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.
Edit 5-10-18: This chapter has now been betaed by The Patient One.
Chapter 7
Harry turned curiously toward the doorway as he heard sounds of footsteps coming closer. His eyes widened as three child-sized monsters came into the room with Sally.
The first was a bald and fat child, though not anywhere near as large as his cousin Dudley, with grayish blue skin. He wore a black and white striped shirt similar to Harry’s and a pair of black shorts. His eyes were stitched closed and Harry wondered how the boy could even see. The second was a skinny child-sized mummy with only one large golden eye visible between the bandages. The last was a winged being with blood red eyes and a normal-sized head but a tiny body hanging below it, swinging freely. Instead of hair, the demon had spikes on his head, and he walked around on his large bat-like wings.
“Wow, he really is a human!” the corpse kid said as he leaned close to Harry who leaned back in surprise, wondering again how the boy could see. “Want to play with us, human boy?”
“His name is Harry, remember, Ethan?” the mummy boy corrected, the bandages moving over where his mouth would be.
“W-What do you mean play?” Harry asked. He only knew the game ‘Harry-hunting’ that Dudley made up last week, his cousin and his friends chasing Harry around until they caught him and hit him. He hoped that wasn’t what the monster kids meant.
“We could play catch,” Withered Wing suggested. “We found a fresh head to play with in the graveyard.” Harry’s eyes widened, play with a head!?!
“I know, we can play hide and go scream,” Mummy boy suggested instead.
“Hide and go… scream? W-What is that?” Harry asked looking from one monster boy to another.
“Someone is it and the others go hide, the person who’s ‘it’ gotta find them,” Withered Wing explained.
“They you jump out and scream loudly when you’re found!” Ethan said jumping toward Harry with his arms raised into the air and screamed.
“Then you gotta run for the safe spot, if you’re tagged by who’s ‘it’ then you’re it the next round,” Mummy boy finished.
It sounded to Harry a lot like hide and go seek, he had seen the other kids from his school play during playtime but had never been invited to join in as by that point Dudley had threatened anyone who tried to be friends with Harry. Harry looked up to Sally questioningly, unsure as to what to do.
“You don’t have to, Harry,” Sally assured him, brushing his hair back. “But you’re going to be living here for now on, they’ll be your friends.”
“Ummm….” Harry looked to the three monster kids, biting his lip for a moment. “O-Okay… I’ll come play.” The boys cheered loudly.
“Ethan can be it, come on,” Mummy boy grabbed Harry’s arm and pulled into toward the door and outside, Zero floated after them barking. “The dragon fountain in the middle of town is the safe zone if you’re found.”
“Stay inside the town! No playing in the graveyard!” Sally called.
“Got it!” The three monster boys called back. Sally sighed and closed the door, trusting Zero to keep an eye on Harry while she made him a few more shirts and pants.
In the daylight, Halloween Town looked a lot different. Still dark and twisted but not as… scary.
“Okay, Harry, find a good place to hide while Ethan counts,” Withered Wing said then ran off on his wings one way while Mummy boy took off another way. Ethan was leaning against the fountain counting loudly. Harry looked at Zero then went to look for a place to hide, he was pretty good at hiding since he did it so often from Dudley.
Running through the streets, Harry nearly got ran over by a clown riding a unicycle who beeped his horn at the boy as he rode around Harry laughing maniacally.
“Where do I hide, Zero?” Harry asked.
“Ruff,” Zero looked left and right then barked again as he floated toward one of the many alleyways and behind an arch. Harry followed him, finding piles of wooden boxes, some broken, and climbed behind one that had just enough space for him. Zero easily settled in next to Harry, his ghostly form hanging half out of the wall behind them. Things got quiet then, Harry petting Zero as he watched out through cracks in the wooden boxes for the corpse boy.
It reminded Harry of hiding from Dudley, but ironically, without the same sense of fear. So far, what little interaction he had with the monster kids, they didn’t seem very mean. Harry didn’t have to worry about Dudley scaring them off; in fact, they would scare Dudley and his friends! He giggled softly as he imagined the monster kids scaring off his cousin. He wouldn’t miss him or any of his other relatives.
It took a few minutes before Harry saw Ethan appear in the arch way, looking around and once again Harry wondered how he could see with his eyes closed. Harry shifted up onto his feet, holding his breath as Ethan searched the other side of the tiny courtyard and got an insane idea. He never tried to scare anyone before, but Ethan said you had to jump out and scream when you were found, so what if Harry got the drop of the other boy.
When Ethan was close enough, Harry jumped out of his hiding spot with a scream, startling Ethan who stumbled back with his arms pin-wheeling as he started to lose his balance with a little scream before regaining it. Harry climbed over the crates and jumped to the ground taking off at a run.
“I’m gonna get you!” Ethan called as he chased Harry and Zero, everyone turning their heads as laughter filled the air from the boys. Harry dodged around two pale men wearing black robes and carrying tiny umbrellas and ducked under a dog man until he reached the fountain, his hands slapping the stone.
“Darn,” Ethan said with a snap of his fingers but grinning widely showing off his mostly toothless mouth.
“So… I’m not it right?” Harry asked.
“I didn’t catch you, so no,” Ethan agreed then walked off to find the other two monster kids. Harry giggled softly as he sat down on the ground by the fountain.
“Ruff?” Zero tilted his head to the side slightly.
“That’s the first time I’ve been chased and not beaten up,” Harry said still grinning widely. These monsters… they weren’t so bad or scary when you got used to them.
The other boys showed up not too long later; Ethan caught Withered Wing who was now it. They played for a while longer, Harry was even it a couple of times, and he got used to and even started liking the monster kids. They didn’t pick on him or chase him outside of their game and Harry was very happy to be playing with friends, even odd ones. They were far from someone his aunt or uncle would approve of and that made them so much more appealing.
When they got bored with the game, the three monster boys showed Harry around Halloween Town, pointing out different citizens to Harry like the Vampire Brothers, the Wolfman, and even Undersea Gal. The more Harry saw of the monsters of Halloween Town, who went about their day like normal people, helped to ease any lingering doubts and fears Harry had about the place.
“So all the monsters are nice?” Harry asked as they enjoyed something called ‘Ice Scream,’ which was like ice cream but let out a high-pitched scream before it was eaten.
“Nah, there are mean and evil monsters,” Withered Wing said. “Most of them don’t live here, Jack won’t allow it.”
“There was Oogie Boogie, but he’s gone now,” Ethan said as he shoved the last of his ice scream into his mouth then licked his fingers.
“Oogie Boogie?” Harry questioned. “Who’s that?”
“He’s the boogie man, the king of bugs,” Mummy boy explained. “He tried to be the scariest monster around but Jack is 10 times scarier than anyone else.”
“So, what happened to him?” Harry asked with a little shiver of fear.
“He tried to take over the other holidays, but Jack defeated him and saved everyone,” Withered Wing explained. “Jack is the greatest.”
Harry was glad to hear that Santa and the other holiday people were okay and that this ‘Oogie Boogie’ was gone.
**********
Leaving the Land of the Dead was pretty easy; with a bit of magic, Elder Gutknecht had sent Jack, James and Lily to the graveyard in Godric’s Hollow. It was the middle of the day but the three were far back enough in the old graveyard and it was chilly enough that day that no one was out that could see them.
“Now, where is that tunnel…” Jack said, rubbing his chin while peering around. Lily wrapped her arms around herself as she looked down at her and James’s graves, this was the first time she ever seen them as their haunting spells always made them appear in their old house.
“’The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death,’” James read on their gravestone. “Bit of an odd quote, nothing I would have picked.”
“Grim would just laugh at that,” Jack said with a laugh then seem to light up as he spied a monument of a skeletal-looking horse with bat-like wings and a reptilian looking head atop a mausoleum. “What is that?”
“A thestral,” James explained. “It likely belongs to one of the old pureblood families, a dark one.”
“You must tell me more of these ‘thestrals’ later,” Jack said as he walked up to the mausoleum and pushed on the doors. They opened easily to his touch, surprising the Potters as the doors should have stayed sealed with a spell.
“Come on,” Jack beckoned with a wave of his hand. James and Lily looked at each other for a second they followed Jack inside, jumping as the doors slammed shut behind them.
The inside of the mausoleum lit up with an orange glow that originated from Jack’s hand as he walked to the other end of the tomb where a plaque naming those buried inside laid.
“Here we are,” Jack said grinned as he reached up and pulled up on the plaque.
“Merlin!” Lily yelped in surprise as it lifted up from the floor like a trap door.
“Was that there the whole time?” James asked as Jack stepped into the tunnel underneath the door.
“These are special paths to Halloween Town,” Jack explained. “Most humans and mortals are unable to open them. Come along.”
“After you, Lils,” James said with a wave of his hand.
“Such a Gryffindor,” Lily teased with a roll of her green eyes as she stepped up to the hole in the ground and was helped down by Jack. James reacted with the expected maturity: he stuck out his tongue at her back before climbing down after her. Jack tugged down the plaque to close the tunnel, no evidence of their passing left except a few footprints in the dust.
The tunnel was dark, lit only by the orange light in Jack’s hand, and long. How long, neither James nor Lily knew, it could have been a lot shorter than it seemed and it was just the Potters who felt it was long as they got closer and closer to being reunited with their son. To pass the time, they asked Jack questions: yes, there were evil monsters and dark creatures but they were banished from the town and the closest one, Oogie Boogie the boogie man, was long gone. At most, they had a trio of troublemakers; Boogie’s boys Lock, Shock, and Barrel, though they were just kids. Yes, there were other holiday worlds, Jack had met both the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus, whom he referred to as ‘Sandy Claws’. Jack then told them the tale of how he discovered Christmas Town and had tried to give Santa a break, but had made a mess of the other holiday instead.
James found himself liking Jack more and more, the Pumpkin King had a prankster’s spirit that he enjoyed greatly. He stole Christmas from Father Christmas, what a great prank!
Finally, at last, they reached the end of the tunnel where Jack pushed open the door to let them out. The graveyard was filled with unevenly spaced grave stones, some crooked looking and some crumbling. In the distance they could see the town of Halloween.
Lily squinted as she climbed out of the tunnel and looked up toward the sun.
“The sun looks like a jack-o-lantern,” she murmured to herself. It was a good thing she always had a liking for Halloween because it looked she was going to be drenched in it for the rest of her afterlife.
“This way,” Jack said leading the way down a path to the town. As they approached the main black iron-rod gate, it lifted up with a grinding sound. Lily started a bit as the anthropomorphic raven sitting in the gatekeeper’s house tilted his bowler hat to her.
“Miss,” the gatekeeper cawed.
“Merlin,” James said softly as he looked around. “It’s something out of a bizarre dream.”
“Thank you, we call it home,” Jack said as they came up on the central square of the two, turning to James and Lily with a grin and his arms spread wide. “Welcome to Halloween Town!”
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.
Edit 5-10-18: This chapter has now been betaed by The Patient One.
Chapter 7
Harry turned curiously toward the doorway as he heard sounds of footsteps coming closer. His eyes widened as three child-sized monsters came into the room with Sally.
The first was a bald and fat child, though not anywhere near as large as his cousin Dudley, with grayish blue skin. He wore a black and white striped shirt similar to Harry’s and a pair of black shorts. His eyes were stitched closed and Harry wondered how the boy could even see. The second was a skinny child-sized mummy with only one large golden eye visible between the bandages. The last was a winged being with blood red eyes and a normal-sized head but a tiny body hanging below it, swinging freely. Instead of hair, the demon had spikes on his head, and he walked around on his large bat-like wings.
“Wow, he really is a human!” the corpse kid said as he leaned close to Harry who leaned back in surprise, wondering again how the boy could see. “Want to play with us, human boy?”
“His name is Harry, remember, Ethan?” the mummy boy corrected, the bandages moving over where his mouth would be.
“W-What do you mean play?” Harry asked. He only knew the game ‘Harry-hunting’ that Dudley made up last week, his cousin and his friends chasing Harry around until they caught him and hit him. He hoped that wasn’t what the monster kids meant.
“We could play catch,” Withered Wing suggested. “We found a fresh head to play with in the graveyard.” Harry’s eyes widened, play with a head!?!
“I know, we can play hide and go scream,” Mummy boy suggested instead.
“Hide and go… scream? W-What is that?” Harry asked looking from one monster boy to another.
“Someone is it and the others go hide, the person who’s ‘it’ gotta find them,” Withered Wing explained.
“They you jump out and scream loudly when you’re found!” Ethan said jumping toward Harry with his arms raised into the air and screamed.
“Then you gotta run for the safe spot, if you’re tagged by who’s ‘it’ then you’re it the next round,” Mummy boy finished.
It sounded to Harry a lot like hide and go seek, he had seen the other kids from his school play during playtime but had never been invited to join in as by that point Dudley had threatened anyone who tried to be friends with Harry. Harry looked up to Sally questioningly, unsure as to what to do.
“You don’t have to, Harry,” Sally assured him, brushing his hair back. “But you’re going to be living here for now on, they’ll be your friends.”
“Ummm….” Harry looked to the three monster kids, biting his lip for a moment. “O-Okay… I’ll come play.” The boys cheered loudly.
“Ethan can be it, come on,” Mummy boy grabbed Harry’s arm and pulled into toward the door and outside, Zero floated after them barking. “The dragon fountain in the middle of town is the safe zone if you’re found.”
“Stay inside the town! No playing in the graveyard!” Sally called.
“Got it!” The three monster boys called back. Sally sighed and closed the door, trusting Zero to keep an eye on Harry while she made him a few more shirts and pants.
In the daylight, Halloween Town looked a lot different. Still dark and twisted but not as… scary.
“Okay, Harry, find a good place to hide while Ethan counts,” Withered Wing said then ran off on his wings one way while Mummy boy took off another way. Ethan was leaning against the fountain counting loudly. Harry looked at Zero then went to look for a place to hide, he was pretty good at hiding since he did it so often from Dudley.
Running through the streets, Harry nearly got ran over by a clown riding a unicycle who beeped his horn at the boy as he rode around Harry laughing maniacally.
“Where do I hide, Zero?” Harry asked.
“Ruff,” Zero looked left and right then barked again as he floated toward one of the many alleyways and behind an arch. Harry followed him, finding piles of wooden boxes, some broken, and climbed behind one that had just enough space for him. Zero easily settled in next to Harry, his ghostly form hanging half out of the wall behind them. Things got quiet then, Harry petting Zero as he watched out through cracks in the wooden boxes for the corpse boy.
It reminded Harry of hiding from Dudley, but ironically, without the same sense of fear. So far, what little interaction he had with the monster kids, they didn’t seem very mean. Harry didn’t have to worry about Dudley scaring them off; in fact, they would scare Dudley and his friends! He giggled softly as he imagined the monster kids scaring off his cousin. He wouldn’t miss him or any of his other relatives.
It took a few minutes before Harry saw Ethan appear in the arch way, looking around and once again Harry wondered how he could see with his eyes closed. Harry shifted up onto his feet, holding his breath as Ethan searched the other side of the tiny courtyard and got an insane idea. He never tried to scare anyone before, but Ethan said you had to jump out and scream when you were found, so what if Harry got the drop of the other boy.
When Ethan was close enough, Harry jumped out of his hiding spot with a scream, startling Ethan who stumbled back with his arms pin-wheeling as he started to lose his balance with a little scream before regaining it. Harry climbed over the crates and jumped to the ground taking off at a run.
“I’m gonna get you!” Ethan called as he chased Harry and Zero, everyone turning their heads as laughter filled the air from the boys. Harry dodged around two pale men wearing black robes and carrying tiny umbrellas and ducked under a dog man until he reached the fountain, his hands slapping the stone.
“Darn,” Ethan said with a snap of his fingers but grinning widely showing off his mostly toothless mouth.
“So… I’m not it right?” Harry asked.
“I didn’t catch you, so no,” Ethan agreed then walked off to find the other two monster kids. Harry giggled softly as he sat down on the ground by the fountain.
“Ruff?” Zero tilted his head to the side slightly.
“That’s the first time I’ve been chased and not beaten up,” Harry said still grinning widely. These monsters… they weren’t so bad or scary when you got used to them.
The other boys showed up not too long later; Ethan caught Withered Wing who was now it. They played for a while longer, Harry was even it a couple of times, and he got used to and even started liking the monster kids. They didn’t pick on him or chase him outside of their game and Harry was very happy to be playing with friends, even odd ones. They were far from someone his aunt or uncle would approve of and that made them so much more appealing.
When they got bored with the game, the three monster boys showed Harry around Halloween Town, pointing out different citizens to Harry like the Vampire Brothers, the Wolfman, and even Undersea Gal. The more Harry saw of the monsters of Halloween Town, who went about their day like normal people, helped to ease any lingering doubts and fears Harry had about the place.
“So all the monsters are nice?” Harry asked as they enjoyed something called ‘Ice Scream,’ which was like ice cream but let out a high-pitched scream before it was eaten.
“Nah, there are mean and evil monsters,” Withered Wing said. “Most of them don’t live here, Jack won’t allow it.”
“There was Oogie Boogie, but he’s gone now,” Ethan said as he shoved the last of his ice scream into his mouth then licked his fingers.
“Oogie Boogie?” Harry questioned. “Who’s that?”
“He’s the boogie man, the king of bugs,” Mummy boy explained. “He tried to be the scariest monster around but Jack is 10 times scarier than anyone else.”
“So, what happened to him?” Harry asked with a little shiver of fear.
“He tried to take over the other holidays, but Jack defeated him and saved everyone,” Withered Wing explained. “Jack is the greatest.”
Harry was glad to hear that Santa and the other holiday people were okay and that this ‘Oogie Boogie’ was gone.
**********
Leaving the Land of the Dead was pretty easy; with a bit of magic, Elder Gutknecht had sent Jack, James and Lily to the graveyard in Godric’s Hollow. It was the middle of the day but the three were far back enough in the old graveyard and it was chilly enough that day that no one was out that could see them.
“Now, where is that tunnel…” Jack said, rubbing his chin while peering around. Lily wrapped her arms around herself as she looked down at her and James’s graves, this was the first time she ever seen them as their haunting spells always made them appear in their old house.
“’The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death,’” James read on their gravestone. “Bit of an odd quote, nothing I would have picked.”
“Grim would just laugh at that,” Jack said with a laugh then seem to light up as he spied a monument of a skeletal-looking horse with bat-like wings and a reptilian looking head atop a mausoleum. “What is that?”
“A thestral,” James explained. “It likely belongs to one of the old pureblood families, a dark one.”
“You must tell me more of these ‘thestrals’ later,” Jack said as he walked up to the mausoleum and pushed on the doors. They opened easily to his touch, surprising the Potters as the doors should have stayed sealed with a spell.
“Come on,” Jack beckoned with a wave of his hand. James and Lily looked at each other for a second they followed Jack inside, jumping as the doors slammed shut behind them.
The inside of the mausoleum lit up with an orange glow that originated from Jack’s hand as he walked to the other end of the tomb where a plaque naming those buried inside laid.
“Here we are,” Jack said grinned as he reached up and pulled up on the plaque.
“Merlin!” Lily yelped in surprise as it lifted up from the floor like a trap door.
“Was that there the whole time?” James asked as Jack stepped into the tunnel underneath the door.
“These are special paths to Halloween Town,” Jack explained. “Most humans and mortals are unable to open them. Come along.”
“After you, Lils,” James said with a wave of his hand.
“Such a Gryffindor,” Lily teased with a roll of her green eyes as she stepped up to the hole in the ground and was helped down by Jack. James reacted with the expected maturity: he stuck out his tongue at her back before climbing down after her. Jack tugged down the plaque to close the tunnel, no evidence of their passing left except a few footprints in the dust.
The tunnel was dark, lit only by the orange light in Jack’s hand, and long. How long, neither James nor Lily knew, it could have been a lot shorter than it seemed and it was just the Potters who felt it was long as they got closer and closer to being reunited with their son. To pass the time, they asked Jack questions: yes, there were evil monsters and dark creatures but they were banished from the town and the closest one, Oogie Boogie the boogie man, was long gone. At most, they had a trio of troublemakers; Boogie’s boys Lock, Shock, and Barrel, though they were just kids. Yes, there were other holiday worlds, Jack had met both the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus, whom he referred to as ‘Sandy Claws’. Jack then told them the tale of how he discovered Christmas Town and had tried to give Santa a break, but had made a mess of the other holiday instead.
James found himself liking Jack more and more, the Pumpkin King had a prankster’s spirit that he enjoyed greatly. He stole Christmas from Father Christmas, what a great prank!
Finally, at last, they reached the end of the tunnel where Jack pushed open the door to let them out. The graveyard was filled with unevenly spaced grave stones, some crooked looking and some crumbling. In the distance they could see the town of Halloween.
Lily squinted as she climbed out of the tunnel and looked up toward the sun.
“The sun looks like a jack-o-lantern,” she murmured to herself. It was a good thing she always had a liking for Halloween because it looked she was going to be drenched in it for the rest of her afterlife.
“This way,” Jack said leading the way down a path to the town. As they approached the main black iron-rod gate, it lifted up with a grinding sound. Lily started a bit as the anthropomorphic raven sitting in the gatekeeper’s house tilted his bowler hat to her.
“Miss,” the gatekeeper cawed.
“Merlin,” James said softly as he looked around. “It’s something out of a bizarre dream.”
“Thank you, we call it home,” Jack said as they came up on the central square of the two, turning to James and Lily with a grin and his arms spread wide. “Welcome to Halloween Town!”
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