September 1st 1994

Harry and Ron were chatting with Ginny when they saw Hermione come through the barrier onto 9 and ¾. She must have been running very late as the Weasley's had been early and still among the last to board the train.

She was walking slightly unsteady and occasionally frowning at her legs like they were betraying her. She was wearing a pleated skirt that came to the middle of her thighs and a nice blouse. She had some kind of ornate belt on he noticed which looked like it was made out of silver scales. Otherwise she looked like her normal self.

Harry came up and went to hug her. She smiled when she saw him and threw her arms around him. Falling against him she sighed in his ear but didn't say anything.

He helped her get on the train while Ron chattered away about the summer events. She merely smiled and said nothing yet. She had not even made any noises which was odd. Ron didn't seem to mind as it let him talk.

She pulled out a notepad and wrote something before showing it to Harry, "I'm sorry. I'll explain later. Do you know Sign Language?"

Harry shook his head. The Dursleys had not taught him that or given him an opportunity to learn it. Hermione frowned but shrugged. "I can teach you." She wrote.

Ron seemed to finally notice that Hermione had not said anything yet. "Gee Hermione you'd be blabbering away by now I thought. What's going on? You ok?" He asked in concern.

She wrote a note and showed it to the both of them. "Shut the curtains and lock the door and I'll show you."
Harry shrugged and did as she asked. He then sat down as she extended her legs out. Her feet just barely reaching Harry's lap. She had taken her shoes off so he was looking at her bare feet. Her toenails looked like they had been painted in shades of red and gold. She leaned back and undid the belt buckle sliding it off of her.

When she did her legs snapped closed and started melting and shifting until a bright golden fish tail had replaced them. It wound up in Harry's lap with her sitting against the front wall of the compartment. Harry looked up at her face and saw that she had gills along her throat and was still smiling at him.

Ron though was as observant as always, "Blimey you're a mermaid!"

She wrote "Yes I am. I made a mistake and am now stuck like this. I can no longer speak above water which sucks. They managed to get the belt made for me last week and I've been practicing with my legs again. Please don't tell anyone as I don't want to be looked at like I'm a freak."
"Yeah but Hermione blimey you're half fish. At least its the good half but still. What kinda nut would want to be your boyfriend?"

She looked sadly down then up to see harry looking at her. He made eye contact with her and she had a pleading expression. Harry cleared his throat, "I'm that kinda nut."
Ron looked at him then started to say something and saw how Hermione was looking at him with a sad curiosity. "Yeah but I mean how would you even you know do it."

She lifted her skirt and pointed at part of her body. Ron and Harry looked confused and she took Harry's hand and put it on a muscular slit that the scales had hidden. When he touched it she smiled and took a sharp intake of breath.

"I think that's how." Harry said removing his hand to Hermione's regret.

"Yeah but what about kids. Are you still human enough to have kids?"
She wrote "They don't know. They kinda want me to try but I'm not sure I'm ready as I'd have to stay in the water. I told them I'd wait until after I graduated."

Harry smiled and patted her tail, "Yeah that's okay. And if not then we can adopt or something."

She smiled and wiggled her tail at him.

Ron chuckled, "So you really can't talk above water?"
She wrote, "No my vocal cords don't work that way anymore. I'm not really a merfolk like in the lake at school. I'm more like the ones in the Mediterranean or the Caribbean."

"Oh cool. So like can you swim in the lake at school?"

"Yes I can go in either fresh or salt water. Or as you can see sit out of water for an extended time. I can only wear my belt for so long before it gets uncomfortable though." she wrote with a smile.

The rest of the journey they sat and relaxed. Exploring her fish tail a bit which she didn't mind showing off. Harry picked her up at one point and pulled her into his lap so they could kiss a little bit.

When he asked if she had any other changes she shrugged and wrote "Not that I've noticed yet."
=====xxxxx====

Closer to the school she put her belt back on which caused her tail to shrink and split back into legs. Just out of curiosity Ron tried to look up her skirt which earned him a sharp smack on the arm. Although she did flip her skirt up for Harry to confirm that when she was wearing the belt she was all girl under the skirt.

People didn't seem to be very upset with her not being able to speak. Malfoy declaring it an upgrade. She began to teach Ron, Ginny and Harry sign language so they could communicate. Harry asked why she didn't just try and make a rune item that would let her talk. She looked at him like he had just asked her why she didn't try swimming. She made the gesture of duh on her forehead and started looking through her books.

Harry's name soon came out of the Goblet of fire as the Tri-Wizard Tournament was held at the school. Hermione even though she couldn't speak could still cast spells and help teach Harry spells. They confirmed they were a couple by openly holding hands and sneaking off.

With her belt off she could only drag herself by her arms or flop around. So Harry worked on building his arms and upper body up so that he could carry her if she needed it. Hermione joined him in that exercise. She wrote that she would do it as well as she couldn't be sure she wouldn't have to. The school had allowed her to use the prefects bathroom to stretch her tail in private. She soon invited Harry to swim with her. Under the water her voice was a beautiful melody, unfortunately above the water when harry finally convinced her to try speaking it was a harsh raspy whisper. She could still make human words but it was rough and unpleasant sounding and hurt his ears. Harry though said that he didn't mind as it was still her talking. She just shook her head and kissed him.

His first task completed successfully he shared his success with her. When he opened the egg in the common room Hermione was the only one who recognized it and dragged him off to the prefects bath almost immediately. Taking her belt off so she could fall into the water she dragged harry in with his egg. She pulled him under and pushed him to open the egg. When a beautiful song issued from it he smiled at her and made notes. He shared the information with Cedric so that they could have an equal footing.

Hermione had been practicing walking on her legs long enough and was able to dance with harry at the Yule Ball. She was wearing a silver choker necklace which allowed her to speak normally to Harry's delight and Ron's grumpiness. Malfoy was disgusted but resigned.

Her time at the bottom of the lake was rather easy as the merfolk recognized her as one of their own. When she was rescued by Harry she promised them she would visit more often. Which she did. Enjoying the ability to roam all over the lake with them and learn many secrets. She almost got caught peeking in the Slytherin common room windows. Draco and Pansy being too busy making out to really notice her.

Their lives went well. Her secret kept by Harry and Ron until one day when Malfoy cursed her belt to come off while she was walking up the stairs because he was on the inquisitorial squad. The fact her tail came out and she rolled down the stairs was soon spread all over the school. Umbridge tried to have her expelled as a creature but Dumbledore managed to block that. Harry had to help carry her to her classes while her belt was being fixed. Fortunately her choker was unharmed so she could continue to speak.

Aside from the Slytherins most people thought it was interesting what happened to her. This let her relax around the common room with her tail out more often. Lavender finding her tail quite beautiful liked to help take care of Hermione. Soon they became good friends.

During the summers her family would go to a magical island enclave where she could go in her normal form all the time. This meant that harry was not in Little Whinging when the Dementors came for him killing the Dursleys as he was there with her. She built an anklet as well as the belt to have a backup now that her secret was out. The war went well enough and they lost a few friends but managed to defeat the dark lord. His legacy of chaos and darkness though had polluted the culture of the wizarding UK so much that Hermione and Harry moved to the south coast of France before thanks to a hotel microwave he was soon sporting a beautiful green and gold mer-tail himself. Their children went to Beauxbatons and lived dual lives able to shift back and forth at will. Their friends coming to see them in their grotto under the sea.