The fierce wind slapped against Leonard's face.
To George and Fred's alarm, Leonard seemed to lose all momentum the instant he flew out over the cliff and went plunging straight toward the Black Lake below.
George and Fred rushed to the edge and leaned over to look down, only to find that just as Leonard was about to crash into the lake, he suddenly pulled up and flew again, moving with a nimbleness that did not look anything like someone flying for the first time.
That left George and Fred thoroughly astonished, because in all their tests, this dress robe had never been able to perform such agile maneuvers.
Leonard lifted away from the lake's surface, using the rising air currents above the water together with the robe's flying effect to glide low over the Black Lake.
The feeling was a lot like wingsuit flying. Entrusting his whole body to the garment while suspended in the air felt exactly the same.
Squinting against the gale, Leonard used magic to block the wind from his face and kept accelerating, trying to find the robe's top speed.
He skimmed across the surface of the Black Lake, and the wind he dragged in his wake sent ripples racing across the water, drawing the attention of some of the lake's native inhabitants.
Deep beneath the lake, the giant squid, which had been wandering idly along the bottom, noticed the strange new thing flying overhead.
A water bird?
No, there were no water birds that big.
A Hippogriff from the Forbidden Forest? Or maybe a Thestral?
No, compared with those, this thing was much too small.
So what exactly was it?
The giant squid had lived in the Black Lake for hundreds of years and had never seen anything quite this odd before. Curious, it displayed a speed and agility completely at odds with its enormous size and began swimming swiftly through the lake in the direction Leonard was flying.
After flying for a while, Leonard felt that the speed provided by the robe had already reached its limit. No matter how he controlled it, it would not go any faster.
And that top speed left him rather dissatisfied. It was not even as fast as the glider he sometimes pushed around, let alone a flying broom.
That would not do. Later, he would have to make George and Fred improve it. He was not asking this flying dress robe to match the Nimbus 2000 or the Firebolt, but surely it ought to be faster than the Cleansweep Five the school issued to the Quidditch team.
Otherwise, being up in the air with this thing would just make him a target.
The speed test was done. Next came agility.
Leonard glanced toward the Forbidden Forest in the distance, wondering whether he should go fly a lap there and test the limits of the robe's turning response.
Just then, the Ancient Sprout at his cuff suddenly tugged at him. Leonard froze for a moment, and then he saw the lake ahead bulge upward as a tentacle burst out of the surface.
His brows rose. He hurriedly steered the robe aside, narrowly avoiding the tentacle by a hair's breadth.
That sudden evasive turn caused a slight problem with the robe's flight function, and Leonard spun several times in midair before finally stabilizing himself.
"Phew..."
Once he steadied himself and confirmed that no further problems had appeared, Leonard let out a long breath. Otherwise, he definitely would have gone straight into the water and ended up drenched from head to toe.
There was no real danger, though. Leonard had already recognized that tentacle. It obviously belonged to the giant squid living in the Black Lake.
The creature was famously good-tempered. It was even said to rescue drowning students on a regular basis, so if he did fall in, it would probably save him.
But the question was, why had it suddenly stuck out a tentacle to bother him?
By now the giant squid had surfaced, and the look in its eyes as it stared at Leonard was shockingly human in its surprise.
Leonard slowly flew toward the tentacle, and the Ancient Sprout at his cuff coiled itself around the tentacle the giant squid had helpfully extended toward him.
"You can fly!"
The instant they connected, Leonard heard the giant squid's aged, astonished voice.
Its other tentacle slapped excitedly at the water, clearly thrilled.
"Uh... yeah. I'm testing this flying tool," Leonard said. "But why did you stop me?"
This was not exactly some unspeakable secret, and he certainly was not worried that a giant squid would go around blabbing, so he said it directly.
"Interesting. Fun." The giant squid waved its tentacle. "I want to play with you."
"Play with me?" Leonard considered it for a moment. "Sure. Then let's do it like before. You try to catch me."
He needed to test the flying dress robe's agility anyway. That last sudden dodge had not been a normal maneuver, and it had not been good for the robe. Next he wanted to test more ordinary evasive movement.
"Okay! Okay!" the giant squid said happily, splashing the water. "Then let's begin."
With that, it plunged back into the lake and turned into a lurking black shadow beneath the surface.
Leonard raised an eyebrow and lightly drifted off to one side.
A tentacle burst up beneath his feet, sending a huge spray of water flying everywhere. It was not especially fast, but it was certainly dramatic.
Although Leonard had dodged the tentacle in time, he could not avoid all the scattered spray.
"So you really are just playing around?" Leonard said with a helpless smile, then quickly flew back toward the cliff.
Below the lake's surface, the dark shadow followed him closely. Tentacle after tentacle lashed upward, hurling great bursts of water like cannons.
It was obvious the giant squid was having the time of its life. It was not really trying to catch Leonard at all. It just wanted to make trouble.
But that suited Leonard perfectly. He darted and twisted above the water, dodging the sprays flung up by the tentacles while getting a feel for the robe's maneuverability.
Leonard and the giant squid might have been having fun, but George and Fred were panicking.
"What's going on with Leonard over there?" George and Fred, who had been watching from the cliff the whole time, were horrified. George shouted, "Is something attacking him?"
They were too far away to make out the tentacles inside the towering columns of water. All they could see were jets of water blasting skyward, making it look as though a pirate ship were firing cannons at Leonard in midair.
"I don't know. Should we go get a professor?" Fred asked.
"What if Leonard gets into danger while we're gone? At least if we stay here, we can still think of a way to help him." George was flustered, but he had not completely lost his head. "Leonard doesn't seem to be in immediate danger. Look at how he's moving. He's way too agile."
"But even agile people can make mistakes, right?" Fred stared at Leonard nervously. Then, from the corner of his eye, he seemed to notice something. He turned his head and spotted a familiar figure below the cliff.
The man looked a little bedraggled, soaked from head to toe as though he had just fallen into the Black Lake.
But no matter how disheveled he looked, that did nothing to diminish how capable he was.
"It's Professor Raymons!" Fred shouted in delight. "Professor Raymons! Could you help Leonard? He looks like he's in trouble."
Professor Raymons was now acknowledged by students throughout the school as an exceptionally capable professor. With him here, there was no way Leonard would not be saved.