"Draco, lad, we can't stay any longer" Jones said.

Draco growled and stalked away from him.

Jones followed him, "Ya know it's true, the mad queen will 'ave our 'eads if we stay 'ere any longer".

Draco whirled around, yelling "I know what I saw! She was right there in front of me! If we just scout around one more time.." his voice evantually faded and he slumbed onto the steps leading up to the wheel.

Jones put a hand on Draco's shouder.

He shuddered for a moment before getting up. Jones was taken aback by the fire he saw in his eyes

"Fine" Draco spat "We head for Black Maner". With those words, he spun on his heel and started shouting commands at his crew for them to start readying the ship.

When they were ready to go, Draco gave the town one last long look before taking the wheel and shouting

"Lift anchor!"

Hermione was braiding three strands of seaweed to together when she heard it.

She looked up at the surface of the water and frowned as a huge clanking noise resonated through the water.

She put the braid on the rock outcrop of the cliff she was perched on, and started swimming.

She stared as the chain that was attached to the Black Pearl started to rise. The anchor of the ship rose in time to the clanking that was resonating from the ship.

He's leaving, I'm safe.

For some reason, the thought didn't fill her with comfort as she thought it would, but with dread.

She swam over to the anchor and watched as it ascended through the water. She flinched as the voices of the men grew in volume as the anchor broke through the surface and was hauled up by the hands of men.

She made her way around the rudder of the ship and noticed a port hole in the body of the ship, She frowned and wiped off the muck that had formed on the glass and peered into the ship.

Inside she saw a little room with a bed and a table with an assortment of things scattered around. Maps, telescopes, compasses and an great number of things she could not name.

She swept her eyes over the room, wondering who's it was. She backed up and looked at the place where the last bit of the anchor was pulled out of the water.

She looked back through the window.

There was a man watching her.

She panicked, quickly darting to the side of the boat. Knowing that he'd only run on deck and look over the sides, she dove and hid in the shadow of the boat. After a while, when she didn't hear the sound of harpoons being sharpened and thrown, she inched up the side of the ship again.

She took a deep breath and peeked through the port hole.

It was empty.

She frowned. Maybe she had just imagined it, if a sailor had seen her, they would have surely raised the alarm by now. She flinched as the ship creaked and started to move.

She swam aside and watched as it sailed past her.

It should have made her ridiculously happy, but she couldn't shake off the sense of dread.

She swam back over to her rock and picked up her strands of seaweed again.

"Where have you been?!" was the first thing Hermione heard when she swam into the cave.

She sighed and stopped swimming, instead flicking her tail from side to side slowly to stay in place.

Molly's voice blared out again "I said, where have you been?"

Hermione turned to face her reluctantly and answered "I was out in the bay"

Molly squinted her eyes at her suspiciously. Before she could say anything more, Ron burst into the room.

"Hermy!" he said, slowly swimming over to her. His over weight body was trembling as he flapped his fat tail in order to get to her.

She grimaced as he threw his arms around her and squeezed.

"Where ya been?" he asked, his face milometers from Hermione's.

She winced and pushed him back

"I was collecting seaweed in the bay.", she said, gesturing to the bundle of seaweed that lay draped over her arm.

Ron stared at her blankly "What for?"

She stared at him incredulously at him before looking around the room.

Seaweed baskets, curtains, tops, nets and blankets lay scattered around the room.

She turned back to him and shook her head before making her way to her room.

"Hermione?! Where do you think you're going?!"

She passed few other Waterlings on her journey through the cave. The Weasley clan was big, but right now most of them had migrated south with the Potter clan when the hunting ship had docked in the town near by.

Once she was in her room, she pulled out the half woven top she had begun making.

Waterlings didn't usually wear clothes since nudity and body parts were not a taboo in their culture. However Ron's gaze was making her uncomfortable, and she felt the need to cover up more.

She continued weaving.

"Mione!" Ginny exclaimed happily.

Hermione beamed as she made her way over to the shore.

She leaped out of the water and landed on the ground, her tail spraying salt water all over the other Elementals.

Ginny and Luna shrieked as the water hit them in the face, and Hermione bit her lip to avoid laughing at the look on Ginny's face.

A couple seconds later, however, all three girls were giggling, which escalated into outright laughter when Luna slipped and fell into the lake.

The three Elementals talked for many hours about everything and anything before Hermione broached the subject of the pirate ship.

"So they really left?" Ginny asked, her eyes wide.

Hermione nodded from where she sat rubbing water into her tail.

"That's great, Moine! Now you don't have to worry about them" Ginny exclaimed happily, tossing her fire hair over her shoulder.

Luna's blue eyes searched her face for a couple seconds before she spoke up in a soft voice.

"There's something bothering you" she stated quietly.

Hermione nodded hesitantly, swimming over to the shore and tracing patterns in the dirt.

"I just have this sense of dread, you know? I should be happy that they left, but I have a bad feeling about it."

Luna and Ginny listened attentively as she spoke, neither one of them interrupting her.

Hermione took a deep breath before continuing "And I think one of them saw me"

"What?" the girls exclaimed.

Hermione sighed "I was swimming under the boat to see what was happening when they lifted the anchor, and I thought I saw a man watching me through one of the portholes."

"Are you ok? Did they try to spear you?" Ginny asked her voice rising in panic.

The Waterling shook her head and went on "I'm still not sure if he saw me, or if there was a man at all. No alarm went up, and no harpoons were thrown into the water. But.."

Luna sighed "I understand. But maybe it's just because you've been afraid for these past few days, it's hard to be happy and carefree again."

"I guess so" Hermione said.

"Now, "Ginny said, clapping her hands. "Let's talk about something else, like your new top!"

Luna nodded eagerly. "I didn't know you had to wear clothes"

Hermione smiled, grateful for the change in topic. "None of the Waterlings usually do, as you probably know. But Ron is making me seriously uncomfortable so I tried my hand at weaving. What do you think?"

Ginny beamed "It looks amazing, how did you find shells that big?"

Hermione shrugged "The deeper you swim, the bigger the creatures grow since humans can't hunt that deep.

"It's so much easier to use shells than to use only seaweed, my first ones were a complete disaster."

"Well, it looks amazing Hermione" Luna said with a soft smile on her face.

As the hours quickly passed, the Elementals talked about lighter things, each of them unaware of the pair of eyes watching them from behind a large oak.

Black marble heels clanked as Queen Bellatrix walked down the hallway.

Her blank hair was teased up high into a pompadour that rose over her head and then cascaded down her back.

A brown circlet with metal thorns adorned her head, and around her neck lay a string of black pearls that dipped down into her bosom, daring the eye to follow them down.

She knew what they said about her. That her black clothes and cold jewelery reflected her black heart and cold personality.

She absolutely agreed.

The Mad Queen, as she was dubbed, stopped in front of a set of large doors and waited impatiently for her guards to open them.

She quickly marched into the room, her cold eyes analyzing the man standing in the middle of the room.

He was dressed in the dirty sea-worn clothes as the rest of the sailors, but there was a glint in his blank eyes that bespoke of bad intentions.

Bellatrix stopped in front of him and said in an impatient voice "If you're going to beg and apologize for the pitiable amount of Waterlings you've bought me this month, spare me. I'll decide on your punishment later, the death one of the men from your crew perhaps." A corner of her mouth quirked up into a menacing smile.

Anthony Pucey shook his head.

"No, my Queen. I bring news."

A black eyebrow arched.

A slow smile spread across his face "We have found a Waterling with a golden tail"

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A/N: I am so sorry for the wait. I was so caught up with school and what not that I didn't realize how much time had passed ;( But no worries, I've gotten back into writing mood. I started a darker oneshot a while ago, and I'm about half way done, and my Muse has been kind enough to grant me with lots of new prompts so I shouldn't struggle with plot for a while.

Thoughts on who the man watching the girl was? Thoughts on Bellatrix? Thoughts in general?

ALSO, would you be interested if I started a Tumblr? I could post progress, inspiration and reference pictures and all sorts of cool stuff. Any one interested?

Reviews are love 3

Queen of Faerie