It was time for Diagon Alley, and Jake would not shut up.
The dragon had always been talkative, aggressively social, and liked overusing the words "ass," "bitch," and "fuck" (mostly to describe either the situation they were in, the reports being sent to the Dragon Council in the morning, or the idea of drawing straws), but for once, he actually seemed excited to go wherever it was they needed to get their books.
"I've heard a lot about Diagon Alley from Nigel," Jake rambled as they approached a dingy looking pub. The sign creaked as it swung slightly in the wind, faded words spelling out The Leaky Cauldron. "The dude never actually went to Hogwarts, I don't think - might've been homeschooled - but anyway, if there was thing he liked talking about more than himself, it was this place."
"It's a marketplace, right?" Danny asked as he eyed the wizards in front of them. Ron was complaining about how cramped it had been in the taxi, something Jake had insisted upon after the fiasco with the Portkeys. Danny was secretly grateful; these days, any chance at normalcy was welcomed with open arms.
"Yeah, basically." Jake peered at the pub's sign as they stepped through the door. "There'd better be wards around this place."
Danny was about to ask him what kind of wards, exactly, only for the words to die in his throat as his eyes processed everything in front of him.
The pub was very clearly not a muggle space; it was a little shabby and dirty and not too far off from the pubs he'd seen back in Amity, but the people occupying the area seemed to hold a much looser standard of fashion. Mismatched clothing, colors clashing horribly in a way that had Danny about ninety percent sure he could hear Paulina screeching from all the way back in America, as well as the traditional wizard robes all pointed to the idea of magical underworld. Atop a table, a few older men played a game of what, at first glance, appeared to be chess, were it not for the pieces violently attacking each other on their own. At another table by the bar, a witch sat and read a newspaper (with moving pictures, Danny noted distantly), absently stirring the air above her glass with her finger as it spun around slowly on its own.
"Neat, right?" Jake leaned in close to Danny's ear. "Fu Dog told me about a few safe spaces for magicals that humans can't get into. Sometimes it leads into a separate, more well-known place, which is what we're going to do."
"Uh-huh…" Danny found it hard to focus on the dragon's words as he watched the chess game, enthralled by the wizards' enthusiasm as a bishop shattered a poor pawn.
"Tom!" Arthur greeted an old, bald man working behind the bar. "How have you been, old chap?"
"Arthur, long time no see," Tom laughed. "Doing swell, thanks for asking!"
The two of them exchanged pleasantries for a few moments longer until Molly tapped her husband on the shoulder and reminded him of their schedule. With Danny listening to Jake chatter on about Diagon Alley as they stayed behind the other kids, the group moved around to the back of the pub and through a door that led to a small courtyard outside.
They stopped before a brick wall. Danny looked over at Jake, who looked just as confused as him. "There's a lot of magic here," the dragon mumbled. "But I don't know how to get there."
They watched as Arthur took out his wand and tapped a few bricks in a seemingly random sequence. He nodded to himself, took a step back, and grinned back at Danny and Jake. "Welcome to Diagon Alley!"
Danny barely heard him. He was too busy staring at the moving bricks.
They began rolling away from the center of the wall, around the same area Arthur had been tapping, folding into one another in much the same way Grimmauld Place had. Before long, an archway had appeared in the wall.
"Yo, that is sick," Jake exclaimed.
Their hosts stepped through the archway first. Harry looked back at Danny, whose mouth was hanging open, and grinned. "It gets better," he promised, stepping through the archway.
"C'mon!" Jake pulled at Danny's arm. Together they hurried through the archway, eyes blowing wide at the sight laid before them.
The first thing Danny would use to describe Diagon Alley would be crowded; witches and wizards were crammed together on a street that was lined with various shops, and as the group moved into the street (Jake holding on to Danny's sleeve for dear life with his tiny stature - oh, Danny would tease him so much for that), he could make out the oddities inside each store that labeled them as magical. A sweets shop selling candy that was colored eccentrically and advertised things Danny would rather not put in his mouth; a shop which, at first glance, would've been a sports store with all the balls and gloves and knee pads in the storefront windows, were it not for the broomsticks being showcased and the kids crowding around them, yelling about flying; a strange store which advertised cauldrons and herbs he hadn't even heard of, not to mention the rather disturbing stuff floating in jars.
"Fenton!" Jake yelled into Danny's ear over the cacophonous chatter of wizards all around them and tugged at his sleeve again. "Stop standing there like an idiot and keep moving so we don't get lost!"
Danny nodded, still gawking openly. He hurried after the heads of red that stood tall above the crowd, pushing past different people with mutters of sorry and excuse me and seriously debating whether or not it was worth it to just turn intangible and walk through everyone. It'd certainly freak people out.
They rejoined the group (Molly fussing over them like a mother hen) and made a game plan of where to head to next: They'd go to two places called Slug and Jiggers Apothecary and Flourish & Blotts for school supplies together, then everyone would split up into groups and hunt for other supplies they may need separately. Arthur suggested going into Gringotts Bank first in order to grab some extra money, and before Danny knew it, they were pushing their way through the crowd and making their way down to the large white building at the end of the street.
"Is this like a normal - I mean, muggle bank?" Jake asked Ron as they made their way up the steps. "I mean, how do they get you your money?"
Ron snorted. "Oh, it's a wild ride, alright. You'll see exactly what it's like."
Danny furrowed his brows, and Jake frowned in confusion; but Hermione, who had been chatting with Harry as they walked beside the redhead, just sighed. "Don't mind him, Jake. Gringotts doesn't use machines to get the money, if that's what you mean." A beat. "Really, his pun was spot on. It is a ride."
Danny was about to ask what pun exactly, because he could always appreciate a good one, but it was usually better if he actually understood it - then they'd stepped through the gigantic doors of the bank, and he had to bite his tongue in order to stop himself from saying something that might've been very rude and possibly earned him a punch from Jake.
"Oh, hey, goblins," Jake commented as they walked down the hall, Danny staring at the tiny… men? The people sitting behind desks. The tables towered above his head as the goblins organized sheets and stamped envelopes, their long, spindly fingers working expertly.
At the very end of the hall, Molly and Arthur stood talking to a goblin, who stared at them with an unimpressed expression. Thin, silver hair was slicked back, beady black eyes darting toward the approaching children. The goblin's gaze lingered on Danny, then swept over to rest on Jake. It pointed a long, thin finger at the fourteen-year-old.
"Draco," said the goblin. "What is your business here?"
Jake grinned cockily, leaning forward as he made his way forward with an exaggerated gate. Danny rolled his eyes at the display. "So, you recognize me, huh? Wouldn't have guessed any different, after all, I am pretty famous-"
"I can sense your chi," the goblin replied dryly. "Most magicals can. Granted, our particular race of goblins is better at that than the rest of our species. At any rate, I have no idea who you are."
Jake seemed to deflate a little. "Oh. Okay, cool." His mouth twitched. "Anyway, I'm the American Dragon, Jake Long. Hey, you don't happen to know where the English Dragon lives, I need to have a chat with them about responsibility-"
"We are registered as Independent."
"Never mind, then," Jake immediately shot back. He crossed his arms, leaning into Danny to whisper, "Never really liked goblins, the rude little-"
"I think he can hear you," Danny murmured back, aware of the goblin's glare as Jake continued to gripe.
Molly decided in that moment to bring attention back to herself. "Griphook," she said, "you don't mind opening up Harry's vault while we're at it as well? He hasn't had access to his money all summer…"
Griphook nodded curtly. "Yes, as long as he has his key."
Through some persuasion, Danny and Jake were allowed to go down with the Weasleys, Hermione, and Harry to the vaults. Of course, after realizing the vaults were literally vaults down in the ground, the two had expected a staircase, maybe a spiral, made out of stone for added dramatic effect. (The wizards were so extra about everything it was almost painful. It reminded Danny of the time Sam tried out a Tumblr account, which had only lasted a few months. It was better not to think of that time.)
Instead they were faced with a goddamn roller coaster.
Danny blinked down at the small, shabby cart that was supposed to carry everyone down to the vaults. "Well, that's not ideal."
"Yeah." Jake grabbed Danny by the arm. "We're just gonna, uh, go and wait outside."
"Wouldn't you be used to this?" Harry asked them. "I mean, can't you both fly?"
"See, the thing is," Jake said, "I'm banned from flying until the school year starts - bit of a head injury. And Fenton here is, uh… afraid of heights."
Danny nodded earnestly. "Absolutely terrified."
Molly frowned at them. "Well, be sure not to get lost. We'll be up soon in no time, then we'll get to finishing up with our shopping."
"Got it!" Jake shot her a thumbs up and proceeded to pull Danny out back into the main hall of Gringotts Bank.
Danny waved at the people they'd left behind, noticing how Griphook turned his eyes to the ceiling as if asking a higher being what he'd done to be in his current position.
It wasn't until after they were outside that Danny realized what he'd said.
"Long, holy shit," he groaned as the two made their way down the stairs outside of the building. "Why'd you tell them I was afraid of heights? I'm a ghost, Ancients-"
"I panicked," Jake defended.
Danny sighed, linking his arms together with Jake's. "What now?"
"You'll have to spend the rest of the year pretending to be terrified of heights or be forever branded as a lying little-"
"I'm talking about Diagon Alley."
"Ah, yeah, right, right. Jakey's got it. Uh…" He peered around the crowded street, eyes lighting up after a moment. "How 'bout a candy store?"
"We don't have money."
"We don't have to buy anything."
"We can't go into a candy store and not buy something. It makes us look suspicious."
Jake groaned. "Fine. What about the pet store? Magical Menagerie? I asked Arthur while we were walking, he says they've got a lot of magical animals that students bring to Hogwarts."
The two agreed on the store and made their way through the throng of wizards, making sure to keep a firm grip on one another so as not to get separated. Danny felt nervousness build up from the amount of bodies pressing into him; he'd always been a little claustrophobic, something that had only grown as the possibility of being strapped down to a table for dissection suddenly became much more likely.
Eventually, though, they reached the pet store, where Jake immediately let out a gasp of, "Is that a fucking firecrab?"
"Jake," Danny hissed. "There are people here."
"Oh - oh my God," Jake whispered excitedly, completely ignoring Danny in favor of hurrying towards the creature sitting in a cage in the back of the room. "My dude, this is - this is a legit. Firecrab. I'm gonna cry."
Danny let out a laugh and looked around the room for himself. Out of everything he'd seen so far in the little time he'd spent in the wizarding world, this had to be the most normal: sure, the owls were a little weird, and he'd definitely never heard of a firecrab, but there were cats here, cats and toads and even a few bowls with fish, and it made him want to weep with joy at the wonderful normalness of it all.
There were only two other people in the shop, not including Jake and Danny. The clerk was a woman who looked to be in her twenties with dyed blue hair pulled into a tight braid, looking bored out of her mind. She was currently tending to a kid about Danny's age. He was a little pudgy, with hair that might have been blond once but seemed to have darkened with time. As Danny drew nearer, he noticed a toad snuggled in the kid's hands.
"It's just, he hasn't been eating a whole lot, and I'm afraid to leave him be," the boy chattered on, seemingly oblivious to the clerk's apathy. "He likes to run, you know? And, well, I was wondering if you had any suggestions on diet changes, you know, so that he'd eat a little more, and-" He broke off when he noticed Danny standing awkwardly to the side. "Um, apologies, can I help you?"
Danny started, his face flushing. He'd been leaning over the counter to catch a glimpse of the bright purple snails moving around in a container, and had unwittingly stepped into the boy's personal space. "Uh, sorry."
"No worries," the boy said shyly. He stuck out his hand. "I'm Neville."
Danny gave him a small smile, shoulders tensing as he was thrust into introductions. Dammit, he was awful at starting conversations. "I'm, uh, Danny Fenton. Nice toad," he remarked, feeling incredibly awkward.
Neville beamed. "Thank you! And it's nice to meet you, Danny. Say, where are you from? I can't quite place your accent…"
"I'm American," Danny said. Then, because he figured he might as well keep the conversation going instead of making things even more awkward, "Do you go to Hogwarts?"
Neville nodded. "Yes, fifth year. You too?"
"I'm staying for the year with a friend." Danny jabbed his finger in Jake's general direction.
"No way!" Neville laughed.
"Yeah, it's kinda-"
"Fenton," came a frazzled voice from behind him. Danny whirled around to come face to face with Jake, whose eyes were wide. The dragon grabbed him by the shoulders. "Dude, we gotta - we gotta get the firecrab. C'mon. I'm sure we can find some loose change somewhere, I've wanted one of these ever since Gramps made me do a report on them-" He blinked, just noticing Neville. "Oh, hi. Who's this?"
"This is Neville," Danny said. "He's going to Hogwarts, too."
Jake grinned. "Aw, dude, sweet! Guess we'll see ya there, huh? Anyway-" eyes flicked back to Danny, "-I'm telling you, there should be some money… Or! You know what? Can't you, like, stick your hands through walls? What about we rob-"
"We are not robbing anything," Danny said loudly at the same time Neville asked, "What do you mean, stick your hands through walls?"
Danny winced. "Ah, nothing. It's an inside joke."
Neville looked like he'd bought it. He shrugged, hefting his rather large toad in his hands, and said, "Well, I'll leave you two to it. I need to find something for my toad. I'll see you in Hogwarts, then?"
Danny nodded. Jake gave him a thumbs up.
Neville smiled at them one last time before turning to the clerk again. She looked at him, sighed, and reached down under the desk to bring out a bag full of some herbs. "Should help some," she said. "One galleon."
It was after Neville had left that Danny finally turned back to the snails. "Hey, Jake," he said, pointing at the slimy creatures. "tag yourself."
Jake snorted. "Clearly I'm the plant they're climbing on. Too beautiful to resist."
Danny laughed. "Great, 'cause I'm the one that fell on its back in the corner and can't get up."
They met up with the group not long after; Hermione looked a little green, which only made Jake all the more glad that they hadn't taken the ride down to the vaults. Portkeys were enough, thank you very much.
If he was lucky, he'd get everyone to pile into a taxi again on the ride home. Ron's face was priceless when he realized that muggles cannot, in fact, make the inside of the car larger than the outside.
Everyone had trooped together to go buy the books, where Danny had gasped at literally everything he saw (and, okay, Jake had to admit that the things here were pretty cool, especially compared to his measly collection of magical items back in NYC. They had firecrabs here, for fuck's sake, a species that had gone extinct in America some fifty years back). While Ron and Hermione bickered over the value of the classes they had to take, Harry and Danny entertained themselves by finding the most specific book titles they could on the magical world. Jake's personal favorite (which was found by Harry) was One Hundred Ways to Avoid Smelling Like Dung in Time for a Party After Being Chased by a Group of Angry Female Giants.
They gradually moved from Flourish and Blotts, arms laden with heavy textbooks, in favor of the store across the street, which would provide the wizards with supplies for Potions class. Slug and Jiggers Apothecary graced the group with dim lighting (not that it was any problem for Jake, who had enhanced senses), a foul stench that sent Danny into a coughing fit, and shelves of jars of things that Jake would rather not think about.
Ginny wrinkled her nose at the herbs hanging from the ceiling. "Ugh, the smell."
"You and me both, sis," Jake moaned, pressing his nose into Danny's sleeve in the hopes of filtering the air. Danny coughed again, then patted Jake's head sympathetically.
Hermione insisted on taking the two all around Diagon Alley - and, really, how could Jake say no? So far, this was the first place in magical England that didn't make him want to punch something.
So while Ginny went to buy the rest of the school supplies for her year with her parents, the trio took Danny and Jake outside and to an ice cream shop near the Leaky Cauldron.
Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour had some of the best ice cream Jake had ever tasted - and he lived in New York. The owner of the shop had greeted them with friendly smiles, asking Harry how he was doing, leading Jake to think they'd probably been acquainted before. Danny didn't want to order anything at first but was eventually convinced by the dragon. ("Who knows how long we'll have to survive on pop tarts!")
Jake ordered the "Apple Crumble," the same thing as Hermione, while Danny went and got simple chocolate ice cream. Ron rolled his eyes at that, ordering a Sticky Toffee Pudding, Harry shrugging and getting the same thing.
"I have to admit," Jake said after a few bites of his ice cream, "y'all have really good food. Definitely beats leftover pizza."
"Beats evil ghost turkeys," Danny laughed, ignoring the odd looks he got.
They didn't stay there long, of course. Hermione insisted they look at Eeylops Owl Emporium, as well as Ollivanders. Ron pleaded with her to let them go to Gambol and Japes, a wizarding joke shop. Harry piped up with the suggestion of Quality Quidditch Supplies.
In the end, they went to the Quidditch shop first, as Danny was curious about the sport. While Ron and Harry smothered him with information, Hermione pulled Jake away to talk.
"How are you feeling about everything?" she asked him. Her brown curls fell around her face as she leaned against a table sporting another broomstick. "Danny told me neither of you are exactly pleased to be here. Well, he said that about you, but the both was implied."
Jake shrugged. "Honestly? From this region specifically, I've seen a lot of bad stuff-" he thought back to the elf heads, "-but it may be wrong to generalize. Every species has its problems. Dragons tend to have slanted views of punishment. It's a really uptight system we have with not a lot of room to change things, and I think it may be the same with wizards. You guys have a Ministry that's similar to the Council, you're pretty big on keeping the secret of magic safe, but you also don't really see past your own faults."
Hermione blinked. "Oh?"
He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Look at it this way: Harry and Voldemort - oh, c'mon, you'll have to get used to the name eventually - he saw the dude rise from the dead last year, but every time he tells someone, they call him batshit crazy. They're even saying Bumblebee's a crackpot. Now, tell me this: if two of your students disappear for a bit during a tournament and come back with one dead and the other talking about the fuckin' Dark Lord rising again, do you really think it's a good idea to just dismiss those claims and talk shit about him in the newspaper? Don't you think some precautions, or at least keeping an eye out, could make more sense?"
"Of course I think that, Jake."
"But the Ministry doesn't," Jake shot back. "They want to keep their jobs, I get it, but turning a blind eye isn't gonna help. It's gonna make things worse. Saying you hope something isn't going to go wrong, or that you're sure it won't go wrong - just sending condolences to the family of this poor murdered kid, then calling another kid crazy for warning everyone… it won't help. It's gonna blow up in your faces. And I think the only way you're going to win is if you fight back, regardless of what the Ministry says."
"Don't you think we'd like to do that?" Hermione said. "We're teenagers, Jake. there's nothing we can do except help get Harry through whatever this is-"
"That's it!" Jake jabbed his finger at her. "That's your flaw. You guys are afraid of breaking the rules. It's because you have a lot of it. And I know what it's like, because the Council is very much the same, but you can't let this get worse. Why do you think the Order was made? The Minister doesn't know about it. But they don't let kids in, either, and personally, I think that's dumb. Your age doesn't determine your willingness to fight. You deserve to know what's going on."
"Then tell us," Hermione pleaded.
"I will," Jake announced. "Goddammit, I will. This is going to get out of hand eventually. Right now, nothing big's happening. But once it does, if they don't let every single person in on the shitstorm going on, I'll fly around the world and tell y'all myself." He glared at her. "I'm not the kind of person to stand by and watch these things fall apart."
Hermione gave him a calculating look. "Be careful where you say these things, Jake. Some people may think you're being unfair - we're doing the best we can. People have died-"
"The Order of the Phoenix is doing something," Jake cut her off again, "and they're doing great, don't get me wrong. But what they're doing isn't always going to keep the public safe. It's not a permanent solution. They aren't a big organization, and they definitely aren't credible, at least in the eyes of the press I mean, you have a werewolf, a convicted murderer, and a whole tragic story with a fifteen-year-old kid as the only witness… yeah. What you need are numbers. A following. More people who understand what's happening and can directly fight back. The public. You need an army."
Her eyes narrowed at the suggestion.
"Hey, Harry-" Ron turned around to his best friend, sporting a pair of hot pink Quidditch goggles. "What do you say?"
Harry laughed. "Suits you!"
Danny's mouth twitched. He discretely snapped another picture of the broomsticks being displayed and sent it to the group chat consisting of Sam and Tucker back in Amity, holding back a laugh at Tucker's response of, wow they really love the cliches huh. He didn't entirely understand what the sport was and why they felt the need to ride broomsticks, of all things, but he had to admit it was far more interesting than football. He sometimes thought Dash was incapable of speaking anything other than the over-glorified sport.
He was brought into the conversation as a new voice entered. Looking up from his phone, he noticed with a start that Ron and Harry had become tense as they looked at the newcomer, a squat girl who looked to be a few years older than them.
"All I'm saying," she told the two boys, "is that Potter shouldn't be spreading these rumors around. It only creates a panic, and it brings him a bad name-"
"It should be causing a panic!" Harry interrupted. "He's back, and all you lot think is that I'm lying-"
"Well, what are we supposed to think? That you really saw You-Know-Who rise from the dead? Yeah, real believable."
"Oi, that's my best mate," Ron snapped.
Danny, watching as Harry clenched his fists angrily, thought it'd be a good idea to cut in. "And I'm a friend of theirs, too. What's going on?"
"This one-" Ron jabbed a ginger at the girl, who looked on impassively, "-is calling Harry a liar and Dumbledore a crackpot."
"Because it's true!" the girl insisted.
Harry let out a shout and launched himself at her, but Danny was quick, and in a moment, the angry wizard had passed through the girl harmlessly and lay heaving on the floor.
Danny pulled him out and away from the witch, then let go of his wrist and allowed the intangibility to bleed away. He glared at Ron, who looked about ready to hex someone, then shifted his gaze to the girl, taking in her shell-shocked stare with a wince.
Damn, he thought, there goes our plan of laying low until we reach Hogwarts.
"Merlin's Beard!" she shrieked, stepping back from Danny. "What the bloody hell was that!"
Danny chose instead to watch Harry pick himself off from the floor, still wheezing from what was likely an uncomfortable sensation (he'd been told by Tucker that intangibility, to humans, felt like a sudden numbness across the whole body). He ignored the clench in his chest as he replayed the girl's horror in his mind, wondering just how terrifying he was to people.
A whistle blew behind him. "Shit went down, huh?"
"Oh, thank God," Danny muttered, whirling around to take Jake by the shoulders. "We're leaving," he told Harry and Ron.
Ron frowned. "But-"
"Now," Danny said more forcefully, shooting a glance at the still-paralyzed witch.
Together the group left the shop, Hermione asking the boys what had happened, with Danny and Jake walking side by side in silence.
The experience in the shop had soured Danny, Ron, and Harry's moods, though Jake still insisted they go to the joke shop for a few minutes, and after Hermione reluctantly agreed, they made their way down the road.
Harry ended up buying a few candies and offered to share; Jake happily accepted, taking a handful of chewy fire-breaths to try out later. "Maybe it, like, cancels out my own fire breathing," he joked.
Danny smiled, but his heart wasn't in it. He couldn't get the image of the girl's shocked expression out of his head; did wizards really see ghosts and intangibility as such an otherworldly thing? He could chalk it up as simply a gut reaction, but still.
How would the rest of Hogwarts react to his ghostliness when he, as Clockwork told him to, used it so freely?
His "mentor" said he'd keep him safe, but Danny couldn't help but think that the last thing he'd need was physical help from being restrained.
Loneliness was far worse.
The last few days had been hectic, to say the least; what with Harry's hearing, the accusations against him and Dumbledore, the arrival of the two representatives, and - most recently - getting the Hogwarts letters and having to buy supplies for school (not to mention Ron and Hermione becoming prefects, something Danny and Jake had only heard about much later in the day due to both still being asleep), the entire House of Black was in a frantic state. Sirius spent most of his time grumbling about staying indoors, Danny continued to make bad space puns and drink ungodly amounts of caffeine, and Jake would moan to Hermione about the reports he still had to fill out for the Dragon Council. Harry seemed to brood more often, too, and Ginny was wary of getting in the middle of all the drama. If that weren't enough, Ron decided it'd be a good idea to team up with the twins and try to glean information about the Order from Danny and Jake.
"Anything new?" Fred Apparated right next to the halfa, who immediately started choking on his coffee.
"Nothing much," said the very sleep-deprived halfa after he stopped coughing. "We talked about the wea-"
"The weather!" Jake cut in hastily, slapping a hand over Danny's mouth (and rather harshly, as the ghost would complain about later). "We talked loads about the weather. Oh, I could go on and on about the sunny weather, the totally not important weather which Danny should not be talking about and which you shouldn't be taking advantage of because he hasn't even finished his first cup this morning, the poor bastard."
Fred shrugged. "Suit yourself," he said, and Apparated away.
All while having to deal with chores, mind you. Cleaning the house had proved to be a rather tedious task, especially with the boggart that had turned up sometime during the days spent there; and when Danny learned just what the creature did, he found himself glad it was Molly on the receiving end of it and not him, however guilty that made him feel.
So, yes, things were hectic, and even more so when they had to leave for King's Cross.
"We're going to be late!" Molly shrieked over the sound of Mrs. Black's painting. "Fred, George - oh, for the love of - Stop bewitching things! I said stop it!"
"Blimey," Ron groaned as he dragged his trunk downstairs, Danny lugging his own bags behind him. "I can't wait to get out of his house. Harry, do you agree?"
"Can't wait to get to Hogwarts," Harry replied, who, with his skinny frame, had trouble carrying his luggage downstairs as well. He turned to Danny. "Where's Jake?"
Danny shrugged. "Probably gelling his hair. Hey, you need help with that?" He pointed at the trunks.
"Er…" Harry looked down at him and Ron's trunks. "You sure you can carry these? They're quite heavy."
Danny waved his free hand dismissively. "Yeah, I got it - ghost powers, remember?"
And so one thing let to another, and within minutes, Danny had helped everyone move their trunks downstairs by floating down the stairs in his ghost form, well aware of the how much lighter something seemed once his ectoenergy touched it. It was strange, though, to see Fred and George attempt to bewitch their trunks to float again while their mother wasn't looking, only for their magic to splutter and and the trunks to drop to the ground after only a few inches of levitation.
"Ah," Danny said, still as Phantom, "yeah. That. That may be me. Sorry."
Ectoenergy cancels out magic. Or, at the very least, it slows it down.
Danny let the white rings wash over him to return him to human form. Jake ran downstairs not too long after the trunks had been moved downstairs, carrying his own bag over his shoulder. With his enhanced strength (and the kid was strong, as Danny found out one morning in the Room of Requirement when he lifted the bed single-handedly in order to reach a tennis ball that had rolled underneath), it wasn't too much of a problem.
"Can someone please turn off that hag's bitching?" Jake whined just as the curtain to Mrs. Black's painting was pulled shut by a very disgruntled Sirius.
"Did you know Danny's voice echoes when he's all glowy?" Ron asked no one in particular, and Jake gave him an odd look, Hermione scoffing in the background.
"I helped move the stuff down as Phantom," Danny clarified.
"Oh. Yeah, isn't it weird?" Jake laughed, then hefted his bag further to bring it to where Arthur and Molly were.
"Where's the damn guard!" Molly wailed at the same time Danny trailed after Jake. "Podmore should've been here by now!"
"Mum, don't shout," Ginny pleaded, "we don't want to wake the painting again."
Oh, yeah. There was supposed to be a special bodyguard for Harry. Well, a wizard bodyguard.
After a quick, heated discussion, Sirius ended up transforming into his Animagus form - a large, shaggy, black dog - and insisted on accompanying Harry instead of the official bodyguard. While Jake was busy staring slack-jawed at the display of shapeshifting into something other than a mythical beast, Danny wondered just how much they'd be needed as actual bodyguards when it seemed everyone preferred the wizards doing so.
Ah, well. Less work for him.
Then suddenly they were ushered into another car, this time larger on the inside, and on their way to King's Cross. Ron brandishing his Prefect badge, Hermione chastising him for being so boastful (leading to them bickering about "abusing their power," as Hermione put it), and Harry looking out the window with a wistful expression; with the twins and Ginny sat together in the back, the older brothers trying to coax their sister into buying some obscure wizard candy; the parents at the wheel, and Sirius as a dog fighting to sit comfortably in the space provided; and Danny and Jake, both equal parts excited and nervous for the new school year.
Jake had managed to steal Danny's phone from him at one point and used it to play some bad pop music, to which Danny complained for several minutes until they compromised on an AJR album. Arthur especially portrayed much excitement at the seemingly impossible displays of technology in such a magic-heavy hotspot, pushing Danny into a long-winded explanation as to how ghost energy worked.
It would be a long ride, but at least they had music and a dragon singing loudly off key to lift everyone's spirits, right?
around now would be the time where i cave and start writing in meme references, 'cause who cares about a timeline, right?