Chapter 3
Sirius wished he could say that he'd immediately given his crew orders to shoot back at Lupin's ship. He wished he could say that his courageous reaction to the attack gave his men--and women, technically--hope. That was not the case, however.
Sirius's reaction was a little more like this:
"FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK! Potter, do something! SHIT, THIS IS A FUCKING DISASTER!"
His crew, standing in a circle around him as he paced anxiously, awaited orders that he didn't know how to give.
"Sirius, maybe we could just wait and see what they want?" Lovegood suggested. Pandora was gentle, peaceful, always saw the best in people.
Shacklebolt scoffed. "Lovegood, that's Lupin's ship. Frankly, I think we're better off just walking our own plank now."
"Death with dignity," Longbottom muttered, sounding as though he was seriously considering it.
James Potter shook his head determinedly. He had that look on his face--the c'mon-lads-we're-a-team-and-we're-going-to-get-through-this-together look--that they'd become familiar with over the past two weeks.
"No. Everything's going to be fine. I already know Lupin, and I'm sure him and his crew will be delighted to see me again," James declared.
"So, we're not firing?" Gideon Prewett asked, looking distinctly forlorn.
Sirius, finally getting his breathing under control, shook his head.
"We don't want them to see us as a threat. Remember, I have plenty of gold belowdecks that I can offer them. We just have to approach this peacefully, and hopefully, they will just take the gold and leave us alive," he answered, trying to replicate James's confident tone. He glanced at Potter, who gave him an encouraging nod.
"So, what should we do? Just return to our posts and act casual?" Vance asked.
Sirius nodded.
The crew all headed to their posts and made it look like they were hard at work. Sirius reached into his pocket for a flask, figuring that he would need some liquid courage. Of course, it wasn't actually alcohol, just some orange juice. Sirius was terrified of getting scurvy. The flask helped him maintain the dangerous image.
Lupin's ship had only fired two cannons. It seemed that when they noticed that the Gryffin wasn't going to fire back, they wanted to make easy work of the attack. Sirius watched out of the corner of his eye as Lupin's men dropped their anchor and clambered into a lifeboat to row over to the Gryffin.
Sirius wiped his sweaty palms on his jacket, panicking. God, he wasn't cut out for piracy. growing up, he'd always been the rebel, the troublemaker. He'd tracked mud on the expensive family carpets and snuck champagne at family feasts. Shooting cannons? Not in his wheelhouse.
Potter had noticed Sirius's mood and walked over to his side.
"Captain, it's going to be fine. Lupin only kills when other crew gets violent. I mean, when my ship crossed paths with him, it was literally on purpose, because the queen had sent us after him. And he knew that, which was why he destroyed our ship. If we remain calm and treat him kindly, he will certainly have no reason to harm us," Potter reassured him.
Sirius remembered that for James, this attack was something to be excited about. He wanted to meet that crewmember again. He decided that he was not going to muck this up, as it was his friend's big moment.
"You know, Potter, I'm certain you're right. I'm sure Lupin is a decent bloke--"
Sirius was cut off by a gruff yell from Lupin's lifeboat.
"DROP YOUR WEAPONS IMMEDIATELY AND LOWER A ROPE AND A LADDER OR WE WILL TORCH YOUR SHIP!"
James and Sirius gave each other cautious looks. They both dropped their cutlasses and heard the sounds of their crewmates lowering guns and knives.
Dearborn tossed a dockline over to the lifeboat so that Lupin and his crew could tie on, and then lowered the ladder.
The entire Gryffin crew stood by the railing, waiting patiently for their guests to arrive onboard.
And arrive they did. Sirius assumed that it wasn't Lupin's entire crew, because there were only four people, but they were still a deeply threatening bunch.
There were three women--a curvy redheaded lass with freckles and an eyepatch, who glowered with her good eye when it landed on Potter; a tall woman with bleached hair, dark roots coming in, with silver piercings and lots of dark makeup around her angled eyes, and a plump, dark-haired woman with a mischievous smile and an assortment of terrifying knives strapped around her waist.
But it wasn't those three whose appearances shocked Sirius the most because Remus Lupin himself was as gorgeous as his reputation was frightening. He was shockingly young, probably in his early twenties, like Sirius was. He was tall, at least 6'3, with sunkissed and freckled skin, fluffy caramel-colored curls, and brown eyes that looked golden in the morning sun. He had scars--these were legendary amongst those who had crossed his path and lived to tell the tale--but they made him look rugged and dangerous. He had a small silver hoop in one ear and silver chains around his neck and tattoos on his chest, which poked out from underneath his billowy white shirt. Sirius had heard about Remus Lupin's talent for taking gold, but not about how he could take your breath away.
Sirius was in awe of this beautiful pirate man. Without thinking, he walked right up to him and held out his hand. Immediately, he could feel the strange looks from Lupin's crew.
"Aye, what's this rubbish?" Lupin asked, his voice deep and throaty. Sirius quickly withdrew his hand.
"I just wanted to welcome you aboard our ship," Sirius responded, blushing. He had to tilt his head back a bit to look into Lupin's eyes. "We are thrilled to accommodate our guests."
Lupin smirked and looked at the redhead. "Alright, then."
James stepped forward with a charming grin on his face.
"Is it gold that you want? We have plenty. We would also be happy to allow you all to stay for lunch, our chef is brilliant," James said kindly, his eyes flicking hopefully towards Lupin's first mate. She laughed derisively.
"You seem eager to share your goods with us, so I see no reason to resort to...drastic measures," Lupin replied slowly. "Our ship has a leak, you see. And our carpenter had an accident-" the redhead and the blonde look at each other and snickered, making Sirius deeply uneasy "-so we're in need of a ship. We would have used force to get this one, but that's-"
"-hardly necessary!" James finished for him, looking both nervous and excited. "We are happy to share our ship with you all!"
Sirius beamed at Lupin and his crew as well. "Indeed! This is going to be fantastic. Welcome aboard, mates!"