yule ball

surprise!

 The crowd's jeers faded into the background hum of the lake as Harry dived deeper into the murky lake, gills opening and closing slowly. He swallowed a mouthful of freezing water trying to get the taste of Gillyweed out of his mouth.

Harry still couldn't believe that the strange, octopus-like ball that Dobby gave him had worked. He didn't know if he would've tried it, except the stakes were so high. He felt familiar guilt settle in his stomach when he thought about all the hours Draco had sat with him, puzzling over the riddle. All the times he had put it off, only for Draco to be the thing that Harry would miss most.

He pushed his arms against the water, pushing further into the inky black water. He ignored the stinging cuts he had gotten from the Grindylows and swam towards the faint light that emanated from the cavern below.

He swam into the merpeople's village. They immediately turned their heads towards Harry, raising spears with bones mounted on them. Their faces were not like the mermaid from the portrait: they were grey and all sharp angles. They not only had fish tails, but he could see other part of them were fish-like too, from their webbed hands to their pointed, barred teeth.

But most importantly, Harry could see four figures in the center of the merpeople's makeshift town, their bodies slumped and faces pale.

He moved to go over to the captives, but the merpeople crossed their swords and glared at him.

No, he thought, I have not come this far just to be stopped.

In fact, he saw Draco tied up, his blonde hair floating above his head like a halo, a calm expression, and he was even more determined to save him than he had before. He scanned the ground quickly, ignoring the whispers of some strange ancient language that began among the merpeople.

He found what he was looking for relatively quickly, a jagged stone glinting as it lay on the ground. Harry bent down slowly and picked it up, careful to not make any sudden movements.

"I'm not afraid to use this." Harry gestured to the rock in his hand. Talking underwater felt strange, but the merpeople whispered among themselves, and Harry was sure they had understood. Without waiting for permission, he brandished the rock as if it was a sword, pushing through the merpeople. Thankfully, they left him alone.

He approached Draco, immediately hacking at the rope with the rock. Hermione caught his eye and he felt a sting of guilt that he could not rescue her, but he reminded himself that Hermione was Krum's responsibility, and Draco was his.

The ropes took longer to fray and eventually snap than Harry had thought, and by the time he was finished, Krum, with a huge shark head instead of his own, had already started working on Hermione's bonds.

He took Draco by the arms, an awkward hug-hold, and began to swim. The merpeople didn't bother him as he passed by them, glaring as if daring them to try something.

Harry swam out of the cave, glancing over his back and adjusting his grip on his boyfriend. The water slowly became lighter and Harry could see the surface sooner than he had anticipated. He grasped onto Draco's robes as he pulled him towards the light.

When he finally broke the surface, he let out a gasp, taking in gulps of air. Sometime in the last couple of seconds he had been underwater, his gills had disappeared, and the harsh, late winter air felt strange after breathing in water for so long. His breaths came in ragged.

Draco's eyes fluttered open, and he blinked twice as Harry swam them both to the shore.

"Harry?" Draco murmured, his head resting gently on Harry shoulder.

"I'm here." Harry tightened his grip.

As he rested Draco on the shore, he breathed a sigh of relief.

He could hear the cheers of the students, applauding him, the first champion to return. But all that faded in comparison to seeing his boyfriend's face, the shock fading as Draco realized that he safe with him.  

...

okay, i wasn't going to publish this, it's kinda a little unofficial epilogue, but i'm going to bookcon over the weekend and wanted to publish something little so there's not a super long gap between this and my next story. i might do a oneshot too, but i'm not sure yet. So here you go!

also, cause this is almost at 4k reads, which is a little insane. (i expected it to get 1k reads max so...)

...

edit 4/18/20

holy shit. you GUYS. its the anniversary of me publishing this (my first fic!!) on wattpad and somehow this has 123k reads?? everyone who writes comments and votes literally makes my day. 

its crazy that it's been a year because i seriously worked so hard on this and to see that people actually enjoy it this much is kinda insane??

i've been considering rewriting this because my style has improved so much (check out for the dancing and the dreaming for proof ;))) but like idk if anyone wants to see that.

anyways just wanted to thank everyone who has read this far i love you all :')))