Walk Three Worlds
A Danny Phantom/Harry Potter Fanfic
By CaelumFelis
Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom or Harry Potter or anything associated with them.


Chapter 9: The Dark Father Returns

Over a week later, and Danny was still on Cloud Nine, the news that the Potters wanted to adopt him making him happier and giddier than he'd been since before he got his powers. Aside from an obvious change in attitude (Danny was no longer sullen and silent in school, but participated actively, to the point where he was getting better grades than he'd gotten in years), everything pretty much stayed the same, although Harry had promised to let him redecorate his room now that it was going to be his permanent residence.

It was Saturday, Halloween, and Danny and his friends were in the woods behind Chris's house. The three teens were deciding how they should dress for trick-or-treating that night— at least, they were trying to.

Danny was flying above the two Squibs, laughing gleefully, his glowing green eyes bright with happiness. Aly and Chris were lounging on the forest floor, watching the halfa play with large smiles on their faces.

"Maybe we should just nip the trick or treating," Chris suggested lazily.

"We could have a scary movie party!" Danny put in, coming to float upside down above them, hands folded behind his head as he hung vertically in midair.

"A scary what party?" Aly asked, looking up at her friend confusedly.

His iridescent eyes were incredulous. "You've never heard of movies?" He asked, shocked that she could be ignorant of something so basic.

"Oy, offspring of magical families here, mate," Chris told him, frowning. "We don't have any of that Muggle teckni-whatsit."

Danny shook his head and floated aimlessly away, muttering under his breath. Chris glanced at his watch. "Why don't we go inside for lunch?" He suggested. "Maybe Carson has some ideas."

Aly and Danny nodded, the halfa transforming in midair and landing with a soft thump on the ground. Aly shook her head and began berating him for doing something so "dangerous", but the way the American smirked and waved away her complaints told Chris that he'd heard it all before, possibly numerous times.

Grinning, he led his friends into his house, eagerly anticipating whatever fantastic meal his oldest brother had cooked.


"Hang on, hang on," Harry called, padding down the hall to the rebuilt front door. He straightened his t-shirt and ran a hand through his untamable black hair, and opened the door.

"Good day, Mr. Potter," the creature standing on his doorstep purred, flashing a frightening pair of fangs in a poisonous smile. "I trust you know who I am."

"Vlad Plasmius," Harry snarled, his hand going instantly to his wand as his mind replayed everything Danny had told him about his archenemy and foster father. "What the bloody hell do you want?"

"Just Daniel, my dear fellow," Vlad said simply, an evil smirk twisting his blue-skinned face. "There will be no need for unpleasantness if you simply hand the boy over quietly."

"Think again, slimeball!" Harry whipped out his wand and sliced the air between the two in a vicious arc. A slash of blazing purple fire issued from the wand and rocketed towards the demon in front of him, but to Harry's shock, it was merely batted away like an annoying fly.

"Stupefy!" The wizard roared, and a jet of red light shot from his wand. The ghost simply turned intangible, and the spell passed harmlessly through him.

Shit, Harry thought wildly, before a blast of pink energy sent him flying into the staircase behind him.

"Harry!" Ginny flew into the hall, James in her arms. She took a split second to gape in shock at her husband, then glared daggers at Vlad.

"You're not welcome here," she said flatly, her tone icy cold. "Leave my house immediately."

Vlad laughed. "My dear girl, you are in no position to command me," he said lightly, his bright crimson eyes boring into her defiant brown ones. "Just hand over Daniel, and we can all go our separate ways."

Her arms tightened around her son, horror racing through her. This was what Danny had been afraid of all along, why it had taken him so long to relax and trust them. It all came back to the monster in front of her, and she would be damned if he got his claws into the teenager she'd come to love as a younger brother.

"He's not here," she snapped, catching Harry's silent gripping of his wand. Plasmius didn't seem to notice, instead fixing her with a disbelieving gaze.

"That's not going to work, girl," he said contemptuously, pink energy racing around his clenched fists. He raised one and pointed it at her, and she gave a small gasp, while Harry leapt up with a furious roar and practically tackled the ghost to the ground, throwing them both off of the porch and into the yard.

"Ginny, run!" He shouted as he grappled with the older, heavier, and obviously much stronger ghost. "Take James and go! I'll hold him off!"

She couldn't help the gasp that escaped her after hearing those words; they were almost a direct parallel to the ones she sometimes heard him mumble in his sleep, the last words his father had said twenty-four years before when Voldemort had come to prevent the prophecy from coming true. Only this time, it wasn't James Potter fighting for his family's lives, but his son, and not against the greatest Dark wizard of all time, but against one of the most evil ghosts they knew, who was also half-human.

If I wasn't seeing this happen with my own eyes, I'd swear I was mad, she thought grimly, shifting James to her hip and pulling out her wand. However, she never got a chance to use it, as a pink ecto-blast caught her square in the chest. Blackness instantly came upon her, the last thing she heard was Harry's terrified and furious howl, and James's shriek of fear and surprise.


"So we know what we're gonna do, right?" Danny asked as he and his friends walked up the street to his house (his heart still leapt at that— it wasn't just the Potters' house anymore, it was his as well!).

"Comic book heroes," Chris said, brown eyes shining at the great costume idea Danny had been struck with in the middle of lunch (or possibly at the memory of the halfa practically choking to death when it came). "You're Batman, I'm Superman, and Aly's Wonder Woman."

"How the hell are we going to get this done by the time trick-or-treating starts?" Aly asked worriedly. Godric's Hollow had a strict set of rules for Halloween: trick-or-treating started at five o'clock sharp, and ended at nine o'clock on the dot, and after that, no one was allowed out, unless it was an emergency. This was due to the wizarding population of the town (about a third of the total population) annually being a nuisance on the holiday, with tricks and costumes growing more elaborate, ludicrous, and in some cases dangerous every year. It was finally Halloween 1981 where things got out of control, as an apparent Halloween trick ended in the deaths of a local couple and the orphaning of their year-old son, and the complete destruction of their house. It was then that the town council decided to instate strict guidelines for the observance of the holiday, though some members had voted to ban it completely.

"Between Ginny and your mom, I'm sure it'll get done," Danny said confidently. "Besides, they don't have to be—" He stopped suddenly, and Chris and Aly nearly ran into him.

"Blimey, Danny, don't stop like that!" Chris said, surprised.

"What's wrong?" Aly said quietly, in the low, serious tone of voice she used when she sensed a negative emotion from someone. Chris heard this and moved so that he had a view of Danny's face, and blinked.

Danny was pale, his blue eyes wide and fixed on something in front of him. Chris followed his gaze to see the gate of the fence surrounding the Potter property lying a good ten feet away from its normal location, in the middle of the driveway, a huge black scorch mark in the middle, and the hinges still attached. The Squib frowned and glanced at Danny to see what the superhero made of it. Danny was simply staring blankly at the gate, looking at it like he couldn't quite comprehend what it was. Then he darted forward, kneeling next to the gate and running a finger along the scorch mark, then holding it up to his nose. His eyes widened even further, if that was possible, and Chris heard him whisper "No", before dropping the gate and racing into the house, seeming not to notice the suspiciously wide-open door. Chris and Aly followed, their worry growing by the second as they watched their obviously distressed friend.

"Harry?" Danny called, and Aly shivered at the raw fear and worry that was emanating from the boy and coloring his voice. "Ginny? James?"

He paused a second, listening, but there was no response. He tried again, his voice pitching higher and shaking. "Harry? Ginny? James? Is anyone here?"

Another pause, and Aly was hugging herself in a feeble attempt to block out the waves of panic and desperation flowing to her. Her shields were for naught, Danny's emotions were too powerful, too intense. She could practically hear him thinking, Not again, please not again!

"Harry! Ginny! Please answer me! Where are you?" Danny cried, his voice cracking. He gave up shouting and raced into the kitchen. The Squibs followed, Chris supporting Aly, and entered just in time to see Danny sink weakly to the floor, a piece of paper in his hand.

Aly broke from Chris's grip and kneeled next to Danny, looping one arm around his shoulders while gently removing the paper from his grasp.

My dear Daniel,

You've known that this was coming for a long time, I trust, so I will get to the point.

I have the family in which you have ingrained yourself. You have until midnight tonight to surrender yourself to me, or else I will kill them, the child included. I know you wouldn't want any harm to come to these good people, and so I suggest that you heed my demand.

You've brought this on yourself, Daniel, by running away from me, and by involving innocent people. Did you honestly think that they would be completely safe, with you living under their roof? You should have joined me when you had the chance, little badger, before you tangled three innocent lives into your mess, lives that now hinge on your decision. Choose wisely.

Sincerely,

Vlad Plasmius

"Oh my G-d," Aly whispered, hands shaking as she read the letter. "Oh my G-d…"

"Damn… crazy… asshole… fruitloop!" Danny exploded, leaping to his feet and balling his fists, his eyes wide and wild. "I knew this would happen; I knew it! I never should have stayed here; I never should've let Harry talk me into coming! Now he's got Harry and Ginny and James, and it's my fault!"

"Danny!" Chris said sharply, going up to his friend and shaking him roughly by the shoulders. "Snap out of it, will you? Panicking isn't going to help the Potters! Calm down!"

With a great deal of effort, Danny forced his racing heart to slow, taking deep breaths. He still felt tight and jumpy inside, and the panic and fear hadn't completely gone away, but they had dimmed a bit, enough to allow his brain to kick in, slow as usual.

"Okay," he said, looking uncertainly into his friend's concerned eyes. "I'm okay, I think."

Chris nodded and released him, still giving him worried glances. He'd never seen Danny lose it like that before, except for the time when he'd broken Jace Dovish's nose. But even then, his friend hadn't looked as terribly, horribly lost as he did right now.

"Halloween's going to have to be put on hold," Chris said, trying to lift the heartbroken silence in the otherwise empty house. "You need to find them."

Danny nodded. "I know," he said quietly, then he frowned in thought. "I wonder if the Boo-merang can pick up his ecto-signature," he muttered under his breath, just loudly enough for the Squibs to hear. Abruptly, he switched forms and phased up through the ceiling. He was back a few seconds later, the green backpack filled with his ghost weapons in his hand. Without bothering to open the bag, he rummaged inside and pulled out a bracelet, an ecto-gun, and a boomerang looking device.

"Take these," he said, handing the bracelet to Aly and the ecto-gun to Chris, his fluorescent eyes harder and colder than the jock had ever seen them. "Plasmius is tall, white suit and cape with red lining, black gloves, boots, and collar, black hair in two points like horns, blue skin, red eyes. If he comes for you guys, you have the tools to defend yourselves. Thankfully, I don't think he cares about you two very much, he's focused on me. But you guys need to go home and stay there. I'm going to set this straight."

Seeing that there was no arguing with the furious and terrified halfa, Chris nodded. "Be safe, mate," he said quietly, slipping the ecto-gun into the pocket of his jeans.

Danny bit his lip and looked at the floor, then abruptly winked out of sight.


Ron Weasley was doing exactly what one expects to be doing on one's weekend: sleeping.

Being an Auror meant that there were times when there was absolutely nothing to do, and other times when he was amazed that he was still functioning despite the lack of sleep. He once went an entire week without seeing the underside of his eyelids.

Such was the reason why Ronald Weasley liked to sleep as much as he could.

However, he was roughly jolted out of this activity when a pair of cold hands gripped his shoulders tightly and started shaking him. Not even fully awake, instincts honed by years of friendship to the Dark Magic magnet that was Harry Potter and Auror training had him pulling his wand out from under his pillow and pointing it at whatever was holding him, while his brain fought to catch up with the rest of his body.

He opened his eyes to find himself holding the tip of his wand against the temple of a white haired boy with huge, glowing green eyes. He was dressed in a black jumpsuit, with a white collar, gloves, belt, boots, and some kind of logo on his chest. A large, stylized D with a smaller P inside.

DP, Ron's sleep fogged mind registered. DP. Danny Phantom. Danny Fenton…

"Danny?" He mumbled, removing his wand from the teenager's head and blinking.

"Ron," the halfa said, releasing the wizard and floating in front of him. "I need your help."

Ron groaned, sitting up and stretching. "Can't Harry take care of it? It's bloody—" he glanced at his bedside table and the clock sitting upon it "—three in the afternoon. It's too early."

"That's the problem," Danny replied. "Harry's in trouble."

Ron snorted, grinning at the teenager. "When is Harry not in trouble?" Danny had heard all of the stories of Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny's school years, so he understood the joke. However, the expression on his face proved that the halfa was not amused.

"It's not funny, Ron! This is serious!" He said urgently, some of his mask slipping to reveal frustration and panic. Ron blinked, unused to Danny panicking. The only time he'd ever seen something remotely resembling panic on Danny's face was the expression he'd worn when Ron had asked what had happened to his sister the first night he was in Godric's Hollow, and that was over two months ago. Danny was one of the most level-headed, down to earth people he knew, besides his wife. Ron didn't think he even knew how to panic.

But, apparently he did, because he was panicking right now. The teenager's eyes were huge, his breathing shallow and fast (Ron didn't want to know how that was even possible, considering that Danny was a ghost at the moment), and his body was shaking. Ron frowned. Something was definitely wrong.

Well, bugger for you, Captain Obvious, an inner voice that sounded suspiciously like his wife said. And now that we've established that fact, why don't we work on why he's panicking, shall we?

"What happened, Danny?" Ron asked quietly.

In a quiet voice shaking wildly with worry and fear, Danny told the Auror what he knew, which wasn't very much. However, what he knew was enough for Ron to immediately shift into "danger" mode, any plans of going back to sleep shattering to tiny pieces.

"Can your tracker thing find the slimeball?" The Auror asked, as he raced around his room, getting dressed.

"I think so," Danny said, holding up the Fenton Boo-merang. "Vlad's ecto-signature is twenty years stronger than mine, if this thing can find me ten years into the future, then it can definitely find Vlad right now."

Ron nodded, tucking his wand into the pocket of his robes. Danny handed him some strange-looking device out of the green backpack he was wearing.

"What's this?" The wizard asked curiously, turning the silver and green thing around in his hands.

"Ectoplasmic energy ray blaster," Danny rattled off. "Or ecto-gun for short. You hold it like this," he quickly rearranged Ron's hands around the weapon, "point it at any ghost that's not me, and pull the trigger. The blast disrupts a ghost's ecto-signature; it's pretty much the only way to hurt them. It's a standard ghost power, and one of the first things that my parents looked into when designing weapons against them."

Ron nodded, not understanding a word of what Danny was saying, but trusting the teenager to know what he was talking about. He put the ecto-gun in another pocket of his robes.

"Ready to go?" He asked.

Danny nodded and phased up through the roof. Ron shook his head and left through the door, grabbing his broom as he went through the shed. As soon as he was outside, he mounted it and kicked up into the air, joining Danny above the roof.

"Lead the way," he told the halfa.

"Find Vlad," Danny told the Boo-merang, and threw it. The odd device immediately took off north east, in the direction of London, Ron noticed, and Danny was off like a shot after it. Ron followed, praying that his friend was all right.


Harry groaned, his head throbbing as he struggled out of the deep blackness he'd just spent an undetermined amount of time in. He opened his eyes to see bars, metal bars glowing strangely pink. His throat tightened as he realized what this meant.

He was trapped.

Harry hated being trapped. He hated being caged. He hated being confined in any way. The first eleven years of his life had been spent primarily in a closet under a flight of stairs, and then the next six summers afterward had taken place in a tiny spare room, leaving him fiercely claustrophobic. His jaw set, his fists clenched, and he began sweating nervously. He had to get out, had to get away, had to—

"Harry?"

Ginny's weak, frightened voice broke into the Auror's thoughts, and he forced his own fear back. He couldn't fall apart now, Ginny and James were counting on him. He turned to his wife and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"I'm here, love," he said quietly, and to his relief, his voice didn't shake.

"Where are we?" Ginny asked, also trying to mask how scared she was. She wasn't really succeeding, as her brown eyes were wide, and she was trembling. Her arms were tight around James, who was fast asleep, his small head resting against her neck.

Harry forced himself to look past the bars, and frowned when he realized that they appeared to be in a tall office building in London, since he could see Big Ben and the Parliament building out the plate glass windows. There was nothing around them. Their cage was the only object in the enormous room.

"London," Harry answered finally. "There's Big Ben, and the Parliament. We must've been out for a while."

Danny's probably frantic, the wizard thought with a mental wince, remembering how terrified the boy had been when he'd thought Harry was going to throw him out after the ghost attack. He didn't voice this thought to Ginny though, knowing that his wife probably wouldn't appreciate the reminder.

"Indeed, Mr. Potter," a suave, oily voice purred, and Vlad Plasmius melted out of the shadows of the rapidly fading sunlight. Ginny squeaked in alarm, and Harry shifted imperceptibly in front of her, drawing his wand and fixing the ghost with his best glare, his green eyes as hard as solid jade.

"Plasmius," the wizard spat, crouching in preparation of standing, "what the hell is going on? Why did you bring us here?"

The halfa chuckled evilly. "You are bait," he said simply, floating over to the cage and leering at the family inside. James whimpered in his sleep, and Ginny tightened her arms around him, staring defiantly at the monster in front of them.

"Young Daniel will have no choice but to come here and surrender to me," Plasmius continued, baring his fangs in a gleeful, evil smile as his crimson eyes glowed murderously, "if he wishes for the family he has grown to love to survive."

"He won't give in to you," Harry said flatly. "Danny won't go with you without a fight."

Plasmius's leer grew wider, and he pressed a button on a remote control in his hand. The cage glowed brighter, and suddenly several pink bolts of lightning struck Harry.

It was a similar feeling to the Cruciatus Curse, but instead of the fire that the curse sent racing through his body, it was a billion ice cold, razor sharp needles that stabbed him everywhere: all over his skin, between his muscles, deep in his bones, through his organs. The pain was so intense that Harry couldn't even scream, his entire body seemed to be frozen solid. He could dimly hear Ginny and James screaming, but the sound was far away.

Then, without warning, the pain stopped, and Harry crumpled to the floor. He didn't black out, although his body ached so horribly that he wished that he would. He just focused on breathing for a few seconds, trying to get his heart rate back to normal.

"What—the bloody hell—was that?" Harry gasped. Merlin, it even hurt to talk.

"What did you do to him, you monster?" Ginny screeched, wand out and pointed at the half-ghost's chest as she held James in her other arm.

Plasmius chuckled again. "Ectoplasmic charge," he said, "ectoplasm charged with five hundred volts of electricity. Not nearly enough to kill someone, but clearly," he sneered at Harry, who was still lying on the floor, "quite painful. However, if one is shocked with it enough times, the toll it takes on the body will be enough to kill. This is what will happen if Daniel tries to fight me."

"Stupefy!" Ginny shrieked, and a jet of red light issued from her wand, only to hit the pink aura of the bars and bounce back. Ginny yelped and ducked, and the spell continued to ricochet until it finally lost energy and died.

"Oh, that reminds me," Plasmius said conversationally. "The energy surrounding the bars not only provides that wonderful shock you just experienced, but also repels any magic you try to use. Quite a useful side effect, I think. You will not be able to break out, and no one will be able to break you out. So I wouldn't suggest trying."

Ginny gritted her teeth in frustration, put her wand away, and kneeled next to her husband.

Harry felt sick. Once again, he was being used to hurt others. Sirius had died because Voldemort had used Harry to gain access to the Department of Mysteries. Now, Plasmius was using him to capture Danny and, judging by the murder gleaming in the demon's crimson eyes, kill him.

No! Harry howled furiously in his mind, unable to gather the strength needed to speak. Never again! I WILL NOT be responsible for the death of another innocent person!

Suddenly, something flew into the room and struck Plasmius on the side of the head. The Potters watched blankly as the ghost snarled and grasped the object, a boomerang, Harry realized, in both hands.

"Oh, what stupidity is this?" Plasmius groaned, glaring down at the boomerang with a red gaze hot enough to melt it.

"VLAD!"

A white blur rocketed into the room with a furious roar and tackled Plasmius with enough force to knock him even loopier than he was before. Plasmius crashed to the floor, and the blur turned in midair and screeched to a halt centimeters from the wall.

Danny Phantom was crouched with one hand on the floor for balance, and the other held up in a fist. He glared hatefully at Plasmius, his radioactive green eyes cold and lethal despite their hot glow. His snow white hair was messy and windblown, and he himself looked rather winded, as though he had greatly exerted himself. Harry realized with a shock that he must have flown all the way from the Hollow to London, a distance of about two hundred kilometers, at a very great speed.

"Danny!" Ginny cried, half relieved and half horrified that he was there. Danny glanced their way, and his eyes widened in shock.

"Harry?" His voice was quiet, uncertain, as though he thought the man would break at the sound of his voice. "Ginny, what happened to him?"

"The cage, it shocked him!" Ginny said shrilly. "Plasmius has something that controls it, I don't know what it's called!"

Just then, Ron flew in on his broom, and nearly fell off when he saw his sister and brother-in-law and nephew in a glowing pink cage. He tossed the broom away and whipped out his wand.

"Alohamora!" He shouted, but nothing happened.

"Ron, it's no use!" Ginny cried, almost in tears with fear and frustration. "It repels magic, we already tried!"

Ron grunted and ran to the cage, intent on getting his friend and sister out. He grasped one of the bars, and yelled in pain when the pink energy shocked him immediately.

"NO!" Danny shouted, standing up and facing Plasmius, his eyes glowing in response to the heat of his fury. "Vlad, stop! Leave them alone!"

"So you did get my note, little badger," Vlad said smugly, crossing his arms over his burly chest. "Have you come to a decision?"

Danny nodded, a strange expression of anger and regret on his face. "I have," he said quietly.

He suddenly transformed, a look of utter defeat appearing on his face at the same time as his eyes turned blue and his hair turned black.

"I'll go," he said miserably, "if you let them go."