First of all, I am EXTREMELY sorry about this late chapter. You see, I was procrastinating on it because of the dreaded writer's block (twitch), and before I know it, exams rolled by. I know I failed the Spanish.
You guys must be extra-angry because of the cliffhanger last chapter. Whoops.
…Now that I think about it, the ending for this chapter is almost as bad as the one last chapter. (Is pelted with rotten vegetables)
Thanks to: khaosfire, SpartanCommander, Shadow Crystal Mage, Mako-Magic, Kantrix Gabriel, -XSasukeUchihaX-, just asking (nope, guess again!), Linda, RandomObsessivePsychoFangirl, Witch4ever, Samantha Seldowitz, Stranger, Sweeteen19, Nonasuki-chan, WhiteRat63, PotterPhan21, BugzAttack, dAnnYsGiRl777, Zensu14, hetfan7708, lil' munkies, SquirrelGirl13, Sasia93, Firehedgehog, Fk306 animelover, ghostanimal, hikaranko, Egyptian Ghost Kitty, Shiva the Sarcastic, Mysterious Prophetess, kimcat, and Shewhodanceswithdragons (I suppose).
Beta-ed by the ever-supportive SolaCatella.
Disclaimer: If disclaimers were horses, then beggars would ride…or something.
Danny groaned with discomfort, trying to stay up in the air. Behind him, Harry, Ron, and Hermione stared as he seemed to liquefy. Horrified, they watched as he completely lost his form, now resembling nothing more than a black and silver puddle of melted, disembodied goop.
As quickly as the change came, it left, Danny's form suddenly solidifying like lava coming in contact with water. A strange feeling passed through his body. He felt like a piece of clay being quickly molded into a definite shape, being stretched and prodded and shaped into something new. Within a matter of seconds, Danny had become solid again.
What happened? Danny thought, alarmed. He breathed deeply, bringing his hand up to brush it through his hair.
And almost screamed.
Instead of a white-gloved hand, the limb was bare and, more importantly, wrinkled and twisted. Danny's gaze traveled from his hand up his arm and to the rest of the body.
There was a silence.
"This…is embarrassing," Danny finally said.
It seemed that he had a new power…he could morph.
And it looked like he had turned himself into an old lady. No, even worse, he had turned himself into the prune-like ghost floating across from him, staring at him blankly.
Somewhere in the room, there was an awkward cough.
This would be a great story to tell at parties.
Harry Potter and the Ghost of Amity Park
Chapter Eight: Gray Dawn
"Ignorance is having to squish the same spider three times before realizing that something is wrong." –Anonymous
"I am an old lady," Danny said calmly to himself, trying not to scream hysterically. "I have sagging skin, about a hundred wrinkles, and arthritis. Deep breaths, Danny, concentrate on changing yourself back…"
Unfortunately, the ghost heard him, and looked livid. "Are you insulting me, boy?"
"Quiet, I'm trying to think!" Danny snapped, waving his gnarled hand impatiently. "Now, let's see…how the heck did I manage to end up like this, anyway?"
Danny paused briefly, thinking back to the few seconds before this strange transformation. Still shocked at what was going on, the elderly museum ghost and his classmates didn't budge an inch.
Let's see…Danny thought, tapping his fingers nervously. What was I doing when this happened?
Well, he had just been powering up an ecto-blast…and concentrating on his opponent. So maybe the key to the transformation was in concentration…
Quickly screwing his eyes shut, Danny thought as hard as he could about his usual form. White hair, green eyes, black and white jumpsuit, teenage body…
The gelatinous feeling suddenly came back again, but this time, Danny felt relief as he saw his features blur. Still unaccustomed to the feeling, Danny watched apprehensively as his body once again turned into another solidified form.
Danny glanced down, relieved beyond measure to see he had his own body back.
"All right," he called out confidently, "now that that's over with, we can—"
"Who's there?" a loud voice rang out from the hallway.
All five froze at the sound. The museum ghost smirked triumphantly, pointing at the four teenagers. "That'll teach you to sneak around my museum at night," she cackled. With a satisfied laugh, she turned intangible and dove into the ground, disappearing from sight.
"Hide!" Danny hissed at his classmates. Hermione had gone pale, while Harry was digging around his pockets frantically. Danny, who had gone invisible, was about to go help the three when Harry finally whipped out a cloak from his jacket, throwing it hurriedly over himself and his friends.
A large, burly man rushed into the room a fraction of a second after that, waving around a flashlight. Judging from his uniform, he was quite obviously a security guard.
"Who's there?" he repeated in a booming voice, scanning the room with his flashlight. His footsteps echoed loudly as he scoured the room. "Whoever you are I know you're in here! I heard voices!"
His flashlight eventually landed on Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who were hidden under the cloak. Danny frowned, worried. The cloak seemed to be magical, making his friend invisible, but he could still clearly see the outlines of three bodies. Surely the security guard would find them…
To Danny's amazement, the man's gaze swept over the three's outlines as if he hadn't seen anything. "I must be hearin' things…" he muttered under his breath, annoyed. Whipping his flashlight around, he stalked out of the room, grumbling under his breath. A minute later, the front door slammed. A bolt clicked, locking it securely.
"That was close," Danny sighed as he became visible again. He turned to Ron, Harry, and Hermione. "And you three! What are you doing wandering around here at this time of night?"
"We could ask you the same thing," Harry grumbled, pulling the cloak off.
Danny avoided the indirect question, focusing on the fabric in Harry's hands instead. "Hey, what's that?"
"It's an Invisibility Cloak," said Harry. "It makes you invisible, obviously."
Danny stared at it. "You've got to be kidding. I could see you three clearly under that thing."
Harry's fingers fumbled over his jacket zipper. "What?" he asked, disbelief coloring his tone.
"No one can see through an Invisibility Cloak without some sort of powerful magic," Ron said, amazed. "And you're not even a wizard!"
"Well, I couldn't exactly see you clearly," Danny explained. "More like…like your outlines. Do you think it could be something to do with me being a ghost?"
Ron looked almost worshipful. "Magic can't affect you, and now you can see through Invisibility Cloaks…what can't ghosts do?"
"Stay out of trouble," Danny said dryly. "And neither, for that matter, can you three."
"Yeah, now that we're back on the subject, what happened back there?" Ron asked.
"A ghost attack, of course," Danny said simply, "although it wasn't as bad as most. For one thing, no property damage." And I got a new power, Danny thought to himself. Though I don't think I should tell Sam and Tucker what really happened…they'd never let me live it down.
While the three boys were talking, Hermione had slowly wandered halfway across the room. Her black silhouette had paused over a shadowy display case plopped in a dark corner, and her wand was raised.
"What are you doing?" Danny asked curiously. Hermione straightened up hurriedly, glancing back at him. As she smoothed her coat, she snuck something into her pocket without even glancing down. The movement went unnoticed.
"Nothing," she said innocently, walking back to the group. "I thought I saw something that was in my History of Magic textbooks, that's all."
"As I was saying, why are you three here? I think sneaking into museums is illegal…" Danny said half-jokingly.
"What about you?" Hermione said as she dodged the question. "No, what we should be asking is, what are you doing all the way here in Arizona?"
Danny shrugged, answering, "Hey, I can't stick around Amity Park all the time, can I? It gets boring after a while."
"What a coincidence that we all met up here, then," Hermione said, her tone full of hidden suspicion.
Danny sighed, deciding now was a good time to change the subject. "Look, you guys should get outta here in case that security guard decides to come back. I'll stick around to see if the other ghost is still here."
Hermione's eyes hardened. "No," she said firmly, surprising the wizards. "I know you've been hiding something, Phantom, and I want to know what it is."
Danny tried to hide his panic. "I…I don't know what you're talking about."
Harry and Ron looked at Hermione tensely, wondering what she had figured out.
"I don't know what it is you're trying to conceal," said Hermione, "but I'd like to think that we're friends, and we would like to know. Maybe we can even help."
Danny shook his head, staring at Hermione. "Look, I don't know what getting at…"
"I know you always stay at Amity Park," Hermione said. "I've asked around, and people say you spend most of your time here. Some people say you're evil—"
"Valerie…" Danny muttered under his breath.
"—although I don't think so. But I do want to know just what is going on."
The ghost paused for a minute, looking at Hermione solemnly. However, a few seconds later, his face split into a grin.
"How about this?" he said. "I'll tell you what I'm doing here if you'll tell me what you're doing at this museum in the middle of the night."
Hermione spluttered angrily. "That's not fair!" she exclaimed huffily. "Hey, you come back here—!"
Laughing, Danny went intangible as he soared through the roof, leaving behind an irate Hermione and two puzzled wizards.
"Hermione, just what were you going on about?" Ron demanded. Hermione ignored him, glaring sulkily at the spot on the ceiling where Danny flew through.
Ron turned to Harry. "Blimey, I hate it when she won't tell us what's going on."
Harry could only agree.
Hermione suddenly snapped out of her mood, turning to her friends. "I almost forgot, I have—"
"All right, I know I heard something this time!" an angry voice shouted. "Now come out now, whoever is in here!"
The three immediately dove under the Invisibility Cloak again as the beefy security guard from before stormed back in. His eyes swiveled around the room but failed to find anyone or anything suspicious.
"I could've sworn…" he mumbled. He paused for a moment, bewildered. "All right, you know what?" he called out to the (seemingly) empty room. "I'm gonna find out what's going on here if I hafta stay here the whole night!" With that, he sat himself down beside a display case, plopping his flashlight down beside him.
"Let's get out of here," Hermione whispered as soft as she could, eyeing the man nervously.
"But the Horcrux—"
"We need to get out of here!" Hermione said again, a bit louder this time. Fortunately, the security guard didn't hear them.
As quietly as they could, the three of them started shuffling to the exit. The going was extremely awkward, and it didn't help that the three of them were all varying heights. In fact, Ron, who was rapidly reaching a height of six feet, had to bend down uncomfortably so his sneakers wouldn't show, while Hermione, who was the shortest of the three, was squeezed tightly between the two.
Their walk to the hallway took an incredibly long time. After they reached it, they broke into a shuffling gait, half jogging and half walking, still mindful to keep quiet. There had been a heart-stopping moment when the museum door squeaked loudly, but the security guard inside either didn't notice or had fallen asleep. Closing it as quietly as they could behind them, Harry, Hermione, and Ron rushed back to their cabins as fast as they could.
Traveling under Harry's Invisibility Cloak, they all discovered, was not a fun thing to do.
Ron looked absolutely elated when they reached the cabins, but his joy was short-lived. To both he and Harry's confusion, Hermione all but forcefully dragged them to a dilapidated-looking shed behind the cabins. As she shoved them in, she closed the door behind them, locking it shut and even going as far as to put a Silencing Charm on the room.
"What is it now?" Ron spluttered, brushing the thick layers of dust from his hair. The shed was extremely old, filled with piles upon piles of useless, broken junk. Dust coated every inch of available space, and he tried not to think about the web on the ceiling.
"Lumos," Harry said, lighting up his wand. He turned to Hermione. "Why did you make us leave at the museum?" he demanded. "We were so close to getting the Horcrux!"
"The guard was there, and we couldn't risk getting caught," Hermione said. "Besides, what if the Aurors found out? Then we'd be in more trouble, and we'd probably be taken back to Amity Park. Or worse, the Order would insist we be home-schooled."
Harry had to agree that that was a good point.
"But we were still close to getting the Horcrux!" Ron argued. "Now we'll have to do this again tomorrow night, and what if that really old ghost shows up again?"
"We won't have to," Hermione assured, grinning.
Harry paused, eyes widening when he realized what the witch was saying. "You mean…"
Hermione gave him a self-satisfied smile. "While you two were talking to Phantom about the Invisibility Cloak, I snuck to the locket's display case and did my Substitution Charm."
"But…it was dark, how did you figure out which case it was?" Ron asked.
"I was looking at the captions under the displays before the ghost attacked," Hermione explained, "and managed to find the caption with the information about the locket. Of course, I didn't quite see the locket clearly, but I did manage to catch a glimpse of it before Danny interrupted and I had to put it in my pocket. I could tell it was golden."
"Then…you have it?" Harry asked. His voice was calm, but his hands were shaking and there was an excited light to his eyes.
"I think so…" Hermione said. "If Rainbird Anaba Blair is the RAB we're looking for, then this locket should be the Horcrux."
With that, Hermione reached slowly into her pocket, pulling out a dull golden locket and handing it to Harry.
Harry looked down at it, bringing it up to the light. He quickly flipped it over, examining every square inch of it. Size, color, markings…he inspected it carefully. But he already knew. The excited look froze on his face, becoming a hardened mask.
They had been wrong.
This locket was not the Horcrux.
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