Danny returned to his previous routine. He went to breakfast invisibly, only becoming visible for the house elves. He then caught up to Harry as he went to History of Magic. He stayed for the first ten minutes then he flew off and showed himself to a select few students. He returned to Harry as he left History of Magic and went on to his next class, potions. Danny noticed over the course of the day that a number of students approached Harry about the next DA meeting. Snape had obviously told Harry to say he was getting extra potion lessons to cover his occlumency lessons.
Danny could already sense these lessons ending badly. Occlumency was hard to learn. Harry would have to trust Snape to break into his mind, potentially see every single detail of his past, his happiest moments to his darkest secrets. Having the memories forced to the surface could even stir old mental scars and emotions. This was hard enough without having to learn it when being in the same room with someone with mutual dislike.
However Harry's understandable bad mood lifted considerably when he and a girl Danny had seen in the DA set a date for Valentine's day which also happened to be when their next Hogsmede outing was. But that evening, after a short internal debate, Danny watched over Harry's occlumency lesson. Snape explained to Harry first that Voldemort had a connection to Harry and then how that connection could be reversed so that Voldemort could gain access to Harry's mind and maybe even possess him. Then Snape began the true lesson and used legilimens. At first all that happened was Snape and Harry getting angry at each other. Danny, not being part of the actual mental struggle, saw none of Harry's memories but he was clearly not able to focus or even hold his own against Snape.
"I know! I know!" Harry suddenly exclaimed in triumph and then began asking about the department of mysteries. To his credit, Snape was exceedingly calm despite his lingering rage towards Harry, as he attempted to convince Harry that the department of mysteries wasn't important. But Harry was determined, stating that he'd seen the door in his dreams. Snape quickly dismissed the teen, arranging another lesson on Wednesday. Harry left and Danny made himself visible.
"Well, that went well," Danny remarked. Snape, in the middle of returning his memories to his head from a bowl called a pensieve on the desk, jumped and spun around to face Danny.
He curled a lip angrily.
"Must you do that!? And what are you doing spying on my lessons with Potter?!" Snape demanded. Danny raised an eyebrow.
"My job is to watch Harry. You'd be surprised how important it is for me to keep an eye on everything he's doing. Something bad happening can explain a later shouting match with Umbridge. I know you two dislike each other. I felt the need to watch the lesson to see how Harry dealt with it. I'm not spying on you," Danny retorted.
"You have no right," Snape hissed. Danny shrugged.
"Maybe. But I have to say Severus. You told Harry he was weak for exposing his emotions… you were far too easily angered. You have to try and keep a cool head. Lead by example," Danny advised.
"How dare you?!" Snape roared. Danny sighed.
"Just a suggestion. I'll leave you to it," Danny muttered.
"Don't watch my lessons in the future!" Snape ordered. Danny glanced at the wizard.
"Or what?" Danny challenged.
"I might have to show Potter an outside example," Snape threatened. Danny laughed.
"You can try. Dumbledore taught me occlumency. And I'm pretty good at it," Danny informed the teacher. Danny then turned invisible and flew after Harry.
Danny caught up to Harry in the library, he was explaining what he figured out to Ron and Hermione. Danny groaned silently to himself. This was bad. If Harry kept pursuing this, he'd be doing Voldemort's work for him. But what was worse, Harry looked ill. The trio decided to retire to the common room. Concerned about Harry, Danny followed invisibly and saw Harry head up to bed. Danny was about to leave when he heard Hermione comment that Harry's mental defences might be low. Danny bit his lip as he realised that the witch could be right. The immune system didn't work well after someone was sick. And Harry's mind could work similarly. He floated after Ron as the red-head headed up to the dormitory, a place Danny hadn't been until then.
As they neared the door, they heard crazed laughter. Ron sprinted inside and saw Harry on the ground, gripping his forehead and laughing manically. Eventually, Ron resorted to slapping Harry across the face to snap the teen out of it. Slowly Harry grew silent.
"What happened?" Ron asked, almost afraid of the answer it seemed.
"I… dunno… he's really happy… really happy…" Harry muttered as he sat up.
"You Know Who is?" Ron inquired carefully.
"Something good's happened. Something he's been hoping for," Harry mumbled, almost like he was in a trance. He looked pale. He was shaking too and seemed nauseous as he took deep steadying breaths.
"Hermione told me to come and check on you. She says your defences will be low at the moment, after Snape's been fiddling around with your mind… still, I suppose it'll help in the long run, won't it?" Ron replied, not looking in the least convinced himself. Ron helped Harry up and into bed.
Danny bit his lip worriedly. Was the risk worth teaching Harry occlumency? If they were weakening Harry's defences so much, should they keep going? Should they really have Snape teaching Harry in the first place? The fact that Voldemort was happy was also cause for concern. Danny left Ron and Harry to report his findings to Dumbledore.
"Professor, I'm really not sure about having Severus teaching Harry. Maybe Fenton could be present to give pointers and mediate," Danny suggested after he'd told the headmaster everything he saw that evening.
"I'm sure Severus can teach Harry without help. But I will warn Severus not to overdo it to prevent what happened happening again. As for Voldemort's sudden joy… I haven't had any reports yet. Perhaps we should wait for the moment but I will alert the rest of the order," Dumbledore decided.
The next day, Danny was floating calmly while visible down a quiet corridor at lunch on his way to the Great Hall when he heard someone call him. He turned and saw Harry, Ron and Hermione run over to him. He floated down.
"Oh, hey guys. Everything okay?" Danny greeted them casually.
"Yeah… where did you… go after Umbridge… chased you?" Harry panted. Danny shrugged.
"I know when I'm not wanted so I left for a little while. Visited home to see if those ghosts I usually hang around went back yet. Sorry if I worried you guys. Nice Christmas?" Danny answered. They shrugged.
"My dad got badly hurt a couple of days before the end of term and he was in St. Mungo's over Christmas. But apart from that…" Ron admitted.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Is he alright now?" Danny interjected worriedly. Ron nodded.
"He's better now. Got out the day before we came back," Ron confirmed.
Danny smiled. He spotted someone on his periphery vision and checked it wasn't Umbridge. Despite appearing relaxed, he was still on high alert in case the pink clad witch arrived.
"Still avoiding Umbridge, huh?" Hermione realised. Danny smirked.
"Yep, especially after what I pulled before Christmas. Peeves didn't help by pulling all those pranks. But honestly I'm touched he cared so much," Danny replied.
"Were you in trouble with Dumbledore?" Harry asked. Danny shook his head.
"I didn't actually do anything to Umbridge, so there was nothing for Dumbledore to get angry about. But I'm keeping away from her. Once is enough for me," Danny answered.
"We wanted to apologise for what happened too Phantom. I mean, if we hadn't distracted you, she mightn't have gotten so close," Hermione interjected sadly. Danny shook his head.
"I was getting sloppy. Got too comfortable. I would have been seen either way. Admittedly, I mightn't have ticked Umbridge off as much if I wasn't trying to keep her from giving you three detention though, but I'm used to being the bad guy," Danny admitted honestly.
"What do you mean?" Hermione inquired. Danny shrugged.
"I have a nasty habit of being found at the worst possible moment and then getting blamed for everything. Been labelled a thief and a criminal more than once. Been called evil once or twice too. So having Umbridge angry at me… not really that unusual for me," Danny explained.
Harry blinked in shock.
"Wow, so you know what it's like?" he whispered. Danny nodded.
"Ever need someone to talk to, come find me. I also have a habit of turning up when I'm needed," Danny offered with a smirk. Harry smiled and gave a slight nod.
"Well, I'll let you get on. I prefer not to stay still too long," Danny concluded before floating off, turning a corner before phasing down to the kitchens. That night he had lessons with Miss Fisher. Despite the news of a mass breakout from Azkaban, Dumbledore wanted it to be business as usual.
Things resumed as usual. Danny taking guard duty in the department of mysteries at the weekends, Miss Fisher taught him at least twice a week. Harry went back to normal lessons, Umbridge paying close attention to Hagrid and Trelawney and both teachers were unnerved by the excessive attention and threat of being fired. Harry continued his DA meetings, Danny patrolling the seventh corridor and scaring or drawing Filch or his cat Mrs Norris away. Harry also resumed his occlumency lessons but they were, if anything, getting worse. In addition, Harry had numerous unexplained mood swings that Danny could only attribute to Voldemort's influence.
The next Valentine's day, Dumbledore gave Danny the day off to visit home. A much appreciated gesture as he missed Christmas with them. He spent the entire day at home with his family and friends, catching up and generally having a wonderful day. It was rare to get such a relaxing day without something to do like watch Harry, guard the prophecy or school work for Miss Fisher.
So back to the usual.
Let me know what you guys think so far.
Until the next chapter.
