Having just crawled out of the pipes and given himself a quick rinse by the lake, Harris Raymons let out a sigh.
The results of his first search had not been very good. Hogwarts' plumbing system was simply too complicated.
He had just been about to head back, change his clothes, and get some proper rest when he suddenly heard someone calling his name from above, startling him badly.
Who was it? How had anyone found him?
Harris Raymons was alarmed. This was supposed to be a covert operation. Being discovered would not be good at all.
He looked up and immediately saw the two students shouting down at him.
Those two students...
Harris Raymons thought for a moment, then quickly remembered.
Weren't they those two fourth-year Weasleys, studious but always causing trouble? What were they doing here?
The Weasley family still had a certain degree of standing in the wizarding world, though most of it came from the reputation left by their ancestors. One of the Weasleys had even once become Headmaster of Hogwarts.
Just as Harris Raymons was puzzling over it, he finally made out what the two Weasleys were shouting.
It sounded like they were calling for help.
Help? Save whose life?
Harris Raymons frowned in confusion, then saw the two Weasleys pointing frantically toward the Black Lake and shouting.
He followed the direction of their fingers and immediately saw a figure circling above the lake, with jets of water erupting around him as if something were attacking him.
And the person flying in midair...
"That's Leonard William?" Harris Raymons narrowed his eyes. "What is he playing at?"
Still, if he saved him this time, he ought to be able to improve their relationship. This would count as saving his life, after all.
Thinking of that, Harris Raymons snapped his fingers without hesitation. Black feathers swirled, and a raven landed on his fingertip.
"Sta, one round-trip transfer. Target, that person flying over the Black Lake," Harris Raymons said.
He could not fly himself, so he planned to use a seamless transfer technique to instantly bring Leonard, who appeared to be in danger, out of that dangerous area.
In theory, if he moved fast enough, he might even be able to return to the exact spot he had been standing before inertia had fully vanished.
"Caw!" the raven Sta answered, beating its wings and stirring up a small whirlwind.
Harris Raymons's figure vanished in an instant amid drifting black feathers.
In the distance, Leonard, who had been watching the giant squid's movements beneath the lake and adjusting his evasive maneuvers accordingly, suddenly froze.
He had just realized that the giant squid below had abruptly lashed nearly all of its tentacles toward the surface as if it had gone mad.
The problem was that, judging by Leonard's current trajectory, those tentacles were not aimed at him at all. They were at least two seconds early. He would not even have needed to react to avoid them.
And the tentacles were not throwing up water on purpose, either. They were slicing through the lake like awls, stabbing toward a point ahead at top speed.
"What's going on? Did it get frustrated because it still hasn't caught me after all this time...?"
Leonard stared blankly for a moment and instinctively stopped.
Then he suddenly felt a strange but familiar fluctuation ahead of him, and a scatter of black feathers appeared out of nowhere.
A moment later, Harris Raymons's graceful figure materialized right in front of him.
"It's dangerous here. Come with me, now," Harris Raymons said in a low voice, reaching for Leonard's arm.
Who the hell are you? Just because you say come with you, I'm supposed to go?
Leonard deftly avoided Harris Raymons's hand. With the giant squid's help, he had already become quite skilled at controlling the robe in flight.
Harris Raymons: ???
He nearly spat blood.
I'm trying to save you, so why the hell are you dodging?
But because of that delay, Harris Raymons no longer had time to take Leonard with him. He had already started falling, and the transfer magic he had prepared in advance had already activated.
The raven Sta spread its wings again, black feathers swirling as it moved to spirit Harris Raymons away.
Unfortunately for them, the giant squid had already sensed their arrival and made its move.
Turn. Grab.
The surface of the lake split open, and a tentacle shot out of the water, lashing across the raven Sta before anyone could react.
"Caw?"
Sta let out a startled cry. The transfer spell it had prepared in advance was interrupted, and the force in that tentacle strike sent it flying.
Harris Raymons's face changed instantly. He watched his raven fly over his head and reached out futilely, trying to catch it.
But even wizards had to show Sir Isaac Newton a little respect when they were not actively using magic.
Harris Raymons fell helplessly toward the Black Lake, while below him the giant squid surfaced, its tentacles already raised to welcome his arrival.
"Damn it. Giant squid, so it's you!"
That was all Harris Raymons had time to shout before the giant squid caught him with a tentacle and tossed him into the air like a toy.
"I..."
"Warn..."
"You..."
"Hurry..."
"Put..."
"Me..."
"Down..."
"Now..."
The giant squid kept throwing Harris Raymons up and down like a plaything. He was shouting at the top of his lungs, but under all that tossing, the words came out one chunk at a time.
Sta flew back from the distance. It seemed the giant squid had held back and had not simply smashed the raven to death with one blow. Or perhaps this raven was special.
Sta flew furiously up and down around the giant squid, trying to make it release Harris Raymons, but the squid paid it no attention at all.
That thoroughly enraged the raven. It stopped bothering with its master and instead circled over the giant squid's head, abandoning all dignity as it dropped lump after lump of bird droppings onto the squid.
Leonard watched the interaction between Harris Raymons and the giant squid with a very strange expression. He had never expected this Defense Against the Dark Arts professor to have such comedic talent.
At that moment, he suddenly remembered what had happened at the end of last term, when the giant squid had smacked away a red-eyed raven with one tentacle.
Back then, the giant squid had said it sensed a familiar and unpleasant aura from that raven...
So that raven had belonged to Harris Raymons? And the unpleasant aura the giant squid had mentioned had actually been Harris Raymons's?
Leonard remembered that the raven the giant squid had smacked away back then had not been real, only a phantom. But this raven clearly was real. It could even crap on things.
According to what Leonard had learned over the summer from Moen, one of the Raven Organization's expendable pawns, people within the organization who were allowed to carry ravens were usually figures of quite high status. Aside from the Speaker, only their trusted confidants were entitled to that.
Those who carried raven phantoms were only overseers. Only those who carried real ravens with actual magical power were truly important members.
So whose confidant was this Harris Raymons?