The land was scorched and scarred, pockmarked with craters. Wisps and columns of smoke rose from the ruined earth, smoldering grass or the leftovers of magical fires. It had once been a green pasture with gentle hills; now it was nothing more than a flat lifeless land with the only elevation coming from mounds of dirt at the ends of furrows.

In one particularly large crater lay Danny Phantom, his entire body throbbing in pain, lying on his back and staring at the sky.

Sirius poked his head over the edge of the cater.

"Good work mate," the animagus said to the spirit. "We finally got another one to look at."

Danny groaned.

"When you guys described me as a great offensive asset, were you referring to my ability to stand being blasted repeatedly?" He asked the wizard darkly, with a glare.

"Course. It's very useful to self repairing decoy to take the hits for us," Sirius joked.

"I hate you so much."

"Where are they doing all of that fighting?" Hermione asked as she, Ron, and Harry watched members of the Order of the Phoenix leave after the debriefing. "I mean even with the Ministry's censorship of the Prophet we should still hear about disturbances at least. Which means it's not happening in Britain, but Britain has usually been Voldemort's-"

Ron winced.

"-area of interest," Hermione continued, rolling her eyes at Ron's reaction. "So what is he after elsewhere? Considering this fights are a recent development it's not necessarily connected to the weapon he's after, but what else is he up to?"

"Please be suicide, please be suicide, please be suicide," Harry muttered, crossing his fingers.

"I doubt it," Ron replied. "It could just be positioning, making sure he's got his supply lines covered and his allies protected. I mean the Order can't actually stop them from receiving the material they need legally, but it's cheaper and faster to get it illegally. Plus if they've got bases near dementor colonies, werewolf groups, and his other allies, he can organize them better. The Order could just be driving them away from those places."

"What we really need to find out is where they've been going," Hermione said.

"I don't suppose you could just ask Phantom," Ron suggested, sighing.

"No, as I've said before he's pretty tight lipped," Harry replied. Over the last two weeks that he had been having his nightly sparring sessions with the allied spirit he hadn't been able to get a single bit of information out of him. "Maybe we could get the Americans to give it a try, Jazz or Danny might know a better method."

There was a loud crack and Fred and George appeared behind them.

"If you want-" Fred began. George opened his mouth to continue, but closed it when he saw that Harry already had his wand trained on him.

"-we could take over trying to weasel things out of Jazz for you," Fred continued awkwardly. He paused, looking over at George, trying to figure out some way of continuing their usual routine without finishing each other's sentences.

Harry gave them a dry look.

"Picked up our conversation on the old Extendable Ears, did we?" Harry said to the red headed twins. "And I'm sure that your offer to try and get information out of Jazz is purely altruistic and in no way an excuse to spend more time with her."

"Alright you got us," Fred admitted.

"But can you blame us," George asked. "That bird is fine!"

"Don't let any of the Fentons catch you talking about her like that," Hermione advised. "They might decide to use the two of you as test subjects."

"We know better than that," George replied. "But we're curious about what the Order's up to as well."

"Tucker's bug thingie has been able to pick up something about magic circles," Fred added. "But we've got no context, nothing to work on."

"Sam might be a better angle," Hermione said. "From what I've read between the lines, she and Phantom are a bit closer than they appear. Same goes for Tucker as far as I can tell."

"It makes sense," Harry said. "If Phantom was created by Danny Fenton somehow then he would have a connection with his best friend and the girl he likes. Speaking of which, have we found a safe closet to lock the two in yet so they'll just snog and be done with it?"

"Pretty sure there's one on the third floor," Ron answered. "But isn't it overkill-"

"Do you want to put up with their behavior for Merlin knows how long?" Harry asked. He received no answer. "That's what I thought."

"As entertaining as your matchmaking plans are," Hermione spoke up, "The preliminary book lists are supposed to arrive today."

"Why preliminary?" Ron asked.

"I'm guessing it's because Dumbledore's having a hard time finding a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," Hermione answered. "Most of us will probably have to get the book via mail order."

"He can't have much time to be searching, with the war on Voldemort going on. Maybe he should get some more help for the war, you know, someone with experience fighting Voldemort, and then he'd have plenty of time to find a new professor," Harry said, a little bitterly.

Ron and Hermione rolled their eyes.

"So when do you think-" Hermione began before she was interrupted by Mrs. Weasely's voice.

"Everyone!" she called out, "your letters have arrived."

Fred and George vanished with a crack. Harry, Hermione, and Ron all hurried downstairs.

Mrs. Weasely was waiting in the kitchen with a handful of envelopes . The Fenton children and Tucker were already there, Sam and Danny opening their Hogwarts letters. Fred and George had already queued up in front of Mrs. Weasely to get their letters.

"I thought those two already went to Diagon Alley," Ron stated.

"To get all the earlier spell books and wands," Hermione replied. "Honestly Ron."

Harry tuned the two of them out. He was pretty sure Ron acted like that just to annoy her. The trio joined the queue. Tucker gave them a strange look, wondering why they formed an orderly line instead of crowding around, but Harry ignored him. The foreigner would never be able to understand the joy of queuing.

Everyone received their letters. Harry tore his open, glancing over the book list. Nothing stood out at the time, other than the lack of a DADA book.

"Is that-" Fred began.

"-what I think it is?" George finished.

Harry rolled his eyes and drew his wand. And then stopped when he saw what they were focused on.

Ron was staring dumbly at a shiny silver badge in his hand. Harry stared dumbly at the badge in his hand. Molly stared dumbly at the badge in his hand. Hermione, a badge in her own hand, stared dumbly at the badge in his hand.

Sam, Danny, and Tucker stared dumbly at the people staring dumbly at the badge in Ron's hand.

"I don't get it," spoke Danny.

"Ronald's a prefect..." Mrs. Weasely said disbelievingly.

"What's a prefect?" Danny asked.

"A fancy hall monitor," Sam informed him.

"What's the big deal then?" Danny inquired.

"A fancy hall monitor with extra privileges and some actual authority over other students," Sam continued.

"That doesn't sound like a good idea. I mean in general," the American boy said hastily to avoid offending Ron. "Not just in your case."

"Oh, but it is such a good idea-" Fred began.

"- in this case," George continued for him, grinning. "After all, our own little brother, a pre- Ow!"

"I'm going to keep doing this until you two quit that," Harry said, lowering his wand. He thought for a moment. "But yeah, in the end, better you than me mate. I wouldn't want to have to try and discipline these two. Merlin's pants, McGonagall or Dumbledore must really hate you."

He was lying of course, but if he turned it into a joke it didn't hurt so much. He had forgotten until now that two members of his year would become prefects, but he had always assumed that it would be him and Hermione. It had never even occurred to Harry that Ron might be the prefect instead.

But he bit down on the hurtful words on his tongue and replaced them with jest. Joke and joke and never let the darkness out of his heart.

"Aren't you already disciplining them?" Tucker asked. "What with shooting them in the wrist every time they do their twin thing?"

"Not the same thing at all," Harry replied. He thought for a moment. "As long as you guys are here, do you need any help with your Defense Against the Dark Arts work?"

Danny's expression was briefly one of total panic.

Him versus Harry while using ghost powers? Fun light sparring.

Him versus Harry without ghost powers? Brutal brutal beatdown.

But Harry was a niceish guy. He wouldn't purposefully go hard on them... would he?

"No, not stupidify, it's Stupefy!" Harry corrected Danny, casually flicking the malformed spell away with his wand. "Come on, try again. Take your time for now, we can work on speed casting later."

It could have been worse. Harry was helpful, corrected without berating, walked them through the steps, and answered their questions thoroughly.

On the other hand he had Sam practice using stunners on Danny, the evil british sadist.

It made sense of course, Harry was the only one who knew Eneverate, and once he was sure that their stunners weren't going to blow up, he quit blocking them and had them practice on one another.

Since no one was sure what Danny's stunners would do Harry had him still doing target practice.

"Stu-pe-fy," Harry said slowly, going through the wand motions. A jet of red light hit the ceiling. "See."

"Why are there burn marks on the ceiling?" Sam asked, looking upwards.

"Practicing elemental spells," Harry replied. "They're usually not covered in class, but I could show you two some if you guys get the other stuff down. Though I only really have one down."

That was true Danny reflected. The boy-who-lived was getting more and more proficient with the wind blasting spell, but he had barely improved with his water blasting spell. And his fire blasting spell fluctuated wildly, sometimes no more than a spark, and sometimes a rather dangerous amount. Good thing they had started warding the walls before their sparring.

"Anyway, Danny, try again," Harry instructed, taking a dueling stance.

"Stupefy!" Danny shouted, repeating Harry's wand motions. A robin shot out of his wand. Everyone watched bemused as it decided to land in Harry's hair.

Danny looked down at his wand.

"I swear this thing is defective," Danny moaned.

"I heard it was an experimental one," Harry replied. He gently took the bird off of his head and put it on his shoulder. "But you've got the color right finally. Anyway, it's about time Sam had another turn. Stun him please."

"I hate-"

"Stupefy!" Danny's eyes closed and he fell over. Sam caught him and grabbed him under his arms. His head rolled back and fell against her collarbone.

Harry rolled his eyes, mentally gagged, and didn't bother watching the typical reaction. He needed to step up the time table on the closet plan pronto.

Harry had Occlumency lessons later that day. He and Snape went up to the room that people were starting to call the Practice Room and prepared for another hour of mental warfare.

As soon as Harry closed the door, but before he could turn around, Snape drew his wand.

"Legilimens!" The room swam before Harry's eyes. Harry instantly fought back, pitting his will against Snape's magic. Memories slowly swam past his vision, the slow pace the only measure of his improvement. A shiny badge flitted before his eyes and there was surge of dark poisonous anger. Harry's guard broke and Snape's assault gained speed.

"Protego!" Harry threw all of his energy into drawing his wand and casting the shield charm. Snape cut off his own spell to avoid being caught by the rebound.

"Still lack the discipline to block Legilimency with your mind alone?" Snape sneered. "Are you even trying?"

His dark eyes narrowed.

"Or maybe it was that last memory, the one with the prefect badge?" Snape's eyes glittered maliciously. "Does the great Harry Potter feel cheated?"

"No," Harry shouted back angrily, taking one step forward, wand pointing at Snape. His green eyes looked down at the hand holding the wand and noticed that his knuckles were white. Harry took a step back. His eyes closed and he took in a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.

"Yeah, I guess in a sense," he admitted, earning a start of surprise from Snape. "I never really thought about it, but I guess I always expected that I would be the prefect. It's strange though, I don't get why I'm angry at Ron or why I'm upset about it."

Harry sat down and leaned back against the wall. Snape simply watched.

"I mean I don't think I'd be upset about it if it had been given to someone else in my year," Harry continued. "I feel like I just wouldn't have cared then. But with Ron it's like I'm being specifically told I don't deserve it."

Harry groaned.

"It's stupid I know. Ron's a fine candidate for it. I know you wouldn't agree, but he's a good bloke."

"His marks would indicate otherwise when it comes to suitability for post," Snape told the student.

"He just doesn't really care about marks," Harry rebutted. He focused on calming down, speaking words that weren't angry. "I think he doesn't believe he can compare to his older siblings or Hermione for that matter, so he just gives up there and in some other places as well. But's he's got a good heart and he's loyal. I mean he's stuck with me most of the time and he's a normal guy. He's had a normal childhood and a loving family. He doesn't have any reason to stick around a guy who's got an insane dark lord hunting him, who attracts trouble each year like it's nobodies business. Except for the occasional spat he's always had my back and what does he get in return? Being constantly outshone, outdone, put in danger, hurt, and all sorts of nasty business. He sticks around when it's stupid to out of pure loyalty." Harry smiled bitterly.

He felt odd, spilling his feelings to his least favorite teacher, but then again Snape was about to go through them anyway. It felt good, peaceful, a bit like the meditation exercises that Lupin had given them along with some minor martial arts instruction during their third year. Not that anyone progressed very far on them or even remembered most of the lessons. The constantly changing DADA teachers made it difficult to impart any long term skills to the students.

"I guess what I'm feeling now is just a taste of what's he's got to put up with all the time," finished Harry.

"You mentioned that he gets nothing out of associating with you," said Snape. "But what do you get from associating with him? If you quite spending time with the red haired sample of mediocrity then your marks would show some minor improvement. And I believe you need every bit you can take. You could spend more time working rather than slacking off with him, something that would increase your chances of survival. As for his accompanying you on your little attention seeking jaunts, you could find a more valuable meat shield to take with you, someone who can provide extra benefits."

"Because friendships not about what you can do for each other," Harry replied, his emotions settling down. His gaze became resolute as it traveled upwards to Snape's face. Snapes' dark eyes were looking elsewhere.

"Spare me that drivel, I hear enough of that from the Headmaster," Snape muttered. "If that is what friendship is, then it is a luxury that you can not afford in your situation."

"I can tell you must have had a lot of friends," Harry rolled his eyes.

Snape declined his head, greasy hair falling in front of his face, and smiled. It was not a kind or happy smile. It was usually a smile that happened in the vicinity of a great deal of blood outside of a body.

"I had one," the Potion's Master said to his student. "And they would have been better off never meeting me. But enough of this, back to the lesson."

He flicked his wand and with one motion cast a Full-Body Bind on Harry, made him twitch his hand to let go of his wand, and then lifted him up into the air. Harry's expression didn't even have time to change.

"Now, with your mind alone Potter! Legilimens!" Harry gathered his will before Snape cast the spell and met the intrusion head on. He forced himself to keep calm, to focus on nothing other than fighting Snape's invasion.

The room stayed mostly clear, with only the edges of his vision becoming blurry. In his mind's eye he could see the memory that Snape was currently trying to traverse. It was the memory his his thirteenth birthday, when he had received all the owls while doing his summer homework.

He focused and changed the image in his head to one of Snape being used as a sponge by the giant squid, before being hurled into the air and coming down with a messy splat on a rather large rock. He relaxed his defenses just enough to let the Potions Master see it.

Harry could have sworn he heard the man chuckle. But he heard no sign of any mirth when the man replied.

"At last you show some basic competency," Severus told his pupil. "Now you will have to put more effort into practicing to maintain this level, more than your current obviously meager times thus far. And then we can start moving on to developing stronger shields and more advanced defenses. I believe we have done enough for today. Goodbye Potter."

Without a word he let Harry fall to the ground and walked out.

Harry glared after his retreating back. The least he could have done was given him a hand up. The dark haired boy retrieved his wand.

Harry's earlier musings had given him a new idea, a new approach to learning Occulemency. It would be extra work, but it would mean spending less time in Snape's presence. He would go ask Lupin for some meditation lessons. Harry checked his watch, then remembered that it hadn't worked since the Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament.

Lupin occasionally stopped over for tea and he might be around the house at the current time. Harry waited a minute to ensure that he wouldn't run into Snape again, and then went downstairs towards the kitchen. He was in luck, the former professor in second hand robes was sitting at the table with Mrs. Weasley, McGononagall, Mrs. Fenton, Shacklebolt, Tonks, and Lupin.

"Wotcher Harry," Tonks said to him when he came in. "Whatcha want?"

"I was hoping to ask Professor Lupin something," Harry answered.

"No need to call me that, I resigned, remember?" The werewolf replied.

"And got replace with a Death Eater, I remember," Harry responded. "But I was hoping to ask for some extra lessons."

"For DADA? You seem to be doing fine with self study from what I hear."

"No sir, actually it's got to do with my Occulmency lessons. I was hoping you could teach me a bit more about meditation."

Lupin took a sip of his tea before answering.

"While I can give you a few pointers, I'm not an expert or anything," the cursed wizard responded. "I told you and the rest of your year most of what I knew when I was teaching. I visited the magical Buddhist monasteries only briefly. It used to be a thing for people with my condition to join or learn at those communities to help to control their condition. But that tradition has pretty much died out since the invention of the Wolfsbane Potion, so I didn't stick around very long or learn that much."

"I'll take anything you can teach me," Harry replied. "I just need help with training my mind for Occulmency."

"Very well, I can share a few tips I guess. When do you have time for a lesson?"

"Most times are good sir. Whatever time works for you."

"Alright, I'll find some free time before the start of term," Lupin replied.

"Thank you sir," Harry responded.

The days passed. Harry spent time with Ron and Hermione, occasionally helped Sam and Danny with their studies, practiced his advanced DADA material, sparred with Phantom and tried to figure out what was going on with the second war. He gained some minor amount of control with the fire blasting curse, minor progress with the water blasting curse, and continued to excel at the wind blasting curse. He had also started to consult with Hermione on his idea for a new spell.

"What you're suggesting is infeasible," Hermione told him after hearing his idea. "At least at our current skill level. Spell creation vs spell adaptation or spell discovery is a very complex and difficult task. And there's what your trying to do itself. Manipulating the air or wind to allow you to fly is difficult, you have to deal with the physics and the execution, neither of which are a walk in the park. Really you should just figure out how to do it wandlessly and then start practicing using your wand to direct the energies. But you can get the same sort of functionality out of a broom or other flying vehicle, which is why most wizards don't bother researching self flight spells."

"Yeah, but..." Harry shrugged. "It's not the same as flying yourself."

Hermione threw up her hands.

"I can't stop you," she told him. "Just make sure not to hurt yourself."

During his spars with Phantom, the spirit hero started to talk about the war a little bit more.

"Dumbledore said it was alright to talk about some of this stuff now," the halfa told the boy-who-was-listening. "So don't be surprised if Mrs. Weasely, or Remus, or Sirius talk about it too."

"So what can you tell me?" Harry was practically jumping for joy at this point.

"We've been going around Europe destroying or capturing these weird circles with a bunch of strange writing on them," Phantom told the wizarding child. "Don't know what they're supposed to do or how many of them there are. It really sucks, especially since I'm the one who usually gets beaten up for them."

Harry had promptly shared that bit of intel with the Weasely children and Hermione.

"That's no help at all," Hermione had told the group. "Magic circles can be used for many things."

"Did he tell you where specifically they went?" Ron probed Harry. "That could be more important."

"He said that was still classified or something," Harry responded. "Fred, George, how is that thing your working on with Tucker?"

"The bug thing?" asked Fred.

"We're still working on keeping inconspicuous," George answered.

Harry glared. They weren't finishing each other's sentences, but it was still annoying.

"Don't put too much hope into it, Tucker says the Fenton's know how to look for for muggle spying things," George continued.

"So we'll probably only get to hear one or two meetings before its discovered or we have to destroy it," Fred added.

"It's better than what we've currently got," Harry said, crossing his arms. "Any luck with Jazz. Wait, let me rephrase that."

The twins had made no progress with the eldest Fenton child but had great hopes for their future efforts. Harry just rolled his eyes.

He picked up some tips on meditation from Professor Lupin and a couple of interesting facts about Buddhist spells. They were radically different from the ones he was familiar with and required incredible amounts of focus to perform. Harry started to practice meditation alongside Occulmency and managed to improve some more. Snape informed him that he would have to continue the lessons during the start of term, but hopefully neither of them would have to put up with that for long.

The trio, the twins, and Ginny almost managed to lock Sam and Danny together in the closet but were accidently foiled by Tucker and Jazz, who were attempting a similar ploy. The two groups joined forces after that and began to think up a new plan. Hopefully they would have the situation resolved before everyone left for Hogwarts and wouldn't have to spend all their time around the two gagging.

On Danny's end there were more battles, but nothing strenuous. He took beatings like usual, but nothing to bad. It was nowhere near as bad as the early days in the Order when he had to constantly have a duplicate active.

"It's nice to see that you are adjusting," Dumbledore had told him during another private meeting. "Your seem to be almost glowing."

"Hey, leave the bad jokes to me," Danny protested. "So, why'd you want to see me."

"Mostly to check up on you," Albus told the green eyed ghost. "You've been with the Order with a couple months. Any concerns you'd like to bring up?"

"No, not really." Danny hadn't seen any obvious flaws. Wait, that wasn't true. "Wait, actually, Harry's been wondering why you've been ignoring him."

Albus looked slightly taken aback and for an instant the twinkle in his eye vanished. The old wizard sighed.

"I have not been," the silver bearded wizard said to the young halfa. "I simply haven't been talking with him. It has to do with a topic we touched on last time we met here."

"Something about weird dreams."

"Yes. I have reason to worry that Voldemort might be able to access Harry when the natural defenses of his mind are lowest, when he sleeps," Dumbledore explained. "Other times as well, but it would be easiest to invade his dreams. Harry has made use of this connection accidently before, mostly while he was sleeping. If Voldemort is not already aware of it, he soon will be. I was extremely please to hear that Harry had asked for Occulmency lessons from Snape of his own free will, it meant I was not forced to reveal that I was aware that the link was two way, and if Voldemort is not yet aware or ready to reveal he is aware, then he will not order Snape to sabotage the lessons."

"Does it really matter if he tells Snape to do that?" Danny asked.

"It does!" Dumbledore answered, leaning forward, his eyes going sharp. "Severus has to walk a fine line. He is on our side, but he can't reveal it. He is a trusted member of Voldemort's inner circle and can only remain one so long as our action to not betray knowledge of things only he could have known. And he could slow Harry's lessons, possibly temporarily weaken his mental defenses if he decides it is worth it, if Voldemort only gains a temporary advantage that we can counteract. I trust Snape to be on our side and to try and make the best decisions, but I do not wish to put him in that place."

"But, let us return to our earlier topic," the old wizard continued. "Voldemort may occasionally peek into Harry's mind, which is why I'd like you check in on him once and awhile at night. And as to why I have not been talking to him, it is simple. If Voldemort has any indication that we have ever been more than headmaster and student, then he may use Harry to strike at me, or use him as a shield somehow."

"When you say more than headmaster and student..." Danny began.

"Nothing inappropriate," Dumbledore cut him off. "Closer to mentor and pupil, or something similar."

"So I shouldn't tell him that you've asked about him?" Phantom asked.

Dumbledore thought it over for half an instant, too fast for Danny to even realize that the old wizard was thinking it over.

On one hand, telling Harry would reassure the boy in the current dark times. Considering all that he had been through, Voldemort would not think it odd for him to occasionally inquire after the well-being of one of his students.

And it would bind Harry to him even more; increase his loyalty, make him more willing to do the orders that his headmaster gives him.

No! Then maybe it would be best to instruct Phantom not to tell Harry that he was inquiring after him. Stick with the original plan for now.

"Do not inform him," Dumbledore told the spirit. "There is no reason to reveal our hand to Tom."

"Who?"

"Tom Riddle, Lord Voldemort's original name," Albus informed Danny.

"Really, he's a Tom?" Danny grinned. "How does he react to being called Tommy boy? Or the Tomster? Or-"

"I do not believe any have called him such. Though you are welcome to of course," Dumbledore said grinning, the twinkle in his eyes fully restored. "Anyway, the term will be starting soon and Harry will be returning to school. Would you consider staying at Hogwarts during that time?"

Danny shrugged. He was already headed there after all.

"Sure, as long as you don't make me attend classes."

"I wouldn't dream of it dear boy," Dumbledore said grinning. "Wouldn't dream of it."

After all Binns was the one who wanted to have the spirit boy occasionally come to class.

AN: Sorry about the wait, I swear I get all these ideas for these chapters and then they don't want to be written down.

Almost time to go to Hogwarts and deal with Umbridge. The only character that I will have to deal with in my fanfic career that falls below what I call the "Umbridge Limit" or "Umbridge Law". The definition of those terms is: The only characters that should be bashed are those who are so horrible that they are impossible to truly bash. I generally hate bashing, it shows an immature understanding of the story, lack of emotional control and maturity on behalf of the writer, disrespect towards the other characters, and usually leads to bad writing, implausible situations, and is indicative of other problems like sueism or author avatarism. Unless that character is someone as bad as Umbridge, in which case the bashing is pretty much cannon.

That being said, I will be struggling not to give her a horrible death ten seconds after her introduction. Honestly, anytime I read or watch the Order of the Phoenix I have to occasionally skip to the scene where she gets what's coming. Future chapters will either be fun or give me an ulcer.

Read, review, and tell me what I did wrong.