Draco swam deeper and deeper to the bottom of the lake dragging Hermione down with him. He motioned towards a mass of colours.

Hermione had long since given up fighting of Draco and come to the conclusion she would be safer with him than by herself.

"Draco?" she shouted the sound only reverberated off the shell echoing in her head

"Draco, draco, draco" giving her a splitting headache but somewhat made her relax at the sound of his name.

As they neared the bottom if the black lake Hermione began to feel heavily waterlogged she tried taking a break but Draco was persistent. That's when she heard it, the most beautiful sound 'simply divine' she thought to herself.

Draco was shocked! Not once in 'Hogwarts a History 2' did it mention anything about merpeople included in the ceremony. All it had said was the giant squid would lead them to an underwater cavern and there he would share the greatest secret that would ruin or revive the school, from darkness or into darkness. He would then lead them through the rip and into the dock safely.

Hermione of course knew what they were singing. After the second task in the Triwizard tournament she had taken into great interest into the merpeople and had decided to study their language. What come most of a surprise was even their though their voices where only those of elegance they where singing a tribal hunting hyme.

'Aburn blothr wiol one

knurlien

marku graath

ike yawe

wyrda zarroc

se morrnanr

so helgrind

vrron otho

ganga aptr

rov kodthr

urd farthen

ike Eupendi'

English version –

'water stop for you

hart of stone

it is done

squid bond of trust

fate of misery

may you find peace

at the gates of death

enough faith

to go forward

and catch

our father

Eupendi'

"what is she doing doesn't she realise that this is part of the plan? Draco muttered to himself.

"she doesn't know the plan remember you didn't tell her."

"great now I have her voice in my head too."

"wow Draco I didn't realise you were that blonde.'

"stop it Draco stop talking to yourself."

He then felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see Hermione giggling.

"What? Impossible without her bubble head charm. How is she breathing?"

then he heard the voice again.

"Draco its all right you aren't talking to yourself. I removed the bubble head charm and I found a pile of Gillywead over there." She pointed to a pile of what looked like seaweed.

"Here try it, that way we can talk!" She handed him a handful of Gillywead as he quickly removed his bubble head charm and shoved the plant in his mouth a second later.

As soon as the plant took its effect on Draco he rasped.

"Hermione they aren't meant to be here they are not part of the plan." He spat out quickly.

"what plan exactly?'"

Draco grabbed Hermione's arms and pulled her behind a nearby rock making sure not to be seen by the merpeople.

"We have to get to the squid he is to tell us a verse that holds to school secret."

"Well I don't think that is going to happen any time soon. The merpeople are planning to hunt him and roast him for dinner."

"How do you know what they are going to do they don't speak our language?"

"they may not speak out language but I have a firm grasp of theirs and I can tell you now, that song they are sing (she repeated the verse in English) is a tribal hunting hyme, they plan to catching Eupendi and kill him."

"No that can't be possible. If they kill him the school secret will die with him and we will never know what it is. We have to save him."

"We? You're the one who dragged me down here in the first place you could at least have the decency to Ummm let me see Ummm-BEG!" she replied sharply.

"Granger don't be stupid we have to save the squid before the barbarians kill him." He replied hotly.

When he saw the look on Hermione's face he added "please?" as an after thought.

"That's better! But how do you plan on saving the squid?"

"Oh that part is easy!" he replied.

They spent the next five minuets discussing their plan when Hermione said…

"So are you ready?"

With a nod from Draco and 'good luck's' exchanged they went their separate ways.

Hermione began to swim towards the violent haze of colures just left of the mercity.

She could hear Draco's distraction going on in the background. She turned around to find the entire merpopulation chasing after her.

"Great I told Draco his plan would work, but that's what scares me."

She started to increase her pace but not to fast she would actually get away.

Hermione shouted back at them "Yawe" (bond of trust)

At her words the merpeople abruptly stopped and stared at Hermione.

"Tretha Gracei" (Greetings Friend) the chief replied uncertain at her motive to speak in their tongue.

Hermione turned around slowly to face her pursuers

"Finna hvass" (peace to you) she replied, her voice slightly shaken. it is working she thought as she saw Draco silently swimming around the outskirts of the city unnoticed.

Hermione quickly averted her attention back to the merpeople waiting for their traditional reply. But it never came…

Hermione started to panic. "They don't trust me they should have replied by now." Hermione swore silently under her breathe the merpeople where beginning to advance on her and fast.

Thinking of the only logical thing to do she pulled out her wand and screamed loudly hoping nay wishing Draco would come back for her.

Draco was still no where in sight but on the plus side the merpeople had stopped advancing at the sight of her wand.

"oh my God what is that?"

Finiarel

Fram wiol ono

Trull vanyali

Floth more trill

Bare em fler tut

Emfler malter

Finiarel fram wiol ono

Trull vanyali telf malret

Agaln first wandra em

Fler framel Finiarel

Other lavish fater glola

Metra riches below you!

English version-

Honour

Is more precious

Than gold

True to your word

I am what I am

Because honour Is

more precious than gold

bare me again in your arms

true to your word I am

a man who values

his riches below you!

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

The merpeople had heard it to they where screeching in agony.

What are they screaming about surely the singing wasn't hurting – she broke off mid thought. Hang on that voice, its familiar.

This voice was not coming from the merpeople but a human…

She looked to her left to see Draco simply wading with his eyes closed- singing…

His voice she thought was somewhat comforting. Suddenly his eyes shot open like piercing daggers glaring straight ahead but soften at the sight of Hermione.

"Draco?" she sighed breathlessly.

The merpeople were howling in pain as Draco began to sing again more softly this time.

He turned, still singing and gave Hermione a look as if to say. 'what are you still doing here? Cant you see I have them distracted?'

She nodded her head slightly and began once again to swim towards the giant squid. Constantly scanning over her shoulder to see if Draco was alright. Many of the merpeople had now retreated as far away as possible to get rid of the sound.

Hermione was now so close to the squid she could start to make out an outline and not just a violent haze of colour.

Draco pointed his wand at his throat- ceased singing for a moment and muttered a few words- he began to sing again as his throat shone bright blue.

Finiarel fram wiol ono trull vanyal

Yall si helt mal pel fuci si helt loul

Telf malret agaln first wandra

Em fler kiss mi grik flek malret

Floth more trill bare em fler tat em fler

Finiarel fram wiol ono trull vanyali

Lemel malret si lla fler wick eternal ebany.

Honour is more precious than gold.

Grey is the sky as red is the sea.

Bair me again in your arms

I am sick of being just me

True to your word I am what I am

Just me is all I will ever be

Honour is more precious than gold.

As he finished this verse he stopped singing and with a flick of his wand the exact same verse replayed in the merpeoples ears. He made a replica of his voice.

Draco began to swim as fast as he could to find Hermione and the squid before the verse was over and the merpeople snapped out of their trance.

"Draco! Over here" Hermione shouted

swimming over to her. "we have to find Eupendi before they realise your gone."

"That's the problem Malfoy as I was swimming towards him he kind of just disappeared right in front of me. I have no idea where he is Malfoy. I am sorry." She said the last part rather softly.

Draco glared at her until he realised the look of hurt and desperation as she said this. Softening his expression he breathed deeply racking his brain for any information he may have over looked.

But whan Draco saw Hermione's expression run from desperation to realization he figured ' she always has to beat me too it.'

Hermione gasped

"Draco I know where he is."

"well hurray up woman we haven't got all day."

"follow me" she ordered swimming rather fast to the surface of the water.

They broke through the surface of the water as the piercing cold air whippen their faces.

Still under the Gillyweed affect Hermione pulled Draco back under the surface so they could breathe.

"Hermione where are we going?" Draco asked questioningly.

" I remember reading a book wayback in 3rd year about giant squids and how come muggles could never get proof 0f there existence. And it's because they just kept disappearing why a muggle would reach for a camera. I figured it's the same thing."

"where did it go Granger?" he inquired with more harshness and accusation in his tone.

"hold on Draco, I don't know where he went but I can find him if you just wait a sec." Hermione rolled her eyes and surfaced the water again, Draco coming up behind her.

"vrlise eros fo crolou

duige em ot mih

( I will name a character after who ever can guess what this means)

She chanted in her head using her wand above the water to do a pin point of where the squid was.

Her wand swivelled to the left than right a bit then straight ahead, sending a metallic burst of silver light through the night sky skimming the waters edge. Diving about 120 feet away under the surface of the water emitting violent waves of colour to erupt. Hermione pulled Draco back under the water.

"I told you I knew where he was." Hermione said gleefully.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Come on before those barbaric creatures wake up and come after us."

"Hey Malfoy?" Hermione said

"Yes Hermione he replied in a tiresome tone.

Well I was just wondering, what happened back there? I mean you singing and all. At first I thought it was the merpeople but then I realised that you weren't behind me and it was the sound of your voice that made them scream."

Draco inwardly flinched at her words.

"Not that it was bad, because it wasn't. I thought it was actually rather..." Hermione swallowed her words blushing at the thought she was about to say 'alluring' to Draco Malfoy. "-Good. And were did you learn that song it was in merlanguage yet you said you do not speak their tongue.

Draco though now was the time to but in.

"Look Granger, now Is not the time for such talk we are in the middle of the black lake for Merlins sake. We need to reach the squid so we can get out of here. Okay? Now let's swim faster."

Hermione and Draco swam further away from the mercity until they started to notice a drastic change in water temperature along with a more violent burst of colour seeming to come from a cluster of water lilies.

"I think we found the squid Granger." Draco said after taking a closer look at the water lilies.

The lilies where being thrashed around violently until they where utterly destroyed revealing the squid. Extending one of its tentacles and swiftly wrapping it around Hermione's waist pushing her into Draco's flailing arms. Then wrapping the tentacle around Draco as well so they where pressed against each other.

The squid began to swim towards the castle. After about a minuet of swimming the squid reached what looked like to Draco and Hermione as an underwater cavern. Placing them down on a nearby rock the squid began to treed water waiting for the two leg walkers to gain their composure.

"Malfoy what is he going to do to us?" Hermione asked shakily.

"Relax Granger we are meant to be here and 'he' is not going to hurt us."

Hermione took a deep gulp and sighed. Looking around they appeared to be in an underwater cave with carvings and ancient ruins on the walls.

The squid glided over a tentacle and tapped both of them on the shoulder to get their attention.

"What does he want?" Hermione asked herself.

"Calm down dear child I am not going to hurt you." Said an unfamiliar voice in her head.

She looked up to see Draco with a confused expression on his face.

"Hermione you aren't speaking then why can I hear you? And who does that voice belong to?"

(Note no one is speaking it is all telepathic!)

H- Honestly Malfoy. Who else? It's Eupendi Dah! And they say you are smart. He used a telepathic wave link on us so we can communicate.

E- Very good. I can see why you where chosen as head girl. Mr Malfoy I suggest you listen to this young lady you can learn a lot.

Hermione smiled sweetly at Draco and he glared mock daggers at her.

E- We can only have about half an hour before we meet the first years so let's get straight in to it. My name is Eupendi and I am well aware of both of your names. I am going to reveal the biggest secret and Oh! It's a doozy I might add. Are there any questions before we start?

H- Yes I have a question

Draco rolled his eyes.

H- Ummm why were the merpeople trying to eat you?

E- Good question. Well first off. Merpeople are known for their aggressiveness and their beautiful harmonic voices but they are also very good actors.

D- What do you mean by actors?

E- Well you see they weren't really going to eat me they where just acting.

H- Why?

E- I can't just blab this doozy of a secret to just anyone, now can I? Even if they are the heads of the school. They have to prove they are worthy and gain my trust. They where acting you see to kill me and you saved my life and helped me escape therefore you gained my trust.

D- Sorry to cut in but now that we have your trust and all you might one to tell us this doozy of a secret before dawn.

E- yes, yes you are quite right. Okay ground rules; first you must never tell anyone besides the current headmaster and particular portraits what you hear. I can not just take your word for this you will make the unbreakable vow.

Hermione gasped and Draco looked shaken but kept his composure all the same.

E- Second you will meet here once a month on the full moon.

Third- you will both need to make sacrifices of your own.

Draco and Hermione nodded hesitantly before making their way to the squid so he could perform the vow ritual.

E- Hold out you left arm Miss Granger and Mr Malfoy grab hold of it with your right hand.

Draco did as he was told whilst looking into Hermione's deep brown eyes. She looked shaken and scared. Draco couldn't bare to see her like that grabbed her spare hand with his and gave it a tight comforting squeeze.

Hermione looked up to see Draco giving her a reassuring smile which made her stomach turn.

E- Ready?

DH- yes

E- Okay repeat after me. In the name of the four founders I swear on my life.

DH- In the name of the four founders I swear on my life.

Eupendi wrapped a glowing green tentacle around the latched arms.

E- To seal the fate of the school.

DH- To seal the fate of the school.

He wrapped a glowing crimson tentacle around their arms.

E- With a bond of trust honouring our ancestors.

DH- With a bond of trust honouring our ancestors.

E- We will never tell a living soul other than the chosen ones.

DH- We will never tell a living soul other than the chosen ones.

E- Or the consequences will be fatal.

DH- Or the consequences will be fatal.

The squid released his tentacles leaving an odd silver metallic mark on Draco and Hermione's entwined arms that formed a symbol of a lion with a snake coming out of its mouth.

E- You are bound by your word or it will be the death orf you do you understand?

DH- Yes

E- Now the fun part the actual verse- he sung

They are lovers

We are lovers

Truth be told

Massacres in the hundreds

Blood she in the thousands

Truth be told

She betrayed us for him

You will save us from her

Truth be told

The reason for prejudice

Death and despair

Truth be told

The Foursworn

Will live again

Truth be told

They will be the heirs

Of a new age

Truth be told

Children of

The destined ones

Truth be told

He will die

At the hands of one

Truth be told

Purest of the Purest

He will fall

Truth be told

The result of love

Dreams and life itself

Truth be told

Draco gripped Hermione's had tighter he was in utter shock.

H- Draco?

D- Yeah?

H- You will have to tell me where you learnt that song you sung before.

E- Not right now you have to get the first years safe to Hogwarts.

Hermione nodded her head in agreement and began to swim to the surface with Draco to her right and the squid right behind them.

After swimming for about 5 minuets they reached what looked like a current in the water and proved to be just that when it swept them up to the surface where their boat was waiting. Clambering back into it Hermione cast a quick drying spell on her and Draco and waited for the Gillyweed to lose its effect before peering back into the water to thank to squid.

H- Thankyou so much Eupendi

E- That's quite all right Malady.

With a quick flash he was gone in another haze of colour.

"Well come on Malfoy lets get the first years" she motioned towards the upcoming first years about 300 feet away. I am famished.

"So how's the squid been treatin yeah?"

Hermione jumped with fright and turned around to see a beaming Hagrid. Standing in his boat.

"Great Hagrid. How did you know where we were?

"the heads have being going missing every year when I thought they were meant to be help' en me with the first years. Eventually I caught on and assumed they were just using the time for a snogging session until Lilly and James went missen. I figured Lilly wouldn't neglect her duties like that- she is just like you, ya know Hermione. So I figured something was up. One day I went down to visit my friend Eupendi and he told me he was doing head business with you lot but I couldn't ask anymore questions. And that's when I uncovered the longest school tradition." Hagrid finished with a proud glint in his eyes. "Well we best get a move on I bet the rest of the school is waiting."

True to Hagrids word when the castle came into sight, Hermione could notice a tiny periwinkle blue dot against the dark castle. As the dot came clearer Hermione recognized the bug eyed glasses on Trelawney's face.

"No" groaned Hermione