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~Aden, author of "Gaze of Stone"

   Hermione, Potterhead Place Headmistress

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Disclaimer: I do not own Harry, Ron, Hermione, Hogwarts, or any other of J. K. Rowling's characters or places. I do, however, own all the characters and creatures from the Circe Academy. PLEASE don't report me to Time Warner!!!!!!

Note: For this story to work, I'm going to pretty much ignore Goblet of Fire. I'm doing it on purpose, so don't send me emails saying I don't have my information right.

PART THREE

On Saturday morning, Hermione asked Ron and Harry to help her show the Circe students around the school. They both agreed, because they wanted to continue the Quidditch discussion they had most of the night with Cadmus in their dormitory.

Ganymedea, Artemina and Cadmus all had very good English, and their accents were hardly noticeable. Ganymedea kept quoting lines from funny movies. Of course, Ron had no idea what she was saying.

"Who's Austin Powers, anyway?" He asked very loudly in the middle of one of the twins' dialogues. They both stared at him with open mouths, shocked that he had no idea.

"It's a Muggle thing, Ron,"  Hermione explained, giggling a little.

"Our mother is half Muggle, so we go to see films and things with our cousins on our grandfather's side," Cadmus explained. He nudged Harry in the side, startling him a little. Cadmus, except for last night's incident in the Great Hall, was treating Harry as if he'd known him for years.

"Do you ever go see films in the cinema, Harry?" Cadmus asked.

"No way would the Dursleys take me. I went to a couple with Hermione this summer though, while we were shopping for supplies in London." Ron had the chicken pox, so he stayed at home while his family got his things. He still wasn't very happy about that.

"It's just a stupid Muggle thing, anyway," Ron said. He looked a little jealous.

~

When their little group went out to Hagrid's hut, most of the student body was lazing about the lake or looking in awe at the creatures in their makeshift habitats. They went  first to the baby manticore's pen. Ganymedea shrieked with excitement.

"Tros! Cadmus! It's Trossie!" cried Ganymedea. "I didn't know they brought him!  Oh, my baby!"

She was pointing at the baby manticore, which began to run towards her. It stopped at the fence and let Ganymedea pet and kiss it. Harry had never seen anything like it. It was about the size of a housecat, but built like a lion, with glossy jet-black wings folded on its back and a spiny, almost scorpion-like tail. It's face was in the shape of a human baby's, with blue cat eyes. Ganymedea rubbed its head and blew on its nose. It made a sound between a purr and a coo. It was almost cute.

Ganymedea began talking in Greek, rubbing the manticore's head and snuggling him.

"What's with them?" Hermione asked Cadmus.

"Oh, De used to feed him and stuff at the Academy. She's the only one that can get that close to him. He bit off someone's finger last winter. She calls him her Trossie." Cadmus rolled his eyes.

"Cadmuuuusss," the manticore purred, and pointed a paw at him. He started giggling. "Cadmuuuuusss, Cadmuuuusss!" He fluttered his little wings and tried to get closer to Cadmus. They weren't very strong, however, and the manticore toppled to the ground. He got up again and ambled in front of  Cadmus. Artemina and Hermione sighed.

"Oh, hurry up Cad, he wants to see you!" Ganymedea said, dragging Cadmus closer. Cadmus didn't looked too happy about this arrangement.

"Uh, hello, Tros! Good to see you!" He gave Tros a few short pats on the head before the manticore began growling and snapping his incredible sharp teeth. Tros giggled in his cat-like way, then ran away to chase butterflies.

"He was adorable!" Hermione said, smiling. "You'd never know they were that cute from all the things we researched about them."

"Oh, I'm the only one that can get him to look cute. He likes to tease Cadmus, but he's ferocious when others try to play with him." She suddenly gave Hermione a very stern look. " He will be well cared for? No one will mistreat him?"

"No, no way. Hagrid probably loves him as much as you!" Hermione said, laughing.

After Ganymedea blew Tros a kiss and promised to come the next day, they went around to the next little habitat, the nereid's pool.

The nereid looked not a day older than thirteen, and was extremely beautiful. Her skin was fair, with elaborate patterns of green and sliver scales. Her bright emerald eyes reflected the ripples on the water. Her silky black hair had many small braids and swirled about her in the pool. She smiled shyly at them, and stared for a moment at Ron, a dreamy look in her eyes. Ron's ears grew pink.

Artemina asked, in a soft, gentle voice, "Hello, Thetis. How was your trip?"

The nereid closed her eyes for a moment. The water in her pool moved around a bit. Droplets came into the air, forming themselves into shapes. The nereid opened her eyes and blew water from the palm of her hand. The shapes sharpened, and they could see they were Greek letters. Artemina read the message.

"She says it was quite wonderful, thank you. Her pool is very comfortable,' Artemina translated. The letters pooled together into a ball in midair before silently joining the rest of the water in the pool.

"We helped dig it," Ron said, beaming. The nereid giggled, a sound like water sweeping over wind chimes. Ron became a deep shade of scarlet.

"Well, look at this!" came a very unwanted voice. Malfoy and a gang of other Slytherins barged through their group and crowded around the pool. Ron tried desperately to get back in view of the nereid.

"Ewww, gross. Look at all those scales. And her hair! She's got pond scum in it!" cried Pansy Parkinson. The two Academy girls with her made faces. The nereid swam to the edge of the pool and pulled herself partway out, looking out of the crowd. She made agitated noises, and her cheeks were flushed.

Ron squeezed in-between the boy from the Academy and  Crabbe. Crabbe shoved him away. To keep from falling, Ron grabbed the Academy boy's arm. The boy punched Ron in the stomach. Goyle joined in, then Malfoy, and pretty soon all the Slytherins were beating him up. Harry and Artemina tried to pull some of them off, but Crabbe just shoved them away.

The nereid gave a frustrated screech and raised her webbed hands above head. She glared intently at the Slytherins. Suddenly, a huge tentacle of swirling water sprung into the air from the pool. It swooped down and wrapped itself around the boy from the Academy. It picked him up into the air, his arms still punching until water-ropes wrapped around his fists. He started screaming. The Slytherins stopped in mid-punch and stared.

The nereid twirled a finger, and the water tentacle twirled the boy several times, until he looked sick. She then made a motion as if throwing a baseball. The tentacle threw him to the ground on the other side of Hagrid's hut. The water tentacle left the pool, flowed in an arch, then poured itself on his head, judging from the huge splash that followed.

The rest of the Slytherins got up immediately and ran away, screaming about water monsters. Artemina, Cadmus, Ganymedea, Hermione, and Harry all stared in awe at the nereid. She blushed bright green, panting a little.

Artemina helped Ron up. He gazed adoringly at the nereid, who gave him a shy smile before diving under the surface, her fins flashing.

"Ron! I think she's fond of you!" Ganymedea teased.

Ron grinned.

Ah! So cute! 

3 reviews before Part Four goes up! (IF it ever gets written . . .)

~Aden and Hermione

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