Magi Ranger

By: Tenstar12

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

Chapter 28, or The Chapter Without a Particularly Witty Title In Which Things Happen

"Order up!"

Harry placed a tray of food on the counter before making his way back to the grill and began scrubbing it clean. It was yet another day of work at the Youth Center. School had just let out and the first of the after school rush crowd was already arriving.

Jason, Billy, Trini, and Zack had arrived as well and were out on the mats. Zack and Jason were doing some light sparring while Trini taught Billy some of her Kung Fu style moving meditation exercises. Harry, of course, was working. As soon as the grill was clean he threw another batch of hamburger patties down while Ernie worked at the other side of the counter, making experimental smoothies with various exotic fruits.

This was a hobby that the jolly Youth Center owner had taken up fairly recently, and it was rather lucky for the Rangers that he had. Just a few days ago, the day after the Peckster attacked, Rita had sent down a two-headed parrot monster. The unique thing about this monster was that each head, one situated as normal and the other in the center of its chest, could each control their body and react while the other planned and plotted. The fact that this monster was slightly more intelligent than others they had fought meant that the Rangers were hard pressed to outwit it, even with Harry's magic backing them up.

Ultimately, Alpha had somehow determined that parrot monster liked some kind of fruit that Harry had never heard of. As it turned out, this fruit was on the list of fruits that Ernie had purchased for his experimental smoothies and Tommy was able to get one from him. When presented with the fruit, the two heads of the monster had started fighting over it, which gave the Rangers enough time to finish it off with the Power Blaster.

It had been the first time since Tommy joined the team that Rita had actually sent down two monsters in as many days, so the Rangers had all been rather tense. This tense attitude had lasted for two days before Zack's laid back attitude had fully reasserted itself, causing the others to relax more in response to his usual antics.

For his part, Harry hadn't been much affected either way. His experience in his own world made him appreciate the down times between battles, no matter how short or long they may be, helping him stay loose despite Rita's actions.

Of course this didn't really change much as he was still busy as he could be with other activities.

Harry had done some more pondering on Bulk's unwitting "suggestion" and had decided to give it a shot. He had spoken with the other Rangers and Zordon about him becoming a performing magician and, while the Rangers were somewhat confused by his desire to do so, they were tentatively supporting. The only real issue they could bring up was in regard to Bulk's assumption that he was already trying to imitate the Magi Ranger with Hedwig and what kind of attention the bully's big mouth could bring to him. Zordon had helped put any fears to rest when he explained how their connection to the Grid would help hide their identities as the Power Rangers so long as they didn't willfully expose themselves. It was this more than anything else that settled Harry's concerns and took the thought closer to action.

He next spoke with Ernie, who had reacted in his usual jovial fashion and expressed a willingness, and indeed a certain level of eagerness, in hosting a magic show at the Youth Center to help him get started. Apparently, they had had talent shows there in the past, and he didn't really see how more, similar events could be a bad thing. The businessman inside him certainly wouldn't be complaining about the extra concession sales he would receive in any case.

Kimberly, upon first hearing his idea, had mentioned a small magic shop in the mall and had offered to bring him along sometime, but had also cautioned him that props like that could be rather expensive. And so it was decided that once Harry had built up his savings a bit more they would make a trip to the mall (a concept that sent a shiver down his spine if he was honest). He was more than prepared to transfigure and/or conjure most of what he might need, but knew that he would need some examples to work from first.

After another ten minutes or so of cooking burgers, hot dogs, French fries, and mixing together various salads and other side items while Hedwig made an occasional comment from her perch in the rafters overhead, Harry's attention was caught by a rather disheveled looking Tommy, near sprinting into the Youth Center.

The initial food-rush had tapered off and so Harry was able to talk to Tommy the moment he reached the counter. "Harry," he panted. "We've got a problem. Do you know where the others are?"

Harry blinked several times before nodding. "Yeah, they're over there." He nodded toward the mats and took the chance to give Tommy a once over when he spun to see for himself. The Ranger looked rather worse for wear at first glance. He was covered with bits of leaves and there were smudges of dirt all over his clothes and face. On top of the wide eyed look and the panting from what must have been a flat-out run from wherever he had been, Harry was more than a bit concerned for his friend/sensei.

Tommy turned back to Harry. "Alright, I'll go get them. Can you meet us at the Command Center?"

Realizing that Tommy's problem was most likely of the Rita variety, Harry nodded grimly. "Yeah, I should be able to join you soon. Just let me talk to Ernie real quick."

Tommy wasted no time before jogging over to the other Rangers while Harry made his way over to stand by Ernie. "Hey Ernie," Harry said, drawing Ernie's attention away from his most recent fruit-concoction in the blender. "Something has kind of come up… Do you mind if I go ahead and take off for the afternoon?"

Ernie gave Harry a quizzical look before glancing out at the rest of the Youth Center. Harry saw his eyes narrow and followed his gaze to where Tommy was explaining things to the now panicked looking Rangers. "Alright." Ernie's voice snapped Harry's attention back to the grimly nodding face of his boss. "Go do what you have to do, Harry. I can hold down the fort here well enough. After all, I've been doing it for years before you came along." The last was said with a smile that Harry quickly found himself returning.

"Thanks, Ernie. I owe you one." Harry said before stripping his apron off and hanging it up as he moved from behind the counter. Harry took one last look at Ernie as the man gave a wistful look at his blender before shutting it off and taking in the rest of the snack bar. Without Harry there to help, the man wouldn't be able to indulge in his new hobby/obsession as much and Harry did feel a bit bad about that, but he had bigger responsibilities to deal with.

All the same, as Harry whistled for Hedwig who quickly flew down to perch on his shoulder as he joined the other Rangers, Harry couldn't help but ponder about Ernie's reaction when Harry had asked for the rest of the afternoon off. There was something going on there, but he just couldn't figure out what.

-MR-

Once the Rangers had arrived in the Command Center and exchanged greetings with Zordon and Alpha, Tommy settled down to explain the situation.

"Kimberly was having a really bad day today…"

"Yeah…" Trini commented. "I saw her this morning. Her umbrella inverted in the storm this morning and she got soaked, and her Pep Rally plans were ruined at the same time…"

Seeing everyone's eyes on her, Trini blushed slightly before apologizing and ceding the floor to Tommy once more. "So after I found Bulk and Skull were harassing her this morning, I decided to try and cheer her up by offering to walk her home." Tommy seemed oblivious to the smiles and knowing looks of the other Rangers. Even Zordon had a smirk on his face.

"We were walking from school and took a detour through the park." Harry was suddenly struck with how often things in Angel Grove happened in and around the park. With Zordon's revelation about Angel Grove housing one of the Grid's Focal Points it might be worthwhile to look into its actual location and whether or not it might be in or near Angel Grove Park specifically…

"While we were there one of Rita's monsters attacked us." Everyone listening tensed up. While they had all certainly expected Rita to have been involved, hearing confirmation of it still put them on edge.

"Alpha," Zordon commanded immediately. "Begin a sensor sweep of Angel Grove for any sign of Rita's most recent monster."

"Right away, Zordon!" Alpha responded.

Nodding, Zordon turned his attention back to Tommy. "Please continue, Tommy."

Taking a moment to gather himself again, Tommy started speaking. "It looked kind of like a samurai. I mean it looked like it was wearing armor like that, you know? But anyway, it had this jug hanging from its hip and when it opened it… something shot out of it and knocked me over. I hit my head and don't remember much after that, but I do remember Kimberly being pulled into the monster's jug."

"Ai yai yai!" Alpha suddenly shouted just as the Command Center's alarms started blaring. "Look, Zordon! I have the monster on the Viewing Globe!"

Almost as one, the Rangers turned toward the glowing orb. Next to Harry, Tommy's face grew serious. "Yeah… that's the one…"

There on the viewing globe was a surprisingly humanoid looking monster, if of course the human's face had been frozen into an impossibly wide, fanged grin like an old style samurai demon mask. There were multiple golden spikes sticking out from either side of its head and there was a red crest of some kind on top of its helmet. It was wearing, as Tommy had indicated, black samurai-style armor with various gold colored symbols and studs with a white sash tied around its waist and a large gourd jug hanging from its left hip with a cork in the opening.

"It is as I had feared," Zordon intoned deeply as the Rangers turned to face him again. "This monster is known as the Samurai Fan Man and is another of Rita's more powerful monsters. It is known for its stealth and traps, particularly the gourd you see hanging from its waist. Within this gourd is a pocket dimension that only lasts for a limited amount of time. When the dimension vanishes, so too does anything trapped within it."

"So how do we get Kimberly out?" Trini asked, the concern for her friend obvious in her voice.

"You must take the gourd from the Fan Man and open it yourselves with the intent to free that which is trapped within. If you do so, the magic of the gourd will be reversed and Kimberly will be freed."

"How long do we have?" Tommy asked, idly brushing some of the still clinging debris off of himself as he did so. Harry idly waved his hand, casting a cleaning charm and removing the rest for him and received a smile and nod in thanks while Zordon answered the question.

"The pocket dimension within the gourd is created when something is pulled inside and begins destabilizing immediately. From the time of its creation, it takes three hours for the dimension to vanish completely. This time limit is also refreshed should the Fan Man capture anything else as the pocket dimension must be re-stabilized before it can accept any new prisoners."

"Alright, we're working on a time limit guys," Jason stepped forward, his steely gaze washing over the others. "Let's morph and go save Kimberly!"

"Right!" the Rangers chanted, Harry joining them for once. The threat to their friend and teammate was more than enough to overcome his reluctance to give into the Grid's desire for dramatic flair.

Jason nodded before turning away from them again. "It's Morphin' time!"

-MR-

According to Alpha's readings, the Samurai Fan Man was still in the park, relatively near where Tommy said he and Kimberly had been attacked, so that was where the Rangers teleported to. What they weren't expecting was to immediately find the Fan Man, along with Goldar, Squatt, and Baboo, sitting around a low, stone table and eating while being served by a sizable group of putties… wearing brightly colored vests.

"Ah, Power Rangers," the Samurai called. "Welcome to the Putty Bowl Restaurant!"

Harry resisted the urge to try and scratch his head in confusion. Not only would it serve no real purpose since he was wearing his suit, but he simply refused to show any sign that the monster had confused him with the strangeness of the situation.

Jason was either unaffected or was planning to bluster his way through. "Where's Kimberly?!"

The Fan Man stood from his kneeling position and lifted his gourd jug that had been hidden behind him when the Rangers arrived. Laughing darkly, he attached the gourd to his sash again and patted it. "Oh, you want your little Ranger friend back, eh? Well then come and get her!"

The monster flung its hands out wide and the dozen or so putties around the "restaurant" scrambled to form a group between the Rangers and the monsters. Goldar too had risen from the table, but was merely standing with his arms crossed, a smirk across his simian face. Squatt and Baboo were still kneeling at the table, each drinking deeply from what looked like clay jars of some kind with oriental writing on them.

"Alright, Rangers." Jason called out, drawing and brandishing his blade blaster. "Let's take these guys down!"

Following Jason's charge, Harry and the other Rangers ran to meet the also charging group of putties. Almost at once, Harry found himself being approached by a putty in a purple vest. Feeling somewhat offended by the clay construct wearing what he sometimes thought of as his color (even if that was only because of the Grid's influence on him) Harry easily side stepped the creature's first clumsy punch before dropping down and sweeping its feet out from underneath it.

Moving quickly, Harry hopped up into the air, planting his boots into the chest of the downed putty before using it as a springboard and leaping up higher and flipping once only to practically land on the shoulders of another putty, locking his knees around its neck. The putty stumbled back into another as Harry's weight hit it, but the Magi Ranger used that moment of distraction to throw his upper body back, setting his hands on the ground with a sticking charm for leverage, and pulling the putty up and over, flipping it through the air to land on top of the purple vested one, once more knocking it flat to the ground.

Moving to stand on his feet, Harry turned to the putty that had caught his second victim. This putty seemed somehow more capable than its fellows as it blocked and dodged Harry's first few punches and countered by shifting its hand into a large ball and smashing that onto Harry's left shoulder. Grunting as he took the blow, Harry quickly wrapped his left arm around the construct's arm, trapping it in place.

As the putty struggled, seemingly beginning to panic, Harry shifted around, putting his back toward the putty before heaving it up and over his shoulder. He then released it at the top of its arc so it flew through the air before landing atop the now three high pile of putties he had made. Smiling with grim satisfaction, Harry stepped a bit closer to the putties before extending his right hand toward them, palm out with fingers splayed.

"Incendio!" Harry intoned, casting the wandless spell as a stream of flame that quickly engulfed the three putties and reduced them to ash in seconds. Once he cut the spell off he examined his right hand only to find the glove slightly scorched by the backlash of his wandless spell but otherwise pain free.

Nodding to himself, Harry internally marveled at how much difference his short time learning with Tommy had improved his abilities to fight in morph. Even with guidance from the Grid he hadn't truly expected to have so little trouble with the putties.

An increase in the volume of the background noise caused by the putties caught Harry's attention. Turning, he saw an entirely new wave of putties, identified as such by their lack of vests, were now charging head long towards where he and the Rangers were at.

Smirking beneath his helmet, Harry decided to have a bit of fun and ceded more control to the energies of the Morphing Grid.

Hopping slightly, Harry broke into a dead sprint toward the approaching putties, gathering Power to his hands as he did so. Just as he came within reach of the first one, he flung his arms downward, releasing the gathered Power in a burst just as he leapt into the air. The resulting explosion not only took out the first few unprepared putties, but it also served to propel him further upward.

Flipping a few times, Harry brought his feet down just in time to deliver a powerful double-kick to the chest of a putty patroller near the middle of the pack, riding the unfortunate construct down to the ground in a crouch before rolling off of it to bleed off the rest of his momentum. Without even a moment's pause for thought, Harry planted his right hand onto the grass, using it as a pivot point and lashing out with both legs, striking the nearest pair of putties with powerful kicks further augmented by a burst of Power that sent them flying backwards into their brethren.

Still smirking, Harry righted himself before blocking a punch from one putty and redirecting another attack into the chest of a third.

By this point, most of the putty pack had made the decision to get as far away from the Magi Ranger as possible, hoping to have a better chance of fighting the other five Rangers than they would against him. Harry was just having too much fun to care.

Backing up a few steps from the three putties that had stayed near him, Harry took a fighting stance before gesturing on of them forward. "Come on then," he taunted the creatures. "Bring it on."

The nearest putty tilted its head in confusion for a moment before dashing forward, shifting its right hand into a long blade as it did and making a vertical slice with it. Harry, still awash in the Grid's Power, slid to one side, letting the blade cut through the air just to his left before lashing out with a spin kick that flipped the putty head over heels and out of commission.

The last two charged him together, but their generally uncoordinated attacks meant that he was able to redirect and dodge their attacks almost without effort. Finding an opening, Harry ducked out of the way just as they each launched a kick from either side of him, resulting in them tripping each other up and falling to the ground where Harry finished them with a pair of wandless Reductos.

"So, it seems like someone has been practicing…" Goldar drawled as he stepped into Harry's line of sight. The Magi Ranger glanced over to the others quickly, seeing that they had been drawn away slightly by the remaining putties, but it wouldn't be much longer before they had dealt with them.

"Well, you know what they say, Goldar," Harry shrugged before settling into a fighting stance. "Practice makes perfect. And I could hardly get much worse than I was. I am more than willing to admit that much. Though that still hasn't really prevented me from being able to deal with you every time we've met, now has it?"

Goldar growled, glaring at him. "Don't get cocky, Mageling… I think you will soon find that the gap in our respective abilities is still as large as it always was, no matter how much practicing you do!"

With that, the monster charged toward Harry, thankfully without his sword at the moment, and launched a vicious right hook at his head.

Harry ducked quickly, avoiding the punch before launching a jab of his own into Goldar's armored stomach. The biggest problem with this was that Goldar didn't seem to react to the hit at all which meant that Harry was completely unprepared when the monster's knee was driven into Harry's stomach.

As Harry found himself doubled over, gasping for breath, Goldar heaved him up by the collar of his cloak. "As I said, Mageling, you shouldn't get cocky…"

Goldar glanced up quickly before spinning the still winded Magi Ranger around, holding him in place with his left arm while summoning his sword in his right and holding the tip to the side of his head. "Stop where you are, Rangers."

Harry managed to focus enough to see the other five Rangers skidding to a stop from their charge toward him. They had apparently dealt with the rest of the putties in time to see him get nabbed by Goldar and had been attempting to rescue him… again.

He had really hoped he was over that part of this whole Power Ranger business…

"Let him go, Goldar!" Jason shouted, gesturing dramatically as he did so.

Goldar just laughed. "I think not, puny Power Rangers. FAN MAN! NOW!"

The Samurai Fan Man, somehow forgotten up to this point, stepped into view off to Harry's right. With another bout of rather dark laughter, the monster summoned a long war fan before waving it repeatedly at the Rangers. Almost immediately, a strong wind kicked up accompanied by short bursts of energy that sent sparks flying from the Rangers' suits when they hit.

"You look a little warm, Power Rangers!" the Samurai taunted. "Maybe this will cool you off!" With one final heave, the monster released a burst of energy from its fan accompanied by the strongest gust of wind yet that managed to knock the Rangers off their feet and blow them up and over some nearby trees and out of sight.

"And now for you, Magi Ranger," the Fan Man said as it turned to face him, idly tossing the war fan aside where it vanished in mid-flight. "Empress Rita gave me special instructions to take no chances with you, so in you go!" With a short grunt, the monster removed the cork in the mouth of its jug, allowing a stream of yellow energy to flow out, spinning into a tornado between the monster and the captive Harry.

Goldar's laughter echoed in Harry's ears as Rita's general bashed him over the back of the head with the pommel of his sword and shoved him into the vortex of Power. As darkness grew over his consciousness, Harry felt a vague spinning feeling before he was sucked into the pocket dimension within the Fan Man's jar.

-MR-

Thanks for reading and don't forget to review,

Tenstar12