Chapter 40: Diving In Again

"When did you ever mention about a Lake Vault?"

Simon noticed all his friends drilling holes into him with their gaze.

"Remember the Halloween performance about some freak accident at the lake two years ago and a lot of us Ravenclaws went snooping? While finding the notebook and learning about the Ice Vault and I learned there was a Lake Vault but there was really little information about it plus the Ice Vault stuff was wayyy more interesting…" Simon frantically explained, then remembered Sharon was with them, "You guys know why the Ice Vault stuff was more interesting!"

Simon continued, "Anyways I went for a swim in the Lake and tried to chat up some merpeople to learn more about the Lake Vault but I essentially was just given a general history lesson of their colony and was told to stay away from the vault. The thing about the wards is a super long story involving stuff I learned from Chinese wizards…anyways I will explain it all later, let us save Fred first!"

"Fine, but you really have A LOT of explaining to do," Phoebe stated, emitting the same deadly energy when she was rushing to meet a deadline, but ten times worse, "Cedric, Row, Sharon and George, go find professors for help. Row, take Sharon to the infirmary afterwards to get checked. Simon and I are going into the lake to do what we can before the professors arrive."

"WHY CAN'T I GO?" George demanded, staring daggers at Phoebe and clenching his jaw anxiously, "And why are just you and Simon going?"

"Because you are clearly too emotional to. I trust Cedric to keep an eye on you while Sharon is needed to tell her story and someone needs to take Sharon to the hospital wing after," Phoebe calmly explained, with the same tone as when she relayed orders in a maze quest.

"Someone needs to go into the lake in case the professors take too long. Simon needs to go because he clearly knows the most about what is going on, seems to be able to 'chat up' merpeople and has an occamy," Phoebe continued, "As for me, someone needs to be there to keep an eye on Simon. He is the type who could get himself killed."

"This makes sense to me," Cedric quickly agreed, "Come on George, Sharon, Row – let's find the professors."

Cedric gave Simon and Phoebe a meaningful look as he pulled the other three with him. "𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘤𝘦" was what his eyes seemed to say. "Mitty, take us to the Headmaster's office!"

Phoebe and Simon sprinted as those three popped away.

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The dark silhouette of the merpeople colony came into view as Simon and Phoebe drew closer to the most hidden crevices of the Great Lake. If not for the bubble head charms and warming charms Simon casted on himself, Phoebe and Raze, Phoebe was certain they would be feeling very different in this very moment.

"𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘚𝘪𝘮𝘰𝘯."

Grey reptilian figures with yellow eyes drew close to the children. Phoebe noticed a specific merperson holding an elaborately designed spear and wearing headdress moving towards Simon. It was safe to assume this was their leader.

"𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘦𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘦."

The voice sounded like Simon's yet strangely foreign, like he was speaking English with italics and cursive. Phoebe did not know how else to explain this phenomenon and knew she needed to ask Simon after all this how he learned Mermish.

"𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘦𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘭𝘭-𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘦𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘯 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦."

"𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘥, 𝘔𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘧𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘔𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘶𝘴! 𝘏𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯!"

The Merchieftainess paused, her eyes softening for a brief second, then spoke again, "𝘈𝘴 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦, 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦. 𝘈𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦, 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘳 𝘯𝘰𝘵, 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘰. 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴."

"𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵," Simon replied, "𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘺."

Raze suddenly shot out of Simon's robes and hissed a string of strange sounds. Phoebe noticed the area around her appear to darken at a frightening pace. A large tentacle suddenly patted the Merchieftainess on her shoulder.

"Let's go!" Simon shouted, grabbing Phoebe's arm, "Raze's friend is going to bide us some time!"