More Scales- Larry Stylinson

Chapter 9

Harry laid on his stomach, stretched out on the sand. The sun was beating down on him and warming his muscles through nicely. He would purr if he could, soaking up the sun rays with as much of his body as he could. The sound of the gentle waves lapping on the shore below him were almost enough to put him to sleep....almost.

"I'm not going in the water!" Zayn hissed, baring his fangs at Niall as the soaking wet hybrid trudged up the sand. "Get away from my shade! Shoo!" He shouted, glaring at him from where he sat. Zayn was sitting on a large beach towel, under an umbrella to keep him protected from the sun.

"Why did you even come here if you don't want to swim?" Niall whined. "We should have left you in the house." The hybrid scoffed. Zayn just hissed at him. "I want someone to play with!"

"Drag Harry in the water! I'm not getting wet." Zayn objected as Niall advanced on him once more. This was the point where Harry lifted his head, frowning a bit.

"Hey. Leave me out of thisss." Harry said. But, it was too late. Niall bounded over and practically fell on top of Harrys tail. Harry grunted a bit and rolled over so he could look at Niall.

"Come swimming!" Niall cheered, taking Harrys hands as he sat on his tail. Harry looked from Niall, to the water behind him. The whole time grimacing.

"I don't want to go ssssswim." Harry said, shivering a bit at even the idea of getting into the cold water.

"Pleaaaaase?" Niall begged softly. "Please? Liams doing boring swimming laps and Louis' just looking for gross slimy sea animals in the pools." Harrys interest peaked at that. He looked down the beach to where Louis was. The man was wading through shallow pools off in the distance, picking up shells and looking at various things.

"That sssssounds nice-"

"No!" Niall objected with a sharp whine, pushing his face up against Harrys chest, pouting up at him. "Please come swim with me? For ten minutes? Then you can go look for weird crabs and sea animals with your boyfriend." Niall huffed. Harry stared down at him and let out a soft sigh.

"Fine....ten minutessss. Then Im going back to my sssssunny sssspot." Harry said and gently pushed Niall off of him. He rolled over and started to slither over to the edge of the water, Niall racing ahead of him already. Harry paused at the shore and frowned deeply. A sinking realization hit him as he stared at the blue waves. He had never actually gone swimming before. How would he do it? How did snakes swim? He saw that humans used their legs to keep themselves balanced in the water, but would it be any different with his tail?

Harry slowly slithered into the water. It washed over his tail and almost all at once the warmth was sucked out of his scales. He shivered but pressed on, his tail dragging against the wet sand.

"Let's see who can swim out further! Cmon! Slow poke!" Niall giggled and swam out ahead of Harry, making sure to splash him in the process. Harry smiled a bit and followed him as best he could. He didn't exactly swim, but he stretched his tail, using the long muscular tail to push his heavy torso above the water line while the rest of it slithered along the bottom of the ocean.

It wasn't until he got in about six feet that he noticed that his tail was like a rock. With how cold it was, it was difficult to move, his muscles were tensed, and heavy. No part of his muscled tail floated. It dragged against the sea floor like an anchor, pulling him down against the waves.

"Niall- I cant move" Harry called out, feeling a sharp panic hit him. The cold ocean water was sapping the heat out of him and making his muscles hard to move. The waters were hitting up against his chest and knocking him backwards as he tried to retreat back to the shore. He tried to call out again, getting a mouthful of water in the process, the waves crashing over his head.