"Oh my God! We've killed Harry Fenton!" Harry heard a muffled voice say frantically.
He groggily opened his eyes to see Sam and Tucker staring down at him worriedly.
"What happened?" Harry croaked every part of him was sore. Sam and Tucker looked at each other with panicked expressions before turning back down to Harry.
"Don't freak out dude, but I think you're dead." Tucker gasped.
"Pfffft I'm not dead. That's not possible." Then again, Harry thought, he had seen some strange things the past few years. But being dead was a bit much even for him.
"You might wanna take a look in the mirror Harry," Sam said, helping him to stand up. Reaching the mirror on the wall Harry stood completely shocked by what he saw.
His hair was pure white omitting a soft glow, and his eyes were no longer emerald green. They were now glowing blood red. Just like...
His hands began to shake and tears began to collect in his eyes.
"Great. Another reason for people to call me a freak," Harry muttered to himself. Sam looked at him concerned, apparently having heard him.
"What do you mean 'another' reason Harry?" Tucker watched silently waiting for him to explain.
Harry cursed himself. "You guys know how my parents are, even at boarding school I'm the freak with the ghost hunting parents," he lied.
He hated lying to them, but what other option did he have? Especially now with Voldemort back he had to do everything to keep his family safe, and his friends ignorant of the wizarding world.
Sam still looked a little apprehensive, but nodded in acceptance anyway. Tuck put a hand on his shoulder, at least he tried to. Where his hand should have made contact it instead continued to fall right through his shoulder.
With a gasp Tucker quickly pulled his hand back, clutching it to his chest. Harry's heart began to beat erratically. He gasped. Raising his hand to his chest he could feel his heart beating beneath his palm.
"I'm not dead!" He smiled excitedly, "my heart is still beating!" A bright light engulfed the room. The three teens shielded their eyes in surprise. Slowly opening his eyes, Harry saw his friends staring at him in shock.
Tilting his head in confusion, Tucker lifted his hand, motioning towards the mirror behind him. Harry quickly turned around, scared he would see even more similarities to Voldemort in his reflection.
"How?" Harry trailed off. His green eyes staring back at him. He reached up and combed his hand through his messy dark locks.
"Maybe the electricity in the air fried our brains and it was all just a hallucination." Tucker suggested weakly.
Sam turned to Tucker, "We all had the same hallucination? That's the most idiotic thing I've heard you say, and I've heard you read bedtime stories to your PDA."
"Harry, is everything okay down there?" Three heads snapped up towards the stairs.
"Everything's fine mom!" Harry yelled. Sam and Tucker glanced at him warily.
"Harry, maybe you should tell your parents what happened," Sam said, "they could probably help."
Harry looked at her incredulously, "Have you met my parents? If I told them one of their inventions basically killed me they'd never forgive themselves." He whispered hysterically.
"You guys should head up to my room, I'll meet you up there once I deal with my mom." Sam and Tucker looked at him with looks of sympathy.
"What happened!?"
The three teenagers jumped simultaneously. "What do you mean mom? Nothing happened!" Harry said as his mom pushed past them.
"You got the portal to work! How did you do it? Is that why the power went out? Why didn't you come get me?" Maddie quickly spouted before anyone could answer.
Harry looked at Sam, begging her to think of something to say. Tucker began slowly inching towards the stairs.
"We just unplugged it then plugged it back in ." Sam said with a shrug.
"Yeah, yeah we just, uh plugged it back in" Harry said running a hand through his hair nervously, "anyway, Sam and Tucker have a whole list of movies for me to catch up on so we're just going to go up to my room now" Tucker turned and ran up the rest of the stairs. Sam rolled her eyes and began to slowly follow him.
Up in Harry's room Sam and Tucker waited for him to close the door before completely freaking out. "So are we going to talk about what just happened?" After a moment of silence Tucker asks.
"Listen guys it was probably just some weird ghost thing that happened 'cause the portal got turned, it was probably just a one time thing that won't ever happen again. Obviously I'm alive and not dead. So let's forget it ever happened." Harry tried for an easy smile. Sam and Tucker gave him dead-panned looks.
"You're joking right? That was definitely not nothing." Tucker stood up worriedly and started to pace. "My hand went right through you! That's not normal!"
Sam stood up glaring at Tucker, "Tucker chill out, you're spiraling. We have no idea what just happened, we're lucky Harry's even alive right now! Who knows how many jolts of electricity just passed through his body!"
"Technically it's "volts" of electricity" Harry chimed in unhelpfully. "Honestly guys I feel fine" He plopped on the bed falling straight through to the hard floor underneath.
"Oh yeah falling straight through your bed is totally normal behavior." Sam scoffed.
"Wow, I really need to clean under here." Harry's muffled voice sounded from beneath the bed.
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Jack and Maddie watched as their son ran up the stairs, concern evident on both their faces. They of course had been notified as to what had happened to their baby boy, they had hoped it had all been exaggerated, but seeing their boy for the first time in months looking so lost and dejected made them realize how serious things really were.
"I just can't believe they would allow something so dangerous to happen in a school, a place of learning!" Maddie said fiercely, throwing her arms in the air. "And the fact that they had the nerve to keep us in the dark about this whole competition, when our own son was being forced to compete!"
"I'm just surprised Harry never wrote to us about it," Jack replied. "I mean Harry's never been one to let us in on what he's going through, but he could have died and we were just working at home finishing the portal with no idea what he was going through." he said, shaking his head softly. When they received that owl saying Harry had almost been killed, and had witnessed another student's death in the process; he could hardly believe it. His little boy, only 14 and had already been through so much.
"I think we should try to give him as normal a summer as we can, help him take his mind off everything, ya know?" He told Maddie, knowing she would do everything in her power to make Harry feel like a kid again.
"That's not all we need to do." Jazz's voice sounded loud and forceful from the stairs.
"Jazz you shouldn't be eavesdropping honey." Maddie said in a soft yet scolding tone.
"I don't think you guys should homeschool him this summer," she said, arms crossed, stare unwavering.
"Jazzy-pants, how else are we gonna keep up his studies on math and science. They don't care about those subjects at Hogwarts." Jack reasoned in a booming voice.
" I know, I know. But this summer I think it would be good for Harry to take some summer classes at Casper High. He needs to socialize with kids his own age, who aren't going to have preconceived notions about the famous Boy-Who-Lived." Jazz argued fervently, barely stopping to take a breath. "I mean his only friends in the whole country are Sam and Tucker and even they aren't as close as they were before Harry stopped attending school with them. He needs to get out of this chaotic house and be with people his own age."
"You know that's not a bad idea Jack, not to mention it'll give us more time to spend down in the lab." Maddie looked at her husband with a knowing smile and a raised brow.
(line break)
"Good morning sweetheart!" Harry smiled faintly at his mom, sitting down at the kitchen table as a plate of toast was placed in front of him. He made a face at the Jack Fenton shaped bread.
"I'll just stick to cereal mom, but thanks." he said, filling his bowl. Before he could bring the first bite to his mouth his spoon clattered back into the bowl with a milky splash.
After falling through his hand completely.
He quickly made an excuse before darting up the stairs to the privacy of his bedroom. Quickly slamming the door shut he leaned back against it taking deep breaths. He made his way over to his still packed trunk fishing out some parchment and a quill and settling at his desk. He paused, 'Wait a second I'm at home why am I using this medieval garbage' Harry thought to himself grabbing an old notebook and pen.
Dear Hermione I made home safe, I hope you're somewhere fun with your parents enjoying yourself and not spending all your time doing your summer homework. Where did they end up taking you this year? I've been holed up inside the past few days bingeing all the movies I missed while at school. Sam and Tucker have movie marathons down to a science at this point. It'd be great if you could come visit and join us one of these days, Sam and Tucker said they would love to meet you! My parents are a bit freaked out about what happened after the third task, have you told yours anything about what happened?
Harry scribbled out the last line, he wasn't sure he should mention what happened to him to anyone, at least not yet. He was already a freak in the wizarding world, no need to add more flames to that fire. Though if he were to tell anyone, Hermione would be a pretty safe bet. She'd no doubt have a list of books with answers to his questions in no time. But he couldn't drag them into this, it was bad enough that Sam and Tucker had witnessed his "death" or whatever it was.
His thoughts were interrupted by the loud ringing coming from his bedside drawer. He almost forgot he had a cell phone, not being allowed to bring it to Hogwarts with him. He quickly answered, not even bothering to read the caller ID.
"Harry we're coming over to talk about last night whether you like it or not!" He held the phone away from his ear, seeing Sam's name on the screen. He'd managed to keep his friends from asking too many questions about the incident with the portal last night. He was worried the only reason he was alive was because he was the "boy-who-lived" and stuff like this seemed to happen to him everywhere he went. But he could hardly explain that to Sam and Tucker, so he had spent the rest of his evening deflecting and watching movies with his best (muggle) friends.
"Yeah, yeah okay. You guys can-" he rushed out before another voice cut him off.
"We're on our way!" Tucker's voice exclaimed before the call abruptly ended. He quickly finished his letter for Hermione and sent it off with Hedwig, figuring Ron could wait a couple more days before he would expect a letter.
Harry jumped as his door swung open and slammed against his bedroom wall with a thud. Sam and Tucker quickly entered his room and shut the door before he could even blink.
"So now can we talk about what happened last night?" Sam said, making herself comfortable on the edge of his bed.
"Listen all I remember is going into that stupid portal, a flashing light and a whole lotta pain. Then waking up looking, and feeling like death." Harry recalled quietly, looking down at his hands fiddling with a pen on his desk.
Sam and Tucker shared a look, eyes wide. "Yeah that pretty much sums it up from our side too dude." Tuck said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Don't worry man, we'll figure out what really happened, we've got your back." He finished, taking a step towards his friend. They obviously weren't going to just drop it, but maybe this wasn't anything magical after all. The ghosts his parents always talked about were definitely different from the ones at school. And if it was magical then Harry should've gotten a warning from MACUSA for revealing magic in front of Sam and Tucker. Maybe they really could help him figure this mess out, Harry thought hopefully.
He looked up, a small smile forming on his face. "Just the three of us, like old times." he said softly.
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"Guys it's already been a week since the "incident" and I still barely have any control. Maybe I should tell my parents." Harry sighed dejectedly, pushing his Nasty Burger tray towards Tucker, having lost his appetite. After his parents ghost hunting equipment had started honing in on him it was pretty clear just what the portal had done to him. Luckily his parents managed to blame their equipment acting up on Harry's magic.
"You just need more practice, There's no need to get your wacky parents involved. I mean who knows, they might make it worse." She shrugged, poking at her veggie burger.
"If my parents can invent something that accidentally made me half-ghost, why can't they invent something that turns me back to normal?" Harry said, thumping his head on the table.
"Danny, your powers make you unique. Unique is good! That's why I'm an ultra recyclo-vegetarian." Sam argues. But Harry doesn't want to be unique, coming home for the summer is his only time he can feel normal and hang out with his friends like average tennagers.
"I'm an American attending a British boarding school, that's about as unique as I want to be Sam." He rolled his eyes, 'I'm also a wizard celebrity who's being targeted by magical Hitler, can't get much more unique than that' Harry thought to himself despondently.
"I still can't believe they're making you go to school, during the summer! That's just criminal." Tucker said between bites, sauce dripping down his chin. Sam wordlessly handed him a stack of napkins, disgust evident on her face.
"It's not all bad, It's honestly safer than me being homeschooled by them again. Just wish Lancer wasn't the one teaching the class, he's always hated me. Even after I started going away for school I see him glaring at me whenever I see him around the neighborhood during the summers. And now with these stupid powers, I'm one dropped beaker away from failing chemistry." Honestly, 47 broken beakers and he would think it was on purpose too. Harry sighed as he stood from their booth.
"I'll see you guys later, I better get home soon before my parents activate the tracker in my molar." Harry said sarcastically and headed for the doors.
Once again he became lost in his thoughts, how would he explain all of this to Dumbledore? Would he even care? He hasn't reached out at all since the end of the school year. In fact nobody had. Did something happen that he hadn't heard about or were they purposefully ignoring him? Hermione's reply to his letter left a lot to be desired, she hadn't answered any of his questions or given him any real information beyond saying that she was fine and hoping that he was well. He hadn't been expecting much from Ron to begin with but even his letter had been lacking.
Harry shivered as a cold wind swept through him. Harry turned down the next street noticing the street lights were flickering. His ghost sense hadn't alerted him to anything so he attributed it to faulty wiring or a power surge. Maybe his friends didn't believe him about what had happened during the third task. He quickened his pace and wrapped his arms tightly around himself. He couldn't blame them. His teeth started chattering against the sudden chill in the air. He was a disappointment, so far from the glorified savior they had grown up hearing about. How many times had their lives been put in danger simply because of their friendship with him.
His thoughts were cut off as he felt a cold hand wrap around his forearm. His vision was clouded in black as he was thrown into a nearby alley, his wand clattered beside him falling loose from his sock where he kept it hidden from Sam and Tucker. He quickly reached for it, turning to the opening of the alleyway. Wand outstretched and defensive spells raced through his mind. It was empty, he was alone. Slowly he started to turn towards the darkness of the back alley when he saw out of the corner of his eye a swarm of black robes and a skeletal hand reaching for his throat.
"Expecto Patronum!" Harry yelled pointing his wand at the hooded figure.
Nothing happened.
"Expecto Patronum!" He yelled again, though the usual warmth his wand provided when he cast spells was missing. Instead of that tingle of magic under his fingertips all he felt was smooth wood, nothing special at all. Would his wand not respond to him now that he was half ghost? Did it recognize the change within him and refuse to acknowledge their history?
Harry clawed at the hand surrounding his throat, holding him steady against the brick wall. He tried going ghost, going intangible, invisible, anything! His vision started to go black just as the dementor slowly started reaching to pull back its hood. There was a flash of pink energy blinding him, before he succumbed to the darkness.