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?)

Feedback: Please; I'd really like to know that somebody's reading this

AN: Another chapter written in collaboration with William Lamb, albeit more indirectly than the last one as neither of our characters will meet (A bit of time-travel was incorporated into these events as well, but it had to be done for continuity purposes)

Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Guardians

As he sat contemplatively on his throne, toying with his new, larger wand as he tried to make a decision one way or the other about his next move, Voldemort wondered if he should consider himself paranoid or prepared for what he was planning to do, given how effectively his last scheme had disposed of the Rangers.

He hadn't paid much attention to the history of the wand's previous bearer beyond the essentials needed to understand how to wield its power- after all, she could hardly be worth learning from if she had lost-, but he had studied enough to know that you could never take too much care when dealing with Power Rangers; Rita Repulsa had so often believed that she'd found the key to defeating her enemies, only to be undone by complacency or carelessness on her part.

They might be gone from this world for the moment, but Rangers appeared to have a frustrating habit of coming back from even the most complicated traps; if he wanted to ensure that they stayed lost, just in case they'd ended up in something that could actually give them what they needed, he should include an additional 'surprise' or two for them to deal with in whatever dimension that they had been sent to.

After all, Goldar had assured him that the Orb they used to transfer the Rangers to that other world could still access that reality if they wanted- it might be worth bringing the Rangers back eventually just to show them how he had won-, and with the Ministry takeover going so well and his followers installed in the relevant positions in Hogwarts, he had a few of his more... interesting... monster designs available that he hadn't gotten around to using against the Rangers yet.

It wouldn't be the easiest thing he'd ever attempted, but even if he didn't know how they were faring against the challenges of that other world, it would be satisfying to know that he'd given those Rangers- both the Hogwarts Guardians and their new 'allies' who had been dragged through the portal with them; an unintended side-effect, but hardly an unwelcome one either- something very interesting to deal with...

"OK," Harry said, looking grimly at his friends as they walked through the park where they had arrived, their zords having retreated to what they could only hope was a safe location while they had returned to their 'civilian' attire after finding a concealed area to power down in, "first things first; does anyone have any ideas what just happened to us?"

"Apart from the fact that we're not where we were in any sense of the word, no idea," Tommy said, shaking his head apologetically at Harry. "I've tried to think of an explanation for where that portal sent us, but the obvious ideas don't work; we're clearly still on Earth- I've been to enough alien planets and spent enough time with Andros to pick up the differences between worlds, and this is definitely Earth-, I've never heard of a 'Patronus Force' team in our past, and if this was the future you'd think they'd know who we are even if they don't know you-"

"Hey!" Sylvia said, glaring sharply over at her colour predecessor.

"I'm sure Doctor Oliver just meant that we've been on the move and haven't really stayed in one place long enough to develop a specific reputation rather than any kind of implied slight on our skills-" Hermione began hurriedly.

"Yeah, OK, Hermione, can we just focus on the situation at hand rather than try and apologise for everyone?" Ron said, looking over sharply at his old friend. "We're in enough of a mess as it is; we don't need to waste time apologising for crap like that..."

"And then there's the whole 'Zedd being alive' thing to take into account on top of everything else," Jason interjected, shaking his head grimly. "God... I was really hoping we'd seen the last of that bastard..."

"Uh... no offence, but I thought those files of yours said that Zedd was converted rather than... well, killed," Ethan said, looking uncertainly at his mentor. "I mean, couldn't it be possible-?"

"No," Tommy said, shaking his head firmly at Ethan. "Zedd was completely purged of his evil by the Z-Wave; if Rita's trusted enough in her new state to fulfil her new role, Zedd's not reverting back to normal either."

"Rita's got a new role?" Jason asked, looking over at Tommy in surprise. "What's that?"

"Just some rumours I heard about her becoming the guardian of an ancient magical temple in another dimension or something like that; I haven't had the chance to confirm it myself yet, but the point still stands," Tommy said, looking over at his old friend by way of explanation.

"Uh... could we get back to that 'Z-Wave' thing you mentioned?" Ginny asked curiously, cutting off Hermione's obvious attempt to ask for more information about something that almost certainly couldn't help them in the current crisis anyway. "What's that about?"

"Well... you heard about the 'Countdown to Destruction', right?" Jason asked, after exchanging a brief glance with Tommy; even after eight years, this kind of story was never something that got easier.

"The battle that resulted in most of the Ranger enemies of the previous few years mounting a massive assault on Earth that ended with their complete destruction?" Hermione asked, smiling and nodding in confirmation.

"Well... what we never really told the public was how it ended," Tommy explained, his expression grim as he looked at the Hogwarts Guardians, the Dino Thunder team stepping back slightly to take up almost sentry-like positions around the other seven in recognition of their mentor's need for privacy during this conversation. "You see, Zordon had been captured by the current team's enemies a relatively short while ago- they'd been trying to drain his powers but the sheer scale of them meant that it would take a while to finish the job; they did it for a year and still weren't finished-, and by the time the current Red Ranger found him, the assault was already fully underway. The only way to stop it was... well, we call it the 'Z-Wave'."

"The Z-Wave?" Ron said, looking at Earth's best Ranger in confusion.

"Basically, Zordon had the Red Ranger who found him shatter the energy tube that contained his essence," Tommy explained grimly. "It completely severed the last bits of energy keeping Zordon tied to this plane, but it resulted in his power being released in the form of the Z-Wave, the resulting release of good energy destroying virtually all of the enemies currently attacking. The only ones spared were those who had some potential for good in them, with the Wave converting them into the manifestations of their inner good; everyone else was pretty much disintegrated."

"Oh," Harry said, after a brief glance at his friends confirmed that they weren't entirely sure what the appropriate response was to news like that either. "So... Zedd was one of the ones who was... purified?"

"Yeah," Jason confirmed. "We didn't meet him ourselves, but Andros- the Red Ranger who actually fulfilled Zordon's request to kill him- checked up on them after the Countdown was over, and confirmed that they were alive and living life completely removed from anything related to their old evil activities; Zedd was apparently going into historical research or something like that."

"And... you're that sure he's trustworthy?" Ron asked, looking sceptically at his team's White Ranger. "I mean, the guy was trying to conquer Earth-?"

"Zordon's last act destroyed every manifestation of the evil magic he'd fought against all his existence; Zedd and Rita wouldn't have been converted if they were going to turn back on their own," Jason said, his straightforward faith in his old mentor obvious as he stared at Ron. "Trust me on this; the Zedd of our world is not coming back."

"OK," Harry said, holding up a hand in a brief warning gesture to Ron that he shouldn't pursue that line of argument any further before turning the assembled Rangers' attention back to their most immediate concern. "Well, now that we've sorted that out, let's focus on figuring out where we are for this 'Zedd' guy to still be around; does anyone-?"

"Hey, look!" Kira said, pulling something out of a nearby rubbish bin.

"Kira, we're not-" Trent began, looking uncertainly at the slightly stained object in his female teammate's hand.

"A newspaper?" Conner interrupted, smiling in relief at the sight as he took in what Kira was holding, taking the paper from her and opening it out, trying to restrain his wince at the other rubbish that had gathered on top of the paper before Kira found it; it looked like someone had thrown out an unfinished burger or something like that, among other things. "OK, since this is the Angel Grove Clarion, I'll assume that's where we are-"

"Angel Grove Clarion?" Tommy and Jason repeated, looking at each other in shock before they grabbed the paper from Conner's hands, almost tearing it before the younger Red Ranger relaxed his grip in time.

"Uh... correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that a good thing?" Ethan asked uncertainly, after Tommy and Jason had spent a few moments studying the stained paper in their hands. "I mean, as I recall you guys both lived in Angel Grove when you were Rangers-"

"Except that this paper is dated just under ten years ago and I don't recall a thing about us ever fighting something that looked like that," Tommy said, indicating the photograph on the cover, which showed the Patronus Megazord fighting what looked like a humanoid skeleton with a stag's skull and a large rat with a silver right claw, clearly all giant-size.

"Ah," Trent said, nodding grimly at the photograph. "That is bad..."

"So... should we assume that we're in some kind of 'evil twin' universe, or just hope that Moldywart or whatever his name is sent us somewhere at random and hope for the best?" Conner asked.

"Moldywart?" Ginny repeated, looking over at Conner with a slight smile.

"I know that's not right; it's just-" Conner began.

"No, I like it," Ginny reassured him, her smile broadening as she looked at the Red Ranger, prompting Harry to fight down a brief surge of jealousy before he noticed a surprisingly similar expression to the one that he was sure was on his face on Kira's as she looked at the two...

"Anyway," Jason said, drawing Harry's thoughts back to the present, "given that nobody's tried to actually attack us apart from Zedd so far- and I think we can all agree that this 'Patronus Force' could have done that pretty easily if they'd wanted to-, maybe we're just talking... I dunno, alternate reality?"

"Alter-what?" Ron asked.

"Alternate reality," Ethan explained, smiling slightly over at the Yellow Ranger. "You know, a world where history's basically the same as what we know up to a certain point, but in this world someone made some crucial decision differently; you chose not to... how'd you meet these guys anyway?"

"Well, I sat in Harry's compartment when we were on the train to school for the first time..." Ron said uncertainly.

"Exactly; somewhere out there, there's probably at least one Earth where you didn't share a compartment with him because you found somewhere else first," Ethan said, nodding at the male Yellow Ranger with a smile.

"So... you think we're in an alternate version of the past where this... 'Patronus Force' existed?" Ron asked, uncertainly indicating the paper.

"Sticking us in a completely different world so that we can't interfere with his plans?" Harry said, smiling grimly at his friends. "Definitely sounds like something Voldemort would do."

"Sticking you in a world that also has Rangers in it?" Trent asked sceptically. "Doesn't that seem a bit... stupid?"

"Not if he didn't know where he was sending us," Hermione said with a smile. "Voldemort might be one of the most skilled wizards our world's ever produced, but he's dealing with some very complicated new types of magic right now; it's possible he was just trying to dispose of us and didn't think that the possibility that we'd be sent to a world that would be able to help us was high enough to concern him..."

"Look," Jason said, looking grimly around at the other Rangers, "whatever reason Voldemort had for sending us here, our immediate priority should be getting somewhere to rest; it's getting late, and without our usual options to fall back on we need to find somewhere for the night soon if we're going to get anywhere."

"Jason's got a point," Tommy confirmed as he looked around at his team, Harry only just noticing that the sun was starting to get lower than it had been. "We might not be in immediate danger here, but we still don't know where we are; our best option right now is to just find somewhere to stay for the night."

"Uh... do we have the money for that?" Conner asked, looking awkwardly at the others. "I mean, I don't know about you guys, but I'm pretty sure credit cards issues in other realities might not count, and we don't have that much cash on us..."

"We can probably use a few spells to create copies of some of your notes; it's not magical money, so it shouldn't be protected from the usual spells against that in the wizarding world," Hermione said, shrugging as her original three teammates turned to stare at her. "What; it's not like we're committing fraud or anything, we're just trying to sustain ourselves until we can get home."

After a few moments of grim staring as the Rangers looked uncertainly at each other, Ethan shrugged.

"Like you said, we're here to save the world; a little financial tweaking's fairly minor in the grand scheme of things," he said.

"Just don't leave anything that was obviously created later than this year, and we should be fine," Tommy added, before he turned to look at Jason. "OK, you lived here longer than me; where'd you recommend we stay for the night?"