So...here's the second chapter of Owls of Athena. Whether it becomes a full fic or not, I don't know, but I should point out that, while no details are actually shown, we have a certain character from Tokyo Ghoul torturing a Ghoul...no, it's not Jason. It's everyone's favourite effeminate albino self-stitching boy, Juuzou Suzuya. Anyway, fair warning, so if you don't like even allusions to torture...this chapter isn't for you.

Speaking of Tokyo Ghoul crossovers, Raptor of the 20th Ward is now a full story. Go check it out.

OWLS OF ATHENA (ORIGINAL)

CHAPTER 2:

THE GHOUL WHO LIVED

As Ollivander measured him for his first wand, Harry heard a voice. "Oh, is this Harry Potter?"

Harry turned to see a curious face peering at him from behind the shelves. A mass of messy green hair framed pretty, if sleepy-looking features. Her green eyes were like his own, but with the distinctive epicanthic folds of an Oriental Asian. She seemed about his age.

"Yes, Eto," Ollivander said, before looking at Harry and Hagrid. "This is my great-granddaughter, Eto Ollivander. Her mother died, and her father was unable to look after her."

"I'd heard yer adopted a kid, Mr Ollivander," Hagrid rumbled. "Didn' know it were yer own great-granddaughter."

"Yes. My youngest daughter married a Japanese Pureblood, but one of their daughters, Ukina, turned out to be a Squib, and she was disowned and cast out, much to my displeasure. Ukina became a journalist, but she was murdered soon after Eto's birth by enemies she made as a journalist," Ollivander said.

Eto scowled, but went over to Harry, peering at him curiously. "…You don't know what to do, do you? You never knew you were the Boy Who Lived until now?" she asked softly.

"…No."

"…You seem awfully lonely. Oh! I know! Maybe we can be penpals! I may not be able to use magic, but I can use Owl Post! Do you want to write letters?"

The thing was, with Eto, it wasn't hero worship or being starstruck by a celebrity that drove her, Harry realised subconsciously. She seemed to be more curious about him, and wanting to be his friend. So, he accepted, chatting with her as they went through checking wands. When he finally got the wand, and left, he still felt a bit uneasy, given Ollivander's remark about his wand…but Eto had helped. Maybe he had his first friend…

That revelation, left Harry utterly dumbstruck. He opened his mouth, to utter an angry denial, a demand that they not make such a sick joke…but Ollivander held up his hand. "Mr Potter," the old man said. "Please, listen to Mr Black before you say anything. I understand that this would be overwhelming at best, and at worst, inconceivably distressing. I had my own suspicions about your mother, albeit ones I couldn't confirm. When I saw you, acting normally, I thought them wrong."

"But…if I'm a part-Ghoul, how come I'm not hungering for human flesh?" Harry asked, trying to find any handle on the situation.

"That was Lily's doing. I should start at the beginning. Lily…was born as a result of an affair between your grandfather and a Ghoul he knew. Normally, most half-Ghouls die in the womb, either dying from a lack of nutrients if the mother is human, or being absorbed into the mother's body as nutrients if the mother is a Ghoul. But…the woman, who worked at a mortuary your grandfather ran, miraculously carried Lily to term. We think that Lily's latent magical ability, from your father's side, kept her alive. After a lot of debate from both sides, Lily was adopted into the family, though her mother was eventually killed by the CCG. In order to suppress her hunger, Lily was regularly fed parts from the corpses in the mortuary. And then, her Hogwarts letter came along."

"Naturally-born One-Eyed Ghouls smell human to other Ghouls," Eto explained. "Even a werewolf can't tell the difference."

"Lily brought me into her confidence soon after she got married with James," Sirius continued. "It took me some time to accept her…though James was better about it. We didn't tell Moony because, at the time, we suspected him of being a spy for Voldemort, and we didn't tell the rat because his father had been killed by a Ghoul. Still…she often went out to kill Death Eaters, even eating them. She became feared as the Mongoose, and the CCG would have come down on her arse, hard, had she not been targeting Death Eaters. It's said she was the only Ghoul the British branch of the CCG ever toasted, if only because the CCG had been attacked by Death Eaters who wanted to recruit Ghouls to their cause. The few times she encountered Doves, she generally stunned them and sent them back. Sometimes, she pranked them first."

"The Mongoose also became infamous for targeting other Ghouls," Eto cooed. "Growing up, she became my hero. I didn't realise she was your mother, Harry…but I wish I did."

"…Why 'Mongoose'?" Harry asked.

"Because a mongoose eats snakes," Sirius explained. "And as snakes are a symbol of the Death Eaters, not to mention Slytherin…anyway, when she fell pregnant with you, she decided, just in case, to place a special charm on you. She noticed that her magic would suppress her hunger at times, so she created a charm that fed on your own magic to quell your Ghoul's hunger. She knew that if she died, there was a risk you wouldn't be able to feed as much as you needed to, even being a quarter Ghoul. That being said, the charm wasn't meant to be kept on indefinitely. The longer it's kept on, the greater the inevitable backlash when it does get removed, and by this point, the charm's decaying. Hell, I'm surprised it lasted this long, even with Lily's talent."

"When the charm fails or is removed, you'll inevitably feel a lot of hunger for human flesh," Ollivander said quietly. "Your magic may have kept it suppressed, and it will prevent as bad a backlash as it could be…but you'd need to feed."

Harry stiffened at that, and the implications. Ghouls, after all, were obligate cannibals, eating humans. And while One-Eyed Ghouls could eat normal food, he knew from Eto that they still needed to eat human flesh.

He didn't want to be a monster. What's more, he knew that if word of this ever got out, so many people would turn on him in an instant. And what if he hurt someone he cared about? He began to hyperventilate in fear.

Eto sat down next to Harry, and gently hugged him, the intimate gesture doing much to calm him down. "Hey…hey, it's okay, Harry. My…father, he gets food by using the corpses of suicide victims. And you know where I get my food from. Harry…none of those here care that you're part-Ghoul. You're a person, more of a person than any of those I prey upon. Hell, you're more sane than I am, though I think sanity's overraaaateeeed."

"I agree!" Luna said, nodding so eagerly, she would've gotten whiplash normally. "A little bit of insanity is needed to make the world a more interesting place. Little brother Juuzou agrees!"

"…Who?" Harry asked.

"When I was in Japan a couple of years back, I decided to raid the Ghoul Restaurant in the 7th Ward of Tokyo," Eto said. "There was this adorable little Scrapper called Juuzou, a bit barmy, but after going what he went through, who could blame him?"

"…Scrapper?" Harry asked, thinking almost instantly that he wouldn't like the answer. Judging by the rather strong grimaces of disgust on Hermione and Sirius' faces, he'd regret answering that. Then again, a Ghoul Restaurant sounded ominous.

"Bluntly, he's a cabaret performer in what is basically Grand Guignol. Some Ghouls like to watch humans get taken apart for food in a Ghoul Restaurant. Scrappers are those who do the dismantling. Personally, I find it very distasteful. I mean, can't they get other Ghouls to do that if they're going to do that at all? And I'd rather take apart my prey myself, not brainwash some poor kid to do it for me. Anyway, dear little Juuzou was someone I rescued. He's so adorable. Good with knives, too. He's practically a Dove, with how good he can kill a Ghoul if he wanted to. Unfortunately, I had him on a mission tonight…"

"…And there's of course the fact that George Lucas was such an Akira Kurosawa fanboy. Hell, did you know he offered Toshiro Mifune the role of either Obi-Wan Kenobi or Darth Vader? That's what his daughter claims, anyway."

"GYYYAAARRGGGHHHH!"

"Oh come on, it's not that baaad. I could be cutting you up AND making you watch The Phantom Menace. That'd be cruel and VERY unusual punishment right there. Aren't you grateful for my mercy?"

"Ffffuck you, freak…"

The rather effeminate, albino young boy with the wide, doll-like eyes scowled at the Ghoul he was torturing. His voice, once lilting and feminine, was deadly serious, more serious than a boy his age had any right to be. "Freak," he said, testing out the word, pulling at his lower lip with a finger. "I'm curious, what's more freakish, the born freak, or the made freak? I guess it depends on what makes them freakish. You see, I used to be a pet, a Scrapper, once belonging to Big Madam of Tokyo. Now, I like to be…what was that word Big Sis Luna used? Ah, philosophical. I like to be phil-o-soph-ic-al about what happened to me. Because if nothing else…it was educational. Big Madam made me very good at killing. And I'm good at taking people and monsters apart. Freaks are just those who are different from what's normal, and normal's boring anyway. For example, a symmetrical face is normal, and rather boring. So, let's see…gimme your eye!"

"NYAAAAAAAAARRRRGGHHHH!"

"Is it one of those things I'm better off not knowing about?" Hermione said.

"There was a Ghoul who abducted young kids in Shoreditch who wouldn't play ball when I told him politely to stop," Eto said with a shrug. "He was turning them into food or Scrappers for London's Ghoul Restaurant."

"…Knowing how Juuzou came into your care, I'm guessing he didn't take that well," Hermione said, grimacing.

"Oh, he took that very well. I basically gave him the Ghoul and said, 'Have fun'," Eto said. "It was like a belated birthday present for him, but it was worth the wait."

"…You give me signed copies of your books for my birthday…and you give this kid a torture victim, even if he's the worst sort of Ghoul," Harry said flatly.

Eto looked at him solemnly. "…Juuzou is not normal by any means. You try growing up in the environment he did and remain sane. I try to give him a normal life…but he's so eager to please me for saving him. Killing is all he ever knew. I'm just helping him channel that in a way that's helpful. Besides, the CCG would have recruited him if I hadn't, I'd bet. Now…Harry, we'll have to find a way to take the charm off you in a controlled environment, with a well-stocked supply of…well, meat."

"We'll use our home," Ollivander said. "It's heavily warded against the strength of Ghouls, and has a well-stocked larder. And if you're worried about the source, Mr Potter, we've divided them based on source: suicide victims, and criminals."

"And if Dumbledore wants you to go home to those…relatives of yours, then they can wait a day or two," Eto said. "Personally, I am sorely tempted to eat them, but given what little I've seen of them before when I went with the Weasleys to pick you up last year…well, I'm not fond of fatty foods. Or giraffe meat. And more importantly, their disappearances may draw undue attention to you. Especially if people suspect it to be a Ghoul's work. I'm sure one of Voldemort's minions have contacted the DMLE."

"Not the CCG?" Harry asked.

"They're Purebloods, Harry," Hermione said. "Would they contact a Muggle organisation? It'd either be the DMLE, or the Unspeakables…and that could be a problem. The Department of Mysteries in Magical Britain has been rumoured to take an especial interest in Ghouls, and none of it good."

Eto then gently hugged Harry again. "Harry…I promise you this: you are still Harry Potter. You still will be even once we remove the charm."

"Exactly," Hermione said. "You're my friend, and as long as you don't become an indiscriminate killer, then you'll remain so."

"Same here," Sirius said, and Luna and Ollivander nodded their agreements.

"It goes without saying, though, that you should keep your status as a part-Ghoul secret from as many people as possible," Hermione said. "The Weasleys are good, but they're not exactly the most open-minded of people, even for those who support Muggles. And anyway, to most people, all Ghouls are vicious flesh-eating monsters with no morality whatsoever."

"To be fair, there are a lot like that," Eto said. "But there are others who are just people cursed with a dark hunger. When I was in Japan last, I met a lovely couple called Asaki and Ryoko Fueguchi. Asaki only targets criminals, and Ryoko doesn't want to kill to eat. They have this adorable little girl called Hinami. But there are many who are the monsters most humans believe us to be." She looked at Harry. "You may not have a choice in what you have to eat, Harry…but you have a choice in the how you eat."

He didn't know what to say to that. He felt numb, hollow inside. After all these revelations, he didn't know what to think anymore. And the thing was, he didn't even have a choice in the matter, if what they said about his mother's charm decaying was true.

In the end, he said, "Can I just…sleep on this?"

They all nodded. "It's been a long day and a late night, for us all, I daresay," Ollivander said quietly. "We'll make arrangements."

Sirius nodded. "Dumbledore will want me to help revive the Order of the Phoenix, no doubt. Eto, I'll see if I can bring you in. Not into the Order, but into 12 Grimmauld Place."

"No…I have my own organisation to run. We will do what the Order cannot or will not. The Owls of Athena will ensure that Voldemort does not win over any Ghouls…and we will ensure that he is no longer a threat to Harry. That, I guarantee…"

CHAPTER 2 ANNOTATIONS:

So, revelations have been made. But will Harry be able to accept himself?

Now, including Juuzou Suzuya was not my original intention for this story. But after seeing him in action during the fifth volume of the manga, to say nothing of seeing some of the clips of him in action on Youtube (especially that motorbike scene: "KONNNNNBAAAAAANNNN….WA!"), I felt he would fit in well with Eto's organisation, given that, well, Eto and Luna are part of it too. And for those of you who know enough about Tokyo Ghoul to care…he was rescued from Big Madam a couple of years before being…shall we say 'gavelled'? He hasn't started doing his self-stitching thing yet, but give it time.

No numbered annotations this time.