fic for such_heights: We Were Free Like Water (Marauders, Lily, PG)
Title: We Were Free Like Water
Recipient: such_heights
Rating: PG
Character(s): MWPP + Lily
Author’s notes: Big squishy thank you to _brit_chick_ for the wonderful beta job, any remaining mistakes are mine. And thank you to the mods for putting this all together! :-D Happy holidays, mystery recipient!
The wind whipped down the beach, snagging in Lily’s hair as she ducked her chin into her scarf to keep the chill out. "Li-ly," a voice singsonged to her left, and she turned in time to be bombarded by a flash and Sirius’ manic laughter over the whirring of the camera. The sun had already started setting behind the blanket of clouds on the horizon and the bright flash blinded her momentarily. A second later Sirius took off toward the water, shaking the Polaroid as he went. Lily rolled her eyes, hunching further into James’ jacket.
It had turned cold quicker than Lily had expected, although, they had stayed on holiday a bit longer than planned as well. As summer faded into autumn and the first of September passed by with the realization that they really weren’t returning to Hogwarts, they’d packed their trunks and left for the first place they could find, which ended up being an old summer cottage on the coast of Ireland that had been in the Pettigrew family for ages. It was only meant to be a weekend away, a sort of last hurrah before they all went back to London and found jobs and flats and whatever else grown ups did, but it turned into a week, that stretched into two. A short holiday that quickly spread into a long one with each day they spent on the beach, wading in cold water and building lopsided sandcastles.
They had become accustomed to the small town the cottage sat on the edges of, ignoring owl posts and reading the Muggle newspapers that talked of weather patterns and fish populations instead of war and death. Even with the decreasing temperatures and lack of jumpers, Lily decided, it was certainly preferable to the alternative.
"Eventually he’ll run out of film," Remus promised, coming up from the shore after ducking out of the way of Sirius’ flailing limbs.
Lily laughed, pulling a few wayward hairs from her mouth. "We can only hope."
The camera had been recovered from a secondhand shop near the center of town a week prior. Sirius had spotted it in the shop window while they were searching for the café Peter’s mum had told him about, and decided it was the one thing he had always wanted; knocking motorbikes to second place on Sirius’ ever growing list of The Most Brilliant Muggle Things Ever, despite Lily’s protest that, Muggle or wizard, cameras were cameras. None of the pictures were actually developing properly, though; Sirius was just acquiring a growing collection of shadowy figures on the beach. Peter insisted Sirius wasn’t using the camera properly, but Lily suspected it had something to do with the charm she had helped James with after Sirius had snuck into the bathroom one morning to get a picture of James singing into a bar of soap.
"I don’t suppose we can hope for some proper photos?" Remus asked, a sly grin pulling at the corners of his mouth.
Lily adopted her best innocent expression, a face that seemed to have lost quite a bit of effect ever since the four boys had brought her into their eclectic self-formed family, and shrugged. "I’ve no idea." She grinned and dropped down onto the ground. Remus sat down beside her as she shoved her bare feet deep under the cold sand. Sirius’ laughter echoed on the empty stretch of beach and Lily glanced over to see James and Peter herding a flock of seagulls. "What are they doing?" she asked cautiously, and half wished she hadn’t even before she heard the answer.
"Subjects," Remus informed her with a wave of his hand toward the mound of sand he had just helped them form into something resembling a castle, "for the kingdom."
"Of course." James was throwing old bread crumbs at the birds while Peter tried to get them to march in an orderly line. "Well, since they have about a birdbrain combined, I suppose that makes sense."
Remus snickered. "I think you’re being too kind."
She laughed, wrapping the jacket closer to her as the wind picked up again. A flash went off close to the water, followed by the outraged yells of James and Peter as the flock of birds took off. Peter ducked down with a strangled cry as he was nearly hit by one of them and James took off after Sirius with a deranged war cry.
The two of them raced toward Lily and Remus, sand spraying up around their ankles as they slid on the uneven ground. Sirius tossed the camera toward Lily as he dove behind Remus. She scoped the camera up before James could step on it, and laughed when she looked up to see Padfoot’s head poking around Remus’ shoulder.
"Coward," James muttered as Peter came up behind him, pulling a few feathers from his jumper. James started to circle around Remus, and signaled for Peter to go around the other way. Lily did her best to fight back a grin and tried to look disapproving at the group of children she spent so much of her time with.
Padfoot’s eyes went impossibly large as he let out a mournful whimper, and Remus stood with a long suffering sigh. "You can’t attack a defenseless dog," he argued, dusting the sand from his trousers absently.
"You’re taking his side?" James asked in outrage as Peter snorted with disbelief, "He’s hardly helpless."
There was a brief moment of stillness before James twitched and they all lunged at each other at once, collapsing in a heap of limbs with Padfoot barking joyfully, tugging at their shirts in turn. Lily watched with growing amusement as they rolled around in the sand, pulling and slapping one another between insults and chocked laughter.
When the camera flash went off all four of them froze. She grinned and shrugged innocently when they glanced over at her. "Posterity," she said innocently, as the photo shot out of the camera.
"It won’t turn out right," a newly changed back Sirius told her with the beginnings of a petulant frown.
Lily schooled her features into as close an innocent expression as she could when she was fighting back a laugh and told him, "Sure it will. You just have to know how to lift the charm."
Sirius’ jaw dropped and James cackled gleefully, ducking away from Sirius’ hand. He jumped up and raced over to Lily, cowering behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist. "You can’t attack a girl!" he argued as Sirius came toward them.
"You broke my camera." He glared at her and James in turn.
"Serves you right, y’wanker," James said before cowering back behind her shoulder.
Lily rolled her eyes, shoving the camera at him. "It’s not broken, you daft idiot."
Sirius eyed it suspiciously for a moment, holding it in front of him and snapping a photo experimentally. Lily winced against the bright light, and scowled when the photo shot out and Sirius waited all of two seconds before taking another. And then a third after that. "I will smash it if you don’t stop," she warned him darkly as he raised the camera to his face again.
He gave her a dangerous smirk, "S’for posterity," he said and pressed the button. White spots danced across Lily’s vision, giving Sirius more than enough time to take off down the beach before she could see enough to sprint after him.
"You can’t run forever," she threatened as she pulled away from James.
"She may actually kill him," she heard James say with a hint of concern as she followed after the sound of Sirius’ cackling.
Recipient: such_heights
Rating: PG
Character(s): MWPP + Lily
Author’s notes: Big squishy thank you to _brit_chick_ for the wonderful beta job, any remaining mistakes are mine. And thank you to the mods for putting this all together! :-D Happy holidays, mystery recipient!
The wind whipped down the beach, snagging in Lily’s hair as she ducked her chin into her scarf to keep the chill out. "Li-ly," a voice singsonged to her left, and she turned in time to be bombarded by a flash and Sirius’ manic laughter over the whirring of the camera. The sun had already started setting behind the blanket of clouds on the horizon and the bright flash blinded her momentarily. A second later Sirius took off toward the water, shaking the Polaroid as he went. Lily rolled her eyes, hunching further into James’ jacket.
It had turned cold quicker than Lily had expected, although, they had stayed on holiday a bit longer than planned as well. As summer faded into autumn and the first of September passed by with the realization that they really weren’t returning to Hogwarts, they’d packed their trunks and left for the first place they could find, which ended up being an old summer cottage on the coast of Ireland that had been in the Pettigrew family for ages. It was only meant to be a weekend away, a sort of last hurrah before they all went back to London and found jobs and flats and whatever else grown ups did, but it turned into a week, that stretched into two. A short holiday that quickly spread into a long one with each day they spent on the beach, wading in cold water and building lopsided sandcastles.
They had become accustomed to the small town the cottage sat on the edges of, ignoring owl posts and reading the Muggle newspapers that talked of weather patterns and fish populations instead of war and death. Even with the decreasing temperatures and lack of jumpers, Lily decided, it was certainly preferable to the alternative.
"Eventually he’ll run out of film," Remus promised, coming up from the shore after ducking out of the way of Sirius’ flailing limbs.
Lily laughed, pulling a few wayward hairs from her mouth. "We can only hope."
The camera had been recovered from a secondhand shop near the center of town a week prior. Sirius had spotted it in the shop window while they were searching for the café Peter’s mum had told him about, and decided it was the one thing he had always wanted; knocking motorbikes to second place on Sirius’ ever growing list of The Most Brilliant Muggle Things Ever, despite Lily’s protest that, Muggle or wizard, cameras were cameras. None of the pictures were actually developing properly, though; Sirius was just acquiring a growing collection of shadowy figures on the beach. Peter insisted Sirius wasn’t using the camera properly, but Lily suspected it had something to do with the charm she had helped James with after Sirius had snuck into the bathroom one morning to get a picture of James singing into a bar of soap.
"I don’t suppose we can hope for some proper photos?" Remus asked, a sly grin pulling at the corners of his mouth.
Lily adopted her best innocent expression, a face that seemed to have lost quite a bit of effect ever since the four boys had brought her into their eclectic self-formed family, and shrugged. "I’ve no idea." She grinned and dropped down onto the ground. Remus sat down beside her as she shoved her bare feet deep under the cold sand. Sirius’ laughter echoed on the empty stretch of beach and Lily glanced over to see James and Peter herding a flock of seagulls. "What are they doing?" she asked cautiously, and half wished she hadn’t even before she heard the answer.
"Subjects," Remus informed her with a wave of his hand toward the mound of sand he had just helped them form into something resembling a castle, "for the kingdom."
"Of course." James was throwing old bread crumbs at the birds while Peter tried to get them to march in an orderly line. "Well, since they have about a birdbrain combined, I suppose that makes sense."
Remus snickered. "I think you’re being too kind."
She laughed, wrapping the jacket closer to her as the wind picked up again. A flash went off close to the water, followed by the outraged yells of James and Peter as the flock of birds took off. Peter ducked down with a strangled cry as he was nearly hit by one of them and James took off after Sirius with a deranged war cry.
The two of them raced toward Lily and Remus, sand spraying up around their ankles as they slid on the uneven ground. Sirius tossed the camera toward Lily as he dove behind Remus. She scoped the camera up before James could step on it, and laughed when she looked up to see Padfoot’s head poking around Remus’ shoulder.
"Coward," James muttered as Peter came up behind him, pulling a few feathers from his jumper. James started to circle around Remus, and signaled for Peter to go around the other way. Lily did her best to fight back a grin and tried to look disapproving at the group of children she spent so much of her time with.
Padfoot’s eyes went impossibly large as he let out a mournful whimper, and Remus stood with a long suffering sigh. "You can’t attack a defenseless dog," he argued, dusting the sand from his trousers absently.
"You’re taking his side?" James asked in outrage as Peter snorted with disbelief, "He’s hardly helpless."
There was a brief moment of stillness before James twitched and they all lunged at each other at once, collapsing in a heap of limbs with Padfoot barking joyfully, tugging at their shirts in turn. Lily watched with growing amusement as they rolled around in the sand, pulling and slapping one another between insults and chocked laughter.
When the camera flash went off all four of them froze. She grinned and shrugged innocently when they glanced over at her. "Posterity," she said innocently, as the photo shot out of the camera.
"It won’t turn out right," a newly changed back Sirius told her with the beginnings of a petulant frown.
Lily schooled her features into as close an innocent expression as she could when she was fighting back a laugh and told him, "Sure it will. You just have to know how to lift the charm."
Sirius’ jaw dropped and James cackled gleefully, ducking away from Sirius’ hand. He jumped up and raced over to Lily, cowering behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist. "You can’t attack a girl!" he argued as Sirius came toward them.
"You broke my camera." He glared at her and James in turn.
"Serves you right, y’wanker," James said before cowering back behind her shoulder.
Lily rolled her eyes, shoving the camera at him. "It’s not broken, you daft idiot."
Sirius eyed it suspiciously for a moment, holding it in front of him and snapping a photo experimentally. Lily winced against the bright light, and scowled when the photo shot out and Sirius waited all of two seconds before taking another. And then a third after that. "I will smash it if you don’t stop," she warned him darkly as he raised the camera to his face again.
He gave her a dangerous smirk, "S’for posterity," he said and pressed the button. White spots danced across Lily’s vision, giving Sirius more than enough time to take off down the beach before she could see enough to sprint after him.
"You can’t run forever," she threatened as she pulled away from James.
"She may actually kill him," she heard James say with a hint of concern as she followed after the sound of Sirius’ cackling.