Greetings fellow readers and writers! This is my newest Harry Potter fic and I hope you love it! I'm sorry it took so long to get this one written, I've been way busy with my Kingdom Hearts series. Eventually I'll do a Kingdom Hearts/Harry Potter crossover, maybe after I get to see the second part of Deathly Hallows the movie. Here's hoping!

Okay, this takes place a few weeks after my last one, Harry Potter and the Harmony Project. Once again we see my original set of heroes, The Ramblers. I've used those characters before, but like in The Harmony Project, I've changed them somewhat to make them a bit more realistic.

This fic, while taking place in the Harry Potter 'verse, is a sort of a prequel, with the dialog switching back and forth between the present and past. This fic is the one in which I will finally tell in detail the origin of The Ramblers, as told by the Meta Humans themselves.

Anyway, I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters therein, all of which belongs to J.K. Rowling, long may she rule! I do on The Ramblers and all the other original characters in this story. Regardless, please don't sue me, I'm just trying to tell a good story.

And now, without further delay, please enjoy…

Harry Potter and the Rise of the Ramblers

By AndrewK9000

Chapter 1: Arriving at Andrew's House

Thanksgiving Day, 2002

It was a blustery afternoon on the fourth Thursday in November as Harry and his family walked down the streets of London towards an abandoned lot where the portkey he'd arranged for was waiting for them.

"Remind me why we're doing this?" Ron asked as he, Hermione, Harry and Ginny, found the lot and hurried towards an old boot, "going back to America after that mess on Halloween."

"Because we promised Andrew Carpenter we'd have supper at his house," said Hermione."

"He'd promised us a Thanksgiving feast to end all feasts," said Ginny, "I for one doubt that anything a Muggle can come up with can compare with what they had at Hogwarts, and certainly not anything Mum made."

"I won't argue with that," said Harry, "but the other Ramblers kept saying that Andrew is an outstanding cook, and we did promise we'd come."

"Well he'd better not disappoint us," said Ron, "we had to pull a lot of strings with Jessica to let us have today and tomorrow off."

"Just who's idea was it for the Americans to have a holiday in the middle of the week anyway?" Ginny asked, while Harry looked at his watch and nodded at everyone, signaling that it was time to touch the Portkey. They did and two seconds later they all felt the familiar hook behind the navel feeling.

The next thing they knew they had landed hard on a wide lawn, "I'll never get used to that," said Harry as they all picked themselves up.

"Me neither," said Hermione, "and Ginny, it was Franklin D. Roosevelt who made the holiday official."

"Is there anything you don't know?" Ron asked his wife.

"Depends," said Hermione as she, Harry, Ron and Ginny looked at the residence in which lawn they had fallen onto. It was three-story house made of wood and brick that had three fireplaces and large windows. A long driveway lead down a hill to a road that went off towards, what Harry and the others assumed, the city of Baltimore.

"Is this where Andrew lives?" Ginny asked.

Just then a man who looked 19 came running out the front door. He was of medium height with short brown hair and brown eyes behind glasses. He wore a green and white shirt with blue jeans and white shoes. A large digital watch was on his left wrist.

"You guys made it!" said Andrew Carpenter, Meta Human, explosives genius, mechanic guru, time-obsessed social outcast and overall nice guy, "awesome!"

"We said we'd come, Andrew," said Harry as everyone shook Andrew's hand.

"Yeah, but I kinda doubted that you'd come," said Andrew as he straightened his glasses and looked at his watch, "I know how busy you can be sometimes."

"Well not today," said Hermione, "and certainly not tomorrow."

"We're officially on holiday for the next three days," said Ginny, "all of us."

"Great," said a grinning Andrew, "it'll give us all a chance to eat down the leftovers. I always make way too much for everyone. Come in, I'm just getting started." He walked back towards the house, while Harry and the others followed.

"What time is supper?" Harry asked as he looked at his watch, which automatically adjusted for the time zone difference. Back in London in was 1:00 PM, while in Baltimore it was 8:00 AM, five hours early.

"Dinner will be served at 6:15 on the dot," said Andrew as they all reached the front door, "those that are late don't get pie with desert. Oh, wipe your shoes before you come in, and be so kind to leave your shoes in the foyer. I spent some time in Japan as a kid and the custom kinda grew on me." He wiped his shoes on the doormat and went inside.

Ron looked at Hermione in a confused manner. She and Harry shrugged at Ron, as if telling him to play along. They all wiped their shoes on the doormat before going in.

"I don't mind taking my shoes off," said Ginny as they went inside and took their shoes off. On one side of the foyer was a long set of coat hooks, while the other side had several racks for holding shoes. In each cubbyhole was a set of white slippers, which Harry and the others switched with their shoes.

"You didn't tell us you went to Japan," said Harry, "back when we met on Halloween."

"There's a lot about me you don't know," said Andrew as he pointed to a plastic bottle of alcohol and aloe-based hand cleaner, "Feel free to make use of the hand sanitizer, I like to keep my home as germ free as possible." He used some of the hand sanitizer and went into the next room, which was the living room.

"Don't make a fuss," said Hermione to Ron as she also used some of the hand sanitizer, "Andrew has more than his fair share of problems."

"I wasn't going to make a fuss," said Ron as he used the hand sanitizer, after which Harry and Ginny did the same.

Harry remembered that every member of The Ramblers had one mental handicap of some sort. Andrew's disability was Aspergers Syndrome, ADHD and OCD, all of which combined to make his childhood a living nightmare, one that he rose from and found himself as a master mechanic and explosive expert.

Harry also remembered that each Rambler had a nickname. Andrew actually had two; 'The Mechanic of Baltimore,' and 'Demolition Man.'

They followed Andrew into the large and ornately furnished living room. Several valuable-looking paintings adorned the walls. "This is all yours?" Ginny asked.

"Actually it belonged to my great-grandfather," said Andrew, "he made a fortune on the stock market in the late 50's and put a large part of the money into a trust fund for his children, my grandparents. They used part of the money to expand the house, and so did my parents, and I added a few things as well; especially a remodeled kitchen."

"I'm already impressed," said Harry, "but this is such a big house, and you live here by yourself. Aren't you lonely?"

"Sometimes," said Andrew, "it was meant to house a large family, but most of the time I like being a lone. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a recluse. My teammates and the rest of the guys at the BPRD are like a family to me, and they're always welcome to come and visit, but all in all, I value my privacy. This house isn't on a regularly used street and I get my mail via The Bureau, so it's mostly just me, myself and I."

He then looked at his watch again, "oh, I've got to check on the candied yams!" He stood up and hurried out of the room.

"He must really take his cooking seriously," said Harry as he and the others got up and followed Andrew to a very large and well equipped kitchen, filled with the latest and most efficient cooking appliances known in the Muggle world. There were three ovens and six stove burners, as well as four microwave ovens and a large countertop that had several blenders and mixing machines.

"Need any help?" Ginny asked.

"I'm alright," said Andrew as he opened one of the ovens. The enticing scent of candied yams filled the air of the kitchen. Andrew grabbed a set of oven mitts, put them on and took out a large dish that had candied yams topped with marshmallows. He smelled the dish, "needs another five minutes," and put it back into the oven.

"You can tell just by smelling?" Hermione asked.

"Pretty much," said Andrew modestly as he took out from under the countertop another casserole dish. He went to the pantry and took out a large can of string beans and several cans of Cream of Mushroom soup. He then grabbed a can opener out of one of the drawers of the countertop.

"You sure you don't want any help?" Ginny asked as she took out her wand, "I can easily open those."

"I'm sure you can," said Andrew as he opened the string beans, then the soup cans, "but I always do the cooking myself, all of it."

"All by yourself?" Harry asked.

"I just said that," remarked Andrew as he poured first the beans, then the soup into the casserole dish. He then went to the pantry and got a container of chopped friend onion and covered the top of the casserole with it. He then went to the second oven and placed the dish in it. He checked his watch, "just a few minutes for the candied yams."

Just then the doorbell rang, "that'll be Patricia and Travis," said Andrew as he hurried out of the kitchen. It wasn't long before Patricia Walker, a southern belle with short brown hair and dark blue eyes wearing a brown and orange dress and jacket, and Travis Bachman, a tall man with shot brown hair and light brown eyes, wearing a tan and white jacket, walked in.

Harry and the others met Travis and Patricia while investigating the deaths of several wizards and Muggles involved in a special Wizard/Muggle cooperation project. Like Andrew, Patricia and Travis worked for The Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense.

Travis was a Green Beret before joining The Bureau. It was his special forces training that allowed him to survive combat with The Death Eaters. Patricia was something different. Like Andrew, Patricia was a Meta Human. Her ability lay in her voice; she could hold her breath for over two hours and could produce a sonic scream that could shatter a brick wall.

"Well look what we have here," said Patricia, her southern drawl displaying her roots, "How lovely to see you and your family again, Mr. Potter."

"I didn't know you were invited as well," said Harry as he and his family shook hands with Patricia and Travis.

"We've been coming to Andrew's Thanksgiving bashes since he started them back in 2000," said Travis.

"And they always bring something I didn't ask for," said Andrew in a slightly annoyed tone, "so, what is it this time?"

"Just a little variety," said Patricia in a slightly mischievous tone. Harry then noticed the large, aluminum foil wrapped item in Travis' hands.

"You didn't," said Andrew, "I've already got three different entree's all ready to go into the oven, including the turkey. They just need to be seasoned."

"Ah, but this time we brought a turducken," said Travis.

"A what?" Ron asked.

"That's where you take a de-boned chicken and put it inside a de-boned duck," said Patricia, "then you take the duck and put it inside a de-boned turkey; turducken."

"What an interesting concept," said Hermione.

"Well," said an intrigued Andrew, "I guess I can squeeze that into the oven and onto the table," he looked at Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny, "I hope you ate a light breakfast, and are prepared for a light lunch, 'cause dinner is going to blow your freaking minds to kingdom come and beyond, and that's saying something." He took the aluminum wrapped turducken from Travis and place it in the fridge.

"This happens every year," said Patricia to Harry in a hushed tone as Andrew went back to his work, "we bring a different dish and make it look like a challenge to him."

"He acts like he doesn't want to at first," said Travis, "but if there's one thing Andrew can't refuse is a cooking challenge."

"And here I thought I had Andrew figured out," said Harry.

"You're going to find that all The Ramblers are highly complicated," said Travis.

"Oh, I just remembered," said Hermione, "How's Katina?"

Harry had also nearly forgotten about the Meta-Human who saved his mind from the psychotic Scanner, Shannon Revek, just a few weeks ago. The maniac Meta Human was destroyed, but Katina Jones paid for her victory with her mind. The last time Harry saw her, Katina was being placed in a wheelchair and taken to a Bureau-funded hospital for mental recovery. The chances of Katina regaining her mind were slim, but definite.

"Actually she's much better," said Patricia, "she's responsive to audio and visual stimulation and is able to eat on her own and do a lot of other stuff. She can't talk yet, and there are times when she spends hours staring at a wall, but she's definitely improving."

"That's good," said Ron, "I mean, she had such a hard time growing up, she deserves a bit of luck."

"We all had a hard time growing up," said a male voice that came from a man in his early 20's with short brown hair, brown eyes, wearing a gray and white jacket over a blue shirt, blue jeans, black boots and had a gun belt around his waist. In the belt was a Colt .45 revolver.

"One of the days, Max Kildare," said Andrew as he started a balsamic reduction sauce on the stove, "I'm going to figure out how you keep getting into my house without breaking in."

"Trade secret," said Max Kildare. He then saw Harry and the others and shook their hands, "good to see you again, Harry Potter."

"Good to see you too, Max," said Harry. Max Kildare was the leader of The Ramblers and had a deadly seriousness about him when there was a mission going on. But today he looked like he was extremely happy.

Max's abilities lay in the physical sense. Aside from being a world-class gun slinger, he possessed an advanced healing factor that allowed him to recover from even mortal wounds within seconds. This healing factor also attributed to his incredible muscular strength; every time Max got hurt, his overall strength would increase. According to Max, he had been seriously wounded and nearly killed several times since joining the BPRD, all of which attributed to his nickname, 'The Indestructible Man.'" But to his enemies, Max had another nickname, one that meant that when he faced an enemy, nothing remained afterwards; 'Destructus Maximus.'

As it turned out, Harry and the others never learned what Max's handicap was, nor did they really want to know.

"Who else is coming?" Ginny asked, "and are they coming this early?"

"Everybody should be here by noon," said Andrew as he worked on kneading the dough for cornbread muffins, "or soon after. We'll definatley all be here before suppertime."

"We always come early," said Max, "Andrew always insists on doing the cooking himself, so we all just hang out and enjoy all the fun stuff in his house."

"I have just three rules about my house," said Andrew, "first; you break it, you replace it. Second; remove your shoes and keep your hands clean. Third; stay out of my bedroom. Everywhere else is okay, but my bedroom is my inner sanctum, so stay out!"

"Like I'd want to go into your room," said a female voice with a London accent. There at the doorway stood Jill Sparrow, a girl in her early 20's with long black hair and hazel eyes. She wore a red and orange dress.

Jill was naturally agile and a world-class fencer, making her a devastating sword master. Her true ability lay in her being able to sense danger and know how to avoid it. But her flaw lay in the fact that she was an adrenaline junkie who tended to get herself into dangerous situations while in the heat of battle. Jill actually relished in the danger, the worse the better in her mind. This seemingly suicidal behavior gave Jill the unfortunate but fitting nickname of 'Lady Death Wish.'

Andrew and Jill glared at each other, as if daring each other to say something to start a fight. But then Harry saw that both Jill and Andrew were pressing their fingertips to the palms of one hand. Harry and the others knew that Jill and Andrew detested each other, almost to the point of them trying to kill each other several times, ever since they met. The friction started over each other's quirks; Andrew hated the fact that Jill was reckless, while Jill was repulsed by Andrew's stress-relieving habit of picking his feet.

Harry then remembered that Rebecca Covington, an Auror in the American Magic Administration, and a Meta Human who has empathic visions of the past, hypnotized Jill and Andrew so they both had this new stress-relieving action, while also convincing them to be more civil to each other.

Jill and Andrew continued to glare at each other for a few seconds before Andrew spoke, "glad you could make it, you suicidal bitch."

"Glad to be here," said Jill, "you obsessive-compulsive dick. Still trying to make us all overweight?"

"At least I try to make our lives outside The Bureau interesting," said Andrew, "in a manner that isn't life-threatening."

"Surfing isn't that dangerous," said Jill.

"In a pig's eye it is!" said Andrew, "I honestly don't know why I even bother talking to you."

"Because you love me," teased Jill, and without further words, Jill went to the living room.

"Oh god, she still hates me," said a very depressed Andrew as he began to chop some vegetables with a very large kitchen knife, "every time I open my big, fat mouth I end up putting my foot in it. It's a miracle I don't have halitosis already."

"Don't do this to yourself, man," said Max, "she's just as troubled as you are. Okay, she's got different problems, but you both are on the same level. Trust me, she feels as bad about all of this as you do."

"She hates me," said Andrew as tears began to fall from his eyes, mostly due to the onions he was dicing.

"No she doesn't," said a man who just walked in. He was about 20 with short brown hair and blue eyes. He wore a red jacket over a gray shirt, with blue jeans and boots. He leaned on a walking stick and limped over, favoring his left leg.

"Daniel!" said Harry, "you're standing!"

"Well how else am I supposed to get in here?" Daniel Pulaski asked. Daniel was the computer expert for The Ramblers and had an innate ability to understand the workings of any software in the world just by touching the machine it was in. During the case on Halloween, Daniel was nearly killed by an oversized demon that bit off his left leg below the knee. Afterwards, Daniel had resigned himself to living his life out in a wheelchair, but now…

"Just got it fitted last week," said Daniel as he indicated his left leg, "my new prosthetic. Of course, I'm still stuck in office duty, and it'll be a long, long time before I'm given a field mission, but I'm okay with it."

"Well as long as you're happy," said Andrew as he got back to chopping vegetables. Clearly, now that his mind was occupied with his work, he was feeling better.

"I think we should go see how our friend is doing," said Patricia, "leave Andrew to his latest masterpiece."

"Everyone else will be here soon," said Travis, "we might as well meet them in the living room."

"Don't tell Andrew," said Max to Harry as they all went into the hallway, "but he gave me a spare key to the house years ago. He just forgot about it. I'm hoping he'll remember eventually."

"We all have spare keys," said Daniel, "but Andrew is a bit absentminded sometimes. He was a lot more back when we first started as a group, but he's gotten better."

"Wish I have," sobbed Jill as Harry and the others went into the living room. Jill was sitting on one of several overstuffed chairs and was dabbing a handkerchief at her eyes, "every time I talk to that wonderful man, I end up making a damn fool of myself!"

"You're not a fool," said Hermione, "you didn't try to kill him."

"Yeah," said Ron, "not like what you did on Halloween."

"I just didn't feel like it," said Jill, although Harry didn't need Legilimency to know that Jill was lying.

"It's just not fair," said Jill. She looked at Patricia, "why did the higher-ups in The Bureau put me in a team with a man I like and dislike at the same time?"

"Why did The Bureau put you all together?" Harry asked, "why did they do it if there was so much tension among teammates?"

"Now that is a tale to tell," said Patricia, "and since we'll all be here soon, you Wizards might as well know how The Ramblers came to be."

"And you'll hear it straight from the horses mouths," said Travis, "so to speak."

"You want us to tell our stories?" Max asked, "seriously?"

"You actually want us to tell them about how we met and saved the world?" Jill asked, "you want us to tell them everything?"

"Just the important parts at first," said Patricia, "but it's up to you if you want to go into more graphic detail."

"Is this an order?" Max asked.

"More like a request," said Travis, "Harry and his family want to know, so, if you don't mind, indulge them."

At that both Max and Jill sighed, "well, if they really want to know," said Max.

"Not if you're not comfortable with it," said Ginny, while Harry, Ron and Hermione nodded in agreement.

"It's not that we're uncomfortable," said Jill, "it's just that…"

"Just what?" Harry asked as that old demon of his, that thing that keeps the cat coming back even after dieing, curiosity, took hold of him.

"Well," said Max, "it's that…well…"

"It's a personal thing," said Daniel, "Gillian, myself and the rest of the team, as well as a lot of the other Meta Humans in the BPRD, we know the full story, but for us Ramblers, it's a deeply personal thing."

"You know that The Ramblers were formed as a result of the downfall of Voldemort," said Jill, "that the BPRD wanted an all Meta Human team to fight the forces of darkness for the sake of humanity as a whole."

"We know," said Hermione.

"And you also know that we were made a team originally to combat a massive demonic invasion that was using the Y2K situation as a front," said Max, "that the invasion was to happen at the stroke of midnight on New Years Day, 2000."

"Yes," said Harry.

"Well," continued Max, "what you don't know is that the original eight Ramblers; myself, Jill, Andrew, Leon Smyth-Falcon, Katina Jones, as well as Kayle Manfreedi, Saul Gordon and Calvin Johnson, we all went through something incredible before the final battle with the doomsday cult that tried to initiate the demon invasion."

"It was something that bound us together in ways that can barely be described by words," said Jill, "something that sill binds us even though three of the original eight are dead. And it binds the newest members of the team as well."

"We felt it as soon as we were officially Ramblers," said Daniel, "Gillian Anderson, Jeff Dambrisi and myself."

"If you're going to understand what this bond we have is all about," said Max, "you have to hear about it from the beginning, only then will you know the truth about us."

"We can only tell our own parts in the story," said Jill, "the others had their parts to play, they can tell their sides of the story when they get here, but Max and I can tell you how it began."

"Wait!" said Andrew as he hurried in with a large try full of the vegetables he had been cutting; carrots, green peppers, celery, cherry tomatoes, as well as low-fat crackers and several types of dip, "if you're going to let our friends in on the secret," he placed the tray down on the large table in the middle of the room, "we might as well do it right. No story should be told without snacks, and dinner is still a long way away."

"You sure you can stand to be away from the kitchen?" Jill asked as she dipped a cracker into some salsa, "something might burn."

"Everything's taken care of for the time being," said Andrew as he sat down, "the candied yams are alright, and I'm not due back in the kitchen for," he looked at his watch, "for at least an hour, so I'm good."

"In that case," said Max, "Harry, you and your family are about to hear a story that only a handful of people in the world know."

"We're all ears," said Harry, while Ron, Hermione and Ginny nodded in agreement.