Spring 1706
A heavy fog and mist blanketed the water, impenetrable and sudden. Through the thick mist one could taste the salt of the Atlantic in addition to something new, something foreign. After six weeks at sea, something foreign was a new and welcomed idea. The ship, a new thing built to make the voyage many times over, pressed on through the horrid mists and towards foreign land.
The young Black brothers, Sirius and Regulus, just eleven and almost ten respectively, stood at the upper deck overlooking the bowsprit. Their father, the Lord Orion Black, had been appointed the new governor of the Jamaica colony. He’d taken it as a high honor, a gift from Queen Anne herself, but the boys saw it as a gift from hell. It was just in their luck that both their parents, horrid abominations they were, were on their best behavior for the crossing. The boys had gone six weeks without a senseless, ill reasoned beating, but such things would not last. As they neared Jamaica, Sirius dreaded leaving the ship, he simply wished it would take him back to England. He’s spent long nights wondering if he could run away, run back to England, to live with his cousin Andromeda and her new husband or possibly as his Uncle Alphard’s ward. Anything to leave his parents. But leaving would mean abandoning Regulus, something he never wished to do. He was of the firm belief that he was meant to protect his younger brother, to keep him from harm's way. He’d take every punishment thrown at him thrice fold if it meant that not a single hair of Regulus’ head was touched.
It was Sirius that was always worried about Regulus getting too close to the ship’s railings. Willowy, little Regulus, a boy small enough that a sharp gust of wind might blow him overboard and the current haul him away to Davy Jones’ locker. Not that Regulus cared for Sirius’ worries. He was a bright and curious boy, he’d learned to be himself only around Sirius from an early age. Starry eyed Regulus tried to look through the thick fog and mist. He wanted to know what was beyond the ship and her near waters if Mother Nature would allow for it.
The wind, not too harsh but still enough to nip at the ears, came in from the Atlantic and was just sharp enough that young Sirius could barely hear his little brother’s whisper of a shanty under his breath. It was one that a member of the crew had been singing just days prior.
“A ship was sailing from the east
And going to the west,
Loaded with silks and satins
And velvets of the best;
But meeting there with Captain Ward,
It was a bad meeting;
He robbed them of all their wealth,
And bid them tell their king…”
He was quiet, Regulus was almost always quiet, but he’d picked up on almost all the shanties the crew sang. It wouldn’t have surprised Sirius to learn that his little brother was indeed remembering them so that he could use them when he practiced his letters on dry land. Sirius said nothing, Regulus continued.
“O then the King proved a ship of noble fame,
She's call'd the Royal Rainbow
If you would have her name;
She was as well provided for
As any ship can be,
Full thirteen hundred men on board
To bear her company.”
The two boys, caught in their own little world, were prone to fantasizing. Sirius might have wished to return to England, but Regulus wished for pirates. He’d heard whispers of them the closer they got to Jamaica. The crew whispered their fears of pirate infested waters in between shanties and in the late hours of the night. While Sirius was busy worrying about Regulus falling overboard, Regulus crept close to the railings and riggings to hear tales of pirates living and dead. His favorite tales were those of Captain Kidd, the twice hanged Scottish pirate executed five years earlier.
The boys, distracted by the beyond, didn’t hear Mulciber as he came up behind them. He clapped his hand on Regulus’ shoulder, startling the young boy. Mulciber wasn’t much older than them, still relatively new to the high seas and only being five years Sirius’ senior. “Don’t get too close, there be pirates in these waters. Too loud and you’ll bring them close and we’ll all end up in the locker.”
“Mr Mulciber, that’ll be enough.”
“They were singing ‘bout pirates.”
Sirius was first to turn around, Regulus slowly followed just after him. Captain Crouch could be seen coming up the steps, he was followed closely by one Lord Orion Black. He, Crouch, had gained his title barely two years earlier in the August battle of Malága in 1704. There was not a soul aboard their ship who had not heard the story from the prideful man’s mouth, both Sirius and Regulus would have rather had their ear drums pierced by their mother’s needles then hear the story again. He came to stand straight backed a ways away from the three of them, his hands behind his back and with an air of stale arrogance about him. He was by no means a pleasant man. “Leave us,” he ordered Mulciber. Lord Black stood back silently as the deck hand passed him by. “Pirates?” He stepped closer to the two Black brothers. “Vile and horrid creatures, the lot of them,” Crouch thrived on his arrogance, little Regulus silently despised it. “I intend to see to it that every man who flies a black pirate’s flag or wears a pirates brand all see a befitting fate: a short drop and sudden stop.”
Regulus looked towards Mulciber, who was still standing not far behind his father. Mulciber mimed himself a hanged man. Regulus hadn’t a need for any further explanation on ‘a short drop and sudden stop.’ Sirius stood frozen beside him. He could see out of the corner of his eye that he’d turned back around, looking out over the mist veiled waters.
“Taking an interest in the sea?” Captain Crouch looked down ever so slightly to Sirius.
Sirius was silent but he knew his father’s tactics. He’d be shipping him off to the navy as soon as he got the chance to, bring honor to the family and or some bullshit. Most often such tactics accompanied a beating, a join the navy as I did and the rest of the men in your family did or else. But joining the Navy, something he wasn’t sure he wanted to do to begin with, meant leaving Regulus alone with their parents. Sirius would be shipped off to a school he didn’t wish to go to, no chance of escaping to his Uncle, and his sweet little brother would be left to fend off their parents’ violent tendencies on his own an ocean away. No, Sirius did not want to join the Navy. “Yes, Sir,” young Sirius lied. Lying kept you safe so long as it was undetectable.
Captain Crouch stepped away as Lord Black walked towards his sons, the block heels on his shoes echoing on the wooden deck with each advancing step. “Pirates are the worst humanity has to offer, vile and lawless creatures they are.” With that he left, as if only to make sure the children he showed no love for hadn’t fallen overboard and lived to be useful another day.
Are you a pirate then? Sirius thought to himself.
Regulus, curious and bright eyed Regulus, turned back to the water. He watched intently as the waves moved in against the ship, as the water’s color changed with each passing moment. The peace of the waves was broken by a parasol that danced on the water’s surface. He grabbed onto his brother’s arm and silently pointed out the object. “Pirates?” His older brother asked, wide eyed with curious wonder.
The pair followed the parasol as it moved along the ship’s side, it taking on water but still remaining on the surface. As the ship moved onwards, the parasol lost itself to the ship’s shadow and the boys could no longer see it as it moved closer to the ship’s stern. Sirius, watching where the delicate parasol was going, didn’t feel as Regulus let go of him. Still watching the water hoping to find a new thing to follow, he walked back to where they had been only to be stuck in place with shock. Clinging to what looked like decking was a boy, out in the water, not much older than himself. He wasn’t moving. For all Regulus knew, the boy was dead. “Look!” he yelled, Sirius came quickly to be at his side. “There's a boy in the water!” The pair saw as both Captain Crouch and Lord Black leaned over the railing to see what the younger Black boy was yelling about.
“MAN OVERBOARD!” Captain Crouch yelled. Regulus and Sirius were lost in the flurry of commotion, ropes thrown overboard and men jumping in to aid.
Regulus identified only two things through the commotion once the boy was lying on the deck. “He’s breathing,” from Captain Crouch as he and Lord Black kneeled over the boy and “mother of god,” coming from Mulicber. Turning to the second voice, Regulus quickly learned that mixed in with the thick fog and mist had been smoke. The remains of a burning ship came into view, her wreckage scattered about the water disturbing the peaceful currents. Sirius ran up the deck to get a better look, Regulus stayed put. The young boy looked back to where the water logged wreck survivor lay. He was on his back and dressed well, aside from the near drowned state he was in. The men around him moved the boy to the side of the deck so he wouldn’t be stepped on. He stood over him for a long moment, long enough that Regulus was so entranced he didn’t hear as his father came up behind him.
“Regulus,” hearing his name in that sharp, cold tongue caused him to involuntarily turn to face his father. “I want you and Sirius to take the boy in, he is your charge.” Regulus didn’t see that one of the crewmen had picked up the water logged boy from the deck, only him being carried away. Sirius was still a ways away, watching the burning ship with intent curiosity.
The water logged boy had been laid up on the poop deck behind the wheel, safe and out of the way from the chaos around them. He looked much closer to his age than Regulus had initially thought. His dark wavy hair clung to the sides of his face. Regulus could see light breaths filling the boy’s chest, he could feel them on his skin as he reached down to brush the wet hair from the boy's eyes. Constellations of freckles dotted across the boy's face, not too dissimilar to Regulus’ own. His hand hovered over the unmoving boy, the chain around his neck catching his attention. On the end of the chain was a locket of sorts, gold with a ‘S’ set with emeralds on its front. It was sizable in Regulus’ small hands, the locket took up most of his palm. He’d heard stories of pirates for weeks now, what they did and wore and how to identify them. Pirates wore their weight in gold. As he was looking it over in his hand, the chain snapped leaving it completely in Regulus’ hold with no connection to the boy. He knew that it was pirates that stole and thieved and that he was no pirate but he slipped the locket into his pocket anyway.
The boy gasped awake, grabbing onto Regulus with a grip befitting Death. He took shallow breaths of air in, as if he was in desperate need of more but never able to get enough.
“It's alright, you’re alright.”
The boy looked up at him with wide, confused eyes.
“My name’s Regulus Black.”
The boy’s breathing slowed and Regulus could see as he slowly lost consciousness again. “James Potter.” His head hit the deck again.
“Has he said anything?” A voice came from behind Regulus, Captain Crouch. The young boy turned around quickly, his hands behind his back.
“His name is James Potter,” Regulus said quickly. Sirius came into view, he tried to push his way up to where his little brother was with the unconscious James.