"Neville!" Hermione exclaimed as she burst through the door to his quarters.
He bolted up in his bed and threw off his blankets, standing up quick as a flash. He wore only his pants and his hair was in complete disarray.
"Hermione?" He said, squinting as he tried to bring himself fully awake. He fumbled for his wand and lit the candles around the room. "What's going on? Are you alright?"
Hermione nodded. "I'm fine, I'm fine. But you're never going to guess. Draco Malfoy is on this ship!"
Neville's eyes squinted in confusion. "Malfoy? What would he be doing here?"
"He's got information on Death Eaters," Hermione replied. "But the only thing he'll tell me is that he's trying to 'make his own way.'"
Neville continued his confused squinting. "The hell does that mean?"
Hermione threw out her arms. "I have no idea! But it's all he'll say whenever I ask him something. What should we do?"
Neville moved to the end of his bed and picked up his shirt, then began putting it on and buttoning it up as he spoke. "We need to call Sirius and Harry."
"We're headed straight for an island; I told the crew to stop there for repairs," Hermione said. "Should we ask them to meet us there?"
Neville nodded vigorously. "Yes. Send them a patronus. Where's Malfoy?"
Hermione shrugged. "I don't know; I left him up on deck. He's either still there or he went down to his bunk. What are you going to do?"
Neville stopped in the doorway. He turned to Hermione with a smile. "Don't worry. I won't beat him up or anything."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Well, go easy. He seems…different."
Neville snorted. "Malfoys don't change. But I'll take your advice."
He left the room, then, and Hermione took a deep breath and held out her wand with her eyes closed, preparing to create her patronus.
She was quite surprised to find that, when she searched for her happiest moment, which was usually when she discovered she was a witch, she turned, instead, to the day she received her very first kiss by Draco Malfoy.
She shook her head to herself after the patronuses were sent.
"What the heck is wrong with you, Granger?" she muttered as she left the room.
…
Neville went up on deck and began searching for Malfoy.
"Hey, there!" Neville looked up at the wheel, where three men stood watch. "First Mate! You lose something?"
"Not exactly," Neville replied. "Tell me, have you seen a tall blonde boy anywhere? Probably leaving evil in his path?"
The men laughed. "Little Malfoy? Yeah, we seen him. After making a terrible flop at trying to confess his love to our dear Captain, he banged his head on the railing for a couple of minutes and headed back down to bed."
Confess his love? Neville thought, but he shook his head and gave the men thumbs up. "Thank you!" He called before heading below deck.
"Malfoy?" he whispered once below deck. "Malfoy, don't make me wake everyone up on your account."
"What do you want, Longbottom?"
Neville looked in the direction of Malfoy's voice and approached his hammock. He took Malfoy by the sleeved and dragged him up on deck.
"What are you doing here?" Neville demanded once they were away from all of the sleeping seamen.
Draco glared at him and crossed his arms. "You tell me! I was just sleeping all peacefully before you dragged me up here."
"You're up to something," Neville replied, crossing his arms as well. "You're that boy covered in mud who jumped at the chance to come aboard when you learned that we were going to get rid of all of the Death Eaters. What do you know?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Draco replied, narrowing his eyes. It was obvious he was lying. "I'm just trying to…reform. To…make my own way."
Neville nodded. "Hermione told me that's what you were saying. Well, we'll get it out of you eventually. You'll see."
Draco laughed once. "Get what out of me? I'm not lying! I know nothing." But he looked to the left – a sure sign of a lie.
"Uh-huh," Neville said, looking Draco up and down.
And that was the last word.
…
Forward, after last chapter
…
They were able to bring their ship right up close to island. They stayed right up on the beach, taking care to not go too far up, towards the forest, which Sawyer made perfectly clear was infested with cannibals.
Hermione stood before the ship, her arms crossed as she watched the men work on the ship, patching it up. Amongst the workers was Draco Malfoy, whom she was watching intently, and Neville Longbottom, whom was also watching him intently.
She was very suspicious of him, and knew she had every right to be. There was something just not right with him. He knew something, she was sure of it. That's why Harry and Sirius were on their way – together, they'd get whatever it was out of him. And hopefully they wouldn't be eaten by cannibals while they worked at him. And who knows? Leaving Draco to the cannibals would be an excellent threat if it came to it.
"You should think about naming her."
"Hm?" Hermione replied absently to the man who had sidled up beside her a few moments before to watch the progress.
"The ship," he explained. "It be bad luck having a ship on the waters with no name."
"Oh, you think?" Hermione replied. She was never very superstitious, but it wouldn't hurt. "Maybe that's a good idea. We need all of the luck we can get. I'll think about a name. Thank you. What was your name?"
"Ryan," he replied, grinning toothily at her. "Well, I'll talk to yer later, Cap'n Granger."
Hermione smiled at him and nodded. "Yes, thank you again."
He tipped his hat at her and Hermione stared off at the ship, contemplating names, when someone began shouting about a ship just off a ways, and Hermione climbed aboard to peer off at the horizon, where a ship was, indeed, heading straight for them. She sincerely hoped that it was Harry or Sirius. She didn't need a confrontation at present.
…
"There be your bloody island," said the person who was quickly becoming the bane of Sirius's existence. "Let's just get there and get off before nightfall. If I'm killed –" she cut off there, but Sirius knew she had planned on saying something.
"Yes?"
She shook her head. "Never mind. I just better not be killed."
"Got a wife and kids to go home to?"
She seemed surprised at first, then realised he must have thought she was a boy, as she was obviously planning, and replied, "No, I be but a lonely bachelor. No one out there for the likes of me."
"Ah, that isn't true!" Sirius exclaimed. "I mean, just look at me! I'm in my thirties and I have no one – I missed out on the last couple years of my life! – And I still believe there's someone out there for me. Maybe this is your adventure. Maybe there's someone on this very ship who was meant for you."
The "man" leaned against "his" mop and gazed at Sirius a moment before snorting. "Ye should be a writer or a poet or something. I don't believe ye were cut out for this seamen's work."
Sirius glared. "Are you questioning my manhood?"
He laughed. "I'm doing no such thing. Now, I've got a deck to swab. I'll talk to ye later."
Sirius shrugged as he watched her move on past him, scrubbing hard at the deck with her mop. Then he turned and pulled his telescope to his eyes, peering off at the island in the distance. He could clearly see Hermione's ship, and there were tiny little people scattered all around it, working to make repairs. It didn't look too badly damaged but, then again, he was about three and a half leagues from where the ship was, and he didn't have such a good view.
He shrugged again as he closed his telescope and he placed his hands on his hips. He couldn't wait to reveal that "man." He planned on doing it tonight, and he planned on doing it well.
Boy, was he ever excited.
…
Harry slept on the floor the night before, and he was at his desk, studying his map, trying to decide how long it would take them to reach the island from the Isla de Esmeralda if they left that night and watching out for any other ships around their own that could hold Bellatrix Lestrange, when Lily Jane finally came to her senses. She woke up with a groan and brought her hand to her head. She shook out her curls and looked around the room with a yawn. She blinked when she saw she was not alone.
"Harry!" she exclaimed. She blinked and shook her head. "I mean…Captain!"
Harry smiled and stood from his desk. "No need to be so formal. Harry is alright. It's what my friends call me, at least."
Lily Jane smiled. "Are we almost to the island?"
Harry shook his head. "Not the Island you're looking for. We're on our way to the Isla de Esmeralda."
Her eyes widened, horrified. "But -!" She shook her head. "You can't be serious! It's inhabited with – cannibals!" She was shaking as she got to her feet, and she stumbled a bit. Harry managed to catch her by her elbows and settle her back on the bed.
"Hey, don't get so worked up," Harry replied. "We'll be perfectly fine if we just stay along the beach. And we'll make it before your mother gets to the island. She can't get there by magic, and there aren't any other ships around, not for miles and miles."
She shook her head. "You don't understand. If no one is there to get everything before she gets it, the whole world is doomed! It will be all my fault and –"
"Hey!" Harry shushed her. He smiled. "You forget who you're talking to. I'm Harry Potter. The fate of the entire world resting on your shoulders is kind of my thing. And I came out all right! Well, except for the secret spell that kept all of the Death Eaters alive…but I'm working on that! We're headed to that island for the spell book, so we can reverse the spell and send all of the Death Eaters back to the grave."
"With Sirius?"
Harry nodded. "He's our way in."
Lily Jane sighed. "I guess you're right…but you have to promise me that if anything happens, you'll take everything there – the fortune, the spell books, the relics – anything that could hold powerful magic. If my mother gets a hold of it –"
Harry shook his head to quiet her. "Everything will be fine. And nothing is going to happen to you. I'll keep you perfectly safe. No one will die while I'm around."
Lily Jane sighed, content, and leaned back against the wall. "I don't know what it is about you but… I feel assured. Thank you."
Harry shrugged and ran his fingers through his hair with a smile. "Don't mention it. I've been trying to reassure people my entire life. I guess I'd have to have mastered it at some time or another. Now, you still look pretty tired." Lily Jane accented this comment with a quick yawn. Harry smiled. "Why don't you go back to sleep and I'll wake you when we reach the island?"
Lily Jane nodded and she curled up on the bed again, asleep in minutes. Harry left her to herself, then, and headed up on deck. He could see both the Isla de Esmeralda and the ship belonging to Sirius just ahead. Behind him he saw nothing but ocean, and he wanted to keep it that way. Someone catching up with them was not something he wanted to happen.
...
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