So I'm still working on Chopper's introduction story, but I wrote myself into a corner, so as I work on writing myself out again, you can have this.
Enjoy.
"Alright class," Professor Smoker said as he wrote on the chalkboard. The cabinet in the corner of the room shook ominously, silencing the class. He stepped away from the board, revealing the word BOGGART written there, "Today we'll be learning about Boggarts."
Sanji was already bored, and his eyes roamed around to the rest of the class. Most of them looked confused, the rest were apprehensive. He noticed Lola and her twin sister, Chiffon from Ravenclaw, whispering to each other in hushed tones and worried voices from the seat next to them. The cabinet shook again.
"Boggarts are shapeshifters," Professor Smoker was saying, "They pick a target and transform into whatever they most fear. Boggarts live in small, dark spaces, choosing to pop out once they sense a human nearby. You can find Boggarts in places like closets, drawers, boxes," the cabinet shook again, more violently this time, "Cabinets."
"Sir?" Chaka raised his hand, "Is there a Boggart in that cabinet?"
The cabinet shook again. "We'll get to that in a minute," Professor Smoker said as he turned back to the board, "Boggarts prey on fear, so in order to defeat them, we use humor and laughter," he stepped away from the board again. Underneath BOGGART he had written the word RIDDIKULUS.
"The Boggart Banishing spell is Riddikulus," he said, gesturing to the class, "Everyone together."
"Riddikulus," the class said in unison.
"This class is Riddikulus," Sanji muttered under his breath. He heard Lola giggle and considered it a win.
"The word alone isn't enough, you're also going to have to use your imagination," Professor Smoker continued, "Picture what it is you fear most, that's what the Boggart will turn into, then imagine a way to make it hilarious instead of terrifying. While keeping the hilarious image in your mind, say the incantation. This transforms the Boggart into something funny, and your laughter drives it away.
"We can sit here and talk about it all day or I can let you actually do it," the cabinet shook once more, "I've managed to trap a Boggart in this cabinet. For the lesson today you'll each get the chance to face it and try out the Riddikulus spell for yourselves. Any questions?"
Chiffon raised her hand, "What does a Boggart look like when it's alone?"
"No one knows," Professor Smoker said, "As soon as it sees a human, a Boggart is already transformed."
"Can't you catch it off guard somehow?" Lola asked.
"If you can, no one has been able to do it before."
"What if you're with a group?" a boy from Ravenclaw asked, "Will the Boggart just pick one of your fears?"
"It depends on the Boggart. For the most part they'll try to transform into all the fears at once and end up with an undignified mess. That's what it's best to face a Boggart with a group," he looked over the rest of the class and nodded, "Alright, I'll give everyone a chance think of your worst fear and how to make it funny, then line up along the side of the room."
"What if we're not afraid of anything?" Sanji asked with a smirk.
Professor Smoker's eyes narrowed, "Everyone is afraid of something, Mr. Black. If you're too stubborn to admit to yourself what it is, you'll be going into this encounter unprepared. I suggest you look deep into yourself and figure out what the Boggart will transform into before it does."
Sanji leaned back and looked around the classroom. The rest of the class had fallen silent, concentrating on figuring out how to combat their fears. Chiffon whispered something into Lola's ear, causing her to giggle.
Sanji frowned as he looked down at his desk. What did he fear the most? It was a deeply philosophical question, especially for Professor Smoker's class. The ghost of hunger rumbled in his stomach, and he clenched his hand tight over it. Could a Boggart even transform into an abstract concept like starvation? How was he supposed to make the living hell that was the three months he spent on the streets of London something to laugh about? Was there anything else the Boggart would transform into?
The faces of his brothers popped into his head. Their father's face appeared alongside of them, sneering down at him in disappointment. Yeah the Boggart would probably do them. He tapped on the desk. How was he supposed to make those assholes funny?
The more he thought about the Boggart turning into the Vinsmokes and seeing their faces once more, the more it made him sick. He left France so he never had to see them again. Now he was going to have to face them in front of the whole class. That wasn't something he wanted to deal with today, damn shitty Boggart.
"Okay, let's get this show on the road," Professor Smoker said, "If you're ready, get in line."
Most of the class stood up and began lining up. Sanji and a few other stragglers were still in their seats, but one by one they were getting up and joining the line. He dug around in his bag until he found what he was looking for, and shoved it in his mouth.
"Mr. Black," Professor Smoker said, arms crossed as Sanji sat up, "Ready to join the rest of the class?"
"Yeah, I just-" he quickly stood up but staggered a bit as he felt something wet drip out of his nose. He touched his upper lip and felt blood.
Professor Smoker's frown deepened, "Are you alright?"
"Y-yeah, I'm fine," Sanji said as held his fingers under his nose, "This happens sometimes, but it's only a little-" he staggered again as blood all but gushed out of his nose and onto his robes.
Professor Smoker sighed, "Go to the infirmary."
"Yes, Sir," Sanji grabbed his bag and rushed out the door.
When he was two floors away from the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, he took a look around and found himself alone.
He opened hand and popped the purple half of the candy in his mouth. His nosebleed stopped instantly, leaving him covered in blood but perfectly healthy, "That worked better than I thought it would."
"Hey," Sanji looked up from his book and saw Zoro standing over him, scowl on his face, "You skived off the Boggart lesson?"
Sanji glared at him. It was a beautiful day outside, and he'd managed to get the really good spot by the lake under his favorite tree. Then this jerk had to show up, no doubt just to ruin Sanji's good mood, "What's it to you?"
"Nothing," Zoro scratched his head, "Just, it's going to be on the exam, so if you want me to show you-"
"No thanks, Moss Head," Sanji said as he went back to his book, "I'll study the theory to get ready for the test."
"You can't do Defense Against the Dark Arts with theory," he huffed as he sat down in the grass next to Sanji, "If you're having trouble with it just let me show you."
"I'm good," Sanji said, raising the book so he didn't have to look at Zoro's stupid face, "Leave me alone."
"Whatever," he heard Zoro shift, "Didn't have you pegged as a coward, but I guess I was wrong."
Sanji slammed the book down and gave Zoro his most heated glare, "What?"
Zoro smirked, as if the bastard had actually won or something, which he hadn't, "You don't wanna do it because you're too scared to face the Boggart. That makes you a coward."
Sanji clenched the book tight in his hands, wrinkling the pages. He knew Zoro was just saying this to goad him into it, that he shouldn't let the asshole get under his skin, but his blood was boiling and he couldn't stop himself as his teeth clenched around the word, "When?"
"Right now," Zoro stood up, "Professor Smoker lent me the Boggart. Brook lent us the Charm's room."
He slammed the book shut, shoved it into his bag, and stood up, "Let's go."
When they arrived at the Charm's room, Sanji was surprised to see the rest of their friends already there.
"What's this, an intervention?" Sanji snorted as his eyes darted between his friends.
"Just a study session," Zoro said as he closed the door behind them, "You still need to learn the Boggart Banishing spell, Franky and Robin could use a refresher for their OWLs, so I figured why not also take the time to teach Luffy, Nami, Usopp, and Chopper too?"
"And I'm here to provide adult supervision," Brook said with a laugh, "Also you're in my classroom."
"Whatever," Sanji placed his bag on the chair next to Usopp and sat on the desk, "So how are we doing this?"
Zoro dragged a shaking suitcase to the middle of the room, "We're gonna stand in a circle around the suitcase, wide enough so the Boggart has an opportunity to get at us one on one, and take turns defeating it."
"Question," Usopp's hand shot up, "A Boggart's that thing that turns into whatever you fear, right?"
"Yeah."
"I see," Usopp grabbed his bag, "I suddenly remembered my Can't-Fight-A-Boggart-itis, super deadly and very incurable, so I really should be going."
"Sit down," Zoro rolled his eyes, "We're all doing it or else Swirly's gonna flake again."
Sanji glared at him, "I didn't flake."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Zoro sneered, "I mean to say, or else Swirly's gonna run away again like the coward he is."
Sanji clenched his teeth and jumped off the desk, wand in hand as he pointed it at the suitcase, "Bring it on."
"I have no qualms with being labeled a coward," Usopp said as he stood up, "May I be excused?"
"No," Nami said as she grabbed his wrist and dragged him to the other side of the circle, "You heard Zoro, we're all doing it."
"This sounds like fun," Luffy said as he bounced into the circle between Zoro and Sanji.
"It sounds scary," Chopper said, shaking from head to toe, "Are you sure it's safe?"
"Boggarts are relatively harmless," Robin said as she guided him into the circle next to Sanji, "The whole processes of defeating one can be quite amusing."
"Yeah," Franky said as he jumped into the circle between Robin and Usopp, "I remember when we did Boggarts back in third year. Best day of class by far."
Brook laughed as he settled into the circle between Zoro and Nami, "I've encountered several Boggarts in the wild myself. They are interesting creatures to be sure."
"Okay, so the Boggart's gonna come out of the suitcase and attack us one by one," Zoro explained, "The spell to beat it is Riddikulus."
"Right," Luffy nodded, "Riddikimus."
"Riddikulus," Zoro repeated.
"Readycorpus."
"Riddikulus, y'know like Curly's face."
Sanji glared at him as Luffy perked up, "Oh, Ridiculous."
"Yeah, close enough," Zoro shrugged as he turned to the rest of the circle, "Like I said before, you gotta turn it into something silly, so we'll take a moment so everyone can think of their worst fears and a way to make them funny," he nodded and put his hand in the air, "When you've got something raise your hand. When everyone's ready we'll start."
Brook, Franky, and Robin put their hands up immediately. Luffy pursed his lips in thought for a bit before grinning wide and raising his hand. Nami hummed to herself before raising he hand as well.
Sanji thought about his own fears again. He still didn't know if or how a Boggart could transform into starvation, but if it did take on the form of the streets of London somehow, he figured he could turn it into a party. Balloons, streamers, a barbeque, the works. It's hard to be scared of a barbeque.
If it turned into his former family, well. He shuddered a little, still uncomfortable with the idea of facing them again, even if it was just as a Boggart, but doing it with his friends was much better than in front of his class, and he couldn't let Zoro get away with calling him a coward. But how could he make them funny? He remembered those little Russian dolls that you stacked inside of each other and pictured his brothers similarly stacked inside of their father, harmless pieces of wood unable to escape, and grinned. Yeah, that should work.
He put his hand up.
After a few more minutes Chopper and Usopp put their shaking hands up as well, and Zoro nodded, "Good. Okay, now remember to picture the funny thing while saying the spell," he lowered his hand and raised his wand, pointing it at the shaking suitcase, "It'll probably go after Usopp first, since it can smell fear, so be ready for that."
"H-hey," Usopp protested, but Zoro ignored him.
"Alright, three, two, one, Alohomora," Zoro said, unlocking the suitcase.
The suitcase burst open, and a hand wearing a brown leather glove with metal claws attached to the fingers popped out. It grabbed onto the edge of the suitcase and slowly the rest of Freddy Krueger followed. He pulled himself up and out of the suitcase, eyes set on Usopp as he slowly made his way towards him. Nami and Franky took a step back as Usopp raised his wand, knees shaking, and said, "R-riddikulus."
A sound like a whip crack filled the room and Freddy stumbled a few steps. His hat was replaced with a flower crown, his metal claws turned to long stem flowers that shed petals whenever he moved his hands. The group burst into laughter as Freddy snarled and dove back into the suitcase.
"Good job, Usopp," Zoro said with a grin, "Chopper, you're probably next."
Chopper gulped and nodded as he stepped forward, wand raised as the suitcase shook ominously, once, twice, three times, and out popped a wolf large enough to swallow Chopper in one bite.
The wolf snarled as it stepped forward, its huge teeth dripping saliva and its yellow eyes beady and full of malice. Chopper swallowed once more, held his wand steady and said, "Riddikulus."
The whip crack sounded again and the wolf shrunk. Its ears grew long as its tail became a mere cotton ball as it morphed into a rabbit. The rabbit blinked and tried to howl, but the only sound that came out was a small chirp and the group laughed loud and hard. The rabbit dove back into the suitcase.
"Very good, nice work, Chopper," Zoro said.
"I don't need your praise, asshole!" Chopper said with a blush and a huge smile on his face.
"I'm not really sure who's gonna be next," Zoro said as he glanced around the circle, "Brook maybe?"
Brook nodded and stepped forward.
The suitcase shook violently, and then out popped a terrifying ghost tied up with chains and covered in bloodstains. The ghost shrieked, forcing them all to cover their ears, and shook it's chains ominously as it shambled towards Brook.
Brook raised his wand, looking the ghost dead in the eye, and said, "Riddikulus!"
The crack sounded loud and sharp as the ghost stumbled back, Brook's afro appearing on his head. His chains had broken off and he instead held a violin in his hands. He started to play, with Brook clapping out a rhythm for him as the others laughed and joined in.
The ghost grimaced and jumped back into the suitcase.
"So next will probably be," Zoro scanned the room, "Franky? Maybe Nami."
Nami groaned, "Really?"
The suitcase slammed open and out came not a thing but a noise, the loud piercing sound of a train whistle. The suitcase started shaking as a light appeared from deep within, growing bigger and bigger as the suitcase shook more and more.
"Yeah, that's mine," Franky said as he stepped forward, wand at the ready, "Riddikulus!"
Another crack as the suitcase rattled and gave one last whistle before out popped a small toy train. It circled the suitcase playing a light hearted cheerful tune as everyone burst into laughter. The little train hopped back into to the suitcase.
"Nice one," Zoro said, "Next will probably be-"
"Me!" Luffy said, stepping forward, "I wanna be next."
The suitcase shook once then burst open. Out came a large, portly woman with messy orange hair and a cigarette in the corner of her mouth. She glared down at Luffy and said, "Luffy! You've been very bad! No meals for a week!"
"But Dadan!" Luffy cried out.
"Luffy, the spell," Zoro reminded him.
"Oh, right," Luffy raised his wand and shouted, "Riddikulus!"
"No meals for-" Crack! Dadan bit her tongue and blew a raspberry. They all laughed as anymore words she had to say to him only came out as more raspberries. Dadan's face grew red in frustration as she jumped back inside the suitcase.
"Not bad," Zoro said as he looked around the circle, "Okay, Nami,You're up."
Nami nodded and gripped her wand tight as the suitcase shook.
The suitcase sprung open and out came a deluge of water. A dorsal fin breached the surface of the water and began swimming speedily towards her. As it approached, the shark poked its head above the water and opened its mouth, revealing rows upon rows of razor sharp teeth.
Nami took a deep breath and said, "Riddikulus!"
The crack sounded once more and the shark's teeth morphed into cream puffs. Nami took a step back as the shark bit down, squishing the pastries and leaking cream everywhere as the others laughed loudly. The shark dived back into the water and swam into the suitcase, taking all the water with it.
"Nice," Zoro said as he glanced around the room for the next victim.
"I'll go next," Robin volunteered as she stepped forward.
The suitcase popped open and out came a solid black wardrobe engraved along all the sides with red letters from an alphabet that none of them could recognize, dripping with blood. The wardrobe rattled, causing the door to creak open slowly and a ghostly white hand to reach out towards Robin, "Join us," a gasping voice hissed from inside the wardrobe, "Join us."
Robin raised her wand and in an emotionless tone said, "Riddikulus."
With a loud crack the wardrobe shook again and out fell Franky, slightly disheveled, wearing an open Hawaiian shirt and no pants but a small speedo. He looked up at her, face turning a deep shade of red as the circle burst into laughter.
"Not cool, bro," the real Franky said as the Boggart Franky hopped back into the wardrobe and the wardrobe hopped back into the suitcase.
"That's great," Zoro laughed. He glanced at Sanji as the suitcase began shaking again, "You wanna go next or what?"
"I can go whenever," Sanji smirked as he gripped his wand tight, "If you're too scared."
Zoro's eye twitched as he stepped forward.
The suitcase was flung open by a rusty metal gauntlet. Out came a knight in an equally rusty suit of armor, dragging behind it the largest sword he'd ever seen. The blade was jet black and sharp enough to leave a thin line in the floor as the knight dragged it along towards Zoro. The hilt was gold and cross shaped, encrusted with sparkling jewels at each end.
The knight took another step forward and raised the sword above Zoro's head. At the same time, Zoro raised his wand and shouted, "Riddikulus!"
A crack and the knight's sword was replaced with a balloon sword. As it swung down and hit Zoro, it let out a long and loud fart noise that echoed around the room. The group laughed as the knight jumped back into the suitcase.
"Alright," Zoro said lowered his wand, "You're the last one."
"Good," Sanji pointed his wand at the suitcase as it shook again, "Let's do this."
He really didn't want to face his former family again, and every moment that the suitcase shook filled him with more dread, but if this was the only way to get Zoro off his back, then he'd have to do it. Besides, maybe it wouldn't be them, maybe it would be starvation somehow or even something Sanji hadn't thought of.
The suitcase shook one more time before it flung open. He waited with bated breath as someone came out of the suitcase, one solid leg hitting the ground followed by a fake leg.
It wasn't his brothers, or their father, or anyone he left behind in France. It was Zeff.
Sanji was confused, Zeff had never hurt him and he wasn't afraid of him, so why did the Boggart choose him? He lowered his wand as Zeff took a step forward.
Zeff sneered down at him, "You're a failure of a son, Sanji."
Sanji balked, grip on his wand tightening, "What?"
"The spell, Swirly," he heard Zoro shout, but Sanji was too preoccupied with the man in front of him to pay him any attention.
"You're a disappointment," Zeff continued.
This was so much worse than the Vinsmokes. Sanji felt himself shaking as he buried a hand in his hair. His heart was beating so fast he was sure it would jump right out of his chest, so loud that it was all he could hear and surely the others could hear it too. His lungs struggled to bring in enough air as if the room was suddenly empty of it, leaving him gasping and greedily sucking in whatever he could as he stepped backwards. His vision tunneled so it was just him and Zeff and those damned words that kept washing over him, digging into every opening they could find, filling every part of him until they became him. He kept going backwards until he hit something and he was stuck, couldn't run, couldn't escape. He distantly heard someone shout his name, but couldn't respond.
"I never should have saved you."
He dropped his wand.
Eight voices shouted "Riddikulus!" and the image of Zeff burst into smoke.
Sanji was gasping for air as he fell back against the desk. He felt a hand on his shoulder and another on his wrist as he heard Chopper's voice saying, "Sanji, can you hear me? Just breathe!"
"I'm, I'm fine," he blinked, awareness slowly coming back to him, and glanced around the room. Luffy had his hand on his shoulder, a solid presence that kept him grounded as he unconsciously leaned into the touch, and Chopper was the one holding his wrist to take his pulse. The others were hovering a little behind them, worried but unsure how to help, save for Zoro, who was wrestling his rusty knight of a Boggart back into the suitcase.
Shit, he'd completely gone to pieces in front of Nami and Robin, and Zoro, fuck he was never living that down. Even Usopp and Chopper had managed to defeat the Boggart, he was the only one who reacted so badly. Why was he so damn weak?
He brushed off Luffy and Chopper as he stood up straighter, "I'm fine now."
"Sanji," Chopper's gaze was worried as he tried to gently coax him, "You had a panic attack, you really should sit down."
"Really," he gave him the best smile he could muster, "I'm alright now."
"You should go to the infirmary," Nami insisted, "Let someone check you over."
Her concern touched his heart, but it didn't quite overshadow the shame he felt for making her worry, "Honestly, I feel great now. I just need to rest a bit."
"A fine idea," Brook said as he approached Sanji and handed him his bag, "Come, I'll walk you back to the Common Room," he placed his hand on Sanji's shoulder and gently guided him towards the door, "In the meantime, I trust the rest of you to put my classroom back in working order."
Sanji gripped the strap of his bag tightly as he and Brook left the room. He was grateful to Brook for getting him out of there, but also guilty for worrying his friends so needlessly, and foolish for falling apart like he had. He and Brook walked in silence for a while before he said, "I don't, really want to talk about it."
"I understand," Brook said as they made their way down the staircase, "Just know that if you ever do, my door is always open. I have a large selection of tea and a wonderful listening ear."
Sanji nodded as they made their way silently back to the Common Room.
Sanji was successful in avoiding his friends for the next two days. Luffy and Usopp had tried to approach him during lunch a few times, but he'd given them the slip and started eating his meals in the kitchen after everyone else. He figured Zoro would be the most difficult to dodge, as they still had several classes together, but it seemed Zoro was doing his best to ignore Sanji. Honestly he couldn't blame him.
Friday found him with a morning free period that he usually spent bugging Zoro unsurprisingly empty. Using a secret passage in the North Tower that Ace had told him about, he decided to spend the better part of the period on the roof.
Sanji was just getting into his book when he heard footsteps along the shingles. He glanced over and saw Zoro carefully making his way across the rooftop to where he was sitting. Confused, he put his book down and waited until Zoro was right next to him to say, "What the hell are you doing here?"
"I was gonna ask you that," he said as he sat down.
"How did you even know I was here?"
Zoro shrugged and simply said, "Ace said you might be."
Sanji glanced down at the ground and waited for Zoro to say what it was he came here for, but nothing else came out of his mouth. Annoyed, he glanced over at him, but all he was doing was leaning back against the roof, hands behind his head as he started up at the sky.
"Go on then," Sanji said as he hugged his knees to his chest, "Say it."
"What do you want me to say?"
"Tell me I'm a coward," he said as he gripped his legs tight, "That I'm pathetic and weak."
"I can if you want," Zoro said as he closed his eyes, "But that's not what I think."
Sanji ground his teeth, "We've never lied to each other, why the fuck are you starting now?"
"I'm not lying," Zoro opened his eyes and stared at him. Sanji pointedly looked away as he continued, "You really do have a low opinion of me, if you think I would think that about you."
"Why wouldn't you?" he said as he buried his face into his legs, "Everyone else does."
"No one does," Zoro rolled his eyes, "And you're a moron if you think they do, but we both already knew that."
Sanji closed his eyes and ground his forehead against his knees, "Why are you here?"
Zoro took a deep breath and said, "My mom was a witch and my dad was a muggle." Sanji glanced up at him, but his was looking back up at the sky, "Did I ever tell you that?"
Sanji shook his head, "No. Are you going to tell me your life story now?"
"I'm going to tell you about my Boggart, if you'd shut up for three seconds."
Sanji furrowed his brow and leaned back against the roof as Zoro continued.
"My mom was the witch, my dad a muggle. My mom's family didn't approve of the marriage for the most part, so we lived in Japan, where my dad was from. I guess we were happy there, for a time, until my mom was killed in an accident. My dad, he couldn't cope with her death and suddenly raising me by himself."
Sanji winced, heart going out to him but powerless in his inability to do anything other than say, "I'm sorry."
Zoro shrugged, "S'fine, it happened a while ago. After that I went to Scotland to live with my uncle in his creepy ass castle in the middle of nowhere. He collects old swords and armor and stuff, so there's a bunch of that just laying around. My first week there I was wandering around and suddenly one of the suits of armor sprung to life. It grabbed the biggest sword in my uncle's collection and started chasing after me."
"Wow," Sanji grimaced, "What did you do to piss it off?"
"Nothing," he ran his hand through his hair, "My uncle has them all charmed to attack intruders, so it just saw me as an intruder in my uncle's house."
"And, what, your uncle just let it happen?" he shook his head, "That's pretty messed up."
"He didn't realise the charm would react that way to me," he said as he picked at the roof tiles, "He managed to stop the armor from killing me and fixed the charms so they wouldn't react that way to me anymore. My cousin never let me live it down," he shrugged, "I don't know, it's always kinda stuck with me."
Sanji bit his lip and looked away, "Why did you tell me that?"
Zoro closed his eyes and leaned back fully on the roof, "Who knows?"
Sanji smacked his leg, "You know, asshat. You didn't have to tell me any of that, so why did you?"
He frowned and rubbed his leg, "The others don't get it, but we've got this mutual respect thing going on. We've always been on equal footing with each other, and, I dunno, I like that about us," he rubbed the back of his head, "I kinda, messed that up, making you fight the Boggart like that. This was my way of getting us back on that even ground."
"You didn't have to do that," Sanji said as he hugged his knees, "We all fought the Boggart. I'm the only one who freaked out."
"Yeah, 'cause you weren't expecting it. Boggart's are a lot of trouble if you're not expecting them, and I'm the one who forced you into it. And I'm sorry," he leaned forward and shoved lightly shoved his shoulder, "So stop avoiding us. No one thinks any less of you because of this."
Zoro stood up and made he was back to the tower.
"Zoro?" Sanji said as he uncurled himself and stood up as well. Zoro stopped and looked over at him, "Thanks."
"Yeah, well," Zoro said as he scratched the back of his neck, "How are we supposed to pass Potions if you keep avoiding us?"
Sanji grinned, "Yeah, you're hopeless without me."
"As if," Zoro smirked as they went back inside, "I'd actually do better without you constantly hovering around me."
"In your dreams, Moss," Sanji said as they started down the stairs.
At the bottom off the tower they went to go their separate ways. Before they could, Sanji said, "Uh, you still got that Boggart?"
"No," Zoro said with a shake of his head. Sanji frowned, and he continued, "But, I can get it."
"Yeah," Sanji cleared his throat, "Yeah, uh, can you bring it to the Charm's room after class?"
"Sure," he nodded, "If that's what you want."
"Yeah, that's what I want."
"Then I'll be there."
"Okay," Sanji nodded, "Good," then immediately turned and walked off.
The new problem was, just because he knew what the Boggart was going to transform into didn't mean he knew how exactly to combat it.
"It's not really your father you're afraid of," Zoro said, "It's what he's saying. Try just taking away his voice."
Sanji bit his lip as he glanced over at the shaking suitcase in the middle of the room. He wasn't a fan of causing his father more harm than he already had, even if it was only a Boggart taking his form.
"Whatever," Sanji glared at the suitcase, "Just let it out and I'll wing it."
"Last time you tried to wing it you had a panic attack," Brook said as he pointed his wand at the three cups of tea on his desk, stirring them, "Let's try coming up with a plan this time."
Sanji grumbled, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair, but agreed.
"What were you going to do? Before the Boggart popped out as him?" Zoro said, "Can't you just use that on him?"
Sanji tried to picture Zeff as a matryoshka doll, still yelling at him as he split into smaller Zeffs all still yelling at him. That sounded even more terrifying.
"Your real fear seems to be of rejection, which the Boggart brings to life in the form of your father," Brook said as he offered him a teacup, "Why not change the words he's saying to combat that?"
"To what? 'Sanji I love you and you're doing a good job'?" He shook his head as he accepting the tea, "That's ridiculous."
"That's kinda the point is the spell, numbnuts," Zoro shrugged, taking his own tea from Brook, "And hey, if that's what you need to hear."
He thought about it for a moment. What did he need to hear from Zeff? What did he want to hear from him?
"Okay," Sanji took a sip of his tea and gently placed the cup down as he stood up, "I've got it."
"What are you gonna do?" Zoro asked as he set down his own tea.
Sanji shook his head, "I'll show you."
"If you're ready," Brook pointed his wand at the suitcase, unlocking it.
Zeff crawled out of the suitcase, much like he did before. He sneered down at Sanji in a way that didn't remind him of Zeff as much as it did Judge and wow, he really didn't need to think that right now.
"You're a failure of a son, Sanji," the Boggart said, "Such a disappointment."
Sanji ground his teeth, angry at the Boggart this time for using Zeff's face and Zeff's voice to say that to him. He pointed his wand right at its heart and said, "Riddikulus."
The whip crack sound filled the room as Zeff stumbled back.
He growled, gaze turning to pin Sanji down as he said, "You're an amazing wizard and chef, I raised you well," he frowned, paused, and tried again, "Also you're much better than Zoro at everything you try."
Zoro scowled, "Ha ha, very funny, you absolute prick."
Sanji and Brook burst into laughter until the Boggart jumped back into the suitcase. Once it was inside, Brook pointed his wand at the suitcase, locking it once more.
"There," Sanji said with a grin, "Told you I could do it."
"Never doubted you for a second," Zoro grinned back.
"I'll return this to Professor Smoker," Brook said as he grabbed the handle of the suitcase, "I believe you two have a study session to get to. Friday is Charms, is it not?"
"Yeah," Sanji twirled towards the door, "I can't bear to keep Nami waiting for me any longer."
"Great, you're back to normal," Zoro said with an eye roll and a fond smile, "Unfortunately."
"A plant like you just doesn't know how to properly treat a lady like Nami," Sanji said with a huff.
"If you can even call her a lady."
The two bickered all the way to the library, smiles never quite leaving their faces.
"Good news," Zoro said as they sat down with their friends, "Sanji beat the Boggart."
They all cheered until the librarian shushed them.
"Good going, Sanji," Usopp said with a grin.
"We all believed in you," Franky said, giving him a thumbs up.
"I knew you had it in you," Nami said, making his heart flutter in his chest.
Luffy pat his shoulder and Robin gave him a small smile as they settled in and started their work.
As he looked around the group, Sanji felt joy fill his heart. Not for the first time, he was glad at the choices he'd made to bring him here to these people.
Smile still bright on his face, he opened his bag and started his homework.