Okay, just quickly before we get started- for the sake of context, this first scene takes place at the beginning of Harry's fourth year, while the rest of the fic will take place over the course of the fifth Harry Potter book, and after the Danny Phantom episode D-Stabilized, assuming that several months have passed since then but Phantom Planet has not taken place.

Okay, that's all! Happy reading!

No Rest for the Wicked

Chapter One- Over My Dead Body

The ghosts of Hogwarts were generally a quiet bunch. Content in their reclusive tendencies, they kept to themselves and spoke only to those who spoke to them- excepting those such as the resident house ghosts and, of course, the poltergeist Peeves. Their presence was announced by way of a distinct everlasting hum of soft chatter and a vague sensation of someone looking over your shoulder. It was, in a strange way, comforting- so when, on a stormy night, the hum fell silent and the sensation faded, it was felt instantly by all.

Gathered in the great hall the next day, the students seemed subdued, even worried, as they picked at their lunch, though none of them could quite gather why. With the other schools' competitors for the Triwizard Tournament arriving in just three short weeks it wasn't as if they didn't have anything to talk about but for whatever reason they simply couldn't bring themselves to be excited; even though few of them had ever been truly close to any of the ghosts save for Nearly Headless Nick.

The teachers eyed them curiously, casting glances at each other along the table. The absence of the spectral residents was felt by them as well, but with no precedent to work with they were at a loss.

"What do you suppose they're doing?" At the Gryffindor table Hermione faced her two closest friends, both sitting across from her, sounding not so much worried as curious.

"What?" Ron asked dumbly, looking up from his plate.

"The ghosts, you mean?" Harry spoke up from beside him.

Hermione nodded. "Well, if they're not here, they've got to have a good reason for it- I doubt any of them would simply leave school grounds unless something terribly important was going on elsewhere."

"Maybe it's someone's deathday," Ron suggested, returning to his meal. "Some bloke's just turned a thousand or something?"

Hermione looked doubtful. "They would have to be awfully important for every single ghost in all of Hogwarts to vanish in the space of one night. No-one's seen any of them since yesterday and I can't imagine someone like Moaning Myrtle would be even remotely interested in celebrating the anniversary of someone else's death."

"It is pretty weird," Harry agreed. He had thought at first, like many of his fellow students, that the disappearing act had something to do with the tournament- a quick glance at the teacher's table told them otherwise. Even Dumbledore appeared vaguely unsettled and it was this more than anything that set the students on edge.

"Well, if there was anything really wrong, Dumbledore would have said something right?" Ron said uncertainly. "He's got to know something."

The others made non-committal sounds and made a half-hearted effort to finish their meals, unaware that they would have their answers sooner than they thought.

That night, the storm raged on. Dark, roiling clouds rumbled overhead, flashes of lightning brightening the sky in strong bursts, rain hammering sharply against the tall windows surrounding the castle. The sound of the howling wind was muffled from within Hogwarts' thick walls, but the sight of the trees of the Forbidden Forest being tossed to and fro in the distance told the residents just how bad an idea it would be to go outside.

Students watched it in near-silence from within the confines of the great hall, marvelling at the display, when suddenly they heard a distant rumble quite unlike anything the weather had produced. It was deep and rumbling, and somehow... ecstatic?

Confusion rose in tandem with the volume of the noise, and just as people were beginning to cover their ears, the room exploded in a display of colour and movement- ghosts rushed the great hall from all sides, filling the space with translucent bodies twisting and turning in what appeared to be a mid-air dance. Shouts of joy echoed about, straight from the many mouths of the Hogwarts ghosts, whose cheeks ran silver with tears.

Many cried out in shock and surprise, and Harry could swear he'd seen a first-year faint, but no-one could raise their voice loud enough to be heard to ask what exactly was going on. As a particularly large ghost with a ruff twice the width of her person ascended from the mob and began to shout, it turned out they wouldn't have to.

"THE GHOST KING IS DEFEATED!" she declared in a thunderous shout, and there was a responding roar from her audience.

"THE GREAT ONE, THE GHOST BOY, THE HALFA! DANNY PHANTOM CONTRONTED PARIAH DARK AND THREW HIM BACK! HE STOLE THE CROWN OF FIRE FROM THE KING'S HEAD AND LOCKED HIM IN THE SARCOPHAGUS OF FOREVER SLEEP! DANNY PHANTOM HAS SAVED US FROM OUR ENEMY'S WRATH! DANNY PHANTOM IS THE SAVIOUR OF THE GHOST REALM!"

The clamour rose to deafening proportions and as they found themselves cheering with the ghosts for reasons they knew not, the people of Hogwarts knew they wouldn't be sleeping that night. Frowning in puzzled delight, Dumbledore sent his students to bed and made the appropriate arrangements for what must clearly be a momentous occasion- classes were cancelled the next day, and rightly so, for all were tired and the ghosts' echoing cheers did not quieten until well into the afternoon. It was at a great feast that night that the ghosts of Hogwarts were quiet, all gathered in the hall well above their charges, listening intently as the widely-ruffed ghost relayed to them the full tale of Danny Phantom and the ghostly tyrant Pariah Dark.

The story was told intimately and with passion, hours passing like minutes as she detailed the ghost boy's life- his arrival two years earlier, his spreading fame as a protector of his undisclosed human haunt and his willingness to eventually risk his very existence for the sake of his ghostly brethren. She went on until she could speak no more of the ghost boy and his heroic deeds and then, one by one, they exited the hall.

People at Hogwarts spoke of Danny Phantom for days, but no longer. The Triwizard Tournament was looming ever closer and talk quickly turned from the unknown entity's heroic exploits to speculation as to the nature of the foreign students that would soon be there. The name Danny Phantom remained ever in the minds and the hearts of the ghosts but faded from those of the humans, save but a few, and the ghost boy himself lived in peace for almost a year.

Now, ten months later, Danny Phantom, legendary halfa, saviour of the Ghost Zone and renowned hero of Amity Park, was late for school.

"Come on, come on," he muttered, stifling a yawn. His eyes flicked to and fro, searching the busy city street for any sign of his elusive attacker. He clutched his Fenton Thermos in both hands, thumb resting comfortably against the button that would end this chase once and for all.

Suddenly, he felt a faint chill from behind him and he spun around. There, floating just a few metres above himself, was the ectopus he'd been chasing for a little over an hour now. It wasn't powerful and it hadn't given him much injury, but it had scared the citizens of Amity Park enough to be declared a menace. Unfortunately, where it lacked strength, it had speed. Danny had only just adjusted to the ghost's movements and managed to match it but if he didn't catch it now he was starting to think he might have to give up the chase. Multiple ghost attacks had kept him up most of the night, leaving him with little more than an hour's sleep before the ghost had dragged him all the way across town- twice. He was running out of energy fast, but thankfully, as the creature screeched and wiggled its tentacles in preparation for flight, Danny took his chance and activated the thermos. The creature was unable to escape the glowing blue vortex that enveloped it, and was quickly caught inside.

"Finally," he groaned. 'Now I'll just put this back in the Ghost Zone and then I'll only be...' he checked his watch, '... forty minutes late for Lancer's class. Great.' Luckily, with his parents out at a conference for the day, using the portal wouldn't hold the risk it usually did. He moved as quickly as he was able- invisible, to avoid the civilians that were starting to arrive on the scene, anxious to catch a glimpse of their hero- and soon found himself standing back in his parent's lab. After ejecting the ectopus and making sure the thermos was completely empty, he bit his lip and chanced a glance at the clock.

"Nine o' clock!" he exclaimed in dismay. "Ugh!" Burying his face in his hands, he rubbed furiously at his eyes. 'It's okay,' he told himself firmly. 'It's okay, Lancer will just... give you detention... or something. It's nothing you haven't been through before.' Lowering his hands, he transformed and pulled his phone out of his pocket, finding a series of missed calls and unread texts from both Sam and Tucker. Smiling wryly, he speed-dialled Sam's number.

She answered within seconds. "Danny, where are you?! You do realise you missed all of first period, right? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, Sam, I'm fine," he replied tiredly. At her noise of disbelief, his smile widened. "Really! It was just an ectopus, but it was crazy fast for some reason and I barely slept last night... I guess I kinda lost track of time while I was chasing it. It didn't hurt me, I'm fine. Just... exhausted."

There was a moment of silence, then a sigh on the other end. "Well, be careful, okay?"

"I'll get there as soon as I can. If I don't make it, I'm either fighting ghosts or I've fallen asleep mid-flight."

Danny heart a faint voice in the background and laughed when he heard a yelp of pain. "Sorry," Sam said, "Tucker's just being a moron."

"What, like that's unusual?"

Sam laughed and Danny heard the faint voice speak up before another yelp reached his ears. Grinning hugely, Danny bid Sam goodbye and hung up, shoving his phone in his pocket before transforming again and running a hand through his dishevelled hair. Glancing one last time at the ghost portal, Danny checked the thermos was firmly strapped to his back and took off, heading straight for Casper High.

He was halfway there when a familar chill crept down his spine. Staring at the blue mist that had escaped his mouth, Danny fought the urge to facepalm.

"What now?!" he near-shouted, startling a group of citizens below him. "Come on, who's here?"

Several minutes passed with no response, and Danny was growing more frustrated by the second. He was just about to call again when an unexpected voice sounded from directly behind him.

"BEWARE!"

"AUGH!"

Danny yelled in shock and anger, spinning around to face the Box Ghost, who was looking at him in ill-disguised glee. Curling into a ball, Danny hid his face with his hands.

"Are you serious?!" he moaned, his voice muffled by his palms. Snapping himself open, Danny grabbed the Box Ghost by the front of his trousers before he could react, pressing his face so close that their noses almost touched.

"I don't have the time or the energy to deal with you right now," Danny told him tiredly. "Now are you just going to go back to the Ghost Zone, or am I going to have to assist you?"

"The Box Ghost needs no assistance!" the Box Ghost declared haughtily. "For I am here to unleash a new weapon that will surely defeat the likes of you, Danny Phantom!"

"Oh?" Danny prompted as he released the ghost and took hold of his thermos.

"Yes! For you see I, the Box Ghost, was exploring what the humans refer to as a ware-house, and what should I find..." he trailed off, raising an eyebrow deviously as he reached into a pocket. "What should I find, but THIS!"

Whipping his hand out, the Box Ghost tossed something in Danny's direction, which was caught easily. Staring at the object now in his hand, Danny narrowed his eyes.

". . . A Rubik's cube?"

"WRONG!" the Box Ghost exclaimed, snatching it back. "It is not, as you say, the Cube of Rubik's! It is a DOOMIX BOX! AND IT WILL BE YOUR DOOM!"

"Look, I don't-"

"BEWARE!"

Danny deftly caught the cube again and tossed it back.

"I really need to get to school, so I'm just going to put you in here for a while," he gestured to the thermos, "and I'll deal with you when I get home, okay?"

"THE BOX GHOST CANNOT BE HELD WITHIN THE CONFINES OF A CYLINDRICAL CONTAINER!"

"Yeah, you've said that." Danny activated the thermos and, despite his words, after a quick struggle the Box Ghost was soon trapped inside. Placing the lid back on and strapping the thermos to his back, Danny resumed his flight. "But that's never really been true, has it?"

Far below, a shabbily-dressed man watched him in shock until he had disappeared from sight.

. . .

"Hey, Tuck."

"Whoah, what attacked you?"

Danny groaned and let his forehead fall against his locker. "What hasn't attacked me? Last night I had to deal with the Box Ghost, Skulker, a few shapeless blobs, the Box Ghost again, a swarm of ghost rats, Valerie and the Box Ghost again! Pretty sure I didn't even get an hour of sleep before I had to get up to say bye to mom and dad and have the living room half-destroyed by a howling eight-tentacled prick before an hour-long wild goose chase across Amity Park." His stomach growled loudly and he frowned. "Come to think of it, I don't think I had breakfast."

"I gotcha covered."

Danny turned at the sound of Sam's voice, breaking out into a relieved grin at the sight of the Nasty Burger-branded bag in her hands.

"I was wondering where you were," Danny replied, reaching into the bag and pulling out a burger. "Sweet, this is my favourite."

"I know," Sam said triumphantly. Then her expression fell and she crossed her arms. "I had it delivered during the break between first and second period, since I figured you wouldn't have had anything to eat. I was just getting it from my locker."

Tucker frowned. "Nasty Burger doesn't deliver!"

"They do for me. But that's beside the point- what happened? Did another ghost attack? When you called it sounded like you had things pretty under control."

"Yeah, but it wasn't anything to worry about. Just the Box Ghost again. I don't even know how he does it, I know he's not using the portal half the time, but there aren't enough naturally-occurring portals to explain how he's here so often! It doesn't make sense!" Danny took a huge bite of his burger before stuffing it back into the bag and into his locker as the bell rang for third period. Swallowing with difficulty, he continued as they made their way towards the next class. "But anyway, he wasn't really a big deal- he's discovered Rubik's Cubes apparently. He's in the thermos now, I didn't think I had time to fly back and put him in the Ghost Zone, but then I just kind of... spaced out. I think I fell asleep on top of a building for almost an hour before I woke up and remembered I had to be here. Sorry for making you worry, you guys," he added a little guiltily.

"I'm just glad you called, otherwise I would have been really worried," Sam said, giving him a small smile. "But next time you're experiencing night terrors, tell us. If we were there, we might have been able to deal with everything sooner."

"Yeah, man," Tucker pitched in. "You know we're cool with that, right?"

"Thanks guys," Danny said, stifling a yawn. "I know I might not look it at the moment, but I'm really grateful."

"Well, we've got Lancer next. Again. He's usually okay with you sleeping in class." Tucker paused. "Well, he's stopped making such a huge fuss over it anyway. Since you picked up your grades."

Danny nodded and the trio were silent the rest of the way.

. . .

On the other side of town, the shabbily-dressed man considered what he'd seen.

Remus Lupin had been sent to Amity Park on a mission- a mission based largely on the babbling of a centuries-old ghost with a ruff wider than her person whose memory was well-known to be biased and, in general, off the hook. Needless to say, he had viewed his chances of success as slim at best. When he'd made it to America, tired and in a state of confusion after the ordeal that had been getting permission for inter-continental travel at the Ministy of Magic, he had been half-tempted to simply go back home. Of course, this was before he'd made it to the town itself.

Amity Park was unlike any place he'd ever been to, and with good reason. The town was literally buzzing with energy; he could feel it coursing through his very being, the evidence of supernatural activity that assured him of the certainty of the truth in the ghost's words even before he first caught sight of the spectral beings haunting it. The sensation had been simultaneously relieving and unnerving, for there was an undercurrent to it that would have gone unnoticed by many others.

There was magic here- untrained magic, too. And it made his mission all the more important. For the Order, he would contact Phantom- and for the wizarding world, he would find the untrained magic-users that lived here, and offer them an education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry- technically not something he had the permission to offer, but he did not doubt for a second that Dumbledore would not object to it.

Amity Park was what the wizarding world commonly referred to as "no-man's land". It was a place that was simultaneously defined and alienated by its ties to the supernatural, which had it feared by muggles and wizards alike. The muggle fear was self-explanatory- but the wizarding world's fear was of a matter slightly more complicated.

Amity park was host to the largest concentration of spectral energy of anywhere in the world, for reasons that were, as of yet, unknown. It would surely be a delight if not for the fact that, after it was proven that the spectral energy had no relation to magic whatsoever, the wizarding community had voted unanimously in favour of cutting off all ties to the town upon the discovery of the full extent of the energy thirty years ago. A little over ten years later the people of the American Ministry concluded that they were unable to find a way to control the energy itself, so they resorted to separating themselves from it, and the rest of the worlds' Ministries followed suit. Any attempt at involvement with the strange happenings at Amity Park would surely risk revealing the wizarding world and all of its people and no number of memory-wiping spells could truly fix the damage of it. Unfortunately this meant, as Remus had just discovered, that whatever witches and wizards were born within the confines of the town went unnoticed and untrained, which was just as dangerous.

He made a mental note to discuss plans with Dumbledore to host regular visits to the town in search of potential students, but for now, that would have to wait.

Until recently, no-one had found reason to visit Amity Park and the place had been left untended by the magical world since its abandonment. That was until the incident ten months ago, when the ghosts of Hogwarts had revealed a familiarity with the ghosts of Amity Park that had gone largely unknown before then; revealing not only a connection between the town and the magical world but, as the Order suspected, a potential source of allies.

Remus was on a mission- a mission to find a ghostly hero by the name of Danny Phantom- and if what the so-called "Box Ghost" had been shouting was true, he may have already found him.

Thanks for reading!

So, this is simultaneously my first DP fic AND my first HP fic, so reviews are VERY appreciated! If you have any issues to bring up or constructive criticism to provide, feel free to add that or send me a PM about it- the HP lexicon has a very convenient set of timelines which I'll try my best to stick to, but please note that seeing as this is a crossover and there will be outside involvement, there will have to be some changes. A LOT of changes. But if something seems too wrong, feel free to ask me about it :3

Readers of my ROTG fic Permafrost should remain assured that the fic is NOT discontinued, just on hiatus for now!

Readers of THIS fic should become assured that I aim to update this fic as regularly as possible! I'm really enjoying writing it, so expect another chapter within the next two weeks or so ^-^

Until next time~ :D