Wow, I'm so glad people actually like this! (More so that people are actually reading it. Thanks!)
Just a few little notes before we begin.
First off, (most of you probably already know this, but I'm just going to say it again because I can) magic is totally RGB cannon. There are numerous episodes where characters use magical solutions to save the day. That's why I ended up making all the Ghostbusters magical. (I was trying to keep as many non-magical as possible, but apparently everybody uses magic... Mostly Ray and (ironically) Egon. Peter became magical because I found the idea of a magical Venkman family too good to pass up (Is there some siren blood in there?), and I was going to have Janine be a squib, but as she actually uses magic in the episode "Short Stuff", I ended up making her a first generation witch instead. Ray's magical (obviously) as is his whole family, as a bit of a tribute to Dan Aykroyd, who came from a family that believes in it all. Egon comes from a magical family, because his family has been shown to have a history of magic, with Zedekiah and Eli Spengler. (On a not completely unrelated note, I have to point out that the "witch" they face in the episode "If I Were a Witch Man", is stated to actually be a demon that must possess people to have a form-she is not an actual witch.) Winston, because of his dislike of magic, ended up as the only non magical one, though he has magical ancestory, as pointed out in the episode "Moaning Stones". So he has magical cousins and ties to the magical world, but doesn't like to interact with it.)
Woo, that ended up longer than I meant.
Fact 2: I am including an OC. She will be playing a large role in this story. I didn't want to, but frankly, I need her to play a specific role on Harry's Ghostbusting team. Harry's assembling a new team (eventually, not right away) based on the original, and therefore needs four players, a brain, a heart, a mouth, and the common sense. Harry may have been raised by geniuses, but even working hard and learning from them, he's not a genius. And no one he meets at Hogwarts would be able to alter proton packs on the fly, or fix a PKE meter. I needed someone who could, and I worked very, very hard to not have her be a Mary Sue. To that end, we still focus very much on Harry, and I hope that's okay.
Okay, I think that's pretty much everything for now. I own nothing. Enjoy!
Chapter 1: In Which Dumbledore Assumes and We Meet Cousin Evie
It was not most near eleven year olds' first reaction to try and shoot an owl coming towards you bearing a letter with a powerful proton stream.
Then again, Harry had never been most near eleven year olds.
And, to be honest, a flying form bearing down on him from above while he was in the middle of assisting his fathers on a bust did bring to mind a ghost.
It was a good thing he missed.
The owl, clearly mortally offended by Harry's reaction, dropped the letter on his face and wheeled off.
"Sorry!" Harry shouted after it. "I thought you were something else!"
Unfortunately for both Harry and the letter, the real ghost popped out a second later and shot a stream of fire at the boy.
Harry ducked the fire. The letter wasn't so lucky. It was incinerated.
"Hey!" Harry shouted, firing his thrower. "I think that was a birthday card, you gooper! There could have been money in there!"
Yes, Harry was certainly a product of his environment. And after several years, he'd dropped most of his British accent, as well.
Moments later, an angry Harry was stalking away from the scene with a steaming trap. He hoped whatever was in that letter wasn't too important.
HP/RGB
Across the pond, Albus Dumbledore noted that Harry Potter's letter had been destroyed before he could read it.
"Hm. The Dursleys must be being difficult," the elderly wizard mused. "Well, we'll just have to send another."
HP/RGB
"Mr. H. Potter, the corner bedroom, Ghostbusters' firehouse, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States of America," Harry read off. The envelope of the new letter he'd just received from another owl was surprisingly detailed, but because of the lack of information on the firehouse, probably wouldn't have ever made it to him in non-magical mail.
He flipped the letter over to see an unfamiliar crest stamped in wax on the other side. He slid a nail under the wax, about to crack it open, when-
"Hawwy come eat now!"
"Eeaugh!" Harry yelped, jerking back as Slimer's face seemed to emerge from the letter. This had the unintended side effect of completely sliming it, rendering it unreadable. "Slimer!"
"Sowwy Hawwy," Slimer said, pulling the green coated envelope out of his neck. He offered the paper to him, but Harry just shook his head.
"Don't bother," he sighed. "Funny thing is, it looks just like another letter I got not too long ago. I wonder if they'll send another one."
Slimer made a noise that was half apology, half confusion as Harry pinched the letter between two fingers and gingerly placed it in the trash bin.
Then he realized that in order to pop out through his letter, Slimer had to have come through the surface below him. And he had been sitting on his bed.
Which now had a large dark stain in the center.
"Damn it, Slimer!"
HP/RGB
Dumbledore frowned as Harry's second letter went unread. "Hm. The Dursleys must be more against magic than I previously believed. Ah, well, I'm sure that the third time's the charm."
HP/RGB
Harry again read the envelope as he headed down the basement steps, towards the containment unit. In his other hand, he held a still smoking ghost trap.
Unfortunately, reading and walking downstairs is rarely a good combination. Harry ended up tripping rather spectacularly and falling the last few steps.
On the trap.
Opening it.
Pandemonium ensued.
Later, Harry would admit to being rather proud of himself for recapturing the ghost so quickly. He didn't even mention what had happened to his fathers, and nothing had really been damaged except for a small scorch mark on one of the walls.
Oh, yeah, and he'd also toasted the letter. That wasn't really an issue, though. After so many identical ones, he was pretty sure it was just some sort of ad.
HP/RGB
So, someone had burned this letter as well, Dumbledore mused. (That wasn't really what had happened, but his magical quill that recorded reasons for letters going unread had never heard of protonic reversal. Fire was about as close as it got.)
With a frown, Dumbledore cast a quick spell to send several letters the next time. Surely one of them would get to the boy.
HP/RGB
"What the hell kind of ghost possesses a mailbox?" Harry demanded, panting heavily as he leaned against the wall of the firehouse.
He thought for a moment. "Better question. What hell kind of idiot ghost possesses the Ghostbusters' mailbox?"
"Clearly an idiot ghost," Peter shot back cheerfully. "Oh, look a bill that didn't get roasted." He quickly fired a short burst at the only remaining piece of mail. "If Janine asks, you didn't see that."
HP/RGB
This was getting ridiculous, Dumbledore thought. There was no way a letter from the next grouping wasn't getting through.
HP/RGB
Harry walked in the door to find Janine scolding Slimer.
"I just bought those eggs, Slimer! You didn't even wait for them to be cooked!"
"Tasted funny," Slimer mumbled.
"Of course they did! You ate them whole, shells and all!"
"Not feel so good…"
HP/RGB
Another swarm was sent.
HP/RGB
"What is it supposed to do this time?" Harry asked curiously, prodding at the machine. (1)
"It's supposed to take large scale PKE readings of the city and indicate points of origin of each," Egon said calmly, standing at the control panel.
"Oh." Harry tilted his head as he regarded the machine that seemed to have a different purpose every week. No one was entirely sure what it was at any given time… Unless you were Egon.
"Now, the some of the components are rather delicate, and I think you standing over there might raise the temperature just enough to cause catastrophic failure," Egon warned. "Regardless, I'd feel better if you came over here instead." He started up the machine.
Harry, however, frowned. "If they're temperature sensitive, then why are there heating coils so close by?"
Egon looked up in surprise. "What?" He hurried over to look. "Oh… Fuc-"
The explosion was enough to send both flying backwards, out into the hall. It also incinerated the group of letters flying in through the window. Neither Egon or Harry noticed this.
"Egon?" Ray asked, poking his head out of his workshop. "What happened?"
"You tried to turn my delicate instrument of science into a toaster," Egon said flatly. "Again."
"It wasn't a toaster, exactly…" Ray tried.
"Well, it certainly provided an excellent exothermic reaction, regardless," Egon stated, adjusting his glasses as Peter came up behind them.
"An excellent what?" Peter asked.
Harry grinned widely, despite the smudges on his face, and spoke the next line in unison with Egon.
"It blew up real good."
HP/RGB
...This went on for a while.
HP/RGB
When the entire firehouse became bombarded with a massive horde of flying letters, the first thought was, "Possession!"
It wasn't, of course, but that didn't stop all the firehouse's inhabitants from taking their throwers to them. It was half an hour before the storm finally died down, and, upon seeing the unburned letters on the ground, Ray finally opened one, more out of curiousity than anything else.
"Hey, guys! We weren't attacked by a class seven possessor!" Ray called. "It's just a letter trying to get Harry to attend Hogwarts!"
"That magic school in the UK?" Peter asked, blasting a group of letters.
"Yeah," Ray agreed.
Winston had opened his own copy. "Uh, Ray, this doesn't look like a typical invitation letter. This looks like he's already going."
"Well, he's not," Egon said firmly.
"Right," Ray agreed. "Hogwarts is a joke when it comes to magical theory. They only really teach the wanded magics, you know?"
"Not at all," Winston reminded.
"Well, we'd better send them a rejection letter then, shouldn't we?" Peter asked, moving to Janine's desk and shoving several still burning letters to the floor. "Anyone have any clue how to contact these weirdos?"
"They like owls," Egon said.
"What? Why?" Peter demanded, finally locating a paper and pen. "That's stupid."
"So are most British magicals," Egon agreed.
"Definitely don't want to go to Hogwarts," Harry spoke up. He was having much more fun being home schooled, even with a rather eclectic subject matter. "There's no logic to them whatsoever."
Egon tried and failed to hide his grin. "Indeed. And there's that dark wizard as well. Even we aren't that irresponsible."
HP/RGB
When Dumbledore received the rejection letter, he scowled. He'd known the Dursleys were ignoring the letters, but to actually try and say no…
He immediately scrapped all plans for Hagrid to collect Harry and decided he'd go himself. It was a simple check to see the address Harry was staying at.
New York? Curious. Perhaps the Dursleys had fled there to get away from his letters. It was rather illegal to just jump over there without going through the proper channels, but…
He made a portkey.
And activated it.
That was a mistake.
As soon as he landed, he heard a shout, and then a piercing alarm rang through the air. Before he could really react, there were men in front of him, pointing unusual weapons at him.
Muggles, clearly. He raised his wand…
Only to be taken aback as the blond man gestured a finger and snapped, "Alka!" (2)
Dumbledore's wand leapt from his hand to land in the hand of the man who'd cast. These people were magical? But how had the man cast wandlessly? And what sort of spell was that?
The red head in the group made a motion with his empty hand. "Nusku Kalu!" (3)
Ropes burst into existence, and Dumbledore found himself falling to the ground, trussed up and helpless.
"Can we blast him?" the brown haired man asked. "Just a little?"
"As much as I'm tempted, Peter, no," the blond said firmly. He glanced to the red head thoughtfully, twirling the stolen wand in his fingers. "I'd say definitely a British magical. Here illegally if the fact that he's here without warning is any indication."
The redhead nodded, shrugging the heavy metal pack off of his shoulders. "I'll be back." He headed up the staircase.
"Man, I hate it when they're physical," the one called Peter groaned. "No blasting. We have to be responsible and shit."
"Peter…" the dark skinned one warned.
"Hey, if Harry's not here, I'm not gonna bother watching my language okay?"
Dumbledore broke in. He may have been caught off guard, but he wasn't about to let these strange men continue to control the situation.
"Do you have any idea who I am?"
"Nope," the brown haired one said cheerfully. "Don't much care, either. Anyone who bursts in without warning, scaring the shit out of our secretary, and then tries to attack us gets the same treatment, man, ghost, or god."
"...God?"
The man didn't answer his question, instead going on. "Now, we're not really sure what you want with us, but rest assured, you're not going to be getting it. We've been attacked by goopers a lot more dangerous than you, and we're not-"
"Peter, he's not a ghost," the blond reminded. "Though we do have to talk about entrances. He's made an illegal portkey-"
"Ooh, that's naughty," the brown haired one said, though his voice was more mischievous than angry. "Bad wizard."
"Peter, please stop provoking the angry, powerful wizard," the blond said, voice flat, though his eyes were glinting with amusement.
"I am Albus Dumbledore," Dumbledore said, voice starting to pick up a bit of anger. "I am the Supreme Mugwump of the ICW-"
"Is he serious right now?" the dark skinned man asked.
"Very," the blond agreed. "Unfortunately for Mister Dumbledore, the ICW has no jurisdiction in America. We were offered membership in 1945, at the end of the second world war, but politely declined."
The dark skinned man seemed surprised. "Really? But didn't non-magical America join the UN right about then?"
"Yes, but you have to understand, it was in significantly different positions," the blond continued. "For non-magical America, the war ended with them in prime position to take the lead on the world stage. However, on the magical side, Britain was the one to deal the final blow."
"Basically, if they couldn't boss everyone around, they didn't want to play," the brown haired one finished with a grin. "Like a spoiled brat. That sounds about right."
At that moment, the redhead returned, flanked by a pair of men in dark suits.
"That's him," the redhead said, pointing at Dumbledore. "I think he was a bit taken aback by us, but then again, everyone is."
"Only you guys," sighed one of the men, shaking his head. He walked over to pull Dumbledore to his feet. "Alright, smart guy, we're going to have to take you in and ask you a few questions."
"Wait! You can't do this to me! I'm-!"
"Clearly a little soft in the head if you just tried to bust into one of the most well protected properties in New York. Jameson?"
The other man held up a trigger, depressed a button, and they were gone.
HP/RGB
It took a while before they were able to piece together the whole story.
Dumbledore had placed Harry with his relatives in the hopes that the blood protection he received there would keep him safe from the apparently-definitely-not-dead Voldemort. This had not worked out as he'd hoped.
Harry had been honestly surprised to find out that Dumbledore had been trying to contact him for so long. But when he thought about it, that made a lot of rather bizarre things make sense.
Regardless, Harry had no intentions of going to Hogwarts. He was happy being home schooled with the promise of eventually becoming a ghostbuster.
But all six of them (Slimer told to stay home (and threatened with the observation box if he didn't) (4)) did agree to hear the headmaster out. So they came into the government building to listen.
"Harry must attend Hogwarts," was the first thing Dumbledore said when they walked in.
"Not happening," Peter said immediately, flopping down in one of the provided chairs. "Also, Winston, you owe me ten bucks."
Winston glared at the headmaster. "Couldn't even wait for the damned greetings."
Janine smacked him upside the head. "I know I've told you to watch your language!"
"Ah, it's fine, Janine, Harry's heard it all before," Peter said dismissively.
"Harry must attend Hogwarts," Dumbledore repeated.
"Winston, you now owe me fifteen bucks."
"God damn it!"
"WINSTON!"
Harry snickered.
"You don't understand!" Dumbledore tried again. "Harry must attend Hogwarts! The dark lord is not dead!"
"Of course not," Egon agreed, sitting next to Peter. "After all, a piece of him is sitting up in my lab."
Dumbledore stared at him, mouth hanging slightly open.
Egon raised an eyebrow. "You didn't think we wouldn't notice the extra soul in Harry's scar? You do know who we are, don't you?"
"I'm afraid not," Dumbledore admitted.
One of the guards actually snickered at that.
"We're the Ghostbusters," Ray said proudly. "We capture and contain malevolent spirits. And occasionally other entities."
"You know, the usual," Peter said, smirking. "Sandman. Boogeyman. Old ones. Gods."
"As you might suspect, Hogwarts is rather limited in magical theory compared to what Harry is learning," Egon said. "We'd prefer to teach him everything we can."
"But there… there is a prophecy!" Dumbledore tossed out, getting desperate.
There was a moment of silence.
"God damn it," Janine hissed.
"What sort of prophecy?" Ray demanded. "What kind of reading? What wording?"
"I cannot tell you," Dumbledore said firmly. "Only that Harry must be at Hogwarts to learn under me."
"Bull," Peter snorted. "Ray and Egon took you down in under ten seconds."
"...It states that only Harry can defeat the dark lord," Dumbledore admitted grudgingly. "And the dark lord will target Harry when he inevitably returns."
Ray rubbed his chin. "When you say 'return'-"
Winston stepped on his foot. "Not the time, Ray."
"You know, it occurs to me that Harry, with his training, may be uniquely situated to defeat this dark lord," Egon said slowly.
"One moment," Ray said, holding up a finger. He flicked it toward Dumbledore. "Nusku Nisme Seheru!" (5)
Dumbledore blinked, before tapping at his ear, realizing he'd been temporarily deafened.
"Okay, Egon, go ahead."
"I'm just saying, Harry has a lot of experience dealing with dangerous ghosts, of which this Voldemort currently is," Egon said with a shrug.
"I suppose I do want to help people," Harry said slowly, speaking for the first time. "And he did kill my parents."
"So you want to go?" Peter asked.
Harry just shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe?"
"I think you're all forgetting the cardinal rule," Winston broke in, holding up a finger. There were ten rules of Ghostbusting, never to be broken. Rule number one was the most important one… but that didn't mean that they hadn't all probably broken it at least once. It also didn't mean they were about to let Harry do so.
"Never Ghostbust alone," all six said together.
"Hey, what if we all de-aged ourselves and went with Harry?" Peter asked. "That might be kind of fun. We could totally pull off kids."
"Maybe we could, but we can't leave New York unguarded," Ray pointed out.
"Besides, magic can't de-age people, Peter," Egon argued. "And believe me, that is not from a lack of trying."
"Says the guy who got de-aged into a baby by a clock ghost," Peter said snidely.
"That never happened!" (6)
Eager to head off the coming fight, Harry blurted out the first thing that came into his head. He would later remark that it was simply a moment of pure brilliance on his part, and he'd put enormous amount of thought into it.
"What about Cousin Evie?"
HP/RGB
Evanna Spengler was indeed a sort of cousin to Harry. They'd only met a few times, and Harry's impression of her was that she was a lot like her Uncle, Egon. Slightly standoffish and utterly brilliant.
Like him, Evie had inherited the family intelligence. She may have had a below average magical ability, but it was said amongst the family that all the extra had been used up in her mind. She was a child prodigy, only three months older than Harry, and already attending Miskatonic University, studying daemonology.
The first time they'd met, they'd both been five, and Evie had declared that she was definitely going to become a ghostbuster someday. Harry had seen no problem with that, and told her she could handle all the technology.
Evie thought that was a brilliant idea, and told him he could handle all the people.
The years that passed did not dissuade either of them from this course of action. It was only the fact that they rarely saw each other that stopped them from forming their own team.
Yes, Evanna would be a perfect companion to accompany Harry… if only she would agree to it.
HP/RGB
Harry dialed Evie's number.
"Hey, Evie? We're gonna get to become ghostbusters, no supervision! Only problem is that we both have to attend a not so great magic school in Scotland for a while."
It was really a sign of what was to come that Evie didn't even blink.
"Okay, when do we leave?"
HP/RGB
There turned out to be a bit more to it than that, but Evie was immediately convinced for the chance to become a full fledged ghostbuster sooner than she had originally thought. She'd honestly been planning it for a while-even once building a small prototype proton gun in her room.
(The gun had been mounted, so there was little mobile capabilities, and the thing had exploded after a single use, but as she had been six at the time and it hadn't exploded until after taking a chunk out of the Boogeyman's ear, she was pretty damn proud of the whole thing. (And the Boogeyman decided around then that he really disliked Spenglers, as a general rule.))
So then it was only a matter of convincing her parents, who weren't as hard to convince as one might expect, knowing Evanna was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. So long as she continued her lessons at Miskatonic online (7), they had no real arguments.
There was a moment of confusion at the realization that most electronics didn't work on Hogwarts grounds, but Egon and Ray had both been talented when it came to technomancy, even if that wasn't their first choice when it came to magics. Evie and Harry were both excited as they were shown the basic runic schematic that would protect the equipment they'd be taking from magical overload.
Evie especially. Runes were her specialty. Egon was best as verbal casting (though dabbled in almost everything else), and Ray at rituals (though he did the same as Egon). Peter was good at magical contracts and had developed some very nasty penalties for those who tried to break them, as well as a frightening affinity for divination despite not using it often. Janine had some talents at runes, but wasn't particularly good.
Harry hadn't found just what his favorite was yet, though he'd dabbled slightly in several areas, just learning the theory.
Then, with the safety of the equipment taken care of, it was up to Peter to make sure Harry and Evie would be safe.
In a long sit down with Dumbledore, Peter had haggled and threatened and flat out lied to get him to agree to the contract he had. Harry and Evie would be exempted from most school rules. They would only have to attend the classes they felt like. (Evie in particular was cheered by this. Her focus casting was abysmal.) Any punishments demanded would have to be run by the guys before being carried out.
Yes, it was ridiculous. But the guys held all the cards, and both they and Dumbledore knew it. Harry had been offered citizenship almost immediately after formally becoming the ward of the Ghostbusters and therefore Dumbledore and Britain had no claim over him whatsoever, not even as the head of the ICW.
Peter was able to wrangle a few other concessions out of Dumbledore before they signed the contract and Harry and Evie were both officially students of Hogwarts.
It would be an interesting year.
HP/RGB
Despite being from out of the country, it was really a simple matter to get to Diagon Alley to pick up school supplies. While much of what was on their list could be and was bought stateside at the closest magical shopping center, they would still need to get their robes and wands from the British one.
Harry had been surprised to find it so easy, until Peter had sat down and explained the politicking behind it.
"See, Harry, you know that America never joined the ICW because they knew they wouldn't end up at the head of it?" Peter asked.
Harry nodded.
"Well, basically, they see you as their way of getting there. You're pretty much a national icon in Britain, and to have you choose America over Britain is a huge blow to Britain. It's not something you need to worry about, just know that we're keeping an eye on things and if anything starts looking bad, we'll take care of it."
They could, too. So Harry stopped worrying and focused back on this school.
HP/RGB
Finding Diagon Alley was a little tricky. Egon and Ray ended up being the ones to take them, mostly because Ray loved any chance to explore magical things and Egon was the most responsible besides Winston, who wasn't magical, but also because the names Spengler and Stantz were both well known throughout Europe, even in the insular Britain.
Humorously, both were also thought of as typically 'dark' by the British ministry's definition.
The Stantz family was known for ritual casting and their knowledge when it came to occult studies, both things the ministry disliked. Rituals had long since fallen out of use due to potential disasters associated with them, and no one like to think on the fact that there were beings and entities out there with more power than they themselves.
Similarly, the Spengler family was known for its eccentricity amongst the members, and that they would research anything. Anything. It was research into necromancy that had chased the last Spengler who'd come to Britain out of the country (about a century ago), despite the fact that the man had never actually performed any necromantic magics and was in fact researching for a way to reverse such spells.
The eccentricity was that they tended to approach magic as a branch of science. Egon even had an uncle who'd written a well researched book entitled "The Science of Magic". It had been banned in the British Isles.
Finding the Leaky Cauldron was easy, it was accessing Diagon that was harder. Ray ended up studying the stones he knew they were supposed to get through for several minutes, all of them trying to figure out how to access the alley with no magical focus.
Finally, Egon had rolled his eyes, gestured at the wall and declared, "Petu." (8)
The Sumerian word had the gate practically jumping open as the magic overrode the simple spell blocking the way. That was when Harry got his first look at Diagon Alley.
He stared. Not for the magic, or people bustling through, but for the fact that it all looked like something right out of the middle ages.
"This is…"
Evie twisted her lip in disgust. "Archaic. Let's get our things and get out of here."
They ventured into the alley.
(What the four hadn't noticed was that the gate was still open behind them. It would take the ministry several hours to find a way to re-close it.)
"Well, where should we start?" Ray asked curiously, looking excited.
"Let's get the foci out of the way first," Harry offered. "Then the uniform, and then we can check out the book shops before heading out."
"And perhaps a quick nip into Knockturn Alley as well," Egon offered. "They might have some actually interesting books there."
Ray lit up. "Yeah, that sounds great!"
"We still have to exchange our money at the bank," Evie reminded. She still looked displeased with her surroundings. "Though why these fools insist on their own unique currency I will never understand."
Magical America used the same currency as the non-magical side. It made life so much easier.
Gringotts Bank was on the other side of the alley, but the alley was rather small all things considered. It only took about ten minutes to reach the other side. They entered the large white stone building with little fuss.
After Harry had become an American citizen, all his holdings had been transferred across the pond. So the visit would require only a stop at the exchange booth.
Upon reaching that booth, to the surprise of pretty much everyone, Egon greeted the teller in flawless Gobbledegook, before continuing on to request the exchange in the same language.
Harry could only pick up a few words. Languages were not his strong suit.
Ray looked more amused than anything else. "One of these days, I'm going to find a language Egon doesn't speak."
"Do you think you can cast in Gobbledegook?" Evie asked, her face thoughtful.
"No idea. I don't think many people know the language well enough to try."
In order to become a verbal caster, one had to master an uncommon language, the older the better. Egon and Ray had ended up learning together, picking Sumerian. Egon was better at it than Ray, who still had to use the incantation word before any spells.
"It's still in use, so maybe not," Evie mused.
Ray shrugged. "It's certainly old enough, though. I'll ask Egon later."
Egon finished haggling at the booth, and stepped away with a heavy bag of coins. "Perhaps Peter could have gotten a better deal, but I think they liked the fact I spoke their language," he admitted.
The was true. Goblins loved to haggle, but most people didn't bother with it for whatever reason in Britain. In any Goblin-run American bank, there would be lines of people hammering out a deal.
"Great!" Ray enthused. "The foci next, then?"
Harry and Evie both grumbled slightly but allowed themselves to be led to Ollivander's wand shop, which advertised it'd been making wands since the BC era.
Ray looked ready to bombard the man with questions the moment he saw him, but Egon caught his arm and hissed that he should at least wait until after Harry and Evie found wands.
When they first stepped into the shop, however, it appeared to be empty. Dim lit and dusty, Evie found her breaking point.
"This is ridiculous," she growled, and pulled a rune stone from the pouch at her waist. She channeled a small amount of magic into it, and it lit up, illuminating the dark store.
"Well, well, well. It's been quite a while since I last had a full fledged runic caster come for a wand," came a voice behind all of them.
Egon and Ray both instinctively reached towards their shoulders as they turned, before realizing they weren't wearing proton packs.
"I'm hardly full fledged," Evie corrected. "And I don't want a wand, but Hogwarts will only teach you if you have one for some foolish reason."
"Yes, as much as I am biased towards wanded magics, I do agree," the man said, stepping from the shadows. "To think they all but ignore the rest is quite foolish."
"Okay, okay, let's get on with this," Harry sighed.
"Of course, Mister Potter," the man agreed, stepping towards the piles of boxes behind the counter.
The next twenty minutes were a bit of a blur, with Harry barely touching the wands before having them snatched away, and the man (Ollivander?) muttering to himself as he puttered through the boxes, thinking.
Finally, Harry found one that warmed in his grasp.
"Twelve and a quarter inches, sycamore and unicorn hair, slightly springy," the man informed him. (9)
"Great, should probably get a holster, too," Harry mumbled, shuffling over to the wall where a rack of holsters stood.
Evie had nearly as much trouble as Harry, waiting over half an hour before the man threw his hands up and passed her one she'd already tried, that they both knew that, while alright, wasn't a perfect fit.
"Ten and a half inches, black walnut and dragon heartstring, unyielding," he rattled off. "Not a perfect fit. I'd suggest Acromantula silk for you, actually, if the ministry hadn't outlawed it. They found a correlation between that wand core and dark magic users." (10)
Evie instinctively responded with the number one rule of statistics. "Correlation does not imply causation."
The man's face broke into a twisted smile. "Yes. I think it would fit you well."
"Not like I plan to be using it much either way," Evie sniffed disdainfully.
Harry passed over two holsters he'd picked out for the pair of them, and they paid.
Ray shot a glance at Egon, who nodded slightly. Immediately, he began a barrage of questions related to wandlore and the history behind it.
Evie was looking a little intrigued, but Harry just looked embarrassed. Egon leaned down to them.
"If you want, you can go get your robes. We'll meet you in the bookstore once I can drag Ray away from here."
"Thanks, Papa Egon!" Harry said quickly, grabbing Evie's hand and dragging her from the shop.
Egon turned back to Ray with a glint in his eye and quickly joined him in haranguing the poor wandmaker.
HP/RGB
"Madame Malkin's," Harry read outloud. "That looks promising."
"Nothing selling robes as the height of fashion looks promising," Evie sniffed. "They're drapey and they drag through your circles and the arms catch on fire too easily."
"I have a feeling you've experienced the last one," Harry said as he opened the door.
"There was an incident with an experimental technomancy project," Evie said with a shrug. "The students I was working with wanted to wear robes for the ambiance. I don't think they'll be doing that again."
Harry laughed at that as a woman came to greet them.
"Good afternoon, I'm Madame Malkin," she greeted. She was a kindly looking older woman with grey hair and dark, well cut robes. "Hogwarts as well?"
"That's right," Harry agreed. "For both of us."
"I'm already regretting it," Evie added darkly as the two were motioned to stand on a pair of raised dais next to a boy with slicked back platinum blond hair.
"Hello," the boy greeted as they joined him. "Are you here for Hogwarts robes, then?"
"Unfortunately," Evie agreed. "You as well?"
"Yes," the boy agreed. "Which house do you think you'll end up in?"
Evie shrugged, but next to her, Harry snorted. "Please, Evie, if you don't end up in Ravenclaw, I'll eat my proton pack."
"That would be unadvisable," Evie pointed out. "You'd probably end up with radiation poisoning."
Harry groaned. "It's an expression! Jesus, Spengs, you're just like your uncle, you know that?"
"Your uncle, he's one of our kind, isn't he?" the blond asked.
"I would shudder to discover he ever set foot in this country before," Evie said.
"Not entirely true," Harry argued, holding up a finger. "You remember that castle in Scotland Papa Ray inherited? The one with the ghost army?"
True to her word, Evie shuddered.
The boy looked confused for a moment, before realizing. "Oh, your accents! You're American, then?"
Both nodded.
"I meant, is your uncle magical, not British," the boy explained.
A strange look came over Evie, before she drew herself up.
"Yes, of course he is," she said sticking her nose in the air. "He's up the street, badgering the wandmaker. No, the whole family is magical, of course. I'm Evanna. Evanna Spengler. That's my cousin, Harry."
The boy's eyes widened fractionally. "Spengler?"
"Correct," Evie agreed, before continuing. "We just came from the wand shop, you know, but I'm afraid my match isn't quite suited. I have one at home, much better, but it's not allowed here. Acromantula silk core, you see, can't believe it's been outlawed, absolutely ridiculous if you ask me-"
The woman who'd been fixing the hem on the boy's robes finished. "That's you done, dear."
The boy hopped down from the dais and turned to Evie. "I'd forgotten to introduce myself. Malfoy, Draco Malfoy. I hope to see the two of you on the express."
With that, he turned and swept from the shop.
"Malfoy," Harry mocked. "Draco Malfoy. Very Double-07, there. What was that bit about?"
"Blood purist," Evie said, wrinkling her nose. "You could tell by the way he was asking about Uncle. I just name dropped the family name and basically bull shitted my way through everything else."
"Mostly true as well," Harry agreed. He paused. "Do you have a wand at home?"
"Actually, I do, but it's a different type of wand than these ones," Evie explained. "More like you'd think a fairy wand would be like. And it actually does have an Acromantula silk core. I'm still awful with it, though."
Harry snorted. "We are going to have a lot of fun with people this year, aren't we?"
A strange smirk grew on Evie's face. "Oh, yes."
HP/RGB
The bookstore was crowded. Not unbearably so, but still more so than Harry would have liked. Within seconds, Evie had made a beeline for the advanced magics section and was scanning through the books.
"Wrong, wrong, stupid, read it, wrong, read it, wrong, wrong, stupid-"
Harry grinned as he headed for the history section. They couldn't have that much wrong, could they?
Apparently, they could.
"Who the hell writes this shit?" he groaned, seeing a series of children's books surrounding the "Boy-Who-Lived" and his adventures.
"Harry, what are you- oh."
Ray had come up behind the boy. "That's not right. Not right at all."
"I know!" Harry exclaimed. He pointed at a picture on the front of one, depicting him going up against a flaming monster that bore a faint resemblance to a fire elemental. "The fire elemental I fought was twice the size of that shrimpy little thing!"
Anyone else would have been under the impression that Harry was acting a brat, but Ray knew him well enough to know he was deflecting his discomfort with humor. Or attempting to, at any rate.
"Harry, we'll look into this," Ray promised.
Harry slumped slightly. "Thanks, Dad. It's just…"
Ray set a hand on Harry's shoulder. Harry seemed to draw strength from this and drew himself up. "Let's get out of here. There's nothing useful here."
They headed for the door, Ray making a motion to Egon, who was standing near an angry looking Evie, who was going off on one of the poor employees.
"Who in the seven hells outlaws technomancy?!"
HP/RGB
The Knockturn Alley bookstore was only slightly better. They had more books on different magics, but those were really all beginners books. Evie had blown up at the shop owner again ("If you're going to smuggle in books, you could at least get decent ones-!") before they gave up and headed home.
It was only a few days before they were heading out to school, so Evie was going to stay with them for the last days while her uncle gave her a crash course in proton pack maintenance.
The day before they left, Harry finally realized that there was something he really had to do before he actually left, mostly because he wouldn't be around to have to deal with the fallout.
He didn't think of it until he saw Janine stalking through the halls, muttering darkly about men! again. It wasn't hard to find the source of her issues. A baffled looking Egon stuck his head from the lab, watching her walk away with confusion, before ducking back inside.
Harry pinched the bridge of his nose and went to find Peter and Winston, mostly because he knew they'd be the most help.
Peter was in his 'office'. Winston was working on replacing a clogged tube in the Ecto-1.
"Dads?" Harry asked, walking down the stairs. From his vantage point, he could see both of them. "Could you help me with something before I go?"
Peter looked up from his newspaper. "What is it, squirt?"
Harry told him.
Winston nearly hit his head on the raised hood as he pulled it from the engine. "You want to do what?!"
"That's a great idea!" Peter cheered, tossing his newspaper to the side. "I'm so glad I thought of it. Let's do this thing!"
Harry grinned.
HP/RGB
A soot covered Egon trudged into the bedroom the four guys shared to find his bed missing. With a frown, and wondering if he'd done something to upset Peter again, he turned to his closet, hoping to find a clean uniform.
The closet was empty.
Egon sighed and headed downstairs. Peter was sitting at his desk, an all too innocent expression on his face.
"Peter, where are my things?"
"In your bedroom," Peter answered easily.
"I was just there, I didn't see anything," Egon frowned, looking upwards. He wondered if he'd missed something, or if there was a ghost in the firehouse again. He'd have to take some PKE readings-
Janine shrieked from downstairs.
Immediately dropping all thoughts of his things, Egon sprinted down into the basement, where Janine's bedroom sat, just off of the main room. Janine was standing in the doorway, looking extremely unhappy.
Upon seeing Egon, she spun around. "Who the hell messed up my room?!"
Egon's eyes widened, then narrowed. He spun to see a smirking Peter at the top of the stairs. "PETER!"
Because just past Janine, someone had shoved a second bed up against hers. Egon had a pretty good feeling there were things in her closet, as well.
"Egon," Peter said calmly, still grinning, "Janine's been in love with you for years. Janine, Egon's also been in love with you for years, he's just an idiot. Now, the two of you can get a room."
The tips of Egon's ears turned red. "Peter, this isn't funny," he hissed.
"Yes it is," Peter corrected.
"Yeah, I think Egon's made it pretty clear where he stands," Janine snapped.
"Yes, he's in love with you," Peter said firmly. "Seriously, everyone can see it, except for the two of you. And it's driving the rest of us nuts. So, either you kiss right now, or we go to plan B."
"What's plan B?" Egon asked, in spite of himself.
"Where we handcuff the two of you to the bed," Peter said with a shrug.
The two exchanged glances.
"Well, if it's just a kiss," Egon mumbled, looking away.
Janine's cheeks were tinged pink. "I suppose, to get out of the other thing…"
It was almost painfully awkward as Janine reached a hand up to Egon's cheek and he leaned down to press their lips together.
And stayed together.
As Janine's hand snaked back to tangle in Egon's hair and his hands moved around her waist to pull her closer, Peter finally backed out of the basement with a smirk on his face.
"Successful?" Harry asked him.
"Very," Peter agreed, high-fiving the young boy. "I'm guessing we won't be seeing them for a while."
HP/RGB
Sure enough, when a blushing Egon and Janine joined them later in the evening, Egon announced that he would not be needing any assistance moving his things back upstairs, to the whistles and teasing cat calls of his teammates.
HP/RGB
So it was with a sense of pride that Harry finally boarded the Hogwarts Express, carrying a heavy trunk at his side and a special bottomless mokeskin pouch at his waist. Evie had two of them on hers, one filled with her runestones and the other, like Harry's, filled with whatever equipment they felt they'd use.
The specific spell work on the pouches would allow them and only them to remove whatever content they happened to be reaching for at the time, with an intent based ward. It was a difficult and powerful magic, but Evie had been experiment with making them a couple years back, and as such had several laying around her bedroom. Harry joked that it was one of those things that only Evie would ever have.
It took a bit of trial and error to actually get onto the platform, especially as everyone wanted to come to see them off. Peter got Ray to walk into six solid walls before the man had snapped and socked the other man (a very rare but very amusing occurrence) and Janine had to deflect a few railroad employees' questions, but eventually they were able to pass the barrier and head for the Hogwarts Express.
It was just before they boarded that the five adults stopped them.
"So, we know that you're both going to do great," Winston started, "but we still kind of feel like we're sending you off to war or something."
"To be fair, we very well might b-" Egon began, before Janine elbowed him.
"So we've decided that the two of you could use a little trick up your sleeve," Ray continued. "So…"
He glanced around before holding up the small briefcase he'd brought with, not telling either of the kids what was inside. Carefully, he popped the latches and opened it.
Inside, Slimer's bright face looked up at them, shoved into the compact space.
"Hwi!" he cheered happily.
Harry's mouth fell open. "No way. Slimer's coming with us?"
"So that's why you wouldn't let us get an animal…" Evie mused.
Harry grinned. "I can't believe it. This is awesome!"
"Just don't do anything I wouldn't do," Peter said with a grin, patting them both on the back.
"That doesn't limit us as much as you might hope," Evie pointed out, raising an eyebrow.
"Exactly," Peter grinned. "Give 'em hell, kids!"
"Keep on top of your lessons," Egon added.
"Don't forget to call!" Janine put in.
"Treat Slimer well," Ray said, handing them the now reclosed briefcase.
"And behave yourselves," Winston added.
"No promises," Harry grinned, giving each a hug. Next to him, Evie stood absorbed in her PKE meter, not paying attention. "Bye, Mum! Dads! See you at Christmas!"
With a wave, he grabbed his trunk with one hand and Slimer's case with the other and bounded onto the train.
"Evie?" Egon asked after a moment.
"Hm?" Evie asked, looking up, blinking. She seemed to realize where she was. "Oh, yes. Have a good time, Uncles, Aunt Janine. We'll take care."
Then, picking up her trunk, she too headed up onto the train.
Egon shook his head. "That girl always has her head in the clouds. We have no idea where she gets it from."
"Says the man who can ignore ghosts to death," Peter sniped, before thinking. "Wait. To death? To undeath? Non-existence? Can I get a grammar check here?" (11)
A/N:
(1) There is a machine in the fire house. It explodes frequently. No one's quite sure what it does, because it's always something different. It's a bit of a running joke, and at one time, when Peter asked if he could be told what it was so he'd know what he was incinerated by, Egon responded with some long technical name, and Ray said "a toaster!" Yeah... looks like they don't know what they're doing, either.
(2) Egon casts in Sumerian. Because he's fucking Egon. "Alka" means "come". Clearly, Sumerian is more versatile than wands. (Though I'll get into that later.)
(3) Ray can also cast in Sumerian. Because why not? "Nusku" is an incantation word. I have it so people less good with verbal casting generally use an incantation word to start their spells and gather power. Ray uses it, because he's better with rituals. Egon doesn't, because he's not. "Kalu" means "confine". Again, half of the magic is intent.
(4) A box with clear sides that ghosts can't escape from. ...That's about it. Never seen in RGB, it's a bit of a reference to both the video game and the IDW comic series... both of which have Slimer (who's not so nice) locked in the observation box.
(5) Literally, "Incantation word", "Diminish", and "Hearing".
(6) The episode "Three Men and an Egon". Egon is in denial. Also, very interesting episode, and has me completely convinced Egon's secretly a Time Lord.
(7) So, at first I was thinking about the timeline, how it would line up. If the company started in '84 (or '83, by the Omnibus timeline), that's when they'd pick up Harry, which meant that he'd be with them, but then what would happen when they broke up? Who'd he go with? And... then it just kind of devolved into a headache, as the Omnibus timeline has them breaking up semi permanently round '91 for XGB to pick up in '97, and... Well... Someone else can figure that out. Around then, I decided to just fuck the timeline, and screw with stuff 'cause this is just for funsies, anyways.
(8) "Open" (There's a long Sumerian phrase that means "Open the gate for me so that I can enter here", but do we really need that? No.)
(9) Being raised by the Ghostbusters made Harry into a pretty different person. His wand's pretty inflexible too, to indicate he's pretty stubborn... but not as bad as Evie.
(10) Don't remember where I found this info. But there was a list of unusual wand cores. Unfortunately, Ollivander doesn't use them, but what I read said they were in use in other parts of the world. Acromantula silk, a core that seems typically dark, but isn't always, seems to fit Evie rather well.
(11) In the episode "Slimer, Is That You?" in one of the first scenes, Peter comes running in to help Egon, who is sitting behind a bunch of boxes totally focused on his PKE meter and ignoring the chaos of ghosts just behind him. Peter gets snippy and suggests that next time, they should just let him "Ignore the ghosts to death".
Woo, lots of notes this time. But it's done! A whole friggin' chapter! Please review!