Chapter Text
Regulus Black was examining maps, plotting the next course when Barty burst in with Dorcas following close behind, the gold beads in her hair under her bandana jingling.
Regulus was immediately flustered, unless you asked him (he never gets flustered of course), “Barty, you can’t just barge in here, you know you are supposed to knock. And actually- you are supposed to bring your problems to Dorcas. And if they are relevant, she will bring them to me.”
“Captain,” Barty exclaimed, drawing out the second syllable of the word, making Regulus suspicious, as he simultaneously leaned on the door frame.
“What did you do?” Regulus didn’t care about the chain of command anymore- just bracing himself for whatever idiotic thing Barty managed to do, hoping it was nowhere near as bad as last time. Last time he somehow managed to lose the entire main mast.
“We got you a surprise!” Well there goes the calm planning session, Regulus thought in response, suprises from his crew were never good. Last time they surprised him, they got Dagger.
“I had nothing to do with this,” Dorcas butted in. Regulus knew this side to her well. Dorcas was a chaos gremlin like the rest of them, but unlike the others, was smooth enough to always cover her back in case of a plan going sideways. Regulus respected her technique.
“You helped!” Barty argued.
“If he likes it, I helped. If he freaks out and hates it, which is more probable, I had nothing to do with it.”
Regulus sighed, bringing his hand to his forehead, “Just tell me. What did you do?”
“Well that’s the thing,” Barty said, “We can’t tell you- we have to show you.”
Barty and Dorcas lead him to the deck, where the sun was beating down, on a relatively calm day. Regulus immediately noticed the two unconscious and tied up bodies next to the twins, Pandora, who was playing with a dagger and Evan, who was checking the pockets of the unconscious people.
“Guys,” his voice low and dangerous, “that better not be my brother.”
Barty’s smirk told him everything he needed to know.
“I’ve only been occupied for like two hours. You guys did not travel to the mainland without my approval and kidnap the crown prince.”
“You were lonely,” Pandora said, as if that justified everything.
“We do not randomly kidnap people.”
Evan, unhelpful as always, said, “Well we are pirates after all.”
“And who the fuck is that?” Regulus gestured to the other unconscious person.
“James Potter,” Barty explained, or not really explained.
“And who exactly is James Potter?”
“He is Sirius’ best friend and royal advisor. He said, ‘If you want to take Sirius you’d have to take me to.’ So we did.”
“Not only did you kidnap my brother, you also kidnapped his best friend.”
“And royal advisor!” Pandora interjected.
Regulus sighed again. His crew would take years off of his life. His mind was racing. My brother. On my ship. He’s mine again, and then he remembers the bounty.
Regulus took charge, acting like a proper captain rather than a concerned brother, “Dorcas. Did anyone see you?”
“No. It went flawlessly. The only person that saw us was James, and now he's here,” Dorcas was calm and swift, telling Regulus exactly what he asked for.
“Good. Get them inside and put them in the brig, Barty, you will stay guard. Everyone else, team meeting in 5. Pandora, join us after you make sure the ship is going in a good direction- we are no longer stopping on land, we will be at sea for a while.”
Regulus was naive to think nothing could be worse than the mast incident. This was infinitely worse. And it gave him a headache.
—-
Evan Rosier was not the smartest member of the crew. He would probably give that title to Regulus or Dorcas. Or even his twin, who was smart in a constellation and intuition type way. He would even put Barty up ahead of him. Barty may have been rash, or made stupid decisions, but he was also freakishly smart. Regulus knew how to delegate and be diplomatic, while Dorcas knew everything there was to know about sailing. Barty knew battle strategies, investing, anything to do with money. Meanwhile, Evan barely had a backbone. One look at Barty’s eyes and Evan would walk the plank if that was what was asked of him.
Of course Evan knew kidnapping Sirius would be a bad idea, but Barty was so excited, passionate, and convinced it would work. It didn’t help that Pandora was on board. The reason most of Barty’s plans were successful was because he always had both Rosier’s in support. Pandora, as she was always in the mood for a little hellraising, and Evan, as he could never say no to that boy
“First let me say, while it was incredibly stupid, what you guys pulled off was very impressive. You managed to break into the castle and yoink the crowned prince. But the main issue is, do any of you know about the bounty?”
Evan looked around to see if anyone knew what their captain was talking about, but no one moved, “A bounty on Sirius?”
After Regulus nodded Evan asked, “How much?”
“The largest bounty I ever heard of.”
Evan whistled, Pandora’s eyes went wide, and Dorcas stayed composed, they had dealt with some pretty high bounties.
Regulus continued, “I wasn’t worried- no pirates, other than us, would be skilled enough to enter the castle and escape with the crowned prince. Except maybethe Valkyries, but they aren’t ones to care for bounties. But now you guys, not even knowing about the bounty, kidnapped him for fun. He’s worth more alive, but will also be accepted dead. Knowledge of his disappearance is going to drive pirates crazy. People will be on the lookout for who has him, boarding every ship they can find to hopefully get their hands on him, it’s going to be chaos. We need to keep him here undetected.”
Dorcas spoke up, leaning in, hands on the meeting table, “So what do we do to keep him ‘undetected’?”
“Well, we have to act as if we are looking for him, board other ships, ask around, keep him below deck, and avoid getting The Emerald boarded. If we bring him back to the palace, well he knows who you guys are.”
“We are good enough to not get caught,” Evan replied, “And if he knows you are with us, his brother, he won’t give us away.”
“No,” Regulus’ voice was firm. “We aren’t revealing my identity. Pandora has contacts I can borrow, and I can put a bandana over my face, god knows we have enough of those lying around. You will only address me as Captain Nightfall when near the prisoners. Sirius gave up on me once we can not trust him to not do it again. We don’t have time for dramatics and emotions, we need to focus on what’s actually at stake.”
Evan noticed that vulnerability hung in the air for a moment. Eventually Dorcas broke the silence, “So what do you need from us?”
Regulus snapped into giving orders, already having a plan, “Pandora, I need you to tell Dorcas where to guide the ship, keep us away from major competitors. Any small ships that would be easy to fake board, lead us to them. Figure out where the storms are, keep note of small ones we could use to lose enemies in. When you are down, wake up the prisoners and make sure they aren’t hurt- and give them some food or something.” Pandora smirked and nodded.
“Dorcas, follow Pandora’s instructions at the wheel and let me know immediately if there’s trouble.” In response, she gave a mock two finger salute.
“And Evan, fill Barty in, then take over watching the prisoners. Make sure he goes to bed, he was on the night watch.” Evan groaned internally. Making Barty go to sleep was the worst job, he was a workaholic- if you considered being a complete menace as Barty’s job. If only Evan had the ability to get Barty to do what he wanted like Barty had on him. Unfortunately for Evan, the gunner did not like him back, and Evan had no more control over him than the rest of the crew.
Regulus continued, “I will be in my office writing letters, planning courses, and so on. And if any of you have any extra time-“
“Clean the ship!” They all filled in. They never had time to clean the ship.
Just as they got up and turned to leave, Regulus said, “Guys.”
They turned back to look at him.
“Thank you.”
—-
As Pandora Rosier finished steering the ship the way that she wanted, she thought about just how lucky she was that her life turned out the way that it did. It was a feeling she was used to, she was always meant to be a pirate. She was built for the wind in her hair, the freedom of being at sea, and hanging out with this crew.
Regulus taught her where each of the stars were in the sky, while she taught him their meanings. Barty would talk with her about greek myths for hours, and Dorcas would braid her hair, make her jewelry and sing songs while she worked, Pandora always returned the favour. And then there was Evan, they just understood each other. They had what was as close to twin telepathy as humanly possible.
Pandora walked down the ladder, to get below deck. She was humming a seashanty, but she was never sure when she was humming out loud, or in her head.
The area below the deck was quite small. There was a hallway to the private rooms, the brig- which was rarely used as not many met the crew of The Emerald and survived- currently having two people in it, a rickety dining table and chairs, and a small galley. Evan was sitting at the table, back to the ladder, playing solitaire. He was sipping on a mug of grog occasionally, as he was watching the prisoners.
On her way to the medicine cabinet, Pandora glanced at Evan’s current solitaire hand, “20 gold coins saying you lose.”
Evan didn’t even flinch at Pandora’s voice even though she came down the ladder almost silently. “I’ll take that bet,” He replied.
Pandora was never sure why anyone bet against her. She never lost. Perhaps the stars told her or it was a gut feeling
Pandora continued to hum as she rummaged through the cabin for things she might need when they woke up. Then she set to heating up baked beans on the stove in the galley.
”Ev, can you wake them up please?”
”Yeah sure, one sec,” He responded, vigorously flipping through the cards, trying to find a solution that was physically possible.
“You owe me 20 coins?” Pandora asked as he got up from the table angrily to wake up Sirius and James.
“No comment.”
—-
James Potter awoke with his head pounding. He was surrounded by wood in a dark, orange lantern lit place. It smelled musty and the floor felt as if it was moving. He realized there was rope tying his hands together, and Sirius was with him.
It took him a moment, but sooner than later he remembered- the pirates. There were two staring at him, observing them as if they were pets in a cage. There was a girl with long blonde hair, with random chunks being small braids, and she had a bandana like a headband. She had a light purple blouse and a flowy piratey skirt with lots of layers, tied together by a corset, and a shit ton of chunky jewelry. The other was a guy, same hair colour, just shorter and messier, ear piercing, and chunky rings.
Sirius was just starting to stir as James was.
“James?” His voice was hoarse when he awoke. He seemed confused.
“Yeah. So they got you?”
“Obviously. But why did they bring you? No offence but you are my political advisor.”
”Offence taken. I am definitely a very valuable asset and I bet I have a huge bounty over my head.”
“Uh-huh,” Sirius said, voice dripping with skepticism.
“Fine. No. I told them if they wanted to take you- they’d have to take me. And I guess they took me-“
Sirius sighed, face in his hands, “Of course you were the one defending me. You have less defence training than I do.”
James opened his mouth to argue, but no excuse came to mind. Sirius did have a point there.
“Sorry to interrupt the reunion," the girl said. “But we are just so excited to meet you!”
James shares a look with Sirius, he mirrored the confused expression on James’s face. Why are the pirates so cheerful?
”I’m Pandora,” The girl continued, “And that’s Evan.”
”Pan,” The boy- Evan, turned to her, “Are you sure we should be telling them our names?”
“What are they going to do?” Pandora inquired. “They can’t tell anyone.”
Evan scoffed, “I’m not worried about them. Are you sure cap is ok with us sharing our names?”
“Probably not, but again. What’s he gonna do?”
James and Sirius just silently watched them bicker.
“Plus,” The girl continued, “Barty would’ve let our names slip anyway-“
“Wait!” James interrupted, “This Barty guy, is he the one that knocked me out?”
The two blondes turn to James in complete synchronization and say, “Yep.” Before continuing their argument.
Sirius looks over to James with a weird expression like What are you doing-.
“The guy I met- he gave ‘Barty’ vibes,” James said, matter-of-factly.
The pirates seem to have calmed down, and the female opens the door. “Any medical injuries?” She asked. “Like concussions or cuts?”
“Why are you asking,” Sirius was defensive. “You are going to help? You literally kidnapped us for goodness sake.”
She pursed her lips, but then James said, “My head is kind of pounding. Concussion maybe?”
Pandora nodded, grabbed some things off the table and opened the brig. Evan came in with a dagger, “Promise us you won't try to run. We would like to free your hands so you can eat lunch. There’s nowhere you can really go as we are in the middle of the ocean, and it would be such a hassle, and then we’d have to be less nice.” James nodded and then Evan started sawing through the ropes tying up James’ hands.
“James,” Sirius was clearly annoyed, “Why are you being so compliant?
“They are right,” James reasoned, “We can’t go anywhere. The more compliant we are, the better they will treat us- probably.”
Pandora got to work giving James mediciney shit and gave them both a bowl of beans.
Sirius realized his hands never got untied, “Hey! You untied James. But you never united me.”
“That’s because we like James more,” Evan shrugged.
“Ha,” James said, smug.
“James, you could just untie me.”
“But they actually like me,” James whined while eating the beans. “They will untie you eventually-“
“Maybe,” Evan added unhelpfully.
—-
Bartemius Crouch Jr. woke up, instantly remembering he pulled off his magnum opus the previous day. Not only did he successfully lead a kidnapping of the prince without his captain, he pulled off a bonus kidnapping.
Now taking James Potter was not a part of Barty’s plan, but James did say if he wanted to take Sirius he had to take him too, and who is Barty if not someone who follows instructions (when they suit him, of course). Honestly, after James was knocked out he could have left him anyways, but based on Barty’s first impression of the political advisor, he needed to take him too.
And what was that first impression? James Potter was exactly Regulus Black’s type.
“Morning,” Barty said to announce that he was entering the common area, hungry after just having woken. The prisoners were quietly talking as Pandora and Evan attempted to play go fish with only each other.
Barty started rummaging through the kitchen for something to eat.
“It’s morning?” Sirius asked.
“No,” Barty said.
“Gonna elaborate?” James questioned.
He wasn’t
Evan explained for him, “He was on night watch so he got to sleep through the morning. It’s probably around noon right now. We don’t really keep track of time other than using the sky.”
”He said morning because morning is just a mindset,” Pandora chimed in.
Barty just smirked, “She gets it.”
Barty and Pandora were cut from the same cloth. They had the same appetite for chaos and trickery. They loved finding loopholes, or making absurdities seem normal. And whenever he and Pandora sided together it pissed off Evan, always a bonus. Sure, Evan was just mad that Barty was corrupting his sister to be even more of a chaos gremlin, but Barty could pretend that Evan wished that Barty’s attention would be on him.
Barty loved teasing and flirting with the rest of the crew, but never Evan. He was sure Evan didn’t notice, at least he hoped. If he did it would hit too close. He wished he could love Evan for real, it could never be just a joke to him. But he was pretty sure Evan was straight anyway.
“So you are who knocked me out,” James accused.
”Guilty as charged. You didn’t put up much of a fight. No hard feelings right?”
“Of course there are hard feelings,” Sirius spoke up on his behalf, “You knocked him out and kidnapped him.”
“Meh,” James said, “Could be worse. They were just doing their jobs.”
“Could be worse?! We are so doomed,” Sirius muttered that last part under his breath.
“So,” Barty said, “Wanna play some cards?” Barty was always down for a game of cards, and with his captain’s brother would sure be interesting
—-
Sirius Black was having a pretty shitty day. Well actually a pretty shitty life all things considered, but his day had 2 main parts that were shit. First, he was kidnapped by pirates, and second, he was losing at cards.
Badly.
Turns out they did not teach him how to play cards for when you are suddenly kidnapped by pirates in the palace. He wondered if he should add it to the curriculum when he got back- if he got back that it is.
The thing is, Sirius wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to go back. For the first time in his life, he wasn’t expected to say certain things, or act a specific way. Sirius would never want to be a pirate, being scared of the water kind of takes that out of the picture. He hasn’t even seen the ocean yet, but the rocking of the ship had him on edge.
The thing was, Sirius never learned how to swim. He was scared of drowning. Maybe that was dumb. If he learned how to swim then he wouldn’t drown, but he couldn’t even touch large bodies of water without breaking down. Who would have thought? Water. The future king’s weakness.
Sometimes Sirius wondered if maybe he should just drown. It would be easier that way. No responsibilities. No expectations. Maybe he’d even be happy again. Truly happy.
The thing that always stops him is partly James, but mainly the fact that his younger brother Regulus Black, would be utterly, pissed.
As Sirius took a look at the hand Pandora just dealt, he knew he was going to lose.
Yet again.
—-
Dorcas wasn’t sure what she was expecting to see when she went below deck after Regulus called a meeting, but it definitely wasn’t the rest of the crew playing cards with the prisoners.
”Oh Dorcas!” Barty called out, the first to see her, “Want me to deal you in?”
“What the fuck are you guys doing? And let me guess they know all our names.”
”Yep.” Evan said, “Panda started it. And we are playing cards. James may be even better than Barty, he’s won a bunch of coins. Sirius is hopeless though.”
Dorcas said, “You guys are playing with real coins?!” At the same time Sirius said “Oi! I’m a prince, there’s not much use or time for card games.”
“Of course,” Pandora responded, "There's got to be real stakes.”
“How did the prisoners even get real coins? Wait, don't tell me- I don’t want to know. Anyways, Cap called a meeting. So you all need to get above deck, like right now.”
“When do we get to meet this elusive pirate captain?” James asked, which was quickly followed by Sirius whispering, “Why do you want to meet the pirate captain that kidnapped us?”
Barty got a weird glint in his eyes, the one Dorcas knows was reserved for very specific gremliney acts. “Tell Cap I won’t come unless he gets me personally,” He smirked.
Dorcas let out a sigh, used to his antics, “Barty, that is such a bad idea. You don’t want to play with him right now”
“Ah, but I think I do.”
Dorcas looked around for backup, “Pandora, Evan, anything you wanna say?”
The two blondes looked at each other, having a silent conversation until Pandora answered, “Nope. We wanna see this play out.”
”It’s your funeral,” Dorcas muttered as she left, defeated.