Hello! One last edit for the day it looks like. You'll get chapters six through ten tomorrow I'm hoping. They start to get even longer I think too.
Thanks to chapter five's reviewers:
Penguin, Straying Life, Jonakhensu, Rainstorm Amaya, WinrySan
No notes again! So, simply enjoy!
Disclaimer: Danny Phantom is owned by Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon Studios. Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling.
Previously In Fiction: Starting a duel with Draco Malfoy is bad enough, but playing Quidditch? Danny's way in over his head. And hopefully the wizened old Headmaster Dumbledore might have a solution to get them out.
Fiction
Chapter Five
Cheating With The Life
"Look what we found," Fred said, dragging Danny inside the locker room. The twins finally let go of him, and he pulled away roughly.
"We've been looking all over for you," Oliver Wood said disapproving. The young boy had brown hair and hazel eyes. He laid a hand on who he thought was Harry's shoulder. "Get dressed. We've got a long battle ahead of us." He said this slightly choked as if he was having difficulty speaking.
Danny heard a rumble of thunder echo outside. In his line of vision was a wide locker room, full of different colored (red, green, blue, yellow) colored lockers. Unfortunately, out of the corner of his eye he saw a red locker labeled "POTTER."
This was what he got for not capturing Reader. Why couldn't he be intelligent enough to actually do what his job required; catch ghosts? He was so stupid.
"Gonna open your locker?" George asked, watching him.
Danny nodded, unable to speak. Why didn't Jazz warn him about this? He'd seen how many "accidents" Harry had received while playing Quidditch in the first two movies. Hadn't he broken his arm in the second movie, and nearly fallen off his broom in the first? Who's to say that wouldn't happen to him again, or him again?
"Harry!" Oliver called, snapping him out of it. He nodded and walked over to the real Harry's locker. Opening it, the first thing he saw was red and gold collared robes, along with a broomstick, the label Nimbus Two Thousand; he couldn't help it was very fancy looking, and was obviously extremely expensive.
He dressed quickly, the others way ahead of him. He wondered at first if the clothes were going to fit him and then remembered that he was in another body.
Danny fumbled with a leather glove and Fred walked over, simply pulling it hard and it fit on, looking at him strangely the whole time, one eyebrow raised.
"You alright there Harry?" he asked, his eyes amused.
"Just nervous," Danny replied, slightly higher pitched. He could do this right? It couldn't be that hard, right? It was just Quidditch. He remembered something from the movie; Harry's job was Finder or Seeker or something, and he had to catch some silver or gold thing that was small.
Danny shrugged to himself. Couldn't be that hard, surely. What's the worst that could happen? He didn't want to know.
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Jazz stood frozen in her spot, then snapped out of it. She rushed back to the statue, knocking on it. "Dumbledore! Professor Dumbledore!" she shouted. What was the password, what was the password? She hit her head, trying to bring it to memory. But had they actually mentioned the password in this book? It could have changed from the second book to the third book. She beat up against it uselessly. But then-
The door opened and she forgot for a minute what she was doing. Dumbledore stepped out, staring at her quizzically.
"Time for the Quidditch match, are you coming Hermione?" he asked casually.
"Sir, Danny hasn't read- I mean…He doesn't know how to play-" she began stammering. How was she supposed to tell him that they were living the life of a book? It was impossible.
"I'm sorry Hermione, but he has to play until I can figure out how to contact Reader and send you back. You have to live this life. I'm sorry," he said.
"But-" she started.
"Think about this." He paused for effect. "If you must, cheat in the life. If you don't have to, don't. But there's always a chance for getting ahead." He walked away, smiling.
What in the heck was that supposed to mean? Was that supposed to help? She decided not to try and figure out Dumbledore's odd insanities for the moment and focus on more pressing matters.
She took a few breaths, feeling lightheaded. This wasn't happening. Danny and Dumbledore didn't know what was going to happen in the match. No one did but her. Nobody knew about the Dementors……
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Danny stepped out onto the field with the rest of his teammates. Rain pattered on the Quidditch robes he was wearing. He was supposed to play in this? Thunder rumbled in the background, answering his question.
The broom in his hand vibrated and he jumped, accidentally dropping it. It suspended in midair, waiting for him to climb on.
"That's pretty damn awesome," Danny muttered, amazed.
"I think you've been hanging out with Hermione too long. You're starting to appear bonkers," Fred joked.
"Yeah," he said nervously. He shivered in the cold, his nerves not helping. Rain poured harder, and he knew the robes were going to get soaked.
The rest of the team walked over to another mud splashed yellow robed team, and he followed. A woman walked out, standing between them, her eyes hawk like and her hair gray, and said. Oliver Wood and another person from the other team shook hands, and he noticed that his captain had a weird expression on his face.
Danny staggered slightly as a gust of cold wind hit him. This weather was terrible; they actually played in this? There was a flash of lightning above them.
He saw the team climb onto their brooms, and he stared at the Nimbus warily. But he had to follow. This was going to be painful… He climbed on and found it was rather more comfortable than he thought.
There was a whistle heard faintly. Without touching it, the broom lifted into the air. Danny grabbed onto the handle and it rose high into the air. Rain pellets showered on him, but his mind was on something else.
This was awesome.
He remembered the first time he had flown. It was like this only more stable. He let out a yell of joy, and soared into the air.
But now he had to focus. The book wanted him to win, so he could try. If not he was screwed. So all he had to do was find the little golden thingy. What was it called again…he would rather find it then try and remember what it was called.
He leaned down, and shot forward about forty feet. Laughing to himself, he eagerly swerved. Who would've guessed he'd ever get the chance to actually ride on a broomstick? Wait till he told Sam and Tucker.
Danny jumped as lightning flashed through the sky, followed by a loud rumble of thunder. This was getting dangerous.
He searched around, trying to keep rain out of his face. Shivering in the cold, he was starting to doubt himself. He was supposed to find the gold, flying thing. And how was he supposed to do that?
He dropped lower and something whizzed by his face. He looked up to see a very large black ball circle him and then aim for him.
Whatever it was, he was doomed. He closed his eyes, waiting for it to smash into him. Nothing happened.
He opened his eyes carefully and felt himself fall through the air.
He closed his eyes, concentrating and there was a flash of light. He flew upwards quickly and caught the falling broom, climbing onto it again now that he was tangible. He stared down at his hands curiously, an idea popping into his head.
If his powers worked here…… Danny could probably cheat to win the game. As long as no one was watching, what could it hurt?
He focused again and tried changing into his ghost form. Instead of Harry's hand, Danny saw a wisp of silvery cloud and his body was a mass of black smoke. What was going on? Whatever was happening, he could still touch things and be touched by things, but his body appeared…weird.
Something sliced into his cheek, and he yelled in pain. Rubbing it, he felt tiny pinpricks like them hit all over his body. When he picked one up, he realized it was ice.
Great, it was so cold that it was hailing now?
The broom swayed, trying to stay level in the hard wind. His breath came out in puffs of air and he shivered harder.
It hadn't been this cold…
He took the broom handle in his hand and dropped lower. Maybe it was warmer and he could find the thingy faster.
Dazed, Danny suddenly encountered what felt like he was drowning. He could barely see. But what he could see frightened him.
He looked around to see three smokey, gray figures surrounding him in a circle. They were creepy, like dead creatures, that floated around him, swirls of darkness around them.
He shook his head and focused. Raising his hand, he sent out a blast of ectoplasmic energy. It hit the one nearest his left and the thing reeled backwards.
Something flittered in his ear and flew past his face. Danny jolted forward, recognizing it as the tiny, golden Snitch. (For a moment, he was surprised he actually remembered the name finally) Maybe if he would catch it, he could win the game and get away from these creatures.
But a scaly hand grabbed the collar of his shirt.
Danny's mind filled with fog and inside the fog he began to see an image. There was a full moon night, and a loud howling, then a scream, a girl's high pitch.
There was a flash of light he felt "his" body go normal. The creature lifted him by an arm and he tried kicking out. He felt something in his hand, his vision blurring.
It was the handle of the broomstick. Without pausing for a minute, Danny jumped off, and swung it as hard as he could at the thing. It shoved away and he managed to grab the broom with one hand, hanging onto it by an inch.
Breathing heavily, the effort seemed to take a lot out of him. His mind refusing to go forward, Danny closed his eyes.
And his hand let go of the broom.
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Reader giggled, staring down at the three friends. The blued eyed boy glared up at her, which only made her laugh harder.
"Five, four, three, two, one…." She counted down. She looked at him, staring suspiciously.
"What did you do?" she asked him.
"What do you mean what did I do?" he asked.
He rubbed his arm, a sudden cold chill running down him. Sam stared back and forth between them, both her and Tucker silent.
"Figure it out. I'll see you later," Reader taunted. She disappeared, her evil cackle remaining behind.
Danny yelled in frustration, holding his arms to his chest as goose bumps ran up and down his arms.
"Danny, relax. We'll figure this out," Sam said soothingly.
"And how in the hell are we supposed to do that?" he asked, angrily. He pulled his arms in tighter. For some odd reason, it felt very cold in here.
"I don't know, but I know it won't help if we get angry-" she began. She stared at him, her eyes narrowing as she looked at his face.
"What?" he asked.
"You're bleeding," she said, coming over. She pressed her finger to his cheek and he felt a sudden burn. Her fingers pulled away and he saw a drop of blood smear on it.
"What did you do?" Tucker asked, his greenish blue eyes concerned.
"No idea," he said, rubbing his hand across it.
"It just appeared," Sam said.
Danny breathed heavily, his breath coming out in frost. He shivered, frigid from some unknown coldness.
"Are you okay?"
"I don't know," he said, his teeth chattering.
Suddenly pain shot through his entire body. He cried out in pain, and then fell to the ground, unconscious.
"Danny!" Sam yelled, dropping down to the ground beside him.
Tucker froze suddenly and she looked up, wondering what was wrong with him. His green eyes, which now were closed, and he collapsed as well, onto the couch where Danny had been.
"Tucker?"
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"That was the scariest thing I've ever seen in my life '
Inside his mind, his thoughts swirled, not making sense right away. The same feeling of confusion and dread filled his body and his mind didn't want to wake up. But he had to.
His eyes fluttered open. He saw Harry's Gryffindor Quidditch team standing around him, where he was lying in a bed. They were covered in mud and were dripping water. His sister and Ron were there as well.
"Harry!" Fred said. He was pale underneath all the mud.
"Hiya," he greeted hoarsely. He sat up with difficulty.
"Are you alright?" one of the girl teammates asked.
"Yeah, I think so. I've been through worse right?" he asked, chuckling.
Jazz slapped her hand to her forehead, her eyes wide as she stared at him. Everyone was silent, looking down awkwardly.
Danny's laughter faded off. "That was obviously the wrong thing to say……What happened?" he asked instead.
"You fell off your broom," Fred replied. "Must've been—what---fifty feet?"
"We thought you'd died," said another one of the female players.
For some odd reason, Jazz made a weird, choked, squeaking nose. Her blue-green eyes were bloodshot with worry.
Danny tried to think of something intelligent to say. "The game. What happened?" he asked. Jazz nodded, slightly impressed, then cringed.
No one said a word and he got the hint.
"We lost, didn't we?" Idiot. He should have been playing. But those things, whatever they were…
"Diggory got the Snitch," said George. "Just after you fell. He didn't realize what had happened. When he looked back and saw you on the ground, he tried to call it off. Wanted a rematch. But they won fair and square…..even Wood admits it."
"Where is he?" he asked, not seeing the hard determined captain.
"Still in the showers," Fred answered. "We think he's trying to drown himself."
Danny laid his head in his hands. What was he supposed to do now? He had changed the book? Now he'd never get home. He was furious at himself and Reader.
"C'mon Harry, you've never missed the Snitch before," a girl said.
"There had to be the one time you didn't get it," George chimed in.
"It's not over yet," Fred said thoughtfully. "We lost by a hundred points, right? So if Hufflepuff loses to Ravenclaw and we beat Ravenclaw and Slytherin…"
"Hufflepuff'll have to lose by at least a two hundred points," George argued.
"But if they beat Ravenclaw…"
"No way, Ravenclaw is too good. But if Slytherin loses against Hufflepuff…"
"It all depends on the points—a margin of a hundred either way—"
Danny listened to the debate. They all thought it had been an accident. They hadn't seen him use his ghost powers. They thought he was angry because he'd lost the game; and he was, but in a different way.
"Come on, come on. Leave him be," said a voice behind him. They all turned around to see a white haired nurse shooing them away.
"We'll come and see you later," Fred said. "Don't beat yourself up, Harry, you're still the best Seeker we've ever had."
Danny nodded, unable to speak. He'd screwed things up for both him and Jazz now. This was what he got for not capturing her; for being immature and completely stupid.
Jazz sat down at the edge of his bed, her eyes happy and concerned at the same time. Ron stood there, shaking his red hair, and showering water all over.
She bit her lip as if she was thinking. "Dumbledore was really angry," she stammered. "I've never seen him like that before. He rushed onto the field when you fell and did some spell and you sort of slowed down before you hit the ground. Then he waved his wand at the Dementors. Something silver. They left the field right way…He was angry they'd come onto the grounds. We heard him-"
"Then he magicked you onto a stretcher," Ron cut in. "And walked up to school with you floating on it. Everyone though you were…"
Danny didn't need to have read the book to know what he was about to say. What confused him was Jazz. Where in the heck did she come up with that speech? And again with that word. Dementor. What in the heck was that?
"Did someone get my broom?" he said out of nowhere. He wanted to try some more stunts on that thing. Maybe it would help him with his flying in the real world.
Ron looked down and Jazz cringed again.
"What?" he asked, expectantly.
"Well…when you fell off, it got blown away," she said awkwardly.
"And then what?"
"It hit the Whomping Willow," she said uneasily.
He was confused, but he didn't say so. What the heck was a Whomping Willow?
"And then what?" he asked again.
"Well, you know the Whomping Willow," Ron said. "It—doesn't like being hit."
"Professor Flitwick brought it back just before you came around," she said in a squeaky voice.
They both reached down and brought a large bag up from the ground. Opening it, he looked down to see a bit of broken pieces of wood. On one of the large pieces was the words: Nimbus 2000.
Oh, great. Now he'd destroyed Harry's broom. What else could he do wrong? He groaned in frustration.
"Come on, you two out too," the nurse ordered.
They nodded and waved, leaving Danny alone. The very last thing he wanted to be and didn't want to be at the same time.
This was not happening.
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"Danny? Danny!"
Danny jerked in his sleep and opened his eyes. There was nothing there. Now he was hearing things? He really was going insane.
"Danny!"
He jumped as Hermione's head popped out from under the bed. "Jazz," he groaned, sitting up, trying to steady his thumping heart.
"What, I had to talk to you somehow," she said, sitting on her knees.
"Where are we?" he asked, looking around.
"We're in the book remember? This is the Hospital Wing," she said annoyed.
"Damn. I was hoping that was a dream," he said. "Listen, Jazz, I'm sorry. I didn't know-"
"What are you sorry for?"
"I changed the book. I lost the game."
"Oh, Danny!" She hugged him tightly and pulled away smiling. "You didn't change the book. It was written that way; Harry ended up losing the game too."
"Yes!" he said, relieved.
"The Dementors were supposed to come. You didn't do anything wrong."
There was that word again. "Dementor? What is that? You said it earlier in here and I was confused," he said.
"Oh, I had to say that. I figured we'd changed enough of the book already," she said.
"So you memorized that part of the book?" he asked.
"I've read it a billion times. It was a good thing I did too," she argued.
"Yeah, you're obsessed."
"Shut up Danny. It worked didn't it?"
"Yes."
"Look. You spend the rest of the day in here tomorrow. You'll have a lot of visitors. Be nice to them and try to act like "Harry standard" normal."
"That's a lot of help."
"Listen. When you can leave, we'll talk to Dumbledore and try to figure this out. Maybe he's talked to Reader."
"Okay…"
"Just do it. I'll come back and visit tomorrow." She stood up.
"Are you allowed to be walking around now?" he asked, remembering vaguely something in the first movie.
"That's why I have this," she said proudly. She brought out a large, green velvety cloth.
"What is that?"
"It's an invisibility cloak. It's Harry's," she replied. "I have to go. Remember what I said." She threw the cloak over her and disappeared from his side.
"Goodnight Danny."
It took him all of five minutes after she'd left and he laid there before falling asleep to realize that he still didn't know what a Dementor was. Was it really just a coincidence that she hadn't told him, or was there something he really didn't want to know?
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Jazz had been right. Danny had received several visitors, intent on cheering "Harry" up. Now he walked around the castle, looking everywhere for her.
And not only that…he remembered something about yesterday that he hadn't before because of his worry about changing the book. When those Dementor things had shown up, he had seen and heard something weird in his head. A full moon, a wolf's howl, a girl's scream. But none of it made sense.
"Harry?"
Lost in his thoughts and forgetting what he was doing, he continued walking.
"Harry!"
"Oh, me," he said, turning around. Ron walked up to him.
"Where have you been, I've been searching all over for you?" he asked, looking almost irritated.
"Just walking. I needed to work things out," he replied.
Ron looked at him weird. "Alright then. Care to talk about it?"
"Not really."
"You and Hermione have been acting strange. I would like to know what's going on," he demanded.
"It's nothing. I've just been-" Danny wasn't sure what to say. He could tell Ron was getting angry.
"Just been what? Shutting me out? You're different," he accused.
"I-"
"What's wrong?" asked a voice. Hermione walked up, carrying at least five heavy books in her arms.
"I want to know what you two are hiding. Whatever it is… And I'll find out," Ron said angrily. He stormed away, disappearing around the corner.
"What did you do?" Jazz asked automatically.
"I didn't do anything, he just came up and started yelling," Danny tried to defend himself. "Clearly, he's getting a bit suspicious."
Jazz sighed. "Follow me."
She led him down the hall, turning the corner. She opened a door and led him up three flights of stairs. They turned another corner, then left, then right, down hundreds more stairs, and then finally one flight up to a portrait of a gray suited Knight.
"Dingle bombs ferry," she said randomly.
"Good day to you madam," the knight said cheerfully, lowering his helmet.
"You really are obsessed aren't you?" Danny asked. How many times had Jazz truly read this book?
"I don't recall asking your opinion."
The portrait swung forward and he watched, amazed as it revealed a room, the Gryffindor common room.
Jazz walked in. "I'm going to do some reading, then we can go down to the Great Hall to have some dinner."
"I'm not really hungry," he admitted.
"Da- Harry- " she said instead. "You haven't eaten in two days." Her eyes were full of concern.
"I'll eat tomorrow. I just…I just need to work things out some more."
"Are you okay?" she asked quietly.
"No." He waved, ending the conversation, and walked up the stairs to the boys' dormitory.
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The morning sunshine shone bright on his face. Another day in the famous life; the life he didn't know. He rolled over, not opening his eyes.
That's when he heard it.
"No, Danny, go away. Can't you- What the heck?" said a voice, sounding sleepy at first, and then agitated, and then confused.
Danny sat up to see Ron sitting up in bed, staring around wildly, his hair tossed to one side from sleep.
"Danny?" he asked, staring.
He finally got it.
"Tucker?"
Ah, fun fun! Tell me what you think! Please R&R! Here's your sneak peek!
Chapter Six: Joining
"Great. Now I'm stuck with you two idiots. Why couldn't Sam have come? Hasn't she read the book?" Jazz asked.
"Sam? Probably. She's into the sci-fi stuff," Danny replied.
"Since when do you know all about her?" Jazz asked.
"Since Ember made-"
"Tucker, shut up," Danny said, before he said what he knew he would.
Suddenly, the furball in Jazz's arms moved.
"What in the heck is that?" Tucker asked.
"It's a cat. His name is Crookshanks. Isn't he adorable?" Jazz asked, smushing her face into the pile of fur.
"That thing is a cat?" Danny asked, disbelieving.
"Yes. Ugh…you're just like them," she groaned.
See me tomorrow as well! Thanks for reading!
Lateraina Wolf