Potions and Snitches
Snape and Harry Gen Fanfiction Archive

Author's Chapter Notes:
Harry admits all to Severus, who then shows him a different way to breathe underwater and rescue Katie.
If You Want to Breathe Water, You'll Need More Than Gillyweed
 

"Harry, calm down and talk slowly, you're mumbling," Severus ordered, muttering a drying charm so his son would not catch a chill standing in the Entrance Hall soaking wet. "Take a deep breath, son, and repeat what you said. All I heard was something happened to Miss Bell."

Harry took several breaths before he felt he was able to talk coherently.  Then he repeated what he had just said, adding hopefully, "But you can help me get her back, right, Dad?"

Severus hit himself in the forehead. Why did everything that could go wrong did go wrong on Halloween? "Come with me, Harry."

Harry followed his father's swift strides down to the dungeons, his heart still sick within him over Katie's abduction.  But he was praying his father would come up with a solution and quickly. This Halloween could not end in disaster and death like that other one had.  It just couldn't.

Upon reaching his office, Severus unlocked the door and ushered his son inside. "Now then, start from the beginning. Why were you out beside the lake tonight and how did you summon a kelpie from the Realm of Faerie? Were you, perhaps, experimenting with Advanced Summoning Charms?" Severus demanded, frowning severely.

"No, Dad.  I came outside to take a walk, I just couldn't take it in there anymore, it was too much, watching everyone celebrating when I was remembering how Mum died . . ." Harry said, lowering his head to hide a sheen of tears. "Katie followed me, she didn't want me to be alone."

"A wise decision. And then?"

"And then she wanted to test out the potion she'd brewed yesterday, so we went down to the lake and she tossed it in the water. And that's when things got crazy. The potion was supposed to summon a grindylow, but instead it summoned the kelpie."

The lines on the Potion Master's face deepened. "The potion I assigned her yesterday for her internship class with me? That potion?"

"Yes, sir. She bottled it and left one-"

"-on my desk," Severus finished, and summoned it with a flick of his wrist.

Then he whispered a word and a wisp of smoke appeared, writing the ingredients used in the potion in the air. "Kelpie scales," he read.  "Why would she use that instead of the grindylow scales I instructed her to?"

"I . . .I don't know.  I got the scales off your desk like she told me . . ."

"Wait. You were in here while she was brewing?"

"Yeah, I came down and she wasn't quite finished so I was helping her," Harry said defensively, flushing.

Severus eyed him, seeing in an instant that his son was hiding something. "Tell me the truth, Harry. You were doing more than helping her brew potions, weren't you?"

His son blushed and stammered and looked at his shoes. 

"Well?"

"Yes. I . . .we . . .were kissing . . ."

"You were kissing?" Severus repeated, his voice dangerously soft. "While making a complicated potion? Harry Albus Snape, what have I told you about brewing advanced potions?"

"That you should never . . .get distracted. That all of your focus should be on what you're brewing."

"And would you call kissing giving all your focus to your potion?"

"No, sir." His son said in a small ashamed voice. But then he said, half-defiantly, "But nothing happened while we were kissing . . .it was after . . ."

"Yes, after you were distracted. Where did you get the scales, Harry?"

"From your desk, Dad. She said they would be there."

Severus walked out to his desk in the lab and picked up the jar of black scales, still unlabeled. "This jar? These scales?"

"Yes, sir."

"Harry, these are not grindylow scales, they are kelpie scales, most likely from the kelpie you summoned.  I told Katie that the grindylow scales were back in the cabinet, but because she was too busy thinking about kissing you, she forgot and you added the wrong ingredient, thus changing the composition of the draft."

Now Harry wished the kelpie had stolen him away.  It was his mistake that had caused Katie's mishap.  "Merlin, Dad! I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to . . ."

Severus sighed. "You never do.  Perhaps next time you will think before you act!" Then he relented, for he could see just how guilty and miserable his son was feeling, and he recalled that Harry was only fourteen, and at fourteen you sometimes made huge mistakes.  "But what's done is done. Now we have to find a way to rescue Katie.  What exactly did the kelpie say to you before he took her? I need it verbatim, because any bargain you make with a fae creature must be kept to the letter, or else.  The kelpie of legend was not known for its mercy, it traditionally pulls its victims beneath the water and drowns or devours them."

Harry wanted to vomit. "But it said it was going to hide her there, not . . .not kill her!"

Snape laid a hand upon the distraught teen's shoulder. "Word for word, Harry."

Harry closed his eyes, clutching his amulet between his fingers, and slowly repeated what the kelpie had said, as well as his own words.

"You are certain he said he was not Unseelie?" Severus demanded, focusing on certain aspects of the conversation.

"Yes, he specifically said he wasn't allied with either court, Dark or Light. That he went his own way." Harry reassured him. "What difference does that make?"

"A great deal. If he was Unseelie, Katie wouldn't stand a chance, since a dark kelpie would kill her and break his promise if he could.  But kelpies, like most fae creatures, are not all of a piece. This one seems to be able to be reasoned with, not crazed with evil. I think he will hold to his end of the bargain.  Which means we must do the same."

"We only have till midnight, Dad." Harry said, anxiety tying his innards in knots. "And it's 8:30 now."

"Then we must work quickly." Severus rose and rummaged on the shelf behind him, muttering softly.

"What can we use to breathe water? Gillyweed?" Harry asked, knowing that was a quick alternative to a Water-Breathing Draft.

"No. If you want to breathe water like a fish, you'll need more than gillyweed. That only lasts an hour. Ah, here we are!" He pulled a long tall vial from the back of his shelf, the potion within was the green of the ocean and frothed and bubbled, sparkling even in the dimly lit office.

"What's that, Dad?"

"This is what we need to rescue Miss Bell. A Transmogrifying Draft." Severus said shortly.

"Huh? What's it do?"

"It will make us water-breathers for longer than an hour. Come. Time's flying."

The two used a secret passage to get to the lake, then stood on the shore and Severus uncorked the vial.  "Three swallows, no more." He waved his wand over himself and his clothes vanished.

Harry gaped at him, but his father paid him no heed whatsoever, instead walking ankle deep into the lake as if it were a hot bath. "Quickly, Harry! Clothes off and come into the water. Once you swallow the potion, the change will start immediately, and you need to be ready."

Harry shivered and started to remove his clothing, thanking God it was night and everyone else was inside.

He splashed into the water beside Snape, yelping a little at the coldness of the water. "Arghh! Merlin's balls, I can't feel my feet.  Are they still there?"

Severus shook his head.  "Quit babbling nonsense and drink. Three swallows only." He handed Harry the vial.

Harry tipped the potion into his mouth. The first swallow was vile, it was like swallowing sea water. He nearly gagged, but forced himself to swallow again.  The next one wasn't as bad, it just tasted like water. Coughing, he took a third swallow.

Severus grabbed the vial as Harry's body started to shake and writhe, transforming fast and hard.

Harry felt as if every bone in his body was being wrenched and ground into powder. Fire licked along his limbs and he opened his mouth to scream, but he couldn't remember how.  His legs fused together and he fell forward into the water.

To emerge moments later gasping and flapping a very large scaly fish tail.

"What? I'm a . . .mermaid?"

He stared at his bluish skin and webbed fingers in amazement. Tiny scales dotted his forearms and the back of his hands and he could feel the flutter of gills at his neck. 

Beside him, Severus thrashed and groaned before his transformation was also complete.  "Not a mermaid, foolish child . . .a merman!"

"Oh.  Right." Now he felt really stupid.

He looked at his father, whose skin was now a shimmering pale blue and whose hair was inky black, with pointed ears peeking from beneath it. Severus's tail was long and graceful, a combination of different sea-green hues melded with black, it was as large as that of a marlin.  Harry was surprised to see that his father's shoulders were well-muscled and defined in this form.  Or maybe it was true in his human form as well, since he did work out.

"Will we be able to use our wands in the water?"

"Yes.  Though some spells might respond differently than expected. So use caution, and don't cast anything without asking." Severus fixed his dark eyes upon Harry. "Now, let us dive and see what we can find beneath the lake."

"Dad, how can we see down there?"

"Fear not, Harry, our eyes were meant to see in the depths." Severus reassured, then he gave a mighty thrust with his tail and arced deep into the lake.

Harry found the water was no longer cold, but pleasant as it stroked his skin.  Trying to follow Severus' example, he thrust hard with his tail and dove beneath the water, praying he could find Katie before midnight arrived.

Chapter End Notes:
So . . .how did you like Severus's solution?
And who would have wanted to be spying on them when they transformed? C'mon . . .admit it!

Next: It's a whole different world beneath the lake, will Harry & Severus be able to navigate it?

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