A/N: Sorry it's been so long since the last update. School started and well... it's school.
The next morning, Mazu's Glory made port in Renata. Hermione, Ron and Harry were on deck, leaning over the railing to watch the ground come into view. Despite knowing that she was on an airship, Hermione couldn't get the normal water-bound ship docks out of her mind. So when the airship docks came into view, it was a shock. They looked like water docks but they were over land. Where a ship would normally sit in the water to be tied to the dock, huge hammocks were hung. Hermione could see other ships in these hammocks, the bottoms of their hulls resting on the ground and the hammock-like thing keeping them upright.
The crew descended onto the dock.
"How long we got here, Cap'n?" Bart asked.
"Till after dinner, say eight o'clock," replied the Captain.
"Only five hours?" Jamie asked.
"It's enough time for a hot shower and a stiff drink, which is all you ever want anyway," the Captain said. The rest of the crew chimed in agreement. Hermione realized with a start that the ship had no bathing facilities, just a toilet and sink. Turned out that there were facilities in town just for that purpose. If you brought your own soap, you could use the coin-operated showers.
After showers, Captain Jack pulled Harry, Ron and Hermione aside.
"Hand over your bag," she ordered. "I'm off to the pawn broker."
Hermione clutched her purse that contained all their worldly possessions. She didn't want to give it up. They didn't have much but it was all they had. Harry and Ron's faces told a similar story.
"Isn't there another way?" Harry asked. "The contents of that bag are all we have."
"It's just things," the Captain said.
"What about a deal?" Hermione asked.
The Captain crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "What kind of deal?"
"We can work for our passage, instead," Hermione said. "You know, help out, and clean the ship or..." she trailed off. She had no idea how an airship was run.
"We can do magic," Ron prompted.
"You mentioned that," the Captain said. She studied them all for a moment. "What kind of magic?"
"All kinds," Ron said. "There's a spell for just about everything."
"Navigation? Weather control?" the Captain asked. Hermione nodded.
"What about fighting?"
"There are fighting spells," Hermione said. "And defensive spells too. There are spells that can shrink things or make them bigger, transform one object into another, muffle sounds or amplify them, anything."
Captain Jack gave Hermione a crooked smile. "You make a good sell, Girlie. I agree. You go through that bag, pick out what you absolutely can't live without and give me the rest. You got ten minutes."
The Captain walked a few paces away and Harry, Ron and Hermione had a quiet celebration. Hermione was quite proud of herself. She had made a good sell. The three of them decided to keep their wands, the gifts from Dumbledore, Harry's invisibility cloak, Phineas' portrait from 12 Grimmauld Place and Hermione's spell books. Everything else they gave to Captain Jack. It could all be replaced.
The Captain went off alone, Garcia went to refuel the ship and the remaining nine of them headed for the tavern.
"Will we be allowed in?" Hermione asked.
"Why wouldn't you be?" asked Bart, perplexed.
The students exchanged a look. "We're underage," suggested Ron.
Bart laughed. "Nobody will care, trust me. This ain't one of them places."
As soon as they entered the tavern, Hermione understood. It was a dark, dingy looking place with a long bar and a dozen tables scattered around the room. The patrons of the tavern matched the environment. They seemed to blend in with the brown of the tables and walls. They clutched their glasses like lifelines and stared unseeingly ahead of them. A sad looking man played a sad tune on a guitar-like instrument. Hermione felt like she was in a Clint Eastwood movie. No one was wearing a cowboy hat, though.
Eddie and Mandy pulled a few tables together for them all to sit around.
"What does everyone want?" Jamie asked. "Pint? Half pint?" Everyone chimed in their orders. It felt to Hermione like they did this all the time.
Ron nudged her. "We have no money, how will we buy drinks?"
"Or food?" Hermione said, ever practical. Food was more important than alcohol.
Mandy nudged Hermione. "Hey, we'll stand you drinks and dinner 'till you get your first pay check."
"Pay check?" Hermione asked.
"Well sure. You're part of the crew now. Cap'n will pay you."
This news confused Hermione's logical head. The Captain had sold their things to pay for their passage, but they'd get paid? The boys didn't seem too concerned with it though. All they'd heard was that they'd get to eat. And at the moment, that was the only important thing.
The night after they left Renata, the crew sat around the table, finishing off their dinner. Food on board Mazu's Glory was boring but it was filling. Hermione liked that they all ate together. It was like a family. She thought of family dinners with her parents. They'd sit around their square kitchen table and talk about the day, like the crew did. But she'd never... Hermione cut that thought off. It didn't help thinking about things that she'd left behind.
Captain Jack came into the room, carrying the atlas. "All right, folks. We gotta make a detour before we hit Marrakesh."
"What kinda detour, Cap'n?" Garcia asked.
Captain Jack grinned. "The profit making kind."
A cheer went up from the crew. Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at each other. A delay?
Harry spoke up. "Um, as nice as it is that you've found a job to do — "
"What was that?" interrupted Jack. "Was that our non-paying, non-working passenger objecting to us takin' a job that will bring in money? Which, in turn, will put food in his belly and fuel in the ship and therefore get him back to his universe faster?"
Harry had been slowly slouching in his seat and by the time Jack was done, he was almost laying on the table.
Captain Jack sighed. "Don't worry. It's an easy job; shouldn't take more than a day. We'll be in Marrakesh by Wednesday. And as an added bonus, we'll have money to bribe people for information about your tech."
The Hogwarts students couldn't say anything. The way she had phrased it made Hermione feel guilty for even considering objecting. They were non-paying and non-working. They were dead weights and Hermione knew they should feel grateful that The Captain hadn't left them on that island.
"What's the job?" Barbossa asked.
"Payroll transport," answered Jack. She opened the atlas. "We can intercept it here. They've sent out three ships but only one is heavily armed."
"Decoys?" Mandy asked.
Jack nodded. "They want us to think that the money is on the tank. But Percy told me that it's gonna be on the little mail runner."
"Simple smash and grab?" Barbosa asked.
She nodded again. "Should be."
Hermione raised her hand, like she was in class. Jack gave her such a condescending look that she lowered it quickly and ploughed on. "This 'job,' you're talking about is theft, right?"
"Yes," Jack said. "We intercept the ship, remove the money and blast away before they can stop us. Or that's the plan anyway."
A resounding silence descended. Hermione studied her hands.
"We're pirates, you guys," Captain Jack said. "You knew that."
"But we didn't have a choice!" Harry protested. "You found us on a deserted island. Of course we'd choose piracy over starvation."
"Then you don't have to be involved in the heist," Jack said. "Listen up: This is what we do and if you have a problem with that, too bad. We're doing this job and if you get in the way, someone will stun you and you'll wake up tied to a chair with a mighty headache."
There wasn't a lot to say after that. The heist was going to happen, regardless of the students' level of co-operation. They cleaned up the dishes and went to bed.