They have set sail to Trunne and they were on their way there. For a not-so-rare sight, Captain Lily Evans was holding the wheel while everyone else took on their assigned chores for the day.
She was enjoying the rather quiet morning on her own, at least technically on her own, until one little thing decided to ruin that solitude.
"Need some help there?" he asked in order to start a conversation.
"I think I could handle a wheel, Potter," she gave him a quick glance over her shoulder. "Been doing it for years, now."
"Then maybe you just need some company?" he tried again.
"Quite liked it before you came into the frame," she gave him a one-shoulder shrug without looking at him.
"Evans, I think you clearly know I want to have a little chat."
"Gideon is right there, the one sitting on the barrel. I'm sure he has some sort of words he can share with you," she tried to dismiss him, but when it came to James Potter, she usually always failed at the task.
"A little chat with you, if it wasn't clear enough before," she could hear the anger he tried to restrain.
"Ah, you should have said so," she gave him a nod. "No."
"Evans," he whined. "And you say I'm the one who plays these games. You know how to play them too."
"Of course I do," she gave him a smirk over her shoulder. "I'm a pirate."
"Are you making fun of me?"
"Not at all," sarcasm should have been dripping from her mouth at that point.
"Hi! How are you? Tell me about your family," he started the conversation again.
"Are we sure you haven't swapped souls with Sirius?"
"I turn into Padfoot when I get bored," he sighed. "A flaw that seems to have been written in my system. That's what I get for having him as a brother."
"A brother?" she asked, returning to not look at him.
"They're all brothers to me. The lot of them," James Potter explained. "Except Dorcas. She's the sister that holds together and won't be afraid to throw a few daggers our way if we started acting-"
"Stupid? Foul? Pretentious?" she filled in for him.
"Now that's a big word, Evans," James gasped.
"Go back to being the strict pirate you pretended to be," Lily pleaded, finally looking at him again.
"You like this side of me," he stated, singing the words.
"I hate all sides of you."
"We'll see, Evans! You'll end up loving me!"
"Okay, now I think you may be drunk."
"A little morning rum never hurt anyone," he admitted.
"It all makes sense now," she muttered mostly to herself, but he heard it too.
"WHAT?" he asked, his voice booming like an old man who was about to relinquish his hearing.
"FOY! WEBB! PUT HIM IN THE CELLS UNTIL HE'S SOBERED UP!" the captain gave out her order.
And just like any drunken pirate, James Potter whined the entire time the two women dragged him towards the cells. Even when his inner circle came to meet him, they didn't last long.
"No one go to the cells if they want to keep their hearing," Dorcas announced. "Our Captain has a terrible voice when he's drunk."
"And when he's sober?" asked Joy Foy with a wink.
"How the fuck am I supposed to know?" Dorcas asked with a disgusted mask on her face.
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They were celebrating on the Red Dragon.
Everyone was having fun except The Marauding inner crew who had just managed to drag their captain from the cells.
"What's the noise?" Captain James Potter asked no one in particular. He'd even have a parrot answer him if that meant he got a regular true answer.
"WE'RE CELEBRATING!" shouted one of his own members.
"Bones?" Dorcas asked when his features clicked in. "What the fuck are you doing?!"
"Enjoying the celebration with them," he shrugged before gulping his entire bottle.
"Who are we celebrating?" asked Remus. "At this point, I'm afraid I have to ask what the fuck are we celebrating?!"
"You know I love a party, Lupin," Edgar Bones shrugged. "Maybe ask Litton. He was given a bottle, but he doesn't want to drink. Not even a drop!"
Edgar Bones disappeared with the whisk of the night, probably to find another bottle of rum for him to consume.
"That bastard is going to be sick in the morning," Sirius Black shook his head, his arms crossed over his chest.
"As if you weren't the inventor of drinking bottles of rum a night, Padfoot," Dorcas raised an eyebrow in question.
"Exactly. That's why I know for sure that bastard is going to be sick in the morning," the man repeated his words, this time with a tone that indicated he felt surrounded by idiots. Remus Lupin slapped him in the back of the head for that, followed by another slap from Frank who just wanted to hit something.
"Frank-O! Remember I ain't fake! I'm a living mortal!"
"Too bad he ain't immortal," Frank turned to Remus.
"He would have been our eternal punching bag."
"And we would really get to punch his gut."
While the two men snickered with ideas, Sirius looked at them in shock. James Potter walked away and Dorcas Meadows followed him.
"Where's Pete?"
"Probably went to get him a drink. The poor bugger needs it. Saw him eyeing a girl yesterday," Dorcas shared. "He may have developed a crush, but I slapped him in the back of the head for ogling. The boy practically had drool falling from his mouth!"
James couldn't help the snicker that left him.
"Wormy's all grown up."
"You tell me about it. He was a sweet little innocent boy until you lot destroyed him."
"I'd like to think the seas destroyed him."
"All of us too," Dorcas muttered, not hiding the truth from anyone with exceptionally good hearing. "Litton!"
"Yeah?" Marth Litton turned to look at his Captain and his right-hand woman. He stood up, back straight, and saluted them.
"No need to salute, Litton."
"Especially when someone doesn't have control over this ship," Dorcas liked to put it out there, enjoying the annoyed look on James Potter's face.
"They're celebrating Marlene McKinnon, sir," Marth Litton was useful for his big, open ears. "Apparently, they like to celebrate every once in a while while they're at sea just to liven things up. This time, they found a cause and that was the return of the blond, McKinnon."
"Fun?" Dorcas asked. "We could use some fun."
"Then get me a bottle of rum," James nodded. When Dorcas left, he turned to look at his youngest crew member. "Litton, you get me all the information you can. Why did McKinnon leave? That's the most important one."
"Aye, Captain," Marth Litton whispered.
"Atta boy."
⊱⊰ ⊱⊰ ⊱⊰
They were sitting alone in the cells.
They were no longer prisoners, so nobody was watching them. That was the reason they were in the cells: it was the ideal hideout to have a secret meeting between their own.
"What's the plan?" Peter Pettigrew asked. "Are we planning on actually backstabbing Evans? Killing her crew?"
"Wormtail, we didn't discuss any of that," Remus said. "We just started the meeting."
"Thought we skip the hellos and get to the main point."
"When have we ever said hello?"
"Hello is a synonym for playful bullying in this case. You know, the pirate life?" Peter shrugged.
"Well, there is no plan of backstabbing," James shook his head. "Why would you even think that?"
"You never tell me the details. I have to guess them sometimes!"
"Well, pay attention," Sirius said as if it was obvious.
"To what exactly?! Because we haven't gotten to the main point of this entire secret meeting?" Peter's voice was getting higher, and that was an indication he was getting bored and whiny.
"There are no means of backstabbing Evans or anyone in her crew," James announced.
"That," Sirius pointed at James, "That, gentleman and Beak, is the sound of someone falling hopelessly in love."
"I am not in love!"
"Yes, you are, James," using his actual name, everyone knew Dorcas was serious. "We've all paid attention. Well, mostly me, but you get the point. You've fallen four our redheaded captor ever since day one, even if you're in denial."
"I wouldn't say day one," he muttered.
"But that isn't a no for falling in love with her," Remus Lupin pointed out.
"Back to the main point, there is no backstabbing and I'd prefer it-"
"Are you sleeping with her?!" Sirius gasped, his head snapping to look at James so fast it was a wonder his neck didn't break.
"What?"
"He's sleeping with her!" Sirius groaned.
"I am not!"
"I wouldn't get that far, Drama King," Dorcas slapped the back of his head, probably one of her favorite pastimes. "I mean... I'd say he's fallen in love, but I wouldn't go as far as sex. If it was a yes, you wouldn't see Prongs being the only one affected."
"True, true," Sirius rubbed the back of his head. "Lily Evans would have been smitten, but all she does is flirt with him."
"She isn't flirting with me."
"You are hopeless, mate," Frank Longbottom couldn't resist hitting the back of his captain's head. "Maybe that'd smack some sense into you."
"Shame he lost his glasses, we ought to get him new ones."
"I think we've got the spare somewhere near."
"Last I know it was in The Marauding and that went bye-bye," Peter said unhelpfully.
They were sitting alone in the cells.
They were no longer prisoners, so nobody was watching them. That was the reason they were in the cells: it was the ideal hideout to have a secret meeting between their own.
A meeting that was, frankly, quite strange. At least, maybe some views can open up other people's eyes.
⊱⊰ ⊱⊰ ⊱⊰
Lily Evans was up at night while everyone else was assumingly asleep.
She couldn't go to sleep, even after she tried for what seemed like an hour. She just kept twisting and turning, so she decided that tonight would be a night of no sleep. Maybe she'd try again tomorrow night.
But the reason for her restless sleep was feeling in her gut. She couldn't get rid of it, the fact that a demon may be following her. When she closed her eyes, all she could see were strange colors, mostly reds, and oranges that reminded her of horrible fires.
"We aren't really meant to go to Trunne, are we?" Seemingly having come out of thin air, Pandora Lovegood stood beside her captain.
Lily Evans jumped a little.
"Tawny, don't scare me like that."
"You look spoked," she observed.
"Ya think?"
"We aren't really meant to go to Trunne, are we?" Tawny asked.
"I have no idea what you are talking about, Tawny. Just lead us straight to Trunne and I'll do the rest," her captain assured her.
"Sure thing, Dragon," Pandora nodded. "Oh, and if you think a demon is following you - that isn't me, I'd suggest garlic near you."
"Aren't those for silly vampires?"
"Right," Pandora agreed. "Ah! Yes! Wear a gold ring, or a bracelet could work. Anyway, as greedy as demons are, they hate gold."
"You sure about that?"
"Not really," Pandora shrugged. "Lavinia Nape or Ettie Folace might be of better help. They both had someone close into these spiritual things."
"I'd rather they didn't know what their Cap held inside her."
"The more you hide it in you, the more you may just explode," Pandora gave out the same warning her mother used to give her, in times before she obtained pirate hood and before her mother died.
⊱⊰ ⊱⊰ ⊱⊰
The island looked like any ordinary island, with no ships at its edges. That probably was because Trunne was an island barely anyone visited, which would make it the last place anyone would look. Or, at least, people thought so years ago. Now, it looked abandoned.
"Me, Potter, Lupin, McKinnon, Black, Longbottom, and both Prewetts."
"You took my entire inner circle except two."
"They can keep guard of the rest of your crew here while the rest of my people look on them," Lily looked back. "And you ain't one to talk. Be lucky that it's an even amount of people from both crews."
The assigned team eventually stepped foot on the island, but the moment they stepped on it, they felt like something was wrong. As if they had just stepped foot on something that was bound to explode.
"Hold them," a voice ordered.
Lily, the first one to react, turned just in time to judge an aim from Severus Snape and gatch a glimpse of Thomas Clover before a fist hit the back of her head.
⊱⊰ ⊱⊰ ⊱⊰
Shit, trouble's here.
Anywho, hope you enjoyed this chapter. I guess you could count it as mostly a filler (except the ending, obviously).
Until next week, mateys!