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Severus flinched lightly when the little Potter exploded from the surface of the water, showering the Potions Master in water in his excitement.
"Water ssnake friendsss!"
Severus looked at the eels curled around the child's arms in vague interest. These animals were what he considered friends?
The wizard waited until the snipe eels were lowered back into the water to speak. "Do you have any other friends, Mister Potter? Perhaps, a human one?"
The changed child shook his head with a frown before he looked down at the rock under his hands and said, "Dudley... ssscared them."
Severus raised a dark eyebrow. A boy had scared away Potter's friends? Potter had probably annoyed this 'Dudley' so much that the boy retaliated by scaring his friends. So childish.
"I don' wha-wanna goo back! Dursleys mean!"
Severus' mind immediately latched onto the name. He had heard it before... The Potions Master's brain started working double time. Lily had once been talking to him about an oaf named Vernon Dursley, the boyfriend of Lily's sister, Petunia. The only ways Potter could end up near Vernon was though extreme coincidence or Petunia had married the man and Dumbledore had left Potter with them.
Severus believed more in the latter, but he still had to make certain. "Mister Potter?"
The changed boy looked at the Potions Master in fear, his webbed hands clutching the sharp edges of the rock tightly.
"You won't have to go back," Severus coaxed, "but I do want to ask you about these Dursleys."
Potter's ears perked up a little bit and his emerald eyes widened as he repeated, "No have to go back?"
Severus nodded, "No going back."
The child smiled widely, giggled, and clapped his hands. The Potions Master took that as his okay to continue.
"Were you living with your Aunt Petunia?"
The boy nodded, his smile falling into a frown. Severus cursed. Damn that Dumbledore. Petunia wasn't fit to raise the son of Lily. She hated her sister with a passion. It was no wonder Potter would not want to go back. However, why was he living in the ocean? And furthermore, how did he even get all the way to the Philippine Sea?
"Mister Potter," the Potions Master called, "How did you get to the ocean?"
The child giggled as if he had said something funny before slurring, "Wass ssswimmin'. T'ought it wasss Dudley pullin' on my foot. But mean sshark pull me down. Real mean sssharkie." Potter looked at the water glumly before his head perked up. "I like sharkies! But thisss wass mean sharkie." The changed child reaffirmed before he continued, "I no breathe. Then I wake up breathin'!" The brat looked at him with happy eyes and an expectant expression. Severus was apparently supposed to be impressed and amazed.
The Potions Master simply replied, "Very nice, Mister Potter. I am glad you could breathe."
When the man said nothing more, Potter decided to add onto his story. "An' I gotss a floppy foot!" The child floated on his back and held up one of his feet, and, sure enough, it was thinner and longer than a normal foot with smaller toes and scars running down half of it. Potter then proceeded to flip it around wildly with a giggle to show off its flexibility.
Severus held the bridge of his nose in exasperation as his mind processed the story. A shark. The child had been attacked by a shark. Of all the things.
However, this did not explain his appearance other than his foot and gills. It is obvious that Potter's magic has been active since he was drowned by the shark. Perhaps his appearance has something more to do with adapting to his surroundings than anything else.
"Mister Potter, how old were you when that happened?"
The boy blinked before he looked down at his webbed hands. He maneuvered his fingers so that only a few were up before he brandished them. "I'm sseven!" He exclaimed.
Severus sighed. He had been living in the ocean for four years. It was obvious that he had received very little education and hadn't spoken English for that long as well. Not to mention it was very difficult for him to breathe outside of the water.
This could all lead to many problems with trying to get him into Hogwarts.
One thing was for sure though, the Potions Master could not leave the Potter heir here. It was obvious he had no solid home due to being in the Philippine Sea- nowhere near England- and it would be another tedious journey to find him again. Perhaps Severus could transport him to the Back Lake and dump this problem child on Dumbledore? It was mainly the old man's fault after all.
Mind made up, Severus bluntly asked the Potter child, "Would you like to go to Hogwarts with me?"
The distracted child put his flipper foot back in the water and turned his confusion to the Potions Master, parroting, "Hogwartss?"
Severus hummed lightly in annoyance. Of course Petunia didn't tell Lily's son about magic. "Hogwarts is a school full of magic. There is a giant lake there that you could swim in. A giant squid and merfolk live there."
The boy's eyes lit up in fascination. "A giant ssquid?!"
Severus internally rolled his eyes. Children were too naive. "I can take you there, but I want to make sure you can breathe in that water."
The child looked at Severus, bewildered, but there was no suspicion in his eyes. That was good. It would've been a pain to deal with a child that was cautious of his every move.
Enlarging a pebble and then transfiguring it into a large bowl, Severus filled it up with regular fresh water with a quick aguamenti.
Handing it over to Potter, the child looked at the water for a second before he touched it with a clawed finger. He frowned a little bit, but brought his head out of the water and stuck his face into bowl.
After roughly thirty seconds of Severus staring at the gills moving on Potter's neck, the child brought his face out of the bowl with an odd look on his face.
"That'sss weird," he said. "It'sss cold."
Severus nodded as he banished the water and returned the bowl to what it once was. If Potter's only complaint was that the water was cold, then he would be fine. A simple warming charm would be all he would need for the time being. Dumbledore could figure out how he would breathe on land.
"Would you like to go now, Mister Potter?" Severus stood up and reached out a hand, fixing a picture of the gates of Hogwarts in his mind.
However, the child did not accept his hand. "Friendsss?" He questioned.
Severus thought for a second on what he knew of snipe eels, which was admittedly very little. They were not a potions ingredient that he was aware of. Perhaps he could transfigure them into freshwater eels? The magic was all about intent, so it shouldn't be much of a problem.
"You may bring them with as long as you allow me to cast a spell on them first."
The child simply smiled before he dove back underneath the surface of the water. Severus grunted lightly when his legs started to ache, but he shifted and ignored the pain. His injuries would be healed shortly.
When Potter resurfaced with the eels wrapped around his arms again, Severus quickly cast two strong transfiguration spells on the eels with the sole intent to allow them to breathe in freshwater.
Confident in his magic, Severus outstretched his free hand once more, and Potter took it without hesitance. And in a moment, all four beings apparated away from the lone rock in the middle of the Philippine Sea with a small pop.