And here's chapter 2! I was going for updating every two weeks and it would have been posted last week... if there weren't any freak storms that caused the power to go off and on over the course of four days (it even went for an entire day), impromptu exams and projects and basically life deciding to throw everything at me in one week. Oh well.

Thanks to all you guys who alerted and favourited. Especially you guys who reviewed: bloodyhell-ronald, scared of clouds, PortiaBennet, theinfalliblesnapsevans, Charlotte Donahue, cgner, and the guest reviewers. Love ya. :)


One Step Forward, Two Steps Back


The kitchen was a cacophony of sound. Pirates clamoured and yelled happily while they ate. Rum was flowing freely, and each crew member had already had at least two tankards of the bitter drink. The Prewett brothers sat at the head of the table, taking part in the merry activities, but also keeping a close eye on the crew, as per request of the young Captain. The crew was generally in high spirits every time they left a port, mainly because their stocks have been replenished, leaving them with plenty food and, of course, rum.

The door to the kitchen opened quietly to admit the Captain. Her fiery hair as pulled up at the nape of her neck and she wore a simple pair of breeches and a shirt. She did not say anything as she walked in, but as soon as she took her seat between Gideon and Fabian, it was all quiet. One of the twins, Fabian, handed her a cup of rum, and she took a small sip. The crew looked at her intently, awaiting instructions.

"As all of you may know," she began, "When we left the last port, we left with three more than we originally had. Stowaways. And not just any stowaways; no, these three are members of the high court. One is the Count of Grimmauld, another the son of a governor and the last is the King's nephew. I have no other choice but to keep them aboard this ship- alive. Anything else and the palace will be after our necks worse than before." Lily gazed out at the solemn faces. "They aren't prisoners however. I've decided to make them part of our crew."

The inevitable protests that she had known was bound to happen came forth. There were angry shouts and insults were thrown at the three men who were currently tucked away in the spare room.

"They're royals, Cap'n! They don't know the first thing about sailing!" a tall and skinny man, Jack, hollered from the back of the room.

"Give 'em a sword and they'll probably grab the wrong end!" called Davies, a burly man from who had an entire bottle of rum in front him.

More and more yells could be heard, the men mainly commenting on the other three's inaptitude. Lily let them continue for a few more minutes before holding up a hand. The men settled down, but not without a few more indignant remarks.

"I did not expect you all to be happy about this, but I am not going to leave them locked up in the hold for the rest of their lives. Firstly, because they did nothing that would justify that, and secondly, we will have to provide for an extra three mouths who did not work for their food or clothing. This is not a ship where you get free passage; you work for your place and those men will do the same. I expect you all to treat them as you do to each other, as well as teach them." Lily paused, sensing their quickly growing irritation about the news she was sharing. Mustering up a wry smile, she continued, "I will be in charge of them, but I expect you all to cooperate."

Silence.

It was obvious that they were still unhappy with this, but she could not do anything else to pacify them. Sighing lightly, Lily said, "I don't like it anymore than you do, but it's either their necks or ours. Keep that in mind before you plot to throw them overboard." That did the trick, as a ripple of laughter sounded throughout the room. Slowly, the chatter resumed and the previous atmosphere was back in full swing. Lily stuck around for a while, talking amongst her crew and taking a sip of her rum every now and then. She was not particularly fond of the burning drink, but would down it from time to time. She stayed for about fifteen minutes or so before excusing herself to go and check on the men, as well as her prisoner. Grabbing a tray with some food, she easily left the kitchen just as quietly as she entered.

The Captain easily made her way down a flight of stairs to the landing where the crew's quarters were, despite the constant rocking of the ship, having long gotten accustomed to it. Balancing the tray on her hip, she rapped sharply on the door. When nobody came to open it, she rolled her eyes and exhaled loudly, pushing the door open. The men looked up, startled, from their positions on the bed.

She raised an eyebrow. "Generally, when someone knocks on the door, it means that they would like to come in," she said scathingly. Lily walked over to the small bedside table and placed the tray atop it. There was a large bowl of soup of kind, a hunk of bread, some water and a bottle of rum. The men said nothing, though they stared at the tray distrustfully, as though they expected her to have poisoned it. Meanwhile, Lily surveyed the room and noted that the hammocks she gave to them were still in the exact same spot where she had left them; in a crumpled heap pushed to the side of the room hastily. She turned back to them and saw that the three of them were cramped on to the small bed. Their knees knocked together and their limbs were tangled. Lily was sure that if they intended on sleeping like that, someone would inevitably fall off in the middle of the night.

"You should really hang those up," she said, walking over to where the mass of fabric lay. She bent down and grabbed one end, hooking one looped end on the wall and the other on the low wooden beam that was just out of her reach. She stood on tip toe and just managed to hook it. She heard a muffled snort from behind her and turned to find the Potter boy sniggering into his hand.

Lily placed her hands on her hips and gave him a quelling glare. "I'm trying to make sure none of you break your arses by falling off the bed on your first night here."

"We're not going to fall off the bed," argued Potter, even as he shifted so that half his body was no longer hanging off. Lily felt a sudden jerk of irritation as he spoke; she could already tell that she wasn't going to like that boy.

"Trust me; these beds aren't made to fit three. One of you will fall off and I'm not going to be rushing to your aid."

"Do you speak from experience, Captain?" Sirius asked, his eye twinkling mischievously as he spoke for the first time since she walked in.

Lily's lips twitched ever so slightly as she fought the urge to laugh. "Wouldn't you like to know, Mr. Black," she replied flirtatiously. The man winked at her and this time she really did laugh. Out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed Potter mocking her and the smile promptly slid off her face. She tossed him the other hammock. He managed to catch it at the last moment and glared at her. Lily glared back just as strong.

"Put it up," she ordered.

He looked at the hammock clutched in his hands then back at her before standing up. Potter was considerably taller than Lily, as the top of her head barely brushed his chin. He leant in until their noses were almost touching and Lily felt her breathing get uneasy as she forced herself to not reach for the dagger hidden within her boot. She barely even noticed the other two men sitting on the bed, shaking their heads at their friend.

"No," he said succinctly, pulling back just a bit so that she was able to fully view his obnoxious smirk.

Lily narrowed her eyes dangerously. "I wasn't asking," she said.

"I don't care," he countered quickly.

"I don't think you understand," said Lily venomously through clenched teeth. "I decided to not keep you prisoner or kill you on the spot. I decided to let you do something with the rest of your lives: serve me. Had you been on any other ship, your body would have been staining the sea red. So you will listen to me, Mr. Potter, whether you want to or not."

"Actually, I won't," he replied, bitingly, standing his ground even when she looked as though she wanted nothing better than to clock him over the head with the tray that she had brought on her way in. "I don't have to do anything that you say, mainly because of the fact that I don't want to."

She smiled acidly at him. "You up that behaviour, Potter and I'll leave you to fend for yourself in the middle of the ocean."

"But you don't want your little secret to get out, now do you, Miss Evans?" said James confidently as he taunted her.

She glared at him. Oh what she would do to run him through with her sword... several times. Lily grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him towards her until she could look him straight in the eye. "Listen Potter, because I'm only going to say this once. This is my ship, not one of you uncle's bleeding ships. I'm in charge here and the fact that you royalty doesn't mean whit to me. You can't bully me into submission as you do with the others," she said heatedly, her nails digging into his chest. They continued to glare at each other, even as Lily released him.

"If I were you, I would be incredibly nice to me, because when you get caught, I may have been able to give you a pardon. You know, maybe have you locked up instead of hanged. But since you're not..." he trailed of suggestively. Lily froze and behind him Remus swore while Sirius shook his head.

"Low blow, James," he muttered, looking up at his friend.

Lily stared at him with utter disdain before clenching her jaw and turning around. "Fine then, your bloody highness," she said tersely. "Would you like a pillow made from goose down? Or maybe a five course meal." She glared at him and James realized that he may have just took things a bit too far.

"Look, I didn't mean-"

"When you do fall, please try not to get too much blood on the deck. It's a right pain to scrub out." And with that, she angrily stalked out, slamming the door shut behind her.

James exhaled loudly and threw himself back down on the bed. Not a moment later did Remus slap him sharply behind the head, causing the former to yell out in shock.

"What the bloody hell was that for?" he demanded angrily, running a hand through his already messy hair.

"Must you antagonise that woman?" asked Remus, ignoring his exclamation. "Firstly, she's the Captain of a pirate ship. Pirate ship, James, not one of your uncle's navy ships or a merchant ship, like she pointed out. Pirate ship. And secondly, if that wasn't bad enough, she's one of the worst pirates out there. You heard what Peter said. If I were you, I would be the one trying to get on her good side because I would rather much like to stay alive."

"I agree mate," nodded Sirius from where he was pushed up against the wall. "She hasn't tried anything yet. Like she said, if she wanted us dead, she would have killed us the moment we set foot aboard her ship."

"I don't trust her," muttered James darkly. "She's a pirate for god's sake."

"We've realised that," Sirius said exasperatedly. "What we're trying to get through your thick head is that we," he indicated to himself and Remus, "Would very much prefer to stay alive and find a way to get off this ship than get killed."

James glared at his friend and, not knowing how to respond, threw the hammock at his smug face and stalked out, slamming the door behind him in the same manner that the Captain had as she left in her fit of pique.

Sirius turned to Remus with an eyebrow raised. "How much do you want to bet that the poor sod gets lost?"


Lily angrily made her way back to the Captain's office, cursing James Potter all the way. How dare he say those things to her? Doesn't he realise that in this game of cat and mouse he was most definitely the mouse and that she could kill him in an instant if she felt as though he was being overly irritating. Which he was, but Lily was never one to take the easy way out. She had too much pride to let him see that he had gotten to her. Of course, he would be dead, but that was beside the point.

She softly shut the door to her cabin and took a seat behind the large desk, rubbing her temples as she did so. Never had she met someone with the ability to give her a headache with just a few words until James Potter wandered onto her ship, bringing with him a boat load of trouble. Now she was going to have to take time to teach those mongrels the ways of the sea while carrying on with her usual duties and maintaining the safety of everyone on this ship. She was beginning to regret allowing them on the ship in the first place.

Absentmindedly, she began playing with the small key attached to the long, gold chain she wore around her neck. The key wasn't for any extravagant treasure buried miles away, but for something that Lily considered more valuable any treasure the world could offer her. A knock sounded at the door and successfully jolted her out of her reverie. Immediately, Lily knew who it was and dropped the chain back into her shirt before calling them in.

The door opened to admit Gideon holding a grimy and fearful Peter Pettigrew.

"As you requested, Captain," Gideon mumbled lowly, prodding the shorted man forward so that he stumbled into the room.

"Thank you, Gideon," Lily smiled, though she never took her eyes off the watery eyed man who was twitching slightly as he glanced about the room. "Bring me something for our lovely guest to eat, would you?"

"Of course, Captain," he replied before closing the door, leaving the pair alone in the dimly lit room. Lily smiled at the dingy man, but it lacked warmth. She stood up, sending the chair harshly scraping against the wooden floor and causing Peter to flinch. Lily languidly walked around the desk, all the time looking at him. Every time she got too close for comfort, he would back away and soon enough he was pressed against the desk. Lily on the other hand seemed to either be unconscious of her movements or pretending to be uninterested to unnerve him even further.

"Sit," she said softly at last, causing him to jump. Peter did as he was told and looked up at the woman with wide eyes that did nothing to hide his obvious fear. Lily struck a match and lit a lamp that hung on the wall. That flame danced, casting flickering shadows across the walls of the cabin. She took her sweet time in returning back to her original position behind the desk and when she finally did, she sat atop the wooden structure instead of the chair provided for that use.

Pettigrew regarded her anxiously as she was yet to say anything on the subject of his being summoned up here. Lily continued to be nonplussed and casually reached into a drawer and pulled out a small flask. She uncorked it and took a swift pull before covering it and replacing it back in to the drawer.

"Tell me, Pettigrew, what position did you have aboard your previous ship?" she asked lightly, brushing the red hair out of her face.

"I didn't have anything fixed; I did a bit of everything, really," he replied nervously. Lily hummed nonchalantly.

"So why did your old Captain- what was his name again? Wilkes?" Peter flinched unconsciously, but Lily remained aloof and pressed on. "Why did Captain Wilkes have you onboard?"

Peter hesitated before shrugging half heartedly. "I dunno; I guess he thought... I was good at tying knots."

"Tying knots?" Lily repeated, an eyebrow cocked.

"Yeah," he nodded assertively.

The next thing he knew was that something hard had struck his face very quickly and very painfully. It took him almost a full minute before he realised that Lily had slapped him. The Captain, for her part, looked completely nonplussed, as though nothing out of the ordinary had just occurred.

"Let me tell you a little secret, Pettigrew," Lily began offhandedly. "I know when I'm being lied to. And I don't like it when someone lies to me." She looked him sternly, as though berating a child for stealing a cookie. "So let me ask again: why did Captain Wilkes have you onboard?"

"I don't know," he replied forcefully, flinching every time she moved. Lily sent him a withering look and the man shrunk back into his seat.

"You see, Pettigrew," she said, jumping off the desk lightly and turning her back towards him as she walked. "Captains, when they recruit a new member, it's because that member is very good at something, or has something very useful that would help everyone aboard that ship in the long run. A particular trait or knowledge of some sort. Now we could do this two ways, Pettigrew: the hard way or my way if you-"

"I'm a good swordsman!" he blurted out at last. His face was flushed and he kept on looking all over the room as he breathed heavily. "Wilkes had me aboard that ship because I know how to fight very well."

"Really now," asked Lily, staring at him in a way that he could not identify.

"Yes," he nodded fervently.

The cabin was quiet for a moment, the only sounds being that of the ocean surrounding the ship. Finally, Lily said, "Alright," and held open the door for him.

Peter looked back and forth between the Captain and the door. Once he was sure that she wasn't teasing him, he slowly got up and walked out of the cabin, keeping his eyes on her. He expected her to slam the door in his face and laugh at him at any given moment. She did not however, and he was able to make it out of the cabin without incident.

Most of the crew were on deck at that time and when he wandered out, they stopped what they were doing and stared at him. Some of the men sneered while others made rude comments. Peter tried to ignore them and kept on walking, stumbling ever so slightly. However, once the men started smiling, Peter couldn't help but to turn around to see what it was that caught their attention, as curiosity caught the better of him. What he saw made his stomach drop and dread was once more coursing through his veins.

The Captain stood there in the doorway, holding two swords and Peter was sure he knew who those were for.

The entire deck was silent as the crew stared reverently at their captain. Peter barely noticed the silence as his heart was pounding in his ears.

"According to Mr Pettigrew here," she began. "He was onboard that ship because he was a good swordsman. Keep in mind that this is the same man who, once he caught sight of us aboard his ship, ran to hide. And he is supposedly one of the better swordsman onboard."

The crowd jeered at him and Peter felt as though he was going to throw up.

"So I propose this to suggestion to you, Mr Pettigrew," Lily said easily, spinning one of the swords in her hands as she spoke. "Let's have a swordfight. If you win, you can be free to go. If you lose, you stay here and do as I ask for the rest of your days."

They all cheered loudly and Lily grinned. She walked forward until she was directly in front of him. "Choose a sword, swordsman."

A shaky hand reached out and grabbed the larger of the two weapons. Out of the corner of her eyes, Lily saw that Gideon was back with Pettigrew's supper. Lily shot him a quick smile and said, "You can leave that on any of the barrels, Gid." The man did as he was told and leaned against a wall, smirking slightly.

Lily raised her sword and said, "Ready?" as a mischievous sparkle speared in her eyes. Peter gave a cross between a squeak and a yes and Lily- along with most of the crew- laughed.

"On the count of three," she said. "One... two... three!"

There was the sound of metal clashing in the air as the swords met. He was stronger than her, but only marginally and both parties knew that she was the more skilled fighter. Lily twisted her hands and manoeuvred in such a way that she was able to overpower his poor defence. Their swords met again and this time she turned and retracted her sword, bringing it down in an arc that caused him to jump to the side to avoid getting sliced in half.

This continued for another few minutes or so. It was evident from the first meeting of the swords that Lily was just playing with him. In the end, she got bored and with one swift twist of the wrist, she easily disarmed him by sending his sword skittering away several feet from him. The crowd which had gathered around them cheered and guffawed as the man hastily bent over to retrieve his sword, ducking his head slightly to hide the quickly growing flush on his cheeks.

He had barely grasped the cool metal in his hand when he felt the tip of the Captain's sword lightly pressing against his neck.

"Drop the sword and slowly stand up," ordered Lily, threateningly pointing the sword at him. If he jerked back suddenly, Peter was positive that he would get skewered. So he did as he was told and slowly stood back up, although his head was still ducked.

"Gentlemen," she simpered, never lifting her sword from his neck. "His sword skills are the reasons he was allowed onto the ship." Laughter again and Peter's face felt hot. "Shows a lot about Captain Wilkes' fighting skills, eh?"

The crew laughed again and Lily pushed him back towards Gideon. "Take him back down. I might visit him later, when he decides to be cooperative."

Gideon nodded and grasped the man by his elbows and led him back down to the hold. The crowd slowly dissipated until Lily was virtually alone. She smiled tiredly to herself, but that short moment of happiness quickly diminished as Potter's voice rang through the deck again.

"You could have killed him!" he yelled out, walking towards her.

"I could have," she said easily, imagining various scenarios in which her sword ends up lodged in his person.

"Why didn't you?" he asked, feigning indifference even as a slight note of curiosity coloured his voice.

"Contrary to popular belief," Lily began in a cool and clipped tone, "I don't kill everything that moves. I'm a pirate; not a savage. Some of us do have manners you know. Shockingly, that doesn't only belong to your people."

"I doubt that," he mumbled lowly.

The Captain's green orbs narrowed into slits, but other than that, she ignored the slight jab. "Go back to your room, Potter. I'm not going to rescue you when you fall overboard."

"Why do you think that I'll end up injuring myself?" he asked, slightly annoyed.

"Your kind isn't familiar with the sea. All of you just see her as nothing more than another form of transportation to get your money," Lily said scathingly. "It's obvious that nobles ignore the wondrous thing that's the ocean. She's the reason we're able to trade with other nations, but she could also destroy you in a heartbeat if need be."

"You talk about the ocean as though it's a person," James said, rolling his eyes.

"That's because she is. A good sailor knows that she isn't something to just be used and tossed aside; she's a vast expanse of pure power that everyone should be afraid of," Lily said as she stared out into the distance. "I don't expect men like you to understand. After all, you could have barely understood the fact that a woman was the Captain of a pirate ship."

"For Christ's sake, if I apologise for that snub would you let it be?" he pleaded, rubbing a hand across his face.

"No," she replied before turning on her heel and stalking off towards her cabin, closing the door with a resounding thud. James was left alone and he sighed loudly before walking back downstairs.


He heard Sirius and Remus' conversation (and the laughter which followed) even as he walked out of the room. He wasn't going to get lost. Those tossers didn't know what they were talking about, he thought to himself as he absentmindedly walked down a flight of stairs. He was James Potter, and James Potter does not get lost.

So consumed in his thoughts that he was, James did not realise that he had almost gone down two flights of stairs. He gazed around at his surroundings, trying to look for something familiar to show which part of the boat he was on. Unfortunately for him, this part of the ship looked just like all the other parts, what with its wooden walls which were cracked and chipped and worn, which went along with the doors that panelled each side of the corridor. However, as he walked down the hall, he smelt something like similar to that of the soup Lily had brought to his room a few minutes ago and soon enough, was also able to hear the clanging of pots and pans, laughter and the occasional swear word, all of which seemed to originate from the head of the corridor.

Immediately James knew that this was the kitchens.

He hesitantly pushed open the door and was greeted by another round of raucous laughter. There were a few men- three for the most, including one of the red haired men that he first saw on deck- all of whom had large tankards in front of them. Over to the far right, laughing along with them as he rubbed a white cloth over the tankards which weren't in use was a tall, wiry man with dark hair, just like James'.

"Oi, look," called out one of the men from the table, having finally noticed James standing in the doorway. "The Cap'n's plaything has wandered down here, mates." The men laughed.

"I'm not the Captain's anything, thank you very much," James replied, very much affronted by that statement.

"Ignore him," advised the wiry man. He shot James a carefree grin, one which the latter hesitantly returned. "Benjy Fenwick," introduced the man, wiping his hands on the white apron he wore over his clothes. "I'm the cook on this ship." He held out a hand and James lightly shook it.

"James Potter," he replied. Benjy nodded.

"Aye; I don't think there's a soul on this ship who don't know who you are," said Benjy said. "We don't really like royalty around here."

"I've realised," said James, his eyes unconsciously floating over to the man who had first acknowledge him as he walked through the door.

"That's Jack. He's drunk," said the other man, as though being inebriated cleared everything up.

Not knowing what also to say, James simply replied with an unconcerned, "Ah."

"It was strange news," he continued. "Hearing that we found stragglers on board. Most people would say that you're lucky you're still living after a run in with the Red Head Horror." He paused for a moment to laugh. "Lily isn't like that, not really. She's courageous to the point of stupidity, yeah, but if there's one thing I'm sure of from all my years of knowing her is that she has a firm sense of right and wrong. She would never intentionally hurt an innocent person, no matter how much they got on her nerves." His eyes twinkled up at James, and the other man found himself staring fixedly at a knife stuck in the wooden surface of the counter as the back of his neck warmed.

Silence fell in between the pair and all that could be heard was the guffawing of the men who sat in the middle of the room around a large scarred table. Next thing James knew, the door was being opened again, this time to admit the other red haired man.

"Lo Fenwick," he greeted as he walked in. His eyes zoned in on the group sitting around the table and a small smile curved around his mouth. "Sober up, Fabian!" he called out to the other red haired man. "If Lily finds you like that, she'll have your arse." The other men along with Gideon laughed, while Fabian threw a rude hand gesture towards his brother. This just made Gideon laugh even harder until he caught sight of James standing awkwardly in the corner, watching back and forth between the two men.

"Trying to get a feel of the place?" he asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Er sure; let's go with that," said James, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. He could've sworn that Gideon's lips twitched upwards for just the barest wisp of a second, but he could be wrong.

The ginger haired man turned to the cook and muttered something lowly, as to not be overheard by their fellow companions. James, for his part, did not try to listen in on their obviously private conversation and instead stood idly against the wall, shifting his weight from foot to foot. However, he did pick up on a few phrases despite his best attempts at not listening.

"...Lily... Pettigrew up with her..." said Gideon, his mouth twisting unpleasantly as he said Peter's name.

Benjy nodded along to what the taller man said. The words became muddled once more and then the cook abruptly turned around and started ladling some of the brown coloured stew into a bowl, similar to what the Captain had brought up for them a half an hour prior, and placed a large piece of bread next to it. Benjy handed the tray to Gideon before the two of them started back talking. During that time, Fabian had gotten up from the table and stumbled out the door, slurring curses all the way. His brother watched him go, an amused expression on his face.

"Lily is going to positively murder him when she finds him in this state," he said, laughing at his sibling's misfortune. Catching sight of James' slightly confused expression, he explained, "The Captain hates it when someone gets drunk. She hardly even tolerates it when we're celebrating."

"It's my head she looks for when one of you lot get drunk," chuckled Benjy. "Apparently I'm supposed to discourage drinking in the kitchen. She seems to forget that there're ten of you all and only one of me."

James realised that the more he learnt about her, the stranger the elusive Red Head Horror became. What type of pirate hated getting drunk? Isn't that all they cared about? Getting drunk, pillaging ships and stealing women? Well, James would not expect her to do the latter, but the other two still stand. He attributed this to the fact that she was a woman. He could barely understand the women of the court, much less one that was a pirate. James decided to keep his musings to himself and absentmindedly rubbed the inside of his wrist, a reminder of what happened last time he insinuated something against her gender. Now that he attributed to her being a ginger. Their tempers were legendary.

He was jolted out his reverie by the other brother grabbing the tray and, after ducking his head in acknowledgement, left the room. James glanced back at Benjy who was talking with the other men sitting at the table. Slowly, he back out of the kitchen and managed to see Gideon's figure turning a corner. James quickly followed him down the hall and up the stairs. He would be the first to admit that hearing her name being dropped piqued his attention.

After walking for what seemed like several minutes, they finally found themselves on deck. The other pirates were gathered in a crowd and Lily stood in the middle, holding two swords while Pettigrew looked as though he was about to wet himself. Everyone's attention was directed to the pair in the centre of the deck, even the man who was at the wheel craned his neck to see the action unfurling behind him. James was suddenly glad that there was not much that one could crash into out here in the middle of the ocean.

"You can leave that on any of the barrels, Gid," called Lily once she caught sight of her red haired friend. She had not seen that James was up on deck, as he made sure to stand in the shadows. Gideon, who stood a few paces away from James, nodded and smirked as Lily went back to talking to Peter. James leant against the wooden wall for support as the ship rocked back and forth, lest he loose his balance and fall in the middle of the Captain's 'demonstration.' He would rather much like to stay away from her while she is holding sharp objects.

There was a loud clang of metal and James jumped before gathering his wits about him and craning his neck to view the battle. He knew how to use a sword, having learnt so from a young age back at the palace. It was obvious that Evans knew she was infinitely better than the lumbering, dirty pirate. He could see it in the way she held her sword; loosely, sometimes only using her left hand. James knew that soon enough she would get tired of playing and then... well, he would not like to think about it. Or be Pettigrew either.

There was the sound of something heavy hitting the board and sure enough, with one quick flick, the Captain had disarmed him and sent his weapon flying several feet away. The crowd cheered and jeered and even James could admit that it was impressive. She did it so easily, almost in a lazy fashion. She sent him to retrieve his sword, only to come up behind him and point her sword at his neck. James' breath caught in his throat, as he was sure she was going to behead him.

Thankfully, she did not and instead a few words were exchanged between them before she called upon Gideon to return Peter back down to the brigantine. The man unfurled himself from the wall and walked over to where she stood, grabbing Peter. The crowd began to disperse and as Gideon walked past him, James made a snap decision.

"You could have killed him!" he shouted as he walked over to where she stood, smiling slightly. Almost as soon as she heard his voice did her smile disappear and she closed her eyes. He guessed that she was most likely counting to ten to stop herself from killing him.

"I could have."

"Why didn't you?" he asked, trying to sound casual even though the curiosity burned him.

"Contrary to popular belief," Evans said brusquely, "I don't kill everything that moves. I'm a pirate; not a savage. Some of us do have manners you know. Shockingly, that doesn't only belong to your people." She glared at him.

"I doubt that," James muttered mostly to himself.

Her glare intensified. "Go back to your room, Potter. I'm not going to rescue you when you fall overboard."

James clenched his fists at his sides. "Why do you think that I'll end up injuring myself?" he asked rhetorically and slightly annoyed.

"Your kind isn't familiar with the sea," she replied scathingly, before going on some long winded spiel, half of which James did not listen to.

"You talk about the ocean as though it's a person," he said, rolling his eyes.

"That's because she is. A good sailor knows that she isn't something to just be used and tossed aside; she's a vast expanse of pure power that everyone should be afraid of," said the Captain as she looked out into the ocean. "I don't expect men like you to understand. After all, you could have barely understood the fact that a woman was the Captain of a pirate ship."

He refrained from wincing. "For Christ's sake, if I apologise for that snub would you let it be?"

"No," she replied before turning on her heel and stalking off towards her cabin, closing the door with a resounding thud. James was left alone and he sighed loudly before walking back downstairs. It took him a few minutes to locate the room he was sentenced to, but he managed just fine, closing the door and slumping against it.

"What took you so long?" asked Sirius, swaying slightly in the hammock that Lily strung up. "Remus and I were beginning to think you jumped ship. Or fell off the ship."

James glared weakly at them.

"Did you get lost?" said Remus, who was lying on the bed and, despite looking slightly pale, smirked slightly at him.

"No, so you don't have to worry about losing a bet to this one," he replied, jerking his thumb in Sirius' direction.

"Nah; we didn't make the bet anyway," Remus replied, not batting an eyelash at the fact that James knew that they were having a laugh at his expense.

"I hate you all," he muttered bitterly, grabbing the spare hammock from the floors. He fumbled with it for a moment before finally managing to hook it on to the pegs. James toed off his shoes and clambered in to the hammock, ignoring the subtle (and not so subtle) jibes that Remus and Sirius threw his way.


You know what make really great birthday gifts? Reviews.

;)