The trio sat under a large tree by the lake, bags sprawled about them in the grass. Harry gazed out over the sparkling loch, enjoying the warm spring breeze on his face.

"I can't believe Binns wants to write an essay on this stuff!" Ron groaned.

"It's really not that bad, Ron!" Hermione said, sounding exasperated.

"Hey Ron, if Andel really named his ship after his hair, maybe you're related!" Harry laughed.

"Shut up, Harry!" Ron said, lightly hitting his friend in the shoulder with the history textbook as the other two laughed.

"This pirate stuff is really not too bad," Harry said, flipping through the pages of his own copy of History of Magic. "I mean, if anyone else was teaching it that sample of pirate song would have been really funny, especially that mention of the old Headmaster."

"Well, I really like Rosalie," Hermione said haughtily. "Her skills in charms and transfiguration had to be spectacular!"

"Classic Hermione," Ron said, rolling his eyes. "Always thinking about the wand work." A bunch of first years standing by the lake edge screamed and fled as the friendly giant squid splashed them with the cold water. "I wonder if the Night Swan ever encountered any of those…"

"Right, get up lads!" Adam hollered. "There's work to be done here!" Ozzy sat sat up and stretched, pushing Ramses off his chest. Five days into their journey to find Morcant, there was not much to do. Almost everything on the Night Swan was run by magic, leaving little to nothing for the crew to do. Ozzy and Killian went up onto the main deck and joined Adam at the prow, watching the swan's head bask in the sun.

"I'm surprised that you agreed to this Morcant hunt," Killian said to Adam. "You seem like a level-headed and sensible fellow."

"Well..." Adam started, not sure whether he could trust him yet or not. "The real reason my parents died out at sea is because they were on a fishing vessel when Morcant came aboard and slaughtered the lot of them. I'm not really the revenge type, but they were the only people who looked out for me at that time."

"Dayum, mate. I'm sorry."

"It's fine, I've gotten over it…" There was a whirl of bright blue feathers and the group ducked as Gypsy glided over their heads and landed on Rosalie's shoulder where she stood behind them.

"You will find that most of my crew has a bone to pick with Morcant, Mr. Thames," she said, joining them. "There are not many left on the sea who don't."

"Which leads me to a question," Ozzy said. "Where are we going, and how do we find Morcant?"

"We are sailing right for the island of Octavia in the Caribbean," Rosalie said, the others following her across the deck, dodging a mop that was swabbing the deck by itself. "I know a guy there who can tell us where Morcant is."

"Captain!" Bilius shouted. "You might wanna see this." Rosalie frowned and marched over to the port side where the large Ravenclaw stood looking through a spyglass. Taking the spyglass from him, Rosalie peered out into the distance.

"Merlin's right nostril!" She swore. "Batten down the hatches! Accordion Girl, fire up the cannons!"

"CANNONS!" Accordion Girl squealed, disappearing into the chaos.

"What is it?" Adam asked.

"A terrorsquid," Rosalie answered grimly. "And it's coming our way fast, looking none too pleased."

"Nothing attacks this ship and makes it out alive!" Adam yelled as he drew his cutlass, simultaneously pulling his wand out of his pocket. He took the wand and stuck it in a hole in the bottom of the hilt where it fit snuggly.

"Incendio!" With that word, the blade burst with flames, and Adam gave a roar of anger as he launched into battle against the massive tentacles that burst forth from the boiling, frothing water. More great tentacles lashed around the deck, groping and coiling across the ship, almost knocking Killian overboard. At one point a tentacle wrapped around the mast threatening to crack it with its strength.

Ozzy gave a yell and pointed his sword at the tentacle and fired, sending a small lead ball hurtling into the soft, slimy flesh. Dark blue blood spurted across the deck and as the tentacle thrashed and retracted into the water. The wizard turned and ran towards another tentacle, until a resounding explosion rang out.

"Accordion Girl…" Rosalie sighed and ran off.

Killian snatched up a bottle and took a swig before drawing his pistol and firing at a tentacle which lashed close by. He took another drink, then threw the now-empty bottle at the tentacle. It shattered, raining glass across the deck and creating several lacerations on the beast.

Adam, who had been so far locked in combat with a nest of the thrashing tentacles, emerged victorious and backed out of a pile of severed tentacle tips. Meanwhile Bilius was swinging wildly at a particularly aggressive appendage while Leonardo secreamed and smacked a tentacle with a large metal pan.

The tentacles pulled back into the ocean, and for a moment they were in the calm once more.

"Is it gone?" Killian shouted angrily, for he was drenched in both water and alcohol. As if in answer the terrorsquid lurched forth, wrapping its tentacles around the boat and attempting to draw itself up. That only succeeded in making the boat tilt at a precarious angle, almost rolling it and hurling the pirates to the deck.

Suddenly, a second explosion rocked the ship, and blue blood sprayed across the wizards. Killian let loose a string of curses stumbled again, knocking his head on the mast and stunning himself. Bleeding, the terrorsquid slowly fell back into the water. A large, dark shape could be seen moving away, trailing blue in the clear water.

Accordion Girl raced up from the bowels of the ship. "DID YOU SEE THAT?! I SHOT IT!" She giggled loudly, then slipped in the blood and fell on top of the recovering Killian, thudding his head back into the mast. He groaned and slid back to the deck as Accordion Girl hauled herself up, accidentally stepping on Killian more than once.

"Well, would you look at that..." Adam snorted "Killian got paid back for that incident earlier two-fold." Ozzy and Rosalie snickered.

"Now then, let's clean this mess up! Get to work, people!" Rosalie shouted.

"Aye, Aye Captain!" Chorused the crew

"You heard the Captain!" Adam followed up. "Get to work and scrub those decks clean!"

Bilius pulled out his wand and called out a charm, while Leonard and Killian got to work scrubbing away the squid's blood by hand. Accordion Girl skipped by, pausing to watch.

"Ooh! May I try?"

"No," Adam said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Go ask the Captain if there's anything for you to do."

"Okie-dokie!"

Adam watcher her go, making sure she wasn't looking before shaking his head. "Worth more trouble than she is help, that one."

Soon they had the decks scrubbed clean of the blood. Rosalie glanced over the side of the Night Swan. She winced at the sight of the great trails of terrorsquid blood running down the sides. "We'll leave this slime, it'll wash off as we travel. Come on then, everyone, to the sky!"

The ship rang out with calls of "Wingardium leviosa!"

"Killian," Rosalie said, turning to the short Slytherin. "As our official navigator, how far do you reckon we are from Octavia?"

"As the boat flies..." he began with a wink. "I would say we shall arrive shortly before sundown."

"Well then, we have a ways to go yet," Rosalie said. "Full steam ahead, and no slacking!"

Once again there was a chorus of "Aye, Aye Captain" as the pirates set to preparing the ship for travel. Wands were raised all around and air filled the billowing sails, boosting their speed. Just then there was a loud bang as Accordion Girl attempted to bewitch a mop to swab the deck, and was thrown back into a pile of barrels.

"I'm ok!" She shouted as she floundered around, spilling newt eyes everywhere. Rosalie groaned.

"Someone go help her…" she said with a sigh. "And clean up the newt eyes…"

"On it!" Killian said with an evil grin, hurrying off before anyone could stop him.

"Adam, go keep an eye on them, will you?" Rosalie said wearily.

"Aye, I will Captain!" Adam said, storming off to see to it that Killian was not playing any games. "Not on my watch…"

"Thanks! Hey, can you play the accordion?" Accordion Girl could be heard saying.

"Well no, but I bet I could play you really well!" Killian's voice floated over, quickly silenced by Adam. Ozzy snickered and followed Rosalie across the deck as she supervised her crew.

"So, who is this guy we are going to see?" Ozzy said as they paused to watch a couple of the members play exploding snap.

"His name is Alfred Morren," she answered. "You heard of him?"

"Wait? Alfred 'Pickle'? Isn't he the pirate who was mauled by a Kappa?"

"One and the same," Rosalie said as some of the cards went up in a cloud of smoke. "If anyone knows where Morcant is, it's him."

"He's missing part of his nose, right?"

"Yep. The Kappa thought it was a cucumber and bit it off," Rosalie said in a matter-of-fact way. "He's missing a leg too, come to think of it."

"Ouch..."

"Yeah, to tell you the truth I don't think it was a very fun experience." Rosalie chortled nonetheless. The card tower that the crew had been building exploded spectacularly, frightening Gypsy from Rosalie's shoulder. The large macaw flew up to the crow's nest with an angry squawk in a whirl of cobalt feathers.

"Oi!" Rosalie cried. "What have I told you about playing exploding snap near Gypsy!" The crew laughed as Rosalie glared at them good-naturedly. "Excuse me while I go off to comfort my macaw."

"Hey Adam!" Ozzy called. "Do you play Wizard's Chess?"

"Why yes, I do!" Adam answered back.

"Up for a round 'er two?"

"Ya bet I am!" Adam challenged in return.

Ozzy smiled. "Let's have a go."

"Alright!" Adam smirked "Something we both understand!" He flicked his wand and called "Accio!" The chess set appeared in his free hand.

"You have your own men?" Adam asked Ozzy, who gave a curt nod and drew a small case from his coat. He flipped it open, and revealed a set of marble chessmen. Together they set their pieces up and started the match.

They were interrupted after a few intense turns by Accordion Girl skipping up. "HEY mates! Watcha up to? Who's winning?"

"Not now, please; I'm trying to concentrate." Ozzy frowned.

"Okay sorry!" She scampered off. Seconds later her voice rang out from the deck, and a blazing blue fireball raced directly overhead, almost catching Ozzy and Adam. They jumped back, cursing and shouting as their chessmen screamed and hurled themselves from the board. The two wizards looked from where the fireball originated to see Accordion Girl being pursued across the ship by Rosalie.

"I'm sorry! It was an accident!" She wailed, barely managing to outpace her captain.

Adam reached down and picked up one of his cowering chessmen. "Do you remember yer' position?" The little piece shook his head.

Meanwhile Ozzy was doing the same, to a similar result. He sighed. "Well, so much for that."

Adam shook his head and started collecting the little pieces, placing them back with the set. Rosalie finally caught Accordion Girl by the neck of her shirt and was chewing her out.

"What were you doing?! You almost hit both the first mate and Ozzy!"

Accordion Girl made an odd, high-pitched noise that sounded like, "Meep!"

"Don't try bluebell flames without supervision!" Rosalie snapped, and released Accordion Girl, who scampered off. The captain turned to Adam and Ozzy. "You two alright?"

"Yup, she didn't hit us or our clothes," Adam said.

"Unfortunately she gave our chessmen a good scare. A real shame, that was shapin' up to be a good game," Ozzy said, mildly annoyed.

"Don't worry, she won't be doing that for a long time…" Rosalie said darkly, yet she smiled. The other pirates laughed.

"Well, if we had been able to actually play that would've taken some time off the trip. It's gonna be a long afternoon…" Ozzy said. "Not that I'm complaining, after this morning."

Rosalie laughed again. "Hopefully we won't encounter any more of those!"

"I should certainly hope not!" Adam added.

The captain took a couple steps to the front of the ship. She drew her rapier and pointed it forwards, towards their destination. "Onwards, to 'Pickles'!"