Magi Ranger

By: Tenstar12

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

Chapter 18, In Which It's Morphin' Time! (Finally)

Harry's announcement made everyone freeze. The Rangers behind him were standing firm in the formation that they had been guided to by the Grid while Tommy stood dumbfounded in front of the group. This gave Harry the time to mentally gather himself and relax enough to give in to the Power.

Almost without thinking about it, Harry gave his wand a small twitch and channeled the Grid Power now flowing through him into it until the tip lit up with a bright, golden light that shone like a beacon through his dark purple aura. Then, with a smirk on his lips, Harry began moving his wand.

He started with a short movement to the right, leaving a trail of golden fire in the wand's wake much like Voldemort's diary Horcrux had back in Harry's second year. Once the line stretched for six inches or so, he stopped and reversed direction, now going back to his left and up at an angle. Once he reached a spot over his starting point, Harry brought his wand back down and to the left until he was even with his original line and then brought the wand back over to meet his starting point.

Then, moving steadily, Harry drew a circle inside the triangle he had already fashioned.

Finally, with a swift jerk, he pulled his wand upward, bisecting the two shapes vertically and completing the symbol of the Deathly Hallows.

Flipping his wand in his hand so it now rested along the inside of his forearm, Harry lifted his right foot and pivoted back on his left until he was standing squarely in front of the fiery symbol before him. Then, he brought his hands up over his head, crossed at the wrists before pulling them back down to his sides with his fists clenched and a victorious shout as he threw his head back. "MAGI RANGER, POWER UP!"

Tommy and the Rangers could only look on as the symbol before Harry flashed brightly before flying towards the mage and slamming into the center of his chest, engulfing him in a bright light that swallowed up his aura. Just as quickly as it appeared, the light began fading out. It started with his feet which were revealed to now be clad in a pair of white boots with a black stripe around the tops. These boots gave way to purple pants with another black stripe up the outside leading up to a belt of the same color.

From his clenched fists, the light faded to reveal gloves with the same white and black pattern as his boots and the sleeves of his new suit again followed the same pattern as his pants, the black stripe traveling up the tops of his arms and over his shoulders. The light around his torso gathered into a single point that burst into random motes of light to expose a golden disk centered on his chest that had the symbol of the Deathly Hallows etched into it. The black stripes from his arms and legs stretched across his torso to meet around the larger version of his Power Coin, forming a ring of black around it in a field of purple.

Finally, Harry brought his head back down, sending a confident look toward Tommy before a purple helmet formed over his face, showing the same stylized mouth as the other Ranger helmets with a simple horizontal black oval as a visor.

In yet another burst of light, a silvery-white cloak formed around his shoulders, looking more like a long, open vest that reached just below his knees in the back with a short collar and the Deathly Hallows symbol stitched onto the back in black. Then the coin on his chest let out one final burst of light, this one traveling along the black stripes centered on it, leaving a chain of glowing silver runes in its wake. When this light faded, the black stripes now had runes running through them all over his body as well as glowing softly around the oval on his helmet and less visibly on the edges of his cloak.

Then Harry felt the Grid take full control of his body and mentally cringed.

"Just when you think you have us beaten…" Zack started, going through a few gesticulations before settling into a fighting stance on the far right of their formation.

"That's when we'll come back hitting you twice as hard!" Billy continued from Harry's far left, making his own moves before taking a stance.

"The forces of darkness will never beat those of the light!" Trini said from next to Zack, going through her motions.

"No matter what Rita tries, we will always prevail in the end!" Kimberly said, mirroring Trini from her spot next to Harry.

"So if you think we're just going to sit back and let you win…" Jason shouted from Harry's immediate right, taking a fighting stance with his back to Harry.

Then Harry felt himself start to move and speak, much to his own growing internal horror. "Then you have another thing coming." Harry felt himself move to mirror Jason, standing near back to back with the Red Ranger and staring at Tommy from beneath his helmet. "Because we're the-"

"POWER RANGERS!" The last was shouted by all six at once and was immediately followed by a massive explosion behind them that managed to shock Tommy into stumbling backward.

The Grid's total control left him in a rush, leaving Harry feeling rather like a puppet with his strings cut. The other Rangers apparently didn't feel anything of the sort as Jason quickly sprang toward the slightly off balance Green Ranger. "Let's do it guys!"

With a simultaneous cry of "RIGHT!" the other four Rangers dashed off after their crimson clad leader, leaving Harry to straighten himself slowly.

Glancing down at his gloved hands and taking a moment to look over his now spandex clad body, Harry shook his head slightly and gave off a self-depreciating laugh. "I have no idea what I'm doing…"

"You will be fine Harry." Zordon's voice emanated from his left wrist where his communicator still rested beneath his new suit. "When the time comes for you to fully do battle, I know you will make us all proud."

"You make it sound like I'm not supposed to be helping the other Rangers with Tommy…" Harry said slowly, internally thankful that he wouldn't be charging in like the others did. "So what's the plan?"

"For now Harry, you lack the proper training to be of any real help to the others. Even with the Morphing Grid helping guide you in battle, without any real martial arts experience you would be more of a hindrance to the others against the Green Ranger." Zordon's voice was calm and matter-of-fact even as he neatly poked a hole in whatever ego Harry had been able to form. "Your time would be better served playing to your strengths. I need you to go to the spot where Rita trapped the Megazord and help me to free it before Tommy can call the Dragonzord into battle. If we are not quick enough, the other Rangers won't stand a chance."

Feeling like he was on more familiar turf, Harry gave a firm nod. "Alright Zordon, just point me in the right direction and I'll do what I can."

"The focal point of Rita's containment spell is seventy-five yards to your left. I suspect Rita will try something to stop you so you must be careful."

With a nod, Harry turned and started running in the direction Zordon had indicated. Almost immediately, Harry noticed the extreme ease with which he was moving. Despite his less than healthy childhood, Harry had never been supremely out of shape, he left that designation to his uncle and cousin. Between his time playing Quidditch at Hogwarts and the physical portion of his training for the war, he had managed to stay fairly fit. Now it was as if morphing had taken his previous physical capabilities and doubled them. It was a feeling that was both offsetting and comforting all at once.

Harry's musing was interrupted as he crested a small rise in the earth and caught sight of what looked like a long line of recently disturbed earth. It certainly fit the bill for a location where the ground had been split open to trap a gigantic machine.

Then he heard the putties.

It was only their telltale noise and a burst of Grid driven instincts that sent Harry into a dive before rolling back to his feet. Turning quickly, Harry faced the trio of confused clay constructs, the nearest of which was climbing back to its feet after Harry had dodged its flying kick.

"You know," Harry mused, feeling a thread of Power flowing through him and guiding him to a loose fighting stance. "I was really hoping that I had blasted all of you guys already, but I guess Rita put up a rush order…"

The three putties made no verbal response, at least not one he could understand, but they didn't hesitate to charge him as soon as the first had regained its feet. They were around ten feet away so the distance was covered in mere moments before Harry found himself with a grey fist flying toward his helmeted face.

The next few seconds were almost overwhelming for him.

Harry felt his body twist almost of its own accord as the Power flared up within him, pulling his head just out of the path of the putty's attack. He completed the turn, facing his back toward the creature as his arms came up, grabbing the arm that was now over his shoulder. With a heave, Harry pulled forward, flipping the putty over his shoulder and following it down to the ground, landing solidly on its torso with a grunt and rolling back up to his feet before spinning once more to face the remaining two upright hostiles in another fighting stance.

As the two remaining putties got within striking distance, Harry hopped in place, bringing his two feet together before leaping into the air. In midair, Harry kicked his legs out, each foot impacting solidly with the inside shoulder of the two putties. Pushing off of them, Harry managed to not only propel himself back into the air and safely away from them, but also shoving the two putties down into an ungraceful heap atop the first while he almost casually flipped once before landing in an easy crouch.

In the back of his mind, Harry was baffled. How was he doing these crazy acrobatics? Each time he moved, he felt the Power pulsing through him, giving him a burst of energy, but was it really guiding him that much?

His distraction and pondering only gave the putties time to recover and for one to tackle him solidly to the ground. Harry didn't feel much impact when he hit the ground, but he certainly felt the first blow when the putty landed a solid cross punch to his head, accompanied by a shower of sparks.

Harry kicked out, trying to buck the construct off of him, but the other two dove forward, one pinning his legs to the ground and the other lying on his left arm. And so Harry found himself being pummeled by a putty patroller, the pain of the blows was thankfully muted, but he still felt the impact from the hits and a discomforting feeling of growing weakness as they continued raining down.

As Harry struggled to escape the surprisingly strong grip of the clay constructs while simultaneously protecting himself as best he could with his free arm, he couldn't help but wonder where his sudden Grid-empowered fighting skill had gone. While confused, Harry had been feeling rather good about himself after the short exchange. He had been going so long hearing from Zordon and the other Rangers how he had no ability to fight hand to hand, only to have such success in his first encounter while morphed. It was an ego boosting feeling which only made his current situation all that much more frustrating.

"Harry!" Zordon's voice called out from his communicator, muffled by the putty pinning him. "You must remember to play to your strengths! Your morph is based in your own magical power. If you take enough damage to fall out of morph you will find yourself weakened to the point you will be unable to defend yourself."

Well, that certainly didn't sound good. But Zordon had a point. As much as it galled him, Harry had a great deal of practice in putting his own ego aside and doing things the right way rather than how he would have preferred. It was part of learning to let others help him in the war when he would have rather taken it all upon himself in order to spare others the pain and risk.

Playing to his strengths was rather easy to figure out as well, though Harry did have to wonder why Zordon felt the need to be cryptic instead of straight up telling him to curse the heck out of the putties. In any case, with his new wand having vanished when he morphed, he would have to fall back on his wandless magic.

Taking advantage of a brief pause in the continuous rain of strikes to his head and chest, Harry placed his right hand on the chest of the putty straddling him. The creature froze, looking down at him with a confused cock of its head. "Sorry, mate," Harry smirked as he pulled his magic up and through his right arm, noting that his magic reserves were much lower than he liked. "But I think it's time for you guys to back off. Reducto!"

Harry almost immediately cursed himself internally for his choice of spell. He knew that using a purely and devastatingly offensive spell like the blasting curse wandlessly was a sure-fire way to injure yourself. He had just become so used to using a wand in his last several battles and during the war before that that his short stint fighting purely wandlessly didn't really stick with him.

Then Harry realized, as the putty patroller went flying away from him with a hole in its chest, that there was absolutely no pain to be had. In fact, as Harry took a moment to stare dazedly at the slightly scorched palm of his white glove, other than that small scorch mark and a few sparks there had been no measurable negative effect on him when he cast the destructive spell wandlessly.

As the two surviving putties remained frozen after their companion's demise, Harry felt another smirk stretch across his face and turned his head to face them. "It's a whole new game now," he said, turning his hand to once more face away from him, this time toward the putty on his left arm. "Flippendo!"

The knockback jinx threw the putty patroller off of him and shocked the other one long enough for another jinx to remove him the same way. Harry managed to climb back to his feet just in time to drop to his knees, this time to dodge a wild punch from one of the already recovered putties. The next several moments were simply Harry relying on his own instincts, the Grid's guidance still absent, as he dodged rapid-fire attacks from first one and then both of the remaining putties. Most of this time was spent rolling across the ground and scrambling away as each time he regained his feet one of the putties would make an attack that would force him down again. The constructs, for all their lack of intelligence, were easily keeping the inexperienced Ranger on his back foot. Worse still, as low as his magic was after taking the pummeling earlier, it took too long for him to pull up enough magic to cast wandlessly, so his only real advantage wasn't even a factor.

Then Zordon once more spoke up. "Harry, the others are running out of time! You must relax. Give in to the grid and let it guide you through this battle. It is the only way to victory!"

"Easier said than done, Zordon!" Harry shouted as he once more rolled away from a stomp from one putty, only to get caught across the chest by a kick from the other as he tried to stance once more, falling back with a grunt in a shower of sparks.

"Harry," Zordon spoke calmly, most likely in an attempt to settle the mage's rattled nerves. "I know that what I am asking of you is difficult for you to do, but from what you have mentioned of yourself in the past I know that you are a person who always pulls things out in the end. You need to do that now. Embrace the Power that is within you. Give in to the Grid for this one battle so that you and the others can live on to fight another day when you will be more prepared to fight on your own. Our sensors in the Command Center are telling us that your magic is frighteningly low now. And if this keeps up, the others will surely fall as well."

Harry grit his teeth as he climbed to his feet again. The putties had paused in their assault and were standing together a short distance away, making jerking feints in his direction as they glared at him. Then Harry felt the Power building in the back of his mind and pressing on his Occlumency shields as he heard Zordon speak once more. "Please Harry, trust in the Power and trust that it will not harm you. The battle you are involved in now is very different than any you have ever fought in your life. This Power you have been granted is equally different to anything you have used before. I know that the new can be frightening and using the Power goes against everything you were taught about magic in your world, but you must trust me. This is your first practical lesson in using the Grid's Power. Relax and let it flow through you. This is truly the only way you will be able to use this Power until you gain your own grasp of it and its capabilities. If you overthink, you will fail."

Harry blinked. It was odd to hear someone speak of something as esoteric as a source of magic in such a way, but Zordon had a point. The Grid was much different than his own magic. The thought of someone at Hogwarts using magic to create anything like the Rangers' Powers and Zords was so absurd as to be nearly laughable. It was time to face facts: Zordon was right and nothing he knew of magic would help him here.

Snapping back to reality, Harry saw the two putties exchange a glance before looking back toward him and moving to each side. It would appear that their taunting was done and they were preparing to attack once more, this time from either side. It was definitely not something he was prepared to deal with on his own and the others were counting on him so he couldn't just teleport out.

"Well…" Harry mumbled to himself. "Gryffindors charge ahead."

Harry dropped his Occlumency shields completely. Initially, he panicked much as he had when he first accessed his new Power in the Command Center, but with some knowledge of what to expect, he was able to force his panic down with only minor difficulty. This time, the Power didn't come in a trickle as it had before. All at once Harry felt as his mind and body, his entire being at the same instant, was flooded with the Power of the Morphing Grid and he began moving.

The two putties were standing some distance apart now, each of the three of them standing near equidistant from the other two. Harry charged the one on his right in a sudden burst of speed, landing a quick one-two punch to the creature before either of them had a chance to react. With a quick spin, Harry sent the stunned putty to the ground with a tornado kick to the side of its head before spinning to face the other one.

The second putty was now charging him flat out. Around five feet away, it took a flying leap and attempted to dropkick him. It was almost laughably easy for Harry to sidestep the attack, letting the putty fly past him and land atop its comrade, once more knocking it into the dust.

"I think, young Harry, that it is time to show you what your new Power is capable of…"

Harry blinked in surprise at hearing the voice of the Grid. It made sense that the consciousness was the one controlling/guiding him in the fight, but he hadn't necessarily expected to hear from it again.

"It was a bit of a project to design and create what I have given you, but I think you will be pleased with the outcome… even if you dislike the 'random hand waving' you must go through to use it"

Harry bit back a groan as he once more hopped in place before leaping into the air, flipping and landing around twenty feet away from the putties who were still entangled with each other. Turning to face them once more, Harry waved his right arm over his head in a long sweeping movement before making a fist as if grasping something. "I call upon the power of the Magi Staff!" It was a highly unoriginal name, Harry mused to himself, but it was to be expected when the other Rangers all had weapons that were named similarly.

He felt a brief buildup of magic before there was suddenly a weight in his upheld hand that hadn't been there a moment before. With a victorious cry, Harry jerked his arm down to his side, feeling resistance as the butt of his new staff hit the ground next to him.

The metallic silver staff he held was as long as he was tall. It had an incredibly simple design all told. Merely an undetailed shaft with a rounded cap at the bottom and the same three perpendicular bars as he had observed at the tip of his wand at the top. The only difference between his staff and his wand, other than size and lack of the clearly defined handle, was the presence of another representation of his Power Coin, the etched symbol of the Deathly Hallows glowing brightly, situated at the center of the middle bar and extending far enough to cut slightly into the top and bottom ones.

With the Magi Staff now in hand, Harry felt the Grid's voice once more resonate within him. "This, Harry, is your focus while morphed. With this staff, you will be able to make use of Zordon's future lessons in your battles. Your own magic is highly structured and has a much greater versatility than most of what has been achieved by users of the Power and it is my hope that this fusion of the two types of magic will allow you to find a balance of your own. The strength of the Power combined with the control and versatility of your own magics. But that is a topic for Zordon and yourself to discuss another time. For now, I shall deal with these two creations of darkness and allow you to continue with your mission."

The two putties, having regained their feet, were watching Harry warily now. Harry felt the build-up of Power in his staff as he moved again, spinning the weapon around him briefly before pointing the top toward the two in a two-handed grip, his body turned sideways with his right foot forward similar to his dueling/morphing stance. The magic within the staff began moving toward the top end, focusing into a now visible ball of purple energy that pulsed ominously as it grew to the size of a basketball.

Finally, Harry felt a smirk stretch across his face. "It was nice playing with you two, but I have other things to take care of." With a short kiai, which threw Harry off all on its own, Harry thrust the staff forward, sending the now sparking orb of magic flying toward the two shocked putties. The orb impacted with the rightmost one and immediately grew to engulf the pair before exploding violently. Meanwhile, Harry idly turned away from them, spinning the staff slowly overhead as he did before bringing it down to the earth once more just as the shockwave from the explosion broke over him, sending his cloak flapping in the wind. All in all, he was convinced it looked rather dramatic.

The grid spoke to him once more, amusement and satisfaction laced through the tone. "Yes, that shall do for now. Incomplete as it is, it is still an effective finisher. Farewell for now, young Harry, and remember: the Power protects you now, but you must learn to let it. If you can manage that, then I know that the balance is in good hands."

Harry felt the presence of the grid fade from his consciousness. Not enough that he would be completely without guidance if he absolutely needed it, but not so much that he would be completely taken over without warning. Then Harry felt the near complete lethargy that only affected one whose magic was at drastically low levels. It seemed as though the Grid had used more of Harry's own magic while finishing off those putties than Harry would have liked. As it was, he would be lucky to get off a few offensive spells without collapsing again, much less free the other Rangers' Zords.

With an internal shrug and a prayer that Zordon had a plan, Harry turned and walked once more to the site of the Megazord's imprisonment, leaning more than a little bit on the Magi Staff. "Well…" he mused aloud as he looked upon the long stretch of disturbed earth before him. "It is certainly a large bit of upturned dirt…" With a sigh, Harry activated his communicator. "A bit of help would be appreciated, Zordon. As I'm sure you already know, I am almost completely on empty here. How am I supposed to free the Zords myself?"

Zordon responded immediately, his urgency apparent. "You will have to once more cede control of yourself, Harry. This time to my own influence. After that battle, your own power is not great enough to free the Zords alone, so I shall guide you and supply my own energies to help break through Rita's spell."

Harry sighed as he idly tapped the butt of his staff in the somewhat loose dirt before him. "Great… Well, guide away."

"Relax, Harry." Zordon answered, once more with humor in his voice. "And remember, half of using the Grid's Power is showmanship at times."

Harry felt a foreign presence once more manifest itself in his consciousness, though this time he recognized the now familiar feel of Zordon and gave way almost immediately. Somehow, in the back of his mind he almost felt Moody chastising him for ceding control of himself so easily, but with his magic as low as it was, Harry doubted he could have resisted even if he had wanted to.

His body once more moving on autopilot, Harry spun the Magi Staff around him a few times, passing it from one hand to the other as the Power's magical energies lit up the area around him. Finally, he brought the staff over his head and slammed the bottom end into the loose earth before him with a savage shout, releasing all the Morphing Grid energies he and Zordon (mostly Zordon) had built up at once.

Zordon once more relinquished control of Harry's body and the mage almost immediately slumped. Only his tight grip on his staff kept him upright, though even that was a close thing and only possibly because it seemed to be anchored into the ground by the magic it had just channeled. "Oh dear Merlin…" Harry panted. Reaching down within himself, Harry found the source of his problem. On top of his already low magical reserves, the mote of light that represented his access to the Power was nearly gone as well. And with the way he was feeling, all the acrobatics and heavy casting had him practically running on empty physically as well, despite morphing having improved his physical ability.

Then the ground started to shake.

As Harry watched, honestly more focused on remaining upright than the spectacle before him, as the ground split open. As the split grew wider, Harry watched with idle interest as several chunks of stone broke loose and fell down the growing crevasse. It wasn't until one stone hit something and let off a loud, metallic clang that Harry realized that the Megazord was rising up from the depths before him.

"Well done, Harry. Well done." Zordon's voice was laced with pride and satisfaction, along with no small amount of exhaustion himself, as it emanated from Harry's communicator. Harry didn't even bother to respond as he watched the towering machine float a few feet over the ground as the earth once more closed up under it before gently floating back down, making a small quake when it settled.

With the Megazord now freed and the split earth whole again, the Magi Staff was released from the grip of the spell. With the Staff now loose, Harry fell to the ground, his legs too weak to hold him upright without the Staff's solid support. It was an altogether uncomfortable feeling for Harry. He didn't feel tired, just too weak to do anything. Perhaps this was what Zordon had meant about him being unable to defend himself if he fell out of morph from taking too much damage. If his suit drew on his own power to protect him, taking a lot of damage would reduce his magic to levels similar to what he was feeling now. He certainly doubted he would be able to defend himself at this point, but at least he had the suit to prevent serious damage for at least a little while. Though if he was honest it was rather difficult to imagine feeling weaker than he was now, but what else could happen should he fall out of morph?

Harry perked up slightly when he heard the echoing sound of trumpet-like music coming from the direction where the other Rangers had been fighting Tommy. The tune was different than the first one he had heard, but the following mechanical roar from the previously idle Dragonzord showed that it had a similar effect.

"I have called the other Rangers to the Megazord, Harry." Zordon said after a moment. "While working together, the power of the Dinozords is much greater than that of the Dragonzord alone and without his Dragonzord, Tommy will be unable to stand against the others. You will be teleported back to the Command Center immediately to rest and recover. Well done Harry."

Harry caught sight of five streaks of light arcing up from the ground and into the Megazord next to him before he was engulfed in a deep purple aura that pulled him off the ground and away from the battle in an instant.

-MR-

Thanks for reading and don't forget to review,

Tenstar12