"Man, this is going to suck."

Ace and Hadrian stood in the common area of their quarters. The Yule Ball was starting soon, and neither one looked happy about having to go. Ace was constantly pulling at the collar of his dress shirt with a frown, and Hadrian kept messing with his hair, which Izou had styled to look as neat as his hair could.

"It'll be fine, boys. Just try not to cause any trouble."

Elizabeth came out of her room in a similar dress as the one she had worn at her wedding. She tucked her wand into a hidden pocket on her dress and then gave the boys a smile.

"Dad and I will be there, so we can hope that they won't try anything, but be careful just incase."

They both tried to look as innocent as possible, but Liz just sighed. It was wishful thinking on her part for them to behave themselves. She should've known better. The look her husband gave her when he walked up said that she definitely should've known better.

"Are you both ready, yoi?" Marco asked. He looked almost as uncomfortable in his dress shirt and tie as the boys did. Especially since it felt so wrong to cover up Oyaji's mark. Other than their first day in this world and when they had gone to the bank, he had worn his usual outfit.

"Yeah dad," Hadrian said.

"I hope they have food at this thing," Ace muttered. "That's the only thing that'll make this worth it."

Liz chuckled at the frowns on both of her boys' faces and then clapped her hands together. This got everyone's attention, including those who were going to be staying in the rooms.

"Right, before we go, I want to make sure everyone's good," she started. "We probably won't be back until late, so Izou, please make sure the girls get to bed at a decent time." Said crossdresser nodded and gave her a smile. "Everyone else, we'll update you if anything happens."

After a series of farewells, Liz, Marco, Remus, and the boys all headed out, making thier way down to the Great Hall.

~MotP~

Hadrian and Ace waited with the other champions outside of the Great Hall, having been told that they would be going in last to start off the Yule Ball with a dance. The two got a few weird looks, but neither one of them really cared. It wasn't their fault that some found it weird for Hadrian's date to be a guy, even if that guy was his soulmate. Screw them.

"So, you guys are soulmates?" Krum's date, a girl from Hogwarts with brown hair and eyes, asked.

"Yeah. Mom was surprised since she didn't expect me to meet mine so soon, but her and dad were happy that it was Ace. Even with the age difference," Hadrian replied. He then held out his hand to her. "I'm Hadrian. I don't mind if you call me Harry, but most of my family call me either by my name or Ri, like Ace."

She shook his hand and gave him a smile. "Hermione. I'm not much of a fan of nicknames. It's nice to meet you, Hadrian. Are you liking Hogwarts so far?"

"I could do without the people treating me like some mythical creature or stupid kid, but the school itself is nice."

Ace then held out his own hand, though he was a bit suspicious of the girl. Granted, he looked at everyone in this world like that.

"Ace. So, you go here?" he asked when she shook his hand next.

"Yeah. I'm a fourth year, like Hadrian would be," she told them. "I'm in Gryffindor House."

Before anything else could be said, McGonagall showed up and told them that it was time. They lined up and were escorted into the hall, which caused everyone to look at them.

Once the music started, Hadrian let Ace lead him in the dance, which was a waltz of sorts. Liz and Izou had taught them for the past week how to dance, so they did well for pirates.

"That Hermione girl seems alright," Ace said after a moment.

"Yeah, but I'm not sure if she's friend or foe yet," Hadrian replied.

"If she's foe, then she's a dangerous one. The ones who pretend to be friendly like that always are."

"We'll just have to keep an eye on her, then." Hadrian paused for a moment. "Or ask Luna."

Ever since befriending the blonde Ravenclaw, both boys had realized that she had a very good intuition about people. Ace had even said that she reminded him of his younger brother, Luffy. Saying that the boy had an uncanny way of knowing if a person was good or bad. He almost wished that he could introduce them to each other. Especially after he noticed that she liked to wear a pair of earrings that looked like turnups and a necklace with a cork on it. If he put them together, they looked like the soulmark that Luffy had on his upper right arm. What were the odds the girl had a strawhat or piece of meat for hers? Maybe he'd ask her at a later time.

"We'll ask Luna later. And the twins are in the same house as her, so we could always ask them what she's like," Ace suggested.

Hadrian nodded and the two fell into a nice silence as they danced, Ace spinning the other teen with a smirk and causing him to laugh. Even though they didn't necessarily want to be there, they would still make the most of it.

~MotP~

I watched the boys dance and took a sip of my drink. I tried not to seem as tense as I was feeling, but I knew that at least Marco could tell. He always could.

"Relax, pretty bird. You know that I won't let anything happen, yoi."

I felt Marco wrap his arm around my waist. It was a pleasant feeling. Familiar. Comforting. I felt myself relax a bit against him as the music ended. Food was served shortly after before the floor was open for mor dancing.

"It's very good to see you doing so well, Elizabeth."

I looked over to the side and gave Fillius a smile. I had been wondering if any of my old professors would come speak to me.

"Fillius. I see that you're still the Charms Professor," I replied, motioning to the empty seat across from Marco and I. "I'm sorry that I haven't come to see you, yet."

"Don't be silly. You have more important things to focus on than reminiscing with your old professor." The man slid a piece of paper my way before he pat my hand. "I wish I could have Hadrian in my classes, but you've done a wonderful job in teaching him."

I hid the piece of paper under my hand subtly and gave him a smile. "Thank you. I'm no charms mistress, but I did get Os all through school."

"If you need any recommendations on books to give him, let me know. I have quite the collection in my office."

With that, I watched the man get up and make his way to another table. Once he was gone, I carefully moved my hand to my lap and opened the note he had passed me. I could feel Marco reading over my shoulder as I scanned what had been written.

'Albus is trying to gather information on you and your group. Please be careful and come to me or Minerva if you need to.'

I subtly burned the note once I had read it and looked over at Marco. I had a feeling that Albus would try and get information on us, but there was nothing to find in this world. What information could he get on us?

"We'll discuss this with Oyaji later tonight, yoi," Marco stated. "Don't fret too much, pretty bird."

I gave him a smile and looked out over the students, seeing Hadrian and Ace talking with Luna, a boy who looked awfully like Frank Longbottom, a girl with brown curls wearing a pirwinkle colored dress, and the Durmstrang champion. They seemed to be getting along quite well, and I knew that Luna would be able to tell if the others were good people or not. She was a very good friend for Hadrian to have while we were here.

~MotP~

"You live on a ship? On the ocean?"

Hadrian nodded and smiled at Hermione. After a brief talk with Luna, who had found both him and Ace after the opening dance ended, it was decided that Hermione was a good person to befriend here. She didn't have many friends due to most of them just seeing her as an annoying know-it-all, but he found that she really just liked to gather knowledge so that she wouldn't be left behind by those who had known about magic their whole lives. It was very smart of her, especially since his mom had always told him that knowledge was power and knowing your enemy better than they even knew themselves was a good way to get ahead of them.

"Yeah. This is the longest that we've stayed in one place," Ace said. "I think we would've left by now if Ri's magic wasn't on the line."

"Travel by ship is alvays nice," Krum added. "Ship like second home for Durmstrang."

"I saw it on the lake. Whoever built it did a good job."

"Do you miss it?" Hermione asked. "Your ship?"

"The Moby is our home, Hermione. Of course we miss it." Hadrian took a look around and gave him mom a smile when he noticed that she was looking over at them. "Mom and I have been part of the crew for eleven years. I basically grew up there."

"Really? I've heard a few of my dormmates saying that you and your mum disappeared not long after what happened to your birth parents. I'm glad to know that most of the rumors are wrong. About all of you." She gave them a smile.

"You shouldn't believe everything you read, either," Luna added, a calm smile on her lips. "It's best to check that there are no crinklebulbs in the pages."

Everyone but Hadrian and Ace gave the girl a confused look. The two boys just nodded in agreement. Elizabeth had been teaching them Craos Cant ever since Luna had joined their small group. It helped that they spent quite a bit of time with the girl when she wasn't in class.

"She means that not all written information is reliable," Ace said. "You should probably cross reference everything with other books."

"Oh." Hermione looked at Luna with a calculating expression. She had always thought that the girl was just a bit odd, but she really just had an interesting way of saying things. Maybe she should spend more time with her. "I'll be sure to do that, Luna. Maybe you could help me?"

The blonde girl seemed to smile a bit wider and nodded. She was very happy to have gained a new friend.

"Yes. I'd like that very much."

~MotP~

The Yule Ball went by without much issue. Hadrian and Ace spent most of it with the friends they had made so far, dancing with a few of them and each other. At one point, Ginny Weasley had tried to get Hadrian to dance with her, but Hermione had stepped in and pulled him away for a dance of her own. They talked about the differences in how they had grown up, Ace telling them stories of growing up with Luffy, a smile on his face as he spoke about his little brother. He spoke very briefly of his other brother, Sabo, but no one pushed him to tell more after they noticed that speaking of him caused him to get upset.

Hermione found the fact that they were pirates fascinating, asking all sorts of questions that they answered the best that they could. Krum had also asked them a few questions, enjoying the fact that they didn't care that he was a famous Quidditch player. He had a good time for once, and they helped to keep his fans away.

"I tend to spend a lot of time in the library if you would...want to hang out," Hermione said as they were about to part ways.

"Sure." Hadrian gave her a smile and turned to head where he could see his parents waiting for them. "Maybe you could help me figure out what the second task is. I still haven't been able to make heads or tails of it."

"Try putting egg in vater," Krum suggested. "Go under and you hear riddle."

The boys blinked, looked at each other, and then looked back at the Bulgarian. That was helpful.

"Uh, thanks. I'll try that tomorrow."

With that, they all went their separate ways, Hadrian thinking about the tip that Krum had given him. While they were competing against each other, he was a nice guy. He would need to talk with him mom about it. And probably dad and Jiichan as well.

A/N: Ah, the Yule Ball. I decided to have this chapter be mostly in third person and revolve around Hadrian and Ace. I hope you guys enjoyed it! Also, thank you for everyone who has told me to not worry about updating this story and focus on what's been going on in my life. I appreciate the kind words and just wanted to say thank you. Working on this story again has really helped me distract myself from my own waring emotions, so I'm going to try and get some more chapters out for all of you as thanks. Besides, the second task is coming up, and I have some really good scenes of Liz blowing up on Albus planned out. That'll help with getting out some of my frustrations. Love you guys!

~Em