It had been two weeks since he'd gone to visit Tom and Harry had heard nothing from the Siren. He could only assume from the fact that Nagini had not yet shown up to make good on her threat to, essentially, send him to Davey Jone's Locker-or the 'Great Ocean Beyond' as she'd termed it-that Tom was still, at current, alive and kicking. Though whether or not he'd take up his offer and make any effort to save himself had yet to be seen.

He'd said that a perspective partner would buy him time but hadn't specified just how much time and Harry was beginning to become incredible worried.

He'd given him a way out. Done everything but kicked the Siren in the tail over the matter. If Tom still died then it was his fault and his alone. But that still wouldn't stop him from feeling guilty about it. In the limited time he had left to live before Nagini came and bit him and he died from highly potent sea crate venom.

"Harry."

The little raven startled, almost knocking over his plate of sea greens, and looked up. Remembering himself quite suddenly, he turned a faint shade of red much to the concern of his two Godfathers.

"Yeah?" he ventured hesitantly picking up his fork in an effort to act as if he hadn't just been staring off into empty space.

Sirius and Remus both exchanged a rather worried glance.

"Are you alright, Harry?" the amber tailed Mer asked, his voice heavy with honest concern. "You've been…quiet all day."

"Quiet, I…yeah, I guess I have." He admitted reluctantly after a moment had passed. "I just have a lot on my mind is all. I'm worried."

"Worried about what?" there was none of the typical go lucky happiness there in Sirius' voice now. His dark eyes observed the smaller raven in clear worry. "Does it have anything to do with that no good Siren? You don't need to be worried about him, Harry. We won't let him near you again."

"I-. What? No! I'm not worried about Tom-."

"Tom? You're calling that shark toothed bastard 'Tom'?"

"Sirius, please!" Remus' attempt to calm the other man were met with only a marginal measure of success.

"Tom isn't the frothing monster that you think he is. Yes, he's dangerous, and yes, he almost killed dad a number of years ago-but he did provoke him so it's partially his fault-but he saved me. And he treated me well enough. He's just…lonely."

"Lonely!"

"You're very like your mother, Harry. Perhaps too much like your mother. Both you and Lily have soft hearts which bleed too much for your own good if you're feeling sorry for any Siren. Most especially one which has proved as dangerous as Riddle." Remus said grimly. "I'd also be cautious of what you say regarding such matters. The wrong thing overheard by the wrong person could end up in your being banished from the pod. None of us want a death sentence for you."

He'd be banished eventually either way, most likely. Harry could only hope that Tom wouldn't be adverse to once more sharing his cave.

"Tom isn't what I'm worried about."

A lie.

"Then what are you worried about?" When Harry reddened again Sirius seemed to forget the topic of Tom entirely. Almost launching himself across the table in his excitement. "Has someone tried to initiate a courting with you?"

"I-I…well, I-." Yes. No. Not exactly. He really didn't want to talk about this, especially not now. Harry knew that he couldn't possibly keep the matter hidden from his family forever but hoped to do so for at least a while longer. Until he could run enough damage control to prevent the matter from blowing up in his face. "I…I'm the one that started the courting…actually."

Remus smiled while restraining the other, overly excitable Mer. "Bold of you, Harry, though not entirely unexpected."

"So, who is it?"

This was precisely why he didn't want to talk about this. Harry quickly set his eyes on his plate. "I'd rather not talk about that right now. He's not anyone that you would know and…he hasn't reciprocated or even given any signs of whether he's interested in taking me up on it or not so…"

"Of course we'll drop it for the time being if that would make you more comfortable. Won't we, Sirius?"

"Oh, come on Harry! Not even a hint? Just a little one?"

"Sirius!"

"It isn't that little Sea Harpy Draco Malfoy is it?"

Draco Malfoy? Dear God; just the thought of being mated to Draco Malfoy, of having to deal with him for the rest of his life, made his skin crawl. "No, Sirius! By the Sea God I have better taste than that!"

"I'd certainly hope so!" Sirius laughed. Remus looked exasperated by the matter but even he was fighting a smile. "Are you going to eat, Harry? Your parents will have our hides if they think we didn't feed you."

"Oh no, thanks. I'm not hungry." He pushed the carved shell plate away. "Not to mention that it's already dark out and I should be headed home before my parents worry."

The two adults both nodded. "Be careful on your way home, Harry. The Southern Front pushes forward every day and the reef isn't as safe as it used to be."

"I know. I will." Bidding the pair good night Harry left their home in the coral and headed back towards his own. The travel wasn't far but it was far enough that there was plenty of time for something bad to happen to him, knowing his luck, while on route.

Harry resolved to keep his focus on his surroundings at least until he made it safely back to his own room.

Had he not resolved to do so Harry probably wouldn't have noticed the red lights which flickered once before vanishing behind a bend in the coral leading away from his home.

No, not flickered. Blinked. Because they weren't lights, they were eyes. The eyes of a Siren. It was nearly the same view that he'd had as he'd fallen unconscious when he'd first found his way into Tom's lair.

Fear flooded through Harry a split second after that realization struck him. His vision in the dark was near worthless; even if he had been able to see the thing had already hidden itself from his sight. Harry had no way of knowing if it was Tom, in which case he was in no danger-he hoped-or it was one of the Siren that had wandered away from the Southern Front, under the command of Voldemort, in which case he'd almost certainly be dragged off and killed long before he could make it to the safety of either his home or that of his Godparent's.

Should he bolt? Should he hide? Had it even seen him? Should he call out to it in case it was Tom?

But why would Tom be this deep into the reef, even if he was looking for him. It seemed much more his style to send Nagini to find him if he really wanted to speak. Then again, maybe he'd put more effort into the matter if he'd decided to take up his invitation of courting.

Harry certainly hoped so, because he really didn't want to die at that current point in time. But hope wasn't quite enough to keep him in place when there was a 50% chance that the Siren, if it even had seen him, was playing and a 50% chance that it was just waiting to ambush him.

Then he heard an odd melodic sound the origin of which he couldn't immediately discern but when he listened closer Harry finally realized that it was singing. A Siren was singing nearby. He'd heard a rare few tales of the musical capabilities of the species, though they were all too often overshadowed by tails of claws and teeth, but nothing compared to actually hearing it for himself.

"Upon one summer's morning, I carelessly did stray, down by the Walls of Wapping, where I met a sailor gay. Conversing with a young lass, who seemed to be in pain, saying 'William, when you go I fear you'll ne'er return again'."

Was it Tom's voice? He couldn't be certain but Harry had never been a cautious enough creature to require absolute certainty to do something and he struck off after the voice at a measured pace. Rounding the bend after the figure, though remaining mindful to be ready to retreat again with haste should anything come charging out of the darkness at him.

The Siren hovered in the water a handful of yards away from in; it beckoned with a clawed hand before smirking and vanishing into a patch of thick kelp. Harry huffed, ignoring the voice in the back of his head pleading with him to just go home where it was safe and there was no chance that he'd be eaten, and rushed after it.

"My heart is pierced by cupid, I disdain all glittering gold, there is nothing can console me, but my jolly sailor bold. His hair it hangs in ringlets, his eyes as black as coal, my happiness attend him, wherever he may go."

The thick sea weed was slimy and cold as he fought his way through it, its clammy grasp almost wrapping him up like chains on more than one occasion. It placed a considerable drain on his energy but Harry, at last, made it through. He looked wildly around at the ledge on which he'd found himself, rougher and more remote than the drop off he was used to visiting and seeming all the more hostile for its unfamiliarity, just in time to see the Siren's tail flick over the edge. Harry steeled himself and raced after it into open water.

"From Tower Hill to Black Wall, I'll wander weep and moan, all for my jolly sailor, until he sails home." The raven Mer couldn't see anything in front of him through the darkness. Something touched him, the brush of fins against his back, and Harry whirled around. He came face to face with a Siren and again cursed his atrocious night vision; even now he couldn't make out its features. Its taloned hands reached for him, something metallic gleaming in its grip. The heavy clasp of the gold and emerald locket he'd spent innumerable hours staring at during his captivity met his chest with a small thud. "My heart is pierced by cupid, I disdain all glittering gold, there is nothing can console me, but my jolly sailor bold."

Tom circled him once more, still close but not close enough that their bodies would again brush against each other, before he darted off back into the darkness without another sound leaving Harry floating on the edge of the reef. Looking out into the darkness after him and holding the clasp of the reciprocated courting gift in both his hands.