Disclaimer: One Piece and Harry Potter does not belong to me, each belongs to their respective author. At the moment, only Mecha is mine.
Challenge by TheBlackSeaReaper.
Beta: TheBlackSeaReaper
-.-The Journey from platform nine and three-quarters
Ace spent the rest of the summer wondering what had he forgotten, he was not sure what it was but it had to do with Hagrid, he was certain of that.
The rest of the summer was pretty quiet, in the definition of Ace, of course. Ace visited London and Diagon Alley at his pleasure.
The only one who did not enjoy this month was Tom, who was about to start marking in the calendar the remaining days to the start of the term. He did not know what to do, Ace ate like he has no tasted food in months, and that was the least of the problems, on the early days Tom took his good scares when Ace did not return until late at night, after exploring Muggle London, these little details made Ace´s sleep disorder seen as something insignificant.
But the truth was that Tom relaxed more when Ace went to Diagon Alley.
Ace went and visited every shop in the alley, including those he had visited with Hagrid.
He did not like his small form but he must take full advantage of it, and after going through adulthood, this had its advantage, which he had not seen the first time. One was how easy it was to approach people and them to come out to you when one is a child, perhaps it had to do with the idea that children are innocent and have no evil ... Unless of course they met Sabo, Luffy and Ace.
People, incredibly, thought that it was adorable the little boy going from here to there, asking for this and that, not knowing that their pockets were slightly sacked. The store owners were no exception, some willing to help new generations answered every one of Ace's questions, those which were not so willing to help, saw their service reflected in the sudden loss of merchandise.
At the end of the summer, Ace had made great friends with the owner of the Apothecary and the book store Flourish and Blotts. He had discovered that Madame Malkin hated him (probably because Ace's taste in fashion) and the owner of Florean Fortescue's, every time Ace went, follow him intently waiting for the child to fall asleep, for some reason, the reaction of everyone around him was all fun.
The first of September came and Ace, to his surprise, found himself excited to go. "Just a little, nothing more," he told himself. Although it was expected, Ace had spent a full month flipping through his books, practicing spells like the tickling spell on the Cauldron clients (although none had worked), or brewing potions like the Wide-eye Potion so he could put it in the drink of some poor victim, but there were some potion like the Forgetfulness Potion that had never worked. Ace was sure that there was something he was not doing right, and although he hates to admit it, he needed help.
When he came down to breakfast that morning, Tom had already prepared the huge breakfast that the child was used to take. Ace was sitting on the chair when something big went over his head and went on the chair opposite to him, slowly the red hawk turned with wings slightly open so he could give the impression of being bigger. Tom, like several customers of the Leaky Cauldron moved away from the tables with caution, while Ace settled into his chair and the hawk crouched a bit with his wings open. At any time either looked away from the other. Suddenly the two jumped on the table, and after what seemed like a minute, all was calm, the hawk was standing on the table pulling a piece of meat with his beak, while Ace, with one foot on the table and one in the chair, was holding the same piece of meat in his hands, in an attempt to take away the piece from the hawk, as he said, "Give me that Mecha, doomed ugly bird"
Once Mecha has proved that his force could hold the boy's, let go of the piece, causing Ace to hit the ground.
And this was every morning.
Tom after that was in charge of hurry Ace to leave to the station, he even got a taxi to take him. Ace was helping the driver to upload the trunk, when Tom, trying hard not to cry, gave Ace a large package that has a smell of a huge snack for the road. Because Tom knew that despite everything that Ace had made him passed, he would miss the child.
King's Cross was one of the few places that Ace had been unable to visit in his stay but once he arrived and took out his ticket to see the number of the platform, he wished he had paid a visit or at least have seen the ticket before.
Was it perhaps this what he had forgotten? No, there was no way that he had, this was the first time he saw the ticket.
Ace began to walk along the platform 9 and 10, maybe there was some stairs somewhere, but a little voice shouted "They are wizards, they will not have stairs at simple glance" Sure, how could wizards leave stairs at the eye of ... What was the word Hagrid use to describe not magical people?
"... Muggles, of course"
Ace quickly turned his head, so fast that is hurt, to the peculiar word he was looking for.
"Now, what's the platform number?" Said a plump woman, who was followed by four redheaded boys. All carrying trunks and one of them with an owl.
"Nine and three-quarters!" said a little girl also redhead, pretty adorable.
"All right, Percy" said the woman "you go first."
The boy with the owl began to move and just as he reaches the wall, a group of people stood in the sight of Ace.
"Fred, you next,"
"I'm not Fred, I'm George," said the boy. "Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? Can't you tell I'm George?"
"Sorry, George, dear."
"Only joking, I am Fred," and began to advance, while Ace made an effort not to laugh. Even when he did not know them, those twins seem that were great.
When the twins disappeared, Ace knew that by only watching he could not discover anything.
"Sorry" education first "I was wondering if you could tell me how to get to the platform?"
"Sure," she said with a big smile, "It's your first year, right? It is also the first year of Ron" said while pointing to his youngest son. "All you have to do is to move forward, directly to the wall, run if you're nervous"
Ace looked at the wall, and then to the woman, as if trying to figure out if it was safe or not. Oh well, it would not be the first wall that he crashed. "Willingly, it would be" he thought.
Ace began to run, and run, and eager to see what happened he did not close his eyes, as he crossed the wall, it was like falling into water, and on the other side of the wall, was another platform, with a large train with the inscription: "Hogwarts Express"
Ace went to the last car without paying attention to anyone, took Mecha's cage and move him to one of the compartments, then left for the trunk.
"Need help," said one of the redheads twin.
"No, I have everything under control" and with that, he lifted the trunk on his shoulder, and introduced it to the wagon. The twins, surprised, followed him to the compartment where they could only watch how he handles the trunk as if it were empty.
"Wow, how ...?" said one, was he George
"How did you do that?" finish the other.
"What?" Ace asked innocently.
"Lift the trunk" the twins replied in unison
"Oh, that ... Eh… practice?"
"Wicked" They said in unison "We are twins ..."
"... Fred ..." said one, pointing to the other.
"... and George" said Fred pointing to George
"Ace D. Portgas"
"Fred, George, are you there?
"Coming, mom"
"See you later Ace"
Ace saw the twins getting out of the train and meeting with his mother and siblings. With nothing more, he dropped into his seat, opened his backpack and pulled his worn old copy of Treasure Island. Maybe, at last, after a month of only magic books, Ace might know who Long John Silver was. Ace was in the part where Jim saw Black Dog again when the compartment door opened.
"Sorry, is it occupied? Every else is full" it was the red-haired boy.
"No, go ahead." Ace said.
He had not even sat down when the door opened and the twins appeared.
"Hey, Ron, Listen, we're going down to the middle of the train... Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there"
"A giant tarantula?" exclaimed Ace
"Yea, wan' to come, Ace?" said George
"Absolutely"
"Perfect" said Fred, in seconds Ace was already at the door following the twins.
"So, Ace" began George "where are you from?"
-.-
The giant tarantula was not as giant as Ace imagined. Used to the wonder of the Grand Line, Ace hoped something at least his size.
He returned to his compartment, thinking of some of the plans the twins had for the semester, those twins were really great.
He was missing only one car to reach his compartment, when a sound caught his attention. A frog? No, it sounded lower. Ace began searching and soon found the source of the sound. A Toad.
Ace took the toad in his hands and stared at him, he said nothing, and just kept going with the toad in hand. He was close to reach the compartment when he saw something out of the ordinary; it was a boy, who was crawling on all fours on the floor. Just when Ace approached the boy, a boy with a round face, he looked up.
"Trevor!" The boy exclaimed as he stood up. "You found Trevor"
"Trevor?" asked the young pirate.
"My toad"
"Oh, it's yours. I thought it had no owner." Ace then looked at the toad "It's a shame it looked so delicious"
Trevor then opened wide his eyes before starting to croak and shake his legs vigorously in an attempt to free himself.
"You're not serious, right?" Asked the boy in a shy tone.
"Sure, frog meat is so good"
Trevor seemed to freeze while a strong shiver went through him, only to begin to stir desperately. Meanwhile, the boy looked at Ace waiting for this was a joke.
"In fact, it already made me hungry" And if it were the most normal thing to do, Ace entered the compartment, followed by the boy with worried expression.
Inside was still the redhead.
With his free hand, Ace took his backpack, while Trevor shivered violently, only to be released into the seat as if he were nothing.
The boy used the moment to rescue his toad, while Ace took from the bag his lunch that Tom had prepared in the morning.
"I'm starving"
"You did not have breakfast?" asked the redhead.
"Yes, but it is never enough"
"By the way, I am Ron Weasley"
"Ace D. Portgas, and what is your name?" referring to boy with the toad.
"Oh, Neville Longbotom"
Ace continued eating while he was watched by Neville and Ron.
"So, how was it?" Ron asked, breaking the silence.
"Boring" replied the boy, "I expected something bigger, but your two brothers are great"
"Do you have brothers?" Neville asked "Well, my gran brought me up and she's a witch, but I would have liked to have two brothers"
"Five," said Ron. For some reason, he was looking gloomy. "I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left… Bill was head boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch. Now Percy's a perfect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first. You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand, and Percy's old rat."
Ron reached inside his jacket and pulled out a fat gray rat, which was asleep.
"His name's Scabbers and he's useless, he hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a perfect, but they couldn't aff… I mean, I got Scabbers instead."
Ron's ears went pink. He seemed to think he'd said too much, because he went back to staring out of the window.
Ace said nothing and just kept eating; he saw nothing wrong with not being able to buy an owl, on the contrary, for a long time he had not been able to buy anything, most of what he had acquired had been stealing. Ron seemed like the classic pessimist, who only complained and did nothing about it.
"And you, Ace?" Neville asked in an attempt to divert Ron depression.
"I what?"
"Who you live with?"
"Ah, I live alone"
"Alone?"
"Well, I used to live with some ... what's the word?"
"Muggles?" said Ron. "What are they like?"
"Horrible…Well, not all of them. The Dursleys are, though. For that reason I escape"
"Escape?" Neville asked, in a tone of wonder and surprise "My grandmother would kill me if I did that"
"Well it's not as if they would care"
The clock soon struck half past twelve there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back door and Their said, "Anything off the cart, dears?"
"Yes I'm starving"
"But you just eat" shouted Ron.
"I'm growing, I need to eat well" And knowing how much he would grow, he need a lot.
Ace bought a little bit of everything from the cart. Ron just stared as Ace brought it all back in to the compartment and tipped it onto an empty seat.
"Really hungry, are you?"
"Always," said Ace, taking a large bite out of a pumpkin pasty.
"I left my lunch in my compartment" said Neville who was ready to get up and get out of the compartment.
"Don't worry, have a pasty, they are good"
Ron had taken out a lumpy package and unwrapped it. There were four sandwiches inside. He pulled one of them apart and said, "She always forgets I don't like corned beef."
"You too, have a pasty," said Ace. It was a nice feeling, sitting there with Ron and Neville, eating Their Way through all Ace's pasties, cakes, and candies (the sandwiches lay forgotten). It felt like that old days when people gather, and the best moments were as they ate and drank as they talked and sang.
No, he should not think about it.
"What are these?" Ace asked, holding up a pack of Chocolate Frogs. "Are they really frogs?" He really wanted that the answer were yes.
"No," said Ron. "But see what the card is. I'm missing Agrippa."
"What?"
"Chocolate Frogs have cards, inside them" answer Neville "to collect..."
"...famous witches and wizards." Continue Ron "I've got about five hundred, but I haven't got Agrippa or Ptolemy."
Ace unwrapped his Chocolate Frog and picked up the card. It showed a man's face. He wore half- moon glasses, had a long, crooked nose, and flowing silver hair, beard, and mustache. Underneath the picture was the name Albus Dumbledore.
"So this is Dumbledore" said Ace.
"Don't tell me you'd never heard of Dumbledore!" said Ron. "Can I have a frog? I might get Agrippa… thanks"
"And you, Neville, go ahead there are many"
Neville took one of the frogs, muttering a simple thanks.
"No, I've got Morgana again and I've got about six of her... do you want it? You can start collecting."
"Not interested" Ace replied, leaving the card in the seat.
Ron's eyes strayed to the pile of Chocolate Frogs waiting to be unwrapped. He was about to ask for another when they hear a strong:
TUM
"What happened?" said Neville standing up, follow by Ron.
"I do not know, you were closer"
Ace's head had fallen without warning against the glass of the window, which was now cracked.
"He is not dead, right?" asked Neville
"He was fine just now"
"Maybe he ate a lot and ..."
"Nobody dies from eating a lot" Ron said clearly worried. "Wait, you hear that?"
"What?" gasped Neville in surprise.
"That noise, it comes from Ace" Ron carefully approached Ace "Ah, he is asleep"
"But just now was fine"
"For a moment I thought he had fainted," said Ron.
Neville meanwhile looked from one side to another, "Have you seen Trevor?"
"He was in the seat a few minutes ago"
"Oh, he got lost again" and with that he began to search through all the boxes of candy.
"I do not know why you are lamenting; if I brought a toad I would like it to be lost"
But Neville said nothing; he just simply opens the door while saying "I'm going to look somewhere else"
Ron was again alone in the compartment; Ace seemed still asleep and would not wake soon. He took a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.
In something he had to entertain himself.
-.-
The countryside now flying past the window was becoming wilder. The neat fields had gone. Now there were woods, twisting rivers, and dark green hills.
Ron was busy trying to turn Scabbers yellow, while Ace was still sounding asleep, when the compartment door opened. Neville was back, this time with a girl.
"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth.
"I see you still cannot find him" said Ron, but the girl was not listening, she was looking at the wand in his hand.
"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then." She sat down. Ron looked taken aback.
"Er… all right."
He cleared his throat.
"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."
He waved his wand, but nothing happened. Scabbers stayed gray and fast asleep.
"Are you sure that's a real spell?" said the girl. "Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard… I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough… I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you.
She said all this very fast.
Ron looked at Neville, who had an expression as if saying "Sorry"
"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron muttered.
"Urusai!"
Ace has risen with a sleepy expression, only to drop back his head on the glass, breaking it more.
"And he is Ace D. Portgas"
Hermione only gave him a small glance and then returned to the other.
"Do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad... Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You two had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon."
And she went; while Neville apologize saying he would stay in the compartment to look there for Trevor.
"Sorry" said once the girl left.
"Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," said Ron. He threw his wand back into his trunk. "Stupid spell… George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud."
"What house are your brothers in?" asked Neville.
"Gryffindor," said Ron. Gloom seemed to be settling on him again. "Mom and Dad were in it, too. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I don't suppose Ravenclaw would be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin."
"So what do your oldest brothers do now That they've left, anyway?" Neville asked in simple curiosity.
"Charlie's in Romania studying dragons, and Bill's in Africa doing something for Gringotts," said Ron. "Did you hear about Gringotts? Someone tried to rob a high security vault."
They continued talking about the case before passing over to Quidditch, teams and plays, but Ron was the one who dominated the conversation.
Ace was still sleeping when the compartment door slid open yet again, but it was not Hermione Granger this time. Three boys entered, the boy in the center, shorter in stature than the other two gorillas that accompanied him, studied with an expert eye the compartment searching for something.
"Can I help you?" Ron said in a tone that said more "Go away, nobody invited you"
"I doubt it, I'm looking for someone but clearly he would not be in a compartment with you"
"Then go" growled Ron.
"But we don't feel like leaving, do we, boys?"
"Damn it, Urusai!"
It was then that the boy fixed his eyes on Ace "Alright guys, keep looking. I got this"
The gorillas left the compartment, and the pale boy approached Ace standing right in front of him. Ron was standing and Neville had imitated him. They did not know what meant "Urusai", but from the tone in which Ace said it, sounded like it was not something nice.
"I was just wondering where you were left " said the pale boy. Ace didn't move, still asleep. "Hey wake up" Draco could feel a vein throbbing in his head, and without hesitation he took Ace's shoulders and began shaking him vigorously "I'm talking to you, awake up"
Once stopped, Ace half opened his eyes, looked at Draco, then glanced at Ron and Neville who stood ready to jump into Malfoy. Then he looked back at Draco.
"Oh, it's you?"
"'It's you?' That's all you can say? "Said the blond.
"What did you expect me to say?"
Before Draco could say more, Neville intervened.
"Ace, you already knew each other?"
"Sure," replied Draco "I met him at Diagon Alley"
"It is he who you were searching?" Neville asked.
"Because if he is, you can leave" snarled Ron.
Draco ignored him and turned to answer the question of Neville.
"No, I wasn't looking at him; I was expecting to find him while looking for someone else"
"And who you were looking?" Ace asked.
"Harry Potter" answered in a low voice still looking at Ace, who could not help to put an expression of surprise, which quickly changed to a serious one.
"Harry Potter?" Neville asked, "Is he here?"
"According to rumors, yes, they say him in Diagon Alley, and he must, after all he is old enough to go to Hogwarts, his name should be on the list since he has a year old"
Ace said nothing; he remained sitting, watching the three boys talking about Harry Potter. Ron and Neville had an expression of absolute amazement at the possibility that Harry Potter was in the same train, while Draco was anxious and excited. Ace held his immense desire to bring his hand to his forehead to check if the gauze was still there.
"What I do not understand," Draco continued addressing Ace "is what are you doing here?" Ace raised an eyebrow in "it's not obvious" away, message Draco certainly understand "I mean here with Weasley"
"What?" exclaimed Weasley.
"No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford."
Ron's ears turned red, but that did not stop him from replying.
"Well I've heard of your family," said Ron darkly. "They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched. I don't believe it. Your father doesn't need an excuse to go over to the Dark Side."
Neville looked from side to side, his hands slightly raised in an attempt to see how to stop them. Ace did not move from his place. This seemed to be the beginning of a great rivalry, caused by old quarrels between families. Not his business, and in his opinion absurd.
Draco was about to answer when Hermione Granger came in.
"What has been going on? You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there!"
"Who are you?" ask Ace out of the blue.
"Hermione Granger" She said without emotion before returning to the others "You'd better hurry up and put your robes on, I've just been up to the front to ask the conductor, and he says we're nearly there."
"Would you mind leaving while we change?" said Ron, scowling at her.
"All right… I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors," said Hermione in a sniffy voice. "And you've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?"
Ron glared at her as she left. Ace peered out of the window. It was getting dark. He could see mountains and forests under a deep purple sky. The train did seem to be slowing down.