Title: The Giant Squid Loves Candy Canes
Author: fuzzyalligator
Rating: K+
Genre: Romance, Humor, Friendship
Disclaimer: Not mine. If they were, there'd be more Remus/Sirius in the books. ;)

A/N: This was supposed to go up last night but the site wouldn't let me on…Anywho! This is written for parakeetwuvs with the prompts underwater and candy canes. Enjoy! 8D

oO0Oo

"Get back here!" Remus laughed as he chased his friends toward the lake.

He'd been sitting under 'the Marauders' tree', testing out the Map – i.e. mostly watching Sirius' footprints as he walked around the castle – when a small rat stole his box of Caroline's Candy Canes. Of course, rats didn't normally steal from him, it had something to do with his wolfy scent, so he knew exactly who it was.

The rat continued to run away from him and was eventually picked up by a large black dog. Remus hadn't been paying attention to where the other boy had been walking. If he had, he might have noticed something was up.

Up ahead, Remus could see the stag standing by the lake, ready to push him in if he got too close – they'd done this many times before.

Padfoot easily dodged a few of the mild Stinging Hexes Remus shot to make him stop and expertly skidded behind Prongs. The stag lowered his head as the Prefect got closer, ready to defend the others in necessary. "Just give them back and no one will get hurt," Remus said with a playful smile.

Sirius changed back into his human self and held the box of sweets above his head that he'd taken from Wormtail's mouth. "If you want them, come and get them," he challenged with a playful smirk.

"Or…" Remus had been practicing nonverbal spells so the box of sweets easily flew from Sirius' hands to his own. "Messer Moony would like to thank Messer Padfoot for having butter fingers."

The other two Marauders quickly changed back into their human selves and suddenly three wands were being pointed at him. "Now, just give us back the candy canes and no one will get hurt," James said, taking a small step forward.

Remus looked between the three teens before turning and running away as fast as his legs could take him. Someone called out behind him, but he knew better than to turn around to see who it was.

The three continued to yell as they chased after him, but he knew his friends well enough to dodge them. But, eventually he was caught.

Oddly enough, it wasn't Padfoot who caught him. It was a rat landing on his head that stopped him. Both fell to the ground and Peter changed back once again to stop Remus from getting up.

The two wrestled for a few minutes until the others came running up behind them. "Keep him down, Pete!" James laughed as he watched the two of them. Sirius laughed along with his best friend and, while Remus was distracted, sent a few tickling charms his way.

Finally, Remus was worn out and quit fighting. "Alright!" he said breathlessly, "You lot win. Take them."

James and Sirius chuckled a few more times as they looked around for the sweets. "Uh…where are they?" James asked a little nervously.

Remus looked up from his spot on the ground to realize that they were lying very close to the lake's edge. In fact, just a few feet above his head was the water. "Oh no…"

The two boys quickly got up to stand next to their friends by the lake, all of them looking at the box of candies lying face down in the water. "Sorry, Moony," Peter apologized but smiled when his friend just pulled him into a side hug.

"You know…" James said, rubbing his chin as he thought. "I'm sure we could get some candy canes from Honeydukes…Too bad it's not a Hogsmeade weekend."

The other three Marauders looked at him for a second then suddenly Peter raised his hand. "Why don't we just use the cloak? Oh, and there's a secret passage behind the one-eyed witch. We could explore that, too."

"Why didn't you tell us about that one?" Sirius asked, feigning annoyance before giving the small boy a noogie. "We could have added it to the Map!"

"We still can, Padfoot," Remus sighed, trying to think of how they could. The Map was almost fully complete. All the charms they needed had been found and even some extras that seemed fun to add – thanks to James and Sirius' need to insult anyone.

"Then it's decided," James stated proudly, and put his arm around Peter's shoulders. "Wormy and me'll go see where that passage leads and get us some more sweets. Unseen, of course. You two figure out how to add something new to the Map."

The others agreed to the plan and split up. While James and Peter hurried back to the castle to get the cloak, the other two headed to the tree to retrieve the Map.

"So, having fun with the Map?" Sirius asked with another playful smirk when he pulled it out. Remus looked up at him and blushed when he saw his expression. "Prongs and me've been wondering why you keep taking it."

"It's so I can test it out, you know that." Remus hitched the bag over his shoulder and started to head toward the castle. "Where're you going?" he called out when he realized Sirius wasn't walking with him. Instead, he was jogging back to the lake.

The other boy just waved his hand for an answer and kept jogging. Remus thought about leaving him behind but gave in and followed. "What're you doing?" he asked when he saw the other boy wading in the water, looking for something. "The candy canes are ruined. Prongs and Wormtail are getting more."

"Yeah, I know that," Sirius replied, sounding slightly distracted. He shoved his arms further into the water, still searching for the box of sweets. "But…you can't leave sweets in the lake. The Giant Squid can't have candy."

"Since when have you worried about the Giant Squid?" Ever since an incident in first year, Sirius had held a grudge against the occupant of the lake – he even threw rocks as far as he could in hopes of hitting the squid.

Sirius looked up long enough to stick his tongue out then went back to searching the water. It was amusing to watch him for a few minutes, but then Remus started to wonder where the box had gone for his friend to look for it so long.

He set his bag and the Map on the ground before rolling up his own pants and walked into the lake now bare footed. "Where're you doing?" Sirius asked and Remus could have sworn he sounded nervous.

"Helping you look for the – aha! Box!" Remus pulled the sweets out of the water still filled with the cane shaped candies. "Can we go now?"

"You go ahead," Sirius said, standing up straight, but his eyes were still searching the lake. "I want to go swimming for a bit."

Remus sighed then tossed the ruined candies onto the shore. "What're you looking for?" he asked, walking toward his friend. "Did Snape throw something of yours into the lake again?"

"It was once in first year," his friend countered and stood a little straighter.

There was a splash from somewhere behind them, and when they looked, a tentacle came shooting out of the water towards them. "Duck!" Sirius shouted then dove to the side.

Remus just barely got out of the way, falling into the water behind him. He watched as the tentacle continued on its way and grabbed the box of candy canes. Before either of them could move, the squid stole the sweets back under the water.

"I guess he didn't agree with you," Remus stated after a few minutes of silence. The two looked at each other and burst out laughing. The young werewolf then tried to get up but felt something odd underneath his hand. "What the…"

It was an envelope with his name written across the front in handwriting that he recognized immediately. "Padfoot…why's there a letter to me in the lake?"

Sirius – who had still been laughing – stared at him in silence a moment before jumping out of the water and at his friend. Surprised, Remus held up both his hands to protect himself but was crushed when Sirius landed on top of him.

The two fought for the letter, Remus wanting to know what it said and Sirius terrified of him reading it. Somehow during their fight, they moved deeper into the lake. And when Remus finally freed himself, he tripped over a rock and fell back into the water.

But, because they had moved, it was much deeper than before.

Luckily, Remus had always been a fair swimmer and it was easy for him to get back to the top. "Moony!"

"I'm fine," he called back and attempted to make his way back to Sirius and shore. He was almost back to where he could touch when something sharp brushed against his leg. Before he could call out, many long fingers wrapped around his leg and pulled him back under the water.

Once he got over the shock and fear of being pulled under the water, Remus realized what had hold of him. A small swarm of Grindylows were pulling him down into the water.

He tried to kick them of, remembering what they're DADA professor had told them in third year. But every time one fell away, another three grabbed on. Now he was starting to panic.

While he tried to kick the Grindylows off, he attempted to swim back to the surface to get some much needed air to stop the burning in his lungs. The world around him was going dark and he cried out silently when one of the creatures bit down into his leg. With his mouth open and his body desperately wanting air, he inhaled a lot of water.

He was sure he was going to die. And all because of a letter.

Suddenly, someone grabbed his hand and a red light shot past him towards his legs. Almost all of the Grindylows released him as he clung onto Sirius tightly. With the force of the two, they made it back to the surface. While Remus expelled the water in his lungs while inhaling the chilly air, Sirius dove back under to free him from the remaining water creatures.

Once they were gone, Remus felt his friend pulling him back to where both of them could stand. "Come on, Moony," the Animagus said calmly as he half dragged, half carried him to shore. Remus continued to cough up lake water as he was lowered to the ground. He even turned to the side to spit out the foul water.

Eventually he got his breath back and laid down on his arm while resting on his side. It took him a moment to realize that someone was rubbing his back soothingly. "Next time I want a letter, you'll give it to me. Alright?" Sirius joked, still rubbing his back.

Remus nodded and held the envelope up surprised that he hadn't lost it in his small battle. "What did he write anyways?" he asked his voice sounding a little hoarse when Sirius gingerly took the letter away.

The other boy was silent for a bit then he placed the letter on the side of Remus' face before getting up.

The young werewolf stayed still for a few seconds, waiting for something to happen. When the letter was still a letter, he picked it up and opened it. Inside was a small piece of parchment with something scribbled out on one side and just a few short words on the other.

You're not the only one to 'test out' the Map. – Messer Prongs

It wasn't that much of a surprise to find out that James was using to Map to spy on Lily. But…why would James tell him that? He was about to ask Sirius when he remembered finding the Map on the floor between their two beds the last time he had rounds with Lily.

And then everything clicked.

The misplaced Map…Sirius not wanting him to read the letter…The cryptic note James hid in his sweets…

"Well?" Sirius asked, kicking some of the dirt on the ground like a pouting child. "What did he say?"

Remus blinked in confusion. "You…you don't even know what he wrote?" he asked with a small laugh and regretted it when Sirius flinched. He rolled onto his back before getting up. Instead of answering Sirius' question, he replied with, "I use the Map to look at your foot prints when I'm alone."

The other boy looked up at him suspiciously, but when he saw the honesty on his face, he smiled a little. "You creeper," he joked, making Remus smile back. "I guess…I might do that, too."

"Stalker," Remus joked back and pulled his friend into a soft and wonderful kiss.