章 1047: Late Night Dive

Friday passed in a blur from one class to another. The night before Rowan had not even had time to research passing out in her bed the minute their Prefect duties were done. The day before had been exhausting giving out scores of detentions, removing house points, and more importantly taking more than a dozen students to the infirmary as a consequence of ill-advised pranks. She had disliked April Fool's before, but now she absolutely loathed it. No wonder, Caretaker Filch had become so bitter by Potter's time. She would have also wanted to chain the brats and teach them a good lesson!

The only glimmer of light to her day is that Professor Dumbledore was at the Ministry of Magic and their Mermish class had been canceled. Frankly, it was a blessing in disguise. It allowed her to have a free period to catch up on her stacks of homework. She did her homework up until curfew, before pretending to retire to bed.

Once the soft snores of Tiffany, Sylvia, and Bethanie are heard, Rowan teleports outside onto Hogwarts grounds. The night stars shine brightly as only a sliver of light can be seen from the waxing crescent. The night air is still bitterly chilly, and Rowan tugs at the neck of her cloak. It certainly did not help that she was only wearing a thin diving wet suit underneath and a pair of thin water shoes.

Making her way across the grounds, Rowan arrives at the muddy banks of the lake shore. The last of the ice had melted away from the surface of the lake, but its waters were still as frigid as ice. The waters are thick, murky, and black revealing nothing as a gust of wind spays icy water into her face. She shivers and grimly sets her lips into a thin line.

With care, Rowan climbs down the muddy banks and removes her cloak. She carefully folds her cloak and places a wet stone on her cloak to keep it in place. Her body shivers from the cold trying to maintain body warmth. Double-checking that her wand is safely tucked into her mokeskin pouch, she ensures her underwater breathing bracelet is securely fastened to her wrist.

Taking a deep breath, Rowan rushes into the waters before plunging into the lake. The murky, icy lake waters swallow her whole. Not even a ripple remains behind from her dive.

Automatically she freezes at seeing something long and large reach for her. Rowan recognizes the tentacle as belonging to the Giant Squid. "The bane of ancient mariners and students of Hogwarts – should the latter decide to go for a dip in the lake." Yet she did not panic and kept still as the large tentacle gently encircled her and tugged her towards it.

A round eye about the size of a soccer ball stares straight at Rowan, who remains VERY still. The two of them gaze at each other before the Giant Squid seems to recognize her and gently releases her. The tip of its giant tentacle briefly caresses the top of her head swimming away. Just as quickly as it appeared, the Giant Squid vanished impossibly fast for a giant creature of its size.

Rowan lets out a sigh of relief and dives deeper into the lake before she encounters anything else! The lake is darker than normal without the moonlight, the lake water is dark green, ghostly full of moving and darting shadows. Thankfully, the charmed bracelet permitted her to see underwater even without moonlight. She passes a school of fish and a forest full of rippling tangled black weeds. The meadow of overgrown grass is roughly two feet long if not longer. Peeking up from the patch of black weeds, a tiny, vicious grindylow, a small horned water demon bares its teeth in warning at the intruder.

Rowan paid no attention to the grindylow and kept kicking her legs steadily advancing forward past a vast expanse of black mud littered with dull stones. Knowing that she was close to the mervillage, she redoubles her efforts. Soon enough she spots the large boulder that signals the boarder of the mervillage. The ancient boulder is covered in prehistoric paintings of merpeople. The merpeople carry sharp spears to hunt dangerous sea beasts.

Up and past a hill down in the valley of the lake lays a large mervillage. There are clusters of crude stone dwellings stained with algae. There are lights within some of the homes as some of the mervillagers can be seen peeking out at her, before recognizing her and returning to their previous work. There are gardens filled with seaweed and other aquatic plants. The pet grindylow's are tied to a stake as watchdog's that bare their teeth at Rowan and growl.

A seven-foot-tall merman with a long green beard and a choker of shark fangs raises his spear up in defense before lowering at spotting her. He recognized her as did Rowan. She greeted him politely, before swimming into the village.

Past the plaza, there sits the statue of a gigantic mermaid, their foremother, Lusca. Curled around the neck of the statue is a large, beautifully scaled albino serpent. Nadira opens her glittering sapphire eyes that twinkle much like the embedded gem in her forehead. "Protector!" She happily called out slithering off her cozy perch towards Rowan.

Rowan takes a step back only to be slammed by Nadira like a small truck. She is actually flung back through the water and feels the breath go out of her chest for a moment. Nadira pays no mind to her actions happily rubbing her soft, scaley face against Rowan's hand. It takes Rowan a minute or two to catch her breath.

"You've grown again," Rowan breathlessly said with a bit of pain. She had a strong feeling that she would have dark-colored bruising on her ribcage tomorrow.

"Yes, I have been hunting many fierce beasts!" Nadira proudly bragged.

"As long as you are safe," Rowan sincerely reminded rubbing the young serpent.

"I am careful, Protector, I am!" Nadira protested yet her tail swished behind her as if in guilt. She may not have been as careful as she should have.

Rowan sends Nadira a pointed look, who ducks her head down gloomily. "Come along," she gestured to Nadira, who happily slithered after Rowan. They head to a large stone home covered from head to toe in hand-carved runes. The craftsmanship may be rough, but the power emanating from the runes made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

"Greetings Chieftainess of the Lake," Rowan said in an accented mermish.

"Enter Child of the Founders," a strong, female voice past the doorway clinking beads said.

Rowan obeys and finds the home of the chieftainess the same. The furniture is largely made of stone. There are exquisite artifacts made from fire-forged pottery, the centaur's handiwork. Still, what takes her breath the same as the first time she set her eyes on is the ceiling of the Chieftainess's home. Crystal star-like gems glitter and flicker with the gentle sway of the water causing the ceiling to twinkle creating a breathtaking night sky.