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There were a lot of things that were slightly off about Danny Phantom. It took Harry longer than he would like to admit to notice those things. When he brought it up to Hermione and Ron, Hermione just shot him a look and Ron gave a shrug that said ‘well duh.’ To be fair, Ron was a lot more used to the strange and peculiar than Harry and Hermione, nevermind it had been five years since the two of them were first introduced to the wizarding world.
There were the weird traits Harry had noticed before, toxic green eyes, blue tinted skin, and what surprised Harry the most, his ability to become tangible. There were also a few things Harry had picked up on over time. Most notably, Danny still breathed.
Harry had first noticed it when the four of them were studying in the library. Or well, Harry was trying his best to study, Hermione was making a study plan for Ron, Ron was trying not to nod off as Hermione went over all the subjects he would fit in the next couple hours, and Danny was flickering in and out of visibility while flipping through a book of his own. Danny was hovering above the three of them, which was a distraction for Harry.
Danny came back into the visible spectrum and flipped a couple pages of his textbook. It looked like algebra, which was weird he was doing homework given Danny’s disdain for anything academic.
Harry watched his hazy form, finding it more interesting than preparing for the latest transfiguration test. He hoped inspiration would come from the rhythmic cycle of pages turning and the up and down of his chest. Wait, what?
“Are you breathing?” Harry blurted out.
Ron and Hermione quieted.
Danny looked down. “Yeah, why? What-cha gonna ask me next? Am I blinking?”
“Why are you breathing? You’re dead,” Harry said.
Danny made a show of acting surprised at the act of his floating. “Really? I’m dead? Gee, I hadn’t noticed. Have you considered I breath and act human because I like to? Rude.”
Danny slammed his book shut and winked out of existence.
Hermione hit Harry with a book, thankfully she was holding a small one.
“Ow!” Harry rubbed the back of his head. “What was that for?”
“You know what.”
Danny also had some interesting physical traits that other ghosts lacked. It wasn’t just the presence of color in his skin and eyes. He had pointed ears that took Harry longer than he would like to admit to notice. They were hanging out in the Gryffindor Common Room when Harry noticed something else. Technically, ghosts other than House Ghosts weren’t allowed in the Common Rooms, but Ron had thrown his cloak over Phantom and Hermione put a hat on him that she knitted for the House Elves. A few people shot them glances, but a quick glare from Ginny and the threat of a Bat-Boogey Hex made sure no one snitched.
They were laughing over some dumb joke. Ron had been doing Umbridge impressions.
“Good morning, students,” Ron said in a scratchy voice. “We won’t need wands today, no practice necessary. If you run into a Death Eater, just put your hands over your ears, close your eyes, and pretend they’re not there! It’s not like they’re around anymore.”
Danny snorted.
“That’s a good one, Ron.” Hermione laughed.
“Not as good as that Filch scarecrow you did, Danny,” Ron said. “How did you pull it off?”
“Fred and George made the scarecrow, and I haunted it,” Danny said.
“You haunted it?” Ginny asked.
“Yeah, it’s just an inanimate object, very easy. Then I did the voice.” Danny smirked. “Evil cHIldren! PUNish them!”
Danny and Ron started doing impressions together of how Filch and Umbridge were secretly in love.
While laughing, Harry noticed something glint in Danny’s mouth. Something sharp.
“Do you have fangs?” Harry asked, genuinely curious.
Danny slapped a hand over his mouth. “Nuh-uh. No clue what you’re talking about.” Then he flickered out of sight.
Ginny groaned. “Way to go, Harry, I was just about to start my Snape impression.”
“I don’t know why he’s embarrassed. They’re cool.” Harry wasn’t sure why it was such a big deal. Sure, it wasn’t normal for a ghost, but this is Hogwarts after all, the concept of normal is very skewed.
“He’s a muggle ghost, remember? Muggles are weird about magical things,” Ron said.
“Yes, but he’s a ghost, in a castle that doubles as a school of magic. Surely a pair of fangs wouldn’t bother him,” Hermione argued. “It can’t be the most absurd aspect of himself.”
“Who knows. Muggles are weird. Dad says a bunch of them want to date vampires because of this new muggle book and it’s flooding his office with paperwork trying to distinguish between muggles pretending to be vampires to date other muggles or actual vampires trying to date muggles to suck their blood easier,” Ginny added, ending the debate.
“I can see how that would pose a problem.”
“Maybe he would be less self-conscious if someone wrote a book on how sexy ghosts are. Like a journalist who has experience embellishing stories.”
They turned to look at Hermione.
She flushed red. “I am not threatening Rita Skeeter into writing a ripoff of Twilight for ghosts!” She paused. “I already used my blackmail on her.”
Another thing that was weird about Danny Phantom was that he could eat food. The Gryffindor gang had discovered that when Phantom had snatched some of Ron’s every flavor beans and tried a few. Only Ginny remained unsurprised. She explained Luna and Phantom occasionally had tea and biscuits and chatted about the occult. Phantom said that non-magical ghosts didn’t need human food to survive, but a few enjoyed the privilege of eating it from time to time. One of the many things wizarding ghosts were jealous about.
Harry was sneaking around the corridors after hours when he ran into Phantom.
Both Phantom and himself were caught off guard at seeing each other.
“Don’t you have a curfew?” Phantom wiped his face quickly. He was holding a thermos that he had been drinking out of, and he had gotten some of the bright green and glowing substance, for lack of better word, on his face.
“So? Don’t you stay in America?”
Phantom shrugged. “Fair enough, stick it to the man. I’m just here because Myrtle said she could show me a cool snake skeleton in the bathroom. Apparently it’s huge!”
“Be careful,” Harry said. “That’s a Basilisk. Their fangs are super venomous.”
Phantom and Harry still hadn’t brought up his fangs again, so Harry was surprised when Danny said “same.”
“Really?”
“Nah, I just like messing with my friends.”
Harry eyed the thermos of suspiciously glowing goop. “What’s in there?”
Danny winced. “A smoothie?”
“Can I try?” Harry figured it might be a new product from Honeydukes, or maybe one of Fred and George’s concoctions.
“Nope! Uh, it’s not exactly safe for humans, I don’t think.” Danny floated towards the ceiling, out of Harry’s reach.
“Why are you drinking it then?” Harry asked.
“Remember when I said ghosts don’t need human food to stick around?”
Harry nodded.
“Well, non magical ghosts need ectoplasm to stay whole and sane,” Danny explained. “Most ghosts can sustain themselves off of the ambient ectoplasm in the atmosphere, however more powerful ghosts need more so they typically stay in the ghost zone where everything is ectoplasm and they can absorb it better.”
Harry wrinkled his nose. “Ectoplasm is what ghosts are made out of, right? Isn’t that cannibalism?”
Danny made a face. “I’m trying to ignore that. Ectoplasm makes up everything in the Ghost Zone, so it’s not as weird as it sounds, but it still is gross.”
“Why are you drinking it then?”
“It takes a lot of energy to be this cool. I don’t spend a lot of time in the Ghost Zone, so if I want to keep floating around without losing my mind, I have to drink this.” He shook his thermos.
“What’s it taste like?”
“Ranch 2.”