Another chapter, while I should probably be working on Otwsos. Oh well. I can't promise that the chapters will as long as I sometimes prefer to write them in other stories, but I hope you guys won't mind that.

Harry Potter: Paranormal Investigator

Chapter 2: A Normal Day

Harry was once more sitting at his desk, attempting to look through photos that a few people had sent him. None of them were all that interesting, to be truthful, and some were what he called 'repeat customers' who either continued to contact him because they wanted to be able to brag to their friends or because they hadn't believed him the first few times that he had assured them that there were no problems. He was able to weed out a few potential cases simply from the previous experiences with the families. He sighed as he went through the remaining pictures while wondering why they were always sent along.

Most pictures that he received contained pictures of the houses themselves sitting in broad daylight and usually without an ounce of creepiness evident in the picture. Although, pictures honestly didn't help the man choose his next project, anyway. There was nothing to gleam from the pictures beside some information about the family itself. In fact, Harry often had to travel to each individual place in order to help him make a decision, which is where the ability to apparate became rather useful. He based his decision on the level of panic of the family as well as the feeling he got when actually seeing their house. Obviously, he'd try to choose a house with an actual problem over an overreacting family, though sometimes it was difficult to tell which was which.

Sometimes, even when at the site, there was no ghost or ghoul or anything else in his expertise and instead a cursed object. During those cases, he'd had to call in the 'experts', which was really just a division of the Aurors, but the muggles didn't know that. He always had one specific wizard come in to take care of those places, mostly because he could be trusted to act and dress 'normal' in front of the clients; that, and he was well versed in many of the magics that could be used on cursed objects. Harry never had reason to call in Ron, since the youngest male Weasley had focused his career on, as he put it, 'catching the bad guys'.

Harry sat back in his comfortable desk chair and rubbed his aching eyes. He couldn't stand any more pictures or emails, so he decided to go ahead and visit the areas. He had the addresses, so all he needed to do was find the closest area that he could apparate to for each of them, and then get some muggle transportation to finish the journey. Two of the next potential cases were in Cornwall, so he figured that he'd check both of them out first. One was actually quite close to the Jamaica Inn, which really was haunted. Though, since the ghost in the inn didn't hurt anyone and actually helped the business a bit by bringing in tourists, Harry was never called in to take care of the ghost there.

Harry decided to apparate over to the Jamaica Inn and walk from there. After a quick check of his computer to look up the last address and figure out where he'd end up apparating for that potential case, Harry was gone.

Built in 1750, the Jamaica Inn had the kind of history to inspire both stories and movies for its past and present. Once used by smugglers as a stopping point to store rum, it now housed a number of guests who wanted a chance of experiencing the paranormal. The inn was L-shaped and was a dark grey color from the stone it was built with. It had picnic tables out front with the sign of a bar to encourage passersby to stop, and also advertised a museum of smuggling on the outer wall closest to the road. Harry assumed that it was likely that the nearby family had contacted him in hopes of attracting the tourists that travelled to the area to their own 'haunted' house.

The walk down two different roads didn't take Harry too long, and soon he stood by a mossy knee-high rock wall, looking at a cozy one-story home. The large stone house that he had passed earlier certainly looked more stately and interesting, but this small home seemed like it had more privacy from outsiders, especially with its veritable wall of tall evergreens hiding it from the neighbors.

In broad daylight, it looked like a simple, cozy building that likely housed a close family. Harry looked down at the papers that he had brought along to check the reported happenings. Flickering lights, shadowy figures, and mysterious sounds summed up the happenings. It wasn't very promising. Unfortunately, there wasn't really a single spell to test for paranormal beings. In fact, the spell that could test for poltergeists, and nothing else, was terribly unreliable. However, most otherworldly beings did have a presence that could be felt if you were close enough and sensitive to the energy. From the road, Harry wasn't reliably close to the house to be able to feel it, and he wasn't going to risk getting caught simply to get closer. With the information he had, he felt fairly assured that this house wasn't one he needed to spend time on.

With that, Harry started walking back to the inn while taking out a phone and calling a cab. He planned on stopping at the bar and grabbing a bite to eat before heading to his next potential case.

Just under an hour later, Harry stepped out of a car and passed some cash to the driver before turning to inspect the next house. The cab driver drove off after counting through the money, likely much too used to getting stiffed. In front of Harry was a long line of houses squished together in a way that certainly felt crowded. Each house flowed into the one next to it, with the change in colors between each separate one and many fences the only indication that it wasn't simply one incredibly long house. The specific one Harry was looking for was a speckled browning grey, snuggled between a dull grey house and a darker beige one. This house was the only one around that sported a wooden fence. The fence was obviously rather old and was dwarfed by overgrowth from within the tiny yard. The roof of the house's section was older as well, not giving Harry much faith in the integrity of the building.

Harry glanced down at his papers for the case and was pleasantly surprised. Instead of the usual red flags for a fake case, there were more detailed and certainly more interesting happenings on the property, with even some complaints from neighbors. The resident reported soft whispers that made him and any guests uneasy and even interrupted sleep. There were complaints about this same thing from the surrounding houses, with the neighbors laying blame on the single older man living in the somewhat rundown house. It seemed that the community was rather small in Summercourt, and many agreed that the old man was losing his wits. Other complaints included constant migraines only when in a certain room and smoke coming from nowhere. Even if Harry didn't choose this as his next case, he'd likely come back to it.

Walking quickly away, Harry soon found a spot from which he could apparate closer to the last home he was going to take a look at. He arrived in Paignton in Tor Bay, which had a decent sized population. It was on the coast, so there was a nice breeze that constantly carried in the fresh smell of the Celtic Sea. He had apparated just beyond the gate of a house that had a high wall and many trees hiding it from nosy neighbors. It was a chance that he probably shouldn't have taken, but no one was around at this time to notice him. Most likely, people wouldn't be around for a few hours yet when they got off of work. Harry had to jump the black metal gate to get out, but it was worth it to have gotten so close to the next house. He'd be able to walk from here, and it wouldn't take more than ten minutes.

The house on the other side of the street, which had some palm trees and a rock garden, was one that he had checked out before. They had paid quite well for him to get rid of the boggart living in their cupboard. He'd explained it as some evil creature that only liked to scare people, which was about as close to the truth as he could give them. A bit of walking and a few turns found Harry at the correct address: the final one that he'd have to check out today.

It was a duplex, from what he could see. He was there to check out the left side, which was a somewhat drab grey-ish color with sizeable windows. Harry looked down to look over the papers one last time and snorted. This one would be a bust as well. The most interesting thing that they complained about was footsteps; being connected so closely to another family's home made that far too normal a noise. With no gut feeling or sense of magic warning him to check it out further, he gave up on this one quickly. With a furtive glance around him, he apparated home in order to contact the older gentleman living in Summercourt. It was an easy decision to make.

Dear Sir,

I am contacting you in order to let you know that I have seen your submission, and will be setting time aside to look into your situation. Rest assured that I will do my absolute best to make sure that your house is once more returned to the haven that it should be…

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Hope you're enjoying it so far!