Speak Up - Female Deaf Harry Potter AU

Prefect's bathroom

I need your help with the hint egg, please meet me at the statue of Boris the Bewildered on the fifth floor right before curfew. I'll get you back after . We're going swimming, bring a bathing suit. Tomorrow is Saturday so you might as well come.

• • •

Hari pulled the cloak over herself and pushed open the common room door. She had been held up by Ron and now had ten minutes to get to the statue. She walked quickly down several steps of stairs and ran down a few corridors. She checked her watch, she had 5 minutes left, and the statue. was just around this corner.

She turned the corner, Draco was leaning against the statue nonchalantly. Entirely because she could, she kept the cloak on and walked slowly up to him, tapping him on the shoulder. He whirled around, hand out and felt the cloak. Rolling his eyes, he grabbed it and pulled it off of her. She stuck her tongue out at him.

"What are we doing here?"

Hari pulled out the Marauder's Map, making sure no one was in the bathroom.

#) Taking a bath. We don't have baths in our dorms, just showers. (#

"You don't have baths!?"

#) You do!?  (#

Draco nodded.

#) That's not fair. (# Hari pouted

"But why do you need to take a bath to have my help with the egg?"

#) You because I can't hear it, and I'm not comfortable with anyone else seeing all my scars.(#

"But why a bath?"

#) Because Cedric told me to. (#

He raised an eyebrow, "Diggory told you to."

Hari nodded.

"And is he joining us?"

Hari shook her head.

"And why did he tell you,  it's a competition?"

#) I told him about the dragons. (#

"You told him about-" he shook his head, "Why am I not surprised?"

Hari grabbed his arm and dragged him down the hallway, "Come on, we don't want to be caught out after curfew."

She stopped at the fourth door to the left. #) Pine Fresh (#

The door opened and Hari slipped inside, pulling Draco after her and bolted the door.

She paused by the door, taking in the beauty of the room. It would be worth becoming a prefect just to be able to use this bathroom. It was softly lit by multiple fire brasiers, and everything was made of white marble, including including the pool full of clear blue water. About a hundred golden taps stood all around the pools edges, each with a differently coloured Jewel set into its handle. Long white linen curtains hung at the windows; a large pile of fluffy white towels sat in a corner.

She wasn't sure how a bath would help solve the egg, but the bath definitely did look nice. Hari quickly cast a silencio on the room so that the egg wouldn't wake up the whole castle.

Hari pulled off her uniform, now in her bathing suit, and carrying the egg, made her way to the edge of the bath. She put one of the towels and the egg at the side of the bath, and stuck a foot into the hot water before slipping into its warmth.

Draco, of course, cannon balled, splashing her. She pushed her now soaked hair out of her face and splashed him back.

She struck out across the bath and swam to the other side, looking at the many taps before choosing the green tap, which sent out emerald swirls of bubbles out across the entire pool. She turned it off and swam over to the pink tap that was next along the line.  It gushed pink and blue bubbles the size of footballs, the silver one poured ice-white foam so thick that Hari thought it would have supported her weight if she'd cared to test it; a third sent heavily perfumed purple clouds hovering over the surface of the water.

She turned around to look for Draco, but couldn't see him anywhere. He burst out of the thick bubbled next to her and grabbed her. Hari fell backwards into the water, surprised and reached the surface to find him laughing his head off.

They amused themselves chasing each other around the pool and splashing each other for a while before Hari remembered that they were here to solve the egg.

She made her way over to the edge of the bath and dried her hands on her towel before picking up the egg. 

Hari stood on her tippy toes in the water, it was very deep, and thought. Draco took the egg from her, "What does it do when you open it?" 

#) It screams like a banshee,(# She said, #) Or so I'm told. (#

Draco opened the egg and dropped it in surprise as it presumably began to scream.

"Sorry," He said, looking at the white foam that came up to his chin. "I'll go get it."

He disappeared under the white foam. Hari waited for him to resurface, but he didn't. Worried, Hari dove down after him. He wasn't moving, she grabbed him by the arm and pulled. They reached the surface, spluttering.

"I was almost done." He frowned, "Why'd you pull me up?"

#) I thought you were drowning! Why did you stay under the water? (#

"I was listening to the egg."

#) You were listening to a screaming egg? (#

"No it was singing a riddle."

#) Oh, sorry... ummm, I'll let you get back to that then. (#

He nodded, taking a deep breath and disappearing under the bubbles again. Hari floated down and sat on the bottom of the bath, watching as he floated with his eyes closed, his hair fanning out softly around his face.

He made his way to the surface again. "Ok, I've got the lyrics memorized." He looked at her "Come seek us where our voices sound, We cannot sing above the ground, And while you re searching, ponder this: We've taken what you'll sorely miss, An hour long you'll have to look, And to recover what we took, But past an hour- the prospect's black, Too late, it's gone, it wont come back" He seemed to be singing, Hari wished she could hear him, imagining his voice was beautiful.

#) That seems.... ominous.(#

Draco nodded, "Yeah, I wonder what it means."

#) I've got to go and look for people who can't use their voices above the ground.... and the've taken something I care about. I wonder what that will be. (#

"I do as well, it couldn't be anything too important, incase it was lost."

#) It's got to be an aquatic creature of some kind, an aquatic creature with a human voice. (#

Hari swam in lazy circles while thinking,  then spotted a painting of a mermaid. #) Wait, are there mermaids in the lake? (#

"I believe so, I'm pretty sure it's the biggest population in England, why?"

#) That's it! I've got to find the mermaids and retrieve something the've stolen from me. (#  She suddenly realized what she was saying, and she felt the excitement drain out of her as though someone had just pulled a plug in her stomach. She wasn't a very good swimmer; barely staying afloat in this bath. She'd never had much practice. Dudley had had lessons, but Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, no doubt hoping that Hari would drown one day, hadn't bothered to give her any. 

#) Draco, how am I supposed to get there? I mean you can see me right now, I'm barely staying afloat. (#

"I think the real question is how you're going to breath at the bottom of the lake."

#) No clue, but I suppose I could just sink to the bottom, but then I'm not sure how I'm supposed to surface again. Or breath. (#

"Breathing is kind of necessary."

#) If only my form was aquatic. (# She said to herself, not thinking.

"What?"

#) Um, how can I become aquatic? (# She said quickly.

"I have no clue, I'm sure Granger does though."