I'm back!
I hereby acknowledge my classmates Roze Hime-sama(Still not getting over the weird name); ZakuraSymphony and SoraSymphony, or their shared profile, KirinoShindou; and Kobito Dukan. My Microsoft Word is going bonkers with all the Japanese names here; it thinks they're all misspells.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling. One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda.
OK, wait.
Stop.
Back up.
You must be confused. Confused as to why Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived after a huge effort and lots of sacrifices, who managed to drag his Living rump through seven books and eight movies, would just take his friends one day and jump into the black curtain that claimed his uncle's life, committing suicide.
You're wrong: Harry was not committing suicide (and dragging his dear friends with him). He was trying to do something to save his uncle's life.
Really confused?
Hang on. There's an explanation for this…
It all began one fine Saturday morning after the Battle of Hogwarts. Once McGonagall had recovered fully from the war, she (being current headmistress of Hogwarts) insisted that life at the wizarding school return to normal. That meant the seventh-years had to go to school for three more months before graduation, despite all injuries and casualties from the battle.
That would explain why that morning Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were sitting in the Main Hall having breakfast when the post arrived. That would not explain why when Harry started reading the Daily Prophet, casually taking a sip of his pumpkin juice, his eyes widened as they reached the headlines and he spat a mouthful of pumpkin juice all over the newspaper.
"What happened, mate?" an alarmed Ron reached over, trying to get at the newspaper, but Harry quickly snatched the newspaper out of his best friend's reach. As he read it, the expression on his face became disbelief instead of shock. He stood up, pocketed the newspaper and ran off in the direction of the common room, without taking a bite out of his bacon.
"What was that?" his worried girlfriend asked her brother and Hermione.
They quickly abandoned their breakfast (with the exception of Ron, who took an extra bite of his eggs before wistfully putting his fork down) and went back to the common room. There, they found it to be empty, before Neville came down the stairs to the boys' dorm. He spotted them and pointed up the staircase anxiously. "He's up there," he said. "I think he's gone out of his mind."
The three of them went up the stairs to find Harry lying on his bed, staring at the newspaper.
"Harry-"
Wordlessly, he gestured at the newspaper. Ron, Hermione and Ginny crowded around it. As they read it, their jaws dropped and their faces slowly resembled one of disbelief.
SIGHTINGS OF THE LATE SIRIUS BLACK
Two years ago, the young teenagers known as Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood broke into the Department of Mysteries section of the Ministry of Magic. There, they were cornered by He Who Must Not Be Named and his Death Eaters, only to be rescued by the Order of the Phoenix. Chaos erupted. There were no casualties, with the exception of Sirius Black, previously mistaken as a Death Eater and a murderer but later found to be innocent after his death. He fell into a black curtain known as the Veil, which claims lives when wizards or witches touch it. It has been compared to the Muggle substance known as "quicksand", in the sense that once one touches either one, there will be no escape.
Last Thursday, however, a strange event occurred. Guards stationed outside the Department of Mysteries reported screams coming from inside. Upon inspection, they found it to be the Veil, which was rippling and waving in a curious manner like somebody was trapped inside. The guards had to back up in order to not be swallowed by the hazardous curtain.
Suddenly, the outline of a hand appeared on the curtain. Then followed another hand, and a man's face pressed upon it. Later descriptions of the face revealed it to be Sirius Black.
Black's hands clawed at the curtain, and the man screamed like he was in pain. "We were terrified," said one of the guards, Harry Osborn. "The man seemed to be suffering from a terrible ordeal. We didn't know how to help."
After a few minutes of this, Black loosened his grip on the curtain. "He… fell back," said another shaken guard, Howard Stark. "He just… fell. When he let go of the Veil, his whole imprint disappeared. The screaming stopped."
Doctor Xavier, head of All Things Mystical and Mysterious, quotes, "It could have been his ghost, but that's not likely. One thing's for sure after this: further research on the Veil is needed."
Ron gaped at Harry. "But that doesn't mean- but you said-"
For the first time since Ginny started reading the article, Harry looked up. There was a mixture of fiery determination and longing in his eyes. "I'm going after him."
Hermione frowned. "After who? Doctor Xavier?"
Harry pounded his fist. "No! Sirius! It all makes sense now!" He got off his bed and started pacing the room. "After the war, I started feeling this… tingling in my heart. At first I thought it was missing Fred, and Lupin, and Tonks, you know? But then I started dreaming about Sirius. He was telling me to look for him, remember, Ron?" Ron nodded, remembering the time he got woken up by Harry several times in the middle of the night, who was always screaming about godfathers and stones. "I thought they were just nightmares, triggered after seeing him in the Stone again. And now, this!"
Ginny watched him nervously. "But Harry, you saw him in the Stone, remember?"
Harry stopped and looked at his girlfriend thoughtfully. "That's a good point, Ginny. I'll figure that bit out later."
Hermione looked about to tear her bushy hair out. "But Harry! You can't just leave!"
Harry frowned. "Of course I can. Who can stop me?
"We're coming with you!"
True friends: always the quickest to understand that your dead godfather is actually not dead yet and you have to rescue him. Harry already knew he couldn't budge them once they'd made up their minds to join him, and they already knew they couldn't budge him once he'd made up his mind to jump into possible death. That was why all he said was "see you in the common room in five minutes," and all they did was nod and rush to their respective dorms.
In the end, it was thirty minutes, after Neville decided to join and Ginny said now that all five of them were there, it seemed rude not to invite Luna as she'd played a part in the rescue before and they had to run to Ravenclaw and wait for her to pack. At long last, they were outside Hogwarts.
Harry turned and looked at Hogwarts. "We'll be back soon with Sirius, I'm sure," He whispered to himself. Then all six of them went to the forest, found Thestrals(thanks to the war, they could all see them) and flew away, over the clouds.
So there you have it. The beginning of a long adventure, where peril and romance awaits. For in another universe, another galaxy, the sun was just rising as the young wizards came towards it. In this other galaxy was a planet somewhat similar to Harry's, except this was larger and had more sea.
This sea was called the Grand Line. And on the Grand Line, as the sun rose, awaited a very special pirate crew.
A pirate crew waiting for them.
So there you have it! Chapter 2. Hopefully you like this chapter as much as the last one! Feel free to drop any comments or writing ideas. I'll be happy to listen to your compliments! (And complaints.)
