Merpeople

Class started the next week, filling Art's days with magic again. In Lockhart's class Art was so appalled with the class he almost walked out. If he wasn't afraid of affecting his grades he would have walked out. Art ignored him and read a book about Dragons and taking care of them. The twins laughed at Art and starting to whisper amongst themselves while Cedric read a book on spells and jinxes.

The next day Art woke up and found the twins not in their beds but noticed that their brooms were missing.

'Must be at Quidditch practice.'

Art had a quick breakfast and headed towards the hospital wing to meet with Madam Pomfrey. Walking into the wing he saw Pomfrey tidying beds and cleaning with magic.

"Professor Pomfrey." Art said loudly, getting her attention.

"Art! How are you? How was your summer?" she said cheerfully.

"I'm great professor. Summer went to quick as always. I was wondering if you would like to teach me again this year."

"Well of course! Same time as usual? Saturday morning?"

"Perfect. Thank you again."

After finishing with Pomfrey he headed outside onto the grounds. The sun was shining and there was a light breeze in the air. Art smiled and made his way towards the large lake. Making sure no one was looking, he took off his robes leaving him standing in his boxers. Jumping into the water, he casted the Bubble Head Charm and used another spell to propel him deeper into the water.

Diving deeper Art was amazed at what he saw. It was another world down there with fish and other creatures swimming around. The water was clear and had a slight green tinge making everything look unique. Art saw a merperson and darted towards them.

Seeing Art, the merperson raised a trident in self defense. Art stopped and raised his hands, showing he wasn't a threat. The merperson looked at his strangely before speaking.

It spoke mermish, causing Art to frown and try to remember what he learned from his books.

"I-I'm Art. Would like to see your city." he said poorly. Mermish was difficult to speak with human vocal cords.

"You speak poor mermish." the merman said, frowning.

"Sorry. Difficult for human to speak." Art said with a bitter smile.

"You wish to see our kingdom?"

"Very much." Art said excited at the possibility.

"Why?"

"Curious. Merpeople are intelligent." Art said, finding the right words difficult to translate into mermish.

"Stay here. I will ask the elders." the merperson said, swimming away.

Art waited for ten minutes before five merpeople were swimming towards him, all armed with spears or tridents. An older merperson led them, he had a beard and held a large trident.

"Human from the surface, why have you entered the lake?" he said, his voice was powerful. What surprised Art is that he spoke in english.

"Sir, I wish to witness your city and people. Nothing more." Art said, returning to english.

"What does a human from the surface want with our city?" he asked, suspicious.

Art shook his head he knew that merpeople and wizard relations were strained for many reasons. Art stuck his hand out, "Touch my hand and you will understand."

The elder looked at his hand and frowned, "What tricks are you playing at human?"

"No tricks. I promise."

"Human promises are worthless." a younger merperson spat, clearly not trusting Art.

The elder raised his hand, silenting him. The elder swam in forward and grabbed Art's hand.

Art closed his eyes and sent emotions and memories to the elder, showing he was only curious and met him no harm. The elder let go of Art's hand and looked at him with shock.

"It a gift I have." Art said sheepishly.

The elder nodded his head slowly. "Follow me."

"Elder, are you sure!?" the young merman said, looking at Art with hate.

"He is from the school. He means us no harm and is only interested in our way of life." he paused and looked at Art. "He is a unique human."

Though the young merman was clearly unconvinced he didn't voice his opinion any further. Art followed the group of merpeople, they got deeper into the lake and soon the bottom appeared. Art gasped as he saw houses made of rocks with many merpeople going about their days.

"Welcome to our city." the elder said.

"Thank you. It is incredible." Art said sincerely.

The elder nodded, a little pride in his voice.

Art spent the rest of the day exploring the city, fascinated with everything he saw. He even saw the mythical giant squid that lived in the lake. He saw the water was darkening and said his goodbyes to the merpeople, thanking them for allowing him into their home.

"Come back anytime." the elder said with a smile.

"I will, I need to practice me mermish." Art said sheepishly.

The elder laughed and agreed.

Art thanked them once more and swam to the surface. He was suddenly knocked sideways by something powerful that left Art breathless. Looking around he saw a horse made of seaweed.

'A Kelpie!'

Art was stunned as he knew these creatures were dangerous but he had experience with them from working at Newts. They liked to drag their victims to the bottom of the lake before devouring them.

Art calmly faced the Kelpie, his wand ready in his hand. The Kelpie gave an arrogant snort before charging at Art. Its speed was terrifying but Art was ready for it. His stunning spell his the Kelpie but hardly slowed it down but this was all Art needed. Dodging to the side, he grabbed its mane of seaweed and jumped on it's back. The Kelpie found this humilating and tried to buck Art off. With an iron grip, he held on and placed his hand on the creatures neck. The bucking slowly diminished causing Art to let out a breath of relief.

"Little crazy aren't you." Art said, patting the side of the Kelpie.

It snorted again but didn't move. Art laughed and said, "Wanna take me for a ride?"

The Kelpie gave him a look before it started to swim. Art laughed loudly as he traveled the entire lake quickly. The Kelpie even broke the surface, jumping a couple meters in the air with Art on his back. A few students were by the lakeside and pointed at the Kelpie in shock.

"What was that?"

"Did it look like someone was on its back?"

Art let out a joyful laugh as he guided the Kelpie to shore where he jumped off.

"Thank you." he said, patting the Kelpie's head.

The Kelpie gave a snort before diving on the water again. Art dried himself off with his wand and walked back to the castle. He saw that the castle seemed empty. He frowned and soon found a large crowd around a wall. A dead cat was hanging by its tail with blood red letters on the wall.