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queenofhearts7378 · 1 year

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Constellations Ch. 5

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Chapter Titles include: *Captain America PSA voice* So you've witnessed your first ghost attack, Baby's first battle, What literally everyone has been waiting for, Guess Who? Ghost Edition, and Sam Judo flips Draco. Buckle in this is a long one folks.

(Notes: Just a reminder that Danny spent a whole summer with the Malfoy’s before GoF. As such, I didn't think it felt right if all of Draco’s interactions in the book were exactly the same. So there were definitely some changes through the year, including him not being as big of a jerk.

Danny made him think about things.

….He was still a jerk though.)

..........

A week after Danny left Malfoy Manor, Draco’s parents took him to the Quidditch World Cup.

It was thrilling, as it always was. His father had made sure they had top box seats, as the Minister's personal guests even, with a sizable donation to St. Mungo's.

But all Draco could think of was that it would be a lot more fun if Danny had been with him.

He could have talked to Danny about the tactics and strategies they were using in the game. About the differences between school and professional games.

Danny probably would have laughed at the mascots brought out and told him another wild story from his hometown.

He hadn't even noticed Potter and his friends till the minister was showing him off like a prized owl. Draco rolled his eyes and ignored them.

Maybe it was better Danny hadn't come. He'd be insisting to meet Draco's "arch enemy". He found Draco’s hatred of the Gryffindors comical.

The match and the whole trip back to the luxury temporary house his parents had commissioned weeks before, were nothing but a whirlwind Draco didn't quite remember. It had been a relief to escape into the charmed house, where none of the partying outside could be heard.

The next thing Draco knew, his mother was pulling him out of bed.

"Get up Draco." She ordered. "Dress quickly and follow me."

His mother was waiting by the door by the time he made it down the stairs. It was only opened an inch, but Draco could hear the screams and spell fire coming from outside.

His mother looked at him, her hand on the door. "I'm going to get Lucius. Wait for us just inside the tree line."

Draco felt like a rock had suddenly dropped in his stomach. "Where's Father?"

"Don't worry about that," she said softly. She leaned forward to cup his face. "Wait for us, and stay out of the way."

And Draco did as she asked. He followed the crowd, till he made it to the forest. From there he wandered just in the tree line till he found a hidden clearing with a view to the camp grounds.

His back hit a tree and he grabbed his elbows, slowly sliding to the forest floor, for once not caring about the leaves and dirt that would get all over his expensive robes. All he could think about was "What if Danny had come with?"

He wasn't stupid, he knew what was happening as he saw flashes of red and green and a family of muggles spinning above pointed wands. He knew exactly who was out there. A dark head flopped forward and Draco felt his stomach twist into knots.

That could have been his brother.

There was a part of Draco that always….knew this was how muggles and squib were treated by some wixen. It was a mindset he had always known, this is how muggles were supposed to be treated. It was what he was raised on.

And Danny….Danny was such a muggle. He never hid his upbringing, always going on about the things he did and how different it was in the wizarding world. He gladly called himself a squib, a defiant look in his eyes as if he was taking the almost slur and reclaiming it as something to be proud of.

That could've been Danny. But he's safe.

He's safe.

For the first time in his life, Draco hated being a pureblood.

He's safe.

Draco sat there against the tree with the words thudding in ears as the sounds of the battle grew fainter and fainter. He was absolutely lost in his head till Weasley tripped over his big feet and landed in front of him.

And he couldn't stop himself from replying back, followed by Weasley swearing at him vulgarly.

Potter and Granger were right behind him. Granger had crossed her arms and frowned at him, while Potter seemed to gear up for a fight.

He's safe.

Normally, Draco would be all too willing to knock Potter’s ego down a couple of notches. But he was just….not feeling it that night.

(It had absolutely nothing to do with how-for a moment- Draco saw someone else standing in Potter’s place. And nothing to do with the fleeting thought that if Danny had been with him-)

He's safe.

"You should go, Potter." Draco muttered turning away from the stupid trio, "You wouldn't want to find out what they do to muggleborns."

They snipped at him some more before walking away, Weasley giving him one last unreadable look before they were out of sight.

(“Did either of you notice something….off about him?”

“Yeah. He didn’t insult us or try to fight Harry.”

“Well, yes but....he didn’t call me a Mudblood.”

“....Okay that is weird. Heh, who knows? Maybe he grew a conscious over the summer. That’d take a miracle though.”

“Who cares, it’s still Malfoy. He’s still a prat.”

“Oh yeah, definitely.”)

"He's safe." Draco reminded himself, as the last of the screaming faded from earshot.

….

CRASH

Draco whipped around, wand already in his hand. Danny caught his wrist and shoved it down.

"Dude I thought you were trying to keep the wizard thing on the down low."

"What?!" Draco shrieked, "We're being attacked!"

"Yeah I know, we were just talking about this a second ago."

"I believe you called it an 'illogical paranoia'." Sam drawled.

"We just call that Monday!" Tucker added brightly.

"And any other day that ends in 'Y'." She said.

Tucker finger gunned and clicked his tongue in agreement. Draco looked at them in disbelief. And then he noticed everyone else.

During the Death Eater attack at the World Cup, everyone had been running and screaming. Either away from, or towards the chaos.

Draco could still hear smashing sounds, faint screams, and the occasional cackling coming from the other side of the block, but it was….muted, half-hearted.

Many of the others on the street seemed more annoyed than anything. Checking their phones and either turning in a different direction, or stopping on the side walks to complain about their way home being blocked off for the next hour and, "I've got laundry to do Kathy, my washing machine had better be fine or I'm gonna riot."

(There were maybe one or two others, seeming to experience about the same amount of scared/confused anxiety he was experiencing. They were either being laughed at or sent pitying glances and Draco suddenly remembered being called an outsider multiple times. He thinks he is finally starting to understand what they mean.

He does not like it.)

Sam dropped her backpack, pulled out a book, and settled on the curbside.

He gave a what-are-doing-and-why-are-we-not-running-away gesture that she luckily understood.

"If we freaked out about a ghost every time one attacked we'd never get anything done." Sam rolled her eyes, "People in the blast zone get out. We stay here, out of the way. Everyone else goes about their business and plans around the attack."

Draco turned to Danny to talk some sense into him, or forcibly drag him away from the concerning crashing sounds, and about had a heart attack when he couldn't see him anywhere.

Panicked, he turned back to Sam and asked, "Where's Danny?!"

She didn't even bother looking at him before deadpanning, "Bathroom."

He wasn't sure what kind of face he made at her, but she rolled her eyes at him and shut her book. "Relax Draco, this happens all the time."

He scowled at her, "I'm going to go find him."

"By the Ancients, you're as bad as Danny." She groaned into her book before leaping up and going after him. "Seriously Draco, you're not gonna find him. You're only going to get yourself hurt!"

She darted in front of him, spreading her arms out as if that would actually stop him. He tried to move her out of the way, she grabbed his wrist, and the next thing he knew he was on his back trying to get all the breath that had been knocked out of him back into his lungs.

Sam leaned over him. "We need. To stay. Here. Where Danny and Tucker can find us when they get back. If I have to knock you out to keep you safe then I will. I promised Danny I'd look after you, despite how much I want to throw you to the wolves and leave you to fend for yourself."

"What is your problem?!" Draco spit out as he sat up.

"You." She said bluntly, "And everything you and your family stand for. You're everything I hate in a person. An elitist, classist, racist, bullying coward who'd rather run away or hide behind daddy's money than actually face his problems."

She squatted down to look him in the eye, "I have been surrounded by you old blood money types since before I was born. I know the type. I have walked those gilded paths, danced those marble halls, and been fed those silver spoons. I've been in your shoes before and I despised who I saw in the mirror."

Sam let out a breath, "But Danny vouches for you, and I trust Danny. He sees so much good in everyone, and I've seen people abuse that time and time again. Including rich assholes. Don't be the reason he gets hurt again or I'll do more than knock you out of breath."

She stood back up and held her hand out to help him up. He stared at her for a moment, before grimacing and accepting the hand. "I have no intention of hurting him."

"You'd be surprised at the amount of people that hurt him despite intentions." She muttered darkly. "You getting hurt would hurt Danny. Please stay away from ghost fights."

As soon as she said that, a black and white blur shot past them and crashed into a parked car. An audible groan echoed across the quickly clearing street.

You see, while Draco was distracted by Sam, Danny had dragged Tucker to the nearby alley and threw himself in the dumpster.

"There are so many ways I could make fun of you for this," Tucker said as a flash of light came from the cracks in the dumpster, "But I'm just too shocked at you showing even the slightest hint of caution regarding your secret identity."

Phantom phased his head out of the top, "What are you talking about? I'm always careful!"

"Me and Sam have a running bet on how long it takes before you blow your secret in front of Draco, Mister stands-on-top-of-the-nearest-available-surface-and-shouts-his-catchphrase."

Phantom crossed his arms as he floated out of the dumpster. "Okay there is no way I'm that bad."

Tucker gave him a flat look. "Just yesterday you threw yourself out of Vlad's office window, and transformed on the way down. Leapt off the picnic table at lunch, while shouting your catchphrase, in the middle of lunch. Oh also when we were just walking down the street and you jumped on a car, ran across it, and then threw yourself off with a fancy flip while transforming mid air."

Phantom floated there with a sheepish look.

"Yeah I'm honestly baffled you even have a secret identity still. You're as good at being discreet as you are dodging."

"I can dodge," Phantom muttered as he picked up Tucker and flew them through the building to get to the fight.

The universe decided to prove Tucker's point by sending several floppy disks directly into Phantom's face as soon as he appeared on the other side of the building.

They both yelped, Tucker throwing his arms and legs around Phantom before he could be dropped on the pavement several stories below.

"You suck!" Tucker hissed into Phantom's collarbone.

Phantom narrowed his eyes before abruptly turning intangible right above a car with a convenient mattress strapped to the top.

Tucker screamed at the sudden free fall, and then screamed obscenities at Phantom once he stopped bouncing.

Phantom cracked his knuckles, "All right now who's-oh great."

"I am TECHNUS! Maniacal master of the mechanical! Wizard of the interior circuitry, and RULER of the ELECTRICAL GRID!"

"Is that a new speech?" Tucker asked the ghost.

"It is! Thank you for noticing, Ghost Child's more technologically inclined friend!"

"It's an improvement! I liked the maniacal master part." Tucker gave Technus a thumbs up, before settling down on the car mattress to absolutely destroy him digitally.

Technus had already made a three armed, three legged mech suit from what looked to be just desktop computers and their various accessories. Which was weird because he usually just ripped anything vaguely tech powered from the vicinity.

(Many college students with finals coming up were grabbing their weaponry to fight for their papers, or drowning their sorrows in the nearest, cheapest liquid. They all had backups upon backups stashed around Amity and Elmore of course, this wasn't the first time Technus attacked near finals. But it was the principal of the matter and they'd rather just beat a ghost for their laptop back, rather than go through the 20 step process of recovering their work.)

The monitors made up his main body, his digital face shining out of each individual one giving him a vaguely eldritch look with all the eyes and cackling mouths. The towers made up the bulk of the limbs, with those old Webcams making up the joints. The keyboards came together to form four pronged claws on the three arms and the whole thing was wrapped in the various cords and mouses to hold it together. It was 3 stories tall and crackling with electricity at the plug-in prongs.

"I see you've decided to go with the Electronics Section from Goodwill look!" Phantom quipped as he shot forward slamming his feet into one of the arm joints and knocking it to the ground. "So what's the evil plan for today, and can we hurry up? I have stuff to do."

"That stuff is meeting your demise!" Technus yelled as he caught Phantom and threw him into one of the buildings. "For I have a new secret weapon!" The cords reached out from the stump Phantom had just made and reattached the arm back in place.

Phantom shook his head free of rubble, before flying back up, fists glowing with ecto energy. "Oh I'm sure it's a blast!" He said, shooting ectoblasts at the various monitors.

He heard Tucker booing from the ground, "You need new jokes!"

Technus laughed wildly as he swiped at Phantom like a pesky bug, "Behold! I will control the social media platforms of the internet! I will be THE hippest thing since The Beatles!"

Phantom paused his attack to stare at him, "Dude how old are you?"

"IRRELEVANT!" Technus shouted as he slammed a hand down on Phantom, shoving him down into the road. "You cannot stop me, Ghost Child! Not once I use the power of MYSPACE!!"

Phantom grunted, legs and arms bracing against the cobbled together claw to keep the sparking plugs away from his face as they tried to zap him. "You have gotta be kidding me."

Tucker shook his head, "Dude you are so OUTDATED!"

"WHAT?!?!" Technus screeched. Phantom used Tucker's distraction to go intangible into the ground, before popping back up next to a furiously typing Tucker.

"Not to sound ungrateful but could you hurry it up a little?" Phantom hissed.

"You could give me a hand. Oh wait, you stink at firewalls." Tucker shot back, eyes not leaving the screen. Phantom made a strangled sound and Tucker looked up to see him wrapped in various colored cords trying to choke him.

"Sor-ry," Phantom gasped, "L'il….tied up."

Technus yanked him back and twirled him like a lasso, before launching him through a house leaving Phantom shaped holes in the walls.

"Ouch." Tucker winced, "Don't think the pun deserved that."

Technus cackled his mad scientist cackle and took off in the direction he just yeeted Phantom.

Tucker slid off the car and started jogging after them. With his eyes on his PDA, he almost tripped over Sam and Draco when he made it to the other street.

Draco was staring open-mouthed at the Phantom shaped lump currently pulling himself out of a car.

"Dude, MY CAR!" A guy wailed from his apartment window.

Phantom floated upwards, rubbing the back of his head, an annoyed look on his face, "Bill it to the mayor."

Phantom dodged the floppy disks, and keyboard button projectiles Technus started shooting at him.

Tucker yelped and dived behind a mailbox to avoid the collateral. Sam pulled Draco to the ground behind one of the parked cars as Draco pulled out his wand and casted a quick protego.

Sam didn't blink at the magic. Draco though, was definitely freaking out about whatever was happening.

"What are those things?!"

She gave him a look full of disbelief, "They're ghosts."

"Those are not ghosts!!!" Draco protested rather shrilly, giving a very good impression of Pamela Manson at the last PTA meeting.

Unfortunately, this impression also attracted the attention of Technus. "You must be new!"

The giant mech dropped down on the car Draco and Sam were hiding behind. Sam swore as glass scattered the ground, and tried tugging Draco away from the possessed tech. The mech leaned over the two teens, Draco’s wand shaking in his hands as he casted stupefy.

The magic bounced harmlessly off the tech and Technus let out a delighted laugh. "A little witchling! It's been ages since I've seen one of your kind! Wait-."

The mech leaned forward and Sam hissed, kicking the screens with her combat boots. She shoved Draco behind her and pulled up her fists in a fighting pose. “Back off you Matrix knockoff!”

All of Technus’s screens focused on Draco, sending a shiver down his spine as the red eyes shined through the glass. “Your new friend looks so familiar! Have they ever been on TV?”

“I don't even know what that is.” Draco said from behind Sam.

That apparently shocked the tech ghost enough that he physically reared back in surprise. This gave Phantom the opening needed to grab an arm and yank him further back, dragging the mech several meters across the street.

“Memory problems?” Phantom yanked him one more time, before launching himself towards the main screens, “Maybe you just need a reboot!”

Technus screeched as Phantom landed the hit, static warping his voice as several of the screens broke, sending more glass down onto the street. Draco cast another protego to keep the worst of it from them as Sam pulled him further down the street and away from the….creatures fighting. Sam grabbed her backpack as the two of them ran to where Tucker was huddled behind the blue mailbox, tapping furiously at his PDA.

Draco ripped his arm away from Sam’s grip, again, and kept his wand up as he watched the fight in disbelief. He yelled in shock as lightning struck the ground near to where they were.

There was a giant crash, more staticky screeching, and then a black and white blur shot towards them. A freezing arm wrapped around his and Sam’s waist, and Draco shrieked in terror as they were suddenly flying fast as a broomstick into the air. He didn’t have time to attack the creature before the two of them were dropped on a nearby rooftop.

Draco sat on the roof, eyes wide as he got a good look at the human looking creature claiming to be a ghost.

He could feel the waves of cold pulsing from the slightly glowing figure, the only thing Draco could recognize as ghostly. A black and white suit made of unrecognizable material, snow white hair floated in a nonexistent breeze. Their eyes were as vibrant green as the killing curse and Draco’s mouth went dry.

This was not a ghost. It couldn't be.

“You’ll be safe here.” They said, legs no longer below the waist and just a silver wisp of a tail, whipping back and forth in agitation.

Then they were gone, leaving Draco sitting on a roof with shaky legs and a head full of questions.

Phantom shot towards Technus once again, eyes and fists glowing a furious ice blue, “Ever had your Windows freeze on you?” He froze the ground around the legs, the ice trapping Technus in that one spot.

Technus tried tugging the leg out, but the ice held. “Foolish child! This cannot stop me! Nothing will prevent me from taking over the MySpace!”

Tucker came running up to Phantom, something small clutched in his hands, “Danny! Catch!”

He chucked the small black rectangle towards the hero. Phantom swooped down and grabbed it. He held up the USB and grinned. “You’re the best Tuck. Go help Sam keep an eye on Drake.”

Tucker gave a two finger salute and took off towards the fire escape.

Technus pulsed with electricity, weakening the ice enough to break free, before charging at Phantom and swatting him into the road. Phantom grunted in pain, but shot at the joint of the claw with an ectoblast and wrenched it off. He twisted around the cords that shot out towards him before landing on the biggest screen, his fingers clutching onto the edge.

“You have any tissues?” Danny asked with a wide grin.

“What?" Technus sounded flabbergasted at the non sequitur, "Why would I need tissues?”

“Don’t you know?” Phantom held up the USB, “There’s a virus going around!”

And then he jammed it between Technus’s digital eyes.

The thing about Technus, is that when he possesses tech, it becomes ridiculously malleable. It’s why he’s able to surround himself with giant robot suits built entirely out of the useless junk from your garage. It also means that any new tech can just automatically absorb into the amalgamation, no need to search for usable ports.

Technus screeched that staticky screech once again, the noise suddenly turning to the dread inducing dial up noise as all the screen went blue one by one. As soon as the last screen went blue, all of the tech shut down. The mech suit collapsed into its original parts and Technus was forced out, spinning head over heels in the air.

Technus held his head, clearly dizzy, and sneezed three times in a row. Phantom uncapped the thermos and pointed it at him, “I recommend a few weeks of bed rest.” And then he sucked Technus in as the ghost sneezed his objections.

Phantom let out a sigh as he capped it, wincing at property damage left from this fight. “Vlad is going to take this out on me for sure.”

He caught sight of Sam, Tucker, and Draco on the fire escape of the building and panicked for a moment before diving into the adjacent dark alley and straight into the dumpster once again.

He was getting really good at recognizing familiar dumpsters.

Danny winced as the bruises started making themselves known, twinging with the movement of Danny throwing the lid open to crawl out. Looking up, he saw Draco’s perturbed face.

The two of them stared at each other for a moment.

“So!” Danny said, putting on his best Captain America PSA voice, “You witnessed your first ghost attack.”

“You’re in a dumpster.” Draco said in disgust.

Something squished underneath Danny’s shoes as he shifted his weight and he winced, “Uh, yeah.”

He gripped the lip of the dumpster and pulled himself up. His ribs immediately protested and he winced. This made his hand slip onto an unknown slippery substance, causing him to lose his grip and he flipped over and landed flat on the pavement.

“Ohhhh, that’s gonna bruise,” Danny wheezed to himself.

Tucker laughed at him. Sam rolled her eyes. Draco looked like he wanted to help Danny up, but he was not gonna touch Danny after being in the dumpster.

Draco pulled out his wand and casted the single cleaning spell he knew to rid Danny of any dumpster juices he acquired.

"Thanks Drake," Danny said as he stood up, "But aren't you gonna get in trouble for using so much magic around non-magicals?"

Draco narrowed his eyes, "I'm sure it could be excused after…..whatever that was. You said it was safe here." He accused him quietly.

Sam and Tucker suddenly looked like they'd rather be anywhere else but there.

Danny winced at them before dragging Draco deeper into the alley, Sam and Tucker taking up spots on the corners to play lookout and stay out of the twin's talk.

"It is safe here." Danny said.

"That was not safe!!!" Draco hissed, waving his arms much like Wes did when you got him going on a good rant. "That!? We were being attacked by those-those….those creatures!!"

"Ghosts." Danny snapped, "I've been telling you for over a year! And only one of them attacked us! Phantom was trying to stop him!"

"Ghosts don't look like that!" Draco stressed, "They're pale echoes leftover from life! They're grey and can't touch anything and they can't-they can't do things like grab me!"

Draco wasn't going to admit that that was what had scared him more than anything. Ghosts had always been non-threatening to him, save for whatever gossip they could overhear and their ability to spy through solid walls. But ultimately, they couldn't touch him, so they couldn't hurt him.

(Peeves did not count. He was an incorrigible prankster that manipulated his surroundings, rather than interacting directly with humans. A nuisance, much like getting some gum stuck on the bottom of your shoe.)

Danny huffed out a breath, "Drake, did it ever occur to you that there were different types of ghosts?"

Draco sneered at him, "I know that, probably better than whatever muggle nonsense has been shoved in your head."

Danny had to turn around and count to ten because he was pretty sure he would've flashed his eyes at Draco. He pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Ghosts are a wizard thing Danny." Draco said, less antagonistic.

"They're really not." Danny rolled his eyes and looked back at his brother. "Look, just because we don't have magic, doesn't mean we don't still see it."

"But wizards-"

"Can't erase everything magical. There's too many humans, too many animals, too much history to just….blank it out."

Danny blew out a breath. "Amity is….weird. It's always been weird, it's one of the reasons Mom and Dad settled here. From what they could find out, it's like ley line central and surrounded by crossroads and full of ambient ectoplasm, which makes it the perfect weak point for ghosts to cross between realms. And ever since they made that portal…."

Danny remembers growing up in Amity pre-Accident. Shadows were always darker than other places. Whispers in places no one was. The town library had an entire wing dedicated to rituals and summonings, and the constant urban legends that sprung up at the slightest hint of the paranormal.

(Sydney Pointdexter's haunted locker legend had been going for over 70 years. Danny didn't hear about it only because whenever he or Jazz heard the word 'haunted' they immediately tuned the person out. It was a side effect of years of being subjected to their parent's lectures on ghosts. He loves them but there's only so much he can take in at a time.)

Amity Park had always had its roots in the dark, creepy, and dead. The 'Nice Place to Live' sign had always been an inside joke to the town, which supported the highest number of abandoned warehouses, cults, and ghost sightings in America.

Opening the portal and solidifying the bridge between the two realms just allowed Amity Park to fully showcase just how weird they can get.

And get the tourist money for being weird.

"Look can you just-" Danny ran his hands through his hair. "Can you just trust that we know what we're doing? We've been dealing with the ghosts for over a year now. Wizards aren't here dealing with this, we are. Just cause we don't have magic doesn't mean we're helpless."

Draco stared at him, and Danny could see how tense he was. And Danny wondered yet again just what had happened while they were separated that was making Draco this scared.

Draco clenched his jaw as his eyes flitted around the alley. "You'll explain things to me. Properly." He demanded, rather than asked like a normal person would.

Danny looked at him, "If you do the same, yeah."

Draco nodded. "Yes. Fine."

"Alright, good."

The two of them stared at each other awkwardly for a moment. Danny finally let out a sigh, turning to walk out of the alley. "Okay, let's head home."

..........

Tag list: @ladylynse @burningprincesssuit @raisa3ibex @random-shit-writing @home-of-renn @who-needs-braincells @connisk @thecatchat

#how we feeling folks?#literally NO ONE guessed the correct ghost smh #i guess i'm doing good at surprising you guys #fyi this is actually much longer in my drafts but i had to spilt it up because this is almost 5k and i still have the whole fenton works #thing i want to do with the parents and that one scene that has been living in my head rent free since chapter 1 #danny phantom #danny fenton #queen will write #crossover #draco malfoy #sam manson #tucker foley #also i stand by the headcanon that amity is super weird and its always been weird even before the portal #my amity is basically the love child of metropolis and gotham that was dropped in the part of america where everyone smiles at you #constellations #my fics #dp twin au #harry potter #okay fine....take your guest appearance of the golden trio and then say bye

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