Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. If I did, Remus and Sirius would have had a love story in the background/past. Remus Lupin *fangirl squee!*
AN: This will be a two-shot, unless I decide it's better as a story. It doesn't just end like this.
Too scared to say I love you
By the lake at midday
The giant squid was hungry.
At least, Remus thought so. He wasn't used to its movements, the tentacles which came up to the surface restlessly before disappearing, dragging down any debris on the top of the lake with it. He hadn't seen its head yet, but there was an ominous grey shape which would occasionally show, far from the surface, just for a second or two. A bird had landed on the lake recently, a dull white duck with feathers ruffled had tried to rest on the murky green body of water, but a sneaky greyish limb had snatched it up before it had time to cry out. It was unsettling to see, to know that he was close enough to be snatched up by the monster. Remus was scared by the squid that day.
And that was before Sirius had announced that he was going to go swimming.
''Don't, Sirius, please!'' he had cried, not bothering to hide his panic, forgetting who his friend was. The mere thought of scaring his friend lit a fire in his eyes which refused to be put out until he had satisfied it.
''Go on Padfoot! I dare you!'' James was never the sensible one of the group. He was equally excited by the prospect of his shaggy haired friend risking his life for a little fun.
Peter never even tried to stop them. They would never listen to Peter, he knew that all too well.
Sirius pulled his jumper and shirt off, relishing the warmth of the sun on his bare skin. He reached down for his shoes next, slipping his large feet out of them carefully. It seemed that he wasn't wearing socks that day. His well-defined muscles rippled as he straightened up again, catching the sun at odd angles, shining a pale shade of golden. He had a small scar across his chest, a striking white against his warm skin. It was only a thin scar, it would disappear in time. Not like the rather larger scar running along his spine. The one with no story behind it.
And Remus saw it all. Of course he saw it all. He noticed every flaw, every imperfection which ran across the surface of Sirius Black. Ever since last year.
It wasn't entirely clear to him when he'd started seeing his friend that way, but he was pretty sure it was around winter. Technically, it hadn't been last year, it was still 1974, but they were in their fifth year now, starting their OWLs. So much older. And yet he still felt like he was a child.
At some point when Remus had been busy with his thinking, Sirius had taken off his trousers, and was now standing in the middle of the other three of them, shivering, in nothing but a pair of red and yellow underpants. The sun had chosen a fine time to go in.
''Cold, Paddy?'' James asked tauntingly.
''Course not, Prongs. Just testing my muscles,'' Sirius replied in an oddly forced voice. It was ridiculous of him to say that, when all of them could see that he was almost frozen to the spot. Scottish Octobers were like that; one moment hot enough to stay outside in, the next so cold that their winter robes couldn't keep it out.
''Right. Well, I'm going in now.'' The others stared at Sirius. As far as they could tell, he had made no move to go anywhere near the lake. The movements below the surface were getting more frequent now, and Remus was praying secretly in his head, to whatever higher beings were up 'there', for Sirius to change his mind, to put his clothes back on, and they could all laugh about this in the warmth of the common room. Although he did have to admit, it would be okay with him if Sirius chose to not put his clothes back on. Or if he threw every bit of his rather too large wardrobe into the lake for the squid to eat...
'Snap out of it!' a voice in the deepest recesses of his mind told him sharply. 'It's never going to happen, and there's no point wasting time on your fantasies. Less time for studying if you do that.' And he had to admit that the annoying little voice was probably right. In the time it had taken him to summon several of his old daydreams, add new material, and begin to imagine them, Sirius had reached the side of the lake, just a metre from where one lazy tentacle stroked a log which had somehow made it into the water.
The boy at the lake, one of the bravest people that anyone at Hogwarts had ever seen, held himself perfectly straight. His arms reached up high into the air, as he bent his knees slightly in a standard divers pose. He looked back breifly at the others, grinning manically at James and barely noticing Peter. His eyes reached Remus, who smiled shyly at him. Sirius relaxed, and half turned his body towards him. Unfortunately, he had somehow forgotton that he was standing on a rather slippery grey rock, which was hard to grip onto with just his feet. With a yelp, he slid off the rock, and slowly tumbled into the water, crashing into the squid's lone tentacle so hard that Remus thought he might have broken it.
But he hadn't. All that had happened was that the giant squid was now really, really mad. And Sirius was in deeper water than he thought. Literally.
He hadn't realised that the water close to the shore was in fact as deep as the rest of the lake. He'd estimated two or three metres at most. Not fifteen.
''Shouldn't we help him?'' Remus asked the others quietly. James was laughing so hard he could barely breathe, while Peter was laughing just because James was. Neither of them were paying attention to the fact that Sirius was actually in trouble. He kept bobbing up to the surface, gasping desperately, before being pulled back down again.
Remus looked from one to the other in disbelief. Sirius was in trouble, he could see that easily. He had already called out twice for help, his lungs beginning to fill with water. And as Sirius was lifted out of the water higher than he had been before, Remus saw what his problem was.
The squid had wrapped on of it's tentacles around his ankle, and was attempting to drag him down to it's own level. Sirius, who had no intention of being eaten at the age of fifteen, clung on to a low lying tree branch as though life depended on it. Which it did.
Remus found his voice at that moment, and it was louder than he thought it would be.
''WHAT ARE YOU DOING? HE'S YOUR FRIEND, AND YOU'RE JUST GOING TO LET HIM DROWN? I'LL HELP IF YOU WON'T!''
With those angry words, he rushed to the edge of the lake, where Sirius was losing his battle to stay out of the squid's mouth. His heart was racing in his chest, and not just from the fear. But it wasn't the time to think about that.
''Sirius? Sirius, can you hear me? I'm going to try to pull you out now.'' His voice was calm, almost soothing, to Sirius. He almost let go. But his instincts kicked in suddenly, and he nodded.
''Okay, I've got hold of your arm now. I'm going to start pulling on the count of three. One...'' He was so calm. How could he be so calm about something like this?
''Two...'' He could feel Sirius's pulse next to his hand. Sirius was scared. Really scared. But he trusted Remus. He could tell.
''Three!'' He pulled sharply, and Sirius cried out. It didn't work, the squid now had an even tighter grip. And the grey eyed boy had tears in his eyes. He wasn't sure, but he got the feeling that the tears weren't entirely to do with the fresh pain in his arm. Or the fear in his heart.
''Well, that didn't work!'' he murmured, more to himself than for the benefit of the drowning boy. ''I'm going to try something else, okay? Could you... could you please move over a little? To the left, I need a clear view of the right.''
Sirius moved as much as he was physically able, which he suspected wasn't very far at all. But it was the best he had. Remus pulled his wand out from the inner pockets of his robes, and pointed it, with a trembling hand, at the vague shape which he presumed was the tentacle which had a hold on Sirius's leg.
''Do you trust me?'' Remus almost whispered, a film of sweat forming on his forehead from fear and longing. Sirius nodded again, weaker this time. He was slowly loosing his strength, and his grip. Behind the two of them, the laughter had stopped. Maybe they knew how serious the situation was. Maybe they had choked to death. Remus didn't really care either way.
Time stood still at that moment. Even the cold breeze stopped tossing leaves around, the ripples on the surface of the lake ceased for a moment to witness the two boys alone by the lake. And Remus raised his wand in this time-which-wasn't-time.
''Diffindo!'' he cried. And the world began to move again. Red ran through the water where Remus had severed the tentacle holding on to Sirius's leg. The bleeding limb thrashed around in the lake, spraying crimson water over both the boys, Remus on the shore, aghast at the damage he had done to a living creature, and Sirius, dragging himself out onto the shore where he would be safe. Remus, seeing Sirius struggling, threw his wand onto the grass behind him, and held out both of his arms to pull the boy out of the water.
''Are you okay?'' Sirius panted, once he was back with his friends on the grass. Remus looked at him bemusedly.
''Shouldn't I be the one asking that question?'' he asked hesitantly. They caught each other's eyes and, for a split second, electricity seemed to pass between them. But then Peter coughed, and attention was on him.
''I'm so sorry, Sirius! Really, I am! I didn't realise...'' He trailed off, not wanting to say the next words. So James finished it for him.
''We would have saved you if we'd known the squid had hold of you. I swear, Padfoot!'' Sirius looked from James to Peter, tears forming in his eyes. Then he grinned. They both stared at him uncertainly.
''Relax!'' he said loudly. ''It's not like I actually drowned, you know. I would have if Remus hadn't saved me, but...'' He turned to Remus, who was shaking, looking as though he were holding back tears, and stretched out an arm to hug the boy.
''It's okay! Really, I'm fine!'' Remus burst into tears.
''I-I-We could hav-have lost...'' He fell into his best friends arms, sobbing his heart out. Sirius drew him close, marvelling at how cold the boy was, when it was he who had fallen into the freezing water.
''Look, you didn't lose me, did you? I'm here! Unless you've figured out how to hug a ghost, which I must say would be pretty impressive, even for you!'' Remus could feel a warm hand stroking his head as the words reached his ears, and was suddenly aware of the fact that Sirius was wearing very little. Very little indeed. And just after he realised that, he noticed that the water was making Sirius's underwear stick to his... his body. And some very private things were showing. And he wasn't the only one to notice.
''Oh, get a room!'' James yelled out suddenly, making the four of them laugh. Sirius lifted Remus off his chest, and stared at him.
''You are okay, aren't you?'' Remus nodded, wiping away the last of his tears as he did so. The four of them were together again. And they were alright.
''You do realise you can see... things,'' Peter commented shyly. ''Don't you?'' Sirius looked down.
''Merlin's pants!'' he cried, reaching for his clothes at the same time.
''Are they? You should get some of your own, you know!''
But which one of them said it, they would never know.
AN: Reviews? Anyone? Please?
If you like this, you could have a look at my other stories. I want to do more Remus/Sirius slash, so I should have some stuff like that in the future. I don't go beyond 'T' though.