Today was Saturday, and under the invisibility spell, I was currently standing in front of the shore of the Black Lake.

I had been standing on the shore for a couple of minutes now, because of one difficult question.

{Should I summon a monster?}

While I could swim normally, and even use Arcane Step to propel myself underwater, it wasn’t the same as using a monster or even a normal aquatic animal to use as a transport.

The thing is…

{I don’t know if it is a good idea to summon a monster that may be taken as a completely new magical creature…}

After investigating for a little bit, I found out that the merpeople inside the lake were a really intelligent species. Just like humans or centaurs.

I knew they could talk from the movies, but the thing is that I don’t know if they have any connection with the teachers at Hogwarts.

{As far as I know, they may as well know Dumbledore… And probably even be able to talk to him. Me asking for the cursed vaults might not be something to worry about, but appearing all of a sudden with a monster that they don’t recognize… That’s a whole new story.}

After debating for a while, I finally decided to go in the water by myself.

“I’m sure that I’ll be safe...” I muttered as I went into the water.

Using the bubble-head charm, a bubble covered my whole head and provided me with an unlimited source of oxygen.

As my vision was unrestricted underwater thanks to my Arcane Eyes, I could swim normally.

{Now… Let’s look for the merpeople.} I thought as I swam.

While my plan was to look for them, I could confidently say that I was completely lost. As I had no idea of where the merpeople were.

My best choice was to actually look around until I finally found some kind of information on where they could be.

{Now that I think about it… Will I be able to speak to them?}

At least in the movies, one of the merpeople talked to Harry, and it seemed like she could be understood.

“They also looked as if they lived in ruins or something like that... Well, let’s see once I reach the place.” I muttered as I made my way through the lake. Lamenting not searching more in-depth about where the hell this colony was found.

***

Time passed, and after fifteen minutes of swimming without direction, I finally got a lead on where to find them.

{Or well, the lead got me instead...} I smiled awkwardly as I looked at the spear pointing at me.

“Umm...” I tried to speak as calmly as possible. “I was looking for the colony of merpeople?”

The merman in front of me answered in a strange language that I haven’t heard about, but it seems like he was trying to shout at me.

{So that’s mermish...} I thought for a moment, trying my best not to lose my calm in front of this merman that looked to be more than 2 meters tall.

“Um… I’m not hostile?” I tried to calm him. “I just want to ask something...”

Once again the merman spoke in his strange language that I couldn’t understand.

“Ok… This isn’t working at all...” I muttered with an awkward smile. “Um, is there a merperson who can speak English…?”

“...” Looking at me silently, the merman put down the spear and frowned.

He spoke something, but seemed frustrated that I couldn’t understand him, so instead of trying to speak, he pointed at me and then pointed at somewhere behind him.

{Is he asking me to follow him?} I thought for a moment, and it seems I was right because he started to swim towards where he pointed at.

“Do you want me to follow?” I asked just in case, and this made the merman turn around.

He once again said something to me and motioned me to come over.

{That’s a yes then...} I thought as I started to follow him.

I must say that it was hard trying to follow a merman underwater, but the two-meter-tall guy thankfully swam slowly to let me keep up with him.

We swam for a while until we finally made it into a part of the lake that took my breath away.

“Wow...”

Once we reached what seemed to be the colony of merpeople, I was completely fascinated. They had a lot of caves that seemed to be their houses and were more organized than I would even expect. There were some ruins underwater too, which gave quite an ancient look to the place.

{This isn’t like what they showed in the movies... Well, not that we saw much from it.} I thought as I looked all around to the multiple merpeople that swam around the place. Some of them looked at me, while others simply ignored me.

They had greyish skin, and their hair looked like thin, green tentacles or algae. Some of the mermen had beards, while the mermaids had more wild-looking hair.

What I could notice though, was that all of them had a really wild stare, and some even seemed to frown once they looked at me.

{Am I not welcome?} I thought while smiling awkwardly.

After a little while, we reached what seemed to be some kind of squire that indeed looked to be from some kind of underwater ruins.

Once there, the merman that I’ve been following pointed at the floor of the square.

“Do you want me to go there?” I asked, but again without an answer.

With a frown, the merman pointed again.

“Okay, got it, got it...” I muttered as I swam down towards the plaza, standing over it. {It’s weird to be standing here as if I was on the ground...}

While I looked around me and focused on the ruins, it seemed like the merman went somewhere else, because he suddenly disappeared.

Though not for much, as he soon came back with a group of merpeople, all following a single mermaid who had a wilder and more savage look than any of the others I’ve seen here. And she had some kind of crown on her head.

{Is this their chief?} I thought for a moment. {She looks quite like the one in the movies… But I can’t be sure, my memory's a little bit fuzzy and a lot of mermaids look somewhat similar...}

As I was trying to remember if she looked like the one in the movies, the one I assumed was the chief of the colony stopped in front of me.

“What is a student from Hogwarts doing here?” The mermaid asked with a frown.

“Um...” I scratched the back of my head through the bubble. “Hi, your majesty?”

“I’m indeed this colony’s chieftainess.” The merwoman said. “But I just asked you a question, young wizard. What are you doing here?”

“I’m trying to look for a place that holds some kind of curse...”

“What?” The eyes of the mermaid opened wide. “A cursed place? In my colony? Stop playing around, wizard.”

At her growl, I could only smile awkwardly.

“It’s… I doubt you know, but in Hogwarts, there have been some curses going on… They’re tied to some places called cursed vaults.”

“And what does it have to do with the Black Lake, young wizard?”

“Well… I think that one of these vaults, the last one actually, might be here, somewhere in the Black Lake...”

The merwoman in front of me frowned at my words, but it seems like she might be considering something.

“There might be a place like that...” She said, but then suddenly turned to look at me. “But why should I help you, kid? It’s not like the curse is affecting my colony.”

“I know...” I tried to look for words that would convince her, but I’m pretty sure that there’s nothing that I could say to her that would be a good incentive. “But… I really need to find that place. There’re students and teachers back at Hogwarts that are being petrified because of this vault.”

“Once again, wizards’ problems are for them to resolve.” She said. “I don’t have any reason to help you, young wizard. Not when I don’t even know who you are.”

“But!-”

“You heard the queen!” Suddenly, a merman swam close and interrupted me with a shout.

{It seems the queen it’s not the only one who speaks English...} I thought while looking at the guy that just interrupted me.

I’ve noticed it before, but all merpeople looked quite tall, no matter if they’re women or men.

“Please, just guide me to the place. I won’t ask for any more help. I just need to know where it is, and see if it might be the last cursed vault.”

“You’re overstepping your boundaries here, young wizard.” The merman said with a glare. “You didn’t even ask for our permission and just came into the lake like it was your place.”

“Look, I’m sorry! I really didn’t know that, but I swear I’m not doing it to wrong you or upset your people.”

“You’re upsetting us already.”

“Enough.” The merqueen said as she swam in front. “I’ve already heard what you had to say, kid. Now go back to Hogwarts, before I tell Dumbledore about this.”

“You know him?”

“He’s a friend of our colony.” She nodded. “And I know that you, students, are not allowed to come into the lake.”

“But if he’s your friend, then why are you not helping me! I’m trying to solve the school’s curse.”

At my words, the merqueen just shook her head.

“Dumbledore is our friend, but he hasn’t asked for our help, so he must be able to solve this problem by himself. Unless he does, I don’t think that I’ll be helping some unknown student.”

“But-”

“I said that it was enough. Now leave, kid.” She frowned with a glare.

At her words, the merpeople that were around her, raised their spears, some of them even had tridents.

{Damn… These guys are not cooperating!} I thought.

It seems like my anger was showing on my face, even under the big bubble that would make it look weird.

“On what right do you think you can be glaring at our queen!?” Said the merman as he raised his spear and pointed it towards me.

“I don’t want to fight.” I said while stepping back, taking out my wand.

“Then leave.” The merqueen said with a glare. “I already told you that we won’t help you.”

“Why are you so obstinate!? I’m just telling you to tell me where that place is, and that’s it!”

“Stop your insolence!” The merman shouted.

“What if we duel?” I glared at him. “If I win, you tell me where the place you think might be the last vault is. And if you win, well, you do what you want to. Tell Dumbledore, or whatever.”

“And why would I accept, young wizard?” The merqueen said as she strengthened the grip on her trident. “I don’t win anything from it.”

“And why would you decline? Is it that you’re afraid of a simple child?” I said with a frown.

The merqueen frowned and looked at me for a moment. She stared straight into my eyes for a moment that felt like an eternity before she smirked.

“I’ll accept your duel.” She said while crossing her arms. “IF. You accept my condition.”

I looked at the merqueen while frowning. Trying to think what condition would she put on the duel.