Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Harry Potter or Pirates of the Caribbean. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am only a writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.

Note: I've had a couple comments about how this seems to be becoming Hermione centric. Do not worry. Harry starts to get back in the driver's seat going forward. Hermione merely serves as a good way to introduce elements for the rest of the world that he cannot be present for. This is still mainly Harry's story.

Chapter Nine - Confrontation

Hermione couldn't believe she was doing this. For the life of her she couldn't. But honestly she had run out of other viable options. After a harrowing night of healing the wounded and listening to the screams of the townsfolk, the attack had finally ended and the work had turned to putting out fires and seeing to the injured wherever they might be. So it was that she hadn't even realized Elizabeth had been taken until the late morning when she'd returned to the estate and the serving staff had come out at a sprint to tell her what had occurred in her absence.

Of course she had run to James at once to ask what was being done to find her, but his answers had been less than pleasing. The Black Pearl was known to sail out of a mystery cove called the Isla De Muerta but the only way to find it was to already know where it was. Sometimes she really hated magic. Regardless, without knowing where to go, sending a rescue ship would have been worthless in his words and would have left their port even further undefended. When she'd suggested using other pirates like Sparrow or those captured during the attack, for certainly there had to be some, to point the way the Commodore had developed a rather sickened look.

"The only prisoners taken were thanks to Mr. Black. But the state they were in… Come with me." He led her down into the deepest cell in the fort and waved a torch into the feeding grate of the door. The bookworm had recoiled violently at what she saw inside, a whole slew of severed and crushed limbs crawling and wriggling around independently on their own.

"Have you ever seen anything like this?" James wanted to know.

"No, never."

"Well our best guess is that these pirates have been somehow cursed to be like this, and that further puts the lives of the men I would send out at risk. Hermione, we are looking into options to save Elizabeth, please trust me on that, but we don't have any real options in that regard yet."

"What about Sparrow?"

"The pirates left him in his cell even though they freed the other prisoners in the jail. The evidence would then show they are not his friends. There is no reason to think he would know where they are and he would no doubt lie to claim the opposite to save himself from the gallows."

"So we just do nothing?"

"Did I say that? We have sent letters to all the neighboring ports and islands to inquire about sightings of the Black Pearl and learn any other places they might make port. Once we have true and accurate information to act on we will. The Interceptor and the Dauntless are both geared up and ready to go at a moment's notice."

Hermione understood what her fiance was saying, and she knew it was logical, but she also knew that she couldn't just stand by while her best friend was held in the clutches of a cursed pirate crew. If there was even a chance that Sparrow knew anything then she had to follow that lead. So it was that after James had taken her back up to the surface, and after she had seen to healing the massive welt on Will Turner's head, she had gone off to the jail. That brought her up to her current situation… standing before the door to Jack's cell.

"That ship, the Black Pearl," she began, "you know it?"

"All pirates know it." Jack was lying back on his bunk with his hat over his face. "It's famous."

"I need to find it, do you know anything about it specifically?"

Jack finally sat up and leveled his hat firmly on the top of his head. "Whyever would you want to find it for? Seems safer just to point yourself the other way if you knew what was good for you."

"They… they took my friend captive."

"Interesting. Interesting. Interesting." Jack spoke with severe sarcasm lacing his voice. "But I don't know your friend, nor do I particularly care much what happens to her. In case you didn't know I have an appointment with the gallows coming soon and I'm not much in the mood to talk about much before getting along to my soon to arrive demise."

Hermione sighed, having figured this would be his response. "Tell me what I need to know and I can get you out of here."

Jack squinted his eyes suspiciously, "And how would you do that?" The witch pulled out her wand and made it glow. "Of course I'd find a bloody magical on this island. Explains how I was so easily captured at least. Only one of your lot could hope to contain the unstoppable force that is Captain Jack Sparrow."

The witch shrewdly eyed the very unkempt looking pirate and said, "I don't see a ship, Captain."

"I'm in the market. Perhaps you might help me with that." Suddenly the man's voice had lost its sarcasm and he sounded deadly serious.

"Whyever would I do that?" Hermione wanted to know. Freeing the man was one thing, but assisting him on ship-thievery was something else entirely.

Jack grinned wide, displaying a wide variety of precious jewel and gold encrusted teeth. "Because the Black Pearl births out of the Isle De Muerta. It is-"

"An island that cannot be found except by those that already know where it is." Hermione finished sharply. "Everyone has heard the stories." Though it did bug her a bit how much those stories sounded like Nassau. "How does that help me to know?"

"Because I do happen to know where it is." Jack was literally radiating smugness as he watched the woman's jaw drop at that reveal. "Believe it or not I used to captain the Pearl meself before I was viciously mutineed upon, and I made it to the island before that happened since they needed me to navigate us there. I'm not the keeper, so I can't impart the exact coordinates, but if you free me from this prison now and help me to get me hands on a fine ship to carry us forth, I swear by life and limb to take ye to the Island where you might rescue this friend that has you so worried."

"How do I know you aren't lying to save yourself?"

"You don't, but something tells me you won't want to take the chance I'm not."

Hermione felt like she'd come in with the advantage, being the only one that could potentially free the man, but now she found herself over the proverbial barrel. If Jack truly did know how to get to the Isle De Muerta then she absolutely could not afford to leave him in his cell for execution. Nor did she trust him to go after her friend by himself. That left only one option. "Deal."

Looking both ways to make sure the path was clear, Hermione waved her wand and quickly transfigured the lock on the cell door into sand before quietly yanking it open. "Quickly now, before someone comes to investigate."

Sparrow, though, had halted midstride in the path toward freedom. As she watched, he sniffed the air tentatively before rushing back inside and looking out the window. "Bollocks!" He cursed before running past her and yanking his belt and affects off a nearby wall hook. "Fat chance of that soon enough, love. Follow me!"

For the life of her, the witch couldn't figure out what would have him so spooked. She was quick to sprint on after him though as she couldn't afford to let him get away and shirk his promise, nor could she take the time she'd wanted to grab Sirius before departing as the former prisoner's pace was flat out across the hall and then too the cobblestone of the still empty streets. So she soon found herself on the Port Royal beach helping to shove a rowboat into the water. "Can you explain what the plan is at least? Or perhaps why you seem to suddenly be in a rush? I'm not complaining but being too swift can see mistakes made." Also, she would really like the time to go back and find Sirius. Her hopes in that regard were about to be smashed to pieces.

"As to what the plan is," Jack pointed out to the water where the Dauntless floated stoically just outside the port. "We are going to be commandeering that craft."

"Commandeering? You mean stealing."

By that point the row boat was in the water so Jack hopped inside, gesturing for his partner in crime to follow. "Commandeering is the official nautical term, lassie, best start learning the lingo if you're to go pirate and all. I originally wanted to take the Interceptor since it's faster and can be piloted by fewer personnel, but your magic solves that problem for me well enough. With your skills we can at least make it to Tortuga before we need to bring on more hands." As he grabbed the oars and started off, he added, "Plus, it'll be a skeleton crew at best after the assault last night. Bloody Norrington needs boots on the ground more'n ever I imagine. Getting rid of em should be no problem once I put me pistol to the commanding officer's head."

Then he gestured out to the open sea to answer her next point. "As for why I'm in a rush, take a gander over yonder. Me nose knows the sea as well as it does me own sweet body aroma."

Hermione did as directed, but couldn't tell what had him so spooked. All she could see was blue sea as far as…. Wait. Was that-? "You mean the fog?" Just over the curve of the horizon she beheld a rapidly growing swath of gray advancing at an admittedly impressive pace. "You're scared of a little fog?"

Sparrow shook his head and doubled the pace of his rowing. "More so the thing that comes with it. Stick with me long enough and you're sure to understand." so saying, the pirate focused once more on his rowing and the two of them made it to the side of the warship in mere minutes. From there they climbed the side and snuck up behind the helm to stay out of sight.

"Alright," Sparrow said quietly. "Can you do a wide area disarm spell?"

"I can…" Hermione hedged, "but I'm kind of curious how you know what that is."

"Answers can wait." The pirate looked back out to sea and seemed rather distressed by how much bigger the cloud of fog now was. "On my signal, cast the spell at the crew and then try to look menacing. Maybe conjure a flaming leopard or something. Dealer's choice."

Before Hermione could comment on that her current partner in crime sprinted out from behind the helm and practically seemed to skip down the stairs to the main deck with his pistol in hand. She briefly wondered how he'd explain the whole 'commandeering' thing to the crew, but that was answered as Sparrow literally bellowed out, "Gentlemen, stand aware that I am taking this ship!" Well she supposed there was nothing left but to get on board.

Port Royal Fort

James Norrington was glancing over a map of the island. On it were marked all the areas with the greatest level of overall damage including the docks. It was important to figure out which repairs would take the most priority in regards to manpower, and though it would ruffle a few of the higher-ups' feathers, he would need to divert resources away from rebuilding shops and business for the time being. The docks and the fort were more important and each passing hour that they weren't up to full functionality was weakening their position in the region.

He was just signing the order to do so when who should come barging in but William Turner. "They've taken her!" He exclaimed. "They've taken Elizabeth!"

"The pirates, yes, I am aware." James finished the motion with a flourish and handed the order off to one of his aids.

Will stared at the man with open shock. "Y-You know and yet you stay here in this fort? Why aren't you readying the Dauntless to go and rescue her?"

The Commodore sighed and set down his quill. "Turner, you are not a sailor, nor are you a military man, so I don't expect you to understand the complexities of the situation we now find ourselves in; and so I won't bore you with the vast number of reasons that exist for why we are all still here, instead I shall merely mention a few. First, the docks have been destroyed, so we can not load up any new cargo or dispatch any, ergo the only ships available for use in any reasonable amount of time to mount a rescue are the Dauntless and the Interceptor, both of which are currently necessary to guard the populace here. Second, should those ships leave, as you no doubt desire, then Port Royal would be open to any open assault from the sea, and though Nassau has never outright targeted civilian populations, short of rescuing their own from hanging, there are still rogue pirate elements like the ones that hit us last night that would love a free shot such as that would provide. Third, the more men I send out leave all the fewer here to fix the problems that keep those other ones in play." He stepped forward and placed a hand on the young blacksmith's shoulder. Yes, as an officer he was rigid, but he was far from inhuman. He knew what it was to lose friends and did not wish it on this man. "Do not make the mistake of thinking you are the only one here who cares about Ms. Swan. I have known her for as long as I have known Ms. Granger and yourself. And I promise you that as soon as I am able a ship will be sent after her. Trust that I would not hold back as I do if there was any other way available. Once the docks are cleared then the vessels I've already ordered from neighboring islands can be brought in and we can go."

Turner visibly struggled with that information but could find no area of recourse, and eventually his stress burst out from him with a roar as he slammed his arm forward, embedding the hatchet he'd brought into the wood of the desk. Norrington pointedly said nothing about the damage, and decided he'd leverage it with Black later on for some further gold inlay on his sheath.

"I feel… useless." Will finally admitted. "At least Hermione is doing something."

That surprised the officer. "Hermione? What exactly is she doing?"

"She said she was going to ask that pirate you captured where the Black Pearl went."

"What!" At once James spun around and started running for the door. He didn't know why but he had a terrible feeling growing in the pit of his stomach and he 'needed' to know at once that the woman he loved was alright. He'd just made it to the parade grounds when a junior officer caught his attention from the battlements with arms waving wildly. "Sir!" He called.

"What is it, Lieutenant!" He yelled back

"I don't rightly know, sir, but you should come and see for yourself!"

James and Will shared a look and both of them charged up the stone steps to the higher vantage point to take in what had the lieutenant all out of sorts. It didn't take long.

"Curses." James swore.

"What… what is that?" Will breathed in awe.

"The-The devil himself is on our doorstep." The junior officer whimpered.

"Hardly." The Commodore came back to himself and decided on his course of action. "It's more likely a man that knows him intimately. The devil of the sea doesn't like to talk much." Turning around he bellowed to the soldiers below, "Gather your comrades at the wharf and be ready with arms! Await me there and should anyone fire before I give the order I'll have them fucking court marshalled!"

As the soldiers scurried to complete his order, the blacksmith warily asked, "Commodore, what is all this?"

"Trouble." James looked back out to sea and shook his head. "Trouble of the worst sort." Two things had been apparent to them as they looked upon the water. First, the Dauntless was sailing out of the bay at speed with several life boats rowing to shore, it didn't take much to deduce the vessel had been taken, and somehow James just knew that Sparrow and his fiance were both aboard it. Second, a massive bank of fog was rushing toward them from the horizon, but instead of a normal cloud it was pointed directly at them like the tip of a compass, as if something were dragging the weather pattern in its wake. They'd all heard the stories, and James himself had personally sailed into such odd weather patterns to do battle with the Freedom on three separate occasions. Their bastard of a captain always slipped away before he could find him though.

So great was his focus that Norringotn didn't realize Will was still with him until the two of them were standing in front of his full regiment and staring out at the sand of the beach. It was kind of a necessity by this point as everything past it was covered in a roiling mass of uniform gray vapor too thick to sink a spoon through. Though he sure as hell became aware of the youth when he said, "Hermione was on the Dauntless wasn't she?"

Still staring straight ahead, the Commodore answered, "Most likely. If Sparrow offered to help her find Ms. Swan I've no doubt she'd jump at the chance. She always was fond of sticking up for her. It was one of the many things I found attractive about her."

"You're going to go after her, then?"

"As soon as I am able and ships arrive to take over for me." He admitted, "But certainly not until the dock at least is repaired. I wasn't kidding when I said we can't afford to leave the bay undefended. At least one other vessel must be moored here before the Interceptor can leave."

"Then I'll assist myself if you'll let me come with."

"Oh?"

"Do not make the mistake of thinking you are the only one who cares about Hermione." Will parroted back at him, and in spite of the circumstances the officer couldn't help but smile. Though the lad had not a sliver of a chance of beating him for his brown haired angel's heart, he'd welcome all the help he could get.

Any other reply was suddenly put on hold as shadows began to line the fog and as they watched it slowly faded to reveal eighty or so hard looking men and women with swords and pistols bared and murder in their eyes. With every second more were revealed and eventually so too were their row boats and then… the Freedom itself came into focus, floating deceptively calm in the water with its colors flying in a dead wind. Yet James wasn't looking at any of that. No, he was searching for… there. Slightly above the rest, sitting lazily in a rowboat with a feathered hat pulled over his eyes and extremely tattooed arms bare and folded over his chest, was the man of the hour. As expected, Anne Bonny was standing at his side along with a lad wearing a bandanna on his head. That last had a rifle aimed right at his skull.

"Silent Harry." James greeted, forcing cordiality into his voice as he did. It wouldn't do to start a firefight now between the two trigger-happy groups. Not when things were already so dire for his side. "What brings you here?"

As he expected, the man did not speak. Instead, he gestured off to the side and out of the fog came a loud tapping sound. With it came a shuffling of bodies until out stepped a man of medium height with long curly black hair, a thick mustache and goatee, and a metal pegleg. The tapping was clearly from the crutch under his arm sparking off the ground as he moved. James watched the looks of his fellows and marked the clear respect in all of their eyes. Strange to see that for a cripple. In the King's Navy such a man would already have been discharged but these people looked at him as if he were a hero.

The mystery man stopped in the middle of the two parties and gestured grandly with his hands. "Greetings on behalf of Silent Harry and the Pirate Republic of Nassau. I am John Silver, current voice for my captain. Who might I be addressing?"

"Pirate scum!" a lone voice screeched from within the ranks of the redcoats, and before James could order the perpetrator caught, one of his riflemen ran full tilt out of the crowd bayonet first, and charged directly at the speaking pirate's heart. It happened too fast to stop, and as everyone held their breath James prepared to give the order to open fire before the enemy could in retaliation, but to all of their shock, instead of being skewered like a stuck pig, Silver moved with a grace that should have been impossible for one of his circumstances.

Only years of taking in fine detail and honing his mind to a razor sharp edge allowed Norrington to see what happened next. Between one blink and the next Silver dodged the blow, used his cane to knock the rifle clear of the soldier's hands and tripped his legs out from under him with his metal peg leg. Then, as everyone watched on, the pirate locked eyes with Norrington and slammed the stump end of his leg once, twice, thrice, and a final booming time into the unfortunate soldier's skull, utterly caving it in. Unheading of the blood that had splashed onto his face, John, still holding the shocked commander's gaze, said, "That was unwise. I'd advise ordering the rest of your men to not be so foolish as this one."

Idly James noted that the body was that of Corpsman Fellows. His wife had been crushed by cannon blast debris in last night's attack. Forcing his voice to remain calm, James offered, "Your actions were utterly unnecessary-"

"He attacked me unprovoked." Silver seethed. "To touch me is to touch Silent Harry, and neither is permissible by any of your kind without repercussions. Now, may we talk as men, or should we get down to the slaughter? Personally, I really like our odds."

'You've brought plenty of slaughter here already.' James thought to himself before nodding slowly and moving alone to meet this John Silver in the space between their two groups; where they might remain unheard. "What is this about, Silver?"

The mustached man grinned darkly, "You have in your possession a pirate by the name of Jack Sparrow. We want him."

Norrington blinked oddly at the man. "Jack… Sparrow? I was given to understanding that he was persona non grata on Nassau."

"He is." John glowered at the thought of his target. "In fact, he's a man that many on our crew would very much like to deal with personally, though he escaped the island before we could do so. Give him to us and we will leave your shores peacefully."

James had to grudgingly admire the balls on the man before him. To row on up to British soil and threaten the armed force that lived there with a demand such as this took a lot. "I must admit to being curious what the scoundrel did to earn such wrath."

"Quite a bit actually, but that isn't what I'm here to discuss. Where is he?"

"Look, even if I wanted to give him to you I can't. Sparrow escaped this morning in the chaos of the attack that caused the damage you see around you. He stole one of our ships and departed the harbor not that long ago actually."

"Where to?" Silver inquired. He still hadn't wiped the blood from his face.

"I couldn't say."

"Guess."

Norrington really didn't want to, but he couldn't afford for violence to take off here. There hadn't been magicals in the military since Henry the Eighth had been in charge and between Silent Harry and whoever else was amongst his number now, his men were at a definite disadvantage. "The Dauntless is massive. Sparrow can take her for a little ways with the… help, that he has acquired, but he'll no doubt need more men before mounting a serious voyage of any kind."

Silver's eyes narrowed and an eager grin crossed his face. "So he'll need more scallywags at hand? Perfect." Turning to face his captain he declared, "Sparrow's gone recruiting!"

There was a general murmur of discontent at their quarry already being lost, but then Silent Harry raised a hand and as one the noise ceased. Then he gave a nod to his speaker and made a circling gesture. The message was clear.

Silver turned back to the officer and sketched a mocking bow. "Good day, good Commodore."

James bristled at the sudden dismissal. "You think you can just come in here, murder one of my men, threaten my people, and just walk away like it's nothing?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Well think again."

"Don't need to." Silver pulled a ribbon from his vest and said, "Libertas." In a blink he was gone. Soon enough the others did the same and once they left not even the rowboat remained behind to show they had even been there to begin with. As they all continued to watch, the Freedom disappeared back into the fog and soon it too was moving away at speed, far from their sight.

James seethed at that turn of events. Did he want to avoid violence, yes. But did he appreciate what had just happened? Hell no. Rounding on his men he ordered, "I want all hands off their muskets and put on tools! This dock is finished by the end of the day or I'll be demoting the lot of you!" As he marched through the scrambling ranks he addressed the young man on his tail, "Turner, you assist us in this as you said and you can consider a bunk on the Interceptor yours."

"Understood.

Meanwhile

Buried under a tarp in the back of a newly returned rowboat Sirius shivered from the cold, an act that in his current canine form covered the wooden walls around him in seawater. He'd been putting out literal fires around town when he'd seen the ship with the black sail pull into port, and fearing another attack he'd come running to investigate. Imagine his surprise when he'd gotten close enough to see what the actual contents of said flag were.

Sirius, of course, had heard the tales of Silent Harry as often as Hermione had, and when he'd edged closer to actually see the confrontation taking place from behind a nearby building, he'd recognized his godson at once. Sure he was older, broader in the shoulders, covered in tattoos, and bearing some nice new facial hair, but he'd know that handsome mug anywhere. And he had a beautiful redhead on his arm. That was practically a Potter requirement!

So he'd shifted to Padfoot and literally doggy paddled into the bay before swimming around behind them and sneaking into the back of the row boat before anyone could notice. Of course, being portkeyed onto the ship and then trapped beneath the craft as it was slid back into its usual holding place by the crew wasn't part of the plan, but he was sure given enough time he'd figure out what to do. He'd found his godson at last, he was finally on his ship, and now he just needed to figure out what the hell he was actually going to say to him.