Swimming….among other things

"It's been too long," Remus announced. He stripped off his shoes and began to piles his weapons.

Peter grinned, "The last time was for my birthday, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," Sirius answered somewhat surprised. "Why did we stop coming up here?"

James shrugged. He embedded his two wrist daggers into the nearest tree and began to throw his weapons underneath. "Do you remember the day that we found this place?"

"Oh Geez, we must have only been eleven then," Sirius groaned.

"We were running away from Filch," Remus remembered.

"Why, what did you guys do?" Lily asked.

"Let a couple snakes loose in his office," they answered in unison. James glanced over at Sirius and they burst into laughter. "His expression was priceless," Sirius managed to spit out. "Who knew that he had a pet rat?" Peter said sadly. That pushed Remus over his limit. He let out a few small giggles before joining James and Sirius in chortles.

"You killed a rat!" Lily raged.

"Technically the snake did," Sirius pointed out. "You like rats?"

"No," Lily answered.

"Then why are you mad?"

"You murdered a pet!"

"A rat," Sirius repeated.

"He had just made us polish every one of the school's swords," Remus defended.

"He killed our fly?" James offered.

"He ate our chicken?" Peter tried.

"He destroyed our hopes and dreams," Sirius declared dramatically. Lily laughed and the Marauders beamed triumphantly.

"Done," Remus announced.

"Yeah, me too," Sirius said. James and Peter nodded.

"Are you going, Lily?" James asked.

"You never told me anything other than the cliff," Lily said.

"Cliff," James pointed.

"River," Sirius joined in.

"Rope," Remus pulled on it to demonstrate.

"Swimming," Peter pulled it all together.

"I can't swim," Lily said with mild embarrassment.

"What?"

"Why not?" Peter demanded.

"There was no river near our house. Well, hygienic river," Lily amended.

"I can't believe it," Sirius stated.

"You want to learn?" James offered.

"Sure, thanks," Lily answered gratefully. She started to walk down the cliff and towards the bank.

"Lily," James called.

"Yeah?"

"You have to take off all of your weapons first," James reminded her.

"Right," Lily answered self-consciously. She turned back and began to balance her weapons in a pile next to Sirius's.

"Would you like to do the honors?" Sirius asked Remus.

"Thank you sir," Remus replied. He stripped off his shirt and grabbed the rope. He took a running start before letting all of his weight depend on the rope. Half-way across the river Remus relaxed his grip on the rope and dropped into the river.

"Wormtail," Sirius proffered the rope. Lily missed the jump as James shepherded her down the cliff. "How did you learn to swim anyway?" Lily asked.

"When we found this place I didn't see where the cliff ended so I ran right off. I did a belly flop before almost sinking. That was about when I learned to swim," James explained.

"Seriously?" Lily asked.

James nodded and began to take off his shirt. He stood there waiting for Lily. "Shoes," he reminded her after she stood in a trance for a few moments.

"Oh, yeah, right," Lily stammered. She bent down and took off her shoes. She put one foot in the river before jumping back out with a scream.

"What," James asked with concern.

"Co-cold," Lily stuttered.

James sighed. "It's not that cold," he said softly.

"Yes, it is," Lily protested.

James walked closer to her with out her noticing. "No, its not," he said. He grabbed Lily and jumped into the river with her. "See," he said after they had surfaced, James having to hold on to Lily so that she didn't sink, "Not that cold."

Lily wrenched one arm free and hit James on the head. "Cold!" she repeated. James shook his head, spraying water everywhere. He was laughing too hard to reply to Lily's latest comment. Lily glared at him until he stopped. "Alright, alright," James said. "You can go back to the shore, if you can get there." He released his grip on Lily to gesture towards the shore. Lily screamed again and started flailing her arms. James quickly placed two hands underneath her back so that she was floating.

"What's with all the screaming?" Sirius asked as he came swimming down to them.

"Lily was under the mistaken impression that it was cold," James explained. He tilted Lily so that she was vertical and started instructing her on how to move her arms and legs.

"Then by that account at least she's quieter about it then you were," Remus added. He was on his back, floating between Sirius and Peter.

Peter gave Lily a critical gaze. "And much less pink," he added, "almost a blue actually."

Sirius laughed as James shot them a dirty glance. "He was not pink, he was a masculine red," Sirius defended him, "and that girly shriek that everyone heard was actually a manly bellow." James was stuck between deciding whether Sirius was mocking him or trying to defend him and just happened to be horribly bad at it. "And no matter what anyone says he could have saved himself but he just thought that me having to jump in after him fully clothed and save him was a much better way to prove that he was in fact not the absolute dim-wit we always took him for." James made up his mind and attacked Sirius. Sirius was unwillingly pushed under the water and held there until he shoved James back. James retaliated by splashing water into Sirius's open mouth. "Oh, that's war," Sirius declared after spitting the water out of his mouth. James smirked and motioned with his hand. Lily lay completely forgotten as she struggled to keep her bed above water.

"Help!" she finally managed to say in between frequent coughs full of water. Remus took pity on her and went over to help. He managed to teach her a sort of dog paddle that was enough at least to keep her head above water and give her a limited mobility. Meanwhile Peter was engaged watching the fight between Sirius and James.

-------------------

"I won," Sirius declared, shaking his head to dry off.

James flicked some water at him, "No way, I won. Lily?"

"Yeah?" Lily answered.

"Who won?" Sirius asked.

"I was to busy drowning to determine that," Lily answered indignantly well she strapped on some of her weapons. James walked over to help her with the ones that she was having difficulty with. "Ask Remus," she suggested.

"Saving Lily," Remus answered before anyone could ask.

"That leaves you Wormtail," Sirius pointed out. He put on his best grin before throwing an arm around his friend's shoulder.

Peter took one look at Sirius's and James's expressions. "Tie," he announced in a squeaky voice.

James and Sirius glanced at each other in mutual agreement and jumped on Peter. "Sirius won," Peter finally spit out. "Sirius!"

"Ha," Sirius said, standing up. "I always beat you in the water."

"Then we'll duel, with swords, when we get back," James decided. He put one arm around Lily's shoulder. "So how was your first time swimming?" he asked well ruffling her hair.

"Cold!" she answered. She slipped an arm around his waist.

"I don't see how you can think that," James answered. Lily snuck one hand, still wet, inside his shirt. The result was instantaneous. James shrieked, jumping a foot in the air. The other four burst out laughing.

"Good one," Sirius and Remus complimented her. They high fived her and then wandered off with Peter.

"Where are you guys going," Lily inquired.

"Moody wanted to talk to us about something," Remus said. Lily noticed that he glanced away from James when he said this.

"I'll come," James said, trying to regain some of his dignity.

Sirius shook his head. "Nah, we don't need you."

"Since when do you not need me?" James protested. "I should help some, since we spent all day goofing off. Just let me drop Lily off first."

"Go back with Lily," Remus told him. "Seriously, we don't need you." Again with the shifty look. This time James noticed it and he immediately turned to Peter.

"What's going on?" James took several strides forward so that he was standing just in front of Peter. Sirius began to run towards them, hoping to get Peter out before he broke.

"Nothing," Peter insisted. There was a crack in his voice. "Just plans."

James held Sirius off. "For what?"

Peter broke, "For your birthday party."

James laughed and released his friend. Sirius began to give Peter a lecture on standing up for himself. "You guys should never tell Peter anything. I'll see you later." He let the other three walk away. He and Lily departed in the opposite direction. "Every year," he laughed.

"Peter tells you every year?" Lily asked.

"Nah, normally I find out in other ways. They aren't the best at hiding secrets from me," James explained. He grabbed her hand. "It comes from living in too close of quarters." Suddenly he spun her into his arms. "Now I believe we were interrupted yesterday." He brought one hand up to gently tilt her head up.

Lily decided to tease him a little. She still hadn't forgiven him for the whole lake incident. "Interrupted during what?"

James was unfazed. "During this," he replied leaning down. Lily smiled as their lips met.

A/N

I know. I'm sorry this took so long. I just kept putting it off, and then I read the seventh book. (Don't read next part if you haven't read the book) Snape being in love with Lily made me depressed, so I didn't want to continue this until now. Anyways, I can't decide to whether to include that in my fanfic, so tell me your thoughts on it in a review. Thanks for reading. Until next time.

P.S. My friend Emma and I are writing a different fanfic, May the Darkness have Mercy. It's a black jewels or dark jewels, trilogy fanfic. I thought it was pretty good, so check it out if you have read that series by Anne Bishop. If not, I strongly recommend you go read that series. It is my all time favorite series. Even better than Harry Potter.