Disclaimer: I own neither Danny Phantom nor Harry Potter
A bit shorter then usual and it took a bit longer, but hey, I had to move back on campus yesterday so I'm not going to apologize for the delay.
Danny Phantom rested invisibly within the threshold of the protective magics around Number Four Privet Drive. He couldn't actually sense the magic, but Dumbledore had given him the details about its function and coverage, and so he made sure to float within the radius of protection.
The halfa yawned. He was beyond tired. It had almost been a couple weeks of nothing but constant guard duty. And today was supposed to be his day off.
He also felt nervous about his current power distribution. Most of his energy was in the duplicate at the Dursley's house, leaving only enough to manifest an independent duplicate back at Grimmauld place. A scrape or a bruise wouldn't dispel the duplicate, but a fall down the stairs would. And then there was the fact that Danny back at the Order HQ was the one doing the studying, so in order to get the full benefit from that, he had to be the 'original' full time so to speak. Memories received from a duplicate weren't the clearest or most detailed of things.
And then there was the fact that keeping one's power divided was tiring. It took more effort to do even the simplest of things. The Danny spending all his time in human form was developing constant bags under his eyes when Phantom was on guard duty. And the Danny in his ghost form could only operate at about a quarter of his full capacity. It was a good thing that he hadn't gotten in a full scale fight with the Dementors, otherwise he'd have had to establish a connection between the duplicates and dispel one the one not in combat.
Danny sleepily thought to himself, that he'd have to find a way to adjust energy distribution between duplicates without resorting to dispelling and recreating them. The half ghost boy repeated that in his head several times so that the 'original' would remember it.
When was the relief going to arrive? He had told them that he really needed a day off and he hadn't been kidding. Even with the boast of power he got from being in his ghost form he was close to falling asleep.
Maybe he should just go tell Harry to stay in the house until they came to pick him up and then go tell Mrs. Figgs that he had to leave? Nah, he'd stick this through to the end.
Headlights. The older Dursley's were returning. Hopefully Dudley would stick to his word.
Danny shifted position and let out some sleep noises.
Four days. That's how many had passed for Harry Potter.
Right after the encounter with Phantom, the wizard child had written three letters to his friends and godfather, asking for some explanations. He had sent Hedwig out with instructions to wait until they had written replies before returning. Harry had expected her to return the next day. But she had failed to do so and so here he was, lying in his room, staring at the ceiling.
Dudley had evidently told his parents some bullshit about Harry receiving an owl, while Dudley was making sure he didn't cause any trouble with his 'freakishness'. Harry's cousin had surprised him, the lie contained nothing that would get him in trouble with his aunt and uncle. Maybe Dudley was being serious about grateful to him.
It had been nice to not be at each other's throats. It probably wouldn't happen again unless Harry included some self-depreciating dark humor at the beginning of the conversation to break the ice. But even mortal enemies occasionally shared a laugh.
Harry could see Voldemort giving off one of his wild cackles at something Harry said in jest, though the Dark Lord would probably be laughing at something other then the intent of Harry's joke. Or maybe he would laugh honestly and then return to trying to kill Harry. The evil wizard seemed to have mood swings, sometimes talking to Harry as if he were a worthy foe, someone to tempt over to his side, as in Harry's first year, and other times treating the boy-who-lived as less then the dirt beneath his feet.
Harry returned to thinking about what he knew. So the Order had recruited Danny Phantom, the hero spirit of Amity Park. That was certainly big news. And Voldemort's agenda was showing signs of, if not global, then at least international ambitions. That wasn't comforting.
Harry frowned. A thought had occurred to him. Had Voldemort managed to recruit or bind some of the dangerous Amity Park spirits? Harry remembered from his DADA lessons that binding a sentient spirit, what a large majority of the specters that plagued Amity Park were, was incredibly difficult. Not only could they effectively use their power to break the structure of the spell, they could also find loopholes in their instructions and exploit them. That's why dangerous ones were usually killed or sealed.
Recruited then. Voldemort could have something to offer them. And they would fit right in with his army of Dark creatures and magical constructs.
There was that new born spirit, Technus, Harry recalled from his modern history assignments. If he joined the Dark Lord, Voldemort could intergrate him with his army of war golems, one of his many creations that had helped the Dark Lord deal with the fact that he was outnumbered by both the Ministry and the Order of the Phoenix. With the technology spirit's help they would be more powerful than ever.
Or Skulker a hunter spirit. Voldemort could bind a number of non-sentient hunting spirits to his cause and give command of them to Skulker. Voldemort would have a lesser version of the Wild Hunt of old under his command.
Harry really wanted those letters soon. He really hated being kept in the dark, even if he knew why.
Come to think of it, why weren't they telling him about Phantom now? He already knew that they had recruited him, why not give him a little bit extra exposition about the whole thing. The cat was out of the bag, a Death Eater rummaging through his head would easily grab the big secret about Phantom.
He heard the car start outside. The Dursleys were leaving for some sort of event. Harry hadn't been paying attention to what it was. They hadn't bothered to tell him not to touch anything, Harry had been sticking to his room except for meals for the last couple days.
Harry sighed and returned to looking at the ceiling. His mind wandered once more. Harry lost track of time as his thoughts fluttered from subject to subject.
And then he heard a crash downstairs.
Burglars! The boy thought to himself. He grabbed his wand, laying on the nightstand next to his bed, and dashed out of his room.
Wait, Phantom should be guarding the house. He would stop any burglars. It must be the people Dumbledore sent!
Harry raced down the stairs eager to leave his relative's house. He found eight or nine people standing in the shadowy hallway, one of them clutching their foot and cursing under their breath.
"Where's your wand boy?" A voice that Harry recognized chided him. "You're confronting unknown intruders, show a bit of sense."
"Professor Moody?"
"Don't know about Professor, I didn't get around to much teaching now did I? If I had you wouldn't have been done here without a wand out."
"Sorry," Harry apologized. "But I figured Phantom would stop-"
"Phantom hasn't been here for three days," Moody said. "He had to withdraw and we've had a rotating guard on duty instead. We've withdrawn our forces in preparation for this extraction."
"Why'd he have to withdraw?" Harry asked.
"I don't know. It's his secret." Moody replied.
"That's beside the point for now," another familiar voice spoke up.
"Professor Lupin?"
"Yes," Harry's favorite DADA teacher replied. "We're here to take you away."
"Why are we all standing in the dark?" An unfamiliar female voice spoke up. "Lumos!"
Wandlight shone all over the hall, revealing the figures to Harry. The witch who was illuminating hallway had spiky violet hair, a heart shaped face, and dark twinkling eyes. She had also been the one clutching their foot.
"You look just like I thought you would. Wotcher, Harry!"
"Were you the one cursing earlier?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, sorry, I'm a bit of a klutz. Tonks by the way." The woman replied.
"Don't go around giving out your names before we confirm his identity," Moody growled. "It would be a fine thing to bring back a Death Eater impersonating Potter."
"Harry, what form does your patronus take?" Lupin asked the boy.
"A stag," Harry replied automatically.
"It's him Mad-Eye," Lupin replied.
"Fine. Go get your wand boy, can't have you going around defenseless," Moody said irritably. "Nymphadora-"
"Don't call me that," replied the violet haired woman with a shudder. Moody rolled his normal eye, his other eye scanning the premise.
"Fine, Tonks, you go help Harry get his things. Shacklebolt-" Moody turned to a tall black wizard. "You go outside and wait for Phantom to get here."
"I'll come and help you," Harry said to the witch named Tonks.
Tonks commented on the state of the Dursley's house on the way up the stairs and the two made small talk as they gathered his things. Harry had a bit of a start when she casually decided to change her hair color in the middle of the conversation.
"I'm a Metamorphmagus," Tonks told the Boy-Who-Live, who looked puzzled. "It means I can change my appearance at will."
It was right after that Harry learned that she and Kingsley were both Aurors, the men and women who hunted dark wizards, the profession Harry wanted to pursue after Hogwarts.
Tonks used magic to speed up the packing process and soon the two of them were headed back downstairs. Moody had taken his eyeball out of his socket and had put it in a glass of water. He caught Harry's inquiring glance.
"Thing's been sticking ever since the scum wore it," Mad-Eye told Harry.
"Alright, I've left the letter explaining that we're taking you somewhere safe," Lupin told Harry.
"I think they'd prefer somewhere dangerous," Harry replied.
"So they won't worry-"
"There was never a chance of that."
"And that you'll be be back next summer-"
"For once I'm feeling the same as them about that."
Lupin grinned and ruffled Harry's hair.
"Phantom show up yet?" Moody shouted to the doorway. He had put his eye back in its socket and it was spinning so fast that Harry felt uncomfortable looking at it.
"Not yet, he's still got a minute. Why don't you get Harry ready?" Came Kingsley's reply.
"Come here boy," Moody told the wizard child. "We need to prepare for the trip."
"Prepare how?" Harry asked.
"Disillusion you for one, put a couple of protective spells on for another," Moody said.
"Couldn't I just use my Invisibility Cloak?"
"Wouldn't stay off. Tonks get out his broom and check it over. You can't apparate and the floo network might be watched, we can't take all your stuff along with Side-along Apparition, and its too risky to make a portkey right now, so we're taking you by broom." Moody raised his wand. "Lupin, get the ritual ready while I do this."
Lupin nodded and bustled off, pulling long candlesticks out of an entirely too small bag. Moody rapped Harry on the head, hard, and the boy-who-was-attacked-by-dementors felt a curious sensation, like Moody had smashed an egg on his head. Chilling rivulets of nothing ran down his head from the point of impact.
"Nice," Tonks commented staring at Harry. Harry looked down and found that he had miraculously gained the powers of a chameleon, he was taking on the color and texture of his surroundings. "Need any help on your end Lupin?"
"No," replied the werewolf, using his wand to paint an octagram on the floor, a candle at each point. "Everyone just take your places, Harry in the center please."
"Don't screw this up anyone," Moody growled. "Unicorn hair candles aren't easy to come by, even if we have Hagrid make them all."
Harry stood in the center of the symbol and all the wizards in the house, that is everyone who came to get him except Kingsley, stepped up to a candle and took out their wands.
"Everyone remember the incantation?" Remus asked the assembled mages. They all nodded in reply. "Then, on the count of three... One, two, three!"
Everyone used their wand to light their candle at the same time and then pointed their wands at Harry. The hairs on the back of the boy's neck tingled as he sensed the magic gathering.
"By the cries of the innocent," the wizards and witches said in unison, their voices becoming more ethereal and otherworldy the more they talked, "and the laughter of the wicked, we beseeach you pure light of the unicorn, protect this child from ill!"
Silver light flared up from the lit candles, a miniature moonrise within the Number Four Privet Drive, making Harry recall the light of the night reflected off the unicorn blood he had seen during his first year. With eight flicks of eight wands in perfect synchrony the eight globes of light rose up from the candles, each of which immediately turned to ash. Eight wands thrust forward towards Harry and the globes of light gathered around the boy, and then sped into the center of his body. For a moment silver light infused the boy, visible even through Moody's Disillusionment, and then it faded.
"There we go," Moody said satisfied. "A nice Eight Point Shield of the Unicorn. Should be enough to stop any curse that the Death Eaters feel like they can use without risking detection."
"Hagrid did an excellent job with those candles," Lupin said, as he used his wand to whisk the ashes into the bag and make the painted octagram vanish. "I don't think we could have used the shortened form of the ritual with candles of any lesser quality. You feeling alright Harry?"
"Yeah," Harry replied, remembering not to simply nod. He felt better then ever in fact. There was a comforting presence all around him, wrapping him in both warmth and the scents of the forest.
"Tonks, is his broom ready?" Moody inquired.
"Checked it over, no sign of sabotage," the Metamorphmagus replied.
Harry heard the front door open and everyone turned to look. Kingsley walked in, followed by the floating phantom Danny Phantom.
Phantom looked better then the last time Harry had seen him, not that he had looked unhealthy last time. But Harry had never seen the spirit before and had nothing to compare him against the night the dementors attacked. Phantom's glow was much brighter this night and his color were more... alive for a lack of a better term. His green eyes were sharper as they met Harry's own jade colored eyes.
"Sorry if I'm late," the specter apologized. "I took a wrong turn somewhere."
"No, you're just barely on time," Moody replied gruffly. "Alright here's the plan. Phantom you stick close to Potter, I want you ready to shield him at a moment's notice. Tonk's will be in front of you, stick on her tail. Lupin will be below you and I'll cover you from behind. Everyone else will circle you. If we run into anything really big, it's Phantom's job to hold them off. The rest of us don't break ranks for anything. If one of us is killed-"
"Is that likely?" Harry asked.
"-the others keep flying don't stop. If we all die and you survive Harry, keep flying east, the rear guard will join you."
"Stop being so optimistic Mad-Eye," Tonks said, strapping Harry's trunk and Hedwig's cage to a harness on her broom, "we don't want him to think it will be all bunnies and rainbows."
"I'm just telling the boy our plan," Alastor growled. "Our job is to get him safely to headquarters and if we die-"
"Don't worry about that," Phantom interjected. "I'll make sure that doesn't happen."
"Everyone outside," Kingsley told the group. The wizards shuffled out of the hallway and into under the night sky.
"Clear night," Moody said, using his magical eye to scan the sky. "Could've used a bit more cloud cover. We need to wait for the signal-"
Red light flared among the stars. Harry recognized it as wand sparks.
"Mount your brooms and take off!" Moody barked.
Harry swung his leg over his Firebolt and then kicked off. His broom responded and he fell back into his element, flying once more. Chill night air ruffled his hair and clothes as he sped upwards, the lawn below shrinking and becoming a tiny patch of gray in the night. He felt so indescribably happy to be back in the air, to be part of the vast starry sky, he could just go up forever and ever...
"Hard left, hard left!" Moody shouted. "There's a muggle looking up. Get higher everyone."
Harry complied, catching sight of Tonks and falling in line behind her, keeping perfect pace with the witch as the group ascended.
"Nice formation flying," a voice spoke out from Harry's right side. He turned his head and found Phantom flying beside him, arms outstretched in a superman pose, and his legs had turned into a ghostly tail. "I heard you played that broom sport for your school team?"
"House team," Harry replied. "There aren't any other schools in England to play against."
"Close enough," the spirit said. "So-"
"Bearing South," Mad Eyed Moody shouted above the whoosh of the wind, "town ahead."
Phantom and Harry turned on a dime and slowed down a bit to allow Tonks to get in front of them again.
The spirit cleared his throat and continued speaking.
"So what is the sport exactly. Nobody's ever had the time to explain it properly to me."
"Quidditch?" Harry responded. "Well, at first glance it seems like basketball or football on broomsticks..."
The conversation with Phantom helped Harry to ignore the chill of the night as they traveled. Phantom seemed puzzled by much of Quidditch, especially the logic behind several of the rules, mainly the bludgers and the snitch. Harry tried explaining the history of the game to the spirit, but it didn't help much.
Harry had asked the halfa about what Dumbledore had him doing and for how long. According to Phantom, he had joined Dumbledore's side several weeks ago and his primary task had been watching Harry.
The positions of the others never changed, Tonks right in front of the boy and the halfa, Lupin below, and Moody off behind them. The rest of the wizards circled around like vultures, the fluttering of their robes adding to the effect.
Moody had them change course several times in order to avoid towns and muggles, and to throw off any pursuers. Moody occasionally tried to get them to fly through clouds, only to be vetoed by Tonks and the others. Once a bird that nobody had noticed startled Phantom, who had thrown up a translucent green sphere around him and Harry. Moody had complimented the spirit on his resources but asked him to be less conspicuous next time.
"We ought to double back for a bit," Mood shouted to everyone. "Just to make sure we're not being folowed-"
"Are you off your bloody rocker Mad-Eye!" Tonks shouted at the retired Auror. "We're all nearly frozen to our brooms and it'll take us a week to get there if we keep going off course. Besides, we're almost there now."
"It's time to start the descent," Lupin called out. "Phantom, Moody, we need to make sure that the area below's clear."
Phantom nodded and then dove down, turning intangible to avoid air resistance. Moody's eye swept to and fro, scanning below for any threats.
"It's clear. Everyone down." Moody began to descend and the rest of the group followed suit. Phantom raced up to rejoin Harry and cover him on the way down, greens eyes glowing brightly in the night as looked around alertly.
"We're here now," Tonks announced as she touched down. Harry landed right after her. He looked around as he absentmindedly dismounted his broom and stretched. The neighborhood didn't look very inviting, from the broken windows, to the bits of rubbish scattered about.
"Where are we?" The boy asked Lupin, who had also landed.
"Right by headquarters," Phantom replied before the werewolf could say a word. "Who's got the paper thingy with Dumbledore's message?"
Moody and Lupin gave the spirit a mild glare as the former fumbled through his robes for something, his gnarled hands made clumsy by the cold. He took out a piece of parchment and handed it to Harry.
Harry looked down as Moody pulled out what looked like a silver lighter and began to use it to shut off the streetlamps.
"How many of those things did the old guy make," Phantom wondered aloud.
"There's nothing special about it, other then the fact that Dumbledore wrote it himself," Lupin told the specter. "I thought we explained this to you."
"Oh, yeah," Phantom sounded abashed. "I must've forgotten."
Harry ignored them and read the message.
The of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve Grimmuald Place, London.
"What's the Order of the-" Harry began, but Moody cut him off.
"Not here boy," the old auror hissed. "Wait till we're inside."
"It's just we we call ourselves," Phantom said. Moody turned to glare at the spirit who shrugged. "As long as he doesn't say the name it's not going to change anything."
"Think about what you've just read," Lupin told Harry. The boy's brow furrowed as he concentrated. Then sudden movement caught his eye.
A house sprang into existence between places eleven and thirteen, inflating itself and pushing the other houses to the side. It was a surreal sight, seeing a battered door appear out of nowhere as a muggle stereo pumped out music from number eleven.
"Is that-"
"Come on, hurry boy," Moody said, giving Harry a little push. Harry hurried up the worn stone steps, staring at the door that had materialized. He got a bad feeling from the silver twisted serpent knocker on the front. Nothing ever good came from a place that associated itself with snakes. Which Harry found to be quite unfortunate, he quit like snakes. They asked for little more out of life then a nice spot in the sun and a couple of mice maybe, and if you left them alone, they left you alone. Why they were associated with ambition and evil always did puzzle him. It's not like snakes wanted to conquer the world or anything.
Harry pushed those thoughts out of his head as Lupin tapped the door with his wand. The sound of many clicks could be heard, as well as the jingle of chains, and the sound of bolts being unlatched.
"Hurry in but don't go far," the werewolf whispered to the wizard child. Harry nodded and then entered Grimmuald Place.
Author's Notes: More changes to the Harry Potter cannon and their magic system, but I've always felt that you should have to change those things in a successful crossover. Please review.