Grim Grinning Ghosts Chapter 11 - Granger, Weasley And Wood: Hogwarts Detectives

AN:

Oni: *shudders at the site of the pitchforks and torches*

Harrison: A year has passed since you updated this, Oni, what did you expect?

Oni: *cries on the floor*

Harold: Is she...gonna...be okay...?

Percy: Most likely. I'll take over for now. A great many thanks to all of you who have followed and favorited this story, and for all your wonderful reviews.

Harrison: Harold, shall you do the legend?

Harold:

"Normal"

"Mindspace"

Ron: Oni does not own Harry Potter, the characters within that wonderful Wizarding World, or the idea for this plot bunny. Adding the plot bunny to the world of Harry Potter though, that was her idea.

Percy: And onwards with the story. We hope you enjoy it.

Neville: It just doesn't sound right when you say it, Percy.

The next morning had Ron immediately accosted by a very eager Hermione Granger. He had just gotten dressed and was slowly trudging down the stairs, his mind already thinking about the breakfast that awaited him in the Great Hall, when she mercilessly confronted him. Had this girl no manners on the importance of breakfast? She looked confused when he grabbed her by the shoulder and steered her towards the exit of the Common Room.

"We can talk while we walk to breakfast." he told her resolutely.

"But-" Hermione attempted to argue, but was cut off.

"Stomach first, answers later." Ron stressed again, and as if to prove his point right, his stomach grumbled loudly.

After rolling her eyes at him, Hermione again gave him a hopeful look.

"So did you find out anything last night?" she asked.

Ron felt his heart clench up. On one hand he didn't want to disappoint her, and on the other he didn't want to break Harold's heart. He thought for a little bit on how to answer her, before coming up with something that could satisfy both parties.

"It may have just been because it was really dark, but I don't think he was breathing at all when he came into the room..." he told her quietly as they hurried down the hallway.

Hermione seemed to take this well, and began vigorously scribbling something down in her little black notebook as they passed another hallway.

Unfortunately for them, they didn't realize that they had just passed Percy Weasley and Oliver Wood, who had been explaining Potter's role in the certain win of the Quidditch Cup. Oliver paused when he heard Ron's reply to Hermione, and immediately stopped speaking. Percy raised an eyebrow at this.

"Something the matter, Wood?" he asked flatly, caused Oliver to shake his head out of a stupor enough to almost mechanically reply.

"Merlin Percy, we've been friends for four years and you still just call me Wood. Ouch."

"That didn't answer my question. What's on your mind?" Percy questioned in his Prefect voice, which sounded pompous but was actually just Percy trying to be normal.

"Well," Oliver started delicately, "Your brother just noted to his friend that Potter wasn't breathing at all last night...which is something I noticed as well. After the tests I put him through, he should have been beat and heaving, but he wasn't! It's not my imagination!" he explained, his voice getting higher pitched in panic at the last few words.

Percy just huffed.

"Well, I already explained this to Ron and his friend Granger, but if you haven't noticed already, Potter has the signs of an advanced Inferus. Remember last year? While the faster counterpart is a mystery to me, you cannot deny the signs that are displayed on the other one." Percy laid out matter-of-factly, barely batting an eye to the way Oliver gaped at him as he did.

"How can you be so calm about this?! We have to tell a professor! Surely they would know something about-"

"I don't think that's necessary," Percy interrupted flatly, "if Potter wants to tell a professor whatever condition he was afflicted with, that's his decision. As it doesn't seem like he has, and furthermore has hidden whatever secret he has even from his friends, it would be detrimental to pry. Could you imagine what would happen if I snitched on the Twins every time they pulled a prank? No thank you, I refuse to go down that route."

"You're skirting around the first question, Percy. How. Are you. So calm. About Potter?!" Oliver gritted out, "The Twins and their antics are one thing, but every year a catastrophe happens and you don't even bat an eyelash! And I know that's why you got the prefect position but after all these years of friendship I still don't know how you do it!"

"When your father deals with enchanted muggle goods, your eldest brother turns down a Ministry job to risk his life breaking curses and comes home with a plethora of strange and usual artifacts, your second eldest brother quits Quidditch to take care of dragons and calls the baby ones his 'children' over the floo, and when your immediate younger siblings are Fred and George, you will have learned to have given up on any semblance of logic and reason and go with your intuition instead." Percy answered flatly.

Oliver simply shook his head.

"You Weasleys, I'm starting to think that all of you are brilliantly insane or something..."

"Well, I can't say you're wrong..."

With Harold's new Quidditch practices three nights a week and the addition of more and more homework, neither of the two undead boys could believe that it was their two month mark already. They were quite content here, considering their secret had been revealed to two of their dorm mates, but Ron and Neville took it in stride and refused to tell anyone what had happened to them.

However, Harrison was now stressing over his current predicament. Which just so happened to be that tomorrow was Halloween. Oh, he knew that it was the night of his parents' murder, but after almost four years of being dead himself the anniversary wasn't what worried him. Halloween tended to be both a blessing and a curse for him, because the barrier between the living world and the world beyond was thinner, the two places much closer to each than on any other day. For Harrison and Harold, who were sort of stuck in the middle, that meant that they could communicate with both worlds. For the past three Halloweens they were able to meet Lily and James Potter, who had coveted that day even if it was the anniversary of their death because it was the only time they could speak to their son(s).

This also meant other spirits that passed on from the veil return, and Harrison and Harold end up doing quite a lot of running around in their living guise, conveying messages to the living from the dead who wanted them to hear it. Knowing well that many students in Hogwarts lost their parents and family members in the war against Voldemort, Harrison steeled himself for a very busy day. He was sure his parents would understand, as they had been patient when they had to chase down people all over Surrey, but Harrison knew Harold wanted to have a chance to talk to his own passed on relatives and not just be an errand boy for others.

It would have been much easier if the dead could speak for themselves. This day jeopardized all the care they put into pretending to be alive, and there's only so much they could do without resorting to using their undead abilities to get the job done.

While Harrison worried about the day ahead, Harold played with James. He was dangling a broken quill in front of the black cat, who pawed and clawed at it with glee. His seeker training was going very well, though he had noticed that Oliver Wood would sometimes sneak curious glances at the undead boy every so often during practice, which sometimes made Harold a little nervous. Had he done something wrong? Did he act a bit off?

"What's up, guys?" came the voice of Neville, who was taking out his books for the next lesson.

At Neville's words, Harrison detached himself from the main body, ghost separating from the living corpse with ease. Harold appeared to be unperturbed by this, as they were the only ones in the dorm, and continued to play with the little black cat. The ghost, however, floated absentmindedly before his translucent (and physically nonexistent) brain caught up to the reason he had detached from Harold in the first place.

"Oh, hello Neville." Harrison replied, looking up at the round faced Gryffindor boy, "Not much I suppose. Just worrying about tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Neville wondered, "Halloween? Why? Will you two get forcibly split apart? I can cover for you if you want, just tell me when you'll be leaving-"

"No, no. Nothing like that!" Harrison placated, waving his hand in front of him, "Halloween is what I would consider a…busy day. Those that have passed beyond the Veil return with messages for the living and unfortunately for the two of us, that means we will have to spend the day delivering messages to practically everyone in the castle and while I usually don't mind such a task, I fear we won't have time to do anything without revealing ourselves, which is incredibly unfair to Harold, he should be spending today with friends and going to the Feast, not running down the halls to explain to a student that yes, their parents' Spirit is here and yes, they have a message and no, we are not crazy and completely serious…"

He trailed off, looking worriedly at Harold, who was still blissfully oblivious to the conversation. Harrison heaved a sigh through his nonexistent lungs, shaking his head as he contemplated this new predicament. Square framed glasses turned to regard Neville, who was deep in thought as he sat down cross legged on the carpeted floor of their dorm. The plant loving Gryffindor had been incredibly helpful for the past month, covering for the duo with his 'clumsiness' in case either of them slipped up somehow and needed a distraction. The ghost felt rather touched at the boy's kindness, and felt rather bad for needing his assistance so much, though the gesture was greatly appreciated. A few seconds passed and Neville swiveled his head to look at Harold before addressing Harrison, not taking his eyes off the undead corpse of the Boy Who Lived.

"…We'll find a way. You've come this far already." he replied resolutely, "I'll make sure Harold doesn't have to spend Halloween delivering messages, even if I have to deliver them myself, somehow. But right now, we should probably get to Transfiguration."

Widening eyes and a scramble to get books ensued (come now, Harold, it's time for class! You can play with James afterwards!), and within minutes a healthy looking, though haggard in expression, eleven year old Harry Potter was running out of the Gryffindor Common Room alongside a laughing Neville Longbottom. He was in so much of a hurry that he momentarily forgot his opacity and slammed into the wall next to the portrait hole. No one batted an eye in their direction, as such behavior was normal for first years late for class.

No one except Percy Weasley, who watched them crawl out of the Common Room with a blank look on his face, and Oliver Wood, who's eyes lingered on the dark haired boy's bruise that could be seen under the hastily-done collar of his shirt, ruffled after the collision with the wall.

They ended up getting to class a little earlier than expected, though Ron and Hermione were already there waiting for them. Neville and Harrison sat down on the table next to them, happy to have made it to class on time. Hermione, as expected, was shoulders deep into a book, though the title could not be seen. Whatever it was, she didn't even look up to greet them when the two entered the classroom.

Ron, however, stared at Harrison for a few seconds before motioning to his collar, which was loose enough to reveal the large handprint on his neck. Harrison's face immediately paled to a likeness of his actual self before frantically flipping the collar upwards and buttoning it up all the way like he usually did, sending Ron a thankful glance after he did so.

The four students waited in silence for the rest of the Transfiguration class to trickle in, Harrison nervously flipping through the textbook and rereading the lesson for the day. He didn't need to, of course, he knew everything in the first year texts by heart, but the paranoia of almost being found out coupled with the insanity that was going to be Halloween weighing on his mind was turning him into a wreck.

"You…okay?"

Harold sounded this worry out from within their shared mindspace, reaching out to shakingly take the reigns of the body if the ghost was feeling that out of it. Harrison assured his counterpart that he will be better once the lesson started and he had something else to focus on, and gently told the zombie counterpart to rest. He didn't want Harold to overexert himself.

The lesson, thankfully, went smoothly. Nobody seemed to detect Harrison's haggardness, and the spellwork was rather simple, consisting of turning a mouse or a rat (in Ron's case) into a matchbox. Harrison, as usual, scored Gryffindor full points for getting the spell right on the first try. Hermione stared at him in contemplation, but the dark haired boy was too focused on helping Ron to notice.

"No, no, it's Flintifors. Yes, yes, now try again." Harrison urged as Ron attempted to turn Scabbers into a matchbox, only to have the rat squeak in terror as it transformed onto a furry grey matchbox with its tail still attached.

"Oops." mumbled Ron sheepishly.

Professor McGonagall walked over to the redhead's table to perceive his work. With a flick of her wand Scabbers turned back into the frightened animal that squeaked as if in protest at being used as a Transfiguration subject.

"Good start, Mr. Weasley, but try making your wand movements more precise, like this." McGonagall instructed, showing the wrist movements slowly so Ron could mimic them.

During his second try, the matchbox was a lot less furry, and the tail disappeared. The Professor moved on to the next table, where Lavender Brown was having trouble transfiguring her guinea pig.

Soon enough the lesson ended, and the students all filtered out of the classroom in haste to get to their next class. Harrison, Neville, and Ron walked at a slow pace to Herbology, with the two living boys sensing the palpable angst coming from the undead boys. Neville kept silent, already knowing what was weighing on the foreign entity's mind, while Ron decided to cut to the chase. Holding a traumatized Scabbers in his hands, he let out a deep sigh.

"You're not doing so well, are you?" the red haired boy mumbled, making his voice low so that passerbys couldn't hear, "You seem distracted, mate."

Harrison heaved a sigh, before leaning back on a wall and quietly explaining the predicament of Halloween to his worried friend. About the Spirits from beyond and their duty to communicate with the living for them on Halloween. About the heavy influx of dead loved ones at Hogwarts that would take time away from Harold, who wanted to spend the day with friends, and the most likely outcome of being found out.

"…I think I understand." Ron said slowly after a few seconds of digesting the information, "Is there a way that the spirits who've passed beyond the Veil to communicate without you? Crystal balls? Writing letters?"

Harrison tilted his head at Ron in contemplation.

"I've never tried crystal balls, and most of the time spirits cannot touch anything in the material world without a specific Offering. Why crystal balls?" he asked the boy curiously, making Ron shift where he stood.

"My brother Bill, who's a curse breaker, told me this one time he had to trap an angry spirit used as a ward defense into this crystal ball. The bloke was still able to talk through it, though, kept swearing up a storm the entire time that Bill was trying to break down the other parts of the ward." he explained, laughing a little as he recalled the story.

"Okay," Neville thought out loud, "So say that crystal balls do work and that ghosts can talk through them, how are we going to get enough crystal balls for an entire castle's worth of impatient Spirits?"

"…By raiding the Divination Tower, most likely." came a flat voice from behind them.

The three (four) Gryffindor boys spun around to see Percy Weasley, Oliver Wood, and Hermione Granger standing in the hallway with varying levels of determination.

While Harrison and Neville were making their way to Transfiguration, Percy and Oliver were talking quietly amongst themselves as they too made their way to class. The object of their discussion was Hogwarts' favorite enigma - Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived. However, in Percy's opinion, the famed title should be revised. What seems to be a healthy living boy was a facade only skin deep, everything else about the boy(s?) pointed to the opposite.

"Did you see his face when he ran into the wall?" the bespectacled ginger asked flatly with no hint of humor in his tone, speaking lowly and showing Oliver his Runes essay in order to appear to be discussing a school-related topic.

Rules of making sure that one is never overheard: Pretend to talk about something so incredibly boring that people listening in don't spare you a second glance. Living as a Weasley, this method was honed to an art form as a method of survival. He's been duping his family for years by convincing them that he would love nothing more than to talk about cauldron bottom thicknesses and the glory of the Ministry all day.

"Yes, but I don't see how that's more important than the bruise on his neck which, incidentally, is in the shape of a giant handprint!" Oliver all but hissed out, "How can he even play quidditch like that?!"

Ah, Oliver, always one with a one-tracked mind to quidditch. It was surprising that he was questioning Potter's strange infliction at all, considering that he overlooked Fred and George's twinspeak in order to gain the greatest Beaters in Hogwarts. Why should a little undeadness deter him?

"You saw him hit the wall, you didn't see his face." Percy rebuked in a slightly pompous manner, "He looked momentarily confused, as if he either didn't expect the wall to be there, or expected to phase through said wall."

It was that piece of evidence that strengthened his theory. Previously Harrison could have been anything, but now it seemed that he had some level of transparency, enough to occupy a body at the same time whilst still being a separate entity.

"What, like a ghost?" Oliver quipped sarcastically, before paling when Percy nodded in affirmation.

"Exactly like a ghost. Curiously enough, judging by the frazzled state of the boy, it was the quicker personality, Harrison." Percy stated matter-of-factly.

Everything about Harold matched up almost perfectly with an advanced Inferi, but Harrison? Harrison was always the mystery to him. Far too nervous and paranoid, and obsessively loyal to Harold, as if protecting the slower half was the sole purpose of his being.

"So you think," Oliver started almost incredulously, "That Harry Potter is both a ghost and an advanced Inferi?"

"That is my hypothesis, yes." Percy stated flatly, "I had suspected it a little, due to the fact that I swore I saw him wandering the halls in the middle of the night. Granger shares my theory, which is why I let her borrow that book on Dark Spirits that procured from the Library."

Granted, she had been rather surprised when Percy Weasley of all people presented that book to her, but getting more information on this fascinating mystery was completely worth a crack in his 'Perfect Prefect Percy' facade. Granger could also prove to be a useful source later.

"Percy, I was there when you got the book. You gave a first year student a book from the Restricted Section?!" the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain whispered harshly, his voice becoming higher pitch by the end.

Why most people insisted on believing he was a saint boggled him constantly. Though to be fair, he never gave any indication that he was anything less than a stiff rule abider to support anything else. The perks of being a prefect in fifth year meant that he had the same library rights as the sixth and seventh years. That is to say, unrestricted access to the Restricted Section.

"Well, yes. Granger is incredibly bright for her age, I'm sure she'll be able to derive the information she needs from the text. In fact, we'll be seeing her after class to compare notes." Percy stated flatly, as if bored.

He did hope that she found something useful that he had missed, and he would have to tell her about this new piece of information once he met her again.

"You've got to be kidding me, and here everyone thinks you're the goody two shoes…" mumbled Oliver, shutting his mouth once they reached the classroom.

After Runes Percy led Oliver down to the Transfiguration classroom, where Granger bustled out from her class. Her bushy hair was flying everywhere as she rushed towards the two older Gryffindors, A Compendium of Known Darke Spirits clutched tightly in her hands. Percy greeted her with a single nod of his head, crossing his arms as the excitable bookworm immediately launched into her findings, whispering so that the other students (who probably didn't care about what the first year girl was saying anyways) couldn't hear.

"…most Dark Creatures are not affected by the coming of Halloween, unless they come from the 'Necromancy' category. One can narrow this down even further to only Advanced Inferi and Wraiths, which are the only creatures capable of self awareness. These beings are in an in-between state of life and death, and therefore can witness the coming and going of those who have passed beyond the Veil of Death during the night of Halloween…" Hermione read out the passage from the text softly, "Harrison was acting off in class, do you think it has anything to do with tomorrow?"

Percy opened his mouth to answer, but snapped it shut when he saw the object of their discussion walk out of the Transfiguration classroom along with Ron and Longbottom, looking a little worse for wear.

"Shall we follow them?" he asked instead, his voice low.

Two nods in affirmation was all he needed. A minute later had them listening in to Harrison's explanation to Ron, as well as confirmation that Granger's theory was right. Which led to a rather disturbing conclusion on Percy's part. Like the passage had said, very few beings could sense the souls that came from beyond the Veil. Harold checked out all right, as an advanced Inferi fit the description perfectly.

"Okay," Neville's voice rang out, "So say that crystal balls do work and that ghosts can talk through them, how are we going to get enough crystal balls for an entire castle's worth of impatient Spirits?"

"By raiding the Divination Tower, most likely." Percy answered, crossing his arms on front of his chest.

However, the problem was that a ghost like Nearly-Headless Nick or the Bloody Baron could not perceive such spirits. If they could, perhaps then the students could get closer on those lost in the War. But such was not the case, and it was obvious there was only one kind of Being stuck between the living and the dead capable of phasing through walls.

Harrison was a Wraith.

Harrison felt panic begin to grip him. The look in their eyes claimed that they knew something, that there was judgement there. He couldn't exactly pinpoint whether it was fear or understanding or surprise or pity, but it was obvious that they knew that him and Harold weren't as they seemed. As the beginnings of hyperventilation began to set in Harrison was thrown back into the mindspace, with Harold lumbering to take his place at the forefront.

"Harold! What are you-" came the worried, shrieking voice of Harrison from within the mindspace.

"Divination…Tower?" asked Harold, holding his priorities in order.

"You heard us the entire time?" whispered Harrison, slightly ashamed for trying to keep the problem from his zombie counterpart.

Harold nodded slowly, confusing his friends and making Percy raise an eyebrow. His head slowly swiveled to the elder Weasley in question.

"The Divination Tower is the home of the Divination class, which is an elective that can be chosen in third year. If you want to procure a ridiculous amount of anything Divination related, including crystal balls, that's where to go." the Gryffindor Prefect answered in a pompous manner.

"And how are we going to raid a tower that we're not even allowed near yet?" asked Neville, fixing the strap of his bag.

"If you have a couple of older students in your raiding party, it should be possible. We would need to do so at night, and it would be good if there was more than one party to search the Tower. Trelawney would be in a drunken stupor to notice us, so we could get in and out of there as long as we don't run into any professors." the prefect replied as if it were common knowledge.

"Right," muttered Ron with wide eyes, "the world has gone barmy. Percy is telling us how to break the rules."

"You can discuss the disillusionment of my moral code at a later date. We all have classes to go to, now shoo before I dock you points for loitering in the halls." came the perturbed voice of the elder Weasley before he grabbed Oliver Wood by the wrist and dragged the teen off, presumably to their next class.

"Whew!" Ron sighed out in relief, "At least that's the Percy I know!"

Hermione, for her own part, was silent. Harold could feel her eyes boring proverbial holes in him, and he turned to meet her gaze. Something flickered in her expression before she gave him a tentative smile and a small wave, which he returned. Harrison worried too much in his opinion, friends were friends, and friends stuck together no matter how strange they were.

Like when they stalked you, or made a schedule of where you were at all times, or stared at you for an amount of time that was on grounds for a restraining order.

Harold, as slow as he was in movement, couldn't really be called an idiot. He knew what was going around him most of the time, but usually Harrison was quick enough to act on anything off so he didn't have to expend too much energy doing something his counterpart could complete in half the time. Not that he couldn't be quick, but the more energy expended, the more food he needed. Which was probably the real, unsaid reason why Harrison was panicking over Halloween.

He was starting to get hungry.

It wasn't bad yet, but if he had to spend Halloween running around to send messages to the living students from their relatives beyond the grave, then he would have to eat someone by the end of the day. Which was bad, because he was sure that a missing person at Hogwarts would be noticed, and he didn't want to eat anyone here. Harold really didn't want to worry about his hunger problem until Christmas, where they can just take some drunken vagrant wandering too close to the Mausoleum.

For now, all he could do was hope that whatever plan Percy had concocted would work. Raiding the Divination Tower sounded like quite a bit of work, but if Percy and Oliver were willing to join in, the job would be much smoother. Having Draco and company with them would also help, as Slytherins and Gryffindors out at night usually signaled a duel or a fight, not a group effort to raid a classroom. But he couldn't help but feel a little guilty. He was sure his friends would help him ease the burden of Halloween, but Harold was also worried that they might get caught. The last thing he wanted was for them to get in trouble because of him.

As they walked to their next class, both undead boys hoped that their plan would work, and that perhaps Halloween won't be a disaster after all.

Enlisting Draco and company's help for the raid was easy, convincing them why was the hard part. In the end, it was decided that the best way to go about this was to gather all their friends into a warded classroom, sit them down, and explain everything. It was easier said than done, as both Harrison and Harold had rounded up Ron and Neville (who already knew), Hermione, Percy, and Oliver (who suspected), and Draco, Vincent, Gregory, Theodore, and Blaise (whose knowledge of their true nature was unknown) into the dusty classroom and locked the door. Muttering under his breath, Harrison cast the most powerful privacy charms he knew, though part of him questioned how he knew them.

With trepidation Harrison turned to his friends, who were waiting anxiously, took a deep breath, and separated from Harold.

The resulting gasps of awe and shock were nonexistent. In fact, most of the group had knowing looks in their face, including the Slytherins. Taking this as hopefully a good sign, both Harrison and Harold launched into the story of their death and subsequent 'resurrection'. Harrison talked about the cold winter morning, of December the 4th, and of the casket lined with white cloth lilies. Harold talked about the Mausoleum they they now resided in, about Mr. Wesley, and about the joy and worry about getting accepted into Hogwarts.

Their audience listened, with Hermione squeaking in horror at the way that the two had died, while the rest of the boys paled. Even Neville and Ron, who knew what they were, looked sick hearing about it all over again.

After the group had digested the information, asked their questions, and vented about the unfairness of it all, Harrison pressed on. He explained the significance of Halloween, and why raiding the Divination Tower was so important. When he was finished, all members of the gathered group agreed to aid the two of them, though their states pierced Harrison like a knife. Harold was simply grateful that they weren't trying to kill him, and that they weren't inching away in fear. He smiled his same dopey grin, still looking innocent despite his the majority of his face being a skull, green embers dancing happily in their sockets.

With the addition of new information, the plan was altered somewhat. Harrison would follow Percy up into the Divination Tower, as a Prefect patrolling the area would look far less suspicious than a group of first years sneaking around. Oliver Wood would stay with the rest of the group, and take as many crystal balls as they can.

Sneaking around the corridors at night was something Harrison was used to. Floating around the halls with Percy Weasley was also something Harrison did quite a bit, as the Prefect had unknowingly guided him around the castle whilst doing his rounds. The difference now was that Percy was fully aware that he was floating next to him, and it was slightly embarrassing admitting such a thing to the elder Weasley, but the ginger took it in stride. In fact, he seemed almost happy that he was able to provide so much information to the undead lad, in exchange for some understanding into what Harrison exactly was. They crossed the distance in relative silence, making sure not to wake any portraits at this time of the night.

With Harrison's ability to phase through solid objects, the trapdoor to the Tower was easily unlocked. The two were immediately accosted with the powerful stench of incense, which would have made Harrison gag if he wasn't a ghost already. A woman wrapped in a shawl and her arms encrusted in bangles laid quietly in one of the beanbags, loudly snoring. This must be the Divination teacher, the ghost thought to himself, passing her by.

After a bit of snooping, the two Gryffindors managed to locate where the crystal balls were held, and after a bit of wandwork, the hoard was shrunken down into something manageable.

"Percy," Harrison started quietly as the older teen began to gather their loot into a pouch with extendable charms on it, "I know that I don't know much about you, but why are you helping us?"

Percy was quiet for a few seconds, thinking about what to say, before replying in a rather monotonous voice.

"My reason is twofold. One, because you're Ron's friends, and is he is going to get in trouble helping you, so will I. Two, because you are an enigma, and studying you has been fascinating."

"Studying us...?" the ghost queried, floating in front of the prefect as they made their way out of the classroom.

"Yes, studying you, in particular. Are you aware that you're a Wraith, Harrison? It's considered rather Dark magic to turn oneself into one. It's why you can perceive the dead at Halloween." was the flat reply.

"To be honest, I'm not quiet sure what or who I am. Not since the Sorting." Harrison answered.

"What happened during the Sorting?" Percy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well..."

"You knew." was accusatory statement, of which Draco turned to address nonchalantly.

"Of course I knew, of course we knew. After a bit of studying and offhanded questioning, it isn't hard to understand that Harold and Harrison are the product of some really Dark magic." The Malfoy scion replied quietly, waiting in the corridor next to the Great Hall.

"We realized after we compared notes on how they behaved," Blaise continued, "We got some information from some older Slytherins-"

"Not that they realized." Theo muttered, cutting off his friend briefly.

"About the incident of that last DADA professed and his obsession with advanced Inferi, which explained Harold." Blaise finished, sending a slight glare at the Nott scion, who appeared unperturbed.

"But hearing how they died explained the bruises." added Greg, rubbing his neck at the thought.

"And why he didn't become a pancake on the ground when he cushioned Neville's fall." completed Vince, making the aforementioned Gryffindor blush in embarrassment.

Ron and Neville seemed happy that their Slytherin friends accepted the undead halves of Harry Potter with relative ease, the round faced boy patting the messy black hair on Harold's head. The zombie was sitting on the floor nervously, waiting for his ghost counterpart to return. Hermione, in the other hand, looked a little put out that she wasn't ahead of the information game.

"Harrison is still a mystery though." Theo pointed out, "I know he said he was a ghost, but ghosts are imprints of people who died, he seems to be more than that."

"Not to mention the fact that he has color." Vince added, nodding, "Even the Bloody Baron has silver blood, because all the Hogwarts ghosts are grey and silver. Harrison just looks like a see-through seven year old."

All of the Slytherins nodded, and even the Gryffindor boys felt confused at that information.

"If he's not a ghost, then what is he?" asked Neville, more to himself than anything.

Hermione's expression brightened at this, knowing that she was finally ahead of the Slytherins in this respect. Before she could open her mouth to answer, however, Oliver Wood, who had stayed silent through the entire conversation, spoke in a quiet, haunted voice.

"He's a Wraith."

While Hermione grumbled at being interrupted, Blaise, Theo, and Draco's eyes widened in shock. The other boys were confused, including Harold, and looked to them for an explanation.

"My father's talked about this before." Draco answered in a hushed tone, "Wraiths are created only from the Darkest of Arts, most of which just aren't spoken about anymore. There's a rumor among the old circles that You Know Who still survives as a Wraith, since his body was never found. No one's sure if it's true, though."

Silence reigned amongst those gathered as the information sunk in.

"Harrison...not...bad..." mumbled Harold from where he sat, somehow pouting despite not having lips.

It was then that the group realized that Harold was still among them, and Ron knelt down to pat the zombie on the head.

"None of us are calling Harrison evil." he placated, "We're just trying to figure out what he is and how he came to be."

"Especially since we now know that he isn't from the original Harry Potter." Neville noted, "That's mostly, or all, Harold."

The group returned to silence as they tried to understand the nature of Harrison Potter. As if the mere thought of him could summon him, Harrison floated toward the group, alongside Percy, bag in tow. All members of the group filtered into the Great Hall and the bags of loot carefully placed onto the Hufflepuff table.

After that, the amassed team set to work. Crystal balls were returned to their regular size and placed on small pedestals, one by one. The two older students and Harrison took most of the wandwork, and the others organized and set them up onto the different tables. They worked in silence, knowing that they were working against the clock. When they finally finished, the group sat down, exhausted.

"You can go to bed now." Harrison offered softly, "You've done more than enough to help us. Thank you."

"Are you kidding?" Draco replied derisively, "Like I'm going to miss the sight of what's about to happen for a couple less minutes of sleep!"

True to the blond's words, the gathered group sat in the Great Hall, silently waiting. Percy, Theo, Blaise, and Hermione all had journals out, ready to write down what they were about to witness. Smiling gratefully the two undead halves of Harry Potter took ahold of each other's hands, and waited with (eternally) bated breath.

Soon enough, the clock in the Great Hall chimed twelve times. Halloween had officially begun. Harrison and Harold watched as the spirits came from beyond the Veil of Death, headed straight for them. Immediately the two were overrun by these spirits, demanding that they send messages to their living loved ones. Harold visibly winced, worrying the members of the group who were still alive, as they perceived the Great Hall as empty and silent. Harrison, however, was getting increasingly annoying by the rising volume.

"Enough!" he practically shouted, startling his living friends, "We do not have time to send every single message individually in one day! But!" he continued, even when the spirits began to complain, "See here, we have prepared crystal balls for you. Enter them and talk to your family yourselves!" Harrison continued in indignation, "I am not your messenger boy! And neither is Harold! If you want to talk to them, calmly enter the vessels provided for you. Thank you." he ended tightly, his glowing green eyes narrowed behind square frames.

For a moment, the Great Hall was silent for both the living and the dead, before the spirits began to move. Harrison and Harold smiled at each other as the spirits from beyond the veil siphoned into the small crystal vessels, happy that they would have to run around come Halloween morning. The gathered group of living souls gasped in awe as they watched the previously empty crystal balls fill up with multicolored smoke and light, whispering voices echoing within. Everyone was silent as every crystal ball filled up, the lights emanating from within them illuminating the Great Hall. In the dark of midnight, it had an ethereal quality to it.

"Our duty is finished here tonight." whispered Harrison, "It would be best to get to bed now, we still have classes tomorrow."

Harold nodded in agreement and soon the whole group split apart, the Slytherins whispering their goodnights and returning to their dorms in the dungeon while the Gryffindors returned to theirs in their tower. Percy and Oliver led the Gryffindor first years through the portrait, the Fat Lady letting the prefect in without question. The smaller group split apart once more, as Hermione waved a tired 'goodnight' to the boys as she trudged up the stairs to the girls' dorms. The group split for the last time as the Percy and Oliver continued on after dropping the first year boys off at their own room.

"So what do you think?" Oliver asked quietly, "Do you trust them?"

"Yes, I do." Percy replied with a whisper as he prepared for bed, "But I'm starting to wonder if I should even be poking at this subject at all. Something about Harrison's background feels...disturbing, and I don't think he even knows about it."

"What should we do then?" came the worried voice of the Quidditch Captain.

"We watch, we listen, we wait." answered Percy, "And hope for the best."

Ron and Neville sleepily told the undead duo goodnight before shuffling into their pajamas and instantly falling asleep. The two halves of Harry Potter watched them for a little while in silence with smiles on their faces.

"We are fortunate to have such friends." Harrison said quietly, "I don't know what we would have done without them."

"They are wonderful friends, dear." came the voice of Lily Potter from where she was floating next to him, smiling softly.

"Arthur's kids are as interesting as I thought they would be." James Potter added, fluffing up Harold's hair just as the small zombie began to crawl under the bed, "And the Slytherins, wow, never thought that Junior Death Eaters would turn out righ-"

"JAMES!" Lily yelled, though no one living could hear, "Be nice! They are Harold and Harrison's friends!"

"I said they turned out alright!" James squawked indignantly, "Harrison seems to have given them a change of heart!"

"That's true." Lily said reluctantly before continuing with a smile, "And Alice and Frank's boy, Neville, such a wonderful child."

Harrison nodded, watching his parents (were they? Were they really his parents?) caress Harold as the little zombie slept. Seeing his counterpart sleeping so soundly brought a smile to his face, waiting with his parents for the dawn of Halloween. In the meantime, he began to wonder just who he was before he was Harrison Potter. The ghost closed his eyes, deep in thought. He had a feeling Lily and James knew, but for some reason they wouldn't tell him. Considering how open they usually were, this was disturbing news.

As he did so, the spirits of Lily and James Potter watched over them both of them with pride.

AN:

Oni: Well, that's all I have for now! *sweats nervously* I made it extra long to try and make up for how much time this took!

Harold: Don't forget...to Follow...Favorite...and Review...

Harrison: And we'll see you next time!

Oni: My Pretties!