SEA, SWALLOW ME, remus lupin

ochd, the inevitable return

CHAPTER EIGHT
the inevitable return

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SEA FOAM BUBBLES IN HER peripheral vision, hazy pearls of saltwater bubbling around her head as she huffs outwards from her big black nose. Her flippers wade against the intensifying currents, casting ripples through the gunmetal grey ocean that envelops her tight. The dappled light cast down from the surface grows dimmer as she wriggles deeper and deeper into the depths, losing herself in a world separate to the other one she loves so dearly, the melodic sounds of the sea quelling whatever battles she's fighting in her own mind. Problems on land seem faraway and insignificant when Cove finds herself lost within the water.

  She can make out the faraway cries of her colony as they carry through the waves, discerning her grandmother's commanding barks against the chatter of all the others. They had just concluded a larger hunt led by her grandfather, though Cove had broken away from the crowd at the last minute when she realised that she's supposed to be on a tight schedule. Her goodbyes had been rushed, much to the chagrin of her grandparents, and she fled in the opposite direction with her tail between her legs. It doesn't help that she still hasn't told them about Remus, trying to fight off that awkward conversation for as long as she possibly can. If Cordelia was disapproving, she doesn't even want to think about how her grandfather would react.

  She pushes it to the back of her mind. That can be a problem for future Cove. Comforted in the presence of the almost normality she's gliding through, her body swerves to roll so that she's swimming through the tides on her back, her belly facing upwards as she closes her eyes and hones into the conversations transpiring around her.

Her peace is short lived. Propelled by her own hunger, Cove feels a primal pull towards the blurry school of fish that go whizzing past her, whiskers twitching in delight at the thought of catching one for the last time before her inevitable return to Hogwarts. Though, just as she's poising her flippers to shoot off after them, she stops short.

  A shift in the water grabs her attention. Her head snaps up to the blip on her radar, tilting to the side in interest. Cove snaps her head back and forth indecisively, uttering a low whine. Swivelling onto her back for the last time, she hums a disgruntled growl at the back of her throat as the fish swim further out reach. It takes a few more minutes of difficult decision making before Cove finally decides to abandon her morning snack and wade closer to the surface.

The thing that had attracted her attention turns out to a smooth stone, polished and eroded after being tumbled around in the sea for ages. She nudges it with her nose to turn it over and latches onto a familiar scent of pine, lukewarm coffee ( black as the night sky, of course ) and... cigarettes? Has he been smoking again? The claws on her foreflippers graze over it thoughtfully, teeth clicking together as the message begins to sink in.

Remus. Reaching out to her from land.

  She wishes her dad hadn't taught him the rock skimming trick.

  Grumbling under her breath the whole way up, she shoots off in the direction of sunlight. It's not long before Cove breaks the murky surface with a slight gasp and shudders under the sensation of being human again. She slips her sealskin down off of her head entirely, pushing her soaked curls away from her face as the choppy waves slash against her cheeks. Now bobbing about on two legs instead of a single tail, she kicks strongly until the beach is within a more reasonable range. The waves lift her out onto the sand and place her before the scarred boy twiddling his thumbs on the shore, her hands anchoring on her hips as she shoots him a look of undiluted disapproval.