A/N: I own nothing you can recognize!
This is a giftfic promised and written for Lexi(The Cinder Crown).
Her prompt was: Tom/minerva
Since she loves fairytales!AU so much this will be The Little Mermaid!AU.
Also used this prompt from Around The World in Thirty-One Days on Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments).
South Sudan - Action: Singing
Word count without A/N: 1 155
Beauty Of the Lost Voice
Deep inside the Black Lake lived a little mermaid named Minerva. She had long, wavy, black hair that always flowed behind her. She never allowed anyone to braid it or touch it. It was something that was so unique her.
While her hair flowed behind, her eyes always looked forward, never staying in the past. They were deep green and whenever she looked at someone, it would feel as if she was reading their soul. Her eyes showed how much her mind was big in the matters of mermaids but they also showed a youthful light.
Her tail agreed with her eyes in color - deep green and merpeople would say that she was the light of the sea despite her colors.
Even though she was a princess and had to have guards, she would explore the underwater lands with her friend Pomona. They would escape the guards and frolic around, but there was something dangerous in Minerva's mind. Her dream was to live as a human on land. She would go and look upon the Hogwarts castle for hours and whenever a human dropped something on the shores of the lake, she would pick it up as her own treasure.
Once, when she found a strange forked object with Pomona, they swam to the surface to find Scuttle the owl.
"It's a dinglehopper!" he proclaimed when they asked him what it was.
Minerva's father, King Albus, was just when it came to his merpeople, but when it came to humans, his mind would darken. His wife had died when one of the young ones tried to spell a boat to fly. It fell on his wife and killed her instantly. He never forgave them and with that, he made all of his citizens hide even deeper in the lake. Rare were the times humans would notice them or come into contact with them and because of that, they were classed as creatures with no sentience.
After Albus found out his favoured daughter had been to the surface, he forbade her to ever go there again. His face was so constricted in anger, and Minerva had never been so afraid. To add a cherry to the top, he asked a crab named Aberforth to keep an eye on her.
Minerva had always been strong-willed and even after that, she didn't stop going to the surface and one night, a terrible storm happened. The rain fell heavily and thunders were breaking the sky in half.
Just as Minerva was preparing to leave, she saw a boat with a lone human inside it. As she watched it, a strong disturbance in the water happened, and he was thrown into the lake.
"I must save him!" she cried out with her melodic voice.
Minerva pulled him outside onto the shore and sang to him a healing song, one which mother had taught her. When she finished, she swam away.
What she didn't know was that the man has caught a glimpse of her face and that he was the Prince that lived just above her in that huge castle. The Prince might not know who she was, but he knew that he would remember that voice forever.
When Minerva returned home, she could not help but think about the Prince again. She managed to stay calm for a day but soon, she grew restless and she had to see him.
Desperate, she gave her voice away to the evil lake which, Bathilda. Bathilda took her voice and gave her legs with a bigger plan than to help young Minerva. As every spell, this one had a rule too. If the Prince didn't kiss Minerva before the sunset on the third day, she would return to a mermaid's shape and her soul and body would belong to the evil witch forever.
The Prince found her on the shores. As he was charmed by her silent beauty, he took her with him. Later, he would say that she looked so lost to him, but every mereman would know that it was Minerva's natural beauty that acted like a spell whenever someone saw her. He showed her his kingdom and told her everything about his kingdom and his fascination with mermaids.
Two days had passed, and Minerva loved every moment of it, but she also grew worried. She only had a day before the spell would be over and they had yet to kiss.
Bathilda, worried that Tom, as the Prince was called, would fall in love with Minerva, transformed herself into a beautiful girl named Myrtle. She intended to make Tom fall in love with her instead of with the Princess.
Singing with Minerva's beautiful voice, Bathilda transformed into Myrtle and used a spell on Tom. Soon he was in love with her and MInerva's heart broke. She had no way of breaking the spell without her voice.
The same day, news spread through the kingdom. The Prince would marry a young girl named Myrtle. With this, Minerva lost all hope of being able to have the man for whom she promised her voice and soul.
Just before sunset on the third day, Scuttle discovered that Myrtle was Bathilda in disguise. He hurried to warn Minerva.
After Minerva found out what Bathilda had done, she sent her father's faithful friend and advisor, Aberforth to find her father in hopes that he could help her deal with the mess she has made.
While they were searching for Albus, Minerva raced as fast as she could in hopes of catching the ship on which the Prince was supposed to marry Myrtle.
She caught the ship but it was too late; the sun has fallen, and she had turned into a mermaid. Fortunately for her, Scuttle had managed to take Bathilda's necklace and return Minerva her voice.
With that, Tom was released from Bathilda's spell, but it had all happened too late. Minerva now belonged to Bathilda, and she would never be freed unless her father managed to do something, which he did.
He gave up all of his magic and became Bathilda's prisoner, so she would free his sweet favoured daughter. That gave a spur of energy to Bathilda and she shouted, "Now I am the ruler of the Lake and waters connected!"
She grew in height and soon, she was gigantic. Tom jumped on the ship's deck and cast a spell at the evil Lake witch. "Avada Kedavra!"
As she rose, the witch fell under the surface of the lake.
Since it was by a human's hand that Bathilda died, King Albus grudgingly agreed to grant his daughter's wish and make her a human.
Their marriage was the biggest since the late Founders and that pleased the crowd. Soon, mermaids were considered part humans again.
Do I need to say they lived happily ever after? If so, they lived happily ever after.
The End
