Interview With A Mermaid
by
Sugarcult Babe
Summary: Hermione goes down to the lake one day for an essay on mermaids, but gets much more than she bargained for when a Mediterranean beauty spills her heart out about a scorching romance with a young Sirius Black, and the lasting effects it has had on her immortal soul.
Disclaimer: What, really, is the purpose? Why would J. K. Rowling be posting on this site, hm? Oh well...whatever. I don't own Harry Potter, or (here comes a shocker!) any Greek myths! Ehmagah, run for the hills, it's a crazy woman! Waaaahhh!!!
Chapter One:
Interview With a Mermaid
"Bloody, bloody, bloody, sodding Professor Snape!" a sixteen-year-old brunette uncharacteristically cursed as she speed-walked down to the lake's shore. Hermione Granger, for first time in her life since her hectic, chaotic third year, was missing an assignment. And, in all of the classes, it was in Care of Magical Creatures.
Hagrid hardly ever assigned an essay, or homework, but the one that he did, of course, Hermione had gotten so caught up in her Potions essays and papers that she had forgotten entirely about it.
Hagrid had decided to allow her to make up the assignment, which was on mermaids, but she had to actually meet and talk with one, instead of simply researching them and searching for a scale washed up on the shore like the other students.
But, Hermione had once again been distracted by Professor Snape's persistent, difficult essays.
Therefore, Hermione Granger had taken the gillyweed that Hagrid gave her for the assignment, and was now walking down to the lake under Harry's Invisibility Cloak at one o'clock a.m., the same day as the assignment was due.
As she stepped up to the lake, she threw off the cloak and hid it under a root of a nearby tree. The sixteen-year-old stepped into the cool water, thankful that it was springtime, and not winter, when the lake was nearly frozen.
She quickly tossed the sinewy, worm-like water plant into her mouth, chewing without relish. A few minutes later, the magical plant began to effect her, and she felt the gills on her neck. The water felt slightly warmer, the perfect temperature. Hermione quickly dived into the lake, swimming as quickly as she possibly could.
She quickly grew tired, however, and slowed to a moderate pace. Eventually she neared what looked like a stone and seaweed village. She saw a few mer-people swimming here and there, and even one "walking" a grindylow.
"Hello, my name is Hermione Granger," she said, swimming up to a near mermaid. Her words came out in a bubble, but Hermione remembered Harry saying that the mer-people somehow understood that.
The mermaid's wild, tangled mass of green-brown hair floated around her menacing-looking face, and her eyes were a dangerous yellow. She bared her sharp, plaque-covered teeth and hissed in response.
Hermione backed away quickly, and let the mermaid go on her way. Hermione attempted to converse with several mer-people but to no avail. They simply did not seem intent on speaking civilly with her.
Frustrated and crestfallen, Hermione began to swim back. It had been a few hours already, and she didn't know which direction to go but up. Hermione stopped a ways up and went back down near a patch of seaweed she had seen on her way to the mer-village. She figured that she would find a way back near the shore where she had been by searching for landmarks.
As she swam above the rubbery, green plants toward a large stone she recognized, she felt something stop her.
She turned to see a wild grindylow latched onto her ankle, soon followed by a few more.
Suddenly, she felt the water growing much colder, then the next second, when she opened her mouth to breathe the water, it was just that: water. No longer was it like a breath of fresh air or warm comfort. No, now it no longer held oxygen for her to breathe. Her gills were gone. Her hands and feet turned back into normal, human hands and feet. She was just a regular witch now. And she was at the bottom of a lake.
The pressure was effecting her greatly, and she was feeling extremely faint. Hermione could hear the grindylows snickering cruelly as she began to slip into unconsciousness.
She saw the shape of an almost human form swimming toward her, scales glittering in the almost non-existent light. Scales...? But it had hair, and hands...and they were wrapping around her...then pulling her away from the grindylows...then...blackness...
A/N: What did you think? Lame? Okay? Awesome (I hope!)? Tell me in a review!
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