Disclaimer: I don't own anything save for my own ideas.
Bloody Kitsune: Well this chapter was difficult to get out and I still couldn't get it as long as I normally would. Maybe it has something to do with a certain demanding Fire-type who is far too like his name-sake...*Sighs* Does anyone even read these things?
Reviews:
TheMarphasChappers: So very true. We'll just have to wait and see ya know. Nice to see that you're still reading my fics. I've missed hearing your thoughts on each chapter.
Twister60: Thank you.
ThunderClaw03: That they do.
Jostanos: I can totally see that happen.
57A7IC Tarn: Thank you.
House Elves are Crazy
Calla looked up from the TV and bowl of chocolates that she'd been steadily working through as her father walked inside. She saw the confused look on his face and asked, "Papa, what's wrong?"
"Nothing is actually wrong just a bit odd," Jason answered when his eyes landed on the bowl of chocolates, "Where did you get those?"
"LJ," Calla answered as she reached into the bowl and grabbed another one.
They were on the bitter side with some kind of filling that tasted like coffee. It actually tasted pretty good considering the fact she normally did like bitter things. Jason shook his head lightly, "Don't eat too many, we'll be eating dinner in an hour or so."
Candy Cane would be unhappy if Calla ruined her dinner especially when it was one of her favorite foods. Calla nodded as she chewed on the chocolate in her mouth, "I know. What's odd?"
"A house elf has apparently been trying to steal your mail for some odd reason," Jason answered earning a confused look, "Apparently it didn't want you to go back to Hogwarts,"
Calla shook her head, "That's a downright bizarre reason to steal mail. Why wouldn't it want me to go back to Hogwarts?"
Jason shrugged as he walked over to sit down beside her, "No clue. The goblins couldn't contain it long enough to find out."
"Pity," Calla decided to put the odd actions of the elf behind her, "Want to watch How It's Made? It's the episode on riding mowers, popcorn, adjustable beds, and cultured diamonds,"
Jason glanced at the screen before nodding, "Sure, it's been awhile. Which part are they on now?"
"It just started, so riding mowers?" Calla offered her chocolates earning a small smile.
Calla shifted as she woke up from the dream she was having. Something was inside her room that she'd never felt before, she grabbed her wand which was settled beneath her pillow as well as the small canister of knock out gas. It may seem like she was paranoid, but when you lived around killers, pranksters, and ancient entities, you had to be ready for everything. Even if the being in her room wasn't hostile, it had still managed to get into her room without waking anyone and that made it dangerous. When she felt it get close to her, she faked a yawn and slowly rolled over to face it with her eyes closed. Dropping the canister, she heard it click and begin releasing the gas inside prompting her to cover her mouth.
It took a few seconds before the gas started to work and a thump sounded as a small body hit the ground. Summoning her gas-mask, she put it on as the gas began to reach her bed. She waited until the gas had filled her room before she left her bed and slowly made her way out of her room making sure to avoid the being she felt on the floor. Once she exited her room, she began waking up Candy Pop, Candy Cane, and her father. When they exited their rooms, they looked at her in confusion only to become alarmed when they noticed her gas mask and the smoke slowly slipping out of her room. Pulling up her mask, she said, "Something got into the house and into my room. I gassed it, so it should be out for awhile."
"Right," Jason walked over to her, "Are you alright?"
Calla nodded with a small yawn, "I woke up the moment it entered the my room and knocked it out before it could do anything."
"Good," He looked at Candy Cane and Candy Pop, "Cane, clear out the gas and make sure whatever it is stays asleep as well as tie it up. Pop, go to the mansion and ask Slenderman to allow us the use one of the interrogation rooms that no one can teleport out of,"
"Right," The two nodded before heading off to do as Jason asked.
Calla found herself being hugged by her father and she leaned into his embrace as she returned it, "You did a good job, Calla. We'll take it from here."
"Can I stay with you, Papa?" She realized that she was shaking a bit, "I don't want to go back into my room,"
"Of course," Jason agreed without a pause and picked her up earning a small squeak, "Let's go drink some hot chocolate and get calmed down, okay?"
Calla nodded as she burrowed her face into his neck. She felt like screaming, crying, and laughing hysterically. She chose to cry instead of the other two knowing that neither were appropriate for the situation.
Night Terrors growled as he shifted uneasily in his place within the idiots mind. A being, a house elf to be correct, had somehow managed to overwhelm the wards over Jason's workshop and entered Calla's room. A glorified brownie had managed to get into his Little Doll's room and would have done who knows what to her. The worst part is that they hadn't even known of it's presence. He bared his fangs as his tail lashed out. It could have kidnapped her or worse, killed her and they wouldn't have known. Snarling angerly, he lashed out at the images of the pitiful thing that he'd created. It could have killed his mate. He growled when the idiot sighed out, 'Calm yourself, Night.'
"Calm myself?" Night Terrors couldn't believe the idiot, "That glorified brown could have killed our mate and we wouldn't have known if she hadn't acted how she had. We could have lost her and you want me to fucking calm down? GO TO HEAVEN, YOU LUCIFER BE BLESSED IDIOTIC SON OF A WHORE!"
Night Terrors spluttered when the idiot gave him the mental equivalent of a bitch slap. Candy Pop spoke in the same calm tone as he had before, 'I am aware, Night, but there isn't anything we can do right now especially as Jason wants to interrogate the little bastard. Being angry won't solve anything.'
Taking a deep breath, Night Terrors realized that the idiot was right even if he really didn't want to calm down. Growling softly, Night Terrors said, "Will you at least demand that Jason allow us to kill that thing once it's been interrogated?"
'As much as I would like to, Jason has more of a reason than us especially since I still don't know if she's actually our mate or not,' Why couldn't he just accept it? It would make things so much easier once the little doll was old enough, 'Jason and our sister don't know about that little fact either. If they did, I'm fairly sure one of them, Jay, would kill us,'
Night Terrors winced a bit at that because Jason would skin them alive. Candy Cane wouldn't be bothered about it especially since she probably already the truth. She was scarily knowledgeable of things like that. Shaking his head, Night Terrors flopped to the metaphorical ground, "This bites."
'It does,' Candy Pop agreed, 'Will you listen in while we're interrogating it? I hate to admit it, but you're better at detecting lies than I am,'
Night Terrors snorted with an eye roll, "Of course, Idiot. I want to know why it went after our mate."
Candy Pop said nothing in reply which made Night Terrors sigh. Sometimes, he really wished the idiot would just kiss the little doll. If he did, they could start getting her to accept their affections not to mention it would make it easier for him to take control of their body when the time came to show their little mate that she belonged to them.
Jason leaned back against the wall with Candy Pop while Candy Cane sat in one of the chairs at the metal table. The room resembled a police interrogation room with the only difference being that one of the walls was fake and hid rows of weapons that could be used on the one being interrogated. Slenderman spoke in their minds, "BEN has started the recording. Wake it up."
Inwardly bristling at the fact the faceless entity was in charge when it was his daughter that had been the house elf's target, Jason nodded to Candy Cane when she glanced at him. Candy Cane nodded and flicked her wrist causing the house elf to begin waking up. It groggily opened its eyes only to jerk a bit and start looking around worriedly. Candy Cane spoke as it saw them, "House Elf, my name is Candy Cane. With me are my brother, Candy Pop, and Jason Maker, the father of the girl who's room you were found inside."
"Where is the Great Calla Potter?!" The house elf shouted in a male voice attempting to jump up only for the chains around his limbs to prevent it, "I must warn her. She cannot go back to Hogwarts!"
"So you're the one that tried to steal her mail," Jason said earning a squeak.
"Calla Potter must not go back to Hogwarts this year!" The house elf shouted looking at him with panic, "She cannot go back!"
"Why can't she go back?" Candy Cane asked making it flinch.
"A great evil is coming," The house elf practically wailed, "My master-No, Dobby can't. Dobby can't go against master!"
The house elf attempted to slam his head into the table. Candy Cane froze his body in place with a frown. She looked at Jason, "What do we do Jay?"
"We need Puppeteer," Jason said with a grimace, "Clearly this is one of those abused house elves. He'll be even worse than the Potter elves,"
The door to the room opened moments later with Puppeteer floating inside. The golden eyed demon nodded to them before focusing on the house elf, "This will take a few moments, I've never encountered magicals before."
Puppeteer wrapped his golden strings around the house elf who went slack when one slid into his head. Candy Pop groaned softly, "This is going to be fucking annoying, isn't it?"
"Yes, yes it will be," Jason ran a hand over his face, "Does Night have anything to say about this?"
Candy Pop nodded with a small glare aimed towards the house elf, "The House Elf really believes she can't go back to Hogwarts. Based on what he could infer from the house elf's words, his master, or one of them as the case maybe, is sending something dangerous to Hogwarts and he believes that it will go after Calla."
"Fuck," Was all Jason could say.
Why was Hogwarts so dangerous? It wasn't so bad when Lily was going to school. Could it have something to do with Dumbledore? If so, why was he making the school more dangerous? What did he get out of making it dangerous? Was his target to harm Calla? No, it couldn't be otherwise he would've tried something when he met with them or had his phoenix kidnap her.
Calla looked at the sleeping house elf then at her father, "So he's doing all this in an attempt to protect me from the plans of Lucius Malfoy?"
"Yes though you aren't the actual target," Jason answered with a frown.
"Somehow that doesn't make this better," Calla felt bad for the house elf, "What are we going to do?"
Calla wanted to go back to Hogwarts despite the dangers. She was curious about the great evil that the house elf talked about. Jason sighed, "I don't want you to go back, but I know you want to go back."
"Let me guess, we're going to up Vivian and I's training?" Calla asked earning a nod, "Well, at the very least, we should be fine going into the forest,"
"Just promise me you won't go looking for trouble," Jason told her with a frown.
"I promise that I won't go looking for trouble and I'll talk to someone if I hear something," Calla promised earning a tired smile, "So what's going to happen to the house elf?"
"We're letting him go once Puppeteer fucks with his mind a bit to blank out what he's seen here as well as place a compulsion to avoid coming near you which should hopefully keep you relatively safe," Jason answered making her snort and he chuckled.
"Considering the fact that I grew up with killers and am learning from them, I think I'll be just fine," Calla yawned softly, "After all, what can a house elf do?"
Calla walked into the mansion and felt Hermione's energy for the first time since she'd left the girl in Slenderman's office. She paused for a second as a shiver rolled down her spine at the feeling of Hermione's energy. It was almost completely unchanged other than the fact her other personality, Leon, was very much awake. She could feel the violence and malice coming off of him. Shaking her head as she resumed walking, she headed towards where she felt Vivian's energy which was in the same room as Sally, Ben, Toby, and Hermione.
She found them in the game room with the two boys and Vivian playing Mario Kart. Ben cursed as he was taken out by a well place banana which allowed him to be hit by a red shell, "Damn it!"
"Beating the boys again, Viv?" Calla asked as she entered the room.
"You know it," Vivian grinned at her before catching sight of the letter in her hand, "What's that?"
"An invitation to the Burrow for you and I," Calla answered as she handed it over to Vivian.
Hermione spoke causing Calla to look at her, "Not all three of us?"
"The story is that you're sick," Calla explained feeling Leon's energy surge a bit, "Sorry, Hermione,"
Hermione took a deep breath and seemed to force Leon back, "I understand. I'm still a bit too volatile at the moment."
"So long as you keep working on it, you get it," Calla offered her a warm smile, "How have you been besides the obvious?"
"I..." Hermione trailed off for a few seconds, "Am doing well as is Leon now that we've reached some semblance of order within our mind. The books Slenderman has given us are rather nice and have helped a lot too. I...I'm not mad at you, Calla. They explained what was happening and why it happened the way it is. I don't like it, but I'm glad that you were there at least part of the way,"
Calla felt relief go through her at that which made the guilt start to die off a bit, "Still, I'm going to do my best to make it up to you."
Hermione flushed while Leon's energy gained a pleased twist to it, "Y-you don't have to do that?"
"Yes, I do," Calla insisted before looking at the screen as Ben cursed loudly while Toby and Vivian began laughing their asses off, "Did you finish your homework?"
Hermione's blush faded and she nodded, "Yeah. Professor Flitwick's assignment was a bit hard though..."
As Calla settled into her discussion with Hermione, she knew that while the girl may have said she'd forgiven the witch hybrid, it didn't mean she actually had. It would be a long time until things even began to resembled some form of normalcy...well, something that resembled normal with serial killers, demonic entities, spirits, and various other beings running around.