Song of Loralai- The Series

Captain Curnow

       Loralai swished her tail frantically, trying to escape the net she had yet again been caught in. She was propped in the corner of the cabin, the Captain sitting luxuriously in his chair. He looked over at her squirming and laughed.

     "You, I remember you. You're the one that escaped. Surprising how events turn out isn't it?" he said, walking over to her, and she shrunk back in the corner. He grabbed the net roughly, holding her up. "Too bad I can't slaughter you for those pretty scales of yours....yet. No, no see, you my dear, are very special, being able to survive cold water, unlike most of your warm water sisters. I want to know why. And to do that well, you need to be alive." He said, giving her a wicked grin, his crooked yellow teeth showing. "For now."

         "You let me go right now!" She yelled at him, and he covered his ears in pain, dropping the net. When a Siren speaks above ground, all humans can hear is a loud shrieking noise. She used it to her advantage. She slipped out of the net, and tried getting away, but she felt a strong hand grab her tail, and yank her back viciously.

         "You'll learn some manners, fish, or I'll teach you." He said roughly, and she winced in pain as he gripped her tail tighter. He tossed her into a metal cage, and locked the door. There was barely enough water on the floor of the cage. 

        Next to her she saw surgeon tools, but not for surgery. For scale removing. The Captain, seeing her eyeing the tools, walked over and picked one up.

        "You know, it wouldn't hurt to take a scale as a.... souvenir let's say." He said, holding the tool in his hand, and Loralai shrunk back in the cage. He opened the cage and reached his hand in to grab her tail, and she reached forward and bit it hard, causing him to scream.

         "Son of a-!" he yelled, and he grabbed her by her throat, and marched out of the cabin with her.

            Several of the humans looked at their captain in surprise, then at Loralai in his hands. He tossed her on to the floor, along with the scale removing tools. 

            "Keep her locked up under chains. And bring me a souvenir." He said roughly, then went back into his cabin and slammed the door. 

            Loralai looked around at her captors, and tried to crawl away, but one of them grabbed her tail and another her arms. "Now now pretty, you're not getting away that easily." One of them said, and she was carried off into a dark room, filled with chains. One of them cuffed her hands into the chains tight, and another one brought a table full of the tools next to her.

            Before she could scream, one of them put a rag of sorts over her mouth.

            "This won't hurt a bit love." she heard someone say, before she blacked out.

          "Professor! Professor Dumbledore!" Michael yelled, bursting into the Headmaster's office with Severus. He was in the middle of a meeting with Slughorn and glared daggers on them.

        "Sir it's Loralai! She's been kidnapped by Pirates!" Severus said, out of breath. Dumbledore stopped glaring at them, and looked at Slughorn.  "I trust you can take care of your problem by yourself professor?" he asked him, and Slughorn nodded and hurried out of the office, knowing he wasn't needed.

         "Where?" Dumbledore said furiously, and they went around his desk to the balcony and pointed to the ship that was sailing away on the Black Lake with Loralai.

         "Damn that Captain Curnow!" Dumbledore muttered angrily to himself, and rushed around his office looking for something.

            Michael and Severus stood at the entrance, watching Dumbledore perch his Phoenix in his arm. "Go find her Fawkes." he said to the Phoenix, and they watched as it took flight, heading in the direction of the ship.

          "Follow me." he said sternly, and they followed him out of the castle and out onto the Black Lake. Dumbledore looked out to the distance, the ship almost sailing out of view.

          Dumbledore took his wand out and pointed to the ship in the distance. "Carpe Retractum!" he yelled, and they watched as an orange colored chain sped out from his wand, towards the ship. To their amazement, it latched on to it, and very, very slowly, pulled the ship closer.

           Soon it was a hundred yards away, and the spell stopped, but the orange chain remained, turning instead into an anchor to keep the ship there. They saw as dozens of pirates went on to the deck confused, and they saw Dumbledore. 

          Most of them jumped off of the ship, but some of them stayed, taking an offensive stance. Behind them, the three could see Captain Curnow coming out of a room, dragging an unconscious and bleeding Loralai across the deck, into his cabin without looking to see what the commotion was. 

          Dumbledore gripped his fist tightly, and they watched as Fawkes arrived at the ship, and lifted the remaining pirates up in the air and dropping them in the lake. Dumbledore summoned a boat from the bottom of the lake, and they rode across the lake fast, towards the ship. They then climbed up the net on the side of the ship, and up onto the deck. It was empty, and no one was to be seen. Dumbledore nodded to the boys to search the ship, while he went up to the steering wheel, moving it towards the shore.

       Meanwhile Michael and Severus went into a room on the deck, almost throwing up at the sight they saw. 

        It was a small dark room, shackles lining the walls, and sharp tools lying on the ground, bloody. And next to them, scales. Dark blue scales. There was blood dripping from a pair of shackles, and a rag lying on the floor. Michael, shaking, picked it up and sniffed it, instantly regretting it. It was saturated in something to knock her out. Severus ran out immediately, and Michael followed him. 

        They looked at Dumbledore and shook their head, and they knew she had to be in the cabin. The three of them took their wands out, Dumbledore in front, and they opened the cabin door.

       The captain was disheveled and holding Loralai tightly by the throat, a wand pointed at her head. "Step any closer mate, and she dies." He said, pressing the wand against the side of her head.

      Michael and Sev were horrified. She was drenched in blood, and several of her scales were missing. She was barely conscious, and her head had a large gash on it. They could see needle marks all over her arms, and her hair was a mess. 

       "Expelliarmus!" Dumbledore yelled, pointing at the Captain, and he flew backwards, out of the cabin entirely, and Loralai fell to the floor hard.

      Dumbledore walked over and picked Loralai up, and walked out of the cabin. Michael and Sev looked out of the whole the Captain flew out of, but they couldn't see him anywhere in the water. They quickly followed Dumbledore out, and back to the Hospital Wing with Loralai in his arms.

      Dumbledore burst into the Hospital wing doors, and Madam Pomfrey would have lost it if she hadn't seen Loralai. Her face was a mixture of horror and shock, and she quickly got her onto a bed and started working on her, pushing Michael and Sev back in the process. 

      They watched over her the entire time, sitting in chairs next to the bed and not moving the entire seven hours Madam Pomfrey worked on her. After she was done, Dumbledore helped some but there was nothing more they could do. 

         The blood was washed away, but she was covered in bandages. The places where her scales were removed were wrapped intensely, but were still bleeding. Michael and Sev held a hand of hers each while she lay there, and demanded to be allowed to stay. Madam Pomfrey looked at Dumbledore, and he nodded solemnly. She looked at Loralai worriedly, then went to attend to other patients.

        Dumbledore returned to his tower, telling the two to send him an owl when she woke. They nodded, and watched him leave, and returned their attention to Loralai. 

        "Do you think she will wake up?" Severus said in a small voice, and Michael looked at him.

         "I don't know, Severus. I don't know."