Categories > Books > Harry Potter > The Nightmare Before Hogwarts
The Nightmare Before Hogwarts
By: USA Tiger
Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J. K. Rowling. The Nightmare Before Christmas is the property of Touchstone/Disney and Tim Burton. Corpse Bride is also the property of Tim Burton and Warner Bros. Pictures. /Beetlejuice /is also property of Tim Burton.
Author Notes: Sorry, I meant to try to post a little chapter each day but I face planted on my bed yesterday after work and didn’t get up until my alarm went off so I never got on my computer.
Three things I want to cover before this chapter:
1: just to clear up where on the timeline this falls, Harry Potter side it’s obvious but NMBC side, the start of this fic falls after both the movie and the game Oogie’s Revenge that came after it but before Jack and Sally have their 4 or 5 skeleton children. So the other holidays are known to each other now.
2: I forgot to mention I have a twitter account you can follow @usa_tiger1983 where I post updates and fic recs.
Edit 5-10-18: This chapter has now been betaed by The Patient One.
Chapter 3
Another Halloween had come and gone and Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King and patron spirit of the holiday, thought it had been one of their most horrible yet! He looked around the town square as the other citizens enjoyed the Halloween after party, many exchanging stories of what they had done. The vampire brothers discussed how the blood of various people they had attacked tasted, the Creature under the Stairs was telling some story to the Melting Man and Wolfman with wild gestures, and the Harlequin Demon boasted how he had scared a group of kids that had been trick-o-treating. Speaking of trick-o-treaters, Jack had seen Lock, Shock, and Barrel heading for their tree house with bags bulging with candy.
“Jack,” Jack turned and smiled as Sally joined him.
“Sally,” he said as he wrapped one arm around the Ragdoll, “this was our most gruesome Halloween yet.”
“That it was, Jack my boy,” the Mayor of Halloween Town said as he joined the couple. “We’ll really have to step it up next year.”
“Don’t worry, Mayor, we have a whole year,” Jack said. “I still have some ideas floating in my skull.” He tapped the side of his head with a boney finger as he said this, and Sally just hoped that meant Jack wouldn’t leave to go find new ideas. They were on good terms with Sandy Claws now and somewhat good terms with the other holidays, no reason to start all that again.
“Ruff ruff!” A smile spread on Jack’s face as he turned toward the sound of the barking, reaching down to pet his loyal ghostly pooch Zero.
“Zero! There you are, boy,” Jack said. Zero barked and then looked back the way he had come. The dog frowned; Harry wasn’t behind him. Where had the little boy gone?
“Something the matter?” Jack asked.
“Ruff!” Zero barked to his master then floated over to the alleyway, finding Harry hiding behind some crates. He whined and tilted his head to the side.
“I can’t go out there, Zero, those monsters will eat me,” Harry whispered.
“Ruff?” Zero gave a confused bark, monster didn’t eat people…. except Oogie Boogie but he didn’t count.
“Zero?” Jack called, leaving Sally’s side to see what had caught Zero’s attention. He wondered if Lock, Shock, and Barrel had returned to the town and were planning some sort of trick. Zero ignored Jack as he caught Harry’s sleeve in his mouth and tugged at the boy.
“No!” Harry yelped as he tried to pull back only to be caught off balance and stumble out, right into Jack’s legs. By now the music had stopped and everyone was watching what was going on.
Jack’s eye sockets widened in surprise as a tiny human crashed into his legs, his smile widening as the child looked up at him wide green eyes the same shade as poison.
“Why, hello there,” Jack said. “Where did you come from?”
Harry trembled in fight, his screams caught in his throat. Jack’s words seem to jolt the rest of the monsters out of their shock as they came closer.
“Where did this human come from?”
“Are there more of them?”
“Are we sure it’s a human? It looks like a skeleton with skin.”
“That’s it! That’s the human I was talking about!” The last one was from the Creature under the Stairs. Harry didn’t really register any of the questions, only seeing himself surrounded by monsters on all sides yet none of the citizens of Halloween Town noticed Harry’s mounting panic. None except Zero, who started barking at the other monsters to get them to back off, and Sally who saw the panic on Harry’s face and made her way toward him through the crowd as fast as she could.
“AAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!” The scream finally tore from Harry’s throat as he drew in on himself, raising his arms to protect himself and unknowingly tapping into his magical core to push everyone away from him with a burst of accidental magic. Jack gaped as he stumbled back then caught his balance, his face lighting up.
“What an interesting tiny human!” he said. Above the crowd, the witches shared looks of surprises and glee.
“It’s a little witch!” the tall witch Helgamine cackled.
“Think of all the spells we’ll teach her… or him,” the short witch Zeldaborne agreed. Meanwhile Sally finally fought her way through the crowd and knelt by Harry’s side. (1)
“It’s all right, little one,” she said soothingly, reaching out to gently brush Harry’s hair back. Harry flinched at first then shyly peeked out from behind his arms, seeing the pretty red-headed woman from before. “No one is going to hurt you here. Do you want to come with me away from the crowd?”
“Y-Yes?” he said unsurely, looking around in fright. He noticed that none of the monsters were moving to eat him; in fact, the tall skeleton seem realize he needed room and got some of them to back up. Sally took Harry’s hand and helped him to stand, keeping a hold of his hand as she guided him through the crowd, Zero on his other side.
“A human, Jack!” The Mayor said as he came up to Jack’s side, his head turned around to his ‘worried’ face. The others may have been in wonderment over this but the Mayor just saw a political disaster waiting to happen. “Where did it come from? We can’t have a human here, it could ruin my career!”
Jack sighed—sometimes the Mayor could get on his nerves—then looked down at the shorter monster. “I’m sure it will be fine, Mayor, Sally will look after it. I like the little human myself.” The Mayor still looked unconvinced.
“That wasn’t just some mere human,” Helgamine said as she and Zeldaborne landed. “That little trick it pulled was magic.”
“It’s a witch!” Zeldaborne added. Jack grinned widely at the news.
“See, Mayor, a little witch fits in just fine,” he said patting the Mayor’s shoulder. “No need to worry.” The Mayor considered that for a moment, Jack was right of course. The Pumpkin King always was. His head turned back around to his happy side.
“Of course, how silly of me,” he said, relaxed now. “Why wouldn’t we welcome another witch?” Jack chuckled and looked toward his home where Sally had taken Harry. The other monsters of Halloween Town had drifted back to their previous activities, the zombie band had started up playing again, and all were talking about the exciting moment they all just had with the strange little human.
***
Meanwhile, Sally had led Harry out of the town square, Zero following close behind. While Jack remained behind for a bit to run crowd control, the most sensible of Halloween Town’s citizens had led Harry to a more private location: Jack’s house. At least for the rest of the night, they could rely on nobody bothering them there.
“My name is Sally,” she said once she had Harry seated in one of the tall wire back chairs. “What’s your name?
“ ‘m Harry,” Harry responded as he looked around; now that he was safely away from the other monsters his curious side came back out. The house, like everything else, was dark and twisted looking. Zero was floating at his feet, his bright nose giving light and comfort to Harry. Sally pulled another chair closer so she could sit next to Harry.
“How did you get here, Harry?” Sally asked.
“I-I followed that big monster… the one with snake fingers,” Harry admitted. “It appeared in my cupboard.”
“Your cupboard?” Sally asked.
“Yeah… that’s where I sleep,” Harry explained. “At my aunt and uncle’s house. I… I’m not in trouble am I?”
“No,” Sally quickly assured him, taking his small hands in her dainty ones. “Where are your parents?”
“They died when I was a baby,” Harry said with a shrug of his shoulders. “That’s why I live with Aunt Petunia… she’s gonna be so angry when she finds out I left. Those… those monsters aren’t going to eat me are they?”
“No, why would you think that?” Sally asked.
“Dudley said monsters eats little freaks like me,” Harry said softly.
“No one here will eat you, they’re all nice monsters,” Sally explained. “We’re Halloween monsters, it’s our job to scare people on Halloween but we don’t hurt them. You likely scared the Creature under the stairs as much as he scared you.”
Harry giggled as he remembered the monster screaming.
“Maybe… he did scream really loud…” he agreed.
“Sally, Zero!” Jack’s voice called, accompanied by the sound of the front door opening and closing followed by footsteps heading their way. Harry looked worriedly at Sally who smiled.
“That’s just Jack,” she said. “He’s the Pumpkin King.” Harry’s eyes widened at that and he looked up at Jack as the tall skeleton entered the room. Zero barked happily but didn’t move from his spot.
“Here’s our new little friend,” Jack said as he kneeled down in front of Harry, which meant Harry had his crane his neck back as Jack still towered over him.
“A-are you really a king? Like the Queen of England?” Harry asked shyly. Jack chuckled and patted Harry’s hair.
“It’s a title, I’m in charge of Halloween, like Sandy Claws is in charge of Christmas,” Jack explained. Harry gasped softly.
“Santa is real too?” he whispered.
“That he is,” Jack agreed. “He has a very exciting holiday, I’ll have you know.” His smile widened a bit. “Well, you caused quite a ruckus in the town.”
“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to cause trouble,” Harry said ducking his head.
“Nonsense! This is the most exciting thing we’ve had in a couple of years,” Jack said standing up.
“Jack,” Sally stood and placed her hand on his chest. “We’ve got to decide what to do with Harry.”
“Why, they’re staying here with us, of course!” Jack said having already decided to keep Harry.
******
(1) According to some Nightmare Before Christmas trading cards, this is what the witches names are. Also, the Corpse family names are Ned, Bertha, and Ethan; the zombie band’s names are Jim, Jimmy and James (I’m getting an Ed, Edd and Eddy vibe here); and the Vampire brothers are called Prince, Baron, Lord, and Count, but those are more along the lines of titles than names.
By: USA Tiger
Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J. K. Rowling. The Nightmare Before Christmas is the property of Touchstone/Disney and Tim Burton. Corpse Bride is also the property of Tim Burton and Warner Bros. Pictures. /Beetlejuice /is also property of Tim Burton.
Author Notes: Sorry, I meant to try to post a little chapter each day but I face planted on my bed yesterday after work and didn’t get up until my alarm went off so I never got on my computer.
Three things I want to cover before this chapter:
1: just to clear up where on the timeline this falls, Harry Potter side it’s obvious but NMBC side, the start of this fic falls after both the movie and the game Oogie’s Revenge that came after it but before Jack and Sally have their 4 or 5 skeleton children. So the other holidays are known to each other now.
2: I forgot to mention I have a twitter account you can follow @usa_tiger1983 where I post updates and fic recs.
Edit 5-10-18: This chapter has now been betaed by The Patient One.
Chapter 3
Another Halloween had come and gone and Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King and patron spirit of the holiday, thought it had been one of their most horrible yet! He looked around the town square as the other citizens enjoyed the Halloween after party, many exchanging stories of what they had done. The vampire brothers discussed how the blood of various people they had attacked tasted, the Creature under the Stairs was telling some story to the Melting Man and Wolfman with wild gestures, and the Harlequin Demon boasted how he had scared a group of kids that had been trick-o-treating. Speaking of trick-o-treaters, Jack had seen Lock, Shock, and Barrel heading for their tree house with bags bulging with candy.
“Jack,” Jack turned and smiled as Sally joined him.
“Sally,” he said as he wrapped one arm around the Ragdoll, “this was our most gruesome Halloween yet.”
“That it was, Jack my boy,” the Mayor of Halloween Town said as he joined the couple. “We’ll really have to step it up next year.”
“Don’t worry, Mayor, we have a whole year,” Jack said. “I still have some ideas floating in my skull.” He tapped the side of his head with a boney finger as he said this, and Sally just hoped that meant Jack wouldn’t leave to go find new ideas. They were on good terms with Sandy Claws now and somewhat good terms with the other holidays, no reason to start all that again.
“Ruff ruff!” A smile spread on Jack’s face as he turned toward the sound of the barking, reaching down to pet his loyal ghostly pooch Zero.
“Zero! There you are, boy,” Jack said. Zero barked and then looked back the way he had come. The dog frowned; Harry wasn’t behind him. Where had the little boy gone?
“Something the matter?” Jack asked.
“Ruff!” Zero barked to his master then floated over to the alleyway, finding Harry hiding behind some crates. He whined and tilted his head to the side.
“I can’t go out there, Zero, those monsters will eat me,” Harry whispered.
“Ruff?” Zero gave a confused bark, monster didn’t eat people…. except Oogie Boogie but he didn’t count.
“Zero?” Jack called, leaving Sally’s side to see what had caught Zero’s attention. He wondered if Lock, Shock, and Barrel had returned to the town and were planning some sort of trick. Zero ignored Jack as he caught Harry’s sleeve in his mouth and tugged at the boy.
“No!” Harry yelped as he tried to pull back only to be caught off balance and stumble out, right into Jack’s legs. By now the music had stopped and everyone was watching what was going on.
Jack’s eye sockets widened in surprise as a tiny human crashed into his legs, his smile widening as the child looked up at him wide green eyes the same shade as poison.
“Why, hello there,” Jack said. “Where did you come from?”
Harry trembled in fight, his screams caught in his throat. Jack’s words seem to jolt the rest of the monsters out of their shock as they came closer.
“Where did this human come from?”
“Are there more of them?”
“Are we sure it’s a human? It looks like a skeleton with skin.”
“That’s it! That’s the human I was talking about!” The last one was from the Creature under the Stairs. Harry didn’t really register any of the questions, only seeing himself surrounded by monsters on all sides yet none of the citizens of Halloween Town noticed Harry’s mounting panic. None except Zero, who started barking at the other monsters to get them to back off, and Sally who saw the panic on Harry’s face and made her way toward him through the crowd as fast as she could.
“AAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!” The scream finally tore from Harry’s throat as he drew in on himself, raising his arms to protect himself and unknowingly tapping into his magical core to push everyone away from him with a burst of accidental magic. Jack gaped as he stumbled back then caught his balance, his face lighting up.
“What an interesting tiny human!” he said. Above the crowd, the witches shared looks of surprises and glee.
“It’s a little witch!” the tall witch Helgamine cackled.
“Think of all the spells we’ll teach her… or him,” the short witch Zeldaborne agreed. Meanwhile Sally finally fought her way through the crowd and knelt by Harry’s side. (1)
“It’s all right, little one,” she said soothingly, reaching out to gently brush Harry’s hair back. Harry flinched at first then shyly peeked out from behind his arms, seeing the pretty red-headed woman from before. “No one is going to hurt you here. Do you want to come with me away from the crowd?”
“Y-Yes?” he said unsurely, looking around in fright. He noticed that none of the monsters were moving to eat him; in fact, the tall skeleton seem realize he needed room and got some of them to back up. Sally took Harry’s hand and helped him to stand, keeping a hold of his hand as she guided him through the crowd, Zero on his other side.
“A human, Jack!” The Mayor said as he came up to Jack’s side, his head turned around to his ‘worried’ face. The others may have been in wonderment over this but the Mayor just saw a political disaster waiting to happen. “Where did it come from? We can’t have a human here, it could ruin my career!”
Jack sighed—sometimes the Mayor could get on his nerves—then looked down at the shorter monster. “I’m sure it will be fine, Mayor, Sally will look after it. I like the little human myself.” The Mayor still looked unconvinced.
“That wasn’t just some mere human,” Helgamine said as she and Zeldaborne landed. “That little trick it pulled was magic.”
“It’s a witch!” Zeldaborne added. Jack grinned widely at the news.
“See, Mayor, a little witch fits in just fine,” he said patting the Mayor’s shoulder. “No need to worry.” The Mayor considered that for a moment, Jack was right of course. The Pumpkin King always was. His head turned back around to his happy side.
“Of course, how silly of me,” he said, relaxed now. “Why wouldn’t we welcome another witch?” Jack chuckled and looked toward his home where Sally had taken Harry. The other monsters of Halloween Town had drifted back to their previous activities, the zombie band had started up playing again, and all were talking about the exciting moment they all just had with the strange little human.
***
Meanwhile, Sally had led Harry out of the town square, Zero following close behind. While Jack remained behind for a bit to run crowd control, the most sensible of Halloween Town’s citizens had led Harry to a more private location: Jack’s house. At least for the rest of the night, they could rely on nobody bothering them there.
“My name is Sally,” she said once she had Harry seated in one of the tall wire back chairs. “What’s your name?
“ ‘m Harry,” Harry responded as he looked around; now that he was safely away from the other monsters his curious side came back out. The house, like everything else, was dark and twisted looking. Zero was floating at his feet, his bright nose giving light and comfort to Harry. Sally pulled another chair closer so she could sit next to Harry.
“How did you get here, Harry?” Sally asked.
“I-I followed that big monster… the one with snake fingers,” Harry admitted. “It appeared in my cupboard.”
“Your cupboard?” Sally asked.
“Yeah… that’s where I sleep,” Harry explained. “At my aunt and uncle’s house. I… I’m not in trouble am I?”
“No,” Sally quickly assured him, taking his small hands in her dainty ones. “Where are your parents?”
“They died when I was a baby,” Harry said with a shrug of his shoulders. “That’s why I live with Aunt Petunia… she’s gonna be so angry when she finds out I left. Those… those monsters aren’t going to eat me are they?”
“No, why would you think that?” Sally asked.
“Dudley said monsters eats little freaks like me,” Harry said softly.
“No one here will eat you, they’re all nice monsters,” Sally explained. “We’re Halloween monsters, it’s our job to scare people on Halloween but we don’t hurt them. You likely scared the Creature under the stairs as much as he scared you.”
Harry giggled as he remembered the monster screaming.
“Maybe… he did scream really loud…” he agreed.
“Sally, Zero!” Jack’s voice called, accompanied by the sound of the front door opening and closing followed by footsteps heading their way. Harry looked worriedly at Sally who smiled.
“That’s just Jack,” she said. “He’s the Pumpkin King.” Harry’s eyes widened at that and he looked up at Jack as the tall skeleton entered the room. Zero barked happily but didn’t move from his spot.
“Here’s our new little friend,” Jack said as he kneeled down in front of Harry, which meant Harry had his crane his neck back as Jack still towered over him.
“A-are you really a king? Like the Queen of England?” Harry asked shyly. Jack chuckled and patted Harry’s hair.
“It’s a title, I’m in charge of Halloween, like Sandy Claws is in charge of Christmas,” Jack explained. Harry gasped softly.
“Santa is real too?” he whispered.
“That he is,” Jack agreed. “He has a very exciting holiday, I’ll have you know.” His smile widened a bit. “Well, you caused quite a ruckus in the town.”
“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to cause trouble,” Harry said ducking his head.
“Nonsense! This is the most exciting thing we’ve had in a couple of years,” Jack said standing up.
“Jack,” Sally stood and placed her hand on his chest. “We’ve got to decide what to do with Harry.”
“Why, they’re staying here with us, of course!” Jack said having already decided to keep Harry.
******
(1) According to some Nightmare Before Christmas trading cards, this is what the witches names are. Also, the Corpse family names are Ned, Bertha, and Ethan; the zombie band’s names are Jim, Jimmy and James (I’m getting an Ed, Edd and Eddy vibe here); and the Vampire brothers are called Prince, Baron, Lord, and Count, but those are more along the lines of titles than names.
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