Entry for the "Halloween Collection Competition" - prompt: 2. ghastly

Entry for the "Chocolate Frog Card Club" at "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"

(bronze) Caradoc Dearborn; Prompts: Knight, Rose, Whisper, Bolt

Entry for "Transfigurations" at "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"

Task: For this task, consider lexical sets of words. Words with similar meanings, or connotations. Minimum of five words. Min 300 words

Prompts: Youthful; slender; Out of Date – Time-tested; Foolish – Unwise; Disaster – Problem

Entry for the "Gringotts Prompt Bank"

Nautical Words:

1. Aboard; 5. Bearing;12. Course; 13. Crew; 15. Deck; 36. Mast; 39. On Board; 40. Overtake; 42. Port; 45. Rigging; 46. Rope; 48. Sail

Dialogue Prompts: Once Upon A Time

11. "Ain't fate a bitch."

14. "You should know your death is going to last for days."

49. "I think I'm even more devilishly handsome and charming than usual."

92. "One thing I excel at is surviving."

Pirate!AU

A ghastly headache tortured Captain Severus Snape as he slowly drifted into consciousness, it was as if a bolt was being pushed through his skull.

In fact, his whole body was hurting and he tried to remember where this pain could be coming from...

The last thing he could recall was leaving the port of Port Royal aboard his ship, the "Endeavour" of the Royal Navy, bearing for a route that was known for being endangered by pirates. They had been trying to overtake their own record of catching pirate ships – without even knowing what had happened, it dawned to him that it had been a foolish idea. It was always unwise to be cocky.

The creaking sound of the rigging above him finally caused him to open his eyes. He was definitely not on board of the "Endeavour" anymore. Any Captain of the Royal Navy would have screamed around upon seeing this ship. It was a modell that was really out of date and the crew seemed to do a bad job taking care of it – a chaos of buckets, scimitars and grappling irons was strewn over the deck surrounding him.

Severus was tightly bound to the main mast with thick ropes and he knew that he had to be on a pirate ship before even seeing those scrapped figures of men. They were coming closer, sneering at him, laughing about him, but some even looked a bit afraid.

"Ain't fate a bitch," one of the concerned looking men whispered, loud enough for Severus to hear. "The captain Hooch is not going to be happy. This is a disaster, Master Gibbons. And only because you wanted to show that our new ship is time-tested and reliable."

"Merely a problem," the pirate named Gibbons answered, but then the crowd of pirates became silent and parted.

Through the gap in the crowd of filthy and stinking men walked a slender woman of youthful beauty. Severus was still too surprised to say anything, and that feeling was only growing as he thought about how out of place the woman seemed to be. Her clothes, consisting of long black trousers, brown leather boots, a white shirt, red vest and a tricorn hat, were considerably clean and she had a elegance about her that just did not fit a pirate.

"Gibbons, why is a captain of the Royal Navy tied to the mast of my ship?! I was asleep only for a few hours! What did you do?!," she asked, glaring at Gibbons after examining Severus' appearance in anger and disgust and actually spitting at his feet.

"Excuse me!," Severus exclaimed, finally finding his voice again. "I demand to be released immediately, it is outrageously how you treat me!"

"I think I'm even more devilishly handsome and charming than usual," the woman replied, hate flashing over her face. "There is nothing worse than Royal Navy scum."

Somehow Severus felt like this woman was not one of those who worshipped him like a knight when he handed them a rose.

"Gibbons, we need to get rid of him, we can't take him with us. Set course for a lonely island, and if he is lucky one of his ships sails by before he is rotted."

Severus was not used to being left out of a conversation and he felt like the female captain had just made the decision of his death without him.

"Excuse me? What does that mean?," he asked, gulping as the woman looked like she was going to close her bare hands around his throat.

"It means that you should know your death is going to last for days while you desperately search for water and food and hope to be rescued," she smiled sweetly. "Gibbons, hurry. We have no time to loose."

"One thing I excel at is surviving, mylady!," Severus screamed at the young womans back, but before she could say anything in return, the thunder of cannons filled the air and somebody screamed:"It is Captain Morgan! Keep the princess safe!"

"I am not going to let you fools command our defense," Hooch exclaimed angrily, shaking off hands and Severus wondered what kind of odd ship he had landed on.