It had been a month since Danny's arrival in Hogwarts, and the barrier still hadn't lifted between him and the rest of his House. The only person within Slytherin that still talked to him was Nathaniel, and that was due to the fact that his fellow first years refused to speak to someone that had annoyed Draco Malfoy. He hadn't shared any classes with the Gryffindors without Malfoy glaring at him in warning, so was unable to speak to Hermione, the other Houses refused to talk to him because he was a Slytherin – in fact, he mused while up in the Owlery, the only bright spot of Hogwarts so far was his Astronomy lessons and the fact that no ghosts had attacked him yet. He looked out at the autumn sunshine glinting off the spires of the castle, and down at his rather unamused owl, who was not happy to be woken up just to deliver a letter. He grinned, and stroked the owl's feathers.

"Come on Alo, Mom will feed you so much food you won't be able to fly for a week! Jazz and Sam will love you, and all you have to do is deliver this letter for me."

If an owl could 'humph', this one did, sticking a leg out for the letter to be tied to in a very resigned way.

"Cheers, now don't go get eaten by any other birds!" Danny said to the owl, which if possible, looked with an even greater 'humph'. Eaten? The owl seemed to say in a voice resembling of his Head of House, I would never suffer that indignity. With a final ruffle of its feathers, Alo hopped to the window-sill, and started the long journey to Amity Park. Danny looked wistfully out of the window, wishing that he could fly with Alo, at least feel the wind in his hair. A brief creak on the second-to the top stair made him turn round, watching with a slight hint of amusement as Nathaniel struggled up the stairs, and wandered over to Danny, levering himself up to sit next to him, his legs swinging slightly.

"So, how are you finding Hogwarts?" Danny asked, and Nathaniel gave him a grin as he replied.

"Better than you – at least the House like me."

Danny sighed- it was true. Even though he had annoyed most of the House during the Sorting Dinner, Nathaniel had made friends with the second years, and with the other Houses, in defiance of Draco's warning. What probably helped was that Nathaniel was so small and looked so innocent, that the other Hogwarts students were fooled into thinking that he was. The other thing that helped (for the Slytherins) was the jinxing of the first years in his dorm when they insulted him, leaving them with Jelly-Legs for a week. Danny, in his dorm, heard Draco's appreciation – at least of the jinxing, not of Nathaniel himself – and knew that Nathaniel at least, had people in the House that would be against unapproved mauling.

"Danny, look, why don't you try to be friends with Draco?"

If it were possible, Danny looked surprised by Nathaniel's question.

"Because I'm not like Crabbe and/or Goyle. He's ... dangerous, but not in a good way. I'd rather leave him alone, 'cos that way I can at least try to get on with everyone here."

"That won't happen Danny", replied Nathaniel seriously. "You're either for or against Slytherin in this school, and that means for or against Draco Malfoy. He's one of the most powerful pure-bloods in the school. I mean, not only is he a Malfoy, but his mum's a Black!"

"A Black?"

"Yeh, it's a really old wizarding family, it was purely Slytherin till Sirius joined Gryffindor, but it was – is – evil to the core."

"Sirius Black?" Danny remembered the conversation between his mom and dad the day that he found out he was a wizard.

"Yeh – he's the one who killed a load of Muggles, Harry Potter's parents, AND their best friend all on the same night -"

I guess Mom was right – Uncle Sirius is a monster ... Danny realised Nathaniel had kept talking, and quickly returned his mind back to the conversation.

"- you're obviously not a full-blood otherwise Draco would know your family, you're too nice to be completely Slytherin ... are you sure you're in the right House?"

Danny blinked. "The Hat said I'd be better here."

"The Hat said I'd be better in Gryffindor, but that doesn't make it right. I don't need bravery, I have that in bucket loads, I need cunning, and Slytherin provides that for me. That, and Father wouldn't disown me if I went into Slytherin."

Danny looked at Nathaniel, who had a defiant look on his face.

"Your dad would disown you? Just for not being in Slytherin?"

"He's a great believer in being in the 'Right House' – it's just fortunate that Slytherin is actually the right one for me", and with that he hopped off the seat, looked back at Danny's miserable face and sighed.

"Look Danny, why don't you try and talk to Harry, or even those two friends of his?"

"What, Ron and Hermione? I would, but Draco's in all our shared lessons, and as much as I believe in standing up for people's rights, I'd like to not become fully dead." Nathaniel frowned at that sentence.

"Well, there is a solution to that, but you'd actually have to act like a Slytherin, not a goodie-two-shoe."

Danny looked back out of the window, down across the grounds, along the courtyards, near the lake, and saw three blobs walk past the lake, throwing something to the squid that lived inside the depths. Looking up at the sky, he saw the mountains begin to be tinged with gold light and red beams of sunset, and he shook himself, turning back to Nathaniel.

"That ... sounds like a plan Nathaniel", at which the first year smiled evilly.

"Well, let's get scheming!" and with a laugh between the two, they headed back down the Owlery steps towards the Slytherin Common Room.

-x-x-x-x-x-

It finally came to the day when he shared a class with Gryffindor – and unlike Potions – where he could actually speak without being glared at by his Head of House. Whistling as he headed down to Hagrid's hut, ignoring the glares sent by Crabbe and Goyle (or as he liked to call them, Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee), Danny fairly bounced along the path to the group gathering outside. Finally! He could talk to Hermione, Ron and Harry. As he approached the trio, he saw the startled looks appear from the other Gryffindors, the disgusted looks from the Slytherins, and he waved brightly.

"Hey guys! How's it going?"

Ron actually did a double-take at the cheery greeting.

"Danny? But ... you don't talk to us. Ever."

Danny's smile threatened to escape from his face.

"Yeh, but that was before Draco became unable to come to any lessons for the rest of the week, he's stuck in the Hospital Wing."

Harry looked at him worriedly – it looked as though any moment Danny would start singing, or break into dance.

"And if we were to ask why this is?" Hermione interjected, eyes narrowing suspiciously, "and anyway, the rest of the Slytherins will report to him, you know that."

"What, Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee?" answered Danny innocently, Harry trying vainly to disguise his burst of laughter as a coughing fit. "Nah, they won't 'cos Draco's in isolation. No one can see him for a week, and by the time the week's over, they'll have forgotten all about it."

"What happened?" asked Harry, by now having recovered.

"Apparently someone sent him an envelope full of Botuber pus, it exploded all over his hands, and he went to try and get the worst off before he went to Madame Pomfrey, only -" (and here Danny was trying to prevent himself laughing) " - someone rigged the dorm door to set off a load of jinxes in his bed. He looked like some sort of horrible, disfigured blob as he was levitated out the room!"

Hermione giggled, before asking Danny, "Who did it?"

"No idea who did it, sorry, but I'd like to shake them by the hand." Inside his head, Danny was reliving the moment where, invisible and intangible, he watched the explosion, knowing that Nathaniel was currently in the Great Hall and therefore unable to be blamed, and that he was 'in the Library', reading up on the history of Hogwarts, and couldn't be blamed either.

He shook himself, and came back to the present, where Ron was still looking warily at him.

"How do we know that you're not plotting something?" he asked suspiciously, and Danny shrugged.

"You don't, but I'm fed up of not being able to speak to people outside Slytherin – to speak to anyone really, and I'd like to have more than one – well, two – friends before I leave Hogwarts."

Ron nodded, apparently satisfied – for now at least – that Danny was telling the truth. After all, the entire school knew of Danny being ostracised from his House until he was 'proven' to be acceptable.

"So, what animal that's apparently cute and cuddly, but yet will rip our arms off, is Hagrid showing us this week?" asked Danny. "I mean, I love them when they're not trying to eat me, but I don't think that Umbridge ... thing ... what's that British word, git? Yeh, git, I don't think she'll like them." At that statement, Hermione frowned, looking at the Hut where Hagrid had just appeared.

"I know ...", and then she became absorbed in working out how to actually feed a Blast-Ended Skrewt without having her arms torn off. Beside her, Ron and Harry were having the same difficulties, and Danny was busy muttering under his breath that he would never complain about cleaning the possessed fridge again. Hermione looked at him strangely, and he turned and grinned.

"Well, you can't deny it; we could market these as guard dogs. We'd make a fortune if we could work out how to stop them trying to kill their owner."

Hermione giggled. "I can see the marketing now – 'no longer will you need a guard dog to get rid of unwanted guests, just tell them you have a hungry Blast-Ended Skrewt!".

"Exactly – we could set it on Umbridge, and watch the results ... preferably from a long way away."

Hermione grimaced, as a fireball came close to singeing her eyebrows. "That would be too good for her – the absolute git!"

Danny shook her head, relaxing his grip on his Skrewt for a brief instant as he replied: "You know, I don't understand why Dumbledore hired her if she's such a cow. And also, why are British insults so weird?"

"They're not weird, they're old!" Hermione replied, and then saw in horror, that Danny's Skrewt was free, and swelling up, glowing brighter and brighter. "Oh God Danny!" she screamed, and he turned a fraction of a second too late, as the Skrewt – apparently angry and bored with life – exploded. The resulting fireball grew as Hermione's Skrewt exploded as well, and she watched the ever-nearing explosion come closer, until with almost un-human quickness, Danny dived on top, forcing her to the ground. The fireball roared overhead, she could feel the heat as it flew past them, until it was drenched in water by every student there. Hermione gasped for air, her throat dry, and she looked up to see Danny grimace, his eyes shut with pain.

"Danny ... are you alright?" asked Hermione worriedly. Danny didn't answer, until he opened his eyes and grinned weakly. However Hermione didn't fail to notice a brief flash of green from his eyes as he opened them, revealing blue.

"Yeh – I don't think I'm gonna go near one of those things for a while," he smiled, as he rolled off Hermione and pulled her up, without any apparent burns or injuries. Hermione checked herself over, and saw that apart from the mud they landed in, she too was unmarked. She gave a questioning look to Danny, who raised his hands in an 'I'm innocent' gesture. Luckily for Danny, Hermione was unable to ask what exactly happened, as by that point Hagrid had hurried over, fear in his eyes, beside him Ron looked panicked, Harry worried, and the rest of the class huddled behind Hagrid as though something else might happen at any moment.

"Hermione, you alright? And Danny are you okay?" Hagrid asked, and Danny smiled apologetically.

"Yeah, I'm sorry Sir, it was my fault. I let go and I wasn't paying attention. I promise it won't happen again, I mean it."

Hagrid shook his head. "That's quite alright, I'm just glad you're all okay, imagine what would have happened if you lot got hurt in my class!" As he ended the session, and everyone started to trudge up the hill, Ron turned to Danny.

"...Thanks." he said awkwardly, and Danny looked – if anything, slightly embarrassed by the attention.

"Please, don't mention it."

As they reached the Great Hall and Danny prepared to trudge down to the dungeons, Harry caught his arm.

"Listen, we're heading to Hogsmeade in a couple of weeks, fancy coming with us?", and Danny beamed.

"Sure! Can't wait – maybe I'll get to see that joke shop, send some stuff back to Tucker and Sam!" and with a noticeable spring in his step, Danny waved goodbye to the trio and headed down the stairs.

Hermione narrowed her eyes, and if Danny had been around to see the determined look on her face, he would have run away in terror – she didn't know what was going with Danny Fenton, but by Merlin she was going to find out...

-x-x-x-x-x-

Jazz was busy clearing up the latest attempt to stop Jack Fenton's ectoplasm enhanced sausages from taking over the kitchen, when there was a consistent tapping on the window. Looking out, she saw the same owl which they had given to Danny sitting on the window-sill, a large letter attached to its foot, looking very disgruntled.

"Hey there little fella" Jazz said, as she quickly unbolted the window, and the owl hopped to the table. Deigning to acknowledge the other human, he lifted his leg out; with a look of will you PLEASE remove this infernal article from my leg?

Jazz couldn't help it, as she removed the letter she let out an "awwwww...", and with it was possible for an owl to glare, this one did. Puffing himself up, the 'D' emblazoned on his chest, he gave a look of I am NOT 'awwww', I am an owl. Now let me go and sleep you... human!

Jazz apologised, trying to hide the grin from her face, and Alo flew to the banister where he tucked his head in, and snored little owl snores. Jazz recognised the blotchy handwriting as Danny's, smiling as she headed to the couch to read it before Mom and Dad came home. As she sat, she saw the ink-blot on the table, a reminder of Danny's struggle to manage a quill. Jazz of course had managed perfectly, but at the end of a page, Danny had splattered the room, himself, and the paper with ink and hardly any of the words had been legible. She snuggled herself into the couch, carefully opened the letter, and started reading.

Dear Mom, Dad, Jazz, Sam and Tucker,

Sorry for the late letter, I've managed to settle in okay, I've even made some friends! Luna is very knowledgeable about Amity Park and the ghosts and Nathaniel is helping me fit in with the rest of my House. I was Sorted into Slytherin, and I was wondering exactly how bad the House Rivalries were like when you went Dad. Right now, they could be worse, but I was wondering if you had any tips?

Astronomy is amazing, we have our lesson at night at the top of the Astronomy Tower, and the stars are so easy to see from there! There's no electrical light in Hogwarts, so no light pollution, it makes the sky so clear! There isn't any electricity at all Tucker, so you wouldn't be able to survive if you came here :P

Defence against the Dark Arts was interesting – the difference between Umbridge and Dumbledore is almost as big a difference as between Lancer and Mrs Tetslaff – but I should be getting the hang of it soon.

Oh, I've called the owl Alo; I figured it was a good name, what with all the interesting ghosts that are around Hogwarts! Don't worry about him being grumpy, I think he's like it all the time, he's as bad as me in the morning :P

Mom, Dad, is there any difference between the ghosts at Hogwarts and the ghosts in Amity Park? They look different, and when the Hogwarts ghosts are around, it doesn't get so cold I can see my breath!

Anyway, I've got Care of Magical Creatures again on Monday, so I should see Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger again, I was wondering if I should tell them about being related to Sirius Black, or is that a 'no-no' subject?

Oh, I've met someone called Draco Malfoy – you'd love him Sam and Tucker, he's just as nice as me – but in about twenty years, not right now!

Jazz you'd love the library, there are SO many books it's almost unbelievable how they all fit. I've obviously haven't been spending time in there – what with me being allergic to books ha-ha – but I've had a brief look about the shelves, and if you ever got in here, we'd NEVER be able to drag you out xD

Well, got to go now, I'll write soon

Lots of love,

Danny :-)

Jazz looked back over the letter, and sighed deeply. She had hoped Danny wouldn't have made any enemies yet, but apparently he had. Draco Malfoy ... she took the letter upstairs, laughing quietly at Alo's little owl snores, and found a pen and paper, beginning to copy Danny's letter, and start a reply. Downstairs, Alo looked up briefly. Finding nothing to eat, he flew to the kitchen, noticing a plate of sausages on the table. Well, in the absence of fresh mouse...

Jazz was in the middle of copying down Danny's letter, when she heard hooting coming from ... the kitchen?

"Oh God, the ectoplasmic sausages!" Jazz yelled, pelting down the stairs. She really didn't want to have to explain to Danny how his brand new owl had been eaten by a plate of sausages. Bursting in the door, she saw Alo sitting on the table, a broken plate spinning wildly, and a sausage pinned under his claws. He looked up, hoicked the sausage in the air, and it disappeared down his throat with a pitiful scream. Alo gave a little burp, looked at Jazz, and if owls could lick their beaks, this one did so. A final glance at the scene of victory, and Alo went back to sleep, leaving Jazz with the problem of how to explain to Jack Fenton that Danny's owl had eaten the ectoplasm enhanced sausages, and survived.

-x-x-x-x-