Harry had gone and asked Andromeda for some help and ideas. Harry knew what Hermione liked and wanted to find a way to incorporate some of those elements into the date.

Andromeda suggested they go out to have a date lunch and then walk around for a time, or swim and then on a secluded area, give her a gift. She let Harry decide what kind of gift to get her.

With all the planning for the upcoming date, the last thing Harry wanted or needed was for his batch of Potter luck to strike. Sadly, that is exactly what happened a few days later.

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

Harry and Hermione were having a nice lunch, remembering good times at Hogwarts and telling each other about before Hogwarts. Things they had been too ashamed to share before, such as the teasing and name calling on Hermione's part and the 'loving' care Harry experienced in the hands of the Dursley's.

They even talked about the times neither of them wanted to be near Ron, especially after the first trial during their fourth year. Harry could only apologize for never taking her side or defending her when she needed support. Ron had been Harry's first real friend, and thought if he took her side, he would lose him. It took him being in Auror Academy for him to realize that he wouldn't have been alone.

Hermione would have been there for him.

Harry had just paid the bill and were about to enjoy some desserts when both their phones began to ring.

They ignored them but after the fifth time ringing, they groaned and answered.

"Hello?" Both had said, Harry trying to control his frustration while Hermione let it show in her voice with no remorse. Harry had to contain a laugh at that and pay attention to the voice on the other side of the phone.

"Harry, we can't do this!"

"What are you talking about Rikki?"

"Charlotte! She's becoming more and more annoying! She won't listen to our advice, she believes she's better than us. Oh! Get this, she has ALL of our powers!"

"What do you mean all of your powers?"

"Exactly what I mean! She has Cleo's control over water and wind, Emma's power to freeze and make snow from nothing, and my powers of boiling liquids and summoning lightning! She has no trouble rubbing it in our nose and Lewis is trying to convince us to let her be a part of our group to help her. Cleo of course agrees with him and Emma believes Charlotte deserves a chance."

Harry had to take deep breaths to control his temper. He looks to Hermione, who was listening to the person on the other end with an annoyed frown on her face. She turns to him and mouths "Emma."

"Rikki, I'm kinda in the middle of something. We'll meet you at Emma's later." With that, he hung up and Hermione did the same. "So much for our nice date. It's barely been a week and already they are pulling us along."

"I know, but I enjoyed our lunch date. Let's enjoy our desserts and then head over to Emma's."

"I pray to Merlin they don't invite Charlotte over."

Hermione nodded and they started to eat their desserts slowly, trying to enjoy what was left of their lunch date.

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

They had apparated a few blocks away from Emma's house and walk the rest of the way. Once at the house and ringing the bell, Emma answers and lets them in.

"Thank you for coming so quickly." Emma was going to say more but stopped when she saw their annoyed but serious look. "Were you...busy with something?"

"Yes, our date. Now what's going on with Charlotte?" Harry asks and moves to the sitting area.

"Date? You two...oh! I'm sorry." Emma says only for Harry to wave it away and she continued. "We called you here to ask for some help with Charlotte. We don't know what else to do! Lewis even told us she's convinced she's the only real mermaid because she wasn't changed by accident."

"How do you want us to help you? We won't be anywhere near her, casual or otherwise." Harry says as Hermione sits beside him.

"She's becoming power hungry Harry! She almost hurt someone because they were taking Lewis' boat. She went mermaid, in a place were she could be easily spotted and started to use her powers on him! It took al three of us to make her stop!" Rikki states.

Hermione turned to Harry and both seemed to have a mental conversation. "Like I said, we want nothing to do with her, however...we can try and help without revealing either of our gifts."

"Good, because Lewis just texted me...and is on his way...with Charlotte." Cleo says and can only look down at the angered looks coming from the magicals.

"You invited her!?" Hermione all but shouts. Were it not for the hand on her waist, she would have stood up and Dissaparated back home.

"We need to give her the benefit of the doubt Hermione. She'll calm down soon," Cleo says. Though it was uncertain who she was trying to convince more, them or herself. Before anything else could be said, the bell rang. "That might be them."

Emma goes and opens the door, letting Lewis and Charlotte walk in.

The moment she did, both magicals took in a hiss of breath. They could feel her power, but what worried them was the fact that it felt wrong.

Now they were worried, not expecting for her to feel...corrupt.

Charlotte turns to them and is confused when noticing the two most recent faces in the Gold Coast. "Umm...I thought it was just going to be the girls and us Lewis. What's going on?"

"We thought it would help if you knew two others that know of the existence of mermaids," Lewis says rather quickly and holds her hand before turning to the two magicals and giving them a pleading look. "They've come across another small group of mermaids and--"

"How did they find out about Emma, Rikki and Cleo?" Charlotte interrupts and gives them a dubious look.

"By accident. Rikki and I were having an argument close to the water, she lost her footing and fell. Next thing we know, she has a tail. Seeing as she would more than likely not want out help, we took steps back so Emma and Cleo could help her. Imagine our surprise when they hesitated. That was more than enough for us to know." Harry answers. While most of it was a lie, there were some elements of truth.

He kept eye contact with Charlotte, not flinching until she gave in. "I guess that's fair, but how are you both going to help? I'm fine."

"Are you? From what we heard you've recently developed these gifts and you aren't being careful." Hermione speaks in a non accusatory tone.

Charlotte narrows her eyes. "What would you know about mermaid powers? You're just a couple of people that were lucky in finding mermaids. You aren't one, so you don't know anything. My personal opinion? You're jealous of what we can do."

Both magicals simply stared at her in silence, not responding to her jabs. Rather they turned to Lewis and gave him an annoyed look for bringing her along before turning back to Charlotte.

"No disrespect Charlotte, but we don't need to be like you." Harry says and holds Hermione's hand.

This caused Charlotte to frown and clench her fist while directing it at them. Lewis notices and takes a hold of it before she could cause any harm, but he wasn't fast enough.

A hiss of pain escaped Hermione's lips as she looks to her slightly blistered hand. Harry does the same and his expression goes cold. The temperature dropped before his eyes slowly move towards the red headed girl.

The smug look was wiped from her face when her eyes locked on to his and she felt herself freeze in fear. She tried to use her powers, but her body wasn't responding. A weight seemed to be pushing her down, her breathing became shallow and fast. Her mind was in chaos, not knowing why his eyes were causing such a response from her.

Charlotte didn't know how much time had passed, but the pressure left her and the room warmed up again. Her eyes went to Harry as he took Hermione's hand and both stood. They made their way to the door but stop and both turn to Charlotte again.

"If you ever do that to Hermione again, you're going to wish to have gills to be able to breathe underwater to have a chance of getting away from us," and with that, both leave the red head standing there. Her fear slowly turning to anger at his audacity to threaten her. Charlotte walks to the door with the intent of facing him only to see them rounding a corner.

She walks in and slams the door just as a loud crack was heard.

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

Both Harry and Hermione had gone home headed to the basement to let off some steam by dueling with dummies.

Hermione was being careful in not completely destroying the dummies. Harry, not so much. He was livid that Charlotte had the audacity to harm his Hermione simply by stating they didn't need to be like her.

He dueled with the dummies at a higher difficulty than Hermione for another hour or so before he destroyed the last one and collapsed in exhaustion. Hermione had put up a barrier around her and waited for him to finish rather than leaving or trying to stop him. Now that he was done, she approached him and helped him up to his bathroom, Andromeda keeping Teddy busy so he didn't see his dad in such a condition.

Once the tub was full, Harry thanked her and she in search of the books and scrolls, hoping to find something useful.

For his part, Harry was bone tired. Maybe he pushed himself a little too hard, but he needed to let it out. After returning, Hermione had actually let him apply some Essence of Dittany on the formed blisters before they went to the dueling area.

He knew Charlotte would be difficult to work with, but he had never expected for her to harm Hermione.

Harry knew Rikki was right, that Charlotte was growing too power hungry and didn't care who she hurt in the process. She was lucky Harry had been able to calm himself down, otherwise he would have hexed the girl six ways to Sunday.

Exhaling, he looks at his tail and begins to bath himself. It was by sheer genius that when they bathed, their tails weren't harmed by the human soaps and salts. Rather their tails were as healthy as the first day they got them.

Finished with his bath, he drained the water and had an idea. He had left his wand on the sink so he lifted his hand slowly, very slowly started to control the water off of his body. His body did the customary turning into water before his tail gave way to his human body. Dancing internally, he gets dressed and goes to find Hermione, having an idea of where she may be.

Sure enough, Harry found her leaning over one of the scrolls from the Lorelei.

"I knew I'd find you here. Have you found anything?"

"I have, and it's not good Harry. Not at all," came Hermione's answer and began reading.

"Moon Pools are among the strongest and most sacred places connected to the moon. To the mermaids, who guard these pools, they are sacred and the source of their power. No human may be allowed to be within the Moon Pool when the full moon is over top it, for if they are, they will gain the gift of becoming a mermaid. Thus bringing upon the potentiality of exposure.

"The most notable example of such an event, happened before the time of my great grandmother. A human female had stumbled upon our Moon Pool during the full moon. The Pool was not guarded that night, and as a result the female turned into a mermaid.

"Fearing that the human girl may expose them, the leader of the time sent two of her most trusted in search of her.

"She was found in the water once more, in a state of panic when she saw herself with a tail. They were quick to take her away from any human eye and brought her to the pod. Were the chosen leader began to explain to her what had happened, and because she was no longer fully human, she had to remain with the pod.

"The girl refused to stay and the pod was forced to surround her. To their shock, the girl had also received powers. Though she was outnumbered, she was more than powerful enough to keep them all at bay before making her escape.

"The leader was worried, for no human has ever been in the Moon Pool and had earned all the powers our Moon Pool could gift.

"It was within her right as leader to go in search of the girl and following her to the human world. With the power of the Moon Ring, she achieved human transformation but if she were to touch water or get wet, she would turn to a mermaid once more.

"It had been days before they saw her again. Battered and bruised and near unconscious. She had told us she had grown powerful and that the power was slowly corrupting her.

"The girl had brought upon disasters to both men and the pod. The humans would no doubt discover them soon.

"All attempts to stop the girl were for naught. It wasn't until the girl managed to kill members of the pod, that the leader had decided to go in search of help. Leaving the pod to seek refuge elsewhere.

"She returned two moons later with a plan in the hopes of stopping the human turned mermaid.

"On the night of the next full moon, an astral alignment that only happens once every fifty years or so, would take place. The leader was convinced this was the way of strip the girl of her powers for good.

"The girl, consumed by power fell for the trap easily. She wasn't able to resist the call of the full moon and that gave the pod the chance they were looking for. The leader confronted her in land while the pod stood guard so the power hungry girl couldn't escape. When the moon was at its peek, the leader pushed her into the pool.

"The girl began to scream in rage but slowly turned to fear. By the time the moon had passed, the human turned mermaid was human once more. However, the damage she had done had very much indeed exposed them.

"With a heavy heart, the pod left the girl by the shore and then the mermaids used their powers to seal their Moon Pool entrances from the water and on land. In the hopes of it never being found by humans and then left their homes."

Hermione had finished reading and looks to Harry, who looks up from the scroll to her as well.

Things just went from just complicated to dangerous.