Just Beneath the Surface [Harry Potter; English]

[laurus-nobilis.livejournal.com]

Title: Just Beneath the Surface
Rating: G
Genre: Genfic
Characters: Neville and Luna
Summary: Neville had never paid attention to the Squid before. Luckily for him, he did it just in time.
Notes: Written for omniocular's August challenge, Summer of the Squid. The abominable snowman came with the challenge, too.

Just Beneath the Surface

 

“How did the Giant Squid get here?” Luna asked dreamily. “Have you ever wondered about that?”

Neville looked up from his Herbology homework and stared at his friend for a moment. She always came up with questions like that, wondering about things he – or anyone, really – wouldn't even notice.

“What do you mean?” he asked back.

“Squids leave in the sea, not in lakes,” she explained. “And this one is alone, too. It must have arrived to the lake somehow. I guess someone brought it here when it was little. At least, as little as a Giant Squid can be.”

That made sense, Neville thought, but he didn't have much to add to it. Luna never seemed to mind if he didn't reply, anyway. She just liked to talk and have someone near who listened. Most people found that annoying, but he didn't. After all, she always listened to him when he talked about his plants. He supposed she was just interested in curious things as a general concept, not in plants themselves, but that was beyond the point; she actually paid attention to him. Sometimes she asked a lot of questions that he didn't know how to answer. Perhaps that was a Ravenclaw thing.

Besides, even though Luna usually chose strange topics to talk about, once in a while there were very interesting things hidden in her chattering. Neville was starting to learn how to find them.

“My dad told me it was already here when he came to Hogwarts,” she continued. “But he didn't know when did it first arrive to the lake. Was it here when your grandmother was a student?”

“I'm not sure,” Neville admitted. “I'll have to ask her.”

Truth be told, he hadn't ever given much thoughts to the Squid at all. It just seemed to be there, another part of Hogwarts that he took for granted, just like the Whomping Willow, the Thestrals and the lake itself. Then again, Luna had that effect on things: she made them look new all of a sudden, or perhaps she just made people see them from a different perspective. It was a little upsetting sometimes, but once he got used to it, he began to appreciate it.

The Squid was quite close to the surface right now, showing off its huge tentacles, as if enjoying the attention. I'm here, it seemed to be trying to say, I'm important. Neville wondered why hadn't he paid more attention to it before. When he thought about it, he realized that he couldn't imagine Hogwarts without its Giant Squid.

“I wonder how long do squids live,” he said, thoughtful. Luna shrugged.

“I don't know,” she replied. “I can look it up in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. This one is a magical squid, after all.”

Neville shook his head a little, amused. She came up with the strangest ideas. He had to admit, though, that her curiosity was contagious. He supposed he would end up researching Giant Squids too if she kept talking like that. Who knew... they could prove to be interesting.

 

* * *

 

In the end, Neville forgot about the Squid for the next few months, in spite of his initial interest. There were much more urgent things to worry about. N.E.W.T.s, for example: as much as he studied, he still felt that he wouldn't be able to remember anything when the moment came.

And then there was the war. His grandmother had let him stay at Hogwarts, because she believed that it was still the safest place, no matter what. It was dangerous, but everywhere was dangerous, and the school was a little better than anywhere else she could think of. Neville was thankful for that. The subjects helped him to keep his mind focused on something other than the Death Eaters most of the time, although it was getting increasingly difficult. More and more students left the school every week. Families kept getting attacked. The news seemed to get worse on a daily basis.

At least his classes were keeping him distracted. Herbology was especially interesting, and he often stayed in the greenhouses longer than was needed, with Professor Sprout's permission. It was the only subject he was really good at, after all, so he wanted to make the best out of it.

Sometimes, however, he lost track of time. This was one of those days; a chilly breeze had startled him out of his thoughts. It was getting dark. Neville gathered all his things and started walking back to the school.

He hadn't got very far when he heard noises coming from the gates. It sounded as if someone was shouting – no, many people. He looked up to see a couple of Aurors running towards school.

“Get inside!” one of them yelled at him.

Neville didn't think twice. If he had learned something in all these years, it was that sometimes staying to “help” only caused more trouble. So he ran as fast as he could, determined to warn the first professor he saw about what was happening. But the first person he met on his way to the building wasn't a teacher.

It was Luna.

“What are you doing outside?” he shouted, while he was still several steps away from her. “Come on – ”

“I was trying to spot some Winter Glowworms,” she said, distracted as always, as if she hadn't noticed his anxiety. “I heard you can see them when you're near a magical lake, so I thought...”

“Forget about that,” Neville snapped. “There are Death Eaters coming this way.”

“And a Yeti,” Luna said slowly. “They brought a Yeti.”

“What? Those live in Tibet – ”

The rest of his sentence died on his throat when he looked in the direction his friend was pointing to. There it was, enormous, even more frightening than he had ever imagined: an abominable snowman. Several Aurors followed it, trying to stop it with little success. It kept advancing, on and on, leaving its giant footprints on the snow.

Neville didn't bother speaking. He just grabbed Luna's wrist and ran for it.

“We're not going to make it,” she panted, even as they were running. “Yeti's are fast. Well, not really fast, but they have very long legs so – ”

“So we'd need to fly,” Neville interrupted her. How did she manage to talk so much at a time like that? “If only we had brooms...”

“We have Thestrals,” Luna suggested. She wriggled free of his grasp and pointed towards the Forbidden Forest. It was nearer than school, and out of the snowman's direct path.

“Luna, you're brilliant!” he exclaimed.

They turned around immediately, heading towards the Forest now. It looked so close... The shouts of the Aurors sounded louder as they approached. Neville could already hear the Yeti's footsteps when it stomped on the snow. He tried to run faster. They were almost there; soon they were already zooming next to the lake.

It was then when things got truly complicated. It looked like the snowman had seen them. In any case, it was coming their way now, taking long strides.

“Watch out –” he began to say, but a sudden, unexpected noise interrupted him. There was a great splash as one of the Squid's tentacles came out from the water, moving dangerously close to them. As if they needed another problem!

“Luna!” Neville yelled, but it was too late. The Squid's tentacle wrapped around her waist, lifting her easily. She shouted something that he couldn't hear.

He hesitated for a second. There were many spells he could use on the creature, but it was too risky; it could drop her in the icy lake... Although it was only a moment, it was enough for the Squid to grab him too. Neville fought as much as he could, but the strong tentacle only held him more firmly.

This is it, he thought, we're going to die. They had faced Death Eaters more than once, and now a stupid Squid was going to kill them. It wasn't fair.

    The creature was taking its time, too. It moved towards the middle of the lake, still holding them above the water. Neville didn't know where to look. If he tilted his head a bit, he could just make out Luna's figure. She wasn't facing him, so he couldn't see her expression, but he noticed that she wasn't struggling. In front of him, however, he could see the place where they had been just a few moments ago. The Yeti had arrived already, along with the Aurors. After what felt like an eternity – why wasn't the stupid Squid moving?– and countless spells, they managed to take it down, either dead or unconscious.

Only then, the Squid moved again. Neville braced himself to be crushed by its tentacle, or to drown in the lake; but that wasn't what happened. Before he realized it, they were next to the shore again. The Squid put them both on the ground and its tentacles slid away from them.

It took a moment for him to realize what had just happened. Had it just saved them? Next to him, Luna was petting one of its tentacles, that still surfaced a little.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said. “That was what I was trying to tell you.”

Neville stared at her for a moment, still shocked. Suddenly he felt very tired.

“Oh. I couldn't listen, with all that noise...”

“I think it remembers us,” Luna said distantly, still caressing the Squid. He blinked.

“What do you mean?”

“It must have remembered that we were talking about it. Maybe that's why he likes us,” she explained. “I don't think many people care about the poor Squid.”

“Do you think,” Neville said slowly, trying not to sound rude, “that it understands English?”

“Why not?”

He was about to reply when he discovered that, in fact, he didn't have a good answer for that. So he just shrugged instead.

“Thank you,” he said to it, and petted its tentacle too.

“Hey, you two!” they heard a voice say from behind them. An Auror was running towards them; he looked exhausted. “Are you all right?”

“Yes, we're fine,” he assured him. “Don't worry, we're going back to school now.”

“The Squid saved us,” Luna explained. The Auror gave her a disbelieving look.

“You must be in shock,” he muttered. “You should both go to the hospital wing when you get there. Just in case.”

“We will,” Neville promised, eager to get away. He was too tired to try to prove his sanity. Apparently Luna felt the same, or at least she was used to people not believing her, because she didn't say anything either. They just walked to the school in silence, each one lost in their one thoughts.

“You know,” Luna said at last, “this would make a good story.”

“D'you think so?” he asked.

“I'm sure,” she told him. “It would be perfect for The Quibbler: proving that the Giant Squid has feelings. Would you let my Dad interview you?” she added as an afterthought.

Neville grinned at her.

“Sure.”