AN – I am SOOO sorry this update took such a long time. I've had written forever. Professors have this insatiable desire to require work from college kids – I have yet to figure it out. ;) I will try to do better. Thank you to all of my reviewers – your comments are deeply appreciated and needed. Disclaimer – I do not own any of these characters…unfortunately.
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"Harry this is your last chance to back out," Remus said.
"Nope. I need to do this," said Harry with more confidence then he actually felt. The fact that he was leaving for an unknown destination was scary, but the fact that he was leaving his trusted friends was terrifying. "I'll be okay – I just know I need to do this… for all of us," said Harry while looking at his friends. Hermione was crying, Ginny was holding his hand like it was life and Ron just looked sad that his best friend was leaving…again. They all looked at him and nodded.
"Besides, we'll be together in a month. We'll start training here, so as not to have to play too much catch up with you, right," Ron said, trying to cheer up the girls.
Ginny smiled, looking at her brother, "Yeah. Besides, it will do you two good to get into shape now so that when you get back to Quidditch you can wow the school and then become professionals."
"Whadda ya mean 'get into shape now,' we are in shape," Ron said indignitely.
"Umm NO. Ron you are a lost cause when it comes to exercise," Ginny teased laughingly. The others just shook their heads in amusement, while Ron glared at his sister.
Ms. Evans (Dursley) came up to hug Harry goodbye – he still wasn't used to hugs and he definitely wasn't used to his aunt hugging him. "Goodbye dear. By the time you get back I should have a place of my own, but in the mean time I'm staying with the Weasley's, so if you need me." Harry nodded. It was amazing how much she had changed now that she didn't have Vernon breathing down her neck. She was friendly and helpful; she was laughing more and more – the twins always made her laugh with their practical jokes, but she was still weary of anything they gave her.
Finally with all of the goodbyes being over with Harry, along with Angela, Remus and Albus he walked out of the main doors and down to Hogsmeade.
"Angela. How are we getting to America?" Harry asked.
Angela got a smirk on her face, like 'I know a secret' "You'll see my dear, you'll see."
"You know – I've already grown to not like that smirk," Harry commented causing Remus to laugh.
"He already knows you so well Paws," Remus said grinning. "Harry I am telling you now - run and hide whenever you see that look on Paws' face. It means nothing but trouble."
"Oh whatever! You are so mean to me!" Angela pouted and hit Remus.
"See what I mean," Remus said rubbing his arm. "But seriously, how are we getting there?"
Angela just made her infamous "I've got a secret' face and raised her unique looking watch to mouth height and pushed a button, "Command Center, this is Angela. Come in."
"This is the Command Center. It is good to hear your voice again Earth Ranger."
"It's
good to hear yours again as well Zordon."
"How can we assist you,
Angela?"
"Well, some friends and I need a lift home. I was wondering if you could transport us there?" Angela asked her good friend. Zordon was the leader and mentor to her friends the Power Rangers. He had taught her how to control her abilities and the Rangers had taught her karate, sword fighting and kendo.
"We are zeroing in on your location. You're in… ENGLAND! What are you doing there?" Alpha shrilly asked. Alpha was the robot with a personality that no one could resist liking.
"Yes Alpha I am in England. Remember the story I told you about my past? Well it seems it's not so distant anymore."
"I am happy for you Angela. We will need to transport you to the Hill."
"Yeah I know - Arwen is meeting us there."
"All right. How many?"
"Four adults plus two plus luggage."
"Alright hold on. It is good to hear your voice again young one."
"As it is yours old one." Angela smiled.
"Transporting now," Alpha said. And Angela had just enough time to see the worried looks on Remus and Harry's faces before she felt the familiar feeling of dematerialization. When the three of them reappeared they were no longer in England.
"Paws! What in the world was that?! And where are we?" Remus exclaimed. The four of them had reappeared on a hill surrounded by trees.
"Remus! Shhh… That was called transporting and we are now in America," Angela told him in a raised whisper. "I will explain the rest when we are in cover, but right now it is important to remain quiet." Angela shushed them as a lone figure with a dark cloak approached them. Angela went to meet the figure holding a single lantern. Angela motioned for them to follow. The figure, Angela, Harry and Remus, with Albus in the rear, began the walk towards the Hideaway. A place Harry would train in mental, magical and physical disciplines that would hopeful lead to the downfall of ultimate evil. It is in this place that Harry would grow to be one of the most powerful wizards of all time and in this place he would finally learn what love was - although neither he nor anyone else knew this yet.
They emerged from the forest when the sun was just barely peeking over the hills. When Harry looked up, he stopped. In front of him was a beautiful castle. Nowhere near as big as Hogwarts, but by no means small either. The castle looked very old and very welcoming. Angela and Arwen ushered them inside, to the Entrance Hall. Harry noticed that as he walked through the door the family crest had all four symbols of Hogwarts plus a phoenix.
"Oh it's so good to be home!" Angela exclaimed. "Sorry about the hike, but we can't apparate or teleport through the security system."
"Why couldn't we talk? Is the forest dangerous?" Remus asked while gazing right up and around. The Entrance Hall was beautiful. There was a wide sweeping staircase with a deep cherry wood banister that went into a balcony that circled the upstairs rooms. Hanging from the ceiling was a simple yet beautiful crystal chandelier; the wood was dark with lots of lighting and lamps around. It made for a very cozy and homey feeling in an otherwise overwhelming room.
"Not dangerous, just cranky! The forest is very odd - it doesn't like strangers so until it gets to know you and Harry, you have to be careful. But enough of that, it's time for introductions and a tour," Angela said pushing the hood back off her cloak. "Harry. Remus. This is Arwen," she said as the cloaked figure pushed her hood back and took off her cloak, "The last elf in this realm and a very good friend. Arwen, this is Harry and Remus. And my grandfather, Albus Dumbledore."
Remus and Harry just stared. Standing in front of them was a beautiful raven-haired elf with alabaster skin and sparkling eyes. Arwen had that ethereal quality about her that spoke confidence, nobility and strength. Remus was the first to gain his voice, "I'm sorry. It's just that I thought elves were extinct…"
"Not extinct, just no longer here. As Angela said I am the last elf in this realm. All other elves have sailed beyond these shores," spoke Arwen with a longing and sadness in her voice.
"I am glad that she's here though. She has helped me in many ways. If not for her this place would not be possible," Angela stated.
"Which brings me to my next question, where are we?" Harry asked bewildered.
Arwen laughed and Angela smiled. "We are at the Hideaway, retreat for lost heroes and confused souls. Many people come here to rest, but in your case you have come here to train. The Hideaway is Angela's home, she has opened it up to heroes like you who need someplace and some time away from the spotlight."
Angela just nodded, "Not that Harry needs any reason to come here. As I am your godmother you are always welcome here. Now for that tour," she said walking up towards the stairs. "This is the first floor. This half is the formal area. Really it's only used for important guests or people I don't like," Angela said as they walked down the halls. "This is the dining room, my formal office and the kitchens." Angela kept walking. All over the halls were paintings and sculptures.
"Ang, why is this place so formal? It feels like a museum," Harry asked.
"Well, it kind of is. Lots of these paintings are rare and should be in a museum. But also this is the part of the castle that Muggles come to. This castle is very magical, but many of the people who come here to rest are Muggles, so I don't want to scare them with magic right away. Although most of the heroes that come here know me and therefore know that I am a witch."
"Many of the people who come to this section of the castle are Muggles who have no idea who or what Angela is or does. We've nicknamed this area of the castle the Zone," Arwen grinned.
"The Zone?" asked Albus.
"Yeah. Because the people here are in the 'zone' of not being able to handle the truth about magic or who really saves the world on a daily bases," Angela explained. "This next part is my one of my favorite places of the castle. Welcome to the Den," Angela said opening a wide mahogany door. As the trio walked in they were greeted with every teen's dream room. The room had a huge entertainment center complete with an Xbox, a ton of DVDs and lots of CDs. There were also a lot of comfy couches and chairs. There was a pool table, foos ball table, and a chessboard. The 'Den' was a little dark - it was a place you could relax in. Also around two sides of the room were shelves of books, magazines, and board games; there was also a computer on one of the walls.
Harry looked around in wonder; "This place is amazing."
"Do you like it?" Angela asked.
"Yeah I do. This room is cool - it reminds of the Gryfinndor common room, except for all the Muggle stuff that is."
"Good that was what I was going for. This is one of my favorite rooms. You have free reign to all of this stuff. Through that door is the library - I have feeling that will be Hermione's favorite room. And through that door is an exercise room full of equipment. But right now - we have all had a long day. I think it's time for a few hours of sleep," Angela said escorting them out.
As the groups passed different rooms on their way upstairs Angela and Arwen pointed them out. As they got deeper into the castle, the magic was more apparent. Moving pictures, vanishing doors and changing statues were everywhere. Upstairs Angela and Arwen gave rooms to Harry and Remus. Harry had a dark blue room with a large balcony. The bed had curtains around it and the carpet was soft. There were pictures of his parents, the Marauders and Sirens, and all of his school friends around the room. His belongings were already there, sitting by the bed. Remus had a room right next to Harry's. It was green with gold accents. It to had a balcony and was laid out much the same as Harry's.
"Grand father and I have rooms downstairs. Arwen's room is also downstairs. Get some sleep and we'll start training this afternoon. I will wake you up in a few hours," she told Harry as she said goodnight and kissed him on the forehead. "Remus I will see you in a few hours as well. You to need to sleep."
"Good night Angela," Harry said going to his room.
" 'Night Paws," Remus said hugging his friend good night.
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A Few Hours Later…
Harry and Remus were awakened by one of Angela's favorite ways to wake people up. Angela was singing at the top of her lungs one of the most annoying songs ever, "I'm alive, awake, enthusiastic. I'm alive, awake, enthusiastic. I'm alive awake alert I'm alive awake alert I'm alive awake alert enthusiastic! WAKE UP!!!," and she kept going and going.
"PAWS! You know I hate that song," Remus yelled at her.
"Then wake up," she responded in a singsongy voice. Not getting a response from either room, she added, "Or else." Harry did not want to find out what that meant so he dressed quickly in some khakis and a t-shirt and joined her in the hallway. He opened his door just in time to see Paws enter Remus' room with a bucket of water. Moments later…
"AHHHH!!! PAWS!!!"
Angela ran out of the room and slammed the door, "Maybe you should get up the next time." Seeing Harry, "Let's go downstairs… before Mister Grumpy Pants gets out here," she laughed. Harry smiling joined her in walking to lunch. Remus came down shortly after that and with Arwen and Albus, the five of them had a lovely lunch. After lunch Angela took the three new inhabitants of the Hideaway to the gym and training rooms. "Harry this is where you will be spending most of your time. This is were your training will be taking place."
"So what am I going to learn?"
"Well, we thought sword fighting, hand-to-hand, wandless magic and advanced Defense. Is there anything that you want to learn?" Remus asked.
"What about Occlumancy? Can I learn to be an Animagi?" Harry asked.
"I will be training you in that Harry. We thought you might read up on some of the more advanced magic as well," Albus told him.
"Okay I guess that okay. So, who is going to be teaching me all of these things?"
"Well the wandless magic is me, advanced Defense is Remus and theory/Occlumancy is grandfather. As for Animagi – we were gonna ask you about that. Do you wanna learn it now or when your friends get here?" Angela said.
Harry's eyes twinkled with the thought of being able to surprise Ron, Hermione, and Ginny with his animagus form, "Now, please," he said. Angela noticed the glint in his eyes and smiled. "What about hand to hand and sword fighting?" Harry asked curious as to way she left out some of the most important skills he needed in his war against Voldemort.
"Well, I was going to teach you, but I thought that I would get you the best. So you are going to be taught by my teachers," she said moving towards the middle of the training floor. "You guys can come out now," she called. Out of a side door that Harry swore wasn't there a minute ago came four adults, two guys and two girls. "Harry, Remus, Grandfather these are four of my very good friends. You remember me mentioning the Power Rangers earlier – well here are four of them. This is Tommy, Jason, Lillian, and Jamie."
As Angela was introducing the four to the three Harry looked at them. Tommy was tall with dark hair and was built like a Beater. He looked like he had seen several fights in his young life – Harry put him in his early twenties. Jason was probably about the same age and build as Tommy, but looked more like the All-American boy stereotype of Americans. He to looked like he had seen some fights. Both of the young men had the same look in their eyes Harry saw every time he looked in the mirror – guilt and power. Lillian and Jamie were a bit harder to figure out. They both were fairly tall and slim, but had the same kind of look that Angela had. The one that said "Don't you dare touch me unless you want to have your hand taken off," but also looked like they would do anything to protect their loved ones, that maternal instinct inherent in all women.
"Hello – it is a pleasure to meet you. Angela has told us a lot about you," Tommy said.
"It's a pleasure. I'm afraid she hasn't told much about you," Albus said.
"Grandfather!"
The four Rangers just laughed. "I understand. You would probably like to know a bit about us before you train huh Harry? Why don't we go to the Den and get acquainted?" Jamie suggested.
"I think that is a wonderful idea. I will leave you to that. I have to go see to something in the Rec Room," Angela said with a look to the Rangers. "These three had better be in the same condition when I get back," she said with a look that caused them to shiver.
"Yes mom," Jason and Tommy said to Angela's retreating back. Angela mumbled something under her breath. The others looked at the two boys and were treated to a surprise. Tommy and Jason both had bright pink hair and were completely clueless. It was all Harry could do to not laugh – however, their girlfriends were not so nice. They were shaking with their held-in laughter.
Once in the Den the group began to talk and became familiar with each other. Jason and the others told the trio about the Rangers and what they did. In return the trio told the Rangers about the Voldemort and the magical world. They then told Harry about the training they were going to have him do. All four of them used swords and were all martial artists, so they were going to do a round-robin sort of training. Karate and Kung-fu in the afternoon, conditioning in the morning and then sword fighting in the evening. It was going to be hard work, but Harry was ready for it.
"I know this is a weird question, but do you think I could see what I am eventually gonna be able to do?" Harry asked.
"I was wondering if you were gonna ask that. Sure. Why don't we go back to the gym and we'll treat you guys to a spar," Lillian said.
Angela had just entered the room, "Only if I get to join!"
"Everything okay, Paws?" Remus asked.
"Yeah where did you go?" Albus asked.
"I went to the Rec Room," Angela said. Seeing their blank expressions, "Oh yeah I didn't show you guys that. It's the room of operations for the Hideaway. It's in the basement and is where all of the security systems are located and the place we would go if the Hideaway is attacked or anything. I had to add you, Harry, and Remus to the 'accepted list' so that you wouldn't set of the security alarms. That would be bad," she explained. They had reached the gym. "There are gees in the locker rooms for you," Angela told the Rangers. Harry, Remus and Albus made themselves comfortable on the benches.
"Hey, what is going on?" Arwen asked when she came looking for them.
"The Rangers and Angela are going to spar," Harry said.
"Oh great. I had better go make sure the first aid kit is stocked and ready to go. The last time this happened they fought for five hours straight. The only reason they stopped is because they all collapsed from exhaustion," Arwen said, but making no move towards the door. "On second thought I had better stay here to make sure that THAT doesn't happen again."
As she said that the five emerged from the locker rooms, the boys without shirts on, and each one carrying a sword. "Angela – you have a sword?" her grandfather asked.
"Yeah I do. I got it when I became a Ranger. Its name is Gavrila – it means 'God is my strength' in Hebrew," turning to the Rangers, "Are we ready? What are the rules?"
"Well I don't think we want to scare anyone so…"
"If you even think about fighting to the point of collapse again, you all will see the TRUE power of the elves unleashed… again!" Arwen told them.
"Well in that case I think we had better go with sparring rules. Light contact, guys versus girls," Jamie suggested. Everyone agreeing they lined up against each other and started.
The spectators could barely even take in the flurry of motion that erupted form the five young people around them. Angela, even though she was the oldest was just as fast as the other younger ones. She used her short stature to her benefit and made a lot of low strikes and hits against the boys. She was quick and powerful and not one blow struck her. The boys had their backs to each other and kept lashing out against the other girls. Finally the boys were driven apart. Tommy was fighting Jamie and Angela and Jason was fighting Lillian. Right now it was just hand to hand; the strength and agility was amazing. The punches and kicks were lightning fast and a lot of times the target had to do a flip or spin to avoid the punch. There were swirls of movement so fast that Harry couldn't even see what had happened.
They had been fighting for about fifteen minutes when Arwen called out, "Swords!"
The five immediately dropped into a roll and moved away from each other. They came back to stand in a circle with swords drawn and tips touching.
"Jamie. Jason." Arwen called out. The couple then fought brilliantly against each other for ten minutes. Neither one ever gained an upper hand – they knew each others' moves so well that they blocked, parried, and advanced against each other very well. Jamie used her agility to dart in and out of range from Jason. Jason used his physical strength to bear down on the slight girl.
"Tommy. Angela." Arwen called out. Jamie and Jason immediately quit as the next pairing moved out against each other. The fight looked a lot like Jamie and Jason's, except for the flips and spins Angela added into her dual against the larger male. This fight went on for quite a bit. Harry was amazed that the small, unassuming, and quiet soul he had seen in his godmother was this fiery and ferocious fighter he saw before him. Harry thought that Ginny and Angela were quite a bit alike.
"Free for all." Arwen called out, shaking her head. She bent down to Harry, "I hate this part."
Now all five were fighting all. All the spectators could see was the flashing of steel and the flurry of fabric. The clanging of steel against steel and gasps among the audience were the only noises heard.
"Enough." Arwen called. Immediate was the response. All activity stopped. The five put their swords down and relaxed their stances; they were all gasping for breath. But they were all very happy.
"I haven't done that in awhile," Jason said, only slightly panting. "Can we do it again?" he asked with a huge smile on his face.
"NO. You are all going to take a shower and then come to supper," Arwen said matter of factly.
"I have to agree, besides we don't want Angela collapse on us. You guys – she's not as young as she used to be," Tommy said with a straight face, but his eyes were flashing with laughter.
"What did you just say, Oliver? I know you did not just call me old!"
"What would you do if I did?"
No one even saw what happened, but all of a sudden Tommy was flying through the air towards the practices mats. Quicker than humanly possible Angela was on the mats and without even touching him, had Tommy in mid-air spinning in circles. "Now, what did you say?"
"That you are the kindest, sweetest person I know and that you don't look a day over twenty three," Tommy said.
"That's what I thought you said," Angela said with the sickingly sweet voice and started to walk away.
"Angela! Let me down. Please?" Tommy pleaded. Angela looked back at him and sighed. With a thump Tommy was back on the mats, shaking his head. His teammates were laughing at him.
"Tommy. When will you learn? Never tell Angela that she's old," Lillian said laughing.
"I know. I just wanted her to use her powers - to show Harry." The Rangers followed Angela into the locker rooms and half an hour later, everyone was in the kitchen enjoying Angela and Arwen's great cooking. Over dinner the group laughed and talked. Harry almost forgot his pain, but he would never be able to fill the hole left by the loss of Sirius. His friends and family would do their best and the pain would lessen over the years, but it would never totally go away.