Max and Dani barely have time to get used to living in Salem before they end up moving yet again a year later. This time, their parents drag them to a town in Maine called "Friendship." While not exactly happy about moving again (and being forced to leave behind his girlfriend), Max tries to make the most of it.
But even in this new small town community, he and his sister can't escape the supernatural completely. On his first day in a new school, Max encounters the girl who lives in the supposed Haunted House. Kat is still considered the outsider in town even a few years later, partially because of where she lives and partially because strange things seem to happen around her. But she seems nice and certainly better than Amber, so he decides to hang out with her a little.
And then Max and Dani find out the supposed Haunted House is actually haunted. Now all of them must work together to deal with the possible return of a trio of witches. And maybe another threat...
Magic and Mayhem
(alternate link) by Bookworm Gal is a crossover between Hocus Pocus and Casper (and Casper Meets Wendy) set after the films.
Tropes included are:
- Adults Are Useless: The kids don't even bother to tell Max and Dani's parents what's happening. They already know they won't listen after what happened last time. Kat's dad would have probably been more willing to believe them, but he left town abruptly.
- Alpha Bitch: Amber is fairly popular, though acts like she's more important than the student body thinks she is, and is okay with ditching her current boyfriend if she thinks she can get a better date to the school dance. Upon meeting Max, she immediately tries to destroy his fledgling friendship with Kat Harvey by telling him about the creepy rumors surrounding Kat and her house. Max brushes her off, as he can detect her obnoxious personality from miles away and already has a girlfriend back in Salem."Max stared at the girl, her shoulder-length blond hair and half-concealed controlling personality making her very distinctive. (...) She gave off the aura of popularity and confidence, but the way at least a couple of witnesses to her approach rolled their eyes suggested she was not nearly as important as she made herself out to be. (...) She probably had plenty of money at home and got whatever she wanted from her parents, even if she wasn't insane billionaire-level rich."
- Armor-Piercing Question: While Doctor Harvey's 'appointments' with the Ghostly Trio are often met with derision or irrelevance, Kat recalls that he did inspire a more solemn reaction from them when he asked if they tried to make him part of the group because they miss Casper's father.
- Back from the Dead: Binx and the Sanderson sisters both return; Kat also reflects on her father's own return to life.
- Barred from the Afterlife: Ghosts are dead people with unfinished business. That's why Binx didn't end up a ghost after the Sandersons were defeated; their deaths meant he had no reason to remain.
- No one really knows what the Ghostly Trio's unfinished business might be, but their presence means they must have some. In Chapter 9, it is implied they remained to watch over their brother's son, Casper.
- Berserk Button: Not explicitly demonstrated, but recalling the public perception of Casper's father as crazy, Kat explicitly asks Max and Dani not to bring up the topic in the presence of Casper and the Trio, as it would just hurt Casper and she doesn't want to predict how the Trio would react.
- Big Brother Instinct: Both Thackery Binx and Max feel this towards Dani.
- Black Magic: Pact Witches can only use their magic for evil.
- Brick Joke: In the first chapter, Dani reminds Max of the deal they had made right before awakening the Sandersons in the film where for this Halloween they have to go trick-or-treating as Peter Pan and Wendy with tights.
- Canon Welding: As well as putting Casper and Hocus Pocus in the same reality, the fic also includes Casper Meets Wendy into its narrative history, with the Trio and Casper having just taken a holiday a few months ago while (the author also explicitly states that Casper: A Spirited Beginning doesn't fit into this continuity).
- Dark and Troubled Past: For all of the McFadden family: First J.T. McFadden's wife died, then his son Casper died of pneumonia, and when the latter's ghost appeared to his family, it set the inventor on the distant goal of resurrecting him. His brothers tried to keep it a secret, but while they were away, J.T. heard the gossip outside, couldn't take it any longer, and blurted out his goals in public, which got him sent to the asylum. Then, when his three brothers went to visit him, their car skidded off the road on the way back and they all drowned. It's frankly surprising how relatively sane their ghosts all turned out.
- Deal with the Devil: Pact Witches gain their power through such bargains; Wendy notes that this makes it impossible for Pact Witches to be anything but evil, where conventional witches like herself could go either way.
- Defiant Captive: Kat isn't afraid to insult the Sanderson sisters to their faces while trapped.
- Disability Immunity: Depending on whether it can be considered a 'disability' to be stuck as a cat, Binx is able to escape a spell intended to trap the others because it was designed to contain humans, which he isn't once the Sandersons' return restores their old curse.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him:
- Desmond Spellman quickly gets rid of the Sanderson Sisters by throwing them into the Mystic Abyss.
- Desmond later does the same to Lila when she stops being useful to him and starts pushing his patience.
- Evil Plan: Lila Chandler steals the Book, creates a new Black-Flame Candle, and revives the Sanderson sisters. Then she makes a bargain with them to provide all the children of Friendship in exchange for their help opening the Mystic Abyss and retrieving her cousin, Desmond Spellman.
- Fantastic Slurs: The Ghostly Trio refer to the living as "fleshies."
- Some Natural Witches call Pact Witches "Fake Witches" because they have to make bargains for their power rather than being born with it.
- Fantastic Racism: Witches, like all the living, generally don't like ghosts. And ghosts generally don't like witches because "they're fleshies with power." But the Ghostly Trio do happen to like Wendy's aunts.
- Pact Witches and Natural Witches also don't like each other.
- There are hints that some witches look down on normal humans without magic.
- Ghost Amnesia: Just like in the movie, ghosts generally don't remember much about their lives.
- Ghostly Chill: A slight chill in the air is a pretty good sign of the presence of a ghost in the area. Kat is so used to it, she can notice the Ghostly Trio approaching the room before anyone else does or keep track of Casper's exact location even while he's invisible.
- Good Reason For Parental Abandonment: With time catching up with her after a lifetime of youth potions, Ginny decided to give her magical daughter Wendy to her sisters to raise, rather than have her watch her mother wither away over her childhood and be gone before she hit puberty.
- Halloween Episode: The story takes place on Halloween. That's the only time the Black-Flame Candle works, after all.
- Haunted House: Whipstaff Manor is seen as this, although these days some of the other students think that Kat is a witch.
- Hell Is That Noise: The loud, shrieking roar coming from the Ghostly Trio when they arrive at the school.
- Ignorant of Their Own Ignorance: From a certain perspective; Desmond Spellman traps his enemies in a spell that makes them relive their worst nightmares, but Kat, Max, Dani and Binx are able to break through it quicker than the others because they've already overcome the traumas that made those memories so bad.
- Improvised Weapon: The kids go off to fight the witches with a cane, a container of salt, a fireplace poker, and a Magic Wand.
- Involuntary Shapeshifter: Binx. When the Sanderson sisters come back to life, he is forcibly turned back into a cat.
- Loophole Abuse: When the Sandersons trap Casper, Kat and the Dennisons with a spell, Binx is able to escape it as he doesn't qualify as 'human' in the sense that the spell can trap him.
- Magic Wand: Wendy has one. It used to be her mother's.
- Mama Bear: Even with their problems with their niece, Wendy's aunts show up ready for a fight the moment they hear she's in danger.
- Muggle Born of Mages:
- Wendy says her mother didn't have any magic like her sisters did. They made her a Magic Wand so she wouldn't feel left out.
- Lila Chandler was a normal person born into a family of witches and warlocks.
- Muggle–Mage Romance: The case with Wendy's parents, her human father Harry and her witch mother Ginny.
- Named by the Adaptation: Stretch, Fatso and Stinkie's names were Steven, Gregory, and Walter McFadden, with Casper's father John Thomas "Wisenheimer" being the second oldest of the four, with their ghost names being their nicknames in life.
- Nephewism: Casper and Wendy's guardians are their uncles and aunts respectively. Casper's parents died and crossed over decades ago and Wendy's parents didn't have magic and her mother Ginny was starting to age more quickly after a lifetime of youth potions, so they left her with her witch aunts.
- The '90s: The fic is set in 1994, when the internet was just starting to be used by the average person. Kat thus pays particular notice to the fact that Casper goes to a library to use a chat room, as it's the first opportunity he's had for decades to talk to someone in a manner where they won't freak out because he's a ghost (although he's only shown talking to Wendy, who already knows what he is).
- Our Mages Are Different: Pact Witches (like the Sanderson sisters) are Theurgists and Gadget-Users. Natural Witches (like Wendy and her aunts) are Racial and Gadget-Users.
- Painful Transformation: Just like the first time, Binx turning into a cat again because the witches were revived was not fun.
- Papa Wolf: Surprisingly enough, the Ghostly Trio turn out to be this for both Casper and Kat.
- Parental Sexuality Squick: G-Rated version; Kat has mixed feelings about the Ghostly Trio going on dates with Wendy's aunts.
- Portal Door: How the Mystic Abyss is described to function. It can be opened or closed anywhere with magic, exposing a swirling vortex of power. Lila plans to have the Sanderson sisters open it to retrieve her cousin, Desmond Spellman.
- Rhymes on a Dime: How most spells appear to work. Even those that don't rhyme in English are said to rhyme in their original language.
- Shock and Awe: A lot of Winnie's magic tends to take on this form. Like when she captures Casper.
- Shout-Out: Wendy's parents were named Harry and Ginny.
- Spell Book: The Sanderson sisters' Book. Max and Dani had it after the events of their film until it was stolen.
- Terrible Trio: A few.
- The Ghostly Trio. But they're more pests than anything.
- The Sanderson sisters.
- The Promise: Steven "Stretch" McFadden promised his brother J.T. that he'd take care of his nephew Casper, and not even death will stop him from doing it.
- The Weird Sisters: Winnifred, Mary, and Sarah Sanderson.
- "What Do They Fear?" Episode: Desmond uses a spell to trap the protagonists in their most painful, frightening, or heart-breaking memories.
- Ye Olde Butchered English: The Sanderson sisters, just as in the film.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: After Lila gets her cousin Desmond Spellman out of the Mystic Abyss, he throws her in after she gets too mouthy.
