Ok, so just a couple of things. One of the reviews I received off Feldoran (thanks for the review btw) said they didn't understand why Luffy would be good at chess, I understand where you're coming from but the Luffy I am using is a lot older cos y'know, Pirate King and all, so I thought that he'd mature just the teensiest bit from his 19 (I'm fairly sure that's how old he is in the manga now) year old self. Also, by popularity I now know who to put as Ace and Sabo! So bless y'all for that.
Everyone was in varying states of hangover in the morning, but despite this Professor McGonagall burst into their dormitory at the early time of 7:00 and made them all get up despite their protests.
While her lips were pressed tightly together in disapproval her eyes conveyed her mirth, "Shishishi, Zoro! Usopp! Sanji! Let's go to breakfast!" Luffy shouted from the top of his dog pile.
The other members got up with minimal grumbling, they had gotten used to getting up in the mornings after partying hard.
McGonagall looked at the quartet in amusement, "Let's go!"
And with that they raced out of the dormitory, still clad in their 'muggle' clothes. They ran all the way to the Great Hall, following their captain to the scent of food.
While the morning started off as peaceful the day definitely wasn't, Hermione was on their cases for exams and it seemed that the teachers were as well. "But Herminny!" Luffy complained at the sight of her colour-coded notes. "Exams are ten weeks away."
"Ten weeks is not long at all!" Hermione said in exasperation.
Thankfully, by this time Sanji had mastered a copying spell so that Luffy would actually have all of the required notes.
And the other teachers started hammering down on them, meaning that their training presided after Quidditch training and homework. It was frustrating to say the least, their training had hit a bit of a block.
And even when the Easter holidays arrived the homework was ridiculously piled up, so much that the crew started pulling all-nighters, resulting in the requirements of a lot more coffee. They all had bags underneath their eyes but it definitely was worth it.
Sanji, Zoro and Luffy had mastered observational haki. It was comforting to constantly feel his crew mates' auras pulsing through the air, they were some of the stronger ones, the only one who was up to par with theirs was Dumbledore.
Usopp was quickly learning once more, after the fight at Dressrosa where he took down Sugar Luffy had eventually grilled down on him to learn the haki properly. This gave him a head start, now it was just a matter of relearning it.
They were in the library one day intensely studying when they noticed a shifty presence. "Hey Hagid, what are you doing here?"
Luffy asked the half-giant who was trying to subtly hide something behind his back. Key word being trying.
"Nothin'." Hagrid said, his voice turned sharp. "Wha' are you lot doin' 'ere? Not lookin' for Nicolas Flamel are ye?"
"Nah, we already know what Fluffy is protecting." Luffy said smiling at the giant.
"Do yer now?"
"Yup, the saucey stone!"
"Don' go yellin' 'bout it!" Hagrid shouted at them. "An' beside' it's the Sorcerer's Stone."
"That's what I said."
Hagrid looked bemused by his way of speaking and forgetting names. "Well, I best be o' then, come see me 'nytime yer want."
"Okay, see ya Hagrid!" Luffy waved at his friend enthusiastically. "Also, why do you have an egg behind your back?"
"What, I don' have a' egg." Hagrid said nervously.
"If you say so." Luffy smiled once more at the man who hastily backed away out of the library.
"What kind of an egg was it?" Hermione asked curiously. "Also, how did you know that?"
"It was a -." Whatever Luffy was going to say was cut off by Sanji's hand slapping over his mouth with a sickening snap.
"What he meant to say is that the egg was a normal rooster one." Sanji improvised, Hermione didn't need to know that the egg hidden by Hagrid's hulking frame was a dragon's egg. She would probably tell a teacher.
"How can you tell?" She asked, frowning at their antics.
This time Usopp jumped in, "Because we saw him before and we saw that it was obviously an egg, I use them sometimes."
"Huh, you guys must have sharp eyes." Hermione said, with a touch of awe and suspicion evident in her voice.
"Of course, I am Sogeking!" Usopp proclaimed, loudly enough for others to hear him.
Zoro woke up to hit the boy on the head with a sheathed sword. "Idiot."
"Soge-what now?" Ron asked confusedly.
"It means Sniper King!" Usopp yelled, placing a leg on the table and puffing his chest out to make himself look important.
"Idiot." Sanji said kicking Usopp.
"Let's go see Hagrild later!" Luffy said, looking up from his place where he was studying the uses of plants.
All crew members nodded their assent, including Hermione and Ron.
Later that afternoon they arrived at Hagrid's hut, Luffy shouted to the groundskeeper. "Hagrilde, we're here!"
The door swung open along with a blast of hot air. "Hey 'arry, how are yer?" The half-giant smiled widely at their entourage, hands clad in mismatched oven mits.
"Not bad Hagrid, can we see the dragon you're hiding?" Luffy asked bluntly, causing the groundskeeper to flinch and shush the boy, loudly.
"Get in 'ere." He said gruffly, ushering them all in to the stifling hut that was more like a boiling pot, it didn't seem to affect any of the Straw Hats, mysteriously enough.
Hermione looked at Luffy in obvious shock, so it was a dragon egg? There! In the fire was an egg the shade of obsidian, becoming gradually warmer the longer it spent in its 'home'.
"Hagrid, is that…?" Ron trailed off, staring at the egg intensely. "Where'd you get it? It must've cost a fortune."
"I won it las' night, in a game of cards with a stranger, think 'e was glad ter be rid of it, ter be honest." Hagrid twiddled his thumbs on the wooden table.
"But what are you going to do with it when it's hatched?" said Hermione.
"Well, I've bin doin' some readin'." said Hagrid, pulling a large book from under his pillow. "Got this outta the library - Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit - it's a bit outta date, o' course, but it's all in here. Keep the egg in the fire, 'cause their mothers breathe on I em, see, an' when it hatches, feed it on a bucket o' brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour. An' see here - how ter recognize diff'rent eggs - what I got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback. They're rare, them."
Luffy looked at the egg in awe, stars appearing in his eyes. "I wonder what this breed tastes like." He muttered just loud enough for Sanji to kick him over the head in admonishment.
"Idiot! You don't eat dragon!"
"But Sanji, we ate one on Punk Hazard and it was delicious." Luffy whined.
"You can't eat it in this world Luffy," Sanji sighed.
It was amazing that the half-giant was unable to hear the words spoken but that might be due to the fact that he was caught up in his own conversation with a very displeased Hermione Granger.
"Hagrid, you live in a wooden house," She said, looking at him in obvious disapproval.
Hagrid stoked the fire in favour of answering Hermione's statement, he hummed merrily to himself as he poked the embers.
"This is so freaking cool!" Luffy shouted, jumping up and fist pumping the air.
Everyone sans Hagrid sweat dropped. "Uhm, Hagrid." Usopp started, shifting on his feet. "What are you gonna do when that thing gets older?"
"Erm, well… we'll cross tha' bridge when we come ter it." Hagrid sweated nervously.
"Cool!"
And that was that, when they were finally able to drag Luffy away from the groundskeeper and his dragon it was much to Luffy's disappointment.
"But what happens if someone discovers that Hagrid has a dragon?" Hermione persisted, after failing to elicit a satisfactory response from their captain.
"No-one will, and if they do I'll make sure that they don't tell anyone else." Luffy smiled, he liked that groundskeeper, as if he'd allow something to happen to him.
Hermione looked sceptical and seemed to want to argue further but at the last second opted to instead give them study schedules. "But Hermione, I don't wanna." Luffy whined, Zoro outright rejected the idea much to the chagrin of the witch. Usopp and Sanji were the only two to accept, Usopp because he knew he would need it and Sanji because he would never reject a female.
It was getting ridiculously difficult to train because the combined forces of Usopp, Sanji and Hermione were forcing the other two members (and Ron) to study hard for the upcoming exams.
Each of the students had a strong point, Usopp, herbology, that probably had something to do with spending a solid two years on a carnivorous plant island, he was also fairly decent at charms. Sanji was a pro at potions, most likely due to his years being a cook, he did have to learn the right ratios for food and put them into practise. Zoro was good at anything practical, after all, he did have three wands that all were specialised for different things. But overall, his best was charms and defence against the dark arts.
And Luffy, he was good at anything explained to him carefully by either a teacher or one of the Straw Hats, he was fairly good at defence against the dark arts, (hey, they were new creatures that were apparently impossible to defeat), charms and transfiguration as he was determined to learn how to transform a chair into a piece of meat, it also had something to do with the fact that all he did was think what he needed done to his wand and it got it done.
Hermione was good at just about everything and Ron was average in most subjects, however, he did fail abysmally in potions.
Then, at one breakfast Southy cooed its strange hoot and dropped a parchment with two words on it. Luffy whooped loudly when he read them. "Zoro! Usopp!" He called loudly for his friends, they gathered around him, eager to hear their captain's new adventure.
The parchment had two words on it; it's hatching.
Hermione tried to stop them from skipping Herbology but in the end Luffy simply put her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, much to Hermione's displeasure and Sanji's outraged call of 'That's not how you treat a lady shitty captain!" and ran all the way to Hagrid's hut, his friends trailing behind.
Poor Ron, he was so unfit. "Can't." pant. "You." Pant. "Slow." Pant. "Down?" He gasped out as he struggled to keep up to Neville.
"Sorry Ron, he's always like this." Neville replied to the boy whose face was rapidly turning shades darker than his hair, panting in exertion.
They arrived at the hut to see Hagrid beaming at them all happily, he was red in the face. "Come along you lot." He ushered them inside, making them tea.
Luffy plopped down on the ground, resting his head on the table and watching the egg excitedly.
The others watched on with various degrees of excitement. "You know, my brother Charlie looks after dragons." Ron said after the silence had dragged on to the point of awkwardness.
Immediately Luffy turned to him, stars lighting up his emerald eyes. "Can I meet your brother? I wanna see dragons!" He exclaimed.
"Erm, I guess, whenever he comes back from Romania." As soon as he finished Luffy jumped up from his position and started to dance, he screamed excitedly at the prospect of meeting older, full-sized dragons.
Ron sweat dropped at his enthusiasm. Thankfully he was spared from answering as from the egg, noises of scratching emanated outward. And just like that, Luffy's thought process was reduced to eagerly watching the egg and waiting for it to reveal its contents.
And then a loud scraping noise dragged itself across their ears and the egg split in half to reveal a jet black spindly looking dragon. Its wings were the same size as its body and it blew a few sparks out.
The dragon had captured everybody's attention in various states of awe. "Ain't she beau'iful?" Hagrid asked, attempting to stroke the dragon, it immediately snapped at his fingers with a mouth full of syringe like teeth.
It seemed to glare at Hagrid with its bright orange orbs. "Hey there buddy." Luffy cooed at the onyx creature, he clicked his fingers and to Hagrid, Hermione and Ron's surprise the dragon immediately hopped over to Luffy and started to allow him to stroke it. "Do you poop?"
Hermione looked outraged at such a question, Ron balked at the sheer absurdity, the Straw Hat sighed resignedly and Hagrid ignored him in favour of staring intently at the dragon that was slowly crawling up Luffy's body.
And the dragon, the little dragon cawed an affirmative.
"You don't answer!" Ron and Hermione shouted.
Hagrid looked a little sad at the actions of the dragon favouring Luffy but took it in his stride, Ron and Hermione were incredulous. Ron knew first-hand how unpredictable and uncontrollable dragons were without force but here one had willingly hopped onto a mere human, albeit it was the boy-who-lived but that did not take away his reverence for his friend.
Hermione was shocked because in every book she had ever read about dragons they had all stated that dragons were creatures that bowed to none unless under extreme torture or in the case of the Dragons Lords who had reigned over the ancient city of Camelot. She had a vague understanding of what happened beneath Gringotts with how the poor dragon were treated which made it all the more awesome when Harry simply clicked at it and it had responded in the best kind of way.
"Shishishi!" Luffy laughed as the dragon breathed fire onto his unprotected neck, while it did burn a little it reminded Luffy of a certain someone, but to name a creature after his brother was unprecedented.
Instead, Luffy allowed Hagrid to name the majestic creature 'Norberta', he really wanted to say that the 'Norberta' was actually a 'Norbert' but where would be the fun in that?
"Um, Hagrid, I hate to spoil the mood but you are aware that Norberta will be the size of your house in two weeks?" Hermione pointed out, snapping out of her reverence.
"Shishishi, by that time she'd be able to live in the forest!" Luffy said happily, stroking Norbert's head in pure unadulterated joy.
"Nah, it's okay Hagrid, we could give her to Charlie who would look after her until she was old enough to fend for herself in the wild." Ron reassured Hagrid.
Zoro watched with one eye open, looking at the dragon in mild interest, however, if the dragon did make one ill-willed move towards his captain he would most definitely destroy it. It also wasn't as awesome as the two fully fledged dragons they had met at Punk Hazard, hell, even Momonosuke was cooler than this little thing.
Sanji smiled at the dragon perched on his captain's shoulder, he had never actually seen a real dragon before in this life – they had all seen the dragon at Punk Hazard and Momonosuke with the exception of Jinbe. Whenever his parents had offered, he refused, he always tried to stay out of their way. But now, he was curious as to whether dragon would taste any good?
Luffy had said it tasted delicious but it was Luffy, the man who would eat literally any meat simply on the principal that it was meat.
Usopp was just the teensiest bit afraid, not that he'd ever admit that, he was a brave warrior of the see with a resolve to never flinch away from his enemy regardless of how strong they were. (But even so he couldn't help but inch closer to the swordsman in hope of protection).
Eventually dinner time rolled around and the crew and their extra friends waved good bye to Norberta and their half-giant of a friend.
As they made their way to the Great Hall Luffy and Sanji discussed what dragon would taste like and Sanji resolved to learn how to make it over his summer break, if only to see the bliss on his captain's face.
They continued to care for Norberta in every way possible, the dragon had taken a liking to their captain so he was the one who turned up most frequently.
Thankfully for everyone else Charlie had returned their letter and had somehow arranged for Norberta to be picked up from the Astronomy Tower at midnight on the upcoming Saturday night.
"Shishishi, that won't be a problem." Luffy assured Ron. "We have the cloak thingy and I can tell when somebody is coming."
Ron looked immensely relieved at these words and thanked Luffy profusely for helping them. "Really, it's no problem, Hagrilde is my friend."
Luffy was the only one of them allowed to see Norbert as he was the only one with a mild about of control over the fledging dragon for a reason that none of the people of this world could understand.
Hagrid welcomed Luffy inside eagerly, he had no idea why Harry could control the baby dragon but he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth when it presented itself to him. "So what's the news?"
"Charlie agreed to take care of Norbert, a. he said to deliver her to the Astronomy Tower at midnight on this Saturday night." Luffy explained, carefully selecting his words as to not worry the half giant.
"Did 'e now?" Hagrid snivelled a bit at the prospect, he looked longingly at Norberta, no doubt counting the days down until his newest friend would be leaving.
"Yep! He's gonna get some friends of his to take good care of Norberta." Luffy smiled widely at his friend and Norberta.
On the Friday night Ron finally asked the question he had been dying to ask. "Hey Harry, how exactly are we going to get Norberta up to the Astronomy Tower?"
"Well, I was just gonna carry her up."
Usopp face-palmed, Zoro and Sanji sweatdropped and Hermione and Ron looked just slightly incredulous. "But what about the handlers coming to get her?" Hermione waited to elicit some form of a response that would not want her to smash her head against a wall repeatedly.
"Oh yeah, I didn't think of that shishishi, Hermit you're so smart." While Hermione was readily blushing from his compliment she still frowned at the shaggy-haired boy. "Well, Hagrilde can come up with something."
They collectively groaned at their stupid captain, well not captain per say for Ron and Hermione but he might as well be.
Later at training Luffy was pouting, pouting so much that he was starting to slow down his punches. "What's up Luffy?" Usopp asked, ready to brave his captain's emotions.
Luffy fixed his crew-mates with a serious look. "I've always wanted a pet dragon."
They all inwardly groaned. "Luffy, the dragon was Hagrid's to begin with so even if she was staying she wouldn't be with you."
"I know." He whined. "But, Usopp, it's a dragon!" He emphasised his last words specifically, as if they made everything make more sense.
Well, to say the least Zoro and Sanji were just mildly upset with their captain, they didn't show it to his face, however, even without showing their emotions there was little doubt that Luffy could feel their emotions. And if they increased the intensity and frequency of their attacks on their captain then nobody would call them out on it.
The following night saw the demon trio hurrying down to Hagrid's hut after carefully forcing Peeves away from the hallway leading out of the castle with a distraction – courtesy of Usopp and Ron who were acting as lookout.
Hermione had elected to not join in their activities, haughtily stating that there was already a ridiculous amount of them out of bed and another would probably get them caught.
They arrived at the hut without meeting another soul, all of the teachers were either sleeping or wandering around other parts of the castle, this was a good omen in Zoro's books and fortuitous in Sanji's.
But, naturally, it would take a miracle for nothing to happen with the transportation of the quickly aging dragon.
"Hagrid!" Zoro whispered loudly, since their captain was incapable of being quiet Sanji was currently distracting him.
The half-giant opened the door with a heavy looking crate in front of him, he was blubbering, Zoro noted. "He's got lots o' rats an' some brandy fer the journey," said Hagrid in a muffled voice. "An' I've packed his teddy bear in case he gets lonely."
None of the demon trio decided to notify Hagrid that the tearing noise coming from the box was definitely the black demon of a dragon ripping a teddy bear head off its' body.
Zoro hefted the precious cargo up onto his shoulder and followed shitty-cook, when he had protested the arrangement Luffy had smiled and said with a shit eating grin that he would prefer to get to the Astronomy Tower. "Why you little…"
They would have outright brawled there and then Sanji forcefully reminded them of their mission. "Come on." Thankfully their observational haki alerted them to the presence of Filch and teachers, because of their cargo, Zoro and Norbert were hidden underneath the silvery folds of the invisibility cloak.
Secretly, Usopp and Ron were waiting at the Astronomy Tower, because Usopp had such good vision he perched near the window, covering their escape route.
They had been following them before and thus had distracted Peeves away from the Great Hall where he had been throwing a tennis ball against the wall repetitively.
After they successfully made their way inside the castle Usopp stood in the doorway, carefully eyeing the halls for their wayward friends. He did have to move back in the doorway several times as Filch decided to check that hallway.
The monster trio finally arrived, still arguing over meaningless things. "Everything okay?" He asked in a hushed tone.
"Yeah, Professor Cat was up." Luffy reported, scratching his head in bewilderment. "And Zoro, I mean Seamus almost got lost."
"I did not!" Zoro spluttered indignantly. "It's just that the hallway moved."
"Sure." Sanji said, chewing on a toothpick, he would pull out a cigarette but he had no doubts that Ron would tell someone who would mind him and his habit, so for now he sated his addiction by chewing on a poor substitute.
And then, Charlie's friends melted away from the darkness. There was four, each atop a broomstick, they were all very friendly and laughed with Luffy and his whims. "Take good care of him." Luffy said, patting the dragon's crate once more before allowing Charlie's friends to strap the crate into a harness they had brought with them.
"We will, and if you ever want to get in touch to come to Romania talk to Charlie, we'd all be delighted to have you there Harry." One of the men who's shaggy brown hair stopped just before a deep scar that ran the length of his face said happily.
And with that the night stole them away. Usopp was about to open the door when Luffy quickly halted him. "Quick, under here." Luffy threw the cloak over Usopp, Ron and Sanji.
He grabbed Zoro and hopped up onto one of the support beams, just in time too. Filch burst into the room wielding a broomstick. "I could have sworn I heard that wretched boys laugh in here." Filch growled, not unlike his cat.
Thankfully after realising the room was completely empty (he didn't look up the idiot) he walked out, Mrs Norris quick on his heels.
The group let out a collective sigh they were unaware they were holding and Zoro and Luffy lightly jumped down from their hiding place whilst Sanji, Usopp and Ron pulled the cloak off themselves. "The coast is clear, Sanji, go with Zoro and Usopp and make sure that they get back to their dorms safely." Luffy said with a clear authoritative voice, it was a tone that sent shivers down Ron's spine.
Sanji nodded and nobody raised a complaint, Sanji, Zoro and Usopp raced out of the room, footsteps light enough that it became impossible to discern them from the oppressing silence.
"Let's go Ron." Luffy said and whirled the cloak back over his friend, they dare not speak a word through the hallways, Luffy had given Ron a lot to think about and with a jolt Ron realised that the Straw Hat theory Hermione had suggested might not be that insane.
They reached the dorm without coming across a teacher but that was mostly because Luffy redirected their route when he sensed somebody coming. Ron went to go into their dorm but realised Harry wasn't following, he gestured to the stairs. "You coming?"
"Nah, you go on ahead, I'm just waiting for Draco." Luffy smiled reassuringly, Ron shrugged and crawled into bed and was asleep within seconds due to his exhaustion.
"Hi Hermine." Luffy murmured suddenly, looking at the corner where the bushy haired girl was propped up. A light snore escaped her lips and Luffy snorted, "Come on, let's get you to bed."
And with uncharacteristically gentle arms, Luffy lifted Hermione up bridal style. As he attempted to walk up the stairs he remembered a vital piece of information.
"If a boy tries to go up to the girl's dorms then the staircase will immediately turn to smooth stone." A voice that sounded a lot like Percy resounded in his head.
"Oops." Was the only word muttered before Luffy jumped up the stairs using Gepo, they landed safely on the top of the landing with Hermione none the wiser.
Luffy pulled open the correct door and gently laid the girl on her bed, said girl immediately curled around her pillow.
"Hmm, so Sanji finally arrived." He muttered, feeling Sanji's repressed aura enter the common room. "Guess that's my cue."
He leapt into the common room, taking a seat next to his cook who was staring intently at the fire burning gently in its hearth. He took a long needed drag of his cigarette, watching the smoke intermingle with that of which the fire produced.
"Do you ever wonder whether we're doing the right thing?" Sanji suddenly asked, pulling his legs up in front of him, in response Luffy frowned with a bit of confusion.
"We're doing what we can." He said simply. "I hope to one day find remnants of our world and find the rest of the crew." He clutched the Straw Hat a little tighter. "And one day I will find that Mouldymort guy and kick his ass."
At the last part Sanji chuckled lightly, some things never changed, did they?
"Let's go to bed shitty captain, we're gonna need the rest if we want to survive exams." Sanji informed his captain whilst he stood, intent on climbing into his bed and falling to the clutches of sleep.
Luffy groaned as if in physical pain. "Don't remind me about exams." He said resolutely, climbing up the stairs and flopping into bed, he placed his treasure beside him. "Good night Sanji."
"Night Luffy."
Luffy hummed 'Binks Sake' as he meandered through the hallways, he was supposed to be getting to potions but he really didn't feel like dealing with his Professor today, he just didn't want to be hated on for an entire period for doing nothing wrong.
His observational Haki alerted him to the whereabouts of his crew mates.
Sanji and Zoro – by far the brightest auras in the school, they were getting even stronger than the old geezer – were making their descent to the dungeons and judging by the flares in annoyance he felt rolling off them told him that they were most likely fighting, again. Ron was trailing after the duo with Hermione who was very unimpressed by their display.
Usopp was in Herbology, he was very happy at the moment. Luffy suddenly halted, frowning at the feel in the air, his defence against the dark arts teacher was very scared right now. He crept up to the classroom Quirrell was residing in.
He sat down cross-legged and listened carefully to the conversation, something hissed at Quirrell, it sure as hell wasn't Snape, it wasn't exactly human and Luffy felt his anger begin to grow. "Are we ready now?"
"Yes master." Peculiarly enough the nervous teacher's stutter had completely disappeared. "We will be able to snitch it from the old fool in a week's time."
"Good, you have served me well Quirinus." The thing hissed, no emotions present in its aura, one that emanated pure evil.
"Thank you master." Quirrell bowed deeply in front of, a mirror?
But what was he doing in front of a mirror? Was the one like Blackbeard inside Quirrell? It didn't make much sense, it must be a mystery.
Satisfied that the presence had a name now, Luffy caught the tail end of the conversation. "Strike them and I will finally get the revenge I have sought for eleven long years."
"Yes master." Quirrell said once again, and he started to move, he wound his turban back up and walked out of the room.
In his haste to get to wherever he was going (the bathroom apparently) he didn't even notice the boy sitting cross-legged near his door.
Luffy adjusted his hat and stood, his nakama would want to hear about this latest development.
They had all reacted to the news in different ways, Sanji and Zoro grimly smiled, no doubt already running through all of the news and deciding which battle attacks would be most suited to the situation.
Usopp pulled out Kabuto and began running through various scenarios in his head and checking to see that he had plenty ammunition stocked up.
Ron looked appalled at the mention of a 'mystery evil presence' as Luffy had dubbed it.
Hermione was adamant that they at least wait until past exams to act. "But Hermione."
"No buts, you might not worry about your career but I do." She said firmly.
"I don't want to have a career," Luffy frowned at her. "I only want to be free."
At his choice of words Hermione had returned his frown, it was impossible to ever be free. There would always be some form of work to diligently work through, she almost opened her mouth to refute his statement but curiously enough Neville shook his head gently.
Luffy sighed and eventually acquiesced to Hermione's demands, it wasn't like he was ever going to use several of the things being tested, he had his nakama for the things he was no good at.
Zoro was his swordsman.
Nami was his navigator.
Usopp was his sniper.
Sanji was his cook.
Chopper was his doctor.
Robin was his archaeologist.
Franky was his shipwright.
Brook was his musician.
Jinbe was his martial artist.
These were facts, no matter what body and what voice they used they would always be his nakama. It was like stating that the sun would rise in the morning – a given.
But, if he had to survive by learning these trivial things then he would, if not for himself then to relieve some of the pressure on his crew's shoulders.
"Fine, that settles it, after exams, we're going to either a. steal that stone thing or b. kick Professor Quirrell's ass!" The crew's reactions were ones of disappointment and relief.
And so they studied extra hard, making sure to keep an eye on Fluffy and Professor Quirrell at all times. Luffy half-expected Fluffy to already be dead, if that professor wanted to then he could probably kill the creature with one quick wave of his wand.
He didn't understand why Quirrell didn't, maybe he was still gathering intel? Maybe he was too scared to face Fluffy without knowing its weakness? Thinking too much hurt Luffy dearly, however, thinking was starting to become easier, maybe because it was like a muscle, Luffy deduced. The more I use it the stronger it gets.
He didn't know why but his nightmares were coming back in full force and as a result he was a lot more tired than usual. Tonight was no different, even as he was surrounded by his nakama in Going Merry, Sanji was cooking up a feast, Zoro training and Usopp was watering his pop greens (with pesticide). As soon as he fell asleep…
All around him was the sound of men dying, Whitebeard himself was there, wreaking havoc upon the base that dared to steal his son away.
And on top of the execution platform his brother was watching everything in utmost horror. His family, his nakama were dying for him.
And then Luffy finally managed to free him, smiling at his only brother, they were going to bring hell to this base.
And then… and then… everything.
Began
To
Melt.
And to Luffy's horror his brother was standing in front of him, protecting him from the force of Akainu's lava fist.
No… no… NO! It could not would not end like this. But it did, and Luffy was left with a brother who had his internal organs melted into putty.
"Luffy." The word was spoken in such a reassuring but demanding tone that it pulled him up out of the depths of the dream, no, memory.
He jolted upright, Sanji had returned with the promised dish and had now elected to look in concern at first mate and captain.
Zoro was staring intensely at his captain, his aura was sending out pulses of emotion. Regret, shame, guilt.
They sat like that for a while, all of the sound fading into a white noise around the Straw Hats.
Said captain was frowning at his hands, hands that were once coated in his brother's blood, the sticky substance sticking to his tan hands. Hands built to protect, not be protected.
Zoro and Sanji said nothing but had sat closely to their captain, usually they were pretty good in managing their night habits but every now and again one would dream of their previous life.
And if they were bad, or even good, they would all meet up at the Going Merry and sit together until all of the emotions associated with the memory would fade away for the most part.
Eventually Luffy stopped his hands from shaking (when did that happen?) and instead looked at his first mate, cook and sniper in sorrow. "Sorry guys, I thought I was getting better. It's been years."
The crew said nothing, instead they formed a protective circle around their captain, leaning back on him to reassure that yes, they were here.
They slept in a dog pile that night, limbs locking into each other (in Sanji and Zoro's case they fought while they slept), but it resulted in clear dreams for them all.
Unfortunately, due to exams, the Straw Hats were not able to train as much as they wanted, it would put too much of a strain on their bodies. As it was they were barely able to stay awake during class hours let alone fight for hours on end after midnight.
The teachers attempted to give him a quill that would prevent him from cheating but he had adamantly refused. "No! I can't use a quill, charm my pen if you have to." Luffy looked Professor McGonagall in the eye.
Until the end of time Minerva will never admit that she was quite unnerved by the eyes on Mr Potter. Not just because they were the spitting image of Lily's but because there was so much depth to them, they were soulful. Eventually, she backed down and sighed. "Okay, Professor Flitwick, come here please."
And that settled that, gifted with a new pen that would not allow Luffy to cheat he begun exams.
The actual exams were boring as hell. That was the simplest way to put it. Hours on end sitting in an exam hall and being unable to talk to anyone was pure torture for Luffy. He got hungry about halfway through and resolved to last the hour without sneaking out.
Thankfully, Sanji had caught his captain's train of thought and told him that he would cook him a feast after every exam.
So after Luffy had finished scribbling the answers he would spend the remaining time drooling or sleeping, in both instances he was thinking of eating food.
There were practical exams as well, the short one (Professor Flitwick, a voice that sounded suspiciously like Hermione reminded him) asked him to make a pineapple tap dance across the table.
"Shishishi, it looks just like Mako." Luffy had exclaimed cheerfully, resolutely thinking of only his face and not the memories associated.
He passed that exam with flying colours, he simply had to imagine that it was actually Marco and his wand would do the rest of the work for him. And, he had not uttered a single word, thinking it was enough for his wand.
But, according to Flippitywip it was a big deal, well, the Professor didn't say it aloud but Luffy could read the excitement rolling off of him in great waves. He didn't get the big deal, his wand understood what to do, why did he need to say anything?
Professor McGonagall told them to turn a mouse into a snuffbox and once again Luffy simply told his wand what to do and it obeyed, he did throw in a word that he remembered Hermione ingraining into his head as to throw off suspicion.
He didn't want a repeat of the Flickwit episode.
The mouse, twitching as it lay there, turned into a beautiful box carved from ivory, the patterns brought to life from his imagination, sure he was an awful artist but in his head he could paint and carve.
On top of the box a brightly coloured Jolly Roger with a straw hat atop its head. McGonagall was impressed, not that she would say anything. But her aura was one of content and her little smile gave it all away.
"Can I keep that?" Luffy gestured to the box after McCat had finished inspecting it carefully to check for imperfections.
"Yes." McGonagall replied because she wasn't sure if she could ever say no to the expression on his face.
"Thanks cat lady!" He smiled cheekily at the Professor, pure joy and mirth radiating from his being.
She smiled indulgently, she would let him get away with that nickname just once.
Making potions with Snape was getting near to the level of hell he undertook in training, however, the training had been voluntary (depending on who you talked about). They were supposed to be making a Forgetfulness potion, not that Luffy could remember (oh the irony), he wasn't supposed to be cooking.
But he grit his teeth and tried to remember at least a little about a Forgetfulness potion.
The final exam, history of magic had everyone nervously twiddling their thumbs, it was unbearably hot and Luffy thought he might melt. This is the end Zoro, I'm going to melt.
Zoro turned around and gave him a death glare, stop being so damn melodramatic, that's shitty cook's job.
What did you say shitty marimo?
And then it was an all-out glaring contest, even when they were hastily scrawling down answers they didn't stop insulting each other, well, it was mostly Sanji and Zoro insulting each other. Luffy just casually listened in and internally laughed at the creativeness of their insults.
When they put down their quills Luffy frowned deeply, the castle felt nervous. It was tense, waiting for an attack, a quick check saw that Quirrell was still pacing in his office nervously.
Luffy shrugged and made his way outside to sit with his other nakama, they were relaxing in the warmth of the afternoon, laying lazily near the lake. Well, Ron was relaxing, Hermione was stressing about questions that she thought she got wrong.
Sanji left some time ago, undoubtedly to go make his promised fea- dish for his shitty captain. Zoro was napping against one of the trees and Usopp was inventing a tale of princesses and crocodiles.
Luffy sighed contentedly. "I'm glad those stupid exams are over." He smiled at the tentacle monster hidden by the murky depths of the lake.
"Yeah, same here." Ron agreed readily.
Luffy followed his swordsman actions and leant up against the tree, he was quite content just laying here soaking up the rays of heat. Sighing contentedly he melted into the depths of sleep.
He dreamt of being aboard the Thousand Sunny, just being with his nakama. It was more than enough to make him happy.
Eventually Usopp shook Luffy awake, he yawned widely, stretching his arms, hearing them crack loudly.
"Here's your meal shitty captain." Sanji said, setting down one of the levitating carts.
The meal was delicious, nothing less than perfection. Sanji noted that his captain was using his usual gusto and was readily stealing from everyone's plates un-biasedly (sans devil fruit powers of course). The only ones who had some success in warding him off was Sanji and Zoro.
Zoro because he had become way too used to this and Sanji with the threat that he wouldn't feed him meat for a week.
It was later that night when the Straw Hats plus Hermione and Ron were in the common room that Hermione suddenly jumped up, realisation dawning on her face. "What is wrong Hermione?" Sanji asked, twirling around the girl.
"Don't you think that it's odd that a complete stranger would be carrying around a dragon egg, an egg that Hagrid has wanted for a long time?" She asked in a hushed tone.
"Yeah, Hagrid probably got set up." Usopp said calmly, watering a small pot of dangerous plants (unfortunately he was unable to breed the pop greens in his dormitory).
"How are you guys so calm about that?!" Ron asked with a tinge of anger in his voice.
"Because, we set up a super awesome ward thing that will tell us when someone is entering the trap door." Usopp replied hurriedly, thinking of a believable excuse off the bat. "When that happens we'll go stop em."
The common room was beginning to empty when Sanji, Zoro and Luffy perked right up with narrowed eyes. "Usopp, Ron, Hermione, it's happening." Luffy said simply.
Those words were enough to spring them into action. "Let's go to Dumbledore now." Hermione attempted to reason with them.
"No, we're gonna kick his ass!" Luffy exclaimed.
Hermione sighed and shared a look with Ron, there was no way that he was going to back down regardless of the fact that it could most definitely kill him. "Fine, we're coming too."
The walk to the third floor room was as tense as a bow-string, one could most likely cut the tension with a butter knife.
They were all a tad nervous, Usopp had quickly assembled Kabuto and pocketed an impact dial just in case. Zoro had a firm grip on Wado, the white handle reassuring him. Sanji had pulled out a cigarette and was now softly inhaling and exhaling smoke. Hermione and Ron watched the Straw Hats nervously, there was a definite power about them, but they all looked so damn angry.
Luffy was staring straight ahead, one hand atop his head, clenching his precious Straw Hat. He was going to come face to face with the man who had mercilessly killed two people and was trying to steal that Flame guy's treasure, there was no way in hell he was going to simply let that go.
If you're not already following these two reincarnation stories then I recommend you go right away and binge the hell out of em; 'Be Sunny and Make Merry' by Anonymous Howler and 'A Box of Matches for a New Life' by fingers-falling-upwards. They're both HPXOP reincarnation fics and personally my favs. Ohcheh, soooo, tell me what you thought and ciao for now!
