Written for QLFC Season 4 Kestrals Practice Round

Position: Beater 1

Prompt: genre-supernatural

Optional Prompts:
4. (word) chasing
6. (word) fantastical
10. (creature) mermaid

After the Battle of Hogwarts was done, Harry and Luna retreated to the Potter Manor to avoid the press, well-wishers, and escaped Death Eaters. Luna's father had been one of the casualties at the battle, and Harry didn't want to leave his sister, in all but name, alone in her family home.

Soon after they arrived, however, Harry became grievously ill. What started as a fever, developed into a rash, and eventually, Harry started having difficulties breathing. Luna sat vigil over Harry until one night with a burst of light, Harry's form changed... and it wasn't what either of them were expecting.

Harry growled in frustration as he flipped through book after book looked for the answer to his infuriating problem. "LUNA! I NEED NEW BOOKS!"

Luna walked into the room and looked at Harry as his torso lay on the edge of the pool. His lower half was submerged, but she knew if he got irritated enough, he'd flip fin over head and splash around angrily in the pool until he could calm down enough to get back to his research.

"Still nothing on this curse?" Luna asked as she used magic to transport the books already deemed useless out of the pool house.

"No!" Harry snapped, diving away from the wall, splashing tremendously.

His blue-purple tail was three times the length of his torso. The scales that made up his tail followed the trail of his spine and arched over his shoulders leaving a scant four inches between his clavicles hands had slight webbing between his fingers and his eyes were a vibrant green with slightly larger than normal pupils. "How the bloody hell did I end up a mermaid?" Harry muttered, running his hands through his long black hair.

"Well, technically," Luna interjected, "You are a merman."

Harry growled when his fingers caught in his hair. "Can I have a hair tie, Luna? Please?" He swam up to the edge of the pool and perched on the ledge, careful not to crush his pelvic and dorsal fins. He quickly braided his hair and reached for the offered tie.

Luna sighed and sat on the ledge next to her friend. "At least this change came about after you defeated Voldemort, so we don't have to worry about him chasing us down."

Harry arched an eyebrow at his friend, "Please. This is so much worse than Voldemort. I don't know if I'll ever be able to leave this pool aga-" Harry cut off. "Did you have to alter the water in the pool for me to be in the water with no difficulty?"

Luna frowned. "No, the pool was perfect for you to be dropped in."

Harry's eyes widened. "What if we've been going about this the wrong way? What if I wasn't cursed...but came into an inheritance? What day did I finally turn into-" he waved a hand at himself, "This?"

Luna looked at Harry thoughtfully, "July 30th...well, I think it was the 30th. It was pretty late, and I was a little too preoccupied with my friend turning into a fish-"

"Merman," Harry interjected.

"Whatever. Anyways. I was too preoccupied to cast tempus to check the time." Luna finished.

Harry looked around the pool. "Maybe..." He dived back into the water with little splash back and started swimming around the bottom of the pool, hands grazing the bottom surface. When his hands caught on a loose stone, he pressed down on it. He shot to the surface with a yelp when the stone stabbed the center of his palm, releasing a red torrent of blood. He clenched his hand, holding it to his chest as he swam back to Luna. "Luna, can you...?" He trailed off and held his hand up to her, his palm still sluggishly bleeding.

Luna's eyes widened. "This is a fantastical nightmare," Luna murmured as she checked Harry's hand and cast a moderate healing charm to seal the wound.

"Luuuna? Haaaaaarry?" Hermione's voice sounded from the foyer of the house.

"Bollocks. I can't very well hide in the pool," Harry looked around, frantically searching for a hiding place.

"Where are you guys! I finally got things settled at the Ministry. The last of the Death Eaters have been rounded up...Uh, Harry?" Hermione stumbled to a stop and dropped her bag to the floor when she saw Harry in the pool.

Harry turned and looked at Hermione guiltily. He gave an involuntary whimper as his eyes locked with hers.

Hermione's knees gave out and she fell to the floor by her bag, still looking at Harry in shock. "You're a siren?"

Luna gasped and hit her forehead before looking at Harry. "I should have known that," Luna stated, "considering I'm part fae."

Hermione finally tore her eyes from Harry's, causing him to whimper again, "Fae, Luna?"

"Yes," she responded, "it's where my Seer abilities come from."

"Hermione," Harry's voice shook as he tried to control the strange urges rolling through him. His eyes slowly bled to black, and his hands clenched and unclenched.

"I should leave," Luna said. "Sirens are notoriously possessive, especially if they haven't claimed their mates properly." She stood up and slowly backed away from the pool.

"Lun-" Hermione cut off with a shriek as Harry lunged out of the pool and grabbed her around the waist, dragging her into the pool with him. She went under, before Harry hoisted her up and into his arms properly.

"MINE!" Harry's voice snarled out at Luna's retreating form.

Luna smiled serenely at the couple. "Of course, brother, I wouldn't steal her from you. I have yet to meet my mate, but you have nothing to fear from me." Luna stepped into the hall and closed the door, sealing the pair into the pool room.

Harry glared at the door for another minute, before turning his black gaze onto the girl in his arms. "Mine," he repeated softly, nuzzling the side of her neck.

Hermione shivered at the contact. "Ha-harry. C-c-cold." Hermione shivered again, violently.

Harry looked over at the door and back at Hermione. "Cold? Pain?"

"Not p-pain. Just c-cold," Hermione responded, curling into Harry's chest.

Harry made another distressed noise and slowly swam to the far side of the pool. He set Hermione on the edge and looked her over, patting her down to make sure she wasn't in pain.

Hermione sighed and grabbed his hands, "I'm f-fine. Just let me g-grab my wand..." she looked across the pool at her bag. "Oh. I d-don't suppose you'd be w-willing to let me go get i-it."

Harry looked back and forth between the bag and Hermione's shivering form. He pulled his hands from her grasp and swam quickly to the other side. He pushed himself up onto the floor and pulled himself to the bag. once he had it, he shimmied his way back into the water, careful to keep the bag from getting wet. He swam back over to Hermione and held the bag out for her to take.

Hermione took the bag and set it beside her to rummage through it. She pulled her wand out and transfigured her clothes into a swimsuit. She cast a warming charm on herself, dropped her wand back on top of the bag and slid into the water again. "Much better."

Harry swam around her several times, hands ghosting along her sides to make sure she was really fine. "Better now?" His eyes were wide and his mouth turned down into a slight frown. He wrapped her in his arms and lay his head on her shoulder.

Hermione sighed and wrapped her arms around him. "Your instincts are running the show, Harry." She tugged on his hair lightly to make him bring his face up. "I accept you as my mate."

Harry shuddered and gasped as the words unbound his Siren form. The sudden shift from a tail to two legs and full clothes made him nearly go under before he remembered to kick his legs to stay afloat. "Th-that was..."

Hermione snorted, "Very eloquent. Come on. Let's get out of the pool. You need to read a couple books to understand your new self."

Harry nodded mutely and the pair climbed out. "Are these books the reason you knew how to bring me back to myself?"

Hermione grinned, transfigured her clothes back and cast drying and warming charms on them both. "Yep."

Harry shook his head with a grin. "Leave it to my Hermione to already know what's wrong before I even realize it."

Hermione just grinned and dragged her mate out of the pool room and into the house proper. "Let's catch you up to speed then."