A/N: Hi everyone! I'm so excited to see new readers joining with each new chapter, and to hear from you! I'm really glad you're enjoying the story so far, and I hope that it keeps up with your expectations ;)
This chapter is a little different but I really enjoyed diving (no pun intended) into this part of HP's world for a little while... Hope you will too! :)
Hermione walked over to the Black Lake shore under the summer afternoon sun. It would be almost another three hours until the sunset, so she had enough time to go in an out before the darkness prevented her from seeing underwater. She was somewhat nervous about taking the gillyweed, for Harry had told them after the Triwizard Tournament second task that the transformation had been a pretty uncomfortable process. However, she figured that if she had already visited the mermaid village unconscious back then and survived without a scratch, now that she would be awake and in full use of her powers, she had nothing to worry about.
She had to admit that the Giant Squid concerned her a little, but there was no sign of it as far as her sight reached, and she knew that it probably stayed away from the underwater village if it didn't want to get hunted… so, with a bit of luck, she wouldn't ran into it on her way there.
She wasn't exactly sure of exactly where there was. She remembered vaguely which direction was the right one… but she wouldn't be able to know more until she was actually inside the lake. So she'd better keep going.
Once her feet arrived to the shore, she removed her shoes and, with a N.E.W.T level spell, transfigured her clothes into a neoprene suit. Though the air was warm, the water at the tip of her toes was stinging cold. Hermione knew that one of the gillyweed alleged powers was to keep your body temperature regulated, but she had no intention of relying upon that book fact without doing as much as she humanly could to isolate her body from the freezing water.
She was ready to go. Taking out the first half of the gillyweed from her pocket, she took a deep breath, and before she could have second thoughts, she shoveled it into her mouth. She fought an arcade when she felt the slimy texture on her throat, and rushed to chew it into pieces small enough to swallow them quickly. She felt her throat tightening around the long, viscous strands and terror overtook her body. She was going to choke on them!
A sharp, cutting pain at the sides of her neck made her fall to her knees. With the last bit of clarity her terrified mind had left, she understood that the plant was already taking effect, much faster than she had anticipated. Against all her survival instincts, she forced herself to run into the water, submerging her head. Her lungs expanded with the first watery breath, and she gaped like a fish, finally recovering her composure. Once the choking feeling disappeared, she took a couple strokes to swim deeper, and observed fascinated as the hands before her eyes began growing interdigital membranes. She turned around to watch her feet stretching longer, also growing a thick elastic membrane that made them resemble fins. She kicked the water and her legs propelled her forward with incredible strength.
She wasn't one for flying, but this she could definitely get used to, Hermione thought to herself with a smile. For a moment, she forgot all about her mission and her research, and just enjoyed her metamorphosed body and it's new possibilities. Diving deeper and deeper without any pain in her ears from the pressure was a complete luxury. And the book had been right, she felt no cold, even in the parts of her body where her skin was exposed outside the neoprene. Her hair floated around weightless, swaying with every underwater movement. She remembered her younger self, playing at the beach with her mom, pretending to be mermaids… if she could have seen Hermione now!
A sudden movement to her right brought her attention right back to the present. By the corner of her eye, she saw it was just a grindylow. Her fingers gripped her wand, ready to defend herself if the creature decided to attack, but it just swam away and disappeared into some plants.
However, the tension was enough to regain her focus and remember why she was down there in the first place. She began swimming down, noticing how the afternoon sun only reached the superficial level of the deep water lake. For some reason, she hadn't taken darkness into consideration, but as she kept diving forward, it became a real issue. She cast a Lumos spell to at least light up her immediate surroundings, wondering if the mermaids would welcome her use of magic in their territory.
But as the minutes went by, no mermaids or any other creature came her way, and Hermione began to feel that she was lost in an empty watery space with no trace of life. The dense silence in her ears began to feel oppressive, as if she had gone deaf. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea. She was losing perception of time, and she didn't know whether she had been in the water for twenty minutes or almost an hour. However, she still felt perfectly comfortable inside the water, so she figured she was still well under the effect of the first bite of gillyweed.
The sound of some distant bubbles caught her attention. Maybe it had been just her imagination, making up stimulus to fill up the dark silent void… but she figured it was worth the try, and she began swimming in that direction. For a second, the light of her wand reflected on some yellow eyes, but when she pointed it closer, they were gone. Had that been just another grindylow?
Her heart began pounding strongly inside her ribs. What other creatures could be lurking in the dark? Nothing too dangerous, she had assumed, given that they had allowed the Triwizard Champions to go into the water… but what if they had taken extra precautions that day, that were no longer active? How come that she hadn't thought about looking up some books in the library about the possible fauna she would be finding down there?
She shivered, and realized her skin was starting to get cold. She could still breathe perfectly fine, but she must be getting closer to the end of the first hour. Just when she was considering calling it a day and going back to the surface, she saw the yellow eyes again, and this time they stared at her without moving.
"Hello?" she tried to say, though her voice sounded strange and bubbly, almost incomprehensible.
She put her wand to her face, so the creature could see her better. The yellow eyes blinked a couple times and then got closer, revealing a face that resembled much more some sort of amphibian than a human. However, their long arms and powerful tail didn't leave any trace of doubt.
The merman looked at her cautiously from a safe distance, holding a very sharp spear. He was wearing a necklace made of algae and rounded stones like the ones on the shore.
"Hermione Granger" Hermione introduced herself, taking a hand to her own chest. "You?" she figured it was best to keep her sentences short so the words would be more easily discernible.
The merman didn't responded or gave any signs of understanding. He just kept looking at her, making her anxious. She decided to get closer in a very careful move. His body tensed, but he didn't show any signs of aggression.
"Village?" she asked, pointing her wand at herself and then at the dark bottom of the lake. "Please?"
He seemed to understand her simple request. He pointed at her wand with the tip of his spear, signaling her that he wanted her to lower it down. Hermione hesitated for a second, wondering how she would be able to see anything without it. But she hadn't gotten this far to only get this far, so she nodded and put the wand away into her neoprene pocket. Darkness surrounded her, thought there was still a hint of distant sunlight that allowed her to discern the silhouette of the merman before her.
He began diving deeper, and Hermione rushed to follow him. Her legs were becoming more rigid, and she noticed the membranes between her fingers and toes were shortening. Also, her vision was becoming blurry. Even though she was still able to breathe, she realized she would need to take the second half of the gillyweed if she wanted to be able to keep the pace. That would reduce her total time, but now that she had found the mermaids she figured she wouldn't be needing more than an hour to ask them her question.
So she grabbed the remaining handful and quickly put it in her mouth, focusing on swimming forward and not on the disgusting flavor. This time, since her body was already transformed, she didn't feel any pain, just the strength and warmth returning to her limbs.
She took a couple long strokes that propelled her almost to the same point than the merman, her eyes adapting quickly to the lack of light, enough to finally discern the contours of the mermaid village. The houses were very primitive, almost nothing but boulders. She saw several pairs of yellowish eyes watching them, hiding inside the rough buildings. A dozen similar creatures gathered on what could be called the main square, pointing their spears and sharp weapons at them, and hissing with their teeth bare. The one that looked like a leader, due to her size and threatening aspect, swam forward, being the first to intercept them.
Hermione introduced herself again, bowing her head in a respectful gesture towards the impressive mermaid. Her sharp teeth were gray and gritted together.
"Help?" Hermione asked, wondering how to pose her question in a way they would understood. The leader answered with another hissing sound, and then she turned her head towards one of the others, that swam towards them.
"What." the new mermaid said in a guttural voice that Hermione was barely able to understand.
"Speak English?" Hermione asked her hopeful, a row of bubbles leaving her mouth.
The mermaid nodded slowly. She seemed less defensive than the others, and upon a better inspection, Hermione thought she recognized her from Dumbledore's funeral. "Friend Dumbledore." she said, placing her hand over her chest again.
The leader also reacted when she heard the former Headmaster's name, leaning closer and lowering her weapon. Hermione had to repress a sigh of relief. "You…" she pointed at them with her hands. Both mermaids flinched, moving away from her a little. She lowered her hands quickly. "You… Stories. Death?" she asked, racking her brains to look for the appropriate words. She began to feel seriously concerned. If they could barely understand her as it was, how on earth would she ever be able to explain what she wanted to know, or why a centaur had suggested to ask them?
"Stories?" the translator tried to repeat the word, that was clearly unknown to her.
"Tales?" Hermione tried again. The look of confusion didn't disappear. "Songs?" she suddenly guessed. Though she wasn't looking for a melody, she figured a song would be the closest thing to them to what she was trying to convey.
The mermaid nodded, finally recognizing a word.
"Songs… about death?" the mermaid was staring at her attentively. "Death… then life?" Hermione gestured with her hand, trying to indicate progression.
The translator narrowed her almost orange eyes, trying to discern the meaning of Hermione's question.
"Light animal?" Hermione added, trying to help.
She could see the pieces suddenly clicking in the mermaid's intelligent gaze. The translator turned towards the leader and began producing some melodious, yet disturbing sounds. The other responded in the same language. They seemed to ponder for a second, and then exchanged a few more sentences before looking back at Hermione.
"Come." the mermaid said at last with her guttural version of English.
They began moving towards a wall of rocks that stood beside the village. Hermione rushed to follow them, wondering why they couldn't tell her there. But she was too excited to care. Clearly, her words had hit the nail on the head. The centaur had been right. They seemed to have an answer for her!
Once they were closer to the rock, she noticed a narrow entrance. To her dismay, the mermaids swam straight into the opening, disappearing into the complete darkness of the submarine cave.
She hesitated, surrounded by other members of the guard, that looked impatient, gesturing towards her with their spears to urge her to continue. She didn't know how deep the cave would be, or if she would be able to find the way back in time, in case she got separated from the group. The adrenaline was rushing through her veins, but she knew that if she left now, they wouldn't welcome her a second time. This was her one and only chance. So, taking a deep breath through her gills, she propelled herself into the pitch black opening. Once she was inside the dark tunnel, she heard a soft humming coming from ahead, and she realized the mermaids were guiding her with her voices so she would now where to head to. She followed the sound until she got to a large underwater chamber. Her eyes widened with surprise when she realized there was light inside of it. She looked up and noticed a very long tunnel that ended in a hole, apparently close enough to the surface that some sunlight was able to reach down all the way there.
Once her eyes adapted again to the dim illumination, she noticed the mermaids looking at her, gesturing her to come closer to one of the walls. The translator pointed her spear towards the rock, and then, Hermione saw it.
The walls were painted. There were only a few colors, mostly white, and some light green and brown, but the detail level was astonishing. She remembered reading once that the mer people were expert artists, sculptors and painters, but she had never seen any samples of their work. All she knew was that they used it to record their history, given that they weren't fond of spoken language. Their archives, their songs, were literally recorded on the stone.
She came closer to the area that the translator was pointing to. She immediately recognized the mermaid village, and even some mermaids with their necklaces and weapons. Standing in the middle of the circle, as she had been barely minutes ago, there was a man. A human man. A wizard, she realized, noticing the wand on his hand. But the expression on his face was of anguish. She touched it with her fingers, and threw the mermaid an inquiring look. "No breath." the mermaid responded with a strangled, scratchy voice, clutching her own neck.
Then, she moved to her right, pointing to another drawing. The same man was there, and there was something coming out of his wand… that looked like a white dog. It took her a minute to realize it was the man's patronus. Her heart began to race, sensing that she was getting closer to the answer.
Continuing her movement to the right, she then saw the white dog swimming towards the surface of the lake, where there was a rudimentary boat and another human, this one looked smaller. Maybe a child? By the look of the long hair, Hermione suspected it was a girl.
The mermaid then unexpectedly grabbed her wrist. Her cold, slippery touch startled Hermione, and she fought the impulse to move her hand away. The mermaid raised her arm to her own face, as if indicating her to look at her hand. Only then she realized that the membranes were already becoming shorter again. How could that be? Had it really been that long down there?
She couldn't leave now. She knew she still had some margin before experiencing any difficulty breathing, so she nodded at the mermaid, acknowledging her warning, and pointed at the wall again, asking for more.
The mermaid tilted her head, curious as to why the human girl seemed to ignore the danger she was in. But she moved away, allowing her to get closer to another rock, where the painted story continued. In that scene, the mermaids were dragging the wizard through the water. His eyes were closed. "Dead"? Hermione asked, pointing at him. The translator nodded silently.
Then, she swam higher, indicating Hermione to follow her. There was a surface scene painted up there, and Hermione figured they had separated it from the rest because it hadn't happened in their territory. The dead man was laying on the shore, next to some rudimentary trees. Next to him was the white dog again. Hermione looked back at the scenes below, trying to make sure she had understood the progression right. But it was clear. If the dog was indeed the wizard's patronus, it hadn't vanished after its owner's death as all the books on patronus informed. Not only that, but it had returned to its caster, after visiting the girl in the boat.
She looked at the translator, eagerly searching for the next scene in the sequence, while ignoring the subtle sting on her neck and the pressing cold on her skin, even despite the neoprene.
The translator stared back at her, calmly.
"More?" Hermione asked. The mermaid shook her head. Hermione felt her stomach sinking. "Later?" she insisted, pointing at the scene on the lake's beach.
"Life." the mermaid responded simply.
"Alive?" she pointed at the man, her vision becoming blurry again, though she could still see the translator nodding. "How?" she said, feeling her throat tightening. There was no answer. "How!?" she tried to yell, but only let out a bigger bubble and a distorted sound. Her head and ears were beginning to throb, as the pressure of the water above began to weight down on her. She was running out of time, but she couldn't leave like that! They had to know something else! "Who?" she insisted, her voice a desperate strangled moan.
The mermaid pointed at the drawing again with exasperating tranquility. Hermione looked more closely, though her blurry vision prevented her from seeing the details well. The wizard, the water, the white dog, the trees… There was nothing useful there! She blinked rapidly, trying to slow down her breath so the remaining effects of the gillyweed would last a little longer. The wizard, the water, the white dog, the trees… the trees… they weren't trees! Hermione realized the triangular shapes that she had assumed to be firs were in fact pointy roofs that she recognized immediately.
"Thank you!" she made a bow to the mermaids, hoping they wouldn't take offense in her sudden departure. She propelled herself towards the upward tunnel, but realized that her movement was slow and dense again. She began swimming up with all her strength, but as her breathing increased with the effort, she felt the openings in her neck narrowing rapidly. It was only after a few desperate strokes towards the disappearing light above that she realized she wasn't going to make it.