Hey! If we have any of our original readers from before our long absence…

YOU ROCK!

We WILL update on a more regular basis from now on. Seriously.

Oh, and don't forget that the former NameWeAreTooCowardlyToSay has changed her name to GuessTheName.

AND NOW, BACK TO THE STORY…

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Norrington paced the halls, missing the feeling of a ship rocking beneath him. Someone cleared their throat behind him; Norrington spun around, reaching for the sword that should be on his hip. He had left his in his room at the suggestion of the astonishingly frank, red-headed squire.

"Hello," said the whiny prince curtly. Norrington sighed; Jon—that was his name—didn't seem to be in any better temper than when they had first arrived. "Dad says that there's a ball tonight. Tons of people coming. He wants you to come."

Norrington nodded. "Very well. I will be there soon."

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Meanwhile, Alanna—err, Alan of Trebond—was having a blast. At the moment, she was chatting happily to Hermione, a pastime she had enjoyed more and more in the past few weeks. She couldn't let down her guard too much, though—it was starting to become very hard not to forget that she was masquerading as a boy.

"I seriously don't understand how you put up with it," Hermione was saying impatiently.

"What?"

"With everyone else beating you up like that! And also being smaller than everyone else."

"I'm a perfectly normal size for a gi…for a guy who's short."

Hermione smiled. "That's rather redundant, really, isn't it? Oh, well, I guess there's nothing really that we can do about it. Anyway, I had really better be going. Norrington said he had something to talk to me about." She stood, stretching, and opened the door. Alanna followed her out of the rooms Hermione was staying in—along with several other of the female newcomers—and bid her farewell.

Alanna headed to her room, annoyed by the fact that she would have to don the—in her opinion, hideous—outfit Jon had ordered her to. Just because she was his squire didn't mean that she had to share his fashion sense!

She entered her room and had just closed the door when she heard an odd noise. Whirling around, she was just in time to see George Cooper crawl from underneath her bed. "How did you fit under there?" She asked curiously. "Thief's secret," her semi-lover grunted. "It's dusty under there. Honestly, you might have more consideration for poor fellows who have to hide from nosy palace servants trying to clean. Will you believe where they swept all that mud you dragged in from swordfighting or whatnot? Under the bed, that's where! Likely ruining my nice clothes for the ball!"

Alanna glanced at his tan breeches and green-and-gold tunic. It didn't look ruined. In fact, George seemingly had taken care to look as presentable as a noble. Come to think of it, he was almost unrecognizable. And…what in Mithros's name was that around his eyes? Was it…oh Mithros, NO. It WAS what she'd seen around the eyes of the pirate. Jack. It was really hot...not that she had just thought that. Oh no, of course not. It was…odd. Yes. Odd.

"Um…I see you've met the visitors, then?" she asked tentatively.

George winked. "Oh, just the one. He even gave me this…eyeliner. We're friends now. Interesting way of meeting someone, it was. We…er…swapped coins. Both tried to pick each other's pockets at the same time. And both succeeded. We probably only noticed because, after we took the coins and put them in our own pockets, we realized that there were far fewer than there should have been with the new…additions."

"Great," Alanna said flatly. "More pickpockets."

George laughed. "Pickpocket? Aye. But all the same, for tonight, I'm a snobby, rich, noble. Prince Jon's second cousin's wife's nephew's best friend's uncle. Three times removed."

Alanna sighed. "Why don't I introduce you to the rest of them?" she suggested. George agreed readily.

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"Let me get this straight. I can't steal a SINGLE shilling? I mean, I've got no problem not stealing the nobles…I never was much of a kidnapper…but SERIOUSLY!" exclaimed Jack. So bloody unfair.

At that point, Alanna entered Norrington's room, where the rest of Miscellaneous Visitors Inc. were seated in places of varying comfort. With Alanna was George. Jack smiled absently at his new friend. For a newbie at the fine art of eyeliner, he had actually managed to apply it fairly well. Certainly well enough for George to get some fangirls of his own. Jack hadn't mentioned that side of fame.

"This is George Cooper," Alanna said quietly. "Don't mention his name. He's the King of Thieves." A few of the people in ugly dresses clenched their wands tighter. George grinned. Alanna continued, "Tonight he's going by the name…" she turned to him questioningly. "Jorge de Valiant of Dragon's Hill." Alanna blinked at him. "What the…"

George grinned. "If anyone's smart enough to figure it out, then I'd like to find out who's so intelligent." Alanna rolled her eyes, fighting her concern for George's safety. He could take care of himself, after all. Suddenly Ron screamed and about half the adult population of the room hit the floor with their hands over their ears. "WHAT THE BLOODY HELL?"

"Bigfoot," Luna Lovegood said solemnly, "In the guise of popular singer Justin Timerlake, says that he's bringing sexy back, but really he's trying to resurrect King Tut's ex-girlfriend."

"I don't feel well," said one Ginny Weasely.

"Hi," George Weasely said. "I'm George."

"No you're not," George Cooper said indignantly, "I am!"

"I'm George Weasely."

"Oh. Well that's a different matter then."

"Did you realize," Fred burst in excitedly, "that there's a hole in the fabric of Time behind the school? It's freaking awesome! Oh, and Hermione, we brought Crookshanks."

"Crooky!" Hermione cooed. Jack Sparrow edged farther away from her and the fluffy orange…thing? It sure wasn't a cat.

And the ball was in two hours.

Chapter five over! Chapter Six will probably be up fairly soon. Thank you everyone who hasn't forgotten this story! And remember…

REVIEW! Thank you Spy in Training for telling us whose point of view you want, and anyone else who told us!

So…REVIEW!

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stupid pun...does anyone else understand it? JorgeGeorge? Dragon's like shiny things? Not that tricky, is it?