I'm so sorry about the late chapter! I suddenly became obsessed with Naruto. And on a further unrelated note, Kakashi is SEXY.
I also had a writer's block. Not from this chapter, but from the chapter after this one, because I had no idea what to write. But I know now, so no worries!
Thanks to danni phantom, coolgirlc, EverD, Kammy, Shewhodanceswithdragons, BabiGirlBri16, Sirithiliel, blackgem99, Witch4ever, Goldenluv28, Darth Frodo, Leppers, dAnnYsGiRl777, -XSasukeUchihaX- (Naruto fans unite!), Lynx Silverhawk, SquirrelGirl13, Engelbird, hetfan7708, Allie Phantom, Mysterious Prophetess, The Violent Tomboy, Eto, TV girl, -the-gem-of-Azar, Lt. Commander Richie, Phantom of a Rose, My Eternal Façade, KingofSouls, Shiva the Sarcastic, hammy ham ham, and timydamonkey for reviewing! You guys are so awesome, I'm amazed by all the reviews I got.
Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom or Harry Potter.
"That was amazing!" Ron said to Harry as he helped Hermione unpack the box of beakers and test tubes. Fifth period, science class, was right after lunch, and today they were doing a few experiments with chemicals. Ron, Harry, and Hermione were trying to set up the complicated chemistry set, then follow the instructions that had been written on the board. All in all, it was kind of like Potions class at Hogwarts. "I mean, it was pretty cool to see Phantom beat up that other ghost. Hey, hand me that Bunsen burner, will ya?"
"What I was wondering about was why Phantom was at school," said Hermione, putting on a pair of goggles. "And how does he know when a ghost is there? Kind of a strange coincidence, if you ask me." She flinched as a tinkering and crashing sound came from a box Harry had just dropped and, when no one was looking, pulled out her wand and whispered, "Reparo."
"Hey, be careful, Hermione," Harry warned. "We don't want anyone seeing us do magic. Danny, Sam, and Tucker already know, and that's three people too many." He squinted at the label on one of the beakers, confused. "What the heck is this?"
"Harry, put that down, we don't need that yet," said Hermione, exasperated. "Anyway, I was wondering why there were so many ghosts in this town. I mean, ghosts usually don't come in contact with Muggles."
"Maybe we should ask around," Harry suggested. He took the plastic dropper and dipped it in a clear liquid, filling it up. Handing it to Ron, he added, "A lot of the people were screaming and stuff in the cafeteria, but I have a feeling that they've seen ghost attacks and things like that happen before."
"But it's still a good thing that Phantom came and captured the ghost," said Ron. He accidentally knocked over a test tube, spilling a dark green liquid across the countertop. "Oops."
"Really, Ron, watch where you're waving your arms," Hermione berated. "I don't know, maybe there are some ghost experts around here or something…"
"Or maybe we can ask Sam and Tucker," Harry said. "They're close with Phantom, right? They should know about the ghosts around here."
"Yeah…hey, maybe we can ask Danny too," said Ron, absentmindedly mixing the chemicals in two vials together. "If he's good friends with Sam and Tucker, chances are he'll know Phantom too. Then—"
"Ron, I don't think you were supposed to mix those two liquids together…" Harry said nervously, staring at the beaker in Ron's hands, which was bubbling furiously.
"What?"
BOOM!
Harry Potter and the Ghost of Amity Park
Chapter Five: Premonitions
Harry: (Opens a copy of Dream Oracle) Think of a dream, quick, in case the old toad comes our way.
Ron: I did it last time, it's your turn, you tell me one.
Harry: Oh, I dunno. Let's say I dreamed I was…drowning Snape in my cauldron. Yeah, that'll do.
"Why is it that whenever one of us messes up, all of us get in trouble because of it?" Hermione asked miserably, slouching down in her desk. "And Ron, how did you manage to make that beaker blow up like that? Those chemicals weren't even supposed to be dangerous!"
Ron rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Uh…talent?"
"Look on the bright side—at least this is only Muggle detention," Harry said, looking around at the mountain of boxes. "We don't have to clean out jars that have pickled brains in them, or something nasty like that. All we have to do is move these boxes out of the storage with the other people in detention. What could possibly happen?"
Cue karma's doorbell. Ding dong, it's for you, Harry!
"I AM THE BOX GHOST!"
"You just had to tempt fate, didn't you?" Ron sighed, glaring at Harry, who had a suspicion that somewhere, someone was laughing evilly at him. Everyone looked around nervously to see where the voice had come from.
"Fear me!" the voice came again. A short, plump man in blue overalls floated through the wall, waving his arms in the air crazily. "Cower before the might of my boxes, for they shall bring your doooooom!"
Several people screamed girlishly and ran out of the room, the teacher among them. Weird thing was, the teacher was a guy. Wow, a male that can hit a high C with such talent…you don't see guys like that walking around these days.
"He doesn't seem very threatening," Ron whispered to Hermione. "Come on, the Box Ghost?"
"Well in case you haven't noticed, we're surrounded by boxes, Ron," Hermione hissed.
"Oh…that's…not good."
"Where are the Aurors when you need them?" Harry asked, annoyed. He ducked as the Box Ghost hurled a crate at his head, letting it smash against the wall. Something broke. It sounded expensive.
Harry drew his wand, noticing that Ron and Hermione did the same. Together, they began blasting the boxes, hoping they wouldn't be caught using magic by any Muggles.
"Your attempts are fu-tile!" the Box Ghost yelled dramatically, dragging the last word out to emphasize the effect. "My cubical cardboard squares shall defeat your useless wooden sticks!"
"They're called wands!" Ron yelled. "And—oh, no…" A particularly well-aimed box had hit his hand, sending his wand flying. He scrambled to retrieve it, but the Box Ghost stopped him by flinging a wooden crate in his way, nearly flattening his hand.
"Hey, watch where you're throwing that thing!" Ron shouted.
"Uh…beware!" the ghost yelled back lamely. He lifted his arms, several boxes floating around him. They attached themselves to his body, turning him into a huge box monster.
"Dude, you have totally been hanging out with the Lunch Lady," a figure called from the door. Harry quickly stuffed his wand back in his jeans, but relaxed when he saw that it was Danny.
"Er, Danny, you might want to run…" he advised, glancing at the box monster.
"Pass," Danny grinned. "It's just the Box Ghost. He's pretty weak." Harry's eyes widened in surprise when the other boy took a round container out of his backpack.
"Hey…that's a Fenton Thermos," he said. "That thing can trap ghosts!"
"Yeah," Danny nodded, resisting the urge to say "duh." He uncapped the thermos and aimed it at the Box Ghost. In a beam of blue light he was pulled into the container, uttering a final "Beware!"
"Wow…" Hermione breathed, relieved. "Thanks, Danny."
"No problem," he said. "That was the Box Ghost. He's pretty weak, but I think he's been hanging around the Lunch Lady ghost, since she usually does the same thing he did with those boxes, only with meat." Under his breath, he muttered, "Some thing will never change…"
"Weak or not, we still couldn't beat him," Harry said worriedly. He looked at the thermos thoughtfully. "Say, can we have a few of those? You know, as a 'just in case' thing? We can pay you and—"
"Pay me for a few Fenton Thermoses?" Danny asked incredulously. "Nah, you don't have to pay me, we've got tons of them at my house. My parents invented them, after all."
"Your parents are inventors?" Hermione asked.
"It's a side job, I guess," said Danny. "They're actually ghost hunters. People laughed them off as nut-jobs, but after the first ghost invasion they started to get taken seriously. Now they get called on whenever there's a ghost emergency. Well, my mom more than my dad …"
"Ghost invasion?" Hermione asked. "A lot of weird things happen in this town, don't they?"
"'Weird' doesn't even begin to describe it," said Danny, rolling his eyes. "First there was the time everyone got overshadowed, then there was Ember, and after that Pariah Dark…"
"Ember? Pariah Dark?" Hermione repeated, starting to feel like a parrot. "Wow, can you tell us about them?"
"Eh…that'll take a while," said Danny. Noticing the looks of disappointment on their faces, he added, "Um, how about you just skip detention and come with me? I live at Fenton Works. You can't miss it, it's the only building with a million satellites and machines sticking out on the roof, not to mention it's right beside your house. I can tell you about the ghosts, and you can tell me more about why you're here. Sam and Tucker didn't really give me details."
"And can we look at your parents' ghost stuff?" Ron asked excitedly. "That thermos thing is cool! I bet they have a lot of other awesome stuff."
"Yeah, they do. There's the Fenton Bazooka, the Jack-O-Nine-Tails, the Ghost Gabber…" Danny began, counting each invention off on his fingers. "But that's pretty useless, because most ghosts speak English anyway, and the Gabber always tacks a 'fear me' at the end…"
"Actually…sorry Danny, but we can't come over," Hermione said apologetically. "Ron, Harry, we have lessons after school everyday, remember?"
Ron groaned as Danny looked at the three with a mild look of horror on his face.
"Are you okay, Danny? You look kinda constipated…" Ron began.
"You have lessons after school?" Danny interrupted. "Man, that's like having school 24/7! That's gotta suck."
"On the bright side other people do our homework for us because we have to have enough time for lessons in magic," said Harry. "Besides, there's not much else to do in this town, so we're not really missing out on much, especially if we're only staying for a year."
"You're only staying for a year?" Danny asked. "Well, anyway, how about you come over for dinner or something? My sister's cooking, so we might have something decent to eat today. After that you might be able to hang around for a few minutes." Their faces lit up as they agreed, and the four walked out the door talking, detention forgotten.
"—and that's why we don't let Mom and Dad cook anymore," Jazz finished, the sadistic part of her enjoying the half-amazed and half-horrified looks on Harry and Hermione's faces. Tucker and Sam, who always came over for dinner at least once a week, snickered behind their plates of food. Ron just smirked. Living in the Weasley household with Fred and George's weird candy inventions, he had much stranger encounters with food that wasn't supposed to come alive.
Harry, on the other hand, was suddenly grateful of Aunt Petunia's non-evil hot dogs.
"Hey, that is so not funny," Danny complained. "I mean, normal kids worry about the boogieman, monsters in the closet, ghouls under the bed…I have to worry about headless mutant turkeys jumping out of the oven on Thanksgiving and chasing me up a tree."
"I remember that," Sam said nostalgically, eyes glazing over as she recalled the incident. "In the end Tucker ate the turkey—" At this she shuddered repulsively. "—but when you were climbing out of the tree you slipped and fell and broke your wrist. Klutz," she laughed, getting up and taking her plate to the sink.
"Say, didn't you kids come to see our inventions?" Jack suddenly asked excitedly. "Wait until you see all the cool stuff we have in our basement!"
Oh no, he's waiting to blabber on about ghosts, Jazz and Danny thought to themselves simultaneously.
"Uh, I gotta go," Jazz said quickly. "You kids have fun." If Danny didn't know any better, he could've sworn he heard thunder and evil laughter emanating from his sister. But we all know better, right?
Right.
Jack practically skipped down the stairs to the lab, motioning for Harry, Ron, and Hermione to follow him. For a lack of better things to do, Sam, Tucker, and Danny trailed behind them, unwilling to miss out on the others' torture through boredom. I mean, the exciting lecture that awaited them! Yeah!
Half an hour later, Ron couldn't have been more bored. Judging from the glazed expression on Harry's face, it was a safe bet that, short of a rampaging gorilla, his best friend couldn't be roused from his reverie, either. Hermione, on the other hand, was paying rapt attention to Jack and seemed to be memorizing his every word.
"—and this here is the Fenton Boooomerang!" said Jack, picking another invention up from the cluttered lab desk. "It's supposed to key in on a ghost's unique ectoplasmic signature and track'em down! There's still some bugs to work out, though. For some reason it keeps going after Danny…"
Ron's eyes strayed to another corner of the lab, where something immediately caught his attention. Something big, round, metallic, and shiny, curved over one side of the lab. This metal arch seemed much more fascinating than the other inventions Jack was talking about.
"What's that?" he blurted out, pointing at it. "That…metal arch."
"It looks like a portal or something," said Harry, turning around to look at what had caught Ron's attention.
Jack became even more excited, if possible. "That's the Fenton Portal!" he exclaimed happily. "It's one of our greatest inventions! The portal creates a direct link from our world to the Ghost Zone, the place where spirits reside."
Hermione's eyes widened. "This is an amazing piece of technology," she breathed. "No doubt you spent years on it…"
"You betcha we did," said Jack. "Through trial and error…you won't believe some of the mistakes we made with a prototype portal back in my college days." Tucker snickered, probably at some inside joke with his friends, and tried to cover it up with a cough. For some reason, Harry heard Sam mutter something that sounded like "ecto-acne." Thinking he misheard, he shook it off and went to examine the Fenton Portal.
It really was an amazing invention. Harry wasn't into technology much, but even he could tell that this was an advanced piece of machinery. At the moment the portal was closed by a thick set of steel doors. It was lined by a metallic frame, with a small box to the right. On it were many buttons and what seemed to be a filter half-filled with…was that green goo?
"At first the portal didn't work," said Jack. "You can imagine how disappointed Maddie and I were. But then Danny did something with it, and nearly elec—"
Clang!
Everyone's heads turned when they heard the loud noise. They saw Danny sheepishly picking up a huge gun that was about the size of an eleven-year-old child, and set it back on the table.
"Sorry," he said. "My, uh, hand. Yeah, um, it…slipped." For some reason, he looked particularly jumpy at the moment. Jack began to berate Danny for being careless with one of his favorite inventions.
Hermione just stared at the portal thoughtfully.
"I think we should get going," Harry said abruptly as he glanced at the clock in the lab, interrupting Hermione's musings. "We were supposed to be back five minutes ago."
"Great, Mum's going to think we got into trouble or something," Ron groaned. Waving good-bye at the three teenagers who hurried out of his house with a quick "see ya," Danny was unaware that, deep in the Ghost Zone, a pair of red eyes were observing him through a portal.
"It seems that once again, those two insist on tempting fate," Clockwork murmured, sighing. "Although, for once, it's really not their fault. But, as they have already encountered each other and set up a bond, nothing can change the future, for better or for worse."
The pictures in Clockwork's portal swirled and merged together. A few moments later, they focused again into pictures that flashed by at dizzying speeds.
A red-clad girl on a jet-sled, a tall group of people wearing dark hoods, a black-and-silver flash too quick to make out…
…and a heavy golden locket, its chain curled around a pale, slender hand…