Turning Tides

Chapter Three: Saving Harry

By: Saadie

Summary: And really, Harry has Voldemort to thank for this one. Being the first and probably only person to be a living Horcrux and survive its removal turns out to have more cons than pros. Now if only Harry can survive it and the new world he must adapt to in order to survive, he might just actually end up thanking Voldemort for helping him find a place to belong to.

Disclaimer: I don't feel very rich right now so I must not own Harry Potter or One Piece. Alas, that is the lot life has given me. I shall content myself with fanfiction.

AN: IT'S HERE, IT'S HERE. IT'S RIDICULOUSLY LATE BUT IT'S HERE! OTL sorry for the wait! =_=''''

Dark shapes stood hidden behind a thick veil of mist, too vague to be recognized; if he hadn't been sneaking out since first year Harry wouldn't have recognized it as the Forbidden Forest. Really with this weather, they ought not to have bothered with the invisibility cloak at all. He could barely see past his own finger tips much less more than three steps in front of himself, there was no way anyone would have seen them sneaking out onto the grounds.

Luna's arm was tucked in the crook of his elbow, pulling him along to some random tune; she was warm against his side, smelling of some odd combination of flowers and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans and in all the mist she felt like the only thing that was solid and real.

Of all the times he'd be stuck in the Hospital Wing, Harry wondered why he'd never tried escaping through the windows. Two overpowered hovering charms and a vanished window was all it took for them to float each other shakily down onto the courtyard. From there, Luna had pulled out his invisibility cloak out of nowhere and then threw it over the both of them without giving him time to protest or ask how on earth she had managed to get the cloak Ron was supposed to be keeping for him (she insisted the nargles had fetched it for her).

Since that point, they seemed to have been wandering aimlessly around in the mist. Well, he was anyways – Luna knew exactly where they were going, Merlin bless her, even if she refused to answer his questions with anything more than riddles and hummed even louder when he tried to push the issue. He was jolted out of his thoughts by the sudden feeling of his foot being immersed in ice.

Okay, so that was probably an exaggeration, the water was nowhere near that cold, it was in fact a rather pleasant temperature, but Luna has just let him walk into the lake without a word. "Luna!"

"Yes, Harry Potter?" she turned to look up at him (he'd never been so glad to have hit his growth spurt) with those wide grey eyes and he sighed.

There really was no way to explain to her that, no, he didn't fancy walking into the lake with no warning because as far as Luna saw it, walking into the lake at any time, whatever the reason, was perfectly justifiable. He clenched his teeth together and exhaled through his mouth noisily, "Why are we in the lake Luna?"

"Oh, I can't send you to the Great Blue myself, so I asked the merpeople to help. They remember you from fourth year, Harry, so they were quite willing to help. Oh yes, that reminds me, here drink this quick Harry, we're going to be late."

He watched as Luna dug into a pouch he hadn't noticed until now, it was Hermione's moleskin pouch he realized, and pulled out a vial. It was filled with a blue potion with a pearly sheen and he eyed it nervously, anticipating the terrible taste. He turned his attention back to Luna who continued to stare at him until he finally manned up and just down the whole thing in one go. It was, surprisingly, less disgusting than he thought it would be. The strong taste of cool mint mixed with bursts of tangy and bitter bits like the peel of citrus fruits flowed over his tongue and he tried his best not to choke when a burst of what felt like ice hit the back of his throat.

Without him noticing it, Luna had slowly been leading him deeper into the lake and by the time he had finished with the potion, the water up to his chest. Harry balked for a moment, trying to backtrack, but Luna's deceptively delicate hands were ridiculously strong and she refused to let him step back. "Don't worry Harry, just breathe like you normally do. Follow me and relax and don't forget to breathe."

She kept dragging him, her perpetual calmness the perfect contrast to his racing heart; he'd done this once before for the Tournament, yes, but it had been unnerving then and it was terrifying now because this time there was no Gillyweed, he couldn't see anywhere, and he still couldn't swim. Before he could panic further, the water was also lapping at his lips and one more step brought it clean over his head. His robes were weighing him down and he squeezed his eyes shut desperately kicking to try and resurface. Luna's soft hand around his wrist only pulled him further and he struggled against her, he wasn't prepared, hadn't taken a large enough breath and he was going to drown at this point. Breathe Harry.

Luna's voice sounded in his ears and his eyes snapped open in shock. He could see perfectly despite the water and she stood before him with a smile, blonde hair floating in wild tangles around her. He couldn't hold his breath any longer and his body demanded he inhale even though his brain rejected the command with all its might, trying to stop him from breathing in water. "Breathe Harry," this time it was spoken aloud, Luna's voice was oddly undistorted given that they were underwater and he finally lost the battle, inhaling deeply, dreading the cool liquid that was about to flood his lungs.

Except it didn't and he was breathing water as if it was air now and he stared at Luna in wonder. She only smiled at him again and pulled him along, "I told you to breathe normally Harry, but you had to go and make things difficult. Come along then, we'd better hurry, we've dillydallied for long enough."

Oddly enough, there wasn't so much as a stray Griddylow that crossed their path and they continued on undisturbed into the depths of the lake. There was no sense of time where they were, no sound except for Luna's continuous humming and the light from the moon was curiously constant even as they ventured deeper and deeper. Suddenly they were greeted by a group of merpeople and Luna let go of his arm to stand beside them. She spoke to them in low tones while two pairs of hands, both pleasantly cool, took him by the arms and led him away from her. He looked around wildly, trying to catch Luna's eye, but allowed himself to be led away without much fuss. They led him to a bone white alter and pushed him towards it gently, gesturing for him to lay down on it. Uncertain he looked around for Luna again and caught sight of her half-walking, half-floating over as calm as ever. Figuring that she'd stop him if he was doing something wrong, he climbed on gingerly. Luna walked over and slipped the strap of the moleskin pouch over his head, holding the invisibility cloak out of his reach when he tried to put that in as well.

She pushed him back gently, having him lay down on the alter before stepping back again and passing the cloak to one of the merpeople. He made to grab it back but hands appeared to hold him down. "Don't worry Harry, it'll be fine. They just have to make a few adjustments before they send you over, it'll only hurt a little."

It'll only hurt a little? Harry wondered if it was too late to change his mind now, the hands holding him and the strands of aquatic plants being used to tie him down certainly said it was. Someone removed his glasses and everything turned into a blur. Blonde hair swam into view and Luna – or he guessed it was Luna – clasped a necklace that surprisingly did not seem to be comprised of butterbeer caps around his neck. "Keep that with you Harry, if it works, then we'll be able to speak to each other once in a while."

He couldn't touch it with his hands but he could feel a cool pendent-like object resting on his chest before she disappeared from view once again. Someone started to rub something into his scalp and then slowly worked their way down his neck, his shoulders, and all the way down his body. His skin seemed to heat and then cool and then heat again over and over again, the sensations flashing by so fast that soon everything was alarmingly numb. There was a flash of something at the corner of his eye and then something sharp was digging into the side of his neck, underneath his jaw bone. A sharp pain and then it dulled as the edge seemed to cut three lines into each side of his neck. The same prick of pain and digging sensation could be felt along the back of his calves and the sides of his forearms. He couldn't see it but he could feel his blood seeping out of the wounds before that sensation too was overwhelmed by the numbness.

The cuts continued to throb, a strange aching that was almost painless but ever present, tugging his mind to their existence again and again. Hands started tugging at his hair and from the corner of his eye he could see they were holding what seemed to be strands of-strands of his cloak? Merlin's balls, they had cut up his cloak, weaving silvery strands riddled with seashells and pearls into his hair. Great, with his luck, he'd come out looking like a man in drag. Oddly enough there was a strange digging sensation at parts of his skull but his attention was quickly diverted to his hands.

They seemed to be inking strange rune-like patterns into the backs of his hands and up his forearms (though how they managed to do that underwater was a complete mystery to him) before two hard objects, one long and thin and the other the size of a large pebble was pressed into his skin. There was another more intense flash of pain before, oh Merlin, did they just sink into his skin?

Suddenly all the hands seemed to disappear and he could hear chanting, wordless songs and instruments he had never heard sounded. There was a bright light shining on his face now, blinding him with its brilliance. Even the blurry shapes he could just barely make out were blotted out now by the never-ending white assaulting his senses. Suddenly the bonds were gone and he was floating up in time to the crescendo of voices and music.

"Goodbye Harry Potter", a chorus of voices sounded, Luna's being the most distinct.

And then the light was gone and all that was left was silence. There was only dark, a dizzying sucking sensation and then he stopped feeling anything at all.

Warm water lapped at his face, the faint taste of salt lingered in his mouth. The cries of seagulls resounded above him and he felt strangely weightless. He was floating, floating to where?

Where was this? Where was he?

The sun was hot upon his skin, water washed over his nose, he prepared to choke but that suffocating sensation never came. There was no discomfort; in fact, he had never felt so relaxed in his entire life. He didn't even try to open his eyes, content to just bask in this moment, to just drift to where ever the waters may take him. There was a rushing sound in his ears, blocking out the seagulls and he felt heavy. Sleep pulled at the edge of his consciousness and he allowed himself to sink into it once again, despite not know where he was floating.

It was odd, this sense of safety and peace. It wasn't something he was used to, but he would most definitely make the most out of it while he can.

When he woke again he was no longer floating but water continued to lap at him, pushing up further up shore and then dragging him back into its embrace once again. There was the sound of laughter and footsteps drawing closer, the delighted shrieks of children rang through the air. His eyes felt glued shut and he gave up trying to open them.

He was soaked to the bone, not uncomfortably so, but his limbs were weighed down and he couldn't seem to make them move as he wanted them too.

"Mama! There's a person in the sand, there's a person in the sand!"

"Oh my!" someone exclaimed and then hurried footsteps. Small fingers prodded at his face before a woman scolded them and told them to stop. Warm hands brushed his hair back from his face. There was an odd clinking sound emitting from his hair but he was too tired to remember why.

More footstep and more voices and then hands were pulling him out of the water completely. There was a tingling feeling on his neck and his calves and forearms that he steadfastly ignored. The hands hoisted him up onto some sort of stretcher before he was carried off somewhere.

He wondered where all his instincts had gone, where all the paranoia the war had drilled into him disappeared off to. That he was relaxed enough to not care or even bother struggling when people carried him off was nothing short of miraculous. Small hands of a child tugged on his left arm, holding onto it before chattering excitedly about one thing or another and he let them.

Amidst these voices and warm, welcoming hands, he was safe.

AN: I am so sorry! This is pretty much a full week late TT^TT The weekend was ridiculously busy for me, too many things suddenly popping up all at once and by the time that was over, I was so exhausted I couldn't bring myself to do anything, not even write. I was completely sucked in to a slump of pure unmotivatedness (yes not a word, I know). It wasn't until yesterday when I was forced to finish my lab write-up that I actually did something and with the sudden warm weather, my spirits picked up and voila, a new chapter. I hope it was worth the wait and that you'll all forgive me for it.

Well, Harry is finally in the One Piece world (yayyy) and there will be some changes made to his magic and to him physically. No he's not going to suddenly turn into a girly man or something ridiculous like that, but there will be some changes that I hope make sense and aren't too out of the world. Anyways, I hope this chapter wasn't too hard to follow and that you enjoyed it!

Is asking for reviews to motivate me too much? Aha, I hope not, they always make my day; I'm addicted to them! (:

Saadie