Within the Heart of the Ocean
Chapter Six: Unforeseeable and Unforgivable
Part Two: Dancing to the Beat of my Heart
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the RMS Titanic.
Beta-read by CloSalvatore.
I smoothened my dress, looking at the clock. I was a few minutes early, but I was still nervous. James was First-class and I hardly passed for a Second. Sirius was also born and raised in a formal, noble family. Remus and I, we alone were born into Third. Petunia, despite being Third, she has learned to be able to act First. As for looks, she often times would use just a bit of sparkly lace or cheap expensive-looking fabrics to make something like a grey-blue dress look like a princess gown.
The clock began to chime. Once. Twice. I felt a hand take mine and spin me around.
James grinned, and then pretended to bow, grinning like an idiot the whole time. I couldn't help but laugh.
Petunia and a dark haired man, assuming to be Charles, walked past us, my sister giving me a look not to mess up.
I turned to Remus and Sirius, giggling uncontrollably. Sirius looked rather unhappy to be wearing a collar, and Remus didn't look like he fit in.
" I hate ties," Sirius muttered.
I rolled my eyes. " I hate heels," I hissed back.
Remus chuckled. " You have no idea what I'm going though. I can hardly breathe in this thing," he said tugging at the tie. I slapped his hand away from it and fixed it, loosening it so he could breathe properly.
" There, is that better?" I asked stepping back to straighten the tie out.
He nodded.
When we finally managed to get to the table, I was concentrating more on not falling rather than where I was going. When James stopped suddenly, I looked up, trying to stop but my heels slipped and I fell into him, pushing him down. Miraculously we both ended up falling, Sirius and Remus caught me, but James toppled right down. I winced at the clash of dishes.
" Sorry! I slipped," I apologized.
Sirius stepped forward to help James up, who was on the floor. " Oh sure, save the girl," James muttered getting up, brushing off his pants.
" Of course, I'm more delicate than you," I replied pointedly.
James rolled his eyes and didn't reply.
When I sat down, I looked around in confusion. When I looked up, Remus met my eyes in the same puzzlement.
" How do you know what to eat with?" I hissed at James.
He turned to look at the silverware, not even looking troubled. " Work from the outside in. I'll show you when they start."
I looked across the table where I could see Sirius's parents who looked very bored, and Charles's parents who looked almost too proper.
Salad and bread arrived. But the salad tasted bland, and the bread was the only thing I found good so far. I chewed the bread, pretending to eat the salad and trying to follow the political problems of the First-class diners.
There was a bell ring, and then out came waiters, each carrying a covered plate. I breathed in, it smelled delicious.
They placed one in front of each of us, and then in unison uncovered it. It looked like some kind of chicken that I had never eaten.
We all took out our napkins, placing it across out laps.
" What is that?" Remus asked Sirius.
Sirius picked up one of his forks and poked at it. " I think it's roast duck. Maybe chicken. Hard to tell. Try it."
Remus shook his head. I shook my head and we all looked at James.
I watched James sigh and pick up his own fork. We all stared as he took the first bite, chewing in while looking thoughtful.
" It's duck," he confirmed at last.
Only then did Remus and Sirius begin to eat. I finally picked up my fork and cut it before taking a bite.
It was good, nothing like the food I was used to. Remus looked uncertain, continually poking at a bite before eating it. Or he did, until a First-classman looked at him funny and Remus proceeded to eat the duck without hesitation.
" So Charles, where are you from?" James asked, making a rather daring stab at making conversation. I wouldn't have dared to come within ten feet of Petunia's well...boyfriend or whatever. He looked at James so fiercely I would have flinched. Then he rather irritably stabbed at his duck. I jumped, looking at Remus warily. Sirius looked just as cautious, and normally he is never careful.
" England," he finally replied gruffly.
" And what do you do in England?" James asked.
" My father owns a business." He didn't look up, and instead stared at his plate as though wishing there was more roast duck.
" My father owns a huge business, and my friend Mr. Black here his name is well-known in England," James said brightly.
I snickered, unable to help myself as Sirius was called Mr. Black. Though I managed to pass it off a a violent coughing fit.
" So I've heard. What's your name?" he asked pointing to me.
" This is Miss Evans," Sirius said. " And this is Mr. Lupin."
" I'm pleased to meet you Charles," I said politely.
He glowered at me for a moment before saying " Pleasure," in a ungrateful, bored tone.
" This duck is absolutely wonderful," Remus said, desperate to strike up some kind of conversation.
" Yes, I love it. It's very good. I wish my cook at home made her duck turn out this well," James agreed.
" My cook doesn't do duck. She can do almost everything else. But whenever she does duck, it burns. But she is still a very good cook, besides," Sirius continued, pushing his plate away. " I hate duck."
" You could have ordered something else," I said, motioning to the menu.
He looked down at it. " But I don't like fish either."
I sighed. " Fine, go hungry then, see if I care."
" Rather temperamental are we Evans?" Sirius teased in a hushed whisper so no one else would hear.
" Who knew you could be so annoying, Black," I retorted.
" I'm starved, isn't there anything better to eat?" Sirius asked.
Remus gave him a slightly annoyed look. " You're in First-class and you can't even look down at the menu and decide what you want next?"
Sirius studied his menu. " Well I really didn't like the duck. But cake doesn't sound so bad."
Remus and I both gave each other similar looks of exasperation.
But Sirius was right, the cake was good. I ate it carefully, not wanting to spill on my elegant dress.
It seemed to take forever to end. Dinner finally ended around seven.
We were making our way up the stairs when I turned to look at Remus and raised my eyebrows. He shared my glance and we smirked.
" Come on," I said grabbing James's hand and twisting him around. " We'll show you what a real party looks like."
We ran down the stairs, taking turn after turn, just like a maze until we made it down to Third-class.
Once there I headed for the bar, I dug in my purse and flicked a few coppers onto the table.
The bartender nodded.
James and Sirius were looking around in amazement and confusion.
I looked around, feeling like I fit in perfectly fine.
I waited, watching the dance floor, wanting to get asked to dance.
Almost instantly, a man asked me to dance. I accepted, and danced I did. I love dancing, and it's a passion of mine, I've danced a lot. All of the people in Third-class love to just let loose and have fun, no matter what others think. A few minutes later I saw Remus join in, falling into place naturally.
We continually switched partners, so in the end I was standing next to someone else.
I walked back to the bar, slipping my shoes off to keep from getting blisters.
I took a beer and sipped it, and Remus took the other.
James and Sirius looked shocked. Remus just smiled and sipped more foaming beer. Remus knew quite well that all women in Third-class drink beer like men do. We're strong and can handle beer just as well as men.
But by the look on their faces, only men in First-class drank beer because to them that was proper.
" What? It isn't poison." I looked between them.
They both still looked shocked.
" What, you think that I can't drink like any other man?" I asked, hands on my hips.
James shook his head. " I've just never seen a girl drink before."
" Come on Remus, we have to teach these boys how to dance," I said setting down my beer.
Remus's eyes widened like moons, and he shook his head. " I don't dance."
I rolled my eyes. " Oh don't give me that. Come on," I took James's hand and dragged him, while Remus quickly found him and Black a partner each.
I laughed and danced, freely and with natural grace. No one here took lessons, we learned from others.
James and Sirius resisted at first, refusing to relax, but after three drinks and half an hour, they had relaxed and now where dancing along with everyone else.
I looked at the clock. It was nearly nine thirty!
" Come on, we have to go. In about ten minutes all the men start playing poker, and they get drunk and then the dance floor is filled with a bunch of stumbling idiots," I muttered, dragging James and Remus out of there. Sirius followed, swaying slightly.
We all managed to get to our own rooms, me collapsing in one of James's suite's rooms. Sirius in his own, and we dropped Remus off at his own room.
And the next chapter will be the pre-sinking. I've split the whole sinking part into two parts to save everyone from crying the whole way through it.
