Snape and Lucas followed the cannonball's trajectory into the classroom. Peeves hovered near the ceiling, spitting down at the two wizards with smug satisfaction.

The sound of Filch climbing the stairs drifted closer, and soon the lantern joined Snape's light in the doorway. Both adults stared into the classroom with matching displeasure.

Peeves was ricocheting around the room at high speed like a deflating balloon, clutching two small spheres.

Filch's warning came right on its heels. "It's been throwing dung bombs in the corridors! Professor Snape, help me catch it!"

Before Filch could charge through the door, the two serpents in the classroom moved.

Peeves had assumed they were stationary sculptures. The instant Peeves passed between them, one of the serpents lurched forward in a sudden strike, sharp fangs driving straight through Peeves's body.

Peeves was a peculiar ghost, able to pass through walls like any spirit, yet still pick up solid objects like a living creature.

The serpent statue hit its mark precisely. Peeves slipped out between the fangs anyway, quick and nimble.

Still rattled, Peeves patted its own chest in midair. "Nearly scared me to death — what in blazes is that thing!"

Peeves's eyes darted. It raised a dung bomb, ready to hurl it straight at the statue.

At that moment, the second statue, the closer one, moved.

The great serpent glided silently around behind Peeves, closing the distance without a sound.

Like a practiced hunter, it dragged Peeves down out of the air, coiled its body into a tight sphere, and wound itself around Peeves completely.

The adults waited for Peeves to squirm free.

Professors who patrolled the castle at night dealt with Peeves often enough to have their methods. They could handle it without magic if they had to, even if it only meant saying, "I'll tell the Bloody Baron what you've been up to."

The Bloody Baron was the one ghost Peeves genuinely feared.

Lucas tilted his head, looking over at Snape and Filch with open curiosity. "Are you two waiting for something?"

Waiting for Peeves to come out.

Peeves did not come out.

Filch studied the serpent statue, then turned to Lucas with an expression that could only be described as wistful. "Can it squeeze Peeves to death?"

"It generally won't kill prey that gets close to it." Lucas hesitated. "Besides, Peeves is school property..."

"I... am not... property!" Peeves managed to force a few words of protest out through the coils.

The statue, seizing the moment Peeves opened its mouth, compressed the remaining space a little further.

"It works on ghosts?" Snape's eyes sharpened.

"It can restrain a ghost temporarily. When we were crafting it, we built in a charm to stop anyone from seizing or overriding control. Dumbledore said all the stone figures in the school carry this spell — so that if the castle were ever invaded, the statues would stand with the school and couldn't be turned against it..." Until the very end.

Lucas thought back to those shattered statues in the wall-gaps after the war. More gaps had been left permanently empty.

The statues and suits of armour that had cast powerful restoration charms on themselves had fought to the very last moment, broken apart so completely that no magic could put them back together.

There was a kind of alchemical romance in that.

The maker's original intent had not been betrayed.

"Let go... of me... I am... property!" Peeves bellowed from inside the coils, begging to be released.

Lucas glanced over at Snape.

Snape had drifted somewhere else too, but a moment later spoke with evident irritation: "You already know Peeves is school property."

Filch deflated visibly at that.

"So Peeves is like the rest of the school's property — not easily damaged?" Lucas said, a faint smile in his voice. "Coming back tomorrow makes no difference either way. Dumbledore said there'll be a visit to greet the Merpeople tomorrow, and the statues can enter the water then."

The longer Filch listened, the wider the smile grew.

Lucas thought for a moment, then added: "Mr. Malfoy also said he'd like to attend. There are Galleons of his in this, after all..."

Snape gave a reluctant nod, managing to look as though he were not the one who had wanted to leave Peeves locked up for the night, as though Lucas were the one insisting on all of this.

"That's all for tonight, then. Filch, I'm taking my student and heading out." Snape gave Filch a brief nod.

"And this statue..." Filch hesitated.

"It won't attack humans." Lucas said.

"Did you do all of this yourself?" Filch finally seemed to notice that Lucas had been the one answering every question.

Filch had known Lucas was permitted to move about the castle tonight, but hadn't known Lucas had been allowed to make something like this.

"Dumbledore was mainly the one guiding me." Lucas slipped back into that open, slightly bashful smile.

Snape had already run out of patience. He turned and walked off into the dark corridor ahead of them. Lucas hurried to finish the explanation to Filch while falling into step behind the mentor, following Snape's lantern down toward the lower floors.

Filch turned back to look at the serpents, now returned to their solemn stillness in the empty classroom.

In the moonlight, their scales seemed dusted with a layer of silver frost. The sight held a striking, quiet menace.

.

The ceremony for the statues' entry into the water was set for Friday at noon.

At that hour, any student who wanted to watch could come.

Lucas chose a quieter time beforehand and moved the cloth-covered statues to a spot near the Black Lake. A positioning charm had already been cast in front of the Slytherin common room window to ensure that once the statues sank, they would arrive at the designated location without delay.

The bulk of the notifications fell to Marcus, who informed every Slytherin housemate who had contributed a generous donation. Nearly all of them were eager to see the finished result.

So that Friday at noon, the bank of the Black Lake was packed.

The day was overcast, with only a light breeze. The surface of the lake lay relatively calm, a wide stretch of black gauze, gently ruffled. Beneath it, the faint silhouettes of Grindylows or Merpeople flickered past and were gone.

Lucas pulled the black cloth free.

It was the first time the two statues had seen daylight. The students crowded around gave a collective start at the lifelike serpent sculptures, not quite fear, but a sense that reality had exceeded every expectation.

Lucius Malfoy stood among the crowd.

The expression on that face was not a pleasant one.

Lucius had heard about the statues going into the lake and, with something weighing on the mind, had made a point of saying there was an interest in coming to see exactly how those Galleons were being put to use.

Since it was a Slytherin ceremony, only Slytherins ought to be attending.

That way, if Lucas's finished work turned out to be an embarrassment, it would at least stay within the house.

It should also have been held on the weekend, with a proper launching ceremony.

That way, an appearance as school governor would carry the appropriate weight.

But Dumbledore had rejected both proposals.

The statues were part of the castle. Any wizard with an interest was welcome to attend.

And if that inspired them to pursue some research of their own outside their studies, Dumbledore's exact words were: "That is the meaning of education. To plant a seed in their hearts, and wait for the day it blooms."

➤ Next: Not Taking the Weekend

Chapter 251 - Not Taking the Weekend

Skipping the weekend and forgoing any formal ceremony had both been Snape's demands, and he had made them firmly.

His exact words: "I have no desire to waste precious weekend hours. Spending time with that noisy rabble during the week is already more than enough. If there must be some ordeal, put it all on a Friday."

His reasoning was sound. Lucius Malfoy had no rebuttal.

Now Malfoy stood at the lake's edge, surrounded by Slytherins who regarded him with the appropriate reverence, yet every one of them was staring at the statue in stunned silence.

Malfoy's thumb moved instinctively over the metal serpent head of the cane.

Malfoy glanced toward Lucas with a mixture of suspicion and surprise. He had not previously noticed that this young wizard had any real ability.

As though sensing the eyes around him, Lucas glanced about with slight unease, visibly working to appear composed.

Dumbledore seemed to be prompting Lucas that the statue could now go into the water.

Lucas walked to the statue's side.

One last time, Lucas reached out and touched the serpent head. Then the statue simply began to move, gliding into the lake as naturally as a drop of water rejoining a pool. No splash. It slipped beneath the surface and was gone.

"That's it?" A Hufflepuff with a very curious nature could not hide the disappointment.

That question spoke for the vast majority of students from the other houses.

The Slytherins, by contrast, exchanged glances, and then collectively bolted for the castle.

Snape pretended not to see his own students running through the corridors.

He hadn't expected much from today's proceedings anyway. It was just a matter of showing his face. If he'd had any say, he would have rather not held the event at all, not even on a Friday.

And it would be best if Lucas didn't reveal any real talent in front of Malfoy.

Lucas lingered at the bank, gathering up the black cloth that had covered the statue, and fell behind the others.

Malfoy fell into step beside Snape with the easy manner of old friends catching up, and the two of them walked toward the castle.

The first wave of Slytherins to double back had already surged into the common room.

Marcus was leading the charge.

Marcus had tipped off closer friends in advance: Lucas's statue was worth seeing from underwater.

Most of the Slytherins running along behind had no real idea why they were heading back to the castle. But a group had moved ahead, and that was obviously suspicious. There were also those who genuinely needed to retrieve their textbooks and simply found themselves running along without quite deciding to.

That was how the return trip became a collective event.

Marcus claimed the best vantage point in front of the common room's glass window.

Marcus rapped on the glass.

In the beginning, Slytherin students had knocked on the glass to frighten off the creatures below, but that habit seemed to have produced the opposite effect. After a while, every knock would draw Merpeople or similar creatures drifting closer.

This time, the vibration attracted a Grindylow.

It lurked in the shadows as usual, then lunged at the glass all at once to startle whoever had knocked.

BANG, Marcus gave a start and instinctively stepped back two paces.

Before the Slytherin students could even finish the thought that the statue didn't seem to be doing anything, a dark shadow appeared from behind the Grindylow.

From the depths of the Black Lake, just beyond the glass, every Slytherin student cried out at once.

A grey serpent had coiled around the Grindylow.

A great burst of blood mist erupted from the Grindylow's body. It thrashed wildly, churning the water, already far from clear, into something murkier still.

The whole struggle lasted less than half a minute.

The grey serpent released its strangling coils, stretched out, and glided through the water in a wide unhurried circle, letting the current wash the blood from between its scales.

The Grindylow didn't appear to be dead. It wrenched free and swam away from the common room glass. The students watched it grow smaller and smaller in the murk, then a shadow, fish-shaped and fast, swept out of the low-visibility haze, and the Grindylow was gone, dragged away without another sound.

"That was brilliant." One Slytherin let out a long breath.

Spontaneous applause broke out. Everyone who had witnessed the scene started clapping. The sound swelled and rolled on without stopping.

This time, the Black Lake stayed quiet. No other creatures came drifting toward the glass.

Marcus stood a little taller. As Lucas's roommate, Marcus decided it was time to show off the firsthand information tearfully pestered out of Lucas just that morning.

"The statue won't kill the creatures in the water. It judges how hard to attack based on how much hostile intent the approaching creature is carrying."

Marcus savored the moment of being the center of everyone's attention. It was well worth foregoing one month of amulet commissions from Lucas.

Gold Galleons were easy enough to earn. Moments like this were rare.

From the crowd, someone raised a dissenting voice: "Impressive, sure — but isn't it a bit indecisive? After going to all that trouble, why not just have the statue kill everything that gets close?"

Marcus's eyes lit up.

Admiration for Lucas went up another notch.

Lucas had anticipated this question in advance.

"Because our goal is to make things quiet outside the common room glass. If there were a zone in a natural environment where any creature that entered would be killed and its body left behind — do you know what would actually happen?"

Marcus drew out the reveal with a satisfied air.

"It would keep others away!" the Slytherin who had asked shot back, with an edge of irritation.

"No, no, no." Marcus felt the Galleons had been well spent. "That would give the creatures in the water a way to lure their natural predators in and seize the chance to get rid of them."

Marcus could already sense a girl or two casting admiring glances his way.

"But wounding intruders is different," Marcus continued, relishing it. "It weakens them — and then other predators finish them off. No creature will willingly approach a place likely to leave it weakened. That's how we finally get some peace and quiet."

The dissenter fell silent.

Marcus gave a casual wave of the hand and kept his tone carefully offhand: "Everyone follow that? There's nothing else to see from here anyway."

A few students still tried knocking on the glass, unwilling to let it go. Marcus didn't join them. Soon enough, classmates were pulling Marcus aside to press for firsthand details about the statue.

There was one thing Lucas had explained only to Marcus, and had said there was no need to spread around.

"Balance matters. The Merpeople wouldn't agree to wizards placing something in the Black Lake that could kill them. And there's also the Giant Squid — no need to stir up something that big."

Lucas had said it while wiping his face. Casually, like it was nothing.

Marcus couldn't explain why those words left such a deep impression.

Perhaps it was because in those words, wizards weren't the center of the world. In Lucas's account, wizards were simply one link in the whole food chain.

But that explanation belonged to Marcus alone.

Not sharing it with anyone.

---

When Lucas was heading to afternoon classes, Lucas came across Malfoy lingering in a dead-end corner near the third floor.

That spot was one the castle's ghosts rarely visited, and there were no extra portraits on the walls. Older students liked to use it for private conversations. Right now, it was occupied by Malfoy.

Malfoy made an effort to look as though he had simply happened to be passing through.

Lucas just as conveniently "didn't think too much of it."

"Good afternoon, Mr. Malfoy." Lucas went forward to meet him.

Malfoy gave a measured nod. "Good day, Lucas. I saw your work. Honestly — it exceeded my expectations."

The praise left Lucas visibly stirred. Lucas strained to put on an expression of admiration, but the ambition in those eyes gave the game away.

Lucius had anticipated exactly that reaction.

Before arriving at this moment, Lucius had spent a long time in internal struggle.

In the Malfoy family library, Lucius had uncovered the truth behind Lord Voldemort's immortality: the Horcrux.

Lucius had paced the study in near panic, and only at last forced himself to calm down.

Dumbledore had already begun destroying Horcruxes. That old lion looked half-mad. In truth, Dumbledore was the shrewdest hunter in the room.

Lucius had no doubt that Dumbledore would soon come looking for him.

The most pressing question was: how many Horcruxes had Lord Voldemort actually made?

There was only one point Lucius was certain of. Lord Voldemort could be resurrected, but under no circumstances through the diary currently in his possession.

Lucius needed a way to pass it on.

Simply discarding it carried too great a risk. What Lucius needed was a person, someone close enough to Dumbledore that the headmaster would discover and deal with the Horcrux, yet naive enough not to trace the evidence back to Lucius directly.

Malfoy's first choice had actually been Bill Weasley of Hogwarts.

Lucius had no love for the Weasley family, and framing one of them would cost no moral effort. Whether Bill ended up dead or alive, either outcome would be a victory for Lucius Malfoy.

The problem was that Bill Weasley was exceptionally intelligent, reportedly aiming to become a curse-breaker.

Lucius needed someone who would not be able to identify a Horcrux.

At some point Lucius couldn't quite pinpoint, attention had settled on Lucas.

Lucas met most of the requirements: not particularly clever, not particularly dim, unlikely to grasp the true danger of a Horcrux, and recently spending a great deal of time in close proximity to Dumbledore.

Most importantly, Lucas had been consistently trying to distance from Dumbledore, which meant that if the Horcrux scheme ever unraveled, Lucius would still have leverage.

There was still one remaining concern.

Lucius needed to rule out every possible risk.

"You did very well. Tell me, child, did you complete those two serpents entirely on your own?" Lucius studied Lucas's expression carefully.

"Yes, I completed them myself." Lucas answered with stiff pride, but those eyes flickered. "The headmaster only offered a little advice."

Lucius gave a quiet laugh. He used the serpent-head cane to tilt Lucas's chin up. "How much advice, exactly?"

Lucas's gaze shifted.

"We must be candid with each other. I am not your enemy, Lucas." Lucius pressed a little further.

"The headmaster and I completed it together." Lucas answered with poorly concealed reluctance. "He inspected the exterior for me."

Lucius quietly breathed out.

As Lucius understood it, "inspected" meant Dumbledore had done the lion's share of the work. Was one really supposed to believe that a second-year student had independently produced an alchemical artifact?

Lucas was a Potions apprentice. Not an Alchemy apprentice.

"Candor is an excellent start. Walk with me through the castle for a while, Lucas, I haven't been back in a very long time." Lucius drew Lucas in with an arm around the shoulders.

Steered along by Malfoy, Lucas listened as Lucius talked at length about his own years as a student. The conversation drifted, and at some point it landed on alchemical objects.

Lucius said, seemingly out of nowhere: "I have an unfinished alchemical piece in my collection. It would be ideal if you could help me complete it."

Lucas hesitated.

"My abilities may not be up to the task —"

"That's not the right attitude." Lucius gave Lucas no room to refuse. "A proper Slytherin first asks what the specifics are. Even if you can't manage it yourself, you should accept the commission, as long as there's profit to be made, there's always a way to find the right person to carry it out."

Lucius offered a ready excuse: "It's fine if you can't complete it yourself. Find a proxy within the school. I'll deal only with you."

And so Lucas carefully noted down exactly what functions Lucius Malfoy needed added to a black leather diary.

Lucas watched as Lucius held the diary out. As Lucas took it, Lucius applied a firm, deliberate pressure, and then issued a final warning: "This object carries a degree of dark magic. I trust you won't be going to the headmaster with questions about it."

Lucas produced a knowing smile.

Got you.

---

After the stone statue entered the water, calm quickly returned to the Slytherin common room.

Lucas settled back into the regular routine of helping in the dungeons.

That day, a student had been admitted to the Hospital Wing, and Snape had gone to check on the situation.

Lucas finished brewing the potions and sat in the office working on homework. There were a few questions Lucas needed to ask Snape, but after waiting a full hour, the Potions professor still hadn't come back.

With all the homework done, Lucas rose from the seat, stretched, and the joints stiff from sitting too long cracked and popped.

Wait for Snape, or head back early? Lucas deliberated, and in the end chose the former. To pass the time, Lucas rummaged through the bag for something to read.

Fingers touched a pouch of stone fragments.

Lucas pulled it out, the leftover obsidian scraps from crafting the statue.

Clatter. Lucas tipped them out onto the desk.

Sorting through the pile, searching for pieces of a suitable shape. In the end, Lucas picked out six pieces, drew a wand, and murmured a shaping charm over them in a low voice.

The pieces shuddered on the desktop. Some invisible pull drew them together, and they rapidly assembled into the outline of a human figure. Then the stone began to melt and reshape itself into muscle and sinew, and the sinew softened further, taking on the texture of cloth.

When Lucas ended the charm, a palm-sized miniature figure was standing on Snape's desk.

The little figure wore a full-length black robe that trailed to the floor. The stone-carved garment had a remarkable suppleness to it, something very close to the drape of real fabric.

The figure looked around in bewilderment, then reached cautiously into a pocket and drew out a tiny wand.

Lucas reached out and tapped the desk at a spot well away from the figure.

It spun around sharply. The cloak swept out in a clean arc. The figure strode toward the source of the sound, and a mischievous impulse struck Lucas. With a sly grin, Lucas extended one finger and pressed down on the figure's cloak.

The figure stumbled.

From its wand shot a small black pebble, hitting the pad of Lucas's finger with a faint click before falling onto the desk.

Rather adorable.

Lucas lifted the finger and smoothed the figure's cloak back into place.

Then Lucas let the figure wander freely across the desk, picking its way past a pile of parchment homework, making straight for the inkwell.

"What are you looking at?"

When Snape came in, Lucas was hunched over the desk, staring intently at a single spot. Too absorbed to notice the door.

By the time Lucas heard Snape's voice, it was already too late.

Lucas nearly leapt up on the spot, spun around, and came face to face with Severus Snape standing just inches away. "Good to see you, Professor! The potions are all finished, I had a few questions I wanted to ask you!"

Snape regarded Lucas with a suspicious look, then feigned belief, and with a deliberate sidestep, moved around Lucas, who was blocking the front of the desk.

➤ Next: The Little Stone Man