Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and May
Chapter 4: The Full Moon
"How strange, this Daily Prophet says that Rita Skeeter is retiring from the paper, and going on an extended stay to Germany." Blaise said smirking over at May, having a feeling she had something to do with it. May only continued to eat her bowl of fruit, only when she was sure Blaise and Draco weren't looking, she shared a secretive smile with Hermione sitting at the Gryffindor table, also reading the article about Skeeter.
It had been a week since that day Snape warned her about the full moon, May sighed and sat down in her seat next to Draco for breakfast. She looked up at her grandmother sadly; McGonagall smiled at her reassuringly and went back to eating.
Over the past week Draco and Blaise had begun to notice that May would distance herself from them. Draco looked at May worried, seeing her depressed was an odd thing, she was always bubbly. He caught Blaise's attention and looked at May. Blaise looked at her with a frown on his face. She was barely eating, mostly playing with her food, Blaise narrowed his eyes, and placed his hand on top of her head, she looked up at him confused.
"Didn't your mother tell you not to play with your food?" he said grinning slightly, she shook her head and giggled. "Eat, you've barely eaten all week." He said as he piled her plate up with more food. She smiled and took a big bite out of the bread roll. He grinned at her but didn't look away until he was sure she would eat it all.
After breakfast, May broke away from the two saying she had to go see McGonagall about something. They let her go but promised to go pick her up at the office in 20 minutes. When she got to the Headmistress office she plopped down on the couch that was inside there and stared at the fire that was going.
"May what are you doing here?" McGonagall asked surprised to see her granddaughter sitting in her office.
"It's about the full moon. I don't know how to get away from it. What should I do?" She asked sadly bringing her knees up and placing her chin her knees.
"Sweetie, it's not the full moon that you're worried about is it?" McGonagall asked softly, May shook her head lightly and responded with a soft 'not really.' "Sweetheart are you worried that you won't find what you've been looking for and having to go home?" she asked may placing her hands on her granddaughter's shoulders.
"Sort of, I've been thinking maybe I should just give up and go back to mother and father, I do miss them." May said quietly looking at her feet. "Maybe I should just admit that I won't be as lucky as you were when you came up here." May said looking up at her grandmother sadly. McGonagall sighed and wrapped her arms around May.
"Sweetie the task that you were given and that I was given is hard, it still is hard. I doubted myself too, I was thinking about returning home to my father when it had barely even been a year. That's the difference between you and I, I almost gave up long before my time had worn out, and you've stuck it through to almost the very end, who knows what you could be looking for could be right under your nose." McGonagall said brushing some of her bangs out of her face. May smiled shortly though her eyes were still tearing up.
"I just don't know if I can do it anymore grandmother? What if I fail? What would mother and father think of me, what would my sisters say? I know what they would say 'Poor naive little May, we told you not to go up there, we told you, you wouldn't be to do it' Ugh I can hear them now." May said rolling her eyes. McGonagall sighed and nodded shortly.
"You're sisters are rather annoying" She said softly, May giggled. "You'll find what you're looking for sweetie whether it be here or back there, you'll find it." McGonagall told her, May smiled happily and nodded
"Thanks grandmother, I feel much better now. I'll go now the boys said they were going to pick me up outside your office." May said smiling and walking towards the door happily. When she got outside she saw the boys walking up and she ran over to them smiling.
"What's got you all happy?" Draco asked her smiling as she linked her arm through his.
"I just had a talk with grandmother and she helped me sort through all the things that were bothering me, that's all." She said smiling.
"We don't have classes today so what do you want to do? I really want to go to the aquarium, can we go please?" she asked them they nodded hesitantly but began walking towards the apperation point on the grounds, when they got there Draco apperated them to an ally in muggle London by the beach. 'Good it's still light out, no moon, I still have time.' She thought to herself sighing in relief. She led them to a local aquarium and the boys bought the tickets, she smiled at them and walked in. The boys looked around amazed at how large it all seemed and how many types of fish they had in the tanks.
"What kind of fish is this?" Draco asked pointing out a long fish with a sharp long nose, he wrinkled his nose, May came up and touched the glass as she looked at it.
"It's a sword-fish, they aren't mean fish. They act a lot like bumble bees, they attack when they think they're getting attacked. Its nose can cut you to bits." She said softly smiling at it, the sword-fish nodded its head at her and then swam off, she walked off looking at all the other fish.
"I wonder what it would be like to swim in a tank this big, it would be like swimming in the prefect's bathroom just bigger right?" Draco asked Blaise, May giggled.
"These are salt water fish, they can't swim in freshwater; they'll die, if you guys tried to swim in this without anything to protect your eyes, they wouldn't stop stinging." She said walking away to another tank. The boys looked at each other and then the fish only to see a fish staring right at them, the jumped away from the tank and followed May. The rest of their time there May spend it answering all the questions they had about fish.
"You know a lot about fish May." Blaise pointed out to her, she just nodded and smiled, heading over to the dolphin tank on the ground floor. She smiled at the dolphins and placed her hands on the tank window. 'I miss my home too, but you're probably better off here, you get fed and played with and you get taken care of if you're hurt' she thought, the dolphin's nodded their heads and did flips in the water and began to turn in circles. May giggled again.
"Guys lets go to the upper lever, you can see the ocean from there." She said dreamily as she walked on ahead of them, basically running up the stairs, when she reached the last stare and she took a big breath of air and smelled the ocean. The guys caught up with her when she was leaning over the railing just breathing in the air.
"You alright?" Blaise asked. May smiled and nodded.
"This just reminds me home, I feel much better now.' May said laying her head against the railing. She looked up at the sky and realized that it was almost dark she bolted upward and grabbed the boys by their arms. "We have to go. It's almost dark." She said pulling them behind a wall where no one could see them.
"We still have plenty of time to be back before dinner time." Draco said trying to go back to the ocean.
"Dinner isn't what I'm worried about. Can we please just go?" She said quickly looking at them.
The boys looked at each other and then apperated back to the apperation point and began to walk, rather quickly to the Three Broomsticks to use the Floo Network, they flooed back into McGonagall's office and then began walking back to the head's dormitory. When they entered Hermione and Ginny looked up at them from the couch.
"Where have you three been all day?" Ginny asked, her and Hermione turned to look at them.
"We took May out to help her feel better." Blaise answered. May was looking around their common room making sure all the curtains were closed so no moon light would get to her. She smiled and then they were all looking at her.
"What?" she asked looking at them, they shook their heads. "We asked if you wanted to go get dinner with us?" Hermione said. May thought about it for a moment before smiling and nodded her head.
The group headed down for dinner the halls were empty due to the fact that dinner had already started an hour ago. When they got to the great hall they looked at each other.
"Do you two want to sit with us?" Draco asked Hermione and Ginny, who raised their eyebrows in surprise then nodded slowly following them to the table. The whole hall had gone quiet watching the group. Once they sat down, everybody started talking again.
"I mean honestly, letting death eaters sit so close to you and sitting at their table." A Gryffindor said sticking her nose in the air as she talked to another student. Hermione rolled her eyes telling May and Ginny to ignore it but the girl kept going kept going.
"It's disgusting. Traitors both of them." The girl said looking right at Hermione and Ginny. "They're turning the Gryffindor house into a laughing stock." She said once more, May had finally had enough, aiming at the annoying girl, she placed her hand under the table and curled her hand into a ball, soon the girl's glass started to steam and then you heard her shout and she dropped the glass.
"That's hot!" She yelled dropping the glass, spilling it on herself, May smirked and then relaxed her hand and then turned her hand over so her palms were facing upward and curled her fingers slightly then jerked her hand to the right, everybody watched shocked as a full pitcher of pumpkin juice rose and then splashed on top of her head. The girl screamed loudly as she stood up and walked toward the door, her clothes soaking wet, she was stopped by May whose soft voice could be heard through the silence of the Hall.
"You were saying something about a laughing stock?" May asked smirking as the girl screeched and then walked angrily towards the door, May looked up at her grandmother to see that she had a small smile on her face, McGonagall winked at her and then went back to eating. May turned around to see the faces of four shocked roommates. May smiled and went back to eating.
Soon they had finished eating, they got up to head back to the room and everyone else had already gone back to their rooms. May stood and faced the teachers table, she raised her eyes and was soon pulled into the moon's effect on her. She stood there staring at the moon, McGonagall and Snape rushed over to her, trying to turn her face away from the window, soon Snape sighed and picked her up throwing her over his shoulder. May started to struggle to get off of his shoulder. The four teens looked at each other confused following when McGonagall stopped and nodded her head for them to follow the pair.
"Professor what's going on? Is something wrong with May?" Ginny asked worried as she ran through the halls of Hogwarts trailing behind her potions professor and headmistress with Hermione, Draco and Blaise behind her.
"We have to get her back to my room, she may have to be restrained." Snape said. The teens looked at each other shocked.
"What?" They all said. "Will someone tell us what's going on?" Draco asked loudly once they were inside of Professor Snape's common room. May continued to struggle as she was being held down.
"Children, I think it's best that you go back to your own common room now. May will see you all tomorrow morning… I promise" McGonagall said once she saw the teens hesitate.
"No, we're staying here with May." Hermione said, the others nodded their heads agreeing with her. Snape came back with a potion is his hand and forced it down May's throat. Soon her body relaxed and she fell asleep. The teens looked at Professor Snape shocked.
"It was for her own protection, not to mention yours." He said shortly, sitting down on the couch next to McGonagall.
"Professor what's going on?" Ginny asked looking at May. "Is something wrong with her?" she asked again. Once again McGonagall and Snape said nothing but started at them. After a few moments of silence McGonagall spoke up.
"It's not our place to tell you. May must tell you, but for that she has to be able to trust you. It's her choice to tell you or not." McGonagall told them, the teens were silent after a while and then they nodded and agreement.
Throughout the whole night they stayed up watching May, making sure she stayed asleep. Not once did she wake up, once Hermione, Ginny, Blaise and Draco fell asleep sometime in the mid-morning, Snape and McGonagall took to talking to each other.
"I thought she got past the full moon's effects on her? She's never had this kind of trouble before." Snape said, McGonagall nodded her head
"That's true she's never had this kind of trouble, but then again yesterday morning she came to my office. She was weak, worried about not finding what she truly wants, worried about her mother and father. She was too weak to fight off the moon's power." McGonagall said shaking her head lightly. She looked down at May and then gently shook her awake, May's eyes fluttered open slowly, she sat up confused and looked around, once she saw Her Grandmother and Uncle staring at her, and her four friends sleeping on the ground she grimaced.
"Did I get a little too much moon light last night?" She asked still grimacing. They both nodded their heads and she laid back with a huge sigh. "I didn't do anything did I? The last thing I remember is soaking that girl with pumpkin juice." She said, giggling to herself lightly.
"May darling, maybe you should think about telling them." McGonagall said softly as she rubbed May's back gently. May looked up at her shocked, and then shook her head.
"No, they don't need to know." She said looking away sighing.
"May, you can't keep this all to yourself, you need to share it with someone that you're close too. You've been worried, carrying all the baggage to yourself and not telling anybody, that's why the moon got to you, because you were weak." McGonagall said again, May sighed and nodded her head agreeing.
"I'll think about telling them." She said shortly, shaking her head she stood up. "I need to clear my head, I think I'm going to go for a swim." She said walking towards the door
"Swim on the side of the lake by Hagrid's hut, just past the forest, he'll watch out for you." Snape told her giving her a look of warning. She nodded and then smiled, she walked out the door and then toward Hagrid's house. She smiled lightly at the possibility of finally swimming.
"Do you really think it's safe for her to swim in the lake Severus?" McGonagall asked worried, He nodded his head and then turned to wake up the four sleeping teens.
May walked up to Hagrid's door and knocked quietly, he opened the door rather quickly, she smiled but once he stepped aside, she frowned. There inside Hagrid's house was Harry Potter and Ron Weasley.
"What are you doing here?" Ron asked surprised, May raised her eyebrow at him.
"To visit." She said shortly turning away to look at Hagrid, she smiled brightly up at him.
"I'm going for a swim, Professor Snape and Grandmother said you would look after me….but I can see you're rather busy. I could come back later if you want." She told him smiling.
"Yeah we were king of having a conversation with Hagrid" Ron said again. May gritted her teeth together and right next to her leg, placed her palm upward, curled her fingers and then turned her hand back and forth slightly. Not a second later you heard Ron sputtering; May turned around quickly and tried to act surprised, but when she turned around she saw his face covered in water and Harry looking at his glass in surprise. She started giggling, but covered her mouth once Hagrid looked down at her, though she thought she saw him trying not to laugh as well.
"Maybe you lot should come back later" Hagrid said ushering them out the door. Once they were out of the hut, May started to giggle again. Hagrid shook his head. "Wasn' ver' nice of yeh May." Hagrid said shaking his head still.
"Sorry, he just made me angry. So will you take me swimming?" May asked excitedly, jumping like a little child waiting for her Christmas present. Hagrid nodded his head walking out of the house.
"Follow me." He said softly, she nodded and ran after him to keep up with his long strides. What she didn't know is that Harry and Ron were watching them leave behind Hagrid's pumpkin patch.
"Let's follow them." Ron said taking after them. Harry sighed and rolled his eyes. 'This is a bad idea.' He thought to himself following after Hagrid and May, trying to stay hidden with Ron.
"Ron this is a bad idea, what if she sees us following her?" Harry asked him once he caught up. Ron looked at him
"Don't tell me you're not curious about her. There is something different about her I mean she doesn't even have a wand for Merlin's sake, yet she's here and she's Dumbledore's granddaughter. You're really not curious about her in the least?" Ron asked, when he didn't get an answer he turned back around and began following May and Hagrid again.
Pretty soon they got out of the forest and down by the shore of the Black Lake. May smiled brightly and took a deep breath.
"It's no ocean, but it will due. Thanks Hagrid." She said taking off her shoes and climbing up on top of a rock. She took a smaller rock and threw it into the lake testing its depth at the spot she was at. Finding it deep enough that she could dive she turned to look at Hagrid and waved at him.
"See you when I come back up." She told him smiling, she turned back around and dove straight into the lake. Behind the trees Harry and Ron looked at each other strangely. Below the water's surface May swam around, happily feeling almost at home. She could feel her worries wash out of her mind, she looked back up at the surface to see the sunlight breaking through the water. She smiled and swam back to the surface.
"That's it she's been down there way too long, I'm going to get her." Harry said running out from the forest and toward the bank where Hagrid sat, he took off his shirt and pants and shoes and got ready to dive in after her when Hagrid grabbed him by the arm.
"What are yeh doin' her' Harry?" Hagrid asked worried looking back toward the water,
"I'm going in after her, she's been down there for way to long. She could be drowning." Harry said trying to break free of Hagrid's hold. Just when he got free May broke the surface of the water near the bank.
"Hagrid! The waters great you really should come swim with…" May broke off her sentence only to see Harry staring at her shocked. Ron came out of the forest equally shocked, staring at her as well.
"You're a fish!" Ron yelled, staring at her shimmering tail, It was an aquamarine color with tints of pink and gold running all along it. Harry just stared at her shocked. May looked at them terrified and began backing back into the water using her arms.
"Wait! We won't hurt you" Harry said, May looked into his eyes and could see that he was completely telling the truth she nodded and pointed toward the rocks. She pushed away from the bank and swam over toward the rock meeting up with the pair and Hagrid.
"You're a Mermaid." Harry said. May nodded moving her tail. "If you're a Mermaid, why are you here?" He asked again.
"Remember the lesson we had in class about the different types of mermaids?" she asked them, they nodded their heads. "Well I'm an Oceanid and I'm here looking for the man that I can spend the rest of my life with." She told them softly.
"How long have you been out of the water? Looking for this guy?" Ron asked her, she looked at him sadly.
"Longer than I would have liked, if haven't found the right guy then I have to go back home and marry one of my father's choices for me" She said looking at her hands. The boys nodded
"You know you can't tell anybody about me being a Mermaid right." She told them, they looked at her for a moment before nodding. "I mean it, nobody can know that I'm a Mermaid." Harry nodded his head, but she saw Ron hesitate. She moved closer to him and smiled.
"You know if you help out a Mermaid, you get a wish." She said smiling slightly, Ron looked at her and then smiled down at her before nodding his head. He shook her hand before sitting down on the rocks with Harry.
"So what can you do with water? Do you have any powers or stuff like that?" Harry asked after they both sat down. May smiled and nodded her head.
"Yeah all Mermaids do" she said smiling up at them from the water. "Watch." She said as she reached her hand out as if to grab something and then turned her hand left to right slightly, both of the boys watched amazed as a column of water continued to raise into the air. May then turned her palm facing up and the water then turned to a large column of ice. Harry and Ron looked at the tower of ice amazing just as Ron reached out to touch it. They heard a couple of voice coming from the forest behind them. May looked them turned the tower back into water and then made a small movement with her hand before turning completely invisible within the water. Which neither of the boys noticed her do since they were facing Ginny
"Hey Harry Ron, have either of you seen May?" Ginny asked the two. They shook their heads and told her they hadn't seen her. Once she left the boys sighed in relief and signaled for May that it was safe.
"Helping you keep this secret might be harder than we thought." Harry said, Ron nodded his head agreeing.
"You have no idea." May said smiling up at them happy that she could trust them to keep her secret.
Eeeek Finally finished chapter four! I kinda like this chapter
Review please(: