"Professor, merpeople can sing very beautifully underwater and breathe air for short periods of time." Hitachi said with his hand up.

"And merrows are said to leave their outer skins behind, to assume others more magical and beautiful." Xana said, wondering if this is what the teacher meant.

"These are all very good, two points each. This information can pretty much tells us that merpeople are indeed complex creatures. Anymore?"


"Any sort of abilities, powers, talents" Fabian trailed off thoughtfully, "tell me whatever you read or heard about?".


ooc: you can be creative if you like, god knows i love creativity =)

"Er, professor," Rapunzel perked up a little and waved her hand in the air. "I've heard legends of merpeople being rather...belligerent towards humans and very protective of their underwater villages. And I heard they can make sophisticated weapons as well as domesticate water demons, like a hippocampus or a lobalug. Is this true?" She cocked one eyebrow, slightly curious about the answer.

Anna raised her hand again. "I've heard that merpeople can live for thousands of years. They also make very strong fighters," she explained.

Amelia listened as the other students talked of some of the abilities that merpeople have. She wasn't really sure of anything at the moment, other than this story that was lingering in the back of her mind. "Well Professor, I've heard that merpeople also have the ability to leave for thousands of years. Another thing that is interesting to note is that merpeople are classified by the ministry as 'beasts' because they want to be. But they cannot do magic like wizards and witches can, which makes me wonder if perhaps merpeople might be squibs that have adapted?"

Agie raised her hand again. "Hmmm, I heard they are very sensitive, so if you insult them or help their feelings, be afraid. Be very afraid. The might hold you hostage or try to drown you. You never know with these creatures." Agie giggled. "The also get insulted if you call them beasts. I personally would love to see how they would react. Maybe we could organise a group to go to the lake and call them beasts. The speak mermish, but personally i think it is all gibberish and they are just making it up to sound more intelligent. and if that fails we can capture one and I'll keep it as a bet. " She laughed.

Hitachi thought and pulled out his hand again. "Merpeople make surprisingly strong fighters, having adapted to the rigors of deep-sea life. They make fair magicians, but magic has never been a major focus of Merpeople life."

Claudian shrank a bit in his seat and looked around to see who was watching. He was starting to feel a bit shy, with his hand still up, he spoke. "Well,...My grandmother told me a bit about the selkies. She also said that in the North, there have been many legends about merpeople of different types who come to the surface and take the form of a regular woman in order to seduce surface dwelling men. One such story is the Mermaid of Gollerus, who married a muggle man and even had children with him." He shrugged a bit. "I'm not sure if it's true or not, though. Have you ever heard of any such interactive circumstances between the merpeople and muggles, sir?" He wanted to get a professionals opinion on this. He nodded his head about what Aggie had said. "I've also heard that, as well. A Cornish Mermaid once held down the unfaithful lover of young girl for breaking her heart as the tide came in." He was careful where his eye roamed when saying this.

"I think merpeople somewhere can perform some sort of magic," Gwen said. "Potions and such...there's that story about the mermaid and the sea witch. Of course, it's a Muggle fairy tale, but magical Muggle stories always have some root in truth. They actually know a fair amount about magical creatures, however warped the information. And it's not exactly like we send wizard delegations to study them. There could be a good deal we don't know about them. Maybe they're fantastic chefs."

Rapunzel was most curious about Claudian's answer, for the boy seemed to be one big never-ending-puzzle.

The corners of her mouth twitched when he mentioned a mermaid drowning a lover who broke her heart. Wouldn't I like to try that sometime, she thought evilly with an odd twinkle in her emerald eyes.

The second year raised her hand "In British culture, Merpeople are both noted as ominous, foretelling disaster, and provoking it" Willow said, tentatively. She bit her lip, and then went on "Merpeople are also known for dooming muggle ships and for telling sailors that they will never see land again, and in others they just tell them that they are close to the shore, when it really is the complete opposite" Scary creatures merpeople were. Good thing she was not a muggle sailor "The male ones, the mermen, in the other hand, are described as not having much interest on humans... Is this true professor?"

Willow bit her lip again, before adding "I've also read that muggles tend to confuse Merpeople with Manatees because these animals are notable for the way in which they carry their young, cradled in their arms much as a human would carry a baby" Well, she had certainly spoke a lot.

Weird. She was usually very bad at Care Of Magical Creatures.

Kerry listened as her classmates gave a lot interesting facts and ideas. Hearing one of her classmates talk about mermaids in sailor, reminded Kerry of muggle myths she had heard about Mermaids. Raising her hand she said "I also heard that mermaids are looked upon as bad omens by muggle sailors. Adding to that, the muggle sailors believed mermaids had the ability to enchant them through song which caused them to be distracted them from their work, walk off the decks of ships or even cause shipwrecks."

"I've also heard through muggle lure that Mermaids love to brush their long hair and look into hand mirrors. I read somewhere that a man can capture a mermaid, and make her his wife, by stealing her cherished possessions such as a cap, mirror, or brush. When he had her possesion, he had possesion of her. Pretty cruel, blackmailing someone into marriage, if you ask me. But that's a man for you." Kerry smirked. "I guess, too that they'd want to do this because it was believed that Mermaids made good wives and brought luck to the family - the descendents of mermaids are said to be very good looking and have the gift of prophecy. At the same time though I would venture capturing a mermaid to be a huge risk. I've heard they are very vengeful creatures. If you hurt them or anger them they'll seek vengence upon you and your family with floods and tidal waves. I don't know about you, but that's not a risk I'd be willing to take." Kerry laughed. "Leave it to a man to think of himself and try to kidnap a mermaid."
"If you ask me, I'd much rather try to rescue a mermaid. I heard that if you rescue a mermaid and help her back to sea, she'll grant you a wish. To be on the mermaid's good side for the rest of your life and get a wish in return. How sweet would that be?!" Kerry grinned, wondering if it were true.

"Some legends about mer-men say they capture the souls of drowned sailors and keep them in soul cages under the sea... And that female mermaids are considered very beautiful, but the mermen were basically ugly, which is why mermaids seek out human men. Female Merrows are said to own a red cap or cape, and if a human could capture and hide either so the Merrow never found it, then she would remain on land without a fuss. But if the Merrow should ever find her cap or cape, she would feel compelled to return forever to the ocean." Xana said.

"In Asia, they say the mermaid is not as a personality but a part of nature, like a storm or an animal. But in Africa there are tales of Mami Wata, the African Mermaid Goddess. She appears as a mermaid, and sometimes splashes about in the water at the end of a rainbow after a heavy storm... she takes people away to her land beneath the water. These people are transformed by the experience. When they return to earth they are different, serene and strangely remote from the world around them. They are more beautiful and have become wealthy. She also appears to people in dreams, counseling them or granting them wealth, good health and children. She also denies children to her favourite women and they are said to be her land-dwelling representatives... so very beautiful but barren women are often called Mami Wata in Africa."

The monkey sneak in by pushing the door open just a little bit. His eyes widen when he noticed more two legged creatures. It seems that they were all doing something he had no clue what it was about but the scarier was that they seems to be under water but nothing felt as thought it was true. Now he needed to find a way to hide himself without them knowing he was around. Noticing a bag near him, he climbed in it but accidentally touched one of them (Kerry). Covering himself with what was left in it, he stop move hoping nobody will have noticed he was there.

Anna was starting to drift off a little when she heard a noise coming from low on the floor. She looked down just in time to see a creature...a furry creature of some kind...scurry into a bag on the floor. Noticing that the monkey was near Kerry, Anna reached over and tapped Kerry on the shoulder.

Anna nodded down to the paper bag, hoping Kerry would take notice.

Gwen thought she heard a scurrying nearby. She turned toward Kerry and grinned at her. She searched the floor. Finding nothing, she decided it was her imagination. Maybe someone's robes rustling.

All this talk of mermaids and the enchanted room around her was very surreal. It was like the class was taking place in the lake, and Kerry was waiting for a mermaid to swim by them and tell them they were all fools for what they were saying and give a first hand lesson herself.

Suddenly Kerry felt something brush up against her leg. She swore it felt furry, and it made Kerry shriek as she jumped out of her seat!!

As she jumped, she felt someone give her a tap on the shoulder which freaked her out anymore. Kerry let out another scream, and turned to see it was just Anna. "Oh, I'm sorry." she said breathlessly. "I swore I felt something creep along my leg. Did you see it? What was it?" Kerry asked scrambling around to see if there was something creepy crawly around her.

Anna was torn between wanting to yell out something about there being a furry creature in the bag and worried that she would cause her house to lose points if she did.

"Erm....the...bag...," Anna whispered, trying to draw Kerry's attention to the bag on the floor.

Well hidden in the creature bag, he could ear that they were a scream and some sort of language between them but he had no clue what this was all about. Still feeling nervous of been found but starting to be tired of all this excitement, he stretches his little body making move the bag a little.

Curt whipped around in his seat as he heard Kerry Brandywine let out a rather loud squeal. Curt scanned the area around her and didn't see anything so he just shrugged before facing the Professor once again. Sadly, he knew very little about merpeople and was quite horrid at dealing with magical creatures all together. He just stared blankly at the Professor, turning around to look at Kerry every now and then.

Curt looked back again in astonishment as the Gryffindor first year pointed out that something was in the bag that was near to Kerry. Curts eyebrows perked up slightly as his first idea was Savannah's cat Tiger, that little monster was always up to trouble. He got up from his seat and walked over to it, "I think I know who this is." Curt said, knealing down next to the bag. "You want to unveil it?" he asked the Gryffindor prefect with a grin, she did seem quite freaked out.

Anna squirmed in her seat, looking back and forth between the professor, her prefect, and the...THING. The bag rustled again, and Anna jumped in her seat, knocking a book to the ground with a loud CRASH. Swallowing hard out of nervousness and sinking down into her chair, Anna stared at Kerry, trying to figure out what to do.

Kerry's heart was still racing, as she was readying herself to drop to the floor and search for whatever it was she was now sure brushed against her, when she heard Anna whisper something. "What?! What are you trying to tell me? What about my bag?" Kerry asked impatiently, her mind still racing.

Kerry looked down at her bag cautiously. Suddenly it moved on it's own. Kerry jumped back again and gasped. "Did you see that? The bag! It moved! Did anyone see that? There's something in there! My bag is moving!" she cried out, glaring around the room to see who might have put something in her bag.

"I'm not revealing it. If you want something creepy and crawly to jump out at you, by all means go ahead." Kerry said to the Hufflepuff boy. She readied her wand at the bag just in case she needed to stun it in protection of herself or the boy.

A loud CRASH made Kerry jump again. "For the love of...." Kerry began as she turned around flashing her wand behind her. "Oooh, it was just a book," Kerry began to laugh nervously as she realized how silly she was starting to look.

Amelia leaped around in her chair at the sound of her fellow prefect, Kerry, screaming. She didn't really want to lose points, but she was worried for her friend that it was something serious. Besides, Kerry wasn't usually the one to cause trouble; at least not during class. Scanning the floor and faces of the students, she looked around for the source of the commotion.

Then, a strange thing happened. The bag near where Kerry had been sitting, moved a little. She blinked and shook her head, thinking it was just an illusion. Right? Well, at least until Kerry had also saw the bag move.

"I saw it, Kerry," the sixth year said quietly.

Gwen stared at Kerry's bag, transfixed. "Maybe one of the kappas from the last lesson got loose."