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“Don't be afraid, Alusya. The deck's not as high as it seems.”
“It's two storeys high, and I'd be hitting a lake at the end of it, Yuri! There's a giant squid in there! And mermaids!” I took a deep breath. “If we survive, Viktor is going to kill us.”
Yuri looked away from me, down into the black depths of the Hogwarts lake, the cold night breeze blowing off it attempting to molest his hair. He looked at it as if it was just then occurring to him that leaping off the ship into its deep dark embrace could perhaps be dangerous. That thought passed as quickly as a breeze too.
“He leaps into it every morning before breakfast. He can't be mad at us for something he himself does. And he can't become upset if he never finds out.”
“He'll definitely find out if we die. He'll find out, and refuse to come to our funerals.”
A strange smile took the blank edge off my friend’s expression. Then he put one foot in front of the other, sailing slowly across the creaking deck towards me. That walk spoke without words and gave me time to leave the area, but as always, I didn't move.
A hand landed on the small of my back, the muscles in it full of stored energy. What I really liked about Yuri is that he didn't use magic to solve all his problems or achieve all his results. He was a man first and a wizard second.