In the Heart of the Sea

Harry had been swimming for almost twenty minutes before the ruined Temple came into view on the near horizon, the ridges and hills of brightly colored coral, vibrant sponges and waving sea fans giving way to the building's imposing form. Despite having long since fallen into total disrepair and being nearly entirely collapsed the Temple of Neptune's domed roof and marble pillars still managed to gleam in the unfiltered light of the afternoon sun.

There were creatures here that Harry had never seen before; shrimp the size of the lobsters which Tom had brought him with rounded claws and shells of emerald and sapphire, sea urchins with bristles of fur instead of spines in fiery shades of gold and orange, fish with long snouts and strange faces and fins like trailing bits of cloth. A clam the size of the shark that had attacked him at the drop off which watched him pass over it with the millions of tiny turquoise eyes embedded in its tongue.

The closer that he drew to the decrepit Temple the more details he could make out. The stairs were scattered with drifts of glittering white sand, its mouth flanked with statues of strange creatures with the front half of horses and the back half of fish; the head of the one on the left had been knocked clean off its stone neck, reduced to rubble which lay scattered about nearby. The pillars were chipped and threaded through with spider cracks. Kelp-like plants with thick violet leaves grew down from the roof in curtains.

Cautious of ramming into anything or disturbing the water too much and causing the entire building the collapse even further Harry made his way through the door.

He found himself in a lopsided passage, the ceiling having fallen in at an odd angle some centuries before. The wall that he could see was lined with statues the features of which had long ago been worn away and more of the tablets which he'd seen in Dumbledore's home.

Had Harry been any larger than he was getting through the door at the end of the hall would have been impossible. As it was, doing so was difficult and the raven Mer only managed it with perseverance and a considerable degree of thrashing.

He was rewarded for his efforts by stumbling into the Temple's hypostyle hall. More broken pillars stood at intervals throughout the cavernous room, but the ceiling had cracked like a massive egg and most of it now lay scattered in shards on the ground, half-buried in the sand. Sunlight streamed through the gaping hole, the ocean's waves throwing oddly shaped shadows throughout the expansive area. The carvings on the walls were startlingly well preserved for their age, though he hardly had the time to pay much attention to them.

He was here for a reason, after all, and he had to find something suitable today. Not only because he'd be unlikely to be able to return, but because he didn't have much time. Harry planned to return to Tom's lair that night and he'd be damned if he didn't have something to give the Siren that might stand a chance at getting through to him.

With nothing else to do he began witlessly digging through the sand in a desperate search for coins or jewelry or goblets. Anything. He found enough bits of ceiling and unremarkable pebbles to build another Temple from scratch but whenever he found something of even minor value it was either broken, a two bit replica of something already in Tom's possession or both. By the time the sunlight had slanted at a sharp angle the water was thick with disturbed sand, Harry had nothing to show for his efforts and he felt like he wanted to scream.

What was he going to do now? There was nothing in the Temple of any worth! Without a gift to cure the Siren of his no doubt severely wounded pride Harry couldn't so much as go and speak with him. Everything hinged on finding something that could open up the conversation which at least stood a chance of being able to save him from death-Harry had no intention of simply giving in to the Siren's whims but he was willing to give him a chance at forming the bond he needed and if the Siren fucked it up that was his own bloody fault-yet he couldn't even find the damn thing!

The raven Mer wasn't certain what he wanted to do more: laugh or cry.

"There's another room, you know." At the sound of Luna's voice Harry nearly jumped out of his scales. The bright yellow tailed Mer was drifting calmly towards him from the direction of the door, another three anemones having been added to her hair since the last time he'd seen her. "The water sprites told me. That you were here. And why. They told me that there's a hidden room in the Temple and that inside of it there's a treasure which your Siren will be very pleased by." Her large blue eyes gained a bit of focus and she smiled at him. "Hello, Harry."

"Hello, Luna." Despite the stress of the situation he couldn't help but smile. He didn't really care if she'd been told about the situation by the water sprites or any of the other imaginary creatures her family was known for believing in; he was open for any sort of help at this point. "Have you come here to help me?"

"Oh, yes. I've come here to help you, Harry, and your Siren. Because you're one of my only friends and because your Siren is very lonely with only his snake and that's sad." How Luna could always remain in her dreamy state was something which Harry would never understand. "This way."

Luna led him through what he'd originally mistaken as a hole in the wall and down another hallway to a small, stone walled room. Something gleamed, red and silver, amidst the gloom and the white sand. He bent down and picked it up.

His hand was wrapped around the hilt of a land tail weapon; a sword of ruby and silver. Its tapered blade was graceful, gleaming and still sharp despite its age.

"The Sword of Godric Gryffindor; he was a land tail follower of the Sea Gods from a place called Greece many hundreds of years ago." She said. "The water sprites told me that he slew a great serpent with it, a beast of the earth that could kill with just a glance, and that the blade is still coated in its venom. That it's a magic sword which can only be wielded by Neptune's champion. Your Tom should find it quite irresistible."

A land tail weapon. A magical blade. It certainly did seem to be the sort of thing which Tom would salvage from his ship wrecks and take with him back to his cave. Hopefully he wouldn't mistake Harry's gift as an assassination attempt. He really didn't want to fight with the Siren that he was going so far out of his way to attempt to reason with.

"Thank you, Luna. And...tell the water sprites thank you as well."

"Oh, they just want you and your Tom to be together. They're not happy with all of the fighting, you see, and want it to stop. They seem to think that the two of you will be able to make that happen."

He and Tom could stop the fighting? Centuries of feuding? Generations worth of bad blood? How? By becoming a mated pair and having hybrid pups? That seemed a bit too lofty of a goal, in honesty.

About the only outcome he could see from this was him being banished from his pod. And that was the best case scenario.

Harry forced a smile onto his face for her benefit regardless. "I can't promise anything, Luna, but I'll see what I can do."