Sirius saw Beth sitting at one of the tables in the Common Room. She was writing furiously in her notebook, the tip of her tongue on the edge of her lip in concentration. He walked quietly up to stand next to her. Beth didn't notice him at first and Sirius frowned when he saw she had the picture of her with her friends that he'd seen previously sitting in front of her.
"Hey," he pulled out a chair next to her and Beth jumped.
"Oh, hi," Beth said. "Sorry, I was concentrating. I didn't see you."
"Lesson planning?" he leaned back in his chair and indicated her notebook.
"Yeah," Beth nodded. She followed Sirius' gaze and seemed to notice her photo. She moved to sweep it up, but Sirius grabbed her hand and stopped it.
"Who are your mates?" he asked trying to make his voice sound casual.
By the way Beth's eyes snapped up to his, he hadn't succeeded. She looked back at the picture and pointed to the blonde girl first. "Diane, my best friend. Behind her is Joshua and behind me is Andy." A shadow passed over her face as she spoke.
Sirius stared at her. Beth's cheeks turned pink at his scrutiny but she stayed silent. "Boyfriend?" he finally said, pointing to Andy.
"Past tense," Beth replied shortly. "It didn't end well." Sirius was relieved that at least it had ended. He didn't know what he would have done if she had told him that they were going to get back together when she went home.
"What happened?" Sirius asked.
"I caught him with another girl," Beth said. For the first time Sirius saw a cold disdain in Beth's normally warm eyes.
"Unforgiveable, eh?" Sirius said. He watched her curiously. She appeared to be struggling to hide some strong emotion.
"In my book," Beth replied. Her eyes flashed to his again and she seemed to be debating whether to say more. She opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by the approach of Remus. She shot a quick look of regret at Sirius and closed her mouth.
"Hey Mooney," Sirius hid his disappointment at missing what Beth had wanted to say as he greeted Remus. He hoped Beth would decide to tell him whatever was on her mind later. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed she carefully tucked the picture away in her notebook.
Remus pulled out a chair to join them. "Hi Beth, Sirius." He smiled at Beth and gave a short nod to Sirius.
"What did you call Remus?" Beth looked perplexed.
"Moony," Sirius said.
"How did you come up with that gem of a nickname?" Beth asked, aghast.
"He hates the full moon," Sirius looked at Remus who was giving him a deadpan stare. "It scares him."
"Oh," Beth shrugged. She didn't appear to notice the tension between Remus and Sirius. "I was thinking it was for a different reason." When Sirius raised an eyebrow, she elaborated. "It's probably just American slang."
"Do I want to know what that slang means?" Sirius asked slowly.
"Not so much," Beth shook her head. She gave Sirius a teasing grin. "Maybe I should give you a special nickname."
"I already have a perfectly good nickname," Sirius protested. She had a gleam in her eyes that did not bode well for him.
Beth had heard Sirius and James call each other by their strange nicknames. "That's for you and your fellow Marauders." She paused deep in thought. "Hm."
Remus chuckled. "He's called a lot of names by other girls. Prat, arsehole, git. The list goes on and on."
Beth laughed. "He's a special case, isn't he Remus?"
"Very," Remus nodded. Sirius rolled his eyes at their lame attempts at humour.
"Let's see," Beth tapped her finger against her chin. "If we follow the premise you used for Remus' nickname, we should call you H2O." She proclaimed this with a flourish, an expectant look on her face as she watched Sirius.
"Why the fuck would you call me that?" Sirius glared at Beth.
"Because you're too scared of the water to properly swim," Beth talked with the simple tone of someone explaining to a child. Remus coughed and turned his face to the side, trying to cover his mouth to hide his amusement. Sirius gave him a hard look and then swung his head suspiciously to Beth, who was carefully keeping a straight face.
"I can fucking swim," Sirius argued.
Beth gave him a skeptical look. "I've seen the way you dog paddle. You're too worried to put your face in the water to swim well."
Remus snorted. "She's right, Sirius. You never put your face in the water."
Sirius threw out his arms in frustration. "Because the water here is fucking cold! Take me to the Mediterranean and I'll put my face in."
"Are you sure it's not something else? The pond wasn't at all cold last night." Beth eyed him with a different expression. Sirius was afraid it might be pity.
"Don't try and psychoanalyze me." Sirius snapped. "There's nothing wrong with swimming with my head up."
"Yeah, sometimes swimming heads up is fine. When you're rescuing someone or playing water polo, you have to." Beth shook her head. "That's not what you're doing."
"Do you know what is just like a fish out of water?" Remus joked. "Sirius in the water!"
Sirius was not amused. "I don't sink. Unlike a fish out of water, I don't die."
"You hardly move either," Beth pointed out. "You fight the water and exhaust yourself swimming a few feet. You'd probably drown if you fell in the water more than twenty feet from the shore."
Sirius frowned. "Well…I did almost drown once when I was a little kid. Ever since then, I just didn't want to take swim lessons. I don't like having my face submerged."
Beth nodded sagely. "I should have known. Everyone has their weak spot- even the big tough Quidditch star."
"It's not a weak spot," Sirius muttered. "It's a choice. I'm just making a choice." Remus snickered and Sirius glared at him.
"I'll teach you," Beth announced. "I need to work out in the pond at least a few days a week anyway. I'll give you swimming lessons before I do my laps."
"Are you crazy? I don't need to torture myself by getting in that effing water." Sirius shuddered."And you're tiny—you'll get hypothermia this time of year out there."
"I told you, James is willing to put a spell on the water to warm it up like he did for us last night." Beth cocked her head and leaned closer to Sirius, putting her hand on his arm. "Come on, Sirius. I promise I'll be gentle with you." Her grin was teasing.
Sirius couldn't help but laugh. "That's normally my line."
Beth looked away. "I figured as much." She tried to not let it show that her stomach sank when Sirius made cracks that referenced his past with other girls. When she looked at him again, Sirius was watching her perceptively and she gave him the best smile she could muster. "So, tomorrow after lessons?"
"So soon?" Sirius grimaced. "Can't you give me a few weeks to get ready?"
Remus couldn't stop his derisive snort as Beth gave Sirius a disbelieving stare. "What do you need to do to get ready? You put on a swimming suit and walk to the pond!"
Sirius stared back at her, his mind frantically searching for an excuse. Swimming was one of his least favorite activities although he felt more confident than Beth that he could go a long distance with his dog paddling. On the other hand, it would be fun to have Beth teach him and seeing her in a swimsuit was a bonus. "Fine," he conceded gruffly. "I'll have James tell me how to do the spell to warm the pond."
The next afternoon, they walked through a fine drizzle to the pond. Sirius muttered about pneumonia and his so-called swim teacher endangering his life the entire way to the pond. Beth listened with a knowing grin on her face and finally pointed out that in the heated pond they would be warmer than he was during a Quidditch practice in this weather.
They stripped to their bathing suits quickly. Beth carefully put their bags with their towels and clothes under a plastic tarp to keep dry while Sirius warmed the pond. She pulled her hair to a low ponytail to keep it out of her way while she taught Sirius. She shivered in the cool drizzle and hurried to the edge of the warm pond. Sirius had set aside his wand and was watching her.
"I have to give you my safety speech first," Beth began as he joined her and they waded into the pond. "This is important. Anyone, even the best swimmer, can drown. You could get a muscle cramp, especially in cold water, and you might be too debilitated to swim. Or you could bump your head diving in. Or you think you can swim farther than you really can. It's never safe to swim alone."
Sirius grinned. "Not something you have to worry about with me, seeing as I usually don't bother to swim at all."
The swimming lesson was more fun than Sirius expected. Beth was a superb teacher and she made sure he was never uncomfortable. He kept her laughing with sarcastic observations and at the end of the lesson (deemed "free time" by Beth who always knew to leave a student with a fun ending) they fought in waist-high water to take each other down. They were fairly evenly matched; Sirius was bigger and stronger but Beth was a much better swimmer and her favorite tactic was to dive under him and pull him down by grabbing his legs from underwater.
Sirius declared he had won after he picked her up and carried her out of the water ("How is that winning?" Beth protested. "The object of the game was to get the other person to fall in the water, not take them out of the water."). "Do you mind sticking around for a little while so I can work out?" Beth asked as he set her down. "I brought your book I assigned from Muggle Studies if you don't feel like staying in the pond."
"You brought me homework? Only you would do that." He shook his head. "Go swim. I'll practice my elementary backstroke in the shallow water." Beth grinned and ran back into the water, striking out across the pond with motions much more efficient than his.
When she finished, they walked slowly out of the pond. "I love how relaxed I feel after a good workout," Beth said smiling. Sirius handed her a large towel and then touched it with his wand so it would be warm. The drizzle had stopped but the air was cold and they hurriedly pulled on sweats over their suits.
"I talked to Lily," Sirius told Beth keeping his tone casual as he put on his shoes.
Beth's head popped up from tying her shoelaces. "Yeah?" her eyes searched Sirius' face.
"She understands that I didn't mean it that way when I slipped and called the play by her name." Sirius' face was impassive but Beth knew it was important to him that Lily was not upset with him.
"That's good." Beth's eyes were warm as she looked at him. "Do you feel better now?"
Sirius smiled as he met her understanding eyes. "Yeah." He stood up and took her hand to pull her up. "Thanks for the lesson."
Beth nodded with a small smile. "Next time, I'm going to teach you how to tread water," Beth informed him as they hurried back to the castle. "And we'll work on your side breathing for the crawl stroke."
"I shouldn't always be the student," Sirius' brow furrowed. "What can I teach you?"
Beth pursed her lips. "What are you good at?" When he gave her a wicked grin, she backtracked. "That I want to learn, you conceited jerk?"
"We can't play Quidditch since you can't fly," Sirius rubbed his chin. He opened the door for her and they stepped into the welcome warmth of the castle. "How about cricket? I can teach you the basics inside until the weather is nice enough to play outside."
"That sounds like fun," Beth grinned. She studied Sirius as they walked towards the staircase. Despite her best efforts, it was becoming increasingly difficult not to want to be more than friends with him. He noticed her watching him and winked at her. Beth's heart sped up. There was no doubt she was in trouble here.