Remus Lupin, wizard and werewolf, stood in Amity Park. Professor Albus Dumbledore had been kind enough to lend the man the use of his phoenix to travel to America. Severus Snape, their spy, had heard that Death Eaters had been sent to a town in America to gather allies. Dumbledore wanted to know who they were after and what they were capable of. Hagrid and Madame Maxime were heading to the giants. Arthur Weasley was keeping an eye out in the Ministry of Magic for potential members. Sirius Black had donated his inherited childhood home for the order's headquarters. The Order of the Phoenix. A secret underground organisation tasked to stop Lord Voldemort from taking over the wizarding world founded by Dumbledore. Now Lupin had a chance to contribute.
Lupin sighed and scanned the town. It seemed to be a quiet American muggle town. What could possibly be in this town to attract Voldemort's attention? He walked down the street, on the look-out for anything out of the ordinary. After thirty minutes, he decided to stop a couple of teenagers and ask for things tourists would be interested in. For Voldemort to be interested in this town specifically, then there was a good chance the muggles had spotted the oddity themselves. And oddities muggles spot tend to become tourist attractions.
"Excuse me!" he called to the boys. One was tall, muscular and blonde. The other was a similar build but with dark hair. They stopped and turned to Lupin, raising questioning eyebrows.
"Sorry, I'm a tourist. Would you know of any sights I could visit in your town?" Lupin inquired.
"I dunno. There's a couple of haunted buildings," the blonde suggested.
"Or there's the pier. We have a mini golf course and water park, Floody Waters," the other added. Lupin blinked at the suggestions. Voldemort would not be interested in a pier or a haunted building.
"What would your town be famous for? I'm only stopping here on a road trip," Lupin asked, trying to make it sound like he was only in Amity Park by accident.
"Danny Phantom," the boys answered instantly.
"Danny Phantom?" Lupin repeated. The boys nodded.
"He's this really cool ghost that fights a load of other ghosts that attack the town," the blonde elaborated.
"He's a hero. But he's not been around much for the last couple of weeks for some reason. None of the ghosts have been," the dark haired boy continued.
"Yeah, not even that weird ghost who has this thing for boxes and bubble wrap. He usually attacks daily and we haven't seen him at least for a week," the blonde added. Lupin inwardly frowned. Could Danny Phantom be what Voldemort wanted?
"You say Danny Phantom fights ghosts. Would he be considered powerful?" Lupin asked. The boys nodded.
"Yeah. He's beaten any ghost that attacks. He even beat the Ghost King. He attacked a year or so ago," the blonde replied.
"You saw this?" Lupin assumed. Both boys shook their heads.
"No, but man we wish we had. That ghost was scary powerful. But if Danny Phantom hadn't beat him, then the town would still be in the Ghost Zone," the dark haired boy answered, disappointment clear in his voice. Lupin nodded. This Phantom fellow was certainly powerful, definitely someone Voldemort would want. Except he was a ghost. Ghosts couldn't interact with the living. They existed on an entirely different plain and were imprints left behind by souls refusing to move on. But perhaps this "ghost" wasn't a true ghost but something that could be mistaken for one.
"If you were to look for Phantom, where would you suggest starting?" Lupin asked. Both boys shrugged.
"No idea. He usually turns up whenever there's a ghost attack. A few of the kids at Casper High have tried to figure out where he hangs out but we've never found him," the dark haired boy admitted.
"But he's seen a lot in the evening. We think he patrols the city," the blonde added. Lupin smiled at the teenagers.
"Thank you, you've been extremely helpful," Lupin concluded the conversation. The teenagers nodded and continued on their way.
Lupin checked a pocket watch and frowned. It was pretty early right now but perhaps he could use this time to ask more of the locals about Phantom. He continued down the street, keeping an eye out for anyone looking relaxed so he could ask someone who wasn't busy. An hour later he spotted a trio of teens. One girl who had a liking for purple and black. A boy tapping on a muggle device and another boy with blue eyes and black hair. The device boy was clearly the focus of the group at the time as the girl and other boy looked into the device.
"Excuse me!?" Lupin called to them. They looked up and stopped.
"Hello, I'm a tourist. I was hoping you could tell me anything about Phantom," Lupin asked. They all glanced at each other.
"Why do you want to learn about Phantom?" the blue eyed boy inquired carefully.
"I heard he's a hero. And I hear the town is famous for his presence. I'm on a road trip and I was intrigued," Lupin answered. The boy nodded.
"Well, Phantom's not been around a lot recently. But unless you're really into ghosts. And I mean really. Don't go to Fenton Works. Also I'd take what they have to say, if you do go there, with a huge pinch of salt," the blue eyed boy told him. Lupin blinked in surprise but nodded. Clearly Fenton Works was home to fanatics of Phantom or something.
"I was told Phantom likes to patrol in the evenings. You wouldn't happen to know his favourite routes?" Lupin asked. The trio shook their heads.
"It's hard to pin down a person that can fly, sir. And Phantom's really hard to find, especially when he doesn't want to be. Besides, things have been really quiet. He might be on vacation or something," the girl answered and the boys nodded in agreement. Lupin nodded.
"Well, thank you. Where might I find Fenton Works though?" Lupin inquired.
"Down that road, second left. Can't miss it. Has a massive sign on the front and a spaceship like thing on top," the boy with the device replied and pointed down the next road. Lupin thanked them again and made his way towards Fenton Works.
"What is with all the British accents?" the blue eyed boy grumbled softly.
"And they all want Phantom dude," the boy with the device commented softly.
Lupin turned to remark on their comments but the three teens were already walking down the street and the wizard didn't want to stop them again so soon. They may have been stopped by a Death Eater asking about Phantom. Lupin shrugged to himself and made his way to Fenton Works. An hour later, he regretted knocking on that front door. Jack Fenton could talk. So much that Lupin was completely lost. One minute the large man in an orange jumpsuit was explaining how Phantom was up to something and all ghosts are evil. The next he was talking about how the invention in his hands worked. And Lupin had no idea how the muggle had gotten to that point.
Maddie Fenton, Jack's wife, merely nodded in agreement with her husband or clarified a point for Lupin if the wizard managed to get in a question. Lupin was extremely relieved when the ghost hunters were distracted by the door opening. However Lupin's relief quickly became astonishment. The trio of teenagers that had told and warned him about Fenton Works walked in.
"Danny! Come meet Mr Lupin. He asked us about ghosts!" Jack boomed excitedly. The blue eyed boy gave a weak smile that was more like a grimace.
"That's great dad. Mr Lupin and I met already. I pointed him to you guys," Danny admitted.
Lupin gave the teen a smile, understanding the warning now.
"Good job son! We have to educate the populace that Phantom's rotten," Jack praised. Danny rolled his eyes, unnoticed by his father.
"Mr Lupin, did my parents answer all your questions?" Danny asked the wizard. Lupin blinked and smiled gratefully to the teen. The boy was giving him the perfect opening to escape.
"They did. Thank you for pointing me to them. I think I've taken up enough of your time Mr and Mrs Fenton," Lupin replied and got to his feet.
"Oh, well I'm glad we were able to help you Mr Lupin. Feel free to come back if you have any further questions," Maddie retorted as Lupin made his exit.
Lupin breathed a sigh of relief and glanced at the unusual house. The Fentons spoke of ghosts like Arthur Weasley could speak of muggles. Except the Fentons clearly knew more about the ghosts in Amity Park than Arthur knew about muggles. Lupin decided to return to his first plan and stop anyone looking relaxed and ask them for information until evening and then to start looking for Phantom himself. He should probably find somewhere to spend the night while he was at it. Hopefully he'd find Phantom and get to the bottom of this mystery before next week when the full moon would be in the night sky.
And the order is on the scene.
But how will Danny, Sam and Tucker react to someone asking about Phantom? The answer…
Until the next chapter.