Titanic: a Harry Potter Fanfiction
Chapter One: Back to the Titanic
Authors note: So far I have a third of this story written in 2 days while working on Lost and Found as well. I just need to type it. I'm doing it long hand as I slowly go through the movie to make sure I don't miss any important details. I want to respect the nuisances in the plot as much as I can while adapting it to the Harry Potter universe and to a romance between two men. This was more difficult than I thought it would be but I have an excuse to watch my favorite movie over and over. Also I should mention that in this story Tom Riddle will be a pure blood.
Disclaimer: I am neither James Cameron or JK Rowling. As much as I love them both I'm nowhere near there caliber of greatness and fall before them in tears.
"He's a god damn liar. Some nut job seeking money or publicity. Like that muggle babe. Anesthesia." Dung says, following Gildory around the deck.
He was paying more attention to the inbound carriage than to his coworker. "Their inbound!" He calls, looking at the Pegasus drawn carriage approaching the deck.
"Severus Snape Prince died on board the Titanic when he was 17." Dung reasons. "If he had lived, he would be over 120."
"He'll be 121 next month." Lockhart confirms.
Dung only pauses for a second. "So he's a very old Merlin damned liar. Look, I know that wizards have lived longer, but for the most part that's pure bloods. Severus was a half blood. That's not common place for half bloods. But besides that, I've already done the background on this man all the way back to the twenties. When he was working as a reporter for a potions journal. A reporter. There's your first clue Sherlock. Then the public finds out he's gay and bottoms over. He and his lover have a kid. His career is dead then they move to Godric's Hallow where he punches out a few more kids. And last I hear Godric's Hallow is dead now too."
"And everyone who knows about the diamond is either bound with an unbreakable vow, dead, or on this ship but he knows!" Lockhart retorts.
The carriage lands on the deck and the deck hands start unloading multiple trunks and suitcases. "He doesn't exactly travel light does he?" Dung asks, voice dripping with sarcasm. Gildory ignores him in favor of the passengers.
"Mr. Black." Gildory says, helping lower the man in his wheel chair onto the deck. "I'm Gildory Lockhart. Welcome aboard the Hogwarts." Once he's safely on deck, a pink haired young lady hops out of the carriage and she and Gildory help another elderly man out of the carriage. This man helped the other man to his feet and placed his hand around his waist, allowing him to lean on his shoulder. The love between the two of them was clearly visible. As a sailor leads them to their staterooms, someone hands Lockhart a kneezel. He can't help but be
There's a knock at the door as Severus sets up the photographs from his and his lover's life. They helped him remember. "Are your staterooms alright?" Lockhart asks, standing in the doorway with Dung.
"Their acceptable." Severus responds. "Have you met my husband Sirius? He takes care of me."
Dung and Lockhart exchange looks as Sirius rubs his thumb across Severus' cheek. "We met up on deck just a few minuets ago dear." He reminds him.
Severus shakes his head and smacks his forehead in frustration. Sirius pats his knee, doing his best to comfort him.
"Is there anything I can get for you? Anything you want?" Gildory offers.
"Yes." Severus says, dark eyes shining with clarity. "I would like to see my drawing."
Severus stood holding onto the counter, staring into the water the sketch was preserved in. As he looked Lockhart was going on and on about the diamond.
"Legend has it that the diamond was part of Ravenclaw's didim. It disappeared around the same time her daughter ran away and lost her ability to breathe. The way the story goes, the diamond was cut too. I tracked it down from an insurance claim settled with the Wizengamot under terms of absolute secrecy. Can you tell me who's claim it was Severus?"
"I should imagine someone one of the name Tom Riddle. I couldn't tell you wether it was junior or senior. When those two weren't fighting they quite nearly gave me cavities." Severus drawls, earning a few chuckles.
"That's right. Tom Marvalo Riddle Junior bought this necklace for his intended, you, the week before they sailed on the Titanic."
Nymphadora enters the conversation, looking between Severus and the drawing. "You really think this is you papa?"
"It is me dear! Wasn't I a dish? Besides, doesn't your son of a bitch grandfather sign all his drawings SOB?" He asks, pointing at the initials on the sketch.
"You see the date? April 14th 1912." Lockhart says. "Which means if your grandfather is who he says he is, he was wearing the diamond the day the Titanic sank." At this point he turns to Severus, giving him an overly whitened smile. "Which makes you my new best friend."
Severus had to turn away to keep from rolling his eyes at the man's dramatics. As he does, a table full of accessories catches his eye. He gasps mildly picking up a mirror.
"We recovered these from your staterooms." Lockhart explains as Severus runs a shaky finger along the handle with the utmost affection.
"This was mine." He says, grinning and turning it over to look into the reflective surface of the mirror that they had originally assumed had belonged to Eileen Prince. When he sees himself in the mirror, he remarks rather sadly, "The reflections changed some though." With that he puts the mirror down, and Sirius hands him a decorative hair comb that had a snake on it. That had belonged to Severus as well.
"Are you ready to go back to the Titanic Severus?" Lockhart asks.
"Okay here we go," says Dung, the enthusiasm in his voice nearly tangible. "She hits the burg on the starboard side. She bumps along, punching holes, kinda like morse code. Ping ping ping. Now as the water level rises, it spills over the water tight bulk heads, which unfortunately, don't go any higher than E deck. So as the bow goes down, the stern goes up, slow at first and then faster and faster until her whole ass is sticking up in the air. And this is a big ass. We're talking 20-30 thousand tons. And the hull isn't designed to deal with that kind of pressure." At this point Dung was talking with his hands and not relying on the animated recreation of the sinking.
"So what happens?" He asks, then goes on to answer his own question and illustrating the sinking with his hands. "She splits. Right down to the keel. And the stern falls back level. Then as the bow sinks it pulls the stern vertical, then finally detaches. Now the stern section just kinda bobs there like a pumice stone for a few minuets, floods, then finally goes down at about 2:20 am. 2 hours and 40 minuets after the collision." He didn't see the emotion in the eyes of the elderly men as he continued.
"The bow section planes away, landing about a half a mile away going about 30-40 knots when it hits the ocean floor." He chose this point to add some very distasteful side effects of the bow hitting the ground. Then he asks them, "Pretty cool eh?"
"Thank you for that fine forensic analysis, Mr. Fletcher." Severus drawls sarcastically.
"Of course the experience of it was somewhat different." Sirius adds, clutching Severus' hand.
"Would you share it with us?" Lockhart asks.
Severus stands, contemplating as he walked to a monitor displaying a recording of the wreckage as they explored it. Severus tears up, remembering the grandiose ship in spite of his struggles over the last few years.
"I'm taking him to rest." Sirius says as Severus becomes overwhelmed.
"No." Severus argues, shaking his head of pure white hair.
"Come on Sevvie." Sirius urges.
"I said no." He repeats, more firmly this time.
Lockhart sets up a dicta-quill with a never ending potion as Severus sits down again.
"It's been a hundred and four years." He says.
"That's okay. Just try to remember. Anything at all." Lockhart urges.
"Do you want to hear this or not Mr. Lockhart?" Severus asks, pinning him with one of his trademark glares.
"Now as I was saying. It's been one hundred and four years, and I can still remember the smell of the fresh paint. The China had never been used. The sheets had never been slept on. The Titanic was called the ship of dreams. And it was. It really was."
The pier was packed as passengers boarded the grand ship and cargo was loaded into the hold, a large crane even hoisted a carriage onto the deck. The volume was loud as a sports stadium, with hundreds of people talking, wether they were doing their jobs, saying goodbye to their family, or admiring the grand ship in the harbor.
It was to this scene a white carriage pulled up with the crest of the Riddle Family emblazoned on the door. It was being pulled by unicorns, showcasing the wealth of Lord Riddle. When the carriage came to the stop, the driver climbs down from his seat and to the door, opening it and offering his hand to the occupant of the carriage.
A youth of about 17, clad in a black hooded cloak with golden embroidery, takes his hand and steps out of the carriage, dark eyes not betraying just how little he was impressed.
As the youth stood on the pier near the dock, Bellatrix opened the door for her employer, Tom Marvalo Riddle, heir to the Riddle name, Gaunt name, and Slytherin name. Tom had chosen Bellatrix as his own personal servant because she was cruel, ruthless and cunning. She assists her employer in exiting the carriage, and he stands beside the hooded young man.
"I don't see what all the fuss is about." Says the hooded one. "It doesn't look any bigger than the Durmstrange." With that he turns his perfect nose to the air rather haughtily. Tom had insisted on having it fixed to his liking before he allowed the engagement to happen, much to the displeasure of the man who was 15 years his junior. He had no choice in the matter of the surgery or the engagement.
"You can be flippant about some things Severus," says his companion, burgundy eyes twinkling, not a hair out of place, and not a wrinkle in sight on his green silk robes, "but you can't be flippant about Titanic. It's over 100 feet longer than The Durmstrange. And far more luxurious."
As he says it he turns to the other occupant of the carriage. None other than Eileen Prince. Severus's mother. "Your son is far too difficult to impress Eileen." He says, offering his hand so she could step out.
The women, dressed in fine black robes and a fur cloak steps out, offering a polite laugh at the joke, but her eyes were on the ship. "So this is the ship they say is unsinkable." She was fashionably skeptical.
"It is unsinkable. Salzar Slytherin himself could not sink this ship!" He says quite enthusiastically, doing his best to tune out the customs officer trying to get his attention.
"Sir! Sir!" He says, standing behind him. "You'll have to check your baggage at the main terminal around front."
Tom turns to him and presses a few galleons into his hand. "I leave it in your capable hands. Talk to my assistant." By that he meant Bellatrix.
"Yes sir." He says, impressed with the sum in his hand. "Right away sir. If there's anything else I can do for you. Anything at all." As he continued trying to kiss ass, Tom had already begun walking away, leaving him in the capable hands of Bellatrix Black.
She was decidedly less polite, grabbing him by the scruff of the neck and directing him to the luggage quite forcefully. "All the trunks from this carriage, 12 suitcases and the safe go to rooms B 52, 54 and 56." She says, her tone making him want to finish the job quickly.
Further up the pier, toward the dock, a whistle blows, urging people to hurry up and board.
"Ladies," Tom says in an emasculating way that caused Severus to resent hum. "We had better hurry.
They make their way to the gangway and Severus turns to his maid. "My travel cloak?" He asks. He didn't want to leave that behind. It was expensive.
"I have it right here." She says, holding it up as they boarded, following behind the group as they made their way up, passing the inspection cue for the third class passengers before being graciously welcomed aboard.
"It was the ship of dreams," the elderly Severus explains to the crew aboard the Hogwarts, "to everyone but me. To me it was a slave ship, taking me back to Europe in binding spells. On the outside, I was everything a submissive pureblooded wizard should be. On the inside though, I was shrieking."
At this point he hands the tale over to Sirius, to explain how he got on board.
A young man with sharp grey eyes and curly black hair was sitting at the table in a cheep pub, looking at the cards he has dealt in a hand of poker. He puffed on his cigarette as his companion and best friend, an Irishman named Remus Lupin, turned to him.
"Sirius your a bastard. You bet everything we have." He says irritably.
"When you don't have nothing you don't got nothing to loose." He returns sharply as the men they were playing against conversed in a language he didn't understand. At times it sounded like German, other times it sounded like French.
Of course, he didn't know what he was saying when the man turned to his brother and told him how much of an idiot he was, and that he couldn't believe that he had bet their tickets on board the Titanic.
He turns to the one being called an idiot. It was his turn to draw if he wanted to try for a better hand. "Gideon?" Sirius asks.
Gideon hands him a card, and Sirius in return, hands him one from the deck.
Now it was his turn to draw if he so desired, and he lays one card down before picking one up from the top of the deck. His eyes widen a touch as he adds it to his hand, but he quickly schools his expression. A game of poker, after all, called for one to have a good poker face.
"Okay. Moment of truth." He says, ashing his cigarette into the tray. "Someone's life is about to change."
He turns to his companion. "Remus?" He asks.
The lad lies down his hand. "Nothing." He says.
Sirius turns to the opposition at this point. "Fabian?" He asks.
Fabian lies down his hand. A complete bust.
He turns to Gideon, the man's brother.
With complete confidence he lies his hand down. The expression on his face was rather smug.
"Uh-oh. Two pair." He says, turning to his companion. "Remus I'm sorry."
Remus starts swearing at him in Irish Gallic, leaning over the table. All Sirius understood was that he said something about his mother.
"Remus I'm sorry okay? But your not goanna see your mother for a long time because your going back to the UK!" He slams his cards down at this point with a cocky grin. "Full house boys!"
Remus and Sirius share a quick hug, then let our whoops of celebration for their victory. Sirius goes to collect their winnings and Fabian grabs him by the front of his shirt, holds up a fist, and Sirius flinches, looking away. Instead of hitting him though, Fabian turns to his brother, punching him so hard he fell to the floor, eliciting peels of laughter from the patrons of the pub.
Remus was beaming though. "I'm going home!" He says ecstatically. "I'm going back to Ireland!"
The bartender looks up at him from drying a glass. "No mate. The Titanic is going to the UK. In 5 minuets."
The pair look at each other and pack their winnings and are out the door faster than you can say "accio".
"We're riding in high style now! A couple of regular swells!" Sirius says as he and Remus run through the streets. "Practically pureblood nobility!" He says, nearly running into a horse drawn carriage. The whole time Remus was shouting at him in Irish Gallic.
"Your a bastard, you know that?" Asks the blonde.
"Maybe." Sirius agrees with a good natured grin. "But I've got the tickets!"
They kept running, reached the gangway, and shouted at the crew to wait.
"We're passengers." He explains, handing the man their tickets.
"Have have you been through the inspection cue?" Asks the sailor.
"Of course." Says Sirius, offering a charming smile. "Besides, we don't have Lycanthropy. We're British. Both of us."
The sailor looks at Remus and the scars on his face skeptically, but realizes the full moon was three days ago, and even if the lad was infected, he was no danger. With that, he makes up his mind.
"All right. Come aboard." He says, and none too soon, because they had to hop to get on board.
As they tear through the hall, Sirius turns to Remus excitedly. "We're the luckiest sons of banshees in the world, you know that?"
They quickly make their way to the deck and start waving goodbye to the crowd. At least Sirius does. "Do you know someone?" Remus asks.
"Nope, but that's not the point. Look at that cutie." Sirius says with a grin.
Remus rolls his eyes at his friend's antics, but joins in the goodbyes as well as a tugboat pulls the ship out of the harbor. It was too big to make the sharp turns. As soon as the crowd is out of sight, they head below deck to find their room. It was number 360.
"Hey how you doing? I'm Sirius." He says, opening the door and introducing himself to their room mates while Remus takes the top bunk.
This caused some protest from Sirius. "Who says you get top bunk?" He asks.
In the unknown language, his room mate turns to his bunk mate. "Where's Gideon?"
"This is your privet deck sir." A cabin boy informs Tom Riddle, who was currently looking out the window and on his second glass of fire whiskey. "Shall you be requiring anything?" Tom shook his head disinterestedly while Severus and his maid were talking about what paintings to hang in the parlor.
"This one?" The young lady asks.
Severus shakes his head and she puts down the painting of the black mass. "No." He says, pulling his hood down. "It had a man being eaten by a Titan on it."
The maid looks bewildered but goes on to ask, "Would you like them all out sir?"
"Yes. This room is far too cheery for my taste." Severus responds as Tom walks back into the parlor.
"Merlin's balls Severus! Not those bloody finger paintings again." Tom says with a laugh as Bellatrix directs where to put the luggage. "They certainly were a waste of money." He takes another sip of his fire whiskey.
Severus turns to his maid and pointedly ignored his intended. "The difference between Tom's taste and mine," he says, not bothering to disguise the fact he was about to snub him. "Is that I actually have taste."
He sets one of the paintings on the couch. "Their fascinating. Like using Legilimency to discover someone's worst nightmares." He says.
"What's the artist's name?" The maid asks, ignoring Tom as well.
"Something Goya I think." Severus answers.
Bellatrix directs the cabin boy to put the safe in the wardrobe as tom finishes off his glass.
"Something Goya? He won't amount to anything. Trust me." He says confidently. The maid and Severus ignore him. Instead, they go to hang the picture of the Titan eating a man in the bedroom.
Notes: so I know that there isn't much action or romance yet. Please bear with me. The set up in the beginning needs to be done with isn't as much as I would love to skip to, "I want you to draw me like one of your French girls Black."
Also I'm going to make Sirius survive. I couldn't bear to sink my own ship. Man this story is just begging for shipping puns.
Also I know the writing style is different from what I normally do. I hate using a cinematic style. The paragraphs look incomplete to me. But since it's a movie adaptation it's really the best option. Let me know what you think.
-flyingsquirrel527