Half a Muggle at
Hogwarts
A Harry Potter/Ranma 1/2 Fanfic
I obviously do not own either of these literary works or this story would have been much better. I KNOW! I KNOW! I should be working on my other fics and finishing them. I am still working on them though. I am 3/4 of the way through chapter 12 of RNC and I'm still on the first scene of HNR and my untitled fic has half a chapter already written. The reason I'm taking so long is two reasons. 1: I went on vacation for a while and 2: somebody who is using the names of fanfic writers (Morden Knight, Vahn77) is trying to send me viruses for some reason, why I don't know. But if whoever is sending me those viruses is reading this, will you please stop? They're not working; they're just ticking me off! Anyway hope you enjoy this fic.
A Student's Return
Life in the Nerima ward of Tokyo was not an easy one. With constant battles between ego-driven martial-artists, demons, ghosts, princes and the wards current champion, Ranma Saotome, the amount of random property destruction had increased to an all time high. The "normal" residents of this not-so-quiet town were barely able to eke out their lives, with the constant financial strain of paying for repairs to the buildings in which they lived or worked. Because of this financial crisis one such "normal" resident decided to help out all the others.
Said "normal" resident, known to his family and friends as Kyosuke Gosunkugi, was experiencing the exact opposite of what his fellow neighbors were. With each passing battle he was becoming richer and richer. This small, frail-looking man with skinny arms and heavily bagged and sunken-in eyes ran the most successful construction company that Nerima had ever had. Saving all of the profits for his family, Kyosuke's company helped out the owners of the wrecked buildings get back on their feet by repairing their buildings as quickly as possible, for a small fee of course.
Growing from seemingly nothing overnight, "Night Man Construction" became one of the richest enterprises in Nerima. Kyosuke was never a wealthy man, on the contrary he spent most of his adult life trying to get out of debt and keep his family afloat. All of his money went to his son's education and his wife, who had an eye and taste for expensive things but no clue on how to maintain and balance a bank account, spent the rest carelessly. The reason his company was so successful was due to his seemingly inhuman work habits. His prices were always low, far, far below where normal construction companies charged, but his clients believed that he was doing this for the good of the community and figured that while he was still available, might as well milk him for all he's worth.
Kyosuke's company made itself well known and successful by their fast construction jobs. Literally overnight, torn down buildings would be rebuilt to their former glory, walls were rebuilt as if they were new, and roofs were fixed so well that the occupants never had to complain of leaks on a rainy day again. His popularity among the population swelled immensely that he decided to add a clause to each of his contracts that would double his salary if he completed the project in one night. His clients didn't mind one bit, his prices, even doubled, were still below those of other companies and they figured if he stayed in business a little longer, they could milk him a little more. Most of his clients figured that after he had paid off all the people he had hired to do the overnight job, he would be left with close to nothing for himself. Unknown to his clients however, Kyosuke never hired any help or even had anybody working under him, he did it all himself and therefore was able to keep all of his earnings for his family. It was using this method that Kyosuke was able to amass his small fortune.
One could wonder how could one man who was so frail looking that many would think a slight breeze would knock him head-over-heels, could repair a building in one night. The answer was actually quite simple if you didn't think of it from a rational point of view. Kyosuke wasn't like the other "normal" residents of Nerima, he was a wizard and he used spells to repair the buildings he worked on, always in the dead of night. What would take a drawn out battle between two or more people to knock down and destroy, would take 10 minutes and a flick of his wand for Kyosuke to put back together. Even though people thought it odd that he was able to accomplish such feats overnight no one ever questioned it, as they were too filled with joy to know that they once again had a home. However there were several times that rival companies would try to learn how he repaired his buildings so quickly, but a quick memory charm took care of anything their spies would see.
Unfortunately, due to working at such late hours when no muggles (people who weren't of the magical sort) would see him led to the development of many bags under his already sunken in eyes, giving him a dark and sinister look. This look was extremely misleading however since everyone knew he was a pretty nice guy and no one but those who didn't know him, took him for how he appeared.
With the small fortune he had saved (and kept away from his wife) he had decided to surprise his son with some very good news that he had received a week before. Kyosuke's son and only child, Hikaru, was a very shy and quiet boy who normally kept to himself. Kyosuke knew that Hikaru was not enjoying his time in Furinkan that much; he had been more quiet and withdrawn than he had at his old private school. Due to his previously small and quickly dwindling income, Kyosuke was unable to allow Hikaru to continue on at his old school for his last three years. Not only was he unable to allow his son to continue his education, he had to move his family out of their house in London and into a cramped apartment in Japan, the land of Kyosuke and Suchiko's (his wife) birth.
The surprise that Kyosuke had in store for his son was that he was sending him back to his old private school, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Ever since coming to Japan, Kyosuke had watched his son switch to what the muggle's conceived as magic in order to keep up with his studies even though they didn't help. Since Hikaru was underage when he left he was not allowed to do magic outside of Hogwarts, for fear of never being allowed back into the school. The muggle magic that Hikaru was fond of, voodoo, never worked and Kyosuke knew that his son would be thrilled at the news that he could throw away all those stupid dolls and return to doing real magic. After leaving his final job for the night Kyosuke checked to make sure the building was sturdy before leaving for home, a large smile adorning his face.
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Hikaru Gosunkugi sat in his room with his knees pulled up to his chest and his arms wrapped around them, the only light in the room were two dwindling candles held in place to the side of his head by a tightly knotted white bandana, giving his face, which looked much like his father's, a very dark and scary look. In front of him was a wax voodoo doll with a pigtail that was thoroughly stabbed with nails. Hikaru studied the doll for a while and then sighed as he unwrapped his thin arms from his legs and brought the doll to his face. "This muggle magic never works." he sighed as he pulled the nails out of the doll's body. 'If only I was still at Hogwarts, then I could do some real magic.' he thought with a small smile as he continued to pluck out the nails one by one.
Hikaru had gone to Hogwarts until his fourth year when, due to his father's dwindled income, he was unable to continue. He missed all of his housemates in Slytherin, even though they probably forgot about him before he even left the school. Like at Furinkan, he was mainly ignored and not many people remembered him or knew he was there, but that's the way he liked it. It gave him an opportunity to slink around the school grounds without getting into trouble and allowed him to eavesdrop on the other students. After all, knowledge is power, this feeling was enlarged ten-fold ever since he had started Furinkan and had met Nabiki Tendo, the schools resident ice-queen and mercenary who knew so much about the other students and teachers that she had the whole school tied around her finger. Hikaru wouldn't have minded power like that, but he contented himself with hiding in the shadows and gathering information secretly, just in case it would help him in the future.
The final year that Hikaru was there was the first year that the famous Harry Potter had attended Hogwarts. Gosunkugi had never actually held a conversation with the legendary boy who had lived, but Harry was one of the few people who actually knew Hikaru existed. Every time they would pass each other in the halls they would smile and exchange salutations, which was more than even his Slytherin housemates did. Hikaru even thought that he was the only Slytherin that Harry even liked, because of his experiences with his fellow 1st year Draco Malfoy who was also a Slytherin. But that didn't bother Hikaru at all, from what he could remember of Malfoy he didn't seem to like him all that much either.
Harry was also, sadly, the closest thing Hikaru had to a friend. At the thought of friends he looked down at the now nail-free wax doll in his hands. "Saotome..." he said softly as he thought of his greatest rival, but yet also the only person who knew he existed and talked to him. Saotome had recently returned from another one of his rescue missions in China where he had rescued his fiancée Akane Tendo. Hikaru sighed happily at the thought of Akane Tendo, his first crush, but soon that sigh turned to one of disappointment since he knew he'd never have her. Although the whole story of what had happened in China had cost him a pretty penny from the middle Tendo sister, he was amazed to find that Ranma had defeated the phoenix god Saffron in order to save Akane's life. After his return to Japan, Hikaru noticed that Ranma seemed to have lost the regular 'bounce' in his step. Normally Ranma lived life as though he was lighter than air, untouchable and unbeatable and without a care in the world. Now he seemed extremely depressed all of the time, like the Hibiki boy who always got lost.
After the doomed wedding incident, which he thankfully took no part of, Saotome had distanced himself from his friends and usually hung out by himself. Or he would have hung out by himself if it hadn't been for the fact that Hikaru was the same way. Most of the time when Ranma tried to be alone he ran into Hikaru who, being the way that he was, was always by himself and in the quietest spots in Nerima. Which if you think about it is quite a feat, since Nerima is anything but a quiet district. Their random meetings led to an agreement, they agreed that Hikaru would never try to curse or bother him again and Ranma would not attack Hikaru, even though he usually just defended himself. Although rocky at first, the two became friends over a period of weeks, even though all they did was hang out together quietly during lunch break. Sometimes they would talk about things that were bothering them but at other times, usually after a fight with Akane (which happened almost every day), Ranma would just want to sit and look at the sky. Hikaru knew that Ranma wanted to get away from Nerima and all the chaos that was here, but like himself he was tied down by something he couldn't control.
Hikaru was still thinking off his rocky friendship with Ranma when he heard the door to his room open. He turned around at the sound and a smile found it's way to his face as he watched his father happily step into the room. Kyosuke was someone Hikaru had always looked up to, as a good father, a good provider (it was his mother who spent the money) and as a powerful wizard. In truth Kyosuke wasn't that good of a wizard, or that bright or he would have gotten a job in the ministry, but to Hikaru he was a god.
Kyosuke spied the wax doll in Hiker's hand and smiled. "Muggle magic not working again?"
Hikaru blushed and nodded as he threw the wax doll in the garbage. "It doesn't matter, I worked out my differences with Saotome." 'Somewhat'
"That's good to hear." Kyosuke said as he breathed a sigh of relief. Hikaru had seemed to have formed an obsession with the Saotome boy that Kyosuke believed was unhealthy, it was good to know that they were friends now. "Well, then you can throw away all this muggle magic nonsense." He said happily as he gave his son a large brown envelope with green lettering. "You're going back to Hogwarts."
Hikaru couldn't figure out what to say to his father when he heard the news. He didn't need to say anything because a few seconds later all speech was taken from him as he fell unconscious.
"I think he took that rather well." Kyosuke said with a chuckle as he lifted Hikaru to the bed and turned off his son's candles. "Goodnight son."
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The next day Hikaru found himself walking to Furinkan High School with a bright smile on his face. His usually slumped and hunched body was actually fully upright and straight for the first time in his life in Nerima. Many of the students who passed him by wondered who the new student was and why he looked familiar to a certain voodoo fanatic that had attacked Ranma months ago. But none of the hushed whispers, stares and points bothered him at all. Hikaru was currently floating as high as a kite, enjoying his trip on cloud nine.
After practically dancing his way into principal Kuno's office and handing in his transfer form, he skipped his way to his homeroom class of 2F. (*) He thought of attempting to tell his teacher that he was leaving, but gave up as he saw Miss Hinako in her child form chasing Ranma around with a fifty yen coin in an attempt to discipline the delinquent. She would have almost looked threatening if not for the lollipop in her mouth. Seeing that he wasn't going to be able to tell her he decided to keep the news to himself, like he did with everything else, and sat down at his seat and watched the rest of the performance until class started.
As the day went on and on, Hikaru couldn't help himself as his smile grew wider and wider as it came closer and closer for classes to end. All of the students around him didn't notice his happy expression or his constant watching of the wall clock, except for one.
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Ranma sat, or rather lay, with his head on his desk as the day slowly crept by. After being woken up with a nice cold shower, courtesy of Akane and a bucket, and then being malleted for making her wake him up, courtesy of her mallet, he found himself being chased around his homeroom by his teacher as she attempted to drain his chi. Due to these combined attacks, Ranma had almost no energy left to move his body except for being able to move his head a few inches. He could feel the heat of Akane's glares burning into his back and sighed at the Tendo girl's obvious anger at him. Not knowing anyway of calming her down, especially during class he shrugged off the burning stare and ignored her. Ever since the bombed wedding he had tried being nice to her but she only seemed to get angrier with him with each passing day. After a couple of weeks Ranma had totally given up on her as well as the other fiancées, even though he had given up on them way before. He was sick and tired of all the chaos in Nerima and wanted a way to escape it all without dishonoring himself or his family.
Ranma painfully and with great effort, turned his head away from the front of the classroom, and Miss Hinako's lesson, to stare out the window and to hopefully get a little sleep. Before he could nod off, he noticed Hikaru smiling out of the corner of his eye. 'Oh no! What did he plan this time?' he thought with a sigh as he came to the conclusion that Hikaru's happiness no doubt came from some new plan to destroy Ranma and take Akane. 'I thought we were over this already.' Ranma turned his head a little more so that Hikaru was fully in his vision and was shocked at what he saw. Hikaru was happy. Not sneaky happy as if he had conceived a new plan to snare Akane, not a delirious happy as if Akane had just talked to him but wholly and truly happy. Hikaru was sitting straight up in his seat looking at neither Ranma nor Akane and was sending out vibes of happiness that probably could have produced a blast that would rival Ryoga's perfect Shi-Shi Hokodan. 'I wonder why he's so happy?' Ranma thought as he finally succumbed to the results of his morning activities and fell asleep. 'Guess I'll find out at lunchtime.'
He was rudely awoken mere seconds after his eyes closed by a perfectly aimed eraser that hit him right in his face.
"GAAAH! What the hell!" he said while spitting chalk dust out his mouth.
"Mr. Saotome I would advise you to pay attention or I will be forced to send you to the principals office." Miss Hinako said, as she stood over him in her adult form while idly flipping a coin around in her right hand.
Ranma winced as he realized that he was in no form to be fighting that idiot when he was this drained. "Sorry Hinako-sensei won't happen again." He mumbled out through the chalk in his mouth.
"Good." Bending over and picking up the fallen eraser, much to the pleasure of the male students, Miss Hinako returned to the front of the room and resumed her lesson as each of the boy's in the class paid even closer attention to her than before.
Ranma sighed and winced once more as dust was still on his nose and it had started to itch. Feeling only pain as he tried to move his arms to scratch the offending spot, he quickly decided to meditate in an attempt to get his mind off of his current dilemma. In order to do this and still look like he was paying attention to the lesson, Ranma began to think about all the other problems in his life. His main ones were, his fiancées, Ryoga, Mousse, Cologne, Happousai, the Kuno family, and his parents. Ever since the bombed wedding he had been milling over these problems day after day, week after week and just could not seem to reach a solution except for the one he could not use, which was to leave Nerima and hopefully all of his troubles behind him. He knew that if he ever did that it would be dishonorable so that course of action was never used, but was something Ranma constantly thought about. He probably wouldn't leave forever but just long enough to get his bearings and escape from the chaos for a while. He had started taking weekend training trips by himself ever since the failed wedding two months ago as a small way of escaping and had improved himself drastically because of it. Not wanting to be caught off guard by an enemy that could pose as big a threat as Saffron did, Ranma had successfully convinced his father to let him unlock the Yamasenken and the Umisenken. He also used his trips to learn the techniques that his rivals constantly used against him, such as Ryoga's Bakusai Tenketsu, a little of Mousse's hidden weapons, he had trained with his mother in some kendo forms (which he enjoyed immensely as he got to do something he never got to do before, spend time with her), and had even convinced Cologne to teach him the splitting cat hairs technique.
Even though he felt that he was stronger, faster, and could take more punishment (due to the Bakusai Tenketsu training) than he could when he fought Saffron, he still felt that something was holding him back and no matter what he did he couldn't move past a certain barrier in his training. Two of his greatest foes had an ability that he desperately wanted to have, the ability to fly. Of course he couldn't use Saffron's way of flying since he had no wings but try as he might he wasn't able to copy Herb's way of flight. Since the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts is based on aerial combat it was always a dream of his to be able to fly. He had tried to bring his ki to a high enough state that he was able to use it to keep him afloat, but it was too draining and he would always be drained for half a day after floating just a few centimeters off the ground. Ranma had decided to swallow his pride (a very hard thing for him to do) and had actually composed a letter to Herb earlier that week about his desire to fly. He felt his head throb and winced as he remembered what had happened when he tried to send it out.
*****One Week Ago*****
Ranma had spent hours (actually minutes) composing a letter to Herb that would tell of his desire to learn how to fly. It was short, to the point, and told Herb all that he needed to know. Checking his scrawl once more he reread it to himself just to make sure it sounded good.
Herb,
I saved your sacred kettle and helped you gain your manhood back. I also beat you in a fight. You owe me. I want you to teach me to fly.
-Ranma Saotome
Nodding at the clarity of the message, he took the letter and shoved it in an envelope. He was about to address it when he realized one important error. He didn't know where to send it too! Ranma thought for a while and sadly came to the only conclusion that he could think off. Cologne. With a heavy sigh Ranma jumped out of his bedroom window (so as not to alert Akane as to where he was going) and ran toward the Nekohanten to see if Cologne could deliver his letter.
After a few minutes of roof hopping, Ranma arrived across the street from his destination. Since he wanted to talk to Cologne and not run into another Amazon glomp, he decided to wait until after Shampoo had left for a delivery. Ranma didn't have to wait long as a couple of minutes after he landed on the roof, Shampoo raced out of the restaurant with a delivery box and took off on her bike. Breathing a sigh of relief at not being caught, Ranma hurried into the Nekohanten to speak to Cologne. Since he had asked earlier that month about how to do the splitting cat hairs technique, Ranma knew that he had to approach Cologne in a dignified and respectful manner.
"Hey old ghoul I need ya to do me a favor." (well so much for that idea)
*BONK* "Ow! What was that for old ghoul." Ranma asked as he rubbed the growing lump on his forehead. Even after getting repeatedly smashed with boulders that damn stick still hurt.
"That was for disrespecting your elders son-in-law." Cologne said as she removed her cane from his cranium and pogoed over to a table. "Now what favor do you need me to do for you?"
Ranma groaned and sighed as he bowed slightly to her and held out his letter. "Honored Elder, brrrr, it would be most pleasing to me if you would deliver this letter to prince Herb of the Musk Dynasty."
Cologne's eyebrows shot up at the mention of Herb's name and took the letter from his outstretched hand. "What do you want with Herb?" Cologne asked as Ranma straightened.
"It's none of your business, just deliver the let….HEY!" Ranma screamed at her as she removed the letter from it's envelope and read it. "That's not for you!" He said as he lunged for the letter. "Give it back."
Cologne merely jumped over his attempted strike, tripped him, and then sat on his back as she read the letter. Ranma cursed loudly from his position under her and was about to make an attempt of freedom when Cologne's cane met with his skull once more.
"You were going to send this to Herb and then request something like that from him!" She said mockingly as she held the letter in front of his face.
"Yeah, so, it's the truth ain't it?" Ranma answered as he shook off the old woman and stood up.
"Truth or not, you can't write to someone of Herb's power and position a letter like that, you'd just wind up antagonizing him into another fight."
"So what, I could take him."
"And if you do defeat him, why would he give you the power that you seek, if anything he'll keep it from you."
"Oh, I guess you have a point there." He said as he took the letter back from her.
"Try writing a letter in which you ask him politely then maybe I'll send it to him." She said as she turned on her stick and pogoed into the back of the restaurant to resume cooking.
With a sigh of defeat Ranma left the Nekohanten and returned home wondering how to go about writing his letter. "Argh I'm no good asking for favors!" He murmured loudly to himself as he sat on the roof of the Tendo house. "How am I supposed to do this?" 'Obviously with help, I know I can't do it alone.' He thought to himself as he pondered on who would be able to help him. 'It has to be someone who's able to always get what they want no matter what.' He thought some more and after a few seconds a smile lit up on his face. Ranma quickly got up and ran halfway down the rooftop and flipped himself over the edge to hang just outside a bedroom window. "Hey Nabiki, you in there!" he called as he knocked on the window.
The middle Tendo daughter looked up from her ledger that she was working on at her desk, and glanced at the upside down martial artist outside her window. "So, Saotome, to what do I owe this rather intrusive visit?" she asked coldly as she opened the window allowing Ranma's voice to travel better into the room.
Ranma knew that privacy was one of the things that Nabiki valued as much as money and information, so he knew better than to enter her room before she asked him to come in. "I need your help with something."
Nabiki smirked as Ranma made no move to enter her room but stayed outside the window, slightly swinging in the breeze. "Well you have a pretty good idea what my rates are. Are you prepared to pay up front?" she asked as she sat at her desk with her arms folded and a superior smirk on her face.
Ranma sighed as he bent his body in half to reach his hand into his pants pocket to fish around for yen, he grimaced when after a few minutes of searching all he could come up with was 310 yen. "Heh, I'll owe ya?" Ranma said as he placed his hand behind is head in embarrassment.
"Sorry Saotome, I have a strict policy on giving out credit, and with your current debt I don't think you could afford any more of my favors." Ranma groaned at Nabiki's news and somehow found a way to slump his shoulders while upside down. "However," with this one word spoken, happiness and a shred of hope began to show on Ranma's face, "I might be able to help if you do one little thing for me."
All of the hope that had found it's way onto his face quickly left after that statement. "And what would that be."
"Tell me what actually happened at Jusendo not that bull you told daddy. Something had to have happened for you and Akane to be acting so weirdly for the last couple of weeks and I want to know what that was."
"But that's kind of private…" he said warily as he didn't enjoy talking about that certain time in his life. 'I still can't even admit to it.' He thought sadly.
"Well, sorry Saotome but that's all I want to know, if you can't help me then I can't help you." She said with a small smirk.
Ranma frowned and then thought a moment, "What exactly are you going to do with what I tell ya?"
"Ho, I see someone's growing a brain." She answered smugly as Ranma gave a small growl at the insult. "Relax Saotome, a lot of people are interested in what happened when all of you guys went to China. You have to admit when you guys get together something exciting usually happens. People have been bothering me for weeks about details and for the first time in my life I can't give them any."
"Why don't you just ask Akane what happened?"
Nabiki's face fell for a moment at the question and then her mask came back up a second later. "She's still mad at me for the marriage thing. You know that. Plus even before the wedding whenever I asked her about she would get all happy on me and skip away. Now whenever I ask she gets angry and starts to cry. Why do you think that is?" she asked as she watched Ranma fall from his perch. "Ranma!"
'She cries, I made her cry? Cause I couldn't admit to…' as Ranma was thinking he suddenly felt the sensation of falling and heard his name being yelled, before completely clearing Nabiki's window he shot out a hand grabbed the windowsill and pulled himself up bringing him face to face with Nabiki. "She cries?"
Nabiki nodded sadly and allowed Ranma to pull himself into the room. "That's why I want to know what happened, and don't lie."
***End Flashback***
So Ranma had told her about everything that happened at Jusendo and in turn, Nabiki had promised to help with his letter. A few days later Nabiki was seen selling small books detailing Ranma's adventure in China. When he had approached her about it she had told him that it was less tiring and more profitable to sell the books than to keep telling the story over and over again. She also thankfully left out the part where he supposedly admitted his love for Akane, he still remembered her words when he asked about that.
"Until you can admit it to yourself and her, nobody else will know about that, I've hurt my sister enough and spreading that bit of information would hurt her even more. Remember Ranma, if I had included that little tidbit in this book, I could have charged even more for it. I suggest you hurry and sort out your feelings before something else like Jusendo happens again."
Ranma had agreed with her logic but with Akane behaving the way she had been for the past few weeks, he couldn't get a word in before she would whack him towards the horizon. Ranma sighed dejectedly as he reviewed his problems, and stared longingly at the clock on the front wall of the classroom. As soon as the lunch bell rang, Ranma was up in a flash, disregarding the ache in his limbs as he jumped out the third floor window, only to be see rocketing back up towards the roof.
Gosunkugi watched Ranma make his hasty escape but took his time gathering his things and looking around the classroom for the last time in his life. After saying his silent goodbyes to things and people who would never remember him, he made his way to his favorite lunch spot already knowing that Ranma would be waiting for him.
End Prologue
(*) I used 2F cause I figured that in some point in time during the series a year HAD to have passed at least.
Sigh I started another one.
As you can tell this a Harry Potter/Ranma crossover, why did I write this you ask? Honestly, I HAVE NO FREAKING CLUE! I honestly blame my sister though she's constantly watching the movie at least once a week, and she forced me to buy the books, which I wound up reading. Sadly this idea got stuck in my head and sadly won't leave me alone. Even though none of the HP characters have entered the story yet this is gonna be a rewrite of book 4 with Ranma arriving under odd circumstances I already have half the story planned out but only the first three chapters written. I was originally going to post all three chapters as the first, but I decided to revamp chapters 2-3 a little more before I put them out. And Please don't kill me for not updating my other stories. Trust me they are all going to be finished. Oh and if you read this please, please, please review! Any comments or critiques are welcome.