The Captain
“WHAT!” Mary yelled. This cannot be happening to her right now. She was almost out completely and now she is stuck on a pirate ship, who’s captain is the pretty girl from her birthday ball. Mary hardly believes any of this is real.
“As I said, you are staying on The Phoenix, one of the most infamous pirate ships on the seven seas. Now let’s go to my quarters so we can discuss what will happen, princess.” The captain walks right up to Mary and whispers the final word in her ear. Mary shivers and begins to follow her when she hears Pandora's sobs and stops.
Pandora is now curled up in a ball on the deck of the ship and looks so small. Mary immediately rushes over and holds her in her arms again. Mary holds back her own tears as she whispers reassurances in her ear.
They stay like that for a minute until someone clears their voice behind them. Mary looks over and sees the black woman from earlier named Dorcas standing above them. “The captain demands your presence in her quarters at once.” She stands there and waits for them to stand up, before swiftly leading them to the office.
Dorcas opens the door and beckons them inside of the room. It’s an extravagant room with large windows on the opposite side of the room with a large desk in front of it that the captain is seated at, writing on a piece of parchment.
She looks up when they enter and gives Mary a small smirk before saying, “Thank you Dorcas for bringing them to me. You may stand guard outside of the door.” Dorcas nods her head and swiftly exits the room.
The door creaks shut when it’s closed, leaving Mary and Pandora alone with the captain.
“Sit, we have much to discuss.” The captain says with a smile and points to the two chairs sitting on the opposite side of the desk the captain is sitting at. Mary leads Pandora over to the chairs before sitting down herself.
“I think we should start with the obvious. Mary you are the Princess and are running away from the kingdom.” The captain says bluntly. “That means that if we are caught I will be arrested and most likely executed for helping you escape.”
Mary sits there stunned, she searches her mind for something to say to the captain. “Ok, then we don’t get caught.” Mary says like it’s obvious. They are already out of the harbor and in the open ocean, if they keep going and don’t stop they will make it to another kingdom and then drop them off without anyone finding out who brought them there.
The captain stays silent for a moment before quietly laughing to herself. “I like how you think, Princess. Ok you can stay on the ship with us in disguise, no more of those extravagant dresses you need to dress and act like a pirate for as long as you are on board.”
“Thank you so much captain, I am indebted to you.” Mary quickly says, “So where will me and Pandora be staying while on board.”
The captain guffaws and says “You are quite the comedian Princess, when I said you had to act like a pirate I meant it. You two will be staying with the rest of the crew below deck during your journey. I’ll have Dorcas bring you there as soon as you leave my quarters.”
Mary remains quiet as she tries to convince herself that it isn’t that bad and that it could be worse.
“Do you have any last questions before I have Dorcas escort you below the ship?” The captain asks.
Mary begins to ask her why she was at her birthday ball when the captain calls Dorcas in. “Bring them to their cots below deck.”
Dorcas nods “Yes captain.” She then ushers Mary and Pandora out of the room and back onto the deck, before leading them down below the ship to their bunks.
Dorcas stops in front of two empty cots and turns to them, “This is where you will be staying.” She swiftly walks out of the room leaving Pandora and Mary.
They stand there in silence for a few moments before Pandora collapses onto the bed “Mary what have we done?”
Mary, confused, sits down next to her “What do you mean Pandora?” Mary brushes her fingers through Pandora's hair, soothing her.
Pandora sits up and starts to speak with tears in her eyes “We are stuck on a pirate ship Mary. We have no idea if they will stick to their word or not. They could turn us in for a reward if they wanted to and just say they found us, then you’ll be forced to marry a man and I will be arrested or executed.” Pandora is balling by the end and Mary takes her in her arms and holds her to her chest making her promises that she knows she likely can’t keep.
———————————————
Lily’s mind is racing. The princess is on her ship, the same princess that she danced with only days prior. The one she was supposed to have killed.
It’s the reason she was there that night. She had been hired by an anonymous pirate to kill the princess Mary Macdonald, Lily didn’t know why they wanted her dead, but she wanted some extra money without having to take a ship captive, so she took the deal.
She stole a green dress and snuck into the ball, with a secret knife hidden on her calf that she planned on using to kill her. She arrived before the princess came in so she waited around for a while before she heard trumpets from the grand staircase announcing her arrival.
Lily stared over at the stairs preparing for the perfect opportunity to throw her knife, when she saw Mary for the first time and suddenly Lily could not bring herself to kill her. She was wearing a gorgeous pink dress with her hair done beautifully. She was the most beautiful woman Lily had ever seen before. Lily then found herself wanting to protect her from harm instead of causing it.
For the rest of the night Lily took stolen glances at Mary when she thought she wouldn’t notice. Lily was about to leave the hall when she watched Mary walk over to her and ask her for a dance. Lily knew that the only answer she could give her was yes.
Dancing with Mary was the most amazing thing she had ever done in her entire life, and Lily had done some amazing things. It felt like she was floating on air, and she was able to get a very good look at her face, which was even more beautiful up close. Her striking amber eyes were the most notable thing about her. She looked like a carving of an ancient Greek goddess that belonged in a museum for the whole world to admire.
The song ended much too quickly and Lily needed to leave before she accidentally asked Mary to run away with her, because that would be ridiculous and unwise considering she is a pirate captain and Mary is a princess. She tries to run but Mary caught her wrist and begged her to tell her Lily's name, and apparently Lily is a weak, weak person because she caved and tells her her first name before rushing out of the palace, back to her boat.
When she was back on board Remus immediately knew something was up and questioned her until she gave in and told him she didn’t kill the princess and was falling in love with her already. Remus had laughed at her and called her crazy, but Lily knew she wasn’t, not yet at least.
Back in the present, Lily is pacing her quarters waiting for Dorcas to come back so she can rant to her about Mary and how she is positive she hates her now. She does feel bad for the young girl with Mary, who was obviously not happy to be on a pirate ship. Lily thought that something about her looked familiar but she couldn’t think of why, so she pushed it to the back of her brain and focused on more important things, like making Mary not hate her.
Five minutes later Dorcas knocks on her dorr and Lily lets her in. “Lily.” Is all Dorcas says.
Lily sighs “I know Dorcas, trust me I know.”
Dorcas shakes her head disapprovingly “Lily we have the princess on board our ship, this isn’t safe for us or our quest.” Dorcas reminded her.
Right, their quest to defeat the Dark Lord, Voldemort, captain of the Serpent, a ship that used to be a part of the order of the pirates but left hundreds of years ago because of differing opinions on pirating.
While sailing around some local islands around two years ago Sirius, while searching one of the islands, found a member of Voldemort's crew that he recognized. He brought them back to the ship and he told Lily everything. He told her about Voldemort’s horcruxes and how he had split his soul into seven objects that were scattered around the world. The man hadn’t agreed with this so he escaped to try and destroy them himself, but got stranded on an island instead.
Lily had Dorcas kill the man afterwards as a precaution, but since that day they have been searching for the Horcruxes and so far they have found none. The only reason Lily hasn’t given up yet is because she hates Voldemort more than anyone in the world and she wants to be the one to take him out of it.
“Don’t worry Dorcas,” Lily says firmly “She will only be on board for a week or two at most. I won’t let her distract me.”
If only Lily knew how then how wrong she would be.