On Storm Tossed Seas

Chapter 6: The Hydrophanous Orb

Hermione stormed down the hallway dragging her confused friends along with her. She pushed her way through the crowd of students in the doorway, and continued across the grounds of Hogwarts towards Hagrid's and their Care of Magical Creatures class. She desperately worked to keep the tears from her eyes. That was the last thing that she needed right now.

'How dare he!' she thought, violently wrenching Harry and Ron along with her. 'Why can't he admit that he helped me? It's that stupid Malfoy pride! Why am I even upset about this? It's not like I even care about him.' The churning her stomach argued with her head; obviously, on some level, she did care.

"Her-Hermione! Slow down," Harry finally managed to spit out. He pulled his hand out of hers, and ran to step in front of her. "Hermione, stop!" With the help of Ron, the two stopped Hermione.

"Let go of me!" She knew what they wanted, but she wasn't ready.

"Hermione, what's going on?" Harry had let go of her, though Ron kept a firm grip on her.

"Ron, let go!" She struggled, finally throwing Ron off, and ran the rest of the way to Hagrid's. Harry and Ron stared after her.

"What was that all about?" Ron turned to look at Harry. Harry merely shrugged his shoulders, and started to head in the direction Hermione had run.

"I don't really want to try and guess."

"Well, that git, Malfoy, better just stay away from Hermione. I haven't seen her act so strange since the Yule Ball last year." Ron finished his sentence as they reached Hagrid's hut. Outside were wooden stands on which were placed large glass jars. Sapphire blue streaks zipped around the inside of each jar. "I wonder what Hagrid's got in store for us," Ron muttered, as he and Harry moved past the tables, and a gang of Slytherin's, to the group of talking Gryffindors. Hermione looked the other way as Harry and Ron approached.

"Hermione, look, we're sorry. Can you tell us what's going on?" Harry's forehead creased in concern.

"Not now. Just leave me alone!" Hermione snapped.

Harry stepped away from her when he noticed that she visibly paled. Whether she paled from anger or some other reason, he wasn't sure, though he took note of her clenched jaw and balled fists. The, he followed her gaze and saw Malfoy and his shadows strutting across the expanse of lawn. Malfoy glared at Hermione, and she narrowed her eyes back at him. Harry nodded to himself, and turned when he heard the door to Hagrid's hut open.

"G'day class," Hagrid boomed, lumbering down the steps of his large hut. "Step right up ter the tables. No use in bein' shy." He grinned a toothy grin at Harry. "T'day we're goin' begin ter learn 'bout Billywigs. Professor Snape's runnin' low on his supply of their stingers, an' we're goin' ter be helpin' 'im out by breedin' a whole mess of 'em Billywigs." Reluctantly, the students gathered around the wooden tables.

"So, that's what they are," Harry heard Hermione mutter to herself. "I thought the color was familiar."

Harry looked sideways at Hermione, gently nudged her, and gave her a smile. "Hey, sorry. We're just worried about you."

For a moment, she met his smile with a stony glare, but, as usual, Harry's sincerity won out. "I know. Let's talk about it later, okay?" Her glare turned to a smile. She then caught Ron's eye, with a grin in his direction. Relief flooded through the three as their tension melted. They looked over at Hagrid as he continued.

"Okay, class. T'day yer goin' learn 'bout how to feed Billywigs. Get out yer textbook and find the chapter on 'em." Hagrid moved about, checking to see that the students were finding the right sections in their books. For the next hour, they worked on finding the correct plants to feed to their Billywigs, and tried to not get stung. Even Neville managed to make it through the class without a problem.

"Good job t'day, class." Hagrid boomed at the end of the very successful Care of Magical Creatures class. "Yeh need ter write me a two-foot report on the uses o' the Billywig's parts b'fore our next meetin'." He then dismissed the class.

"Great, let's go get some lunch," Ron said, grabbing his textbooks.

The three students moved off in a phalanx towards the distant Hogwarts castle. They passed by Malfoy, who again glared at Hermione. She halted, and glared right back at him.

"What is your problem, Malfoy?" She took a step closer to him.

"Nothing, Mudblood. Just wondering how many Billywig stings it would take to get you to float away forever." With a derisive laugh, he turned on his heels, Crabbe and Goyle following his departing form.

"I swear, I don't know how I'm going to make it through this year without hexing that prat." Hermione turned to look at Harry and Ron. "Shall we go, then?"

"Sure, you know, we'd love to help you in the hexing of Malfoy," Ron said, a mischievous glint appearing in his eyes.

"Yeah, I know." Hermione gave Ron a smile, and the three continued their way to the Great Hall.

After lunch the three headed to their Herbology class, Harry with a thoughtful look on his face. He continued to throw sidelong glances at Hermione before she finally halted and turned to face him.

"Harry, what? Did I suddenly grow another head?" Her exasperation was evident in her voice.

Harry looked a little chagrined. "No. I-"

Ron interrupted before Harry could continue. "For bloody sakes, can you two do this later? We have to get to Herbology. Now."

Hermione looked over at Ron, lifting a brow. "And since when have you been so anxious to get to class, Ron?"

His face flushed and he stammered a bit. "I-I'm just worried about making sure you keep your marks up, Hermione."

The look on her face clearly showed that she didn't believe him. Before either Harry or she could say another word, Ron mumbled that he'd meet them at class and he quickly strode away. Hermione turned to look at Harry, taking in the knowing grin on his face.

"Do you mind telling me what that was all about? Don't tell me Ron has really gotten serious about his studies."

Harry looked back at her and smiled broadly. "As I've said before, I'm sworn to secrecy, Herm." He flinched a bit at the glare she leveled at him. "Okay, fine, you tell me what's up with you and Malfoy, and I will spill the beans on Ron." He folded his arms over his chest, knowing that he'd struck a nerve when her face flushed.

"Nothing is up with Malfoy and I." She pushed past him and took off for class, Harry following behind her, a thoughtful look on his face.

The rest of the afternoon passed well enough, with the exception of History of Magic. Hermione choose to ask Professor Binns about the Island of Malnese. Never had Hermione seen him get so worked up about anything, and the results were quiet embarrassing. He stared at her for a few long moments, told her the Island was a myth, and then berated her, such a smart student, for believing in such nonsense. He ranted at her for a full fifteen minutes, before getting on with the lesson: Giants, Their Rise and Fall.

After Charms, during which the students spent time learning how to make objects spin at particular altitudes, the three headed to the Great Hall to eat.

"Did you get a chance to look over the first two chapters in ::The Anatomy of a Ship::, Hermione?" Ron questioned, reaching for a plate of filet mignon.

"Yeah. That's why I ate lunch so quickly and disappeared. I'm not about to let Malfoy know more than me when we start on our homework tonight." She finished her statement with a swig of grape juice. She quickly downed a plate of corn, mashed potatoes, and chicken, while Harry and Ron got caught up in a discussion of the upcoming Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw.

"Well, I'm out of here. I want to get to the library before Malfoy." She glanced across the room to check on his progress. Malfoy was deeply involved in a conversation with Malcolm Baddock, a rather brilliant third year, from what Hermione had heard. "He beat me to the library last time, and this time I want to be there first." She took a final gulp of grape juice, gathered up her bag, gave Harry and Ron a toothy grin, and flounced out of the Great Hall.

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Surprisingly, the homework assignment went well. Draco threw one 'Mudblood' at her, to which she replied with a 'Ferret Boy'. Otherwise, they quickly finished the diagram of the outer hull of a ship in less than an hour, only speaking when absolutely necessary. Hermione rolled up the parchment, put it in her bag, and left the library without a glance back at Draco.

"Duffer doofer," she said, moving past the Fat Lady and into the warmth of the Gryffindor common room. She maneuvered her way past groups of students who were engaged in various activities.

"Hey, Hermione!" A shout from the far side of the room turned Hermione's head. Fred Weasley, who had recovered from his beak after two days, was gesturing for her to come over. "Come here, I need your advice on something." Hermione warily moved to the Weasley's corner.

"What do you need help with?" She looked over Fred's shoulder, her eyes growing large with curiosity. "What is that?" She pointed at an object in Fred's hand. It was round, about the size of a golden snitch, and black; not a regular black, however. As she moved around Fred to sit on an empty stool, she noticed that the black seemed to shimmer and change, but it remained black. She couldn't describe it in any other way.

Fred and George exchanged pleased glances, and looked at Hermione. "You don't know what this is?" Fred innocently questioned.

"No, I don't." She reached out a hand to touch the object, which Fred generously placed in her hand. The object was much heavier than she would have suspected. She ran her fingers over the even, lustrous surface. The object was surprisingly cool. "What is it?" she again questioned.

"It's called a hydrophanous orb. When you place it in water, or get it wet, it becomes transparent." George gave a smug look at Fred; apparently Hermione didn't know everything.

"What is it used for?" Hermione couldn't take her eyes off the ball.

"We don't really know," Fred admitted. "Maybe you could find out for us?" She looked up from the ball, giving Fred a friendly glare.

"I suppose I could. Here," she handed the ball back to Fred.

"Oh, no, that's okay. Hold onto it until you figure it out, then you can give it back to us."

Hermione paused, suspiciously looking at the mirrored faces of the twins. "How do I know that you're not simply trying to get me in trouble?"

George ceremoniously placed his hand across his heart. "I swear, Hermione, we aren't."

"We're just curious, and you are so much more adept at searching for unknown information." George saw a look of uncertainty cross Hermione's features. "Look, we all know that it was you who figured out the whole Nicolas Flamel thing. We just want you to use your amazing abilities to find out the secret behind this, okay?"

"Fine, but if I get in trouble for having something illegal, you will both live to regret it." She glared carefully into each face, and turned, but George halted her progress with his hand.

"Oh, and don't tell anyone about this, okay? I mean, you can tell Harry and Ron, we know that they are trusty fellows, but don't let anyone else know."

She gave them each one more suspicious look and headed across the common room to where Harry and Ron were playing a game of Wizard's Chess.

"What did my brothers want, Hermione," Ron asked, after having moved his knight into a formidable defense.

"They wanted me to look up some information for them."

"Hmm." Ron replied, focusing on the unexpected move Harry had just made.

"I'll let you two finish your game. I'm going to head up to my dorm and get some studying done. See you guys at 11:30." Grasping the still cold ball in her hand, she moved up the stairway and entered her room.

She moved to the bed, plopping down in the middle, and pulling the curtains closed around her as she kept her eyes on the orb. For the briefest moment, she thought she'd felt the orb vibrate. Her brow furrowed and she closed her eyes to concentrate on the orb. It didn't vibrate again.

Hermione, still puzzling over the cold object in her hands, opened her eyes and glanced at the clock by her bed. Unbelievably, the timepiece read 11:15. Had she really been sitting here, holding the orb, for almost three hours? No, she realized, she'd been thinking about the orb, yes, but just as often, her mind rested on Draco - no, Malfoy. His name was Malfoy.

With a violent shake of her head, she placed the hydrophanous orb into a soft piece of cloth, and stowed it in her trunk. She grabbed her cloak, and, with a heavy sigh, pushed open the door to the common room. The room, mostly filled with fifth and sixth years, hummed with activity. She noticed that Fred and George had given up on their evenings plotting and were involved in a gregarious game of Exploding Snap with Ron. She gave them a smile when they waved at her, and moved down to the fire, where Harry sat, reading a book.

"What are you reading, Harry?" Curiosity seeped from her. She couldn't recall the last time she had seen Harry reading a book when a viable game of Exploding Snap was available.

"Huh?" He looked up to see a grinning Hermione. "Oh, I just figured I'd take a page from your book, and read ahead for tonight's Astronomy class. Can you believe we actually have a book for this class?" He laughed as he saw an incredulous look spread across her face.

"Well, well, I guess you can still surprise me, and yes, I can believe it. I'm excited about having a book for this class." Harry gave her a look that quite plainly said she was nuts as Hermione sat down on the other end of the soft couch. Ron, apparently having lost the current game, rounded the couch and took a seat on a large cushion on the floor. "So, I guess you two want to know what's going on, huh?"

"Yeah, we do. We haven't had a chance to talk to you at all about what happened on Sunday night." Ron gave her an encouraging smile.

"Okay, well, I went to the library to find more information on the Island. While I was there, Malfoy showed up, ostensibly to look for information as well, so we looked together." Ron shot her a glare. "Hey, Harry knows how hard it is to find stuff in the Restricted Section," Harry gave a nod, "so it was helpful to have assistance, even if it was from Malfoy." Hermione paused, she still didn't know if she should tell them that Malfoy knew about the cloak; she decided not to. She took a deep breath, and continued with her lie of omission, watching her hands as she continued to speak. She repeated the rest of her story as she had rehearsed it in her head.

"After I found the book, we heard Mrs. Norris, so we each went our separate ways. I came back up here, but decided to circle back to the library and make sure I couldn't find anything else. I hid the book I had found in a secret passageway; it was getting heavy.

"I headed back towards the library, and I guess I must have been going too fast. I was distracted, and stepped through a false step. I suppose I'm lucky that Malfoy was still around. I remember that he grabbed my arms; the next thing I remember, you guys were there." She ended her fabrication, and looked up from her hands into Harry's face, and then Ron's. It looked like they bought her story.

"So, Ferret Boy did help you." Ron looked a little perplexed at the idea that Malfoy could be anything but a heartless jerk.

"Yes, he did. But, seeing as he obviously would like to pretend it didn't happen; let's keep it that way." She looked pointedly at each of her best friends. "But, anyway, we have to go if we don't want to be late for Astronomy. Oh, and Harry, I need to get that book at some point. Sooner would be better."

"Okay, let me know when."

Harry stood and helped Hermione off the couch. Ron moved over to the table where he had left his book, and the three moved out into the hall with the other fifth and sixth years.

Pulling their cloaks tightly around themselves, the students poured out of the relative warmth of the castle onto the bitterly cold viewing platform where Astronomy was held. Class was only held indoors in the case of rain, snow, or too much cloud cover. But even when Hermione's cheeks became frozen, she happily listened to the instruction and worked on her class work. She loved Astronomy.

The only thorn in her side was that they had to have Astronomy with Slytherin this year. The first four years they had had the class with Ravenclaw, but Dumbledore chose to 'mix it up' as he put it and regroup all the Astronomy classes. Hermione looked around, without really meaning to, to see if Malfoy had appeared yet. Not surprisingly, he had. He caught her glance at him, and, as if a magnet were activated, Hermione found that she couldn't look away.

Her stomach began to churn; he had an unreadable look on his face. It wasn't hate, and it most definitely wasn't friendship or love; it appeared to be-indifference? She tried to read into his eyes, but was interrupted when Professor Sinistra stepped onto the platform.

"Good evening, students. We will be learning some very interesting material this year. You may have noticed that you were required to purchase a new text for this class this year." The students mumbled and nodded that, yes, they had. They had never needed textbooks for this class, so their grumbling was quite understandable.

"Your textbook ::Navigating Through the Stars:: by Samuel T. Arbright, will be part of your preparation for our sailing trip this year. Seeing as we will be leaving our wands behind, it will behoove you to be able to quickly determine your position by the stars in the night sky.

"Now, it is true that the particular constellations you will see on our trip will be very different from the ones' above our English sky, but the theory is the same." She asked the students to open their books, and launched into a lengthy lecture on how to determine North, South, East and West by the night sky. The lecture led into information about using latitude and longitude to determine position in relation to the night sky and earth.

Hermione busily took notes, anxiously dreaming about the field trip, and using the skills she was learning. Long before a tired Hermione was ready, class was over. Hermione, Harry and Ron gathered up their supplies and turned to follow the stream of shivering students back into the castle.

"Ms. Granger, Mr. Malfoy, could I have a word, please." Hermione turned back to a smiling Professor Sinistra, while an annoyed Draco stepped across the stone platform.

"Yes, what is it?" Hermione questioned; Draco just stood silently.

"In preparation for our field trip, each Professor has been asked to choose two students, with my help, who will be in charge of navigating the boat. Of course, the captain will make final decisions, but a navigator is needed, none the less." She waited for Hermione's nod, as confused as it was, and looked to be certain that Draco was attending to her as well.

"What I am asking is that you two be our ship's navigators. Are you two willing to do this?" She waited as the two students glanced at each other, and looked back at her.

"I'm willing, if Mal--Draco is," Hermione stated. They both looked at Draco, who gave a curt nod of his head.

"Excellent. Now, to prepare, you two will be given a little more homework in my class, but for top students like you, it shouldn't be a problem. Each night, including weekends, you two need to come up here at a specific time; a time to be determined by the two you. You will need to follow the guidelines in appendix C in order to map the stars and determine the latitude and longitude of a particular constellation. The actual navigation while on board ship is a bit different, however, this will give you a good idea of how it works. If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to ask.

"I will expect updates on your homework every week at our sailing class. You will need to prepare a short presentation for each class period in order to share what you are learning with the rest of the class. You will get started on this assignment tomorrow night. By the way, be mindful that I have a class here every night from 12:00-12:45. It would be best if you were to choose a time before that. It will take you about thirty minutes to complete each night. You two are dismissed."

The two students turned to leave. Hermione fought two emotions within her as they headed across the empty platform: excitement and disbelief.

"So, now I have to spend a half hour every night with the super Mudblood? How did I ever get stuck in this position," Draco growled at Hermione.

Hermione sighed with exasperation. "Once again, Malfoy, it was not my choice to be stuck with you, either. Let's just make the best of a horrible situation." They stepped back into the castle, and Hermione smiled gratefully at Harry and Ron who were waiting for her at the top of the stairway.

"Potter, Weasel, afraid I may harm your dear Mudblood?" he sneered at them.

"No, just afraid I may miss out on a chance to hex you, Malfoy," replied Ron. "As a matter of fact, it sounds like a good idea to me." Ron stepped forward, yanking his wand from his pocket, and pointed it at Malfoy, just as Professor Sinistra stepped into the corridor.

"Mr. Weasley, whatever are you doing? Put your wand away. Unless you four want points taken from your houses, I would suggest you move out, quickly."

Malfoy glared at Ron, and pushed past the three Gryffindors. Quietly, Ron put his wand away and looked at Harry and Hermione before moving down the steps, followed closely by the other two.

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Hermione awoke the next morning and luxuriously stretched in her soft bed. She had slept well, especially after she had gotten her hands back on the book from the Restricted Section. Harry and her had immediately headed back out, under the cover of the Invisibility Cloak, to retrieve the book when they got back last night. Hermione had had to fight the desire to sit up all night and read. She had won, though it was a bittersweet win.

Glancing at her clock, she saw that she had a good hour before she had to meet Harry and Ron for breakfast. She reached for the book with a grin and immersed herself between the pages of the ill-gotten tome. She read for about a quarter of an hour, when a gasp escaped her. She reread the sentences to be sure.

"I am eternally grateful to Wigby for the gift of my hydrophanous orb. I do not know how he got his hands on this extremely rare item, but without it, I never would have made it off the Island."

She was right; the unknown author said he had a hydrophanous orb. Not only that, but it had been important in getting him off the Island. Hermione's brain spun with the information. Now, if she could only find out what a hydrophanous orb was for, she could hopefully piece together some helpful information on the Island of Malnese.

She shut the book, shoved it between her mattresses, and quickly got herself dressed for breakfast. Grabbing her bag of schoolbooks, she quickly raced down the stairs and through the still empty Gryffindor common room to the Great Hall. She would have to make her apologies to Harry and Ron later. Only a few students were there, and Hermione shoved some food into her mouth, downed it with a glass of orange juice, and tore her way down the mostly empty hallways to the library.

Glancing at the grandfather clock in the corner by the entrance to library, she noted that she had about fifteen minutes of actual time to hunt for information before she had to leave for her Defense Against the Dark Arts class. She considered asking Madam Pince about the orb, but, seeing as the wizard had said that it was extremely rare, she decided against asking.

She began by looking in a few books that contained information on wizarding objects. She skimmed through them, quickly ascertaining that the information she sought was not there. Discouraged, she looked at the clock above the library doors. She had to leave.

Placing the non-helpful books back on their respective shelves, she dejectedly plodded out of the library and headed for her Dark Arts class. She figured that she'd probably have to ask Harry for the use of his cloak again. She knew he'd let her. She suddenly remembered that she was to be out of her dorm late every night now. It would be an easy matter to borrow Harry's cloak, finish her assignment, and then use the cloak to head to the library. She brightened a bit at that thought and, with a smile, entered the Dark Arts classroom.