Submitted for The Houses Competition Forum - Round 1
House: Ravenclaw
Subject: Prefect
Category: Standard
Prompt: 2. [Scenario] Onlooker; 4. [Emotion] Anxious
Word count: 2,412
Warnings: Mermaid AU
when it sinks in
"Squilliam! Time for dinner!" George yelled. With a loud swish-swash of his burnt-orange tail, the merman swam toward the middle of the Black Lake in search of his friend. Fred was fortunately busy with his new love, so this gave George plenty of time to go and gossip with his other best friend.
Living near Hogwarts was something new for the Weasleys, but George was enjoying it very much. It was different from the lake where he and his siblings were born, but after an invitation from Headmaster Dumbledore a few years ago, they had travelled through the lakes and rivers to their new home. According to his dad, one of their ancestors was a wizard and being near other magical people would help them socialise more.
George didn't know much about wizardfolk, only what he gathered from his hobby of human-watching. As a merman, he didn't need much; he only needed water to live in and spend his days. The lake provided the rest.
The giant squid that also lived in the lake was just a bonus.
"Squilliam, come on! I have to tell you something, and if you start being your shy self, I can't tell you," George said, watching the giant squid try to hide itself by wrapping its tentacles around its large head. George pouted and whined, "Stop being like this, you'll like this story, I promise."
The squid peered at George through the gaps between its tentacles and then swam toward him before gently caressing George with its tentacle.
Laughing, George patted Squilliam. "Yes, yes, I love you too, mate. You're a strange one, but I like you."
Squilliam cocked its head and stared at George.
George continued excitedly, "And I have so much to tell you! You can't even understand how much I've been dying to tell you what happened last night!"
George was brimming with enthusiasm, even though the squid didn't say a word. "So you remember that girl Fred couldn't stop staring at every time she came near the lake, right?"
Squilliam just blinked at George, who interpreted it as a yes.
"Remember how he swam straight into the tree roots when he saw her walking on the shore? Merlin, you had to drag him out by his tail with your tentacles! Ooh, and do you remember the time Fred managed to choke on water—how he managed to do that remains a mystery—just because she smiled at him when he poked his head out to spy on her? She was giving him so many hints like Mum said human females do, but Fred just kept swimming away because he was so embarrassed."
The squid seemed to grow bored; it actually rolled its large eyes and flicked its tentacle in George's face.
George batted it away and said, "I'm getting to the good part. Why'd you have to be so impatient? Anyway, I knew he would never manage to get the courage to talk to her like she was Amphitrite—he'd say he doesn't want to mix with witches and wizards, but that's more like Ron than Fred—"
Squilliam again rolled his eyes and turned to leave.
George cried out, "Okay, okay, I'm getting to it, sheesh! Let me rant from time to time, damn it! Anyway, because I'm the smarter twin, Iflirted with one of those pretty witches on the shore and got her to make me a potion…And guess what the potion does? Guess, guess!"
Squilliam stared at George with a deadpan expression as if to say, "George, you're a bloody idiot. I'm a squid. I can't talk—let alone guess anything."
George ignored Squilliam's expression and answered his own question, "The potion was designed to…give Freddie legs for a few hours!"
Squilliam's tentacles moved around him; George took it to mean that the squid was following the story. Maybe he was even getting excited now.
"It was a little tricky to convince Fred to take the potion, but when I told him it would make him come out of his shell, that he'd talk and maybe even dance with the girl of his dreams, he decided to seas the day, so to speak. Get it? Seas? Seize? Yeah, you probably don't understand that, but don't worry." George was smiling like a lunatic, while Squilliam just stared.
"I remember it as if it was just yesterday…"
Fred held the clear vial in his hand and squinted at the green liquid inside. "I don't know, Forge, what if something goes wrong? What if it gives me legs like Squilliam's?"
"You mean tentacles?" George scoffed and nudged Fred's shoulder. "Stop being such a shrimp and just drink it already. I was stalking the girls in the rooms under the lake and they were getting dressed up in pretty gowns. I bet your Hermione will do the same."
Fred's face burned hot when George called the witch 'his Hermione', but George didn't have the time to make fun of him. He knew Fred was more worried about finally speaking to Hermione—they only knew her name because Fred had heard someone calling her.
"If you don't go, she will find someone else to love and you're going to hate yourself for the rest of your life. But since you're being shrimpy, I'll take it off your hands. Maybe I could flirt with your witch instead. After all, we're twins and she won't know the difference." Before George could take the vial from him, Fred unstoppered it and chugged it like his life depended on it.
"Alright, alright! I have until midnight, you said?"
"Yes, and remember to stay near the water when it's almost time. We don't want you choking on air and making a fool outta yourself. What will your witch think?"
Fred shot him a half-hearted glare but nodded and began swimming up to the lake's surface.
George swam up with him until Fred's tail began to disappear and two pale, gangly legs formed in its place. George grimaced at the phantom feeling in his own tail but simply watched Fred swim towards the shoreline and grab the old-timey human clothes George's pretty witch (whose name he had forgotten already) had left beside the lake for Fred.
George snickered as Fred wrestled his new limbs into the strange outfit, but a sense of unease and anxiety still plagued him. They had never left the water before, so of course, George was anxious about Fred's safety. Who knew what kind of humans Fred was going to meet inside the large castle?
"Please, be safe," he whispered and watched Fred wobble his way into the castle.
.:.
Waiting was boring. George had swum all evening long and practised his stunts in the water—he was still the best at everything. He thought this was how his night was going to go until Fred returned. What he hadn't predicted was Ron swimming up to meet him near the surface.
"What are you doing here, baby brother?" George asked, looking sideways at Ron.
It was strange to see Ron so agitated; he was biting his lip and wringing his hands together, as if he had too much energy inside his body and didn't know how to express.
"Has Fred really gone to meet the human girl?" Ron asked. Something in his voice seemed off, like he was worried about Fred. That couldn't be right, though.
"Yes," George replied before smiling a little. "I think they're mermaid for each other."
It seemed like his amazing pun had gone right over Ron's head, because he was fisting his hands so tight, his knuckles were almost white.
"You shouldn't trust anything these humans say. What if the human-made potion you gave Fred was actually poison and now he's slowly dying?" Ron's eyes were huge in his face and George's mind started to connect the dots. "Mum says humans don't like merpeople that much. They don't trust us or any other creature but themselves—and sometimes not even their own kind!"
"It'll be fine," George tried to say, but Ron interrupted him.
"What if the witch you sent Fred out of the safety of our lake for isn't even interested in him? Then what? What if she laughs at him and breaks his heart?"
"She didn't seem like she'd do that…"
"But what do you even know about her? None of us knows anything about her! For all we know, she could be the next human Dark Lord! She could trap Fred and use him for her own gain!"
Ron's rambling began affecting George too. Anxiety spread through his body, and the water suddenly felt too cold to him. The idea of his twin dying or hurting because of something George had done to help him made his heartbeat pick up pace.
"Maybe she's nice," George muttered, but he couldn't help but glance towards the surface.
"What if she's not? You could have sent Fred into the belly of a whale just because the human was pretty."
Now George was really worried.
"You should go check on Fred," Ron said, seeming to understand George's anxiety. "What are you waiting for? Go!"
George found it was difficult to breathe. His heart was beating too fast, and his hands were cold—colder than they were supposed to be. Swimming as fast as he could, George broke the surface and looked towards the castle. The silvery moon was almost overhead, and midnight was close.
"Where are you, Fred?" he muttered and squinted at the handful of humans walking around the lake.
Thankfully, Fred was one of them. He was strolling towards the lake, holding Hermione's hand. A palpable sense of relief hit George, and he let out a loud whoosh of air.
Fred and Hermione stopped near the edge of the lake and turned to face each other. Fred's hands covered hers as they began talking. From what George could see, the conversation seemed intense. What if the witch was about to break Fred's heart? Or worse, get him to give up his tail forever for her?
George watched them, his heart in his throat, and then out of nowhere, Fred bent his head and kissed Hermione on the mouth! It was kind of gross watching his twin kissing someone but also adorable.
But before he could contemplate giving Fred some tips on how to kiss someone, something terrible happened.
Hermione clasped her hands around her throat and fell backwards into the lake, arms flailing like a hippogriff's wings.
Fred was still, vacantly staring where Hermione had been, before he, too, tumbled in after her. A few seconds passed and Fred did not move. He was frozen, almost like he was in a trance.
Panic was running high in his body, watching his twin and the girl he liked drown, and there wasn't much he could do to help. George didn't know what happened to a merperson who drowned, and he didn't want to find out now.
"And then, Hermione was drowning and I never felt more hopeless! It was like I couldn't do anything, she was going to die and Fred would blame me for everything!" George told Squilliam very enthusiastically. "I suddenly couldn't breathe, as if I was the one drowning and Fred was nowhere to see, and I couldn't swim towards her—"
"Stop spreading these lies, Georgie," a voice said from behind him, interrupting his tale. George turned to see Fred and Hermione, swimming towards him.
It was good to see they were alright after everything that happened; Hermione's tail was a beautiful periwinkle colour that shone under the water and her chest was covered by something that resembled a bra, but it was made of coral shells.
"What?" George put his hand on his chest, as if Fred had wounded him. "I don't know what you're talking about, twin-o'mine."
Hermione scoffed, while Fred chuckled. Their fingers were entwined, and Fred kept on bumping his tail against hers, as if afraid she would swim far from him. "Sure you don't?"
"I'm telling it how things happened," George defended as he looked at Squilliam, who seemed to be fascinated by the new addition. He reached one of his tentacles towards her—maybe to touch her hair?—before Fred batted the tentacle away, trying to glare at Squilliam, but failing miserably.
"How long have you been listening? You know very well that it wasn't what happened," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. Her long curly hair was floating around her, almost like a jellyfish's tentacles; because she didn't know how to control it underwater yet, she kept batting it down. Seeing her growing irritation, Fred tucked her hair behind her ear and snickered when it just floated up again. "The potion Fred and you managed to get a hold of—I'm still curious how you two did that—did give him legs, and he finally talked to me instead of just staring at me like a creep."
"And right before midnight, he kissed me, and well…" Hermione trailed off, starting to blush. George wondered what would have made her blush like that.
He may have not kissed many people, but George knew maybe there was more happening to the kiss that either of them were telling.
"We crashed towards the lake, and since it was a kiss of true love, 'Mione became a merperson, just like us." Fred was beaming, and George couldn't be happier for his twin, since everything turned out great in the end.
"You still didn't explain to me how one kiss turned me into a mermaid, you know?" Hermione was looking at Fred like he held all the starfishes of the world in his hands.
"Merperson find their soulmates with true love's kiss, which is generally the first kiss with the one they love." Fred was blushing a little, and George wanted to throw up at how adorable the scene was. "Since we shared our first kiss right at midnight and it was a true love kiss, voila! You're my soulmate and a mermaid now! Now Georgie, stop telling Squilliam lies, Mum is waiting for us for dinner."
Fred took Hermione's hand and started swimming towards the bottom of the lake, not before he heard her asking, "Squilliam? What a…peculiar name."
George snorted, remembering how they had chosen this name to mess with Bill.
"Come on, Squilliam, let's go to dinner. Perhaps Mum will let you eat with us today, since I was too busy telling you what happened to properly feed you." George started swimming, Squilliam following on his tail.