InsaneJournal

Drabble: Floating Black (Harry Potter, PG-13, gen)
Title: Floating Black
Date:
First posted at: hpdrabble
Length: 279 words
Rating: PG-13
Warning: Character death

Floating Black

He likes to swim, usually in the summer when there are no students around to watch his wide black silhouette against the Scottish summer sky. He flexes his knees and swings his big arms like a champion diver. When his wide hands, cupped in prayer, and bushy head snap the surface there is a clear whirlpool down to the bottom of the lake.

He tips his head back and feels the waves stroke his scalp as he watches Dumbledore's frantic owls hurtle across the sky. He likes to swim, likes feeling weightless and small for once. Likes the way the hazy water keeps him afloat. His sausage-sized fingers swirl and eddy the water, big and scary enough that even the bravest grindylows will not attack him.

When he gets tired of pumping his wide arms and sending floods of pressure through the murky water, he scrambles out of the lake and shakes himself like a dog. Drops of water still cling to the crisp-soft black hair on his head and chest. He lumbers onto a rock by the water, sunning himself in the pearly glow of the moon. When he gets tired of sitting and watching the dark underwater ripples, he cannonballs back in and sinks to the bottom before rising, breaking the surface tension.

He likes to swim, thinks sometimes as he opens his eyes underwater and looks at eerie black and green light that he could be happy swimming forever.

When they throw his body in the black water they laugh, high and cold, and turn back to the castle without giving it a second thought. They do not watch as it sinks and then floats again.