Chapter 18: Let the Feast begin
Hogwarts: main hall
After the ceremony, the first years on the four tables start to mingle and start to make friends with the rest of the higher years among them. On the Gryffindor's table, Harry starts speaking with a handful of Gryffindors as much at the time while getting himself surrounded with many welcomes and offers of hand shakes. Fortunately Percy, Ron's eldest brother and Gryffindor Prefect broke them apart so not to overwhelm Harry and give him some room to make friends of his own.
He is beginning to make new friends already when he talks to the new Gryffindors around him, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan instantly introduced themselves to Harry while Neville Longbottom is hesitant to do so. Parvati Patil curiously asks him questions on where he was in the past 10 years when the ministry declared him dead by the hands of Vol... you-know-who. The Indian girl's curiosity is immediately shared by not just Seamus, Dean and Neville, but the rest among the Gryffindor table are interested on where the famed Boy who Vanished, vanished off to in the past decade. But once again, Percy broke the crowd so they wouldn't overwhelm Harry again, but also because Professor McGonagall is about to speak out to the students more while calling out for everyone's silence.
"Silence, silence everyone " said McGonagall waving her arms ups to gesture everyone to remain silent. "Now, before we begin the feast. Professor Dumbledore has a few words to say, if you be so kind to stay silent and listen.
Dumbledore stands up from his seat and waves to his students so they can pay attention.
"Thank you, Professor," said Dumbledore to McGonagall before turning to the students. "I would like to welcome the first years to Hogwarts and wish them to enjoy their fantastic terms of learning magic for the first time. But as you all noticed the ship mooring at the Black Lake."
Everyone at each table is curious about the ship, especially when it let out fireworks for everyone to see on their journey from the train station to the castle. Everyone murmurs in curiously as they are about to get their unasked question answered.
Well, tonight we are having some guests staying here for some time." Said Dumbledore as he raise his right hand to the table where Luffy and some of his crew are sitting by. "I would like to introduce to you, Captain Luffy D. Monkey of the Straw Hat Pirates and Pirate King of his realm. Captain Monkey, would you be so kind to say a few words?"
At a table next to the professors, the students noticed a group of strangers sitting there, they appear to be muggles as they aren't wearing any witch or wizard robes. They all noticed that among them is a... skeleton dressed like a rock-star, and a strange short deer-like creature wearing a blue and pink cap with a white cross in the centre. The students murmur with curiosity about these strangers, especially when Dumbledore mentioned that they are pirates. Suddenly a man with a straw hat stands up from his table and approaches the podium in front of the Headmaster, and between the equally curious professors.
Luffy tips his straw hat at Dumbledore as thanks before turning to the students in their four school houses.
"Hello, as your Headmaster said I am Monkey D Luffy, Captain of the Straw Hat pirates and pirate king. But I am also father of Harry Potter, who stayed with us for 10 years after his alleged disapearance from the attack of Vol-."
Dumbledore cleared his throat to Luffy, gesturing him not to say the dark wizard's name in front of everyone as the mention of said dark wizard is terrifying.
"I mean when his real parents were tragically taken away from him by a certain dark wizard for who we dare not mention. If any of you wish to know how Harry came to our lives, we are happy to regale you of that tale when you visit our ship, the Thousand Sunny." Said Luffy "All I can say for now is that we raised him well and took him to many adventures, which I'm sure he'll tell you if asked. But there is something else, for the moment we'll be neighbours to Hogwarts as our ship, the Thousand Sunny is moored by the castle's boathouse.
And as mentioned before, the Thousand Sunny will be accessible to all if you are curious about it. Available for tours and a place to hang out during your breaks between lessons, but know this as there are rules on board our ship and Professor Dumbledore has granted us permission to take away house points should any of you cause any trouble on board the Sunny."
To make sure that he is serious, Luffy unleashed just a small trace of his Haki to shift the atmosphere, causing everyone nervous when they felt Luffy's Haki. Fortunately, it's was brief and Luffy gives out his famous grin to ease everyone around him, his crew however shook their heads at their Captain for acting all tough around everyone. Nami sighs and palms her face while Hancock merely chuckles along with Robin as they found it amusing.
"And a lesson to those who aren't kind to muggles," said Luffy with a stern tone, "Just because we don't use magic, doesn't mean we are not capable of protecting ourselves as we have our own tricks that makes us far from normal."
Luffy then reaches out his hand, causing it to stretch and grab one of the floating candles hovering over the four tables. Seeing this caused the students and the professors to gape in shock as they saw Luffy's arm stretch out far as if it was made of rubber...which it is.
"For what you saw is my own form of magic, given to me by a magical fruit I ate when I was 7 years old," said Luffy as he blew the flame off the candle and placed it on the podium, "Some among my crew have their own powers themselves, from their own fruits they ate while others earned through experience, talent and, stubborn determination."
Remnants of his crew that joined him gave out a cheer to their captain and King, which Luffy chuckled at raised his hand to them.
"And, if they so choose, are more than happy to explain if you are all curious to learn, and explain in the future." Said Luffy as he then takes his leave. "That is all for me to say, so I'll let Professor Dumbledore carry on, later"
"Thank you, Captain" said Dumbledore as he stands up again and resumes his speech to the students. "There are other matter of things I would like to announce. First years take not, that the forest in the north-west is forbidden to all students. Also, our caretaker Mr. Filch has asked me to remind you that the right-hand side corridor in the third floor is out of bounds, to all who does not wish to die a most painful death."
Hearing that does sound eerie, but this somehow got Harry wonder with curiosity, especially when his pirate blood boils and yearns to go there. But suddenly he looks at the table containing the Straw Hat crew, he gulps suddenly when his mother Nami leers directly at him with a slow shake of her head. Harry tightens his lips and nervously stays silent after noticing Nami's piercing stare when the mention of forbidden areas, and to remind him that he is here to study and not get expelled on his first day.
"And now, allow me to say these final words- which the Headmistress of Beaux Baton, Madame Maxime would say to her students- Bon Appetit."
And just like that, the silver plates and pitchers all suddenly fills up with food. A feast was magically displayed for everyone to enjoy. Harry was at awe by this and wasted no time filling up his own plate with all sorts of food, he stops when he heard his father yell out in delight and starts stuffing his rubber cheeks with as much food as can. Harry chuckles at Luffy as this is to be expected, whenever food is involved, Luffy would go crazy and let's his gluttony take over.
"Hey Harry, is your dad always like this around dinner?" Ron asked Harry with he also noticed Luffy's gluttonous behaviour. Harry laughed as he replied with honesty.
"Breakfast, Brunch, Lunch, Dinner, Supper," Harry lists out every meal his father has when food is concerned, whenever he eats, he always stuff his face."
"That's disgusting," said Hermoine with a disapproving look "To show bad manners like that,"
"Oh what's wrong of enjoying food?" said Ron while he eats his plateful.
"There is a difference between enjoying food and pigging out," said Hermonie leering at Ron as he is also displaying bad table manners himself. "Honestly, he should have some decency."
"You'll lighten up when you get to know him," said Harry with a smile. "Everyone does in the end."
"I seriously doubt that," said Hermione as she returns to his food.
"Then again, I doubt manners matters to pirates, right?" said Seamus to Harry "It's not like they stay on land enough to learn manners."
"Considering that they spend most of their live at sea," said Dean with agreement. "And I bet they have massive bounties on their heads if they're pirates."
"Oh, you have no idea," said Harry chuckling by that fact, he lifts his hand up and suddenly a rolled up sheet of browned paper appears in his head and shows it to Seamus and Dean. "Here, take a gander of this."
Seamus and Dean are curious to see what Harry is about to show them, they took the rolled-up parchment and opens it. It is a wanted poster of Luffy, and the bounty is...
"WHAT?! Exclaimed Seamus and Dean as their mouths gape in shock. "5 billion?"
"Yep," said Harry chuckling at the two Gryffindor boys' reaction, "you would not believe how much trouble he caused to get that amount for his head."
"That's crazy?" said Dean "You'd be set for life with that much cash."
"You can say that again," said Seamus after taking another look at Luffy's wanted poster before returning it to Harry. "Hold on, why's his hair white on the poster when it's clearly black?"
"er...printing error?" Harry said with a nervous smile, he doesn't want to state that his father can turn into a god, for it'll be too much to tell. "anyway, his old posters look better, you should've see seen the others."
Harry summoned a bundle of wantered posters to show to his new friends, they pass them along so they can see them. He even showed them his own poster too, which are currently in the hands of Dean and Seamus.
"I see you earned the name fitting of you," said Dean as he gazed at Harry's poster. "Earned quite the bounty."
"Aye, no doubt you started young of your around pirates" said Seamus "Is that what happened to you when you vanished, Harry?"
"Not really, according to mum and dad, I arrived AFTER they rescued Robin and Franky from the CP9, government agents who deal in assassination" said Harry while he explains to his fellow Gryffindor how he came to be part of the Straw Hats during his disappearance. "I was found when their ship, the Thousand Sunny was trying to escape from a storm and wound up in thick ominous fog."
"So the crew was already famous then," said Ron at Harry "It must've been risky to have a baby on board when they're under attack by the navy, rival pirates and bounty hunters."
"But that's normally a Tuesday for them," said Harry nonchalantly as he takes a sip from a goblet full of pumpkin juice. "It never gets boring for them when they're sailing on the Grand Line."
"Grand Line?" said Ron
"A strip of sea that circles around the world" Harry explained, "In the world I lived in, it was divided by two lines- the Red Line which is a strip of land that goes around the world and the Grand Line which is the strip of sea with an abnormal geo-magnetic field which no normal compass works on."
"So how does sailors navigate their way on this Grand Line?" said Hermione with a raised raise in curiosity.
"With a special compass called the Log Pose," Harry as he use his Blink-Blink Fruit to summon a log pose to his hand so he can show it to the other Gryffindors around him. A watch-like device with a glass done which the hanging needle is now pointing at north. "Due to the Grand Line's own geomagnetic field, the log pose is created to pin post to the nearest island with it's own geomagnetic field. Causing us to hop from island to island on the voyage. Of course, there are Eternal Poses that are permanently locked to specific island, but where's the fun in that?"
"What if you want to visit an island you previously visit?" said Ron
"Are you asking about me or the crew?" Harry asks the red-haired boy.
"The crew, obviously," said Ron
"We've got a skilled navigator who charted the journey, we can always return to pay a visit on those island," said Harry, "Sure it was tricky, but nothing can stop my mum from charting a course through the Grand Line. That and many eternal poses we stole from Marine ships and naval that attacked us and naval bases we ransacked, ha ha."
"You raided sea forts," said Seamus
"Well, the Straw Hats had their share before I appeared on board their ship, but aye," said Harry, "I tend to sneak in so many naval bases, nick their gear, and get out with an angry mob of navy men after me. Ha, is was fun."
Some of the Gryffindors- mainly Fred and George, Semus, and Dean – laughed as they found this amusing, Ron, Neville merely smiled as they do enjoy the tale but didn't laugh as they didn't share Harry's humour of causing trouble. The only ones who weren't laugh were Percy, Parvati and Hermione for they do not approve this and didn't find any of this amusing at all.
Hermione frowns thoroughly at Harry when she heard what Harry did in his live with the Straw Hats. True she is intrigued what Harry did in the past 10 years, but to think that Harry would be a criminal, especially when he was raised by pirates.
"That's not something you should be proud of, Harry." Said Hermione, "Committing crime and harassing the navy isn't something you should laugh at."
"Too late, I already am," said Harry, causing Ron, Seamus, Dean to laugh, even Neville joined in but it was more than a silent chuckle as he is still nervous and shy. "Anyway, you wouldn't say that if you lived in a world I grew up."
Hermione said nothing and goes back to her plate.
The talk between Harry and the rest of the Griffindors went on, and in turn they all start to talk about themselves since they heard quite enough about Harry's life with the Straw Hats. Seamus mentions that he is a half-blood, explained that his muggle father married his witch mother and never knew about it until he got his letter from Hogwarts.
"Was quite a shock when he found out, I tell you." Said Seamus
"I can imagine," said Dean as he takes his turn. "I come from a muggle family myself, except that my dad was a wizard before he died when I was only a baby. My mum told be about it when I got my letter, I thought she was nuts at first until she took me to Diagon alley to shop for my things."
"Padma and I were the first in the family to attend in Hogwarts, so it was a shock for us when we achieved our letter," said Parvati. "We were born in India, but came to Britain so that our dad can get a better job there. The economy in Magical India is in tatters since the ban on magic carpets was issued."
"Magic carpets?" said Harry with a more intrigued look when he heard of this. "You have magic carpets?"
"Aye, no one usually rides on broomsticks in India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan or any of the countries in the Middle East," said Parvati to Harry, "Something about the dangers of gathering the magical wood required to craft brooms with the jungles infested of Nagas, Tigers, and other beasts native in Southern Asia.
"Naga?" said Harry
"Half-Snake people, hybrids much like the Centaurs, Satyrs or the Sphinx." Said Parvati, "I never seen a Naga myself, but dad said they are very dangerous, but only attack if you're heart is tainted with wickedness, and its rare for them to encounter one who is pure of heart as they bless them with good fortune...so I'm told."
"Wow," said Harry, "I may never seen a Naga myself, but I knew someone similar to what you described."
"Really? Who?" said Parvati
"My aunts, Sandersonia and Marigold, young sisters of my mom Hancock," said Harry, "They ate devil fruits which grant them the ability to transform into snakes."
"R-Really?" said Parvati with a nervous tone. "W-What kind of snake?"
"A King Cobra for Marigold, and an Anaconda for Sandersonia," said Harry before he noticed Parvati's uneasiness when he mentioned the type of snakes to her. "Not a fan of snakes?"
"Not a fan of cobras, India is infested with them, one almost bit me if it weren't for my dad rushing in to save me." Said Parvati as she shuddered when the mention of cobras gave her goosebumps, "It's also one of the reasons why I moved to Britain, no cobras there...unless you count zoos."
"Well don't worry, she isn't stuck as a cobra, she only uses her Hybrid form in battle, and stay in her human form all the time." Said Harry, "She's quite nice once you get to know her...well to you girls mostly."
"Why is that?" said Hermione
"Well, she, along with my mom, live on an island where there are no men in their tribe," said Harry, "The Kuja, the tribe which my mom came from, are only women."
"You mean they are...amazons?" said Parvati as she heard about a tribe of women who were isolated from the influence of men.
"Aye, no men on their island at all...in fact they forbade any man to set foot on their island under penalty of death," said Harry, "Well, all men except for me and my Dad."
"How come your Dad can set foot on that island of women?" said Seamus
"It's a long story, but it started when my crew got in a lot of trouble when my dad punching a noblemen who people revered as a god." Said Harry, "We tried to escape when the marines brought along an Admiral and a group of super powerful androids called the Pacafista...anyway, a warlord named Bartholomew appears and used his devil fruit to banish us in various places around the world for hiding. I was with my mom Nami when she was sent up into a sky island inhabited with weather wizards while my dad was sent to the island I mentioned before. At first, he was a prisoner when the Kuja learned that my dad was a man, and was about to be put to death by my mom."
"Your mom tried to kill your dad?" said Parvati in shock
"Aye, at first she saw him as nothing but a man, but something changed...I don't know that -she never told me as she said she'll explain when I'm older...I don't know- anyway, she and dad became friends afterwards and they eventually fell in love. Well, she fell in love when Dad first, but later on he returned her affections during his 2-year stay before uniting with the crew at the Sabaody Archipelago. Apparently, that's how I got my sister Hinagiku."
"You have a sister?" Hermione
"Sisters, I have two," said Harry, "Monkey D. Belle from my first mom Nami and Boa Hinagiku from my other mother Hancock. Belle is on board the Sunny as she's not yet old enough to attend to Hogwarts -if she does attend- and Hina is staying over at her aunts, training in the ways of the Kuja."
"Why is your sister staying there," said the curious Neville, although he is hesitant in asking.
"Well, since she is part of the Boa family, she is also the crown princess of Amazon Lily and yet to become the Empress of the Kuja just like my mom and Aunt Marigold. She's only staying there for 6 months, and I'll be picking her up till then."
"So, we'll be able to meet her then?" said Seamus
"Probably...but I doubt she'll greet you with warm welcomes as she's...like my mom," said Harry
"What do you mean?" said Dean
"I mean she has no interest in boys at all," said Harry
"W-We're not asking to date her, Harry," said Dean in a sudden stammer as he held his hands up in defence, "We're just wondered if we can greet her as she's your sister."
"Y-Yeah, I mean aren't we a bit young to be interested in girls?" said Neville "We're only 11, probably some of us think girls are icky."
"Seriously, Neville?" said Hermione with a raised brow at the poor boy.
"I-I don't think you all are, I mean boys in general," said Neville as he also held his hand in defence as he thought he offended Hermione and Parvati from that statement. "I mean we're just kids and should wait until we are teenagers, that's all."
"Relax, Neville," said Harry, "You don't have to worry about it. But seriously, if any of you have any interest in the future, I suggest you forget it. None of you have a chance."
"Why? Is she gay of something?" said Seamus with a raised brow
Harry said nothing, but the silence is quite clear which caused Seamus to panic and stammer incoherently.
"N-Not that I have a problem with it," said Seamus in defence. "What I mean is.."
"Seamus, don't," said Dean as he place his hand on his friend's shoulder so to make him stop, "I know you don't have a problem."
"I just don't want people think I do; you know because I'm Irish and..."
"Seamus, please," said Dean, "You don't have to explain, alright?"
"It's alright, Seamus," said Harry he remains calm as he isn't offended at all, "You're just asking out of curiosity. And to answer your question... maybe? I don't want to assume because she's a Kuja... and wouldn't want to get my face caved in. So, let's all forget any of this happened, alright?"
"Aye, of course," said Seamus as wipes the sweat off his brow as he agrees to drop the subject so not to make things awkward for both him and Harry. "Not our business, right?"
"No, it ain't," said Harry, "And even if it is, I doesn't matter to me as she's my sister and it changes nothing to me."
"You love your family, huh?" said Neville
"I do," said Harry, "But...I do wish to know about my real parents, for I never had any memory of them."
"Yeah, I know little of my parents too," said Neville sadly, "I was raised by my grandmother, she never talked much about my parents except that they are staying in St. Mungos when a dark witch cursed them to the point of insanity. They don't know who I am with their broken mind, not knowing that they have a son to love them."
"I'm sorry to hear that," said Harry feeling sympathy for Neville, even though he was raised by Luffy and Nami, Harry never had any memories of his real mother and father, only that Voldemort killed them when he came to kill him. Tragic that a crazed madman would be afraid of a baby to the point that he would kill said baby out of fear. "But at least we're never alone, we all here to know much about this community, right?"
"Probably," said Ron "I doubt I'll reach my parents expectations after what my other brothers provided. Charlie's studying dragons, Bill's working for Gringotts as a curse-breaker, Perfect Percy being Gryffindor's Prefect. Merlin help me if Fred and George does something to make my mum and dad proud."
"You overthinking it, Ron," said Percy as he heard Ron doubting himself. "You know that mum and dad will support you whatever you do."
"That's easy for you to say, Percy," Ron scoffs at his big brother. "You always get good marks."
"Only because I have faith and confidence with myself, which you should too." Said Percy "You'll find something you're good at, 7 years is a long time so there's no rush."
"Percy is right, Ron," said Harry, "I didn't become good at being a pirate overnight, it took me time to get as good as I am. And it'll be no different here."
Ron only grunted by that as he continues to help himself with more food on the table. But as Ron reaches for more chicken legs, a ghostly head pops out and scares Ron out of his seat...which the Slytherin saw and started to laugh.
"Hello there," said the ghostly head as he greets the first year Gryffindors. "How are you? Welcome to Gryffindor."
"Thank you, Sir Nicolas," said Harry as he recognised the ghost head as Sir Nicolas De Mimsy, or uncommonly known as Nearly-Headless Nick.
Suddenly, more ghosts starts to emerge from the walls and floors of the Great Hall so they can haunt/greet the new coming first years and the returning students of this year's term. All the ghost are garbed wit various forms which started that they died in during their historical timelines. The students in their tables were given mixed reactions, most were of excitement and joy as if they are seeing old friends again while the rest (meaning first years) are shocked to see ghosts haunting the castle...but they later calm down when they noticed that they are harmless and only wanted to say hello in their own haunting way.
Suddenly a high frightening wail starts to echo all over the great hall, coming from the straw hat's table for Brook was the one who was scream the moment he saw the ghosts and began to cower under the table. Everyone took notice of this and found it unusual for a skeleton to be afraid of ghosts.
"Brook, get out from under the table," Nami yelled at the skeleton. "You're making a scene!"
"I'm sorry, but you never told me that there be ghosts here," said Brook as he remains under the table as he is still ironically scared of ghosts- even though he's undead himself.
Nami suddenly groaned with a facepalm, but calms down when Luffy wraps his arm around her and pulls her close in an embrace. Back at the Gryffindor Table, Hermione is looking confused at what she saw, a walking skeleton cowering from the sight of ghosts.
"I-Is that skeleton alright?" said Hermione to Harry. "I never thought I'd see one be scared of spirits."
"Aye, Brook's still not over his fear of ghosts," said Harry with a sympathetic frown as he also looks ahead at the Straw Hat's table. "Poor guy, he use to be afraid of his own reflection as he tends to forget he all bones."
"Indeed, it took me a while to learn I died myself," said Nick with a sigh, "You'd think that after getting your head almost cut off, you would know immediately. But no, I waited for hours on the chopping block waiting to die...only to learn that I'm already dead."
"You were executed?" said Seamus
"Indeed, I was," said Nick to the young Irish boy. "And it was quite a sloppy one too, the executioner forgot to sharpen his axe to sever my head completely. See."
Nicolas grabs the top of his head and pulls it so show that he is only has an inch of skin and sinew left on his neck. The first years had their own reactions, Seamus, Dean and Ron were at awe, Neville felt sick, while Hermione and Parvati turned away with disgust.
"What did you do to deserve this?" said Harry
"I'm sure you know of King Henry VII?" said Nicolas
"Sorry, no," said Harry
"Yes, and I'm surprised...given his reputation," said Hermione as she recall learning about Henry VII back in primary school. "A deceitful schemer who spread lies about King Richard...Shakespeare wasn't kind when he portrayed him as an evil hunchback."
"Aye, never a fan either," said Nicolas, "I seems like the Late King Richard and I had terrible luck when it comes to meeting Henry Tudor, especially when it ends in our deaths."
"What happened?" said Harry
"It was during his early years, after his triumphant victory against Richard III at Bosworth Field," said Nick as he regales his end to the First-Years. "I was part of his court, thanks to the Lady Grieve who was the King's Lady-in-waiting. A muggle, mind you, but knows that I'm a wizard. So she asked me to help the King straighten his crooked teeth. Confident and a gentleman as I, I accepted the fair Lady's request in hopes to be her and his royal advisor.
Unfortunately, the spell required for that was a charm, and I was quite terrible at the course in my scholar years that I unintentionally gave the King tusks. He was outraged by this, he locked me in the tower, took away my wand and had me executed on all Hallow's Eve. Sadly, my execution was a not quick as the axe which the executioner used on me was dull as a buttering knife which took about 40 hits to nearly sever my head. It would've been 41 but the lazy knave never bothered giving me a full decapitation."
"How terrible," said Hermione
"I know," said Nick, "he could at least give that axe a good grind before using it. Fortunately I managed to haunt the blighter until he gave up executing, sparing the poor souls sharing my grizzled fate."
"But didn't the others get their heads cut off?," said Ron as found Nick purpose of haunting the executioner redundant since he can be replaced.
"True, but in a more swift and humane way, I assure you" said Nick to Ron, "After my demise, not once has anyone had their heads still attached by some pieces of skin from their necks."
"Do you miss it?" said Harry to Nick, "Being alive, I mean?"
"Sometimes, especially when it comes to food," said Nick, "But, I'm in good company so it's not so bad...except for the constant denials from joining the head-less hunt every year because of technicalities. I mean, how can an inch of my remaining neck doesn't make me head-less, I was decapitated in death, so I'm headless."
"Can't you just- you know- rip it off?" said Harry referring to the remaining piece of Nick's neck. "I mean, you're a ghost, you can't feel pain right?"
"Believe me, that was the first thing I did when I was denied the first time," said Nick as he grabs his head again and pulls head so show that the inch of neck skin doesn't tear. "Sadly, I am stuck like this indefinitely.
"Damn, that must suck," said Harry, "Then I must be very careful how I die then."
"How can you say that so casual!?" exclaimed Hermione with a disbelieved look on her face. "You shouldn't think of death so early!"
"Why not?" said Harry
"Dude, you're 11," said Dean, "Still at your prime of life, wait until you're an old man."
"Or don't think of death at all." Said Ron
"Relax, I know I have lots to live for." Said Harry, "I mean I came here to learn magic, so what could go wrong?"
"As long as you behave and follow the rules, then nothing." Said Nick as he then sinks down into the floor. "Behave, don't do anything stupid or else you'll end up like me. Taa-taa now."
With the Straw Hats
With the nearly headless ghost gone, the first-years continues to enjoy their feast and conversation at the Gryffindor Table. In the meantime, Dumbledore is introducing the professors to the Straw Hats that are available- be they Luffy himself, his wives Nami and Hancock, Sanji, Robin, Chopper and Brook. The rest such as Zoro, Usopp, Franky and Jimbei are at the Sunny on guard duty while Pudding and Kaya stay on board so they can take care of the rest of the children including their own. Sadly the new generation are too young to set foot on Hogwarts as they are under curfew due to their young age, making Harry the only one to stay up longer for the time being.
One by one, the professors give the pirates their welcome...well mostly as there is one who is anti-social among the staff, a tall man dressed in black, with greasy black hair to match and a crooked nose which makes him almost be mistaken for a crow. Professor Severus Snape, head of Slytherin House and Professor of Potions gives the Straw Hats a very indifferent welcome, mainly because they are the adoptive parents of Harry Potter.
He gives them a silent bow and returns to his seat immediately, causing many of the straw hats to exchange raised brows at the man's behaviour towards them.
"Please forgive Professor Snape, he's not one for idle conversation," said Dumbledore while rubbing the back of his neck and displays a sheepish expression. "He's still annoyed because he was denied of the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts this year."
"That shouldn't be an excuse for being rude," said Nami, frowning at Snape, who simply ignored her entirely. "A simple hello would do,"
"Again, I'm so sorry," said Dumbledore as he continues to introduce the Straw Hats with the other professors. Fortunately for them, the other professors are more hospitable as they offered their welcomes in kind, especially from the enthusiastic Fillius Flitwick- a short wizard who is Head of Ravenclaw and Professor of Charms, and the bubbly and sweet old Professor Sprout- Head of Hufflepuff and Professor of Herbology.
Flitwick stayed at the Straw Hat's table as he very curious about the pirates and how Harry's life is with them, same for McGonagall but acting more like the concerned grandmother type considering it's been 10 years since his disappearance and death declaration. The short wizard suddenly bellowed out laughing when Luffy told him about one of his adventures, first time meeting and already they are becoming friends.
Back at Harry
Back at the Gryffindor Table, the first years caught the short wizard's laughter at the Straw Hat's table and started to raise their brows while Harry smiled.
"Looks like dad is starting make friends already," said Harry.
"Is he always friendly?" said Ron
"Only if they're friendly back," said Harry, "Other times, my dad take no shits from anyone else, no matter who."
"Considering the high bounty he has on his head, I'm not surprised." Said Seamus, earning a nod from Dean. "Mind you, I wouldn't want to be on his bad side either."
"You have nothing to worry about, my dad is a good guy." Said Harry
"Even if he's a pirate?" said Hermione
"Especially when he's a pirate," said Harry with a proud smile as he starts to help himself with more food at the table. "The only true crimes he did was anger the government and a few pompous nobles who think they're high and mighty."
Hermione gives out a disapproving groan and returns to her food, good guy or no, she doesn't like the fact that Harry was raised by pirates and no doubt caused some acts of piracy himself. Plus, pirates are known to be rude and lacking of manners which separates them from members of society. She looks back at the Straw Hat's table to see how rowdy they are, and what's worse is that the few professors -Flitwick, Spout and McGonagall are very amused and laughed merrily at their jest.
"I suppose... I could give them a chance to know them." Said Hermione begrudgingly.
"Trust me, you'll begin to like them once you get to know them," said Harry, "Especially Robin as she's got a lot in common with you."
"What do you mean?" said Hermione.
"Robin is smart and academic compare to the rest of the others, and one of the few are...most sensible," said Harry, "So she's highly recommended to meet first among the others."
"...I'll take your word for it," said Hermione "No promises, I intend to focus on with my studies."
"Seriously, is studying all you're interested in?" said Ron in disbelief.
"In case you've forgotten, but we are in a school," said Hermione, "A place of education, and since this is where I'll learn magic, every moment counts for me to learn as much magic as I can in the following 7 years."
"I might do the same, since I just learned that I'm a wizard," said Harry, "Plus it'll be fun."
Hermione couldn't help but smile at Harry as he's also interested in learning magic too, way more than Ron as he doesn't seem enthusiastic about learning magic...perhaps he's been around enough magic that he's gotten bored of it...or something.
"I'm glad to hear it," said Hermione
End of Chapter