53
Life is the Bubbles, Under the Sea
Time: The next morning
Place: Ravenclaw Dorm
When Susan awoke the next morning, she saw the tattered remains of her dress thrown onto a chair near her bed.
I don't recall bringing that back last night.
"How are you feeling?" asked Hermione, sitting on her bed across the way.
"Did you bring that here?"
"I saw you leave, and figured she was going to tell you. I won't ask how you managed to tear it off like that. Are you okay?"
"You knew?"
"Myrtle had been asking me about how to tell you for a while. She didn't want to hurt you, but she didn't want to lead you on, either."
"I see," Susan said numbly. "At least she had the guts to tell me in person. Get it- a ghost with guts!"
Neither of them laughed.
"Yeah," said Hermione finally.
"Somehow it doesn't seem like you fared any better," Susan remarked, sitting up. She saw Hermione's dress in a crumpled heap on the floor.
"Ron was being a total jerk. But I suppose I should have expected it, going with who I did. But really, are you okay?" she asked a little stronger.
"I'll survive. I won't go looking up spells to burn the castle down or anything, if that's what you're worried about. I just… I don't know. How are you supposed to find someone, you know? It's easy for you, walk up to any boy and they're yours. You have half the population to pick from, no shortage there. I have to find a girl I not only like, but likes me back in the same way. Do you know how impossible that's going to be? It's rather ironic, in this situation my being gay is a total weakness, but I don't get any background points for it! I think I got shortchanged somewhere along the way."
"There don't seem to be a lot of, um, lesbians around here," she admitted. "But maybe you've caught some girl's eye you don't even know, and they were just admiring you from afar because they knew you liked Myrtle and now they can do a big confession and you'll be happy ever after!" She said this in a rush.
"Do you seriously think that sort of thing happens in real life?"
"I suppose in a world of seven billion people, most things have happened at least once, right?"
"I guess. In all of human history that happened once, five hundred years ago. This used it up, and now it will never happen again."
Sparkle jumped up on the bed and started headbutting Susan. She scratched her ears. "Morning, kitty."
"Morning. Just as a matter of reference, I think I have it tougher than you."
"Oh?"
"Sure. How many talking cats have you seen in this world? I mean, Crookshanks is nice enough, but not exactly my intellectual equal, you know?"
"I never even thought of that! Still, if you wanted kittens one day, you could have them. The guy doesn't need to read you poetry to get that done, right?" Susan gave a weak smile.
"We should all just swear off boys forever!" said Hermione.
Susan looked at her with hope.
"I'm not actually swearing off boys forever."
Susan sighed. They both gave a weak laugh.
"Want to get some breakfast?"
"I don't feel like eating."
"I know, but you have to anyway. Come on." She went over and tugged Susan's arm.
"Okay, fine."
"A pity about the dress, I really thought it looked good on you."
Susan stared at it. "Repair," she cast, then watched it knit magically back together. "Here," she said, handing it over. "We're about the same size. At least until we grow some more. You can have it, it'll look good on you too."
"Are you sure? You must have put a lot of effort into it. Or did you make it with magic? I didn't see any seams when I looked it over. It was just one solid piece of material."
"Yup. Creation magic. I won't wear it again, but nothing stops you from enjoying it. Take it."
"Thanks. Actually, why don't we trade?" She picked up hers and held it out. "I'm not sure I want to wear mine, either, after last night."
"It was that bad?"
"Ron was going on about how I was fraternizing with the enemy, as if attending a dance with Viktor meant I was going over to the other side, or something."
"Did he ask you, or did you ask him?"
"Does that matter?"
"No, I guess not."
"Well, he asked me."
"Really? You go, girl! So, details…"
"What do you mean, details?" She colored.
"Was he nice? Did you do the Donkey Kong together?" She wiggled her eyebrows.
"The what?" she asked, shocked.
"Oh, you don't know that one? It's a dance, it was on the Pac Man Fever album*. I'll let you listen to it someplace Youtube works."
"It's an actual thing?"
"Yeah. What did you think I meant?"
"Never mind. But yes, he was a perfect gentleman. I was having fun, up to the point it all fell apart."
"You and me both. Oh well, what can you do, right?"
"Soldier on."
"Exactly. Soldier- my ring!" Susan looked down at her hand. "I had gloves on, I know I didn't take-"
"Pocket Dimension," said Hermione, sticking her hand into nothing. She pulled out a silver ring and handed it to Susan.
"Is that what I look like, doing that? Thanks."
"I thought I would keep it safe for you. You don't even remember me taking your gloves off last night?"
"No."
"I guess it hit you pretty hard. Are you sure you're okay?"
"I will be," she said sadly. "Thanks for being here."
So Susan had a little breakfast, and the boys came over to sit with them.
"Good morning, Ron," said Hermione.
"Good morning, Hermione," said Ron.
"Did you sleep well last night?"
"I did. Yourself?"
"Oh, quite well, thank you."
"That's good."
"Any plans for today, then?"
"Nothing special, I don't think. You?"
"No, nothing special."
"I see."
This went on for a moment.
Harry and Susan just sat in silence.
Ginny came bouncing down the stairs. "Morning all!" she said in a chipper voice. Then she took another look.
"Who died?"
"Last night didn't work out, for any of us, really," Harry said.
"Really? I had loads of fun. Neville is actually quite the dancer. I guess I have you to thank, Susan. He told me about how useless he was before you cured him. I wonder what time it was when we said goodnight?"
"Well, bully for you," said Ron.
"Honestly, what's the matter with you all?"
They all just looked at her.
"Okay, you don't want to talk about it. I get it. But if I don't see you guys all smiling again soon, I'll tell Fred and George. And they take their getting people to smile very seriously, so you better watch out. See you!"
"Someone took her peppy pills this morning," remarked Susan.
"I remember being that young," said Ron. "Not a care in the world, me. Funny how the years can change a man." He savagely stirred his morning oatmeal.
"I don't think you're that much older than her," remarked Harry.
"Not in years, maybe. But in life? That's where you get weighed down. Am I right, Susan?"
"What do you know about it?"
"Right, I'll just be… over here, then." He scooted down the table a bit and concentrated on his breakfast.
Several days later, just as Susan was starting to feel a bit better, she started to feel a whole lot worse. She hadn't seen Myrtle in several days, and was going to go up to her bathroom and tell her to come out already, when she saw the latest Daily Prophet. There was an article, written by Rita Skeeter, that focused on Rubeus and the fact he was a half giant. Also that he was breeding dangerous magical creatures, and she implied he was always one second away from snapping and murdering everyone around him.
"Do you know," asked Susan causally. "After the dance, and I mean right after, I had half a mind to try Telesummon again and see about getting Rita? Force her to reveal her animal transformation? I just wanted to lash out, and that would have been so easy to do."
"And you mention this because you're feeling the urge again?" asked Hermione.
"You know me so well. If only I had given into that impulse."
"You would be in a lot of trouble right now, let me tell you," said Harry. "So I'm glad you didn't."
"How did she find out?" asked Ron. "We only found out at the, uh, ball, because we overheard him. Accidentally."
"It's kind of hard to miss," said Hermione. "He is rather a bit taller than the average person."
"But how do you get a half giant though? I mean, giant parts and human parts aren't exactly sized for each other," asked Susan.
"You're the one with the shrink spell," said Ron.
"Seriously?"
"How should I know? I don't want to think about it."
"Wait, he was talking about it at the ball? Were there any animals nearby you can remember? Like a bird or something?" asked Susan.
"We were trying to hide, not catalog the local wildlife."
Susan looked over at Harry.
"Sorry." He shrugged.
"You have failed Team Susan," she said ominously. "I hope that you do not fail again."
"I see you're feeling a little better," remarked Hermione.
"Oh, I was being serious."
"What?"
Susan looked at her with an all too innocent expression. Hermione grinned.
"What are we going to do about this?" asked Harry.
"What can we do? She's free to write what she wants. Much as we would like to expose her secret, without proof we have nothing," said Hermione.
"Even finding out what her form is wouldn't help, we would need eyewitnesses to the transformation," said Susan.
"If only there was some magic to tell if someone had an animal form," said Ron.
"Good point, Ron!" said Susan, getting her book of magic out. "Nothing useful under the Detect family. It's all things like poison or disease or enemies or invisibility. What about the Reveal family? Nope, just Condition and Defenses. Not very useful. Sorry, I got nothing."
"Your magic doesn't actually have an equivalent to the Animagus transformation though, does it?" asked Hermione.
"No, shape-shift is all I have. There's magic to reveal the true form of someone, but again, we would have to catch her first, and prove I hadn't just shape-shifted her in the first place."
"So could you ask the book for a new spell that can do it?"
"You mean a spell that could force her to change? The trouble is the book would be trying to force someone to perform a totally foreign piece of personal magic. That could go wrong. Much easier to cast Dominate on her and force her to confess."
"I think that would also be illegal," said Ron, remembering his time under the unforgivable curse.
"We'll just have to keep our eyes open," said Harry. "Any weird animals we see around the castle, grab them up like the golden snitch and stick them someplace."
"I can stick someone in the Pocket Dimension, right?"
"There's air, if that's what you mean. They have to be under the weight limit, though. If she turned back, you'd never get her out. She would have to be animal form again, and there really wouldn't be much we could do to convey that."
"A big glowing sign stuck through?"
"The location for putting something in is totally random though. It could be light years away for all I know."
"Oh."
And so their lesson was unicorns that day in Magical Creatures, which sent the girls, even Susan, into paroxysms of delight. Ron and Harry kept pestering Professor Grubbly-Plank about where Professor Hagrid was, but she wasn't talking.
They went over to his hut, but there was no answer at the door.
"I can get us in, one way or the other," offered Susan.
"Let him be alone for now," said Harry. "We'll keep trying."
And even more days passed without seeing him, until after the latest trip to the village, where Hermione and the others burst into the common room where Susan was sitting. She was doing some Arithmancy homework, and had raised her skill to a 4. She had just rolled a 19 on the check to understand it, and was writing the answers down.
"What's up you guys?" she asked, as everyone burst in on her.
"We have to get into Professor Hagrid's hut, right away!" said Hermione.
"Why, is he sick?"
"No, you fool, we're gonna kill him. And Simba too," said Harry.
"Good idea," said Susan. "Who needs a gamekeeper?"
"Idiots!" said Hermione. "There will be a gamekeeper. I will be gamekeeper!"
Ron by this time was trying to edge away from them all.
"Oh, get back here, Ron. Really, you don't even see Disney movies? I watched that movie so many times growing up!"
"Me too!" said Susan.
"What?" asked Ron.
"Anyway, we saw Rita in the village, and she was horrible to us as usual. I'm not going to take any more, we're getting our real professor back."
Susan snapped her book shut. "I thought you would never ask. Teleportal."
The swirling energies appeared, opening to a scene inside the hut. Headmaster Dumbledore sat there, calmly sipping tea as the hole in the air opened behind him.
"Someone to see you, I think, Rubeus," he announced without looking behind him. He took another sip of his tea.
And so the gang spent some time persuading Rebeus to return to teaching their class, and he reluctantly agreed.
"And it's a good thing," said Susan. "You would have looked very silly floating out of this place to your lesson. I would do it, make no mistake."
"She would, too," said Harry.
"I know she would," said Rubeus.
"Good. With that settled, I have another friend to make see reason today. If you'll excuse me?" She stepped back through a Teleportal to a broom closet she knew as a good point to keep it away from prying eyes. "I'll leave this open for you all, save you walking back to the castle. It'll collapse when you're all back. See you later."
"Myrtle!" Susan called, stepping into her haunt. "I know you're here, so you may as well come out."
"Susan?" said a quiet voice, peaking around the stall.
"You know anyone else as loudmouthed as me? Are you going to show yourself around school again, or am I going to have to smack some sense into you too?"
"Too?"
"Yup. Just got back from talking to Professor Hagrid about that article Rita wrote. Which you would know, if you weren't hiding in here."
"I still feel terrible about what I said."
"I won't condemn you for telling me the truth. You should know me well enough to know that."
"So you're not mad?"
"Mad? I was never mad. Not at you, anyway. I saw what I wanted to see, and I should have known better. It was my fault for turning you into something you weren't in my head. But I meant what I said before, we're still friends. We just can't be anything more than that. If that's what I have to accept to keep you around, then that's what I'll accept. It's as easy as that."
I say it's that easy, but it really isn't. It's going to take some time for me to heal. But I think this is a good first step, and a good lesson for me. Ask someone their orientation before creating a little fantasy world in your head where you're together, when you're really not.
"Are you sure you aren't plotting some horrible revenge upon me?"
"You know I don't operate like that. If I'm going to do something to you, it's going to be to your face, loudly, so everyone can see. I don't do back alley, cloak and dagger type stuff."
Myrtle came out the rest of the way. "I've missed you."
"I missed you too. Now come on, no more sulking. I'm the one that should be sulking anyway."
"I guess if you're okay…"
Not really, but I'll take a half a loaf over none, I guess.
All too soon, it was time for the second challenge. Ron, Hermione and Harry started a campaign to devour every book in the library, it seemed to Susan. They were obviously looking for something specific, but she had no idea what.
"They seem rather frantic about it," Sparkle remarked as they both watched them, invisible. They were both too far away to hear what they were discussing, as Susan didn't want any hints before the day. Sparkle was in Susan's arms so they didn't get separated.
"What in the world is the second task that has sent them into this tizzy?"
"What I want to know is, shouldn't he be working it out himself? That is the rule, right? And Hermione for one is a pretty good stickler for rules."
"I suppose they could look for spells in general, then casually mention to him to read over a certain book, that just coincidentally has the right spell they need."
"At least they are looking for a proper magical solution this time. Not just 'get a broomstick and hope for the best' like last time."
"You got that right! Still, I really hope it won't be me rescuing Harry again this time."
"What, you want him to dramatically rescue you?"
"Wouldn't that be a reversal!" Susan said. "Harry Potter, saving me! Oh, the shame of it!" She had to leave the library rather quickly after that, as her howls of laughter were attracting attention.
The evening before she was told to meet at the lake at 9:30 the next morning.
"The lake?" she said. "That's an odd place to be that early in the morning. The lake will be there at 10:30, still, right?"
"I'm just delivering the message," said the older girl who had been sent to find her.
"Okay. Thanks."
"Good luck."
At 9:20, Harry hadn't arrived, and Susan was wondering if he hadn't come up with any solutions to whatever the lake problem was. At 9:25 he appeared, running towards the dock, where boats were being launched. The magical screens again floated in the air, above huge platforms that had been constructed to stick out of the water. Each was tracking a different champion, and each, magnified on the screens, looked nervous. Susan was looking around, wondering what the heck she was doing here. She had her standard complement of spells loaded into her bracelet, and was wearing a bathing suit under her clothes, just in case. She had checked her cards, and saw she had 7: Success, 24: Retry and 46: It's not as bad as it looks.
It doesn't take Always Prepared to know that if someone says 'be down at the lake' that one wear a bathing suit. Still, why are we doing this task in February, when it's still, you know, winter? That water must be near freezing! Good selection of cards, too. That Retry will come in handy, given I have no XP anymore. Why did I spend my last 4 on Arithmancy? Stupid! And a success is always good.
Suddenly a new card appeared, and somehow Susan knew Sparkle had given it to her. An XP bonus, thanks Sparkle! She played it, and a 2 appeared under her "EXP" box.
"Welcome to the second task!" said Ludo, his voice magically booming. "Last night, something was taken from each of our champions. At least, that was the original plan. Due to some discussion about the safety of all concerned," he looked over at Albus, who had on an innocent expression, "The original plan has been modified. Rather than going down to get a person, each champion must retrieve a banner, like this one." He held up a banner with Ludo Bagman written on it.
What? Some actual sense was used for this? Astonishing!
Susan looked over at Albus and gave him a thumbs up, and he nodded his head once back.
"They will have one hour to return once the task begins. I wish them all luck."
He muttered a charm, and his voice went back to normal levels. "The same restrictions are being placed on you, Susan. You have to go down there as well."
"It's just as well," she replied, pulling off her clothes and sticking them into her Pocket Dimension. "I would have to see the banner to bring it to myself anyway."
"On the count of three then!"
A huge 0 appeared on the screens, and then went up to 1. Then 2. Then 3, and the cannon went off. Everyone but Susan jumped, or was pushed in Harry's case, into the water. Susan shook her head.
Now, they won't have put them very far, swimming speed is greatly reduced next to running speed. Maybe 40 meters that way, and then straight down? That should do it.
"Are you going?" asked Ludo.
"Just giving them a little head start, it's only sporting," Susan replied. "But if you insist. Flight. Darksight," she said in succession, touching two of her five charms. She hopped down off the platform and hovered just atop the water, making it look like she was walking on water.
Still, I probably should have bought off No Sense of Direction by now. She took off "walking," wondering how to compensate for this. I suppose just heading down is fine, but I won't be able to really tell once I go underwater, which way is down if i'm Phased. I need to somehow get down to the bottom without getting lost. After that, just look around for some kind of beacon or something. They're only giving us an hour, it can't be that hard to find, right? In reality though, Phase just keeps me from getting wet. Wet and cold. I could tell easier if I wasn't Phased, but colder. Which is more of a concern right now?
Susan mentally reviewed her options, looking down. She reviewed the objects she could pull from her Pocket Dimension.
"Ah, of course!" she exclaimed, brightening. She stopped walking and looked around.
This would seem to be far enough.
Susan stuck her hand into her Pocket Dimension again, pulling out the large iron keg that held the basilisk venom from her first year. This will sink nicely. She had Albus enchant the container to be proof against the acidic nature of the venom, it had eaten through her first keg rather rapidly. The walls of it were still a centimeter thick, and it weighed a ton. "Light," she cast on it, making it light up. Now, does Phase protect me from needing to breathe? I've only ever done it in air. Oh well, I'm only at a −1 so far.
"Breathe Water," she cast, taking care of that problem one way or the other. She then heaved the glowing jar into the air and touched her third charm. "Phase," she said, watching it *plunk* into the water and sink.
Susan followed it down. She looked around with interest, and saw the rock shelf the platforms were sitting on in the distance.
It's not empty down here at all! I could have found my way, I bet. Oh well.
She felt she needed to make a LUCk check for some reason, and was startled. Have I ever had to make a LUCk check before? I bet it's important, and my LUCk of 4 might not cut it.
She "rolled."
Eleven, that's not too bad. One from my maximum, anyway. You know what, I'm spending the Success card, this is too important to take the chance on. The 7 disappeared from the "cards" box on her sheet.
And so, as luck would have it, Susan saw not only saw the mermaid city come into view, she seemed to be right on top of it, and floated down with the jar. It came to rest on the bottom of the lake, and she looked at all the aquatic creatures looking at her. They were not the "half maiden" creatures of legend, but much more animalistic. They also carried weapons, and Susan wondered how they made them down here.
She heard a bunch of them singing, and realized that would have led her straight here as well.
I guess they did think it through. Now, do I drop Phase, get wet, cut the banner off, and just fly out of here? Or do I fly up, drop Phase when I'm almost out of the water, and use Retrieval now that I've seen it? They did say I couldn't wish it into my hand. I'll have to get wet.
Susan ended Phase, then cut the banner loose with Cut. She grabbed the jar of venom, they might move it, and then Retrieval wouldn't work, and started back up. Even she couldn't get lost "flying" through the water straight up, it seemed as if she was flying past some low hills until she burst out of the water with the banner.
"And our first champion is out of the water with her banner in… just under five minutes."
There was no applause. In fact there was some booing, but Susan saw it was from the Slytherin students.
Now what would happen if I placed a Teleportal just so, one end under the water, the other end a couple of meters up above them?
Susan, however, did not give into this fantasy, and calmly "walked" across the water again. She gave a little hop, and was back on the platform, shivering.
Should have borrowed Ron's Withstand Weather charm.
She stopped maintaining the Light spell, and it went away. She put the jar back in the Pocket Dimension and saw Hermione making her way over.
"That seemed a bit easier than the dragon thing," she remarked, pulling out her wand. She cast a spell without asking, and Susan hastily cried "Immunity" as Hermione cast, touching her forth charm.
Hermione looked shocked, and Alastor had his wand out, and was pointing it at her.
"I just wanted to dry you off!" she protested.
"You can't just run over here and start casting spells on me, you know. You could have been the person that put my name in the cup, now polyjuiced, and coming over here to kill me!"
"Honestly," said Hermione, turning to go.
"Stay where you are, missy," said Alastor harshly. "Susan isn't wrong. In fact, I'm giving her ten house points for reacting like she did. Though I would have done an offensive spell, not a defensive one."
"What if I had been wrong?"
"I didn't say a lethal one. Interesting that's where your mind went to, though. There's hope for you yet."
"She's been with me all morning," said Ron, hurrying up. "She can't be someone else."
"Unless you're someone else, too," he said.
"I can clear this up," said Susan. "Telesummon!" she cast, and Hermione disappeared with a squeak, only to reappear on the other side of her. "She's herself. I got the real one," she said to Alastor.
"An interesting method. If you're sure then." He reluctantly put his wand away.
"Sorry, but I had to be sure," said Susan.
"He's rubbing off on you," she said, glaring at Alastor. "Do you mind if I now dry you off?"
Susan dropped all the rest of her spells, and weight returned. "Sure thing."
She pulled on her clothes while the other champions struggled to get down to the flags.
"As I was saying, the merpeople didn't even attack you. It hardly seemed a challenge at all."
"You're right. Though my No Sense of Direction gave me a bit of a scare there for a moment."
Albus came over to her, still watching the screens. "Not flying off today, then?"
"Why bother? They realize how pointless my score is. I still say I shouldn't be scored at all." She pointed up to the stands. "I guarantee you the others will get cheers when they finally emerge."
"Possibly."
"I have to commend you on your use of non-living objects. You really were going to kidnap people and put them down there?"
"That was the original plan, yes."
"And may I ask who came up with that cockamamy caper?"
Albus' lips moved silently. She thought he said cockamamy? "Our resident announcer," he finally said.
"Right. Make things a little more exciting, right? I'm sure that's the kind of thinking that got people killed doing this tournament before."
Albus just nodded.
"What did Harry do, anyway? He couldn't have put a spell on himself, you guys don't have many of those," she asked Hermione.
"I have no idea. Professor Moody found us in the library and made us leave. Harry hadn't found anything at that point, so I don't know what he ended up doing."
"He seems to have gills," Susan remarked. "And I know potions were forbidden because I asked about that. I'll be interested to see what he has to say."
She started reloading the spells into her charm bracelet, this wasn't over until Ursula sang.
Fleur was next up, she had cut through the water like she was born there, and she climbed out with her banner. She got a lot of applause, and Albus looked over at Susan with an I told you so look.
Fleur came over to Susan, a blanket around herself.
"I have to thank you again," she said to Susan, softly. "If you hadn't healed my wounds before this all started, I would have been in real trouble."
"They would have healed by this time though, right? It's been months!"
"Most wounds caused by magical creatures don't heal up very well without magical healing. I don't know what attacked me, so I can't say if they would still be there or not."
"Plus, you would have had some ugly scars to explain."
"That is true."
And with that, Harry and Viktor came up at about the same time, to much wilder applause.
"What was I worried about?" Susan asked no one in particular. "You have some explaining to do about gills, though," she said to Harry.
Albus came over to her. "The scores are going to be announced. I take it you maintain indifference in the matter?"
"Quite correct."
"Then I shall tell you this. The third and final task will take place on the 24th of June. You'll be told a month beforehand to prepare."
"Thank you Headmaster," Susan said gratefully. "Teleportal." A whole opened behind her into the castle, and she stepped through. "Anyone else for the Susan Express? No? Good job down there, Harry. See you later."
The portal closed.
Back in her room, she examined the egg after taking it out of her Pocket Dimension.
"A little late for that, isn't it?" asked Myrtle, floating over to her.
"You got back here fast! Or didn't you go watch?"
"No, you were right. Ghosts can travel quickly when they want to."
"Ah, I see. I just thought I would look it over, now that I've finished the task this so called clue was about. What was the clue? It looks like an egg to me. That doesn't have anything to do with the lake, or merpeople."
"Why do you always do things backwards? It opens. I watched Harry figure it out not long ago. I think someone gave him a hint though, maybe Professor Moody. He was always asking if Harry had worked it out yet. If you open it underwater there's a song that plays, and that was the clue."
"I see." She stuck it back again. "Bizarre. And I learned that Shrink spell for nothing, I guess. Oh well. It'll come in handy sometime, I'm sure."
"What's the plan now?"
"It's only 10:30, I'm not sure. Maybe something will attack me now that I'm alone in the castle, relieve my boredom a bit."
"What's that?" shouted Myrtle, pointing behind Susan.
She whirled.
*No really, go look it up
