Never before had Ness experienced fear like this. Sure, he could argue that fighting Giygas and having dreams about him was terrifying, he could argue that the Toad was frightful to think about since she held all the power over the school's head and he could certainly agree that an angry Paula equipped with a frying pan was terrifying.

But nothing could prepare them for this.

"Tony, do you see him?" Ness asked, peering around a snow covered tree, his gloved hands clumsily holding the snowball launcher as Tony—Jeff's best friend from school and current extra guest—looked over the top of his fort, trying to spot the somehow still neatly dressed boy wandering around the snowy yard.

"No, I think the coast is-," twap! Tony stumbled back, wiping some snow off his face as Ness screamed, "He found us! RUN!" and booked it away from their hiding spot as Jeff yelled, "You guys really need to work on your hiding spots!"

"Should we return fire?" Tony asked, yelping as he turned back just in time to see a snowball gunning for the back of his head. "Heck no! Bob and weave! His accuracy can't deal with moving targets!"

"That's a lie and you know it Earthbound! Now die!"

They vaulted over a crude wall of snow, cringing as the snowballs flew overhead and slammed into the brick wall across the yard. "Come on Jeff! It wasn't that bad a game!" Ness pleaded, trying to peer over to get a shot on his face before he was rewarded with a snowball to the face.

"I am never playing a game that blatantly lies about geometry and golf!"

"Jeff, it's a Kirby game! What did you expect!?" Tony argued, cringing as more snowballs flew overhead.

"SENSE I SUPPOSE!"

"RUN AGAIN!" Ness ordered, wondering if he should just abandon the gun entirely given Jeff's god like aim and accuracy. So far, they had only managed to get three shots compared to Jeff's swiftly climbing 50.

And they had only managed that by Ness going screw it and tackling Jeff to try and wrestle the gun away. He succeeded for about five minutes before Jeff revealed that he had back up guns and mercilessly pelted his friends with snowballs.

"Fire and hope for the best?" Tony panted, his face a bright red from being hit with snow and battered by the winter breeze.

"Yup, then beg for mercy." Ness agreed, spinning around and screaming, "We said we were sorry!" as Jeff held his ground and equipped himself with a second gun, replying, "I'm still not accepting that!"

"Bad idea! Bad idea!" Tony screamed as their snowballs quickly got destroyed by Jeff's and the remaining army of flying snow resumed its course. "Very bad idea." He agreed, stepping in front of Tony to act like a shield as he braced himself for pain.

Only…it never came since there was a loud pop and a group of wizards dressed in muggle—normal winter clothes landed in the middle of the yard. Landing perfectly between Jeff, Ness and Tony who could only managed surprised and strangled gasps as the snowballs slammed into the new comers.

Knocking those who weren't in the middle of the group into their comrades as they tumbled into the snow. "Ah…I didn't mean to…" Jeff started, his face a bright red as Ness and Tony exchanged a look before bursting out laughing. "We're saved! Saved!" Ness cried, dropping into the snow as Tony wheezed, "Oh dear god! Never before have I been glad to see random fate help us!"

"It's not funny!" Jeff protested as Ness chanted, "Fate is on our side! Fate is on our side!" only shutting up when Jeff yelled, "Keep singing that and I'll call Paula to pray for you!"

"…Low blow Jeff! Low blow!"

"Worth it."

"Say uh…who did Jeff hit in the first place?" Tony asked, prompting the two to look at the obvious wizards struggling to untangle themselves from the snow covered limbs.

With sheepish mumbles of, "Oh yea…" and, "Right…I hit something other than Ness." The trio carefully approached the group, Tony behind Ness who was prepared to bash someone with his gun and Jeff keeping his aim on the group as a whole.

It was a nasty surprise to see someone finally pull themselves out of the snow with a sharp wheeze of, "Ness! It's just me! Ginny!" and slowly healing bruises on her face and an obvious limp.

"You know her…?" Tony asked as more Weasleys pulled themselves out of the pile, Ron, George, Fred and Harry all red faced from the snow.

"I'm here to…"

"Luna?" Luna and a man who Ness guessed to be her father waved hello as Jeff glanced at Ness, silently asking if it was okay to relax. "So…Merry Christmas?" Ness offered, bringing his hand up in greeting before cringing as Ron snapped, "Shove off!"

Earning a fierce glare from Ginny as Luna bluntly said, "They want to hear your side of the story."

"So that Harry person was there…" Jeff mused as Tony looked at Jeff for help. Ness lowered his hand, the momentary joy of playing extreme snowball crumbling into guilt as he nodded, "Right, right…Let's er,"

"Go inside, I'm curious to hear what the fuss is about." Jeff finished, "Plus, I believe the hot coco's finished."

"Oh, thank god." Tony murmured, happily following Jeff inside. A few moments later the group were seated in Jeff's posh kitchen, warm cups of hot coco in their hands as Ness warily studied the expressions on his friends' faces.

His stomach tightening and twisting from Ginny's blank expression, Luna and her father's worried expression, downright hopeful but unsure from the twins, nervous from Harry and burning anger from Ron.

"I'm guessing you were with the snake?" Ness asked, breaking the tense silence as Tony and Jeff sat beside him. Gently nudging his foot to help him remember to breath.

Harry nodded, "I was caught up in the blast, managed to see Mr. Weasley go down before I was sent back to my body."

"Sorry…I thought I heard you but I wasn't sure since I was trying to stop Nagini." Ness tapped his cup, wondering if it was okay to ask how badly Mr. Weasley was when Jeff cleared his throat. Indicting that he would be the one speaking now.

"To be honest, we aren't completely sure how this mess even happened in the first place." Jeff admitted, nudging his glasses up and glancing away as Ron glared daggers at them. Was Mr. Weasley in critical condition…?

"Somehow, something drew Ness's soul into Sister Mary's body—the doll—which already had its own attack set, forcing Ness to utilize them to escape since Sister Mary was locked in a small safe. After escaping he moved to try and deduce where he was being held when he stumbled upon Mr. Weasley and Nagini—the snake—and moved to protect Mr. Weasley. However, he misjudged Mr. Weasley's reaction time and he got caught in the group attack."

"Group attack?" Luna's Father asked, "You mean, you 'PSI' beings have categories just like wizards?" Luna shot Ness an apologetic glance as Fred and George repeated, "PS what now?

"I thought it would be safe to tell him as long as he promised not to write about it in the Quibbler." Luna explained, "No one really listens to us…"

"It's fine, PSI is pretty hard to believe anyway." Ness glanced back at Fred and George who were looking at him in confusion. This day just kept getting better and better…

"Long story short, I'm not a wizard, but a person gifted with powers that called PSI. It's like magic, but not since it's like…er…"

"Two electrical currents." Jeff filled in, "Or two bodies of water, a river and an ocean to be exact. They can seemingly work the same but have different properties in how things should work in order to be successful."

"Yea, that. I can cast things that can only be seen by people who also wield PSI, have been personally affected by it if they aren't wizards or PSI based enemies." Ness explained, grimacing as he added, "Although lately, it's been pretty hard to keep my PSI in check since I have PTSD thanks to magic and turned into an emotionally loose cannon."

"…Right, so that's what Ginny meant when you might be able to heal dad." Fred said after a long moment.

"How badly is he injured?" Ness asked, dreading the news as Tony got up to grab some snacks. Although he doubted he would feel hungry as the Weasleys' expression shifted from blank to remorseful and angered.

"He's…going to need muggle care." Harry started, his voice thick with conflicted emotions, "Magic isn't working on him and he's suffering from electric burns, possibly a broken rib cage and more. No one knows for sure since they need magic to diagnose him."

"That…sucks." Tony offered, returning with some cookies as Ness processed the information. "That's…better than I thought would happen." Ness admitted, "I was worried he might die on the way to the hospital even with my healing…He has a chance to recover though, right?"

"Yes." Ginny answered, "But not without therapy and a miracle that he won't have constant strokes, severe nerve damage and loss his ability to walk without aid."

"Ah." Ness managed, his small glint of hope fading as Jeff stirred his hot coco, "Well, depending on what hospital he's sent to he'll have more chances of recovering and good care. For now, we should focus on the positives that he's still alive-,"

"Positives!? What positives!" Ron demanded, his patience pushed to its limit as he stood up, knocking his chair over as Ginny's glare increased, "Our dad is going to need muggle help!"

"And? I mean, it's better than nothing, right?" Tony offered, woefully under informed about wizards thanks to Ness foolishly believing that he would have a moment of peace. "We have good hospitals and with the right care he'll be back to normal. Er, with of course the lingering scars of what happened and some mental trauma…"

"Mental trauma?" Fred repeated, looking sick as Jeff carefully clarified, "Electrical injuries are the worse since depending on the number of volts used in the accident or injury it can leave to permanent nerve damage and rewire the brain. Essentially making every day tasks much harder unless treated with therapy."

This…wasn't looking good for Mr. Weasley, or his kids. He'd never have a loved one in the hospital—well, not for serious injuries like this—but it must have been hard to cope with the fact that a loved one was injured, and the person behind it having been in a hectic but fun snowball fight moments before their arrival.

"Can you heal him?" George abruptly asked, "Ginny said that you used your magic-,"

"PSI." he and Jeff corrected, but George ignored the correction in favor of finishing his sentence, "To heal him the first time, which is why he can't be healed by the healer's magic. But you can…" he trailed off at the sight of his face.

His apprehension and guilt written clearly on it as he ducked his head. Hating how everything just wound up working against them. "I'm…Honestly not sure if I can heal him." A vacuum seemed to steal the air out of the room as Ness continued, "The attack I used—it wasn't like one I'd ever seen or faced…It was a combination of both magic and PSI. I managed to heal some damage but…I don't want to push it in case I end up doing something worse."

"Worse…?" Ginny questioned, paling and mumbling, "Wait, you don't mean…his magic?"

"What do you mean 'his magic?" Ron started as Luna's father hummed in thought, "Ah, you're afraid that if you tried again you would harm Mr. Weasley's magic and render him a Squib."

"…What?" Harry breathed, looking at Ness in disbelief then back at Luna's father who looked surprised by their lack of foresight, "Well, I might be wrong but if magic's an ocean then it can easily swallow a river, and a river can easily be lost in the ocean, maybe even bringing in some harmful water spirits or Carnivorous Fish people."

"I don't-," Fred started when Ginny softly deadpanned, "Ness is afraid that if he tried to heal Dad anymore he might disable his magic."

"Wha-,"

"Magic and PSI don't mix. Not without consequences at least…" Harry realized, glancing to Ness who could only solemnly nod in agreement, "I'm sorry…"

"This…this is a prank, right?" George asked, his voice weak as he trailed off, silently confirming to himself that it wasn't a joke as he studied their grim faces. That time was the only thing that could heal their dad.

"Great. Just, great!" Ness glanced up, not surprised by Ron's anger but a little confused by the burning hate in the redhead's eyes. "So not only have we wasted our time for nothing-,"

"I learned something valuable from this." Luna interrupted, glancing up from her tower of cookies with a wary gaze.

"We've just relearned that dad is bloody screwed!"

"I admit the odds of a perfect recovery are low, but it's better than nothing." Jeff replied, moving to polish his glasses—a nervous tick of his—as Tony stood up to try and placate Ron, "I get it, it sucks that your dad is stuck in an unknown hospital and that no one but time and good care can help. But it's times like these we have to stay strong for our loved ones and-,"

"Strong!? How can we stay strong when this bastard!" Ness flinched at the harsh title and swallowed back a retort of raw anger, his headache swiftly returning. "Is messing with everyone and everything!"

Annnd Ron pieced together that he might be accidentally influencing the PSI beings at Hogwarts…although it was curious to learn how they got there if Wizards opted to lock them up in heavily protected safe boxes.

"Ron!" Ginny snapped, getting up when Luna grabbed her arm and pulled her back. Probably to stop her from adding more wounds to Ron's face. "Well I'm right!" Ron retorted, angrily gesturing at Ness who counted to ten a couple times. Knowing that defending himself would make it worse.

Ron was just hurt and needed someone to blame. And given how sick Harry looked it was probably better him than his own friend. "This entire school year has been flipped upside down because of him!"

"I don't really think Ness wants to be there in the first place…" Tony argued, leaning back with a small frown as Jeff muttered, "Just let him rant, he needs to vent."

"Now, now Ronald-," Luna's father started, glancing between the redhead and Ness with a small frown, "We can't just blame Ness for everything! It was merely his powers acting out."

"Dad…" Luna groaned as Ron blinked then looked back at him, "Hold on—you mean- YOU AREN'T EVEN PURPOSELY DOING THIS!?"

"I don't believe so." Ness admitted, cringing as Harry muttered, "That painting was attacking everything for you…it was trying to protect you…" adding more fuel to Ron's fire.

"Why are you even AT Hogwarts if you can't control your bloody mind breaking powers?!" Ron demanded, his hands curling into fists, "Why couldn't you just stay back in America and screw everything up other there?!"

"I dunno, ask Dumbledore." Jeff replied, adjusting his glasses in contemplation, "I for one would like to know why your father we even protecting the door to the room Ness was locked up in. Shouldn't this Ministry have guards or something patrolling it if it's dangerous enough for a wizard to send a murderous viper to kill him?"

"It seems strange for a man who has a cozy job to risk so much…" Luna's dad mused, brightening for a moment as he exclaimed, "Perhaps this is a government conspiracy! A plan to protect someone sneaking around the Department of Mysteries for a mystical object!"

"Well…it is possible that someone else is there." Tony agreed, intrigued by the idea of two agents when Ron threw his hands up in rage, "Why does everyone try to ignore the problem here?!"

"Maybe because we can't do anything about it." Ginny snapped, "Now stop carrying on like a brat! You aren't the only one hurting here!"

"Ginny, Ron," George started, looking at his wits end as Ron turned on Ginny, "You sure?! Since you seem pretty keen on defending your boyfriend-,"

"Excuse me?" Ness interrupted, feeling sick as he looked at Ginny then Ron in disbelief. Of course that feeling of sickness faded when Jeff said, "He's dating Paula."

"No I'm not!"

"What? I thought you totally were!" Tony exclaimed, looking at him in shock as Ness felt his face turn a bright red, "No! I've been too busy dealing with wizards!"

"Huh…you should really confess though, Paula's at her wits ends worrying about you." Jeff mused, a small smile appearing as Ness rounded on him, "Jeff Andonuts I swear to God-,"

"Right, the same god who blesses us with feeling weird and hinders us in battle."

"You—Ugh!" Ness buried his face in his arms and yelled, "Stop being smart!" as Jeff had the nerve to laugh at him. "I thought he was dating Paula as well given how desperate you were to protect her…" Luna mused, Ginny humming in agreement as Ness groaned, "Really you guys….?" Vaguely wondering if Paula still liked him like that.

They both returned those feelings when they had defeated Giygas but with all the chaos and suddenly being shipped off to Hogwarts…maybe he should. It wasn't fair to keep worrying Paula without promising something to her…Right? Geez…Tracey was right about him being dense when it came to emotions other than being relaxed and happy.

He jumped when someone suddenly yelled, "Ron! Wait!" and a door preparing to slam shut, "I'm not hanging around with freaks like them!" Ron snapped, "It's bad enough that he saved Malfoy but this?!"

"Oh you are such a primadonna-,"

"Ginny!"

The door slammed and an icy chill settled over the room. "Give him a moment," Tony softly offered, "He just needs to walk it off."

"Yea, like how he walked off when Harry and Ness were being honest about not entering the cup themselves." Ginny retorted, "He's a mindless git-,"

"Tea! Who's up for some Crumple Nickle tea?" Luna's father suggested, cutting Ginny off as Harry got up, mumbling something about needing a walk as well. As Fred and George just dropped their heads on the table. Done with this entire mess.

"I think we all need a big cup of sanity tea…" Luna sighed, getting up to help her father as Jeff moved to show them where everything was. "I'll just…chill in the guest room." Ness stated, getting up to give everyone a bit of space from him.

Unable to help but feel like a being of destruction as he climbed the stairs, taking note of Harry and Ron's missing shoes by the door. "Even when I have a small break to myself…Everything still goes wrong." Ness sighed, collapsing on the bed and looking aimlessly up at the creamy white ceiling. "What am I going to do…?"

Nothing. That's what. He couldn't do anything to change Ron's feelings about him. All he could do for Ginny was support her or maybe distance himself for a bit to give her time to grieve and Harry…Welp, there goes any chance of him being acquaintances with the boy.

"Peachy…Just peachy." Ness groaned, closing his eyes and willing the pressure behind his eyes to die down. Ignoring the aching throb around his heart as he listened to the quiet of winter and the soft noise coming from downstairs.

A sharp trill interrupted his moment of silence, forcing him to sit up and look at the pearl white phone resting on the bedside table. "Must be for me…Maybe mom?"

"…Hello?"

"Ness? Is that you sweetheart?" even when his spirits were low and his mind a muddled mess from homesickness, he could always count on his mother's voice to bring a small smile to his face. "Yea…it's me."

"You sure? I've never heard you this upset before! Oh! Did Jeff destroy you at that video game you were playing?"

"No, it's not that. I beat him at Super Smash Bros and Kirby Dream Course. It's just…" Ness sighed and pulled his legs in, "Mom…I think I messed up."

"Everyone makes mistakes every now and then Ness, it's not the end of the world-,"

"No, no…I think I messed up by being me and being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Oh…this is serious then…"

"A friend from school's dad-there in the hospital because I was thrown into this doll's body and-…He's injured really, really badly."

"…Did you mean for that to happen?"

"No…but their wizards mom. My friend's older brother, Ron, he's really upset over it. Their dad's going to have to get mugg—Normal care and no one's really sure if he can go back to what he used to be."

"Well, that's a little silly. Every time someone gets hurt there's always something that changes about them, things change and sometimes…it's not for the best. For now, we should focus on accepting the changes and reminding those that change that we still love them and don't mind."

A small wobbly smile formed as Ness chuckled, "How do you always know what to say?"

"Part of a mother's job dear, now what else happened?"

"Well…" it was a miracle that he didn't start crying as he explained the castle being haunted by weird creatures. Creatures he believed to be PSI enemies corrupted by magic and following his subconscious orders thanks to Giygas's influence somehow lingering in his heart.

How Ron had rightfully accused him of actively trying to shut down Hogwarts and had possibly gotten into a brawl over it with Ginny, how Jeff theorized that something had gone wrong when Giygas's reign of terror was erased and how he had taken control of Nagini and met a being who knew his lullaby.

"I'm scared…what if I actually am their leader? What if I can't control them?" Ness admitted, biting his lip as his mother stayed silent, processing the information. "I know it's not true but…everything's just been thrown out of balance. And it feels like I can't do anything about it!"

"Well…this is a tricky question," his mother finally hummed. "I don't really remember much of Giygas but…everything that's happening seems to be connected to your PTSD, maybe you just need time to heal."

"Pretty hard to heal when no one is giving me space." He grumbled, cringing at the bitter anger in his voice, "Sorry, it's just-,"

"Hard. It's alright Ness, I've never dreamed my baby boy would be facing so much in such a short time."

"…Yea." He sighed, leaning back to look at the ceiling again, "I just want…answers, to be able to feel in control of something without it coming with a price tag…Y'know?"

"Yup, but life can be a cruel mistress…And the only way to beat her is to hold your head up high and be ready to fight."

"…I guess."

"Guess? Excuse me, since when did Ness Earthbound guess?"

"Uh,"

"Since he certainly didn't guess when he thought it was a brilliant idea to use the entire salt shaker for pasta night!"

"Wha—Moom! It slipped out of my hand! Tracey and King defended me on that!" Ness retorted, unable to hold back a laugh as his mother playfully hummed in reply. "That's what they all say mister! But I suppose I should get off, King is trying to sneak a biscuit past me and Tracey wants to talk to you."

"If this is about her Christmas gift-," Ness started when his mother laughed, "No, it's about this weird snake she found!"

"…What?"

"I'm hoping it's something related to school but—oh! Her she is, hold on!"

"Ness! So uh, did you ship a teleporting snake home or what?"

"…What—w-wait! What color is the snake?"

"A jungle green, and it has this weird mark on its side, like a broken ghost being swallowed up by the earth."

"What."

"…I'm guessing you didn't send it home?"

"No! I don't think so—wait…" What had he told Nagini?

"Head home and chill."

Head. Home. And. Chill.

"ARGH! I totally did send it home!"

"Uh…so…how did you adopted a pet snake?"

"I didn't adopt her! It just, sort of happened!" Ness groaned, "She was under someone's influence and I freaked and—ugggh…this is so annoying to retell…" but he dutifully filled Tracey in before demanding to know how Nagini was doing.

"Well… she lives chilling in your room and she can er, teleport whenever she wants."

"Oh because my day just cannot get any better…" Ness grumbled as Tracey yelped and jerked away from the phone for a moment, "And er, she's very clingy. She just appeared on my shoulder—good gosh you are heavy!—I think she wants to say hi."

"Hey Nagini, don't eat King." Ness sighed, flinching when he heard Nagini faintly replied, "Okay, the dog wasn't very tasty looking anyway…" in the back of his head.

"What do you think she wants? Besides orders of course." Tracey stated.

"I don't know…I don't even know who owned her in the first place." Ness replied, "I mean, besides possibly Voldemort but…yea."

"I served…Tom Riddle!"

"And she's just informed me that she served someone called 'Tom Riddle'…whoever he is." Although knowing his luck, it was probably another weirdo wizard for him to deal with later.

"Well, look on the bright side!"

"What bright side. I see myself being accused of actually sending the snake to Mr. Weasley if they find out about this."

"Well, okay that is bad. But you could use her to snoop around the Ministry!"

"…Point." Ness agreed, muffling a scream as Nagini suddenly landed on the bed, her tongue rapidly flitting in and out of her mouth before she peered up at him with eager eyes. "…Okay, this is freaky. How does she know where Jeff lives?"

"…Er…Yea I got nothing." Tracey admitted before chirping, "Oh wait! Better idea! You could use her as a mail snake!"

"Mail snake." Ness repeated before glancing down at Nagini, who was coiling around his waist in an attempt to be affectionate. It was…sort of working since most snakes opted to bite him instead of strangling him to death.

"Yes, mail snake! That way you could keep in touch with us!"

"…True, but I don't think Poo and Jeff would react kindly to a snake falling out of the sky to deliver their mail."

"Better than nothing, plus! Secret agent snake!"

"…True."

"Heeyy," oh god. Tracey got that, 'I'm going to be an annoying little sister' tone. "Tracey, whatever you're implying-," Ness started when Tracey teased, "Maybe now you could confess to Paula! We all know you like her and vice-versa! Now if only Hogwarts hadn't screwed everything up…"

"Seriously. Why is everyone so interested in my love life!? First Ron accuses me of dating Ginny-,"

"Who?"

"Friend. And Jeff and Tony tease me about it in the middle of a serious conversation!"

"Caus' it's true—DON'T DO THAT!"

A quick glance down at his waist informed him that Nagini had grown bored and moved back to Tracey…probably knocking her to the grounding judging by the sudden noise on the other end of the phone. "Karrmaaa~"

"Oh shut up." Tracey grumbled, her voice faint before she returned to the phone, "Anyway, have you gotten any calls from someone named Astra Kale?"

"Er…no, not yet. Why do you ask?"

"He somehow found your phone number and wanted to talk to you, something about apologizing for acting weird and wanting to warn you about something."

"Did he say what exactly or…?"

"Er, he told Paula about it and she seems pretty on edge now, you should probably call her to get the full story."

"…Are you saying that because it's true or…?"

"Oh, look at the time gotta go byeee!"

"Tracey! You little-," she hung up before he could finish his threat, leaving him to glare at the phone before grumbling under his breath and moving to call Paula. Hesitating for a moment before he called her number.

"Polestar resident and preschool," Paula's mother greeted, "May I ask who's calling?"

"Ness, is Paula around?"

"Ness? Oh my! I thought that school didn't let you use phones or send letters!"

"I'm staying at Jeff's place for the holidays, trying to relax before school starts back up."

"Right, you've been busy fighting that new teacher. Paula told me she was some sort of witch who's been pushing your buttons."

"More like stabbing them with a knife." Ness grumbled before he forced himself to cheer up, "Anyway, is Paula around? I want to ask her something."

"Oh she's around, happily shooting me mortified looks and trying to steal the phone away from me." There was a laugh as Paula hissed, "Mother!" and succeeded in stealing the phone away from her.

"Hiya Paula! How's break-," he cringed as Paula swiftly went into 'mom' mode and began 'asking' how he was doing and if he needed help. Or cookies. Or maybe someone with a cracked skull courtesy of her frying pan.

"First, I'm…not okay." He admitted, glancing back to the door and the mess most likely waiting for him downstairs, "I got stuck staying at Jeff's place thanks to the snowstorms and got confronted about a mess I was in at the wrong time at the wrong place."

"Did anyone get hurt?" Paula asked, her voice changing from worried to concerned as he retold the story for the third time that day. Adding in how Nagini had now moved into his house per his orders and how the Weasleys plus the Lovegoods had tracked him down to hear his side of the story.

"Oh…dear." Was all Paula could manage.

"I know right? So not only can I not help their dad, but I'm now planning on using the attacker to be a mailman." He sighed and flopped back down on a pillow, "Can't something just go RIGHT for once?"

"Doesn't seem like it, and even though I'm sure someone else had told you this before—it wasn't your fault."

"Feels like it-,"

"Ness. Repeat after me."

A shiver of fear ran down his spine before he paused, "Paula, we're almost a a million miles away from each other, you're threats can't work—" Apparently, they could work since Nagini landed on his stomach, coiled around a frying pan that knocked the wind out of him for a moment.

"Really…?"

"She has very good timing." Paula hummed, probably feeling smug as Nagini happily blinked up at him, "Now, repeat after me."

"Fiiinnnee."

"It was not my fault."

"It was not my fault." He droned, snickering when he heard an irritated sigh from Paula.

"I reacted in the heat of the moment to try and protect a friend's loved one."

"I reacted in the heat of the moment to try and protect a friend's loved one."

"We should be thankful that there alive."

"We should be thankful that there alive."

"And I am an idiot."

"And I am a- HEY!"

He glared at the phone as Paula laughed and teased, "It was worth a shot."

"You had better be so glad that I like you enough NOT to return your frying pan." Ness grumbled, unable to stop himself from smiling as Nagini got bored and dragged the pan off of him to snoop around the room. "So, pity party aside-,"

"Ness."

"-Tracey told me that my astrology teacher has been in contact with you. What's that about?"

"Well…" there was a small pause before Paula spoke up, "He explained that he's a seer, he can look into the future using the stars and had a serious message to give you. He was hoping to catch you at home but, you know, so he asked me to tell you to be careful of those who play with fire that didn't belong to them and to be wary of the ravens who change their stripes."

"That's…such a weird message." Ness noted, "Anything else?"

"Besides an apology for seemingly working with Umbridge? Yes, he was very serious about this last part. Insisting that we should be wary of the boy tied to fate."

"The boy tied to fate…?" Ness repeated frowning until he remembered a certain someone with a lightning bolt scar on their head who had been singled out by Voldemort for some bizarre reason. "Do you know who he is?" Paula asked.

"Yea, I think he means Harry."

"…Er…"

"The boy with black hair and glasses." Ness deadpanned.

"Oh! I think I remember him."

"Really?"

"You know how I feel about cloaked people Ness."

"I know, I know but-,"

"Drop it. And, I guess it makes sense."

"How?"

"Well, didn't Dumbledore mention how you played a bigger part in this than you thought?"

"Um…" He could SORT of remember that chat from the year before. Or maybe even his first year before that. He had tried to leave Hogwarts and Dumbledore had said some mumbo jumbo about him being a part of a bigger role he had that was connected to Harry.

Harry.

"…I just realized something horrible."

"What?"

"Every time I get wrapped up into a mess, it's because Harry was at the center of it. My very first year I thought I was supposed to protect him!"

"And if Harry's tied to a prophecy then…" Paula trailed off, her words leaving a cloud of gloom and doom as they remembered the prophecy they had been in, the one that had them be destined to stop Giygas.

One that probably hadn't been completed since he was somehow still under Giygas's influence and the being himself might still be alive. Somehow.

The thought sent shivers down his spine as Paula moved onto talking about something else, trying to put his mind at ease before moving on to grumbling about wizards and how annoying they were.

"I bet they can't even use a toaster." Paula snapped, her quip bringing him back to earth for a moment as he replied, "Yea, they don't."

"Wha- Really?!"

"Paula, they have nothing electric at Hogwarts. None at all."

"So, you're living in a dump for almost an entire year without toast!?"

"They still have toast."

"Discount toast then!"

"Really. Discount toast? Never knew you were a fan of bread Paula."

"Har-har Steak boy."

"Oh no, my secret has been reviled." He deadpanned before they started laughing at their dumb argument over wizards and toast. Moving onto a light-hearted topic of how Paula was doing, the Mystic Informer, something he had been avoiding in an attempt to have an awesome Christmas and how he managed to tick Jeff off and almost be murdered by snowballs.

"Knowing you, you probably deserved it." Paula teased laughing as Ness defended himself with, "I told him it was a kiddy golf game! Tony did too!"

"Rigghht." Paula replied, "Anyway, I have to go."

"Did Nagini break something? Again?" During their conversation the snake had grown bored of not doing anything and had been teleporting back and forth to try and entertain herself. Causing some vases to be knocked over or some pillows to be misplaced to cure her boredom.

"No, it's nearly bedtime. Timezones, remember?"

"…We have time zones?"

"Oh my—Good BYE Ness!"

"No wait! I'm serious!" Ness replied, laughing as Paula hung up with a laugh.

"…Now I need to ask Jeff about timezones."

"You seriously don't know…?" he jumped and turned to see Nagini coiled around a lamp for some weird reason. "Uh, no, not really. I mean, I know it has something to do with how time is different in different places but…"

"Not the full extent." Nagini finished, tasting the air with her tongue before she slithered down to wrap around his waist. "Yea, it's a dumb question, although…" he glanced at the mark under her head. The shattered earth either swallowing or releasing a gruesome depiction of a ghost. Its face twisted into agony and giving a silent screech.

"Nagini, did Tom Riddle put some magic on you or something?" Ness asked, tempted to poke the symbol but stopped when he remembered Nagini's fangs.

"Maybe? I don't know. Mind fuzzy. Very, very fuzzy."

"And your speech is weird…" had the mark been an invisible seal to keep Nagini under Tom's control? Or had it been wizarding influence that he had accidentally destroyed in his haste to stop her from attacking Mr. Weasley?

"Speech is fine. You're weird."

"Gee, thanks-,"

"Why are you talking to snake." Ness totally didn't fall off the bed with a screech. Nope, totally. Not even when Jeff shot him a questionable look and closed the door behind him.

"Well, random snake aside, everyone but Tony is getting ready to go but Ginny wants to talk to you about something."

"R-right, I'll be down in a bit." Jeff shot him a look then tilted his head to Nagini who was baring her fangs and eager to fight. "Oh geez—Nagini, Jeff is a friend! Don't bite him!"

"…He looks weird." Nagini decided, relaxing into a loose coil as Jeff studied her, "Nagini, the same snake who-,"

"You know how I ordered her to head home?" Ness interrupted, cringing as Jeff paled and adjusted his glasses. "Ah…she's now…?"

"Yup, and I'm planning on using her as a mail snake."

"…Well, I suppose that could work. You would just need to set up times so no one would find out about Nagini."

"I'm more worried about her dropping on someone's head." He glanced at the snake who was eyeing the ceiling, "She does that. A lot."

"Right…Anyway, Ginny's waiting. I'm…going to watch the snake."

"Not a baby."

"Noted Nagini."

"And ignored." Nagini grumbled as Ness left the somewhat warm room and walked downstairs, fighting back a guilty smile when he noticed Ron glaring daggers at him. He didn't have long to study it, or maybe apologize when Ginny and Luna grabbed his wrists and dragged him into one of the rooms Jeff and Doctor Andonuts set aside for tinkering.

"So, what's the-," Ness started when Ginny interrupted him, "What really happened."

"Wha-," he stopped and looked at Luna who merely shook her head no to his next question. "Well…nothing much, just the fact that the Ministry had a bunch of PSI enemies who were corrupted by magic and calling me their new leader with their old leader locked behind a metal door. He was oddly…soothing."

"It's troublesome to wonder why the Ministry would have clearly dangerous beings in their possession and not destroy them." Luna mused.

"Maybe they couldn't defeat them." Ness offered, nervously studying Ginny who was thinking, her eyes closed in thought, "I mean, wizards can't see PSI attacks and you guys don't really seem ready to resort to physical force to achieve something."

"True…but this just raises a bigger question." Ginny opened her eyes, the bone deep weariness and pain shining brightly as she asked, "Why was dad even there? What was so important that Voldemort would try and break in or kill him?"

"The only people who would have that answers would be the one who sent Mr. Weasley there." Ness replied, hating how every question, every riddle had an answer locked away by someone they couldn't reach or fight.

The truth always a foot in front of them, mocking and jeering as they could only stare with gritted teeth. They left after that, leaving him to stew in his thoughts as Jeff came downstairs. Nagini happily wrapped around him as Tony screamed and rushed to try and help him.

The scene brought a small smile to his face before it slipped off. How many people would need to get hurt before Dumbledore sent him back to Hogwarts? How long would it be before he truly snapped.

And when were they going to get their questions answered?

"Ness, I have a question." He looked up from his thoughts, surprised to see some notebooks and graph paper on the living room coffee table. "Jeff? What's with all the…" he trailed off when he saw the glint in Jeff's eyes.

Like everyone else, Jeff was tired of being teased and taunted with the truth. He wanted answers, and he had the smarts to get them. "How well can you control the beings under your… 'control'?"

"Barely…? I don't know, I think I've only purposely controlled them once." Ness admitted, glancing at Nagini and adding, "Minus Nagini of course, she was a heat of the moment thing."

"So, what would happen if you could control them?"

"Jeff, what are you hinting at?"

"Snowballing."

"What?"

Jeff adjusted his glasses and smirked, "We're going to snowball the problems to get some answers, starting with a certain teacher with connections to the Ministry."

"…Huh." Was he could manage as he sat down at the meeting.

And now, part two to the best Christmas ever! :D Everyone gets emotional pain!

Also, I have now set my little sister on a small war path since I went downstairs cracking up about the irony in my statement and since my little sister is an extreme world builder and needs every little detail makes sense before she can write about it. Couple this with my answers and her lack of knowledge of the books and you know have a 15 year old worrying about the wizard economy, how wizards give birth and cracking up over Dumbledore randomly getting shot in the head thanks to a random gun. (She's still typing as I write this. Her new discussion is how to fix the wizarding economy.) Thank GOD we don't have twitter, J.K Rowling would get no rest XD

Reviews! :D

M1nhTre37: Don't worry, my head hurts as well since every time I think about PSI and Magic I seem to end up running in circles about what magic and PSI can cannot do and what happens when you mix them together. Also, because my little sister is still wondering about wizards as I type this. (SEND HELP XD)And poor Ron isn't even done being unreasonably angry yet, we still have the end of break to worry about. :3

CybeastFalzar: In the defense of the grieving Weasleys (Who I'm not done with in terms of suffering.) it's pretty rare to see a wizard suffering from Paralysis since magic is mostly- Stupify! You can't move now! You're paralyzed/stunned!- instead of delayed reactions and brief moments of being unable to move or think coherently. Another joy of PSI messing with magic. Also, even though I have no idea what Razeluxe is, go for it! I'm currently juggling three stories (Which may never see the light of day since I kept changing my mind on what happens or how it should work) since I have so many ideas that I don't want to forget. Actually, I think it's a curse for writers to have multiply stories happening at once since I've seen so many people online juggling different stories and keeping them regularly posted.

Thanks for the reviews! :D