Tucker lay asleep on the floor, snoring. Danny, on the other hand, was wide awake. Like Harry, his mind was too filled for him to feel tired. Now there were even more complications to his questions over ghosts. Whoever this Nick was, he had to know about what the wizarding world considered ghosts if Harry went to ask him about whatever he needed to know. Was The Ghost-Zone the place where wizards moved on to? He couldn't imagine that being right, as again he reminded himself that Desiree was the only magic ghost he'd ever met. Besides, he doubted that anyone would voluntarily choose to live there. They probably moved on to Heaven. But then where was The Ghost-Zone? If Ron and Tom were right, and all those ghosts were once wizards, why had they changed? Why had they gained their paranormal malevolence? Where did their magic go? What was really eating away on his insides now was; who the heck was he!?

"Ah..." he heard Tucker say in his sleep, "No, no ladies...there's enough of me to go around..." Danny rolled his eyes. Tucker always had dreams of being flocked by beautiful women, and normally made him sit through his re-tellings first thing in the morning. Knowing he'd have to deal with that, he decided to at least try and get some rest. Staying in his clothes, he crawled under the covers and closed his eyes.

----

The Fentons had finished off breakfast and Jack had run out searching for ghosts by the time Harry arrived. He was dressed in the same casual clothes as yesterday, and they definitely looked like they had been slept in.

"Rough night?" Danny asked with a small smile when he answered the door.

"Not as bad as yours, apparently," Harry smirked back. He did have a point; Danny's clothes were messier than his and his hair almost as untidy, "Ready?"

"As we'll ever be," Sam shrugged, standing right behind Danny.

"Uh...this Dumbledore guy," Tucker said, smiling nervously, "He's not...a strict disciplinarian whose going to punish us with some curse, is he?" Harry said nothing; his grin grew even wider. Making sure Tucker couldn't see, he gave Danny and Sam the tiniest shadow of a wink.

"Is he?" Tucker repeated, more anxiously than before. Still grinning, Harry turned and headed towards the stairs, Danny and Sam behind him.

"Guys?" Tucker called from behind them, "Please tell me his grin bothers you too. Guys...guys!?"

----

Lupin again conjured up the chairs, now facing the desk. Tucker was almost in a state of shock now, sweating and shaking violently as they awaited Dumbledore's arrival. Everyone else in the room was throwing around michevious smiles. Danny and Sam had been feeling a bit anxious about this earlier, but this made it almost impossible to worry.

"Best check to see if we have any Sneaking Sedatives left," Danny heard Fred mutter to George, "He could use one right about now."

At last Dumbledore appeared in the room. One look at him, and Tucker immediately found himself relaxed, almost laughing at his panic. He was a tall, thin, and extremely old man. His hair and beard were a grizzled silver, long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing silver robes with a satiny shine and fur lining, which was specked with sparkling bits of silver. He wore a dark silver hat, which, if propped up, would have been pointed. His light blue eyes were sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked.

"Hello, Remus," he said with a warm smile, "I trust these three are the Muggle children?"

"Yes, headmaster," nodding, Dumbledore made his way over to the desk and sat down across from them, still smiling.

"Hello there," he greeted them, "my name is Albus Dumbledore."

"Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft an' Wizardry," Hagrid added, beaming.

"Hi," Danny said, "I'm Danny Fenton, this is Sam Manson," he motioned to Sam, who smiled and nodded, "and Tucker Foley," Tucker still had the same relaxed, relieved grin as before and did nothing. Dumbledore nodded.

"Remus has told me everything about last night, including your story, Danny," he said, "I suppose you're wondering what is the cause of all this...and I suspect that all of us have a few questions on ghosts now they'd like to ask," he looked around the room, everyone wearing expressions of admittance.

"Yeah," Danny, Sam, and Tucker said at once.

"Then let me start with necessary background information. More than twenty years ago, a wizard by the name of Tom Riddle reappeared after a long disappearance. Once he had been a student at Hogwarts; I myself taught him Transfiguration before I became headmaster. I doubt there was ever a more brilliant student to pass through those walls. He was a direct descendent of the famous wizard Salazar Slytherin. It was Slytherin who started to spread the belief among wizards that they were superior to all of mankind. He refused to take in any student unless they came from an all-magic family, a pureblood family..."

"So people from non-magic families can be wizards?" Tucker interrupted.

"Yes. It was this that served as the origin for wizard racism against Muggles, like yourself. And such family habits passed on to our friend Riddle. While at school he was responsible for the death of a Muggle-born wizard. After leaving the school, he disappeared, travelling far and wide. He consorted with the very worst of our kind, sinking deeply into the Dark Arts and undergoing many dangerous, magical transformations. When he resurfaced, he was no longer the clever, handsome Hogwarts student, but Lord Voldemort," at the sound of this name, a sudden chill seemed to sink into everyone in the room. Besides Danny and his friends, the only ones who didn't seem upset by the sound of the name were Harry, Hermione, and Lupin.

"Voldemort?" Tucker repeated, sending another wave of the chill through everyone.

"Don' say the name," Hagrid muttered.

"Why?" Sam raised her eyebrows, "He said it," she pointed at Dumbledore.

"Well, most of us don' like sayin' it."

"Why?"

"Blimey, people are still scared! Yeh have no idea what it was like then...Dumbledore'll tell yeh, but yeh weren't there. Dark days, Sam, dark days. Dumbledore's the only one tha' You-Know-Who was ever afraid of. Hogwarts was one o' the only safe places left back then. "

"He was that bad, huh?" Tucker suddenly sounded nervous again.

"Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself," Hermione now spoke, very defiantly.

"Quite right," Dumbledore sighed, "I would advise you to call him by his real name. You have no reason yet to be frightened of it to begin with. Shall I continue?" he asked pleasantly.

"Yeah, go ahead," Danny nodded; this was twice as interesting as any history lesson he'd had to sit through in Casper High.

"Just as he was the most brilliant student Hogwarts had ever seen, so was he the most powerful wizard known. And unfortunately, the Dark Arts and his own upbringing had turned him into the Master of the Dark Arts. He began to search for followers, and unfortunately found a great many of them. Some he blackmailed, some wanted in on his power, others were merely afraid. They called themselves Death Eaters, and with the rest of the dark creatures Voldemort had gathered, became his army. It was indeed a terrible time. In our books the period is described as the Rise of the Dark Arts. He and his army began to take over everywhere. He killed all who stood up to him, and he and his army went on mass Muggle killings for sport. No one was prepared. There were resistances from the Ministry, yes, but..."

"Ministry?" Sam interrupted, "You mean there's a Ministry of Magic?"

"There is," Lupin said grimly, "You'll hear about them more soon, I promise you."

"The Ministry," Dumbledore continued, "was caught as off-guard as any of us, and their resistance fell apart. I attempted to continue the fight, forming the Order of the Phoenix. We managed to hold him back a bit, but we too were unprepared. He had the lead on us all, and the dark times continued. Remus was among the Order even then. There was my brother Aberforth, a friend from the Ministry, Alastor Moody...and Lily and James Potter," Danny and his friends turned around towards Harry. He had again backed into the corner, his head hung low.

"On Halloween, over fifteen years ago, Voldemort tracked down the Potters on information from a spy. His goal was to kill their newborn son, Harry," for a brief moment Dumbledore's eyes darted over to Harry before turning back, "He destroyed both Lily and James. He then turned on Harry, prepared to kill him...and lost not only his powers, but his strength and body. He was less than spirit, less than the meanest ghost. His curse had rebounded upon himself," Danny's eyes shot open at that and he found it impossible to blink. From the fear of his name and what Dumbledore had said, Voldemort was the worst wizard ever known. Vlad seemed like The Box Ghost compared to this guy. And he had died because of Harry? He was a newborn baby then!

"How..." he started to ask, but Dumbledore held up a hand to silence him.

"An ancient magic," he said simply, "A shield raised by his mother's dying to save him. Thus explains his scar. But Voldemort was not dead. Without a body he may have been, but he was alive. He had undergone so many transformations to insure his survival from the strongest of curses that not even the Killing Curse Avada Kedavra could stop him. I did not know how long it would be until he attempted to return, but I knew that the day would come. And indeed, in Harry's first year, he was shown to be possessing the body of my Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Once again it was Harry who insured he was stopped, and again he seemed to be gone. Then, in the summer before Harry's fourth year, a Ministry official named Bertha Jorkins vanished without a trace in the place where Voldemort was certainly known to be last. A Muggle named Frank Bryce went missing in the village where Voldemort's father grew up. And during the second term, another Ministry official, Barty Crouch, disappeared within the grounds at Hogwarts in the midst of the competition known as the Triwizard Tournament. On the third task of the tournament, Harry and his fellow student Cedric Diggory tied by both grabbing the Triwizard Cup. It had been illegally set up as a Portkey, which is an enchanted object meant to transport whoever touches it from one place to another. It had been set up by a Death Eater in disguise as Moody, who was supposed to be serving as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. They were taken to the graveyard of Voldemort's father. The Death Eater who had betrayed Harry's parents was there. He killed Cedric and performed an ancient piece of Dark Magic. Bone of the father, flesh of the servant, and blood of the enemy; he managed it. Lord Voldemort had returned to his body. It was he and his servant whom had killed Ms. Jorkins and Mr. Bryce, learning from Jorkins about the Triwizard Tournament. His Death Eater at Hogwarts had killed Mr. Crouch and set everything up. Now he was back. He gathered his Death Eaters to him. There he and Harry duelled. Once again Harry escaped, returning Cedric's body to the school and informing me at once. The Death Eater at the school was caught. Unfortunately, the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge refused to believe the truth. He dismissed it as insanity caused by the attack on Harry's life all those years ago. The Death Eater could not prove us right; Fudge had brought a dementor into the castle, and it..."

"Killed him?" Tucker said frightendly.

"Worse, I'm afraid," Dumbledore shook his head, "It performed the Dementor's Kiss and sucked out his soul," a chill ran down Danny's spine. Had those things come after him and his friends for that reason? To suck out their souls?

"I re-called the Order of the Phoenix, recruiting some newer members," his eyes moved over to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, "This time we had the upper hand. But the Ministry of Magic was still determined to appear in control, and did their best to discredit us and our story."

"Fudge was afraid this was all part of a plan Dumbledore had to take over the Ministry," Mr. Weasley said, "He kept leaning on the Daily Prophet – that's the wizard's newspaper – to discredit Dumbledore and make Harry seem...a bit high on himself. They forced a Ministry official into Hogwarts as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and it became necessary for Dumbledore to leave as headmaster at one point. Of course, that didn't go over too well with many," he gave Fred and George a sly smile, who returned it.

"Then," Dumbledore went on, "finally, just before the summer began, Voldemort and his Death Eaters managed to get into the Ministry in the dead of night. For the fourth time, it was Harry who stood in his way, and finally, the truth was revealed," Dumbledore took in a deep breath, finally finished. The three friends looked as though they'd been hit in the face with something heavy, Danny's mouth hanging open. He never in his wildest dreams imagined that anything like what he'd just heard could happen. Dark wizards, Death Eaters...and Harry Potter. He turned around again, and saw Harry in the same position as before. He couldn't see the lightning-bolt scar on his forehead now, and he doubted that Harry would like people staring at it. But if he really had managed that...stopping this Voldemort four times...how could anyone do that against an opponent who sounded so unstoppable?

"So...you guys joined up with the Ministry?" he asked hesitantly. Lupin let out a half-cough, half-laugh.

"We would have," Mr. Weasley said darkly.

"Why didn't you?"

"The Ministry got a bit shirty with us after they were proven wrong," Lupin smiled grimly, "Fudge was so bitter he refused to even reply to Dumbledore's offer to help. They've been trying to appear on top of things and in control ever since Voldemort broke in. We've still had to keep up the activities of the Order in secret," Danny heard Sam cough in shock at this, guessed what she was thinking, and had to agree; how could anyone be so stupid!?

"Of course, we still haven't explained what this has to do with you," Dumbledore said, "You'll recall Remus telling you how the dementors were the former guards of Azkaban?" Danny understood this at once, but it made everything seem even more complicated.

"Why would he send..."

"That is the one thing I cannot answer. You said that this Plasmius was half-Muggle like yourself."

"Yeah. Doubt he'd be allowed in."

"And yet there seems to be no other explanation," Dumbledore sighed, "If this was mere Muggle sport I doubt Voldemort would be so foolish as to send three dementors so close to The Leaky Cauldron," no one spoke for a long time. After what seemed like an eternity passed...

"Could we find out some stuff about ghosts now?" Danny asked uncertainly. Dumbledore smiled.

"Yes, we have yet to get to that. Now, Danny, you say that only one ghost you've met is magic, and more like a genie than a wizard?" Danny nodded, "You say there is a ghost-zone?" Danny nodded again, "And you say your parents have broken down this ghost-zone and its ghosts into science?"

"Yep."

"Well, I think I know what you are then. What almost no wizards know is that there is more than one kind of ghost. The only other wizards who have ever come across that knowledge I believe are Merlin, my old friend Nicholas Flamel, and Voldemort."

"More than one kind of ghost?" Ron said, again looking confused. Harry had gotten up and walked over, listening intently, as all were doing.

"Yes," Dumbledore nodded, "And a very different kind it is. Muggles, when they die, can either move on or choose to stay as ghosts, as we can, but they must be put to rest. If they select to stay, they cannot simply roam the Earth. They enter Ghostland...your parents' ghost-zone," he said as Danny opened his mouth, "where they can escape to Earth if they find ways. But, if what Arthur has said about your parents' deductions is true, they were quite right; various paranormal forces and different kinds of ectoplasm can cause transformations and mutations, most ending in the gaining of an inhuman malevolence. A few older ghosts can manage to fight it off. The powers are of the paranormal, but are not magic. How your genie ghost obtained her talent is beyond my ability to answer. So, your parents were right. They just have yet to discover that other kinds of ghosts exist."

"So Danny can't do spells or anything?" Tucker said, a bit of disappointment in his voice.

"Not quite. While it is true that your powers are not magic, they are close enough to it that they could be enhanced through magic. You should even be able to learn a few spells."

"Seriously?" Danny asked. Of the three of them, none expect this after hearing that Danny's kind of ghost wasn't magic, but it was a pleasant surprise.

"Seriously," Dumbledore nodded, "But now I'm afraid we must decide what to do with you," the room turned serious again, "Voldemort is in control of the dementors, so to send them after you Plasmius would have to be in his service. If he is not, then for some unknown reason, he had them sent after you himself. In either case, it isn't a simple case of Muggle-killing or murder. I believe he was after something. There is no magical place in America that can fight off dementors or any of the Death Eaters, and the Order is too busy for anyone to come along with you. Very difficult," Dumbledore began to move his finger back and forth over the candle on his desk. The flame disappeared and reappeared as he moved his finger. He continued to do this for several minutes, his eyes locked on the flame.

"So...what are you gonna do with us?" Tucker finally asked impatiently. Dumbledore finally stopped, the flame on the candle still burning.

"I'm afraid," he sighed, "that all I can think of is to have you come to live at Hogwarts. There is no law against Muggles coming there if need be and Danny can join the ranks of the Hogwarts ghosts. After...certain mistakes on my part last year," he looked away so that his eyes could not meet Harry's, "I'm not tempted to leave anyone locked up in the Order's headquarters alone for any length of time."

"You mean, live at your school and not take lessons?" Tucker asked; Dumbledore nodded, "Well, that doesn't quite work for us. We go back to Amity in three days, and a girl I like likes me back for once over there, so..."

"Well, I don't have a problem with it," Sam cut in, "But we'll have a hard time convincing our parents to let us stay here."

"And it is a bad idea to let my dad know anything about the wizarding world," Danny said, "He'd start blabbing it to anyone who'd listen and try and tear down Diagon Alley looking for ghosts."

"I think I can come up with a cover," Dumbledore now pulled out his wand, waved it around a bit, and three pamphlets floated into their laps, "You can read those on your way out. And I think it's time for you to head back. Harry will come by again in the evening to see what your parents have decided. Arthur, lead the way, and I would like to see Harry, Ron, and Hermione alone," with that, Mrs. Weasley, Lupin, Fred and George, and Ginny all headed downstairs fast. Danny, Sam and Tucker went over to Mr. Weasley, and Harry, Ron and Hermione walked over to Dumbledore's desk. He waited until Mr. Weasley had led Danny and his friends downstairs before speaking.

"Would you mind watching out for them at Hogwarts, assuming my little cover works?" they all nodded, "Thank you. Off you go then."

----

"I'm telling you," Tucker was complaining as they phased through the barrier to The Leaky Cauldron, Mr. Weasley having left them there to do business, "This is not going to work!"

"Well, here's our other option," Danny said, a bit annoyed, "'Hi, Mom and Dad! Guess what, I'm a ghost, and we were attacked by three soul-sucking dementors and need to stay at a wizard school.' Anyway, I trust this Dumbledore guy."

"Me too," Sam nodded, "He seems pretty nice. And I'd really like to find out more about the wizard world!"

"Danny's parents can't let us go without asking our parents," Tucker continued to argue, "You think they're gonna let us!?" What none of them knew was that Jazz was listening out of sight on the staircase. She bit her lip. Much as she didn't want Danny disappearing for who-knows how long, if he was in trouble...

----

"'Your son has been accepted into the Weasley School of Education,'" Jack read from the pamphlet, "That Arthur Weasley gave you these?"

"We ran into him today," Danny laughed nervously, "Funny, huh?" they had finally shown the pamphlets to the Fentons. They were in Jazz and Sam's room. Maddie was looking over Sam's and Tucker's suspiciously.

"Well, I liked that Weasley fellow," Jack said, "And I could use some equipment from the lab over here to get a better reception on the ectoplasmic scale..."

"Jack, we are not moving to London just so the kids can attend a school like this," Maddie said defiantly.

"Are you crazy!?" Jazz suddenly shouted, "That's one of the best schools that isn't run by conceited snobs in the entire country! How can you deny your son the opportunity to attend school here!? I have never been so jealous of you in my life!" she marched over to Danny, "How do you get into this place!?" Danny looked at Jazz like he'd never seen her before. Was there really a school named the Weasley School of Education?

"Well..." Maddie looked over the forms again, "We can't send Sam or Tucker there..."

"I'll get the cell phones!" Jack ran over to his room. After about an hour passed he ran back in, beaming.

"It took a while to talk down the Mansons," he said, "But I finally got the OK to send 'em off to Weasley's!" Maddie looked over the pamphlets again. The school did look all right, they had permission, and there was the matter of ghosts...finally, she sighed in resignation.

"All right. But we are moving back at the end of the year whether they like the place or not! If you kids don't like that school and want to go home at any point, you just call us and well will go home! And we're not living here," she looked around, "I'll ask Tom if there's any housing available anywhere," she headed downstairs. After Jack and Jazz left, Danny looked over at his friends, more excited than he had been since the dementor attack.

"I told you it would work!" Tucker said, "You guys never listen to me, do you?" Danny and Sam were in such a good mood that they didn't even bother glaring at Tucker.

"I can't believe this...we're going to a wizard school!" Sam was so excited she barely seemed like herself. In this state she practically leapt off the bed and threw her arms around Danny. It took a few seconds for her to catch herself.

"Sorry," she said quickly, sliding back. They both looked nervously at Tucker, who was grinning slyly.

"Of all the times not to have a camera," he said coyly. Danny grabbed a pillow off the bed and smacked him in the head with it, and soon a pillow fight broke out. No one noticed that the door was still open, or that Jazz was peaking inside, beaming.

----

"Well?" Dumbledore asked. As agreed, Harry had come to get them later that evening. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had left with Ginny to do some last minute shopping for school, and Fred and George were downstairs running the joke shop. Danny, Sam, and Tucker were still barely able to contain their excitement, despite Sam's messed-up and Tucker's broken glasses from the pillow fight.

"They bought it," Danny said quickly, "We can go!" Dumbledore smiled warmly.

"Excellent," he said with a chuckle, "Excellent. I'll have you go with Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys when they head up to the London Underground. However, I must insist you stay with them, you hide yourselves with school robes, and tell no one why you are there. You agree?"

"Yeah, fine," at the moment, Danny was so excited that Dumbledore could have asked him to drop dead and become a full ghost and he'd agree to it. Not that he thought Dumbledore would ever ask him such a thing.

"Very good. You'll be wanting to learn more about our worlds, I assmue...Mrs. Granger, would you mind lending out some of your books?"

"Not at all," Hermione said.

"Thank you," Dumbledore slowly got up from the chair, "Well, I must be off. Molly's left some old robes from their family for you to use," he said to Danny, "See you all on the first of September," and with a wisp of his cloak, Dumbledore was gone.

"Well," Hermione said, turning to face Danny and friends, "Anything you'd like to know?"

"What do you have?" Sam walked over. Hermione pulled her suitcase over from the corner of the room and opened it, pulling out what seemed like an endless supply of books. As she read off the names, Sam stacked them up in a pile.

"Here's Modern Magical History," she said as she took one book out, "and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts...Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century and a few Lockhart books – I'll tell you about him later – and then we have one of a few books on Merlin, and..." it kept going. Tucker walked over to Ron, who was setting up a chessboard. Danny noticed Harry had again retreated off into a corner of the room. Hearing a few of the book titles Hermione had read off made him remember Harry's part in the story Dumbledore had shared with them this morning. He doubted it was a good idea to mention it, but...

"Hey," he walked over.

"Hey," Harry said back.

"Yeah. What Dumbledore told us about your parents earlier..." this was difficult; Harry had not turned to look at him, but he did appear to grow more tense, "...I'm sorry," Harry didn't answer right away. Since Sirius died he never really felt like talking to anyone about anyone's death, but for some reason talking to this half-ghost kid two years under him felt different. He felt like Danny had been through a lot as well.

"Forget about it," he finally said.

"Did you go live with your grandparents?"

"Aunt and Uncle."

"Oh. What are they like?"

"Let's put it this way," he said, "They have the view most people had during medieval times."

"Ooh."

"Well, they haven't tried burning me at the stake yet. Not that it would work, ever since we learned the Flame Freezing Charm at school. So your parents ever try to hunt you down while you're a ghost?"

"Not yet."

"Hey Harry," Ron called over; he had talked Tucker into a chess match, and was winning with ease, "We've never talked about it. What'd you get on your O.W.L.s?" Harry had almost completely forgotten about those over the summer. He'd received his note and just left it aside. He now ran over to his suitcase and pulled it out.

Transfiguration: E

Charms: A

Herbology: E

Defence Against the Dark Arts: O

Potions: A

Care of Magical Creatures: E

Astronomy: A

Divinaion: D

"Not too bad then, is it?" Ron said, looking over the note, "I got A in most everything. A T in Divination and E in Defence Against the Dark Arts," it was a good thing Hermione was distracted with going over books with Sam; neither Harry nor Ron felt much like going into a debate with her over O.W.L.s.

"It'll be good to go back to Quidditch," Harry said, changing the subject, "Ginny still planning on taking over as Seeker?"

"Yeah. Why don't you ask to be captain?"

"Wasn't Katie planning to?"

"Yeah but..." Ron looked over at Danny and Tucker, who were wearing clueless expressions.

"What's Quidditch?" Danny asked.

"Wizard sport," Harry explained, "Played on broomsticks. A bit like football – soccer, for you – there's seven players on a team and four balls. The large red ball is the..."

"WHAT!?" they heard Sam shout.

"Something wrong?" Danny asked, a bit nervous about the answer.

"Hermione's just finished telling me about house-elves in the wizarding world!" she shouted; Ron rolled his eyes, "I can't believe how they're treated! I thought endangered speicies in our zoos had it bad!"

"It's really shameful," Hermione nodded, "And I haven't been able to convince anyone!"

"So what else is there?" Sam said, turning back to the books.

"Is she always like that?" Harry asked.

"She let a gorilla out of the zoo and tried to smuggle frogs out of our biology lab."

"Another Hermione," Ron sighed, "Impossible, aren't they?" Tucker nodded.

"Now, about Quidditch..."