Dumbledore and the other adult wizards - along with much of the staff, who, of course, had noticed the commotion - drove the dementors back to their posts. Ron, Hermione, and Sirius were ordered to go to the Hospital Wing to recover.
Then, with everyone else distracted by their own tasks, Danny followed Dumbledore and the Minister of Magic up to Dumbledore's office.

Danny couldn't remember what the Headmaster had said to convince him to come. But as long as the old wizard didn't attack him again, Danny didn't care.
'Harry…'

The door closed behind them with a soft thud. The Minister was pacing.
"Dumbledore, what do we do? What do we DO?! When the Prophet hears about this-"
"Please, Minister. We must remain calm."
"Yes, yes. You're right. But the Boy-!"
For the first time since heading toward the school, the Minister looked at Danny. He was a frightening sight - Danny didn't need to look in a mirror to know that: slitted pupils, claws that were dripping with whatever replaced blood in a dementor, glowing, and holding a human soul…
The Minister didn't dare meet his eyes.

But Dumbledore did. Standing in the middle of the strange room he called an office, his voice was impossibly calm.
"Mr. Phantasm."
Danny broke out of his daze, but his voice was… listless. 'Harry…'
"... Yes?"
"This might be far-fetched, but - well. Seeing as I have no way of…" His gaze moved to Harry's soul. "Storing? A human soul - I thought it best… to ask if you have any ideas on the matter?"

Hope returned to Danny's eyes -
"The bottles…!"
- and he took off like a bullet through the walls and floors.

He couldn't waste time.

Making it to his Pipe-Room, he held Harry against his body so he could grab an empty test-tube-like bottle.
'But how do I…?'
He had never had to put anything into one of these containers before - and although souls were naturally malleable, if Harry slipped out of his grasp… Danny didn't know what would happen to him!
Would he die? Disappear?
… Become a ghost?

He didn't even know if he could get Harry back into his own body, let alone-!
'Calm down! … It doesn't matter. There's no other choice!'
Praying, Danny maneuvered the bottle to below his other hand - and pushed down. Gently… Carefully…

At first, he thought it wouldn't work, but slowly, Harry's soul morphed, extended, and finally slipped into the container. Danny capped it -
And collapsed. Just for a moment…

…
'No… Not yet.'
Mind clear of emotions - just for the moment - he flew back up to the office.

...

Everything was a blur after that: Lots of terms, names, and legal jargon tossed around; planning for how to keep panic to a minimum; what should be done with Harry's soul, with Danny, with Black, with "The media, Dumbledore…!"

Finally, the Minister was somewhere between satisfied - and panicking over how behind on his schedule he was, and he left. Dumbledore sighed, sat down at his desk, and there were a few moments of blessed silence.

Danny was staring at the glowing bottle in his hand.
"... I fear I must apologize."

Danny looked up. The Headmaster had always looked old, but Danny'd never seen him… frail.

"I assumed you were dangerous because of your species. Given my experiences with such things, I really ought to-"
"Don't apologize."
Dumbledore smiled. "You really are a caring-"
"- I'm an outlier. What you did - the way you treated me… You did the right thing. If I had been any other phantasm…" His voice failed him.

'No. Not yet.'
He focused on a table in the corner.
It had some weird, silvery machine on it.

Dumbledore frowned, but didn't comment.

"The soul," he said instead. "It will need to be protected. I believe it would be safest if it was left with me."
Danny looked back at the elder wizard. He tried - desperately tried - to come up with some form of protest.
But…
No. He was right. The man had done nothing but protect his students the entire time Danny had known him. Meanwhile, how many times had he failed his friends?

Once was enough.

Danny handed Harry's soul over.

Dumbledore started asking many questions after that - about him personally and phantasms in general. Danny just told him to "Ask Lupin" and phased out of the office.
He was so tired. Just… Just TIRED.

But when he got back to his Pipe-Room - and saw the still-open bag of substitute-souls…

Danny's eyes glowed a menacing, poisonous green.
" . . . "

Snatching up the bag, Danny flew through the network of tunnels - until he got to the Chamber of Secrets.

"CLOCKWORK!" His energy-infused voice echoed deafeningly, "I KNOW YOU'RE LISTENING! So ANSWER me!"
He threw the bag at the wall.

Several of the bottles shattered, glowing-green liquid dripping down the wall like blood.

Tears were streaking down Danny's face now, "Why?! WHY DID YOU SEND ME HERE!?"
He punched a hole in one of the already-scarred-and-burned pillars.
"You could've done this yourself! And NOTHING bad would've happened to ANYBODY! So WHY?! For 'experience'?!"
This time, the pillar shattered.

". . ."
Danny floated down to the ground - and sat with his back resting against the pillar's remains.
"... Why would you send a damn predator…
"- a spirit-eater -
"… to save people…?"

.

"..."

.

"... Heh. Why did I think you'd answer me…?
… You never do…"

. . .

He was… Just so tired.
His eyes started drifting shut. But…

'Why is there a nest-? Oh.'
Buckbeak. In all of the confusion, he'd almost forgotten the hippogriff.

It was a remarkably quick, uneventful trip.

...

He'd find out much of what happened later from Ron and Hermione.
The rest of the student body - of the entire magic society - was under the impression that Harry Potter had been the victim of a "close-call" and would be taking a few months off with his newly-declared-innocent godfather to recover.
While there was a manhunt going on for Peter Pettigrew, the true criminal.

Just about everyone else was happy: exams were over, there was another Hogsmeade Weekend coming up, and the dementors were being sent back to Azkaban where they belonged! And if Hermione and Ron were dispirited - well, of course they were. Their friend had gotten hurt!

Buckbeak was assumed (in the official story, anyway) to have flown off on his own. (Lupin and Hagrid worked together to find a way to set the creature free in his natural habitat.)
Malfoy was furious that the phantasm had "probably eaten" the hippogriff - that he and his father had been "outwitted by a creature!"

If there was anything that was bringing the other students down, it was that Lupin was resigning as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Snape, the Potions teacher, evidently disliked Lupin and had revealed his status as a werewolf. Apparently, students' parents were not comfortable with that.

But if they were unnerved by a werewolf teacher, they were at least equally unhappy about the presence of a phantasm inside the school. Danny couldn't stay there.
But Dumbledore didn't want him far away, as Danny was the only one they knew of who could even potentially return Harry's soul to his body.
Sirius, saying he owed him, agreed to take Danny in. And as Harry's newly closest relative, Sirius was given Harry's belongings.

But before he could leave the school, Danny needed, desperately needed, to complete at least one part of his mission successfully. And now that the school-year was over, he could do it.

Without hurting his friend!

...

McGonagall briefly greeted the Ministry official outside the school entrance. Then simply handed them an envelope, and they went their separate ways.
Invisible, Danny flew down to them. Thankfully, they had put the envelope in their pocket, and weren't still holding it - where they would've felt the loss of weight.
Reaching intangibly inside their robe, Danny snatched one of the items.

That he was sent here to steal.
By order of the Observants.
A mission "FAR more important than some silly horcruxes!"

One time-turner down.
An entire cabinet-full to go.

.

Ghost Zone - Observants' Council - One week before Danny's mission began

The room was large, and every seat was filled by a member of the Council. Most were Observants. Their appearance - just a giant, green eyeball for a head - continued to weird Danny out.

Odin, the Guarder of Knowledge - and Clockwork's brother - shuffled the papers on his podium.
"I believe that covers just about everything. Only one item remains. Clockwork?"

Standing, Clockwork spoke, "Yes, Brother?"
"We have a mission for you and your…" He gave a hesitant glance at Danny, "apprentice."

Looking up, Danny thought Clockwork might be glaring slightly - but it quickly disappeared.
He bowed, "Of course. It is my duty and pleasure to serve the Council."

"You are aware of the anomalies that have occurred because of the Magic Society you have an… agreement with?"
There was outbreak of nervous and angry murmurs from the Observants.
Clockwork remained stoic, "Yes, I am."

Odin was openly glaring now.
"They have broken their contract. You are to inform them of as much and to retrieve the time manipulating devices you supplied them with."

Clockwork nodded. Danny could've sworn he was smirking.
"Of course. We'll get right on that."

If you like this, please SHARE it!

That does it for Arc 1. Tell me what you think!

Arc 2 should be coming out some time in the Spring or Summer of 2020, but fanart might make me write faster. ;)
If you just can't wait that long for more, you can always send me a request for my One-Shot Wednesdays! I won't give you big spoilers, but you can get some extra scenes that way, lol. (Look on my profile for info on how requests work!)

Finally, I have a couple announcements:

First, the poll to vote for the next OSWs is up! You can find the current poll on my Tumblr ("CiestessDE"), Twitter ("Ciestess"), or my website (crossroadofinfinity. com)

Second, I'll be on vacation for the next couple of weeks. Getting all these chapters out AND working on setting up everything for my original content has… REALLY worn me out.
I'm glad you all have enjoyed this fic so far, and I hope I can continue making stuff you like for a long time! ^^

Happy Reading! 3