were, do you really think I would be writing this?
Italics indicates foreign language, whether it be English or Japanese.
-------------------------------------
"What was that, Harry?" Neville looked at Ranma strangely. "I can't
understand you."
Ranma bolted up from the bed, and instantly felt something was wrong.
His balance felt off, and he seemed to be shorter, if the lower vantage
point was any indication. Who are you? Where am I? he looked at the
palm and back of his hands, then grabbed Neville by the shoulder and
began shaking. What have you done to me!
Neville simply shook his head and pried Ranma's hands off his
shoulders, which was a surprisingly easy effort. "Come on, he patted
Ranma on the back. Let's go get breakfast."
Ranma grumbled. Looking around, he could see no one other than the
young boy in front of him. It was obvious that he wouldn't get any
answers here. He didn't understand most of what Neville said, but he
did understand the word "breakfast". He thought that maybe he could
get some answers there.
Following Neville down the spiral staircase, Ranma was welcomed into
the common room by a crowd of applause from the students who have
already finished their breakfast.
He looked around in confusion to see who they were applauding for, and
just assumed Neville was the one receiving the warm welcome when
nobody else seemed to have done anything special.
"Hello," a girl with bushy brown hair came up to Ranma, holding up a
stack of toast that she kept inside a napkin. "I brought you these."
What is this place? he asked. Where am I?
"I'm sorry, Harry, but I don't speak Japanese," Hermione shook her
head. "You're going to have to speak in English. Where did you learn
Japanese anyway? I thought your uncle and aunt treated you really
poorly and wouldn't have let you learn that."
Umm... Ranma scratched the back of his head, confusion written on
his face, evidently not understanding a word she said.
"My name is Saotome Ranma," he says in heavily-accented English.
"Nice to meet you."
"Stop joking around, Harry," she lightly punched him on the arm with
her spare hand.
"Sorry," he replied. "I no understand."
Hermione furrowed her brows. She knew that Harry's life wasn't
exactly normal, but this was pushing it even for him. "Alright," she
sighed. "Let's go see the Headmaster."
In case he didn't understand her, she took Ranma's hand and
half-dragged him through to the main foyer, then up the marble
staircase and through half an empty corridor until they reached the
Headmaster's Office.
"Sherbet Lemon," she called out to the guardian gargoyle standing
guard at the door.
Much to Ranma's surprise, the gargoyle sprang to life, and jumped
inside, clearing the entrance into the office.
"So what can I do for you," the elderly man smiled warmly at his
uninvited guests. "Harry, Hermione?"
"Well, it's like this," Hermione looked down at the ground and shuffled
her feet, as though she didn't want to be there. "Harry's... ran into
some trouble."
"And what trouble is that, Harry?" the bearded wizard looked at the
young man in question.
"That's it, sir..." Hermione began hesitantly. "That's not Harry. Or
so he says."
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow in response. "Interesting," he commented
as he took his wand and pointed it at Ranma. "Finite Incantatem."
"Harry?" Hermione looked at Ranma expectantly.
"No," the former pigtailed youth replied in the same accented English.
"My name is Saotome Ranma."
"Not a spell, I see," the Headmaster looked at his would-be student.
"Do you remember what happened?"
"I don't think he understands, sir," Hermione offered. "From what I've
been able to gather, Harry's now Japanese."
"I see," the aged wizard smiled. "A simple translation charm should do
the trick."
With a wave of his wand towards Ranma, a faint yellow glow enveloped
his body, and quickly subsided.
"Do you understand me now?" he looked at Ranma. "What's your name?"
"Wow, what did you do?" Ranma said, amazed. "I can understand you!"
"Yes," the elderly man smiled. "Just cast a simple translation charm
on you. It's not taught in Hogwarts because frankly, there isn't a lot
of use for it. So what's your name?"
"My name is Ranma Saotome. I'm from Nerima, Japan," Ranma answered,
pointing at himself. "Do you know what happened to me? I woke up,
well, like this."
Dumbledore shook his head. "That's something I shall have to figure
out. I can only assume that through some kind of accidental magic, you
switched bodies with Harry. I shall try to get in touch with your
family in Japan to see if you did indeed switch bodies."
"I knew it," Ranma grumbled. "Nothing good can come out of magic, first
it wouldn't stop growing my hair, then it turned me into half girl..."
"Half girl, you say?" Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like a
transfiguration gone wrong."
"Well, there's these springs in China at this training ground," he
explained. "My pop took me there last year. The stupid panda didn't
understand a word of Chinese, but took me there anyway. I kicked him
into a pool, and a panda came back out. I was so surprised that I
forgot to dodge, landed and came out a girl. Fortunately, the curse
can be reversed by hot water. But cold water turns me back into a
girl."
"China?" Dumbledore furrowed his brows. "I've never heard of magical
springs like that in China."
"Well, it's a really remote part of China," Ranma suggested. "We had to
hike for days to find it."
"Still, one would think that such a powerful pool of magic would be
known in the wizarding world..." the aged Headmaster shook his head.
"No matter. Allow me to introduce you to your new life, at least
temporarily," he turned his gaze to Hermione. "You may go, Miss
Granger."
"Thank you, Headmaster," Hermione curtsied and hurried out of the room.
"So, Ranma," Dumbledore began as the witch exited the office and the
gargoyle resumed its previous position at the door. "I assume you have
no idea where this is, or who you're supposed to be?"
"Nope," Ranma shook his head. "Not a clue."
"Well, this is Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. We're in
Britain. Students come here to learn magic. Most countries have their
own schools of magic, this is the one for students in Britain and
Ireland." Dumbledore explained. "Not everyone can be a witch or wizard,
it's only those who show promise or magical abilities. Mainly, if they
were descended from a magical family or if they performed accidental
magic at a young age. As for who you are supposed to be at the moment,
that is a story in itself."
"Why?" Ranma asked. "Am I supposed to be important or something?"
"You could say that," Dumbledore smiled. "Your name, or should I say,
the body you're currently inhabiting is called Harry Potter. Fourteen
years ago, the most evil Dark Lord of this age was killed when the
Killing Curse meant for the infant Harry Potter rebounded and killed
him."
"Well, I'd say he wasn't much then," Ranma scoffed. "He got his ass
kicked by a baby."
"Yes, well, the victory wasn't easy," Dumbledore shook his head. "Lily
and James, Harry's parents, died, Harry only lived because Lily devoted
a large amount of magic into providing love protection for the baby.
Three years ago, in Harry's first year, the Dark Lord Voldemort tried
to resurrect himself with the Philosopher's Stone."
"Wait a minute," Ranma interrupted. "I thought you said he was dead?"
"He was," the Headmaster explained. "He was in a noncorporeal form for
all these years. That year he possessed a fellow Hogwarts teacher and
tried to steal the Elixir of Life of the Philosopher Stone to revive
himself. In his second year, he had to fight a giant Basilisk, that
is, a giant serpent, to rescue his best friend's sister. Last year,
his Godfather broke out of Azkaban, a prison for wizards. Sirius was
running from authorities, but it's now proven that he was innocent.
This year we are holding a Tri-Wizard tournament with Beauxbatons
Academy of Magic from France, and Durmstang Institute from northern
Europe. Champions from each school will compete in a total of three
tasks, and the winner will win the prestigious Tri-Wizard Cup. The
champion for Beauxbatons is Miss Fleur Delacour, Viktor Krum for
Durmstang, and our very own Cedric Diggory for Hogwarts. There are
usually only three champions. However, for a mysterious unknown
reason, a fourth champion was chosen by the magical Goblet of Fire.
The fourth Hogwarts champion is Harry Potter."
"W-wait a minute..." Ranma blinked. "You mean I have to go into this
Tri-Wizard Tournament and win?"
"Hopefully, you would not have to, hopefully I would find a way to
send you back into your proper body. No offense, of course,"
Dumbledore smiled. "But just in case we fail to find a solution
before the tournament, I would suggest that you see if you can use
magic, or if Harry's magic is bound to his soul and not his body. I'm
afraid I do not have any answers, this has simply never happened
before. I assume from your introduction that you have no experience
in using magic?"
"No," Ranma shook his head. "Magic's caused nothing but trouble for me,
it even turns me into a girl half the time. Why would I want to learn
magic?"
"Well, I daresay the magic you'll learn here is mostly harmless, and
please do consider learning it for Harry's sake. You see, he's
something of a media sensation because of his defeat of Voldemort when
he was a baby, and now he's dubbed the "Boy-Who-Lived." I'm sure he,
as well as I, would appreciate it if try to keep up appearances,"
Dumbledore smiled again, this time with a twinkle in his eyes. "And
it is possible that you may learn something of magic that would help
you with your gender-changing problem."
Ranma's eyes immediately shone. "Really? Well, alright. I suppose I
can deal with magic."
"Fantastic," Dumbledore replied. "Now, I must ask you to at least try
and pretend to be Harry. There are four Houses in Hogwarts, Gryffindor
signifies courage, Hufflepuff loyalty, Ravenclaw intelligence and
Slytherin ambition. Harry is in Gryffindor and therefore courageous,
but he is also very loyal to his friends, although somewhat timid in
other ways. Miss Granger, the witch who accompanied you here, is one
of his best friends."
"Alright," Ranma sighed. "Fine, I'll try my best."
"Very well. Oh, I suppose you should know what you currently look like
at the moment," Dumbledore waved his wand and conjured a mirror out of
thin air, and passed it to Ranma.
"Wow... my hair sucks," Ranma ran a hand through the unruly black hair,
trying in vain to make it look as he wished, when he parted his hair
just enough to see the lightning scar on his forehead. "What's with the
weird scar?"
"That is the scar that was created when Voldemort's Killing Curse was
rebounded back to him. It is how even people on the street can
recognize Harry, it is a distinct mark."
"Man, this sucks," Ranma tossed the mirror onto the table in
frustration. "My hair sucks, I have a scar on my head, and I'm not even
half as good-looking as I was before."
Dumbledore chuckled. "Well, Mister Saotome, or I should start calling
you Harry to get you used to the name, today is Sunday, the last day
of the weekend. You would probably want to take today to relax and
get to know the school and your friends better. Miss Granger can help
you with writing out your schedule. I would suggest you keep your
identity a secret from everyone, although I suppose you would not be
able to hide it from Miss Granger."
Ranma shrugged. "I don't care if I get found out, but whatever," he
said as he left the room.
-------------------------------------------------------
"Why're you speaking English, baka!" Akane kicked at Harry's sides
again, only to have Harry cry out in pain and try to shield himself
with his hands.
Who are you? Where am I? Why are you hitting me? Why does my
voice sound different? Harry fired off a series of questions in
succession.
That only served to anger Akane further. "Fine, be like that!"
she stormed off after kicking Harry one last time.
"You've done it this time, Saotome," Nabiki smirked as she passed
by the room after Akane stormed off.
I'm sorry, Harry said as he got up, rubbing his sides gingerly.
I don't understand what you're saying.
Where did you learn to speak English so well, Saotome? Nabiki
asked in fluent, but accented, English.
I've always spoken English, Harry looked at Nabiki with a
quizzical look on his face. What is this... Saotome?
I'm talking about you, Saotome Ranma, Nabiki answered, annoyed.
You know, my time is precious and I don't have the time to waste
with you.
I'm going to school, Saotome, she said as she turned and walked
away. You can come if you're done pretending to be someone else.
Harry weighed the possibilities in his mind. He didn't know whatever
language they were speaking, but a school has a lot of people and there
might be someone there who would believe him.
Okay, lead the way, he nodded.
Nabiki shook his head. It was better for her to take Ranma to school
today, at this rate Akane would kill him before they ever get to school
and she'd lose money if someone was insane enough to bet on Kuno
winning their inevitable fight.
So what is this place? Harry asked as they were on their way to
school.
I suggest you either stop this game or shut up, Nabiki answered,
gritting her teeth in frustration. Or I swear I'll make your life
miserable.
Harry decided to shut up after that.
-------------------------------------
"Hold, Saotome. What business do you have with the fair mercenary
Nabiki Tendo?" Kuno challenged as he spots Harry and Nabiki walking to
school together. "Do you seek to ensnare another maiden in your
crutches?"
Err... I'm sorry, Harry backed away from the bokken being pointed at
him. I don't understand what you're saying. Can you speak in
English?
"Foul lies!" Kuno cried as he swiped his weapon through the air. "You
dare to pretend you do not understand the Blue Thunder?"
Err... can you not do that? Harry pointed at the bokken.
"You wish to confuse the Blue Thunder with your grasp of a trivial foreign language? Have at thee!"
Kuno took a swing at Harry, who barely managed to get out of the way.
Hey! Why did you attack me?
Instead of replying, Kuno answered with a series of quick stabs with
the bokken, and Harry surprised himself by being able to dodge most of
it. However, several strikes got through and cut him on the arm and
his sides.
Stop that! Harry jumped back away from Kuno. I don't want to fight
you!
"Aha!" Kuno declared triumphantly. "The evil sorcerer is admitting
defeat! Today is the day I shall vanquish the cur and free my two
loves!"
"Have at thee!" he cried as he unleashed seemingly futile strikes as
he stood out of reach.
Harry's senses alerted him to danger, but he didn't know how to react
to something he couldn't see and was hit by every attack, the last
burst of air hitting him in the chest and sending him flying several
feet back, landing on his back with a loud thud.
"Aha! The foul sorcerer finally fell before the great Blue Thunder of
Furinkan High!" the kendoist declared as he posed triumphantly. "Now
I shall seek out my fiery tigress so she can profess her love to me!"
As he ran into the school, hushed whispers and murmurs began all
around the school, about the thorough thrashing Ranma received at the
hands of Kuno.