Sink or Swim

1

Disclaimer: this first chapter is similar to the beginning of the Titanic but that's because I didn't know how else to start it lol. Everything else that will follow in this book will be purely original. :)

Harry's POV

April 10th, 1912 - 11:50am

I glanced at the two opponents seated in front of me. I looked down at the cards in my hand, smirking at the hand that God seemed to have granted me with.

I had an eight, nine, ten, Jack, all of clubs and a four of hearts. All I needed to win the game was a seven of clubs so I could swap it for my four.

"Harry," my best friend, Fred, whispered from beside me, "you're an idiot. Why'd you bet all of our money?"

I smirked as I looked at him, blonde hair falling in front of his face. I leaned towards him with a playful glint in my eye, "it's not like we have anything to lose, mate."

He grumbled and leaned back into his seat and shuffled as we waited for their play. The men shuffled their cards and stole quick glances at each other before they glared at me. It wasn't a fair match; two against one. Fred didn't want to play as he said he was a sucker for bad luck so instead, I offered to go on my lonesome.

It was worth a shot.

I looked to one of the players, smirking as I watched him switch a card with his partner, sliding it face down across the table.

"Eric?" I asked. He looked up at me and grumbled before he shook his head, blowing a puff of smoke out of his cigar. He placed a card down and slid it over to me while I slid my four over. I picked up the card he gave me and clenched my jaw as I looked at the card.

A gosh darn six of diamonds. I placed the card down in my discard pile and picked up a fresh card from the other pile and closed my eyes.

please be a seven, please be a seven.

I opened my eyes slowly, focusing on the card from the top, only looking at the number. My heart began to skip a beat when I saw the number.

Seven.

I looked down and almost died right there when I saw the symbol. It was a club. The last card that I needed was staring at me, almost like it was sent to me from God himself. I refrained from rejoicing and looked over at the opponents, clenching my jaw to keep a straight face. I brushed some of my hair back with my free hand and nodded at them.

"Alright boys, lets see 'em," I smirked, "let's see who's about to go on the adventure of their lives hm? Eric?"

He huffed and threw his cards down. I looked at them and smirked slightly when I saw all of his cards mismatched.

"Nothing, eh?" I said. He glared at me. I averted my gaze to his friend.

"Rufus," I asked. He threw his cards down. He had two fours but everything else was mismatched.

"A pair." I noted. I nodded and bit my lip, looking at each person in the table. I sighed and slowly placed my hand down, revealing my straight flush to the two opponents.

All was silent as they all glanced at my hand and then back to me. I sat there with a simple smile on my face as I shrugged.

"Straight flush," I stated, "we win."

I looked to Fred who looked shocked. He jumped suddenly, as if the information had just flown into his brain and he began to cheer. He jumped up and down and shouted words of joy and excitement as I smirked and sat in my chair. I looked at Eric and Rufus, nodding my head and smiling at their angry faces. I snatched the tickets quickly and picked up my baggage, Fred following suit. I looked at him and tilted my head towards the door. We smiled like idiots and ran outside, making our way towards the boat that now held our future.