Chapter Twenty-Six
A/N: I do not own anything other than the plot. All things related to Harry Potter belong to J.K Rowling, and all things related to the Little Mermaid belong to Disney.
*Waves* Hey guys! Sorry it took longer than I thought to update. Real life combined with Writer's Block is not a good mix.
Okay, I want to address the elephant in the reviews. This story will NOT be a story with Harry/Ariel as the central pairing unless it is a sibling relationship. Sorry but I'm a sucker for the canon pairings.
Hope you all enjoy this chapter! Be sure to let me know what you thought in a review or a PM. OH before I forget, the poll for my updating schedule is still open if you want to go and vote on what story you want to see updated next.
Enjoy!
Harry and Ariel raced up the stairs to the seventh floor, careful not to be seen by any wayward students. Harry had even pulled out the Marauder's Map and, after a period of admiration from Ariel, used it to make sure anyone didn't see them.
The last thing they wanted was to give any truth to Skeeter's words, and the two of them rushing off to be alone together would have certainly done that. The route seemed to take less time than usual, though Harry could not for the life of him figure out why since they needed to take two alternative routes to keep from being seen by wayward students making their way to lunch. But at last, they were there, standing in front of the doors that stood between them and contacting Nina.
"Finally," Ariel sighed in relief as they pulled open the doors. Grabbing a nearby chair that had appeared, she sunk down as Harry seemed to duck into an adjacent room that had appeared. No one had told her how much running on the stone floor would hurt her feet.
"What are you doing?" she asked, as Ariel realized that Harry wasn't in the room with her anymore.
"Changing," Harry called back. Almost as quickly as he entered, Harry exited the room—this time dressed only in a pair of black shorts and the medallion that was always around his neck. "What? Did you expect me to enter the pool wearing my clothes?" he asked as he noticed her confused look.
"Wait, what?" Ariel asked. It was then that she noticed the odd body of water had returned. A sense of dread settled in Ariel's stomach; she was not looking forward to sitting next to that thing once more. "Oh, okay. I'll just sit here then."
"Why?" Harry asked, having gotten a couple of practice laps in; at least that's what it looked like judging by the state of his hair. "You won't be able to see or hear anything. The device on my end always shows near the top step of the pool."
Ariel bit back a groan as she got up to sit on the corner edge of the pool, her feet curled up underneath as not to touch the water.
"How does this work?" Ariel asked, brushing a stray bit of hair out of her eyes that had fallen out of her ponytail. She had used the opportunity to fix it while Harry was changing, just in case someone other than Nina answered their call.
"I need to just focus on what I want, in this case, a way to talk to Nina," Harry told her. He moved to get started, but a look on Ariel's face made him stop. "What's wrong?"
"I just had a thought," Ariel told him. "It might be easier to contact the Duke instead of Nina."
"Why?" Harry asked, confusion evident on his face.
"As the Duke, he would have a device similar to the one we talked on," Ariel told him. "It's how my father communicates with the kingdom."
"So instead of Nina, I need to contact…?"
"Lord Black," Ariel told him, and Harry snorted in amusement at the name before inwardly hoping that Sirius never found out about the name. Shaking his head, Harry began concentrating on the way to speak to Lord Black. After about five minutes, the same glowing circle appeared in front of them.
Indeed, it looked as though they had accidentally contacted the device in Atlantica. The room the device was in was eerily similar as if it was the protocol for all who kept the device to store in a side chamber.
"Hello?" a man's voice called out, slightly confused. "The duke wasn't expecting any contact today."
"Is he available?" Harry asked. "We need to talk to him."
"Young man," the mysterious voice sniffed, "the duke is currently aiding one of our more prominent families. Something has happened, and he cannot simply drop what he's doing for an impromptu conversation."
"He will when he learns that Princess Ariel was requesting his presence," Ariel said, her tone sharp. The mysterious figure seemed to yelp in fear and surprise.
"Your Royal Highness! I didn't realize—"
"The duke was expecting me to make contact. I can't imagine what it would be like for you if he found out that you kept me from speaking to him."
"He'll be here soon your Highness. Won't be a moment," the voice stated, fear evident in his voice. As they heard the figure scurry off, Harry looked over at Ariel in confusion.
"These devices are forbidden to be used by anyone other than their owners," Ariel explained. "Remember when I said just looking at my father's was a grounding offense? Whoever that aid was had to answer as best he could without disobeying the Duke's orders or my father's law."
Harry nodded to show that he understood for at that moment, an older man appeared in front of the device. Er…merman that is. Noticing Ariel's look of relief, Harry couldn't help but surmise that the merman in front of them was, in fact, Lord Black.
"Your Highness," Lord Black said with a small smile as he bowed in greeting Ariel.
"Lord Black, there's no need for pleasantries," Ariel smiled and gave a small curtsey from where she sat. "After all, you are my elder. I should be showing deference to you."
"But you are the daughter of our king. It would be impolite," Lord Black stated but seemed to still as he realized that Harry was in the room with Ariel. "Your Highness, are you aware that a human is in the room with you?"
"Considering I became human to see him, I should hope so," Ariel said, and Harry couldn't help the brief smile that appeared on his face at Ariel's words. "This is Harry."
"Harry?" Lord Black asked as he looked back at Harry. It seemed to take the duke a few minutes before a look of recognition flittered across his face and his eyes made the ever familiar flick to Harry's forehead. "Not Harry Potter?"
"Umm…" Ariel looked at Harry in confusion. "Possibly? I have to say I don't know his last name. It's the second time someone's asked me that. Why does it matter?"
"It matters because if this is Harry Potter, then you have made a mighty ally, your highness," Lord Black told her before turning his attention back to Harry. "Now, are you Harry Potter?"
"Yes, your lordship," Harry nodded, not sure as to properly address the merman in front of him but figured a title would be better than just saying yes. An amused look on the merman's face told Harry that he had not upset him.
"Wait, how is Harry a powerful ally?" Ariel asked, confusion evident on her face. "I mean, I know he's the Boy-Who-Lived but why does that make him a good ally, let alone a powerful one?"
Harry sighed. While he had gone over a bit of what being 'The Boy Who Lived' was like with Ariel, he hadn't addressed why the Wizarding World had bestowed that title to him. Thankfully, the title itself was always self-explanatory, so Ariel never dug deep into the why.
Also, by the time they'd been deep enough into their friendship that it wouldn't be awkward to talk about being celebrated for somehow taking down the man who murdered his parents, the stupid tournament had reared its ugly head.
"Never mind that," the Duke stated, chasing away Harry's thoughts. "Is everything alright Ariel? I thought you'd be back by now."
"Something's come up," Ariel told him, neglecting to mention that the 'something' was Skeeter's article. Harry assumed it was the best way to keep the duke from finding out. "I'm going to have to stay human for a little longer. Is Nina nearby? I'd prefer being able to tell her face to face."
Lord Black stilled, and the smile that was ever present became fixed. Harry looked over at Ariel, and the confusion evident on her face showed that she was wondering the same thing. Why had a simple question resulted in that reaction from the duke?
"I'll be more than happy to pass on the message, your highness," Lord Black told her. "But, if there's nothing else, I really must be going. The Black Lake won't run itself."
"I appreciate the offer, Lord Black," Ariel said, a smile quickly replacing the look of confusion. "However, I'd much appreciate as well being able to speak to my friend. Is she around?"
"You know the law. No one but your father and those appointed by him may speak on these devices. The last thing I'd want is for one of my citizens to get into trouble—"
"Lord Black, what are you hiding from me?" Ariel cut him off, finally fed up about having to play politics and Harry was now reminded that, while his friend was a princess, she was also only fourteen.
Lord Black sighed and pushed back his hair that had floated into his eyes. "Your Highness, I do apologize for my behavior. I don't want you to think that I'm trying to hide anything or keep you away from your friend."
"Then tell me the truth," Ariel stated. "Where is Nina?"
There was silence on the other end as if the truth of what happened to Nina was so complicated to say that it rendered the duke speechless. Harry and Ariel sat in silence for a few minutes, waiting for the duke to finally speak.
"There's been a situation," the Duke said hesitantly as if he was unsure as to how they would react.
"What kind of situation?" Harry asked, curious as to where Ariel's friend was. Had she left the lake? Had Ariel's father caught up with them and was interrogating her? Or was Nina just unable to talk because something horrible had happened to her family?
"Nina's mother came to me the other day in a panic. All she would tell me was that Nina had fallen asleep and could not be woken up," the Duke told them. "I've had my best physicians working around the clock to try to find a cure or even a reason as to why this has happened, but so far they've been unsuccessful."
Ariel gasped, and Harry couldn't help but feel guilt begin to settle in the pit of his stomach. Nina wouldn't have been in this situation if Ariel hadn't been trying to see him.
"If we don't discover a cure soon, I may be left with no choice but to contact your father," the Duke concluded. "Atlantica has better access to resources than we have here at the Black Lake."
"I understand," Ariel nodded, her eyes still wide with the shock of possibly never interacting with one of her best friends again. Nina's health was more important than not getting in trouble. Besides, at this point, it was pretty much a safe bet that Ariel was going to get in trouble anyway.
"What if we helped, your lordship?" Harry asked, breaking the silence that had been growing.
"My dear boy, I appreciate the offer, but I'm not quite sure how you would be able to help," the Duke said with a frown.
"We're currently in a room that can summon anything we need," Harry said. "Is it so hard to believe that we might be able to use this room to search for a cure?"
"Harry! That's brilliant!" Ariel exclaimed, a smile slowly growing on her face as she came to the same conclusion that he did. "We could have a whole slew of books here without causing others to get suspicious."
"I'm not sure," the Duke frowned. "The last thing I'd want to do is put pressure on either one of you. It may be better if we just contacted your father, your Highness."
"The second task is eight weeks away," Harry countered. "If King Triton has set a law that no humans are allowed to enter the lake, and he arrives during the task..."
"You make an excellent point," Lord Black sighed. "The last thing I'd want to do would be to further tension between the humans and the merpeople. But Nina needs a cure."
"Give us until the second task," Ariel said, her eyes begging for the chance to find the answer that could save her friend. "Please, Lord Black, if we don't have the answer by the time Harry dives into the lake for the second task, then you can contact my father."
Lord Black sighed and shook his head. "Alright, eight weeks. But if you feel you can't do it, I don't want you to put any undue pressure on yourselves. Any doubt that you can't do it, I want you to promise that you'll contact me."
"We promise," Harry and Ariel nodded, and the Duke's smile returned to his face.
"Well, I should get going," Lord Black said. "Preparation for this tournament never ends."
"We'll leave you to your preparations and thank you for your time, Lord Black," Ariel curtsied while Harry bowed awkwardly from where he sat. The last thing he wanted to do would be to offend the duke right after he allowed them the chance to help Nina.
"By your leave, your Highness," the duke bowed and the connection flickered off, as if someone had switched off an old television set. The two of them sat in silence for a few minutes, not sure what to say.
"I still can't believe this happened to Nina," Ariel said softly as if speaking the words louder would make the situation a reality. Harry heard her though and got up out of the pool.
"We'll figure this out," he said as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders in a gentle embrace.
"How?" Ariel asked, looking up at him. Harry inwardly winced at the sight of her large green eyes welling up with tears. "Harry, you've got to prepare for the tournament. The last thing I want is for you to fail because of me! Not to mention there's the whole Skeeter article and figuring out why we've got these gaps in our memories!"
"Hey!" Harry exclaimed, cutting Ariel's rant before it could gain steam. Gently cupping her hands in his, Harry shot her a small smile. "We can do this. Okay? You managed to sneak your father's trident and become human just so you could see me. Together I'm sure we can find some reason why this happened to Nina as well as possibly finding a cure."
Ariel nodded, slipping one of her hands out to wipe away some of the tears that had begun to slide down her cheek. "What if we fail?"
"You heard Lord Black. If we feel that we can't do it or that we're not making progress, we should tell him," Harry said. "Hey, we're here together. We don't have to worry about sneaking around, about anyone finding out about us. We can hang out with the others during the day and come back here at night to get the research done."
"All we need to worry about is where I'm going to sleep," Ariel said, wiping away the rest of her tears. Harry couldn't help but chuckle at that. While it was a problem, it was so small compared to the rest of the items on their to-do list that it was almost humorous.
"Let me worry about that," Harry said, wrapping her in a hug. With all the news and stress that was going on, Ariel looked like she needed one.
"You worry about too much," Ariel told him. "You're like my younger brother. Shouldn't I worry about you?"
Harry chuckled at that. "We're the same age, Ariel. Besides, a brother has to worry about his sister."
Ariel beamed, the first real smile she'd given since they received the news about Nina. "Should we get going? I don't want your friends to worry."
"Might as well. The last thing we'd want is for another Skeeter article to appear," Harry sighed, removing the sandwiches from his bag. "You hungry?"
Ariel shook her head and watched as Harry proceeded to take the remaining sandwiches out of his bag. "So is there a reason why you're doing that?"
"Don't want anyone getting suspicious," Harry told her. "Having a bag full of sandwiches at Hogwarts when you can get food out of the kitchen whenever you want is a little noticeable."
"But won't the sandwiches disappear?" Ariel asked and Harry paused.
"I have no idea," he told her. Ariel couldn't help but giggle at the look on Harry's face as he tried to figure out whether the sandwiches would just disappear.
"You know what, I think we'll just have to risk it," Harry told her after a few minutes. "If they do disappear, I can always run to the kitchens to get snacks for us."
Ariel nodded and Harry picked up his bag. "Well, ready to go join the real world?" he asked.
"Not in the slightest," Ariel responded, but they both walked out of the room; a little more unsure of what was to come in the upcoming weeks.