First off, I apologize for the late chapter. Unfortunately, I think all updates will take about three weeks or so from now on, since school is keeping me incredibly busy. Of course, if I'm given the right incentive, like reviews… (Is pelted with rotten vegetables) Heheh, sorry. Couldn't resist.
One day, I said to myself, "Gee, I wonder what people's reactions will be if I made this story Harry/Danny?" So, as a joke, I said to Shewhodanceswithdragons, "What would you do if I made my story a Harry/Danny slash fic?" And, I'm paraphrasing a bit, but basically, she told me cheerfully that she'd rip me to shreds. So no Danny/Harry pairing, even though I was joking.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Danny Phantom. Shocking, isn't it? Also, the quote after the chapter title was borrowed from the story "The Best Defense" by JoIsBishMyoga. If you don't want your quote in here, please notify me and I will remove it immediately. : )
Note: (Evil grin) I offer no apologies for how this chapter ends, because really, it's not going to be the last cliffhanger, and it's certainly not going to be the worst.
Thanks to the reviewers: alicat54, Firehedgehog, Phantom 13, Kelar the Mage, hikaranko, CrystalMind (again, sorry—I've changed it), kimcat, dAnnYsGiRL777, SquirrelGirl13, Phantom of a Rose, MajorDxSFantatic, Halfa-NariMaruko, FullmetalPipsqueak, Fk306 animelover, ghostanimal, Dragon Alchemist, HikaruOfArrow, PotterPhan21, Sasia, killerdoodlebug, Witch4ever, BugzAttack, hollybells1, and lil' munkies.
As always, thanks to SolaCatella for betaing.
"Ron, your elbow is digging into my stomach, and believe it or not, it's rather painful—"
"Dash! Like, move! You're smudging my eyeliner!"
"Hey, why are you holding a thermos?"
"Ow! That was my foot, you moron!"
"Not, wait, don't take your suitcase down yet—OUCH!"
"Sorry…"
So far, the bus ride to Arizona was not going overly well. The school lacked the proper funds to rent more than one small bus, so the whole class had to squeeze into one vehicle. They were already a large class; throw in more than a dozen chaperones, and that's quite a lot of people to be in one little bus. In the end, they fit…barely. People had to sit at least two to a seat, it was crowded, the air conditioner was broken, and tempers were running high, especially when Mr. Lancer assigned bus seats. Imagine the poor damage done to everyone's eardrums when Sam and Paulina were forced to sit together. Valerie had shrieked even louder when she discovered that her "buddy" for the trip was Nathan. On the other hand, Nathan was absolutely thrilled—he now had a valid reason to stalk Valerie without getting arrested.
To Danny's dismay, he was separated from Sam and Tucker. Instead, he had been given a seat next to Mikey. He was an okay guy, if not a bit of a nerd, but he just wouldn't…stop…talking. This only added to his headache, which had began early that morning. Maybe he was coming down with something…his legs were starting to feel like Jell-O, and he kinda felt like Play-Dough. Yes, Play-Dough.
"…and I'm so excited about this trip! It'll be so educational!" Mikey said eagerly. "And I'm looking forward to the lessons that—" He stopped abruptly. "Ugh…um…I don't feel to great. You feel kinda sick? I feel kinda sick."
Danny glanced at Mikey, who really did look a bit green.
Mikey groaned. "I think I'm gonna blow chunks…"
Danny's eyes widened. "Wait, don't! I have a paper bag—!"
Too late.
Harry Potter and the Ghost of Amity Park
Chapter Seven: Murphy's Law
"Jaganshi, would you be so kind as to explain to me why exactly you're molesting a statue at one o'clock in the morning?" –Snape ("The Best Defense" by JoIsBishMyoga)
"Wow, Danny, don't you wish we weren't in the middle of a crowded restaurant so you could phase the vomit off your jeans?" Sam asked, trying not to laugh. Tucker lacked the restraint and promptly collapsed in a fit of disturbingly high-pitched giggles.
Danny gave them a rather offended look. "Just…cover me so I can go intangible."
Tucker wrinkled his nose. "No way, dude. It's hard enough standing this close to you, and you want me to huddle up? No thanks, the smell's already killing me, and I'm not suicidal. What the heck does Mikey eat?" After further inspection of Danny's jeans, he added, "Scratch that…I think he eats a lot of carrots."
Danny sighed, walking behind a trash can and phasing the rather chunky substance off his jeans. "Thanks, guys," he said sarcastically, leaving the…uh, stuff on the floor for an unfortunate employee to clean up. Danny was a nice guy and all, but the bus trip had seriously grated on his nerves.
"Look on the bright side…we're already on the outskirts of Petrified Forest," said Sam, crumpling up her napkin. She stared what was left of her food, a small plate of salad which consisted of a few wilted lettuce leaves and a couple of pathetically dry-looking tomatoes. It was liberally slathered in a strange-smelling dressing that was most definitely not the Thousand Island that Sam had requested. On a second thought, maybe she'd leave her salad for later… "One of the chaperones said that after everyone's finished eating here, we're going to check into our cabins."
"I just hope Lancer doesn't assign cabins," Danny said gloomily. "If I didn't have ghost powers, I think my pants would be soiled for the rest of eternity."
"And people say I'm melodramatic," Tucker said. Danny bounced a french fry off his forehead. "Gee, someone's grouchy."
"I just don't feel that great," said Danny. "I kinda feel like…like I'm gonna melt into a puddle of putty or something."
"…Putty?"
"Yeah."
Hermione chose that moment to walk over, dragging a heavy backpack along. "Danny, you left this up at the counter," she said, plunking it on the seat. Rolling her eyes, she added, "The employees were about to start digging through it before I came along. Really, it has to be against their company policy or something to do that…they could get fired!" She narrowed her eyes and stared at him. "Didn't Mikey throw up on you—?" she asked, a baffled look on her face.
"I, um—" Danny began, trying to make up an excuse at the top of his head. This wasn't good…why did Hermione have to have such good observational skills? "I had an extra pair of jeans in my bag," he amended hastily.
"But you left your book-bag back up at the counter," Hermione pointed out, confused.
"Oh, um—"
"Everyone please line up and head back to the bus," Mr. Lancer suddenly called out. Relief washed over Danny, who leapt up and practically ran to the bus with Tucker and Sam. Grabbing his backpack and throwing a quick "thanks" over his shoulder to Hermione, he rushed out the door, ignoring her protesting voice.
At this rate, his cover would be blown sky-high before the end of the month—!
"…and in the display to your left, you will find some extremely fascinating samples of residue left over from the formation of the petrified log in the front lobby! Isn't that exciting?" the museum guide asked in an overly-cheerful voice. Sam's eye twitched dangerously.
Hermione tapped her foot agitatedly as her friends glanced around the building. Ron had his face pressed up to a glass display, while Harry was scanning the artifacts in the room. Normally, the witch would be fascinated by the relics in the exhibition, but today there were more pressing matters to deal with.
Harry glanced around the room, searching for anything that resembled a locket. There was a shattered fragment of an old clay pot… a sample of a petrified log…another "fascinating" sub-species of petrified wood…Kwan picking his nose (ew) …and another unlit hallway, with a sign pointing to it saying "West Wing." Curiously, Harry walked towards it, wanting to take a quick look.
"Mr. Potter, where are you going?" one of the chaperones suddenly called out sharply. Harry groaned, twisting around to see the stern face of an Auror who was posing as the teenage Lupin's father.
"Ah, nowhere," he called, turning around to go back to the group. "I was taking a look at the West Wing."
"Oh, yes, the West Wing," the museum guide said, cheerfully bouncing on the balls of his feet. "That's where we've stored the artifacts from Agate House. We could visit it—"
Yes! Harry thought triumphantly, already thinking about their next step. Ron would cause a diversion, claiming to have lost his wallet. While everyone was distracted, Hermione would perform a complex Substitution Charm, switching the Horcrux in the display with a fake one. By the time anyone discovered the phony, they would be long gone.
"—but unfortunately, that section's closed during the fall and winter seasons," the man finished.
Harry's thoughts screeched to a sudden halt, and he stared, stunned. Behind him, he heard Ron smacking his forehead with disbelief.
Murphy's Law was a bitch.
"What are we going to do now?" Hermione asked quietly from the floor. She shifted restlessly, pushing down a protruding nail threatening to come loose from the floorboard.
Harry grunted, picking at the edges of his sleeping bag. Hermione had been assigned to cabin three, one of the two girls' cabins, but had snuck into Harry's cabin at midnight. The other boys were fast asleep, some sprawled haphazardly over their bunk beds. Dash Baxter was one twitch away from falling off the edge of his bed, and Kwan was snoring loudly. Danny lay curled inside his sleeping bag, frowning in his sleep.
"Let's get Ron," Harry muttered suddenly, sitting up.
Hermione glanced at him. "What are you planning to do?"
Harry had already slipped out of bed, groping sightlessly for his sneakers and jeans. "We're going to sneak out, of course."
Hermione pulled herself up, stumbling a bit. "To the museum?"
"Of course," Harry answered, unzipping his suitcase. After rummaging around a bit, he pulled something out.
"Is that the—"
"Invisibility Cloak? Yeah. It always pays off to be prepared." Stuffing it inside his jacket, Harry walked to the door, wincing when it squeaked loudly on its hinges. His classmates remained fast asleep, though Dash shifted a bit to the right, away from the edge of the bed.
Hermione followed him, closing the door softly. They crept toward the neighboring cabin, peering through the windows to make sure it was the right one. Harry turned back, shaking his head. It seemed to be the chaperones' cabin, and he had seen a bit more than he asked for. For example, he doubted that he would forget the sight of Mr. Lancer in Care Bear pajamas anytime soon.
Quietly, they crept to cabin one and opened the door. This was the larger boys' cabin, with high beams across the roof and a bulky, gaudy fan hanging from the ceiling. They found Ron in the bunk bed closest to the door and slunk over, trying to prod him awake.
Of course, Ron waved them off in his sleep, turning over to hug his pillow and mutter something about Viktor Krum and a pickax.
"Ron, wake up," Hermione hissed in his ear.
"Gerroff…"
"Ron!" Hermione said again, this time a bit more vehemently. The boy finally awoke, rubbing his eyes sleepily.
"What's this 'bout?" he asked groggily. "'s morning already?"
"No, it's not, and keep your voice down," Harry whispered, waving the Invisibility Cloak in his face. "We're going to sneak into the museum. I don't care what it takes to get the Horcrux, we just have to get it. Who know where it'll be by the time we get another chance to come back here?"
"Right," Ron said, looking more alert now. He pulled on a coat, following Harry out the door. Hermione walked up to him and whispered in his ear, "You drool in your sleep?"
Ron blinked, embarrassed, and ran to catch up to Harry. Hermione laughed softly, and proceeded up the hill with her friends.
"What the plan, then?" Ron asked. "And shouldn't we put the Cloak on?"
Harry shook his head. "The museum's about a ten or fifteen minute walk from here, since we're in the same area. A round trip will take a while, and someone might notice we're gone in that time. We'll go even slower under the Invisibility Cloak. We don't really need it right now, since it's dark and no one will see us. Besides, we're blocked by that hill over there. We only need it when we get inside the museum, since I don't think we should disable every video camera that tapes us. It'll be too suspicious."
Ron nodded. "How do we sneak in to get the Horcrux, then? Don't Muggle places have those…those security alarms?"
"I've got that part figured out," Hermione interrupted. "I took Muggle Studies one year, and we spent a few weeks going over different types of Muggle security systems, and why they're useless compared to magic since some simple charms can disrupt them so easily. Trust me," she said, patting her pocket where her wand was stored, "I can get us in."
She couldn't resist one final jab.
"I told you Muggle Studies wasn't a complete waste of time."
Danny stirred restlessly, having a hard time staying asleep. It seemed that he was having a bad case of insomnia tonight, even though he was exhausted from the trip. Kwan's snoring wasn't helping matters, and neither were Dash's pig-like grunts. Judging from the thick arm dangling over the side of the bed, the jock was probably inches away from falling off the bed and colliding painfully with the floor.
I wouldn't exactly stop him, Danny thought darkly, spurred on by his lack of sleep.
A few minutes later, he had thankfully fallen asleep again. Imagine his irritation when he was awakened by a cold blast of air from the open door. He opened his eyes blearily to see it close, and, still half-asleep, put it off as an act of the wind. Ten minutes later, Danny slipped back to sleep again.
He was having an extremely strange dream about a black-and-white dragon with slick blond hair being crushed by a billboard when he awoke again, feeling intensely cold. He felt an icy breath bubbling up from his throat and gasped, releasing a blue wisp of mist.
"Oh, no," he groaned unenthusiastically, dragging himself out of bed. He was on a school trip, for goodness sake! When would these ghosts give him a break? Danny half contemplated waking Sam and Tucker up for this—misery loves company, after all—but then scrapped the idea. They probably needed their sleep.
He didn't even bother with his battle-cry as he transformed into Danny Phantom, slipping through the cabin wall. Floating lazily up into the air, he looked around for the ghost. Seeing something gray streak across the sky and past a hill, he frowned, deciding to follow it. Birds certainly didn't fly that fast, and planes wouldn't be flying so low, as there were no airports nearby.
Danny trailed the gray specter at a safe distance, waiting to see what it would do. He didn't get too close to it, just in case it decided to attack him, so he couldn't discern his or her features. The figure suddenly dove downwards, and Danny paused. It appeared to have phased into the museum they had visited earlier that day, and, curious, he followed it, turning and staying invisible once he entered the building.
The room he landed in was dark and rather dusty. The ghost he was tracking had disappeared, and, after a quick glance around at the black, barely discernible display cases for the apparition, he decided to search somewhere else. However, a strange scuffling noise suddenly came from another corner of the room. Squinting, Danny widened his eyes in shock when a tall figure abruptly appeared out of thin air. He was followed by two others, one obviously a girl with large bushy hair.
Come to think of it, they looked familiar…
"Lumos," two voices chorused, and suddenly two orbs of light appeared, illuminating their faces. Danny leaned back, recognized Harry, Ron, and Hermione. What were they doing here?
"All right," Harry said, "good work, Hermione. Now we just need to look at these things real quick and see if we can find the locket."
Danny frowned, puzzled, still floating invisibly in mid-air. Just what were these three going to do?
"Guys, I—" Hermione began shakily.
"What are you brats doing in my museum?" a shrill, horrible voice suddenly screeched, making all four teenagers' break out in cold sweat. Any shriller, and Danny was sure that the person could've cracked all the glass cases.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no…" Hermione moaned, terrified. "We've been caught, we're going to be in so much trouble—"
"Wait," Harry called out sharply, raising his wand higher. He frowned when he noticed that the person was glowing and her head was slightly transparent. "You…you're a ghost," he accused.
"Of course I'm a ghost, you ninny," the ghost exclaimed scathingly. "What did you think I was, your grandmother?"
Closer to the light, she seemed to look like anything but a grandmother. She did have the "old" part down, but other than that, she did not look like the kind of person who spent weekends baking cookies and cooing over adorable grandchildren. Her hair was up in a thin, tight bun, so tight that it looked like her hair was almost being pulled out. The old woman's chin jutted out sharply, and her nose seemed to make a perfect forty-five degree angle. She was dressed in a coarse looking gray skirt and had on an equally unappealing jacket.
Danny furrowed his eyebrows. On the outside, this ghost seemed harmless enough, if not a bit strict and prone to screeching.
And then she outstretched her crooked, bony fingers, letting a green energy gather around them.
Of course, you should never judge a book by its cover.
Time for the hero to save the day, Danny thought dryly as he turned back visible and dove down, forming a shield around his three classmates to block the blasts. To say that they were surprised was a big understatement. In fact, Harry had been in the middle of diving away when Danny swooped down, and was in a rather comical position where he seemed to be sprawled in midair. Ron and Hermione gaped at Danny wordlessly.
"You…what…" Ron spluttered, staring at him.
"Nice to see you too," said Danny, dissipating the shield. "Now can you please run far away, preferably to at least the other side of the room, so you won't get hurt and blame it on me?"
The three were only too happy to oblige.
The old woman seemed close to frothing at the lips. "Insolent children!" she shrieked, glaring daggers at Danny. "You little urchins have no appreciation for art and history! You're all destructive little toddlers who spend your time playing your brain-decaying video games! How dare you sneak in here at night! I'll bet you were trying to filch these precious artifacts, weren't you, you little sneaks?"
Hermione shrunk further into the wall, even though the ghost wasn't looking at her.
"I can't believe there's a museum ghost who's just as crazy as the Lunch Lady…hmm, maybe they can be bingo buddies," Danny mused to himself. "Anyway, I'm tired, and I want to go back to bed, so how about we wrap this up quickly?"
Grinning, he formed an ecto-blast, concentrating on the wrinkled ghost and preparing to fire it at her. Suddenly, he felt an intense wave of nausea and stumbled in midair, face paling rapidly. A strange warmth converged at his chest, proceeding to travel through his entire body, and he felt like a piece of taffy over a heater.
Trying to regain his balance, he was shocked to see that his whole body had started to blur at the edges and lose its form.
I'm melting, he thought giddily.
Funny what passes through your mind at moments like these.