A desire to live. That was all that Harry wanted, and it was the only thing his magic needed.
-
Had any scuba divers decided to explore the reefs around the English Channel a few days after the freak shark attack, they would have been treated to an unnatural and disturbing sight. A small boy, who looked disturbingly similar to the photo all over the news, laid in the sand. However, instead of being stock still and pale as a corpse, the boy's chest moved as if he was breathing. He had strange slashes rounding his eyebrow ridge, behind his ears, and trailing down the nape of his neck which widened with each inhale. His feet twitched as he laid there, as if he were dreaming. One foot was roughly normal, but the other wasn't quite right. It was slimmer and longer than the regular foot, as well as less thick, as if the skin had been stretched too far. There weren't really any toes either; the skin ended in several small, separate points.
What would have been more peculiar, still, had anyone seen this 'human', was his awakening. The twitches, which had been going on steadily for some hours now, eventually started to slow, until over the course of a half an hour, they stopped. The boy laid on the sea floor with a relaxed pose, before his entire body tensed, and a pair of eyelids flew open, revealing a secondary transparent membrane surrounding electric green eyes.
The boy sat up as curiosity filled those bright eyes, and, rather than wonder about how he was breathing under water or how he had survived a shark attack, Harry smiled and looked around in wonder.
Fish swam around him, ignoring him as they did everything else. Water gently floated by causing the nearby seaweed to sway in its current. Soft echoes of distant creatures traveled in the dark water. The seven-year-old felt comfort for what felt like the first time in his life. To be a part of something and yet not looked down on was a tranquil memory he would savor for a long time. However, he knew he couldn't stay in the comforting darkness for long. He needed to get back to his Aunt and Uncle.
Even if they didn't really like him, they gave him a place to stay. Harry didn't know how to cook in an ocean. How would he eat? He couldn't make a fire underwater, and he'd never had raw meat before. The little Potter thought he remembered Aunt Petunia saying something about that being very bad for you too.
Mind made up, Harry pushed himself the rest of the way up until he was standing on the sandy bottom, his large swimsuit billowing around his figure in the current. Attempting to take his first step, however, was a terrible mistake. He tripped over his left foot and free-floated to the floor.
Ignoring the odd sensation of tripping in water, Harry finally noticed the effect of the shark attack. His left foot was... disfigured. It didn't look like a foot anymore. Flexing his toes, or what he thought were toes, Harry frowned. That might make walking around a problem.
Shaking his head in annoyance, the little Potter decided to try to swim back to the beach, rather than attempt to walk underwater again. He bunched himself up on the sandy ground before propelling himself upwards, kicking his feet as hard as he could. Harry veered off to the right almost immediately, and nearly crashed back into the sand. And so, the trial and error of learning to swim began.
-
Finally finding the best way to push himself through the water, Harry smiled widely as he swam towards sunlight. The bright water hurt his eyes a bit, as he must have been in the dark for quite some time, but the boy knew he'd get used to it again.
Deciding to have a bit of fun, Harry burst straight up through the water with a laugh, only for it to choke off into a hacking cough as he sunk back under the water. Trying to regain his breath, and having a brief sense of dejavu, Harry suddenly figured it might not be best to go back on land. With his foot, and now his breathing, he didn't know if he would even be able to live outside the water.
Taking a look around, past the few fish and rocks he could see, Harry also realized that he didn't know where the beach was. The last thing he remembered before passing out was being a few feet from the rocks and only a bit away from the beach, but now he couldn't even see where that drop off had been. Maybe he had drifted farther than he thought while he was unconscious?
Suddenly feeling very anxious, Harry wrapped his arms around himself and shivered. He had no where to go, and he didn't know how to get food. How was he going to survive?
Closing his eyes for a second, the boy told himself to breath. Just because he was in an unknown place didn't mean that he was going to die. He just needed to be like Mowgli and follow the animals' lead.
Plan set and panic attack abated, Harry swam towards the biggest patch of fish he could see, hoping to find something he could eat without getting sick.
-
As it turned out, Harry hadn't had to go far before he heard voices, as odd as that was to consider when being underwater. Following the drone of what seemed to be an argument, Harry grew excited. Had he stumbled upon some people that were swimming around here? Would they be able to help him?
Getting closer and closer to the voices, Harry could discern that it was two different people. One sounded excited while the other was rather grumpy. Casting his eyes around, Harry frowned when he couldn't spot anyone. There were a few fish milling around, two eels, and a nice reef, but no humans. And yet, Harry could still hear the voices.
"I want the food! I'm hungry!"
"I don't care, we don't know what that is, so we're not eating it."
Frowning thougtfully, Harry remembered the voice he had heard before... The little Potter suddenly realized he didn't know how long had passed since he had been at the beach.
"But there is no food around here! And it looks so tasty!"
Pushing those thoughts away, Harry turned to inspect the eels closer. The two water snakes were looking at each other, but how could they be talking?
"We're not eating it."
The right eel's mouth had opened! So they were the ones talking?
"But I want to!"
Harry smiled in excitement before swimming closer. As he approached the two eels, they both turned to look at him and promptly fled into a nearby reef. The smile disappearing from his face, Harry called out.
"Wait! Please! I need help!"
Harry frowned as he approached the small crevice, eyes searching for the two little wormy fish in the darkness.
"Was that a human?"
"Yes, let's wait in here until it leaves. It is dangerous."
"Oh! I wanna see it!"
"Wha- no. Absolutely not. Get back here!"
Harry giggled as he watched two heads pop out of the small hole. Silver and gold eyes watched him as he smothered his laughter. "Hello. There's no need to worry, I don't mean you any harm."
Both eels reared back as if struck, their tiny heads barely poking out of their hiding place. "It talks!"
"Indeed. Can you understand us, human?"
Harry smiled brightly, glad the snipe eels weren't trying to swim away from him now. "Yeah. Aren't you just speaking English though? I don't know how we're talking under water, but this is pretty cool..."
The silver eel shook its teensy head as it regarded the human. "No, we are not able to speak the human tongue. You, human, are speaking ours."
Harry's eyes widened in excitement as the yellow-eyed snipe eel came out of the hole entirely to swim around his body. "Yeah! I'm not really sure this is cold, but now we have someone to fend off those bigger, mean fish!" At this comment, the blue snipe eel turned to his companion still in the crevice with what seemed to be a pleading stare. "We can keep it, right?"
The silver snipe eel gave off a noise resembling a hum as it's eyes roamed Harry's body. "Maybe. It all depends on how it behaves. Tell me, human, do you know how to hunt?"
Suddenly nervous he was about to get rejected from such a nice pair of fish- that could talk, who knew?- Harry gently scratched at the hair on the top of his head and smiled crookedly. "Kinda? I know how to cook above water, but I don't know what is okay to eat down here."
The silver-eyed eel looked over the boy a few more times before it nodded, coming out of its hiding spot almost reluctantly. "You will do, but first we have to figure out what you can and cannot eat. I doubt krill will be enough to satisfy one of your size. Come, let us go."
The yellow-eyed eel cheered as it swam around Harry's head, and the little Potter couldn't help but feel acceptance soothe his hurt heart as he swam off, deeper into the depths of the ocean.