Hogwarts: Lacus doesn't want to be a witch who destroys nations.

Lux, with her wet, messy blonde hair and a few glistening fish scales stuck to her school uniform, stumbled through the doorway behind the portrait of the Fat Lady in the Gryffindor common room.

Lux found a corner near the fireplace and sat down. She couldn't wait to open the box, and the rich aroma of lemons immediately filled the air.

Lumi immediately poked her head out of the wicker basket, her eyes wide like saucers: "Little sister! Quick! Give me a bite!"

Lux generously gave it a tart, then picked one up for herself and took a careful bite.

The crisp tart crust crumbled between your teeth, and the cool, silky lemon curd, with its perfect balance of sweet and sour, instantly filled your mouth, perfectly neutralizing the chaos in the kitchen.

"Hmm... worth it!" Lux squinted her eyes in satisfaction, feeling that the ten points deducted didn't seem so painful anymore.

"Merlin's socks! Lux?!" Anna's knight piece fell from her hand onto the board, knocking over a group of pawns.

"Did you fall into the water? Or did you go to participate in the mud wrestling tournament organized by Mischievous Ghost?"

Phoebe immediately put down her book and ran over to support Lux, looking her up and down with concern: "Oh my god, are you alright? What happened to you? Your face looks like you ate some rare pickled starfish from Augur's stash."

Lux wiped the water droplets from her face and began her accusation:

"Call the police... I'm calling the police!" She grabbed Phoebe's arm suddenly, with such force that Phoebe winced. "I'm going to complain to the Ministry of Magic, to the International Wizarding Association! There are mermaids in the Hogwarts kitchen, and I even got points deducted because of their antics!"

"She must have come here after watching a tutorial on Xiaohongshu (a Chinese social media platform), she caused a huge scene and deducted my points!"

Phoebe tried very hard to understand Lux's ravings and struggled to break free from Lux's grasp.

"So, what exactly happened?"

Lux calmed herself down and said, "Don't be afraid of what I'm about to say."

Anna leaned closer. "We're wizards, we're not afraid, Lux, you say."

"Just imagine, I took Lumi into the kitchen, we were eating dessert and singing, and suddenly a mermaid came and ruined everything!"

Phoebe shook her head, trying to remember what kind of creature this was: which one was the mermaid?

"Not any one of them, but a mermaid who is half human and half fish." Lux got angry just thinking about that mermaid.

Anna quickly drew a picture with a quill pen, half of which was a person and half of a fish, and showed it to Lux.

"Sister, she's a human on top and a fish on the bottom, not a little fish-woman."

Anna turned the painting upside down.

"No matter how much you spin, she's still a mermaid, not some 'waaaaa' fish-man!" Lux vigorously rubbed her blonde hair.

"Pfft..." Phoebe lowered her head and couldn't help but laugh. She wiped her face and became serious again. She couldn't help but laugh again, but she held it back.

Lux: "What are you laughing at?"

Anna covered her mouth and replied, "I remembered something happy."

"What's making you happy?"

"My owl has given birth."

Phoebe couldn't help but laugh, but she tried to keep a straight face and hold it in.

Lux: "What are you laughing at now?"

Phoebe replied sincerely, "My owl had babies too."

Lux scratched her head: "Are your owls the same?"

The two nodded in unison: "Yes, yes..."

Then the two of them couldn't hold it in any longer and started laughing while covering their faces.

Lux felt like she was about to stand up from the table if she kept talking: "I'll say it again, I'm not kidding, there really is a mermaid in the kitchen!"

Mia Brown, who was quietly knitting a strangely colored scarf in the corner, was also drawn over by the commotion.

Clutching the ball of yarn, she tilted her head, looking at Lux with a puzzled expression: "Mermaid? Lux, you mean... the mermaid from the Great Lake?"

"Otherwise what?!" Lux turned her head angrily. "Are there mermaids who can swim on their backs in cream soup?"

She paused, then added, "But it did end up in the kitchen and ruined my afternoon tea."

Mia blinked her big eyes and said slowly, "But... Lux, aren't the mermaids in the lake? How come they're in the kitchen? And... the lake has been acting strangely lately."

"Strange?" Lux caught the key word, ignoring the water droplets dripping from her hair onto the carpet. "How is it strange?"

Phoebe frowned, as if remembering something: "Mia is right. In recent weeks, there have been rumors among the lower grades that something bad has happened at the Great Lake. Do you remember that student who was burned? The fourth grader who was swimming in the Great Lake and was burned to a crisp."

Lux nodded; she still vividly remembered the scene in the emergency room at St. Mungo's.

Mia continued, "I heard from the older students in Ravenclaw that it seems to be more than just an isolated case. Although it's not as serious as before, recently people have been seeing strange bubbles rising from the Great Lake—not ordinary bubbles, but those… bubbles enveloped in a ball of flame!"

"Sometimes, near the shore, the water temperature suddenly becomes scalding hot, enough to instantly scorch leaves thrown in! Some people have even heard a deep, roaring sound coming from the bottom of the lake—it's terrifying!"

"Yes, yes, yes!" A third-year Gryffindor who was doing his homework nearby chimed in excitedly, "Prefect McGonagall said that Headmaster Deppet already knows about it and apparently sent someone to investigate!"

"I saw Aug paddling his little boat on the lake the day before yesterday! Now, all the younger students are strictly forbidden from going near the big lake; the prefects are keeping a very close eye on them!"

Lux stroked her chin, the unpleasantness of being disturbed by the mermaid gradually replaced by contemplation. "It sounds like some kind of irreconcilable conflict is fighting at the bottom of the lake? Or is there some unstable energy leaking?"

Her mind raced, images flashing through her mind: the student at St. Mungo's who was burned by strange flames, the fire rising from the bottom of the lake in Mia's mouth, and... runes!

"Wait!" Lux slapped her thigh suddenly.

Runes! Those runes from Hogwarts! Lux turned the castle upside down, even rummaged through the trash cans, but found nothing.

The only places I haven't thoroughly searched are the Forbidden Forest and the Great Lake. The Forbidden Forest is fine with the white horse leading the way, but the Great Lake is under martial law now and is so eerie; the rune might be at the bottom of the lake.

Or... is the anomaly in the lake due to a leak of runic energy?

This thought instantly energized her.

"Do you think it's possible for me to go to the Great Lake?"

Anna rolled her eyes. "Come on, I think these students are all hallucinating because of the final exams. Fire in the lake? Some troublemaker must have invented a new kind of underwater fireworks! Or maybe it's Prankster playing tricks again!"

“Exactly,” Phoebe nodded, “and the Great Lake is off-limits now. Even the prefects can’t go there freely, let alone us. The people Principal Dipper sent to investigate haven’t returned yet, so you can forget about it.”

"If we can't go to the Great Lake, then let's go somewhere else!" Lux scrambled to her feet, her eyes gleaming.

She immediately rushed towards the stairs leading to the Forbidden Forest, shouting, "Anna, Phoebe, Mia! Cover for me! If I'm not back before curfew, say I went to help deliver owls."