𝙮𝙤𝙪 || 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙮 𝙥𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭: 𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬

It was Saturday and the weather was perfect with not a single cloud sailing across the vast sky.

You strayed from Hermione and Susan who were currently cooped up in the library and in the Hufflepuff dormitories respectively. It's been a month since your enrollment in Hogwarts, and a month spent learning spells and somehow surviving Potions (Professor Snape wasn't very pleasant unless you were in Slytherin).

Weekends were welcomed with open arms. As much as you want to stick with your friends, you wanted to explore the outside of the castle and finally look at the Black Lake up close. You never got to admire it closely at the beginning when you rode the boats across the lake.

Rays of sunlight penetrated the dark surface of the water, revealing murky depths below. You occasionally see something move, but you were too anxious to inspect closer. Instead, you sat on a large rock, watching the undisturbed waters with your elbows propped on your knees and your hands nestling the sides of your face.

Your eyes follow a flock of birds in the horizon lazily, and for lack of better things to do, began to count each one. You were just on your seventh bird when loud footsteps coupled with laughter sounded behind you.

"—Green looked terrible on him."

"We told you pink was a better choice!"

"Seriously, Lee, when we say pink is better, pink is better."

Three older boys (two of them redheaded twins) were chatting whilst they past you, too engrossed in their debate about colors to notice you. They stop at the edge of the lake, still talking as the one with dreadlocks takes out something wrapped with tissue paper. It was a single toast and he tosses it carelessly into the lake, causing ripples.

Not a second later, you yelp in surprise when a large tentacle comes up and takes the toast with it as it sunk back into the lake.

Your alarmed shout stops the boys in the middle of their conversation, so now their attention was on you. You were flustered underneath their gazes, but your curiosity overwhelmed your instinctual urge to run away.

"What was that?" You asked, pointing at the previous spot the tentacle had come up.

They exchanged looks before the one who had thrown the toast answers. "The giant squid. We like to feed it sometimes. First time seeing it?"

You nodded. "It doesn't attack you?"

"It rarely does. The squid can't stand intense heat, but it exposes a few of its tentacles every now and then in the shallow parts of the lake."

One of the twins suddenly pointed at something. "It's doing it right now."

Sure enough, four tentacles were basking in the sunny shallows, unbothered as the twins went near them. The boy who responded stayed behind.

"Well?" He said, looking at you expectantly. "Do you want a closer look?"

There was a tiny voice in your mind that vehemently protested at his offer, but it was quickly smothered by your sudden wonderment for the creature. Reluctantly, you leave your rock and trudge towards the boy, smiling dubiously.

"It's not going to drag us into the lake, right?"

"Nah. It's usually friendly," he assures you, "except for the Grindylows. Fred almost got drowned by one once. Or was it George? Can't tell which since it was utter chaos."

He laughs fondly at the recollection, as if seeing a friend almost drowned to death was a regular occurrence for him. You take a moment to ponder over his sanity before you realize that you were judging someone without knowing their name.