Chapter 2 TO ENGLAND
Disclaimer's in the prologue, but a quick recap, if ya recgonize the character and or setting, then it doesn't belong to me.
By the way, forgot to say "English" Japanese but I bet you people were smart enough to figure that out yourselves.
Harry was getting worried. He figured out that Genma would be taking a while to come and get him seeing as the giant man and he had ridden a motorcycle across the world. He knew he was in England now, far far away from Japan. Being so far away from where he started, he thought Genma might not even come and get him. He could tell that Genma didn't really care for him. Maybe the man was happy he was gone. With Harry gone, Genma could have larger portions of whatever Ranma managed to get for food, he also would be able to concentrate on training only Ranma.
Harry suddenly started to feel anger. He knew Genma wanted Ranma to learn more than he, why else would he, Harry, be the one stuck doing all the work at the temples and dojo's they came across. Every time it was the same thing, Genma would feed his face and sit around. Ranma would get training from the masters and priests, while Harry was left to do the Temple duties for the both of them. He'd lost count of the times he had to stay up all night cleaning floors or laundry. Just to have to get up early to help the kitchen staff with the morning duties. He couldn't feel mad at Ranma though, Ranma had tried to help and when they moved on, he would help Harry by trying to teach Harry all he had learned during the stay. Needless to say, Harry had become very good at cooking and cleaning over the trip. Sometimes one or two of the priests would help Harry, staying with him and talking during his cleaning duties. Once in a while he would get training that Ranma never got. He never shared this training because of that deep feeling he had, one that this training was for him and him alone. Well that and Genma always chorused on how weak meditation and mystical training was. He gave a small sigh and put his anger aside as he was taught (by one of the priests, not Genma).
The trip had been rather awe inspiring. He spent hours traveling over ice covered lands then wide flat plains, every so often passing over a city finally the two crossed over a sea. The view had been incredible and majestic. They landed in the outskirts of a large city and rode through the streets that though nicely paved, gave a sense of great age in the city. It gave him the feel of the outlying parts of Kyoto before you really got into the city. But it was different too. The random shrines and plentiful parks were missing, in their place, wide car parks and artificial feeling parks rested. The big man steered the motorcycle down a small alley and stopped in front of a nondescript pub.
Hagrid then took the pendent of his neck and handed it to Harry. The thing was rather plain, it was just a small circle of wood with the image of a hand holding an eye carved into one side and a mouth on the other. The circle was attached to a strip of leather so it could be worn around the neck. Harry could feel something strange about it. It's aura was off, he was still examining it when Hagrid said something. That strange echo had disappeared and now he had no idea what the man had said. Quickly realizing that this had somehow been translating for the man, Harry put on the pendent. He felt a slight tingling in his ears and throat, if he hadn't spent so much time doing those meditation exercises, he probably would have missed it.
"'ave you been listening?"
"Huh wha?" Harry looked at Hagrid, the man must have been talking to him while he was so intent on the pendent. "What'd you say? I was distracted." In actuality the man had talked almost constantly from Japan, but as they had gotten further from Japan, Harry had gotten more introspective and tuned the echoie man out.
"I said, 'ere we are, The Leaky Cauldron, It's a famous place." Harry just looked at the door and was startled at the feeling of wrongness that came from around it. Like someone was subtly telling everyone to "go away, there's nothing interesting here." before he could do anything else, Hagrid gently nudged him inside.
The inside was dark and shabby, it mildly reminded him of some of the places that Ranma and he had to drag Genma out of. A few old ladies were sitting in a corner, drinking tiny glasses of sherry. One of them was smoking a long pipe. A little man in a top hat was talking to the old bartender, who was quite bald and looked like a toothless walnut. The low buzz of chatter stopped when they walked in. Everyone seemed to know Hagrid; they waved and smiled at him, and the bartender reached for a glass, saying, "the usual, Hagrid?" Harry heard the strange echo of the words being spoken then translated for him. He unconsciously shuddered, it was a very creepy feeling.
"Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business," the big man replied, clapping his large hand on Harry's shoulder, Harry gritted his teeth a bit at the unconscious strength the man had just used.
"Good Lord," said the bartender, peering at Harry, "is this – can this be –?"
The Leaky Cauldron had suddenly gone completely still and silent.
"Bless my soul," whispered the old bartender, "Harry Potter. . . What an honor." The man hurried around the bar and rushed towards Harry, Tears in his eye. As he clutched at Harry's hand, he found it and the owner of it quite a few paces back with an angry expression on his face.
Harry glared at the man, "I think your mistaken, my name is Saotome, not Potter," The whole pub silenced as they heard the echo of the boy talking in some other language and what sounded like a rather outdated translation charm trying to keep up with it.
The confused bartender looked to Hagrid who gave a shrug and said, "'he was raised in Japan, probably took on his family's name." the whole pub gave Harry and Hagrid a bewildered expression. Why would such a famous boy change his name? But excitement started to prevail once again, the savior of the wizarding world was right in front of him weather or not he admitted his name. The scraping of chairs alerted Harry to the whole bar standing up. The excited faces made him slightly nervous, usually the faces are angry and drunken. He's had to pull Genma out of quite a few bar fights and this looked like it was going to turn into one.
Hagrid must have noticed his unease because he softly said, "easy lad, they're just excited to meet ya."
Soon Harry was surround with people trying to shake his hand, what ever was translating for him seemed to have trouble with so much happening at once, he only heard bits and pieces coming from the crowd. "Honor," "pleasure" "meet" the rest just merged into a horrible cacophony of indistinguishable sounds. The crowd must have noticed the confused expression on his face and quieted down.
"Harry," Hagrid said after the pub lowered into a low rumble, "this is Professor Quirrell," Hagrid indicated a pale nervous looking young man, one of his eyes twitched as he stammered, "P-p-potter" grasping towards Harry's hand when the boy interrupted with an annoyed "Saotome." The nervous man didn't seem to notice the interruption and continued, "c-can't t-tell you how p-pleased I am to meet you."
Harry stared at the man for a moment, he could feel something really off about the man but couldn't figure out what. Shoving the feeling aside for the moment, he bowed slightly, "it's nice to meet you too," he paused for a moment. Noticing that they seemed to expect more out of him he asked, "what sort of classes do you teach?"
"D-Defense Against the D-D-Dark Arts" the professor muttered as if it was comparable with elephant manure shoveling. "N. Not that you –need it, eh P-P-Potter?" he gave a nervous laugh, "you'll be g-getting all your equipment, I suppose? I've g-got to p-pick up a new b-book on vampires, m.-myself." He seemed to shiver in horror at the thought.
The others in the bar seemed upset that the professor got to speak to Harry more than they and almost barricade the back exit until Harry had a short conversation with all of them.
After managing to escape into the back alley that only held a trash can and a few weeds, Hagrid looked at Harry and with a smile said, "Told yeh, didn't I? Told yeh you was famous, Even Professor Quirrell was tremblin' ter meet yeh– mind you, he's usually tremblin." Harry just gave the big man a nod, Hagrid must have said it while he wasn't paying attention.
"Is the professor always that nervous?"
"Oh Yeah. Poor bloke was fine while he was studyin' outta books but then he took a year off ter get some first-hand experience. . . . They say he met vampires in the Black Forest, and there was a nasty bit o' trouble with a hag– never been the same since. Scared of the students, scared of his own subject -- now, where's me umbrella?
Harry was accepting this as a person accepts oddities expecting that it's a dream and they will wake up any minute. Hagrid was counting bricks in the wall above the trash can.
The man was muttering too low for the translation charm to catch until he spoke louder, "right, stand back, Harry."
He tapped on the wall three times with the point of his umbrella. The brick he tapped quivered = it wriggled- in the middle, a small hole appeared = it grew wider and wider - in a second later they were facing an archway large enough ever for Hagrid, an archway onto a cobbled street that twisted and turned out of sight.
"Welcome," Hagrid grinned at the astonished face of the boy, "To Diagon Alley."
Author's notes: wow, I did it at the expense of studying for my organic chemistry test, I made another chapter. Please review, because if you don't than I won't know anyone's reading and will become glum and not put any more up. So paweese review.
Disclaimer's in the prologue, but a quick recap, if ya recgonize the character and or setting, then it doesn't belong to me.
By the way, forgot to say "English" Japanese but I bet you people were smart enough to figure that out yourselves.
Harry was getting worried. He figured out that Genma would be taking a while to come and get him seeing as the giant man and he had ridden a motorcycle across the world. He knew he was in England now, far far away from Japan. Being so far away from where he started, he thought Genma might not even come and get him. He could tell that Genma didn't really care for him. Maybe the man was happy he was gone. With Harry gone, Genma could have larger portions of whatever Ranma managed to get for food, he also would be able to concentrate on training only Ranma.
Harry suddenly started to feel anger. He knew Genma wanted Ranma to learn more than he, why else would he, Harry, be the one stuck doing all the work at the temples and dojo's they came across. Every time it was the same thing, Genma would feed his face and sit around. Ranma would get training from the masters and priests, while Harry was left to do the Temple duties for the both of them. He'd lost count of the times he had to stay up all night cleaning floors or laundry. Just to have to get up early to help the kitchen staff with the morning duties. He couldn't feel mad at Ranma though, Ranma had tried to help and when they moved on, he would help Harry by trying to teach Harry all he had learned during the stay. Needless to say, Harry had become very good at cooking and cleaning over the trip. Sometimes one or two of the priests would help Harry, staying with him and talking during his cleaning duties. Once in a while he would get training that Ranma never got. He never shared this training because of that deep feeling he had, one that this training was for him and him alone. Well that and Genma always chorused on how weak meditation and mystical training was. He gave a small sigh and put his anger aside as he was taught (by one of the priests, not Genma).
The trip had been rather awe inspiring. He spent hours traveling over ice covered lands then wide flat plains, every so often passing over a city finally the two crossed over a sea. The view had been incredible and majestic. They landed in the outskirts of a large city and rode through the streets that though nicely paved, gave a sense of great age in the city. It gave him the feel of the outlying parts of Kyoto before you really got into the city. But it was different too. The random shrines and plentiful parks were missing, in their place, wide car parks and artificial feeling parks rested. The big man steered the motorcycle down a small alley and stopped in front of a nondescript pub.
Hagrid then took the pendent of his neck and handed it to Harry. The thing was rather plain, it was just a small circle of wood with the image of a hand holding an eye carved into one side and a mouth on the other. The circle was attached to a strip of leather so it could be worn around the neck. Harry could feel something strange about it. It's aura was off, he was still examining it when Hagrid said something. That strange echo had disappeared and now he had no idea what the man had said. Quickly realizing that this had somehow been translating for the man, Harry put on the pendent. He felt a slight tingling in his ears and throat, if he hadn't spent so much time doing those meditation exercises, he probably would have missed it.
"'ave you been listening?"
"Huh wha?" Harry looked at Hagrid, the man must have been talking to him while he was so intent on the pendent. "What'd you say? I was distracted." In actuality the man had talked almost constantly from Japan, but as they had gotten further from Japan, Harry had gotten more introspective and tuned the echoie man out.
"I said, 'ere we are, The Leaky Cauldron, It's a famous place." Harry just looked at the door and was startled at the feeling of wrongness that came from around it. Like someone was subtly telling everyone to "go away, there's nothing interesting here." before he could do anything else, Hagrid gently nudged him inside.
The inside was dark and shabby, it mildly reminded him of some of the places that Ranma and he had to drag Genma out of. A few old ladies were sitting in a corner, drinking tiny glasses of sherry. One of them was smoking a long pipe. A little man in a top hat was talking to the old bartender, who was quite bald and looked like a toothless walnut. The low buzz of chatter stopped when they walked in. Everyone seemed to know Hagrid; they waved and smiled at him, and the bartender reached for a glass, saying, "the usual, Hagrid?" Harry heard the strange echo of the words being spoken then translated for him. He unconsciously shuddered, it was a very creepy feeling.
"Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business," the big man replied, clapping his large hand on Harry's shoulder, Harry gritted his teeth a bit at the unconscious strength the man had just used.
"Good Lord," said the bartender, peering at Harry, "is this – can this be –?"
The Leaky Cauldron had suddenly gone completely still and silent.
"Bless my soul," whispered the old bartender, "Harry Potter. . . What an honor." The man hurried around the bar and rushed towards Harry, Tears in his eye. As he clutched at Harry's hand, he found it and the owner of it quite a few paces back with an angry expression on his face.
Harry glared at the man, "I think your mistaken, my name is Saotome, not Potter," The whole pub silenced as they heard the echo of the boy talking in some other language and what sounded like a rather outdated translation charm trying to keep up with it.
The confused bartender looked to Hagrid who gave a shrug and said, "'he was raised in Japan, probably took on his family's name." the whole pub gave Harry and Hagrid a bewildered expression. Why would such a famous boy change his name? But excitement started to prevail once again, the savior of the wizarding world was right in front of him weather or not he admitted his name. The scraping of chairs alerted Harry to the whole bar standing up. The excited faces made him slightly nervous, usually the faces are angry and drunken. He's had to pull Genma out of quite a few bar fights and this looked like it was going to turn into one.
Hagrid must have noticed his unease because he softly said, "easy lad, they're just excited to meet ya."
Soon Harry was surround with people trying to shake his hand, what ever was translating for him seemed to have trouble with so much happening at once, he only heard bits and pieces coming from the crowd. "Honor," "pleasure" "meet" the rest just merged into a horrible cacophony of indistinguishable sounds. The crowd must have noticed the confused expression on his face and quieted down.
"Harry," Hagrid said after the pub lowered into a low rumble, "this is Professor Quirrell," Hagrid indicated a pale nervous looking young man, one of his eyes twitched as he stammered, "P-p-potter" grasping towards Harry's hand when the boy interrupted with an annoyed "Saotome." The nervous man didn't seem to notice the interruption and continued, "c-can't t-tell you how p-pleased I am to meet you."
Harry stared at the man for a moment, he could feel something really off about the man but couldn't figure out what. Shoving the feeling aside for the moment, he bowed slightly, "it's nice to meet you too," he paused for a moment. Noticing that they seemed to expect more out of him he asked, "what sort of classes do you teach?"
"D-Defense Against the D-D-Dark Arts" the professor muttered as if it was comparable with elephant manure shoveling. "N. Not that you –need it, eh P-P-Potter?" he gave a nervous laugh, "you'll be g-getting all your equipment, I suppose? I've g-got to p-pick up a new b-book on vampires, m.-myself." He seemed to shiver in horror at the thought.
The others in the bar seemed upset that the professor got to speak to Harry more than they and almost barricade the back exit until Harry had a short conversation with all of them.
After managing to escape into the back alley that only held a trash can and a few weeds, Hagrid looked at Harry and with a smile said, "Told yeh, didn't I? Told yeh you was famous, Even Professor Quirrell was tremblin' ter meet yeh– mind you, he's usually tremblin." Harry just gave the big man a nod, Hagrid must have said it while he wasn't paying attention.
"Is the professor always that nervous?"
"Oh Yeah. Poor bloke was fine while he was studyin' outta books but then he took a year off ter get some first-hand experience. . . . They say he met vampires in the Black Forest, and there was a nasty bit o' trouble with a hag– never been the same since. Scared of the students, scared of his own subject -- now, where's me umbrella?
Harry was accepting this as a person accepts oddities expecting that it's a dream and they will wake up any minute. Hagrid was counting bricks in the wall above the trash can.
The man was muttering too low for the translation charm to catch until he spoke louder, "right, stand back, Harry."
He tapped on the wall three times with the point of his umbrella. The brick he tapped quivered = it wriggled- in the middle, a small hole appeared = it grew wider and wider - in a second later they were facing an archway large enough ever for Hagrid, an archway onto a cobbled street that twisted and turned out of sight.
"Welcome," Hagrid grinned at the astonished face of the boy, "To Diagon Alley."
Author's notes: wow, I did it at the expense of studying for my organic chemistry test, I made another chapter. Please review, because if you don't than I won't know anyone's reading and will become glum and not put any more up. So paweese review.