STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I OWN NONE OF THIS EXCEPT MY OWN IDEA OF HOW TO PLACE RANMA AND HARRY TOGETHER.
The story will take a slightly more adult tone for both adult situations and violence, but I will not be writting anything too explicit. More Lime than lemon. So this chapter would be R rated.
Quidditch violence ahead.
She awoke more comfortable and relaxed than she had felt at any time in the last few weeks. The memories of last night's activities caused a smile to break out on her face. She turned in her lover's arms and studied his sleeping face. Giving his cheek a tender kiss, she slid out of the circle of his powerful arms and out of the bed. Glancing at the clock, she noted that she was up earlier than expected, something of a surprise considering how late they'd been awake.
Deciding to treat herself to a nice, long soak in the furo, she made her way to the Japanese style bathing room of their temporary home. Deciding to stay female for the day, and be male the next instead, she expended the ki required to prevent her transformation while washing or soaking in the tub.
She scrubbed herself quickly and efficiently, wiping off the evidence of the evenings activites. Smirking as the thought that she'd once again proved more durable than her lover, she moved over and stepped into the heated water. The water was heated magically to always be at a constant temperature. Sighing as the heat started to warm her overused muscles, she stretched out in the tub, giggling as her breasts floated in the water.
Turning her mind back to earlier in the previous evening a radiant smile formed on her face. Kasumi was pregnant. The thought swirled in her mind. Soon, she would be an aunt. Uncle. Whatever. There would be a baby in the family. A pang of regret hit her, and her hand carressed her stomach, thinking of the promise she and her lover had made more than a year ago. Both wanted a large family: Ranma because he'd been an only child and Akane because she'd loved having her older siblings in her life.
They'd shared their deepest secrets with each other and decided that it didn't matter which of them became pregnant. Eventually, they both knew, they would both give birth to the other's child. The only reason one of them wasn't pregnant at the moment was because Happosai had received the request for help from Dumbledore. Neither was willing to risk the life of an unborn child by heading into a potentially dangerous situation and had taken steps to insure that no accidents would occur.
A cough from the doorway returned her attention from the contemplation of the vageries of fate to her current surroundings. She looked up at her spouse and grinned. "Join me?" she asked huskily.
Grinning and ignoring all propriety, her spouse came over and paused before stepping in. She knew he was using his ki to keep from changing as he stepped into the water. His large mass caused waves in the water and she was again struck with a moment of humor as her breasts bobbed in the little crests. Strong arms encircled her and she was pulled against a sculped body that never ceased to fascinate her. They cuddled together in the steaming water, savouring the relaxing heat of the water and each other's prescence.
"So what do you want to do today, Ranma?"
"I don't know, really. I suppose we could watch the Quidditch game with everyone else, but I'm not really interested in it. Most of the school will be there, and I though it might be time to go for a flight."
Akane smiled. "It has been a while since you've gone dragon, Ranma. Would you mind some company?"
Ranma's head tilted as he looked her over. "Are you going to try and force yourself to change, Akane? You're not quite there yet."
Akane chuckled and gave a yank of Ranma's long hair. "No, I thought you could give me a ride."
Ranma smirked at her choice of words. "I thought I let you ride me last night."
Blushingly, Akane stared at her husband. "Ranma! Don't talk like that!"
Turning in Akane's arms, Ranma grazed his lips over her cheek, nose wrinkling as the beginning of stubble growth tickled his lips. "Why not? We are married now, anata. It's natural for us to express our love physically."
Shaking her head, Akane sighed. "I know, but when you talk like that, you sound like Nabiki."
Giving a fake shudder at the thought, Ranma put a depressed look on his face. "What a horrible thing to say! And after what I let you do to me last night!"
Groaning as she vainly attempted to understand her husband's quirky sense of humor, Akane gave another brief tug of Ranma's hair. "If I remember right, you didn't LET me do anything. In fact, you were the one who threw me on the bed and had your way with me."
Shrugging, Ranma toyed with the thin hairs on the back of Akane's neck. "What does it matter, who had who doing what. It was about time, and that's all that matters. I missed you, anata. I missed holding you and feeling your heart beating against my back and your arms holding me."
Placing a kiss on Ranma's forehead, Akane gave her currenlty female husband a tender hug. "I missed you too, koi'. We need to start scheduling ourselves better. We waste a lot of time that we could use to do our homework in. That would free up some time for us to be alone together."
Ranma pressed herself against her currently male wife. "And what, pray tell, would we do with all this free time together?"
Hungrily kissing the pouty lips, Akane started stroking his back. "I'm sure we can think of something to do." Ranma returned the kiss and soon all conversation between the two stopped as their mouths were occupied in much more enjoyable persuits.
After a short doze in the large tub, the two awoke and dressed hurriedly for the day. It was Saturday and they had no classes, a fact they found most odd. Coming from Japan as they did, they found some of the breaks and classhours odd. They were used to starting earlier and finishing later in the day and with having school or Juku on Saturdays, with Sunday the only day with no school time at all. Here in Britain, they only had 5 days of school a week, and classes at Hogwarts started about a half hour later than in Japan, and finished an hour earlier.
They just made it to the Great Hall in time for a quick -but full- breakfast. Their friends stared as they downed in five minutes, a breakfast that would take them a half hour to eat. When questioned, the two had simply shrugged and said that it was a result of training and their higher energy requirements due to the curses.
There was an air of excitement in the atmosphere of the hall. The ban on Quidditch had been removed recently and everyone was looking forward to the first official game in 2 years. Gryffindor was playing Ravenclaw. Cho Chan had been named to replace the departed captain of her house team, and Gryffindor had yet another Weasley on the team as Ron tried for and was named Keeper. Harry was the seeker still, and spent a lot of his free time helping his best friend work on his skills. Even Hermione had become interested in the game, since she'd had a short relationship with Bulgarian seeker Victor Krum, who though still in school at Durmstang, had played for his country in the World Cup the summer before 4th year. Little had they known while watching him in the largest sporting event in the wizarding world, that they would get the opporunity to meet him as he and members of both his school and a french wizardy school visited Hogwart's for the Triwizard Tournament.
While attending various events with Krum and discussing the game with him, Hermione had finally found something of interest in it. She had even spent some of the summer visiting with Victor and watching some of his league games. She had also spent time watching some muggle sports, mainly football and basketball. She had seen immediately how some of the plays from those games could be modified to fit a Quidditch match, and had sat down one evening filling a notepad with various plays. She had shyly passed the notepad to the Gryffindor team and they had unaminously named her playmaster and practiced the plays until they could perform them flawlessly.
Ranma and Akane begged off on joining them, even when they enlisted Tofu and Kasumi to try an cajole them into watching the matches. That backfired on the gang, as Ranma took Tofu aside and explained that he needed to spend time in his other form. Tofu saw his point and subtly passed the information on to his wife. Together they managed to get the others to let Ranma and Akane sneak off, though Fred and George wiggled their eyebrows suggestively and made lewd comments about the young couple. Akane simply grinned and smacked Ranma's pert buttocks, chuckling as the redhead jokingly punched her shoulder and scolded her.
Shaking their heads, and with the intentionally wrong idea in their minds, the group went off to dress for the stands while Harry and Ron joined their teammates in the locker room.
Ranma and Akane watched everyone as they left, Ranma's head cuddled to Akane's shoulder and her arm around Ranma's waist. As soon as the last stragglers among the students left the hall, the pair turned and went up to the teachers table, where the headmaster, Groundskeeper, and house leaders sat finishing their morning constitutional and chatting over the coming game. The only one silent was Snape, who sat as far from the others as possible. Not surprisingly, Umbridge had left in a huff as soon as she noticed their intent to come to the table, leaving in the middle of a sentence of the speech she was giving to Professor McGonagall.
The headmaster smiled as they came to the table and broke off his conversation with Hagrid on Gryffindor's chances versus the always well coached Ravenclaw team. "Ah, Senseis Ranma and Akane. It has been awhile since we've had the opportunity to enjoy your delightful company. I noticed you discussing something with your cohorts. Is there a problem?"
Ranma shook her head. "No, nothing out of the ordinary. Just problems I'm having with class stuff that doesn't matter. I just thought it best that I let you know that I would need to perform a certain . . .function today. I - we thought it best to warn you in case you weren't aware of my . .. condition."
Dumbledore's eye twinkled merrily as he regarded the pair. "There is little that happens in the wizarding world that I am unaware of, young Ranma. And like it or not, certain events in your life qualified our keeping our eyes out for you long before your recent endeavor's. I assume this matter is in regards to that which we have agreed not to mention?"
Akane nodded. "That's the one. We were pretty sure you knew about it since Hagrid here, " she nodded to the giant who was sitting next to the ancient wizard, "was up on the roof waiting for us when we first arrived. He showed no surprise, though he was most complimentary."
Dumbledore chuckled and clapped a hand on the large man's shoulder. "Yes well, Hagrid's always had a fascination with .. . certain creatures."
"So we thought since most everyone was going to be at the Quidditch game, we'd head in the other direction. We should be back by midafternoon. If we're later, we'll land in the forest and come back on foot."
"That is fine, Ranma. I hope you and Akane enjoy your day. I'll have Hagrid head into the forest to meet you if we do not hear from you by 4o'clock." He raised a hand to forestall the protest the pair began to form. "I do not send him because I doubt your abilities to guard yourselves. I have no concern for YOUR safety. I will have him meet you at the far side of the forest, at the northern most clearing large enough to accomodate you. He knows the forest better than any other living outside it's boundries and will be able to guide you to the school more quickly than you could travel it yourselves. Don't worry about outpacing him, as he is much quicker than he appears." Again a humourous twinkle sparkled in his eye for a moment before they dimmed to their regular mysterious expression.
Ranma sighed and nodded, agreeing with the headmaster. Hagrid would know the forest better than anyone, having spent most of his life patrolling it's boundries. "Okay, if we aren't back by 4, we'll meet him there."
Dumbledore smiled and nodded to the pair, motioning them away gently. "Now be off you. You might not have a fixed schedule, but I have a Quidditch game to watch starting soon and need to visit the facilities and freshen up if I am to appear in public."
Hand in hand the pair walked out, nodding to the other's. Hagrid watched them with an almost childish look of longing. Noting the look, Akane looked down at Ranma and quirked her head towards the gentle giant. Ranma looked back over her shoulder and nodded. Smiling, Akane looked over to Hagrid and waved him to join them. The giant looked torn for a second, glancing at Dumbledore as though requesting permission and moved to join them at his wave. He leapt over the table, a feat that would amaze even those few students who knew him well as he usually took great pains to hide the gifts his giant blood granted him. Together, the three made their way up to the same roof top landing area usually reserved for V.I.P visitors and their entourages.
As they waited for the roar of the crowd to announce the beginning of the match, Ranma switched to his male form, not eager to strip naked as a woman in front of a relative stranger. He again blessed the gift that allowed him to control the curse with such ease as it solved several problems he had not enjoyed even considering until he had the means to avoid them. Among those was the pain and humiliation that had come of wearing female clothes and being transformed to his male state. Female under garments designed to fit his slim figure, were painful in his much larger male form. Now, he never had to worry about unwanted transformations because of sudden rain or splashes of water.
He waited patiently, performing a kata as he did. He ignored the slight bite of the wind on his naked form as he moved fluidly through the forms that had been ingrained in him since his first steps. He was dimly aware that Akane had transformed into her natural form, highlighted briefly by a bright flash. She moved silently into position in front of him and he paused before starting on the beginning stances of the 2nd sextet. Soon he was lost in the familiar rhythms of the exercise, nearly forgetting the Kasumi like presence of the half-giant watching them intently.
A faint buzzing in the air distracted him, and Akane's fist slammed into his ribs. He instinctively rolled with the punch, absorbing the impact into a spinkick that Akane ducked. After the kick, he stopped, and Akane retreated a step, neither winded by the complex forms.
"Oi, that was somting else, 'anma, 'kane. 'ow you manage to do all that and not be 'xhausted?" Hagrid asked the pair as they tuned into their surroundings.
Ranma grinned ruefully, rubbing his ribs where Akane's punch had landed. She was steadily improving, even with their shortened training sessions, and he had no fear that she would soon be a challenge for him. Already, her speed was nearing his natural speed in his female form, and her ki manipulation was improving with each training bout. "Lots and lots of practice, Hagrid. I've been doing this since I could walk, and Akane nearly as long. Sort of like you and those creatures you like so much. Martial arts is a part of us, just like magical creatures are a part of you. It seems like we do this so easily, since you never had to see the years of work we had to do to get to our current levels. Throw in good genetics, and we're pretty much guaranteed to be able to do what we can. Our families have been martial artists and samurai for as long as our family records go back."
"Oi, I wish I could move like that. But 'tis not for me, martial arts." Hagrid sighed, before glancing to his left in the direction of the Quidditch pitch.
Ranma grinned. He could tell that Hagrid really wanted to get to the match nearly as much as he wanted to again see Ranma's draconian form. So he decided to help the friendly giant. "Hagrid, why don't you and Akane move over to the door. I grow pretty big, pretty fast."
He watched as the pair moved over to stand in front of the open door. He reached into himself and drew out the ki he usually kept hidden, allowing his to aura expand just to the edges of the platform. He then tapped into that part of himself, still not understanding how he trully did it. He could feel his body grow and change, the wings and tail stretching out of his back and fangs growing in his expanding jaw. He could feel his senses expand as his human genetics gave way to draconian traits. His eyes shifted into infrared and he scanned them around, noting several forms inside the stone walls of the castle, but only Akane and Hagrid nearby.
The forms had a different heat signature than he was used to, and he shifted his eyes again, taking a closer look until he recognized that he was looking into the kitchen and watching as the gathered house elves prepared the victory/consolation feast that followed each match. They were keeping track of the game on a five foot wide crystal ball that he guessed they used like a television slash security monitor.
Another form was sitting in a small room near the Potions dungeon, and was craddling a much smaller form in its arms. He again zoomed in, and noted that the figure belonged to the caretaker, Filch and his beloved cat, Mrs. Norris. He gave a faint shudder as the evil looking cat turned it's head and hissed in his direction. He was intensely grateful at the moment for having come to terms with his fears and was insanely glad to no longer fear the nekoken. Thanks to Akane, and his other personality fragments of Ranko and Tetsu-Ranma, he'd accepted that the nekoken was a part of himself. He still held a fear of cats, but it was nowhere near as intense as it had been and would not cause him to go into the nekoken. He had finally mastered the nekoken by mastering his fear and it was all thanks to the unconditional love of one Tendo Akane.
He gave a dragon smile to his mate, a rumbling purr that shook human bones starting in his chest as he looked down at his smiling mate and the awestruck giant. Using his onna voice, he spoke.
"So, what do you think, Hagrid?"
The giant approached slowly, wiping a tear from the corner of one eye. "Ye be a right fine dragon, Ranma me lad. Ye be the most beautiful thing I ever did see." He hesitantly reached out one huge hand, which seemed tiny to Ranma in his current form. He towered over the half-giant, being nearly 9 1/2 meters long. He'd grown rapidly and continued to grow. He didn't know how big he'd end up being, but Cologne mentioned that those with the Cold Dragon's gift usually grew to just over 15 meters. She couldn't guarantee that, for as in all things, there was the odd exception and a few had grown to over 25meters and one was even rumoured to have been close to 35meters. She'd also explained that the Cold Dragon's were unlike other dragons in several ways, including being the most intelligent species.
Ranma lowered his body and neck to rest on the smooth stones of the parapet. "Climb on, Akane." he called out, still using his female form's voice. As his mate scrambled up to sit between two of his neck ridges that she used to travel in, he turned his head to regard the giant. His head was half again as tall as Hagrid, and he could easily now take a full grown man standing upright in his mouth. "Hagrid, this transformation uses a lot of energy. Is there someplace nearby that I could hunt in? Where I wouldn't be spotted or at least, where I would not be too big of a shock."
Hagrid thought for a moment before smiling. "Aye, there be a hunting preserve about an hour by train to the south. It be owned by a nice wizarding couple who I was in school with. They also be serving muggles, but only later in the year. I'll give ye a token that they'd be knowing and den they be letting you hunt for yer dinner. Tell 'im to bill the school. Don't ye be fretting o'er de cost, we's be more than able to pay for it, and it ye insist on payin', ye can settle with Dumbledore later. Now, be off wit' ye. I's glad to see yer dragon form again, Ranma, but I's best be off to watch the match. I don't wan' miss if 'arry catches the Snitch." He looked through his pockets for a moment before a pleased look came over his face. He held his hand out to Akane, who placed her's under his. He carefully opened his hand and a gold pocket watch, much too small for someone of his remarkable size, slid out to hang dangling from the chain. He placed it carefully in Akane's hands. "Tis me fathers. I've had it since I came to Hogwarts. 'Tis one of the few ting's left me when 'e died."
Akane bowed as well as she could from her seated position. "I will guard it with my life and return it to you upon our return, Hagrid." she vowed.
Hagrid grinned and waved them to head out. He stood in the doorway as Ranma spread his wings and leapt into the air. The wind gushed around him as Ranma's massive wings flashed. The wind would have knocked over any lesser being, but Hagrid was far from fragile and withstood the galeforce winds as though they were no more than a faint stirring in the air.
Smiling to himself, he made his way through the empty halls and out the door of the castle, heading to the pitch for the rest of the match. He was touched that Ranma had again allowed him to see his most closely guarded secret.
Harry squinted as a bright flash of light distracted him from his search for the elusive Snitch. He tried in vain to try and see what had attracted his attention, but all he could see was the castle. Frowning, he wondered if he'd be able to zoom over for a closer look, just to be safe, but then a thought occured to him. Glancing into the Gryffindor stands, he searched until he found Hermione, who was watching the game through a pair of omniculars. It was one of the three which he'd bought during the World Cup the summer before 4th year. He had forgotten all about them until Ron had unearthed them from his trunk earlier that week.
Zooming down towards her, he noted the Ravenclaw seeker, Cho Chan, following him to see if he had spotted the Snitch. He grinned at her and shook his head, indicating that he hadn't seen it. She nodded and zoomed off to search for it. He approached the stands and hovered near his friend, who had spotted him and lowered the magical glasses.
"Harry! What are you doing? Get the snitch before Cho does! Gryffindor only has a 60 point lead, if she catches it, Ravenclaw will win." She exclaimed crossly.
Harry frowned. "Never mind. Something is happening at the castle. I need to borrow the omnicculars."
Frowning, Hermione handed them over, wondering what could possibly draw Harry's attention away from a Quidditch match. She watched as he fiddled with the dials before zooming up to get a better angle on the school. She turned her head to try and see what was going on, but they were too far away for her to make out anything.
Harry peered through the lenses, zooming in on the spot where he'd seen the flash of light. A moment of shock coursed through him and he nearly fell off his broom. Fear coursed through him as he recalled the last time he'd seen one of the creatures that was standing on the roof of the school. Controlling his fear, he intensified the magnification and froze as he noted the large familiar form of Hagrid talking to the great blue dragon.
He must have been immune to further shocks, for upon closer examination, he noticed a female form sitting astride the sinous neck of the glistening dragon. The figure reached down and accepted something from Hagrid, and now curiosity took over. He maxed out the zoom and stared at the familiar face of Akane looking down from her seat on the dragon's neck. He scanned the roof, trying to find Ranma, but could spot the pigtailed martial artist nowhere.
With numb fingers, he lowered the glasses as a terrible thought occured to him. He raised them again to watch as Hagrid strode away from the dragon and his lady. He swallowed as realization coursed through him. He stared through the lenses as the dragon leapt nearly its own height before the great wings swept down, sending the huge mass higher. The wings continued to flap, as the dragon turned a circle over the castle and let out a roar, wich was feint in the breeze. The form turned and headed away from the Quidditch pitch and Harry carefully guided his broom down to Hermione, who was tapping her foot and glaring impatiently at him.
He ignored her question with terse "Later. I'll explain later." and handed her the omnicculars. He turned his mind away from all thoughts of the dragon and scanned the field, searching for the Snitch and Cho Chan. He spotted both near the Ravenclaw goal, and nudged his broom towards it. The Snitch was heading away from that part of the field, with Cho chasing it valiantly. She was able to keep close, but her broom wasn't fast enough to close the 3 meter gap between it and her.
He angled his approach to cross their line of flight and leaned forward, increasing his speed. He soared through the air, for once not noticing the intoxicating feeling of freedom he always felt when flying. He rose slightly above the Snitch as he approached, not wanting to risk colliding with the pretty Ravenclaw. As he came nearer, he spun on the axis of the broom and released it with his hands, now hanging hanging head towards the ground. He stuck his gloved hand out and grinned as the Snitch flew into it. Still holding it in his grip, he grasped the broom with his other hand, and with a deft move, spun to sit upright, not hearing the whistle ending the match over the crowd's roar.
As he was surrounded by his teammates for their celebratory congratulations, he wondered how he was supposed to tell his friends that he suspected that the great blue dragon he'd seen was their friend and sensei, Ranma Saotome.