Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

A Change in the Tide

Chapter 5: New Prisoner

After assigning Peter to guard Miss Evans, James stomped up the stairs and headed towards the other ship. James gripped hold of a rope. He gave it a tug to make sure it held his weight, then he jumped across to the other ship. Once he landed, he let go of the rope and searched the deck. When he found who he was looking for, he headed over to the man.

"Sirius, we are done here. Help me round up the men. We are leaving now."

Sirius nodded in response but began to speak. "What did you do with that girl? I saw you carry her over to our ship. I really don't think it's a good idea to have taken her."

"Now is not the time to discuss it and as Captain, I am in charge. You should not question my actions," Captain Potter said.

"Sorry, Captain," Sirius said as he turned to address the rest of the pirates. "Oy, we're done here. Load up the last treasures and then prepare The Phoenix for sailing."

The men shouted in understanding and then continued their work.

Sirius walked towards James and looked at him, trying to read his friend. James just shook his head and walked away. He had told Sirius that they would talk about it later. He didn't want to talk about it right now because he needed to reason it out with himself first. As James walked, he began thinking. 'Why did I lock her up?… She did try to kill me. Normally I would have killed her right then and there. What made me lock her up in my ship instead? I guess I was just fascinated by how she managed to escape from the room I locked her in. Yeah that's it. I'll have to question her about that,' James asked himself.

After the long day, the pirates gathered to eat their dinner. James had Sirius, Remus and Peter join him for a private dinner in the captain's quarters. James had assigned someone else to keep watch over their prisoner for Peter for the time being.

The first few minutes of their dinner had been very quiet as the hungry men were immersed in their food. Then, as their stomachs became more full, they started up a conversation. They reflected on their adventurous day. Then Sirius brought up what had been on his mind all day.

"Now James, tell us what you did with that girl."

"Wait, you mean the one I have been guarding?" Peter spoke up.

"James, please tell me you didn't lock her up on our ship." When James nodded, Sirius sputtered in disbelief. "Why? She was fine where she was."

"She tried to kill me. Somehow she managed to get out of the room I had originally locked her up in. Of course, she was no match for me and I quickly gained the upper hand in the situation. That was when I took her here and locked her up," James reasoned arrogantly.

"You could have just left her on her ship, Captain," Remus said.

"What is her father going to do when he finds out that his daughter is missing? Huh? Did you ever think of that. He is going to track us down and kill us so that he can get his daughter back. Lord Evans is rich. He will have the entire British Navy searching for his daughter."

James pondered over this and was now seriously regretting his decision to bring the girl over here. "Well, what's done is done. I suppose we will have to keep her here and try to sail as far away from here as possible," James said. The rest of the table continued eating in silence.

Lily looked around the room she was locked in. It was very small but it had a bed and a small bedside table. The girl had her wrists tied together in front of her so she was able to move them a little. She gathered her body up from the floor which she had just been thrown onto by the Captain. After Lily laid herself down on the bed, she tried to untie herself the same way she had done before. She found her hidden knife in her corset and cut the ropes with it. Then she headed over to the door, bracing herself for her escape. She used the thin knife to pick the lock and prepared to open the door when she heard someone speak.

"Here, Peter, I want you to stand guard of this girl here. Make sure she does not escape."

"Yes, sir," was the reply.

'Oh crap,' Lily thought. 'Now I won't be able to escape. I will be a prisoner on this ship forever. Oh God!' Lily panicked. 'What will happen to all of the people still on my father's ship? How will my father react when he finds out I am missing? What will happen to me on the this damn ship?'

Lily was shaking with fear as tears leaked out of her eyes. She weighed her options but could not find any that resulted in her still living so she concluded that for the time being, she would just have to wait.

Slowly, the time passed by and she began to hear the scattered footsteps of men on deck. Her fears heightened when she looked out her very small window and saw that the ship she was on was now moving away from her father's ship.

Lily was in hysterics as she pounded her hands on her pillow. She was leaving her life behind; her family, friends, wealth, freedom. There was nothing for her here on the ship. It promised tons of work and a possible death.

Lily was interrupted by her thoughts when there was a knock on the door. She heard the door creak open. She rubbed her puffy eyes and looked up. In the doorway was a short young man with dirty blonde hair. She stared at him as he scuttled into her cabin, carrying a tray of food.

"That's weird. The door was unlocked," he muttered to himself. The man set the platter down on her small table and spoke to her. "Miss, you are to eat this." He motioned towards the plate of what looked to Lily to be goop. Disgusted, Lily coughed. "Eat," the man commanded and then he left.

Lily stared at the plate. 'They cannot expect me to eat that. I will get more sick from eating that then if I don't eat at all.'

Lily picked up the spoon and smelt the stew. "Ewww." She held her nose as she swallowed. Lily had never tasted something so horrible in her life. She looked at the other stuff on her plate. There was a cup of water. She drank it. Then she saw a small piece of stale bread. She nibbled a bit on it. It tasted better than the soup and Lily was a little hungry.

As she finished eating, there was another knock on the door. This time, a man who Lily believed was the captain came in. He looked at her and then began to speak.

"Your name is Miss Evans, right?" He asked in a deep, anxious voice.

Lily nodded. "What is your name?"

James frowned a bit, seeing that she did not know he was captain. "I'm James Potter, captain of The Phoenix." The good looking young man looked around her room and saw her tray of food. "I see you didn't like the food much. No doubt in a few days time, you will be willing to eat just about anything." James shrugged and then continued. "You are very daring, trying to sneak up on me and kill me." Lily continued to remain silent. "Well, of course there are punishments for your action. You will have to work on this ship for the rest of your life and listen to everything that is asked of you. Do you understand?"

Lily turned her head around and began to cry as she listened to his harsh words. "And, you will address me as Captain. One last thing before you go, I order you to tell me how you managed to escape."

Shocked at this, Lily looked up and stared into James' hazel eyes. She refused to tell him her method of escaping otherwise she would never be able to try to escape the same way again. "Tell me," the captained ordered more fiercely. "You continue to disobey me. I'll know someday whether you tell me or I force it out of you," James huffed angrily. Then he stalked out of the room. Before he left though, he turned to the young girl. "Your work starts bright and early tomorrow up on deck. I will have someone get you in the morning." James smiled evilly.

A/N: Sorry about the long wait. I had a busy weekend. The next chapter will be up some time this week. It is about Lily's first day working and she becomes friends with Sirius and Remus.

Thanks for reading this story so far. Please review. I have been bombarded with reviews. They were all wonderful. Keep it up.