New crewmate in this chapter! Winners are announced at the bottom, I'll message you to let you 'collect your prize'. Enjoy!
"Luffy have you finished your transfiguration equations yet?" Nami asked from his seat at the table.
Luffy and Nami had retreated to the Come-and-Go Room to do their homework with Brook joining them. The two pirate children chose the Going Merry this time, taking the opportunity to introduce Brook to the little caravel that had brought them so far. Brook, was absolutely delighted.
"Uhhh," Luffy said sweating nervously. He had not finished his equations, he hadn't even started his homework but he had told Nami that he had. Brook chuckled from his spot at a piano he had asked the room to provide him
"McGonagall's going to kill you if you turn in another paper complaining about Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration," Nami said unimpressed barely looking up from his own homework.
"She was rather proud of your essay," Brook piped up. "She had never seen a first-year work so hard to disprove a law of transfiguration. She even mentioned that you might be onto something."
Luffy, after learning it was impossible to create food from nothing, had written a long and very well researched essay on why it should be possible. The professor had been irritated the essay wasn't over the simple wood-to-metal transfiguration they were studying but had given Luffy credit for his essay anyway. The green eyed boy wasn't likely to get away with it again.
"But it's boring," Luffy whined. "We never do any magic, we just write stuff."
Nami rolled his eyes and turned back to his essay. Nami had told the other boys in the dorm that Luffy's excitement wouldn't last long and it hadn't lasted past the first two days. Now the only way to get the boy out of bed was the promise of breakfast.
"It's like training," Nami said trying half-heartedly to get through to his captain. "We have to train before we can -"
Nami froze at the sound of stone moving on stone. "Do you hear that?"
Luffy perked up and Brook paused his playing, there was something that sounded like shifting stone.
"Can other people get into the room while we are here?" Nami asked pushing away from the table.
"I'm not sure," Brook answered uncertainly. "I've never had anyone happen upon me, but maybe if they were looking for the same room that we are in?"
"But how could anyone know about Merry?" Nami asked still searching for the source of the sound.
"Because they are one of us," Luffy said zeroing on a spot that looked like one of Merry's cabin walls. The faux wood was trembling and shifting until it opened a door and someone stepped out.
Zoro had been 'awake' for two days. It all started with an overheard conversation and the word 'Nami'. Zoro was never going to mention to the witch that it was her name that triggered his waking up. The swordsman had no idea where Nami was or who she was but he was assuming the red-head been reborn like he had. Assuming the rest of the crew had been reborn …
Seeing Brook at the head table had been a shock especially considering the musician looked human, with skin and everything. Zoro had wanted to seek the man out, ask if he knew where the others were but there wasn't ever time. Between classes and his housemates Zoro couldn't ever stray too far without someone snagging him and dragging him along. Something about him getting lost, it wasn't Zoro's fault people didn't stay where they were supposed or moved crap around. To be honest, Zoro was irritated that this had continued through both of his lives.
The real problem was he couldn't find Nami. He had found the crap-cook, but the chef didn't seem to recognize Zoro yet which was a pain, but the swordsman figured the cook would realize it eventually.
"I can see the food flying from here," one of the upper years sneered.
"Potter's at it again," another muttered. "I heard he was raised by muggles. It certainly shows."
Zoro paused his eating and stared across the hall at where the upper years had indicated Potter sat. Zoro could just see, between students, a small dark haired body sitting next to a redhead. The dark haired boy appeared to be choking and the redhead laughing at his misfortune.
It took a minute but the dark haired boy forced down his food and joined the redhead in laughing and Zoro knew. That was Luffy. Zoro snorted when he realized just who his captain was now, Harry Potter, of course, his captain would be the Boy-Who-Lived.
Zoro scarfed down the last of his food and pushed away from the table. Time to find his crew.
"Where are you going Zabini?" Malfoy asked, his silver eyes narrowed at the black boy.
"I'm going to go talk to my friends," Roronoa Zoro, now known as Blaise Zabini, said.
"How the hell did I end up here?" Zoro asked looking around, at what looked like Merry-go in confusion. "Oh hey, you three are here."
"ZORO?" Nami, Luffy, and Brook shouted in surprise.
"Yeah? - Uhm!"
Luffy rocked toward his first mate and slammed into the other eleven-year-old with considerable force that sent them both to the floor.
"Zoro remembers!" Luffy shouted wrapping his arms around his swordsman's neck cheerfully hugging the other boy tightly.
"Ack! Luffy, get off! I can't breath!" Zoro said struggling to detach the pint-sized captain from his neck.
"Zoro remembers!" Luffy shouted again, still clinging tightly to the other boy.
"Off Luffy," Zoro said. "A little help?"
Together Nami, Brook, and Zoro managed to pry their captain away.
"Geeze, Luffy, was that necessary?" Zoro asked rubbing at his sore neck.
"I missed you," Luffy said simply, still smiling. "And now there are five of us."
"Five?" Zoro asked looking at the group.
"Robin," Nami said shaking his head knowing what the swordsman was asking. "Luffy met her in Diagon Alley before school started. She'll be a first year next year."
"Huh," Zoro said accepting the answer.
"That just leaves, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, and Franky," Brook said thoughtfully ticking off names on his fingers.
Zoro scoffed and crossed his arms. He and Luffy had remained sitting on the deck rather than stand like Brook and Nami were doing. "I found the shit-cook, he just doesn't remember yet."
"Yohohoho," Brook laughed. "That's wonderful news!"
"So is Sanji still a boy?" Luffy asked mischievously.
"Why wouldn't he be?" Zoro asked giving his captain a confused look. "It's not like we changed genders or anything."
Silence.
"I did," Nami said with forced calm.
Zoro stared hard at the navigator and snorted. "Huh, guess you did," he admitted not having noticed before.
Luffy and Brook slowly inched away from Nami as a feel of overwhelming dread overcame them.
With a wordless cry of rage Nami attacked.
Over an hour later, Zoro, still bruised and glaring at the red headed wizard, had been filled in, they all had really. They had shared their stories thus far. Brook told them of being found by Dumbledore and brought to the school to teach music and Nami made the skeleton finally explain his glamor.
Luffy skirted around his life with Dursleys but filled his crew in on his life thus far. The pint-sized captain managed to focus the attention on the others rather than talk himself.
Nami shared his story of growing up a Weasley and dealing with the memories of a past life.
Zoro's story was the one everyone was most excited for. "I only 'woke up' a few days ago," Zoro admitted. "I had been trying to find you since then but the castle moves stuff around too much."
Nami, Luffy, and Brook sniggered. "What?" Zoro asked irritated.
"Are you sure it was the castle?" Nami asked mirth shining in his eyes.
"Yes," Zoro said flatly.
"Really sure?" Luffy asked baiting the swordsman.
"Yes damn it!" Zoro shouted.
"Hahahahaha," the crew laughed.
"What are your parents like?" Nami asked when things settled down. Even though Nami and Zoro were both purebloods in this life, their upbringing likely had very little in common.
"My mother is gone a lot, " Zoro said with an easy shrug. "She's nice enough but since my father's death, she's been running the estate. She feels bad about leaving me alone so often so I get whatever I want. Like fencing and kendo lessons."
"You were interested in swords even before you 'woke up'?" Nami asked curiously.
"Must be something ingrained in me," Zoro said seriously. "The only thing she can't find is a sword like Wado Ichimonji."
"Your white sword?" Luffy asked.
"Yes, and we looked. There is no sign of that sword or one like it in the world," Zoro admitted bitterly.
"It has been a long time since your deaths," Brook said softly, his fingers running over the keys of his piano. "There likely isn't anything left of our old lives, except me."
"Nami? What's wrong?" Luffy asked from his bed.
The, now five members strong, Strawhat crew had split up for bed. They talked until curfew and Brook promised to make sure Zoro made it back to the Slytherin Common Room without getting lost and Nami drug Luffy back to Gryffindor Tower.
"Something about what Brook said is bothering me," Nami admitted. "He still won't tell us how we died and something is really bugging me about his story."
"Do you think he's lying about something?" Luffy asked seriously.
"No," Nami said shaking his head. "It's nothing like that, it's just ...I don't know!" Th redhead through his hands in the air and fell back into his bed huffing with frustration.
The room was silent for a moment and then Nami left his bed dip a little. Luffy flopped down beside his navigator. "Nami will figure it out," Luffy said staring up at the canopy. "Nami is smart and Brook is just sad. Mentioning his time alone makes him sad."
'It makes you sad too,' Nami thought glancing at his captain. "I hate having questions with no answers," Nami admitted.
Luffy hummed and didn't answer. He just sat up and walked back to his bed just as the other boys entered the dorm.
Luffy sat up and stretched with a yawn. The darkness of the room surprised him, normally when he woke up the sun was streaming through the windows and Nami was yelling. It was obviously still late so the former rubber boy peered out into the darkness, wondering just what time it was and why he had woken up.
A soft sniffle from the bed next to him drew Luffy's attention. The curtains were drawn but Luffy recognized the bed as belonging to Neville Longbottom, someone Luffy recognized as part of his crew.
Was the both boy crying? With stealth, his crew wouldn't believe he was capable of using Luffy climbed from his bed and padded the few steps to Neville's bed and pushed the curtains open.
"Why are you crying?" Luffy whispered loudly.
Neville sat up wiping at his eyes with the heels of his hands. " 'm not crying," the boy lied. "What are you doing over here? Why aren't you asleep?"
"Liar," Luffy said simply. "I just woke up and heard you."
"S-sorry I woke you," Neville said sadly still staring at Luffy with big watery eyes. "You can go back to bed."
Luffy just shrugged and climbed onto the end of Neville's bed. "Not tired anymore," Luffy said crossing his arms. "Why are you crying?"
Neville stared at the boy at the end of his bed for a moment experiencing a strange feeling of déjà vu. "Why do you care?"
Luffy frowned. "'Cause you're my friend," Luffy said with absolute certainty.
"We're friends?" Neville asked softly.
"Of course, I promised we'd always be friends," Luffy said with a smile.
"Promised?" Neville said to himself softly.
"Is that why you were sad?" Luffy asked.
Neville nodded stiffly. "My gran wrote to me today asking why I hadn't mentioned any friends yet, kept going on about how my dad had loads of friends by now and … I realized I didn't have any friends, at all."
Luffy casually bonked his fist onto Neville's head. "Stupid, I just said we're friends, and if you'd hurry up and remember you'd know that."
"Remember what?" Neville said watching Luffy climb off his bed and back into his own.
"Nami says I'm not supposed to talk about it until you 'wake up', Luffy pouted crawling back under his blankets. "So wake up soon okay Usopp?"
Neville stared at the messy haired boy who had climbed into his bed, hit him, told him to remember something (he didn't remember) and then returned to his own bed as if nothing had happened. The only good thing had come out of the strange interaction was the confirmation that Neville did have a friend.
"Why did he call me Usopp?" Neville whispered to himself after he laid back down. Everyone had noticed that Harry didn't seem to have the easiest time with names, so maybe the other boy had forgotten?
Slowly Neville drifted off to sleep. That night Neville dreamt of laughter and friends, whose names he couldn't remember in the morning.
Before anyone asks, Neville does not remember yet, and won't for a few more chapters still.
Moving on, the winner of my little contest was: FallenNiji! Keep an eye on your inbox to 'collect your winnings.
Now I kind of created a 'runner up' because someone technically guessed before FallenNiji but Blaise wasn't their 'final' answer so Kyrianae Narii look for my message and I'll explain what you 'won'.
Next Time: Flying Lessons! Sure wish Luffy was still bouncy….