So There Aren't Any Dragons...
"Hi, Old Man Whitebeard!" Luffy greeted.
"Pops!" Ace cheered, somehow louder than Luffy.
"Head Whitebeard," Sabo said, bowing his head respectfully, "You scared us a bit."
Whitebeard laughed his weird laugh. "You brats! You're meant to be in class right now, aren't you? Stop spoiling our school image!"
"Pops!" Ace said joyfully again, ignoring what he said completely. He ran at the old man. "I missed you!"
Ace launched himself at the Head, — Albus and Scorpius staring in shock at the athletic expertise — who caught him just as he got close. The freckled man struggled in his grip a little before settling in comfortably and grinning at the old man. Whitebeard grinned back and laughed.
"Everyone else miss you dearly, including I," Whitebeard said, voice rumbling with fondness, "Marco does the most."
Ace's ears turned red, and Sabo grinned teasingly. From the corner of his eye, Luffy saw Albus' brow raise slightly.
Marco and Ace are an odd pair. Luffy knew that they liked each other for a long while. Their powers were similar; Marco had a rare power that gives him the powers and traits of a phoenix. He had wings with bright blue feathers, he could set himself on fire without harming himself, and he could heal others with his flame or his tears. He was real strong, even if he looked like a pineapple in Luffy's opinion. Him and Ace didn't grow up together, but they were close, and then one day got closer than ever before and boom, they were dating.
Anyways, Luffy found everything about them hilarious, mainly because Ace still didn't seem used to Marco's affection at all, even if they were together for two years by now. If Marco so much as gave him a kiss on his cheek, Ace would turn red like a strawberry, trip, or set something on fire. Sometimes all at once.
"T-tell him I miss him too," the freckled man murmured, and Luffy cackled loudly. That made him earn a glare from his eldest brother, although it was ineffective as his ears got redder. A flame sparked on his hat, and Luffy laughed even louder.
After Luffy had managed to calm down, Whitebeard's eyes slowly moved to the two Hogwarts students. They both shrunk slightly at his gaze. The old man's eyes glowed with curiosity.
"You two must be some Hogwarts students!" he said calmly, "May I know your names?"
"Right, sir," Scorpius blurted, "My name is Scorpius Malfoy."
"Albus Severus Potter," Albus introduced himself. Then they both gave a small bow as they had seen Sabo do. It seemed to have pleased Whitebeard, as his gaze turned cheery towards the two.
"Very nice, boys!" he said, approving of their respectfulness, "And my, a Potter and a Malfoy. How odd!"
"What's odd about it?" Albus immediately defended. Scorpius looked a little green at his friends outburst.
But to the two of them surprise, Whitebeard merely chuckled. "Nothing at all! You've got some interesting families, that is all. I've met a Malfoy before, they weren't the brightest. And I've only heard of the Potters, what cheery folks!"
"Hey, hey, are they strong?" Luffy asked excitedly.
"They were," Whitebeard rumbled, an easy grin on his face, "Almost as strong as me!"
Luffy wowed loudly at the fact. Sabo looked slightly amazed. Ace, however, was shaking his head and frowning.
"But never stronger," he said determinedly.
Whitebeard smiled at his son, chuckling lightly. Finally, he had put him on the ground next to his brothers. The old man cleared his throat and looked at the five of them carefully. Luffy felt like he knew what was coming.
"So," Whitebeard said conversationally, "Why aren't you five in your classes?"
All of them except Luffy winced. The strawhatted boy merely tilted his head at the giant man.
"Why aren't you doing your Headmaster duties or whatever?" he asked in return.
Whitebeard huffed. "You've always been a brat, Luffy. Give some respect for your elders."
"No thanks."
"Oh well. I tried." Whitebeard made a long-suffering sigh. "But as to why I'm here, it is school business that would be revealed later anyways, so I guess it would be okay to tell you...
"Sharley had a vision."
The air suddenly turned tense. Professor Sharley, and Divination teacher, having a vision is never the best, at least most of the time. It's usually something not extremely bad, but in this case, it had reached the Heads, which meant it was something world-changing. The three brothers waited for more.
"She said that the sky is to fall on the winter solstice, the ground will rise in the summer one, and if those will not be prevented, the world will disappear."
"So a prophecy?" Ace said.
"I hate riddles!" Luffy huffed, annoyed.
"Guys," Sabo said curtly, silencing the two brothers.
The blonde had a serious look on his face. He was gazing at the old man with a thoughtful expression, and Luffy could see the underlying fear in his eyes. Sabo had always been smarter and more responsible of the three, so he reacted the way any normal person would: with fear and worry. The strawhatted boy reached and clung onto his brother's wrist, squeezing it lightly. Ace did the same thing with his other hand, and then tilted the tip of his own hat down a little.
"Head Whitebeard," Sabo asked, voice controlled carefully, "why are you here?"
"To warn you, my boys," Whitebeard replied, "and to warn Minerva McGonagall, the headmistress, of this school as well. The most powerful of Grandline and other schools will do everything in their power to prevent madness from spreading, me included, of course. Depending on how things go, or what evil we will face, it might be an all-out war."
"I see..." Luffy muttered, eyes turning determined, "Who are we fighting?"
Whitebeard frowned at the 'we,' but elected to ignore it. "Probably Earth itself. Maybe a God or two. There's a lot of unconfirmed, wild theories."
Albus gaped at how casually the old man had said those words. Scorpius looked a little green again. They didn't let the fact that God exists — and that there is more than one — sink in just yet. They didn't dare think it was a lie either, because this old man felt wise and powerful. He didn't have any reason to lie like that about something so serious.
The three brothers didn't look doubtful either. Ace had a fiery look in his eyes, and he was grinning menacingly, ready for whatever was to come. Sabo had his eyes shadowed by his hat like Ace had moments before, emotionless. Luffy, however, was excited. He 'shishishi'ed and lifted a fist in the air.
"Well, you do whatever!" he exclaimed, "We will tell the others, and all of us together will protect this place! Don't you worry, Old Man."
Ace and Sabo made noises of confirmation, and Whitebeard beamed at the children.
"Besides, I've fought God before!" the youngest added with a cackle, remembering some jerk claiming to be a God from the Sky House, a secret area of the school that was in the sky. He was an adult too! What a jackass!
Whitebeard blinked at the confession and the Hogwarts students whipped around to stare at him.
"You had WHAT?!" they screeched, but it was drowned out by his brothers and Whitebeard's laughter.
—————
The day went on as normally as it could. All the exchange students were seen in classes together, which was odd; Luffy accidentally turned the pillow he was supposed to be levitating into stone in Charms class, and Robin helped him switch it back as Koala, Ace, and Sabo laughed at him. He then promptly turned it to stone again, although it did fly too, this time.
And it broke the chandelier, but details, details.
Now, Luffy and his brothers were standing on the Quidditch pitch with their brooms. None of them really cared about flight, but it was still pretty cool and useful. In Grandline, they were allowed to fly around outside wherever and whenever, as long as it's not too far out to sea.
The strawhatted boy noticed Law and Kidd standing with the other Slytherins, who seemed to be trying to stay at least five feet away from the two men. He waved at them energetically. Law visibly looked annoyed at his presence while Kid snarled. Unbeknownst to Luffy, Ace and Sabo were flipping off the two Slytherins behind his back, purposefully trying and succeeding in pissing them off. A vein in Law's forehead pulsed, and Kidd looked murderous.
Before a fight could break out, the flying instructor blew her whistle and everyone looked in her direction. Luffy, being Luffy, decided not to listen, until Sabo nudged him.
"Do as I do," the blonde whispered, and Luffy nodded.
Luffy copied what Sabo was doing. Apparently they were learning to fly backwards. It was fairly easy; the students of Grandline already knew all of this. As the school didn't stop them from doing dangerous acts on their brooms, so they learned as many tricks as they could. Even to someone like Luffy, flying backwards was easy as pie.
Apparently, it wasn't easy for others. A girl from Gryffindor suddenly shot at the Quidditch stands, crashing violently. The Professor went to check on her, then told the other students she will be going to the nurses office with the student and to not make trouble. After she left, the Slytherins started guffawing loudly.
"Did you see her face!"
"Those bruises sure make a prettier sight!"
"Her face was so swollen, although she was already an eyesore!"
Sabo's brows furrowed, staring intensely at the laughing Slytherins. Luffy knew that looks were a soft spot for him, as he was made fun of his scar for a long time until he finally stood up for himself. Insults about his scar don't bother him anymore, but people making fun of another's looks makes his blood boil. Luffy and Ace were also ready to argue on the girl's behalf, they would join their brother if there was a fight.
"Oh, shut up!" a ginger Gryffindor girl spoke up, glaring at the Slytherins, "How can you be so heartless?! She might be terribly injured!"
They continued laughing, but now at the ginger girl. Luffy felt a tick appear at his brow, these people were so annoying! He looked at his brothers, who were all in the same predicament as him. Ace was cracking his fingers one by one, frowning. Sabo's face was blank, but he continued staring at the Slytherins intensely. His hand was in his pocket, holding his wand. Luffy knew that if those snakes didn't shut up, the brothers will rip their throats out.
But they immediately silenced when one of the Grandline Slytherins stepped up.
Trafalgar Law may look heartless, and he sort of is, in Luffy's fair opinion. But he was also a good guy. Luffy saw the way he talked about treating patients. He heard a great deal from Chopper about him being an amazing doctor, not in just knowledge, but also in how he treated people with strictness and care shoved untidily into one. Overall, Luffy liked him.
Law stepped up to the Slytherins, face in a tight scowl.
"Can you all shut up for once?" he hissed, and the others shrunk before him, "I've got a headache because of you, and now an earache to boot. Your silence is a hundred times more welcome, and if anyone makes even a peep, I will personally throw you to the depths of the Forbidden Forest."
Kidd snorted. "I bet I can throw 'em from here over the school wall."
"Yeah, right," Law drawled, purposefully sounding doubtful to anger the redhead. It worked.
"I bet you can't 'cause you're weak. Weakass. Stupid weakling—"
And then they were wrestling each other to the ground. This happened daily, back in Grandline. Luffy was pretty sure Law was trying to hold back because "foreign relations" bullshit, but he had finally reached his limit.
"Strawhat!" Kidd yelled suddenly, pointing at the boy, "Fight me!"
"Okay!" Luffy cheered, not questioning the suddenness of the suggestion. He ran at him, ignoring his brothers yells, and dived into the fight.
It was the freest Luffy had felt in a long time. He threw punch after punch, dodged many attacks, and bounced away anything he couldn't dodge. To the ordinary eye, it was probably a bunch of blurs, but the three could sense each other clearly. They weren't going all out, but were on even ground.
Luffy realized that they Kidd called him to fight for one reason: Law needed an outlet. Kidd is probably self-aware that he was too much sometimes— or maybe he had no idea, and had simply noticed that Law was too tense that day and decided a brawl was in order. Luffy found both of them weird in the way they treat each other. Kidd was "nice" and then he punches Law in the face. Law tolerates him but then curses his entire past and future bloodline. They were dancing the most confusing and dangerous dance Luffy has ever seen, which was both annoying and funny sometimes. But Luffy knew that they were friends... or something like that.
The Professor came back after a while, and yelled at them to break out the fight and scolded them. After taking away a handful of points from the Houses, the bell rung and everyone hurried to leave the field.
"Man, what a day!" Luffy cheered as his brothers and friends followed him back to the school. The two Slytherins followed because the brothers told them of Whitebeard's message, and Law wanted to gather everyone pronto, so that was what they were doing.
"Yeah it was," Ace sighed. He then grabbed Luffy and pulled him into a noogie. "But if you pull some shit like that again I swear I'll set your bed on fire while you are in it!"
"Let me gooo..." Luffy whined. Sabo laughed at his brothers' antics, while Kidd and Law simply stared.
They walked on, chattering away (or at least Luffy was.) People around them were whispering and staring, but Luffy ignored them. Maybe word got around about their brawl, maybe they were confused on why whether they were friends, it didn't matter. Luffy talked loudly about how hungry he was, and Ace impatiently reminded him it's gonna be dinner soon. They walked off to find the others, pushing away the doom of the prophecy to the back of their minds temporarily.