A/N: I've had part of this written up for ages but I finally finished this chapter. Still kind of playing around with the original and the Disney version because it's difficult to make Lily become Hans Christian Andersen's woeful and tragic Little Mermaid when Lily is so feisty.


Lily's chest had constricted with the effort of not crying as she approached the shore and placed herself between some high rocks that rose out of the water. She had then watched to see what would become of the poor prince, shaking her head in exasperation as he had passed out on the beach after his small episode.

She did not have to wait long before a young girl appeared and approached the spot where he lay. She seemed tentative at first but knelt down and lay her head against his chest, supposedly for a heartbeat. Lily gritted her teeth and felt her face flush violently because she had lay her head there just a few hours before. She did not care that the girl was closer to James than she could be, she cared that she was now going to steal the credit for saving him when Lily had been the one to carry him to shore.

The girl then ran up the beach and returned with a number of people who began to hover around James, slapping his face and bringing him water as he woke. He sat up slowly this time (at least he learnt from previous stupidity, Lily thought) and smiled dazedly at those around him. He looked between their faces, seemingly searching for someone. Lily hoped it was her that he was looking for, but she abruptly waved that thought out of her head realising how silly that thought really was. Of course he wouldn't remember her, she had charmed him to forget everything about her and almost nothing was strong enough to overcome her song. Especially not this dolt who didn't seem to have any common sense, or you know, a single brain cell.

As she saw the party lead him up the sand and away from her she felt a pang of loss. She expected to feel envy as she saw James speak to the girl amiably as she supported him. She expected the rush of anger that came as she watched his arm drape around the girls side, drawing her closer to him accidentally.

But what she did not expect was the emptiness. Without him, she had no link to the human world. She had no soul. His soul was to be shared with her if she was ever going to become human; she felt a strange sort of protectiveness over him as well as this new feeling of loneliness without him here.

She dived down sorrowfully into the water, and returned to her father's castle. She had never been so silent and thoughtful as she was that day, and this stark change in personality following a very long trip to the surface was noticed by her sisters more so than ever. They asked her what she had seen during her visit to the surface of the water that had made her so troubled; but she would tell them nothing.

Many a time did she rise to the place where she had left the prince. She saw men visit the beach where he was washed up to check for any other survivors, the girl walked back along the beach after taking James away, she supposed. It became lighter and warmer as it reached midday and common fishermen returned to the jetty, having been at sea since the early morning. Small children who were dressed like nobles were allowed to play on the beach, being minded by their matrons not to go in the sea. She kept returning in the hopes that the Prince would revisit the spot of sand where she had saved him, but she never saw the prince, and therefore she returned home, always more sorrowful than before.

It was her only comfort to sit in her room, and fling her arms around Petunia who was her closest sister. Petunia stroked Lily's beautiful locks of scarlet which bobbed in the water as she sniffled into her sister's shoulder. Lily tried to distract herself, but she gave up tending her flowers or trying to sing herself to sleep. It turned darker, the strong beams of sun from the surface fading and no longer reaching the depths of the ocean. Seeing that the sun was sinking she could bear it no longer, and told Petunia in the hopes she would be convinced to stay.

She spoke of how she had watched the Prince revive as she peeped out from behind her rock just offshore. Lily recounted how her head had rested on his chest and how beautiful he had looked as she pressed her lips to his. As she spoke of him, she lit up.

She wished more and more to be able to wander about with those whose world seemed to be so much larger than her own. They could fly over the sea in ships, and mount the high hills which were far above the clouds; and the lands they possessed, their woods and their fields, stretched far away beyond the reach of her sight.

"You care about this, possibly an unhealthy amount Lily," Petunia stated, rather unhelpfully Lily thought.

"I really do. I feel like I'm lost here, and although this is my reality, it's not real to me. I feel like up there – I could be home."

"That's not true. You'd be more out of place up there than you ever were here," Petunia continued. Always the pragmatist. She was probably right. But even knowing that, Lily would rather be lost on shore than lost down here in the cold depths of the sea.

She gave up trying to explain it to her sister, but she had made up her mind.

It was almost dusk, and it was worth it. She couldn't live down here wondering how life could be up there, especially when even talking about that world seemed to warm her insides.

She was paying Maris' price. She was joining the Prince on the surface, as a human.

She then left her sister telling her she loved her for the final time, swam over the Kingdom that never loved her and said goodbye to the Palace as it slept.


"Sirius, I swear to Godric if you don't listen to me right now I will banish you when I become King," James snapped from his bed as he tried to move the covers and follow his prick of a best friend out the room.

"Get some sleep mate, you're going barmy from the sun exposure," Sirius responded, rubbing his temples exhaustedly as James tried again to tell him about the beautiful mermaid who saved him.

The Prince was lying in bed, his head in a bandage and balms covering the wounds covering his body. The nurses had said that the sea had acted as a wonderful antiseptic, but the sand had irritated the gashes he had received from the rocks. They would only take a couple days to heal but the main issue was his head. It felt like his brain was swelling inside his skull and the fact his best mate was not taking him seriously was making the pulsating headache worse.

"I hate to do this and you know I do but as Prince, I command you to stay here and listen to me... please," the Prince said earnestly.

"Bloody power's gone to your head," Sirius shook his head stopping by the door.

He raised his eyebrows at James who responded in turn by huffing and crossing his arms brown arms over his chest like a petulant child. Sirius ran his hand through his hair and sighed, but returned to sit at the foot of James' bed. They both knew he could walk away whenever he wanted, but Sirius also knew that he wouldn't hear the end of it until James had told him every last detail about this girl. Once when they were younger he had a crush on one of his maids, and young Lord Black had to hear all about the way she held his hand and called him 'love'. James in love was delusional, and persistent if nothing else. Sirius laid across the bottom of Potter's bed, propped up on his elbow, nodding to the other boy to go on.

"I know it sounds crazy. I know that, but you have to believe me. She was perfect and beautiful and she kissed me. She must have dragged me onto the beach but - her voice. My god her voice, it made me feel like I could have everything I ever wanted. She - she is everything I've ever wanted Sirius."

Sirius frowned.

"Mate, you took a pretty hard hit to the head and you must have swallowed a ridiculous amount of sea water. Can you see why I'm having trouble believing the mermaid thing?"

James was about to respond but then bit his tongue. He did sound a bit mad.

"Okay so maybe the tail was my imagination. But the girl… I can promise you the girl wasn't. I couldn't imagine her eyes, I've never seen – I just couldn't make her up," James explained.

"More believable. There were a few girls in the group who were found tending to you after we had been collected."

"No, no - this was before. We were alone, and she found me. She might have been in the storm, I don't know. Her hair was wet and salty, and so were her lips…" James blushed and avoided Sirius' eyes. He didn't approve of James' being such a sap, and he definitely didn't like the fact he was made to sit through James being a sap about a random girl who would probably be too common for him to marry anyway.

Prongs always seemed to have the worst timing, and it could not be denied anymore that he had the worst luck. The one time he actually likes a girl, it's a common girl from the local fishing village. The King and Queen would probably have no problem with this romance, but propriety insisted that he marry a princess from a neighbouring kingdom and now they had arranged his courtship with the daughter of Queen Rowena. Poor sod, Sirius thought as he tried to find a way to break this information to his mate. The Prince continued, "Then I suppose that could be from her dragging me out of the waves."

"Are you sure you aren't talking about Victoria? The girl who found you and walked you up here?"

James glared at his friend. "Sirius," he grumbled as if to say 'No, not bloody Victoria, you arsehole, I do have a memory capable of retaining information longer than 10 minutes, I do remember how beautiful Victoria was yes, but if you were listening you'd know I'm talking about a completely different girl here. And I'm not going crazy alright.'

"We'll visit the beach tomorrow and the little seaside town down there. If mystery girl is around, she's probably there," Sirius rolled his eyes for what must be the tenth time since this conversation began.

"Now will you bloody well sleep, you love-struck plonker."

James nodded defeatedly and Sirius called the maids in to draw the curtains around his bed and make sure he was comfortable before bed. Peter and the boat of his men who had escaped were alright, and he was going to find the girl with the Marauders tomorrow. Surrounded by freshly plumped cushions and full from the broth he had been fed, he closed his eyes. He tucked his bare arms under his bed-sheets, trying not to tighten the muscles in his forearms as he moved in order not to disturb the bandages wrapped around them. Despite the discomfort and constant ache he felt in his bones, he finally cocooned himself in the duvet.

There was still a little bit of her taste in his mouth as he faded from consciousness, a smile on his face as he fell asleep remembering the lull of her siren song.


The witch nodded as she saw Lily approach the entrance to her cave, placing her cauldron on the fire knowing she must begin to prepare the magic draught.

She pricked Lily on the finger and let her silvery blood drop three times into the cauldron. Then with the same knife, the sea witch slit her index finger, letting the black blood fall to join the princesses. The steam that rose billowed, trying to escape the cauldron and suffocate its surroundings. Every moment the witch threw something else into the vessel; sand from an odd looking jar, mollusks she had kept in a small jewellery box and the heads of three sea snakes.

It finally began to boil, and when it was ready at last the witch spooned out a vial of the clear liquid. "There it is for you," said the witch as she opened another vial, gently tracing a long nail softly up Lily's neck. She suddenly felt something force open her mouth as her voice left her and a white orb was drawn into the bottle the witch was holding.

She clasped the witches hand between hers in thanks as she took the potion and then with a powerful kick of her tail she swept out of sea witches home. She passed quickly out of the dark seaweed swamped cavern, and between the rushing whirlpools. She saw that in her father's palace the torches were still extinguished, and all within asleep; but she did not go to them, for she felt as if her heart would break. She swam in spirals and circles, somewhat reluctant to commit to losing her tail forever. For the last time she felt herself propelled through the water, light and deft movements meaning she could feel a current against her scales. The violent impulse of the very cold water against her limbs buoyed her as she rose up through the dark blue waters.

The sun had not risen when she came in sight of the shore and approached the beach, but the moon lit the way for her to follow. She propelled herself onto the beach and drank the magic draught, immediately feeling herself crumple as her tail burned in excruciating pain.

The edges of her sight blurred as her upper body fell back onto the cold sand. She writhed as pain coursed through her body and she heard a sickening slicing sound as her tailed separated. There was a crack which felt like the invisible knife was jerked in further as her vision went black; there was a final surge of pain making her unable to breathe and then suddenly, she passed out.


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