Disclaimer: I do not own either Danny Phantom or Harry Potter.
The English countryside passed below him, the green fields and gentle hills of the island nation turning into a green blur as the spirit boy sped alongside the railway. It had taken Danny Phantom forever to find the route that the Hogwarts express took to and from Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Finding the rail route had been particularly bad on that day; he eventually gave up and had to go to the platform itself.
He was flying as fast as he felt was reasonable. The spirit boy wasn't about to tire himself out by blazing to the meeting at top speed. Considering his problems with power lately, he needed to start practicing economical use of energy.
He could see the tallest towers off in the distance, rising out of a see of leafy green that was the Forbidden Forest. Danny checked his watch. It was twelve-fifty. He had a bit of time. He cut his speed and turned his ghostly tail back into a pair of legs.
It was a typical English day, that is to say grey and dreary. Had Danny been in human form he would have been sweating from the summer heat. As it was the temperature caused him no discomfort. Even if it had been hot enough to bother him, the ghost boy could have always simply used his cryokinesis to cool the air around him.
He pulled up, gaining altitude and adjusting his bearing so that he was headed directly towards the castle. Blue cold mist left his mouth as his core ramped up energy and ectoplasm production, impure ectoplasm unique to him, as it 'tasted' the power of the spirits bound within Hogwart's walls.
A tingle passed all over his skin as he passed through the wards, as if he had narrowly missed being struck by lightning or a speeding train. The wards were immensely powerful. If they hadn't let him pass...
Well, this layer would simply stop him from getting any closer to the castle. Other layers would reduce him to a smear of ectoplasm as easily as a semi would squash a fly on its windshield.
Well it was a good thing that Dumbledore had made it so the wards would let him past. Danny wondered how they would've reacted to his human form trying to get into the school if the headmaster hadn't done that. He would have to experiment with that concept at some point.
The halfa passed over the forest and then over Hagrid's hut. He dipped low and landed on the grounds in front of the main gates. Danny calmly waited.
A moment later a shade sped out of the castle. The grey, translucent figure was dressed in fine robes covered in ghostly blood.
"A fine day to you good spirit," spoke the Bloody Baron in his deep spectral tones.
"Uh, back at you!" Danny replied.
"Dumbledore is waiting for you. Follow, I will show you the way." The dead nobleman turned around and floated back towards the castle proper. Danny followed.
"I take it your trip was a pleasant one?" Inquired the shade as he went through the main door.
"Not really," Danny replied, turning intangible to pass through the gates. "It was a pain to find the railway this time. I had to go to London and navigate from there."
"I, see" said the baron, exchanging a nod with Nearly-Headless Nick. "I hope you find it easier on subsequent trips."
"Me too. So...ahhh... how's the renovations coming along to the Slytherin seventh year's rooms?" Danny asked.
"It is proceeding nicely," the Bloody Baron answered in a haunting voice. "The house-elves are confident that they will have everything done at least a week before the start of term."
"That's good," Danny responded, searching for more topics to make small talk about as they ghosted upwards through several floors. "Has there been any trouble at the castle?"
"Only the usual politics, squabbles, and mischief " replied the voice that sounded like it hung around graveyards and narrated the sins of those buried within. "Some of the centaurs seem to be getting edgy, but it is only to be expected in troubled times such as these."
"Good to hear," said Danny. The two ghosts arrived at the gargoyle that marked the entrance to Headmaster's office.
"Jaffa cakes," the bloodstained baron told the silent statue. The gargoyle stepped aside.
"I trust you've been inside before?" The baron inquired.
"Yeah, I know the drill," Danny answered. "Thanks."
"You are welcome spirit-child," the baron responded with a nod of his head.
"Hey! I'm not a kid!"
The baron gave him a very even look.
"If what I have heard is correct, you are no more than a few years of age," the shade said. "And your form is like that of the students that we shelter in these halls every year."
"Fine," muttered the halfa, looking away. "Bye."
"Farewell, spirit-child." The Bloody Baron left with what might have been a small smile on his face.
Danny flew up the spiral steps. The staircase turned below him. In no time at all he reached the office door and knocked.
Plans, plots, ideas, schemes, and so much more whirred through the mind of Albus Dumbledore. His brilliant mind dissected each item, mercilessly probing for weaknesses, for flaws, for imperfections. But never did he reject the methods. Empires would fall, regimes would change, and the world itself would burn.
People became no more than pawns, to be ruthlessly used and discarded. He would use his great knowledge of the human mind and his ability to read people to manipulate them. They would be his puppets, dancing to his bidding as he worked to his greater goal.
At the center of his web of conspiracy was the Fentons. Yes they were key. It was only because of them that his goal could be accomplished.
Yes, Albus Dumbledore would be getting a pair of thick woolen socks for Christmas. And the Fentons would be the ones to give them to him.
He was shaken out of his reverie by a knocking at his door.
"Yes, come in," he told his visitor, most likely Phantom. His guess was proved correct when there was a brief sparking and a yelp of pain when the specter attempted to intangibly pass through the door. "You forgot about the wards again I see."
The door creaked opened and the glowing boy floated in.
"Lemon drop?"
"No thanks," the halfa said, floating over to the front of the headmaster's desk and reclining in the air above the chair provided for guest. Dumbledore twitched his finger and the chair floated up, forcing the ghost boy to sit up straight in midair.
"Eh! Oh." Danny sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "So, anyway, what did you need me for?"
"As you may have guessed, this is about Harry Potter's new living arrangements," Dumbledore said. "I would like you to stay at Grimmauld Place as often as you can."
"Sure, but can I ask why? Is it just to have a bit of extra security there?"
Dumbledore said nothing for a moment. He simply regarded the being before him over his half moon spectacles.
The elderly headmaster was not one to trust easily. No, that wasn't exactly true. He trusted in the best of people all the time, even those who gave him every reason not to. But he was much more reluctant to trust them with other things. Some of that behavior was normal for old and powerful wizards; they carried secrets of great power because they were some of the few who could be counted on to know the appropriate time to use them. And the best wizards knew better than to match power against power; they knew to match wisdom against strength instead.
Dumbledore normally would never trust someone else with his motivations, let alone a being he had known for such a short time as Phantom. However, Phantom wasn't human. He was a spirit, a being similar but different from a human. From what Dumbledore had figured out about his nature thus far the spirit was definitely on the side of the Light. And he was also rather secretive as well.
And, a little voice inside his head said, it would increase the spirit's loyalty towards himself and the Order.
The headmaster squashed that inner voice.
There was something else as well, something from a part so deep within him that it could never be an inner voice, urging him to tell Danny Phantom as well. It was the part of the old man that wanted to confide in someone. Albus regularly talked to Snape; the Potion Master was the one who he told the most. But telling secrets to a broken man like Severus Snape wasn't exactly confiding.
Albus Dumbledore was old and becoming more and more weary. It was only a little bit of information and telling the boy would make him feel so much better.
The old man sighed.
"That is part of it," the silver bearded wizard told the being composed of ectoplasm. "But I'm more concerned about Harry's mental health than his physical well-being at the moment."
"Huh?"
"You see," Albus began, "I fear the boy is very unstable at the moment. He had seen someone who could be called a friend killed right in front of his eyes at the end of the last term, had to witness the rebirth of Lord Voldemort, and will undoubtedly have to deal with a disbelieving student populace and Ministry persecution. He will have received little healing from his relatives-"
"About that," Danny interjected. Dumbledore cut him off.
"If you are going to ask why I left him at the Dursleys instead of moving him to the Burrow or Grimuald place this summer-"
"Actually, why did you leave him there at all? I know the protective magicks are pretty strong, but keeping him with people who hate him-"
"It was not intended to be permanent," Albus answered. "Or at least permanent and full time. Harry's godfather, Sirius Black, was supposed to have taken care of the boy for extended periods of time. Harry's relations would have only had to take care of Harry full-time as an infant. But then there was the whole fiasco with Peter and Harry had already been placed in Privet Drive. It seemed prudent to simply leave him there. I admit my own paranoia played a part in the decision to leave him there; a trusted companion had betrayed us, even if it was not the companion I thought it was, and I did not know if there was anyone to whom I could entrust Harry."
"Oh," Danny was sitting attentively now, hands folded in his lap. The fact that the floating chair he was sitting in was slightly off kilter ruined the image of an attentive student.
"But, as I was saying earlier, I am worried about Harry's mental health," Dumbledore continued. "I feel he could use a new friendly face around. And someone he knows he can count on for protection, even if only on an unconscious level."
"So you want me to reassure him that he's safe?" Danny asked, looking mildly confused.
"No, I don't want you to say anything of the sort," Dumbledore answered. "He is rapidly becoming more independent and any overt effort to protect him will likely provoke him. It will be bad enough that I will have to avoid him for the time being-"
"Why?"
Dumbledore sighed and stood up. He clasped his hands behind his back and looked out of one of the office windows to survey the castle grounds.
"That is one thing I cannot tell you, though if some of my fears come to pass you may find out anyway." The old man's eyes peered beyond the sight before him, his mind going to places far away. "I'm afraid I must ask you for more information on one of your powers. I will swear any oath you feel is necessary-"
"Don't worry about it," Danny told the wizard. "Which power?"
Dumbledore had enough self control not to gape at the response. Even so he still took a moment to compose himself before turning back around.
"You offer up such information freely? Information that could be used to bind or seal you?"
"I'm working with two, and don't tell them I said this, of the best ghost hunters in the world, who've been after me for years," Phantom said to Dumbledore. "If I'm going to trust them with everything they'll learn from working with me, why not you as well?"
"I see," Albus smiled a small smile. "In that case, the power I require more information on is your overshadowing ability. I need to know how well you can access someone's mind with that ability."
"About the most I can do is invade someone's dreams," Danny told the headmaster. "I don't know why that works-"
"And that's all I needed to know," replied the old man. "If, for some reason, you happen to observe Harry dreaming, I would like you to enter that dream, and if possible stop it."
"Why? Don't want him having bad dreams?"
"No," the headmaster said, sitting back down. "It is the... possible origin of the dreams that worries me."
"Some sort of magic dream?"
"Something like that," Albus responded. "Now-"
There was a loud and urgent knocking on his office door. The headmaster frowned. He was scheduled to meet with no one else today. The most likely reason for an interruption was some sort of emergency.
"Yes, come on in," the silver haired old man wandlessly unlocked the door for the newcomer. It was Snape, sweating and out of breath, as if he had run all the way from the Great Hall. Which he may have done.
"Headmaster-" the greasy Potion master said between breaths. "Urgent news."
"Take a moment to catch your breath," the elderly headmaster told his employee. "Is it too confidential for Phantom to hear. Yes or no."
Snape shook his head while slowing his breathing.
"No, it's the Dark Lord's gifts to the giants. I managed to find out the locations earlier and asked another member of the Order to set up some covert detection spells. They've been tripped!" Snape said hurriedly still catching his breath. "No doubt they've noticed the spells by now, but if we hurry we can strike them without revealing our source of information!"
"Good news for once!" Dumbledore said brightly. "How many locations?"
"Three," answered the spy.
"Do you know how well guarded they are?" The headmaster was already planning the operation.
"There's nobody important at two of the spots, just some groups of talent-less wizards and witches that couldn't become Death Eaters. At the other spot there's more of them, along with a couple of golems and some constructs."
"Expecto Patronum!" Albus Dumbledore's wand shone brightly as he spoke the incantation. A number of silver phoenixes burst into silvery being. They all sped out of the room, looking like silver comets.
"They should fetch all the members of the Order who can come," Albus informed the room. "Phantom, do you think you could handle the third storage area? Lupin and possibly Sirius will back you up."
Danny took a deep breath and quickly gauged how much energy he had left. He decided he didn't want to risk it with the energy he had at the moment.
"Tell them to meet me at headquarters," Danny replied.
"Why not here?" Snape asked the spirit.
"I want to see if the Fenton's will let me borrow a couple of things," the ghost told the dark haired spellcaster.
"Very well," Dumbledore said. "Just take care not to tarry too long. We will need to move fast to take advantage of this opportunity."
Danny Phantom nodded. He turned intangible and attempted to go through the floor. Blue sparks jumped and the incorporeal boy shouted in pain.
"Right," the halfa said sheepishly, avoiding Dumbledore's amused look and Snape's exasperated one. "I forgot about the wards again."
Harry looked at the twisted family tree. He read the names of the dark families, the burn marks from Mrs. Black disowning members, and the links that connected most of the pure-blood families.
He wondered if the reason Voldemort had so much support was not his ideology, but rather a result of family sticking together. How many of his supporters joined because they felt he was the best hope for wizarding Britain and how many joined to watch over their younger cousin?
It didn't really matter in the end. They all were the enemy that had to be fought.
But it was something to think about.
"Are the Potters on here?" Harry asked his godfather standing next to him.
"No," Sirius told his godson. "Considering they took me in my dear old mother would have gotten rid of them right away."
"Oh," Harry felt a be dejected at that. He wouldn't have minded finding out more about his relatives. "Well, I suppose the family name isn't blackened this way."
"You had to reach too far for that one," Sirius told Harry. "And what's with all the jokes lately?"
"I discovered that laughter is the best way to deal my arch-nemesis."
"Laughter is the best way to deal with Voldemort?"
"I said arch-nemesis," Harry replied with a glare. "My arch-nemesis is the universe. Voldemort's just a lackey."
Sirius snorted.
"I guess that's one way of looking at it," the last Black responded. "Hmmm... even stuck in here I could do a lot more to fight the universe than I can currently do to hurt Voldemort."
"Lunch," Mrs. Weasley's voice sounded behind the two. They turned to see the red haired matriarch carrying a tray of sandwiches and cake. Two more trays hovered behind her, most likely as part of her continuing competition with Tucker's appetite. Harry licked his lips. He did feel rather hungry...
And then a silver phoenix patronus streaked into the room, startling the red haired woman, and sending sandwiches flying.
"Nooooo!" Harry whipped out his wand. "Wingardium Leviosa!"
All the flying food was caught in his Levitation Charm. As was Mrs. Weasley.
"Good catch Harry," she praised him, while waving her arms about to stop from turning upside down in midair. "But do you think you could let me down now?"
While Harry complied the phoenix spoke to Sirius.
"We have discovered the locations where Voldemort is keeping his gifts to the giants," the magical messenger told the canine animagus. "Lupin and Phantom will be assaulting the most heavily guarded one. If you wish to accompany them they will be meeting here before they leave."
"Yeesss!" Sirius cheered. "I get to leave the house and kick some arse! It's Christmas come early!"
"Do you think they'll let me come?" Harry asked, as he helped Mrs. Weasley put the sandwiches back on the trays.
"Absolutely not!" Molly snapped. "You are nowhere-"
"Yeah, yeah, I guess it was a foolish hope," Harry sighed. "Still..."
"Don't worry," Sirius reassured his godson. "If I see any Malfoys out there, I'll kick their arse for you."
"Awww," Harry replied. "You always give the best gifts."
"-And how do you even know about those!" Harry, Sirius, Sam, Tucker, Fred, George, Ron, Hermione, and Molly all turned their heads to look out into the hallway where they could hear Maddie Fenton shouting.
"Your ecto-shields never covered the top left corner of the lab," this time it was Phantom's voice, sounding somewhere between amused and panicked. "Hey, not in the house!"
There was the whine of an energy weapon charging and then the sizzling sound of the bolt being unleashed.
"Drop that shield and take the hits like a ghost!"
"Never crazy woman!" Phantom sped into the room that everyone had been cleaning. Maddie was right behind him, brandishing some sort of shiny metallic gun.
"Maddie, what all this about!" Mrs. Weasley shouted at her fellow red head. "And why are you firing those things outside the lab!"
"Just disciplining a naughty piece of ectoplasmic waste," Maddie said casually. Purple light was spilling out of the barrel of the gun. Harry, Tucker, Sam, Ron, and Hermione all backed away.
"Can you please put that down," Harry asked. "I like my current look; only one scar. Another would be just tacky."
"Oh, this?" Maddie waved the gun. "Don't worry about it. I'll only be using it on this thing here." She pointed the gun at Phantom.
"Do you mind? I only wanted to see if you've made any modifications to the Ghost Gauntlets that deal with magic." Phantom raised a small green shield in front of him.
"And why do you need that?" Maddie demanded of the spirit.
"I just got a mission," the ghost boy informed her.
"And I'm coming with," Sirius chimed in. "So do you have anything for us?"
"My name isn't Q," Maddie shot back. "No, I don't have anything that you can't already do yourself. And as for you!" She pointed the gun at Phantom. "You aren't getting your filthy paws on any of our technology."
"You don't have anything do you?" Phantom said.
"That's beside the point," Maddie fumed.
"You just didn't want to have to say that," Phantom seemed gleeful at the prospect.
"Do you want to spend a month in the Thermos?"
"No way. Come on Sirius, let's go downstairs and wait for Lupin and that portkey." Phantom turned intangible and dived through the floor. Sirius grinned and apparated after him.
"Darn ghosts," Maddie muttered. She turned around and prepared to leave. But before she did so Hermione spoke up.
"Mrs. Fenton!" The bushy haired girl called out. "I need to ask you a few questions!"
"Of course dear," the ghost hunting woman replied, turning back to face the girl. "What do you need to know?"
"During breakfast Jazz mentioned something about how you used ectoplasm in your inventions. She mentioned something about you using two different types-"
"Oh yeah. We've got two different types," Maddie explained. "One type, the low energy stable type, we harvest from areas of ghostly activity and the other, high energy and unstable ectoplasm, we get from the Ghost Zone, the atmosphere, and in small quantities, we sometimes synthesize it."
"Is the first type generally green?" Hermione asked the ghost hunter, cautious hope contained within her voice. "And the second type generally glowing white?"
"Why yes-"
"And you're sure that it's ectoplasm, the same thing that Phantom is made of and uses. "
"Yes-"
Hermione began to take rapid small breaths.
Harry rubbed his hands together gleefully.
Everyone else simply gaped.
Maddie tilted her head quizzically.
"Did I miss something?"
"Alright," Danny Phantom said to Remus Lupin. He, Lupin, and Sirius were gathered in the entryway to Grimmauld Place. "Where's the bang up going to happen?"
"It's in France, near the Aisine river," Lupin informed the specter and fugitive. "Dumbledore made a portkey for you Phantom. Do you know what the term blitzkrieg means?"
"Sort of," Danny answered. He paid some attention in history class after all. From what he could recall it was German for some sort for a hard and fast attack.
"Well that's the strategy Snape advised," Lupin informed the ghost boy. "They're using an old abandoned farm. It's an area that's surrounded by muggle weapons that didn't work but are still dangerous. They've laid down the usual anti-muggle charms, but they didn't need to change any of the records."
"Do we have to worry about any the duds while we're there?" Danny asked Lupin.
"Is that what they're called? No, Voldemort's forces cleared out all the ones near the farmhouse and barn. This portkey should take us into the radius of safety."
"What will we being doing?" Sirius asked. "And what are the other two groups doing?"
"One group is being led by Moody," Lupin informed his friend. "Their target is not as heavily guarded, so a small number of wizards should suffice. Aside from destroying the gifts, they are supposed to hold the area long enough to investigate to see what else they can learn. Same goes for Shacklebolt's group."
"And," the werewolf continued, "you and I will be supporting Phantom. Mainly counterspell operations and any environmental alterations that Phantom requests. Dumbledore also said that we shouldn't need a formal chain of command, but I think we should follow Phantom's lead."
"Makes sense," Sirius commented. He turned to Danny. "You're front line. Just tell us what you need and we'll do our best to do it."
"Alright," Danny replied. "I'm ready to go when you are."
"Good," Lupin said. He pulled out a tiny shield emblazoned with the four Hogwarts house emblems. "This has been enchanted to work as a portkey, but its main function is setting up a sort of temporary forward base. If anyone gets wounded, try and retreat where we placed it."
Sirius and Phantom both chimed in their comprehension.
"Alright, everyone put their hand on the shield." The spirit and spellcaster did so.
There was a tugging sensation behind their navels and then they were off.
Danny could feel the spells clashing as they arrived. The battle was so furious that he didn't even need to focus on his core to sense the magic. It lasted only a moment and then it was over. Evidently the shield Dumbledore had given Lupin had won.
The halfa looked around. Snape's information had been accurate. The portkey had taken them to a farm. It was definitely abandoned; the fields were overgrown with a variety of plants, ranging from wild wheat to green weeds. The farmhouse itself was burned and scarred. The roof of the white two story house had huge holes in it, with shattered blackened beams sticking out like broken bones.
A couple of lonely tombstones were located a little ways away from the house. Overgrown green grass covered them, vines were creeping upwards covering the inscriptions, and it was hard to see them in the un-kept yard. Craters littered the whole area, as far as Danny could see.
Danny could feel his ghost sense stir, but it didn't activate. That happened in certain areas that had a lot of ghostly potential, or where a lot of non-sentient ghosts lived. Danny pushed it out of his mind. It wasn't time to deal with it now.
"They should know we're here any second now," Lupin told Phantom. "Sirius and I will take positions covered by the tall grass. The gifts should be in the barn. The wizards will be in the house."
"Alright, blitzkrieg, hit them quick and hard," Danny said. "I'm on it!"
He rocketed away, his legs turning into a ghostly tail. He accelerated madly, preparing to smash through the wall and whatever lay behind. The sea of overgrown plants rippled in his wake.
He ran face first straight into a earthy fist. His tail snapped back into a pair of legs and his body continued in its original trajectory. The halfa was flipped over in mid air and sent flying back the way he came.
"Ouch," Danny rubbed his jaw. "Did anyone get the number of that truck I hit?"
He looked over towards what hit him. A brown figure was rising from the field, a figure made of some sort of light brown runny earth. It was made in some crude likeness of a man. But its limbs were too elongated, arms were too long and thin, and the legs didn't look like they could support the body. It had no neck, only a column on top of another mass.
Bits of earth were constantly falling off, like the creature was made of mud. And while it did look wet, it was obviously not made of mud. Danny looked at its feet and saw earth flowing up into its feet.
Overall the impression that the creature was a spaghetti legged brown clay sculpture of a man. Danny guessed that it was supposed to be one of the golems.
"You want to play that way, huh?" Danny thrust forth a fist and an emerald beam of ectoplamsic energy flew forth. Green light shone over the golem's chest before the beam burst through. The golem staggered as most of its chest was splattered over the tall grass behind it.
"How did you like that?" Danny taunted, getting back up.
There was a loud slurping sound and more earth was sucked up. Danny groaned as the hole repaired itself.
There was a commotion from the barn. More crude man-like beings rushed out. These were made from what looked like small grey bricks. Danny guessed that they were the constructs.
Wait, weren't there supposed to be multiple golems?
As if to answer his question two more spaghetti like arms erupted from the earth. They grabbed the ghost boy's shoulders and yanked Danny backwards. Danny turned intangible on instinct, slipping away from the surprise attack.
The halfa flew upward and began tangible once more. He brought both hands downward and unleashed a hammer of green energy on the golem rising from the earth. Most of the being was splattered all over the sea of plants with a loud boom.
Danny thought he heard chanting coming from the house.
"Guys, I think they're casting a spell in the house!" The spirit shouted to the two mages.
"We'll have to disrupt it before they build up too much momentum," Lupin said to Sirius, using a communication spell to conceal his position in the tall grass.
"I know, I know Moody," Sirius replied from somewhere else. "On the count of three then."
"One, two, three. Finite incantatem!" They cast the all purpose counterspell in unison. Invisible forces warred with each other as Remus and Sirius attacked the fabric of the forming spell. Cries of pain sounded from the house as the backlash found the wanna-be dark wizards.
Meanwhile the halfa was forced to raise a translucent green dome to protect himself from a volley of earth bullets that the first golem was shooting out of the ends of its arm. They looked soft, but Danny could feel his shield buckle under the assault. He turned his head around to check on the status of the other golem.
It was reforming rapidly. Soon it would be whole once more.
Danny looked at the stone constructs. They were currently rushing towards him, covered by the golem.
Danny sighed. This was going to hurt.
He quit supplying energy to the shield. His shield was a curious thing. When he quit supplying energy the shield didn't fade, it simply quit existing. No time passed between the disappearance of the shield and the energy cutoff. It was an interesting factoid that had nothing to do with what happened next.
Danny turned around, and braced himself against the hail of earth bullets. It was like being pelted by a hail of high speed softballs that made splat sounds when hitting something. He braced himself to avoid falling over and then called upon his cryogensis and cryokineis.
Gritting his teeth in pain Danny raise his hands, spread his fingers, and let loose a blue blast as wide as himself. The cold energy engulfed the second golem. Ice cracked and spread, covering and consuming the earthy being. What looked like a ice sculpture was left in its place.
Danny turned intangible and slipped into the ground. He let out a sigh of relief as he escaped the pain. The ghost boy flew through the earth and popped up invisible behind the golem.
Right as he turned tangible again the golem turned around, scooping up a giant handful of earth and somehow hardening it. The golem hurled the projectile at the ghost boy. Danny ducked on instinct, the wind from the boulder's passage ruffling his hair.
Evidently the golem was tied to the sensor spells. Danny filed that away for future reference. He brought his hands up again, once more calling upon his cold power.
Another blue blast flew forth. This time one of the stone constructs hurled itself into the way. It was obviously too much for the creation. Giant cracks spread through the being, one of the arms crumbled, and a leg fell off in mid flight. But it was still able to interpose itself between the golem and the ice blast.
The golem quickly retreated back into the ground. The other three stone beings converged on Danny. He smirked. The golems were troublesome, but these constructs on the other hand...
Three quick green blasts shattered the constructs. Unlike the golem they didn't reform. Now he only had to deal with that last golem. Where was it going to pop up...
There was a yelp from in the tall grass and movement. The golem had sprung out of the earth and attempted to attack Sirius. But the fugitive wizard rolled out of the way and, with a trick he had learned from James, transfigured the earth that made up the being into stone.
Sirius smirked at his handiwork for a second. The smirk fell off his face when he noticed the cracks forming in the new statue. He scrambled away as earth flowed into small imperfections in the stone and shrugging off the transfigured material.
Before it could get free another blue blast engulfed it. The stone statue turned into an ice statue and quit moving.
"Nice save," Sirius called out to the spirit.
"Thanks. Why don't you two make sure it's safe to blow up those gifts while I knock out the guys in the house?" Danny suggested.
"Alright," Mr. Black replied to Phantom. He started towards the house. Lupin stood up somewhere nearby and walked over to the barn.
Phantom turned intangible and tried to fly into the house. There was a brief flash of pain and he felt something resist him. Red rings appeared in midair where he was trying to press forward. Evidently the house was protected.
Danny pushed against the spells protecting the place for a moment. He could feel them giving in. Green energy surrounded his fist and he punched the barrier. Red and green rings radiated from the point of impact. The boy's fist passed through the barrier. There was the sound of breaking glass and Danny felt the resistance fade.
The ghostly glowing youth entered the house and sniffed the air. Why did the place smell of smoke?
He dove through the walls and floors coming to a stop over a group of unconscious black robed figures. None of them looked over twenty-five years of age. It was made up of both genders and every member seemed to be underfed.
Evidently disrupting the spell had already knocked them out. But what was burning?
Danny dove into the basement. He looked at the rotten wooden walls and the ground behind them. There were red and black stains scattered all over the walls. But the ghost boy didn't care about that at the moment.
He did care about the green flames that were eating up the basement. Evidently breaking the wards had adverse effects.
Duh.
The halfa flew back up to the unconscious group. He threw them into a giant pile (taking care not to touch the witches in inappropriate places). Danny created another shield, this time a sphere, but instead of covering himself with it, he placed it around the knocked out foes.
A green light filled the room as Danny blasted a hole in the upper floors. Effortlessly the ghost boy flew up, taking group with him.
He dropped the group off by the barn, turning to look back at the house. A small wisp of black smoke was starting to rise up from the house. He'd have to try and use his ice powers to deal with the fire later.
Lupin and Sirius exited the barn a moment later.
"You can blast away at anytime- these the people old Voldie had guarding the place?" Sirius asked, looking at the group. "Oh, wow, these poor buggers are young."
"Poor buggers?" Danny asked about Sirius's phrase.
"Yeah," Sirius said looking over the wanna-be dark practitioners. "Voldemort doesn't take failure well. How long do you think they'll be out Moony?"
"An hour or so," Lupin answered. "After we destroy the gifts here, we should probably drop them off a couple miles away. Give them some time to get away from Voldemort."
"That's a good idea," Sirius said. "Alright, we'll get the portkey ready. Drop them off somewhere."
"Okay," responded Danny. "Just let me try and deal with the fire in the house."
The end result of using ice power to deal with the magical fire was a mockery of reason. He froze the flames themselves. One of his eyebrows ended up twitching. The world didn't work like that!
He then grabbed the group again and flew off. He found a clearing in some woods a little ways away from the town and dropped them off. Danny looked them over quickly to make sure there were no obvious injuries or anything.
When he returned to the farm, Lupin and Sirius were standing around the miniature shield placed in the bottom of a random crater.
"Well that was interesting," Lupin said, folding up a piece of paper. "I really have to inform the Order about what we found here."
"We're ready to leave whenever," Sirius told the ghost boy. "Hurry up and blow it up."
"Fine," Danny rolled his eyes. "Geez, the things I do."
The boy took a deep breath. He raised his arms above his head and began to gather his energy. Travelling back to Grimmauld Place by simply dispelling his duplicate had been a good idea. Making it so that the duplicate going on the mission was the 'original' was also a good idea. Even though the fight had been pretty easy, it was nice to have a larger reserve to draw upon.
A large ball of green energy gathered in his hands, growing more wild as it grew in size. Danny gritted his teeth as he struggled to keep the power contained. Eventually it settled down into a sphere.
"And this is my favorite part of the job!" He threw the ball at the barn. It clipped the empty door-frame, destroying a corner. There was a loud crashing sound and then the barn exploded. A pillar of green energy blasted off the broken roof with a roar. A wave of hot wind swept the walls away as the roof disintegrated above.
"Time to go!" Danny put his hand on the portkey. Sirius and Lupin followed suit. They vanished right before the hot wind reached them.
AN: Sorry about the short chapters lately.
I'll be going over the earlier chapters in a bit and correcting typos later.