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It should have been laughable. It really should. If someone had told him six months ago that not only would a redheaded girl start to bring him lunch on a daily basis, but that if she didn't he'd be concerned enough to seek her out, James would have laughed and called them a damned liar. Possibly not actually that politely.

So he found it baffling that only a few weeks after he'd invited her to stay indefinitely on the ship, Lily had become a fixture in his daily routine. A confusing one, and certainly one that he was still a little wary of, but a fixture nonetheless.

And here he was, strolling out of his cabin to find her because she hadn't been in to see him today, and she almost always came to him at some point in the mornings. And even if she didn't appear in the morning, she brought him lunch every day without fail, since she'd taken to spending time in the galley with Cook, for her own inexplicable reasons that he preferred not to delve into. He wasn't sure whether it was an innate sense of respecting her privacy or if he quite simply did not want to become any more involved with her than he already was; the concept of thin ice had never been more apt.

Anyway, he wasn't thinking about it. There seemed to be more and more things that he was resolutely and deliberately putting from his mind these days; not that he wasn't already reigning champion at locking unpleasant things away in the back of his mind, never to be turned over in the light of day, but he seemed to be reaching new heights of denial recently.

So in keeping with this new found preference for not thinking about things, he'd consciously chosen not to ponder what drove her to make the effort to seek him out every day. And she did seek him out, the few times he hadn't been in his cabin when she'd come looking she'd continued her search all over the ship until she'd located him; the time she'd climbed up into the crow's nest with him had been more than a little jarring, and he'd had more than one heart palpitation once he'd recognised the figure climbing the riggings as her but she'd been so thrilled with the view once she'd reached him that he hadn't had the heart to order her away, back down to the relative safety of the deck. He must have been in an indulgent frame of mind, because he'd stood with her and watched her delighted expression as she stared out at the seascape, while he listened absently to her chatter about her childhood desire of wanting to fly and her love for birds that her father had always said she inherited from her mother.

And the most disturbing thing about this entire bizarre, mind boggling turn of events was that he'd grown so accustomed to her presence that it was now jarring not to see her. Hence today's strangeness.

She hadn't come in that morning, fine, not all that unusual in itself. When lunchtime had been and gone and he still hadn't seen her...he'd actually found himself wondering about her. He'd found himself looking at the door repeatedly, until he'd given up any attempts at updating his logs as a bad job and had just bitten the bullet and gone to see what she'd gotten herself into.

And now his lips twitched into an involuntary smile at the sight that greeted him on deck.

'No Miss Lily, this is a hangar. More reach than a normal cutlass, so you use less swing.' The rough voice of Bill Greengrass rose above the general noise on board, and James watched, eyebrows raising, as Greengrass gently and patiently put his ham-like hand over Lily's and helped her make the slashing motion that the cutlass was most commonly used for.

She laughed as she allowed him to guide her movements, the laugh being echoed by the small group of pirates clustered around them watching, and James folded his arms across his chest, uncertain as to whether or not he liked this turn of events. His crew had completely gone soft on the diminutive redhead, wrapped firmly around her delicate little finger. How he'd never know; his ship might never have been filled with the most bloodthirsty and despicable pirates – he didn't enjoy the company of those who sought cruelty – but they were still bloody pirates and never before had he seen any of them so in thrall to someone.

It was partly his own fault he supposed. He knew that the crew whispered about the Captain being soft on the lady, about the deference he showed her and more importantly the affection he tolerated from her. They had apparently taken his treatment of her either as a tacit command to improve their behaviour towards her from "not terrifying" to "downright friendly", or as tacit approval for them to indulge their curiosity and get to know her.

James had issued a few rather graphic threats about the fate of anyone who offended her, in addition to his earlier warnings issued before she'd so much as set foot on board, but had seen no need to speak further on the matter. Now it seemed he needn't have bothered at all.

He drifted a little closer to the small group of men, noticing the absence of both Remus and Sirius; it was Monday, so Remus was almost certainly in the hold taking inventory, the only one of them with a natural aptitude towards bookkeeping of any kind, and Sirius was more than likely in the crow's nest. He often spent his days there when his birthday drew near, preferring to indulge in remembered misery alone.

There were some memories that years did not dim, as he could attest only too well.

He allowed his feet to take him into the midst of the men, noting the startled guilt that appeared on many faces once they became aware of him, before they peeled away and returned to their duties. The group shrunk down to only a few men, those who were not on shift and therefore didn't immediately fear their Captain's wrath.

Lily continued to obediently move her sword according to Greengrass' instructions, her motions smooth though obviously unpractised. He tilted his head to one side as he watched her laugh at one of Greengrass' gentle corrections, even while she adjusted her grip and altered her stance; her mind retained information at a ferocious rate, he'd noticed that before, but he'd not noticed how quickly she adapted to using that new information. Her swordsmanship was already well beyond what it should be for what could only have been a maximum of a few weeks practice, assuming she'd started shortly after she'd chosen to remain on board.

He knew the moment Lily noticed him because an oddly shy glint came into her eyes as they met his, her expression softening even as her pose stiffened. The other men registered the change in her, noted the appearance of their Captain and quickly dispersed, although many eyes remained on them.

James wasn't sure whether to be amused or annoyed at his crew's immediate assumption that it was her he'd come to see, and that he would want to be alone with her, but he found he had little appetite for being irritable right at that moment.

He raised a questioning eyebrow at her as she stood with her sword in her hand on the deck of the ship. He gestured at the hangar she held, very similar to the one he favoured himself, and wondered exactly which member of his crew she'd sweet-talked it out of. 'Are you intending on making piracy your profession Miss Evans? Or soldier of fortune perhaps?'

Lily raised her sword to her face in salute. 'Mercenary actually. Hunting down men for the bounty.' She moved her sword until the blade was in the sixte line and her feet in the on-guard position. 'En-garde, Captain Potter?'

He smiled faintly. 'Have you ever heard the phrase "running before you can walk" Miss Evans?'

Lily's face broke into a wide smile, her eyes crinkling at the corners as her mouth turned up. 'I seem to have been living my life by the adage recently Captain. I am becoming…quite adept at it.'

James inclined his head in acknowledgment of her reasoning as he reached for his sword and drew it slowly, sunlight flashing across the blade as he lifted it into a mimic of her position. 'How about the phrase "playing with fire" then?'

'That, James, is something I have always been naturally excellent at.' Her tongue darted out to wet her lips, and he couldn't help but glance at it for a moment longer than he ought to have. He was both male and human after all.

'That's interesting. Me too.' James swung his sword without warning, catching the edge of Lily's and flinging it across the deck past the legs of a startled pirate, his feet carrying him unthinkingly until he was directly in front of her, the flat of his sword resting on her shoulder, the edge a safe distance from her throat. But he was still close enough to see her pupils dilate, close enough for their clothes to brush. It had taken him only a second or two to close the gap between them.

They were a breath apart now, only their clothing and the steel of his sword between them. 'But it's a habit you shouldn't cultivate, unless you also cultivate the ability not to get burned.'

Her head tilted back to look at him in a movement that had become habitual for her now; being the smallest person on the ship meant she was constantly gazing up. 'I'm working on it.' She stared up at him, green eyes artless but still sparkling with mischief, an expression she'd slowly regained in the weeks since her brother's death. 'But not all that thoroughly, since I believe that part of me rather enjoys the flames.'

James frowned down at her. 'So do moths, Lily. Be careful you don't get your wings burned.'

'A little singe never really hurt anyone James.' She moved away from him slowly, collecting her sword from the deck and keeping her back to him as she spoke. 'It's how you learn your boundaries.'

He felt like they were on very treacherous ground here; he knew there was a deeper meaning to this conversation than the superficial one, but he was no longer wholly certain that he knew what it was. Wary of mis-stepping, he changed the subject.

'Speaking of boundaries...I feel it's only fair to tell you that we're about to cross one; we're going to be making a stop in Hogsmeade. It's our next port.'

'Oh.' Just one syllable, but a whole world of hurt reflected in it. Her shoulders were rigidly set, and her face turned resolutely away from him and anyone else. He moved towards her and placed a hand on the small of her back to usher her over the rail, allowing her to keep her face turned away from everyone.

'If you want...you don't have to come Lily.' He wasn't sure he was being any help at all here, but he needed to make her realise that she didn't have to do anything anymore. He knew how difficult it was, to throw off those shackles of responsibility and civic duty and all the other rot they filled your head with as part and parcel of a "noble" upbringing. 'I should have thought to mention it earlier, but it slipped my mind. We need to go, we have a standing appointment that we can't miss, but you don't have to come. We can drop you off somewhere on the way.'

'Where could I go James?' She asked quietly, her eyes turned out to the sea. 'Nothing's changed in two months. There's still nothing for me.'

Two months. Had it been that long? 'We can just leave you in another port on the way and then swing back for you later if you want. Or if you come with us you could just stay on the ship. You won't be in any danger. It's up to you though.'

She said nothing, just looked down at her hands as they drew meaningless patterns on the rail.

'I'm sorry to drag you there Lily. God knows I know what it's like to want to avoid a place at all costs. All pirates do. But we aren't going anywhere near Cokeworth, or court, I promise. We're going to a tiny port on the other side of the country from there, a non-descript fishing village.'

'What's in a fishing village for a bunch of pirates? Not much in the way of booty I wouldn't have thought.' Asked Lily, a flicker of her teasing nature poking through.

'A pub.' James answered with a grin, waiting for the incredulous look she was bound to throw him. She did not disappoint.

'It's run by a good man, a long-standing friend. He can be trusted with your secret, if you want to come with us. Not that he'd ask for explanations.' He paused a moment, before deciding he owed her a little more reassurance than that. 'Remus told you a little about our childhood didn't he?'

'Yes.' She answered quietly. 'But mostly about himself, if you're worried he threw me any gossip about you.'

James shook his head. 'Not remotely. Remus wouldn't. Did he mention Peter?'

Lily nodded slowly, casting her mind back over the story of betrayal and intrigue Remus had told her. 'He did, yes. Your friend who warned you so you could escape being arrested.'

'That's Peter.' James rested his elbows on the rail. 'We meet him in the pub on certain dates, to exchange information. And to just see each other. Hogsmeade is safer for us than Diagon - we aren't well-known there - and Pete has excuses to travel there; it lets him speak to us and remain inconspicuous about it. But it's obviously a place you may not want to go.'

'No.' Lily blurted the word out. 'No, I won't be able to avoid Hogsmeade for the rest of my life will I? Whatever I end up doing with it.'

James studied her profile, noting how much harder it was to read her moods when you couldn't see those ridiculously expressive eyes. 'Are you sure?'

'Yes, I'm sure. When will we arrive?'

'Day after tomorrow most likely. Meet Peter that evening.'

'How do you arrange the dates?' Lily asked, her eyes still locked on the horizon.

'Standing dates, same every year. We just use important dates that we all remember.' James looked out to sea himself, wondering what she had her gaze fixed on. There was nothing but endless ocean to his eyes. 'There's no reason anyone else would make the connection.'

'What's the date on Wednesday then?'

'21st November.' James answered. He hesitated for a moment, then added. 'Sirius' birthday.'

He pushed off from the rail and began to walk across deck. 'You should ask Remus for some training once you have the basics from Greengrass; he's probably the best teacher, even if he isn't the best swordsman.'

Lily turned at that, her eyes finding his. 'You don't mind?'

He shrugged. 'What my crew do with their time is their business. As long as it doesn't interfere with their duties. And I find it hard to object to the idea of you being able to protect yourself; this isn't the safest of environments.' He folded his arms and stared at her. 'And you absorb knowledge like a sponge; I imagine that you could write the duty roster or do the navigation by now, the amount of questions you ask and the amount of time you spend observing. You'd probably go stir-crazy if you didn't have some kind of learning to occupy yourself; swinging a cutlass around is as good an occupation as anything else I suppose. And a damn sight more useful than embroidery.'

She took a step towards him, eyes shining. Her hands reached out for him and he recognised that her instinct was to hug him, but she pulled them back - presumably because she was aware of the eyes of the crew on them - and simply brushed a hand down his arm as she walked past him instead.

He was starting to think that letting her stay might have been the stupidest thing he could have done in terms of safeguarding his own sanity.

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It was long past midnight when Lily was flung out of her dream. Not that she wasn't glad to wake up from it - she'd been wandering around the decks trying to find someone to speak to, but every time she'd stumbled across a crewmember Matthew's blank and dying face had stared back at her instead of their own - but waking tangled in blankets and wreathed in sweat wasn't exactly pleasant either.

She toyed with going in search of James' brandy, but that would have meant going to his cabin and more than likely waking him, so she settled for heading for the galley, where she knew Cook had a decent stash of rum. She didn't much like it, but she'd stomach it if it meant dreamless sleep. She'd barely touched alcohol beyond a glass of wine with dinner before her arrival on board the Fawkes, but in the last few weeks she'd absolutely come to understand why some people were so damn keen on it.

When she got there, it appeared she wasn't the only person who'd had the idea. Sirius sat on one of the benches, an open bottle of rum next to his hand and a glass clenched in his fist. Lily noted the level of the alcohol in the bottle and winced. She sincerely hoped it hadn't been full when he started.

She grabbed a cup for herself, being sure to make enough noise that he couldn't fail to notice her presence before she slid into a seat across from him. 'Do you object to sharing?'

He lifted an eyebrow at her, but picked up the bottle with steady hands and poured a generous measure into her cup.

'Couldn't sleep?' He enquired, his usually smooth voice roughened by the spirits but still clear. It took more than a bottle of rum to intoxicate him out of coherency apparently. She sighed as she stared at her glass.

'No, I was asleep. There are just aspects of being asleep that I'm not exactly keen on at the moment.'

'I'd say the nightmares go away, but they don't.' Sirius didn't need her to elaborate on exactly what was disturbing her sleep apparently. She wasn't all that surprised. He stared at the wall behind her ear as she looked steadily back at him. It took a moment before he continued. 'Well, they do; you'll stop having them every night, but every now again something will set them off and before you know it you'll be screaming into your pillow, and you'll realise that all you've actually done is paper over the cracks.'

'Why would the fact that your birthday is coming up give you nightmares Sirius?' She'd overheard enough from the crew to piece together the reason for Sirius' current poor frame of mind. The question may have been blunt, but so was Sirius in a lot of ways. Remus tried to soften things, make them more palatable; James usually avoided difficult subjects, or if absolutely required to discuss them he simply became tight-lipped and as brief as it was possible to be; Sirius was the one you wanted for unmitigated truth, uncomfortable though it might be.

'Want to hear my sorry tale of woe do you Lady Lily? Will it make you feel better about your own?'

Lily felt the stab keenly, but she kept her eyes fixed on his, her composure unwavering. Natural stubbornness, hours spent at court, and years of upbringing all helped keep her spine straight as she absorbed the jibe. 'I doubt it. But it may make you feel better, and after all you've done for me the least I owe you is an understanding ear.'

His eyes softened 'I'm sorry Lily. That was cruel and unfair. But...I still see no reason why you would want to discuss this with me. Other than your rampant curiosity.'

'I won't deny that I'm curious about your past Sirius, because I am. You, James, Remus, you're all so...confusing. And you've seen all my dirty laundry. It's very unsettling, to be that exposed to people that you know so little about.'

'I don't talk about my past because I try very hard not to think about it, not because I don't trust you with it.' He interrupted her as he reached for the bottle once more.

'But you may feel better if you talk about it. I...Matthew's death still burns a hole through me, but it's better because other people know about it. I know I could talk about it if I wanted to. And I also know that I'm being handled with kid gloves because of it, and once that would have infuriated me but I find myself thankful for it now. I felt...brittle. Ready to break. I needed to learn how to bend a little, to recognise that letting people help me wasn't being weak. I'm better for it I think.'

'Adamas non ferro ut este.' Sirius muttered under his breath. At Lily's enquiring look he translated. 'It means "Be as steel, not iron." It's the Potter family motto.'

Lily raised an eyebrow. 'James has a family motto.'

Sirius snorted. 'Probably shouldn't have told you that. If he'd wanted you to know he'd have told you himself.'

'He doesn't talk about the past. I mean, it's not like he talks to me all that much anyway, but when we do we don't ever do anything more than touch on his past.' Lily lowered her eyes to the wood grain of the table between them. 'It's a distant land to him.'

'He always was the sensible one.' Sirius snorted. 'Far more so than me and Remus. He buried it all so much deeper.'

'I'm not sure that's better. It can't be healthy, just ignoring your feelings.' Lily responded, her tone sceptical.

'You know who says things like that?' Sirius refilled his cup and held it up in toast to her before he drank. 'Well-adjusted people who had happy childhoods and aren't festering sores of misery deep down.'

He slammed his now empty cup down and leaned across the table towards her. 'Well if you're collecting sob stories Lady Lily, here's mine for you.'

He leaned back until he could rest his head against the wall behind him. 'I was born into a family of raving madmen. That's the nicest possible word I could use for them. We lived on the neighbouring estate to James and Remus. But while we might have lived in Diagon, we descended from good old Knockturn stock. And that was all it took to convince them of their own superiority.'

He turned his head to face her. 'Knockturn used to reign over Diagon, Hogsmeade, Hogwarts, half the world you know. Well, of course you know, good noblewoman like yourself knows her world history. Anyway, a lot of the nobles in those countries are descended from the Knockturn conquerors; and they think there's a superiority in that see?' He looked at her to see if she was following, and she nodded her understanding.

'My family are much more recently noble; my father's title was only created a few centuries ago. But the very oldest aristocratic families in Hogsmeade are all from Knockturn originally, if you trace their ancestry back far enough.'

'Exactly.' Sirius nodded along. 'And there are plenty of the old families that don't approve of those newer nobles, the "dilution" of nobility. That's what Riddle plays on; it's Knockturn's right to rule the world. All those other nobles, rulers, people, are lower. Lesser. It's xenophobia, plain and simple. But it's powerful in its way.'

Lily found it mesmerising. Even though she knew most of this, knew about the Knockturn Empire, about the old aristocratic families and the way they looked down on the newer ones, it was...absorbing to hear it from him. He gave it a new quality she hadn't heard before.

'Anyway, my family were originally from Knockturn, and they were mad for Riddle; he was going to restore the old kingdom you know. Put the boot down on all the little people whose breeding wasn't up to scratch. Conveniently ignoring, of course, the fact that we've all intermingled so much that there are no pure family lines anymore.'

'I hated it, I hated them, and I spent every minute I could away from them and with my friends. Then we had some visitors, family I hadn't seen in a long while; my cousins, the Lestranges. And they had a friend with them, I believe you know him. Severus Snape.' He spat the name.

'Anyway, they had some documents with them. Interesting ones, full of information bound for Tom Riddle. Lists of supporters, detractors, blackmail information, records of bribes. Explosive stuff.'

He took an enormous gulp of rum. 'I know, because I read them all when I stole them. And I passed them onto James, to get them to the Duke. He would have known what to do with them. Only one problem; Snape saw me nab them. And believe me, I paid for it. A dislocated shoulder, two cracked ribs. Broken leg, one or two fingers dislocated.'

Lily could feel the tears, but she made no sound.

'An uncle of mine - Alphard, great bloke - he snuck me out of my house and sent me on my way. I made it the four miles to James' place, then I collapsed. Woke up three days later in James' bed, officially disowned by my family. Nice way to turn nineteen, don't you think?'

'Sirius...'

'I don't need the pity Lily. You just need to understand that there are some things that can't be made better, not by time, not by talking about it. Matthew's death still burns a hole through you? It always will. Forever. When you see someone with the same shade of hair, when you pass a place you used to visit together. It'll burn, every time. The trick is learning to live with it.'

He stood up and made to leave, but as he passed her he stopped and pressed a kiss to the crown of her head. 'And if you work out how to do that, do me a favour and let me know alright?'

The galley door slammed behind him.

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The harbour was all but empty when the Fawkes slid into port in the town of Hippogriff; it was early in the morning and since the vast majority of its men were employed in fishing almost all the boats were out. The big galleon sat serenely on the furthest berth, her sails furled. The deck was a whirl of activity as the men tied off ropes, checked knots and generally secured the ship.

Remus leaned on the securely tied off wheel, watching the activity from his elevated position on the aft deck. Supervision of making port always came down to him, not that he minded; they all knew he was far more suited to dealing with it than James or Sirius. And the both of them were extra unsuitable for any job that required attention to detail right now. Sirius was always a little off when his birthday drew close, and understandably so, but he'd been much less argumentative and much more withdrawn this year than previous ones and the change in his behaviour worried Remus. Sirius was not a man given to introspection, and Remus really wasn't sure what could have caused him to experience this sudden urge for self-examination.

And James...well he'd give more than a fistful of galleons for an insight into his mind right now, since it was currently a bloody mystery to him. He could go from cheerful to homicidal in a matter of minutes, and recently he'd taken to holing himself up in his cabin when he wasn't actively required.

His attention was caught by Sirius appearing on the deck, having exited the officers' quarters in the stern. The second mate cast a quick glance at the door of James' cabin before he made his way up to join Remus at the helm.

'Apparently she's coming with us.' He announced, looking across the village as he spoke.

Remus looked mildly appalled. 'You did tell her we're going to a pub? I mean, should we be taking her into a pub? She's still a noblewoman, even after everything.'

Sirius shrugged. 'She went into plenty of pubs with James in Spinner's End. Not just pubs either. Haven't you heard the whole sorry story yet?'

'There's a difference between hopping between pubs and…other places while hunting for your missing relative and spending the entire evening in one.'

'The Gryffindor really isn't bad Remus. As pubs go.' Sirius tapped his fingertips on the guardrail in a nervous gesture that Remus hadn't seen in a while. 'No wenches, no pirates. Except us anyway. Just a pub full of fishermen. And she wants to go. Said something about having to face things sooner or later, and she was thinking sooner was better.'

'Sometimes I think she's got more spine than any of us.' Remus shook his head slowly as he contemplated the way Lily had picked herself up from the events of two months earlier. Not everyone could have done it - God knew it had taken the three of them enough floundering before they'd chosen their way - and he had to respect her for it.

'Any sign of himself?' Sirius inclined his head at the floor, and Remus immediately understood that he was referring to James.

'Came out when we sighted port, barked a few orders and headed back to his cabin. Then Cormac was dull enough to mutter something about the Captain being less grumpy if he'd just let Lily warm his bed more often. Within earshot of him. Cook is patching up the hole in his leg as we speak. Haven't seen James since.'

'Excellent.' Sirius muttered. 'Don't they know better than to bait him when he's in that kind of mood?'

'If they didn't before then they do now.' Remus grimaced. 'Cormac got a nice slice taken out of him for his trouble. Then Diggory clocked him for the insinuation against Lily, something that I think crossed the mind of more than one crew member. But he's got a big mouth, and he doesn't know when to shut it so I imagine it won't be the last punch he gets.'

'I'll keep an eye.' Sirius promised. 'Maybe we should just let a few of them punch him until he gets the idea.'

'I'd like to put him off the ship in all honesty - he's not exactly irreplaceable but he is a whole heap of trouble. But with that mouth of his there's a good chance he'd talk, and I don't want to send him off in Hogsmeade in case he decides to play tattle tale. But I think I'll suggest to James that we drop him off in some nice distant port, a good long way from Cornelius or Riddle.'

'Sounds fine to me.' Sirius watched as Stevenson pulled on the last rope, nodding his approval up to the two watching mates.

Remus stepped forward to the rail and shouted down to the main deck. 'Go on then you sods, off with you! Remember to keep to the guard roster or the Captain might decide he needs more skewering practice!'

There were some ragged cheers and then the crew began to disperse down the gangplank towards the village, bar a few who headed for the living quarters.

'And don't give Frank any trouble!' Remus yelled after the departing group. 'Good pubs are hard to find, we do not need to be barred!'

He turned back to Sirius, who had pulled a galleon from his pocket and was watching Remus expectantly. The first mate groaned. 'Can't we be adults about this Sirius?'

'No. You'll pull rank. This is the only fair way. Heads or tails Remus.'

Remus frowned. 'Tails.'

Sirius flipped the coin and deftly caught it on its way back down. He lifted his hand away and peered at the coin. 'Tails. Damn it. I'll go and deal with James then.'

'To be fair, you'll probably make more headway with him than me.' Remus replied reasonably, ignoring the curl of Sirius' lip.

'That's because I'm willing to hit him.' Sirius stomped down from the helm and barged his way into the Captain's cabin without invitation. Remus walked serenely down the same set of steps, ignoring the muffled sounds of scuffling and shouting coming from James' cabin as he walked past it and to the door leading down to the officer's quarters. For all her myriad complications, in a lot of ways Lily was far easier to deal with than his two best friends.

It took Lily only moments to throw on a travelling cloak and follow Remus back to the deck. He allowed his mind to briefly wonder what they would do in summer when it would attract attention for Lily to wander through ports with her hood pulled all the way up. No-one batted an eyelash at the moment, in the cold autumn weather, but come summer they'd have to think of something else. Perhaps they could swathe her in white cloth and claim she was a leper. He almost laughed at the mental image but caught himself in time.

The door to James' cabin was still closed when they arrived on deck, but the sounds of fighting had died down, which Remus thought was probably a good sign; he was pretty confident neither of them would actually kill the other.

He stood with Lily for a moment, watching her rock backwards and forwards on the balls of her feet nervously.

'You don't have to get off the ship you know.' She started a little at the unexpected sound of his voice. 'You really can stay here.'

'I know.' She smiled for him, though it didn't reach her eyes. 'But James swears we're miles away from anyone who should know me, and that there's nothing to be afraid of, and I believe him.'

She really did too; he could see it in her eyes. She'd taken a pirate at his word, placed her safety in his hands yet again. He wondered if she'd be as trusting of someone who wasn't James.

The door to his cabin swung open, and the man in question strode out, buckling his sword onto his belt as he walked. Sirius followed him out; both men looked a little grim, but the atmosphere actually felt somewhat lighter. Remus watched them both, mystified as ever about the inner workings of their relationship. They were his best friends, no question about it, but their friendship with each other was so different than their friendships with him.

They both summoned a smile for Lily, which amused Remus no end. Just a day or so earlier he'd listened to James complain that the entire crew fell over themselves for Lily, and he'd seemed genuinely unaware that he did exactly the same thing and everyone else just followed his lead. He hung back a little and watched the two of them together as Sirius fell into step alongside him.

James no longer bothered to offer Lily his hand to help her over the side onto the gangplank, he simply snagged her waist and lifted her over. She didn't seem remotely surprised, nor did she protest his actions. His hand reached out and cupped her elbow as they stepped from the boarding plank to the quay, his eyes on her feet as she made her first step onto dry land. They moved easily in step with each other, arms brushing occasionally as they walked.

Remus took careful note of all of these things then put them out of his mind, remembering his resolution not to interfere. Some waters were just too deep to wade.

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The Gryffindor Inn was easily the largest building in the village; it didn't get much in the way of passing trade since it was so far off the main travelling routes, but it did do extremely well from the local fishermen. The upstairs bedrooms were infrequently used but the crewmen of the Fawkes were always grateful for them when they made port.

It was surprisingly clean and cheerful to Lily's eye, at least compared to the vast majority that she'd ever been in. Even the expensive inns that she'd habitually stayed in as the daughter of an Earl had been no better than this one.

The owner - Frank - was tall, cheerful and slightly larger than the average man. He shook hands with James, Sirius and Remus, and greeted her with a kiss to the knuckles that made her giggle.

'Your friend isn't here; I'm assuming I'll be seeing his face shortly enough?' Frank filled three cups with rum then raised his eyebrows questioningly in Lily's direction; she smiled but shook her head firmly. 'Rooms for the night? Or are you happy enough with your swaying wooden hunk of floating death?'

Lily turned her head slightly and caught Sirius' eye. He leaned in towards her. 'Frank's not overly fond of sailing. Thinks we're mad.'

'Ah.' It wasn't that surprising. Plenty of people were nervous sailors, and it wasn't exactly unjustified; ships sank all the time.

'Solid ground would make a nice change for a night. And we'll be on hand when Peter arrives.' James nodded. 'Four rooms then Frank. The nicest for Lily please.'

Frank grinned. 'Would the lady like to inspect them?'

'I'm sure they're fine…' Lily began, but James cut her off.

'Just give her the biggest room Frank.' He flicked his eyes around the room. 'Make sure at least one of the three of us is close by though.'

'James…' Lily attempted an interruption again, but didn't get further than his name before being shushed.

'Did you just shush me?' She asked, utterly affronted.

'Yes, though I'm unsure as to why I bothered considering you're still talking.'

'You don't shush me James Potter.'

'I do when the situation calls for it.'

'And how, precisely does this situation call for it?'

'Bloody hell, do you two think you could put a sock in it for one night?' Sirius groaned. 'You'd swear you'd been married fifty years the way you carry on.'

Lily wasn't sure who looked more appalled, her or James. Frank wisely chose that moment to re-enter the conversation, barman's sixth sense telling him to interrupt events before they went wholly pear-shaped.

'Did you want food? I think some of your lot are having some already.'

'I thought I could smell something good.' Remus sniffed the air appreciatively.

'Got a new girl doing the cooking.' Frank grinned. 'Quite the wonder I can assure you. There she is over there.' He nodded in the direction of a girl with a mop of brunette curls who was delivering plates of food to the tables.

All four of them turned to look, and Lily let out a sound that was somewhere between a gasp and a gulp as she looked across the room at the woman.

'Alice?'

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