Remus hadn't told his parents about meeting Sirius, but they could tell that something in him had changed. He seemed happier, lighter. He had shrugged off their comments off though, because how could he tell them that he had finally found hope again because of a boy? Not even that, a merperson.

He had quickly left the cottage after breakfast though, hoping to find Sirius waiting for him in the lake. But when he had gotten there, there was no one. For a moment he wondered if he had imagined the young man from the day before. Had he fallen asleep and dreamt it all?

But he could still feel Sirius' lips on his, and he knew that they had shared something. Something real, something that can't be dreamt up. So he had sat down in the grass, hoping that Sirius would still show up.

It's been hours though, and just as he is starting to get up to go back to the cottage, if only to eat something and come back later, he notices something moving in the water.

"Sirius?" he asks, his heart starting to beat faster at the thought of seeing him again. But it's not Sirius who pops up out of the water. It's a different young man, whose features are similar, but he looks younger.

"You know my brother, don't you?"

"Who are you?"

"Regulus, Sirius' brother."

"Where is he?" Remus asks, and he can hear that he isn't coming across as very friendly. But right now he doesn't care. He is starting to get worried, and the look on Regulus' face isn't helping. "Is he hurt?"

"My parents found out about you."

"So?"

"They are keeping him trapped in a lake, not far from here. I've tried to get him out, but…," Regulus sighs. "I don't have my father's powers."

"What can I do to help?"

"I don't know. But I know he cares about you, and I didn't want you to think he abandoned you. He wouldn't do that," Regulus says, and Remus can tell that, although he still seems young at heart, he seems sincere, just like his brother. "We'll find a way to free him."

"I want to help, Regulus," Remus says. "How are they keeping him trapped?"

"My father has power over everything that lives under the water, and somehow these plants, it's like…"

"Plants?" Remus interrupts him. "Have you tried cutting him out?"

"With what?"

"A knife, something sharp… I don't know what you have."

"We don't have weapons, just…"

"Just the power to keep someone trapped?" Remus spits out, feeling frustrated. "I'll go get a knife. I'll be right back."

Remus runs back to the cottage, and he sneaks in, hoping his parents won't notice him. Because he isn't sure how he would explain to them that he needs a knife. But he grabs the largest one they have, before taking his father's bicycle, and going back to the lake.

"Where are they keeping him? How do I get there?"

"You can't go there," Regulus laughs uncomfortably. "If my parents see you…"

"Let me help. Please."

Regulus tells him how to get to the lake, before disappearing underneath the water and swimming off. So Remus gets into his father's bicycle, and he makes his way over to the lake where Sirius is being held, as quickly as possible.

By the time he gets there, Regulus is waiting for him. And without hesitating, he jumps into the water. He realises he hasn't thought this through, when Regulus tells him to follow him, and he disappears into the water.

Remus takes a deep breath, but he is already struggling by the time he sees Sirius on the bottom of the lake, plants grown all over him.

"Give me the knife," Regulus orders, but Remus ignores him, and he starts to slice at the plants, trying his best to hold his breath. The panic is starting to build up inside of him, and he can feel the pressure inside his head, inside his chest building with every second. But he keeps slicing, Sirius' begging not even getting through to him.

"Please let Regulus take over!" Sirius cries out. "You have to go up!"

"You'll drown," Regulus tries, and he makes a grab for the knife. But Remus shoves him off, and he keeps slicing away at the plants, Sirius surely but slowly becoming more visible again.

"Save him, please!" Sirius cries out, but there is nothing his brother can do to stop Remus.

He slices through the last of the plants, and as soon as he sees that Sirius is free, he tries to swim back up. But he can feel something pulling at him, and when he turns around, he notices a man with eyes that make his blood turn cold, stare at him, an evil grin on his face.

"I don't think so."

"Let go of him!" Sirius orders, and as he raises his hand, Remus loses consciousness.

Sirius had never had the power to fight his father. But he knows that if Remus can't go up for air in second, he will die. That gives him the strength to finally stand up against his father. He raises his fist, and a bright, blue ball of energy begins to glow inside of it. He throws it at his father, who lets go of Remus as soon as he is hit.

Sirius doesn't stick around to wait for his father to fight back though. He grabs Remus, and he drags him out of the water, onto the grass.

"He isn't breathing," he says, his brother swimming behind him, looking just as horrified. "What do I do?"

"I don't know…"

"I have to save him, Reg," Sirius says, and he shares a knowing look with his brother. "I can't stay here and watch him die."

"Then save him." Regulus nods, looking heartbroken. "Go on."

"I'm sorry. I love you."

"I love you, too," Regulus says, flashing a small smile through his tears. "Now go!"

Sirius climbs out of the water, his tail already feeling tighter. He ignores the feeling, and he crawls over to Remus.

He had always known that he wouldn't – technically- have breath as long as he was inside the water. As soon as he would be outside the water, his body would get confused, it would slowly poison itself. He would start to become human, before he would die.

Knowing that he may only have minutes before that happens, he takes a deep breath. His first. He leans down, and he blows his first breath into Remus' mouth, hoping it will be enough to save him.

"Don't leave me," he whispers. "Please."

He looks down, his tail already having disappeared, and he knows it won't be long before he will get seriously ill, before his body will start to poison itself, not able to readjust to his new surroundings.

"Remus," he whispers, before pressing a soft kiss onto his lips. "I need to see you before I go."

Remus opens his eyes, and he coughs up dirty lake water, but he's alive. He's breathing.

"What happened? Am I…," he begins to ask, but when he looks down, and he sees a very naked, very human Sirius lying next to him, his mouth opens wide in shock. "Holy shit! What happened?"

"I'm dying."

"We can't leave the water," Regulus explains. "Our body changes, and it just… we can't survive like that."

"Then get back in!"

"It doesn't work like that," Sirius sighs. "But it's okay. You're alive."

"Fuck you. It's not okay! You are not dying, you hear me? You get back in the water, and you get rid of that…" Remus spits out, but then he blushes. "Those legs, I mean."

"It's okay, Remus," Sirius says in a calm voice. "I knew this was going to happen. Just stay with me, please. Both of you."

Remus is about to object, because surely this can't be the end of their story. But Sirius can tell that he is scared, and that he doesn't want to waste whatever precious little time they have left, arguing over what they can or cannot do.

So Sirius wraps his arms around him, and he pulls him against his chest. He closes his eyes, waiting for the pain to set in. To feel that horrible, excruciating pain his parents had always warned him about. He is waiting to get ill, for his body to start failing on him.

But minutes pass, and he doesn't feel anything. Except for cold. And naked.

"How do you feel?" Regulus asks, and Sirius looks up, a confused look on his face.

"Alive."

"Do you think they were wrong?" Regulus asks, before adding, "Do you think they lied to us? To keep us with them?"

Sirius thinks it over, and would his parents have lied about something so important? Would they have kept this whole other world away from him on purpose? If so, then why?

"It feels… anticlimactic," he finally chuckles. "We could have left the water all along?"

"So if I were to get out now…?"

"Don't," Remus quickly says. "We don't know what happens if you go back into the water. You might not be able to change back."

"Fine by me," Sirius spits out. "I am never going back there," he says, but when he sees the hurt look on his brother's face, he sighs. "I can't. Not after what they did to me. To Remus. They could have killed him."

"I don't want to go back either."

"Then let me try it out first," Sirius says, and he gets up, his legs feeling wobbly, but definitely like they're part of him.

He climbs into the water, and within seconds, he can feel his legs growing together. They grow bigger, and although it's painful, when he lifts his tail out of the water, it looks just as it had always done.

"I'm not going back, Sirius."

"Where will we go?"

"I can ask my parents if you can stay with us," Remus suggests, and Sirius can tell from the blush on his face that he hadn't been planning on saying it. "I'm sure they won't mind."

"Do they know about me? About what I am?"

"No, but I'm a werewolf, Sirius. I'm sure they don't mind two…"

"Sorry, what?" Regulus interrupts. "You're a…"

"He's the werewolf I saw the other week," Sirius explains, the blush on Remus' face now growing darker.

"Right… well…"

"We're made for each other, right?" Sirius grins, before climbing out of the water again, his brother quickly following.

"I'm sure my parents won't mind you two being merpeople, but I'm not sure how I'm going to explain the uhm…"

"The what?" Sirius asks, as they start walking away from the lake, Remus with his father's bicycle by his side. "Have you changed your mind already?"

"No! It's just that I'm not sure what they're going to think when I show up with two very wet, and very naked guys, and I ask them if you can move in with us," Remus chuckles. "I'm not sure they'll ever let me leave the house again," he adds, but when he sees the nervous look on Sirius' face, he can't help but smile.

He can't help but think of how miserable he had been just yesterday. How life had seemed to just pass him by. Yet here he is, with a wonderful boyfriend, and a kind-hearted young man with whom he knows he will be great friends. Life had seemed empty and meaningless, but now he can't wait to see what else it has in store for him. Because he can already tell that from now on, life is going to get breath-taking. Life is going to be beautiful.