Magical weaving

While most of this information was not particularly useful it was academic gold and would make the report he needed to write much more comprehensive. But as he had only asked for the information on the culture and history of the merfolk from the mermaid that was also all that he got. Contrary to what the biased wizarding community thought merfolk were no less clever or intelligent than any human but merely had a more simplistic lifestyle. Nick didn't mind this as he wasn't biased himself after seeing three intelligent species of non-human creatures personally , specifically house elves , manticores and goblins.-

After getting nearly three pages of notes on the history of the merfolk Nick moved on to the sea rope weavers to try and learn from them. He was shocked to learn that despite how simple it may seem it was a very complex process. First the seaweed and kelp needed to be specially treated in order to smoothly allow magic to flow into the woven ropes without conflict. Nick eagerly set about learning the exact steps involved as this may solve a bunch of problems he had with organic smithing and maybe even crossed enchantments.-

'It's sad how this treasure has gone unnoticed until now because of the wizarding communities bias.' he thought with a sigh as he worked to weave a sea rope himself under the head weavers patient gaze. The merfolk had mastered the art of weaving seaweed and kelp as even Nick had difficulty doing it without taking extra long. If a fold was not tight enough he needed to start all over and if it was too tight the seaweed or kelp would tear forcing him to start over again. He ended up spending all day working on just mastering the weaving step and didn't even get the magical knowledge yet.-

As the sun started to set he bid farewell to the merfolk and swam up to the surface of the water before taking his broom out of Greed and rising into the air while gripping it tightly. Once he was fully out of the water he pulled himself up onto the broom and shot over the lake towards the castle under the stunned gazes of the students still out on the grounds. This allowed him to dry off and when he landed at the entrance of the courtyard he removed the transfiguration on his clothes.-

Putting away his broom Nick casually walked into the castle in a fairly good mood after having a fruitful outing. "Making friends with the fish in the lake?" Luna asked from right at the castles entrance with a teasing smirk. "Nah , I did that the last time I went swimming in the lake , this time I made friends with the mermaids in it instead." Nick said honestly and grinned at the wide eyed look he got from Luna. "Are they as pretty as the stories say they are?" she asked eagerly.-

"Not really , they aren't hideous exactly but definitely not beautiful either. They take after fish a bit too much for that in my opinion." he answered honestly. Luna looked disappointed at this information but Nick couldn't change reality and the appearances of merfolk weren't exactly secret either. "I actually wrote down all of their history that I got today as well if you'd like to give it a read." Nick offered pulling the three sheets of paper with his notes on it. Luna's face brightened up at this and she eagerly snatched the papers out of his hands and began to hungrily devour the information recorded on them.-

'Yep she definitely belongs in Ravenclaw alright.' he thought with a chuckle. He stood there for the next five minutes as Luna read through his notes carefully and with a look of amazement on her face. "Is all of this true?" she asked curiously after finishing them. Nick nodded "I got it straight from the leader or shaman of the merfolk in the lake so it should be mostly true. The part about them being descended from Oceanus is questionable at best but the rest of it is plenty probable." he said with a smile.-

"Did you know that everyone was looking for you all day but couldn't find you at all?" she asked changing the subject spontaneously. Nick wasn't caught off guard as she regularly did such things when they hung out. "I don't doubt it since it was a bit of a sudden choice on my part. It's not like it's a big deal though so I'm sure it will be fine." he said dismissively. Luna nodded "they didn't seem surprised so you are probably right. Want to walk me to dinner?" she asked with a smile. "Why it would be my privilege Mrs. Lovegood!" he said dramatically making her giggle.