The King Of Snakes (A Harry Potter Fic)

11. Lord

     The rest of the train ride was spent mostly in silence. The twins and Lee pouring over notebooks full of new plans, Hermione looking over her books, Neville and Percy engaging in quiet conversation, and me and Dray cuddling. It was long past nightfall by the time the train reached the Hogsmeade station and we were able to make it to the boats.

     The boat ride was easier this time, as I knew who to sit with and how to school my expressions. I looked down to the water as we glided across the lake and, to my shock, the merpeople were watching from just below the surface. Their appearance was different than it was when I originally met them in the second task. They were overly beautiful. If I had to guess, they were a nice mix of sirens and several other types of merpeople.

     A few who saw me grinning at them waved. As I waved back, 2 dove down to the depths. One female swam close to the boat that held me, Draco, Neville, and Hermione. As she got closer, she put her hand to right under the surface of the rippling water, within touching distance, and I understood that she was one of the braver ones. She was making a new pact between them and the lord of Hogwarts so that the queen wouldn't have to when she reached the group. The boats stopped moving as my fingers met hers and the other students started murmuring and looking around.

     What no one knew about merpeople was that they could talk above the water, but they couldn't sing. So I came to everyones suprise when they poped their heads up tentively, but didn't say or do anything. Waiting for their queen to make the first move. When she emerged she made it acutely aware to everyone exactly what her status was. She had long black hair, glowing silver eyes, a small nose, a pale complexion, and plump red lips. Nestled into her long locks was a lavish crown adorned with rubys, Sapphires and pearls.

     "Welcome home to the lord of Hogwarts. We have been waiting for you for many years. As you have renewed the pact of protections with our people, we have a show for you before you make it to the castle. Enjoy, and return whenever you please. We love to talk, but have barely any visitors." Her voice was harsh, not from disuse, but from their language; from the harsh constants and silky vowels. As soon as she was done speaking, all of them sunk down under the dark water.

     The show that came after was, indeed, spectacular. It started with one merman rushing the serface of the water, then going airborn. While out of the lake he arched over my boat and spun, sprinkling several people with water. As he landed back under the protection of the waves, more flew up doing similar things in a series of ornate and complicated aerial acrobatics. The ending was even more exciting.  The queen sat right under the surface of the dark waves and sang for us in her native toung. No one could understand what she was saying, but her voice was lulling many into a trance like, and euphoric, state. When she was finished, she surfaced and bowed to a round of cheering and applause before diving down, back to the safty of the deeper and darker waters.

     When she was out of sight, the boats moved forward again. We were already over half way to the shool tunnel docking system, so it wouldn't be very long before we were going to be standing before the older years. McGonagall and the other staff were probably getting slightly worried for them as it took a full 30 minutes for the merpeople's show. It will be interesting to see their faces when all of the first years were sopping wet, while my group was bone dry.

     "Feel honored! No' only did they say tha' th' heir of Hogwarts has returned, bu' they pu' o' a show fer ya'! The biggest thing ye' tho' has t' be the fact tha' th' qeen ha'n't been seen near th' surface for nearly 100 years!" Hagrid boomed over the excited chater on the, now soaked, first years.

     We docked with ease and clambered up the stone steps, out of the docking system, and up onto the grounds. The others were looking around nervously as we made our way up the front steps to the front door leading to the entry hall. They took in the whomping Willow and the edge of the forbidden forest, which  wasn't always forbidden, with anxiety. The forest was ment for those with a creature inheritance; they could hunt when they needed to, or if they were a forest lord (which is very rare), they had a place to use their powers. My group, however, was looking around merely joyus to finally be home.