Tada! We're not done yet, even after this chapter.

Thanks go to my beta breather. A wonderful, fabulous soul!~

And thanks to my wonderful reviewers: Ender the multiverse Detective, LuckyKittens, RedHeadsRock1010, The Keeper of Worlds, Guest (11/15/16), Thisisarealtagwhy, Allykrau, FireD. Rion, Zaralann, Guest [2nd on] (11/15/16), Guest 2 (11/16/16), Freefan1412, Loyan Ali (11/16/16), Icewing5 (11/17/16), chiharuSAICHI, mylongodetosleep, Failing Wings, Guest (11/19/16), ErinSkyeLi2. 7, Matt {2 revs} (11/21&22/16), and Guest (11/21/16)! I appreciate the kind words of encouragement!


Chapter 9: What's in a Name if you can't Spell it?


Hermione had made several hypotheses about where the Chamber of Secrets might be located. How could she not? She knew that the entrance is no doubt protected by a plethora of magic spells to guard its secrets, but she still had a few suspicions harbored in out-of-the-way rooms and corridors. None of her guesses included the first floor's girl's bathroom.

She'd question whether Ginny was actually being serious, but the solemn, tearful expression has yet to fade from her face. With Ron petrified, even Fred and George wouldn't make a joke about this. She wonders how they're handling things...

Myrtle greets them the moment they enter.

"Back again I see," she says in her high pitched tone. "And you've brought friends. Here to take apart my bathroom again?"

"That's Myrtle. She haunts the bathroom," Ginny says for Harry's benefit. "The Ch-chamber is hidden somewhere in this room."

Hermione blinks. "You don't know where?"

Ginny shakes her head jerkily. "He led me here the first time, but I— I blacked out. I don't remember how to get into the chamber."

"This is where you and Ron found the diary isn't it?" Hermione asks, earning her a nod from her dark haired friend. "Where was it exactly?"

Harry gestures to the stalls. "By the third one."

Hermione enters the stall, but doesn't find anything beyond the toilet. Her and Harry check the rest of the stalls, looking for— well, Hermione honestly has no idea what kind of clue will lead them to the Chamber. It's obviously hidden, but how can they find it...

Her dark-haired friend has a much more straight forward approach.

"Myrtle, have you seen anything? Have you seen what Ginny does when she gets here?" Harry looks towards the ghost girl.

Myrtle tilts her head before sniffing. "I don't see why I should tell you anything."

"Because you're nice," Harry replies, managing to not make it sound like a question

"Nice? I've never been called nice. It was always fat Myrtle, ugly Myrtle, pimply Myrtle!" She lets out a mournful sob.

"Why'd they call you that?" There is genuine confusion in the dark haired boy's tone. "You don't look that fat and pimply and whatever."

And maybe's it's a trick of the torch light, but Hermione would swear the ghost girl's cheeks darken in color at the clumsy half-compliment.

In a completely different voice than her normal high-pitched shriek, she says, "You are a charming one, aren't you?"

Is— is she twirling her hair?!

"What's your name?" she asks demurely. And now Hermione is 100% positive that she's eyeing Harry with an undoubtedly flirty look.

Predictably, Harry doesn't seem to notice. "I'm Harry Potter."

"I'm Myrtle."

"I know that."

She giggles, and Hermione rolls her eyes.

"Hey, can you show me where the Chamber is?" he persists.

"It's dangerous," Myrtle says, biting her lip. "The creature is scary. I hear it hissing sometimes."

"I know it's down there. That's why I'm going. It hurt my brother, so I'm going to beat it up." The sentence coming from anyone else would seem arrogant, but Harry is anything but.

"Brave too." Myrtle gives Harry a coy smile. "I suppose if you do die, you can always share my toilet with me."

"Well are you going to show us or aren't you?" Hermione cuts in impatiently.

Her words earn her a glare from Myrtle, but nonetheless, the ghost sniffs and points towards one of the basins.

"I'm much too afraid to mingle with the Heir of Slytherin." She shoots Ginny a dubious look. "But I have seen you standing in front of that sink over there before I hide."

Hermione and Harry immediately go over to the sink, examining it top to bottom.

"There's something here," Harry says, hand rubbing some grit off the faucet. "There's a snake on it."

"A snake? I guess it's a sign we're in the right place for sure." No other reason there would be a snake randomly imprinted on the faucet. The only question now is how they can get the entrance to open. She ponders the idea of a spell being the key. It would have to be incredibly rare, or else someone would maybe open it without realizing. At the same time, Hermione knows the spell would have to be relatively simple, because Ginny's magic as a first year is unmolded, untrained, and unfit for high level spells. She discards that idea, and ponders a secret switch, but that would be too easy.

"Come on, think Hermione," she chastises herself. "What have we learned about the Chamber of Secrets?"

"It's got a snake in it," Harry volunteers.

"It can p-petrify people," Ginny adds in.

"No, not about the creature, about the actual Chamber!"

"Wasn't it made by Salamander Slytherin?" Harry suggests.

Hermione runs everything she read about the founder in Hogwarts: A History. Realization hits her like a train on the track.

"I wonder— Harry, try speaking Parseltongue!"

He frowns, but after some trial and error, Harry manages to hiss something. Sure enough, the sinks begin sliding down into the tile one by one, revealing a platform of some kind. All three Gryffindors exchange looks, two nervous and one determined, before they each step onto the platform. The floor beneath them lurches and then slowly lowers, going deeper and deeper into the dark parts of the castle.

The three end up in a pitch-black area. Harry, always unafraid, steps off the platform immediately. Hermione hears the loud crunching and cracking of something.

"Lumos," she utters with a flick of her wand. As light fills the area around them, Hermione feels nausea build up. Because the ground outside of the platform is covered in bones of all shapes and sizes. Some look like animals, but Hermione is horrified to realize that there is a fair sprinkling of human skulls in the remains. Harry shifts, breaking more of the brittle bones beneath his feet. For the first time, the danger of their situation really sinks in. There is a very good chance that Hermione is going to die here, she realizes.

"Lumos," Harry casts, spreading the cavern with more light, as well as igniting his expression. The self-assured, determined look hasn't faded from his eyes. While it's assuring that his courage doesn't falter even in one of the darker corners of the world, he's standing on other people's remains. It's— he doesn't even seemed fazed. Of course, if he were like Hermione, he'd still be on the platform, arrested by the image and the disturbing implications. Maybe Harry knows that it has to be done (and it does), which is why nothing like bones on the floor can stop him.

"Come on," he urges, extending his free hand towards her. She takes it, gratefully using his warmth as a distraction from the cold darkness surrounding them. Wincing as she gets off the platform and steps onto the bones, stumbling a bit as they roll and grind beneath her feet, Hermione examines the dark stones that line the walls of the Chamber and the single hallway leading out. Only one path available to them. Ginny dismounts shakily and quickly weaves her arm around Harry's wand arm, still gripping the diary tightly in her hands.

Together, the trio walk through the chamber, heralded by the echoes of the crunching bones beneath their feet. The hall gradually lightens the further they proceed, as dimly flickering torches begin appearing along the walls. By the time they reach the end, all of them are wincing from the pale white light filling the open space before them. Hermione gawks at their surroundings.

Black stone pillars line the chamber, stone snakes curving around them, all leading up to an intimidating carving of an old man's face in the rock. The rock has an eerie greenish tint that makes Hermione shudder and want to look away. But it's the only thing ahead of them and thus, their only destination. Harry knows this, of course he does, and he doesn't stop or hitch in his step as he moves forward.

Despite the incredible danger she's in, questions race through Hermione's mind— how was the Chamber made? What enchantments hide its presence from the school to such an extent that even Dumbledore doesn't know where it is? But a more pressing, immediate question takes priority in her mind— where is the basilisk?

By the time they reach the edge of the platform, Ginny is absolutely shaking. With everything that's happened to her, it probably shouldn't surprise Hermione that the redhead finally collapses. Her hand grasping desperately for purchase, she grabs Harry wand as she collapses. Harry catches her arm and readjusts his grip to keep her from hitting the floor. He lowers her down gently. Her eyes are closed and she is disconcertingly still, the diary just a little away from when it slipped from her hands.

"Ginny?" He kneels beside the unconscious girl and shakes her shoulders. Not a stir or even a flicker. The brown haired witch quickly checks the other girl's wrist. Still a pulse, thankfully.

Hermione then finds herself on the receiving end of a pleading look from Harry. It says do something.

And Hermione does. "Rennervate!"

She expects Ginny to gasp, arch off the ground, her eyes to snap open, and her limp hands to clench— she receives no such reaction.

"Rennervate! Rennervate! Rennervate!" Hermione casts again and again to no effect. She raises her wand again, ready to put all her magic reserves into her next casting, but is stopped by a smooth voice.

"She won't wake."

Hermione and Harry whip around and see a sepia toned boy a few years older than them standing on the other side of Ginny. The boy is relatively unremarkable, with a mildly attractive face and dark hair. He's wearing the school robes, leading Hermione to wonder just who—

"Tom Riddle?" Harry utters beside her in surprise. She blinks. Apparently this is the same Tom Riddle Harry and Ron met in the enchanted diary only this morning. Is it really still the same day? In less than twelve hours, there's been Harry and Ron's revelation with the diary, Ron's petrification, Harry's resolute questioning of Malfoy, and this. Whatever this is. She doesn't know what awaits her, nor what Tom's sudden appearance means, but Hermione suspects that her eventful day is far from over.

"It's nice to finally meet you in person, Harry." The tone in the boy's voice— Tom's voice— is too... fond and familiar to keep her at ease. He's not real either, to Hermione's understanding; at least, he shouldn't be. His sudden manifestation is suspicious at best.

"We need to get Ginny out of here, Harry. It's not safe, she's defenseless!"

"Let me see." Tom kneels beside the red haired girl, reaching for her wrist. Hermione assumes to check her pulse, but she is very wrong as he pulls Harry's wand from her limp fingers.

"What are you doing, Tom?" Harry asks. Hermione wonders too, but there are much more pressing things. Wands are replaceable, but people are not. Tom's repossession of Harry's wand only makes returning to the castle even more important. She doesn't trust him.

"Harry, we need to get Ginny out of here, now!" Hermione hisses. "We don't know when the basilisk is coming."

She lifts her wand and gives a swish and flick. "Wingardium Levio—"

"Expelliarmus!"

Her wand flies out of her hand and into the sewage water. Panic begins setting in as the reality of the situation comes to her.

"Don't worry about the basilisk. It won't come until it's called," Tom comments mildly, lowering his confiscated wand.

"It's you... you're the Heir of Slytherin!" Hermione exclaims.

"You're quite bright, for a mudblood." Tom spins Harry's wand idly in his hands. "I am the Heir of Slytherin, but I couldn't have done it without dear Ginny's help."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asks warily.

"Poor, lonely Ginny Weasley... She received my diary and found a friend in me. Her only friend. She started writing in me, poured out all of her pathetic, dull secrets, giving me strength. I responded in kind, putting a bit of me into her. Of course all of her petty troubles were mind-numbingly boring, but then she told me about you and I just had to meet you. So I let her throw the diary away and had my pet lead you to me. After that—"

Harry's quick downward punch to Tom's face makes the older boy stop talking. Of course, Tom isn't tangible, so his fist goes straight through. The surprise of the action is really what stuns the older boy into silence.

"Harry!" Hermione snaps. "He was just about to explain everything!"

"He's the bad guy," Harry points out. "Why should I listen to what he's got to say?"

"Because it might contain something important, a weakness or something!" Hermione says, almost hysterical. "I want to know why he's here at least. Please continue, Tom," she urges. "Just ignore Harry."

From the livid look on his face, Hermione can tell he isn't particularly inclined to listen to her wishes.

"That's enough. I've waited and bided my time all for this moment, and you've ruined it! You're going to die, ignorant of why." He takes a sharp breath and exhales before continuing with a dark grin. "I suppose all you really need to know is that it was done by Lord Voldemort's hand!"

Shock jolts down Hermione's spine as she realizes that she, Hermione Granger, dentist's daughter, is standing before a younger iteration of You-Know-Who, the most frightening wizard of all time. She doesn't have time to be paralyzed with fear though, because Riddle begins hissing. The mouth of the stone face slowly opens, and at the first sign of movement she quickly closes her eyes.

"Shut your eyes, Harry!" she commands. Reaching out beside her, she manages to find his robes and weaves her arm around his. "If you open them, the basilisk will kill you!"

"Alright," Harry says. "But how are we supposed to fight it?"

"You don't," Tom— He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named— replies.

Hermione's mind races frantically, searching for some kind of answer, but she draws an absolute blank. It's really the end for her, isn't it? Hopelessness builds as horrible images flash through her mind. She sees herself in a ghostly guise haunting the castle like Myrtle, never graduating, never becoming a remarkable witch, never seeing her friends again— it's too horrifying to bear. She wants to cry, to give in, and it's only Harry's soft assurance that keeps the tears from falling.

"We'll be okay, Hermione," he utters quietly. "We're not alone."

As though responding to Harry's assurances, the calls of a bird sound though the Chamber. The sharp notes bounce off the walls as it gets closer and closer, making Hermione's head ring.

"No, what are you doing?!" You-Know-Who calls. "Kill the bird!"

Hermione hears the loud hisses of the snake and the hasty flapping and shrieks of the bird. After a few nerve-wracking moments of not knowing anything, the basilisk lets out a sharp cry.

"Hermione! Look, it's Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix!" Harry says excitedly beside her.

"Harry! Shut your eyes, the basilisk—"

"Fawkes blinded him! It's safe now."

Slowly, tentatively, she opens her eyes and looks upward, towards the snake. Instead of the yellow eyes she feared, she finds gouged sockets. Hermione resists the urge to vomit and takes solace in the fact that at least they don't have to worry about instant death. They aren't completely out of the woods quite yet, considering the meter long teeth that have descended from the basilisk's mouth as it snips at the phoenix.

"Ignore the bird!" He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named orders. "Kill the boy! Sniff him out!"

Fawkes dodges one last swipe from the snake and flies back the way it came, seeming to have done its job. Before it goes though, it drops a rolled bit of cloth on them. Harry catches it and unfolds it quickly. They discover—

"The sorting hat?!" Hermione stares at the gift incredulously.

"Cool." Harry smiles and places the sorting hat on Hermione's head. With one last confident look, he pushes her out of the way and dodges a sudden strike from the snake that she never even saw coming. When Hermione sits up and shakes the daze from her mind, she sees Harry disappearing into one of the side tunnels in the chamber, the basilisk right behind him.

Standing, Hermione reassess the situation. She's alone with Ginny, You-Know-Who, and the diary. Her eyes narrow. If Harry is distracting the basilisk, the least she can do is try and protect Ginny. If only she knew how to do that... Hermione is sure that the redhead's sudden weakness is due to the ghostly boy's actions somehow, but she can't puzzle out what kind of spell he used— but then Ginny collapsed before he stole Harry's wand anyways, so how is he doing it?! While Hermione's staring at him piercingly, she realizes something– she is less able to see through him than when he first appeared.

"You're manifesting more," she utters aloud, pieces falling into place. "You're growing stronger!"

"Yes, very clever," Tom drawls. "As Ginny grows weaker, I grow stronger. Soon my memory will no longer be tied to the diary, and Ginny will be dead."

He doesn't stop there, he continues talking about all the muggles and mudbloods he intends to kill, how he'll reap his revenge on Dumbledore— but Hermione isn't paying attention. Because she knows now what she needs to do. If his memory is tied to the diary, then she needs to destroy that diary. But how? Her wand is somewhere in the murky sewer water, and Tom still has Harry's. She seriously doubts he'll let her get close enough to snatch it. Ginny's is still in her pocket, but despite being dead for over fifty years, Tom's reflexes are still exceptionally sharp— he'd spell the wand from her hand the minute she drew it.

'I need a weapon,' she thinks to the sorting hat, pleading for help. Hermione receives no reply.

What she does receive, is a knock on the head.

"Ow!" she exclaims, stars dancing in front of her eyes. She rips off the hat and a long, gleaming sword slips out of the folds of fabric before clattering loudly on the ground. Vaguely, a sketch in Hogwarts; a History comes to mind and she realizes it's the sword of Godric Gryffindor. For a moment, all she can do is stare dumbly at the artifact. As if today wasn't weird enough already, she finds herself in possession of an ancient sacred artifact, held by one of the greatest wizards in the world—

Shaking herself, Hermione quickly leans down and swipes the sword from the ground. Its large hilt has a ruby the size of an egg embedded in the silver and the whole thing feels awkward in her small hands. She raises it anyways and steps forward.

Tom snorts. "Are you going to try and fight me with that sword? You're welcome to try." He smirks and holds his arms out mockingly to make a larger target for her.

Hermione ignores him, instead she dashes towards Ginny. Kicking the diary further away, Hermione raises the sword and swings it with all the force she can muster onto the black cover.

Tom screams as he realizes what's happening, raises the wand, but it's too late— gaping holes have begun to tear through his visage and Harry's wand falls from his disintegrating grasp. Hermione doesn't pay attention to this though— she swings again and again at the diary, cutting it to pieces. The vibrations from striking the stone ground run up her arms, making them tingle and ache fiercely, but she keeps ahold of the sword until the diary is nothing but scraps at her feet.

Panting, Hermione forces herself to hang on to the sword, and faces what's left of the memory of Tom Riddle. More and more of his strength drifts from his being in light particles. The parts of his face yet to vanish are twisted into a hateful, malevolent glare.

"You disgusting, filthy little mudblood!" he shouts. "You think you're so incredibly clever. Well we'll just see about that. It wouldn't be fitting if the Chamber of Secrets opened and a mudblood didn't die!"

He lets out a loud raspy hiss before his voice cuts out like a bad connection on a phone. His being dissolves in the air, leaving no hint it existed in the first place. Hermione lowers the tip of the sword to the ground.

She did it. She killed You-Know-Who. Shock battles with relief and happiness. All of it is shrouded by his last words though. What did he mean by—

Her shoulders tense and she slowly turns around to face the hisses that are drawing nearer and nearer to her. Sure enough, the basilisk is exiting the corridor and heading towards her with frightening speed. Hermione lifts the sword in her tense, trembling hands, and faces the basilisk head on. But as it nears, her courage falters and the artifact slips from her fingers. She can't help but close her eyes and hope desperately for someone to save her.


"Here, Snakey, Snakey," Luffy calls down the corridors, though he really doesn't need to. The basilisk has been hot on his trail for the past five minutes as he carelessly splashes through the sewer water. Realizing that he's already used the name 'Snakey', Luffy frowns and considers other options. Bassy rolls off the tongue rather nicely, but it rhymes with Bessie, which is a cow name, and a faint recollection from elementary school and their study of famous catastrophes reminds him that a cow started the Great Chicago fire. And snakes don't like fire, so that isn't any good. Slinky comes to mind, but there aren't stairs nearby, so what use is a slinky?

After leading the basilisk well away from Hermione and Ginny, Luffy eagerly whips around. "Silky!" he exclaims, trying the name out. The basilisk looks pretty damn smooth and shiny. So that makes sense, right?

He receives a hiss for his trouble. But that's okay, because Silky's just listening to Tom. Or is it Voldermart? He had the same trouble last time. Because was it Quirrell or Voldimert he beat up? Honestly it's incredibly confusing to him, and he wishes that Voldymort would just pick a name and stick with it. Hopefully it would be something easier to remember than Vodlermort.

Silky shoots forward and tries to sink his fangs into Luffy's midsection, but he's too fast, and ducks out of the way. He's glad that he and Silky are away from Hermione, because he's about to release all his frustrations on the basilisk. He knows Silky's just an animal, and that Tom is to blame for the petrification of Ace, but since Tom's currently impossible to hit, he'll have to make do with Silky. Luffy frowns momentarily as he's suddenly reminded of Smokey and Crocodile and how impossible hitting those bastards was. This is an unpleasantly familiar instance. But if he can manifest some Armament Haki and get close enough, maybe— Luffy quickly dodges a swipe of Silky's long whip-like tail.

Luffy responds with a quick gum-gum pistol to the face. His rubbery punch soars through the air— and bounces harmlessly off of Silky's thick scales. Suddenly the snake's silky smooth scales are a lot less charming. Luffy's eyes widen unhappily as he realizes that Silky's hide is too thick to breach with the blunt force of his punches alone. If he was stronger—

Taking a deep breath, Luffy tries to summon Armament to his fist like Ace taught him. He gets a few splotches of dark covering, but it isn't enough. That doesn't stop him from trying. Pulling back, Luffy sends his gray-splattered fist flying. Like the first time it bounces back, with only a slight clinking to show there was any difference at all.

Gritting his teeth, Luffy winds up his fist and fires again, and again, and again, and again.

"Gum-gum gatling!"

Punch after punch head towards the snake. Silky, while initially stunned by the rapid smattering of attacks, starts thrashing its head wildly through the air, and with a quick snap catches Luffy's forearm in its teeth. A cut off gasp escapes Luffy's throat as he falls to the ground, extended arm still caught on Silky's fang. The basilisk relinquishes its grip, and Luffy's arm retracts to its normal length, but a few seconds slower than usual. Luffy sort of wonders why that is, but it's hard to concentrate all of a sudden. Distantly he recalls a lecture he received from both Usopp and Nami when they passed the Red Line about venomous snakes. And yes, he knows this feeling.

The sensation is a familiar one. He recalls Magellan and his Venom-Venom fruit; it's a memory that is still too close for him to breathe calmly, and yet at the moment seems leagues away. His concentration was the first to go last time too, he remembers.

Silky leans down to him slowly, seeming to stare at him with its eyeless sockets. The name doesn't fit the basilisk anymore. Because all Luffy wants to do is rip those smooth scales off the snake's body. And then eat the basilisk. He is awfully hungry... After a descaling, he doesn't think Silky will be very silky at all. So he needs to think of a new name, and fast, because it looks like the basilisk is going to eat him. Oh, and the venom is persistently shutting down his faculties.

His rambling thoughts are cut off by a loud scratchy hiss.

"Kill the mudblood girl! Now! Kill her now! K-ll -er –n—"

The voice suddenly cuts out. Luffy's still trying to puzzle out what the voice meant when the basilisk starts moving away from him. And he has the horrible realization of what's happening.

The snake is going after Hermione!

Luffy forces himself to his feet despite that his arms and legs feel like lead. With deep, heaving gasps, he stumbles into a run, splashing clumsily through the sewer. Twice he almost trips on absolutely nothing, but he keeps his goal in mind. If he doesn't defeat the basilisk he won't be able to reach Ace on the Marine's ship!

Wait, something about that isn't right. He's— Harry. Yeah, he's Harry. And he's here to save Hermione. Luffy glances to the side to where a vague image of Mr. 3 is floating. Hopefully the wax wall will be done in time to face Magellan, because Luffy doesn't think Hermione will hold up well against the warden. After what seems like an hour, Luffy escapes the network of pipes and finds himself on the long strip of stone that leads to the old man's face carved into the wall. He won't leave them to fight off the enemy like what happened with Bon-chan and the wolves in a place Luffy can't quite remember.

The snake is faster than Luffy is though, and it's already reached his two friends. Extending its jaws wide, Magellan darts forward and swallows Hermione whole.

Ice fills Luffy's veins. He couldn't save Bon-chan last time either. He barely beat Magellan, and he doesn't think Mr. 3 can help him. He isn't any stronger than before. He hasn't grown at all. He's wea—

"Luffy," Ace says, and he's surrounded by the trees in the Forbidden Forest. "Haki is one of the most important tools. You can beat anyone with it. The most important thing to summoning any kind of Haki is to think about what you're trying to protect... are you paying attention? Alright, we'll pick this up after lunch."

Luffy shakes the images from his mind, regretting the action as the room spins. Narrowing his resolve, Luffy pulls back his fist, sending it shooting meters back as Hermione and Bon-chan fill his mind. His vision is swirling with spots but he finds the strength he needs gathering on the tips of his fingers, crawling up his arm.

"Gum-gum." His arm has extended as far back as it can go. "Bullet!"

A gray fist hurtles towards the creature, smashing into the side of its face, sending blood and what looks like a fang flying to the floor. Magellan lets out a mournful hiss of pain before collapsing. The snake writhes on the stone, pained. But Luffy doesn't feel compassion, no, not while Hermione's still in its mouth. After a hobbling run, Luffy finally reaches the creature. The snake's head, beaten and bloody and desperate, darts forward, hoping to catch Luffy again.

But Luffy's had enough.

"Stop it." And a pulse of something ripples through his body. Magellan stills very suddenly. Luffy approaches it slowly, unable to muster speed by this point. The basilisk tries to scramble back, but Luffy lets out a short hiss.

"Be still," he snaps. The snake listens.

"W-what do you wish of me, Master?" the basilisk asks, voice wavering.

"Open your mouth," Luffy commands. The serpent slowly obeys. His vision is starting to fade entirely, but Luffy can't let his body shut down until everything's taken care of.

"If you close your mouth on me, I'll kill you," Luffy slurs before he leans into the basilisks throat. The snake, to its credit, stiffens, but remains like a statue. Luffy sends his hand forward, deep into the creature's mouth. His fit of adrenaline has faded, so his arm extends slowly, sluggishly. But he reaches and reaches until he meets with what feels like a shoe. He grips an ankle and pulls back. Inch by inch, Hermione is heaved from the creature's stomach. When she reaches the opening of its maw, Luffy leans forward and carefully pulls her out, mindful of the single fang the basilisk still has left.

After laying Hermione down gently, Luffy awkwardly places his hand by her mouth, knocking her in the nose once or twice before he gets there. He can't feel air against his palm, but his hand is mostly numb anyways. He figures CPR is a good idea just in case. Like any pirate worth his salt, Luffy can perform CPR with his eyes closed. As it is, that might as well be what he's doing, especially with his fading consciousness. A few quick pumps and then he clumsily presses his lips to hers and breathes into her mouth. He presses her chest again, vision almost completely gone by this point, but the small bit he sees is enough.

After three cycles, Hermione starts coughing and Luffy sighs in relief. Hermione doesn't open her eyes, but her chest is moving. It's enough for him to finally allow himself to collapse on the ground. He stares up dazedly, not seeing very much at all. Through the pinhole of sight, he can tell the basilisk is hovering over his head menacingly. When it opens its mouth and Luffy sees the missing teeth, the dark haired boy lets out a single chuckle.

He knows the snake's name.

"Sabo 2." Luffy's ready now. Ace will be alright. He has so many siblings. And he knows Marco will be there to keep him out of trouble—

Before Sabo 2 can bite his head off, a stray bit of red light slams into his side.

"Flipendo!"

Luffy tilts his head and sees a redheaded girl running his way.

"Nami." He grins.

Her brown eyes are wide, shocked, but he sees that spark in them.

"You always get into so much trouble, Captain." Her voice wavers, and water runs down her face.

Luffy exhales, and suddenly his lungs are too heavy to move again. He's dimly okay with it all. It's nice to see Nami before he dies. He didn't think he'd see her again.

"You have freckles," he utters, grinning faintly as the blackness overtakes him.


Her life is filled with tangerines and yellow sundresses. Nojiko calls her from their house on the edge of the orchard. Her sister's blue hair hits the wind. She's always been jealous of the color, it looks so pretty in the sunlight—

"Nami." Warm, familiar, motherly. Bellemere running her hands through Nami's hair the way she and Nojiko run through the tangerine trees—

Suddenly the scene shifts, and a man, if that's what he is, stands before her. He bares his teeth and her world suddenly shifts and changes until it's unrecognizable to her. When she looks down, Bellemere's blood is on Nami's hands, and with those hands she strikes a deal with the blue devil. It's hard work, and as the years pass, she can't seem to smell or taste the tangerines anymore—

She lives on the sea for years, alone, growing into her curves, which become her weapon of choice against the likes of foolish men. She uses them to their full extent as she gathers paper bills. The paper doesn't mean anything to her— not really. She can't spend it on herself, after all. But Nami sometimes likes to imagine that each thousand beri is a brick of her hometown, another life spared of Arlong's cruelty. She'll have the whole set one day, and then he'll leave, because he promised a ten-year-old girl he would—

She plans and scrimps and saves for eight years. Alone, on a boat, with nothing but paper and jewels for company. Until a boy with a straw hat falls from the sky—

"Join my crew!" he says, teeth flashing. Nami wants to hit him, because she just said how she hates pirates. She'll never become one. But she sees an opportunity, and so she manipulates him to her will. However, she soon learns that the boy —Luffy— isn't one to be controlled or tempered. And she envies and loves him for that—

She stays with Luffy and the swordsman for a time. Learning, slowly, how to laugh with them. A sharpshooter joins and he just builds upon the cavalcade of ridiculousness that is her crew—

Not that Nami can afford to think of them as 'her' crew. When they go to gather a chef, Nami knows her time is up. She steals their ship and puts leagues of ocean between her and the boy with the straw hat. But he follows her. She raves against him, shouting at him to leave, go away, you don't understand, just leave me alone! But he remains, and when her soul finally breaks under the pressure of her town and loved ones, she asks him, please help, and he places his hat on her head—

Arlong is dead. And the boy with the straw hat shouts, "Join my crew!" And she does. Nami doesn't know how she could possibly do anything else—

She plants tangerine trees on the Going Merry and on her first night back on their ship, she takes one from the sweet smelling trees. And Nami can taste them again—

Months pass, but it feels like years, as Luffy pulls her through fairy tales and scientific anomalies and civil wars and shadowed lands. Arlong seems like a distant memory. And she hits Luffy and yells at him and can't find a way to tell him that she loves him for being him, and for not loving her for any other reason than because she is his precious nakama. He's the first man to ever do so—

They're separated. Up so high in the clouds, Nami's mind is captured by the weather machines and static electricity and the wise old men who have so much to teach her, and she forgets the land below, just for a few days. She never fathomed that tragedy of the sharpest kind awaited her in the black ink of the newspaper—

Luffy died. He's dead. He is no longer here. She breaks down, claws at her skin, curses the wise old men who have so much to teach her. She goes to his grave and wants to yell at him, but the thought of him not complaining and whining back is too painful, so she says nothing instead—

They're all hurt, and broken, and lost, and alone. But they're all hurt, and broken, and lost, and alone together. And they patch something together, a quilt from the scraps of fabric and straw he left behind. They spend some time apart to mourn and grow stronger before setting out into the world to find his dream. It's how they hold on to him—

Nami is much older now. Her eyes have the beginnings of lines and she moves less quickly these days. Her life has been quite long for a pirate. But the years are nothing compared to the months she spent with her captain, the boy with the straw hat. It takes decades, but now she sees Luffy's death a little clearer—

He was always the Peter Pan of their world, their dreams, and she supposes he simply wasn't meant to grow up—

And so, eternally seventeen, he lives on in their minds and most especially their hearts—

Until the day she dies—

Nami sucks in a harsh breath as she's shocked into consciousness. Her world is shifted sideways and she can't fully grasp everything that's happening. But as she looks around and sees the menacing image of the basilisk hovering before the dark haired boy, her hand shoots to the pocket of her robes.

"Flipendo!"

The beam of light hits the snake, sending it into the water where it quickly slinks away. She rushes over to Harry's side and looks into his glassy eyes.

"Nami," he utters. And she absolutely blanches. He's Luffy— he's here, back, reincarnated, whatever the case may be, he's alive and before her. She— can't believe it's really him! He's Harry Potter? Recollections of his strange hyper behavior fills her mind and it clicks into place. Of course it's him, she thinks. Who else could it be?

That's when she notices the large hole in his arm and his uncharacteristic stillness.

"You always get into so much trouble, Captain," she says for the first time in years, water slipping down her face. The moment would be perfect, were he not dying again. This time before her eyes, right when she gets him back—

"You have freckles." Luffy smiles, not as wide as normally, but still so genuine. His now-green eyes shut and dread consumes her.

"Help me!" she cries, voice raw with desperation. "Somebody! Please!"

The screech of a bird answers her, and she watches with numb amazement as the majestic red creature lands before them. His intelligent black eyes look over all three of them, before landing on Harry. Water gathers in the bird's eyes, and Nami never knew that birds could cry before. The tears drop one by one onto Luffy's wound.

Incredibly, miraculously, the wound closes right before her eyes.

"Thank you," she gasps. One trembling hand strokes the bird's feathers while the other wipes the wetness away from her cheeks.

Luffy stirs minutely. Nami's not incredibly surprised. It takes more than poison to keep her captain down.

One green eye opens and looks blearily around the room.

"Fawkes." He holds one hand out to the bird who leans its head forward into the touch. "Thank you."

Nami smiles at the sweet scene.

"I'm sorry I said I'd eat you earlier. I didn't mean it. I promise to never say that again," Luffy assures him.

"You idiot!" she shouts.

"What?" he asks as he slowly sits up.

"You can't eat a bird like this! He's special. Even I can tell he's magical!"

"I know that. Maybe magic would make him taste better."

"Luffy!"

"You're so mean, Nami," he complains, pouting. He blinks in slight surprise as Nami throws herself at him. Despite his weariness he weakly wraps an arm around her and lets Nami clutch at his robes and touch his hair and face as much as she wants. After a long few minutes, she reluctantly pulls back.

"We should probably get out of here before the basilisk comes back," she says.

"Mm, I don't think Sabo 2 will try anything," Luffy says easily as he shakily gets to his feet.

"... You named the basilisk."

"Uh-huh!"

"Sabo 2?"

"Yep!"

"Why?" Nami asks.

"He's missing a tooth," Luffy says, as though it's in any way a sufficient explanation.

Nami sighs. He's just like she remembers him. Her brown eyes fall on the unconscious Hermione.

"How do we get her out?" Nami asks.

Luffy looks around before getting his wand. Standing before Hermione, he gives a few flicks and says,

"Rennervate!"

Hermione jerks to life, gasping suddenly, hands clenching and back arching against the stone.

"Magic is so cool!" Luffy says, grinning to Nami. Although she doesn't say anything, she completely and wholly agrees.

"H-Harry! The basilisk it— I—" Hermione manages through her panting as she hurriedly scrambles to her feet. Once she sees the area's clear, her eyes focus on Luffy. "How did you get me from the basilisk?! It swallowed me whole!"

"I told Sabo 2 to hold still while I pulled you out," Luffy explains, and Nami just barely resists face-palming.

"Sabo 2?" Hermione's brow furrows. After a long moment she asks, "Did you name the basilisk?!"

Luffy opens his mouth, but Nami cuts him off.

"Let's get out of here. If we let him go on he'll keel over with exhaustion."

"Ginny!" Hermione says, exhaling with relief. "You're okay."

"I'm fine. A little bruised, but I've been worse." Nami shrugs before turning concerned eyes on the other girl. "I didn't know you were swallowed by the snake!"

"I— it was very sudden," Hermione says, still clearly stunned by it all. "Thank you for saving me, Harry."

Despite the poisoning and whatever else Luffy's been through, he gives Hermione the bright I-saved-you-and-now-everything's-great smile.

"What happened to Tom?" Nami asks, feeling very unsettled by what she remembers. Looking back at it with the years of experience she now has under her belt, the manipulation is clear to her. She hates it. Manipulation reminds her of Arlong, and the only kind of manipulation she'll accept is the manipulation Luffy attempts when he wants some of her food— the realization that the example applies again is absolutely stunning to her, and her breath catches.

"The sorting hat granted me the sword of Godric Gryffindor! After I figured out that You-Know-Who was a younger iteration— a memory of his past self," Hermione clarifies for Luffy. "I used the sword to destroy the book. Then You-Know-Who disappeared." Seeing the sword on the ground, the brown haired girl picks it up and stares reverently at the gleaming edges.

Nami snorts. "I would've liked a turn with the sword at him. Oh well, let's get the hell out of here, this place smells awful," she says, earning her a slightly wide-eyed look from Hermione. She supposes it makes sense. Before this, Ginny was a nervous, unconfident eleven-year-old. Nami has lived a long time, and has generally been blunt. It's strange, because she is the same person, but at the same time she isn't. She remembers both lifetimes so well, and exists as some kind of collaboration. She wonders if it's the same for Luffy, or if he's always been Luffy. It's hard to imagine him otherwise.

"Shall we?" Nami urges. After fishing Hermione's wand from the water, the three stumble out of the Chamber of Secrets, tired, hungry, and ready to collapse. And though she's rarely done so in the past, Nami grabs Luffy's hand and laces their digits. Because for the first time in decades, she can.

"I wonder if they have those potions ready for Ace," Luffy wonders aloud as he idly swings their hands.

Nami's eyes widen. "Ace?! You mean— Ace?!"

"That's what I said."

That means Ron, her brother, is actually Ace, as in the Ace, Luffy's brother Ace. A lot of Ron's recent actions make much more sense now that she considers it. Damn. She never realized that her brother was that different! But then again, Ron did change drastically when he came back from school last summer. She assumed it was to do with his first year of Hogwarts, but maybe that was when—

"You and I are going to have a talk later," she says, mindful of Hermione's curious look.

"Okay!" he says easily, smiling again. And Nami—

Nami feels like... her life has truly just begun.


.

.

.

.

.

.

I hope this answers some of the questions y'all had about whether there will be other strawhats. The answer is yes. As for who and when, that'll have to wait :D.

Luffy's interaction with Voldemort was pretty fun to write, as was his inability to know the right name. Lots of references to the escape from Impel Down, I'm sure you noticed.

Ace is tetchy, I hope it's made clear why. Hopefully, over the years he'll smoothe out...

Also, as a reviewer pointed out, Ace did look in the Basilisk's eyes, but his DF power prevented him from dying.

Thanks for reading!

I always appreciate reviews~

More next week!