Ghosting: response to the Crossover Challenge

[donahermurphy.livejournal.com]

Title: Ghosting
Author: donahermurphy
Rating: G
Genres: Harry Potter/ Stargate Atlantis
Summary: "Think not forever of yourselves, O Chiefs, nor of your own generation. Think of continuiing generations of our families, think of our grandchildren and of those yet unborn, whose faces are coming from beneath the ground." -T.S. Eliot

 Meredith Frederick Diggle doesn't have a very happy afterlife.

 

Meredith Frederick Diggle doesn’t have a very happy afterlife.

He mostly sticks around due to the feeling that, if he doesn’t, there won’t ever be a record that he even existed. His life ambitions (many and great as they are) remain unfulfilled, his wife hates him, and his only daughter is a squib. (He loves her, but he doesn’t really view her as any sort of extension of his legacy. Especially seeing as she’s forbidden him from visiting the grandchildren. Not that they could see him anyway, being Muggles.)

The decades are spent wandering around various countries, avoiding the Canadian Ministry, and occasionally checking in on his descendents. One of his grandchildren gets a letter from Salem, and M. Diggle alternates between kicking himself for not visiting more regularly and wandering around in a haze of euphoric glee because one of his finally descendents has magic, even if it took a while for him to pick up on the fact.

Then that whole branch of the family tree is killed under suspicious circumstances, the Ministry won’t tell him anything because he’s never registered with the Being and Spirit Division, and M. Diggle goes back to wandering the continents.

He keeps closer track of his descendents, though, and makes sure to check on each individual at least once every five years. And he solemnly vows to give all the advice he can to the ones that can see him, should they ever be born.

(He also develops a tendency to give advice even to the ones that can’t see him. While none of his descendents are unintelligent, the smart ones do have a habit of getting in trouble. Particularly his namesake. After one memorably bad incident in which one of his descendents- still a child!- is intimidated by some sort of thuggish Muggle organization, Diggle eventually realizes his method of shouting advice into the ether is getting them nowhere, and proceeds to haunt certain members of the “Cee-eye-a” for a few years until the Being and Spirit Division gets wind of things. After that, he mentally categorizes giving advice as a waste of time, and instead continues trying to protect his family through the art of subtle revenge.)

The aforementioned vow does come in handy when he first encounters his youngest great-granddaughter- the bearer of some dreadfully unwieldy Shakespearean name- and needs to convince her not to tell her parents about the strange man that’s been following them all around. (It doesn’t quite work, but thankfully the Grangers are convinced that “Great-grandpapa” is a particularly unusual imaginary friend until their daughter stops talking about him at about the age of seven or so.)

He tells her all he knows about the principles of magic, shows her the constellations, plays “thirty seconds to figure out a way to escape to somewhere safe if X happens”, has her memorize the most recent contact numbers of every halfway-decent person he’s ever haunted, and warns her not to get into too much trouble. He leaves about three months before her twelfth birthday, and she vows to grow up and change all the terrible laws that would chain him and his ghostly brethren to a specific location. (She eventually expands this plan considerably as she finds more groups of oppressed individuals.)

They don’t talk or keep in touch much; it’s far too dangerous for him (technically a Renegade Spirit, according to the governments of Scotland, France, and England.) He hangs around his Canadian descendents for a few years- the ones he can find, anyway, as Meredith appears to have disappeared off the face of the earth entirely- as their Ministry is slightly more lenient and less inclined to look for him.

He hears about some trouble in England, and is all set to rush over and look for the girl, but she somehow manages to convince an owl to deliver to him and writes that the place is infested with Dementors, please don’t come, and her parents are going into hiding very soon so don’t look for them either. (There is a distinct “whether they like it or not” tone to the bit about her parents, and Diggle approves. He’d taught the girl years ago that upholding one’s responsibilities is far more important than being nice about things; it’s a lesson too many people seem to have forgotten in this day and age.)

He’d head over anyway, of course, but then it turns out his newest great-great granddaughter can also see him, and by the time he finishes his visit with her (which, at this stage, consists largely of rants about the impracticality of her father’s vegetarian diet and coos over what a special, special little baby girl she is) the whole of the British Isles have been sealed off from any outside magical influence.

Comments

[luthien82]

Now this? This is very intriguing indeed. Are you planning on writing more? I love outsider POVs!

[lady-lirenel.livejournal.com]

Hee, Madison's a Witch and Hermione is Rodney's distant cousin and this is an awesome crossover!

[eliyes.livejournal.com]

Oh, Lord, Hermione and Rodney -- of course they'd be related in a world with both Stargates and secret societies of Wizards...

[elkebaby.livejournal.com]

So if Hermione and Rodney meet--and bring their significant others--can't you see John and Harry rolling their eyes in sync to the genius-babble? And they both love being in the air...

[vonnix.livejournal.com]

Oh, god... Rodney being related to Hermione is just absolute perfection. And hilarious as well! I can't imagine what would happen if the two of them got into a room together. "Magic doesn't exist!" "Well neither do aliens!" *rotflol*

Write more? Pretty please with puppy dog eyes and [insert favorite fruit here] on top?

[beadattitude.livejournal.com]

Oh, COOL.

[doradoradora.livejournal.com]

The idea that Rodney and Hermione are related is so brilliant and it tickles me to death. Thank you for sharing this. :D

[sulien.livejournal.com]

Very intriguing and enjoyable story! I'd love to see where it goes from here, if you decide to write more.

[cadencecascade.livejournal.com]

I like this. really really like...

[kensieg.livejournal.com]

So is Rodney a Wizard? I hope John is one too! Can't you see John playing Quidditch? I'll bet that he was a seeker.

[saphanibaal.livejournal.com]

I like the tired, world-weary tone of this.

I think you've transposed something here:
//one of his finally descendents has magic,//
Also, I'm pretty sure that the noun is "descendant," with an a, and that "descendent" is an adjective with a somewhat different meaning.

Anyway. Of course early injustice would have fired Hermione up like whoa, not to mention that all those lessons in How To Get Out From Under Trouble have definitely proved useful.

(Also? "Disappeared off the face of the earth," in this sort of context, will never not be funny.)

I really like the idea of Madison having magic, too.