While I've read some fan fiction stories I'd swear were written by J.K. Rowling, I wouldn't presume to be in that category.
Hermione stumbled a bit as the portkey deposited her back in Snape's backyard. Twilight had come. She closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them in a panic, calming down instantly when she felt the small package in her pocket. Snape was waiting for her on the steps.
Hermione smiled. "Success!" Her smile faltered. "Any news?"
Snape motioned her in and held out his hand for the package. "Mr. Potter got back about noon. He needed to talk with you before he left again. He's visiting St. Mungo's now. I signaled him as soon as I felt you approach the wards." They had just sat down in the study when Nuala, holding Fianna, and Harry came to the door. Harry entered and Nuala shut the door behind him.
"I just spent the afternoon at the hospital. Ron's very weak but at least his rate of decline has slowed." Sitting down, he looked at the package Snape was unfolding. "Is that it?"
Snape took out his wand and ran several spells over it. "It will indeed work in the potion." He carefully levitated it and headed for the door. "I'll be in my lab."
"Hermione, before you go, I need your help before I head west."
"Of course, Harry. Will it take long? I didn't plan to be gone all day. Rose and Hugo must be frantic, and the others wondering what's going on."
"I'm not sure how long it will take. Remember those blue flames that you used to conjure for us?"
Hermione was bemused. "Of course. I used them as nightlights for the kids."
"Do you think you could put them into a fully sealed glass ball?"
Hermione nodded. "That's how I made them for the kids' rooms. How long would you need for them to last?"
"I hadn't thought about that. Umm, maybe a month?"
"I'll think about what I can do while I'm at St. Mungo's. Why do you need them?"
"I'd hoped to be able to act as a middleman between the Hogwarts and oceanic merpeople and get the magical seaweed in payment, but that violates their culture so they refused to even consider it. Instead, I'll have to find something that the oceanic merpeople would like that they can't get from their cousins in the Black Lake. The trouble is that I don't know what they like. I figure, though, that living under water they'll have never seen flames. I'm hoping I can trade it to them as a novelty."
Hermione nodded thoughtfully. "I'll have to make sure there's some way of passing oxygen through the glass, but if I do that I should be able to ensure the flames will last more than a month. So I need to transfigure something that allows oxygen in … How many do you want?"
Harry sighed. "I have no idea. A dozen?"
Hermione stood up. "I'll just check in at the hospital and then get right to it." She paused and put her hand on his shoulder. "Harry? I've known you forever. No matter what happens, this is not your fault."
Harry placed his own hand on top of hers. "Thanks, Hermione. Give the family my best, yeah? I'll be there as soon as I can get the seaweed and hardened lava." He stood up and followed her to the door. Giving her a hug, he murmured, "I'm confident that Professor Snape's potion will work and Ron will fully recover."
ATDATDATD
After Hermione left, Harry asked Nuala if Snape was still in his lab. Nuala shook her head. "He's …" She halted and smiled at a point behind Harry. "Severus! The boyo was just asking about you."
Harry spun around and found Snape smirking at him from just a meter away. "What did you need me for, Mr. Potter?"
Harry rolled his eyes. "Isn't it time you called me Harry?"
"Perhaps, but that didn't answer my question."
Harry tried to inconspicuously indicate Nuala, but he must have been more obvious than he thought for Snape rolled his eyes before gesturing towards the study. Once the door was closed, he turned to Snape. "Do you know anything about the oceanic merpeople or do you have any books on them?"
Snape snorted. "You were afraid to ask this in front of my wife? Did you think she'd be afraid that if I knew about mermaids I'd run off to be with one?"
"No! I just don't know how much she knows about our world."
Snape raised an eyebrow. "As far as I know, we all live on the same world."
Harry sighed. "Yes,sir. So, the oceanic merpeople?"
"That's a pretty broad category, Potter. Can you be more specific?"
"It occurred to me that I don't know if they're diurnal or nocturnal, or if they live so deep that it makes no difference. I don't want to approach them when they're sleeping and get started off on the wrong foot. I have to wait for Hermione in any case – she's going to try to make some glass balls of fire for me to trade with them."
Snape looked thoughtful. "Such orbs may in fact be something they would like to have. As to their sleeping patterns, they have occasionally been seen by muggle seafarers during the day, so I would assume as least some of them are diurnal. Why didn't she give them to you before she left?"
"Well, first she has to figure out how to do it."
Snape rolled his eyes again. "Surely you've heard the expression about reinventing the cauldron? Don't you think that some potions are extremely heat sensitive and that such a device would have been developed a long time ago to give a potion master light but no heat?"
Harry looked stunned. Snape just shook his head. "I'll notify Mrs. Granger-Weasley that she can focus on her family. How many light balls do you need, and what size?"
ATDATDATD
Harry was almost blown over by the wind which greeting him on the western coast of the isle of Flores in the Azores. He stumbled backwards before catching himself. He shrugged. The winds were blowing to the southwest, so he would fly in that direction. At least that way he would get to where he was going more quickly - wherever that might be, he thought ruthfully to himself. If nothing else, by flying westward he could get in a bit more flying time before it got too dark to see. He had no idea where he would find the oceanic merpeople. He hoped it would not be a long, tedious flight; when playing quidditch, he at least had his adrenaline to keep him alert.
By the time darkness had begun to set in several hours later, Harry had almost lost hope. He had known intellectually the dismal odds of finding anything in the vast ocean, but flying for hour after endless hour over the unchanging sea began to make his search seem dauntless. A movement out of the corner of his eye caused him to divert to the north.
He let out a dejected sigh when he realized that what he had seen was a pod of dolphins. He followed them for a minute and was about to turn away when his heart raced. What had just breeched the water to his left was certainly not a dolphin. With renewed excitement, he watched the area carefully, and was rewarded for his patience when he saw another figure breech the waves. He sucked in his breath. Although the size of Grawp, it was definitely a merman.
He'd spent the previous tedious hours carefully figuring out the timing of what he was about to do next. He swallowed the gillyweed he had stowed in his pocket and took out his wand. When he began to feel the changes, he flew down to skim the tops of the waves, cast a protective spell around his broom which, as he had thought, unfortunately cause it to lose it aerodynamics, cast another spell to ensure the broom would not slip through his grasp, and dove into the water.
Though he was expecting it, the coldness of the Atlantic water still shocked Harry. Only the binding spell was keeping his broom at hand. He quickly cast another spell to allow him to strap his broom to his back so his now webbed hands would be free.
He finally was able to look around. He couldn't see more than a few meters due to the heavy concentration of seaweed. He realized, though, that he could hear murmurings off to his right and began to swim in that direction.
While he was making slow progress as he struggled through the mass of seaweed, the murmurings got more distinct. He suddenly came to a clear spot and found himself faced with merpeople armed with tridents who looked distinctly angry.
Harry hoped the shell translator would still work even if these merpeople spoke a different dialect from those in Black Lake. He held out his hands and treaded water. Now that he was here suddenly all the brilliant conversational openings he had thought up had disappeared. He had a sudden urge to say "I come in peace," and recognized that he felt slightly hysterical. He breathed deeply through his gills and settled on, "Greetings."
A mermaid the size of troll bared her teeth. The tentacles on her hair pointed directly at Harry. She approached Harry with her trident pointed directly at his chest. Harry backed up, but felt something jab his back. He looked up, thinking he'd better try to find another clan, but another mermaid was holding herself upside down in the water, her own trident pointed at Harry's head.
An even larger, muscular merman swam menacingly in front of him and sneered. "Who do you think you are to come like a shark into our community, destroying homes like a marlin in search of mackerel?"
"I come hoping to make an exchange of goods," Harry replied nervously. "I did not know I was destroying anything." His heart beat quickly.
"Look behind you!" the closest mermaid irately demanded.
As Harry carefully turned, very conscious of how close the prongs of the tridents were to him. As his did so he realized that the seaweed around the clearing had been braided into cave-like shapes whose openings were filled with what seemed to be young merpeople though most were at least as big as Harry. When he completed his turn he realized that what he had thought was a random forest of seaweed was in fact a home – or had been before he had blundered through it. The ragged edges of the homes on either side of the ruined dwelling seemed to swish in disgust at him in the slight current.
"I'm sorry!" Harry exclaimed in horror. "I didn't mean … I didn't realize … I'd only …" he stumbled to a halt. He felt a poke in his back and turned around again to face the open area. He had to force down another hysteric laugh as he thought of an old print of deranged villagers wielding pitchforks surrounding a witch, only this time the torches were missing.
Torches … He slowly reached into his moleskin pouch and took out one of the light orbs, restoring it to its original size. The blue flame flickered inside. "I was hoping to be able to trade this humble item. I would like to gift it to you as a token of my regret for my egregious error." He carefully held out his hand with the orb held in his webbed hand.
The mermaid glared at him, each tentacle-like hair on her head straight out. "If you weren't a fry …" Suddenly she reached forward and slapped him on the cheek. The blow was strong enough to force his entire body to the side. She yanked the orb from his hand and swam away in a huff, her tail swishing violently.
As she disappeared into the gloom, the merman in front slowly pointed his trident down and the others followed his example. To Harry's surprise, he chuckled. "You are lucky, visitor, that she is so easily satisfied." He slowly swam around Harry. "I do not recognize your form, but you speak our language. What are you?"
"I come from afar, from the large island to the northeast," Harry replied. "I changed my shape so that I might visit you." Trying to break the ice, he reached into his pouch for the braided seaweed and snail shell necklace given to him by the young mermaid at Hogwarts. "This was given to me in the hopes that I might deliver it to the mermaid from the Great Lake with the Giant Squid so that her sick fry has something from her mother's family before he journeys to the transparent waters."
A small mermaid with tightly kinked tentacles approached. When she was next to him Harry realized that she was his size but just seemed small in comparison to most around her. She held out her hand and Harry carefully looped the necklace around it.
As the mermaid examined it, her tentacles slowly uncoiled. She nodded and closed her hand over it. She turned to the merman who seemed to be the mer-chief and pointed her head at Harry. "I know this kind. This one is similar to those from the logs that float above, but uses a stick to transform things. They are mostly friendly." At this, the merpeople muttered among themselves.
The mer-chief's tentacles waved gently. "I know of such creatures but had never met one before." He turned to Harry. "If you can transform things, can you fix the house you destroyed?"
"May I first see a dwelling close up so that I know what it should look like?"
A merman pointed him to the dwelling near the one with the gaping hole and the circle surrounding him left a gap so he could swim there. He looked in the opening and saw walls, floor, ceiling and several benches and mats made of tightly woven seaweed. He thought about a braiding charm he learned when Lily was young. If I modify it slightly, he thought … "What may I use to repair the damage I caused?"
Two merpeople looked at each other in silent conversation. One then swam off, dragging several large bundles of seaweed behind her when she returned a minute later.
Harry took out his wand and concentrated. Slowly the hole mended itself and new furnishings were created.
When he was done, the merpeople swam by and peered in. "Clumsy and ugly, but adequate until it can be redone properly," concluded the mer-chief. "Now, you said you had something to trade? We do not want anything from our cousins to come by you."
"I understand." Harry reached into his moleskin pouch again and took out another orb. He restored it to its original size and the flame inside lit up his hand. "I have eleven of these left, all made by stick holders and none of which come from the Great Lake with the Giant Squid."
The mer-chief took the orb and examined it carefully. He said something Harry couldn't hear to a merman by his side, who then took off.
"We may be able to trade. Do you have anything in mind that you want in exchange?"
Harry nodded. "I am looking for a seaweed with magical properties. I believe you call it seagryphon grass, but I will know for sure when I see it."
The mer-chief's tentacles waved to one side. "How much?"
"As much as I can hold in two hands."
The mer-chief whispered something to a mermaid, who swam downwards. She returned shortly with a large bundle clutched in her webbed hands. Harry examined it carefully. He could feel the magic emanating from it when he touched it. "Yes, this is what I seek, and the amount is perfect! Please, will you accept my trade?"
The mer-chief's tentacles gently waved. "You are not a trader or you would know not to appear so eager. What would you use the seagryphon grass for?"
"A friend of mine is dying. The seagryphon grass may help cure him."
The chief looked around. "Agree ye, yea or nay?"
To Harry's relief, most of the merpeople nodded.
The chief turned back to Harry. "It is agreed. Eleven such orbs for this bundle of seagryphon grass."
Harry smiled as he pulled out the rest of the flame orbs and restored them to their original sizes. He carefully tied the pouch of seagryphon grass to his waist.
The merman who had swum off at the mer-chief's request when the trading began returned. In his hand he held a large bundle of glowing seaweed. Harry was shocked when the mer-chief took a flame orb, held his hand over it and dowsed the flame. "But don't you like the light?" he asked, confused.
The mer-chief didn't look up, but instead held his hand over the glowing seaweed. The glow was suddenly moved into the orb, giving off a red light rather than the previous blue light. His tentacles coiled and uncoiled several times and he smiled. "This will do nicely. The seaweed orbs cut much of the light, but the new ones will let us use our own light more brightly."
Harry sighed. Well, at least he had the required seagryphon grass. He had in fact brought something the oceanic merpeople wanted, but it was for the box and not the gift inside. It was just like the time when two year old Albus was more fascinated with the packaging than his actual birthday present that Harry had spent hours finding. He'd better stick to being an auror.
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