Categories > Books > Harry Potter > A Lost Friend
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 7
Cologne hummed an old village song under her breath as she slowly stirred the potion she was currently making. The ritual had gone better than she thought it would, she and the other elders had been afraid for a moment that it would not work, that perhaps they had been too late and the English man had died when there was no response to Harry's calls. So it was a pleasant surprise when at the last moment Harry was finally able to pull the man through.
Now Harry was in debt to her and the village, but Cologne wasn't sure just how to collect on it just yet. She would love to add the boy's powers to the village, but she wasn't blind and had seen the looks Harry and the Hibiki boy had been giving each other. They may not have realized quite yet, but they were attached to the other. That left a glaring hole in her plan; there was a high chance that Harry wouldn't want to marry any of the village girls. Still, she would think of something, she always did.
Cologne glanced at the back door of the restaurant as it opened, a middle-age Chinese man entering with a large pack over his shoulder.
^Poe, you've returned,^ She said as she came to a point in her brewing where it needed to simmer and she could turn to talk to the man. ^Did you find everything?^
^Yes Grandmother, though some was difficult to find,^ Poe said as he set the pack on the floor. Poe was Cologne’s grandson by way of her only daughter and while he did not have the skill of brewing like she did, Poe did have a knack of finding the ingredients and other things that she and the other's needed. So the man was often away on trips for her, when he wasn't at the Nekohanten cooking. ^How is my daughter? Did she finally catch the attention of her husband?^
Cologne sighed and shook her head a little. ^No, but with our new guest, Son-in-Law has be coming around here more often.^
^Guest?^ Poe asked, tucking his hands into the sleeves of his shirt.
^Yes, a wizard boy from England,^ Cologne explained. ^He managed to attain an unusual animal from, a creature from South America, that allowed him to teleport here.^
^Why here?^ Poe asked.
^He is friends with the Hibiki boy and wanted to see him,^ Cologne said, turning back to her potion. ^He was also in need of help to retrieve his god-father from beyond one of the veil portals. Curry, Gel and Brush are here as well, they were a part of the ritual that allowed us to rescue him.^
^Seems like I've missed a bit during this trip,^ Poe said. Cologne nodded, taking crushed spider eggs and slowly adding them to the potion. ^I will leave you to your brewing Grandmother and go tell my daughter good night before resting,^ the middle-age man said, bowing in respect of his elder then leaving to go upstairs. Cologne turned her attention back to her work until an angry quack came from the other side of the room.
^You brought this on yourself idiot boy,^ Cologne said, turning to look at the cage that contained Mu Mu-Chan aka Mousse in his cursed form. ^You were told time and time again to wear your glasses and to leave both Shampoo and Harry alone. You’re lucky if I don't have the other elders take you back with them.^
"Quack! Quack quack quackquack!" Mousse said his white feathers ruffled as he flapped his wings.
^No, you can sit in here for a while until you cool down,^ Cologne said.
**
Harry finally wound down his story as he caught his godfather up on what happen after the man fell through the veil. Ryoga piped in a couple of time to explain as well when Harry came to the Nerima part of the story.
"Wow pup," Sirius said, shaking his head slightly. "You have got to show me this form of yours."
"I will, but when your better," Harry promised with a grin, he couldn't wait to show Sirius his ability to change into different creatures, the Houndoom one would be fun to play with Padfoot!
"Still, I'm sorry I couldn't tell you about what was going on Harry," Sirius said with a sad look. "I thought you should be told everything from the moment you were brought to my... 'house'. But the other order members always stopped me."
"I know, and at least I know you were on my side," Harry said with a small smile.
"I know it seems sometimes I'm trying to replace James with you, but I know you are your own person. You’re so much like your mother sometimes it's scary," Sirius said with a yawn.
"It's ok Siri, you don't have to explain," Harry assured him, pulling the blankets up over his godfather again. "You need to rest, being in the veil took a lot out of you." Sirius nodded, his eyes already drooping shut until he fell back asleep. Harry sighed, watching his godfather for a minute then standing up. Ryoga quickly followed his actions and let Harry lead him out of the room.
"Did you really think that? About him and your tousan?" Ryoga asked as they walked down the stairs, his hand firmly in Harry's.
"A couple of times it seemed so... but I think his house was a good part of it," Harry said as they hit the landing and walked into the kitchen. "It was driving him crazy, it was like a prison to him since he was never allowed to leave. He hated it there, really hated it."
"If you two are going to stick around down here, make yourself useful and prepare some of these ingredients," Cologne said, pointing to the items on the table next to her. Harry chuckled and sat down, peering into the book to see what had to be done to which ingredient. Ryoga leaned against the wall, he never took any decent lessons in potions since he was never in class enough and didn't want to mess up anything. He was next to Mousse's cage and glared down at the duck within. When he arrived at the Cat Cafe, with the help of Ranma, Ryoga had noticed the other cursed boy in the cage and had asked Shampoo why. The busty girl had told him what had happen that afternoon when the male Amazon had attacked Harry once again.
^If you ever attack Harry-chan again, I'll ring your neck duck-boy,^ He told Mousse in Chinese, leaning in close so only the other cursed boy could hear him. Cologne of course did hear him, smirking slightly at the protective nature of the Hibiki boy. Mousse quacked loudly and using one of his wings, flipped the bowl of water inside his cage over so it would splash Ryoga. "BEWWWW!"
Harry and Cologne turned at the sound of the metal cage crashing to the floor as Ryoga-pig jumped up and crashed into it, knocking it down. He pressed his front hooves into the wires and bent them out of the way, jumping in so he could beat the feathers off of Mousse-duck. Mousse at the same time was throwing knifes back at Ryoga.
"Ryoga!" Harry said, while Cologne cursed, she couldn't leave her brewing now, it would ruin the potion and it was at a stage that if it wasn't attended too, it could blow up and destroy half of the kitchen. Luckily, Harry was able to do something instead. He jumped up and changed into his Mew form then quickly transformed again, this time influenced by Ryoga's pig form. The form he took was the same size as P-chan, with a black hind end and ears while rest of his body was orange with a splash of yellow on his snout. At the end of his tail was a red orb and when Harry's new form snorted in anger, twin flames came out of his red nose.
"Tepig!" Harry-Tepig rushed over to the cage and jumped in, head butting Mousse into the other side of the cage.
"Brink?" Ryoga-Pig asked, looking at Harry in surprise.
"Te tepig!" Harry answered then turned back to the duck that was trying to right himself. "Tepig pig Tepig!"
"Bewww oink brink beew," Ryoga snarled at Mousse, Harry snorting again. The orange and black piglet opened his mouth and shot a fire ball at the duck with a "TEPIG!" making Mousse squawk loudly before it hit him. The heat from the flamed burnt a hole in the wire and once the flame died down, the black piglet pounced on the brunt duck.
"Enough!" Cologne shouted as hot water was dumped on top of Ryoga and Mousse via an irritated Shampoo who had come down to see what all the noise was. The two teen boys sat naked on the floor, Ryoga still trying to choke the life out of Mousse. "Enough Ryoga, I believe you and Harry punished him enough." Harry changed back to normal after he climbed out of the cage, leaning down to touch Ryoga's shoulder. That finally brought him out of his rage and he let go.
"Remind Shampoo not make Ryoga and Harry angry," Shampoo said as she looked down at the beat up, brunt mess Mousse was now. Mousse was covered in bruises and soot from Harry's fire and looked worse for wear.
The fight between the three teens had brought down the three elders, Poe and Hedwig. Sirius would have joined them, having been woken up by the sound of fighting but was too weak to get up. Harry was pressing Ryoga's clothes into the other boy's arms, making Ryoga remember that he was nude in front of a bunch of women and girls! He yelped and dove around the corner to get dressed.
"Nothing we haven’t seen before," Gel called teasingly, chuckling at a red face Ryoga as he came back. "Now what is this all about?"
"That idiot splashed me with water after I told him to stop attacking Harry," Ryoga said, pointing at Mousse who was coming around and was dressing in one of his robes that he pulled out of midair. "I was already angry at him and it pushed me over the edge."
"You’re becoming as bad as Saotome," Mousse said with a scowl, pushing his glasses down over his eyes. "You didn't have to attack me and neither did he." He pointed a finger at Harry. Ryoga growled loudly and drew his wand, pointing it at Mousse.
"Leave him alone Mousse!" Ryoga growled in anger. "Or I'll do something worse than beat you black and blue. I've never used my magic against any of you, don't make me start now." Ryoga prided himself that no matter what, no matter how badly he wanted to win against Ranma, he stuck to his marital arts when fighting the other teen and kept his magic under wraps, never lowering himself to attacking against a muggle with spells.
"Ryoga, hey it's alright," Harry said, putting his hand on Ryoga's outstretched arm. Ryoga gave Mousse another glare then turned to Harry. "He's not worth you getting in trouble for using magic on a muggle." Ryoga's dark green eyes searched Harry's lighter green ones then nodded, putting his wand back where he had gotten it then turned his back on the male Amazon.
"Mousse, this behavior of yours is getting out of hand," Cologne said, Curry taking over the brewing so she could hop over. "Your attacks on Ranma are getting annoying to everyone and Shampoo has made it clear that she does not wish for you to be her husband, now or ever."
"Once I defeated her, of course she'll be my wife," Mousse said.
"This boast of yours has yet to happen," Cologne said, hitting him in the head with her staff. "You are more concern in defeating son-in-law instead. So concerned in fact, you fail to even check to see if it is Ranma that you are attacking. Even more so, you are turning your attacks on Harry even when you know it's him, why?"
"He's getting too close to Shampoo, I have to protect her," Mousse said as it if was a perfectly reasonable explanation.
"Aiyah!" Shampoo yelled, hitting Mousse in the head with a Chuí,"Shampoo not need protecting by stupid duck boy. Shampoo only like Harry as friend, Harry no love Shampoo.""She's right, I don't. Shampoo is nice and she's very pretty but I don't think of her in that way," Harry confirmed.
"See?" Shampoo said. Mousse wasn't giving up though.
"Well then he's helping Saotome keep Shampoo under his control," He said.
"Since when, I've never noticed Harry do anything of the sort," Ryoga said, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Like your here long enough to notice anything," Mousse said, turning his attention to Ryoga.
"Stop it," Harry said, standing in front of Ryoga with a glare in Mousse's direction. "I haven’t been helping Shampoo with anything to do with Ranma."
"He right, Harry has been friendly with all of you youngsters barring you," Cologne said. "He has not pushed Shampoo onto Ranma in anyway."
"Mu-zu, it is the decision of the elders that you are returning with us to the village when we leave," Gel said firmly, stepping into the conversation.
"What!? No! I'm staying here," Mousse said, turning to Gel and Brush.
"You have interfered long enough in Xian-Pu's courtship of her husband," Brush said. "And now you are attacking outsiders all in the idea that Xian-Pu is 'yours'."
"You seem to forget, in Joketsuzoku, the woman is the head of the family and protector, we are not ruled by a /male/," Gel added. "You have no choice but to return, and we will make sure you remain in the village." Mousse denied the two elders words, refusing to return to their village until Cologne had enough of listening to him and pressed the pressure point on him that would knock him out.
"Mousse is usually a kind gentle boy, but when it comes to Shampoo..." She said with a shake of her head and a sigh. Harry gave a skeptic look, he had never seen Mousse be nice or gentle while Ryoga did agree with Cologne, he wished he knew what made the taller boy act like he did around Harry.
***
The rest of the night had gone a lot more smoothly after that, and come morning the three visiting elders were ready to head back to Joketsuzoku. One of them held a small travel carrier that contained Mousse in his duck form, who was lying on the bottom and not moving. He had been fed a potion that would keep him clam and under control until they were far away from Nerima.
Ryoga in the meantime had gotten lose while trying to find the bathroom in the middle of the night, leaving Harry to shake his head in amusement when he found his friend gone. He was currently carrying a tray with a light breakfast and a couple of healing potions up the stairs to Sirius, Hedwig following behind him.
"Morning Sirius," Harry said as he opened the door. Sirius was on the bedroll, propped up by a few pillows.
"Hey pup," Sirius said with a grin as he saw his god-son. He gave the young woman behind Harry a curious look. "Who's the girl? Did you find a girl friend while I was away?" He teased.
"Sirius, that's Hedwig," Harry said with a laugh and a shake of his head.
"Hedwig? Your owl? The pretty one that is insanely smart? That Hedwig?" Sirius asked, turning gray eyes to look at the woman again. Pale, almost snowy white skin, pure white hair with flecks of black in it and two large golden color eyes is what he took in, it was insane to think that his godson's owl was so pretty!
"I told you last night that she was human now," Harry said as he sat the tray in Sirius's lap. "Drink the potions first."
"I thought you were pulling a prank on me pup," Sirius said as he took the first bottle of potions, pulling a face as he drank it down. "Ugh, nasty."
"No, she really is a human now," Harry said. "Unless she's splashed with hot water, then she'll turn back to her real form. But everyone has made it clear this curse she's got is a water magnet and it's safer for her to be human."
"Wow, that's.... kinda sad," Sirius said, looking at Hedwig again as the owl turned human gently groomed Harry's hair with her fingers. "So... when are you going to show me that Animagus form you were telling me about?"
Harry chuckled and with a soft pop, his black and white mew form was sitting on the floor. Hedwig cooed and picked her master up, cradling him.
"Damn pup... you look... cute like that," Sirius said with a bark of laughter. "What are you, I've never seen an animal like that." Harry failed to hear Sirius’s question as Hedwig started to scratch behind his ear, his green eyes sliding closed.
`Ooooohhhh yeeeahhh... right there....` Harry thought, not realizing he was broadcasting his thoughts outloud. Sirius blinked, he could hear Harry's voice but the little cat thing his godson turned into didn't move its mouth.
"Harry... pup... how did you... you just talked without talking," Sirius said.
`Hmm?’ Harry blinked and turned his attention to Sirius. "Mew?"
"Pup, I could hear what you were thinking," Sirius said. Harry sat up, his tail sweeping around before he lifted himself up in the air and floated around Sirius. "And... and you’re flying!" Harry squinted his eyes, turning upside down.
"Meeww," Ok, he already knew he was psychic like this, and telepathy was a psychic power so why wouldn't he have that power as well. `Padfoot?` he tried.
"Merlin, I heard you again!" Sirius said, grinning widely. "Pup, I've never seen anything like it, what else can you do?"
`well, I know I can teleport, levitate, use telekinesis and I just discovered that I'm a telepath,` Harry 'said'. `Oh, and I can transform into other weird animals.`
"You're a multi-Animagus?" Sirius asked shocked, he didn't think that was possible.
`I don't think it works that way. I can only change into this form from being a human,` Harry explained, he had experimented with the transform power he had but all the animals he tried, he couldn't do straight from his human form. `I've got to changed into a Mew first then change.`
"Mew? You named yourself Mew?" Sirius said, it just fit the cute form Harry was in.
`No, my Animagus form is a Mew, I named myself Tao, it has something to do with that 'yin-yang' symbol and my fur color reminds me of that,` Harry explained. `Now watch.` He glowed for a second, his form changing until he dropped to the floor on all four paws in his Houndoom form. "Hound!" Sirius looked gob smacked at the sleek black dog that was covered in bones and skulls.
"That.... is so cool!" he finally said after gaping for words.
"Houndoom," Harry said, seeming to give a doggy grin while his spaded tail wagged. Then with a shift and a pop, he changed back to his human form. "I've been practicing with my forms every chance I get. I also been practicing spells I found in books from Mahou Village."
"I'm glad pup. You look a lot better than you did the last few times I've seen you," Sirius said, he loved the happy look on his pup's face as Harry smiled.
"I feel so free here Paddy," Harry said. "I'm far enough away that the MOM doesn't know I'm using magic and I think the distance between me and Voldemort might have weakened the connection we have a bit. I haven’t gotten any visions while I've been here and my headaches are mostly gone. Any pain I've had is very weak."
"That's great pup!" Sirius said with a grin. "Well I'm not going to go force you to contact Dumbledore anytime soon. You need this break. And it's one of the best pranks I've seen in a while," He added with a laugh, making Harry grin. Hedwig just watched her human hatchling and his godfather in amusement.
***
Ranma sighed as she walked on top of the chain length fence along the canal. She was alone, Akane had stayed after school for a project, not that Ranma really cared as long as the crazy tomboy stayed out of trouble.
Ranma sighed again, crossing her arms behind her head as she looked up at the sky. She didn't know what to do about Akane anymore. After the events of Mt. Phoenix, Ranma had been quite ready to finally go ahead and marry the girl, even admitted that he, at the time, loved her. Of course, the wedding had all gone to hell thanks to the others and he had been determine to settle the business with the rest of her fiancées so she could marry Akane in peace.
Now Ranma was beginning to wonder if what happened wasn't a blessing in disguise. Akane in the last couple of months had seemed to trust Ranma less and less every day. No matter what the girl-cursed boy did, Akane was quick to anger and swing that mallet at him.
Even Ryoga seemed to see it, now that the other teen had given up on the girl. Of course, all of Ryoga's attention seemed to be on that strange British boy Harry, who Akane liked. Of course, Akane liked anyone what wasn't him/her or the Amazons. Ranma stopped and turned to look in the direction of the Nekohanten, she had promised herself that she would keep an eye on Ryoga's little friend, she didn't completely trust Cologne with the wizard unlike Ryoga.
And she wanted to observe more of the whole magic thing, she still held out hope that there was a cure there.
'I guess I can put up with Shampoo's affections to check on the kid,' Ranma thought, jumping from the fence to the nearest rooftop. 'I just hope that idiot Mousse isn't there, I am not in the mood to be attacked today.'
***
"Aiyah!" Shampoo called happily, glomping onto Ranma as the smaller red headed girl came in. "Arien came see Shampoo?"
"No Shampoo, I'm came to check on Harry," Ranma said with a sigh, trying to wiggle out of the Amazon's hold and trying not to think about the firm breasts pressed up against her’s.
"Oh, Harry good, has dog man back. Pretty owl girl here too," Shampoo chirped as she let go of Ranma. "Harry at top of stairs, Ranma go see Harry fine then Arien eat Shampoo's good good ramen?"
"Errr, sure. Why not," Ranma said as she headed for the stairs, the marital artist wasn't one to pass up on free food. Shampoo made a happy sound and made a bee line for the kitchen. She wanted to try something Harry mentioned, to try and... well... talking with Ranma while he ate. To be his friend instead of wife that she was. The boy pointed out that Ranma never seemed comfortable with her every time he had seen them together and Shampoo was beginning to think her little friend was right, Ranma had been stiff when she hugged the other and thinking back on it, Ranma always was, whether Ranma was male or female.
Even Ryoga had a bit of advised for Shampoo, Akane kept Ranma’s attention because of two things. One was that Akane offered to be Ranma's friend when she first arrived, Ryoga heard the story from Akane herself during one of his P-chan trips, though that was later revoked and two was Ranma's family honor.
Shampoo knew about honor, it was what made her give girl-type-Ranma the kiss of death and chase her from China all the way to Japan. To tell the truth, the kiss of death wasn't in much use today as it had been in the past. The village did keep up with the goings-on of the outside would and no matter how good a warrior from the village was, very few could stop something like a bullet.
If she hadn't decided to issue the kiss, all that would have happen to Shampoo was that Cologne would have put her through training from the beginning. That and she would have been the butt of the jokes with the other village girls until she proved herself once again. But since she did use the kiss of death, Shampoo was honor bound to fulfill it unless she gave up, which case she would be punished much worse that starting her training over by training at Jusenkyo and gaining a curse or if she had died. Shampoo's pride had been hurt at the time, she had won the tournament only to find her prize being eaten by what she thought was a girl and her pet panda.
Then Shampoo had her ass handed to her by the same girl without hardly any effort on Ranma's part. Shampoo had been so angry, and her pride so bruised, that without any thought she invoked one of the old ways and kissed Ranma on the cheek. Many of the villagers had been shocked, only a very few had ever used that kiss one an outsider anymore. The kiss of marriage and the kiss of sisterhood tended to be the only kisses used by most anymore.
"Nihao Father, Shampoo cook lunch for husband," Shampoo greeted Poe with a smile and a peck on the cheek as she entered the kitchen.
***
Ranma could hear the sound of talking as she reached the top of the stairs, she could here Harry's voice and that of an older man speaking in English. Without knocking, the red head pushed open the door and walked in then blinked at the scene in front of her.
Harry was sitting cross-legged next of a futon with ragger looking man laying on it, both of which had turned to look at her when she opened the door. Behind Harry was a young woman who was finger combing the teen's hair.
"Who's the babe?" Sirius asked without thinking. Ranma clenched her fists in anger.
"I'm a guy!" she yelled. Sirius gave her a confused look then looked at Harry.
"That's Ranma. He's got a curse like Hedwig," Harry explained. "So she really is a boy."
"Oh... she kinda looks like Lily," Sirius said, tilting his head to the side like a dog. Harry nodded slightly, Ranma's girl form hair did remind him of his mum's.
"Hi Ranma, this is my Godfather," Harry started to say before Sirius interrupted with "dogfather!". The teen grinned then corrected himself. "Dogfather Sirius. And this is Hedwig."
"Isn't that the girl you had Akane picking out clothes for... wait did you say she has the same curse as me?" Ranma asked, blinking as she pointed at the white hair girl.
"Yeah, she's my owl. She was following me here but something happen while she was flying over China and now she's a human girl," Harry explained. Ranma looked at Hedwig again then just shrugged and walked over, sitting down as well.
"And just like that, you accept that?" Sirius asked.
"Weird shit happens like this all the time," Ranma simply said, making Harry laugh.
"Sirius, this place is pure chaos, I think you're going to love it here," Harry laughed again as Sirius's face lit up and he grinned.
****
Author note: Woohoo, first appearance of a 5th gen Pokemon!
Poe is a very minor character from the manga, he was never named and it was never made clear if he's Cologne's grandson or grandson-in-law. I forgot he was a character until I ran across a mention of him in another fic and decided to inculde him. He was almost called 'Powder' but I decided that Poe might be a better name.
On another note, a few people has been pointing out that my use of grammar is a bit shoty and I'll admit, grammar was never my best subject when I was in school. And since it's been over ten years since I graduated so that doesn't help either. So I'm still looking for anyone that would be willing to beta this or any of my other fics.
I hope I managed to get Shampoo and Mousse's Chinese names right.
Edit 6-25-14: Just more of the usual, I also corrected the name of Shampoo’s weapon she used to hit Mousse in the head with.
A Lost Friend
By: USA Tiger
Chapter 7
Cologne hummed an old village song under her breath as she slowly stirred the potion she was currently making. The ritual had gone better than she thought it would, she and the other elders had been afraid for a moment that it would not work, that perhaps they had been too late and the English man had died when there was no response to Harry's calls. So it was a pleasant surprise when at the last moment Harry was finally able to pull the man through.
Now Harry was in debt to her and the village, but Cologne wasn't sure just how to collect on it just yet. She would love to add the boy's powers to the village, but she wasn't blind and had seen the looks Harry and the Hibiki boy had been giving each other. They may not have realized quite yet, but they were attached to the other. That left a glaring hole in her plan; there was a high chance that Harry wouldn't want to marry any of the village girls. Still, she would think of something, she always did.
Cologne glanced at the back door of the restaurant as it opened, a middle-age Chinese man entering with a large pack over his shoulder.
^Poe, you've returned,^ She said as she came to a point in her brewing where it needed to simmer and she could turn to talk to the man. ^Did you find everything?^
^Yes Grandmother, though some was difficult to find,^ Poe said as he set the pack on the floor. Poe was Cologne’s grandson by way of her only daughter and while he did not have the skill of brewing like she did, Poe did have a knack of finding the ingredients and other things that she and the other's needed. So the man was often away on trips for her, when he wasn't at the Nekohanten cooking. ^How is my daughter? Did she finally catch the attention of her husband?^
Cologne sighed and shook her head a little. ^No, but with our new guest, Son-in-Law has be coming around here more often.^
^Guest?^ Poe asked, tucking his hands into the sleeves of his shirt.
^Yes, a wizard boy from England,^ Cologne explained. ^He managed to attain an unusual animal from, a creature from South America, that allowed him to teleport here.^
^Why here?^ Poe asked.
^He is friends with the Hibiki boy and wanted to see him,^ Cologne said, turning back to her potion. ^He was also in need of help to retrieve his god-father from beyond one of the veil portals. Curry, Gel and Brush are here as well, they were a part of the ritual that allowed us to rescue him.^
^Seems like I've missed a bit during this trip,^ Poe said. Cologne nodded, taking crushed spider eggs and slowly adding them to the potion. ^I will leave you to your brewing Grandmother and go tell my daughter good night before resting,^ the middle-age man said, bowing in respect of his elder then leaving to go upstairs. Cologne turned her attention back to her work until an angry quack came from the other side of the room.
^You brought this on yourself idiot boy,^ Cologne said, turning to look at the cage that contained Mu Mu-Chan aka Mousse in his cursed form. ^You were told time and time again to wear your glasses and to leave both Shampoo and Harry alone. You’re lucky if I don't have the other elders take you back with them.^
"Quack! Quack quack quackquack!" Mousse said his white feathers ruffled as he flapped his wings.
^No, you can sit in here for a while until you cool down,^ Cologne said.
**
Harry finally wound down his story as he caught his godfather up on what happen after the man fell through the veil. Ryoga piped in a couple of time to explain as well when Harry came to the Nerima part of the story.
"Wow pup," Sirius said, shaking his head slightly. "You have got to show me this form of yours."
"I will, but when your better," Harry promised with a grin, he couldn't wait to show Sirius his ability to change into different creatures, the Houndoom one would be fun to play with Padfoot!
"Still, I'm sorry I couldn't tell you about what was going on Harry," Sirius said with a sad look. "I thought you should be told everything from the moment you were brought to my... 'house'. But the other order members always stopped me."
"I know, and at least I know you were on my side," Harry said with a small smile.
"I know it seems sometimes I'm trying to replace James with you, but I know you are your own person. You’re so much like your mother sometimes it's scary," Sirius said with a yawn.
"It's ok Siri, you don't have to explain," Harry assured him, pulling the blankets up over his godfather again. "You need to rest, being in the veil took a lot out of you." Sirius nodded, his eyes already drooping shut until he fell back asleep. Harry sighed, watching his godfather for a minute then standing up. Ryoga quickly followed his actions and let Harry lead him out of the room.
"Did you really think that? About him and your tousan?" Ryoga asked as they walked down the stairs, his hand firmly in Harry's.
"A couple of times it seemed so... but I think his house was a good part of it," Harry said as they hit the landing and walked into the kitchen. "It was driving him crazy, it was like a prison to him since he was never allowed to leave. He hated it there, really hated it."
"If you two are going to stick around down here, make yourself useful and prepare some of these ingredients," Cologne said, pointing to the items on the table next to her. Harry chuckled and sat down, peering into the book to see what had to be done to which ingredient. Ryoga leaned against the wall, he never took any decent lessons in potions since he was never in class enough and didn't want to mess up anything. He was next to Mousse's cage and glared down at the duck within. When he arrived at the Cat Cafe, with the help of Ranma, Ryoga had noticed the other cursed boy in the cage and had asked Shampoo why. The busty girl had told him what had happen that afternoon when the male Amazon had attacked Harry once again.
^If you ever attack Harry-chan again, I'll ring your neck duck-boy,^ He told Mousse in Chinese, leaning in close so only the other cursed boy could hear him. Cologne of course did hear him, smirking slightly at the protective nature of the Hibiki boy. Mousse quacked loudly and using one of his wings, flipped the bowl of water inside his cage over so it would splash Ryoga. "BEWWWW!"
Harry and Cologne turned at the sound of the metal cage crashing to the floor as Ryoga-pig jumped up and crashed into it, knocking it down. He pressed his front hooves into the wires and bent them out of the way, jumping in so he could beat the feathers off of Mousse-duck. Mousse at the same time was throwing knifes back at Ryoga.
"Ryoga!" Harry said, while Cologne cursed, she couldn't leave her brewing now, it would ruin the potion and it was at a stage that if it wasn't attended too, it could blow up and destroy half of the kitchen. Luckily, Harry was able to do something instead. He jumped up and changed into his Mew form then quickly transformed again, this time influenced by Ryoga's pig form. The form he took was the same size as P-chan, with a black hind end and ears while rest of his body was orange with a splash of yellow on his snout. At the end of his tail was a red orb and when Harry's new form snorted in anger, twin flames came out of his red nose.
"Tepig!" Harry-Tepig rushed over to the cage and jumped in, head butting Mousse into the other side of the cage.
"Brink?" Ryoga-Pig asked, looking at Harry in surprise.
"Te tepig!" Harry answered then turned back to the duck that was trying to right himself. "Tepig pig Tepig!"
"Bewww oink brink beew," Ryoga snarled at Mousse, Harry snorting again. The orange and black piglet opened his mouth and shot a fire ball at the duck with a "TEPIG!" making Mousse squawk loudly before it hit him. The heat from the flamed burnt a hole in the wire and once the flame died down, the black piglet pounced on the brunt duck.
"Enough!" Cologne shouted as hot water was dumped on top of Ryoga and Mousse via an irritated Shampoo who had come down to see what all the noise was. The two teen boys sat naked on the floor, Ryoga still trying to choke the life out of Mousse. "Enough Ryoga, I believe you and Harry punished him enough." Harry changed back to normal after he climbed out of the cage, leaning down to touch Ryoga's shoulder. That finally brought him out of his rage and he let go.
"Remind Shampoo not make Ryoga and Harry angry," Shampoo said as she looked down at the beat up, brunt mess Mousse was now. Mousse was covered in bruises and soot from Harry's fire and looked worse for wear.
The fight between the three teens had brought down the three elders, Poe and Hedwig. Sirius would have joined them, having been woken up by the sound of fighting but was too weak to get up. Harry was pressing Ryoga's clothes into the other boy's arms, making Ryoga remember that he was nude in front of a bunch of women and girls! He yelped and dove around the corner to get dressed.
"Nothing we haven’t seen before," Gel called teasingly, chuckling at a red face Ryoga as he came back. "Now what is this all about?"
"That idiot splashed me with water after I told him to stop attacking Harry," Ryoga said, pointing at Mousse who was coming around and was dressing in one of his robes that he pulled out of midair. "I was already angry at him and it pushed me over the edge."
"You’re becoming as bad as Saotome," Mousse said with a scowl, pushing his glasses down over his eyes. "You didn't have to attack me and neither did he." He pointed a finger at Harry. Ryoga growled loudly and drew his wand, pointing it at Mousse.
"Leave him alone Mousse!" Ryoga growled in anger. "Or I'll do something worse than beat you black and blue. I've never used my magic against any of you, don't make me start now." Ryoga prided himself that no matter what, no matter how badly he wanted to win against Ranma, he stuck to his marital arts when fighting the other teen and kept his magic under wraps, never lowering himself to attacking against a muggle with spells.
"Ryoga, hey it's alright," Harry said, putting his hand on Ryoga's outstretched arm. Ryoga gave Mousse another glare then turned to Harry. "He's not worth you getting in trouble for using magic on a muggle." Ryoga's dark green eyes searched Harry's lighter green ones then nodded, putting his wand back where he had gotten it then turned his back on the male Amazon.
"Mousse, this behavior of yours is getting out of hand," Cologne said, Curry taking over the brewing so she could hop over. "Your attacks on Ranma are getting annoying to everyone and Shampoo has made it clear that she does not wish for you to be her husband, now or ever."
"Once I defeated her, of course she'll be my wife," Mousse said.
"This boast of yours has yet to happen," Cologne said, hitting him in the head with her staff. "You are more concern in defeating son-in-law instead. So concerned in fact, you fail to even check to see if it is Ranma that you are attacking. Even more so, you are turning your attacks on Harry even when you know it's him, why?"
"He's getting too close to Shampoo, I have to protect her," Mousse said as it if was a perfectly reasonable explanation.
"Aiyah!" Shampoo yelled, hitting Mousse in the head with a Chuí,"Shampoo not need protecting by stupid duck boy. Shampoo only like Harry as friend, Harry no love Shampoo.""She's right, I don't. Shampoo is nice and she's very pretty but I don't think of her in that way," Harry confirmed.
"See?" Shampoo said. Mousse wasn't giving up though.
"Well then he's helping Saotome keep Shampoo under his control," He said.
"Since when, I've never noticed Harry do anything of the sort," Ryoga said, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Like your here long enough to notice anything," Mousse said, turning his attention to Ryoga.
"Stop it," Harry said, standing in front of Ryoga with a glare in Mousse's direction. "I haven’t been helping Shampoo with anything to do with Ranma."
"He right, Harry has been friendly with all of you youngsters barring you," Cologne said. "He has not pushed Shampoo onto Ranma in anyway."
"Mu-zu, it is the decision of the elders that you are returning with us to the village when we leave," Gel said firmly, stepping into the conversation.
"What!? No! I'm staying here," Mousse said, turning to Gel and Brush.
"You have interfered long enough in Xian-Pu's courtship of her husband," Brush said. "And now you are attacking outsiders all in the idea that Xian-Pu is 'yours'."
"You seem to forget, in Joketsuzoku, the woman is the head of the family and protector, we are not ruled by a /male/," Gel added. "You have no choice but to return, and we will make sure you remain in the village." Mousse denied the two elders words, refusing to return to their village until Cologne had enough of listening to him and pressed the pressure point on him that would knock him out.
"Mousse is usually a kind gentle boy, but when it comes to Shampoo..." She said with a shake of her head and a sigh. Harry gave a skeptic look, he had never seen Mousse be nice or gentle while Ryoga did agree with Cologne, he wished he knew what made the taller boy act like he did around Harry.
***
The rest of the night had gone a lot more smoothly after that, and come morning the three visiting elders were ready to head back to Joketsuzoku. One of them held a small travel carrier that contained Mousse in his duck form, who was lying on the bottom and not moving. He had been fed a potion that would keep him clam and under control until they were far away from Nerima.
Ryoga in the meantime had gotten lose while trying to find the bathroom in the middle of the night, leaving Harry to shake his head in amusement when he found his friend gone. He was currently carrying a tray with a light breakfast and a couple of healing potions up the stairs to Sirius, Hedwig following behind him.
"Morning Sirius," Harry said as he opened the door. Sirius was on the bedroll, propped up by a few pillows.
"Hey pup," Sirius said with a grin as he saw his god-son. He gave the young woman behind Harry a curious look. "Who's the girl? Did you find a girl friend while I was away?" He teased.
"Sirius, that's Hedwig," Harry said with a laugh and a shake of his head.
"Hedwig? Your owl? The pretty one that is insanely smart? That Hedwig?" Sirius asked, turning gray eyes to look at the woman again. Pale, almost snowy white skin, pure white hair with flecks of black in it and two large golden color eyes is what he took in, it was insane to think that his godson's owl was so pretty!
"I told you last night that she was human now," Harry said as he sat the tray in Sirius's lap. "Drink the potions first."
"I thought you were pulling a prank on me pup," Sirius said as he took the first bottle of potions, pulling a face as he drank it down. "Ugh, nasty."
"No, she really is a human now," Harry said. "Unless she's splashed with hot water, then she'll turn back to her real form. But everyone has made it clear this curse she's got is a water magnet and it's safer for her to be human."
"Wow, that's.... kinda sad," Sirius said, looking at Hedwig again as the owl turned human gently groomed Harry's hair with her fingers. "So... when are you going to show me that Animagus form you were telling me about?"
Harry chuckled and with a soft pop, his black and white mew form was sitting on the floor. Hedwig cooed and picked her master up, cradling him.
"Damn pup... you look... cute like that," Sirius said with a bark of laughter. "What are you, I've never seen an animal like that." Harry failed to hear Sirius’s question as Hedwig started to scratch behind his ear, his green eyes sliding closed.
`Ooooohhhh yeeeahhh... right there....` Harry thought, not realizing he was broadcasting his thoughts outloud. Sirius blinked, he could hear Harry's voice but the little cat thing his godson turned into didn't move its mouth.
"Harry... pup... how did you... you just talked without talking," Sirius said.
`Hmm?’ Harry blinked and turned his attention to Sirius. "Mew?"
"Pup, I could hear what you were thinking," Sirius said. Harry sat up, his tail sweeping around before he lifted himself up in the air and floated around Sirius. "And... and you’re flying!" Harry squinted his eyes, turning upside down.
"Meeww," Ok, he already knew he was psychic like this, and telepathy was a psychic power so why wouldn't he have that power as well. `Padfoot?` he tried.
"Merlin, I heard you again!" Sirius said, grinning widely. "Pup, I've never seen anything like it, what else can you do?"
`well, I know I can teleport, levitate, use telekinesis and I just discovered that I'm a telepath,` Harry 'said'. `Oh, and I can transform into other weird animals.`
"You're a multi-Animagus?" Sirius asked shocked, he didn't think that was possible.
`I don't think it works that way. I can only change into this form from being a human,` Harry explained, he had experimented with the transform power he had but all the animals he tried, he couldn't do straight from his human form. `I've got to changed into a Mew first then change.`
"Mew? You named yourself Mew?" Sirius said, it just fit the cute form Harry was in.
`No, my Animagus form is a Mew, I named myself Tao, it has something to do with that 'yin-yang' symbol and my fur color reminds me of that,` Harry explained. `Now watch.` He glowed for a second, his form changing until he dropped to the floor on all four paws in his Houndoom form. "Hound!" Sirius looked gob smacked at the sleek black dog that was covered in bones and skulls.
"That.... is so cool!" he finally said after gaping for words.
"Houndoom," Harry said, seeming to give a doggy grin while his spaded tail wagged. Then with a shift and a pop, he changed back to his human form. "I've been practicing with my forms every chance I get. I also been practicing spells I found in books from Mahou Village."
"I'm glad pup. You look a lot better than you did the last few times I've seen you," Sirius said, he loved the happy look on his pup's face as Harry smiled.
"I feel so free here Paddy," Harry said. "I'm far enough away that the MOM doesn't know I'm using magic and I think the distance between me and Voldemort might have weakened the connection we have a bit. I haven’t gotten any visions while I've been here and my headaches are mostly gone. Any pain I've had is very weak."
"That's great pup!" Sirius said with a grin. "Well I'm not going to go force you to contact Dumbledore anytime soon. You need this break. And it's one of the best pranks I've seen in a while," He added with a laugh, making Harry grin. Hedwig just watched her human hatchling and his godfather in amusement.
***
Ranma sighed as she walked on top of the chain length fence along the canal. She was alone, Akane had stayed after school for a project, not that Ranma really cared as long as the crazy tomboy stayed out of trouble.
Ranma sighed again, crossing her arms behind her head as she looked up at the sky. She didn't know what to do about Akane anymore. After the events of Mt. Phoenix, Ranma had been quite ready to finally go ahead and marry the girl, even admitted that he, at the time, loved her. Of course, the wedding had all gone to hell thanks to the others and he had been determine to settle the business with the rest of her fiancées so she could marry Akane in peace.
Now Ranma was beginning to wonder if what happened wasn't a blessing in disguise. Akane in the last couple of months had seemed to trust Ranma less and less every day. No matter what the girl-cursed boy did, Akane was quick to anger and swing that mallet at him.
Even Ryoga seemed to see it, now that the other teen had given up on the girl. Of course, all of Ryoga's attention seemed to be on that strange British boy Harry, who Akane liked. Of course, Akane liked anyone what wasn't him/her or the Amazons. Ranma stopped and turned to look in the direction of the Nekohanten, she had promised herself that she would keep an eye on Ryoga's little friend, she didn't completely trust Cologne with the wizard unlike Ryoga.
And she wanted to observe more of the whole magic thing, she still held out hope that there was a cure there.
'I guess I can put up with Shampoo's affections to check on the kid,' Ranma thought, jumping from the fence to the nearest rooftop. 'I just hope that idiot Mousse isn't there, I am not in the mood to be attacked today.'
***
"Aiyah!" Shampoo called happily, glomping onto Ranma as the smaller red headed girl came in. "Arien came see Shampoo?"
"No Shampoo, I'm came to check on Harry," Ranma said with a sigh, trying to wiggle out of the Amazon's hold and trying not to think about the firm breasts pressed up against her’s.
"Oh, Harry good, has dog man back. Pretty owl girl here too," Shampoo chirped as she let go of Ranma. "Harry at top of stairs, Ranma go see Harry fine then Arien eat Shampoo's good good ramen?"
"Errr, sure. Why not," Ranma said as she headed for the stairs, the marital artist wasn't one to pass up on free food. Shampoo made a happy sound and made a bee line for the kitchen. She wanted to try something Harry mentioned, to try and... well... talking with Ranma while he ate. To be his friend instead of wife that she was. The boy pointed out that Ranma never seemed comfortable with her every time he had seen them together and Shampoo was beginning to think her little friend was right, Ranma had been stiff when she hugged the other and thinking back on it, Ranma always was, whether Ranma was male or female.
Even Ryoga had a bit of advised for Shampoo, Akane kept Ranma’s attention because of two things. One was that Akane offered to be Ranma's friend when she first arrived, Ryoga heard the story from Akane herself during one of his P-chan trips, though that was later revoked and two was Ranma's family honor.
Shampoo knew about honor, it was what made her give girl-type-Ranma the kiss of death and chase her from China all the way to Japan. To tell the truth, the kiss of death wasn't in much use today as it had been in the past. The village did keep up with the goings-on of the outside would and no matter how good a warrior from the village was, very few could stop something like a bullet.
If she hadn't decided to issue the kiss, all that would have happen to Shampoo was that Cologne would have put her through training from the beginning. That and she would have been the butt of the jokes with the other village girls until she proved herself once again. But since she did use the kiss of death, Shampoo was honor bound to fulfill it unless she gave up, which case she would be punished much worse that starting her training over by training at Jusenkyo and gaining a curse or if she had died. Shampoo's pride had been hurt at the time, she had won the tournament only to find her prize being eaten by what she thought was a girl and her pet panda.
Then Shampoo had her ass handed to her by the same girl without hardly any effort on Ranma's part. Shampoo had been so angry, and her pride so bruised, that without any thought she invoked one of the old ways and kissed Ranma on the cheek. Many of the villagers had been shocked, only a very few had ever used that kiss one an outsider anymore. The kiss of marriage and the kiss of sisterhood tended to be the only kisses used by most anymore.
"Nihao Father, Shampoo cook lunch for husband," Shampoo greeted Poe with a smile and a peck on the cheek as she entered the kitchen.
***
Ranma could hear the sound of talking as she reached the top of the stairs, she could here Harry's voice and that of an older man speaking in English. Without knocking, the red head pushed open the door and walked in then blinked at the scene in front of her.
Harry was sitting cross-legged next of a futon with ragger looking man laying on it, both of which had turned to look at her when she opened the door. Behind Harry was a young woman who was finger combing the teen's hair.
"Who's the babe?" Sirius asked without thinking. Ranma clenched her fists in anger.
"I'm a guy!" she yelled. Sirius gave her a confused look then looked at Harry.
"That's Ranma. He's got a curse like Hedwig," Harry explained. "So she really is a boy."
"Oh... she kinda looks like Lily," Sirius said, tilting his head to the side like a dog. Harry nodded slightly, Ranma's girl form hair did remind him of his mum's.
"Hi Ranma, this is my Godfather," Harry started to say before Sirius interrupted with "dogfather!". The teen grinned then corrected himself. "Dogfather Sirius. And this is Hedwig."
"Isn't that the girl you had Akane picking out clothes for... wait did you say she has the same curse as me?" Ranma asked, blinking as she pointed at the white hair girl.
"Yeah, she's my owl. She was following me here but something happen while she was flying over China and now she's a human girl," Harry explained. Ranma looked at Hedwig again then just shrugged and walked over, sitting down as well.
"And just like that, you accept that?" Sirius asked.
"Weird shit happens like this all the time," Ranma simply said, making Harry laugh.
"Sirius, this place is pure chaos, I think you're going to love it here," Harry laughed again as Sirius's face lit up and he grinned.
****
Author note: Woohoo, first appearance of a 5th gen Pokemon!
Poe is a very minor character from the manga, he was never named and it was never made clear if he's Cologne's grandson or grandson-in-law. I forgot he was a character until I ran across a mention of him in another fic and decided to inculde him. He was almost called 'Powder' but I decided that Poe might be a better name.
On another note, a few people has been pointing out that my use of grammar is a bit shoty and I'll admit, grammar was never my best subject when I was in school. And since it's been over ten years since I graduated so that doesn't help either. So I'm still looking for anyone that would be willing to beta this or any of my other fics.
I hope I managed to get Shampoo and Mousse's Chinese names right.
Edit 6-25-14: Just more of the usual, I also corrected the name of Shampoo’s weapon she used to hit Mousse in the head with.
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