Surrey Zoo (Day)
Petunia Dursley did not like her nephew's new 'friend', if he could even be called that.
Around a month ago, Harry had met a bizarre young boy on his way home from school. A blonde eleven-year-old with an eyepatch over his right eye, something that unnerved the woman. The boy introduced himself as Red Russo, smiling in a way that made Petunia worry if this child was like her sister.
A freak.
What made things worse for her was the fact that the boy somehow was attending the zoo on the same day they visited for Dudley's birthday. She was positive that her nephew was unaware of the trip until they were just outside the car. For his friend to be here was either a horrifying coincidence or proof of her suspicions. Right now, the two of them were standing in front of a reptile exhibit. Harry was looking at a snake, while Russo was staring intently at a horned lizard.
"Russo, come look at this snake!" Harry said, oddly entranced by the serpent's gaze.
"Not now. I'm in a staring contest with this guy." the blonde answered, trying desperately to keep his working eye from closing.
Curious, Harry looked at the animal his friend was competing with. "Uh, I think it's asleep."
"Exactly. It's too easy to beat something when it's awake." Russo said, completely serious. After a few more seconds, he blinked. "Agh! You win this time, you cunning piece of work." Shortly after those words were spoken, the lizard woke up and scurried away.
"You proud of yourself?" Harry asked, already knowing the answer.
"Always." the blonde said, grinning widely. "Now, what'd you want me to see?"
Before Russo was able to see the snake Harry had been so eager to show off, Dudley had pushed both of them to the ground in an effort to show the snake to his mother. Harry, feeling robbed, glared at his cousin. Then, without warning, the glass Dudley was leaning on vanished into thin air, causing the boy to fall into the snake pen. Petunia and Vernon ran over to the pen, watching as their son panicked in what was now a vacant exhibit.
The snake had escaped shortly before the glass reappeared. Harry could've sworn he heard it thank him, but whatever noise the serpent made was drowned out by Russo's cacophonous laughter. "Yararara! Oh, that's rich!" the blonde said, rolling on the floor uncontrollably.
Harry couldn't help but laugh as well. He may not have liked his 'freakishness', but at least it never failed to make him laugh. Unfortunately, his Uncle Vernon heard the outburst and glared at the boy.
By the time Russo calmed down and stopped laughing like a madman, the Dursleys and Harry were already gone.
Secluded Tower (Night)
Harry hadn't been allowed to leave the house for three days after that incident. It was originally just going to be one day, but then the letters started coming. Countless owls had begun to deliver letters addressed to him in ways he didn't know were possible. Through the chimney, through the pipes, even through the eggs that Petunia tried to use to make omelets. When it became too much to handle on their own, the Dursleys decided to move somewhere nobody would be able to find them.
Which is what led Harry to his current predicament. He was sitting on the dirty ground of a medieval-era tower on an island hundreds of miles away from shore. To make things worse, it was his eleventh birthday. Despondent, he drew a picture of a cake with eleven candles on the ground. Before he could blow out his candles, he heard the sound of glass breaking. Turning his head, he saw a figure standing in the darkness.
"Who's there?" Harry asked, grabbing the flashlight under the couch. Turning it on and shining it towards the figure, he was met with a familiar eyepatch-covered face. "Russo?"
"Agh! Can you turn that thing down?" the blonde asked, covering his eye.
"How are you here?" Harry asked, turning the flashlight off.
"Easy. I came in through the window." Russo said, as if that was a valid answer. As he walked forward, he noticed the drawing on the ground. "You gonna eat that?" he asked.
"Uh, no. You can have it." Harry said. "You know that Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia won't like that you're here, right?"
"What are they gonna do? Throw me off the island?" Russo asked with a grin. "I've seen your uncle, Harry. I'm pretty sure I can outrun him." Suddenly, the door was broken down by a large, bearded man. "But I've been wrong before and I'm fine with being wrong again!"
The noise had woken up the Dursleys. Vernon and Petunia rushed down the stairs to see what was going on. To Russo's surprise, Vernon had a shotgun in his hands. "Stop right this instant! This is breaking and entering!" Vernon was shut up quickly when the bearded man walked up to him, grabbed the shotgun, and bent it upwards.
"Dry up, Dursley. You great prune." the man said as the firearm went off, blowing a hole in the ceiling. His next course of action was to bring out a pink umbrella and use it to light up the fireplace.
"Well would you look at that." Russo said, immediately fascinated by whatever mechanism the bearded man used.
"Hello, there Harry! I haven't seen you since you were a baby!" the man said, kneeling down to the scarred boy. "Oh, I've got something for you! Might be a bit smushed, but it should still taste good." The man got a white box out from his coat and opened it, revealing a cake with "HAPPEE BIRTHDAE HARRY" written in icing.
"Thanks!" Harry said, surprised by everything that happened in the past two minutes. "But, who are you?"
"Rubeus Hagrid. Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts." Hagrid introduced. "But you know all about Hogwarts, don't you."
"Unless you're referring to viral growths on a pig, no. Hogwarts doesn't ring a bell." Russo said.
"Well, there were those letters..." Harry said, thinking back to the owl infestation.
"I'm sorry, lad. Who might you be?" Hagrid asked Russo.
"Where are my manners? Red Russo, pleasure to meet you." the blonde said, grinning. "So, what's this Hogwarts place?"
"Only the finest magic school in the world." Hagrid explained. "And Harry, if you're anything like your parents, you'll do just fine there."
"Magic school?" Russo asked, his curiosity growing with every word spoken.
"Wait, my parents went to this school?" Harry asked.
"Well of course. Where do you think they learned it all?" Hagrid asked.
"Learned it all? Are you saying my mum and dad were...magic?" the boy asked, not believing what he was hearing.
"Not just them, lad." Hagrid said with a smile. Harry became speechless at the revelation.
"Hmm, I guess that answers a lot of questions about your 'freakishness'." Russo said. On several occasions, he had seen the boy cause miracles that shouldn't have been possible. One particular memory of his eyepatch turning blue came to mind.
Hagrid handed another copy of the letter to Harry. The boy opened it and read the contents aloud. Apparently, he was to attend Hogwarts as a student.
"He will not be attending!" Vernon said. "We swore when we took him in that we would stop all this rubbish!"
"You knew?" Harry asked, outraged. "You knew and you never told me?"
"Actually, that answers the rest of my questions." Russo commented. Whether anyone heard him or not was irrelevant. Now it made sense why Vernon and Petunia acted unusually hostile whenever Harry did anything that even remotely resembled magic. He was brought out of his musings when Harry said something about explosions.
"You said my parents died in a car crash!" Harry shouted.
"A car crash, kill Lily and James Potter!?" Hagrid said, equally furious.
In the midst of the argument, Dudley tried stealing the cake box. Russo, however, spotted him out of the corner of his eye and swiped the box first.
"You will not take him!" Vernon said, the attempted pastry heist having gone unnoticed by him.
"Oh, and I suppose a muggle like you will stop me?" Hagrid asked, chuckling to himself.
"Muggle?" Harry asked.
"Non-magic folk." Hagrid explained. "This boy has had his name on the admissions list since he was born! He will be going to the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry AND will be taught by the greatest headmaster Hogwarts has ever seen. Albus Dumbledore."
"I will not pay to have some crackpot old fool teach him magic tricks!" Vernon yelled.
Soundlessly, Hagrid grabbed his umbrella and pointed it at the man. "Never insult Albus Dumbledore in front of me."
"Is now a weird time to say this isn't the first time I've seen someone threatened with an umbrella?" Russo asked.
"Oh, this is a tad awkward." Hagrid said. "Muggles outside the family can't know about Hogwarts or magic."
"Eh, I kind of expected this." the blonde said, shrugging. Then, out of the blue, an owl flew in and landed on his head, dropping a letter with the Hogwarts seal in his hands.
"Well blow me down. That's a Hogwarts letter!" Hagrid said.
"How'd this happen?" Russo asked, completely confused. "I know for a fact my parents weren't magical prodigies, so how in the world am I on the admissions list?"
"Accidental magic." Hagrid explained. "When a muggleborn starts exhibiting magical powers, the Ministry alerts the school and has them send a letter to the child's household."
'Accidental magic, huh?' Russo thought to himself. He had a feeling he knew what this 'Ministry' was detecting, but learning that it was magic was news to him. But if it let him stay with Harry, he didn't really care.
He grinned in anticipation for whatever was about to happen.
AN: The reason for this being a One Piece crossover will become clear once we reach Hogwarts, but I did leave a few hints in this chapter.