As soon as Professor Dumbledore opened the staff room door, Umbridge was on him like the stink on a sock.
"Professor Dumbledore, to have us all here, waiting for some sort of announcement, and then to make us all wait for much longer than is necessary! We should be in our classes preparing to teach these students, or more importantly, finding that abomination that Professor Trelawney summoned onto the grounds!"
"Please, you don't even teach the students anything! You just have them read out of their textbook! How you think that teaching method will help them prepare for their exams and their basic understanding of your subject is beyond me." Professor Sinistra cut in, scathingly.
There was a moment of blessed silence as Umbridge tried to process being spoken to in such a manner.
Before she could make any sort of reply, Professor McGonnagall prevented the pending argument.
"Please, Dolores, Aurora," reprimanding tone clear in her voice, "We were all called out of our morning break to be informed of something. I understand that it may be inconvenient, but whatever this information is, it must be important. I for one would like to hear what it is. Now if you would please allow the Headmaster to speak, then we may be able to make it back to our classes without incident." Sending sharp looks to both Professors, she then turned to Dumbledore.
"Thank you Professor McGonagall, and I do apologize Professor Umbridge, the wait was so that I could get a better understanding of the current situation."
"Is it about the summoned boy! Are you tasking us to find him! To find out all he knows of the worlds beyond from which he was summoned!" Trelawney interrupted, barely containing her excited shout.
"There was a summoning then? And it worked?" The dour voice of Professor Snape asked.
"Please, my good Professors, if you would allow me to explain, I will answer all your questions." Dumbledore said, interrupting any more conversation.
"Please, everyone take a seat, and I would ask that you all to not interrupt me as I explain the situation." He paused, briefly glancing at Umbridge, before settling himself into a large armchair, prompting all the other Professors to do the same.
Once all the Professors of Hogwarts were settled within the staff room, Dumbledore began.
He explained the previous afternoon, how a summoning had been performed and had been successful, and how the summoned had then escaped into the forest.
"Once I was made aware of the situation, and had gained all the information from both Professor Trelawney and Professor Umbridge about what they had witnessed, I went into the Forbidden Forest myself, to search for the boy."
At this statement, he had to pause as there were several loud exclamations, meshing together and becoming incomprehensible.
Holding his hand up for quiet, Dumbledore continued when silence overtook the staff room again.
"Yes. It was a boy that was summoned, about the same age as our fifth year students, and in the fear and confusion of being summoned, he fled into the Forbidden Forest."
"I was able to find him, and calm him down by answering some of his questions, but he was injured, and exhausted, and would't have been able to tell me any more about himself other than his name if I had not given him sanctuary."
"Sanctuary! You mean that creature is HERE! In the castle at this very moment! It could have attacked the students! It must be sent to the Ministry at once, and I..."
"Professor Umbridge." Dumbledore did not shout, but his sharp interruption snapped Umbridge's tirade off more efficiently than a silencing charm.
"Please allow me to continue, before you ask anymore questions." He stressed.
"Yes, I had him stay in the Hospital Wing to get his injuries treated and a decent meal. After a good nights rest, I was able to learn more about our guest."
After a slight pause to determine that no one was going to interrupt him again, he continued.
"His name is Daniel Fenton, but prefers to be called Danny. He was in America before being summoned here, and was able to be summoned due to being half human."
There was another pause as there were a few gasps among the Professors, and Umbridge opened her mouth to speak, but was surprisingly interrupted by Professor Binns.
"Danny Fenton, you say?" Came his reedy voice from the far corner in which he hovered over his chair. "Hmm."
Dumbledore was as surprised as the other Professors at the elderly ghosts question.
"Do you know of him Professor Binns?" Dumbledore asked interested.
"Hmm? Oh, Professor Dumbledore, this head of mine is a steel trap for the history of times long past, but more recent history being made can sometimes slip through the cracks. However..." he raised his transparent eyes to meet the Headmasters directly, "the name Danny Fenton is very familiar, and important. But I just can't place it."
"Could this have something to do with his half-human status then?" Professor Snape asked bluntly.
"It very well may, Severus, as Mr. Fenton is an incredibly rare half ghost hybrid."
Silence again greeted Dumbledore's words, and he continued before it could be broken once more.
"Mr. Fenton explained that he was not born a hybrid, but rather made into one in an unfortunate accident that even he does not know the full details of. Now, I understand that no other half-human, half-ghost hybrid has ever been seen or heard of before; and it is my understanding that young Mr. Fenton is, possibly, one of a kind. Despite that, that is not even the last of Mr. Fenton's surprises."
"What could possibly be more surprising than the impossibility of a half dead boy staying at Hogwarts?" Snape snapped from his corner of the room.
"That Professor Snape," Dumbledore smiled ruefully, "is the fact that Mr. Fenton is in fact a Muggle."
"A WHAT!" Came the sputtering shout of Professor Umbridge.
From the looks on the other Professors faces, they were having a hard time believing the Headmaster's claim themselves.
"Are you sure Professor Dumbledore? He would have to have at least heard of magic before coming here, right?" Professor Trelawney asked, beginning to see the trouble her summoning ritual may have caused.
"I'm afraid that he had not heard of or knew of the existence of magic before being summoned here. He has taken to the revelation rather well. I expect that one does lead an interesting life when one becomes what is believed to be the impossible." Dumbledore replied amused.
This, however, is what brought looks of concern onto some of the Professors faces.
"What of the boy's family? Do we need to set up a portkey to get him back home? They must be worried sick!" Professor Sprout chimed in, many of the other Professors nodding along.
"Ah. Now here is where I have very little information. It seems, that Mr. Fenton was on his own when he was summoned, with no one knowing where he was, not even his family. From the information Poppy relayed to me, it seems he was severely dehydrated and malnourished, and had not had a proper nights rest in over three months."
Pausing, and looking sadly at the gathered professors, he continued.
"From the little I learned of his situation, and his condition from before he was summoned here, it would be reasonable to conclude that Mr. Fenton was running from something. He certainly seemed to be rather quick to accept help once he determined that I was offering him a safe place to stay with the knowledge that I already knew of his hybrid status."
The room immediately sobered at this revelation. But McGonagall didn't let the silence last long.
"Well then." She said in a decisive tone, "He will just have to stay here until proper arrangements can be made for him. Hogwarts can be his home for the time being. Goodness knows, no child his age should be left homeless or on the run when we have more than enough to accommodate him."
"Absolutely not!" Umbridge cut in, trying take control of the situation.
"This creature, whatever it may claim to be, is to be taken to the ministry immediately! While it may not possess magic of its own, it is resistant to magic, which makes it dangerous! It must be questioned and tested, so that a proper method of restraint can be found!"
The backlash to her statement was immediate, and unforgiving.
"Creature! That is no way to talk of...!"
"Now see here Dolores! That is no way to think of a child in...!
"Dangerous my hat! Are you seriously going to...!
"Questioned and tested for restraint! He is a boy not an...!
It was chaos within the staff room, shouts surely echoing down the outside corridor and confusing any student who may be present to hear it.
Dumbledore raised his hand passively, and silence abruptly fell over them once again.
"Dolores, I am afraid that I have already offered a place here at Hogwarts for Mr. Fenton, and he has accepted it. You have no say in the matter."
Umbridge swelled like her animal likeness, face turning a splotchy red.
"Please, enlighten me 'Headmaster'." She said, anger choking her voice. "How, exactly, do I, and therefore the Ministry, have no say in this matter?"
Dumbledore smiled serenely at her, before replying.
She couldn't get back to her office soon enough. Storming through the castle corridors as fast as her stubby legs could carry her, she couldn't believe that deplorable Headmaster had the nerve -The Nerve!- to cross her! To cross the Ministry! Over some disgusting creature that is only half human, or so it says.
Professor Umbridge flung her office door open, huffing and glaring at everything that would dare to be within her line of sight.
Putting her prized collection of frolicking kitten plates behind her as she sat down at her desk, she couldn't help but have the disgusting conversation play again through her mind.
How DARE Dumbledore usurp her authority!
The Ministry's authority!
By claiming that that freak was under Hogwarts protection!
Now, under the Magical Protection Act of 1642, Averon vs Founders, the Ministry couldn't touch the boy! He was now protected on Hogwart's grounds!
After the whole fiasco with the Minister and Barty Crouch Jr. last year, she couldn't risk forcing this 'Mr. Fenton' off the grounds by force, or there would be hell to pay in legal backlash.
However, she wasn't going to take this laying down.
She needed to find a weakness in the seemingly magically resistant creature now occupying the school. She needed to know everything about this, this muggle, who had no business being anywhere near the magical community! This was utter insanity and she would put a stop to it!
Yes. That's what she had to do.
She would put a stop to a muggle, a dangerous hybrid creature, from being thought of as anything higher than it was. It was not a child to be pitied, but a creature overstepping its bounds, and needed to be put back in its place.
Umbridge pulled her mind back to the present, resolve hardened, and plan in place.
She grabs parchment, quill and ink, and begins her report to Cornelius Fudge. The Minister must be made aware of this mess.
This place really is a school.
Well, he knew it was a school, but with everything he learned today, he had no doubts whatsoever now.
After this morning's talk with the magic trio, Madame Pomfrey had looked him over one last time, and declared him healthy, apart from being too underweight. He was still stuck in the Hospital Wing for now, since he wasn't a student, (yet).
Dumbledore had come back briefly to tell him that he had talked to the other professors of the school, and he needed to put together a schedule for him. That meant that he would be getting the rest of the details and go through a sorting (?) tomorrow morning, before being introduced to the school at a special welcoming feast.
He didn't really know about a lot of what he was told, and was not at all jazzed about being introduced to an entire school, but he would roll with it for now; he knew that Dumbledore didn't want to harm him, at least.
He was afraid he would get bored way too fast, being stuck in what was essentially the Nurses Office all day, but he kept busy.
First, he explored all the shelves and bookcases around the room. He found many little bottles filled with colorful liquids. It took a lot of self control to not pick them all up to get a closer look.
He did take a lot of the books from their places though. Many were on magical plants that were used for healing potions, spells on how to heal physical injuries, and counter curses used to heal magical ones.
It was all incredibly interesting, and he felt himself channel his inner Jazz, taking many of the books back to his bed to continue reading them.
The trio came back to visit him during the day as well.
Apparently, during their lunch break, their afternoon break, and then again before dinner.
He had to admit, they were really growing on him. Not only did they listen to him spill his greatest secret and just accept him without question, but they were really fun to be around. They had quite a few questions for him; where he was when he was summoned, why he had a transformation and what he looked like in ghost form, what kind of powers he had, and more. He answered all of them, if only vaguely for some. It didn't feel like an interrogation either, since he had just as many questions for them, which they answered happily.
That's how he found out that the little stick creatures that kicked him out of his safety tree were called Bowtruckles. He found out that there were actually ghosts at Hogwarts too, but they were different from the ones he knew in Amity Park. They were incorporeal, and constantly intangible. Maybe because they were wizards in life they were different? Or maybe it had to do with access to energy from the Ghost zone? (Yeah, he was channeling his parents with those thoughts).
After questions devolved into comfortable chatter about the classes the trio were taking, the homework they had to finish, and then their complaints about someone called 'the toad.'
They told him that 'the toad' was someone called Professor Umbridge, and that she was the pink lady he saw shouting at him after he was summoned.
They had gotten serious after that, telling him that they had seen Umbridge storming through the halls, in a very foul mood, which meant that he should be careful around her. When he asked why, he was given several, very passionate opinions on Umbridge, (her teaching methods, her position within the Ministry, which was their government, and her opinions on hybrids, like him.)
It wasn't a positive image of the professor, and remembering the look on her face before he fled into the forest, it wasn't so hard to believe.
Too soon, the trio left for dinner, and then their common room (whatever that was) for the night.
All in all, he had a really nice day. Hanging out with Harry, Ron and Hermione had really brought him back to the days he had just hung out and been a kid with Sam and Tucker.
Laying back on his cot, staring at the darkened ceiling, or at the cloud covered night sky through the window, he began to feel his chest tighten slightly.
Thinking over his day had distracted him for a long time, but now he was alone with his thoughts and memories. This was the first had allowed his thoughts to wander in...
The first place he had felt safe since... since they...
Sitting upright suddenly, breath sharp in his throat, Danny tried to calm his racing thoughts. He couldn't, he can't...
But maybe… he could.
He was safe.
Maybe he could take this chance... to fall apart.
After finding his pulse on his wrist, he just sat for a moment and felt his heartbeat.
With the steady beat centering his thoughts, he finally, finally let his thoughts turn to his family and friends.
How much he loved them. How much he missed them. Everything that led up to them being removed from his life for good. How they...
They had tried so hard to protect him. It had all happened so quickly.
To this day, he didn't know how they had figured out his secret, but when a secret government agency decide you need to be detained in their experimentation facility for the crime of existing, you don't have any other choice but to get away, and run like hell.
He hadn't run at first. He'd tried to help. To protect those he loved.
But they had been trying to protect him, too.
He hadn't run, and that decision was costly.
At that thought, his tenuous hold on the dam of emotions broke completely.
Quietly sobbing, alone in an empty Hospital Wing, Danny crumbled.
It had been months. Months on the run, and choking back tears and memories of what had happened, and everything had piled up, building and building into a tidal wave that now threatened to drown him.
He couldn't breathe.
He couldn't see.
All he could hear were their screams.
His chest ached, and his eyes stung.
He could see their terrified but determined faces behind his closed eyes, and he crashed deeper into the crater of his grief.
He couldn't do much of anything for a long time.
Eventually he exhausted himself, which left him a mess, curled up on his bed, slowly letting his breathing even out between heaving gasps.
Then he lay there.
Staring out into the dark room, his mind far away.
Despite the pain of thinking of them, he needed to remember them as they were before.
He remembered his Dad's booming laugh and vibrant enthusiasm when he finished an invention.
His Mom's self defense lessons, and the smile that took up her whole face when she got a chance to teach him about her research on ghosts, or her extensive experiments with cookie flavors.
Jazz, how she scrunched her nose when she was studying something new, and the way she tried to help him with all of her psychco-babble, or the way her eyes lit up with pride when she looked through the scrapbook she had made of his heroic deeds as Phantom.
Sam's righteous anger when she had found an injustice she was determined to correct, her fierce support and help when they all fought ghosts together, her gentle eyes and soft smiles when she truly felt at ease around them.
Tucker's ingenious tinkering with electronics, his unwavering support of him through both simple and difficult times in their lives, how he brightened, and laughed when he knew he had helped lift a sour mood with a clever quip.
He smiled wetly at how much he loved them all, and started crying softly when he felt the empty pit inside that their absence had left behind.
It was different this time though, not as sharp, or gouging as before.
Despite his quiet sobs continuing into his pillow, he knew he would be okay.
While he still missed them all, and what had happened to them was horrible, he felt that the weight of their memories had shifted a bit, making it easier for him to bear.
He may not be okay right now, but, he had finally made the first step to being okay again.
The clouds parted, and moonlight trickled into the silent Hospital Wing.
Shadows danced, as Danny finally allowed himself to mourn.
Hello! Sorry for the wait! Thank you for reading!