Harry of Halloween Town
10/31/10 - 1502 words
Disclaimer: I own neither Harry Potter (Rowling) or Nightmare Before Christmas (Burton).
AN: I know that I uploaded this at technically the start of NaNoWriMo however it was finished the night before after work on Halloween so damnit, I'm dating it for Halloween! I hope this chapter lives up to the first one. Do you guys have any idea how excited I was when I realized that a significant amount of time elapses in the movie? Now I don't have to try and wriggle my story into a tight timeline, I was wiggle room! -happy dance-
AN2: HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Every step down the deteriorated corridor the lighter Harry felt. Grinning widely he began skipping in time with the song echoing along the hall that was slowly transitioning from paved to cavernous. The child never noticed the piece of himself that was left behind on his quest to meet the elusive Pumpkin King.
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Harry's exit from the tomb was less than graceful; the toe of Dudley's too large trainer got caught in a bit of debris and sent him catapulting out of the decrepit mausoleum. He rolled head over arse down the stairs and came to an abrupt stop when his back slammed into a tombstone leaving his feet dangling by his ears. Sniffling quietly Harry rocked onto his side and stood up. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hands annoyed that he was crying like a baby. Didn't he just say earlier that he was a big boy? Big boys didn't cry over little bumps. Nodding to himself Harry stood up straight and decided to explore-the song was really loud here so the Pumpkin King had to be close by.
His jaw dropped. All around him as far as he could see were headstones. They were sprawled haphazardly, as if the markers were placed where the owner fell.
"Wow..." Harry said. This place was amazing.
The full moon hung fat and happy in the starry black sky casting light and shadow in equal measure. Everything was in various shades of gray except for the very orange jack-o'-lanterns and pumpkins growing all around. Hills rolled the land and one stood out above the landscape, it was tall and narrow with an impossible curl at the very tip tucked underneath, like a fancy witches' hat. A low stone wall ran around the graveyard, separating it from the wilderness beyond.
Harry swiveled his head left and right, up and down, trying to take it all it while at the same time hunting for a way through the maze of graves to where the song was coming from. He was so close he could almost taste it and – There! A worn track meandered its way down the side of the witches' hat hill. Grinning widely he set off through the graveyard towards the hill, tripping over uneven terrain, hopping over low graves, and clambering over pumpkins without a second thought on his quest for the Pumpkin King.
However, he stopped abruptly before a wall at the base of the hill. The wall was taller than he was and when he looked for a break in the wall he couldn't see one. It wound in and out through the graves and he was sure if he followed it he would eventually find a way through but he would also lose sight of the only path to where he was sure the Pumpkin King was waiting. He had to see the Pumpkin King!
Amazingly, as if it heard him, the curly tip of the hill slowly unrolled until it touched down right next to him, showing off the trail stripping down its back. Harry grinned hugely, marveling at the magical land the Pumpkin King ruled. Without a second thought he scurried up the hill and down the other side. Turning around Harry watched the last bit of the tip curling back up again looking like it never moved.
"Thank you for your help!" Harry shouted, waving at the hill happily.
Perking up suddenly Harry's head swiveled around as his song swelled, becoming even livelier than before. 'I have to hurry,' he thought.
With that Harry turned around completely and hurried down the well worn trail that he could see lead to houses in the distance.
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It was a very good thing Harry was an expert at Harry Hunting because Halloween Town, as the scarecrow holding the sign called it, was perched rather precariously on the top of a very tall hill. Harry had to use all the endurance and climbing skills learned from years of Harry Hunting to reach the top.
The entire town was surrounded by a swooping grey cobblestone wall with one of those old time barred castle gates; a portcullis Miss Kendrick called it. It was lifted high into the wall, tall enough a giant could fit through. A smile curled Harry's lips and he wondered if there were such things as giants in Halloween Town.
Making sure the coast was clear he scurried quick and quiet as a shadow through the gate and into town.
Harry was very careful to stick to the alleyways as he followed his song to the center of town where all sorts of different monsters stood singing. There were zombies and slime monsters, vampires and real witches, bat boys and ghosts, and there was even a walking hang man's tree with skeletons hanging from the branches. All of them were scattered across the village square where a large fountain stood. A hunched gargoyle that looked liked it was all sharp angles spat a furious stream of water from its mouth and into the pool.
"….This is Halloween, red and black and slimy green - Aren't you scared? Now, that's just fine.
Say it once, say it twice, take and chance and roll the dice - Ride with the moon in the dead of night.
Everybody scream, everybody scream! In our town of Halloween…."
Everyone was singing in time, moving and dancing in a chaotic rhythm that was almost perceptible if only Harry stared long enough. He knew if he just watched them he would understand. Harry was curled up tight as he could behind an over flowing dumpster of icky gunk with just the tip of his head and eyes staring out hungrily at the happy crowd. If Harry were honest, he was just a tiny smidge angry at the town folk for being so happy but the awe he felt at being so close to seeing the Pumpkin King overwhelmed and smothered it.
Shaking his head sharply like a dog shedding water he refocused on what was important, the hunt for the Pumpkin King. While he was thinking a parade of new monsters had entered from the way he had come. A zombie butcher hauled a straw horse with a scarecrow rider. With a jerk the scarecrow came to life and grabbed a monster's torch then. Ate. It! As the scarecrow lit up in a brilliant bonfire it began to cavort and dance. Everyone began cheering and Harry swallowed very hard to make sure he did not join in. With a flip and a great splash the scarecrow dived into the fountain.
"In this town we call home everyone hail to the Pumpkin Song."
The water frothed and bubbled and up erupted an insanely tall and skinny skeleton wearing a pinstripe suit like Uncle used to wear to do Very Important Business. Harry clapped his hand over his mouth to stifle his giggling at the bat bow tie. Uncle would throw a fit if he ever saw it. Not that Uncle would ever see it, or him, because Uncle had been left Behind.
Green eyes, once bright with excitement at finally seeing the Pumpkin King in person and finding out he was a skeleton, dimmed in anxiety. Uncle, Auntie, and Cousin may have been left Behind but their words weren't. While his family was mean they weren't generally liars, or at least not Uncle and Auntie – Cousin wouldn't know the truth if it bit him on the bum, and he couldn't help but see how different he was from the townsfolk of Halloween Town.
Harry's tummy got squishy again and his lip began trembling really fast like he was going to hurl. He bit his lip but it didn't help, just hurt. His eyes began to burn and if he didn't blink fast enough he knew he'd start crying which was a Bad Thing because it didn't help anything. It could even make it worse occasionally.
Black hair whipped around as he shook his head hard to try and shake his family's voices out of his head but all he got was a headache. It wasn't fair! Something that should be the most amazing moment of his life and Auntie and Uncle ruined it and they weren't even here! It just wasn't fair!
The miserable child scrambled to his feet and fled as fast as his legs would take him, taking twists and turns with tear blind eyes. Using that sixth sense all children seemed to possess that let them run pell-mell without hitting anything he made it out of town in record time and he headed back out into the moonlit night.
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