1. DISCLAIMER. (I know it's not needed, but I'm old school) - The obvious. I do not own anything. Thanks to Ms Rowling for giving us such wonderful stories, even if I don't agree with her recent statements.
2. Thanks reallybeth who decided to help me beta this insanely long chapter for this insane crossover
3. Any error here is mine and not from my reviewer. If you spot anything or have a doubt about the grammar used or plot just PM me, I'm always swift to answer.
4. So, this is pretty out of left field. Hope you enjoy.
5. A note about updates. This story came to me in a moment of mad inspiration, I had it archived for a time now, torn between publishing or not. I will update it when I see fit, which is when I have the time (My regular reader would now better than to expect constant updates).
6. A note on other updates. So since I had this for some time, what had I been doing lately? Well, I've been working on Ron Weasley story chap 16 for a 2 or 3 weeks now. It's not that challenging and I'm already more than halfway through it, but it has been a few tough weeks and I have had little time. I can't promise anything... but maybe you can expect the chap to arrive at the end of May or start of June... maybe? Once that is done I'll move to the next item on my schedule...
After giving his watch yet another glance, Ron lost all doubt that time was indeed the biggest of pricks. There was no way that only two minutes had passed since he last checked. Not a single, blasted chance. It had certainly felt like ten times that, at the very least. Maybe his watch was busted.
"... then I told her that she was mad. Terry's as Ravenclaw as it gets, did she really expect me to believe that he would do such a thing…" Lavender babbled, snuggling closer to Ron on the armchair.
It was getting late and most of the Gryffindors had crashed to their beds rather early, much too keen on snatching a good night's rest before the train back to London. Only a handful remained in the common room, and Ron wasn't minding any of them. He had his eyes nailed to the portrait hole so intently that Snape could come in waltzing down the boys' staircase wearing one of Umbridge's bright outfits and he wouldn't have paid any attention.
Something was going to happen, Ron could feel it. Any moment now, Hermione was going to come back and if he turned away — even if only for a tic — he would miss her.
"... one could imagine she would have better judgement," Lavender went on.
Ron huffed disgruntledly, not daring to move his eyes away from the entrance. "Ha, you can say that again."
A bright smile came over Lavender's face as she rubbed her hand softly over Ron's upper arm. She appeared happy to have her boyfriend's attention, and was unaware that Ron was actually spacing out of listening to her gossiping. To be honest, he had another person on his mind and didn't even know for sure which one of the Patil twins Lavender was prattling on about.
What if Hermione wasn't returning just yet, though? Maybe whatever Ron felt that was going to happen had nothing to do with her. As it was, the common room was peaceful, but that didn't mean it would stay like that. After all, if Ron kept staring at the portrait hole as intently as he'd been doing thus far, an accidental magic blast taking out the Fat Lady couldn't be ruled out.
Ron impatiently scratched the back of his head as he fidgeted in his spot, allowing himself an absent nod to his girlfriend every now and then. Lavender just kept on talking, not even noticing that her boyfriend was a ruddy world away. Ron's thoughts were on a different part of the castle, wondering how the hell a Christmas party could take so damn long.
They couldn't possibly be having such a smashing time. Could they?
No, of course not. One surely had to get tired of exchanging snobbish words at some point. Perhaps Hermione was bored already. Yeah, positively, that was most likely the case. Safe bet that she was sitting in one spot with the longest of faces, trapped in a battle of fake flattery between Sluggy and McLaggen.
McLaggen… just to think of the git made Ron's blood boil.
"... you know, he's never shown any interest in her whatsoever. And so I told Padma. But does she ever listen? Of course not…"
Ron didn't know who Lavender was talking about, but that was that McLaggen prick right there. He never so much as spoke a single word to Hermione before this year, but now suddenly he was so interested in her? And why? Because he just discovered what a wonderful person she was?
Yeah, right. My bloody arse he thinks that! His daddy surely told him that it was now convenient to approach Harry's friends and, well, Hermione isn't bad looking...
Ron's ears tinged red. Of course he thought Hermione was good looking, but it wasn't just about tonight's party, or that time at the Yule Ball for that matter. Even after spending hours at the library, or when her hair was at its messiest, there was a beauty to Hermione that Ron couldn't put into words. She was the smartest witch he knew, and she would stubbornly defend her point to the ruddy end. If that was what it would take to help the house-elves, Hermione wouldn't hesitate to put a SPEW badge on You-Know-Who's very chest. She was mad. She was brilliant. She was a bloody force of nature.
McLaggen didn't see any of that, though. When that prick turned his smuggish eyes towards Hermione, all he saw was… all he wanted was…
"Don't you think so, Won-Won?"
With a jolt, Ron turned to his girlfriend. He relaxed his hand, which had unwittingly clenched the side of the armchair as if he were intending on breaking it. "Sure thing. Totally."
Satisfied with his answer, Lavender kept going on with whatever nonsense she was talking about. Restless, Ron turned his eyes back to the portrait hole.
The night was unnervingly dull. Ron moved his free hand that wasn't under Lavender's power to his knee, where he started tapping his fingers. He shifted in his seat, nodded some more, then decided to look at his watch again.
One more minute.
Are you fucking kidding me? Absolutely impossible!
Ron was wearily rubbing his forehead when a new thought came to him. What if they weren't having such an awful time at the party after all? What if Hermione didn't find McLaggen to be the bloody tosser Ron knew he was? What if he was hugging her? What if she was laughing at one of his jokes at that very moment?
"No fucking way…" Ron muttered between gritted teeth.
Lavender was taken aback by Ron's sudden phrase, but then smirked at him "That's what I told her! I truly did. Not with those words, mind you, but still."
Ron blinked, totally confused by what had just happened. "Look, Lav. I'm kind of feeling a bit under the weather now, and the train takes off tomorrow. Call it a night?"
And by we, he of course meant just her. Ron had every intention of staying in the Common Room so he could focus on his miserable wait without distractions. Not that he was going to tell her that. He wasn't that thick.
Lavender was caught by surprise, but then her eyebrows bent to an expression of concern. She caressed his cheek before giving him hurried little kisses on his lips, "Oh, is my Won-Won feeling a little peaky? Something I can do to help?"
Ron unsuccessfully tried to pull away. "Yes— Well, no. I— Just feeling knackered, that's all. I'll live."
The first few weeks, Ron had been over the moon with his new girlfriend. At last, he had found someone who appreciated him for who he was. Someone who wanted to spend every possible time of the day with him and who didn't nag him with needless arguments about schoolwork or other nonsense. It made him feel like he was important, no matter what stupid rubbish came out of his mouth. The snogging was a brilliant perk as well.
However, recently it had all lost its appeal. Ron's days were now rather boring. Harry was preoccupied with who-knows-what new theory on Malfoy, and whenever he found time to be next to his best mate, Lavender would be there as well — attached to Ron's hip as if by some of the twins' Gooey Glue. Worst of all, Ron's friendship with Hermione had all but disappeared overnight and, as Ron soon found out, he didn't enjoy Lavender's gossip half as much as he used to enjoy talking to Hermione.
Ron didn't know when everything had gone south. It was supposed to be a good thing, having a girlfriend, that was. He thought he would get to spend time with someone he liked, and that — at the same time — he would get to show Ginny, Hermione and anybody else who ever doubted it that he was fine snoggable material as well. Instead, he was ignoring his girlfriend as he begrudgingly waited for a friend who didn't talk to him to return from a party that he was never in good conscience invited to.
Well, crap… what a rubbish turn of events.
Lavender moved closer to him on the armchair. "Are you sure you want to go upstairs already? A little more of my company may make you feel better."
Ron seriously doubted that.
"Err… I— It's not that— you're great, you're—" Ron mumbled, but the phrase died along the way, "Pink! You're pink."
"Why, thank you?" she said, bashfully touching her cheeks.
"No, not like that. You're really— How do I…? Blimey! Look at yourself! You're all pink."
It was true. There was this unearthly glow to her that had a definite pink tone. Almost like an electric cloud forming on her body. Ron stood back and started looking for his wand when Lavender yelped.
"You got something too!" she cried.
Ron looked down at his hands, which were glowing with the same energy as Lavender's, only his were red coloured. He didn't have a chance to be baffled though, because in the next moment — and even though it was supposed to be impossible — he Disapparated from Hogwarts.
o0o0o
The next thing he knew, Ron was thrown onto a hard floor without a heads up. It was a rough landing and he couldn't suppress a groan as he got to his feet.
"What in Merlin's saggy bollocks is this place?!" he asked, putting a hand to his forehead as the dizziness slowly faded away.
Mumbles and complaints then reached his ears. Ron could hear Lavender's voice nearby and — for some weird reason — Harry was there as well. After glancing around, Ron noticed they were in a large, round room that was illuminated with that muggle electricity thing, shedloads of it. Hectic tables with buttons and all colours of lights surrounded them, beeping madly for reasons that were well beyond Ron. It was muggle machinery, no doubt about it. As if that wasn't bonkers enough, there was a large transparent tube in front, which thankfully didn't include any sort of floating brains.
Ron's attention shifted to his left once he heard Lavender yelp, "What am I wearing?"
Dressing garments and the sort were more often than not in Lavender's conversations, and were topics Ron found easy to ignore. However, right now Lavender had every reason to be reacting as she was. Ron wasn't sure what colour of trousers she had been wearing back in the common room, but he was sure as hell they hadn't been white or as short as they were at the moment. Ron gaped as he followed her long legs all the way down and his ears felt instantly hotter. Before Lavender could notice him ogling, he forced his eyes up. There, he found that his girlfriend had on a pink sleeveless shirt and a pink headband in her hair, which were both new as well.
Bewildered, Ron turned around, and that was when he distinguished that — aside from Harry and Lavender — the other two people in the room were Cho Chang and Blaise Zabini. Everyone looked as baffled as Ron felt.
"Ron? Are you alright?" Harry asked.
"As well as if I had just been knocked out by the Whomping Willow. Any idea where the hell we are?"
"None."
Harry began nervously peeking around. He was wearing a blue shirt underneath blue overalls, and — for some blasted reason — he had a blue jumper tied around his waist as well. In a hurry, he started going through his pockets.
"What— What is going on?" Cho Chang asked, obviously uncomfortable at the shortness of her trousers. Her outfit was similar to Lavender's, though she was missing a headband and had a vest over her shirt. Her clothes were also yellow instead of pink.
"I was hoping one of you would be able to explain that to me," said Lavender.
Blaise Zabini threw contemptuous glances around before looking down at his own attire. He was sporting black trousers and a black shirt with orange-ish stripes. "What's this? One of your tricks, Potter? Don't think I didn't notice you sneaking out of Slughorn's party."
Ron glanced at Harry from the corner of his eye. He didn't know what this sneaking out of the party nonsense was all about, but he had no patience for Zabini at the moment. "Oh, sod off, you git! Harry doesn't know what's going on here, but I would put my money in that rubbish doing no bloody good."
Blaise huffed proudly, giving Ron a smug look. "Not like you have much money to put in, Weasley."
"Why you— !"
It was bad enough being called out about being poor in front of Harry, but having Lavender or Cho — who he barely knew — around made things even more embarrassing. Harry had to make an effort to keep Ron in check, and Ron shook his head, instead choosing to focus on finding out where they were.
"We were in the common room," Lavender started, throwing a venomous look at Blaise before turning to Ron. Oddly enough, there was a blush on her face.
Cho kept standing there acting as if she were completely out of place. "The last thing I remember was going to bed and— How did this even happen in the first place? I thought it wasn't possible to Apparate inside of Hogwarts."
A few shrugs were given.
"I can't find it! I can't find my wand!" Harry suddenly announced, catching everyone's attention. They then turned their eyes warily to the end of the room, where a door frame remained empty.
He didn't have to say it again for all of them to start scrambling through their clothes as well. They didn't find their wands either, but the search led Ron to make another discovery about himself. His clothes had also changed to something entirely different to what he would have expected. Now he was wearing a sleeveless chequered red shirt with matching red trousers. The colour would have been something to fuss over, if Ron hadn't been too fixated on the bloody shorts being too damn short. That was not all of it, though, as his body was now different as well. His skin was still pale and freckled, but his muscles were visibly bigger than he remembered.
"Blimey!" he muttered, gawking at his beefier upper arms.
"We look older," Cho said, cautiously exchanging looks with Lavender and then the rest of the group. When her eyes landed on Harry, her face flushed slightly, and Harry couldn't hide his awkwardness either.
Cho had a point. The five of them looked as if they had finished Hogwarts several years ago. Lavender and Cho appeared more women-like, Ron realised shyly, and even Blaise and Harry looked taller and broader than they used to.
Gobsmacked expressions were exchanged.
What the hell was going on? Where were they? What happened at Hogwarts when they left? Was Hermione alright?
Harry scratched his head as Blaise impatiently stared at the empty tube in the middle of the room.
"What if Death Eaters are behind this?" Cho asked, unable to hide the fear from her voice.
If they were, then they must've truly lost their marbles. As a plan to get to Harry or win the war, this whole thing was bloody nuts. Ron couldn't imagine how You-Know-Who could come up with something as mad as this.
"Playing the Death Eater card? Give me a break," Blaise sneered.
"What? Are you saying Death Eaters aren't real?" Cho threw back, frowning.
"Honestly? It doesn't feel like something they'd do," Harry muttered. "If you ask me, this feels more like the den of some mad muggle scientist. I've seen similar rooms in movies."
"In movies?" Lavender asked.
"Err, yeah, movies. Projections that muggle use to tell a story," he explained, huffing in annoyance when Lavender continued to give him a blank stare. "It's not important."
"I say let's be careful either way," Cho proposed without opposition.
Honestly, Ron didn't want to take any chances, especially since a ghost twitch coming from the scars on his arms made him eye that big tube suspiciously.
Taking a cautious step forward, Harry looked for clues in the dashboard in front of them. "Plenty of people were at Slughorn's party, and even if I left early, I take it that someone must have noticed Blaise disappearing," he said, narrowing his eyes at Blaise.
Blaise shrugged, "Melinda Bobbin and Eldred Worple were next to me when it happened."
That seemed to be good enough for Harry. "Brilliant. People should be looking into it then. In the meantime, if we could all try and discover what's going on and maybe find a way out, that would be helpful."
Harry was right. Dumbledore ought to notice and start figuring out things soon enough, he wasn't the most powerful wizard for nothing. Ron only hoped Hermione hadn't been transported away from Hogwarts as well. Knowing her like he did, Ron could imagine she would start looking for an answer the moment she found out about the situation. She would discover a way to bring them back, or at least to bring Harry back. Ron wasn't sure how much she still cared about him these days.
Once Lavender was over her initial surprise, she leaned closer to Ron, gripping his much larger muscled arm with an astonished look. Couldn't she wait until they knew what the hell was going on?
"Why don't we try that door? Get the hell out of here, and ask questions later?" Ron proposed.
Before they could answer, a hurried beeping echoed and a figure came stumbling into the room, causing all of them to jolt. Instinctively, they looked for their wands, but it was of no use as those were still missing. The creature that had appeared before them wasn't like anything Ron had ever seen before. It was metallic and had flashing lights coming out of its head. The ruddy thing talked as well.
"No, no, no..." it hurried in an odd and stumbly voice. "You cannot go. Not until you hear him out. You are all in great danger. Great danger, for sure."
"That's the strangest robot I've seen," Harry asked.
"Robot?" asked Lavender, looking puzzled.
Cho nodded. "I've been told that it's some sort of machine built by muggles."
The red and gold robot — if that's what it was — was certainly strange, and downright ugly at that. Big long metallic ears came out of each side of its oval-shaped head, and between them, two round balls sparkled with red dots in what could only be the creature's eyes. And even so, despite its weirdness, Ron could find something familiar in it as well, something Harry noticed at once.
"Dobby?" Ron's best friend asked, incredulously.
The damned thing did look like the house elf now that Ron thought of it. A bigger and metallic beeping version of Dobby. Before they had time to wonder what that meant, a giant head appeared in the long tube, and then started talking in an echoey voice.
"Greetings, my fellow wizards and witches," the voice said, startling them all.
Cho gasped, and Blaise, who had been standing with his back to the tube, stumbled at the surprise.
"Who the fuck is that?"
"Ronald, I would have expected you to recognize me," said the head in a cheeky tone.
Ron narrowed his eyes, only then he was able to distinguish the floating head. It was a pale and enlarged projection of Albus Dumbledore.
"Professor? Why— What are you…?" started Harry.
"... doing in a ruddy tube?" Ron completed what his friend most likely wanted to ask.
"Fair question, though may I start with 'who am I'?'" the massive head took the awestruck nods of the teenagers as a yes. "I am Albus Dumbledore, but not the one you remember. I summoned you to this dimension, a different one from the one you know. This kind robot by your side is my assistant, Dobby 5."
The robot beeped. Ron stared at it, but soon returned his attention to the big arsed flying head. One barmy nonsensical thing at a time.
Dumbledore continued, "In this reality, I was a wizard, as you are, but that was centuries ago. As it happens, I was trapped in a time warp at some point, which unfortunately ended up with me calling this lovely cylinder my home."
"Err… professor?" Harry dared.
The head seemed to be nodding, "Yes, you may call me professor, though I have never held a teaching position in this reality. Alternatively, you may call me Albus, or Albie."
"Professor is alright, thanks," Harry settled the matter of the name quickly. "So, we're in a different... dimension? "
The Dobby robot nodded enthusiastically, "Oh, yes, a different dimension. Not like the one Harry Potter knows at all. No sir," it said, which clearly made Harry uneasy.
The not-a-professor went on, "Indeed, a different reality to put in simpler terms. The whole world here is an alternate version of yours. You might find great similarities to the life you remember, but even greater differences, I'm afraid."
"And how can we get back?" Cho asked.
"That… I do not know."
Well, crap.
"What! But you brought us here, you must know! We have to get back to our families, to our friends!" Lavender urged.
Even though she didn't react as loudly, Cho widened her eyes at Dumbledore's words. Blaise appeared torn between raising his eyebrows in surprise or narrowing them in a frown.
The giant-headed Dumbledore noticed those reactions, and looked visibly troubled. "I'm sorry for that, I was forced to summon you here. This world is under attack and I needed a group of overbearing and overemotional teenagers to fight the evil that's coming."
"Excuse me! Overemotional?!" Lavender whined, putting a hand over her chest.
Blaise rolled his eyes. "This is a ruse, isn't it? What did you plan to achieve with this nonsense? Whatever it is, I don't want to take any part in it."
"It would be simpler, wouldn't it? For this only to be a trick," Dumbledore said. "Unfortunately, that's not the case. And you have all indeed travelled to another dimension."
Cho shook her head, still in disbelief. "And you chose us? Isn't the world — or dimensions, if what you say is true — packed with overbearing teenagers?"
It wasn't clear how a big head could shrug, but Dumbledore definitely shrugged, "I didn't know you were the ones who were going to show up when I made the enchantment, truly. I only asked the magic for the overbearing and oversentimental teenagers I needed, and the magic provided. You don't really expect me to take care of every little detail in the crazy enchantments I perform, do you?"
"Well, yes? Of course we do!" Lavender grumbled.
"Who else would be responsible but the person casting the enchantment?" Cho agreed, frowning as she crossed her arms over her chest.
Ron turned to Harry, curious about what his friend thought they should do, but he looked just as lost. Harry's only answer was an odd shrug.
Dumbledore sighed, "You must forgive me, then. I was only thinking of the greater good for our world. I know all about you now, though. The moment you got here I got loaded with all your information."
"You're barking," Ron said.
"I beg your pardon?"
"You're barking," Ron repeated, taking a step forward. "This is all bonkers! I wager Hogwarts is still out there, and our families are too. You're just pulling our leg here."
"Yes and no," said Dumbledore, causing a few eyebrows to raise. "You will not be able to find the Hogwarts you know outside of these walls, but there is a Hogwarts School District for sure. You all attend one of its schools, here in this very city that holds the name of Hogs Grove."
"Charming name."
Dumbledore went on as if uninterrupted. "Cho is enrolled as a senior in Ravenclaw High, a year ahead of the rest of you. Blaise is attending Slytherin High of course, whereas the other three are proud Gryffindor High students. Go Lions!" Dumbledore shouted the last part as some sort of war cry. "Anyway, school is far from the only thing you would find changed in here. Things, activities, and even those close to you will be more than familiar to you as well, though often different in unexpected ways. Parallel universes like that sort of mockery. But alas; no, I'm not barking — as Ronald so kindly puts it. This is real, and all of Hogwarts is represented by you, in one way or another."
"Real… very real…" repeated Dobby 5. "Master Wheezy should believe Albie."
"What about Hufflepuff?" Cho asked.
"Huffle-what?" Dumbledore replied, taken aback.
"Hufflepuff. You know, the fourth Hogwarts House?"
"Oh, right, them," the man shifted in his tube as if in recognition, then went on dismissing that as a triviality. "There is a Hufflepuff High somewhere in the southwest of the city, but no one ever cares about them. They could use some pointers when it comes to picking a mascot, if you ask me."
Cho turned to the rest of the students, who exchanged shrugs and odd looks. Blaise attempted to look uninterested, even so, he couldn't stop from raising his eyebrows in bewilderment.
A hurried cough was Ron's way of getting back into the conversation, "So, ehm, Mum and Dad…? All of my brothers?"
"You'll find a different version of all of them here, yes. I must say, discovering this new life will be an adventure in itself."
This Dumbledore was so full of it. He was trying to sell them into the bloody mess he made himself, yet had no way of fixing it. Still, what alternative did they have?
"Brilliant. We have plenty of problems as it is back home, and now on top of having to find a way back, we have to deal with all of this Wizard of Oz rubbish," Harry said, adjusting his glasses so he could rub the bridge of his nose.
"Oz?" Lavender asked.
"You know what? Forget I said anything," Harry grumbled, before turning back to Dumbledore's big floating head. "Ehm, Professor?"
"Yes, Harry?"
"Suppose we go along with your plan. Would you help us return?"
"You have my word."
"Rubbish. How do we know he's not playing some effing trick on us?"
Dumbledore didn't appear offended by Ron's words. "You don't, but your options are limited, my friends. You either trust me, or look for a solution outside. Something you'll find rather challenging as the world out there is filled with… What do you call them? Oh, that's right, Muggles."
"I've had enough of this folly. I'm leaving!" Blaise let out, raising his arms in exasperation.
"Oh, yeah, where? Taking the Knight Bus back to Hogwarts?" Ron asked. He turned to double-check with Dumbledore. "There's no Knight Bus here, is there?"
"Oh no, not as you remember it. There's a Night Bus, though I would advise against taking it. Erni Prang, the usual driver, has been found to drive under the influence more than once and the bus itself is quite an unsavoury vessel."
Ron was stunned by that, but he brushed it away as irrelevant. "See? If you want to leave, be my guest," he told Blaise.
The dark-skinned bloke huffed. He listened to the complaints and arguments as the other four students went over their situation, but despite looking properly shirty, he stayed put.
Once they all came to the conclusion that they had few options for returning back to Hogwarts, Harry sighed in defeat. "What's the evil that you need help with again?" he asked Dumbledore.
After the explanation that followed, Ron realised that this world wasn't magical at all. At least most of it wasn't. Bellatrix Lestrange, who in this world was still an evil witch and also mad as a hatter, was the threat Dumbledore had talked about. Apparently, she had just been freed from her prison and was set on taking over the world.
"Where is she?" Harry asked, as if he wanted to get this over with as fast as he could.
"On the Moon."
"Come again?"
Cho was as flabbergasted as Lavender. "The Moon you say? The actual Moon? That can't be right."
"Told you," Ron said, "he's pulling our leg."
"Wish that were the case. Dobby, please show them."
Between a row of apologies, the odd robot made its way to the instrument board, where it pressed a series of buttons that Ron couldn't follow. Then, a large screen appeared in the front, in it Bellatrix Lestrange was laughing maniacally as she came out of a weird pipe on the literal Moon. Fenrir Greyback and others were at her side. They were indeed on the Moon, and a twisted castle happened to be there all of a sudden.
Sure, why not?
"That's her alright."
"The clothes aren't the ones I have seen in the wanted posters, though," Lavender added. She hadn't let go of Ron's arm in a while.
"The headpiece is over the top, but I have seen robes like those in our world," Cho said thoughtfully.
"You saw them at the Yule Ball. Weasley has an identical set," Blaise said nonchalantly, earning a threatening glare from Ron.
That tosser. Why did he think he could take the mickey on him?
At Ron's side, Harry's mouth twisted upward in amusement before composing himself. If the prat wasn't his best mate, Ron would have smacked that grin off of him.
Harry cleared his throat and hurried to change the topic. "And, Professor? Err… How do you expect us to fight her? Magic? Most of us are underage. We can't do magic outside of Hogwarts. Besides, we can't find our wands."
The Dumbledore head gave him a weak smile, "The underage situation wouldn't be a problem. There is no Ministry here, so you wouldn't get any notice for using magic anywhere you like, and however you deem necessary. Unfortunately, as you said, your wands did not travel here with you. So, aside from accidental magic you might be able to perform, your magical options are quite limited."
"Can't you give us new ones?"
"Wands? Of course not! Who do you take me for?! Ollivander and his silly ideas of Mystic Force Rangers? Oh no, you won't see any of that rubbish here."
The five teenagers exchanged puzzled looks and raised eyebrows. Ron had no idea what Dumbledore was going on about, but at least now there was no doubt that this was a different Dumbledore.
"We're not underage, though. Haven't you looked at yourselves? It's quite obvious we're older," Lavender pointed out.
The fake professor turned to her, "You're still underage. The changes to your bodies was a consequence of your travel to this world. Here, our highschool teenagers give the impression of being in what you would say are the mid-twenties."
Well, that was mad as hell. Still, Ron didn't mind at all. It wasn't remotely the barmiest thing about this whole mess.
What Ron did mind, however, was Hermione. Considering what Dumbledore said about some version of his family being out there, did that mean that the same applied to her? Was there a different version of Hermione in this world? Would he see her at this Gryffindor High? What was she like? Ron was very curious to find that out. Hopefully he'd get to see her before returning to his own world, where the Hermione he knew lived.
"That being said. I do not expect you to fight Bellatrix with magic," Dumbledore announced, holding a grin that reminded Ron of the twins.
On the table, five small objects appeared. They looked like wallets, only they were metal grey and had weird galleons in the centre.
"These are morphers. Bestowed with the dino power coins. They'll give you all the power you need to face the dark clouds ahead of us."
"Dino coins?" Harry asked, dumbfounded.
"Dino power coins. They're the centre of your Morphers. They'll let you transform into Power Rangers."
Perplexed looks were thrown among the teenagers.
The head of Dumbledore rolled his ghostly eyes. "It gives you a suit and weapons according to an assigned dinosaur. They also improve your karate."
"Our what now?" Lavender asked.
"Ka-rate?" asked Ron, puzzled.
Was that some sort of magical enchantment? A weapon perhaps?
Harry gave Ron a troubled look, "Ahem, we don't know any karate, professor."
"Oh, nonsense! It'll come to you eventually. Cho shall be able to guide you if there's any problems," Dumbledore said, unfazed, though Harry appeared unconvinced.
Cho was startled, and rightly so. The girl narrowed her eyes, puzzled. "Why me?"
If Dumbledore heard her, he didn't let it show, as he went on with his explanation. " Anyway, the morphers also give you control over your zords," the man said. When he noticed the questioning looks though, he elaborated, "Big dinosaur robots that you will control."
"Robots?"
"Big motherfucking robots, yes," Dumbledore nodded.
Ron couldn't say that he minded the language of this new Dumbledore. At least he effectively delivered his point.
"Ronald!" Dumbledore almost shouted.
"Who— What? I mean.. What?"
"Bold but lazy."
Ron's ears went as red as his red shorts.
"You shall be the Red Ranger, and will command the Tyrannosaurus Dinozord."
One of the five morphers flew all the way to his hand, "Wicked! I guess…"
"Cho!"
The girl almost jumped in her spot, nodding cautiously.
"Loyal and weepy,"
The girl frowned, "I don't think that was necessary."
Dumbledore ignored her complaint. "You shall be the Yellow Ranger, and will command the Sabre-Toothed Tiger Dinozord."
Once in her hand, Cho studied the device with interest.
"Blaise!"
He had been expecting it after the last two, so Blaise just raised his eyebrow in curiosity.
"Talented and snotty,"
The boy fumed as Ron tried to contain a laugh.
"You shall be the Black Ranger, and will command the Mastodon Dinozord."
After catching his morpher in the air, Blaise turned around in annoyance, "The Black Ranger? Seriously?"
Harry and Ron shrugged.
"Lavender!"
The girl raised her hand eagerly, as if Dumbledore didn't know who she was already.
"Graceful and clingy,"
Lavender almost coughed, "I'm what?!"
At her side, Ron looked the other way, suddenly finding the plain walls more interesting.
"You shall be the Pink Ranger, and will command the Pterodactyl Dinozord."
Begrudgingly, Lavender took her morpher.
All eyes soon landed on Harry. He was the only one left, and surely had to be the one with most responsibility. If Dumbledore knew their stories, as he claimed to, he would know what Harry had gone through already,
"Harry!"
He nodded and walked forward, with a decisive and stoic look to him.
"Oh so brave and so unbelievably impatient,"
Harry's eyes expanded and turned to Ron, who gave him a weak smile, "He's got a point, you know."
"You shall be the Blue Ranger, and will command the Triceratops Dinozord."
Once Harry had the morpher in his control, Dumbledore added, "I'm confident your computer skills and otherwise nerdish knowledge will prove crucial as well."
"Err… Professor, I don't really know anything about computers."
"Nonsense. Of course you do, you're the only one with glasses here. Now, as I was saying," Dumbledore rushed without giving Harry a chance to argue. The professor studied them briefly and Ron wanted to think that he looked hopeful, however, his face had a this-will-have-to-do expression to it. "Power Rangers! The fate of this world is in your hands," he proclaimed, "Lead them wisely, Ronald."
Ron almost toppled over, and felt as if a lump had stuck to his throat. He coughed, loudly. "Me?"
"Are there any other Ronalds here?"
"Well, no, but— Didn't you mean Harry? He knows more about being a leader and all this rubbish."
Everyone was nodding, even Lavender.
"Oh, none of that! Red Rangers are always the leaders. And these are the Mighty Fuckin' Morphin' Power Rangers! Not some Time Force or Wild Force hobos!"
"Err… Why wasn't Harry the red one then?"
"His hair is all wrong."
Cho stepped forward, "Wait, so, you're telling us that you picked the leader of a world saving mission based solely on the colour of his hair?" she asked, turning to Ron shyly, "Sorry, I didn't mean it in a wrong way. It's just that—"
"No worries. I get it," Ron said uneasily.
Dumbledore took the opportunity to sort the argument. "Did I say hair? How foolish of me. I meant head. Harry's head is all messed up," Dumbledore said with a smile, as if that fixed everything.
"I'm what?" Harry asked, flabbergasted.
"He said your head was messed up, Master Harry," said Dobby 5, beeping wildly.
A nasty frown came to Harry, "I heard that. I mean why is my head messed up?"
"You have too many worries in you, my boy. And you sulk. Too much… All. The. Fucking. Time," Dumbledore said, emphasising every word.
Harry turned around and saw mostly nods and people staring at their shoes.
"Besides, you weren't even named prefect."
Harry jerked defensively. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"You can't expect me to pick you over Ronald to lead a world saving team if you didn't even manage to beat him for prefect, can you?"
"This isn't what I would call a sensible team building practice," Cho muttered.
Blaise turned to her, breaking his I'm-not-talking-to-any-of-you act. "And you say returning to our world depends on this buffoonery?"
Cho shrugged.
"But—" Harry tried once more, but was interrupted for good.
"No. That's it. The morphers have been given, fairly. Now, please go on and save the world," Dumbledore rushed.
Before they could say another word, a new glowing multicoloured light came and transported them out of the room.
o0o0o
Far away, in a tall castle on the Moon, Bellatrix Lestrange was looking attentively towards Earth.
"So, Dumbledore thinks he can beat me with this? Teenagers from another world?! Ha, pathetic!" she said, then turned to her side where a woman was waiting patiently for her commands, "Alecto!"
"Yes, my Lady?"
"I need some Putty Patrollers. Something to teach these bratty kids their rightful place."
"My Lady, if I may," said a tall man with a fearsome face who went by the name of Fenrir, "Why don't you send me? Or one of your more badass monsters? At the very least you could send some of the snatchers. Putty Patrollers are kind of lame."
"Nonsense! Your magic is still weak. Putty Patrollers should be enough for now. Alecto, hurry!"
The woman did as she was told. She moulded a few figures out of clay which she promptly handed to Bellatrix. The evil witch pulled out her twisted black wand and pointed at the figures, bringing them to life and transporting them to Earth with a few flicks.
"Muahahahaha! Let's see how your kids deal with that Albie, my old enemy!"
o0o0o
"He could've at least transported us to the base of the mountain," Lavender whined as they reached the bottom of the dusty hill, all of them looking sweaty and exhausted.
"We didn't even have the proper attire to hike down that thing," Cho added her voice to the complaints, pulling her shorts down self-consciously for the umpteenth time.
As much as he had liked this Dumbledore's fresher use of language, Ron had to agree with them. If the man had the power to transport them all the way from another universe, why transport them just outside of his weird looking house at the top of a nasty hill. They had spent the whole first half of the day climbing down, and they had already been knackered from not having any sleep before coming here. It seemed as if Dumbledore didn't know how to manage his team.
"He's a massive prick," Ron said.
Blaise tried to appear unbothered by the hiking, though there was sweat on his forehead and his breathing was just as loud as the rest of them. He patted his morpher, "Does that old man expect us to know how this rubbish works? He's even worse than our version of that old codger. He ought to be more upfront if he's asking for such a big favour."
Harry contained a laugh, "Our Dumbledore is anything but clear and upfront, let me tell you."
None of them particularly liked Blaise, but they had come to an unspoken truce. After all, the five of them were in this together.
They walked away from the hill and soon after, spotted the city, still a few miles away. They guessed they should head there but there was no specific destination in mind, and absolutely no idea where the fuck they were going. Ron had a house somewhere in that city, which he wouldn't even recognize. A school as well, which he wouldn't be able to find either. They were supposed to find something that was attacking the world, which again, Ron had no idea where or what it was. Come to think of it, why would Bellatrix attack the small city where she knew Dumbledore had a force ready, instead of halfway across the world?
Not like they were too much of a force, mind you.
Ron glanced sideways to see his partners. They didn't look like much, especially considering none of them had wands. They had these morpher gubbins, but that didn't mean a rat's arse if they didn't know how to use them.
His eyes landed on Lavender, who hadn't let go of him yet. "Err, Lav?"
"What is it, Won-Won?"
He scratched his head, "Do you mind not holding onto me? At least until we figure things out?"
Lavender's frown was almost instant, "What do you mean?"
Ron gulped, "It's not that— It's— How do I—" he mumbled, then let out a sigh, "What if our other selves, the ones from this world... What if they were seeing other people? Don't you think it's going to get us in trouble if they see us like this? Maybe it would be better to see how things are first."
The first thought in Ron's head was again, Hermione. Was she his friend in this world? Was this version of her also mad at him?
Lavender raised an eyebrow as Harry and everyone else took a step back, apparently more interested in the dusty rocks around them, "That's all there is to this? You're not telling me you want to break up, are you?"
Yes… No… Maybe?
"Absolutely not," he said, cowardly afraid of her reaction.
"Are you sure?"
"Positive."
Lavender let go of him, "I guess it makes sense, then," she allowed, then turned to him, biting her lower lip, "You look good, by the way."
Ron almost choked. He glanced down, growing aware of his weird outfit. Yes, it was good that he had a toned body, but why in hell did his other self feel the need to wear these impossibly short trousers? Also, didn't anyone tell him that an outfit so red clashed awfully with his ginger hair? "Err, thanks?" he said. "You, well, you look good too."
It wasn't a lie, but Lavender looked way too excited about the compliment.
All of a sudden, a handful of ugly looking beings apparated before them. They were grey, and their faces were a ruddy mess. They mumbled something that didn't sound like actual words and moved around as if they were trying to dance.
Ron turned to his friends. "Do they look like a world threatening situation to you?"
Harry shrugged and gave a step forward, and they all followed.
One of the enemies threw a punch to Blaise, who quickly dodged and moved back until his back was against a rock, unsure of how to defend himself. "You pack claim to be always right. What do you reckon we should do now then? Potter?"
"Against any wrong impression I might've given you Blaise, I've never fought these sort of things. Much less, wandless!" Harry yelled back, looking nervous as more of the things stepped forward.
"Useless!" Blaise spat, moving to one side and the other, unable to escape. "Any clever ideas from Ravenclaw?"
"What? Are you out of ideas of your own?" Cho spat back at the condescending tone.
"What about that karate thing?" Lavender asked, fearfully eyeing the creatures. "You know about that, don't you? Professor Dumbledore said as much."
"I don't! I know what karate is but I honestly have no idea what he was going on about. Or why did he think that I, out of all of us, could possibly..." Cho began, then her brow furrowed and she looked affronted. "Wait! Is it because I'm— He couldn't possibly have meant— My family is from China! Isn't karate from Japan?"
"Karate is like a martial art," Harry hurried to interrupt her outrage and explain to everyone else. "It's like… Well, I don't know much about it. I reckon we have to kick them and punch them."
Harry raised his fists unenthusiastically in the creatures' direction, readying himself to fight with his bare hands. To Ron, he looked scared as fuck and like someone who was about to get his arse handed back to him in pieces.
Is he for real? That's what they were supposed to do?
Lavender appeared scandalised, however, Ron guessed that without their wands it was as good a solution as they were going to find. The first of those nasty things to attack made for Lavender, who shrieked at once. Ron stepped forward and punched it right in the face, which was impossibly hard.
Despite the creature stumbling backwards, it was clear to anyone with eyes that the blasted thing was far from defeated. They weren't going to be face-punching those things out of that mess, much less save the world like that.
"Crap! Any other wise plan?" Ron asked Harry as he shook his hurting hand.
Harry shrugged, taking two steps back and looking around as if the solution were just around the corner. "Not presently."
"Brilliant. I didn't want to buck our usual way to approach problems."
The attackers dashed towards all of them at the same time, causing more frightened squeals from Lavender. Nearby, Blaise jumped clumsily onto some rock as a couple of those things were chasing him. Cho's earlier indignation had changed into fear as she tried desperately to hide behind a large boulder. Harry tried to go to her aid, but a grey creature grabbed his arms from behind.
"Harry! Watch—" Ron shouted, before his voice was taken out of him by means of a hard jab to the stomach.
Fucking pricks!
When Ron looked back up, he noticed that Lavender had been seized as well. Two of those things were holding her, while a third one was coming at her. "Get off me! You—"
Then the most unexpected thing happened. Lavender kicked the approaching one right on the face and sent it flying to its back.
"Woah! I didn't know you had it in you!" Ron shouted.
"Are you going to help me? Or are you going to just keep staring?" Lavender cried, still being held by the two creatures.
"Oh, yes. Sorry," Ron said and rushed over to her aid.
Kicking them certainly wasn't half as painful as punching them in the face had been. And, as Harry soon discovered, punching them in other parts of the body that wasn't the face worked fair enough as well.
After Ron kicked one of the things that held Lavender, his girlfriend repeated her deed on the other one. Ron had little concern for what could happen to Blaise, but at the moment he was on their side, and it was good to see him jump from his rock and kick the creature that had been chasing Cho in midair.
"I can't believe I'm doing this. So unsophisticated," Blaise complained, though he stood ready to continue the fighting.
"Shut up and keep kicking these bloody things! You can imagine they're me for all I care!" Ron shouted.
"That's encouragement," Blaise answered. However, one of those things threw a surprise attack at him from the left while another punched him right in that snobbish face of his. Fortunately for that arse, Harry and a reluctant Cho hurried to his help. They managed to drive the attackers a short distance away, and after a moment, the five of them were reunited again, their backs against each other.
"Okay, that was something. We're doing better, I think we got this," Ron said, with hope.
Right then, more of those creatures arrived, effectively doubling their numbers. Blaise glared at Ron, "Next time, keep your mouth shut, Weasel."
"What should we do?" Cho asked Ron, uncertainly.
"Why are you asking me?"
"Professor Dumbledore said you were the leader," she insisted, a frown crossing her face as she mentioned Dumbledore's name.
Funny. Well, they didn't have many options, did they? They didn't have their wands.
"Oh fuck this! Let's do the morpher thing."
Blaise didn't waste time in pulling his out, "This better work… Mastodon!" he yelled.
No one had known how those things were going to work, but that seemed to do the trick. Once Blaise started glowing, Cho was quick to follow suit. "Sabre-Tooth Tiger!" she yelled, taking out hers.
Harry nodded, "Triceratops!" he shouted.
A morpher fell to the floor as Lavender nervously fumbled with how to hold it. "Oh, no, no, no… You have to be kidding me!" She managed to retrieve it before any creature attacked her again. "Pterodactyl!"
Well, sod it.
Ron grabbed his morpher as well. What was his dinosaur again? Oh yeah…
"Tyrannosaurus!" he yelled.
Suddenly, they were all dressed in some coloured uniforms with the helmets in the shape of their dinosaurs. It was a ridiculous outfit, yet not half as bad as the red shorts.
"Wicked!" Harry's voice came out of the one in blue uniform, his closing fist in victory.
"You alright there, mate?" Ron asked.
"Yeah, a bit weird with the glasses inside this helmet, but it's manageable," Harry answered, looking almost as if he wanted to scratch the back of his helmet.
Ron nodded. "Let's kick some arses, then," he said before rushing towards the grey creatures.
The ruddy things didn't know what hit them. Apparently, the fancy suits did improve their karate. Ron was having no problem kicking and punching things left and right, and this time, the things disintegrated instead of coming back at him.
Harry and Blaise were dealing with a couple of those things each, from the distance looking like a proper team. Cho, who had displayed zero punching skills so far, was like a completely different person. She made a maddening fast combo when she punched one on the right and then spun in the air to kick another one on her left.
"Got them!" her voice echoed and sounded distorted to Ron though his helmet, but clear enough. Cho then sprinted forward and knocked an attacker with a double jump kick before landing gracefully on her feet. "It's like Quidditch without brooms! Well, sort of. Honestly, I'm not sure how I'm doing it."
"Don't mind that now, just keep doing it," Harry told her as he joined her in kicking a new one in the arse.
Out of nowhere, Lavender passed at Ron's side doing a cartwheel and knocking three of those things on her way. "Lavender? What— That was bloody brilliant!"
She didn't say anything, but threw a kiss his way which looked pretty odd from her pink uniform. It made Ron look awkwardly away, and, considering he had a few of those things still to deal with, he had no trouble doing just that.
Before long, all of the creatures were done for.
"Is that it? Did we save the world?" Cho asked.
An odd laugh came from a device on his wrist.
It was... Dumbledore.
"There are still a lot of motherfuckers to deal with!" his voice echoed from the transmitter.
Puzzled, Ron turned to his friends and was sure they had baffled looks under their helmets. Before he could ask what Dumbledore meant, they were transported again.
o0o0o
Ron had another rough landing, but thankfully this time he landed on his feet. They were now in a town square of a sunny city that looked nothing like Hogsmeade, though the name Hogs Grove was plastered on more than one local business.
The noteworthy part, of course, were the bad guys who were wreaking havoc all around.
There were even more of those grey creatures breaking stuff, but they had a leader now, one who Ron recognized at once.
"That's Fenrir Greyback," Dumbledore's voice echoed on his wrist, "He's with Bellatrix. Beat him! Dumbledore out!"
Cho shrugged and, surprisingly, was the first to rush towards the creatures with an uncharacteristic battle cry. "Arrrrrgh!"
They all followed.
As they punched and kicked nasty grey dummies left and right, Fenrir threw a few spells. He cast a Reductor Curse on a building labelled as Hogs Grove Bowling Alley, but his magic must've been weaker in this world as all he was able to blow away was the door of the building.
"Hey! Dog face! Care to share the party with us?" Ron said, and the rest of his ranger friends aligned at his side. He wanted to roll his eyes, they were taking this leader rubbish too seriously.
Fenrir growled. "Rangers! You're no match for me!"
Cho and Blaised rushed to attack the man's left, but Fenrir cast a quick Banishing Charm and sent them flying away. Inexplicably, sparks flew as if their suits weren't made of fabric but some robotish armour instead.
Lavender jumped at Fenrir with a flying kick.
"Arresto Momentum!"
Lavender hovered to a stop a feet away from him, and Fenrir mercilessly grabbed her by her leg and threw her away. She landed hard against a bush, but stood up at once. "I'm not sure I want to keep doing this."
The wanker, Fenrir, laughed.
"Hey!" Ron shouted. He wasn't sure if he wanted to remain Lavender's boyfriend for long, but that didn't mean he liked seeing her being thrown like that.
Ron gripped his fists tightly, then turned quickly to his left when he felt Harry patting his shoulder. They nodded to each other, then took advantage of Fenrir's distraction to jump with twin punches, sending him flying a few feet back.
"Argh!" he wailed.
Cho and Lavender then managed to connect solid kicks from the other side, and triumphantly clapped their hands after landing.
Lastly, Blaised jumped and aimed for Fenrir's face with his knee, but Fenrir recovered and cast a Levitation Charm. Blaise was suspended in mid air before being discarded to the side.
"It had to be me the one to miss the hit," Blaise whined, shaking his head as he stood up. Soon, he raced to join the other rangers in the defence position.
Fenrir was heaving, moving his eyes desperately in all directions, looking for an opening. Just then, the amplified voice of Bellatrix Lestrange echoed all around them.
"Greyback! You scum! Couldn't get rid of simple teenagers, could you?" the voice bellowed. Ron and his friends turned to the skies, bewildered.
"No, my Lady, give me time, I'll—" Fenrir begged to the air.
"You'll do nothing! You're worthless without my help. Very well, so be it," Bellatrix thundered, "Engorgio!"
Out of nowhere, Fenrir started growing until he was at least the size of the Astronomy Tower.
"Well, fuck…" muttered Ron as he turned up. Every other ranger was equally taken aback.
"Are we still expected to fight that?" Blaise asked.
"We'll try…Somehow..." Harry muttered. Cho and Lavender didn't look that convinced.
Dumbledore's voice came once more, "Am I supposed to tell you everything!? Activate the dinozords!"
"And how do we do that?" Lavender asked. She put her hands on her hips, sounding irked. Ron thought she should keep her eyes on the big arsed Fenrir in front of them instead of turning angrily to the transmitter.
"Some half-witted voice command? Let me guess… Dinozord power!?" Blaise asked. A massive sound came from the distance. "No kidding, that worked!"
The dinozords came to them, and were exactly what Ron expected them to be by now. Massive robots in the shape of dinosaurs. They looked clumsy and not very practical, but at the time he didn't bloody care.
Cho somehow jumped all the way to her tiger robot, "Okay, I'm logged on. Not sure how I did that or knew what it meant, but I did it."
"Let's go then!" Harry said, from inside his blue triceratops.
"I have never really liked heights, and this is worse than Quidditch," Lavender said from her pterodactyl robot just as it took a rapid spin on its axis, "Oh my…! Stop… Stop….!"
Blaise climbed into his black mastodon, "Anyone knows how we jumped this far? I honestly think this is getting ridiculous."
"It doesn't matter now, does it?" Ron spat back, as he climbed into the Tyrannosaurus robot, "Okay, so I guess we… fire?"
Ron knew where the fire button was at once and blasted right at Fenrir's chest. The prick wailed and stumbled, but otherwise remained on his feet. He appeared to be slower and clumsier now that he was bigger.
"Incendio!" Fenrir shouted.
Ron didn't know how his slow-moving robot did it, but it managed to dodge. The mastodon behind Ron's back wasn't as lucky, and the Bowling Alley was in flames as well.
"Blaise!" everyone shouted.
"No need to fuss over me, I'll live. But that was… You did that on purpose, didn't you, Weasley?" Blaise gnarled.
"Oh don't get your knickers in a twist, you tosser! Not everything revolves around you!"
"Boys! Can't we leave this for later?" Cho scolded.
Ron and Blaise begrudgingly agreed through the communicators.
"Ron!"
"What is it, Harry?"
"Don't you think we should get Fenrir away from the city? I mean, how many buildings can we destroy until the city is all gone?"
"Harry's got a point," Cho added, "I think I hit a pub-like business as I moved through these narrow streets! Merlin, I hope I didn't hurt anyone."
"Oh, right, we should do that. Get the prick away," Ron agreed, wondering how the hell could they carry the big-arsed Fenrir away from the city. Then, an idea came to him. "Err, yeah. Lavender…? Can you?"
"What?"
"Fly the giant wanker away? Don't you have a rope on that thing?"
"Oh, Merlin, I think I do. But I—"
"Come on, Lav. We're counting on you."
There was a brief pause before Lavender's voice echoed again through the transmitter. "I swear that… You'll owe me big time, Won-Won."
"I will, but, can you do it now?" Ron hurried as Harry's Triceratops robot tried to keep Fenrir preoccupied.
"Fine! But I don't promise I won't make a fool out of myself," she said. Ron could hear her hesitation as she pressed a sequence of buttons, then a long shriek.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
Fenrir didn't expect the pterodactyl to grab him with a hook that spiralled down and around his arm. He swore the whole time as Lavender pulled him up and away towards a rocky landscape before releasing his arse hard on the ground.
"Way to go, Lav!"
"That was amazing!"
"Great job!"
The pterodactyl spun away and regrouped with the others. "I really don't want to do this anymore!" Lavender wailed, sounding queasy.
"Did you have a better plan to bring the giant-sized prick right in front of us?" Ron asked.
Lavender snorted.
"You should be more considerate. She's your girlfriend," Cho's voice admonished him.
Ron huffed, but internally agreed she was right. He tried to sound concerned for Lavender
"Did you vomit?" he asked.
"No, Ron. I didn't vomit!" Lavender hissed.
"What did I say? I just wanted to help. I—"
Harry coughed, "Err guys? A little help?"
The triceratops and the sabre-tooth tiger were shooting at Fenrir, but soon got caught up by a freezing spell from the giant. It wasn't strong enough to freeze them completely, but it made them slow and creaky.
They were having a hard time, and Ron didn't know what to do next. Did this robot have a massive cannon to throw a bludger at Fenrir?
Ron's pleas were soon answered when the computer in front of him spoke, "Megazord sequence activated!"
"Mega— what?" someone asked.
Lavender yelled again as the robots shifted and combined into what the tube-Dumbledore could only describe as the biggest motherfucking robot there was. Somehow, they were all in the same control room, then.
Cho had a hand on Lavender's back as she hunched forward.
"Err, you alright there?" Ron asked.
"I will be, once we get off this thing!"
"Can you hold off on the vomiting? I mean, if there is any. Only till we get off this thing. I reckon these helmets don't have a way to drain it," Ron mumbled clumsily.
Lavender raised her head, and Ron was sure she was giving him a murderous glare. He could also almost feel Cho frowning at him.
"Do I need to keep telling you to leave that for later, mate?" Harry asked, as they watched enormous ropes coming at them from the front pane.
The Incarcerous Spell threw the Megazord to the floor and they all shouted as they bounced around the main cabin. Cho stretched out her hand just in time to pull some sharp razors to cut through the ropes. They were still shaken when they stood back up.
"What do we do now?" Harry asked.
"Big sword! Outside…" Cho heaved, pointing at the monstrous sword in the Megazord's hand.
"Where did that come from?"
"Does it matter?"
"Guys...He's coming again!"
"Swing it! Swing it!"
"How the fuck do I do that!?"
"The lever, pull that lever! Now!"
Harry moved a joystick to the left so they could dodge the huge rock that Fenrir threw at them. Ron dove forward to the sword lever as if he were the one who played seeker and pulled it just in time.
Blimey, these controls are as clumsy as the robot itself!
Contrary to what one would expect, there was no blood coming out of the giant Fenrir as they hit him with the sword. Instead, a waterfall of sparks came out and the Megazord gave a triumphant pose as Fenrir wailed before falling onto his back.
Bellatrix shouts echoed as in the distance and Fenrir was transported away.
They had done it. It had been as bonkers as it could possibly be, but they had done it at last.
o0o0o
"Congratulations! A job well done, Power Rangers," said Dumbledore. The five of them were all back at his weird shaped house and out of their power suits.
Ron felt as if he had lost all of his karate powers already, however, he still felt exhilarated. The adrenaline rush was amazing.
"Now, I must ask you to follow three simple rules: First, never use your power for personal gain. Second, never escalate a battle unless Bellatrix forces you. And finally, keep your identity secret — no one may know you are a Power Ranger."
"That supposing we still want to be Power Rangers," Lavender said, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Oh come on, it was fun. Wasn't it?" Ron asked, looking at his friends.
Lavender rolled her eyes, but she didn't deny it. By all means, not vomiting had been a positive for her.
Blaise huffed, his arms crossed as he leaned against the wall.
Reluctantly, Harry nodded. "It might have been different from Quidditch, but there was something about it."
"It sure was something. Although, the Pterodactyl might feel closer to what being a seeker feels like," Cho agreed. She exchanged smiles with Harry, turning away awkwardly a moment later.
Not appearing to notice, Lavender gave a loud huff. "Oh, you like the spinning? If you want it so bad, you can have it."
A hurried cough came from Harry as he addressed the big tube. "Err, anyway. We still want to return to our world, professor."
"I'll be working on it, I promise. As you promised to help me with Bellatrix. That woman is mad!" Dumbledore said.
"In every bloody universe there is, I reckon," Ron added.
Dumbledore appeared to smile, "Meanwhile, there's an address book in the second drawer. Dobby 5 can lead you to it. It has the addresses to your houses in this universe," he said.
"An address book?" Cho asked, stunned.
"Oh yes, an address book," Dobby 5 said, pulling it out with long movements, "You were aware of the computers, but not of the address book. Not that one, no. You'll find information in it, useful indeed."
"Alright, I might be out of my mind but… I'll do it. Until we go back, that is," Cho finally agreed, though she frowned at Dumbledore. "But I don't want to hear any more unfounded assumptions about me."
"No worries then. I never say that sort of thing. I find it distasteful, truly," Dumbledore claimed with a smile.
"But you implied that I was good at karate and I—"
"Were you bad at it?"
"Well, no, but—"
"Matter settled then," Dumbledore announced brightly.
Cho didn't appear entirely satisfied and she frowned at Dumbledore's tube, but decided to keep any further argument to herself for the time being.
"Blaise? Can we count on you?" Dumbledore asked.
The boy snorted, "Do I have an option? I want to return as well."
That was a yes in Ron's book. "Brilliant, the tosser is in. Lav?"
Lavender still appeared unsure, even as her friends tried to convince her.
"Give it a go, Lav. It's not like we can just let these monsters destroy the city," Ron said.
"I… It's mad, doing all of this. But I don't want people to get hurt," Lavender admitted, looking at the other teenagers. "Alright, I'll do it."
"Really?"
"On one condition," Lavender said, stepping towards Ron.
"And what's that?" Ron took a step backwards, frightened.
Lavender didn't yield. She walked to Ron, running a finger from his face to his muscled chest. "You'll take me out on a real date as soon as we check that our other selves aren't seeing anyone else in this universe."
"I… err…"
Ron looked to Harry for support, but Harry was suddenly more interested in the address book.
Lavender raised an eyebrow.
"I… How do I… I guess?" he said, doubtfully.
Lavender leaned her head to the side, giving him a pointed look.
"Okay, okay! It's a deal," Ron surrendered.
A squeak came from Lavender, who jumped to cling from Ron's neck, almost as if she wanted to start snogging him right then. Across from them, Blaise snorted and rolled his eyes.
"We're really doing this then?" Harry thankfully interrupted.
Lavender separated from Ron after giving him a quick peck on the lips. She suddenly appeared more excited about their little group. "Do we have a cheer? Like One… Two… Three…POWER RANGERS!"
No one joined her in the cheer.
She rolled her eyes, annoyed. "Right, whatever."
And just like that, a mad chapter in Ron's life started. He didn't know how he was going to deal with Lavender any more than he knew how he was going to deal with the big arsed monsters Bellatrix was sure to send at them, but he had to give it a try. The thing more pressing at the time was going to bed. He was knackered. He needed to rest before figuring out how his new life was. His family existed here as well, how different could it be?
Then there was Hermione. She had to exist in this city as well. Somewhere. He had to find her, to find out if he was still on speaking terms with this version of her. It felt like so long since he'd last heard her talking to him. However, Ron also needed to return to where his Hermione was. He wondered when he would see her again. Even if that version of Hermione was still mad at him, he needed to find a path back to her.
I have planned very little about this, but I can tell you next chap is Harry's POV and should be just as long. (1 chap per episode in this story)