Enter for the Quidditch League Competition - Round 13 - Puddlemere United - Chaser 2
Prompt: [au] Mermaid/Sea-creature
Optional prompts used: 6. [colour] Silver; 9. [word] Soprano; 13. [colour] Coral
Word count: 2,272
Warnings: AU Canon Divergence
Enter for the International Wizarding School Competition – Summer Camp - Week 6 - Gryffindor
Task: Write about someone being scared
Word count: 2,272
Warnings: AU Canon Divergence
Blood in the water
Sirens were birthed from violent, watery deaths: drowning, being thrown off ships, or having their still-warm, dead bodies thrown into the water. Hermione had read the horrific details when she had discovered that she was a witch and had found out that mermaids and sirens were real. She had never imagined that she would need that knowledge when she started at Hogwarts.
Hermione was always alone with only her books for company. Not even her housemates (Ravenclaws who should be at least interested in the same things she was) liked to be around her. She tried not to let what people say go to her head, but sometimes, it was hard when all that Hermione wanted to do was read by herself around the Black Lake, and instead, people took it as time to invade her space.
More often than not, Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini seemed to know where she would be and come to find her, only to torment her and make her more miserable than she was. The only Slytherin that seemed to be at least cordial towards her was Theodore Nott, and it was never when the other two were around.
Hermione thought that today was going to be a good day. It had to be since she hadn't seen either of her tormentors, and she would be able to stay around the lake and catch up on her reading, but it seemed like her luck quickly ran out.
"Look what we have here, Blaise. Isn't this our lucky day?" Draco's voice floated towards her and Hermione cringed at the sound of it. "Who would ever think that the little mudblood would be here?"
"And she's alone, like always," Blaise's voice joined Draco and Hermione knew that she would need to defend herself soon if she wasn't careful. "Everyone knows no one wants to be around her."
Hermione didn't know what she had done to have the boys constantly pick on her. But she decided that today she wasn't going to just let them insult her. She was going to fight back no matter what. It had taken her six years to stand up for herself, but she wasn't going to let them drag her torment on for another day unchallenged.
"Everyone knows better," Draco said, finally coming to stand in front of her and Hermione stood up. "Have you finally decided to pay respect to your superiors?"
"C'mon, Granger, you know what you need to do, so pay respect," Blaise drawled, putting his hands in his pockets and looking at Hermione from under his lashes. Hermione knew then that he was itching for a fight.
"I would like it very much if you two got away from me," Hermione said, gathering as much courage as she possibly could, trying to hide the fact that her hands were trembling. "I was reading and I would like to go back to it in peace."
Draco and Blaise took a look at her and started laughing, and Hermione failed to see what was funny about the situation or the obvious danger that she could feel creeping in. The two boys walked closer to her and she took a step back, standing with her back towards the lake.
"What you want doesn't matter, Granger," Blaise said with a mean grin on his face. The sight made Hermione's heart start to beat faster in her chest; it was not a pleasant feeling. "It's all about what we want."
"And right now, we would love to see you swimming," Draco said with the same grin on his face, and before Hermione knew what was happening, he pushed her towards the lake. "Who knows? Maybe you'll finally be clean and won't be a mudblood anymore...though I very much doubt that."
Hermione stumbled, screaming as she tripped. Her body made contact with the ice-cold water of the lake, and the air was sucked out of her body. Hermione had never learnt how to swim (there hadn't been a reason to), and now, it would be her end. She'd never thought the lake was so deep, but she couldn't find the bottom no matter how much she tried to flail her arms and legs.
Her body fought for every last bit of air, but she had always been afraid of water, and with the darkness closing around her, her fear increased tenfold. In her desperation to come back up, cold water filled her lungs and blood pounded behind her eyes.
She struggled to keep her head above her watery grave that was waiting to swallow her whole, and a strange numbness began to creep on her body, and her legs seemed weighted, heavy. She couldn't go back to the surface no matter how much she tried. Her mind went blank, her sight grew foggier, and only lingering thought remained on her mind.
I really should have learned how to swim.
Hermione could hear the boys' cackles even with the sound of the water in her ears, and she knew that they didn't care about her anymore. Faintly, she could see the bubbles disappearing in front of her eyes and she was barely conscious at this point. Letting go, she watched the bubbles disappear in front of her eyes before everything went black.
'What happened?' was the first thing that Hermione thought when she regained consciousness. 'Something is different, but I don't know what it is.'
She opened her eyes, but there was nothing but darkness all around; she reached for her wand, but was met with a spiral of air bubbles. It was then she could feel the water in her skin, but it was warm and not cold like she would expect, and something was different with her body: she realised that she was under the lake. Hermione's eyes widened and everything came back to her in a rush: Draco and Blaise pushing her into the water, causing her to drown and how she had accepted her fate that she was going to die in the lake.
"But if I died, how can I still feel the water around me?" Hermione said out loud. She gasped when her voice reached her ears; it was nothing like it used to be. It was raspy with a somewhat melodious quality to it. "What's happening to me?"
Hermione looked down at herself and her eyes widened even more. Instead of her normal-looking human body, she now had a scaly tail, which was coral-coloured with hints of silver at the end. Her chest was covered by something that resembled a bra, but it was made of coral shells, giving her the coverage that she needed; they looked like the shells she used to pick with her mum when they went to the beach, and it felt the same way.
"Morgana, what happened to me?" She cried, but her voice echoed weirdly to her ears. She tried to come up with answers to the reason why she changed but to no avail.
It was then that something shiny caught her attention and she moved—actually, she swam towards the object, her tail movements powerful and instinctive—and Hermione found herself looking into the windows of the Slytherin dorms. She had almost forgotten that their dorm was under the lake. As she looked at the window, what she saw made her lose her breath—if she hadn't been capable of breathing underwater.
The reflection on the window wasn't one Hermione had ever seen when she looked in the mirror, but in some aspects, it still looked like her. It showed her a girl with brown hair and silver streaks that drifted around her face, making her brown eyes shine; her lips were full and looked like she had drenched them with red blood.
Hermione thought that she looked hot and she couldn't help but think that she would capture many boys' eyes with the way she looked now.
She was lost in her thoughts and missed the fact that someone was peering through the window. She absentmindedly decided to move around and see if she could understand what was happening with her.
It was then that a fact came back to her mind, a piece of information that she had read before she even came to Hogwarts. 'Sirens were born from violent, watery deaths; from drowning, being thrown out of ships or having their bodies thrown into the water after their death.' She could have slapped herself but refrained from doing so.
That was what had happened to her. She had become a siren! And if it was true what she read about sirens, she was going to have some fun.
Hermione didn't waste any time and soon emerged from the Black Lake and sat on a rock that was near the shore, concealing her tail in the water, so as not to show anyone what she had become. The bra that was sporting now wasn't something that she would normally wear, but for her needs, it was going to suit her just fine.
She didn't have to wait for heard the voices that she thought she would never hear anymore. She tried to mask the grimace that came over her face at the moment and, in a bout of inspiration, Hermione started to sing. Her singing voice—that had been passable before the transformation—had taken an ethereal, almost soprano-like, quality to it.
'My heart is pierced by Cupid
I disdain all glittering gold
There is nothing can console me
But my jolly sailor bold'
"Do you hear that, Blaise?" Draco asked, and Hermione had to fight to keep the grin off her face; this was going to be too easy. "I don't think I've ever heard something so beautiful in my whole life."
"I don't think I have either," Blaise replied, and Hermione somehow knew she needed to intensify the power leaking into her voice. She wanted to attract the boys to where she was sitting. "It's like the voice is calling to me."
Hermione couldn't stop the smile from spreading on her face. They were walking towards their fate and they didn't even realise it. She started to sing louder, her new voice promising sanctuary to the unaware boys; Hermione saw the moment that they came near and looked at her.
"Granger? Is that you?" Draco asked, disbelief written all over his face, while Blaise couldn't stop looking at her. "I thought that you..."
"Died? Why would you think that?" Hermione asked, and her voice seemed even more enchanting when she was speaking. She could see the boys share a confused glance, but she wasn't going to let them get out of this easily—if they managed to get out.
"For no reason," Blaise was quick to assure her, and she could see that Blaise was already entranced by her, she just needed to get Draco in the same mindset. "Granger looks good, doesn't she, Drake?"
"Yes, I never thought that she would have breasts like that." Draco pointed to her chest as they approached her rock, and she smiled at them, trying to hide her predator-like teeth.
"Want to discover why I'm wearing this?" Hermione asked, to which the boys nodded. "You just need to enter the lake and you would soon know."
They looked at each other and before they could think more about what they were doing, they jumped in the lake, missing the way that Hermione was smiling at them. She jumped into the lake after them and took advantage of the fact that she could see in the darkness. With the aid of her tail, she swam to the bottom of the lake and looked at the way that Draco and Blaise widened their eyes at her.
Before they could react, the seaweed located on the bottom of the lake seemed to come alive and make its way towards both boys, dragging them to the bottom and not letting them go.
"You two thought it would be so fun to push me into the lake, didn't you? Why don't you enjoy what you two tried to do with me?" Hermione said, her voice raspy with rage. She left them there without a second glance at the two distraught boys that were fighting for their lives.
Hermione swam towards the surface of the lake, wanting to sunbathe and try to put what she had done behind her. Revenge that harsh had never sat well with her even though she felt that it was needed. She had almost reached the shore when she came to a halt, careful not to break the surface of the lake. She found herself staring at the face of Theodore Nott, who was looking at the lake with a frown on his face.
Hermione had always thought that Theo was handsome, and looking at him from under the surface of the lake, she thought that he looked even more handsome than before. It was at that moment that she decided that Theo would be the perfect mate for her. She would do everything that was necessary to ensure that he became her mate.
"I swear I saw something from the dorm window… Maybe I was hallucinating and just need to sleep," Theo murmured, but Hermione could hear what he was saying. "The siren that I saw, it looked just like Hermione."
Hermione could feel her blood going straight into her cheeks, and she decided at that moment that she was going to bring Theo to the lake with her. She just needed a plan, and she would put it into practice soon. He just needed to come a little closer to the water…