The Coral Forest was well named, Harry thought as he swam through the living creatures, trying his best to avoid scraping himself upon the rough edges of some of the coral.  There were many different types of coral, besides the purple and white branching coral. Some of the coral was shaped like boulders, others were flat and formed shelves. Still others, known as pillar coral stuck up like fingers, forming a living stone forest.  The coral ranged in colors from gray, deep blue, purple and green, with the occasional orange as well. But besides the stony coral were soft corals, such as brain coral and sea fans and sea whips and staghorn coral all dwelled within the Coral Forest, and their splashes of brilliant color dazzled Harry's eyes for a moment.

Dozens and dozens of fish, ranging from fingerlings to large angel fish swam in and out of the coral, the current here was not as rough as in some places, and Harry had no trouble swimming along, except when the path through the coral narrowed and he had to turn sideways in order to squeeze through. Severus was quiet, concentrating on following the Locator Charm, though he did warn his son softly before they swam through a stand of brain coral to be careful about cutting himself upon the sharp points of the reef coral. 

"Where there are many fish, there are predators, Harry.  Barracudas, perhaps, and sharks, undoubtedly. So watch yourself, son. And if you do get cut, tell me immediately so I can heal it.  Blood in the water will attract sharks for miles."

"I will, sir." Harry promised.  "I've seen JAWS."

"Good, then you know to be careful." Severus said, and then he swam deeper into the forest. 

He had the deepest respect for the sea life that dwelled here, as a boy he had always been fascinated with the natural world, especially the sea, and had always regretted never spending more time by the sea shore.  But growing up at Spinner's End had not given him any opportunities for vacation at the sea shore and so he had to wait until he was grown to indulge his passion for discovering marine life. He wished he had more time to study the Coral Forest, for it was unlike any reef he had ever heard of.  But time was of the essence and so he regretfully pushed his fascination to the back of his mind and concentrated upon navigating the maze of coral.

 Harry was growing more and more anxious.  The clock was ticking, ticking . . .and every minute they spent searching was one less minute they had to find the bloody water horse and his latest victim.  He didn't like thinking of the vibrant beautiful Katie that way, but that was what she was right now.  And it was partially his fault, for not looking before picking up that jar of scales, for distracting his girlfriend during her brewing, he knew better than to do such a stupid thing.  Oh Katie, I'm sorry! I'll make it up to you, I swear.  As soon as I find you. God, let me find her. Let me not be too late. He would not be able to live with himself if she died.

His sense of time slipping from him increased his urgency and without conscious thought he found himself swimming further ahead, past Severus, deep into a stand of branch coral. Furious at the stony outcropping barring his way, he wriggled and shoved his way through it, and the backside of his tail caught on one of the sharp projections and sliced him open like a filleted flounder.

But it happened so quickly he barely felt it, and the first indication he had that he was cut was a swirl of blood in the water and a sudden stinging at the place where his scales began and his skin ended.

Severus looked up, cursing silently his son's sudden rush ahead of him, and his heart nearly stopped when he saw the blood staining the water a rusty red.  "Harry? Harry, are you all right?"

He thrust hard with his fins and shot a few feet ahead, but had to slow down because of the closeness of the coral. He carefully swam about the sharp branch coral and prayed his son was not leaking blood trail like this, that it belonged to a fish or a ray.  "Harry? Where are you? Are you hurt?"

"Umm . . .I'm here, Dad. Near the branch coral to the right. And I think I scraped myself."

Severus swore.  Damn kid could never avoid getting hurt! But he quickly located Harry by the amount of blood in the water, and found that his son had, as usual, underplayed the extent of his injury.  "That's no mere scrape, Harry. Turn over and let me see to it."

Harry opened his mouth to protest, then thought better of it. Sharks were drawn to blood in the water. But he was embarrassed, getting cut like that after he had promised to be careful and worse, getting cut on his backside, in a way.

He turned over, flushing hotly.

Severus swam up, wand out, and his eyes widened at the six inch gash that curved down his son's tail, no wonder blood was pumping into the water. "Merlin, Harry! Stay still. Good thing salt water cleanses wounds, I won't need a disinfectant." He put the tip of his wand at the beginning of the gash and chanted a few short sharp words.

"Ahh-oww!" Harry yelped, for there was a sudden sharp jolt of pain before the wound sealed itself, a week's worth of healing compressed into a minute.

"Done. Now let us swim away from here, and quickly." Severus urged, keeping his wand out just in case.  All of that blood in the water . . .

Harry grimaced and put a hand to his tail, rubbing away the lingering sting before swimming cautiously after Severus. That had hurt! But at least his father was not yelling at him for being so impulsive.  Harry had a feeling though that when all this was over . . .he was in for a blistering lecture.

Severus swam as quickly as he dared through the maze of coral, anxious to get as far away as possible from the site of Harry's injury.  There was no telling how many predators it would draw.

The tug of the Locator Charm drew him through a particularly thorny section of coral, and he kept a hand upon Harry's arm to ensure the boy swam slowly through that stretch. As they emerged from that part, a large shadow fell over them.

Both wizards froze. 

The shadow edged closer, and Harry gulped.  His sonar told him the approaching creature was about 23 feet long and 4, 500 pounds! As the shadow circled and glided downwards, Harry could make out that the tail was crescent shaped and totally the wrong shape for a friendly marine creature, like a dolphin.  The dorsal fin was also sharply pointed and Harry shivered. 

"Dad, that's a shark."

"I know.  I think, from the size, it's a great white," Severus hissed.  "Be still. Don't move an inch.  It might not be hungry. It may decide to look and move on."

Harry froze, every muscle in him cramping with dread.  He knew it was bad to show fear, that a shark could smell it, but he didn't know how to stop being afraid.  The shark could swallow him whole in one gulp and not even pause to chew. 

The great white cruised closer, and now they could see the dreadful maw, rows and rows of teeth glinting, and the cold dark eyes of the ocean's most feared killing machine tracked on them.  The shark circled lazily, mouth working, tasting the water, every circle bringing it closer to them.

There was something eerily terrifying about the silent way it came for them, as if it knew it had all the time in the world to catch them, and was not worried in the slightest they would escape.  Harry could see the spiky rows of gray skin upon its back and the white underbelly made him think of a cat for some reason.  A cat that was cruel and enjoyed playing with its food. 

Severus remained motionless, hoping the great white could not hear the hammering of his heart.  He had faced Death Eaters, the Dark Lord, and once a rampaging dragon, and out of all of them, nothing made his blood run cold as this giant predator, the white phantom of the deep, come looking for another victim to be its snack.  Merlin, if it has to take someone, let it take me, and spare my son. I would gladly give up my life for his.

The shark took in the scent of the two mermen and hissed softly through its teeth.  Normally it would not hunt such as they, it preferred easier prey, like large dumb tuna or octopus or seals. But it had fed upon a school of tuna a day or so ago and was now hungry again. It had scented blood in the water and the wriggling of some large trapped creature and had come to investigate. To its delight, it had found not one but two things to prey upon. The fear-scent burned its sensitive nostrils, making its nerves quiver and throb with hunger.

Closer and closer the shark circled, it could hear the staccato beating of the prey's heart, louder and louder, it drummed through the shark's nervous system, arousing it to the point of attack. Swifter than thought, it broke out of its circle and soared towards the small quivering one, figuring the little one was less work to kill.

All Harry saw was a pair of gigantic jaws arrowing towards him, and he screamed in terror and swam away, nearly slamming headfirst into the side of a gigantic rack of coral. 

Only his lightning swift Quidditch-honed reflexes saved him, and he twisted aside just in time.

"NO!" Severus snarled. "Not my son, you vicious bastard! Eat this!"

A crackle of electricity spat from his wand and struck the shark full on the nose.

The startled creature was knocked back a few feet and shook its head to rid itself of the sting.  But though the jolt had hurt, it had not frightened the shark away. Instead it had angered the big carnivore and the great white spun upon the larger merman and charged, jaws wide.

Severus shot away from the shark as if it was the devil himself, and right then he did not doubt it was a relation. The great jaws snapped shut a fraction of an inch before his tail. The wizard rolled about, curling his tail beneath him, swimming underneath the shark as he did so. 

"Dad!" Harry cried in horror. Furious, he snapped out a fire charm, only to discover that beneath the water, the fire emerged in a cold stream of ice, hitting the shark right below the gills.

The shark thrashed and shook, for the jet of freezing fire had knocked the breath from it for a moment or two.  Its gyrations shook loose several pieces of coral and they smashed into the sea floor with several large crashes. 

The predator shook its head, trying to get its bearings, while Snape took aim with his wand again.  "Harry, when I count to three, cast a Body Bind!"

"A Body Bind?" Harry repeated. "I don't understand."

"Just do it!" Severus snapped. "Ready? One . . .two . . .three! Petrificus Totalus!"

A sparkling jet of blue force erupted from Snape's ebony wand.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Harry shouted, and an equal jet of force shot from his wand.

The two spells struck the great white nearly simultaneously.

For one instant the shark hung suspended in the middle of the water, its body curved in mid-leap.  Blue sparks raced up and down its gray hide like fireflies and its eyes glinted as if in shock. 

Then it sank like a stone, mouth still showing those rows of teeth, down to the bottom of the sea.

Trembling, Harry swam over to Severus, who caught his son and hugged him hard. "Is it . . .dead?"

"It will be," Severus said quietly.  "If a shark stops swimming, it can't breathe and it will die.  But it was so large I knew that a single Body Bind wouldn't affect it, and that's why I need you to cast it as well.  But now that it's paralyzed, it's no more threat to us.  Are you all right?"

Harry nodded, content for the moment to lean against his father's chest and regain his composure.  He was no coward, but the shark attack had frightened him badly. He allowed himself to shelter in Severus's arms for a bit, realizing with a kind of wonder that together he and his father had defeated the greatest scourge of the sea, the monster that made hardened pirates quiver in their boots.  Bloody hell, we killed Jaws! 

He looked up and met Severus's eyes.  And in them he saw pride and affection. "C'mon, Dad. Let's finish this."

"Indeed."

"is the Locator Charm still working?"

"Yes." Severus replied, and he began to swim through the twisted branching coral, heading due west.

Harry wondered how much time had passed since they had started, and he looked at his magical watch. It had been 8:30 when they had dove into the lake and Harry estimated they ought to have at least an hour or an hour and a half left to find where the kelpie was hiding.  But when he looked at his watch, he discovered to his horror that it was almost eleven-thirty.

"Dad! We've got to hurry!" he cried.  "I don't understand what happened, but we've only got a half-an-hour before midnight! Well, maybe forty minutes."

Severus turned.  "How do you figure that?"

"Look at my watch," Harry gestured frantically. "I don't get it, Dad. I didn't think we were in the lake that long."

Severus inspected the watch, frowning, because his own estimate put their time at an hour and a half.  "This can't be possible . . .time doesn't speed up unless you have a Time Turner or . . ." His brow furrowed.  "Wait. When we crossed the Gate, this area of the sea . . .it's a different time zone.  The watch adjusts automatically to whatever time you're in. And this one must be at least an hour ahead of Britain's."

Harry groaned. "Damn that kelpie! He knew it! That's why he chose to come here." The young wizard slammed his tail down hard, making a loud splash.  "Sly sneaky piece of crap!" He wanted to use other words to describe the kelpie, but didn't dare.  His father detested when he swore and he didn't want to add a session with soap to his misdeeds. 

"Of course he knew.  He's over two centuries old, no doubt.  And the fae are known for their capricious and clever wit.  Very few things slip by them, especially when they make a bargain with mortals." Snape sighed.

"What do we do? Is there a spell to turn back time?"

"Regrettably, no.  We have only one option.  We must find her as quickly as we can."

With that, Severus turned back to where the charm pulled him and swam rapidly.

Harry followed and soon they were out of the Coral Forest and in front of a large limestone cave. There was a strange glistening green light over the entrance. Ten minutes had passed.

Severus paused and muttered several detection charms, making sure there were no harmful barriers or traps woven around the entrance.  The spells found nothing.

"Dad? Is this it?"

"Yes. The charm is certain she is inside there.  Light up your wand, Harry and let us confront this bold water horse."

"Lumos!" Harry said, and then he squared his shoulders and swam towards the cave entrance. Ready or not, here I come!