Under the Sea

Chapter 3

A look into a Wizard's Mind

Albus Dumbledore was worried, even if he didn't look it to his staff. How could he make sure that Harry came to embrace his heritage if Triton wouldn't let him? Harry needed to train his magical ability before it came to be too late. Untrained magic might reveal the existence of the magical world and if Harry was living under the water, it might reveal the existence of Triton's world too.

"Fawkes, what's an old man to do?" he sighed as he sat down. He, unlike most of the Wizarding world, had known Harry was with his Aunt and Uncle instead of disappearing into thin air. But when his wards sent out a distress signal one day two months ago, he grew worried. Worried enough to check in on the boy—without being seen of course. It was to his shock to find only one boy in the Dursley home.

Albus grew increasingly worried after that and began a search for Harry; out of fear that rouge Death Eaters had somehow gotten hold of him. But he dare not inform the Order. Minerva would have his head for one and she would not be alone. Remus Lupin would have no qualms of meeting him under the full moon if word reached his ears that it was under Albus' watch Harry had gone missing.

He kept hitting dead end after dead end until a bit of gossip from the lake reached his ears one morning. A couple of mer-teens had been gossiping and were eager to share with the elder wizard once he stuck his head into the water to understand them. It seemed as though the king of the mere people had adopted a young boy. A boy with raven black hair and emerald green eyes, and a curious cut on his forehead.

He had gone to the merchief at once and asked if there was some way to meet with the king of the merepeople. The chief agreed to the meeting but it wasn't as successful as Albus had hoped. Now the professor was at the same place he started but with one block of good news. Harry was still alive. There was still hope.

0000

Back to Atlantica

The next day saw a palace in mourning and an adoptive prince in a panic. Harry had heard the new decree that had been passed about surface visits and humans—leading him to hide in the first place he saw. A cupboard of some kind, but it was small and no one would find him.

He knew he wasn't wanted—Attina and Alana had made that well known that morning.

"If it wasn't for you, Mom would still be here," the eldest merchild snipped as soon as Harry had woken up.

"Attina!" Ariel gasped in shock as she swam into the room.

"Attina's right," Alana nodded. "Nothing ever happened until he showed up. Then Mom dies in a boating accident!"

"Stop it Alana!" Ariel narrowed her eyes.

"I can't believe you're defending the little air breather, especially today of all days! You know what humans did to mom!"

"Harry has fins!"

"He wasn't born with them," Alana said smugly. Ariel turned to urge Harry to stick up for himself but Harry wasn't there. He swam out during the argument.

Harry had hoped this would be better than the Dursleys. Athena had been really nice and pretty, and Triton was alright when he wasn't yelling at certain members of the court. But after that accident, nothing had been the same. The girls treated him differently and Harry didn't know why. He knew he was a freak but he couldn't think what else it could be.

"Who could ever love a freak like me?" he muttered under his breath as tears began to stream down his face. "Maybe the Dursleys were right."

His mum and dad had to have loved him, but they died before Harry would ever know if that was true. Athena was really nice to him, and Harry would have suspected that she loved him too but then she died. Everyone Harry loved died.

"Ariel!" Harry shot his head up in shock and realization. He couldn't stay here. If everyone Harry cared about died, then Ariel would be next and then Triton would really hate him and send him off back to the Dursleys who would probably really kill him if he showed back on their doorstep.

But he couldn't leave. The palace was crawling with well-wishers and grieving subjects for him to escape unnoticed. Being the adoptive son of a king who had only produced daughters had made him somewhat famous among the people of Atlantica and Harry didn't like it. He couldn't control being a boy just as he couldn't control Triton had only had girls.

Nervously, he traced the outline of his lightning bolt scar that he had ever since he was a baby. He liked the scar, but he wished he could remember how he got it. It was a part of him, and what other boys could claim that they had a lightning bolt scar?

"It's clear," he muttered to himself as he opened the cupboard just a tad in order to see if the hallway was empty. Now was his chance. If he was going to protect Ariel, he had to swim away as fast as he could. Making it out the window had been easy, to his surprise. Turning around, he could see the palace in all its glory.

"Bye Ariel. Goodbye Athena," he muttered his goodbyes and turned around to swim off before the guards spotted him and forced him back in the palace. If Attina and Alana and the others didn't want him around, he wasn't going to stick around to get kicked out. He didn't know where he was going to go but...

"What's this?" he gasped upon seeing a grotto halfway in his little adventure. Truthfully, he was glad he had found it, as he had no idea where else he could go before Triton found him. Harry wasn't the best swimmer and it was the perfect place to hide except for the fact that someone else was already there.

"What are you doing here!?" Harry exclaimed upon seeing Ariel in the grotto. Ugh! He was running away to protect his adoptive sister and now she was in the exact place he wanted to hide out. He saw Ariel holding something and his anger was suppressed by curiosity. "What's that?"

"I don't know," Ariel sighed as she held out the object and put it on a shelf. "I found it on my way here."

"Why did you follow me?" Harry asked, his eyes still locked on the object Ariel had set down. It was really pretty, whatever it was.

"We've been together for two months," Ariel stated, pulling Harry out of his thoughts. "I think I know you by now."

"You should be with your family," Harry sighed as he looked down at his purple fins, the ones that had replaced his legs those many months ago. He could hear Ariel sigh but flinched at the hand on his shoulder.

"Harry, you idiot. You are my family!"

Unexpectedly, Ariel wrapped him up into a big hug that Harry found himself actually enjoying. Until she began hitting him.

"What-are-oof-you-ugh-doing!"

"That's for running away! Daddy's been worried sick about you and Alana's been crying nonstop and Attina's been snapping at everyone and Arista won't stop screaming and Adella won't stop pacing and—"

"Breathe!" Harry commanded his best friend. Did she mean what she said? Were they all worried about him? "But what about what Alana said this morning?"

"She didn't mean it," Ariel said with a smile, one that looked forced to a trained eye but Harry was not one of those people. "Come back with me. Please?"

Harry sighed but nodded, earning himself another hug from Ariel; one that did not catch him by surprise. "Hey Ariel?"

"Yeah Harry?" Ariel turned around to look at him.

"What if this was our little hiding spot? A place no one else knew about?" Harry suggested. "I could help you find more of those objects."

"Really?" Ariel grinned another forced smile, this one Harry caught. "That's a great idea!"

"By the way, how did you know I'd be here?" Harry asked as he swam out of the grotto, Ariel closing the rock door behind them as to avoid alarming those who lived around the area. It wouldn't do for their hide out to be discovered before they had a chance to use it.

"I'm just that smart. It's an older sister's intuition." Ariel said smugly

"You're a month older than me!" Harry almost shouted in boyish indignation, his emerald eyes glinting in relief. There was one member of the royal family who still wanted him around.

"Don't push it," Ariel stated and they both swam off.