Chapter 86. Underwater Racing

As we all began having the bubble-head charm surrounding our faces to breathe under the waves, The Conductor began explaining. “We will have all the participants pick their own Hippocampus, and race around the sea. The course will be marked with red and green glowing jellyfish. The first Wizard or Witch that makes it back to the start will win. Use of spells to halter others is prohibited, and you will be disqualified for doing so.” We all knew that ‘winning’ was the prize, if one was the best here, then they would have the pick of the litter when it came to connections their family could make. I could almost feel my father’s burning gaze, boring a hole in the back of my head.

My parents, while hating magical creatures, always could make exceptions when they were useful for wizards or witches. I knew I had to keep my affectionate feelings for any Hippocampus I might pick under wraps. I then felt something bump into me with force, pushing me back on my feet. I frowned seeing a random boy sneering at me, wondering what his problem was. I followed his eyes only to lead me to the very same annoying girl as before, sneering at me with equal disdain.

I rolled my eyes before Draco nudged me. “How did you already piss off half of the French school students?” He asked with slight disbelief. "Because I would have expected it only after an event." He explained, shrugging and shaking his head at me. I held back my laughter, and patted his shoulder without a word, unable to explain how things just went sour between me and some sort of model for the French school. ‘I just hope she doesn't get them to break the rules for her' I thought, a foreboding sense filling my chest seeing as she clearly enraptured boys to do her bidding, using her looks to accomplish everything for her without lifting a finger.

“Next!” An attendant yelled, and I took a deep breath before heading through the membrane of the giant bubble we were currently inside, leaving only my face covered with my needed air. Past the glowing white orbs of light, I could see others attempting to ride bucking Hippocampus', knocking them off without much strain. I looked past many of them before seeing a much larger Hippocampus, snow white like the others with deep blue fins, but this one was smaller, ⅔ the size at most to the others. The others were larger than any man, bar maybe Hagrid, easily twice a normal human’s size, but this one seemed to be just barely taller than my father.

It looked at me with deep blue eyes that matched its home, rearing its head back in unease. I took out a small piece of shrimp I still had stored away for Val, and presented it to the creature for appeasement. It quickly nibbled at my hand eagerly eating the small morsel I presented. “Were you hungry?” Val asked a bit sadly, the creature stuttering at the sudden words, staring intently at my vest, drenched from the cool waters.

Out popped Val, sticking his tongue out merrily to say hi. The hippocampus neighed before quickly bowing to let me aboard its back. “Thank you!” “Thanks.” Both Val and I thanked him as I carefully swam above, before resting on his back, right above his dorsal fin. After I got settled in, I gently guided the creature towards Pansy and Draco. Both were having trouble until my Hippocampus neighed, freezing the other two in their tracks. They stared down my Hippocampus, glancing at me for a moment, before bowing to Pansy and Draco, allowing them to swim aboard.

We couldn’t really talk with each other because of the water, so both Pansy and Draco gave me nods and thumbs up as thanks. We then made our way to the starting line, with a multitude of other students that managed to appease their own Hippocampus'. Among them was the same annoying girl. She sat side-saddled, letting her legs dangle on one side while laying into the neck of the beast she enraptured. Her hair now let free in the water, waving around in a hypnotic sparkle of silver seagrass. Her red dress, (already designed to get wet just like the planners had advised us) sparkled brighter in the water, matching the beams of sunlight that descended down from above.  “3…” Suddenly the Conductor began a countdown, leaving those that couldn’t control their Hippocampus' to the wayside for us. “2…” I slowly pet my mount, keeping him calm as we were about to begin. “1…”

“Begin!” I kicked him with my heels to signal the start, and was instantly thrust forward with such speed that I almost went flying off. In the middle of the pack I quickly began commanding my mount to rise in the waters to get over the others. We slowly began passing two other participants, but before I could celebrate that fact, we were forced back down. A massive cliffside with a small entrance inside its stone structure, illumined by the glowing white jellyfish to direct us through the correct path. Entering inside an underwater cave, I barely kept my head as I ducked low under the hanging rocks above me. Inside was almost pitch black outside of the occasional light at the ceiling to stop contenders from hitting their heads. However, as we continued to persevere, wisps of blue glowing clouds began showing the way. A wake of the another rider in front of me, shown by the small creatures reacting to movement. I placed all my trust in the glowing blue clouds, picking up speed to follow their trail. I didn't even think of the person I wanted to pass, they weren't what I wanted to win out of this race. All I wanted was to be a higher place than that girl, whatever place she was in, I wanted at least one above that.

However that was to come later, right now what I needed to do was keep up with the one in front of me, and pass them once we were free of the confining corners of this cave system. I quickly noticed that the blue clouds of light under the water were getting progressively more bright, and on the next turn I could see the light of the exit, a shadow of another rider just in front of me. They looked behind themselves, and I could see he stuttered in shock of something, most likely seeing another competitor just on his heels. However, to my shock, he commanded his stead to stop, braking just in front of me. "What the-!?" I couldn't help but yell as I yanked on my Hippocampus' neck, slowing us down and pulling us up. "Flip upside-down and sprint!" Val yelled, and to my shock the Hippocampus followed his instructions immediately, not a hint of hesitation in his movements as he sped up.

Exiting the cave system, I turned back to see the same guy that bumped into me on purpose was now speeding after me, angrily kicking at his steed to hurry up. "I guess I was right about that..." I muttered while focusing my attention ahead. We swam at amazing speed passing by a few more contenders, either going above or below them to quickly pass by. Val giggling at the fast speed we were going, enjoying every moment of it. "Faster! Faster! We're gonna win!" I couldn't help but smirk at him, and focused harder to fulfil his desire to win this race, passing by a few more competitors. Once I couldn't see any more ahead of me, I felt that now it would be smooth sailing, however a chorus of majestic singing caught my ear. I turned to my left, and saw an outline of another participant outside the track. I frowned in confusion, wondering if they might be cheating by going off the course and cutting corners. The majestic music grew louder, emanating from the shadow as it similarly moved closer.

I then gasped in amazement, seeing the most beautiful woman I had ever laid eyes on. Words would fail to describe her majesty. Her chest was barely covered by her long red hair, waving in the currents as she swam. As she moved closer, I only then noticed that she wasn’t riding a mount like me, or any other participant for that matter, her bottom half was instead a large fin, swimming at the same speed of my Hippocampus. Her scales glimmered green under the lights of the jellyfish, her powerful thrusts under the water propelling her with ease.

Her humming was enchanting, her gentle smile looked to me with interest. I wanted to speak with her, learn about her, amazed at seeing such a creature with human level of intelligence, a Siren. Val, Gaynor, and Abarrane were the only ones that I had met that I could easily speak to, other creatures I could have good understanding for sure, like the Hippocampus, but speaking was beyond them. "Val! Look!" I yelled in excitement, Val peeking his head out from my vest to see. "Wow! She looks much different than the ones at Hogwarts!" Val happily chirped in amazement, ringing in his particular tone.

The Siren smiled, humming and singing along with the ringing Val emitted, enjoying it as some sort of tempo for her song. It was then that I realized that it was the Sirens that were singing along with the instrumental music from before. With wonder I began petting and scratching Val in all his favorite places I had come to learn, making his ringing echo louder in happiness. The Siren smiled, and seemed to laugh in excitement before joining along with more gusto.

As she sang, another voice joined in, and I turned around to see another with hair like spun gold singing with a smile just as the first one, enjoying the music they were creating. Soon another joined, and another, and before I knew it, I was surrounded by singing sirens. I couldn't help but open my mouth in awe at the wonderful sight, silent amazement of their silken vocals. “Lucas, aren’t we supposed to be racing?” Val reminded me in-between his loud ringing of glee, and I stuttered in fear, I couldn’t be seen with this much appreciation by my parents. I quickly kicked the Hippocampus to speed back up, directing him to catch up, Val cheering in excitement. "Full speed! Let's go!"

We rushed into a full on swimming sprint, followed by the sirens. They continued to hum and sing with delight, and to my shock, they swam in front, and began pulling the Hippocampus faster down the track. ‘Could it be?’ I thought, noticing that in Val's cheering, the tempo of his ringing increased, just as the sirens wanted to move faster. I increased petting him a bit more a bit more, and the sirens moved just that bit faster, pulling us past a few other enchanted participants, just staring at the sirens in wonder.

Nearing the end, being led by the faster sirens, I could see the same silver hair and red glowing dress that looked at me with scorn earlier.