The hospital wing smelled faintly of dittany and damp linen.
Percy lay on his back while Madam Pomfrey pressed a compress to his forearm. He still shook when he tried to lift it. The rush of water had stopped, but his ears felt blocked.
Across the room, Ron was recounting the fight for the fifth time, each retelling making the creature larger and himself narrowly more heroic.
"The arm hit right beside me," Ron said. "I went down before it could hit me again. Very quick thinking."
"You tripped over a rock," Hermione said without looking up.
"I strategically descended."
Harry sat on the edge of his bed, quiet. He hadn't laughed once.
Hermione had permission to compare the copied pages while she rested. She kept her wand on the bedside table. Percy watched it each time a mark shifted on the paper.
Percy pushed himself up slightly. "You figured it out yet?"
She didn't answer immediately. Her brow furrowed deeper.
Then she went still.
"I have it."
Ron stopped describing the fight.
"Aequor was only the first part," Hermione said. "It can mean sea or a level surface. This line calls it a keeper between the depth and the sky."
Harry's fingers curled against his mattress.
"And the second name?" he asked quietly.
Hermione swallowed.
"Thalorath."
Percy looked at the water jug beside his bed.
A ring moved across its surface.
Ron blinked. "That's… not good, is it?"
"I think it describes what happened to Aequor," Hermione said. "The account says it was betrayed and bound. After that it uses Thalorath: the one who waits beneath the drowned world. Parts of the line are missing."
Silence followed.
Percy's pulse began to pound.
"Betrayed by who?" he asked.
Hermione flipped to another page. "It doesn't say clearly. The text fragments are damaged. But it mentions 'wand-bearers of stone towers' and 'sky-children of lightning.'"
Ron frowned. "That sounds like us."
"It sounds like wizards," Harry said.
Percy stared at the phrase about lightning. He knew another world where it might have meant something. He kept that thought to himself.
He asked Hermione to show him the damaged line.
The words could describe people from either world.
They did not tell him who had written them, or whether the account was true.
Hermione continued reading, her voice softer now. "It says the binding required a convergence. Magic of mind. Magic of storm. Magic of sea. Together."
Harry let out a slow breath. "So if it took all three to seal it…"
"We need to show that part to Dumbledore," Percy said.
A faint tremor ran through the floor.
All four of them froze.
Madam Pomfrey put down the compress. "Stay in your beds," she said. She went to check the corridor.
Percy watched the jug again.
Its water had moved before the tremor reached the beds.
He called Madam Pomfrey back and showed her.
By morning, the news had spread.
Students said the giant squid had surfaced before dawn. Hagrid confirmed that he had seen it, then stopped answering questions about the lake. Nobody was allowed near the lower path.
Dumbledore called them to his office before lunch.
Hermione placed her notes on Dumbledore's desk. Fawkes watched from his perch as Ron settled into a chair without bending his injured ankle.
Dumbledore listened without interruption as Hermione explained the translation.
"Aequor Thalorath," he repeated at last.
His eyes, usually twinkling, were grave.
"There are older records in the Department of Mysteries," he said. "One describes a keeper at the meeting of several water routes. I have asked for the complete copy."
"Ley lines?" Ron echoed blankly.
"Paths of ancient magic," Hermione supplied automatically.
Dumbledore nodded. "That is one name for them. The routes we found beneath the school appear to meet an older system."
Harry leaned forward. "Is Hogwarts on one?"
"Yes."
Ron looked toward the window.
Percy felt the pull again, faint but unmistakable. Like a tide drawing back before a wave.
"What you saw last night was a body made from the lake," Dumbledore said. "We do not know how much of Aequor could reach through it."
"It looked pretty awake to me," Ron muttered.
Dumbledore's gaze shifted to Percy.
"And you, Mr. Jackson. How does the water feel to you now?"
Percy hesitated.
"Closer," he admitted. "Like it's not just out there anymore. It's… here." He pressed a hand to his chest. "When it rose last night, part of me wanted to let it. It wasn't anger. It was recognition."
Hermione's fingers tightened around her parchment.
Dumbledore looked at Hermione's translation. "The account calls Aequor a guardian. If that part is accurate, we must find out what it guarded."
"You mean it might not try to kill me?" Percy asked dryly.
"It might try to use the connection you feel," Dumbledore said. "Do not answer it alone." Percy nodded, though he had no idea how to shut it out.
That night, wind struck the common-room windows. Rain followed, hiding the far shore. Percy saw lightning hit the lake twice in the same place. He called the prefect on duty and asked him to fetch McGonagall.
"It is striking the same spot," Percy told Harry.
Hermione joined them. "The text mentioned lightning." Another bolt struck the lake. A dark shape rose through the spray.
Water wrapped around a shape too large for Percy to see clearly through the rain. One golden eye opened above the surface. A voice sounded inside his head.
Aequor… remembers.
Harry stumbled and gripped a chair. Percy reached for him. The eye turned toward the window.
Storm-blood. Stone-mind. Sea-born.
Lightning struck again, closer.
The seal fractures.
Hermione's voice trembled beside him. "It's not fully free. The binding is still there." Percy could feel it, tension beneath the water, chains made of magic pulling tight.
The eye locked onto him.
You were claimed once.
His breath caught.
Percy remembered water closing around him in his old life. He could not tell which memory the voice meant.
Claimed again.
The lake rose around the eye. Harry straightened beside Percy. "You are not taking him," he said. McGonagall entered behind them and ordered the other students away from the windows.
Lightning-child. You carry fracture within you.
Harry pressed a hand to his scar. Hermione's wand rose without her lifting it. McGonagall caught her wrist as glowing marks appeared on the glass. Outside, the rising water paused. Percy felt it pulling against something farther below.
It had stopped when Hermione spoke its name. Percy wanted to try speaking again before anyone struck it.
He moved closer to the window. McGonagall kept a hand on his shoulder.
"Stay here," she said.
Percy faced the eye through the glass. "I hear you. I will not let you take me. If you want something repaired, tell us what broke."
The wave slowed. Harry stood beside him, holding his wand. Percy kept his hands lowered.
"I will listen," he said. "That is all I am offering."
The eye stayed on him. Slowly, the water fell back into the lake. Lightning stopped striking the grounds.
Percy waited until the eye sank before he moved away from the window. His knees nearly gave out. Harry caught his elbow.
"It stopped," Hermione whispered.
McGonagall sent for Dumbledore. Percy sat down and tried to repeat every word he had heard. He had offered to listen. He hoped the voice had understood the limit.
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