Dear Reviewers,

I present you with the re-done first chapter of "The Final War", and I hope it pleases

Enjoy!

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Daniel 'Danny' Fenton was one of the weirder children at school. Not because of his complete inability to stay upright for more than two seconds. Not for his over-protective older sister who insisted on psycho-analysing every child unlucky enough to be caught in her path, and certainly not for his parents, Amity-Park's resident ghost-hunters who constantly wore haz-mat suits. No, instead, it was due to the fact that wherever Danny went, weird and often, rather unpleasant things occurred. The student body were at a loss at how this happened, but ever since kindergarten, where a shy Danny had grinned, tripped over his feet and exploded the fish tank on the other side of the classroom, they knew Danny was trouble.

[This had enamoured him to a certain Samantha Manson, who had to wear a black dress to replace the sopping wet pink one, and to Tucker Foley, who had been being told off by Mrs. Welchett (never Miss) for trying to hack into her computer, who was distracted by the incident and completely forgot Tucker.]

The teachers felt the same. Reports of Danny's "unfortunate incidents" had followed him from Kindergarten all the way to Casper High School, and instead of reducing due to his growing up, becoming more mature (supposedly), they were on the increase, and had been increasing over the last year to the point that Mr Lancer almost felt there was no point in punishing the gangly fourteen year old for them. Going over the register for English, he made it all the way to poor Mikey Welman (who once again had been wedgied to the point that his underwear was pulled over his head) without any sign of Danny, and he knew that Danny would burst in late, with a pathetic excuse, and then sit in the lesson and fall asleep on the desk. It was traditional, in a weird surreal sort of way, even with the constant ghost attacks that made everyone in Casper High twitch and duck if any strange noises happened around them.

3...2...1... thought Mr Lancer in his head, as he began to talk to the class about the wonders of Wordsworth's poetry, and was rewarded by Danny bursting through the door, leaning against the frame to catch his breath, and beginning to start the excuse, that Mr Lancer almost repeated verbatim along with Danny.

Seeing the principal, couldn't he think of anything more original? Mr Lancer thought in despair, and then gave up on trying to understand Danny Fenton. If his sister, who had been using him as a test-subject since the poor child was four, couldn't figure him out, then no one else had a chance.

Sending him to sit down before Mr Lancer exploded in sheer exasperation at Daniel Fenton, Ron went back to explaining to the bored class the wonder of Wordsworth, attempting to interest them by talking about his connections with the French Revolution, and how Wordsworth had a mistress and an illegitimate child, before losing all hope of actually getting any of his ninth grade class to show an interest in English Literature, and wearily telling them to read and make notes on "Tintern Abbey". Mikey of course was the exception to this, eagerly offering comments on Wordsworth, and Lancer could see Dash and his cronies readying themselves to stuff him in the nearest locker after the lesson was finished. With a brief look at Danny, who was already collapsed on his desk, snoring slightly, and seeing the concerned look passed between Sam and Tucker, he realised that at this moment in time, only another cup of sludge – formerly known as coffee – would render him able to deal with the rest of the lesson. With a brief barked command at the rest of the class to do their work, or by the power of the one ring, he would give them all detention for the rest of the month; he trudged out of the hell-hole known as a ninth-grade lesson...

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Unfortunately Mr Lancer, although an able teacher, who could judge the mood of a class and react accordingly, had made an error. It wasn't Mikey that due a pounding, it was Danny. As the door closed upon the class, Dash had jumped the desks that separated the sleeping Danny from his fist, and had pinned him against the wall. Yelling in pain as the wall made contact with recent bruises, Danny fought to be released from the hands that held him pinned against the wall, as Dash growled

"How the hell did you get out of the locker? You freak!!"

Unable to say that he phased through the locker into the vacant boy's bathroom, Danny frantically sought for an excuse that wouldn't involve him getting beaten up by the school's star quarterback (co-incidentally, their prize stooge).

"The door gave way, I fell, Jesus Christ Dash, take a break! Torture some other kid!"

Paulina and Star looked up from their manicures, and spoke in creepy unison, "do not invoke the Lord's name in vain", before going back to their previous conversation.

"Like anyway, he was all 'how can I get you to be mine', and I was all like 'as if! Like, why would I go out with someone who ISN'T Phantom!"

"Like, I know! Phantom is so dreamy, oh, and like, have you heard what Stacy's little sister's best friend has done?"

"Like, durr, how would I not?"

Danny took a brief moment to give himself a mental high-five at how two of the most popular and pretty girls in Casper High thought his alter-ego was dreamy, and then was dragged back into the present by Sam's angry yelling at Dash.

"Are you that imbecilic that you think that beating up someone is a good way to spend your time Dashier Baxter? If you are unable to think beyond food and sport, no wonder you're only good at football! You absolute waste of human breath, plants wouldn't even eat you! I mean ..."

Dashiel? How the hell did Sam know that? thought Danny, then concentrated again on trying anything to get Dash to let go while he was distracted by Sam's impassioned speech. Desperately looking around the classroom, he saw Mikey hiding in the corner in case they decided to start on him, Tucker being pinned to his desk by Kwan's massive strength, Valerie doodling on her notepad and paying no attention to the chaos barely three feet from her, and on Lancer's desk, a paperweight which was to all intents and purposes, a large brick. Focusing on the brick, Danny willed it with his mind, praying to every single god he could think of to move that paperweight to knock Dash in the head, and get him to release his iron grip on Danny's shoulders.

Luckily for Danny, his prayers were answered, as with a resulting "THUMP!" the brick flew across the room, barely missing Dash's head, and hit the wall with said THUMP, causing a dent in the brickwork. Dash, in shock at his bare-miss, let go of Danny, and he scrambled away to where Tucker had managed to worm himself free from Kwan's hold, and they both huddled behind Sam (who scowled at their cowardice, and tutted. Boys). Gingerly moving forward, Dash carefully poked the non-moving brick, before turning to glare at Danny.

"You did that ... You freak ... always making weird stuff happen ...", while stepping forward with a menacing air, towards the hapless Danny, cowering behind Sam, who rolled her sleeves up, ready to cause pain (both emotional and physical).

"I swear, I don't know what happened!" Danny yelled out, knowing it was no use. Even though he didn't touch it, even though he tried to be as normal as being half-ghost would let him, this sort of stuff did always happen around him, ever since the fish-tank incident in Kindergarten.

At that moment, Mr Lancer walked back through the door, cup of sludge in hand, ready to face his rebellious ninth-graders, and saw the scene of destruction. Dash immediately spoke out:

"Sir! It was Danny sir! He did it! Him!", and with a glare at the class, everyone agreed.

Mr Lancer looked at Danny, hearing the three musketeers (as he referred to them in his head) protest, but it was unfortunately a class of at least twenty, against three. Even Mikey spoke against them (unbeknown to Lancer, due to his arm being twisted behind his back by one of Dash's stooges). With a sigh, he spoke to Danny.

"Mr Fenton, go to the Principal's office. I'll call your parents."

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"Mr and Mrs Fenton, this is the two HUNDREDTH and twenty-second time that Danny has been sent here in the last year, I'm afraid that enough is enough", intoned Principal Ishiyama, narrowing her eyes over her steepled fingers at the couple sitting in the chairs in front of the desk. Madeline Fenton sat with her arm over Danny in the seat next to her (as much a comfort as a method of making sure that he didn't bolt), and Jack? Well, he was busy fiddling with a random piece of glowing putty. She sighed.

"Mrs Fenton (having decided to refer to the more sensible of the two), Danny can no longer able to stay at our school, perhaps he could move to another school in the district? Jasper High is always looking for new students". Principal Ishiyama tried to smile encouragingly at Danny's mother, while her brain threw out scenarios of how the Board of Governors would take yet another expulsion.

"Mom, I'm sorry! It really wasn't my fault, honest!" Danny tried to protest yet again at the unfair treatment, but Madeline's hand clamped itself on its mouth to stop him from worsening the situation.

"Look Maddie! The ectoplasm has lasted over 4 hours now, even with the added corn flour!"

Maddie pinched the bridge of her nose to try and fend off the approaching migraine caused by the males in her family.

"Principal Ishiyama, please reconsider Danny's expulsion" she pleaded. "Jasper High have refused to take him on due to his school record, the only other public schools in the Waukegan district are too far to travel during the day, and we can't afford to send him to a private school. Please, I promise he won't do this again! Just give him one more chance!"

Principal Ishiyama's face softened slightly, and she leaned over the desk.

"I'm sorry Mrs Fenton, but he's had too many chances, he has to go".

At that moment, the ectoplasm exploded.

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"Sam? Remind me again why we're climbing the wall of Danny's house?" Tucker asked plaintively, hanging on for dear life.

"Did you not SEE the mess in Ishiyama's office? There's no way Danny's parents are going to let him near the outside world before the end of the next decade. Now shut up and keep climbing!"

This retort was yelled a few feet further up the Fenton's house, by Sam who had climbed the wall with the ease and grace of a cat, and was now banging on Danny's window to try and get his attention.

"Of course we COULD have used the hoverboard, which would have saved SO much time and effort!" replied Tucker angrily, who was climbing the wall with the ease and grace of a large, unwieldy, fridge.

"And how would you have got that past the Fenton Ward Tuck?" asked Danny, who quickly pulled Tucker up the rest of the way, and helped him in through the window. Standing up and brushing himself down (with a quick glare at Sam who was lounging on the bed), he spoke with pride:

"The same way I hacked the school network in Kindergarten – with my sheer skill and awesomeness!"

"And my exploding of the fish tank, don't forget that will you" spoke Danny, laughing as he sat on the bed, and Tucker threw himself next to him ('accidently' landing on Sam's legs), and gave Danny a high-five.

"As if! You never told us how you did that Danny", and Danny shrugged.

"You think I know? Besides, weird things happening are my speciality", and he pulled a stupid pose.

Sam, who by now had managed to get Tucker off her legs via threats of not letting him play on the game system at her house, said in a concerned tone, "We know Danny, but they didn't get you expelled before. Have your parents found another school yet here that'll take you? Or ..." her voice tailed off, and even Tucker looked serious. Danny looked down at his hands.

"They ... were talking about my dad's old school ... the one he went to before meeting my mom ... Dad said that they'd been wanting me to go for years, maybe now was the right time for me. Mom didn't look happy at that, cue the hiding up here while they 'talk' it out."

"But wasn't that outside of America? What about money? And wasn't it in -"

"Britain? Yeh ... but Mom wasn't angry about that; Dad was saying how the fees wouldn't be much more than what they were paying in taxes and food for me and my education. Nah ... I don't know what she was angry about, but it wasn't good".

From downstairs they could hear the rumbling bass voice of Jack trying to calm down Maddie, but then a burst of fury echoed throughout the house.

"Jack I don't care how many times you're removed from him, but he's still a mass murderer! He even escaped from the Dementors, and you say that Danny won't be killed?!! Jack -"

"Maddie, that's over now and you know it!" Jack's voice roared like an Airbus A380 taking off barely five feet above them. "Danny needs to know, we can't protect him forever! It was pure luck that Jazz hasn't shown the signs, but Danny has, and we can't ignore his lack of control!"

"He needs control?? He was fine! You on the other hand, blowing up that ectoplasm because of your anger??! You're the one that needs the control! We left that, YOU left that, so we, he, Jazz, our FAMILY wouldn't be hurt, or killed!!"

In the silence that followed in the house, Maddie's quiet voice was voiced as clear as if she was still in full flow, interspersed with sobs.

"I don't want him to die like James and Lily ... I ..."

Sam, Tucker and Danny looked at each other, in shock of the news, and fear in Maddie's voice. Quietly, Danny spoke low, and worried.

"I didn't know ... I thought Uncle Sirius had died, that's why Dad never spoke of him..."

Tucker shuffled over, and laid his arm over Danny's shoulder.

"Dude, I've got a feeling this is your only option for school, I mean, your dad sounded pretty sure about it ..."

Sam leant against Danny and laid her arm over his other shoulder.

"Whatever happens Danny, we're here for you, even if that means by e-mail and long-distance phone calls. And if you do need us? We can use my grandfather's jet."

Tucker sat up in shock. "When did your grandfather get a jet? Is it a Cessna? Is it the Citation X, their new model? Why didn't you tell us before?" tuning to Danny, he exclaimed "Dude, it goes at 700 miles an hour!"

Danny laughed, letting the worry that he might be separated from his best friends fade for the moment, as he listened to them argue, voices rising in anger at the littlest of things. Looking at his phone, he saw a text from Jazz, and slipped away from the argument to read it. Danny looked back at his friends as he read, and his heart sank. Jazz had texted that she was on her way up, and that Dad and Mom were going to explain what was going on. The warning, made him strain his ears for a sign that someone was heading up the stairs. A tell-tale creak on the seventh stair made him yell and break up his best friend's argument.

"Quiet you guys! Someone's coming up the stairs!" Danny panicked, and fairly threw the two of them out the window. Sam abseiled down quickly and detached the rope, and ran. Tucker on the other hand, barely managed to avoid splatting on the sidewalk like strawberry jam, and then hit his head on the rope's attachment, before running himself. Danny leaned out the window to check the coast was clear, and turned back to the door, to see Jazz enter the room and stand nervously in the open doorway.

"Danny?"

"Jazz what's going on? Why are they arguing?"

Jazz stepped forward, and briefly hugged Danny, before turning and starting to head out of the room. As she left, she spoke, chilling Danny to the bone.

"Danny ... I'm sorry ... but you're ... different. And ... it's not the fact that you're half-ghost."