This chapter is Strawhat fluff, fair warning!
Brook raised a long thin finger to his glamoured lips to ask that Luffy and the redhead be quiet. The redhead slapped a hand over Luffy's mouth, a wise precaution, and motioned for Brook to lead on. The musician led the children away from the tower and to the seventh floor and across from the tapestry depicting the attempt of Barnabas the Barmy to teach trolls ballet.
"This is called the come-and-go room," Brook said quietly. "I spend a great deal of time here."
The redhead, with his hand still over Luffy's mouth, and Luffy watched wide-eyed as Brook paced past an empty wall before a tall door appeared. The musician smiled at the children and pushed open the door. "Welcome home."
Luffy gasped loudly, Nami's hand had fallen from his mouth the moment Brook ushered the two into the room. It was as if they walked directly onto the deck of the Sunny. "Sunny!" Luffy shouted practically bouncing on the deck.
"How is this possible," Luffy heard Nami ask.
"Yohohoho, magic!" Brook said cheerfully. "I stumbled upon this room one night."
"It's not really the Sunny, though, is it?" Nami asked looking at the surroundings. He could see a breeze, smell sea salt and feel the boat rocking as if in water but something about it just felt off.
"It's not," Luffy answered from the figurehead. The pint-sized captain petted the figurehead gently and hopped off to go stand with his crew.
"It's not," Brook agreed. "But it's as close as we can get without actually being on the Sunny."
Nami nodded, still uncertain but a magic room that became their pirate ship wasn't the strangest thing he had seen in his new life, let alone his time on the Grand Line.
"Sorry, who are you?" Brook asked suddenly leaning over to peer at Nami trying to decide which crew member he was. "You look a great deal like Nami, but…"
Nami felt his eye twitch when Luffy began sniggering loudly behind his hands. "I am Nami," the redhead said dryly.
Brook jerked upright and blinked confused. The musician looked at the male redhead and then at his now laughing captain. "But...you...alright then," Brook said inching away from the irate redhead.
"This has gotten very old, very fast," Nami muttered darkly. He was not looking forward to the rest of the crew's reaction.
"I am very much looking forward to Sanji's reaction, yohohohoho," Brook admitted with a laugh.
"Would you stop laughing you moron!" Nami shouted rounding on his laughing captain. The green eyed boy was doubled over clutching at his stomach from laughing so hard.
"Speaking of Sanji," Brook interrupted the navigator who had moved to strike Luffy. "Have you found any more of the crew?"
"Not yet," Nami admitted rubbing at his face tiredly. "But Luffy you said you knew that prat, Malfoy."
Luffy nodded, uncharacteristically serious. "Yeah, we met in the robe shop," Luffy explained.
"Is that where you know him from?" Nami asked. He really hoped the blond wasn't a crewmate, he was a right prat.
"No," Luffy said frowning thinking hard. "I know him from somewhere, but I can't remember where."
Brook hummed thoughtfully. "Well we have found four of us already, Nami were you already aware of who you are when you found Luffy?"
The redhead blinked and nodded. "Yes, I've known for years. Was Robin like that too?" Nami asked looking at his captain.
Luffy shrugged. "Dunno, we didn't talk about that when we went treasure hunting."
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Nami said with a sigh. Of course, Luffy wouldn't ask important questions, Nami thought. Ignoring that he would have likely ignored everything but possible treasure himself.
"She mentioned in a letter that she just woke up knowing one day," Brook offered recalling snippets from their letter exchange. Robin was much better at exchanging letters than Luffy was.
"So maybe the others haven't 'woken up' yet," Nami hypothesized smacking his closed fist into his open hand. "The only question is, what will make them wake up?"
"Zoro always woke up when you screamed in his ears," Luffy offered.
"We can't just go around screaming at people, Luffy," Nami said rubbing at his face. "The professors would notice."
"So? It's not a secret," Luffy said taking a seat on the Sunny's railing. "If anyone has a problem, I'll beat them up!"
"Moron!" Nami shouted jumping up to punch Luffy in the head. The green-eyed boy fell from the railing and onto the deck with a crash. "You don't have your Devil Fruit powers here, and you don't know any magic!"
"Ouch! Nami that hurt!" Luffy whined rubbing at the knot that was beginning to form.
"Good, maybe since you aren't rubber I can pound things through your thick skull!" Nami said. "Things are different here! You can't just go around punching things anymore."
"Nami is right, Luffy," Brook said looking down at his captain. "This new world is much different than what you remember. Magic is capable of terrifying things." Brook remembered the last war when the newspapers held nothing but story after story of death and destruction.
"So?" Luffy said rebelliously. "I'll just beat them up."
"Luffy, please," Nami said. The navigator knew they were going about this all wrong. The more they said, the more stubborn Luffy was becoming. "I've grown up in this world. If people found out about our other lives, it wouldn't be good."
Luffy gave Nami a mulish look. "We aren't strong enough!" Nami admitted. "The crew is scattered and we aren't strong enough to protect ourselves or each other just yet! It's like when we were separated, remember? We had to grow stronger before we could be together again. This is like that. We have to stay secret until we are strong enough to fight back if we need too."
Nami prayed this would work. It was hard to explain why people finding out about their past lives was so frightening. He had grown up with stories of the Department of Mysteries. The shadow department that whisked away those who were different and strange. The Department that stole the 'strange' children. Nami remembered Fred and George telling little Luna Lovegood that she was weird enough to be snatched up by them. Now knowing that Luna was really Robin Nami shuddered at the truth of the statement, if anyone knew Robin would be exactly who they would want.
"Who are you so frightened of?" Brook asked softly. He was hyper aware of just how young his crew was now. Brook had never told anyone his whole history, not even his dear friend Albus knew, but he didn't truly fear anyone should they find out.
"No one remembers past lives," Nami said trying to put his fear into words. "It's not normal, even in the wizarding world. It's childish, but I grew up hearing stories of witches and wizards who weren't normal getting snatched up by the Department of Mysteries." Nami shivered.
"It's the boogie man, almost," He explained waving his hands. "No one knows what they do down there but… You never come back from that."
A warm hand fell on Nami's head. The redhead looked up and met Luffy's now bright green eyes. "We'll keep it a secret," Luffy decided. "Until we are strong enough that it won't matter."
Nami smiled.
"What about that Longbottom kid?" Nami asked offering the name of one of their new classmates. The tense and serious conversation from before had fallen away, giving way to a guessing game of sorts. Brook would suggest children at the school and Luffy and Nami would weigh in on whether the thought the person was a 'sleeping Straw Hat'.
"He's one of us," Luffy admitted with a grin.
"Who?" Nami and Brook demanded.
"Dunno," Luffy said with a laugh. "He's still sleeping."
"Chopper maybe?" Nami suggested thinking back on the shy nature he had noticed.
"Sanji?" Brook offered. "His hair is light like Sanji's was, and you two kept your hair colors."
Nami blinked and looked at Luffy like he hadn't noticed. "Luffy still looks almost the same," he admitted. "The scar is in a different place and his eyes are green now, but he still looks like Luffy."
"Robin looks different," Luffy said remembering the now blond girl he had met in Diagon Alley that day.
"You're right," Nami admitted yawning widely.
"It must be random then," Brook said watching the two child pirates yawning. "I should get you two back to the tower, you do have class tomorrow."
"Not yet!" Nami said pushing back another yawn. "There is still one question I need to be answered. Luffy, do you remember how we died?"
"Nope!" The former rubber boy said simply. He hadn't really thought about that aspect of his rebirth. Not that Luffy really thought about it much at all beyond wondering where his crewmates were.
"I don't either," Nami admitted before turning to Brook. "Brook?"
The glamoured skeleton frowned and turned away. "Ah, that...is a difficult question," Brook said softly. "Perhaps one better left for another time. How about a song instead?"
"Yes!" Luffy shouted. "Song time!"
Skillfully the musician pulled out his violin and began playing softly and sweetly. "Yo-hohoho, Yohohohoo, Yo-hohoho, Yohohohoo,Yo-hohoho, Yohohohoo, Yo-hohoho, Yohohohoo," Brook began. Luffy and Nami joined in softly singing along.
"Going to deliver Binks' Sake! Following the sea breeze! Riding on the waves!" Brook played on watching the music sooth his younger crewmates. "Far across the salty depths! The merry evening sun! The birds sing as they draw circles in the sky!"
Nami and Luffy moved to sit side-by-side, the redhead leaning heavily on the green-eyed boy as the song progressed.
Farewell to the harbor, To my old hometown
Let's all sing out with a Don! As the ship sets sail
Waves of gold and silver dissolve to salty spray
As we all set sail to the ends of the sea
Going to deliver Binks' Sake!
We are pirates sailing through the Sea!
The waves are our pillows, The ship our roost
Flying the proud skull on our flags and our sails
Ever so slowly, Nami's eyes slipped shut. Luffy's stubbornly remained open. Brook wondered if he just didn't want the moment to end. Brook could easily recall the loneliness his captain had admitted too.
Now comes a storm through the far-off sky
Now the waves are dancing, Beat upon the drums
If you lose your nerve this breath could be your last
But if you just hold on, The morning sun will rise
Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho,
Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho,
Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho,
Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho,
Brook smiled as Luffy finally drifted off to sleep. His head falling forward against Nami's own softly snoring. Slowly, the crew was waking up and find each other once again, it wouldn't be long now before they were all together again.
Going to deliver Binks' Sake!
Today, and tomorrow, our dreams through the night!
Waving our goodbyes, we'll never meet again!
But don't look so down, For tomorrow night the moon will also rise!
Going to deliver Binks' Sake!
Let's all sing it with a Don! A song of the waves
Doesn't matter who you are, Someday you'll just be bones
Never-Ending, Ever-wandering, Our funny Traveling tale!
As the song winded down Brook stood and put away his violin, choosing to just hum the last few verses. The skeleton easily scooped up the two boys. Sneaking them into their dorm would be easy enough but needed to do it soon. The night was beginning to slip away.
Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho,
Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho,
Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho,
Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho
SBS
No SBS this time, there weren't many questions, but I figure there might be one or two after this chapter so I'll get them in the next chapter.
NEXT CHAPTER: First day of class! Luffy v. Snape.