Professor DeLanquar's Personal Chambers (located in Gryffind

"What issue with the merpeople?" Eglantine asked, conjuring a tea set. "Darjeeling or Lady Grey?"

"Umm... Darjeeling Please"

Kiara sighed as she recalled the situation with the Mer-people.

"Viper stole their dead kings heart, for potions and refuses to give it back. Needless to say they are not exactly happy about it, more murderous over it actually. I was so bad I had to make another ward to stop them from firing their harpoons at anyone who passes by. Dear Viper so generously left it in my hands, I am not exactly very good with the mer-people either. Not since I burned their precious princess back when I was 15, they haven't forgiven me yet"

"Ah...I see." Eglantine nodded. She wandlessly charmed the set to make two cups of tea and watched as the loose tea was measured, poured into the tea balls and dropped into the heated water. Normally she took great comfort in preparing tea, but her hands made the simple task impossible.
"How exactly did you burn a mermaid?" she asked, levitating Kiara's tea to her.

Kiara grimced as her awkwardly held her tea cup in her left hand.


"Err it was complete accident really, I think I suffered from it more then she did. It was almost christmas time and I was caught in a huge blizard after my last care of magical creatured class, before the break. The storm was so bad I could barely see, hence I became disoriented and ended walking over to thin ice of the lake. Of course I fell in to the lake through the ice. Well I paniced when I fell in and summoned Saturn to me to fire travel me out of the water. In order to fire travel the surrounding air or in that case water had to reach a certain temperature. In that case it had to reach the boiling point. Well I kinda landed on the mermaid and she was in the surronding water when I fire traveled out. So it burned her a little bit. If you ask me she got of easy, I was in bed with a fever a whole week after that happened."

"And they remember you since then? Hmm... obviously they know how to hold a grudge." Eglantine left her tea untouched on the table, afraid that if she picked it up, she would spill it.
"How is Professor Viper going to return the heart? And what good would it do to return it?"

Kiara rolled her eyes,

"If and I mean if Viper returned the heart then the Mer-people will stop the attack on Hogwarts. Though I am certian Viper will never be able to swim in that lake with out being harpooned. But she has agreed to make a duplicate heart that should be enouph to fool them. All we need is a way to put it back in the Mer-kings chest in the center of the lake with out the mer-people killing them in the process"

Eglantine nodded, confused. "Didn't the king...die when Professor Viper removed the heart? If she killed the man, then the mer-people have every right to be angry..."

Kiara sighed again "The things is the king died of old age, he was already dead when she took it out of him. They are angry that she invaded their kings temple and quite literally disgraced him in their eyes"

"As right they should be." Eglantine stated, her hand stroking Adoration's soft belly. "Professor Viper stole an organ from a dead man. Perhaps instead of giving them a fake heart and hoping they will be to dense to see it as anything other than real, we should punish Professor Viper and return the heart. Potion or no potion, what she did was the same as grave-robbing."

Kiara nodded "I was thinking about that, but Viper took off to her office with it, and I don't have a clue where she put it, for I all I know she could have used it already"

Eglantine sighed. "I suppose she really is a "wild card"..." She reached for the tea cup and lifted it carefully between trembling hands. The liquid sloshed over the sides of the delicate china, but she managed to sip a bit before she all but threw it back on the table.
"Don't tell her I told you this, but I at times admire her. She has such energy and will power."

Kiara nodded

"She certainly has a mind of her own I will give her that, but she can be such a little brat sometimes"

Noticing Eglantines trouble with her tea she said.

"Your hands still shaky? You really should see if there is anything that can be done for them. In the mean time try this.."

Wandlessly she vanished half the tea in the cup leaving it half full.

"You can enjoy your tea easier now, it will refill it self to the half way mark when you are done with that half"

Eglantine stared at the cup, humiliated that Kiara had unknowingly treated her like an invalid. Forcing herself not to show her feelings, she nodded.
"Indeed. Spoiling a child usually makes a brat. And from what I've learned of her past, she was greatly spoiled."

A tremor started up Eglantine's spine from her ribs and she sighed as pain accosted her senses. By acting as if it was pleasurable, the pain diminished greatly.

Kiara nodded hoping Eglantine knew she was only trying to help.

"It makes sence, you wouldn't believe what Casey Silvertongue offered to do in my office eariler. She asked to take the heart back to the Mer-people for us, I couldn't believe it she would be in so much danger, I of course told her it was out of the question"

"Wouldn't it be best to make peace with the mer-people? They are sentient life forms, are they not? And as a intelligent race, Hogwarts should make it clear that we do not wish to harm them."

"Don't you think I have tried to make peace with them? They don't listen to me. Besides there is no hope of making peace when there kings heart remains outside his body."

Eglantine sighed. "Perhaps you need someone to speak to them who is neutral. Sadly I know of no such person." she noted that Kiara's cup was almost empty. "More tea?"

Kiara nodded, "Just one more cup, I guess thank you"

Staring into the fire Kiara said.

"I am afraid I know the perfect person to do it, but I can't let her do it because she is a student. I couldn't live with my self if something were to happen to her by accident or otherwise...."

Sighing she said "I don't know what to do"

Eglantine said nothing as the charmed tea kettle poured the tea into Kiara's cup. Finally she spoke softly.

"I once had a friend who greatly desired to become a teacher. He tried applying to several different schools only to be refused by all of them. He did not lack passion for teaching or credentials. Only the empty position.
Finally after five years of unsuccessfully applying to every school he knew of, he received a letter from a virtually unknown university. He immediately took the position without looking into it any further than that it was offered. The university turned out to a terrible organization and he was miserable. Two years later he committed suicide."

Kiara looked at Eglantine sadly,

"I am sorry.... err what type of organization was it then, what made it so terrible for him to.. to take is own life?"

"Kiara, I did not tell you this story to gain your sympathy or have you wonder about the organization." Eglantine countered, folding her hands in her lap. "My friend made a choice and it ended it up costing him his life. You are now faced with a choice. I suggest you look deeper into it before making a decision."

Kiara looked down feeling ashamed of her self for asking, really sometimes she didn't know when to shut up and not to.

"That is why I haven't made a decision yet, but I will think of something soon the right solution just hasn't come to me yet"

Eglantine would have felt bad for being so sharp with Kiara, but at that moment in time she found it necessary.
"I am sure you will." She said softly. "Did I tell you that I have begun to train Miss Casillas?"

Deserately wanting to change the topic Kiara raised her head.

"Train? Oh as an animgus?"

"Yes, I was hoping that you would approve... she has great potential."