AN: I do not own Harry Potter. This story has not been through a beta reader.
Fourteen-year-old Harry Potter shivered as he removed his outer robes. He hated coming to the Black Lake in the middle of February, but some bloody bastard had placed his name in the Goblet of Fire, obligating him as the fourth competitor.
Looking off to the side, Harry sighed and shook his head. It was bloody freezing and the morons who designed the tournament did not consider the implications of forcing people to stay outside in the middle of a Scottish Winter. Harry was grateful that Hermione had helped him learn a bloody warming charm, or his bollocks would never come out of hiding.
"Welcome to the Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament!" Ludo Bagman's voice boomed out over the lake. "This morning, we have taken something that each of our contestants will miss and placed it down in the Black Lake.
"They will have one hour to retrieve what we have placed down underneath the lake."
"Bastard!" Harry hissed. His friends had been missing this morning, and, already, he heard Fleur had proclaimed that her sister was missing.
"Quite," Cedric Diggory said. "Cho is down there. And if they hurt one hair on her head…"
Cedric's threat was not to be finished, as a loud bang sounded, and the four contestants headed toward the lake. Harry stuffed a wad of gillyweed into his mouth, and choked it down as he waded into the lake. Cedric used his wand to create a bubble around his face. Fleur did the same, while Krum just disappeared underneath the lake without allowing Harry to see what he'd done.
Instead of worrying, Harry chose to focus on the lessons he'd had in swimming. Ever since he and Hermione had translated the clue from the golden egg, he had begun swimming in the Black Lake, surveying it for creatures and locations. He'd found the Merman village, and had been quite surprised that they looked half-human and half-fish. That is, the merwomen did. The mermen looked more like a fish creature that would not be out of place in a muggle horror movie.
As the gillyweed took effect, Harry began to swim faster toward the village. Along the way, he passed Fleur as she fought a group of grindylows, which had her surrounded. Harry whispered a prayer for her as he passed, hoping that the organizers would not allow anything ot happen to her. Given his limited amount of gillyweed, he had to find the hostages and bring his hostage to the surface.
The problem was that he did not know the identity of his hostage. Hermione was missing, but so was his Yule Ball date, Padma Patil.
Just as Harry got to the village, he spotted four floating figures in the midst of the village. He headed directly there, and saw several people floating. The first was the dark-haired Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw Seeker. Harry had wanted to ask her to the Yule Ball, but she had gone with Cedric.
Hermione was next, and then Padma. Finally, a little blond-haired girl floated, and Harry was perplexed. His best friend and his Yule Ball date were both here, as was his crush. He didn't know who to pick, but, after a moment, he decided to go with Padma. There were three Yule Ball Dates underneath the water, which meant that his was Padma.
Just as Harry started to swim again, he found a man-shark rush up to the hostages. The mermen were frightened, and began to wave their tridents in a threatening manner. The man-shark, obviously Krum, ignored them and went for one of the hostages. He reached Hermione in a hurry and snatched the rope, jerking her body.
The rope snapped, and Harry watched in horrid fascination as a large piece of the rope rushed toward a teenaged mermaid, who was nearby watching the fun. The rope wrapped around her neck, and she began to choke.
Ignoring his hostage, Harry swam toward the mermaid, and then reached down to find the rope. He saw a strange tint in the water around her as the other merfolk began to rush to her aide. Harry reached for his knife and managed to find it, before he reached up to pick the rope.
He found the rope and tried to unwrap it, but it was stuck. Knowing he had no choice, Harry lifted his knife toward the rope, and hoped that her relatives would understand his intentions. When he grabbed the rope, he slowly and intently started to slice the rope.
It seemed to take forever, but, after a moment, he cut the rope loose. The rope dissipated, and Harry understood the problem.
It was magical rope, which meant it would stick to the object and could not be ended with a simple spell. It had to be cleaved in two, and that made Harry wonder how the rope had not dissolved when Krum had removed Hermione.
Harry took several breaths and began to look around him. He found several merfolk floating around him. Several had their tridents held in a semi-menacing pose, but at least two busty mermaids looked at him, a smile on their soft faces.
One of them swam up to Harry as the other swam up to the bleeding mermaid. Harry watched as the bleeding was stopped, and the mermaid began to breathe normally, her face starting to return to its normal color.
Harry took a deep breath and then began to swim back to his hostage. After a moment, however, he noted two of the mermen had brought his hostage over to him. Padma floated behind one, and Harry wondered what this was about.
The one holding the rope freed Padma, and the rope dissipated. He pushed Padma to Harry, who caught her around the waist. Harry nodded toward the merman before he turned to swim away.
He felt a soft hand on his shoulder, and he turned to look. It was the mermaid he'd saved. She had a thankful look on her face, and she smiled at him. He smiled back, but was shocked when she leaned in and gave him a solid kiss on the lips.
He felt magic build up around him, and felt his body change as a result of the magic. When his gills began to move, he began to panic, but the mermaid continued to kiss him. As the time went on, he felt her breasts against his chest, and the magic flow around him. When their lips parted, Harry began to shoot up toward the surface, but found he was floating neutrally, which was unusual.
"Thank you, human," the feminine voice said. "You saved my life and I am indebted to you."
Harry shook his head.
"I did the right thing. You owe me nothing for saving your life. It was only the right thing to do."
Harry saw a merman grip his trident, and Harry wondered what had gone wrong.
"No, human," the merman said. "You saved her life. We could not have ended the charm on that rope in time to save her life. We could have cut it, but it would not have worked to save her. It required a human's touch to end."
Harry looked at Padma and then realized that they had used his knife, which he'd dropped. A merman held out his knife, and Harry slowly took it, returning it to the sheath.
"In return for saving my daughter's life, she has given you the Kiss. She will follow you in your life, and you will be able to breathe underwater with no problem. Take care of her."
Harry opened his mouth to speak, but closed it. He didn't know the merfolk's traditions, and he did not want to anger them.
"I thank you for the offer," Harry said. "I will treasure her friendship for the rest of my life. She will be welcome in my home at any time."
"No, you misunderstand," a woman said. "My daughter is now your concubine. You saved her life. A life for a life."
Harry swallowed, and nodded.
"Very well," Harry said. "What is your name?"
"In the human tongue, I am called Sally." The girl blushed, and she had her arms crossed in front of her breasts. That only brought Harry's attention to her large breasts. He felt himself react, and absently wondered the mechanics behind having sex with a mermaid.
The mermen seemed amused.
"Sally is now part-human, and she will be able to follow you, human. We will expect your visit later, Harry Potter.
"Now go and finish the tournament. Sally will follow shortly."
Harry bowed his head, and then swam off, with the merfolk bowing their heads in front of him.
When Harry surfaced, he was last. He took a shuddering breath of air as the last of the magic ended, and he looked up. Padma shuddered a breath too, and Harry handed her to Madam Pomfrey and Professor Sprout, who were waiting for them.
Professor Flitwick helped Harry up.
"And our youngest champion has returned with his hostage, fifteen minutes outside of the time limit," Bagman said. "While Mister Potter is examined by Madam Pomfrey, we will discuss the scores."
Dumbledore walked down from the judge's podium, and he began to converse with one of the mermen who had stuck his head above water. When the Headmaster's head came up, he gave Harry a strange look before turning back to the guest. When he was done, Dumbledore walked back up to the judges and they began to converse behind a charm.
After Madam Pomfrey had warmed Harry up, given him a pepper-up potion, and was satisfied with his health, Bagman's voice boomed out over the crowd again.
"Now that the task is completed, we have discussed the results and will not report the results.
"Because she was unable to complete the task, Miss Delacour is awarded twenty-five points for a well-performed bubble-head charm."
Harry started, but looked relieved when the small girl's head appeared at the surface. Sally pushed her up, and Madam Pomfrey picked up the girl, leading her to her sister and a cup of hot water. Harry smiled and sighed. So there was no danger at all.
"Mister Potter came in after the time limit had expired with his hostage. He used gillyweed to breathe underwater. He was also the first to reach the hostages, but took some time to decide on which hostage was his to recover.
"When Mister Krum arrived for his hostage, he snapped the magical rope, a piece of which wrapped around a mermaid's neck, choking her. Mister Potter left the task behind in order to spend a few minutes save the mermaid's life.
"For his efforts in rescuing his hostage, an in saving the life of a mermaid, we award Mister Potter forty-five points."
The crowed cheered, and Dumbledore gave Harry a thumb up and a proud look.
"Mister Diggory reached the hostages third, but he managed to return with his hostage at just under an hour. For that, he is awarded forty-six points.
"Mister Krum used self-transfiguration. He reached the hostages second, but he was the first the return with his hostage at the forty-five minute mark. His awarded forty-seven points."
The Durmstrang crowed cheered wildly. Harry sighed. He'd lost, but it was for a good reason. He had made a new friend.
As the crowd began to walk away, Harry heard the water move. He saw Sally stick her head up, and she pulled herself up onto the dock, causing some people to start whispering. It was strange that she now wore clothes, and she smiled at Harry, holding out her hand.
"Hello, Harry Potter," she said. "For saving my life, I am yours. Where shall we go?"
"What!"
Harry began to laugh as Ron Weasley's loud voice echoed, and people froze. He shook his head as Headmaster Dumbledore walked over, along with Professor McGonagall.
"It seems you have some explaining to do, Mister Potter," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling. "And we need to have a serious discussion."
"Yes we do, sir," Harry said. "But first, I believe Sally would like to give Krum a few words for endangering her life."
Dumbledore chuckled, and Harry stood up, offering his hand to Sally. The mermaid stumbled as she got used to her new legs, but she winked at Harry when he placed his arm around her waist to guide her up to the school and the Headmaster's office for what would become a lengthy discussion about wizarding and merfolk traditions and politics.
AN: This idea came after I saw several stories that had Harry earning a life debt from Fleur and/or Gabrielle during the Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament. What if something else happened down there that led to unintended consequences?
In this instance, instead of earning a life debt from Fleur or Gabrielle, Harry saved the life of a mermaid, and gained a concubine. I don't think I've seen this before.
For those who want to know, the magic that bonded them was performed by one of the other merfolk outside of Harry's view. In essence, a legal concubine bond. It was not initiated by the kiss, but was done during the kiss. Harry also received a blessing that allows him to breathe underwater without the use of extra magic.