Song of the Sea

Chapter 3

Harry plopped on his bed, hoping to relax before dinner. Potions had been a nightmare, of course, and the rest of the day had followed accordingly. Sev had been teaching him potions over the summer, so he wasn't half bad at the subject anymore, but Hermione had been upset that he had been brewing better than her in that class and had gotten huffy. Of course, Ron had kinda sided with her.

"What the hell, mate, since when are you better at potions than 'Mione? What did you do with Snape all summer, anyway? Slobber all over his feet, begging for praise?" Ron had said. Harry had ignored them, but Ron had really gotten under his skin.

He knew the boy would never understand what had happened with Snape and him, but he didn't have to be that prattish over it. He was his best mate. He was supposed to be supportive, wasn't he? So why was he being a snob about it? Just because he was getting better at potions? Harry knew that Snape had been a jerk all through their early school years, but now that Harry knew why, he couldn't fault the man. Besides, he had saved all their lives more than enough times to make up for it all.

They had come to an understanding, and to be honest, Harry looked up to the man known almost as a father figure, and he believed that Snape felt the same about Harry as a son, and he wasn't going to let his friends' attitude get between that.

He just wasn't.

Harry didn't bother to open his eyes when he heard someone come in. He honestly didn't care if it was Ron or Draco. He wasn't in the mood to deal with either of them right now. He just wanted a nap before dinner.

Harry hadn’t expected them to sneak around like they were trying not to make any noise at all. He got the feeling it wasn't because they thought he was sleeping. He cracked open his eyes just a bit to see Draco tiptoeing around his bed, gathering clothes and a towel. Harry's heart sped up, thinking he was going to take a shower and his mind went back to what he had walked into this morning. He could feel a blush creep up his face, but then confusion overtook the slight arousal he could feel, as Draco turned back towards the dorm room door, shrinking down his clothes and storing them in his pocket.

Harry sat up in bed and before he could overthink it grabbed his invisibility cloak, throwing it over himself, running out of the dorm and slipping out the portrait door out of the common room behind Draco. They met Blaise Zabini in the hall and headed out towards the front hall and out the doors, walking out of the grounds and towards the black lake.

Harry followed silently, his confusion only growing as they stopped by the lakeshore and began to strip, talking in low voices with each other. Harry strained to hear, but he could only catch snippets of "only an hour" and "before dinner was over ''. Then they both waded into the onyx waters and dove in, making Harry gasp and whip off the cloak, running to the shore to try and see if they were ok.

After a while, he sighed in defeat, threw the cloak back on and made his way back to the castle to eat dinner, resigned in the fact that he wasn't going to get any more information about those two tonight. At least, not until Malfoy came back into the dorm room, if he even planned to.

HPDM

Draco walked into the dorm and froze when he saw Harry laying on his bed. He swore silently and walked quietly to his own bed, grabbing what he needed to change into after his swim with Blaise. Shrinking it down, he shoved it in his pocket and slipped out the door, completely unaware of the tagalong behind him. He met Blaise outside the portrait door and they walked silently down to the front doors and down to the lake.

"Ok, so I figure we have about an hour of swim time before dinner is over and we should head back. I already ate a half hour ago, and you should be able to eat while we are down there. We won't be missing anything", Blaise said as they stripped.

Draco nodded, only half listening, his mind already on the transformation. They waded into the water quickly. As the water hit his waist he dove in, the tingling and tearing and melting feeling already spreading up his calves. He writhed in the water, letting out a scream of bubbles as scales erupted across his skin, and gills carved their way on each side of his throat, allowing him to breath. It barely registered to him that Blaise had eaten the Gillyweed and was holding onto him so that he didn’t hurt himself as he changed. His body was on fire, even in the cool water and he couldn’t focus much on anything.

He let out another silent, bubbly scream before instinct kicked in and he took a deep breath, the water turning to oxygen in his lungs. He didn’t think he would ever get used to the change, as he looked down his body, at the tail swishing through the water, scales gleaming as the light fractures through the water and hit them. His hands spread, webbing growing in between his fingers, so he can propel himself forward faster, and claws extended on each of his fingers so that he can defend himself and catch his food. His eyesight changed too, with the transformation. He could see clearly through the murky water, and as he looked around he caught a grindylow moving through the weeds at the bottom of this part of the lake.

Draco shot a glance at Blaise and jerked his head, indicating that that's the way he was headed and then he shot through the water like a bullet and raced after the water demon. He sensed Blaise behind him, struggling to keep up, and he released bubbles of laughter into the water. He rolled onto his back while he swam, his muscles relaxing for the first time in days, his skin feeling so much better. He knew that when he came out of the water for the next few days to a week he would be almost glowing. Draco folded his arms behind his head and slowly swished his tail up and down, waiting for Blaise to catch up with him.

The boy may have webbed hands and feet, but his speed was nothing compared to a Siren.

And that's what Draco was now, wasn't it? He said it over and over again in his head, feeling the word wind around his brain. He knew what it entailed. When in the water, he would have a fish tail instead of legs, fins on his arm and along his back, gills to breathe and scales peppering random places on his body. He knew he looked beautiful but, it didn’t mean he didn't feel disgusting. Outside of the water however, he would have the ability to control the water around him. He still had scales on random places of his body, but he had them glamoured for now. He had an allure, or a type of compulsion. He could make people do what he wanted with just the sound of his voice, he just changed his voice pitch and almost sang and they would do whatever he told them to. The Siren Song. He calls it a curse. He sighed as Blaise swam up next to him. He c****d his head to the side in question and Draco just shook his head at him, and swam on, fading into the depths of the black lake, Blaise swimming at his side.