The modified bathroom looked like someone had tried to explain the concept of bathing to an alien and gotten halfway through before giving up. The tub was less tub and more small pool, sunk into the floor with steps that Crystal-Harmony eyed with deep suspicion.
"It's salt water," Andromeda explained, testing the temperature with her wand. "We had it brought in specially. Should help with the transition."
Crystal-Harmony was already pulling off the robe with the desperation of someone escaping a straightjacket. The moment her skin hit water, she made a sound that Harry's brain catalogued as 'inappropriate to think about later.' She sank down until everything below her neck was submerged, and her whole body seemed to relax for the first time since the transformation.
"Better?" Harry asked from his carefully chosen position facing mostly away but not so far that it seemed rude.
"It's like..." she paused, searching for words. "Imagine holding your breath for hours and finally being allowed to exhale."
The relief in her voice was palpable. She stretched out in the water, her new legs floating awkwardly but at least not actively hurting.
"My guards," she said suddenly, looking up at Andromeda who had stayed to ensure everything was proper. "Reef-Shield, Tide-Swimmer, Storm-Rider, and Current-Dancer—do they have something similar? They're suffering too, and they didn't have to come. They chose to, for me."
Andromeda's expression softened. "We've set up salt water basins in the garden shed where they're staying. Not as large as this, but enough for relief."
"Could they have pools like mine?" Crystal-Harmony pressed. "I know it's asking a lot, but I would appreciate it."
"I'll speak to the Ministry," Andromeda promised. "We'll arrange something proper for them."
Crystal-Harmony's shoulders relaxed further. "Thank you. They pretend they're fine, but I know them. They're as lost up here as I am."
The others had given them privacy after helping Crystal-Harmony navigate the cottage's dangerous innovations (doors, chairs, the concept of vertical surfaces).
"Your legs are still there," Harry pointed out. Under the water, he could see them, pale and strange but definitely leg-shaped.
"Don't remind me." She flexed her toes experimentally, watching them move with the fascination of someone discovering they could wiggle their ears. "They look wrong. I look wrong."
"You don't—"
"I do." She cut him off but gently. "I saw your face when the scales fell away. I saw everyone's faces. I look like something caught between forms, which I suppose I am."
Harry thought about that, about being caught between worlds. "I know the feeling."
She tilted her head, hair floating in the water like golden kelp. "The Boy-Who-Lived thing?"
"Among others." He sat properly on the bathroom floor, close enough to the pool's edge that occasional droplets hit his knees. "Sometimes I feel like I'm trying to be too many things at once. Harry Potter the symbol, Harry the student, Harry who makes talismans, Harry who talks to sea creatures..."
"Harry who befriends strange princesses who can't figure out legs?"
"That's my favorite one, actually."
She smiled, then winced as she tried to stretch. "Everything aches. Is that normal?"
"Your bones just completely restructured themselves. I'd be worried if you didn't ache."
"Comforting." She sank lower until her nose barely cleared the water. "Tell me something about the surface. Something you love."
Harry thought about it. "Sunrise. The way light comes back slowly, painting everything gold and pink. Underwater, it's either light or dark, but up here, we get the in-between moments."
"We have in-between moments underwater."
"Not like sunrise. Tomorrow I'll show you, if you're awake early enough."
"Tomorrow." She said it like a promise or maybe a prayer. "What else will you show me tomorrow?"
"Depends how well your legs work. Maybe the market? You can traumatize some vendors with your opinions on cooked food."
She laughed, and the water rippled. "I want to try everything. Even if it's terrible."
"Especially if it's terrible. Ted's cooking alone will be an adventure."
"Your guardian seems nice."
"He makes horrible puns and thinks he's funny."
"He is funny."
"Don't tell him that. We've been trying to discourage him for years."
They sat in comfortable silence, Crystal-Harmony occasionally moving her legs just to watch them work. The bathroom's frosted window was turning purple with evening, and Harry could hear the others moving around the cottage, deliberately giving them space.
"Harry?" Her voice was smaller now, uncertain. "What if I can't do this? What if twelve hours isn't enough to understand your world?"
"Then you come back. As many times as it takes."
"The transformation hurts more each time. That's what the healers said. Eventually, my body might reject it entirely."
Harry hadn't known that. The information sat heavy in his chest, sharp-edged and unwelcome. "Then we make the most of the time we have."
She reached out, her hand finding his where it rested on the pool's edge. Her fingers were pruning already, skin gone soft and strange, but her grip was steady.
"You gave the Aqualis crystal away," she said. Not accusing, just stating fact.
Harry's stomach dropped. "How did you—"
"I can feel its absence. We're connected to the crystals we gift. It's singing somewhere else now, somewhere desperate." She squeezed his hand. "You gave it to someone who needed it more."
"Anna Sallow. She's dying."
"And the crystal might save her?"
"It's trying."
Crystal-Harmony pulled herself higher on the pool's edge, water streaming from her hair. "That's why you're my favorite surface dweller. You'd give away a king's treasure to save a friend."
"You're not angry?"
"I'm proud." She was close enough now that he could see water droplets on her eyelashes, each one catching light like tiny prisms. "Though I might have to give you another one. Can't have you wandering around unprotected."
"I don't need—"
"It's not about need. It's about me wanting you safe."
The moment stretched between them, heavy with things neither quite knew how to say. Then Crystal-Harmony's stomach growled—a sound so normal and unexpected that they both laughed.
"Hungry?" Harry asked.
"Yes, I can eat a whole crab,"
Night
The royal rooms had settled into evening quiet, Cricket songs threading through open windows while somewhere a guard discovered the hard way that bushes weren't solid. Harry stood on the small balcony, watching stars emerge like shy performers testing their spotlight.
"She's asleep," Andromeda said, joining him with two cups of tea. "Finally. Took three attempts to convince her the bed wouldn't eat her."
"To be fair, beds don't exist underwater."
"Neither does most of what we take for granted." She handed him a cup, the steam curling between them. "She's brave, your princess."
"She's not my—"
"Harry." Andromeda's voice held that particular tone that meant resistance was futile. "I've raised two children. I know what I'm seeing."
Inside, Harry could hear Ted and Nymphadora arguing about whether the guards needed actual beds or if their current pile formation in the garden shed was 'culturally authentic.' Nymphadora was winning through sheer volume.
"She's in love with you," Andromeda said simply.
Harry's tea tried to escape through his nose. "She's—we're friends—"
"Yes. Also that." Andromeda sipped her tea with the patience of someone who'd watched countless young people discover feelings they didn't have words for. "And you care for her too."
"Of course I care—"
"Don't." She held up a hand. "Don't diminish it with explanations. You're twelve, she's... what is she in human years?"
"Thirteen, maybe fourteen."
"Young then. Both of you. But feelings don't wait for convenient ages."
Through the garden, they could see the guards' latest attempt at patrol. Reef-Shield had figured out that walking backward somehow worked better for him, while Tide-Swimmer had given up entirely and was pulling himself along the garden wall like it was a lifeline.
"We protect her," one was saying. "Even if the ground is evil."
"The ground isn't evil, Storm-Rider."
"It's not friendly either."
Harry smiled despite himself. "They're devoted to her."
"Good leaders inspire that." Andromeda watched him carefully. "She asked about you, you know. When you were getting her spare robes. Asked if you were always so determined to help everyone."
"What did you tell her?"
"The truth. That you can't help yourself. That saving people is as natural to you as breathing." She paused. "That you'd move oceans for the people you care about."
"I literally did that."
"Yes, dear. That was rather the point."
Nymphadora appeared in the doorway, hair currently mimicking Crystal-Harmony's golden shade. "Mum, the princess is asking for Harry. Something about the blankets being aggressive?"
Harry set down his tea. "Blankets don't move underwater either."
"Nothing moves properly above water according to her," Nymphadora grinned. "It's adorable. She spent five minutes convinced the curtains were trying to communicate."
"Don't tease her."
"I'm not! I'm genuinely charmed. Do you know how she described pillows? 'Soft rocks that compress.' Brilliant."
Harry headed inside, pausing at Andromeda's hand on his shoulder.
"Twelve hours tomorrow," she said quietly. "Make them count."
Through the guest room door, Harry could hear Crystal-Harmony talking to her guards through the window.
"Tomorrow we try the market, Reef-Shield. Yes, with the legs. No, you can't swim there. Because there's no water in the streets."
A pause.
"I don't know why they don't put water in the streets. Ask Harry tomorrow."
Another pause.
"Yes, you have to wear the robes. Surface dwellers have opinions about naked. No, I don't understand it either."
Harry knocked softly. "Need help with the aggressive blankets?"
The door opened, and Crystal-Harmony stood there, wrapped in approximately seven blankets like the world's most elaborate cocoon. "They keep trying to slide off. It's like they don't understand the concept of staying."
"That's because you're supposed to lie still under them."
"Nothing lies still in the ocean. Even sleeping things drift."
Harry helped her reconfigure the blankets into something less like armor and more like actual bedding. She sat on the bed's edge, legs tucked under her, looking smaller than she ever had underwater.
"Tomorrow," she said, "I want to see everything."
"Everything's a lot."
"Then we'd better start early." She yawned, an action that seemed to surprise her. "Why does air make me tired?"
"Gravity. It's exhausting being pulled down all the time."
"One more reason the ocean is superior."
"Noted. Though we have chocolate up here, so I'd call it even."
"What's chocolate?"
Harry grinned. "Oh, you're going to love tomorrow."
Crystal-Harmony shifted, then paused, looking toward the window. "Harry? Could we... could I see the night sky? The real one, not filtered through water?"
"Of course." He helped her stand, her legs shaking but managing to hold her weight with his support. They made their way to the window, and Harry pushed it open.
The night air rushed in, carrying the scent of grass and distant rain. Crystal-Harmony gasped, her eyes reflecting the stars above.
"There are so many," she whispered. "We see some underwater, but they're always moving, always distorted. These are so... still. So bright."
They settled on the window seat, Crystal-Harmony leaning against the frame while Harry sat beside her, ready to catch her if her legs gave out.
"What have you been doing?" she asked softly. "Since last year?"
"School, mostly," Harry said, carefully editing out the basilisk incident. "Made some new friends. Luna Lovegood—she's a bit odd but brilliant. She can see things others can't."
"Like you can hear sea creatures?"
"Different, but yeah. And I've been working on new talisman designs. The Italian Ministry ordered a whole set."
Crystal-Harmony smiled. "Father mentioned that. He was impressed. Said the surface world was finally recognizing your talents properly." She looked down at her hand, noticing moisture from where she'd gripped the window frame. "I've been practicing too. Watch."
She held her palm up, and the water began to crystallize. But this wasn't the wild, uncontrolled ice from last year. The crystals grew in precise patterns, forming petals, then a stem, until a perfect frozen rose sat in her palm.
"It won't melt," she said, offering it to him. "I learned how to make permanent ice. For you."
Harry took the flower carefully, marveling at how it caught the moonlight. "It's beautiful. Thank you."
"I wanted to give you something that would last. Since our time never seems to."
The weight of that settled between them. Harry turned the ice rose, watching it sparkle. "Have the Dark Royal Sea Horses come back? The ones from the Obsidian Depths?"
Crystal-Harmony's expression tightened. "They've been spotted. Three times in the past month. But they don't attack—they just watch from the deep borders, then disappear when our guards approach."
"That's... unsettling."
"Father thinks they're planning something. He's increased patrols, but they know our waters better than we thought. They use trenches we forgot existed." She shrugged, trying to appear unconcerned. "But they haven't actually done anything. Maybe they're just observing."
"You don't believe that."
"No," she admitted. "But I can't live in fear of shadows in the deep. I came here, didn't I? Despite Father's concerns about leaving the kingdom even briefly."
"You're brave."
"Or foolish." She turned to look at him fully. "But I had to see you. To understand your world. To know if what we have—this connection—is real or just something I imagined in the depths."
"It's real," Harry said quietly.
She shifted closer, her hand finding his. "When I'm underwater, I practice conversations with you. Imagine showing you new parts of the city. Plan all the things I want to say." She laughed softly. "Then I see you and forget everything except how much I've missed you."
Harry squeezed her hand, feeling the cool touch of her skin. "I do the same thing. Tonks catches me staring at water and asks if I'm planning to dive in fully clothed."
"Would you? Dive in?"
"To see you? Without question."
They were close now, close enough that he could see the stars reflected in her eyes, count the drops of water still clinging to her hair. She leaned in slightly, and Harry found himself moving too, drawn by something strong.
A loud meow shattered the moment.
Itisa landed in Crystal-Harmony's lap with the precision of someone who knew exactly what she was interrupting. Crystal-Harmony gasped, then laughed, her hands immediately going to pet the disguised Nundu.
"Itisa! Where have you been hiding?" She scratched behind the cat's ears, and Itisa purred with satisfaction. "I've missed you too, you know. Harry talks about you constantly."
Itisa gave Harry a look that clearly said, 'this is for letting me in that bag you ungrateful brat' before settling into Crystal-Harmony's lap like she belonged there.
"She's been sulking," Harry said, trying to calm his racing heart. "Angry that she couldn't come to the French Ministry ball."
"A ball?" Crystal-Harmony tilted her head, still petting Itisa. "What's a surface ball like? We have feasts in Abyssantica—gatherings where important families come together, share food, discuss politics. But I imagine it's different up here?"
"Pretty different," Harry admitted. "There's music, but instead of water performances, people dance. With partners, usually. In pairs."
"Dance?" She looked down at her traitorous legs. "You mean moving to music? We have something similar. My people use water magic to create beautiful patterns with their tails, spinning and weaving through currents." Her expression fell slightly. "Though I was never very good at that either."
"Surface dancing doesn't use water magic. You move your feet in patterns, following the rhythm." Harry demonstrated a basic step, feeling slightly ridiculous. "Partners hold hands, sometimes, and move together."
Crystal-Harmony watched his feet with fascination, then looked at her own legs with obvious disappointment. "I can barely walk. At a ball, I'd just be sitting in a chair watching everyone else."
"Then I'd sit with you," Harry said immediately. "Keep you company."
"You can't spend the whole ball sitting. You'd have to dance at least once, it's expected of guests." She studied him curiously. "You danced last year, didn't you? After you came back from visiting me?"
"Yeah, at the French Ministry celebration." Harry remembered that night, Fleur's confident guidance through the steps. "I was terrible at first, but Fleur helped me through it."
Crystal-Harmony's expression suddenly changed. "Fleur?"
"The Minister's daughter. She's become a friend. She understands what it's like having everyone expect things from you."
Crystal-Harmony gave him a look that Harry couldn't quite interpret.
"Will she be at tomorrow's ball?" Crystal-Harmony asked.
"Probably. Her family hosts it. I'll likely have to dance with her....diplomatic courtesy and all that."
"Of course." Crystal-Harmony turned back to the stars, though her hand on Itisa had stilled. "The Minister's daughter. That makes sense."
The silence stretched a moment too long. Harry felt like he'd said something wrong but couldn't figure out what.
"What are the plans for tomorrow?" Crystal-Harmony asked, clearly changing the subject. "Before the evening ball, I mean. I want to experience as much as possible."
"Well, the market in the morning, you have to try proper surface food. Then maybe the gardens? There's a fountain that does light shows at noon. Oh, and the beach in the afternoon. You could be partially in water while still experiencing the surface."
Her mood lightened at the list. "All of that? My legs will mutiny."
"That's what I'm for. Professional Crystal-Harmony catcher."
She laughed, the tension breaking. "Is that your official title now?"
"I'm thinking of having cards made."
Itisa stretched between them, clearly pleased with her intervention. Crystal-Harmony resumed petting her, and the disguised Nundu's purr filled the comfortable silence.
"This Fleur," Crystal-Harmony said suddenly, not looking at him. "Is she pretty?"
Harry's brain did something complicated. "I... suppose? I mean, she's part-Veela, so—"
"Part-Veela?" Crystal-Harmony's eyebrows rose. "The creatures with the allure magic?"
"Quarter-Veela, actually. But her allure does not affect me."
"And she taught you to dance?"
"More like dragged me through it while I tried not to step on her feet."
"I see." Crystal-Harmony turned the ice rose she'd given him earlier in her fingers, watching it catch moonlight. "Well, tomorrow you can teach me what she taught you. Even if I can only manage it sitting down."
"Deal," Harry said, relieved that the strange tension seemed to be passing. "Though fair warning. I'm still not very good."
"That's fine. Neither of us will know what we're doing." She smiled at him, and it was a wonderful smile. "It'll be an adventure."
As they sat watching stars, Harry couldn't shake the feeling he'd missed something important in their conversation. Beside him, Crystal-Harmony continued petting Itisa, who looked entirely too pleased with herself for a cat who'd just prevented... whatever that moment had been.
Tomorrow would bring new challenges, and apparently, a ball where Harry would have to navigate both dancing and whatever was happening between Crystal-Harmony and the mention of Fleur.
He had a feeling Itisa would be enjoying every moment of it.