16,748Surviving the killing curse has consequences. Fortunately for Holly Potter, she's found by someone who understands her more...ghostly...side. Fem Harry adopted by Vlad Masters from Danny Phantom!
Vlad looked at the tiny thing hiding in a small area under the bed. It was almost physically painful seeing it, and he was still cursing the circumstances in which he found the half-ghost child.
If it hadn't been for the unique ghost-detection ability that came from being half-ghost himself, he never would have even known there was a second child under that thrice-damned roof.
The woman had been all too happy to sell off her 'niece' to the eccentric billionaire. That she didn't even question his intentions made things worse, honestly.
Worse for her, once he got the girl settled and decided on some long overdue karma that is. He genuinely doubted the child was even related to that horse faced bitch.
Sighing, he knew that any attempts to bring the girl would likely traumatize her further. He needed time. Time and patience.
With that in mind, he went to the kitchen and got a light meal. He didn't know if the girl would eat it or not, but he had to try. It was little more than canned chicken soup, heated up just enough to be properly warm, but not too hot to scald her. He threw some bread rolls as well, and a small bit of jam on the side.
He really needed to do a proper grocery run, but he hadn't expected to encounter a traumatized halfa like himself on a rather mundane and boring business meeting that he had no intention of spending money on.
He was reasonably happy that the child had at least eaten the bread, and had made an attempt on the soup. He could care less about the slight mess from the spill.
Some time later...
It had been two weeks, and the little one was still incredibly skittish. However multiple experts on the matter had assured him that he was doing the right thing.
It was clear the child was heavily traumatized from her upbringing. Forcing her to adjust too quickly would only cause more harm than good. However children were good at bouncing back quickly, once they knew where they stood.
Giving the girl her space and letting her make the first move was the best choice he could make. It was like dealing with a scared animal, and Vlad did his best to ease matters by leaving small gifts she could take with her into her new hiding spot.
At the suggestion of the psychologist, Vlad found a small camping tent that he set up in a corner of the room. It was a colorful thing, and he had it filled with overstuffed pillows, a few small stuffed toys, and a couple of blankets. The 'door' if you could call it that, was barely a flap that zipped up.
He considered it a win on his end when he saw that one of the toys had been taken from the small tent, along with a blanket and pillow. The smallest of each, but still an improvement.
He had yet to see the bed being used, which was downright depressing.
It took a few days for the little girl to get used to the tent...and another week before he found her napping in it.
Vlad was exhausted. Being the head of a company was tiring on a good day, and he had the mental and emotional exhaustion of trying to help the child he had adopted.
The Dursleys were in prison, and their son was sent to foster care after it was discovered his only other relative was running an illegal and highly inbred puppy mill in her home. Most of the dogs had to be put down, especially her personal stud who was particularly feral and had zero hesitation in attacking the cops when the were arresting it's owner.
Ripper was far too apt a name for such a vicious beast.
He was about to make the usual snack to be left in the little ones room when he noticed something.
She wasn't in her room anymore. She was sitting quiet as a mouse attempting to read one of the children's books he had bought for her, but had yet to leave in her room.
Vlad was very glad he had the sense to ask multiple experts on the matter, because he might have scared her off otherwise. He made no sudden movements, no loud sounds. He calmly walked towards her. He saw her tense up, almost as if she expected to be hit for daring to leave her space.
Vlad came to eye level with the little girl. He didn't mind having to kneel down.
"Hello little one. My name is Vlad. What's yours?" he asked gently. Almost like he was talking to a skittish beast.
She clutched to the small black dog toy he had left in the tent a few weeks prior.
She looked terrified...however Vlad could tell he had earned a small bit of trust from giving her space.
"Holly," she said, quiet as a whisper.
"Hello Holly," said Vlad. "Who's your friend?"
She looked confused, then noticed him looking at her doll. She clutched him tighter, as if worried he might be taken away.
"Padfoot," she said.
"Would you and Padfoot like something to eat?" he asked.
Something in her relaxed, realizing he wasn't going to take her doll away. She nodded, slowly.
Vlad carefully stood up, and held out his hand. Tentatively, Holly took it, while still clutching her doll.
It took him a second to adjust his gait, so that Holly wouldn't have to run to keep up. This was the first step towards becoming a family, and Vlad knew he had a long road ahead.
Ever since the day they were properly introduced, Vlad had made it a point to have a small chat with Holly at least once a day. Even if it was just for twenty minutes or so.
Every doctor he had consulted agreed that getting her on a set schedule with the odd break or two would help her settle in. At the very least, it would allow her to acclimate a bit better until she was ready to try and branch out.
They had also warned him that at some point, she would start testing boundaries. It would take years of therapy and a lot of patience before she fully healed.
As it was, Vlad had zero issue with her sleeping in the tent instead of the bed. So long as she was somewhere he could see her, she was free to sleep wherever she liked. He had already made it clear that the room she had taken to hiding in was hers, and that he would never enter it without her explicit permission first. Nor would anyone else.
Considering she had ingrained OCD...likely because of that wretched woman Petunia, he didn't think keeping her room cleaned would be an issue.
If it ever did become one...well, he had no problem hiring a discreet maid. He had connections, including to a world he sometimes wished he had nothing to do with.
Time seemed to pass far too quickly, and all of a sudden it had been a year since he had found the little girl.
She had yet to display the ghost powers he knew she had. Her hair along was a pretty big clue in that regard.
Normal people did not have black hair with white bangs, or green eyes that were almost the exact same shade as ectoplasm. Not to mention the pale skin and the way the air chilled, though Vlad didn't really notice that last part as he was half ghost himself.
Holly had become more and more comfortable around his presence. It had taken him a lot of work, sleepless nights worrying if he was doing the right thing or not, and far too much coffee.
But it was worth it the one time he had put on a mindless cartoon movie, and Holly had tentatively climbed onto the couch only to fall asleep on his lap. It was right before the princess married the prince after defeating the dragon.
She was like a little kitten, which brought to mind something the therapists had suggested. A therapy animal might be good for her, though he didn't know what kind. Animals were all highly sensitive to ghosts, and introducing the wrong one would be disasterous.
Reptiles were out...their cold blooded nature would work against them around the two half-ghosts. He didn't want to accidentally traumatize her further by killing her pet because of something they had no control over.
Cats were very iffy indeed. There were countless stories of cats having some connection to the dead, or at least being able to sense it. And he had some bad experiences with other's pets over the issue after the incident.
Dogs...while Holly was fond of her toy, he wasn't sure introducing a puppy was a good idea. It felt more like she was associating her toy with something...or more likely someone, rather than a preference to dogs.
Vlad put the matter out of mind. They were going to make a special trip tomorrow, since he had finally gotten some records on Holly about her parents.
Apparently the woman wasn't lying about the girl being her niece. It was just that the records were an absolute nightmare to track down, and he finally broke and visited the one society he did his best to avoid for multiple reasons.
Learning his new daughter was considered a celebrity in England was horrifying, especially since the idiots were glorifying the fact her parents had been murdered and she had somehow survived. It had solidified the fact that he was never going to let Holly attend that backwater school.
He would sooner hire tutors and have her attend day schools than let her go to Hogwarts. Glorifying a child for surviving what their parents hadn't, and for somehow "defeating" their murderer was disgusting in his opinion.
It was something akin to what that moron Jack Fenton would come up with. Vlad had never forgiven the man for causing that accident...or for taking Maddie from him.
Holly looked at the graves with slight incomprehension. Vlad absolutely refused to take her anywhere near that wretched memorial that the Ministry had made of her parent's rather poor attempts to hide from their killer.
She quietly laid the flowers down on their graves. She didn't know anything about them, but she understood this was where her mother and father were buried. Vlad wanted to give her that small piece of closure before they left for America.
A week later...
Holly withdrew into herself the moment they entered Vlad's primary home in America. It was a new country and part of the reason they had stayed so long in England was for the paperwork to go through.
While he had adopted her legally in both worlds (and hadn't that been an annoying mess to sort through), he still had to wait the same as everyone else for her to be cleared as a potential American citizen.
She didn't have quite as many hoops to jump through as an adult, but it was still a lot of paperwork and the odd bribe to make things go a bit faster. The second it cleared though, Vlad happily brought his new daughter stateside.
He knew Dumbledore was beyond angry over the matter, as he had come to the bank direct upon learning his status as Holly's magical guardian was legally changed to Vlad Masters.
Why the old man was so obsessed with a girl who wasn't even related to him, Vlad did not want to contemplate. Either way, Bagnold was all too happy to use her last bit of influence as Minister for Magic to insure Holly Potter was far, far away from a muggle influence.
Especially since the girl's aunt openly hated magic, to the point that she ran the risk of becoming an obscurial. The last thing they needed was for their savior to grow up fearing her own magic to the point it began to lash out at everyone.
Vlad had been expecting this. It had taken them several months and a lot of therapy appointments, but he had been anticipating the first sign of her ghostly powers.
Holly had been helping with the dishes when one of them slipped, and shattered to the ground.
Vlad felt it said a lot about how much his life had changed since adopting his daughter that his first instinct was to check for injuries, rather than attempt to clean up the mess.
Holly was so terrified of doing something wrong that she had gone invisible. Quite literally, in fact.
Vlad calmly went onto the same spectrum, and gently picked Holly up.
"You're...not mad?" she asked slowly. She was startled when he picked her up, because whenever she did that before, Petunia was unable to see or touch her.
"Accidents happen," said Vlad gently.
Holly was stunned, as any other time she broke something, adults would yell at her.
Vlad simply put her on a chair, and cleaned up the mess.
"How were you able to pick me up?" she asked, confused...and a little worried.
That trick was one of the few ways she had been able to avoid being hit by things whenever Vernon got a little too drunk, so the fact her new Papa could do it too made her a little worried.
Vlad merely smiled.
"You're not the only one who can do that trick," he replied. Her eyes went wide when he switched to his ghostly form.
He was like her!
"Can you teach me?" she asked. She had to figure out most of her tricks by instinct.
Vlad's smile was wide.
"Of course," he said. "We'll start tomorrow."