Skulls and Crossbones
By: Kneazle
Disclaimer: All characters belong to JK Rowling. Ideas are taken from Peter Pan, Peter Pan: Return to Neverland, Hook, The Adventures of Nate and Hayes, Disney's Shipwrecked, Captain Ron, Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, the Princess Bride, Disney's the Little Mermaid, Disney's Muppet Treasure Island, Cutthroat Island and The Three Musketeers.
~*~
Chapter Six
The Hog's Head was loud, smelly, and completely dirty. There was smoke hanging low around the heads of sailors and merchants, with dust coating the bottoms of trousers and shoes. Hermione spotted beer being sloshed around in mugs, and rancorous laughter filled nearly every space.
She loved it.
Harry kept a hand on the small of her back, guiding her expertly through the tables that were just placed randomly about the inn, and moving her towards the bartender. He was skinny with balding brown hair that was combed to look like there was more hair than he had.
"Hello," Harry began pleasantly, "Perhaps you can help us?"
The bartender's wary eyes narrowed as he looked at Harry's sword. "Pro'ly not. S'ry."
Harry's eyebrow rose. "Really?" the hand that wasn't on Hermione's back fished around his pocket before he pulled out a couple of guineas. "Maybe this will change your mind."
The bartender's eyes gleamed. A bony hand grabbed at the coins and they disappeared behind the counter. "Now yer talking. Who're yah lookin' fer?"
Harry leaned forward, shielding Hermione slightly as he did so. He placed a comfortable elbow on the bar. "A fellow that goes by the name Hagrid."
"Not 'ard ta miss," the bartender crowed. "'E's the tallest man 'ere." A skeletal finger pointed to a man that was nearly the size of a giant. Hermione felt her mouth drop open at the sight.
"Wow. Looks like de Krum was right!"
Harry shot her an unreadable look before letting his right hand, the one on her back, slip down and then -
Hermione yipped, turning to glare at Harry. He gave her an innocent expression in turn, raising one black eyebrow.
"What?" he asked.
"You pinched me!" she hissed, glaring at him. "You pinched my… my…"
"Lovely bum? Buttocks? Arse?" Harry gave Hermione a roguish grin. "Yes, yes, I did."
"Why?!" Hermione demanded, sticking her lower lip out in a pout.
Her chin tilted and Harry knew he was done for. After all, they had been together on the same ship now for over a month and he could easily read her - well, most of the time. And right now that delectable pouting lip and tilt of the chin told him that she wanted answers and she'd go into Princess mode if he didn't tell her what he was planning that second.
"My darling Hermione," he began, while leading her toward the giant, "It's best if you keep your face completely expressionless until I've figured out what we're up against. I'd hate to give away what we know this early in the game."
"What game?"
Harry glanced at her. "The pirate's game, Mione." Before she opened her mouth to ask what the pirate's game was, Harry was explaining. "Pirate's Game is where I withhold information to see if someone is lying to me or not."
"How would you tell if they're lying? What incentive is there to tell the truth?" Hermione asked, frowning as she pondered a way to get someone to tell the truth. She could only think of slipping someone poison and then having the antidote with her after they spill their secrets, but that wasn't very nice.
"Incentive to save their life. What else are swords used for?" Harry asked rhetorically.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Oh, I don't know. How about, cutting things down in your path, defending yourself from someone with no scruples, the likes."
"Where's the fun in those?" Harry asked, before drawing up next to where Hagrid sat, occupying two wooden chairs. Empty tankards littered the tabletop, but it seemed that the man wasn't too far-gone in the depth of alcohol.
"Who be yeh?" he asked, squinting as he took in the smaller forms of two young adults standing before him.
Harry raised a black eyebrow. "My name is Harry Potter. Captain Harry Potter, that is."
"Blimey and Mary Mother of Gods," breathed the giant, his eyes now wide. A smile graced his face as he crowed with laughter. "Yeh look jus' like yer dad."
Harry's cocky expression slid off his face. "Pardon?"
"Yeh look jus' like yer dad," repeated the giant. "Knew 'im, I did. When he was a lad back in London. Yeh look like him… but yeh've got yer mum's eyes."
Hermione pursed her lips slightly as she raised her eyebrows in surprise. They certainly weren't expecting this. "Well, what do you say, Harry? Thank the man."
Harry turned to look at Hermione, wondering what she was doing, but he played along. "Fine. Thank you for those kind words. And now to get to the point. I want my map."
"Yer map?" Hagrid frowned. "I thought I gave that piece ta Dumbledore."
"Who?" Harry questioned. "If you gave it to this Dumbledore or whomever, then why did Viktor de Krum have a piece?"
"I had two," explained Hagrid. "Yer godfather, Sirius, gave me his piece one day, a long time ago, to make sure that nothing happened to it. I always knew he would join yer dad in battle on the high seas, and Remus Lupin hid his piece, so it was only safe ta assume that Sirius would give me his."
"For safekeeping?" inserted Hermione, seeing the dark expression cross Harry's face. She studied him, watching as his thoughts turned inward and his eyes began to lose some of their sparkle. How close were Sirius and Harry, really? She wondered, before turning her attention back to the other man.
"Course," nodded Hagrid. He swept off the hat he was wearing and placed it over his heart. "Damn good man, he was."
"Yes, he was," agreed Harry in a very quiet voice, swallowing hard. Then he took a deep breath and forced a tiny smile. "So where is the other piece?"
"Well, Dumbledore had one, and I had one. I gave Sirius' to Dumbledore, and me own was… eh…" Hagrid trailed off sheepishly. "If yeh've spoken ta de Krum then yeh know where the other piece is."
"Indeed, we do," answered Harry, slipping back into his old, cold self. Hermione inwardly sighed in disappointment. Minutes ago he was looking livelier and then - he fell back into his depression.
Harry nodded curtly and turned to leave. Hermione paused a moment, watching as he slowly made his way towards the bar. She quickly turned back to talk to Hagrid in a hushed tone.
"Hagrid," she began, silently weighing her options of going against Harry like this, "Do you have any idea where the last piece is… the one that you gave Dumbledore?"
Hagrid thought before answering. "I think I do," he finally said after some time. "Dumbledore… that's Duke Albus Dumbledore of Brighton… well, he wouldn't keep the piece on him self… he'd give it away… and I think he gave it ta someone named… Oh, what's his name now?"
Hermione turned back nervously to glance at how far Harry was. He had just disappeared out of the main set of doors, his shoulder slumped and his head down, using his tricorn to shield his eyes from view.
Sweeping a nervous glance around the bar, Hermione found her attention drawn to the same man who had been standing outside of the Scurvy Dog Inn, the man Harry had told her avoid. Letting her gaze linger on him slightly, Hermione shook her head and faced Hagrid again.
"Hagrid, please, I don't have too much time," she pleaded. Hagrid nodded.
"Right. I believe Dumbledore said his name was Laird Oliver Wood. Up in Scotland."
"Scotland!"
Hagrid gave Hermione a sympathetic smile. "Yeah, Scotland. Sorry 'bout that, lass."
Hermione gave Hagrid a brief smile. "It's all right, Hagrid. You just told me the truth and now we'll have to go find it on our own."
Hagrid nodded. "Take care o' him, will yeh?"
Hermione gave Hagrid her best smile, one that was often used to pacify drunken suitors or unwanted attention. "With my life," she replied, before turning on her heel, getting ready to leave the Hog's Head.
"Wait, girl!" Hagrid called. He dug is hand into one of his many pockets, before pulling out a faded piece of parchment. He handed it to Hermione, who opened it, her eyes widening in surprise.
"This is… this is the second piece of the Atlantic Ocean," Hermione whispered. "The only piece missing now is the Mediterranean."
Okay, so let's see. When I first met Harry, he needed the piece in my book - he got it. Then, he needed de Krum's, which Hagrid had. But apparently, Hagrid had two pieces of the map, plus a third that Sirius gave him. Harry now has de Krum's and we're going to go get this Scottish persons piece. That means Hagrid is giving me his extra, Hermione concluded with her logic, nodding sharply as she sorted out the confusion of the map pieces. But why didn't he give it to Harry when he asked for it?
Hagrid grinned. "He wasn't all that polite… Lily an' James wouldn't have raised him like that, so I'm giving yeh the piece ta look after fer now. When the time comes, yeh'll give it ta Harry, right?"
"I will," Hermione promised, slightly puzzled but willing to do what Hagrid suggested, before leaving the Hog's Head. The map, however, was carefully hidden along with the other piece.
>><<
Well, well, thought Draco, as he glared at the Princess and her pirate from underneath a large brim hat as he stood in the shadows of the Scurvy Dog Inn. He stood with his back against the wall, his ankles and arms crossed, silently listening in and watching them carefully.
They disappeared soon from his sight, and with only one thought in mind, get Harry Potter, Draco followed, with Blaise slightly behind him.
"Where do you think they're going, Draco?" Blaise asked quietly, staying a few steps behind his captain.
"To find someone or to talk to someone," answered Draco, before shushing Blaise and diving back in to some shadows. From where he was squatted, Draco could see Harry with his arm around Hermione's waist, talking to a very clean-cut man.
"Shit," Blaise muttered.
Draco turned back to look at his best friend. "What is it?" he asked, keeping his voice low.
Blaise turned his blue eyes up at Draco and then flicked them towards the man. "That's a Bow Street Man, Drake - a private eye. One of the best in London, from the way he's dressed."
Draco frowned. "And what do you think they'd be talking about?"
"The map, no doubt… or you," finished Blaise hesitantly.
"No use sugar coating it," Draco muttered, before pulling his pistol from his belt, unlocking it. He glanced over his shoulder at Blaise to motion for him to do the same thing. As soon as Potter left… then he and Blaise would make their move.
Sure enough, Potter and the Princess turned and walked away, leaving the Bow Street man to watch them from the shadows where he disappeared. As soon as the couple had left both his and Draco's vision, he stepped back into the moonlight before turning on his own heels and walking down a narrow cobblestone alleyway in the opposite direction.
"Now," hissed Draco, jumping up and moving stealthily after the tall, bald black man. The task was very hard to do, seeing as the man could easily fade into the shadows along the alleyway, but Draco was persistent. He'd learn everything that Potter learnt, only with threatening the man.
With an almost imperceptible nod to Blaise on the other side of the alley, Draco jumped from his hiding place and tackled the man. Blaise almost appeared, his pistol trained on the man as Draco stood, his own pistol in the man's back.
"Now," he said, breathing heavily, "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. Which do you choose?"
The man frowned, his fingers flexing, as they instinctively wanted to reach for his own concealed pistol. "What do you want?"
"Information, mate," Draco drawled easily, stepping into view of the man's gaze, "The same that you gave Potter and whatever you held back. But a name would be a nice place to start, wouldn't you think?"
The man growled low in his throat before taking his time to drawl out in Draco's own tone, "Kingsley Shacklebolt."
Blaise raised an eyebrow, indicating he knew who the man was. Draco grinned. Sometimes it was bloody good being friends with someone who knew a lot of London's most recognized gentlemen and ladies.
"Well, Mr. Shacklebolt. I'm Captain Draco Malfoy," Draco smirked, and seeing Shacklebolt tense, he continued, "I see you know who I am, excellent. So let's make this easier for both of us and you just tell me everything I want to know."
"And what is it you want to know, Malfoy?" Shacklebolt's jaw tensed. "Information on Potter's fleet? Where his hideout is located? I can't give you those because I don't know them."
"Oh, no," sighed Draco, "That's not what I want at all."
"Who're you working for?" Shacklebolt asked hesitantly, before glancing at Draco.
Draco's silvery eyes gleamed in the moonlight. "Not my father, if that's what you're wondering, sir. This is my own battle."
"Is it?" Shacklebolt drawled, not clearly interested.
Draco felt a muscle tick in his cheek. He stepped forward, slamming his forearm into Shacklebolt's neck as he pushed the man up against the stone wall of a nearby wall separating two lots. "Let's get something straight, Mr. Shacklebolt," he snarled, his pistol finding the man's chin easily, "I don't want to hurt you, but I want answers, and you've got them. I saw you talking to Potter and the Princess. So tell me what I want to know."
"The Princess?" the man breathed out.
Draco smirked. "I take it you didn't know Potter's latest whore is none other than Princess Hermione Granger of Richmondshire, missing over a month now."
Shacklebolt tried to shake his head but stopped immediately. "What do you want to know, Malfoy? Since I won't be released until you get your answers."
"Where are the last pieces of Potter's map? Where are those two heading and how can I head them off? And what did you hold back from Potter?" asked Draco in a hushed voice.
Shacklebolt breathed heavily through his nose as he acquiesced. "He's heading this minute back to the Scurvy Dog Inn, where de Krum is staying. Apparently he won the piece in a rowdy gamble made by a man named Rubeus Hagrid, who knew the Potters. Had another piece but Duke Dumbledore has it. Most likely gave it away for safekeeping and it isn't in his Scotland castle."
"What else?" Blaise asked.
Shacklebolt glared at him. "I'm getting to it. There's only two known pieces left. No one has totally seen the map when it was completed two decades ago, so no one really knows how many pieces are left. I'm guessing two, as Potter had me check out rumors of map pieces. Most likely Potter will get de Krum's, but getting the next piece will be hard because it's not back in the Caribbean. It's in the Britons. Impossible for him to return because of the warrant of his arrest."
Draco nodded. "So he can't get it?"
"Not at all. Even if he managed to get into Scotland, find Wood - that is, Laird Oliver Wood, he'd never be able to leave if the authorities even had an inkling of an idea that he was there."
"So what can we do?" Blaise asked again.
"Go get it yourself," Shacklebolt suggested. "Send a small vessel to get it for you, badger the poor blighter, and then you have a piece of the map to barter with Potter."
"As nice as a plan and foolproof as it sounds, Potter always manages to get the map and better me," Draco sneered.
Shacklebolt shrugged. "Not my problem, is it, mate?"
Draco snarled and slammed Shacklebolt into the wall but then stepped back and looked at him carefully. "What else are you hiding from us?"
The man rolled his eyes. "Damn you, Malfoy."
"Spit it out," growled Blaise, unlocking his own pistol.
Shacklebolt nodded and ducked his head as he spoke. "The King knows that Potter has his daughter. Although the British - Windsor - family is having their Royal Navy searching for Potter to capture and take back to London for a hanging, the Richmondshire country navy is searching the seas to take Potter back to Port Silver so he can safely return the Princess. Had I know the Princess was with Potter I'd have told him…
"Anyway. Richmondshire is on the lookout for the Marauder for protection, while everyone else is hunting the last great pirate threat in the Atlantic."
Draco frowned. Bloody Potter always gets the good titles. I always get overlooked.
"Fine." He turned to go, with Blaise standing beside him cocking his pistol. "Oh, one last thing, Shacklebolt."
The tall man raised an eyebrow in return. Draco turned on his heel and fired.
>><<
"What now?" asked Ron as he rowed the princess and his captain back toward the Marauder, his brain eating at him to try to find a way for Harry to get the map piece he needed.
Harry shrugged. "I don't have a single, bloody clue," he answered. "I can't go back to England, Scotland or Ireland because of that damn warrant out."
"So it's hopeless, unless you send a letter to this Wood character," finished Ron. Hermione tapped a finger to her chin. Ron raised his eyebrows in question.
"Well, you could get to London, or at least, Richmondshire with me," she finally said. Harry looked up from studying the boards at the bottom of the wherry to stare at Hermione.
"Are you daft? I can't, because, if you haven't noticed, I do stand out!" he exclaimed, his emerald eyes blazing in anger.
Hermione sighed. "Get out of your pity hole, Harry, and listen to me. We'll go dressed as merchants or travelers, something. We'll sneak onto a merchant vessel and manage to get to Scotland under false pretence. Once we're there, we'll track down Laird Wood and get the piece. We'll leave the same way, until we're somewhere in safe waters. The Marauder will plunder or do what its crew will do best!"
Ron grinned. "Oy, mate, it just might work."
"And we'll disguise ourselves as what, Princess? Brother and sister? We look too different for that," Harry scoffed at the idea. Hermione fell silent again under his sharp words.
When they reached the Marauder, Hermione was the first one out of the wherry, climbing up the side notched ladder with the agility of someone doing it all their life.
"What did you go off and say that for?" Ron asked, angrily, as he stopped Harry from starting up after Hermione. "She had a valid point, Harry, and you just refuse to see it."
"I'm not going to gallivant around the country posing as someone I'm not, Ron," Harry hissed back, slowly standing. "I can't be someone I'm not, and I can't be what she wants me do be."
"How do you know what she wants you to be? Why can't you just get it through your thick skull that she wants you to be you? Both d'Orrlyon and I can easily see that the two of you are falling in -"
"Don't even think about saying that word," Harry snarled furiously. "Don't you remember? All those I love die! I won't allow it to happen again. I cannot love."
"You mean you will not," Ron snapped back, just as angrily. "Just give it up, Captain. You can't stop yourself from falling in love, and you can't stop her from loving you."
"You're over your rank, Ron," Harry said coldly. "This is coming from your Captain to his Quartermaster."
"And this is from your best friend to you," Ron replied in the same tone, "open your Goddamn eyes, Potter."
Then, Ron turned and was climbing up the ladder, over onto the deck while he let Harry stew in his own anger. Ron met Hermione at the top, standing just slightly to the side on the ladder's deck opening.
"Is… everything all right, Ron?" she asked, frowning slightly at his haggard appearance. Hermione took a step towards him, wringing her hands out in front of her.
Ron gave Hermione a brief smile. "I think things will be okay. Harry and I just had a bit of a row over your idea."
"Oh, Ron!" Hermione cried, "Please, no. I don't want the two of you fighting over something I suggested. Harry… Harry was right. It was a silly idea."
"No, Hermione," Ron smiled gently at the vexed woman before him. He pulled her into a hug. "It was a great idea. Harry just can't see that."
The sound of two boots landing heavily on the deck made the two look up and blink at Harry, who stood only a few feet away, glowering at the two.
"Princess!" he snapped, "My quarters, now!"
Hermione nodded meekly and hesitantly left Ron's friendly embrace. She walked toward Harry, and when she was level with him, glanced up under her lashes.
He gritted his teeth together, grinding his jaw as he used his right arm to point to his chambers. Hermione lowered her head again, knowing he was angry, and left without a word. Harry's eyes, however, remained fixed on Ron.
"Stay away from her," he hissed, eyes flashing.
Ron raised a single eyebrow. "Why? Is it because she's your property? Get off it, Potter. I'll go near her whether you want me to or not. You can't call me out and challenge me to a duel. Until you tell her how you feel towards her, she's anyone's."
Ron then gave Harry a wink and whistled a merry tune as he left the fuming captain on the deck.
>><<
Hermione was sitting demurely on Harry's couch when he entered the room, banging the door when he blasted it open, and again when he slammed it shut. He stomped around the room, muttering angrily to himself under his breath, and running his hands through his already messy hair.
"Harry?" Hermione asked perplexed. "Are you okay?"
"Of course I am!" came the heated response, leaving Hermione to fall silent. She thinned her lips and then let her eyes fall to the floor. She pursed her lips and tried not to jump up and curse Harry into oblivion.
Why can't you just trust me, for once? Why do you always have to hide? She wondered, before glancing up when his pacing stopped.
He stood right in front of her, staring down at her - almost studying her. She quickly glanced down at herself, wondering if there was anything amiss with her outfit or herself. "Is there something on my dress?"
"No," Harry replied, taking a step forward, before falling on his knees. Both his hands came forward, and Hermione, shocked, sat still. His eyes flickered up to meet hers. "Sorry, I need to get my map."
"Oh!" Hermione exclaimed, hastily undoing the string laces on the bodice of her dress. The strays came loose and she reached into her dress to pull out the slightly crumpled map piece. "Here you go. Your Atlantic ocean, Captain."
Harry nodded gratefully, and smoothed the parchment out as he placed it with its brothers on the desk. "Two more pieces."
Hermione flushed, looking away guiltily, glad that his back was to her. She absently began to slowly do up the strays of her dress again, her eyes unfocused as she thought about what Hagrid told her. She was only to give the last piece to Harry when he was ready… but if she didn't give it to him now, wouldn't he be angry later?
Hermione gasped in shock as warm lips on her neck drove all thoughts of the map from her mind as they trailed from below her ear to her pulse, and from there up to her chin to settle on her lips. Millions of senses made Hermione's mind reel with pleasure, and she moaned low in her throat.
"Harry…"
"Hmm?" the young man replied, pausing only slightly to glance into Hermione's warm chocolate eyes. He gave her a small grin as she just rolled her eyes. "What? Is kissing you too exciting?"
"You're a rake," she murmured, before reaching up to the back of his neck and pressing his lips back to hers. Feeling bold, she nipped at his lower lip and then sucked at it, smoothing any possible nicks that she might have created with her teeth. She grinned when Harry moaned, pleased with having the tables turned.
"Is kissing me that exciting, Mr. Potter?" she whispered back, smiling up at him. With a low growl, Harry leaned over Hermione and forced her to lie flat on the couch. He kissed her again, this time with an intensity that shocked both of them to the core as they allowed their hands to roam over each other and their passion to overwhelm them.
Breathing heavily and with Hermione's lips sucking gently on his neck, Harry moved his hand from her hip to the strap of her dress, pulling it down past her shoulder as he kissed the milky white skin.
His other hand began undoing what was left of the strays, before the front of the dress was loose and open. Hermione's breasts were straining against the corset, rising and falling rapidly with her shallow breaths.
"You're gorgeous," he whispered huskily, smoothing away a flyaway piece of her corkscrew hair. "So very gorgeous."
"And so very wanting another kiss," Hermione whispered back, shocked by her own daring, but also very thrilled by it. Her hands roamed over Harry's broad shoulders, the muscles tense, before running them underneath his arms and down his back. One rested low on his back, just above the end of his pants, drawing tiny circles and unknown shapes. The other continued on the journey south and gave Harry and tiny pinch.
Harry groaned into Hermione's shoulder, before sweeping kisses across it and her collarbone. He shifted lower, kissing the swell of her breasts, running his hand from her cheek down her throat and to finally rest on one of her covered breasts.
Hermione moaned, arching her body against Harry's, wrapping one of her legs around his waist to hold him in place, unaware that her dress had ridden up.
The hand that had previously been resting on her left breast continued downward, tickling her stomach lightly, before reaching the bare, creamy skin of Hermione's thigh.
"Please," she whispered.
"Please what?" Harry asked back, resting his forehead on hers, his eyes looking into hers.
Hermione arched again against Harry, relishing in the feel of the two of them pressed chest-to-chest, leg-to-leg. "Please, just love me, Harry."
At that word, Harry froze, his hand hovering just inches from her core. Hermione, concerned when Harry didn't reply, opened her previously closed eyes and blinked. His eyes were dark, filled with passion and want, but his body was tense and stiff.
In a matter of seconds, the mood had shifted and Harry was back to his cold self, sitting on his knees as he pulled Hermione up from the cushions to retie her stays.
"Harry?"
"Don't."
Hermione, shocked, bit her lower lip and turned her head away so he wouldn't see the tears that were beginning to cloud her eyes. She was so bloody close to getting him to open up… but no; he turns ice cold on her. Sooner or later she was going to snap, she was sure of it. The jerks of her dress's laces were sharp and tight, making her let out a gasp of slight pain.
"Sorry," Harry's deep voice rumbled. The jerks stopped shortly thereafter, but Hermione refused to look at the man who continued to toy with her emotions. She couldn't go on forever like this, she knew it.
Harry let his hand gently cup her cheek, to make her face him. She resisted, but he cupped both her cheeks and made her look at him, using more force than he wanted. "Don't be upset, please, don't."
"How can I not be?" Hermione all but snapped. "One second you're hot… and the next you're cold. I don't know what you're thinking, and honestly, I don't think I can go on like this anymore."
At her words, Harry felt his still rapidly beating heart stop. Oh, God, no.
"You… you want to leave?" he asked, frozen. His eyes searched hers for any hint of wanting to stay with him on the ship, but he found only a cold gaze that was eerily familiar. Hermione…
"I don't want to stay, Harry, if this is how you're going to treat me," she whispered, tears sliding down her cheeks and trickling against his callused hands. "But I don't want to leave my friends either."
She doesn't think of me as a friend, Harry's inner being wailed. Closing his eyes painfully, Harry took a deep breath before letting it out shakily. "We'll go along with your plan."
Hermione's eyes shot up to Harry's strained face. His eyes stayed closed, shut tightly in pain. "What did you say?"
"I said, we'll go along with your plan. The one to dress up as commoners on a merchant ship," Harry repeated, his eyes opening. They were filled with pain, but he did his best to mask them with the emotionless face he wore whenever he could.
Hermione took in a sharp breath. "Why are you doing this?"
"Because I want to."
"No, really, Harry. Why? You said earlier you hated the idea. Why the change of heart all of a sudden?" Hermione asked quietly.
You have no idea how big of a change of heart; he thought bitterly, before saying out loud, "You want to leave, Princess. We'll dress up as commoners and once I get the second last piece from Wood, I'll ask him to make arrangements for you to return safely to Richmondshire."
He watched as Hermione swallowed, thinking the plan over. She finally nodded. "Fair."
"Is this an accord? No plots to sneak back onboard, you won't come back after us?" Harry asked, bending his head to see if there was any sign of her lying.
"Deal," Hermione replied. Harry was disappointed to see that she was honest. She truly wanted to be out of his sight.
Nodding, Harry stood, his hands in his pockets. "You'd best be joining Ginny and Luna then, in the forecastle. Goodnight."
Hermione stood slowly, watching him, but when he didn't move from his spot, she nodded briskly and walked toward the door, opening it. With one last chocolate gaze at him, she left and closed the door softly behind her.
When the door closed, Harry swore he could feel his own heart echo the emptiness that radiated in the room.
"You're right, Ron, I should I have just told her I loved her. I need to get over my fear of losing all those I love… because without meaning to, I already lost her."
With a wry smile, Harry headed to his liquor cabinet, which he opened. He selected a whiskey, pulling the cork out with his teeth. He crossed his room to fall on his bed, gulping down the burning liquid.
Unbidden, the words slurred out of his mouth, "You don't know what you've got until you've lost it."
Seconds later he was unconscious.
>><<
Blaise and Draco came out of the dark alley brushing their hands clean of any dirt, and wiping their bloody blades on a nearby unconscious person.
With his eyes darkly determined, Draco spoke to Blaise in a humorless voice. "I want you to get ahead of Potter. Go to Scotland and find this Wood."
"Then what?" Blaise asked, falling in step with his captain and best friend as they left the dark alleyway and continued down the dirt paths past the Hog's Head and the Scurvy Dog Inn. They arrived in the harbor, glancing up at the Marauder, where guards stood posted.
"They're not leaving just yet, so if you leave in your schooner or something equally as small you'll be able to make it before them," Draco repeated.
His eyes glittered in the moonlight. Both young men stood silent, watching the ship. Draco's grin increased when he heard a door shut, and saw the Princess walk away from the captain's quarters, hugging her dress top to her chest.
"Well, well," he sneered, "It seems Potter hasn't been just safe guarding the Princess after all."
Blaise raised a black eyebrow in return. "Draco," he sighed, "Just tell me what you want me to do when I find Wood."
"Nothing," the other man replied, his blond hair shining in the moonlight. "Just shadow those two when they arrive. Find out if they got the last piece."
"Last? Don't you mean second last?" Blaise asked.
"No," the pirate smirked. "It seemed that Hagrid isn't so daft after all, Zabini. He gave the Princess the piece he had on him. Didn't give it to Potter because," here he mocked the man, "he wasn't polite enough fer it."
Blaise snickered. "Potter? Polite?"
"Exactly," Draco agreed. "So Wood has the last piece. We need to find who'll have it. I highly doubt that the Princess gave Potter her piece."
Blaise smirked. "I think I get what you want me to do, Draco."
Draco nodded, pleased. "Good." Then, he paused, "Oh, and Blaise?"
"Hmm?"
"Don't tell anyone about this. Take Crabbe, Goyle, Nott, and Higgs with you. That's it."
Blaise nodded, his grin almost feral in the night. "Got it."
Draco nearly floated, he was so happy. It seemed that Potter's luck had begun to run out when he met the Princess of Richmondshire, and he, Draco Malfoy, was going to reap in the benefits of it.
>><<
AN: Ouch! What a time delay! Sorry everyone, I really didn't mean for it to take this long to get out, but I think it was worth the wait, huh? *winks* Anyway! Thanks to Katie for beta'ing, always - and even more so because I made her blush and cry!
So will Harry ever stop being a prat? What exactly is Draco's plan, and is he really evil? And just why doesn't Hermione tell Harry about the secret third map piece that no one knows about? All this and more coming up in the next chapter, including some gorgy Scots!
I hope everyone's 2003 ended just the way you wanted it, and that 2004 will bring you everything you've ever dreamed off! Read, review, and enjoy! Kneazle [Dec.30.03]
PS: Like holiday fluff? Like H/Hr? Read "All I Want", a one-piece Pumpkin Pie goody I wrote!