The Merperson Elder's Invitation

"Pop..."

Harry tapped his wand lightly, and the transparent bubble enveloping his head burst crisply.

"Oh no," Harry said, his face contorting in distress. "This Bubble-Head Charm is too fragile, and it certainly won't last an hour..."

"Let's think about where to buy Gillyweed." Hermione rested her chin on her hand, elbow on her knee, staring intently at Loren's fishing float. "It's a very uncommon herb, and you might not be able to buy it at a regular pharmacy."

"Oh..." Harry's eyebrows furrowed in worry.

"How about using the Summoning Charm again?" Ron pulled up the empty hook, rebaited it, and cast it back into the water. "When the Second Task starts, get a scuba suit from a nearby Muggle town."

"That sounds really good!" Harry knew he was talking nonsense, but he still jokingly agreed.

"Yes, as long as you learn how to operate a scuba tank within an hour, and then convince the judges not to hold you accountable for violating the Statute of Secrecy and thus not disqualify you from the competition, you can successfully pass the Second Task." Hermione poured cold water on their hopes in a gentle tone.

"Just kidding, Hermione, don't take it so seriously!"

Hermione glanced at him. "To be honest, the ideal solution would be for you to Transfiguration yourself into a submarine or something... But unfortunately, although the Animagus class covered some knowledge about Human Transfiguration, it's not enough."

"..."

After much back and forth, the matter ultimately came back to practicing the Bubble-Head Charm and finding Gillyweed.

Harry stared dejectedly at the still-flowing lake water in the ice cave, sighed, and muttered, "If only the competition allowed help. I could break the rules in front of Professor Moody, and he might turn me into a shark..."

Ron chuckled twice, but while he was distracted, the fish stole the bait from his hook again.

He casually rebaited the bait. "Speaking of which, Professor Moody has been teaching for half a year now. I think he's pretty good. Although he's a bit eccentric, he's very competent. What do you think?"

Hermione remained noncommittal, turned her head and exchanged a glance with Loren, and tacitly remained silent.

Loren stared at the dark, deep ice cave, and couldn't help but recall Professor Moody's recent Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson, as well as his actions after the start of the Goblet of Fire...

He was certain that the Professor Moody still carried the scent of Gillyweed, meaning he was still taking Polyjuice Potion. From his observations at meals and the Yule Ball, this imposter Professor Moody seemed quite familiar with Barty Crouch; the two were eager to talk to Snape, seemingly unperturbed by his cold shoulder.

What was Dumbledore really thinking...?

Loren's thoughts drifted with the bobber, his mind seemingly sinking into the deep lake, the gurgling of bubbles and the cracking of ice echoing in his ears...

Um?

The cracking sound of ice breaking apart!

As three enormous cracks spread outwards from the ice cave, Loren's eyes widened suddenly. He pulled Hermione closer to him, while Harry and Ron huddled together in fear.

The distance from the shore was too far, and the ice was unstable, so the group dared not run rashly for the time being.

"Crack, crack..."

A slight tremor traveled from the ice layer along the soles of my feet into my heart, making me feel uneasy, as if giant waves were crashing against the ice, with a buzzing sound coming from all directions.

In a sudden moment, the ice in front of me cracked and shattered into pieces.

"Ah!"

"Ah—ah—um..."

The four people suddenly lost their footing and were pulled into the water by gravity, their screams being drowned out by the waves.

There was no cold as I had expected, nor did I suffocate after falling into the water.

The cool water flowed smoothly into my lungs like air, circulated in my chest, and was exhaled through my mouth and nose, just as naturally as breathing.

Loren quickly adapted to this breathing pattern, feeling his hand being gripped tightly by the little Witch, even a little painful. He reached out and hugged the little Witch, whose eyes were tightly closed.

As it floats in the water, its limbs swaying, the surrounding light is not dim, but rather quite bright.

Hermione opened her eyes and looked around in astonishment, only to see long, floating seaweed, as dense as a forest. She saw countless dark shadows gathered around the seaweed, and constantly swaying figures whose outlines she could only make out.

Harry and Ron floated behind and above, their expressions blank, completely dumbfounded.

The sound of ice cracking disappeared, and the bright yet hazy sunlight shone down. The group gradually calmed down, swam forward a little, and saw the floating objects around them more clearly.

Mermaid, each of them has a long fish tail.

Unlike the Mermaid they knew, these creatures appeared somewhat greenish underwater, with a strange and frightening appearance. They had webbed fingers, iron-gray skin, and long, tangled, dark green hair. Their eyes were yellow, as were their broken, yellow teeth, and they wore pebbles strung together with thick ropes around their necks.

Holding a long spear, its thick, powerful silver fish tail slapped against the lake water.

The leading Mermaid had a long green beard and wore a bracelet made of Red Coral Stone that emitted a soft red light.

A dark blue shadow flickered in Loren's pupils. He saw a similar red light floating around the four of them, faint and soft. It was this soft red light that caused their bodies to undergo a strange change, allowing them to breathe freely in the cold lake water.

This is completely different from the feeling of breathing underwater with the Bubble-Head Charm, Bubble-Head Charm still stores air or draws oxygen from the surrounding water, while the Red Coral Stone directly adapts their bodies to the underwater world.

Is this the magic of Mermaid?

A thought suddenly flashed through Loren's mind—this is the Magic Power of the Mermaid!

Just as the Magic Power of the Fire Salamander allows Fire Salamander to move freely in flames, Red Coral Stone adds a Fantastic Beasts Magic Power to them, enabling humans to live in water like aquatic animals.

The lead Mermaid wagged its tail, turned around, and waved for them to follow.

The four exchanged a glance. Realizing the Mermaid meant no harm, they gradually calmed down. The wonderful feeling of breathing freely underwater further fueled their curiosity, and they were eager to know what the Mermaid wanted to do...

They quickly reached a consensus and followed suit, waving their arms and legs.

Swimming through a hazy, strange landscape, with complete silence around them, as they swam deeper, they could gradually only see what was within ten feet of them. With each stroke of their oars, new scenery would suddenly emerge from the darkness ahead.

Occasionally, small fish would swim nimbly past him, like silver darts. Once or twice, Harry thought he saw a big guy swimming ahead, but when he got closer, he found that it was just a big, dark log or a clump of dense, tangled water plants.

There's also the bizarre-looking, ferocious-looking Grindylow, and the enormous squid...

After crossing an underwater canyon, Loren's gaze pierced through the gray, eerie lake water, looking at a dark figure in the distance, where the lake water was gloomy and indistinct.

Harry glanced at the Mermaid leading the way, then secretly looked at his friends, feeling a little guilty.

These Mermaid must have dragged them down because of his status Champion; his companions were implicated because of him.

Ah, I feel a little guilty...

The silence was oppressive to our eardrums as we descended to the deepest part of the lake, where large swaths of black silt lay beneath, and the water rippled with dark eddies as they stirred it.

I don't know how long I swam, but I saw something new—ahead was a patch of emerald green water plants, each one several feet long, just like a lush lawn, scattered with Winky pebbles.

Passing through the tangled green water plants, we arrived at a wide, flat platform.

Suddenly, many rough stone dwellings appeared all around. The place seemed to be Merman Village, with some houses scattered around, their Scabbers speckled with algae, and some Mermaid faces visible through the dark windows.

Mermaid emerged from all directions, staring at them curiously, pointing at their hands, feet, and mouths, and whispering among themselves while covering their mouths.

Behind them stood a dark statue, its face blurred, covered with a thick layer of silt, with shells and barnacles clinging to it, and even swaying seaweed. However, judging from its rough shape, it was a Merman Statue.

Below the statue is a platform, which seems to be a village square, with a large group of Mermaid floating in the center, singing in unison.

The sound was ethereal and otherworldly.

If Loren hadn't been watching them sing, he probably would have thought the singing was coming from the sky.

The Mermaid wearing Red Coral Bracelet approached the group and said in a deep, resonant voice like that of a bass singer, "Come with me, the elder wants to see you."

"You can talk?" Ron exclaimed in surprise. "Hey, I can talk too!"

"Dumbledore sometimes comes down to chat with the elders and even teaches us human language." The deep-voiced Mermaid glanced at him disdainfully, then swam towards the plaza, swaying his tail.

"Oh right, Dumbledore can speak Mermish!" Ron said with pride, completely oblivious to his disdain. "Tsk, our headmaster has a wide circle of friends."

No one paid him any attention, so Loren and the others swam after him, discussing the situation as they went.

"The Merperson Elder, could he be hundreds of years old already?"

"Maybe. There's very little information about Mermaid; their living environment is too unique."

"What do you think the Merperson Elder wants to see us about?"

Upon hearing Ron's question, Harry hesitated for a moment, then lowered his head in shame and said, "It must be because of the Goblet of Goblet of Fire. I'm sorry to have dragged you into this!"

"Emmm..."

Nobody paid any attention to him.

I walked up to the Merman Choir, but their singing still sounded ethereal.

Loren and the others were drawn to the conductor in front of the choir, and involuntarily looked over. In just one glance, they knew that the conductor was the elder the Mermaid had spoken of—

He was so old that anyone could notice it at first glance. His dark green and deep green hairs were withered and shriveled, unlike anything that had been submerged in water. His skin and scales were wrinkled and faded with age, and the iron gray of his upper body and the silver of his fishtail had blended together to form a color somewhere between grayish-white and silver.

He focused intently on conducting the choir, while the bass Mermaid waited quietly beside him. Loren and the others also seemed to sense a certain solemn stillness and waited quietly beside him.

As the chorus drew to a close, the Old Merman made an arc from both sides toward the middle, his hands grasping at the air as if grabbing something, and finally closed, ending with a powerful long high note.

He waved his hand to dismiss the group, turned to look at the few people, his smiling eyes gleaming slightly in the water, and opened his mouth to speak in an old but powerful voice:

"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting. Mercurius doesn't give me much free time each day, so I have to cherish it."

"Mercurius is our leader," the bass-baring Mermaid explained, without elaborating further.

No one responded for a moment. Harry glanced around and, feeling it was his duty to take the lead in communicating, straightened his back and said, "Sir, what can I do for you?"

"I'm about to die, and I want to talk to someone."

Harry was completely taken aback by this answer. He paused for a moment, opened his mouth, but ultimately couldn't find the words to reply.

The Old Merman smiled, wagging his slightly trembling tail as he climbed upwards. "It's not convenient for me to drink tea here, so let me show you around the Mermaid tribe. Follow me..."

Following him, we swam up to the Merman Statue's shoulder, our feet sinking into the slippery mud. From this vantage point, we looked out over the Mermaid village, its stone houses swirling like eddies on the lakebed, their windows gleaming with the light of various gemstones.

Looking further ahead, a large rock appeared in the murky lake, painted with many Mermaid holding spears and chasing something that looked like Giant Squid.

Mermaid are creatures just as complex as humans.

The Old Merman spoke to itself, its voice aged and distant, as if it had been washed away by the long river of time, and it rang out clearly.

"We are divided into different subspecies or races based on where we live. I remember that a long time ago, we were all called Siren. Later, those Mermaid who lived in warm waters developed a more beautiful appearance, so they were called Mermaid. But the Mermaid who lived in cold waters, such as the Scotland Selkie and the Ireland Merrow, were not so good-looking..."

The Old Merman stroked his beard and gave them a smile that was hard to describe, "When I was young, I was a famous Mermaid!"

Loren, Hermione, Harry, and Ron, including the bass-baring Mermaid, remained silent, but their expressions suggested that none of them agreed with the viewpoint.

"Fine, don't believe me then!" the Old Merman cursed, a little annoyed, his voice becoming old and distant once more. "Because we live in the deep waters far from land, we can't keep up with humans, but thanks to the gifts of the ocean and lakes, I thought Mermaid could live and reproduce freely..."

"Singing and reciting poetry, those without much musical talent can collect beautiful stones to make necklaces, jewelry and weapons, and create sculptures..."

"If you really have no artistic talent whatsoever, then taming little creatures like Grindylow, the Horse-Headed Fish-Tailed Sea Monster, or Lob Worm is also a good option for fishing and hunting..."

Loren listened quietly, the cool water seeping into his chest with each breath. For some reason, even though the Merperson Elder spoke of a beautiful vision, he could still detect a touch of sadness in his words.

A desolation colder than the waters of a lake in the depths of winter.