Happy Veteran's Day! Thank you to everyone who has ever served in the armed forces both present and past!


The sands of Black Island were extremely relaxing. Not only had she upheld her part of the agreement with Neville, but Lord Crewel agreed to meet at an upscale cafe in Paris to examine her work and look over her exam results. If all went well, she'd be attending Night Raven College next year rather than the drab castle known as Hogwarts.

Black Island was very interesting, in that it was located somewhere in Polynesia. Apparently one of her ancestors had discovered a vast amount of magical flora and fauna on top of a rich vein of Mana stones (which was still relatively untouched). Never mind the fact it was a tropical paradise.

In short, it was the ultimate vacation spot for the Black family exclusively for the head of the family or their immediate heir.

After her exam score came out, Sirius had given up the titles and everything else to Nimue. He wasn't interested in it after all, and this meant no one would be able to challenge her for it later. She was already the head of the Potter family.

Today she was going to relax and have a bit of fun unwinding. She had noticed while flying that there were a few magical villages with the natives, and that they accepted small tour groups that came in on ferries. There were no hotels or places for the tourists to stay, mostly to preserve the culture.

She wanted to do a day trip once she was done tanning. The island of Motanui was beautiful and they did have plenty of restaurants on the island.

On the ferry...

No one batted an eye at a fifteen year old traveling alone. It was incredibly liberating.

The island was a paradise, and it was only better from ground level. She took several tours, including the very exclusive tour that explained the history of the chieftans of the island which took them up to the highest summit where they could see the rock that ended with a shell.

Their tour guide was rather buff and looked incredibly proud as he explained that the history of the islands (and was incredibly boastful about the legends of Maui for some reason) with intricate tattoos that occasionally moved.

Nimue waited till near the end of the tour before she finally dared to ask something that had been bugging her.

"Why does that tattoo of the man have a hook?" she asked.

"This? This little guy is Maui and that's his famous hook."

Nimue's sixth sense for mischief hit her hard.

She looked and really looked at the tour guide. The tattoo (which was the most mobile of the lot) looked suspiciously like their guide. In fact the guy looked at least the same size of Hagrid...and more than big enough to use the hook she had found in the lake as more than just some fancy decoration.

And now that she thought about it, some of the energy he was giving off felt ridiculously similar to the magic of the hook.

Nimue waited until the tour was over, and walked up to their guide to say she needed to talk to him in private. He agreed, only as long as his wife was allowed to be there as well...she could be quite scary if she thought he was up to something.

Later that night...

Maui didn't know what to expect of the tiny slip of a girl who asked for a private meeting. He mostly thought she just realized who he was and wanted an autograph or something. His wife Moana was a tad suspicious about the request as well, and fully prepared to deal with the girl.

The last thing either of them suspected was for the girl to take out the pendant around her neck...and for her to enlarge an all too familiar hook.

Maui would admit he had gaped unattractively at the sight of his hook.

"Where on earth did you find that? I've been searching for ages and not even Tamatoa had it!" said Moana.

"It was in the depths of the lake near my school," said Nimue. "I had a rough idea of who it belonged to, but I should have expected my luck to lead me right to the owner."

The look of disbelief and surprise when Nimue handed ove the hook without making any demands was almost sad in a way.

"Wait...you're giving this back to me?" he said in disbelief.

"I fully planned to return this to the proper owner," said Nimue. "It's not like I can use the bloody thing, it's too heavy for me. Besides, its rude to make demands of gods when such things have are notorious for ending badly."

Maui hugged his hook almost possessively...then again, it was his primary focus for the bulk of his powers, so it was understandable.

Moana eyed Nimue for a moment.

"Would you like to stay for a while on the island?"

"I thought outsiders weren't allowed to stick around?"

"Generally we don't allow it, for good reason," said Moana. "However I think you returning his hook is pretty good reason for a celebration, don't you?"

It was more than just a big feast...it was a major celebration. Once the islanders learned that Maui had his hook back (thus could defend their island from outsiders better) they threw a massive party.


Nimue was somewhat nervous. Who could blame her? Depending on this meeting went, she could finally be rid of Dumbledore's nonsense.

Lord Crewel was leagues above Snape in terms of appearance. For one thing he clearly bathed regularly, and his fashion was perfectly on point. The fact he had two-toned hair did not bother her in the least.

He had a copy of her OWL's results, and she had the potion she brewed for him to examine on her in an unbreakable vial.

She pointedly did not drink any of it beforehand.

Once they ordered their drinks, Crewel observed her... particularly how she held herself. And what he saw impressed him slightly.

"I've reviewed your test grades, and they are at the proper standards I demand of an apprentice. Now, have you brought the sample I asked of you?"

Nimue handed over the case. The expression on Lord Crewel's face when he realized exactly what was in his hands was almost comical. He was that shocked.

"You brewed this?" he asked.

"I had to redo it because a certain nuisance banished my previous attempt," said Nimue. "However the examiners were able to study my notes and the potion before it was finished in lieu of my potions exam."

'Well that explained the abnormally high grade,' Crewel thought to himself.

"Where are your notes?" he asked. She slid them over. He looked through them with a critical eye and it was clear where she had help tidying up the originals. "Acceptable."

Nimue did her best not to show her nerves. This was a critical point for her, she could tell.

"We shall have to do something about that wardrobe of yours," said Crewel. "If you are going to represent me as my apprentice, I cannot have you at important events looking so...plain."

Nimue perked up at that.

"I'll send the official contracts within a fortnight," said Crewel. "I expect you to uphold my standards."

"So long as you aren't as bad as Snape, I believe that can be arranged."

"Why did you pick me?" he asked, honestly curious.

"Because you were ranked well above Snape and at least know how to bathe properly. There's a reason why nearly all the students call him a 'greasy dungeon bat'...besides, his fashion sense is terrible."

Crewel snorted at that. Less than a week later, Nimue received her copy of the apprenticeship contracts... as well as an application to Night Raven College. She filled out both immediately.

Since she would be a rare female student, she would have to wear a bespoke uniform and adhere to slightly altered rules. Her tuition was mostly paid for by Professor Crewel, but the remainder would have to come directly out of her accounts.

As she wouldn't be returning to Hogwarts, she would be using the remainder of her tuition for her old school towards her new one.

Crewel also recommended that she be in an area where the carriage could reach her, as the wards on the island might interfere with the retrieval.


School would begin in three weeks, so she had time to learn more from Maui who had taken her under his wing. Apparently he had realized she been trying to use the shape-shifting power of his hook with limited success, and that she might have an aptitude for it.

She had been picking up on it rather quickly, and was eager to try her transformation. But there was some sort of weird block.

"Why don't you take her to Te Fiti? Perhaps she would know what the issue is," said Moana.

"Te Fiti?"

"The Mother Island. She's mostly forgiven Maui for his foolishness, but she would likely be happy to know you got your hook back," said Moana.

"Who knows, you might get another tattoo like mine!" said Maui.

Nimue wanted to dispute that, but she still didn't know why she had a kraken marking on her arm in the first place when she wasn't born with it.

Besides, her sixth sense for adventure told her that she needed to meet this "Te Fiti".

With that in mind, the trio used a magically enhanced ship (with fake modern engines to explain it's speed) to sail to the Mother Island, as it was called.

Partly because the island in question was warded against most magical travel (Te Fiti didn't want the magicals to repeat Maui's stunt), but mostly out of respect for the goddess.

Waking Te Fiti was easy enough...she enjoyed chatting with Moana, as the girl showed her the proper respect and was willing to perform errands for her all the time.

The second she saw Nimue however, she stared a bit.

"Did I do something wrong?" asked Nimue to Moana.

Moana shook her head. The last time Te Fiti had that look on her face, she was up to something.

Te Fiti looked at Nimue, before a voice appeared in her head.

"You want me to sing?" said Nimue baffled. Te Fiti nodded.

Even Maui was confused at her 'request'.

Nimue thought it over, before deciding it would be rude to deny the goddess such an odd request. At least she knew for a fact she wasn't tone deaf.

Maui and Moana were slightly relieved by the fact that Nimue humored the goddess...right up until they realized she was glowing. Nimue had her eyes closed and was still singing, but her body shone from an internal light that only grew brighter.

Some internal instinct told Moana that she needed to get the girl into the water immediately. With little prodding, she had the ocean surround Nimue as her lower half began to shift.

Nimue's hair, which was as black as a raven's feather began to turn a silver the shade of starlight. At first they thought Nimue's lower half would become that of a normal mermaid...until it began to split apart into eight tentacles.

Nimue was exhausted, and practically collapsed into the water bubble Moana had made.

Te Fiti nodded, mostly to herself that she had been right about who the girl actually was.

"What was that about?!" said Maui.

Te Fiti looked to Moana. Moana stared at the now exhausted Nimue who was resting in a shallow alcove in the water.

"The lost child of the Sea Witch known as Ursula," said Moana.

Maui blinked.

"Wait... you mean the kid that jerk Triton kidnapped and then cursed so her mother would never see her again? That kid?" said Maui.

"I guess? I remember Te Fiti being incredibly angry and interceding with Poseidon over the matter, but I never got the full details," said Moana.

Either way it was likely they'd have to wait for Nimue to wake up before Te Fiti gave them any real details on the matter.