OK GUYS! I made a very big mistake- I accidentally put this chapter up instead of C9. Luckily, I found it now, before I went on holiday, but if you haven't read the original Chapter 9, please go read it now. It'll explain a lot!
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Elizabeth jerked her hand back from Sparrow's neck as if it was burnt. She inspected it, but it was just her hand, looking the same as it ever did. She turned her attention back to the apparently-still-alive boy in front of her.
How the hell was he still alive?
Not that Elizabeth wanted him dead, no, that was not it at all. She'd love to be able to talk to Jack's son, but the boy had just defied death!
Thinking about it, though, maybe she ought not to be so surprised. After all, his father had died and come back, hadn't he? As had Barbossa. Indeed, even her own husband was not technically alive, as she kept his heart in a chest hidden under her bed.
But to come back with no help at all?
Elizabeth reached out again and felt the boy's neck. She ran her hand up and down the back of it, and came to an astounding conclusion.
His neck wasn't broken!
The boy moved, and groaned.
Elizabeth snatched her hand back once again, and leaned over him. Hopefully he was waking up.
"Hello?" she said softly, "Are you alright?"
She mentally berated herself for that question. Was he alright? Of course he wasn't alright! He'd just been hanged! He'd died!
His eyes flickered open, revealing a set of the loveliest green eyes she'd ever seen. He must have gotten them from his mother, Elizabeth thought absently. Most of the rest of his features were pure Jack, though.
"Ohhh, my neck!" he groaned, distracting her from her thoughts. He tried to pull himself up to a sitting position, and eventually got there, with much difficulty. He rubbed his neck gingerly.
"Who're you?" he asked Elizabeth suspiciously.
She smiled at him.
"My name is Elizabeth Turner," she said.
She watched as recognition flashed through his eyes, and he smiled back at her.
"So you're Elizabeth! I've heard all about you." He quirked an eyebrow at her. "And, by the way, I'm Harry Sparrow. Pleased to meet you."
"Likewise. We should go- someone will notice you're missing sooner or later, and I need to get back to my son. You can come back to my house and I'll get you sorted out. But you can't be seen. Can you walk?"
"I think so," said Harry.
He awkwardly clambered onto his feet and walked around a little bit. His legs felt unsteady, but he'd survive.
"You go on," he said, "and I'll follow you from a bit of a distance. Just... walk slow, alright? And don't turn round to look for me or anything. I'll be behind you."
Elizabeth agreed, and headed off up the beach.
It was a few minutes later that she realised she'd forgotten to ask Harry how he had survived.
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Harry watched Elizabeth go for a few seconds, and then pulled his wand out of his boot. He tapped his head and muttered the incantation to make him invisible. The charm felt odd, like cold eggs running down him, but when he looked down, his feet were indistinguishable from the sand.
He ran after Elizabeth.
She obviously knew where she was going, as she navigated the streets with ease. Harry vaguely recognised some from his last time in Port Royal, when he broke Jack out of jail, but most were totally unfamiliar.
Elizabeth wasn't walking particularly fast, but he hadn't an easy time keeping sight of her, as the streets were rather crowded and he had to avoid bumping into anybody. He was rather glad to see she was doing as he said and not looking around for him. Not only because she wouldn't see him anyway, but also because it would draw attention to them.
She turned down a street which was a bit clearer than the rest and Harry jogged a little to catch up. He hoped her home wasn't far from here- he was already feeling tired, and his neck felt rather sore and very stiff. Dying had taken more out of him than he realised.
It took another few minutes, but she eventually stopped outside some rather large gates. Behind them, Harry could see a rather large house. He saved his astonishment for another time, and pulled his wand out of his boot again. After a quick look around to make sure that nobody else was around, he tapped his head and murmured the spell to make him visible again, and then followed her through the gates.
Elizabeth was waiting on the other side for him. She saw how tired he looked and immediately became concerned. "You look exhausted! You can lie down in the house, we have a few spare beds."
Harry smiled at the idea of sleeping in a really comfortable bed for the first time in a year. He wouldn't give up his life with Jack for the world, but his bed on the ship wasn't exactly the most comfy thing on the planet.
She led him into the house and showed him a bed. Harry smiled at her, thanked her warmly, and collapsed onto it.
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Jack frowned at his compass. He'd just seen it shift a few degrees further north. Harry had moved. That was...odd.
His face broke out into a smile. If it had moved that much, that meant that Harry must have escaped from the fort.
He looked up again at the horizon. Port Royal still wasn't visible. They were making slower progress than he had hoped, and it was mostly due to a rather bad storm last night. The sails had been partially damaged too, so it was slower, and Jack, try as he might, couldn't make the ship go any faster.
At this rate, it'd be late the next day before they made it to Port Royal.
And, even then, Jack couldn't go ashore, for risk of being seen and captured himself. He'd have to send some crew onto land a small distance away from the town and have them search the place.
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Harry woke up slowly, savouring the comfortable bed. He felt a lot better now, more rested and his neck seemed to be practically fully healed, though he suspected it would always be a little stiffer than it had been.
He sat up and looked around the room. It was the grandest bedroom he'd ever seen, (though that wasn't saying much), and this was only the guest room! The bed was a four-poster like his back at Hogwarts, although it was much bigger. There were wide windows that opened to a view of the sea, and the rest of the furniture in the room looked well-made and expensive.
He (reluctantly) got up and headed for the door. He needed to find Elizabeth and thank her profusely. And possibly get something to eat- he was starving!
It took a while before he found her, down in the kitchens with her son.
"I was about to come and wake you," she said, "I figured that you'd need something to eat."
She pointed to the table, where a simple meal of bread and meat was. He smiled gratefully at her. Harry sat down at the table and began to eat.
"I'd have made you something better, but I didn't know what you liked, and I'm not brilliant in a kitchen, either. One of the maids would usually cook, but I don't want any of them to see you, because I know several of them went down to watch your execution today."
He swallowed what was in his mouth quickly.
"It's perfectly fine, don't worry. Thank you very much, I appreciate it!"
He quickly finished his meal. It was rather plain, but Harry really didn't mind. It was fresher than most of the food he had eaten in the past year, as, living on a ship, food tended to not be the best.
After he had finished, he sat back and Elizabeth took his plate from him. Harry was about to volunteer to do the washing but then he noticed that she had just dumped it into the sink.
"The maids will wash it later," she said, noticing Harry about to get up. "Come," she continued, "We'll talk somewhere a little more comfortable."
She picked up her son and walked out, Harry hastily following.
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Elizabeth surveyed Harry over a cup of tea. He had his own cup, and was drinking it somewhat awkwardly. Elizabeth thought that that wasn't particularly surprising, after all, Jack Sparrow had never been one to sit down for a drink that wasn't rum, and it was most likely he'd passed that onto his son. Harry, at least, was drinking it. Elizabeth felt sure that Jack wouldn't have.
They had made polite conversation, but Elizabeth still hadn't asked the question she had most wanted to ask. She was working towards it, though.
"So, you've been with Jack for a year now?"
"Yes," replied Harry, "Well, longer actually. It was June last year when I found him, got him out of a rather sticky spot."
"Hm?" Elizabeth looked at him questioningly.
"He was in jail," Harry smirked slightly, "and I somehow found myself down there too, and I broke him out."
Elizabeth laughed, then turned a bit more serious.
"If you don't mind me asking, how did you survive that hanging?"
She felt, rather than saw, Harry's eyes surveying her and wondering if he should tell her. Elizabeth wasn't offended; she'd have been the same. After all, you couldn't reveal how to escape death to just anyone. He seemed to find her worthy, though, and relaxed.
And then he began to talk.
He told her the whole story, or, at least, she thought he did. How would she know, after all? It was a rather wild tale, but she believed him. Alright, water that made you immortal certainly wasn't what one would call normal, but nothing was impossible when Jack Sparrow was involved, after all.
By then, both Harry and Elizabeth had finished their tea. Elizabeth made to pour him another cup, but he'd politely declined.
"So, what are you planning on doing now?" she asked.
Harry shrugged. "I'm not sure. Jack's probably on his way here, but he can't come into the town. He shouldn't even be in this part of the sea; it's crawling with Navy ships. I suppose I'll just have to go down to the port tonight and go, one way or another."
Elizabeth knew that 'going' would probably involve stealing a ship, but she didn't really mind. She nodded.
"Well, alright then. But you shouldn't leave the house until it gets dark. It mightn't be as dangerous for you as it would have been yesterday, but there's no point in taking unnecessary risks!" She stood up and looked down at him. "And if you're going to be here for another few hours, I might as well give you a tour of the house. Will's playing in the room next door, I'll get him."
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Elizabeth left, leaving Harry standing in the lounge. He bent down and started tidying up the teacups nearly automatically. He stacked the cups neatly and was gathering up some spilt sugar when he heard Elizabeth scream.
Harry immediately ran out the door and headed into the next room. Elizabeth wasn't hurt, thank goodness, and neither was Will, but what she was screaming at became apparent at once.
Will was sitting in the middle of the floor, and had been perfectly happy until his mother had walked in and seen that his favourite toys were floating lazily around him.
Harry's eyes widened. Little Will was magical- he was a wizard!
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I apologise that this seemed rather short- it is! I'd have made it longer, but this seemed a good stopping point, and anyway, it was very, very difficult to write, for some reason...
'Til next time!