A/N: Cameo: The Deep. (Cartoon, 2015)
They entered the underwater ship's belly and surfaced into a small pool in the middle of a room. The room looked as if it came straight out of Dudley's favourite science fiction movie, the one that had spaceships and aliens in it. Harry gasped, but it wasn't in surprise—although he was very surprised and a better word for that is astonished—but because he still had gills and his body wanted water, not normal air.
Severus put his hand on Harry's wet hair and pushed him back under the water until only his eyes showed and did the same. The two kids that Harry had seen in the window came running into the room followed slower by an adult man and woman. All four were smiling and looked strangely happy to see them.
Out of the water, his eyesight was back to being bad but Harry squinted and could see they were a family, all four were tall, with golden brown skin that gleamed under the bright lights, and each wore navy blue wetsuits with different colour trims and round crests on their chests. The crests were similarly colour-coded and had three waving squid legs inside. That reminded Harry of the plug he had to chew, and his face turned green. He hoped he never had to chew that again! It also reminded Harry of the sailors and their red and blue striped shirts. Captain Tom had given Harry one with red stripes, he was wearing it now, and he wondered if he would get a uniform here too.
"Severus Snape!" the man called. "You could have knocked me over with a feather when I saw the two of you on the camera! Is this your son?"
Severus rose out of the water and pointed to his gills then dipped back under until his enormous nose was submerged again.
The kids chattered excitedly about that and were asking Harry if he also had gills, wanting to see. Harry would have shown them but Severus kept his hand firmly on his head and he had no option but to tread water. He raised his hands instead and showed the webs, wiggling his fingers.
"Oh, I want to see this!" the boy called and ran to the far wall where equipment was stacked neatly on racks. He came back with a clear mask that fitted over his whole face, pulled tight with a strap around his head, and jumped into the water with Harry and Severus. He tugged Harry down and Severus let him go.
"Show me your gills!" the boy called and Harry was astonished again when he could hear his voice clearly.
He turned his neck so the boy could see and the little fish that had guided them there darted closer also to inspect it.
"This is amazing!" the boy called, grinning broadly through the mask. "Is it permanent? Do you have to live in the water? How do you eat? No, scrap that, I see you have a mouth, what do you eat? Fish? Kelp? Octopus?"
Harry immediately said he would never eat octopus again but only a big air bubble came out of his mouth and the boy laughed and popped it with his finger. He would have made another bubble to have the boy laugh again but his neck started to itch and Severus's neck must have done the same for he put his head in the water and motioned Harry to come up.
Changing back had them coughing up seawater and then gulping fresh air, their lungs burning. It was most uncomfortable but the air tasted sweet and he only then realised the water had been distinctly fishy. The webs disappeared also, and Harry suddenly felt as if he had unlearned how to swim. Luckily Severus grabbed his wet shirt from behind and helped him to the side of the small pool where Harry was promptly lifted out by the large man and wrapped in a towel. Severus followed, getting one too. They shivered.
"Well now, Severus, what an entrance! I see you're up to your old tricks! Been farming?"
"Gillyweed," Severus coughed. "The prices are good this year. But our ship ran afoul of some rocks and I didn't want the kid suffering in a lifeboat through this storm."
"He's yours?"
"No," Severus said. He reached out and raised Harry's bangs and the two adults said, 'Ah,' as if that meant something.
Up until that moment Harry had not thought of Severus as anything but 'The Passenger', and 'Odd', and he looked at the tall man now and thought, 'Dad'. This, by the way, was absolutely normal for a little orphan his age, even one that grew up with family. Any unattached man or woman might become Dad or Mum in their childish fantasies if given the slightest opportunity.
Severus Snape looked down at him and squashed that fantasy. "Don't even think of it, Potter," he said.
"Let's get you dry," the woman said and herded them deeper into the futuristic ship.
It was not an underwater ship but a submarine, Harry would soon learn from the boy, who laughed when Harry called it that. Harry secretly thought a submarine was just a fancy name for an underwater ship but wisely kept that to himself. The little fish accompanied them too, swimming along the walls in a wide transparent tube filled with water. The boy was crushed that Severus had not managed to turn himself and Harry into actual, permanent merman, and even more so when Severus told him chewing the plug—Gillyweed, Harry learned—would do nothing to him since he was a Muggle.
"We're Lemurians," the boy corrected him. "Not Muggles."
"Very special Muggles, then," Severus said with a snort and a roll of his eyes. This seemed to be a bit rude to Harry but no one was bothered and he decided not to be either.
They were taken to a bedroom that had two beds and two nightstands. There they were given more towels and each a pair of fuzzy pajamas and left alone to dry off and dress. The pajamas was three sizes too large for Harry but Severus slipped the stick-shaped light out of his sleeve and shrunk it to fit.
Astonished, yet again, Harry grabbed Severus's hand when he wanted to return the light back to his sleeve.
"It's not a flashlight, I think," he told Severus, bringing it closer to his face to see better. He now had time to look at it without the storm interfering and ships sinking, and saw it was made of gleaming black wood with intricate carvings on the hilt.
"Do tell," Severus said. His nose was red and drippy.
He meant it sarcastically but Harry nodded, taking him seriously, and said, "It's a wand, right? And you're a sorcerer."
"A wizard," Severus corrected. He put the wand back.
"Wow."
"Indeed." Severus plucked the blankets from the bed and draped one around Harry and one around himself. "It's a secret and you can get into a lot of trouble if you tell anyone without asking me first, is it clear?"
Harry said it was and Severus pushed Harry out of the room. "Let's see if we can find some tea."
Tea sounded brilliant. Cook had spoiled him, though, and Harry happily trotted ahead of Severus and said, "I want cocoa."
"Don't be spoiled."
But Harry got his hot cocoa without asking while Severus had tea, and there were also biscuits, enough to satisfy everyone, although their hosts called them cookies. Harry and Severus sat with their feet in tubs of hot water—Severus insisted—in front of an electric heater that made the room nice and toasty. Their hosts gathered around them with their own mugs and biscuits and it was all very cozy.
"Why don't you introduce us to our little visitor, Ant?" the man said when everyone was settled.
"Yeah!" Ant jumped up and quickly stuffed the last of his biscuit in his mouth, chewing fast. "Sure, Dad," he said, once he had swallowed and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. The girl said 'ew' but he ignored her and started what sounded like a practised speech.
"Welcome to the Aronnax, our state-of-the-art, double-titanium-hulled underwater home, Harry. This is my mom, Kaiko, my dad, Will, my name is Ant Nekton, and I'm twelve years old. My family are explorers. We have been for generations. While others look up to the stars, and some like Severus here do magic, we know that there are an infinite number of things that shine in the darkness below. There are things lurking in the seas that long ago vanished into myth." Ant finished his dramatic introduction with a wide sweep of his arms, and took a deep breath, before exclaiming loudly, "My family are explorers, and we explore the deep!"
He pointed to the little yellow-back fish swimming on the wall beside his head. "And this is Jeffrey. He's my best friend."
"Aren't you forgetting someone?" the girl asked.
Ant grinned. "Oh, yeah. This is my annoying big sister, Fontaine. Pay her no mind—I certainly don't!"
"Hey!" Fontaine protested and started chasing Ant around the room. "I'll teach you to mind me!"
Ant laughed and evaded her easily.
Watching them, Harry was a little ill at ease at first but quickly understood that the brother and sister were teasing each other equally and were not similar to Dudders at all. That was a relief, and he relaxed and laughed at their antics.
Harry drank his cocoa and when the biscuits were finished they had sandwiches and he ate his fill. Severus was talking to Will and Kaiko, in an undertone, talking about boys who lived, giant clams, and harvesting rare ingredients with exotic names and exorbitant prices. All of it sounded too fantastical and some of it made not much sense but Harry was too sleepy to worry about it.
When Harry started to yawn he was sent to bed. Severus dug a small vial filled with yellow potion out of his trunk and made Harry drink it. "To prevent flu," he said. "I shan't tolerate a sick child."
When he swallowed the last sweet, lemony drop, Harry's body relaxed and steam whistled from his ears. He laughed and lay back on the bed. Never had he felt such a soft, bouncy, mattress and such cozy, fuzzy blankets, and he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the cool pillow. He slept for hours and hours. If he dreamed he didn't remember it.
When Harry woke it was morning, and he felt well-rested and ready for a new day. He saw Severus was still sleeping in the bed next to his, and for a while he squinted and watched him snore.
A wizard! They hadn't discussed it yet and Harry had so many questions. How did one become a wizard? Did you have to go to a special school for it? Could anyone become one? Could girls? Could he? That and many, many more.
He wondered if he should wait for Severus to wake up but then remembered Ant and Fontaine and decided to go seek them out. It's been a while since he talked to children and he thought it might be a nice change.
The submarine, according to Ant's proud prattle the night before, was two football fields long. Harry was honest that he had no clue how long a football field was, he was only six and never saw one not on the telly. It seemed an odd way to measure things too, they did it in school with a ruler. Fontaine had laughed and said it was 720 feet. That didn't help either so he hadn't asked anymore though he truly would have liked to know whether that was adult feet or would children's feet do.
Anyway, it was big enough that he quickly grew tired of walking and peeking into empty rooms. Everything gleamed and he wished he could get the old seamen to see it. Captain Tom! Captain Tom might think it a marvel. He wondered if he would get a job or two or three to do here. There was nothing to mop.
He passed an enormous library, an exercise room, a room with a big telly and lots of comfortable chairs; he went up and down ladders and passed by a room full of gigantic, colourful clams, and an engine room bigger than their house in Little Whinging, Surrey. He paused to watch the gleaming machines ticking and clicking and buzzing away but quickly got out of there when one clanged. Harry was just starting to wonder if he would ever find his way back to his bedroom when Jeffrey swam up in a tube and blew bubbles at him.
Ant had talked to the little fish so Harry tried the same. "Good morning, Jeffrey," he said politely. It was always best to start a new friendship off on the right foot. "Can you take me to Ant and Fontaine, please?"
Jeffrey smiled at him and waved his fins in a 'follow me' motion before turning and zipping down the tube back in the direction he came from. Harry jogged after him. They went back past the engine room, up some ladders, past the screen room, the exercise room with its many metal bars and weights, the library, his and Severus's bedroom, and two doors down he heard Ant and Fontaine disagreeing with each other.
"I don't think he'll want to wear your old wetsuit, it stinks like fish," Fontaine said and there was the sound of a struggle.
"Well, yours stinks like a girl. Besides, boys like the smell of fish!"
"Only abnormal boys!"
Harry peeked around the corner and found the brother and sister playing tug of war with two wetsuits. They were in Ant's bedroom, he figured. It had many half-made projects scattered about and tools and wires in drawers, and the centre of the room was occupied by a giant fishbowl connected to the water-filled tube. Jeffrey now swam into it, flapping his fins in a 'ta-daa!' motion.
"Thanks, Jeffrey," Harry said, surprising the Nekton siblings into losing their grips and falling flat on their backs.
"Ew! Ew!" Fontaine called, having got her brother's suit on her face and she slapped it off. "Fish!"
Ant laughed. "You're an ocean explorer! You like fish."
"Not on boys' clothes," Fontaine said and sat up. "Harry! Tell Ant you would rather not smell like fish. You would think he'd remember the time he was nearly crocodile lunch because he refused to change his suit."
"That suit had memories. All my suits have. Harry would be proud to wear it."
"I would," Harry said and then tried to be diplomatic. "I think Severus would be upset if he saved me only to have a crocodile eat me." He had no idea if that was true or not but it seemed a sensible thing to say.
"My suit it is!" Fontaine laughed and grabbed it from her brother's lap where it had fallen. She tossed it to Harry. "Get dressed, Harry! You guys need to come see this."
Harry got dressed while they waited outside the room. Jeffrey was polite and looked the other way. They could hear Ant loudly complaining to Fontaine about only getting told now that there was something interesting to see and Fontaine laughing it off.
"Do they always fight like this?" he asked Jeffrey.
The fish nodded and pulled a face, showing exactly what he thought of that, which was not much, and sighed dramatically, blowing air bubbles. Harry laughed. He wondered where he could get himself a fish. Then remembered that no one on Captain Tom's ship had a pet so he doubted he would be allowed. Then he remembered that Captain Tom's ship was now on the bottom of the ocean so he won't be able to work there anymore, and he got quite gloomy at the thought that he might not grow up to be a sailor after all.
He kept up his gloomy thoughts until they came to the observation deck where Fontaine showed them an ocean full of shiny green goop. The observation deck was a large room to the front of the submarine, and its walls held multiple glass ports in all sorts of interesting geometric shapes and sizes, half of them which was now covered in the green stuff. They were still submerged and Harry could also see it floating in the water all around them. In his weeks at sea, Harry had seen quite a few interesting things and this one was right up there with the octopus that climbed on board one night to steal some apples.
Will and Kaiko were already there with Severus, staring out. Unlike Harry, Severus hadn't borrowed a wetsuit but was back in his own clothes, dressed all in black and looking like The Passenger again.
"I want to touch it!" Ant called excitedly and ran out of the room as the submarine started to rise to the surface.
They all followed him out through a hatch that automatically slid open when they neared—wouldn't Tim have loved to see that!—and out onto the bow. Ant hurried to kneel at the edge and scooped up a handful of the green goop floating on top of the water.
"Wow! So this is what bioluminescent bacteria feel like! Slimy!"
"Amazing," his mum said. "I've never seen them in these concentrations before."
Severus knelt down also and dipped his finger in it, saying, "Hmm." He shook it off fussily.
Harry stood in awe. The water all around them was green for miles and miles, sparkling in the morning sun. Next to him, Ant lobbed a glob of bacteria at Fontaine.
"Hey!"
"Slipped!" He laughed.
She threw a handful back, splattering the front of his wetsuit. "Slipped!"
Kaiko and Severus filled two beakers full of the bioluminescent bacteria while Will gave Harry an impromptu lesson on exactly what it was he was looking at. He listened attentively and nodded even for the bits that went over his head. When Will was done, Ant told him aside in a stage whisper, "It's fish food."
Just as they were all about to go down back into the submarine to figure out what was up with the fish not eating it like they were supposed to, both Ant and Fontaine yelled, "Slipped!" and spattered Harry with big glops of the bioluminescent bacteria. It splattered all over his borrowed wetsuit and a glob landed on his head to drip slowly down his ear.
It smelled fishy, and Harry gagged. But he loved it. It was a sunny day. Harry had nearly drowned, but he was still at sea, and between friendly people. He couldn't be happier. Life was excellent.
"This is excellent," Severus said, echoing Harry's thoughts. He was not speaking to or about Harry but holding the beaker with its glowing contents up to the sunlight. "We are generally hard-pressed to find it in these quantities. I would like to collect some before we leave—"
"What would you use it for?" Fontaine asked, stepping up beside him.
"I'd personally use it for testing contamination in potions," he said and reached back to pull Harry along. He grimaced and paused to shake the slime off his hand and waved his wand at Harry's wetsuit. He vanished the slimy goop and did the same for the other two, talking all the while. "I know a witch that's currently experimenting with blending bioluminescent organisms into plants that would light up at night, saving energy. I'm sure you could think of a few uses for it too if you tried."
Listening, Harry thought he might still dress like The Passenger, but he certainly didn't talk like him anymore. He decided it must be because he was between friends. Ant was calling out ridiculous uses, the best in Harry's opinion being luminescent food that meant you didn't have to worry if the refrigerator's light had gone out; Aunt Petunia had eyes in the back of her head for the refrigerator's light.
"Breakfast first," Kaiko said when they went down. "The mystery can wait half an hour; we have guests."