This Dance with You
Part One
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If the water splashed, it would surely disturb everything of the moment – all of the friends lounging in sweltering summer sun, the slight mist of the falls preventing them from roasting. Well, not all friends were so splendidly peaceful; to the intense dismay of one boy, the black hair with which he had been cursed attracted nearly all heat, and he could feel his brain beginning to melt.
He knew it wouldn't be subtle; there was no denying that. But that meant he would have to take the moment up to the maximum amount of mischief . . . and it had to be perfect. He had stood up, and no one had questioned. Most didn't notice, and if they did they would have assumed he was heading off to piss in a bush or something, which was understandable. Their location didn't permit fine and nice 'Port-O-Pots,' used by Muggles, let alone a washing station. The surrounding folk – furry as they were – would certainly not appease to the interference.
So here the young man sat in the bushes, contemplating his angle. It was quite cool in the shade, yet the glistening ripples in the water were too much to ignore. Not quite blinding, but only appetizing with every drop from the trees overhead. He wouldn't be heard over the falls . . . If he just jumped up and went with it . . . But who knew what waited for him, down in the depths of these strange waters?
Making up his mind, he leapt from his cover in the bushes. He felt the rush of the wind in his ears and the confused looks of his fellows, but ran with all his might toward his beautiful target. A scream of foreseeing reached his ears, and he shouted a booming laugh of hilarity that echoed in the clearing before it was cut off by the water. He dove to the bottom, and the water was clear as the sky above it. Startled fish swam by in a hurry, and bottom dwellers sucked onto the floor, ignoring what didn't seem to be a threat.
Losing air, he swam swiftly to the surface. His red-faced companions, now thoroughly cooled and drenched, stared at him, some laughing and some not.
"What did you do that for?"
"Look at me, I'm soaked!"
"Excellent! Bravo! Wish I'd thought of it!"
"Typical . . ."
James smiled with self-approval. "Yes, it's really too hot out here, isn't it? Well . . ." he chuckled, "Not anymore, I'm not. How about you?"
Lily blew a dripping piece of hair out of her face. "Not really, no. Thanks James." She looked at him scornfully, but the corners of her mouth twitched slightly.
"That was quite refreshing," Remus stated. He looked around at the person behind him. "How about it, Lena?"
Lenusya eyed him questioningly. "You've never called me Lena."
"Well, I dunno, Lenusya seems sort of . . . formal. We've all gone to school for seven years, so I mean -"
"Oh shut up with your lengthy explanations," she said laughing. She ran up into him and pushed him into the water, and everyone, once again, was dripping with a dose of fresh water. James smiled. "Like what I've started?"
Lily shook her head violently in his face, and he protected his face from her wild tendrils. Once her hair had reached a frightening width, she followed the suit of her friend and ran over James into the water.
The remaining girl looked hesitantly at the boy only a few feet away from her, who was grinning.
"How about it, Rah?"
She narrowed her eyes. "It's Rajni," she replied distastefully. To that, Sirius threw up his arms in mock defeat. Get it over with, she heard him thinking. You know you want to.
Rajni marched up to him and pushed him harshly in the chest with her finger. "Just because I can hear your thoughts doesn't give you the right to purposefully poison my mind with them." She blew lightly at where her finger was, and Sirius flew backward into the water. Rajni dove in after him, smirking.
X
"So, how do you like my choice of a getaway?"
Now hidden by branches overhanging into the water, the pair was whispering in conversation.
Lily laughed. "It was my idea!"
James nodded soberly in agreement. "So it was." He brought his hand up from the water to grasp and hold a drying ringlet of her hair. When Lily touched his arm gently he removed his eyes from her hair and transitioned to her eyes. Simple beauty held in two circles, painted with deep and shallow rings of green unique to them alone against anything James had ever seen.
"You're beautiful," they said simultaneously. They laughed lightly, and James said, "You are the most beautiful creature I know."
"Creature?" Lily asked. She thought she would never accustom to James' thinking.
"You can't be human," he replied plainly. "No mortal could capture such essence as yours, where the moon hides in shame and frowns, and the sun rises reluctantly to its duty everyday, with covetousness on its mind."
"That was beautiful," Lily breathed.
"I know," he replied, focusing on her.
"You read it in a book?"
"Yeah."
Lily tapped him lightly on his head in chastisement. In return he caught her hand and pulled her into an intimate position.
X
"So, it's Lena now?"
"If you want it to be," Remus replied. "I won't call you that if you don't want me to. After all, it is your name."
"It's fine Remus." Lenusya glanced to her right again, at Remus. "Do you have a nickname?"
Remus grinned. "One."
"What is it?"
"Moony." He laughed uneasily and scratched his head. "My friends have called me that since they knew . . . what I was."
"You mean who you are," she corrected him. "You're not an 'it.' At least I hope not." Remus grinned oddly; it wasn't like him.
"Wouldn't you like to know?"
Lenusya gagged. "God, you have been hanging around James too much." She tried to fake disgust, but failed and laughed with Remus instead.
"He would say something like that, wouldn't he?"
"Well, hopefully not. Otherwise I couldn't see how Lily is still with him."
"I suppose he does know his limits." Remus paused as he craned his neck around Lenusya. Face overcome with utmost distaste, he added, "Or perhaps not." Confused, she looked to where Remus gestured – a few low branches concealing very little beyond it. Immediately she wished she hadn't looked after all.
"They are so bad!" Lenusya exclaimed, and Remus clasped his hand over her mouth.
"Quiet, you don't want them to hear – Yuck!" He removed his hand quickly since Lenusya licked it.
"Why? Would I so rudely be interrupting their little underwater make out session over -?"
"Hush!" Remus said trying to hide his laughter. "It's worse to deal with the after effects of . . . interrupting them. Believe me; I have walked in on too many of those." He cringed at the memories, no doubt unpleasant and embarrassing.
Lenusya smirked mischievously. "Has anyone ever walked in on you?"
Remus blushed. "Not that I recall."
"None at all?"
"Nope."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes! Well, I suppose it's possible . . ."
"Yes . . ."
"Wait! No, I'm not saying anymore." He looked straight ahead, then peered curiously back at her when she spoke again.
"Well," Lenusya drawled, "that just won't do . . ."
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Sirius surfaced, thoroughly refreshed and annoyed. Blinking furiously to rid his eyes of excess water, he noticed Rajni sitting on the bank, slowly kicking her legs around underwater plants. His love of revenge overcame his better judgment and he dove back underwater, pretending to do laps across the bottom. Satisfied that Rajni wouldn't suspect him to come back so soon, he swam gracefully back to the edge where she was sitting. Swimming along the bank, however, he couldn't find her legs. Looking around him, he cursed and resurfaced after losing more air. Again he began to blink his eyes dry, until something pulled him immediately back under.
Gotcha, he heard inside his head. Sirius whipped his head around, and glared at Rajni, who swam beneath him after releasing his ankles. Sirius followed, not so willing to give up that easily, and tried his hardest to keep his mind blank to prevent invasion. Not sensing her in the water anymore, he surfaced a third time and leapt from the cool water onto the hot sands of the bank. Gasping, he grabbed a towel and dried his eyes.
Rajni laughed. "That was fun, wasn't it?" she said, sarcasm trickling, like the water on her hair, into her speech. Sirius only glared back, and she smiled. "Don't worry; I don't think anyone saw."
Indeed, Sirius couldn't spot any of the others in the open, and quite frankly didn't want to know what they were up to. So, not able to help himself, he glanced to his right and studied Rajni, who looked like she too wondered where the other four had gotten.
Her long, dark brown hair was sopping wet, bits of seaweed stuck subtly in between layers. Always tan, her skin glittered golden in the sun, and natural red highlights of her hair coordinated with her bikini. She's a bit curvy, Sirius came to examine.
I'm glad you think so. Sirius was startled by Rajni's burgundy eyes, which had met his own dark ones without him immediately realising. They glinted in the sunlight as though to flash a smile and Sirius' breath caught in his throat. Never before had a girl caused him such a strong, sudden feeling; he always assumed it was him who stopped every one in her tracks.
Suddenly the light in her eyes blinked out as, Sirius could feel, she let down her guard. Still entranced, he leaned closer to Rajni. Her eyelashes fluttered and Sirius saw tiny water droplets free themselves of her long lashes. Her petal soft lips grazed his just before Sirius felt a spray of water hit him, but it was light so it didn't encourage him to break away. The second spray was a lot wetter.
Sirius pulled away quickly, startled as he cleared his mop away from his eyes. Vision blurred by the sunlight, he only heard the disruptors of the peace, which was what seemed to be a boy with a girl sitting on his shoulders giggling insanely. Once his vision recovered, Sirius recognized who the predictable culprits were.
"JAMES! LILY!" Sirius jumped down into the water, grabbed Rajni by the ankles and pulled her down onto his shoulders. At first she seemed disgruntled and annoyed, but caught on and readjusted on his shoulders.
Lily grinned malevolently and leaned over James' head, poised for attack.
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Remus had the odd feeling he was underwater. But what was odd about it? He was in water, after all, why wouldn't he expect to be under at some point? Clearing his head, he pulled back and took in his surroundings again. Above the water he was, and so was a confused girl.
"Remus? Are you OK?" Lenusya asked.
"Wow," he said, a bit confused himself. "I thought I was underwater for a second."
Lenusya grinned. "Really? Me too." She leaned in again and kissed him fiercely. "Still underwater?" Remus laughed nervously. Then a lot of movement some ways away from them caught his attention.
"Is that Rajni on Sirius's shoulders?" he said in disbelief. "I would never imagine seeing that."
"No, me nei – Remus! Lily's on James' shoulders, too!" Remus looked back on the scene and sure enough he saw Lily swaying above James, who looked like he was trying hard not to laugh for fear he would drop her.
Remus grinned. "Want to have a little fun?
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"James! Don't you dare let me fall!"
"Sirius! Stop moving like that!"
"I'M NOT TRYING TO!" James and Sirius yelled in unison, and they looked down fearfully at the murky water. "Something's got my ankles!" James said.
"What the f-" Sirius began, trying to see what was pulling his legs and keep Rajni on his shoulders. But then he failed in both attempts; Rajni slipped backwards off of him, and as he fell under the water he had no idea what awaited him there.
Keeping his eyes wide open, James scanned the area around him. Fish hurried past him, their scales fading in and out of sight amid the sand that was floating because of the recent disruption. It stung his eyes, and for the moment that he had them shut something again took hold of him, this time around his torso. He struggled and tried to fight free, but it was no use. His wand was on the bank; his eyes felt like they would burn out of their sockets; and he was losing air. Fast.
A flash of red hair caught his eye. He opened his mouth to yell, and immediately regretted it. His lungs were filling up…
He had no choice.
Quickly he concentrated hard and focused on his mission. His pelvis cracked and changed shape; knees bent the wrong way; antlers sprouted from his head; nose elongated - all in a matter of seconds. His attacker disappeared, and as his head surfaced he let out a loud and mighty roar that echoed in the forest around them.
He leapt out of the water and turned towards it. The water was still. He ran around the edge of the lake and found Lily laying on a rock, hair splayed around her face, panting. He returned to the water and swam out to her. Jumping up half way, he leaned toward her face and licked her. Her eyes snapped open, and she smiled weakly. There were tears in her eyes.
He returned to human form and lifted her up against his knee. Sitting there, he still didn't see or hear anyone else.
"Where are the others?" he asked.
Lily opened and closed her mouth a few times, but nothing came out. Then she started coughing; James turned her over and she vomited water over the edge of the boulder. Panting again, she whispered, "Dunno."
James held her closer and kept his hears alert to any new noise.
X
"Hurry up!"
"I can't find it!"
"Look HARDER."
"You know, I never understood that phrase. You aren't even looking hard in the first pl-"
"JUST KEEP LOOKING."
"Right," said Remus, who despite the situation couldn't help but smirk at Lenusya's impatience. He flipped through his book once more, and "Aha!" there it was.
"The kerringer, cousin of the kelpie, is primarily found in the jungles of East Africa and Madagascar. A water-dwelling being, this creature will do the opposite of what the kelpie does. It lies in wait at the bottom of small ponds, lake, and watering holes for animals (though it won't object to humans) to step close enough. It will then take the prey into a death-grip with small yet razor sharp claws and drag it onto land. Quite greedy, the kerringer will not tolerate anything that gets in its way of eating. Most of the time, it appears as a large lizard, with some humanoid features. It will not often change forms, but will for taking drastic measures.
"Doesn't sound like this thing takes nicely to resistance, does it?"
"No," said Lenusya, her teeth audibly chattering, "It doesn't." She paced for a few minutes, then stopped abruptly and met Remus' eyes. "We should find the others. I saw Prongs get away, but what about Sirius, Lily, and Rajni?"
"I heard Sirius talking in the bushes briefly, and I doubt it was to himself. At least I hope it wasn't. I don't know about Lily." He paused for a moment. "He probably looked for and found Rajni."
"I hope you're right," said Lenusya. She tucked her legs up to her chest, and wrapped her arms around them, shaking. Remus moved close to her and put his arm around her. They were soaking wet, cold, and clueless as to the fates of their friends.
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The water was cloudy from the disturbance the vacationers had made. Difficult to see; feeling of constricted breathing even with the gills. They'd get it so bad, that's for sure. They'd really get it.
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Well, I started this way back before my computer had to be completely wiped out and restarted with XP. Thankfully, it got rescued from the rubble and I've recently found it… Okay, so really I've been battling in my mind between, Okay, should I split it in half or keep going with it? Even some writers' block. You see, when I started working on it again, it turns around completely from love and humour to love and mystery. I've only just decided how I think it will play out, so until then…
Alex
(Also, another reason I stopped it here: I haven't updated much anything else lately either. The Old Lot is on a bit of a hold, since I'm so anxious to get to the climax my head won't stop to think of how the hell I'm supposed to get there. And I need to finish Solitude… sorry about this one. All the other chapters came so easily and now I'm at a standstill of where I'm to finish that one too… Mostly getting my facts straight. Anyway I'll let you go. No one reads this far anyway.)