Wild Magic

Ranma 1/2, Slayers, Harry Potter, and any other series used in this fanfic are owned by their respective creators/publishers/whatever

Thanks to the people of Fukufics and Lawra for pre-reading

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

Chapter 9

As she sat in a chair, Ranma's eyes traversed the room that she was currently occupying. It was a large and beautiful circular room, full of strange and odd noises that caused her ears to twist in various directions so that she could pinpoint where they were coming from. The room consisted of a multitude of spindle-legged tables that held curious silver instruments that whirled and emitted puffs of smoke. On the walls of the room were portraits of elderly wizards and witches. It was likely that they were former headmasters/mistresses of the school.

Sitting behind an enormous claw-footed desk before her was the current headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. He was calm as his brilliant blue eyes stared at her from behind his half-moon spectacles. It almost felt as if those same orbs pierced right through her, as if he could actually see what she was thinking. His long fingers intertwined and rested on the desk in front of him, and even though he had the appearance of a frail old man with a long white beard, and a long crooked nose that looked like it had been broken at least twice, the diminutive redhead could sense a power emanating from all around him that put her on slight edge.

She knew fully well why she was in the Headmaster's Office. It was due to information of her angry and violent outbursts finally getting to the teachers, and her most recent outburst in regards to Marcus Flint was probably the nail in the coffin. Some of her abilities, especially her teleporting, were probably why she was here as well. It was right after eating breakfast when a prefect had asked her to follow them, and had led her to a waiting Professor Snape. Without much of a word, the pale man proceeded to take her up to the second floor before stopping at the statue of a gargoyle. After stating a password that she missed, the statue moved out of the way to reveal a staircase leading up to this room. After that, Snape left, and Dumbledore motioned her over to the chair she was currently sitting in.

Ranma was brought out of her thoughts when she noticed a bowl of candy being pushed towards her. "Would you care for a Sherbet Lemon, Lina?" The elderly man asked.

"Err- Sure," The cat-girl said as she snatched one. The last time she had some was a few years ago, because it wasn't exactly easy to walk into just any Muggle store when you had the ears and tail of a cat. Her eyes also had the habit of putting most people who saw them on edge, so it wasn't exactly uncommon for her to actually scare someone away by just looking at them with her slit pupils. Also, when was the last time someone saw eye coloring like hers with the top half being blue, and the bottom half being red? The only other person she knew of with eyes that were somewhat similar was Tokimi, but it wasn't like she ever ventured out into public.

"I believe that you know why you are here, correct?"

"Lost my temper a few times and scared the crazy out of a few people, right?" The redhead asked as she popped a candy into her mouth. "I guess it's also because I assaulted Marcus Flint."

"And Miss Scaliston."

"Don't worry about her; she can bounce back from anything." Ranma responded with a wave of her hand. "And how should I react towards Flint? The idiot managed to reveal my most embarrassing secret to almost everybody in Slytherin, and it'll likely spread throughout this place by this evening." She crossed her arms. "Alright, maybe I overreacted a little, but it's not like I actually harmed him or anything. Made him soil himself, sure, but no harm happened." Her nose crinkled at the memory.

"Which is a good thing," Dumbledore began, "Because if you had accidentally permanently injured or killed any student, than you would have been instantly expelled from Hogwarts." The aged wizard could sense that the girl sitting before him wasn't the type to take pleasure in randomly killing someone. "However, I can't rule out the possibility of detention."

"Aww jeez…" Ranma said as her tail swished behind her in annoyance. What kind of detention did they have in a magical school anyway?

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled in amusement at her reaction. "There are a few other matters that I must speak to you about." He waited until the redhead's attention was centered back onto him. "I've heard that you are able to apparate without any problem."

"It's not apparition." Ranma interrupted. "It's my own kind of teleporting ability that I can do."

"The flying and traversing through solid objects are abilities of yours as well?"

"Yeah, and I've been able to do them since the magical accident that turned me into this." She pointed at her ears and tail. The cat-girl honestly hoped that the man wouldn't ask any more questions about them, because it almost felt as if he was able to see right into her mind.

Dumbledore gave off a small hum. The young girl sitting before him had some truly impressive abilities for someone who was hardly even in their second week of their first week of school, and it felt slightly unnerving. He could see that she was a good person, but her abilities - including her apparent proficiency with wandless magic - were much more advanced than what a witch of her age should be capable of. Any child with that kind of power could accidentally lose him or herself very easily.

However, this didn't mean that they should be hampered in trying to excel. Maybe Lina would need some monitoring to make sure that the power didn't go to her head, but she should in no way be forced to have her potential squandered due to a misplaced fear. It would be best to allow her to continue to advance in her abilities, and she would hopefully use those abilities to help the wizarding world. Here was a hope that she wasn't another Voldemort in the making. He'd at least try and make sure of that.

"We could avoid the matter of detention for now, if you agree to better control your temper, because I do not want to see any students tossed through a wall." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled to show that the last part was said out of amusement.

Ranma's cheeks tinged pink in embarrassment as she diverted her gaze a little. "Like I'd ever toss someone through a wall." She mumbled softly.

"It is also my hope that you will refrain from attacking any other student; by both magical and physical means." The elderly wizard said with an expression of seriousness. "If you do lay a hand on anybody, then you will find yourself in detention, or face restrictions in what you can and can't do."

The cat-girl winced slightly at the idea of being told when she could do something or where exactly she could go. She was already stuck in a school with a relatively small area to explore, and she didn't want to have to face the aspect of being told that she'd have to stay inside all of the time. "Err- What about just smacking someone upside the back of their head if they're being incredibly bothersome? I mean, I have to do that to Nashigi sometimes, because otherwise she could go on and on without stop."

Dumbledore stroked his beard in thought. "Well, as long as you don't hit them too hard. I've heard how you managed to punch a certain door clear across the room, and if you put that much strength into it…" He trailed off as the both of them considered the possible outcome and winced.

"Don't worry, professor," Ranma began, "I'm positive that I'd be able to control myself while doing it." She probably wouldn't risk it with her own physical strength, but she had just the thing for such an occasion. "And I'll make sure to not lose my temper like I did earlier." Hopefully it was just a situational thing, because she did not want to make a habit out of it.

After a couple more minutes of discussion, Ranma was allowed to head on back to her dorm. As she left her chair, she happened to notice a swan-sized bird sitting peacefully on a perch near a small flight of steps. It had red and gold plumage with a golden beak and talons, black eyes, and a tail that was as long as a peacock's. Its scarlet feathers gave off a soft glow within the shadowy glow it was stationed in. The bird's dark eyes appeared to watch her as she moved.

Realizing what the cat-girl was staring at, Dumbledore decided to clear up the mystery of the strange and elegant creature. "I see that you have finally noticed Fawkes." The elderly wizard said as he raised a hand towards the bird. Said creature hopped off of its perch and flew over to stand on the large desk in front of the headmaster. "I'm quite sure that you have heard about phoenixes, correct?"

"That's a phoenix?" Ranma asked as she moved closer towards it. The thing was a lot closer to the kind of phoenix she imagined… unlike the fat, short-tempered, and violent cuckoo that made its home on Kuno's head all those years ago. Hopefully this one wouldn't peck the hell out of her head. To her relief, when her hand neared the side of its head, the bird leaned forward and allowed her to pet it. It felt slightly warm to the touch, and the feathers that were golden seemed to be hotter than the rest of it. "Hey, I think it likes me." She didn't even have to accidentally frighten it first, either.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Upon returning to the common room, Ranma quickly noticed that those who had also finished their breakfast were back. It appeared as if the majority of them were attempting to do their homework. They were also giving her nervous and fearful glances, as if they were expecting her to snap at any moment and kill them all. Whenever they noticed that her eyes were almost directly upon them, they would turn away as quickly as possible. It was almost like they were scared that her eyes could pierce their very soul and see right through them.

'Maybe I should just accept it.' The redhead thought as she caused a seventh year boy to quickly turn with just a glance. 'At least nobody will try and bother me if they're all scared I'll devour their souls.' Of course, there was the possibility of having fun milking the situation. If they were scared of her, then she could easily make a normal confrontation seem like something else and set them on edge. It would also confuse all of the other houses as to just why her house was scared of her, especially if she put on an act of being innocently oblivious to the goings on. As the redhead thought it over, she accidentally began to chuckle ominously, setting everyone in the room on edge.

It also allowed the familiar, high-pitched banshee wail of Nashigi's laughter to nearly send them jumping out of their skins. The cat-girl, on the other hand, found an arm wrap around her shoulder. "So Lina, how much detention did you get? I hope it wasn't anything too serious."

Ranma phased out of the older girl's hold. "Actually, I just got a strong warning." She could hear the disbelief coming from the other students in the room. "But if it happens again, I'll automatically get detention." It seemed interesting that anything short of permanent injury or death to someone would simply get you in detention. Would doing something like flooding all of the Hogwarts lavatories simultaneously merely net one with detention?

"That's really lucky." Gosaria commented with an amazed expression upon her face. "I thought for sure that you'd end up having to do something like enter the Forbidden Forest at night."

"I wouldn't mind that." The redhead said. She did, after-all, want to check the place out. "I'm actually interested in what kind of creatures are in that place."

"Unicorns, Centaurs, Bugbears, Fairies, Augurey, and countless other creatures." Nashigi answered with a finger to her chin. "The Care of Magical Creatures instructor, Professor Kettleburn, gave the lot of us a rundown on what creatures could be encountered in the forest during our first lesson a few days ago." Her expression changed to a wide smile as she grabbed the two younger girls by their wrists. "C'mon, I need to show the both of you something amazing!" She proceeded drag the two out through the secret passage.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" Ranma could be heard shouting just before the passage closed. This left everyone curious to know what was going on, but they were too scared of the redhead to actually follow.

It wasn't long before Ranma and Nashigi found themselves outside on the Hogwarts grounds. The older girl finally let go of them before taking a couple steps away, but turned around to face them with her hands to her hips. Her face gained a look of accomplishment as she stared at the redhead and blonde.

Ranma crossed her arms in front of her as her tail swished behind. "So what's the big idea of dragging us out here?"

The smirk never left Nashigi's lips as she turned to the side, extended her arm straight ahead of her, and pointed her finger. Almost instantly, blue energy began to form into the shape of an arrow, and the cat-girl could sense the mana being used for it. She watched, in awe, as the spell was quickly fired off. It careened across the lawn before crashing and turning a large portion of ground into a frozen block.

"Wow Nashigi, that was amazing!" Gosaria announced with wide eyes as she clapped her hands.

Next to her, however, the diminutive cat-girl was experiencing a case of total shock. Her mouth hung open as she stared at the ice. Quickly teleporting over to the spot, she placed her hand on top of it for examination. She could feel the mana holding the ice together, but pretty soon, the energy would slowly dissipate to allow the structure to melt. Nashigi didn't use her wand to do it, so how? "When did you-"

"I had the weirdest of dreams last night." Nashigi answered as she tilted her head while her face showed that she was attempting to remember. Both she and Gosaria had hurried over to the spot. "There was a woman with an outfit that literally gobsmacked me, and her laugh was the greatest that I had ever heard. She was casting that spell, and it seemed so incredibly familiar to me. I believe that she called herself Naga the Serpent."

"Naga the Serpent?" Ranma asked with a blink. "That's an odd-" She came to a halt as her heterochromatic eyes completely glazed over, her mind quickly assaulted by several Lina Inverse memories.

Both of the girls next to her waved their hands in front of her face. "Oi, Lina, are you okay?" Gosaria asked with a hint of worry. "Her eyes are spooky when they're like that."

"Should I pull her tail?" Nashigi asked. "The pain may wake her up."

Before the two could reach an agreement, the cat-girl - eyes still glazed, but having turned crimson - clutched both sides of her head. "No no no no no… not again!" She quickly started to bang her head against the block of ice, causing cracks and chipping away at the shining surface. A long string of expletives in both English and Japanese left her lips at a fast clip.

Nashigi and Gosaria were rendered speechless at their friend's sudden spastic attitude after just hearing a name. They quickly snapped out of it and grabbed the smaller girl by her arms to pull her away from the now destroyed ice block.

"Lina, calm down!" The blonde shouted. It was difficult to restrain the cat-girl due to her insane strength.

Ranma's eyes gradually reverted back to their normal half and half coloring as her body relaxed. 'I hate when that crap happens.' She could sense that Laira was worried, so she had to send a quick mental reassurance that she was okay. Usually when she received memories and instances from Lina Inverse's time, it was when she was asleep, but there were moments when she would obtain them while being awake. A few of those resulted in her going into a sort of trance and managing to actually get in touch with that long dead aspect. Gaining the visions and memories usually didn't affect her all that much. In fact, it felt more like trying to remember a vague television show. However, going into a trance felt more like actually being part of a real-time event with everything seeming so clear.

"What happened?" Nashigi asked.

Massaging the bridge of her nose, the cat-girl decided that it was probably best to explain to the older girl that the reason she had the dream vision, and was able to pull off that spell, was due to most likely being the reincarnation of Naga the Serpent. Upon being asked why this caused her to go berserk, Ranma let out that it was due to her being a reincarnation of Lina Inverse, and that both Lina and Naga were frequent traveling partners while constantly butting heads for various reasons.

Needless-to-say, both Nashigi and Gosaria thought that the explanation sounded a little far-fetched. However, before either of them could say anything, Nashigi proceeded to sit down on the ground.

"That sounds really weird, but at the moment, I'm too tired to think much about it." Nashigi said with a small frown.

"That's because you used too much mana in that spell." Ranma explained. "You need to use less of it. If you don't, you'll overexert yourself and become tired. You're going to have to experiment to see how much mana you can use, and just how much you can safely put into your spells."

A pout appeared on the older girl's lips. "But that sounds so boring. Why do I have to put forth so much thinking just to cast a few spells? Why can't I just use whatever amount I gather? I'd imagine that by doing that, it would end up a lot more impressive and powerful. All it will do is make me a little tired, and there's nothing harmful about feeling sleepy."

"Incorrect!" Ranma shouted as she pulled out a foldable fan and gave the girl a hard whack upside the back of the head. "Your mana is a part of your very life essence, and so if you recklessly squander it just to pull off grandiose visuals for no other reason than so it can appear phenomenal, you'll find yourself expiring faster than milk out in the Sun."

Nashigi and Gosaria stared at her for a long moment. "Huh?" They both asked at once.

Ranma, realizing that she had actually gotten long-winded again, gave a cough into her fist. It was moments like this were she hated being the super-intelligent person that she was. "I meant to say that if you use up all of your mana just to create more powerful versions of a spell, you'll likely kill yourself in the process. Overexerting yourself on mana could lead to internal damage to your heart or other organs."

"Why didn't you say so in the first place, then?" The blonde asked with a perplexed look.

Nashigi nodded in agreement. "Yes, you could have said that if I use too much magic in a spell, I'll end up suffering serious injury."

"It's because I… wanted to test you two." The cat-girl said as she averted her gaze while a flustered look appeared on her face. "I wanted to see if the both of you could keep up with what I was saying."

Gosaria pouted. "We failed that, then."

'I need a distraction.' Ranma thought in a desire to get away from her current embarrassment. As luck would have it, she caught sight of Harry and Ron making their way out onto the Hogwarts grounds. 'That'll do.' With a smirk that was noticed by both of her companions, she blinked out of view.

"Typical," Harry said darkly as he remembered the notice posted in the Gryffindor common room about flying lessons next Thursday with the Slytherins. "Just what I always wanted; to make a fool of myself on a broomstick in front of Malfoy."

"You don't know that you'll make a fool of yourself." Ron said. "I know that Malfoy is always going on about how he's an expert at flying, but maybe the stories are all talk."

"Hiya Harry, Freckles, how ya doing?" The voice caused both boys to look around in an effort to find where it was coming from.

It didn't take too long before Harry found the source, and he had to tap his friend on the shoulder and point up. "Ron, Lina is sitting on your head."

"What?" The redheaded boy asked in shock and disbelief. His vision was quickly obscured by a pair of upside-down, heterochromatic eyes as the cat-girl in question remained on top of his head. "How did you- When did you- Why didn't I feel you on my head?" In fact, he still wasn't able to feel the girl on top of his head. Was she really so light that one couldn't feel anything?

Ranma gave a simple hop off of the boy's head and neatly landed on her feet. Flashing him an amused smirk, she placed a finger in front of her lips. "It's a secret."

As Harry contemplated on whether or not the girl was actually human… or sane, Ron found himself seething at the same girl's smug dismissal of his question. Sure, while she didn't seem to be a cruel twat like her brother, the female Malfoy sibling was every bit as annoying as he was.

"Lina!" Nashigi whined as she and Gosaria caught up with the girl. "You know we can't teleport." They had to run to keep up with her.

A small sweat-drop appeared as the smaller girl scratched the side of her head. "Err- Sorry about that. I keep forgetting." After-all, teleporting was something that she did almost all of the time, and didn't really need to think about it.

"There's another thing that she has in common with her brother." Ron said as he crossed his arms. "She walks around with two people larger than she is following her."

"Ron." Harry whispered in an attempt to get him to be quiet.

The other boy, however, ignored this. "I bet the both of them are used for intimidation tactics as well, right Malfoy? Are they as dimwitted as Crabbe and Goyle as well?"

Ranma blinked for a moment before scratching her ear and calmly walking towards the freckled boy with her left hand resting on her hip. "Let's see… how do I put this." After some thought, her eyes lit up as she slammed a fist into her palm. "Oh, I got it!" Faster than anybody could follow, she pulled out her fan and whacked the boy upside the head. "YOU IMBECILE!"

Harry fell backwards in shock as he watched his friend get hit in the back of the head by a foldable fan. Lina's hands were right next to her body one moment, but then hitting Ron with a fan from absolutely nowhere the next. Either the girl was really fast, or she was using some kind of magic to make it seem like her hands were next to her.

"Oww… what the bloody hell did you do that for? You realize how much that hurt?" The redheaded boy found himself hit a few more times. "Hey, knock if off!" The girl had a lot of strength for someone so tiny.

Ranma casually twirled the fan around in her hand before halting and fixing the boy with a piercing look. "Alright Freckles, listen up. The situations that you are pointing out are entirely incomparable from each other. My friends are not with me to try and intimidate anybody, because I can do that just fine on my own. All it would take is a finger flick to your forehead, and you'd be flying clear across the grounds."

Ron was starting to feel a little intimidated due to the tiny girl's face coming centimeters from his, and her unnerving, inhuman slit-pupil eyes boring directly into his normal ones. When she stepped away, he let loose a breath that he didn't know he was holding. "Why are you getting so worked up? I was just asking a few simple questions."

Ranma's lips turned into a frown. The boy in front of her had managed to insult her brother, their childhood friends, her, and her own friends all in one go, but he didn't even realize that he had said such a thing. "Quiz time, Weasley. Let's see how YOU handle a simple question." She said as she obscured the lower half of her face with her foldable fan, leaving her eyes to give him a bored look. "If, for some odd reason, Nashigi and Gosaria's being around me is similar to Vincent and Gregory following my brother around, then what would you call your being around Potter here?"

"What are you talking about?" Ron asked as his eyes narrowed. Next to him, Harry frowned at the insinuation that the cat-girl was trying to get at. "How is that like-"

"Just look at you, following around on Potter's coattails. I bet that nobody would even CARE about you if it wasn't for the fact that you are always around Harry Potter. You're just like a small dog that's following a larger one because it can't fend for itself." The diminutive redhead gave off a patronizing, loud laugh from behind her fan that would have made Ayeka proud. "Poor wittle puppy, beaten back by all of the other dogs."

"Shut up, you stupid twat!" Ron growled out as he gave the girl a two-fingered salute. "That's not the reason I'm friends with Harry."

"Err- Lina," Harry began. He did not like where this was going. "I think that you should-"

"Seriously, Weasley? Out of all of the members of your family that I have met or heard about, you are the most unexciting and forgettable of them all. Fred and George have imagination and humor, Percy is a prefect and is apparently full of intelligence, and from what I heard about your two oldest brothers from the twins, they're pretty much going places. I'm betting that even your younger sister will have a personality that would allow people to NOT overlook her." Quickly closing her fan, Ranma pointed it towards the redheaded boy. "Face it; except for being Potter's lackey, you're just a flimsy shadow drifting in the wind."

Before Harry could even attempt to calm Ron down, the boy leapt forward in an attempt to punch the cat-girl. Unfortunately for him, he was too slow, and the girl side-stepped his punch, all the while covering her face with her fan. Ron tossed another punch, but found that he missed again.

"C'mon weasel boy, you're telegraphing your movements by light-years. At this rate, I could dodge your punches and enjoy a cup of tea without spilling a drop." As she dodged another slow punch, Ranma snapped her fan at his wrist and promptly flipped him into the air and onto his back. "Your physical abilities are shameful, mate."

"What's going on out here?" A commanding voice asked, causing the group of five to turn towards the source. They saw that it was Percy Weasley, marching towards them with a look that spelled trouble. "Were the two of you fighting?" He asked as he looked between Ranma and Ron.

Before Ron or Harry could get a word out, Ranma gave off a few sniffs as she wiped her eyes. She had used a bit of water manipulation to make it seem as if she was really tearing up. "Y- Your brother insulted my friends and me just because he doesn't get along with my brother. I c- called him off for being a big meanie, but he seemed to take offense, because he tried to attack me." The cat-girl stared up at the tall boy with wide, watery eyes as her ears and tail drooped. "Harry tried to stop him, but Ron just wouldn't listen. I didn't want to get hurt, so I had to fight back. Am I in trouble?"

Harry, Ron, Gosaria, and Nashigi all stared at the redhead with wide eyes. Harry and Ron found it to be a dirty move, but Gosaria and Nashigi found it to be completely brilliant and convincing. The use of her ears and tail only increased the look of sadness, and both girls had an incredibly hard time in keeping themselves from glomping onto their friend.

"She's lying!" Ron shouted in protest.

Percy turned towards him and crossed his arms. "Does that look like the face of a girl who is lying?" As Harry and Ron glanced in the diminutive girl's direction, they saw that she was sticking her tongue out while pulling down her lower eyelid. When Percy turned around, Ranma instantly put on her sad and hurtful. "I apologize for my younger brother's immature behavior, Miss Malfoy. I'll see to it that he earns a proper talking to later on." The older Weasley turned his head back towards her brother. "15 points from Gryffindor. If you continue to harass this girl, you'll find yourself in even more trouble." He quickly walked away from group.

Ron's mouth opened and closed over and over, but no words would come out. He then turned towards the cat-girl who had caused the mess. His face turned red when he saw that she was ignoring him in favor of cleaning out one of her ears. "You… you…"

Harry placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "C'mon Ron, let's get out of here so you can calm down." He gave the cat-girl across from them a glare. While he could understand that Ron said a little too much, he couldn't believe just how viciously and callously Lina had tore into him. He also couldn't believe how she had successfully managed to manipulate a prefect like she had.

"Maybe you should keep the puppy on a leash?" Ranma asked with a tilt of her head and a finger to her lips. "After-all, we wouldn't want him to break loose and get hurt trying to fight something bigger than him, would we?"

Ron's features darkened before turning around to stalk off. This left Harry to give the cat-girl a long look. "You went too far, you know that?" In fact, that was probably a worse browbeating than the male Malfoy sibling could ever give. Here he was thinking that she didn't have much in common with her brother, but then the truth smacked him right in the face.

"And I should care why?" Ranma asked with a lazy swish of her tail. Really, she didn't see any reason why she should care that she harmed the boy's feelings. "Besides, he's basically been a jerkass to me since we first met, so that gives me all the justification I need."

At that, the bespectacled boy left in search of his friend. Hopefully Ron wouldn't take what Lina said seriously, and that he could quickly forget about it. Who knew that such a small girl could be so incredibly vicious?

Once Harry had disappeared from view, Ranma gave off a small sigh while shaking her head. She really did appear to have a very short fuse recently for some reason, and she might have to try and get to the bottom of it. Perhaps some meditation would work to fix the issue.

"Remind us to never get on your nasty side, Lina." Nashigi stated as she rested an arm on top of the smaller girl's head. "But I'll admit that it was a wonderful display of intimidation, and you really put that little boy in his place."

'I wonder if I went too far.' Ranma thought with a frown. She was planning on cowing the redheaded boy, sure, but she ended up losing herself in the moment and came off as a total sadistic ass.

"Yeah," Gosaria said, "He was being a real jerk. It was good that you gave him a good tooth-lashing."

Both Ranma and Nashigi gave the blonde a small look. "It's tongue-lashing, Gosaria." The cat-girl said with a shake of her head.

"Oh…"

"And Gosaria, did you know that your brother is spying on us from behind that tree over there?" Ranma asked as she motioned in the direction.

"Really?" The blonde asked as she turned her head in the direction the redhead was pointing. Sure enough, Quintinsy was standing behind a tree with part of his head peeking out. "You're right!" She announced before waving happily. "Quin!"

Quintinsy cursed at the fact that he was spotted, and as he contemplated his next course of action, he was startled with a hand reached out from inside the tree and grabbed him by the collar. The hand was followed by the upper half of the cat-girl he detested so much. Just what kind of monster was she?

"Kinda rude to be ignoring your younger sister, don't you think?" Ranma asked with a smirk before teleporting back to the two taller girls with the boy in tow. "And ya know, you're not very good at spying."

"I was simply making sure that my sister was doing okay." Quintinsy answered as he gave Gosaria a warm smile. His expression hardened when he glanced back at the redhead. "I still don't trust you, Malfoy. I witnessed that confrontation with Potter and the Weasley boy, and I definitely don't like the idea of Gosaria being around you."

'He's persistent.' Ranma thought with a frown. Maybe she should have just ignored him instead of acknowledged his presence. "Are you nutty? Gosaria's just fine. It's not like I'm trying to force her into doing things she doesn't want." Why did she keep coming across these raving lunatics?

Quintinsy reached out and poked the cat-girl in the nose. "You don't fool me. My dear younger sister's innocence will not be destroyed by some weird creature that shouldn't even be in this school."

Ranma's eyes narrowed as she flexed her claws. 'That's it! I don't care if I'm expelled. I'm breaking this idiot.'

"Oohohohohohohohooo," Nashigi laughed out as she placed her hand to her cheek. "Will you listen to him? He's 17-years-old, but his immaturity is showing that he's nothing more than a silly little child in a soon-to-be man's body."

"W- What did you say?" Quintinsy asked as he shot the large-breasted girl a glare.

"I said that you are a little boy pretending to be a man. This also shows in your insults, which are absolutely inefficient, and incapable of even being called insults. They lack the oomph that is actually needed to make them seem biting and hurtful. However, even if you do come up with some proper, hurtful comments, they shall be buried under the embarrassing display that you have shown today, because why should we be insulted by such a silly little man?"

Ranma stared at the taller girl in shock. 'That was… kinda awesome.' She found a large amount of respect for the older girl growing by the moment. She could be an annoying banshee at times, yes, but she did seem to have a way with words.

"Nashigi," Gosaria said as she raised her hands, "That sounded like a bit too much. I'm sure that my brother didn't really mean what he was saying. He's a little too overprotective of me, but he's not a bad per-" She found herself nudged out of the way as her brother got into the dark-haired girl's face.

"Think you're so smart, do you, Scaliston?" Quintinsy asked as his face turned red. "Well I don't trust you either. You Slytherins are a bad influence on her fragile mind."

"I don't know," Nashigi said with a bored look as she crossed her arms, "I think Gosaria's mind is quite strong. You, on the other hand, have an abysmally delicate one, so might I suggest getting some help in overcoming your debilitating obsession in regards to your sister's safety and capability?"

Quintinsy's eyes smoldered as his hand twitched. He wanted to pull out his wand and shut this harpy's mouth, or slap the girl. However, that would cause too many problems, and being physically confrontational was not a way that a Ravenclaw should act. That didn't prevent his hand from moving towards his wand, though. "You wouldn't be saying that if I transfigured you into a- Ow!" Turning his head, he saw that his sister was holding a stick in her hand as if it were a club. "Gosaria?"

"Will you stop being such a jerk to my friends? If they were so bad, I wouldn't even be with them."

"A jerk?" Her brother asked as he winced at the fact that the blonde was angry at him. "Sis, I'm just thinking about your safety is all. You know that- OW!" He was hit again with the stick.

"I can take care of myself just fine! Now get out of here before I write to mum and dad, telling them that you're being a meanie."

Quintinsy stared at his sister for a long moment before turning to look at Ranma and Nashigi. His shocked look turned into a glare, which then struggled to become an impassive gaze. Trying to gather up as much dignity as he had left, he turned and headed for the school. It was because of Lina Malfoy and Nashigi Scaliston that his precious sister had turned on him. He wouldn't forget this. He most likely couldn't do anything, considering what he had heard about the cat-girl, but he could definitely curse their names.

After he left, Gosaria scratched the side of her head in embarrassment. "Sorry about Quin. He's usually not like this. Sure, he's gotten angry at other kids who have picked on me before. All my brother had to do was pull them away to talk to them, and they wouldn't bother me after that."

"Just talk to them?" Nashigi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, they did become a little pale after Quin talked to them, and they were always nervous when I talked to them after that. They'd always look over my shoulder with scared eyes, as if some kind of nasty monster was there. All I ever saw when I looked was my brother, holding a broom and kindly smiling in our direction." The blonde tilted her head. "I still don't understand why other people were always so nervous."

Ranma and Nashigi couldn't help but sweat-drop as they stared at their completely oblivious friend. The raven-haired girl gave a side-glance to the redhead and gave her a look that asked if she should say something. Said redhead placed a hand to her forehead and gave her head a negative shake.

'Her brother definitely needs therapy.' The cat-girl thought. Quintinsy reminded her of a much more unhinged Kuno, but without the inability to see reality. That in itself was a dangerous combination.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Once the trio re-entered the school, they were instantly greeted by Laira. The small cabbit had leapt onto Ranma's shoulder and mentally questioned her about the emotions she felt earlier via their link. Once she found out what happened, her tiny cheeks puffed up in annoyance at just how mean people were to her mother.

'Don't worry about it, Lai. I took care of it.'

Laira gave a small nod. 'I know momma, but I just don't like it.'

Nashigi chose that moment to speak up. "You know, I've been wondering. Whenever the two of you are together, you're both usually silent, but you have reactions that make it seem as if you're talking to each other."

"We're connected mentally, and so we can read each other's minds." The cat-girl said as she gave the cabbit's head a scratch.

Laira nodded. "Yep, and we can talk to each other no matter how far apart we are. We can also feel each other's emotions."

"You're just full of surprises." Nashigi answered with a raised eyebrow. Just how many more secrets and/or abilities does the girl have?

Gosaria gave a small giggle. "The next thing you'll tell us is that you're some kind of alien or something, but things like those are just a part of Muggle fiction."

Ranma and Laira's ears twitched. Sure, while the cat-girl wasn't naturally from space, her physiology was basically formed by using the DNA of an extraterrestrial creature. So, in a round about way, she was an alien.

"Ooohohohoo," Nashigi laughed as she placed a hand on the redhead's shoulder. "Oh Gosaria, that is truly a silly thought; Lina being an alien." This allowed Ranma to feel a hint of relief. "However, that would explain a few things about her. Maybe that 'magical accident' was just a cover up to disguise the truth." The dark-haired girl leaned a little towards the cat-girl. "You're not an alien, are you Lina?"

Ranma and Laira shared a sweat-drop as the cat-girl gave the taller girl as she attempted to keep as straight a face as possible. "Me, an alien?" She asked as she gave Nashigi a side-long glance. She could also see that the question attracted the attention of various students in the corridor. "That's got to be the silliest thing I've ever heard. Want me to whack you upside the head for even asking such a stupid question?"

Nashigi gave a small pout. "I guess you're right. It would have been fun to know an alien. You'd be like Superman."

"Who?" Gosaria asked.

"He's some superhero from American Muggle comic books. He's an alien who can fly, is incredibly strong, and has many other strange powers. He also goes around saving people from danger."

"As if I'd waste my time and energy rescuing every single person who asked for help." Ranma said with a look of annoyance. While helping people in danger was all well and good, and she would help someone if they were in danger, the very idea of having total strangers expecting you to save them every single time from every little disaster that befell them sounded incredibly stupid. "The only way I'd do a thankless and monotonous job such as being a superhero is if they paid me for my services; as long as they had the money." She gave off a cute smirk and wink as her tail swished behind her.

Gosaria blinked. "But aren't you already rich?" She did come from a wealthy family, after-all.

"Details, details," The cat-girl said as she held Laira in her arms. "It's not really about the money, but about being compensated for all of my troubles and stress. Would either of you like to spend every moment of your lives knowing that there would be some idiot asking for help every single time you want to go to sleep, take a bath, sit down to a meal, and whatever else?"

"Now that you mention it…" Nashigi answered as she thought about it. "It doesn't sound like it would be all that impressive."

Their blonde companion looked positively horrified. "B- But I don't wanna be stopped from eating, and I don't wanna be kept from my bubble baths. Do you two know how fun it is to put the little soapy bubbles on your face and make beards and hats? We don't get any bubbles here, but at home, I become Gonard the Great Mage!" She punched a fist into the air.

"That's… great, Gosaria." Ranma commented as she and Laira shared a blink.

Nashigi gave off a laugh. "Really now, I doubt that Gonard the Great could compare to Serpentine the Magnificent. Her bubble necklace gives her ultimate power!"

Ranma just stared. She couldn't think of anything to say, and so she just stared in total silence as the two girls compared their 'Bubble Bath Personas' to see which was the greatest. They even talked about how they would have to meet on the 'field of battle' to solve it once and for all.

'I'm surrounded by crazy people.' She said as she placed a hand to her forehead.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Later that night, when Ranma was asleep, she found herself in another dream. Like nearly every other time before, she was completely unaware that she was in the middle of one. There were times when she was, but those were much rarer.

The diminutive cat-girl hummed to herself as she lay on her back with her arms behind her head. Her tail swished lazily as she gave a large yawn. Near her feet was a fishing pole planted deep into the ground, and the bobber drifted lazily upon the surface of the pond. A bell was attached to the pole so that it would ding if it caught a bite.

'Any moment now.' Ranma thought to herself as her tail swished. She was hoping to catch a few really big ones. While she could just go into the water and snatch them, it ruined the fun and challenge of it all. It was much better to lye in wait, not really knowing what you'll catch.

The sound of the bell dinging caused her ears to twitch, and as she raised her head, the redhead saw that the fishing line was being tugged. Jumping to her feet, Ranma grabbed hold of the rod and worked on reeling in her catch. "Wonder what it is."

Once she pulled it out of the water, her excitement died, and it was replaced with total confusion at the realization that she had just pulled out Nashigi. "What the hell were you doing in the water?"

"I was just out for a swim when a hook grabbed me." The large-breasted girl said with a couple blinks, as if it was the most obvious answer.

"Well get off so I can get back to fishing!"

Nashigi nodded before pulling off the hook and walking towards the smaller girl. "Oh, and Lina, there's something that I want to show you!"

"What is it?" Her eyes followed the direction that Nashigi's hand was pointing to, and what she saw caused her to drop the pole in both shock and fear. "W- What in the hell?"

Standing just a few meters away was a large group of Nashigi look-alikes. From a quick count, there were 10 of them, and they were all standing in a line. Their eyes all stared in her direction, and they all had the same smug expression upon their faces.

"N- Nashigi, what the hell is this? Why are there 10 of you?" One was hard enough to deal with, but 11?

The large-breasted girl placed a hand to the side of her mouth. "Oohohohohohohohooo, I ended up having myself cloned, Lina. I figured that the world would feel better if my laugh was spread all around, and that everyone knew how to laugh like I did. However, I couldn't really do it all by myself, and so I had to go about creating some doppelgangers to spread throughout the world!"

Ranma's face turned an interesting shade of blue. "Y- You can't!"

"Silly Lina, you say that now, but just you wait until the entire world laughs like I do. It will be most glorious! Ooohohohohohohohohooooo!"

"OOOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOOO!" The doppelgangers all laughed at once alongside the original.

The cat-girl fell to the ground and clutched her head. 'This is hell… This is hell… This is HELL… THIS IS HELL!' The 11 ear-piercing banshee wails were playing havoc on her sensitive, enhanced hearing, and as the clones moved closer, the laughing got worse and worse. She needed some kind of release from this horrifying, and yet vaguely familiar, nightmare. Any release, as long as it would get rid of the painful screeching.

The world suddenly turned vague and blurry, and the very place around her seemed to almost speed up. Colors meshed together and started to spin around as the dreaded cacophony of laughter slowed down and sped up. Ranma's eyes watered as she attempted to make out what was happening and drown out the noise.

All of a sudden, a blur appeared out of nowhere and seemed to dance around in the jumble of colors. The laughing slowly started to die down before coming to a complete halt. However, the world was still a vague and jumbled, and she couldn't make anything out.

"Are you okay?" A feminine voice echoed around her as a blurred figure appeared in front of her and knelt down. She extended a hand to help the cat-girl up. "Here."

Ranma accepted the hand as the world came back into focus to allow her to see her savior. When she saw who it was, a smile appeared on her lips. "Thanks" She was glad that it was her who appeared.

Later on, when Ranma finally woke up, she felt reassured and content. She didn't know why, or how, due to everything seeming like one huge blur, but she knew that there was something about her dream that was the source of the help. Her mind felt at relative ease, and seemed clearer for the first time since coming to Hogwarts. 'Wish I knew what happened…'

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It seemed as if Ron was unable to let go of her rather scathing comments from the previous day, and causing him to lose all those points merely added to the issue. On the moments that they would bump into each other in the corridors, or meet when entering the Great Hall, the Weasley boy would give her a rather powerful glare that could have made trees burst into flames. Ranma would merely handle this by briefly sticking out her tongue, flashing the victory sign, and be on her way. It didn't help the situation any, but it was definitely amusing to see the freckled boy fume.

As expected, she earned a cozy little spot in Harry Potter's displeasure. While the boy understood that his friend was the catalyst for the verbally violent beat down, he found her cruel, indifferent attitude towards the whole matter on that day to be highly unnerving. While Draco was still above her in the boy's resentment by a large margin, the bespectacled boy would rather that he had absolutely nothing to do with her at all.

Of course, that's what he would like, but considering that Ranma found enjoyment in popping up around him at random moments - managing to startle him on many of those times, - he found that it was an impossible dream.

Somehow, Draco had managed to learn of the confrontation, and needless-to-say, he was beyond amused. He knew that his sister could be unpleasant when enraged, but he never knew that she could be so impressively sadistic and condescending when need be. He honestly thought that she was way too goody-goody. Egotistical and arrogant among many things from time to time, yes, but she always came off as too noble. It was nice to see that she was more than that.

There was one thing that wasn't solved, however, and that was Ranma's boredom. It grew steadily over the week as classes remained about the same. A trip to the library for the first time managed to do away with some of it, but for whatever reason, she wasn't all that interested in randomly browsing through shelves of books in order to just find one that could be interesting. The area that caught her attention was the restricted section, but checking out those books would be impossible without a note from a teacher, and even though she could probably sneak a book, her senses felt as if something terrible would happen.

The most interesting and useful thing that she learned that week, though, was the Switching Spell in Transfiguration. It was a spell that was able to switch the place of two different objects. As such, if you had something you couldn't reach, you could switch it with something near you. However, there were special rules for getting the spell to work. The two objects being switched had to either be of relatively the same size, made of the same material, or be similar in other ways. Still, it was really handy, and she was certain that she could experiment with it in her spare time.

When Thursday finally came around, Ranma and Gosaria made their way out of the castle at about 10 minutes to three-thirty in the afternoon for flying lessons. It was a clear, breezy day, and the grass rippled beneath their feet as they made their way across the sloping lawns. Their destination was the smooth, flat lawn that was on the opposite side of the grounds to the Forbidden Forest. Ranma didn't really know why she had to take part in flying lessons. She was able to easily and effortlessly fly by herself without the need of props.

When they reached their destination, Ranma noted that there were around 22 broomsticks lying on the ground in two lines. Of the Slytherins who were already there, all of them except for Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle gave her at least some kind of odd look.

Pansy decided to walk up to her. "Don't know why you need to be here, Kitty Ears. You can already fly on your own, so it's not like you need to be here with us normal, non-air born folk." She said low enough so that only the redhead could hear.

The cat-girl tilted her head. "Do I sense a hint of jealousy, Pug Snout? I'll gladly take you flying so you can experience the wonder for yourself. I hear that the Forbidden Forest is lovely from the air. Of course, if I'm not careful, I could end up dropping you, and I doubt that you would want to be lost deep within that place with all of the dangerous beasts aiming for the flesh from your bones." She gave off a sweet smile. "But if you would like to try…"

Pansy's face lost all color upon hearing that. "N- No thank you, Kitty Ears. I'll just stick to brooms." She walked towards the other end of the broom line at a quick pace, mentally going over how mental the redhead was.

Ranma gave off a mental chuckle. She wouldn't really do something like that to someone. It was just that they were all scared of her no matter what she did, so the best she could do was have fun with the situation.

It wasn't that long of a wait before the Gryffindors started to arrive. Ranma and Gosaria silently greeted Hermione with a wave, and the bushy-haired girl returned the gesture. Hermione had voiced her nervousness over the course of the week regarding the approaching flying lessons. Since it wasn't something that one could learn from books, she was worried about how she would do. She had even asked Ranma several questions on what it was like to be able to fly. Her only response that she was able to give was that it made her feel 'free' and 'unrestricted'.

Along with the group of Gryffindors were Harry and Ron, both of whom attempted to ignore her completely in hopes that she wouldn't say anything to them. The Weasley boy did give a small glance in Hermione's direction in an effort to wonder why the girl was friends with 'the Malfoy'.

Their teacher, Madam Hooch, was the final one to arrive in the area. She was a short woman with gray hair and yellow eyes like a hawk.

"Well, what are you all waiting for?" She barked. "Everyone hurry up and go stand by a broom." As soon as everyone found a place next to a broom, Madam Hooch proceeded to give the next set of instructions. "Stick your right hand over your broom, and once you do that, I want you all to shout 'Up'."

Ranma did as she was told, and just before she could finish saying the word 'up', the beat-up and frayed-looking broomstick shot up into the air and into her waiting hand. She had to force her arm down due to just how powerful and fast the action was. 'That could have gone flying high up into the air on its own.'

Glancing around to see how everyone else was doing, the cat-girl could see that Harry and her brother had the easiest of times succeeding. Gosaria's broom had a slight delay before it slowly jumped into her hand. Hermione's broom merely rolled pitifully on the ground, as if it were a dying dog. Neville's broom, like a few others, held no response to them at all.

A great source of amusement came when Ron's broom shot up and smacked him right in the face, causing the redheaded boy to take a couple steps backwards in an effort to regain his bearings. "That was fantastic, Freckles," Ranma said, "But next time, you should at least try and catch it before it gives you a concussion."

"Oh shut up." Ron said as he rubbed his face while hearing laughter from a few others.

"That's enough now," Madam Hooch commanded. The then proceeded to show everyone the proper way of sitting on their brooms so that they don't end up falling off. Following that, the hawk-eyed woman made her way down the lines of students. When she arrived at the female Malfoy sibling, she couldn't help but blink. "Um- Miss Malfoy?"

"Yeah?" Ranma asked as she turned her attention to the teacher.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm on my broom. Why?" The cat-girl asked in a tone that made it obvious.

"Well, it's just that you are not in the proper position. What you are doing is highly… unconventional."

Madam Hooch was correct in her observation. The diminutive redhead was not sitting with the broomstick positioned firmly between her legs like everyone was instructed, but was lazily lying on her back while the broom floated a few centimeters above the ground. Her tail draped carelessly over the side as she made slow circular motions with it.

"I'm going to have to ask you to get on it properly.

"But I can fly without a broom." Ranma whined as she gave off a cute pout. "I don't need to worry about falling off or anything, so it doesn't matter how I get onto one." Her attitude actually caused a few laughs from the Gryffindor side.

"Never-the-less," Hooch began in a stern voice, "I am teaching you all how to properly sit on your brooms. You are a part of this class, so I expect you to follow the rules."

Grumbling in annoyance, the cat-girl slid off of the broomstick and onto her feet before grabbing the beat-up cleaning tool and placing it between her legs. Now normally, she wouldn't be causing such a disorderly scene in a class, because she learned long ago of the consequences of doing so from back when Washu started teaching her. The crab-haired genius definitely didn't mess around in her punishments, and Ranma learned - after about the 20th time - that her 'lovable sensei' was not one to ignore such infractions.

However, she was getting more antsy and dispassionate about her surroundings by the moment, and so to have to go through something that seemed completely useless to her did not help in alleviating her problem at all. Perhaps it was time to liven things up by performing some kind of hilarious and large-scale prank.

Ranma was brought out of her musings by the sound of over-excited chatter, and she quickly found out that the reason for all of the commotion was that Neville had accidentally lifted off of the ground prematurely. To make matters even worse, the clumsy boy had absolutely no control of his broomstick at all, and was rising higher and higher into the air.

That was until he started to slip off of his broom, and as he did, he attempted to grab hold of it so as not to fall. From what the cat-girl could see, however, Neville appeared to have hurt his wrist in the process and ended up letting go. This left the pudgy boy to fall towards the ground. He would have hit it too, if it weren't for the quick actions of the diminutive redheaded cat-girl.

Dropping the broomstick in her hands, Ranma quickly pooled a good amount of mana around her before performing a double upward slashing motion with both of her hands. As she did this, a powerful gust of wind rushed past the assembled students. Many of them had to brace themselves so as to not be toppled over by the powerful gale. When the wind reached Ranma's position, it curved upward and careened towards the falling boy. When it connected, Neville stopped his dangerous fall and began to slowly drift towards the ground. When he touched down, the strong gust petered out into a faint breeze.

Getting over her shock of what she had just witnessed, Madam Hooch hurried over to the pudgy boy in order to inspect him and see if he was alright. Upon finding that he appeared to have hurt his wrist, she decided to take the petrified and tearful boy to the hospital wing. Just before she left, she gave off a warning that if anyone messes around with the brooms, they'll be out of Hogwarts faster then they could say 'Quidditch'.

'Sounds like an easy ticket out of here.' Ranma thought as she glanced towards her broom. She also noticed all of the looks that she was receiving from almost everyone present. "What? Do I have something on my face?"

"You just-" A Gryffindor boy tried to say. He had sandy-colored hair, and his uniform was worn in an untidy manner that made him seem like a slob. "What in the hell did you just do?"

"I believe it was magic." Ranma answered with wide eyes. "It's a really amazing thing; you must have heard of it, right?" This caused the boy to blush in slight embarrassment.

Before anything else could be said, her brother started bursting out into laughter before shouting out a few insults regarding him. This quickly degenerated into a small bit of arguing between both houses. That was, at least, until Draco discovered the Remembrall that Neville ended up dropping.

"Give that here, Malfoy." Harry said as he made a move towards the blond boy.

Draco gave the bespectacled boy an amused smirk. "I think I'll just leave it for Longbottom to find- in a tree." He leapt onto his broomstick and shot off into the air.

As an angered Harry prepared to fly off on his own broom, Hermione attempted to shout at him. "No, Madam Hooch told us not to move- You'll get us all in trouble!" The green-eyed boy, however, ignored her completely and took off into the air. As Hermione let off a huff, she noticed something being held out in front of her. Glancing to the side, she saw that it was a certain cat-girl.

"Wanna crisp, Hermione?" Ranma asked as she held a small bag of them in her other hand. She was effortlessly resting her back against her broom, which was hovering at a vertical slant as she floated a few centimeters above the ground. It was as if she were sitting in a reclining chair. On the other side of her, Gosaria was calmly enjoying a potato chip.

"Err- No thanks." Hermione answered before pointing to the airborne Harry and Draco. "Can't you do something about them?"

The cat-girl shrugged as she popped a chip into her mouth. "Their minds are made up, and the only way I could possibly do anything is if I bust them upside their heads and drag them down to the ground." She gave her brown-haired friend a smirk. "But why should I destroy their pride and ruin such a fun show? Expulsion is a little extreme," At least, from what she figured after her talk with Dumbledore, "So they'll probably just get a good amount of detention handed to their backsides." Watching the confrontation at hand, Ranma could tell that the Potter boy had some skill at flying. Nothing that could really compare to her own, of course, but he was good.

"So they sew what they reap, right?" Gosaria asked.

"Err- Yes," Hermione said, "But the phrase you are looking for is-"

"HARRY POTTER!" The shout from Professor McGonagall caused everyone to nearly jump. It was obvious that the boy in question was nervous about being caught in the act. "Never- In all my time at Hogwarts-" The witch in green was nearly speechless about the whole ordeal, and after silencing the Patil girl and Ron, she dragged Harry away from the assembled group.

"Too bad," Ranma said as she put away her bag of chips. She was hoping that the boy would have been able to elude getting caught. "But at least he went down putting on an excellent show."

Ron heard her statement and directed a glare towards her. "Harry got into trouble because of your brother, Malfoy."

The cat-girl raised an eyebrow. "In case you're forgetting, he was the one who lost control and jumped onto the broom. If he would have ignored Draco, then this never would have happened." She wished she could genetically transform the redheaded boy into something smaller and less annoying. Sadly, she still had to learn how to properly do it, because if she tried it right now, it was likely that the boy would be turned into goo.

Once Madam Hooch returned, they quickly resumed their flying lessons. After showing that she could do the necessary task correctly, Ranma stopped riding the broom in the conventional way and started to toy around. Instead of sitting on the broomstick correctly, she positioned herself in various ways that would have been outright dangerous to anyone else.

One thing she did was stand on top of it as if it were a surf board, zooming around the small area and performing various kinds of tricks in the process. Madam Hooch finally gave up on trying to get Ranma to do it correctly and concentrated her efforts on helping everyone else out who needed it. One thing was definitely for certain. If the girl ever played Quidditch, she would be absolutely brilliant at the game.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Later that evening, Ranma - clad in an oversized shirt and panties with a towel draped over her drying head - was lying on her stomach upon the common room floor. She heard a couple girls tell her that she should put on some trousers, and an older female student had event attempted to force her into a nightgown. Luckily, it was relatively easy to scare them away from her. It wasn't like she was trouncing around in the nude or anything, so why should anybody care? They were all more or less afraid to even come near her out of fear of what she could do to them. Everyone also took great care to stay away from her tail, so that they didn't accidentally step on it and earn her wrath.

She was ready to start enacting the massive prank that she had considered since earlier, but she would need to plan it out first. This was why Laira was sitting in front of her, just centimeters away from her face. The cabbit was all for helping her mother with come up with where and how to strike, because she, too, felt as if the place was a tad too boring. A little excitement was what the place would need.

'Are you ready, Lai?' Ranma asked.

'Whenever you are, momma.'

Giving a small nod, the cat-girl tilted her head downward. This allowed the cabbit to move in close and touch the gem on her head to her mother's forehead. The gem instantly started to glow, and those who were still in the area found themselves wondering what was happening.

In Ranma and Laira's currently connected and shared mind, the area appeared as a black void. A split-second later, a tiny digital character appeared with a sign that read 'Helpful Map Guide'. The screen instantly flashed to one that displayed a colorful, simplified map of the Milky Way Galaxy broken into overlapping sections. A small part quickly flashed yellow before popping up with a new screen that displayed a similar simplified imagery, this time it was of both the Earth and Moon before switching to the surface of the Earth in the vicinity of Europe. Beyond that, the map focused in on the United Kingdom before moving closer and closer until displaying an elevation map detailing a tiny digital Hogwarts, along with the lake, Quidditch pitch, and a couple trees showing the Forbidden Forest. Finally, the view zoomed in on the inside of the castle before displaying an overlay of the seven floors and known towers that Ranma and Laira had knowledge of via exploring.

The entire process of going from a galaxy wide spectrum to a view of the insides of Hogwarts took a mere instant to accomplish, incalculable to any known time variable available in existence. Despite the fact that the mapping was displayed in a simplified, condensed way, if any normal person were to experience it, their mind would possibly break at the sheer amount of information entering their mind. When Ranma first attempted to try it out when she was two, she became completely overwhelmed in trying to sort everything out and lost consciousness for several hours.

'So, where should we begin, Lai?' Ranma asked as a tiny, vague digital her appeared in the area of the screen that the Slytherin common room was located, waving its stubby little arms in a happy manner.

They quickly took to tossing ideas around as small marks appeared on the map in the locations that they would attack. A clock up in the corner gave off details of how long it would take to get through setting everything, and if they could get everything done before the next morning. When they found that something would take too long to do, they either tossed that out or attempted to see if they could modify another prank so that it wouldn't take as much time.

Once figuring out their exact course of action, and knowing the time that it would take, Ranma and Laira pulled away from each other. 'Did you get all that, Lai?' The cat-girl asked as she sat up. The map and details that they sorted out was still fresh in her mind.

The cabbit nodded with a wide smile. She was able to keep all the information, and so knew what to do just like her mother. 'So when are we going to start it, momma?'

'When all of the girls in our dorm are asleep.' Ranma answered. The curtains to their bed would prevent anybody from noticing that they're gone if they wake up, and she could always arrange some pillows and blankets to make sure it seemed like she was in bed. 'Lai, we are going to have some fun tonight.'

Laira gave off a mental giggle in response.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Author's Notes:

And so to get rid of her boredom, Ranma has decided to pull a rather large prank.

Another note, I'm aware that people are waiting for chapters of my other stories, but I'll let this be known. I haven't really worked on any fanfiction in over a year. What I've been releasing over the last few months are the chapters of Wild Magic that I finished before I stopped writing/decided to take a break. It's not really that I'm favoring this story over the others, (I'm most fond of Ralts in Moonlight, Surviving Mau, and Take the Green and Go out of all my stories, to be honest) but it's that the chapters I have are from this story that I went about finishing.

Eventually, I DO want to get back to those other stories, and I DO want to get back into writing. At this moment, though, I'm mostly releasing the rewrites that I had finished.