The Admiral of Hogwarts

In the room where Hugo and the others were hiding, there was a gigantic dog, so large that it filled all the space from the ceiling to the floor. It had three heads, three pairs of wickedly rolling eyes, three noses, and three drooling mouths, with saliva hanging down from its yellowed teeth like sticky ropes.

However, strangely, this dog did not pounce directly as everyone had imagined. Instead, it arched its back and looked at Hugo and the others warily, while making low growling noises in its throat.

"What, what's going on here?" Ron asked, trembling as he looked at the six large eyes flickering in the darkness. "Why isn't that big thing attacking us? It's even backing away?"

At this moment, Hugo noticed that the three-headed dog in the room was nervously staring at Veneto. Obviously, Veneto, who already knew what was in the room when entering, had been on high alert to protect the Admiral, and this state of being ready to deploy her ship gear revealed a hint of dangerous aura.

Although Veneto, as a ship girl, usually tried to restrain her aura as much as possible to make herself appear like an ordinary human girl, now, in this state of combat readiness, the little bit of murderous intent that leaked out made the three-headed dog feel a fatal threat from her. This was why the three-headed dog was not charging or barking, but crouching there in an extremely wary posture.

Fortunately, there was basically no light in this place, so Harry and the others didn't notice this. However, to ensure that this secret was not discovered, Hugo changed the subject to: "Didn't you guys see the trapdoor under that big dog's feet? I guess it's guarding that door. Maybe as long as we don't show interest in that door, the big dog won't attack us."

"Okay… it seems that's really the case." After hearing Hugo's words, Harry mustered up the courage to look at the position under the big dog's feet. As a result, he indeed saw the trapdoor reinforced with metal strips, which the dog was stepping on with its left front paw. There was also a metal ring on the door to pull it open.

"Then how much longer do we have to wait?" Ron asked, trembling as he stood on the side. He was currently leaning against the door of the room, facing the big dog and shivering. If it weren't for the door supporting him from behind, he probably would have collapsed on the ground by now.

"I think since this big dog hasn't charged over, it means we can wait here a little longer," Hugo said, forcibly maintaining his composure. Although he believed that under Veneto's protection, the dog wouldn't cause him any harm, people would always be nervous when such a big dog was staring at you. "Don't forget that Filch is still waiting for us at the door. I don't think you want to get caught by him, do you?"

"In that case, let's wait another five minutes," Veneto said to everyone present while staring intently at the three-headed dog. "I feel that this dog won't pounce for a while."

"U-understood." The three Gryffindor boys replied, trembling. Then, everyone held their breath and waited quietly. However, after waiting for less than three minutes, Ron couldn't suppress the fear in his heart and walked to the door, twisting the doorknob to open it. Then, everyone retreated from the room together.

Veneto was the last to leave the room. Just as she walked backward out of the room and closed the door, there was a loud thud from inside the door, followed by the sound of claws scratching at the door.

After everyone had left the room, they found that there was no one at the door. Filch must have been busy searching for them elsewhere. At this time, everyone breathed a slight sigh of relief.

"That was really too dangerous just now, and, thank you guys." After realizing that they had temporarily escaped the crisis, Harry gave Hugo a sincere smile and said, "I think we should hurry back to our own common room now. I wish you guys all the best."

"Wish you all the best too." After a hasty greeting, Hugo and Harry waved goodbye, then ran with Veneto towards the Ravenclaw Tower.

A few minutes later, just as the time reached midnight at 12:00, Hugo and Veneto successfully returned to the Ravenclaw common room. On the way, they also encountered Filch, who was busy straightening the armor again. Fortunately, Veneto had a much stronger sense than normal people, so they bypassed Filch from a distance.

"A big dog that can fill a room, that's really rare," Veneto said softly to Hugo after sitting down on the sofa in the corner of the Ravenclaw common room. At this time, about half of the lights in the Ravenclaw common room were still on, and some older students were still sitting there studying.

Veneto's surprise was also normal. Ship girls were a special kind of life form that could contain the power of a warship in a small body. However, in non-combat states, their mental level was similar to their appearance. So, when seeing such a magical creature that she had never seen before, she would naturally have some curiosity.

"This kind of thing is indeed rare," Hugo said. "If the knowledge recorded in the book 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' that I read before is correct, this three-headed dog is a magical creature native to Greece, and its number is small. It's only slightly more numerous than dragons. In addition to being huge and having strong magical defense, their claws and teeth also contain toxins that can prevent the prey's wounds from healing."

After briefly chatting about what they had just seen, Hugo and Veneto said goodbye and returned to their respective dormitories. However, this didn't mean that they had ended the conversation. As soon as Hugo returned to the dormitory and lay down, he contacted the ship girls through the Admiral Network.

"I should have changed the plot this time, right?" After lying down, Hugo immediately asked Victory about the impact of everything he had just done. "How many Destiny Points did that give me?"

"2.5 points," Victory's voice was transmitted to Hugo's mind through the Admiral Network. "According to the first-hand information I obtained, your actions in this incident, basically replacing Hermione's role in the original text, probably only gave you 1 Destiny Point. The remaining 1.5 Destiny Points came from Veneto's confrontation with the three-headed dog and the few minutes you spent in that room."

"What's the principle behind this?" Hugo asked, puzzled, "This is clearly all change. Me replacing Hermione's position in the original story is a change, and risking my life to stay in that room for a few more minutes is also a change. They're all changes, so why are the points earned different?"

"I'm not sure about this either," Victory said somewhat helplessly, "The system's subjective initiative is really too poor. We need to explore many things ourselves."

"However, according to my speculation, changing the event itself is likely to earn more Destiny Points than simply replacing the characters participating in the event. For example, this time you not only opened the door, but also reminded Harry that the three-headed dog was guarding a trapdoor, making him realize where the small package taken from Gringotts went. But because this only replaced Hermione's actions, the points you earned were not as many as the points earned from the three minutes of confrontation with the three-headed dog."

"But all of this is just speculation. We need more samples to analyze the specific situation," Victory concluded.