Hermione was sitting on her window sill, reading a book when she heard shouting down below, she craned her neck to see what was going on. She hurried out into the common room and knocked on Draco's door loudly but no one answered. She huffed and tried the knob; it opened into a deserted room. She called out feebly to him but silence returned. She turned and hurried out and down to the entrance hall where many of the Aurors assigned to Hogwarts were now gathered.

"What happened?" Hermione asked, Tonks turned to her slowly.

"I'm sorry Hermione but Draco Malfoy has disappeared into the lake-" Tonks explained, Hermione gasped and pushed her way out to the door and ran to the lake. She skidded to the edge and looked down into the dark depths. She took a deep breath and prepared to dive in when she noticed something moving in the water.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Ms. Granger," the mermaid Priestess surfaced.

"You give him back," she demanded and the mermaid started laughing.

"You want me to give back what I have rightfully claimed? There is nothing you can do now Ms. Granger so I suggest you turn around and head back the way you came before I am forced to kill such an intelligent and promising witch," she argued.

"You can't kill me, you won't. You have no real reason to," Hermione crossed her arms.

"Oh really? Well it just so happens that you are the only one who can bring Draco back and I'm afraid I can't allow that to happen. It's futile really, I won't let this one go, not like last time," she replied stiffly.

"You are selfish, egotistical and stubborn, you can't do this," Hermione shouted.

"We make a good match don't you think? Look why don't you do us both a favor and go-" the mermaid was leaning forward now, a dangerous edge entering her voice.

"No need for that Anydas," Draco suddenly appeared next to her.

"Draco?" Hermione asked quietly, he looked different, much different. He had blazing ice gray eyes that seemed larger than before and long ears that thinned out as they extended from his head. His face was slightly more angular with sharp rows of teeth in his mouth. Hermione barely recognized him.

"Yes, don't look the same, right?" He smirked and that was exactly the same.

"He's one of us now but something marvelous happened, he's now a sea dragon my dear," the mermaid turned back to Hermione with pride.

"You thought you could keep something so precious from us? Leave before I kill you out of spite," she hissed.

"Draco, you know you don't want to stay there," Hermione breathed.

"I'm sorry Hermione but this is where I am needed. This is where I belong," Draco said then turned and disappeared without a ripple.

"Go away little princess, go back to your fairy tales of good and evil where you belong," the mermaid dismissed her with a wave of her arm then turned and followed Draco.

Hermione sunk to the ground, tears starting to rise in her eyes as she covered her face with her hands. She couldn't believe that he had left her, couldn't believe there would never be another day without him in it to torture her in some way. She should have felt liberated that her long suffered enemy was now gone but all she felt was a huge hole in her heart. One she thought would never go away. She got up and turned away. The sun was peeking over the horizon and she was stiff from sitting there for so long. She numbly made her way back to the castle and up to her room. She then fell into her bed and sleep consumed her.

She was in water but she felt perfectly dry as she looked around the sparkling depths. She wanted to move but she felt like her limbs were gone, she was just a floating head in the water as she looked around. She wanted to scream but nothing came out of her mouth. A figure was moving towards her gracefully. It was Draco in his new form. He had a long crimson red tail with whip like antennas and fanned out fins, almost like wings towards the middle. The red extended up his torso and reached up almost to his shoulders.

"This is the only way I can talk to you without her knowledge," Draco explained, reaching forward but she felt herself recoil. His hands were no longer hands but long red claws.

"What happened?" Hermione asked him.

"I don't know, nobody knew this was going to happen, that I would become this…Anydas had a clue but she didn't think I would really take this form…I want to come back but I don't know how. She forced me into this, she's never going to let me go," he answered.

"Come to the shore three days from now at the last minute of sunset. By then I'll have something figured out, alright?" Hermione waited, he nodded slowly. "I'll get you out of there, I promise."

"Thank you," He leaned forward and kissed her cheek, suddenly she was awake and staring up at the ceiling. She got up and hurried down to the hospital wing.