I'd like to thank Balthazar23, Antar23, werewolfXZ, damadape, TheNarratingMan, WraithNX01, Vahktang, flixus, Lynix, TripsToTheRescue, fredfred, InquisitorCOC for betareading.
Chapter 29: The Chase
Off Gibraltar, Atlantic Ocean, July 18th, 1996
Peter Pettigrew was calmer than he had expected as he watched the sun rise behind them. They had made good time - they had sailed from Algiers to the straits of Gibraltar in a few hours, much faster than a muggle sailing boat, or most muggle ships, could've managed - but it would still take at least half a day to reach the pirate island.
Something that should've been obvious from the start. It had been - at least to him.
"Can't this hulk go any faster?"
Sirius, though, hadn't made the calculations. And hadn't taken the 'news' well. Peter looked over at the other side of the bridge, where Sirius was pacing.
"We should've taken a Portkey!"
Peter shook his head. "And find a ship with a trustworthy crew in Morocco?"
"Yes!"
"And how would we have found such a crew amongst the glut of untrustworthy Barbary Coast pirates?" Peter raised his eyebrows.
Sirius hissed through clenched teeth. "We could've used Veritaserum."
"So, we would've kidnapped pirate after pirate, used Veritaserum, all without the rest of the pirates noticing that their numbers were dwindling? When everyone's already on edge because they think Dumbledore will appear and hunt them down?"
Sirius perked up and grinned at him. "That's a good plan! Anyone who doesn't run when Dumbledore arrives is trustworthy!"
Peter lowered his head. "And if everyone runs? Or those who stay are too frightened to run?"
"We could deal with that if it happened."
Peter shook his head. "We found a fast ship with an experienced crew. And James, Lily, Remus and Dumbledore, and whoever else is coming, will join us as soon as we reach Gibraltar. We're doing well, Sirius."
"Not well enough. Harry's out there. Alone. Well, with Miss Granger. Amongst pirates! Barbary Coast pirates!"
Well, Caribbean pirates, such as there were left, wouldn't be any better. British wizards didn't have the best reputation in the Caribbean. "We don't know if Harry's actually amongst pirates," Peter pointed out. "As far as we know, it's a pretty big island - plenty of room to hide." They also didn't know if Harry was actually on the island, but mentioning that wouldn't help Sirius calm down.
His friend scoffed. "He's on the island. My gut tells me so!"
"Like your gut told you that Rebecca Brown fancied you?" Peter cocked his head with a slight grin.
"She was smiling at me whenever we had classes together!"
"She was smiling at Lily, who was sitting behind you."
"I thought she was too shy to meet my eyes. Anyone could've made that mistake!" Sirius huffed again.
"Not many would've assumed that she fancied them," Peter pointed out.
"Of course not! They aren't me!" Sirius pushed his chest out and ran a hand through his hair.
Peter rolled his eyes, but he grinned. At least his friend wasn't pacing any more.
The sailor - Emir - manning the helm snorted, obviously amused. "You have troubles with witches?" he asked with a heavy accent.
"What? No! That was years, decades ago!" Sirius said.
"Barely two decades," Peter said. "But Sirius doesn't have troubles with witches. Not any more. Not at all."
"Exactly! I've…" Sirius broke off and narrowed his eyes. "What are you insinuating?"
"Nothing at all," Peter replied. "I'm just remarking that you haven't had any trouble with witches in a while."
Sirius's glare intensified. "I'm still popular! Attractive! Many witches wish they could be with me!"
"Yes, Sirius." Peter nodded. Polite agreement was the best way to rile his friend up, he knew from experience.
"I'm telling you," Sirius said, clenching his teeth, "I'm regularly dating witches."
"No one claimed anything else," Peter said, still smiling as earnestly as he could.
Emir chuckled. "If we make port in Morocco on the way back, I can introduce you to Moroccan witches. The most beautiful and most passionate witches in the world! Most dangerous too, if slighted."
Sirius stared at the sailor. "That's very generous of you, but I'll be busy tending to my godson once we've dealt with the pirates."
"Ah." Emir nodded with obvious and fake understanding.
And Sirius turned to glare at Peter. "That's your fault!"
"What? That you received a very nice offer to be introduced to beautiful witches?" Peter tilted his head.
"That people think I need such help!"
Peter snickered, then laughed at his friend's expression. After a moment, Sirius snorted and shook his head.
And Abdul appeared on deck. "Ah, a few miles off Gibraltar. As planned! Isn't she a beauty? No other ship in the Mediterranean would've made the trip as fast as mine!"
Sirius frowned, then turned to stare ahead, at the rock which was slowly fading into view.
And Peter smiled. Soon, they would be on the way again. If Harry was on the island, he would only have to hold out a little longer.
Wizarding Gibraltar, July 18th, 1996
"Ah! Gibraltar! The gateway to the Atlantic!" standing at the railing of his ship's bridge, Abdul spread his arms wide. "In ages past, it was the cornerstone of the British Empire!"
"Gibraltar still belongs to Britain," Peter Pettigrew pointed out. Both Wizarding Gibraltar and the muggle one.
"The whole village of Wizarding Gibraltar, yes." Abdul snorted. "Or is that Hamlet? What do you call a dozen buildings?"
"A dozen buildings and a port," Peter replied. "What do you call a side alley in Algiers? Magical Algeria."
Abdul laughed. "I'm not Algerian. But point taken. Still… any sailor with an appreciation for history can't help but feel sad at seeing how far Gibraltar has fallen."
Peter shrugged. With the advances in brooms, Portkeys and the Floo Network, as well as the loss of much of their colonies and oversea territories, Britain didn't need a fleet any more. "Well, except for the Spanish sailors." Spain still wanted the rock back - both of them. Even though Wizarding Spain didn't have any need for the port any more, either. But they had never forgotten how they lost it, back when both countries still had fleets.
Abdul laughed again. "Oh, yes! And, of course, my former colleagues who are still plying their despicable trade. They are very happy that the Royal Navy has long ago ceased to be a danger to them."
"Replaced by our Hit-Wizards and Aurors." Peter frowned a little. He wasn't much of a patriot. Not really. He knew too much about his own country to take offence at someone mocking it. But Abdul had an air to him… Like a challenge. It made Peter a little prickly, too.
"Oh, yes. Only a fool would dare raid Britain. However, your Aurors do not patrol the straits, nor do your Hit-Wizards scour the Mediterranean for pirates. They protect their own country, not anyone else."
They sailed into the port proper now. A handful of sailing ships were tied up at the piers, not more than a dozen. Small ones, too. The port could fit much more - the first wizarding governor of the port had been a little too optimistic when he ordered the magical port built after the Statute of Secrecy had caused Wizarding Britain to lose the old port to the muggles. "And yet, Britain is more capable than ever to lay waste to the entire Barbary Coast," he said. "Not that we would unless forced to."
"You mean Dumbledore is able to lay waste to the coast," Abdul corrected him. "Emir! Turn towards the free pier there!"
Peter nodded as if he conceded the point. Though, privately, he didn't share Abdul's opinion. Of course, Dumbledore overshadowed everyone - but as bloody as the war had been, it had left Britain with veterans. And a lot of alcoholics and nightmares. But, in Peter's opinion and experience, few countries, the wizarding enclaves of the East Coast of the New World one of those rare exceptions, had as many wizards and witches who had seen war. Actual war.
And a number of them would soon be sharing the deck with them, Peter added to himself when they pulled up alongside the pier.
"Finally!"
Peter shook his head at Sirius's outburst. His friend had been standing at the bow for the last half an hour as if he thought he would arrive faster that way.
"Alright, you louts!" Abdul yelled. "Secure the lines, and let us see where our new passengers are waiting."
"Right at the pier," Peter told him.
"What?" Abdul turned to look at him, then back at the pier - just in time to see a group of people apparate on it.
James, Lily and Remus, as expected. And Dumbledore.
Peter heard Abdul suck in his breath before muttering a curse under his breath at the sight of the old wizard.
"Good morning. May we come on board?" Dumbledore asked, a quick charm carrying his soft question to the bridge.
"Of course!" Abdul replied, just shy of yelling. Then he turned to face the deck and snapped: "Make way, make way, you louts! For Dumbledore!"
"Thank you." Dumbledore smiled warmly at the sailors as he stepped on deck. James and Lily, unsurprisingly, looked grim and barely managed to smile when Sirius greeted them and Remus.
"Captain Abdul." Dumbledore inclined his head at the man.
"Yes, yes. Call me Abdul!" The sailor smiled widely, but Peter was certain that he was far more nervous now. "We'll be on our way as soon as I have settled things with the harbourmaster."
"I took the liberty to handle this matter in advance," Dumbledore replied, handing Abdul a sheet of parchment.
"Oh." Abdul blinked. "You must have caught him on a very good day. Usually, he isn't awake so early."
Dumbledore chuckled. "He wasn't, actually, when we arrived. But he was very understanding of the urgency of our request."
"Right, right! And so are we! Cast off, you louts! We have no time to lose!"
Unknown Island, July 18th, 1996
Two pirates bearing down on them. And they were stuck on a small fishing boat, unable to dodge. Harry Potter clenched his teeth and sent curses at the pirates. At this distance, he didn't have a chance in hell of hitting them - but he'd make them flinch and spoil their aim. Or so he hoped.
A pirate's curse hit one of the birds Hermione had conjured, and half of the bird's body seemed to vanish in a green cloud. Another curse barely missed the boat.
Céline screamed.
Hermione conjured more birds.
And Harry kept casting Stunners.
The pirates rolled and weaved. Evasive flying. Harry's Stunners missed. But so did their curses. And they kept closing. The closer they were, the easier it would be for them to hit the boat.
But the pirates weren't close enough to be easily hit yet. And they probably wouldn't get close enough.
Or so they thought. Harry cast a pair of Cutting Curses, then glanced at Hermione.
She finished enlarging another bird, then flicked her wand.
And the birds shot towards the incoming pirates. The two pirates veered off, their brooms much faster than the birds, and started to evade them.
But they were now close enough to the birds. Or would be. Harry pointed his wand at the left-most bird. "Reducto!"
Hermione's own Reductor Curse followed a moment later.
The bird was flying in a straight line and straight away from the boat. Even Malfoy wouldn't have missed. His curse hit the bird, and the bird, together with two more, vanished in an explosion that engulfed one of the pirates as well.
Hermione's curse hit as well, and another explosion filled the sky with smoke and shredded bird parts.
The shockwaves threw the pirates away, the bone shards shattering their shields. Harry's target almost lost his grip on his broom - Harry saw him grip the shaft with both hands as he tried to regain control. Harry's Stunning Curse missed, though, and there was no bird near enough for another Reductor Curse.
Another explosion followed. Apparently, Hermione's pirate hadn't been thrown away too far from the rest of the birds. Harry glanced over and saw the pirate corkscrewing towards the water. Damaged bristles, he realised. And the Levitation Charm was failing. The pirate looked hurt as well, Harry noticed - the man was holding his side before he hit the water.
Céline was still screaming.
Harry looked at the second pirate. The man had regained control of his broom and was flying away - no, he was flying in a wide curve, away from the remaining birds. Either towards the pirate in the water or to flank their boat.
"Harry!" Hermione snapped. "We need to get moving."
"Right." He stuck his wand into the water. "Aguamenti!"
They started to move a little. Hermione was still casting more birds. Why would she…?
At least the second pirate had stopped near his wounded friend. Harry was tempted to send a curse at the man, but if the pirate dragged his friend out of the sea then he wouldn't be attacking the boat.
Though if more pirates were coming… Harry looked up. He didn't see anyone flying towards them, but they could be disillusioned. Probably were - they would have seen what had happened.
But if they were disillusioned, then Harry and Hermione's Human-presence-revealing Spell wouldn't show them until they were close enough to curse them. "We need more birds!" he hissed.
"I know. I'm casting as fast as I can," she replied in a tense voice. "Engorgio!"
A bird grew in size and started circling the boat with the others. A living shield of sorts. Not too close, of course, so the pirates couldn't copy their tactics.
But that meant that the birds had to cover too much space. Around them, above them… Harry clenched his teeth. At any moment, a pirate could arrive above them - or even in front of them - and the first thing they'd notice would be the curse flying at them.
And with just his Water-Making Spell propelling the boat forward, they were moving very slowly. Too slowly.
Half a dozen new birds joined the swarm surrounding them.
"How much longer until we're through the wards?" He asked.
"I don't know. We can still see the island, so we're not out of the protections yet," she replied. "Avis!"
Right. They might be close, or they might be too far to reach the wardline. He clenched his teeth. Just a little bit further. A little bit…
A bird exploded.
Hermione Granger couldn't help but shriek in surprise when one of her birds suddenly vanished in a small cloud of blood and gore. "Did you see where the curse came from?" she asked, looking around as she hastily conjured more birds.
"No, I…. there!" Harry snapped.
Hermione gasped once more and threw herself down in the boat moments before a green spell flashed past, hitting the water next to the bow. "They're behind us!" She directed more birds to their rear.
"They'll be circling us," Harry said.
Damn. She clenched her teeth. He was correct - the pirates would be encircling them to catch them in a crossfire from outside the range of their Human-presence-revealing Spells.
"We need to get on the brooms!" Harry yelled.
"We can't!" Hermione replied, frantically casting even more birds. "We can still see the island - we must still be inside the wards!" They wouldn't be able to pass through the wards on brooms. Probably.
Judging by Harry's cursing, he agreed.
Just as when Hermione was wondering if they had crossed the wards, another bird exploded - and the shockwave rocked the boat. Blasting Curse, she realised as she struggled to keep her balance on her knees, and Céline screamed in fright. They were copying her idea! She had to send the birds further away, but that would make it easier to target the boat…
Perhaps if they got into the water? Dived and… No. If they were too slow, a single Blasting Curse cast into the water would kill them all.
Smoke? They had nothing to burn except for the boat itself, and that would be stupid and take too long, anyway.
Two birds vanished, and another spell barely missed the boat, leaving a stain of green liquid on the sea as they sailed past it.
Then her shield shattered, struck by another curse. Once more, she dropped down, hastily recasting her Shield Charm. Céline screamed even louder. Harry grunted - he must have hit his mangled foot.
They had to get away. And fast. No choice. "Hold on!" she yelled. "Harry, hold on to Céline!"
"What?"
Another bird turned into a red mist. They were surrounded now. "Do it!"
She moved her wand as Harry scrambled past her and covered Céline. If she misjudged this… No choice. She pointed and cast.
And the sea behind them exploded. A column of water rose as the waves hit the boat, lifting it up and then pushing it forward. Hermione had to struggle to keep her grip on the bench in the boat when it went down the wave, almost diving into the sea.
"Ah! You're crazy!" she heard Harry's shout over the screaming of Céline and the noise from the water falling down amongst screeching birds.
"Hold on!" she yelled back, rising again to repeat her action. Another Blasting Curse hit the water as a bird was cut apart by a curse, and a second curse was deflected by her shield.
Once more, the sea blew up, and the shockwave pushed the boat on. And decimated the birds she had conjured, she realised as she came up.
A thin cloud of steam rose from the water as well, but it wasn't enough to obscure them. And the birds weren't numerous enough any more to shield them effectively. Although… She waved her wand and ordered the birds to the side and the stern, then cast a few more.
"Push us on!" she snapped, enlarging the next bird.
"No more explosions?"
"Not for now!" She ducked as another bird - to their side - caught a curse. There couldn't be too many pirates, and they had to be staying out of range and in motion, or they'd have been cursed already. More than one pirate, at least. But how many?
More birds moved to that side as Harry got them moving again.
"The bow's not covered!" he said.
"I know," she replied. A curse hit the sea right behind their boat, splashing seawater over them. That had come from the other side!
"Why wouldn't you… Oh!"
"We have to be close to the wardline," she snapped.
The sea erupted once more, but to the side. "That wasn't me!" she yelled as the boat was caught by the wave and almost capsized. Then she grunted with pain when she was thrown into the hull of the boat.
And Céline went overboard!
"Accio Céline's robes!" Harry yelled before Hermione could react.
The girl shot out of the water, screaming like a banshee, and flew towards them. Hermione gritted her teeth and cast a Water-Making Spell. They couldn't be too far from the wardline.
A cracking noise and a scream made her turn her head - just in time to see a flailing, jerking body falling into the sea, barely ahead of the boat.
"Lightning spell," Harry said.
The wardline! The pirate must have triggered one of the protections!
Hermione swallowed and kept the boat moving.
Now they would find out if the boat protected them against the wards.
They were at the wardline. Harry Potter clenched his teeth and held Céline. "It's OK," he whispered. "We'll be safe soon."
Or dead. Or captured, depending on the protections they'd trigger, if they were wrong about the boat being enchanted. But he couldn't tell the girl that. Even if he could speak French, he couldn't frighten her like that. If anything went wrong, it would be over quickly, anyway - judging by the example the pirate had made.
Who hadn't come up, he realised. The man had sunk under the water. If he hadn't cast a Bubble-Head Charm beforehand, he would…
Harry shook his head. That hadn't been his fault. Nor Hermione's. The pirate should've known better than to fly into his own wards. Even though Hermione had baited him. She could be rather ruthless. He tried to ignore the pain in his foot. Hermione's crazy plan had made him bang it against the boat's hull several times.
They passed the floating remains of a broom, and Harry closed his eyes. Any moment now. Any moment…
Seconds passed. Nothing happened. He opened his eyes and looked back. The island had disappeared. They were outside the wards! They had escaped the island! Yes! "We did it!" he blurted out.
Then another bird blew up. Right. The pirates couldn't follow them, but they could still send spells after them.
"We need to get on our brooms!" he snapped. "Quickly!"
"We need to take the boat with us!" Hermione protested. Her birds were now forming a sort of wall to their rear, with the pirates unable to flank and encircle them any more.
"We can summon it from afar," Harry replied, already pulling his broom out. "But we need to leave, and quickly. Before they follow us!"
"Alright," Hermione finally agreed. "You take Céline." She waved her wand, and more birds appeared.
"Of course!" Harry mounted the broom. "Come, join me!"
He needed to repeat himself twice before the trembling girl mounted the broom as well, sitting behind him.
Hermione was still conjuring and enlarging birds, but they seemed to die as quickly as she created them. And that meant she wouldn't be able to mount her broom and protect the boat.
Harry clenched his teeth. "Send the birds after them!"
A moment later, the remaining birds were flying straight back, towards the still disillusioned pirates.
"Get on your broom!" Harry snapped. And started casting Reductor Curses.
He had aimed the first curse at the left-most bird, but even so, the explosion took out two more birds.
His next curse took out two on the right.
Then most of the birds in the centre vanished in a green cloud. Something acid - he didn't recognise the spell. In exchange, he snapped off a pair of Stunners right back through the slowly drifting cloud.
Hermione had finally mounted her broom. "Let's go!" he yelled.
"Not yet!" She waved her wand. The boat shrank.
And the sea below exploded.
Harry heard Hermione scream a moment before the water engulfed them, and he was swatted away, thrown through the sky, his broom turning and twisting uncontrollably. And Céline was gone!
He gasped, forcing the broom to level out. "Accio Céline's clothes!" he yelled, flicking his wand.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then something flew through the steam and falling water. Towards him. The little girl! He reached out to grab her, pulling her onto the broom in front of him, this time.
She was drenched like Harry himself and crying and trembling, but alive. That left…
"Hermione!" he yelled. She had been closer - she would've been thrown off the broom and into the water. "Accio Hermione's clothes!"
Another figure shot towards him. Still on a broom. And coming in far too fast! Gasping, he grabbed Céline and rolled, just in time to avoid getting speared by Hermione's broom as she shot past him.
"Harry! What are you doing?"
He ended the spell. How had she managed… He saw the way she rode, legs sticking out, but still stuck to the broom… Oh. Of course, she would've stuck herself to the broom. "I thought you had fallen off!" he yelled back.
"What? How…"
She was interrupted by more Blasting Curses hitting the sea below them, showering them with more hot seawater. And a few other curses flew towards them.
"Let's get out of here!" he yelled.
"Yes!" Hermione shouted back.
And they were off, racing westwards, the pirates' curses quickly tapering off.
They had escaped the island and the pirates.
For now.
They still needed to reach land. And they were currently flying away from the African coast.
"We need to change course," Hermione Granger said as she flew closer to Harry and Céline. She tried to adjust her position on the broom, but she couldn't get comfortable. She needed to end the Sticking Charm, she realised, but if the pirates managed to send another Blasting Curse at them...
"Yes. But we can't do that in sight of the pirates!" Harry replied. "They'll be able to follow us, otherwise."
"They can't pass through their own spells without a boat," Hermione told him. They should've destroyed the other boats when they had the chance.
"They can shrink their boat and carry it to the wardline," Harry retorted. "I bet they're doing that."
"They still need to fly back and return," Hermione pointed out. "And they won't be able to rush forward."
"Still, we need to gain more distance to lose them," Harry said. "And we need to fly lower to the sea."
She clenched her teeth. Lower? Skimming the waves? Yes, that would allow them to hide from the pirates more easily, but… it would also make crashing into the water easier. No time to correct any mistake.
But they had no choice, so she guided her broom downward. Not quite as low as Harry took his - his shoes had to touch the tops of the waves when he flew over them! But low enough. Or so she hoped. If the pirates managed to follow them… they wouldn't be able to escape. Not with three people on two brooms. She knew that Harry was the better flyer, yet she had to slow down to keep pace with him.
But they had no choice. Shrinking Céline was too dangerous in their current position. Reeling from their fight and escape, on top of speeding brooms, tired after a sleepless night… it would be worse than that Charms test in third year after she hadn't slept at all for a day. That had been her most humiliating experience in class.
And she would happily switch to suffer through that for a month instead of fleeing from pirates on a looted broom.
She looked over her shoulder. She couldn't see any pirates, but since they were disillusioned… She should've left some birds at the wardline, to know when they were out of sight. But the pirates would have destroyed them anyway.
So, they had to play it safe. Fly straight away, to gain the most distance - and hope the pirates didn't catch up before they changed directions. It wasn't ideal, but, on the other hand, even if they were flying straight away, the pirates would have to search a large area of empty ocean. And as history showed, that was harder than it appeared.
She smiled. They could do this. Soon, they would be able to turn south, then east. The sun was still rising, but it was easy to determine the directions even without a Four-Point Spell. As long as they could see… She blinked, then frowned. Those clouds hadn't been in the sky earlier today, had they? The sky in the east was turning overcast.
Hermione bit her lower lip. Overcast wasn't bad. England had plenty of such weather. It would even be helpful if they didn't have to suffer the full tropical sun on their flight.
But the clouds were growing quite thick in the east. And quite dark.
They might have a problem at hand.
For the next ten minutes, she was looking back more to check the clouds rather than for pursuit. And as much as she didn't want to admit it, the sky was darkening. And the wind was growing stronger.
"We have a problem," she told Harry.
"Pirates?" He looked over his shoulder, and she saw his eyes widen. "Oh."
"No. Worse. A storm's brewing," she said.
"Yeah."
"We might be able to outrun it, but…"
"'Might', yes." Harry shook his head. "Can we fly around it?"
"We can try. We should head south anyway."
"Yes."
They turned south. The sun was still visible, if barely, and Hermione quickly checked their direction with the Four-Point Spell. Directly south.
"At least that should keep the pirates from following us," Harry said.
Hermione snorted. That was a very slim silver lining. Although they probably had better chances to survive a tropical storm than another pirate attack. Just how much better was the question.
They flew on, but it was quickly becoming apparent that they wouldn't be able to get out of the way of the storm before it overtook them. Hermione could already see the rain in the distance, the sky was now completely overcast and the winds were doing their best to push them off-course.
"We can't go on much longer," she told Harry - and she had to raise her voice, too, so she could be heard.
"We have to try," he replied. "The more distance we gain, the better!"
"We have to prepare for the storm!" she shot back.
"How?"
"By going underwater!"
"What?"
"We can ride out the storm underwater!"
Harry stared at her.
She stared back. It wasn't a perfect plan. Not even a good plan - they wouldn't be able to stay close to the surface but had to dive down at least a little. And the storm would mean the waters would be darker than normal. She really wasn't looking forward to spending hours underwater in the dark and probably cold as well, with only a Bubble-Head Charm to keep them alive.
But it beat trying to ride out a tropical storm in a fishing boat or on a broom. That would be suicide - the boat would be sunk, and the brooms would be dragged apart or battered into the water.
So, either way, they'd end up in the water, and Hermione would rather do it on her own terms. And with at least some time spent preparing.
"Alright," Harry said. "But you need to explain it to Céline."
Hermione winced but nodded. "Prepare the rope so we can tie ourselves to each other." They had to ensure they wouldn't be separated no matter what.
By the time she had explained things to Céline and had calmed the poor girl down, rain was hitting their Shield Charms, and it was as dark as if it were late in the evening. And the winds were already starting to overcome the brooms' enchantments.
It was time to dive.
Hermione recast the Bubble-Head Charms on herself and Céline while Harry tied them together and cast his own charm.
Then they lowered themselves into the water, shrunk the brooms and dived down.
The water was warm at the surface. But as they dived - clumsily, since they were tied and stuck together - it grew colder. Harry Potter leaned forward, pressing his head to Hermione's, so their Bubble-Head Charms overlapped. "We can't dive too deep," he said. "The cold will kill us."
"Hypothermia, yes," she agreed. "But we need to find a way to get neutral buoyancy. So we don't sink further and won't resurface either."
"Well, we better do it fast," Harry said. He glanced up. "The surface's already getting thrashed by wind and waves."
"Technically, the waves are the result of the wind," Hermione said.
He snorted in return.
"Alright. I've got some rocks with us. If we can enlarge them, we should be able to adjust our buoyancy," she went on.
"Let's get started," Harry said.
Hermione struggled a little to get the rocks out - he felt her arm wriggle between them and Céline as she pushed it into her pocket - but she finally managed to get them. "Hold them!"
"Alright." He held one in his hand. It was about the size of an egg.
Then he held a rock the size of a football in his hand - and had to grab it with both hands, awkwardly since he still held his wand, before it slipped and vanished in the depths.
"Let's see if that's enough. Just wait," Hermione said.
But a few minutes later, they were close to bopping on the surface, and only a hastily cast Enlargement Charm that turned the football-sized rock into a torso-sized small boulder dropped them before the storm dragged them away.
It took three more tries before they had a somewhat balanced buoyancy, and even so, Harry thought they were slowly descending. He'd have to keep an eye on that, even though Hermione declared that they were fine.
Clearly, they wouldn't be able to rest underwater during the storm. Not both of them together. "We'll have to take turns resting," he told Hermione.
"We should be fine in the water." He could barely make out that she was frowning; the light was almost completely gone.
"We're not stable. We might sink too low if we both fall asleep." Harry suppressed a yawn that threatened to overwhelm him right then - that would've been the worst timing; Hermione would offer to take first watch, and she had to be more exhausted than he was.
"But…" She yawned - he heard it more than he saw it.
"No 'but'. Sleep while I keep watch. I'll wake in an hour."
"Can you read your watch without light?"
"I can cast a Wand-Lighting Spell," he retorted.
"Oh, right. I thought it could attract fish, but…"
"You're exhausted. Rest," he repeated himself.
After some more grumbling, she finally agreed, and he soon felt her body relax. Céline had fallen asleep already. He hugged the girl with one arm - she was at the greatest danger of freezing.
They could only hope that the storm wouldn't last too long.
"Harry! Wake up! Harry!"
Harry Potter felt some pain in his side - someone had poked him - and opened his eyes. "What?"
"We need to resurface," Hermione told him. "Céline's shivering in her sleep, and I can't get her to wake up."
Harry cursed and looked up. Well, what he thought was up. He didn't see any light. "Is the storm still going on?"
"We'll have to find out," she replied. "If it's still going on…"
Harry nodded, clenching his teeth. If they couldn't get the boat out on the surface, Céline would…
Hermione flicked her wand, cancelling the charm on the rock, and Harry felt them slowly starting to move.
Then he saw a dim light above them, growing stronger. That was a good sign, wasn't it?
They broke surface thirty seconds later, and Harry took a deep breath - out of reflex; the Bubble-Head Charm was still working. The sky was still overcast, but the storm was… well, mostly gone. The waves were higher than when they had set out but manageable. And the rain had stopped.
"Let's get the boat out. We need to warm up Céline!" Hermione snapped.
Taking the boat out didn't take long - Harry held it up, and Hermione cancelled the Shrinking Charm on it. And his Shield Charm stopped the hull from braining him. Climbing into the boat took a little longer - or rather, after a few attempts, they resorted to levitating their clothes to get on board before the waves carried the boat away.
But then they were sitting inside the boat. Hermione cast a Drying Charm and then kept it going, letting the blast of hot air warm up Céline and Harry - her own clothes had dried up quickly, being rather smaller than the others'.
And Céline started to warm up as well; Harry could see her lips returning to their normal colour - well, he assumed they were her normal colour; he hadn't taken a good look at her during daylight so far.
But while she was still shivering and sniffling, she was awake again. She would live, as far as he could tell. Which was a great relief. If she had died because they hadn't been prepared to ride out a storm… Hermione would have never forgiven herself.
"So… now, do we head east? Or south then east?" he asked.
"Once we are able to use the brooms, South, then east - we don't know how far the storm drove us off-course," Hermione replied. "The storm, and the natural currents of the ocean. We can't take the risk of flying into the island's protections."
"What if we were dragged north and then east?" Harry asked.
"That's…" Hermione bit her lower lip. "That's unlikely. Very unlikely."
But he could hear some doubt in her voice. "We could fly west for a while, then head south," he suggested.
"We can't spend too much time on the ocean. Sooner or later, we'll have to rest, and keeping the boat out makes us vulnerable," Hermione retorted. "We should…" She gasped, her eyes widening.
Harry turned his head and looked over his shoulder.
A glowing thing was headed straight for them.