Only about 2 weeks left of school, and then I'll be on a writing roll! So just hold in there, and enjoy this chapter! ^^

...

Hermione and Neville were at the stern of the ship, watching the roiling, piled up storm clouds approaching them quicker and quicker. They were barely off the port - Hermione could still see a speck of land - and they'd run into their first obstacle. She hoped this wasn't some sort of bad omen.

The clouds were terrifyingly dark, except when lightening exploded like electric veins through the bulky vapour. As exciting as it was to watch, Hermione couldn't help but worry. She wasn't really sure what to do in the events of a storm - her books had left that important note out.

She quickly beckoned to one of the men making his way across the ship.

"You, there!" Hermione said, capturing his attention. The man pointed to his chest and Hermione nodded, waiting for him to approach.

"Cap'n," he said, and Hermione couldn't help but feel giddy at the title. Captain Granger.

"What is your name?"

"Sawyer, Cap'n."

"Well, Sawyer," Hermione said, "I need you to tell the crew to ready the ship for a storm."

"Aye," Sawyer replied. "Shall I take down the sails, then?"

Hermione nodded. That made sense. "Right. Take down the sails."

The man nodded and turned, shouting orders to the others, using all of the terms Hermione knew and even a few more. She'd have to do some studying.

"Do you think it's going to be a bad one?" Hermione asked, turning to Neville, who was staring off at the clouds.

"I think it's safe to say we might get a little bit of damage tonight," Neville said. "It's gonna be a wild one."

Hermione had been afraid of that. She turned to look out at the clouds and suddenly felt a drop of rain on her face.

Within minutes, they were in the storm. There was howling winds and pelting rain and roaring waves and hail and thunder and lightning and everything else that came with a storm. Hermione had trouble standing upright and was worried she or any of the other crew members might be thrown overboard into the mix. Gripping hard to the railing, she managed to pull herself across the ship, hoping to reach stairs leading down below deck, where several of her men were trying to convince her to take cover within.

"Get below deck, Cap'n!" shouted one of the men.

"I'm trying!" She called back. Under normal circumstances, she would have demanded to be allowed to help. But if there was one thing Hermione was afraid of, it would be water, especially the ocean. And she was NOT going to be thrown overboard.

"Someone help the Cap'n!" shouted someone. "She's a woman for Merlin's sake!"

Hermione tried to retain at lease a bit of dignity by inching her way a bit closer to the stairs, but the moment she let go of the rail she fell to her knees.

Just before she slipped and fell on her face, though, strong hands lifted her to her feet and up against a firm chest. Her legs were out from under her and she was in a rock solid embrace. She was ring carried bridal style down the stairs and into her quarters, the ones she'd merely glanced at when she'd first got into the ship. She was on the bed in seconds, and the man who had helped her was already halfway out the door.

"Wait!" she called, holding out her hand, as if that would actually help.

The man stopped. He was tall, lean, and she knew him to be the boy covered in mud, the one whose identity she was unsure of, as he'd simply signed his name as "M."

He stopped when she called out to him.

"T-turn around," she said. All of the rain would have washed the dirt away, allowing her to be quite sure of his identity.

He began to move slowly around, using the doorframe to keep him steady as the ship rocked back and forth.

Hermione heard a sharp intake of breath when his eyes met hers. It was her own breath.

"D-Draco?" she said, though no sound came out. His eyes were cold, lifeless, and the look he gave her was one of a person who had completely given up on life. She was about to tell him to come closer, for a reason she didn't understand (probably to either demand to know why he had kissed her or to just stare at him awkwardly as she thought of something stupid to say), but just as she had cleared her throat and prepared to call to him, the ship rocked violently. Hermione tumbled backwards on her bed and her blanket ended up on top of her face. By the time she had struggled out from underneath her blanket, Draco was gone.

...

Draco was out of there quick as a flash. He'd known he couldn't keep his identity hidden much longer, but he wished he could have prepared himself to tell her who he was, especially since he'd kissed her so abruptly and she probably wanted to lob his head off with something sharp and rusty and covered in poison.

He mentally slapped himself in the face as he headed back on deck and began helping the men keep the ship from drowning. He knew very little about ships, but most of it seemed like plain and simple common sense, and since he could use magic whenever he screwed something up, he figured it was a pirate's life for him.

The storm was still raging on almost an hour later and Draco was tired enough to drop dead. He wished he could. He was too much of a coward to kill himself. He wished someone would just put him out of his misery now. That way he wouldn't have to deal with explaining his kiss to Hermione. He'd rather jump overboard.

...

Hermione waited out the remainder of the storm below deck, staring at her magicked map, watching them slowly and easily move off course, but there was absolutely nothing she could do about that right now. So she watched, mildly entertained, as the boat swirled and turned, trying to keep her mind off of Draco.

It was just what she needed for him to come aboard, ruin the whole expedition by making her think about him. The next thing you know she'd be fancying him!

Hermione flushed deep red at the thought and scolded herself.

"No," she said. "You won't like Draco. Bad." And she returned to her maps.

…

Sorry it's so short. :/ I meant for it to be longer, but I've been working on this chapter all week! I'm so scatterbrained at the moment…I just finished writing a novel and things are complicated at the moment, but I won't abandon my stories because I'm not like that! ^^ Please review if you get the chance, and thanks so much for reading!