AN: This is a bit of a short story, not exactly related to the main plot, set while Danny was spending summer with Neville and his grandmother.
Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom or Harry Potter.
"So you can walk through walls?"
"Yep."
"And become invisible?"
"Yep."
"Wow...you're like a ghost!" Neville exclaimed with wide eyes.
Danny shifted his feet nervously. "Not like a ghost, it's...what do you call it, accidental magic? Yeah, it's that."
"Doesn't seem accidental. But I'll take your word for it."
Danny held in a sigh of relief. Neville was a little too trusting for his own good, but it got him out of several tight spots. He was pretty sure he could trust Neville, but he wasn't sure himself of the reason he got his powers. He'd like to believe it was just controlled accidental magic, but he had his suspicions-
"What do you want to do when you grow up, Neville?" Danny asked, wanting to divert his thoughts.
Neville's eyes lit up. "Botanist! Or maybe an herbology expert! Or maybe...maybe…"
"Something to satisfy your plant obsession?"
He smiled sheepishly. "Yeah. But Gran wants me to be an Auror."
"Aurors are like-like authorities for wizards, right?"
"Mmhmm. My mum and dad were Aurors, and you have to be super brave and super talented and super courageous...which I'm not…"
"You know, my sister told me something cool about bravery and courage," Danny said, smiling at the memory. "She said, one is being stupid enough to get yourself into dangerous stuff, while the other is also being smart enough to get yourself out alive."
"That's cool," Neville said. Then he looked confused. "Wait, which one is better? Bravery or courage?"
"I don't remember…"
There was a moment of quiet. Then, "Hey," Danny said, sounding like he had just had an epiphany. "You could be a...a botanist Auror!"
"Danny, there's no such thing as a botanist Auror."
"You could be the first!" Danny was getting very excited. "You could beat people up with all those dangerous plants you told me about! Like the Devil Snare, or those screaming baby plants."
"But Danny," Neville looked a little frustrated, "you can't control Devil's Snare, especially in a fight."
"Bet you could."
"But...you really can't."
"Have you ever tried?"
"No."
"Then you can't know for sure!"
"It'll strangle you if you get close!"
Neville tried to protest more, but Danny had had enough.. He grabbed the stuttering boy's arm and dragged him to the cellar that contained the Devil's Snare. To Neville's relief, the cellar was locked.
"It's locked, Danny, let's just g-" Neville stopped mid-sentence as he saw Danny stick his head through the closed doors. It was a strange sight, like seeing someone with only their head buried in the sand, but instead of sand it was solid wood.
Danny phased his hand inside the doors, rummaged a bit, then lifted his head out. "Alright, it's unlocked. Let's go tame some Devil's Snare!" He opened the doors and jumped down.
"Danny!" Neville shouted. What the heck was he thinking? Does he even think at all?
"I found the Devil's Snare!" Danny shouted from below. Neville could barely see his friend in the shady cellar. "It's wrapping around my legs."
Neville nearly had a heart attack. "Get out of there, Danny! Turn intangible!"
"I can't!" Danny shouted, though he didn't sound too panicked. "It's stopping me from going intangible!"
"What?!" Neville exclaimed in disbelief. Danny going get out, what was he going to do, what was he doing to do?
"Hey, Neville?" Danny said. "Could you figure out how to get me out soon? It's getting a little tight across my chest…"
Right. Can't panic, or your first friend'll slowly be squeezed to death. Think, Neville, think! Devil's Snare is vine-like, grows in the dark and damp...come on, remember something useful...and it's weakness is sunlight!
How to get it in the cellar, though? His wide eyes wandered to the large, decorative mirror by the rose bushes. He'd have to break it to get it close to the cellar, and his grandmother would kill him for it. Either that or having his friend's ghost haunt him forever…
He broke the mirror. The largest shard was about the size of his head, which would have to do. He dragged his makeshift reflector to the open cellar and angled sunlight through the open doors. For half a second, he couldn't find Danny. Then the reflected light shone right into the eyes of his entangled friend. Vines covered his lower half and were inching up towards his neck, chest, and the he'd outstretched to the ceiling.
The vines that were touched by the light instantly shrank back, even shriveling up a little. After a few seconds of shining the light at Danny's upper body, the vines had retreated. Neville quickly put the mirror shard down and grabbed Danny's outstretched hand. He pulled, but met resistance.
"There's still some vines on your feet!" Neville said, panicking. Danny still had that calm expression of nonchalance on his face. Suddenly, there was no resistance, and Neville gave a shout of surprise when Danny shot upward and knocked them both down, like someone had just let go of the opposite side of the rope in tug-of-war.
Danny rolled off Neville and landed on his back with a grunt. "Ugh, definitely going to have a few bruises."
"Danny," Neville wheezed, currently having a panic attack. "Why did you...why would you…"
"Told you you had courage," Danny said, a wide grin on his face. "That just proved it. Or is it bravery?"
"You-you turned intangible," Neville stammered out. "The one that had your foot, I thought-I thought you couldn't-"
"You had to get me out," Danny said, his grin looking a little devilish. "See? Total botanist Auror."
"Danny!" Neville shouted. "Were you-were you-testing me or something?"
"More like pushing you to your talents," he said, still grinning. "And it worked!"
"You're crazy!" Neville shouted.
"You bet!"
So this story hit 400 followers today, and I thought I'd give you guys a little gift! I was actually planning to post this either when at least half of the first book's plot was done, or until this first book was over and I started on the sequel. But since I've had so much support, and since I had such a crappy halloween, I thought I'd give this to you.
I believe I mentioned this little escapade a few times, and I know I've mention the botanist auror. So this is where that came from. Hope you liked it, and a real chapter will be out soon.
P.S., I went back and edited what Danny's wand is made of. It's still elder, but I changed the core to unicorn hair instead. I was regretting the little Tarasque detail, so I fixed it before it drove me crazy.
If you have any critiques or comments, don't hesitate to tell me! And if you think flames are critiques, go ahead and write those too.
Until next time.