Padfoot and Prongs
After dinner that night, Mary and Pandora went back to their cots and talked in hushed voices for hours, laughing softly when Pandora made jokes about Mary crushing on Lily until they fell asleep intertwined on Mary’s cot.
When they woke up the next morning they went to the captain's quarters for breakfast, just as they had promised Lily the night before. When Mary walked inside Lily looked up from the map she was staring at intensely and her expression softened to one that Mary thinks could be fondness if it wasn’t for the scowl lines still slightly visible on her face.
Mary and Pandora took their seats at her desk and said their greetings as Lily put the map on her desk away. Lily called Effie in and within under a minute a stack of warm pancakes sat in front of Mary on the desk, along with a kettle of black tea. They all said their thanks before eating their food.
Unlike last time though, Lily asked them questions and they gladly answered them, preferring it to the awkward silence that it could have been.
“So Mary, what are you going to do once we drop you off?” Lily asks while pouring herself a cup of tea.
Mary thinks for a few moments. She had never really thought about what she would do afterwards. “I suppose I’ll have to stay in hiding for the rest of my life so that my father cannot find me, so I’ll probably move to the countryside and live out my days in a cottage.”
“That sounds wonderful Mary, well besides having to hide for the rest of your life.” Lily smiles and Mary’s heart stutters. Lily is truly the most beautiful person Mary has ever seen.
The meal continues on and they make pleasant small talk but Mary’s mind is still focused on Lily's smile and the way it lit up her whole face.
When they are done with breakfast, Mary and Pandora say their goodbyes and start to head back to their cots. On their way there though, a brown man with untamable hair, round glasses sliding off of his nose, and a big goofy grin, runs up to them and stops them in their tracks.
“Are you Mary?” He asks like an excited toddler.
“Yes,”
Somehow his grin gets even bigger to the point that Mary wonders if his face will split open if it gets any wider.
“I’ve been dying to meet you since you came on board, I was going to introduce myself that first day but I thought you might need some space, but then you didn’t leave your bed for days so I figured I shouldn’t disturb you.” He says faster than she knew possible. “Padfoot over there thought I should go up to you while you were still outside, so here I am.” He points at a man who is standing over at the side of the boat with a cigarette dangling precariously out of the corner of his mouth. Mary instantly wants to be friends with this man.
“What is your name?” She asks the outgoing man.
“Oh I forgot to introduce myself, I’m James, James Potter.” He says. “If you want I could introduce you to a few other crew members?” He says it so kindly that Mary can’t bring herself to say no to him.
He leads them over to where Padfoot is still standing by the side of the boat. He turns around to look at them, and he gives them a smile and introduces himself as Sirius.
“Sirius? But James said your name is Padfoot?” Pandora queries. Sirius looks over at James and rolls his eyes.
“My name is Sirius, Padfoot is just the nickname James gave me when I first joined the crew.” He explains. Mary can already tell she’s going to like these two.
James then grabs Sirius’s arm and starts dragging him while shouting at Mary and Pandora to follow him. Before Mary even has the chance, Pandora is grabbing her hand and pulling Mary towards the two boys who are already up at the wheel of the ship.
James points out objects and tells Mary what they are and what they do, and Mary really tries to pay attention, really, but when Lily walks out onto the deck everything else around her turns to a quiet hum.
She watches her every movement, gaze latched onto her and unwilling to let go. Almost as if she can feel her gaze, Lily turns around and meets Mary’s eyes. Mary lets out a silent gasp, because she swears Lily can read her mind, finding her way into every nook and cranny inside her head, filling it with only her.
A sudden snapping sound and a hand in her face brings her out of whatever she was doing with Lily. She looks over to whoever’s hand it belongs to and finds herself face to face with Sirius.
“Come on, James wants to bring you up to the crows nest…” He trails off at the end of the sentence when he sees who she is staring at. He stays silent for a moment before laughing.
“Oh Mary, trust me, you don’t want to go down whatever road that is going to lead you too. As they say the captain is married to their ship, and so is she.”
Mary stays quiet as she takes in his words. She’s always known that logically nothing was ever going to happen between them for glaringly obvious reasons, but it still hurts nonetheless.
“I know Sirius, trust me I know I don’t.” She says shakily before asking him to bring her to the crows nest where James and Pandora are waiting, talking about something excitedly. As soon as they spot them though they stop their conversation and wave them over.
James climbs up the flimsy rope ladder to the crows nest first so Mary and Pandora can see exactly how they should do it. Mary goes next and as she clings to the rope and starts making her way up she has to force herself to not look down and see how high up she is, instead she focuses on James, who is waiting for her in the nest.
When she reaches the top, James grabs her hand and yanks her up and into the nest. Mary flops down against the pole in the small space for a minute to catch her breath and wait for the others to climb up. Pandora came up next and then Sirius after her.
“Woah” Pandora breathes out so quietly that it’s almost lost in the wind. Mary looks up at her from where she is sitting on the ground to see Pandora staring out at the ocean.
Well why stay here on the ground when she could be looking out at the ocean, she thinks to herself. She then lifts herself off of the ground and then clings to the side of the nest as she looks out.
Mary understands Pandora's reaction the moment she sets her eyes on the ocean reflecting the early morning light. It is the second most beautiful thing she has ever set her eyes on, the first being the woman with red hair and green eyes standing in the deck below her.
They all stay up there just admiring the beauty for many minutes before James claps his hand together and says they should continue on their tour. They go down in the same order they went up, with James going first and then Mary right after him.
Mary only had a few more rungs to climb down when her foot slipped from where she had placed it and she started falling backwards towards the ground.
Mary starts to prepare herself for the impact and prays that she doesn’t fall on her head this time when she suddenly feels strong hands catching her, holding her like a bride. Mary looks over to see who it is and is met with Lily’s concerned face.
“Are you ok princess?” She asks with a crease forming in between her eyebrows that Mary has the strong urge to flatten out. What is wrong with you? She thinks to herself.
Mary collects herself enough to respond with, “I’m just fine Lily, and didn’t I tell you to call me Mary?”
Lily chuckles quietly, “Sorry Mary, I won’t do it again.”
The two stay there just smiling at each other and Mary can’t think of a place she would rather be. Until James clears his throat and Mary is forced back into reality. She scrambles out of Lily’s arms and looks away, her face bright red.
Lily walks away without another word spoken.
Pandora calls down asking if she is ok and Mary gives her a thumbs up in response.
James and Mary stand in silence while Pandora starts to climb down. James breaks the silence first “So are we not going to mention it or…” He asks.
“No we are not.” Is Mary’s quick reply.
“Ok, but you should know that I’ve never seen The Captain act like this before.”
“Act like what?” Mary questions aloud. She didn’t think that anything Lily had done was that strange.
“Well first off she was so worried about you not coming to meals that she has you eat in her comfy quarters with gourmet meals and then just two minutes ago she ran up the deck like she was being chased by a man with a knife, so she could catch you and then got all mushy with you.” He lists off.
Oh. Mary hadn’t realized how far away she was when she ran to catch her.
“She makes me call her Lily, she doesn’t let me call her captain.” Mary mumbles to herself.
“What was that?” Mary looks over to James who’s eyebrows have raised higher than Mary realized was humanly possible.
“She has me call her Lily and won’t let me call her captain.” She repeats, louder this time.
James gives her an incredulous look. “She never lets anyone besides Remus and Dorcas call her by her actual name, and she only lets them because they knew her before she was captain.”
This, this is what stuns Mary. She tries to grasp as to why she would let Mary call her Lily when she won’t even let people that she’s definitely known for much longer call her by her real name.
Her spiraling thoughts are interrupted by Pandora, who has just flung her arms around Mary and asking what happened that made her slip.
Mary gives her a quick explanation that is clearly good enough for Pandora, because she quickly goes over to James to start another excited conversation with him.
Sirius is by Mary’s side in under a minute and Mary is tempted to ask him how he made it down so fast but James cuts her off before she even had the chance to, saying they are continuing their tour.
Mary spends the rest of James’ tour only half present, mind still lingering on her conversation with James earlier.
When Mary goes to lunch that day she has half the mind to ask Lily why her, but when she looks into her emerald eyes she can no longer bring herself to care.