Disclaimer: I'm not British, I'm not male. Enough said.
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Chapter 12
Somewhere in Europe…
Voldemort paced in his chambers. The news Severus had given him had led to him searching through his extensive library and those of his followers, but he had not turned up much information.
Stalking over to a table, Voldemort picked up the only book he had been able to find that would tell him about the being known as Clockwork. Flipping through until he found the right page, he read it once more.
Clockwork, also known as the Master of Time, is an extremely mysterious being. It is not known where his home is, and few have even seen him. There is no agreement on what he is, whether human or otherwise, but a few things are known. His appearance is that of an old man, young man, and infant, as he goes through a seemingly involuntary transformation among the three forms. According to sources, Clockwork possesses a type of medallion that allows those who wear one to be unaffected by changes in the flow of time. He always carries a staff with a clock at the top, though its function is unknown.
Voldemort snarled softly in frustration and tossed the book aside once more. It was the most information he'd been able to find, but it wasn't enough. 'The book mentions changes, so it is indeed possible to change the past. But how is it done? And how would I find this Clockwork in the first place?'
Years ago, Voldemort had come across some mention of Clockwork. It hadn't been much, but the title 'Master of Time' had caught his attention. Since then, he had looked everywhere for some mention of the elusive being, but he hadn't found much. When Severus mentioned that the boy that had been taken to Hogwarts knew Clockwork, even seemed to consider him a friend…
"I wonder if grabbing that boy will bring his 'friend' out of hiding." Voldemort smirked. "And perhaps I could… convince this Clockwork to change events so that that miserable Potter died with his thrice-be-damned parents."
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Wisconsin…
Vlad smiled slightly as he stared out his office window and considered his plans. "I will have to visit eventually, see how Daniel likes my surprise. After all, I wouldn't want him to be bored while in that strange school, now would I?"
Turning, he saw Skulker waiting for him. "Skulker, I want you to spread Daniel's location around the Ghost Zone. Make sure as many ghosts as possible know exactly where he is, and how to get there."
Skulker nodded. "Will I be able to hunt him as well?"
Vlad smirked. "Of course." His expression changed suddenly, became much uglier. "But don't kill him, or I will hunt you down myself, got it?"
Skulker gulped softly. "Yes, of course, sir." He took off as soon as Vlad told him he could go, wanting to get the first part of his job done as soon as possible.
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Amity Park…
Sam stared at the ceiling, bored out of her mind. After Danny had left, there hadn't been much to do, and the number of ghosts had decreased quite a bit. Even the Box Ghost didn't come out as much!
Her computer beeped, indicating that someone was online. Rolling over onto her stomach, she signed on. Seeing who is was, she smiled brightly. "Danny! Having fun over there?"
Danny sighed, looking slightly haggard. "Well, I'm not bored." He was about to go on when Tucker also signed on. "Hey, Tuck."
Tucker blinked. "Man, what happened to you?"
Danny dropped his head into his arms and muttered something that neither of his friends understood. Glancing at each other, Sam decided to ask. "Danny, could you repeat that? We didn't hear you."
Danny sighed in resignation and lifted his head. "I said I have a fan club." His head dropped once more.
For a long moment, there was silence as his two friends stared in shock. Then Tucker burst out laughing and rolled out of view. There was a soft thump which suggested that he'd fallen on to the floor.
Finally, Sam managed to speak. "A fan club? How did that happen?"
Danny sighed and looked up again so he could explain. "I got a letter from Vlad—I'll explain in a minute—and was really annoyed, so I went outside by the lake to practice."
Sam interrupted before he could go any further. "Let me guess. You took off your shirt and didn't realize that there was someone there."
Danny shrugged. "I was really into it, and I didn't notice when a couple girls summoned my robe and shirt."
Sam sighed. "Only you could get yourself into something like this."
Danny nodded. "Yeah, but there's more. Next day, I really didn't want to go down to breakfast—"
Sam shook her head. "Bad idea and you know it, Danny. Remember the last time you didn't eat?"
Danny winced. There were times when a fast metabolism was more trouble than it was worth. "Yeah, I know, but I figured I could just find the kitchens and get something from there."
Sam sighed. "Well, I'm assuming that you went down anyway."
Danny shook his head. "I didn't have much choice. Hermione recruited a few of the other Gryffindors, and they practically dragged me halfway before I gave in. Anyway, I got down there and it felt like nearly every girl in there turned and looked at me." He hunched in on himself. "Not fun."
Sam smiled sympathetically. Danny really wasn't one to be the center of attention, especially considering how many times his powers put him there, like it or not. The falling pants came to mind. Then she blinked. "Wait a minute. Your fan club formed overnight?"
Danny nodded. "I know it sounds weird, but it's true. I guess magic speeds things up a bit, huh?" He smiled weakly. "Anyway, I left and they all followed me at once. I couldn't get away from them, so I got far enough ahead of them to turn intangible and hide in the wall."
He shook his head. "Then one of the teachers, Remus Lupin, came by and asked me to go to his office so he could explain how my schedule's gonna work."
Sam considered that for a moment and blinked. "Why does his name mean 'wolf'?"
Danny shrugged. "Well, he's a werewolf. Other than that, I have no clue."
Sam stared, and Tucker, who had managed to calm his laughter at some point, pulled himself up so that he could stare at Danny as well. "Dude, werewolves arereal? How can you tell?"
Danny rolled his eyes. "I turn out to be a wizard and you guys are weirded out by werewolves?"
Sam blinked and shook her head. "Yeah, I guess you're right. How did you find out, anyway?"
Danny shrugged. "He reminded me of Wulf the first time I met him. I kinda looked, and he's got some kind of wolf shape around him."
Tucker frowned and exchanged a glance with Sam. "'Looked?'"
Danny shrugged. "Turns out I can sense magic. It's the best way I can think of to explain it."
Sam was fascinated by the idea, and so was Tucker. They started asking questions, and Danny explained a bit more. He told them quite a bit about the school, teachers, and other students as well.
A while later, Sam happened to remember why Danny had wanted to talk to them in the first place. Waiting for an opening, she finally spoke. "Danny? You said something about a letter earlier, didn't you?"
Danny blinked, and it took him a moment to realize what she meant. "Oh, right. Sorry, I almost forgot." He shook his head. "Basically Plasmius sent me a letter, he said something about finding out where I was from mom and dad, though I doubt they told him, and that he'd already known about wizards and witches. He said something else, too. Here, let me find it…"
A moment later, he was back with a sheet of paper in his hand. "Here we go. It says, P.S. I do hope you won't be letting the skills you learned in Amity Park go to waste." He imitated Vlad's usual arrogant tone as he said it, and both of his friends stared at him.
Sam shook his head. "What does that mean, though? About not letting your skills go to waste?"
Danny sighed. "I'm not sure, but with my luck it means that he's going to send the ghosts after me again." He blew an annoyed breath. "I was enjoying the break, too."
Tucker frowned. "He's going to send the ghosts to you? Is he nuts?"
Danny laughed softly. "Well, we already knew he was a fruit loop. This is just another example." Shaking his head, he asked, "So how's ghost activity over there?"
Sam and Tucker traded a glance. "We haven't seen very many ghosts lately," Sam replied.
Tucker nodded. "Yeah, man. I mean, the Lunch Lady was in the Nasty Burger yesterday, and a couple of others have shown up, but not many. Even the Box Ghost hasn't shown up very often!"
Danny blinked. "Thatis weird. Box Ghost seems to show up no matter what." He glanced at something out of their sight, and grimaced. "Sorry guys, but I have to go. One of my roommates is coming up."
Sam and Tucker said their goodbyes and watched as Danny's image disappeared from the screen.
Tucker shook his head. "Man, Danny gets it rough sometimes. He gets a vacation for a few months, and now the ghosts are going to pile in again."
Sam nodded. "I know, Tucker, but there's not much we can do for him. He's pretty much across the world from us."
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Danny sighed as he closed his laptop and stowed it away in his trunk. He stretched out on his bed and ignored Seamus when he came in and got something out of his own trunk. He hadn't wanted to cut his conversation with his friends short like that, but he didn't feel like trying to explain how he had a computer in Hogwarts.
He was really missing Sam and Tucker. Being able to talk to them face-to-face was good, but it really wasn't the same. He really liked being able to pretend that he was a normal teen, even though he was anything but. Even after he got his ghost powers, it had been nice to goof off once in a while with his friends.
'It's probably a good thing they were there. I know it freaked them out a lot, and Sam felt guilty for a long time—heck, she probably still feels guilty, even though I told her it was alright—but I don't think I ever would have gotten up the courage to tell them.'
He rolled over onto his stomach, and stared out at the room, though he wasn't actually seeing it. 'I've never actually had to tell someone until they'd already figured out at least some of it. Jazz figured out I was both Danny Phantom and Fenton, but I don't think even she understood it for a long time. Mom thought I was being overshadowed at first, but at least she was willing to listen. So was dad. But if everyone found out…'
Danny shuddered as he remembered what had happened while Freakshow had the Reality Gauntlet. He shook himself quickly and stood up, heading for the door. "I need to go flying." Quickly slipping out, he moved through the shadows, only partially visible, to escape the attention of his fan club members who were in Gryffindor.
It didn't take him long to find a deserted area of the school, and after making sure there was nobody around, he transformed and flew straight up, intangible and invisible.
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Hours later, Danny was feeling much calmer. Since it was getting late, he decided to go in. He saw no reason to risk being caught by a teacher, so he poked his head in the common room and saw that Hermione was still up. 'Maybe she's working on homework. Oh, well, I'd better go in the regular way.'
He flew down the hall and landed well out of sight from the Fat Lady before he transformed. He walked up and had to wake her up, but in a moment he was able to give her the password. "Toadstool."
The Fat Lady yawned sleepily. "Right, right. Go on in dearie." She went back to sleep after she let him in, not seeming to realize how late it was.
Danny slipped past her and into the Gryffindor Common Room. More by habit than anything else, he slipped through the shadows, unnoticed.
Hermione looked up when the door opened, but didn't see anyone. She wondered for a moment if Harry had gone out with his Invisibility Cloak, but realized that Harry had gone to bed with the rest, and he hadn't come back down. Even when he was just going out for a walk, Harry usually made sure to check in with her if she was still up before he left. But if it wasn't Harry, then… "Danny?" Danny looked up, and for just a moment Hermione could have sworn his eyes were glowing 'But that's impossible.'
He stepped into the light so that she could see him, and grinned. "Hey, Hermione. Why are you still up?"
Hermione shrugged. "I wanted to read a bit more before I went to bed. Besides, it's not that late." She glanced at the time, and realized it was just past midnight. "Or at least I didn't think it was that late. Where were you, anyway?"
Danny smiled slightly. "I just needed to get out for a while." He shrugged. "It's getting late, and tomorrow's Monday, so goodnight." He turned and climbed the stairs to the boys' dorms without another word.
Hermione yawned. "Goodnight." She also climbed the stairs to her dorm, and soon readied herself for bed, happy that learning started once more in the morning.
Danny sat on his bed and tilted his head slightly. He listened carefully to the sounds in the tower, extending his magic senses to make sure everyone was asleep. After a moment, he grinned. "Now the fun begins," he murmured happily.
Danny quickly turned intangible and walked through a wall, this time orienting on Hermione's magic signature. Moments later, he emerged in the girls' dorm, and cast a quick few spells over two different girls before quickly returning to his bed. 'The beginning of my revenge...'
There was a disturbing grin on Danny's face as he fell asleep contemplating the pending chaos.
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AN: This is the shortest chapter I've posted for this story yet. Aren't you feeling privileged? That said, the next chapter should be out before too much longer. I love being the author.
