Disclaimer: I do not own. I have never owned. I probably never will own. That doesn't stop me from wishing, though.

A/N: I will start this off with an apology that I have repeated far too often: Forgive me for the horrid lateness of this chapter. It's been what, five months? A new year? D***, I'm really terrible at writing and publishing. Please forgive me for my horrible neglect of this story, especially those of you who took the time and had the kindness to review my story. Thank you, all of you. I couldn't possibly convey to you how much it means to me that you are enjoying my story.

On another note, what kind of review is this? "I tried up to this point to enjoy your story. I could'nt. I/m signing off." This was in response to my second chapter. First off, I would like to congratulate you on having the balls to post this anonymously. Second of all, seriously, at least you could tell me what I've done wrong and why it's so horrible. Last of all, what is with the weird punctuation mistake.

Anyway. Enough on the topic of stupid, unencouraging, and unhelpful reviews. I have some answers to sme very pertinent questions some of you have asked:

Will the other Strawhats appear? No, not for the moment, and probably not until at least second year, if I can make it that long with my procrastinating habits. Although second year would probably appear as a sequel. As you may have noticed from my other stories (if you've read them) I am a Sanji/Zoro fan, so if the other Strawhats appear, he'll probably be the first to arrive, and Luffy the last, just because if he comes, I have a few secrets to reveal. I really can't answer that question very precisely because I'm just as clueless as you about what will happen as the story progresses.

When in the Strawhats' voyage did Zoro somehow find himself at Hogwarts? I guess after Thriller Bark, but that really does not explain the baboons. Um... Well... Shall we say... I really don't know. Sometime after the timeskip, just after the fishman island arc but before Punk Hazard, since that is initially, when I started this fic. And at the time I had no idea that Zoro even knew what haki was, so, well... Yeah. Sorry!

Maybe you could even cure Zoro of his lack of sense in direction? Would Zoro even be the same without it? *tries to picture it* Nope, not working.

Why does Zoro have such powerful magic? Because I said so. And because Zoro is somehow always cluelessly strong. And because I am the author. So there.

Who set up that bank account for him? Now that, my friends, would be telling.

And now, as the French would say, pour ne pas rompre avec la tradition (at least, that's how my English-ripped French would say it, and Google translate more or less agrees with me), I tell you, my faithful readers, Onwards!

Christmas was coming. Another event coming up to remind him that time was passing, and that he still had absolutely no idea how to get back home. Luffy. Chopper. Usopp. Robin. Nami. Brook. Franky. The shit cook. What were they doing now? Was it Christmas over there, too? Had they put up a tree yet? Christmas was always a good excuse in Luffy's mind to have an enormous feast, and he remembered the easy laughter, cheerful atmosphere and crazy antics with a strange bitter feeling of regret. The snow that coated the ground only served to further remind him of what he missed, and he threw himself into a strenuous training routine to forget his solitude.

Snape still watched him, onyx eyes boring into him, but at least he hadn't gotten the idiotic idea of following him to the Room of Requirement into his head again. Small mercies. Harry and Ron were both staying at school, so he supposed that at least he would have some company in the Gryffindor dormitories. Hermione was leaving, however, fiercely admonishing them to continue researching Nicolas Flamel in her absence. Seriously. Did they have no idea what discretion and hushed tones were? And if magic could do anything, surely there were spells to prevent against eavesdroppers, right?

"I do feel so sorry," said Draco Malfoy, one Potions class, "for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts because they're not wanted at home."

Of course the insult was directed at Harry. Malfoy's simmering jealousy was plain for everyone to see. For the umpteeth time, Zoro wondered how Malfoy could have been sorted into Slytherin. Cunning? None at all. Ambition? Only to prove that he was superior to everyone else. Intelligence? He wasn't even sure if the boy possessed a brain, much less used it. Then again, Malfoy certainly couldn't be called brave and reckless, or loyal and hard-working, or smart and knowledgeable, so perhaps Slytherin was the best choice. At least there he could hide behind Snape's robes.

Zoro wasn't too sure what he and Neville had managed to create this lesson, but he was pretty sure the assigned potion wasn't supposed to be pink. Nor was it supposed to smell like sweat and steel and sake and the galley when Sanji was cooking and his crewmates' laughter, based on the name, "Babbling Beverage". Though, now that he thought about it, he'd seen this potion before. Brewed it two weeks ago in Potions, in fact. Weird. He was pretty sure the "Babbling Beverage" and "Fatiguing Infusion" weren't supposed to look and smell alike, much less have the same list of ingredients. He scratched his head. Weird. "Umm, Zoro?" his partner began hesitantly. He glanced up sharply at Neville in an invitation to continue. "Are you sure this is what we were supposed to make?" Zoro stared at him, looked at the potion, looked at Neville again. "No." But at least they hadn't exploded the cauldron, although they had, once again, lost points for Gryffindor.

A large fir was blocking the corridor to the classroom. Ron offered to help carry it, and Zoro couldn't help a snort from escaping him. How did an eleven-year-old think that he could carry an enormous tree when even a giant was having trouble with it? Ron whirled around, face already turning red, when Malfoy also decided to chip in his two cents' worth: "Are you trying to earn some extra money, Weasley? Hoping to be gamekeeper yourself when you leave Hogwarts, I suppose." Zoro reached out his hand just in time to grab Ron by the collar as he dived at the smirking Slytherin. Perfect timing, in fact, as Snape glided to the top of the stairs and beheld the scene. "Move," Snape order silkily. Malfoy and his cronies quickly obeyed, shoving past the evergreen in a shower of needles, sneering and laughing all the way. The professor rounded on Harry, Ron, Zoro and Hermione next. "What are you four still doing here? Did I not tell you to move?" The four hastened away, casting a few sympathetic glances back at Hagrid.

The holidays had begun. Three weeks of relative quiet, no classes, and no Malfoy. Quite a bit of boredom, too. There wasn't much to do apart from train, sleep, and hang around with Ron and Harry. And Ron didn't really like him, which made that activity less than pleasant. So, not knowing what to do, it was over the Christmas holidays that he met the Weasley twins.

He had already seen them before, had exchanged a few words with them in the common room (or more, they talked at him and he grunted in response), and had certainly heard of them and their legendary pranks. For all that, however, he couldn't really say he knew them.

"So, you must be Zoro, right?" one of them asked. He couldn't bother even attempting to figure out which one was which. "Can we sit here?" "I challenge you to an arm-wrestling match!" He eyed them carefully, finally nodding to both of their requests. "What happens to the loser?" he demanded suspiciously. "The loser has to eat this!" the red-haired one answered, cheerfully holding up a small, smooth yellow marble. He had a moment of pause in which he attempted to figure out why he was trying to differentiate them based on the color of their hair. Then he wondered why he was even attempting to differentiate them in the first place. "And what is that?" he questioned, still suspicious. "One of our most recent productions. We need someone to experiment on," they whispered in unison. Zoro raised an eyebrow and shrugged, finally putting his elbow out on the table, hand ready to grip his challenger's fingers. The two grinned, and one of them sat down across from him. The other counted down. "Three... Two... One... Start!" Gred? Forge? George? Fred? Whoever it was pressed down with all his might, but Zoro's arm was as immovable as stone. "Bloody... Hell!" he aclaimed, face red from exertion. Zoro smirked and pushed down. His opponent's arm hit the wooden table with a resounding, determined thud. "There you go! You owe me a Sickle, Gred! I told you you'd never win!" his twin announced, pounding his look-alike heartily on the back. Thank you for winning me my bet, Mr Roronoa!" he continued jovially, gripping his hand and shaking it heartily. Zoro looked bewildered. The loser put on a fake disappointed look and resignedly swallowed the yellow pill. Moments later, Zoro's jaw hung open as Gred's hair (including eyebrows and lashes) turned bright yellow. The color clashed with the freckles, and overall made him look like an idiot. Forge volunteered, "Congratulations on looking like that Malfoy ponce!" as the two exchanged a high-five. Really. Zoro could not and probably never would understand those two.

He hadn't expected to receive any Christmas presents. Really, he hadn't. Okay, so he'd gotten candy for all his dorm mates plus Hermione, and (as an afterthought) for Gred and Forge, in addition to coffee for Snape (since he, for some reason, doubted that the Potions Master had a sweet tooth hidden deep, deep down, and really, he had no idea what else to buy) when he'd been trying to find the Room of Requirement without the help of Sir Caddogan and had somehow ended up in a random, unknown, snow-covered village, but he really hadn't expected anything in return. So, when he woke up Christmas morning, he was tremendously surprised to find a pile of presents at the foot of his bed.

A package garishly wrapped in neon yellow and baby blue paper turned out to be lemon drops accompanied with an anonymous note. It didn't take too much brain power to guess that they were a gift from the headmaster. He had also received candy from Harry, Hermione, and the Weasley twins. He eyed the innocuous package of edible marbles of various colors with an unwarranted amount of suspicion before dropping it in his trunk, along with a mental note to never eat them, or to find a way to feed them to their creators. One last, small box turned out contain a whetstone, rag, and a bottle of oil. "For your swords," the small note read. It was unsigned. Zoro stared, puzzled, at the present, wondering who it was from. The handwriting seemed familiar, somehow, as if he had seen it before but the person had taken pains to hide their identity from him. Odd. He put his presents away in his turnk. A cry arrested his attention, and he rapidly turned to see what Ron had just yelled about. Harry's body had disappeared, leaving only his head floating above nothingness. Zoro stared, amazed, as it reappeared as soon as Harry pulled off a silvery, thick cloak.

He was still staring when the ginger twins (as he had decided to call them) barged in and left a few minutes later, dragging their older brother along with them. Yes, he decided faintly. I will never understand those two.

Christmas dinner was the most fantastic dinner he'd had so far. At Hogwarts. It was nothing compared to Christmas dinner on the Thousand sunny, surrounded by the crew, eating Sanji's delicious food and drinking as much sake as he could ever want in one evening. The wonderful Hogwarts dinner, in fact, served only to remind him of how much he missed the Strawhats.

He slowly got up, the food suddenly tasting sour in his mouth, and left the room. He wasn't in the mood for festivities anymore.

He awoke later that night to the sound of Harry climbing out of his bed and putting on his cloak. He listened hard as the smaller boy crept out the door and down the stairs, and finally decided to follow. Several corridors down the road, he realized they were walking to the library. Harry immediately crossed over to the Restricted Section, browsed the books and pulled one down, letting it fall open on his knee.

A piercing bloodcurdling shriek split the silence. The book was screaming! Harry snapped it shut and stumbled backwards, Zoro already making his way to the door to the library, pulling it open, waiting for Harry to exit in the shadows near the doorway. Harry tore past him, running, and Zoro hastened to fall into step behind him. They fled through the castle, finally stopping in an abandoned classroom - Hogwarts was full of those. Zoro willed himself to fade into the shadows as he took in the emptiness of the room, apart from the ornate gilded mirror that dominatedthe room. As high as the celing, it stood proudly on two clawed feet in all its golden glory, topped by a carved, flowing inscription: Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi. Zoro watched as Harry stood transfixed before the reflection, nose and glasses practically touching the silvery surface. "Mom?" he whispered. "Dad?" Did this mirror show your family? Zoro wondered. What would I see? In any case, if he wanted to find, he would have to wait his turn. And based on how Harry was acting, his turn wouldn't be any time soon. He dozed off in the darkness, sitting cross-legged, until Harry's retreat from the room displaced the air around him and brought him back to full alertness. As soon as Harry was gone, he stood slowly, almost unsurely (except that he couldn't be unsure, no, not him) and stepped towards the mirror. He gasped; the mirror showed him napping on the Thousand Sunny as the crew went about their lives around him. The whole picture gleamed with bliss, from Sanji yelling at him and Robin laughing behind her hand, to Nami sipping at some exotic drink and Luffy with the other two idiots chasing each other around and pretending to be himself and the curlybrow. How he wished he could be there... He shook his head to clear it of such thoughts and turned away, determined. He would find a way back to the Thousand Sunny, back to his crewmates. Back home. He would do it.

The next night, when he heard Harry and Ron whispering frantically to each other as they departed in search of the Mirror, he merely rolled over and went back to sleep. He didn't need a mirror to show him what he could accomplish on his own.