Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Co. belong to J.K. Rowling, while Power Rangers and all related concepts belong to Saban/Disney/Jetix/whoever (Who does own the broadcasting rights to the series these days anyway?)

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Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

"Th… thank you, my Lord…" Draco Malfoy said, bowing respectfully at Voldemort as he stared at the gleaming black stone on his wrist, the stone that had been forged by the Dark Lord and was now uniquely his. Like the Guardians whose powers had inspired the Gem, the Black Gem was contained in a gauntlet-like bracelet on his right wrist; the only difference, although he could hardly have known it, was that this gauntlet was a uniform grey colour, much like iron, rather than the more elaborate-looking gold that was used by the five Guardians.

"Wh… when may I use this in battle?" the young Slytherin asked, looking inquiringly back at his master.

"Soon," Voldemort said, nodding thoughtfully at his young follower as he thoughtfully studied the staff he held in his hand. "It is a foolish man who unleashes his strongest forces before trying the easier route, Malfoy. I have… other plans that shall be tested against my new foes first."

He chuckled slightly at the thought. It was true that the thought of pitting these so-called 'heroes', who were foolish enough to protect the weak rather than simply allow them to die out and thus help the species grow and develop, against a twisted version of themselves was a tempting idea…

However, he would not use his greatest weapon yet so quickly just because of the irony involved; he would far rather pit them against his latest monster before he hit them with his most powerful warrior. After all, why should he reveal his most powerful soldier to the world when he could just as easily eliminate his foes using less power?

Raising Rita's old staff in one hand, he tightened his grip on it and began to focus his magic, along with his thoughts, along the arm, sending out the signal that would summon the creature he required to create his first original monster.

Come to me, my servant… he said in his mind, the thought echoing through his staff as he stretched out towards his chosen target. Come to me… and receive power such as you have never known…

As the form entered his throne room, prompting shivers from all around it, Voldemort chuckled gleefully.

If it wasn't for the fact that it would hardly be a good idea to expose himself to the mudblood public before he was ready to strike at them, he would have been particularly eager to see, first-hand, how the 'Hogwarts Guardians' handled this problem…

Back in the diner, having made sure that nobody else could overhear them- so long as they weren't too loud, the typical hustle and bustle of the other customers drowned them out- Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione had just finished filling Jason in on all the details about their struggle against Voldemort.

"So, your opponent is a ruthless dark wizard who actually mutilated his own soul to achieve immortality, and he recently found Rita's wand and is using it to create monsters and enhance his own power?" Jason said, looking incredulously at Harry. "And you're going to start looking for various items that he hid these pieces of soul in because you'll be able to kill him once these things have been destroyed?"

"Well… pretty much, yeah," Ron nodded.

Jason sighed slightly as he sat back in his chair and stared at the diner's ceiling, going over the story he had just been told in his mind.

God, what happened to the guys who just wanted to rule the world? he wondered to himself. He'd thought that Mesogog sucker Tommy had told him about sounded bad, but this? Mesogog may have wanted to totally erase human life from the face of the Earth, but at least he'd never done anything quite that horrific to himself…

"So, do you have any ideas how you're going to find those items?" he asked, looking curiously at Hermione. It might have just been basic instinct after working with Billy for so long, but whenever he worked with another Ranger team, Jason instinctively directed questions about something he didn't quite understand to the Blue Ranger.

"Well, we're still working on the specific details," Hermione explained. "Dimitria mentioned to me on our way here that she's working on something that should allow us to track the horcruxes based on their energy signatures, but until it gets here, all we can do is wait, I suppose."

Jason sighed. "So much for taking the easy option…" he said, as he leant back, stretching slightly as he rubbed his eyes before leaning forward once more. "Oh boy… what happened to the good old days when the bad guy just wanted to rule the world? Now they mutilate their own souls and stick the pieces somewhere else to stay alive…"

"Yeah, Rita and Zedd did sound like their goals and methods were a lot simpler, from what I've heard of them," Harry added, as he stood up and indicated the door. "We'd better get moving; we should probably get somewhere a bit less public if we want to talk to Dimitria sooner or later."

"Right," Jason said, as he reached into his pocket, pulled out a few dollars' worth of notes, and left them on the table beside the finished food before walking out of the café with the others.

It was only after they were outside the diner that Jason noticed something odd; there weren't any people in the area.

Well, strictly speaking, there were people; it was just that they were all heading subtly but rapidly down the street, away from them, as though they were trying to get away from something while simultaneously pretending it wasn't there. Indeed, people from the diner they'd been in earlier were also 'subtly' leaving for the streets now, some even leaving their meals half-finished, as though the departure of the Guardians had been just the signal they needed to get moving.

Now that Jason thought about it, he felt a little on-edge himself, almost like the feeling he used to get when he was in battle and his subconscious alerted him to an attack from behind. He'd just been so focused on finding out more about 'Voldemort'- and what a dumb name that was; personally, he thought it sounded like the guy was trying way too hard to be scary- that he'd ignored it earlier…

"Uh… do you guys feel that?" Jason asked, glancing over anxiously at the new Rangers.

"Oh, you mean that chill down the back of your spine like someone replaced the thing with ice?" Ginny asked, sounding slightly panicky. "Yeah, I feel it…"

"Same here," Ron added; Harry and Hermione just nodded, as they anxiously scanned their surroundings, their hands already looking eager to hold the wands that they'd concealed in their sleeves.

"So… do we morph?" Ron asked, looking inquiringly at Harry.

Harry shook his head. "We don't know what we're dealing with yet; I'd rather not morph until we know for sure we can't handle the… problem…" he said, his voice trailing off as he stared at something down the street.

Turning to look in the same direction, Jason's eyes widened in horror as he saw what had attracted Harry's attention. It was a large monster, at least around seven feet tall, and apparently dressed in a long black cloak (Although a part of Jason felt that the creature normally was the cloak) that concealed its face; all that could be seen was a pair of glowing red eyes. Its hands looked like human bones, but the fingers were far longer, almost claws rather than normal fingers, and blood-red eyes gleamed underneath the cloak. Most disturbing of all, however, was the fact that the creature didn't even seem to be walking; it seemed to be hovering at least a foot off the ground.

"What… is… that?" Jason asked, trying to contain the sudden fear that threatened to overtake him; he would not allow himself to give in to what he was now convinced was an artificially created state of fear.

If he could handle the self-doubt that Rita and Goldar had managed to cause by using the Crystal of Nightmares, he could handle the fear that this… thing seemed to be creating around itself.

"Looks like Voldemort upgraded a Dementor," Hermione said, swallowing nervously as she stared at the creature coming towards them.

"A what?" Jason asked, trying not to take his eyes off this new monster as it advanced towards them.

"Basically, it's a dark creature that sucks the happiness out of people- typically leaves them as mental wrecks, since they've only got their worst memories left to them- and then drains their souls if it gets close enough," Harry explained, looking over at Jason to make sure the new White Ranger understood what he was saying. "Don't let it get too close to you, whatever you do."

"What happens if it gets too close?" Jason asked, trying to see if there was anybody around them; he didn't want to morph in public by accident.

"If you let it get close enough?" Hermione said, as she and the other Guardians anxiously glanced around before drawing their wands. "Well… it drains your soul and leaves you with nothing; you'd basically be an empty shell with no memory or personality."

"Ah," Jason said, wincing as he thought about what that might mean.

And he'd thought that the Brain Drain machine Gasket had used on Tommy in the Zeo days was an evil device; at least you had a chance of coming back from that…

The monster took another step forward, and the silence that had suddenly descended onto the Rangers was at last broken.

"It's clear; let's do it!" Hermione yelled, as the four of them aimed their wands forward; they evidently weren't morphing yet, although it left Jason wondering what they were going to do instead.

His question was answered when all four of them yelled out "Expecto Patronum!" and four silver forms burst from their wands; this must be some kind of… spell… they used against these 'Dementors' in their normal state.

As he watched the silver forms charge towards the Dementor-thing, Jason noticed that they actually seemed to have a fixed form; Harry's was a stag, Hermione's an otter, Ron's was (Jason chuckled slightly) a Jack Russell terrier, and Ginny's one looked like a lioness (Although it could be a puma; since it would have been silver either way it was hard to be sure). As he watched, the four figures charged towards their opponent…

And the creature raised a hand created what could best be described as a tear in the air. The four creatures hit the tear, ran partway into it, and then disappeared.

"Oh crap…" Ron muttered, his face falling as the creature chuckled slightly at them.

"That's one way of putting it," Harry said, as the creature closed the tear with a simple wave of its hand before it looked back at them, its red eyes flashing. "I think we need to power up now."

"I agree," Jason said, nodding grimly, trying to disguise the eagerness he felt at the prospect of going back into action against a common-or-garden monster once again.

True, the fight against Goldar had brought back memories, but he still hadn't fought the guy that often. It was the one-shot monsters like this that had taken up most of his time while he was a Ranger, and he looked forward to seeing if he still had the touch when it came to fighting them.

As he flicked his wrists to summon the gauntlets, he watched as the other Rangers rolled up their sleeves to expose their gems, pointing their wands at the glowing stones as they issued the joint command.

"Hogwarts Guardians, attivare!"

Raising one hand above his head, Jason smiled as he felt the White Guardian Gem form in his palm, left arm already extended as he stared grimly at his opponent.

"White Dragon Guardian Power… now!"

A brilliant flash of light surrounded them, and then the five Guardian Rangers were standing in the street, the White Dragon Guardian already clasping Saba. The other four Rangers were still holding their wands, but Jason supposed that only made sense; given their lack of formal combat training, they should probably stick with the wands until they'd had a chance to get some lessons.

"Sectumsempra!" Harry yelled, raising his wand and striking the 'Dementor' with a thin burst of energy. A long tear appeared in its cloak (Or body; Jason wasn't clear on that) but the creature didn't appear to feel it, and just kept on walking.

"Incendio!" Hermione added; the 'Dementor's' cloak began to burn, but it didn't even seem to notice as it kept walking.

"Bates Mocos!" Ginny put in; there was a brief burst of green energy from their foe's 'face' that resembled a bat, but nothing else.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Ron yelled, desperately waving his wand. Much to Jason's surprise, this spell seemed to have a more promising effect; the creature suddenly flew up several feet and turned upside-down before hurtling back to the ground, where it landed with a loud crash that left several cracks in the street. How a creature that could float could fall, Jason had no idea; maybe the spell disrupted the creature's natural ability to float or something. He briefly wished that Billy were here to explain it, but shook that aside; it wouldn't do him any good to think about his old friend right now.

In any case, any disorientation on the part of their foe was only temporary at best; it was soon back on its feet, and its red eyes flashed as it stared at the five brightly-clad foes that stood before it.

"Try stunning it!" Harry yelled back at his friends, tensed and ready should the creature attempt to make a move. As the four Guardian Rangers reached for their wands, a part of Jason wished he didn't feel so helpless right now; he knew that Saba could fire lasers, but could they really be more effective than magic?

Then the creature roared and began to charge towards them, and Jason shook his head in a self-criticising manner as he raised Saba in his right hand, the sword's head upwards and facing the creature.

Whether or not he could actually contribute anything to this fight, he was still a Power Ranger.

And Rangers never gave up…

"Stupefy!" his allies yelled, bright red beams launching towards the creature, joined by Saba's eye-beams.

Once again, however, the effect on their foe was non-existent- or, if it did exist, it was so small as to be useless. The creature just roared and continued to charge at them, before it struck Harry, sending the Red Ranger flying back, accompanied by a green glow that did not bode well to Jason's mind.

As the blast struck Harry, sending him hurtling back towards the wall, at first Harry was relieved that it didn't seem to be that dangerous. True, his chest hurt where the blast had forced his body backwards at an accelerated rate, and he doubted that would improve when he hit whatever was behind him, but still…

Then he heard the voices start to talk in his head, and his eyes widened in horror.

"Lily, take Harry and go! It's Him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off-"

"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!"

"Kill the spare."

"There's nothing you can do, Harry… nothing… he's gone…"

"Severus… please…"

And then, worst of all, the voices of all those fallen in the battle, the voices of everyone who'd died because of him, resounded through his head, saying the one thing he knew to be true but didn't want to admit…

You killed us.

"NO!" Ginny yelled, as the Red Ranger struck the wall behind him and collapsed to the ground, clutching his chest. Glaring back at their foe, the green-clad warrior woman (She did remind Jason strongly of Xena in her anger) drew the sword that hung at her side and began slashing widely at the creature.

The blows weren't very effective- clearly Ginny had no formal training in how to use a weapon like that- but they appeared to be enough; the creature leapt back a few feet, chuckled, and then vanished in a burst of what could only be called 'dark' light.

"What…?" Hermione said, staring at where the creature had just been before looking back at Jason in confusion. "Why did it do that; it had us on the defensive!"

"Typical of these monsters, really," Jason said, sighing slightly at the memories. "Pretty much every time one attacked, it launched an early assault on us, retreated despite having the advantage, and then launched one attack after another. I think Rita and Zedd were trying to wear us down, or maybe hoping we'd just give up in frustration if the monster kept on coming back before we'd figured out a decent defence."

Shrugging nonchalantly, he glanced over at where Harry had hit the wall; the Red Ranger was now curled over in the foetal position, as though he'd injured something in his chest.

"Uh… Harry?" Ron said, looking at his friend anxiously as he walked over to crouch down beside the 'Boy Who Lived'. "Are you OK?"

"No…" Harry muttered to himself, apparently not even registering Ron's presence. "No… don't leave me… I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I didn't mean to…"

"Harry?" Ginny asked, running over to crouch down beside him, uncertainly reaching out to place a hand on his shoulder.

"NO!" Harry yelled, shoving Ginny's arm away. "Don't… you'll just get killed… everyone gets killed… leave me alone… just be safe… leave me alone…"

Jason swallowed nervously as he looked at his distant successor; although the specifics had changed, Harry's words were uncannily similar to his thoughts after Rita had tried to drain his team's confidence with the Crystal of Nightmares…

"I think that blast hit him with the full force of the Dementor's powers," he said, glancing around at the others before focusing on Hermione. "Do you guys have somewhere we might be able to take Harry to give him some time to recover?"

"Maybe…" Hermione said, nodding thoughtfully as she pulled out the small circular disc that allowed her to communicate with Dimitria. "We don't have an actual base this far from home, but maybe Dimitria can tell us somewhere safe to go…"

Tapping the circle on the side, she looked at the centre as the image of the team's mentor appeared before them. "Uh, Dimitria? Sorry to bother you, but Harry's in a bad state after a confrontation with some kind of upgraded Dementor, and we need somewhere safe to keep him until we can work out exactly what's wrong…"

"I see…" Dimitria's voice said, before she came to a decision. "The remains of the old Command Centre should be effective; they are in a distant desert, so it is unlikely that anyone will see you, and, while hardly in working condition, it is intact enough to provide liveable accommodation."

"Uh… well, that's great, but we don't know-" Ron began uncertainly.

"Where the Command Centre is?" Jason put in, chuckling slightly as the others looked at him. "Don't worry; I spent most of my teenage years there; I'm pretty sure I can remember where the building is, even if I mainly teleported."

"OK…" Hermione said uncertainly, as she looked back at Jason. "Just… make sure you're in contact with all four of us and focus on your destination; we'll try and provide the power."

Nodding, Jason stood close to Harry's shivering body as Ron, Hermione and Ginny place their hands on his shoulders. Reaching down, Ginny grabbed Harry's left hand and placed it on Jason's shoulder, and, before the shaken young wizard could do anything, the five of them had vanished…