PART TWO

In which there is a botched potion, a bit of alone time with a statue, a fight with a lusca, unexpected encounters with a King, a Shark, and a Merboy, and a witch with bodies lining the walls and a locket hanging from her neck...


Glass jars filled with bioluminescent plankton and dead sea-fireflies floated above the slab. The blue-green glow filled the grotto with just enough light for Severus's work. The thin laver fronds under his knife reminded him faintly of the boy-prince's hair. The green sheen of the obsidian knife reminded Severus of the boy's eyes.

He wrapped the strips of laver around the tadpole tails with care. The shell full of crushed coral and cured manatee blood sat at his elbow, bubbles slowly forming on the surface of the nearly-complete potion.

He had been working on this potion for nearly a month, testing and retesting his old theories in hope that this time it would work. He had been young, merely a novice, when he had tried to join Lily into the world of men. His ability to wield magic has been rudimentary at best, but he had grown so much more powerful since then. Nearly a master in his own right now, he could brew tempests and bottle dreams with ease. A simple transfiguration potion should not be beyond him.

Severus held his breath as he slid the wrapped tadpole tail into the potion. As the tail disappeared underneath the surface, Severus believed that he had finally done it. He might had actually succeeded. It was at that moment when a cluster of reddish-grey bubbles rose languidly from the potion and burst, releasing a thick black sludge into Severus's face.

He swore under his breath as the shell cracked and the blackened potion oozed out onto the slab. He threw a handful of sand onto it, neutralizing it before it ate through the stone. He wiped the failure away with scraps of sail.

Severus threw the scraps and the cracked shell into a dark corner and slumped to the ground for a well-deserved sulk. Mermaids did not need to go through all this trouble. They could shed their fins as easily as one would shed skin or scale.

No, mermen couldn't strip off their tails on a whim, but they had the magic. He had the magic, and he should be able to craft a potion capable of doing this one, simple thing.

Severus straightened, his continual inability to solve this one problem had filled his bones with stone. He would need another shell, he noted as he took hold of one of the lamps and swam down to the deepest part of his grotto. Perhaps more tadpole tails as well, though he wondered if he should use more crushed coral instead.

The lamp's glow reflected off sharp emerald and immaculate painted stone as Severus drew closer to his newest, greatest treasure. Beside Severus's bed, surrounded by his most illicit possessions, stood the boy-prince's statue, majestic and beautiful despite being unceremoniously tipped into the sea.

It had taken Severus days to find it, and days more to bring it to his home without being seen. He learned and kissed the scratches in the paint, the parts of the stone that had chipped off when it hit the ocean floor. He knew the rough, gritty patch from where the statue's knee banged against rock. He had cut his lip on the sharp cheekbones.

Severus knew it was a poor substitute, but as he let go of the lamp, Severus felt once against transfixed by that face, by those green eyes that glowed in the greenish-blue light.

He cupped that stone face, remembering the prince's skin and how it had felt underneath the salt and sand. The stone was smooth, its smile cold.

Oh, how soft and warm the prince's mouth must be!, he lamented as he pressed his cheek against the statue. He ran his hand over the painted hair. How soft to the touch!

Severus curled his arms around his treasure and rested his head on the face, his nose against the painted jagged scar. He knew this obsession was driving him insane, but he could not rest until he created the needed potion and had his arms wrapped around the boy-prince's warm, beautiful body. He ran a hand over the hard shoulder and down the chest, tracing the edges of the odd adornments on the statue's chest.

"Would you know me," he asked the statue, his voice hushed and shy, "when I find you again? Do I fill your thoughts like you have filled mine?"

The statue did not answer him. Severus amused himself with relearning every carved line.


Severus floated above the black fronds of seaweed that grew near the shore, a thin wooden pole in one hand and his stone knife held close against his side. He could smell the lusca that made the algae bed its home, could hear its agitation as he dragged the pole through the fronds.

It was peaceful in a sense. The setting sun made the waters softer, gentler somehow, and the swaying fronds had a way of soothing an anxious mind. It had a way of making a creature feel at ease, making him forget that a hungry predator lurked within that peace, waiting for its chance to strike.

The pole caught and jerked. Severus tightened his grip and lifted it out of the algae. A lusca half Severus's size had its greenish-black tentacles wrapped around the other end. It swiveled its merman-like head and screeched, exposing the three rows of teeth inside its head.

Severus barely had his knife up when the lusca shot teeth-first at his neck. He sliced at the lusca's head, catching it in the cheek just as the lusca swerved out of the way. One of its tentacles whipped at Severus, nearly catching him in the chest.

It turned, its tiny yellow eyes nearly slits, and screeched before attacking again. Severus swung the pole at the creature, smashing the lusca in the side of the head and snapping his pole in two. The lusca twisted and rolled with the blow.

Severus did not hesitate. Before the lusca could right itself, his knife was there, driving through thin membrane and muscle and into the lusca's soft head. It let out a gurgling screech and wrapped its tentacles around Severus's arm. Severus stabbed the head a second time, ignoring the blood and ichor tainting the water around him.

The lusca flailed at Severus's chest and neck as the last of its strength left its body.

"Collecting ingredients?"

Severus, startled, turned and immediately bowed. "My liege," he murmured. The lusca's tentacles flicked and tangled themselves in Severus's hair as it twitched through its death throes. He glanced at the small group of court merfolk lingering at the edge of the algae beds and at the trident held loosely in the White King's hand before looking away. "It's rare to see you out of the depths."

"I was in the mood for a stroll." Severus suppressed a shudder as Albus waved the prongs of his trident about. "That's a fine lusca on your arm."

"Thank you, my liege." He pried one of the tentacles off. His fin flicked, putting a bit of distance between himself and the White King.

Albus eyed the lusca with a smile on his lips. "Their skin is useful in transformative magic, yes?"

"And healing." Severus sneered at the nervous sound of his own voice. He shrugged and looked away. "It's always wise to be well-stocked."

"A sound policy." Albus hummed and nodded his head. The charms and beads of sea glass threaded through his hair clicked against each other. He looked out at the fronds swaying in the current and the dark blue drop into the depths and the edge of the seabed. "I've forgotten how calming this place is."

"It has its charms." Severus speared the lusca onto his broken pole.

A cry rang out from the cluster of court 'folk. "Shark!" one of them shouted, pointing at the dark shadow swimming towards Severus. He sucked in a breath and raised his bloodied knife, cursing the lusca bleeding out into the water, only to sigh.

He swam towards the great white. "Krum," he said, holding out a hand to the shark. "Smelled the chum, did you?" Krum swam a circle around Severus, nudging the dead lusca with its nose. It bared its teeth.

Severus shoved the shark away. "Get your own meal, you oaf." Krum swam around Severus, its beady eyes on the meal already before it.

The White King swam up to Severus's side. "Is this…your friend, Severus?"

Severus pushed Krum away. "It's a shark, my liege," he said. He scooped out the lusca's innards with his knife and chucked them at Krum's massive head. The shark snapped the meat up. "And it's biding its time before deciding I'm better a meal than a companion." Krum slid his side against Severus's stomach. He threw the shark one of the lusca's eyes.

Albus's smile reached his eyes. "Of course." He glanced at the court merfolk. "I believe my companions are ready to return to colder waters. But, there is one more thing I wish to speak to you about before I leave you to your hunting."

"Of course." Krum ate the other eye out of his hand, nearly taking Severus's fingers with it. Severus bopped the shark on the nose.

Albus held the trident with both hands. "There have been reports," he said, his voice dropping to a murmur. Severus went still. "Concerning unnatural magic. Death magic."

"Death magic?" Severus's hand found Krum's side and stroked the scales. So many questions came to mind, but all he could manage was a weak, "How?"

"Minerva suspects someone might be catching mermaids and corrupting them, but I don't believe that's the cause." Albus shook his head. "I'm afraid that darker forces are in play."

"Death magic is involved. How much darker can it get?"

Albus looked out at the algae beds. His fingers drummed a slow beat on the shaft of his trident before presenting Severus with another flat smile. "That is a fair point." He patted Severus on the shoulder. "Stay safe."

"Of…of course, my liege." Severus bowed slightly and watched the White King lead his entourage into the dark drop. The white of Albus's hair faded into the dark, but the golden prongs twinkled until even its awesome power could not withstand the dark and the pressure of the deep.

As Severus watched the last glimmer of the trident wink out, Krum jerked from underneath Severus's hand and darted towards the beds near the drop. Severus froze before swimming after it, holding the speared lusca and the knife against his chest. "Stop!" he shouted as the shark snapped at a pale, green-finned merboy.

The merboy darted out of Krum's way, his pale face twisting in fear. He glanced about for shelter, his fin working hard and fast to keep him out of Krum's teeth. Severus swam between the idiot and Krum's sharp teeth and grabbed hold of the boy's arm.

"You," Severus hissed as he got a good look at the merboy's pale, pointy face. "Didn't learn your lesson the first time, I see."

"I didn't do anything!" the merboy cried out, trying to pull out of Severus' grasp. Krum gnashed its teeth at him. The boy whimpered.

"How long were you following me?" Severus tightened his grip around the merboy's thin arm. "Why are you following me? Answer me!"

"I'm not following you!" the merboy cried out, his voice high and reedy with fear. "She told me—"

"She? She who?"


The merboy led Severus north along the shoreline, maneuvering them through the strong currents that threatened to twist them towards the rocks. Every time he glanced behind him, Severus gave him a smile full of teeth that only served to urge the merboy to swim faster.

Krum lurked behind, swimming forward only for nerves or the cold or the unfamiliar surroundings to spook it. Or perhaps it was the itch in the water that was making Krum ill at ease. Severus stroked the shark's dorsal fin, thanking it for not abandoning him yet. Having the great white at his side as he met the merboy's mysterious mistress eased some of Severus' own apprehensions, even if it did not take them away.

Dark shadows passed over them, startling the merboy into a jerky panic. He darted off, spurred on by his fear, forcing Severus and Krum to swim hard and fast to catch up.

The boy finally slowed down as they reached the wreckage of a small ship crumbling on the seabed. The bottom of the ship was completely missing, as if someone had taken a sharp blade and sliced it away. The prow pointed wearily towards a cave in the cliff face pressed against the shoreline. Jagged rocks surrounded the slitted opening.

"She lives there," the merboy said, gesturing at the cave.

Severus stared down at the boy. "Go on," he said when the little idiot did not move. "You've led us this far."

The merboy hesitated but kicked off and swam straight for the opening.

Severus made to follow, only for Krum to swim into his path. He glared at the shark. "What?"

Krum weaved its giant head between the narrow opening it had no chance of swimming into and the foul-feeling waters they were in. It knocked its nose against Severus's shoulder, pushing him in a distinctly southern direction.

"You're panicking about nothing," Severus said. He rubbed Krum's nose; Krum snapped its teeth at Severus's fingers. "If I don't return before sunrise, go to the White King. Understand?"

Krum pulled away, thrashing its tail and nearly cutting Severus with its caudal fin as it swam away, which was just as well. Severus stared at the cave opening, ignoring the fear growing inside his heart.

The jagged rocks surrounding the opening were sharp enough to tear off ribbons of flesh, but the edges of the opening were much too smooth to have been created by erosion alone. Inside the cave, the walls were stripped clean of life and the water felt slimy and stagnant against Severus' skin, making it difficult for Severus to move or even breathe with ease.

On a rock shelf jutting out above the high water mark, the bodies of several dozen humans stood frozen, their bodies twisted into grotesque poses. One had been twisted so much at the waist, he looked ready to snap at the center, while a trio of women, linked arm to arm, stood on one leg, the other lifted to curl around their necks.

In the very back of the cave, a short, toad-like woman in salt-stained clothes had made herself at home. She sat in a chair warming herself by an eerie blue fire. Pale pink canvas covered the sand floor. The cave walls curved out and up above her head. She took a sip from a white cup and set it on the table beside her.

The merboy's head surfaced some distance away from the woman. His eyes kept darting towards two bodies standing closest to the woman's patch of dry land, a man and a woman with the foot of the other crammed into their mouths.

"You're back early," the woman said in a high, breathlessly girlish voice. "Did you see— oh!" She gasped and grasped at the locket hanging from her neck as Severus surfaced silently. The air of the cave was, not surprisingly, even more offensive to the senses than the water. The stench of dark magic and unwashed corpses hung in the air like a heavy perfume. "You've brought a friend."

She gave Severus a wide, simpering sort of smile, the firelight casting her stretched jowls in grotesque shadows. "Hello there," she cooed in the surface tongue, as if Severus was a wild, stupid beast. "Is this him, Draco?"

"It is," the merboy, Draco, said, barely glancing at Severus. "Please, Madam Dolores, my parents—"

"Your parents," she snapped, her girlish voice dropping an octave as she spoke. She cleared her throat. "No, no," she continued, her voice high and saccharine once more."Your parents are perfectly fine right where they are. I've become rather fond of their company, actually." She stared at Severus for a moment. "Now, this merman you've brought me. Does he speak, or do I have to depend on gesturing again?"

"I speak," Severus said sharply, startling the woman.

"Oh my!" Dolores said, clutching at the locket around her neck. "A talking beast, how utterly unnatural. You, merman! Come. Closer." She gestured wildly for Severus. "Do they have names, Draco? No matter, no matter. Merman, do you know who I am?"

She stretched her squat form out to its full height. "I am Dolores, the Umbrage of the North Coast. The Witch of the Sea." Severus squinted up at the woman, unconvinced. "Do you see this boy? He was human, once, just like I, but in a fit of madness, had decided to make himself like the animals. It was my magic that had turned him into the beast you see before you."

Severus let out a snort. "You. A human." Humans didn't have that sort of magic, as far as Severus knew.

"Yes, me. Your superior!" She grinned. "I have more power in this wand than you have in your entire body, beast."

Beast, she called him. He sneered at the little woman and her worthless posturing. "Do you expect me to impressed by your little tricks? I, who can curse you with a word and heal you with a song?"

"You will speak to me with respect!" she roared. "Come and marvel at my little tricks." With that, she aimed her stick at Draco's head. A bright yellow light shot out and struck the boy, causing him to convulse furiously in the water. Draco barely let out a cry before sinking into the stagnant waters.

Severus dove down after the boy, cursing himself even as he reached out to save the stupid human from drowning. Draco kicked and swung his arms wildly, as if the witch had not just turned his tail into human legs, but had taken the boy's ability to swim as well. Severus lifted him back to the surface even as Draco struggled against him.

The witch gave Severus a thin, self-satisfied smile. "From beast to man with a simple spell," she boasted, her stick still in her hand. "Do you think you can do the same?" Draco clung to Severus, nearly dragging them back under as he wrapped his legs around Severus' tail. He shoved the now-human boy onto the dry land at Dolores's feet.

"I can do the same for you. Make you into a real human boy." Her voice dropped an octave. "Severus, son of Tobias."

Severus stared. The reddish glow in the woman's bulging eyes filled Severus' belly with dread. "How do you know my name?"

"The same way I know what you've been doing in that secret grotto of yours, so sure that no one can see," the witch continued in a cold, hissing voice. Her stubby fingers stroked her locket, tracing the curl of green stones embedded into the gold. "For all his spinelessness, Draco is an exceptional little sneak. He was there when you saved that human prince, weren't you, Draco?" She patted Draco's wet hair. "He even saw you drag that great statue home, though he couldn't figure out why. But I think I can take a very good guess."

Severus reared back, stunned surprise quickly giving way to cold rage. There was no way that boy had been able to watch him for so long. The waters surged sluggishly around him. "And now you plan to use that weakness against me?" He glowered at Draco as the boy crawled to sit at his parents' feet. "I have no family to sacrifice to you."

Draco glared at Severus, his pale face splotchy with misery. Dolores, on the other hand, merely smiled. "There is something that I would like in exchange for my services," she said as she held her stick with both hands, her left lightly brushing the end. "A token, really. A mere trifle."

"Again, I think you're working under the assumption that I am as dumb as a human."

"Your voice, Severus son of Tobias," she went on with a magnanimous wave of her hand. "A more than reasonable price for some time on the surface and a pair of human legs."

Severus glared at the witch.

"Come now," she said. "Even an ignorant beast should be able to see that this was an excellent deal. Three days of sunshine with your handsome little prince, and if you get him to…kiss you—" The witch's voice cracked and her face blanched. She clutched at her locket. "Yesssss… A Kissss…." She covered her neck and stared up at the ceiling. "A Kiss of True Lov—" She choked on her words. Draco crawled backwards away from her, horror in his wide eyes.

Severus had heard and seen more than enough. "Keep your deal," he spat, "and your sniffling little boy away from me, or I swear by the Trident, I will come back here and eat you."

The red light in the woman's eyes faded as she glared down at him. "Savage beast," she rasped out. "You threaten your better?"

"My 'better' doesn't live in a stagnant cave surrounded by rotting corpses." He turned to swim away. One of the bodies on the walls twitched in the blue firelight.

"You are not leaving, Son of Tobias," the woman hissed in a cold, high voice. She raised her wand; the waters churned around him. "Not until our deal is complete."

"I have agreed to no deal!" The water rose, lifting and pushing him towards to the woman's feet. He struggled against the unnatural current, clawing at the sterile walls as it smashed him against the sides of the cave. He felt a clammy hand rake at his arms and neck, pulling at his hair and tearing into his scales.

He pushed his magic out at the water tossing him about, but it was no match against the woman's magic, not when she was surrounded by the corpses that fueled it. The water spat Severus on the dry land. He raised his head from the dark sand to see the woman's stick pointed at the space between Severus's eyes.

"Stupefy," she crowed. The green jewels on her locket were black in the blue firelight. Her eyes flashed blood-red as the spell hit Severus between the eyes.