Disclaimer: Do you really think I'd be writing fanfiction if I owned either Ranma 1/2 or Harry Potter?

Chapter 9

Sometime after she had introduced Shampoo to the trio and her Aunt, Ranma was once more wandering the halls. As it was very late at night, Ranma had taken a chance and turned male. He smiled at the things that she had told Shampoo and wondered how long his adopted sister and great-grandmother would be here.

Ranma shook his head as he remembered something that had happened not long after her first demonstration in her new class.

Flashback

"Where am I now!" a loud, frustrated voice wondered. Ranma's ears perked up and she walked over.

"Ryouga?" Ryouga looked up as he heard his name, and saw a small redheaded girl approaching him. He recognized her as the same cat-like girl that he had met before. "Ranma? Am I back at that school in Scotland?"

Ranma smiled slightly and nodded. "Yes, you are back at Hogwarts. Did you ever find the Tendo Dojo?"

Ryouga nodded. "Yeah, eventually. Kasumi was nice about it, and she didn't yell at me for not being on time. She just said she was glad when I came around, because she had someone to talk to."

Ranma tilted her head in confusion. "Who's Kasumi? She seems like a nice girl."

Ryouga nodded in agreement. "Yeah, she's helping me by listening when I need to tell about my problems. She doesn't mind me using her to vent, and she likes to be able to tell me about some of the things that are going on around Nerima."

Ranma hmm-ed in understanding and grabbed him by the arm so he wouldn't wander off before she finished talking with him. "Sounds nice. So what kind of strange things happen there?"

Ryouga shrugged and casually answered. "Oh, just some weird stuff. Her family has a guest, a friend of her father's, and he seems to bring some excitement. The last time I was there, I got a chance to talk to him." Ryouga paused as he watched Ranma, who didn't seem to be focusing fully on him as he spoke and decided to take a risk. "Do you have a panda for a father, Ranma?"

Ranma froze as the meaning of the question sunk in, and then she narrowed her eyes in fury. "No, I don't. I have no father." She turned and half dragged Ryouga to an empty room.

Ryouga smirked at the rise he had gotten, though he was also trying hard not to wince too obviously. Ranma had a strong grip. "I recognized Genma easily enough, and he told all about how his worthless son had abandoned him. I could tell he was lying about most of what he said, but I also remembered something that he seemed to think was true."

Ryouga reached out and grabbed Ranma's shoulder, forcing her to face him. "Genma told me that his son received a mixed curse, that he was no longer completely human. He also said that he turned into a redheaded girl."

Ranma's anger slowly drained away, and she pulled away to sit on a nearby chair. "It's funny. I didn't think Genma could tell the truth about anything."

Ryouga sank down in front of the dejected girl, watching as her ears drooped and her tail lay unmoving. "Kasumi helped me work through a lot of my anger, and she told me that maybe if I got the full story from you, I would feel better."

Ranma sighed softly. "Alright. You deserve to know." She got up and closed and locked the door to the classroom. Ranma also silently asked Hogwarts to make sure that no one could hear or see anything in this room. Finally, she turned back to Ryouga. "Where should I start?"

Ryouga considered the question for a moment before he answered. "Start after I challenged you."

Ranma nodded in agreement. "Alright. I was still fully male and human at the time." With that, Ranma became male. Her chest flattened out and hair darkened until a male Ranma with tail and ears stood there. Then, the tail shrank and disappeared, the ears changed to a human's, and pupils became more rounded.

Ryouga watched the change in fascination. "You can change at will? How?"

Ranma smiled slightly. "I'll get to that. You see, I waited for three days in that lot for you to come. Genma became impatient and finally knocked me out and dragged me away to China. Since he never bothered to learn Chinese, Genma didn't know that Jusenkyo was a valley of cursed springs. All he saw was 'dangerous' and 'training ground'. He has a history of stupid mistakes, so perhaps it wasn't so surprising.

"Anyway, I managed to dunk Genma first. He came out and knocked me into another spring, where I changed into a girl." His form shrunk once more, and soon a female Ranma stood there, still human thought Ryouga thought there was something strange with her nails and a couple other things.

"I came out, and I was of course furious. I went back to fight Genma some more, and he knocked me into another spring, where I gained my cat-like looks." Another transformation, and Ranma was as she had been for some time, cat-like and female.

"The guide explained that the curse was undone with hot water, but when he dumped hot water over my head, I was no longer human." Ranma changed to male once more, though he kept the cat-like features.

"I was furious, and for once Genma was smart enough to haul his fat butt out of there. I decided that I had had enough. I took most of the useful things out of both our packs and set off away from there. I haven't used the Saotome name since, and I don't intend to. Genma dragged it through the mud, and I don't think it will ever be clean again."

Ryouga shook himself at the end of the story. "Wow. No wonder you abandoned him. I would have done the same thing." He paused a moment as he studied him. "Can you change back to how you looked human?"

Ranma blinked, but he soon changed until he was human once more. Ryouga studied him for a moment, trying to figure out what bothered him. Finally, he figured it out. "I think you're shorter than you were. Either that, or I grew more than I thought, but I don't think that's it."

Ranma smiled slightly in amusement. "No, I shrank. Not much, but I did. Maybe when I can go all the way human, it'll change, but I don't know."

Ryouga shook his head in confusion. "What do you mean? You seem all the way human now."

Ranma shook his head and started to explain. "I can't go fully human just yet, but Auntie Min says I'm close. In the meantime, I can pass for human, but not actually be human." He held up a hand. "I still have claws, I think my teeth are still sharper than most humans, I'm shorter than I used to be, and my night vision is the same as when I'm cat-like."

Ryouga considered all of this and realized it was true. "Did you shrink when you became cat-like? Are you shorter when you have cat features than you are when you don't?" he asked to clarify the question.

Ranma laughed quietly. "Yes, I'm a little shorter. Not much, but I am. It took some getting used to at first when I realized that my girl side isn't supposed to be quite as short as it is." He shrunk down into his female form, and Ryouga saw that she was almost a foot shorter than when she was male. Then she became cat-like once more and, now that he was looking for it, Ryouga realized that she did indeed shrink slightly when she became more cat-like.

Ranma sighed somewhat wearily and sank down onto the floor. Ryouga frowned slightly. "What's wrong?"

Ranma shook her head. "I'm not used to changing so much in such a short amount of time. It tires me out somewhat."

Ryouga nodded. It made a certain amount of sense. He sighed. "Well, I should be going soon. Kasumi will expect me in a few days, and I don't want to disappoint her."

Ranma grinned. "So, are you going to ask her out anytime soon?"

Ryouga's face turned bright red in embarrassment. "Um…well…that is…"

Ranma's grin widened at the stammering. "What? You obviously like her. Maybe you could even bring her here. She seems like she would like an adventure of some kind."

Ryouga's blush darkened. "I'm not sure. I mean, she's a friend…"

Ranma shrugged. "So? You don't have to make it an official date or something. Who knows, she might say yes." Ranma paused a moment to enjoy Ryouga's continued embarrassment, but sighed in resignation as she realized something else. "Whenever you get back to the Tendo Dojo, would you mind passing along a message to Genma?"

Ryouga instantly forgot his embarrassment. "I thought you didn't want anything to do with him."

Ranma shrugged lightly. "If I can make the bastard suffer, then I will. So, will you?"

Ryouga nodded reluctantly. "All right. But this better be good. I always feel like washing after I talk to the panda."

Ranma snickered softly. "Right. Anyway, tell him that I have a new teacher. Don't tell him what for, just tell him that. Also tell him that I have become better than he ever was in a school in Scotland. Don't tell him what the school teaches though."

Ryouga nodded. "Oh, that will be worth it. The bastard will come running to tell you all about how worthless you are, and you get to rub it in his face. I like it." Ranma just laughed. Half a world away, a fat man called Genma shivered as he felt that something was going to happen that he would not like at all.

End Flashback

Ranma had finally managed to drag Ryouga to the Headmaster's office. The man had seemed slightly surprised to see them, but Ranma simply told him that she had run into Ryouga. She told the headmaster that he had mentioned something about being able to do something about Ryouga's curse. Unsurprisingly, Ryouga had been ecstatic.

Ranma smiled to himself. Bumblebee-san had scanned Ryouga with his magic, and determined that, while he could not get rid of the curse completely, he could make it so that Ryouga would be able to get somewhere if he concentrated enough. Unfortunately, it would take some time to set up.

Flashback

Ryouga just shrugged and said, "If there is any possibility of changing my curse, I will be forever in your debt. If I have to wait until the next time I find my way here, I can. In the meantime, I can go tell Kasumi about it and maybe the rest of my family."

Ranma nodded. "If you can get her to lead you home, maybe you could tell your mom and she could try to snag your father. I'm sure they'd both be happy if you could find some way of at least changing the curse."

Ryouga snorted. "Yeah, my parents are definitely missing each other. Dad sends postcards home to mom, and every time I manage to get home she lets me read them."

Ranma snorted in amusement. "Well, at least your curse has one advantage." Ryouga looked at her, confused. "You don't have to pay for a world tour, you could just take a walk in the neighborhood and be across the world in seconds."

Ryouga growled in mock annoyance. "Whatever. You're just jealous."

Ranma snickered. "At least your wife would be happy with the honeymoon. Especially if she was the type who wanted to travel the world."

Ryouga opened his mouth to retort, but paused as the words registered. Kasumi often said she'd love to be able to travel, but her family didn't have enough money. She was a really good friend, and if he helped her pick out some camping gear, he was sure she would be happy to travel with him. Then he realized that Ranma had said 'honeymoon' and his mind caught up slightly. 'Honeymoon is after wedding and wedding night. Wedding night is…' His thoughts trailed off, and suddenly all Ryouga saw was blackness.

Ranma was slightly concerned. Ryouga had been about to say something, but then froze up. He had a slightly goofy look on his face, and then that, too, froze. Now he was flat on his back, unconscious. "Ryouga? You all right? Hey, Ryouga!"

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. "Do you know what happened, Ranma? He seemed fine a moment ago."

Ranma shook his head. "No, not unless it was something I…said…" Ranma trailed off as she considered it. Then she slapped a hand against her forehead. "Same old Ryouga. I forgot about that."

Dumbledore raised his other eyebrow. "Ranma? Care to explain?"

Ranma laughed softly. "Ryouga is almost notoriously shy around girls. If there is a girl he likes, he tends to get really embarrassed. He told me about a really nice girl in Japan that he knows. From the way he spoke, she seems to do some amateur counseling. It's obvious that he likes her, but he probably hasn't said anything." Ranma shook her head softly. "Silly boy. He skipped past 'honeymoon' and went straight to what comes before it."

End Flashback

Ranma snickered softly to himself. By the time Ryouga had woken up and managed to set off for Japan, he was still looking slightly goofy. Ranma had worried slightly when he ran into a wall, and took him outside so at least he could avoid that. Even so, Ranma had followed for a while and Ryouga's trail looked like he was drunk or high.

> > > > > > >

AN: I had fun with this chapter. I said at some point that I would probably include a pairing that I haven't seen very often. To be honest, I only remember one other story with this pairing, but I liked the idea. Ryouga needs someone who will accept him without hesitation, and Kasumi really needs to get out more often. As Ranma pointed out in this chapter, Ryouga can take a world tour by walking down the street. Believe it or not, I do like Ryouga. He's just too easy to mock. Besides, when haven't you read some point in a story where Ryouga gets a nosebleed from the mere thought of intimacies of any kind?

As a side note, what element do you think Ranma could be associated with? I think fire would fit him the best, personally. It's not really important, but it is something I'm curious about. I might use it at some point, whether it's in this story or not, I don't know.

And now, Review Responses.

Masked Critic: To be honest, I never thought about Tonks. I don't know her very well, but I do like the idea. Any chance you could give me a review telling a bit about her? If I decide to put that pairing in this story, some information about her would be really appreciated.

Slade13: Thanks for the support, but there is something I'm curious about. Who are the 'dillweed duo'? If it's something obvious, then I'm sorry, but I haven't a clue.

dana-san: I know the nickname thing seems strange, but if you think about it, he has a similar habit in canon. It just doesn't go with the 'forgetting their real name' so much. Think about it. He calls Ryouga 'P-chan', Akane is mostly 'Tomboy' or some variation, and he calls Cologne 'Old Ghoul' for the most part. Admittedly, this is usually used to piss them off more than show respect, but he still does it.

Choas Babe: One, I'm not stereotyping redheads. I know that some of us have a temper like flame. I also know that there are some that take a lot more than most people bother to throw before they lose their tempers.

And about the curse, I seem to have generated a lot of debate with this one. Here's an idea, though. As I pointed out to someone, being a girl probably wouldn't be a very noticeable change for Malfoy. I wonder if I should do something like have him be hit with Instant Ferret or something. Then when he starts to relax again, hit him with Instant Girl and see how long it takes him to notice.

Dragon Man 180: I may have to have the Giant Squid introduced to exotic cuisine. Or make a certain panda think that the Squid be interested. This has possibilities. As you can see, Ryouga did show up. I don't know when he will come back but as I said before, he will have a part in this story. And maybe next time he will bring Kasumi. I don't know. I haven't gotten that far yet.

TheCentauress: I don't know if Shampoo is a cat animagus or not. If she is, I may have to find images of her cat form on the web somewhere. Best way I can think of to bring it back without cursing her again, which I see no point in doing. And do you realize that your 'cat-chase' comment did? It gave me this idea where Ranma finds catnip in the Greenhouse! I need to work on it some more, and I may or may not actually post it.