Chapter 20: Foreign Lands

After dinner that first evening, the Eriksons decided to spend the rest of the evening just as a family, and Albus decided he needed to rest. With all the excitement that had been going on, Harry decided that that sounded like a pretty good idea, and that he could hang out in the cabin for a while and just chill.

When you're 11 years old, 'chilling' doesn't last long, especially when you're alone. Albus was busy working under a stack of paperwork that only fit in his muggle suitcase by magic, and Minerva had managed to drift off into an uneasy sleep which was the only time she was able to get any relief from her sea sickness. This left Harry to his own devices, so he decided to write to Neville, Ron, and Hermione.

He had promised Hermione that he would write about the wedding, though why she would care was beyond him since he had told her time and time again that it would just be a very simple thing taking place quietly in the Dumbledores' own back yard. She had insisted however, and Harry had decided it must be a girl thing since both Neville and Ron were only interested in the cruise.

While he wrote, he dug into the stash of candy Albus always had on hand and bit into a chocolate frog. He had never actually written a letter before, so while he mulled over what exactly to say, he decided to read the back of his chocolate card frog even though he was pretty certain that some little piece of cardstock wouldn't tell him much about the man he had been living with for nearly five months, especially since he already had a Dumbledore chocolate frog card. When he read 'Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling' however, he frowned.

"Albus?" he questioned hesitantly. For 10 years it had been drilled into his head to not ask questions, and to leave his relatives alone when they were busy. So to ask a question when Albus was busy was still slightly nerve wracking.

"Hmm?" was the only response Albus gave, so Harry gathered his Gryffindor courage and spoke up.

"This afternoon you said you had never been bowling, but your chocolate frog card says you enjoy tenpin bowling." The dark haired child waved the card in the air as demonstration while he spoke.

"Ah, yes," Albus smiled as he looked up. "I rather do enjoy the sport, but it is also interesting to twist the game around, and that doesn't happen much if the people you play with know that you usually score over 200."

Harry just shook his head deciding that no comment would be the best course of action since what Albus had told Becca was entirely true. He really was eccentric.

The next morning dawned early for the Dumbledore family since the ship docked in the Bahamas at seven and they only had until two to explore. Minerva was anxious to spend every moment she could off the dratted ship, and as a result, she, Albus, and Harry were the first ones on land that morning.

"Alright, the very first thing we're going to do in each port is check out the Visitor's Center," Minerva declared hoping desperately that her stomach would settle now that she wasn't being rocked constantly.

Albus and Harry allowed Minerva her visit to the Nassau Visitor's Center. Albus had watched the girl grow up, and he knew very well that she ached for new information, so learning about the new lands they would be exploring would be a great adventure for her. Well worth the agony of being sick while at sea.

Harry also enjoyed the Visitor's Center. One of the biggest disappointments he had faced after starting Hogwarts had been his History of Magic class. He had always found History very interesting in his muggle primary school, and had been excited to learn about Magical History. With Professor Binns however, it was his most dreaded class. And that was with Professor Snape billowing around the dungeon in a foul mood every week.

Now he was able to make up for that disappointment however as he learned about a land half way around the world. It might not be from the magical world, but for an eleven year old boy that had only known Surrey, it was just as magical at Hogwarts.

"Can you imagine the entire colony being burnt to the ground?" Harry asked with wide eyes as he looked around the visitor's center.

"It took them ten years to rebuild it, but even then it was relatively unpopulated." Minerva was just as fascinated, and Albus was amused to see Harry so full of wonder. It hurt him deeply to think of all he had missed out on because of the Dursleys' cruel neglect.

"I know!" Harry stated starting to bounce on his feet as they moved to a display case. "That makes it even more interesting because it was inhabited by pirates!"

Minerva rolled her eyes but smiled. "Leave it to an eleven year old boy to be fascinated by pirates."

"Hey, it wasn't just boy pirates, it says here that there were girl pirates too," the boy responded pointing at a plaque.

"Well I would hope so," Albus stepped in glancing at Minerva. "If Min had lived in the 18th century I'm sure she would have been a pirate leader with her spirit for adventure. She'd make an even greater leader since she'd always be grumpy because of her seasickness." He said this last part with a wink toward Harry, and the adolescent delved into uncontrollable giggles as Minerva glared at Albus.

"If the two of you are quite finished, I would suggest that we get started on actually experiencing the adventures of the area, rather than standing here all day reading about them."

"Can we go visit Blackbeard's Cay?" Harry asked bouncing up and down once more, but stopped at the look on Minerva's face.

"The cruise information guide said that that's on a private island, and I really don't feel like getting back into a boat. My stomach is just starting to feel better for the first time since we took off yesterday."

"I guess that also scratches out the idea of an underwater tour," Albus stated, and Minerva groaned.

"I definitely don't feel like getting in a boat with a glass bottom to look at the sea beneath."

Harry couldn't help but pout at this declaration, and sighed. "Kay, so we're surrounded by water, and boats are off limits. What else is there that we can do?"

"We could go see the dolphins," Minerva stated simply, and laughed at the face Harry pulled. "It would be fun. It says here that you could actually get into the water with them and pet them. Or even feed them."

"Then there is the Pirates of Nassau Museum. Too bad the peg legs and eye patches aren't included." Minerva shook her head as Albus closed his left eye and lifted his right foot to hop around for a moment.

"You would also need a hook for a hand Albus." Harry began laughing hard as Albus tried to stand still on just one leg and curled his right hand into fist with the index finger extended but curled into a hook shape. "Yeah, that would be fun to see. So would the Predator Lagoon. You might not be able to get into the water with them, but seeing sharks and barracudas would be more interesting than dolphins."

Minerva rolled her eyes and threw her hands in the air. "What is wrong with dolphins?"

"They're for girls," Harry stated simply, and Minerva just shook her head and followed as the boys led the way out of the Visitor's Center.

It didn't take the Dumbledore family long to find the Eriksons once they reached the Pirate museum.

"With two boys, it was definitely inevitable that we would end up here," Emily had stated with a smile. Harry was absolutely thrilled to be able to look around the museum with Daniel, and they had fun scaring the daylights out of Becca when they both chased after her on a 'pirate raid.' Their fun was abruptly ended however when Mrs. Erikson cuffed Daniel's ear for teasing his sister.

When they left the museum, Harry was sad to part with Daniel, but they were headed to Blackbeard's cay, and Minerva still hadn't changed her mind about climbing into a boat before she absolutely had to. Instead they headed off to look at the Predators of the sea where Harry soon forgot about his friend as he got a shark tooth necklace as a souvenir.

"You should also be on the lookout for something for each of your friends." Minerva had prompted. "Course, you've also got 2 other ports and several places at each port, so don't feel rushed. But a post card from each port would be nice."

"Yeah, it would!" Harry agreed. He had successfully written to Hermione about the wedding, but he'd been at a loss as to what to tell the boys. He'd tried to explain their 'bowling' adventure, but since neither of them was likely to know much about the muggle activity, he doubted they would fully understand. Of course this entire trip was just one muggle activity with more of them intertwined together.

Minerva relented about her 'over the water' aversion enough to have lunch in a restaurant that was built over a giant sea life area with a glass floor. Harry was fascinated to see the different fish swim around his feet, and wound up being scolded by Minerva to eat the crab legs he had ordered.

He wasn't sure exactly what to think of sea food. The Dursley's had never even let him taste it since it was only something they ate when they went out to special dinners, and at those times Harry was always pawned off on Mrs. Figg. The crab legs required a lot of work to get just a little bit of meat out of them, and the shrimp he had ordered was a bit too slimy for his taste. When Albus let him taste his breaded shrimp however, Harry decided that that was much better.

"It's really warm out," Harry declared as he pushed back his chair after finishing his meal. And it was warm. It was just before Christmas, but it was 25.5˚ (78 F) out, and since he was used to the winter Scotland had brought to Hogwarts, he felt like he was roasting already. "We should do something cool."

"Visiting the dolphins would be nice and cool." Harry groaned when it was Albus that suggested it this time. "As Minerva pointed out, you can actually get in the water with them.

Harry finally relented, deciding he could probably find a souvenir for Hermione, and the group paid the lunch tab before trudging off to the dolphin cay.

Visiting the dolphins turned out to be a lot more exciting than Harry had anticipated. The dolphins might not be man eating sharks, but he had to admit it was pretty interesting to be able to swim right beside such large creatures. He also did find Hermione's souvenir at the gift shop. It was a little bracelet with miniature dolphin charms dangling all around it. It was available in both gold and silver, and Harry went with gold since that was a Gryffindor color while silver symbolized Slytherin.

Another bonus came when the Eriksons showed up. Harry smiled in delight at seeing Daniel, and just laughed at the look of disgust on his face. "Josh chose the museum and I chose Blackbeard's Cay, so Becca got to choose the stupid dolphins," the other boy explained.

"How was Blackbeard's Cay?" Harry asked excited, deciding not to comment on the dolphin comment since he hadn't wanted to come here either.

"It was alright," Daniel shrugged. "It was mostly just some beach. I thought it was going to be Blackbeard's personal hideout."

Harry nodded in response as he frowned. "That would have been pretty awesome, but the cruise info guide talks about the stingray adventure. Did you at least do that?"

"Oh yeah!" Daniel said growing completely excited again. "It was loads of fun to see the stingrays." Daniel told Harry about the stingrays, and Harry told Daniel about seeing the different predators he had seen.

The two families headed back to the ship at the same time, but Minerva insisted on hanging back until the captain made his last call to board because she was dreading feeling sick once more. She had only been on the ship for a half an hour before she was forced once more to retreat to the cabin cursing the sea and deciding that if Albus ever suggested a cruise for a family vacation again, she would hex him into the next millennium.

Author's Note:

I know that it's a really short chapter and it has taken me over a month to write it, but hopefully you guys enjoyed it. It's kind of a backwards birthday present since it's from me to you guys and it's my birthday, but oh well. And in response to SeanHicks4's review, I just screwed up on my research. I hope that this was a reasonable answer since it IS Dumbledore that we're talking about.

~Lily