#what will charles cromwell do if/when he learns about carewyn's dealings?

[carewyncromwell]

“I finished crying in the instant that you left, And I can't remember where or when or how, And I banished every memory you and I had ever made! But when you touch me like this, and you hold me like that, I just have to admit that it's all coming back to me... When I touch you like this, and I hold you like that, It's so hard to believe, but it's all coming back to me... It's all coming back -- it's all coming back to me now... There were moments of gold And there were flashes of light -- There were things I'd never do again, But then they'd always seemed right...”

~“It’s All Coming Back to Me,” by Celine Dion

x~x~x~x

AUGH, my heart! I blame this 100% on @mira-shard sending me that ship ask for my book-smart, people-dumb spaceman Jacob Cromwell and his boy best friend Duncan and reminding me how friggin’ much I adore these two. They hurt my heart so much and yet I love them with all of my heart and soul. ;~;

This is set toward the end of Carewyn’s sixth year, right after that certain Redacted event. This is also the first time these two have seen each other since Duncan died...and yeah, as you can expect, their reunion was pretty damn feelsy.

Jacob Cromwell had been working hard on his own almost all of that school year to reach the Sunken Vault before Rakepick, but after finding out that R was still actively targeting Carewyn by sending members like the Wizard in White after her, he became all the more determined to try to force them away from the Hogwarts grounds. Unfortunately for Jacob, R was one step ahead of him. Using the blood they’d managed to collect after badly injuring Jacob the previous year, they had Blaise Cromwell use Polyjuice Potion to masquerade as his nephew and sneak into the school so as to have access to his niece Carewyn, who R’s leader (Jacob and Carewyn’s cold-hearted maternal grandfather Charles Cromwell) ultimately wanted among their ranks as well.

While masquerading as Jacob, Blaise learned Carewyn was still planning on chasing after the Vaults, with the blessing of Mad-Eye Moody, who was currently investigating R himself, and after putting on a weak act of discouraging her, he “accepted her help” and subtly encouraged her to not tell her friends anything else about the Vaults, supposedly for “their safety,” but truthfully because Blaise didn’t want Carewyn to have ties anywhere outside of their family and organization. Blaise did suss out, however, that there were a few people in Carewyn’s circle of associates who were reluctant to leave the Cursed Vaults alone and “stay out of R’s business,” including Ben Copper, who Blaise in particular felt a searing distaste for, given that he was not only a “filthy Mudblood,” but he also was one of Carewyn’s first friends who was incredibly overprotective of her. After Blaise discussed the matter with his father Charles, it was decided that R should “deal” with Ben Copper the same way R had dealt with Duncan Ashe -- namely, to make an example out of him, which would not only scare Carewyn into line, but also take out a potential threat to their overall plan to isolate their target so they’d have no one else to fall back on.

Just as they had whenever Blaise infiltrated the school, R purposefully led Jacob away from the grounds, this time with the Wizard in White as a decoy. Since the Wizard had recently threatened Carewyn’s life, Jacob immediately charged after him with a vengeance, determined to hunt him down and kill him so that he’d never touch “his Pip” again. Unfortunately after several weeks of doggedly pursuing the Wizard in White all across London, he escaped, and Jacob in utter frustration was forced to return to Hogwarts and continue trying to access the Sunken Vault, even if he knew no way to do so without both of the Coral Keys that unlocked the outer and inner doors. It was only when Jacob returned to Scotland that he learned Rakepick had returned to Hogwarts the day he first left and had killed someone in the Forbidden Forest -- and it was a few days later, late at night, that Jacob was confronted by a familiar voice in the Lakehouse that was his hiding place. 

“So you are here, then.”

Jacob’s heart stopped. Whipping out his white Aspen wand, the ex-Ravenclaw whirled around so violently that he nearly knocked over the overturned boat on the floor behind him.

Hovering over him was a translucent shape of a seventeen-year old wizard. He wore Hogwarts robes, but due to the bluish-gray tint of his form, the uniform’s house colors weren’t identifiable. Not that Jacob would’ve needed to try to guess what house he’d been in -- he already knew the young man was in Slytherin. Jacob had gone to talk to him in their very first year all because he was a Slytherin and could answer that random question Jacob had had about the Slytherin commonroom...

Jacob’s almond-shaped blue eyes went very wide, losing almost all of their light, as his face blanched.

“...Ashe...?”

His voice left his lips in such a hushed whisper, it was like the breath had passed his lips without any diction whatsoever.

Duncan crossed his arms moodily. “Long time no see, Jacob. I’m curious -- did your sister just not tell you I was still around, or did you actively decide I wasn’t worth a visit?”

Jacob’s blue eyes flooded with pain as he shakily lowered his wand arm.

“Ashe...” he whispered again feebly.

The facial reaction didn’t move Duncan -- instead he plowed on.

“I mean, Hell, apparently Madame Pince even managed to catch sight of you before I did. Suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, though...you always did run to books for all your answers, rather than use any common sense -- ”

Jacob did not know what Duncan was talking about, but in that moment, he had trouble articulating that on top of everything else he was feeling. It felt like his heart had swollen up in his chest and was slamming up against his ribs, throbbing with pulsing pain as he clumsily tucked his wand back into his robes.

“Ashe...” he tried again, but it was no use. His throat was so tight, it was like it was being squeezed...

“Then again,” laughed Duncan humorlessly, “‘common sense’ was never exactly common for you, was it? Nor was tact, patience, humility, sensitivity, or even a shred of self-control -- ”

“Ashe -- ”

“I mean, if I’d abandoned the precious little sister who I’d never bloody shut up about for seven years,” said Duncan in a very harsh, cutting voice, “I probably wouldn’t have immediately abandoned her again and only bothered checking in with her after finding out that someone might want to kill her because of me! You kept saying to me, ‘I gotta protect Pip,’ ‘I’ve gotta take care of Carewyn’ -- well, where the Hell were you, Jacob? Where were you this last month!? Where were you after she broke you out of that Vault!? Where were you, when I had to pick up your slack?! Just like I always do -- just like I’ve always done, ever since you waltzed your way into my -- !?”

“Ashe!”

The surname came out oddly choked. Duncan looked Jacob in the face fully for the first time, and immediately faltered.

The ex-Ravenclaw had hunched in on himself in the face of Duncan’s tirade. His hollowed-out blue eyes were very weak and rippling with moisture that he fiercely fought back. Although his shoulders hadn’t crumpled, they were shaking, as were his hands as they clutched at the sleeves of his elegant scarlet dress robes. His...very familiar scarlet dress robes...

Something twitched in Duncan’s expression.

“Ashe...you...” Jacob gave a very painful-looking swallow. “...You’re here.”

Duncan tried to glower at him. “Well spotted.”

He hated how much Jacob was shaking, and how it looked like he was fighting back tears. Jacob didn’t respond to Duncan’s sarcasm -- he appeared unable to.

“You’ve...been here all this time...all these years...you stayed behind?”

His voice was very quiet. He clutched at the sleeves of his dress robes.

“I thought you’d gone on!” Jacob burst out, his voice very strained. “I thought -- you’d left...”

“Well, clearly I didn’t!” Duncan shot back, more defensively that he’d intended. He didn’t like seeing Jacob like this -- didn’t like seeing him so upset -- didn’t like how...his voice echoed with something like remorse...longing...

Jacob’s hands shook more as he squeezed his arms in a vice grip, staring at Duncan as if he were a faded photograph he hadn’t seen in years and wished to carve into his memory before it became too damaged to salvage.

“When I was in the Portrait, I spent days and weeks wishing I could have just one more minute with you -- maybe fifteen, or thirty, just -- enough time to tell you every little thing I never did before...”

Jacob seemed unable to finish. He broke off, his head falling so that his eyes fell into shadow.

“...But -- but knowing you are here -- that you’re here like this...after I couldn’t save you, after R targeted us -- ”

Duncan flinched. The pain and self-hatred in Jacob’s eyes -- it looked just like the kind he’d seen in another pair of blue almond-shaped eyes not too long ago, in response to her having lost her best friend. At the time Duncan had briefly wondered if Jacob had reacted as badly to his death as Carewyn did Rowan Khanna’s, but had pushed off the thought. It was something he couldn’t believe -- didn’t want to believe.

“Ashe...” Jacob murmured. His voice had become rather level and absent, as it always was when he was thinking, even though the clenched hands on his arms were still shaking terribly, “Ashe, I’ve been such a fool...I don’t know how I never saw it before...how much I cared, how much I wanted you -- wanted us to...be an ‘us’...to swoop in and just...take you home to Pip and Mum, and...be a family together -- to break curses and travel the world and get into fights and then kiss and make up and get into trouble and then out of it again and laugh a lot and do stupid stuff and change the world and...maybe, I dunno, adopt some kids down the road or something -- I’d probably be a pretty lousy father, and we could’ve completely fallen apart, and the whole thing could’ve ended up being a mistake, but...thinking on it, all those years...all I could come back to over and over again was hating not knowing -- not knowing if we could’ve been happy together, if...well, even if we were a disaster, at least we still could’ve been something -- had something -- ”

Duncan felt a familiar burning sensation in the back of eyes, and it made him lash out.

“GET BENT, JACOB CROMWELL!”

Jacob’s head shot up, taken aback. Duncan held up a clenched fist as if he longed to punch Jacob right in the face.

“I’m mad at you!” shouted Duncan. “I’m allowed to be mad at you! After every mistake you made, for every bloody mistake you’re still making and will no doubt make for the rest of your sodding life, I should be mad at you! You never bloody learn and you always dash headlong into situations without using that brilliant brain of yours to think twice! And yet you...”

Duncan’s eyes were filling up with tears.

“You...you’re making it bloody impossible! I want to yell at you! I want to hate you! I want to know you never cared and I was a fool for ever wasting my time on you, because otherwise my whole reason for staying behind -- ”

The thought hurt Duncan too much, and he furiously shoved the end of that sentence away.

“I want to resent you for the rest of my undead days, and yet there you go, looking like that and rambling on like an idiot and...and...”

A tear leaked out the side of his eye. Despite the anger in his expression, Duncan was shaking too now. His other hand tentatively rose, hovering just shy of Jacob’s pale face as if he longed to touch it.

“...and...making me fall for you all over again,” choked Duncan, his voice very low and muffled in the back of his throat.

Jacob looked like he too was fighting back the urge to try to touch Duncan as he stared up into his light-less eyes. Like the rest of him, there was a tint of ghostly blueish-gray to them, even though they’d been such a warm, bright brown in life.

“Ashe...”

“Jacob, for the love of -- stop saying my name like that! I told you I’m mad at you!”

Even as he said it, Duncan’s transparent fingers grazed Jacob’s face, making Jacob shiver slightly at the cold as it passed through his skin.

“...Why?” said Duncan softly.

“What?”

“My robes,” Duncan clarified. “You kept them.”

Jacob’s eyes pulsed with emotion, both pained and almost offended.

“Well, of course I kept them,” he retorted hotly. “You gave them to me. Did you assume I’d just stick them in the back of my closet?”

“Sort of,” said Duncan a bit awkwardly.

Jacob’s face actually flickered with some righteous anger. “Because you wanted to believe I didn’t care?”

“Don’t turn this around on me!” Duncan shot back defensively. “What was I supposed to think, after you disappeared without a trace -- after all of the things I heard about you doing R’s dirty work -- ?”

“You KNEW R forced me to join them!” shouted Jacob. “You KNEW what they had over me -- what they almost did to Pip! You KNEW I would never, ever abandon Pip and Mum by my own choice -- ”

“I KNOW!” Duncan said fiercely.

The transparent hand that had been beside Jacob’s face clasped weakly at the air beside his hair, as if he longed to grab hold of it.

“...I know...” he said in a more hushed, strained voice.

Jacob’s blue eyes were still blazing with mild frustration.

“Ashe, I wore these robes for you, the night I went to the Portrait Vault,” he said lowly.

Duncan was startled.

“I wanted you with me, when I broke the last two Vaults’ curses -- when I saved Olivia...”

Jacob’s gaze betrayed a strange, almost beastly glint -- like vengeance, but much darker and more hostile.

“I wanted you with me when I demolished R and everything they’ve ever wanted and chased after. I still do. I want to make every last one of them pay for everything they took from me -- everyone they took from me.”

Duncan stared at Jacob, his expression strained with disbelief and something oddly touched.

“Jacob...”

He once again looked like he wanted to touch Jacob’s face, to trail his fingers through his dark curls. His light-less eyes fell away from Jacob’s and came down to rest on his lips instead.

“...You know I can’t help you do much of anything, like this.”

Jacob’s expression turned a bit more serious. “There is one thing you can do for me -- make sure Pip doesn’t leave the castle again. I heard Rakepick killed someone in the Forbidden Forest -- I can’t let her do the same to -- ”

“You can’t shield Carewyn from R, Jacob,” said Duncan very sharply.

“I can and I will,” spat Jacob fiercely.

Duncan’s lips came together very tightly.

“Do you know who that person was?” the ghost said very lowly. “The one Rakepick killed?”

Jacob’s expression lost some of its anger, seeing how oddly grave Duncan’s expression had become.

“Her name was Rowan Khanna,” said Duncan. “Sixth year Slytherin, supposedly in the running to be Hogwarts Head Girl. ...She’s also your sister’s best friend.”

Jacob’s eyes went very, very wide in horror.

“...No...”

His head fell. His eyes stared down at the floor, but didn’t seem to see it -- his mind was racing, unable to keep up with the horror of this news.

“Carewyn was lured out to the Forest after finding a Quill addressed to you in your old room,” Duncan told him sharply. “Three of her friends followed her and tried to protect her when Rakepick confronted her there.” Duncan’s voice lowered significantly as he added, “....She’d been sent with orders from R to kill one of your sister’s friends -- to send a message.”

Jacob once again clutched at his own arms, his flurry of thoughts darting across his eyes as he stared at the floor.

“They played me,” he whispered. “They knew I wanted to protect Pip -- so they sent the Wizard in White to attack her at the Lakeshore, so I’d fear him going after her...so I’d chase after him to try to stop him, even if it meant leaving Pip alone...”

His head shot up, and his eyes were narrowed in urgency and confusion.

“You said there was a message for me, in my room? Pip found my room?”

“A few years ago, I believe,” said Duncan. “I reckon it would’ve been a logical place to look, if she wanted to figure out what the hell you were up to, before you vanished...if she could even have found anything, in that absolute mess you always worked out of -- ”

“But why would there have been a message for me there?” said Jacob, his eyebrows knitting together. “I haven’t gone in there since I was expelled...”

Duncan frowned. “Well, R might’ve heard about you going into the Library...”

“But that’s just it!” said Jacob. “I didn’t! I haven’t entered the school since I left! It’s not exactly easy to break into Hogwarts -- and if I did and got caught, then where would I be, in protecting Pip and stopping R? I can’t let them get into the Sunken Vault first!”

Duncan suddenly looked almost as troubled as Jacob.

“...So...you haven’t entered Hogwarts at all? But...then why did Pince and Filch see you inside?”

A thought struck his mind.

“...Jacob...when was the last time you spoke to your sister? Not just saw her, I mean, really spoke to her.”

Jacob frowned deeply. “Last year, in Knockturn Alley. Though we didn’t really have much time to talk then, either...”

Duncan’s eyes narrowed in anxiety. “Jacob...Carewyn told her friends that you ‘don’t tell her much, whenever you meet.’ That doesn’t sound like something that someone would say after only seeing her brother once in an entire school year. It sounds like someone who’s been meeting him regularly.”

Jacob stiffened visibly. His eyebrows furrowed over his eyes as they wandered over the walls and floor.

“Something’s not right,” he said lowly.

He turned on his heel, whipping out his white wand as he went.

“I need to find out what’s going on. Ashe...while I’m gone, please -- ”

“Jacob, stop.”

Duncan swept right through Jacob, making the smaller man shudder. The ghost hovered over Jacob, his translucent robes flapping silently on either side of him.

“Before you go running off  without thinking again,” said Duncan sardonically, “talk to your sister.”

Jacob looked hesitant and slightly ashamed.

“I need to protect her -- ”

“No, you need to be there for her,” Duncan cut him off fiercely. “She’s just lost the first real friend she ever made in her life -- someone she cares about like few others. There’s only one person in this entire world who might know what that’s like...”

Duncan swallowed back the lump in his throat.

“...If you...truly cared, when I died, Jacob...then you’re the only person who might know what she needs, right now.”

Jacob closed his eyes and turned away, unable to reply. His fist clenched over the Aspen wand at his side.

“...Does she hate me?” he asked at last, very lowly. “Does she blame me...for what happened?”

Duncan’s eyes softened slightly. “You know she doesn’t.”

This didn’t seem to comfort Jacob, though. If anything, it made him more upset -- like he thought she should blame him.

Duncan exhaled heavily. “Jacob, please -- I know you want to protect Carewyn, and I know there’s not much time to stop R from reaching the Sunken Vault...but...”

A strange wry smile pricked at the corner of his lips.

“...if there’s one thing your sister has taught me...it’s how much knowing that someone cares -- that you’re not alone -- can mean.”

Jacob’s posture straightened slightly.

“She’s shouldered a lot by herself since you left, Jacob,” said Duncan. “Her friends are trying to help her with it now...but I think the help she really needs is yours.”

Jacob was silent for another long moment. Then he turned just enough to look at Duncan over his shoulder -- his lips had curled up in a crooked, sad smile.

“...You really did look after my Pip for me.”

Duncan gave a loud huff and crossed his arms. “It’s not like I could’ve not picked up your slack.”

His expression betrayed a bit more seriousness as he added, “...She’s a fine lass, Jacob.”

Jacob’s eyes squinted almost fondly. “She is.”

The smile then slid off his face.

“If Pip wants to see me, just...tell her to go out toward the Lake after dark and shoot up red sparks. I’ll come running right out to her. ...Will you tell her that, for me?”

Duncan nodded. “Of course.”

“Thank you. And Ashe?”

“Yeah?”

Jacob swallowed.

“You know how I feel about you...right?”

Duncan’s expression turned rather snarky. “Of course I do. You kept me around so you’d have someone to show off to.”

Jacob immediately looked irritated, and Duncan quickly added in exasperation, “Oh, come on, you know I know! Just...”

His transparent cheeks darkened with a dark blue flush as he glanced away out the side of his eye.

“Just...say it anyway.”

Jacob’s expression cleared, slowly breaking out into a bright grin that made him look years younger.

“...I love you.”

Duncan closed his eyes, inhaling and exhaling slowly through his nose.

“I have for a while,” Jacob pressed on, “dunno really how long, but...”

“All right, that’ll do,” Duncan said under his breath brusquely, despite the dark flush still clinging to his face. “I love you too -- so don’t go off and get yourself killed too, all right?”

With this, Duncan swept right past Jacob, brushing through his hair as he disappeared through the Lakehouse’s wall and back toward the school.

[carewyncromwell]

hella delayed reaction but skdfjasdlkfa BOYFRIENDS JACOB AND ASHE PIRATE AND SIREN COMBO ARE MY NEW OTP I LOVE THEM SO MUCH

*sniggers like an idiot* This message made me draw some stuff, so if y’all didn’t want a diversion from the next part of the POTC AU...too bad! You’re getting some AU!Duncan/Jacob, so deal with it.

Okay, so first things first -- Duncan (later Duncan Ashe) and Jacob Cromwell Roberts (later Black Jack Roberts) first collided after Jacob was “impressed into service” (A.K.A. kidnapped off the merchant ship he was on and forced to be his captors’ navigator or die) by pirate Howell Davis. While trapped on board on the Rover for the next two years, Jacob would (like in the old days trapped on the Revenge with his sister Carewyn) sing to pass the time. Most of the pirates didn’t mind too much as Jacob, like Carewyn, has a great singing voice, and honestly, there isn’t much to do to entertain oneself on a pirate ship.

As luck would have it, one day, Jacob’s singing caught the attention of a merman swimming by the Rover, who was startled by the sound of the voice and stopped momentarily to suss out whether it was another merman or not. He pretty quickly deduced that no, it was just a human male with an unusually attractive singing voice. Duncan probably would’ve tried to take this opportunity to lure the human male into the water and eat him, but considering he was alone and the ship was stuffed to the brim with nasty-looking pirates, Duncan decided it probably wouldn’t be prudent to do so. So instead he shadowed the ship for a while, thinking to follow it back into waters where more merfolk swam and, once there, attack the ship properly with reinforcements.

While following the ship, however, it seemed like every time Duncan came up to the surface, that one human male was always singing, and it was always in such a pained, aching sort of voice. This of course didn’t trouble Duncan exactly -- it was good to know that this human wanted something so much and that Duncan would therefore be able to figure out what he wanted and use it to lure him into his waiting jaws easily -- but as he followed the ship and listened to this young man’s voice in comparison to the others’ on board, he suddenly got the weird feeling that this human was...different, somehow. And so he situated himself on the ship’s anchor and listened a bit more carefully.

Merfolk have a pretty good ability to read the hearts and attitudes of humans just by being close to them, and although Duncan couldn’t get close enough to completely suss out what this human wanted, he got the feeling that his emotions were strong -- not just the sorrow and pain, but the resilience and determination, as well. The human was also very amusing, frequently running circles intellectually around the other men on the pirate ship and making Duncan bite back laughter. At one point Duncan even overheard an argument between the human and the pirates on-board where he demanded to be set free and mentioned his sister, insisting that she needed him and saying he would do anything if they’d just let him return to her. Considering that merfolk in general are not family-oriented (with a few lone exceptions), the level of passion in which this human spoke of his sister startled Duncan. He was more than used to people lusting after gold or flesh, but he’d never heard anyone speak so selflessly before -- being willing to lay down his own life not for himself, but for someone else. It was a stupid thing to say, Duncan thought, considering these pirates clearly had no reason to listen to him and him emotionally lashing out wouldn’t likely help anything...and yet, all the same, Duncan found himself drawn all the more. And so when the ship entered merfolk-inhabited waters...Duncan did not strike. Instead he left and found a meal elsewhere, but never forgot the ship called the Rover and the young man with the wonderful voice.

Over the next year, Duncan kept his eye open for the Rover. It zipped back and forth across the sea often enough, so it didn’t take long for him to figure out their route. There were several points he considered speaking to the human, or maybe even singing himself so he could hear him, but he always reminded himself that he didn’t know what good it would do. Sailors still by and large fear and distrust merfolk (though they often presume they’re all mermaids, not men), and Duncan had no way to help this human escape his circumstances whether he wanted to or not. He no longer wanted to lure him off the pirate ship with promises that weren’t true.

Once, while Duncan was following the Rover, the ship got locked in a huge sea battle, forcing the merman to dive deep below the waves to escape the cannon fire. When he emerged, he was shocked to find that his human had actually been made Captain -- “Captain Jack Roberts,” they called him. Duncan finally had a name -- and when he followed the ship all the way to its destination of Port Royal, he thought it would be the last time he would ever see him again. Duncan fought with himself about whether or not to approach “Jack,” but in the end, he lost his nerve. His heart broke when he saw his human leave the ship at a run, as if he never wanted to look back.

You can imagine how shocked and delighted Duncan was, therefore, when his “Jack” returned to the ship. The delight was short-lived, however, when Duncan learned the reason “Jack” had returned was because his precious sister was gone and no one knew where she’d disappeared to, so he was determined to search the seven seas until he found her again. Duncan could sense immediately that there were tensions aboard his ship in response to this, but “Jack” didn’t seem to -- he was too focused on finding his sister to give much care to anyone else’s thoughts on the matter. Duncan cursed the stupidity of this wonderful, bizarre human.

As Charles Cromwell later told Carewyn, Howell Davis’s old First Mate Patricia Rakepick decided to spark a mutiny on board the Rover and claim its captainship for herself. Rather than maroon Jack as per the Pirate Code, she determined (correctly, may I point out) that if he were left alive, he’d be more than smart enough to find a way off the island and be a thorn in her side later -- and so in a particularly brutal move, Rakepick shot him in the back with her pistol and pushed him overboard into the raging waves. In alarm Duncan, who had still been following the Rover, dived to retrieve Jack, covering the young man’s mouth with his own in a deep kiss to give him the ability to breathe underwater long enough that he wouldn’t drown while Duncan swam him away from the Rover.

Duncan eventually found a small island where he could pull Jack ashore. Knowing Jack was in bad shape and yet he had no way to help him on his own, Duncan made the risky and brave decision to leave the water, taking on human legs and stumbling into the closest town butt-friggin’-naked begging for help. The townspeople quickly gave him some clothes and Duncan then led them back to the beach where he’d left Jack, who dipped in and out of consciousness as Duncan lifted him into his arms and carried him to the closest doctor. Once his human was tended to, the two finally met face-to-face for the first time and exchanged names -- the human introduced himself as Jacob Roberts, or Jack, while Duncan introduced himself as Duncan Ashe, taking his last name from the contents of the ashtray in the parlor of the doctor’s home.

It wasn’t long after that Jacob made his deal with Davy Jones to steal the Rover back from Patricia Rakepick and the East India Trading Company, which officially branded him a pirate and set him on his quest to both find Carewyn and locate Charles or Blaise Cromwell so as to satisfy his debt with Jones. Duncan was and is the only member of Jacob’s crew who knows both about his deal with Jones and his backstory, and over the years, Jacob told Duncan all about his sister, Carewyn, and what a saint she supposedly was. Jacob constantly insisted that Duncan would love Carewyn when they finally met, which Duncan couldn’t help but doubt, considering that he found Jacob to be a rare exception among humans -- as it turned out, when they finally did, Duncan was amazed to find Jacob was right.

To this point, Jacob still hasn’t put two-and-two together about what Duncan really is, and Duncan hasn’t felt much desire to tell him, even though there are points he wishes Jacob could know that he really did save his life, and not just by pulling him out of the water. Nevertheless, Jacob did eventually figure out how much his First Mate really meant to him in the midst of the seven years they sailed together (yeah -- this guy is a brilliant scholar and captain, but when it comes to people, he really is an absolute idiot), and once he did, he was pretty forceful in making sure Duncan knew it too. By then, Duncan was more than willing to reciprocate, given how long he’d kept his feelings to himself -- so now Black Jack Roberts’s relationship with his First Mate Ashe is more than common knowledge among the crew. Anyone who would even think about underestimating either man because of this, however, is pretty quickly disillusioned when Duncan tosses them overboard or Jacob decides to dangle them by the back of their shirts off the bowsprint for a day or two.

[carewyncromwell]

Anybody want some more POTC AU? Well, this time we’re getting some focus on our Davy Jones (Finn McGarry @theguythatdraws, based on this concept) and our Commodore “Carey Weasley” (Carewyn Cromwell)! In the original films, their respective roles are on opposite sides of the fence (hell, Davy Jones kills Norrington in the movies damnitDisneyNorringtondeservedbetter >>), and even in this AU, Davy!Finn has some history with Carewyn’s brother Jacob...so how will they interact, when they collide? We’ll just have to wait and see...

17th-18th century pirate ships were -- in a bizarre way -- tiny, floating representative democracies, about 50-60 years before the American Revolution. In a world where nearly all European countries were run by kings chosen by “divine right” and one could usually only “rise above their station” through fighting in wars or through marrying someone of a higher class, pirate ships operated under the idea of “one man, one vote” and their captains both were chosen by popular vote and could be replaced at any time, oftentimes rather peacefully. The Age of Enlightenment sparked by thinkers like John Locke started in the midst of the Golden Age of Piracy and really kicked off as soon as it was over, circa 1730. Those same ideas ended up inspiring both the American and French Revolutions in the later 18th and early 19th centuries...so yeah, in a weird way, you could draw a direct connection between the values and grievances against the monarchy expressed by pirates to the ones expressed by America’s Founding Fathers and the figures of the French Revolution!

Previous part is here, whole tag is here...and I hope y’all enjoy!

x~x~x~x

When the Flying Dutchman returned from Tortuga, the brig was stuffed to the brim with about two hundred prisoners -- and yet, even with that, Cutler Beckett was not pleased. None of those captured were particularly well-known or wanted pirates: instead the group largely consisted of retired pirates, pirates’ families, or other such refugees from the law who hadn’t committed any crimes except through association.

“The pirates refused to be taken alive, Beckett,” spat Jones impatiently. “All of the ones we captured fought to the death rather than be imprisoned.”

“Admirable excuse, Jones,” said Beckett airily, “but at present, we need prisoners to interrogate -- and although you may be comfortable dealing with dead men, they don’t do much good for us that way. Unless you can give us the location of Shipwreck Cove yourself?”

Jones’s eyes flashed dangerously. Alas, he couldn’t answer that question -- and so Beckett railroaded him.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that you need some oversight, Jones -- so from now on, Commodore Weasley and my associate, Patricia Rakepick, will remain on board the Dutchman...just to make sure things run smoothly.”

Jones watched as a line of soldiers escorted the Dead Man’s Chest on board his ship. He had felt the presence of his heart earlier, but it being so close made his chest feel like it was on fire, blazing with wild, storm-like emotions he hadn’t felt in years that made him want to hit something, scream in pain, and burst into tears all at the same time. It was agony, after so long, and it made Jones whirl on Beckett with a murderous expression.

“I will not have that thing on my ship!” he snarled.

“Perhaps you will not, but I will,” said Beckett.

He glanced at Rakepick. “Did the key Jones handed over work?”

Rakepick dangled the key to the Chest off of her finger with a smirk. “Aye -- I checked it before we brought it over.”

“Good.”

Beckett returned his gaze to Jones.

“From here on out, you shall answer to the Commodore and Madam Rakepick for your orders -- all orders, naturally, that come directly from me. Should you not, they will have the authority to discipline any misbehavior.”

Jones’s gaze flickered over Rakepick and then over to the shorter Navy-dressed officer standing perfectly straight beside her.

The Commodore -- yes. This was the one called “Carey Weasley” -- Black Jack Roberts’s younger sister and, as per Jones’s deal with Jack, his future crew member, Carewyn Cromwell. She truly didn’t resemble her brother much at all, Jones thought: it was little wonder no one had made a connection between her and the infamous captain of the Tower Raven. And Jones thought, it was irony at its finest, the thought that one of the people Beckett was using to restrain him was in fact destined to scrape before him instead, within the next two months.

Jones’s gaze returned to Beckett pretty quickly. He snapped his claw at his side as he loomed over the much smaller man.

“The Flying Dutchman sails as its captain commands,” he said fiercely.

“And its captain will sail it as he is commanded!” Beckett shot back, his usually detached and arrogant voice betraying some real aggression for the first time.

Jones’s crew muttered among themselves, both shocked and a bit intimidated. The leader of the East India Trading Company took several steps forward, his eyes boring into Jones with pure contempt.

“I already disposed of your pet,” he said softly. “I would hate to have to also dispose of you so quickly, when you might still have some use.”

Despite saying this, it was clear that Beckett felt no compassion for Jones’s life at all.

“This is no longer your world, Jones. There’s no place in this new world of ours for the immaterial. In short, the immaterial...has become immaterial. Best you learn that quickly, and fill the new role you’ve been dealt.”

Jones loathed having the two red-haired women and their battalion of Navy soldiers aboard. Although a lot of the time neither of them spoke to him, he hated having their eyes on his back and hated knowing that they as agents of Beckett’s were there to be his “leash.”

Rakepick flaunted her authority noticeably more than Carewyn did, dictating their course and openly contradicting Jones’s orders. About the only time Carewyn seemed to speak up was in response to the treatment of prisoners -- while the Flying Dutchman sailed back toward Port Royal, the Commodore frequently checked on the condition of the prisoners in the brig. One of Jones’s sailors even reported to him that he’d seen her bringing one of them a Bible on request. It was odd, considering that every single one of those prisoners was going to hang as soon as they arrived in Port Royal, unless they had “valuable information” to give. Unfortunately the only valuable information that Beckett wanted were the identities of all seven Pirate Lords, the significance of their “Pieces of Eight,” and the location of Shipwreck Cove, the last secret pirate haven on Earth -- and, to every prisoner’s credit, if any of them did know the answers to those questions, they refused to say...perhaps because they knew that it’d be the place the pirates who were able to escape the Dutchman’s attack would go.

Carewyn escorted the prisoners on shore to Port Royal, while Rakepick stayed behind with the troops aboard the Flying Dutchman. When she arrived, she met up with Percy, who had been in charge of the fort in her absence. The hangings started the very next day. A long, long line of prisoners all locked in irons pooled out of the brig and were walked one by one closer to the gallows. In groups of seven, they were sent up to the hangman’s noose -- men, women, even children -- all without trial and without any chance for mercy...all thanks to Lord Beckett, and by extension the King of England who had given him that power. It broke Carewyn’s heart standing on the sidelines with Percy, unable to do a thing to stop it.

Cutler Beckett arrived in Port Royal in the midst of the executions, looking incredibly smug. It took everything in Carewyn to not yank out her pistol and stick in his disgusting, weasel-like face...especially when he brought her and Percy away from the gallows to speak to them privately.

“I admit, Commodore...your plan has not produced the intelligence I wished for,” said Beckett as he considered the map in front of him. Once again, he was playing with a silver piece of eight absently in his right hand. “But it has been a very effective showcase of the British Empire’s new position on piracy. My proclamation would’ve lacked the proper teeth, without such a visible display.”

‘You’re despicable,’ Carewyn thought, hatred pulsing through her heart as a tiny boy was placed up on a barrel at the gallows.

“Thank you, sir,” she said lowly.

Percy glanced at the gallows too, and he winced at the sight of the boy standing on the barrel.

“It’s unfortunate that the information they offered was not useful to you, Lord Beckett,” he said, his voice betraying some hesitance. “I thought that the locations the boy provided for where the Dennis and the Andromeda make berth and the routes the Blackbird uses to plunder ships seemed promising...”

“You think too small, Captain,” said Beckett.

There was a rather arrogant gleam in his eye as he glanced from Percy to Carewyn, the piece of eight lingering between his pointer and middle finger.

“Chasing pirates one at a time would take up more resources and time than I have a desire to use. What I want is to bring order to this world -- and to do that, all pirates must be dealt with...either by being brought into line to serve our interests, or by being disposed of. And to do that, the pirates’ spirit must be decisively crushed.”

He glanced at the piece of eight between his fingers.

“...How much do you two know about the Pirate Brethren Court?”

Percy turned to Carewyn. Her eyes narrowed slightly.

“I’ve heard of it, but I’m afraid I don’t know much.”

That was a bald-faced lie. Charles Cromwell himself had been one of the original Pirate Lords ages ago, before the curse no doubt interfered with his old duties and the Mediterranean was taken over by someone else.

“They are -- from what I understand -- representatives, who only gather whenever pirates as a whole need united leadership,” said Beckett. “They are a Parliament for piracy -- one that selects a ‘King’ to represent them all, in times of crisis.”

Percy frowned in confusion. “A King chosen by the people? I’ve never heard of such a thing...”

“Pirates do not believe in divine right,” Carewyn explained. “Even when it comes to their captains, the crew can vote to replace them at any time.”

Percy turned to Beckett. “...Then do you think the pirates will attempt to convene this ‘Brethren Court,’ in response to the attack on Tortuga?”

‘That’s definitely what I hope...’ Carewyn thought to herself.

Beckett nodded. “I am assured of it.”

Carewyn’s eyes drifted away, back up to the line of chained prisoners still being forced up onto the gallows.

“If they were to convene this ‘Court’ of theirs and select a King, my Lord,” she said softly, “it sounds like they could be a greater threat than ever. Individual pirates might be more expensive to chase one at a time...but if they were somehow able to unite, they could create a formidable army.”

Beckett raised his eyebrows. “I did not think you would fear a War, Commodore.”

“Not at all,” said Carewyn. “If the British Navy could stand toe to toe with the Spanish and French, we should more than be a match for a smattering of rag-tag galleons -- especially with the funding of the East India Trading Company behind us...”

Her eyes narrowed a bit more as they swiveled over to Beckett’s face.

“...But...if you were to advocate such a mission, you’d be at the head of the charge for it. Its success or failure would rest on your head more than any of ours...regardless of any efforts we might make to protect your reputation.”

Beckett’s lips curled up in a smile that held no warmth.

“Your concern is appreciated, Commodore Weasley,” he said, and his eyes seemed to gleam upon her. “But I assure you...I’ve waited long enough, to get the revenge I’m owed...”

He turned his focus to the piece of eight coin in his hand.

“After the injuries I’ve sustained, thanks to one of these ‘Pirate Lords,’” he said in a very soft, cold voice, “I have no intention of letting them live in peace. Wherever they decide to make their final stand...I shall be there to meet and destroy them.”

He slammed the coin down into the table with a slap of his hand, making both Carewyn and Percy flinch despite themselves.

After the hangings were complete, Carewyn returned to the Flying Dutchman, once again leaving Percy in Port Royal. The youngest Weasley brother was troubled by the thought of Carewyn being on board Jones’s ship, and she tried to reassure him as best as she was able.

“Captain Jones has to follow Lord Beckett’s orders just as much as we do,” she said softly. “Regardless of who he is, he’s been impressed into our service...it wouldn’t be in his best interest, to fight against that.”

Percy, however, didn’t look very reassured. His gaze kept flickering up to the Dutchman, even though he tried hard to look Carewyn in the face.

The Commodore offered her surrogate younger brother a smile, resting a hand on his shoulder and giving it a squeeze.

“It’ll be okay,” she reassured him gently.

Percy stared at Carewyn for a long moment, his brown eyes dark with emotion. Then, very abruptly, he actually threw out his arms, grabbing hold of her and pulling her into a full hug.

“Percy?” said Carewyn, completely taken aback.

Percy didn’t say anything -- instead he just gave her a squeeze, his chin resting on her shoulder. Although he was facing away from her, Carewyn could hear a faint shakiness in the breath he took.

“Come back safely,” he mumbled, his voice harsher than normal as he tried to keep his composure. “You hear me? Come back just as you are now.”

Carewyn’s blue eyes filled with pain as she realized what was going through Percy’s head. Yes, he was scared for her safety, but it wasn’t just because he cared about her -- it was also because, with the loss of Charlie and Bill, his real brothers...she was the only family Percy had left, here in Port Royal. The only sibling he could rely on, for emotional support.

Her heart filling with compassion and affection for the young Captain, she brought her arms around Percy tightly in return, resting a hand on the back of his head and cradling it as though she were his mother.

“We will see each other again soon, Perce,” she murmured in his ear. “I promise.”

After she and Percy parted ways, Rakepick met Carewyn at the top of the ramp heading up to the deck of the Flying Dutchman. The older woman gave Carewyn another long, analytical look as she came up on deck, which Carewyn returned with a much shorter, faintly suspicious look. She didn’t like how Rakepick looked at her. It just made Carewyn feel like she knew something...but Carewyn frankly had no idea what that “something” was. One thing Carewyn did take note of, however, was the chain she wore around her neck and tucked under the low collar of her red jacket -- the chain that no doubt held the key to the Dead Man’s Chest.

That night, after all of the officers went to sleep, Carewyn entered the Dutchman’s captain’s cabin and ordered one of her lieutenants to send Davy Jones to her. Jones was not pleased to be summoned to his own cabin, least of all by the Commodore Beckett assigned to “watch” him.

“I cannot be called like some mongrel pup,” he snapped.

“Yet you came,” said Carewyn coolly. “I appreciate the promptness.”

Jones looked incredibly surly. The ginger-haired Commodore looked at her lieutenant, who was trying hard not to cower in Jones’s shadow.

“Go ahead and return to your patrol down below with the Chest, Lieutenant,” she told him. “I’ll take it from here.”

The scared young man gave a salute and then quickly left the room. Once the door was closed, Carewyn turned up at Jones with a much grimmer look on her face, her arms crossed behind her back in standard “Naval” fashion.

“...Captain Jones...Lord Beckett has ordered that we seek out Shipwreck Cove.”

Jones’s lip curled. “I believe I’ve already made it clear that I don’t know where the damned Brethren Court meets.”

“I know you don’t. And I’m glad for it.”

Jones’s eyebrows knit together suspiciously. Carewyn’s eyes flickered absently over to the door as she listened for a moment to make absolutely sure no one was listening it.

“...I don’t want Beckett to find Shipwreck Cove,” she said lowly. “I don’t want him to send Navy ships after us once we’ve found it and destroy it. Just as I frankly don’t want you under Beckett’s rule at all.”

Jones gave a loud snort. “Haha! And I suppose this is all out of the goodness of your heart, this...sympathy you deign to spare such a pathetic wretch as me?”

His eyes hardened as he bore down on her, dwarfing her with his height.

“I don’t need your pity, Carewyn Cromwell,” he said very coldly.

Carewyn was visibly taken aback.

“Oh, aye,” said Jones with a smirk, “I know your name. A ferryman of the damned knows everyone’s true names.”

Despite how taken aback and faintly disconcerted Carewyn was, however, she didn’t seem intimidated. Instead she kept her posture straight and tall and looked Jones straight in the eye.

“Then you know why I don’t want Beckett to succeed,” she said seriously. “A lot of people I love are probably on their way to Shipwreck Cove right now. As much as I know a battle will be imminent, I want them to initiate it. I don’t want Beckett to get there before they’re ready.”

“So you aim to make a deal with me, then, Miss Commodore?” asked Jones, raising an eyebrow in amusement.

“No,” said Carewyn firmly. “I just want to set you free.”

Now it was Davy Jones’s turn to look startled.

“I don’t believe in anyone being impressed into service against their will -- least of all by a captor as cruel and despicable as Cutler Beckett,” the Commodore said, feeling glad to finally let loose her bile a bit. “And if getting your heart back to you so that you can do as you please makes it that much harder for Beckett to destroy Shipwreck Cove...all the better.”

“Ah...so you think to trade my assurance that I won’t attack Shipwreck Cove for your services,” said Jones coolly. “Well, I hate to break it to you -- but I have no love for the Brethren Court myself, since they took all ownership of the seas for themselves. I daresay your dear granddaddy told you all about that...”

“‘The seas be ours and by the powers, where we will, we’ll roam’ -- yes, I know the song,” said Carewyn. “But that doesn’t matter. I’m not asking you to help the Brethren Court. I’m not asking you to help me with anything. I plan to set you free whether you want to be nice to me or not.”

Jones’s eyes narrowed as they flickered over Carewyn’s face, analyzing her critically. At last he raised his claw the way a man might raise a hand, but its size made it so it came within inches of her face.

“...Let me make sure I have this right, missie,” he said lowly. “You’re offering your assistance in restoring my heart to me...without making any sort of deal with me that benefits you?”

Carewyn nodded, not flinching at all in response to Jones’s claw getting into her personal space.

“Because you being free helps me, as it is -- by making things harder for Beckett.”

Jones considered Carewyn for a long moment. Whatever he had been expecting from the sister of Black Jack Roberts, it certainly wasn’t this. Even from a sanctimonious Navy officer, he didn’t expect this level of...well, for lack of a better word, decency...especially for someone who had showed her no kindness and she owed absolutely nothing to. He never would’ve admitted it aloud...but it impressed him.

‘Seems a bit of a shame that such a decent person should be fated for a lifetime of service aboard my ship,’ Jones thought to himself.

Perhaps because his heart was so close to him, the thought made some reluctance and guilt pick at the inside of his chest.

Pushing the feeling aside, the captain of the damned lowered his claw again. Then very, very slowly his tentacled face spread into a fuller, brighter smirk.

“...What do you have in mind?”

[carewyncromwell]

How about 28 and 29?

28. …Olivia Green is a teacher or teacher’s assistant while your MC is at school?

After Duncan’s death and Jacob’s expulsion and disappearance, Olivia was desperate to continue what she and her friends started, not just to protect the school from the Vaults’ curses, but to find her missing friend and keep R from getting their mitts on the Vaults’ “treasure.” And so, somewhat reluctantly, she put her dreams of joining the Wizarding Wireless Network on hold and took a job at Hogwarts as a Care of Magical Creatures Teacher’s Assistant under Professor Kettleburn. When Carewyn arrived at school, Olivia didn’t immediately seek her out or mention her connection to her brother, as she had a feeling (from what Jacob had always told her about Carewyn) that she’d sacrifice anything she had to in order to take care of others...and sure enough, Olivia found that was indeed true when Carewyn and her friends went behind the teachers’ backs and successfully broke the curse on the Ice Vault. Dumbledore was pleased by Carewyn’s efforts and pleasantly refused to punish her for it since “there was no proof that she and her friends were ever actually there,” but Olivia was much less pleased. She pulled the three students suspected of going into the Vault (Carewyn, Ben, and Bill) aside separately, warning all of them that seeking out the Vaults would only put them and the ones they cared about most in danger and assuring them that she’d take care of the Vaults so they didn’t have to. Ben was initially prepared to take Olivia at her word, but both Bill and Carewyn were a bit less sure, a sentiment echoed by both Rowan and Penny when they learned about it. Carewyn of course was not the sort of person to trust anyone else to rescue Jacob, so she stubbornly persisted regardless of Olivia’s warning. She, Bill, Barnaby, and Tulip dealt with the Fear Vault, only to be confronted by Olivia in the hallway afterwards. Olivia again told Carewyn to stay away from the Vaults -- her voice was never harsh or cruel, but very somber and grim.

“I know you want to save your sibling, Carewyn. I don’t doubt he would too, if your positions were switched. But your involvement with the Vaults has caught the eye of some very dangerous people...some of which are on their way to Hogwarts as we speak. Trust me...as good as it is that you want to save Hogwarts and the ones you love...the Cursed Vaults are like Charybdis -- a monstrous whirlpool. Once you swim into it...there’s no escape for you, or for those you care for most. Jacob wouldn’t want you to end up in the same trap that ensnared him. ...For your brother’s sake, Carewyn...stay away from the Vaults. Keep your head down. And beware the witch called Rakepick.”

The following year brought Patricia Rakepick to the school. Instantly there was a sharp tension between philosophical, soft-spoken Olivia and the blunt, methodical Rakepick, and it didn’t take long for Carewyn’s friends to be split down the middle about who Carewyn should trust. People like Tulip and Ben were more likely to trust Olivia since her temperament was more level and she seemed less morally dodgy, while others like Merula and Bill were more likely to trust Rakepick since she was a professional Cursebreaker and both more active and willing to let them help her in dealing with the Vaults. Others like Rowan thought they both wanted to be helpful, but might not know how best to do so. Carewyn herself didn’t trust either woman because she could sense they both had information about what had happened to Jacob that they weren’t sharing with her, which the young Cromwell greatly resented. Her opinion was changed ever-so-slightly when Olivia actually helped Carewyn, Bill, Charlie, Torvus, and Hagrid deal with the Forest Vault, and Torvus greeted Olivia like an old friend. It was this that proved to Carewyn that Olivia had indeed been hiding something about Jacob -- namely, that they had been friends.

The following school year, Rakepick became and thrived as the DADA professor and Olivia introduced Carewyn to Duncan Ashe, who she’d remained friends with even after he became a ghost. Carewyn continued to distrust both Rakepick and Olivia the entire year, but as time went by, she found that each of them were more than how they appeared. Olivia in a lot of ways was like her mother, Lane -- patient, modest, and wise beyond her years, but always a bit out-of-step with the world and people around her and detached and self-sufficient to a fault, to the extent that she had difficulty taking charge or inspiring confidence. Rakepick, meanwhile, was a lot like Carewyn herself, inspiring her students with a lot of the same traits that Carewyn’s friends admired in her. It was in the Portrait Vault when it became crystal clear who was truly trustworthy -- both witches had R’s scarlet mark on their cheek during that final confrontation, when their physical contact made the marks visible...but only one had followed the group to the Vault with the help of Pitts Apparating with her after them and protected them from the other when she attacked her students.

“After going on a mission with you, Patricia, Jacob disappeared without a trace,” said Olivia, her normally level, misty voice rippling with an odd amount of ice. “If you think I’m going to let you take Carewyn away from her friends the way you did Jacob...then you’re wrong.”

29. …Your MC is involved with R before attending Hogwarts and decides to rebel against them?

I think this scenario would fit best in a world where Lane was killed and grandfather Charles Cromwell raised Jacob and Carewyn instead. In that situation, Jacob would’ve been old enough to remember his mother and so always would’ve nurtured some rebellion against Charles and R, even while being among their ranks. After he tried and failed to escape the Cromwell mansion with Carewyn in tow, Charles took measures to ensure that Jacob and Carewyn were kept apart and that Jacob was properly punished. The Cromwell patriarch deliberately sent Jacob to the Portrait Vault knowing he’d likely be imprisoned in one of the Portraits, and then set about magically modifying Carewyn’s memory so as to remove all of her memories of Jacob.

From that point on, Carewyn was raised in the same suffocating kind of home as her mother Lane was, without any memory of the brother who’d always tried to protect her. She did everything she could to do what was best for herself, which ended up being what Charles wanted her to be. Carewyn received her scarlet “R” mark (invisible on one’s cheek unless touched by another member of R) before even attending Hogwarts, not just because of her great magical potential but as a reminder that she belonged to R, the Cromwells, and most importantly Charles.

Despite Carewyn finding some small satisfaction in her unpleasant life, however, her dreams were haunted by the face of a young man with dark curls and eyes just like hers...someone she’d never seen in her life, and yet spoke to her with such desperation and affection as if he knew her. The young man was a thorn in Carewyn’s side even as she set about breaking the Vaults’ curses on R’s orders, even sometimes enlisting the support of fellow students like Rowan Khanna, Ben Copper, and Bill Weasley. Eventually it got to the point that Carewyn confided in Rowan about her dreams. Rowan couldn’t find any information about dream symbolism or Divination that could answer Carewyn’s questions, but as Carewyn pursued the Vaults, the young man’s voice and face became clearer and her need to understand what or who he was grew stronger.

Then, in her fifth year, Carewyn stumbled upon a ghost called Duncan Ashe in the Prefects’ Bathroom, who spoke with such resentment about “her brother, Jacob.” Carewyn was bewildered, since as far as she knew, she didn’t have a brother -- but Bill and Charlie, who were both with Carewyn that day, did some investigation on their own and found out from Madame Rosmerta that, yes, indeed, there was once a Hogwarts student named Jacob Cromwell, who’d been expelled and disappeared under unusual circumstances seven years previously. All pictures of him and nearly all mention of him, however, had been ripped out of every Hogwarts yearbook in the library. Carewyn begged Rosmerta if she knew of anyone who might have a picture of Jacob, and learned that Professor Flitwick had been his Head of House. Miraculously, the once-Dueling Champion was able to track down one picture of him at the Hogwarts Dueling Club. Sure enough...this “Jacob” was the boy Carewyn had seen in her dreams as long as she could remember...the one who said he was trapped in the Portrait Vault.

It was this point that made Carewyn decide that she’d have to take matters into her own hands. Knowing Rakepick was involved with R, Carewyn decided to subvert R’s orders, steal the Portrait, and go to the Vault without her, taking only Bill, Merula, Charlie, and Ben with her. After they took down the dragon, Carewyn used her Legilimency to open the Vault and rescue Jacob. Jacob threw his arms around his little sister, tears of relief and pain streaming down his face, as he apologized over and over for failing her and tried to explain everything. Bill, Ben, Charlie, and Merula were horrified by what they heard, but decided to stand by Carewyn. Bill immediately proposed that they go straight to Dumbledore and tell him everything -- although Carewyn and Jacob were both uncertain, he eventually convinced them, and the group returned to school. As soon as they arrived, Rakepick was there to confront them, with a small mob of scarlet-robed R members accompanying her. The students were outnumbered ten to one...and yet Carewyn, for once in her life, decided not to look just after herself. Jacob -- Bill -- Charlie -- Ben -- even Merula -- in that moment, she was surrounded by people who cared about her...even after all of the lies she’d told them, even with how scared they were. Now it was her turn to care about them.

HPHM AU Ask!