Gunpowder & Cinnamon {Fred Weasley}

Chapter Twenty Nine

Nixie led the way down by the water, with everyone following her close behind. Eleanor was excited to witness a mermaid of Nixie and Meri's kind, in the actual water. She had only been able to see the merfolk of the Black Lake in the water, and Meri and Nixie while they were on land.

As the night settled in the water seemed calm, the sound of the waves crashing lightly onto the sand was all that was heard.

"How do you know she's around?" Fred asked.

"She's always around." Sirius whispered to him.

Nixie knelt down and splashed her hand in the water a little bit until they heard a splashing sound in the distance.

"There she is." Nixie smiled standing back up. She removed her shoes and placed them in the water.

"Oh Nixie, the water is freezing!" Eleanor said.

"I don't feel the cold when it comes to the water. Feels great actually." the woman said as she sat down.

Finally, Meri came into view.

"You splashed?" The mermaid smiled.

"Everyone wanted to see you in the water.'

"Oh well here I am."

Eleanor cautiously walked towards the water.

"No need to be nervous, Ellie, I won't drag you to the bottom." Meri chuckled. "Mermaids only do that to people they don't like. Although some of us take it to the extreme..."

Everyone looked to Nixie.

"She wasn't talking about me." Nixie chuckled. "She was talking about Cordelia."

"Who's Cordelia?" The twins and Harry asked at the same time.

"Oh this is a fun one..."Sirius said.

"Why don't you tell it Sirius?" Nixie grinned at him.

"Me?"

"Oooh yes Story time with Sirius." Fred joked.

Sirius looked over and Nixie and whispered in her ear. "I prefer Pillowtalk with Padfoot."

"I'm sure you do." Nixie said with a playful eye roll before spinning him around to face the younger adults and tell the story.

"Well then, let's see if I remember the story of Cordelia correctly...is she the one that took down the pirate ship?"

"No." Meri said.

"Is she the one with the seashell eye patch?"

"No."

"The one with the seaweed down her-"

"I'll just tell the story." Nixie said. "Cordelia was a mermaid who was very big on no one littering rubbish into the waters she swam in. It started when she was caught in a discarded fishing net. She hated seeing trash in the water, so on nights of the full moon, she would venture out of the water and collect trash along the shoreline before it ended up in the water. Well one evening she was out walking collecting up all the trash, and witnessed these men throwing loads of it into the waters."

Nixie waited as her mother had done when she had first told the story to her back when she was a girl.

"So then what happened?" Harry was the first to ask.

"Cordelia snapped. In rage she killed the men and afterwards she killed all those that polluted her waters. She killed a great number of people as well."

George looked to the water. "Is Cordelia still swimming in these waters?"

"No, she's dead." Meri continued where Nixie left off. "A group of angry widowers caught her one evening, dragged her up on the shore and sliced her tail off clean. She died outside of the water she had wanted to protect."

The group was silent until Sirius spoke.

"Ah mermaids, you tell the absolute best bedtime stories."

"Wait, I still want to hear about the mermaid with the seashell eye patch." Fred said.

"Yes, I want to hear about the one who took down the pirate ship."Eleanor added.

"Am I the only one curious as to where the seaweed was going with that last one?" George asked.

"Well, come sit down then. I'll tell you all about them." Meri said. She turned over her tail, accidentally splashing all of them.

"Mum! You're going to get them all cold." Nixie said.

"Sorry-"

"Don't be, we're wearing knitwear...it's waterproof." Fred smiled.

"Well you all might be, but I didn't get the memo." Harry shivered.

"Go change, I'll wait." Meri told him.

While Harry went to go change, Meri focused her attention on Fred and Eleanor.

"So have you two decided on a date yet for the wedding?"

"Uh..no. Not really." Eleanor answered.

"What are you two waiting for? I heard your other friends got married before you two did."

"Mum!" Nixie splashed Meri in the face.

"Yeah well, I'm not really sure how planned out that wedding was." Eleanor told the mermaid. "I mean, they just went ahead one day and got married in France. They didn't invite anyone so..."

"Pregnant?"

"I beg your pardon?" Eleanor said.

"Is your friend pregnant?" Meri said. "Normally, that's a big thing with people rushing to get married, so they don't have to say they had a child out of wedlock.Nonsense really, we're not back in medieval times. You shouldn't go and get married just because you're pregnant. I don't see the point in it."

Eleanor just stared at Meri for a moment.

"I would think Marnie would tell me that. I would think they would both tell me that."

"Did you give them the chance to tell you that?"