At least there was an observable line of cause and effect that had led Philo through the journey of the Egypt trip. Strange woven artifact bursts out of Hogwarts, follows him to Egypt, happens to be owned by ancient wizard, get trapped in his tomb trying to return the carpet, get lectured by professors. A simple line of how curiosity had got the better of him.

That still didn't compare to how Philo had gotten roped into this.

Either from a mix of pity that Heliotrope had no clue what they meant or the chance to be better friends with Drea, Philo had become the confidant for the planning of a party for the odd mermish girl in their year. True enough to form, after the length of Herbology class Heliotrope had been seen heading towards the lake after the steamy tropic humidity of the greenhouses they studied had vitalized her. Now she was somewhere in this giant lake, with only her abandoned bookbag a hint to where she had entered.

And Philo was thinking that the water was going to be mighty cold. It was surprisingly sunny for an October day, but still...

Speaking of strange magical carpets that led to adventure, Runner was being incredibly well behaved after the return to its location of origin. Must have been due to the weird ritual involving the past owner's ghost. It had been content to remain in the bottom of Philo's trunk without breaking free. Right now Philo was dragging a load of party supplies with it.

It had been a mistake to owl home because inflatable pool toys had been readily available. Although these were the ones Felicia used for teething young hippogriffs (how that worked exactly Philo didn't know) so the tubes, noodles and aquatic animals where covered in heavy duty spellotape wherever there had been a puncture mark.

He and the carpet were the first to arrive unless Heliotrope suddenly washed ashore. This almost felt like the set up to an elaborate joke, if it wasn't for the truth that Drea was bound to follow through on something for one of her closest friends.

It was with the most gingerly of care -- that reminded her, Mr. Ambrosius Flume had sent her some free samples of a new candied ginger he was making, did she remember them? -- that Obderedria was carrying her some covered plates. It had taken some questions of Ayla, some house elves and the half giant Creatures professor to get all the dishes. She had made the cake herself but she couldn't make the last dish -- grilled grindylow -- by herself. But she had other kinds of snacks for Helio's birthday.

"Hi Philo!" she greeted chipperly, although her voice faltered as she saw just the two of them with their respective piles of party supplies. Not even Helio yet, although that required combing the lake.

"Um, you did tell other people, right? After classes?" Maybe they just had some homework to finish. ALthough she had done her homework very quickly.

"Oh, hi Drea. I did. I..." He didn't want to tell her that anyone he had mentioned it to wasn't interested. It might have been too cold for anything by the lake, in the middle of October. And then, Heliotrope was one of the barmiest in the year, not too many got close to her, even within her roommates.

"Argh!" His hands slipped in the grip of Runner and the pool toys. The carpet flopped over and rolled to the edge of the lake...where it floated on the surface. At this point Philo was no longer surprised with what the magic carpet could do.

It did give him an idea. "What if we..." he selected the smaller of the floats. "If you could fit things in these, we could go out and...look for Heliotrope?"

"Oh--" It was a surprise seeing Philo's carpet roll towards the water and float there. But after all this was magic and probably commonplace if brooms could fly as well as sweep.

"You think it's safe--? No, we can do it." Obderedria made a snap decision. Sometimes her fretting kept her locked into one idea but other times she changed her mind to a new conviction. "There was a first year who had a birthday the other day down here. I guess that's why no one else is interested."

The whole venture sounded unbelievable but for Obderedria's imagination if you could float a carpet they'd be able to find Heliotrope. It appeared to be dry as she tentively made a step. Despite her weight she didn't sink though the carpet bobbed a bit in the water, sending ripples out from shore. And no water splashed over the top.

"Well, if we have a rope we could tie everything together. Or would a spell be better?"

"I don't have rope but...hang on a tick." it took a moment's scrounging in his bag but Philo managed to find a snakeskin tape measure. Out of all his souvenirs in and out of Egypt this was as unique but less problematic than the now floating carpet had been. Professor Cosmos had been demonstrating unpredictable reanimation power from pyramids and ley lines and Philo's dead snake had eaten his tape measure, transforming into this 'critter.'

"I think maybe, twelve feet?" The tape measure slithered out of his hands and stretched to that amount. "With enough extra to wrap around..."

---

Some minutes later, Philo found himself paddling a flotilla of a magic carpet and pool toys out towards the center of the lake. This felt almost like the set up of a joke but the magical world often swayed towards surreal humor. The paddles had been leaning against the boathouse and weren't likely to be missed in their short time of borrowing them, as most knew the spell to make boats go forward by themselves.

Tying the floats to Runner ha been the tricky part, the tape measure adding to knots on the carpet's fringe. The rowing wnt hard, although Philo might get a blister. He suspected the carpet was adding momentum besides the aforementioned floating on water and staying dry on the topside.

Drea said they could break into the crisps and sweets although the two covered dishes had to stay closed until they found Heliotrope. One was cake and the other smelled pungent.

"Although how exactly do we find her? Do you think she will notice the floats?"