Harry had remained lain up for almost another two weeks under the constant worried eyes of either his parents or Godparents. His mother had taken over the care of his wounds, received both from the shark which had originally attacked him and Tom's anger, using methods which were far more familiar to him, if less effective, than the paste which the siren had employed. His father, Remus and Sirius had all questioned him endlessly on what had happened. What he'd been thinking going to the drop off with Draco. What Tom had done to him. What Tom had planned to do. What Tom had made him do and whether or not he'd been properly taken care of.
Harry had answered them with an amended version of the truth. Had admitted that the Siren had, on a few occasions, hurt him though it had never seemed to be on purpose. More a consequence of not knowing how to properly conduct himself around something so much smaller and weaker than him. Had told them that he'd forced him to eat meat, but only once, and after that had provided him with proper food. He left out Tom's true motives for not having killed him outright.
He still didn't know what, if anything, he was going to do about Tom and was more than well aware that if his family knew he'd had a Siren's amorous attentions he'd never be able to go anywhere unwatched ever again.
His friends had come to visit him on more than one occasion, Ginny railing on Malfoy for abandoning him out there, Hermione chiding him for being a reckless idiot and allowing himself to be goaded into swimming out into open water, Ron apologizing for not having been out there that day and all three eager to hear a story of a sea dragon.
Harry got the feeling that they left disappointed when the truth wasn't quite so exciting, but that was fine. He'd told them the same truth he'd told his parents-Ginny and Ron might be able to keep quiet but he knew better than to expect Hermione not to immediately report the matter to his parents-and he was too preoccupied with Tom's potential condition to bother himself with embellishing for their benefit.
And that worry only increased with every passing day. Tom had said that he had months, at most, to live. When Harry had left he'd just begun to look unwell, skin slightly sallow and scales beginning to turn opaque. What might he look like now? Was he even still alive?
"Darling, where are you going? You've only just finished your recovery."
Harry paused at the door of their home and turned back to look at his mother.
"I'm going to go and spear to old man Dumbledore."
"Dumbledore?" Lily looked both concerned by his ability to go so far so soon and confused over what he could possibly want to have to do with the kind, wise but undeniably eccentric near hermit and his Phoenix fish. The only Mer who could be bothered to live within ten miles of, and attempt to care for, the crumbling ruin that was all that was now left of the once grand Temple of Neptune. "Whatever would you need to speak with him about."
The little raven looked away. He was all but certain there was no way that his parents, certainly not his father and certainly not given his history with Siren in general and Tom in particular, would be happy with what he had planned. Nor even the vaguest notion of it.
"Harry." Her tone was somewhat more stern. He risked a quick glance at her up through his lashes. "Darling, please. Just tell me."
He huffed but, aware that he likely wouldn't be able to get away without saying anything and not wanting to lie any further than he already had and relented. "I want to know more. About the Siren. To maybe…understand them a little more. And there's no one on the reef who knows more about the Siren and their history with us than him."
Lily still seemed torn with the decision of whether or not to allow him to leave the house. "You're really going to go see Dumbledore? You're not going back out to the drop off are you? With Draco Malfoy or anyone else?"
Harry shook his head. "No, mother. I only want to go and speak with him about stories and history. I've no intention of going back to the drop off or open water." Not any solid plans at least. "I promise."
After another moment further, she nodded. "Alright, love. Be back before nightfall, ok?"
"I will. I promise." He rushed out before she could reconsider.
After so long held captive, either within Tom's cave or in his own house, it felt amazing to be outside-and swimming on his own-to the point where the urgency of his fact finding mission was almost lost to him entirely amidst the warm water and bright colors.
How best to go about getting the information that he really needed to know? Diving in head first and coming straight out with what he wanted to know would give far too much away. That decided it then: easing into the matter it was.
And not a moment too soon: Harry extended his fins to slow his pace and veered off into a narrow channel between the ribbed, deep violet coral. Slipping through the door hidden within one of the folds and looking around the dim interior in cautious curiosity.
He'd only been here once before, when Remus had come seeking guidance in a Reef Guard related matter and had taken him along. Odd as he was, Albus Dumbledore was the oldest Mer on the reef and possessed of a wealth of valuable knowledge. Many came to him for help, just as he himself was doing now. That having been said, no one knew exactly how old he was or where he'd come from. The ancient Mer with a tail as blue as the reef's shallow waters in high summer had simple appeared one day from amidst the surf and had remained in the area ever since.
It was a widely accepted belief amongst the pups that Dumbledore might himself be the Sea God, though most grew out of such assumptions quickly. Harry wasn't quite so sure.
A flicker of red scales out of the corner of his vision caught his eye and he turned his head in time to come face to face with Fawkes. The Phoenix Fish whistled at him and swam in close circles and his head before darting off again deeper into the house.
Taking that as permission to advance, Harry continued onwards in search of the house's owner. The first thing he noticed was that, like Tom, the old Mer possessed a hoard of shinny objects many of which appeared to be land-tail in origin and none of which he could even begin guessing at the purpose of. The items flittered dully in the low light. A few even reflected his image as he passed.
He found Dumbledore at the back of the house, looking over a faded stone tablet which appeared as if it had come from the temple which Harry knew lay nearby but himself had never seen. He looked up when the raven Mer entered, long silver beard trailing like a shaft of moonlight in the shallow depths, and smiled. "Harry, my boy. I thought that you might come."
That came as a surprise, to say the least. It meant that in some ways the Mer had been expecting him.
"When I heard that you had disappeared I was rightly concerned. As were we all. And when I learned that you'd been returned I was, of course, relieved. And quite curious upon learning that your rescuer was none other than Tom Marvolo Riddle. Formerly the most vicious Siren in the surrounding area."
"Formerly?" there was someone more ferocious than Tom, who held a record breaking amount of territory, not only in existence but in the area? Harry found that rather hard to believe.
"I think you'll find that there is a far more savage creature inhabiting these waters now. The leader of the madness at the southern front. An older Siren who calls himself Voldemort." The ancient Mer brushed sand away from one of the age worn symbols and leaned closer. "Curious creatures, the Siren. They are our closest cousins, the next closest being the Humans-the Land tails as you probably know them-and yet most Mer care little to know anything about them."
"That lack of knowledge is why I've come here today, Sir. You're by far the eldest and wisest Mer, if not creature, on the reef and I was hoping that you could tell me something about the Siren. So that I could better understand what I saw of Tom while I was in his care."
"I think, Harry, that the occasional story has never done anyone anything but good. Though it is another tablet we should be examining for this tale. Come with me." Dumbledore motioned to a bowl of fruit as he passed. "Sea pear?"
"No thank you, Sir." Harry politely declined, following the elder Mer to the opposite end of the house.
The tablet he was directed to was broken off at the bottom but the carvings on it, in contrast to the one he'd seen before, could be clearly made out without much effort. Not writing, this time, but images. Siren and Mer and a pair of Gods which Harry could only assume were meant to be Neptune and Oceanus.
"There was once a time where the seas knew only two Lords; Neptune, the Lord of the warm blue waters, of the shallows and of the bright places and Oceanus, the Lord of the cold black waters, the deep places and all of the cracks and crevasses where the currents were swift and the sunlight couldn't touch. These ancient beings were vastly different, yet equal in power, and when first they met they fell in love and sired both the Siren and the Mer."
"For centuries peace reigned within the seas, and in tending their respective Temples and hunting grounds there was an accord between both peoples, but all of that came to an end when Neptune and Oceanus found themselves at disagreement. All couples fight, Harry, and Godly couples are no different. But unlike with mortals the consequences tend to be much greater and far farther reaching. All of the ocean went to war with itself, and the rift that opened was so deep that it spread through their children."
"The Mer sided with Neptune," Harry concluded, earning a nod from the other, "and the Siren with Oceanus."
"Yes, my boy, they did. But a war between siblings and cousins is in many ways worse than one between lovers and parents. And even after the Gods ended their fighting and determined it best to spend some centuries apart the blood feud between the Siren and the Mer only grew worse. Without their patrons to restrain them organized worship collapsed into innumerable harsh cults and the Temples fell to disrepair and then to ruin. Thousands died on both sides. The water ran red for decades. And in the end the Siren were driven into deeper water."
"With each passing day, each passing moment, the chasm of hatred and ill will between our two kinds only grows deeper. And the saddest part about it is that few, if any, even remember why we're fighting in the first place. Until things calm the Gods cannot return, but they cannot act directly either. But perhaps they'll chose champions someday soon to put all this to end. Now," Harry couldn't help but cringe when those eyes fell on him again, "shall we speak about what really brought you here?"
"I-I don't-. I'm not-." It was obvious from the knowing look that he was being given that his stuttered refusals and lobster-red face were getting him nowhere. "Sir, really, I-."
"You are not the first to find yourself in such a position, Harry. I myself have spent a great deal of my life in similar contact with a Siren though it's been quite some time indeed since I have last seen Gellert."
Harry stared at him in surprise and, before he could stop himself, blurted out "do they die? From…not mating?"
Dumbledore sighed, the twinkle in his eyes dimming somewhat. "It was not always so, my boy, but yes. They do." He said. "After the Siren were driven from the reefs the rise in competition for food from other predators and the decrease in its general availability forced them to shed their podding instinct and disperse over larger, fiercely guarded territories throughout the colder and darker portions of the sea. But this instinct was replaced with a need to bond and mate, not simple to continue their line but to fill the empty chasm left within them. Siren mate for life and value their mates above even the most expansive hoard of treasure. If they lose them they die of grief. If they fail to find a partner at all it's the loneliness, and the drained will to live, that takes them instead."
So Tom hadn't been lying. He really had wanted him as a companion. And he really was dying. Harry felt terrible but didn't know what he was supposed to do; how could he even begin trying to fix things?
"You noticed Tom's hoard while you were with him, I'm sure." He nodded. "Siren guard their property jealously and will travel miles if it means collecting more. A new piece would, I'm sure, be much appreciated. Visit the ruins of the Temple, just to the North of here; I'm sure that you'll be able to find something there."
"Thank you, Sir." Harry aimed a final glance at the stone tablet and the images etched across it. "I'll head out to look now. You won't…tell my parents what we talked about? If they come asking?"
"We only spoke of history and legend, Harry. Nothing to be ashamed of. Nothing which could potentially see you banished. Do keep your actions prudent, though. It would serve no one for you to find trouble."
The raven Mer nodded and made his way out the door, striking out in the direction he'd been pointed in. The direction of the Temple of Neptune. Hopefully he'd find what he was looking for. Hopefully it wouldn't be too late.
