Wishfull-star: I hope all your wishes come true 'cause you are one of the readers who has been supporting me from the very first of this story! So, thank you so much!

mxxxn: Hey I'm back! I can understand how school sucks your blood. Seriously, even colleges are not better. What is a personal emblem though? I will be updating soon enough, don't worry :)

AnnElfwind: Glad to hear you finding this!


Chapter 6


After getting checked up in the infirmary and leaving Neville there, the brothers went to their room. The nurse had insisted Luffy to stay there but the boy had escaped the first chance he got.

They didn't have much classes anymore, expect for History and Defense Against Dark Arts, which they decided that they could skip. After having a quick lunch in the kitchen- which they had discovered the second day of their exploring the castle in the basements, when Luffy had accidentally licked the pear shaped fruit in the portrait, which turned out to be a door knob- they went straight off to bed for a nap.

At five, the three of them left the castle and made their way across the grounds in normal dress. Hagrid lived in a small wooden house on the edge of the forbidden forest. A crossbow and a pair of galoshes were outside the front door.

Before Luffy could barge into the hut, Sabo held him back. "What we do, Lu, when we are invited to someone's house?" Ace was chuckling at the confused face which Luffy was making.

After a few minutes of Luffy turning a bit pink, Luffy grinned, "We ask for meat!" Ace couldn't help himself and started laughing loudly at the answer.

"No, Lu," Sabo couldn't help the chuckle which escaped his throat. "We thank them when we meet them."

"Oh, yeah!" The boy said before knocking the giant door excitedly. They heard frantic scrabbling from inside and several booming barks, then Hagrid's voice rang out, saying, "Back, Fang, back!"

As soon as they entered Fang jumped on them, wagging his short tail and slobbering all over their clothes. The boys didn't mind at all. They had grown up in forest covered with dangerous animals. Ace and Sabo got off the beast but Luffy kept on playing with Fang, until Fang decide to lick Ace. Luffy pouted when Ace gave him a playful smirk.

But then he remembered Sabo's teaching and excitedly stated, "Thank you for inciting us!"

Hagrid's baffled face made Sabo step forward as a reasonable brother 'cause Ace decided to not control his laughter.

"It's 'thank you for inviting us!', Lu!" Sabo corrected making Luffy pout and state, "That's what I said!"

"These are my brothers: Asher Black and Felix Black," Luffy introduced them with a wide smile on his face. Unknown to him, Ace and Sabo felt nervous.

What if Hagrid told them to go away from their house? What if the person their brother liked would hate them? They were used to all the hate people would give them all because of the false accusation on their Dad, but for the first time they felt that they wouldn't like if the man made one. Hagrid was there when they were being separated and he was visibly crying. They had understood later that the giant was given orders and they can't blame him for doing it.

Hagrid smiled at them. "Never thought I'd see yeh three again together." Hagrid wiped the little tears which formed in his eyes.

The simple gesture made Ace and Sabo smile and forget all the insecurities they had felt at the beginning.

On the inside of the hut, there was only one room inside. Hams and pheasants were hanging from the ceiling, a copper kettle was boiling on the open fire, and in the corner stood a massive bed with a patchwork quilt over it.

"Make yerselves at home," Hagrid said pouring boiling water into a large teapot and putting rock cakes onto a plate.

The rock cakes were shapeless lumps with raisins that could break someone's teeth, but the boys were not someone. They had lived in forest for over a decade, living off with scarce and unpleasant food. But the rock cakes weren't that bad. They were literal rocks but they ate them regardless. Food is food.

"These are delicious, Hagrid!" Ace spoke taking one more before Luffy could gulp it down.

"Hey! Leave for me also!" Luffy pounced on Ace, trying to take the rock cake which he had picked up.

"Lu," Sabo chuckled, "There are more on the plates. Eat it before we can." Hagrid beamed seeing the boys fighting for the cakes, which he had honestly thought would go to dustbins.

"I have more if yeh would like," Hagrid offered. The brothers beamed before exclaiming together, "Yes, please!"

Hagrid brought all the rock cakes he had made and within seconds the plate was licked clean.

"So, how ha' your firs' week bin?" Hagrid asked, sitting down on his own, sturdy chair.

"It was fun!" Luffy smiled, teeth and all. "And Snakey was interesting!" Hagrid raised an eyebrow at the names, making Sabo clear the confusion.

"Snakey is Snape," Sabo said nonchalantly. Hagrid nodded stroking his beard.

"But he was being mean most of the time," Ace complained with his hands crossed over his chest.

"He is not a bad person, though," Hagrid said getting water for Luffy who had sipped on the hot tea, accidentally burning his tongue.

Sabo picked up the newspaper that was lying near the teapot on the table. He promptly choked on the tea that he was currently sipping. On the front page, written in bold letters was:

GRINGOTTS BREAK IN LATEST

Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 23 Aug, widely believed to be the work of Dark wizards or witches unknown. Gringotts goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied the same day.

"But we're not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses out if you know what's good for you," said a Gringotts's goblin this afternoon.

"Ace, there's been a break in at Gringotts." That immediately got Luffy's attention even.

"I found Nami!" Luffy gasped.

"Nah, it won't be her," Sabo waved his hand in dismissal. "If that witch would have gone stealing then everything would be stolen. But nothing has been stolen." Luffy pouted at Sabo's answer but that was true.

"It happened a week before we reached Hogwarts," Ace said looking at the date.

"A week?" Luffy turned to Hagrid, who wasn't meeting their eyes anymore. "Weren't we there when the break in happened?" Luffy asked to Hagrid. He clearly remembered the mystery vault from where Hagrid had taken a grubby little package, which smelled of mystery to him and Hagrid wouldn't say what was that.

There was no doubt when Hagrid didn't meet the eyes of Harry's. He grunted and offered some more tea to them, to change the topic. Sabo caught the reaction in an instant and caught that whatever was there in the vault was picked up by Hagrid. Well, that doesn't help what was in there.


During the dinner, Dean and Seamus were talking to them excitedly, while Hermione was into her books. Ron was being a jerk again but the brothers didn't pay attention to any of his insults thrown at them.

"Hey, Dean," Sabo entered the conversation. "Do you have pens?"

"Yeah, I got plenty of it," Dean answered him joyfully. "I can give you one whenever you want."

"That would be a great help!" Sabo said giving a smile to the said boy. At least Luffy could hold a pen and may be start learning the English alphabets properly. It still amazes him that the boy knows how to read but can't write these foreign letters.

After having their fill, they walked to their dormitories, where Dean gave a pen to Sabo, who kept it carefully. After the three boys fell asleep, they slipped off from their beds easily.

As usual, Luffy was slipping off to unknown direction and finally, they lost Luffy in the maze of the castles!

"Fuck!" Ace hissed. "That rubber idiot! For one time we remove our eyes from him and he gets lost!"

"Calm down, Ace!" Sabo said focusing on his Haki. "He is not a seven year old kid. Try feeling him out with your observation Haki." They started walking to the direction where Luffy's voice was coming.

"Oops, he is not alone!" Ace said tsking.

"Mrs. Norris!" The twins said together to each other and dashed to the place where Luffy was playing, fucking playing with the cat!

"Luffy!" Ace punched the boy on his head. "Why the hell are you with this cat?"

"She looked alone," Luffy said with his trademark grin. The cat meowed loudly, giving their location to the old man who was after the blood of students roaming around at the time of curfews in the school.

"WHO IS THERE?" Shouted the voice and hurried footsteps started coming from the corridor.

Ace and Sabo held their little dumbass of brother's hand, to avoid him from getting distracted and went straight to the stairs which led them to the forbidden corridor of the third floor. Footsteps continued to follow them, but it was impossible to know if it was a student or a professor. Not taking their chances, they kept running until they were in the dead end and the door in front of them was locked.

"Alohomora."

A click sounds from the door. And Sabo had to seriously ask why the hell the door unlocked in their first try? Wasn't it the forbidden hallway with forbidden rooms? Even Luffy could have unlocked the door with a little practice which they do in their classes. What was the goal of the old man even? Protect the room from rats? Without further thought, they made their way to the inside of the room.

"That was close," Ace sighed as he turned to the room. Luffy was already standing and looking at the three headed dog with his starry eyes.

They were looking straight into the eyes of a monstrous dog, a dog that filled the whole space between ceiling and floor. It had three heads. Three pairs of rolling, mad eyes, three noses twitching and quivering in their directions, three drooling mouths, saliva hanging in slippery ropes from yellowish fangs.

"Think we can ride on him," Luffy asked with stars in his eyes.

"I don't think so," Ace said crackling his knuckles.

"But after a little beating, he sure will!" Sabo grinned standing beside his brothers.

As the dog tried to pounce on them, the brothers let a small war cry before blasting the dog with their punches. It didn't take long for the dog to fall to the ground with a THUMP. The dog was like the bear in the jungles of Mt. Colvo when they used to hunt it together. Well, that just shows that they need more training.

Luffy poked the poor animal with his hands. "Aww, I wanted to play with him."

"Ace, Lu," Sabo grinned and pointed to the trap door on the floor. "There's a trap door."

The little boy's eyes lit up. "ADVENTURE!"

Ace pushed the dog from the trap door for it to open smoothly and Luffy threw himself into the trapdoor, followed by the brothers. They landed on something soft.

"What's this?" Ace asked touching the cushion. Luffy was struggling in its grasp, fidgeting, trying to tear the plant out, even with his teeth and was on the verge of choking.

"Devil's snare," Sabo said, quickly going through the notes which he had learnt. "Lu, stay still!"

Ace who wasn't fidgeting was already down in the ground below them, soon followed by Sabo.

"He won't be able to stay still," Ace said gritting his teeth in anger, seeing Luffy struggle. How dare the devil's snare dare to choke his brother?!

"A little fire or light could work," Sabo said quickly and Ace didn't wait to send a fire fist to the plant who released Luffy at once. Luffy huddled on the ground and began to cough, reactivating his lungs little by little. The brothers waited for Luffy to get up, who got up within ten seconds with a grin on his face.

"You alright, Lu?" Sabo asked once, getting 'ADVENTURE' from the little boy. A few meters further, they encountered a locked door.

"Alohomora!" Ace said pointing his wand towards it. But the door didn't bulge, making Ace pout.

This relieved Sabo for once. The little obstacles were getting too simple for whatever the three headed dog was protecting, which had worried him. He scanned the room and saw lots of keys flying in the air.

"I believe we need to grab one of the keys," Sabo said pointing at the ceiling.

"We can break the door," Ace said and with a punch on the door, the door burnt to ashes. Ignoring the keys, they strode through the burnt door, ready to face the next obstacle.

The second room was plunged into darkness. The trio moved forward, discovering a giant chessboard.

"What's that?" Luffy asked poking his pinky in his nose.

"A wizard chessboard," Sabo replied. "They are not really this big."

The trio stepped forward and the infantry men blocked their way, with weapons in hand, instantly.

Ace cracked his knuckles. "A good spar time. Let's see how many we can defeat!" Sabo brought out his shrunk metal pipe, which he unshrunk it. Luffy warmed up his arms and with that the trio brothers jumped on the chess pieces. They would teach the statues to remain inanimate the next time.

As soon as the infantry was destroyed, the higher ups took over. They smashed several pawns into thousands of pieces. But to their disappointment or happiness, to whom you ask, the chess pieces kept on reforming. Ace was getting pissed. Sabo was looking annoyed and Luffy was eager to beat more!

"This is an endless circle. When we destroy them, they recompose!" Sabo gritted his teeth, smashing another horse which tried to get into his way.

"It's fun!" It was the honest answer from Luffy. He was having a time of his life!

"But we can't keep on fighting them for eternity!" Ace grumbled destroying another cavalry which tried to attack Luffy.

The brothers had unknowingly fallen into the same formation of what they used to do when they were kids. One would attack, other would take rest and another would keep an eye. Protecting each other's back and assuring that no one was hurt was the main target of theirs aside from beating the crap of their opponents.

Sabo had to find a solution. They didn't have the stamina to fight the cavalries for eternity. Even their small bodies were not that accustomed to the stress which they were putting them into. He didn't know any powerful spell which could paralyze the chess pieces even. He would have to use his brains.

"Luffy, move three steps back!" Sabo ordered, making Luffy whine a little. "When I tell you to rocket yourself, do it!"

"Ace!" Ace hummed showing that Sabo got his attention. "We need fire!" Ace must have gotten the plan as he spread his fire on the chess pieces.

"Luffy, Now!" Sabo shouted, mixing his fire with Ace's, as the chess pieces started dying. They crossed the chess board quickly. Being fire didn't hurt them at all and Luffy rocketed himself over the burning chess board to reach his brothers. Ace and Sabo were careful to not let the fire harm or touch Luffy at all.

"We could have beaten them!" Luffy moaned.

"But soon you would have been tired," Sabo reasoned.

"And don't you want to know what's ahead?" Ace added, making Luffy chirper.

Suddenly, a foul stench reached their nostrils, which was way worse than the Gray Terminal. They turned to witness the sight of the gruesome thing. Towering them, it stood twelve feet tall, its skin dull, granite gray, and its great lumpy body like a boulder with its small bald head perched on top like a coconut. It had short legs thick as tree trunks with flat, horny feet. It was holding a huge wooden club. He seemed to be taken in by surprise by the sudden intrusion of the brothers.

"Can we eat him?" Luffy asked drooling from his mouth to his brothers.

"Looks like someone didn't like your comment, Lu!" Sabo said popping the bones in his neck.

The troll raised his weapon, ready to flatten them. They jumped on the troll ready to beat. It took a bit more than to beat the three headed dog upstairs. But it was just a challenge that the boys willingly took. After all, they wanted to be strong! After a few minutes, the troll's face disfigured from their punches and his body covered in burned marks, fell on the floor with a thud.

"We need training," Ace huffed. Sabo hummed in agreement and Luffy didn't seem to be fazed at all.

"So big!" Luffy's eyes were starry as he ran around the fallen troll.

"I wonder what's next!" Sabo smiled.

"Adventure! Adventure!" The little boy ran to them, forgetting the troll. The brothers chuckled seeing their innocent brother running for the next room.

In the next room, to their disappointment there was no giant, no three headed dog, no cursed chess pieces but seven bottles of different shapes spread out in front of them.

"We should drink all of it!" Luffy exclaimed, and soon got a bump on his head from Ace. "Don't you dare!"

Sabo chuckled, seeing their actions. He was happy to spend his childhood, if he can say that, with his brothers this time. He had regretted forgetting them the previous time, but this time it won't happen. He is going to cherish each and every moment of his childhood and teenage years with his brothers. May be, they can travel this world together this time around? That's for the time to tell and them to make decisions.

"We can punch the door open," Ace said. But as soon as he said that black flames sprouted out in the frame of the door, forcing him Luffy behind him, who was trying to reach for the flames.

The flames were no problem for Ace and Sabo who were fire themself, but Luffy wouldn't be able to pass, which would make him sulk. But Ace had trust on Sabo, he would be able to find a way.

Sabo picked up the roll of paper lying next to the bottles.

"Danger lies before you, whole safety lies behind,

Two of us will help you, which ever you would find,

One among us seven will let you move ahead,

Another will transport the drinker back instead,

Two among our number hold only nettle wine

Three of us are killers, waiting bidden in line.

Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore,

To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:

First, however slyly the poison tries to hide

You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;

Second, different are those who stand at either end,

But if you would move onward, neither is your friend;

Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,

Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;

Fourth, the second left and the second on the right

Are twins once you twins them, though different at first sight."

Sabo read and pointed to the vial which contained the correct one. He lifted the smallest bottle and gave it to Luffy, "Here you go!"

Luffy drank it in one go, drying his mouth with the back of his sleeve. "AHEAD!" Ace and Luffy said in one go.

Across the black flames, an empty room greeted them. Much to their displeasure there laid only one chest and it contained a small stone. For the pirates and the Revolutionary, who have seen mountains of treasure, this mysterious stone did not mean much.

"It looks like an ordinary stone," Ace said observing the piece of stone before throwing it to Luffy, who caught it with ease.

"It is a mysterious stone!" Luffy said, checking the stone with his sparkling eyes. Sabo checked the chest if it contained any secret openings. 'Cause seriously? All of it for a little stone?

"Lu, pass me once," Sabo said holding a hand for the stone. He inspected the stone, but it didn't look special even a bit.

Why would the dog guard this little stuff? The stone must be either powerful or super expensive. But why will someone place a stone in such a place? And the level of difficulty to get in... Even a first year can do it, if by chance they get rid or make the troll and the three headed dog go to sleep. Who wanted to protect this stone in the first place?

"Ne, ne," Luffy was bouncing in the place once again. "Can I keep it, please?"

Ace shrugged when Sabo raised an eyebrow to question Ace. He was not interested in stones.

"Alright," Sabo said. "It will be your little award, but I will give it to you in the morning, after I make a necklace of it for you."

After a bit of sparring in the room and getting tired and hungry, they left the hopeless room. They used the troll's body to smash the cursed pieces of chess with the keys which had decided to join the party. After the fight they headed to the three headed dog which was wide awake and seemed to be backing away in fear from them.

Taking advantage of the situation, the trio slipped past the dog wanting nothing but a late night snack and sleep. The mystery room, fighting, and the raid in the kitchen had made them tired and stay out much longer than usual. Hope so, it won't come to bite their back tomorrow.


A/n:

Heya guys! I am back again here posting chapters! Well, I hope you enjoy this chapter too! And I'm sorry for not updating it sooner. Their isn't much problem in updating, it's just that I was in some problems last week, which made me sulk and not in a mood to write or edit anything.

But well, I'm back to my current self! I hope that I update the chapters more often!

Have a good night/day!