Chapter 1
REGULUS
Regulus looks up at the ginormous ship that is parked in front of him with awe. This was the big new ship that had been the talk of the town, nay, the world lately but the longer Regulus looks at it the more he begins to wonder that this ship isn’t as impressive as he had thought it to be.
“I would be lying if I didn’t say I was at least a little bit let down,” Regulus says, his gaze still fixed on the ship. “Let down?” Regulus feels a hand on his shoulder, “How can you be let down, little brother?” His elder brother, Sirius, has stepped out of the white Renault car that they had travelled here with, “I don’t know,” Regulus says in thought, “It’s just not as big as I had thought it to be.” Sirius’s eyes widen at this and he places a hand on his chest, “Not as big?” Sirius says, “The Titanic is the biggest boat ever made!” Sirius takes his hand off Regulus’s shoulder and turns to their mother. “Do you hear the things your youngest is saying about this ship?” Walburga, their mother, who is stepping out of the car looks at Regulus and gives him a disapproving shake of the head.
“Honestly Regulus, what goes on inside your head?” She huffs, “This is the ship they say is unsinkable, how can you not be impressed?”
Regulus doesn’t answer this, instead, he just rolls his eyes and punches his brother playfully on the arm. “I’ll get you back for this, Siri,” Sirius just smiles and gives Regulus a look that says:
“No, you won’t,”
JAMES
“You absolute tosser! I can’t believe you bet our tickets!”
“How am I the tosser? You’re the one who lost all our money! Now, shut up and take a card!”
James watched as Snape and Mulciber — two dockworkers with heavy working-class accents — argued about whose fault it was that they didn’t have any money left. The Titanic was leaving soon and James needed those tickets because America was his only hope left. He had tried France, and England had always been a lost cause, especially if he wanted to become an artist.
“Hit me again, Snape,”
James takes the card that Snape has given him and slips it into his hand. In the corner of his eye, he can see Remus — his best friend — nervously licking his lips, a habit he developed after his dad left him as a child.
There’s a stack of bills and coins from all sorts of different countries in the middle of the table, on top of which contains two tickets for the RMS Titanic, the ship that has now blown its horn, indicating the final call for passengers. Come on, James thinks and crosses his fingers, give me a miracle.
Remus puts his cards down, and so do Snape and Mulciber but James holds his cards close to his chest as if he’s protecting them from dark forces that may sabotage him.
“I’m sorry, Remus,”
Remus looks at James in horror, “You can’t be serious James!” He says and James can hear his Welsh accent start to seep in like it always does when Remus gets annoyed or shocked or frustrated.
James slams a full house down on the table.
“Oh my god!” James hears a chair fall to the floor and sees Remus, who has stood up abruptly and who is now making his way to James to hug him. “I can’t believe you did it, Jim! You actually did it! We’re going to be boarding the Titanic!” James is smiling now too and quickly gathers his things and drags Remus by the hand to the Titanic.
“Wait! We’re passengers!” The man checking the tickets looks at them with a look of distaste on his face but he says “Alright, let me see your tickets,” James hands the man his and Remus’ tickets, “Snape and Mulciber,” The man eyes them suspiciously but eventually says “Welcome aboard,” letting James and Remus board the ship.
REGULUS
Regulus watches as the porters carry their bags into their big elegant suite. There are three bedrooms, a huge bathroom that is probably about the size of three third-class cabins, a wardrobe room and a large sitting room, in addition to this, there is also a private 50-foot promenade deck outside.
“Look at the view,” Sirus gasps in awe from where he is standing on the promenade deck, “Isn’t it just wonderful, Reg?” Regulus walks up to his brother and stands next to him, “Oh, yes, it sure is and we haven’t even set sail yet.” Regulus looks at the sea and takes in its beauty, there are a lot of people standing on the dock whistling and cheering and Sirius turns to face them, giving them all a wave before the ship leaves the dock.
JAMES
When James and Remus reach their compartment there are two other men in there. One of the men gives James and Remus a look before turning to their companion, “Are you sure Snape and Muliciber booked the same room as us?” The companion gave him a nod before turning to James, “What are you doing here? These two bunks belong to our friends,” James gives the man a smug smirk and shows him their tickets, “Snape and Mulciber, right?” He asks and looks at the two men, “They gambled their tickets away,”
“Of course they bloody did, the fucking twats! You know, I explicitly told them not to do that and here we are. We were supposed to go to America to look for work together because England’s no hope anymore. No more jobs left or anything! And I didn’t even want to do this but I want to have a steady source of income, you know? I don’t want to be jobless and that godforsaken country of America gives me that opportunity!” James nods in agreement, he had never heard anyone say anything more true in his life. “I’m James,” James extends an arm out to the man, “And this is Remus,” James gestures to his friend who is unpacking his things. The man gives him a smile before shaking his hand, “I’m Barty,” He says with a smile on his face, “This is Evan,” He gestures to his companion who shakes James’s hand as well and James smiles before sitting down on his bed, settling himself in for the week ahead.
…..
“Come look at this Remus!” James is standing on the ship’s upper deck peering at the ocean. It’s a beautiful sight, the blue water of the Atlantic Ocean, and it is glistening in the sunlight, unlike anything James has ever seen before.
James has always been fascinated by water, it doesn’t matter if it’s a lake or a river or even a pond, there has always been something about water that he likes. He’s not sure what it is though, whether it’s the peacefulness or the calmness of it he doesn’t know, what he doesn’t know is that he can never seem to take his eyes off of it when he does see it.
“I can see the Statue of Liberty already,” Remus comes and stands next to him, gasping in awe at the horizon. “Well,” James says and squints his eyes, “It looks very small from this distance,”
“At least we can see it,”