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Chapter two, Anything goes magic.


     "Harry, over here," Ron yelled from the other end of the train car.
Hermione and Harry looked at him from where they had been checking
for empty compartments. He was waving to them, and indicating that
the compartment he was in front of was available. 
     "Come on, Kasumi," Hermione said to the young girl beside her.
Taking her by the right hand, Hermione plowed through the chaos on
board the Hogwarts express. Using the experience gained in her last four
years to good purpose, she shoved the large woven cat carrier in her
other hand out in front of them to help clear the way. The vicious yowls
from inside the container likely did as much to clear people from their
path as the physical presence of the basket itself. Kasumi followed in
her wake clutching her own cat tightly to her chest with her left hand. 
     A tall Ravenclaw senior with a prefect's badge bumped into
Kasumi, and she lost her grip on her cat. The small feline slipped
through her arms and landed on all four feet. Kasumi looked back over
her shoulder, an expression of dismay on her face. 
     The small, cream-colored cat crouched among the thundering herd
of feet belonging to the students looking for seats.  She didn't stay there
very long. With no sign of panic or worry, she casually climbed the
same Ravenclaw senior that had bumped Kasumi. He gave a cry of
surprise as she reached his shoulder. She sprang lightly from him to the
head of another student. From there to another head, to shoulder, to
backpack, to head, and then, through the open door of the compartment
Ron was gesturing at. By the time Hermione and Kasumi reached it, she
was sitting on one of the benches, her tail wrapped around her feet, and
a rather smug look on her face.                             

     "Woooff," Harry gasped out as he plopped down on one of the
compartment's bench seats. "I swear, it gets worse every year," he said.
     "Either that or we're just getting too big to slip through the crowds
easily," Ron said, making a face at two disappointed Ravenclaws who
were peering into their car with disgruntled expressions. He continued
with a grin at Harry, "And we're not big enough to simply plow through
them like Hagrid. Isn't that right, Hermione?" 
     "Why did you insist we get seats at the front anyway?" Hermione
complained. "There are always enough seats on the express. We didn't
need to suffer through all that mad panic."
     "I had a very good reason. Same as all the others who were trying
to nab one in the front car," Ron replied. "And that's it right there," he
added as the voice of an elderly lady floated in through their open door
from down the hall. 
     "Want anything here, Dearys?"
     "Candy! You made us struggle through the train just so you could
get some candy quicker!" Hermione said in disbelief.        
     "Not just quicker," Ron corrected her. "So I could get a good
selection. If we were in back, most of the good stuff would be gone by
the time she got to us. Put it away, Harry," he added to his friend, who
was digging in his pockets for change. "This one's on me."
     Harry looked in surprise at Ron, who was not known for having
full pockets. It wasn't that Ron was stingy. He was as generous as he
could be. But his family was not wealthy, and they had put a lot of
Ron's sibling through Hogwarts. Three had graduated, and were now
earning their own way, but that left four to go, and money was always
tight for the Weasleys.  Harry didn't like the idea of his friend using up
all his pocket change. He didn't see how he could refuse without hurting
Ron's pride, however.
     Ron read his expression. "Don't worry about me, Harry. I"m
loaded. Spent the whole summer working for Fred and George. They
were making up  stock for school. They had me making up the stuff
they'd already perfected, while they turned their 'genius' to thinking up
new things." 

     Ron's brothers had a particular talent for magical tricks and
gadgetry that appealed to the lowest form of humor. Practical jokes.
They had made a fairly decent amount of money the year before selling
their own inventions to their fellow students. It was not enough,
however. Their life goal was to open a magic joke shop of their very
own when they graduated. Weasleys Wizardly Wheezes would be the
best of the best. Or so they hoped. Their problem was money, which
they had very little of. A really good shop would be expensive.  Harry
had partially solved that problem, however. He had gone in as a silent
partner with them at the end of the last term. His contribution had been
the thousand galleons he had won in the Triwizard competition. While
that money would not buy them their shop outright, it would take them a
lot closer to the goal. 
                                                  
     "You wasted your whole summer making stupid practical jokes!?"
Hermione asked in dismay.
     "It wasn't wasted," Ron defended himself. "I had to work darn
hard. I bet I'm a dozen times better with wand work then I was last year.
And just wait till you see me in potions. I can mix a up a batch of Ten
Ton Tongue Toffee in no time at all. That's got to help me in making
Snape's stinky concoctions!  Anyway. I'm flush. So, what will it be,
Harry, Hermione, get anything you want. What about you, Kasumi?" he
added magnanimously to the young girl who had placed herself in the
corner, out of the way of everyone.
     "Oh, I not really need, thank very much. I pack sandwich. You
like? I extra have," the young girl said, holding up a small backpack
which she had slipped out from under her robes.
     "Sandwiches," Ron snorted in disgust. That's no proper food for
your first trip to Hogwarts. What do you say, Harry, what should we get
her, Chocolate frogs?" 
     "Of course," Harry said, thinking of his first train trip. "And some
Berti Bott's Every Flavor Beans."
     "Course, I knew that," Ron said. "What else?"
     "Oh my, really, I fine," Kasumi said with a worried look. 
     "Oh, let them have their fun," Hermione said to her. "They'll
likely eat most of it themselves anyway. There was something I wanted
to ask you," she said. 
     "Jelly Slugs."
     "Doobles Best Blowing Gum."
     "Peppermint Creams."
     Hermione turned her back on the boys, and faced the young girl
squarely. "Kasumi?" she asked, "When you said that your friend was a
Hero, what did you mean? Did you mean that he was brave and nice?"
     "Oh, is. Ranma very brave. Very nice," Kasumi frowned. "Well,
he try be nice." 
     Hermione looked relieved. "So he's just a normal boy," she said. 
     'Oh my. Ranma not normal boy. Dumbledore-san he say Ranma
special type of hero." 
     Hermione looked at Kasumi in disbelief. "Dumbledore, say, said
that?"
     "Oh yes. At first he not certain about Ranma and Akane coming
with Grandmother Cologne, but when he meet, he very pleased. He said
they just sort people he hope  bring to the school."
     "Is Akane this same sort of special hero?"
     "Dumbledore think maybe. Grandmother Cologne think could be.
Ranma, he say no way. Akane, she toss in fish pond."
     "Akane got tossed in the fish pond?" Hermione said in surprise. 
     "Oh my, sorry, English, still not good. Akane toss Ranma. They
fight much, but like much to." 
     "Are they your brother and sister?" 
     "Akane yes. Ranma no, he Akane, how you say," Kasumi's brow
creased as she looked for the word in her mind. "they going to married."
     "They're going to get married?" Hermione exclaimed loudly
enough to attract the attention of Ron and Harry, who were just
concluding their business with the candy lady. 
     "Who's going to get married," Ron asked, dumping an armload of
sweets on the seat he and Harry were sharing. He swept them into a pile
in the middle, and then sat down next to the window across from
Kasumi. 
     "Ranma and Akane, according to Kasumi." 
     "Huh!?" both boys exclaimed. 
     "They're only kids," Ron said. That can't be right."
     "Arrange before born. Fathers make deal. They old friends. Want
families join."
     "Don't they have any say in the matter? That's crummy," Ron
said.
     "They like other, lot, but both . . .no like tell what to do. They
fight, they argue, but like." Beside Kasumi, her cat made a choking
sound. 
     "Does she have a hairball?" Hermione asked. "I have some
medicine I use on Crookshanks."
     The small cat suddenly stopped choking, and sat up straight, no
sign of her previous distress apparent.
     Kasumi stroked the cat's back lightly, and then asked,
"Crookshanks? Is Hermione's cat?"
     "If you can call that monster just a cat," Ron said with good
humor.  
     "This is Crookshanks," Hermione said, opening the front of the
wicker basket beside her feet. At the same time she sent a 'look' at Ron,
who blithely ignored it. For a second nothing happened, and both
Kasumi and her cat leaned forward to look at the open basket door.
Then, a massive orange shape squeezed out the opening, and revealed
itself as a very large tomcat, with a combative look about him. 
     Ron and Harry were staring at him in surprise. Crookshanks usally
vacated his cat carrier like an orange-colored rocket. Neither one of
them was sure how Hermione managed to get him in the thing in the
first place. The way he left his carrier was not the only change in his
normal behavior either. He gave a long languid stretch, and opened his
mouth wide in a yawn that revealed an impressive set of teeth. He then
stalked in a very deliberate fashion across the floor and leapt lightly into
the space between Hermione and Kasumi. Once there, he duplicated the
posture Kasumi's cat had adopted, sitting up straight, with his tail
wrapped around his feet. He looks like he should be guarding an
Egyptian tomb, Harry thought. 
     The light dawned when Ron saw Crookshanks take a sideways
glance at Kasumi's cat. "He's in love." He chortled. "The big hair-ball
has it bad for Kasumi's cat. What's its name? Shampoo, that's it." 
     Crookshanks gave Ron a scathing look. While Shampoo
practically reared back on her hind legs. She turned and gave the big
orange tom a look that should have laid him out dead on the seat
cushion. 
     "Now, not be like that. He like you, not mean bad by it." Kasumi
said in a coaxing voice to her cat, who turned her head away in apparent
disgust. She leapt lightly off the seat, and strode out the partially open
compartment door before anyone can stop her.
     "Oh shoot, we'd better go and get her before she gets lost," Ron
said.
     "Not worry, Shampoo be fine. She come back when we get to
school." 
     Ron settled back in his seat, "Well, if you say so." He directed a
look at the pile of candy on the seat between him and Harry. Clearly he
was eager to take Kasumi's word. 
     "NO, Crookshanks!" Hermione called out in annoyance, but not
before the big Tom followed Shampoo out of the room. 
     "On let him go. Him at least, I know we can count on to not get
lost," Ron told her.
     "It's not Crookshanks I'm worried about," Hermione said with
some asperity. "You know how he is with strangers. And there are a lot
of people on the train who don't know him, and who he doesn't know."
     A cry of panic was heard further up the train. "You see, it's started
already." Hermione said. She was just starting to get up, when a frantic
first year student, wrapped head to toe in several layers of clothing ran
down the hall. "Gremlins are attacking the train!" he yelled as he raced
past their compartment. "The train is going to crash!"
     "What was that!?" Harry said.  He turned a bemused look toward
the others in the compartment, and then gave a start, and pulled his
wand from his sleeve, shocking Hermione and Ron. They followed his
gaze, and gasped as they spotted a face peering into their compartment
window from outside. It was hideous. The nose was flattened, and the
mouth was a huge gaping maw. It was also all twisted up, with the nose
and eyes under the mouth.
     "Hello Ranma-kun, what are you doing out there?" Kasumi asked
in a pleasant voice. She stood on her seat and unlatched the window and
slid it up before the other could react. The squashed faced creature was
suddenly revealed to be the boy who had been with Kasumi on the
platform. He'd had been hanging upside down with his face pressed
tightly against the glass of the window, and hence his distorted face. 
     "What are you doing out there!" Hermione cried out, fright and
worry in her voice. "Get in here!" she reached out and dragged the small
boy into the compartment with them. They noticed that he was no
longer wearing his school robes, but a loose fitting pair of pants and a
shirt, both black.  Having gotten him to safety, Hermione opened her
mouth to deliver a lecture, and then paused. "Didn't you have red hair
before?" she asked in a puzzled voice.  
     The boy ran a hand through his black hair, and directed a sheepish
look at Kasumi. He rattled off something in his own language.
     "Ask him if he met a pair of tall redheads," Ron suggested. "They
mentioned something about a hair changing trick. It was one of their
secret projects, so I don't know much about it. Maybe that's what
happened."
     Kasumi translated, and the boy eagerly shook his head in the
affirmative. She gave him a frown, and said something to him, but he
kept nodding his head at Ron and his friends while talking to her. At
last she reluctantly leaned back and said. "Ranma say he see them." She
looked unhappy, and would not look directly at Hermione as she spoke.
     "Well, there you have it. It was George and Fred," Ron said. "Who
cares about hair anyway. What was he doing on the outside of the
train?" Ron looked at Kasumi. She looked uncomfortable. She glanced
at Ranma, and then back at Ron. Her face firmed slightly, and she stood
up and bowed to a surprised Ron.
     "I sorry. Ranma English, very bad. He need learn fast. He not learn
I talk for him. Please talk Ranma. Very sorry." Kasumi looked genuinely
distressed, and Hermione felt for her, she also remembered the way
Mistress Cologne had treated Ranma. Maybe he was a tough enough for
her type of chastisement, but she was sure Kasumi was not. She was not
sure if Mistress Cologne would do to Kasumi what she'd done to
Ranma, but Hermione was not going to take any chances on it.
     "Kasumi is right," Hermione said to Ron. Ranma won't learn
anything if he has someone translating for him all the time."
     Ron shrugged. It made no difference to him. He turned to Ranma,
and jabbed a finger at the ceiling of the compartment. In a very loud
voice he shouted. "Top of train! Why!?"
     "For heavens sake, Ron," Hermione scolded him. His English is
bad, he's not deaf. That's something I'd expect from Harry's uncle.
Sorry Harry," she said with a glance at him.
     Harry only grinned. "Why, for telling the truth?"
     "Now I'm insulted. Comparing me to that Muggle blowhard."
     "Well, then don't act like him," Hermione retorted.
     "Train," Ranma said.
     "Huh!?" all three friends said. 
     Ranma pointed at the roof. "Train," he repeated. 
     "Yes, we know it's a train," Ron said in a quieter voice, but with a
hint of exasperation in his tone. "What were you doing on top of it," he
said, again pointing from Ranma to the ceiling. 
     The young boy looked at Kasumi, who lowered her eyes and
would not look at him. He turned back to Ron, his face bearing an
annoyed expression. "Train, train!" He said in a loud voice, so much
like the way Ron had spoken earlier, that Harry and Hermione both
laughed. 
     Ron fumed, but before he could try and interrogate the small boy
further, he was interrupted. 
     "Ranma, where you!? Baka!" A voice yelled from outside the
window. Ranma rolled his eyes, and before anyone could stop him he
was out the window, his feet resting on the sill, and his upper body
hidden by the top of the window casement. 
     "Grab him," Harry yelled. They all moved toward the small boy,
but before they reached him, he slid back inside, his hand tangled in the
robe of the black-haired girl who had been with him on the platform.
Kasumi's sister, the one called Akane.
     Akane straightened out her robes, and glared at Ranma. "You
leave me, why!?" she yelled at him.
     "Clumsy," was his one word reply. 
     She punched him. His head snapped back from the force of the
blow, and then bobbed back as if his neck was a spring. A large smile
graced his face. "Tomboy," he said. Akane threw another punch, but
this time his head shifted slightly to the side, and she missed him.
"Gorilla," he said, and dodged another punch. 
     "Well," Ron said, "it looks like he knows a few English words." 

     Stopping Akane proved to be very simple; Hermione pulled out
her wand, and immobilized her.  Ranma blinked in surprise, and then
scowled at Hermione. He yelled at her loudly, and looked ready to do
more. Hermione merely scowled back at him, and released the spell on
Akane. She sagged slightly, and then turned toward Hermione. Ron and
Harry tensed. They remembered how she'd handled Crabbe and Goyle.
But instead of attacking Hermione, Akane blushed and then bowed.
"Sorry," she said. "No suppose to fight. Rules, tell, Sorry." She looked
at Ranma, and said loudly, "Idiot!" He simply grinned at her in good
humor, his anger as transient as hers seemed to be. He plopped down
cross-legged on the floor. 
     "Well, if all the excitement is over. Maybe we can finally do
something important," Ron said, a touch of annoyance in his voice. 
     "Yes. I want to know what he meant by train. I'm sure he was not
talking about the train. I think he was trying to say training. If that's the
sort of teaching that Mistress Cologne does, she should be locked
up,"Hermione said.  
     "It's been tried," an amused voice said from the doorway. All
heads swivelled toward the door, and the figure standing in it. "Ranma,
Akane, I believe I told you to stay out of trouble?" the attractive young
girl in the doorway said. Mistress Cologne was still carrying the gnarled
staff, and the tip was tapping the floor in an impatient rhythm. 
     "Old ghoul," Ranma greeted her cheerfully, and then ducked out
of the way of a packaged chocolate frog. The confectionary had fallen to
the floor during the excitement, and as near as Hermione could tell,
Mistress Cologne had done nothing more than tap it with her staff. But
that had made it fly across the room so fast that she lost sight of it.
Despite that speed, Ranma's hand plucked it out of the air before it
could hit the wall. He looked at it curiously. The rough handling had
broken the package open, and Ranma's eyes widened as a brown frog
wriggled out of the box, and made a jump for the window. Again
Ranma's hands moved faster than the three friends could see, and he
snatched the frog out of the air before it could escape and looked at it
with some surprise.
     Ron grinned an evil smile, and said, "You eat it, like this."
Opening a chocolate frog of his own, and much to the shock of Kasumi
and Akane, took a big bite out of it. He chewed with relish, and offered
the remaining legs to Akane. She tucked her hands behind her back, and
looked at him with disgust. 
     "It's ok, it's chocolate," Ron said to her, his face still wearing a
wicked smile. "It's just enchanted to move." 
     Ranma had not shown the same horror as Kasumi and Akane over
Ron's action, and he now bit into his own frog. An expression of
surprise and pleasure crossed his face.
     Akane looked at Ron doubtfully, she reached out and took the
remains from him. A close inspection revealed that it was indeed a
hollow chocolate casing. She handed it back to Ron with a shudder, and
he ate it with every sign of pleasure. 
     "Time to go, Children," Mistress Cologne said. 
     "Well, at least it looks like Ranma knows a bit about wizards,"
Ron said, as the two truants headed for the door. He had hastily
gathered up several packages of candy, and handed them to the 'now'
black-haired boy. 
     "What ever makes you think that," Mistress Cologne asked in an
amused voice." 
     Ron looked surprised. "Well, he knew about wizard candy," he
said. "He didn't even blink before taking a bite out of his chocolate
frog."
     She gave an amused laugh. "I think it was more a case of him
having been too long since his last meal. I would suggest that if any of
your friends have pet frogs, they keep them away from Ranma." With
that she left the room.
     "She was joking," Ron said, a look of puzzlement on his face. "I
mean, you don't think he thought it was a real frog do you?"  He turned
his gaze toward Kasumi. 
     "Ranma go hungry often when young. He learn eat what can.
Grandmother Cologne give good advice." 
     "Yuck!" was the mutual reaction of the friends. 

     After the other two children left, Ron offered Kasumi some candy,
and at Hermione's urging, she took it. She then sat quietly in her corner
nibbling on a jelly slug as the three friends talked about matters she
knew nothing of.
     "I can't believe that Malfoy came back," Ron declared in a loud
voice. "Not after Harry saw his father licking You-know-who's boots." 
     "Shhhhhh," Harry shushed Ron. Cornelius Fudge had been very
empathic about Harry not spreading unwarranted rumors. That hadn't
stopped Harry from telling his friends, but he wasn't prepared to go
telling the whole word himself. Dumbledore new the truth, and Harry
trusted him to do what was right. 
     "Sorry," Ron said in a quieter voice. "But the nerve of the slimy
little . . ."
     Hermione coughed loudly, and gestured with her eyes toward
Kasumi. 
     "Git," Ron finished. 
     "I think it's the most wicked thing I ever heard of," Hermione
declared. 
     "Wicked? I don't know as I'd give him that much credit," Ron
said. "Sneaky, better-than-you, stupid. Even if Harry can't tell the whole
school, you have to know it's going to get out."
     "That's not what I mean," Hermione said. "Surely you don't think
his father tells him every little detail of his plotting. Draco might not
even know his father is a Death-Eater. I was talking about his father. His
father knows that Harry knows, and he sent his son back here anyway.
You just have to know he wants Draco to spy on Harry, or to make
trouble. What sort of father would put his son in that position. I bet
You-know-Who put him up to it." 
     "I think Malfoy knows exactly what his father is up to, and can't
wait to get his own Death-Eater mark," Ron said. "What about you,
Harry?"
     "I don't know," Harry said honestly. "Draco is a slimy worm, but
his father is really evil. I don't know if Malfoy is that bad." 
     "Well, I think he is," Ron said. "And I intend to keep a close eye
on him."
     "Well, there isn't anything new about that. We always do." 

     "No room, no room!" 

     The three friends looked up in surprise as a chorus of voices rose
from the compartment down the aisle. A few seconds later, the same
statement came from a bit closer. 
     A large shadow filled their doorway, but before they could say
anything, the train gave a lurch as it rounded a fairly sharp, for a train,
corner. The figure in the door gave a cry of surprise, and fell through the
door. Ron and Harry cried out and jerked their legs up just as the person
tumbled into the edge of their seat. It spun from the impact, and
everyone in the compartment winced as its head collided with the
window sill. The compartment shuddered slightly as it finally came to
rest sprawled over the entire space between the seats. 
     A choking sob emerged from the figure, and then it started to cry,
deep wracking sobs that shook its whole frame. 
     "Oh, please, no cry," Kasumi said. She had slid from her seat, and
was kneeling at the head of the very, very, large girl who was laying on
their floor. She was dressed in a robe that looked like it was large
enough to cover a horse. She had long blonde hair that was tangled
around her face and body from her fall, and her fair face was blotched
with tears and misery. 
     Kasumi had produced a handkerchief from somewhere, and was
dabbing at the enormous girl's tears in an ineffectual effort to dry them.
The small square of cloth was woefully inadequate to the task, and was
soaked through in seconds. Kasumi simply wrung it out, and set it on
her seat to dry. Taking a corner of her robe, she dabbed at the giant
girl's face with it, making soft noises of sympathy as she did so. If not
for the obvious misery of the blonde giant, it would have been a comical
sight. The tiny Kasumi, who's torso was not much bigger than the giant
girl's head, offering motherly comfort. 
     "Are you alright?" Harry asked, having got over his surprise. He
went to his knees opposite Kasumi. His knees rested on the giant's
robes, but under the bulky cloth, she seemed slim, and there was room
for him on the floor. Ron and Hermione were standing, now, and they
both reached down and took hold of a hand that was three times the size
of their own. 
     "Up you come," Ron said in a cheery voice. "No need to go
making such an awful noise. Anyone would think you were a baby,"
     "Ron," Hermione chastised him in outraged tones. 
     "It's ok," the girl sniffled. "I'm not a baby. I'm sorry for being so
wet," she said, as she let Ron and Hermione pull her to her feet. Once
up, her head nearly brushed the ceiling. Kasumi looked up at her in
amazement.
     Oh, my," she said. She then said. "No sorry. Tears make wet,
natural," Kasumi said. 
     "Wet means crybaby," Ron said to Kasumi. "And she ain't. That
was a wicked bump you took. I'd likely been pretty upset myself if it
happened to me." In contrast to the rather cruel manner in which he had
spoken to her before, his voice was now sympathetic and caring. The
girl gave him a shy look, and let Ron and Hermione sit her down on the
girls' bench seat
     Kasumi clambered up beside her, and stood on the seat. In her
stockings, Hermione noted. Her shoes were sitting neatly side by side
under the seat. Kasumi gently brushed the girl's hair away from the
back of her head, and examined her with a serious look on her face. She
then bent down and opened the pack she had been carrying her
sandwiches in. She emerged with a sealed brown bottle, and some
cotton balls. "No cut, bad bump," she said, as she dabbed some of the
contents of the bottle on the girls injury. This help." 
     "Thank you," the girl said in a voice that would have been loud for
anyone else, but seemed soft coming from her. She pulled her robes
tightly around herself, and ducked her head, as if trying to make herself
smaller. She started to get to her feet. "I'll get out of your way now," she
said. "I need to find an empty compartment. I'm too big to share with
humans."
     Eyebrows went up at her statement, but Harry was quick to say,
"Nonsense. There is plenty of room. You can share a bench with
Kasumi and Hermione. They don't take up much room. Now if you
were as big as Hagrid, then things might be a bit crowded." Harry
exchanged looks with Hermione and Ron. This obviously explained
what Hagrid had meant about them finding out soon how his mission to
the giants had gone. This girl was clearly a result.
     The girl's eyes lit up at the mention of Hagrid's name, just as
Harry had hoped, but he had not expected the next. "Oh, you know
Uncle Hagrid?"
     
               


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