Um…hi, everyone. (Laughs nervously) So it's been what…a month or so since my last update? (Sweatdrop) I'm really, really sorry! I know I say that a lot, but believe me, this chapter was so hard to write, and I had to revise it so many times, not to mention bug my beta-reader over and over again to help me. I still think the last part is OOC. Plus, I've been extremely busy with school lately—I joined three clubs and the teachers are strict this year, and I already have four projects to do (falls over dead). But trust me, the next chapter will come a lot faster, I promise, because by then I actually know what'll happen and the story pace picks up.

Thanks to -XSasukeUchihaX-, SquirrelGirl13, Dragon Alchemist, Fk306 animelover, Quacked Lurker, lil' munkies, Crazy About Purple, chaz, Darth Frodo, Mysterious Prophetess, WhiteRat63, Samantha Seldowitz, Shark Repellent, Goldenluv28, Phantom of a Rose, KeybladeWizard, BugzAttack, EverD, dAnnYsGiRL777, Sirithiliel, hetfan7708, timydamonkey, Witch4ever, chaotic.calm, and shewhodanceswithdragons for reviewing, and SolaCatella for beta-ing.

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom or Harry Potter…but eventually, they will be mine, because I'm saving up. So far, I have seven dollars and eighty-nine cents. Also, the information about the Petrified Forest National Park was borrowed from Wikipedia, which I do not own.

In this chapter, part of the plot is revealed. Enjoy, and please review! ;)

If someone had told Danny a few months ago that he would have a house-full of wizards and witches as neighbors, he would've stared at that person strangely and asked them if they had a temperature. Now, though, he walked with Harry, Hermione, and Ron to school almost every morning (excluding the days when he overslept or had ghost issues to deal with). In the beginning, he had been absolutely amazed about finding out about a whole new world, but a few weeks later the astonishment had diminished to a nagging curiosity. He, Sam, and Tucker were still extremely inquisitive, though, and most mornings were spent swapping stories about ghosts and magic with Harry and his friends.

Although he had a bond with the three Hogwarts students, Danny wasn't even close to considering telling them his secret. Yes, they did seem decent, and he was sure that they wouldn't have revealed his half-ghost status to anyone else, but he had barely even known them for a month. Besides, it wasn't like they needed to know that he was half-ghost. And even though he had found out about their magic, he didn't feel like he owed them his secret, because he hadn't purposely pried into their business and started nosing around.

But the witch, Hermione…he felt uneasy around her. First, there was the way she looked at him. There was a strange light in her eyes that seemed to glimmer at him suspiciously, as if saying tauntingly, "I know you're hiding something, and it's only a matter of time until I find out." Second, she seemed to be a natural know-it-all. Not only was she smart, but she was logical as well, and Danny found himself floundering to keep his secret under wraps quite a few times.

Take last night in the lab, for example. He had a sneaking suspicion that Hermione was starting to suspect that there was something weird about him, and he had started panicking when his dad started talking about the portal. Telling her about the accident would give her a huge clue about his secret, and Danny wasn't going to risk her finding out. So he dropped the Fenton Bazooka, successfully diverting their attention.

"Mr. Fenton, please stop staring out the window. This material will be covered on the test this Friday."

Danny sighed, forcing himself to draw his attention back to class. Mr. Lancer could be a decent person sometimes, but his lectures were really boring.

Harry Potter and the Ghost of Amity Park

Chapter Six: The Blair Witch Coincidence

"You cry, I cry. You laugh, I laugh. You fall out of a window…I laugh." –Anonymous

Harry heard someone sigh loudly in the back of the classroom. He couldn't blame them, really…Mr. Lancer was incredibly dull.

"Mr. Fenton, please stop staring out the window. This material will be covered on the test this Friday."

Harry couldn't blame Danny for zoning out, either. Mr. Lancer, like Professor Binns, had the power to turn almost anything exciting into a long, monotonous speech. Maybe, if he put his book up, then ducked down a little, he could put his head on his arms and get some slee—

"Mr. Potter!"

Harry quickly jerked up, accidentally toppling his book over. "Er, Mr. Lancer, I was just—you know—I mean…"

Mr. Lancer looked at his student strangely. "Harry, I was wondering if you could hand out these permission slips and information packets for our field trip next week."

"Oh…right." Feeling extremely stupid, Harry got up to the front of the classroom and picked up a small stack of pamphlets. As he was handing them out, he glanced at the cover. There was a very beautiful picture of a desert, with another enlarged photograph in the top left corner of a strangely colored log. At the bottom of the page, "Petrified Forest National Park" was written in large, boldfaced letters.

"As you know, students in their junior year have the opportunity to travel to the Petrified Forest in Arizona with their class," said Mr. Lancer. Harry sat down holding his own pamphlet, vaguely interested. The Dursleys had never taken him with them during their vacations, and this national park sounded interesting.

Turning slightly, he noticed that Hermione was also combing through her information packet with an interested look on her face. Ron, on the other hand, couldn't have looked more bored.

"As our time is limited and permits are difficult to obtain," Mr. Lancer continued, "we will not be visiting the Painted Desert." A few disappointed groans could be heard around the room. "However, I can promise you that you will find the Petrified Forest very…'hip' and 'groovy.'"

The room flinched in unison at Mr. Lancer's attempt to sound cool. He hadn't completely given up the desire to learn modern slang. However, the book he was learning from was slightly…outdated.

"Look over the pamphlets a bit, and if you're interested, have your guardian sign this permission form and return it by the end of the week," said Mr. Lancer, handing out a form. Harry felt his stomach sink. There was no way the Order or the Ministry would let him, Hermione, and Ron go to Arizona with the rest of his classmates. It would be harder to guard them there.

And besides, Harry thought guiltily, I need to focus on schoolwork.

Glancing at the pamphlet longingly, he flipped it open to a page titled "The Mystery of Agate House" and began to skim through the short paragraph.

"The Agate House is a partial reconstruction of an Indian pueblo house made of petrified wood and mud mortar, and has been deserted for years. A thorough examination of the premises reveals that the house was occupied only briefly by its previous owner, a female witch-doctor by the name of Rainbird Anaba Blair, daughter of a local Indian woman (name unknown) and a young cattle-rancher, Richard Blair. However, twenty-five years ago, Blair suddenly and mysteriously vanished, with no clues leading to her whereabouts. A half-packed satchel was discovered, hinting that Rainbird was most likely in the process of moving out. The only other artifacts left behind included several beautifully crafted clay pots, a golden locket, and—"

Wait a minute…

"Witch-doctor…"

"Vanished mysteriously twenty-five years ago…"

"Rainbird Anaba Blair…"

"A golden locket…"

Harry sat back in his chair, stunned, and stared at the pamphlet. He couldn't believe what he had just read, and a hunch was quickly forming. This had to be the beginning of something big—he could feel the crackles of excitement jolting down his spine.

This was the start of another adventure.

"Harry, are you okay? You look ill."

Harry glanced up at Hermione, who was looking at him worriedly.

"Yeah, you do look a bit pale," said Ron.

Harry waved his hand carelessly, pulling them into a corner where they had a less likely chance of being overheard. The class was working on a group project, and most of the people were talking loudly about everything except for the assignment. Mr. Lancer was all the way on the other side of the room, so it wasn't likely that people would accidentally overhear, interrupt, or eavesdrop on their conversation.

Harry thrust the tourist guide into Ron's hands.

"Look—right there—the part about Agate House…" Harry prodded the short paragraph and waited impatiently as Ron skimmed through it, Hermione reading over his shoulder.

"I don't get it…why'd you want us to read it?" Ron asked, frowning. Hermione snatched the paper out of his hands, rolling her eyes.

"Don't you get it, Ron?" she asked. "Read it carefully. The woman was a witch doctor, maybe even a witch…she disappeared more than twenty years ago, and her name. Her initials, Ron. They're—"

"R.A.B.," Ron finished, a look of dawning comprehension on his face. "And…and they said they found locket in the house!"

"Everything fits," Harry said hurriedly. "She's got to be the person who stole the Horcrux at the cave. And…maybe, the potion at the cave finished her off eventually, or maybe Voldemort found out and went after her. She probably knew it was only a matter of time before Death Eaters started tracking her down, too, since it looked like she was about to make a run for it…"

"So it's decided," Hermione said firmly. "We've got to go to Arizona with the rest of the class, this may be our only chance of finding a Horcrux, and it's the only lead we've got. We—"

"Oh, yeah, and what are we going to tell the Order and the Ministry?" Ron asked sarcastically. "'Well, we want to go on this school trip to a national park in the middle of nowhere where we might get killed because security isn't going to be as tight. All you need to do is sign our permission slip.' Come off it, Hermione, short of an Imperius Curse, we might as well scrap any idea of going."

"Stop being so negative, Ron," said Harry, frowning. Deep down, he knew Ron was right, and his brain began churning for a plan, anything that could get them out of this dilemma…

"Well, I'm just saying—"

"I think…" Hermione said slowly, "I have a plan." Motioning the others towards her, she began whispering conspiratorially.

That night, Hermione could be found locked in her room, leaning over a small slip of paper. She had a pen in her hand, and, on a line above the words "Parent/Guardian Signature," she was carefully signing a name in a large, loopy handwriting that was not her own.

Meanwhile, Harry and Ron were downstairs, each in separate rooms. Ron found his "target" first.

"Hey, Tonks, what's that?" he asked, attempting to sound nonchalant. The pink-haired woman looked up from her sheet of parchment.

"Oh, some boring Ministry stuff," she said, frowning at her paperwork distastefully. "It's quite dull…we have to report to the Minister every week, give detailed mission reports and all that. I just can't figure out what to write…nothing exciting ever happens in this town."

"Yeah, well, I think this place is dead boring too," said Ron. "I mean, a change of scenery would be nice, y'know?"

Tonks nodded, sighing and picking her quill up again. She tugged absentmindedly at a strand of her hair, which was a dark violet color today.

"See, there's this school trip coming up next week to Arizona, and it's mandatory," said Ron, lying at the end. No need for them to know that going on the trip was actually optional, right? Besides, Hermione was upstairs forging their "guardian's" signature already. "I thought it'd be great if we could go."

Tonks snorted as she put her quill down again, giving Ron a sharp look. "Not a good idea, Ron," she said, serious for once. "Do you know what you're saying?" Ron shrugged. "You're saying that, instead of staying in Amity Park, where security is at it's tightest, you want to go to Arizona with minimal protection and risk getting blown up by Death Eaters, just because you're getting bored."

"…Blown up?"

"You know what I mean..."

"But we're going to have a project later on about the stuff that we learned on the trip, and it's worth half our grade!" Ron argued in a rather un-Ron-like manner.

Tonks blinked at this Hermione-ish complaint, but brushed it off. "Better you fail than get killed."

"But it's so cool there, Tonks," said Ron. "They've got this petrified wood that looks all weird, and a Painted Desert place that the Muggles say changes color or something…"

Tonks looked slightly interested.

"I hear it's really exciting there," Ron added. "Have you seen those things Muggles call action movies?"

"Yeah, I like those."

"Well, I heard that a lot of them were filmed near the national park," Ron said. This was a complete lie that Ron made up, but Tonks would never know, right? He had heard from Lupin that Tonks had a weakness for Muggle action films, and what better way to persuade her than to play on her appeals?

"Besides, if anyone was trying to follow us, this trip could throw them off our trail," Ron finished. This remark hit the nail on the head, and finally, Tonks made a noise of agreement in her throat.

"Fine, I'll see if I can convince Lupin," she said finally. Then, with a grin, she added, "This place sounds cool, so it wouldn't be a wasted trip."

Ron gave an inaudible sigh of relief, glad that the plan had worked. He had been holding his breath the whole time, hoping that Tonks hadn't seen the notes Hermione made him write on his hand so he wouldn't forget what to say to persuade her. He then grinned, knowing that Tonks had eaten up every word he said.

What was that Muggle phrase again? Oh yeah…

Hook, line, and sinker.

As the trio knew, Mrs. Weasley, with her sometimes ferocious and threatening personality, would be a tough nut to crack. But once they convinced her, then they practically had the whole "permission" thing nailed. And as everyone knew, the woman had a soft spot for Harry, thinking of him as another son. So who would be better to persuade her about the trip than Harry?

While Ron was busy being "Mr. Persuasive" with Tonks, Harry sidled up to Mrs. Weasley, hoping to look like he was just slipping into the kitchen to see what was going on. He peered over the woman's shoulder at the boiling pot of soup on the stove.

"That smells good, Mrs. Weasley," he complimented nonchalantly.

"Thank you, dear," she said. "It's one of my special recipes."

"Do you want me to set the table?" Harry asked.

"Yes, please," said Mrs. Weasley. "Here you are." She passed a stack of plates to Harry, who almost dropped them. Thankfully, Mrs. Weasley didn't notice.

After a pause, Harry started innocently, "Muggle school is barely as exciting as Hogwarts."

"I would think so. Those places don't even have moving portraits. Imagine that!"

"We've been learning Muggle science. It's pretty hard to understand, and the teachers are as dull as Professor Binns," Harry complained.

"You've been making friends, though, haven't you?" she asked. "Lenny, Sam, and Tucker or something?"

"Danny, actually," Harry corrected.

Mrs. Weasley sighed crossly. "I don't understand why you won't let us erase his friends' memories," she said. "The Ministry are not happy about that…they seem to think that it's a major security threat, and for once I agree with them. One careless slip of the tongue from your Muggle friends, and half the town could find out about us faster than you can blink."

"Danny's the only person other than them to know," said Harry. "They seem trustworthy, and besides, who would believe them if they did tell? Not to mention they're all friends with that Phantom person. I don't think it's smart to make him mad by Obliviating them. He seems to have a bad temper."

"I worry about this place," Mrs. Weasley said uneasily. "I went shopping the other day, and I heard some women gossiping…did you know that ghosts regularly attack this town? I'm not sure I like staying here." She frowned and shook her head. "The sooner this is all over, the better…"

Harry shifted nervously before discreetly changing the subject. "I think we could all use a change of scenery…see, there's a field trip coming up at school, a four-day trip to Arizona. We're going to visit a National Park, and Ron, Hermione, and I really wanted to go."

Mrs. Weasley suddenly narrowed her eyes dangerously. "Absolutely not!" she said. "What are you three thinking? Did I just not say how dangerous it is right now?"

"In Amity Park, yes," Harry protested. "I think it'll be good if we take a break from this town. I mean, non-transparent ghosts and supernatural things that even wizards haven't even heard of? There's something weird about this place…"

Molly Weasley calmed down slightly, but still argued back, "Harry, even staying in this place is better than allowing you to traipse through some sort of Muggle park with minimal protection. It's almost asking to be attacked."

Harry sighed, feigning disappointment. "I guess you're right."

"Harry, I'm sure there will be other chances for trips like this later in your life. It seems harsh, but this is for your own good."

"I know," Harry answered. "I suppose I'll just ask Danny and his friends how the trip was. I was looking forward to going, too, because the Durselys never took me with them on holidays. I really wondered what it was like."

Mrs. Weasley fidgeted uncomfortably, looking just the tiniest bit guilty. Harry was strongly reminded of last year, when he had persuaded a very drunk Horace Slughorn to give him an important memory. He decided now would be a perfect time to try out the same strategy.

"We were going to visit the Painted Desert, too," Harry lied. "The professor—well, they call them teachers here—said that the scenery there was amazing. I imagine my mum would've liked it. She seemed to be someone who'd admire a beautiful landscape like that…I'm sure she would've liked to go if—"

"You really do want to go, don't you?" Mrs. Weasley interrupted. Harry nodded, trying to hide his eagerness…he was close now, he could feel it. After a long pause, she finally snapped, "Oh, very well…I'll see if I can convince Arthur about this idea. When I do, he can inform the Order and Ministry about this trip." Harry cheered silently in his mind, and resisted the urge to grin.

Five minutes later, Harry, Ron, and Hermione met each other on the second floor. Each of them was smirking triumphantly. Seeing the looks on each others' faces, they knew that Hermione's plan had gone off without a hitch.


Second Disclaimer: Agate House, although a real historical monument, was actually discovered almost a hundred years ago. The "history" behind it in this story was made up by me, so you've been warned: don't try to write a report on the information written here. :P