By Adaia Swordmaiden
Disclaimer: Not mine. Bugger.
Chapter 3: Mermaids and moons
Guinivere hurried down the staircase and across the Entrance Hall. A quick, murmured spell caused a section of the huge doors to disappear and then reappear once she was outside. She practically ran across the grounds to the lake and plunged in. She gasped for air as she resurfaced, her pyjamas streaming with water. Her cloak was discarded on the bank beneath a tree.
"What are you doing here at this time, human?" Guinivere jumped and turned at the sound of the musical voice. She saw a youngish-looking girl with grey skin and long, wild green hair. She wore thick ropes of pebbles around her neck. Behind her, the water churned slightly and Guinivere caught sight of a silvery-green tail. The girl was a mermaid. The mermaid smiled slightly, revealing yellowed broken teeth in the waning but bright moonlight.
"I love to swim," Guinivere replied and the mermaid's eyes widened.
"I knew of only one who spoke the Merpeople's language," the mermaid said, swimming closer. "My name is Murcus, daughter of Mer-Cheiftan Moriarty. What is your name, human?"
"Guinivere, daughter of Anteia of the North Sea," Guinivere replied. Murcus smiled.
"'tis always a pleasure to meet a cousin," she said. "Why are you here, so inland and living in a human dwelling?"
"My father is of the wizarding race and my mother died when I was much younger," Guinivere said, tears trickling down her cheeks. Murcus swam right up to her and patted her on the shoulder.
"I am sorry for you," she said. "But walks at night on these grounds are not such a good thing. There is a strange creature that roams here once a moon. It is dangerous." Guinivere frowned thoughtfully.
"Well it was nice to meet you, Murcus," she said.
"'twas good to meet you too." The mermaid turn and, with a splash and a swirl of the waters of the lake, was gone. Guinivere turned and began to wade to shore, thinking over Murcus' warning. She was silent and thoughtful as she cast a simple Drying Charm on her pyjamas and, donning her cloak, made her way back into the castle. But just as she reached the top of the stairs a grey shadow flitted out and began to meow loudly.
"Hello," Guinivere murmured, bending to pet the scraggly grey cat. It purred suddenly and rubbed against her hand. Then she straightened up and moved on again. The cat ran in the other direction and, the moment that she was in the shadows and climbing into a secret passageway behind a tapestry James had shown her, there was another loud meow.
"What is it, my sweet?" Guinivere froze at the sound of the man's voice. "Any students wandering out of bed?" Another meow. "No? Ah well…" Footsteps moved on and faded. Letting out her breath, Guinivere ran up the passageway and on until she reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.
"Phosphorescence," she panted and climbed through the portrait hole once the painting had sleepily swung forwards.
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Guinivere yawned as she wandered into the Great Hall. She sat down at the Gryffindor table and pulled some pancakes onto her plate.
"Sleep well? You don't look like it." Guinivere jumped at Lily's voice. She hadn't realised that she was sitting next to the red-head.
"No," she muttered in reply as she began to spread butter on the pancakes. "I couldn't get to sleep until a few hours ago."
"Poor you. Well we've got Herbology first up," Lily said sympathetically. Guinivere nodded and got a mug of water. Muttering a charm over the mug, she put down her wand and peered into the mug. Then she took a sip. "Coffee?" Lily raised an eyebrow. Guinivere nodded with a grimace, looking considerably more awake.
"It tastes horrible but it helps wake me up," she muttered, beginning her attack on her pancakes. About five minutes later, three equally sleepy-looking boys entered and practically collapsed at the table, dragging various foodstuffs towards them.
"Morning," Guin said to them over her coffee. She only got sleepy, mumbled replies.
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The new Herbology Professor, Professor Sprout, reached the Greenhouses five minutes after class should have started.
"Sorry to keep you all waiting," she said as she unlocked Greenhouse 3. "In you all go and don't touch anything. Miss Adair, Mr Lupin, could you wait outside?" Puzzled and curious, Guinivere and Remus stayed where they were while the rest of the class, equally curious, filed in. "You two are excused from the lesson," Sprout said, pulling out of her robes pocket two strips of paper. "If you're asked why you're not in class, just show this." And she disappeared into the Greenhouse. Remus and Guinivere looked at each other and shrugged in unison.
"I'm going to the library," Guinivere murmured, half to herself, as she began to head back to the castle. "Finish off that Potions essay and start on the Transfiguration one."
"I'll come too," Remus said as he caught up.
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"Done," Guinivere sighed as she finally set down her quill and glanced at her watch. "I can't believe it was that easy." She closed the lid on her inkbottle and began putting away her stuff.
"Mmhm…" replied Remus, who had finished a little earlier. He was now reading a book on magical plants. "Listen to this. 'The Sanege plant is much like a muggle Venus Fly-Trap. It will eat any small creatures that land on it and, when they are not available, will drink the blood of any passing creatures, though more often that of magical creatures.'" Remus looked up. "That was the plant we were going to study today. I know I'm allergic to them but what about you?"
"Uh, I," Guinivere stuttered. Suddenly she stood up and swept the remaining things of hers off her desk and into her bag. "I have to go." She turned and ran out of the library. Remus stared after her, confused.
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The huge grey wolf stood slightly crouched, yellow eyes fixed on the large black dog, not unlike an image of the Grim, opposite it.
The dog growled softly and the wolf relaxed slightly. Then a young stag galloped up behind the dog. Perched precariously on an antler was a rat. Fighting instinct, the wolf turned and began to lope through the forest, the stag and dog following. Eventually, the four animals reached the forest's edge and found a huge castle, silhouetted by the full moon, before them. To the right of it they could see a large lake.
From the wolf came a low, bloodthirsty growl as its yellow eyes fixed on a dark, cloaked figure standing waist-deep in the lake. Then it sprang forwards, running towards the figure in the lake.
The stag started after the wolf letting loose a loud, warning bugle as it galloped, the rat leaping off its antlers and the dog running by the stag's side. The dog barrelled into the wolf and quickly leaped out of reach of the wolf's snaps. It was about to lunge for the canine again when-
"Oi! Over here!" The wolf stopped and turned to see a terrified looking boy standing near the forest's edge. Much closer than the lake. The wolf charged towards the boy, who turned and disappeared into the trees. The dog ran after the stag, which had just reached the water's edge and was chasing after the cloaked person who seemed to be trying to run further into the lake.
The stag caught up with the person, knocking them over with a swing of its snout. The dog bounded in and there was suddenly a boy catching the person. He heaved the person onto the stag's back.
"Ahh!" the person, obviously a girl from the voice, screamed and tried to slip off the stags back but the boy leapt on, holding her firmly on.
"Go Prongs!" he said loudly and the stag began to gallop out of the lake and to the castle. They reached the steps and the girl managed to get off and run into the castle through a hole that she conjured. The boy slid off the stag's back and made for the doors but the hole disappeared. He sighed and in the blink of an eye there was the black dog in his place. The stag and the dog headed for the forest again.
A/N: sorry it's taken so long - I had the first two chapters all written before I posted the story up and I had writers block for this chappie.
elise bentwin: yup, you're right! Guinivere's being at Hogwarts is a lot of the plot! Lol, I thought the feather-and-cream thing was funny too.
The Paollai: Lol, I couldn't help it. I think McGonagall is always funniest when she's practically a Marauder as a kid.
Red-Devi115: Lol! I'm always surfing the net when I'm supposed to be doing schoolwork.
Cookies and thankies to all of you!