Happy October 1st, everybody! The month of spookness! The month of fear! The month where I will give a barely used character some action!

This character is Great Grandma Harriet, from "Spell It Out", the Lucy-centric episode.

Not much else to say, so, let's move on!


At the attic of the infamous Loud house, the deadpan, emo-like daughter of the household, Lucy Loud, was checking some of the boxes in search for something. And considering her personality, it was probably either something creepy, one of her dozen rejected poems, or even a mix of both.

"Ugh, come on, I shouldn't be having much trouble finding something here," the goth quietly complained. "I mean, I know the boxes are filled with a lot of junk, but the boxes on my side are supposed to be less full than all the other ones."

And then she took out a box in the middle of a pile of them, causing them to fall right on top of her. However, all the girl said in return was a deadpan "ouch."

And luckily for her, she did manage to find what she was looking for: a locket of great grandma Harriet.

"Alright, now I can summon great grandmother and ask her if she can do something about Lori's malfunctioning phone," Lucy stated. "Whether it's lifting the curse, or giving me tips on how to survive Lori's whining."

And then, she noticed something else inside the box: A family picture book, which contained pictures of the Louds' ancestors. So of course, the girl just had to open it and check it out, with the very first photo she saw being that of her great grandma Harriet...

As a young girl.

Then, she went on to her great grandfather... Who was an adult man. And subsequents pictures went on until he was an old man. But even as he aged, Harriet didn't seem to do so. She resembled a young Lucy lookalike in all her photos...

And then, she stopped appearing in photos, not having aged one bit.

Which peeked Lucy's curiosity.

So, taking the locket and family picture book with her, Lucy walked straight to her parents' room, and knocked the door three times. It wasn't long before Rita and Lynn Sr. answered, but judging from their surprised reaction, this wasn't something they were used to.

"Oh hi, Lucy," Rita nervously greeted. "What do you need?"

"Mom, I was checking the attic, and I found several pictures of Great Grandma Harriet," Lucy said, with some subtle discomfort in her tone. "But none of them depict her as an adult or anything. She always looks like my predecessor, in the most literal way possible."

Lucy looked at the ground with "Why don't we have any pictures of Great Grandma Harriet as an adult?"

Rita and Lynn Sr exchanged worried looks, and promptly scratched the back of their heads as Rita said:

"Well... Lucy..."

Literally mere seconds later, Lucy barged into her and Lynn's bedroom just as the athlete was in the middle of some weight lifting.

"Oh hi, Lucy, what are you doing here?" Lynn casually greeted. "You usually stay out of the room whenever I start my exercising-"

Suddenly, Lucy kicked the weights away like a ninja, and promptly yelled at the jock:

"Get out of the room! I need to contact Great Grandma Harriet, right now!"

Naturally, the athlete wasn't happy about being given orders.

"Why? What's so important that-?"

Suddenly, Lucy shot a furious, glowing glare at her older sister, before yelling at the top of her lungs:

"I said get out!"

Lynn, not wanting to inquire her sister's wrath any more, ran out of the room and shouted:

"Lucy got emotional! Repeat, Lucy got emotional!"

And the rest of the family soon ran to the bunker, with Lisa taking the chance to scold Lynn, "What did you do this time!?"

"I did and regret nothing!"

And back at Lucy and Lynn's bedroom, the goth put down Harriet's locket, and promptly did a ridiculously complex summoning ritual that was guaranteed to work every time:

She extended her arms forward and shouted, "Harriet, I need to talk to you!"

A massive pillar of light burst out of the locket, and soon afterwards, the spirit of Great Grandma Harriet materialized.

See? It works every time!

"Great Grandma Harriet, greetings and thanks for answering my call," Lucy told the spirit of her deceased great grandma, which of course looked just like in the picture. "I'm so sorry I had to call you so suddenly-"

"And you most definitely should be: I was in the middle of doing absolutely nothing in the afterlife, since there was nothing good on the afterTV, and the afternet somehow doesn't want to connect to my aftercomputer," Harriet replied with a deadpan tone that was either sarcastic, or trying to sound like it. "Clearly, I'd rather be back in my afterhouse rather than with my dear great grandchildren."

"...Was that supposed to be one of your famous sarcasm lessons?" Lucy asked in confusion. "Look, I'm all up for a lesson right now, but can we do it after we discuss something more important?"

"Of course, but first, why did you call me in the first place?" Harriet inquired. "After all, you know that if there's one thing that spirits hate the most, is to be called back to the living world without a justification."

"Well... I was going through the attic, I found several pictures of you... As a kid," Lucy answered, twiddling her fingers and looking at the ground with worry. "And... I discovered a terrible secret about you."

"A terrible secret about me..." Harriet repeated, only to gasp in shock once she thought about it. "Did you figure out I'm the one who's been haunting Lorraine's phone so it doesn't turn on no matter how hard she tries?!"

"So that's why Lori's been having an absolute nightmare trying to get that thing to work," Lucy sighed. "Speaking of which, could you please lift up the curse, now that you've revealed it?"

"Oh no, not until she finally decides to focus on something other than her stupid phone!" Harriet snapped, folding her fingers. "I've waited far too long for that selfish little brat to take her eyes off that dang miniature screen, if she's not going to do that on her own, then she'll do it by force!"

"Right, I forgot how much you don't like "phone-holics" like Lori," Lucy shook her head. "Anyway, no, the secret isn't so much about what you did, as it is about something related to you... Which brings up two questions in my mind, in particular."

Harriet flinched and floated down to the ground. "I can't help but think I already know what you're going to ask."

Lucy took a deep breath, and with great hesitation, she asked:

"Were you really my age when you gave birth to... Whoever you gave birth to? And did you really die at childbirth?"

Harriet clutched her chest and took several deep breaths before walking up to Lucy and putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Lucy, please sit down. There's a lot we need to talk about."

The young goth obliged, with her great grandmother's spirit sitting right next to her before asking:

"Well, do you know about your great grandfather?"

"Yeah, I saw pictures of him too, but he either looked like a man, or an old, lonely man," Lucy answered, with slight worry. "And what's weirder is that you're only seen with him when he's a young man."

"I was barely a child when I met and fell in love with him," Harriet explained, shaking her head in melancholy. "His pictures as an old man came after I had long... passed away."

Lucy raised an eyebrow, "How did you manage to fall in love with a man much older than you?"

"Well, I guess you could say love works in mysterious ways," Harriet took out her tongue and gently hit herself in the head. "Either that, or I was a bit of a weirdo!"

"Something tells me the latter option is more likely," Lucy sighed. "Anyhow, you fell in love with a man that was much older than you? How did that even happen?"

"Again, love works in mysterious ways, my dear Lucy," Harriet put a hand on her cheek and added with a dreamy tone, "I just met your great grandfather one day, and I was captivated by his strong sense of justice, his honesty, and his general trustworthy nature. I assume that sounds familiar to you?"

"Lincoln... I guess he got those traits from great grandpa, huh?"

"Yeah... So anyway, I walked up to him one day and I confessed my love for him. Not in public, of course, 'cause that would've brought way too much unwanted attention to both of us. So I confessed in the most romantic way I knew: In the middle of the moonlight, on my knees, while beaming the happiest smile I could mutter."

Even though she normally would be disgusted with such a romantic description, Lucy couldn't help but blush and go "aww" at how her great grandmother confessed. "And what did he say in response?"

Harriet pulled no punches:

"He rejected me on the spot."

In that instant, all warm feelings Lucy had felt vanished and were replaced with both fear and shock. Her Great grandfather rejected her great grandmother on the spot? In the middle of such a romantic scene? Yes, him accepting would've been awkward, but right now, Lucy couldn't help but wonder how devastated Harriet felt at that moment.

"B-B-But, you still gave birth to grandpa, or grandma, or whoever you gave birth to, right?!" Lucy asked, sounding unnaturally panicked. "Certainly you two worked these things out, right?!"

Harriet let out a little giggle, but this wasn't a giggle of happiness.

"Yes... And no."

Lucy couldn't help but grow even more worried. "What do you mean by that? Is it yes or no?! Pick only one answer, please!"

"I'm picking a single answer, which is a mix between the two options you gave me," Harriet stated. "I say yes in that we did work these things out... But I also say no because... Well, do you really want to know?"

Lucy nodded desperately, and Harriet sighed before she explained thus:

"I forced things to work out."

Then, Harriet grabbed Lucy's head and made her see a memory. Firstly, Harriet was on top of her bed, crying her heart out into her pillow.

"After I was rejected, I felt horrible. I felt like my love wasn't returned, but since I also felt that I could never love another man like him, or love another man at all, I felt like I needed to do something, anything, to try and get your great grandfather's love... And then, I went to occultism."

The next memory showed Harriet, on her knees, in front of what seemed to be some sort of supernatural being.

"I summoned a demon from the supernatural world, and using their help, I captured your great grandfather and... Well, let's just say I didn't let him leave until she put your grandparent inside me."

The memory after that showed Harriet, with a pregnant belly, sitting alone in her room once more.

"My parents found out, your great grandparents found out, and there was a large scandal that was soon wrapped up and left to be forgotten. I was grounded for years and forced to give birth to the baby, while your great grandfather, despite wanting to help me deliver, couldn't manage to spend more than a half hour with me every day for the next nine months."

And the final memory showed Harriet, on her deathbed, with a baby crying in the background.

"When I gave birth, however, the shock, pain, and everything else that I felt was so grand, that my poor little body couldn't take it. I couldn't take it. And when I realized I was practically a goner, I asked your great grandfather to take care of my child. And so he did, and I passed away, not with genuine joy, but joy that masked a great regret."

Harriet released her hand from Lucy's shoulder, and as the goth started to cry from what she saw, she turned around and saw Great Grandma Harriet's spirit crying as well. And then the spirit said:

"That wasn't the only thing I regretted, of course. When people deal with occultism, a single spells can bring forth dozens of regrets. And I did several spells back when I was alive... bringing forth regrets that I've left unfinished... Possibly forever, since my time during each summoning is so short."

The goth looked away, only to be caught off-guard when her great grandmother's spirit called:

"Lucy?"

The gothic poet turned around, and saw Harriet grab her hand with her own, right before she gave her a simple request:

"Promise me that no matter what happens, you won't repeat the same mistakes I did when I was your age. I already feel bad that I jumped the gun so early in my life. I'd be devastated if you wound up repeating my mistakes."

"I-I promise I won't do it!" Lucy exclaimed, sounding unnaturally emotional. "I assure you that no matter what happens, even if I fall in love with an older guy, even if I feel tempted to do the deed with him, I'm not going to give in, nor go so far as to summon a demon to help me."

Harriet just smiled, and the duo shared one last hug before Harriet vanished back into the afterlife, leaving Lucy to hug herself in an attempt to get some comfort. And then Lynn walked back into the room.

"Hey, Lucy, everybody sent me here to check up on you, since-" the athlete said, only to panic when she saw her younger sister crying. "Oh my goodness, Lucy! What happened?!"

With a weak, shivering tone, Lucy whimpered:

"I contacted great grandma Harriet... And she confirmed the horrible thing mom and dad told me..."

Lynn soon went to Lucy's side and helped her get. "Okay, let's not think about that for now. Let's look for something that can calm you down."

And as the duo went to the door, Lucy glanced back to her bed, and remembering she had some stuff about occultism in there, she begun a conversation with Lynn:

"Hey, Lynn?"

"Lucy, we can talk about what you heard from Harriet later-"

"I don't want to talk about that... Not for a long while..."

"That's good to know, but in that case, what do you want?"

"Could you... Help me get rid of some spell books and cursed stuff I got in my side of the room?"

"I guess I could help you get rid of some of that stuff, but why?"

Lucy sniffed, and remembering the promise she just made, honestly answered:

"I'm going to take a break from occultism. A very long break."