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After spitting in them and polishing them...(To keep them from fogging.) Sirius and James secured their masks on, and made sure they were on right before placing the mouthpieces in. (Sirius also had to put his hair up so it wouldn't get in the way.) They waved enthusiastically at Lily and Peter who returned the gestures and they went over the side backwards.
They continued to sink freely into the water and turned on their water-protected flashlights and flashed them around. It may have been the middle of the day and bright as the surface of the sun, but in this murky water they were lucky the flashlights seemed to help their vision.
How in God's name did those people manage to take such decent pictures?! Sirius huffed mentally and decided to swim in a random direction he knew wasn't to far from the boat. Cruelly poking at a fish that didn't seem to want to move. After he pulled it's fin it swam off and he laughed into the mouthpiece. That had made him feel better at least, even if it was only by a little.
James wasn't exactly pleased either and was more towards the ocean floor then Sirius was. After a short while he flipped around and was surprised to see his friend swimming over to him.
The longer haired Marauder did a quick flash of hand signals, indicating that he had found where the objects were. James gave him a thumbs up and the signaled for Sirius to lead the way.
Sirius arched backwards a bit and kicked his legs purposefully close to James and swam quickly to the area, flashing his light around.
James spotted it for him and they both decended down to the rusted and obscured objects, carefully touching them with their bare fingertips, while checking their stability and exactly how large they were. Also trying to figure out if there was any digging involved in the items' recovery.
Meanwhile Lily was leaning over the side, staring at the water with a beautiful smile on her face.
"I can certainly see why Sirius is so passionate about the water... it's wonderful." She said to Peter, who was sitting on the floor of the deck, staring out at the water with her.
"Yeah, it's great..." Peter seemed to think for a moment. "Except for when they pop up and scare the hell out of you... then it's horrible."
"Why are you blaming the scenery?" Lily asked, raising an eyebrow.
Peter gave her an impish grin.
"It's so distracting that I don't hear them come up."
She giggled.
"That explains it the-"
Sirius and James splashed up and climbed onto the boat grumpily sitting down and taking their masks masks and H.U.B. vests off.
"What's the matter you two?" Lily asked, walking over them avoiding the puddles they had just created.
Sirius frowned up at her from his seat on the floor.
"They gave a bloody pain of a mission...." He said dismissively. "Peter, where's our spades?"
Peter's eyebrows shot up.
"You have to dig? Wow, sucks for you...."
James shot him a look.
"Shut up and just get the shovels."
Lily smiled.
"Well, aside from the digging and the impossible 'mission'...was there any bright points of the dive?" She asked them.
Sirius's eyes lit up and he grinned at her, not noticing that Peter was back with the shovels.
"Well..." he started. "When I was floating around I came across a fish...."
James snorted.
"There's always fishes in the ocean, Sirius."
Sirius rolled his eyes.
"Let me explain first before you interrupt, you prat." He said beaming again. "Well the fish didn't move when I swam in front of it... so I poke it. IT WOULDN'T MOVE!" He snickered. "Then I pulled it's fin and it finally swam off."
Sirius, James and Peter peeled in laughter, while Lily looked at him in shock.
"Sirius!! That's so mean! How could you! Oh that poor fish...." She ranted, and when Sirius didn't stop laughing she walked over to him and slapped him on the arm. "SIRIUS! How can you laugh!? That was very cruel." Lily exclaimed glowering at him.
He snickered lightly again.
"Yeah..." Sirius said. "But if you saw it Lily... you'd understand the humor of it." He finished.
James felt it right to finish the argument.
"Yeah, we don't pass stupid fish all that much. That's all." he said, causing Sirius and Peter to laugh again.
Lily gave James a disapproving glare and then it melted into a smile.
"Fine...." she said with a slight scolding tone.
James smiled at her and then looked at Sirius and sighed.
"Should we go play in the sand now?" He asked grabbing a bright orange spade that was only slightly larger then his hand.
Sirius shrugged.
"Fine by me." He lifted his things over to him. "As long as Peter or Mrs. Lily Potter," He batted his eyelashes. "Cook something for us hard working men, eh?"
Lily laughed.
"How long will you be down there?" She asked, walking over to stand behind James.
Sirius and James looked at eachother for a moment.
"Probably a half an hour." They both answered.
The red-headed girl flashed one of her heart-warming smiles.
"I'll prepare you something then."
Lily gave James a small kiss and walked into the kitchen. Peter looked at them and grinned wickedly.
"Have fun digging!" He teased. Both of the divers groaned.
"Shut up, Pete!" Sirius hissed playfully."Don't make us hang you from the railing from your underwear!"
Peter snapped his mouth shut. James laughed loudly.
"Remember that one, eh Peter? You thought we wouldn't do it too...."
Sirius and James shrugged their vests back on and then slid their masks back down.
"Well keep Lily company... we'll be back in a few." Sirius said and sat on the side, and went in backwards. James following soon after.
They relocated the objects and sunk low. They shoved their spades carefully into the sand and watched a cloud of sand puff up. Working hard and shoveling the imposing sand away from the walls, they new that by the time they ate they would probably have to dig half of this up again.
Luck seemed to be on their side and the current was lighter then usual and the sand seemed to stay relatively still. They managed to dig out only half of the metal box.
Sirius switched a side and worked on digging it out before they went up for lunch.
After a little while, James checked around the thing and used their little sign language.
'I'll go up for some rope.' He signaled. 'Make sure the sand doesn't cave in.'
After that, James disappeared in the foggy water, leaving Sirius alone to continue digging.
He carefully digged at the sand that had worked it's way back in the small trenches James and himself had created. Sirius waited patiently for his friend to return with the rope.
When James did return, they looped it around the box and made sure it was remotely secure before tugging at it, trying to lift it up. It budged easily, surprisingly light in the water.
They surfaced with the metal box, still slightly surprised that it was so light. Perhaps the sides rusted away and took some bulk off of it.
Peter helped them bring the box in and waited for them to climb on. When they did, Sirius and James both carried the box over to their storage area for items like that.
Lily walked out, smiling radiantly.
"Wow, just in time!" she said. "I just finished and was worried you two wouldn't come up for a while."
James grinned and took his sopping wet equipment and carefully placed it aside and followed her into the galley. Sirius smiled and discareded his in the same pile and followed leaving small, wet foot prints behind.
They each sat around a small table/counter and Lily served them some light, buttered pasta and some sourdough bread Lily had brought along. (Something easy to make. shrugs I figured she wouldn't make anything too out of the way.)
Sirius leaned into the counter and rolled up the noodles with his fork and sighed. Only two more things to lift out before they could explore freely and do something at their own choice.
"Did you see if the others needed to be dug out, Sirius?" James asked from beside him.
Sirius swallowed his food and smiled wryly.
"Of course they do." He answered. "They're in the same area as the other one was...I'd naturally assume that they needed digging as well."
After they had established what they were going to do, they ate in relative silence. James and Lily would talk every now and then, but Sirius wasn't interested in what they were talking about.
Of course after they ate they all relaxed for about a half an hour before Sirius and James ended up back in the water. Probably about an hour later they emerged from the water with a slightly smaller object and placed it next to the first one and dived in again after checking the air in their tanks.
They finished digging the third and last metal crate out, hooked a strop around it and Sirius handed both ropes to James while he lifted it from the bottom. He swam from mostly underneath... they surfaced and James climbed on and pulled it up by the ropes...both forgetting of the dangers until the ropes broke and the box crashed into Sirius's upper left part of his forehead... causing him to go under and have to push himself away from the box and climb out of the water before he attracted some unwanted attention. (I dunno... sharks? Anything else that's dangerous? Who knows?)
Sirius clumbsily accepted James's help and ditzily followed him to what appeared to be the bunk cabin. He was put down on Pete's or the unoccupied bunk...whoevers. He didn't know which, just that he was on a bottom bunk.
A flash of red indicated that either it was Lily...or he was bleeding. It was both. She was muttering things nervously and dabbed gently at an area on his head. He couldn't tell... he was so numb and dizzy and he just wanted to go to sleep...
"Sirius! OY! Open your eyes." James said frantically. "Good! Keep them open, okay? Lily's helping you out...you may have a concussion."
"Jeezuz Jamez... yeh look like hell...." Sirius slurred painfully. James smiled wryly.
"Same goes for you Sirius... PETE!" He wailed... causing Sirius to cringe. "Make sure he keeps his eyes open and keep on talking to him... I'm going to go get that bloody crate and then hurry us out of here."
Peter nodded and sat on the end of the bed, watching Sirius and trying to engage conversation with him.
"So Sirius... what's your favorite song?" Sirius closed his eyes again. "Sirius! Open your eyes! Okay... what's your favorite song?"
Sirius laughed lightly.
"You know my favorite song Petey... It's the one...." Sirius winced. "OW! Lily... that hurt."
She looked at him in frustration.
"I've been doing the same thing for a while now and you're finally complaining?" she said, applying a guaze on his head.
Sirius blinked a few times.
"How bad is it...?" He asked, still feeling slightly dizzy but was becoming more focused. He knew he didn't have a concussion, but it did smart and make his head spin.
She smiled.
"Thankfully it's just a scratch, and you just got yourself a mild bump on the head. You're head is fine." Lily smiled wickedly. "But I bet your ego isn't."
Sirius laughed and waved a hand at her.
"Stop it Lil, you're flirting."
She giggled and looked up as James came in with a slight smile.
"You alright there Sirius?"
Sirius smirked.
"Just peachy... especially since I think I have a better chance with your wife then you do."
They laughed.
"Yep, you're fine." James swiped his wet hair out of his face. "Especially since you're joking about that again."
Peter hurried to the Captain's cabin and manuvered their tugboat towards the direction of their home dock. He climbed down carefully, completely opposite to Sirius's habit of hopping over the safety railing.
He walked silently into the cabins.
"We should be at the main dock in probably two and a half hours at the speed we're at." He said smiling. The others nodded and all settled comfortably. (Yeah, the speed is measured in knots... but I'm not exactly sure how that goes... ; )
"So what happened?" Peter asked.
Sirius gave a goofy grin.
"We were careless and were loading the box onto the boat and then the rope broke while I was pushing it on from underneath and I got bashed in the head." Sirius said simply with an edge of proudness.
"You're PROUD of this?" Lily screetched unhappily. "Why? You hurt yourself and you're proud... what did I miss?"
James sniggered.
"Ah, Lily... you seem to forget this is Sirius we're talking about." he stated. "He won't complain about what happens to him during our escapades... no matter what."
"That's right!" Peter added. "I wonder what he would complain about aside from the gay issue." He said smiling.
"I don't know... that's something to think about, isn't it?" James said and Lily smiled and agreed.
"Hey! No conspiring now...." He paused. "It won't do you any good anyways... I'm completely unflawed." He said feigning arrogance and winked at them, causing Lily to laugh and mock a swoon.
Later Lily crawled into another bunk with James and they closed the light, wooden doors. (I've seen pictures where the bunks... which are like shelves are set up behind doors...Probably to prevent falling out if they hit a heavy wave. I don't know... just informing you.) Peter and Sirius weren't really interested in what they were doing... though Peter was hoping that his bed would still be pure. (Hahaha! Poor Pete.)
The rest of the ride was in relative silence. Sirius rested, now assured that he would be waking up and Peter was putting their things away and scribbling up a report on the back of their 'mission page' in the folder.
James and Lily finished whatever they were doing just in time for James to pull the boat into the docks. Both Peter and James left Sirius alone a moment more and roped their tugboat to the dock.
Lily shook Sirius lightly.
"Sirius wake up... we're back."
He looked at her sleepily and blinked a little.
"Okay, thanks Lil."
He got up and wiped at his eyes lightly and stood up, aware that he was still in his wetsuit.
Oh well, I'm not changing it now... I'll wait. He thought and climbed out of the cabin, ignoring James's catcalls.
"What? Not changing out of the wetsuit? Trying to impress someone Siri?" Remus perhaps? He thought as he looked at Sirius clutch lightly at his head.
"Shut up James." Sirius retorted and climbed onto the dock shakily. "I need a bottle of asprin...or Bacardi...." He said with a grin.
Peter laughed.
"I heard that, Sirius Black!" He said. "But I doubt that if you're head is killing you... that you'll want to get drunk. Imagine the hangover!"
Lily walked up next to him.
"I agree!" She said in a motherly tone. "How can you even think of alcohol with that on your head!" Lily demanded, gesturing to the minor injury on his head.
Sirius just smiled and looked past her.
"Look who it is! It's Ives." He said, winking at her. "Don't tell Jamie, but I think that Remus fellow is cute."
She giggled.
"That he is, Siri, that he is."
James hopped off the boat and bounded over to them.
"And what are you two chatting about? Especially with curious people buzzing around." He said and embraced Lily.
Sirius rolled his eyes.
"Quit refering to yourself as a bee, James." he pleaded. "It's embarassing!"
"OY MARAUDERS! WELCOME BACK!" Ives roared from practically the other side of the docks.
James, Lily and Sirius waved... not knowing where Peter was at the moment.
Ives ran over to them and wiped his musky red hair out of his face, smuging his cheeks with oil.
"Hey all..." He looked over them. "And what happened to you, Black?!"
Sirius laughed lightly.
"We were careless and a bloody huge crate fel on my head...." he said grinning stupidly.
Ives laughed.
"I figured you would be all smiles about it. Glad to see you're alright though."
"Ives. I was wondering where you disappeared to." Remus said, walking over to them quickly...wiping his hands on a cloth.
His cousin grinned.
"Sorry Remus! Couldn't help it... I saw Sirius here and had to come see what happened."
Remus cast a glance at Sirius and frowned.
"What happened to your head?"
James rolled his eyes.
"I think we should make a sign that says Sirius was hit on the head with a metal box." He winked at Remus. "That way we have an excuse for the way he acts."
Sirius sniffled playfully.
"I see how you are James... you're bloody awful, you know that? Always picking on me." He pouted for a second more before his face broke out into a grin. "Ah well, I guess someone has to get the 'great and evil' Sirius Black back."
"That's for sure...I feel sorry for anyone that'll actually date you Sirius." Peter said coming up to them. "Warn them of you first."
The group of friends laughed.
"When are you guys going out for just a casual cruise and dive?" Ives asked.
James seemed to think.
"Probably in a couple of days." He answered. "Why?" James asked, knowing the answer already.
Ives grinned.
"Well because I won't be able to take Remus on cruises for a while and I thought it'd be nice to see if he could come with you three... or four..." He said, including Lily in the end with a sheepish grin.
James laughed.
"It sounds alright by me! How 'bout you guys?" He asked Sirius and Peter.
"I'm okay with it!" Peter said happily.
Sirius smiled.
"Sounds great to me." He answered, glancing at Remus...still smiling. Remus smiled back.
It sounds great...but will it be enjoyable... or complete toture on my behalf? He wondered.
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AAH! sighs in relief Finally! I finally finished this chapter and I'm pleased with it.
Haha POKE THE FISHY! (Poor fish...tehe)
Well, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. Please review!