Harry, Ron, and Hermione hurried from Professor Binns' classroom, attempting to beat the rush back to the common room before lunch.
"Remind me, Hermione," Harry groaned, jumping the trick stair as they marched up the staircase. "Why do we need to go back to the common room again?"
"I'm out of ink and I need to get my herbology textbook." She said briskly, rooting through her bag.
"Yeah, well, I need to give Scabbers his rat tonic and make sure your bloody cat has not gotten him." Ron grumped. Hermione ignored the spurn upon Crookshanks and changed the subject.
"Do you think Hagrid will have something else besides flobberworms planned for us today?"
"I doubt it," Harry said dully. "He's probably-" Just then, the staircase lurched, throwing the trio into the stone railings.
"Bloody hell!" Ron swore. "It's moving us to the fourth floor!"
"It's alright," Hermione grumbled as the stairs slid into place with a dull scraping sound and they stepped onto the landing. "We can just get the next stair to the seventh floor." Harry, however, had stopped to stare at the large, animated painting that hung against the wall.
"Hang on…" He said slowly, and the trio leaned in for a closer look.
It was a crew of rowdy pirates bustling across the deck of a wizarding pirate ship. The strange sailing vessel was shaped like a swan, which glided several feet above the painted waves as if it was making its descent. As they watched, a titanic shark burst from the water, its great jaws clamping down where the ship had been moments before.
"Shark!" Yelled a short little pirate, as the crew began to race about frantically.
"Yeh don't say!" The burly first mate hollered back as the beast tried to wrap its massive jaws about the animated swan prow.
"Bloody 'ell!" Another wizard ran towards the front of the ship, wildly brandishing a rapier. "We need to get higher!"
"Why's it gotta be a shark?" The short pirate whined, leaning over the railing to peer into the waters as a zany witch with an eye patch ran up behind him. "The sardine hex sounds great right about now…"
"SARDINES!" She squealed, striking a pose and lurching into him as the boat rocked from another attack by the shark.
"Alright!" A voice bellowed, and a curly haired witch in a blue skirt ran up, drawing her wand and rolling her white sleeves up with a dangerous look on her face. "Stand back!" The crew scrambled away as she skillfully dashed up the swan's neck, until she was balancing precariously on the tip of its beak. "HERE FISHY, FISHY, FISHY!" She hollered angrily as the ship touched down. As if it had heard her taunts, the colossal shark leapt from the water, its toothy grin spread in a deadly embrace. "REDUCTO!" The shark exploded into bits of slimy chunks, raining back down into the water. The crew cheered as the witch gracefully slid down the swan's curved neck and back onto the deck.
"That's our Captain!" A pirate shouted. "Shark soup for all!" The crew cheered and clapped each other on the backs as Harry, Ron and Hermione watched on, wide eyed in surprise.
"You don't reckon…..?" Harry said slowly, and the trio grinned at each other gleefully.