Inside the observation car.
Leonard and the two girls sat on a spacious sofa, admiring the view outside.
The train slowed as it descended, and various friction-reducing spells let it glide through the seabed without stirring up the water.
That way, it would not disturb the surrounding fish and could preserve the undersea scenery as naturally as possible.
Claudia pressed herself against the transparent window, staring at the brilliantly colored fish. At first she seemed to be admiring the view, but before long she quietly swallowed.
Those fish looked delicious.
Leonard sat beside Claudia, gazing up at the transparent ceiling.
"You look like something's on your mind." Fleur, sitting on Claudia's other side, handed Leonard a glass of fruit wine. "Didn't you say Raven was finished? But you still don't seem relaxed."
"Raven is finished, but the trouble isn't." Leonard took the fruit wine and sipped it. "And the trouble's only gotten bigger. It just hasn't erupted yet."
That Odin bastard had not made a single move, which meant he was definitely preparing something big. Based on Leonard's estimates from his past memories, at most a year remained before that bastard came looking for him.
As for Voldemort, there was no need to mention him. He was probably hiding in some corner, giving himself a full-body inspection. Even if he checked himself inside and out, there was no way he would find anything.
Still, that could not drag on forever. No matter how suspicious he was, he could not stay suspicious forever.
It was just that Voldemort was not Leonard's enemy. Or rather, once he truly rose, Leonard would never even register in his eyes. His real targets were Dumbledore and Grindelwald.
"You really are busy. When you're resting, try actually resting." Fleur rested her white chin on one hand and tilted her head toward Leonard. "Don't you get tired?"
"I'm used to it." Leonard finished the fruit wine and let his gaze drift past the window.
The scenery outside was beautiful, but what Leonard saw was not the vivid, dazzling seascape. What he saw was the flow of magic.
Amid the colorful currents of magic, there were strands of lifeless magic tangled through it.
Leonard had noticed that magic in the air ever since he left home. It had a strong inert quality, and most spells had no effect on it.
But when someone used the Killing Curse, it became unusually active.
That was probably Death's magic.
Most likely, this was the world's response to Voldemort becoming Death.
Odin was different. He was still hiding in Asgard, inside a hidden realm. Once he appeared in the outside world, ancient magic would begin to fill the air.
By then, Leonard probably would not be the only so-called heir of ancient magic anymore.
But the key point was that Leonard had noticed Death's magic seemed denser under the sea than it was on land.
Looks like Voldemort's ritual took place on some island, Leonard thought.
That Death magic did not look like anything good. He had no idea whether it would affect the environment.
The thought had barely crossed his mind when a massive black shadow swept past the train window.
The fish outside grew restless, and before long, entire schools vanished from sight.
"Ah! There's a huge weird fish!" Claudia, who had been plastered to the window the whole time, suddenly cried out.
"Let me see..." Fleur turned at once, assuming Claudia had spotted some unfamiliar species.
Leonard narrowed his eyes as he watched the trail of deathly magic left in the water, his expression turning serious.
Fleur searched for a long time but could not find the strange fish Claudia had mentioned. Just as she was about to ask whether Claudia had seen it wrong, a dark shape flashed through the corner of her eye and shot straight at the train.
A dull boom rang out, and the violent jolt sent the passengers in the carriage lurching in all directions.
Leonard caught Claudia as she rolled off her seat, then steadied Fleur, who had lost her balance and been startled. Calmly, he looked up at the carriage's transparent window.
A monster resembling a shark was plastered against it, its sharp teeth sunk into the glass.
Inside the monster's mouth was a mass of rotting flesh, writhing through the seawater like tentacles.
Bang!
The strips of rotten flesh twisted together into a spinning drill and slammed hard into the transparent window with another deafening crash.
Fortunately, the window was not ordinary glass but an alchemical magical construct. A single blow was not enough to shatter it.
But the creature never stopped. It was like some emotionless drilling machine, hammering the window again and again with that drill.
"What the hell is that thing?"
"Is it some magical creature that's gone mad?"
"Something's wrong. Get the conductor over here!"
Panic spread through the observation car. Everyone aboard was a wizard, yes, but they were also under the sea. If the window was breached, they would not die immediately, but none of them had any confidence they could escape that thing in the ocean.
"Move." Leonard grabbed Fleur and Claudia and headed for the next carriage.
He was not afraid of the creature, but if the carriage flooded, he would not have the spare attention to protect both Claudia and Fleur.
...
"Fleur, can you Apparate?" Leonard asked as he shoved through the panicked crowd.
If she could, then she could take Leonard and Claudia away directly. Having a way out would make everything much easier.
The main issue was that Leonard had never been to France. If they wanted to Apparate there, they would have to rely on Fleur.
"I... I've studied it, but I'm not very good at it yet." Fleur was still shaken, and her voice trembled.
Just like Hogwarts, Beauxbatons had Ministry-appointed instructors come every year to teach Apparition to seventeen-year-old students.
Under normal circumstances, once the class was completed and the certificate obtained, a student could use Apparition properly.
Unfortunately, Fleur had only just become eligible to learn Apparition this year, and all her energy had gone into the Potions competition. She had not studied Apparition systematically at all.
The little she knew now had been taught by Lehende. She was barely confident using it alone, let alone with passengers.
By the time she admitted that, Fleur was on the verge of tears.
"Don't panic. If it really comes down to it, I'll just Apparate us back to Britain. It's not a big deal," Leonard reassured her.
Leonard's Apparition had no real distance limit. Even without that "fake" Elder Wand, his own magic, combined with his connection to the World Tree, was enough for him to take Claudia and Fleur straight back to Hogwarts.
At worst, they would just have to buy three more train tickets.