"What does one have to do to become a Transfigured Magus?" Hermione asked, intrigued by the spell.
"Disguised Magus are rare. They are born, not raised; most wizards need a wand or potion to change their appearance!" Tonks said, "But with hard study, it's possible."
While Hermione and Tonk's conversation continued, Evan and Lupin were talking.
"Evan, don't worry about Tonks; she's one of our own. We've known each other long; she's always been this way!" Lupin said bitterly, looking helplessly at Tonks, who was changing her hair color on the other side of the room, "In case you didn't know, her mother, Andromeda, is Sirius's cousin, also removed from the Black family."
"Sirius told me that Andromeda was his favorite cousin and was removed from the Black family tree for marrying a muggle-born wizard!" Evan said, "I believe Tonks. Is there anything else? No, I'm going back!"
He was ready to leave, not wanting to stay here to disturb Lupin and Tonks to be alone and cultivate their feelings.
Besides, Sirius and Harry were still waiting for him and Hermione in the Shrieking Shack.
"It's really not a good idea for you two to stay here too long; you'll be in trouble if anyone finds out!" Lupin nodded, taking out a cloth pouch and handing it to Evan, "This is the gift you asked me to buy for you some time ago; it's all items made by the best craftsmen, very beautifully made. I chose them myself, and those mermaids should be pleased."
"I hope so!" Evan took the things over and sighed.
It's not easy to deal with mermaids. Several times before and after communication, he made a lot of effort to make those mermaids not turn around and run away after seeing him, but that's all. If he wants to further deepen his feelings and trust, he still needs to continue to give gifts.
Fortunately, through this period of contact, Evan found that mermaids also like all kinds of human-made items in addition to music.
For example, furniture, mirrors, all kinds of jewelry, and so on are very popular in the Hogwarts mermaid clan.
They are willing to take out some of the herbs and magical materials that grow deep in the bottom of the lake to exchange for these items.
Among the precious and rare magic materials, Evan selected all of them to make magic potions and alchemy.
The rest of the ordinary goods were given to Fred and George, letting them use them to produce prank props.
The materials the mermaid took out far exceeded the original value of the items exchanged with Evan, and the transaction's profit was very high.
He was willing to continue this deal even without the clues of Ravenclaw's secret treasure key.
Evan and Hermione returned to the Shrieking Shack in Phantom Form more than ten minutes later.
Sirius announced that Evan could use Apparition on his own and slipped him a copy of "Common Mistakes in Apparition and Ways to Avoid Them," an exam textbook printed by the Ministry of Magic, which summarized the various problems that could easily occur in Apparition and how to deal with them.
Because he was not sure how long it would take to communicate and trade with the mermaids, Evan decided to take action after dinner.
He said hello to Hermione and asked her to cover for him.
To the rest of the world, they looked like any other couple going on a date after dinner to a secluded part of the castle.
But in reality, Evan was the one who sneaked into the lake outside.
Because she was worried, Hermione originally wanted to go with Evan but was persuaded by Evan to stop!
Below, the lake is not so calm; it is more convenient to move alone and not have to be distracted to take care of Hermione.
He and Hermione mixed in the crowd of people who had finished dinner and slipped out of the castle. At this time, the sky outside was not yet completely dark.
Many of Durmstrang's students leaned against the ship's side, chatting and laughing.
Through the huge shadow of the castle and the statue on the lawn, they bypassed the Durmstrang's big boat, and Evan walked to the lake from the other end.
The water was cold, and his rapidly numbing feet slipped and slid on the mud, sand, and bare, slimy stones.
He shivered as the cold wind blew through him, took out his wand, and cast two magic spells on himself as quickly as possible.
A bubble appeared above Ivan's head; this was the Bubble Head spell!
Under the effect of the body-warming spell, the lake water was no longer cold and harsh, and it was slightly cooler.
But considering the surrounding temperature, it was still uncomfortable to soak in it.
This is also one of the reasons why Evan didn't let Hermione come with him. On the coldest night of January, diving into the dark and cold lake water and coming into contact with ugly and even a little scary-looking mermaids is not a pleasant experience.
Given the choice, he preferred to curl up on a couch by the warm fire in the common room and read a book.
Evan shook his head, took one last look at Hermione standing on the shore, rolled over, and plunged down to the bottom of the lake.
Silence in his ears, he swam lightly in a dark, hazy, and strange scenery, avoiding the giant squid frequented by the location and lurking in the water monster Grindylow's large water grass, swimming to the bottom of the lake mermaid village.
Tonight's mermaid tribe is lively and seems to be performing some ritual; the mermaids all emerge from the rough stone snail house.
When Evan approached, he saw more than 200 mermaids gathered in the round square in the center of the village.
They were dressed up in rare costumes. All of them were holding long hairs, and strange patterns were painted with dyes on their iron-gray skin.
The fish occasionally slapped the lake with their thick, powerful silver tails, as they remembered.
Their dark green hair was long and disheveled, but inside it hung decorations made of shells, coral, and pearls, and they wore pebbles strung up on thick ropes around their necks, and their bodies were similarly covered with all kinds of decorations.
They were talking about something and spitting bubbles as if waiting for something.
Evan landed on the edge of the circular square, took out the items Lupin had given him from the cloth bag, and placed them at the bottom of the lake.
He was eavesdropping on the conversation of the mermaids while guessing what they were doing.
Noticing Evan's appearance, many mermaids showed a hint of joy on their faces.
It didn't take long for the mermaids to start coming over to trade with him.
They picked out their favorite items from the things that Evan brought over, then went back to their own homes and moved out piles of materials to exchange.
The whole exchange process was fast and easy beyond imagination.
The mermaids didn't bargain at all, and the materials they gave Evan were of high value and in large quantities, far exceeding the actual value of the items he brought.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Because of the proximity to Hogwarts, no wizard would go into the nearby waters to collect magical materials, which was not allowed.
Mermaids are not proficient in magic and pharmacology, so they are even less likely to be interested in these things.
After thousands of years of accumulation, the amount of various materials and herbs in the nearby waters had already accumulated to a terrifying number.
Two months ago, when Evan gave the mermaids a gift for the first time, under the joy, they originally intended to take those graffiti, pebbles, shells and all kinds of messy things used for decoration and exchange them with Evan.
The mermaids were so happy to exchange those graffiti, pebbles, shells, and nonsense with Evan, so Evan could only accept a few of the magical materials and herbs that the mermaids had brought out.
The mermaids were worried about not being able to find suitable things to exchange with Evan.
Compared to human wizards, their village was too barren no matter how they looked at it.
Seeing that Evan was willing to accept these things, they felt that they had finally found the right direction.
The mermaids began to collect these magical materials worldwide and used them to trade with Evan.
As time went by, this matter became more and more widespread.
The number of mermaids who knew about this news increased, and it evolved into this scene today.
You have to know although mermaids look exceptionally scary on the outside, they are actually not evil dark creatures.
They are also not as arrogant as the horsemen, who do not communicate with humans and only live in their own small circle of clans.
On the contrary, mermaids are very open-minded and friendly.
They maintain a reverence and yearning for magic, willing to make friends with human sorcerers and even more favorite items made by humans.
Unfortunately, the wizards who can speak the language of mermaids and are willing to contact them are few and far between, and those who can communicate with them will not do so like Evan.
Other than him, no wizard would exchange magical materials with them to fulfill the needs of mermaids.
At this moment, a strange picture appeared under the lake.
A large group of mermaids surrounded Evan, handing over precious magical materials like no money.
Because today is the mermaid tribe's ritual activity, the number of mermaids swarming here is much more than usual.
They floated around Evan with wide yellow eyes and yellow teeth inside their mouths.
Each mermaid looked at Evan with a terrible smile on their face that they thought was kind, but looked unkind.
Among all the items brought by Evan, the mirror was their favorite thing, and it was looted like crazy!
How to say, this result is really a bit unexpected ah!
After seeing their ugly faces in the mirrors, Evan wasn't sure if these mermaids would be scared to tears.
He greeted them with a few words and then irresponsibly threw down the ground full of items for the mermaids to choose.
Anyway, they were very trustworthy and would consciously leave the magical materials used for exchange where they were, waiting for Evan to come and collect them.
Evan walked towards the center of the square, and found the strong mermaid who was stunned by magic when he first met him.
After several times of contact, he knew that the other party had a high status in the mermaid tribe and was a very powerful warrior who was respected.
Evan handed over the gift he had selected for the other party, and the mermaid gabbled a few words, roughly meaning to express his gratitude to Evan, and asked Evan to come to his house to get the corresponding magic materials after the sacrifice was over.
"What is this sacrifice you are performing?" Evan asked directly, spitting out a large number of bubbles.
"It's just a traditional celebration," the mermaid said in a hoarse, low voice.
He also spit out a bunch of bubbles inside his mouth, the mermaid said very quickly. There are many places Evan still does not quite understand.
But the general meaning is clear: this kind of sacrificial activity is the mermaid ancestor left behind once a month to carry out.
What interested Evan was that the other party told him that there were rumors that this ritual was initially an agreement between the mermaid ancestors and the castle builders.
Over time, the festival has evolved into a large gathering of tribes to honor their ancestors.
In other words, this matter is likely to be related to the treasure key left by Ravenclaw.
Evan immediately became interested. He and the other party chatted a few words, and then waited for the activity to begin.
More than an hour later, more and more mermaids emerged from all directions. The number reached more than 500.
Many did not live in this lake but settled in other waters around Hogwarts.
Even in the central lake of the Merpeople tribe, there were tracks of Mermaid activities.
They came from all directions, and many looked at Evan curiously.
They pointed at him and whispered with their hands covering their mouths.
The things that Evan had brought over had been snapped up more than 40 minutes ago.
All kinds of magical materials and herbs were piled up on the two cloth pouches on his body that had been expanded by the No Trace Stretching Spell.
Above the square of the mermaid village floated many mermaids, and as the ritual began, a very peculiar scene appeared before Evan's eyes.
Mermaids in a circle, slowly swimming. In the center, some mermaids began to sing in unison.
The voice sounds strange, but it is very pleasant to the ear, and mermaids usually speak completely differently.
Even though the language seems different, Evan can not understand, but this beautiful singing is his impression of mermaids singing.
They danced and sang around the square, and even though they were in the lake's cold depths, the atmosphere was getting more and more enthusiastic.
The so-called ancient ritual now looked like a grand celebration.
The mermaids let Evan join them, and they slowly danced forward in a special pattern.
In front of the square, a crude statue of a large mermaid carved out of boulders stood.
When the ritual reached its peak, Evan realized that a strange wave of magic power began to appear in the entire space.
The mermaids and their songs were not magical. Evan had already confirmed that!
But these singers seemed to be able to resonate with the huge mermaid statue, casting a strange magic, a magic that only mermaids could use.
Although the power was not strong, the rumbling sound resounded inside the statue.
Evan stopped and looked at the huge statue vigilantly.
"Don't worry!" A mermaid beside him laughed and continued the dance.
Not long after, a deep gap appeared at the location of the mermaid statue's lower tail, as if a door had been opened, and the lake water quickly poured in.
The mermaids did not enter inside, still dancing to welcome but to indicate that Evan could enter it.
Evan hesitated for a while, swam near the gap, and looked inside through the light from outside.