Curious Little Creatures Open for 1 Closed

@Piper Bancroft

It was brisk, borderline chilly day. Snow was on the ground, and from his perch in Gryffindor tower, Piérre could see that the Great Lake was even beginning to freeze over ever so slightly. Of course, it would be too thin to skate on quite yet, but that took nothing away from the beauty of delicate swirls of semi-frozen ice on its surface which he was punching a hold in with a closed fist, not caring for the knifelike cold which shot through his fist.

Reducio

Rolled a d4 to determine house color for the day:
1- Hufflepuff
2- Ravenclaw
3- Gryffindor
4- Slytherin

Number Rolled: 3
Gryffindor

Piérre snuggled further into his red inseamed coat, pulling out a pair of scarlet gloves to cover his hands. Having come from Italy, near the equator, he was not quite used to the chills of England, even though he had lived in the area for nearly five years now. However, there were some pros to living in the area, specifically the tiny flakes of ice which fell form the sky at this time of season. It was a chilly day, but a pleasant one, and Piérre thought that a little peace and quiet would be good for him. Fresh air and calm lapping water for a troubled troublemaker’s mind. He had to find Deathmote again. He had been very late in keeping his promise, and he had to remember the honor of his name, which he had vowed away, whether in impulsivity or bravery he had no clue.

Consumed in such unimportant thoughts he was snapped form his daze when a small voice met him.

“Excuse me! I’m sorry to bother you, but you wouldn’t happen to know what this little thing is, would you?”

Piérre snapped his head up, standing from his crouched position to glance at the girl, who had bright blonde hair and donned a black and yellow scarf. Piérre didn’t have to endure to guess that she was a Hufflepuff. As far as he knew he was the only student who was renowned for changing his house colors on a whim. She was offering him a small, bright smile, and Piérre eagerly returned the gesture, jogging towards her quickly as he noticed what she was indicating to.

”Sure! Let me take a look!” He chirped happily, looking down to look at the odd creature. It was a small thing, but bore uncharacteristically pointed teeth and curling claws. It looked like some sort of water grindylow at first glance? Piérre wasn’t in Study of Magical Creatures yet, and truth be told, had no tiny idea of what this thing was.

Storytime.

”Whoah! That’s so cool!” Piérre clapped his hands excitedly, as if realizing for the first time what the being was. Truth be told, he was quite excited, even if he knew what the thing was. ”Is that a baby mermaid?! Wow! How many of them are there in this lake?! I’ve heard rumors, but never realized they were true! You’re so lucky!” He smiled up at the girl, his shockingly green eyes twinkling with mischief. ”I’ve been wanting to see one of these guys forever!” He grinned broadly again, nodding to the creature.

@Piérre Marchonné

It was good fortune, really, that the boy had been so receptive to her request. Piper knew entirely well that her boldness could be off putting, a lesson she’d learned from having a few too many muggle children furrow their brows and turn up their noses when she’d opened conversations by sharing facts about insects none of them and ever seen or babbling about the prank (only slightly mean-spirited) that she’d played on Theodore’s most recent girlfriend. The train of thought made an odd feeling blossom in Piper’s gut, and it took her a moment to realize it was because of how easily, casually, she’d used the word muggle.

It was still a new addition to her vocabulary. She’d been entirely at a loss the first time the Hogwarts representative had thrown around all the terms, particularly when it came to the blood types. If two half-bloods wed and had a baby, would it be pure-blood? But there was still muggle blood in the family line, so wouldn’t that mean that they couldn’t possibly be pure-blooded? What if it was a half-blood and a pure-blood? Did that create another half-blood or a pure-blood? Wouldn’t a three-fourths blood be more accurate? How did muggle-borns even happen? Could magic spontaneously form in a person, or did there have to magic blood somewhere in their background? It all seemed far too overly simplified, when there were so many other possibilities for lineage outside of the ones that muggle-born, half-blood, and pure-blood seemed to imply.

Not that any of that mattered right now. What mattered at the moment was figuring out the heritage of the funny little creature bobbing in the water below them, glaring up at her like she was the cause of all evil in the world, and Piper’s smile broaden as the boy trotted over to assist her in doing so. Once he reached her, Piper dropped back down into her crouch, tilting her head as though knowledge of the creature’s species would pop into her head if she saw it from a different angle.

The boy’s sudden delight caught her off guard, and she glanced between him and the unknown creature, trying to figure out just what it was that delighted him so much.

“Is that a baby mermaid?! Wow! How many of them are there in this lake?! I’ve heard rumors, but never realized they were true! You’re so lucky!”

Piper blinked a few times, then looked back down at the bizarre creature, squinting a little bit. Well. If that was a mermaid, The Little Mermaid had certainly led her astray. There was no flowing, vibrantly colored hair or clear, smooth skin to be found, and she had her doubts that it could sing.

“How funny!” Piper hummed thoughtlessly, always trusting to the point of being gullible, one of her more apparent shortcomings. (You’d think, being such a good liar, she would have learned to spot them better.) “That’s not at all what I thought a mermaid would like. I thought they’d be much...prettier.” Then, to the creature, who probably couldn’t even hear her, “No offense.” She wrapped her arms around her knees and leaned in a little closer, eyeing the creature for a moment longer and then turning her wide-eyed gaze back up to the boy. “Are all magical creatures so silly looking?” she asked with a small laugh, raising one hand to shield her eyes from the sun.

@Piper Bancroft

The girl’s humming caused Piérre to smile wider. Evidently, either through his sheer charisma or the fact that he already had a hint that this girl was probably Muggle raised, she believed him. Maybe he would tell her eventually that the creature was probably a Gryndylow or something, but for now, it seemed to be a good point for starting a conversation.

“That’s not at all what I thought a mermaid would like. I thought they’d be much...prettier. Are all magical creatures so silly looking?”

The girl asked after whispering a small apology to the water creature. Piérre smiled and waved a hand, chuckling lightheartedly. ”That’s just the baby, remember? When they grow up, they rival the beauty of some Veelas! They’re usually depicted by sailors as the creatures that most Muggles know and love, but... they don’t really talk in the same language as us as in ‘The Little Mermaid’.” Piérre nodded to the creature. ”I always wondered why they looked the way they did, but now I think it’s because of something called Darwin’s law of evolution or survival or something... I was never good at science...” Piérre rubbed his nose, which was pinking and turning numb in the cold.

He looked out over the lake, which seemed only a little choppy, but still smooth and placid as it had been when he had first come to the school in the magical gondolas. So unlike the way the lake thrashed and churned when the boat from Durmstrang had come and taken Romeo to the far north. True, even though Piérre got to write him letters and keep in contact, that didn’t compare to the physical touch he desired and the heartache he felt whenever he through of his twin’s bright smile and dry sense of humor.

”No, not all creatures look this funny. I’ve heard, for one, that there are adult mermaids that live in this lake, and there are unicorns and thestrals that live in the Forbidden Forest. All of them are very pretty, even though I’ve only ever seen pictures of them.” Piérre sighed deeply before realizing how rude he was being. ”Oh! I’m so sorry, I don’t think we’ve met, school’s crazy you know? What’s your name?”