parents after all

chapter 19

Chapter 18 - The Letters

Sirius was frustrated and confused. Harry's second task and Moody aside, he found Remus suddenly awkward around him. As much as Sirius hated to admit it, part of him actually felt excited. Sometimes he was so carried away that he had to remind himself that Remus and him were getting humiliated and it was not something funny and worth feeling happy about.

'You know the article is a big load of bullshit,' said Sirius, his cheeks turning a bit pink at the thought of Rita Skeeter's article. 'There is absolutely no truth to it. Absolutely none.'

'No,' Remus tensed up obviously, his gaze glued to the journal on water magic he was reading. 'Though, it would be more believable if she paired you up with James,' he added dryly.

'Not funny, Moony,' Sirius nudged him in the ribs. 'I'd rather die than snagging James from the formidable Evans.'

Remus snorted. 'So it's only because Lily that you'd mind going all over James?'

Sirius's stomach gave a giant lurch. He was suddenly self-conscious that they were the only ones talking in the library.

They were with the others, devoting the rest of the day to solving the egg's hint, which was a song that could only be heard under water and which Harry admitted he had no idea what it was possibly about other than it being a merpeople's song. As if an unspoken agreement had established between them, no one talked about the Snape's Office Mystery anymore. Lily, who was by far the most shaken by the news, seemed to have recovered as her usual efficient and fierce self had come back, but occasionally, when she thought no one was looking, Sirius caught her staring into space with a blank expression.

'So the second task is set to be done under water,' Hermione pointed out briskly. 'The trick here is that you'll have to be a very good swimmer who can hold your breath for an hour...'

Fingers still pressed against the line he was reading, Remus edged closer to Sirius and whispered in his ear, 'if James and I fell into the sea and were drowning, who would you save?' He nodded and stuck out his chin at Hermione's direction to indicate that he agreed with whatever she was talking about. 'You could only save one.'

'... Aqualung is not an option,' Hermione was shaking her head. 'Harry wouldn't have enough time to learn to work it.'

'Can you transfigure yourself into a sea animal?' asked James, who had been very attentive the whole time. The Marauder had been practising Animagus transformation in secret behind Remus's back, and if by chance Harry was doing and same thing and was a sea animal in his Animagus form, that would solve everything.

'No, and he can't transfigure into a submarine either,' said Hermione with a piercing glance. 'We haven't done human transfiguration yet.'

Sirius smirked slyly and Hermione rolled her eyes. He turned back to Remus, who had been looking at the same spot of his book for a few minutes. 'You,' Sirius tried to sound as casual as he could. 'Potter can swim better than a dolphin, so he's probably only pretending to be drowned. But if I don't say you now, I'd be drowned before midnight.'

Remus shrugged and did not say more, though a smile started to creep up his rigid cheeks. Happy that Remus finally got his spirit back, Sirius returned to Harry's problem at hand.

'...Is there any potions that can help you breathe under water?' Peter pointed at the linen bag that contained the spoils from Snape's office. 'Now that we've got almost every potion ingredient, we might consider that.'

Lily shook her head desperately. 'Brewing potions is a very complicated process, not to mention such advanced potions like this usually need days, even weeks to brew. We don't have enough time with the Task coming up in two days.'