Chapter Seven: The Lake

The students had all gone home for the summer holidays, and so the castle was mostly empty. Only a few teachers chose to stay behind, as many had families of their own that they returned to when not teaching during the term. Professor McGonagall was one of them of course, as was Professor Dumbledore- and they had stayed at Hogwarts for a very good reason.

Harry Potter.

'We swim! We go sweeem!' sang Harry as he jumped towards the little beach next to the edge of the Black Lake. The warm July sun shone down on them, making the grass sparkle as though it were made of silver, and a cool breeze ruffled Harry's dark hair- if possible causing it to stick up even more than usual. 'Swim!'

Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall walked a little behind him, watching with bemused faces as he stopped next to the water and stuck his bare feet in, stepping back with a squeal as he realised it was cold.

'You are going to swim,' corrected Minerva, sitting down on the grass by the edge of the sand- well, more of a lightly-coloured dirt. 'I shall stay right here. But perhaps Albus might like to join you?'

'Who, me?' said Albus, gazing up in surprise from a small yellow caterpillar that had made its way onto his finger.

'Yes, you! Yes, you!' cried Harry. 'Pwease, Ah-bus!'

'Hmm, not today Harry. I too, would rather remain dry. But come, I'll put some warming charms on you so that the water isn't too cold.' He waved his wand over Harry's body- already with bathers on- and Harry felt a warm sensation flow down from his bare shoulders down to the tip of his toes.

'Oooh!' he said, running back to the water and splashing it with his arms. 'Not cold!'

'That's right,' said Minerva. 'Now you can play. But don't go too far in.'

And so Harry played. He watched a few silver fish as they swam by, and grabbed fistfuls of sandy dirt and small round stones which he took great delight in throwing as far as he could into the water, giggling. Albus and Minerva talked about the start of term and a new school year in a few months' time, what was currently going on in the Ministry, and Harry's upcoming birthday. The previous year they had had a simple celebration, as Harry had been too young to understand much of what was going on, but this month he would be turning three.

After a while, the two professors noticed a disturbance in the water several metres away from where Harry was. It seemed like something- or many things- were moving about under the surface, occasionally causing ripples and small splashes. Minerva raised her eyebrows, wondering what they were, and her question was answered a second later as several heads emerged.

They had flowing green hair, bright yellow eyes, and grey faces that resembled both a human and a fish at the same time. The top halves of their bodies- the parts above the water- were also decorated with what seemed to be necklaces of bones and seaweed.

Merpeople.

Upon seeing them, Harry immediately stopped what he was doing; staring at the strange creatures with shock clearly visible on his face. They were looking at him too with curious expressions- obviously they were not used to seeing a child, and a young one at that, playing in the water. Even the Hogwarts students rarely swam in the lake.

Albus got up from the grass and made his way over to Harry, and the toddler turned to look at him with wide eyes.

'Ah-bus wha is it?'

'They're merpeople, Harry,' said Albus. 'They live underwater, here in the lake.'

Harry went back to watching them, knee deep in the water, as they bobbed up and down. Then Albus made a sort-of screeching sound in his throat, and the merpeople turned their eyes on him. A couple of them made the strange noise in return. They had gotten as close to Harry as possible, and although Harry was in a shallow part of the lake, there was a large drop off a few meters or so in which they were currently swimming.

'Hewwo!' Harry exclaimed, waving a small hand in their direction. One of the merpeople shrieked again, and Harry blinked.

'What did you say to them?' asked Minerva, coming to stand by Albus' side. She had known a colony of merpeople lived in the lake, but had never seen them in person before: as although they respected Albus Dumbledore, they generally avoided dealing with humans.

'A polite greeting,' he replied. 'They are simply curious about Harry.'

'Ah-bus!' Harry cried. The merpeople were turning away, some disappearing under the depths, and the three of them watched as they swam deep into the lake and slowly vanished from view, the surface lying still again. Harry moved forwards as though to go after them, but Albus reached out and took his arm, pulling him gently out of the water.

'No, Harry, they've gone back to their homes in the middle of the lake, now.'

'Wh-why?' asked Harry. He sounded slightly upset, as if he couldn't really believe they had just left him like that.

'Well, they have families too,' said Minerva, crouching down next to him and wrapping him up in a fluffy towel to dry him off. 'And they don't like being above water too much, just like you wouldn't like to be under the water for too long.'

'I wooden't?'

'No, Harry.'

Once he was all dried and had a clean set of clothes on, Minerva took his hand.

'Now come on, let's go back up to the school. I think there are a few books on merpeople- the things you saw- in the library.'

And so they walked back up to the castle, Harry in between both her and Albus, as the warm sun beat down on their backs, and a small butterfly flittered around their heads before flying higher up into the blue sky.


A/N: Big thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed, favourited and/or followed this story so far :D

I will be busy over the next week and a bit, but will still try to post the next chapter as soon as possible.