The Heiress of Slytherin

Handshakes With the Giant Squid

When Ivy awoke she was giddy with excitement, but also quite anxious. Her friends bombarded her with questions about her odd behavior the whole morning, but she hardly even heard them, so they eventually gave up.

Only Blaise and Theo knew the cause for her odd mood, and they graciously distracted the rest of the group to the best of their ability, leaving Ivy in peace with her thoughts. She was to meet Galatea in the same spot by the lake as last time at midday.

After lunch she made a terrible excuse to leave, and then dashed away hurriedly, leaving an exasperated Blaise and Theo to try and explain away her weird mannerisms to their bewildered friends.

She tried to keep herself from sprinting down the hill, but her feet won the battle and soon she was flying over the grass, past the chestnut tree, around the side of the lake past the border of the forbidden forest, and finally arrived at the rock on the far side, panting wildly.

She desperately tried to regain her composure, then picked up a stone with trembling hands and tossed it into the lake. Unlike last time, Galatea surfaced their head almost immediately after the ripples started to form, and they smiled brightly at Ivy.

"Hello, little siren. Are you ready?"

Feelings of no, yes, maybe and I don't know where clamoring in Ivy's head, but she brushed them aside. Whether she was ready or not didn't matter; it was now or never. Well, it was now or next school year, but that was basically the same thing.

She smiled tightly at Galatea and nodded. She slipped off her unnecessary clothes and walked into the water slowly. She had left her wand with Blaise and Theo, as she thought it would be quite rude to bring it to a selkie colony she'd never been to before.

She was aware that the water was cold, but her body never reacted to extreme temperatures as much is other peoples did, and when it was involving water she barely even felt the difference.

Galatea was waiting for her at neck-deep depth, and they smiled kindly at her before she pulled her head under water with her eyes closed. The second the water covered the top of her head she could feel her body start to change.

Her legs felt as though they were being stretched too far, and being pulled together by an incredibly strong force. They became increasingly glued together, and she felt her feet turn out a little on the sides, now much farther down than where they'd started. On her neck she felt as though someone were peeling layers of her skin back to reveal slits that went to her neck, but it was not at all painful.

After a minute, she opened her eyes and took a deep breath, enjoying the feeling of her newly grown gills working well. She could feel them, but she knew they would be hardly visible to the naked eye. She smiled at Galatea and quickly dove further under the water, doing a quick flip. It had been so long since she'd been able to swim, and she'd missed it terribly.

Galatea caught up to her, laughing, and extended their hand with a warm smile. "Come, little siren, there is much to show you." Ivy grabbed their hand and swam on, only pausing to extend one of her fingernails into the beginnings of a claw to cut a piece of kelp they were passing, which she used to quickly tie back her hair. Flowing hair may have looked pretty, but she hated how her long hair tickled her back constantly.

Down, down, down they swam, until with a start, Ivy saw ahead of her a small, crude building of stone. It was on the floor of the lake, although Ivy suspected that the depth they were at then was not even close the the deepest part.

Galatea tugged her hand and smiled. "I wanted to start here, as it allows me to begin introducing our way of life with the small things. This is a little house that is seldom occupied, as there are several more like it. The people who own it tend to the animals on the border of the colony. There are flocks of fish and grindylows to tend to. Grindylows do not like witches and wizards, but they are more easily tamed by us selkies, and they serve as a useful defense."