16,821Albus Dumbledore was a man of many things, but superstitious was not one of them. When he heard rumors that Charlus Potter had returned, he had assumed they meant as a ghost of some sort.
So it was with great surprise that he came face-to-face with a very much alive Charlus Potter standing next to a goblin.
'If he's here, then where is the child people spoke of next to him?' thought Dumbledore. He had heard rumors that Charlus had brought with him.
"So. You are Albus Dumbledore," said Charlus.
Unseen by Dumbledore, there were a great many goblins who were there to see what happened next.
Charlus pulled back his left arm, and broke the man's nose.
Needless to say that memory would be a favorite of many goblins.
"I've been meaning to do that since I saw you and that woman leave that poor child on that doorstep ten years ago," said Charlus satisfactorily.
The goblin beside him chuckled darkly.
"I had heard you were dead. James had been inconsolable when news of the attack came," he said calmly, trying to staunch the flow of blood.
"I was found and enlisted with the Queen's sniper division. As it stands, if I hear you put your sticky fingers in the family vault again, I won't stop with just a broken nose," said Charlus.
"And what of the child?" asked Dumbledore.
"Safe at school. My grandson has done me proud as a fine Englishman," said Charlus.
Dumbledore would leave Gringotts feeling as if something horrible had happened to his plans for young Harry.
Not only was the boy's grandfather alive and well, but he had legal custody of the boy. To make matters worse, there was nothing he could do to legally gain custody.
"So you finally got a dog Jamie? Lucky!"
"German Shepard. Grandpa said he'd get a friend of his to help me train him how to be a dog like the ones the military uses. Once it stops weaning anyway. I should be able to get it once we return from Hawaii."
"Lucky. So what's this about you transferring schools?"
"You know those weird owls that keep showing up around the end of June? Turns out they were delivering school applications and Grandpa said I could join one. I picked one that is in Highland Scotland," said Jamie.
"Ugh...colder weather than we get here. I don't envy you one bit," said Paulie.
"Bah. At least he managed to convince them not to butt in on the yearly summer programs. They think I'm still at school," grinned Jamie.
Paulie chortled with him.
"So why are we supposed to listen to this runt?" said a brutish American boy who somehow managed to get approval for this trip. Jamie suspected his parents paid a donation to the school.
"One, because I happen to be Senior Cabin boy and I am trusted to do as told. Two, I have been through this program five times already, so by rights I am your senior. Now, are there any intelligent questions? Don't be shy, I don't mind answering them. If you have any trouble you can always ask me or the First Mate."
One raised their hand.
"Do we get paid?"
"We do get paid for this trip, but only if the Captain agrees to sign the check. Anyone caught lollygagging or goofing off when they are supposed to be on duty will have their pay cut or withheld until further notice. Now, since most of us are minors, we only get the bare minimum of what everyone else on the ship gets, and we won't be ranked higher than Cabin boy, who gets the lowest amount of all the others. If, however you do well enough to rank Senior cabin boy like me in a few years, then you will earn ten pounds more at the end of the month."
Another raised their hand.
"Yes, Jacob."
"What sort of jobs are we supposed to do on the ship?"
"Mostly cleaning, though laundry thankfully isn't going to be part of our duties. Those of you who know your way around engineering are permitted to join them in engine maintenance. Those of you able to cook edible foods may help prepare meals, and if any of you are daring you can learn medicine from the ship's doctor. This is, after all, a training program and to allow everyone a chance to get a good feel of what life is like on the ship."
Another raised their hand, looking rather confused.
"Why aren't their any slots available for the air or land divisions?"
"The reason is that we are already learning the land divisions at school, and the air division is for those who not only have high enough grades, but have the approval of both headmaster and the quartermaster. It is a privilege to earn a chance at one of the slots, not a guarantee," said Jamie.
"How long are we going to be at sea?"
"Until we hit our destination this year, which is Hawaii. Every year the captain picks a tropical destination as the main goal for this program. Once we return however, they set sail and do their duty as part of the Queen's Navy. Consider yourselves lucky that we are in a school that even allows minors to work on a naval ship over the summer rather than do nothing all summer. Plus, once we hit Hawaii, we are more or less unsupervised...unless you manage to piss off the captain and the crew in which case you might be confined to ship instead of chaperoned to shore."
A thought occurred to him.
"Also, all forms of liquor are banned to minors, and if caught you will be stuck doing laundry duty for two weeks."
"I thought you said laundry wasn't part of our job description?" sneered the American.
"It's not, but it is a punishment duty for anyone who breaks the rules or causes too much trouble. Now, you have all been assigned bunks, but please, anyone with nightmares do us all a favor and sleep on the bottom."
With that, Jamie lead them to the room that was designated for cabin boys, taking one of the bottom bunks himself. He learned from experience that as much fun as it was to have top bunk, falling off mid asleep was much less painful if you had the bottom, and he tended to toss and turn a bit.
"Johnson! What do you call this...mess?" demanded Jamie. Johnson had been getting on his nerves since day one, and he had about had it with the American.
"I call it an overflowing toilet, sir," said Johnson with a sneer.
"You are on toilet duty this week, and yet I've received complaints about the cleanliness. Now either you shape up, or I will have the First Mate assign laundry for a month!"
"Like I care. You're just a jumped up brat who thinks he can order us about," sneered Johnson.
"Johnson, you have exactly one hour to clean this mess up, before I call the First Mate in here."
Jamie sighed when he found Johnson ten minutes later, reading a dirty magazine in the shared room.
"Sir, one of the cabin boys is refusing to do his cleaning duty and answer to orders. Nothing I've done seems to help, and I was hoping you could have a word with him?" said Jamie.
"There's always a smart-ass in the group," sighed the First Mate.
"It's the American, sir," said Jamie.
"I had a feeling it was him. How long has this been going on?"
"About a week sir. I had hoped to resolve this without bringing it to your attention, but..."
"I'll take care of it, the only reason he was brought on was because his parents hoped a few months at sea would straighten him out."
"I'll go inspect the others while you deal with Johnson, sir."
"Good lad. I heard next year you might be cleared for the slot in the Royal Air Force."
Jamie beamed at him and headed out.
Later he heard over dinner that Johnson had been given laundry duty for the rest of the trip unless his attitude improved. Jamie paid little mind to it, aside from the fact that one of the beds was now unoccupied, since Johnson had been placed with one of the more...rigid...sailors. Apparently they had found liquor in his things.
Since it was no longer his problem, he could care less.
Johnson cornered him in one of the lesser used corridors.
"You! Thanks to you I'm stuck with that hard ass for the rest of the trip!"
"I did nothing. You were the one who refused to do your job and brought liquor on the ship. Had you done what you were told, you would still be with the other boys and allowed on shore," said Jamie calmly.
Johnson roared and tried to tackle Jamie. Jamie side-stepped him before he chopped the boy in the stomach that had him curling up in pain.
"You alright Jamie?" asked one of the sailors.
"Fine. Can we leave him in the brig until his attitude improves?"
"Depends," said Mike, grinning.
"On what?"
"On whether the Captain sends him packing for 'attacking a senior officer'," said Mike.
"Huh?"
"As senior cabin boy, you outrank the others. By attacking you, he attacked a higher ranked officer of the ship. I'd love to see how this idiot manages to get out of punishment for this," said Mike. He barely resisted the urge to kick the brat.
A few days later Jamie ran into Johnson in the brig.
Johnson glared at him, but kept his mouth shut. He was already in a great deal of trouble for attacking Jamie.
"Now, are you going to be reasonable from now on, or would you rather stay here until we return to Britain?"
Johnson glare at him deepened. Jamie sighed and left. There was little chance of him getting through to the boy anytime soon. However he kept at it for the next month, until they hit Hawaii.
Each time, Johnson said nothing, but his glare was pretty clear. He hated Jamie deeply.
Finally Mike told Jamie to just give up.
"That kid has some serious issues. I don't think someone like you would be able to get through to him right now. He just doesn't respect someone your age."
"I had hoped we could at least part on amicable terms, but if I can't get through to him..."
"I'll send Johnny to talk to him. Maybe he can get through to the kid."
Jamie stood before the others with a grin.
"Well boys, after a long,grueling month of nothing but sea and storms I am proud to announce that our destination is in sight. Gentlemen, Hawaii is off the starboard bow and the navigator has told me we should be landing within two hours. Get your things ready gents, our week of sun and fun begins soon!"
The others cheered loudly. This is what they had suffered for, an entire week of nothing but fun without any parents to complain about what they bought.
Best of all, the captain was going to give them all credit cards with their paychecks on it, already activated with the pins on the back.
They had five hundred on each card, though Jamie had six because he was the senior cabin boy. Practically every boy had swim trunks on under their pants. The older sailors chuckled at their enthusiasm.
Mike had been elected chaperone so that they didn't try to enter any bars or cause trouble. Aside from that they could do whatever they wanted to.
Once the ship was docked and put away, the boys were off the thing as fast as you could blink.
"You know it's a real pity Derrick couldn't join us. I heard he's never seen Hawaii before and he was really looking forward to this," said Brent. He was friends with the American.
"Yeah, but he shouldn't have attacked Jamie like that. It's not like the kid ever did anything to him," said Fred.
"Yeah, but I heard that in his last school, some younger kid lied and said he had bullied him, when he was the real culprit. And I heard his parents kept trying to pin the blame on him. It was either the Academy or juvie," said Brent.
Jamie, who heard that remark, paused in his game.
"Did he saw what the kid's name was or what he looked like?" he asked. The description sounded far too familiar.
"Some punk named Dudley Dursley."
Jamie face-palmed. He should have guessed that fat pig was the cause of this mess.
"Hang on a second...I need to go see Johnson...I mean Derrick."
"What do you want now brat?" growled Johnson. He was miserable because he could see Hawaii outside and wasn't allowed to go.
"I heard an interesting tale earlier about you and another idiot named Dudley. Did he happen to look like a fat pig in a wig?"
"You know that arrogant little ass wipe?!" snarled Derrick.
"I not only know that little punk, I live across the street from him. How the hell did you come across him?"
"I came across him bullying some little girl and beat the crap out of him. Next thing I knew, his parents had pressed charges on me and I had to join the Academy or get sent to juvie."
"Would it help if I said I can't stand that horse faced bint or her walrus-shaped husband? And that we have been trying to get them arrested for multiple charges, but for some reason they have never sticked?"
"What do you want?"
"How about a truce. If you can behave until the end of this trip and quit causing me trouble, I'll see about letting you out of the brig so you can at least join the others. Also, I'll give you heads up on burritos and beans day in the mess hall."
Burritos and Beans day was the one day all cabin boys feared, because whoever was stuck with toilet duty had to clean up the resulting mess.
"If I behave, do you think you can help me teach that brat a lesson once we get back?"
"You mean prank the hell out of that little shit? Definitely."
"You have a deal, Potter."
The next day Johnson was let out of the brig, and was on his best behavior. However because of the trouble he caused before, he wasn't given a card.
In the hopes of keeping the peace, Jamie shared half of his pay with the boy, and soon the two had a tentative friendship.
It wasn't perfect, and Johnson still smarted back, but the agreement to give a certain blond back in England what he was due did wonders for the truce they had.