And here is Chapter 3.
This chapter wasn't in this originally, you know. I originally just jumped to when Harry was thirteen. Well, that's now changed. Totally. This chapter is going to pick up where I left off instead, since I now have to make Jack and Harry "acquire" a ship…
Thank you to ALL my reviewers! Seriously, reviews make me high. When I'm high, I write. Please keep reading this and writing reviews!
I'm hoping to get at least one chapter out per week. Unfortunately, I'm right in the middle of my GCSEs and my writing times are… irregular, at best. I hope that I'll get them written faster, but most likely it'll be a week or more between updates, so bear with me, please?
Disclaimer: Why do I keep putting these things in? I own neither Harry Potter nor POTC, yada yada yada…..
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Harry and Jack stayed in the attic of that house until the next morning. Jack passed the time by telling Harry of his adventures with the Black Pearl, and how he'd lost her… again. Harry sat enthralled by this new world, still fantastic, but so different to the one he'd left behind.
Jack insisted that they both go to sleep rather early, when the sun was still high in the sky. He said that they both had to get up well before dawn the next morning in order to acquire transport. Harry briefly wondered what exactly this 'acquiring' would involve, before pushing it to the back of his mind. He was first mate to a pirate now, after all. That made him a pirate too, didn't it?
Harry Potter the pirate. The name didn't scare him as much as he'd have thought it would. It just sounded… natural. Harry thought about it, and realised he liked the idea. Alright. He'd accepted it, and he was going to enjoy his time here the best he could.
He yawned. Harry wondered what Ron and Hermione would say, if he came back looking like, well, looking a bit like Jack. They might think he was mad. 'Ah well', thought Harry. He had no idea how he was going to get back, and there was no point in worrying about it yet.
Harry lay down and suddenly realised how tired he was. He thought about it, and realised he'd gone an awfully long time without sleep. He heard Jack snore beside him, and then drifted off to sleep himself.
Harry felt himself being shaken awake at a very unreasonable hour the next morning. He reached over to his bedside table to grab his glasses and only opened his eyes when he couldn't feel them. After a moment of disorientation, he realised where he was and found his glasses nearby. Jack was standing over him, grinning like the proverbial canary-eating cat, looking far too awake for this time of the morning.
"Come on, get up, you lazy blaggard!" said Jack. "We've got to get going!"
Harry reluctantly pulled himself up into a sitting position and yawned. That was the best night's sleep he'd had in a long time. He got up and fixed his clothes – he was still wearing his jeans and the jumper that Mrs Weasley had knitted for him lay in a heap on the floor, where he'd discarded it yesterday on account of the heat. Throwing snowballs at animated snowmen seemed to have been years ago, rather than just yesterday.
Jack hopped down through the hole in the floor onto the landing. Harry carefully lowered himself down after Jack had shown him it was safe. Jack led him out of the house and back to Port Royal. Harry was slightly worried – what if they were seen again? - But Jack just went on. Harry decided to trust him. Jack had probably done this before.
They reached Port Royal again without major incident. Jack wound his way through the silent streets with ease, sticking to the shadows. It was still very dark, only the faintest tinges of red staining the horizon. Harry guessed that it must have been around four o'clock in the morning. That left them with about an hour or an hour and a half to find a ship and sail away.
Jack eventually found the port, where there were numerous ships tied up, each bobbing softly in the water. He led the way down, looking at each ship with a critical eye.
"Not that one… too big… too small….oh, definitely not!" he muttered as they walked past ships of all shapes and sizes. He stopped suddenly in front of one near the end, and Harry nearly walked into him.
"She'll do."
Harry looked at the ship Jack had selected. It wasn't particularly big, but nor was it small. It looked to be about the length of the Dursley's house, and a couple of metres in width, with big white sails that moved in the wind.
Jack clambered aboard, and after hesitating, Harry followed silently. Jack opened a door into another part of the ship and down a corridor, pausing in front of a room from which were coming loud snores. Jack slowly opened the door. It squeaked, but the man lying sleeping paid it no heed. Jack wandered over and saw a large bottle of rum on the floor next to the man. He lifted it and held it upside down over his mouth. Nothing came out.
"Isn't it a little early to be drinking?" observed Harry.
"Nope. Kid, one of the things you'll learn with me is that it's always a good time to drink rum."
Harry raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment.
"Now, we've gotta get this big lump of lard off my new ship!"
Jack grabbed the man under the arms and Harry grabbed his legs. They heaved. This guy was heavy! Harry wondered if all the movement would wake him up, but the man remained in a near-comatose state, all the way up to the deck. It was more difficult getting him over the side of the ship and onto the port, but Harry and Jack managed it eventually.
"Won't there be more people on this thing?" asked Harry, panting.
"Doubt it," said Jack. "They've probably just left him to guard and went off into town to find a tavern or inn or something. We're safe enough."
By then, the red stain in the sky had grown and was tinged with orange and yellow. Time was passing quickly. Harry and Jack hopped back onto the ship and Jack told Harry to cut off the ropes where the boat was moored to the port. Harry did so and then he and Jack leaned over the side and pushed as hard as they could against the pier. Harry felt the ship move under him, and saw the port moving farther away. Jack rushed up to the helm to take the wheel and Harry dutifully followed.
As Jack guided the ship out of Port Royal, Harry watched the town retreat in the early morning light.
After the town faded away, the sun was just visible above the horizon. Jack pulled a compass out from a pocket, looked at it, and then adjusted the course.
Harry took out his book and sat down on deck with it, trying to make sense of some of the words. He couldn't really understand any of them, but here and there he spotted words that he knew, or were similar to English, like 'Aqua' or 'horribilis'. Despite this, he didn't get very far. There were a few pictures, though, that showed the effect of certain spells.
Harry looked up. Jack was standing above him. He gave a half-smile and pulled out two swords, handing one to Harry.
"Come on. Ye can't be me first mate without knowin' how to swordfight!"
Two hours later, Harry was exhausted. Jack had taught him a pile of stances: where he should put his feet, what to do if his opponent jabbed there, and lots more besides. Harry had tried his hardest, and Jack seemed pleased, but Harry wasn't happy. He hadn't expected to suddenly pick up a sword and be brilliant – that would have been asking a bit too much – but he felt like he was terrible at the sword fighting thing. Jack was just so good! Next to him, Harry felt like he couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag.
"Don' worry!" Jack reassured Harry. "Ye'll get better at it. Everyone has to start somewhere. We'll practice a bit every day!"
Harry rubbed his arms. His jumper had been discarded once the sun began dominating the sky. Harry was roasting – his jeans were rolled up, but they were really too heavy to be worn in the middle of the Caribbean in the summer. He'd only been out a few hours and he was already getting sunburnt. His pale body, built for the cold English weather, wasn't used to such heat. Jack had assured him he'd get used to that, too.
"I'm hungry," said Harry. And he was. He hadn't eaten for ages, not since those marshmallows at Hogwarts. Jack obviously shared the same attitude, as he went rather quickly to the galley.
They were lucky, it was stocked with food. Obviously the previous owners had been planning on going on a rather long journey without many stops. After helping themselves to some bread and cheese, Jack took Harry to a cabin to find him something to wear.
It wasn't easy. All of the clothes were made for men, not a small eleven-year old (although, his twelfth birthday was technically next month…) boy. Eventually Harry had to make do with a too-big shirt with the sleeves rolled up; trousers held up by a belt and had the ends of the legs torn off, and boots that were a few sizes too big. He stuffed the ends of his trousers into the toes to make them fit better. A big advantage to the too-big clothes, however, was that they were a lot cooler than clothes that fitted him would have been.
Jack took the captain's cabin for himself (naturally), and Harry took the one opposite. There were one or two more after that, then a pile of more beds in the hold for the rest of the crew that would normally be on a ship this size.
Harry looked around his cabin. It was bigger than his new bedroom at Privet drive, but a good bit barer. There was a bed, a writing desk and chair, and a wardrobe. Harry looked at the clothes. They were all about the size of the ones he was wearing now, so at least he would have a change if something happened the ones that he was wearing. There was a window in the cabin too. Harry looked out- all he could see for miles and miles was the clear blue sky and the matching sea.
Harry met Jack on deck again.
"Where are we going?" he asked.
Jack turned and smiled toothily at him. "Kid, we're going to find the Fountain of Youth!"
"The what?"
"The Fountain of Youth. Well, technically speaking, it isn't really a fountain. And it doesn't make you any younger. It's a spring on an island, in a general…" –Jack pulled out his compass and looked at it- "thataway direction!" He put the compass back into his pocket.
"Then… why are we going?"
"Well, for one, drinking the water from this spring will make you immortal."
"What?"
"You heard me. We take some of this stuff, we can't die. Well, it apparently wears off, so we'll need to keep some with us. There are stories of people who've lived for years and years without dying, because they have this stuff."
Harry was confused. "So, why doesn't everyone go to this island and get this water?"
"For one, it's very difficult to find. I've got a bit of a map that shows me where it is, and my compass will help too, but even then, we're going to need to be rather lucky. Secondly, it's guarded."
"Guarded?"
"Yep, guarded. Traps and the like. Very difficult to get by, apparently. But if we find it and get past them, we're done. That's us made! If all goes well, we'll be the first people in years to get some of the water, the Aqua de Vida, and then we'll be unstoppable!"
Jack pulled a black piece of cloth out of his pocket. He unfolded it and Harry could see that it was a black flag, with a white skull and crossbones and a red sparrow. It was Jack's flag. Jack went over to the mast, took down the flag that was already at the top and hoisted his own. It billowed in the wind.
Jack returned to the helm of the ship. Harry was still curious about the fountain, but he decided to wait and see how things turned out. Harry trusted Jack- it mightn't have been the wisest decision he'd ever made, but Harry got the feeling he wasn't going to regret it.
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And thus ends Chapter 3. I know this isn't particularly long either, but know you lot know where they're heading. I know I haven't really explained the Fountain properly, but you'll find out more later. And yes, this fountain is actually quite important to the plot… I know it's probably a bit idealistic, but I've spent ages planning out what exactly Aqua de Vida does, how often it needs to be taken, etc… and it's rather important for later on (as well as making a good adventure and reinforcing Jack and Harry's trust with each other).
I've actually got everything planned out! I actually know what's going to happen!
Oh, I should warn you, there is going to be romance in this later! And no, it isn't going to be Harry/Jack. It won't even be slash, actually. It'll be Harry/OC! Just thought I'd give you some warning!
I'll update this soon – hopefully within a week or two!
Please R&R!