Chapter 9 This Malfoy Thing

Harry was sitting at a small table in the Gryffindor common room, doing his homework and humming to himself, sighing inwardly when Ron came over and sat down beside him. The redheaded boy's expression was serious, and he knew that a talk was coming.

"Harry, I need to talk to you about this Malfoy thing."

"Alright, Ron," he said, putting down his quill and turning in his chair to face him, placing his hands in his lap. "What do you want to know?"

"Why did you ask him to Court you?"

"I didn't. It was his idea as a way for him to prove to me that I can trust him. I need someone to take care of me and protect me. He was the obvious choice because he's strong enough to handle it, and because I love him."

"I get that you… you care about him, but why do you need him to take care of you? Why not me?"

Harry gasped softly, his green eyes widening as a blush spread over his cheeks quickly. "Ron, I… You're my best friend, but… I don't feel for you the way that I feel for Draco. Besides, you and Hermione belong together, I just know it."

"I know that. I didn't mean… I meant me and Hermione, of course. We'd be like a family."

"Yeah, with me as the child. Always depending on you both for everything. At least with Draco I'll know that it's romantic love."

"What do you mean, depending on us for everything?" Ron asked, looking perplexed. "You can take care of yourself, Harry."

"Financially, yes, but physically…" he trailed off, sighing as he looked down at his clasped hands. "There's… There's something that you don't know about me. Something that only Draco and Snape know… It only happened this past summer, and I wasn't sure how to tell you and 'Mione, so I just… Didn't…"

Ron looked concerned, reaching across the space between them to loosen Harry's clenched hands, holding them in his so that he didn't do it again, wincing a bit as his best friend's fingers clenched around his tightly.

"What is it, Harry? What happened? You know that you can trust me not to tell anyone unless I absolutely have to. Did the Dursley's hurt you somehow?"

"No, no, nothing like that," he answered, still not looking up. "Ron, I'm… I'm not human anymore. At least, not completely."

"What do you mean, Harry? You look pretty human to me."

"I know I do now, but… You know how I haven't taken a shower since school started? How I've been avoiding water?"

"You have? I haven't really noticed."

"Well, I have been. It's that… I can't get wet, Ron. If I do…" Harry leaned closer to his friend, lowering his voice even further just incase anyone came in. "I turn into a fishboy…"

"You mean a merboy?" Ron clarified, his voice equally soft.

"Yes. I did some research right after we got here. Based on the way I look after the transformation, how it makes me feel, and other contributing factors, I'm a Submissive-Mer. Basically it means that I need to form an emotional-physical bond with someone that I already had a very deep attachment to before my first change. Draco was the best choice because I love him. Sirius, you and Hermione could qualify, but the bond would be weak and incomplete. Only emotional, because none of you would be able to… to pleasure me because I don't love any of you in that way. It would leave me vulnerable. As long as I'm loved in that way, I'm protected, and through me, my partner."

"Wow…" Ron said, his eyes wide at all the information. "Does Malfoy know all this?"

"Not yet, no. I arranged with Madam Pince to purchase the book for more then it's worth so that I would have all the information, and so that nobody else would be able to guess about what's going on with me. I'm going to take it to him tonight and let him borrow it so that he'll understand what he's getting himself into by Courting me…"