Author's Notes: Wow, so I just got a really spiteful comment from someone accusing me to have stolen this story from someone else. Well, I told the author that I was accused to have stolen from and she agreed that it was poppycock because the stories - to this date, I don't even know what story the reviewer referred to! - were just too different and the only thing in common was that both are creature!fics. So, yeah, in case you check the comments, I just wanted to let you know that I didn't steal anything. It all comes from my sick little brain.
Chapter III
An unexceptional Tuesday morning.
Care of Magical Creatures was usually pretty exciting. Especially this year, when a few months back, Hagrid had managed to pull a couple of strings and asked Uncle Charlie to bring in a small dragon that had just hatched, for one of his lessons.
The girls had screamed and giggled, as the dragon coughed up puffs of smoke, and the boys had challenged each other to pet the creature and pat it on its head. Daniel Brown burnt three fingers, but then had two girls fussing over him for the whole day; he later confided in Hugo that he would have done it all over again.
Nevertheless, today, Hugo wasn't having an enjoyable lesson. At all. Hagrid was using every excuse he could find to talk with him about Lily. He was ecstatic about the fact that he could study an actual Siren, up close and personal.
"Have you seen her, Hugo? Isn't she a beauty?" asked Hagrid for the umpteenth time. "She's so sinuous, have you seen her swimming around? She can go faster than the Merpeople of the lake, did you know? Almost a mile faster!"
"Great," murmured Hugo, not feeling too comfortable with Hagrid talking about his mate—his cousin, he meant his cousin—like that, as if she was a specimen that he could study.
"And she jumps so high, have you seen her? I've brought her some fish and taught her all the funniest tricks," he said brightly, "she's more intelligent than the Merpeople too."
"You taught her tricks?" asked Hugo horrified, looking up at him. "Like… like a seal or something?"
"More like a dolphin," admitted Hagrid thoughtfully. "She was laughing, I think… Oh well, but isn't she a beauty though? Her scales are so shiny, that means that she's healthy as a horse. And her teeth are so white and sharp. And she has those beautiful, pointy—"
"How dare you talk about Lily like this!" snapped Hugo in front of everybody, feeling his rage finally reach its boiling point. "Leave her beautiful, pointy things alone!"
Hagrid blinked at him, before blushing profusely. "I'm… I'm sorry, Hugo," he babbled, "I didn't know you were so sensitive about her fins."
Hugo groaned out loud, while around him his fellow classmates chortled with laughter. "Fins?" he asked feebly.
Hagrid seemed to get excited again in no time. "Yes," he replied, "aren't they beautiful? Pointy and long and they seem so fragile, but they aren't actually, they are really strong. And they are smooth and a bit slimy, but contrary to actual fish fins, they aren't cold, but warm. And they look like silk, don't they?"
"Yeah," he replied quietly, not wanting to look the other students in the eyes. He was sure they had all been thinking that Hagrid was about to say something about her breasts, Alice and Susan had looked horrified at their teacher, as he was talking about her, and now they were laughing at Hugo. Bunch of horrible people.
"It'd be cool to have a lesson about her," suggested Mark Goldstein with a smirk, "bring her here in a tank and study what she can do. Maybe we can have her jumping through hoops, or come out of the water with a ball over her nose."
His friends laughed at that, but when Hugo pounced and punched him on his nose, they didn't seem to find it too funny anymore.
oOoOo
A slightly less embarrassing Tuesday afternoon.
Hugo stormed into the Prefects' Bathroom and slammed the door shut at his back. He let the bag fall to the floor with a loud thud, and stalked quickly to the bathtub. Lily was sitting on an emerged rock, and she glanced only distractedly at him when he strode towards her, even though she seemed to rearrange herself in a more sensual position, pushing out both her chest and her round, scaled arse, like the mermaid on the stained glass window did all the time. She looked like she was still angry with him, though.
Hugo ignored her attitude completely, he was fuming for having been called in the Headmistress' office and having had to listen to her as she told him what a bad example he was setting for the other students. He didn't care about setting any example at all! All he cared about was breaking Goldstein's nose.
"You know what I want to know?" he barked at her as he circled the tub and came to stand next to her, completely forgetting about keeping a safety distance. "I want to know why you went to Hogsmeade with Goldstein!"
She looked at him, eyes wide, as if she could sense the rage in his voice and hadn't expected him to be angry with her at all. She shied away from him a little, looking both afraid and surprised.
"He only wanted one thing from you," he went on, pacing nervously in front of her, "did you not notice? And since you wouldn't give it to him, he's being a total prat and is going around telling lies about you, and making fun of you, okay?" He looked at her and snapped, "He suggested we make you jump through hoops!"
She looked at him, taken aback, and opened her lips to say something, but instead didn't make any sound.
"I just want to break his nose," he growled, "again. I mean, I've already broken his nose today, but Madam Pomfrey already healed him! Damn it! I'm going to break it again!"
He collapsed on the tub edge, breathing raggedly and looking around himself for something to kick. He didn't find anything, and instead just hunched his shoulders and let out a frustrated growl. "Merlin, I hate him!"
He was so caught up in his rage that he didn't even notice where he was sitting. He didn't even realise that in less than a second, Lily could grab him and pull him into the tub with her. He was seething, and that was all that mattered to him at that moment.
There was some sloshing at his back, but Hugo was too caught up in his rage to turn or stand up, and before he even knew what was going on, a soft, wet kiss was planted on his cheek.
He turned a bit towards her and looked as Lily leant her head over his shoulder and stared at him with a gentle and reassuring smile on her lips.
"Hey," he said softly, suddenly feeling rather calm and very happy. The rage dissipated from his mind, as if her touch had a soothing power. "Not wanting to drown me anymore?"
She looked up at him and fluttered her eyelashes. He stiffened slightly when he felt her arms wrapping around his stomach and her chest pressing against his back, but even Hugo didn't know if it was because he was worried that she might have dragged him into the water, or because he had his mate—cousin—wrapped tightly around himself.
She didn't pull him into the water and he smiled gratefully at her. He placed his hands on hers and felt how warm and smooth they were. He caressed her arms up and down, and she made a noise that was close to a purr, as she pressed herself more tightly against him.
"You like that, don't you, Lily?" he chuckled.
She purred more strongly, and when she opened her mouth the sound that left her lips was almost human. "Lee," she said, "Lee-lee…"
He blinked at her. "Yes," he exclaimed, "Lily. That's your name! Li-ly."
"Lee," she repeated. "Lee-lee-lee-lee…"
He grinned. "Almost," he told her, "Lily."
"Lee-lee," she articulated with great difficult. "Lee-lee," she repeated, then she raised her head from his shoulder and kissed him fiercely on his lips, before withdrawing and diving back into the water.
He was sure he had heard her giggle – properly giggle – but it might have also been the fact that his mind was all clouded right at that moment, all he could think about was her lips on his own and her wet body pressed against his.
Damn it, that had felt good!
He turned to look at her and saw that she was swimming in circles under the water, looking incredibly cheerful as she splashed her tail left and right.
He smiled.