The Second Task
Mermaids….
What the flying fuck?
Harry’s still very confused by the whole thing, but everyone around him isn’t.
“Take an object? What do you think that means?” Pansy glares at their chalkboard in the Gang’s room, Harry stopped trying to make sense of it weeks ago.
At first it was just a picture of the creatures, a few fun-facts, their kill rate, how sharp and pointed their teeth can be. All the imformation he needs to feel warm and fuzzy on the inside, and then Draco and Hermione found a fucking book in the Zabini library. It didn’t take long for Narcissa, Sirius, Remus, and Belle to get involved. Apparently Blaise’s mother knows a thing or two about mermaids, but Harry’s still clueless.
“Probably something important to the champions,” Ron muses.
Draco nods, “Make a list, add it to the ‘trials’ part.”
“Wait!” Hermione calls, pausing her Potion’s essay, “That part is too big already, add it to the ‘need to know’. I highly doubt they would steal from students.”
Draco gives her a look, Harry burrows into his chair, getting ready for the inevitable clash.
“You think thievery is the worst of their crimes?! The last task was a dragon, Hermione.”
“I just don’t think Dumbledore would stoop to such levels.”
“Then we clearly know different Dumbledores. Remember, class, this is the same man who left my innocent cousin imprisoned for twelve years. Same guy.”
Hermione rolls her eyes, “Fine. We’ll make a list, now get over here and check my papers! I have places to be, you know.”
Ron pales, Pansy giggles.
“Running off to meet Krum?”
“Of course,” Hermione smiles, “The next task is two days away, and I’d like to give him support.”
“That’s not all you’ll be giving him-”
“Anyways!” Draco calls over his Slytherins. “Harry, love, come write down your important things. We can charm them later.”
Harry blushes, but does as he’s told.
The past few weeks have been a blur.
He remembers snogging Draco in the Perfect’s Bathroom, almost getting caught by a Hufflepuff, and running all the way back to the Gryffindor tower in a towel. School started back up, nothing too out of the ordinary. Hermione, when she’s not with Krum, and Draco, when he’s not with Harry, still fight after the top spot in their classes. Draco’s been spending more time with Pompfrey, and in the dungeons which is weird but apparently it’s for his Transfiguration project so Harry knows better than to ask.
To be fair, Draco’s also been spending a lot more time with him. Sneaking in kisses between classes, lying by the fire in the Gang’s room, fleeting looks and soft touches. Nothing flusters him more than the pet names. Harry can handle ‘hun’ and ‘dear’ because teachers call him that all the time. It’s the casual ‘love’, ‘darling’, and ‘amour’ (if Draco’s just come from visiting Fleur) that get him.
Ron is right, he’s whipped.
Draco could probably turn out to be a Death Eater and Harry couldn’t care less, which is probably not a good thing, but there’s a big chance he’ll be dying in two days so what the hell.
“Anything come to mind?” A voice whispers in his ear. He lets himself relax against Draco’s chest, ignoring Pansy and Ron’s gags.
“Mmmm...I don’t have many important things.”
“Can you name at least five?”
Probably. Harry twirls the locket that hasn’t left his neck since he got it, then he realizes what he’s doing and sighs.
“So, this locket is one. The book about my family is another. Mrs. Weasley’s sweater. The picture of me, Ron, and Hermione that Collin took at last year’s Christmas party. The photo album Sirius left me…”
The room goes a little quieter, they all know the importance of family. What he’s been through, why such things would mean everything to him.
“Okay.” Draco says quietly, kissing his cheek and letting Pansy drag him away.
They work a bit more on schoolwork because the Professors apparently don’t give a shit about the Tournament. He’s already done most of it, but Snape gives them a new paper every fucking class, so he’ll have to finish that before the night’s over. The Slytherin’s and Hermione would have his head if he didn’t.
Ron finishes first, surprisingly, waving goodbye to them and leaving in a rush, which is another weird thing. He’s been oddly busy lately, hanging out with more people. Sometimes, when Draco is with Pomfrey, Harry goes with him. They hang around Seamus, Dean, and Neville. Ginny and the Twins, and if Ginny is there Luna is usually right beside her. Lately, just like clockwork, Lavender will join them right as Hermione gets there, and two seconds later Hermione will remember something in the library, or say she forgot something with Krum.
It’s all very annoying, so when Hermione gets up and goes after Ron, Harry hopes he takes care of it.
“Right….” Blaise looks between him and Draco, nodding with Pansy.
She begins packing up immediately. “Since it’s so late, nearly nine you know, and you still have things to charm, we’re just going to go.”
“Guys.”Draco groans, already covering his eyes.
“We’re just saying that alone time is very important for couples.”
“Guys.”
“Really, Dragon, we understand that you need time to lovingly gaze into Harry’s eyes.”
“Or more.”
Harry flushes.
“Yeah, I mean have you seen Harry’s abs? How can you not want more?!”
“Guys!”
Draco glares at his grinning friends, who ruffle Harry’s hair in response. “Take good care of him, okay Dragon? Harry-Hare is very important-”
“Shut. Up.”
Pansy and Blaise leave the room laughing, Draco’s cheeks are still red by the time they’re gone. Harry finds this down right adorable.
“Cheer up, Draco. At least they aren’t as bad as the twins.”
They both shutter at the memory. Fred and George will never let him forget when they found him and Draco kissing on the way to Potions a week ago. They’re still making jokes about it.
“Whatever,” Draco frowns, “Are you done with your essay? If we go ahead and charm your items we won’t have to worry about them later.”
Harry likes that plan, and his essay is good enough, so he accios the four missing items from his room and lays them across one of the tables.
Draco takes out his wand, mummering some spell Harry’s never heard of in his entire life.
“What?”
Harry blinks twice, “Hm?”
“You’re looking at me funny.”
“Sorry, I’ve just never heard that one.”
Draco gapes at him for a moment, and then pulls Harry over. They’re unnecessarily close for spell casting, but Harry really thinks he might cast better pressed up against his boyfriend, even if he can’t focus on the wand movements.
“Okay, so wave your wand like this. Fluid for this cast, it’s very important. Mum used to cast this before we went out when it was raining, or when we had to walk across the lake to my grandmother’s house.”
“Hold on a moment.” Harry places his family photo album down, “You’re grandmother?!”
“Yes?”
“How come I’ve never heard of her?!”
Draco shrugs, “She lives in Paris, I haven’t seen her since I started school.”
He’d love a chance to pry some more, but Draco’s already casting his water-proof spell on the next item, and Harry would really rather snog him than listen to a story about an old French woman.
Their snog doesn’t last long thanks to Sirius’s last minute fire-call, which scares them right off the table but at least his god-father couldn’t see what they were doing on it.
“Are you boys alright?!” Remus calls, “That was a lot of banging!”
Draco runs a hand through his hair, nodding to Harry and straightening his robes. “Yes! Sirius caught us off guard is all, Harry dropped some textbooks.”
“Just like his father,” Sirius snorts.
Harry smiles. He loves nights like these, where he and Draco can hold hands under the fire’s view, listen to Remus and Sirius well into the night. He wonders if this is what having a family is like, the warm feeling that spreads through his chest and threatens to swallow him whole.
“You should get some sleep these next two days.” Sirius says after an hour or two, “We’ll firecall the day after, okay? Sissy will be here, she’s very excited to hear about the experience.”
“So she’s bored.” Draco drawls.
“Yes, horribly so. Now go, it’s past curfew. And Harry,” Remus and Sirius share a look, and then his godfather looks at him and touches his soul, “Be safe. I know you’re upset about having to participate, but please don’t pull a stunt like you did with the dragons. Remus and I...we love you, kid, so don’t go dying on us, okay?”
Harry softens. “Okay.” He says quietly. And no, he does not have the heart to tell them that he has no fucking clue how he’s going to survive an hour under water.
Granted, he didn’t need to tell them anything because Neville corners him the next morning.
“Listen, I didn’t do this, okay? But well…” The boy looks around the room, like Ron might try and take his chocolates again, “I heard about the second task okay? This right here...it’s gillyweed. It should help you out with the underwater bits.”
Harry’s so happy he would kiss him...if Draco wouldn’t kill him for it. Instead he rushes off to breakfast, drawing his Slytherin’s attention so they know to meet after lunch. Millie, Blaise, Pansy, and Draco are waiting for the three of them later that afternoon, and before anyone can complain about missing lunch or ask what the hell they’re doing here, Harry smiles and withdraws the weird slimy substance.
Blaise rolls his eyes. “You’re kidding me, aren’t you? Who gave you that? I know it wasn’t Theo-it was Longbottom wasn’t it?!”
“Wait-what are you-?”
Blaise huffs, uncharacteristically annoyed, and points at the weird seaweed like shit. “That is what I’ve been looking for in Sprout’s storage for the past three hours.”
“You!” Hermione slaps a hand over her mouth. “You were going to steal from Professor Sprout’s private stores?!”
“Like you didn’t do the same thing when we made polyjuice!” Ron rebuffs, snagging the plant from Harry’s palm so he can poke at it..
“There’s something you should know about that.” Draco begins. “It’s not actually a solution, it’s just the best that Blaise could come up with. Your Bubble Head is too weak to withstand the pressure of the lake, and we don’t have time to brew a Water Breather, so this is all we can do. Fortunately, it nearly guarantees that you’ll come back alive...but it might take some time for the gills to go away.”
Harry freezes. “The gills?”
“Yes, see, the plant might turn you into a fish. Temporarily, of course, but a fish nonetheless.”
Great. Fucking perfect.
“I mean I’d pay to see Fish Harry Potter.” Millie grins.
Harry frowns very sternly at her.
It’s an odd morning in that he can’t find Ron anywhere because apparently the headmaster wanted to talk to him, which means he probably planned something for the task. Hermione has begun to completely ignore his ‘Not A Champion’ viewpoint under the grounds of ‘you’re competing, Harry, so by definition you are a champion’. He knows she was planning on making a banner for him, he’s just hoping Ron hasn’t gotten involved.
Knowing his best friend, several plays on the word ‘tails’ would be plastered big enough for McGonagall to yell at all three of them.
Which is probably why Ron’s in the headmaster’s office.
Ron disappearing doesn’t stop him from getting ready for the day. Just like Draco asked he casts warming charms, still annoyed at whoever thought swimming in the still icy Black Lake mid-February was a good idea. If they don’t die of Mermaid Wounds, they’ll definitely die of hypothermia. Which would be bad because his friends would be upset, and having Ron and Hermione cross with you is not a good experience. Harry can’t fathom what it would be like if he pissed off his Slytherins…
Tracking it down to the meeting point for the Champions is also weird because it’s Moody who walks with him. Call him biased, but he doesn’t really like the man after the whole Ferret Incident.
“I’ll tell you Potter. You’ve been real brave, boy.” Harry irks at the word, but the Professor doesn't notice. “You’ve got a brave head on your shoulders, a brave, brave head.”
Harry has no fucking clue what that means, but it’s the only words that have been spoken on this weird little walk so he nods like he gets it and hides a relieved sigh when Cedric rushes over to meet him.
“Excited for a swim?” The boy asks.
Krum is not as happy, brows furrowed in a way that matches his Russian accent for once.. “We have many cold winters back home at Durm, but not even we not are foolish enough to swim in such temperatures.”
“I agree.” Fleur huffs, glaring at the air that comes with her every breath, “They are lucky my sister knows warming charms or I would have their heads for endangering her.”
Cedric turns his gaze to her, “You have a sister? I thought your only relatives were Malfoy and Lovegood.”
“No, no! Draco and Little Luna are my cousins, but Gabrielle is my dearest sister. She gets sick very easily, which is why we do not visit often, you are aware of how the weather is here in England. Always rainy and cold….we much prefer it back in France.”
“Is it warmer there?” Harry asks, envisioning that stupid magazine that’s probably still sitting on Aunt Petunia’s coffee table.
“We are closer to the Mediterranean, so yes. Our winters are fair and our summers beautifully warm…” Fleur frowns like she’s missing it, and honestly, Harry’s missing the warmth too.
He idly wonders if Draco and Luna like visiting France, if they even visit still. Blaise probably does, and it seems like the type of thing Pansy would like. Maybe one day he, Ron, and Hermione could go with them. See the world a little….that sounds nice, actually.
Before Harry can ponder that the champions are called over and given the rules for today. To his surprise, Madam Pomfrey is there to inspect their warming charms, adding a few extra layers just in case.
He swears she’s muttering curses to Dumbledore the whole time, but one can never be too sure.
After they’ve been prepped for the task, and been looked over to make sure everyone won’t die of the cold before the competition can even start, they’re led to the changing rooms. This time, instead of giving him and Cedric house-themed geer, they’ve stuck with the themes from last time. Diving suits, all form fitting but they don’t chaff which is unexpected, but nice. Fleur talks about how excited she is to spend the weekend with her sister before she goes back to France, Cedric and Krum muse about their respective girlfriends, and Harry...well he sits there and wonders if Mermaids are actually as ugly as the pictures make them out to be.
Muggles find them beautiful, but maybe that’s because they don’t see them often.
Eventually they’re led out onto the docks, the whole stadium that’s been built nearby cheers, and it’s time to start.
Dumbledore rises from his seat at the bottom of the stands, addressing the crowd.
“Welcome! Welcome! On this fine morning we bear witness to the Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament. By now I’m sure our champions have realized we’ve taken something from them, but do not fret. What has been taken can be retrieved at the bottom of Black Lake. You have one hour to find what is missing, retrieve it, and return.”
The champions all share a look, but they’re all clueless. Harry checked his things when he was getting ready, and nothing was missing unless they took it during the hour the champions had to sit and wait.
That giant lady, Madame Maxime maybe?, stands up to tower over Dumbledore. “From Fleur Delacour, we’ve taken her sister, Gabrielle Delacour.”
The crowd goes dead, but Harry keeps his eyes on Fleur. Her hair is doing that thing that Draco’s does sometimes, but he can see it clear as day. Blonde locks rising in the air strand by strand...that can’t be good.
Wait.
Harry blinks.
They’ve taken people?!
“From Viktor Krum we’ve taken his brother-in-arms, Jordan.”
A brother? Or, brother-in-arms, whatever that is, Harry can barely pay attention to it all because if they took a sister and a brother then-
“From Cedric Diggory-”
Cedric’s eyes widen. He whispers a broken ‘no’ before Dumbledore says:
“We’ve taken his girlfriend, Cho Chang.”
Fuck. Fuck, he’s never seen Cedric so angry and if they took a sister, and a brother, and Cho then-
“From Harry Potter we’ve taken.”
Harry’s heart stops.
Who have they taken from him?
“His best friend, Ronald Weasley.”
No.
No, no, no.
Harry’s vision blurs from the anger.
They took Ron?
No way in hell! Ron is supposed to be in the stands, he was just with Dumbledore!
Ron’s always been with him. He should’ve known something was wrong, he should’ve known Ron would be there for him, he’s always been there for him. Through everything and now Harry’s put him in danger all over again. His best friend. The kid who gave him a home, a family. His entire new life, the one where his parents were loved and his godfather is sane and lovely, and werewolves and magic exist, and his boyfriend and everyone he’s ever cared about, everything he knows now began with a giant and that little red-head that shared snacks with him on the train.
And he’s down in the sea, with Mermaids who can rip people to pieces in seconds.
They’re all frozen in shock, wide angry eyes trained on the judges, trying to get over who has been taken, not what. All four champions don’t move through the rest of Dumbledore’s speech, but the second the gun is fired it’s like a trance has been lifted.
Harry shoves the gillyweed down his throat, not giving one damn shit about his life at the moment.
He’s the first in the water.
Not a good thing because he cannot breathe. For a moment he worries he might drown, and it’s enough that Krum- does he have a fucking shark head?- stops to watch him flounder around and then he can breath. And see, like everything. The little poles holding up the docks, seaweed dancing with the ripples of the water, even the bubbles coming out of Krum’s worried shark mouth.
Holy shit this is cool.
If he weren’t so worried about Ron, he might take a second to appreciate everything, but Ron is waiting for him, so he nods to Krum and tries to remember how to swim.
He was never allowed in pools, and sure, he knows how it’s supposed to work but that’s a lot different from actually doing it. An arm comes first, right?
Harry sticks out an arm and a leg, hoping he can somehow move and given that he’s never properly swam in his life he’s a little shocked to see himself suddenly very far away from Krum and the others. He looks back and sees Cedric’s shocked face, but he can worry about that later.
He has to get to Ron.
That thought alone doesn’t let him look back. Harry swims forward, propelling himself ridiculously fast through the water, dodging debris that comes flying out of him from somewhere. Some sharp pointy things try to get in his way, but he manages to get around them with some close calls. At some point one of the creatures from the chalkboard show up, and Harry can hear Hermione in the back of his head saying ‘Oh! Those are more shark-related than magic, much more dangerous’ but he can’t focus on it because it’s not Ron.
He knows he’s going to the bottom of the lake, but it feels more like an ocean. Maybe the Black Lake is charmed, he has no fucking clue, and to be frank he couldn’t care less.
The wonder of it all has faded by now, all he cares about is Ron and the anger that drives him forward.
Why would they do this? Don’t they realize this is too far? His friend could die, or already be dead, and that’s the only reason he blasts through the merpeople swimming at him. At some point pain starts to spread across his arm, but he hasn’t reached Ron so he can’t bother with it.
Pomfrey’s regrown arms before and she’ll probably do it again.
Besides, he can finally see the arches of the Mere Kingdom that lies beneath.
Once again he wonders briefly if it’s been here the whole time, he feels like it’s a little hard to miss an entire golden glowing city, even if it is buried a few hundred miles from the surface.
Not that it actually matters, because he can finally see Ron. And Cho, a girl who he assumes is Gabrielle and the boy must be Jordan.
Right as he’s about a mile away from them he spots a rising wall, not made of bricks or the gold from the rest of the city, but of merpeople.
Harry raises his wand, not wanting to hurt them in case they hurt Ron for it, and casts a quick body-bind. He puts in more magic than he needs to, but he’s angry and worried. He can’t take any risks right now, so he bolts past them while he can, right to Ron.
He expects them to come after him, make this whole ordeal much harder, but they don’t bother him after they’ve broken their binds, so he guesses it’s fine.
Ron’s tied to a golden pole with flimsy ropes so it’s pretty easy to get them off but he checks for cuts, scrapes, the rise and fall of his chest first. Ron seems fine, so he starts to untie him, and then stops because Ron might be fine, but that doesn't mean the others are.
Harry freezes as he looks down the line.
He has Ron, but there are still three people left.
A sister, a brother, a lover...he can’t leave them. Not until they’re safe. Are they safe? Are they wounded?
Harry starts to move towards Cho, the closest to Ron, only to be stopped.
He’s bigger than Harry expected. Skin blue, eyes black with golden irises. Gold swirls on his bare, extremely muscly chest, seeping down into a shimmering tale. In his left hand in a trident, long black hair swirls around it, Harry really hopes this doesn’t get violent.
“You may only take one.”
Oh! It’s the voice from the egg!
Harry shakes the thought away, wondering if he can speak while he’s already speaking. “I’m not taking another, I’m just making sure they aren’t hurt.”
The merman gives him a look, “You think we would hurt our company?”
Company?
Company?!
“You’ve tied them to poles, they’ve been stolen in the early morning hours, and they’re all important to my friends, so yes I would like to make sure none of them are hurt!”
“They are just humans, not even your human. Why would you go to such lengths?”
Harry’s eyes go wide at his statement, for a long moment he just stares, letting his anger grow stronger and stronger.
“Just humans?” He says, “No. No, you’re wrong. Do you see this girl?” He points to Cho, “She’s a lover! The girl next to her is a sister, the boy next to her a brother! They’re all someone’s child, all someone in their own rights! They have goals and dreams and they’re alive so of course they’re important! We’re all too young to die right now, and if I leave them and the others don’t make it here they could do that! Their hopes and dreams, all the precious memories they have and all the people they love would be gone!” Harry’s practically fuming now, but he points to the merman with his wandless hand, “You are a son, merman or not. Someone loves you, you have goals and hopes just like every other creature on this stupid planet and if you can appriciate being alive then you should appreciate the lives of others! How dare you act as though they don’t matter!”
The merman looks at him with wide eyes, as a matter of fact, all the merpeople are looking at him with wide eyes, which means he probably went too far again. Fuck, he’s really got to stop doing that.
Harry hangs his shoulders, a funny little motion in the water, “Sorry, I’m just worried about them. I promise I’m not going to take them, not unless I have to. I just…” He looks up again, meeting the golden eyes with determination, “I’m going to stay. Until each and every one of them have been retrieved. And then I’ll go. I won’t hurt you, I won’t get in the way, I just need to make sure they’re safe.”
Once again the merman looks at him strangely, but he nods once and leaves so Harry figures it’s fine.
He really can’t take anyone, so he goes and makes sure they’re not hurt before returning to Ron, sitting down on the gate next to where his best friend is tied. To pass the time he thinks of the many ways Draco and Hermione will torture him for this later, although the image of Pansy’s fury is equally terrifying. Granted, Blaise could get up to some tricky things so there’s that…..if he’s being honest he’ll probably get bombarded by all six of them and-hey! It’s Krum-shark!
The Shark head barrels through the line of merpeople, going straight to the other boy. He pauses to look at Harry, cocking his head to the side. Harry can practically hear him asking if he’s okay, so Harry holds up a thumbs up.
Seeing a shark-head Krum shrug at him with a limp body over his shoulder has got to be one of the funniest things he’s ever seen.
Cedric follows a few minutes later, blasting the merpeople away with a particularly vengeful spell that makes really cool blue sparks. He rushes straight up to Cho, cupping her cheek and looking her over. Once he’s made sure she’s safe, he turns to Harry, who waves.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Oh, so he is still pissed. Though, the angry magic coming off of him could’ve told Harry that.
“Um,” Harry shrugs, “Supervising?”
“Supervising?!” Cedric shouts, already working on Cho’s ropes. “What the bloody hell do you mean supervising?! You have Ron, get your ass back to the surface!”
“I can’t!” Harry calls back. “Not until Fleur gets Gabrielle. I can’t just leave her, besides, you know I don’t care about winning this.”
Cedric hooks Cho under his arm, sending his angry gaze Harry’s way.
“Harry Potter, this is the stupidest thing you’ve ever done! And that includes riding a dragon!”
“I know, I know. Now go, get out of here and you might beat Krum back!”
Cedric gives him one last look, shouting at him to be careful and then he’s off, going so fast it actually blows water back onto Harry. Cool.
He waits a little longer, twiddling his thumbs and wondering about what he’ll eat when this is finally over. Ron will probably want a big lunch and if he demands all of Harry’s apple pie that is completely fine because Ron is safe and not hurt and that’s all that matters and-
“Your hour is up, child. You should return.”
Harry looks up, meeting golden eyes again.
“Fleur hasn’t gotten her sister yet.”
The mermaid nods, almost amused. “Yes….I believe you said something about her having goals? It will be difficult to achieve them if she is underwater, hm?”
Harry blinks twice, “Are you-are you saying that I can?”
“Yes. Take her, and your friend. Think of it as a returned favor from your ancestors.”
“You know Geia?!” Harry gasps, wanting to hit himself because he’s starting to feel funny and he and Geia aren’t even related, they just have-
“You are friends with the Serpent King?”
Harry comes back to the task at hand, moving to untie Ron. “Um, yes? We’re friends, actually. She taught me how to speak Dragon.”
The mermaid goes quiet, and then laughs loudly.
“A friend to Uγεία is a friend to us, but child... How do you expect to make it to the surface weak, wounded, and burdened by two?”
Wounded?
Harry looks down at his arm.
Oh, that’s why he felt pain.
Blood oozes out from somewhere on his arm, and suddenly the pain is everywhere. Crawling up his arm, down to his hand and shoulder. Fuck, that’s gonna be an issue.
He smiles at the merman, “I’ll manage.”
“You are just a child, surely-”
“I am just a child, but we’re all just children.” Harry cuts him off, “This girl is younger than me, I can’t just leave her and I’d rather die before abandoning Ron, so I’ll figure it out.” He says, getting Gabrielle out from her ties.
It hurts to lift her, but eventually he has both of them under his arms, he just hopes his legs are good enough to get him to the surface.
The merman looks like he wants to say more, but Harry can feel the effects of the gillyweed starting to fade. He’s not sure how much time he has, so he cuts the creature off again, hoping he’s not being too rude.
“Thank you, for letting me stay and letting me take her.”
Instead of speaking, the merman just nods, and as he’s beginning to open his mouth another merperson rushes up, speaking urgently in a language he can’t understand so he nods and takes off.
Everything is starting to hurt. His legs ache, he’s starting to lose feeling in his injured arm, and his lungs are beginning to burn which can’t be a good sign.
Harry makes it maybe twenty yards before he sees the flashes.
“Disarm!” Someone yells. “We cannot hurt them!”
Hurt who? What the fuck is-
“Where is she!”
Mother of Godric, he knows that voice.
Harry swims down a little further, towards the commotion and almost drops his bodies.
Fleur does not look like Fleur right now.
Her hair flies around her in a way that’s unnatural even in the water, and it could be the darkness of the water, but he’s pretty sure her hair is supposed to be blonde not white. And her skin is grey, which is strange but even weirder is her eyes because Harry knows they’re blue but right now they look pretty fucking black to him, not to mention the way her teeth and nails seem to be filed down and oh fuck, she’s attacking the merpeople.
Not in a defense way, she looks as though she’s trying to kill.
Already three merfolk are oozing from wounds, yelling and shouting in pain, but she’s not stopping, flying spells left and right.
“My sister!” Fleur shrieks in a very not-Fleur voice, “Where is my sister!”
OH! That’s what this is about.
He might drown doing this, but he’s sure Fleur will carry him to the surface.
Harry swims a little closer, calling out her name right as a smaller merman approaches.
Which turns out to be a mistake.
The Fleur-like creature turns to him slowly, he actually feels like time stops when she spots Gabrielle under his arm, and then she’s rushing towards him with a snarl. Claws aim for his throat, there’s a curse on the tip of her tongue and Harry doesn’t mean to do it. He doesn’t, but there are injured merpeople and she’s definitely about to kill him so Harry drops Gabrielle, grabs his wand and stuns her so quickly he can hardly believe he’s done it.
This is also bad because Fleur is down dropping to the bottom of the ocean floor and-fuck.
Harry lunges after her, barely remembering to yank Gabrielle with him and almost not making it in time to grab Fleur’s finger.
He won’t be able to make it up like this, the effects of the gillyweed are nearly gone and now he has three bodies and his wound is still bleeding and-and one of the merpeople approaches him cautiously.
“I’m sorry!” Harry blurts out upon seeing his wound. “I’m so sorry-she didn’t mean to-they. They took her sister, is anyone dead?”
“No.” Harry turns his head around to see that one merman from before, now with visible stress lines on his blue forehead. “No one has died, child, but many are wounded. This is a fearsome creature Albus has let loose in our waters.”
Harry’s vision is starting to go dark, but he nods anyways. “Albus is dumb. I have to- they won’t make it to the top without me,” He tries to explain, but the blood rushing from the unfamiliar merperson in front of him is starting to bother him.
“Here, let me,” He takes out his wand, using what’s left of his energy to cast the only healing charm he knows, the one that Draco drilled into him when they were healing Geia.
“It might be messed up,“ He slurs, still trying to swim away, but for some reasons the merpeople keep following him. Or at least, he thinks they’re following him, but their shapes are starting to blur and his lungs can’t take much more of this. “Magic, you know? Draco would know, but I don’t. I’m so sorry, it was her little sister.”
The familiar mermaid voice shushes him, the weight disappears from his arms. “Forgive me, Anvi, Uγεία, and you as well.”
Harry would like to ask what the fuck that’s supposed to mean, and then a weird iron taste is filling up his mouth. It’s gross at first, and then it turns kinda sweet. Like those flowers he used to steal from Aunt Petunia’s garden when they refused to feed him. What were they called again? Something with a h….
Little by little the pressure on his head clears and his vision returns.
Alarming, because the first thing he can make out is the merman, who is now bleeding when he definitely wasn’t before, rubbing his blood into Harry’s wound.
Harry’s about to protest, because blood-sharing doesn’t exactly seem like a good thing to do, but then his mouth slams itself shut because the wound on his arm is glowing and while the rest of his body is cold, now his arm feels like it’s burning up.
Wait, he can feel his arms, and they’re definitely empty which means that his people are gone oh fuck he lost three people.
“Do not worry, child, as you said, all life is precious. We are returning your friends to the surface, but you were too weak. I feared for your life.”
“But-you-thank you,” Harry tries to say, but his words are still slurred. He’s really fucking tired dammit. “Why?” He asks, just because usually when people do weird things to him it doesn’t end well.
“Because that is my son you saved.” The creature answers, weirdly close now. Harry’s starting to feel a little warmer, is it bedtime yet? It should be. “He would’ve killed her if you had not interfered.”
Well, at least he did something right today.
“That’s good.” Harry manages, closing his eyes just for a bit. “I’d have hated it if anyone died. It’s a fucked up competition when they’re making kids die.”
The warmth tightens around him.
“Yes, yes it is.”
Whoever came up with this idea is a fucking idiot.
For starters, it’s probably the most boring thing Draco’s ever had to do. They’re literally just going to sit and stare at water for an hour, which would’ve been awful in itself.
But when Dumbass Dumbledore announces to a group of mostly underage children that the headmasters trapped mostly underage children underwater, with dangerous creatures who are known to hate wizards… Well, it goes from awful to fucking horrifying.
The first name announced is his fucking cousin, and Pansy has to physically hold him back from doing something stupid, and if that wasn’t bad enough, the last name announced, the person stolen from Harry, is one of his close friends, which means Blaise has to join in to keep him from going anywhere.
Thank Merlin he remembered to tie his hair up. Even from the stands he can see Fleur’s starting to rise, and he would be right there with her if he didn’t look at Harry and see something he’s never seen before.
His Scarhead looks torn between fury and sadness so deep it rivals Cedric’s. Magic visibly swirls around him, like Fleur’s hair, which can’t be a good sign and for a moment all of Draco’s rage is replaced with worry and then the gun fires and Harry’s dumb ass is jumping headfirst into the water without eating his fucking gillyweed.
Not good for Draco. Not good at all.
Pansy soothes him from his left, Blaise comforts him from the right and it’s still not enough.
He can feel his magic swirling and trying to aim itself at Dumbledore because he knows he just knows the asshole hand picked who to take.
First Sirius, his cousin who he loves, who makes his mother happy, who makes Harry happy.
Then Gabriella, who he hasn’t seen since she was three years old, she’s only a first-year, and she means everything to Fleur, so it’s not enough that he’s endangered a child of his family, but he’s hurt Fleur.
And then, as if that wasn’t enough, he took Ron. Stupid, arrogant, bone-headed Ron who’s always calm when they need him to be, always there for Harry, who forgave him despite every mean thing he’s ever said. Ron is his friend, a part of Harry’s family.
Dumbledore’s crossed yet another line, and Draco is so focused on keeping his anger in check so he doesn’t lash out that he almost misses Cedric popping out of the water, Krum coming up only a few seconds later.
Cedric kisses Cho the second they reach the docks and not even Snape bothers to scold them. Instead Professor Sprout rushes over and hugs them both, getting them towels and blankets, handing out something from a warm flask.
Krum snarls at his headmaster who attempts to help him up, keeping a protective arm around the Jordan character, who also looks a little pissed.
Draco completely gets the anger part.
Or he does, and then an hour is up and Harry and Fleur are both still gone.
“Where are they?” Millie turns around to whisper, worry creasing her brow.
It’s a question Draco would very much like to know because it’s been an hour and fifteen minutes and there are no ripples in the water. Even the headmasters are starting to get concerned.
It’s not surprising that Theo is afraid. “Shouldn’t they be back by now? Why is no one doing anything?”
“They have to wait.” Blaise says through gritted teeth. “Merfolk don’t like wizards, they need permission to enter the water or it could start a war and….”
Pansy recrosses her legs for the fiftieth time, speaking so quietly Draco almost doesn’t hear her, “Dumbledore said they would keep what wasn’t gotten…”
Draco wishes he didn’t hear her.
At an hour and forty-five minutes comes around and Draco’s ready to jump in the water himself.
Then the most peculiar thing happens.
Mermaids rise out of the water, lightly placing Fleur, Gabbi, and Ron onto the docks before Dumbledore. They disappear without a word, and Fleur turns to the headmasters with fury. At least she looks mostly normal, but her skin is tinted grey and he can see bits of her hair rising from here.
On the plus side she hasn’t gone full angry Veela, and if his skin looks like that when he loses control he hopes he never reaches that point.
“You!” She shrieks, advancing towards the headmaster’s table, wand raised and furious. “You tried to kill her!”
Every last one of the headmasters begin to panic, which is fair because Fleur has the beginnings of a curse on her tongue when the water ripples and a voice booms out over her.
“That is enough, child.”
Holy fucking shit.
“No way….” Blaise breathes.
And then, in front of reporters and children and headmasters alike the King of the Black Sea rises out of the water carrying Harry fucking Potter in his arm.
Draco’s only seen him in pictures before but it’s nothing compared to the sight.
He’s at least ten feet long, tail included. Intricate golden spirals map their way down to a golden tail, making a crown at his collarbones. In his left arm is a trident, which is partly why everyone falls deadly silent and Fleur drops her wand, staring in horror at the limp boy in his right arm.
Draco can’t tear his eyes away. He can’t tell if Harry’s chest is moving, if he’s alive, if he’s hurt. Nothing makes sense, but Fleur bows to him and her shoulders are moving like she’s crying.
What the fuck happened down there?
“You disappoint me, Albus.” The king says, gently moving closer, “You have sent children to their deaths in my waters.”
Dumbledore rises, bowing as well. “King Rallam, I am honored to-”
“Do not speak. I do not wish to hear your voice.”
Draco takes a second away from worrying over Harry to appreciate the king’s words, but then Harry’s stirring and looking around.
Rallam, the fucking King of the Black Sea, son of Mother Ocean, fucking smiles at him. He places Harry gently on the docks, and Harry’s dumbass just frowns.
He says something Draco can’t hear, and the king laughs, fucking laughs.
“You are a strange one, Harry Potter.”
Harry shrugs, but he’s smiling which Draco takes as a good sign, although he doesn’t know what to make of any of this.
“Until we meet again,” the king says, and then, as if this can’t get any weirder, he fucking bows to Harry. A King, the King. Bowing. To Harry, his idiot boyfriend.
And Harry, not knowing what to do, looks around, shrugs and then does a half-bow back.
The whole crowd is too confused to talk, some probably experiencing shock like he is, but Harry seems to decide that they haven’t seen enough because right as the King begins to descend Harry rushes towards the edge of the docks and shouts.
“Hey! Wait! What’s your name?”
“Rallam.” King of the Black Sea replies, “But you, my child, may call me Ra.”
Holy fucking shit.
Draco blinks once, and then twice, pinches himself just to make sure this is real.
Harry’s still smiling at the retreating figure, who just allowed him a nickname, and Fleur is still in tears and the rest of them are all in a mix of confused shock.
What the fuck?