Chapter Two

Alone now, Clockwork took a deep breath before waving his staff at the view-screen in front of him. The visions of impending doom vanished, replaced with a dark bedroom. He took a moment to look at it, noting the discarded boxers on the floor, the overstuffed backpack sitting on the seat of the desk chair, the model rockets and other miniature space craft dangling on wires attached to the ceiling...and the closed door and drawn blackout curtains. Smiling softly, Clockwork turned his attention to the room's lone occupant, who was lying face-down in the bed, one bare foot protruding from beneath the blankets, one arm dangling over the side of the mattress.

"I'm sorry, Danny," Clockwork said to the boy on the screen, "but I need your help, and it can't wait for morning." The smile faded from his lips as the flew forward, through the screen and into Danny's bedroom.

The effect was instantaneous.

Danny flailed upright, a frozen mist pouring from his mouth, his legs passing through the blankets that would have tangled a normal boy into immobility. His eyes glowed green in the darkness, darting from side to side, searching for the threat he had sensed, evan as he snatched a white and green thermos from his bedside table. On noticing Clockwork, he relaxed, sagging where he sat, the ghostly glow fading from his eyes and leaving them a mundane blue.

"Clockwork," he yawned, putting the thermos back on the table and stretching. "Did you have to wake me up at...uh..."

"2:33 AM," Clockwork supplied, not bothering to glance at the alarm clock next to the thermos. "And yes, Danny, I did. You see, I need your help, and time is of the essence."

"Don't you, like, have all the time in the world, or something?" Danny asked, raising one skeptical eyebrow before yawning again.

"Yes...and then again, no," Clockwork replied. "This is an unusual circumstance. You are the only one who can help. If nothing is done...well. Best case scenario, the result would be on par with your worst nightmares. You know the ones."

Danny blanched, all traces of grogginess vanishing in a rush of adrenaline. He stood, somehow managing to look serious and determined while wearing green and white Fenton Pajamas. His human clothing ceased to matter a moment later as, with a flash of light, he became a ghost.

"What do I need to do?" he asked.

"Why don't we take this discussion elsewhere?" Clockwork suggested, opening a portal back to his lair.

"Wait," Danny said, hesitating. "Will I be gone long? Do I need a change of clothes? Can I leave a note for my parents? They're still getting used to the whole 'ghostly hero' thing, even though it's been a year since that whole Disasteroid thing, and they get really worried if they don't know where I am."

"There is no need. I will be returning you to this room, on this night, once you have completed your mission. Your parents won't even know you were gone until after you have come back."

"Awesome," Danny grinned as he floated through the portal, Clockwork following close behind. Once on the other side, Danny turned back to him, still smiling. "So what's this super important mission you've got for me? I've gotta say, it's a surprise for you to come looking for my help."

"As you will come to see, there is very little about this situation that is not surprising in some fashion. Before I tell you about your mission, there are a few things that you need to know about the nature of reality; don't worry, I'll keep it brief, but you do need to have some understanding of what is at stake should you fail." Clockwork adopted a wry tone and added, "slacking off, no matter how tempting, could prove to be a very bad idea while you are gone."

Danny frowned. "I'm not that bad," he said.

Clockwork only chuckled, and began his lecture. "You already know that the Real World, where humans live, and the Ghost Zone, where we are now, are interconnected, and that portals between them can lead anywhere and anywhen."

"Yeah," Danny said, remembering the Infi-map and chasing Vlad Plasmius across time to get it back.

"You also know that alternate time lines are more than just science fiction, and that the future is not as set in stone as some might think," Clockwork continued, nodding toward a battered thermos on a pedestal in one corner.

Danny nodded, blanching again, eyes on the thermos.

"What you do not know," Clockwork said sharply, drawing his attention back to him, "what you must know for this mission, is that the Ghost Zone, the Infinite Realms, is connected to more than one Real World. This," he spread his arms in a gesture indicating the entire Ghost Zone, "is the space between universes. In some worlds, the industrial revolution took place in China, in others, the Axis Powers won the Great War, there are even worlds where homo sapiens went extinct in the stone age. You will be going to one of these other worlds, and things will be different. For one, no one will know who Danny Phantom is, because you will have no counterpart there.

"I need you to go to a world filled with wizards and magic. You will be going undercover at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for most of a decade."

"A DECADE?" Danny exploded, ectoplasmic energy sparking green around him. "How am I supposed to explain aging TEN YEARS overnight?"

"I have that handled, you don't need to worry about it," Clockwork said calmly. "I know it's a long time to be away from your own world, but if Voldemort is allowed to continue as he is...it is entirely possible that he and his Death Eaters, his followers, will tear this world apart and, eventually, come here and kill me. My death would...how shall I put this? I keep the different timelines and universes separate from one another. If I were to be destroyed, the entire multiverse would gradually collapse in on itself through the Infinite Realms."

"Oh." Danny's voice was very small. "That...uh...so, I need to go to wizard school, find this Volde-guy and take him down? Do I need to kill him?" He felt a little sick at the thought of ending a human life, even a really, really evil one.

"If you could," Clockwork smiled. "There are a number of wizards who would be perfectly happy to do the deed themselves, though, so it is unlikely that you will have to provide the finishing blow yourself."

"Alright," Danny nodded firmly. "Wizard college, here I come."

"About that..." Clockwork looked almost apologetic. "Hogwarts typically accepts students at the age of eleven. I'll have to age you down about six years so you can get it. It'll only take six seconds."

Danny frowned. "So, in order to save the multiverse, I have to start puberty over again?"

"Essentially."

Danny grimaced. "Alright, bring it."

Clockwork nodded solemnly, then reached out and gently tapped Danny on the head with the tip of his staff. There was a bright flash of light. Danny couldn't see, and he couldn't hear anything past the rushing in his ears; he smelled the sharp ozone tang of energized ectoplasm and tasted the electric citrus flavor of his own ectoplasmic blood. His body felt like it was being stretched while his skin shrunk, so that he might explode like an overripe fruit. He wasn't sure if he screamed or not, he couldn't even tell if his throat was sore because everything hurt equally.

After a six second eternity, the pain stopped and the world vanished.

Clockwork looked down at the unconscious boy on the floor. At ten years, nine months, and eleven days old, he looked sweet, innocent, and vulnerable; even the glow of his ghostly aura had faded somewhat, likely from the pain of having his body forcefully regressed into a form it had never actually taken, his age reduced but his memories untouched. Even his clothing had changed, the famous black and white jumpsuit now a black T-shirt with his D insignia on it and a pair of black jeans, his white hair matching his white sneakers.

Clockwork sighed, then bent down and picked Danny up.

"I hate it when I have to do that," he muttered to himself. Shaking his head, he turned to a nearby view-screen that was displaying a child's bedroom, with bright blue walls and glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to the white ceiling; there were several model rockets sitting on the desk, and the small bed had a comforter embroidered with the night sky, several constellations picked out in blue thread. Danny reverted to his human form as soon as they passed through the portal, his pajamas now correctly sized for a child and decorated with stars and comets instead of Jack Fenton's face. Clockwork set him down on the bed, then turned away and floated through the closed door and down the beige hall.

"Spine!" he called out, once he had stopped in the middle of the hall. "I know you're here!"

"That you, Clockwork?" a tenor voice called back.

"It is. I've left Danny in his bed. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to stay and explain the situation to him, so you'll have to give him his cover story yourself." Clockwork opened a portal back to his tower and flew through it before he heard the response, which was exactly what he knew it would be.

"Alright," Spine said, loudly, "I'll make sure the half breed knows what's what when he wakes up."