EDITED - Harry's thoughts.

Tommy's eye colors:

Blue turquoise - surprise/amazement/pride

CHAPTER 28 - INTROSPECTIVE

Angela glanced up at the Youth Center door as it opened, hoping her friend had finally arrived. Seeing instead Jason, Billy, Trini, Kim and Zack enter, she seriously considered sneaking out the back. She turned her back on them but saw out of the corner of her eye as Zack took notice of her presence. Here it comes, she complained silently. Zack Taylor and his never ending need to show off! Can't he ever get it through his thick head I don't like him? Really. Who would ever fall for such obvious garbage as …

Her thoughts cut off abruptly as she watched him walk passed her without so much as a word. What? I'm I not worth his time now? What are they doing? There's something … different about them all. Besides Billy not wearing glasses and Kim and Trini wearing pants.

Without realizing it, she found herself straining to listen in on their conversation. For sometime the group spoke of nothing but what they'd do with the rest of their day off. Day off of what? Angela wondered. Not school. Not only was it summer but that group hadn't attended any classes the end of last year though none of the teachers or their families seemed to think anything of that. The only one of them she'd seen anywhere near the school had been Tommy, and he only seemed to come in to speak to Mr. Caplin or Mrs. Applebee before leaving immediately again.

"I'd rather rent a movie than go to the theater," Billy was saying when she turned her attention back to them. "There are several decent titles we haven't seen since all this began, and that way if we are interrupted, we can still watch the rest later."

Kim made a face. "Yeah. Our last trip to the theater didn't turn out well. Let's not draw His attention to movie posters."

What an odd thing to say, Angela thought. She frowned as Bulk and Skull entered the room and immediately headed towards Zack's table. There was no way Zack would pass up showing those two up, especially since Bulk and Skull couldn't stop themselves from trying to show up the others.

"Hey," Skull said as they stopped beside Jason and Kim. "Where's Tommy?"

"It's Harry's birthday," Kim answered. "They went somewhere to celebrate. Which means no training today. We were thinking of renting some movies, just taking it easy. Want to join?"

Bulk nodded. Neither he nor Skull looked surprised at the offer. "Sounds cool. If you want to avoid your base for your day off, we could watch them at my place."

The five enthusiastically agreed. Bulk and Skull sat down with the five and Ernie brought out their burgers. As they ate, they discussed what movies to watch, since the five seemed to be at the least a year behind on seeing anything new they soon discovered Bulk owned the ones they were most interested in. Finished eating, the seven teens stood and headed out. Angela watched them go in a level of shock. That's it, she decided. I fell into some kind of alternate dimension or something. That was totally not possible!

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Tommy and Harry sat at an outside table at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, eating sundaes while Tommy read through one of the books they'd purchased. Harry was spending more time talking about the girl he met, Hermione, than eating his ice cream. Neither Tommy's continued reading nor the slight laughter he received did anything to distract him from the subject.

"I seems you'd have us go to this school so you may see the girl again, bro," Tommy said, finally laying his book aside. When Harry blushed, Tommy grinned. "Your first crush. It's cute."

"I … It's not … I don't have a crush!" Harry argued, blushing deeper. "It's just … she's nice. And pretty and sweet. That's all."

"As I said." Tommy suppressed a laugh at Harry's reaction. He did find Harry's reactions cute if inconceivable in any personal sense. He'd never found anyone else's crushes to be cute, though his usual dealings with others crushes were with him as the focal point which always left him feeling uneasy when it was from someone he basically trusted, worse when it was someone outside his trust. Tommy wasn't sure what to think of his own reaction to Harry's crush, though he was sure it helped that Harry was one of two people he'd trust to never force themselves on anyone. "It's alright, you know."

Harry stilled, unsure how to react. He could admit, to himself at least, that he was attracted to her. But experience told him that was wrong, or at the very least dangerous. He never experienced the worst that could happen, he knew Tommy protected him from that, but even without the personal experience he was all too aware of how dangerous physical attraction could become.

"It's not," Tommy said into the silence, startling Harry. "You're not like them."

Harry's gaze dropped to the table. He wanted to ask why Tommy could believe that so strongly for Harry yet not for himself but in truth Harry knew why. What Harry saw Tommy experienced. That was a major difference, one Harry could only begin to comprehend now because he was a Power Ranger. As he knew the difference between watching a battle, even knowing it was his brother and friends fighting, and actually fighting the battle himself. It wasn't something that could be explained, ever. You either lived it or you didn't. It was that simple.

"Yeah," Harry said, looking up to meet Tommy's eyes once again. "I'm not them."

Tommy smiled softly before growing serious. "I know you just met her and nothing may come of this attraction," he began, causing Harry to blush once more. "But if not her, it'll be someone else. But whoever, odds are it won't be a Power Ranger. That's major. You're a Ranger, now and forever. She's not."

"I know that," Harry murmured.

"I know you do. But think about it. Think about what it means. There are things about you, about us that she won't understand. Even if you tell her who you are, there will be things you can't tell her because there are no words for it. Even if she becomes a soldier, fights in a war beside you, there will still be a major difference between our experiences as Rangers, as warriors holding such a personal and soul deep connection to the Grid, that no one outside us stands a chance of comprehending it all." Seeing Harry's pout, Tommy said, "That doesn't mean it can't work out, Har. Hell, it doesn't even mean that it isn't exactly what you'd both need. Just look at our teams. Similarities may draw you together but it's the differences, the parts that make us unique that make us stronger. You just have to know that."

Harry smiled. "Yeah. Like Billy's inventions and your lead."

"Like that. So this girl, she could become your strength. There's another side to it." Tommy paused. "She's not a Ranger. She's not protected by the Power. If she becomes close to you… If she's even a halfway close friend…"

Harry paled. "She's a target," he breathed.

"Then she's a target," Tommy repeated. "Then it's our job to make sure she, or anyone close to any of us, are protected. That means every Ranger knows. No secrets. We will know the extent of the relationship. There's a rule now, Har. A new one, the opposite of Zordon's. Someone gets close to you like that, we tell them. We tell them, we supply them with a communicator, we introduce them to the other Rangers. Anything else is needlessly risking them."

Harry nodded agreement with that, even if he was less than sure of sharing so much with anyone. It gave him something to think about before approaching Hermione again. He couldn't help but think it was a good thing there was a month before school started, he'd need the time to decide how he would handle the new acquaintances.

"Just be sure of them first," Tommy added. "Cause if we tell them and they're not ready to accept it …" He drifted off as a couple boys took the table beside them. He left Harry to his thoughts as he picked up the book again.

Harry sat for along while watching Tommy read while he thought on Tommy's words.

Then she's a target, Tommy had so calmly repeated, like it was the most obvious thing in the 'verse. Like it never occurred to him that someone could be close without the danger of that being used against him.

I'm no more a child than you! We come from the same thing. I know how to survive, Harry remembered the words he'd thrown at Tommy so angrily because Tommy hadn't been happy to find Harry had become a Ranger. You would rather I remained the powerless target they could so easily use against you then? How long do you really think it'd take them to decide the person closest to you was your greatest weakness? He'd demanded then, thrown those words at Tommy as an attack. He hadn't really believed them, he'd only spoken what he knew was Tommy's fears. Not his own, never his own. Harry never felt like being close to Tommy endangered him. Rather the opposite. He never felt safer than when he was with Tommy but even when apart, he'd assumed himself safe from it all because he was under Tommy's protection. To him, Tommy was the most powerful, the unstoppable, undefeatable protector that no one could be foolish enough to risk angering him. At that time, it hadn't even occurred to Harry that he could be in danger by joining the Rangers. It was just a given, as far as he was concerned, that Tommy would win because Tommy was his hero and heroes always win. Despite the words he'd spoken that day, he hadn't accepted the Power because he was needed. He'd done so to be closer to Tommy. He'd only wanted to share something special with his hero.

We do not come from the same thing, Harry. I got you out of there before it could touch you…

At the time he'd thought of the beating Seetha gave him and he'd thought those words the worst lie. He'd thought of the Dursleys and assumed that if Tommy knew what he'd lived through before they met then he would know they were the same. But it wasn't the same. The Dursleys didn't touch him. They'd yelled at him and belittled him, those books of Mr. Scotts called it emotional abuse, but they didn't touch him. Not like that. Not like what Tommy went through from his earliest memories. It was actually Lord Zedd's words on the subject that made Harry start to realize how terrible Tommy's earliest years were, how very much Tommy did save him from. Yes, he was beaten, and he did believe Seetha would have continued until he was dead if Tommy hadn't interrupted. But he'd healed from that a lot quicker than Tommy had - and it hadn't taken him long to realize Tommy healed much quicker than is normal even back then.

So sure, Harry was more guarded than your average kid, but still it was easy enough for him to separate the people he met into categories of 'like the Dursleys or Seetha' and 'safe'. But Tommy sometimes seemed more guarded with the 'safe' people than he did around the dangerous ones. Harry wondered just how many times someone close to him had been used against him, and just how many of the ones to hurt him had been seen as safe. He knew he'd hurt Tommy that day - in more ways than he'd realized at the time.

"I'm sorry."

Tommy looked up in surprise at the raw emotion he heard in those two softly spoken words. Harry offered him a sorrowful smile and said, "For everything. You saved me. You got me out before I could really be hurt … just not before I learned every word that could be a weapon against you. I'm sorry I said those things, I never meant them."

"It's okay."

"No, it's not," Harry disagreed softly. "I threw those words at you …" He shook his head, unsure how to say what needed said. "I'm sorry that I made a lifelong decision for the wrong reasons. I'm not sorry to be part of the team now but … I never thought someone would try to use me against you, you know. But … Zordon did, didn't he? When he … when he offered me that choice, it's wasn't me he wanted, was it?"

Tommy's blue turquoise gaze met his for a long moment, deciding how to answer. "He's afraid of me," he finally said. "I doubt there is much he wouldn't do to try to tie me to his side. But his reasons are no longer of any importance. Your reasons… I've seen them change. You're not playing anymore. You … and the five, you've all lost some of your innocence in this, none of you are playing anymore. I … That increases your chances at survival, everything considered, but I wish …"

"I understand," Harry said.

"I know," Tommy breathed. I wish you didn't. But everyday of this war, every fight, every loss even when we win… You're becoming more like me everyday. I can't stop it. I want something better for you. But, as much as he wanted to save that innocence in them all, he couldn't help but feel proud of how much they'd grown. "Come on, Har. It's late, we should get home, after we tell Professor Snape our answer. Tomorrow, we have to break it to the others that we'll be attending a school on the opposite side of the world from them."

Harry smiled. "Then we're going to Hogwarts?"

"We're going," Tommy affirmed. But even as they teleported home that night, Tommy was unsure he'd made the right decision. So many things could go wrong, even without the added trouble of the 'famed Boy-Who-Lived' nonsense. But there was no other decision to make. Hogwarts was his best hope for giving Harry a better life.

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Continued - Let me know what you think. Review