Under the Sea

Chapter Eleven

Back at Atlantica:

Ariel quickly turned her head to look down the hall before scurrying into the room that held the mirror she had been using. For the past couple of months, she had been using the mirror to talk to Harry—oh she hoped he was all right! This tournament was clearly stressing him out, even if he didn't say anything. That had to be the worst part of this whole thing—the fact that she couldn't tell anyone otherwise she'd go to Attina and ask for help. She was the oldest, she'd be able to figure out a way to keep Harry safe.

"Harry?" she whispered into the mirror. She had to be careful since her father could walk in at anytime. Granted, she doubted it since it was around midnight but still! Normally, she would never risk it at all and wait until daytime when her father was in a meeting with Sebastian or something. I mean, she was all for exploring and changing routine but this was the one rule they were never supposed to break.

But this was important. She accidentally overheard a couple of her father's soldiers talking about reports from the Black Lake regarding four land drakes near the lake—or at least their scent. If this could help Harry in someway, well then it would be worth the risk.

"Harry!" she hissed into the mirror. "Harry, please pick up!"

"Ariel?" the confused face of her friend came into focus and Ariel almost sighed with relief. "What are you doing? It's got to be the middle of the night there!"

"Not the time Harry," Ariel told him. "I overheard my father's soldiers talking about the scent of four land drakes this morning. Apparently, they'd gotten reports from the merpeople who are living in the Black Lake."

"Please tell me 'land drake' isn't another word for dragon," Harry asked, but his face seemed almost resigned to the answer even if Ariel knew what a dragon was. "Great, I've got to fight a dragon. Clearly whoever put me into this tournament really doesn't like me."

"Harry, you're going to be okay right?" Ariel asked, nervous for her friend. "I mean, it's just a game right? They wouldn't actually put you in harms way!"

"...I did tell you about my night time detention in the Forbidden Forest my first year right?"

"Point taken," Ariel sighed. "Oh, I wish I could be there to cheer you on! But Daddy's got us on our princess duties now more than ever. We barely see him anymore, except once in the morning and then again when he comes and says good night."

"I wish you were here too," Harry told her. "It'd be nice to see a friendly face other than Hermione's for a change."

"Oh? Is Hermione your girlfriend?" Ariel asked, perking up at the new name and stifling her giggles as Harry turned an impressive shade of pink.

"No! She's my friend, like you," Harry said, rubbing at his face to try to get the pink down and failing. The rubbing only made his face pinker. "Hey, did I tell you about Malfoy getting turned into a ferret?"

"Do tell," Ariel said, ignoring the awkward subject change and setting in for the story—taking care to stifle her giggles as Harry told her about the Slytherin git getting turned into a ferret by their Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Personally, Ariel thought Malfoy deserved it. Trying to attack Harry when his back was risky to say the least. Depending on what spell Malfoy was going to cast, Harry could have been seriously hurt.

"Hey, I've got to go," Harry said as he pulled Ariel out of her thoughts. "I told Hermione I had detention with Snape tonight but I've been gone for too long and she'll probably come looking for me."

"I understand!" Ariel told him. "Go on! I'll talk to you soon."

"Next week," he said. "There's a Hogsmeade weekend on Saturday that I can skip. Honestly, now that I know there's a dragon for the first task, maybe I'd better skip regardless."