Welcome back to Rewritten Stories, ladies and gentlemen—for the LAST time. Yes, yes, I know it’s sad—but this is the LAST issue that will feature Rewritten Stories in Hogwarts Monthly News!

You needn’t worry, though. HMN still features wonderful chapters, like Magical Moda, The Paradoxes And Effects Of Time Travel, and Top 10 Memes Of The Month!

This month, we are going to be focusing on The Little Mermaid. Most of you know how she made a deal with Ursula to become human to be with a man she just met. As per usual, this will be a little different!

The Little Mermaid And The Lost Love

“Come back, Ariel…” Ursula’s eerie voice echoed through the still waters. Or was it all in her head?

“I know you want that prince to be yours… Come to me, I can grant your wish…”

Ariel swam even faster, her tail burning from exhaustion. When. Could. She. Just. Stop?

It wasn’t her fault she had seen a handsome human near the shore, helping a baby turtle get to the sea. It wasn’t every day that a human would be kind to such a tiny creature either.

And as soon as Ursula had seen her staring at a random person, well… she’d been keen for a trade.

“Come on, Ariel,” she had cooed in her dark cave under the sea. “If you give me your voice, you can be with that boy… and what happens if he falls in love with someone else first, hm? Don’t you want him?”

Jealousy had flared through Ariel’s heart, but even while being 16, she had stomped it down furiously. “NO!” She had yelled as loud as she could. “I don’t want to become a human for someone I’ve seen from afar ONLY. I don’t know anything about him! I don’t want you putting some love potion on him either!”

“But you already know him, sweetheart. You’ve seen his kindness, even from afar. Don’t you mermaids LOVE being kind and sappy and sweet?”

“You’re sick,” Ariel had choked out, even through all the fear in her heart. “You’re SICK. You don’t care about me. You just want my voice. I don’t even know why!”

“Why I want your voice,” Ursula had hissed in a low voice, “is NONE of your business.”

Ariel had had to dodge as the Sea Witch reached towards her with a tentacle.

And now she was here, swimming rapidly, trying to escape a certain death… or something like that.

“What should I do, what should I do?” Ariel whispered frantically to herself while dashing around a shipwreck. Hold up-that ship might be a good shelter!

She plunged into a giant crack on one side of the vessel and slowed down, yet her heart was beating fast. It was really dark. Even with a mermaid’s superior night vision, Ariel could barely see where she was going.

But then she felt a tentacle brush her tail, and she started swimming at supersonic speed again.

She needed a place to hide, she needed a place to hide… Where could she hide?

“Ariel, darling, stop fighting your heart’s desires. I’ve seen, okay, I’ve seen in the future how he falls in love with you eventually. But that will take years. So please, dear, accept the trade. Ariel, darling, stop fighting your heart’s desires!”

Ariel kept on swimming despite the ache in her exhausted body. Suddenly, she heard a loud scream behind her.

“Huh?”

She whipped her head around, only to find, not Ursula, but that handsome, handsome prince she’d been sightseeing for a couple of weeks.

Although, he didn’t look so handsome now. His eyes were bulging his skin was a ghastly grey and his whole body was shaking and he was attempting to tread the water.

“Please!” He cried. “Help! I feel as if I’m choking—” The last words were cut off by a stream of bubbles that came out of his mouth.

“Hang on!” Ariel yelled, panic thundering through her heart. She barely knew him, but she loved him so, it would be such a shame if he died! She lowered herself through the water and put her arms around him, trying to find her way out of the shipwreck.

At last, she managed to navigate back to the hole with the boy still in her arms. She swam out, and tried to push herself up, up, up, and out of the water.

But then she realized.

If I got out of the water with him, I'd need to wait for someone to get him. I’ll… I’ll die waiting. My water supply. Too much oxygen…

Ariel squeezed her eyes shut before opening them again. She didn’t care. She would figure something out.

So with all the remaining bits and pieces of strength inside her, she pulled her and the boy out of the water and into the open. She gasped. Her gills had already started burning. She dipped her head back into the water before coming out again.

“Help!” She cried as loud as she could. “Please, someone help, he’s dying! He’s dying, he’s dying, one of you is dying!” No matter how loud she pleaded, no one came to the boy’s aid.

Ariel was starting to lose it now. She felt as if she was dying—probably because she was. She dipped her head in water again but immediately popped out of the water once more.

“Please…” Ariel whispered. “Somebody…” Ariel’s strength gave in. The boy fell out of her arms, floating on the top of the water, dipping in and with the waves. He seemed dead. But Ariel didn’t give in.

“Please save him!” She called one last time, struggling to stay out of the water. “SOMEBODY!” She tried calling once more, but her voice was gone. Her only means of communication. It was gone. There was no hope left.

She hung onto the boy’s body and closed her eyes before taking her last breath.

And then she was gone as well.

The boy popped one eye open. Then another. He watched the girl for a couple of seconds. Nope, she wasn’t alive, she was dead. A slow smile spread across his face. He morphed into another creature altogether—Ursula, the Sea Witch.

“Oh poor, poor Ariel…” Ursula sighed, fluttering her eyelashes and mock-crying. “If only you’d listened to me instead…” She grinned once more, wickedly. With a snap of her scaly fingers, Ariel was a small sculpture, one that could fit in the palm of Ursula’s hand. “Oh, The Little Mermaid… What a nice title, huh? Hmm, but it could do with a bit more… something. It’s missing something.” Ursula conjured a sculpture of a man with his arms splayed, seemingly dead. She then enchanted the little mermaid to weep over his body before freezing the animation. “Ah, now that’s way better. The Little Mermaid And The Lost Love… has a ring.”

Written by Hazel Antler.
Edited by Ivy Dewdrop.
Proofread by Daphne Clarke.