Chapter 58: Flickering Fluorescence

"Ahem~" Roger caught Daphne's hand as it wandered upward. "Stop wandering!"

"But..." Daphne's cheeks burned like a red-hot iron, and her eyes sparkled. "But you're just too cute!"

"Roger, I wish I could take a picture of you right now and turn you into a body pillow!" Daphne could barely resist the urge to hug him. Roger's delicate and pretty appearance fulfilled all her fantasies of a mermaid.

"Stop right there! I'm a boy... well, I'm a merman!" Roger solemnly warned Daphne. "Show some restraint, my dear Miss Greengrass! The potion lasts for four hours. If I haven't come up after two hours, go find a professor to save me."

Roger gave her an exasperated look, warning her not to do anything reckless. He took a deep breath and began to run a simulation in his mind.

[1] You discover the mermaid colony at the bottom of the Black Lake;
[2] The merpeople spot you and drag you back to their village;
[3] After some explanation, they determine you are a young wizard and let you go back.
... (Simulation ended)

Seeing no major issues, Roger leaned backward and plunged into the Black Lake.

"Roger! The rope..." Daphne pouted as she looked at the rope in her hand, which had slipped right off the fish tail. She hurriedly shouted, but it was too late. Roger had already vanished into the water, leaving her to watch helplessly.

"Nothing bad's going to happen, right?" She stared intently at the quiet Black Lake, praying that Roger would not encounter any danger. Glancing at the extra potion left on the shore, Daphne stamped her foot and swallowed the potion without hesitation.

In an instant, she felt a marvelous change take place in her body. She had transformed into a mermaid, and with a flick of her tail, she gracefully dived into the water.

Roger, already underwater, quickly discovered the flaw in the potion: it allowed a wizard to breathe, but not to speak. Whenever he opened his mouth, only a string of bubbles would escape.

After swimming for a little while, he spotted a dense kelp forest in the western part of the Black Lake. According to the professor, the mermaid colony was right in the center of the kelp forest.

Wagging his increasingly familiar fish tail, he slipped into the thickets of kelp, swimming inward along a distant, twinkling light. Upon creeping closer, he confirmed it was indeed the mermaid village.

The village was constructed from stones of various sizes, with yellow-haired merpeople darting in and out. They looked exactly like the sketches Professor Sprout had drawn—terrifying at first glance.

Soon, he spotted his target on the outskirts of the village: a large patch of fluorescent gigglewater swaying at the bottom of the lake. To avoid being caught by the merpeople, Roger prepared to dive down and coat himself in mud for camouflage. Before he could act, however, his head suddenly felt heavy, and he plunged into unconsciousness.

Murcus, the chieftain of the merpeople, looked at the sinking Roger, gently flicked her tail, and dragged him back to the village.

"He's awake, he's awake!" The merpeople swam in circles around him, chattering excitedly as they discussed Roger, who looked so much like a distant cousin.

They were at least seven feet tall, making the young wizard look like a newborn mer-baby by comparison. Their voices were unimaginably lovely, sounding like a soprano singing—pure and crystal clear.

"Chieftain, he's so pretty! Just a bit small, though."

"Yeah, yeah! Do you think Headmaster Dumbledore snatched him from the Caribbean?"

"Definitely! Just look at his skin and hair?" Some of the more restless merpeople began to reach out, poking here and touching there.

"Why are we so ugly?"

"You forgot, we live in cold water."

"Oh, right, right!" One of them swam over, patted Roger's smooth face, then felt her own and sighed, "The Merrow tribe in Ireland is even uglier than us."

"Enough!" Chieftain Murcus ordered them back. She was taller than the others, and her appearance was quite fierce.

"This is a young wizard from Hogwarts, not one of our kin."

Roger nodded quickly, pointing to his mouth and pulling out his wand to prove his identity.

"My, have wizards figured out a way to turn into merpeople? Does that mean we can turn into humans?"

"Have you been reading those Muggle books in the sunken ship again?"

Murcus paid no heed to the chatter of her tribesmen. She frowned and asked, "Young wizard, what is your purpose in trespassing on our territory?"

Roger opened his mouth to explain, but only a string of bubbles emerged, prompting aria-like laughter from the surrounding merpeople.

With no other choice, Roger gestured the sign for "friend" and pointed toward the patch of gigglewater over yonder, indicating that he was merely there to harvest it.

Murcus pondered for a moment, then spoke, "Follow me. The next time you trespass on our turf, I will show no mercy."

Roger nodded frantically, swearing that even if he starved to death or jumped from the Astronomy Tower, he would never come back to the mermaid village.

"Take your gigglewater and go." Murcus let Roger pluck as much as he liked, tossing him a piece of kelp to tie around his waist.

Roger bowed in thanks. The merpeople looked menacing enough, but they were reasonably friendly—at least during the ambush, they hadn't used the spears in their hands. He let out a long sigh of relief; his mission to gather gigglewater was finally complete.

Just as he was floating back up toward the surface, a merperson swam over in a great hurry.

"Chieftain, I saw a sea-demon chasing a little merman." Her yellow fins fluttered slightly as her curious gaze landed on Roger, appraising him up and down.

"Oh no, it's Daphne!" Roger reacted instantly. She must have drunk the potion and come down looking for him. He grabbed Murcus's fin, using every gesture he could muster to try and make Murcus understand that the person being chased was also a young wizard.

"You young wizards are far too troublesome. No wonder Headmaster Dumbledore is always complaining to me." Murcus looked at the bubbling Roger, her voice filled with melancholy.

She flicked her tail upward, raised the spear in her hand, and emitted a series of exquisite sound waves. The sonic waves rippled across the lake bed, stirring up concentric circles of ripples.

This was the rallying signal for the entire Selkie tribe. Under her command, the tribesmen quickly assembled, preparing to rescue the little merman. Watching their formation, Roger keenly noted that all the mermaid warriors were female. Could the Selkie tribe be a matriarchal society?

Now was not the time to study mermaid culture. Roger followed Murcus toward the direction of the sea-demon. He waved his arms, using gestures to ask the merperson beside him: How do you sense Daphne's location?

"Sound is our eyes." The merperson stroked Roger's hair, her eyes filled with envy. Those kinsmen living in warm-water regions must be just as beautiful. It was a pity they inhabited the cold Black Lake, causing their people to grow uglier by the day.

Murcus led them swiftly to find the pursuer—a colossal, terrifying black aquatic creature with a massive mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. Its tail was thick and powerful, yet as flexible as a snake.

Daphne swam for her life, but the sea-demon was closing in on her. Sensing the swirling current behind her, she screamed in terror, though only futile bubbles emerged.

"Daphne, over here!" Roger shouted anxiously, though his voice still failed to carry across.

"Young wizard, can you lure it over?" Murcus cast her gaze toward Roger, explaining her plan. "It cannot hear our voices."

Roger nodded, and the tip of his wand flashed with a brilliant light.

The dark lake bed was instantly shattered, and the water glowed with an enchanting, deep cobalt blue. The sea-demon was captivated by the sudden brightness, its primal instincts forcing it to abandon Daphne and turn toward the light source.

"Young wizard, make it brighter!" Murcus noticed the sea-demon making a turning motion and urged him on.

Roger nodded, pouring out more of his magic without reservation. The bottom of the lake lit up like a rising sun, completely banishing the long-lasting darkness of tens of thousands of years.

Grindylows, Lobalugs, phosphorescent jellyfish, and giant squids were startled awake, and the fish inside the sunken ships fled in panic toward the surface.

Murcus was filled with awe; this level of luminescence far exceeded her imagination. Meanwhile, up in Hogwarts Castle, the students saw a dazzling white glow rippling across the surface of the Black Lake and eagerly began asking around about what had happened.

"I actually expected a fierce battle," Murcus remarked with a sigh as she watched the retreating sea-demon. "What a pity it was scared off by you."

"Come, let me take you and your companion back to the surface."