The Elixir

By Tokidoki

P r o l o g u e

The carcass was dried, the face dried as well but unmistakably merman. It was twisted into an expression of horror. Hagrid bent over the creature, frail and flaky under the rare English sunlight. He kept shaking his head, in sorrow. What in God's name would make a merperson - highly intelligent and sea loving creatures leave the lake? The merman was holding something in his hand. With as much care as possible so as not to disturb the rotting body, Hagrid pried the stiff hand open with his giant, lumbering fingers. He winced as he cracked a few fingers off by accident. But what was inside the merman's hand caught his attention

A crystal vial, half-filled with an acid green liquid.

He held it in his giant hands for a moment, then slipped it in his pocket. He had heard only from others about it and had questioned its existence, but he looked carefully down at the merman's tail which was contorted in a strange way. Only then he began to notice the forming of legs in the man's tail, frail and slightly poking out awkwardly from the mass of green scales.

"So it's true."

C h a p t e r 1

It had been a little bit over 10 years now, Harry remarked to himself. He often found himself lost in his thoughts, revisiting countless times the night he banished Voldemort. The scars he had withheld. A shudder went through the scars, which he absentmindedly scratched at the mere thought of them. But here he was today, an auror, working among those who he was not unfamiliar with. Here he had found his niche in the wizarding world.

Today had been an uneventful day as far as an auror's day could possibly go. Paperwork and paperwork, but after all the ministry was the ministry. He waited for Moody at the fountain in the main lobby, sitting as he had been for the past 10 minutes. This was where he had first seen her.

At first he lazily had been looking around the lobby, letting his eyes wander to passing wizards and witches, to decorations, to the marble floor, and soon he had noticed he was not alone in sitting on the fountain ledge, waiting. He let his green gaze flicker to the girl (although he would learn she was much older than he had thought), a few times before he let them settle upon her as he was sure she was not aware. Her eyes, gold and green, stared off into the distance as she sat there, deep in thought.

He studied her. She was a slip of a girl, the sort of skinny that was dangerous looking, clad in a purple tweed suit from the 1940's. Her skin was pale and fragile looking, and her face...her face, along with her twig like body, gave Harry the impression that she was not quite as human as she'd like to let on. Her face was not by any means pretty, but it was the sort of face you can't forget. A wide round nose, much like a lion's, and an incredibly small however pouty mouth. Two gold-green eyes deep set and wide apart, hidden under large thick rimmed frames and set below sharp-red brows which matched her curly sharp-red hair.

As he surveyed the girl, who could not be a day over 15 he thought to himself, she finally caught his gaze and her eyes widened and she squirmed uneasily in her seat. His face grew a bit hot with embarrassment so he looked away and fiddled with his badge. Very, very, awkwardly.

Moody arrived, nearly 5 minutes later, his peg leg scuffing the marble and a face that only a mother could love. Harry hopped off of the stone ledge of the fountain, and began to smile and wave but Moody was not looking at Harry. Instead, Harry noticed, his eyes were fixed upon the creepy girl. She had been looking at the floor, and as she looked up at Moody, only a foot or two away, she gave a small shriek of laughter. "Moody," Her small and strange voice crooned.

"Lolita," He purred -- the way he had uttered her name was obviously filled with some sort of a history, Harry thought. "God Lolita. You look exactly the same way you did 30 years ago -- probably even better," Moody's voice was low and intimate, and Lolita laughed insidiously. It was a thoroughly creepy, inhuman laugh. "I wish I could say the same," her smoky-childish voice replied. He was awfully close, he looked away for a moment. That was when he noticed Harry.

"Harry! I had almost completely forgotten. I see you've just gotten here," He said in an awkward, too loud tone as he moved swiftly away from Lolita. "Meet a good old friend of mine from years and years ago, back when I was just starting out."

Introductions were made, followed by a heavy silence. "Well, she's not just visiting for me you know," Moody said gruffly, to which Lolita interjected 'I would if I could'. Moody continued, "She's actually a client today. Come on now, to the office," He said, ushering the two away.

They each sat in brown leather-bound chairs in the dimly lit office. Moody sat at the desk, Harry in the chair sloppily pushed up against the wall behind the desk, and Lolita sat directly behind the desk in a chair. She and Moody had been locked in something of a staring contest for the past few minutes. "Well," Harry began. "Of course." Moody said, his wonky eye spinning all over the place once more.

"Lolita de la Mer is an old friend of mine, " Moody repeated, more to himself than to anyone else, "I haven't seen her in at least 30 years though." Lolita sighed, and nodded. "It's been hectic for these years. I was busy protecting my people from Moldy Voldy both times he rose and in between then, protecting them from humans as well," She explained. "Oh God, I almost forgot you called him that," Moody laughed. "Moldy Voldy!" They cried in unison, erupting in laughter. Harry had never before felt this much like a third wheel.

This was where Harry winced. Lolita's smile was a horrific sight. Her tiny, red-lipstick pouty mouth cracked open to reveal large too-white teeth, and her mouth widened, reaching literally from ear to ear. It almost made him sick. "Your- your people?" He stuttered, trying to look away from the visual abyss of her mouth.

Lolita's mouth returned to normal as she gravely stared into him. "Yes," She answered coolly, her wide eyes now squints. Moody was quick to provide an explanation. "Harry, obviously she is not completely human," He sighed, almost disappointedly.

"Well, obviously, I knew that, but I didn't want to ask in case-" Harry defended himself. Moody put a hand up, "It's alright, I can't expect you to know everything. Besides, my Lolita is one in a million here. There are almost none other in the world like her." He smiled- something that was so rare for moody and yet he was giving out smiles this way and that with this child- "Lolita is half-human and half-merperson." Moody explained.

Lolita obligingly pulled down the collar of her tweed-suit, revealing gills that she had been concealing. "Oh, wow-" Harry gasped. "How exactly did that happen?" He asked. Lolita, who had been displayed her gills somewhat proudly, quickly covered them once more and shot Harry with a glace of disdain. "What do you mean?" She growled.

"I mean, um, well, I've encountered merpeople before," He tried to make himself appear important, which he was. He was a grown man nearly 30, and yet when surrounded by the other aurors, they always treated him- albeit with some respect- as if he were still the young man they had met him as. "I was curious as to how a merperson and a human could have possibly, eh," he searched for a less vulgar word than fuck, "mate."

She snorted. "Trust me, when it comes to mating, anything's possible." She said, giving a knowing glance towards Moody. "Indeed." He nodded with a quiet smile. "Lolliepoppers, show the teeth, please?" Lolita gave a small smile. These strange displays of the remains of affection proved to Harry once more that Moody had not always been brooding and crazy ugly.

Lolita opened her mouth open like a normal human mouth for once, reached in and began pulling something. Harry's curious stare turned into one of utter horror when he mouth grew in size again, practically splitting her face in half as she removed the too-white teeth out from her mouth- they had been dentures. What she had been hiding was something Harry would never, ever forget.

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Read on to Chapter 2 to find out what the hell was Lolita hiding with dentures? No teeth? Giant gums? Something else totally up to your imaginaaaation?