FicWad

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, Pokemon to WB and Nintendo, and Ranma 1/2 to Rumiko Takahashi.

A Lost Friend

By: USA Tiger

Chapter 6

"Harry, Great Grandmother asked to speak to you," Shampoo said as she found Harry in his borrowed room, pouring over a book. Harry had gone back to Mahou Village and used his new access to his vault there to pick up a few books to read. With Moldy-shorts after him and no one seemingly to want to really train him, he was taking it upon himself to prepare. He looked up at Shampoo when she spoke, wondering what the old woman wanted, but nodded and marked his spot.

"Alright," Harry pushed up off the floor and followed the Amazon girl up the stairs to the top most floor. Shampoo opened the door but didn't follow him in as Harry found himself faced with not only Cologne but three other elderly women, though none was as small or shrunken as Cologne. There was also a hooded figure who was sitting by the table in the room, whose head lifted when he came up then suddenly leapt from the chair and threw their selves at him.

"Master!" The figure collided with Harry, sending him to the floor and knocking the hood off the figure's head. Harry found himself looking down at a young woman with snow white hair who had her arms locked around his middle.

"Umm... what?" He asked confused, looking up at the laughing group of elders still in the room.

"It seems your owl followed after you after to teleported yourself from your home," Cologne finally explained.

"Hedwig?!?" Harry yelped in surprise, looking down at the woman that was holding him again. She had the same amber colored eyes and snowy white hair with a few flicks of black throughout her long hair. Her skin was also lily-white, almost matching her hair. "What happen to my owl? Why is she human?"

"Well Mr. Potter... It seems two of our younger members of our tribe spotted your owl flying above the cursed training grounds. They liked the color of her feathers and managed to shoot her down," Brush explained, stepping back a bit at the level of anger that appeared in Harry's eyes at the news. It was clear to her that the wizarding boy cared very deeply for his pet. "Only her wing was hit but the end results are that she fell into the Spring of the Drowned Girl."

"That same one Ranma fell into?" Harry asked while the human Hedwig started to run her fingers through Harry's hair slowly, much like she did with her beak in normal form. "Well... what does that mean for my owl?"

"I'm afraid there is no known cure for the Jusenkyo curses. Even if we used one of the Springs of the Drowned Owl on her, all that would occur is that she would become some sort of owl-woman, as the cursed waters have a habit of mixing," Cologne said. "So it will be better if your owl learned how to live as a human. It would be unsafe to let her fly in her normal form, if a sudden storm caught her and changed her into her new cursed form, she could fall to her death."

Harry frowned and looked over at Hedwig. The owl didn't look too much happier with the news that he was. Harry always knew his beloved owl was extremely smart and could understand what people said.

"This isn't fair to her," He finally said as he got up off the ground and helped Hedwig up. He tried not to scowl as he noticed even his owl was taller than he was as a human.

"No, it isn't but I think your owl will adjust to life as a human," Cologne said. "Now for the other reason why we asked you to come up here. Tonight, my fellow Elders and I will start the process to bring your Godfather over from the other side of the veil."

"Really? Do you think there's a chance?" Harry asked excitedly.

"With the four of us child, there is a very good chance we will bring him back," One of the other elders, Gel, said with a chuckle. The pale boy was amusing in his excitement if nothing else. "You'll even have an important part, as we open the portal to the other realm, you'll have to call him through. Call him back to the light so to speak."

Harry was very excited at the news, even if it was dampened by what happen to Hedwig. But if his beloved owl had to stay human, he was going to do everything he could to help her adjust.

"Take your owl and go rest while we prepare the room for the ritual," Cologne said, making Harry nod and escort Hedwig down stairs.

***

Akane walked into the Nekohanten, looking around for Harry. She spotted the dark hair British boy with a pretty white hair woman wearing a cloak and walked over quickly.

"Hi Harry-san, what did you need my help with?" The bluenette said as she sat down.

"My pet owl tried to follow me here and ended up falling into one of those cursed springs things because someone shot an arrow into her wing," Harry explained, then looked at the girl beside him. "They brought her here to me but said that she'll have to stay human, and I.... um... I don't know what sort of clothing to buy her." He blushed brightly and ducked his head. Akane watched as Hedwig reached over and started to finger comb his hair while making soft chirping noises.

"You poor thing," Akane said. "Of course I'll help. Come on, it's time to go shopping!"

***

Harry sat on a bench outside of yet another store Akane had dragged Hedwig into. So far, they had several bags full of clothing and other things the owl-turned-human would need. His beloved pet didn't look to happy about the whole thing, and really Harry couldn't blame her. She was an owl, made to fly, hunt, carry post and keep him company. Now she was forced to be a human, a type of life that she wasn't made for. Kind of like he was forced to be the boy-who-lived, he hated the title and the fame that came with it. All he wanted was a normal life with his parents, godfather and friends.

"Beeew," Harry blinked, knocked out of his thoughts and looked around, he thought he heard something. He jumped slightly as something pressed up against his ankle and looked down. "Ryoga" He said softly in a happy tone as he reached down and picked up the black piglet. Ryoga, aka P-chan, breewed happily up at his best friend. "You won't believe what happened today."

"We're done," Akane said as she walked out of the store with Hedwig. "Oh, P-chan!" She ran forward and took Ryoga out of Harry's arms, cooing down at her 'pet' while she cradled him. Harry blinked then opened his mouth to ask why she was treating Ryoga like that when the pig formed teen gave him a panicked look and started to shake his head. Harry gave the other a curious look, but didn't say anything. Instead he got up and walked over to Hedwig.

"Master," Hedwig said lovingly, making Harry shake his head.

"Don't call me master Hedwig, remember?" He said, looking down at the outfit Akane had put the owl in. It was a pretty blue sundress but it was clear Hedwig was uncomfortable with all of it as she kept shifting.

"Don't like..." The owl said, amber eyes looking at her wizard.

"I know," Harry said.

"What do you think? Isn't she pretty in that dress?" Akane asked with a bright smile.

"Yeah, thanks for your help," Harry said, looking up at the girl with a slight smile. He was still a bit uneasy about Akane, with the way her temper was, but it all seemed to be directed to Ranma, that Kuno guy and all the other females that chased after Ranma. Harry, on the other hand, seemed to be on the list of people she liked and was nice to, even if he did live with one of her rivals. "At least she has plenty of things to wear now."

"Well, you'll have to help her dress for a few days or at least get that huss.... I mean Shampoo to help you," Akane said, scratching P-chan behind the ears.

"So... you have a pet pig?" Harry asked curiously as he started to gather up the bags for Hedwig, he was going to have to get a new trunk for school, when he finally decided to return, to hold his owl’s things as well as his.

"Oh yes, this is P-Chan! He's my baby, I found him in my room one night, not to long after Ryoga-kun showed up. I always thought maybe P-chan belonged to him since my baby wears one of his bandanas around his neck and seems to get lost like he does. But Ryoga-kun's never tired to claim him,"Akane explained, not noticing the questioning look Harry gave Ryoga. Ryoga's eyes pleaded with his best friend not to tell Akane he and P-chan was the same thing and that he would explain later. "Of course, I never get to see them together so I guess Ryoga-kun doesn't know I have his piggy, if it was his. Ranma-no-baka is always so mean to my little P-chan."

"Really," Harry said a little weakly, wondering just how Akane missed the clues that pointed out that Ryoga was P-chan. He thought that Crabb, Goyle or even Dudley or that pounce Lockhart, when he was still in his right mind, could have figured it out! "Well... um... why don't I treat you to lunch since you came and helped me out with Hedwig!"

"Bacon?" Hedwig asked at the mention of food. Ryoga squealed slightly while Akane tried to cover his ears. Harry blushed, knowing it offended Ryoga since the boy was forced to turn into a pig.

"Sorry, one of Hedwig's favorite things to eat in her normal form is bacon," He explained for both of the others. "After all, owls love meat." Ryoga gave a piggy snort but couldn't think anything bad. Harry spoke so adoringly about his beloved familiar, and if this pretty girl was his Harry-chan's owl, well then he thought he could forgive her.

"Well, just don't mention eating bacon around P-chan Hedwig, you scared him," Akane scolded softly, trying not to sound harsh to the poor girl who had to learn to be human. Hedwig gave them a confused look, what was wrong with bacon? It was, to her, the most wonderful thing to eat in the world. Even better than mice!

Harry placed his hand over his mouth, trying to hide his smile and his giggles at the expression on Hedwig's face.

~SWEETO!!~ Harry blinked as he heard someone yell, turning to Akane as the girl screeched while Ryoga 'Bweed' in anger. There was.... something.... attached to the girl's chest, that looking like some odd deformed Houself. Right after he thought that, Harry discarded the thought; even Kreacher looked better than this thing did, and realized that the thing was a very old, little man.

~Get off of my you perverted freak!~ Akane yelled, bringing her fist down to punch the man in the face only for the man to swiftly let go and get out of Akane's range. Harry could just barely follow him, the man was faster that a snitch!

Happosai leered briefly at his 'sweet' Akane-chan before turning his attention to the two others with her. He dismissed the boy right away and turned his full attention to the young woman by his side. She had an ample size chest, not as large as Ranma-chan's but it wasn’t small either. And oh she was pretty and so young and full of life.

~Come to papa!~ Happosai yelled, moving quickly and grabbed Hedwig's chest, groping her new breasts. Hedwig screeched like the bird she really was while Harry reacted, his magic quickly rearing up and striking out at Happosai on instinct, catching him by surprise as he was blasted off of Hedwig and across the street. The little old man's mouth dropped open in shock as he watched the boy attending to and trying to calm the woman down. Such power! That was pure magic and he knew it came from the boy. Akane's own eyes were wide as well, she didn't know about Harry being a wizard and didn't know what to think about it though she was happy to see someone finally nail the little letch.

Ryoga snorted in anger, glaring at Happosai with such hate. First the little troll groped Akane then he dared to do the same thing to his Harry-Chan's beloved familiar!

"Hedwig, it's ok, shhh," Harry cooed to his owl, the bird-turned-human was glaring bloody murder with her eyes at Happosai who was still sitting in shock across the way. Akane, getting her wits about her, took her chance and conjured up her ki-mallet, swinging it was one hand while screaming "Happosai-no-Baka!!!” As the perverted old man was still in shock over the turn of events, Akane's attack was able to connect and send him off flying. The bluenette breathed deeply, hitting that little troll felt good!, she turned to Harry.

"What was that?" She asked Harry, her trusty mallet disappearing.

"Umm.... magic?" Harry said embarrassed, holding Hedwig close as the owl calmed down. "You see... I'm a... wizard..."

"Wizard...." Akane repeated softly, eyes wide.

***

“And so that's it. I couldn't tell you, even though you know magic is real, because in the British wizarding world it's against the law to tell muggles about magic unless your marrying one or related," Harry finished explaining softly. They were in the Nekohanten, not the first place Akane wanted to go but as the Amazons knew about magic and the place was void of customers right at that moment, it was safe to talk. Akane looked down at the table, processing everything Harry told her, absently scratching Ryoga behind the ears.

"I think I can understand why you didn't ever tell anyone," Akane said, looking up at Harry. Harry wasn't going to point out Ranma already knew or that Ryoga was also a wizard. "I'm just... really shocked that's all. So Hedwig being your pet owl, she's not just an exotic pet then?"

"No," Harry said softly, shaking his head. He sighed and took off his glasses, rubbing his eyes. "We use Owls to deliver our post. And on top of that, Hed's my familiar though I'm not sure how any of that is going to work now that she turns into a human."

"Why didn't any of the Amazon's just use the Spring of the Drowned Owl on her to cure her? I assume there is one," Akane asked.

"There is, in fact, a couple of springs where owls have drowned girly," Cologne said as she hopped over sat down in one of the chairs at the table. "None of them are where snowy owls have drowned, though the species exist in China. If we used any of the other drowned owl springs, Hedwig would have simply turned into that species of owl if she was lucky. The cursed waters at Jusenkyo have a habit of mixing, something son-in-law has yet to find out."

"Oh," Akane said, frowning again. Ryoga wiggled out of Akane's arms and hopped on the table, walking over to Harry and placing a front hoof on the young boy's arm, causing Harry to smile softly.

"On top of that, she is also a magical world owl and Harry's familiar to boot, there is no telling how her nature magic might have reacted to the Jusenkyo springs if we tried to use another spring on her." Cologne continued.

"So... does that mean Hedwig has magic then, like a witch, now that she's human?" Harry asked curious.

"Hmmm, it's possible. As I said before, she has her own natural magic and she is connected somewhat to you though it could be muted now that she's a human," Cologne said taking out her pipe and lighting it up. She sat, eyes closed as she thought about it, slowly smoking the sweet smelling tobacco inside the pipe. "I suggest you wait and see if she shows any sort of magic or perhaps take her to Mahou Village and see if anyone there can test her for magic."

Harry nodded absently, he wanted to return to Mahou Village anyway, there were more things he wanted to get but he wanted to wait until Sirius was back with him. Akane just shook her head slightly; this whole thing was completely insane though if someone had tried to tell her that magic existed before dealing with all the curses and the drama that Ranma and the others brought into her life, she would have had a very hard time believing it.

"So... just who was that guy that attacked Akane and Hedwig?" Harry finally asked. Both Akane and Ryoga growled under their breath as they were reminded of Happosai. "Akane called him, Happ, happ, Happ-somthing." Cologne sighed, opening her eyes and looking at Harry.

"Happosai," She corrected him. "He is... a 400 year old, or possibility older, Martial arts master who is the head of the Anything Goes school. And Happi is also an extreme pervert."

"He's also stealing my panties, and just about every other girl's panties in the area, and also feeling me and Ranma up when he's in his girl form," Akane said darkly.

"Happosai has been able to live as long as he had by stealing the chi that women give off," Cologne continued to explain. "Everyone gives off Chi, just like the way you give off magic, but the energy in different in all races and species. Happi learned how to leach off female chi, to the point that if he doesn't get any chi, he will go into withdrawals and could even die if it last long enough. He more or less turned himself into a type of energy vampire."

"So he was stealing this 'chi' energy from Akane and Hedwig? That won't hurt Hed any will it?" Harry asked worried, looking over at Hedwig who was trying to manage a fork, chop sticks more than a little out of her range to use right now.

"Our bodies constantly produce chi. While it is possible to drain a body to the point that there is no chi left, which will kill the person who it belongs to, it is very rare," Cologne assured him. "Happosai has never, to my knowledge, drained anyone to that point. He latches onto a women, gets his jollies and steals a little bit of chi from the girl then moves on to the next target. Chi also can cling to objects, hence the reason he steals underwear other than the fact that he enjoys them."

"He uses my Dad and Mr. Saotome as his slaves, making them go on panty raids with him," Akane said, huffing as she crossed her arms over her chest. "They are too afraid to go against him. Today was the first time I ever got such a good hit on him and boy did it feel good."

"Yes... but I'm worried about how Happi will react once he gets his wits about him again," Cologne said with a frown. "You took him by surprise Harry, it's obvious by looking at you that you do not follow the art and so he dismissed you out of his mind. Your magic reacted to the attack on your familiar and next time he won't let himself make the same mistake. If you’re lucky, he'll decide you’re not worth his interest."

"Well if he just ignores me for the rest of the summer, I'll be back home soon," Harry said. "I'm enjoying it here away from the chaos back home, even if it's a different sort of chaos here, and away from my relatives. But I’m going to have to go back at some point." Ryoga brewwed softly, he didn't want Harry to go, he greatly enjoyed having the other boy there. But then again, Ryoga had the ability to go anywhere he wanted by getting lost, so it wasn't like he couldn't find the other boy back in Britain.

"That is understandable, and I will do what I can to keep Happi off of you and your familiar until that time," Cologne said then turned to Akane. "I hope you understand girly that you can't go around telling people what Harry told you. Magic isn't as hidden here in Japan as it is in other places, that's clear by the amount magic and other wise related things that go on, but for the most part the magic community prefers to keep itself hidden. If you don't, it will be necessary to erase the memory from you mind."

"I don't need you trying to erase anything from my mind, you’d likely make me forget about Ranma again like Shampoo did before," Akane snipped slightly.

"It won't be me or any of the other Amazon's doing the erasing," Cologne said.

"Back home, they have people who obliviate the knowledge from people's mind if they discover the wizarding world," Harry explained. "You're only allowed to know if you’re marring a witch or wizard or if you’re the relative of a muggleborn, like I said before."

"Oh... alright, I promise not to say anything," Akane said as she mulled it over. "So... this magic wouldn't cure the curses?"

"Jusenkyo is too chaotic to be cured by normal means. As I said before, only a spring with the subjects base form will cancel out the curse but even then it's not a sure thing," Cologne said with a shake of her head. Ryoga bewwed softly in agreement, he tried several different spells and none worked for him! Not even the Animagus spell. Harry smiled slightly and rubbed the space between Ryoga's ears, making the cursed pig oink and beww softly.

***

Harry was a nervous ball of energy as he sat at the edge of the room, watching the four Amazon elders prepare the ritual spell to call his godfather back into this realm. He was the only one allowed in the room as they worked Shampoo, Mousse and Hedwig were all downstairs. Akane left hours ago with Ryoga in his P-chan form in tow, Harry absently reminding himself to ask the older boy why he was pretending to be Akane's pet pig. He also wondered if Ryoga liked Akane and why his chest tightened at the thought of Ryoga liking the girl.

"We will only be able to hold the portal opened for a couple of minutes," Cologne said, knocking Harry out of his thoughts. "You will use that time to reach out and call to your godfather. If he doesn't come out in that time, he may well be trapped there forever. "

"I'll make sure he comes back," Harry said firmly, he was this close to getting his only father-figure back, he wasn't going to let it slip from him now. Cologne nodded and went back to doing her part after making Harry come and sit in a spot inside the circle they made. Soon the chanting grew louder as the circle and the symbols painted on it started to glow brightly. A space in the air in front of Harry wavered and ripples before it seemed to become a large jagged tear complete with a ripping sound as it appeared.

Harry started to call Sirius's name, sending his voice and even a little bit of his magic into the tear. He was beginning to think that it wasn't working when he couldn't see any trace of the man and could already see the tear starting to repair itself.

"SIRIUS!" Harry called again in desperation, nearly crying as he thought he hear a faint voice call his own name. He called again and saw a hand push through the tear, Harry grabbing it and pulling the body attached to the hand out with a grunt. Sirius Black's body just managed to clear the tear as it quickly closed back up, landing on Harry as the teen fell backwards.

At once, the four Amazon's stopped chanting and the circle's glow went out, plunging the room in darkness for a moment before the light from outside the window lit it up again. Cologne pogoed over to the light switch by the door and turned the overhead lights on. Two of the other elders, Brush and Gel, picked up Sirius and placed the faintly groaning man on a bed roll that had been prepared for him on the other side of the room.

The fourth elder Curry started to check Sirius over, joined by Cologne as they made sure that the man would recover from his ordeal.

"Well, other hand being greatly dehydrated and likely having nothing real to eat in weeks, your Godfather is in mostly good shape," Curry finally said after a few minutes. "He will be weak for a few days, his body needs rest and time to regain his strength. Cologne will be able to provide the potions he will need to recover, both from this and from some of the damage he had sustained while in prison."

"Thank you," Harry said gratefully, coming to sit beside Sirius once they pulled away.

"Great-Grandmother, you done?" Shampoo asked from outside the door. "Harry have visitor, pig boy come here to see him."

"It's alright Shampoo, you can let him in," Cologne said as she opened the door. "Come sisters, Great-Granddaughter, we can get a jump on those potions." Ryoga stepped into the room as the door opened and hurried over to Harry's side as the four elder women left with Shampoo down the stairs.

"Hi," Ryoga said as he sat, looking at the gaunt man sleeping on the bed roll. "So that's him?"

"Hmm," Harry nodded, holding one of Sirius's hands in his own. "I thought I was never going to see him again, that I lost someone else who loved me and care for me as Harry and not for that stupid 'boy-who-lived' title."

"I'm glad you got him back," Ryoga said as he watched the younger teen and his godfather. He tried to imagine losing a parent like Harry did, he rarely saw his Kaasan and Tousan as it was, he didn't know how he would feel if one of them died or even how long it would be before he found out that they had. No... he knew he would feel sad if one of his parent's died.

"So am I, I'm grateful that Cologne was able to help me," Harry said, stroking Sirius's hand with his thumb. "So... what's the story with you and Akane?"

Ryoga sighed; he really didn't want to tell this story but launched into anyway. About how he got cursed in the first place and what happen that night at the Tendo Dojo when he because Akane's 'pet' after she found him.

"So... she doesn't have a clue that your 'P-chan'?" harry said in tiny disbelief, looking up at the larger boy. "Ryoga, you can't keep letting her think you’re her pet."

"I know, and so does everyone else. Ranma's tried several times to tell her since the beginning that I'm P-chan and I've changed near her but she's never seem to have gotten it," Ryoga said with a sigh, a mushroom shaped cloud escaping. "I know it's wrong, but for the longest time it was the only way I could get that sort of attention from her, in my normal form I'm just her friend."

Harry bit his lip, a horrible feeling pooling in his gut though he didn't know why.

"Ryoga... do you like Akane?" He asked softly. Ryoga startled at the question, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I... use to. She was the first person in a long time to ever show me any affection," He admitted. "I'm always so lonely that... I clung to what I could get. But... I don't like her in that way anymore though i still care for her as a friend."

"Oh," Harry said, the clinching feeling in his stomach going away.

"I... had also started dating this girl I met named Akari and I didn't want to turn into Kuno while lusting after two girls," Ryoga continued, Harry biting his lip as that feeling came back. He didn't know why this bothered him but it did. "But we broke it off. Akari is a sweet girl but sometimes I think she only started dating me because of my pig form. She likes pigs, she trains sumo wrestling pigs. She understood, she told me there was someone else out there waiting for me."

Harry bit back his sigh of relief in knowing Ryoga wasn't dating anyone now. Why he was happy about that confused him, after all he liked girls didn't he? He had that crush on Cho... though that kiss they shared was very... wet and turned him off dating for a while.... Harry was so confused in his thoughts now!

"Well... what are you going to do about Akane and 'P-chan'?" He asked, trying to get his mind off of his thoughts. Ryoga groaned and rubbed his face.

"I don't know. If I tell her or show her, I know she'll try to kill me and brand me a pervert like she calls Ranma," He said. "I've never looked at her when she was undressing or was nude while I'm P-chan, I've always turned my back. I've tried turning back to human as soon as I turn into my pig form and tired to keep away from Akane but she always seems to find me. I really don't know what to do."

"Wow kid, your more noble that I was at your age," Sirius croaked form the bed roll. “I’ve used my dog-self to get plenty attention from the girls.”

"Sirius!" Harry said, turning his attention back to his godfather.

"Hey pup," Sirius said with a tired smile. "So... what did I miss?"

******

Author note: First off, let me apologize for taking 3 years to get this chapter out. I don't have an good excuse other than I had a really bad case of writer's block for a long time and my life was really, really hectic for a while so writing wasn't on my mind. I was working at a place that I didn't enjoy anymore and it impacted my writing. But, I've gotten a new job in the last year and I've been working on and off on this and two other stories when I have the urge to write.

I will not be giving up on this story and it will hopefully not take me as long to get the next chapter out. I hope everyone enjoys this new chapter please excuse any errors I didn't manage to catch.

Edit 6-24-14: Mostly just fixed the small errors. Expanded a bit on a couple of parts to fill in the gaps a bit more.