A/N: Hello people! It seems that three months is my average for cranking out new chapters for this fic…why is that?
I've been busy over Christmas, (who hasn't?) but I'm not going to use that as an excuse. After all, I started writing this chapter long before Christmas rolled around. As usual, though, please don't expect a quick update. A friend of mine is coming over as soon as she's free and we're going to rearrange my entire bedroom. I already moved one cupboard and it scraped the skin on the inside of my left forearm bare, so I'm not keen on moving more. (It stung like nobodies business! It didn't help that the cupboard's slide down my arm was stopped and held in place by my new watch, either!)
Please read the 'Remember' note at the bottom.
Anyway, I hope those of you who have stuck with me faithfully through my slowness (I love you all!) enjoy this latest update!
Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter and Danny Phantom I wouldn't be writing fanfics about them, now would I? So please don't sue me, I'm very poor and you'll gain no profit as I gain none from the work. Well, only the profit of knowing that some people enjoy reading this. You can't spend that, though, so don't waste your time trying.
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
Danny will be referred to as Phantom whenever he is in ghost mode (by those who don't know he's Danny or if someone who doesn't know is around).
Recap: "Well, now that we're all here, shall we start?" asked Arthur Weasley. He received nods, small noises of affirmation and eager looks. "Very well. Remus Lupin has found the Halfa. I'll read the letter aloud.
To the Order,
Remus has already found the 'halfa'. He sent me a report detailing it a short while earlier. I have copied all the relevant parts into this letter for you. Please allow the children to attend the meeting regarding this matter as they will undoubtedly find it interesting and the knowledge will not hurt them.
"The term 'halfa' is used to refer to a very special, very rare type of spectral entity. The halfa I have met and befriended has told me that there are only three. Two others besides himself. His name is Phantom.
He is just like a ghost and has full sentient awareness, but is quite solid as I accidentally discovered when I went to put my hand on his shoulder and it did not sink through. He told me that he can turn intangible and invisible whenever he wishes. Also quite interesting was the fact that he is not pearly-white and transparent like the ghosts we know. He has snow-white hair, bright green eyes and tanned skin.
Aside from these interesting differences, the thing I found shocking was the reason why the ghosts said he was 'powerful'. I am not sure how, would love to find out though, but he is able to concentrate his spectral energy and fire it as a beam, much like one of our spells.
He is quite young also. Phantom is only fourteen and acts just like a typical American teenager. I was with him in a park earlier today and watched him rescue a cat that had climbed too high up a tree to escape from me. The cat managed to scratch his hand before he could grab it. I was fascinated to see that Phantom can bleed. It wasn't red, or silver like that which covers the Bloody Baron, but a vivid green."
That is the most relevant information regarding the halfa, now known as Phantom. I am currently working on a way to bring him to Headquarters, as there are a couple of issues that need to be worked out beforehand. It seems that one of the Ministry officials has taken a great interest in Phantom and has sent a team to capture him. Remus and I both agree that Phantom needs protection. Both against the Ministry and any Death Eaters that hear of him. They may report him to Voldemort. With such a power on his side, he could spy, and possibly assassinate, anyone he wished if they did not have the proper protection.
Remus has assured me that Phantom wants nothing to do with either the Ministry or Voldemort. However, there is still the concern that he may be bent to another's will. That is why we have decided that Phantom needs protection. When I figure out a workable solution, Phantom will be staying at Grimmauld Place for safety.
I will contact you about this matter again, via Fawkes, when I have reached a solution.
Sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore
That's everything."
A stunned silence filled the kitchen. Of all the things they had been expecting, it wasn't this.
Chapter 7: When Curiosity Takes over
"Are you sure they haven't switched direction? I mean, they can fly so, it wouldn't be hard," Kingsley said in a carefree tone, hoping to get on his partner's nerves. He was grinning, striding along calmly. It was the best way he could annoy Tebbes and he wasn't going to let this opportunity slip through his fingers. It was working to perfection.
"Why? Why did I send the other two off together and stick myself with this guy?" Rift mumbled, constantly scanning for a tell-tale glow. Ducking into an alley, he performed the spell again. Laying his wand flat on his palm, he watched it swiftly spin around to point in a westerly direction to the one they had been heading in. "Keep your blasted comments to yourself!" he hissed at Kingsley.
The other man obliged, but the irritating grin he wore only grew wider. They set off once again, still keeping a sharp lookout.
"Hey, what's that?" Tonks asked, squinting at something in the distance.
"What?" Dawlish focused his gaze in the general direction his partner was pointing.
"That thing in the air…no, right there, idiot!" she impatiently snapped back, jerking his head to face the object of her interest.
"What is that?" he asked.
Tonks was using all of her willpower to restrain her urge to hit him upside the head. She was just about to give in when the 'thing in the air' came close enough to be clearly seen.
"I've seen Muggles make some weird contraptions, but this has got to be the weirdest one I've seen," Dawlish casually remarked. His tone was deceptive as you only had to look at his face to know that he was intrigued.
"Whatever it is, it's heading straight toward us! Don't you think we should move?" Tonks said loudly, trying to keep the nervousness out of her voice. She shot a quick glance at Dawlish when he didn't answer her. She saw him still avidly staring ahead. It did nothing to improve her already frayed temper. "Hey! Stop staring and get out the way, idiot!" she yelled, grabbing the front of his shirt and yanking him to the side.
She was not a moment too soon as Skulker went careening past, a triumphant smirk adorning his metallic visage. He had a firm grip on a very small, glowing net that was moving. Whatever was inside was obviously not happy to be there and was struggling to free itself.
"Was that the halfa?" Dawlish asked, adjusting his shirt to a more comfortable position where it didn't strangle him.
Tonks noted which way Skulker went as she replied. "I haven't a clue but I think we should follow it, just in case!"
"Ugh, do we have to?" he asked in a weary, resigned way.
"Yes! This is the first strange thing we've seen, we have to follow it!" Tonks threw the reply over her shoulder as she had already started running after Skulker.
Dawlish mumbled a curse under his breath and ran after her.
"Wait, what?" Danny asked incredulously. "I mean, I know you told me your boss would probably want to meet me and all but…I see a lot of holes with this!"
"Holes?" Remus politely repeated, trying not to sigh at all of the complications. The two once more found themselves in the older males' kitchen.
It was night-time, as Danny had school that day. Sam and Tucker had foregone meeting up as Tucker was busy and Sam's parents had told her to come straight home for some reason. Danny suspected the involvement of frills, lace and the colour pink.
"Yes, holes. For example, uh…how's your boss gonna get here so quickly on such short notice?"
Remus let loose the sigh, unable to hold it back any longer. He stopped to consider his answer. Fawkes had teleported a feather and a small, sealed roll of parchment back to his dusty bedroom only a few short hours after the phoenix's initial departure. The message was short and simple.
Relevant topics forwarded. Shelter confirmed. Meeting arrangements in progress. Time and place unknown as yet. Stand by, keep watch and be on guard.
The message had been coded, but it was fairly easy for Remus to decipher. It was a special code developed by the Order and only the members knew how to crack it. For safety reasons, the codeword was changed at random intervals and the first ones to know of the change were the most trusted. Writing and reading the code could be slow, time-consuming and frustrating, however, so it was not used often. Despite the sparseness of the letter, Remus strongly suspected that it had been written by Minerva McGonagall.
"I never said he'd come here. He's still working out some details, so I don't have any answers to give you at the moment. Sorry," he offered the teen.
Danny shrugged as if he didn't care either way. He was actually quite nervous about this whole affair; he simply didn't want Remus to know that. He was Danny Phantom, hero of Amity Park, after all. Why should meeting one person make him so anxious? It was the blunt fact that Danny knew next to nothing about the Order. He wasn't sure what kind of a man Moony's boss really was.
"I'll let you know as soon as things have been arranged, okay?"
Danny nodded. "But what about my parents?"
"Hmmm…" Remus frowned.
There was still a couple of hours left before they had to go to bed, but none of the younger inhabitants, and many of the older ones, knew that sleep would be very easy in coming. There was too much to think about.
Hermione, of course, had gone straight for any book that had any mention of ghosts. She didn't remember reading about ghosts that were solid, colourful or that bled. 'The Bloody Baron is covered in blood, but ghosts only are if they died and became a ghost with the blood already on them,' she mentally said, assuring herself of this knowledge. 'They don't have veins to carry blood anymore, so how could this Phantom character bleed? Professor Lupin wrote that he got scratched by a cat and bled green!' Frowning thoughtfully, she posed this to the others assembled in Ron and Harry's room.
"Didn't he say that Phantom was a special kind of ghost?" Harry asked as an answer.
"He said that Phantom was a 'rare, special type of spectral entity' and that he was 'just like a ghost'," she instantly recited, placing firm emphasis on the descriptions.
Ron, looking bewildered, turned to Hermione. "So, it's like a ghost, but it's not a ghost?"
"Yes."
Now Ginny looked as confused as her brother. "Isn't anything ghostly a ghost? If something is spectral, that means it's ghostly, right?" she asked, hoping her question made sense.
"You would think so," Hermione huffed. "That's apparently not the case with this…Phantom."
"I dunno how that works," Fred said.
"You don't think ol' Moony's lost his marbles?" George asked fearfully, as though, as a fellow mischief maker, this fate would one day befall him.
"I highly doubt it," sniffed Hermione.
Ron, this time with a scared look, felt the need to ask another question. "You don't reckon he's been, you know…brainwashed or possessed?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Ghosts can't possess people, despite what Muggles may think otherwise," she said sharply.
"Yeah, but…I thought Phantom wasn't a ghost?" Ginny added, oblivious to how pale Ron was becoming.
"Oh, this is so confusing!" snapped Hermione.
Harry gave her a sympathetic glance as he tried to think of something that would mollify her. An angry Hermione was never one to be near. "Maybe we should wait until he gets here? Dumbledore did say he was making arrangements for Phantom to come here for protection. We can ask him."
"I suppose…" Hermione agreed, disgruntled at the lack of answers. "But Dumbledore didn't say how long it would be before Phantom came here, though."
"I think we lost it," Dawlish stated flatly.
"Oh, that's just great!" Tonks said angrily, casting her eyes about.
Dawlish was about to suggest a finding spell when two running figures slowed to a stop right near them. He gasped as he realised it was Tebbes and Shacklebolt. They had been running almost non-stop and were exhausted. They had been chasing Skulker all night and looked a little worse for wear as they took a breather.
It was Rift that spoke first. "Hey, did you see a metallic thing that glowed fly past here?" he asked the other two squad members.
"Yeah. We were following it, but it was too fast for us to keep up," Dawlish replied, looking slightly sheepish.
"Which way did it go?" asked Rift in a demanding tone.
Tonks indicated the direction with an outstretched arm. "It was heading that way, but it has to be a fair distance away by now. How are we supposed to catch up?"
Kingsley shook his head. "It's no use. We've been up and about all night and all day. I say we should head back to the hotel and get some rest. We have no hope of catching that thing being as tired as we are," he commented.
Rift, being the leader of the squad, saw the wisdom in this and nodded his assent. Without a word, he turned on his heels and starting walking. The others followed silently, the fatigue finally beginning to set in properly.
Tonks, having the least amount of stamina out the four, was dragging her feet. Her shuffling foot caught a lip of raised cement and she tripped forward, arms flailing, one of them just barely missing Tebbes, before she threw her other foot forward to catch herself. Embarrassed, she mumbled an apology and they continued on without any more mishaps except for the occasional wrong turn.
They all mentally sighed about the mission, though for different reasons.
Molly Weasley was bustling about in the kitchen, trying to do at least five different things at once. She set some dishes to wash themselves with a harried wave of her wand. After taking a second to make sure that they were indeed being scrubbed clean, she gave another wave towards the pots full of vegetables that were resting on the stove. Once they had started cooking, she caught her husband's eye.
He was giving her a no-nonsense look that, in no certain terms, said 'sit down and rest'. He watched with satisfaction as she obeyed, pulling up a chair next to him and wearily slumping into it. "There's no need to run yourself ragged, dear," he said gently, initiating conversation. "You've seemed a little preoccupied ever since I read that letter. Is something wrong?"
Twisting the fraying hem of her apron in her fingers, Molly looked straight at Arthur. "It's…well, it's this Phantom person. Remus said he's only fourteen! That's younger than Harry and the poor thing is…"
"Dead?" Arthur supplied as his wife fell silent.
"Well, yes… So young! That could easily be any of the children, Arthur!" she sobbed, letting her tears fall freely.
Arthur, now that he knew what the problem was, moved his chair over to his wife's and wrapped his arms around her trembling form. "There, there, Molly. You know that none of the kids are in the Order. And soon they'll be back at Hogwarts, the safest place there is!" he said cheerfully, trying to bolster her spirits. "Dumbledore will be there to watch over them."
"Yes, you're right…" she sniffed, giving him a watery smile. "I just wonder if I'll be able to treat Phantom normally. As soon as I see him, I'm going to see a young teenager whose life was cut tragically short…"
"I think you're over thinking this," he stated bluntly. "He's a teenager, isn't he? Then simply treat him like a teenager. Act just as you would if it was Harry or Ron and I'm sure you'll do fine."
Molly's trembling ceased and she eased herself out of her husband's arms as she stood up. "Yes, I know all to well how to handle teenage boys," she said with a teasing grin. "I'm just going to straighten myself up before someone comes down." She headed for the doorway, intent on reaching the bathroom to make herself presentable once again.
Arthur Weasley remained where he was, glad for his brief respite from work and planning to take full advantage to rest and relax as much as he could. When he heard his wife's footstep's echo away, a proud smile made its way onto his face. 'I was thinking the very same thing after I finished reading that letter…so I guess now I'll have to practice what I preach,' he thought, giving a soft chuckle at the irony. He quickly schooled his features as he heard Molly returning.
The only signs left that she had been crying were slightly red eyes. Re-entering the kitchen, she went over to check to the vegetables that were merrily bubbling away. "Since you're here, would you mind grabbing the drinks, dear?"
'I wonder what is so strange about this halfa, Phantom. Remus said he promised not to reveal exactly what Phantom is. He also told Phantom that he is a werewolf. Why would Remus do such a thing? Especially since it appears that Phantom knows nothing of the Wizarding World…yet he is of a ghostly nature?'
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore sat at his desk in his cosy office at Hogwarts. He had been deep in thought after he had read Lupin's report. He was unable to solve the puzzle that seemed to surround Phantom and it was starting to drive him to distraction.
Fawkes trilled softly, jarring him momentarily from his thoughts. The phoenix was staring at him as if it could sense his confusion and wanted to help.
Dumbledore gave the rare bird a reassuring, if slightly weary, smile. "Well, Fawkes, I guess I should be setting up the arrangements for Phantom to come here and discuss things, don't you agree?"
Fawkes lifted his head and gave a short, sharp trill that reverberated throughout the round room, echoing back and forth from the walls.
"Yes, that's what I suspected. No time like the present, is there?"
After receiving another affirmative from the phoenix, he reached across his desk for a blank piece of parchment, inkpot and a quill. "Now, how to do this without revealing something a Muggle shouldn't know?"
Danny let Mr. Lancer's droning voice wash in one ear and out the other. He had gone to his new neighbour's house after school yesterday, hoping to learn more about his pursuers, but had left with no answers. 'I know he told me a really big secret…if he truly is a werewolf, that is…but I still feel like he's hiding something. He seems like an honest, open person, but…'
A note went sailing by his ear and he whipped out a hand to catch it, his reflexes having kicked in the instant he heard the air being displaced. His eyes flashed to the front to see if Mr. Lancer had noticed. The English teacher was still droning, so Danny knew he was safe. He carefully unfolded the note, as Mr. Lancer was quite good at distinguishing the different types of rustles that paper made, and let his eyes roam over it.
Danny,
Did you go to see Moony yesterday? I would have come, but my parents…I really hate pink!
Sam
Smiling knowingly, Danny wrote a reply. As soon as Mr. Lancer had his back turned, writing something on the board, Danny took aim and gently lobbed the note in the air. It landed right on target on Sam's desk.
This time it was Sam unfurling the paper with care.
Sam,
Yeah, I did. I wanted to find out more about this group that this lady's sent after me. He didn't, or couldn't, tell me anything. I don't think he knows that much about her.
Don't worry, I totally understand about your parents. What 'horrible pink monstrosity' did they try to get you to wear this time?
Danny
Sam had to stifle a snort of laughter at Danny's wording. She always called the dresses her parents tried to force on her 'horrible pink monstrosities'. She found it funny that Danny had remembered such a trivial thing, though it made her feel oddly happy that he paid that much attention to her. She quickly set about writing an answer. Keeping an eye on their teacher, she threw the note. Her aim was true, due to many long hours of video games and ghost hunting.
Danny was hoping Sam would say something to cheer him up, like she usually did. He was not disappointed.
Danny,
There is no way I'm going home until I have to today, so I'll come with you. We'll grab Tucker if we can and the three of us can talk to Moony. I'm sure we'll be able to find out something. It's almost lunch, so we'll ask Tuck then.
It was a ballroom-style gown. Pastel pink, covered in glitter and laced with frills and ruffs. It was one of the most ugliest things I've ever seen in my life! It made me want to gouge out my eyes! Thankfully my Grandma started causing a racket downstairs and my parents dashed off to find out what it was. I'm not sure what she did, but I escaped, so I don't care.
Sam
He could barely contain his laughter at the mental image Sam's description provided. Slapping a hand over his mouth, he discreetly nodded to let Sam know he agreed. His muffled laughter slowly subsiding, he cast his eyes to the clock in the vain hope that it would go faster. It was only ten minutes until the bell rang for lunch, but to Danny those ten minutes were going to take forever.
Tucker, who had noticed the note exchanges, smirked to himself. He saw Danny eyeing the clock more intently than usual and figured that the half-ghost was waiting for the lunch bell. 'Something must be going on…and I bet Danny's waiting 'til lunch so we can talk about it. What could it be?' With that thought, Tucker started his vigil on the clock also.
After ten seemingly endless minutes, the bell finally rang.
"Alright class, remember to read chapters six through fifteen! Dismissed!" barked Mr. Lancer, trying, but failing, to sound intimidating. He sighed as he realised that none of the students were listening to him.
After being served by the irritable old lunch lady, the three found an empty table and made themselves as comfortable as they could. A few bites of their meal later, Tucker decided to break the relative silence. "So, I'm guessing you wanna talk about something?"
Danny swallowed before answering. "Yeah. I went to Moony's yesterday to ask him more about these people that are after me. He didn't tell me anything I didn't already know, but Sam thinks that if the three us of go, we might find out something new."
"Well I'm not busy today, so I'm coming for sure!" Tucker hastily assured.
Danny grinned at his friend's enthusiasm. It turned into a frown a second later. "There's a problem, though…"
"Problem?" Tucker asked, his cheer ebbing.
"Yeah, a problem. See, the thing is, I don't think Moony knows all that much about this lady himself. I know that he knows two of the four that are after me, but as for the lady in charge…"
Sam's brow furrowed. "Yeah, you wrote that in your note. Still, even if he doesn't know anything about her, we can ask him about the two that are part of this 'Order' that he's a member of. The more we know, the better prepared we'll be, right?"
"So, what, he doesn't even know the name of this lady?" Tucker interrupted.
Danny blinked. "Yeah, he told me her name…but it was a weird name and I don't really remember what it was…" He gave his friends an embarrassed grin while one of his hands involuntarily went to rest at the back of his head in a gesture of awkwardness.
"You and your horrible attention span," Sam muttered to herself, bravely resisting the urge to kick her clueless crush in the shin. She was sure her boots would leave an impression of sorts.
"Wait, I know it started with a 'D'!" Danny burst out.
Tucker, with some kind of meat product partway to his mouth, stopped. Not lowering his fork, Tucker gave his comment before shovelling the mystery meat down. "That's really helpful."
Sam made a sudden choking noise as she starting laughing with a mouthful of salad. Once she had some semblance of control back, she noticed Danny's look of mock-hurt. Feeling a little bad, even though she knew he hadn't taken offence, she tried to help him out. "It wasn't Dorothy, was it?"
Danny shook his head in frustration. "No, but the first part sounds familiar."
"Dor?" Tucker asked sceptically.
"No, just the first two letters."
"I guess it isn't Dorothea, then?" Sam said jokingly. She got an amused grin as Danny sarcastically indicated 'no'.
Tucker, having been drawn into the impromptu guessing game, decided to give it a shot. "Donna?" He sighed as Danny shook his in the negative yet again. "You know, this would be a lot easier if there were more names that fit with 'D' and 'O'!" he exclaimed.
Sam nodded her agreement even as Danny's mind was racing to find the next familiar-sounding letter.
"The 'O' counts out Delilah, too!" the African-American grumbled.
"'L', that's it! Dol-something…"
A bit startled by their friend's sudden outburst, Sam and Tucker just got on with the business of eating as Danny continued to rack his brain.
'What was it he said?' he thought, trying to recall all that had been spoken that night. 'He was saying about two of the four being members…and something Umbridge is her name.' Not getting as far as he wanted, he dug further into his memory. '"They are working at the place the lady who wants you, Dolores Umbridge is her name, works." Aha, yes!' Pleased at his success, he turned to both of his friends, a wide smile on his face.
"Did you remember?" Sam inquired eagerly.
"Yep! Her name is Dolores Umbridge," the half-ghost stated proudly. "Now that that's out of the way, do we all agree to ask Moony about this squad after school today?" he finished, his voice taking a much more serious tone.
Sam and Tucker both nodded immediately. The three went back to their lunches to eat what they could before they were inevitably dragged back to class. But, not before Tucker added his two cents. "You're right, that is a weird name."
"Not much weirder than Remus Lupin," Sam countered.
Danny found he had to concede. 'Sam has a point. I wonder if everyone from there has a weird name.'
Remus had been wandering from room to room within his temporary house. He was becoming increasingly more anxious, though only his pointless meanderings through his house gave any indication of his unease. All of this waiting and suspense was starting to wear his nerves down. The man had no idea if the Aurors had found a clue to Danny's trail and, if so, when they would strike. It was next to impossible for Tonks or Kingsley to contact him without raising the suspicion of the other two Aurors. It also made any chance for him to contact them himself, without getting caught, sufficiently less than zero.
He knew Danny was getting edgy, too, though the teen hid it fairly well. Since Remus had only just met Danny, and knew relatively little about him, he was unsure how Danny would act. 'Will he snap from the pressure and do something foolish? Will he weather the storm and wait it out? Ugh, this is so frustrating! It'll help put my mind at ease if I made Danny, also Sam and Tucker, promise me that they won't go looking for trouble,' he thought, unknowingly echoing the same thing that Arthur Weasley had once asked of Harry.
With that thought now firmly etched into his brain, he found himself staring out the window to search the street for them without even knowing when he moved. Giving his head a little shake, he turned his mind to something more practical. "I haven't had lunch yet. No use watching for those three, they'll still be in school. I'll go raid the fridge and see what I can scrounge up," he said to the house in general. Remus forced his legs to walk in the direction of the kitchen, wondering if he should ask Albus to grant him a relaxing vacation all the while. Sighing in disappointment, he knew that that thought was just a fantasy at the moment. He was needed far too much with the Order to simply take off somewhere and unwind.
Gathering what bits of food he managed to pull together, the werewolf made himself a chicken and lettuce sandwich. His eyes kept involuntarily drifting back to the clock, waiting for the moment when the hands would indicate the end of the school day.
A groan, heavily laden with annoyance and sleepiness, was all the answer that Kingsley Shacklebolt received. He gave Tonks' shoulder another shake, this one a little more forceful. "Come on, up you get. I know you're still tired - we all are - but you have to get up!" Another groan from the blanket-covered figure. "I didn't want to do this, but you've left me no choice…" he said with a sigh. "Get your lazy backside out of that bed this instant, Nymphadora Tonks!"
Tonks shot up like a startled rabbit at the sudden order that was barked straight into her ear. "Who the - wuzzit?" she declared, obviously still sleep-muddled. As her eyesight came into focus, she recognised the slightly-blurry visage of Kingsley. As her eyes fixed the blurriness altogether, she scowled at the realisation of what he'd done. He'd yelled in her ear, using her full name. Fixing him with a heated glare, she shooed him out of her hotel room so she could get ready.
As the door slammed shut in his face, Kingsley dug his fingers in his ears to remove any wax. He could have sworn that her glare had been accompanied by a low growling. 'Tonks, growl? Nah, it must've been my imagination. I'm still very tired; I'm simply hearing things.' Reassured by that thought, he pushed it out of his mind and headed down to the eating area where Tebbes and Dawlish already were. Their breakfast would have to be their lunch at the hour that it was.
Tonks joined the men about twenty minutes later, her hair still a little tousled from sleep.
Rift was about to address her, but one look at her icy expression instantly dissuaded him from that particular course of action. He hastily coughed to cover up his half-formed word. Feeling abashed, he picked up his fork and started to finish off the last few morsels of food that were left on his plate. The others quickly followed his example, Kingsley making doubly sure that he couldn't meet her eyes.
Plucking up his courage, Rift spoke, pointedly looking anywhere but at the female of the group. "We've only managed to find one strange thing in this place that may have been a lead. However, because it succeeded in evading us, we're now back to square one. If we simply follow the original plan, we'll end up running ourselves ragged again. Anyone got any new ideas?"
After several minutes of intense silence at the table, Dawlish looked up. He had a half-formed grin on his face as though he had an idea but was unsure about sharing it. Rift nodded at him and he caved. "Well, when I was reading the paper, I came across a whole lot of articles about ghosts. One section said that a lot of the 'attacks'," he emphasised, "seem to happen at a place called Casper High School. Why don't we go there and take a look around?"
Rift silently pondered the wisdom of this course of action and could find no fault. 'It's easy enough to get kids to talk about something in the media. I'm sure we'll overhear some interesting gossip if nothing else.' He gave a grin of satisfaction and began outlining a new plan. "Okay, we need to find this school. We'll stick together this time; pretend we're tourists or something, until we reach it. Once we're there, split up, stay out of sight and keep an ear out. Teenagers love to gossip and I'm sure that there'll be talk of these 'ghosts' in the usual jabber. Once you think you've heard enough, head straight back here."
"Yeah, I follow, but what if school ends? I don't think it's a school like Hogwarts where you live there," Dawlish pointed out.
Rift bit back a sigh of frustration. "If the school finishes for the day, then come back here. If the students are in classes, then conceal yourselves under windows if you can. We need to learn something about what goes on in this place. Understand?"
"Yes, sir!" the three automatically replied in unison.
"Wait!" Tonks suddenly piped up. Rift quirked an eyebrow for her to continue. "What if we're spotted?"
"You shouldn't be you're an Auror!" he hissed back through gritted teeth. "Use a Disillusionment Charm!"
"Oh, yeah…" she murmured, trailing off. 'I completely forgot about that!' she thought, mentally chastising herself.
"Anymore questions?" Rift inquired impatiently.
The three shook their heads, Dawlish muttering a 'no' under his breath.
"Good. We leave now!"
A/N: So, wasn't terrible, was it? I know I'm taking an age for Danny to meet with another magical person, but we'll get there. I can be really good at rushing things if I'm not careful. Hence the reason this fic's pace is set slow. I'm sorry if you don't like it, but that's just the way it is. Thanks to my wonderful beta Em Phantom! Did I thank you yet? ;)
Remember!!! - I always keep my profile page up-to-date. I have a section there where I post what chapter of which story I'm up to and how much of that chapter I've completed. If you wanna know how close I am to finishing the next chapter of ANY of my stories, head there and scroll down a short way. They're under the heading 'Story Updates'.
Thankyou to all of you who find the time to read this and review! -hugs- And thankyou to all those who have this little fic on their Favourite/Alert list. Also, a big shout out to my anonymous reviewers! I would love to thankyou personally, but I can't…
Tell me your thoughts on this chapter. Is my writing improving? Staying at a near-constant level? Backsliding? (I hope not! O_o)
~FantomoDrako
