Rings and Medallions

Rings and Medallions

Disclaimer: I own only the obvious, the rest belongs to JK Rowling and JRR Tolkien.

Author’s Note: It’s been about seven years since Jack and Harry parted ways, which means that little James is around ten years old. Enjoy!

Thanks to my beta and good friend, Paladin Steelbreaker.

Chapter Two


The first thing that Jack Sparrow – former captain of the Black Pearl – noticed this fine Monday morning, was a snowy owl sitting on a palm right outside his window. The next thing that fell to mind was that 1) there weren’t many owls in the Caribbean, and 2) only descendants of Harry’s first owl, Hedwig, had that kind of glowing white feathers. The fact that there was a letter tied to the owl’s leg might have helped the revelation along as well.

Jack got up and let the bird in. Upon closer inspection he recognised the fowl as Harry’s current favourite – Orion.

“Well, lets see what trouble the lad’s gotten himself into now,” the ex-pirate mumbled and broke the skull-and-crossbones seal. Five minutes later he jumped into action. He got dressed and ran to the kitchen where the cook, the three maids and the butler were having an early breakfast.

“Anything we can do for you, sir?” the butler asked politely.

“James and I’ll be going to England today, a good friend of mine has fallen ill and I want to be there.” Jack replied easily. “A ship will be picking us up today around noon, and I’d be grateful if you could help us pack.”

“Certainly.” One of the maids replied and hurriedly finished her tea.

Jack nodded his thanks and went up to James’ room to wake the boy. On the way there he reflected slightly on the difference between the life as a pirate and the life as a respectable man. Both had their pros and cons, and if it hadn’t been for James Jack would never have left the sea and the pirate way of life, redcoats be damned. But now that he had a son he would do that a hundred times over without a second thought.

Grinning, the former pirate stepped into his son’s room and easily ducked the pillow that came flying at his head. James was standing in the middle of his bed another pillow lifted and ready to be thrown at a moments notice. The lad really knew how to keep Jack at his toes.

“Easy there, lad, we’re not having a mock-fight this morning.” Jack said and held up his hands in a sign of peace.

“Why not?” the ten-year-old asked. “By now it’s tradition.”

“It may be tradition, but we don’t have time for it at the moment. Uncle Harry is coming to pick us up around noon for a long journey.” Jack smiled fondly as his son jumped form the bed with a shout and started to rush around the room trying to get packed. James knew about the magical world, in fact Jack was sure that the boy would start attending a magical school next year, and that school would be Hogwarts if Jack had anything to say about it. Besides, from what Harry had told him, the Potter family had lived in England for centuries.

James was still rushing around trying to figure out what to bring. “A sword? Yes, I’ll need a sword for those bloody redcoats. Um, clothes, food – hey, dad can I get a pistol for my eleventh birthday?”

Jack shook his head and started to calm down his son. There were some things he had to explain about this mission. James knew already that his father had once been the ‘Mad’ Jack Sparrow, and had taken it in stride. Jack just wondered how the boy would take travelling to a completely different world.

----------------.*.~.*.----------------

Harry looked at the witches and wizards that had assembled to join one of the crews for this mission. A good deal of them were already good sailors, having worked for either Harry or Bootstrap before this, but some of them were mostly or totally hopeless. Like the chap that was currently standing in front of Harry. The man didn’t look too bright, and that was putting it lightly.

“So, you want ter join the crew?” Harry asked more out of formality than anything else.

The young man nodded eagerly.

“And your name is?” Anamaria inquired, pen poised over the paper ready to write. Both she and Severus were joining the insanity, and she had gone back to being Harry’s first mate after Ron had been promoted to captain one of Bootstrap’s other ships.

“Cecil Darling,” came the answer.

Anamaria blinked, stood up and punched the man as hard as she could. “I ain’t yer darlin’, ye bloody pervert!”

Harry sighed and quickly grabbed the murderous woman. “His last name is Darling.”

“Well why didn’t you say that before?” the black woman demanded and sat down in a huff. She wrote down the man’s name and some other information, before telling the man that he would be joining the crew of the Raven. They were trying to even out the crews so that there were experienced crewmembers on each of the five ships to look after the rookies.

Next couple to step forward were Hermione and Draco.

“Finally decided on that honeymoon, ey?” Harry grinned up at them.

Hermione swatted at him. “Shush you! Just put us down and give us our ship, and we’ll be fine.”

“As ye wish. Ana, put them on the Stormeagle, Bootstrap’ll love this chance to teach ‘em. Besides, we’ll have some o’ the more, um, insane and annoying people on the Raven where I can keep an eye at ‘em.”

“Excuse me?” Draco raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, what he said,” Ana echoed. “What do you mean by ‘more insane and annoying people’?”

Harry pointed to the end of the line and the other three groaned. Not only was Dumbledore standing there, dressed as a mad pirate (the role of the traditional parrot-on-the-shoulder was played by Fawkes), and Fudge of all people was also standing there with a ten-Auror strong escort looking totally hell-bent on joining this adventure even if it killed him. The Aurors just looked eager to get away from the Minister and his constant mumbling.

Draco and Hermione beat a hasty retreat and went to warn everybody else of the impending insanity that was sure to come with Dumbledore aboard. Bootstrap looked ready to walk the plank when he heard the news, and Tonks offered to shoot someone – preferably Fudge. While this was going on aboard the five ships, the line in front of Anamaria and Harry had grown smaller and smaller and finally came the time to register Dumbledore.

“Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore,” the old Headmaster declared with a flair and Fawkes rolled his eyes.

Anamaria sighed and wrote it down.

“Why are you joining this adventure, Albus?” Harry asked. “What about the school? It is starting in three months time, you know.”

“Minerva and most of the other teachers are taking care of the school while the Headmaster is gone,” here Dumbledore shot Harry one of his annoying twinkles. “I just wanted to have an adventure. It’s been such a long time since the last one.”

“So what you’re saying is that you aren’t going to do a thing aboard except jump around and annoy people all day long?” the green-eyed man raised an eyebrow.

“Pretty much.”

“Put him on the Raven, Ana.” Harry said with a sigh. There was still a reason that Dumbledore was considered on of the most brilliant men of this age – totally insane yes, but brilliant. And Harry wasn’t going to let said brilliance keep jumping around in a stone castle if he could have use of it on this journey.

As Dumbledore hurried off to join the crew of the Raven, Fudge stepped up with his Auror crew. One of the Auror’s, a stocky man by the name of Beag Callahan, stepped forwards. This was one of the people who still fanatically supported Fudge, so naturally he and Harry weren’t on good terms.

Harry grinned cheekily up at the man. “Hello again Cyclops.” He said.

The one-eyed man growled. “We’re here to join this little… escapade, Potter, and to keep you bloody pirates under control.”

The pirate-captain stood up. “First things first then. One, I am the captain and leader of this mission; my word is law, even to the Minister, and my orders are to be obeyed without a second thought.”

“Agreed.” Callahan bit out through clenched teeth.

“Second,” Harry continued. “If you cause any kind of trouble, or don’t follow my orders, you will be thrown into the brig for as long as I see fit. Third, if you even think about mutinying you’ll walk the plank, and I won’t care if there’s an island close, or if we’re in the middle of the ocean. Fourth, no one is going to get extra privileges, you get what is given to you and no complaints. Do we have an accord?” he held out the parchment where the deal had been written by Ana while he had been speaking. At the end there was enough room for Fudge and his ten Aurors to sign.

Both Fudge and Callahan growled but Callahan took the offered quill and signed his name quickly followed by the rest. Anamaria accepted the paper and locked it away with the rest in the chest where she kept a log of day-to-day things like food rations, water, and other things the other crewmembers (carpenters, cooks, cabin boy’s, etc.) reported to her.

“That’s that,” Harry said and watched the Ministry-group walk aboard the Raven. “Who the hell told Fudge about this journey anyway?”

The black woman shrugged. “Dunno. We better get aboard and get ready to set sail, Jack’ll be waiting for us.”

The other man grinned and together they signalled for the other ships to get ready before boarding the Raven.

Jacqueline stalked up to Harry where he stood by the helm, followed by Severus and Remus. “Harry, what’s Fudge doing here?” the young woman demanded.

“Wants to keep us under control,” Harry snorted and grinned. “So, Severus, Remus, ready for your first adventure with the Raven?”

Remus grinned. “Indeed we are.”

With his green eyes glittering, Harry started to yell out orders. “Man the braces!!!! Hoist the sails!!!! Weigh the anchor, and lets go!!!” While the orders were quickly carried out, he looked down on the ring and pressed his thumb to the diamond. “Smeraldo!” the air in front of the Raven shimmered and he steered the ship through with the other four ships following. They had to pick up Jack and then the adventure could begin in earnest.

----------------.*.~.*.----------------

Jack grinned when he saw Five ships appear in the distance. James stood beside him and was looking through the spyglass.

“I can see them!” the young boy grinned. “Which one is Uncle Harry’s?”

“If I’m not much mistaken, that would be the first one.” Jack replied and could feel the familiar feeling of his blood rushing at the thought of going back to the sea.

An hour later the five ships – the Raven and the Stormeagle made to look like merchant ships – dropped anchor right outside the small harbour, and a longboat was put on the water from the Raven. Jack recognised Harry at once, then he grinned when he saw not only Jacqueline, but Elizabeth and Will in the boat as well. Both women were disguised as men, and Jacqueline and Will were rowing steadily towards the dock where Jack and James were standing.

“About bloody time ye got here, whelp,” Jack whispered with a grin and helped to lower the two trunks into the longboat. Then he lowered James down and jumped down himself. “What took ye so long?”

“Fudge among other things.” Harry replied then grinned as James sat down beside him. “ ‘Ello, lad! Come te join yer old man fer an adventure?”

“You better believe it!” the young boy grinned.

“Well then, what are we waitin’ for?” Jack asked, his pirate-accent shining through again.

“Nothing.” Jacqueline replied and she and Will started rowing again.

There was much joy when Jack and James came aboard the Raven, and shouts and greeting from the other four ships could be heard as well. The father and son were shown into the last free cabin, the other three taken up by Draco and Hermione, Will and Elizabeth and Ana and Severus. And of course Harry had his own cabin, but he had hung a hammock up in the room which was where Dumbledore would sleep. Better to keep an eye at the man.

“Ana, good to see ye!! Lookin’ good there, Draco! ‘Ello, ‘Ermione!” Jack greeted one familiar face after another. “Ye have no idea ‘ow borin’ it’s been bein’ a respectable man.” Then the former pirate-captain spotted Fudge and his Aurors and growled. “Still with us, ey, Corny?”

Fudge bristled. “My name is Cornelius Fudge, and you better remember that, Mr Sparrow.”

“Of course it is, Corny, of course it is.” Jack waved him off and he and James joined Harry up at the helm. “So, Green-Eyes-”

“Still haven’t given up on that name, have you?”

“I’m a pirate, whadd’ya expect?”

Harry shook his head, then looked at the other man from the corner of his eye. “Think you can give us a boost with your Elemental abilities? We need to be out of the sight of the harbour before we open the portal.”

Jack nodded and called up a strong wind which quickly filled the sails and the five ships shot forwards with the Raven in the lead.

----------------.*.~.*.----------------

It was almost full night when Harry decided that they were far enough away from people to cross from one world into the other safely.

“Alright, everyone ready?” Harry’s magically amplified voice reached the four ships sailing along the Raven, and a chorus of ‘yes’ and ‘aye’ came back to him. “Wonderful!” he touched the emerald on the ring and whispered, “Arda!” and a huge silver-ish portal opened in front of the ship. A strong wind flew out of it and the sea around them became slightly wilder. “Hold on to yer hat’s ladies and gents, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride!”

With that the Raven sailed into the silver portal. It was followed by the Stormeagle, then Ron’s ship – the Weasel, and the Heron and the Phoenix brought up the rear.

It was indeed a bumpy ride. To Harry it seemed as if they had sailed straight into a storm-from hell, and he had to fight to keep standing and to keep the ship on a steady course. Jack and most of the crew had taken out ropes and had bound themselves to the mast or wherever else they could, and hung onto the ropes with all their might. The few torches that had been lit were quickly blown out and the Hogwarts banner and the Jolly Roger right under it, were nearly shredded to peaces. The sails seemed ready to burst, and a few of the ropes actually did, but nothing dangerous happened, and a few minutes later they exited the portal on the other side landing smoothly in a calm, deep, dark blue sea. The other four ships made the journey with only a minimal amount of damage as well, and all the crews breathed a sigh of relief. Then they discovered another thing.

They were glowing. All of the witches and wizards were glowing silver or white like stars.

“What the devil?!” Harry looked down upon himself. He was the only one who glowed just as much – if not more than Dumbledore. Said old man came up beside him with a grin. Even Fawkes was glowing, but he was glowing in a warm scarlet.

“Albus, what is going on here?” the green-eyed young man asked.

The other man chuckled, seemed to concentrate slightly and then his glow was gone. “It is my belief Harry, that since we aren’t originally form this world, something in it’s fundamental magic reacts with our own magic and makes us glow. What we’re actually seeing is the Aura around people and the brighter the Aura the more power the certain person has.”

“How did you turn it off?” Remus asked. His Aura was tinged slightly with brown.

‘Probably because of the werewolf in him.’ Harry mused, then turned back to Dumbledore to hear the explanation. Harry had no desire to walk around glowing like a star, even if it was kind of cool.

“All you have to do is concentrate, and pull your Aura inside yourself again. Imagine it like vacuuming, pull your Aura in and keep it locked up. It is very easy to do.” Dumbledore demonstrated again and Harry quickly ‘turned off’ his own Aura. Slowly the crews of the five ships picked up on it as well and normal torches were lit again, sending a warm glow over the decks of the ships and the sea as well.

“So, where to now?” Jack asked as he came up beside Harry.

“We’re supposed to go to a place called the grey Havens – I suppose it’s a port or something – and there we’ll be met by some elven leaders who know about our coming. From there, well, I have no idea.” Harry took up the magical compass which had once belonged to Jack, and whispered, “Take us to the Grey Havens” causing Jack to smile fondly. Together they turned the ship in the correct direction and settled down for a long night.

The peaceful silence between the two former pirates was broken when a slightly green Fudge stumbled up on deck and up to the helm. Jack rolled his eyes but didn’t leave. How many opportunities was he going to get to annoy Fudge on this journey was unknown, so he better grab hold of ever opportunity he got. Besides, he wasn’t going to desert Harry and leave him alone with such a short nuisance.

“Where are we going?” Fudge asked and hung onto the railing for dear life. The man clearly didn’t feel home aboard a ship.

“We aren’t going, we’re sailin’”. Harry corrected him. “We’re going to the Grey Havens where we’ll be met with some of the elven leaders of this world.”

“Excuse me?! We’re going to work with elves?! House-elves?!”

Jack rolled his eyes again. “Shut it ye idiot. It’s only logical to think that because this is a totally different world from our own, that the elves here aren’t like the House-elves back on Earth, savvy?”

Harry nodded in agreement. “Go back to yer hammock, Fudge and leave us be te steer the ship in peace.”

“But-”

“Go.”

“Now see here-”

“Do ye want te end up in the brig? Scram!”

The two pirates watched in amusement as the Minister scrambled back under deck again.

“I think we terrified him.”

There was a short silence.

“That was wonderful.”

“Yes, I know. I’m good, aren’t I?”

----------------.*.~.*.----------------

Two days later the lookout in the crows nest shouted down, “Grey Havens ahoy!”

And not long afterwards the entire crew could clearly see the mass of land which went as far as the eye could see in both directions. Yesterday it had only been a great big mass of dark grey in the horizon, but now they could see that it was actually hills and cliffs and beaches and everything was so green. Trees and plains went for as far as they could see, and straight ahead laid the Grey Havens.

It was a beautifully built harbour, with architecture that none of the crews had ever seen before. It flowed in and out of the stones and few trees like water and several white, glittering, elegant, swan-shaped ships stood by the docks all of them filled with tall people with long hair and elegant clothes and robes. Some of these bore simple gold or silver circlets and other small, yet elegant, jewellery.

More of these tall people were standing on the dock itself, several of them dressed in even more wondrous clothes than Harry had even thought possible. The entire place was silent and the pirates were silent as well. There was something timeless about this place, something that invoked awe and a feeling of happiness in all of them. Yet there was also a slight feeling of sadness for some strange reason.

Hermione was eagerly sketching everything in sight and writing down small notes. She had taken it upon herself to document the entire journey, and then when they got back home to Earth she was going to write a book about it. She was wishing that she had ten more sets of eyes, and she hoped dearly that Harry would let her stay here for a while to get some more information and drawings. And Gods help him if he didn’t.

“Wow.” Jack whispered in awe as the Raven sailed silently into the harbour.

Harry nodded. “Wow indeed.” He replied just as quietly. A group of six people that were standing on the dock, caught his attention. Three of them were clearly related, two of those were even twins; the fourth was also one of these tall people. He was blonde and had a slight beard, which Harry hadn’t seen on any of the others. The one after that was a dark-haired man clearly dressed in travelling clothes. He had a large sword at his side, and other things on his back. The last one was an old man who reminded Harry of Dumbledore. He was dressed in grey robes, had a tall pointy hat, and was leaning slightly on a curiously shaped staff.

The docking went easy, the anchors were dropped, the sails were gathered and tied up, and several of the tall people helped secure the ships, and then to lower the gangplanks. Upon closer inspection Harry noticed that these people had pointy ears that stuck slightly out of their long hair.

‘Well, they certainly aren’t House-elves.’ Harry thought to himself as he walked down the plank followed by Jack, James, Jacqueline, Dumbledore, Severus, and some others.

They reached the group of six that Harry had noticed earlier were just about to greet them, when there was a yell and a splash from the ship. They turned and found Fudge being hoisted out of the water by two Aurors.

Jack turned to Harry. “Tell me, why exactly did ye bring the idiot on this little outing?”

Harry could only shrug his shoulders. It was a total mystery to him as well.

----------------.*.~.*.----------------

Damn, that was long. Don’t expect chapters like these all the time.

This is slightly AU, so lets say that the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy doesn’t exist on Earth.

The quote ‘Hello again, Cyclops’ comes from Disney’s version of ‘The Three Musketeers’ with Oliver Platt, Charlie Sheen, Tim Curry, et all.