Finally, after what felt like months (but was really only another week), Danny and Ginna ran into the trio of friends by sheer luck.
"Harry!" Danny exclaimed.
"Uh, Danny?" Harry asked uncertainly.
"Yeah, Ginna and I have been needing to talk to you guys."
"Who?"
"Ginna," Danny introduced her.
Ginna stood still. Slightly relaxed with a stony expression. Danny sighed, he should have expected that.
"A SLYTHERIN?!" yelped Ron.
Danny pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look, I'd rather not have to do this again, so, let's get this out of the way. Ginna, a Slytherin, is my friend. She is a good friend and she is trustworthy. She and I have been trying to figure out who wants to tickle- erm," he coughed. "Who wants to kill you."
He ignored the slight smirk that crossed Ginna's face at his slip up.
Hermione's eyes widened. "You too?"
Danny nodded as he scratched his neck.
Hermione pushed them all into the nearest classroom. "What have you figured out?"
"We narrowed it down to a few teachers and just recently figured out that the teacher might be after whatever is in the forbidden corridor."
She nodded. "Yeah, the philosophers stone."
Ginna gave a look of surprise.
". . . I have a feeling that's a bad thing?" Danny guessed.
"Not on its own, it depends on who gets their hands on it."
Poor Ron and Harry were standing off to the side, looking a little confused but mostly dazed. Until Ron shook it off. "Wait, hold on! Hermione! We can't tell them all this!" He nodded towards Ginna, who crossed her arms.
Danny groaned while Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Who did you narrow it down to?" asked Harry.
Danny looked over at Ginna. She sighed and spoke. "Professor Snape and Professor Qurriel were the most suspicious of all the Professors."
Ron sputtered. "Qurriel? You can't seriously suspect him!"
"Snape is the one who wants me dead! He hates me!"
"Ron and I saw it! At the first Quidditch match, Snape was whispering an incantation while his eyes were locked on the broom! If I hadn't set fire to his cloak Harry could have died!"
Ginna waved a hand to stop them. "Did it cross your minds that he might have been trying to reverse an incantation? Was Professor Qurriel around him at all?"
"Of course you'd want Snape to be innocent, " Ron bit, "he's Slytherin."
Ginna pinched the bridge of her nose while Danny suppressed a growl, muttering. "We've been over this!"
"I couldn't care less if Professor Snape was Slytherin or any other house. I don't want the wrong man accused," she said as calmly as she could.
"How could it be anyone else?!"
"How are you not using any logic?!" Ginna snapped.
"Hey!" Danny stepped in. "I said no. Not this again."
Ron glared at them but Hermione shushed him before he could make things worse.
"What is your reasoning?" Hermione asked.
Ginna took a breath. "When most people picture a bad guy, they probably see someone like Professor Snape. With that in mind, wouldn't a bad guy be less obvious? Wouldn't they want to stay as far away from the stereotype as possible? To remove themselves of all suspicion?"
"So, your argument for it not being Snape is that he is too suspicious?" Ron said incredulously.
"In a way."
"But Snape has been following me, he's going to referee my next Quidditch match!" said Harry.
"Which is something he'd need to get approval from Headmaster Dumbledore for."
"This is ridiculous!" Ron hissed. "Are we really listening to her? It has to be Snape, he hates you, Harry, he tried to kill you!"
"You don't have proof."
"Neither do you!"
Ginna closed her eyes in an effort to calm herself. "You're right, I don't have proof." she opened her eyes and glanced at Danny, whatever she saw made her sigh. "But I'm going to find it."
"How?" asked Hermione.
Ginna turned around. "That is none of your concern."
Danny grabbed her arm as she started to walk away. "Ginna, where are you going?"
"To prove a theory."
"Ginna. . ."
She sighed again. "I know. All of you think it's Professor Snape. Of course, that would be most logical for you. I know that despite everything I've said, you still believe it's him. And it's fine that you don't believe me, but I'm going to figure out who is actually at fault." She yanked her arm away and left the room.
With a long-suffering sigh, Danny turned back around to the others. "Could you just tell me everything you know and I'll tell you everything I know?"
No matter how many times Danny asked, Ginna refused to share how her investigations were going. It was starting to drive him a little crazy, especially since every time he asked, Ginna would smirk knowingly and then somehow cause them to run into Ed and Amilia, effectively ending the conversation.
Another frustrating thing was Harry and his team of All Slytherins are Evil. He supposed Hermione was a little more open-minded, but Ron's insistence was enough to cover for everyone. Ron was even worse than Ed. Danny was just thankful they had avoided talking about Ginna once she left or else he might have snapped somebody's neck. Figuratively, of course.
And finally, there was Danny himself. Was he really solely focused on the bad guy being Professor Snape? Ginna was right in saying that he is an obvious bad guy type, but that doesn't mean he's not bad, right? He was always on the suspect list. Him and Professor Quirrel.
Danny suddenly remembered a point Ginna brought up a while ago; Professor Quirrel teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts, which would warrant him knowing dark spells. But why would he want the philosopher's stone? Why would Professor Snape, for that matter?
Danny groaned and leaned forward, pressing his hands into his eyes. Why did he want to start investigating? For fun? For Harry's safety? Danny's only eleven. The most he's gotten out of this investigation is one headache after another.
An excited knock made Danny look up.
Ed stood there, practically bouncing with energy. "Danny, are you coming? The match is gonna start soon, Amilia and Ginna are already on their way over there."
Slowly, Ed's lightning-fast speech registered in Danny's mind and he stood and followed his energetic friend.
Amilia scooted over to provide room for the two boys to sit. "For a second there, I was worried you two were going to be late. But I suppose with Edward dragging you to a match that wouldn't be possible."
Ed grinned proudly as if she had just complimented him.
Ginna ignored their antics as she used her telescope as a spyglass to scan various areas of the stadium.
Danny looked at her questioningly but Amilia noticed and waved his unspoken question away. "She pulled that thing out as soon as we got here and hasn't spoken a word since."
"Uh, okay."
"Look! They're coming out into the field!" Ed cried enthusiastically.
While Ed and Amilia were watching the game start, Danny leaned over to Ginna. "What are you looking for?"
"You'll have to find that out later." She said, eyes never leaving the telescope.
"But-"
"Danny, just enjoy the match, okay?"
With a sigh of defeat, Danny faced forward. Maybe he could just watch to make sure Professor Snape didn't do anything to Harry. But other than showing the same distaste for Gryffindors as he always did, the man wasn't doing all that much.
"You know how I think they choose people for the Gryffindor team?" said someone loud enough to catch Danny's attention. He wrinkled his nose when he saw it was Draco.
"It's people they feel sorry for." He continued. "See, there's Potter, who's got no parents, then there's the Weasleys, who've got no money, you should be on the team, Longbottom, you've got no brains."
Danny clenched his fists. He shouldn't start a fight, he should just ignore him. Ignore him.
"I'm worth twelve of you, Malfoy," Neville stuttered.
Draco and his henchmen roared with laughter. Danny shut his eyes. Ignore them.
"Longbottom, if brains were gold you'd be poorer than Weasley, and that's saying something."
"Ron!" said someone, was that Hermione? "Harry-"
"What? Where?"
Danny opened his eyes to see Harry halfway through a steep dive, racing towards the ground at top speed.
"You're in luck, Weasley, Potter's obviously spotted some money on the ground!" said Draco.
Ron seemed to snap. Danny blinked and Ron was on top of Draco, wrestling him to the ground. Neville hesitated, then climbed over the back of his seat to help.
"Come on, Harry!" Hermione screamed, leaping out her seat to watch as Harry sped straight at Professor Snape.
Danny hesitated as he looked between the mosh pit that had suddenly developed in the stands and the equally sudden hype that was happening in the match. He glanced at Ginna, who had her gaze fixated on something else, and slowly started inching over to join the fight.
Without looking at him, Ginna suddenly gripped the arm of his robe and pulled him back into his seat. "Don't even think about it."
"But-"
"No."
Danny crossed his arms grumpily as the rest of the stadium erupted. Harry had caught the Snitch. Whoop dee do.
"Ron! Ron! Where are you? The game's over! Harry's won! We've won! Gryffindor is in the lead!" shrieked Hermione, dancing up and down on her seat.
"You're gonna let me fight him someday, right?" he asked Ginna.
"I'll think about it," she said, finally closing the spyglass.
"Did you find whatever you were looking for?"
She smirked as she tucked it away. "I learned many things, yes. Now, if you would excuse me, I need to get a loudmouth to be quiet for more than two seconds."
"Who?"
"You'll find out."
"What-"
"Danny!" Ed interrupted. "Did you see that?! I can't believe it! Harry had to have made a new record, no one could have ever been that fast before!"
Danny quickly assured Ed that, yes, it was a great game and, no, he had never seen anyone get the snitch that fast before.
When Danny was finally able to turn back around, Ginna was already long gone.