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“Ready for this, baby?” James asks, lighting the incense and beginning to cleanse their boyfriend. They’re comfortable being more open about the nature of their relationship since the two always put their voice overs during this part, however they’re still hyper aware of the camera that Regulus set on the tripod nearby.
Regulus hums, “I’m not sure.” He shakes his head minutely, making sure that the camera can’t pick up on the motion, “It’s so… weird being at the place where so many of my family members were. We both did the readings, I mean my last name took up so many of the inmate deaths. And if it wasn’t Black, then it was Rosier, or Crouch.” He shakes his head again, “What if…”
“Don’t worry about it, love.” They smile comfortingly, finishing up with the cleansing and handing the incense stick off to their boyfriend so he can cleanse them in return, “Barty and Evan are going to be here soon, and if anything, one of them is bound to get attacked.”
“Or an attachment.” Then he shakes his head, “I don’t know why we invited those knuckle heads this time.”
“Or an attachment,” James hums, “You’ve got my necklace, we can hold Barty and Evan back from being… them. I’ll make sure we’re safe.”
“Thank you, my love.” Regulus smiles, finishing up with the incense and handing it off to his partner before going over to turn off the camera. Only then, when he goes back up to James, does he brave kissing them, “They should be here soon.”
James nods, “We’ll talk for a bit about what information we want to give out. I know that you don’t want any association between you and your family to be made, which we’ll have to remind them of, but I don’t know if they’d want to have that familial association.”
Regulus hums, “I’m sure that Barty is going to parade it around. Burst straight through the doors and call on all his ancestors. I don’t think Evan will mind.”
“We can still check with them.” Once again, James pulls him into a kiss -- while it’s not their main focus when doing these videos, the two of them don’t get to be super affectionate since they need to record as much as possible in the limited time that they have at each location.
Sometimes they wonder why they’ve kept their relationship hush hush online. Most everyone already believes that they’re together, what with how long they’ve known each other and the knowledge that they live together. And the internet, well. It likes to take two male friends and decide that they’re gay. Sometimes they joke with their friends and ponder what the reaction would be if they did finally launch their relationship. It doesn’t help that they tend to go to each other in times of needing comfort during these videos, as they’ve come across several clip compilations of them touching each other’s arms and going to each other when something scary happens.
Nonetheless, the internet thinks that they’re just friends, so they savour the sweet moments that they have between clips. Well, as sweet as it can be when it’s interrupted by the loud slamming of a door and Barty screaming, “Get a fucking room you two! We have some ghosts to fuck with.” Before their friend is stomping over to the two, Evan not far behind him.
Regulus pulls away from them, flipping his best friend off and walking back to the camera. James tells the two to get ready for cleansing and they move within frame. James starts to cleanse them when Regulus lets them know that he’s recording and Regulus speaks from behind the camera, “I’m going to make it clear. We don’t talk about my last name, and my relations to any possible spirits we come across today. If the spirits bring it up… we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. What are you guys wanting to have talked about when it comes to your ancestors stuck in that hellhole?”
Barty shrugs, “It’ll be a good… instigator, so talk away.”
Evan nods, “I don’t mind. People already know our last names anyway.”
Regulus nods back as James moves on from Barty to Evan, writing a quick note on his phone, “Noted. Did you guys want to record a video for yourself or is this just for us?”
Evan shakes his head, “We’ve got a video in the works that we’ll be posting soon and we just recorded another one the other day. We’re all good.”
“Where did you go?”
“Remus and Sirius took us to the shrieking shack as a fun April Fools Video.”
James barks a laugh at that, “I’m sure that was a fun video to record.”
“I’m not sure we stopped laughing.” Evan grins, moving away when James nods at him and they make a show of going up to the camera and ashing the incense stick.
With that, Regulus stops recording and picks up the camera, clapping, “Let’s get this fucking started. Jamie, where is your friend?”
James smiles, “They’re waiting inside for us.” And with that, they guide the group to inside the prison, where two girls are waiting for them. The one with long red hair stands up and goes to pull James into a hug. The second girl, with a shock of curly hair framing her face, stands up as well and goes to shake the others’ hands. When James and the girl pull away, James turns to their boyfriend and friends, “This is Lily and Mary. Girls, this is Regulus, Barty, and Evan.”
Lily smiles at the three of them, specifically lingering on Regulus, “It’s so nice to meet you, Regulus! I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Regulus hums, “Likewise. It’s a miracle we haven’t met yet.” Lily agrees and the introductions finish up quickly before James and Regulus are once again putting the camera down on a tripod and making sure that they’re all in frame.
They run through their introduction quickly before James is turning to the group between them and Regulus, “And today we are joined by Barty and Evan.” At the mention, Barty flips off the camera, making them all laugh, “And our wonderful guides, introduce yourselves.”
Lily smiles at the camera, “I’m Lily, one of the tour guides here at the Old Nurmengard Castle Prison.”
“And I’m Mary, the history manager here!”
James nods, “Lily and I are actually good friends,” they smile, “She’s a medium and we’ve both done some really fun readings and work together.”
Lily nods, “I’m shocked that this is the first time we’ll be ghost hunting together.”
“But what a place to have your first adventure.” Mary cheers, “Are we ready to start?” The group agrees and James sweeps forward to grab the camera, Regulus taking the tripod and putting it in the backpack that he set on the couch with James’, Evan’s, and Barty’s.
With that, they begin the tour. Lily and Mary take them all around the prison, bringing them to the cells of the most notorious and violent inmates and to various parts of the prison that aren’t accessible to normal tours and those that have challenges.
It’s only when they’re back in another cell block, walking around and coming to a stop in front of a particular cell does James take a deep breath. Regulus immediately brings the camera to look at them, “Are you okay? Did you see something?”
James nods, “There’s someone here, standing in the cell. Or they were. He just… looked at me.”
Lily grins at them, “He loves when we come to talk about him.” She gestures to the cell, waiting for Regulus to bring the camera back to her and Mary, “This is the cell of Gellert Grindelwald, and he’s one of our most active spirits. High chances are that you saw him in there, I feel him too.”
“He’s…”
She nods, “He’s an interesting spirit to be around.”
Mary hums, “So, as I told you earlier, Gellert Grindelwald is the founder of the Nurmengard Castle. He built this place in the beginning of his crusade to hold his opponents and all that opposed him and his ideals. His philosophy was if he couldn’t get through them easily, he could send them away. Several of the spirits here are in fact people that were sent here during his crusades-”
“So there’s going to be a lot of animosity.” Evan remarks, “I imagine that even in the afterlife, the spirits here are going to be pissed off about his presence.”
Mary nods, “You’ll hear a lot of the spirits around here, if not Grindelwald himself, be very negative, very aggressive.”
Lily hums when she trails off, “I’m sure you guys can feel it, specifically you James, but it’s heavy here. All down this hallway it’s heavy. A lot of investigations in this hallway turn out very negative. A lot of aggression and anger, but not necessarily directed towards you. It’s almost like the spirits here are stuck in time, they don’t care that there are people asking them questions, like they’re having their own conversation. Some will come through and answer if they feel like it, but it will usually be pretty aggressive.”
“So why does he have a cell here?”
“I’ll get there,” Mary smiles, stepping backward into the cell and letting Regulus step in to get some recordings of the room while she’s talking, “Grindelwald had one big opposer, who has a name that many will know. Albus Dumbledore, who himself turned out to be not as… good as was once thought. However, he and Grindelwald had an interesting relationship.”
“Interesting how?” Barty asks.
“Homoerotic mortal enemies?” Mary asks, “Is the best way that I can put it. There are a lot of tellings of their stories where they’re nearly flirting. There were many references to the past from Grindelwald’s end, a lot of romantic implications. Dumbledore denied any of it in later interviews. Eitherway, they finally came head to head in a battle of strength and wit in 1945. Dumbledore came out on top.” She stops short and starts looking around frantically.
“Are you okay?” Lily asks.
Mary shakes her head, “I just felt a cold breeze and someone touched my back.” And with that, she rushes out of the cell.
James, ever the fearless idiot, replaces her, “Do you think it was him?”
“I think so,” Lily nods, “He’s usually the only one that is found or speaks in the cell. But he’s egotistical, he likes people telling his story. He loves when we tell it. He is a bit weird and likes touching.”
“And is he malevolent?”
Lily hums, “He can be. He has people that he likes more than others, he’s not a big fan of me, but he doesn’t mind Mary. I can feel that he doesn’t seem to mind you guys, in fact, he might even like some of you. And this could possibly be due to the fact that Evan has the last name of some of his followers. Barty… we’ll see what he thinks of you, because your family, while holding his beliefs, are touchy when it comes to the whole history of this place. James… you’re pureblood, yes, but you’re also not… pure. Your family has roots in muggles, so it’s possible that he won’t like you. You don’t have family that worked with him, your family has always been excluded, but I don’t think I have to tell you that.” Barty nods, as if he knows exactly what she's talking about. Lily continues, “This part can be edited out, but I think he’ll take a liking to Regulus. The Blacks were big when it came to helping him, I mean several members of the Black family helped him build this place. I think, if there’s anyone he’s going to respond to, it will be Regulus. Maybe Evan.” Regulus nods, but doesn’t otherwise say anything.
So Mary takes the opportunity to continue, “Either way, Dumbledore bested him and got him captured. While he normally would’ve gone to Azkaban, it was decided that he was too powerful to be put in there. If there was anyone that could break out of Azkaban, it would be Grindelwald. So, Dumbledore’s Army made the effort of coming through Nurmengard Castle and freeing all that had been imprisoned on immoral grounds, however some were left in the prison and were found guilty for their own means. Grindelwald was placed here, personally, by Dumbledore as it was the are that was furthest from where all the other prisoners that would remain here were to be kept.
“By this time, many of the people that Grindelwald had imprisoned had been killed or were found dead, because the people that guarded this place, obviously, weren’t the best. They would torture people here, they would beat the inmates, and they would neglect to feed them or provide them with any basic necessities.”
“So there’s some fucked energy in here.”
Mary nods, “After Grindelwald’s imprisonment, anyone that had been known to work with him or that were trying to pursue his legacy were put in here as well. However, the guards that took over when the intent of the prison changed, decided that the best way to go about their treatment of the inmates was… parents punishing their child. They wanted to be stern with the inmates, but they didn’t want to treat them as sub-human like they did with the people around them.”
“Kill them with kindness, essentially.” Lily hums, “You’ll see this throughout your investigation, but there’s a wide mix of spirits here. We’ve got some of the worst of the worst, we’ve got some spirits that were good but are upset at what happened to them, and others are kinder.”
“There are a lot of sad spirits here.” James hums, making Lily nod, “Like they’ve given up.”
Lily nods again, “We think that a lot of the people who were imprisoned here unjustly gave up after being here for so long. We also think that many of them are stuck here, not able to leave, because they don’t have closure.”
“That’s horrible.” Regulus shakes his head. The group agrees. Mary and Lily quickly finish up with their demonstrations and bring them to the next part of the prison and resume with the tour.
When they’re done with the tour, they put the cameras away and James pulls Lily into a big hug, “Thank you, Lils.”
Lily smiles, “It’s no problem, James.” She pulls away and throws her bag over her shoulder, Mary waiting by the door for her, “Stay safe you guys. Being entirely real, this place can be dangerous. The people here can be dangerous. You have some of the worst of the worst and some that are incredibly angry. And with your group of people, there’s going to be a lot of mixed opinions. Be careful throwing around your last names. Don’t push too far, and let me know when you’re all done here and safe.” James nods and the girl makes her way to her girlfriend, “It was nice to see you James, and meet you three. Hopefully I’ll get to see you again soon, regulus.” Regulus nods and with that, the two girls leave behind them and lock the doors.
James gets a clip of their car pulling away from the building before turning it around to face their face, “And we’re alone. Where did we want to start?”
“I don’t know, but this place has bad fucking vibes.” Barty says, “It’s so…” he flaps his hands. The other three can’t help but agree.
They decide that they’ll start from the officer’s quarters, taking the time to get some more footage of just the place itself before setting up to do a proper investigation. James starts recording, and Barty takes the lead, “Here we are in the officer’s quarters. There were two types of officers here, those that were working for Grindelwald, and those that were there to keep him imprisoned. While the exact reason is unknown, at least to Lily and Mary, this place has a fuck ton of paranormal activity so, we’re gonna start the night off here.”
“We have the REM pod,” Regulus hums, pointing to the pod sitting on top of a table. Then he gestures to the corners, “We have catballs in each of the corners of the room since there are pictures of spirits standing in the corner of the room and watching the investigators. And Evan is setting up the music box.” He points to where Evan is hunched over in the doorway, messing with a black box in his hands. After the run through of the list, James puts the camera down on the tripod that they set up and makes sure that their other camera is recording.
When they and Evan are done, the two move into the middle of the room. Barty turns to James, “I can start in here. But what are you feeling? Any vibes?”
Regulus is the one to hum, “I feel weird in here.”
James nods, “There’s something here with us. I don’t know how it feels about us right now, I think just throw something out and we’ll see how it sticks.”
Barty nods and turns to the room, “If you want to talk to us, can you make one of our devices go off? You can go over to the red light, it’ll make a sound. The plastic balls in the corners will light up if you touch them, or the box in the door will make a noise.”
“If there’s anyone in the hallway, you’re welcome to come in here with us and talk to us.” James calls out. Moments later, the music box goes off for a couple seconds before going silent again, “If you just joined us, thank you.”
Other than that, they don’t get much more activity for a while before Barty breathes, “Are there guards in here with us?” And when there’s nothing else, he hums, “My father is a political figure. He’s dealt with prisoners and guards and the police. If you have any opinion on that, come touch any of these devices, let me know if you’re here.” Nothing, “I also have family that was imprisoned here a long time ago. The last name is Crouch, if that sounds familiar to any of you.”
Evan hums as well, “Rosiers, my family, were also here.”
“Do either of those names mean anything to you?” James asks, “I know that you’re in here. Can you let us know if you’re a guard or if you were imprisoned here at any time? If you were a guard, walk over to that REM pod there on the table and just touch it, touch the red light, get near the metal antenna. If you were a prisoner here, can you make the music box in the doorway go off? Just stand in front of it, just outside the room.” It’s silent for a couple minutes before the REM pod finally starts to go off.
Barty hums, “Anything James?”
“Negative.” James hums from behind the camera. Regulus walks over and takes it from their hands so they’re visible, “Did you work for Grindelwald?” When there’s nothing for a while, they hum again, “Did you work here when Grindelwald was imprisoned?” The REM pod goes off almost right after they ask, “Alright, thank you.”
“If you’re hesitant around us,” Evan calls, “and that’s why you feel negative. None of us like our families. Barty and I aren’t like our family. We’re just here to get answers.” However, the group doesn’t get much else in the room, even after twenty more minutes of only occasional responses. With that, they pack up their things and decide to move on.
They go to a couple other places, getting some more film. In some areas they get more answers, but others have nothing. Finally, they find themselves at Gellert Grindelwald’s cell, the camera set up on its tripod while the four of them sit on the metal frame of what once was a bed.
“Alright,” James smiles at the camera, although it’s a bit shaky, “Here we are, in Grindelwald’s cell. As a reminder, this was the guy that founded the prison to get his way with things. Then he was later imprisoned here when he was finally taken advantage of by Dumbledore. This is where Mary got touched earlier and where I saw someone, who was likely Grindelwald, in the cell.” They take a deep breath and hold up a blindfold, “So I will be doing the Estes Method, but first we’re going to take the time to introduce ourselves to him. I’m James Potter, like Lily was saying earlier, I come from an ancient family, but my family was on the other side of the conflict than Grindelwald.”
“I’m Barty Crouch Jr,” Barty says next, “I have a lot of family that worked with Grindelwald and that was imprisoned here, but in recent years my family has been politicians and have had to keep their negative views on the down low.”
Evan nods, “I’m Evan Rosier, I also have a lot of family that was imprisoned here for working with Grindelwald.”
“I’m Regulus,” the last of the four says after a moment, “Also a pureblood, also part of the Sacred 28. I’ll edit this part out, but I’m part of the Black family, which still has significant ties to Grindelwald and the people that worked for him that managed to fly under the radar when this place was active.” He pauses for a second before looking at his partner, “Anything Jami- James?”
James is quiet for a moment before shrugging, “Dunno. There’s… a lot happening up here, but I can’t pick up on one particular energy. It doesn’t feel like it did before during the tour.”
“So Grindelwald might not be here?”
“Not yet?” They shake their head, then go to put on the blindfold and the headphones while Regulus takes the explaining what the Estes Method is.
“So they can’t hear us.” Regulus hums when they turn on the spirit box. Then he takes a minute to call out, “If there is anyone that wants to talk to us, you can do so through James. You can tell us your story, tell us a name, anything that you want. James is open to you right now and can be your voice.”
The three wait for a minute for any possible words that will come to James before Evan calls out, “Is there anyone that wants to talk with us.”
“Fuck you.” James says, monotone. It’s always disorienting for them to hear James doing this, as their normally super expressive voice becomes very monotone unless given a particular inflection.
“I don’t love that,” Regulus shakes his head, “Who are we talking to? Can you give us a name of some sort?”
James flinches, “There’s just yelling. It sounds like it's in the distance.”
Barty furrows his brows, “Guards yelling at the prisoners?”
“Possibly,” Regulus nods, “But that doesn’t help us here.” After a couple seconds he calls out, “If you don’t want to talk to us, you can walk in front of the music box we have outside the cell or you can tap the flashlights we have sitting on the table. Blue for yes, red for no. Is this a guard?”
“Didn’t quite catch that one,” James says suddenly, “Maybe a name? Sounded like Nigel?”
Regulus’ head falls back, “Fuck. Is there a Nigellus here?” The blue flashlight lights up eventually.
“Oh shit,” Evan says, “You have family named Nigellus, right?”
Regulus nods, “Yeah.” He once again waits a second for the sake of making his life easier when editing before asking, “Nigellus, were you a guard here?” After a couple seconds, the blue flashlight turns off. Regulus nods slowly, “So we’re talking to a guard right now, one that was working for Grindelwald.”
“So why doesn’t he like us?”
“We’ve been talking all night about how we don’t follow the beliefs of our family.” Evan hums, “Why would he like us?”
“Blood.” James says, then immediately after, “Hate.”
Regulus looks at the camera, “That could mean two things. If Nigellus was working for Grindelwald, they used the excuse of blood supremacy as a way to kill and murder and hate people. Or, because we actually do know that one of our family’s had a Nigellus, it’s possible that he’s saying he hates the person of his blood that’s here right now.” James spits out a couple other words and the group is able to piece together a few things to get more information from Nigellus.
It’s only when there’s enough silence that Regulus is about to pull his partner out that James says, “Touch… that was a different voice. More negative, but calmer.”
“Is there someone new with us?” Regulus hums.
“Did you touch someone earlier?” Evan asks almost immediately after, and the blue flashlight turns off, “That would be Grindelwald, wouldn’t it?” Again, the blue flashlight turns on.
“James,” James says, their shoulders raising just a bit, “Not pure.”
“James isn’t pure,” Regulus shakes his head, “Do you plan to do something to them because of that?” At his question, both the red and the blue flashlight turn off, “Fuck, okay. You are not allowed to touch them. You’re not allowed to touch or hurt any of us, but especially not James.”
“Lover.”
It seems Regulus is taken aback by that question, but Evan is quick to overtake, saving any possible awry situation, “Barty and I are lovers. We’re both purebloods, like you and Dumbledore. Does that mean something to you?”
Barty nods, “We’re also at each other’s throats all the time.” He hums, “Our way of flirting is fighting.”
“I think you threatened to punch me when you asked me out.” Evan smiles before he turns back to James, “Do me and Barty remind you of your past?”
“Betray.”
“Were you betrayed by Dumbledore?” Regulus asks, then mutters, “Wouldn’t be that… impossible when it comes to him.” The blue flashlight turns on.
“Does that mean Dumbledore was working with you but didn’t make it known?” After a couple seconds, the red flashlight turns on, “How did he betray you?”
James hums a couple times and twitches their head away from something, but it’s only after a solid minute with the other three continuing to ask the same question, do they finally say, “Promise.”
“Did he promise to keep you from harm?” Evan asks, furrowing his brows, “Did he know what you were doing but promised that you wouldn’t be punished? If that’s the case…”
“Is it that unbelievable?” Regulus asks, tilting his head just a bit. The blue flashlight turns off. He nods, “I mean, if he was getting something out of Grindelwald, it makes sense that he would keep him protected. If only for selfish means.”
After a couple seconds, Barty whispers, “Did you love Dumbledore?” The blue flashlight turns on, “Did he love you?”
“I wouldn’t.” James says, then after a couple seconds, suddenly, “Know.”
“You don’t know if he actually loved you… Did he act like he did.”
“Romance.”
Regulus nods, “Do you think he was using your love to his advantage?” The blue flashlight turns off, but it takes a second, “Then when he decided you weren’t worth it, he betrayed you. That’s why you let your guard down in that last battle.” He nods a couple times, “Damn.”
“You’re making it sound like you feel bad for him,” Barty catches him.
He shakes his head, “I don’t feel bad for him. He was a horrible person in life, and I’m sure that he’s a horrible person in death, but Lily herself said that he would probably like us. I still feel a bit of pity for him. Imagine if Evan did that to you.” Barty shrugs with one shoulder and Regulus hums, “Do we want to pull them out?”
“It’s been a while, yeah.” Evan nods. Regulus nods back and gently shakes his partner’s shoulder. James startles just a bit, but takes a deep breath and slowly reaches up to take off their blindfold and headphones.
“How are you?” Regulus asks, shielding their eyes from the bright lights of the camera just a bit.
James hums, and after a couple seconds of rapidly blinking, speaks, “That was… that second voice felt really fucking weird.”
“Did you get anything?”
“Tall. Negative, domineering. I don’t think he liked me a lot.”
“We think it was Grindelwald.” Regulus nods, “He said you were impure. Do you remember anything that you said?”
“I said my name.”
Regulus nods, helping take the headphones and the blindfold from their head, setting them in his lap with the spirit box, “You flinched at one point.”
“Something breathed on me.” James hums, “Like, full hot breath on my ear. It was like a huff.”
“Fuck that.” Barty says, “I want to leave, I don’t like the cell.” The group agrees and they finish debriefing James on the session when they’re back in the lobby of the prison.
It’s after a short break and figuring out what their next steps are that James holds the camera, “And now… the moment you’ve been waiting for. We’re splitting up. Barty is going to go to the officer’s quarters, Evan is heading to solitary confinement, and Regulus and I are going to be sitting in Grindelwald’s cell.”
Evan sighs, “Let’s fucking do this.” And they go to get themselves settled, recording some more on the way to each stop until it’s just James and Regulus walking to the cell hand-in-hand since they’re not recording. When they finally get to the cell, they sit down on the metal bed frame and set their camera where it was before. They put the music box out in the hall and James fiddles with the headphones and blindfold in their lap.
“I don’t fucking like this place,” James shakes their head, taking a couple deep breaths in preparation for what they’re going to do, after turning on the camera and Regulus sets the timer. The two of them have taken to recording their conversations, even when they’re talking about things they don’t want, because they’ll sometimes say things off camera that they think would add to the video.
“Of all the people that they’re going to hate, it would be you.”
“And in some ways, that’s the best way for us to get answers.”
Regulus nods, “It said lovers before. After Grindelwald came through, I don’t know if you remember that. It might’ve been talking about us. It was right after it said not pure.”
“Does he mean that you’re not pure anymore because we’re lovers?”
The younger shrugs with one shoulder, “Could be. Evan saved it and talked about him and Barty, but that’s possible it’s what he was talking about. I don’t know.”
“I don’t know either, love.” They shake their head, “I just keep seeing flashes of images. Bloody, negative, aggressive. I keep seeing a snarling face.”
“Fuck, that’s creepy.”
James nods, “Let’s just get this over with.” With that, they press a kiss to Regulus’ lips and turn to the camera when they pull away, putting on their smile, “Alright, here we are, back in Grindelwald’s cell.” They run through the equipment they have with them before humming, “We’ll talk for a little while just the two of us and see what we can get, then I’m going to go under and do my writing and speaking thing. This area is strong, so I’m hopefully going to get a lot.”
Regulus hums, “We’ll just talk for a little while. If anyone wants to join us, come join the conversation, come say anything, you are more than welcome to. I know that you don’t come into the cell if you’re not Grindelwald, but you’re welcome to make our music box go off.” James and Regulus sit in the silence for a little while, not getting anything for a long while.
It’s enough for Jaems to reflect, as they tend to do in moments like this. It’s things like this that really prove it. Yes there’s all the activity, yes there’s all the sightings of shadow figures and disembodied body parts. Sometimes there’s screams or whispers. Other times their equipment goes crazy. But what really proves it is the moments where nothing happens. It shows that they’re not messing with the equipment or faking the footage. It shows that spirits don’t always want to talk. Sometimes they can’t.
“Grindelwald is here,” James says, “I can feel him. I think that’s why we’re not getting anything, he’s not letting the other spirits come near.”
“Why aren’t we getting anything from him?”
They shake their head, “He’s not in the cell with us, but he’s somewhere near. I can’t tell where.” This is another thing, James’ empathic abilities. They’ve been able to see, feel, and interact with ghosts for their entire life. They’re very in tune with their intuition and they were drawn to the Blacks partially because of their spiritual energy. Regulus, while not as spiritual, has been improving on his own abilities with James’ help.
Their first video was just something stupid that they recorded on their phones because James wanted to record so they could look back at it later when they first started working on Regulus’ abilities. Sirius found the video when James was transferring things to their computer and told them to publish it online because they caught some incredible evidence.
From then on, the two of them have gone from location to location to just prove to people the thing that James has experienced their entire life. They’ve always loved the concept of spirits and the afterlife, and this was a good opportunity.
Finally, after a couple more seconds of silence, Regulus hums, “Are you ready?”
James nods, “Vibe with me first.” Regulus nods and the two of them make eye contact, staring into each other’s eyes for a while. James reaches out and grasps at his hand, hidden by their legs. After a couple seconds, they look away from him, take a deep breath and slide the blindfold over their eyes, pressing the spirit box to play white noise.
Regulus puts a pad of paper and a pencil into their hands and explains what’s happening, “So you can have them draw something or say something. They might actually say it or they might write it down. You can use them to answer my questions or come and tell your story.” Regulus takes a second camera and holds it to the pad of paper just as James writes, Hello, “Hi. Is this Grindelwald? Or Nigellus? Or is this someone new.” Grind, “Grindelwald. Hello, how do you feel about us being back here?”
Lover then they make stark, aggressive lines.
“You keep talking about lovers. Was Dumbledore your lover?”
Regulus they write, then a couple seconds later, Reg then they draw an arrow pointing to them.
“I’m James’ lover, yes.” Regulus finally sighs, “Is that what you’re wanting to get at? What about our relationship?”
Betray
Regulus furrows his brows, “We’re just getting some of the same words that we got before.” He shakes his head, “What do you mean betray?”
Family then right after, Hate with three harsh lines underneath.
“Are you talking about me?” Regulus asks after a moment of silence, “I did betray my family by getting with James, yes. They do hate them. What about it? Do you not like me because I’m dating an impure person? Because I betrayed my family?”
Wrong
“You’re the one in the wrong, Grindelwald.” Regulus breathes, “Your beliefs are outdated. THey were immoral in the first place, but no one but the stuck-in-their-way rich bastards.”
Fuck you then touch
“You’re not allowed to touch us.”
Attack
“You will not attack us,” Regulus sneers. James keeps writing threatening words, the letters getting capitalised and bigger and bigger with harsh lines that nearly rip the paper accentuating some of the words. James starts making noises and writing and Regulus is getting more and more uncomfortable, constantly talking about how the air changed.
Then, just as Regulus is reaching for his partner after they yelp and jump forward, their shoulders untense and they write out, James in what is nearly a cursive font. Regulus furrows his brows, this is an entire shift coming out of nowhere. Hello.
“Did someone new just come through?” James “Who is this? Dada. Regulus furrows his brows, “That’s… James’ grandpa. Which makes sense, their grandparents always had them write in cursive. It’s the only time that I’ve seen them write in cursive. Their grandfather is their guardian.” He hums, “Are you here to protect James.”
Was going to James writes, then Regulus flips the page, hurt.
“Grindelwald was going to hurt James. So you had to come through to protect them?” James starts nodding, drawing little circles on the paper, “I appreciate it. Is Grindelwald still here or did he go away?”
Left then just under it angry.
Regulus nods, “We’ll end this and get Barty and Evan. Our time is almost up anyways. Thank you for protecting James.”
And Reg, “And for protecting me. I appreciate it a lot. We’re going to leave now, thank you.” And with that, he gently taps James’ shoulder, once again helping them out of the trance that they were in, “Slow, James.”
They groan, “That was…” and they lean forward to press their forehead against his shoulder, “Fuck.”
“What happened?”
“I was gone.” They shake their head, “Almost as soon as I went under, I was gone. I remember putting the blindfold on. The next thing that I remember getting touched then being really calm. I know that something happened between the two. But after I was touched, which was terrifying, I just saw… I saw dada. Like when I would bake with him and maa.”
“He came through, yeah.” Regulus nods, taking the pad from James’ hands gently and going to the first page, “Immediately it was Grindelwald talking to me. He kept talking about how I betrayed my family by being with you and he just kept getting angrier and angrier. Then…” he flips to the page that James’ writing changed on, “You were touched and you started writing like this.”
James nods, a small smile on their face, “He came through…” then they shake their head and flick their hands, “Fuck, that was weird. How much time do we have left?” Regulus checks his phone. Only a minute, so they start to pack up and turn off the camera, “You said that we were dating during a part that needs to go in the video.”
Regulus sighs, turning off the music box and packing it away, “I figure that there’s no way we can hide it in this video. Might as well rip the bandage off.”
“Are you sure?”
The younger nods, “It’ll just make our editing clunky. I don’t mind, really.”
“If you’re sure. Let’s just go. I don’t want to be here anymore.” Regulus agrees and the two of them head back down to the main lobby, where Barty and Evan are both waiting for them. The four of them take some time to catch up and inform each other what happened with each person.
“Dude, that’s fucked.” Evans shakes his head when he learns about James and Regulus’ investigation, “The fact that your guardian had to step in.”
James nods, “I think we have what we need. Let’s just film the outro and fucking go.” The rest of the group, equally as unnerved as them, agree. They’re quick to fill the outro and leave after that. They get some more footage of James cleansing the group when they’re back out of the prison and they go their own way.
When James and Regulus get back home, exhausted, they throw their things onto the couch and change into comfortable clothes. Tired and stressed from the events of the day.
The next morning, James tells Lily about the events of the previous night and prepares them a lovely brunch while Regulus gets to work on sorting through the footage. They release the video within the month and James makes a post the day of release, posting at the exact time as the video, with a picture of Regulus and James from the very first investigation that Sirius made them post, the two standing together in the middle of the abandoned asylum that they found themselves sneaking into in each other’s arms, kissing. It’s one of James’ favourites photos of the two of them, in fact they make it their lockscreen on occasion.
Many of their fans freak out at the confirmation, some stand on the ground that they already knew, some throw some negative words and aggressions towards them, but the response is overall positive. Either way, James couldn’t be happier, even if they’re going to some of the most terrifying places in the world consistently.