The Life Aquatic with Lupin, Maturin, and Nemo

[conriocht.livejournal.com]

It was early morning, and Lupin was shivering on the shores of Hogwarts Lake. Somewhere out there in the murky water, the grindylow were going through their spring hatching. There were important observations to be made: did the grindylow raise their young like mammals, or abandon them like some reptiles? What did baby grindylow eat? Which parent (if any) took care of them? Were grindylow prone to cannibalism of their young like many species? He was going to find out.

He was wearing a pair of very old swimming trunks, unused since his previous grindylow study fifteen years ago, and a threadbare, oversized T-shirt that had once belonged to Sirius - both a disguise for his scars and a sort of good luck talisman. He had with him his wand, two pads of paper charmed to stay dry underwater, and a camera and a stopwatch which were similarly charmed. He felt like the Muggle explorer Jacques Cousteau, and kept half-expecting a French voiceover to start describing his mission.

He wrapped his arms around himself to stay warm, and waited for Maturin to arrive. He wasn't sure if Nemo had been turned back into a fish yet or not, but hopefully he had been restored to his natural form and would be along as well. This was going to be an interesting adventure.

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[estebanmd.livejournal.com]

Stephen arrived at the lakeshore, fairly undisturbed by the cold, because he was wearing his ever-so-stylish fieldwork-appropriate coat, over a relatively non-hideous swimsuit which he had obviously not picked out himself, or else it would have been as hideous as said coat. He was blithely towing along Nemo's tank on an odd sledlike contraption.

[nemofound.livejournal.com]

Nemo was bouncing with anticipation inside the tank. He'd enjoyed swimming in the lake while he was temporarily human, and he looked forward to it again. After all, there's just something about the way water flows against your scales in a real live body of water, with actual currents and actual other aquatic life, that can never be replicated by even the best filtering system.

[conriocht.livejournal.com]

"Good morning, Dr. Maturin. That's... erm, a very interesting coat you're wearing. Nemo, I'm glad you could make it. I see you've successfully returned to being a fish again. Congratulations. I'm Professor Lupin, by the way - I don't think we've met."

Lupin hoisted his bag of equipment. "Right, well, before we get started, there are two issues at hand. One is the fact that when we humans use the gillyweed, we won't be able to speak to each other. The only way I can think of to communicate is to write notes on these pads of paper. It's a bit of an awkward solution, so if either of you can think of a better one, please let me know. The other issue is that Nemo is a saltwater fish, not a freshwater fish. I believe I can cast a spell that will keep you immersed in salt water. I'd need to do that before we begin. All right?"

[nemofound.livejournal.com]

"No, I don't think we have either. Hi!" Nemo considered the prospect of the spell. "Okay, that's fine. Hm ... you can't talk with gillyweed? I could ... that's funny. I can still talk with both of you, right? Could that help?"

((OOC: Nemo had no trouble talking when he used gillyweed in his chibi-form; shall we just assume that that's a function of the fact that it's normal for Nemo to talk through gills? (And not that his mun forgot about any canon restrictions pertaining to gilly-speech. :-P Of course.) ))

[conriocht.livejournal.com]

"Yes, you can still talk with us. I don't know if that'll help, though. Now, if you could hold still a moment, I can try the spell on you. It won't hurt, don't worry."

Lupin took out his wand. He was using a variant of the Bubblehead spell, which would keep saltwater in and fresh water out, and also (as an added bonus) keep Nemo safe from any possible attacks by hungry grindylow. He murmured the words of the spell and then carefully lifted Nemo out of his tank, now floating in a little self-contained bubble of saltwater. "There - how does that feel? Can you breathe all right?"

((Yeah, in canon Harry can't talk when he's using the gillyweed - or rather, he can talk but no sound comes out. But let's just let it go... no big deal. ;) ))

[nemofound.livejournal.com]

"Whoa!" Nemo said, looking around and wriggling in Lupin's hands. "Yeah, that's just fine. Wow!"

[nemofound.livejournal.com]

((ooc: *severely* limited online time until Monday, as that's the day of my big test. Er. The first of many big tests, that is.))

[conriocht.livejournal.com]

"Ah, I'm glad this worked," Lupin said, holding the little ball of water carefully in both hands. "I've never tried this before. You certainly have been having some interesting experiences lately, haven't you, Nemo?"

((no problem - good luck on your test!))

[conriocht.livejournal.com]

Lupin realized that this was the first time that he and Maturin had encountered each other face to face, in their own bodies, since the debacle on April Fool's Day. It was a little hard to look the man in the eye. He wished he could've been wearing a more dignified ensemble. Although it would've been hard to be less dignified than that coat... thing that Maturin was wearing.

"So I assume you've got the gillyweed, then?" he said. "I wouldn't recommend you wear that coat in the water, by the way. Sofa upholstery can get very heavy when it's wet."

[estebanmd.livejournal.com]

"Gillyweed I have aplenty," replied Stephen cheerfully, retrieving a battered black satchel from the back of Nemo's sled-thing where it had been riding behind the tank. "This coat has survived climes tropical and arctic, but I had no intention of wearing it into the lake." Completely unselfconsciously, he removed the coat and tossed it onto the back of the sled where the satchel had been. He would never have thought to wear a shirt to cover anything, so this revealed a collection of scars which might be seen either as impressive or as frightening, all of them old except for the newly forming keloid of the Chinese character at his collarbone. "I take it you and I require the gillyweed, and Nemo will be fine with the saltwater bubble. And we are to write, on notepads, in the water?" He pictured a sort of odd pantomime.

[nemofound.livejournal.com]

From his bubble, Nemo's eyes widened at the sight of Professor Maturin's scars, and for a moment he was frightened. Then, he glimpsed a faint afterimage of himself in the shimmer of the sun off the edge of his saltwater bubble. He remembered his dad's stories of another such transparent bubble, in which baby Nemo had been growing up normally on the day a barracuda ate his mom and all his siblings, leaving an angry white scar across his egg. Nemo saw the tiny fin which fluttered at his right flank, memento of the scar. 'It's over now, Nemo, it can't get worse,' his dad had told him. 'You'll be just like that now; you're still a perfectly special fish, and I love you. It might not get better but it can't get worse.'

Nemo sighed, satisfied and relaxing at last. "Still special," he murmured to himself.

[conriocht.livejournal.com]

Well, Stephen didn't seem to care about his scars, so he might as well take his own shirt off. It would only get in the way while swimming, anyway. He pulled it off, revealing a palimpsest of old bites and claw marks, some of them self-inflicted and others the result of his time with the feral werewolf pack. The oldest scar, the original bite, was already revealed on his left calf. He glanced curiously at the Chinese character on Stephen's collarbone, realized where it probably must have come from, and repressed a slight shudder.

"Yes, the notepads are charmed to stay dry." He handed one to Stephen. "I don't know how you usually note down your observations, but just go ahead and do what you normally do. I trust your perspicacity. I'm going to take notes and try to take some pictures, also, if the light's good enough." He indicated the camera. "Just remember that if a grindylow gets ahold of you - and hopefully none of them will - their fingers are brittle, so you can break their grip easily enough. A bit of an evolutionary error, I suppose." Wait - did Stephen predate Darwin? Probably. Never mind.

"Shall we partake of the gillyweed, then?"

((sorry for double-post - I wasn't logged in))

[estebanmd.livejournal.com]

((Whew, had to check Goblet of Fire 26 for the gillyweed effects! ))

Stephen took the notebook, examining it curiously. There was nothing about it perceptibly different from an ordinary notebook, not even the slightest slickness to the pages. To Lupin's shirt-shedding he gave no notice at all, to the scars on him only the most abstract and clinical pondering in the corner of his mind (related to lycanthropy? interesting, would be of interest to examine); his primary interest was in the effect of the gillyweed, which he had never tried before. He offered Lupin a handful of gillyweed and waded into the water before ingesting some himself. It was rather like eating undercooked calamari.

[conriocht.livejournal.com]

Holding Nemo's little bubble of water in one hand, Lupin examined the ball of gillyweed with some distaste, waded into the water and popped it in his mouth. It reminded him unpleasantly of the time Tonks had insisted he try sushi at a Japanese restaurant.

Almost immediately, he felt as if he was being smothered, and ducked under the water, letting go of Nemo as the gillyweed took full effect. The intensely cold water now felt comfortably cool, and he blinked in the submarine twilight, examining his webbed fingers and toes with interest, palpating the gill slits in his neck. How wonderful and strange, to be underwater and not need to breathe - quite different from his previous experience, which was more like wearing a diving helmet. He waved at Nemo and looked around to see if Stephen was all right.

[estebanmd.livejournal.com]

Stephen had already submerged. The sensation of gillyweed-induced change took him by surprise, even though reading had prepared him with a general idea of what to expect. He was tempted to spend more time taking notes on the transformation process than on the grindylow hatching. However, there was plenty of gillyweed and plenty of time to experiment therewith, whereas the life cycle of the grindylow would wait for nothing. Through the wavy dimness he looked for the shadowy form of Lupin and the bright flash of color that would be Nemo.

[conriocht.livejournal.com]

He'd had the foresight to attach a Muggle ballpoint pen to each pad of paper with a bit of string, but writing with webbed fingers turned out to be more difficult than he was anticipating. He scribbled, Grindylow are in the weeds down there in the deeper water. Look for clusters of eggs like bunches of grapes. Mum and dad grindylow may be hanging about so be careful. If we get separated and you get into trouble, send up a flare with your wand.

He held the pad of paper out to Stephen, who looked to be in no distress from his transformation, and indeed seemed understandably intrigued by his newly-acquired amphibious attributes. Hopefully he would be able to read Lupin's handwriting.

[estebanmd.livejournal.com]

Stephen had never been what one would call a graceful swimmer even when swimming purposely rather than merely falling between the dinghy and the ship proper. In gillyweed-altered form, with no need to break the surface and with webbed hands and feet, he experienced for the first time complete ease in the water. It was extraordinary. Everything felt different. He wished he had had this in the ocean instead of a diving bell.

Keeping hold of the notebook, with attached pen, and his wand at the same time were not the simplest thing in the world with newly altered hands, but could be managed well enough. Surprisingly, his vision was not excessively impeded by the water -- another effect of the gillyweed? was this how Nemo saw in the water all the time? -- and he was able to decipher Lupin's handwriting without too much difficulty. (It was better than his own on land.)

[conriocht.livejournal.com]

Lupin was also taking pleasure in his ease of movement; his body was so unreliable, and so frequently a source of pain, that weightlessness and freedom was a very welcome thing indeed. Judging by his expression, Stephen seemed to be enjoying himself as well. That was good.

Seeing that Stephen understood his note, he tucked the notebook back into the satchel he'd brought with him, which fortunately didn't impede his swimming too much. He took out the stopwatch and got it going, holding it up to Stephen to show how much time they had left: a little less than an hour until the gillyweed wore off. Then he started swimming down into the deeper water, looking over his shoulder every so often to make sure that Stephen and Nemo were following.

[estebanmd.livejournal.com]

Stephen followed easily and with a swiftness that surprised him; he had no idea it was possible to swim this quickly, even though he had seen Jack do it (without benefit of gillyweed) often enough. Aquatic plants were fascinating in their own right, and scanning them for grindylow eggs no chore at all.

[conriocht.livejournal.com]

Lupin spotted the tell-tale bundle of eggs from a few feet away, attached to some narrow-leaved water plant that Stephen probably knew the name of. He put a hand on Stephen's shoulder to get his attention, gestured for him to stop, and pointed out the eggs.

(Touching the man's bare skin, warm in the cool water, elicited an uncomfortable sense-memory of their previous awkward encounter, but he steadfastly ignored it in the name of scientific inquiry.)

[estebanmd.livejournal.com]

The eggs were clustered against one of the long stalks of a plant Stephen recognized. He wrote its name on the notepad for Lupin's benefit. Najas fragilis -- 'slender naiad' -- n. Europe, also New World. Then, as an afterthought, Ripe to hatch? which referred not to the plant of course but to the grindylow eggs, translucent, bulging with dark life.

[conriocht.livejournal.com]

They look ready, Lupin wrote back. He dug out the camera and took a photo, although in the dim light it probably wouldn't turn out very well. He didn't dare use a flash in case the grindylow parents were around. Oh well, it might look "artistic," at any rate.

[estebanmd.livejournal.com]

Cameras were a development rather after Stephen's time -- the kind used for photography, at any rate; a camera obscura did not quite count when it came to this kind of thing. Curious, he watched Lupin fiddle with the small box, completely unaware that any light was required for it to work well. The water did not quite lend itself to the sketching of grindylow eggs in the notebook, and Stephen gave up an abortive attempt. Will draw them later from memory, he wrote.

[conriocht.livejournal.com]

Noticing Stephen's puzzlement, he wrote, This is a device that records images. Might not work though.

The first egg was beginning to hatch and he nearly dropped the notebook in his haste to take notes on what was happening. The translucent shell peeled back and the tiny green creature popped out, its body also slightly translucent. Its horns were mere buds, but its fingers were as long and savagely clawed as an adult's.

More of the little beasts were hatching, and now the two scientists had a melancholy glimpse of what newborn grindylow ate: each other. Lupin made a face as the babies fell on each other until there were only three left. The biggest of the three took it upon itself to eat the remaining unhatched eggs, as well.

Survival of the fittest, he wrote to Stephen, no doubt introducing him to the concept for the first time.

[estebanmd.livejournal.com]

Stephen nodded at Lupin's explanation of the camera; he would want a better look at it later, but for now, the grindylow hatching was beginning!

Lupin's quotation was of course unfamiliar to him; it was appropriate enough for what Stephen saw of the creatures' behavior. In answer, he wrote: Grindylow life: nasty, brutish, and short, paraphrasing (fittingly enough) Hobbes's Leviathan.

[conriocht.livejournal.com]

Indeed, Lupin wrote. I don't see the parents anywhere, and we're running out of time. Let's head back and pay a return visit later and see how they're doing.

[estebanmd.livejournal.com]

Fair enough. Sufficient gillyweed to return now if needed. Parents poss. near? scribbled Stephen.

[conriocht.livejournal.com]

Could be. Hypothesis - grindylow abandon their young like amphibians or fish. Lupin took out the stopwatch again. There were about fifteen minutes left. He showed it to Stephen and pointed towards the surface.

[estebanmd.livejournal.com]

Makes sense. See you on shore. And Stephen was off.

[nemofound.livejournal.com]

Nemo bobbed along in his bubble, keeping up with Stephen easily. He noticed that while the water moved along his body as he was used to, the currents swished the freshwater plants away from his bubble just in time. Apparently, the bubble was enchanted to keep the plants, as well as the fish, in their own home environment.

((Have we a plot plan for what Nemo's role in this is?))

[conriocht.livejournal.com]

Lupin was sure the eggs were going to hatch very soon - they were slightly translucent and he could see shapes inside them struggling to get out.

He wasn't sure if the grindylow had simply abandoned the eggs or if they were around hiding somewhere. He looked up at Nemo and pulled out his notebook again. He wrote, Nemo, can you look out for the mum and dad grindylow while we're watching these eggs hatch and tell us if you see them coming?

[conriocht.livejournal.com]

The gillyweed wore off when Lupin was still a few feet down, and he had a bit of a panicky moment before he could manage to swim back up to the surface and back to shore. Wading back out of the water, he shook himself like a dog and immediately started shivering again as he gently placed Nemo back in his tank. He pulled on his abandoned T-shirt, but it didn't help. Bloody hell, why hadn't he brought a spare change of clothing? He'd thought of everything except that. He looked enviously at Stephen's hideous coat.

[estebanmd.livejournal.com]

Stephen had gotten to shore already; between thinking about the grindylow, the various plants, and what time the gillyweed would wear off, he had actually not given much thought to Nemo who was not using gillyweed, and he was grateful to see Lupin putting the little fish back in his tank. "That was marvelous!" he enthused, rummaging through the gillyweed bag to extract a complete change of clothing (admittedly very wrinkled from having been shoved into the bag haphazardly, but then, without Killick around to take care of things, that was the general state of anything Stephen had occasion to pack up or fold). The wet swimsuit he had not quite made any provision for, and so when he took that off he had to drape it across the back of Nemo's sled. Killick would have scoffed, but at least Stephen did know how to dress himself without assistance, provided he was not required to wear full dress uniform and he was not expected at an official function five minutes ago.

That having been taken care of, he stretched experimentally to test the reversion from gillyweed-induced change, and noticed Lupin shivering in a puddle. "Oh, my," he said, sympathetically. "Here, use this; it is apparently not the most becoming garment in the world, but I find it serves." He tossed the appalling coat to Lupin.

[conriocht.livejournal.com]

Skinny-dipping in cover of darkness with his mates was one thing, but Lupin was slightly agog at seeing Stephen calmly strip down to his birthday suit in front of him. What on earth...? Well, living on shipboard for months at a time probably made one a bit more casual about those sorts of things. As for Lupin, he was simultaneously reddening and trying not to stare. Goodness, Stephen had quite a nice arse. Who knew?

Recollecting himself, he replied, "It was marvelous, wasn't it? The whole grindylow business was a bit anticlimactic, though. Bloody cannibals..." He shrugged resignedly. "I think next time I'm just going to eat a bunch of gillyweed and swim around randomly for the hell of it. Maybe I'll start a catalogue of lake fish species."

He looked with some distaste at the proffered coat - he wasn't exactly a dedicated follower of fashion, but this was almost too hideous even for him. Also, Stephen was nearly a foot shorter than he was. But he was beginning to turn blue with cold, so he accepted the coat with a word of thanks and pulled it on. It was a bit too tight across his shoulders and the sleeves were too short, but it was warm, and that was what mattered. He just hoped Crowley wouldn't see him in it - he'd never hear the end of it.

"All right - I'm going back to my quarters to change, and then I need a drink. D'you want to come by my office for some pirate rum and go over our notes? I keep my rum supply there so Agent Cooper doesn't get at it."

[estebanmd.livejournal.com]

"Anticlimactic, perhaps, but useful to know, and I wonder what purpose it serves in controlling the grindylow population?" Stephen mused, totally oblivious to Lupin's opinion of his perfectly nice oh god, my eyes, they bleed coat. "For it seems extremely redundant that so many eggs should exist and only a few offspring survive. Yet it may be seen as less offensive than the habits of some insects, who lay eggs inside a living host that it may serve the hatchlings as food." While Stephen was not the world's biggest fan of rum -- having written a treatise against its liberal rationing in the Navy -- being changed back into normal form did make the lakewater's chill quite palpable, and a warming spirit would be a welcome thing, to say nothing of its being quite companionable. "Certainly I shall bring by the notes, and we shall see whether I can draw a passable representation of the eggs and hatchlings."

[conriocht.livejournal.com]

"Ah, well, there's a very good reason for the large number of eggs and the small number of surviving offspring. There's a fellow named Darwin who figured it all out. I'll tell you more about that later."

Lupin shouldered his satchel, realizing he looked like a large animated sofa but glad to be warm. "I'll see you in a bit, then."

[estebanmd.livejournal.com]

"Darwin, yes." Stephen was familiar with the name; Lupin must mean Erasmus Darwin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erasmus_darwin), author of the Zoonomia. "We shall have to discuss his work. I will come by after taking Nemo back to his dormitory." With that, he began to pull the tank-laden sled thing back toward the school.

[conriocht.livejournal.com]

(( what ho, old chap (http://community.livejournal.com/hogwarts_hocus/453413.html) ))