One more thing I should say about where this is placed in the timelines of both DP and HP; since I don't know any more about "Half-Blood Prince" than anyone else, I'm just making this my version of Harry's sixth year, like there has been no announcement on the last two books.
His vision clearing, Danny could make out the people near The Leaky Cauldron more clearly. The boy was tall and scrawny. His hair wasn't just messy; it went all over the place. He was wearing casual clothes too large for him and had a scar to the side of his forehead shaped like a lightning bolt. Along with the giant, another man was coming with him towards them. Though young, his face was tired, with several scars across his cheeks and old, tattered robes. He had dark hair and a thin moustache and was breaking up a large slab of chocolate.
"That sure was close," the giant man said in a gasp, helping Danny to his feet, "Are yeh all righ'?"
"Kinda," Danny said, stumbling a bit; his knees were shaking and he still felt frozen.
"Here," the moustached man handed him a piece of the chocolate, "Eat it. It'll help," Danny took it, looking at the man questioningly. He took a bite, and was quite surprised to find that it did indeed help, warmth filling his stomach and flowing to the tips of his fingers and toes.
"What was that thing?" he asked, finishing off the chocolate.
"Wait until we get inside," the man said quickly. Danny heard a groan behind him; Sam had begun to wake up. He helped her to her feet and the man gave her some chocolate. All this time the shaggy man had been eyeing Danny suspiciously.
"Have I seen yeh before?" he asked Danny.
"Uh..." this wasn't going too well, "yeah. I ran into you earlier today in...
"Ah, yeah. But yer hair was black then, wannit?" Danny and Sam shared nervous glances. Before they could answer, they heard Tucker's moaning as he got up, almost falling over before the boy with glasses caught him. The moustached man gave him some chocolate.
"Let's go inside," the man led them all back inside The Leaky Cauldron through the crowd. They were joined by a tall boy with messy red hair and a terrified look on his face and a girl with bushy, straggly dirty blonde hair. The man led them through the main room and down the hallway to Diagon Alley. He took out his wand and tapped the third brick from the left above the trash bin. All of a sudden, the bricks began to pull back, folding in on one another and vanishing when they went into the wall. The now dark cobbled street lit by candlelight appeared before them, and was frighteningly empty. They immediately went to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, where Fred and George waited outside, looking anxious.
"Upstairs," they said in unison, though not in the joking, carefree manner of earlier; their tone was dead serious. They headed inside. The downstairs was full of shelves, tables, and bookcases, all with unusual products. A large stack of what looked like lunchboxes were on one table. The invisible hats rested on a rack. The books were all joke books. They didn't stop to examine anything, though; the shaggy man quickly led them up the stairs. This room was large, with two beds off in the corner and many sleeping bags on the floor. The shelves here were filled with spell books, parchment, and unusual instruments. A handsome desk was at the other corner, what looked like an eagle's perch on it. A freckled red-haired girl, only a year or two ahead of Danny and his friends, was standing by two red-haired adults who must have been the parents of this girl, Fred and George, and the red-haired boy who had met them in The Leaky Cauldron. Besides Fred and George, all of their clothes looked hand-made and a bit old. The moustached man gave a flick of his wand, and three ordinary chairs appeared in the centre of the room.
"Sit down," he said to Danny and his friends, smiling slightly, "Bill and Charlie off on duty?" the red-haired man nodded.
"All righ' then," the shaggy man nodded, "Now that we're settled, I think we should introduce ourselves. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Care of Magical Creatures teacher at Hogwarts."
"Remus Lupin," the moustached man said lightly.
"Arthur Weasley," the red-haired man stepped up, "My wife, Molly," he nodded to the red-haired woman, "Our sons Fred, George, and Ron, and our daughter Ginny. This is Hermione Granger," he pointed to the bushy-haired girl, "And this is Harry Potter," the boy with the glasses had retreated over to the sleeping bags, and did not look at them.
"Hi," Danny said, "I'm Danny Fenton, and these are my friends Sam Manson and Tucker Foley," Sam and Tucker smiled and nodded as their names were said.
"Well, now that's outta the way," Hagrid said, "Suppose we should let yeh in on some things. Yeh've just been attacked by a couple o' dementors."
"Huh?" Tucker immediately expressed his confusion.
"Dementors," Lupin said grimly, "Formerly the guards of Azkaban. They're among the foulest creatures to walk the Earth. They live in the darkness, filthiest places, they glory in decay and despair, they feed on every happy memory, every happy feeling, all of the peace, love, and hope in the mind, heart, and the air around them. Even Muggles can feel their presence, though they can't see them," Sam and Tucker looked up to the ceiling, trying to avoid Lupin's eyes. Danny was even more confused than ever.
"How old are you three?" Lupin asked.
"14," they all said together.
"I'm guessing you live in the United States?" they nodded, "Which school do you go to there?"
"Oh," Tucker said nervously, "We...uh...we go to..."
"Tucker," Danny interrupted, "They're gonna find out anyway, so we'd better tell them," he noticed the confusion that had now appeared on everyone's face. Danny took a deep breath.
"We're...we're not magic," he had to force those last two words out. Now all of them looked even more confused, if that was possible.
"Not magic?" Ron said, his face the most confused of all.
"Yeah. My parents hunt ghosts. We were..."
"Hunt ghosts?" Hagrid said, laughing a little, "I'd advise yer folks ter look fer ano'er job. On'y back as ghosts," Danny finished, "I'll tell you where I heard that later," he added as Hagrid opened his mouth, "So, they hunt ghosts. Our school had a few days off and my sister made my parents come here instead of an old mansion my dad thought was haunted. We were in the park today and some guy told my dad he knew where to catch ghosts and led him to The Leaky Cauldron, and my dad had use get our stuff and go there. I accidentally got knocked down the hallway which shows the passage to Diagon Alley," he stopped for a minute. Ron still looked bewildered and rest of the Weasleys and Hagrid seemed in shock. Lupin, however, looked thoughtful.
"You say your father followed someone to The Leaky Cauldron?" Danny nodded, "Closely?"
"I guess," Danny shrugged.
"Well, that explains how he could see it. Continue," Danny took in another large breath. Now it was really going to be hard explaining everything.
"OK, first I'd better tell you why...I can do this," he changed back to his human form, causing Ron to jump back and Fred and George's jaws to drop.
"That's what yeh looked liked before," Hagrid said.
"Yeah. This is where I start getting confused as to who and what become ghosts. My parents changed ghosts from superstition to science and built a bunch of ghost weapons..."
"Your parents are able to build devices that detect spirits?" Mr. Weasley said, looking suddenly excited. Danny nodded, "Do they work?" he nodded again; Mr. Weasley now wore a wide grin, "Amazing. Tell me, how do they..."
"Arthur," Mrs. Weasley interrupted, "that can wait. Please go on, dear," she smiled at Danny.
"Right. Well, one day they tried building a portal to break into The Ghost-Zone..."
"There's no ghost-zone!" Ron cut in, "Harry told us last year when he asked Nick about..." he looked over at Harry. He hadn't moved or turned to look at them, but the expression on his face had gone grim.
"...Point is," Ron said, not saying what Harry had asked this Nick about, "When a wizard dies, they either move on or stay as a ghost! There's nowhere between!"
"Well, I've fought a ton of ghosts, and only one was magic. I dunno who's right now. Anyway, they built the portal and it didn't work. I took a look inside. Turns out they forgot to hit the 'on' button. I accidentally hit it, and got caught in the blast of ectoplasm to open the portal. I woke up half-ghost. Since then, I've had ghost powers.
"So when you found the barrier to Diagon Alley..." Lupin brought them back to the original question.
"The bricks were closing back up, so I phased through the wall. I didn't know that non-magic people weren't allowed in. I looked around a bit, saw that Tom guy making sure it was all right for my dad to get rooms, and went back. I brought in Tucker and Sam later and we came back after a few hours. When Tom had a meeting in The Leaky Cauldron I heard them saying how we weren't supposed to know about magic and that only wizards can become ghosts. We weren't planning on going back inside after that. We went for a walk outside, and those dementor things showed up," Danny took another breath, finished. The confusion on everyone's face seemed to have faded a bit. Lupin still looked deep in thought.
"Could you see the dementors, Danny?"
"When I went ghost."
"Not as your normal self?" Danny shook his head, "And what about you two?" he turned to Sam and Tucker.
"I couldn't see them," Sam admitted, "But it felt horrible. Like..."
"...Like you'd never be cheerful again," Lupin finished for her, "And you?"
"Same," Tucker said. Lupin nodded.
"Do you have any idea why those dementors were after you?"
"I didn't even know they existed," Danny said.
"That magic ghost you fought, did it seem to be taking orders? Did it seem well connected, like it had alliances and favours owed to it?"
"Nope. She was more like a genie than a wizard," Lupin looked a bit defeated.
"I see. Are there any ghosts you've fought who seem like they would be in such a position, magic or not?"
"Well...there is one. He's half-ghost like me, with twenty years' more experience."
"Who is he?"
"Vlad Masters, a.k.a. Vlad Plasmius."
"Clever," George commented slyly, "Have you crafted your own alternate identity?" Fred elbowed him, but they were both snickering.
"That's enough out of the pair of you," Mrs. Weasley said sternly.
"So...what happens to us?" Tucker asked nervously. Lupin sighed.
"Dumbledore will be here tomorrow for a while," he said, more to the Weasleys and Hagrid than to Tucker, "We'll have him decide."
"Who's Dumbledore?" Sam asked. Hagrid smiled.
"You'll meet him tomorrow. Righ' now, I'd suggest the three of yeh go back ter yer folks an' wait there 'til tomorrow. Harry'll get yeh," Danny looked over at Harry; he still had not moved.
"This will be difficult to explain to your family..." Lupin sighed.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Danny said quickly, "My dad...he doesn't always think before he acts and my sister would laugh you out of the room. Couldn't we wait until you decide what to do?" Lupin thought for a moment.
"Very well. Arthur, would you mind taking them back to their rooms?" he asked.
"Not at all," Mr. Weasley said. The three friends slowly got up from their chairs and headed downstairs with him.
"Good night," Lupin called after them.
"So, Danny," Mr. Weasley said, "I work in the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office at the Ministry of Magic. Tell me, how do your parents manage to power their devices? I'd imagine it'd be near impossible to do it without magic.
"Well they've researched different kinds of ectoplasm and use them as fuel for the machines. They normally use the green kind because they say that's the most basic kind."
"They've found different varieties of ghost? My word! I'm beginning to wonder if it's maybe us wizards who are wrong about ghosts! Now, that portal you mentioned..." it was easy to tell that Mr. Weasley loved anything having to do with non-magic people. The questions continued right up until they reached the door of Sam's room at The Leaky Cauldron.
"...So you say they're Ghost Catcher can force a ghost out of a human if they're inside them?" he asked as Danny finished telling him about his parents' most dangerous invention to him, "I wasn't even aware they could do that! I know it's uncomfortable for a ghost to walk right through you, but..."
"There you are!" a stern voice shouted from behind them, "Do you have any idea what time it is!?"
"Hi, Mom," Danny squeaked, smiling nervously.
"It is 10:47!" Jack walked out, "Where were you and who is this man!?"
"Arthur Weasley," Mr. Weasley shook Jack's hand, "Your kids got a bit lost, and as I happen to know my way around, I offered to lead them back here. Your son's been telling me all about your profession. Absolutely fascinating, I would love to know more!"
Oh," Jack looked suddenly flattered, "Well, thank you! You know anywhere in this city where there may be a ghost?"
"No, but I will immediately tell you if I hear of one. Nice to meet you as well," he nodded to Maddie, "Well, I must be off. Don't be too hard on the kids," he headed downstairs, and Jack and Maddie turned their attention back to the kids.
"Well...good night!" Danny and Tucker quickly ran into their room and Sam into Jazz's.
----
Harry sat on the roof of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, his eyes up at the stars. Everyone else was inside, preparing to go to sleep, but there was too much on his mind for him to feel tired. This evening had given him more to think about.
This was the second summer in a row where he had had to fight off dementors. This time, it was not a Ministry official trying to discredit him who had sent them, and he had not gotten a letter informing him that he needed to attend a hearing. They weren't even after him. But knowing who had sent them did not make him feel any better.
This past summer should have been his best. With the thread of someone from the Order of the Phoenix breaking down their doors if they mistreated him, the Dursleys had no choice but to treat him decently over the summer. He was allowed to come along with them when they went out to eat, when they went to a movie, or when they went up to London. He was finally allowed to have a go on Dudley's computer, to watch what he wanted on television. He had kept in contact with Ron, Hermione, and everyone else over the summer. He'd been kept up to date on everything that the Order decided he should know (Fred and George's finally being admitted, for instance). His school things were allowed in his room still, though as he had never told them about Sirius's death, he doubted they had planned on taking them back under the cupboard.
Sirius; it was this that kept him from enjoying his summer, no matter how wonderful it seemed. The loss of his godfather still seemed so recent. Try as he might, nothing, not even his talks with Ron and Hermione, could relieve him of all the pain he still felt. Even after his talk with Nearly Headless Nick, he still thought there was a slim possibility that Sirius might have come back, but he had not. This was not the only thing eating away at him; there was still the knowledge that he had to become murderer or victim against Voldemort. He still could not bring himself to tell Ron, Hermione, or anyone else.
He had managed to let go and live a little, despite all this. He was no longer snapping furiously at anyone to release all his frustration. Dumbledore had allowed the Weasleys to get him away from Number 4, Pivet Drive two weeks before term started. The Order was still using Grimmauld Place as headquarters, but Harry could barely stand to be there. They had needed to keep Kreacher, and every time Harry saw him it took a great deal of restraint to keep himself from strangling the house-elf to death right on the spot. Thankfully, Dumbledore decided to let the Weasleys go back to The Burrow with Harry and Hermione, Lupin and Hagrid going as a guard, should anything turn up. Here in Diagon Alley they had stayed with Fred and George instead of The Leaky Cauldron. They had run into Seamus, Dean, Neville, and several other friends from Hogwarts. One surprise turned up that not even Voldemort or the death of Sirius could prevent him from enjoying; Dumbledore had managed to convince the Ministry to have Lupin come back as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.
Now they had three young Americans, one of whom was half-ghost. That made absolutely no sense to Harry, knowing what Nick had said last year. Danny didn't seem to be able to make reason out of it either. For some reason, Voldemort or one of his Death Eaters had sent dementors after them. Danny's idea about the other half-ghost being well connected enough to know wizards made no sense to him, knowing the Death Eaters' feelings towards Muggles. Harry could not explain many parts of this puzzle. He could not explain why this was so important to him now. With everything that had happened this summer, it seemed bizarre that an event involving Muggles whom he'd never met would have such an effect on him. Yet for the first time since the end of fifth term, he was thinking about something else more than Sirius or Voldemort.
"Harry?" he heard Hermione's voice behind him, "You'd better come back inside before Mrs. Weasley comes up and drags you into bed," Harry laughed lightly at that. With another sigh and look at the stars, he turned around and headed back inside with Hermione.