On page 578 of Hogwarts: A History, there was a brief explanation of the existence of the giant squid that resided in the lake on Hogwarts' grounds.

Helga Hufflepuff, one of the four founders, had had a deep affection for animals. She'd kept many pets before making the permanent move into Hogwarts, which had forced nearly all of them away from her. She'd lamented for days at the loss of her beloved Kneazle, and mourned the separation from her fourteen dogs. She missed her birds, and she even talked of a pig. The three other founders, who were far from animal- people, had allowed her to keep only two of her numerous pets. Those two were a badger, hence the symbol of her house, and her squid, Ollie.

She'd kept her badger in a cage in her room, and brought Ollie out to the magically made lake, which had been added to the landscape especially on Helga's request. Since the lake was created by a spell, its waters retained some of the magic that had been used to make it. This magic caused a great many great changes to Ollie. While he had once been a rather small squid, every time Helga went to visit him, he seemed a bit bigger than before.

Soon, he was giant.

There were many problems with having a giant squid on a property where there were a lot of curious school children. Though Ollie had always been practically harmless before, his appetite had grown with him, and now he wanted more than simply a few slivers of meat in the morning and before bedtime. It became apparent that taking care of Ollie was not going to be an easy task.

Before the year was up, two children, both Gryffindors, had been eaten. When the students were sent home for the summer, the four founders were stunned to find a notice from the newly-formed Ministry of Magic that they were required to either find a peaceful way to keep Ollie, or dispose of him.

Helga vehemently protested any harm going toward her beloved giant squid, and surprisingly, it was Salazar Slytherin who offered the solution that satisfied everyone. A Game Keeper would be added to Hogwarts' list of employees. The Game Keeper would not only make it easier to take care of the grounds, but they would make sure that Ollie was always well fed.

They'd sent this solution to the Ministy, which accepted it. Soon after, a young man named Gallion [1] was appointed as Game Keeper of Hogwarts. The following year the grounds were neat and beautiful, and there were no accidents. Gallion never missed a day throughout his many years as Game Keeper. When it came to the point where a new person was hired, they were just as attentive. In fact, for several hundred years, not a Game Keeper missed a day.

However, none of them had ever been given jobs as teachers before.

Rubeus Hagrid sometimes felt as though he'd bitten off more than he could chew. He loved Hogwarts; it'd been his home and shelter for so many long years that he could imagine living nowhere but at the large castle. He'd kept its grounds looking pristine for decades before he was given a second job as the Care of Magical Creatures Professor.

For awhile, juggling the two jobs wasn't that difficult. He would teach classes, then use the evening to feed the Giant Squid (which was now one of Ollie's descendents) and take care of the grounds. But every now and then a slip up happened. Unfortunately, this certain slip up concerned the Giant Squid in the lake.

He'd been under quite a bit of stress. Between going on errands for the Order, keeping the grounds spotless, making lessons plans and teaching, Hagrid was having trouble remembering every little thing that had to be done during the day. This particular day he forgot to feed the Squid.

And the Squid was mighty, mighty hungry.

Hagrid didn't realize his mistake until late in the afternoon the next day. He'd rushed out and given the Giant Squid an extra large meal, only to find that the lake's occupant seemed contented, and had no need for all of the food that Hagrid had taken to the time to bring him. Perplexed, Hagrid had returned to his cabin.

Afraid of being fired, he had told no one of his little mistake. He'd had far too much trouble throughout his years at Hogwarts, what with the business with Malfoy and Buckbeak in Harry's third year, and that dreadful Umbridge woman. It wasn't that Dumbledore would fire him willingly, but he'd made so many mistakes throughout his career. . . This one was so tiny; it was very unlikely that anyone would notice.

But someone did.

--

Draco Malfoy had been missing for two and a half weeks.

No one had any idea where the seventh-year could have possibly gone. From what had been pieced together, he'd been studying in his room for the Potions test that was being given the next day. His roommates, Crabbe and Goyle, reported that he'd said he was going to go take a walk around the grounds. They hadn't seen him since.

Many Slytherins confirmed seeing him exit the common room, and a third year Hufflepuff reported that she'd seen him walk out onto the grounds at around five o clock. She said he'd looked as though he was carrying something slung over his forearm, but she was too far away to tell what it was, precisely.

No one had seen neither hide nor hair of him from that moment on.

The Forbidden Forest had been searched on four separate occasions, two of them being a demand from the Malfoy family. They had scoured the lake and all the used and unused classrooms around the school. The Malfoys were in an uproar; of course, they found that the entire situation was Dumbledore's fault. There was talk in the hall that they were threatening to sue.

Snape had cancelled the test that all the seventh years had been about to take (much to the relief of many). He also seemed a bit out of his element. His voice lacked its usual venom, and his remarks no longer held their sharp, bitter sarcasm. Lessons, which had usually consisted of him berating them for being disgraces to the prestigious name of 'wizard', were quiet. He even forgot to take points away from Gryffindor on several occasions. When Neville Longbottom had spilled an entire cauldron of the shrinking potion onto Lavender Brown (which made some boys very happy), Snape hadn't even uttered a word.

Pansy Parkinson, who'd barely been tolerable in the first place, became unbearably annoying. She carried a handkerchief with the initials "D.M." emblazoned on the corner, and constantly cried into it. Her whimpers could be heard twenty-four hours a day. It got to the point where McGonagall had ordered her out of class until she could control herself. Pansy had been greatly offended by McGonagall's statement, saying that she was mourning the loss of her beloved boyfriend. It was so aggravating that even Harry Potter was heard to say that he would have liked Malfoy to come back, just to stop Pansy's whining.

Quite honestly, life without Malfoy was beginning to wear upon those in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The unknown circumstances surrounding his disappearance caused many people to wonder, were they next?

--

During his lifetime, Draco Malfoy had never been known to be a patient person.

When a house elf did not perform up to the standard that he wanted and promptly, he had them beaten. If someone walked slowly in front of him in a hallway, he pushed them roughly out of the way. He did not enjoy the company of someone who went leisurely about their actions. His motto was that you got it done and you did it as quickly as possible, or he found a way to make you do so.

So he was quite offended when he'd appeared at the strange building of which he was now seated and was told to take a number.

First, he'd had to wait in line for a number. All the while he kept wondering where he was; he'd never seen or heard of the building before. When he'd arrived at the front of the line, he'd snatched a number and asked the woman at the desk what the office was called. She'd raised an eyebrow at him and ushered him away, claiming that he had been holding up the line. He'd sat down in the very spacious waiting room, wondering how long this was going to take. At that point, he had not yet glanced at his number. He was far too preoccupied with viewing the many people who were strewn about the room, sitting in couches like him.

There was a woman across from him who was holding her head in her palm as she skimmed a magazine. Draco found he couldn't look at her too long without beginning to stare at her neck. It was far too gruesome. The man next to him had an arrow protruding from his back, and looked insanely uncomfortable no matter which way he attempted to sit. He kept grimacing with pain as the arrow brushed the couch.

Needless to say, Draco was quite confused.

It was about this time he gave his number a quick once over. His eyes bulged as he realized how long he would have to wait; it had to be a mistake. Looking up, he caught a glimpse of a sign that said which number they were currently on. He leaned back into the couch, staring at number in his hand, then back to the counter on the wall.

The counter said "15".

His number was "1,342".

Obviously, it was a very long time before he got his turn.

After a week of waiting (which only made his mood fouler as he considered all the classes he'd missed), the counter ticked to display his number. He stood and made his way to a door where he had seen many people enter, yet no one exit. That thought caused Draco quite a bit of discomfort, as he considered what could have possibly happened to those people.

The room he entered was small and painted a dark brown. A desk sat in the middle of the room, and a tired looking man sat behind the desk. It was kept immaculate; the only things on the desks at the moment were a paper and pen. A single chair was placed in front of the desk, which Draco assumed was for him. He sat and looked at the man expectantly.

"So, I guess you know why you're here?" the man stated in a voice that made it sound like more of a fact than question. His eyes scanned the paper, which Draco noticed for the first time, had his name on it.

"Not . . .really." he replied, feeling a bit stupid. He supposed he was expected to know, but he was all out of guesses.

The man, whose nametag described him as "William", gave Draco a look that plainly said he obviously was not very bright. "How long have you been out there, son?" William questioned, playing with the pen in between his fingers. "About a week?"

Draco nodded. "Something like that."

"Let me ask you something, then," William glanced down at the paper, "Draco. Did you get hungry? Did you ever have to go to the bathroom?"

Dumbfounded, Draco didn't answer. Those things had never occurred to him; he had been far too busy staring at the counter. And obviously, he hadn't had any hunger pains, so why would he have thought about eating? He stared straight at William, his eyes wide. "Are you trying to tell me that I'm . . .I'm . . ."

"Dead? Precisely." William answered casually. He dealt with this stuff every day.

"But I was fine!" Draco protested, brow furrowed. "I was absolutely fine. Perfect health and everything."

Sighing, William leaned back in his chair. "It says here you died from being eaten."

"Eaten?"

"Yes. By a giant squid, while you were taking a swim. Apparently, someone forgot to feed it."

Fire brewed in Draco's eyes. "I'll have that oaf Hagrid's job for this! I swear I will!" he slouched in his chair, his eyes narrowed at nothing. "I can't believe he made such an idiotic-"

William interrupted. "Look, Draco, I don't mean to be rude. But I have four thousand other people to see. So just tell me, do you want to move on or be a ghost?"

Quirking his head to the side, Draco gave William a surprised look. "You mean I get to choose?" He'd never even considered that! Why, he could go back and haunt that idiot Hagrid for the rest of his miserable days . . .

"Yes, yes. You get to choose. Now, hurry. I'm in a rush."

"I just found out I'm dead! Don't I get a minute?" he was not used to being treated like an average, common person. But he also supposed that his father's name, or the fact that he was-or at least, had been-a pureblood mattered little now that he was dead. He sighed, and then said, "May I ask you a question?"

William shrugged. "Shoot."

"Is there a Heaven and a Hell?"

A nod. "Yes, of course."

Draco didn't miss a beat. "I'll be a ghost."

[1]-When I was little, I had very strange names picked out for my children if they happened to be boys. They were Gallion and Eon. So as a tribute to my six-year old self, I used one of the names in here, as the first Game Keeper of Hogwarts. Who knows? Maybe Eon will make an appearance later. Ha.

A/N: Don't have much to say. I'm pretty proud of the idea for this one. Lemme know what you think by reviewing, please. Any and all feedback is welcome. :DDD Thanks to Aria (Elluxion-go read her fics, you won't regret it, I promise) for beta-ing amidst her heavy workload.

Dislcaimer: Don't own Harry Potter or its characters. They belong to JKR.