A/N: So I'm back with this one after a long time. Hope someone still remembers it. In case someone wonders about all the Celtic names here, you'll find all about them in the Oxford Dictionary of Celtic Mythology, which is a highly useful book. Of course everyone knows that Hermione is owned by JKR, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros, etc. etc., which is a shame considering the slave trade has been abolished for some years. The rest are more or less mine, though with ancient goddesses and you probably ought to be careful.

THE MERPEOPLE

August 1st, 1982

"This is the life!" Sighing luxuriously, George collapsed in the golden sand. "Lovely weather, hardly any people around ... Really, it couldn't be any better in Italy or Majorca!"

"I dare say it could be a lot worse there;" his wife grinned at him, "Everybody goes to Majorca these days, don't they?"

"I think so, anyway, your favourite sister-in-law is there now."

"Gee, more's the luck. So we'll definitely not run into her here! I knew why I insisted on Ireland. Everybody kept carping about how it's always raining, and now look at the sun! I bet we can even risk getting into the water without getting frostbites ... Anyway, no rotten teeth and bad breath for two weeks!"

In the meantime, Hermione, who had brought her own small bag along, was neatly arranging her blanket on the sand. After rummaging in her bag for a couple of minutes, she got out a book dropped down on her stomach and opened it.

"I've  still to get used to her reading books at her age," George said, more to himself. "What is it, honey?" he inquired.

Hermione, who was already deep in her story, looked at him and without a word showed him the cover. It showed a medieval ship, at anchor in a bay surrounded by high mountains. An apparently huge dragon in red and gold was flying above the ship, and on the beach in the foreground there were three figures, obviously children, but wearing chain mail and colourful tunics; one of them was raising a bow aiming at the dragon, while next to the three humans a rather large mouse, wearing a beret and walking on its hind legs was brandishing a rapier in the dragon's direction.

"Oh, of course," George said, having glanced at the image shortly. "It's number five already, isn't it? You're quite addicted to these, right?

"Mhm," his daughter replied, her nose already back in the book again.

*

A shadow that fell on her book caused Hermione to look up. The tall woman in front of her would have been quite a strange sight to most adults. Her sea-grey cloak alone was extraordinary enough, floating around her in the breeze in a way that made you feel dizzy, the really stunning thing about her, however, was her long wavy hair that was a bright green. Yes, her appearance would have caused quite a sensation.

But not to Hermione. She rose to her knees, and looked at the stranger, interested but not in the least surprised or scared.

"Who are you?" she inquired. "You look – different."

"I am Fand, Lady of the Waves," the woman's voice had a suggestion of the sea in its sound. "How is it you can see me, human child?"

"See you?" Hermione was puzzled. "What's so special about seeing you?"

"We of the moruadh are invisible to humans, - "

"Oh, so you're a fairy, like Tinkerbelle?" Hermione exclaimed delightedly. "I've so wanted to meet someone like her again! I almost started to believe I had only dreamed her … What did you say you are?"

"Moruadh, mermaid, as your people would say. So you have seen fairies before? It is true, then, there is something very special about you. Shall I show you my realm?"

"Yes, please! I'd love to! But – " Hermione hesitated, "What about Mum and Dad?"

"They will not even notice that you are gone," Fand replied. "Time will flow differently while you are with me, and when you return, for them no time at all will have passed. Look – " She pointed at Hermione's parents, and indeed, it seemed as if they were frozen in a film still, as were the few other people in the distance.

"Shall we go?" she said with a smile, extending her hand.

Hermione took it. "What must I do?" she inquired eagerly.

"Nothing much," the mermaid replied, "there's only one important thing: You must always wear this – " she produced a small cap that appeared to be made of red feathers from the folds of her cloak, and handed it to Hermione.

"It's pretty, what is it? And why must I wear it?"

"It's called a cohullen druith, and it allows you to breathe under water. Just as it allows us to breathe air on land." She pulled back her hood and showed Hermione the cap she was wearing beneath it. "Sometimes, mortals have seen us on land, wearing these, and they concluded stupidly that they enabled us to live under water, which is nonsense of course ... "

"Yes," Hermione interrupted earnestly, "you aren't BORN with these, are you?"

"You really are a clever little girl," the fairy nodded approvingly. "Now, as soon as we are in the water, put this on ..."

They walked into the waves that, strangely enough, were not affected by the time spell and were swishing up the beach as regularly as ever. When the water reached her shoulders, Hermione put on the cap. She noticed at once that she could not breathe air any more, and for a short moment panic seized her; but then she took another step and was immediately relieved when the water covered her face, - she was breathing perfectly normally again, just as if she had been on dry land. Her feet lost contact with the ground, and she found herself floating beneath the surface, still holding on to the mermaid's hand. Without performing the normal swimming movements they were gliding through the water, slowly going deeper all the while.

"Do we have to go far?" She asked her guide.

" No, we are almost there. Look."

They had set foot on a sandy patch of ground. The surroundings were lit in a greenish light, with occasional brighter and darker shades. Looking around her, Hermione noticed they were standing in something like a market square, a rectangular area surrounded by a number of stone buildings. Merpeople were going about their business, not paying any attention to them.

"Are these the houses you live in?"   

"Yes, and that is the royal palace over there," Fand said, pointing.

The building was considerably larger than the others, and it was decorated with all sorts of ornaments, sculptures of fish and other sea creatures.

"Why are there no windows, and no doors?"

"Well, what are your windows for?"

"Hmm, - to let the light in – "Hermione paused for a moment, thinking hard, then her face lit up. "Of course!" she exclaimed, "Here the light comes from above! So your windows will be at the top of the house."

"How clever of you. I thought you might find out yourself. Yes, and as we can swim even more easily than walk under water, the entrance is also there. Come on."

The top of the building was a structure of  narrow stone beams, the gaps in between covered with a clear substance that looked like glass.

The moment they approached, a colourful fish, in blue and yellow, about two foot long, rushed at them, wagging its fins furiously.

"Don't be afraid," Fand laughed, when Hermione jumped, or rather floated, backwards. "It's only Lir. He's like those four-legged animals your people keep in their houses – "

"Dogs?"

"Yes, that's it. He's just being friendly, and curious, of course. He knows you are different."

"Oh, he is really cute, aren't you, Lir?" Hermione reached out her hand and the fish started nibbling at her fingers. "He likes me!" she giggled delightedly.

At the entrance, a girl met them, perhaps a head taller than Hermione, with the same bright green hair. She hesitated for a moment, but then came over to Hermione, smiling.

"This is my little sister," Fand explained, "Liban, I have brought a human child with me, - oh, I'm sorry, I didn't even ask your name."

"I'm Hermione, and it's really great to get to know you and your people."

She held out her hand to the girl, who looked at it bewildered.

"Oh, sorry, you probably have different customs," Hermione said quickly. "This is how we say hello when meeting for the first time." And she grabbed the girl's hand and shook it.

"This is fun," Liban laughed, and shook back vigorously, so that Hermione almost dissolved in giggles.

Liban took Hermione's hand and led her into another chamber of the house.

"This is my room," she said proudly. The chamber was blue and green colours, with an occasional streak of yellow, but no really bright or warm shades. Several small fish and other sea creatures were approaching curiously, among them a dull orange lobster like thing with large black eyes at the top of  a pair of long antennae.

"This is Afanc," Liban told Hermione, scooping the animal up in her arms. "But it's a joke, of course. He really is a dear."

The lobster creature wiggled its antennae in Hermione's direction, and she eyed it a bit suspiciously.

"Come on, touch his head," Liban reassured her. "He just wants to get to know you."

Hesitantly, Hermione reached out and put a finger on the thing's head. And indeed, the animal's antennae  seemed to shiver in a delighted way, and reached out to touch her face, which made her giggle again.

"You say his name is a joke?" Hermione enquired.

"Oh, of course, you don't know about this sort of thing. In our ancient tales, Afanc is a very dangerous sea-monster; this one here – " she stroked the animal tenderly, "may look a bit weird, but he is a very sweet pet, so we thought it a funny idea to name him like that."

The two girls were happily playing with the sea-creatures, when Fand entered, looking quite serious.

"I really don't like doing this," she said to Hermione, "but I think you should se this. Come with me please. – Another Sellafield case," she told Liban, whose face clouded over at this.

"I'm sorry," Liban took Hermione's hand again, "You 'l not like what you are going to see, but you'll understand. And there can never be enough humans to understand what their kind are doing."

Mystified and a bit frightened at these words, Hermione followed. In another room, two merpeople were holding a large grey-green fish. It looked sick, its fins were flapping weakly, and there some nasty boils and ulcers on its skin.

"We found it in the Irish Sea," one of the two merpeople addressed Fand. "It must have  got a full dose of the poisoned waters the humans keep pouring into the sea." He looked extremely angry, and Hermione suddenly felt guilty.

"Of course it's not your fault," Fand, who seemed to have read her thoughts, encouraged her. "And I believe it's not even the fault of most of your people. They just don't know ..."

"But they do know!" Hermione suddenly felt very angry. "At least they could know if they'd only take the trouble! There are things on the news again and again, and nobody seems to care. Oh, this is awful!" She looked at the fish again.

 "Will it – will it die?"

"I'm afraid so," Fand said quietly.

Hermione burst into tears, and Liban put her arms around her.

"Don't cry," she whispered soothingly, "there is nothing you can do. I'm sorry we showed you this, but we were sure you'd understand, and I see we were right."

"Yes," her sister agreed, "the more humans understand about this, - understand with their heart, not only their mind, - the better the chance that some time this madness will stop. It won't be in a few years, but perhaps, when you are grown up, you'll be in a position to change things, and then you'll remember ... "

"I will, I promise," Hermione said very earnestly. Suddenly, she rushed over to the fish and threw her arms around it, sobbing.

The animal's convulsive shudders ceased suddenly, and for a moment it was perfectly still. Then the fins started to move again, but in a way that seemed to be more harmonious and comfortable.

"What's this?" Hermione stepped back, surprised.

"It's not in pain anymore," there was amazement in Fand's voice. "I'd never have expected this. Who knows, maybe – " her voice trailed off.

"Maybe what? Maybe it – won't die?"

"I can't say; I've never seen anything like this before, so there is no way of telling. But it seems to be definitely better... Oh, I knew you were a special child, but this ..."

"You mean it was me? But how ... I mean I didn't DO anything ... "

"I don't know, really, but it seems obvious, doesn't it? However, this may just be a temporary thing, anyway, we don't know. But whatever happened, you certainly have helped a creature in distress. – And now," she added in a brisk tone, "it's time for you to go back. These spells about time are rather tricky, and if you make any mistake, you may run into the most frightful mess. You wouldn't want to come back and find several years have passed during your absence, for example, would you?"

This took Hermione's mind off the strange thing she had just witnessed.

"Several years?" she squeaked. "Certainly not! Will you take me?"

"The way back is much easier," the fairy reassured her, smiling. "I'll just take your cohullen off, you'll fall asleep instantly, and when you wake up, you'll be back on the beach. Nobody will notice you've been gone."

"That's lovely. Can I tell my parents about all this?"

"You can, but don't be too disappointed if they find it hard to believe you."

"I know. They always say I've been dreaming ... "

"You see? My advice is, don't insist. Most humans will keep ignoring the otherworld as long as they possibly can. Many can keep it up for a lifetime, but I imagine your family will learn, sooner or later. Now, let's say good-bye ... "

"Will I be able to meet you again? Please say yes, I loved being here!"

"Once a friend of the moruadh, always a friend of the moruadh. Just put your face in the water and say my name, or my sister's. If we can we'll come and get you. Now are you ready?"

Hermione and Liban hugged each other, and Fand also embraced her.

"Fare well, human child, we will meet again. I think you have a great gift, use it well."

With a swift movement, she took the cap, and everything went black in front of Hermione's eyes.

*

She opened her eyes, blinking in the glare of sunlight reflected from the pages of the book in front of her. A tiny red feather clung to her palm. Smiling happily, she took a small enamelled box from her bag and put the feather in it, where she already kept another small brownish feather and a colourful, though slightly faded flower.

After thinking for a moment, Hermione got up and stepped over to her parents.

"Mum, Dad?"

"Mmm, what –" George stirred sleepily.

"Yes, dear?" Her mother was obviously faster to get back to her waking state.

"You won't believe it," Hermione started, "but I really have to tell you the most fascinating story ..."

xxx

"What a nice dream," George said after his daughter had finished. "But hardly surprising, considering the chapter in your book you fell asleep over."

"I knew you'd say that," his daughter complained. "You always do. But Fand said even you would believe me some day. So just wait and se who's right!"

"Fand?" Prudence said musingly. "What were the other names again? There was that Fand woman's sister Liban, and – "

"And the pet fish called Lir," Hermione went on eagerly. "And that lobster was named after a sea-monster, but I can't remember the name ... But you can't say I just invented these names, Dad, can you? So there!" she ended with a not of triumph in her voice.

For a moment, George was indeed at a loss. But then shrugged and remarked, "Well strange things do happen in dreams, so why should your subconscious not come up with some strange names? After all, they don't mean anything."

"I daresay you're right," Prudence said doubtfully. "But 'Lir'? I'm sure I've heard that name before. – Wait – yes! The Children of Lir! There's this tragic folk tale of those children who were changed into swans ... I don't remember much more, but as soon as we're back – "

"You'll check on it in the library," George completed her sentence for her.

"Oh, stop making fun of me!" She threw a handful of sand at him, laughing.

Xxx

"Do you really think this was wise?" Minister Fudge enquired.

"I do indeed," Dumbledore's voice was firm. "What better opportunity to introduce some uncertainty about their concept of  'reality'. You know what their research about those names in the library will tell them. It's easy for her mother, who has always secretly hoped for some signs of the magic world. But even her father will not be able to completely stick to his dream theory. Of course he'll refuse to acknowledge the idea of 'real' merrows, but deep down he will start to doubt ... And you know, minister, don't you, that they WILL have to accept the existence of our world when they get the Hogwarts letter. And in my experience it's much easier if Muggle parents at least believe in the possibility of what they like to call the supernatural. Trust me, this needs careful guidance and development."

"If you say so." The minister sounded still doubtful, but, as usual, did not know what to say.

"Yes, I do," Dumbledore stated firmly, his eyes twinkling.

GREETINGS, GENTLE READERS!

I'm sorry this took so long, but somehow I got stuck in the middle and could only find my way onwards a couple of days ago. Hope you like it nevertheless.

For those of you wondering what Prudence will find out about the names in the library, here are the answers: FAND – wife of the Celtic sea-god Manannan mac LIR (which answers that question, too), LIBAN – Fand's sister, who goes around in a green mantle, also a mermaid who was baptised in the 6th century and is known as Saint Muirgen.

Finally, a question for you to answer:

What book was Hermione reading on the beach, and which chapter did she "fall asleep on", at least according to her father?

PS: Some people have pointed out that Hermione is far too young to do and say all the things I make her. This is probably true, so I'm considering editing the whole story again with regard to the time factor. Does anybody think this is a good idea? I'd really love some advice on this one!