It was a fine Sunday, and so Charles really wasn't in the mood for studying indoors, so wandered down to the lake. Exams started the next day, so he was getting in some last-minute studying for his first exam. Finding a tree to sit against, he sat down, getting out his book, after checking he was far enough away from the lake not to get splashed if the squid decided to get playful.

Heliotrope emerged from one of her swims, black lycra suit sleek with moisture, trailing her kelp whip behind her. Instead of the open lakeshore to the castle, she had emerged off to the side where trees began to cluster. There was a boy sitting by a tree reading a book. Heliotrope stared at him for a moment, then moved closer when she couldn't discern what he was reading.

"What is that book?" she asked.

Charles had been absorbed in his book, so couldn't see Heliotrope approaching, meaning he gave a start when he heard her. "The Charms textbook. it's only 5 days until our Charms written Final, after all, Heliotrope." Charles said, putting a bookmark in to mark his place and setting the book down.  "Been swimming in the lake?" he asked, noting the Lycra suit, not to mention the kelp whip, which she seemed to have with her a lot.

"Charms final," Heliotrope repeated. She freed her wand from where it rested snuggled between the suit and her skin. "That would use this."

"Yes," Heliotrope replied in regards to Charles' question. "I caught three fish." That was putting the kelp whip to use.

The presence of the Charms final finally catching her awareness, Heliotrope bent to look at Charles' book upside down. A few drops fell from her wet hair.

"Actually, no, it's the written, not the practical. It would use this" Charles said, pulling out a quill. It was at times like this that Charles was reminded of the fact that heliotrope was half-mermaid. then he thought through what she said next. "You caught three fish? is that what you use that kelp whip of yours for?"Charles asked. OK, it was fairly obvious, but he couldn't be sure, not knowing much about merpeople, so for all he knew, it could be to fend off the giant squid. Then he noticed Heliotrope was looking at his book, and a few drops of water were falling towards the book. He moved the book quickly to one side before the drops landed on it. "You can read the book too, but don't lean over it. If water gets on it, it'll ruin it." Charles said, hoping Heliotrope wouldn't be offended.

"Yes, I caught three fish with my kelp whip," Heliotrope confirmed. At Charles' instructions she turned, moved down the trunk until she sat beside him with a squelch, eyes still on the contents of his book. Even viewing them from the proper orientation didn't seem to help.

"I read my textbooks and practiced last month." That practice including turning Fauna Blake's pet rat into a mussel for a brief period.

"I see. It has been the subject of some speculation, since you're the only student with anything like it. though some of the rumors were obviously ridiculous."Charles said. "Where do you live when you aren't at Hogwarts, anyway?  I don't know much about the Merperson population of the UK, or where they live. the only place I know they live is this lake" Charles said, pointing at the Lake.

then Charles noticed she was still  close to the book, but fortunately, the drops of water were missing the book now. Heliotrope mentioned reading the books last month, which made Charles smile wryly. "You probably need to study more often than that, although I'll admit to being one of the most studious first-years."

"Loch Lomond, with the Loch Lomond Selkie colony," Heliotrope said. "We stay to the depths when the surface dwellers are in their boats." Although there had been occasions where Heliotrope had been mistaken as another child on holiday...a child with webbed digits but she never stuck by the tourists for long.

Charles might have intellectually known that Heliotrope had lived underwater most of her life, but that didn't exactly prepare you for the moment you truly realize it. This was such a moment, and he barely managed to conceal his surprise. And he only managed that because of his curiosity about what it was like. "What was it like? I don't know much about how Selkies live." Charles asked, his enthusiasm showing. You could probably already tell he would be taking Care of Magical Creatures when he needed to choose electives.

"We hunt for fish. There are some kelpies that cause trouble. Or grindylows. We tie up Plimpy legs when we catch them. We stake any violent creature to the bottom of the lake for a few days. We train in trident, spear or whip.We tend to gillyweed or bluepiks or magenta kelp or hinkymoss or gummits or snoodles. You can hear the mermaid chorus from the farthest shore of the loch. On clear nights we surface to see the stars. In winter we are stagnant and cluster to huts or nooks. The ice entraps us under water, though mother keeps a hole open by her island."

Heliotrope was running the length of her kelp whip through her fingers as she talked, gazing out to the far shore of the lake.

Charles was listening with rapt attention as Heliotrope talked, wondering how many other people got the chance to hear about how Selkies lived form the point of view of someone who had grown up with them. It was fascinating. "In some ways, it's not all that different to how I grew up. Though as far as weaponry training is concerned, I can only really use either my wand or a longbow. As for hunting, we do a bit, although most of our food comes from the shops. I thought gillyweed didn't grow in Britain though."Charles said, having thought that gillyweed grew in the Mediterranean.

"Our Gillyweed patch is the remains of our ancestors trips through the Trenches from the seas." All merpeople, even those adapted for freshwater, could route ancestry from the sea, one reason why merpeople communities are called colonies, since they traveled to other bodies of water. "Our colony in Loch Lomond once came to the loch when the Trench was open but it is closed. At the depths of the closed Trench there is still light and heat to warm the waters and grow the Gillyweed. Once it is matured and pick it can be stored in any water."

Her brain scrolling back on what Charles had said, she asked "You hunt with longbow in shops?" a question born of trains of thought mixed in the feedback process.

Charles couldn't help laughing at Heliotrope's question, although he quickly stopped. "No, Heliotrope. we don't use longbows in the shops. the longbows are either for sport, whne we're shooting them at targets, or for food, when we aim at some of the various animals that live near harcroft Manor. It's similar to how you fish for your food. Shops are for food you can't or don''t want to grow yourself. You do need to check the food is fresh, though.[1]" Charles said, still looking amused at Heliotrope's mistake.

1.	I very much doubt that the wizarding world uses best before dates, hence it would likely be caveat emptor on freshness.

Heliotrope stared back at him. "So there are food shops and other shops." She had scant memories of Diagon Alley. Being from a culture without an advanced economy and a half-breed, about all of her materials minus the wand were gotten via scholarship or donation. "And you go to a shop and catch what you want in the shop. The shops must kill their food too quick if it is not fresh."

"Close, but not quite. You're right about there being food shops and other shops.  You don't need to catch your food if you buy it from a shop though. To give you an example, I imagine there are merpeople better at doing certain things? and so, for example, you might trade a certain number of fish for some Gillyweed? it's similar to that, in that the food is laid out where you can simply pick it up, then you exchange something for it. In our case, galleons, sickles and knuts can be used to pay for things. Essentially, in exchange for something someone wants, they would give you a certain amount of money. The money's not useful in and of itself, but you can use the money to pay for something you want from someone else."Charles said, it was kind of hard to explain shops to someone who hasn't got a clue about the whole system. "as for shops killing their food too quick, it's not just meat. But it's more a case of shopkeepers needing to keep a certain amount of food on-hand, and it being a slow day, causing food to build up, meaning the older food becomes inedible." Charles added, still finding it difficult to explain.