Well, everyone, I'm glad that you all enjoyed the last chapter!
I'll say again, Will is not going to be as powerful as Harry. Nowhere near. Sure he did accidental magic, and it probably seems pretty powerful and deliberate, but look what Harry did before he came to Hogwarts. He vanished glass, turned a teacher's hair blue, transfigured a jumper to make it smaller and apparated on to the school roof! Compared to apparition, I don't think a little levitation is too powerful! Harry probably could do the same and more at the same age!
Now, onto chapter thirteen! (Oh, unlucky!)
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Harry could never actually remember if he had gotten to sleep or not, but when he opened his eyes again and looked out, he realised that it was nearly time. All the other pirates taking part in the mutiny were sitting around the table, looking nervous.
Harry took a deep breath and jumped up.
"All ready, then?" The men nodded. "No second thoughts?" They shook their heads.
Harry looked at them. "Well, aren't you lot excited? Do you want this or not?"
Cotton's parrot squawked. Marty looked at it and said, "Aye!" That started a chorus of other 'Aye's from around the table. Harry smiled at them.
"Good. Now, I'll need a sword."
Pintel looked shocked. "Don' ya have one?"
Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "No. The East India Trading Company officers have an annoying habit of taking any weapons they can find away from you."
"Oh, right," replied Pintel, and he got up, walked over to a corner and picked one up. "'Ere, you can have my spare," he said, and threw it over.
"Thanks," said Harry, catching it easily and inspecting it. It was old and dull, but easy to grip and the blade was still very sharp. "Everyone else have theirs?"
Another chorus of "Aye!"
"Oh, and it would help a good deal if some of you had guns."
As Harry headed towards the door, he heard someone mutter, "He tells us this now? Bloody 'ell, e's Jack ta the core!"
Harry smirked and headed out. He could mostly remember the way up from earlier, and the others had assured him that he wouldn't meet anybody. Everyone liked to get an early night, they said, unless it was their turn to steer and guard the ship throughout the night. The only people not in bed right now were the two standing guard (one at the wheel, one in the crow's nest) and themselves.
Harry nodded to Cotton, who had brought a chair from their room up with them.
"You know what to do," he said.
He nodded, and the parrot on his shoulder squawked. Harry shushed it, feeling rather stupid as he did so.
As Cotton disappeared down a corridor, holding the chair aloft, Harry continued leading the others up the stairs. Cotton was going to place the chair under the door handle of Barbossa's cabin to stop him getting out quickly. Harry had no doubts that the man would escape, but it would buy them vital minutes to defeat the rest of the crew first.
Harry emerged onto the deck, and the man at the wheel shouted down, "Who's there?"
Pintel, Ragetti and Murtogg went up to him. Harry had told them to tell him what they were doing, and if he didn't join them, they take him out. It was a bit drastic, and Harry wasn't totally comfortable with the idea of killing any more, but it had to be done to increase their chances of making this mutiny successful.
The other two climbed the rigging to the crow's nest. They were to do the same to him.
Harry went to the door leading back down, and hid in a shadow nearby. He nearly jumped out at Cotton coming back up, but realised who it was just in time, and Cotton joined him.
He heard something behind him and turned around to see Pintel, Murtogg and Ragetti returning with another pirate in tow. Harry grinned at them.
"Right, Jonas, this is Harry, we told you about 'im, and Harry, meet Jonas. He's decided to join us."
Jonas stretched out his hand and Harry shook it, smiling.
"Pleased to meet y-," Harry started to say, but was cut off by an enormous thump! As a body fell to the deck a few metres away from them. He looked at it, and was relieved to see that he didn't recognise whoever it was.
"Looks like 'e decided to side with Barbossa," said Ragetti. "Shame, that. Decent with a sword, 'e was."
Harry pushed any guilt out of his mind. He could deal with it later, but for now he had a mutiny to take care of. He gave Jonas a tight smile, and said, "Lower the anchor!"
Several men immediately went and dropped it. Harry felt the ship rock violently and it stopped suddenly and gratingly. His smile increased.
"They'll have felt that downstairs. Now, get ready. They'll be up any minute."
At his words, the pirates sprang into action. Murtogg and Pintel stood on either side of the door, ready to ambush the first few who came out. Harry had instructed them to give as many as they could the chance to join them. He wanted to spare as many as he could, but he knew that quite a lot of people on this ship would die tonight either way. The only variable now was if it was going to be his man, or Barbossa's.
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Albert Barbossa was Hector Barbossa's nephew, and as such, had been one of the first new pirates that his uncle had picked up, and he had been immediately given the post of first mate. He'd been here over four and a half years now, and got on well with most of the crew. Well, half. There were that group of six sharing the hold that kept mostly to themselves. Bert got the feeling that they didn't like their captain much.
He was lying on his bunk in his cabin at that moment in time (for only he and the captain got their own cabins, everyone else had to share), lost in thought and not able to sleep, when he felt the ship violently shudder and he was thrown out of bed onto the unforgiving floor. He glared up at the ceiling and rubbed his head where it had hit against the floor.
"What the bloody hell was that?"
He got up and exited his cabin and headed towards the deck. The Captain had the bigger cabin further down and Bert didn't even bother looking down that way- his uncle was quite a heavy sleeper, and if that shock hadn't woke him up, Bert wasn't going to try. He could probably do it, but Hector hated being woken up from sleep, and if there was no good reason for it, he'd be very angry indeed. No, it'd be his job tonight to check what that was. He passed the room where four others slept and climbed the stairs to deck.
He didn't know what he'd expected to find or to happen, but he most certainly hadn't expected to be grabbed roughly the minute the stepped out the door and held tight against the wall with a sword to his throat.
"This is a mutiny," came a voice. Bert looked up and realised it was one of the six of the crew that didn't like his uncle much- Pintel. "And either you choose to join us now or you die."
And what could Bert do but nod his head (not too vigorously, that sword was held far too close to his throat to risk that) and say, "Yes, yes, of course!"
Pintel surveyed him and nodded. "Righ', then. This shouldn't be too hard now, eh? More of us that there are of them!"
Another man that Bert recognised as Ragetti threw him a sword, which he didn't really expect and nearly cut his head off, but he just managed to catch it and make his way over to the side.
He looked out and hit his lip. There was a mutiny going on? Well, that was... unexpected, to say the least. The never would have thought that that lot would have gathered up the nerve to do it, saying as their chance of winning wasn't great. But now, thought Bert bitterly, their chances of taking over looked more than likely. And he'd have to either side with them, and fight against the uncle that took him in after his mother died, or die.
Not what you'd call the nicest set of options.
He looked at the sword in his hand. He wouldn't betray his uncle- Hector had given him a job and a place to live- albeit both were on a pirate ship- and he wouldn't side against him, no matter what.
But that still left the problem of what to do now. He heard a thump beneath him and looked at the floor. Other men must be getting out of bed to see what was going on. He couldn't just stand by and watch them either turn against their captain or be killed. He had to do something!
Bert turned around and stalked back to the door. The two men were still there, staring down the dark corridor, watching for someone to come up. He raised his sword and-
Pain. A sharp shock, and the worst pain he'd ever felt in his life. Time seemed to slow, almost to a standstill. He dropped his sword, which fell harmlessly onto the floor, and looked down. There was another sword sticking out of his chest. Even as he watched, it withdrew again, and he was falling, falling onto the floor.
He looked up, and the last things Bert Barbossa ever saw were a pair of bright, green eyes.
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Harry looked from his sword to the glassy-eyed corpse on the deck, to the shocked faces of Murtogg and Pintel, who were still guarding the door, and Ragetti, who had been standing nearby, but facing the other way.
"Erm... thanks?" said Pintel, as it had been he who the man had been aiming for. "For, um, you know, saving my life and all."
Harry nodded at him, then looked back to the body and swallowed. It wasn't easy- his throat was dry. "You're welcome," he managed to say, "And keep guard. More'll be coming up soon. How many's left?"
"Four," answered Ragetti, "Not countin' Barbossa."
Harry nodded again. "Well, then, we'll still need to be ready. I'd have thought it'd be more, but the less there is, the better for us."
The three men nodded in agreement. Murtogg and Pintel sank back into the shadows by the sides of the door and Ragetti stood not far away, in case he was needed.
Harry headed up to the other end of the boat, where the four others were waiting. He explained to them what had happen, and they all nodded wisely.
"Yeah, 'e loved Barbossa. Uncle of 'is"
"Not the nicest guy I've ever met, though, was he?"
"Nah, but loyal. Ye'd have had te kill him- he'd never 'have joined us..."
Harry agreed. He did feel guilty, but he knew he had to stop with that. He couldn't afford to suddenly come down with guilt in the middle of a battle- it'd be suicide. He could sit and think and berate himself later.
He nodded at them, warned that they should get ready, as it would be really starting soon, and made his way back to the door, just in time to see several shadows move at the end of the corridor. He quickly ducked out of sight and signalled to the others.
He watched as the four pirates left (not including Barbossa) emerged, and the fight began. Pintel punched the first one up, but he was soon punched back and all four were in fighting mode now. Swords were drawn, and the clang of metal hitting metal was loud enough to wake the dead. The other four at the front rushed to join in the fray, and it was a real battle, although a little one-sided. Barbossa's pirates themselves soon managed to put Ragetti, Marty and Cotton out of the fight. Harry looked at them worried, but saw that they were only injured and not dead.
Harry deliberately stayed back in the shadows, out of the chaos. He was waiting for Barbossa.
He didn't have to wait that long. Barbossa came out a few minutes later, probably after knocking his door down. He joined the fight too and Harry rushed in at the same time.
Everyone on the opposing side seemed shocked to see him (and really, why wouldn't they?) but Harry targeted his sword at Barbossa and managed to separate him from the rest, so that Harry could fight him without having to worry about the other pirate attacking him.
Barbossa was a good swordfighter, but not quite up to Jack's level, and Jack said he had improved a good bit since the last time he and Barbossa fought. Harry wasn't quite up to Jack's standard either (yet), so he and Barbossa were about evenly matched.
Harry swung his sword and blocked a swipe that Barbossa sent at him.
"Who are you?" the captain asked, bringing his sword down in a move that, had Harry not blocked it, would have taken off his head.
Harry retaliated, and smirked. "Harry Sparrow, son of Jack Sparrow. Can't say I'm pleased to meet you."
"Sparrow has a son?"
"Obviously. You're fighting him."
Harry stabbed his sword at Barbossa, but he just swept it out of the way and made the same move back. Harry had to duck quickly and aimed his sword upwards. This swipe managed to hit Barbossa, catching him in the side and drawing first blood. It wasn't going to kill him or take him down, but it was enough to be very painful, and slow him down a bit.
Barbossa got revenge by trying to hit Harry's head, but Harry moved just in time, but the blow was still close enough to take some skin off his ear.
Harry concentrated on the fight, on Barbossa's movements, seeing if there was a pattern or method. He remembered when they had discussed how well the pirates swordfighted earlier, and how Marty had said that the one fault of Barbossa's was to get overconfident in battle if he thought he had the upper hand, and would then make mistakes.
Harry decided to put that advice to the test, and started making deliberate, very small mistakes, like dodging or blocking just in time when earlier he would have cut it off sooner. He left small openings when he was sure Barbossa noticed them, but managed to recover just in time, before he took advantage of it. Harry even let him hit his left arm by deliberately not dodging soon enough. He'd tried to get Barbossa to hit him in a place where he couldn't do much damage, and the left arm was one of those places. The cut was small and shallow, but it stung. Harry ignored it, and kept fighting.
He saw Barbossa becoming more and more confident and big-headed as the fight wore on, and Harry noticed that Barbossa left a few openings every now and then, and didn't notice them. Harry deliberately didn't take advantage of them, and pretended to tire more than he was.
Barbossa, sure now that he could win, grew very cocky indeed. As Harry blocked a sideways swipe, he saw the opening he had been waiting for, took advantage of it, and lunged. His sword cut a huge gash in Barbossa's right shoulder and down his chest. That was nearly enough to put him out of the fight, as it was big but not deep and had to hurt like hell, but Barbossa surprised Harry by ignoring it as best he could and continuing the fight.
It got harder again now, as Barbossa lost his cockiness, and then the worst possible thing happened.
Barbossa got Harry straight in the chest, a jab that went deep, and, in normal circumstances, would have killed him in under a minute. These, however, were not normal circumstances, but Harry knew he wouldn't be able to fight again unless he was given quite a lot of time to recover- and that certainly wouldn't happen.
The pain was awful. If he'd thought that earlier, when he'd gotten his wrist branded, was agonizing, this was many times worse.
He could have kept standing a little longer, but he fell to the ground anyway, thinking about what he could possibly do next. Barbossa stood over him and cackled, a loud laugh that filled the air.
The battle that had been going on nearby had turned in Harry's favour, but when Barbossa laughed, the five left fighting had paused, and in that moment the fight changed direction again. Thinking that their ringleader had been killed, the three on Harry's side nearly gave up on the spot, and fought with an amazing amount of sorrow and guilt on their minds, which dragged them down immensely. Hadn't they, after all, taken part in a mutiny and gotten Jack Sparrow's son killed?
But Harry wasn't dead, not by a long shot. When he collapsed on the floor and Barbossa had turned away to face the others, he covered his head with his hands and tried to concentrate to make his magic vanish the pain and heal the wound. He didn't even know if it was possible, but he concentrated harder than he'd ever done before, and just focussed on making the pain disappear.
After what felt like a lifetime, he thought he felt something- a strange, tingling heat that started deep inside him and began, slowly, to spread outwards, enveloping the pain and making it disappear. When Harry looked down, he saw a dim, fuzzy yellow light emanating from his chest. Without breaking concentration, he glanced up at Barbossa, who now had his back turned to him and was shouting something about righteousness and how he hated mutineers, and how every single person who'd dared fight against him was going to be murdered and dumped into the sea to be taken to the locker, because that's what happened to mutineers...
While Barbossa was distracted by the sound of his own voice, Harry, moving very slowly, opened the buttons on his shirt (probably quite unnecessary, as it had quite a large tear in it from where he was stabbed, and others from the fight besides) and looked down at the wound. It was still there, no doubt about it, and still stung a little, but it was much better than he had been. The use of the magic had exhausted him thoroughly, but he took a deep breath and stood up slowly, raising his sword as he went.
Barbossa didn't notice him, nor did the pirates on his side, as they were all too busy listening to him, but the rest of the crew, the pirates on Harry's side, had noticed him, and were staring very unsubtly at him.
Harry approached Barbossa and raised his sword high. The captain and his crew noticed him a second too late, and as Barbossa turned, Harry managed to hit him very hard over the head with the handle of his sword. Which was probably not what everyone thought was the right end of a sword to hit Barbossa with.
Barbossa was knocked out cold with the force of the blow, and collapsed harmlessly at Harry's feet.
Everyone stared at Barbossa for a few seconds, and then raised their eyes to Harry.
"Now," he said, "Let's finish this thing, then."
The next few minutes were a blur as far as Harry was concerned. He managed to tie up Barbossa and give him another whack over the head (just to make sure) while the crew took care of the rest, and then he made it over to the side of the ship and looked out. He acquired a telescope and peered into the distance, as he had a rough idea of where he should be looking.
After a few minutes, he found it. It wasn't easy in the dark, but he was sure he saw another ship, heading straight towards them at full speed. Harry could easily imagine Jack standing at the wheel, yelling out orders.
He smiled, and then sank to the floor. Exhaustion caught up on him from healing himself had taken a lot out of him, and sleep overtook him in a matter of seconds.
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I apologise for the long time it took to get this out! I plead the excuse of school starting up again- homework has overtaken me!
But I have survived, and brought you this. And, it's the MUTINY! I hope you lot are happy with it, and it's even longer than my usual, by over a thousand words! It took a long time, but I'm happy with it.
In other news, I've had an idea for another fanfic and I'm starting to plan it out. I don't know if I'll get round to posting it at all, but I've recently become rather obsessed with it, so that can only be a good sign!
Please review!
'Til next time!