The Girl with the Green Tail

Chapter Twenty Four: Ursula's New Bargain

"Poor, little mermaid," said Ursula. "It's not you I'm after, Ariel. I'm after a much bigger fish-"
"URSULA, STOP!!"
The King of the Sea stood in front of Ursula, trident glowing in hand, and halted her from going further.
"Why, King Triton," said Ursula, dragging her finger along the trident. "You're right on cue..."
"Give her back to me!" Triton demanded.
"Not a chance, Triton!" Ursula shouted, holding Ariel up by her hand. "She's mine now!" Ursula handed Ariel over to Flotsam and Jetsam, who held her bound by their tails. "We had a deal!" She held up the contract with Ariel's signature on it.
"Daddy, I'm sorry!" Ariel shouted. "I didn't mean to! I didn't know!"
King Triton pointed his trident at the contract, attempting to destroy it with all his power. But the contract was not destroyed, and Ursula cackled.
"You see? The contract's legal, binding, and completely unbreakable! Even for you!" Ursula said. She leaned over to Ariel, lifted up her head with one of her tentacles, and whispered to her, "Guess you could say it was like an Unbreakable Vow?"
Ariel turned her head to the side, trying to get Ursula's tentacle away from her.
Ursula laughed. She turned back to King Triton. "But, of course, I always was a girl with an eye for a bargain. And the daughter of the Sea King is a very precious commodity..." Ursula threw the contract towards Ariel, and she began to swirl around in a yellowish tornado formed by the contract. "But, I think I'd be willing to let her go...for a price..."

~~~

"What good would the Summoning Charm do, Ginny?" asked Hermione.
"It would summon Vanessa's source of magic!" said Ginny. "And the spell would be broken!"
"The sun's going down! We need to think of something before they-" Hermione pointed out to the lake, but only Harry and Ron were in the boat; Vanessa and Ariel were nowhere to be found. "Oh."
"Should we go after them?" asked Ginny.
"No," said Hermione. "I'm sure Ariel has an awesome princess warrior underneath that innocent looking face of hers."

~~~

"What could you possible want from me, Ursula?" asked King Triton angrily.
"Oh, I don't know just yet..." said Ursula, eyeing his trident hungrily. "But you'll owe me a favor." She waved her hand, and Ariel's contract was placed before him. "A small favor in return for your daughter's soul; I find that a pretty good deal, what say you, Triton?"
King Triton pointed his trident at the scroll, and his name appeared on the scroll where Ariel's had once been.
"Ha! It's done then!" Ursula shouted.
Ariel was free from the tornado once Ursula had said those words. And Ursula turned to leave, before saying to Ariel, "Oh, and you might want to check on your boyfriend up on the surface every once in a while." She then noticed King Triton's confused and unhappy expression, and added, "You also might want to tell your daddy about your past adventure in the last three days," and she swam off, cackling, followed by Flotsam and Jetsam.