Title: Fish Tails

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Summary: Ginny Weasley is determined to date Harry Potter. But first, she wants to make sure her time and efforts will pay off.

Characters: Ginny, Hermione and alternate universe Harry.

Author's notes: This is perfect example of what happens when you mix writer's block with no sleep.

Fish Tails

It was the perfect plan. Complicated, drawn out, difficult, but perfect in the end. Summon a Harry Potter from another reality and find out how that Ginny had snagged him.

It was perfect in Ginny's mind, at any rate. None of her friends bothered to tell her she was taking things a touch too far in her quest to date Harry Potter, or there might be a chance Harry didn't end up with her in every reality. Hermione Granger came close to it once or twice, but the obsessive, manic glow in Ginny's eyes made the older girl fear for her safety. No, the most Hermione could safely do was ward the area Ginny did the spell in, take the girl's wand to prevent her from hexing the other Harry, and give her Harry a long talk on how to detect love potions.

Listening to the merman clinging to the edge of the pier, Hermione was very glad she had taken Ginny's wand. Fish-tail Harry was getting far too much enjoyment out of teasing Ginny.

"Date? Ginny?" Harry said, his eyes wide with confusion. He looked at Hermione for conformation and she nodded. He shuddered dramatically, creating ripples in the lake, and made a face. "Ew! Nasty!"

"Nasty? Nasty!" Ginny said, leaning back in surprise. She tucked her hair behind her ears and rubbed them to make sure she had heard right, all the while glaring fiercely at the boy. "What's so nasty about dating me?"

"Why would I want to date my sister?" Harry asked, wrinkling his nose and looking altogether disgusted. This completely enthralled Hermione as the light dusting of dark green scales on Harry's face moved fluidly with the movement; she didn't think normal fish scales did that. But this Harry was a merman, even if he was a different breed than the people in the lake, so it might be caused by the very magic that allowed him to exist.

"Sister?" Ginny screeched. Her voice echoed around the lake. She looked around frantically to see if anyone had heard her, but the notice me not spell Hermione had cast held. She leaned down over the edge, getting right in the boy's face. Harry let go of the pier and backed away, his tail swishing and twitching the water. "What do you mean sister?" she hissed.

"The Weasleys raised me. Ginny…you in my reality, are like a sister to me," Harry said slowly like he was explaining this to a small child. Hermione understood how he felt, but Harry couldn't completely hide his smile and she worried how Ginny was going to react when she realized why Harry was smiling.

"My family raised you," Ginny repeated.

"Uh huh." Harry nodded, still smiling that playful smile Hermione knew meant bad things. "And…"

"And?"

"I'm gay," Harry said, floating a little further back. He looked down at the water, blushing, and watched his tail for a moment. He looked up at them from under his shaggy mane of black hair and thin strands of dark green scales mixed in with the black, and his blush hit all new heights, as the dusting of scales on his face turned an even darker green. "At least that's what Charlie calls it, and he knows more about humans than I do. You see, I have this thing for a human guy…"

"Oh Merlin," Ginny moaned, burying her head in her hands. "I've wasted all my time on a gay man. The research, the weeks looking for the potion ingredients, the money for my new robes…"

Ignoring Ginny's whining, Hermione knelt down next to her on the pier and stared at Harry thoughtfully. Then she smiled. This was too good of an opportunity to pass up; the only difficulty was deciding what was more important: knowing more about this Harry's type of merpeople or knowing who this mystery person was in case her Harry's taste ran the same way. Human in this Harry's world might translate to muggle here…and her Harry was oh so determined to have a some what normal life after Voldemort's death and that might include living in the muggle world…but then again, she would never get another chance like this one…

Hermione grimaced and rubbed her temples. Decisions like this always gave her headaches.

Hermione nodded decisively and leaned out over the water so her face was right in front of Harry's. This Harry obviously recognized her determined expression from his Hermione, because he gulped and made a tiny whimpering noise.

"Does this human guy have a name?"