I want to explain the reason behind the erratic updates on this fic. Simply put, I work in the marine industry. That means long days on the water and I can't exactly pull out my iPad and start writing in a break (breaks? What are those?). I love my job, don't get me wrong, but it's not really a sit back and relax kind of thing. It also means work comes in fits and starts, so I might go for a month without a single day off, then get either one day or a week, or maybe even a couple of months before I'm back at work for a day or another two months. I'm also studying, and working on a business start up, and on several committees and my gosh, I need another two hours in the day!

I have no plans to abandon this, and I really appreciate the concern when I go quiet for a while and it motivates me into finding a couple of hours to dit down and work on this. I also really appreciate your patience with my erratic schedule.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this, and for all of your reviews.

Bey.

Harry surfaced from the lake with a splutter, just in time for Ginny to swoop down on her broom and scoop him up from the water and deposit him ashore. Immediately, Hermione offered him a towel and his thick winter cloak whilst Theo cast several warming charms.

'It's not working.' Harry informed them frustratedly, huddling in close to the blue fire that Hermione had conjured when they first arrived at the lakeside. 'I can't get it to hold long enough without your help.'

'I'm not surprised.' Hermione pursed her lips.

'It's just… you managed it when you were eleven!'

'True… but I was only twenty meters or so deep.' Hermione pointed out. 'It's obviously going to get harder as the water pressure increases.'

'Did you see anything interesting though?' Theo asked, already holding a self-inking quill poised over the map to the Mer city that they were working on. Harry nodded, describing an odd rock formation and a patch of long weed that he was pretty sure would hide hinkypunks. Theo added them to the map in roughly the described spots.

'Are you sure I can't just turn myself into a fish?' Harry asked. Both Hermione and Theo rolled their eyes and didn't even deign that with an answer. 'Or I could become an animagus. I've still got time.'

'Of course, and you'll do incredibly well swimming into the middle of the Mer city as a salmon.' Hermione scoffed sarcastically at the suggestion and Ginny snickered.

'Oi! I might be a shark.' Harry protested. The statement was met with universally raised eyebrows.

'We'll just have to hope that Lady Longbottom's gillyweed crop survives this time.' The ginger witch deduced.

They'd been lucky enough to have no trouble deciphering the clue inside the golden egg - there was a Mer city built into the docks at Avalon and Harry had once had the misfortune to have to mediate between Apophis and the Mer King after the basilisk had eaten one of their hippocampi. In the snake's defence, the beast had escaped it's owner and had been swimming in the shallows near her cave. Either way, Harry was more than familiar with the screeches of Mer above water and had known to take the egg underwater. From there, it was a simple conclusion that Hermione would be the one to go missing, as his only family member and the leader he'd sworn to protect. And so Harry was forced to figure out a way to swim down to the Mer city in the lake without the assistance of the sect (assuming Hermione would be unconscious, and therefore unable to control the magic.) Unfortunately, when it came to maintaining the bubble head charm for extended periods at such depths, it was becoming obvious that Harry had run up against the exact disadvantage that he'd joined the sect to avoid; he just didn't have the magical power yet to manage it. Perhaps, in three years, if he was as old as the others, but certainly not at fourteen.

'Why does he have to be the one to rescue you?' Theo suddenly asked.

'What?'

'Why does it have to be Harry swimming down? It doesn't actually say that it has to be him doing the rescuing.' The Slytherin elaborated.

'I'm not allowed assistance. It has to be me.' Harry spoke slowly but Hermione could see thoughts racing behind his eyes.

'Theo's right.' Hermione realised. 'You have to solve the task without assistance, but persuading the Mer to give me back is still solving the task.'

'You do realise Mer hate wizards?' Neville confirmed, one eyebrow raised sceptically.

'Gellert was friends with the Mer once…'

'I thought the Mer were savages?' Ginny asked uncertainly, holding up the defence against the dark arts book she'd been reading. It was a dry guide on dealing with aqueous pests, both muggle and magical, remarkable only because of the variety of creatures covered.

'No more than centaurs.' Hermione corrected her sharply. The traditional European wixen society had suffered from deep divisions in class and wealth, but at least they'd been able to recognise the worth of other Centaurs were wise and more in tune with nature and it's rhythms than wixen could ever hope to be and it was common practice to consult with them before performing particularly finicky rituals. Goblins were frighteningly intelligent and master craftsmen, even before they held the wixen economy in their clawed hands and both Lady Grindelwald and Mordred had always cautioned her to be respectful and cautious around them. Little was known about the Mer, compared to the land dwelling beings, but she could see how they'd been interpreted as savage and violent creatures, considering that most interactions between them and wizards included wizards attacking them to try to harvest their priceless scales and hair. Gellert, however, had described them as calm and gentle, with a remarkable potions ability and a complex society hidden beneath the crushing depths.

'They saved Gellert's life once, because he rode a Kelpie.' She added.

There was a moment of silence, then…

'Hermione… we don't have a Kelpie.'

'Don't we?' She asked. 'Kelpie and Katana shared a bond, as close as mine and Gellert's. He might be able to find him.'

'It's been a hundred years.' Ginny pointed out, 'how do you even know he's still alive?'

Hermione was becoming more enthusiastic about the idea by the minute, however.

'Kelpies are drawn to Mer folk, and Kelpie knew that there was a Mer village at the bottom of the Durmstrang fjord. Gellert was expelled from Durmstrang and sent to England. Godric's Hollow is a mixed settlement, so he couldn't have taken Kelpie there. He must have released him at Durmstrang.'

'But Hermione, it's been a century. The probability of a Mer colony surviving that long so close to a wizarding settlement…'

'Yeah, how do you know he didn't get him back after he left Godric's Hollow?' Neville added.

Hermione paused, then tossed her hair.

'I'll ask Dumbledore.'

'You'll ask Dumbledore?' Harry echoed sceptically. 'Dumbledore isn't going to help you.'

'He might?' Hermione drummed her fingers against her leg. 'If I give him something else. I mean, it's not like he'd believe the whereabouts of Gellert's pet to be particularly interesting.'

'Newt Scamander.' Theo suddenly interrupted. 'Newt Scamander would help you. He would know if Grindelwald ever rode a kelpie, and I bet he'd help you find it.'

There was a moment of silence, then…

'Theo, you're a genius!'

Wordlessly, the Nott Heir passed her the quill that he'd been using, along with the heavy potions textbook that he'd been using as a writing desk. The High Priestess began composing a letter.

'Offer to let him study Cavella too.' Theo suggested. 'And I bet that will seal the deal.'