Wild Horse of Hogwarts

Chapter 2

Disclaimer, erm, oh for crying out loud, I, like several billion other people don't own Harry Potter or Ranma half. I didn't really think I'd have to spell it out.

Authors notes:- Sorry it took so long. Electrical storms can be a real bitch to computers. Nuff said.

/ Forest outside Kemble \

Ranma couldn't remember a time he'd ever felt this uncomfortable, and he'd been in some pretty uncomfortable submission holds in his short life. He'd had his face shoved in all kinds of substances the better of which had been dirt and the worst didn't even bare thinking about. This was a whole different kind of uncomfortable though and there didn't seem to be much he could do about it. He knew if he really tried that he could break free of this hold the strange woman had on him but it felt, it felt right in a way that seemed to sap his strength. This was some of that touchy-feely crap his father had been telling him to ignore, he just knew it. The problem was that now he was here he didn't think he wanted to escape, or ignore it. So all he could do was stand in his mothers embrace and squirm in the hopes that she'd get the message and let him go sometime soon.

/ Nodoka \

Smiling widely Nodoka restrained the urge to crush her squirming son in an even tighter embrace, it'd been so long since she'd felt her child squirm like this and yet it felt so natural. The sorrow she felt at all the missed years they should have been together was only slightly alleviated by the current turn of events. Truth be told she'd like to stay like this for a long time. The problem with that was that there were time constraints that they had to adhere to and her husband's tardiness had thrown everything out.

They had an agreement; he would have Ranma for the seven years from Ranma's fourth birthday to his eleventh birthday and then she would have the next seven years to teach her son her own arts. 'In Japan'. She thought she'd been very clear on that when they'd stated the terms of their agreement.

Where everything fell to pieces was when Ranma's eleventh birthday came around and the itinerant martial artists hadn't returned to Japan. Now, every second was a race against time, they absolutely couldn't be in England or Europe any longer or they'd be found and they'd never make it back to Japan. One of her current problems was that her oaf of a husband had her wrapped in an embrace almost as strong as the one she was holding Ranma in and he didn't seem to be in any hurry to release her either. Well that was just tough, he had resisted his need to be near her for seven years and he could damn well do it until she finally got over her pique at the trouble he had caused and was currently still causing her.

Knowing that he wouldn't let go she was going to ask him nicely but firmly to do so when a different thought struck her. Supported by his bulk she raised one of her feet up and then slammed it down on top of his bare foot. She barely stumbled as she was suddenly released to watch Genma hop away clutching his injured foot. She was pretty sure something had cracked with the force of her blow, which meant that he would slow them down. Damn.

/ Ranma \

Something must have gotten through to her because he felt a sudden jolt and then his pops was yelling something about his toes as he hopped around the clearing. His mother released him and then held him by the shoulders as she gazed down at him and he found himself looking into the mirror of his own eyes as they searched him from head to toe.

Not that he minded, he was doing a lot of looking himself since he was still reeling from the knowledge that he had a mother. Thinking that through he shook his head at the stupidity of the thought, of course he had a mother, everyone did, it was just that his pops had never mentioned her and with the intensity of his training he didn't really have a lot of time to sit around trying to recall her. The old man hadn't really mentioned her, not in all of the years they'd been on the road, so he'd assumed, well, that she was dead or something. That thought over the years had left him feeling hollow and bereft because he had so little recollection of her. He'd been very young when they left and all he had of her was a vague recollection of red hair and a faint perfume that he'd never smelled anywhere else. Yet here she was standing right in front of him after she'd released him from the first hug he could ever remember feeling that didn't involve a submission hold.

Ranma was nowhere near dispassionate while watching his father hop around on one foot cursing the pain that'd just been inflicted. Truth be told he was quite incensed at the lies, half truths and outright evasions he'd been given the few times he'd asked the old man about his mother. He'd admit he wasn't in a very forgiving mood at the moment and it gave him a certain sense of glee to watch his mother inflict any kind of pain on the idiot. In fact he was quite prepared to inflict a lot of damage himself if the old man so much as looked at his mother wrong. It didn't take long for him to dismiss his father from his mind, he'd been with the man for most of his life and knew his ways intimately even if he was only just starting to be able to fight against his iniquities.

Another realization that struck him as he drank in every detail he could possibly remember about the woman before him was that if his father even thought about suggesting extending the training trip to him then he was going to skin the man with a dull rusty spoon.

He was startled out of his vengeful thoughts when he heard a slight pop, unlike anything he'd ever heard before. From the way his mother reacted he got the feeling she knew exactly what was happening.

Nodoka Saotome was in the process of turning into a crouch to face the noise as she drew a katana that Ranma would swear she didn't have a moment ago. The expression on her face wasn't exactly boding well for whatever was happening either. On his mother's actions alone he was fully prepared to attack whatever had startled her so.

That's where the next problem as he saw it came from. He couldn't figure out how the tall, old grey haired gaiijin had gotten in such close proximity to their clearing. He should have sensed her approach long before she got close enough to be truly dangerous, it was like she just appeared out of nowhere, but that wasn't possible, right? Taking a closer look, she might appear old but she had an innate feline grace that would have done nothing to help her sneak up on the young martial artist. His mind threw three possibilities for consideration. The first was she was faster than she looked and had closed before his danger sense was triggered. The second option was she was able to mask her skill level and give him the impression that she was worse than she actually was which did nothing to dispel the unease he felt that she'd gotten so close, or thirdly that he himself was slipping in some manner. Promptly dismissing the third option he began to go over what he could see of her and everything about her body and movement screamed to his senses that if she had any training as a warrior then she was a complete neophyte. She didn't move like a fighter at all and she didn't have any instincts that would give her an advantage in a fight or so it seemed.

With his thought processes running at battle speed it didn't take long for Ranma to ask the question of just where his mother had gotten a second sword since her first one was still imbedded in the tree his father had nearly been pinned to a short time ago. It was almost like she'd made it appear by magic a thought that was amplified upon when he noticed a slight blue shimmer surrounding the beautiful Asian woman in a sphere.

'Whoa! My mums the coolest! She can do magic….I wonder if she'd teach me?' it wasn't much of a reach for the youngest Saotome to believe in magic, they'd been all over the world and seen some really strange things happen and as far as he was concerned magic was pretty mundane in comparison to the demon jar his pops had tried to steal from that Buddhist temple last year. Now that had been some real freaky shit.

/ Minerva McGonagall \

Apparating several hundred miles wasn't any kind of picnic, not for a witch in her early eighties anyway. Oh she could do it but if it came down to a choice between travelling five hundred miles or sitting in front of a nice warm fire drinking a well earned toddy then she knew which she'd prefer. Then she'd curl up in front of that selfsame roaring fire and take a quick catnap, ah the joys of being an animagus.

Minerva didn't usually find her tasks as deputy headmistress to be too onerous, but she'd admit that she was feeling a little hard put upon this evening. There was just something in that smile on Albus's face when the third name had appeared on the scroll that she wasn't sure she liked. There were definitely overtones of the cat that got the canary that the sight of the first two names hadn't engendered. It was unusual in itself that all three people seemed to be from the same family. The only way she could think of that the two adults would appear on the scroll was if they had entered the country without the ministries knowledge. Having thought about it for a moment longer she decided that was probably what had happened.

Twenty minutes before she apparated she took one of the lozenges that Albus had provided to teach the languages necessary, hers taught her Japanese while the others were for the English language. Of course the languages wouldn't be permanently lodged in her head, she'd have to practice the language on a daily basis for the language to truly become hers. If she failed to use it then the knowledge would fade after about a month.

Having solved the mystery of where the Saotome's had come from she mounted her broom and flew to a point just outside the wards of Hogwarts where she dismounted and prepared to apparate. With a slight cracking sound the stern woman disappeared from the Scottish highlands. The tight squeezing sensation of apparition ended almost as soon as it began though subjectively it felt like an eternity passed before she popped into a small forest clearing. She had enough time to note an older woman hugging a young boy and think how nice it was that the family seemed so close when everything transitioned into a totally different scene at a speed that barely registered let alone made sense to her.

Gone was the touching mother and son scene replaced with a feral looking woman holding a rather large sword in one hand and a wand in the other. With the fire behind her she became a pillar of dancing shadows as the flames flickered. The only colours were those intense ice blue eyes and the fire-light flickering through her hair that made it seem as if a wreath of flames encircled her head. It was an instinctive reaction to raise her wand and prepare to defend herself.

/ Forest clearing outside Kemble \

Watching carefully Ranma almost dismissed the woman as a threat until he noted the small weapon in her hand, or at least he thought it was a weapon. Though what use a stick that small would be in a fight he didn't have a clue. He would have still dismissed her if he hadn't noted the similar stick that his mother was holding in the hand opposite her katana. If his mother was using it then it must be a more potent weapon than he'd at first thought and the elderly woman's threat value was raised, if only slightly. Then his mother spoke, once more distracting him…

"Who are you? State your business," the gentle warmth that he'd heard in her voice before was absent as she spoke her. It was rather disconcerting to be the centre of attention for three hostile pairs of eyes but she'd borne worse in her life from delinquent children who thought they could deter her from punishing them.

Being as she was threatened by three people Minerva was quick to prioritise their threat level, using common sense she thought the mother was the greater threat since she had a sword in hand, followed by the father who still looked dangerous even though he was limping for some reason. She wasn't too sure of the man because if she'd been reading the school scroll correctly then the man probably wasn't a wizard, or if he was then he didn't have any control or training with his magic which would make him a minimal threat if at all. In her estimation the parents eclipsed the child since a full grown adult would naturally be more of a threat than an untrained child. She would have maintained that theory no matter what if her feline senses weren't telling her she was looking at the wrong predator. Turning her head she noted the diminutive figure and almost froze as she took a second look at him. He had adopted a slouching pose that made her at first think he was no threat, he wasn't prepared to defend or attack and if she were to give a professional opinion based on what she could see then she'd have said he was no danger at all. On the other hand she hadn't lived as long as she had without listening very closely to her well honed instincts which were telling her he was dangerous. A moment thought and something Fillius Flitwick had said to her years ago flitted across her mind. 'It's not the attack you can see that is dangerous, it's the one you don't see that will be your downfall,' at the time he'd been talking about his experience on the duelling circuit and some of the pointers he would give to an aspiring duellist. That wasn't what drew her attention though, it was the fact he'd wrapped himself in a barely visible aura of pure coruscating magic. It was a real surprise to see someone so young with such advanced control of their magical ability.

Of course she'd be happier if all that hostility wasn't directed at her.

"Good evening. My name is…" she began but was cut off.

"I know your name," Nodoka growled out.

"I'm here to…"

"I know why you're here," the child's mother wasn't getting any less hostile, though she thought that some of it might be directed at the rather large male who was looking between the two warily as if he was sure there was going to be an explosion and wanted to figure out where to hide.

"Uh, No-chan?"

"Don't you No-chan me! This is entirely your fault. I told you to have him returned to Japan by time he was eleven and you couldn't even manage something as simple as that. I wanted him to finish his education at home and now we can't return unless he forgoes his schooling completely!"

Genma perked up when he heard that, "Well maybe it's for the best, he really needs to concentrate on the art since he really not that goo-oooof!"

Minerva watched in shock as the young boy blurred out of sight and reappeared with his fist thrust into the big mans stomach before he blurred again and came to a halt several paces away as his father collapsed to his knees.

"Who ain't that good Oyaji?" the youth demanded.

"Why you little," Genma managed to gasp out as he lunged forward. Ranma wasn't standing around waiting for him though as he streaked away, a red and black blur that was heading right toward a huge oak tree. Instead of the crash she was expecting the boy struck the trunk about three metres up feet first and coiled like a spring as he used the rebounding energy to leap further up into the tree. Genma was half way to the tree when the boy grasped a branch and swung around it like a gymnast on the uneven bar. Before anyone could react Ranma had released the branch and was heading back towards the ground even faster than he'd risen. His extended foot met the old mans raised arm, but instead of keeping his leg locked he allowed it to buckle while thrusting the other leg downwards to strike into his fathers chest, knocking the much larger man off his feet and crashing into the ground several metres away.

Minerva wasn't shocked anymore, she thought she knew what was going on and Albus would be very disappointed as it would ruin whatever had put that smug grin on his face. They'd once had a werewolf at the school, but she knew they'd never had, nor would they ever have a vampire within Hogwarts hallowed halls. No other explanation covered what she'd just seen, nothing else could move that fast and was as agile, or strong for that matter. It would also explain his tight magical control, it wasn't that his control was that 'good', it was that young vampires channelled all their magic into enhancing their physical abilities. Taking into account the age of his obviously living parents she could believe that he was an eleven year old child and thus it would be another ninety or more years before he began to show even the smallest inkling of actual magical ability.

Just to make sure she cast a life sign detection spell, a simple healing spell that was useful in the quick determination of whether the target was living or dead or in this case a undead since he was still moving. If he was then he wouldn't have any vital statistics and that would confirm her suspicion and she could return to Albus and report her findings. He'd be annoyed that things hadn't gone the way he wanted, it was probably good for the old meddler to fail once in a while. It'd keep him honest she thought and maybe curb some of those meddling tendencies she'd noted over the years.

Unfortunately for her things are rarely that easy where Ranma is concerned and it wasn't to be, he seemed to be both very much alive. He also probably wasn't a werewolf since there was little bleed over of a werewolves strength into their human form. It was another puzzle that would have to wait as far as she was concerned as the large man rolled with the blow his son had just landed and was back on his feet. The only thing stopping him from counterattacking was the three and a half feet of steel being held at his throat.

"Husband, Ranma not receiving an education in his heritage is not an option you'll live to see." To reinforce her statement she turned the blade so that the cutting edge was against his throat rather than the flat. Genma just nodded mutely and very carefully since he hadn't even seen his wife move and there'd been another of those popping sounds and a slight crack. He didn't know what it meant but he was sure there was no way he could escape her if she really wanted to hurt him and even after being married for twenty years he didn't know the full extent of her sword training. Shrugging mentally he began preparing the letter he would send to Soun to inform him of the current situation.

The professor didn't even try to take advantage of the situation since while the hostile red-haired woman had moved across the clearing with a micro-apparition she hadn't actually removed her wand from tracking her, that and the boy hadn't reacted to his mothers attack at all and was staring her down after having dealt with his father.

"Please, I just need to speak to you for a moment about your situation and then I can return to Hogwarts." It seemed like it might be worth a try, the woman, Nodoka was obviously a witch so it wasn't like she'd need to hold the boys hand and lead him into the magical world. Another obvious thing was that his mother already had ideas of where she wanted her son to be trained and she'd had no intention of it being in England. That would be a real problem now since she'd been contacted by a local witch with the intent to invite him to the magical school in which nation they currently were, namely Hogwarts. One of the ICW's treaties applied to this situation and it was clear that whether she liked it or not her son would be trained here in Britain or not at all.

Nodoka froze as if she'd forgotten all about the grey haired woman and had suddenly been reminded of her presence. Turning around she glared at the transfiguration specialist but she knew it wouldn't make any difference, the terms of the treaty were very clear and draconian in their punishment clauses. Failure to comply could mean the loss of her Mastery, and her son would still not be trained since he'd be refused entrance into the Tokyo University Magical wing.

"Genma, you will be retuning to Japan tomorrow. How you get there doesn't concern me but if you are in England the day after tomorrow you will regret it."

"But the boys training…."

"I'll take care of that, it's about time he learned my families art in any case," she said resolutely as she turned back to the older witch. "What I don't understand is, why are you here? I mean normally the schools would send out notification of attendance rather than a personal visit."

"We had already sent out twelve owls, none of which returned and no notification of any of the letters being opened was given," Minerva replied caustically. She was a bit worried about the owls to be honest, but with her preoccupation with Mrs Saotome and that sword she carried she hadn't noticed Genma sidle in front of the fire where their dinner was slowly roasting on a spit.

Ranma also didn't notice the uneasy look on his fathers face and chose that moment to exercise the finer points of Saotome foot in mouth fu.

"Hey Pops? Ain't you been having a lot of luck hunting just recently. Though I gotta admit I thought it was chicken."

"Genma? You didn't?" Nodoka asked, thoroughly shocked at her husbands actions.

Minerva turned a delicate shade of green at the mere thought that someone would actually be desperate enough to eat a delivery owl. Why, they were almost people as far as most wizards and witches were concerned. The very thought….

"Uh, I'm guessing this is a bad thing?" Genma asked cautiously.

"I do not know you anymore, Genma. You know about my world and the things that frequent it and yet," she paused to take a deep shuddering breath, "Until Ranma is eighteen he will be going to school in my world and there is nothing you can do to change that. You should return to Japan and await us there. Ranma get your things, we are leaving. In the meantime Genma don't try to contact us."

"But No-chan…." The Japanese man protested. Ranma for his part hadn't even hesitated, thinking to himself that he wouldn't mind some time away from the old man and the idiotic situations he'd managed to get them both into over the years. It didn't take many moments to grab his pack and join his mother on the opposite side of the fire where she laid a hand on the exposed skin at the nape of his neck. He could feel some form of energy begin to pool around them when they heard the strange woman ask.

"You are coming to Hogwarts then? And if so how do I contact you?"

"Yes, we of the Saotome and the Kawaru clan shall honour the treaty. We will be going to Gringotts tomorrow morning around ten 'o' clock." With that she vanished along with the child, the only sign of their leaving a small pop of apparition

Minerva McGonagall sighed, that had gone differently than any other parent teacher conference that she'd ever attended and she'd dealt with both the Marauders and the Weasley twins. So to say it was strange was really an understatement. Looking at the sole remaining Saotome she sighed once more and apparated back to Hogsmeade not wishing to have anything to do with someone who'd knowingly eat an owl, she shuddered again at the mere thought before flying back to Hogwarts and the rather inviting thought of a stiff drink to relax her.

/ Genma \

"Damn stupid boy, nothing's ever simple around you is it? All I needed to do was keep you until you were sixteen and then have you meet Soun's children, but you couldn't…." Genma muttered under his breath as he trudged over to his pack. It was a long way back to Japan and he had a feeling his wife wouldn't have any trouble finding him if he was still in England when the sun rose the day after tomorrow. Thinking of the journey back to Japan he turned to memories of his long time friend Soun Tendo and perked up once more. Yes, that might work, if he worded it just right. His heavy steps lightened by the thought of a better tomorrow Genma limped away from the clearing in which his plans had changed forever.

/ the end for now… \

Author's notes:- Well here it is finally, chapter two of this story. I've been having computer problems, I get my desktop back on Tuesday though I don't know how extensive the damage is yet, I'm hoping I didn't lose one of my hard-drives but, lightning could have done anything to it.

The second problem was I lost the file I was working on so started again on the chapter, then found the first file and found that they both had things I wanted to keep as I'd approached the first meeting from two different angles and wanted to keep certain things. So if the chapter seems a little cobbled together, then that's because it is. I tried to smooth it over and don't think I did too badly over all.

Reviews are much appreciated.