Author's note: I love Horror stories. There isn't enough Harry Potter Horror Fanfiction. This is my answer to that.
Harry Potter leaned back in his chair and zoomed in with a critical eye at his Laptop. Scoffing, he squinted to look at the blaring picture of the supposed spectre that was said to haunt Hillhead Valley in a town about an hour from his University. "Spectre my ass." He chortled. It was so obviously photoshopped there that it was hilarious." Wait until Dean sees this." Dean Thomas was an acquaintance on an online Art Forum that Harry visited to post some of his own Urbex pictures. Dean was a genius when it came to Art. He had a critical eye for detail. And this misshapen copy and pasted ghoul lacked detail.
Sending the picture off to Dean, Harry returned to the page of the person who sent it to him originally. Weaslebee_7. He had met said Weaslebee through an online group for Horror fans. They would go back and forth about Hauntings and the afterlife and such. Ron Weasley was a blast. It was a new experience to Harry, an Orphan who didn't make many friends moving around with his Snooty Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin. It was a blessing that he had a Scholarship so that he could move to a dorm far away as soon as he had come of age.
"So, what do you think?" Ron's freckled face said, popping up on his Webcam. Harry leaned back further and steepled his fingers. He put on an impassive face. "I think. That you…. Are too damn gullible!" Harry burst out laughing as Ron's face turned into a scowl. "I mean seriously, could that ghost have looked any more fake?" He said, in between laughs. "Yeah, Yeah, I thought so too I just wanted to run it by you." Harry didn't look convinced. "That story about Hillhead Valley wasn't too scary either." Ron shrugged apologetically. "It was the only haunted place close to you, thought you would've wanted to check it out anyway." Harry cast a dubious look at the screen. "But the scenery sucked also so what would've been the point of taking pictures anyway?"
Ron rolled his eyes. "Whatever, you come up with a better place that we could visit." It was just the remark that Harry was waiting for. Harry had "known" Ron through the Forum for about a Year. For about six months they had been planning to go on an ultimate Urban exploration of a Haunted place. But not just any haunted places. One where there weren't many pictures of around the Internet. One where you could get noticed for daring to go inside and photograph some long forgotten, or dangerous institutions. Ones that even the most experienced would give pause to photographing. But not only that. They wanted this place to have actual cause to being haunted.
Ron noticed Harry's inflection. "What's that somber look for, Harry?" Harry leaned forward finally. "Ron, are you alone?" Ron chuckled nervously. "I really don't want to see you whack it in public or private, Harry." he replied, chortling. Harry's response was a finger to the screen. Ron laughed. "But seriously, it's sort of personal". Ron was immediately all business. "What's up?" Harry knew that he could trust Ron Weasley as far as internet people went. Ron had shared some of his most private moments with him. Growing up poor, feeling incompetent in his place in his large family, and his first post in the forum, where he nervously admitted that his home used to be haunted by a ghoul. Yes, Harry could trust Ron with what he would say next.
"Ron, have you ever heard of Hogwarts Home for the Insane?" Ron's eyes went wide and he let out a long breath. "Blimey, Harry, who hasn't?" Harry nodded thoughtfully. "Ron, what I'm about to tell you is extremely personal, so I'm going to need you to just listen and not interrupt." Ron's usually cheery and freckly face looked a bit uneasy at the normally laid back Potter's seriousness. He nodded despite his trepidation. "My Mother was a respected researcher and writer. My dad did much of what we do. Adventuring at mostly forbidden places. Only they didn't call it what we do now. My mum was doing a piece on Hogwarts in Scotland, and my dad couldn't let her go alone or pass up an opportunity to explore. Are you with me, so far?" Harry questioned. Ron gulped and nodded. He knew that Harry's parents were killed in a car crash when he was an infant, but he was wondering what he really knew about the real Harry Potter. Harry continued on. "Back in the 40s it was originally closed down due to a patient named Myrtle being killed. Authorities suspected another patient called Tom Riddle did it in a satanic ritual that went wrong. Or right, depending on how you look at it. But Tom was charming despite his position, and fooled most people, except the man who would become the new director, Albus Dumbledore. Hogwarts reopened 10 years later under his direction. Almost 7 years later Dumbledore was killed by his top doctor Severus Snape. Rumor has it that Snape was being possessed by Tom Riddle's spirit. Ron, Snape went to school with my parents when they were kids." Ron let out a sharp breath. This was more intense than what he had originally imagined. "But what can we do about this? Hogwarts has been strictly and seriously off limits for decades. It's one of the top haunted places in Scotland. Besides, how would we get there?"
Harry let out a wry grin. "My parents left me quite a bit of money, even if I am on a Scholarship." Ron shook his head. He knew where this was going. "Ron, I'm going to pay my way to Scotland to get to Hogwarts, and you're coming with me." Ok, that part was something that Ron Weasley did not expect.