Vows

Chapter 11 Getting Ready

Hermione opened her eyes to a gold and pink dawn. It was chilly in the room and the fire rekindled itself
in the fireplace as she sat up.

Harry was asleep on his side, away from her, taking the warmth away.
She didn’t realize how big the bed was until she had to make her way to the other side of the bed to
snuggle up to Harry for heat.

He opened his eyes for a moment and a look of concern crossed his face,
“What is it? Are you alright Hermione?”

“I’m cold,” she whined sleepily.

“Here,” he beckoned to her, his hand pulling her closer to him.

Harry wrapped his arm around her shoulders and kissed
her lips and they closed their eyes. Hermione was
drifting back to sleep when she heard Harry whispering to her,
“Hermione? Are you asleep?” He gently shook her shoulder,
“Hermione?”

“Hmmm.” is all Hermione could say as she drifted farther away from the waking world.

She felt a burst of cold air and then her body was cover by a wonderful warm blanket that was soft fluffy
on some parts and heavy and hard in others. It fell in between her legs and suddenly it was invading her
pinning her down crushing her chest she couldn’t breath it was trying to suffocate her.

With all her might Hermione forced the blanket off of her as her eyes open to a very confused Harry stuttered out,
“What the…”

“What were you doing Harry?” she asked trying to catch
her breath.

“I was trying to wake you up by making love to you.”
Harry replied.

“I couldn’t breath,” Hermione told him.

“I must have been holding you too tight. I’m sorry Hermione. I was just looking at you and it just hit
me, we’re married and expecting a baby,” he caressed her cheek, to her chin and pointed her face up to his
eager lips,
“I’ve never been so happy in my life, “ he whispered as he kissed her sweetly.

When the kiss broke, Hermione looked into his eyes and said,
“I’ve never been happier before this.”
She looked down at her feet that were no long under
the covers. She thought of her feet bleeding her not
sleeping or eating and all that she thought she had to
endure because she had fallen in love with him. But
he saved her.
“You saved me Harry. You saved me from
myself and from what could have been a horrible life.”

He looked at her and shook his head,
“No Hermione, you would have left that life. You
wouldn’t have taken so much before fighting back. You
were fighting that life before we met. I just got very
lucky that I kidnapped you off that ship and so
fortunate you fell in love with me.”

“And here I thought I was the fortunate one,” she
teased,
“ but you did save my life, you showed me love without
the lash and harsh words as the Archbishop wanted to…”

“But that’s not love Hermione,” Harry interrupted.

“But that is the way he shows love, it’s cruel and dominating but that’s the way he shows it. I’ve heard
husbands do the same to their wives.”

“Then they are not very good husbands.”

“He wanted me rather than let me be with you, you saved me.
That knife would have stabbed me in the back for sure.”

“Oh that!” He blushed just remembering the heroic deed
he did earlier that day “ I’d do anything for you.”

There was a loud clanging sound from the kitchen and a bit of yelling by one woman and then a protest from
more voices.

“Mrs. Weasley must be up cooking breakfast and waking everyone up. The whole a lot of them were drinking as
if it was going out of style,” Harry comment wincing.

“I Suppose we should go down for breakfast then,” Hermione suggested.

“Yeah, we should get down there before they eat it all on us and then we should get ready to go,” Harry told
her.

The two made their way down to the breakfast table were there were bodies, half sitting on chairs and
slumped over their plates.

Mrs. Weasely was talking louder than necessary, even for the newlyweds.

Mr. Weasley came up to Harry and Hermione, his hand on his forehead,
“Good morning you two. … How was the bedding? I mean.. did you sleep well?” He stammered, his face
going pink.

Harry smiled and said,
“Yes sir, very comfortable bed. Thank you for your hospitality.” Hermione nodded in agreement blushing.

“Sorry about Mrs. Weasley her hearing isn’t right this morning. The twins accidentally set off the fireworks
in the kitchen late last night. They went off next to her head. Poor dear, frightened her nearly to death.”
Mr. Weasley reported.

Mrs. Weasley started talking again and asked,
“Would you like some eggs and potatoes, they’re ready too.”

Sirius had his hands over his ears blocking out Mrs. Weasley’s shouts.
Hermione could tell he was suffering from drinking too much the night before. Then she saw Remus who looked
even worse, eyes bloodshot and pale complexion.

The twins looked just as bad, as did Ron, Neville and Cedric.

Hermione excused herself from the table and went in to the kitchen and quickly made up the tonic to help the
ailing sailors.

Within a few minutes of taking the concoction, the sailors were feeling better and Mrs. Weasely’s
shouting wasn’t wreaking havoc with anyone ears or headaches as they had.

Everyone was almost back to normal. Sirius kissed Hermione for the blessed potion she had made. A very
proud Remus, hugged her for the hangover cure and boasted that she was the cleverest
witch of her age.

Harry put a protective arm around her waist making them stay civilized, as many of the boys tried to
thank his wife personally, with hugs and kisses .

Harry too was very proud of Hermione’s deed and couldn’t wait to have her alone on the island.

Harry got more supplies for his honeymoon, for he and Hermione as he promised honeyed meats sweet breads,
fruits and wine. They set sail a few hours later.

Hermione helped him pack them and put them on board the ship. She examined the vessel closer. It wasn’t
that big but it was sturdy with a strange figurehead, its arm straight out as if it commanded the sea.

The wind was getting wild and the clouds were getting
darker as they pulled out of the port.

Harry stayed below with Hermione for while. He told her,
“Stay down here, no matter what happens. You’ll be safe here okay?”

Hermione agreed and stayed in his cabin. The wind and sea tossed the ship up and down; to and
fro. Making Hermione sea sick. She laid down for a while as the ship danced it’s way over the waves.

Hermione was hanging on the bed and trying her hardest not to get sick when Harry came back down
soaked.

“The storms is really bad, there are too many ship close by. Sirius doesn’t want to chance hitting one of
them, we’re .. going down .. under the water ok.. just stay here,” he said as he looked at Hermione who was
turning a sickly sea green.

“It might be smoother down there,” he added, backing up and getting a bucket for Hermione to get sick in.

“Smooth down where?” she asked as the ship tilted over one side and she let out a groan.

“Under the water.”

“You mean were going to sink?” Hermione panicked. ‘Am I being punished for not taking my vows? Are we going
to die because God is seeking his revenge?’ Hermione wondered.

“We are going under the water, submerging.”

“Are We going to drown?”

“No we’re just going under water, but some people find it eerie, remember the spell on the ship to keep
people from falling or jumping off? It’s the same spell that allows us to go under water when the seas
get rough.”

Hermione was flabbergasted.

“I’ll be back down in a few minutes, I have to make sure no other ships are too close by.” and with that
he turned and left.

Hermione stayed in the cabin. She shivered as she watch the water cover the window and everything went
dark outside.

She felt the pressure in her head and body as they submerged.

An old habit came back to her and she knelt down next to the bed and prayed. Prayed that the ship’s spell
would hold in the storm and under all the water about them.

Hermione was whispering the ‘Our Father’ for the twentieth time fingers intertwined so tightly her
knuckles were white and her fingers beet red.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and opened her eyes and looked up into Harry’s puzzled face. Her head
fell down as she felt ashamed for not giving Harry her faith and ignorant of how strong the magic was on the
ship. He knelt down next to her and put his fingers under her chin to make her look at him and then he put
his hands over hers, saying
“Please forgive me. I forgot how scary this all must
be for you. I shouldn’t have left you alone.”

She dropped her hands from under his hand and put them around Harry’s neck and pressed her body against his.
“This feels better,” Hermione said softly putting her ear to his chest and hearing his heart beat.

“I’ve got to get back up there. Come on,” he urged her
onto her feet and ledher out of the cabin.

“If you get scared, you can stay at the helm with Moony,” Harry told her as they climbed the stairs to
get up on deck.

It was very dark, the ship was gliding along in deep shadows of the water above them. Everyone was on deck
with their wands in hand, their tips were all brightly
lit. Hermione couldn’t see anything.

Sirius came out of nowhere and looked around above
them and then shouted,
“All right boys, lets light her up, Lumus Maxiuer.”

The bowsprit figure’s wand at the front of the ship
ignited a bright glow, as bright as the sun.

Hermione saw what was around them. Jagged rocks rising from the ocean floor on both sides of the boat,
seaweed swaying in the current veiling and unveiling the rocks and fish of all sizes and colors swimming
by. It was like they were encased in an invisible glass bubble.

Just then Hermione heard a boom, a muffled explosion and saw a flash somewhere above them. And then she
heard another one. A flash like lightening, but different.

They all looked up and saw one of the ships exploding apart.

Hermione heard Sirius say with concern,
“It sounds like the kitchen exploding.. keep your
heads up, there may be more explosions coming.”

Everyone waited as the ships exploded again and again. Parts of the ship were sinking downward toward their
own ship.

Sirius pulled at Harry’s shoulder turning Harry to him and hissed out,
“Get her below…. NOW!”

But it was too late Hermione saw what was upsetting Sirius. Bodies, still, lifeless bodies from the ships
above were drifting downward, like pieces of wood.

Remus came out of the helm and shielded her eyes and pushed her face into Harry’s shoulder just as another
ship crashed into the wrecked ship, sending some of her crew over board.
“Harry take the helm and have her sit on the floor.”

Harry pulled Hermione with him to the helm and helped her to the floor.

Hermione was shaking and Harry put a blanket around
her shoulders,
“Everything’s going to be alright. Just don’t look.”

Hermione heard Sirius tell Harry to stop the ship and
drop anchor.

Harry did what he was told and then went to the door way, he looked up for a moment then turned to
Hermione and gave her a small smile and nodded,
“Stay here I’ll be right back.. hear me?”

Hermione nodded and stayed put. There were several weird popping noises and a lot of
commotion on deck.

After a few minutes Harry returned with a big grin on his face and he pulled Hermione to her feet,
“The worst is over .. I want you to see what I see all the time when we are out looking for treasure.”

Hand in hand, Harry led her out onto the deck again. The sea was dark blue and the fish that were around
them sparkled like diamonds. All sorts of colors and shapes of fish and plant life were everywhere.There
were bright orange starfish and silver fish, sleek sharks and even a green and yellow turtle.
It was beautiful. Then something caused the small ship to shudder.

“What was that?” Hermione asked.

“That’s a whale singing. That’s how they talk to each other.”
Harry told her.

“We need your help, got a few new guest with us, they’re scare and I think a women might help them calm
down some,” Harry told her as he pulled her to the stairs down below deck.

He brought her to a small room where there was a very young boy no more than nine years old, three older
boys more like fourteen all in sailor uniforms huddled in a corner, pale shaking and wet.

“Hello. Are you all right?” Hermione asked.

“What ship are you from?” one of the boys asked looking at Hermione as if she were a ghost or a
creature from the deep dark sea.

“This one,” she answered.

“Are we dead?” the youngest boy asked.

“No you’re quite alive. What ship are you from?” She asked looking at them all.

“Fishing boat,” the young boy whispered, “I’m not sailor.”
And then it was clear they were from both of the ships
above.

“The boat I was on exploded,” the lad said, shaking as
he started to weep,
“My Dad and uncle… I think they’re dead.”

“I don’t know what happened to you father and uncle but I can get you a blanket and something warm to
drink.” Hermione told them.

She walked out of the room and went up on deck, looking for Sirius.
Sirius was at the wheel. 
“Pardon me Sirius but what should I tell the young boy and the sailors, what
are you going to do with them?”

“I’ll talk to them in a bit, most likely put them back on shore to go back to their homes. A lot of young
sailors are shanghaied. If they want to go back, I’ll take them back home; if not if they have nowhere else
to go, thye can join my crew. That’s how we got Neville, Cedric and a few others over the years.”

“Then I will leave it up to you, but the little boy,
he said his father and uncle were killed on the boat…”

“We’ll see if he has any more family, other wise we
will have a new member of the family.”

Hermione smiled at Sirius and nodded, feeling as though she was part of a bigger family than she
thought,
“Sir you’re not a pirate at all; you’re an angel, saving lost souls at sea.”
“No, I’m pirate. I just don’t like to see anyone die who doesn’t have to.”

“Now go below, Harry’s waiting for you. We’ll be at the island soon.” Sirius told her.

~~

Hermione opened the door to the cabin and Harry was changing his shirt.
His chest was bare and Hermione had the urge to touch and kiss it.
She wrapped her arms about his shoulders as her lips touched his lightly.
Hermione trailed quick kisses down his chin and down the side of his neck feeling his pulse beat faster
with each kiss. Down to his collarbone. Harry in turn was kissing her neck and undoing the top
buttons of her dress.

“We shouldn’t be doing this,” Harry whispered, “ but I have had a problem being patient when it comes to
being with you, I just want.. I want you.”

His hands pulled her dress down off her shoulders and that’s as far as it went, as he didn’t undo enough of
the buttons.
“Damn these dresses,” Harry said pulling up her dress
to undo the bloody buttons that imprisoned his bride.

“Harry we will be there soon,” Hermione said caressing his cheek, and then whispered in his ear, “ As soon as
we land you will have me all to yourself, for two whole weeks.”

Harry let out a groan,“ But it’s the waiting that is killing me. It’s not so short.”

Hermione laughed and put her arms around him kissing his bare chest, sending a shiver through Harry and he
murmured,
“Oh that wasn’t fair, but keep doing it please.”