The serpent's heir

Nadia the Giant Squid

Tom was going insane. He had to be. Although he really thought that he had a good ten or so years before that happened. But there was no other explanation for what he was seeing. No reasonable or sane explanation at least. Because, just as he had began his usually morning stroll around the grounds, at an hour that nobody else was ever awake, he had noticed a rather out of place sight.

The obnoxious red of a Gryffindor was already hard to miss in the blues, greens and greys of this setting. But a Giant Squid, now that was a whole new playing field.

So, either Tom was losing his mind, or there really was a tiny Gryffindor trying to climb the humungous creature that had made everyone at Hogwarts to scared of the Great Lake to ever dare swimming to far away from the shore. Well, maybe not everyone at Hogwarts.

Good God, this boy was going to get himself killed.

“You really can’t be more of a Gryffindor than that.” Tom could actually feel a small tug at the corners of his lips when the stupid boy in red finally noticed him and waved. Waved!

The Slytherin tried his best to scowl instead, and almost allowed his jaw to drop when the boy turned to the Squid he was currently swimming next to and pointed at Tom. Was he trying to get them both killed?

But that’s not what happened. In fact, it was almost as if the boy and the Giant Squid were communicating. Because, instead of killing either the Gryffindor or the Slytherin, the creature wrapped a careful tentacle around the boy and gave him a lift to the shore.

There was no stopping the subtle surprise that bled into Tom’s eyes, even then the only indication of it elsewhere was reflected in the way his muscles tightened slightly.

“Hey!”

The boy shouted as his feet touched the dry ground a few feet from Tom, once again waving at the still shocked boy rather vigorously. He took a moment to turn back to the creature he had apparently befriended and gave its lingering tentacle a soft pat of appreciation. “Thanks for the lift Nadia!”

“Nadia? Did he just give the Great Squid a name?” Tom whispered to himself, and if him talking to himself wasn’t the first sign of his new found insanity, then he wasn’t sure what is.

“Yeah, that’s her name. Or at least, the name we agreed on. It a little bit of a play on the name ‘Naiad’ from Greek Mythology.” The boy obviously heard Tom’s question and thought that it was for him. Good, that makes Tom seem a little more put together and sane than he actually is.

“As in a Water Nymph?” Tom decided to push down the questions buzzing around in his skull.

“Yeah, exactly! You know Greek Mythology stuff?”

“Of course. I’m not an imbecile.” Tom scoffed, but his attitude was washed away when the boy just burst into hysterical giggles. Although, upon noticing the probably offended look on the Slytherin’s face, the boy coughed awkwardly to try and cover up his laughter. Subtle.

“Sorry, its just that I didn’t expect you to get so defensive, it was kind of funny actually.” The boy tried to excuse himself, but at this point he was just being even more disrespectful. “Oh! I’m Adrian by the way. It's my first year, so I was just trying to meet all the creatures here. I’m actually heading to the Forbidden Forrest tomorrow if you want to come with.” The boy, Adrian’s, whole body seemed to light up like a well-cast Lumos, and he began bouncing on his toes.

Tom wanted to tell him to stop, wanted to spit out that he was irritating and confusing him. But instead, his mouth worked against him, continuing the conversation where it could have ended.

“I’m sorry, did you not notice the ‘Forbidden’ part of Forbidden Forrest?” He questioned in place of an answer.

“No.” Adrian drew out his answer, his body now beginning to twist instead of hop. Did this boy ever stand still, it was starting to give Tom a headache. “But its only forbidden because of the apparently dangerous creatures within, and most of that ‘danger’ is just societal views on magical creatures. Most of them are actually rather friendly as long as you’re respectful and treat them nicely.”