Under the Stars

|Chapter 1|

The water was cold and dark as it rushed passed him. His lungs burned in pain, but it came as a comfort. His crisp, white Oxford shirt clung to his bony body and his pressed, black slacks pulled him down. He sighed, closing his eyes, a small smile on his face.

Draco Malfoy wasn't always like this; suicidal. He was happy when he was younger, before he knew anything about his father and the Dark Arts. His mother was happier too and his father and mother's relationship was of love, too. Now, his father was in Azkaban for something he was forced to do and his mother was just as bony and frail looking as her son. Malfoy Manor was in poor shape also, mirroring the family's depression within its walls. Wallpaper was peeling and the floors were scuffed and the black paint was chipping. The furniture lay in broken pieces around the house in various states of decay.

Draco Malfoy was suicidal and had tried everything in order to make the pain go away. He tried poison and cutting his wrist, but he couldn't go through with it. Something always held him back, no matter how much he wanted to. So, he tried one more time and his feet led him to the Black Lake. There was a long dock that led out to the middle of the lake where there was an island. He never reached the island, though. He climbed up the railing and looked down at the water, which was covered in millions of stars. He closed his eyes and without holding his breath, he jumped. Now, here he was; slowly sinking to the bottom; black dots starting to cross his eyes. Then, the pain was gone.

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The water was filled with a soft, female voice which soothed the creatures that lived there. She hummed a song that her mother had taught her and found it quite soothing herself since she was away from her. Her tail pumped through the cold water, which was warm against her bare skin. Her eyes, meanwhile, roamed across the lake bottom searching for some medicines that would help any injured animals she found and for herself.

  Being a mermaid in the Black Lake was not the best situation. Her tail would get snagged easily on the rough edges of the rocks and she would chip scales. The good thing was that she found a plant that could grow them back so it would seem like she hadn't broken them at all. Another danger of the Black Lake was the mere people. The mere people were dark creatures; though she had a dark side too, they were completely dark. They never liked to help anybody, but they never liked anyone for that matter. She stayed away from them, but every once in a while they would come near her and harass her. She didn't like them very much either and also for how they liked to abuse the lake creatures.

She spotted a small flower hidden in between the seaweed forests. It was single white flower, its petals coated in a slime to protect it. She smiled down at it and swam toward it. She needed more of its petals. She didn't like to have it on her or use it though. This small, white flower was dangerous for it could bring back people who had drowned, but only those who had just drowned. Using her sharp fingernails, she cut through its stem and placed it in her woven seaweed pouch slung across her body.

Suddenly she heard something and her musical voice came to a halt. It was large splash and she could hear the thud of a heartbeat. Thump, thump, thump, it vibrated through the water. Something was wrong though. As a mermaid, she could feel those sorts of things and so she raced off. Her tail thumped through the water and her hands lay limp at her side. Her head looked right and left, like a predator, for any signs of the animal that had caused the splash.

She found the animal at last. Its whole body was limp and still in water; floating to the lake bottom slowly. She cocked her head to the side at the creature; it wasn't a creature she had seen in the waters of the Black Lake. It was a human animal and one she had seen quite often above the land when she could walk on it during the day. She swam closer to him, her mind wondering what she should do. She studied his face for a quick moment, his blond hair falling into his eyes, which were closed. His lips were shaped into a soft smile as if he was happy to die. His heartbeat suddenly stopped. She sighed and felt her tears water at this realization. She suddenly realized what she was doing and her eyes stopped watering; a mermaid never cried, much less over her enemy. She sighed; she couldn't let him die, though she may not like him very much.

Reaching forward, she wrapped her arms around his waist and shot through the water to the surface. She took a breath of fresh air as she did so. The night sky opened up before, the stars shining so brightly down upon them. She swam toward the shore and when it got too shallow for her, she pulled both of them up on to the beach, the rocks cutting into her arms, but she could heal her flesh later. She pushed the blonde man up once more, so only his feet touched the water, and then pulled herself up beside him. Her tail flapped on the beach, making a soft beat. She began to sing to him, a song about a girl who fell in love with a sailor. As she did so, she brought out from her seaweed pouch, one of the white petals she had picked from before.

"My heart is pierced by Cupid," her voice was light and airy and many of the animals that roamed the land turned to her voice, suddenly hypnotized, "I disdain all glittering gold," she folded her hands over the petal and closed her eyes, "There is nothing can console me," she felt the petal change in her hands "But my jolly sailor bold," she opened her eyes and her hands and looked down at the petal, which was now a small pool of silver liquid, "Come all ye pretty fair maids, Whoever ye may be," and she moved her hands over his mouth, "Who love a jolly sailor bold," she parted her hands and the silver liquid spiraled down in a stream into the blonde man's mouth, "That plows the raging sea," she leaned on her elbow as she watched him, waiting for any signs that he was alive, "My heart is pierced by Cupid," she suddenly could hear the sound of a faint heartbeat. She smiled, realizing he will be alright, "I disdain all glittering gold," She dragged herself back into the water and watched, her head poking just above the water, as Draco Malfoy sat up on the beach. He coughed and sputtered, the Black Lake's water soaking his shirt once again, "There is nothing can console me," he looked around, probably looking for his savior. The mermaid smiled and dove under the water. Draco turned to the water, a song and a voice embedded in his mind, and watched as an aquamarine tail rose out of the water before disappearing into the dark water. One more verse echoed across the water to his ears and deep within the lake, "But my jolly sailor bold," and Hermione Granger swam back into the depths of the Black Lake, leaving Draco Malfoy behind on the beach.

AN:
Song: My Jolly Sailor Bold from Pirates of the Caribbean