Remus quietly followed his over eager companion. They walked along the shore of the lake and the sun was beginning to set, leaving the sky a dusty orange color.

Under other circumstances, Remus would have loved to be going on this walk with Sirius.

The prefect's eyes scanned the surrounding areas, wondering when James would reveal himself and from where he would leap.

True, Sirius was brilliant, but Remus knew him far too well. He could smell a marauder prank from a mile away.

Come on James, let's get this over with.

Part of him knew it was silly to just 'let' Sirius prank him, but that part of him was quite small. It shriveled beside the part of Remus that lit up like a lumos charm whenever Sirius smiled.

... And Sirius had the best smiles following a successful prank.

"Just a little bit further, Moony!"

Remus smiled. "Take your time, Padfoot; just make sure we're done before dinner."

Sirius suddenly stopped midstep and looked around.

Curious, observed Remus. Something wasn't going according to Sirius's plan.

"I'm sorry, Moony," he scratched his head. "I have no idea where James's got off to."

"It's alright," Remus smiled gently as he began kicking his shoes off. "Maybe he ran off to use the loo?"

"Maybe," Sirius agreed, though obviously looking annoyed. Remus caught Sirius looking at him and it caused a quick shiver to jump down his spine. "What are you doing?"

"I'm taking my shoes off, obviously." Then to further explain, Remus added, "So I can walk in the lake for a bit."

A wide grin spread across Sirius's lips. He looked far too amused, but far too charming as well. Remus wouldn't complain.

He stepped into the water after rolling up slacks some and smiled as the lake water lapped at his shins.

"Y'know, wait here Moony. Wait right here. I'll go find Prongs. I won't be long."

"I don't mind waiting," Remus promised.

~*~

"Way to nearly ruin the plan!" Sirius barked at James.

"I was trying to figure out how to dump it on Remus without letting it hit you!" James defended.

Sirius arched an eyebrow. "It can't be that hard."

"Yes," James insisted. "It is. You two walk so closely together, one might assume you were a couple of shirt lifters!"

Sirius hid his blushing by laughing loudly. "Right. Well then, James, if you wanted a quick snog you should have said so." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Sod off," James playfully pushes Sirius. "The only way I'd ever snog a bloke, would be if Evans suddenly grew a pair."

"I'll submit that to memory," Sirius grinned. "Come on, Rem is just this way..."

James pulled the invisibility cloak on and sneaked behind Sirius as the other boy lead the way towards Remus.

Remus, as promised, hadn't moved a muscle. He was standing in the lake, wiggling his toes in the sand.

Sirius made a conscious effort to maintain a healthy distance from Remus, which was actually more difficult to do than he would have guessed. He never noticed the way he gravitated towards Moony without even thinking about it.

~*~

One moment, Remus was the picture of serenity and the next he was gasping and shouting as James suddenly tore his cloak off and dumped the goop a'la shrimp right on top of Remus's head. Remus was drenched head to toe in sticky substance. He coughed several times and pinched his nose, moaning pitifully. "Merlin, this smells dreadful. Couldn't you have taken pity on my heightened senses? It's almost 'the full' remember?"

But the other two boys were too busy laughing their butts off. Sirius bent over, holding his gut, choking on peals of laughter.

"What was the point of this anyway?" Remus drawled on.

His question was answered in the form of a large wet appendage leaping from the water and wrapping around his waist. "Blood Hell!" he shouted and tried to get to his wand. He couldn't seem to reach past the tentacle that gripped him.

"Language, Prefect!" James shouted, making a tisk tisk noise with his lips.

Sirius is still laughing, and has by now, begun rolling around in the sand like the dog that he is.

Remus narrows his eyes. "If the giant squid eats me and I die, I will haunt you both for the rest of your Earthly existence."