A/N: Here's another chapter for y'all. Enjoy!
Edit July 1, 2007: Went through and edited for grammar and spelling one more time. Also, flushed out the conversation a little bit, but again, nothing major.
Edit November 12, 2007: Just more little things fixed up.
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Of Ghosts and Wizards
CHAPTER 3
The morning after their unsuccessful trip into the ghost zone, Danny, Sam, and Tucker woke up uneventfully and feeling fairly well rested. Sunlight streamed in through the gaps in the curtains in Danny's room as the three of them rubbed the sleep from their eyes and went about the usual morning business of teeth brushing and clothes changing and other such things. Sirius watched lazily from his position on the floor, and only made to move once the three of them were on their way downstairs for breakfast.
A tidily scrawled note awaited them upon their entry to the kitchen. Apparently, Jazz was out tutoring one of her many pupils, but would be back around noon. Seeing as how the three of them hadn't woken up till ten, it wouldn't be too long before she returned. Plus, Jack and Maddie were going to be home from their convention around then too.
Putting the note aside, Danny sat down and distractedly poured himself a bowl of cereal and milk, to which Sam and Tucker followed suit. He still hadn't been able to shake the foreboding feeling from the day and night before– in fact, it had grown, and he could barely sit still with the amount of anxiety he was feeling. Every little noise made his muscles clench in preparation for conflict, but there was no conflict to be had. Surely it wasn't okay to be this paranoid?
"Danny... are you feeling okay?" Sam asked with concern showing plainly on her face. She had finished her cereal and was searching for something acceptable to feed Sirius, but was paying more attention to Danny than to her task.
"Yeah, man. You seem really tense. You've barely said five words to us the whole morning. I mean, I know you're not a morning person, but this is kind of extreme, don't you think?" Tucker added as he continued to shovel cereal into his mouth.
Danny just shook his head. "I just can't shake this feeling that something is going to happen. Soon. And I know I should let it go," he said, looking at Sam before she could say anything, "I really do. But I just... I don't know." He slumped his shoulders in defeat and sat back rubbing the back of his neck. "I feel so anxious, like there's a hundred ghosts in the room, but there's nothing here."
Sam and Tucker exchanged worried glances. They hated seeing their friend so miserable, but what could they do to help? Nothing like this had ever happened before– sure, being over worked or stressed was one thing, but it was in the middle of the summer, with no conflict for weeks now. What was there possibly to worry about?
"We should, I dunno, go to the mall or something," Sam said, obviously trying to think of something to distract Danny from his non-existent problems.
"Yeah," Tucker chimed in, "We can check out that new Super Armadillo Space Invader Extravaganza game at the Arcade!" Sam rolled her eyes, but did not protest.
Danny gave a soft smile at his friends obvious efforts to distract him. "Yeah, that sounds good you guys." They were right. He needed to relax, no matter what his instincts told him. Suddenly, he realized something.
He looked toward Sirius as he said, "What about–"
Danny's half-hearted inquiry was cut short by an knock at the front door. He looked at the other two in puzzlement.
"It's your house, Danny," Tucker said, "We don't have any more of an idea than you do."
Danny just shrugged and went to answer the door. The sight that greeted him was a teenage boy about Jazz's age, maybe younger, with unruly black hair and startlingly green eyes. He was wearing extremely baggy clothes that might have even been pajamas, and the expression on his face was uncertain and anxious; he was practically shaking with nervous energy, and seemed mildly winded.
"Uh... can I... help you?" Danny broached after a moment of silence, not bothering to disguise his confusion.
"Er, I...yes, actually..." The stranger faltered and appeared as if he really didn't know what to say. Danny noticed that he had a British accent. A lost tourist on vacation, maybe?
Sam, Tucker, and Sirius had come to hover behind Danny, curious about their strange guest. Sirius seemed to get excited upon seeing the visitor, and gave a pitiful whine and then a loud bark.
Well, Sirius thought, at least I won't have to find a working floo and all that...
"Sirius!" The stranger gasped, and looked like he was about to either burst into tears or hysterical laughter. Or both.
"Is this your dog?" Sam asked, surprised.
"Why don't you come inside," Danny offered as he stood aside. He was suspicious of this kid, but he also didn't want to be broadcasting this odd state of affairs to any one who might be listening.
"Thanks," The stranger said distractedly as he stepped inside.
Danny closed the door and watched as the teen rushed over to the happy dog, then halted, seeming to change his mind about something. He seemed to struggle for a moment, before his face hardened and he said, "Turn back to normal."
The three of them watched, perplexed, as Sirius just glanced at them and whined. Harry gave them a side-long glance as well, and then said, "I don't care. I need to know for sure. I just... we can obliviate them later, just– please, Sirius..." He let a small amount of pleading into his expression, "Padfoot, I have to know that it's not a trick..." His voice cracked and he closed his eyes, swallowing thickly
Okay, Danny thought, now I'm really confused. How did this guy know the name they had given the dog? Why was his dog in the ghost zone in the first place? Who was he, and What the hell did 'obliviate' mean?
"Would you mind, you know, telling us who you are and everything?" Danny prodded unashamedly. He glanced at Sam and Tucker and they just looked back at him, their expression clearly saying, 'don't ask us'.
He was ignored as the dog seemed to sigh. Then it just shook its head and–
What happened next made Danny jump back with surprise, practically knocking Sam and Tucker over. Where once their had been a dog, a tall man with wild black curls and the same icy blue eyes stood instead. The three of them just gaped, obviously at a loss for words at the current situation.
"Hey there, prongslet." The-once-dog man said.
The stranger, presumably Harry, launched himself into the man's arms, clutching at him tightly and sobbing loudly into his strange, draping garments. The man just held him, saying things like, "It's alright, Harry, I'm okay," and looking almost surprised at the reaction.
Harry was saying something too, but it was muffled in the man's clothing and the three of them couldn't make it out.
By this time, Danny had regained himself, and was feeling more than a bit indignant at being ignored, plus more than a little unsettled. Sure, he saw strange stuff all the time, and but this was out of even his expertise with the supernatural.
"Would one of you please tell me who you are and what's going on?!" He asked angrily. And, almost as an afterthought he mumbled indignantly, "I knew there was something weird about that dog..."
The two of them separated and turned to them, looking as if they had forgotten where they were.
"Right," Sirius said in an overly cheerful voice, "Sorry to do this, but can't have you running around telling people you saw a dog transform into a man, so..." As he said this, he pulled a strange wooden stick from out of his ragged, draping garments, and pointed it at the three of them.
Alarm signs went off in Danny's head as he stared down the length of the man's odd wooden stick. It might just be a stick, but looks can be deceiving, and he didn't want to take any chances; he had no idea why this man was pointing a stick at him, but he had a feeling that it wasn't a gesture of friendship. Making a split second decision, he went ghost despite the fact that two more people would know his secret– if they were enemies, then it didn't really matter did it?
He managed to grab Sam and Tucker and go intangible just in time for a strange ball of light to pass through each of them. He tensed as it passed harmlessly through them, leaving no adverse affects other than a strange tingling sensation in its wake. Sam and Tucker were looking nervous, and Tucker was about ready to say something but Danny silenced him with a shake of the head. He floated them soundlessly over the strangers until they were hovering a good distance on the other side of the strange intruders, waiting for them to make the next move. He didn't want to attack them, but he would do anything to protect his friends.
As soon as the three of them had disappeared, Sirius had cursed and said, "I guess I should have known he could do that–"
Harry was just looking at Sirius with a mixture of happiness and exasperation. "Sirius, hold on a second, I don't think we need to do that..." He said and he clumsily wiped the tears from his face. "I think we can trust them with this."
Danny and his friends were now listening intently. "Well, it's nice that you're so trusting, Harry," Sirius said skeptically, "But we don't know these muggles at all, not to mention–"
Harry shook his head and cut him off, saying, "They obviously have secrets of their own. Besides, I've been having... well, having dreams about them. Specifically that Danny kid."
Danny and his friends exchanged glances as Sirius's expression became infinitely more serious as he said, "Could they have been sent by Voldemort?"
"Well, I thought at first that it was a trick, but they were different, and then you called on the mirror..." He trailed off, getting lost in his thoughts before shaking his head and continuing, "I'll tell you more later."
Harry searched aimlessly around the seemingly empty room and called out, "Sorry about that Danny, er, Mr. Fenton, but if you wouldn't mind we'd like to explain ourselves,"
Danny laughed in his head at the fact that Harry was talking in the completely opposite direction from where they actually were. He floated he and his friends to the floor and reappeared.
Why not give them one more chance?
"I'm going to give you ten seconds to give me one good reason why I shouldn't blast you both out of my house and call the cops. Oh, and Danny's fine, by the way." He said with his arms crossed.
He didn't say he was going to be nice about it.
The two of them both swivelled around; Sirius leaned over towards Harry without looking away from Danny and murmured, "What are 'cops'?" obviously trying but failing to be discreet.
Harry answered, "Muggle Aurors. And put your wand away!" he added chastising-ly. Sirius just sighed and tucked it back into his... robe... things.
"Wand?" Sam seemed mildly excited, "As in, magic wand?"
"Er, yeah. The both of us are wizards." Harry said.
"This is obviously going to take a while," Danny said, relaxing now that Sirius had put his... 'wand', away, but still perplexed by the whole thing. "Let's go sit down in the living room and properly introduce ourselves."
They all headed semi-cautiously into the living room. Danny, Sam, and Tucker sat down on the longest couch, while Harry and Sirius sat on the smaller one to the side of them. Danny had transformed as he sat down, now sporting his usual black hair and blue eyes.
"First of all, who are you? Full names, if you wouldn't mind." Danny said. He knew he wasn't being exactly friendly, but he wanted to maintain control of the situation until he knew more about these people.
"I'm Harry Potter," The boy with the green eyes answered, "And this is my Godfather, Sirius Black. We're both wizards from England."
"Wizards? Seriously?" Tucker said flabbergasted. "This is way too weird..."
Danny let out a breath and said, "I'll admit, this is really bizarre, but if you think about it, it's not really that hard to go from ghosts to magic to wizards, I guess..."
"How was it that you were able to turn into a dog?" Sam directed curiously at Sirius. Unlike Tucker, Same was more excited and curious as opposed to shocked.
"Some wizards are able to turn into animals, which usually represent something about their personalities," Sirius answered amiably. He had apparently decided to go along with things for now. "A wizard with an animal form is called an animagus."
"Dude... that's so cool! Are you an animagus too, Harry?" Tucker asked in awe, starting to be less freaked and more curious.
Harry shook his head. "I actually don't know, because I haven't gone through the training or tried the spell yet. I've been kind of... busy."
Recognizing the conversation getting a little off track, Danny asked, "Why are you here? Or rather, why were you," he gestured at Sirius, "In the ghost zone?"
Harry and Sirius glanced at each other hopelessly, not having a clue where to begin.
Harry started anyway. "Well, let me start by giving you a brief idea of the current state of the wizarding world. Right now we there's a war going on in Europe between Lord Voldemort and his followers, and those that oppose them. Voldemort... well, he's a sick and twisted bastard out to destroy all muggle-borns and semblances of decency in the world," he said thoughtfully, trying to sum up his arch nemesis in one sentence.
"I'm sorry," Tucker interrupted, "but what's a muggleborn? Or a muggle, for that matter?"
Sirius chuckled, "Right, sorry. A muggle is a non-magic person. A muggle-born is a person born with magical powers but whose parents are muggles. Sometimes, you even get a child who is born to magical parents, but has no magical powers themselves. We call them squibs, and they tend to be looked down on."
Harry picked up where he had left off before the interruption. "Somewhere along his miserable life, Voldemort acquired an intense hate for anyone and anything muggle, and seeks to 'cleanse' the wizarding world of half-bloods and muggle-borns." Harry continued with a far off look of pain and hate in his eyes, "He's killed thousands of people, including my parents, a fellow classmate, and... up until recently, I thought one of his followers had killed my Godfather... the only family I had– have," he corrected himself "left. He's an indescribably evil person, and I'm the only one who can stop him." Harry finished with a determined look in his eyes.
Sam's eyes widened and she asked, "The only one? Are you really that powerful of a wizard?"
Harry sighed. "Well, not really, although people go through phases of thinking that I am. There was a prophecy made shortly after I was born, the gist of it saying that I would have the "power that the Dark Lord knows not" and that I would be the only one able to kill him, and he the only to kill me."
The three sat silently as they absorbed this information, and Harry continued, "Well, Voldemort managed to get a hold of part of the prophecy, and on Halloween night fifteen years ago, he murdered my parents to get to me. The only thing that saved me was my mother's love, and when Voldemort cast the Killing Curse on me, it rebounded and nearly destroyed him. The only thing I came away with was this scar," Harry then lifted his bangs to show them the ever famous lightning bolt.
Danny couldn't help but feeling sad for Harry, even though he didn't seem to need the sympathy. His own parents might be dorks, continually embarrassing him, and almost destroying him with their many 'defective' ghost inventions, but he still loved them, and he couldn't imagine what he'd do without them. It seemed strange that such a horrible villain like Voldemort could exist... most of the enemies he had faced had never actually killed anybody.
Suddenly, Danny felt a horrible wave of uneasiness flow over him, and a slightly nauseous knot of ill-boding settle in the pit of his stomach.
"I've encountered him on a few other occasions, the most recent being a about a month and a half ago, at the Ministry of Magic." Harry said.
"Ministry of Magic?" Danny asked, trying desperately to not let his unexplainable anxiety show in expression or voice.
"Yeah, basically the governing body of the wizarding part of England. The current Minister is an idiot, though..." Sirius made a noise of agreement. "Anyway, while we were at the ministry–"
"Why were you at the Ministry at the first place?" Danny interrupted again. Focus on the conversation, ignore the paranoia, everything's fine...
Harry looked away, almost ashamedly, and said, hesitantly, "I have... dreams, or visions, about things sometimes, because... because of my connection to Voldemort." seeing the obviously confused faces, he tried to explain, "When Voldemort gave me this scar, we think he sort of... left something behind. Ever since I my first– well, second encounter with Voldemort in my first year of Hogwarts, I've had vivid dreams through his eyes whenever he's especially angered or... pleased." The green-eyed teen gave a small grimace. It was apparent that he'd seen things he'd wished he hadn't.
"In some instances, I got useful information that ended up helping someone, but... Voldemort finally realized what was happening, and used it against me."
He closed his eyes, as if dealing with an especially hard memory, but continued, "He sent me false visions of a place in the Ministry of Magic called the Department of Mysteries, because there was something he wanted there. When I wouldn't take the bait, he sent me a vision of... of Sirius being tortured there. I fell for it without a second thought." He shook his head. "It was there that he was hit with a spell and fell through the veil, and the only reason he was there was to save me. Everyone thought he was dead, because criminals used to be executed by sending them through the veil. He might as well have been hit with the Killing Curse."
Harry swallowed and shook his head. Danny couldn't blame him for being emotional; that was a crap load of stuff to deal with– more than he, himself, ever had to deal with. Even the encounter with his evil future self and almost-demise of the people closest to him didn't really touch all that Harry had been through. And Danny got the feeling that all that wasn't even the half of it.
Danny blinked as he picked up on another part of what Harry had said. Criminals were sent through the veil as a form of execution...
"So... all those skeletons," Danny directed as Sirius, "Those were the bodies of people who had been executed for crimes?" Somehow, knowing that they had been criminals didn't make Danny feel any better. They hadn't just been killed, they'd been left in a place like the ghost zone to starve slowly, rotting away in a place already reeking of death. The halfa shivered.
Sirius nodded. "When I fell through the veil," he said, "I was surprised to still be alive, but after seeing I was in a sealed room littered with corpses with no way out, I didn't expect that condition to last much longer. So, naturally I was rather elated to have someone open the door and take me back into the normal world. Thanks for that, by the way," he nodded to the three overwhelmed teenagers.
"No problem," Danny muttered.
"Anyway, last night I contacted Harry to let him know I was alright, and now, here we are!" Sirius finished with an enthusiastic and carefree wave of his arms. "How did you get here, by the way?"
"Knight Plane." Harry answered, and Sirius nodded knowingly. Sam was about to ask, but was interrupted as Danny spoke again, apparently continuing on a previous line of thought.
"So..." Danny started thoughtfully, "That's what you meant about being suspicious of the dreams you had about me... but wait, if your visions are because of Voldemort, then why were you having visions about me?"
Harry just sighed, "That, I have no idea about."
"It could be that you actually have The Sight, Harry," Sirius grinned and continued, "I'm sure Trelawny will be so proud."
Harry adopted a look of mild horror and groaned, "Hermione would kill me if it were true... and Ron would have me doing all of his divination homework."
Sirius chuckled, but said more seriously (no pun intended), "You know, your mother had a mild gift in The Sight,"
"Really?" Harry said as he smiled warmly, looking more light-hearted than Danny and his friends had seen him yet.
"The Sight?" Sam inquired, understandably puzzled.
"There are many different kinds of magic," Sirius explained mildly, "And one of them is Divination, that of predicting the future and giving prophecies. Very few have a true enough Sight to give prophecies or accurate predictions, but it comes in varying degrees of potency."
Sam nodded in understanding, looking understandingly awed by all this new information.
Danny had one more question. "What was the... uh, spell, that you tried to cast on us?"
Sirius looked a bit sheepish as he said, "Ah, well, that was a memory erasing charm. You see, muggles aren't really supposed to know about wizards and all that. In fact, there's a whole branch of our government that's in charge of keeping the wizarding world a secret from the muggles." He grinned, "I suppose we can make an acception, in this case."
"Gee, thanks," Danny said, not quite feeling all that grateful for being able to keep his own memories.
"So!" Sirius continued, "Would you mind telling us a bit about yourself?" Harry had also sat forward and was looking at Danny expectantly. Well, Danny thought, they already know, really, and they seem trustworthy enough...
Making up his mind, Danny introduced the three of them. "I'm Danny Fenton, or Phantom, depending on which form you see me in. I try to keep it a secret, so if you happen to run into anyone from around here, don't say anything. This is Sam Manson, and Tucker Foley, my two friends and formerly the only people to know my secret. Well, I guess it was three, counting Danielle..." Sam and Tucker waved when their names were called, and Danny continued.
"Anyway, my parents are crazy scientists that are obsessed with ghosts. They'd been working for ages on a way to travel between this world and the next, which they labeled the 'ghost zone'. However, they got to a certain point and gave up. I... well, I thought I could help them out and figure it out if I took a look around," He adopted a vaguely sheepish expression, "And I did. It just needed to be turned on. But the switch was on the inside– and that's where I was when it was turned on. I've been half ghost ever since."
"Half ghost?" Harry asked incredulously, "Is that even possible?" He directed at Sirius.
"I haven't the foggiest. I mean, we can't dispute the evidence sitting right in front of us," Sirius said as he gestured at Danny, "But I didn't know there were ghosts that weren't permanently intangible."
"Permanently intangible?" Danny asked with a shiver. Sure, going intangible had its uses, but being like that forever? How can you fight if you can't touch anything?
Sirius nodded. "The ghosts that we're familiar with float around and moan a lot, but that's about it. They bring a chill to the air, but they don't harm people, because it's physically impossible. They can be invisible if they want, but they can be just transparent if the mood suits them."
"Are you kidding?" Tucker asked incredulously, "If only all the ghosts in Amity park were like that! You'd never have a thing to worry about, Danny!"
"You have a lot of ghosts here?" Harry asked innocently.
The three of them exchanged a look and burst out laughing. "If only you knew!" Sam managed through her giggles.
"We've been haunted and pestered by all sorts ghosts since the portal was created," Danny explained with a smile still on his face. "Somehow, the ghosts always manage to escape, even when the portal is closed. My parents try to keep it under control, but Tucker, Sam, and I are the ones doing most of the work."
"Yeah, Danny's like the resident super hero!" Tucker said enthusiastically, glad to be able to brag about his friend for once. "And me an' Sam are his faithful sidekicks!"
Sam punched Tucker in the arm around Danny, earning an 'ow!' from Tucker, as she said, "We're not his 'sidekicks', we're his friends!"
Danny just rolled his eyes and said, "Only problem is, the stupid things always manage to get back out again after we throw them back in. Some days, they escape faster than we can catch them!"
"Hey, aren't your parents and Jazz supposed to be home soon?" Tucker asked after glancing at his watch.
"What?" Danny asked, alarmed, "Why? What time is it?"
Just then, the front door burst open to reveal none other than Jack, Maddie, and Jazz Fenton.
"Danny, my son, we have returned from the ghost convention!" Jack proclaimed loudly, "Come here and give me a hug, son!" he then proceeded to lift Danny clean off the couch into a bone-breaking hug.
"Nice to see you too, Dad," Danny wheezed.
"Hello, Danny, I trust you've been behaving yourselves," Maddie said sweetly, "Who are our visitors, dear?"
"Ghosts!? Where?" Jack dropped Danny unceremoniously and whipped his head around frantically. "I'll get every last one of you, you filthy ghost scum! Now, come out and face me!"
Maddie sighed and then stepped into action before any serious damage could be done. "Jack, sweetheart, why don't you go get the bags from out of the RV?"
"Of course, dear, just soon as–"
"Now!" Maddie said in her commanding voice.
"Right!" Jack exclaimed as he bounded out the door, presumably to gather their luggage. Harry and Sirius just shook their heads at the sight, as though they'd seen behavior just as strange before.
"So, Danny," Jazz picked up where their mother had left off, "Why don't you introduce our guests."
"Uh, right. This is Harry Potter, and Sirius Black. They're, uh..." Danny flailed, trying to think up some kind of excuse. You'd think he'd be better at it by now, after all the times he'd have to make up excuses for himself.
"We're visiting some relatives from around here," Sirius saved. "My son and I got a bit lost, and knocked on a nearby door to ask for directions. They were kind enough to let us in and help us out. Sorry for the intrusion, we were just about to leave–"
Sirius was about to stand up, but was stopped by Maddie's enthusiastic answer. If she noticed anything odd about Sirius' ragged, robed appearance, she didn't say anything. "Nonsense!" She exclaimed, "Why don't you stay for lunch at least?" She leaned over and whispered to Jazz, "Jasmine, would you mind, you know I'm horrible in the kitchen–"
Jazz just rolled her eyes and smiled warmly at her mother. "No problem, mom," she said and then disappeared into the kitchen.
"Well, I should go help Jack with the bags." Maddie said before running after her husband. Hopefully he hadn't caused too much damage while he was alone...
Danny let out a big sigh. "Sorry 'bout that." he said to Sirius and Harry.
"No problem. Your family seems nice..." Harry said with an almost wistful smile.
Danny shrugged. "I'm going to assume that you'd rather us keep quiet about your, you know..."
"Er, yeah, that'd be great." Harry said. "Do your parents and sister know–?"
"No!" Danny answered hurriedly. "And I'd like to keep it that way."
Harry just smiled. "No problem."
Danny just took a deep breath and basked in the oddness of the day. Things had certainly gotten weird, but nothing really bad had happened... maybe he really didn't have anything to worry about after all.
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A/N: Ha, ha! Think again, Danny!
Yeah... longest chapter I've ever written... fastest I've ever posted... you should feel very, very lucky. :D Reviews are always appreciated!
'Til chapter 4!
;-;Adrian Winter;-;