Harris Raymons, unconscious until now, slowly recovered a sliver of awareness. He cracked his eyes open and saw the Hogwarts ceiling sliding rapidly backward above him.
"Tsk. Professor Raymons really doesn't seem very lucky. I'm honestly worried he won't make it to the end of the school year."
A familiar voice let out that sigh.
Who was that?
Harris Raymons's mind was still hazy. It took him a while to remember that the voice belonged to Fred Weasley, and with that, what had just happened also came flooding back.
He had gone to save someone, only to end up being saved himself.
How humiliating.
Harris Raymons had the sudden urge to cover his face.
No wonder Fred Weasley had said that. His luck really was terrible. Mostly because he had never expected the thing under the lake to be the giant squid. After all, that creature never attacked any students except him. How was he supposed to know Leonard had just been fooling around with the giant squid?
That was way too wild.
"Cut it out. Are you trying to scare off this hard-won Defense Against the Dark Arts professor? The next one might not be nearly this reliable."
That was George Weasley, Fred Weasley's brother.
At first, the words sounded rather comforting to Harris Raymons, but after a moment, he started to realize something was off.
So these two only cared about him because he was a halfway decent professor? They were worried that if he left, no one would teach them?
"For fuck's..."
Harris Raymons was so angry he practically came back to life on the spot. He snapped his eyes open, ready to settle the score with those two little Weasley bastards.
The pair of them were rotten to the core.
But the instant he opened his eyes fully, Harris Raymons saw Leonard William standing right beside him, casually playing with his bird... no, with his raven.
Sta the raven was hopping around in Leonard's hand. Every time it tried to spread its wings and fly off, Leonard gave it a light tug, causing another failed takeoff.
It looked like Leonard was merely toying with the raven, but in reality he was studying the strange little creature.
"Could you return my raven to me?" Harris Raymons asked helplessly.
"Oh, sorry. I just thought it was interesting." Hearing Harris Raymons's voice, Leonard lowered his head, saw that he was awake, shrugged, and let the raven go.
What a strange thing.
It clearly looked like a raven, and in every structural sense it was no different from an ordinary raven, so how exactly was this thing able to cast ancient magic?
And that transfer magic too...
Most importantly, it didn't trigger his [Friend of Nature] talent at all.
Freed, Sta landed on Harris Raymons's body and fixed Leonard with its crimson eyes.
Sta's face showed no expression, but Harris Raymons knew the bird well enough to understand that his partner was furious and already thinking about revenge.
That would not do. Leonard might be a questionable person, but he was still someone Harris Raymons was trying to win over. He could not afford to offend him.
Just as he was about to say something to Sta and calm it down, he heard Leonard speaking to George and Fred, who were carrying the stretcher.
"No need to take him to the Hospital Wing. Professor Raymons is awake."
The thought of placating Sta immediately vanished. Harris Raymons's face darkened.
"No. Take me to the Hospital Wing first."
What the hell did Leonard mean, no need to go to the Hospital Wing? What kind of attitude was that? If Sta got revenge on him, Harris Raymons was not going to interfere.
Thinking that, Harris Raymons remembered everything that had just happened on the Black Lake, and his face turned even darker.
And Leonard had not shown the slightest bit of sympathy either. Back at the lake, he had practically colluded with the giant squid and allowed it to seize the chance to "play" with him.
Wasn't that just another way of saying Leonard would not have cared at all if Harris Raymons had not gotten himself caught while trying to save him?
This guy was definitely the sort who would stand by and watch someone die.
The ancient magic heir from the prophecy, the one said to bring change to the wizarding world, was actually this kind of person.
The more Harris Raymons thought about it, the angrier he got.
"Tsk. Professor Raymons, you're not even injured. At most you swallowed a little water. Later you can just ask Madam Pomfrey for a potion to keep you from catching cold. There's no need to tie the rest of us up escorting you there, is there?"
"That won't do. If you leave me here, then get ready to lose points." Harris Raymons gritted his teeth and spoke one word at a time with growing shamelessness. "Fifty points each."
"You've got to be joking. How could we possibly leave you here alone?" The moment points deduction came up, George and Fred instantly sprang into action and bolted toward the Hospital Wing with the stretcher.
Luckily, the Hospital Wing was not far away, and Leonard had no desire to lose points with them, so he followed along as well.
But before they arrived, Leonard still had one question.
Smiling cheerfully, Leonard patted Harris Raymons on the shoulder and lowered his voice.
"George and Fred said you suddenly appeared beneath the cliff... so what exactly was Professor doing there?"
Harris Raymons's expression did not change.
"I was checking whether there were any mud monsters there suitable for use as teaching material."
Mud monsters were magical creatures that liked to live near water and fed on mud, fish, and shrimp. They were not particularly aggressive.
"Professor Raymons really is devoted to his students," Leonard said with a grin. "Though while I was wandering around over there, I happened to spot an outlet pipe, so I thought..."
"Wait a second!" Harris Raymons's eyes widened, and he looked stricken. "Don't you think that's going a bit too far?"
"?" Leonard looked at him blankly, not understanding what had suddenly set him off.
"I had just passed out. I was an injured patient, for crying out loud. And instead of taking me to the Hospital Wing first thing, you were looking around at the scenery?"
Harris Raymons was so furious that his teeth were itching.
Leonard awkwardly looked away.
He had not thought much of it at the time, but now that Harris Raymons mentioned it, it did sound rather excessive.
Still... it was not that big a deal, was it?
By then they had reached the Hospital Wing, and George and Fred handed Harris Raymons over to Madam Pomfrey.
"Good heavens, what happened to him?" Madam Pomfrey immediately settled Harris Raymons in and began examining him at top speed.
Watching her bustle around, George and Fred exchanged a look with Leonard. All three silently arrived at the same conclusion.
Time to slip away.
"Ahem. In any case, Professor, take care," Leonard said earnestly. "You really need to look after your health. Everyone's hoping to see you arrive at the end of term in one piece."
With that, Leonard offered Harris Raymons a sincere blessing and left the Hospital Wing together with George and Fred after saying goodbye.