Titanic: A Harry Potter Fanfiction
Chapter Two: First Meeting
Authors note: I would like to explain why the locations have changed in this story since its been pointed out to me and I don't want to ruin the story any more than I already have. I know the Titanic left from Southhampton, France, stopped in Cherbourg Ireland, then set sail with New York as a destination. The problem this posed for me was with the plot of the story, Rose was reluctantly returning home, and that was a huge part of her emotions. The dread and loathing. This would also be what Severus was feeling. Severus was British though. This left me with two choices: Changing the upbringing that made Severus the self conscious half blood from a strict society or changing the locations.
Since most of the story takes place at sea, my decision on what to change was the locations. I wanted to keep Severus' personal canon to respect the integrity of his character, especially with relation to the plot. With this in mind, I specifically chose New York as the port for her to make birth from because of the different cultures there. That way it would be believable for the patrons of the pub to be speaking different languages and for Remus to be there. I.e. The Irish quarters. I.e. An area my ancestors would have lived when they immigrated to the states much like the people on the titanic. I.e. My reason for making these changes was based in historical accuracy.
As per the river Thames being too shallow for the titanic to get to London, I was planning on explaining this later in the story, but I'll put an explanation here as well, along with a spoiler alert. The Titanic, in this story, would have an enchantment on it that's sustained by wards on her hull when it's active. This enchantment would allow vessels to warp in order to fit into smaller bodies of water. Kind of like the knight bus. This wouldn't work on the ice burg though because it would take too long to warp such a large boat by the time they spotted the iceberg. The spatial magic would typically be applied before entering the Thames, but it wouldn't be sustained full time because it would require a lot of magic. That's why it wasn't active when she hit the burg, though the crew would have been trying to activate it.
"At Boston, a women came aboard named Margret Weasley." Severus says, the crew of the Hogwarts hanging on his every word. "We all called her Molly. History would call her The Unsinkable Molly Weasley. Her husband was the head of the new Muggle Artifacts department in the British Ministry of Magic. She was what mother called a blood traitor."
"Well I wasn't about to wait all day for you Sonny." Says Molly, handing the cabin boy a small travel case in addition to the rest of her luggage. "Here. Think you can levitate all that?" She asks.
"Yes ma'am." He answers, casting a simple Wingardium Leviosa to move her belongings to the lifts and take them to her staterooms.
Severus and Eileen passed her on their way to dinner. Eileen made it a point not to look at her.
"By the next afternoon," Sirius says, "We left the east coast to sail toward Europe. Nothing was out ahead of us but ocean."
"Take her to sea Mr. Quirrel." Says the captain of the ship, Albus Dumbledore, to his first mate.
"Yes sir." He replies, walking to the bridge. "Pull ahead full Mr. Fudge." He orders. Mr. Fudge pulls the leaver that signaled the engine crew to run at full capacity.
The crew below deck starts turning valves to control the pressure of the steam and laborers in the boiler room shovel coal into the boilers to generate the heat necessary to create that steam.
This team effort resulted in the ship surging forward as Sirius and Remus ran onto the bow section of the deck, looking over the rail into the blue depths of the ocean beneath them.
Seagulls flew about as everyone went about their business and duties. This includes Mr. Fudge who walked up to Captain Dumbledore. "21 knots sir." He says, stating their speed. Albus grins, looking at the ship over the bridge, admiring what man kind could do.
Meanwhile Remus and Sirius were still at the bow, admiring what Mother Nature could do. "Hey look!" Sirius says excitedly, pointing out a pod of dolphins to Remus.
"See it?" He asks, practically dancing. "Look at them jump!" By now he was leaning over the rails excitedly.
"I can see Big Ben already." Remus jokes, smiling at the feeling of the wind in his hair. "He's very small of course."
Sirius steps up on the rails. "I'M KING OF THE WORLD!" He screams. They both let out whoops and howls of celebration, the wind turning their cheeks red.
At the same time the first class passengers were having a parlor style lunch. Today, in addition to his mother and his suitor, Severus found himself in the company of Lucius Malfoy, the owner of the ship, Kingsly Shacklebot, who designed it, and Molly Weasley.
"She's the largest moving object ever built by the hand of man." Malfoy says with a proud grin on his aristocratic features. "And our master ship builder, Mr. Shacklebot, designed her from the keel plates up."
"Well I may have put her together." Kingsly says modestly. "But the idea was Mr. Malfoy's. He envisioned a steamer so luxurious, so grand in scale, that her supremacy would never be challenged." At this point he pats the top of the table with a decidedly less modest smile, but it lacked the self assured pride that Malfoy oozed. "And here she is. Willed into solid reality."
Severus was largely uninterested as the waiter came by to take everyone's orders. He puts a cigarette in the holding tube, places the tip between his lips, and lighting the tip, savoring the clove flavor.
Eileen leans over to speak to her son. "You know I don't like that Severus." She whispers loud enough for everyone to hear. Severus was annoyed by her attempts to embarrass him, and dignifies her with a response of blowing his smoke into her face.
"He knows." Tom says, taking the cigarette from the holder and smashing it out into the ash tray. By this time the waiter made it to Tom, and to his further embarrassment, he orders without giving Severus any input. "We'll both take the duck. Rare with extra orange sauce."
He turns to Severus, only as an afterthought. "You like that don't you baby cakes?"
Severus resented the nickname and does his best to hold his tongue. All he could manage was a stiff nod.
"You goanna cut his meat for him too Tom?" Molly asks, clearly unimpressed at the controlling hand tom was demonstrating, and the efforts to debase the young man as a form of punishment. Turning away from Riddle, she directs the attention elsewhere. "So, who thought of the name Titanic? Was it you Lucius?"
"It was me actually." Lucius replies with a self assured grin. "I wanted it to convey sheer size. Size means stability, luxury, and above all, strength." He was quite proud as he elaborated.
Severus suppresses a wicked grin. If his mother and Fiancé wanted to embarrass him, well two, or in this case three could play that game. Severus however, could play this game much better, and Mr. Malfoy had just set him up perfectly.
"Do you know of Dr. Freud Mr. Malfoy?" He asks, a smirk on his face like a cat who just ate the canary as he went in for the kill. "His ideas on the male preoccupation with size might be of particular interest to you."
Molly and Kingsly both snickered before they could stop themselves. Kingsly had caught onto Severus' little game, and had to say he had won. Malfoy looked shocked at the implications of his statement. Tom and Eileen were both mortified.
Eileen leans over and asks, "What in Merlin's name has gotten into you?"
Malfoy was standing up at this point to go give Severus a piece of his mind. Before he could though, Severus walked away, pointedly ignoring both his mother and Lucius, who had no choice but take his seat, otherwise he would look a fool.
"I do apologize." Eileen says, more embarrassed by her son's behavior than he had been by her and Tom's combined efforts.
"He's a fiery one Tom. Hope you can handle him." Molly says with an amused smile.
"Well, I suppose I'll have to start overseeing his studies from now on wont I Mrs. Weasley?" Tom asks, very angry with Severus over this little display. He would be having a lovely little conversation with him about his behavior later.
"Freud, who is he?" Malfoy asks, cutting into his salmon. "Is he a pureblood?"
"No." Tom sneers I'm disgust. "He's a muggle." He practically spits the last word. Lucius, Tom and Eileen all looked properly scandalized.
Back on the deck, Sirius was drawing. It was full of people at this point, who had decided that the stale air below deck was worse than the salty air above. Sirius had chosen, out of all the people on deck, to draw a father holding his daughter as she stood joyfully on the rail, while her father explained to her about the propellers and the enchantments on them.
He was only half listening to Remus' conversation with another passenger at this point. "The ship is nice aye?" He asks.
"Obviously." Says the bespectacled youth with a cocky grin. "She's from Massachusetts."
"I thought she was from New York." The confused werewolf says.
"She was built in Boston though. By 1500 muggle borns and half bloods. With thousands more wards, charms and enchantments all over the ship. She's solid as a rock." Says the lad, taking a drag off his cigarette as several first class passengers bring their canine familiars to their deck. "Now that's just typical. Pureblood's dogs come down here to shit."
Sirius barks out a laugh at that, not able to look past the humor of that, being a disowned pureblood who's name meant dog. In typical Sirius fashion he says, "Eh it just lets us know where we fall in the social pecking order."
"As if we could forget?" He asks, taking another hit off his cigarette and holding out his hand. "I'm James Potter."
"Sirius Black." He responds, shaking his hand.
"Remus Lupin." His companion says, doing the same.
"Do you make any money with your drawings?" James asks.
Sirius didn't hear him though. One of the upper decks, which was a first class area only, was currently occupied by a gorgeous young wizard.
He had dark hair and equally dark eyes. His skin was as pale as the aforementioned features were dark. He had a tragically melancholic expression on his face and his nose was perhaps too perfect, as though it had been worked on by a mediwitch. (It was at Tom and his mother's insistence.)
He had delicate hands with long fingers, and was dressed in robes of fine black and Royal blue silk. His figure was slender and graceful. In addition to his naturally small frame, he was dressed rather flamboyantly, and Sirius wouldn't be surprised if he looked even more delicate because some pureblooded snake insisted that he wear a corset under his dress robes.
Most would think his hair was greasy, despite the care that went into having it meticulously smoothed down and properly tamed. With the keen eye of an artist, Sirius was able to tell that it wasn't grease at all, but it was very shiny.
James turns in the direction he's looking and shakes his head. "Forget about it." There was a jovial grin on his face. "Your about as likely to have unicorns fly out your ass as you are to get with him."
Sirius still couldn't stop staring and Remus waved a hand in front of his face, laughing at the absurdity.
Being gay wasn't a big deal in the wizarding world. There were still stigmas against the submissive members of gay unions, but last year, in 1911, a law had been passed that legalized the bonding between magical persons of the same sex. It was directly on the back of the invention of a potion that allowed two men to produce a child, which was important given the patriarchal nature of pureblood European wizarding society. Producing an heir to carry on the family name was important in their society, so it was only after the youngest potion master in the United Kingdom invented such a potion that the ministry caved to the pressure, but they didn't give the same rights to those who would be taking the potion to produce an heir the same rights as their husbands were given.
But all politics aside, Sirius was free to stare at the beautiful wizard in front of him. It wasn't like he would be hung like some muggle. Sure there were still those who didn't like it, but being openly gay wasn't a death sentence.
The lovely man was there for less than a minuet though before being joined by another wizard who had burgundy eyes, short, neat dark hair, and marginally darker skin. He was dressed in business style pinstriped roved and didn't look too happy with the smaller man as he grabbed him by the elbow.
Sirius could only just make out their conversation, and it was rather troublesome.
"Go back inside." The burgundy eyed man practically hissed.
"Do you mind?" The man in the fine silks huffed indignantly, walking toward the door to the ship interior.
"I hope your proud of yourself." His companion spits angrily.
"I saw my whole life," the elderly Severus explains to the crew, their eyes focused on him intently and Sirius grasping his hand. "As though I already lived it. An endless parade or parties and politics, mindless chatter and quidditch matches. Always the same pureblood crowd. The same bigoted ideology that was spewed around as though my heritage was forgotten. I felt like I was standing at the edge of a great chasm with nobody to pull me back. Nobody who cared."
Severus ran across the deck, tears streaming down his face and sobbing loudly. He was quite the sight, dressed in fine green and black dress robes, fitting for one of his station, but a hysterical mess that was quite improper. He turned more than a few heads, especially the ones of the people he had run into.
He ran from the mid deck to the stern, which was as far as he knew, abandoned at this hour. Such was not the case. He hadn't noticed omelet in flannel coat, brown shirt and vest, and kaki pants lying on one of the benched, looking up at the stars as he smoked a cigarette.
With the thought he was alone, he climbed the rails after only a moment's contemplation, turning so that he was looking offer the sea. He leans forward, about to let go when a voice disturbs him.
"Don't do it!" Says a boy Severus had never seen before. He had grey eyes and curly black hair. "Give me your hand. I'll pull you back over."
"Get back. I'll jump." Severus hisses, starting to rethink his idea.
Sirius shakes his head. "No you won't." He was still moving closer to the distraught lad on the back of the boat.
This put some fighting spirit back in Severus, though at this point he was more petulant than anything. "What do you mean I won't you dunderheaded Neanderthal? You don't know me, nor do you have control of the choices I make."
"Well," Sirius says, "You would have jumped by now."
"I obviously didn't plan on having an audience." He growls, glaring at the other man with a teary face. "Leave!"
"I can't. I'm a part of this now." He says, taking off his jacket. "If you let go I'm goanna have to jump in there after you."
"Don't be ridiculous. You would be killed." The dark eyed man spits.
"I'm a good swimmer." Sirius rebutted, unlacing his shoes.
"A jump from this height alone would do it." He growls.
"It would hurt. Not saying it wouldn't. But I'm more concerned with that water being so cold." He explains.
Severus was really having second thoughts now, realizing it wouldn't be the quick death he had hoped for. "How cold?" He asks.
"Zero, maybe one degree Celsius." He says, pulling his shoes off at this point. "Ever been to the high lands?" He asks.
"What?" Severus asks, rather affronted. He was hanging off the back of a bloody ship for Merlin's sake. He didn't want to make small talk about touring the United Kingdom.
"Well they have some of the coldest winters in the United Kingdom. My family had a winter home there near Loch Ness. One year my brother got sick and my father and I had to hunt ice newts for a fever potion. To harvest ice newts you_."
Severus cuts him off. "I know how to harvest ice newts! I'm the youngest person ever to earn their potions mastery in the whole bloody United Kingdom!"
"Sorry." Sirius says, holding up his hands and coming closer. "I had no idea you held such an accomplishment. Like you said, you are young. And you look more erm... Like a kept man."
Severus looks out over the water. He couldn't argue with the fact that his appearance did little to scream of his accomplishments, and if it was up to his fiancé, which it was, a kept man was exactly what he would be.
"Anyway," Sirius continues, "I ended up falling through the ice. So let me tell you, water that cold, like right down there, hits you like the crutiatas curse. You can't breathe. You can't think. At least not about anything but the pain. There's why I'm not looking forward to jumping in there after you. But I don't have a choice." He says, taking off his vest. "I guess I'm hoping you'll get me off the hook"
"Your mad." Severus hisses.
"That's what everyone says, but all due respect, I'm not the one hanging off the back of a ship."
Severus snorts. He could always appreciate a witty remark. Even in this situation. Even if such a sentiment was absurd.
"Now give me your hand. He instructs, reaching out to him. "You don't want to do this."
Severus hesitantly takes it, turning around, finally getting a good look at the man talking to him. He had a very handsome face with stormy grey eyes and hair as dark as wet ink. His face was youthful, yet rugged and his teeth were a beautiful pearly white. "I'm Sirius Black." He says, firmly grasping his hand.
"Severus Tobias Snape Prince." Severus returns.
"I may need you to write that one down." He jokes, holding onto him in a steadying way. "Come on. I've got you." He says as Severus starts climbing onto the rail. But low and behold, he steps on the hem of his dress robes, only to feel him self slipping. He lets out a blood curdling scream.
Authors note: so leave a comment letting me know what you think. Please be warned though, I'm really sensitive and I'm not exactly confident in my writing. If you have a suggestion on how to improve this, please word how I could do so in a kind way. I'm not goanna lie, if I get a flame review it takes me hours to debate over wether my story is bad, wether my writing sucks, or it just wasn't that person's cup of tea. So that being said, I guess I'll use flames to burn down the houses of my enemies and fuel my chronic case of the snark.