Magi Ranger

by Tenstar12

Betrayed by the world he had given his all to save, Harry finds himself cast into the void. With some help Harry ends up in another dimension, but in classic Harry Potter fashion gets himself into trouble almost immediately. Can he make his way in this strange world he finds himself in where giant monster attacks are a daily occurrence and hardly anything is familiar? AU Harry, MOD

6. Chapter 6

Magi Ranger

By: Tenstar12

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Power Rangers.

Chapter 6, In Which Harry Gets Thrown Around a Lot

'Alright Potter, think!' Harry's thoughts raced as he climbed to his feet. 'It's just me against a bunch of bad guys, just like the Death Eaters back home. So treat this just like back then. I don't have a wand, so I'll need to use Battle Rhythm. It also wouldn't hurt to even the numbers a bit, so Transfiguration and Animation. And I need to do something about that toad's disappearing act. Tracking charm then. Right! Get to it.'

With a deep breath, Harry settled into a wide stance and started reaching for his magic again. If he had had a wand, or any focus really, it would have made the entire thing easier. A focus acted as a direct link to a wizard's magic and allowed almost instantaneous casting with the proper incantations and wand movements. Wandless magic on the other hand lacked that handy bridge, forcing the magic user to actively pull their magic up to the surface before it could be manifested in the spells.

Naturally, this was a problem if one was in a fast paced fight for one's life.

Moody and Dumbledore had, of course, taught Harry to use magic without a wand, but they also knew that he would most often use the skill after being disarmed during a battle. Without the speed granted by a wand, even the most powerful of wizards could lose to a comparatively weaker one of similar skill simply because they can cast more spells than the wandless one can respond to. The answer to this problem, created by a war wizard centuries before, was a technique of magical combat known as Battle Rhythm and had been the next logical step for Harry's education in magical combat.

The technique called for the user to have a deep connection to their magic that would allow them to manipulate it on a far greater level than most could ever imagine. The magic would then be caused to "bounce" as it were, rising and falling on its own and allowing the caster to use wandless magic with impunity, though the strength of the spells were determined by the height of the surge at the time of the casting. The more one trained in the technique and the better one got at it the faster the surges came and went, thus increasing the tempo of the "rhythm." It was an exhausting technique though, leaving the user physically drained after the surges were allowed to stop, and was best used only when in dire situations or vastly outnumbered.

Kind of like Harry was right now.

Another side effect of Battle Rhythm was that it brought a glowing aura into existence around the user that grew and shrank in time with the surges of magic. If the opponent knew about the technique it made it somewhat easier for them to predict when you would cast. If the opponent didn't know about it, it made for a somewhat intimidating light show.

So it was that as Harry reached down to his magic and gave it a thrum as if springing a giant rubber band, Rita's forces opposite him recoiled slightly when he was immediately surrounded by a bright light that pulsed and receded every second or so.

The Terror Toad in particular had trouble as it managed to stumble and fall to its back in a reflexive attempt to get away. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Harry send a silent and colorless tracking charm to tag the downed monster so he would know where it was if it used its cloaking ability.

"You think a fancy light show will save you, Mageling?" Goldar taunted mere moments later, his bravado causing the putties to regroup as well. "The battle is all but over! Three of the rangers have been devoured and you cannot possibly hope to stand against all of us alone!"

Doing a quick headcount, Harry counted an even dozen putties twitching and stomping around Goldar and the once again standing Terror Toad. With a nod to himself, Harry began syphoning off a portion of magical energy from each upsurge, allowing it to refill from his core before taking still more and working it into the spell. "This battle is far from over, Goldar!" Harry shouted a few seconds later, spreading his arms to each side. "And I'm far from alone!"

In a visible wave of power, his collected magic spread from him and settled into the earth. Mere moments later, the earth began rumbling before multiple sections of dirt started rolling and contracting around a central point for several seconds, forming into vaguely humanoid shapes. After a few seconds, the figures started moving, climbing out of the craters they had been created from to stand in two ranks of seven between Harry and his foes.

The stone golems Harry had transfigured and animated from the earth around him stood around six feet tall. Their brown, stone skin gave the appearance of dense muscle but the occasional grain line or rough, craggy patch easily pointed to their earthen origin. Each of the humanoid faces stared straight ahead, reflecting no emotion in their glowing, molten red eyes as they stood nearly at attention before their creator.

"You think a few stone soldiers can stand up to the power of Empress Rita?" Goldar continued to taunt Harry, his simian face not showing anything clearly recognizable as fear or hesitation. "Putty Patrollers, ATTACK!"

With mindless obedience, the grey figures of Rita's frontline troops began charging, hopping, and tumbling forward at a respectable speed toward Harry and his golems. With a thought, Harry sent his soldiers forward as well.

The two forces met much closer to Harry than they were to Goldar and the Terror Toad, but that had more to do with the comparative slowness in his golems than anything else. All the same, what they lacked in speed, the golems made up for in strength and numbers over the putties. Nothing the putties did was able to do more than scratch their magically reinforced stone skin. No blow strong enough to even make them stagger back a single step.

And then they struck back.

Their attacks had none of the form and precision that existed in the putties own strikes. Since Harry didn't have any ability in hand to hand combat, his creations were the same. But their strength meant that all it took was one hit to stagger the grey creatures and it was all but done.

The first putty that failed to avoid a solid hit and went down was quickly set upon by the golem that had knocked it off its feet. The magical construct pinned it to the ground before it began melting into the earth it was made from, turning back into regular stone and effectively trapping Rita's creation in place.

When roughly half the putties had been restrained, Harry took his chance and disapparated, appearing a short distance behind Goldar with a near silent pop.

His disappearance was immediately noticed. "Stay alert!" Goldar roared to the toad. "The mageling has the ability to become invisible!"

The toad bobbed his entire body forward in what must have been a nod. "He can't hide from me! But I can hide from him!" With another obnoxious laugh, the monster's horn gave off a soft glow as it faded from view again.

Hoping to act before he was noticed, and before the toad moved too much, Harry got as close as he could to Goldar before casting on an upsurge. "Expelliarmus!" The spell splashed over the unsuspecting Goldar and sent him to the ground near the minion melee that was quickly coming to an end as his sword spun through the air. With his next surge, Harry used a summoning charm to pull the sword to his right hand and, using its momentum, spun around with it before releasing it right at the where his tracking spell said the Terror Toad was.

The toad screamed out its pain as the simian's sword crashed into it, unfortunately not point first, sending off a shower of sparks and making the reptile fall to the ground, luckily fading back into view at the same time.

Panting lightly from his rapid magic use, Harry slumped for a moment, surveying the battlefield. He knew that, at best, he was only delaying them. His golems had nearly finished taking the putties out of the equation, but they wouldn't stand a chance against the more fearsome opponents. Goldar was quickly climbing back to his feet, murder no doubt in his thoughts, and the Toad was flopping about as it tried to do the same with its stubby arms. If he didn't get some help soon then he wasn't going to have much option other than to resort to more damaging, combat oriented spells, which would tear him up as well. He didn't want to have to do that again so soon.

Harry didn't even want to think about what he'd do if even those spells failed.

Goldar's roar of rage broke him out of his thoughts as the monster charged directly at him, idly bashing Harry's two remaining golems to gravel with his bare fists on the way. "I'm tired of your games, Mageling!"

"And I'm not especially fond of you either, Goldar," Harry taunted before he started sending spells at the monster.

Goldar easily dodged the first few spells, swiftly stepping to one side or the other in mid charge, but it wasn't long before he got caught by a tripping jinx and went sprawling once more to the ground. So focused on Goldar, Harry didn't notice the Terror Toad's tongue until it had already wrapped around his right ankle.

"Ah bloody he-" Harry was cut off as the monster jerked his body backward, its arms grabbing his tongue and pulling at the same time. Harry was yanked off his feet and through the air toward the Toad's gaping maw.

"Like hell!" Harry shouted, casting franticly toward the monster, "Reducto! Impedimenta! Flippendo!" It was his last spell that finally hit. The knockback jinx was cast on a downsurge and so it was only enough to shift the toad back a short distance, but it still managed to be enough for Harry to miss its mouth. Instead, he slammed into the monster's oversized belly, which had the side effect of breaking his fall and knocking the toad once more to the ground, its tongue releasing him on the way.

The landing was much rougher than Harry's already tired body was happy with and it took him several seconds to regain his equilibrium. This was time that the once more recovered Goldar wasn't willing to give him. "It's over, Mageling." Goldar growled as he grabbed him by his shirt collar with his left hand, easily lifting the wizard as he brandished his recovered sword is his right. "Now you die!"

"Let him go, Goldar!"

Harry's thoughts were only momentarily on the Rangers' tendency to show up and save him at the last second before Goldar spun him around and held him up against his chest plate in a one armed choke hold. "Stay back Rangers!" the simian shouted, pointing his sword at the morphed Billy and Kimberly, clearly no longer affected by the punk potion. "Or your magic using friend here pays the price."

With Goldar's attention diverted, Harry managed to twist his body just enough to apparate and pulled the monster along with him. The two vanished and reappeared ten feet to the side with a loud crack and Goldar immediately let him go as his body reacted to the uncomfortable experience. Taking his chance, Harry pushed himself away from Goldar, quickly Apparating to a spot next to the newly arrived rangers.

"Are you alright?" Kimberly asked immediately as Harry rubbed at his neck. "And what's with the lightshow?"

"Yeah," he responded, rolling his head around a bit to loosen up. "I'm alright, but you two definitely showed up at a good time. And this is a combat technique from my world. I'll explain later. Any ideas on freeing the others and beating these two?"

"Affirmative," Billy nodded, clenching his fist in front of his face as he did so. "Zordon told us the Terror Toad's weak spot. All we have to do is remove his horn and then hit him just below his neck. The horn is the source of his power too and it should weaken him enough to defeat him once everyone is free again."

"Oh, is that all?" Harry rolled his eyes, but still taking note of what Billy said. "Do you have a plan for that by any chance?"

"We've got it covered," Kimberly answered with her own nod. "Can you hold off Goldar for a second?"

Harry glanced over at the enraged simian, once more recovered and glaring, "Yeah sure, if you guys can hold off the toad I can probably take care of him for a minute or two." He cracked his knuckles and shook his hands out as he stepped up. "Alright, one rainbow of bullshit coming right up."

Harry didn't even wait for acknowledgement from the others before he started in. Since he had someone else to watch the other monster, he was able to give his full attention to Goldar. This meant that his casting speed increased greatly, both by casting out of both hands and because of his increased mental focus. Not so say he wouldn't be faster with a wand, but he was still sending a semi-constant stream of spells at the golden armored bane-of-his-existence-for-the-day.

Tripping Jinxes, knockback jinxes, impediment jinxes, light bludgeoners, even a few stunners that were spaced out enough to give him time to fight of the lethargy. Intermixed with these mostly offensive spells were a few more purely prank oriented spells: the jelly-legs jinx, the dancing charm, overpowered cheering charms, even a few color change spells and minor transfigurations for good measure.

Since he was too angry at this point to focus on dodging as well as he had earlier, Goldar didn't manage to gain more than five feet of ground toward him between randomly falling on his face, getting pushed backward or feeling impacts similar to a punch, and having his knees try to give out on him or start jerking uncontrollably. His increased anger and what had to have been some level of magical resistance kept most of the spells from affecting him for long, but everything at once was enough for a delay tactic.

By the time the Terror Toad let out a scream of rage and anguish over losing his horn, the once fearsome general of Rita Repulsa's army was standing in pink and purple polka dot armor with neon green skin and brandishing an oversized daisy in the place of his sword. He had dirt all over his front from his multiple faceplants and his armor was riddled with dings and dents from spell impacts.

"Now you've had it!" Kimberly shouted and Harry paused in his offensive and glanced over in time to see her fire an arrow from a pink and white bow that struck the Terror Toad just below its mouth. The monster let out another scream, this one of pain, as it fell to the ground. It mouth opened wide to release three balls of energy that flew away from it and hit the ground with a flash that revealed the three formerly trapped Power Rangers.

"What Happened?" Trini shouted, confusion in her voice.

"How'd we get out?" Jason spoke at the same time before spotting Billy and Kimberly and leading Zack and Trini over to them.

Goldar, seeing the tables turning once more, let out a growl. "I'll be back, Mageling, and next time you will not survive our encounter!"

Harry was cut off by Jason stepping in front of him while the others gathered around. "Not likely Goldar. You and Rita will never defeat the Power Rangers!"

Goldar merely vanished in a flash of light, taking the trapped putties with him. The Toad then once more caught their attention while it climbed to its feet. "Now I'm really angry!"

Harry, no longer casting and seeing that the rangers seemed to have things handled, doubled over with his hands on his knees and panting heavily. He felt a general ache and fatigue throughout his body as he let his Battle Rhythm slow to a stop, the magical aura around him fading as a result, and fought off a slight dizziness.

Meanwhile, the Power Rangers were grandstanding.

"You're going down, wart face!" Jason started, pointing his sword at the toad before holding it horizontally in front of his chest.

"And you're going down hard!" Billy followed, spinning a double ended blue lance before taking his own combat stance.

"You've had it fly breath!" Zack continued as he brandished his axe similarly to the other two.

"Give it up toad, you're gonna lose!" Trini finished up, spinning one of her yellow daggers around one finger before posing as well.

"Yeah… what they said…" Harry panted, one hand still on his knees as he weakly pumped the other in the air while trying to catch his breath. "Wooo… go us…"

The Terror Toad gave a cry of rage as he began charging toward the group. Trini and Zack responded by doing another of the ridiculously long leaps that the Power Rangers seemed to favor, coming down on the monster with their weapons and delivering powerful blows that sent sparks everywhere. Billy followed them in and delivered his own hits quickly followed by Jason, flipping through the air to make an overhead strike followed by a spin kick that knocked the toad through the air to crash into a tree.

Before the monster could recover, the Rangers regrouped. "Kimberly, Power Bow!" Jason called out.

"Right!" Kimberly nodded before pulling her randomly vanishing bow out from behind her back… somehow…

At this point, Harry was just confused. It certainly looked like it had just been conjured, but none of the Rangers had that kind of magical ability from what he had noticed.

The Pink Ranger then launched an arrow at the now standing Terror Toad. The arrow appeared to almost curve around intervening trees before landing solidly in the back of the monster's throat. The reptile's eyes widened as it gave a squeak of panic while random bolts of energy danced around it before it suddenly exploded.

Harry blinked.

Well, that was certainly abrupt… and rather anticlimactic in all honesty…

"Nobody messes with my friends." Kimberly taunted as the Rangers all struck a fighting pose around her.

Harry blinked again. "What in Merlin's name is going on here?"

"Harry!" Trini jogged the short distance to his side and put a hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"Oh sure," Harry said, slowly standing straight again as he caught his breath. "I'm just a tiny bit confused is all… What's with all the taunting and striking poses you guys were doing?"

Trini seemed slightly startled. "You know, that's actually not a bad question…"

By now, the other Rangers had gathered around, their weapons once more vanished. Kimberly was the one who spoke first. "What's a good question?"

"Why do we do all the poses and stuff when we're fighting?"

The other Rangers seemed just as startled as Trini had been. "I… I don't know…" Jason said slowly, shaking his head. "I've never actually thought about it…"

Before anyone could say anything else on the subject, a quick six-beep tone rang out from each of the Rangers. Jason responded first, lifting his left wrist up near his mouth. "We read you Zordon." Apparently it was some kind of communication method between the Rangers and the Command Center.

"Well done Rangers, teleport to the Command Center. Harry, Alpha will bring you along with them if you are agreeable." Zordon's voice came from Jason's general direction.

"Alright, Zordon. We're on our way." Jason lowered his hand from his face and looked at everyone else. "Ready guys?"

"Just a moment actually," Harry spoke up before lifting his left hand. "Acio Horn!" Mere moments later, the severed horn of the Terror Toad flew through the air and landed in his open palm with a soft smack.

"What's that Harry?" Zack asked.

"Is that the Terror Toad's horn?" Billy fired off right afterward. "Why would you want that?"

"I'll explain back at the Command Center. It would be easier to only have to go over everything once and Zordon and Alpha deserve to know too." Harry said with a soft smile. "Now then, ready when you are."

The Rangers seemed to look toward Jason who was staring at Harry for a moment before nodding hesitantly. "Alright, we can wait a bit longer. I'm sure it's a hell of an explanation." The slight hostility in Jason's voice didn't give Harry any comfort. "Let's go guys. Teleporting now!"

The six figures were once more engulfed in pillars of light before they lifted into the air and streaked off into the distance.

-MR-

When they arrived at the Command Center, Harry was expecting an almost immediate interrogation. What he got was movie time.

The Rangers first demorphed, their suits changing back into their regular clothes, including Billy and Kimberly into the "punk" clothes they had been wearing earlier. Almost immediately afterward, Kimberly nearly begged Harry to transfigure her clothing into something that didn't offend her normal sensibilities. Once he had managed to change her clothing into something similar to what he had seen her wearing at the amusement park, Billy asked for the same treatment.

When everyone was comfortable, Zordon directed them to the Viewing Globe where they all watched the battle that they had just finished. It was a rather useful learning tool all said and done. Zordon was able to point out a few points where the Rangers acted or hadn't acted that would have been more beneficial if they had done the opposite. It was the kind of thing that Moody had done for members of the Order of the Phoenix in the war against Voldemort. Zordon was just nicer about it and didn't shout about constant vigilance as much

Harry had given an explanation of his Battle Rhythm when prompted by Zordon and described his thought process when transfiguring his golems and in his spell choices. There wasn't much that Zordon could say to his actions since nobody else really knew what Harry could be capable of.

Finally, they got to the end of the battle where Harry had been holding off Goldar while Billy and Kimberly dealt with the Terror Toad. "Wow," Zack said with a laugh when he saw Goldar. "I didn't really get a good look at him before, but Goldar is really looking rather fabulous."

The other Rangers shared a laugh while Harry nodded. "I just wish my spell selection hadn't been so limited or I could have taken him out of the fight more decisively."

"You think you could have beaten Goldar with your magic?" Jason asked, his arms crossed and slight disbelief on his face.

Harry nodded, not really taking his eyes off the Viewing Globe which was now playing the Ranger's final defeat of the Terror Toad. "I partially crippled his combat effectiveness when I transfigured his sword, but nothing else really did more than annoy him. His armor may have protected him from some of my spells, but I'm confident that my more powerful spells could easily punch through and deal with him."

"Spells that you can't use right now because Rita has your wand, right?" Trini asked, her brow furrowed in concentration.

Harry nodded, "Yeah, and that does tie in quite nicely with your questions from after the battle doesn't it? Excuse me for a moment." Without waiting for a response, Harry twisted in place and apparated the short distance to his hidden room. He still didn't feel quite ready to reveal its presence to the Rangers and so he moved quickly to get the Pinoctopus vine from his trunk and apparate back out to the middle of the consoles in the main room.

"So it's like this." Harry started once the Rangers had gathered around him once more. "I know that my own ability to help against Rita's monsters is rather limited without a focus so I was trying to come up with an alternative. Jason, you severed a Pinoctopus vine that was trying to grab me and while you were destroying the monster in your giant robots I noticed that it had some residual magical energy in it. This most likely came from Rita using the Elder wand to empower the monster. The point is though, the magic within it was at least partially compatible with my own form of magic." Harry held up the coiled vine as he spoke

"So you feel that you may be able to create a new focus from parts of one of Rita's defeated monsters?" Zordon asked.

"Yes and no, Zordon," Harry responded. "It was common practice in my world to use parts of magical plants and animals in a wand, but the magical energy in the vine is really rather weak. I think what I'm going to have to do is collect as many different sources of magical energy as I can find and try and make a hybrid core of sorts so that it can handle my magic without extreme consequences."

"What kind of consequences?" Billy interjected, his face clearly showing interest.

Harry grimaced. "Best case failure? The wand just burns out or fails to work entirely. Worst case? It explodes and takes my hand with it." Seeing the looks of shock and concern on the Rangers' faces he quickly moved to elaborate. "But I'll be able to determine its compatibility before putting myself in a situation where that could happen."

Looking to change the subject, Kimberly spoke up next. "So that's why you grabbed the Toad's horn then, right? To have another sample to make your new wand?"

Harry nodded as he pulled the horn from a pocket, "That's right. This thing was the source of the Terror Toad's power, so it has a much more substantial amount of magic in it than the vine from the Pinoctopus does. I'll still probably need more samples, and maybe something of a more positive energy if possible. I have a feeling that a wand made only from Rita's monsters will be a bit more heavily inclined to Dark Magic than I'm comfortable with…"

"What about the Singing Squash?" Alpha interjected, unsteadily walking up while holding what looked like a hairy root. "Would this serve to help you create a focus? We only needed a sample of its juices to create the antidote for Kimberly and Billy and the rest will just end up going to waste."

Harry reached out to touch the strange plant and immediately felt a small rush of magical energy. He smiled as he took it from the robot. "Yes, this actually will help a bit. The energies are more neutral than anything else, but certainly closer to the light side of neutral. I may need to use more of this than other ingredients, but this could work to help balance out my focus, even though it doesn't have any of my own brand of magic in it. Thank you Alpha."

The robot seemed almost embarrassed as it backed away from Harry. "Aww… It was nothing…" He bumped into one of the consoles and quickly turned and began fiddling with the controls, probably just for something to keep himself occupied.

Harry chuckled at the robot good naturedly before Zordon got his attention once more. "Very well, Harry. If you need anything further to help craft your new focus please inform us. I'm sure we would be happy to add whatever we can to it."

After a round of agreement, most of the Rangers just eager to see what he could do with a wand, Zordon spoke again. "I understand that Harry had a question about your behavior during battle Rangers and that some of you expressed a similar curiosity. It is all very simple actually. I told you all that the Morphing Grid is sentient and influences those who use its power. It is this influence that causes you all to behave as you do while you are morphed."

"But why does it affect us like that? What's the point?" Trini asked.

"Alas I cannot say for certain. The only answer I have gotten from queries along these lines has been a general feeling of amusement. The Morphing Grid rarely deigns to communicate with anyone and when it does, it is always up for interpretation. In any case, I have some good news for you, Harry. Alpha has completed your new identity in this world. Whenever you are ready, he can give you the identification papers so that you can start to make your life outside the Command Center."

"Wait-wait-wait…" Zack stepped up, looking at Harry incredulously, apparently having disregarded the entire conversation about the Morphing Grid. "You mean to tell me you haven't even been out of the Command Center yet?"

Harry gave a cautious nod, "Aside from the carnival and the two monster fights, no. I've been here with Alpha and Zordon pretty much the whole time."

Zack's face would have been funny if Harry weren't so taken aback. The teen seemed offended on Harry's behalf. "Well, that settles it. As soon as you put your monster pieces away and get your ID, we're taking you to the Youth Center. If nothing else it'll be good for you to eat something other than peanut butter sandwiches."

-MR-

Angel Grove Youth Center, Gym, and Juice Bar. A rather large mouthful for the primary gathering place for most of the Angel Grove children and teens in the area. The place had it all: a sizable area designated as a gymnasium with various exercise machines around the periphery, a small arcade along one section of the wall, and a food court, all owned and operated by a rather happy man named Ernie.

The Rangers and Harry teleported to an alley behind the building before making their way in and immediately seating Harry at a table big enough for the six of them by the railing that separated the gym from the food court. Harry sat with the girls while Zack, Billy, and Jason went to speak with Ernie and get their food. Apparently, since each of the teens volunteered at the Youth Center teaching classes or tutoring other students they received some meals for free as long as they didn't take advantage of the privilege. They were all confident that Ernie would let them use this to treat Harry to a meal and a smoothie.

Harry smiled as he looked around. If one ignored the clack of weights and the sound effects from the arcade games, the Youth Center reminded him quite a bit of the Great Hall at Hogwarts during the holidays. When there were no classes to be had, many of the students would gravitate to the Hall to hang out with friends from other houses or just in an effort to get out of the common rooms.

It was actually somewhat comforting for the Man-Who-Won. He had known nothing but war and darkness for so long it was rather refreshing to be in a place that allowed him to relax a bit. Compared to his last few days of monster battles and magic, it was nice to be able to experience a place that was somewhat normal.

The boys quickly returned with food and smoothies for all and Harry eagerly ate his sub sandwich, more than thrilled at having some variety in his meals after so many days eating only peanut butter sandwiches. Now that he had identification, Harry was determined to return to the Youth Center more often, especially once he had more than a few dollars in loose change to his name.

Once everyone had eaten, the Rangers headed off to the locker rooms to change into more athletically appropriate clothing before moving out to the gym floor. Jason was lifting free-weights while Zack and Billy casually knocked a volleyball over an indoor net. Kimberly was walking Trini through a few gymnastic exercises, spotting her as Trini did handstands, flips, and the like that Harry had no illusion of being able to mimic himself.

"They're a pretty good group of kids. You picked some good friends to fall in with."

Harry turned from where he was watching the Rangers to see that Ernie had approached his table. The big man was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and loose black pants under his apron with a towel thrown over his shoulder as he smiled casually at the gym floor. He turned once more to face Harry and smiled. "So you're Harry, right? Name's Ernie. I run the place."

Harry shook Ernie's hand with a smile. "I am indeed. Harry Potter at your service."

"English, eh?" Ernie's smile grew slightly. "I can't say I've ever been to England, but I've heard good things from some of my friends who have."

Harry snorted. "And I'm sure any native would tell you that most of it is overrated."

Ernie laughed. "Most likely. I suppose it's all in the eye of the beholder. So how'd you get involved with those five?"

Harry shrugged, his mind racing. "I just kinda… ran into them one day and… we just clicked I guess. They're all rather fun to hang around, though this town is a bit on the crazy side…"

Ernie nodded. "Yeah, those five have been friends for years. They're all good kids. Helping out anyone who needs it all the time. Teaching all the classes and stuff around here. Jason teaches a Karate class and Zack teaches a dance class. Kimberly has aerobics and gymnastics that she teaches and Billy and Trini tutor students. I think Trini is looking to move into helping with Kimberly's gymnastics though. They've been doing a lot of that one-on-one stuff these last few weeks.

"And I can certainly understand your point of view on Angel Grove. Ever since Rita Repulsa started attacking us and the Power Rangers showed up things have been crazy. But the Rangers haven't let us down yet. Most of us here have just put our faith in them and try and tell any visitors to do the same. As long as the Rangers are around, everything will be alright. Have you gotten the chance to see them yet?"

Harry gave a slow nod as he processed what Ernie had told him. "I think I might have seen them a few days ago. I was at that carnival that Rita attacked and I saw some people in what looked like bright colored spandex."

Ernie nodded with a big smile. "That was probably them. They're real heroes I tell you. Not too many people like that now-a-days."

Ernie just stood there in silence for a few minutes as he and Harry just watched the kids and teens running around on the gym floor while Harry mused on Ernie laying praise on the same set of teens without realizing it. Finally, Ernie spoke again. "Well, I have to get back to work. This place has gotten so popular lately that I just don't have the time to mingle with everyone like I used to. It was nice meeting you Harry. I hope you enjoy your time here in Angel Grove."

"Thanks Ernie, don't work yourself too hard." Harry smiled as Ernie returned to his domain behind the food court counter. He seemed like a really good man. Had to be if he was willing to run a place like this for all the children of Angel Grove. Kinda like Hagrid… only shorter and less harry… and hopefully less likely to try and adopt a baby dragon…

Harry snorted at the mental image before he noticed a slight commotion taking place on the gym floor. Two guys, one incredibly large and wearing a leather jacket and jeans and the other incredibly skinny and wearing some kind of dress coat with grey and black camo pants, had walked up to Kimberly and Trini, both of whom had looks of disgust on their faces.

The skinny one walked up to Kimberly and wrapped one arm around her for a moment before she pushed her way free, her disgusted look only growing. Harry was debating on whether he should make his way over when he noticed Jason putting down his weights as he, Billy, and Zack moved to back the girls up themselves.

What followed made very little sense to Harry.

The two groups, the Rangers and the two new boys, exchanged several words with the newcomers showing more aggression though Harry was too far away to hear anything they said. Then, Billy held up the volleyball he and Zack had been using and the bigger one took it. The two newcomers moved to face off against Billy and Zack on the volleyball court. The bigger guy served, Zack set it into the air and Billy spiked it right onto the head of the skinny one who staggered around in an over exaggerated manner. The bigger guy, apparently trying to follow the ball, then crashed into the dazed skinny guy. They both somehow managed to crash into the net, pulling the poles down and getting themselves hopelessly tangled.

Everyone started laughing as the two struggled for a moment before slumping in surrender. It wasn't more than a few moments however until the Rangers moved to free the two from the net and stand it back up.

The two newcomers appeared to try and play it off as if they had meant to do it based on their body language and the high pitched laughter from the skinny one, but nobody really seemed to buy it as far as Harry could tell. After noticing this themselves, they tried to unobtrusively make their way out of the gym. They only managed to attract more attention, however, due to their less than stealthy attempts until they finally reached the exit.

Harry rolled his eyes as he took another drink of his smoothie and put the two strangers out of his mind for now. He needed to put some thought into what he was going to do now that he had an identity in this world. He knew he would be staying and working with the Power Rangers at least until he got the Elder Wand back, he refused to think of failure there, but what about afterwards? Without the boost from the Elder Wand would the Rangers even need his help defeating Rita's monsters? He didn't know the answer for sure, but he needed to keep the possibility in mind.

As he was now he would flounder and collapse if he tried to make his way in society without help from the Rangers and Zordon both financially and otherwise. After living so long in the Magical World in his home dimension, he had no clue as to the daily nuances of non-magical life, and the disenchanting of the Galleons was going nowhere fast. Without a focus to help remove the Goblin enchantments it was like trying to pick up a grain of rice with a tiny pair of tweezers while looking through an out of focus camera. Without the gold, he had no assets besides what he himself could find or create. Using magic to summon lost money wouldn't hold up in the long run.

He needed to find a way to support himself just in case he was left without that help to rely on.

-MR-

AN: The comment on Harry using a "Rainbow of bullshit" comes from another fanfiction. "Jamie Evans and Fate's Fool" is an amazing story that I feel uses magical combat as it should have been. Random Transfigurations and crazy combat magics like I've never read before in a story. On top of that, there's no digging through faux-latin and such. Just a vague description of the spell that's not more than a line or two and is always in context and then pure awesome. Fun story to read all things considered and one I highly recommend. Word of caution though, it may not be overt in its descriptions, but there is adult content in the story and an admittedly unusual pairing. You have been warned.

Anyway, don't forget to read and review.

Tenstar12