Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom or Harry Potter.
The days passed by quickly for Harry, and he was shocked for Dean to remark to him that already, two months had passed since he left the Dursleys for the magical school. Already, Hogwarts felt like more of a home than any other place he had lived.
Ever since the incident in the third floor corridor, Harry and Ron had been tip-toeing around Neville and Hermione. Neville had appeared to never want to talk about it again, and Hermione had been giving them the silent treatment ever since their argument the day after the encounter with the three-headed dog.
Harry and Ron were just finishing up lunch when Hermione approached them with a determined look on her face. It resembled the look she gave them when they weren't paying attention in class, or tried to finish their homework right before it was to be turned in.
"I need to talk to you about something," she said.
"About what?" Harry said uncertainly. Hermione was bossy, but then again, she didn't go telling them on Filch last night.
She took a deep breath, and began, "I couldn't help but overhearing your plans to corner Danny about-"
"Again, I bet you could," Ron interjected angrily.
She glared at him, and continued, "about what happened with the door. And I'm telling you now, he's not going to open up to you if you run him into a corner."
"We weren't-"
"Why do you say that? Do you know something?"
"Ron…"
Hermione rolled her shoulders back and gave him another glare. "Maybe. But anyway, it's none of your business what happened-"
"Oh, of course it's not," Ron snarled. "After all, no one can be curious except the Great Hermione Granger!"
"And I suppose no one can be rude except for the Great Ronald Weasley!" she retorted, her face flushing.
"Hey!" Harry shouted, stopping them in the middle of their rant. "We won't ask about it, okay? As long as you stop eavesdropping." He gave her a pointed look.
She gave him a nod, then left with her nose in the air. Ron glared at her retreating back.
"You think that's going to stop her?" Ron said.
"Probably not."
Harry was sort of glad she wasn't talking to them anymore; she no longer lectured them about proper note taking or neat handwriting. He was a little disappointed that he never found out how Danny had passed them through the door, but he supposed it really wasn't any of his business.
Just as Harry finished packing his bag after the end of Transfigurations, Ron poked him in the side.
"Halloween Feast is today," he said excitedly. "Just one more class, then candy!"
Harry laughed. He was excited about the feast, too; the most he had ever done on Halloween before was hide in his cupboard and drool at all of Dudley's candies he'd collected through the slits of the small door. "What class do we have next?"
"Charms. I think we're doing levitation."
"Cool, that's sounds fun."
"Eh, maybe. I just hope he doesn't partner me with Hermione again."
Daphne, Blaise, and Danny were all enjoying the Halloween feast when Danny approached Daphne with an odd question.
"So," Danny began, "have you seen Hermione lately?"
Daphne raised an eyebrow at him. "No. I don't talk to Granger, remember?"
"Ah. Well, I was just talking to the lovely Miss Patil-"
"Lovely Miss Patil? Are you serious right now?"
"-that she's been in the bathroom, crying. Apparently our not-so-lovely friends Weasley and Potter sent her there."
"That's...something." She looked away from him and back to her Halloween sweets on her plate. "Why are you telling me this?"
"Well, we're friends, don't you think?" He sent her a dazzling smile.
She narrowed her eyes at him. What was he doing? "Yes…?"
"Wouldn't anyone want all their friends to be friends with each other?"
"Er... maybe? Where are you going with this?"
He gained an excited look, and said, "So you agree?" Before she could answer, he grabbed her hand and dragged her off the table bench and away from the Halloween feast.
"Danny! What the-what are you doing?!"
He just smiled at her as he continued to pull her away from the Great Hall, and consequently, away from her large pile of confectionaries. Blaise have them an odd look as they exited the Great Hall, but didn't stand up. "We're going to the bathrooms, remember? Friends are friends with friends?"
"What?" was all she could think of to say. They quickly reached the girl's bathroom, where they finally stopped. Danny looked at her expectantly.
"What?" she said again.
"Well, go in."
"The hell are you talking about?" Then it hit her. "Are you serious? I'm not chummy with Granger, and I don't plan on it!"
"I know, hence the whole friends with friends with friends thing." He gestured to the door to the bathroom. "And I can't go in the girl's bathroom to get her to come out and enjoy the feast, being a guy and all."
"You sure about that?"
Danny looked a little annoyed. "Look, will you please do this for me? I know what happens if a guy sneaks into the girls dormitories; I'm not sure if I want to know what happens if I go into the girl's bathroom."
Daphne crossed her arms and gave him a look. "Why me? And I thought you had a row with her."
"I know, I did, but Hermione's my friend, Daphne," he said. "Please do this for me?"
She glared at him for a moment longer, then finally gave in. "Fine, fine. Don't expect it to work, though."
She walked into the bathroom as quietly as she could. Quiet sobs were heard from a stall before the sound of the door opening silenced them. Daphne groaned mentally.
"Um...Granger?" she called out diffidently.
"Yes?" the voice wavered a bit; Hermione must have been putting up a strong front. It wasn't working very well.
"Um, it's Daphne. Daphne Greengrass. Danny's friend? Um...we noticed you weren't at the feast." She stopped there, not knowing what else to say. Comforting wasn't her strong suit.
A sad sigh was heard from the stall. "Did Danny put you up to this?"
Daphne grimaced. "To tell you the truth, yes. But you really should come out, the feast is amazing." Granger was a muggleborn; nearly any event at the school had them in awe.
"I...I really don't feel like it."
What to say, what to say…"What about your friends at Gryffindor House? They probably miss-"
"No, they don't," Granger moaned.
Daphne was beginning to get angry. "Oh, stop it. Whoever made fun of you, or whatever happened, they don't matter. So don't let them win by secluding yourself in here, alright? You don't want to turn into a new Moaning Myrtle, do you?"
There was silence for a moment, only broken by a sniff from the stall. "I guess you're right," she said sadly. Then, "No, you are right. I'm being ridiculous." Her voice gathered strength, and Hermione Granger exited the stall.
She was a mess. Her eyes were red and pushy, and her bushy hair was even more bushy than usual. Her tie was undone, and her robes slightly askew.
"Good. Er… you might want to freshen up a bit."
"Oh. Oh!" She finally thought of what she might look like.
"We'll be waiting outside." Granger smiled at her in thanks.
Outside the bathroom, Danny was rocking on his heels as he waited. He could hear them talking, and it looked like Hermione was finally going to come out. Victory!
Daphne closed the door of the bathroom and immediately sent him a flat stare. "I am not doing that again."
"Oh, come on," he said, smiling. "You liked her. Be honest."
"She's not that bad," she said indifferently. "But seriously, don't ask me to do that again. I'm not good with touchy-feely stuff."
"Right. But here we…" Danny trailed off as the sounds of bustling students hit his ears. It was too close to be from the Great Hall.
"Is the feast over?" he asked.
"It's pretty early, but I guess it must be. Too bad Hermione had to miss it," Daphne said.
"So it's Hermione now?"
"Oh, shut up." To her surprise, he did go quiet. But the reason was the loud thump that sounded like a dinosaur's footsteps that were approaching.
"What is that?" Daphne whispered, inching closer to Danny. He shook his head; he had no idea.
Danny was about to say that they should grab Hermione and get out of there, when the giant thing crossed into their sights.
It looked as surprised to see them as they were to see it. The giant, hulking creature looked stupidly at them for a minute, before it came to its senses and swung its giant club.
They screamed and ran to dodge. They ended up hitting the wall to avoid the strike. The girl's bathroom was at the end of a one-way hall; they couldn't dodge around the monster, and all that was behind them was the door to the bathroom.
They were trapped.
Blaise followed in line behind Theodore Nott as they went back to their common rooms after Quirrell's announcement in the Great Hall. He looked around frantically for Fenton and Daphne, but saw no sign of them. Where did they say they were going? The bathroom?
Just as he was about to make up his mind about going after them, he spotted Potter and Weasley splitting off from the rest of the Gryffindor first years and head off in the direction of the bathroom. Sigh. Great.
They dodged as the giant club swung and hit the floor where they were just standing. Danny and Daphne backed up against the door of the bathroom; they could get around the swinging club of the giant…thing.
"In the bathroom!" Danny ordered, and they clambered through the door. They slammed the door and locked it.
"What is that thing?!" he said hysterically. Was this a sugar-induced dream?
"Troll, I think," Daphne said, her eyes blown wide.
"How the hell did a troll get in?!"
"I don't know!"
"Danny? What's going on?" Hermione said from the sinks. "Wait, troll? What troll?"
A loud bang! that shook the door violently answered her. They all jumped and backed up against the wall.
"What do we do? What do we do?" Daphne cried shrilly. "First-years can't go up against a troll!"
"Maybe we can-" Danny was cut off when a second bang! went against the door, this time knocking it off its hinges and slamming the long piece of wood on the other side of the bathroom. The troll lumbered in, its puny head nearly grazing the ceiling. The three just stood there in shock, waiting for the troll to finish them. Just as it was about to kill them all, three boys ran through the now doorless doorway.
"Weasley?!" Danny said incredulously.
"Harry?" Hermione squeaked.
"Blaise!" Daphne shouted.
The three didn't waste time with greetings. Immediately, Potter yelled, "Distract it!"
"Oi, peabrain!" Weasley shouted, and threw a piece of wood from the splintered door, hitting the troll's shoulder.
The troll didn't notice the hit, but it turned back to the voice. When seeing the three, he swung his club at them with a roar. They all had to hit the floor to avoid getting smashed.
Danny's mind finally caught up to the situation. "We've got to get out!" he said to the others. Not that there was any way to get out. He wasn't sure if he could phase anyone other than himself out; what happened on the third floor corridor could have been a fluke.
Meanwhile, Potter had been trying to clear a way for the three to get to the door. "This way!" he called to them as he ducked under the sinks.
Weasley and Zabini continued to goad and confuse the troll as they moved quietly as possible under the sinks and to the door. With luck, the troll wouldn't see them, and all six of them could get out as soon as possible-
Crash!-of course, that was when the troll spotted them. The club missed Danny's head by inches, instead taking out the sink right in front of him, instantly spraying him with water.
He spat out the water that went into his mouth, saw the club rise again for another strike, heard Hermione scream, and he knew he was done for.
No time to dodge, he instinctively thrust out a hand in some crazy attempt to stop the club before it hit him-
-a burning sensation, sharp and painful that seized up his limbs and muscles as soon as his hand found the button-
A green light, bright and fast, hit the club at a fast speed. The blast was strong enough to parry the club, and almost strong enough to knock the troll off balance. Danny, still running on instincts and adrenaline, saw the opportunity to bolt.
"Go!" he shouted and pushed Daphne in front of him. Potter and Hermione and the others followed suit, and somehow, they made it out of the doorway.
"Run for it!" Weasley shouted as soon as they were out of the bathroom. And run they did, though they didn't get very far when they ran into three teachers just at the end of the hall. It only just occurred to Danny how much noise they had been making.
"What are you doing? You should be in your dormitories!" McGonagall berated them. Beside her, Snape and Quirrell didn't look any happier.
"Troll," Daphne wheezed, and pointed behind her. The three professors followed her hand and saw the still confused troll emerge from the bathroom. McGonagall's eyes widened, Quirrell screamed, and Snape shoved the students aside.
"Run to the end of the hallway, and hide in the classroom," he snarled. They all obliged without protest.
Inside the empty classroom, huddled away from the door, Hermione seemed to find her voice.
"What were you three doing there?" she asked.
Weasley and Potter looked a little uncomfortable. "Well, we knew you were in the, uh, bathroom, so you didn't know about the troll," Potter said.
"We went to warn you," Weasley added. Hermione looked a little shocked.
"What about you, Zabini?" Danny asked.
Zabini's usual poker face was off, and he looked shaken. "Had to-had to make sure you weren't going to do anything stupid," he said with a slight stutter.
Danny laughed a bit. "I never do anything stupid…" Zabini just shrugged, and Daphne gave him a one armed hug in thanks.
"I still can't believe you did that," Danny admitted. "Taking on a troll? That's a little much, for your first year of Hogwarts."
Potter just shrugged. "At least it can't be more intense than this."
Oh, Harry, if only you knew.
I've been waiting for this chapter for so long. I'm pretty sure you guys have been waiting for it too. Did you see that little snippet though? See what I did there? Hehe~
So, 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.