"You two actually went through with it?" Hermione screamed, "Have you gone mad? There was nowhere to run from Filch in that chamber, he wouldn't care about Danny's being a ghost and that wouldn't explain –"
"Shut up and let them get to the good part," Tucker interrupted. It was early Saturday morning, and with everyone gathered in Sam's room, Danny and Harry had finally told them about their look around the dungeons. As expected, Sam and Hermione had not been happy about it. And it was now impossible to get back down in the dungeons, as Filch was standing guard day and night.
"That's it, Tuck," Danny finished, "We couldn't get to the door and we got out of there as fast as we could to keep from getting caught," Tucker looked a bit disappointed.
"Sounds like Filch knew someone had been down there before," Ron said, a bit more dramatically than needed, "And it's a bit strange Snape was down there. His dungeon's two full corridors down."
"You've got an idea?" Tucker turned to him.
"Malfoy's got a few Dark Magic items from his dear old dad and storing them in the dungeon...and Snape's covering up for him!"
"Ronald!" Hermione cried in exasperation, "Have you ever been right about Snape before? Ever?"
"Y'know, that makes a lot of sense," Tucker agreed with Ron.
"I told you, someone would have noticed if he was moving anything in there!" Sam said indignantly.
"Snape's covering for him!" Ron repeated.
"Dumbledore trusts –"
"He can be fooled just like anyone! I don't care what he says, there's no way we can trust Snape! He was a Death Eater! He was..."
"He was a Death Eater. He's not anymore..."
"He was a Death Eater?" Sam asked. Her tone was curious more than anything else, but Hermione looked more outraged than ever.
"Don't tell me you're agreeing with them!"
"I didn't say that! You just never said he was a Death Eater!"
"We've never talked about Snape before now, have we?"
"Ron told me about him and Malfoy," Tucker said, "I'm going with his idea!"
"Of course you agree with him! The only thing you know about them is Ron's biased theories he spins out of proportion and..."
"You're not always right!" Ron spat.
"You've never been right about Snape! And I can't believe you actually agree with them!" she turned on Sam.
"I never said I did!"
"Who do you believe, then?" Tucker demanded.
"Well...yeah, he's a Death Eater. That's suspicious, but..."
"My point exactly!" Ron shouted.
"I wasn't finished. Dumbledore seems pretty smart. If Voldemort..."
"Say You-Know-Who!" Ron shouted. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"If Voldemort," Sam emphasised the last word, causing Ron to throw his hands over his ears, "can't fool him, why would one of his lackeys be able to?"
"He's not his 'lackey' anymore!" Hermione said, "He saved Harry's life first year, last year when we went into the Department of Mysteries he..." she broke off and looked over at Harry, suddenly fearful. Harry said nothing.
"He thought Dumbledore would've kicked him out!" Ron countered, "You-Know-Who wants to kill Harry himself, doesn't he?"
"Voldemort was in the back of Quirrel's head! He turned back to our side before Voldemort fell the first time, he became a spy for the Order..."
"I think he was playing double agent!" Tucker said. The argument dragged on, Hermione and Sam refusing to by Ron's story, which Tucker backed. Danny and Harry sat off to the side, growing more and more bored and annoyed.
"Stubborn, aren't they?" Harry commented.
"If they keep it up they might lose their voices and we won't have to worry about it," Danny yawned.
"What do you think, Danny?" Tucker suddenly turned on him.
"What? No! Guys, I don't want to..."
"What do you think?" Hermione screeched. The look in her eyes convinced him to give his opinion.
"Well...he was a Death Eater..." Ron and Tucker smiled mockingly at Sam and Hermione, "...but why would Dumbledore hire him if he thought he still was one? He doesn't seem like he's the kind of guy to get tricked..."
"He's only human!" Ron roared, "He's mates with Malfoy's dad, he's still a Death Eater! That's where Draco got all of his things!"
"He couldn't have gotten them into the school!" the arguments resumed, Tucker or Sam occasionally forcing Danny to give a reluctant opinion.
"How do you stay out of these things?" he asked Harry pleadingly.
"I'm going to Hagrid's" without answering Danny's question, Harry got up, stretched, and headed outside.
----
As October went on, the chance of getting back to the dungeon did not improve, as Filch continued to prowl it himself or have Mrs. Norris do so day and night. This did nothing to break Ron and Tucker's stubborn claim to their theory that Malfoy was hiding Dark Magic and Snape was covering for him. Thankfully for Danny, they were having less opportunity to argue with Sam and Hermione over it. The teachers had now begun laying down much more homework, taking up more of their time. Katie had been working the Quidditch team harder with five practices a week, giving Harry and Ron even more to do. Harry never got around to letting Danny have the Invisibility Cloak back, and he never got around to asking for it. The only time they managed to see Danny and his friends regularly now was during the magic sessions on Saturdays. Hermione was rarely around at all anymore, as she had more homework than Harry and Ron together. Tucker and Ron tried to use this to their advantage when arguing with Sam about Snape and Malfoy, but she managed to hold her ground as well as if Hermione had been there.
The Halloween feast was coming around the corner, though, and this finally shut Tucker and Ron up. Against Hermione's advice, Harry and Ron had invited Danny and his friends down to the feast. Sam and Tucker could hide under the Invisibility Cloak and Danny, thought to be a school ghost, could just float around.
"I dunno," Sam said when Danny told her about the idea, "The Cloak can come off, we're not really supposed to be around anyone except Harry, Ron and Hermione."
"Well I'm tired of staying up here all the time!" Tucker said, "The food's probably better there than what we get anyway. I say we go! Danny has to show up anyway, and Harry finally gave us back that cloak."
"Too bad ghosts can't eat anything," Danny sighed, "But it's probably going to be good. We can stay by Harry and those guys so you don't get caught near someone else if the Cloak falls off."
"Besides, it'll give us a chance to see what that Malfoy's up to!" Tucker grinned mischievously; Sam sighed.
"Fine, let's go."
----
A thousand live bats fluttered from the walls and ceiling while a thousand more swooped over the tables in low black clouds. The candles were now in pumpkins, the flames flickering against the beating of the bats' wings. The Halloween feast had begun. The four House tables had returned in place of Lupin's stage. Professor Lupin had recovered from the full moon and had rejoined the staff at the High Table. Snape still looked like he was scorching from his duel with Harry. Harry himself was seated with Ron and Hermione, Danny floating nearby. There was a seemingly unexplainable space between Harry and the next person large enough to fit two people. Every so often, Tucker would reach his hand out and sneak some food under the Invisibility Cloak.
"I still don't like this," Hermione eyed a few first years staring at them from down the table, "I think this is the third time they came close to noticing something.
"Ah, quit being such a sourpuss," to everyone's surprise, it was Sam who said this, "This is incredible," she watched as a bat flew over the food, grabbing a grape off one of the plates with its feet.
"Told ya," Tucker took a bite out of an apple.
"Oh, I don't believe this," Hermione scowled. A small food fight had broken out between several first years further down the table, "Ron, let's go."
"You take care of it. I'm not chasing down midgets on Halloween," sighing, Hermione got up and ran down the table. The first years responded by directing the food at her.
"I think she's gonna need some help," Danny said. Ron tossed a chocolate chip into his mouth. Sighing himself, Harry headed down to provide assistance.
"Y'know, you really should do your prefect duties," Tucker said in a half-mocking, half-joking tone. Ron shrugged and lifted his goblet. But before any liquid entered his mouth, he caught something. Malfoy had gotten up and was heading out of the Great Hall. At first it looked like he was staring at Ron, but then Ron noticed he was looking over his shoulder, right at Danny. He didn't take his eyes off him until he rounded the corner and left the Great Hall.
"Where the bloody hell is he going?"
"Probably to his common room," Sam said, not looking up.
"It's not that way," Ron said. He would know; he and Harry had gone in there their second year after taking the Polyjuice Potion, "That way heads outside," he stared after him for a while, "Shall we go see what he's up to?"
"You bet!" Tucker made to get up, but Sam held back the Cloak.
"You can't be serious," she said, annoyed.
"If you don't want to come, you can..."
"If you go I have to come, because this thing doesn't detach for one person to go one way and another person to go another way!"
"Then you'll have to come with us, then," Ron stood up, and Tucker managed to force Sam up with him.
"Danny..." she whispered pleadingly.
"Yeah...c'mon, Danny!" Tucker said.
"Uh..." Danny had to agree with Sam; this didn't sound like a good idea, "Don't you think you should tell a teacher or..."
"No time, we'll lose him!" Ron had already made for the exit. Tucker dragged Sam along, and, sighing, Danny floated out with them. None of them thought to say anything to Harry or Hermione, who were trying to control all the cupcakes being tossed at them.
"He went this way," Ron led them down the corridor and out onto the grounds. The sun was low and the sky a deep red and violet. Soon it would be dark, and the students required to be in bed.
"You're not gonna have time to..." Sam was cut off.
"I'm a prefect."
"So that's why you kept eating when Hermione needed your help?" Ron didn't answer. Off by the edge of the forest, Malfoy stood, looking right at Danny. Then he turned and headed into the mess of dark trees and shadows.
"Let's go!" Tucker started forward, but then noticed Ron. He was no longer confidant. He looked shocked and fearful, staring into the forest with the uttermost dread.
"You OK?" he asked.
"Huh?" he came out of his trance, still looking pale, "Oh, fine, fine. Danny, you're going to stay ghost, right?"
"Aren't I supposed to?"
"Right," Ron gulped, then tried and failed to crack a non-panicked smile.
"Uh..." Tucker looked back out at the forest, "What's in there, anyway?"
"Oh, nothing!" Ron continued to wear his false smile, "Centaurs, unicorns...and snakes, and werewolves, and..." his smile finally slipped away, leaving his face with a horrified grimace.
"You won't need the Cloak in there," he said, and Tucker immediately threw it off, tucking it under his arm.
"Shall we go?" Ron whimpered. With a gulp, he headed off after Malfoy, Tucker right behind him. Danny and Sam shared worried looks; something did not seem right here. With a last feeling of uncertainty, the headed into the forest with Ron and Tucker.
From the start, it was eerily apparent why this was known as the Forbidden Forest. The little sunlight left barely filtered through the towering trees, which cast ominous dark shadows all around. Leaves and twigs crinkled and broke apart under their feet as they moved on. Ron and Danny lit their wands, but the ghostly green glow from Danny's only seemed to make the forest feel darker. Soon the setting sun and the ever taller trees blotted out all other light but the light of their wands.
"Stay on the path," Ron said, still pale. Danny could see why he didn't want to come in here. There was no sign of Malfoy other than a few footprints, and they had passed those a while ago.
"So..." Tucker said; now his voice was starting to sound worried, "There's werewolves in here?" Danny saw Ron barely move his head into a nod. The continued on, the night becoming more and more dark and the path becoming harder and harder to make out, even with wandlight. Finally, the forest became so thick over the path that it was damn near impossible to continue. Tucker's foot became caught in a branch, and he went sliding into the mess of trees around them.
"Tuck!" Danny pointed is wand over by the trees.
"I'm fine," Tucker called, "But I'm stuck," Danny, Sam and Ron made their way through the trees and over to him. His hat was off, his foot was caught in a bush, and he was covered in spiders. Danny and Sam sighed.
"Be careful," Sam said, and they helped him get his leg out from the bush. Then they noticed Ron. He was standing back from the spiders, trembling with fear.
"What's wrong with you?" Danny asked.
"I hate spiders," he squeaked, "And if we're," he looked up towards the trees, his wand almost falling from his hand, "where I think we are..." Danny looked up. He saw nothing. But he heard a loud clicking noise, and suddenly he felt something long and hairy seize him around the middle and lift him up off the ground and into the treetops. Struggling to get loose, he heard Sam scream out his name before looking down. A black, hairy spider the size of a carthorse grabbed her in its legs and headed up the tree after the one carrying him. He vaguely caught sight of two more scrambling around below before the spider dragged him over a branch and onto another tree, taking Tucker, Ron, and the other spiders out of sight. Danny kept at his struggle to get loose, but the spider holding him had a tight grip. Then he realised his wand was still in his hand and he was still in ghost-mode. Two ghost-rings shot out from around his middle, sending the spider flying through the decaying foliage and onto the forest floor below. He whirled around and flew right at the spider carrying Sam. He went intangible, grabbed her, and they flew out of the creature's grasp and towards a third one, which held Tucker. Danny grabbed him with his free hand and landed on a large branch, setting his friends down.
"Ron!" Tucker gasped. A fourth spider was dragging a pure-white and sweat-drenched Ron up the tree. Danny phased him out of its grip and set him down. He was trembling so badly that Sam and Tucker had to hold him to keep him from falling out of the tree. The spiders were coming back towards them, and they weren't alone. What seemed like hundreds of spiders, all of different sizes, were on the assault, coming across branches and up tree trunks. Danny raised a barrier around his friends and himself, but he couldn't hold it forever. The spiders flowed over the top of it like a wave of violent water, threatening to break it apart and swarm around inside. The ones that had already gone overhead were now whirling around on the return strike. From inside the shield Danny's eyes darted left and right, looking for some advantage. With his shield slightly illuminating the surrounding area, he caught sight of a vine trailing straight down to the floor of the forest, where all the spiders had cleared from.
"Guys," he muttered, and jerked his head over to the vine. Picking up the signal immediately, Sam and Tucker nodded. Ron gulped and gripped his wand tighter.
"You'll need help," he whispered, and Danny knew he couldn't argue there.
"On three," he said, "One...two...THREE!" the barrier faded way. Sam and Tucker threw themselves onto the vine and slipped down out of sight as Danny fired pure white blasts from each hand, knocking spiders everywhere and tearing several apart. Ron, though his hand was shaking violently, was able to fire out several rounds of the Impediment Curse and a few Stunners. Danny continued his steady stream of energy blasts, but the spiders kept coming. Worse, some of them had spotted Sam and Tucker running away.
"NO!" a long, green line of energy flew from Danny's fist like a whip, severing the spiders in two. He grabbed Ron and flew down to the forest floor by Sam and Tucker, and the four took off as fast as they could, the spiders closing in.
"Since when can you do that whip thing?" Tucker asked.
"Since just now!" Danny fired an Impediment Curse over his shoulder, not looking back to see if he hit anything. The spiders were faster than he'd thought.
"Keep going!" he shouted, "I'll hold 'em back!" he whirled around, raising a gigantic ectoplasmic wall that kept the spiders from going around, over, or under in their pursuit. Several minutes passed before Sam, Tucker and Ron stopped, their lungs almost bursting and all of them covered in broken twigs and leaves.
"We need to go back," Sam gasped.
"I'm not going back!" Ron stared at her as though she lost her mind.
"Danny..."
"Sam, he can take care of himself," Tucker said through his breaths, "Did you see that whip thing? A bunch of spiders won't kill him," Sam stared at them for a minute, then headed back. As she approached the battle scene, she saw what Tucker meant. Dead spiders lay everywhere, several severed in half or chopped into more pieces. The juice or whatever it was inside those things was everywhere; on the ground, on the trees, leaking onto the bodies of other spiders. One of which was moving. Sam started to scream, but saw that it was being lifted up. Danny threw it off himself. There was something wrong with him. A long, thick piece of a branch had been driven into his left side. Green ectoplasmic blood was seeping out over it and onto the silver-gloved hand that was gripping at the branch, trying to keep the blood back more than trying to pull it out.
"Danny!" Sam ran over, "Are you OK?"
"Fine," he muttered through clenched teeth, "Let's get out of here before..." he couldn't finish, and he fell to his knees. It felt like there were a thousand splinters all over his body, not just the one branch. And he felt cold. He could see his own breath. In fact, everything now seemed to be freezing; frost had formed on the ground, the juice from the spiders was frozen, and the air became thick with fog. Danny then remembered the night outside The Leaky Cauldron. No...it couldn't be...
"Sam," he looked up towards the trees, not at her, "Run," she didn't move, "RUN!" the force behind his voice was so great she couldn't press the matter. One she was away Danny picked his wand up off the ground and stood up the best he could.
'Think positive,' he thought to himself, 'Think happy thoughts,' he didn't even mind how stupid it felt to be quoting Peter Pan. The ominous black figure was floating just a few feet above him, slowly descending.
"Expecto Patronum!" Danny shouted, "Expecto Patronum!" a feeble wisp of green smoke darted out from the tip of his wand and faded into the night. His breathing was intensifying, and he felt his body go into a cold shiver. The shaking pushed him back against the tree as the dementor floated down to the ground, moving ever closer. It lined its face right up with Danny's, and leaned in as if it was trying to kiss him. Danny tried to keep his mouth closed, but the need to breathe and all of his shivering forced his mouth open. Scenes were starting to flash before him; Spectra's time at his school, Vlad, Skulker...as a wave of horrible memories swept over him and the dementor wrapped its skeletal hands around his throat, the forest seemed to explode with silver light. The dementor pulled back violently, flying out in an instant. As the light cleared, a silver, glowing form in the shape of a stag ran over, looking right at Danny. For a moment it seemed like it was going to lick him, but it soon vanished as if it was smoke. Harry, Sam, and Hermione ran over, catching Danny before he completely toppled over.
----
"What in the world were you thinking?" even through all her concern and relief, Hermione still found it in her to express her extreme anger at their stupidity, "Into the forest at night, off the path...you could have died! You could have..."
"Stop acting like my mother for a minute and help!" Ron spat. Danny was still cold as ice, and he could barely hold onto his ghost-form, much less walk back to the school. Harry and the others helped him along; no one had tried removing the branch yet.
"Malfoy was the one slipping out from under Dumbledore's nose into the forest, we were just –"
"You should have told someone!" she cut Ron off, "Even prefects aren't allowed in the forest!"
"What were you and Harry doing here then?"
"We were trying to save you! You disappeared at the feast and when we saw Malfoy wasn't with the Slytherins we knew you'd done something, and the footprints on the ground –"
"Shut up and move," Harry sighed, and Sam and Tucker had to agree. Even they didn't argue this much.
"I still think you should have –" Hermione broke off, but not from an interruption. They had just come out of the forest, and Hagrid was standing on the path, looking more angry, shocked, and worried than they had ever seen him before.
----
"Ready?" Hagrid asked. Danny was sitting down, and Hagrid had his hands on the branch still imbedded in him. Danny nodded.
"Let's go."
"Alrigh'" Hagrid shrugged, "One – two – three –" he ripped the branch from Danny's side, and suddenly Danny went stiff as a board. Two ghost rings flew across his body, and he went back into human form. The green ectoplasm turned to a blood-red stain on his T-shirt.
"Yeh'll need that patched up," Hagrid nodded to the wound. Danny barely nodded and pulled his shirt off.
Sam and Tucker had been with Danny on almost all of his ghost-hunting exploits, and they'd seen some of the damage he took, but seeing him like this really drove home to them just how much he'd endeared since becoming Danny Phantom. There was still a fresh scar on his right wrist from Valerie's weapons, and another mark further up on his arm from Bertrand. Near his right ribs there was a bite mark, also from Bertrand. He was covered in still-healing bruises and scratches. The bloody hole in his side didn't seem quite such a major addition now. Harry, Ron and Hermione were equally as shocked by all of his injuries.
"Bloody hell," Ron exclaimed as Hagrid helped Danny secure the bandages around his middle.
"Now what the ruddy hell were yeh doin' in the forest to begin with?" Hagrid suddenly turned stern.
"It was my fault," Ron said, and Hermione stared at him in shock and something almost like admiration, "Malfoy was sneaking off into the forest, I dragged them along."
"No, I came with him on my own," Tucker shook his head, "I'm the one who made Danny and Sam come."
"Yeh should've gone teh a teacher! Yeh know yer not supposed ter be sneakin' around the forest without a teacher, not under any circumstances!" Ron and Tucker both looked down at their shoes, not saying anything. Hagrid now turned on Harry and Hermione.
"And you two!" he shouted, "Goin' after 'em without tellin' no one! Hermione, why didn' yeh –"
"Hagrid, we didn't think there'd be time!" Hermione protested, but she looked extremely guilty. Danny felt pretty bad himself. They'd almost gotten killed, broken who knows how many rules, and they still didn't know what Malfoy was up to – if he even was up to anything. For a long time, no one spoke.
"Well – I covered for yeh," Hagrid finally said, "I said yeh'd all come down ter see me and we lost track of time. But I'm goin' ter have teh tell Dumbledore. Got to. Harry, Hermione – yeh still should've gotten someone, but yeh did good. I'll leave yeh out," they all nodded. Danny put his shirt on, and they headed outside.
"Oh...Hagrid," Harry held back, "You should also tell Dumbledore – a dementor appeared," Hagrid jumped.
"A dementor?" Harry nodded.
"It tried to get Danny. Dumbledore should know," Hagrid stared off into space, shocked, "G'night," Harry closed the door and headed up to the castle.