Chapter One

Marina's POV

It was a beautiful May morning. I was sitting on a big rock that stuck out of the water of the lake and watched the people hanging around the lake. I envied them so much. They seemed so carefree to me. They could go wherever they wanted and weren't caged in a suffocating lake. Their laughter was ringing in my ears.

I was lost in my melancholic thoughts when nearing human voices caught my ear. I jumped into the water and stayed there, half hidden by the rock. The minute I looked at the direction from which the voices were coming, two boys came from within the bushes on the bank. The first was a thin boy with hair that looked like black seaweed. His brown eyes were gleaming mischievously behind his glasses. The other boy was very lanky, with tawny hair and light brown eyes that had a haunted look to them. Yet he smiled at the other boy with merriment that contrasted the look in his eyes.

"Where are Padfoot and Wormtail?" the black haired boy asked. The other boy merely shrugged.

"They'll be here any minute," he answered.

Sure enough, at this same moment another two boys appeared from among the trees. The first one of them I saw was short and chubby, and had mousy brown hair and watery blue eyes. Then I saw the other one, and my breath caught. He was the most handsome creature I've ever seen. Of course, it's not as if I was an expert in human looks, but yet, something told me this guy was not an ordinary looking human. He was tall. Really tall. More than any of the merman that lived in my village. He had jet black hair and his eyes were the darkest grey, like the lake was on a stormy day. All this observing took about two minutes, and on the third I noticed I was no longer hidden by the rock, but halfway to the shore.

I quickly dived and resurfaced behind my rock, deep into the lake. It was not a moment too early. The minute I immerged all four of the boys turned and stepped towards the shoreline. Three of them stopped at the edge of the water, but the fourth, the handsome one, kept walking into the water until they reached his hips. He turned and smile at his friends who returned the smile.

"You know, Padfoot, you don't really have to do this," said the tawny- haired boy, "I'm sure Wormtail here wouldn't mind assigning you another thing to do."

"Oh, yes I would!" the cubby boy- Wormtail, apparently- cried out. "It was a fair bet and if Sirius doesn't do his part then I won't as well!"

"Relax, Moony," the boy in the water – Sirius- drawled in a deep voice. "You worry too much. What can possibly happen?" Then he turned his back to them started swimming.

I was amazed. I didn't know humans could swim. His gestures were long and sharp. I watched him, hypnotized until I discovered he was coming straight to me. I dived quickly and swam to the center of the lake. I was torn between wanting to watch him and fearing being seen. just then I saw a few bushes sticking gout of the water, not far from the three boys on the bank. I swam into among them, where I could watch without being seen.

The tall boy kept swimming until he reached my rock. Then he took out a short stick and waved it in the air. A moment later red, smoky marks appeared in the air. He turned his face to his friends when the boy with the black hair shouted.

"Okay, Sirius, now you have to wait fifteen minutes in the water!" Sirius merely shrugged and floated on his back in the water by the rock. From where I was hiding I could see his eyes were closed. He looked so peaceful, so different from everything I knew.

Suddenly, I saw a movement near him. Three Grindylaws immerged from the water, holding big stones in their hands. The boy didn't see them, nor did the other boys, for the Grindylaws were hidden by the rock from their sight. I knew what was about to happen; I saw it happening to water snakes and birds sometimes. Grindylaws are pretty stupid and constantly afraid. When they see something they consider suspicious they hit it and drag it under the water to study it closely without put themselves at risk. But I knew Sirius will not survive this examination. Humans can't live under the water.

Without thinking I dived and swam as quickly as I could toward them. Only I arrived there too late. The Gringylaws had already hit his head with the stones. He was bleeding from where they hit him, but the Grindylaws took no notice and dragged him down. I followed them, and when I reached then they were already a few feet under the water. When they saw me they swam away, screeching, leaving their prey behind them. The Grindylaws in the lake were afraid of us merpeople since the Queen punished them severely after they tried to steal a baby from the village.

I glanced down and saw Sirius sinking deeper into the lake. I dove and caught him, dragging him up to the surface. I knew he must be brought to the open air immediately or else he'd die. I immerged, making sure to hold his head above the water, looking for a place to bring him to the shore without being seen by the other three boys. I found one a moment later, a spot hidden by bushes not far from where I was. I swam there with some difficulty, for carrying a human is not so simple while swimming, not to mention that I had to make sure his head stays above the water.

While I was swimming I glanced at the other boys who sat on the bank with their back to me, the seemed relaxed. They must have not seen what had happened and assume their friend was behind the rock. They were talking merrily, their voices ringing in the warm air.

"You're so immature, Peter," the bespectacled boy said to the short boy – who I thought before to be called Wormtail; how many names did he had? "what kind of a task is it, writing above the lake 'Wormtail Rules'?" he continued. 'Are you seven?"

"You know, James dear, the simple messages are the ones that are easiest to understand. Why challenge poor minds like yours for no reason when we can make it easy for you?"

James, the black haired boy, punched his arm.

Just then I reached the bank. I put Sirius on the shoreline, sighing with relief when I saw he was breathing evenly. His eyes were closed and I could watch him without being disturbed or seen. I've never seen a human so closely.

My face hovered a foot above his face when I examined his every feature. He was truly beautiful. His sharp cheekbones created patters of shadows across his face and his strong jaw was clenched. I lay there, flat on my stomach by him, enjoying the peace and his presence until I heard his friends' voiced getting nearer.

"… should check what happened to him, it's been already 25 minutes. It's not like Sirius to stay there for so long."

"Actually," said another voice, "it's just like Sirius. He must be hiding behind the rock, laughing his head off seeing us worried over him. Let's go a little north along the shore, so we can see the other side of the rock," he suggested.

It seemed the other two boys accepted his suggestion, because they stopped talking and I began to hear their steps. Sirius, as if hearing his friends' conversation, began flipping his eyes open, opening and closing them a few times. I was afraid he saw me and hurried away from him. When I swam back to the village I wasn't worried about him anymore. I knew his friend would find him. I was only sorry that I'll never see him again.