Chapter 33 – Farewell My Friends
Sunlight slowly flooded in as Hermione gently opened her eyes. She felt exhausted and extremely stiff, like she had been asleep for several weeks. The first thing she noticed was that she was in her bed inside Grimmauld Place. She recognised the slightly itchy blanket and battered curtains anywhere. She then heard the sound of some extremely loud snoring from the other side of the room. Pushing herself up in the bed, she got a great view of Ron fast asleep in a chair. His head was tilted back, resting against the wall and there was a little bit of drool coming out of his mouth but Hermione didn't care. In her hour of need he was keeping a vigil at her bedside, that was more important than anything.
The yellow ranger glanced down at herself and noticed that someone had changed her clothes. She also couldn't seen any signs of visible bruising which was a good thing. The last thing she remembered was time stopping and then she blacked out. Grabbing her communicator from the bedside table, she checked the date, "Not too bad, only been asleep for 24 hours", she said out loud. Hermione thought she had spoken quietly but her voice was enough to disturb Ron. The blue ranger jolted away and prompt fell out of the chair, "Careful Ron, otherwise you'll be the one in the sick bed".
"Hermione you're awake", he didn't bother to stand up, instead he crawled over and threw his arms around her neck. He hung on tightly almost afraid that she was going to run off. A few moments later he realised what he had done and backed away in embarrassment, "So how are you feeling?" he asked.
"Like I've been run over by my zord", she groaned, "still, at least I'm awake quicker than Harry usually is". Ron chuckled and grabbed a potion off the table and handed it to the yellow ranger. Recognising it as a Pepper Up potion, she downed it instantly and handed back to Ron, "So what happened after I blacked out". Ron glanced away, a reaction that concerned the yellow ranger, "Did someone else get hurt?"
Ron shook his head and grabbed a newspaper from the floor. The headline instantly grabbed the yellow ranger's attention.
ATTEMPTED MURDER AT THE MINISTRY: UNDESIRABLE NUMBER ONE BLAMED
In a truly horrific turn of events, the Head of the Muggleborn Registration Committee Dolores Umbridge was viciously attacked during the course of her duties. Three unknown assailants managed to gain entry to the Ministry of Magic posing as Aurors. The Head of the DMLE Aldious Yaxley suspects that the guard was placed under the Imperius Curse by these three degenerates. They entered under the pretence of escorted a foreign Muggleborn to the Registration Committee. It was later determined that the third member of their party could not be identified and was possibly in on the scheme.
Once in the presence of Madam Umbridge, the three proceeded to violently attack the esteemed member of the Ministry. Madam Umbridge is currently being treated at St Mungo's for numerous broken bones, and severe internal injuries, some of which are potentially life changing. Mr Yaxley said there was conclusive evidence that Undesirable Number One, Harry Potter, had a key role to play in this. His bounty had been adjusted to an unlimited quantity of Galleons if he is captured alive. The reward for the other Undesirables has also increased.
Harry Potter, Chosen One to Violent Degenerate: See Page 3
Profile of other Undesirables: See Page 5
"Couldn't have happened to a better person", Hermione snorted and placed the paper down on her bed. She then caught an ashamed look on Ron's face, "It was you, wasn't it Ron?" she asked softly.
"I couldn't help it", he replied, close to tears, "when you collapsed and Umbridge started gloating, I lost control of my Chi. If it hadn't been for the others, I would've crushed her to death". He hung his head, "You must hate me", the blue ranger sighed.
"I don't hate you Ron", Hermione replied.
"But I'm just as bad as the Death Eaters", he groaned.
Now sitting bolt upright in bed, she reached across and grabbed his shoulders, "Ronald, did you enjoy hurting Umbridge", he shook his head, "then you share nothing in common with the Death Eater's or Voldemort".
"You mean that?" he asked in hope.
The yellow ranger smiled at him, "I course I do and Ron I could never hate you", she paused and bit her lip, "in fact", she grabbed his face and pulled it towards hers. Their lips met for a few seconds until Ron stumbled backwards, too stunned to move, "I got tired of waiting for you to make the first move", she smiled.
"I-wha", was all that Ron was able to stutter out.
"Ron focus", Hermione clicked her fingers in front of his face, "now can you tell me what's been happening whilst I've been out".
Ron swallowed and nodded slowly, "We've been searching through the Black library trying to find out how to destroy the Horcrux but we haven't had much luck. We've come up with a few ideas but we don't want to try them inside the house".
"Like what?" she asked.
"Well the only reference we've found is that the container needs to be utterly destroyed", Ron continued. "Harry blasted it with fire and I've tried crushing it but that didn't work. We've considering morphing and using some of our weapons, maybe even the Chi Bomber if it proves really resilient".
"Hmm yes I can see why you didn't want to do that inside", Hermione then smiled, "I'm proud of you Ron, doing all this reading in my absence".
The blue ranger puffed out his chest slightly, "Then you're going to love what I found in another book", he held out his hand, "come on, I'll show you the new Command Centre as well".
Hermione smiled and was about to get out of bed when she noticed something, "Erm could you give me a minute, it appears that someone took my jeans off and didn't replace them with anything". Ron's head turned scarlet and he quickly excused himself from the room.
Once she was properly dressed, Hermione follow Ron downstairs until they reached the doors to the main reception room. Ron smiled before opening up both doors and stepping side. Even though she had been present during a lot of the construction, the sight still impressed Hermione. The once dark room was now brightly lid with proper electrical lights. On one wall was a digital map of the world, currently focused on England. Next to that was a viewing screen, similar to one described as being in the original Command Centre back in Angel Grove. There were a few computer banks laid out against another wall with various different controls, "This is fantastic", she gasped.
Instantly every pair of eyes were focused on her, "Hermione", they all exclaimed and rushed over to greet her.
"Down worry, I'm feeling much better", she tried to reassure them.
"I'll be the judge of that Granger", Cho gave her a warm smile, "and it'll give us a chance to test of the new medical equipment".
As she was getting scanned, Hermione found Keira among the throng of people, "I can't believe you were able to get all this and it's all come together so quickly".
"You'll have to thank the Silver Guardians for the equipment", Keira began, "in addition to the scanner, you've got an enhanced version of the map you were using, as well as upgraded defensive features".
"Yeah nothing short of a nuclear missile would be able to penetrate this house now", Dean smiled, "even the most powerful Dark Chi user can't break these wards".
"And we have our own teleportation controls so we're not leeching off anyone else's energy supply", Ginny added.
"The best part is that the controls are so easy to use, even a House Elf can use them", he paused and called out, "isn't that right Kreature".
"Absolutely Master", the House Elf responded in a respectful tone, "shall I get dinner ready for you?" Harry nodded in confirmation and the ancient House Elf shuffled away.
"Blimey, his attitudes changed", Hermione began, "are you sure I've only been out for a day".
Harry nodded, "Kreature and I have reached an understanding", he said cryptically.
Before Harry could elaborate, the computer buzzed with the yellow ranger's test results, "Good news, looks like you've got a clean bill of health", Cho smiled and gave the print out to Hermione. The yellow ranger studied the report and as Cho said, there was no long term damage caused, "My theory is that you suffered some sort of energy drain from excessive Chi use but I've never seen such an extreme case before", she added.
"Probably because you've never stopped time before", Hermione shrugged, "when Umbridge fired the killing curse, I somehow stopped time which gave me a chance to push Ron out the way".
The other rangers were impressed, "Wow and I thought that you just used high speed to get to him", Dean nodded respectfully.
"I always knew that it could be possible", Cho added, "I mean I've read about the ancient yellow ranger being able to do it".
"Well if it causes that much damage to my body then I don't really want to do it again", Hermione sighed, "now Ron mentioned finding something interesting in a book".
"We sure did", Harry picked up a very battered leather bound book and placed it on the console, "we found this book with various references to Chi".
"Wait the Black's knew about Chi Power?" Hermione asked.
"It's possible", Ron began, "I mean myself and Harry are both blood related to the Black's so it's quite possible that one of our powers were passed from the Black family".
Hermione nodded, "A well thought out theory from Ron, now I know that I'm still asleep", she teased the blue ranger. She gave me a little smile before noticing something else in the book, "What's this all about?" she pointed at a picture of an angular looking turtle.
"The legendary jade turtle", Cho replied, "so legendary that I didn't believe it existed until I read the book".
Hermione read the next passage out loud, "Rather than donate some of his power towards one particular human, the jade turtle elected to defend all of them equally. His powerful shell and regenerative powers more than make up for his lack of mobility. The power is protected by the Lu Caodi family through the Jade Pendant. If the threat from the dark is significant enough, the jade turtle can unleash unprecedented powers". The yellow ranger paused for a moment, "Lu Caodi, that doesn't sound like a family I'm familiar".
"It wouldn't be", Harry answered, "unless you know Mandarin".
"Which you don't", Hermione glared at the red ranger.
"True but Cho does", he tapped a few buttons on the computer, "say hello the modern day Lu Caodi family".
Hermione's eyes widened at the image on screen, "Wow, I wasn't excepting that", she paused briefly, "question is, will they help us?"
"Only one way to find out", Ginny began, "they will be returning to Hogwarts in a few days, we thought we could sneak in and ask them some questions".
The yellow ranger shook her head, "So not content with infiltrating the Ministry, we're now going to sneak back into Hogwarts, a school now under the control of the Death Eaters", she shook her head, "next you'll be wanting to break into Gringotts".
"Give it time", Harry shrugged but he was interrupted by a tap on the door.
"Guys we're all ready to go", Kim stuck her head inside, "Keira have you packed your stuff up as well".
"I have", the purple Dino Charge ranger replied, "fortunately I didn't bring much with me".
Tommy carried a few bags into the room and he was quickly followed by Kat and Kim, "Thank you for giving me sanctuary in your place".
"Least we could do", Harry replied, "are you going back with them?"
The Australian nodded, "I told my family not to come over, just in case the Aurors have got her name after our little mission".
"Good call", Dean nodded, "well it's been an amazing experience and you're welcome back anytime".
"We might take you up on that", Tommy smiled, "now kick Voldemort's ass, I know you've got it in you". There was a quick round of hugs and handshakes before the quartet were teleported back to America. There was an uneasy calm inside the room as it finally dawned on the rangers that they were now alone. Previously they had been guided by Dumbledore and a series of veteran Rangers. Now they were all back in America, they were fully responsible for themselves. They hoped they would be up to the task because the road ahead didn't look particularly smooth.
