Summer camp, Week 3

Swimming. We're going to get wet. Write an AU about underwater exploration

Buzzwords: Water, Wet, Deep, Shallow, Dark, Crystal clear, Weeds, Rocks, Creatures, Cold

Words: 1103

Betaed by Hailey, Viola and Crissy. Thank you.

Hermione looked at Severus and couldn't contain her smile. He was actually taking her to his mother, to the place where he grew up. Gently, he touched up her pearl necklace. It felt surreal. She was a mermaid now, swimming in the deep ocean. It was wonderful.

Severus was making some rotating moves with the fish and it made her heart sing seeing how happy he looked. The war hadn't been easy on anyone, but he'd felt the hardship the most. He couldn't go to the sea anymore or swim in the ocean, he'd had to be at Hogwarts and protect the students as much as he could. And afterwards had been the trials, and he'd felt obligated to stay to help restore the school.

But no more. He was going home now, and first he would take her onan underwater adventure trip. Hermione couldn't wait. Again, she touched her necklace, the magical object enabling her to be a mermaid. She did a turn.

"Severus, let's go deeper! I want to see the weeds and the rocks at the bottom."

Hearing her voice, he stopped his dance with the fish and came over to her. "Of course. let's go."

He took her hand and together they swam deeper into the ocean. Normally, Hermione would have expected for everything to get darker as they left the sun behind, but to her eyes, the water was just as crystal clear as it had been on the surface. The beauty of magic defied every rule. She didn't even feel wet, despite being surrounded by water. Even her hair was still as frizzly as always.

They swam for at least an hour or perhaps more, she couldn't really tell. The beauty that was underneath the sea level enthralled her, and she felt freer than she'd been in a long while.

Swimming had always been one of her passions, but this was a whole different level. Having a tail was so different and exhilarating. Of course she'd miss her legs if it would have been forever, but it wasn't. She had the best of both worlds, thanks to the wonderful merman swimming next to her. Hermione squeezed his hand, making him turn and look at her. His eyes held a warmth that was reserved only for her and she counted herself fortunate to have seen the real him.

"Is everything alright?" he asked in his deep voice, and once again she was surprised to see no bubbles coming up. Of course, she already knew how everything worked under the sea because of the books in the library and the research she had done back in her third year, but it was a completely different thing to experience it.

"Everything's perfect, Severus. I love it. Thank you," she said and squeezed his hand again. She'd done several underwater explorations as a child, before coming to Hogwarts, but by far, this was her favourite, holding hands with the man she loved more than anything.

They stopped several times, for Hermione wanted to analyse each species of fish they encountered, but in the end, they reached the bottom. The Atlantic Ocean wasn't exactly a warm ocean, and it had many storms at the surface as well as under. However, under the sea level, down in the depths, mermaids and mermen were safe. And they had made it their homes. Of course, they kept close to countries of shore, and usually didn't cross the ocean if the weather above wasn't alright above the surface.

The mermaid city Severus had grown up in was called the Crystal Cave and the name had come from the crystal clear water around it and the many caves surrounding it. Hermione could see it now from a distance. It sparkled in the blueish-green light, exactly like a thousand crystals in the sun. She chuckled. Perhaps there was another reason and not the crystal water. It seemed that her books may have been wrong. No wonder Severus had looked funny when she'd told him about it. He had been trying not to laugh!

Before she could voice her indignation, although half mocked, he deviated their course and led her down near an algae forest. It surrounded a huge cave who looked dark and unwelcoming.

"Don't let it fool you, Hermione," Severus said after a while when they had just stared at the entrance. "It's completely harmless. I have been here many times. Here's where I would run away and hide, you know, when I'd refuse to go home after a trip to the surface. Mum would let me do it. She knows the cage, she explored it as a child as well. There's a saying it's haunted, but it's not. It sparks several tunnels towards the end. One of them goes towards the city, one of them connects to another city, one of them goes towards the mainland and comes out in a lake in another cave. The very last tunnel is an old footpath across the Atlantic. Now, that was something forbidden and everyone knew not to do it."

"But did you go through it?" Hermione wondered, from the way he'd said, it seemed there was more to the last tunnel than he told her.

"I did. I wanted to impress the Dark Lord. Fortunately, before I could say something about it or me as a merman, I… "

"Switched sides," she murmured. It made sense why he hadn't told her before.

"Yeah."

Hermione let go of his hand and hugged him tight. "Severus, it's all right now. It's over." Then she made a jump through the water and nodded her head in the cave's direction. "Come on, show me around the cave."

He grinned at her. "Ready to explore some more? But be warned, you can't stop at every different type of rock you see. My mother is waiting for us with dinner."

Severus started swimming inside the cave, and Hermione almost followed when his words registered in her head.

"Your mother is waiting for us? Severus, come back!"

She heard him laughing before he answered back. "Don't worry, she knows I was going to take you to the cave. Come on, I'm waiting for you."

With a shake of her head, she followed. If only his students could see how silly he could be. Then she shook her head again. It'd be a Potions disaster for sure. Laughing, she launched at him, sending both propelling forwards. Noticing the rocks, she smirked. It was time to explore the underwater cave's type of rocks. He said it himself. His mother knew they would stop at the cave, right?