Disclaimer: I own nothing, and do not purport to do so. Except Tanaka
Yoshito. He is all mine.
Ch.1
At the Lake
The giant squid lay languidly on the surface of the lake at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and stared up at the clouds floating lazily across the sky, reveling in the what-was-sure-to-be-momentary peace and quiet. Such moments were rare and precious, since there always seemed to be a never-ending parade of students/ professors/ Death Eaters, etc. constantly running along the banks/ holding secret meetings/ sitting around sobbing at all given times. There was never any peace along the edges of the lake, and as one that inhabited the lake, the squid was determined to enjoy all peace whenever it showed up.
Once in a while, there might be a couple of days of slower traffic, but these periods never lasted, and the squid knew why and had even tried to cause these periods before realizing the futility of the exercise.
As it was, there happened to be two benches placed side by side on the shores and it was because of these that there was this seeming endless stream of people interrupting the squid's solitude. Most of the time, these people would be random students who used the benches as a midnight rendezvous where they could satiate their hormonal teenage tendencies. Indeed though our friend the squid did not know this, the benches along the lake ranked even higher than the much-exalted Astronomy Tower on the list of top make-out spots that (according to the squid's opinion, at the very least, should he have known about such a thing) seemingly circulated among the students of Hogwarts.
It would usually not be long before some morally-steadfast professor or the other would find out about the benches and would order them torn down. During these times, the squid could be seen dancing along the surface of the lake, if squid could dance, that is. As it was, what the squid was doing could be considered as more of a gleeful skimming along the surface with his head up and one eye staring with great satisfaction at the empty place where the loathed benches once were. At times like this, the squid would revel in glee for a day and then spend a couple of days praying to the Higher Deity of Squid for the relative silence to continue, but alas, such prayers went unheeded. The benches would invariably be resurrected within a matter of days and the squid would once more be forced to sink to the bottom of the lake and mope.
In any case, whatever the status of the benches, there was solitude now, and now was all that counted. The squid had spent a blissful thirteen minutes or so contemplating the sky when his pleasant reverie was most cruelly interrupted and his quiet solitude was shattered.
The squid rolled his one eye and got up off his back to scan the shore and find the reason for this unwelcome disturbance (and kill it if possible). His roving eye fixed upon a solitary student who, from what the squid had previously observed, was no stranger to the banks of the lake. The student was, of course, crying his head off.
Now, this particular sight was no stranger to the squid, who had only taken up residence in the lake five hundred years or so ago, but it never failed to perturb him. In the beginning, he hadn't been as perturbed about the lack of tranquility as he had been about the students who were causing it. Contrary to popular belief, the squid was actually a pretty nice squid who couldn't bear to witness anyone else's pain. In the beginning, when the squid had just moved in, he would try to comfort those weeping students as well as he could, but it was all to no avail. Every time he had tentatively reached out to the students with a tentacle to offer them a reassuring pat on the knee, he was thanked for his compassion with a violent kick to said tentacle and a bloodcurdling scream, which was accompanied by a student running away as fast as his legs could take him. The squid realized that his presence may be alarming, and sought to be gentler in his ways, but this was to no avail either. It was a thankless job, and the squid was too frustrated after a while to continue in his attempts to befriend any of the students in this manner.
The passing years resulted in the squid's eventual embitterment and apathy towards the students and their often sorry plights. At present, all the squid really wanted was some serenity, and a good night's sleep. But, like everything else in his life, it seemed, this was a wish that would be impossible to have come true.
And it certainly wasn't coming true now. After some perusal, he recognized the lonely figure on the banks as one Harry Potter. Of course, the many years the squid spent at Hogwarts pretty much rendered him useless when it came to recognizing students by face, but this one was hard to forget. Even with the countless numbers of students that had paraded by the lake at some point, whom he tried to pay little if no attention to, this one could not be forgotten. He had only been hearing this student's name for the past 15 or so years, starting from when a group of robed, masked figures who were holding one of their secret meetings on the bank at the other side of the lake had mentioned Harry Potter's name about a thousand times as the apple of all discord. And the utterance of this name had gone on, until four or so years ago when it was established that the famous Harry Potter was a student at Hogwarts. Extremely curious as the squid was at this point, he kept an eye out for young Potter, and found him to be a most unremarkable specimen. The years of hearing his name mentioned as the one who had defeated the most powerful wizard till date had given the squid the idea that Harry Potter could not be less than a demi-god with an impressive physical stature. Needless to say, the squid had been most disappointed when the object of his search turned out to be a most puny individual. The squid kept up observation for a while, however, if only to see an example of the superpowers Potter was said to hold, but so far, all it seemed Potter could do was wander around the grounds aimlessly at all given hours and throw himself onto a bench weeping hopelessly. No. Not a bench. One of the benches by the lake.
After the squid's recognition of Harry Potter, he lost all hope of getting any peace for the next couple of hours. From previous experience, the squid knew Potter's affinity for (and extreme talent at) howling in misery, and his incessant babbling to himself between sobs.
"Great," the squid thought. "Here we go again."
And his predictions were correct yet again.
After a couple of minutes of (somewhat) quiet crying, Harry Potter opened his mouth to speak.
"I don't understand why..." he started.
"Great," the squid thought to himself again. "This is going to be a long one."
"I just don't understand why," Harry continued, "no one likes me. I mean really likes me."
"Hrmph," thought the squid. "I can give you a couple of reasons if you keep going on like this."
But the soliloquy went on. "When I came here, I had friends. Real friends, who would talk to me, and want to hang out and have fun and understand me. There was never a single time Ron and Hermione would not be around...well except for that time when Ron and I were having that fight about the whole Tri-Wizard thing in fourth year, but other than that, we were always together...but now they don't even want to be near me. They're always together, always holding hands and hugging and kissing, and as much as I'm really glad that they're happy, I wish we could all hang out the way we used to sometimes.
"Or, at least, I wish that I had someone too. Someone who would be there, so that I could have someone to talk to, and maybe even hug and kiss. But no one likes me at all...and I don't want to have to be alone for the rest of my life..."
Harry's words trailed off into a series of quiet sobs, which the squid witnessed with both increasing sympathy and impatience. "Well, hell," the squid thought. "What on earth are you going on about? You think you have it bad, after having been alone for only, what? A couple of weeks? Well, how would you feel if you had been alone for the last five hundred years?!..."
The squid's increasingly bitter thoughts were interrupted by a sudden wail.
"NOOOOOBOOOODEEEEE LOOOOOOOOVES MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
"Oh give it up, kid," thought the squid, and sank to the bottom of the lake to wait for Potter to leave.
Ch.1
At the Lake
The giant squid lay languidly on the surface of the lake at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and stared up at the clouds floating lazily across the sky, reveling in the what-was-sure-to-be-momentary peace and quiet. Such moments were rare and precious, since there always seemed to be a never-ending parade of students/ professors/ Death Eaters, etc. constantly running along the banks/ holding secret meetings/ sitting around sobbing at all given times. There was never any peace along the edges of the lake, and as one that inhabited the lake, the squid was determined to enjoy all peace whenever it showed up.
Once in a while, there might be a couple of days of slower traffic, but these periods never lasted, and the squid knew why and had even tried to cause these periods before realizing the futility of the exercise.
As it was, there happened to be two benches placed side by side on the shores and it was because of these that there was this seeming endless stream of people interrupting the squid's solitude. Most of the time, these people would be random students who used the benches as a midnight rendezvous where they could satiate their hormonal teenage tendencies. Indeed though our friend the squid did not know this, the benches along the lake ranked even higher than the much-exalted Astronomy Tower on the list of top make-out spots that (according to the squid's opinion, at the very least, should he have known about such a thing) seemingly circulated among the students of Hogwarts.
It would usually not be long before some morally-steadfast professor or the other would find out about the benches and would order them torn down. During these times, the squid could be seen dancing along the surface of the lake, if squid could dance, that is. As it was, what the squid was doing could be considered as more of a gleeful skimming along the surface with his head up and one eye staring with great satisfaction at the empty place where the loathed benches once were. At times like this, the squid would revel in glee for a day and then spend a couple of days praying to the Higher Deity of Squid for the relative silence to continue, but alas, such prayers went unheeded. The benches would invariably be resurrected within a matter of days and the squid would once more be forced to sink to the bottom of the lake and mope.
In any case, whatever the status of the benches, there was solitude now, and now was all that counted. The squid had spent a blissful thirteen minutes or so contemplating the sky when his pleasant reverie was most cruelly interrupted and his quiet solitude was shattered.
The squid rolled his one eye and got up off his back to scan the shore and find the reason for this unwelcome disturbance (and kill it if possible). His roving eye fixed upon a solitary student who, from what the squid had previously observed, was no stranger to the banks of the lake. The student was, of course, crying his head off.
Now, this particular sight was no stranger to the squid, who had only taken up residence in the lake five hundred years or so ago, but it never failed to perturb him. In the beginning, he hadn't been as perturbed about the lack of tranquility as he had been about the students who were causing it. Contrary to popular belief, the squid was actually a pretty nice squid who couldn't bear to witness anyone else's pain. In the beginning, when the squid had just moved in, he would try to comfort those weeping students as well as he could, but it was all to no avail. Every time he had tentatively reached out to the students with a tentacle to offer them a reassuring pat on the knee, he was thanked for his compassion with a violent kick to said tentacle and a bloodcurdling scream, which was accompanied by a student running away as fast as his legs could take him. The squid realized that his presence may be alarming, and sought to be gentler in his ways, but this was to no avail either. It was a thankless job, and the squid was too frustrated after a while to continue in his attempts to befriend any of the students in this manner.
The passing years resulted in the squid's eventual embitterment and apathy towards the students and their often sorry plights. At present, all the squid really wanted was some serenity, and a good night's sleep. But, like everything else in his life, it seemed, this was a wish that would be impossible to have come true.
And it certainly wasn't coming true now. After some perusal, he recognized the lonely figure on the banks as one Harry Potter. Of course, the many years the squid spent at Hogwarts pretty much rendered him useless when it came to recognizing students by face, but this one was hard to forget. Even with the countless numbers of students that had paraded by the lake at some point, whom he tried to pay little if no attention to, this one could not be forgotten. He had only been hearing this student's name for the past 15 or so years, starting from when a group of robed, masked figures who were holding one of their secret meetings on the bank at the other side of the lake had mentioned Harry Potter's name about a thousand times as the apple of all discord. And the utterance of this name had gone on, until four or so years ago when it was established that the famous Harry Potter was a student at Hogwarts. Extremely curious as the squid was at this point, he kept an eye out for young Potter, and found him to be a most unremarkable specimen. The years of hearing his name mentioned as the one who had defeated the most powerful wizard till date had given the squid the idea that Harry Potter could not be less than a demi-god with an impressive physical stature. Needless to say, the squid had been most disappointed when the object of his search turned out to be a most puny individual. The squid kept up observation for a while, however, if only to see an example of the superpowers Potter was said to hold, but so far, all it seemed Potter could do was wander around the grounds aimlessly at all given hours and throw himself onto a bench weeping hopelessly. No. Not a bench. One of the benches by the lake.
After the squid's recognition of Harry Potter, he lost all hope of getting any peace for the next couple of hours. From previous experience, the squid knew Potter's affinity for (and extreme talent at) howling in misery, and his incessant babbling to himself between sobs.
"Great," the squid thought. "Here we go again."
And his predictions were correct yet again.
After a couple of minutes of (somewhat) quiet crying, Harry Potter opened his mouth to speak.
"I don't understand why..." he started.
"Great," the squid thought to himself again. "This is going to be a long one."
"I just don't understand why," Harry continued, "no one likes me. I mean really likes me."
"Hrmph," thought the squid. "I can give you a couple of reasons if you keep going on like this."
But the soliloquy went on. "When I came here, I had friends. Real friends, who would talk to me, and want to hang out and have fun and understand me. There was never a single time Ron and Hermione would not be around...well except for that time when Ron and I were having that fight about the whole Tri-Wizard thing in fourth year, but other than that, we were always together...but now they don't even want to be near me. They're always together, always holding hands and hugging and kissing, and as much as I'm really glad that they're happy, I wish we could all hang out the way we used to sometimes.
"Or, at least, I wish that I had someone too. Someone who would be there, so that I could have someone to talk to, and maybe even hug and kiss. But no one likes me at all...and I don't want to have to be alone for the rest of my life..."
Harry's words trailed off into a series of quiet sobs, which the squid witnessed with both increasing sympathy and impatience. "Well, hell," the squid thought. "What on earth are you going on about? You think you have it bad, after having been alone for only, what? A couple of weeks? Well, how would you feel if you had been alone for the last five hundred years?!..."
The squid's increasingly bitter thoughts were interrupted by a sudden wail.
"NOOOOOBOOOODEEEEE LOOOOOOOOVES MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
"Oh give it up, kid," thought the squid, and sank to the bottom of the lake to wait for Potter to leave.
