Harry and Hermione felt as if they were guests in their own bodies.

After Dolohov threw his signature curse at them and taken Cleo to use as a shield, something inside of them snapped. The scum of the earth had dared try to harm her and they wouldn't allow it.

The moment they had sunk beneath the waves, they immediately had pushed him into deeper waters until he let Cleo go in favor of trying to attack them only to freeze when he realized Harry and Hermione had started to change before his eyes.

Their eye sight was enhanced immensely, they felt their bodies were different. Everything about them was different but they didn't care. No, their focus was solely on the Death Eater before them. When he lifted his wand, Hermione moved forward and was past him, her arm outstretched and a gurgle shout came from the man behind her.

They circled him, making sure to not let him escape and they notice his wand arm was bent, his wand having been ripped away from his hand. Leaving him defenseless.

It felt almost natural. Primal even. Surrounding this man...their prey. They snarled at him, realizing that even their teeth had changed into sharp rows of fangs. They knew what they were doing was not right, they should knock him unconscious and drag him back to shore. But a bigger part of them was solely focused on eliminating the threat. Permanently.

The moment he turned, was the moment he made his last mistake.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry and Hermione floated in place, snarling and watching what remained of the man sink. They turned to one another before something catches Harry's attention from the corner of his eye and quickly turns to it, not having calmed down yet.

Hermione does the same and see five figures close to their size and a smaller one some meters away.

Tilting their heads a bit, they slowly swim towards them. All the while assessing if they were a threat. They both came to a stop a few feet from the mermaids. The little figure swam forward, causing the mermaids and the odd looking male among them to try and stop him, only to be stop by the odd looking female mermaid with them.

Harry stared as the young one swam to him and gave him a smile. Suddenly both Harry and Hermione calmed down and realized who was in front of them before looking down at themselves.

Whereas Hermione racked her brain as to how and why her body looked the way it did, Harry was reminded of the merepeople in the Black Lake he had encountered during the Second Task and how alike he looked like them. Bringing up their hands, the noticed they're webbed and their nails have been replaced by razor sharp like claws. Turning to the other they also see their eyes look more like a predators than a humans.

A small hand on Harry's cheek brought him to the little boy, to Teddy. Said boy was smiling at him as his eyes took in the shape and color of Harry's. For his part, Harry brought him for a hug and closed his eyes in tranquility. Teddy then pushed away from Harry and went to Hermione, giving her a hug as well. Finally, Teddy swims back to Andromeda and the duo take in the looks given to them by the resident mermaids and Lewis, whom looked close to collapsing.

Figuring the cat was out of the bag, Harry motioned for them to swim to the surface, figuring the girls had been underwater close to their limit of fifteen minute. They hesitated for a moment before slowly doing so after Hermione went first. Lewis was about to follow only to be stopped by both Andromeda and Harry.

He opened his mouth to say something but only bubbled gurgles were heard. Harry then motioned to the area behind his ears while looking at Lewis. Confused, he did the same and felt something that wasn't there before and turned to Andromeda. Understanding what he needed, she moved her hair and Lewis could see that, behind her ear, she had gills.

Realization hit him. He couldn't go to the surface, so long as he had gills or he would risk asphyxiation. Reluctantly he nodded and stayed by Andromeda and Teddy, who was swimming around them, oblivious of the tension.

Harry swam to the surface and saw the girls had yet to breach the water. Waiting on him while also giving Hermione weary looks. He swam past them to the surface and waited for the girls to join him. A moment later, four heads floated over the surface.

No one said anything, only stared at one another.

With a sigh, Harry spoke. "Are you hurt Cleo?" He asks and frowns when he found it difficult to speak due to the fangs.

Cleo watched as his tongue passed over his fangs and shivered. "No...no I'm not hurt. Harry...what happened to you? Who were those men and those lights that came from them?" Question after question left her and her panic built up once more. "Where's Lewis? What happened to him and Andromeda? Why do they look like that? How do they look like that and why aren't they here with us?!"

"Cleo, calm down and let me explain."

"Then start talking Potter, because I'm very close to boiling you right were you are." Rikki says in anger.

Harry clenches his jaw some. Taking a deep breath he tries to calm down and answers. "Lewis is fine. He's with Andy and Teddy. He can't come up to the surface like us or he will asphyxiate due to the gills he has. Don't worry he will be back to normal once he hour is up, same with Andy.

"As to why we look like this...I've no bloody clue, only a theory. Now, I'm guessing you want to know what that fight was about," the girls nod and Harry turns to Hermione who looks back anxiously before sighing and nodding. "Before I answer that, you guys have to stay behind us no matter what. Better yet, stay in the water by the shore."

Rikki was having none of that and swam closer to him, "not happening Potter. You aren't leaving without explaining what the hell that was all about."

Harry's eyes narrowed and he leaned closer towards her, instinct taking hold as he snarls at her and shows her his row of shark like teeth. "If you value your memories, you'll do as I say."

Uncaring of the fear in the girls eye, Harry turns to Hermione. "Get Andy, Teddy and Lewis close to the shore. I'm going to get the Aurors." After Hermione nods, he dives and the girls do too and see nothing but a streak of bubbles heading towards the shore.

They watch as Hermione goes to Andromeda, Teddy and Lewis and motions towards the shore as well. Andromeda looked resigned as she nods and heads over with Teddy in her arms and Lewis close behind.

Hermione waits as the girls seemed about to swim away. Her worry left when the begin to swim to shore.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry had dragged himself far away from the water and had used a heating charm to dry himself up. Now dry he goes to the still frozen Death Eaters who thankfully hadn't been able to see him, stuns them, ties them up after taking their wands and sighs before focusing.

"Expecto Patronum!"

His stag Patronus came out of his wand and circled him once before standing in front of him, waiting. "Death Eaters attacked my home. Three were captured and one is deceased, send the Aurors."

No sooner had those words left his lips, Prongs set off in the direction of the Australian DMLE and Harry turned to see the girls staring in the direction of his Patronus. Emma swam closer to shore, only to be stopped by a wall of water, courtesy of Hermione  before swimming forward.

Harry pointed his wand at her and a 'Wingardium Leviosa' later, was floating towards him and set her down, letting her use her power to dry up. Walking towards the house, she took storage of the damage and made intricate wave movements around the area and a list appeared in front of her before grabbing it and heading to Harry again.

"They did the basic warding to prevent escaping and anyone to investigate."

"So anti-apparation, anti-portkey, muggle repealing wards, silencing wards and confundus charms?" Harry lists, earning a nod from Hermione who isn't surprised at his answer. "They must've been following us from a distance, especially after being aware that we knew they were close." He walked closer to the water, "are Andy and Teddy there?"

The girls nod and Harry notices a light appear from the water, courtesy of Andromeda and then a rope of light appeared over the water and the number thirty appeared.

"Thanks Andy. Girls, Andy and Lewis will be back to normal in thirty minutes. I warn you now, not to mention Lewis to the people on their way here." He stared at them until they nodded.

Loud cracks were heard and Harry turned around to see six individuals in robes and on high alert. They didn't relax even when the spotted the captured Death Eaters. One of them walked towards Hermione as Harry joined her. "Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger. I'm the director for the Australian DMLE, White. You're Patronus reached us as we were ready to call it a day. Luckily my team of Aurors and I were there to answer your call for assistance."

"Thank you Director White. You'll find Nott Sr. Thorfinn Rowle and Walden Mcnair." Harry explains and hands him over their wands.

"You said the fourth one was deceased. How are you certain of this?"

At this, Harry's eyes hardened. "It was Antonin Dolohov. He cast his signature spell towards Hermione, the same one he had used while silenced back in Britain's Department of Mysteries. She barely survived it. Had I not pushed us both to the ground, we would have died.

"Our efforts doubled and when we started pushing him back towards the water and just far away from the anti-apparition wards, he was turning to try and escape...so Hermione and I ran at him and managed to grab him. We somehow ended out at sea and he had splinched himself badly. He bled out quickly."

Harry didn't flinch nor hesitate when telling the story, even if all of it wasn't the truth. Director turned to Hermione and she nodded in agreement to his words. Director White then turned to the water and noticed the three girls just staring at them. "It seems we need to call the Obliviators."

"No need. They aren't human." Hermione said loud enough for the girls to hear her and look at one another at her words. White turned to Hermione and back at them and the girls noticed the subtle nods from the duo. After a moments hesitation, they simply dove forward and Director White saw what Harry meant.

"Mermaids? There hasn't been a pod of mermaids this side of Australia for a long, long time."

"They were near when we were swimming back, Andromeda had consumed some Gillyweed and cast a Bubble Head charm on my godson when the fight got too heated and took cover in the water. I don't know why but they decided to help us."

"Then count your lucky stars Potter. Most mermaids are weary of humans to outright hating them. Well, it's been a long night for you all. So my team and I will take this scum to the Ministry and have them questioned under Veritaserum. Sorry we can't stay to help with the house."

"That's quite alright Director White. Thank you for your help and have a good evening." Hermione says as the director takes out a pen and, prisoners now wearing magical suppressors, activates the portkey and they're gone. His team nod towards Harry and Hermione in respect before Disapparating.

They remained there for a minute longer before sighing and then with intricate wand movements, their home was standing again. As if nothing had happened. They stared at the house before walking to the water. "We'll have to ward it again tomorrow and add more runes...plus have a panic room of sorts built in," Harry says and swims towards the girls.

They change and look down to see their bodies still remained the same predatory color and figure. Arriving by the girls, Hermione catches their attention. "Let's head to Mako. It will be better and safer than here for the time being."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The girls had gone ahead, Emma and Cleo holding Lewis one arm each before setting off at high speeds. Hermione had Andromeda on her side and Harry held Teddy as they swam after them.

Arriving at the Moon Pool, they see Lewis staying just under the surface and the girls were pulling themselves out of the water when Harry's and Hermione's pop out of the water. When they do, the girls freeze and watch as Harry wave his wand and Hermione starts to float out of the water and to the sand were she dries herself with her powers. As soon as her legs appear, she brings Harry up and dries him and Teddy to the sand. She dries Harry with her powers and he dries Teddy with a charm.

They stand to the side and Harry hands Teddy some transfigured toys. Once he was entertained, he turned to the girls who were still trying to get dry. Glancing at the water, he sees Andromeda and Lewis looking at them. Finally, a cloud of steam appeared and the girls were dried and standing on the other side of the chamber.

"Who are you...what are you?" Emma says, breaking the silence.

The duo glanced at one another before Harry turned to the girls. "Who we are is still the same. We are still Harry and Hermione; though Hermione's last name isn't Wilkins it's Granger, but as to what we are...it's a little more complicated than just being a merman and mermaid since last month."

"Stop stalling Potter and tell us the truth." Rikki almost shouts.

Andromeda emerges from the water and stands beside Harry, giving the girls a stern look. "I understand that it's been a stressful night for us, but I will not condone that kind of behavior and tone towards Harry or Hermione or I. Have I made myself clear girls?"

The girls took a step back and looked down, scared of the woman before them. So was Harry for that matter, Andromeda being a Black and all.

"Harry, Hermione, Teddy and I are what you would call witches and wizards. We are magicals."

Lewis had just got out of the water when he heard her last words and gave her an incredulous look. "Magicals? Like witch and wizard kind of magical?" Andromeda nods and so do Harry and Hermione. "There's no such thing as witches and wizards."

"Then by all accounts there's no such thing as mermaids then is there?" Andromeda snaps at Lewis, taking offense. "All four of us were born magical. We didn't get our magic by any means such as the moon or an artifact, we were born with our magic. We aren't Wiccan, for we use wands to cast spells."

The girls and Lewis were looking at her with incredulity. "You expect us to believe you're and Hermione are witches while Harry and Teddy are wizards?"

"You want more proof than what you saw at the house?" Harry says, trying to remain patient. He remembers when Hagrid said he was a wizard and how Hagrid must've been mistaken. "You saw the jets of lights leave our wands, how I levitated Hermione to the sand and my Patronus; the misty white light that went flying towards a direction and finally when Hermione and I waved our wands and the house was once again intact."

Emma had to admit his words made sense, but it's just too hard to believe! "What if your supposed magic just comes from you using those sticks?"

"Wands, and no." Hermione says as she takes her lecturing tone. "Our wands are conduits for our magic, not the source of it. If we hand any of you one of our wands, you wouldn't be able to cast any magic even with the correct incantation and wand movement," she points out and just to get the message across, she steps forward and hands Emma her wand. "Go on and try a Wingardium Leviosa. You've seen Harry and I do it and heard how it's pronounced."

Emma held the st--wand in her hand and her face adopted a smug look before looking back at Hermione. "Fine," she says and focuses, remembering the movement, words and pronunciation. "Wingardium Leviosa."

Nothing happened.

A frown marked her face. "Wingardium Leviosa!" Again, the results were the same and her frustration grew. "Wingardium LEVIOSA! Why won't it work?!"

Hermione walked to her and took her wand before she did anything stupid, like break it. "Because you aren't a witch and have no magical core. Therefore, you can't cast spells or do magic like us." She steps back to Andromeda and Harry, putting her wand in her holster. "Believe us now?"

"But I thought witches were green, covered with warts, pointy hats and a cackling laugh/voice." Cleo said.

"Besides, if you are witches and wizards; wouldn't we have encountered any?" Rikki points out.

"Witches aren't green Cleo. However the other things you pointed out describe a Hag, not a witch." Hermione tells her before turning to Rikki, "as for encountering any magicals; chances are you have. They are like any other human, the only difference is they don't go about doing magic in front of Muggles."

At the word, Lewis frowns. "Muggles?"

"It's the term we use when referring to non-magical people," Harry answers him and takes out his own wand. The group look at it with some fear, but also curiosity. Harry points at his shoe and makes it change colors, causing their audience to be in awe. "Magic is beautiful, it's part of us. It is us."

He changes his shoe back to normal and his expression grows serious. "But just as there's Light magic, there is also Dark magic. However, recently I came to the conclusion that Magic, be it Light or Dark is just Magic. It's the person casting that's the spell that can do good or evil.

"Some Dark hexes and curses could be used to do good, just as some Light spells and charms could be used to do evil." Harry continued, making even Andromeda look at him with a proud smile on her face. "It's the intent."

"Very well said Harry." Andromeda says and hugs him.

The group just stared, finally believing and accepting what they had witnessed, been told and shown. That Harry, Hermione, Andromeda and even Teddy were born magicals.

Though Lewis still had some confusion. "So if you and the group of robed men that appeared out of nowhere are magical, why did they not ask Emma, Cleo and Rikki what they were doing there?"

Hermione chuckles. "Oh, that's because they thought they were Muggles and were about to call the Obliviators to wipe their memories of ever witnessing magic. Luckily the girls heard us when we told the Director they were mermaids and showed their tails."

Lewis and the girls gulp, all agreeing on the same thing. To keep their secret if only to preserve their memories as well.

Full moon image: mindwavezz.com

Patronus image: hawberries.tumblr.com