Harry's elbow slid off the desk and he awoke with a start. Wait, did something bad just happen? He thought groggily. Hermione had given an audible gasp and was now sitting at the edge of her seat. He was not the only one who had been awoken by her cry, both Neville and Parvati were sitting up and looking about in confusion. Ron, however, was still out for the count.
"Hermione, what just happened?" Dean whispered, trying to get caught up on events.
"Shhhhhhh!" Hermione shushed him irritably.
"A running battle then ensued between the Night Swan and the Day Hawk as the former made to retreat…" Binns droned on in monotone. Harry sighed and propped his head up with his hand again, sincerely regretting that they did not have someone else teaching this class. All around him, classmates did the same, sinking back into a stupor.
Pity, Harry thought. I'm going to miss the ending...
…
"Hold them off for as long as it takes for Ozzy to get Rosalie back, then get us out of here." Adam snapped, his eyes still glued onto the Day Hawk.
"Aye!" Bilius replied. "Accordion Girl, get your tail down below decks and ready the cannons!"
"Yeppers!" Accordion Girl shouted. "They'll regret ever taking on Captain Rosalie and the Night Swan!" Spells whizzed overhead as the wizards exchanged fire. Bilius was hit by a tickling curse and doubled over, laughing uncontrollably. The crew of the Day Hawk rushed about, wheeling four large cannons onto the main deck while the magical prow of the Night Swan snapped at them.
"Fire at will!" Morcant howled, spittle flying through the air.
"Protego totalum!" Adam hollered just in time. The air rippled about the Night Swan, the appearance was something similar to a heat wave, and Morcant's cannon balls bounced away from the ship.
"Adam!" Killian bellowed over the cacophony of spells and cannonballs hitting the shield around the Night Swan. "We've gotta get outta here!"
"Not without Ozzy and the captain!" Adam answered. The entire ship shook as the shield began to weaken.
"We can't hold out much longer!" Killian protested. "Ozzy can handle himself, Rosalie too if she is alive! She ordered us to get out if this blew up in our faces, and it has! She would not want us to be killed like this!" Adam's resolve crumbled as the shield shuttered again.
"We need to go!" Willet shouted as another barrage struck the shield.
Adam looked over the side one more time, then turned to the rest of the crew. "We're leaving." Willet gave a curt nod and Killian sighed in relief. "Hoist those sails!" All around, the crew got to work and Adam turned to look at the other ship. With a flick of his wand, the swan prow stopped tugging at the Day Hawk's mast and the carved wings that were normally tucked along the side of the ship raised up to shield the main deck.
With multiple shouts of "Wingardium leviosa!", the Night Swan rose into the air and slowly maneuvered away, the Day Hawk in hot pursuit. A cannon ball hurled past Killian's head and he threw himself to the deck with a string of curses.
"Where is Accordion Girl?" Adam bellowed. "What is taking her so long?" There was a crash of wood on wood as the shutters flew open and Accordion Girl stuck her head out of a gunport.
"Morcan't catch us!" She howled gleefully at the Day Hawk. She disappeared back inside and her taunts were quickly replaced by a cannonball. It ripped through the mainsail with a crash, rocking the Day Hawk in the water. Accordion Girl squealed loudly. "SQUEEEEEE! I HIT THEM!"
As the Night Swan took to the sky, the Day Hawk released one last volley of cannonballs and spells. The shield thudded under the impact for one last time before the ship escaped range. Finally the protective spell dissipated from around the Night Swan and the ship sailed up into the clouds.
"All right, we're safe." Adam said. Killian picked himself up off the deck where he had been cowering.
"Phew. Now what?" He asked, brushing himself off.
"We do our best to find the Captain and Ozzy."
"How? You saw it, or didn't, they never resurfaced."
Adam gave a tight smile. "But we have the Captain's macaw." He turned to the bird, which was staring at him. "Go find Rosalie!"
"Squack!" Gypsy took off in a rush of cobalt wings.
"If they are out there, Gypsy will find 'em."
…
The water closed over Ozzy's head with a crash. The salt water stung at his eyes, but he kept them open nonetheless. Through the stained waters he spotted Rosalie's limp form floating like a ragdoll not far below, her wand still tightly clutched in her hand. He swam towards her as fast as he could, as she drifted, and gingerly plucked the wand from Rosalie as he lifted her to the surface.
The moment their heads broke through the surface, Rosalie immediately became reanimated. She coughed and spluttered for a moment before recovering her clarity.
"Ozzy!" She hacked ungracefully. "What in tarnation are you doing here?"
"Saving your wand!" He looked about frantically, but they had drifted away from the Night Swan, which was trading fire with the Day Hawk. "Merlin's beard, we're too far to board the ship!" He was starting to struggle to keep both himself and Rosalie afloat.
"Then disapparate!" Rosalie howled.
"Where?"
"ANYWHERE DRY!" She coughed again.
"Alright!" Ozzy snapped his eyes shut and he and Rosalie felt as if they were being drug through a dark tunnel before being deposited on a dry beach. Rosalie fell backwards and sprawled in the sand while Ozzy pulled himself up and sat next to her, gazing out over the ocean.
"Where exactly are we?" Rosalie asked slowly. Ozzy grimaced.
"To be honest, I don't know for sure."
"You can't be serious."
"I think we are on one of the islands, but..."
"Well, we can figure that out later. Do you know any half-decent healing spells?"
"What?" Ozzy said, turning to Rosalie. "Oh blast…" Rosalie was twisted around, examining a large gash in her side. The bullet, while it had only grazed her, had scooped out a large chunk of flesh and her blood was trickling down into the sand.
"Well, that sure is going to leave a scar…" Rosalie winced.
"Here, I do know one spell," Ozzy said, kneeling down beside her. "It should work."
"Should work?" Rosalie squawked in protest. "What do you mean 'should work'?" But Ozzy had already pointed his wand to the wound and began a song like chant. Rosalie grimaced.
"Vulnera Sanentur, Vulnera Sanentur, Vulnera Sanentur." The blood stopped trickling with the first words, then the wound itself began to heal with the repetitions.
"Huh," Rosalie said, looking at the scar which was all that was left of the wound. "Thanks, healing spells were the only ones I was never good at."
"You're welcome. I've only used that once before…" Ozzy said. "Oh, here is your wand."
"Thanks. Now, give me a second to clean up." Rosalie aimed her wand. "Reparo!" Her shirt knit itself back together. "Scourgify!" All the blood stains faded away, and she leapt to her feet.
"Right, now what?" Ozzy said, gazing out at the open waters for the Night Swan. Both ships, however, were nowhere in sight.
"If they managed to get away, they would have taken to the sky," Rosalie said, looking up grimly. "And with this cloud cover, they could be anywhere."
"Yeah…" Ozzy trailed off for a moment, watching the ocean.
"Here, let me send them a message so they know we are alive." Rosalie pulled out her wand and gave it a wave. "Expecto Patronum!" A silver shining vapor came from the tip of her wand and condensed into a large swan. It soared about their heads twice before taking off into the clouds.
"You can do a Patronus?" Ozzy said, sounding impressed. "Not every witch and wizard can do that." Rosalie grinned.
"Thanks. Can you perform a Patronus?"
"Yes, a nautilus."
"Really? Well I think Adam's is a Great White shark. Personally I'm fine with the swan, they are such elegant creatures, but they can be dangerous if provoked. That's why my ship is built the way it is."
"I like the nautilus, myself, though a sea urchin wouldn't be too bad. I know a guy with a mouse of all things."
Rosalie snorted. "Did you know that I was so good with my spellwork that I was offered a position at Hogwarts as a professor?"
"No, impressive!"
"Yeah," Rosalie laughed. "I could never follow the rules though, I almost got expelled sixth year for wrestling the lake squid."
"That's generally what happens when one does something like that," Ozzy chortled. "So what should we do now?"
"Get off this beach, first of all. Maybe someone more helpful than Morcant lives around here."
"Well, I don't live here, but I'd like to think I'm more helpful than Morcant Bowes of all people." A voice said, followed by a harsh "Squawk!" Ozzy and Rosalie almost jumped out of their skins and whirled to face the voice, wands out. Rosalie broke into a grin and laughed, while Ozzy relaxed.
Standing in front of them was Alfred, peg leg and all, smiling with Gypsy perched on his shoulder. Gypsy launched off and landed on Rosalie in turn.
"Alfred! What are you doing here?" She asked.
"Followin' that crazy bird of yours. I decided to come after ye but couldn't catch up in time. Saw the fireworks from here, and given that yer soppin' wet I assume you lost."
Rosalie winced. "Not entirely true - I won by the rules, lost by Morcant's anger."
"Cheated, did he? Well anyways, so then yer bird showed up and started flying rings and squawking at me. I figured I'd better follow 'er. Led me right to you."
"Good work, Gypsy!" Rosalie said, stroking the bird's bright feathers.
"Right, right, now if you two follow me, we can get aboard my ship and start looking for yours." Alfred said, marching off down the beach.
"Lead on!" Ozzy cheered.
…
"WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE WATCHING THAT BLOODY BIRD?" Adam roared. The Night Swan had stalled out inside a cloud, and the crew was unable to see a thing. Accordion Girl sheepishly raised her hand as Adam glared at her. "When I said, 'Someone keep an eye on that macaw', I did not mean Accordion Girl." He sighed as Accordion Girl stared at her feet. "There goes my plan of following Gypsy to Ozzy and Rosalie."
"So what now?" Killian asked lethargically. "Everything that could have gone wrong has; Morcant shot Rosalie, who now is probably dead, Ozzy is lost looking for her, Morcant kicked our wands, and now we are lost in a cloud."
"Well, Gypsy could come back yet…" Adam said, rubbing his temples.
"BIRD!" Accordion Girl hollered, pointing frantically over the side of the ship. Everyone rushed over and peered through the darkening cloud, and sure enough, a large bird was coming towards them, but it was no macaw.
The swan was encased in a silvery glow, clearly no ordinary creature, and not even a real bird at all. It landed on the gracefully on the deck, folding its misty wings behind its back. Its beak opened and promptly spoke in Rosalie's voice.
"We are safe, somewhere on an island. Be wary, Morcant may still be lurking about." The Patronus dissolved into nothingness, having delivered its message.
"They're alive!" Adam shouted, leading the crew into a series of cheers.
"Now we fly over every island we pass until we find them?" Killian asked. "I mean, this is certainly great luck, but which island?"
"Let's just start by landing, shall we?" Adam said, greatly cheered by the Patronus. With the wave of half a dozen wands, the Night Swan gracefully began her descent. The ship touched down into the water just as the sun began to set. Weaving between the cays, the crew diligently searched the shore of every island to no avail. Just as they rounded one of the tiny islands, a dark ship came into view.
"Wait!" Killian protested as they sailed on. "What if that's Morcant?" Adam frowned as he peered out at the vessel; with golden light spilling out across the water it did not look very dangerous.
"If it is," Adam growled. "We'll blow him to bits!"
"Yeah, and that worked out so well last time." Killian grumbled. Just then a faraway voice echoed across the dark waters with a cry of "Verdimillious", and a shower of green sparks erupted over the unknown ship.
"Ooooh! Pretty! I like sparklers!" Accordion Girl cried and clapped her hands.
"Well, if that is Morcant, then I'm a merperson," Adam said resolutely. "No one on his ship would bother to send up warning sparks." They slowly steered the Night Swan ever closer to the mystery ship, and had just gotten close enough to read the name of the vessel, the Midnight Pickle, when a voice called out to them.
"Well, what do we got here?" A familiar, rough masculine voice sounded as the Night Swan anchored next to the ship. "An' what are you good folks doing out in these shark infested waters?" There was a slight thump of a peg leg and Alfred appeared at the railing with a grin.
"Alfred!" Adam cried as the crew set up a gangplank to board the Midnight Pickle. "What are you doin' out here?"
"Morcant huntin', along with some friends of yours." Adam, Killian, Accordion Girl and the rest of the crew stepped onto the deck of Midnight Pickle to find Rosalie and Ozzy waiting for them.
"Rosalie!" Adam cried, looking quite relieved.
"Ozzy!" Killian shouted.
"ROSALIE!" Accordion Girl screamed, knocking Killian and Adam over as she barreled forward. She dove through the air and wrapped her arms around Rosalie's neck before bursting into tears. Ozzy barely managed to avoid being ran over, but tripped and fell to the deck anyways as Rosalie tried to squirm out of her grip.
Accordion Girl's bawling resounded through the air as everyone stared speechless. Rosalie awkwardly put one hand on her back as she cried into the captain's shoulder, small rivers of tears rolling downwards. Adam helped Killian up and Ozzy was sitting on the deck watching the odd scene.
"OhCaptainRosalieIwassoworriedaboutyouandI'msogladyou'realiveandIlosttrakcofyourbirdandI'msorryand..." Accordion Girl babbled, her voice muffled by Rosalie's shoulder. Rosalie sent a worried look Adam's direction and gently patted Accordion Girl, who's sobbing slowed down. Finally Accordion Girl started wiping her eyes and sniffing.
"It's okay, everyone is fine." Rosalie said softly, an exasperated look on her face. Accordion Girl nodded and took a step back. She looked Rosalie in the face, then launched into tears again and bolted back to the Night Swan.
"What was that about…?" Ozzy asked.
"I don't know. I just don't know," Rosalie said, gazing back at her ship. "But I'm even more soaked than when she knocked me overboard." She drew her wand and dried her shirt before turning to Adam and Killian. "So what happened while Ozzy and I were away?"
"We hauled wand out of there," Killian said. "Good 'ol Accordion Girl," he rolled his eyes. "put a nice cannonball through Morcant's sail."
"Wonderful!" Ozzy laughed.
"What about you two? We waited for as long as we could before we had to run. Later Accordion Girl lost track of Gypsy, then your Patronus appeared."
"After Morcant shot me," Rosalie's eyes blazed, "and Ozzy came after me, we disapperated and ended up on some little island. We cleaned up my wound, then who but Alfred here popped up and offered a ride."
Alfred gave an exaggerated bow. "My pleasure, lassie. Anytime."
"So what do we do now?" Killian asked. "Chase Morcant down and sink his bloody ship?"
"I like that idea, although we should probably rescue my friends first," Ozzy added. "Next time maybe we should be a little less formal, perhaps?"
"Sneak aboard?" Rosalie frowned slightly.
"If y'all could distract 'em I could get aboard and get my friends out."
"It'll be hard getting in that close." Adam said. "They'll know the Night Swan."
"Then you take my ship's boat in, and use that fancy flyin' swan of yours to distract the scum." Alfred grinned, motioning towards a small boat roped to the side of the Midnight Pickle.
"That could work…" Rosalie nodded.
Accordion Girl's head burst out of a gun port, her eyes still red but her typical grin plastered across her face. "We're going after Morcant, cause MorCAN'T beat us?"
Adam sighed loudly. "Merlin's beard, the puns… I almost feel sorry for Morcant with that name… actually I don't."
Rosalie looked across the ships to Accordion Girl's eager face. "Oh, yes we are."
"YAY!" Accordion Girl pumped her fist and retreated back into the ship with a thud and an "Ouch!" Everyone on the Midnight Pickle laughed.
Ozzy smiled. "So when do we go?"