Jade gaped at her friend. "You're a mermaid," she repeated, her voice going deadpan from the shock. "What, do you gallivant around wearing seashells and combing your hair on a rock or something?"

Alana snorted derisively. "No, not like that. See, I'm not exactly a mermaid. My grandmother was a real live, full-fledged mermaid, and my dad is half but doesn't know it. I'm exactly one quarter mermaid. That's why I don't look like one, but I suppose I am one. I can breathe in the water, and sometimes I appear in a funny way in the water, like I just did. Jade, it's really weird- the water let me move it. I felt like everything around me was like a clay, and I could bend it and shape it to my will. It was strange, but it felt right."

"So your powers were activated when you entered the water, and that's why you weren't tied to the statue like all of the other hostages." Jade accepted the towel that Headmaster Thornbeck extended to her and wrapped it around her head. Her hair was dripping into her face and driving her nuts.

"You know all of those times I was disappearing? I was swimming to the bottom of the lake to talk to the merpeople. They knew my grandmother, she used to live down there, and they were helping me discover my heritage and my ability. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, but I wasn't sure if it was even something I could control. I wanted to be certain of its reach before I tried it out." Alana extended an arm and hugged Jade, her wet sweater and Jade's wet swimsuit making an uncomfortable squelching noise when they touched.

After a moment the two of them released one another and laughed the laugh of exhaustion and final happiness. West ran down from the stands to join them, her favorite red skirt whipping in the wind behind her.

"Jade," she said, out of breath and grinning, "you still owe me sixteen Galleons."

Jade smacked her playfully on the shoulder and gave her a one-armed, sopping wet hug. "Thanks for the seal skin, but I think it's at the bottom of the lake now. It fell off."

West threw her hands in the air, exasperated, a gesture she made often. "Trust you to lose an enchanted selkie's cloak."

Alana laughed too and splashed West with a previously unnoticed ball of water, which burst over her head and left her dripping. The girls headed to Madam Pomfrey's tent to change into warm, dry clothes, still laughing and bickering.