THE MAGICAL PHANTOM

CHAPTER FOUR: FROM DUSK TO DUELS

"Come on Hermione, she's not that bad." Danny insisted. Hermione huffed.

"I guess. Got a big mouth for someone so short, though." She said back.

They'd made it to the Great Hall relatively quickly after Danny and Shade 'bantering'. Hermione still didn't understand how Danny supposedly knew what Shade was saying but it was extremely entertaining watching them. Actually, what was going on was Danny's less-subtle ghostly attributes at work. All ghosts, even half-ghosts, could register every language spoken as their native one. So an American ghost and a Chinese ghost could carry out a full conversation without either attempting to change languages. This talent also, apparently, extended to animals too as Danny understood all Shade's hisses and purrs perfectly.

"Because you're so tall?" Danny shot back. She huffed again but remained quiet. "Look, Daphne is the only person in my house that I can stand to be around as of now. Aside from all you Gryffindors, she's all I have. You guys are great and all, but I do need a friend for when we don't share classes."

"Right, because we're separated that much?" Ron's voice called. "Feels like every class we have to deal with Malfoy." He concluded as he and Harry sat next to Danny and Hermione respectively.

"At least we get to leave after class. Danny has to room with him." Hermione added. Danny shuddered.

"And it's not pretty." He said in a false-scared tone.

Ron smiled and Hermione snickered. Danny noticed the silence from the other raven-haired wizard and turned his attention to Harry.

"Hey? Specs? You okay over there?" Danny called over to Harry, who shook his head.

"Yeah, fine." He said unconvincingly.

"What's his problem?" Hermione asked Ron, who flat out ignored her. She glared while Danny sighed.

"What's his problem?" He asked Ron for Hermione, who smiled.

"Glad you asked, Danny. He's just thinking about some newspaper article that mentions how Gringotts was robbed the other day when him and Hagrid were there. Bummed since Hagrid won't tell him what was in the safe they visited, I guess." Ron told Danny, shaking his head at Harry.

"I tell you I was there that same day. If I knew what was in there I could help!" Harry insisted, suddenly coming to life. "Hagrid and I stopped at that vault earlier and Hagrid took whatever was in there out of it!"

"Help with what? It doesn't even sound like anything's wrong aside from an attempted theft, but they didn't get it, did they? I don't see the harm." Hermione chimed in. Ron looked at her like she was Looney and the raven-haired wizards shared a glance.

"Do you really think they'll stop is what he's getting at. Snape told me that Gringotts was one of, if not the, safest places in the wizarding world when we were inside and that there hadn't been a recorded break-in in god-knows-how-long. If someone would go through the trouble of breaking into the highest security bank in the wizard world, why stop because it's been moved?" Danny explained for Harry, who looked like he might burst at trying to make them understand.

"Yes, that's exactly it Danny! I don't think they'd give up just because the- whatever it is- wasn't there, especially if they didn't get caught. But where would Hagrid move the thing to if Gringotts is supposed to be the safest place?" Harry agreed, continuing his musing.

"You're bloody insane! You can't do anything about it and especially since you don't even know what's missing in the first place, much less who would want it and why!" Hermione cried at them.

"Nobody said you had to help! We can do this on our own, right Danny?" Ron argued back, looking at Danny for backup.

"That's ridiculous, you couldn't even levitate a feather without almost taking out your own eye, or even worse; someone else's! Danny, tell him he's being stupid!" Hermione yelled before Danny could speak.

"Umm, ah, well-" Danny stuttered under both his friends' gazed. Shade meowed. "Traitor." Danny whispered back angrily as the cat merely curled into a ball on the stool next to his owner.

"Attention, attention!" Dumbledore's voice carried across the hall, leading many to wonder just when the elderly wizard had made his entrance.

As everything quieted in the Great Hall, Dumbledore stood before the students with his staff behind him and the House Ghosts standing off to the side, smiling widely. Danny could safely assume whatever was happening it would be about him- er, the other him.

"Earlier today I met with the one called 'Phantom' by Sir Nicholas and our other House Ghosts. I only spoke to him for a short while, but it was enough to seal my judgment. And thus, Danny Phantom will be taking up residency at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry until further notice." Dumbledore announced, eyes twinkling as he spoke of the young halfa.

Just over half the entire first year muggle-born girls squealed. It was only really about a dozen (give or take a few) girls but it sounded like the entire school was dying. Shade hid under the table.

Yells echoed across the Great Hall, consisting of "Danny Phantom, here? I can't wait to meet him!" "Magic, wands and now I get to meet the best superhero ever?! I love it here!" "I heard he single-handedly stopped a massive ghost invasion! This year'll be so cool!" and more.

'Great,' Danny though, wincing at the volume. 'Just what I need; another Phan Club.'

"Sir Nicholas, why's everyone making such a fuss?" Dumbledore asked the Gryffindor Ghost in a hushed voice, as if trying to hide his confusion. Danny 's enhanced hearing picked it up and he intently zeroed in on the conversation.

"I told you he was a big dead, Headmaster. Saved the world single-handedly multiple times and more individuals on more occasions than most of our Aurors too." Sir Nicholas replied in the same hushed voice.

"We warned you Phantom was a big name, not 'some muggle ghost nobodies ever heard of' but I guess we weren't clear enough." Bloody Baron added. Dumbledore nodded and the discussion was dropped.

"DANNY!" Hermione's shrill cry yanked his attention back to the three Gryffindor's.

"Whoa. Spaced out there for a second. What're you saying?" Danny covered, shaking his head. Ron snickered.

"You more than spaced out, mate, you left the galaxy. Bloody girl's been calling your name for five minutes, getting louder each time." The redhead muttered in annoyance. Harry rolled his eyes but laughed too and Hermione just rolled her eyes.

"I was telling them that Danny Phantom was an American superhero of Ghostly nature, but then a thought hit me. You're from America, so you'd know all about him, right?" Hermione inquired. Danny almost phased through the bench in shock.

"What? What would give you that idea?" He asked nervously, glancing all around. How many people would really notice if he sunk through the floor? He could be gone in two seconds flat really.

"It's just that you're from America so I thought-" Hermione started, only to be cut off by Danny.

"How'd you know that?" He asked. It wasn't like it was a secret or anything, but he hadn't told anybody yet. Primarily because no one had asked and it hadn't come up, but still.

"Your accent is a dead give away. You didn't honestly think nobody realized did you? Surely you must've noticed that you're the only person here who has an accent." She stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Which to her it probably was.

Danny, excusing the 'dead' pun, fought off the urge to tell her that they were the one's with accents. Mostly because he was sure that was wrong, but also because it didn't really matter. At least now he could tell a little of the truth.

"I'm actually pretty familiar with him. He fought ghosts mainly in the town I used to live, Amity Park, so I've seen him fight a lot. He's had some great ones too." Danny nodded rapidly, hoping his enthusiasm wasn't seen through as fake.

"I know my parents used to talk about whether he was a good ghost or a bad one, but they knew he was real. One of my dad's patients went on vacation in the States for two weeks. It was only supposed to be for one week but he got stuck there when the town was pulled into another dimension!" Hermione exclaimed, as if it was news.

But to be fair, to Ron and Harry it probably was. Wasn't their fault they weren't the ones going toe-to-toe with the King of all Ghosts in an isolated castle in the depths of the 'Zone where you're likely almost never to be found if something went wrong. Good times, man, good times.

"And you believe that? How could muggles enter any different dimension?" Ron scoffed unbelievingly. Danny shook his head.

"No it's true." He said honestly. "We were all pulled into the Ghost Zone, but it wasn't because of the humans, it was because of the ghosts."

"Well see that makes more sense." Harry said, rolling his eyes.

"About as much sense as a school that teaches magic?" Danny shot back. Hermione smiled and Ron snickered as he leaned over to Harry.

"He's got you there." Ron muttered to his glasses-wearing friend.

Harry merely sighed in acceptance.


"Albus, I don't think it's wise to inform him about anything to do with You-Know-Who, especially since we have no proof he's back." Snape almost pleaded as Dumbledore walked the halls.

"Speculation is all we need. Other magical schools are activating their Aurors just because of the rumors. Am I wrong to inform the schools best form of defense about a supposed threat?" Dumbledore questioned the Potions Professor.

"The other schools don't have the only person You-Know-Who ever feared as Headmaster." Snape stated bluntly.

"Never be to careful." Dumbledore stated as lesson one. "And Severus, what do you know of 'Daniel Fenton'?" The elderly wizard changed topic.

"That he doesn't like to be called Daniel, he's sarcastic, witty and rough around the edges." Snape started harshly. "But very bright, mind you. He's the only Slytherin passing my class fairly. Quite bold too. Ever since I've known him kid hasn't had a problem speaking his mind, no matter what good or bad was on it." He finished in something akin to amusement. "Why do you ask?"

"Severus, something about that boy is different." Dumbledore started. "Different than anything we've seen before. He's only eleven and he moves like a seasoned warrior; sizing up everyone he meets in seconds. Done it to both Ms. McGonagall and me. He's the only person that managed to keep the Sorting Hat out of their heads since as long as I can remember, quite impressive mental shields they are. I would know I couldn't pass them."

"You tried to enter his mind?" Snape asked sounding disgusted.

"If it makes you feel any better I couldn't even if I'd tried any harder. He felt me too. Turned right around when I entered his head." He explained. Snape scowled.

"Good." Was all Snape replied. Dumbledore sighed and continued.

"Just tell Professor McGonagall to inform Phantom about the story of Lord Voldemort." The headmaster ordered. "This isn't a matter up for discussion."

Snape sighed regretfully. At least he wasn't the one who had to tell the ghost-brat.

"Understood."


Phantom was floating before Professor McGonagall now; a week after the matter of Voldemort was discussed between the staff and Dumbledore. Not that he knew that of course. All he knew was he was missing his first flying lesson for this.

Yeah, McGonagall picked the time to talk with Phantom as the same time flying lessons were being given to Gryffindor and Slytherin and Danny couldn't just tell her he couldn't meet with her because "I have to go to class" would probably blow the whole 'secret identity' out of the water.

Hermione was going to kill him if he missed it completely though. He was the only person she seemed to initiate contact with. Although she was usually around Harry and Ron, Ron wasn't exactly friendly towards her and Harry was rather indifferent but it was obvious he'd rather talk to Ron.

'So maybe,' Danny thought, 'if I can finish this up quick enough I'll only be late to flying lessons. Not like I need them, though.'

"You wanted to talk to me, Professor McGonagall?" Danny asked the Transfigurations teacher.

"Yes, Phantom, I did. I wanted to have a discussion with you about what Dumbledore seems to think you'll be quite helpful in." McGonagall said. She noticed Phantom's eyes snap towards her own, curiosity peaked.

"Which is?" He asked cautiously.

"Many years ago, we wizards were at war with one another. There was a dark, evil wizard who wanted nothing to do with muggle-born wizards or muggles at all. Wanted them all dead, he did. He used to go to Hogwarts too, way back when Albus Dumbledore was but a teacher here.

"Almost got what he wanted too. He amassed an army of his own, the Death Eaters, and plunged the world into the Wizarding War. For a long time there was no peace, only death and sorrow. Few places were safe from anything to do with The Dark Lord himself. Except wherever Albus Dumbledore happened do be, which was here, at Hogwarts.

"I'm getting off topic here. This Dark Lord, he wanted to kill everyone, those who resisted him in particular. And Lily and James Potter were above almost everyone on that list. One night he tracked them down, attacked when they thought they were safe. Both Lily and James were murdered on that night.

"Their boy, Harry, was spared for whatever reason. You-Know-Who's killing curse didn't have the desired effect and turned the Dark Lord into an empty shell, draining nearly everything he had. We all celebrated after that and things have been quiet ever since." McGonagall explained gravely. Her voice was but a whisper by the time she was done.

"Until?" Danny asked anxiously. There had to be an 'until' or she wouldn't be bothering to tell him this story at all. McGonagall sighed.

"Nobody knows for sure what became of him. Some of us prefer to think he died that night, along with the Potters, but others-. They say he's out there somewhere, weak, but out there. His most trusted followers, like Bellatrix, swear he'll return to power. And that's what Professor Dumbledore wanted me to tell you about, Phantom. The return, of Lord Voldemort." McGonagall finished her informative speech.

"And Dumbledore-"

"Professor Dumbledore." McGonagall corrected the Ghost Boy, who nodded.

"And Professor Dumbledore wanted me to know this in case he was coming back, right?" Danny questioned, but it was only one of the many he had.

Why was he being told now? Why not later? Unless Voldemort's return was becoming more widely anticipated but why would it be now? What had changed in the last ten years that would suddenly bring Voldemort back to power? And just who the hell was 'Bellatrix'? Was he supposed to already know that?

"Yes." Came McGonagall's reply.

'Shit.' Came Phantom's thought, but he didn't repeat it out loud.

"Thanks a lot for telling me about this Professor McGonagall, its nice to know I can be trusted with these things. I'll be training if you need me, but I'll be sure to tell you anything unusual." Phantom said instead of asking one of his many questions.

McGonagall nodded.

"It's probably best if you do it further away than you were last night. The first year Gryffindor and Slytherin students are having flying practices on our only training field." McGonagall advised as she made her way out of the room.

Danny silently nodded and flew intangibly through the roof and over to the training field where he landed invisibly and silently changed back to human form.

"What'd I miss?" He asked curiously as he stood between Harry and Hermione.

"Just Neville whacking himself in the face with his broom and Madam Hooch telling Malfoy he's been flying wrong for years now." Harry summed up. Danny smirked.

"We're about to start flying now. Hurry, Danny, get your broom up." Hermione told him.

Danny sighed and went to step forward to pick up his broom but Ron's voice stopped him.

"Not like that! With magic!" Ron informed him, his tone saying it like it was the most obvious thing ever. Danny blushed.

"Right." He said simply. He closed his eyes and concentrated hard on bringing the broom off the floor and into his hand. Soon enough, Danny felt the wooden stick make contact with his palm.

"Hey, I did it! And it's not a pile of ashes!" Danny relished his small victory. Hermione gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder but it was more like a patronizing 'you sure did' than a celebratory 'good job'.

"But, why was yours glowing green when you moved it? None of ours did it." Ron asked from the other side of Harry, who looked down at his broom as if asking, 'did it?'.

"I don't know. I didn't even see it close green." Danny said nonchalantly. Only half that statement was a lie. He knew what it most likely was, but he didn't see it happen.

"But-" Ron started to question, but Hermione shushed him.

"She's about to talk." She said seriously, pointing at Madam Hooch.

"Now," Hooch started. "Once you've got a hold of your broom I want you to mount it. Grip it tight. You don't want to be sliding off the end. Then when I hit three kick off the ground and hover!"

"One!" They prepared themselves how Madam Hooch instructed. "Two!" The students got ready to kick off. "Thr-"

Neville's familiar shouting broke everyone from their concentration. They all looked up to see the boy in question fifty feet in the air, screaming about how he kicked off too soon.

"Longbottom! Get down from there!" Hooch shouted up.

Danny rolled his eyes at the ridiculousness of the statement, like it would do any good to get Neville down? But Hermione elbowed him in the gut as a silent command to keep his mouth shut.

"Well really you'd think she'd do something more." Ron commented, agreeing with Danny. Hermione elbowed him too.

When the whole thing seemed to be over, Neville was hanging by his clothes from a statue that had pierced the fabric. Hooch was telling him to hang on, most of the Slytherins were laughing their hearts out along with some Gryffindors while Daphne looked up at Neville, almost sorry for the kid.

Ron was holding back snickers for Harry's sake, who seemed to look away in pity. Hermione looked to Hooch, as if waiting for her brilliant expertise while Danny silently waited for the true outcome.

Then it happened. Neville's robes gave out and the poor kid started falling from several dozen feet in the air. Luckily for him Danny's hero complex kicked in and Danny sprinted an impossible distance (for a human anyway) and heroically… broke Neville's fall.

'What was that? It was like something was pulled from under my legs!' Danny thought angrily, hardly caring about the boy on top of him anymore.

"Come on boy, better get you to the nurses office. You too, Fenton." Hooch said, helping Neville up first then going to help up Danny but he stood up on his own.

"I'm fine, see?" Danny said as he stood up and cracked his back. Hooch didn't seem convinced but nodded and left with Neville, not before telling the students to stay grounded while she was gone though.

"Look what Longbottom dropped." Malfoy said suddenly, holding up a clear orb in his hands. Danny recognized the object as Neville's remembrall from earlier that week; the one his gran sent him.

"Give it here, Malfoy!" Harry stated, stomping up to the blonde offender.

"Before I just go ahead and take it." Danny said, glaring at Malfoy as he grinned wider.

"What are you gonna do, Fenton?" Malfoy taunted.

Danny pulled back his arm and prepared a punch that would've knocked Malfoy on his rich little arse, but somebody pulled his arm back. Danny turned around to find Daphne standing there, preventing him from hitting the other snake.

"What'd you do that for? He took Neville's remembrall!" Danny asked sourly. Daphne glared.

"That doesn't make violence okay." She said strongly. Danny scoffed.

"But it was okay the other day when they had his robes?" He shot back.

"That was different," She insisted. "We tried talking reasonably to him then."

"Well that makes it okay." Danny said sarcastically. "He hasn't changed since then, if he's still pulling the same crap, so why can't I just-"

"POTTER!" A shout broke Danny's sentence off.

Danny looked around to see Harry standing, broom in one hand and the remembrall in another, confused as ever as Professor McGonagall stood at the entrance of the field. She almost seemed as if she was looking for someone the way her eyes drifted over the sky multiple times.

'She's looking for me. Probably making sure I wasn't training around the kids.' Danny thought. 'Well, the other me.' He added as an afterthought.

"Come with me." She said simply to Harry, who looked scared and angry at the same time.

"But Professor McGonagall, it wasn't-" Danny started to protest for Harry's sake, but McGonagall cut him off.

"Enough, Fenton. Potter, you-" McGonagall started but Danny wouldn't quit. He took a few steps towards Harry.

"Really though, Harry was only trying to help-" McGonagall glared at Danny and silently told him to stop talking.

"One more word, Fenton, and Slytherin will lose twelve points." She said, looking at him as if daring to continue.

And he almost did, until Daphne elbowed his gut. He settled for an angry glare. Maybe he'd haunt her later.

"Come on, follow me, Potter." She said, disappearing back inside. Harry gulped as he followed.

All Danny could do was mouth 'sorry' as Harry looked back one more time.


"I can't believe Snape gave us all this homework." Daphne said, flopping down onto the sofa of the Slytherin common room.

"Ow, hey! I'm already on here!" Danny cried playfully, shoving her feet off his lap. She rolled her eyes. "Speak for yourself. I finished mine in class."

"How? He gave us all that filler work." She said, amazed, placing her feet back on Danny's lap.

"Exactly. Filler. As in 'not going to be graded'?" Danny said, pushing her off again.

"But he walked around and made sure we were all doing the class assignment?" Daphne said, confused. On.

"He didn't even notice. Too busy criticizing every Gryffindor and giving free points to Malfoy to take points away from me." Danny said simply. Off.

"Fair enough." She said. On. "I'm not ready to start it yet."

"Just copy mine. It's been a long day, watching Neville nearly get maimed and all." Danny offered. Off.

"But that's wrong." On. "But using it for reference is okay."

"Ooh, clever." He commented. Off. "You, can try and use me as a footstool some other time. I gotta go, I promised Sir Nicolas I'd visit him later." He said, trying to get up. He was stopped by Daphne's feet going on again.

"It's not later its now." She said as if it were obvious.

"It's later from when he asked four hours ago." Danny said, rolling his eyes and standing up, pushing Daphne's feet off in the process. She pouted.

"Fine, I'll see you later." She said with a sigh, before lying down on the sofa and closing her eyes.

"It's in my room, Daph. Watch out for Shade though, he's been grouchy all day. I think that fan-girl squeal from this morning really hurt his ears." Danny warned, before heading out.

"Yeah, yeah." Daphne muttered through a yawn. "Thanks."

Then she rolled over on the eerie green couch.


"Where is he? He said to meet him right-" Phantom muttered to himself before he started pacing, which for him was floating back and forth.

He was cut off when he collided with a form that was just rounding the corner he was pacing by. The familiar sound of Hermione's squeal made him snap his head towards the sound to see her sitting on the floor. Danny scratched the back of his head with one hand as he went to help Hermione up with the other.

"Sorry. Didn't see you there." Danny said as he easily pulled Hermione to her feet.

"It's fine. Least I didn't have my books with me." She said, dusting herself off before she looked back at the Ghost Boy. "You're Danny Phantom, right?"

"The one and only." Danny replied easily. She looked quizzically at his clothes. "What? Something stained?" He asked, picking at his shirt. Hermione chuckled and shook her head.

"No, no, you're fine. It's just," She paused. "I wasn't expecting you to wear such… ordinary clothes?" Phantom shrugged.

"Time to change, you know?" He replied, looking down at his outfit. He didn't really like it either, to be honest.

"What's the guy Professor Dumbledore made such a fuss about wandering out in some outside corridor?" Hermione questioned. It appeared as though this was already bothering her.

"Waiting for Sir Nicholas and Bloody Baron. They're going to take me on a tour of the grounds I haven't seen, which is really just the outside and the Forbidden Forest, which I really want to see." Danny told her, his green eyes flashing towards the tree line. Hermione gasped an over-exaggerated gasp.

"Bu-but that's forbidden! There's a reason we're not allowed there, don't you know?" She said it like he was insane for even thinking such a thing. Danny briefly wondered how the Dairy King was doing before he sighed.

"For you guys, yeah, you're still students. I'm a full-powered ghost who can take care of himself against a few- what's even in there that makes if 'forbidden' anyway?" Danny asked in mid-explanation.

"All kinds of magical creatures live there and while some don't mind any humans, most are naturally territorial. I heard it was one of Professor Dumbledore's favorite rules." She recited. Danny rolled his eyes.

"Told by who?" He asked unbelievingly.

"Fred and George Weasley, of course." Hermione said, disappointment at the twins evident in her voice. "But you wouldn't know them, would you?"

"I've heard of them." Danny said simply. "I've heard of a lot of people." He expanded at Hermione's look.

"Do you know who I am?" She asked, as if it was proving a test.

"Hermione Granger?" Danny asked, but it was more like a statement. She looked shocked.

"How do you know that?" She asked incredulously. Danny rolled his eyes.

"Danny told me." He said. Technically not a lie.

"You told yourself?" She replied, looking at him as if he were crazy. Danny almost went into panic mode – "WHATDDA MEAN IM NOT THAT ME IM THIS ME" – but caught himself when he remembered that Danny, was in fact, his first name in both forms.

"No, the other Danny. Danny Fenton?" He explained. Hermione's eyes light up, like she wanted to inquire further, but their meeting was interrupted by Phantom's ghost sense.

"Good day, Phantom. How are you this afternoon?" Bloody Baron asked, floating up to the halfa, who smiled.

"Great. Just getting to know the students here." Danny said, jabbing his head in Hermione's direction. She appeared to become uncomfortable in the presence of the other ghosts and began to slink away.

Sir Nicholas waved at the Gryffindor girl and she waved weakly back before she turned down the same corner she came from. Danny sighed.

"Everybody judges the ghosts." He said simply. Sir Nicholas and Bloody Baron nodded sadly.

"Let's go, Phantom, we've got places to show you." Sir Nicholas changed the mood and began to hover up towards Ravenclaw Tower. Bloody Baron followed after and Phantom tailed them both, ready for the evening to come.


Danny was ready for this evening to be over.

It was going okay for a while. Sir Nicholas and Bloody Baron had been showing him the outside of Hogwarts. They'd show him the Quidditch field, the training field, the lake that supposedly housed a kraken and a lot of other stuff. But some students had probably blabbed that "THE Danny Phantom" was wandering around Hogwarts and students began to hoard them.

At first it was okay. A few fan-girls asking for autographs and a few boys asked a lot of questions about what powers he had and stuff of that nature. But soon there were too many for him to handle. He was sure one of those sixth year Ravenclaw boys poked his back to see if he was real and goddamnit one of the seventh year Hufflepuffs stole his left boot. Oh well, it would come back when he changed forms.

So after telling Sir Nicholas and Bloody Baron he'd see them tomorrow, he abandoned the large crowd and flew invisibly outside. Danny was about to turn and head to the training grounds, but he heard Harry and Ron's familiar voices.

"Harry, you'll do fine. Just because you're the youngest doesn't mean you're the worse! If anything you're better." Ron's voice tried to encourage Harry.

"You don't get it! I'm the youngest Seeker in a century and everybody is counting on me to just do something that your brother, one of the best Seekers ever, couldn't have done." Harry shot back.

Danny decided it was time for some fun and changed invisibly back to human form before turning the corner and enjoying the surprised looks on Harry and Ron's faces.

"Bloody hell, Danny! What'd you do that for?" Ron asked, catching his breath. Danny shrugged.

"Thought it would be fun. And it was! But what're you guys doing in the Trophy Room?" Danny asked them. They seemed to debate silently whether it was okay for them to say before Harry replied.

"Malfoy wanted to duel. He said to be in the Trophy Room after lights out. Did he leave yet?" He said. Danny shook his head.

"He was still there last time I was there, but then again that was before evening even came." Danny replied.

"Danny! There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you!" Hermione's voice whisper-yelled through the room. Ron sighed and the next thing Danny knew there was a cat in his face, meowing almost bored. "I ran into Daphne, who had Shade out, and she told me he wanted to look for you. When I told her I'd bring him to you I didn't know you'd be this difficult to find." She huffed as she set Shade down.

Shade looked up at Danny and meowed again, longer this time. Danny rolled his eyes.

"No, you're not getting more dinner." Another meow. "It's not my fault you didn't eat breakfast if you're the one who spent the next four hours complaining about your ringing ears." A hiss. "Well you'll eat breakfast tomorrow then, won't you?"

"Why are you here again?" Ron said suddenly to Hermione.

"To tell you that this duel is a bad idea. You're just going to get caught." She replied.

"Nobody said you had to come." Harry told her, double-checking the entrances. She sighed and went to speak, but Danny cut her off.

"Shh. Someone's coming." He said, hearing footsteps and doors.

But it was a full minute before anybody else even heard the faintest thing, which was Mrs. Norris sitting in one of the entryways. Shade hissed repeatedly while Harry whispered at them angrily.

"Mrs. Norris means Filch isn't far behind. Run!" He told them.

Hermione took off first, then Harry followed and Ron afterwards. Danny called to Shade to stop hissing and run before he too went to follow his friends.

They ran down a dark empty hallway, the sound of footsteps growing louder and closer. Danny was sure he heard Filch talking to himself about 'these rotten kids'.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Potty Potter out of bed, hmm?" The annoyingly familiar voice of Peeves sounded. Danny didn't have time for this; he could hear Filch closing in.

"Keep going, I'll get him." Danny said, glaring at Peeves. The Gryffindors didn't move but the thought of being left alone with Phantom was enough for Peeves to get the idea.

That didn't stop him from flying down the corridor yelling "STUDENTS OUT OF BED, STUDENTS OUT OF BED IN THE THIRD FLOOR CORRIDOR" though. Harry panicked and lunged for the closest door, trying to pull it open but it wouldn't budge.

"Oh, move." Hermione said, shoving Harry out of the way. "Alohomora!" The young witch chanted in a whisper, smiling as the door popped open.

Danny held the door open as they piled inside and he shut the door as quickly and quietly as he could, which only managed to be quickly.

"Which way did they go, Peeves? Quick, tell me!" They heard Filch say. They all held their breath.

"Say 'please'!" Peeves taunted. Filch growled.

"Don't mess with me, Peeves, now where did they go?" He demanded.

"Shan't say nothing if you don't say please!" Peeves said in a singsong voice.

"All right- PLEASE." Filch managed to grumble out.

"NOTHING! Ha-ha! Told you I wouldn't say nothing if you didn't say please!" Peeves laughed out before they heard him whoosh away. Filch's cursing followed after.

With a sigh, the four kids turned around only to come face to face with a massive head. Only it was between two other heads. The whatever it was started to wake up and stood to its full height, revealing itself to be one creature with brown fur all over and three giant heads, all with sharp teeth bared at the intruders.

Danny instinctively pushed Hermione behind him while he held his arms out as if to shield Harry and Ron.

"We're on the third floor corridor! This is forbidden!" Hermione whisper shouted over Danny's shoulder. Ron made an aggravated shushing movement.

Its sleepy heads finally focused on the kids and they all glared. Danny glared back, flashing his eyes green on instinct, as Harry yanked open the door once again. Hermione was the first one out the door, followed by Shade, then Ron and Harry right after. After what seemed like hours (but was only mere seconds) Danny stepped out of the door leisurely.

"You can't just come out of the den of a three-headed-dog like you were walking in the park, Danny! What were you thinking?" Hermione scolded him. Danny laughed.

It wasn't like he'd sat and chatted with the dog; he'd merely forced some of his natural ghostly presence outward. It had been enough to unsettle the beast for a few moments, especially with a ghost as powerful as he was.

"Hermione, you said this place was forbidden. Where'd you hear that?" Danny asked, changing the topic. She sighed.

"It was supposed to be part od Dumbledore's speech at the Sorting Ceremony but the ghost side-tracked it. Ron's brother Percy, a perfect, told us. He said that the other perfects would inform their own houses. Didn't anyone tell you?" She explained. Danny just shook his head and sighed.

"Wonder why nobody told them, though? It's not like its safe to go unaware that there's something like that here, let alone it being here at all!" Ron said angrily.

"Didn't you see its feet? It was standing on a trapdoor! It's obviously here to guard something." Hermione said, as if it was normal to notice trapdoors under giant creatures.

"Sorry Hermione, but I was a little preoccupied looking at its heads." Harry said sarcastically back. Danny smiled.

"Really, I've seen one of those before but this one's heads were definitely bigger." Danny muttered. He'd seen Pandora's multiple times, but her dog had thinner and longer heads. And it was taller than this one.

Hermione looked intrigued while Ron looked frightened.

"You've seen one before!/?" Ron and Hermione questioned, in fear and curiosity respectively.

"That's a story for another day. Just go back to your common room." Danny said, noticing that they'd walked back to the Gryffindor common room.

"Right! Before these two take us on another adventure that'll surely get us killed! Or worse, expelled!" Hermione said dramatically. "Night, Danny." She said, giving him a quick hug before darting towards the Fat Lady and uttering "Pig Snout" and stepping through the newly formed doorway.

"Guess your right. Night, mate." Ron said, elbowing Danny as a goodbye.

"See you tomorrow, Danny." Harry said, placing a hand on Danny's shoulder before he departed after Ron.

"See you guys tomorrow." He called after them, waving. Shade meowed. "Yeah, yeah, I know you want to get back in before Mrs. Norris sees you again. Let's go."

And with that, Danny and Shade walked down the ever-changing staircases out into the path that would take them to the Slytherin dungeon. But Danny wasn't accounting for the familiar voice of his Potions professor calling out for him.

"What do we have here, Fenton? Out after dark?" Snape called. Danny could only form one coherent thought.

'Shit.'

Aaand done!

So lots of stuff went on here. It was kind of hard to do the Flying class scene since I didn't want to take TOO much attention off Harry as the main hero, but I couldn't just make Danny do something SO un-Danny. Danny probably would've actually knocked Malfoy off his broom, really.

I heard someone say Dumbledore was a little OOC? Sorry about that, its hard to predict how anyone would react to meeting someone as talked up as Danny Phantom, but I'll try and work on that. Anyone else OOC? Just let me know and maybe tell me why? I do feel like McGonagall is a bit OOC when she's telling Phantom about Voldemort, but how many other ways could it have gone?

Also, from here on, Dumbledore won't be as judgmental as I made him out to be in the previous chapters now that he's gotten a read on Phantom for himself.

One other thing, continue to vote! Luna is winning so I'll probably bring her in next year and let the friendship start if Luna does end up winning. And even if she does come in, she probably won't interact a lot with The Golden Trio. Mainly Danny and sometimes Ginny (who of course starts next year also).

Finally, don't forget to review and questions/comments/concerns/suggestions etc.

AWW thanks Akela Victoire!