Chapter 67: Under The Sea

"I'm going out for awhile." Lily told Arabella and Stefanie. Sebastian had brought them around the place for the whole afternoon, telling them about the life under the sea and taking them to all the exotic spots.

"Don't take too long." Arabella told Lily. The girls were looking at all the seashell and corals around their room. They had just gotten some accessories made of pearls and seashells and were admiring it.

"Be back soon." Lily called back and swam out of their room. The three guys in the next room were nowhere to be seen. Lily shrugged and swam towards her right, which Sebastian had said that would lead to the rest of the castle. I supposed I wanna see this place alone. It's not really nice to leave Stef and Bell but I don't think this feeling could be shared. Lily swam around, looking at the masterpieces around the corridor. This place is so brightly lit; I don't even know what time is it now.

Lily swam further and further down the corridor and spiral hallways, which led to other levels of the castle. Wow, don't really expect to see such things under the sea.

After exploring the inner part of the castle, she swam outwards towards the corals where most of the fishes were.

"Hi, you must be Princess Ariel." A yellow and blue guppy fish swam in front of Lily.

"Er.. Hi.. It seems like all of you can talk." Lily said, not as surprised as the initial meeting with Sebastian. "Am I talking fish language or human language??"

"I supposed in the magical world, animals communicate in one universal language." The small yellow and blue fish commented.

"Sounds pretty remarkable to hear it from a fish." Lily laughed. "By the way call me Lily please."

"I'm Flounder, please to meet you."

"Hi Flounder, would you mind taking me around. I'm really new here and just wanna do some exploring of this city."

"Sure, come with me." The guppy swam outwards and Lily followed closely behind, looking at the strange and yet fascinating surrounding.

"Where are you going??" A familiar male voice called out from behind.

"Flounder is taking me to explore a bit." Lily told Sebastian.

"Don't go out, it's dangerous out there." Sebastian tried to crawl as fast as possible to follow Lily.

"It's alright, Sebastian, don't be so tight about it." Flounder said.

"I'm supposed to be Prin-Lily's guardian for the King." Sebastian explained in his usual tone.

"How about we all go together??" Lily suggested.

"No."

"Yes, please." Lily pleaded.

"No."

"Ok, I'm going with Flounder then."

"Argh, I'm coming with you." Lily gave Flounder a wink and the three of them set out further and further away from the castle.

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"Where did Lily go??" James asked as the guys swam into the girls' room after their usual exploring of new grounds.

"She went out for awhile to have some time for herself." Arabella explained.

"How long had she gone for??" Remus asked.

"About fifteen minutes, we don't really have something like a clock to tell us the exact time." Stefanie commented. The group was sitting around the table eating some snacks the guys brought back from outside.

"Where did you get this food from??" Arabella asked suspiciously. The food did look tempting, if not more delicious than their dinner, which comprised of noodles and some other merpeople delicacies.

"We met up with some other merpeople outside and they gave us some traditional food. We tried it and it taste great so we brought some back." Remus explained.

"Did you sense something??" Stefanie asked her best friend.

"No, I didn't see anything. It's just instinct I supposed. I think it's probably food from a really foreign place and it appear strange to me." Arabella shrugged off the nagging feeling.

"Let's dig in then." Sirius cheered and helped himself. The rest of them followed suit and ate.

"It's really nice." Stefanie agreed.

"I must be paranoid." Arabella laughed at herself, somehow could not shake off the weird feeling in her.

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"Erm, can we turn back now??" Sebastian asked Lily and Flounder.

"Why??" The always-inquisitive Lily questioned.

"I'm not familiar with the place." Sebastian admitted.

"Then let's explore it together." Lily said enthusiastically. "Look at the corals over there, I think they're beautiful." Lily adjusted her spectacles, which was charmed to provide a clear view underwater.

"B-but-" Sebastian did not know how to answer.

"No buts ok?? I'm only going to be here for three days and I really want to see as much as I can." Lily begged.

"Alright, let's just go a little further." Sebastian crawled to join them as quickly as he could. "Just a little further."

"Ok." Lily agreed and swam forward with Flounder towards the enchanting corals ahead of them.

"Hahaha.." Sinister laughter could be heard. They spun around to see a group of evil looking mermen surrounding them. Sebastian and Flounder hid behind Lily instinctively.

"W-who are you??" Lily stammered. There were far too many of them and most importantly, her wand was not with her.

"It doesn't matter whether you know who we're. Our objective is to capture you." One of them said with a menacing tone.

"Why - what did you want to capture me for??" Lily was trying to hold time and trying to find a possible escape route.

"Master told us to capture you. No more questions." A voice said. The next thing Lily felt was a hard hit on her left shoulder and lost consciousness.

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Strange, how come everything I see is darkness?? James moved, his body felt a little rigid from lying at a strange position for too long. My eyes are closed!! James realized and his eyes shot opened. His had fell forward and had lain on top of Sirius on the table. Everyone fell asleep??

"Wake up!!" James shouted. Stefanie and Remus moved a little but did not wake up. He started shaking Sirius vigorously and shouted at his ear.

"W-what?? Are we late for lesson??" Sirius woke up, apparently still half asleep.

"We fell asleep!!" James shouted exasperatedly. Something is wrong. But what??

"Ok, we're tired." Sirius said and moved towards the bed for a better rest.

"NO!! Lily is missing!!" James suddenly came into realization. His sixth sense told him something was seriously wrong.

"W-what are you talking about?? Lily is just exploring her home." Sirius reminded James.

"How long did we fell asleep for??" James tried to remember. The castle was brightly lit all day round, they had already lost track whether it was day or night at the moment.

"Felt like thirty minutes." Sirius said. "Don't be so paranoid. Lily can protect herself."

"Wake the rest up. I'm going out to find Lily." James swam out and left the room. His first instinct was to turn right because Lily had a tendency to turn right and any unknown left or right turns.

"Alright, alright." Sirius muttered to no one. "Remus, up up up!!" Sirius was shoving Remus to make his stand literally on his tail.

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Please don't let something happen to Lily. James was looking through all the possible hiding places and nook and cranny to check for any sign of Lily. I felt something is wrong. Somehow I know this instinct is not wrong. James swam as quickly as possible towards the long stretch of corridor and the spiral hallways, which led to other levels. Given Lily's nature, where would she go?? James looked around and then he saw the view of the city over the ledge. Yes, out of the castle. There's nothing in here.

With the thought in mind, he swam out into the city. Fishes of all sorts were swimming around him, some of the mermaids were giving him admiring glances but at the moment he could not be bothered with them.

Finally after what felt like hours of searching the city, he started asking for direction for any possible direction where Lily might go.

"Excuse me." James called out to a merman whose back for facing him. "Did you see a mermaid swimming around here??"

"Er, there are a lot of mermaids swimming around here. Whom are you referring to??"

"She is wearing a white tee and has long red hair and-"

"You mean the Princess Ariel??"

"Yes, that's her."

"I saw her earlier on around with Sebastian and Flounder, but not sure where they headed to."

"Thanks anyway." James said gratefully and swam outwards, asking for information from the merpeople along the way.

"Excuse me." James was now approaching the tenth merpeople along the way. He was starting to get really panicky.

"Yes??"

"Did you see Ariel with Sebastian and Flounder going pass here??" James asked with a distinctive panic tone.

"They went out exploring. Went that way." The kind merman pointed at somewhere, which looked darker and gloomier than where they stood. Something seemed to be glowing. James felt a tinge of dreadfulness creeping upon him. He held out his right hand to prepare to cast any defensive spell. Afterall he could do wandless magic. Lily can't perform wandless magic. Just then, from his back, he felt a strong hit and turned around.

"Who are you??" He was growing weaker, part of him trying to regain his energy but after another hit from the back, he lost consciousness.

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"What happened??" Stefanie demanded from Sirius.

"I don't know." Sirius claimed. "James woke me up and said Lily was missing and he left to find her."

"How long had he gone for??" Arabella asked. Her instinct told her that something was wrong but somehow she could not tell what was wrong.

"Bell, tell us what you know." Remus questioned.

"I really don't know. I don't have any visions." Arabella felt fear creeping through her.

"Why not??" Sirius was nearly shouting at Arabella.

"I don't know. I really don't know." Arabella shouted back.

"Sirius, stop it." Stefanie said angrily. "Bell, calm down. Tell us what you know." She gave her Arabella a hug.

"I don't know anything. My instinct told me that the food was drugged. And something is wrong. But I don't know what's wrong." Arabella said, shivering.

"We ate the food earlier, how could it be drugged??" Sirius reasoned.

"Remember that the guy went to refill the basket for us because we wanted more." Remus suddenly remembered.

"That's right." Sirius jolted into realization.

"So what shall we do now??" Stefanie looked up at the guys and asked while hugging Arabella close to her.

"King Triton." Remus said immediately.

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James fluttered his eyelids. This place is so cold and dry. James opened his eyes suddenly. Dry?? I'm in the sea!! He sat up and looked around the dark room. His spectacles were dented and he cast a charm to repair and dry it. Where am I?? He tried to stand up but realized that he was still having his fish tail. Strange. What happened?? I was finding Lily and I was hit from the back. His shoulders were still a little sore from the multiple hits. Suddenly his hand hit something.

"Lily!!" James shouted and pushed himself towards Lily. "Wake up!!" James was shouting and shaking Lily forcefully.

"W-what??" Lily shifted a little. "Ouch." Her left shoulder was hurting from the hit. Her eyelids fluttered opened and saw a pair of bespectacled brown eyes looking down at her.

"Lily!!" James brought Lily to a sitting position and gave her a relieved hug.

"Huh?? W-what's going on?? Where am I??" Lily questioned, looking around the room. It looked a little blurry and her spectacles seemed to have crack. "Can you repair my specs??"

"Reparo." James pointed at Lily's spectacles and it was repaired instantly with a green spark.

"Where are we??" Lily asked, looking around the dark and empty room.

"I don't know. I was hit and lost consciousness. The moment I woke up, we are here." James explained.

"Same. How did you end up here??" Lily asked. "Oh no!! Where's Sebastian and Flounder??" She attempted to stand up but realized that she was still having her fish tail.

"Don't bother about them. As long as you're safe." James said and pulled Lily to another hug.

"I can't be selfish. If anything ever happen to them and it's my fault." Lily said guiltily.

"It's not the time for blaming." James said. "Let's find a way to get out of here."

"How??" Lily questioned. She had absolutely zero idea.

"I'll find a way. By the way what is the charm to change our tails back to legs??"

"I don't know. I think only the Trident have this power."

"Then we need to find King Triton a.s.a.p."

"Let's find the way out of here first."

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"..Lily and James are missing.."

"..food was drugged.."

"..slept for who-knows-how long and Lily was.."

"..might be kidnapped or something.."

"Lily is missing. How long was that??" King Triton asked with deep concern.

"She said she would be out exploring and be back soon.." Stefanie explained.

"Then we fell asleep upon eating some delicacies." Sirius added.

"Fetched the food." King Triton ordered, a merservant went off and returned quickly with the leftover food in the basket. King Triton took a look at it and frowned. "These are just ordinary noodles, with magic to make it taste delicious and have a sleeping draught. It definitely has something to do with the Dark Arts." The merservant took the food and retreated.

"So what shall we do now??" Sirius asked seriously.

"I suspect its Voldemort's doing." He said finally. The four of them turned paled upon the statement.

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"There doesn't seem to be another door." Lily commented. The duo had been moving around the circumference of the dark square room but could not find even a minor crack.

"It has to be. We can't reach the ceiling. So there must be a door somewhere." James said, trying all sort of charms to break open the wall, which appeared to be unbreakable.

"I got a bad feeling about this." Lily said, looking downcast.

"We'll get out alive." James said confidently. All of them know that in the future they will have a son name Harry, so it was not possible for them to die now.

"If anyone has to sacrifice anything, I might not be able to forgive myself. It's my playfulness and curiosity that led us here."

"It's ok. No one is going to blame you. What's bound to happen will happen." James said, not moving away from Lily.

"Alright, let's see what else can we do." Lily said with more confidence. They moved close to the wall and knock and tried to find cracks. The wall and floor did not sound hollow and the surface was extremely smooth.

"There's nothing to transfigure."

"There's no light and sound either." The silence between them was rather deafening.

James was shooting all sorts of hexes and charms that came to his mind at a particular point in the wall but nothing happened.

"I think we better not waste too much energy." Lily said finally and leaned against the wall.

"Ok, listen to you. I believe the rest will come and save us soon."

"I wonder if they know where are we in the first place."

"We've Bell with us."

"True." Silence covered them again.

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"No, I don't have any visions." Arabella was frantically trying to find visions. Usually visions come to her naturally almost like part of her, but today, or for the last few days, she barely had any vision.

"So how are we going to find them??" Sirius asked desperately.

"Do you believe that it's Voldemort doing??" Remus spoke up suddenly. They turned to stare at Remus. "Even his Majesty had believed that it might be Voldemort doing. And they said that the only person Voldemort was afraid of is Dumbledore."

"So we shall go and find Dumbledore right now??"

"Yes, we shall do that." King Triton commanded. "Get the Carriage." He ordered the merservant.

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"Lils, how are you feeling??" James asked Lily who was sounding frailer and frailer by the minute.

"I'm kinda dehydrated." Lily said with much effort, her head had fell onto James' right shoulder and laid there for what felt like hours.

"Why don't you take a rest first??" James said softly, caressing Lily's messy red hair.

"Ok." Lily said and closed her eyes, within minutes she was fast asleep.

I never ever expected that the first time we will be alone together would be a place like this where we're the captives. James looked at Lily's peaceful sleeping face. Look so huggable. Lily stirred a little in her little sleep.

James moved Lily into a lying position whereby Lily's head now rest of his supposedly thighs but fish tail at the moment. He stroked her hair slowly, adoring the messy Lily who was now sleeping soundly.

"Lily, you're beautiful." James whispered and bent down to give Lily a peck on her lips. Lily stirred a little again and James shot upright immediately.

"My, my, my, isn't Lily beautiful??" A dark figure appeared in front of James and a sleeping Lily out of nowhere.

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"This is not good. We've no idea where are they now." King Triton said worriedly. They had gathered at Dumbledore's office and were discussing how to save James and Lily.

"Lily is sleeping." Stefanie said. "I'm going to enter into her dream now."

"How did-" Sirius asked but before anything, Stefanie fell into Remus' arms and lost consciousness. Remus carried her up and laid her on a newly magicked couch.

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Lily!! Lily!!

Stef??

Yes!! Where are you??

I don't know. I'm in this dark and enclosed room with James.

How did you end up there??

I was knocked out while exploring the grounds with Sebastian and Flounder.

Then James??

He suffered the same thing. It was the merpeople who knocked us out and brought us here.

Where was the location??

I don't know. I was swimming outwards and before I knew it, a group of evil looking merpeople came and captured me.

How did they look??

They had black tails. I'm afraid that it might be the Deatheaters. But they haven't done anything to us yet besides keeping us captive in this unbreakable place.

Tell me more about the place.

It's like a square cube, totally dark and enclosed, no light from anywhere. The wall felt solid and no sound could be heard at all. The ceiling is really high; we couldn't see it even when James lit the magic flame.

So you were captured from somewhere in front of the castle??

Not directly in front. But further out. I can see the front view of the castle in the background. There was some sort of strange light coming from the place.

If there's anything new, do fall asleep so I can meet up with you ok??

Thanks. But Stef, we're really hungry and dehydrated. Can you ask Triton to change our tails back to legs because we can't move around at all??

But he can't enter. Or maybe I get the Trident in??

A.s.a.p. please.

Ok, be right back.

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Stefanie jerked and woke up and all of them jumped because it happened too quickly.

"Your Majesty, can I borrow the Trident to get their feet back??"

"Yes, just think what you want and it will appear." King Triton taught and handed Stefanie the Trident. Knowing that Lily and James were still alive and safe, they all heaved a sign of relief.

Stefanie held the Trident tightly in her hands and closed her eyes once again.

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Lils.

Yes, Stef, I'm here.

Are your legs back??

No.

I try again.

Yes, I can feel my legs again.

Now James.

How??

Hold his hand??

Lily waved her hands wildly, trying to find James' hand.

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"What do you want??" James asked Voldemort defiantly. Lily was still sleeping soundly on his scaly tail.

"I want your powers." Voldemort said in a deep and evil voice.

"I won't give you my powers." Lily hands were waving wildly which was rather distracting. James held both her hands and kept it down. Lily grasped onto his palm tightly and a rush of warmth traveled down his spine.

"You'll when you're left with no choice." Voldemort said with malevolence. "I shall see how long you can last here. Or perhaps how long this beautiful girl might last." With that, he disappeared into thin air.

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I think he should get back his legs by now.

If I wake up I might not drift to sleep again.

I should be able to enter your thoughts by then since I roughly know where you two are.

Please come and rescue us before we die of hunger.

Let me see if I can get some food out.

I can smell pizza.

Same here.

"Lily, Lily, wake up." A soft male voice called out.

Who's that??

Er.. I think its James.

So I better wake up now.

We'll be there soon. Hang on.

Lily fluttered her eyelids and once again, she saw the bespectacled brown eyes looking down at her. This time, it was warmer and gentler than before.

"Huh??" She felt a strange feeling passed through her as she looked into the soft hazel eyes.

"Are you alright??" James asked gently.

"Yeah, I'm ok. I just met Stef." Lily sat upright, though her shoulder was still feeling a little sore. She touched it and it healed miraculously.

"You dreamt??"

"She entered my dream."

"You told her everything??"

"Yes, they'll be here soon."

"So that's how we got our legs back and even some food??"

"Food??" Lily turned to her right and saw two big pizzas of her and Stefanie's favorite, supreme and Hawaiian toppings.

"Let's eat something before we can't." James took a slice and handed it to Lily.

"What do you mean??" Lily asked and started eating.

"Voldemort was here."

"Oh. Then what happened??"

"He wants our powers."

"And??"

"Of course I refused."

"Then??"

"Then he vanished. I think he apparated off."

"Then can we try to apparate out??"

"Why didn't we think of that sooner??" The two tried to concentrate to apparate to Potters' Manor but unsuccessful.

"We can't apparate out."

"There must be some enchantment blocking apparation."

"Let's try to find another way." Lily said hopefully and took another slice of pizza for James.

"Thanks." Suddenly there was a shot of pain went through his right shoulders and he dropped the pizza onto his lap.

"Your shoulders are hurting. Let me." Lily said and put her hand over James' sore shoulders. A rush of cool sensation engulfed him and then his shoulders healed in a moment.

"Thanks. It's fine now." James said, moving his arms wildly.

"Let's eat. We need as much energy as possible."

"Lily." James looked at Lily with hope.

"Yes??" Lily looked straight into James' eyes.

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"They're fine for the moment." Stefanie said exhaustedly. It was really mentally tiring to enter into another person's thought for prolonged period of time and even performed non-wand magic.

"So how are we going to get there??" Sirius asked.

"I don't think they could apparate out, right??" Remus asked Stefanie.

"They said they checked many options. I didn't ask about the apparation."

"I'm sure they thought of that." Sirius said.

"I don't think we can apparate in either. We don't even know where the place is."

"But if we're sure where Voldemort is, we can find out their hiding place."

"I've an idea but I'm not sure if it works." Dumbledore said suddenly. "We had never tried that before."

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"I-I think, erm, your hair is quite messy." James finally said. Idiot me. Why can't I just say it??

"Huh??" Lily said, putting down her half-eaten pizza and running her fingers through her messy and tangled hair to neaten it. For a moment I thought he was going to say he liked me or something like that. I must be thinking too much. "How is it now??" Lily smiled at James.

"Good, better." James agreed, mentally scolding himself. I'm such a chicken.

"Let's eat more. I'm sure they'll be coming to save us soon." Lily said hopefully.

"Ok." James did not know what else to say. He was too busy chiding himself in his head.

"Er, Lils." James started again.

"Hmm??" Lily said. "Eat more. We need the energy."

"Ok." James helped himself to another slice of pizza absentmindedly.

"Oh ya, what did you want to say??" Lily asked. Part of me hope he would say he likes me. But then this isn't exactly my idea of a place where I want a guy to tell me he like me. Argh, confusion.

"Nothing much actually." James gave a small smile. "Just want to know – know what did Stefanie said – in your sleep." Stupid!! Stupid!! Stupid!!

"Oh. That." Lily said, trying not to sound disappointed. I must be thinking too much. James going to say he like me?? Hahaha.. What a thought. But then, how did that Harry come about if he wasn't our son?? Ahh.. I'm going bonkers. "She said – they'll try to save us soon. But mostly she was asking about how we ended up here and everything."

"I see." James looked down on the floor. The pizza he was chewing was not traveling down his digestive system as smoothly as always.

"You alright??" Lily asked with concern.

"I'm fine." James mustered up his usual smile. "Let's think what else we can do to escape while waiting for them to save us."