Chapter Updated: April 14th, 2015
Immutatio Nota: The intro is snappier and funnier this time! YAY! No more USELESS FILLER, take that Past Me! Whoa, hey, why do I suddenly have a new old scar?
Chapter Three
Maddie didn't even need to look up. "Danny, stop staring at Jazz."
Danny scowled, pouting. Was it some kind of magic that tipped her off? No... it couldn't have been, because then muggle mothers wouldn't be able to do it either. Unless... unless it was some sort of magic that all mothers had? Yes, yes that had to be it. There was no other possible explanation.
Jazz was giving him the most smug, triumphant look from her side of the table. That cheater. He didn't know how she was cheating, but she was. She had to have been.
"Don't encourage him, Jazz," said Maddie, again without even looking at them.
This time it was Jazz's turn to be caught out. Sputtering, she gave her mother a look of complete and utter betrayal. Danny hid his smirk beneath the edge of the table, but Jazz could tell what he was doing from the look in his eye and glared at him regardless.
Sweet victory.
Maddie rolled her eyes, both enamored and exasperated at her children's antics, and gently bopped them both on the head with her newspaper. "Knock it off, you two, and eat your breakfast."
She glanced at Danny. "Are you sure you don't want to come with us? It's not too late to change your mind..."
"Mom," Danny whined. "I don't want to go look at schools for Jazz!" Silently, he added, 'Even if they are schools of magic.'
"It's only a couple of years until you go to one yourself, you know," she reasoned, sounding a little hopeful. But even a little hopeful was too hopeful in Danny's eyes.
"You already said I could stay," he exclaimed, trying and failing to not sound whiney.
She sighed. "I did..."
"And you... you can't go back on your word," he accused.
"I'm not going to force you to go, Danny," said Maddie, holding her hands up in a placating manner.
"If he doesn't want to go, then he shouldn't have to go," Jazz said a little too loudly. "He doesn't have to go, does he?"
Maddie relented, "No, no he doesn't." She sighed again. "Tucker and his mother will be here in a couple of hours," she said a bit more firmly. "And you're going to have a shower before then, Danny."
Danny winced... he had really hoped that she'd forget that particular little detail.
He ducked his head down with a sheepish grin, returning to his cereal as his mother's focus seemingly switched back to her second coffee of the morning and her newspaper skimming. She swapped the newspaper she'd just finished reading, the latest issue of a muggle newspaper, for the latest issue of an American wizarding newspaper. The images blinked and flashed as they moved about, defying all scientific logic and reason as they went.
Danny glanced at his father, who was cheerfully eating his third helping of fudge and coffee whilst animatedly discussing new ideas for inventions and experiments he and Maddie could work on later.
It was impressive, in Danny's opinion, that he couldn't tell at all that either of his parents had recently failed their "big thing" – a portal they'd been working on since their college days, one that would open straight into the world of ghosts. Or, it would have, had it actually worked.
Both Fenton children had been there when their parents had fired the portal up for the first time after they'd finally finished building it. The portal had powered up, and then... it fizzled and died before their very eyes, sparking pathetically as the power cut out. Neither Maddie nor Jack could figure out exactly how or why it had failed, not when all of their calculations and tests had indicated that it should've worked like a charm.
Jazz, of course, had exclaimed that of course it didn't work – it wasn't magical in nature. Muggle devices and machinery couldn't possibly tap into and use magical energies.
Their parents had been in a massive funk for days afterwards, but they bounced back eventually. They always did. Going to look at schools for Jazz, though, was the final push they needed to return to their good old animated selves.
It had taken Danny three weeks worth of excelling at all of his chores and homework in order to convince his parents to let him stay home in Amity Park, with Tucker and his mother minding the house. Someone had to mind the house anyway, because of all the expensive, priceless and potentially dangerous ghost hunting equipment they had locked up in their basement laboratory.
Besides... Danny didn't want to have to go and look at all the prestigious wizarding schools he'd never get to attend. One of them was even in France!
He was almost nine years old now, and he'd never shown any signs of magic. The chances of him actually being a wizard dropped exponentially with each passing year.
Danny still hadn't quite figured out how he felt about that.
Eleven o'clock rolled around far too slowly in Danny's opinion, mainly because his mother wouldn't stop fussing over him. Yes, he understood that she was his mother and that it was her job as a mother to fuss over him, but he was way too old to be having his mother fussing over him all the time. Even if he only actually minded whenever she did it in public...
When Tucker and his mother had arrived, Danny, like any self-respecting child ever, immediately proceeded to use Tucker as a human shield from his mother's fussing. "Save me, save me from the hugs," he cried melodramatically.
Tucker pretty much lost it after that, becoming incapable of stopping himself from laughing, and Danny was certain that if Jazz had rolled her eyes any harder, they would've fallen out.
All the suitcases and bags were packed and piled by the front door, waiting to be packed into the RV. Maddie had, of course, double- and triple-checked every single bag to ensure an absence of ghost-hunting weapons and paraphernalia. ("But-but-but, Maddie.") They wanted to make the best possible first impression for their girl.
After all, Jazz would be the first Fenton to go to a true institute of magical learning in just a little over one hundred and ten years, and they needed to make sure they made a better first impression than the last Fenton that had attended such a school... though Maddie did have to admit that they'd be rather hard pressed to get their hands on a drunk dragon, seven ogres and a truckload of cornish pixies at this time of year.
Jazz, impatient from all the waiting, tugged on her dad's sleeve. "Can we go now? Please?"
Jack grinned, giving Danny a suffocating bear-hug. "See you later, Danny-boy," he boomed. In a quieter (but still very loud) tone of voice he added, "I've heard some of those magic schools have GHOSTS! Those spooks won't know what hit them with Jazzypants in the house!"
Danny grinned awkwardly. "Yeah... dad, they'll be terrified," he exclaimed with false enthusiasm. Wizarding ghosts were completely harmless, unlike the ghosts Jack and Maddie studied... it's just that no one really had the heart to tell Jack that.
Jack was blissfully oblivious, however, and Danny's comment only served to brighten his already beaming grin, and his eyes were glistening wetly. "You should really get going," Danny said hurriedly at the exact same time that Jazz said, "We should go now!"
Jack sniffed proudly. "You're right," he exclaimed. "We shouldn't keep the GHOSTS waiting!" And with that, he scooped up a meekly protesting Jazz under one arm and the entirety of the luggage under the other, then charged off to load them all into the RV.
Maddie smiled at them fondly. "That's my cue," she said to Tucker's mother, chuckling slightly. She'd been going over some things last-minute with the woman, making sure that everything was well and truly in order before they departed.
"I'll be fine, mom," whined Danny. She ruffled his hair, and, much to his horror, gave him a quick kiss goodbye on the top of his head. "Mom!"
She chuckled softly. "Be good, sweetie. We'll be back in a week - and don't be afraid to call us if you need to. Or if you just want to talk."
Danny huffed, pouting. "I know, mom. I'll see you when you get back."
"Maddie! Where are the keys," Jack bemoaned from the driver's seat.
"See you when we get back," she said to Danny, smiling softly and hugging him one last time before she left.
"They're in your pocket, dear," Maddie told her husband, a fondly amused smile on her face as she pulled the keys from his breast pocket. Jack took them with a sheepish grin. "Make sure your seatbelt's on, Jazz," she called as she strapped herself in.
"Like I'd forget that," exclaimed Jazz, horrified.
"BANZAI," yelled Jack as he slammed on the ignition, the RV roaring to life as it sped away, swerving dangerously and breaking no less than twenty road laws in the process. They drove off to the sound of squawking pedestrians and squealing tires.
All things considered, it was impressive that they'd never had so much as a fender bender before. Even if the RV was built like a tank. Maddie might've also placed just a few little charms on it. As a... precaution.
Somewhere, in the distance, a cat screeched.
Immutatio Nota: (Original, pre-update/revision notes:)
Originally, part 2 of this chapter was really rough and rushed, with only 7 paragraphs. I started revising today, and dusted it all off for you! Actually, I wrote most of this chapter in June-July, but then realised-hang on a minute, I didn't post that, did I? So I thought I could (*coughcough*should*coughcough*) take a break from my new pokemon game (just heard they were bringing out Pokemon Black and White 2!, so I decicded I NEEDED to get Pokemon White before that came out-what can I say?)
I'm currently recovering from surgery on my feet, so I'm having trouble walking at the moment... that, and I'm being stubborn when it comes to taking painkillers. Bleh.
Thanks again, all the time, for all your wonderful favourites and reviews and follows! It inspires (*coughguiltcoughtripscough*) me so much! I know mostly where the plotline for this is going, so all I need to do now is suck it up and write it.
On a completely unrelated note: My parents are weird. My life is weird. My dog is weird.