The Giant Squid's New Toy

Fishing was an outdoor activity loved by many. People generally played the part of the one holding the rod, rather than the fish lured by the hook-yet Brian felt like a fish about to take the bait.

The tentacle holding the Giant Squid's orb swayed in midair, moving closer to Brian, then farther away-

The orb was tempting bait, and that flexible tentacle was a fishing rod. Brian, in the role of the fish, simply couldn't take it anymore.

Fish had their dignity too, especially a fish that could use magic... no, a human!

Brian raised his wand, aimed at the orb, and called, "Accio!"

The orb remained motionless in the Giant Squid's tentacle. Only its shimmering light flickered slightly-

This was the first time one of Brian's spells had failed. Right, maybe I should specify what I want!

With that thought, Brian called out again, "Accio orb!"

The orb still didn't move, but the Giant Squid grew a little annoyed. It flicked spray after spray at Brian, soaking him through this time. He had nowhere to dodge: another of its tentacles was still wrapped around him, and he didn't want to hurt the Giant Squid.

"Pah! Pah!" Brian spat out the water that had accidentally entered his mouth. After a moment's thought, he asked helplessly,

"I want that thing you're holding, and you know I want it, but you won't give it to me or let me go... do you want me to trade you something for it?"

Come to think of it, could the Giant Squid understand human speech? Brian suddenly felt rather silly.

But the Giant Squid proved to be an intelligent underwater creature. It raised two more tentacles out of the water and formed a check mark in the air-

At that moment, Brian rather regretted not bringing the equally intelligent Book along. He might have witnessed the marvelous sight of the Book and the Giant Squid communicating in sign language.

Well, the Book was still the stranger of the two. At least the Giant Squid had eyes. The Book didn't.

Brian breathed a relieved sigh and continued, "What do you want?"

He watched two of the Giant Squid's tentacles form a rectangle with rounded corners in midair. It looked very much like a slice of toast, but when Brian said the word "bread," the tentacles firmly formed a cross. All right, what else had that shape?

The answer was the Flying Car-viewed from below.

Understanding dawned on Brian. "You're still thinking about my Flying Car! Ah... that thing Dumbledore and I were riding in yesterday, right?"

The Giant Squid gave an affirmative answer, and the hem of Brian's clothes began dripping again. Perfectly reasonable: the Giant Squid expressed both joy and anger by splashing water.

Now came the problem.

Brian pictured a set of scales in his mind-

He had paid two thousand pounds for that secondhand blue car. Was he now going to throw those two thousand pounds into the water for an orb that might not even be useful?

The answer was yes. The orb exerted a strange pull on him, much like the Book and his wand.

He could find no reason to keep the Flying Car, unless it suddenly began speaking, wheedled and begged for mercy, and explained that it actually came from an alien planet populated entirely by vehicle people. The chances of that were negligible.

Considering that the Giant Squid couldn't drive and had no use for equipment such as the engine or lights, Brian decided to remove all the electronic equipment from the Flying Car while it was in model form, then give the empty shell to the Giant Squid.

"All right, I agree. Let me go, and I'll be back in a little while." Brian patted the tentacle wrapped around him.

Before entering Hogwarts Castle, Brian almost forgot to dry himself with magic-

Mr. Filch wouldn't appreciate seeing water all over the castle floors. He would clean, roar, and curse the rule-breaker all at once, with a proficiency that was almost heartbreaking.

It was already very late. The only people still openly moving about the castle were the Prefects and staff on patrol.

This time, Brian didn't run into any students sneaking around at night. Or perhaps those who knew he was a member of staff had decided not to show themselves in front of him. He only exchanged greetings with one girl, a Ravenclaw Prefect.

The library lights had gone out too. To avoid disturbing Madam Pince's rest, Brian cast a silencing charm on himself.

Taking the car's components apart took some effort. Thank goodness he knew a little about car repairs, or the Black Lake at this magical castle would have been tainted by Muggle electronics.

It was worth mentioning that the car failed to speak or wheedle.

"Engorgio!" Back on the shore of the Black Lake, Brian raised his wand. The blue car, outwardly unchanged but now hollowed out, rapidly returned to its original size.

The Giant Squid, which had been waiting for some time, eagerly swept the Flying Car into the water and tossed the blue orb to Brian with utter casualness.

Without so much as a glance at the Flying Car, Brian hurried forward a couple of steps to catch the orb. It seemed humans and animals were alike: at a crucial moment, they only cared about whatever mattered more to them.

"A... stone fragment?"

Brian ran his fingers over the "orb" in his hand-

Its shimmering light had misled him earlier. The supposed orb was actually a fragment of some special mineral. It also seemed to repel water: it was completely dry and gave off a little warmth.

He examined the stone fragment in the moonlight for a while without discovering anything. In the end, he even bit it lightly, finally reaching one conclusion: the stone fragment was quite sturdy-harder than his teeth, at least.

"Can you tell me where all your friends are?"

Brian asked the fragment. It had clearly once been part of a whole stone. He just didn't know whether collecting all the fragments would bring some special reward, such as summoning... a dragon?

Brian hoped so. He had never seen a real dragon before.

But the fragment ignored him, silently giving off light and heat, as though its only wish was to be a proper hand warmer.

Brian could only tuck the fragment inside his clothes. As warmth spread through his body, he began consoling himself-

Not a bad deal. Even if the fragment really has no other use, as long as it stays this warm, my two thousand pounds won't have been wasted.

In high spirits, he raised his head and looked across the lake. The Giant Squid was nowhere to be seen.

He had to admit that the Black Lake was beautiful and mysterious. Looking down at it from above felt completely different from looking across it from the shore. Just look: a little blue car was racing merrily over its shimmering surface...

"Huh?" Brian's eyes widened, and he took a closer look. There was no mistaking it: his little blue car was moving freely across the water, riding the waves. The cabin was empty, with nobody in the seats. It was downright eerie. Without a close look, it could easily have passed for a ghost car.

And this ghost car was powered neither by an engine nor by magic. It relied entirely on an enormous Giant Squid chauffeur that liked to stay hidden underwater. That was reasonable too. Cars were meant to be driven, and moving one around by hand still counted as driving.

With mixed feelings, Brian silently watched for a while longer. The Giant Squid clearly loved its new toy-the little car hadn't stopped once.

"Well, I hope the students can accept the Giant Squid's new toy."

Brian headed toward the castle. He was willing to bet that tomorrow, a huge crowd of students would gather around the Black Lake, shouting and exclaiming.