something strange

okay so I think most of you know from me talking about it in the chat, but for those of you who I didn’t tell/don’t remember: jack lost his soul over the summer. unfortunately I’ve yet to finish that selfie because I’ve been crazy busy with real life things for the past two months, but I promise it will be finished and posted eventually. 

Marcus knew that Jack was a weird kid, but the stuff spewing from the younger boy’s mouth was weirder than normal. He gave him an even more curious look. “So, you’re saying that something is going to take your soul from you? What? or Who?”

Jack went a little wide eyed for moment. He hadn’t meant to reveal that what he was describing wasn’t a theoretical situation, but now that the cat was out of the bag he didn’t quite know what to do. Lying had never been his forte, especially on the spot like this. Jack looked down, his shoulders slumping as he gave up, “It... It’s not something I want you involved in.”

“What were you hoping for? Why souls?”

“Oh, no important reason really. I just came across something interesting pertaining to them and it got me curious.”

“Oh, boo,” Mim pouted, throwing in a moody huff for good measure. “Pity, that is. That you have to go. That anyone has to go, really, but especially you. If I had it my way, everyone would stay for the holidays and I would never be left without anyone to follow around day in, day out. It gets so quiet when all the students are gone.”

The spirit rested her chin on her hands, lashes fluttering. “Friends are nice. All of mine are dead, mind you, but I still find friends nice.”

“A true tragedy,” Jack mused, agreeing with the ghost. He honestly enjoyed her company and felt bad that she was lonely during the summer. “Well, if you ever come across a spare portrait of yourself I’d be happy to take it back to Romania with me. That way you could come visit during holidays.”

Bobby was still very confused about what Jack was talking about, but he decided to just roll with it. Did have enough time? Was he dying or something? “Um… well, I haven’t actually read it,” he admitted and looked away a bit embarrassed. He was raised with Christian values, but his grandparents never took him to church. It was more of a “stealing is wrong, forgive people, love who you are”, type learning. “But I think it does. Like, what a soul is, what happens when you die, and other things.”

“Interesting,” Jack mused. He already knew what a soul was and had a general idea about what happened after death, but it might be insightful to read what this ‘Bible’ had to say about the subject. “And where might I find this book?”

Jock tapped his chin in thought. “That’s some rather dark magic you’re inquiring about Jack. I can see why you’d want a counter spell for such a thing.” He raked his brain for a solution that may be of some use but without more specifics he was coming up short. “Many cultures practiced magic differently in the old days. Do you know which people created this curse? That is usually an excellent place to start searching for a magic that can counter it.” Jock looked quizzically at Jack. “Jack is everything alright? You know you can talk to me if you ever need to.” He smiled encouragingly. But he couldn’t deny that he’d noticed Jack had been a little more distant and a little less enthusiastic over the last few weeks. It was beginning to worry him.

“It’s origin? Oh, it’s, um...” Jack hesitated a moment. If he told Professor McLeod the curse was created by Romanians - his people - the older man might catch on that this ‘theoretical’ situation they were discussing was actually a much more personal project than Jack let on. If he wanted Jock’s help though, the professor needed a starting place in order to research the topic. "It’s Romanian.”

“Hm? Oh, no I-I’m fine, truly, professor. Just curious, that’s all,” Jack looked around the library rather than look Jock in the eye as he spoke.

Holley simply waved her hand at the mini confusion about access to the restricted section.  After all, it was restricted for a reason; she’s scanned the titles of books in there and there were things, dark things, she had never imagined before lurking in their own library.  “Oh, hm, well you want to know about souls, right?  Well, if it’s muggle, then the muggle section might have some things like religious studies I think.  But hm, maybe we can check magical history and cults?  Souls studies seem like they might be there,” she thought aloud.  Quite honestly, she wondered if a muggle library might have more information on this.  “Oh!  And maybe sections about ghosts.  Surely there must be something about souls in there.”

Jack was about to object when Holley offered that they should start with the muggle section, but stayed quiet when she moved on to magical history and cults. That definitely sounded more like where the information he was looking for might be. “All very good suggestions, but I believe magical history and cults may be our best bet.”

Duran slightly tilted his head in confusion. Most people knew what those books were. This was odd. But nonetheless the hufflepuff wanted to help this other student. “Well the Bible and Shruti are both religious books. The bible is used in the religion of Christianity and the Shruti is used in hinduism. Both religions are pretty popular around the world.” 

“Ah, I see,” So they were religious texts, it made sense then that he’d never heard of them before. “Where I’m from the religions of the world aren’t discussed... as if they don’t exist.” Jack paused for a moment in thought before shaking his head of his musings and getting back on track, “You said they could provide insight on the matter of souls, how so?”

Quasi’s mouth nearly dropped open. “Like– Th-the Bible? The Holy Bible?” He offered, expecting Jack to give some hint of recognition. When he didn’t, it only made his eyes grow wider. Sure, he knew that people in the wizarding world didn’t like to talk about religion but most seemed to at least know what religion was, at least where Christianity was concerned. The idea that someone had gone this far in life without even hearing mention of the word of God was completely unfathomable to the Hufflepuff.

He turned to face Jack more directly. It was likely more direct than Jack had ever seen the boy during their months of rooming together. “The Holy Bible is the w-word of our Lord and S-savior, g-given to man in the written f-form. I-it documents His creation of the w-world and its p-people, including you and m–” There was an offbeat pause. This was no time to wrestle with his own insecurities about his identity and what exactly he was. “–M-me. I-it tells us h-how to live a g-good life, h-how we can be saved, a-and what happens to our s-souls when we d-die.”

None of Jack’s teachers had ever discussed religion in class before and since he hadn’t sought out any information about it during his free-time, Jack was rather clueless about this ‘Holy Bible’. If it was so well known and important like Quasimodo was making it out to be, why had his parents never educated him about it? Actually, now that he thought about it, neither his mother nor father had never so much as mentioned any religion other than their own around him. Jack had of course heard his peers throwing around phrases like “oh my god” but he’d just assumed it was more English lingo he wasn’t familiar with.

Jack’s eyes widened in surprise when Quasi turned towards him. He was usually such a timid boy, never really speaking unless first spoken to and actually going out of his way to avoid Jack back when they were sharing a dorm. Jack was a little hesitant in asking his next question, but he needed answers. “I... think we have different belief systems. I’ve never heard a ‘Lord and Savior’ before now. Who is he, and what do you mean by ‘saved’? What do we need to be saved from?”

“Well. In that case, I wouldn’t say there’s that much written in any kind of concrete way. Some theoretical treatises. Mostly in the context of said tearing of souls or having it ripped out of you by dementors. But um, mostly its considered to be your sense of self. Your soul is everything that makes you who you are. You can live without it, your body will function. But you don’t feel that alive.” 

This wasn’t the kind of thing Vi usually found herself talking about. Normally, people took the religious route and she could safely call bullshit on that. But otherwise, she tended to leave the idea of souls alone, except from what she’d read about dementors, depression, and the relation between the two. 

Jack bit back a frown. He knew what selling one’s soul did to a person. Both his parents had given up their souls for power long before he was born. They were cold, logical, power-hungry, uncaring. A rare, sinister smirk was the closest Jack had ever come to seeing either of them smile. The only reason they took care of their son was to continue the Skellington bloodline and name - his mother harbored no love for him and his father took no pride in him. 

“Is there any way of protecting one’s soul from a dementor or otherwise?” Jack crossed his arms, tapping his fingers against his side out of habit. “Or, at the very least, a way to retain part of yourself even without a soul?”