Sirius grinned as he let his sunglasses fall from the crown of his head onto his nose. He was wearing a pair of neon green bathing shorts with great big yellow flowers on them, yellow sandals to match, and carrying a drink in a big coconut, garnished with pineapple wedges and a big pink flower. He grinned as he walked across the pale white sand to where James lay on a lounge chair by the ocean, legs crossed, arms behind his head, watching the tide roll in. Sirius took a loud slurp off his drink's straw as he settled in the chair next to James's, smacking his lips and leaning back. "Oh this is the life, Prongsy," he said, sighing happily. "This is the life. This right here, this is what living is all about. I swear to Merlin's furry beard."
James's voice was noticably calmed as he answered, "Tell me about it. Bloody hell, I don't reckon I've ever been this relaxed in my entire life."
Sirius held up his coconut and shook it, smirking, "Look. Pina Colada. Like the song."
"Brilliant," James murmured.
Sirius slurped his drink and watched the tide for several long moments as it roared in over the sand, turning to white foam before drawing back into itself. Sirius pulled the pineapple off his coconut cup and ate it, holding it by the toothpick as he chomped.
James's eyes were closed.
Sirius slurped more of his drink, looking around. People were lining the coast, mostly doing exactly what James was doing. Sirius picked at the white meat of the coconut with his fingernail a moment, popping a bite of it into his mouth and chewed. He watched a seagull fly by on a thermal wind, soaring, wings spread wide...
Then.
"Prongs?"
"Hmm?"
"Prongs, I'm bored." Sirius looked at James.
James kept his eyes shut.
"Prongs, did you hear me?" he asked.
James murmured, "Yes, I heard you."
"What do you wanna do?"
"Lie here and enjoy the relaxing environment."
"But it's boring."
"Conjure a book. Surely you've got one you could pull out of your pocket?"
"I didn't bring any books - bloody hell," Sirius said, pulling a face, "What'd'ya think I am? Remus?"
James's eyes were still closed.
"I miss Moony."
"You'll see him soon," James reminded him.
"Yeah."
"And when you do, you won't be able to see the ocean anymore - not ocean like that, at any rate," James peeked through his sunglasses at the brilliant crystal-blue surface of the water beyond his feet.
Sirius looked. "Yeah, but. Once you've looked at it, it doesn't do anything, does it?" He shifted, crossing his legs. "At least once you've looked at Remus he does things. He does me, for starters."
"Now there's something I didn't need to know," James murmured. "There ought to be a spell. Scourgify, but for the brain."
"There's confundus?" Sirius suggested.
"Eh. Too much work," James decided and he reached over and took Sirius's coconut drink and took a sip.
"Get your own coconut," Sirius said in a mock threatening tone.
James yawned and handed the drink back, "I'm far too lazy for that."
Sirius sipped the drink again. "Hey, let's go for a walk."
James looked over. "If I wanted to go for a walk, I'd walk over and get my own coconut."
Sirius uncrossed his legs and scooted to the edge of the chair, "C'mooon, Prongs!" he begged, "Let's gooo... let's walk, let's playyyy..."
"You're sounding more and more like your dog counterpart every day, you know that?" James asked. He smirked, "You ought to just turn into dog and stay that way permanently."
Sirius laughed. "No."
"You're less annoying that way."
"Am I?"
"Usually."
Sirius got up and sat down on James's chair, right by his feet. "Prooongs, let's gooooo." He added hopefully, "I'll even go change into a dog and you can throw me some sticks."
"Why don't you throw a stick, then turn into a dog and fetch it yourself?"
Sirius frowned, "That isn't near as fun."
"I just want to lay here," James said.
"Fine," Sirius got up. He held out the coconut. "Here, you can have this. I'll take a walk to get another one."
James took it, staring up at Sirius over his glasses, "You're not mad at me?"
"No," Sirius replied, "Just bored. I'll be back."
"Alright." James closed his eyes again, taking a long sip of Sirius's abandoned coconut drink.
Sirius turned, grabbing his shirt and wand, and walked across the beach. He stuck his wand through his hair and shrugged the shirt onto his shoulders, leaving it opened. It was a red with gold lines that completely and utterly did not much his swim shorts, but that wasn't concerning him. His flip flops made their flop-flop noises under his feet as he walked (that's why they're called flip-flops, he thought, because of that bloody noise they make).
The little bar he'd gotten his coconut drink at was a small tiki shack by the end of the main road that let out on the beach, and Sirius stood in the line behind a woman in a bikini who was doting over a much older man, who, Sirius assumed, probably had a good deal of fortune. He glanced around as the couple whispered sickeningly sweet nothings to one another, watching tourists wandering by along the beach, and listening to the clink of ice in glasses as the bartender at the tiki hut served up the drinks.
Suddenly, Sirius's eyes spotted a flash of unruly black hair and thick spectacles - not James's, but his father's. Charlus was just stepping out of an alley way, following after Ignatus, his nephew, and his wife, Maria. Dora came a moment later, and they walked quickly into a crowd of tourists, trying to blend in, though Charlus and Dora were slightly less adept at muggle clothing and his corduroy trousers stood out, especially on a beach, and even more especially because they were bright purple.
Sirius glanced back toward the beach, but James was laying still on the lounge chair and the way his head was lolling to one side Sirius suspected he may have fallen asleep. He made a quick choice and ducked out of the drinks line, hurrying to follow after Charlus, Dora, Maria, and Ignatus.
They walked, pressing through the crowded street, away from the ocean, turning down a side road where there were less muggles and Sirius had to take more care to go unseen. He paused and reached into his pocket, fishing about until he found James's shrunken bag he'd offered to put in his shirt pocket, and he stuck his wand into the tiny thing and whispered, "Accio cloak," and out came the shimmering invisibility cloak. He threw it about his shoulders quickly as he tucked James's tiny bag back into his pocket, and hurried to keep up with the adults as they'd reached the far end of the road and were about to turn again. Sirius ran as quietly as his flip flops would allow him - which wasn't quietly at all, really - until he finally kicked them off and abandoned them by the side of the road. Barefoot, he gained some ground on them and dared, even, to slip within ear shot.
"Just up this way," Ignatus was saying.
Charlus was looking around, "Was it always so busy 'round here? I never pictured it with so many tourists."
"This town's really picked up since the resort went in by the beach, but very few people come off the main road," Ignatus replied. "Even fewer ever visit the cemetery, and none would certainly go to the back, where the plot is."
Sirius's heart thumped and he carefully stayed several feet behind, not wanting to be detected.
They reached a church with high stone spire and colorful stained glass windows that pointed up into the bright blue sky. Beside the church was a cemetery that stretched away into the distance, where a line of jungle-like trees hedged the property. The somber attitude of the church and the little graveyard seemed in dark opposition to the weather. They passed through old, moss-covered stones, over a little hill, and past a large, angel-shaped statue that stood before a crypt, covering it's face with it's hands as it cried. Sirius ducked 'round the angel, where Dora and Maria stopped on the path, and they all watched as Charlus followed Ignatus across some grass, approaching three stones at the very edge of the trees.
"Did you ever meet her? Ottalie?" Dora asked quietly, looking at Maria.
Ottalie, he thought. Ottalie Potter.
Maria shook her head, no. "Did you ever meet her?"
"In school, years ago," Dora said. "We were all in a sort of club... The Solidarity of Social Equality Amongst Wizards." Her voiced lilted with pride at the title. Sirius's lips formed the letters. S.S.E.A.W. He knew about that that. He'd come across the pledge in the Trophy Room Passageway back at Hogwarts - he'd seen signatures of all the members along side all those photographs and notes and things. It was the same club that Minerva McGonagall, Elphinstone Urquart, and Alastor Moody - along others - had been in during their years at the school. "We called ourselves 'The Solidarity'." She laughed, looking down at the grass, "Fat load of good we did, seeing as ours was the generation that managed to completely overlook the rise of... of You Know Who."
"You and Charlus ought to come and stay," Maria suggested. "You and the boys are welcome, any time."
Dora shook her head, "We couldn't ever do that..."
"But the You Know Who's power doesn't stretch this far. You'd be free of him," Maria enticed her.
Dora shook her head, "For now. But left unchecked and the Dark Lord's power would spread 'round the world, Maria... including here. If none are willing to stay and fight, he rises with no opposition, and we would lose." She crossed her arms, "As good as running away sounds - as much as I want to protect the boys and - and Charlus... Merlin, bless him... I just cannot stand by and allow innocent blood to be poured out the way You Know Who does."
Maria shrugged. "The battles are not always ours to fight."
"No, but even when they are not ours to fight, we can fight them for the rights of others," Dora replied. She stared off at the trees, at Charlus's back as he stood over the grave and his hands raised to his face like the angel statue they'd passed. Dora's voice shook, "It's what Ottalie believed in, too. If she hadn't had to leave... she never would've."
Maria looked at Dora with interest.
Dora stared at Charlus.
"Why did she leave?" Maria asked.
Yes, why indeed??? Sirius thought.
Dora replied flatly, "She had no choice. She would've gone to Azkaban if she'd stayed."
"Azkaban?" Maria asked.
"Prison," Dora answered, "A terrible prison. Guarded by dementors."
Maria gasped. "Your government uses dementors?"
Dora nodded, her mouth twisting in disgust.
"Aye dios," whispered Maria, and she touched her shoulders and forehead in a lazy sign of the cross and spit to the ground to her right. Then, "What did she do? To deserve prison guarded by dementors?"
Dora drew a deep breath, "She was falsely accused, but evidence stacked against her and there was no proof... Charlus stalled them as best he could, spent time in Azkaban himself for hindering the process. It gave her just barely enough time to leave the country before they could catch her, and she's under no jurisdiction here. MACUSA and the Ministry of Magic have no power here."
Maria nodded quietly, and touched her shoulders again, shaking her head and whispering in spanish.
Sirius wanted her to go on, for Dora to tell the whole tale, but Charlus was getting up and they watched in silence as he magicked a ring of beautiful flowers and lowered his wand to lay them down upon the grave. Ignatus was doing the same. Dora hung her head and so did Maria and Sirius felt inclined to as well. When Charlus and Ignatus returned, Charlus's eyes were watering and red and his voice broke as he tried to strongly suggest, "P'raps we ought to go and see if we can't find the boys, I think they were headed to this beach... They can show us where they got those enchiladas..."
Dora wrapped her hand through Charlus's fingers and pulled his palm close to her heart. "Are you alright?" she asked him.
He nodded, "I'm alright, Dora," and he let their foreheads touch a moment, an intimate, loving moment passing between them. "I'm alright." This second declaration was much stronger after the gesture, and he squeezed her fingers lovingly, and they turned and started back out of the gate of the cemetery and to the sidewalk before the church.
Sirius waited until they were out of ear shot, and then CRACK! he disapprated, reapparing a second later in a shadowy alley just past the tiki where he'd gotten the coconut drink. He hastened across the sand, realizing as he stepped on hot rocks and sharp seashells, that he'd left his flipflops on the road to the church. "Damn," he murmured, skipping over the sand to James's lounge chair.
James looked up at the commotion as Sirius danced his way over and threw himself into the lounge. He lowered his sunglasses. "Forget your coconut did you?" he asked.
Sirius shook his head, "Your mum and dad are on their way here in a second, if they ask I've been here the whole time."
"Right," James said, raising an eyebrow suspiciously. "What've you been up to, then?"
Sirius said, "Just learning a bit about your aunt... and I'll have to tell you later - here they come."
Sure enough, Dora, Charlus, Maria, and Ignatus came across the sand at that moment, and in the time it'd taken them to come, Charlus had managed to cheer up quite a lot, and though his eyes were still bloodshot and red, he now wore a smile that plastered itself across his face. Sirius pretended not to notice the shake to his voice as he suggested the enchiladas. It was on the way to the edge of the beach's sand when Dora's voice rang out --
"Sirius Black? Where on earth are your shoes?"
"Oh. Um." Sirius looked down at his bare feet and then up at Dora and he shrugged, "Dunno. Guess I lost them somewhere."
"How do you just lose a pair of shoes?" Dora marveled, shaking her head. "That's utterly bizarre."
James spoke up, "Sirius has a talent for doing bizarre things, mum."