Janine Melnitz looked up from her magazine she was flicking through lazily when she heard a rustle of feathers and a distinct hoot. The redhead was shocked when she saw, sitting on her desk, a large brown owl, and in its beak was clutched a letter.
"Well, what do you want?" She asked the owl, and it promptly dropped the letter in front of her. She picked it up and gently turned it over.
"For me?" Said a voice as a hand yanked the letter out of Janine's own.
"It does say 'Ghostbusters' on it, Dr. Venkman." She replied dryly.
"You shouldn't have!" Dr. Peter Venkman said and smelled the letter. "No perfume; must be for Ray. Hey Ray! Mail's here!" Dr. Peter Venkman called out.
A moment later Dr. Raymond Stantz slid down the fire pole in the Firehouse. Ray walked over and took the letter from Venkman. He opened it as he sat on the corner of Janine's desk, earning him a scowl from her as he scanned over what was written.
"Well, I think I'm gonna take off early." Peter said as he strode smoothly over to the lockers by the staircase. "Oh, and I'm gonna have to dip into petty cash again, gonna see someone about a potential new client, you know, for business purposes."
"Hold on Pete!" Ray said, stopping Venkman's usual method for taking money from the company to pay for dates with questionable women. "Look at this, we've got a new client."
"What's going on Ray?" Egon asked, as he ascended the stairs from the basement. "I've just been checking over the containment unit. It seems stable for now, we should enough room for a while, given the current rate of capture."
"We've had a client write in from somewhere in England! Get a load of this:
Dear Ghostbusters,
My name is Harry Potter, and I am writing to you on behalf of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The school is home to a large number of ghosts, however, since there was a major conflict that occurred on school grounds two years ago, that number has increased. We are in need of expertise in ridding the school of some troublesome spirits that even our magical ministry cannot deal with. And we of course can pay your rates. Please send a response with the owl that delivered this.
Signed,
Harry Potter"
Ray dropped the letter and looked forlorn after reading it aloud.
"False alarm, it looks like it's just another whacko playing a prank."
"Hold on Ray." Ego said and moved over to their reference library. He pulled down a pair of books and began to look through them. "Here it is. I thought that name sounded familiar. According to Tobin's Spirit Guide, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is a real location in northern Scotland that is home to numerous ghosts and at least one Poltergeist. It's considered to be the second most haunted building in all of Great Britain, the first being the Shrieking Shack which is located in nearby Hogsmeade Village. I don't think this is a whacko Ray." Egon said.
"Whoa, hold on a minute. Did you say the most haunted building in Great Britain?" Venkman asked, now leaning over Ray's other shoulder.
"Second most, but yes." Egon corrected.
"This could be big." Venkman was seeing dollar signs. "Think of it, we could go international! The publicity, the clout, the fame, the chicks! Chicks dig an accent."
"Weren't you going out with Dana Barret?" Winston asked, finally joining the pow-wow.
"She's out of town and it's not official…" Venkman replied.
"Boy I don't know about this, going all the way to England like this…" Ray was hesitant to agree.
"Won't we need official permission?" Winston asked. "We don't want to go in there as foreign nationals and destroy some ancient house of learning and then get sued into oblivion because we didn't file the right permit."
"Actually, we should be fine. This wizarding school is strictly off the books. The government of the United Kingdom does not know about it. In fact, they most likely do not know about most things magical. According to Ancient Lore and Mysticism in the late 17th Century an international statue was created by the International Confederation of Wizards to hide wizarding society from all non-magical society." Egon said as he pointed out a passage in the other book he pulled down.
"Great! When can we leave? Do you think we can take the car? It would be really good brand recognition and it's good advertising." Venkman said.
"Wait, Egon, if this school is supposed to be hidden, how can we be allowed to go there? We don't have any magical powers or anything like that." Winston said, crossing his arms.
"Well, that is where it gets a little fuzzy. You see, ghosts are technically an imprint of a soul left behind by a wizard or witch. We can detect their traces and with our equipment, capture them." Egon replied.
"Wait a minute. Are you telling me that all this time, all these ghosts and spirits we've been catching and containing are not normal humans, but wizards and witches?" Winston looked more curious than surprised, at this point he was willing to go along with anything.
"That would be correct Winston. There's a large magical population all over the world. However, their numbers are much smaller than normal people without magical powers. So, they keep their society hidden to avoid persecution."
"Ah, so the Salem Witch Trials of 1692." Ray replied.
"And various others around the same era. The point is Wizards have been hidden for over two hundred years out of fear." Egon finished.
"That's a lot of ghosts." Winston added.
"And a lot of money!" Venkman grinned. "I saw we do it! Let's go!"
"Getting there isn't going to be easy Venkman." Ray pointed out.
"Well…I do have and old buddy in the Air Force. He might be able to get us a ride overseas without too many questions being asked." Winston said as he tapped his chin. "Let me make a phone call."
Winston leaned over the desk and picked up the red phone and began to dial.
"Egon, exactly how many ghosts does the Spirit Guide say are at this Hogwarts School?" Venkman asked.
"About three dozen, maybe more if that letter is correct and there was a lot of death. All it takes for a wizard or witch to become a ghost is for them to either have an extreme fear of death or an extraordinary magical connection to the location they haunt." Egon replied.
"Nobody likes dying, everyone's afraid of death. What do you bet there's a lot more than three dozen at that school?" Venkman said with a grin in his eyes.
"That is a very strong possibility." Egon agreed.
"I love it when you agree with me!" Venkman looked ecstatic as he headed over to the staircase and began to climb to the upper stories where their shared dorm was located. Egon followed him up, as did Ray and Winston a few moments later.
"Alright, I've got us a free flight on a military cargo plane next week. They can even take the Ecto-1 if we're sure we're bringing it." Winston said.
"That's great! We'll be there for a few days, bust some heads, and maybe then I can pay off one of those mortgages finally…" Ray said as he climbed into bed. He had taken the graveyard shift again and was finally ready to turn in for the night. Winston climbed into his own bunk as Venkman changed to head off for his date. Egon returned to the lab to continue his experiment with mold fungus and a miniaturized particle accelerator from an older model of Proton Pack.
"Just another day at the office." Janine quipped as Peter waved his goodbye and Egon shook his head. Janine turned to her computer and began to type a reply to Harry Potter, the owl still looking at her.