Might and Magic:Tales of Ranma Saotome, Boy Wizard
A Ranma ½ and Harry Potter Crossover
Book 1: The Map, The Stone, and The Boy Who Lived
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters (see J.K. Rowling and Rumiko Takahashi), I'm just making up a new story with them. Please don't sue me (especially for any OOC).
Author's Notes: "+" denotes Genma-panda's sign language. Please note that this chapter contains excerpts from and is inspired by Chapter 6 of Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone (Philosopher's Stone for you Brits). If you're keeping score, it also has the same title as that chapter.
Chapter 4: The Journey from Platform Nine and Three-quarters
"Ranma, are you finished packing your trunk?" Nodoka called up from the first floor. "We'll be leaving in ten minutes."
"I'll be down in a minute!" Ranma called back as he placed the last of his books into the large, neatly packed trunk. His room would be relatively bare while he was gone since, having lived on the road for seven years, he had very few possessions, all of which were in the trunk. His mother had been sure to take him shopping for more appropriate clothing, since winters at Hogwarts were, in her own words, "a bit chilly". He had suddenly found himself the owner of an actual wardrobe, complete with jeans, sweaters, shirts, underwear, and boots. Though he found the clothing to be generally heavy and course compared to his usual loose black pants and Chinese style silk shirt, he dared not voice his opinion, not with his mother in such a bad bad temper. Ranma did not think she would intentionally be angry with him but, as he had learned many times on the road, it was not wise to tickle a sleeping dragon.
The weeks since their trip to Diagon Alley and Nodoka's discovery of Ranma's ailurophobia had been very tense, so much so that Ranma had another reason to anticipate leaving for Hogwarts. Surprisingly, especially considering her reaction to Ranma's curse, she never attempted to physically harm Genma, magically or otherwise. She had, however, slipped him a truth potion at dinner that night and wheedled a total confession from him that revealed even more of the event than Ranma had learned from years of listening to his old man's drunken ramblings. He had never known that Genma had fallen asleep between "training exercises" or that Genma now sported five long scars on his chest, a gift from the feral Ranma. In retrospect, Ranma realized that, had he not already taken his anger out on his father years ago, he might have seriously hurt him then. It was all, however, in the past, a place he wanted it to stay. Nodoka, however, was not so forgiving.
Genma rediscovered the true torture of angering his wife the next day. To his horror, water that was warm enough to deactivate his curse felt so unbearably hot that he was sure the one drop that had touched his head would melt a hole through his body. Every bottle of sake in the house taunted him by appearing filled to the brim but magically becoming empty whenever he raised them to his mouth. Regardless of how much food he put on his plate, there would only be a cup of actual food on it when he raised his utensils to eat. He spent restless nights on the floor of the study (Nodoka had kicked him out of their bedroom), plagued by dreams of his worst fears. To top it all off, nothing ever seemed to go right for him, as if he were surrounded by an aura of bad luck. Now, six weeks later, his father looked diminished, his fur dull and matted, his eyes always half-closed and bloodshot.
After a week of watching his father endure this, Ranma tried talking to his father, hoping that the man would apologize to Nodoka and end their quarrel.
"Mum's really mad, Pops." he said. "It looks like you need to use good ol' Saotome Desperation Strike Number 3." Genma did not seem to take kindly to the advice.
"+ It's all your fault, boy. +" Genma-panda's sign read.
"My fault? How is it my fault you threw me in that pit?" Ranma retorted angrily.
"+ Stop being such a baby! I was trying to make you stronger, but you were too busy acting like a frightened child. +"
"I was a frightened child, you idiot!" Ranma said, his blood boiling. "You got some nerve, old man, but I should've known you'd try to make me take the blame for your problems."
"+ All you had to do was keep your mouth shut about it. +"
"I didn't say anything until after I was mobbed by cats! I guess it's my fault the cats jumped me too?" Ranma sneered.
"+ You were in a pet store for God's sake, what'd you think would happen+" Genma shook the sign angrily before flipping it around. "+ And why didn't you lie about it+"
Ranma punched the sign so hard that it shattered into toothpick sized splinters. Genma backed away warily. "Mum's not mad at me for having this fear, she's mad at you for doing something stupid! Why should I have to keep to lying for you every time you muck something up?" he said, shaking. "I'm not lying to my own mother for you. You lie to her yourself. I'm through lying for you."
Genma's paw twitched as if he wanted to hit his son, but he resisted. His eyes, however, narrowed dangerously. "+ You sound like a little girl. +" Genma seemed to delight in this stinging jab at his son. "+ After all I've done for you, and you treat me with this disrespect+"
"I guess you hadn't noticed, Father," said Ranma as he turned and walked out the room, his voice as cold as ice, "but I lost respect for you a long time ago."
The rest of the summer, Ranma and Genma hardly acknowledged one another's presence. Though Nodoka tried to mend the fence, neither of the Saotome males would discuss the subject. She chided herself for setting a bad example to Ranma in her anger at her husband but, seeing no way to resolve the situation, she left them both to sort it out for themselves.
With his mother at work most of the day and his relationship with his father too strained to think of any kind of training, Ranma was forced to entertain himself, a task which turned out to be easier than he first imagined. Though he was not allowed to perform any magic outside of school (Nodoka had warned him about this when they had returned from Diagon Alley), Ranma spent the hours between lunch and dinner reading his school books, particularly the three potions books, The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1), and A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration, all of which seemed to offer the most practical instruction. It was all very interesting and, though he realized he was actually studying, he did not really consider it to be work since no one was forcing him to do it. He made sure, however, to take some notes, which he hoped would come in useful eventually. Using the spell books as a guide and a twig that was approximately the same length as his wand, Ranma practiced wand movements and found that his martial arts training made memorizing and performing them very easy. Likewise, he could not brew the potions in his books without his mother, so he spent the time getting acquainted with potion ingredients and reactions. Here, again, he seemed to have an inherent grasp of the subject; it all seemed to make sense, despite the complexity the subject presented on its surface.
When Nodoka was available, usually on the weekends, they would continue talking about school or his books, or she would take him around London and to the Leaky Cauldron for dinner. Everywhere they went, even in the least magical place possible, they managed to meet wizards and witches who knew his mother from work or school. Thanks to his mother, Ranma managed to enjoy his last few weeks of summer, despite the tensions at home.
Ranma closed and locked his trunk, looked around his room one last time, then lifted the trunk over his head with little effort and walked downstairs. "I guess I won't need the driver to come in and get the trunk then." Nodoka remarked. She looked as excited as he felt, though he was doing a good job of containing it.
Ranma set the trunk down, looked past her to the front door, then quickly focused on her again. "Mom, what are you wearing?"
"What? Do you think it's a bit too much?" she asked, her cheeks flushing. Gone were the wizard robes she usually wore. Instead, she wore a knee-length, ivory polyester skirt with a matching polyester blazer. Underneath was a low-cut, red silk shirt that matched her hair and an ivory ascot was tied around her neck. A pair of ivory boots completed the ensemble. She looked, to Ranma, like she had stepped right out of the seventies.
"No, it's just...that's like fifteen years out of style." he replied, trying to contain himself.
"Yes, well it was in style the last time I needed to wear Muggle clothing." she said rather stiffly. "Anyway, I'm only dressed this way because wearing wizard robes would be even more strange at King's Cross."
Ranma forced himself to not laugh. "Where's Ten-ten?" asked Ranma as he set the trunk down.
"Well, I thought it might be a bit dangerous for her to be in the foyer since we're taking a Muggle taxi."
"Why are we taking a taxi anyway?" Ranma asked. He imagined that, with their modes of travel, taxis would be fairly useless for most wizards.
"Well, there's no magical way to get into King's Cross." she replied. "It's a Muggle train station. And it wouldn't do if wizards just appeared out of thin air, would it?"
"Makes sense, I guess. So are there lots of wizard trains out of there?" he asked.
"Oh no, just this one." said Nodoka as she checked her watch.
"But...isn't Hogwarts far away?"
"Yes, somewhere up in Scotland."
"But we're taking a train there..."
"That's right." she replied absently, peering through the window.
Ranma found this response very odd. It seemed to him that if wizards had several faster and more convenient modes of travel, they would employ them here. Nodoka seemed to read his mind. "I rather think they train is more for the convenience of Muggle-born students and to encourage socialization among the students."
A loud -crack!- announced the arrival of Ten-ten. Ranma jumped, having expected the arrival of the house elf soon after he mentioned her name, as was her habit. "Is Ranma-sama wanting something?" asked the elf hopefully.
"Uh, not really. I was just going to say goodbye since I won't see you until December."
"Oh, you is too kind, Ranma-sama." she said, bowing. "Ten-ten wishes Ranma-sama a good term."
"Thanks." he said, grinning. The doorbell rang and Ten-ten promptly disappeared.
"That will be the driver. We'd better hurry, the drive to the station isn't short and we only have an hour before the train leaves." she looked beyond Ranma, as if expecting to see someone. "I would have thought your father would see his only son off to school, seeing as you won't be back until Christmas."
Ranma's face darkened. "He can do whatever he wants, I don't care." he said coldly as he shouldered the trunk. Though he pointedly avoided his mother's face, he was sure she had a disapproving look on it.
Ranma casually carried the trunk overhead to the cab and stowed it into the trunk. The weight made the rear of the vehicle sag, prompting an incredulous stare from the driver, which Ranma ignored. He got into the car and gave the house one last look before the driver got them moving.
The drive across London was uneventful, though Nodoka did take that time to go over the cat defenses that she had discovered and given to Ranma. There was a small silver locket where a large pinch of catsbane was hidden behind a picture of his mother; the herb apparently emitted an extremely strong and nauseating odor that would drive cats and kneazles away, though it was odorless to humans. He had a large stay-fresh tin of the herb secured in his trunk. Nodoka had also found a pair of earmuffs for Ranma to wear to bed. They chanted soothingly and were supposed be able to break down his fear of cats while he slept. Finally, for worst case scenarios, Ranma had a supply of calming lozenges, a solid form of a potion she called the Draught of Peace, which would erase his fears temporarily, even if he were up to his eyeballs in cats.
They arrived at King's Cross station with ten minutes to spare. Ranma loaded his trunk onto a trolley while Nodoka paid the man with a little difficulty. "Goodness, you would think I was raised a witch. It's been so long since I've handled muggle money." she said, sounding embarrassed. The station was crowded and, every now and then, Ranma could see someone rolling a trolley with a trunk. King's Cross was bustling with activity as travelers made their ways to the platforms.
"Here we are." said Nodoka, stopping Ranma at platform nine. They were standing behind several other people with trunks on trolleys, facing the barrier between platform nine and platform ten. Perhaps it was a trick of the light, but Ranma was sure he could see a very faint, hazy outline shaped like an archway on the wall.
"Mum, is that...is that wall the entrance to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters?" he asked as one of the people pushed his trolley towards the wall.
"Yes, did I forget to tell you that?" she said. "It's an illusion to keep the Muggles out. It's really just an-"
"Arch." he finished, verifying with his own eyes that the wall was fake when he saw someone disappear through it.
"Yes, but how did you - oh, it looks like our turn. All you have to do is walk through the wall, but you mustn't doubt that you will pass through it, that's very important. You must believe that the wall is just an illusion."
Ranma nodded at her, then pushed the trolley forward and walked with her through the barrier and onto the secret platform. As he passed through, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle with warning, a sensation he was beginning to associate with the presence of high magical energy. Ranma opened his eyes onto a scene quite as bustling as the one he had left on the other side of the wall. A scarlet steam engine sat next to the platform, smoke puffing gently from its smokestack. Overhead, a sign read Hogwarts Express, 11 o'clock. Ranma turned back to look at the wall, but instead saw a wrought-iron archway with the words Platform Nine and Three-Quarters on it.
"Ranma, eat this, quickly." his mother said, handing him one of the calming lozenges. He swallowed it immediately, his heart thumping madly because he knew that, if he was taking a lozenge, a cat must surely be nearby. "Did you see a cat?" he asked, not quite disguising the fear in his voice.
"Yes, dear, there are many here now, brought as pets by your fellow students. However," and she sounded very self-satisfied, "they don't seem inclined to come say hello to you, do they?" She was right, of course. Here and there, Ranma could see a bushy tail or a yellow eye, but the cats all seemed to be moving away from him. Perhaps it was the lozenge, but knowing that he had some defenses against the cats that were working superbly made him very happy.
Ranma led the way down the platform with Nodoka following close behind. The front of the train seemed to be filled already while more students climbed onto the train after saying goodbye to their parents. They had nearly walked to the end of the train when Ranma heard a familiar voice calling from just behind them. "Ranma? Ranma Saotome!" Hermione Granger called out. He turned and saw her beckoning from a compartment they had just passed.
"I saved you a seat in case we saw each other before the train left." she said, opening the door.
"Thanks." he said cheerfully and carried his trunk into the compartment, stowing it in the overhead bin. He waved in greeting to a brown-haired boy who was already in the compartment before going back out.
"Hello again, Hermione." Nodoka said pleasantly, holding out her hand, which Hermione shook excitedly.
"Hi Mrs. Saotome. Or should I call you Ambassador Saotome?" she asked, looking pleased with herself.
"Mrs. Saotome, please." replied Nodoka. "And you are unusually well informed, especially for a Muggle-born first year."
"Ranma never mentioned what you did and...well, I was curious what job a witch would have..." Hermione said, her cheeks turning slightly pink.
"Well, I think that sort of curiosity will serve you very well at Hogwarts." Nodoka said approvingly. "And your parents..."
"They've already gone. I told them I'd be all right. They can be a little clingy, and it's not like I'm leaving the country, is it?"
"Not at all." Nodoka replied, smiling. A whistle sounded and, for the first time, Ranma felt a slight sense of longing. He had only just been reunited with his mother a few months prior and now he was leaving her again. He had not even left the station but he already missed her. Nodoka looked at him with the same look he knew was on his face, but she also looked proud. "Looks like you all are about to leave. Don't forget your remedies, and be sure to look at those potions books if you need extra help." She hugged him tightly, then kissed him on the forehead. "Have fun this term, try your best, and don't get into too much trouble." she said, winking at him.
"Okay, Mum." he said, smiling. He stepped back into the compartment and closed the door, then leaned out the window as the train began to move.
"Write me! I want to hear all about your first day!" Nodoka called out to him, waving. He nodded and waved at her until the train rounded a corner and she disappeared from sight.
Ranma closed the window and sat down, noticing that there were now several more people in the compartment. Besides the boy, there was a pink-faced blonde girl and two girls, identical twins with long, dark hair worn in a long plait and dusky complexions that reminded Ranma of the people of India. "Uh, hi." Ranma said, his face very warm with all of the stares from everyone.
"Ranma, now that everyone's back, let me introduce you. This is Hannah Abbot, " said Hermione, pointing to the blonde girl, who smiled shyly at him, "Parvati and Padma Patil," she pointed at the Indian girls, "and Justin Finch-Fletchley. Everyone, this is Ranma Saotome. He's from Japan." The four of them greeted him timidly and Justin shook Ranma's hand rather limply. Hermione looked at them all excitedly, seemingly oblivious to everyone's nervousness. "This is all very exciting, don't you think?"
"Oh yeah, going to school is really exciting." said Parvati.
"It's not just school, it's magic school. That's exciting, right?"
"It's not very impressive magic, not until sixth or seventh year." said Padma.
"Still, it's magic. That's exciting for us." she pointed at Justin and Ranma. "We didn't grow up in the wizarding world, you know."
"You're all Muggle-born?" asked Hannah.
"Well, except for Ranma; his mother's a witch."
"She was living as a Muggle and never told you?" Padma asked Ranma.
"No, he was-" said Hermione, but Ranma cut her off.
"I was traveling with my father and he never told me about her being a witch." he said. "We were gone for seven years and I didn't see or talk to her the whole time. My father said she would distract me from training."
"Training for what?" asked Justin.
"Life, I guess. My dad had this big dream of me being some big time martial artist, so he took me around the world to train with and fight the best."
"So do you know karate?" said Justin sounding very interested.
"Yeah." Ranma replied, thinking briefly of what he called the 'Karate Wars', a five month period several years prior during which he had single-handedly defeated the master of every major karate dojo in Japan. They'd had to leave the country for a year after that because Genma had stupidly put a ransom on the dojo signs Ranma had won.
"Are you any good?"
"Of course, I'm the best there is." said Ranma without hesitation or modesty.
"Oh. Well, I have my brown belt. I've been in karate a few years." said Justin with no small amount of pride. "Maybe we can spar sometime, Ranma."
"Only a brown belt? That wouldn't be very fair, even if I took it easy." said Ranma brashly. "I'm sure you might be good at the place you learned but, from the looks of your hands, they probably didn't let you fight full contact. It just wouldn't be fair and I'd probably hurt you."
Justin flushed considerably. His voice took on a defensive and challenging note. "If you're so good, what's your rank?"
"In karate? I don't have a rank." Justin had a gloating look on his face at the response. "I never bothered taking the tests. I don't need belts to prove my skill. Beating the master of a dojo works better." he said, smirking at Justin's incredulous look.
"Err, excuse me, but what's karate?" asked Padma.
"It's a martial art, like in the movies." Justin said. The girls looked at him blankly. "You know, fighting."
"Oh, you mean like dueling?" asked Hannah, sounding impressed.
"Something like that but without wands." said Hermione, seeming intent on steering the conversation back to magic. "Anyway, did your parents tell you about Hogwarts? What's it like? I read all about it in 'Hogwarts: A History'. It sounds excellent, the best magic school in the world, I hear. Do any of you know which house you'll be in?"
Ranma was, again, impressed at how quickly Hermione could talk and he could see that she did not just amaze him. It took a moment to process what she had said, and this time only Justin seemed confused by the question. Thanks to his mother, Ranma knew all about the four Hogwarts houses: Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, and Gryffindor. She had been in the latter, a fact in which she took great pride.
"What are the four houses?" asked Justin.
Hermione was happy to fill him in. "Well, there's Ravenclaw, it's supposed to have all the smart people. And then Gryffindor, for all the brave people. Hufflepuff has the hard workers. And Slytherin-"
"Has the bad lot!" said Parvati in a scandalized tone.
"That's not what the book says." Hermione said dismissively. Parvati scowled at her.
"It's true though." agreed Hannah. "My mum says that they were a nasty bunch when she was at Hogwarts, and a lot of wizards on You-Know-Who's side were in Slytherin."
This time, Justin was not the only person who was lost. "Who is it we're supposed to know?" asked Ranma, looking amused. His smile faltered, however, when he saw how serious Parvati, Padma, and Hannah were.
"Your mum hasn't said anything about the Dark Lord?" Hannah seemed hesitant to even say the words. Ranma looked from her to Justin, who looked uneasy at the way the girls were acting.
"She never mentioned any 'Dark Lord'. I've never heard of him." said Ranma truthfully.
Hermione, however, seemed to know what they were talking about. "She's talking about Lord Volde-"
"Don't say his name!" the girls hissed in unison, fear in their eyes. The scene was inexplicably eerie to Ranma and he could feel his skin prickle.
"Oh, come off it, you're really not scared of his name, are you?" Hermione said, exasperated. "I thought it was silly enough that the books went on like that, but you guys-"
"No one ever says You-Know-Who's name. You all need to learn that." said Padma matter-of-factly. "My father says he's not really gone and that we shouldn't tempt fate."
"But even if that's true, what's so bad about his name?" asked Hermione stubbornly. "I mean, yes, he did all that horrible stuff, but-"
The compartment door slid open suddenly, revealing a stout, brown-haired boy. He looked uncertainly at them, as if he was not sure whether to come in. "Er, hello there, sorry to bother, but I was looking for a seat, and since your compartment isn't full...well, would you mind if I joined you all?"
"Of course, come on in." Hermione said before anyone else could respond. Looking pleased, the boy pulled his trunk, which was on wheels, into the compartment. Ranma jumped up and helped the boy stow the trunk in the overhead bin.
"My name's Ernie Macmillan." the boy said gregariously. "Its my first time to Hogwarts, what about you all?" Everyone nodded. "Excellent, nothing like getting to know your classmates. I dare say we'll see a lot of each other from now on."
Hermione nodded eagerly in agreement, then proceeded to introduce everyone in the compartment. "So Ernie, how long have you known you were a wizard?" she asked.
"Oh, ages. My whole family's got magic, not even a squib among us!" he said proudly. "Are some of you Muggle-born?"
Hermione nodded. "Justin and I are. Ranma's father is a Muggle."
"Well, nothing wrong with that, it's having magic that counts, after all." Ernie said genially.
"Ernie, why're you just now getting a seat?" asked Padma after they were silent a few minutes. "We've been moving a while now."
"Oh, that. I had a seat but I, uh, didn't like the company." he replied casually, though Ranma thought he could detect a flash of anger in the boy's eyes. "Anyway, have you all heard the rumor going up and down the train?"
Everyone looked blankly at him and Hermione said, "What rumor?"
Ernie seemed very eager to tell them. He looked around conspiratorially, then leaned forward, as if imparting a great secret. Everyone else leaned forward as well. "Well, I heard that Harry Potter is on the train!"
"No way!" Hannah said, her eyes wide with shock.
"You're joking." Parvati and Padma said in unison. "The Harry Potter?"
"Well, it makes sense, doesn't it?" Hermione said casually, failing to hide the excitement in her voice. "I mean, it's been ten years since he defeated Lord Vol-", there was a collective intake of breath, "I mean, You-Know-Who."
Ranma was feeling quite left out of the conversation and, from Justin's looks, he was not alone. "Do you mind telling me and Justin who Harry Potter is?"
"Never heard of him? He's right famous for defeating You-Know-Who, of course, and who wouldn't be? You-Know-Who was about the most powerful dark wizard in ages. My mum says those were really dangerous times and everyone was scared." Ernie said. "One day, You-Know-Who showed up at the Potter's home and killed Harry's mum and dad, but when he tried to kill Harry, the curse rebounded on him!"
"Wow!" Justin said, "So how did Harry do that?"
"No one really knows, do they?" said Hermione. "He was only one year old when You-Know-Who tried to kill him, so he couldn't have done anything on purpose to defend himself. Historians are still trying to figure that out. I mean, the house was destroyed, his parents were dead, and Voldemort's body was destroyed, but he escaped with just a scar-"
"Not just a scar, a lightning-shaped scar, right on his forehead." said Parvati. "They say that's where the curse You-Know-Who tried to use hit him."
Hermione looked rather annoyed at being cut off. "After that, all of You-Know-Who's followers were either put in prison or claimed to be bewitched, and everything was peaceful again." said Hermione. "After that, Harry became known as 'The Boy Who Lived', because if You-Know-Who wanted you dead, you were dead, but Harry was the only person who You-Know-Who tried to kill but still lived."
"You sure know a lot about it." said Ernie, sounding impressed. "Where'd you learn all of that if you're Muggle-born?"
"Oh, well, I picked up some extra books for reference." Hermione said airily, turning slightly pink.
Ranma found himself perched on the edge of his seat, a thousand questions in his head. This "Dark Lord" sounded like a dangerous piece of work, though apparently he was gone. And what had Harry Potter done to defeat him? More important to him was finding out why his mother had never mentioned Harry Potter or the Dark Lord. It was obvious that every wizard in Britain knew of them, but was the history surrounding these two people only of importance to the British? "Hermione, this Dark Lord, was he only here in Britain, or did he go to other countries? I mean, my mother never mentioned him, but maybe his death wasn't that important outside of Britain?" he said.
"No, I think it was pretty big. I read all about it in Great Wizarding Events of the 20th Century." she replied. "And I'm not sure if he's really dead. The books I read never said that for sure."
"But he hasn't got a body, right? So nothing to worry about, eh?" Justin said with a nervous laugh. An uncomfortable silence descended over the compartment. Ranma looked around at everyone and saw that they were lost in their own thoughts. He wondered what exactly this Dark Lord had done to cause his very name to be feared. And what was so special about this Harry Potter? He was suddenly filled with the urge to go find Harry Potter and talk to him, to somehow get a measure of the 'The Boy Who Lived'.
Ranma's stomach suddenly gurgled very loudly, cutting through the silence. Hannah, Parvati, and Padma giggled through their hands while Justin and Ernie laughed. "Really, Ranma!" said Hermione disapprovingly.
"Sorry." he replied sheepishly, bowing his head. At that moment, the door to the compartment slid open, revealing a smiling, dimpled woman standing in front of a cart laden with all manner of cakes and sweets. "Anything off the cart?" she asked.
Ranma scrambled to his feet faster than anyone else, pulling his money bag from his front pants pocket. He was not familiar with the items for sale, so he simply bought what looked good: a stack of cauldron cakes, a stack of pumpkin pasties, a pile of chocolate frogs, two bottles of iced pumpkin juice, and a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. He pocketed his change and scooped up his purchases, depositing them on his jacket. He sat down and started in on a pumpkin pasty, which disappeared in two bites. "Hungry?" asked Ernie, his eyes wide as a third pasty disappeared into Ranma's mouth.
"Stahw-fwing." Ranma said through a thoroughly stuffed mouth.
"You're going to make yourself sick." scolded Hermione as she watched him wolf down a cauldron cake. Ranma shrugged and continued to demolish his food, completely oblivious to the looks of incredulity from the others. Soon, everyone had bought their snacks and were making small talk as they ate, with the exception of Ranma, whose attention was riveted on his food.
Ranma finished his food and threw his trash into the compartment's bin. Since everyone else was still eating, he rummaged through his trunk and drew out The Potions Master's Desktop Guide: Common Magical Ingredients and Potions, one of the extra books his mother had purchased, and sat down to read. Hermione noticed him reading and her eyes flashed with recognition. "I have that book!" she said, hurriedly extracting a copy from her trunk and spilling the remainder of her candy on the floor. "Have you read it all yet?"
"Most of it." Ranma replied, raising his eyebrow at Hermione's excitement.
"I read it a few times. It's a bit more detailed than the set book, don't you think? I can't wait to actually make some potions, it sounds really interesting." she said.
"It is. My mum let me make a few with her before we moved to London." said Ranma.
"Wow, your mum actually let you near the cauldron?" said Parvati, sounding impressed. "She wouldn't let us near hers, not after we ruined her old one!"
"Yeah, my dad said I had to wait until I started school." said Ernie. "He let me use his wand a few times though."
"Ooh, that reminds me," said Hermione, pulling her wand out from her pocket. "We can do magic now, and I've been wanting to try some spells before we get to Hogwarts."
The others followed suit and pulled out their wands. They compared the woods and magical cores of their wands, eventually moving on to the subject of Mr. Olivander and his strange shop and Diagon Alley. Though they had been there on many occasions, even those who had grown up in the wizarding world were enthusiastic about Diagon Alley, and they were happy to discuss their favorite shops. Hermione, meanwhile, rifled through her things, eventually extracting The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1, and began flipping through its pages to find spells.
As it turned out, Hermione was very good at casting spells. While everyone was able to produce light from their wands with the Lumos spell, no one else could successfully perform some of the charms she could. "I practiced the wand movements and incantations all summer." she said proudly as she made a scrap of parchment float half an inch off her palm. Ranma was very impressed but also, deep down, a bit jealous and frustrated because, despite matching her movements and intonation exactly, he could not make the paper so much as shudder. "Well, you do seem to be doing it right. Maybe you're not concentrating hard enough?" she offered, to Ranma's annoyance. Looking around at the others as she critiqued their wandwork, he could see that he was not the only person that was becoming annoyed at what seemed to be Hermione showing off. They put away their books and wands, ignoring Hermione's continued practice as they talked about the upcoming term, while Ranma stubbornly tried to cast the spells that Hermione was practicing.
The compartment door slid opened again, this time revealing a pudgy boy who looked on the verge of tears. "Sorry, but have any of you seen a toad? I've lost mine." he said. Everyone shook their heads and Ranma noticed that Ernie, Parvati, Padma, and Hannah were fighting back sniggers. "He keeps getting away from me!" the boy wailed. He looked so pitiful and upset that Hermione jumped up to comfort him.
"It's all right, just ask a prefect for help." she said soothingly.
"I did." he sniffed. "But they said it's not their responsibility to look after my things."
"Really, that's not very helpful. We'll just see about that." she said, suddenly sounding very bossy. She pulled out her robes from her trunk and began putting them on.
"What're you doing?" asked Ernie bemusedly.
"I'm going to help...uh, what's your name?" she asked the boy.
"Neville Longbottom."
"Right, I'm going to help Neville find his toad." she said, fastening the collar of the robes. "I expect it'll take a while, going through all of the compartments, so I'm putting on my robes."
"I'll go too. Six eyes are better than four, right?" said Ranma suddenly, jumping to his feet and grabbing his robes from his trunk. Secretly, he thought that, in their searching, they would run into Harry Potter and that this would give him a good excuse to meet the boy who defeated You-Know-Who. He hurriedly fastened the collar of his robes, stuffed his spell book into his trunk, and stowed his wand in an inside pocket of his robes. Hermione and Neville walked out ahead of him.
"Good luck, but I don't see why he'd want want to find that toad." Hannah said to him, her cheeks a bit pink. The others nodded and giggled in agreement. "I'd lose it as soon as possible."
Ranma shrugged. "We'll be back in a bit." he said, sliding the door closed.
Hermione and Ranma introduced themselves to Neville as they headed to the front of the train. This seemed to cheer him up considerably. "I haven't really had a chance to meet anyone, since I've been looking for Trevor. That's my toad's name." he said.
The search was long and tedious and not at all fruitful. Many people were annoyed at being disturbed, so they received very brusque answers. Asking people walking the corridor was equally as frustrating, as they were hurrying between compartments and would barely spare an abrupt "No" when asked about the toad. Hermione's rather bossy and abrupt manner did not help either. With all of the open derision and apathy they were facing, Ranma felt his respect for Neville, who had been searching alone before meeting them, grow a bit.
Ranma was beyond tired of searching when he pulled back a compartment door near the rear of the train, inside of which were two boys who, by their looks, were also first year students. One was taller and gangly and had flaming red hair and freckles. The other was shorter, with black hair and green eyes. They were both dressed a bit shabbily and looked thin, though this was more pronounced on the shorter boy, who was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt that looked several sizes too big. They were looking up at Ranma, Hermione, and Neville, the red-haired boy's wand pointing at a rather gray and weathered rat that was sleeping on the seat.
"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one." Hermione said in her usual bossy tone.
"We already told him we hadn't." said the red-haired boy, but Hermione wasn't listening. Instead, Ranma saw her eyes light up when she saw his wand, and he groaned inwardly. The few times they had encountered anyone doing magic on the train she had insisted on watching to "see if it was a good spell." That probably would not have been so bad (or embarrassing) if she did not also try giving advice to the spell caster, especially those who were not first-years. Ranma did not think this habit would endear her to anyone, though he found it reasonably easy to ignore, having had to put up with his father's annoying habits for years.
"Are you doing magic?" she asked, sitting down. The boy look taken aback. Neville and Ranma gave each other commiserating glances. "Let's see it then."
"Er - all right." He cleared his throat and said "Sunshine, daisies, butter, mellow, turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."
He waved his wand around, but nothing happened. The rat stayed asleep and gray.
"Are you sure that's a real spell?" said Hermione. "Well it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magical at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard – I've learned all our set books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough – I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?"
She said all this very quickly. The boys and Neville looked stunned, though Ranma was getting used to her habit of talking this way.
"I'm Ron Weasley." muttered the red-haired boy.
"Harry Potter." the other boy said. Ranma perked up instantly, as did Hermione.
"Are you really?" She said. "I've read all about you, of course – I got a few extra books for background reading, and you're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."
"Am I?" Harry responded, looking dazed.
"Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me." said Hermione. "Do either of you know which house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad...Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You two had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon." She stood up and ushered Neville and Ranma out of the compartment before either could so much as say a word.
She was already at the next compartment when Ranma stopped her. "Hold on Hermione, you rushed us out of there before we could even introduce ourselves." he said with an annoyed tone.
"Yes, well we still have a lot of compartments to go." she replied.
"Yeah, but you had time to introduce yourself and have a conversation." he said accusingly. "I mean, me or Neville might've wanted to talk too."
"No one's stopping you from going back." she said, her cheeks tinged with pink. "But I thought we were trying to find Trevor."
"Are you joking? We've been searching this whole time and we're almost at the end of the train. I don't think we'll find it." Ranma said. "You guys can keep looking if you want, but I'm going back."
"It's all right." said Neville. "Thanks for helping, Ranma."
Ranma nodded, then turned back and opened the door to the compartment. Harry and Ron looked up at him. "No, the toad's still not here." Ron said exasperatedly.
"What? Oh, no, I, uh, wanted to apologize for Hermione." Ranma said sheepishly. "I mean, she's cool-"
"You call that cool?" Ron said, rolling his eyes. Ranma grinned.
"Well, she's all right, just a little-"
"Bossy?" offered Harry.
"Annoying?" said Ron.
"I was going to say 'enthusiastic', but yeah, maybe." replied Ranma, grinning wider. "I'm Ranma Saotome, by the way. Do you two mind if I stick around?"
"Sure, as long as she's not coming back around." laughed Ron, and Ranma and Harry joined him.
"Say, Harry, did you know everyone's talking about you up and down the train?" said Ranma.
"Are they?" Harry replied, again looking surprised.
"Well, it makes sense, doesn't it? You're really famous, I told you." said Ron.
"Yeah, I guess so."
"You should be used to it by now, though. Hermione says you've been famous your whole life." said Ranma.
"Yeah, but I only just found out a month ago." said Harry, absently pushing his fringe back with his hand. Ranma could see the lightning shaped scar.
"Harry was raised by Muggles." Ron explained.
Ranma nodded. "I've only known about the wizarding world since May. My mum's a witch, but my dad kept it a secret from me. I hadn't even heard of you until today, actually."
"See what I said, Harry?" said Ron. "There are plenty of people who barely know anything about our world. You've got nothing to worry about."
"That's easy for you to say. You don't have people talking about you like you're some kind of hero when you don't even know what really happened yourself." Harry said doubtfully. Questions that Ranma was about to ask him died on his tongue. It seemed that Harry Potter knew as much about his defeat of You-Know-Who as Ranma did.
"You'll get used to it, mate. I mean, they can't talk about you forever, can they?" Ron said, grinning. "Anyway, did you guys hear about the break-in at Gringotts? It's been all over the Daily Prophet, though I don't suppose you get that with the Muggles – someone tried to rob a high security vault."
"Really? What happened to them?" asked Harry.
"Nothing, that's why it's such big news. They haven't been caught. My Dad says it must've been a powerful Dark wizard to get around Gringotts, but they don't think they took anything, that's what's odd." Ron said. "'Course, everyone gets scared when something like this happens in case You-Know-Who's behind it."
Ranma perked up at the mention of the Dark Lord. What had this man done that would cause such near panic with a simple robbery attempt? "It was just a robbery though." Ranma said, dismissively. "What's all the fuss?"
Ron looked at him in disbelief. "Well, it's Gringotts, isn't it?" he said as if that explained everything. "You don't just walk in there and tell them to reach for the sky! You'd be a fool to try and rob them."
Harry nodded. "The vaults are magic. If you try to open one that's not yours, it'll suck you inside. And they only check them every ten years."
The grin slid from Ranma's face. He was beginning to get an idea of what You-Know-Who meant: power. He searched about in his mind for some way to change the subject, but Ron beat him to it.
"Either of you have a Quidditch team?" he asked.
"Err, I don't know any." said Harry.
"I've never seen a game." said Ranma.
"What!" Ron said, looking dumbfounded. "Just wait, it's the best game in the world -" He began explaining all about the four balls and the positions of the seven players, describing famous games he had been to with his brothers the broomstick he would like to get if he had the money. Though Ranma already knew the mechanics of the game, Ron was speaking so enthusiastically that he did not mind the reiteration. Ron was just going through the finer points of the game when the compartment door slid open and in stepped three boys, one of which was looking at Harry with great interest. Ranma recognized them from earlier when he had been searching for Trevor. They had been very unpleasant and condescending.
The shortest boy, who was obviously the leader, had a pale, pointed face and cold, gray eyes. The other two boys, thickset and mean looking, flanked him like bodyguards. "Is it true? They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?" he said to Harry.
"Yes." Harry replied, casting a glance at the other two boys.
"Oh, this is Crabbe and Goyle." said the boy, noticing where he was looking. Ranma eyed them warily. "And I'm Draco Malfoy."
Ron gave a slight cough which may have been hiding a snigger. Draco shot an ugly look at him. "Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford." He looked at Harry. "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."
He held out his hand to shake but Harry did not take it. "I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks." Harry said coolly.
Malfoy's pale cheeks were tinged with pink. Ranma felt the atmosphere in the room chill distinctly. He narrowed his eyes warily at the boys. "I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," Malfoy said slowly. "Unless you're politer you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them either. You hang around with riffraff like the Weasleys and Hagrid, and it'll rub off on you."
Both Harry and Ron stood up. "Say that again." said Ron, his face as red as his hair.
"Oh, you're going to fight us, are you?" Malfoy sneered.
"Unless you get out now." said Harry.
"I think Harry's right." said Ranma evenly, speaking for the first time. Perhaps it was Malfoy's attitude or the ugly smirks on the other two boys' faces, but Ranma was irritated. The boys seemed to only just notice Ranma's presence. "You three should go. Now." He stood next to Ron and Harry, though his height, about the same as Harry's, did not necessarily make their stand more impressive.
Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle all laughed. "But we don't feel like leaving, do we, boys?" said Malfoy, smirking. "We've eaten all our food and you still seem to have some."
Ranma saw Goyle reach for the pile of sweets still on the seat. With a move too fast for anyone else to see, he jabbed his Goyle's left forearm with his right index finger and held it there. The boy froze immediately, a look of pain on his face, his eyes watering. Crabbe, Malfoy, Harry, and Ron stared with incredulity as the bigger Goyle was subdued by Ranma's one finger.
Crabbe was the first to recover. Seeing his partner in trouble, he reached out to grab Ranma but, again, Ranma was too fast. He grabbed the boys outstretched arm and held it in place, applying pressure with his thumb to the wrist. Crabbe and Goyle were both frozen in place with pained looks in their eyes.
"Like I said, you three should leave, now." Ranma repeated, staring impassively at Malfoy.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"Ranma Saotome." Ranma replied evenly, despite restraining the struggling Crabbe and Goyle.
Malfoy looked at him warily. "I'll remember this." he hissed before tapping Crabbe and Goyle's shoulders. "Let's go."
Ranma released them and they backed out of the compartment, glaring murderously at him. A second later, Hermione re-entered the compartment. "What has been going on?" she asked, looking at the sweets on the floor.
Harry and Ron were not listening. Instead, they were staring at Ranma in awe. "What...how did you do that?" asked Ron.
"It was nothing." Ranma replied truthfully.
"That didn't look like nothing." said Harry. "Crabbe and Goyle are twice your size, but it looked like you overpowered them."
"It's simple, really, if you know where to apply pressure." said Ranma. "Anyway, you've met Draco Malfoy before, Harry?"
As he and Ron picked up the sweets, Harry told them about meeting Malfoy in Diagon Alley.
"I've heard of his family." said Ron darkly. "They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched. My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go over to the Dark side." He turned to Hermione. "Can we help you with something?"
"You'd better hurry up and put your robes on, I've just been up to the front to ask the conductor, and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there!"
"It wasn't them, it was me." said Ranma before Ron could retort. "And I wasn't fighting anyway."
"The way those boys ran out, you could've fooled me." Hermione said sharply. "Really, Ranma, what were you thinking-"
"Excuse me, but would you mind leaving while we change?" said Ron to Hermione, sounding irritated.
"All right – I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors." said Hermione in a sniffy voice. "And you've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?"
Ron glared at her as she left. "I think I'll head back to my compartment too." said Ranma, opening the door. "See ya in a bit."
Harry and Ron nodded at him as he left. Hermione had not been joking, for people were running through the corridor, startling and upsetting some of the younger students. A voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately." Ranma was beginning to feel a bit nervous.
"Hey, we thought you'd abandoned us." Ernie said when he re-entered the compartment. "Hermione says the toad hunt was a flop."
"Yeah, pretty much." Ranma shrugged, "But I did meet Harry Potter."
"You did?" asked Padma. "What's he like?"
"Did you see the scar?" asked Hannah.
"Uh, he seemed normal to me. And yeah, I saw the scar. It looks just like Parvati said." said Ranma. "Didn't Hermione mention him?"
"Well," said Ernie, "she didn't stay long, and was complaining about the toad, and how rude people were being, and was kind of..."
"Annoying." the others chimed in.
"Yeah. We weren't really listening to her, so she said she was going to the conductor to see how far we were and hasn't been back since."
The corridor was filling with students. "I think we should join them." Ranma said, jerking his thumb at the corridor. The others agreed and followed him into the throng as the train slowed to a stop. Everyone pushed their way forward out of the door and onto a tiny, dark platform. A lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and Ranma heard a gruff, friendly voice calling out: "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right, Harry?"
The big, hairy face of a man, the biggest man Ranma had ever seen, beamed over the heads of the students. He had a fierce, wild, shadowy face with beetle black eyes, and his mouth wore a kindly smile. "C'mon, follow me – any more firs' years? Mind yer step now! Firs' years follow me!"
"You know that man?" Ranma asked Harry after he had caught up to him.
"Yeah, his name's Hagrid. He's the Hogwarts grounds keeper." replied Harry.
They headed down a steep and narrow path, everyone but Hagrid and Ranma slipping and stumbling as they walked. Thick trees lined the path. No one spoke much, though Neville sniffed once or twice.
"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his should, "jus 'round this bend here."
There was a loud "Ooooh!" The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers. Ranma laid eyes on the castle that his mother had talked so fondly of for the first time and felt awed, even at this distance.
"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of boats sitting in the water by the shore. Ranma stepped into one, followed by Hannah, Parvati, and Padma.
"Everyone in?" Hagrid shouted. He was very large and was therefore sitting in a boat by himself. "Right then – FORWARD!"
The fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.
"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff.They all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto the rocks.
"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" said Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them.
"Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding out his hands. Ranma turned around quickly and saw Hagrid hand the toad to Neville. It took a moment for the significance of the exchange to hit him but, when it did, he smacked himself on the forehead.
"What was that for?" asked Ron, his eyebrow raised.
"The toad, it was in his robes the whole time." said Ranma, chuckling. "We did all that searching for nothing."
They clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle. They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door.
"Everyone here? You still got yer toad?"
Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.
To Be Continued...in Chapter 5: The Sorting Hat
There are only 11 chapters remaining in Book 1...
Author's Notes:
Another month, another chapter. This is a pace I can live with after last month's epic 14k word installment. Not that it hasn't been fun but I can say that writer's block was looming before I took the time to write a timeline for this story. It helps sometimes to back up, look at the big picture, and get some perspective on where you're going, even if you've barely gotten going. To that end, the timeline in question is pretty well developed up to book 5, though the bulk of the details are in the backstory and the first book right now. I say all that to give you all confidence that I'm serious about keeping this thing moving, despite how daunting the task appears.
Feel free to skip this bit, but I'd like to comment briefly about keeping Ranma in character. This is a notorious problem for writers of Ranma fan fiction and one I struggle with because it's been so long since I've read or watched Ranma ½. I see 'Ranma the God' characterizations way too often and, while entertaining, these stories bother me because Ranma seems too nice and too awesome for the situations he faces. He needs flaws to make him more than a one dimensional karate machine. These things define his character, and while they can be gradually toned down, they can't be eliminated without introducing another flaw in its place. In these stories, Ranma won't magically lose his main character flaws (though he can learn to deal with them). The one flaw that I decided to downplay significantly, Ranma's tendency to put his foot in his mouth, is being replaced with a flaw that trumps even his cat phobia and curse combined. My intention is to make him a stronger person when this is all done and nothing will do that better than hardship and difficulty.
Finally, some answers for certain comments. The animagus transformation will not be used to cure Ranma of his phobia. I don't think it'd work and I also doubt that he'd actually transform into a cat anyway. Neither will he get a cat or kneazle for a pet. Taxzombie astutely noted that the kneazles were attracted to Ranma, a fact that will come to bear in the future. Ranma will not be Voldemort's nemesis because I believe it is Harry's battle. There are plenty other dark wizards for Ranma's attention.
Thanks to the reviewers, your comments keep me motivated. Thanks to everyone who reads this story, I check the hit counts every day to keep myself going on this story. And a big thanks to Kim, who puts up with my ceaseless prattling about this story. She's a main reason these things ever get done. Keep those questions and comments coming, and I'll see you in a month!
Sorry for making you read this long A.N. section!