AN: As a quick explanation of how her father would be able to tell her of Hogwarts general location- He and Rowena were quite close in life, and she had most likely shared with him some of the information of the school's construction. Coupled with the fact that he's had over a thousand years to talk with the students, professors, and other portraits, he's been told quite a bit about the surrounding locations. The lake, forest, mountains and cliffs, would all form a fairly specific area on a map. It's a bit of a stretch, I know, but I really wanted Dora to fly there herself for her first journey to the school. Dora has also had all of her many years to study cartography and astronomy(which I'm saying she has), so she has a very strong sense of direction and navigation.

Chapter Three: Surprises all Round

Dora was feeling the strain of her long trek, the joints of her wings tiring as quickly as her ghostly energy reserves. She had definitely overestimated her ability to find the school based on her fathers description of its location.

She circled low over another mountain range as a large lake came into view under the fading light of day. A small twinge of hope crossed her mind, as the surrounding mountain range and body of water fit what her father had recalled hearing from the students. However, she didn't see the school which was a large castle apparently. Letting out a reptilian snort of disappointment she began banking to the side to continue searching.

An itching feeling of wrongness began to encompass her mind as she neared the bank of the massive stretch of choppy waves. A faint shimmering of the air came into her view as she forced herself to continue through the odd sensation in her mind.

Her father had mentioned wards of many kinds, so perhaps the feeling of discontent was a sign that she was nearing the edges of the wards. The displacement within the air was quickly coming closer as she sped over the body of water. She saw nothing beyond the air that wiggled and waved like heat waves rising from a parched desert.

With what felt like running head first into a huge pool of maple syrup on a cold winter evening she came into contact with what she now greatly suspected of being the aforementioned wards. For a moment she was fearful that she would be repelled backwards and she quickly slammed her eyes shut and tensed to brace herself, but no solid wall came, and for the briefest of moments she felt a presence brushing past her mind before she passed completely through the wards boundaries.

She noted the odd occurrence to ponder upon later and weakly opened her eyes only to nearly fall out of the air in shock. Before her in what had been an empty field and rocky edge near a sprawling lake now stood the most magnificent castle she had ever seen. In comparison, her own castle seemed to degrade itself to a run down ruin playing dress up. Turrets rose high into the air, with golden lights gleaming from many windows. Upon the once vacant lake was a large ship, docked near the shore. She found its placement a bit odd, as the body of water did not connect to any larger ones, but disregarded it as a 'magic' thing.

Knowing that she had found Hogwarts, for surely this could be no other place, she glided downwards towards the grass and landed at last. Folding in her wings she winced as the exhausted appendages finally rested. Her invisible form made a huge indention in the grass, and she began thinking of a plan as she forced her form to shrink and contain itself within her amulet once more.

When talking with her father earlier, he had said that all magical ghosts he knew of were completely intangible, so she would have to disregard her physical form as long as she was within the castle walls. She wasn't sure exactly where her fathers portrait was placed within the school, but she doubted that he would be the first person she came across.

She dropped her hold on her invisibility, but maintained her intangibility, her colorless form holding just enough sustenance to still be visible. Drifting up the hill side and towards what looked like front doors, she phased through them and into a brightly lit hall filled with torches and wall sconces.

An open door to her side led to a massive dining hall, filled to the bursting with children and teens of many ages. Avoiding that room like the plague, she floated past it and into a cavernous room that held more portraits than a world renowned art gallery. A maze-like network of staircases connected the many different floors and landings, and to her astonishment, some of them seemed to be switching spots every now and again.

"Pardon me, but I don't believe we've met." Dora twirled with a gasp, facing the newcomer with startled eyes. Another ghost floated near her, his garbs similar to those of her own time period, if not a little more modern. A large ruffle adorned his neck, and his rambunctiously curled hair sprang in wild windblown tufts. He raised an eyebrow at her silent stare,

"Typically when meeting someone new, you introduce yourself. For example- I am Sir Nicholas de Mimsy Porpington, house ghost of the brave and chivalrous Gryffindors." He gave a silly bow that included much hand waving, and Dora found herself easing slightly.

"Sorry I've not seen many other… ghosts. I am Princess Dorathea." She curtsied and he gave her a suggestive smile and wink.

"A princess you say? What brings a lovely royal lady such as yourself to our humble school? We typically don't receive many visitors of the ghostly sort." Dora started slightly at his flirting before letting out a tinkling giggle, no one had the gall to flirt with her, and Sir Nicholas' jesting was a refreshing change.

"I am looking for an old friend. I have recently been informed that she resides here as a ghost as well. Perhaps you know her?" Sir Nicholas smiled broadly and offered his arm to the now welcomed Dora.

"Why my highness I would be honored to assist you in finding your friend. What is her name if I may ask?" Dora raised her eyebrows at the extended arm, but accepted his offer and seemingly placed her own within his grasp. Due to their intangibility however, there was just an odd tingly sensation rather than actually feeling any contact. Dora thought that it was quite odd, but as Sir Nicholas was attempting to be kind, she humored him. The two began drifting along a random path on the staircases as Dorathea answered his inquiry.

"Her name is Helena Ravenclaw. It has been many centuries since we have been in contact, and I am unsure of what she may look like now." She continued drifting along the stairs, hardly noticing the now absent tingly presence of her guides previously offered arm. Finally realizing his lack of presence, she turned to see the rambunctious ghost staring at her in complete shock. He gawked at her for a moment longer before shaking his stupor from his mind and quickly caught up with her.

"I apologize, I had not expected such a request. You really know the Grey Lady?" Dora frowned at the moniker.

"Grey Lady? Why would you call her such a thing?" The Sir shook his head slightly again before replying.

"She- Helena that is- has always been very solitary and kept to herself. Very few actually know who she was in life. She has only mentioned her name once since I have joined the ranks of the ghosts here, many centuries ago. Her identity has faded throughout the many years, and most simply know her as 'The Grey Lady'… but yes, I can take you to her."

"That would be very appreciated." Dora watched as he drifted towards the nearest portrait, and requested that they search for The Grey Lady and send him a message as to her whereabouts. Turning back to her he spoke,

"They will inform us of her location soon. In the meantime, may I ask you a question?" Shifting in slight nervousness, Dora nodded her head in permission. "How do you know her?" The princesses eyes warmed at the memories resurfacing, happy beyond measure for having them once more.

"We were dear friends as children, often playing and learning together as her mother tutored us. Due to circumstances at the time, our visits became far and few between, and I passed on not many years later. I had almost forgotten about Helena completely, and I am ashamed to say that I would have if I had not been told of her continued existence." A downturned expression and sombre mood overtook her posture, and a tingling upon her shoulder informed her that Sir Nicholas was consoling her as much as he could manage.

"I am sorry to hear that you lost each other for so very long. However, the mere possibility of being reunited is quite astounding in itself." Dorathea nodded and gave a small smile. She looked out at the moving staircases and active frames, and noticed the subjects hopping to and fro, paying no mind to whose frame belonged to who. Perhaps that is how her Father traveled from place to place.

"Sir Nick!" A scrawny looking fairy buzzed in the upper left hand corner of a nearby frame and waved frantically. "We found her, she's musing up in the astronomy tower. She seemed quite deep in thought so I think she'll be there for a while yet."

"Ah brilliant! Thank you my dear." Turning to Dora he smiled widely. "Follow me milady." Sir Nicholas set off at a quick pace, drifting through wall after wall- ignoring all solid aspects of the castle completely, and Dora followed suit. After passing through many stretching corridors and sets of elegant spiraling staircases, they found themselves in a large open room with a centerpiece of gleaming golden rings and glass swirling a globe. Off to the corner floating just above the surface of the railing outlooking the grounds in what would be a precarious perch for a human, was a ghost.

Her translucent form was that of a young woman, in her early twenties at best. She had what seemed to be dark hair that was pulled back from her face only to fall in a waterfall of ringlets, cascading down her back to her hips. A face of delicate and solemn features gazed out the window, the gathered skirts of her dress pooling around her.

As Dorathea gazed upon her, she knew without a doubt that it was her. While she had grown up, the resemblance was unmistakable. Coming slightly closer, she tried to think of what to possibly say. Sir Nicholas cleared his throat, causing Helena's head to swivel towards them, resolving her dilemma. Curiosity took the Grey Lady's face hostage, but as her gaze bore into Dorathea's eyes incredulity overwhelmed the confusion. A single word reverberated through the tower in a timid echo.

"Dora?"

The blaring of an alarm shot through Danny's eardrums and he was in a fighting stance upon the floor before his eyes had even fully opened. Blinking blearily at the sunlight filtering through his window, the halfa stared at his alarm clock intently, not willing to believe the numbers flashing across its display.

7: 15 AM blinked in and out of existence in neon blue letters as the gratingly annoying bell continued screaming at him. Dropping his fists and stumbling towards the clock, he lightly pressed a button and ceased the sound.

He had been woken up by his alarm. He had gone to bed, and slept through the entire night without a single attack. Nothing had gone bump in the night, the city wasn't a burnt pile of ashes- he spared a quick paranoid glance out the window to confirm.

His mind continued trying to wrap itself around the idea of a solid eleven hours of sleep, almost not comprehending the idea of being rested. The hero was still quite tired, but he felt more refreshed than he had in weeks. He stretched and popped his neck, the reverberating cracks snapping him further into awareness. A smile began to break out upon his face, the first one he had the energy to truly mean in quite a while.

He had enough time to take a shower in the morning for once, a rare chance to relax that lately had become thirty second scrub downs to be marginally cleaner than before.

Stepping into his bathroom he stripped down and slipped under the warm spray. He sighed in relief at the feel of water jets pounding into his back, soothing away the pain of overworked and strained muscles. He grabbed his soap and shampoo and created a mess of suds, grinning at the bubbles he usually didn't have the time to indulge in.

Finally clean and more relaxed than he had been in ages he turned off of the water and turned intangible to dry off. Who needs a towel when you have ghost powers?

Exiting his bathroom and looking around his messy room he strode towards his closet, kicking old clothes out of the way as he went. Rifling through the hangers, he picked out a fresh pair of faded blue jeans, and a pale grey 'dumpty humpty' T-shirt. He grabbed some boxers from his drawers and quickly dressed.

Slipping on his well loved scarlet converse and entering his bathroom once more he brushed his teeth and put on some deodorant- ghost fighting plus sweat equalled a very stinky halfa. Unfortunately an ice core wasn't enough to keep him from sweating sometimes. Running a hand through his chaotic but clean hair to soothe it into a marginally more reasonable mess, he considered himself ready for the day.

He opened his door and practically skipped down the stairs, actually having enough time and energy to get a real breakfast for once. Neither of his parents were up, Jazz had always been the early bird of the family. Since she had left for college, Yale, the Fenton family had enjoyed later mornings.

His shoes squeaked upon the clean tile floor as he opened the fridge. A suspiciously glowing hot dog rattled in the lunch meat section of the fridge. As Danny reached for the milk, another hot dog jumped out from behind some margarine and made an assault upon Danny's unsuspecting finger.

Yelping and slamming the fridge shut, and narrowly escaping further bites from the enraged mutant food, the hungry teen let out a sigh.

"Dry cereal it is." Heading towards the pantry and nursing his throbbing finger he picked out the first cereal he saw and poured a bowl. He quickly ate the dry flakes, coughing every now and again as one went down wrong. When the bowl was empty Danny rushed back up to his room to grab his faded purple backpack. Sliding his laptop into it and swinging it over his shoulder he hurried out of his room, taking the steps three at a time.

He could hear his parents rustling around in their room as they woke up, and he didn't want to sit through a morning rant about 'that tyrant Phantom', especially since they had failed in capturing him again yesterday. His steps sped up and the door slammed behind him.

He actually had time to meet up with Sam and Tuck before school, so he headed to their usual meeting place and waited. Sitting down and leaning against the telephone pole near the street corner, he relished in merely relaxing while waiting for his friends. He rested his eyes and barely registered the approaching footsteps.

"Danny?!" Tucker waved at him from a couple yards down the street, the techno geek slightly surprised to see his long time best friend. "Dude this is the first time I've seen you waiting over here since halfway through freshman year." The raven haired teen gave a grin from ear to ear.

"I know! I don't know how, but I got a full night's rest last night. Not a single ghost besides Dora, but she just wanted to talk for a bit."

"Why was Dora at your house?" Both boys turned to see the third member of their trio rounding the corner. The ultra-recyclo vegetarian was glaring slightly, most likely put off by the cheerful morning sun.

"She had something to do in the human realm, wanted to stick around to let me know." Tucker raised his eyebrows while Sam frowned and crossed her arms.

"And you just... let her go do whatever she wanted?" Danny narrowed his eyes slightly as he replied.

"She seemed sincere, she wanted to go find a childhood friend. She even stuck around to let me know and chat and everything. She even offered to have some of her Knights stationed at the inside of the portal to help lower the amount of attacks!" Danny's joy at the last part garnered even more suspicion from the other two teens. Sam being as vocal as usual voiced her mistrust.

"You really believe there's no sinister plan behind all that? With all ghosts have done to you, I would have thought you'd learned not to trust them by now. Dora's cool enough but who knows what she's really planning." Tucker chimed in as well-

"Yeah, ghosts aren't exactly poster kids for 'trustworthy' man." Danny's joy dwindled and annoyance took its place.

Sometimes he felt like his friends completely disregarded the fact that he was part ghost. As much as he knew there was some truth to their words, and plenty of experiences to back them up, it still stung that they would judge ghosts so quickly as well as disregard his ability to handle the situation.

"Yeah you're right, 'ghosts' totally can't be trusted. I guess I don't know anything about ghosts after all." Perhaps his sarcastic quip was too much, but Danny was annoyed that they couldn't just be cool with the fact that someone offered to help him and that he was willing to go out on a limb to believe it, especially when they knew he was being worn so thin.

Sam and Tucker both cringed and exchanged slightly weary looks, realizing how rude their statement could have come across to their friend, but not quite for the reason Danny was offended. Tucker spoke for the pair-

"Sorry dude, I know you can figure out stuff for yourself, we just worry is all. You've been screwed over way too many times by those undead creeps." His attempted apology was a blunder in Danny's opinion, and that doubtful inner voice that everyone has spoke out. Was that all he was to them, just another 'undead creep'? Logically he knew that wasn't what they meant, but his irrational agitation wouldn't let him forget the snarky replies he wanted to fire back at his friends.

"Why don't you guys go on ahead, I'm going to do a quick patrol since I have the time." Without giving Sam and Tuck a chance to reply Danny ducked into an alley and made himself invisible, switching to his ghost half in an unseen flash he quickly flew away.

His head was racing and his stomach was rolling. He knew it was stupid to get annoyed at them for being so tired of ghosts- he was sick of them too. But every crack and jab they made was twisting a little dagger towards Danny as well. It had become a fairly common occurrence.

As Danny had grown over the last three years, becoming more and more comfortable with his other half, as well as with some other ghosts in general, it seemed like Sam and Tucker had done the opposite.

Danny's enhanced hearing had picked up on conversations between the two, both of them expressing some resentment at having the added stress of helping him. The first year or so had been fine, they both thought it was cool in a way, helping save the entire town. But while Danny's alter ego got all of the credit and they got none, the excitement began to die down.

Their grades had both taken a small hit as well, and their parents weren't happy about it. That coupled with late nights out, occasional injuries, and a lack of communication to protect Danny's secret had them both growing even further from their families. Tucker's once close bond with his loving mother and father was strained, and Sam's already shaky relationship with her parents had practically dwindled to nothing.

It killed Danny to think it, but perhaps it would be best if he started making do without them. They had their own lives to worry about, it wasn't fair of him to burden them. They didn't have powers or a crazy screwed up life. They could still be normal, go to college, get their dream jobs, have families of their own one day….

Danny doubted he'd ever leave Amity for fear of the ghosts that would run rampant, and his dream of being an astronaut was completely out of the picture considering how unnatural his vitals were. He'd throw a red flag on the first physical if he could even make it into college, let alone be hired by somewhere like NASA. His future seemed pretty bleak, and on top of it all- with his secret he doubted he'd ever find anyone that could love him for who he was.

His mind flashed quickly to Sam, but he locked that thought down. She obviously had a lot of issues with ghosts, he couldn't ask her to be his girlfriend if she didn't even really want to deal with his ghostly issues as a friend. Besides, he may be clueless, but even he had noticed their occasional sweet blushy moments. They never lead to anything and she never really seemed interested in making a move or change in their current status quo either.

Perhaps he was exaggerating things in his mind, dragging up dark doubts and worries that were seemingly insignificant. Or maybe, just maybe- it would be for the best if the trio finally broke apart.

Things had been bumpy for a while besides the rare good day, like the movie marathon a few days back. He wouldn't have Sam and Tucker to rely on, and they hadn't really helped any since school started back up anyways.

Dora seemed willing to help, and there was always the Far Frozen and Clockwork. Even Wulf, if he brushed up on his Esperanto a bit surely they could become closer friends…

The cool breeze had done little to calm Danny's frazzled nerves over the past ten minutes. His inner monologues had only increased his anxiety and sadness at the idea of losing Sam and Tucker more than he already had. Regardless of his agitated state, he turned towards the school, knowing that it was nearing time for the day to begin.

He dove through the roof of the school, taking advantage of his invisibility and intangibility. He shot through the halls, ignoring the shivers of those he zipped past. He rounded the corner and phased through the door of the Mens restroom.

After checking to ensure that the coast was clear, he allowed himself to shift back to human form. Exiting the bathroom he made his way to his first period class. As he entered and settled into his desk, the first ball rang.

He ignored Sam and Tuckers worried glances, however, as they tried to have a conversation without words over his head- his desk was in the middle- he felt his annoyance grow again.

He rolled his eyes and stifled a sigh just as a paper ball smacked his left ear. It was only his trained reflexes that allowed him to catch it before it fell to the ground. Knowing it was from Tucker, as he was in the desk to his left, he unfurled it discreetly and read the techno geeks nearly illegible scrawl.

'Danny, we wanted to apologize for earlier, looking back on what we said and knowing you and how your mind works- you know it's true- we wanted to reassure you that we don't think you're a freak. The 'G' problem sucks, and the fact that you have to deal with it sucks even worse. But it's not on you alone, we're here to help you bro, we're never going to give up on you.'

Danny sighed slightly in resignation. The note made him feel a bit better, but even worse for having thought that he could make it without them. He felt selfish for being happy about them accepting the sacrifice that came with being there for him, but for now he could look past it.

Glancing to the left and then right, Danny ran his hand through his windblown hair and lightly chuckled. Sam and Tuck smiled, knowing that things were at least resolved for now.

His history teacher droned on, reciting dates and proclamations that Danny had no hope of remembering. A gasp of mist causing him to hiccup jarred him from his stupor. Raising his hand with a smile on his face, the teacher sighed and shook her head. A hopelessness wafted off of her, as she nodded and excused Danny to the restroom.

He really needed to stop being melodramatic, today was just another day. He still had Sam and Tucker, they still had his back, and he still had Ghost Butt to kick.

AN: WoOo another chapter- Sorry about the wait on this one, life is a chaotic mess at the moment. School preparations, house renovations and family emergencies oh my!

So a quick explanation on why I had Sir Nick be so chill about Dora's arrival- During his death day party, there were tons of ghosts there that didn't live in Hogwarts 24/7, so I'm assuming that it's possible, and even sort of common, for ghosts to travel here and there, so a new ghost popping in to say 'hello' would be a bit out of the blue, but not jaw droppingly shocking.

On that note, I hope you all enjoyed it! I'll try and have another chapter within a few days, as always feedback is very appreciated. I only have a loose plan for this story, so suggestions and ideas are welcome. ;D