver key hanging just in front of his eyes. It was unreal. Erebus, in a matter of seconds, vanished from his head, grabbed the key and was back standing on his head. Just as Alex was contemplating on what just happened, the hundreds of keys began to fall as if they lost the life in them. 'Oh, crap!' and Alex, with Erebus on his head, dashed towards the door, opened it swiftly and moved on to see what was waiting for them ahead. * * * * *