In the dining room, Jack had commandeered a bottle from Kurtz's table and downed half of it as a means of coping with the lousy conversant Hermione had left him to entertain. Thus, Jack was thrilled when she returned - his eyes lit up and he stood from his chair.

"Miss Granger, what took you so?" Mr. Kurtz seemed happy to have another ear to entertain his dreadful speeches, she gathered. "You missed the excellent story about my latest catch," with a glass in hand, he motioned to the far wall where the zebra head hung on a plaque.

But she was barely listening. Instead, Hermione stood by her chair and held onto the back of it, overwhelmed by everything - feeling dizzy. Her impulses were screaming at her from within to reveal Kurtz as the evil, fraudulent man he was while also trying to rein in reason. She eyed her full plate of food and felt the urge to vomit. "I'm sorry, Mr. Kurtz, despite your… good graces… I regret that I'm not feeling well enough to eat tonight. I've decided to retire early…" She gave Jack a pointed look. "Good night."

Jack's joy fled with oncoming concern when he received her urgency. He knew this behavior was unlike her. Hermione left the room with a hurried pace; one that Jack couldn't ignore. He apologized to Kurtz for their abrupt exit and followed Hermione out from the dining room with haste.

When the door shut behind Jack, Mr. Kurtz downed his beverage with one gulp, his expression grim and knowing. He stretched, shrugging his shoulders in a nervous twitch.

Jack held onto the rail of the staircase as he followed Hermione calmly up the stairs where she had nearly run, shutting herself inside the bedroom swiftly.

After Hermione shut the door she held herself by the arms, whispering a silencing charm that would settle about the room and give her the safety and clarity she needed to gather her thoughts.

"Hermione, love," Jack's voice sounded tenderly from the other side of the door, "Open up for me."

She approached the door, reaching for the handle but pausing to reconsider before finally opening the door to reveal his face in the candlelight where he leaned his face against the door frame, his eyes dark and charming.

"I might be able to help you feel better, doll, if you would only talk with me." He entered, shutting the door gently behind him before brushing a strand of hair from her face, his hand settling on her cheek.

"Jack, I-" she turned away from him, too distraught to appreciate the gesture, "I want to leave, please-" Her voice broke with emotion.

"Why is that?" He narrowed eyes attentively to her as he searched her for answers.

She tried to think of an answer he would accept. "I miss the ship, I wish we didn't have to be here. I don't like it here, I-" She wrung her hands in the air, fighting the part of herself that fought to tell him the truth - the whole truth. "I don't trust him." She started pacing.

"I'm right there with you, love. Hell, he's a right slimy git. How could a man who sells other human beings be trusted?" Jack's expression became somber and he glanced away from her in shame. "But we have to tolerate this task only once, Hermione. I promise you."

He held her reassuringly and his eyes flashed with a look of unmistakable adoration. "I won't let anything happen to you, love."

There was a knock at the door and Hermione fearfully gripped his arms that held her. "Don't let him in." Hermione whispered, meeting his eyes pleadingly. "Please."

Jack let go of her and moved over to the door, opening it only by a few inches. "How can I help you, gentlesir?" Jack offered him an easy smile.

"I couldn't help but notice that the lass broke something from atop my mantle - a family heirloom, in fact. No matter that, however. I came to check on the lady. It shattered, and I want to be sure she is free from injury." Mr. Kurtz pressed his hand against the door to get inside, but Jack held it steady. "Seeing as she fled dinner so early, and all."

"I'll be sure to look her over." Jack gave him another smile, this one more mischievous than the last.

"Nonsense, Captain." He pressed against the door harder, and Jack's mustache twitched as he fought to keep him out. "I insist."

Jack stood back when one hefty shove caused the door to slam open and bounce off of the adjoining wall, and the homeowner entered.

Mr. Kurtz immediately sauntered over to Hermione. "Miss Granger," he began, "There's no reason to be sorry about the broken knick knack." He sighed, "Have you ever seen anything like it?" She backed away, hiding her wand in the back of her dress. "Why don't you me see your hands, girl?"

With reluctance, she let him examine her hands and managed a dark glance at Jack from over Mr. Kurtz's shoulder.

"Why, what's this?"

"Stop." She retracted her left hand when he began to pull back the sleeve of her dress that hid her scar so deliberately.

Mr. Kurtz's demeanor changed completely - he grabbed her arm with both hands despite her cry of protest, shoving the sleeve back in a rough and uncaring gesture that showed his true intentions. His shoulders relaxed when he read the word mudblood that had been etched into her arm.

Jack grabbed him roughly by the shoulder and shoved him back. "That's no way to treat a lady, mate."

"You think I don't know what you are!" He spat on the ground at Hermione, unphased by Jack.

"Leave me alone!" She moved to rush away when Mr. Kurtz grabbed her by the neck and shoved her up against the wall in one swift move.

She was prying at his hands with her own when the feeling of occlumency consumed her and images of her past came to the forefront of her mind. She couldn't fight the memories that flooded her vision: She was on an airplane - looking out from the small window over downtown London that was thousands of feet below, seated beside her parents who coaxed away her anxiety of flying for the first time. The feeling of the plane tilting to the side was accompanied by a sense of butterflies that transitioned into her life a year later - approaching Hogwarts by boat for the very first time, then memories of her running into the arms of Harry and Ron, running from the whomping willow, then Death Eaters in the Ministry of Magic that faded into the dementors and spiders of the Battle of Hogwarts that now raged on in her senses. Hermione felt herself falling from the center of the battle and a ringing in her ears replaced the visions when she fell from Mr. Kurtz's grasp and onto the floor of the bedroom.

She looked up to see Jack held a revolver to his head.

Jack extended his free hand to her and hoisted her up, allowing her to lean into him as she caught her breath. His eyes were dark and impatient when he growled through his teeth. "Now..." Jack cocked back the hammer of the pistol, ready. "What is the meaning of this?"

Mr. Kurtz's breathing labored as he studied Hermione. "He doesn't know, does he?"

"Know what?" Jack narrowed his eyes on the man, dangerously pressing the end of the gun into the man's temple.

Kurtz only smiled maniacally.

"Mr. Kurtz - he's cursed everybody." Hermione twisted the story, moving to stand in front of Jack. "Haven't you seen them?"

"No, love, I haven't." Jack didn't break his focus on the man.

"Let's just go. Let's agree to part ways… and no one gets hurt." Hermione tugged at Jack's hand. "Please!" She grew desperate.

"Are you abolitionists?" Mr. Kurtz mused. "Is that why you're here?"

"I'm here on behalf of Cutler Beckett - you know this." Jack wanted to avoid trouble and stashed his weapon.

"Jack, please…" Hermione attempted again to pull him away by the arm.

Before anyone could stop him, Mr. Kurtz unleashed his wand and cast stupefy at Jack, which knocked him unconscious. Hermione grabbed Jack by the waist before he could hit the ground and she apparated away with him, dropping him into a safe place and back upstairs so quickly that she didn't miss a beat. She reappeared behind Kurtz and sent a curse his way, but he deflected.

The man shot a spell back at her and she ducked away, the spell charring a spot on the wallpaper behind her. She rushed from the room and down the stairs when Kurtz cast relashio on the hanging chandelier that then came crashing down. The young witch dove from the middle of the stairs and landed on the hardwood floor with a pained gasp before running outside of the house, the man following close behind.

Hermione didn't have a chance to catch her breath when Mr. Kurtz hit her with a curse, diffendo, that slashed an inch-deep gash in her arm. She grabbed her arm and looked back to see he was advancing on her.

"Come here, mudblood! Don't worry about your captain. Imagine! Not only will I have an entire trade of my own, but a wage-free merchant captain to manage all shipments…"

A blue spell whizzed past her - the one she suspected was the imperious curse. She picked up the skirt of her dress while she ran, using the other hand to cast stupefy on him, but she missed. He was now chasing her to the edge of the property and toward town. Hermione resolved that no matter what happened, she needed to get him as far away from Jack as possible.

Hermione stopped running and turned around. Kurtz stopped too, surprised her choice to stop and face him.

"What now, mudblood? Giving up so soon?"

Hermione's breathing labored when she spoke, righting her posture with renewed confidence. "No."

She apparated to him and grabbed him, apparating to the wood beyond the grand house but Kurtz attempted to apparate elsewhere, and in the discombobulated magic - the opposing duality in the warping vacuum of space and time - they reappeared, crashing into the window of a building in the town. They wrestled out onto the porch of the building and Kurtz shot a spell at Hermione but missed her as she stood and ran from him, the spell instead catching fire to a building across the street, causing the townfolk to scatter from it in fear.


When Jack stirred, he had no idea where he was. He reached out to find a cold door handle and turned it only to fall out from the closet and onto the hallway floor, a mop and some brooms clattering on the hardwood around him. "Bugger."

His memory returned to him and he stood up with urgency upon noticing the condition of the house: a broken chandelier that was scattered in pieces around the floor, curtains dangling from their rods and charred spots on the wallpaper from the fight he thought he had only dreampt. His mouth twitched and he took off quickly upon realizing the silence. "Hermione!" He ran upstairs, careful not to step on glass, and saw that the bedroom door was ajar. He burst into the room to find that she and Mr. Kurtz were gone. He ran out from the room and noticed that the front door was left open and the entry rug bent back from a scuffle that moved outside.

Jack knew things were grim when he recognized explosions emanating from the town and after a twitch of his lip, he darted toward the stable on the far size of the property. There, he pulled open the wide, wooden barn doors and found horses inside that appeared to be bewitched - their eyes glazed over with a greyness that he realized he had seen in the slaves, too. Was this the curse Hermione was talking about?

"Allo," Jack greeted the nearest horse. "You seem like a lucky steed, I figure you'll do." He opened the gate and approached the animal with caution, his feet light as he approached the horse's side, petting it a few times before grasping onto its back to hoist himself up. The horse, subdued by spell, didn't so much as sidestep. "On, lassie!" Jack nudged the horse's sides with the heel of his boots, causing the horse to move forward and they exited easily. Once out into the open, Jack gave a loud "Heyah" that encouraged the horse to run toward town with Jack holding on to either side of it's neck.

Jack wished he had remembered the reigns, but he'd never before ridden a horse and with the pressure to find Hermione, didn't stop to consider this detail. As the horse took the dirt path through the woods and toward the town, Jack didn't look back once - not even when his captain's hat fell off behind him.