Chapter Eleven
by Lionheart
with thanks to Cypher3au
I O I O I
In a run down, deserted labyrinth of brick houses surrounded by broken and boarded up windows and with the chimney of a disused mill hanging like an admonishing finger over the lifeless terrain, two tiny figures were at work in the heavy, soot laden fog that blanketed that section of muggle London.
And both were six inches high, with fairy wings, and wearing ninja outfits.
"I like your style, girl." One of the tiny kunoichi told the other in low tones as they scouted a very old, very run down house. "Burgling Snape's house on the day of his arrest? Right now I'm dealing with a double load of classes and surrounded by students, and you've an even better alibi. You're at the Ministry surrounded by aurors at this very moment giving testimony before a judge."
"Time Turners do break so many rules." Nodoka agreed, concluding her study of the brick structure. "I expect that's why they track them so carefully."
For added safety, even though there was no one around they spoke very softly, and in Chinese. One of those dialects that sounds like another dialect and unless you get them straight you'll never understand what's being said even if you know the language. Adding Pig Latin modifiers to that was perhaps overkill, but what the hey? The combination would defeat any translation spells they knew of.
"Bah. Not so very carefully, I'd say. They still haven't discovered that I replaced some of their precious stock with ordinary hourglasses of the same size and make. I even rigged a shelf to break, crushing our fakes along with a dozen or so authentic ones, so they'll never be able to tell our switch. They'll just sweep it all up and not tell the magic dust from the fake it is mixed with. These people would never last ten seconds against real opponents. All of the aurors in England wouldn't stand a chance if our real foes come after us. Your curses and attack spells move pitifully slowly through the air, with no chance at all to hit someone who knows how to dodge."
"I expect that is why you, in China, did away with them to practice more subtle arts." The tiny duchess agreed. "Aha, I've found our entrance. On the roof."
The two ninja fairies flitted up there in a moment and Nodoka led the way to the chimney. "Oh, pooh!" She said, once she'd had a look at the top. "There is a grate. You know, this would be so much easier if we could use active magic! But Dumbledore is too good at tracing other peoples' spells and fitting them to their owners, and I truly do not want to give him any more evidence than he already has against us."
"The way things stand right now, no one would listen to his testimony, daughter. But you are right. It's best to deny him any traces just in case things change. Now stand back." Cologne touched a finger to the side of the brickwork and a hole about her size exploded out of the rock.
She answered Nodoka's look. "That's a chi technique, daughter. Breaking Point, and even if your Headmaster has heard of chi adepts he'll never track that trick. I've read his aura and he has no command of chi at all, so he certainly doesn't know the first thing about chi sorcery, and even if he did I'm better than he'll ever be and I couldn't tell who blew up a rock with the Breaking Point more than an hour after it happened. Natural chi flows break up the traces nicely, and this area is all dark chi which attacks the light chi I use. My signature will be gone in minutes, probably before we are. He could find us more easily from the lingering scent of a breath mint you took this morning."
Nodoka smiled under her mask. "I use a very popular brand that many others enjoy. I'm not so daft as to have a unique smell, considering my hobbies."
"My point exactly."
The pair of fairy-sized and winged Hogwarts teachers slipped in the new crack in the side of the chimney and made their way down, permitting their wings to glow softly now they were inside. They found their access blocked by the flue. Nodoka had brought along a metal-dissolving acid for just such an occasion, but Cologne told her to save it and just blew a new hole through the fireplace brickwork and into the home.
"It's the most secure trick we have, daughter. Most acids can be traced if you want to badly enough."
Nodoka tucked the vial back into her sleeve. "The whole point of this raid is to avoid leaving traces while we destroy some of Snape's ability to do us harm. I knew he'd guard the door, and found he'd protected the walls and roof as well. But his paranoia does have limits."
"Not so many as you'd think, child." Cologne told her, floating above the dressing table she pointed to a coffee stand. "Look."
"A turtle in a bowl?" Nodoka saw the reptile looking up at them. "Odd. I never saw him as the type to keep pets."
"He isn't, I'm sure." Cologne gave a soft laugh. "That's a burglar alarm, of a sorts. For a mind reader having a few pet turtles around the house is like having a muggle security camera set up. When he returns home he can check through their slow-moving thoughts to see if any uninvited guests dropped by and perhaps set death traps for him or stole anything. That's almost more clever than I can credit our Potion Master for."
"He got the idea from someone else, I'm sure. Now what?"
"We have to kill those turtles as we find them. If we leave them alive he's sure to know it was us from the pictures in their minds as they saw us, and I overestimate him a great deal if he doesn't have locator charms on them to find them if they get lost, should we try releasing them into the river." The matriarch was pleased to have encountered such a concept, and vowed to use it herself as she became a legilimens.
"I'm certain he would also have charms on them to let him know if any died, so he would know before returning home to expect any traps or ambushes. I'm sure that one or two times someone has filled his home with an invisible, deadly gas or some other such lethal surprise. Knowing if his turtles died would warn him in advance of most such. So I reiterate, this idea was too smart to have come from Snape. He must have copied it off an ex-auror or someone among the other Death Eaters, or read about it in a book somewhere. I know he is not above stealing other people's work. He was always copying my potions research in school, and even after graduation." The six inch tall lady scowled at that recollection.
"We'll return the favor. How is that?" Cologne took a potion bottle tucked in her broad sash belt out and swigged it, almost immediately growing back to full size, which as a teenager was quite tall enough to suit her. Nodoka did the same and grew as well. Both still dressed as ninja, though the wings disappeared.
The pair of them took out the largest available expanding bookbags and began to empty the book shelves that crowded every wall of this front room. The two ladies were being very careful to avoid any use of wand-magic at all, for fear of leaving traces Dumbledore could find. But strictly internal magic such as devices and potions only left such traces as they were created, not used or consumed. So unless they suddenly came over stupid and dropped something of theirs and left it behind, they were being very safe.
They raided that house for all sorts of things: Potions, ingredients, brewing equipment and most especially notes. Books of all sorts and sizes, some written by Snape himself and never published (a brief glance showed many to be on Dark Arts, others merely compiled information stolen or adapted from dozens of sources). Other valuables were trivial and a few even powerfully cursed, or otherwise trapped against potential thieves.
"Not a very trusting man, is he?" Cologne chuckled as they opened the secret door behind the secret door in the bottom of a functional muggle fridge filled with mold cultures and other esoteric and even gross things. They had found a turtle in every room, so far.
"That reminds me, check out the ice before leaving. He's probably got diamonds hidden in among them, or something. I don't trust how much money we've found so far, it's too small an amount. He gets paid more than this, even considering expensive hobbies, and Snape is trafficking in both Dark Arts objects and brewing controlled or illegal potions for sale on the black market on the side. He must have more wealth than this. Not even he would miss so obvious a trick as to note how much power money brings, and he's not one to indulge in expensive luxuries like my brother is."
"Tut tut, daughter. You forget that Snape is a spy, a betrayer of both sides. Dumbledore could well be the only human being to trust him to any degree at all. He'll have some ready cash around the house, of course. But that's just to cover expenses. If he's any good at all he'll have a good half dozen stashes of cash or other valuables, along with preserved food and other necessities in various places, some in this country, some outside of it. There is so great a danger he'd have to rush off and hide on short notice he'd have been a fool not to have a bolthole or two prepared where he could vanish for a time."
"Then again, he could just hide it all at Gringott's." Nodoka said, having just discovered a key hidden in a bowl of flesh-dissolving fungus where most people would never look, but she had probed a few times with a fork.
Cologne blinked in shock at the lack of professionalism such a hiding place displayed. "I'll admit, he's been a fool at enough other things. Arrogance, that's a downfall I've seen many times, and Snape just reeks of it. My, would you look at this?"
"What is it?" Nodoka crowded nearby to have a look down the most recent secret door discovered.
"Snape keeps zombies in his sub-basement. Lots of zombies, from the look of it. What do you want to guess they are guarding, down here all alone behind so many curious secret panels and clever locks?"
"Something worth guarding would be my guess. Probably, no, almost certainly something far more incriminating and dangerous to have around than zombies themselves are. Either that or he just prefers to have undead party guests as more equal to his own lack of wit. It could also be why this neighborhood is deserted, of course. I wouldn't put it past Snape to have killed everyone in the neighborhood and kept the bodies around as servants, just in case he needed to release a horde of undead to cover his own escape, get revenge, or something."
The amazon nodded. "Dead neighbors is almost certainly where he got them, especially judging by those old clothes they are wearing, muggle fashions about twenty years out of date. But my guess is he keeps them downstairs in his own house only to guard something he feels is important, but doesn't trust to Gringott's."
Nodoka sparkled. "Well, we've cleared out the rest of the house. Shall we see?"
Cologne looked back over their handiwork. The furniture was all in sticks barely bigger than a match, but they'd uncovered so many secret compartments doing that as to get a real fine appreciation for the man's obsessive paranoia, or at least that which he'd felt during his old master's reign of terror. It was also obvious that he'd slacked off since then and gotten more careless about hiding things. Once upon a time he'd probably had to endure a search or two by Ministry aurors, but that had all stopped since acquiring Dumbledore's patronage. They'd found illegal Dark Arts tomes open and bookmarked in the living room, with notes scribbled in his own hand!
Having ripped open all of the walls they'd also found a fair number of small secret rooms and signs those had not been used actively in a long time. A very long time, as Snape hadn't even appeared to know about most of them. It seemed another wizard had used this house back in the prosperous days of this district. The darkest items they found in most of those closets was a nose-biting teacup in a box clearly labeled 'prank items'. Though that hadn't stopped them from stealing the invisibility cloak or other things they'd found in the forgotten closets.
"Yes, daughter. I am very curious as to what he conceals so carefully after all this time. He's had a noticeable drop of security in other areas. Why is this one still guarded so closely?" Cologne led her adopted daughter in a crab crawl across the ceiling of the dungeon room they had discovered, above and out of reach of the zombies, and they were through the door on the other side before any of the undead could react.
"Oh, piffle! It's just an old potions lab, left over from the Era of Voldemort, I imagine." The disappointed matriarch sniffed disparagingly, then flicked the side of a case of human bones and rolls of skin. "Along with some very dark potion supplies. I should have guessed."
"Not just any potion supplies, Cologne." Nodoka's eyes glittered as she read the labels on one case with hundreds of drawers. "Most of these are very illegal, and quite dark, but over there you can see a setup ideal for producing large batches of Post-Cruciatus potion, and right here in this corner we have a factory for Polyjuice. I'm looking at hair samples taken from hundreds of witches and wizards, dead and alive. I suppose Snape just hasn't used this place since the war ended. Oh, look! Here are samples taken from Lily and James Potter!"
"We'll grab the tools, and the chest if you think you've got any use for old bits of hair. But I think most of this place needs to burn."
"Quite right." Nodoka said, grabbing the hair sample chest and tucking it in her second to last expanding bag. "Post-Cruciatus is an important resource to have if you are fighting Dead Munchies, and even more important to deny to them, as their master uses his favorite curse on them more than anyone opposed to him. Their performance degrades if they've still got the cramps, soreness and twitches left over from him torturing them when he sends them out on assignments. Polyjuice is another lovely thing to have lots of when you need it, and just as ugly in their hands."
Nodoka continued speaking as they both industriously began packing away tools and stuff for closer examination later. "I'd offer to expose this place to the Ministry, but turning it in would be tricky and our Headmaster would just use the excuse that Snape didn't know about it. Pity, but we can manage to make his life difficult enough without Ministry assistance."
"Good. Let's set fire to this place when we're done. There's no one alive for blocks in every direction and the district could use some renovation. First we'll feed Snape's turtles to his zombies, to be sure to get rid of them. Then we'll set this place on fire."
I O I O I
Severus Snape gasped as he hit the floor of the cell hard enough to have the wind knocked out of him. Shivering as he pushed himself back up into a sitting position, he managed to sneer weakly at his jailers, who countered with much more confident smirks. "Don't bother locking the door; Dumbledore is no doubt already working to free me."
"Oh, he's trying, we'll give him that much, but seeing as how everybody else in power is working to keep you here, I recommend you get comfortable. In fact, we put you in the cell next to an old buddy of yours, just to make sure you don't get lonely during your stay." The Auror slammed the door shut and strolled off, whistling merrily. "Have fun you two!"
Snarling, Snape took a moment (and several deep breaths) to calm himself before moving to the bars of his cell. "Who's there?"
First there was silence, then shuffling, before a rasping voice answered from the neighboring room. "Who's asking?"
"Severus Snape. Do you remember me?"
"...Snivellus. How could I ever forget you?"
"NO!"
"YES!"
"NO!"
"YES! ...hey, wanna hear a couple of hundred knock-knock jokes I made up?"
"NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"
I O I O I
Ranko finished milking Bella, but left without feeding the other animals, calling back over her shoulder as she left with the milk jugs, "Don't forget, it's Time Turner Day!"
A moment later Ranko came out into the stables from the other entrance wearing a chef's hat and apron with a cute little shrimp on it. She marched over bearing a large meat cleaver and came to a stop in parade fashion in front of the large water tank, before throwing back her shoulders and announcing, "Present, Arms!"
Nabiki, huddling in the bottom of her tank, shook her head frantically 'No!'
Ranko leaned over the tank, hiding the meat cleaver ineffectually behind her back. "Aw, c'mon, Nabiki. You know octopi grow them back. How is this worse than taking pictures of me half naked and selling them to perverts? You know it isn't, and I haven't had a good bite of seafood in days."
The seafood in question shrank into the smallest form she could arrange and huddled away in the farthest corner of her tank.
Ranko posed casually. "Hey, you know all those times you blackmailed me? Well, this is your turn. You don't eat today."
She tossed the meat cleaver over her shoulder to 'chunk' inches deep into a wooden beam on the other side, bent low, picked up the bucket of chopped fish and walked away from her, placing the food by the door, well out of reach of the aquarium.
As she came back by, she dusted her hands off against each other, passing by Nabiki's tank on her way to Kasumi's stall. Playing Tuesday over again was weird, in its own way, but then if there were to be any person on the planet acquainted with weird it would be her, so she got along just fine.
The redhaired girl greeted the mare and fed her a lump of sugar, eating one of her own as well. Seconds later they were both invisible, and though it would only last fifteen minutes, that was plenty of time. Ranko open the stall door and mounted the chestnut bareback, and the pair of them surged out of the stables, galloping down moss green lawns of Hogwarts on the way to Hogsmead where Nodoka owned a small house under another name.
Slowing the gallop to a ground eating trot (the slowest she could convince herself to go), the mare approached the small cottage out on the edge of that village, vaulted the white picket fence in back, and eagerly came to a stop outside of the back door, her invisible sides quivering in anticipation as Ranko slid down from her back and found the correct key.
That had been a different run for both of them. Having been through the Riding Barn Ranko was now an equestrian of great ability and the fluidity and harmony of motion had been enough to grab both of their attentions in spite of the preoccupation both had with what they anticipated toward the end of that run. Kasumi had been practically kicking down the walls of her stall all of last week in eagerness as this day approached.
Finding the right key, the redhead opened the door and both cursed individuals surged in past the concealing portal. Slapping the wood shut again cut off all view, and Ranko eagerly pawed open a purse she'd carried with her, freeing two potion bottles with clear labels.
Being a gentleman even when he was a lady, the cursed martial artist popped the top off of the one marked for Kasumi and upended the colorful vial into the horse's upraised mouth, whereupon the animal began to gulp it down enthusiastically. Ranko had open and drunk her own bottle faster than she'd ever fought her father for rice.
The changes came swiftly. In some ways they were disturbing, in others reassuring, and neither noticed nor really cared about a trifling discomfort as they felt themselves alter.
There was a full length mirror in the back hall, where they now stood, that Nodoka had put there for that purpose. It showed invisible objects as visible ones, and even though it would only be a few more minutes until the enchanted cubes of sugar wore off, both stood before this device to watch themselves change, not able to wait the extra seconds until they could see themselves in an ordinary fashion.
Both changes struck at once, and though it hurt a bit neither flinched from staring at their own reflections as Kasumi's horse shape shrank and shifted, rearranging itself and swallowing hair to become the girl Soun had once called daughter revealed in all of her naked glory.
Ranko watched spellbound as her own body's features changed, grew, and gradually transformed back into the male form, the boy he'd been born as: Ranma. The daughter of Nodoka had stripped to watch herself restored to this form, and both stood reverently for half a heartbeat, just glad to see themselves again, to be who they truly were once more, at their own true ages and everything.
Things held that way for an awesome moment, then both young people exploded down opposite halls to two of the three bedrooms, to the clothes and things set out there. Kasumi went by way of the bath, the oldest Tendo daughter relished the pleasures of bathing as one of those things a horse couldn't do. Feeling clean was once one of her highest priorities, although soaking was not the source of contentment that it once was, as any horse could do that. No, the pleasure lay in having hands, in manipulating faucets and bath tools, scrubbing with soap, using fingers and shampooing one's hair - all of it centered around being a tool-using person again and not a hoofed animal.
Every other week, starting twenty eight days from when they'd first arrived here, they'd done this. Tuesday was Kasumi's day to do this with Ranma, Thursday was Nabiki's, and clothes for each of the Tendo daughters were available for their tastes and sizes in their shared room. It also had a bed, but they'd never used it. They always hoped they would someday, though, and in that case they'd probably have to add a bunk above it because the room, like the house, was small.
Basically, Nodoka only owned it to provide a setting for the kids normal moments.
Ten minutes after parting to go their separate ways the duo remet in the kitchen. Ranma had cooked up a snack while Kasumi was in the bath. Still heady from being in their normal forms they ate it in a rush. Then they grabbed each other in a frantic hug, both of them wanting to talk at once, only Ranma restrained himself so Kasumi could go first.
"Ranma! I am SO glad that your mother modified the polyjuice recipe so that it works on animals! I SOO look forward to my hour! We have another forty five minutes. How do you want to use it?"
"Actually, Kasumi. We have longer. My mom invented a longer duration polyjuice potion for us because she didn't want to worry as much about the material supply. We have twelve hours together today."
That response was worth a kiss, so she gave him one (mostly out of joy, only partially because kissing was something that horse's lips won't do).
Then Kasumi giggled, relaxing against him, feeling a release of tension now they had almost a full day. "It was awfully clever of her to summon our hairs and fingernail clippings from our rooms at home. I only wish you could use polyjuiced hairs to make more polyjuice, then we could stay human forever!"
"As it stands, we still have to ration it." Ranma agreed. "But look on the bright side, twelve times as long! And knowing my mother, it's not impossible that she will discover a new use for an old charm, or tweak a potion so things get even better. I'm not supposed to tell you this yet, she doesn't want anyone to feel disappointed if it doesn't work, but there is some hope for what mom says is a partial cure for you guys."
Kasumi melted warmly against him. "Ranma, I am so glad."
Still hyper over being human (or male, in Ranma's case), the pair decided they'd go out to see the town together. One meal they'd already had Ranma had fixed. Kasumi insisted she would do another because she liked feeling useful and using tools, both at once. But for the third meal of their day they'd decided to eat out just to be around other people as their true forms for a while, when before they'd never dared to venture much out of the house.
On that note they went shopping throughout town as well, holding hands (because horses do not have hands, and fingers intertwining was a luxury the eldest Tendo girl didn't feel she could ever get tired of) and laughing, singing, skipping, twirling...
They looked like the absolute picture of a happy young couple out for a day together.
Shopkeepers and residents smiled to see the 'newlyweds' as they termed them, and when Ranma pulled out his wand to do something like dry Kasumi's dress after a full five minutes splashing through a stream, the Hogsmead matrons became at ease over the new young wizarding couple that had bought the house out on the outskirts. They were magic folk, and very much in love from what they'd seen.
Kasumi was happy to be alive in a way that she'd never been before, and if she wanted to dance Ranma was only to happy to oblige her, reveling in the feelings of being a male out with a pretty girl, even if none of it could last.
Sadly, those happy times passed fast and do not bear much explanation. All too soon they were a horse and girl again, riding back to the darkened stables outside of Hagrid's cabin, not bothering with invisibility in the very deep night. Only a single magic candle provided any illumination within.
Ranko walked back into the stables, leading Kasumi by her reins and stopped as she came across the octopus tank. Nabiki had somehow pulled the cleaver from out of the wall, and it was now lying on the floor as two of her tentacles emerged holding a third, which had been severed, offering it to Ranko as she entered. From the amount of nicks and cuts on her other various arms it had taken her quite a few tries to cut the one off.
Ranko dropped the reins in shock and ran over to hug Nabiki's head sorrowfully. "Oh, you poor girl! I didn't mean it!" The redhead released her hold and went into a blur where she sealed cuts with her wand, treated wounds with potions and reattached the severed limb in just a second. Then it was back to holding the mollusk in a comforting hug. "Cologne thought this would motivate you to start using that body of yours. We thought you'd drag yourself over to the door to get your food. We know you can. Oh, but Nabiki I never thought you'd do this!" The gorgeous girl started to cry over the octopus, which, after a moment started to return the hug and stroke the girl's back with a few well bandaged arms.
Kasumi nosed the slimy limbs, offering her own comfort, before trotting back to her stall.
Ranko was sobbing into Nabiki's many arms. "The school stuffs me with seafood! Don't you ever, ever do anything like this again! You hear me? I love you too much. You're one of my very few friends in this whole, dark, cruel world and I don't want you to hurt, ever, you understand me?"
The girl got incoherent in her sobbings, though a keen ear might have made out, "Especially not over me."
Moments later she sobbed out, "Mom makes a new form of polyjuice now that lasts twelve hours. You can be a human all day with me, Nabiki. And when your hair runs out we'll get one of the other girls to volunteer a few strands, so even after then you'll still have time as a human girl! And mom says that she's close to a cure. Oh, hold on Nabiki! Please, it's not been that long and won't be all that much longer. Please be strong. I didn't mean to make things worse for you. I'm so sorry."
The octopus just continued to stroke her back as she cried.
I O I O I
Morning practice had arrived and the dozen girls who had become a study group of sorts under Nodoka's sponsorship were out on the Hogwarts lawn practicing martial arts. The Patil twins were only about a week ahead of the majority of girls there, yet they were the best of their year... mostly. But the exceptions were all obvious.
Ranko was simply unbelievable, though her mom was good, clearly far better than Genma (to anyone who'd ever seen him fight) but just as clearly outclassed. Cologne was up there in the realms of defying belief herself, and it was really too close for most to judge if she or Ranko was superior. The few times the redhead had been the victor in duels past she'd had to put her all into achieving them, whereas Cologne never lost her cool. And, to be honest, there was nothing to be gained for her in defeating Ranko during those times she'd put her all into gaining a win, as the amazon elder's goal had always been to get the young one into the tribe, and that couldn't happen with Ranko dead.
When Ranko really wanted to win, death was just about where she'd push herself to avoid a loss, and the amazon elder didn't want to go near there. Ranko was no good to her dead.
Ukyo and Shampoo were both good. They were very, very good. So for those novices joining them for the first time today there was very little to tell between those martial blurs zipping about at high speeds, rarely touching the ground.
Except for one.
Kodachi stood upon the dew-soaked grass dressed in her typical green leotard with a gym bag at her feet filled with tools, watching those zip about above her and marveling.
Seeing herself useless in such company, she turned about and began to instruct the beginners, as her years as lead gymnast of her school's team had conditioned her to do quite well. These ones were so raw even the simplest of exercises were challenging, and yet the Black Rose had worked with far worse and turned them into ladies of skill, if not too great in the ethics department.
"Sorry, I'm late!" A beautiful Gryffindor with mountains of bouncy brown curls skated up and twirled to a stop before the study group. "I almost had a run-in with Filch, who seems to think that students should be kept in cages when not in classes. Luckily, that old Quidditch helmet he's taken to wearing since Snape's 'accident' (dating back to before safety gear for wizarding sports was outlawed as 'too boring') banged on something, and I was able to get away before he spotted me. Oh! Are we starting with gymnastics?"
"They are what I know, and what I am qualified to teach." Kodachi shrugged. "And since the more experienced fighters among us are all occupied with sparring..."
"They only do that for ten minutes or so before taking a break and starting with our instruction - then they go back to trying to kill each other again, only take it as some kind of challenge to keep watching us and correcting us even while they fight." The Patils girls did one of those 'twin things' where each spoke a couple of words and the other took over, making complete composite statements without apparent effort.
"Spooky." The brown-curled Gryffindor girl shivered.
"Well then, if they disapprove of my methods they are free to change them." Kodachi smartly replied to the twin's statement, and promptly took over the class as lead gymnast, teaching the girls basic moves to build stamina, grace, dexterity and strength so they could get on to the meat of the fighting arts as they became ready for them.
Azusa helped her out so well that the noble girl had to ask, "has there been a change? Back before you were always a little... flighty." Not to mention the age change, so she didn't.
The figure skating legend got embarrassed, blushing. "Ranko's mother wasn't the only one to flee Voldemort on short notice, chased out by curses. Mine did as well, only my mother got hit by one as she escaped, and she was carrying me. My parents went to the States for a time, but relocated to Japan when western medical magic was unable to heal me. It was Ranko's mother who finally lifted the curse off me that gave me infantile behavior all of my life. I'm still trying to catch up on learning what I missed. So redoing six years is a good deal for me all by itself, not to mention starting my magical education, which my mom says I am finally responsible enough to learn."
"While I had a different reason," said a boy from behind, startling them so they jumped.
They turned about to see a Gryffindor Prefect, only he was still only a fourth-year. He had on fairly typical Hogwarts attire and a pair of large glasses under brown hair and a kind smile. "Oh, I'm sorry. I haven't introduced myself yet, have I? I'm Tofu Ono, but everyone around here just calls me Tofu. You may not recognize me, but I remember both of you from back in the old country. Kodachi, I even recall giving you your shots before you started school. Anyway, I was performing research on some magic mushrooms a client had brought in last year and accidentally tasted one, getting shrunk back to thirteen. I couldn't see any way to restore my normal age, yet when I told my mother she thought this was a great opportunity to pick up on the family trade (since I couldn't marry or be a doctor for a while). So she sent me here to Hogwarts as a transfer student in time to start last season. Now I'm a prefect one year early. I guess I impressed the Head of House with my maturity. Say, how are things in the old town?"
"Not well," Ukyo was the first of the major-league martial artists to drop out of the sparring, sweaty and grabbing for a towel and a drink, wincing at bruises. "A gang of toughs led by Soun Tendo's perverted old master have basically taken over. They've had every kind of magical boost imaginable on their side, and we got driven out."
"Hmm, I'm sorry to hear that." The chiropractor told her.
"Nevermind," the chef shoved herself to her feet with a happy grin. "Let's get on with teaching the next set of martial arts legends."
I O I O I
Packing it up and in hadn't taken long, and everybody had gotten worked out to their own level for best advancement, so it was a satisfied and somewhat sore group that headed in for the showers as the group practice session terminated in time to wash up and dress before breakfast.
Kodachi watched Ranko sprint off to do her morning milking, and concluded that she could not catch up to her without it seeming rude, so she chose to walk beside Ukyo on their way in and get her questions answered that way. "Kuonji-san, I fought with you once or twice when you came to the old town," (she noticed everyone around here seemed too shy to say it, so adopted the custom), "And you even joined my gymnastics team for a while. Yet back then you were not nearly this good. What happened, if it is not too rude to ask?"
The brown haired chef smiled fondly. "It's not rude, Sugar. You and I are on the same team now. We need to know these things about each other, things like I'm a Bones now. Ms. Malfoy got me adopted by the head of magical law enforcement so I could leave behind most of the problems of my past. And basically I improved so fast because of Ranchan. I don't know how it started, but she got seriously into learning the styles of all of her opponents. And not just learning, but mastering them as well. It wasn't enough to defeat a guy, she had to acquire all the techniques he knew."
"I think I know how that started," Azusa volunteered from where she was skating alongside of them. "One day at the public skating rink Mikado, my old partner, gave Akane Tendo a kiss and she went home crying about it. The next day Ranko Tendo came to beat him up, and I saw her turn her head at the last second and get kissed on the ear. It made me giggle, because he hates the taste of earwax and she's only the second one to ever avoid being mesmerized by his gaze as he closes in. I was the first, but that's because I was distracted by a pretty bottle. Anyway, she followed him around for days watching how he did it, and when we met for the Charlotte Cup she already knew all of his attacks and could perform them as well as he could. She must have taught her boyfriend because Ranma gave me the Dreaded Kiss Attack, and did it better than Mikado ever could. My partner never quite managed to do it on me, but Ranma did."
"So you were my Ranma-sama's first kiss?" Kodachi didn't know what to think of that.
"That's what Ranchan said. We were talking about romantic things later." Ukyo confirmed.
"It was mine as well. You try kissing a martial artist with a three year old mentality. I couldn't hold still long enough for most to do it." The legend confirmed, then giggled, blushing. "Poor boy probably thought that Mikado's attack was just a part of figure skating. But I enjoyed it."
"I should hope so, you followed him around for weeks pestering him for another." Ukyo had to smile. That was how she'd met the skater, hanging around her Ranchan pestering him for another kiss, and getting them, too. Albeit reluctantly and after many challenges.
"I got them, too." Azusa twirled about happily. "All I had to do was challenge him to a contest he couldn't win, like math or science. And make my stakes a kiss. That Tendo girl always flattened him after, of course."
'Immature and flighty, but a certified genius at everything she'd ever attempted.' Both other girls had the same thought, recalling what they'd heard concerning the bouncy, brown haired girl that was once one half of the famous Golden Pair.
"But then the National Tournaments started and I had no time for play. Of course, I took it anyway, but couldn't get back to Nerima so often." Said legend pouted. She spun to focus a glittering look on both other girls, hands clasped before her. "You don't hate me for having Ranma's first kiss, do you?"
"Hate you? Never!" The okonomiyaki chef brushed it off with a wave and a grin. "You taught me to figure skate, remember?"
"I did not know you two knew each other. And no, I do not hate you either Shiratori-san."
Ukyo shrugged, and smiled winsomely. "It was part of Ranchan's 'Always learn everything that an opponent can teach you' style back in that town. Since he was always out practicing something or other I found the best way to spend time with him was to practice alongside of him. Of course that meant catching up on some of what he'd encountered before I arrived, but he was willing to teach me what he could. That's why we transferred those four weeks to join your gymnastics club, Kodachi. Shampoo and I were learning all we could to try to stay apace with Ranchan. We never quite reached his level, but it was fun trying, and going on all of those adventures with him. If I hadn't been hanging around so close to him Shampoo may never have started, and he might have ended taking Akane on all of those trips and things."
Azusa skated close and gave a playful 'I've got you now' poke to Ukyo's sternum. "And I bet that had nothing to do with that Dreaded Kiss Attack Ranma stopped your fight with when you arrived."
Ukyo blushed and glanced away. "Well, maybe that had something to do with my hiring employees to run my restaurant while I spent time with Ranchan, but that may have ended up happening anyway. I was thinking about it. And I think we did him some good by going along and being with him. I have my doubts that he could've picked up Martial Arts Dining if we hadn't been there for him. Getting your tongue to stretch like that is not easy. If it wasn't for some of Shampoo's knowledge of Chinese pressure points and herbs and tricks I don't think any of us would have done it."
"And Shampoo was doubtless as affected by Ranma-sama's Kiss Attack as I," Kodachi demurely stated, blushing furiously at Ukyo's words.
All three girls laughed and headed off to baths.
After doing her own wash-up and getting ready in her private bathroom of Hagrid's cabin, Ranko walked into the stables to do the milking and Nabiki dropped off the ceiling to land on top of her, startling the girl out of her wits. But that didn't stop Ranko from counting tentacles, "One, two, three... six, seven, eight! Yah! Resealing the severed arteries worked! Hurray! We put the limb back on and it stayed!"
She gave the octopus a big, wet kiss before dropping her back off in her tank and giving the mollusk a high-five, palm to sucker, each taking care to be cheerful for the other.
I O I O I
Author's Notes:
Like I said, a very non-standard Ranma world led to a very non-standard Ranma, and that naturally dragged some of his closest companions along for the ride.
Also, for the moment, in acknowledgement of their difficult situation, everyone is going just a bit further to help each other. That includes Nodoka providing polyjuice to help ease the animal lives of Tendo girls by providing human moments, it means Cologne providing training ideas for octopi, and... it means Nabiki trying to overcome her selfishness, even if that was done not quite the way they wanted.
