Chapter 18
"Right ahead, sir," said one of the crewmen.
The boat with the men reached the swarm of bodies.
"Do you see any of them moving?" Remus inquired.
The young officer shone his flashlight on the people, hoping that someone else would move.
"No, sir. None moving, sir."
"Check them. Make sure," Remus ordered.
"These are dead, sir."
Sirius also looked around to see if anyone was alive and hoped his brother wasn't among them.
"Ahead easy and be careful with your oars. Don't hit them," Remus said.
"Is there anyone alive out there?" Remus called out, hoping someone would hear him. "Can anyone hear me? Is there anyone alive out there?"
They slowly continued their way.
Lovegood saw a mother dead, her arm wrapped protectively around her baby.
"We waited too long," the steward murmured.
Remus followed his gaze, he closed his eyes briefly and took a deep breath,
"Well, keep checking them!" said the young officer. "Keep looking!"
Someone had to have survived. anyone.
"Is there anyone alive out there?" Regulus heard a voice from far away. "Can anyone hear me?"
The voices of the men sounded slow and disoriented.
Then the lookout flashes his torch toward him, and the light flared across the water, silhouetting the bobbing corpses in between. It flicked past his motionless form and moved on.
The boat was 50 feet away and moved past him and James.
"James," Regulus murmured. "James. There's a boat."
But James didn't respond.
"James?"
Regulus looked at him. James had his eyes closed, but he was still breathing, at least it looked like it. But for how much longer?
The younger looked back at the boat. This was her chance to be saved.
"Come back," he wanted to call, but it was barely louder than a whisper. "Come back. Come back."
"Come back," he tried to speak louder. "Come back!"
But nobody heard him.
"Hello!" Remus called out again. "Can anyone hear me?"
"There's nothing here, sir."
The boat continued to move away from the door where James and Regulus were lying.
"Come back. Just come back," Regulus tried again.
The young man had to come up with something.
"I'll be right back, James," Regulus promised.
He reluctantly let go of James' hand and carefully rolled off the wooden door and pulled James further into the middle. The young man swam towards the chief officer's body.
"Sorry," Regulus murmured, grabbing the whistle that was still hanging between the man's lips.
Then he blew the whistle.
The men in the boat turned around as soon as they heard the whistle.
They maneuver the boat past the bodies onto Regulus.
And when Sirius realized who was swimming in the water, he almost jumped in the water himself.
Regulus didn't stop whistling until they pulled him into the boat. Someone took the pipe from the young man and wrapped a thick blanket around him.
"Reg, you're safe," Sirius explained. "It'll be fine, I promise."
Regulus nodded. Security. That was a good thing. The blanket made him warmer, that was good too.
But where was James? The others didn't seem to have noticed the other man, even though he was swimming only a few meters away from them.
Regulus looked at his brother who was trying to rub Regulus' hair dry with the blanket. A habit Sirius had since he was a child.
"James," Regulus said before everything went dark around him.
Sirius caught his little brother as he sagged.
"What did he say?" Remus asked.
"I dunno," Sirius replied. "But if he's here, where's James?"
It shouldn't be far, though Remus. He straightened up and took a closer look at the people around the boat.
Neither of them was James. Did James even make it this far?
Remus kept a lookout for James while Sirius continued to wrap the blanket around his little brother.
Sirius didn't know which would have been worse if he found Regulus frozen to death here or didn't know what happened to his little brother.
Luckily, he didn't have to think about it. Regulus was with him now and he lived. And Sirius has never been so proud of Regulus - he was a true survivor.
"There he is. There's James," Remus' voice broke the silence.
The men rowed closer to the large wooden door on which James lay, unmoving.
They thought the young man was dead, but Remus quickly realized he was breathing. Weak, but James was still breathing.
"Let's get him on the boat."
James was wrapped in a blanket, as was Regulus. He was placed next to Regulus on one of the empty benches, their fingertips touching.
~~~~
On that night fifteen hundred people went into the sea as the Titanic sank.
There were twenty boats floating nearby and only one came back.
One.
Seven were saved from the water Regulus and James included.
Seven out of fifteen hundred.
Afterward the seven hundred people in the boats had nothing to do but wait.
Wait to die.
Wait to live.
Wait for an absolution that would never come.
"How many?" Regulus Black heard a voice.
"Seven," replied a second.
The black-haired young man opened his eyes. He saw his brother and Remus sitting next to him.
Regulus started to sit up, but Sirius gently pushed him back onto the bench.
"Lie down," Sirius murmured. "It's all right."
"James," the younger man ground out. His voice was hoarse, and Regulus cleared his throat.
"Sirius, where's James?"
Sirius exchanged a look with Remus before answering.
"He's lying there," Sirius explained, pointing to the bench next to Regulus. The younger man hadn't bothered to look around until now.
Regulus straightened, perhaps a little too quickly, and saw James lying beside him on the small lifeboat.
"We're fine too, thanks for asking," Sirius joked.
His younger brother rolled his eyes and hugged him.
~~~~
James Potter woke up the next morning and was the first to see Regulus' face.
It was blurry, but he could swear Regulus was smiling.
"Hi."
James felt he wasn't that cold anymore and someone had wrapped a blanket around him.
I'm in heaven, James thought. I must be dead
"Am I in heaven?" James asked.
Actually James couldn't care less, if he was in heaven or not. Everything that mattered was Regulus and he was there, smiling at him.
"No, you're still on Earth, James. We're saved."
"We are saved?"
The second thing James saw was a ship, the Carpathia.
Gradually, the survivors were brought from the boats onto the ship.
Regulus helped James onto the ship, where they already embraced her.
"You're alive," Lily said happily. "Thank God!"
Sirius and Remus climbed onto the ship after the two.
Marlene immediately ran to her uncle and hugged him too. Remus picked her up and spun her around.
The group, except for Remus, joined the third-class passengers. The young officer had to go to the other crewmembers to clarify the whole situation with the crew of the other ship.
James was still quite weak, and Regulus supported him as they sat down on a bench. Regulus made James lie down, his head on Regulus' lap.
Sirius and Lily decided without further ado to get something warm to drink for the small group.
Marlene went with them both, she said she wanted to stretch her legs. At her cheeky grin, Regulus realized she had something else on her mind.
So James and Regulus were left alone, enjoying this moment of silence. They had their last quiet moment when they sat in the car.
Just the memory turned Regulus' cheeks pink.
"Are you blushing?" James asked.
Usually that was more of a rhetorical question, which James likes to ask to make the person in front of him blush even more. But this time it was meant seriously.
"No," Regulus replied affectionately. "I'm just a little cold. That's all."
"Oh. Would you like my blanket? Then-"
"No, either James. Thanks, but keep your blanket."
Regulus ran his hand through James' hair and felt the other young man slowly drifting back to sleep.
"Sir, I don't think you'll find any of your people down here," said one of the Carpathia's stewards. "It's all steering."
Regulus turned a bit and immediately back. Severus Snape stood a few yards from him and James and looked around. He was looking for Regulus.
The young man pulled the covers further over his face and turned so that Snape couldn't see him.
"What's going on?" James inquired.
Regulus had stopped ruffling his hair, but his hand was still there.
"Nothing. It's all right," Regulus replied.
James nodded slightly and closed his eyes again.
Severus Snape didn't recognize Regulus and shortly afterwards made his way back to the first-class passengers.
That was the last time Regulus ever saw Snape. The other man married, of course, and inherited his millions. But the Crash of '29 hit his interests hard and he put a pistol in his mouth that year.
Or that's what Regulus had read in the newspaper.
It was already dark, and it had started to rain when we finally arrived in New York.
Regulus, James and Lily stood together and looked at the Statue of Liberty as the ship passed her. Sirius and Remus took care of Marleen who was sleeping again.
"We did it," Lily commented.
James nodded; "Yes we did."
He had his arm around Regulus' shoulders and kissed his forehead.
"Can I take your name please, love?" one of the stewards asked Lily.
"Lily Evans."
The steward nodded and wrote down Lily's name, then looked at James.
"James Potter," James replied and his name was also written down.
"Your name?" he finally asked Regulus.
Regulus looked at the other man for a moment before looking back at the Statue of Liberty.
"Potter," Regulus replied. "Regulus Potter."
The steward nodded. He didn't even question that Regulus and James shared the same last name.
"Thank you," he said and left.
"Did- did you just say that-that your name was Potter?" James stuttered.
"Yes. I hope you okay with that."
Regulus looked down, embarrassed, he should have asked James first. What if he didn't want Regulus to call himself 'Potter'?
But Regulus didn't need to worry. Little did he know that when Regulus called himself Potter, a shiver ran down James' spine.
James placed his hands on Regulus Jawline and met the young man's eyes.
"I'm more than okay with that" James said. "God, I could kiss you."
"Then do it," Regulus replied and James kissed him.
The two had made it. They had reached America and would disembark together.
~~~~
Later the ship docked, and the passengers were finally able to disembark.
James, Regulus and Lily were waiting for Sirius, Remus and Marlene.
Regulus had his hands in the pockets of the coat that had been Snape's and was now Regulus's. He felt something cold on his fingers. He took the cold object out of his jacket pocket and the locket appeared.
Regulus couldn't believe it. Snape must have pocketed it before he got into one of the boats.
Inevitably, the corners of his mouth twitched up. Regulus almost wished he could see Snape's reaction when he realized he no longer had the locket with him.
"Reggie, are you coming?"
"I'll be right there."
The young man put the locket back in his jacket pocket and joined the others. Remus and Sirius, who was holding Marlene, were standing with them again.
Regulus went back to James and the two men linked their hands.
The group left the ship together.