OWLS OF ATHENA (REVISED)

CHAPTER 2:

THE GHOUL WHO LIVED

His first date with Eto was somewhat nerve-wracking. Then again, that was partly due to the fact that he was still dealing with the after-effects of his using magic to inflate Aunt Marge (both his anger at her, and his unfounded fears of being expelled), as well as the fact that, well, it was his first date with a girl. And she had been the one to initiate it, too. He was under the impression that usually the boy did so.

Still, he was actually enjoying it. They were having ice cream at Florean Fortescue's. And he was with a beautiful girl. Smart, cute, and affectionate. And she was telling him about her plans for the future.

"So, you want to become a writer?"

"Yes. It's in the blood, actually. My birth mother was an investigative journalist. She was murdered shortly after I was born when the people she was investigating discovered who she was," Eto said. "I've been attending normal school while Hermione's been off to Hogwarts. Actually, I'm ahead of my year level. I could easily take my GCSE tests, and I'm going to at the end of the year. So's Hermione. Hell, I reckon Hermione's smart enough to take her A Levels too. That reminds me, I recommend keeping up with your mundane studies. Getting work anywhere in Magical Britain when you're not a Pureblood would be difficult, even with you being the Boy Who Lived, so I'd recommend that as a backup plan."

"Okay. Makes sense. Anyway…what were you going to write?"

"Horror and psychological thrillers, actually," Eto said.

"What, you?" Harry laughed. "Do you really have that in you?"

"More than you'd think, Harry," she said, with a knowing smile…


He woke up to an unfamiliar sensation, of slender arms, deceptively strong, around his body. He nearly panicked as he saw, not the Hospital Wing of Hogwarts or anywhere else in the castle, but a more industrial-looking room. Not to mention the fact that he was currently lying in a bed with someone. His unease grew as the memories of the night before came back to him.

As he shifted away, he heard his bedmate moan softly. "…Just a few more minutes," came the familiar voice of Eto Granger.

Harry paled, and then said, softly, "Eto, what would you father think if he saw us together in bed like this?"

"As long we were fully clothed and didn't do it, he'd think it'd be cute. Actually, both my fathers would," Eto said sleepily. "My birth father is a real softy. Well, these days, anyway. And my real Daddy…well, you wouldn't know he's a Dove by the way he hugs his adopted daughter."

Harry froze up. "…Your father works for the Commission for Countering Ghouls?"

"And Mummy. Yeah, I know Hermione told you they were dentists. Well, technically, Daddy is a forensic dentist, whose primary work is to identify the remains of Ghouls' victims, as well as to match bitemarks with Ghouls. Ghoul DNA decays pretty swiftly outside of the body due to the actions of RC Cells, so more old-fashioned forensic identification techniques need to be used. Mummy is a specialist in Ghoul nasopharyngeal physiology. But they also do quite a bit of fieldwork."

"And they willingly adopted a Ghoul?" Harry asked quietly as she released him.

"Yeah. Harry, while officially all branches of the CCG take a hardline stance on Ghouls, outside of Asia, you'd be surprised at how flexible they are, unofficially, especially in Western Europe, the US and Australia. We have an understanding: as long as I feed only on suicide victims, unclaimed bodies, or the worst criminals, I'm good with them. Ditto Ghouls who are rocking the boat. Which reminds me, we've got to get you started on a diet to make you big and strong." She helped him off the bed, her smile gentle and understanding. "Harry…Hermione's not going to think any lesser for you being a One-Eyed Ghoul, or even a full Ghoul. Actually, you were lucky. Normal Ghouls wouldn't last very long at Hogwarts. Anyway, let's have breakfast. Don't worry, it won't have any human meat in it…well, unless you're still hungry for that…"


After showering and dressing, Harry followed Eto through the corridors of the former power station. He'd gone to sleep shortly after Eto revealed what she was, needing to sleep on the revelations. He was sure he was still in shock, that the fact that he was a Ghoul had caused his brain to crash.

It helped, in a way, how normal this whole situation seemed. She was dressed in jean trousers and a yellow jumper that did little to conceal her curves. Her whole attitude, her showing no fear or disgust or hatred, actually helped, though she was a Ghoul in the end.

As he walked with Eto, he asked, "Since when did you live at Battersea Power Station?"

"Live is a pretty strong word for what I do here. This is my workplace. Unofficially, the London CCG acquired it a couple of years ago, once I started my little organisation. Technically, I answer to the head honchos at the CCG only. Really, I don't answer to them, they're just allies of convenience. Actually, would you believe that Daddy is actually a Squib descendant of the Dagworth-Grangers? Which meant that Hermione is heir to a sizeable vault at Gringotts, and it was decided to buy Battersea. Plus, I must admit, I've always wanted my own James Bond-style villainous lair. I need a cat to stroke."

The bad joke had Harry chuckling, and it helped mitigate his ever-increasing anxiety about what was happening. He had become a Ghoul, a monster that ate human flesh. But…he didn't feel any different, not truly. That, in itself, was both the most disturbing thing, and yet, paradoxically, the most reassuring. Or maybe the whole thing felt so fucking surreal, he was coping by believing that this was perhaps a nightmare he was yet to wake from.

They came into a room that had been renovated into a dining room, fairly utilitarian, but Dobby was putting out plates of food at a table that already had two people at it. "Ever since you freed him from Malfoy," Eto explained, "this little guy has been helping me. So's Winky. I had Hermione go on her little crusade to act as cover for getting them to act as our spies in Hogwarts. She knows about the symbiotic link they have, how they live off the magic of their employers. Anyway, Dobby and Winky have been keeping an eye on her, and our allies in Hogwarts. I'm having that old mutt you call a godfather visit a Mind Healer I know. Ditto the werewolf."

"Hey, sis, what's Harry doing here?" asked a familiar-looking albino boy, who cocked his head quizzically. He was squatting on his seat, picking at his food with his hands. He seemed to be about 11, white hair framing pale, effeminate features.

"Well, funnily enough, Juuzou, Harry is like me," Eto said.

The other occupant of the table, to Harry's surprise, was the elderly Garrick Ollivander, who was peering at Harry as he nursed a rather large cup of coffee. "A One-Eyed Ghoul?" he asked.

"Yep. No doubt something of the sort will be trumpeted all over The Daily Prophet, as Dobby said something about Fudge knowing." Eto led Harry to one side of the table, next to Juuzou Granger, and sat down opposite him. "Now…we'd better make this a working breakfast. Harry…what actually happened last night?"

Harry was hesitant at first, but eventually, it all spilled out of him in a cathartic deluge. By the end of it, he was sitting with a hollow look in his eyes, tears trickling from them. "…I don't know what to do anymore," he said, quietly, in a lost tone of voice.

Ollivander looked at him with sympathy. "You shouldn't have had to go through that, Mr Potter, to discover the truth about you in such a traumatic way. However, in many ways, you are fortunate."

"How so?!" Harry snapped.

"Simple," Juuzou said as he licked his fingers. "You're a One-Eyed Ghoul. That means your hunger for flesh is not as bad, and you're capable of eating normal food. Besides, you may have had a crappy life, but you were luckier than me."

Eto nodded. "Have you ever heard of a 'Ghoul Restaurant', Harry?" On his shaking of his head, she said, "Be grateful. Some Ghouls like to watch humans get taken apart for food in a Ghoul Restaurant. Scrappers are those who do the dismantling, humans who are indoctrinated, usually from childhood. Think of a Ghoul Restaurant dismantling show as dinner cabaret mixed in with Grand Guignol. Personally, I find it very distasteful. I mean, can't they get other Ghouls to do that if they're going to do that at all? And I'd rather take apart my prey myself, not brainwash some poor kid to do it for me. Anyway, dear little Juuzou was a Scrapper I rescued from the Ghoul Restaurant in Tokyo. He's so adorable. Good with knives, too. He's practically a Dove, with how good he can kill a Ghoul if he wanted to."

Juuzou nodded eagerly, a rather twisted but perversely innocent smile lighting up his features. "Oh God, Juuzou…I'm sorry…" Harry began.

The albino boy shrugged. "Hey…I'm out of there now. The Grangers showed me I can be a good boy without earning points, away from Big Madam. Besides, my sisters like you."

Eto looked at him solemnly. "…Juuzou is not normal by any means. You try growing up in the environment he did and remain sane. I try to give him a normal life…but he's so eager to please me for saving him. Killing is all he ever knew. I'm just helping him channel that in a way that's helpful. Besides, the CCG would have recruited him if I hadn't, I'd bet."

"I should also point out," Ollivander said, "that I myself am a Ghoul." Both his eyes suddenly showed the Blood Eyes of a Ghoul, before they reverted. "To conceal it for so long has been a difficult task. Ghouls tend to live lives that, as Thomas Hobbes put it, are solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short(1)."

Eto nodded. "I could have ended up that way. If my birth father hadn't given me to the Grangers, I was probably going to be sent to an acquaintance of his in the 24th Ward of Tokyo…and that probably wouldn't have ended well. That place is a hellhole. Harry, you're not a monster unless you choose to be. I very nearly chose to be…but decided I would rather be a monster to my enemies than my allies. To be fair, there's a lot of Ghouls who are monsters. But there are others who are just people cursed with a dark hunger. When I was in Japan last, I met a lovely couple called Asaki and Ryoko Fueguchi. Asaki only targets criminals, and Ryoko doesn't want to kill to eat. They have this adorable little girl called Hinami." She looked at Harry. "You may not have a choice in what you have to eat, Harry…but you have a choice in the how you eat."

He didn't know what to say to that. He felt numb, hollow inside. After all these revelations, he didn't know what to think anymore. And the thing was, he didn't even have a choice in the matter. Eventually, something came to mind. "…How come I am a One-Eyed Ghoul? I mean, what does that mean?"

"A One-Eyed Ghoul is a Ghoul-human hybrid," Eto said. "Normally, most half-Ghouls die in the womb, either dying from a lack of nutrients if the mother is human, or being absorbed into the mother's body as nutrients if the mother is a Ghoul. But sometimes, things work out, and a Ghoul-human hybrid is born. According to the diary of my birth mother, she went as far as to become a cannibal herself, even though she was no Ghoul. But by all accounts, both of your parents ate normally at Hogwarts. I think you're actually a quarter-Ghoul. And I think it's on your mother's side."

"What?!" Harry yelped, before thinking back to Voldemort's words, and Eto's. "You…and Voldemort…you mentioned the Mongoose…"

"Yes. Back in the late Eighties, when the war against Voldemort was at its height, a Ghoul became infamous for targeting Death Eaters," Ollivander said. "Eyewitnesses caught glimpses of red hair. After that infamous Halloween in 1991, the Mongoose dropped off the face of the Earth."

"The Mongoose also became infamous for targeting other Ghouls," Eto cooed. "Growing up, she became my hero. I didn't realise she was probably your mother, Harry…but I wish I did."

"…Why 'Mongoose'?" Harry asked.

"Because a mongoose eats snakes," Juuzou explained, waving a black pudding lazily. "And as snakes are a symbol of the Death Eaters, not to mention Slytherin…you get the idea." He then bit into the black pudding.

"So, how come I haven't really hungered for human flesh until now?" Harry asked.

"I dunno. Maybe your mother put a charm on you that Voldemort broke with the Cruciatus," Eto said. "We'll have to ask Sirius and Remus once we've cleared them of any compulsions or potions, just to be sure. Harry, trust me. You are not alone."

He didn't feel that way. Despite her platitudes, he felt very alone. One-Eyed or not, being a Ghoul meant his enemies had multiplied manifold. Especially with the Minister of Magic aware of this. He was a fugitive, on the run from Magical Britain. All he could do was sit there, numbly, picking at his food, trying desperately to cling onto some sense of normality, of humanity. Even though it might be in vain…

CHAPTER 2 ANNOTATIONS:

The exposition chapter, with added Juuzou! Because everything is better with more Juuzou Suzuya…well, Juuzou Granger, anyway.

1. Hobbes wrote about this in Leviathan.