Within the depths

At a secluded area of the lake, Indiana took a deep breath before shedding his robes that concealed a regular black shirt and black baggy swimming shorts underneath. After placing goggles on, the youth entered the waters of the lake.

It felt cold at first, forcing his metabolism to increase the heat distribution. But other than that, Indiana felt comfortable that he went deeper, descending into the depths of water while holding the air in his lungs. Once he was sure of his footing, Indiana began to punch and kick underwater as though performing some resistance exercises with his limbs to work the muscles in them.

It was only after three minutes that Indiana felt his lungs burn and he quickly resurfaced for air.

"I'm getting a bit rusty in holding my breath." the youth muttered to himself. After inhaling, Indiana quickly descended back down into the lake to resume his activities. The only comfort he had was that his movements underwater haven't missed a beat even though it had been some time since he did underwater exercises.

After resurfacing to recover and for air once more, Indiana descended back down into the lake but this time, he planned on exploring. The youth had found an interesting ground filled with some platinum-white sand and some rough-looking rocks.

But Indiana felt something wasn't right and instincts were telling him to head to the surface. As he turned to swim to the surface, the ground exploded in clouds before the youth felt something wrap around his leg along with the sensation of suction caps. Indiana had liberated his leg from whatever had grabbed him before swimming as fast as he could for the surface. Whatever had grabbed him didn't make another attempt such that as he reached illuminated waters, Indiana turned and saw an ominous red-eyed giant octopus.




The creature didn't move to capture him before retreating into the darkness of the waters and Indiana decided not to give it another opportunity to do so as he swam and reached the surface.

(A/N: Cthulhu Fhtagn!)

Hilary was walking down by the lake when she noticed someone swimming in the lake. Funny, she thought. She had been sure that only her and her friends were crazy enough to want to go swimming there.

Upon closer inspection, she realized it was Shelby's friend who was swimming. She approached him as he made his way out of the water.

"Did you see the squid?" she asked. "Or the other, mysterious creature that's down there?"

After surfacing and reaching the shore of the lake, Indiana was trying to mentally calm himself down after narrowly escaping the fate of being a quick snack for that denizen. He wondered if the giant octopus had intentionally let him go.

He heard a feminine voice asking him on what he had seen before looking to find a girl he never met before.

"The giant squid? No." Indiana managed to speak after taking his goggles off. "A giant octopus? Yes and it has red eyes!"

"An octopus?" She raised her eyebrows. She had always assumed that the lake would be fresh water, and she hadn't been paying much attention to that when she had been in there herself. But squids live in salt water, so maybe she was wrong.

"Cool," she said, impressed. Maybe it had been that octopus that Shelby had seen while down there. Her curiosity getting the best of her, she asked, "Other than the red eyes, what did it look like?"

Indiana looked at the girl with an incredulous expression. He had just narrowly escaped being a meal and now she was asking for a description in a cheerful tone?

"Almost the size of the giant squid, eight large tentacles with sucking cups, a large bulbous head..." Indiana coughed. "You're more than welcome to go check it out yourself."

He was steamed but wasn't going to express it.

Hilary was a little surprised to see... annoyance? on the boy's face. Had something happened down there that she just hadn't seen?

"Sorry," she said, quickly, not wanting to cause any problems. "It's just... A few of us went swimming in there a while back, and my friend Shelby came across some sort of dark creature and almost drowned trying to get a closer look. We weren't able to figure out what it was, and I thought that might have been it. Sorry if I offended you in any way."

"It's alright." Indiana replied sincerely as he mentally calmed down before looking at his right leg. There were some bruises left by the octopus but they didn't appear serious to warrant any treatment. "I found some platinum-white sand at the bottom of the lake when that giant octopus appeared from the ground and grabbed my leg. I thought I was going to be the main course and just barely escaped it."

"By the way, I never met you before. What is your name?" Indiana asked.

Hilary listened to the story in awe. She would never have known that that had happened from the surface. She glanced down at the boy's leg, mentally kicking herself for not noticing that he was hurt in the first place. "Are you okay?" she asked, figuring it was better late than never.

"I'm Hilary," she said, with a small smile. "You're Indiana, right?"

"Yes, I'm Indiana. Nice to meet you, Hilary." Indiana replied as he applied a bit of pressure to his right leg, flinching a bit from the slight pain. The injuries were superficial and the youth had to thank his quick actions for that. Otherwise, it could have been worse.

"Just a few bruises but nothing too serious. It'll just take some time to recover, though." Indiana spoke. "Well, there is the giant squid and at the bottom is the giant octopus now."

Hilary watched as the boy winced when he put pressure on his leg. "Are you sure?" she asked. She hated to sound overbearing or anything like that, but his leg didn't look very good. "Do you want to go to the Hospital Wing or something?"

"I guess that's good to know for next time we decide to go swimming," she said. "We don't want to get killed by an octopus."

"No, I'm fine. Injuries are only external so I doubt I'll need a trip to the Hospital Wing." Indiana replied. It was better that the matron didn't know so that he wouldn't have to answer any questions regarding his injury. He had a feeling that patient confidentiality is non-existent in the magical world.

"I heard that some first-years did some 'dynamite-fishing' in the lake. Is that story true?"

Shelby was on her daily walk down by the lake when she saw Indiana and Hilary. Hilary looked a little distressed and Indiana looked wet. As she got closer, she could hear snippets of their conversation and when she was almost right next to them, she heard Indiana's last question.

"Sort of. Dixie Evans and Raven Drake claim to have thrown a few Exploding Snap cards into the lake but they killed so many fish that it had to be at least a full deck," Shelby greeted them both with a smile.

"Why are you all wet?" she asked Indiana. "Did you fall in?"

"Hmm... no wonder the octopus looked rather angry and intimidating if the fish population plummeted from that event, causing a shortage of prey." Indiana remarked after hearing about Exploding Snap cards being used in the lake. "Or perhaps it's something else."

Indiana looked to see Shelby. "Hey, Shelby. I was just taking a swim and exploring the bottom of the lake. A giant octopus took me by surprise and I barely escaped being its meal of the day."

"A giant octopus! Really? What did it look like?" Shelby asked with interest. She looked at Hilary, "That could have been what I saw in the lake that day!" She sat down and took off her shoes and socks and submerged her feet in the cool water.

Her mind finally registered the last thing he said. "I'm glad you're alright," she said sincerely, feeling bad that it hadn't been the first thing she said.

"Did you get those things to May?" she asked.

"I sent them out but May hasn't written back yet. Probably anytime now, I'll get an answer from her." Indiana replied before he decided to change the subject.

"The octopus is almost as big as the giant squid. It looked dark but the creature can change colors to match its surroundings. Then there are the common features of a bulbous head, a rough skin surface, and eight tentacles with a lot of suction cups. I don't think I'll ever forget seeing its crimson eyes, almost like a demon if you ask me."

The youth then asked. "Hilary, Shelby. I hope you two aren't planning to find it or are you?"

Hilary looked at Shelby. "That's actually one of the first things I asked him when he came out of the water," she said, with a small laugh. "But I think it could have been. I think that looking at it quick, it would fit the description perfectly."

She turned back to Indiana, shaking her head. "I'm not. At least, not right now," she said. "I want to do some research on octopuses before I go looking for it." She glanced down at the boy's leg. "I want to make sure I know how to fight it off."

Indiana looked out at the lake, pondering about the giant octopus. From what he read, the octopus was certainly considered the most intelligent of the invertebrates and he once heard about one correctly predicting on which teams would win the matches in the 2010 FIFA World Cup tournament with a 100% accuracy. Well, at least, that was what his late father Bismarck once told to him as a story regarding a "psychic" octopus.

Indiana had a feeling that the giant octopus in the lake may be magical just like the giant squid, considering its size and the crimson eyes as the latter is a completely atypical feature among normal octopuses.

"Can spells actually be cast and will they work underwater?" the youth asked.

"Bubble head charms work underwater, though, so they must do," reasoned Cass.
She looked around for any discrepancies in the water for the squid. Cass had decided long ago after reading Hogwarts: A History that the Squid kept itself to itself, and had been known to save students when they had fallen in the lake, so she didn't want to bother it too much.
"You guys going to look for the squid?" she asked.

Indiana heard a familiar voice answering his question and didn't need much to recognize the ever happy-go-lucky Cassopeia. He didn't know whether the title would be appropriate but then again, the girl did seem a bit carefree and he was entitled to his opinion, though he wouldn't openly express it.

"Hi, Cass." Indiana greeted. "Bubblehead Charms? Then that must be one to use. Regarding the giant squid, I know I wasn't looking for it although I'm not sure about Shelby and Hilary. I was thinking more about the giant octopus that I ran into while checking out the bottom of the lake."

Standing up once the sun had dried him off, Indiana began to walk with a slight limp before retrieving his robes, which he placed back on over his black T-shirt and swimming shorts.

"Well, tread cautiously! Who knows what else lurks in the briny deep!" the youth called out as he headed back to the castle. A good duration of rest in his dorm and allowing his leg to recover and heal itself would certainly beat going to the Hospital Wing.

"Woah, octopus?" she said, surprised. "You mean, it's not a squid?"
He must have learnt classifying animals from his sister, May, thought Cass.
"Yeah," she laughed, "you don't go looking for trouble, trouble only finds you, right?"
Cass saw the limp, as he hobbled away, and shouted, half muttered, "You need a hand to the castle?" it looked bad, how he was trying not to rest on it at all.

"I'll be alright! Thanks for the offer!" Indiana called back as he continued forward while thinking about getting to the dorm, taking a shower, and then deal with his injuries. There was no way that he was going to the Hospital Wing.

'No pain, no gain. Especially for pain tolerance.' he thought to himself. 'Once I get over this, I'm heading back for round two!'

Cass had a sneaking suspicion when Indiana somewhat hurriedly declined the offer that he wasn't going to the hospital wing- not that she could blame him. Hospital wings had been the bane of her existance since-
well. Since.
She looked back at the Hufflepuff, having almost made it to the front doors. She could see Hagrid, walking around with some Puffskeins, looking quizzically at him, wondering why he was limping, she figured. Hagrid caught her eye, and she waved exaggeratedly.
Cass wondered if Indiana had a particular problem with Hospitals, too.

Several days had passed since Indiana encountered the giant octopus and the youth was at the edge of the lake. His right leg had certainly healed well on its own but despite the recovery, the youth was a bit hesitant to enter the lake again that quiet morning.

As for the giant octopus, the crimson eyes was certainly not a normal trait, leaving a number of questions regarding the creature that he would certainly look into later should time be allotted.

As he stared at the water's surface, Indiana could only wonder whether or not the other aquatic denizens such as the merpeople might have any knowledge or information regarding the giant octopus.

Shelby went back down to the lake after trying, and failing, to find Indiana in every place she could think of. She was about to give up her search when she spotted him by the water's edge. Forcing herself to walk over to him, she was worried that he was angry at her for leaving so quickly.

"Hey," she greeted quietly when she reached him. "Mind if I join you?"

Indiana's brooding in regards to the giant octopus were disrupted by Shelby's voice and the youth turned to find her approaching him. Despite his apparent nervousness and wondering if she was here to berate him for what happened yesterday, he kept a calm expression and nodded.

"Sure." Indiana replied softly before asking. "Are you alright?"