The Voice, The Witch, and the Dark Lord

Part Three - Chapter Sixteen: A Mermaid in Human's Clothing

"Can you imagine?" asked the maid, whose name was Carlotta, to the other maids, as she washed Ariel's ship sail and rope "dress". Carlotta was stout and elderly, with midnight black hair that she kept in a right bun, held back with a red headband, and she had eyes as brown as a horse with shimmering hair, and fair skin. She did not put up with nonsense, but she made it her personal goal to help Prince Eric find happiness. She wrung the water out of the old sail, and continued to speak to the other maids. "Washing up like that on the shore?"
"Must've been a horrible shipwreck!" said a maid with blonde hair, who was washing Prince Eric's clothes. "I personally think Eric is getting attached to the girl, wouldn't you say, Carlotta?"
"I don't know," said Carlotta. "The law states that Eric must marry a princess. And I'm not sure she's, well, princess material."
"You're telling me," said another maid, who had brown hair. "Shows up in rags, and can't even speak. Not exactly my idea of a princess."
"If Eric's looking for a princess," said the maid with the blonde hair, "I know a couple of highly available ones right here."
"Oh, don't tell me you mean the six sisters from Gemmarum Origo," said Carlotta.
"He is looking for a girl with a beautiful voice," said the maid with the brown hair. "At least, that's what Grimsby's told me."
The maid with the blonde hair laughed. "And you think one of those princesses are the one with the voice?!" said the maid, laughing hysterically. "Can...Can you imagine! Princess Anastasia...Getting up there to...sing!!" She had to pause at times to try and control her laughter.
"I'd say there's only one princess there with a beautiful voice," said the brown-haired maid.
The blonde maid nodded in agreement.
"Princess Belle," said the brown-haired maid.
"Princess Tiana," said the blonde-haired maid.
The two looked at each other for a minute, then the brown-haired one spoke. "Tiana does have a beautiful voice, I'll admit."
"As does Belle," said the blonde maid.
"Are you all forgetting about the other one?" asked Carlotta.
"Who?" asked the blonde maid and the brown maid together.
"Princess Jasmine!" said Carlotta. "The one whose father broke the law?"
"Oh, yes," said the blonde maid. "Perhaps the law here could be overruled, too, like in Agrabah."
"Speaking of Agrabah," said the brown maid, "Jasmine isn't one of the princesses of Gemmarum Origo."
"True," said Carlotta. "But neither is Tiana or Belle."
"You're right, Carlotta," said the blonde maid. "But Anastasia is."
"Right, and so is Drizella, Cinderella, Marinella, Salmonella, and Annabella," said the brown maid.
"I do pity the poor child who was named Salmonella," said the blonde maid, hanging up Prince Eric's clothes to dry.
The brown maid laughed. "I pity the child named Drizella! Why, her name isn't even correct on the spell-check!"
"Amalia!" shouted Carlotta. "How dare you break the fourth wall?"
Amalia, the brown maid, smiled. "You shouldn't have mentioned it to the readers; now they know."
The blonde maid looked at Amalia. "Should we get back to work now?"
"What kind of question is that?" asked Carlotta. "We live to work, Maria! Now, we need to get the young girl out of the bath, into a fine dress, and into the Dining Hall! Come on! Haste to it, girls!"

~~~

"De tings I do for dat girl!" complained Sebastian, climbing up a clothes line all the way up through a window. "Over de wall! Under de gutter! In through de window!" He jumped inside and landed on a countertop. "Now, finally; someplace dat's safe..." Sebastian looked around and saw many dead fish carcasses in a pile, and boiling pots on a stove, and a fireplace burning with two fish on a tray inside. He gasped and felt lightheaded. He fell off the counter, and fainted.

~~~

Ariel looked up as Carlotta entered the room and wrapped her in a towel, drying her off. Though she had already spent three days on the shore, she had never had a bath such as this, one in a royal bathtub, with bubbles and fancy soap, as opposed to a shower from the Gryffindor Tower bathroom.
Carlotta handed Ariel a pink flowing dress and told her that she would wear that to dinner tonight.
Ariel took it in her hands and looked at it. A soft smile came across her face. It was the same dress she had worn the night she met Harry, as a human, in the Great Hall.
After a minute, Carlotta spoke. "Well, I'll just leave you to put it on." She turned and walked out of the room.
Ariel stared at the dress for a minute, stroking the soft fabric in her hands, admiring the touch she felt as she remembered the first time she ate with Harry, and how she still felt a twinge of love for him. Slowly, her feelings of joy and happiness turned to remorse and despair, as she remembered Eric and how she had already sealed her fate with Harry in the letter. She did her best to conceal her emotions, but a single tear slid down her face, onto the dress. She walked over to a mirror that was on the wall, took the towel that was wrapped around her off, and began to put the dress on. As she slipped it over her head, she remembered Ginny and Hermione, and how kind they were to her. She remembered how Hermione allowed her to wear her dress to the Yule Ball, and how Ginny gave her a bed to sleep in, and how they helped her (almost) get Harry to kiss her by telling him to ask her to the Ball... She began to smile, but also began to tear up at her memories.
If I could just see him again... thought Ariel, as she popped her head through the dress's head hole. She looked at herself in the mirror, and saw, not a sixteen year old girl, but a fifteen year old girl, with a fourteen year old bushy-haired girl to her left, and a thirteen year old red-haired girl to her right. The Hermione that Ariel saw in the mirror placed her hand on Ariel's shoulder and smiled. The Ginny in the mirror looked at Ariel in the mirror and whispered, "You look beautiful, Ariel."
The Mirror Hermione smiled. "You go kiss that prince," said Mirror Hermione.
Ariel touched her left shoulder, trying to feel Hermione's warm hand, but all she felt was her shoulder. Mirror Ginny placed a hand on Ariel's other shoulder, and Ariel grasped that shoulder, too.
"Knock their socks off, woman," said Mirror Ginny.
The two faded away, and Ariel was left standing by herself. She began to cry, but another person faded into the mirror. Ariel looked and saw a boy with messy black hair and black glasses, with a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead.
Harry Potter stood to Ariel's left side, and placed an arm around her, though Ariel could not feel his touch.
"Give Eric something I never received," said Mirror Harry, turning to Ariel. Ariel turned to face him, but no one was there. Mirror Harry leaned forward to kiss Ariel's cheek, but she felt nothing on her except the breeze from the open window. Then, Mirror Harry faded away, and Ariel was left staring at her reflection. Suddenly, Ariel's knees grew weak, and she sank to the ground. She hid her face in her hands, and was hunched over, crying.
There was a knock at the door.
"It's time for dinner!" said Carlotta sweetly, waiting for Ariel to come.
Ariel rubbed her eyes, and wiped the tears off her face. She then checked in the mirror to make sure her eyes still weren't red, and she heard Harry's voice, which spoke in a faint whisper. "Kiss the girl..."

~~~

Carlotta led Ariel down to the Dining Hall, complimenting how beautiful she looked. She also asked how she did her hair, but, remembering Ariel couldn't speak, told her to forget about it. Ariel wanted to tell her that she did her hair based on how Hermione and Ginny fixed her hair about half a year ago, but she couldn't.
They walked into the Dining Hall, and Eric caught Ariel's eyes, and he stared at her.
"Wow..." said Eric.
"Oh, my, Eric," said Grimsby. "Isn't she just lovely?"
Eric approached Ariel. "You look beautiful," said Eric. He motioned to the table. "Oh, why don't you come sit down?"
Eric led Ariel to the table, and pulled a chair out for her. She sat down, and noticed a fork lying down on the table.
Hm, thought Ariel. If Harry didn't laugh at this, would Eric laugh at this? She looked at the fork for a minute, then decided that she'd rather take the chance. Ariel picked up the fork and began to comb her hair with it. Grimsby, who had been lighting his pipe, paused to look at Ariel. And Eric looked at Ariel in confusion. Ariel placed the fork back on the table and looked down in embarrassment. Darn it, she thought to herself.
Grimsby resumed lighting his pipe, and Ariel thought, Hey, maybe I could make him laugh with this pipe. Er, "snarfblat"... She tried to make herself forget all her human knowledge, and to only focus on the uneducated mermaid side of herself. She smiled widely and reached for the pipe.
"Fond of pipes, are you?" asked Grimsby, handing her the pipe. "Can't say I blame you. That is an old gift from the Duke of Meap-"
Ariel blew into the pipe with great force, and black smoke puffed out of it and blew into Grimsby's face.
Prince Eric burst out laughing after looking at Grimsby's black, dusty face.
"Meapolus..." finished Grimsby, a touch of agitation in his voice.
"Looks like your pipe smoked you!" said Eric, laughing. He then cleared his throat, "Um, so sorry, Grim..."
Carlotta eagerly walked over to the three, handing Grimsby a napkin. "Why, Eric! That's the first time I've seen you smile in weeks!"
Ariel, who had looked down in shame after doing that to Grimsby, looked up at Eric and beamed. I did it! I made him laugh!
Grimsby wiped his face off. "Yes, very amusing..." said Grimsby sarcastically. "Carlotta, what's for dinner tonight?"
"Oh, you'll love it!" said Carlotta. "Chef's making his specialty; stuffed crab!"