Good news, next chapter is up, bad news, I have finals next week so I'm not sure when I'll be updating next. Possibly next Friday but I'm not too sure about that.Anyways thank you so much to everyone who's reviewed so far! So, sit back and enjoy...
Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. They are all owned by J. K. Rowling but I do own those characters that you don't recognize.
Hermione woke up only to have the feeling that something was not quite right. She stretched her arms and yawned. As she yawned, she noticed that bubbles appeared in front of her. She blinked her eyes rapidly and frowned. No normal person yawned bubbles. Malfoy must have done this to her. He probably wanted to get her back for making him wrap presents. It was a dumb trick if she ever saw one.
She put her hands down at her side and instead of feeling her soft bed, she felt stone. Frowning, she looked around and finally noticed that she was in some kind of...cell, for a lack of a better word. She made to stand up but found that something was wrapped around her feet. Whoever had taken her captive was indeed rather stupid. Tying up only her legs and not her arms.
Hermione moved her robes away from her feet and bent down to untie whatever was binding her feet. One look at her legs and she let out a bloodcurdling scream. Her legs had become fins. Mermaid fins.
She calmed herself and took deep breaths, looking waving her hand at the bubbles that appeared in her face.
Suddenly it hit her. She remembered what had happened. She had gone tot he lake with Malfoy when something had pulled her in. She looked around shocked and came to the startling realization that she was breathing under water. She put a hand up to her neck and ran her fingers over it. Sure enough, there were slits at the side of her neck for gills.
Trembling, she brought her hands to her lap and stared at them. With a look of horror upon her face, she lifted her hands up and noticed that she had developed some sort of web in between her fingers. Probably for propelling yourself better, a part of her mind told her. She dropped her hand.
Hermione Granger had become a mermaid. She let out one more ear-piercing scream that echoed throughout the underwater city.
Draco was not in a mood for talking. He had dove in after Hermione and had been attacked by creatures, which he now found were mermaids.
His father had always told him that they were disgusting creatures with the torso of a human and the fins of a fish. That's what they were but they possessed an unnatural beauty that did not go unnoticed by Draco.
They had taken him out easily. After all, it had been him against about ten other mermaids. Mermen, now that Draco thought of it.
He would kill Granger once they got out of here. That is if they ever did get out. They had thrown him in some kind of cell and given him some sort of seafood to eat. Draco ate it without complaining. Merpeople were powerful creatures and you did not want to mess with them.
Immediately after the first bite, he had felt a sharp pain at the side of his neck, in his legs, and in his fingers. He supposed he had blacked out after that for he couldn't remember anything else except waking up to a scream that sounded remarkably like Granger's.
Draco looked down and noticed that his feet were gone. They had been replaced with fins. Fish legs, that's what people would call him if they could see him. His fins were scaly looking and had an odd sort of shine to them. He ran his hands over them only to find that his fins were mildly slimy. Catching a glance of his hands, he saw that they were now webbed.
He groaned and rubbed his neck. He groaned once more as he realized that in addition to having fins, and webbed hands, he had gills.
Draco promptly lay down on the stone floor and willed this to be a dream.
He was woken up by a merman with unruly black hair and gleaming yellow eyes. He was carrying a spear and wore silver armor on his chest. The merman roughly hauled Draco up and took him out of the cell.
"Where are you taking me?"
"You are not to speak unless spoken to, mortal."
Draco scowled at being addressed so but said no more. He looked at the other cells as he passed by. They were all empty. Crime rates must be very low down here, a humorous part of his brain interjected. That part of his mind was immediately silenced by the sensible part which told him that he should be on guard.
They came to a stone door with carvings of horrendous looking creatures engraved on the edges. The guard pushed the door open and Draco's vision was immediately flooded with light. He dropped his head, effectively blocking most of the light that came this way.
"Is he one of them?" came a smooth voice. Draco tried looking up but was once again blinded by light.
"Yes," replied the guard, who bowed deeply.
"Where is the other one?"
"The other mortal will be here shortly," said the guard.
They were probably talking about Hermione. She should be here as well. They wanted her in the first place. Draco supposed he was just a bonus in addition to her. Why would they want her in the first place? It wasn't as though she was something special. Out of the blue, he remembered his father telling him that merpeople loved eating humans.
He heard a door open and glanced sideways and saw two pairs of fins moving towards him. He heard a gasp and one of them fell down next to him. It was Granger. She pushed her self up and turned her head to glare at the guard who had pushed her down but was unable to due to the light.
They both heard a shrill voice followed by something that sounded remarkably like nails running down a chalkboard. Draco winced slightly, willing for it to go away. Though the sound did not go away, the light did. He looked up and saw merpeople flooding in from all parts of the room. He turned his head and saw Hermione looking around with an expression of mixed horror and curiosity etched upon her face.
The shrill sound subsided only to be followed by a rather loud sneeze. Draco looked away from Hermione and his eyes froze. There was a rather large throne in front of him made of bright gold with carvings in it. Sitting on the throne was the most beautiful creature Draco had ever seen. It was a mermaid, no doubt. Her black hair cascaded down her shoulders and nearly touched the ground. Shells were entangled in it and a silver crown was on her head. She had pale white skin that seemed almost translucent. She had strikingly black eyes that seemed to hold an immeasurable amount of power. Draco would have found her irresistible were it not for her nose which was rather red and swollen.
"It's rude to stare, mortal," she rasped, sneezing once more. Draco looked down in shame and chanced a glance at Hermione who was looking the mermaid with awe. The mermaid rubbed her nose and said, "I suppose you both are wondering why you are here." Her voice, despite the fact that she was sick, had a strange sense of power about it.
"Who are you?" asked Hermione, her voice barely above a whisper.
The mermaid glared at Hermione who dropped her head. "Who am I?" The mermaid's black eyes flashed and a guard immediately appeared at her side. She whispered something in his ears, an ugly sneer appearing on her lips. The guard nodded to here and turned to the rest of the room. He opened his mouth nothing but bubble came out. Draco assumed that he must have said something for the merpeople watching fled the room leaving only Draco, Hermione, a few guards, and the mermaid.
She coughed and said, "Much better." She turned back to Hermione and said, "Now, where were we, mortal?" She tapped her fingers on the arm of her chair and continued, "Ah, yes, I remember. The mortal who leads you, what is it you call him?"
"Who leads us?" asked Hermione in confusion.
"Dumbledore," supplied Draco.
The mermaid turned to him and said, "I don't recall asking you to speak." Draco inwardly scowled and looked away as a tinge of pink appeared on his cheeks. She turned back to Hermione and said, "This, Dumbledore, has he not told you of the creatures who live in this lake?"
"He doesn't tell us but people know what's in here." Hermione looked confidently at the queen and said, "I've read a few things about this lake and I-
"Silence," the mermaid hissed. "That man is a pitiful fool, if I ever saw one." She sniffled and looked down at Hermione. "What do they call you, brown haired mortal?"
Hermione's eye widened with surprise as she replied, "Hermione Granger."
"And you, white haired mortal?"
Draco scowled slightly and replied, "Draco Malfoy." He bowed slightly to the mermaid and looked at Hermione with a smirk. She rolled her eyes at him and kept her eyes on the queen. "What do we call you, fair mermaid?"
The mermaid sniffed and cast a disdainful look at Draco. "I am called Gráinne, Queen Gráinne."
"A lovely name for such a lovely-
"Silence, I do not think I asked you to say anything, mortal." She rubbed her head and sneezed once more. "Now, to what I want." She rubbed her nose, which became even redder than before. "The creatures of this lake have always been affected by the mortals who live above. It is one of the consequences of living in such a magically polluted community." As she sneezed once more, Draco resisted the urge to smirk as bubbles flew everywhere.
"In the last one hundred years in particular, it seems that these...effects have been getting worse and worse. Our condition down here, one could say is affected by the emotions you pathetic mortals wield against one another." The guards all chuckled slightly but were silenced by a glare from her. Gráinne leaned forward on her throne and said, "I have been queen of the merpeople for the last four hundred years. In all my years, I have never been as affected as I am now. Would either of you like to tell me why?"
Gráinne's black eye glittered with malice as she regarded the two. When they remained silent she said, "For the past six years, we've been on the receiving end of a rather strong emotion. It happens to be the same one I feel towards the two of you. Hate. Just this year, it's become stronger than ever and I had one of my trusted spies figure out who it has been coming from." She sneered at the witch and wizard and rubbed her nose.
"That would be Malfoy's fault," cut in Hermione.
"What? What do you mean it would be my fault? If I recall, neither of us are particularly friendly with one another."
"Well, do you think this would have ever happened if I weren't a...mudblood?" Hermione spat the word at Draco who rolled his eyes.
'I don't think it would have been any different. Let's see, you are annoying to say the least, a mudblood, you've obviously never heard of getting a hair cut, you're a mudblood, and-
Hermione let out a strangled cry as she swam from her spot on the floor towards Draco. She was stopped, however by one of the guards, who grabbed a hold of her arms.
Queen Gráinne on the other hand seemed as though she was on the verge of having a heart attack. Draco, Hermione, and the guards stared at her with horror as spasms seemed to rip through her body. Without warning, a gigantic sneeze issued from her mouth throwing all of the occupants in the room against the opposite wall. Gráinne leaned back in her throne, her eyes very red.
She took a deep breath and choked out, "Would you both kindly be quiet?" She waved her arm and a guard appeared at her side. She whispered something to him and he nodded. He snapped his fingers and ten mermaids appeared. The bowed to the queen and soon carried her away. Draco and Hermione watched this with mixed emotions.
The guard, whom she had said something to, turned to them and said, "The queen has spoken. You both will stay in the dungeons until your hatred is resolved."
The two looked at him with horror. Neither of them could stand each other's company for more than ten minutes at a time. When they did well, it was a sign that something was wrong.
The mermen guards came up to both of them and bodily picked them up. As they were picked up, Draco shot Hermione a nasty glare, which she replied to by sticking her tongue out. That was followed by a loud sneeze once again. Hermione winced as she heard it and promptly ignored Draco. He scowled at her and looked away.
They left through the doors they came in and were once again plunged into darkness. The guards stopped at a cell and threw Draco in. Despite the fact that they were in water, they managed to throw him with quite a large amount of force. He crashed into the wall. He rolled his eyes as he saw the other guard set Hermione gently down into the cell. Hermione on the other hand scowled at the guard and he promptly slammed the door to the cell in her face. She glared at the two as they swam away.
Taking a deep breath, she turned to Draco and said, "As I said before, this is all your fault."
"What do you mean my fault? As I said before as well-
"Would you mind not talking for a while?" Hermione's eyes flashed as she swam towards him. "I am pretty sure that these merpeople would not hesitate to kill us if we did something that neither of them liked."
"You mean eat us?"
"Eat us?"
Draco smirked at her and said, "My father told me once that a boy in his year fell into the lake and they never saw him again."
Hermione rolled her eyes and said, "It's called drowning."
"What would you know about that, mudblood?" Draco sneered at her, waiting for an answer.
"Would you just stop? I am not in a mood for this right now. I just wanted to have a peaceful Christmas at Hogwarts and now I'm not going to get one."
Draco watched as she sunk to the floor with a scowl stuck to her face. He couldn't help but feel sorry for her as awful as it was. Neither of them had asked for this to happen. They were just minding their own business when the merpeople had to interrupt them and say that their fighting is causing the queen to become ill.
He looked at Hermione and was amazed to find her asleep on the floor. She looked quite comical actually. Her fins were tucked underneath her in a manner that resembled a horse and the slits in the side of her neck would move every so often.
He rolled his eyes and figuring that he should probably follow her example, curled up and went to sleep.
