The soft mattress and silky sheets were normally tempting in and of themselves, but the fact that the buxom young maiden had draped the sheets tantalizingly over her assets made his bed all the more tempting.
"You know, I've seen you completely naked before," Ranma said as he quickly disrobed.
Akane simply smiled at him seductively as she slowly peeled away the bedsheet to reveal her perky breast and erect nipple.
"We shouldn't," he muttered even though he found himself enthralled by her. "We're not married yet."
"You don't have to do anything," she said as she reached out and hooked a finger into his pants and pulled him the rest of the way into his bed.
Cold water splashed him in the face, drenching his bed and waking him from his slumber. He did not have to open his eyes to know that he'd merely dreamed that Akane had attempted to seduce him. The real Akane Tendo would never had done anything like that, though he could not help but hope that she might be open to it someday.
Resetting the charm, for a moment Ranma actually missed his old man. Though Genma had questionable morals and methods, he had kept Ranma from succumbing to his lusts. It had not been until Ranma had encountered Happosai that he understood why his father did what he did whenever he sensed intense feelings of lust emanating from Ranma. Years of training under Happosai had exposed Genma Saotome and Soun Tendo to the darker side of that basic emotion to the point that both men reacted instinctively when they felt someone radiating lust. Splashing him with water was done not only to wake him, but to help purify the young martial artist and remove his feelings of lust.
With a wave of his hand his mattress, sheets, and blanket were suddenly dry and the bucket overhead was filled with room temperature water. Grumbling, he quickly stripped and redressed in a silky white kimono.
Since returning to Nerima after the decade long training trip with his old man, sleep had been elusive. The challenges that a teenage boy faced were nothing compared to Ranma's troubles. It did not help that Shampoo and Kodachi tried their hardest to, well, get him hard. It was a stark contrast to Akane though who resented even the thought of anyone entertaining any lustful thoughts or desires. Somehow the old letch managed to avoid triggering Akane, though he'd had centuries of dealing with escaping from angry women.
The Misogi was only a temporary fix and did nothing to alleviate the problem. In their trip to the west Happosai had suggested purification as a means to dealing with his teenaged hormones. It was a stop gap measure, not a fix all, as only the greatest of master martial artists stayed celibate. Even then they did so by removing themselves from temptation rather than conquering their desires.
Shaking his head, Ranma knew that he needed to clear his mind of any unnecessary thoughts before he stepped into the special bath. With the Headmaster's permission a special stairwell had been built connecting his personal chambers to an underground waterfall. The descent itself took ten minutes but the climb back would take him half an hour.
Ranma had insisted that the cavern remain magic free and as natural as possible to retain its purity. As such the chamber was illuminated by hand lit torches rather than ones that were magical. It was not that magic would ruin the purity of the waterfall and pool, but that anyone who used magic in the cavern would find themselves with too much power for their spell.
As much as he disliked wands, Ranma had to admit that they were useful tools. A typical mage could only handle so much power at a time, but wands, staves, and other magical weapons allowed the mage to access more of their reserves. The biggest disadvantage though had been evident in the tests that he'd overseen the previous week as few students had the endurance and wherewithal to keep from exhausting themselves within a few minutes.
Ranma knew that while he was the best, he was not the most powerful. Herb and Saffron had far larger reserves than anyone he personally knew. Ryoga was not in that league but he still had a larger reserve than Ranma.
Many of his so-called rivals back in Nerima had only recently learned to physically manifest their chi, though few had the ability to manipulate mana. In truth Ranma was still a novice as he could not access more than the necessary mana to perform even the most basic of offensive and defensive combat magic and had to rely heavily on spell tags. His transformation tags though were well beyond basic but aided in the fact that he had quickly mastered that branch of magic while researching his curse and possible cures. Fortunately his primary duty was to teach defense. That was something he excelled at.
His destination finally reached he grabbed a bucket and filled it with the cool water before dumping it over his head. The water helped clear his mind while refreshing and invigorating his body as the cavern replenished his mana reserves.
Even with no classes scheduled Ranma knew he had a busy day ahead of him. He let his mind focus on his schedule as he waded further and further into the waist-deep and finally under the chilly waterfall.
He still needed to meet with the goblins who would oversee the sale of the basilisk remains. As there had not been a basilisk reported in Europe in centuries. He had pushed for a quick sale to avoid drawing because he did not want it to interfere with his classes. The remains of a recently killed adult female basilisk and a dozen juveniles would fetch several thousand galleons at least but Ranma was not interested in money.
Beyond the trip to London there was the task of how to weed out the students without making it appear as though he did not want students. Ginny Weasley had been the first to approach him with the request that he take her on as a student, but she had not been the last. There were at least three dozen students, some of whom had ventured into the Chamber of Secrets with him, that were suddenly interested in learning chi magic. It was much more than he was willing to actually take on, but he knew that within their number there were some promising students that might eventually make it as apprentices.
He hoped to avoid the press as well. The little article by Luna Lovegood had only fueled the desire of the ministry and their desire to discredit him and Dumbledore, though he had technically endangered the students by taking them down to the Chamber of Secrets.
With much to do and contemplate, Ranma allowed the cool water to cascade over him, washing away the minor details, distracting thoughts, and nagging feeling that something was brewing beneath the surface.
He was getting used to the dream, to this dream, though he was not sure if that was a good thing. Still, it was just a dream, right? He'd had this dream almost regularly since his trial in the Ministry that he almost wanted to return there. But why would he want to do that?
The familiar passage with its gleaming, polished marble gave way to several portraits of people that he did not recognize. He failed to take note of the portraits though as he was once again fixated on the door. It was not the door from the usual dreams. That door drew him in whereas this door gave him a sense of dread.
The door opened, revealing a roaring fireplace that barely illuminated the room. A central chair before the fire cast long shadows on the row of hooded men.
"This news is most displeasing," a voice proclaimed from the chair. The hooded men shivered despite the warmth that the fire provided. "But what I want to know is why I had to find out from the Quibbler that the Chamber of Secrets had been opened and that the female basilisk and her nest had been wiped out."
"My lord," a daring figure stepped forward from the others. Harry recognized the voice and figure immediately. It was Snape. "I apologize for not informing you sooner."
"Step back Severus," Voldemort ordered. "I was the one that requested that you bring me any information that you had on the new Defense professor. Your assessment of his abilities is interesting but perhaps outdated. If he was able to slay an adult basilisk he should not be taken lightly.
"What I want to know is why your sons and daughters did not think to join the new professor in his adventure into my ancestor's secret chamber? Why did none of them care to report to you that my basilisk had been slain?"
The other men cowered, wishing that they could merge with the shadows.
"My lord," it was Snape again. "The Slytherins had scheduled quidditch tryouts all day today."
"Are all your children Slytherins?" Voldemort demanded. "Travers, you were a Ravenclaw."
"My lord," the man called Travers stepped forward, "my daughter was in Ravenclaw, but she is no longer at Hogwarts."
Harry could feel Tom's anger and frustration.
"It is clear that we must work to recruit more to our side," Voldemort hissed. "Our young snakes need to be reminded that while fun to watch, quidditch is merely a game. They must learn to prioritize. Have your sons and daughters reach out to their peers and create a list of those we may bring over to our cause."
He could feel the relief that the gathered Death Eaters felt.
"Nott," Voldemort called out. "There is the matter of your trip to France."
"Sir."
The Death Eaters closest to him quickly moved aside.
"Crucio!"
Harry woke with a start. He could still feel Tom's anger and frustration, and his head by his scar throbbed.
"Are you alright Harry?" Even in the early light of dawn Harry could see the concern in his best friend's eyes.
"Yeah," he lied, "just reliving my first trip into the Chamber of Secrets." He made to rub his forearm where the basilisk's fang had pierced his skin.
"I almost wish we could have seen Professor Saotome take down the basilisk," Dean yawned as he rolled out of his four poster.
"Did you see his knockers?" Seamus added from behind the curtains of his bed.
Dean whistled. "What'd you suppose happened to her, um, his shirt when he was fighting the basilisk?"
"I thought he had enlarged it to wrap around the basilisk's head," Neville stated as he joined the conversation.
"Do you suppose he kept us in the dark to keep us from seeing his rack or to protect us from the basilisk's gaze?" Dean asked.
"He did say that he didn't have any feminine modesty," Harry added. He was sure that each of the boys had gotten a good view of their professor's female form topless.
"I wish Hermione hadn't been with us," Seamus lamented.
"Too bad someone hadn't thought to bring Collin's camera."
"Why are you blokes up so early?" Harry finally asked. The topic of their sex-changing professor and his rack made Harry feel, well, he wasn't sure how it made him feel as he'd never actually felt this before.
"I wanted to go check out the quidditch tryouts," Seamus replied. "Promised Fay that I'd cheer her on. Let me tell you, she knows how to handle a bat."
"Yeah, when she's on her knees." Seamus threw a pillow at Dean. "I hear she likes something long and hard between her legs too."
"Don't be jealous, mate."
"I've seen you in the bath mate, I ain't got nothing to be jealous of," Dean teased as he tossed the pillow back as his friend. "I like my girls to be a bit taller so I don't have to bend over to snog."
"Just have her sit on your lap mate," Seamus advised.
"Or have her lay on top of you," Neville added.
The other boys all turned to Neville. The once puggy, soft boy was now the tallest of the group surpassing even Dean and Ron (who had been the tallest two back in their first year).
"He was the first one to get a date to the ball last year," Dean pointed out.
Seamus nodded, "And the only one to stay out all night."
Ron eyed Neville, "Ginny said she didn't stay with you the whole night."
The taller boy nodded, "A Ravenclaw in her year started dancing with her. I ended up dancing with Abbott, Bones, and Li."
"You and Li?" Dean exclaimed. "But she's" he put his hand up around the middle of his chest.
"That's why she ends up on top." Seamus gave the shy boy a congratulatory pat on the shoulder.
"We don't ended things over the summer," Neville ceded. "She's in the 'Dumbledore's a fraud' camp and didn't like that I disagreed with her about that."
Harry stole a glance at Seamus and Dean. The former had made his own statements about Harry and Dumbledore a week ago but had since apologized for it. Even having accepted the apology, it was still a sore spot for Harry.
"What's the story with you and Hermione?" Dean asked, quickly shifting the subject.
"What story?" Ron quickly chimed in a bit too forcefully.
"We're just friends," Neville shrugged. "It wasn't until I was with Li that I realized I was just substituting her for Hermione. Hermione and I talked a bit last year when she was with Krum, and we're fine as just friends."
Ron's face quickly relaxed.
"What's with you and Padma?" Dean turned to Ron.
"Nothing," Ron shrugged. "I just apologized to her about wrecking the ball for her last year. She accepted. Besides, she's with Fitch-Finley."
Talk remained on the girls in their year with Dean and Seamus dominating the conversation as they headed down to the baths. Of the girls he knew Cho Chang was the one that his mind always came back to. She'd walked in on him and the others while they'd been covered in stink-sap on the Hogwarts Express. In their first week of school together she seemed preoccupied when they passed each other in the hallways and corridors.
"Neville," Ron said as quietly and discretely as possible.
"Yeah."
"Look mate, I'm sorry."
A perplexed look formed on Neville's face.
"Last year I cracked jokes about how you'd be the only bloke in our year without a date," Ron admitted sheepishly. "Not only was I wrong, but you were the first of us to get a date and you hooked up with Li. I shouldn't have"
Neville held up his hand while giving Ron then Harry an odd look. "You both really thought that?"
Harry and Ron exchanged a quick glance before nodding.
"Well, I don't expect me to apologize for snogging your sister," Neville finally said as he turned around. "But really, you though Crabbe and Goyle would get dates before me?"
The second week of classes began with much anticipation as the eager and impressionable students hoping for answers. Some of them had endured a grueling morning of training as they sought to endure his weeding out process. Said process had involved the students carrying two buckets of water from the lake to the top of one of the towers and filling a room turned reservoir with water, all without the aid of magic or magical tools. To their credit half of the perspective students had made it their second trip before giving up. By the time breakfast was beginning to be served only a handful remained – Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Su Li, Theodore Nott, and Helen Monroe.
Word of the grueling morning training had not dampened the spirits of the regular students though. While some wished to know the details of how he dispatched the basilisk or about his curse, the half hour of stretching quickly silenced them. Each class breezed by quickly though not quick enough for some exhausted students.
He was pleasantly surprised when the three fifth years, fourth year, and second year all returned on Tuesday, then Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday as he'd ordered them to not use magic or any magical potions to alleviate the soreness in their muscles.
Unfortunately Friday's classes were not destined to be like the rest as Delores Umbridge had finally notified him that she would begin inspection of his classes and teaching methods. Fridays were dedicated to the fifth years with Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw in the morning, and Gryffindor/Slytherin in the afternoon.
Meals at the staff table had been tense over the past week as the High Inquisitor had chosen a different day to sit in with each professor. The first victim had been the divination professor. Little had been said of her classes as the divination professor rarely ever appeared at the daily meals. The second victim what Professor Bins. It had been said that the ghost had not even bothered to notice the High Inquisitor and simply lectured the entire period, then again, that was what he'd always done.
There was an anxious energy in the air as he walked towards his classroom. Some of the other professors watched as he left the great hall, most choosing instead to focus on their own classes or plans for the weekend.
The large classroom was on the opposite side of the castle from his chambers, though an adjacent room served as his office. Deactivating the seal on the rooms he eyed it curiously. Someone had attempted to access his office without permission, triggering the first of the defensive spells he'd placed on the door.
"Good work Martin."
To the outside world the trespasser appeared to be trapped in a sphere of darkness. In reality they were bound in an illusion. Martin was a master of illusions, having captured many prey and predators, while avoiding having to directly confront either. For such a small creature it was crafty.
*Let her go,* he ordered, reverting to his native tongue. She would wake up thinking that she'd simply been unable to enter his office and had tried everything. Simple, effective, and believable made the illusion believable.
"Ms. Umbridge," he said once she was out of the illusion.
She spun around and tried to quickly collect herself, "Professor Saotome."
Placing his hand on the door he waited for the seal and the rope to appear before infusing it with mana and triggering the door to open. "I just want to be clear – your role here is to observe my class, correct?"
"That is correct." The muscles in her cheeks suggested that she was used to faking a sincere smile just as she was doing now. Her eyes had a spark of anger and resentment as a result of the humiliation he'd already piled on her.
Shrugging, he entered his classroom as the first of the fifth years appeared at the end of the hallway. Desks lined the walls in a horseshoe leaving only the front of the classroom and the center of the room clear save for some floor mats. A wooden mannequin stood at the front of the class. "If you wish to observe, please, stand over there."
The classroom filled quickly. Unlike the Gryffindors and Slytherins, the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs had no qualms about sharing desks or sitting near each other. With a few minutes to spare all of the students had taken a seat, some opening their books and scrolls in preparation of his lecture.
"Since you're all here I'll start early," he stated. A quick roll call verified that they were all there. "As you can see, Delores Umbridge, the Hogwarts High Inquisitor, will be observing our class today. Please, pay her no attention as she is only here to observe.
"After testing you lot last week I now have a better understanding of what you are all capable of." His uninvited guest began to hem and haw in an attempt to draw his attention. "I'm glad that you got my note that you wear something comfortable for class as you will be active.
"Now, what can you tell me about shielding spells?"
Padma raised her hand and waited for him to acknowledge her.
"Miss Patil."
"Shielding charms are used to protect oneself from offensive spells." It was not the textbook definition, but his had not been the textbook question.
"Correct – two points."
She beamed at him. "I know that you lot know how to cast a shield charm, but do you know why the shield charm does not protect you from all spells?"
No one raised their hands, though the High Inquisitor began to hem and haw at him.
"It's because the shield charm, is a low level spell. It is great at deflecting hexes and jinxes, and minor curses, but the shield charm is not designed to counter powerful magic, merely deflect low level magic.
"Did you know that if I threw this ball hard enough, it could break through a standard shield charm?" he held up the rubber racket ball. "Miss Li, you threw up some nice shield charms, would you stand over there?"
Su got up and moved to the center of the room. "Go ahead, cast it."
"Protago!"
He threw the ball casually then rushed to the back of the room to catch the ball.
Several gasps filled the room. "You just Disapparated!"
"I thought you couldn't do that in Hogwarts!"
He cleared his throat, silencing his students. "I did not Disapparate, I ran to the back of the room to catch the ball once I felt it break through Miss Li's shield charm. You felt it too, did you not Miss Li?"
She nodded.
From the back of the class he could see that even Delores was startled, though she really wanted to interrupt his lesson. "I'm sure that you've all heard that the strength of your spells varies, but there is a limit to what each spell can and cannot endure. I'd say that Miss Li's shield could take me tossing this ball at 140 km/hour. Good thing I threw this at roughly 160km/hour. Had this ball hit her it would have hurt, but it wouldn't have injured her.
"Mr. Finch-Finley, you had a good leg-locker curse, would you please try that spell against Miss Li's shield charm?"
It was a common curse that even the second years could casually throw around. As expected the curse (a blue streak) rebounded from the shield charm.
"Clearly the force behind Mr. Finch-Finley's leg-locker curse was not greater than the ball I threw," he surmised. "You can see that it did not travel as fast as the ball either. Also, notice that each shield charm can only take one hit regardless of the power of the spell."
The spent the rest of the class discussing the merits of the shield charm versus summoning something to provide physical cover, and then he had half the class throwing balls at the other as they cast shield charms. By the end of the second hour the class was exhausted.
"I want thirty centimeters on shield charms and how much force your shield charm can endure."
Once the students were finally out of the classroom the High Inquisitor turned on him. "Why did you ignore me?"
"You said you were here to observe," he replied. "You did not say that you were going to interrupt my class."
Affronted she tried to puff her chest in some sort of intimidation display, something completely lost to Ranma due to her diminutive stature and his lack of knowledge in regards to English body language. To him it was a toad puffing itself up.
"Now, if you have objections about my class, this is the time for you to voice those concerns."
For the second time since the start of the term Ranma found himself standing before the Headmaster, the Minister of Magic, and two aurors. Everything was the same as before, except for the fact that rather than speaking in the Headmaster's office they were in the Defense classroom. The remains of desks were strewn throughout the room, papers were everywhere, and a bizarre creature lay unconscious on the ground.
"In my defense," he began, "I had clearly asked the High Inquisitor if she was only going to observe my class. She replied that that was it. I proceeded to conduct my class just as I had my earlier class but when I threw the ball to test Mr. Potter's shield charm Ms. Umbridge decided to spell the ball."
"I'm sure that Mr. Potter provoked her," the Minister muttered.
"Miss Granger quickly cast a shield charm which deflected the ball, and sent it crashing into a pile of paper."
"Who is it that your ball smashed through Miss Li's shield charm but not Miss Grangers?" Dumbledore asked curiously.
"Well, I aimed the ball to hit Mr. Potter's shield, then Delores' spell changed the trajectory and finally there were the two shield spells that the ball bounced off of. I'm guessing that she meant it as a distraction so that she could grab hold of my spellbook.
"My question is why did Delores feel the need to pick up my spellbook? I'd clearly left the book on my desk but she decided to grab my spellbook. The book obviously has enchantments on it to prevent people not associated with me from stealing it. It was the book that transformed her" he glanced at the thing that would put even Taro to shame "into that."
"And the students?"
Ranma shrugged, "Once she caught her reflection she panicked. Most of the students panicked when they saw her. The Slytherins started shooting off spells at her when she charged at them. I don't think she realized how big she is or that her current form has skin like a giant's because their spells bounced off of her and hit other students.
"I tried to subdue her as peacefully as I could" he stressed his acting skills while also playing on the fact that he was not a native English speaker "but her hide is pretty durable." He'd lost track of the number of punches that he had landed or the number of times he had to break a desk over her head (multiple times). "It's a good thing that Mr. Longbottom managed to trip her up with that stink-sap."
He waited has the men before him contemplated his side of the story. In her current state, Delores was not able to communicate with them. Her current form also made it hard to assess the extent of her superficial injuries.
"Can you undo the spell?" Dumbledore finally asked.
"It's a protective spell on the book. Since the book is destroyed she'll have to bear the brunt of the curse until she can purify herself." He shrugged. It was a lie, but they didn't know that. She wouldn't even need to take a good bath and wash off all of the magical ink to undo the curse that turned her into blend of grendal/qulin/Yiren mix as the combined effects of the packets of instant magical water would last only a week under the right conditions. If it had been him it would have only lasted a day as his own curse did not work well with the temporary curse/cures.
"Purify?" Minister Fudge repeated.
"It's not about her atoning for what she did," Ranma replied. "The ink used in the spell is reacting to her now, and the only way to undo the curse is to purify her."
"Wouldn't the Mandrake Restorative Draught restore her?" Professor Dumbledore suggested.
Ranma shook his head, "She needs to remove the ink or else every time she is splashed with cold water she'll transform."
Fudge was hesitant to look at Delores, "I don't see any ink."
"The ink is magical," he explained. "She just needs to sit under a waterfall and purify herself."
Though skeptical, Dumbledore nodded, "You are the expert in eastern magic and curses."
"How can she purify herself?" the Minister asked finally.
"She'll need a waterfall, a natural one," Ranma explained. He was doing his best not to break out laughing. "She'll have to stand under a natural waterfall for a week without the aid of any magic."
Seeing the disbelieving look in the Minister's eyes Ranma knew that he needed to sell this idea, "It's very common way to remove a curse, though the more powerful the curse the longer one will have to stay in the water to purify themselves. But that's assuming that she wants to purify herself."
They other men looked at him, then at Delores as she lay on the floor.
"Plus, her transformation destroyed her outfit," he pointed to the shredded remains of her pink outfit. The two aurors failed to repress a shudder at the thought of a naked Umbridge. The Minister of Magic clearly paled, though the Headmaster quickly conjured a curtain to drape over the cursed High Inquisitor.
"It seems that I will need to appoint her an aide," Fudge finally ceded. "Delores will need time to recover, and purify."
"Might I suggest someone that doesn't dislike children?" Ranma interjected. "She seemed like she couldn't even tolerate being around them."
The great hall was abuzz with gossip as word of the disastrous Defense class spread throughout the student body.
"Is it true that Umbridge turned into a kappa?"
"It was worse than a kappa – I think she turned into a gorgon."
"I didn't see," Lisa Turpin stated. "All I saw was movement from my side and then I was run over by whatever it was that Umbridge turned into."
"She had ten arms," Ron shuddered. "I thought spiders were bad…."
"Did she really take out half the class?" George (or was it Fred?) asked.
Harry nodded.
"Wicked!" Fred whistled.
"I think I need to start carrying a camera around," Dean said with a glance at Colin. "Mum tends to believe most of what I tell her, but this is just unbelievable. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't been there myself."
"I've never heard of that kind of spell!" Hermione exclaimed as she slammed her book down.
"Watch it!" Ron pouted. "You nearly spilled my juice!"
Lavender chuckled in amusement.
"Not everything is in the books we have here," Parvati stated. "You forget that we're only used to dealing with common English magic. Professor Saotome's magic is like nothing we've experienced but that doesn't mean that it's not possible."
"That's not what's bothering me," Hermione huffed. "What I want to know is how he is able to do what he does. It's a system of magic that is completely contrary to what we know, using different processes and steps than we do. Doesn't that interest you?"
The other girls looked at her curiously.
"Are you sure you're in the right house?" Ron teased. "I see where you're coming from Hermione, but some of us have enough trouble figuring out wand style of magic that we don't have the energy to consider another path of magic."
"She's got a point little brother," Fred said as he eyed Hermione. "The stuff that we've produced can't even compare to what Professor Saotome can do with a bit of paper, but I'm guessing that it's not as easy as he makes it look."
"Right," George agreed. "Still, if we could see the steps he takes to get the results he gets, and we can incorporate it into our products; we'd be raking in the galleons."
Parvati gave the twins an appraising look. "When we were on the Hogwarts Express, Professor Saotome said something about the magic that had caused the springs being 'God level' magic. He said that he couldn't turn us into regular guys or the same copy of a guy because it would infringe on some copyright issues that a joke shop out east has the rights to."
"That's why he turned us into male versions of ourselves," Lavender added. "Otherwise we'd have all looked alike."
"So I would have had a nice set of knockers if I'd been born a girl," George sighed. Seeing the look his twin gave him George shrugged. "Don't you think they were pretty nice Hermione?"
The bushy haired genius blushed as she fumbled with her book and tried to hide behind it. "Yeah, you know you were jealous."
A/N
As mentioned in the fic, there were hundreds of springs of drowned girl. The one that Ranma fell into just happened to be one of the closest to the edge of the valley. A young Herb likely went to the closest spring and thus the monkey that he captured turned out to look like Ranma.
Dreamingfox