The Marauders: Year Three | #Wattys2016

Beneath the Surface

Beneath the Surface

Beneath the surface of the lake, James found instantly what the purpose of the marsupium dolor had been. The mirage that had surrounded his head above the water was now holding a bubble around his mouth so that he could breathe underneath the water - a pocket of oxygen. A few feet away, Sirius Black was suspended in the water, staring back at him and waving him to come along, pointing ahead. Dumbledore was swimming straight down with skilled strokes, his brightly patterned shirt easy to spot. It occurred to James that perhaps that was the intention of the headmaster's odd wardrobe choice.

He felt funny, kicking his legs and upending himself so that he was moving away from the safety of the surface, the green tinge of the lake getting thicker and darker the further down he swam. Sirius waited up for him, and they swam through the murky water after Dumbledore together. "This is incredible," James tried saying, but he could tell that the words were warbled and twisted and Sirius couldn't quite make out what he was saying, so they swam in silence after that, heading further down, down, keeping their eyes carefully trained on the bright splotch of color that was Dumbledore's shirt.

There were loads of plants, dancing about in the water, waving, stretching toward the sun that filtered dimly from the surface. They had long tentacle like branches that willowed about and James pointed when he spotted a long water snake weaving its way among the branches. Sirius swam clear of it, making a repulsed face.

Dumbledore paused near to the bottom of the lake, hovering there, waiting for them to catch up. When they had, they moved together through the waving weeds, Dumbledore leading the way, his wand drawn. Sirius reached into his jeans waistband to pull out his wand as well and James realized that, once again, he'd forgotten his wand in the dormitory in his robes pocket. Sirius looked over and gestured to his wand, asking where James's was. James held up his palms and Sirius shook his head, clearly understanding what James was getting at.

The plants were getting thicker and thicker the further they went and Dumbledore kept an eye behind him to make sure they were staying close. They came to the edge of a great trench rather suddenly that seemed to descend into an unending darkness. Dumbledore held out his arms to be sure the two boys came to a stop before they went over the open water. He motioned for them to wait one moment, then swam out a ways himself, raising his wand and there was a funny sound that echoed through the water, like a low groan emitting from Dumbledore's wand. Sirius peered over the trench's edge into the dark.

Suddenly, there was a shape in the dark far below, emerging out of the void. His eyes widened as he stared down as the huge, bulbous head of the giant squid. James kicked a few strokes back from the edge. Dumbledore reached up, gripping the end of the bubble on his face, lifting it so that it only covered his nose and he could use his mouth more easily, and suddenly he started speaking in a strange, groaning language that Sirius and James couldn't understand, but they could hear quite clearly.

The squid rose and fell in the water as he waved his long legs about, his huge eyes blinking in the murky green light. When Dumbledore finished speaking to him, the Squid made some similar noises to what Dumbledore had done, then sank back into the darkness, disappearing once more.

Dumbledore waved for the boys to come, and they swam quickly toward him, Sirius clutching his wand tight in his fist, afraid the squid might pop back up from the dark, but he seemed to be completely gone and Dumbledore beckoned them on. "The squid said there was some funny things falling from the north drain last night, and he closed off the pipe to keep them polluting the lake," Dumbledore informed them, his voice worbly in the water, but clear enough to hear them, "Follow me." He reached up and pulled the bubble back down over his mouth.