Kura: Hiya everybody! Man, I was planning to post this up earlier but my stupid computer did something incredibly stupid and died out on me! And for some reason, I couldn't get back my chapter! I thought there was auto save! I mean, my computer should've auto saved it or something! But no! It was all GONE!

Berry: As a result, we had to write this all over again...

Kura: So yeah...but I was an idiot for not saving any parts of it... T^T Anyway, I'm done now! XD HECK YEAH!

Berry: This time, the story focuses on the Golden Trio meeting a special somebody. :) That is sadly not in Gryffindor...

Kura: Yeah...anyway, I plan to bring another Straw Hat into the light soon too! XD That might come out after this one...Lastly, thanks to all those who reviewed! XD I was so happy! XD

Berry: Thank you everybody :) And surprisingly, the guest reviews came out now :) That was a nice surprise :)

Kura: Yeah! :)

Disclaimer: HP belongs to J.K. Rowling; OP belongs to Odacchi! :)

Kura: START!

1.4 The Older Brother

Hermione sighed. She was sitting on a staircase alone on the first Saturday of school.

She had really hoped that she could gain friends. Back home, nobody really liked her and she was always alone. Her mother and father loved her dearly but were so busy with their jobs. Hermione hated being alone...she had really hope she could find comfort here in Hogwarts but of course...she could never be too hopeful.

Looking outside, she watched Luffy and his older brother play near the water. Farther away, Harry and Ron were welcomed into a hut by the large man she remembered being introduced as Hagrid, the Keeper of Hogwarts...or something like that.

She shook her head and returned to watching Luffy and who she remembered as Ace. Maybe she can ask to play with them...?

"Hello, what are you doing all alone?"

Hermione jumped and turned to see an older student with a kind smile. His hair was curly and dirty blonde and his tie were blue and silver, the colors of Ravenclaw.

"...I-I...uh..."

"Aren't you bored, sitting there all alone?" He said in a teasing tone. "I thought Gryffindors like to hang around together and cause trouble, especially on weekends."

At that, Hermione frowned and looked down, feeling very sad once again.

The boy blinked, surprised by her sudden reaction before sitting down next to her. "What's wrong?"

Hermione blushed a bit. "...Nothing..." She muttered, reluctant to even spill anything about her dilemma.

Then suddenly, the boy reached forward and latched his fingers onto Hermione's side. Hermione gasped and covered her mouth when she felt giggles threatening to come out as she fell to the floor, the older boy still tickling her for who knows what reasons!

"S-Stop!" She cried as she struggled to not laugh.

The boy grinned. "Not until you laugh!" He retorted back in a playful tone.

Finally, Hermione gave in and in seconds, she was laughing while the older boy smirked in triumph.

Then he stood up, waiting for Hermione to finish giggling. And when she did, she gasped before turning a glare at the older boy who held up a hand in defense. "Hey, no kid your age should be gloomy." He retorted as Hermione rolled her eyes.

"...Thanks..." Hermione whispered as the boy smiled.

"No problem. Now, will you like to tell me what's wrong?"

Hermione looked down, blushing slightly. "...W-Well...I...was just kind of lonely."

The boy blinked in surprise before his eyes softened, a somewhat sad smile on his face. Then he composed himself and grinned. "Well, we can't have that, now do we?" Hermione looked at him in confusion. "First off, I sense that you're like me. Do you like learning?"

Hermione nodded a bit too eagerly before she blushed from her actions.

A simple laugh caused her to look back up. "Well, I'm sure Professor Flitwick wouldn't mind us visiting him! He always let me come and he teaches me some new things! Of course stupid brothers of mine won't even bother to try them out. Well...except for that one where you can summon things from faraway..."

Hermione giggled. "That sounds very interesting." She admitted.

The boy nodded eagerly. "It is! Well, let's go then!" He said as he grabbed Hermione's hand before he rushed off to the charms professor's class with Hermione trying to get the older boy to slow down for her pace.

Meanwhile, back at the black lake, Luffy looked up at the castle before he pouted and cried out, "Ace!"

Ace blinked before he looked up to stare at Luffy, having only finished another "rigorous" and "vigorous" game of tic-tac-toe with the giant squid of the lake. Despite having only one tentacle out, not even its eyes out of the water, the giant squid was quite skilled at the game. "What?" Ace asked.

"...Sabo ain't coming." Luffy moaned.

"Eh? He must be going to Flitwick's class then."

"EH!? Why!? Sabo promised to play with us!" Luffy cried as he flopped down on his stomach and rolled over.

Ace shrugged. "Sabo likes that class. Just let him be. We can hang out with him later. Besides this is a perfect chance for you to finish your work!" Ace said teasingly.

Luffy pouted before bubbles appeared on the water surface. "The squid thing is right! You have work too!"

"Yeah but unlike a certain idiot, I finished it all before coming here!" Ace said with a grin.

Luffy stared at his older brother. "I'm telling Sabo that you called him an idiot."

Ace fell to the ground while bubbles appeared on the water surface. The squid's tentacle was shaking slightly. "I WAS TALKING ABOUT YOU, YOU IDIOT!"

"...Oh...! Oh well, okay then!" Luffy said as he laughed while Ace slapped his head.

~.~.~

Ron sighed as he watched his older twin brothers pull out pranks left and right in the Gryffindor common room. Little first years like himself were either screaming or laughing. And as much as he loved his brothers, they were annoyingly annoying when they cast their pranks on him.

He still hated that time they turned his beloved teddy bear into that...that...horrid thing!

But when the twins eyes turned to him, he quickly bolted out of the common room.

As he walked down the corridor, he sighed. Harry was off with Professor Flitwick who wanted to talk with him for some reason. As a result, Harry told Ron to go on without him with an apologetic smile.

And Ron did. And now he regretted it.

He never realized how boring it could be with nobody besides you. He always had either his brothers or his little sister. Of course, his little sister must be feeling the same way...

Another sigh escaped his lips.

Maybe he could visit Hagrid? He did yesterday...but maybe it'll be weird if he was by himself. After all, Harry was with him last time.

...Then...what was he supposed to do...?

"Hey, aren't you a Weasley?" Ron started before he looked up to see an older student with curly blonde hair and his tie bearing the colors of silver and blue: Ravenclaw. The teen before him was clearly a Ravenclaw.

Not that he had anything against Ravenclaw students.

It's just that...the twins told him that Ravenclaw students were very much like his older brother, Percy who was very uptight and very much of a git. And he really did not like those kinds of people.

...Ugh...Idiotic git.

"...Yeah..." Ron responded.

"I'm guessing your older twin brothers were pranking everybody so you left the Gryffindor tower to escape them?" Ron blinked as the teen accurately guessed what was happening to Ron at the moment.

"How'd you know?" Ron asked.

The boy laughed. "After meeting those twins, I would understand." He said. "Besides, those twins are crazy! Sure their jokes are pretty hilarious but that's only if you're not on the receiving end of their pranks."

Ron nodded, agreeing with the older boy.

"Anyway, what's your name?"

Ron blinked before smiling a bit. "I'm Ron..."

"Well, nice to meet you Ron! I'm Sabo! You're a first year, right? Where's your friend? I usually see you with him."

"You mean Harry?" Ron asked. "He with Professor Flitwick who called him in for whatever reasons I don't know."

Sabo blinked before he scowled. "Wait...don't tell me...! Oh, professor! You promised to show me and Mione that spell today! Gah! That's so not fair!" He cried as he fell to the ground.

Ron could only stare.

Mione?

Who the bloody hell was that?

Then Sabo sighed and stood up. "Oh well. I'll just meet with the professor later. Anyway, Ron, you're in Gryffindor, right? That means you must've met my little brother!" Sabo said with a grin.

"You have a little brother!? In Gryffindor!? Shouldn't he be in Ravenclaw!?" Ron asked, forgetting that he was being rude at the moment.

However, it seemed like it didn't bother Sabo for he suddenly slapped a hand over his mouth and began to laugh. Then he fell to the floor, laughing wildly at something Ron said. And this only made the boy baffled at the older teen's actions. Then finally after a few minutes, Sabo slowly stood up, a few chuckles escaping every now and then. "If...you think my little brother should be in Ravenclaw...y-you're out of your mind...!? HA! Him!? In Ravenclaw!? Too hilarious!" Sabo said as he started to leave, but not before saying good bye to Ron.

Ron just stood there, confused as to what just happened, not even noticing that Harry had came around the corner.

"...Ron?" Harry waved his hand in front of his best friend.

Said best friend finally snapped out of his dazed state. "...Harry...?"

"What happened?"

"...I...I don't know..."

~.~.~

Harry watched with slight amusement as Luffy jumped on Ron, declaring that the ginger haired boy had meat and that he wanted some right away. In the corner, Fred and George were giggling to themselves as they pointed at Luffy and their little brother while next to them on the floor was Ace who was asleep.

The boy who lived winced as Luffy pounded Ron's back.

No doubt Ron will never forgive his older brothers is he ever find out it was them who apparently informed Luffy about him having the straw hat boy's favorite food.

Then with a sigh and a thought that he could no longer watch this, Harry got up and went to his shared room before rushing to his trunk. He opened it up quickly, hoping to find something that would force Luffy to get off his best friend.

A blink, and then Harry took out a chocolate frog back from their train ride to Hogwarts. Sure it was old but Harry was certain that Luffy could care less about that. Apparently, to Luffy, any food is good and not wasteful.

Just as he closed his trunk and was ready to go back downstairs, the window suddenly opened and Harry turned to see a teen he recognized back at the sorting ceremony. It was the boy who laughed at the Ravenclaw table. What was he doing here?

"...Er...I'm supposing you haven't seen Ace...have you?"

"...He's asleep in the common room."

The boy groaned. "Of course he is." He sat on the windowsill, looking outside for a bit before turning back to Harry. He looked rather annoyed at something but Harry wasn't sure. Then finally, the boy turned around and gave a smile, his previous attitude disappearing. "Hey, aren't you Harry Potter?"

Harry winced. He wasn't another fan was he? He already had enough of people staring and pointing at his scar. It wasn't all that amazing.

"What do you think about Hogwarts?"

Harry blinked. That...was surprisingly normal. "...Fine..." He said softly, unsure about how to responded to everything that was happening at the moment.

The boy raised an eyebrow before he threw his head back and laughed. Harry jumped. Of all the things, he certainly wasn't expecting the boy to suddenly...laugh.

"W-What's so funny...!?" Harry almost accused. He felt...embarrassed. Just what exactly was so funny to the older boy?

"Oh god, sorry! It's just, your expression is ridiculously hilarious! Were you expecting me to be like all those stupid fans? Pointing and staring at your scar?" Harry blushed a bit, hands reaching up and rubbing his scar unconsciously before he flinched and set it down. Then the boy bent over, still laughing.

Harry frowned. "...Was it really that funny?"

"I'd say it was. Anyway, sorry about that. Nice to meet you. I'm Sabo." The boy, now identified as Sabo, said with a friendly grin. "Glad to see that Hogwarts is fine for ya." Harry blushed again before he calmed down and smiled back.

"Nice to meet you Sabo. Umm...can I ask you a question?"

"You just asked away but sure, you can ask another." Sabo replied back with another grin.

Harry blinked, before he almost slapped himself from the ridiculousness of the older student. "...Um...just what are you doing here?"

"Well, considering I was looking for Ace, obviously I was looking for Ace." Sabo said, looking thoughtful.

"I knew that. It's just that...why...through a window...? And just how did you get up here anyway?"

Sabo frowned. "Why not? And isn't it obvious? I climbed the wall."

Harry almost had the urge to slap his head again. But by then, Sabo had looked down again. Then the teen looked back at Harry before glancing around the room. His face seemed to brighten when his eyes landed on a certain bed where a trunk leaned against it sat. The trunk had the name Luffy on the handle in red. Sabo snickered.

The boy who lived blinked and looked at Luffy's trunk, confused. Just what was so funny.

"Huh, I thought I'd end up in Ace's room. Never considered the fact that I'd find myself in Luffy's instead."

"You know Luffy?"

Sabo laughed. "Who doesn't? After what happened at the sorting, I'm sure everybody has a certain idea of what kind of person Luffy is." He added. Then he frowned. "He's doing fine, right?"

Harry nodded. "I suppose...he's...a good guy." He added, about to say that Luffy was an idiot but immediately caught himself.

"...You're thinking that Luffy's an idiot, yeah?"

Harry flushed and shook his head. "I'm not!" He cried.

Sabo laughed. "Doesn't matter anyway. It's pretty much true. Well...to most topics anyway. People don't realize but Luffy's very...intelligent in some ways...I suppose. And I was really hoping that could be the reason that the stupid sorting hat would put Luffy in Ravenclaw, despite the fact that there's no way that Luffy could ever be in Ravenclaw." Then, as if he remembered something, he suddenly laughed. Harry stared, baffled. When the teen finally calmed down, he went right back into ranting. "But no, he had to go to Gryffindor cause he's an idiot!" There were still a few giggles but the boy was obviously upset.

At that, Harry felt a pang and frowned. Was that guy saying that the entire house of Gryffindor were idiots?

"Ah! Not that I'm saying that everybody in Gryffindor are idiots! It's just that Luffy heads into situations without thinking about the consequences first! And well, part of that trait really leads to Gryffindor! And I suppose his bravery can be pretty idiotic. I'm seriously, that idiot doesn't know how to be scared of anything! I'll bet that he would go straight into the Forbidden Forest and fight a Acromantula if there was no ban!" Harry blinked. What the heck was an...Acromantula...? "...Then again...Luffy would still go even with the ban...and try to eat the blasted creature if he could..." Sabo stated with a strange hint of fondness in his voice.

Harry just continued to stare.

"Ugh, and of course, Ace had to go and rub it in my face that Luffy got to be in Gryffindor. The jerk! I wanted Luffy too! I knew I should've just went to Gryffindor! But no, I told the hat, just put me anywhere, I could care less, and then the blasted hat puts me into Ravenclaw! Of course, not that I have anything against them but I want my little brother too-"

"Little brother!?" Harry cried, interrupting Sabo in his mid-ranting session. "You mean, Luffy is your little brother!?"

Sabo turned to Harry and nodded.

"...B-But...I thought siblings go to the same house...!"

The older boy shook his head. "There's the Patil twins. Padma's a good friend of mines now. And her sister should be in Gryffindor."

Now that he thought about it, Harry swore there was a girl with the last name Patil in Gryffindor. She was sorted before he was...

"Anyway-" Sabo paused before looking out the window and then sighed. "Ugh, again. Professor McGonagall is a jerk, ain't she." He muttered before he stuck his hand into his pocket and took out his wand. Then, pointing it to the air, he said, "Accio, broomstick!"

Harry blinked. Surely, the older boy did some sort of magic. But he hadn't heard that spell before...maybe it was a spell he would learn later. After all, he barely knows any. And Ron's spell to turn Scabber's yellow wasn't even a real spell. But why was nothing happening...? Harry walked over, just to be sure, and looked out the window before looking down.

Below were many students, pointing and laughing at Sabo while the head of Gryffindor looked very livid, her words reaching only the ears of the students below. Harry looked at Sabo. "You heard Professor McGonagall from up here?"He asked, shocked and baffled at the thought of just hearing the older woman with all the wind blowing up in the Gryffindor tower.

Sabo shrugged. "I got good ears." He said casually. Then he brightened. "Oh, it's coming." He said.

Harry looked to where Sabo was looking and jumped to see something flying towards them at an unholy speed. He rushed out of the way, rushing back to the room. However, whatever had flew towards them, now revealing to be a broomstick, stopped right in front of Sabo and the boy jumped onto the broom. He looked back at Harry before grinning.

"Oh, again, nice to meet you oh conqueror of the Dark Lord." He said in a teasing tone before flying away.

Harry just stood there, still clutching the chocolate frog in his hands before he shook his head, trying to clear his mind. A few seconds later, he straightened up and headed out of the dormitory and back down to the common room where interestingly, Luffy was still wrestling Ron and demanding meat.

Marching up to the two boy, Harry pushed the chocolate frog into the boy's hand and pulled him off of Ron who was grumbling all the while.

Luffy merely looked at the chocolate in his hands before grinning at Harry. "Shishishi, thanks Harry!" But as he was leaving, he turned around and stared at Harry.

"...What?" Harry asked, already weary from everything that has happened so far.

The straw hat boy merely stared before he suddenly grinned wildly, surprising Harry. "My older brother's pretty cool, right?" He asked before turning back around and heading towards the twins, declaring that he finally got something.

Harry just stood there, baffled. How did Luffy know...!?

Ron stood up before waving his hands in front of Harry. "Harry? What's wrong?" He asked.

The boy who lived blinked before shaking his head. "I...nothing...just nothing. But I think I'm getting a headache." He muttered as Ron blinked, confused.

Kura: Huh, Harry's came out the longest...:P

Berry: You know, originally, this was just supposed to be for Hermione. In the end, everybody came aboard :P

Kura: Yups! :) Anyway, hope everybody enjoyed it! I don't think this came out very good...I just hope that it's alright...Okay, bye everybody! XD Good night! XD

Berry: Jya ne :)