I'm back! After fighting a ridiculous amount of writers block, I've successfully managed to churn out a chapter, folks, for you all to enjoy! A fun chapter with a bit of foreshadowing (that probably won't come back to haunt you until much later) and Winston still being the only Ghostbuster who can solve a whodunnit. Also featuring my terrible excuses for why they can't go hunting horcruxes yet.
I also wanted to address something that someone asked me last chapter. I responded to them in a PM, but I figured it's something most other people were probably wondering as well: Pairings. At this point (and that is subject to change, but is unlikely to) I have decided to have no pairings. There will certainly be hints at pairings with multiple people, but I'll let you, the readers, choose if you want to read into those or not. I don't want someone to be really enjoying this and then suddenly come across a pairing that they don't like and stop reading. As such, the only pairing appearing in this fic is Egon/Janine (which we all know is pretty cannon for RGB) with a background on/off again Peter/Irena (though again, them actually ending up together or not is up to you). I said early on that I was definitely not pairing Harry and Evie, mostly because I hate the cliched Harry/OC type pairings (but also because they were raised as family members, guys, come on!), but if you really want that pairing to actually happen, you're welcome to read into all of their interactions as much as you want.
I was also asked how long the fic would span, and I can say for sure that it will cover more than just first year. I have plans up to and including fourth year (mostly because I have this awesome plan for Harry to enact against the dragon) but we'll have to see how everything goes.
And now that the obligatory rant is out of the way, enjoy!
Chapter Ten: In Which Harry Sees Things and Winston Remains the Only One Who Can Solve a Mystery
Hermione came down to lunch after a rough day in charms. She'd been doing well, but one of the students behind her was whispering about how she was friends with psychopaths (which was completely untrue, even if Evie frequently acted like some sort of sociopath, that was clearly just the fact that she was emotionally repressed, not psychotic), and then Seamus Finnegan (the Gryffindor) had accidentally blown up her chair.
To add to this, the Weasley twins had earlier pranked the whole school by dying everyone's hair the colors of the house they were in. In Ravenclaw, the boys were all stuck with dark blue hair while the girls were stuck with a metallic bronze. Any other day, she might have rolled with it (no one was getting hurt and the word was it would wear off by the next day (and also it looked kind of cool)), but she was in a bad mood and pretty certain that Harry had had something to do with the prank.
(Which he totally did.)
(Not that he'd ever get in trouble for it.)
Regardless, she strode into the Great Hall for lunch, intent on locating Harry and giving him a piece of her mind. And then she saw them.
Harry looked pale, with none of his usual confidence, and was poking dully at his food. He'd clearly not eaten much of anything.
Next to him, Evie, if possible, looked even worse. It wasn't that she was pale, but she was staring straight ahead, not looking around, and her fists were clenched tight enough to turn her knuckles white.
This was worrying. The two never let anything get to them. Ever.
Immediately, all plans of tearing Harry a new one flew out the window. Instead, she sat next to them.
"What happened?" she demanded.
Harry swallowed, still pale. "I… We went to divination. It was just supposed to be a look, but I've always been curious about it, and we thought it might be cool to give it a try. Third years were trying out crystal balls today. It was just supposed to be a look, maybe even make a little prediction-" He broke off, swallowing again.
"Due to our exposure to large quantities of psychokinetic energy, it had been theorized that our psi indexes had risen significantly," Evie said, voice small. "It was suspected the same applied to the other ghostbusters, but it had never been tested… until today."
"I get why Papa Peter hates divination," Harry added, giving a weak smile.
Hermione looked between the two in shock. "What happened?"
Harry swallowed again. "Well…"
HP/RGB
One hour previous, the North Tower:
"This is going to be awesome!" Harry sang, practically skipping. "I've always wanted to try a crystal ball! How do you know they're using them today, anyways?"
Evie shot him a look that said, really?
"Right. Nevermind. You're you."
The two climbed up the long stairway to the north tower. They passed a few out of breath students, but exploring the castle (and occasionally chasing Peeves-more for fun than busting purposes) kept them in much better shape than most of the other kids. Also, frequently hauling around proton packs didn't hurt.
That's not to say they weren't still a little tired as they reached the top.
The pair garnered a few strange looks from the third years when they reached the room just below the Divination classroom (and it really was in the most ridiculous place) and stopped. But before anyone could say anything, a trap door was opening and a ladder was lowering downwards.
"I've said it before and I'll say it again," Harry commented as they climbed. "Hogwarts is not designed with disabilities in mind."
"Quite," Evie agreed dryly as they joined the other students in climbing the ladder.
Harry looked around the dim lit classroom as they entered and wrinkled his nose at the smell. "Huh. I thought the Weasley twins would be here."
"They transferred from the class when you started teaching them runes," Evie reminded. "You're doing well, by the way. The professor says they're at a fourth year level now."
"How do you know that?" Harry asked, looking baffled. "Even I didn't know that."
"That's because you're willfully blind and don't pay attention," Evie reminded.
"...Right. Yeah, that would explain it."
They sat at a small table together, each seat having a crystal ball sitting in front of it. Harry shot another cheerful grin at Evie, who responded with a tense smile that more resembled a grimace. They both ignored the few stares they still attracted from the surrounding class.
Not that there were nearly as many as there were at the start of the year. At this point it had been pretty much established that Harry Potter and his weird blond cousin would do what they wanted, regardless of convention. This realization saved a lot of time and energy previously wasted on staring open mouthed at the two.
And then the teacher (Harry had already forgotten her name. Tawdy, or something?) came sweeping in a swirl of heavily draping cloaks and shawls.
Harry glanced over at Evie, who was looking at the woman with a raised eyebrow.
"Welcome, dear children, to today's divination lesson," she said, voice dreamy and dramatic. "I can see we have a pair of younger students with us today. If you would like to introduce yourselves?"
"I'm Harry, that's Evie, and the frog on her head is Charles the Tree Frog. Though why exactly she decided to bring a frog to a divination class is beyond me."
"Because he's a better conversationalist than most people," Evie muttered under her breath. (1)
"Well, welcome to my class," she said sweeping closer. "I am Sybill Trelawney, teacher of Divination, burdened with this horrid curse to see what may be." She looked up at the class. "Today we are studying the art of divining using crystal balls. This is an advanced technique, so do not be discouraged if you can't see anything today. Especially our visitors-the eye is often underdeveloped in younger ages, as they have not yet had time to grow into their gift."
"...I'm pretty sure the exact opposite is true," Evie murmured to Harry.
"I think so too," Harry frowned. He was pretty sure it was more likely for a child to have some sort of gift than an adult, and people typically grew out of it, not into it.
So the Divination teacher was pretty much a fraud, then. Wonderful.
Putting her out of his mind and tuning out her instructions about gazing and clearing the mind and what not, Harry leaned forward to look into the crystal ball in front of him. Nothing. Not that that was a surprise.
And then…
Something.
He wasn't sure how long it had been. Perhaps only a few minutes, perhaps longer, but Harry had the oddest sensation of falling forward, into the ball. Suddenly, it was like he was surrounded by the grey smoke inside the ball, still falling.
He felt almost sick. This was awful.
Then, his head jerked as a sound hit his ears and the grey smoke began to glow red. He still couldn't see anything through it, but he could hear something, a loud, blaring alarm.
The alarm on the Ecto Containment Unit, Harry realized suddenly. What…?
Voices drifted past him as he fell.
"...been a breach! We may have to vent…"
"...grid is collapsing! Have to hold…"
"...get close enough for the manual override? That thing is throwing out fire…"
"LOOK OUT!"
"NO!" Harry shouted as he jerked back to himself, abruptly back in the classroom, half out of his chair as he leaned over the crystal ball. His eyes were wide as he tried to process what he'd just seen: something trying to break out of the containment unit. Possibly even succeeding.
Next to him, despite the stares he'd gotten at the outburst, Evie was zeroed in on her own crystal, bright blue eyes not blinking.
He sat back heavily in his chair as the teach swooped over him. "My dear boy! You've Seen something?"
Harry struggled to get his erratic breathing under control. "I… I don't…"
Evie pulled the attention off of him when she let out a cry and actually tried to dive across the table, fingers grasping for something that wasn't there. The crystal ball fell and hit the ground with a heavy thud, rolling away as Evie's wide and pale eyes stared at something only she could see.
"GRAB ON!" she shouted, still grasped by the throws of the vision. "Nusku Elu! Nusku Elu!"
At the spell, the crystal ball rose into the air, before it suddenly dropped as Evie returned to herself.
Harry could count on one hand the number of times he'd seen Evie panicked, with several fingers left over. She was panicking now, breathing shallow as she slowly pulled back into her seat.
Luckily, Harry's head had straightened enough to get them out of there, even as the teacher turned to bear down on Evie. He caught her arm. "We should go."
That seemed to pull her back. "Yes. Yes, we should."
"But you Saw something!" the teacher argued.
"Just a personal warning," Harry said, forcing cheer into his voice as the two stood and quickly gathered their things. "Nothing for any of you to worry about" (lie) "and certainly not something I'd feel comfortable about sharing with anyone." (partial lie) "We'll get out of your hair now. Have a good rest of the lesson."
As he spoke, he and Evie had crossed to the ladder and begun to descend. As soon as they'd done so enough, Harry shut the trapdoor above them.
"Are you okay?" he asked, looking down.
"No," she said tensely.
"I think I Saw a breach in the ECU," he said softly. "Did you…?"
"No," she said again.
Harry just looked at her, waiting for an answer.
"It was a nightmare and I don't want to talk about it," she said sharply.
Harry nodded. "Alright. If you ever need to-"
"Drop it."
"Okay."
HP/RGB
"I thought divination was unreliable," Hermione said with a frown as Harry's story finished.
"It can be," Harry agreed, drumming his fingers on the table. "But there are… different parts to it. Some bits are more accurate than others, and what we did… Well, I'd say the vision was fairly concrete."
"Boosted psi index," Evie said hoarsely, not looking over.
"We'll probably have my dads check when we go home for summer break," Harry added quietly. "And I'm using the term vision lightly. I didn't actually see anything. Just heard things."
"Clairaudience," Evie said, still not moving.
"Though I think Evie actually did see something," Harry continued, glancing at her. "From what I've been able to tell. No sound, though."
"Clairvoyance," Evie agreed, voice soft.
"I don't think I've heard of the first one," Hermione admitted.
"Some people would say that while clairvoyance is 'seeing beyond', clairaudience is 'hearing beyond'," Harry explained. "A lot more people are clairaudient than realize it."
"Oh." Hermione took a moment to process that. "So you're…"
"We're not sure, and I'm sure we'll run tests over the summer to prove it either way," Harry determined. "And we're probably never going back to Divination."
"The professor will be crushed," Evie said.
The other two turned to look at her. She was looking towards them now, still pale, but a hint of amusement in her eyes.
"Evie, you're okay!" Harry cheered.
"I will be," she determined.
"But what about-" Hermione was cut off as Harry's hand clamped over her mouth. He leaned in to whisper to her so Evie couldn't hear.
"If I'm not mistaken, Evie's just finished deluding herself that whatever she saw was just a nightmare. It's not entirely healthy, but I'm not about to correct her on it," Harry explained quietly.
"So you're just going to let her-?" Hermione began.
"I'm no psychologist," Harry answered with a shrug. "Papa Peter can talk to her over the summer. For now, we'll just let her carry on like normal."
"This seems like a really bad idea," Hermione murmured.
"You've got a better one?" Harry demanded.
"...No."
"Okay, then." (2)
HP/RGB
"Harry! Hermione!"
Evie burst through the door of the common room, a wild look in her eye. "I have it!"
"Oh, this is going to be good," Harry decided, sitting up from where he'd been napping with a book laying open over his face.
"Did you finish confirming the mathematical equations?" Hermione asked curiously.
"What? Oh, no. No, that's still on hold. Uncle Ray thought he'd figured out the problem with Uncle Egon, only it didn't work out and now Uncle Egon thinks he's a hamster. Aunt Janine is furious."
Harry grinned towards Hermione. "Apparently they've had to lock him in a large cage. But no one's saying why they have a cage large enough."
"Do I even want to know?" Hermione asked dryly.
"I know I don't," Harry said cheerfully.
"I finished rendering the video from the day of Harry's near accident!" Evie proclaimed, waving her arms wildly. "We now have video showing exactly who tried to kill him!"
This attracted the attention of a few other curious onlookers, but they were summarily ignored.
"And?" Harry asked, looking very interested now.
"I don't know, I haven't watched it yet," Evie admitted. "Do you want to see?"
"Is she serious?" Harry asked Hermione rhetorically. "I think she's serious."
Evie frowned. "Well, if you're in the middle of something-"
Harry tossed the book he'd been reading over his shoulder (it was a biased history text, anyways, and therefore labelled as both "mostly useless" and "no great loss"). "Let's go."
HP/RGB
The computer was set up in the lab and hooked to nine different monitors Evie had set up in the shape of a square. Each monitor showed a different part of the video, and all together, they made up the whole image. Neither Harry nor Hermione bothered to ask where Evie had found nine monitors, or why she'd had them in the first place.
"Nice," Harry complimented. "You must have done some serious rendering."
"Mostly it was just repeatedly running it through a series of algorithms," Evie admitted. "Which is why it took so long. But this is what we have."
She sat at the original computer and typed a few commands. It took a second, then an image of Harry flying over the pitch appeared.
"We can't see anything," Hermione frowned, disappointed.
"Give it a minute," Evie corrected. Sure enough, a second later, the view violently swiveled to show the audience.
"That's right, you moved it, didn't you," Hermione remembered. (3)
"To catch anyone who might be spell casting while we worked to save Harry," Evie agreed.
Harry, meanwhile, was focused more on the screens. "There," he said after a moment, pointing to a figure. "And… there. And… there."
"That's Professor Snape," Hermione frowned. "And Professor Quirrell. I don't recognize the last one, though. I think it's a third or fourth year Hufflepuff?"
"Not someone who could cast that kind of curse," Harry said, shaking his head. "Not with the training this school gives. Unless it's someone in disguise."
"That would show up on the camera, if it was," Evie argued. "It's Mage-Tech."
Harry nodded his understanding, before quickly explaining to Hermione. "Technomancy enhanced technology. It's a company in the States."
Hermione nodded thoughtfully.
"So, Squirrel or Snipe," Harry considered. "I know who I think it is."
"They're both teachers, though!" Hermione protested.
"Yeah, but Snipe" ("Snape, Harry-") "is under observation from the covens because of Evie," Harry pointed out. "Though, he blames me. Seems likely he'd try to kill me."
"Hm…" Evie considered.
"But… don't you think we should get another opinion?" Hermione asked desperately.
"Oh, we will," Harry assured her. "We know someone who's very good at whodunnits. Never seen him get it wrong yet, not once. I all but guarantee, though, the first thing out of his mouth is going to be 'it was Snipe'."
"Snape," Hermione corrected again.
"Yes, him," Harry agreed. "It was Snape."
HP/RGB
"It was Quirrell."
Winston Zeddemore was the very picture of relaxed as he delivered his verdict, leaning back on the couch in the den of the firehouse, feet up, as he spoke to the three kids on the other end of the video chat.
Next to him the other two (as Egon was still locked in a cage in the bedroom, sleeping on a pile of shredded papers and nibbling on carrots) ghostbusters looked ready to protest. And immediately did so.
"No way, Winston!" Peter cried. "It had to be the snake guy!"
"Yeah, Winston, I know you're good at this, but Peter's right, isn't he?" Ray pressed.
Winston wiggled a finger. "He looks good, sure, but you're forgetting something."
"Enlighten us, then," Peter said dryly.
Winston grinned. "The unicorn."
On the other side of the video stream, Evie and Hermione nodded thoughtfully (both having already suspected a connection), while everyone else protested.
"Come on, how does that have anything to do-"
"There's no reason to think they're connected-"
"This isn't one of your mystery novels, this is real life!"
Winston raised his hands for silence. "Now, hold on. I'm not just making things up. We already knew that whoever attacked the unicorn was from the castle. Keeping that in mind, it seems likely that there is someone out to get Harry, there's probably a reason for that. Most likely, that reason is that there's a follower of Voldemort in the school."
"And it can't be Snake?" Peter demanded.
"Too obvious," Winston argued back. "Plus, Snape's been a teacher there for years. He's not suddenly going to show his true colors. If so, he would have done it years ago."
"But Harry wasn't there years ago," Ray protested.
"Harry's not the catalyst for this," Winston said. "I think the catalyst is what's in that third floor corridor."
"Now you're just making stuff up," Peter accused.
"No, no, hear me out," Winston argued. "Think about it. You said a cerberus is traditionally a guard dog, right? Whatever it's guarding is dangerous. Valuable. I think it's something Voldemort wants, and this guy is working for him, which explains the attempt on Harry's life. It also explains the unicorn. The unicorn in the forest are being killed for their blood, which is supposed to be life giving… of a sort. Not something most people would be alright with, but a dark lord wouldn't flinch."
"So the servant is helping keep Voldemort sort of alive while they try to get their hands on something that's more permanent," Ray realized. "That makes sense. I'm not sure what object they'd be going after, though. Using horcruxes, there are a few rituals they could try, but…" His eyes widened suddenly. "A philosopher's stone!"
"A what?" Peter asked.
"A philosopher's stone!" Ray repeated, looking like Christmas had just come early again. "Come on, Peter, I know you've heard this one. A stone that grants eternal life, and turns base metals to gold!"
"Can we get one for the office?" Peter asked eagerly.
"No, there's only one known one in existance," Ray said, shaking his head. "Though there are some rumors about the Chinese… but the most famous by far is a proven one owned by Nicolas Flamel, a brilliant alchemist. He's currently somewhere in his six hundreds. When Egon gets better he's going to be so sorry he missed this-!"
"Okay, okay, okay," Harry interrupted. "I get it. Great magical stone and whatnot. But that doesn't mean it can't be Snipe."
"It could be," Winston allowed. "But you have a much more likely candidate. Quirrel."
"You said that Snape would have acted sooner," Evie mused. "But Quirrell has also been at this school for several years. He used to be the…" she grimaced at the name "...Muggle Studies professor."
"Yes, but who seems more likely," Winston said, leaning in. "A man who, well unpleasant, has remained unchanged for all his years of teaching, or a man who disappeared into the Albanian forests for a summer and came back with a completely different personality."
Harry facepalmed as he realized. "Possession!"
"Not a full one," Evie frowned. "Partial possession."
"Still explains it!"
Evie inclined her head in acknowledgement.
"But he's a teacher," Hermione tried, one last time.
"What difference does his profession make?" Peter asked. "I had a teacher try to throttle me once."
"That's because you taught three freshmen how to replicate the prank that made you famous on campus during your wild fraternity days," Ray reminded him.
Peter grinned at the memory of the three underwear-clad boys hanging from the flagpole. "...Yeah. But if I'd really wanted to cause trouble, I would have taught it to the sorority girls."
Harry bit back a snicker, while Winston turned his face to hide his grin. His shoulders were shaking with laughter, though.
"But take it from a former teacher, Hermione," Ray told her. "We're just as fallible as everyone else. And some people are better teachers than others."
Hermione stared at them a moment. "You know, I keep forgetting they were teachers," she whispered to Harry.
"They hide it well," Harry whispered back.(4)
"So, if Quirrel is behind this all," Evie said, "how do we proceed?"
The three Ghostbusters exchanged glances.
"I've got nothing," Winston said, holding his hands up.
"What, the great detective is out of ideas?" Peter mocked.
"No, the great detective isn't sure how to go about de-possessing somebody," Winston shot back, crossing his arms. "You know that's Ray and Egon's stuff."
Ray opened his mouth, and then closed it again. "...To be honest, partial possession is more Egon's department than mine. I could send you a few exorcisms that might work, but I'd still want to run them by Egon, first."
"And what's his status?" Harry asked.
"Still gnawing on the bars of his cage," Ray admitted. "But I'm working on something that should have him back to normal soon!"
"That's good, isn't it?" Hermione asked Harry and Evie, but they were frowning.
"How soon is soon?" Evie asked, with the air of one who'd been through this before.
Ray faltered. "...Soon?"
"Dad…" Harry pressed.
"...By the end of the month. Maybe," Ray admitted. "Don't tell Janine."
"This is going to be a long month," Evie said, casting a glance towards Harry, who threw his hands up in the air.
"You've got to be kidding me! Why is it always Papa Egon who gets in these sorts of situations?!"
"Because if it were one of us, Egon would have the problem resolved by the end of the day," Peter answered with an easy shrug. "And it wouldn't be much of a story then, would it?" (5)
HP/RGB
"I suppose," Harry mused as the three friends walked through the halls later, "that this means that we're not going to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classes?"
"You don't go in the first place," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.
"Well, yeah, but this means I have a much more legitimate excuse," Harry pointed out. "You know, other than, this class is dead boring and I'm not gonna go because-" He finished with a large raspberry.
"It's also ridiculously out of date and the lessons are repetitive and pointless," Evie added.
"I know you don't like the spells," Hermione sighed. "And I get it, I do… but wouldn't the creatures portion of it be interesting? I mean, those don't really change from country to…" She trailed off at the looks she was getting. "Right. Ghostbusters. How silly of me. The two of you deal with things like that on a daily basis."
"Not when we're stuck in this school," Harry muttered darkly.
"Our teaching when it comes to magical creatures is significantly more advanced, as well as more hands-on, than the defense class offers," Evie said dryly.
"And more practical," Harry added. "Do you know that according to that class, it takes a small army of wizards to face a horde of acromantula? Apparently they keep casting spider killing charms. It's too difficult to figure out that 'maybe we should try something less draining, like, say, FIRE!'. Of course, we have our own method."
"Let me guess," Hermione said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "You blast them with your throwers."
"Took three people forty minutes to clear a nest," Harry said proudly. "Easy as pie."
"Also, acromantulas apparently explode when you hit them with a charged positronic stream," Evie added. "It was fascinating to watch."
"And Papa Peter sat on the sidelines," Harry grinned. "And shrieked like a girl any time one came too close. He doesn't like bugs."
"I think he mentioned something about that over Christmas," Hermione frowned. "A bad experienced with a swarm of possessed cockroaches?" (6)
"Oh, he wasn't the only one with that wonderful little experience," Harry stated flatly. "He just doesn't like bugs. Not that any of us do, mind you, but-"
"I think Uncle Egon doesn't usually mind them," Evie mused. "He monitors the roach population of the city for signs of psychokinetic upheaval."
Harry looked appalled. "What? Still? I thought we got him to stop doing that!"
"He predicted a slight upswing in hauntings this summer, so it's going to be all hands on deck," Evie added.
"How many times have I told you never to tell me about possible psychokinetic upsurges?" Harry demanded.
Evie thought for a moment. "...I don't believe you've ever told me."
"Well, I would have thought it had been implied!"
Evie stared at him. "...How?"
HP/RGB
"Hey, Harry! Harry!"
Harry paused in his wanderings to look at the redhead behind him. It took him a moment to place him as Gred and Forge's brother. He was pretty sure, anyways. They had a lot of brothers. But the kid was a ginger first year in Gryffindor, so that had to be it, right?
"Harry!" the boy repeated as he reached Harry, breathing heavily. "You move pretty fast, mate!"
Harry shrugged. He usually did move quickly, as a sort of way to keep exercising. He spent a lot of time each day moving through the halls of the castle, and knew Evie did the same thing… when she wasn't hold up in her lab trying to break the laws of physics. Or whatever it was she was always doing in there.
"So, I was wondering if you might want to play chess sometime," the boy said, still breathing hard.
"Chess?" Harry repeated. "No thanks."
"Come on, it'll be fun!" the boy pressed. "I'm pretty good. I can teach you Wizard's Chess if you haven't played before-"
"I know how to play," Harry said, waving a hand dismissively. "I just don't like it. If you want someone who'll play a good game of chess-wizard or otherwise-you should ask Evie."
The boy didn't look thrilled at that idea. "Oh. I was thinking you, actually. Or we could play Quidditch sometime. You like flying, right?"
Harry's eyes narrowed. "Yeah, it's okay," he said, downplaying his love of it. "You need more than two people to play, though. I could get Evie, and maybe the twins, if you get a few more…"
"Not really what I had in mind either," the boy said quickly.
Harry wasn't really liking where this was going. "Look, John-"
"Ron," the boy corrected.
"That's what I said," Harry said dismissively. "Are you actually looking for someone to play with, or are you just trying to get close to me? Because people try that. All the time."
Less, once they decided he was insane, but…
"It's just…" Ron began, shifting from leg to leg as he tried to put things into words. "You should be in Gryffindor!"
Harry had no response to that. "...Uh, what?"
"You should be in Gryffindor!" Ron repeated. "Your parents were both in it, and you're Harry Potter-"
"Yeah, but I never knew my parents," Harry reminded, rubbing the back of his neck. "I was raised by people out of the country, really. And I don't particularly want to be in Gryffindor. What is this all about?"
Ron shifted nervously again. "You… well, if you wanted to, you'd be allowed to change houses, that's all."
"Change houses?" Harry repeated. He was pretty sure that wasn't a thing. He'd have to ask Hermione. She was the Hogwarts expert. "Why would I want to do that?"
"Because you don't act anything like a Ravenclaw," Ron pointed out. "You hardly go to any classes, and you don't seem to be doing great in the ones that you do go to, and-"
Harry blinked. He'd honestly not realized… Was that what everyone thought?
"Look, the reason I don't go to your classes is that I'm taking other ones," Harry said. "Harder ones. And I've never liked Herbology." Which was still really the only class he attended with any regularity.
"But maybe if you just hung out with some of us for a bit…" Ron tried.
"Hey, I hang out with your brothers all the time," Harry argued.
Ron blinked. "Wha… really?"
"Yeah, I'm teaching them runes," Harry explained with a shrug. "They're doing pretty well." Well enough he was definitely dumping them on Evie next year, because he'd be running out of things to teach them.
"You really don't want to be a Gryffindor?" Ron repeated, looking lost.
"I don't," Harry agreed. "Sorry."
"It's just that Dumbledore said-"
"Oh." And that explained everything, really. "No, I'm really perfectly happy where I am."
"Oh." Ron still looked a little lost. "Well, um, you can always hang out with us, if you want."
Harry considered throwing that back in his face before he reminded himself that the kid in front of him was, after all, only eleven, and probably a whole lot more sheltered than Harry had ever been. "Thanks, John."
"Ron," Ron corrected again.
"That's what I said," Harry immediately declared. "I'll see you around."
With that, he headed back down the hall, lost in thought. The headmaster wanted him in Gryffindor? Why? Expectations?
He'd have to talk to Papa Peter about this. He'd always been the best at seeing subtle manipulations. Apparently his father was an expert at it… not that Harry'd ever met the man. Peter was very clever at keeping the two separate.
He headed towards the lab, still thinking. It was curious that Ron was trying to get him on his own. He'd obviously be more receptive to changing houses if Evie came with him, so why wouldn't Dumbledore try and get them both? There was something he was missing. A phone call was definitely in order.
As he reached the lab, he found Hermione and Evie coming out, Hermione casting strange glances at Evie, who was currently wearing a black cat on her shoulder.
"Hey, Hermione, is it common for people to switch houses?" Harry asked as he approached.
"No, I don't think it's ever been done," Hermione said, frowning. "No, that's not true. There was a case of a student being in mortal danger in his house in the 1700s, a muggleborn who'd somehow ended up in Slytherin. But that's the only case I think there's ever been. There would have to be something like mortal danger for them to even consider it."
"First gen," Evie corrected automatically.
"Sorry," Hermione said, looking embarrassed.
"I wondered if it might not be something like that," Harry grimaced. "I was just accosted in the hall by Gred and Forge's brother, John. He wanted me to switch to Gryffindor. He said that Dumbledore said I'd be able to."
Evie immediately looked thoughtful, while Hermione looked exasperated. "Harry, his name is Ron, not John. And you do realize the twins are Fred and George, right?"
"That not what they said," Harry said dubiously. "Are you sure about that?"
The cat on Evie's shoulder mewed thoughtfully.
"I'm afraid I don't speak cat," Harry told it. "But I'm sure Evie will be happy to hook you up with a computer to type on."
The cat responded with a cheerful meow.
"Not you, too," Hermione groaned.
"What?" Harry asked in confusion.
"Evie was explaining to me how she was planning on playing chess with the cat," Hermione sighed.
"She's probably planning on losing to the cat," Harry said dryly. "Tarantula is a chess Grandmaster."
Hermione opened, then closed her mouth. "...I have absolutely no idea how to respond to that."
"Tarantula is the familiar of a very powerful immortal warlock named Phineas Eventide," Harry offered. "She ran into us a while ago, and while she usually stays with him, she visits on occasion. Evie usually takes the opportunity to lose at chess." (7)
"I'm getting better," Evie pointed out.
Tarantula mewed again, though whether that was in agreement or argument, they weren't sure.
Hermione decided to let it go. "I think I'd like to watch that."
"It's usually interesting… if you like chess," Harry agreed. "Honestly, Papa Egon does the same thing."
"You must find it dull, then," Hermione realized.
"Yeah," Harry agreed. "But I've got to call Papa Peter, anyways. He'll be interested in this thing with switching houses. I think."
"Most likely," Evie agreed as they reached the door knocker, and she reached up to rap it gently against the wall.
The eagle head sprung to life. "In a certain country, half of five is three. If the proportion holds, what is a third of ten?"
Harry and Hermione both shot glances at Evie, who was miming writing something in the air as she thought through it.
"...Four," she decided.
"Precisely reasoned," the knocker agreed, before the wall opened.
"You see, this?" Harry asked, motioning at the door. "This is why no one wants to go with you into the common room. You make the seventh year arithmancy students feel like idiots."
"Next to her?" Hermione pointed out as they stepped through. "We all are."
Evie's cheeks tinged pink. "I'm sure Tarantula figured it out as well.
The cat mewed in agreement.
"...That makes me feel so much better," Harry deadpanned. "Where's the phone?"
HP/RGB
"So, I'm supposed to start out by asking how Papa Egon is," Harry began, leaning back in his bed.
"Well, he no longer thinks he's a hamster, so that's progress," Peter said slowly. "Ray assures me that the fact that they've gotten him from hamster to human in a single try is great."
"That's a 'he's not better', then?" Harry confirmed.
"According to him, he's Benjamin Franklin. Which is equal parts hilarious and awesome," Peter agreed. "Absolutely useless on a bust, but he keeps yelling at streetlights and he's started blowing things up in the lab again, so that's good. On the downside, he keeps drinking all the beer which is less good, but just as funny."
Harry took a moment to imagine that. "Sounds like things are pretty normal over there, then." He paused, thinking back to one of the things he knew about Franklin. "Hang on, wasn't Ben Franklin a-?"
"Total womanizer?" Peter finished, sounding amused. "Very much so. Which is why Janine is very happy right now and no longer wants to strangle Ray."
Harry tried very hard to shove that image out of his head. "Oh my god, TMI! Didn't need to know! Why would you tell me that!?"
"I think the real question here is 'why wouldn't I'?" Peter returned.
"I should just hang up now," Harry told him. "I should hang up and not tell you anything important and leave you to flounder over there trying to figure out what madness we're getting up to."
"Did you have a bust?" Peter asked curiously.
"No," Harry admitted, sounding disappointed.
"Then ultimately, why would I care?"
"Dad!" Harry groaned. "You are the most irresponsible parent ever!"
"Which is also why I'm the fun one," Peter shot back smugly. "Please continue your depressing tale of woe."
"Okay, so, you remember I told you about the twins?" Harry asked. "Gred and Forge Weasley?"
"The fun ones with the lack of rune training?" Peter clarified. "Yep."
"That's them," Harry agreed. "Their brother-the younger one-approached me today. He wanted to hang out. Mentioned transferring to Gryffindor."
"Any chance of that?" Peter asked, sounding amused.
"About the same chance as you spontaneously becoming a Jets fan," Harry answered dryly.
"Just checking," Peter said quickly.
"Anyways, I told him I wasn't particularly interested, and he said that Dumbledore had pretty much put him up to it," Harry finished. "Only I checked with Hermione. It's pretty much unheard of to switch houses. And the offer was only open to me."
Peter was silent for a moment. "Has he ever seen Evie do runic magic?"
"She blew up his office door," Harry admitted.
"...There's an excellent chance he believes that Evie is corrupting you with a subject that many British magicals consider a darker magic," Peter said.
"That makes no sense whatsoever," Harry frowned. "I'm the ghostbusting fan. Wouldn't that mean I'm corrupting her?"
"We are talking about a British magical here," Peter pointed out.
Harry opened his mouth, then closed it. "...Good point. So he's trying to get me away from Evie?"
"I would suspect so. Putting you in Gryffindor would also fulfill the expectations of most of the populace over there," Peter mused. "He's probably using a Weasley because the whole family followed him in the last war. It's likely that becoming friends with them would open you to manipulation."
"And the twins wouldn't work…?" Harry asked, confused.
"Can you predict them?" Peter asked dryly.
"...Touche," Harry agreed.
"I doubt the kid is bad," Peter added. "He's probably just trying to help you in the best way he knows how, even if that isn't actually a good way. It might also be a good idea to keep an eye on him, because it's likely that if Dumbledore tries again, it will be through him again."
"Politics…" Harry groaned.
"No, psychology," Peter corrected.
"That sounds significantly less evil," Harry decided. "Okay, I can do that. I think. Any tips?"
"What did the kid want to do with you?"
"Chess," Harry grimaced.
"...Good luck. You're going to need it."
"My thoughts exactly," Harry agreed.
A/N: So... yeah. Ron's not evil, he's eleven. And he's been raised believing that Harry should be a Gryffindor and that Dumbledore is infallible. He's just a kid and trying to do what he understands as right. I'm not saying he is right, but that's how we're playing things this fic. It's unlikely he'll ever become close to Harry, but he'll probably be on the sidelines a bit.
Now onto the real notes.
(1) This is true. Charles can go on for hours about conflicting philosophies and the nature of man. It's quite unfortunate that, as a frog, no one is able to understand him. And even if they could, Evie has never been one for philosophy. It's a tragedy of the universe.
(2) We will not be going into detail about exactly what Evie saw... yet. Rest assured it was horrid and nightmare inducing and Harry was in it.
(3) If you look back, she really did.
(4) I don't think there's any group of teachers that could so thoroughly destroy Hermione's knee-jerk respect for authority as the Ghostbusters. Seriously, I like watching them sometimes and then having a moment of "Holy shit, these guys were teachers. Something is wrong with this picture."
(5) No, really. It always happens to Egon.
(6) RGB episode "Janine, You've Changed". Peter and Ray have this great exchange: Ray: "You don't want to go up there. The ghosts got into some things..." Peter: "And they turned it into bigger, meaner versions? We know. What could possibly-" (The door is destroyed and they're all overwhelmed by a swarm of giant cockroaches.) And then later Peter gets to be an ass when he gives Janine an antenna. He deserves everything she throws at him. (Literally.)
(7) RGB comics, "A Cat Named Tarantula". As stated, Tarantula is the familiar of the insanely powerful and immortal warlock Phineas Eventide. She's also a master chess player. (I can not make this stuff up! It's too good!)
And that's it for this chapter! See you next time, same Ghost time, same Ghost channel. Thanks for reading, and don't forget to review!