"What do you think you lot are doing here?" asked Andromeda as she released herself from the sibling reunion hug.
"You know, the only people missing in this hug are Pet, Reggie, and Cissa," said Sirius with a small laugh in his tone.
The Black siblings sighed as they remembered the parts of their family that weren't here.
"You were all visiting each other this entire time?" asked Lily.
"Lily-"
"I don't care," said Lily, raising a hand to stop whatever explanation one of her siblings were going to say. "I think I'm going back to the bar."
With that, Lily left and went back to the bar.
"You have to admit it does sound a little behind her back," said Andromeda. "She has a right to be a little mad."
"She'll be back," shrugged Sirius.
"Oh, yeah, and who is going to tell her Andromeda got married?" asked Bellatrix, her arms crossed. "Who is going to tell her that Sirius and I were two of the small amount of witnesses? Who is going to tell her that Andromeda Frances Black is now Andromeda Frances Tonks?"
"Behind your family's back too," sighed Sirius, shaking his head dramatically as if he was her father.
Andromeda slapped her younger brother's arm.
"She will be fine," said Andromeda. "She's Lilith Winifred Black. She is the rebel of the family."
"Yeah, but she is also our parents sweet child," added Sirius. "Because she looks different than all of us."
Both Bellatrix and Andromeda each slapped an arm of their brother's.
"Ouch! Women!"
"I'll let Alice kill you with her boots," threatened Andromeda, glaring at her younger brother.
"After she kills poor old Tigger," said Sirius.
"Ah, she finally raged on him about ending her pregnant?" asked Andromeda, a small smirk growing on her face.
"Well, we did just arrive from last time," shrugged Sirius.
"Does Lily know about Marlene? The Marlene who happened to be your future consort?" asked Bellatrix, sitting down and looking up at her older brother.
"Yeah, she just found out," said Sirius. "Went on all about how I didn't let her let Prongs teach her how to work a sword while I've been with her best friend for who knows how long."
"Three years," said Andromeda. "Yet, it could also count as one year since there were long periods of times were you weren't here."
"Yeah, yeah," said Sirius, "but, I'm right in this situation, right?"
"Lily's learning how to use a sword by Potter?" asked Bellatrix, her eyes narrowing more and more. Just as Sirius was a protective older brother, Princess Bellatrix Black may be starting to be a protective older sister.
"Yeah," said Sirius. "Even though I to,d them they don't have my acceptance."
"It's sword practice, not a marriage proposal," said Andromeda. "You remember how Ted followed you to ask for my hand in marriage."
"Yeah, thanks to be, you're his wife," said Sirius with all the dramatics.
His older sister hit him once again.
"Ow!" exclaimed Sirius, rubbing his arm. "Why is everyone hitting me?"
"Because you are an idiot, older brother," said Bellatrix, rolling her eyes.
"How dare you?!" gasped Sirius Black dramatically.
Both Andromeda and Bellatrix rolled their eyes.
"You truly want us to list how you are an idiot?" asked Andromeda Tonks.
≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
The princess hostage of The Snitch was swirling her straw in her drink.
So, far, she has learned lots of things about three of her siblings that must have happened a long time ago...
1. Sirius was a pirate and was currently courting Lily's lady-in-waiting, Marlene McKinnon.
2. Bellatrix has been sneaking her for a probability of a very long time.
3. Andromeda was married.
Yeah, it didn't take a genius - in the princess hostage's opinion - to see the ring on her finger. It didn't take a genius to know that her older sister was married.
She remembered what the Captain told her not so many moons ago...
"Everyone has secrets, Princess," said the Captain. "What are yours?"
If these were just some secrets that her older siblings had, who knew what other secrets the rest of her family had? How many secrets did each member of her family had? What things did Lily not know about the family she thought she knew everything about?
"Want another drink?" asked the barmaid, leaning to look closer at the redhead.
Lily looked up at Alice Fortescue and shook her head.
"Things better with Frank?" asked Lily, noticing that Frank was no where near.
"I'm having him work to earn my joy and respect back," shrugged Alice. "Between you and me, he's a sweetheart."
"That sounds like Frank," said Lily. "He worries a lot too."
"Oh, you must be the girl who cut her finger," said Alice, snapping her fingers.
"By that, you know Frank will make a good father," said Lily, trying to help Frank somehow.
"I guess he will," said Alice before she left Lily all to herself.
The princess hostage of The Snitch looked around and noticed the Captain of The Snitch talking with another girl. She glared as he laughed at something the girl said.
She didn't know why, but her stomach erupted in red butterflies of jealousy. She wanted to ignore them, but she seemed she couldn't and she didn't know why.
"Something wrong?" someone asked as they sat beside Lilith.
The princess turned around and looked at her lady-in-waiting.
"Not really," said Lily, her eyes momentarily glancing at the Captain.
"I know you don't want me to tell you anything even though I am sorry," sighed Marlene McKinnon. "But they need you on the back."
"What would they want me with?" asked Lily.
"I don't know," shrugged the lady-in-waiting. "They just want you in the back."
Lily sighed and grabbed a dagger from the two daggers Dorcas made her hide in the dress, and threw it at the Captain's direction out of the anger in her.
She watched as the dagger hit the piece of wall between James Potter and the nameless girl he was talking with. She watched as his face turned to one of shock.
Trying to not let him know it was her who threw the dagger, she turned around and marched over to the back of the bar. She opened the curtains and went behind them, closing them after her.
≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
The redhead crossed her arms and looked at her siblings.
"What do you want?" asked Lily.
"We just wanted to tell you we are sorry-"
Before Andromeda continued her sentence, Lily assured her older sisters that she was fine and they shouldn't be sorry for anything.
"You hide your feelings, Lily," said Bellatrix. "I know for a fact that you don't like that Mother and Father give you the special treatment because you look different than the rest of us."
"Thanks for reminding I'm the white ship of the Black family," said Lily, rolling her emerald green eyes.
"You know what I mean," said Bellatrix. "The main point is you know how to hide your feelings, Lily."
"So, what if I do know how to hide your feelings?" asked Lily. "Doesn't change anything. You don't have to be sorry."
"If you say so," said Bellatrix. "But know that we tied."
All of a sudden, Sirius Black, their brother, entered the room dramatically.
"Someone threw a dagger at the Captain," said Sirius. "They either missed accidentally or on purpose, but the Captain somehow knows who threw the dagger at him."
"Did he tell?" asked Lily, trying to fight the smile that wanted to rise on her face.
"No," grunted the second mate of The Snitch. "He said not worry."
All of a sudden, Dorcas Meadows, the female pirate, entered the room not so dramatically as the second mate of The Snitch.
"I know who threw the dagger at the Captain," said Dorcas, looking at a certain redhead. "But I guess I'm not telling, either."
Lily looked at anything else that wasn't a living being, both were was related to her or not related to her.
Marlene McKinnon entered the room and asked Sirius if he wanted to dance. Instead of answering, he grabbed her hand and lead her out dramatically.
"You still mad at us?" Lily heard her older sister Andromeda Tonks ask her.
"I am not mad at any of you. I'm glad you are all happy," said the younger, redhead princess to her older princess sister.
"Really?" asked Andromeda, doubting her sister's answer a little bit.
"I might have to question Ted, but he looks like a nice guy," said the redhead.
"He really is," smiled Andromeda at her sister. "I'm sure you'll like him."
"Does Bellatrix like him?" asked Lily, knowing that her sister - who happened to be the middle child of the Black family - was always protective of her siblings.
"You know how protective she is of all of us," said Andromeda. "But, I think she liked him."
"Let's hope she does," smiled Lily.
≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
After some while, the redhead emerged from the back of the building and entered the bar again. The atmosphere of the bar was still as noisy as ever.
When she reached the bar and sat down, Alive gave her a drink.
"You might need it," said Alice with a small wink. "I saw you throwing the dagger the Captain Potter's way."
"How are things with Frank now?" asked Lily, trying to change the subject into something more pleasant in her opinion. "Did he earn back your respect?"
"It's good," nodded Alice. "And yeah, he did earn it back."
"That is good to know," nodded Lily as she twirled her straw in her drink.
"Good luck with your love problems," said Alice.
Before the redhead princess hostage of The Snitch could talk and ask the barmaid what she could possibly mean by love problems, the barmaid whisked herself back into her work.
She decided to sit all alone in the nosiness of the bar, but someone surprised her.
"Want to answer a question?" asked a voice the redhead knew to well.
The redhead turned her head and locked her emerald green eyes with the hazel ones of the Captain who kidnapped her.
"Depends," said the redhead. "What's the question?"
"Why the hell did you throw a dagger at me?" asked the Captain. "And did you purposely miss?"
"I'm not going to fight with you here," said Lily. "And, also Captain, learn how to count because that was two questions."
"Are you going to answer me, Princess?" asked Captain, leaning in closer. "You know you are kind of obliged to answer me."
"Under what fucking law?" asked the princess, slowly and slowly unraveling into what would later be known as the snapping of a certain redhead.
"You seem like you need to talk to someone," said Captain James Potter, his teeth slowly grinding as he talked. "Why don't we go somewhere so you can finally talk?"
"And where would that be exactly?" asked the princess before she thought of a good place far away from The Secret Lounge.
She grabbed the Captain's hand and started leading him somewhere. He trapped her in a wall of one of the dark alleys.
"Where are you leading us, Black?" asked the Captain.
"Bloody stop stopping us and move," said Lily as she dunked away from her and grabbed his hand, re-leading him to his very own ship.
≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
They were in his cabin in his ship, The Snitch.
"Are you ready to explain why you threw a dagger at me?" asked the Captain, crossing his arms and leaning against his desk.
"How do you know it was me?" asked Lily, crossing her arms and glaring up at the Captain.
"Did you really think I wouldn't know you threw it?" asked Captain James. He sighed as she saw that she actually wanted an answer. "Well, one, the dagger is something I know Dorcas gave to you and there is another one hidden in your dress. Second hint was that I saw your red hair."
"It could have been any other red haired person," shrugged Lily.
"You were the only one in the bar with hair this color," said the Captain as he twirled a strand of her hair to try and prove his point.
"How could you notice me when you were talking with that girl?" asked Lily.
The Captain suddenly laughed.
"Is that what all of this is about?"
"I don't know," shrugged the hostage princess.
"Princess, you'll have to talk if we want to get anywhere here," sighed James, trying to stay as calm as possible.
"What do you want me to say?" asked Lily. "That I might be failing in love with you?"
As the words emitted from the princess's mouth, she slapped a hand over her hand. She slightly regretted that she said her words out loud.
"Is that true?" asked James after a while of silence.
"What is true?" asked the princess hostage, trying to act like she said nothing at all.
"Lily," said James. The princess thought it was the first time she heard the Captain use that name to address her. "I think I might be falling in love with you too."
This was the first time Lily heard the Captain use a soft tone like that. She looked at his hands that were touching her waist.
She looked up at him and looked eyes with the Captain's hazel eyes.
She didn't know how it happened, but they were kissing. Kissing as if there was nothing wrong with it. Kissing as if there was everything going on between them. Kissing like a regular fairytale couple would after the prince saved the princess.
Maybe the pirate was going to save the princess. Maybe he already has saved the redhead princess.
≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈