Note: As soon as Lectori Salutem looked it over and pointed out mistakes, I had to edit and crank this chapter out right away. It's been way too long!

Thanks to all those who reviewed/faved/alerted, as well the friendly encouragement from my beta Laura! Without you guys, I wouldn't have gotten notifications in my email to remind me to get my butt into gear. I've been moody and life's been hectic, but when is it not?

Also, morethanarepairboy pointed out a couple of good questions that I hadn't even considered. Like why is Sam's last name Manson and not Fenton? And why does it sound like Danny's still at home if he's married? I WILL FIX IT TOMORROW! I promise. But first, here's the long-awaited chapter 6. It's one of my least favorite chapters; I neglected it for so long in favor of writing other chapters. At least now the next update shouldn't take too long xD.

Oh, and one more thing.

Random Flyer, YOU BROUGHT IN THE 200TH REVIEW OF THIS STORY RIGHT BEFORE I POSTED IT! Kind of cool if you ask me (not to mention extremely coincidental…how freaky!). I don't have much to offer though…take some virtual complementary cheesecake?

Chapter 6: Aftermath

Neville was the first to recover, hesitatingly crawling out from underneath his desk, squinting his eyes to adjust to the dimly-illuminated room. Dean and Seamus, who had been sitting near him and were his hiding buddies when the box ghost came, followed suit, both of them looking extremely disturbed.

The classroom was almost devoid of light, the only remaining source being the afternoon sun's rays filtering through the windows. Whatever that thing was, it had caused all the candles and lanterns to blow out—which was strange considering they were enchanted to be lit. Neville chalked it up to the "Box Ghost" fellow messing with the magic, but he was still confused on what had happened to begin with. He had been the first to notice a floating box, but he couldn't remember what, exactly, had brought the ensuing chaos to an end.

Had his wand been on him, he would have cast a Lumos spell. It was currently missing, most likely due to the tornado that had swept through the room. He felt a little stupid for not being more careful and having a more secure grip on it. He would have to go searching for it later.

"D'ya reckon he's gone?" he asked quietly to Dean and Seamus behind him. Seamus still looked too petrified to answer, but Dean at least responded by giving a tiny shrug and shaking his head.

Ron's voice cut in from across them, his silhouetted figure suddenly appearing from behind a desk turned on its side, "He is now, thanks to Harry."

Sure enough, Harry stood from his hiding spot, coughing at the dust floating around the air. "Thank Merlin that worked," he muttered, eyes seeming glazed over as he stared at the spot the ghost had been, "It was a lucky guess."

"What'd you do to it?" Dean questioned.

Looking a little shocked that Dean was speaking to him, Harry stuttered, "I-uh-I just cast a Patronus spell. The thing kind of reminded me of a dementor, so I thought of it at the last second."

Dean nodded, deep in thought, while Neville wondered out loud, "What in the world was that?"

Coming out from behind Ron and Harry's desk, Hermione piped in dryly, "Well, considering it was proclaiming its name as the 'Box Ghost', I'd assume it's probably a ghost."

"Some 'ghost'," Ron scoffed. "'Mione, it was glowing. And it could actually touch us. That thing wasn't a ghost."

To the surprise of everyone around him, Seamus quietly commented, "Fenton talked about these beings. In class."

Silence descended on the group.

"Well, uh…" Neville spoke, in an attempt to change the topic, "Anyone know what happened to our classmates?"

"Oh my—" Hermione's hand covered her mouth, her face distorting into one of horror. "The classroom…it's worse than I thought."

At her gesture of accessing the damage, it suddenly dawned on everyone just how bad the destruction actually was. Desks were upturned, papers scattered in a messy array all throughout the room. All the ink bowls had crashed to the ground, ink spills and broken glass haphazardly strewn everywhere. Candles were knocked over, the chalkboard had scratches all over it—the whole place appeared as if a hurricane had waltzed by.

Amongst the disorder, there were several bodies of their classmates.

Seamus' face paled upon noticing the numerous motionless bodies spread throughout the room. Catching his horrified expression, Hermione immediately comforted, "Oh, don't worry, they're alive. They got knocked out by the ghost while trying to escape."

There was a collective sigh of relief, and for the first time in the past hour or so, the students actually felt a sliver of peace.

The tension dissipating slightly, Dean snickered, "Look at that! All the snakes are knocked out!" As if to test something out, he deliberately walked over to Malfoy's body, adjacent to that of Crabbe and Goyle's, and began nudging Draco's head cautiously with his foot. When nothing happened aside from Draco's head lolling helplessly to the side, a tad of drool hanging out of his mouth, a giant grin exploded on Dean's face.

"Blimey guys, get over here! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity!"

While the boys all gathered around to poke fun at their mutual enemy, Hermione sighed in exasperation, crossing her arms over her chest and shaking her head. Of all the things that brought unity in their house, did it have to be the blatant disrespect and hatred towards Slytherin?

"Honestly…" she muttered.

"Anyone got a quill? I want to give Malfoy a fancy mustache to go with his cloak."

"That's all you can think of? Oi, c'mon, that's lame."

"Someone should rip his clothes off so that he wakes up naked."

"Gross, mate. No one wants to see that."

"Poke him hard in the arse and see if he wakes up."

"Poke him in the head and see if there's an actual brain in there."

"Is it illegal to hide his body in a closet if it's alive?"

Each comment made Hermione feel more and more tired, and her patience was already wearing dangerously thin. Our classroom has been jeopardized, everyone is lying unconscious on the floor…and the plan of action they come up with is to prank Malfoy. Geniuses, us Gryffindors are, pure geniuses.

"Guys," she interrupted, annoyance lacing her tone, "Anyone concerned about how to explain this to the headmaster?"

Everyone seemed to deflate at that question, Dean even dropping the quill he was going to use to draw on Malfoy's face. Neville's cheeks blushed in shame, and Harry, Seamus, and Ron appeared extremely disappointed, looking sadly at Malfoy's unconscious body.

Of course, right on time, Danny, McGonagall, and Professor Snape spontaneously burst through the door, the latter two looking appalled at the scene. Danny, unsurprisingly, didn't look too shocked, but took everything in with an impressed raised eyebrow.

"What is the meaning of this?" Snape hissed, glancing specifically at his entire house on the floor. He cast a spell that the younger wizards couldn't catch, fixing and igniting the candles and lanterns to add more light to the room.

Hermione immediately defended her and the boys, exclaiming, "It wasn't our fault! We can explain!"

Coolly, Snape stated, "Oh, you'll be explaining all right. Explaining in detention why we shouldn't expel you."

Before anything further could be said, Danny jumped in, looking a little sheepish, "Actually, this is kind of…sort of…my fault."

A couple pairs of curious eyes stared at Danny. He shrugged, elaborating, "I knew there was a ghost in here earlier. Had I tried to stop him, this whole thing could have been prevented."

"Daniel, are you trying to tell us a ghost, of all creatures, caused this mess?" McGonagall demanded incredulously.

"It's true!" Neville cried, turning everyone's attention towards him, "It was blue and glowing and had these crazy red eyes—"

"Enough with this foolishness," Snape briskly concluded. Then, pointing at McGonagall, "You, get the headmaster. Daniel, see to it your mess is cleaned up. As for the students…"

He sneered at them, "One week's detention for not taking responsibility for alerting any of the faculty of what occurred."

Before any of them could bemoan their punishment, Danny interjected, "No, Severus, really, I'm to blame. Ghosts are pretty creepy. A lot of people go into shock after their first encounter of one; it's no surprise these students did as well."

"Then would anyone care to enlighten me on why they're the only ones conscious?" Snape shot back, eyes dark with vehemence.

Danny, somehow calm and collected in spite of the infamous Death Glare being sent his way, answered, "Simple. They probably were the only ones who didn't try to leave the room. Boxy's a little sensitive about that—takes it very personally and thinks people are ignoring him."

"You seem to know a lot about whatever came through here," McGonagall commented, a calculating look in her eye, "Have you encountered this being before?"

Danny's subsequent laughter made the six Gryffindors exchange glances. Waving his hand as if it were nothing, Danny chuckled, "It's just the Box Ghost, no big deal. I see him on a daily basis."

Neville's jaw dropped, and he looked ready to faint. He stumbled, "You…you…it...all the time? And still alive?"

"Oh please, if you think he's bad, you should see some real baddies, like Fright Knight." Danny shivered a bit, reminiscing about darker times. "Now that's a ghost you don't want to mess with."

McGonagall sighed before asking, "Can someone please explain how a ghost could cause this? And furthermore," she added, glaring strictly at the students, "What, specifically, occurred in this room."

"While I can totally explain the ghost aspect," Danny replied, first glancing at McGonagall, then directing a curious gaze to the students, "I'm still a little confused on how you guys got rid of him. If he's actually gone, that is."

"Patronus charm," Harry answered simply. "Not really sure where it landed him, but he hasn't been around since."

For an extremely brief moment, Danny shared an (almost) imperceptible meaningful glance with Snape.

"Well," Danny sighed sadly, "I guess that means I won't be using the bazooka."

At the weird looks from the surrounding wizards, with the exception of Snape, Danny admitted, "All right, not gonna lie, I was really looking forward to whooping some ghost butt."

Seeing that Minerva was about to argue, he explained, "This 'ghost' we keep talking about isn't your typical ghost. He's part of a species of ghosts that are not only fully tangible and non-translucent, but also extremely powerful and, well, generally speaking for the majority, bad."

"The classification of this creature matters not," Snape cut in suddenly and with authority, "Our first priority is taking these students to the infirmary at once."

"What about our wands?" Neville asked.

Snape's face started turning a light shade of red and Danny, to the benefit of the students, intervened.

"How about you guys stick around and look for your wands while I clean up? Minerva, you're okay with helping Severus bring the students to Madam Pomfrey right?"

Casting one last suspicious look at the room and trembling students, she uttered, "I suppose so…"

She and Snape thoroughly examined the room, levitating any bodies they came across. Once they deemed it clear, they walked briskly past Danny and the Gryffindors, a line of unconscious students floating horizontally behind them. Umbridge's body was the last to appear, and a certain American snorted at her appearance when she passed by.

Danny waited until they were out of earshot to say, "Damn. That was close."

Everyone turned to look at him, suddenly aware that he was still there. There was an easy-going, lazy smile on his face, and his eyes seemed to glint humorously at the room. After staring for a few moments, he locked gazes with the rest of them, something akin to regret in his expression.

"Sorry for almost getting you guys in trouble. I swear I didn't mean for anything to happen to you. Umbridge was just being so…ugh. Anyway, go look for your wands. I'll take the rest from here."

They all moved mechanically, sharing weird looks with one another before hesitantly breaking off in singles to look for their own wands. Neville found his wand first, though he felt extremely self-conscious. He couldn't tell if it was because of Danny's presence, or the fact that a professor just apologized to the students.

Regardless, he found his wand quickly and hasted out of the room, not even bothering to wait up for the others. For some reason, despite Danny's good intentions and relaxed nature, there was just something off about the professor, and it unsettled Neville to no end. Though he wouldn't say Danny felt evil, there was still something different. Something unique. Neville had never met a professor like him before, and couldn't tell what it was that made his stomach feel nauseous with unease.

Or, he reflected, maybe I'm just over-thinking things again, as usual. Towards the end of the thought he huffed in agitation, and his pace to the Gryffindor dorms increased. The guy was American and Americans were known for being crazy. Yeah, that was it. Culture shock. He came from a completely different country, evidently from a town where ghost appearances were normal. Danny was just eccentric, that's all.

And yet even with these rationalizations, Neville still felt troubled as he entered his room, put on his pajamas, and retired to bed.

"…could have killed the entire class all because of your insolence and stupidity. What in the world possessed you to leave those children alone and defenseless is beyond me. To think you consider yourself a hero—how absurd, you are the most unreliable, foolish—"

Later on, that evening had found Danny Fenton in the Potions classroom located in the dungeons, on the receiving end of one of Snape's reprimanding rants. He knew it was coming—most likely he deserved it—but it took all of his self-control not to sigh and huff in irritation.

He found it ironic how most people considered Snape quiet and reserved. Quite frankly, he thought it to be the exact opposite. Irritate the professor enough and he would blather on for hours. It reminded him so much of Lancer he wondered if they were, perhaps, related in another time line.

"Are you even listening to me?" Snape seethed, eyes glaring furiously at the American.

Blushing slightly, Danny mumbled in grudging respect, "Yes."

Silence reigned between the two of them for a few minutes, Snape continuously staring at Danny and Danny continuously staring at the ground. The halfa felt as if he were being childish, and a small part of him was ashamed at his behavior. He was a full-grown adult now, fresh out of college; he shouldn't have acted like that. He had made a promise to fulfill his mission and part of that mission included keeping the students safe and unharmed.

Yet he had left his charges defenseless against a creature they had no experience against—a creature that, for all anyone knew, was completely impenetrable to magic.

Eventually, Danny said with utmost sincerity, "I'm sorry, Severus. I took it too far."

Since his gaze rested on the floor, he didn't notice the odd expression that briefly crossed Snape's face.

"Right," the Potions master sighed, causing Danny to chance glancing at him.

It was a weird relationship between the two: despite all the misgivings most people in the castle had against Snape, Danny couldn't find it in himself to dislike him. Granted Snape's hair looked like a soggy mop and he had a glare that could probably unnerve even Pariah Dark, but he didn't actually do anything. Danny empathized with the man. He, too, knew the feeling of having everyone hate and judge you simply because you weren't the most popular or most sociable. He had been bullied all his life, and even today when he chanced upon seeing Dash, the prior-jock still gave him condescending looks.

And it was for that reason that Danny just had to treat Snape with respect and openness. Plus, Snape was his comrade. Aside from Dumbledore, Snape was the only one aware of the true reason for Danny being there, and they had already met multiple times before Danny had even come to the school. Snape was his partner, his confidante, and if they were to cooperate on the given assignment, then that would require them getting along without any grudges or problems.

Breaking the awkward silence that fell upon them, Danny asked, "Did you pick up what the scar kid mentioned about the spell thingy?"

Raising a sardonic eyebrow, Snape repeated slowly, "Scar…kid? Spell…thingy?"

Danny scowled. "You know what I mean."

"If you're referring to Potter's claim of ridding the ghost by using a Patronus charm, then yes, I heard."

"It's insane!" the American exclaimed, excitement evident in his tone. "I mean, to think, all this time we've been trying to figure out what kind of magic has an effect against ghosts. We need to tell Dumbles like ASAP!"

Snape stared at Danny.

It took Danny a second to realize that a proper British person like Snape didn't respond to such unrefined dialect. Danny mended, "Erm…That is…It is imperative that we alert the headmaster of this at once."

Pleased at the improved response, Snape nodded his head. "Out of curiosity, do you really believe Potter's story to be true?" he asked, staring inquisitively at Danny.

Danny pondered that for a moment, glancing curiously off into the distance. Truthfully, he wasn't very knowledgeable about magic. Given the nature of his class, Dumbledore didn't deem it necessary for him to know. Besides, Danny had ghost powers, which was plenty enough to protect himself and others.

"Um," he responded unintelligibly, "I think so. He seemed pretty honest to me, at any rate."

"It is not honesty I am referring to," Snape stated.

Thinking that statement over a couple of times, Danny finally interpreted the hidden meaning. Looking peculiarly at Snape, he declared, "You think that the ghost isn't gone."

"I think, seeing as ghosts can apparently block nearly every other sort of spell and attack, that it would take more than an amateur Patronus of a student to rid of one."

Danny countered, "Well in retrospect, ghosts are dark creatures, regardless of how 'good' they are. They may not be the same as those ghetto freaky spirits—"

"Dementors."

"Right—they may not be at a dementor's level, but they're similar. I mean, the killing curse doesn't have an effect on ghosts. They're already dead. So…something's gotta work on them...right?"

"I believe we agreed ghosts were impervious to magic."

"We speculated that ghosts might be impervious to magic," Danny corrected, "but obviously that's not the case."

Snape, again, stared at Danny, a kind of pensiveness in his eyes. A couple beads of sweat formed at the back of Danny's neck. He knew that look. That was the look right before his mom had another idea for a ghost invention; it was the look Sam had right before she suggested he go into the ghost portal all those years ago; this look was the same look when someone had an idea. A completely out-of-this-world, someone's-going-to-get-hurt, kind of idea. And Danny was always the someone-who-got-hurt.

He loathed witnessing those looks.

In the usual drawl that he had, Snape wondered out loud, "I wonder…if…your ghost form might be a testable subject."

At the conclusion of this chapter, I have good news and bad news.

Good news is that, while sitting bored at work with nothing to do and no available service (aka I used up all my data watching netflix), I typed up probably about 20 pages worth of this story on my iPhone, and also started planning how I want it to end and where I want to take the plot. In addition to this, because I literally spent every hour of every work day typing this up, a million plot bunnies hit me and now I have so much in store for this story and future chapters to come.

Bad news is made up of two parts. Part one is that summer is nearing its end, meaning that I'm going back to college in two weeks. I really need to focus on my grades this year, and have a lot of stuff on my plate. If I don't keep my grades up, I lose my scholarship and get kicked out of school. Similarly, I have a lot of responsibilities with my sorority and extracurricular activities and my job. It'll be rough, so I'll probably be really busy.

Part two of bad news is that my first priority right now (in regards to fanfiction) is to finish editing and publishing a different DP short story that I've been working on for the past few years. It's actually what got me back into writing again, so I'm emotionally attached and want it done. That's not to say I won't be dedicating any time to Unfamiliar Territory, just that updates might not be as quick. Luckily I wrote some of the future chapters out already so I won't be terribly slow :P

This will be complete though, one day. I swear it. I enjoy writing for it way too much to give up now. Thanks again for all/any support and hopefully I can post some new chapters soon!