As she gazed around at her classmates - most of whom seemed to be taking advantage of the gillyweed - which she probably would have opted for too had she not been a NEWT student and pretty exceptional when it came to transfiguration, she waited. She might not have been able to do a patronus charm yet, but when it came to human transfiguration, she had that one down. Now where was Ronan Carter so she could rub that in his face?

And then Professor Wayland gave indication for them to take their breathing option and head into the water. No she didn't want to do incomplete transfiguration and settle for gills and flippers. She might have been having the beginnings of senioritis, but she was Skylar Diggory and it was all or nothing. All, most of the time. With another glance at Bartholomew, she smiled finally knowing what creature to transform into and flicked her wand at herself. Specifically her upper half transfiguring into a squid. And into the water she went which arguably felt much warmer and tolerable given she was now half squid.

The words of Mr. Henry and Professor Wayland did little to comfort her. She wasn't sure how they could be so sure, but she didn't have any proof, only a bad feeling, about what might happen if she entered the water. Not wanting to miss out on the class, she reluctantly took the gillyweed and walked towards the waters edge.

Students all around her were making their way into the water with various complaints over the temperature. She wasn't exactly a fan of cold water, but it didn't bother her either way. She had grown up in the Pacific Northwest were it never got warm enough to have a chance to heat up the water. Cold water was the only option if she wanted to swim.

She felt a strange tingling feeling and assumed it was the gillyweed starting to work, so she stepped forward into the lake. The cool water was refreshing and helped clear her mind of the not so nice thoughts of creatures chomping her legs off. After a few more steps, she was waist deep and waiting for the next set of instructions.

Dorian looked up at the Professor when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Right, he had forgotten that this wasn't an actual lesson but just an club activity. He looked behind him and towards the castle and was thinking about leaving but the man's words did ease him a little. If the Professor said that it was safe than he believed it. He doubted they would hire professors who would intentionally scar them.

And...to be fair...now the Giant Squid didn't look as frightening either. He even seemed polite which was not something Dorian had expected a Giant Squid to be.

He did not say anything to the Professor and instead he nodded his head. He had made up his mind. He turned and ...walked over to grab some gillyweed. He did not trust his own magical ability right now and he was too young to evn think of transfigurating himself, although it would have been cool to become a shark!

He grabbed some with his hands and then with a few deep breaths, the third year waded in to the water slowly to get used to the temperature. "I'm so going to regret this" he mumbled and waited for the next set of instructions.

The giant squid amused her, but Mr. Henry's vague answer to Jessa's question did not, at all, satisfy her curiosity. But it was just in time for them to finally get in the water. Leaving behind her things, Vivian took off her sweater and cast a few heating charms around her. The squid might have said that the temperature was okay, but the Head Girl was by no means cold-blooded.

She then proceeded to wade into the lake, taking extra precaution especially with what she might step on. Vivian frowned a little when they only had to go until it was waist high. And because the Head Girl wasn't exactly tall, she felt a bit indirectly insulted. See? This was why she hated being tiny.

Eh... anyway, the bubblehead charm can happen. Still needed time to get used to the temperature. Plus, it was good to know that her heating charm was working.

"I am fine, as well," Quinn replied to Bartholomew. Only, she didn't look all that fine. She was looking around nervously, watching the other students react to eating the gillyweed, and realizing she'd made a terrible mistake by not ingesting it straight away.

She made her way into the lake, squealing slightly as the cold hit her. She waded out, shoulders tight and tension against the chill which was already starting to fade. Finally, she relaxed.

Making a face already, Quinn brought the gillyweed over her mouth, and then, bracing herself, crammed it in quickly and swallowed in the same moment.

The taste and texture hit her the next moment and Quinn covered her mouth in an attempt to keep it from coming back up again. It worked, barely.

Lydia couldn't help but smile at the giant squid. He had an adorable name too, Bartholomew. Summoning up her courage, gillyweed in hand, she crept toward the edge of the lake, toward Bartholomew.

"Hello, Bartholomew," she said. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Lydia."

When Professor Wayland instructed them to use their breathing method, Lydia stuffed the wad of seaweed-looking stuff into her mouth and immediately gagged at its disgusting taste. Plugging her nose, she forced herself to swallow the nasty ball of gillyweed. "Ugh," she said out loud as it finally went down.

Curious to see what other students were doing, Lydia turned just in time to watch Skylar transform her upper half into a squid! Woah, that was amazing and also somewhat alarming at the same time. Lydia couldn't wait until she was advanced enough to do spells like that. At the moment, she only knew a handful of simple ones like alohomora, wingardium leviosa, and lumos. She could barely transfigure a matchstick into a needle, and her potions were less than stellar. But she was determined to become one of the top students. She just needed more practice.

Slowly, Lydia waded into the water. Ooof, it was cold but not as icy as she had expected. Lydia went in as far as her upper waist and then just stood, adjusting to the temperature and taking several calming breaths. Suddenly there was a tingling sensation at the sides of her neck, and she found it increasingly hard to breathe air. She was growing gills!

Harriet had to admit this was going to be pretty cool. She'd swum in the lake plenty of times. But she'd never done this. Going into the lake to see the water dwelling creatures was going to be pretty cool. It would also be a test of her transfiguration skills, since she hadn't really tried to breathe under water. She was confident though, since she was pretty good at transfiguration. it was a shame she couldn't take paper under the water though, since she figured it would be good to take some notes. Hopefully she would remember everything so that she could make some notes once she was back on dry land. For now, to tried to make a note to remember everything that she saw whilst she was under the water.

She popped her clothes into a nice pile, making sure they were folded nicely. She'd got a kind of wet suit on, having transfigured her usual swimsuit into one that covered her arms and legs too. She didn't need to be cold. She stood by the edge of the water, and then began to carefully transfigure her feet and hands, so they were more webbed, which hopefully would make it easier to swim. She then began to wade into the water, until it was at her waist. She then decided in her head, that she'd rather go with the bubble head charm, than transfigure some gills. She was more confident in that charm than the other. And so, once she was at waist height in the water, she performed the bubble head charm on herself.

Now to wait for some more instructions.

"Trust me, Daehyun, the fishy instincts will take over and you will be swimming just as good as everyone else." Tristan was going to tell the young man he could just stay at the castle as well, but he knew how much the young man would regret it. "Maybe after this experience I can give you some swimming lessons so you'll have the confidence you need if we get to explore the lake again?" He said with a small smile, "It's your choice. Swimming is a very necessary skill as a Magizoologist." Tristan gave him a small nod of encouragement. He knew Daehyun possibly wanted to work with creatures one day and he really needed to work on skills like swimming if he wanted to have experience with every type of creature.

Tristan made his way out to the water and watched as the rest of the students got ready. He also watched Daehyun who seemed to be struggling with a decision.

Tristan watched as Ewan gave Daehyun some encouragement, and watched as the young man finally decided to get into the water and used the Gillyweed. He smiled and gave the young men a thumbs up.

It was time to get in the water and meet up with the Giant Squid so they could do some exploring. OH! But one more thing! "Accio Wand Holsters!" He called out with a flick of his wand, and all of the holsters flew to each student. The holsters looked like two belts linked by a small leather pouch. But don't be fooled! The pouch was magiked to grow to whatever length your wand was.

"Almost forgot! You will want to use one of these to keep your wands safe so you don't lose it in the water. You most likely wont need your wand, but it's always good to have them in the water just in case. Go ahead and put your wand in, the pouch will become the length of your wand. Now,these holsters attach like a belt to your thigh." Tristan quickly waded out of the water to show them how his personal holster was strapped to his right thigh with the pouch on the outside of his thigh over his wet suit. "You want to make sure it is tight but not too tight to cut off circulation. If it's uncomfortable loosen it a little." He demonstrated for the students, on the upper and lower strap, how to loosen and tighten them.

Once he saw that everyone had a holster, he waded back out into the water. "Alright everyone! We are going to go under now and meet up with Bartholomew and he is going to show us around! Please stay with the group! I will be swimming behind you all to make sure no one strays too much." With that he smiled and yelled, "Lets go!" He quickly dived under the water, and transfigured his own feet into flippers similar to what happened when you used Gillyweed, (He didn't like the Gills part of the Gillyweed), and waited for all of the students to meet him and the Giant Squid under the water.

"I think this is going to be great, Bartholomew!" He called out to the wonderful creature though his bubblehead charm, floating under the depths of the water.

As excited as she was to want to continue her conversation with Bartholomew she could always do that another time. Rylee giggled softly at her brothers own excitement and gave him and gentle nudge in the side. "Reese, go get ready, I'll get the gillyweed and whatever else we need, okay?." Just a little gently reminder there so he wouldn't have to be rushed last second and miss any instructions professor Wayland gave out.

Only being a second year there was noway she would be able to do any transfiguration today or bubble head charm. Waiting for Reese to change, Rylee got them both some gillyweed and made her way closer to the lake's edge to stand near Dorian and wait for Reese. "Are you okay, Dorian? You can stay with us if you like. Safety in numbers, right?" she asked tilting her head slightly as she waded out into the water slowly, taking her time a shiver running through her body as she got used to the water. He didn't look to sure about this whole adventure.

Oh! A wand holster too? Rylee caught it luckily before it collided with her and fastened it around her thigh placing her wand inside it.

Daehyun couldn't help but look doubtfully at professor Wayland when he spoke about the fishy instincts. He was a land creature, and had no instincts underwater whatsoever. Except for inhaling too much water and drowning while wildly and uselessly flapping his limbs around - he was good at that. Then of course he had to play the you're-going-to-need-that-as-a-magizoologist card. He's only known Daehyun one year and already knew too much about him. Sighing, he nodded reluctantly at the offer for swimming lessons. "I'd appreciate that."

He'd been too disgusted by the gillyweed to pay attention to professor Wayland's next words, so the wand holster nearly hit him in the face as it flew straight to him out of nowhere, but caught it just in time. Scrunching his nose as he felt the effects of gillyweed, which gave him an awful urge to scratch the sides of his neck, he proceeded to attach the belt of the holster before his hands became all fishy and icky, and tucked his wand inside. He found it pointless to take it with him, though, since he'd never tried to cast non-verbal spells, and he couldn't imagine voicing them underwater.

... the things he did for the sake of his passion, really.

Sighing, he instinctively took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and dove under the water as his brand new gills became beyond disturbing. Clearly no fishy instincts kicked in - fish weren't uncomfortable with their own gills, were they?

... he needed something else to think about. Scared, he opened one eye at first to scout his surroundings, and looked for Ewan. Or he could just focus on Bartholomew, having finally seen just how large the squid was. Yep, distractions from his fear were good. He had yet to move about and try to thread through water.

...

........

..................

Jessa full on deadpanned at the squid, entirely unamused by his response. For a few seconds it was all she could do to just remain standing there, one hand gripping her wand while the other lay limp at her side.

This answer........was worse than being told to wait for an answer later. How....condescending. She wasn't a child who'd strayed from an activity and needed nudging. She wasn't falling behind the group. His reason for talking was a secret...? For fudge sake it was a science question. Was he born that way or not? Were there more like him or had he somehow been an anomaly and if so what triggered that anomaly? In truth, despite the kind tone in which he'd said it, the Ravenclaw was entirely stricken by the answer she'd received, quite evident by the look on her face. If nothing else, you might say she was appalled.

The idea of not knowing had always....bothered her, regardless of the subject matter, once she took an interest. She could have stood there for another 10 minutes just staring while her ears got over the shock but the Professor was calling for their attention again.

Rather than do anything that might be perceived as disrespectful, the Prefect simply and wordless turned to face the man. She accepted one of the special holsters, attaching it to her thigh, resolved to do her own research. If the squid couldn't answer such a fundamental question, then he really held no value to her alive.

With something between a huff and a sigh, Jessa went and completed her bit of human transfiguration by adding the gills, seeing no need to change entire parts of her to achieve the same purpose.

And down she went.

Smiling at the Professors thumbs up now, he checked that his own wand holster was still attached to his thigh. He loved this thing! Although it wasn’t often that he had the chance to use it. With a quick glance at Daniel to check that he’d swallowed his Gillyweed, he confidently strode into the water until only his head remained above. Feeling a strange sensation in his neck and feet, he plummeted under, the cool water relieving the strange sensation.

Finally finding his feet, uh... sort of, he opened his eyes ready for the uncomfortable feeling that always happened when water attacked his eyes. However, there was nothing. Looking around now, his eyes briefly settled on Bartholomew before finally reaching Daniel. He looked... scared. There was no other way to put it. Swimming over to him now, he gestured towards Bartholomew.

“Coming? Let’s get close to Bartholomew, I’ve never actually seen him up close!”.

Again, a distraction. A poor one but still. Ewan wasn’t the biggest fan of under water swimming like this. I mean, what if they got really deep and then it stopped working? Despite this, he couldn’t miss this! He loved the unknown and the feeling you get when your teetering on the edge; your heart in your throat, not knowing what was going to happen. He loved that first step! The Adrenalin! Testing his new fishy features, he couldn’t help but notice how easy swimming was now!

Patrick watched as everyone began to get ready. Deciding to be bold and try the bubble head charm, he flicked his wand and found the bubble around his face. He waded into the water juts as Professor Wayland had instructed waiting for further instructions.

It felt odd knowing that he was standing in the Lake, that their professor was going to allow them to swim in the lake. Wasn’t there all types of creatures in the lake that would want to hurt them. Although, if Patrick was totally honest about it Bartholomew would likely protect them since they were technically his guest in the lake.

Snapping his head up from his thoughts he heard that they were about to begin. Quickly wrapping the wand holster over his swim trunks and sliding his wand down inside. The pouch did exactly as he was told, expanded to fit his wand. With a nod he entered into the water, further than he had been. A cold chill slicing through his body as the water rose to his chest. He was ready to figure out just what lived in the lake and to see it with his classmates. Following their lead he submerged himself completely underwater.

Dorian was glad to see Rylee , a familiar face he trusted, stood beside him and he nodded his head. "I have serious doubts about this" he said and eyed the water as if it had done him wrong before he looked at the Gryffindor. It did not matter who she was waiting for, he was relieved enough that he wouldn't be alone underwater.

There was something that Dorian did not own and that was a wand holster. He had thought about buying a wrist holster in Ollivanders but he did not have enough money so he had to Settle with the small pocket inside of his robe. But he wasn't wearing his robe right now so that meant he had to keep his holster in his hand.

Luckily, the Professor seemed to have thought of the same thing and the Ravenclaw was glad when the wandholsters appeared. He was NOT a fan of one of them hitting his shoulder before it came to a stop inside of the water beside him. Rubbing his shoulder, Dorian grabbed the holster and looked over to see how the Professor had put his on.

When done, Dorian gave Rylee a small and uncertain smile before he ate the gillyweed. It tasted disgusting. Rubber with a taste of ..he could not identify and he probably did not want to know either. He swallowed it and waited.

And waited ...and waited... "It thought they would work immedia---" His eyes widened in panic as he gasped for air. He reached for his neck and was both fascinated and scared to feel that he had cuts on both side of his skin. He needed air and knowing what he had to do, the Ravenclaw dived down underwater.

COMC was a fun class for Septimus. Something that didn’t always require magic but got you connected to some cool magical creatures. He was ready when Professor Wayland brought the class together, his bathing suit on and a handful of gillyweed in his grasp to help him breath underwater. He didn’t know the bubblehead charm and human transfiguration was WAAAY above his abilities so it was the only option really available to the second year.

Wading into the water, he watched the professor and students interact with the Giant Squid…Bart it had called itself. He took the gillyweed as instructed, nearly getting hit by a flying wand holster. Definitely a better option to hold his wand other than the pocket of his shorts. Septimus strapped it on and made sure it was secure as he awaited the final effects of the gillyweed took hold and he prepared to dive under the water to follow Wayland. And then it was swimming time.

Underwater fun…here we go.

After a few minutes, the cold started to subside, and Nettie could feel her breathing getting shorter. It was weird, and she cautiously felt up to her neck and felt...GILLS! SHE HAD GILLS! Grinning, she knelt down so her shoulders were completely submerged and then took a dive under the water. She held her breath out of habit, but as soon as she'd ducked under, she felt like she had taken a DEEEEEEP breath. SO much better! She glanced at her feet really quick - they were WEBBED! Her hands were too!! This was awesome!

She didn't have much time to revel in it, though, so she followed Professor Wayland down further. She wondered how deep they would be going, and what creatures they'd be stopping to say hello to along the way...

" I am.. , the first year said as his sister told him he'd better get stripped down to his swimsuit, AKA.. Cut off jeans because that's how he rolled.. He wasn't here to impress by looking good.. He was here to prove himself. " Okay.. Thanks, Ry!", Reese called back to her as she went to go get them their gillyweed.

He quickly made his way over to where she and her friend were waiting for him at the water's edge. He took the gillyweed from her as she handed it to him and popped it into his mouth and began to wade out into the chilly waters of the Black Lake.

Bartholomew waved vigorously. His brain might be old but he remembered quite well the students he chatted with. "Good day, Juniper.'' Eyes seemed to smile. "Hello, Lydia. It is a pleasure to meet you.

Bart watched the students with great interest and was particularly impressed to see Skylar choose a squid for her Transfiguration. Two tentacles thumped together in a sort of applaud. "Well done!!" Amid all of this positive feedback there was definitely some that needed encouragement. "The water's not bad. You'll like it once you've gotten used to it. There's nothing at all to be afraid of.'' Bart swam out a little more.

The creature waited for a minute for the nervous nellies to get deeper in before diving under water. "You can count on that, Tristan. I am rather excited to show your students my home.'' When all of the students had joined him, Bartholomew began swimming slowly, and deeper down into the waters.

"The Black Lake is rather an impressive place to explore. Did you know that it spans half a mile in terms of diameter? Hogwarts' plumbing network drains into it but still it remains home to myself, the Merfolk and Grindylows.''

Bart allowed them to soak in that information as they continued their journey. Clutters of seaweed fluttered along the way. It was close to one of these vast clutters that he lifted a tentacle to point out a piece of Hogwarts. "That bit extended there happens to be the Slytherin Common Room. Slytherins, have you ever wondered why there is a greenish glow in the Room when it is bathed in light? The waters of the Lake is the reason.'' Bartholomew slowed in his movements so that the students could take a proper look at the structure.

The gills were... beyond unnerving. But he tried not to focus on them.

Instead, Daehyun moved one of his hands in front of him, his eyes widening at the webbing that had grown in between his fingers, deciding not to have a look at what his feet looked like. The whole thing gave him the heebie-jeebies, and it was the point that made him intent on learning how to swim and, most importantly, the bubble-head charm. If he was sure of one thing, it was that he was never going to try gillyweed again.

And then there was Ewan, his Ravenclaw friend that he was more than thankful for. He likely looked scared out of his mind, so the poor boy had tried his best to distract him - and it was working. Nodding, he felt himself smile for the first time upon seeing Bartholomew, who was impressive, to say the least. But then the squid had mentioned Merfolk and Grindylows, and his anxiety levels skyrocketed once again.

... he would probably be dropping by to see the healer afterwards. A calming draught sounded like something he would need. Don't think about it had become his mantra. So, trying to do just that, he followed Ewan, clumsily advancing through the water like a dying fish.

Daisy was now in possession of a wand holder that she secured around her waist and placed her precious wand inside. She was admittedly enjoying the lesson because it was nice doing something different.

Okay, Bartholomew Henry wasn’t willing to answer the questions. Part of Stasya had been disappointed, but then the other part of her respected his privacy. The part that felt like creatures ought to be treated just as well as people were, and, considering she’d already cast her bubblehead charm as well as whatever heating charms she felt were safe given the amount of clothing she was still wearing, aka her swimsuit, she’d proceeded to enter the lake slowly. Thinking about that conversation with Ian the whole way until she’d been waist-deep as requested, although the water wasn’t half as bad as she’d expected. It was cold, but oddly bearable considering she hadn’t tried to transfigure any part of herself. Maybe the squid had been right?

Her blonde head had swiveled back to Professor Wayland as he’d mentioned special holsters. She already had a holster for her wand, and in fact it had been strapped to her lower leg all along. She thought about asking if there was a reason she needed the special one, but she trusted hers. She knew it was secure. She’d had it since she’d first gotten her wand, after all, so she decided to leave it and let someone else use the special one he’d provided.

Besides, it was time to actually dive under the water, so she’d moved further from the shore so it was easier to dive underneath, then swam back toward the group. It wasn’t really that hard, even if she hadn’t chosen to give herself flippers or anything. It was just swimming, after all. Swimming and listening as Bartholomew henry began telling them more about the lake. Bring on the lake dwellers!

Okay, the Slytherin common room from the outside was kind of interesting too.

Derf had settled himself into the water beside Bel, unintentionally but there it was, and both seemed to have similar methodology about just how to go about this entry and coping with gillyweed. He...had never had it before. Dad hadn't exactly allowed him to and it had either been bubblehead charms cast by the man himself or muggle snorkeling gear - to which he sort of preferred the muggle way.

And yes, he had a holster all set and on his person.

He was just beginning to feel a tingling between his fingers and toes when he heard the younger Ravenclaw feeling a bit sheepish about going into the lake. And, well, with a name like the BLACK Lake he could understand why. Black was a horribly misunderstood color, ironically not one that he himself ever mixed up though. "You can stick with me if you wanna," he offered just as the tingling between his fingers and toes became A LOT more than just a tingle and he lifted one of his hands out of the water to take a peek and, sure enough, the webbing was forming. "Holy howling Hungarian Horntail!"

And then came the tingling on the sides of his neck - the gills were forming.

Kye had to admit, she was interested in the answers to Jessa's questions, but alas they weren't coming. What a let down! Perhaps he would answer them later, when they were done? She wouldn't hold her breath though... no pun intended. She watched as others began changing and choosing their options. Kye stood there awkwardly for a moment, having been one of the ones already suited up under her robes. She enjoyed the warmth of her coat for as long as she could before going to test out the water temperature. Like she didn't know how cold it was... With a feeling of hesitation, she piled her clothes a bit away from the water and slowly walked in.

Ah yes, the immediate feeling of "Nope!" She had originally thought of only half Transfiguring herself, but she was now set on doing a full body. She had been doing pretty well in Transfiguration, so why not?! Gillyweed was a cop out for a seventh year, and only transfiguring gills on yourself... you might as well have just taken the gillyweed! Those were her thoughts on it anyway. She took a moment to concentrate on her Transfiguration, took one more breath of air, and went for it.

Duh dun. Duh dun. Duh dun duh dun duh dun duhdun duhdun duhdunduhdunduhdun...

With a splash, she felt her heavy body fall to a more horizontal position. Oh this would take a minute to get used to wouldn't it? How long would her spell last?? Luckily she knew the Bubble Head Charm just in case, but she hoped this would suffice. Being a shark was going to be fun!

Oh, she needed a holster? Err... well honestly, Bel hadn't actually brought her wand with her in the first place? So..... yeah. No holster for her. She followed into the water and took a minute to get used to the whole gill breathing thing, but aside from that, Bel was completely at home in the water. She was a strong swimmer, had to learn to be given she was a surfer and grew up on the beach. Also, this was right up her alley, interest-wise.

Except... how were they supposed to understand the squid under water? Was she the only one having a problem there? Bel swam up further with powerful strokes, so she was near the front. At least she was getting used to the water now.

Well, thank Merlin. Vivian wasn't exactly keen with the leaving her wand behind, and she did actually bring it with her into the lake. If there weren't any wand holsters, she would've still held it on her hand. Catching a wand holster, Vivian grinned. "Thanks, sir," she said. "Viseo Ebullio!" Making a counter-clockwise motion, the charm-bubbl encased around her head and she slipped the wand inside the holster before attaching it to her thigh. Perfect, she was ready.

But yes, she did nearly slip when she saw Sky as a squid and Kye as a shark. That was... terrifying, yet so cool. Once everyone was okay, she submerged herself in the water and went to swim towards the rest of the group. And... oh, she made a face at the thought of the drainage system ending up here. That was gross and she didn't want to imagine what things she might see down here.

And when Mr. Squid introduced the common room, Vivian was mildly intrigued. She knew the common room emitted a greenish glow because it was underwater, as it should be. However, it was interesting. She wondered if she could say hi from outside the window.

Hopefully no grindylows, please.