THE MAGICAL PHANTOM

CHAPTER ONE: GHOSTLY BEGINNING

"Are you sure about this, Daniel?" Clockwork asked his apprentice.

It had been a week since Vlad attacked the Fenton family, and although Danny was able to best him, it was at the price of everybody he held close to his heart. Danny had gone to Clockwork immediately after, not to reverse what could have been, but just for a place to stay. Hey, it beat going with the crazy fruit loop.

The Master of Overly-Complicated Riddles had told Danny that a war was going on at the very moment, one that he could help be part of the solution in. But there was also already someone there destined to stop the war. So Clockwork, instead of dumping the responsibility on only the Potter boy or only the young Phantom, he split it. Of course the Observants were against it but who cares, they were only one-eyed annoyances as far as Danny or Clockwork were concerned.

But the catch was, in order to be properly quipped to help; Danny had to attend the school the already planned hero and his friends were going to go to in the near future. And starting yearlings had to be eleven. Danny was already fourteen.

Currently, Danny was standing next to a weirdly large stopwatch, in human form, and glancing between the time device and time master.

"No," Danny admitted, "But I don't really have much choice."

Clockwork nodded and swiped his time-staff at the stopwatch whose hands begun spinning very rapidly in a counter-clockwise motion accompanied by a blinding flash of light from Danny.

After the clock stopped spinning backwards, the light died down to reveal… an eleven-year-old Danny?

He was obviously still Danny, but he was shorter and even thinner than he was before. Danny wore the exact same outfit as he did before but he red circle on his shirt had a red line through the still-filled circle.

"Did it work?" The now-pre-teen asked. And his voice was lighter too.

"That depends; can you still access your ghost form?" The elder asked.

Another difference from the last time he was eleven; he was allowed to keep his halfa status and memories still, although Clockwork warned him he might not have access to all of his powers yet. But he'd been promised his Ghostly Wail and ice powers so what other powers would he get?

Danny shrugged and closed his eyes, looking inside him for the cold feeling that had been there since the accident and pushed it outwards, smiling when he felt the familiar halo of light form around his waist and split.

Apparently, Phantom had changed more than Fenton had because gone was the HAZMAT that had become so familiar to him. Damn. He was gonna miss that thing.

Now it appeared Phantom had gone casual, wearing a black t-shirt with white trim, complete with his 'DP' logo and black combat boots that had white souls and laces along with a pair of white jeans topped off with a black belt. His hair was white as ever and his eyes still shined an unnatural and otherworldly green.

"It appears all your abilities are in tact." Clockwork informed him.

"What about my powers? Invisibility, Intangibility, Ecto-energy?" Danny questioned worriedly.

"Not to worry, Daniel. I can tell you for a fact you have your powers." His mentor told him.

Danny shrugged, not even bothering to ask why he had to test only his transformation, and transformed back to his human form.

"I assume you won't be coming along and that I'll have to handle this myself from here?" Danny asked sarcastically, picking up his pact suitcase. Not like it would matter. He was used to handling himself. Clockwork let out an amused chuckle.

"I'll always be watching over you, Daniel, weather you believe it or not. I have everything set up how it should be so all you have to do is follow your guide." The Time master informed him.

"Guide?" Danny asked, confused.

"You will be getting a guide who will deliver an acceptance letter to you and take you to make sure you are fully prepared, when asked for your key check your back left pocket and you're a cat person." Clockwork cleared up. Sort of.

"Acceptance letter? Key? Cat person? Clockwork, speak English-" Danny started before he and his suitcase were consumed in a white light and were gone when it cleared.

Clockwork smiled as the light disappeared and turned to his monitor displaying Danny appearing through a flash of light.

"Good luck, young Phantom."

LINEBREAK

"Damnit Clockwork. I should've known I wasn't gonna get a direct answer form him." Danny muttered to himself before looking up and checking his surroundings.

He found himself in an old beat up room with a long wood table with more chairs than it looked like it could hold littered around it and a rustic light fixture hanging above it. There was also a hole in the wall to his left and behind it sat a short, bald man who was presumably the barman.

Unconsciously, his electric blue eyes flashed green as they swept around the room looking for any possible threat. They automatically sized up everybody in the room, determining how big a threat they were in an instant and continued by scanning the room for any and all possible exits.

Satisfied, his eyes faded back to blue just in time for a familiar, yet so unfamiliar feeling creeping up his spine. Ghost Sense. But it wasn't the usual bone-chilling cold feeling going up his spine like usual, it was more of a tingling sensation crawling its way up his spine and out of his mouth in a mist. But it wasn't the usual icy blue; instead it was a whole mess of whites, pinks, yellows and blues.

Then someone who had caught his eye a moment ago stepped forward in his black robes and his black hair hanging in his face. Danny nodded to the man, although his guard was up.

"Are you Daniel Fenton?" The man asked, his voice ominous and strict.

"Yeah, that's me but call me Danny. And you are?" Danny asked, going for a handshake.

"Severus Snape, your soon-to-be Professor at Hogwarts." Snape told him, glancing at the outstretched hand before deciding to shake it.

The grip was firm, Snape noticed, much too firm to be coming from an eleven year old kid.

Surprisingly, Clockwork had informed him that he was going to be going to a Wizarding school. He hadn't mentioned the name or the fact that a future teacher was his guide but he did mention it so Clockwork one, Danny zip.

"So, are you here to show me how to get to this school?" Danny asked Snape. Snape scoffed.

"No. I'm here to get you supplies and prepare you for your first year." Snape told him, holding out a piece of paper.

Danny took it with a small glare and begun to read it.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

UNIFORM

First year students will require:

Three sets of plain work robes (black)

One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

One winter coat (black with silver fastenings)

Please note that all pupils' tags should carry nametags

COURSE BOOKS

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)

By Miranda Goshawk

A History of Magic

By Bathilda Bagshot

Magical Theory

By Adalbert Waffling

A Beginners Guide to Transfiguration

By Emeric Switch

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi

By Phyllida Spore

Magical Drafts and Potions

By Arsenius Jigger

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

By Newt Scamander

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self Protection

By Quentin Trimble

OTHER EQUIPMENT

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set brass scales

Students may also bring, if they desire, an owl or a cat or a toad

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS

ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICK

And at the bottom there was a signature he couldn't make out but he assumed it was either who send out letters or the headmasters name.

"Where can I get all this stuff?" Danny asked the professor. Snape rolled his eyes.

"Diagon Ally, kid. Where else?" Snape said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

And with that, Snape started walking away further into the Leaky Cauldron, which Danny had learned the place was called from the sign above the bar on the menu, and through another door. Danny supposed he was supposed to follow and made his way to the door the way Snape went.

He got there to see Snape tap the wall twice, although he had most likely missed the beginning of that sequence, with a stick, presumably his wand, and open a doorway. Snape turned to the boy with a sneer.

"There's no time for dilly-dallying, boy. Follow me." Snape reprimanded Danny's slow response time.

"Maybe if I was given instructions to follow or something I would've been quicker to trust the stranger in a black cape." Danny retorted.

"Well I thought you were bright enough to follow my lead." Snape sneered back with a glare.

"I thought professors were bright enough to give proper instructions." Danny responded, glaring back.

Snape sighed aggravated but didn't reply. Weather it because he didn't want to argue or because he knew Danny had a point was undetermined. As they walked though the crowded ally, Danny felt the same strange tingling sensation he had felt in the Leaky Cauldron return to his spine.

Sure enough, the weird looking mist came out of his mouth again, this time drawing Snape's attention.

"What was that?" The professor asked. Danny quickly decided playing dumb was his best option. Not like he could explain it anyways though.

"What was that?" The Fenton pre-teen asked, putting on a show of looking around him.

Snape narrowed his eyes in suspicion but let the matter drop, focusing on the large building in the center of a fork in the path up ahead with the words 'Gringotts Bank' carved atop the large doors.

"Why are we going to a bank?" Danny asked again, this time honestly curious.

"Well we've got to pay to get you supplies for school don't we? And I doubt you already have wizarding money on your person." Snape responded evenly to the American teen.

Danny didn't reply verbally but nodded confirmation although he was secretly dreading the bank visit since he had no money whatsoever in the bank. Did Snape know that? Or was he expecting him to get his money out? Maybe the school paid for it?

They walked through the large doors and Danny instantly straightened up and looked around the room for potential threats, identifying everyone in the room. He of course didn't see them as threats immediately for not being people, they were goblins of some sort, but out of habit. Snape, however, thought the former.

"They're not going to attack, Mr. Fenton. Although they may give you lip, they are harmless." Snape assured him.

Danny didn't bother correcting the professor and nodded, but swept his eyes around the room for all exits anyway.

Once again, force of habit. The future-teacher-and-future-student duo made their way to the goblin-like creature behind the tallest desk, which Danny assumed was the main place these 'transactions' took place.

"Can I help you?" The goblin asked, annoyed as if he was disturbed from sitting there.

"Probably not but we'll ask you anyway." Danny quipped back. He noticed Snape smirk a little while the banker growled.

"Whaddaya want?" He asked harshly at the Fenton boy.

"Mr. Fenton here would like to make a withdrawal." Snape spoke up for the raven-haired pre-teen.

"That depends." The banking goblin spoke back. Danny snorted.

"On what, how high you can count?" He asked sarcastically. This time he noticed Snape smirking a lot.

"Just give me your key." He said, seemingly giving up on trying to outwit the child.

Danny's eyes went wide as the thought back to Clockwork's words "when asked for your key check your back left pocket". Danny did as his mentor instructed and reached into the back left pocket of his jeans. Sure enough, a small golden key in Danny's hand was the end result. Clockwork two, Danny zip.

"Let's go. You're marked down as 'Vault 412'." The goblin said, walking away. Snape followed.

"Doesn't anyway say 'follow me' anymore?" Danny muttered as he trudged behind the two.

LINEBREAK

They had finally gotten everything on the list. All the books, all the robes and all the equipment. Except the most important thing; a wand. As he and Snape were heading to someplace Snape called "Ollivander's" which was where he assumed he would get a wand, Danny saw something that caught his eye.

A pet store.

"Hey! Can we go there first?" Danny asked, stopping in front of the store and looking inside the window. Snape scowled.

"Fine but make it quick." The black-robed man told him, slowly walking behind the sprinting Danny.

Danny walked through the doors and was surrounded by animals in cages, all looking extremely excited at his entrance like it was the most exciting they'd had all week. He slowly walked around, looking for something that caught his eye. He passed by endless owl's and toad's all different sizes and colors. He was so into looking around he didn't hear the bell above the door open again, even after Snape's entrance behind him.

Finally he came across something that caught his eye; a black cat that had white paws and a white tip on its tail. The feline's green eyes locked with his blue one's as if they could see the underlying green glow. Neither pair moved away for at least two minutes. Until the cat's eyes glanced over his shoulder and the tingling mist came back, making Danny turn around.

He saw a girl his age with bushy brown hair and black robes holding open a cage door to an owl's cage. Only the owl had the signs of anger Danny had come to recognize with birds thanks to Vlad's stupid vulture henchmen being pretty consistent at kidnapping attempts the last month. The glazed over eyes, the upper body leaning forward, the talons twitching.

Danny let out a "GET DOWN!" the same time the bird let out a large "SQUAWK" and charged the brown haired girl. Luckily Danny had a lot of practice knocking people out of the way of oncoming projectiles and successfully tackled said girl to the ground as the large aggressive owl flew straight where her head would have been.

Danny got up from lying on the girl into a standing position, holding his hand out to help the girl up which she took with a smile that he returned.

"Thanks for the save back there. My head'd surely be owl food if you hadn't been here." The girl told him after she stood up.

"No problem. Danny, Danny Fenton." Danny introduced himself, going for a handshake before remembering she never let go of his hand in the first place. Instead she shook their already-joined hands and spoke.

"I'm Hermione Granger, pleasure to meet you." She said, letting go of his head. Danny nodded.

"Why did you have that bird cage open anyway? The sign in front of the store says no handling without supervision." Danny asked out of curiosity.

If he was any good at first impressions, and as a honed fighter he was, she was a stickler for the rules. The proper tone in her voice, the way she stood with her head held high and the fact that she was already in school uniform were just a few things he had noticed.

"I just thought he needed a little company. That one was the only bird in the store that didn't squawk when I first walked in here. I thought maybe if I showed him some attention he'd be happy. Apparently not." She answered, looking down.

Danny was about to reply, but was cut off by what he couldn't help but feel would become a rather often call of,

"Fenton!" From Professor Snape.

The student duo turned to see Snape and the storeowner standing there, glaring with the large angry owl in a much smaller cage, seemingly glaring at everything.

"I recognize you! Your Professor Snape from Hogwarts! I've read all about your class. You teach potions, right?" Hermione asked eagerly, almost bouncing. Rather than answering, Snape continued yelling at Danny.

"What in the right mind possessed you to let this bird out of the cage? Didn't you read the sign that says you need supervision?" Snape asked, glaring down at the Fenton boy.

Danny didn't reply, instead glancing to Hermione to see her looking scared out of her mind, most likely about what her punishment was when he told Snape it was her who let the bird out. He had half a mind to rat her out and save his own ass from being on even worse terms with Snape before the school year even started. But the other half told him to go with it since it was obvious this girl was more afraid of anything Snape could do than he was. Eventually his hero complex won out just as Hermione was about to speak.

"I was thinking 'hey, maybe this will get Snape angry'." Danny sarcastically replied. "What did you think I was thinking? I wanted to pet it."

Hermione looked at him, mouth agape, while Snape scowled. Danny knew he had to at least apologize though.

"I'm sorry, okay? I've just never seen an owl so close before." Danny tried to amend. Snape sighed.

"Ten points from-. Whatever house you end up in, Fenton." Snape said, before gesturing to the bird. "I suppose you would like this one, then?"

Danny looked down at the bird in the cage the owner was holding. The owl glared and let out a low, angry squawk. Danny glared back, before thinking back to his final moments in Clockwork's tower. Clockwork three, Danny zip.

"Nah. I'm more of a cat person." He said, looking back at the cat's green eyes that were watching the scene with great intensity.

LINEBREAK

Shade, Danny decided, was his cat's name. Of course he checked with the wizarding cat first and it seemed anything was better than 'Exhibit 14' to him. Hermione and her parents joined Danny and Snape on their way to the wand shop, which was the last place both groups had to visit.

After they walked inside both eleven year olds were amazed at the collection of wands the man had amounted. It didn't even look like there were walls, just wand boxes! Danny was so amazed he didn't care that the multicolored mist had returned.

They stood and waited for a few moments but both Danny and Snape's patience grew thin and they called "HELLO?" and "OLLIVANDER!" respectively. There was a few seconds of silence before a mobile ladder came from their right and slid to a stop while the man riding it hopped off with a large smile.

"More first years, eh? I suppose you yearlings are lookin' for wands?" The man Danny assumed was Ollivander asked.

Hermione and her parents said, "Yes, please" while Danny and Snape silently nodded.

"Which one of you wants to step up first?" Ollivander asked the future students.

Hermione turned to Danny with almost pleading eyes. Danny smiled, knowing that she was way more excited for this moment than he was.

"Ladies first." Danny told her, waving his arm to the wand-maker. The girl squealed in excitement as she practically pranced up in front of Ollivander.

"Raise your wand arm."

And no more than two tries later Hermione's wand chose her; a wand made from vine with a dragon heartstring core and a length of 10 3/4 inches. (1)

"You're up next, kid. Come on down." Ollivander called to Danny, who sighed and stepped forward.

"Raise your wand arm." He said.

Danny hesitated a minute before raising his right arm. He was good with both hands, really, but that was because he had to learn to fight ghosts handicapped for a week when Skulker crushed his hand so bad even when it looked fully healed it still hurt like hell to move. S he had learned to do pretty much everything with his left hand too, including aim Ecto-blasts; something that had screwed him over multiple times the first two days.

LINEBREAK

Two hours.

Ollivander had been searching for Danny's wand for two whole hours. The Grangers and Snape were sleeping sitting up in chairs, they fell asleep somewhere around wand sixty-four, and Danny was beginning to tire of waving his right arm so much, knocking over countless shelves, breaking multiple glass frames, exploding all the wood chairs and one wand had flat out refused him and floated out of his hand. Then of course there was the wand that had started shooting magic everywhere, including Snape's head. Danny was not looking forward to that discussion later.

But both Ollivander and Hermione were still excited. Ollivander because of the challenge Danny presented him and Hermione because she was learning about the different wand materials. Ollivander gasped and snapped his fingers, as if reaching a conclusion before running behind a wall of wand boxes.

"Did he get the perfect wand idea or did he just give up?" Danny asked Hermione, who shrugged.

Danny's question was answered in the form of Ollivander returning with a white box in his hands and a confused expression on his face.

"This wand is like no other I have made. Instead of being made of purely one wood, it combines two; Blackthorn and Beech, a very unusual thing to have two woods make one wand in general, let alone those two. Then instead of using the tail hair from a Thestral, it uses a scale." He said, opening the white box.

Inside was a wand, 11 ½ inches, that had black and tan woods wrapping around each other, forming one stick and on top was a grey scale inside the glass bubble. Just from being so close, the wand set off the multicolored mist again.

Danny reached out and picked up the wand, holding it carefully. Then he waved it and was pleasantly surprised to see green sparks coming from the top. Ollivander nodded, pleased with his work while Hermione grinned ear-to-ear.

After Ollivander charged the two seven galleons each, Hermione began to explain to the halfa why she was so excited for his wand.

"Blackthorn wand users are pretty rare. Most people don't ever meet one. Having a blackthorn wand choose you means you have the heart o a warrior and the wands in general become pretty loyal. Beech, however, when it chooses a younger person – "like me"- it means said person is wise beyond their years." Hermione explained.

That made sense, Danny thought. He supposed he could be called a warrior, having had to fight for his half-life every day for a year and a half. The beech part too, made sense because he was definitely wiser than people ever gave him credit for. He had to worry constantly about things people didn't even know existed or could happen.

"What about this Thestral scale?" Danny asked, pointing to his wand.

"Thestral's tail hair's are given to people who have some connection to death or the dead or the realm of the dead. A Thestral scale, though, I'm not entirely sure. I've never read anything about that being in a wand. And I've only ever read about wands being made of more than one wood." Hermione told him. "Do you have a connection to death?"

Danny held back a snort. He was only half-dead himself, had powers of the dead, had dead enemies, had dead family and friends, been into the Ghost Zone more times than he could count and bested the 'God of the Dead' in a one-on-one. But he couldn't tell her all that.

"Maybe a little." He told her instead, smiling.

LINEBREAK

"Platform 9¾. Why the hell would there be a platform 9¾?" Danny complained. Shade, who was sitting on top of the luggage cart Danny was pushing, just meowed.

Snape had sent he and Hermione on their way soon after the wand escapade, saying he needed to get to Hogwarts and prepare for the opening ceremony. Hermione believed him without a hesitation and skipped away into the train station with her parents but Danny had only believed that Snape wanted just to get away from him and Hermione as quick as he could. Either way, Danny and his new cat made their way to the train station.

Now wondering hopelessly around, a glowing piece of paper on a bench caught his attention. So the hybrid quickly snatched it up to find it as a letter. He automatically knew it was from Clockwork, if the 'CW' symbol watermarked on the paper was anything to go by.

"Hello young Phantom,

I just sent you this letter to tell you that ghosts are not the only creatures that pass through walls. And intangibility isn't the only means to do so, either. Also, a word to the wise, the girl is smarter than you think.

Timeless Fortune,

Charles Work."

It took Danny a minute to realize 'Charles Work' was just Clockwork's alias for now. That left the rest of his time to think about what the hell the stopwatch meant.

LINEBREAK.

Clockwork four, Danny zip.

Yet again, Clockwork was right. Ghosts weren't the only things that walked through walls and there were multiple ways to do so. And apparently magic was one of them. He was used to walking through walls by now but his poor cat almost went ballistic.

He had lost Hermione since before they entered the train station so he wasn't expecting to see her again anytime soon. He was on his own for now. If he was being honest, he was king of looking forward to some peace and-

"Danny! There you are!" Hermione's voice called out.

Danny turned around to see Hermione waving him over so he sighed, then smiled and made his way over to the smiling brown-haired girl.

"Hey Hermione. Hello Mr. and Mrs. Granger." Danny greeted as he wheeled his cart over to the Granger family.

"Hello Danny, nice to see you found your way through the wall after all." Mr. Granger commented, looking down amusedly at Hermione who looked down, embarrassed. It was as if there was some joke he wasn't getting.

"Yeah well, I had a little help." Danny admitted, scratching the back of his neck. "Did you guys cross okay?"

"We managed okay, thanks. Well we're all here to see Hermione off. Is anyone here to see you off?" Mrs. Granger questioned, looking around for an adult with Danny.

Danny's smile fell for a second but it was back before anybody could tell it was gone. He had to do his best to keep his emotions in check normally or else his powers would leak out but he had to be especially careful with his newfound magic since Clockwork had told him the whole purpose for magic schools was to learn to control their magic, which was unstable based on emotions in early ages. Besides they didn't have to know everything about his past.

"Nope. I thought you knew that since you saw me with Professor Snape rather than family." Danny replied, looking at the ground. To hide his glowing eyes.

"We assumed he was preparing you and that your family would've came later to see you off." Mrs. Granger told him, her husband nodding.

"Sorry too disappoint you guys but it's just me. My parent's, they- um aren't with us anymore. And my guardian has a really important job so he couldn't be here today," Danny told the Grangers. 'Doesn't mean he isn't watching though.'

Hermione gasped at the revelation and her parents sent him apologetic looks. He didn't want their pity, though. He didn't want to be reminded of what happened. Their apologetic looks did nothing to stop his fury at himself for not being strong enough to save them. He also knew that they had no idea what happened and they didn't understand the severity of his simple statement 'aren't with us' so he forced himself to calm down.

"I'm sorry Danny, I had no idea that-" Hermione started to apologize but was cut off by her friend.

"Don't worry about it. There's no way any of you could have known." Danny waved off, staring pointedly at all three Grangers.

Mr. Granger looked like he was about to say something but was swiftly cut off by the train whistle, signaling the last chance to board. Hermione quickly hugged both her parents goodbye while Danny waved with a smile at them as he and Hermione started walking towards the train. Except he noticed Hermione was practically dragging one of her suitcases.

"Need help with that?" He asked knowingly.

"No, no. I got it." She insisted, trying to drag it again but couldn't with just one arm.

And the other was busy pushing her cart. Danny rolled his eyes and took the handle from her hand and effortlessly picked it up, smiling at her dumbfounded look. Ghostly strength comes in handy a lot, Danny had learned.

The witch-in-training shook her head to clear her thoughts on how Danny so easily lifted up her large trunk and began walking towards her chosen compartment. Danny couldn't help but notice the multicolored mist coming back again.

LINEBREAK

Now that their luggage was entirely away and the two had the compartment to themselves, Danny and Hermione were stretched out along their respective seats.

Danny's head was against the window looking at the door and Hermione who was facing the window with Shade sitting contently on Danny's lap, enjoying the quiet.

"My parents didn't scare you too badly did they? Sometimes they go overboard when I introduce them to friends." Hermione questioned, a little jokingly and a little seriously. Danny chuckled.

"Nah, it's cool. I know how parents can be. They seemed like they were genuinely trying to be kind rather than embarrass you. But they might be trying a little too hard to be polite." Danny brushed off.

"Well I think they tried so hard because they seem to have taken a liking to you. Can't remember the last time my parents wanted to meet friends' parents." She told him truthfully.

"So if you already had all the things you needed, why were you shopping in Diagon Ally at a pet store when you didn't even get a pet?" Danny changed the subject to keep conversation.

"I've always wanted a pet of my own. Mum and dad always let me pick the dog we'd get but that was never, you know, mine. I wanted a cat or maybe an owl but apparently I don't have a way with birds and yours was the only cat they had." Hermione told him.

Shade, having heard her statement, uncurled himself off the hybrid's lap and jumped over the floor onto the other seat, landing on Hermione's lap and curling up again, purring contently. Hermione smiled as she pet Shade.

"Well I guess I'll be sharing mine with you then." Danny said amused, watching his cat falling asleep under Hermione's touch.

Hermione looked like she was about to say something but a knock on the door and it swinging open right after and having a very round child their age poke his head in the door interrupted her.

"Has anyone seen my toad?"

LINEBREAK

"Stupid escaping toad. Stupid persuasive Hermione. Stupid begging Neville." Danny muttered, walking along the train cars looking for said toad until he was jerked at a wall when the train turned. "Stupid moving train."

Shade meowed from Danny's feet. Neville, the boy with the lost toad, had begged for his held in searching for his toad after Hermione said she would help. Danny really just wanted to sit still for a few minutes but Hermione had told him there would be plenty of time to laze around. So grudgingly and making sure they heard his muttering, Danny and Shade headed west. But not before Danny had cried that the toad must have "Gone west, young man".

"You wanted to go west just so you could make that reference didn't you?" Hermione had shouted after him as he and Shade continued on their way. He knew he didn't need to answer because she already knew that he did.

Danny had poked his head into several compartments looking for Neville's toad and asking the people in them if they had seen or heard anything that may have even resembled one. But of course nobody had. The next compartment Danny checked he came across something he felt like he was interrupting.

He saw some blonde little rich boy putting down what he assumed was a girl under the mess of blonde hair he could see past the blonde boy and his two henchmen. He could've sworn he almost heard he crying. So he decided to step in.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you its rude to make girls cry?" Danny asked pointedly, slamming time door shut behind him as he entered.

The three boys instantly spun around, sputtering out three different cover stories but laughed when they realized he was just another student.

"Didn't your mother teach you to mind your own business?" The blonde-haired boy replied, smirking as his 'back-up' laughed.

"She was probably too busy making sure I didn't look like a girl. You know the feeling, right? Oh, wait." Danny shot back, smirking as the three boys growled.

"Don't you know who you're talking to?" Henchmen #1, as Danny had taken to calling him in the last twelve seconds, said pointing to the boy in the middle.

"No I don't," Danny started but the boy continued like he hadn't spoken.

"This is Draco Malfoy!" He finished in a yell.

"Nor do I care." Danny finished, smirking at the red-in-the-face boys.

"You'd best watch your tone if you know what's good for you." Henchmen #2 threatened him.

"And if you know what's good for you, you'll leave right now." Danny replied without hesitating.

Draco glared, huffed and held his head up with his eyes closed to walk by Danny, as if going to leave with his henchmen following. Until Danny felt two hands on his shoulders when he was going to walk over to the girl. Big mistake.

In one swift motion both henchmen took an elbow to the gut. The one on the right collapsed and the one on the left needed to be kicked in the shin once before he tripped on top of the other one. That was that, Danny thought as he glared at Draco.

"Get outta here." He said, shaking his head. Malfoy and his henchmen all scrambled out of the compartment, leaving a laughing Danny behind. Danny only laughed harder as Shade hissed at the door as they exited.

"Hey. You alright?" Danny asked, sitting next to the blonde-haired girl who had looked up from her lap when he had started mouthing off to Draco and his cronies'. Shade hopped up after him.

"Yeah, just fine thanks. Draco just likes to push peoples buttons. And he knows exactly which ones to press." She told him sadly.

"Why was he picking on you in the first place? You don't seem like the usual 'bully' material." Danny noted.

It was true. She was very pretty considering he just met her a moment ago, with the clearest grey eyes he'd ever seen and hair so full it looked like he could get lost in it.

"It's because I, unlike most pure-bloods, don't mind the integration of muggle-born or mud-blood wizards. Draco hates them with a passion. Thinks pure-bloods are superior and all that jazz." She told him, rolling her eyes at the boys' behavior towards all the non-pure-blood wizards. He didn't know how outnumbered purebloods were anymore.

"If it makes you feel any better," Danny paused gauging her reaction. He continued when he saw her smile. "I hate him already too." She let out a forced chuckle.

"Actually. That helps." She told him, smiling a little more. "Names Daphne. Daphne Greengrass." She said, going for a handshake.

"Danny Fenton at your service ma'am." Danny said formally, doing a mock-bow as he shook the girls hand. "Say. You haven't seen or heard a toad recently, have you?"

"Sorry but no. Why? Are you trying to find one?" Daphne replied, confused.

"Yeah. A friend of mine convinced me to help her look for this kids toad. I don't know where it could be though." Danny muttered to himself the last part, standing up. Shade meowed.

"Would you like some help?" Daphne offered kindly.

He could tell that she meant well, at least. But he could also tell she really didn't want to get up and help in the search. Which he thought was understandable, since that was he a few minutes ago. So he figured if he couldn't relax, at least someone could.

"No, that's okay. My friends probably already have him by now; they were checking the other way. I'll see you later, Daphne." Danny responded, waving as he exited the door, Shade purring his goodbye from his feet.

"Bye Danny!" Daphne's muffled voice came from the other side of the shut door.

'Nice going, Phantom. You managed to get one the bad side of someone with influence in the magical community and a professor and the year hasn't even started yet.' Danny scolded himself.

He and Shade started back to their compartment when the intercom turned on and a voice, presumably the conductors, rang out.

"We are now approaching Hogwarts. Please gather your things and prepare to depart from the train."

Hello people! Yes, TheIceRaven is not dead!

For the past month I've had sever writers block, the bane of writers everywhere, so all you fellow authors who were disappointed by my lack of updates for the past month know how I feel. So I've seen this technique used a few times where instead of trying to write a current story, to overcome writers block by starting more! Now I am in no position to start a new story with three stories still going but… I did it anyway!

I wasn't going to upload this at first but I thought that since it was written, why the hell not? And it could give me the chance to tell you why I haven't updated. So to all my readers of other stories who are reading this, please bear with me.

And another thing. I've decided to put my other crossover on hold while I work more on The Phantom's Realm. Yes I realize that's unfair but it does have more waiters and I will pick it up after. Maybe work more on this one if enough people like it but we'll see.

You can review here or another story of PM me if you'd like more information on this jumbled mix of stories but review to this one anyway! It's the only way I'll continue making updates is if enough people like it.

(1.) Thank you to those of you that let me know the length of Hermione's wand, I finally got around to changing it!