The Marauders: Year Seven Part One

In The Lake

The lake was murky green and hard to see through, even with the afternoon sun pouring through the surface. James clutched his wand tight in his fist, pausing and checking for Regulus every few moments, worried to be separated from the younger boy, but Regulus was a strong swimmer, and he was keeping up just fine with James through the murk. Everything looked a bit distorted - and not just because of the murk, but the bubblehead charms James had executed made a sort of wobbling barrier, like peering through an undulating bit of glass. It made everything seem wavy and James found his depth perception was quite off. Also, his glasses were a bit askew and he couldn't just reach up to push them on his face better because it would pop the bubble if he did, and he had to keep his natural instinct to do it at bay.

Beneath the water, the hissing that had been barely audible from above was strong and ringing, and seemed to be calling them, beckoning them closer, and they seemed to naturally know which way to go. James could feel it in his skin, and his head was aching from it, his heart racing twice it's normal pace. Voldemort's strange hissing speech brought back horrid flashes of memories, feelings etched into him that he could never be fully rid of, a burden that he would carry all the rest of his life, raw and aching. The hissing brought it all to the surface, as though it'd just happened, and he was relieved that he didn't have to try to talk to Regulus  down here, and grateful that the distortion of the bubblehead charm would keep Regulus from seeing the tears that were streaming down his cheeks quite uncontrollably as he forced himself to go on. The last thing that he wanted was to get closer to that sound. But he had to.

It got louder and louder as they swam, deep and further across. James wondered where the giant squid was, if he was safe or if Voldemort had done him harm. Despite the differences that he and the squid had had in the past - between firecrackers down the drainpipes and an ill advised levitation spell - James still found he cared a good deal about the bugger's safety.

There was a muffled shout from behind and James turned to see he'd been distracted, thinking about pressing on despite his anxiety, and Regulus's leg had been snatched by a grindylow that had come up from the waving water grass. James swam hurriedly as Regulus kicked at it, trying to escape. But underwater, Regulus couldn't speak the spell properly and he wasn't advanced enough to do silent magic... A quick flick of James's wand and the grindylow had released him, his wrist burnt by boiling bubbles.

James grabbed hold of Regulus's wrist - the younger boy looking wide-eyed after the sinking grindylow - and pulled him along, a bit higher above the water grass to hopefully better avoid the advances of the grindylows lurking below it. Regulus held on back tightly, and James realized that he was afraid - he could feel it in the way Regulus's fingers clasped on his arm and dug in, in the way he sort of trembled and wouldn't let go, even long after they'd cleared the grasses. So James held on. He'd hold on until Regulus was ready to let go, he decided.

They were coming up to the castle, far in the distance there was a darkness greater than the murk, more solid. It had to be the rockface that led upward to the base of Hogwarts. The hissing was louder than ever, and James turned them downward, deeper, further away from the sunlight, and the water was turning greener from the murk and mire, and soon they were near to the floor of the lake, hovering above rocks and the sandy ground that seemed to be green and furry from the algae. Small fish and crabs were scuttling out of their way, and larger fish, too, and James felt Regulus's fingers dig harder into his skin as they went deeper...

Then they were upon a dip in the ground and it curved into a great bowl... a bowl of glass and James stopped swimming suddenly, Regulus crashing into him, realizing that through that bowl of glass he could see the Slytherin common room, and he backed up with a start so that they were out of view of the occupants, lounging about on the couches before the green fireplace. James looked back at Regulus, whose eyes were wide with surprise still. They lowered behind some rocks, peering over them into the dome.