On Storm Tossed Seas

Chapter 2: A Temporary Breakdown and Homework

"Well, well," drawled Draco. "I get the pleasure of being paired with the super Mudblood."

"Shut up, Malfoy. I certainly don't want to be paired with you," Hermione hissed, turning her back on him as Professor Sinistra called the last pair of students.

"Please take your seats," Professor Sinistra said, turning to write on the chalkboard.

Reluctantly, Hermione sat on the furthest edge of the bench at the table which she was to share with Draco, and prepared to listen to the professor.

"Tonight I will be giving you a brief outline of what the next few months holds for you. However, first things first. Tomorrow all third year students and above will be given a half-day in Hogsmeade. Your main purpose in being given this privilege is to purchase the necessary textbooks you will need for your class.

"You will be able to pick up prepared packages at Dervish & Banges. Seeing as only third years and above are allowed in Hogsmeade, Headmaster Dumbledore has asked the fifth years to be so kind as to pick up two extra packages each for two of the first and second years in your house. Obviously, the money will be provided by the students in question.

"The list of items you will be picking up are:

The Anatomy of A Ship, by Beau L. Gibe

Knots Made Easy, by Clive Hitch

On the High Seas, by Vunder Vater

These will be our main texts. You will be expected to read them thoroughly, as well as write a five-foot report on Vunder Vater's text. The other two texts will be used for the more practical side of our class.

"Headmaster Dumbledore has worked out a bargain with Dervish & Banges. Whereas the books would normally have cost 7 Galleons, your cost will only be 4 Galleons, 11 Sickles and 4 Knuts,," she continued.

"I wonder where the Weasel will come up with that type of money," Draco chuckled into Hermione's ear.

"Leave me alone, Ferret Boy," she hissed back.

Professor Sinistra continued to discuss the course for another thirty minutes, the longest thirty minutes of Hermione's life. Throughout the class, Draco assaulted Hermione with a whispered barrage of comments about her parents, Harry's fear of Dementor's, Ron's unfortunate habit of turning red in the face, etcetera, being careful to pepper his comments with plenty of derogatory terms.

When Professor Sinistra dismissed the class, with a final reminder to find two students to purchase books for, Hermione darted from the room. She practically ran back to the Gryffindor common room, not even waiting for Harry and Ron, tears threatening to explode at any moment.

"'F-fairy rings'," she gasped.

"My, my dear, you look awful," gasped the Fat Lady, turning to a visiting Queen. "Doesn't she look just horrible?"

"Terrible," agreed the Queen. "My dear young lady, you really should take a look at yourself in the mirror--"

"I said, 'fairy rings'," Hermione repeated.

"Well!" sniffed the Fat Lady indignantly, allowing her supple frame to swing open.

Hermione stumbled into the common room, thankfully noting that it was empty. The rest of the Gryffindors were apparently still in their respective classes. She fell onto the red couch in front of the fire, finally giving in to her tears.

She didn't know how she was going to make it through the next eight months; not with that pretentious pinhead as her partner. There had to be someway out of this circumstance. As she concentrated on the dilemma, her tears slowly dried, and her breathing returned to normal. She'd just have to go see Headmaster Dumbledore, she decided.

She got up, just as the portrait opened, expelling a concerned Harry and Ron into the common room, along with a trickle of other students.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" Harry asked, moving across the room.

"Nothing. I just needed to check on something," she answered, the flimsy excuse sounding even worse as it came from her mouth.

"When you ran out of class, we got worried," Ron said. "We would have gotten here sooner, but Professor Sinistra forgot to pass out our homework, of all things," he continued, annoyance dripping in his voice.

"Homework? What homework?" Hermione questioned.

"Well, before Monday morning," Harry began, leading Hermione back towards the cheery fire to sit on the couch, "we have to get together with our partner and--"

He didn't get any further than that before Hermione burst into tears once again. This time, she didn't let herself think. She just knew that this was further proof that this would be the worst year of her life.

Harry and Ron exchanged worried glances over the prone, sobbing figure. They had never seen Hermione lose control of herself like this.

"Hermione, what's the matter?" a female voice questioned.

The boys looked up to see an apprehensive Ginny watching them. She came around to the front of the couch, pushed Ron over and sat down, gathering Hermione's weeping form into her arms.

"What are you doing, Ginny?" Ron asked, angrily.

"Well, you two don't seem to be doing anything for her. Why don't you guys just go away for now. She obviously needs a female friend right now," she glared at her brother, until he and Harry got up to leave.

"Hermione," Harry said gently, touching her shoulder, "we'll be around if you want to talk to us."

She managed a nod as Harry and Ron moved to the other side of the room, where they got out some cards to play Exploding Snap.

Ginny gently rocked Hermione as her sobbing calmed, and she began to hiccup. Ginny let go of her when Hermione slowly pushed herself into a sitting position, rubbing her fists in her eyes.

"Th-thanks Ginny," she hiccupped. "I don't know wh-why I'm crying."

She took a deep, steadying breath as Ginny sat patiently waiting.

"Well, may-maybe that's not entirely true," she mused.

"Do you want to tell me what's wrong?" Ginny gently prodded.

"I suppose. You probably know that my year was grouped with the Slytherins for our field trip and class work," she paused as Ginny acknowledged that she had heard. "Well, that I could handle. I mean it's not like I'm not used to being with the Slytherins. I've had classes with them every year during the last four years," she continued, as Ginny nodded her encouragement.

"Well, Professor Sinistra has paired us each of us up with a Slytherin," she said.

"Yeah, Hagrid paired each of us up with a Ravenclaw," Ginny explained.

"I guess it must be what each class is doing," Hermione mused.

"Probably. So what's the problem?"

"Ginny, Professor Sinistra paired me up with Malfoy!"

"We all know that Malfoy is a jerk, but why is that so bad?"

"You should have heard the things he said to me. It was horrible. He called me 'Mudblood' and a whole variety of other things, as well as saying terribly mean things about Harry and Ron. I'm usually made of tougher stuff, but when I realized that I would have to put up with him and his comments in much closer quarters for the next eight months, I just lost it," she explained.

"Yeah, I can see your point," Ginny agreed.

"Thanks for listening, Ginny. I think I'll be okay now. I'll just have to be determined to not allow Malfoy to annoy me," she firmly resolved.

"Anytime you need to talk, Hermione, you can always come and talk to me. I can always lend a sympathetic ear," she said, as the two girls hugged each other.

"I guess I'd better go and see Ron and Harry. Let them know that I'm okay," she said, standing and smoothing her robes.

~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~

"Where, exactly, is Ron?" Hermione lifted her brow at Harry as the two passed through the gates towards Hogsmeade.

He shook his head with a grin. "Sorry, Herm, I promised Ron I wouldn't say."

"He's with the girl again, isn't he? Why is he so intent on keeping this a secret from me? Who is he after, Pansy Parkinson?"

Harry laughed outright at that notion and shook his head. "Not even close. You know he can hardly stand being around her for sailing class. Who are you getting books for?" Harry asked, in an attempt to change the subject.

She looked at him for a moment before letting the subject drop. "Natalie and Jenna. How about you?"

"Travis and Ned. Let's make a stop by The Three Broomsticks before picking up our books," Harry suggested. She nodded her agreement and they picked up their pace.

They entered the establishment, ordered their butterbeers and found a empty booth in the far corner.

"So, now that I am calm and have complete control of myself, what exactly is our homework?" Hermione asked, after swallowing a mouthful of butterbeer.

"You have to choose a famous ship from history and write a two foot report on it. Something to do with knowing the past can help us in the present, or some such nonsense," Harry explained.

"Well, that shouldn't be too bad," Hermione said. "How long could it take to right such a small report?"

They finished up their butterbeers, spent some time in both Honeyduke's and Zonko's, purchased their books and headed back to Hogwart's. When they entered the castle, a familiar drawl interrupted their laughter.

"Hey, Mudblood," Draco said, leaning against the stairwell railing, Crabbe and Goyle nowhere to be seen. "Did you think you could get out of doing our homework by avoiding me?"

Harry stepped in front of Hermione, shielding her from view, and whipped out his wand.

"Leave her alone, Malfoy," he snapped.

"Hey, it's not like it's my decision to spend time with her," Draco stated taking a step forward, flicking his wand up.

"Harry, let me take care of this, please?" Hermione said, pushing Harry aside with one hand, while forcing his wand down with the other. "I was not avoiding you, Malfoy, I was in Hogsmeade picking up the required text. However, since you're here, why don't we plan on a meeting time?" she continued, forcing herself to remain calm.

"Fine, it's not like we have a choice," Draco muttered. "Meet me in the library, after lunch today," he said, turning and stalking down the hallway.

"I suppose we should go and drop our stuff off," Hermione said, turning to head to the Gryffindor common room.

"Do you want me to go to the library with you, Hermione?" Harry questioned. "I wouldn't mind hanging out in the library all afternoon, if it would help."

"No, I'll be fine. I'm going to have to learn how to deal with him somehow over these next eight months, I might as well start now," she said, shifting her packages in her arms to get a better grip.

"Well, just let me know if you ever need any help with the jerk," Harry told her before saying 'duffer doofer', the new password, to the Fat Lady.

"I'll go drop my packages off, then I'll meet you back here," Hermione said, heading towards her dorm.

~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~

After finishing a delicious spaghetti lunch, and questioning a mute, red-faced Ron about his morning whereabouts, Hermione, bag slung over her shoulder, headed to the library. She reverently entered the large wing, deeply inhaling the wonderfully musty smell of thousands of books. The library had been her shrine, of sorts, since the first day she had entered into Hogwarts. A feeling of loss settled upon her when she saw Draco, a smirk plastered on his face, waiting for her at an empty, round table. Her shrine had been desecrated.

"Let's get started," Hermione said, glaring at his lackadaisical expression.

"We should probably decide upon the ship we are going to write about, first, Granger," he drawled.

"Wow, I didn't realize you were so smart, Malfoy," she snapped back.

The two stared each other down for a few minutes.

"You know, the sooner we get started, the sooner we can be out of each other's presence," she commented icily.

"Such an astute observation, Granger," he returned in like.

The two of them moved towards the library shelves and immersed themselves in finding books that dealt with the history of the seas. After an hour of pulling, skimming, replacing, and more pulling, the two of them returned to the table, each laden with books.

"I think I have found a great ship for us to write about," Hermione said, opening a large tome entitled ::Ships of the Mid-Century::. "The Maranow was the first ship to make its way--"

"I'm not writing about any Muggle or Mudblood ships," Draco interrupted.

"Fine," she glared, "what did you find?"

"The Salmon Freeze," he stated.

"And why is it important?"

"Sorry, I forgot, a Mudblood wouldn't know. Though you probably should," he commented, an evil glint in his eyes.

"And why should I?"

"Because the ship provided valuable service to the wizarding world."

"And what service would that be?" Hermione asked, growing impatient.

With a grin he answered, "Why, Muggle slaves. Too bad the slave trade is illegal now, you'd have made a great one," he said snidely, a sneer crossing his features.

Hermione glared at him so ferociously that Draco almost audibly gulped. "You are despicable!" she hissed.

"Well, I call it as I see it, Granger," he snarled, recovering from her glare.

After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Hermione tried again.

"We need to lay down some ground rules for the next eight months, Malfoy."

"And why would that be?"

"Because, I want to get a good grade in this class, and part of my grade will, unfortunately, have to depend on you and your work. If all we do is argue when we are attempting to complete work, we'll both get bad grades," she stated reasonably.

Draco watched her for a moment. Her eyes never broke contact with his. With a curt nod of his head, he agreed to discuss the option.

"So, what exactly do you mean by 'ground rules'?" he questioned.

"Well, no name calling, for starters. I won't call you Ferret Boy and you won't call me Mudblood."

"Fine. What else?"

"We agree to work quickly and diligently so that we can get through with our work, spending as little time together as possible."

"Sounds perfect to me."

"Finally, in regards to our current assignment, we each get three vetoes. I veto Salmon Freeze."

"Good, I veto Maranow, and all Muggle or Mudblood ships."

"Malfoy, that's not how a veto works," Hermione sighed.

"Well, then, choose a wizard ship," he snapped.

Hermione stared at him loathingly for a moment.

"How about this ship?" she finally questioned, pushing an open book toward him.

He looked at the painting of a moving ship. The wind merrily snapped the sails about, while sailors scrambled up and down the riggings. A sharply dressed man, presumably the captain, paced the quarterdeck, stopping occasionally to look at the horizon through a telescope. On the side of the ship was the name Vintmoor.

"Well, the ship looks alright, but what did it do?" Draco asked, pushing the book across the table.

"Don't know how to read?" she snapped.

"Shut up, Granger. Of course I do, but seeing as you already know about the ship, I figured it would be easier to ask you."

"Fine. This ship discovered the Island of Malnese."

"Really?" Draco sat up, pulling the large tome back over.

"Yes."

"I thought that the Island of Malnese was a myth," he said, awe in his voice.

"And you call yourself a pureblood?"

He answered her with a glare.

"Well, what do you think?" she questioned.

Draco, continuing to silently pour over the information contained in the book, didn't hear her.

"Malfoy!" she said sharply.

"What?" he snapped, looking up.

"I asked, what do you think?"

"Well," he drawled, pushing the text unconcernedly across the table, "it wouldn't be my first choice, but it will do."

"Good. Now, let's get busy researching."

For the next two hours, the two students silently poured through manuscripts and documents about the Vintmoor and the Island of Malnese. With a large yawn, Hermione sat back in her chair and stretched.

"How's it going, Malfoy?" she asked.

"Fine. I found some interesting information. Apparently, Captain Solstine went in search of the island when his wife dissapparated. For some reason, he thought she had gone to the island."

"Really? I thought he was just an explorer. That's what these books say, anyway," she said, with a sweeping glance at the various opened books.

Draco continued as though she hadn't spoken. "No one had ever heard of the Island, but Captain Solstine was convinced that she had gone there. So, he gathered up a crew, purchased a ship, and set sail. Four years later, he found the island, and the bleached bones of his wife."

"Gross."

"I know. Here's a painting," he said.

Hermione pushed her chair back, stood, and moved around the table to take a closer look at the picture. A weeping man, presumably Captain Solstine, was gripping a bleached skeleton on the edge of a sandy beach. Hermione leaned closer to look at the caption under the painting. As she did, she leaned against Draco. Both were so absorbed in the book, they didn't even notice.

"So, when he found the Island, and his wife, he created the curse," she said softly, reading the next few paragraphs. "Which book is this?" she asked.

"::The First Mate's View: A Travel Log to the Island of Malnese:: It was written by Samuel Lamay, the Captain's first mate. I've read a bit about the Island, mostly in books of myth and legends, but I never read that he had gone in search of his wife," Draco suddenly noticed that Hermione's soft hand was brushing against his own as they looked at the book. For some reason, his stomach flip-flopped.

"Get away from me, Mudblood!" he suddenly hissed, pushing himself away from her.

"I thought we made a deal to not call names, Ferret Boy," she returned venomously.

"Yeah, we did, but I didn't agree to have to be touched by you."

"Let's just get this report written, then we won't have to worry about touching each other," she said, moving back to her side of the table.

"Fine."

For a few moments they sat in silence.

"Let me write the report," Draco said into the silence.

"Sure, whatever."

Draco and Hermione, staying on opposite sides of the table, worked out an outline and then buckled down, finishing the two-foot long report in two hours.

"Well, then, that's it. We won't have to see each other again, until Monday morning," Hermione said, relief filling her voice.

"Good by me," Draco agreed. But for some reason, he wished they weren't done with their report.

"Hey, Malfoy," Hermione looked over at him, "what curse did Captain Solstine put on the island?"

"No one really knows. The Island is still considered a myth by most, so it's not really been discussed."

"Oh, well, then, I'm going to go." Without further ado, she stood, gathered her stuff, and left.

Draco watched her leave, feeling strangely abandoned.