When The Whales Came

(One-Shot)

Disclaimers: I don't own anything apart from some DVD's/books for this series.

AN: This is a short Challenge prompt for "The Houses Competition" set in 'Marauders' Era' time. As I am old (ish), my views of them may vary from the young ones, including the fact that I am TeamCharlus/Dorea, have Sirius/James as distant relations through Black blood, as well as TeamTrans (as an ally). I do not accept any new stuff by Rowling.

House: Gryffindor

Class: Prefect

Category: THC Challenge One

Prompt(s): Scenario—Three characters enjoying a beach day / Main Prompt: A big creature comes out of the sea / Random prompt(s)—[Object] Ice Lollies

Trigger warning: For some anxiety. This is based on a similar real life event that took place somewhere in Vancouver, Canada (they were in kayaks). There is a dangerous moment in the water when humpbacks use their bubble net to feed. Everyone survived both in real life as well as here. Please be careful in the ocean! If you find yourself among a lot of bubbles, get out IMMEDIATELY!

Word count: 1,179 according to AO3 (2.5 pages)

Summary: In which a day at the beach is rather eventful.

The sun shone down hot on the Potter Manor. A large sheet was spread out on the grass under the cluster of birch trees that offered some partial shade in the back yard. James lay back on it, staring up at the sky through the leaves.

"I can't believe we are done with Hogwarts," said James, watching a wisp of cloud go by. "We're not going back once this summer is over. What are we going to do?"

"Well," Sirius said, dropping down beside James. "I don't know about later on, but for right now, I have a surprise for everyone. I rented a yacht! It's down by the beach. Want to go?" He looked over the four others who were now giddy with excitement. "Lily, take Remus into town to get some ice lollipops. Meet us there?"

"Sure thing," said Lily, grabbing Remus by the hand to pull him along. "We'll be there in about an hour."

"See you there," Sirius said before turning to Peter. "I need Wormtail. It's the only way the three of us will fit on the bike."

With Wormtail safely tucked away into an inner pocket, Sirius sat in the foreword seat, making some room for James to get on behind him. Sirius pushed the bike into the road. After checking the traffic, he zoomed off down the lane.

Within a few minutes, the large bay came into view. A white yacht floated near the docks as Sirius parked the bike near where the sand started. He plopped the rat down behind some bushes so Peter could reappear without being seen before leading the way down to the wide sandy beach. The little ship was a short swim away.

The three of them spread towels over the hot sand to lie back on without getting burned.

"This was certainly a great idea," said Peter as he lay back on his towel with an ice cream cone in one hand. He began licking at it.

"I'm going to jump in the water," said James. "Then I can lie here to dry off while we wait for the others to catch up."

"In the meantime, we have the beach to ourselves," Sirius said as he stretched out on his dark blue towel.

James returned after about ten minutes of floating in the water. He pulled off some seaweed before dropping down onto his own towel. "The water sure is nice. We should all go back in, soon."

"What's with that yacht?" Peter asked as he finished his ice cream.

"I got drinks waiting for us there," Sirius answered. "I've put a lunch in its cabin for later as well, but I forgot the ice lollies. I know Peter likes them."

James sat up to get a better look across the water towards the little ship bobbing on the waves. He glanced at Peter before nodding to the yacht. "Race you!" He stood up.

"Sure," Peter said, scrambling to his feet. "On the count of three. One." He paused a moment before suddenly charging into the waves.

"HEY!" James yelled as Sirius laughed out loud. James glared at him. "Race you, then."

"You know I'm the fastest swimmer," Sirius said. "You'll lose."

"I don't care," James said. "So long as Wormtail loses. I know you can catch him."

"Fine," Sirius stood up. He shot a wicked grin at James before saying, "Two!"

"Nope, not falling for that!" James shoved Sirius aside in a mad dash to dive into the ocean.

Sirius was soon right behind him in the water. All three made a straight line for the ship.

Peter soon stopped, his face under the surface as he looked down to the bottom of the bay. He looked up just as James came towards him. "Any idea what's causing all these bubbles?"

"No," James shook his head, more interested in getting to the yacht first. He continued forward.

"JAMES! PETER!" Sirius screamed suddenly. "STOP! COME BA—"

There was a loud bang as something large shot out of the ocean right beside James. It looked like a large black mountain.

James followed the thing with his eyes as it continued upwards into the sky. "Oh, hell! PETER! SWIM AWAY, NOW!" He dived under just as the black mountain started coming down.

Peter turned around, only to find a second black mountain coming up. It was split in two. He could see a large dark pink thing moving inside the split. It took a moment for his brain to register the fact that he was looking at a gigantic tongue! He pushed himself backwards to avoid the snapping jaws.

Sirius was beside him a moment later. "Come on! There's a third one!" He pulled Peter along.

An awful sensation of bubbles drifted up to them as they swam hard for the yacht which was closer at the moment. The third humpback whale breached the surface, snapping its jaws shut around a mass of tiny fish trapped within the bubble net that the whale pod had made.

Peter switched to Wormtail so that Sirius could climb up the ladder easily without having to wait, carrying the rat in one hand. Peter reappeared a moment later. "Where's Jim?"

"I don't know!" Sirius gasped, his eyes darting in every direction. He hoped James wasn't trapped inside one of those leviathans.

They watched in silence as one of the big creatures came out of the sea entirely as it jumped high, flailing its long fins in a barrel role before crashing down again.

"I see him!" Peter exclaimed. Sirius looked over to see Peter using the telescope. "He's on the beach. Oh, Lily's with him now." He swung to the left a little. "There's Moony."

"Well, we're just going to have to wait until the whales are finished feeding," Sirius said.

It was several minutes later when the bright green sea water, churned up from the whales' antics, eventually settled back to a slate blue-grey colour. One surfaced nearby for air, but they seemed to have settled by now. Sirius went to the front of the yacht to turn it on. He moved it back towards the beach as close as possible.

Lily was waiting on the dock. She held up a box of ice lollies as Sirius came towards her. "Jim just told me what happened. You almost got eaten be a whale?"

"Yeah," Sirius said. "Didn't expect to have that checked off my list of things to do."

Remus came up to him, followed by James. "Sirius, are you alright?" He put his arms around Sirius's neck.

"Easy, Moonlove," Sirius said, holding the werewolf close. "I'm fine, now. But, um, let's just have our lunch on the beach here. I don't think I'm going to go back into the water any time soon."

"Sounds like a plan," said Remus with a contented sigh as he led the way off the docks, pulling Sirius along by the hand.

They all decided to stay on the sandy shore where it was safe while watching the whales play out in the bay.