Saturdays were always good; well almost always. And Oskar Albercht had  a smile across his face as he simply relaxed in the entrance yard. For all he enjoyed learning about magic everyone liked a break once in a while. He was trying to get away from everyone and just think. He wasn't hidding as such but time alone with ones thoughts is always useful. In his, very large, half giant, was a stick of wood about 8 inches long. It was not, as some would likely guess from a distance, his wand. Infact it was his paintbrush. He had forgotten he had it in his jean pocket so when he left the Hufflepuff Common Room he unknowingly brought it with him. The 7'6'' 14 year old loved to paint. After Caring for animals, Caring for plants and Quiditich it was his favourite pastime; though lately it was ousting quditich for third place.

With his eyes closed he was moving his brush back and forth in the air. In his mind he was planning his next painting. It was his twin sisters ridding a pure white unicorn. His brush strokes were gentle and deliberate, and he even moved the brush from his imaginary canvas to imaginary paint of many colours. The yellow of his sisters hair, the white of the unicorn and the mix of green and brown for the ground under the unicron's hoofs. He smiled as he could see his sisters faces emerge in his mind.

When he had finished the painting he stood up. People moved out of his way as he did and a knot grew in his stomach. His great size was the complete opposite of his personality; he was a true Hufflepuff. However most people never gave him a chance. They simply assumed that someone with giant blood had to be some kind of dim witted, child eating brute. It was that sort of stereotype he wanted to disprove. But now, in the  middle of a warm Saturday afternoon, was not the time or place to do so. Putting his fellow students beliefs into the back of his mind he decided to go for a walk in the grounds.

He covered much more ground with each stride than most of his fellows and within seconds he had crossed the courtyard. As he was about to enter the grounds however he felt a solid object and realised he had knocked into someone, he was rather clumsy after all. He offered the person a hand. "I'm so sorry. I didn't see you there. Are you hurt?"

Warm Saturdays, signs of an approaching summer. And what was Heliotrope's method of body temperature regulation? Swimming of course.

She tread a familiar path from the Hufflepuff common room, through the entrance hall and into the courtyard. A routine angle would lead her to the shortest section of the grounds down to the lake. The routine was interrupted by the sudden obstacle of a mountain of flesh and clothing that cut across her path. Caught unawares, Heliotrope was sent sprawling along the cobblestones. Oddly, no sound escaped her lips as she flopped about like a thrown rag doll.

There was a hand bigger than her face above her eyes. It could pick up her head like an orange. "I'm so sorry. I didn't see you there. Are you hurt?"

"I am not injured," replied Heliotrope. She'd suffered worse scrapes when she was first learning how to climb stairs. After a moment she realized the hand was offered to help her up. Her own webbed fingers could not circumnavigate the wrist of the helpful hand.

"Good," he replied. The girl on the floor seemed to be a First Year. Oskar glanced to her hand and saw that it was webbed. His first thought was that the hand looked rather odd and sickly but a second or so after that his knot formed in his stomach. He felt guilty for thinking that about a girl he had only just met. Being a half-giant there were many stereotypes that haunted him and he didn't want to judge a book by it's cover. After his first thought his second was that must be good for swimming.

"Wait. I think I have seen you before; your a Hufflepuff right? Me too." Oskar's large hand smoothed down his clothes as he introduced himself. "I am Oskar Albercht." His accent was a mix of typical english and a hint of his father's German.

Realising that her hand was rather tiny he took hold of her lower forearm and pulled her up. Oskar was as gentle as he could be and he hoped she hadn't hurt her. Oskar often worried about hurting those around him. It's quite easy to hurt someone, without meaning to of course, when your as large as Oskar. He had harmed his step-mother and father many times without any malice behind it; once or twice he had caused his beloved sisters harm too.

Since the start of the year Oskar had heard rumours that a young Hufflepuff had started Hogwarts. There was nothing strange about that but they said that she was some kind of sea person. Oskar assumed they meant Merepeople. He had read books about the mysterious under water world of the Merpeople. And he found them both incredibly interesting and rather dangerous.