Wrong place wrong time
Sirius felt drawn towards the only thing that felt familiar, the ocean. He could already smell the salt in the air, and could hear the distant sounds of seagulls. Being an animagus, some dog-like abilities lingered while he was human, one being heigntenged senses, most notably smell. Not as intense as if he were actually Padfoot but enough that things could easily become overwhelming. He passed more rickety stalls and shit stained streets with dozens of people shouting at each other. He felt almost suffocated, Sirius had to try and stop himself from covering his nose. He walked as fast as he could rushing by buildings on either side, there seemed to be no end.
Finally there was a break and the street opened up, the ocean now completely visible. The sky was so bright and blue, he could barely detect the horizon line.
Even two centuries in the past, the ocean was still beautiful. He’d only been to the sea once before. Growing up in London, he was never close enough to just walk to the water, and his family were never the type to take fun weekend trips. It was only until his seventh year when he went with all of his friends. It was a blissful time; sharing a tent with Moony, falling asleep to the sound of crashing waves, everyone tipsy and singing around the campfire. He felt a pang in his chest at the thought of his friends. His Remus. He let his hand brush against the time turner in his pocket, running his fingers along the cool metal. Sirius was so grateful Remus had made him put a fail safe in his spell, he knew if he spun the time turner counterclockwise three times he would return to the exact place and time he left. It settled him, knowing he’d be able to go home as soon as he wanted. As much as Sirius wished the marauders were there with him, he knew he had to explore this other time before rushing back to Hogwarts. Maybe there’s a bookshop close by? Moony would love that. He could already picture the looks on their faces when he came back, Sirius decked out in a whole new look, arms overflowing with gifts. They’d be so excited, they’d forget all about the failed prank.
Sirius smirked and made his way towards the hat vendor with a stall close to the docks, and subtly took out his wand.
“Quite a variety of hats you’ve got here.”
The vendor looked up from his pipe eyeing Sirius.
“Ey, imported they are.”
Sirius ran his hands along a black tricorn hat with intricate gold embroidery.
“Mind if I give it a try?”
The man looked a little weary but gave in.
“Well, I don't see why not.”
Sirius tucked his hair behind his ear and delicately placed the hat on his head. There was a reflection in a nearby window, and my god he had to admit, he looked suave. Remus was going to love it. Unfortunately Sirius hadn’t traveled with his coin purse so he was flat broke.
“This is a beautiful hat indeed. How much?”
The man got up from his chair looking pleased.
“That’ll be eighteen shillings.”
Sirius unfazed simply nodded and pretended to reach in his back pocket, but stopped and looked behind the man.
“What the hell is that!”
The vendor jerked his head backwards. Sirius pointed his wand and whispered.
“confundo.”
Slowly the man looked back at Sirius with glazed eyes.
“Wha…what’s goin on?”
“I just paid for this lovely hat and was thanking you for the purchase.”
Sirius felt a little bad using the confundus charm on a muggle but he really did like the hat. The vendor blinked but nodded in agreement.
“Yea..yeah…you’re welcome.”
Sirius acknowledged the man once more and stode away in his new hat.
——————————————————————————————————
After about an hour and a few more confundus charms, Sirius was feeling rather dashing in his new clothes. Gone were his school shoes which were now replaced with strapping knee high leather boots and to cover his plain white shirt was a perfectly tailored long black coat with gold detailing to match his tricorn hat.
Sirius couldn’t wait to see the look on Moony’s face when he returned wearing this getup. He looked like one of those daring pirates from some of the muggle history books Remus had shown him.
Sirius walked farther down the coast line humming to himself and taking in the enormous ships docked at the port. Huge crisp white sails hung from several thick masts, dozens of ropes knotted and crisscrossed in every which way, almost looking like a giant spider had made its home aboard. A brilliant blue coat of paint decorated most of the largest ship's hulls. Sirius marveled at how beautiful and intricate these muggle vessels were, he stopped in front of what he could only assume was a naval ship from the books he had borrowed.
The marauder sighed as he reached his hand into his new coat pocket and felt the time turner, Sirius knew he should probably be heading back. He’d only been gone for maybe an hour but he had to admit he really missed Moony. The Marauder was about to take out the time turner when he heard a loud splash at the far end of the docks. He looked around to see if anyone else had noticed the sound but it seemed to just be him. Sirius knew he should just leave it and go home, but for some reason he had the strangest feeling that he needed to go and check it out. After all, a few more minutes in this time couldn’t hurt. Sirius secured his hat and made a break for the source of the noise.
————————————————————————————————————-
The docks were similar to the ones Hogwarts used on the Black Lake; fairly small and unstable. Trying not to trip on loose boards and jagged nails, Sirius ran towards a giant ripple in the water where it seemed something had fallen in. He looked down and swore he saw a vague outline of a woman sinking to the ocean floor. Panicking, Sirius started to unlace his boots and jump in after her when another man beat him to it. Sirius waited on the edge of the dock ready to help pull them out.
Two men in red uniforms ran up beside him also searching the water’s surface.
“Any sign of them?” one of the soldiers asked Sirius.
“No not yet, I came over to see if I could help.”
The soldiers looked to each other seemingly in unspoken agreement
“Well that’s very thoughtful of you lad but this dock is off limits to civili–
Just then the man broke through the surface of the water carrying the woman. Sirius and the two soldiers helped them onto the dock, the woman lay motionless.
“She’s not breathing!” One of the guards yelled
The man who rescued her began to take off her corset, which Sirius thought was a pretty bright idea, but she still wasn’t breathing. Sirius knew he shouldn’t use magic in front of muggles but seeing her lying there reminded him of Remus. So many times Sirius had seen him in pain or unconscious and couldn’t do anything about it, even with all the healing spells he learned. But Sirius could do something now. He knew how to save her.
“Fuck it. Out of the way!” Sirius knelt and whipped out his wand. “Anapneo!”
A small light emitted from Sirius’s wand. Both the soldiers jumped back but the ragged man looked on with mild curiosity.
Before anyone could say anything the woman gasped for air and began to cough. The man smiled and began to help her sit up but stopped when he noticed the gold medallion around her neck.
It was now Sirius who was curious, there was a strange almost dark energy emitting from it.
The ragged man reached out to touch the necklace.
“Where did you get that?”
The woman looked at him, her eyes now wide with fear, she was about to speak when a battalion of high ranking navy men ran towards the mystery man and now Sirius with swords drawn.
Sirius stashed his wand then both he and the man put their hands up.
The fancy looking soldier who Sirius assumed was the captain pointed his sword at the two of them
“On your feet.”
Slowly Sirius and the man got up.
The woman quickly moved out of the way and embraced an older man in a gaudy powdered wig.
“My dear Elizibeth are you alright?” After the embrace the older man looked to both Sirius and the ragged man who was still holding her corset. “Shoot them.”
Sirius tensed and closed his eyes, shit.
“Father!” Elizabeth cried, she then looked to the captain “Commodore, do you really intend to kill my rescuers?”
The commodore looked conflicted but motioned to the other soldiers to lower their weapons. Sirius felt a wave of relief, maybe everything was going to be alright after all. The commodore held out his hand to the man next to sirius.
“I believe thanks are in order.”
The man tentatively shook the outstretched hand but just as he was about to pull away the commodore pulled back the man’s sleeve to reveal a strange tattoo and “P” singed on his forearm.
“Had a brush with the east india trading company did we, pirate.” the commodore looked at the tattoo. “Well, well, Jack Sparrow isn’t it?” He dropped the man's arm and stepped back. “Keep your guns on them men. Gillette fetch some irons.”
The man now Jack Sparrow cleared his throat.
“Captain Jack sparrow actually.”
Well shit. Sirius was in way too deep now. He had to figure out some sort of plan while the two men were distracted with each other. Sirius ran though all the possible scenarios; He could use force, possibly a number of stunning curses, but that seemed way too risky and he didn’t really feel like getting shot today. The best plan he could come up with was to feign ignorance and hope the soldiers or Jack Sparrow hadn’t thought anything of the spell or his wand.
Fuck, he was so screwed.
When the two seemed to be finished talking, Sirius cut in.
“Commodore sir, I’m not with this man, I’ve never met him before, and I’m certainly not a pirate.” Sirius slowly pulled back his coat sleeve with his free hand to reveal nothing but a bare forearm. “I just came over to help.”
The commodore looked him up and down
“Right, am I to assume you’re just a concerned citizen then?”
“Yes exactly, I’m just in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Ironic, he thought.
“Alright, someone search him.”
Another soldier began rifling through Sirius’s new coat, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes, his wand and the time turner.
The soldier handed the items to the commodore and he carefully looked over each one. Sirius was praying to Merlin that he wouldn’t fiddle with the time turner.
However the commodore actually spent the most time studying the packet of cigarettes looking quite confused at the writing on the box but seemed to decide it was harmless.
“Well however odd your personal effects might be, it seems as though you aren’t carrying any weapons. So I will let you off with a warning, however heroic your intentions might be, this is a private navy dock so I better not see you here again.”
The commodore handed the items to a nearby soldier and Sirius gave a courteous nod. The marauder breathed an internal sigh of relief and held out his hands to retrieve his belongings. But before the soldier had handed the items back one of the soldiers from earlier cleared his throat and whispered something into the commodore’s ear. After a moment the commodore’s eyes went wide as he stared at the marauder with what Sirius could only describe as a deep hatred. The commodore pulled away and took a step back.
“Arrest him immediately.”
Sirius had no time to think, all he could hear was his heart pounding in his chest. This was it, this was the end, that bloody bastard had snitched! The soldiers were moving closer with the shackles, he had to think, he had come up with something quick. He was so screwed, he was never going to see his friends again, he was never going back to Hogwarts, he was never going to see Moony again. Why didn't he listen to Remus he was alway right. Now Sirius was never going to hear him say ‘I told you so’ or hear anything from him ever again. Before Sirius could come up with any ideas or a plan, a scream brought him back from his thoughts. The pirate Jack Sparrow had used this as a distraction to take the woman hostage.
All eyes now immediately fixed on the pirate and the hostage
“Commodore Norrington, my effects please.”
The commodore’s whole body went rigged and Sirius could tell he was trying to figure out the best course of action. Jack Sparrow slowly made his way towards the part of the docks that opened up to the street, both he and the commodore were locked into this intense confrontation.
The woman whose neck was currently in the pirate's hands, didn't look fearful at all, just angry. Sirius had to admit she was incredibly brave, under different circumstances he would have liked to have a chat with her, however this was not the time. He knew he would have to make his move as soon as the pirate tried to make a break for it.
The key was getting his wand back, as soon as there was a commotion he would unfortunately need to grapple with the soldier who currently had it in their coat pocket. It would be incredibly risky, there were at least six other soldiers close by, not to mention the fact they all had swords and riffles, but there was no other option.
Sirius could tell the standoff was coming to an end; the pirate had moved a fair distance away from the soldiers and seemed to be inching towards a rope attached to a pulley of some kind.
“Gentleman, you will always remember this as the day you almost caught Captain Jack Sparrow.”
The pirate pushed the woman towards the soldiers and grabbed the pulley. Jack Sparrow started to rise quickly from the ground and all eyes were transfixed on the daring act.
This was Sirius’s chance.
While a series of incredible acrobatics took place above them all, Sirius tackled the soldier with his personal effects to the ground. They wrestled for a few moments, throwing punches back and forth, the soldier got a direct hit to Sirius’s chin, and Sirius returned the favour by giving the soldier a back eye. Sirius secretly thanked Remus in this moment for teaching him how to throw a proper punch in their fourth year. Finally Sirius found his opening and reached his hand into the soldier's coat pocket to grab the wand. He could feel the familiar smooth handle and began to pull it out.
This was it, he’d done it! All he had to do now was cast Imobulous, then he could grab the time turner and go home. He began to speak the incantation when suddenly he felt a painful thump on the back of his head
and everything went dark.