AN: Ogremen: Well, we know its been a while, the Danny Phantom Vacation Arc is ALMOST OVER, lol We hope this met your expectations, lol So, anyway, without further ado, now, a word from the Mistress of Prophecies herself, Oracle!
Oracle: Sorry for the overly long wait. We know many of you even started to question if this story had been abandoned and I didn't want to post a note just to disappoint all of you that it wasn't a new chapter. We got caught up in holidays, family, and of course the dreaded writer's block. We hope this chapter makes up for the wait and will try to write more as soon as we are able to.
~w~
~Amity Park, Harry's House~
Harry had just seen Maddie home when he decided to explore the town on his own for a bit, maybe see if they had a local magical district or not. So, making his way into town in his Jaguar XJ, when he saw something he couldn't quite believe, a restaurant called Nasty Burger, which in his mind's eye, screamed of extremely greasy and unhealthy food, hell, he would probably eat at McDonalds over a place called Nasty Burger. Shaking his head, he drove on, unaware of the attention his car was getting him.
As he was driving he finally saw something that caught his attention, Axion Labs. He just couldn't help himself but investigate it when he saw it. So, playing his elite businessman card, he was able to arrange a meeting with the man in charge of the building.
As he sat down in the Manager's office, the manager cleared his throat. "So, uh, um, M-Mister Potter, what can, uh, we uh, do for you today?" he asked nervously. It was well known that Auror Corp. was on the leading edge of technology and was right behind Stark Industries on Alternative energy sources development. If he was looking to acquire Axion Labs, it could be either good, or bad, for Amity Park.
Harry smiled genuinely, "I just saw this place, while on vacation, and decided I would have a look around," Harry replied.
"O-oh? Well, we aren't a very big company, not even when it comes to what we do. The bigger names in this line of work in Amity are Valdco, and, to a point, Fenton Works," The manager explained. "Not that we are not honored to have someone like yourself visiting our company mind you. We were just caught off guard."
Harry smirked, "Yes, well, it's not like I knew this place existed before hand," Harry replied, "Could I possibly get a tour by the way?" He asked. A part of Harry's mind had latched onto the name Fenton Works. Maddie had mentioned a few inventions of her's, and there was the whole thing about Danny Phantom, but he hadn't thought she was that big a name in town. He made a mental note to ask her about her work the next time the pair spoke.
"Of course. I'll get one of our people to show you around. Let me think of who I could ask." The manager said before snapping his fingers and making a call. "I'll ask Damon Gray if he would do the honors. I'm sure you'll like him, he's a good guy and has been here a good length of time," The manager told Harry.
"I am happy to meet him then," Harry smirked. Five minutes later, Damon Grey was entering the office and was, needless to say, surprised at seeing a 'Titan of Industry' like Harry in person.
"Nice to meet you Mr Potter, I heard you you wanted a tour of our facility?" Damon asked nervously after he entered the room.
"That I do. Thank you for agreeing to show me around Mr. Grey," Harry smiled as he stood up and shook the nervous man's hand. "Though I do hope that my presence here will be kept a secret as I am currently on vacation, and don't want to alert the media that I'm here. You understand I'm sure," Harry directed this to both Damon and the manager.
"Of course Mr Potter," Damon said.
"Indeed," the manager said, "If the media catches wind of your presence here, rest assured, it won't be from us, as everyone here will be on the line for investigation if they talk," the manager assured Harry.
Harry hadn't meant for talking to be a fireable offense but he decided something like that was best off left to the heads of the company to decide rather than him, so he said nothing and followed Damon out of the office for the promised tour.
~w~
~Two hours later~
The tour had been interesting to say the least. It seemed Axion labs created 'foolproof' security and defense systems, though Harry doubted his people would have any trouble getting around anything they made. Damon Grey had been a nice enough guy and Harry had gotten to hear a fair bit about his daughter, it had made Harry miss his own family a little. However the most interesting part of the tour had been after Damon had excused himself to go to the bathroom and the owner of the company, Vlad Masters, had appeared and mistook Harry for a new employee. Harry had let him think that and explained how he was just waiting for Damon to return to complete the tour, for that he'd been given a little 'pride of the company that someone so young was working for them' speech before Vlad had bid him a good day and left. Harry was still chuckling at that.
But now, Harry was walking towards Casper High, the school Danny goes to in order to walk the pair home as a favor to Maddie. Seemed there had been a ghost attack in town and Maddie wanted to ensure her kids got home safely. Harry had decided to take the car home first as he was sure Danny and Jazz wouldn't want any rumors spreading about them being seen in such a nice car. So he walked towards the school, doing his best to make sure that he got there in time to find the pair among the body of students that would most likely be rushing to get out of school. It was still a little strange seeing a school system where the students go home each day despite them not being in public school, but he was getting used to it.
As he finally reached the school, he spotted the pair of students he knew, thanks to Maddie having shown him a photo of them, who were Danny's best friends. They appeared to be talking to some jocks and a pretty dark haired girl, so Harry walked over to them cause he couldn't see either Fenton child in the area.
"Excuse me, are you Danny's friends, Tucker and Sam?" Harry greeted once he was close enough to them.
Tucker was about to tell the 'pretty boy' off till he got a look at him and gaped in shock, recognising him for who he really was. Sam, who was a little knowledgeable about tact, kept her surprize to herself and nodded, "Yeah, I assume you're here to pick them up for Maddie?" she asked.
"That's right. There mum asked if I would walk home with them today." Harry smiled and held his hand out. "Daniel Radcliff," He introduced himself to the pair, forgetting about the other kids there for a moment.
Dash, feeling a bit insecure in front of this…'pretty boy', and seeing Paulina's obvious attraction to him, decided to try and assert himself. "Hey, pretty boy," he began, "Are you a new student or something?" he asked, "Because if you are, I am going to teach you a thing or two about how this school runs!" he finished.
Harry glanced at Dash with a raised brow and could tell the boy was a bully. A look to Danny's friends and Harry quickly realized he'd walked into a bullying session. With a friendly smile Harry asked. "Before I answer that, could you hold your hand out? Palm facing downwards, please?" He asked in a way that suggested he was just some naive kid.
Dash, feeling over confident, acquiesced to this request, and stuck out his hand, not seeing the gleam in Harry's eyes, but Sam did.
Harry, both using the knowledge Natasha taught him, as well as his years of being a seeker and having honed his reflexes, quickly grabbed Dash's hand before he could realize something was up, placed his fingers in the correct positions and gave a little twist, watching as Dash let out a cry of pain and dropped to his knees unable to do anything else. "First of all, no, I'm not a new student. I came here to help out a new friend I made by picking up her kids, given all the danger of ghost attacks that have happened in recent days. Second of all, even if I was a new kid, you could've just really fucked yourself over by picking on me because for all you knew, I could have family members in high places. And finally, if you actually think I'd be scared of a belly crawler like you, then you're delusional. I've seen scarier things inside the diapers of newborns." Harry sneered. "Now then, here's what's going to happen. I'm going to let you go, but if I ever hear about you bothering Danny Fenton, Jazz Fenton, or any of their friends again, I will not hold back when we next meet!" Harry warned before letting go of Dash's hand.
Dash could only nod as he whimpered in pain, he felt like his bones had been crushed when the 'pretty boy' had squeezed his hand. Meanwhile, Paulina was practically salivating at the strength, conviction, and looks Harry had show, not to mention she thought his accent was 'sexy'. "Hey, want to hang out sometime?" Paulina asked hopefully, much to Dash's anger, and Sam and Tucker's shock and disgust.
Harry raised a brow at Paulina before rolling his eyes. "No thank you. Any girl who hangs around with a guy like him," Harry pointed to Dash. "Can't be much better than him. Not to mention, from the looks of you, you are most likely pretty shallow and I hate shallow girls."
Paulia froze as she heard that, not used to being called out so blunty, at least not by guys, she then regained her composure, "Hmm, fine, go play with the losers!" she said as she walked away with a huff, completely leaving Dash lying on the ground who was still in pain. Sam could only smile, while Tucker was gobsmacked at someone putting Paulina down so harshly with so few words.
"It's always amusing how people like that don't realize that they are the real losers," Harry smiled, watching as the other jocks picked Dash up and walked after Paulina. Harry then turned to Sam and Tucker. "Well, now that their gone, have either of you seen Danny and Jazz? I was told they would be out here as Maddie had told them to wait for pick up."
Tucker shook himself and was about to say something stupid to his hero when Sam cut him off, for obvious reasons. "I think Jazz said she needed Danny's help getting something out of her locker, but, that was a while ago. How about we go check on them?" she replied before shooting an angry look at Tucker.
Harry raised a brow at the look she shot her friend but shrugged it off. "Yeah, let's go see if they need some more help, I've heard lockers can be annoyingly tricky sometimes," Harry was basing this on what Peter had told him about his time in school.
As they entered the school, Harry and the other two suddenly heard sounds of fighting coming from the Gym. Harry, being an experienced fighter, thanks to Nat and Laura, rushed to the gymnasium, flung the doors open, only to stop as he saw the oddest thing he had ever seen.
In front of Harry stood a glowing man who appeared to have cybernetic parts attached to his body along with numerous other things of odd make and purpose. The man was looking at another glowing being, who appeared to look like Danny but with white hair and glowing green eyes, and had the teenage glowing boy in some sort of trap.
Realizing that boy had to be the Danny Phantom that Harry had heard about from the Fenton family, Harry tried to decide what to do in this situation. After all, this wasn't like his normal ghost encounters from school, and Sam and Tucker were going to be showing up in a second, having followed him. Recalling how Danny and Jazz had both spoken of good things regarding the Phantom, Harry figured helping the ghost boy would be better than doing nothing. So grabbing a basketball someone had left out Harry threw it at the cybernetic one's head. "Hey Casper Reject, shouldn't you be in a kid's fun house right about now!" Harry shouted as he moved away from the gym doors.
The ball, much to Harry's shock, actually hit the cybernetic guy, and the absurdity of it left everyone shocked for a moment. The ghost though, Skulker, took the ball face on as he turned at the sound of someone talking to him, causing him to release Danny in his shocked state that a human was standing up to him. After a few moments, he turned to the man and eyed him, "Leave fleshling, I am only here for my prey!" he said.
Knowing he couldn't use his wizaring magic, Harry decided to use the Sorcerer magic Doctor Strange had taught him, letting it light up his hands as he glared at the ghost. "You actually expect me to just walk away after hearing that? I advise you to leave, because I'm not going to let you fight here and risk the lives of the people nearby," Harry warned.
Skulker was, to be frank, surprised and shocked that a human, a fleshling, was standing up to him, and what's more, had some sort of power that he was channeling to his hands, turning fully to face Harry, "What's your name, fleshling?" he asked seriously.
Harry for a moment was torn between giving his real name, or the fake name he was using at the time, before deciding it didn't matter. "I don't have to give my name to those who think it's alright to attack others. Leave now!" He ordered in his best commanding voice that he normally only used when the company gets a group of rowdy kids that won't listen otherwise. Harry knew he didn't have his normal back up if a fight between him and the ghost did happen, and thus at most Harry would have to rely on Phantom for help if the ghost didn't back off.
Skulker smirked, "Very well, perhaps you will make better prey then this sorry excuse then!" Skulker said causing Harry and Danny's eyes to widen in shock and surprize.
At that moment, Jazz, who had been hiding behind some equipment to stay out of sight also had a shocked look on her face as she peaked out to see Harry standing up to Skulker. She and Danny had been packing stuff with Jazz trying to offer Danny some advice when he had gotten his ghost sense and rushed off to battle. As for Tucker and Sam, they had finally caught up to Harry and were shocked to see his hands glowing, even though Tucker was out of breath and Sam was just shocked.
Harry mentally went 'Here we go again, another one for the tally of dangerous shit I happily run headlong into. Please don't let Lily find out or I'll never hear the end of it,' before he sent a blast right at Skulker's face. "Bring it on! I've got a few years of dodging things my daughter's thrown at me as well as combat training from the best people in the world on my side!" Harry shouted as he tried to sneak a blast so that the trap holding Phantom would break and release him.
Skulker frowned, this fleshling was starting to get annoying. Deciding to finish it, he was about to fire off a plasma ball at the fleshling when, the fleshling surprised him by letting off a flash bang or something to that effect as his vision was blinded by a flash.
Jazz noticed that the blast Harry had sent Danny's way had damaged the trap, but not enough for her brother to get out on his own. So taking advantage of Skulker being blinded she bolted to the trap and began to pull at it, signalling for Sam and Tucker to help her when she spotted them. "I can't believe he's got powers! Since when does he have powers?" Jazz asked herself as she processed this new information.
Harry meanwhile, taking advantage of Skulker's blinded state, decide to use one of the tricks that Strange had taught him. With that, he rushed forward towards Skulker, using magic to enhance his muscles, again, like Strange taught him, before channeling as much magic as he could to his right hand before clenching it into a fist, and punching Skulker in the jaw.
For a moment, everything went silent as, Sam, who had seen Harry rushing towards the ghost, had been about to shout something when, instead of passing through Skulker, as she had expected Harry to, Harry's fist made contact with Skulker's jaw, and sent the ghost flying backwards as some kind of energy exploded from the impact sending the ghost flying backwards.
Tucker, having seen the punch, and watched Skulker go flying, turned to Harry with a look that could almost be called 'hero worship'. "Dude! You are legendary!" Tucker cheered.
"Will someone get over here and help me free Phantom!" Jazz snapped towards Sam and Tucker. Sure what Harry had just done was incredible, and by all right, should've been impossible, but her brother was still trapped and he had the thermos needed to trap Skulker.
Skulker was down for the moment, so, Harry, turning to Danny, rushed over and used sorcery magic to cast a slight cutting curse at the stuff binding Danny, freeing him and giving Harry a fighting partner.
Harry smirked as 'Phantom' got up and looked at him oddly, causing Harry to smirk, "Shall we work together to put this bozo down?" he asked.
Danny, not used to getting help from people that were not his friends or sister, and still not willing to trust Harry, even less so after seeing he had the power to harm ghosts, frowned at him. "Why don't you leave this to the experts?" Without waiting for a response Danny flew towards Skulker and fired a few blast at the downed ghost before reaching for the thermos. Only to discover it wasn't on his belt like it normally is. "Oh no! Guys the thermos!" He shouted to Jazz and his friends.
Harry, sighing, shouted, "Phantom, you find the thermos, I will make sure he stays down!" he said as Skulker started to get up, only for Harry to rush at him and clock him in the eye with another magic covered fist. Harry, now standing over Skulker, began to wail on him with his fists, doing as much damage to hopefully knock out Skulker as he could. Seeing Danny still standing there, in shock too, Harry sighed, "Go, find the thermos thingy!" he repeated.
Jazz, seeing Danny snap out of his shock of having lost the thermos and about to start arguing with Harry shouted out. "You can deal with your wounded pride and manhood later! Right not we gotta find that thermos!" Jazz then turned to Sam and Tucker. "Sam you take the back right corner of the room, Tucker back left." She then turned to Danny. "Phantom will search the top right corner while I'll search the top left. No arguing!" Jazz snapped when Danny opened his mouth to do just that.
Danny let out an annoyed huff. "Fine!" Before flying over to the corner of the gym he'd been told to search while the others raced over to theirs.
Eventually Sam was the one who found it, and called 'Phantom' over to give it too him, as she handed it to him, she pulled him down forcefully and whispered into his ear. "I know what you're thinking, Danny, and if he works for Vlad, me and Tucker will find out, but remember, Harry is a tech guy, his business, from what Tucker found out, does business against Vlad's companies, keep that in mind?" she finished as Danny's eyes widened at that tidbit.
Grabbing the thermos, Danny flew over to Harry and gave a quick shout of "Move!" before activating it just as Harry got out of the way. It is always satisfying to Danny to see Skulker getting sucked into the thermos and then slamming the lid shut. "That's another loss for you Skulker, might wanna rethink your afterlife choices," He joked.
Skulker meanwhile, was a 'bloody' mess, when he went into the thermos, mostly cause of how many times Harry had punched him, and how viciously Harry had made the force of his punches. Then again, Skulker had been threatening innocent bystanders, Danny's friends and sister. So Harry felt no remorse for also unleashing some pent up anger he had been feeling on the ghost. Sighing in relief when the ghost was finally dealt with, Harry nodded to Phantom, and turned to Jazz, "Well, that was fun, now, how about we go find your brother," Harry suggested. "After all," Harry continued, "I promised Maddie I would get you two home safely, though, given what happened here, I think that this incident shouldn't be mentioned, she might go into over protective mother mode..." he finished, shivering slightly at a memory of when Nat had caught Tony trying to prank Lily one time as revenge for all the times she tried to bite him. Given the things involved with Tony's attempted prank, Nat, and Pepper, had not been amused, and had both put him in his place.
Danny, wondering why his mother had decided that him and Jazz were suddenly unable to walk themselves home quickly held of the thermos. "Right well, I better get this back to where he belongs." Danny then flew out of the gym and headed for where he left his bag, stuffing the thermos in and down to the bottom of his bag before heading in the direction of the gym, thinking up an excuse for why he had been missing to feed Harry.
Jazz frowned after her brother. "The least he could've done was say thanks for the help." She grumbled before turning to Harry and smiling. "Thanks a lot for the help. While Phantom might not be willing to admit it, I know we all would've been in big trouble had you jumped in. Though I am a little curious how you have powers that can harm ghost?"
Harry blushed in embarrassment as he rubbed his head. "Oh, yeah, it must be weird for someone 'normal' to be able to hurt ghosts," he chuckled. "Well, about that, I'm a Sorcerer!" Harry said proudly, remembering fondly that Strange had made it clear, sorcerers were outside the sphere of influence of the magical world, and that if the Magical World tried to make a move against them, it would end badly for those born with magic.
Jazz stared at Harry for a moment before sighing. "Sure, why not. There are ghosts, so of course there's sorcerers! What's next a werewolf?" She groaned, not seeing Harry's amused smile.
"Wait for real? Magic outside of what ghost use is real?" Sam asked with her wide eyes full of excitement and wonder. "Can anyone learn it? Can I learn it? Will you teach me?" She started asking all kinds of questions rapidly.
"I think I just found my new idol..." Tucker muttered star struck.
Danny, having finally reached the gym ran in. "Guys, what's going on? What happened here?" He asked as he pretended to take in the damage like he didn't know about the fight with Skulker. "What's Mr. Radcliff doing here?"
"Hi Danny," Harry smiled cheekily, "I was asked by your mother to come pick up you and your sister cause your mother was worried about the increase in Ghost Activity," he began to explain, "I am glad I arrived when I did as I finally got to meet the Phantom and help save your sister and friends from some ghostly hunter, " he finished with a shrug of his shoulders. "Anyway, I would offer to drop your friends off to, but I am not sure if they want an old fuddy duddy like me being seen with them," he finished with a wink at Sam and Tucker.
"You call yourself an 'old fuddy', but the popular kids believed you were a new student, even after taking a good look at you. Id's say that more then shows you aren't that old just yet," Sam pointed out with a smile.
"Wait, what happened with Dash and them?" Danny asked with some interest.
"Dude, you totally missed Dash getting humiliated by Mr. Radcliff here." Tucker grinned.
"Not to mention how he totally threw how shallow Paulina is right in her face while rejecting her attempts to flirt with him!" Sam smirked. "Knew I wasn't the only one to see her for the self centered creature she is."
Jazz rolled her eyes. "Are you guys walking with us or not? Cause if we keep standing here mom's going to come looking for us," She warned.
Tucker and Sam looked at one another for a moment before turning to Harry.
"Actually, I was wondering if I could go over to Mr. Radcliff's with him so he could train me in the arts of magic!" she said excitedly.
"And I kinda want to hang out at Danny's for a bit to be honest," Tucker said quietly.
Harry smirked, "Then lets all get our stuff and go, the more the merrier!" Harry grinned, before turning to Sam, "By the way, before I can teach you, I would need to contact my teacher and have him evaluate you, after all, can't just teach the sorcerer's arts to just anybody, far too powerful and too easily abused," he concluded.
Sam just nodded, excited about the idea of learning real magic and thus was not really listening to what was being said.
Danny frowned at the thought of leaving Sam alone with Harry, after all, despite what Jazz might think, there is still a possibility that Harry could be working for one of his enemies. But he knew if he protested against it out loud, he'd have two angry women, both of whom have access to his bedroom. So he decided to wisely keep his thoughts to himself on the matter. "Still don't know why mom was so worried about us. I mean it's not like we haven't walked home with ghosts running around before," Danny sighed.
"Let's just be glad mom is thinking about us. You know how work focused she gets," Jazz reminded Danny. "Just enjoy it while we have it Danny." Jazz told him before leading the group out of school.
Harry smiled as they finally began their trip to Fenton Works. As they did, Harry turned to Tucker. "So, Tucker, what hobbies do you have?" he asked curiously.
Sam let out a groan and Jazz just silently chuckled as she knew Harry was going to end up wishing he hadn't asked.
Tucker lit up at the question. "Well Mr Po-er, Radcliffe, my good sir," He started, almost saying Harry's real name before catching himself, "I am a lover of all things technology, and when not playing with the latest tech, I am always searching the internet for any new rumors about upcoming teach," He explained as he took off his backpack and started to show off what electronics he had on him, the upgrades he'd gotten, talked about the ones he still wanted to get, his own ideas for upgrades and even devices. There just seemed to be no end to the 'techno babble' as Nym often called that kind of talk.
Harry frowned, realising from Tucker's slip that some people seemed to know who he really was. He also was sad to see he may have found a 'fanboy' of his company and its achievements, after all, he still remembered Colin Creevey and his seemingly obsessive need to dog Harry's footsteps, and constantly take his picture whenever Harry did something. However, he kept his face neutral, and just smiled, while he was aware that Tucker was the very definition of a 'geek', he would no doubt achieve greatness in the future.
Harry then smiled when he saw an opening to interrupt Tucker who, after literally running out of air talking about his gadgets and gizmos, that he was getting higher and higher pitched. Harry turned to Sam, "What about you, Sam, any hobbies, hopes, dreams for the future?" he asked.
"Well to begin with, I'm an ultra-recyclo-vegetarian, which is just a long way of saying I refuse to eat anything that has a face. I also happen to have my own greenhouse out behind my house that I tend to everyday. Outside of that, I enjoy horror, horror fantasy, sci-fi, and of course, anime and manga," She answered. "As for my dreams for the future, I'm hoping to prove to the world that vegetables and tofu are a much better choice for meals than meat ever will be," Sam smiled.
"You will never take away my meat!" Tucker protested.
Sam just rolled her eyes at him for that. "I also, as you've no doubt noticed, have an interest in magic and the supernatural," She added.
Harry smiled, "I am sad to say, Sam, that I do eat meat from time to time, but, I also love non meat foods just as much, after all, the world needs balance, even in food," Harry chuckled, "So, what can you tell me about Axion Labs Tucker?" he asked Tucker, not seeing Danny look up at the mention of that place. "I mean, I got a tour earlier, but, I am curious what the people of Amity Park think of the place," Harry added.
Danny tensed at that, knowing that Vlad owned Axion Labs and wondering just what Harry was up to with that line of questioning.
Tucker shrugged. "I know they are an R&D lab and that they do some defense work, but really, from what I've seen of them, I don't think they are all that impressive. Now, companies like Stark Industry and Auror Corp., those are the best out there. They eat companies like Axion as snacks. Heck, I think they even give Vladco a run for their money," Tucker answered honestly.
Seeing her brother had mentally jumped on the news that Harry had been to Axion earlier and knowing he wouldn't let it go Jazz asked, "What's your interested in the company Mr. Radcliff? Thinking about moving to Amity Park permanently to work there?"
Harry smiled, "I was enquiring there for a friend of mine who, given he is rich, was thinking of buying them out of their contract to Vladco," Harry replied honestly with a shrug, not seeing Danny's eyes widen behind him, or, for that matter Jazz's. Meanwhile Sam was smirking at Harry, realising that he knew they knew who he really was. As for Tucker, he was jumping from idea to idea, conclusion to conclusion.
"See Danny? He can't be working for Vlad if he's thinking of buying out one of his contracts!" Jazz pointed out to Danny in a whisper.
Danny had to agree that did look good for Harry, but rather than admit that he grumbled, "Believe it when I see it." To which Jazz just huffed in annoyance at her brother's stubbornness.
Harry stopped walking, making the group stop as well as he turned and looked at each of them with a careful look. He then sighed and asked, "How long have you four known?"
Sam looked to Tucker, curious how the fanboy would react, . Tucker was sputtering and sweating up a storm, Jazz was worried, mostly about what Harry was planning to do.
As for Danny, he was unafraid of hiding their knowledge anymore.
"Since you arrived," Danny stated matter of factly, getting Jazz to shoot him a menacing glare.
Harry let out a groan at that, realizing that he should've taken up Nym's offer of magic to disguise himself, cause of course this was going to happen without it. Problem was, Harry was still under the impression that his fame only had limited reach, like it had in the Wizarding world. Muggles had no idea he was famous, and so he could walk outside without anyone realizing who he was in a muggle setting. However now a days, he was famous for his company, and the part they played in fighting off the invasion in New York. ,On top of that, and with the internet and social media, of course, word would spread to Amity Park. "Nat was right. I should've done more to hide my identity..." Harry sighed. "Please tell me it's only you four that know who I really am. That you've not been posting online about me being here or told any other friends or family members," He begged.
Jazz jumped in there. "I only told Danny, and I hadn't expected him to tell anyone else about you. I am so sorry, Mr. Potter. I didn't mean to cause you any trouble," Jazz apologized.
Harry smiled, though you could tell it was strained, even a tad bit forced, "No worries Jazz," he said reassuringly, "So long as you all promise to continue not spreading word that I am here, or who I actually am," he added. "After all, my whole point of coming to this town was, to be honest, to have a vacation away from all the cameras and interviews," he then sagged with an exasperated sigh. "Guess I can still enjoy my vacation," he added, "But, if four teenagers could figure me out, I had best be careful then," he added.
Jazz smiled sadly, "Sorry to hear I possibly ruined your vacation," she replied, "But, can I ask, what's going on between you and my mother?" she asked hopefully, causing Harry to sputter and gape at her.
Danny meanwhile, leaned in, curious to hear from the man exactly what his interest was in his mother.
Harry bit back a groan as he had flashbacks to certain comments spoken to him by his wives, some of his employees, his family, and even by Tony, regarding Harry finding a wife in Amity. "I have no interest in your mum outside of a simple friendship," He told her as honestly as he could. "Since you all know who I am you clearly know that I have three wives at home and, currently, four children, three of them still young enough to be called newborns. Maddie is, and shall continue to be, just a friend whom I may email from time to time after I go home just to keep up the friendship. I am not looking for another wife as I am happy with those I currently have back home. You don't have to worry about me trying to become your stepdad."
Jazz smiled sadly, "Oh, ok then..." she said half sad and half happily. After all, while it would be interesting to have a step-dad only a few years older than her, it would be weird, not to mention she'd had a crush on him since he made his debut on the companies of the world scene. At the same time, she knew her mother was falling for Harry, or, as her mother knew him, Mr Daniel Radcliffe, the new guy in town. She then sighed as she felt compelled to ask her next question, "If, by chance, you do end up with her," she began, "Will you make sure to treat her right?" she asked, causing Harry to arch an eyebrow at her questioningly. Seeing his look, she huffed, "Call it a…'feeling', I guess," she replied, "But somehow, some way, I think you two are going to end up together, and I don't know why I am getting this feeling either!" she huffed as she crossed her arms angrily.
Harry was about to tell her she was wrong and that it wouldn't happen, but then he suddenly remembered how he ended up with three wives and four children, and he visibly sagged. "Please don't say things like that. My 'Potter luck' just loves to jump on opportunities like that every chance it gets," He sighed. "If, and that's a very big if, I somehow, in some way, end up married to your mother, I assure you, I will treat her as I treat my other wives," Harry said before chuckling. "Which means Maddie will be teasing me like crazy, I'll be wearing a constant blush on my face, and everyone close to me, or in my company, will be laughing at both my luck and struggles. I swear, my wives must have a point system in place when it comes to teasing me," he sighed, "You'd think I'd be used to it by now."
Danny meanwhile was glaring at Harry now, as if he was a threat, but as he was about to say something, Harry spoke up suddenly. "Well, here we are," he said as the finally arrive, "Now remember everyone, as far as the other townsfolk, and Danny and Jazz's mother are concerned, I am merely, Mr Daniel Radcliffe, friend of...people with money..." he sighed, "Yeah, that doesn't exactly make me sound like a good guy does it..." he grumbled.
Jazz chuckled. "How bout, Mr. Daniel Radcliff, the guy who works for Auror Corp and has escaped the madness of a city that was recently invaded by aliens, to a nice quiet place like Amity Park?" She offered.
"That sounds better, and believable. Also explains the expensive car you have," Sam added as she pointed to a Jaguar in Harry's driveway.
This comment caused Harry to sag his head, "Yeah, wasn't one of my brighter moves…was it?"
Danny smirked at that. "What was your first clue?" To which both Jazz and Sam elbowed him in the stomach and Tucker shook his head with a quiet, "Dude." As even Tucker knew that was a low blow.
Harry then entered to explain to Maddy that they had an eventless trip home.
~w~
~Time Skip: Two weeks later~
It had been an eventful two weeks for Harry. Firstly, he had been talking with Jazz about her plans for the future and had even started asking her if she would like an internship at Auror Corp., joking about how he knew the owner and could 'pull some strings'. His joke of course, caused her to blush and whack him over the head with her textbook. Danny was...indifferent to Harry. Sometimes he was happy to hang with Harry, other times, it was like the boy was cursing Harry's existence. It caused Harry no end of confusion, or concern. Sam, had become a bit of a pest to Harry, in a good way, always trying to get him alone so she could attack him with questions about magic, and supernatural creatures, he still had yet to bring the matter of her up to Stephen Strange. As for Tucker, he, like Sam, had also become a bit of a pest, constantly asking Harry about the gadgets and doodads that Auror Corp. was working on and developing. Needless to say, Harry was at least able to fend off Tucker by claiming Corporate Secrecy necessities.
On the homeward front, he had been avoiding the calls from Nym, ever since the seventh one. As all she did was beg him for when he would be home as Lily Jr. as she had taken to calling their daughter for some mysterious reason, was now actively 'hunting' her, or so Nym claimed at least. She was also constantly brimming with excitement about some kind of 'surprise' waiting for him back home, but refused to state exactly what said surprize was. Any enquiries to Nat's phone were either met with her answering machine, or, were out right ignored. What really creeped Harry out, was the first time he tried to leave a message on Nat's answering machine, he was met with the song We'll Meet Again sung by Vera Lynn, obviously telling him a message subtly, though for the life of him he wasn't sure he wanted to know what that message was. When he tried Laura, she always, somehow, skillfully changed the subject to something else. Though she did always sound nervous before changing the subject.
And finally, there was Maddie, who for some reason, had slowly been seeming more and more withdrawn as the two weeks passed by, as if she was in mourning.
Sighing as he sipped his coffee, Harry decided he would head to the nearby campground and lake, some place called 'Lake Eerie', but yet, was not the Great Lake of the same name, that he had been taught about in school, after he finished his breakfast. Maybe a day to himself near the small town's 'minor lake', would do him nice.
Meanwhile, with Maddie, who was finishing up with washing the dishes, thinking about the last two weeks. She had been deeply enjoying her time with Daniel. She smiled sadly, it was just bad timing that as she got closer to him, the anniversary of her husband's death was drawing near. She had, of course, talked with Jazz about Maddie's dates with Daniel, something which had resulted in her, subtly, asking Jazz questions about how she would feel if she and Daniel ended up together. Jazz, of course, had told her mother that she just wanted her to be happy, and that, if Maddie saw a chance, she should jump in with both feet and eyes closed. When she had tried the same subtle questions with Danny, he had reacted badly, vehemently refusing the idea of Maddie getting together with anyone else but the memory of Jack, much to her sadness.
Shaking her head out of reminiscing over the last two weeks, she decided she would go to Lake Eerie, before heading to the cemetery to leave her yearly bouquet of flowers on Jack's grave.
So, finishing up the dishes, she got changed out of her usual jumpsuit, and into some form fitting black jeans and a black blouse. Then she put on her leather trench coat she had gotten once as a joke gift from Jack once before his death. It was, of course, black, with a big ghost picture on the back.
As she made to step out the door and lock it, she failed to notice Danny storming up to his room.
~w~
~At the Amity Park's Lake Eerie Campground~
Finally arriving at the lake, neither Harry, nor Maddie, knew that the other was their, having arrived at different parking lots and from different locations. Maddie had left directly from home, while Harry had stopped at a convenience store to buy some bread and other stuff.
As they locked their respective vehicles and headed to the lake, neither saw much of the other people who were also visiting, mostly due to the thick fog cover.
So imagine their surprise when they,quite literally, sat at the same bench as some of the fog cleared only to notice the other sitting at the opposite end of the bench.
"Oh, uh, M-M-Maddie," Harry stammered, blushing a bit. He still remembered their last date, when Maddie had kissed his cheek good night.
Maddie smiled when she saw Harry, her spirits lifting a little. "Oh Daniel! What a pleasant surprise. What brings you out here?" She asked him with a small smile.
Harry gulped nervously, "Um, just seeing the sights..." he replied lamely, hoping she bought the excuse, after all, it would be rude to tell her now that he wanted to clear his head.
"Still? I didn't realize Amity had so much to see. Maybe I should go for walks around town more often." She commented with some amusement. She could tell he wasn't being fully honest with her but she didn't mind. He was a good man after all, and from what she had gathered, he seemed to have a lot of weight on his shoulders. After all he had recently opened up a little about some trouble he had with his father back around the time of the invasion, though he refused to say much on the matter. Truly it was no wonder someone as young as him needing a break from everything.
Harry blushed at her comment, "Well, to be fair," he began, "I have been hanging out with my new friends," he chuckled, "Your son's friends are quite entertaining," he smiled. "In addition, I have also been spending time with your daughter," he added, "I already put in word with my superiors at Auror Corp. for her to receive an internship," he chuckled, going with the cover story he and Jazz had worked on together to explain how she would get her internship. He smiled sadly, "Sadly, your son himself, seems to flip between how he feels towards me, and while I am fine with that, I sometimes wish he would just choose a side to stick with already..." he finished awkwardly.
Maddie sighed at that. "Yes, Danny does seem conflicted about you, and I fear that has to do with me and my late husband." She then went on to explain how the day her husband had died she was supposed to work with him in the lab but had been called for an important matter elsewhere in town, so Danny had ended up helping him. While she didn't completely know what happened that day she knew there had been an accident in the lab and only Danny had survived. She told him that she believed Danny blamed himself for the accident and that because of that he didn't want any of them to move on. How Danny had been vocal against Maddie even being friends with Harry. "Don't get me wrong, I loved Jack, and still do to this day. I don't go looking to replace him, but I like to think that if Jack could voice his thoughts on the matter he would tell us it's alright to move on. That it's alright for me to start dating again," Maddie sighed.
Harry nodded, "If he really, truly loved you, Maddie," Harry replied, "Then he wouldn't want you to dwell on what was, but think about what could be," he said with an encouraging smile. He really liked Maddie, and while he would love to be there for her, the way she no doubted wanted him to, he wasn't sure how his wives would react if he left for vacation the way he did, and then came back with a wife and two step children that were already in their teens.
As the two adults were staring into each others eyes, with conflicted emotions of both love and uncertainty. A 'new' ghost had escaped from the Ghost Zone, and was 'wreaking havoc', of sorts across Amity. The ghost in question was a ghost who, in life, had been a friar and a wizard, with his heritage going back to the ghost, who, nowadays, was only known as 'The Fat Friar', Hogwarts Ghost of Hufflepuff. This friar's only other relative of note, was Friar Tuck of Robin Hood's band of Merry Men.
Now, you're probably wondering, what the name of this friar ghost, who had held up the occupation of his two famous ancestors, and his name was Amandus. In life, he had been notorious, both in the mundane, and the magical worlds. Frequently he would be in trouble with his superiors during his life for sanctioning marriages to couples who had come to his abby looking to sanction their union. Needless to say, Amandus, of course, had used magic to make the couples unions...permanent... Now, normally, this wouldn't be a problem, until the couples had started arguing with one another and demanded their marriages annulled, only to find out that since Magic had overseen their marriages, they could not be canceled. Needless to say, Amandus had eventually met a...sticky end...but even in death, as a ghost now, he still had the power to sanction marriages, and even force it on couples he encountered that he thought were too cute to not be married.
So, Amandus, seeing Harry and Maddie staring at one another, and with both looks of confliction, but also of love, decided to give them the nudge he felt they needed, with his ghost powers he began to influence them to admitting their feelings for one another, and began to influence them both to head to a local church. He made sure to possess the priest at the church, so as to officiate their marriage himself with his talent for marriage magics. It took twenty minutes, and he was surprised when the man turned out to be a wizard as well, making the marriage extra strong and binding. So, when they eventually left, and headed for Maddie's place, neither of them thought much about the marriage or the fact that the priest hadn't exactly had a healthy skin tone. But with marriage certificate in hand, and a lord and lady ring on their respective fingers, which had both appeared with small flashes of magic when they had kissed and the marriage had concluded, both were extremely happy in that moment.
~w~
~Omake: The Start of the Collectables~
~At Auror Corp. HQ, aka The Potter Household~
Nat had been holding down the fort since Harry's vacation began, sure, there had been a few more girls nights, since the first disastrous one. But with Nat at the head of the family, with Harry on vacation of course, she had made it clear to Nym, that if Nym messed around, she would be punished accordingly. Nym, of course, had tried to prank Nat, only to end up having to do paperwork with Nat personally. It would be during this first session that a future headache for Nat and Harry would be born.
Nym had been signing papers and rejecting others with Nat's input for well over an hour when a particular paper caught her eye. "Huh..." Nym said intelligently as she read the paper. It had caught her interest with the title of 'Auror Corp. Collector's Merchandise permission'.
Nat sighed, having just rejected a proposal for permission to patent a line of underwear for women and girls with the faces of the Avengers and the Tricksters on it. She had been, needless to say, creeped out a bit when they had sent her an example piece that was a pair of women's lacy panties with Harry's face on the front where the crotch would be and giving a thumbs up. Needless to say, it would be burned, and the ashes scattered, Nat would make sure of it. So, when she heard Nym make a sound other than a groan of defeat, she was curious.
"What has distracted you from your work, Lady Nym?" Nat asked pointedly, causing Nym to flinch and pause her reading of the offer knowing that Nat calling her 'Lady Nym' was a sign that Nym had been be completely honest if she didn't want to lose the rights to her shows for the next month.
"Apparently, some company that is known for printing trading cards about various media, from Pokemon to cards about those DC heroes from DC Comics," Nym began, "Wants to create a line of collectables and trading cards about the 'Heroes of the Battle of NYC'," she finished.
Nat raised an eyebrow while thinking about it, if they authorised it, how would they market it, there weren't many Avengers that were involved in the battle. "But there are only a few of us in the Avengers," she pointed out.
Nym smirked, "Actually, they were more aiming for both the Avengers, and Trickster," Nym corrected Nat.
Nat now arched both eyebrows curiously in surprize. "Oh?" Nat asked, "And what exactly do they want the cards to include?" she asked as she narrowed her eyes in thought of what they would be allowed to print, she refused to allow any of them, family, Trickster, or Avengers be shown in a tasteless fashion or contain any information that could be used for lewd and perverted things.
Nym read the paper further before she said, "Apparently they want the cards to include simple stuff," she replied, "Stuff like, little innocent facts, trivia, likes, hobbies, and..." she paused as she looked at the paper again, wondering how to word the last part so that Nat wouldn't get mad at her, instead of the ones who included this...ridiculous and creepy request, in the card's statistics. Nym gulped and decided to be honest with Nat, as she always seemed to lock eyes with her when Nym lied. "They also want to include 'sizes'..."
Nat arched an eyebrow, they clearly weren't talking about height, so what did they mean by sizes, "What kind of sizes, Nym?" she asked curiously but with a tone of steel.
Nym sighed, "Clothing sizes, body sizes…breast sizes..." Nym finally relented and began to trail off at the end of her reply. She was avoiding Nat's tightening and intensifying glare.
Nat just stared at Nym for a long moment before replying simply with, "Give me the paper Nym, I will handle this matter personally till Harry returns," she said adamantly.
Nym complied and handed the papers to Nat, glad that the anger was not directed at her, but instead, at these perverted card makers.
Nat meanwhile, was already thinking ahead, she would talk with Harry about making the cards themselves so as to control what...info...went on the cards, however, they would have to keep an eye out for fakes, a way to define that the Auror Corp. printed cards were authentic. After all, she had heard about the fiasco with Star Wars toys and other products back in the seventies and eighties, and she would be damned if her husband's business was cheated by others making similar cards with one extra letter, or one less letter in the names, or making up facts and trivia about members of Trickster and the Avengers.
As Nat began to delve into ideas and plans about how to protect the authenticity of the cards that she was already mapping out in her head, Nym took that moment to sneak out and go see Nat's children, she still had plans to spoil them silly after all, and end up being their favorite mother figure, who would end up calling her 'Fun Mom'.
~w~
AN: Oracle: So yeah, that all happened lol. We are sorry once again for the wait and hope that all of you found this chapter to be good. We did struggle with writing this chapter due to life outside of fanfic, I know, how dare we have lives outside of fanfiction lol, but we worked hard to bring this to all of you. We shall try to write more soon but don't quote me. Just know that we have not abandoned this story and will continue to bring more to you as we are able to.
Ogremen: Well, this chapter took a while to get through creation, lol We're both deeply sorry for the wait, but we had to wait for Inspiration to strike once again, after it did, this chapter, bit by bit, fell into place owo As for the new ghost, 'Friar Amandus: Priest of Love', he was my idea with refinement thanks to Oracle, so, if anyone is to blame for his creation, its me owo But, we thought, well, he was an ordained member of the church, and had magic at his fingertips, he predates the Statute of Secrecy, so, we will see some of the other couples that he dragged into his reach next chapter though :P Finally, we hope you enjoyed this chapter so remember, leave a review and please, be nice ^w^' Oh, also, we plan to reveal the 'details' of the marriage ceremony through 'foggy memories' next chapter, lol And we HOPE you enjoyed the omake, lol