Fanfic / The Ghost Who Got A Job

In The Ghost Who Got a Job, a down-on-his-luck Danny Fenton manages to score a job as Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts during Harry's fifth year there. Maybe he should have just tried to score a job as a janitor instead...

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• Amicable Exes: Chapter 15 reveals that Skulker and Ember used to date like in canon, but broke up at some point. Despite this, they remain friendly with each other at the Christmas party, with Skulker aware of her interest in Danny and making it clear to the halfa that he still cares about her well-being by pulling a If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her... on him.
• Blackmail: Danny uses his knowledge that Umbridge ordered the Dementor attack on Harry to keep her from just firing him.
• Casual Danger Dialogue: Danny and Chiara briefly discuss the former's new relationship with Ember while the two are trying to get into Azkaban and are under assault by hundreds of Dementors.
• Fake Wizardry: Danny is a wizard, but due to his current lack of a suitable wand and interference between his magic and ghost powers he mainly uses said ghost powers to make it look like he's doing magic.
• Fun with Acronyms: The new name Danny proposes for Hermione's group, M.A.N.A., stands for "Mutual Assistance against Non-Acceptance".
• Inept Mage: Even when he had his wand, Danny had issues with casting spells properly, which he suspects were because of interference between his magic and ghost powers, and the wands he's taken from dark wizards he's beaten are even less effective.
• Internal Reveal: Chapter 17 has quite a few:
  • Dumbledore learns that Danny is aware that Voldemort has multiple Horcruxes and that Danny has destroyed several of them. Danny in turn learns from Dumbledore that one such Horcrux is likely Slytherin's Locket.
  • Harry learns what Horcruxes actually are from Danny, while Danny learns that Harry can see through Voldemort's mind and saw the events at the Department of Mysteries through Nagini.
  • On a more broad perspective, the denizens of Hogwarts learn that Danny is now dating Ember, due to the latter taking up residence in Hogsmeade and Danny's own admittance to a few residents of such.
• Meaningful Rename: One of the ideas that Danny proposes when he joins up with Hermione's movement is changing the name from "Spew" to "Mana".
• Mythology Gag: Chiara tries to rob Danny, having been fired due to new anti-werewolf policies.
• No-Sell:
  • Ghost Zone Ghosts have a degree of immunity to Potterverse magic. This is best shown when a pair of Death Eaters break into Ember's hotel room and try to use the Imperius Curse on her.
    Ember: You done waving your small thing around? Or should I show you the way out?
  • Danny also is able to eat the love potion tainted sweets that smitten teenage students keep sending him with no ill-effects, as he reveals in later chapters.
    • Downplayed when he drinks the potion used to hide Voldemort's locket Horcrux. It is strong enough to have an effect on his human physiology, but instead of torturing Danny with his worst memories as the potion was meant to do in canon, it simply makes him drunk.
• Not So Invincible After All: Dementors are one of the most feared entities in the Wizarding World, with even the most powerful spells only capable of driving them off. That Danny is capable of outright destroying them with his ghost powers stuns his allies and the Ministry alike.
• Oblivious to Love: Danny is noticeably clueless about Ember's feelings for him, something many other characters have already noticed just from their interactions. He finally catches on and reciprocates in Chapter 15.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Umbridge, twice over, both relating to the aforementioned blackmail. When Danny first implies he's aware of what happened with the Dementors and Harry, Umbridge goes from demanding to have Danny fired for not completing his education, to agreeing with his suggestion that he undergo an exam, and she's noticeably seething all the while.
  • Later, having spoken to the Warden and learning that Danny never actually talked to him, Umbridge believes that he was bluffing about knowing anything, saying that he mustn't tell lies. Danny throws this back in her face by asking if she's willing to tell the Wizengamot that she sent the Dementors after Harry in the summer.
    Umbridge: How did you... I don't know what you're talking about.
  • A more humorous example is when Ember shows up at Hogsmeade where a number of teenage girls who are smitten with Danny witness their interactions. Seeing this blue-haired diva show up and call Danny by a pet name (Babypop) is noted to leave most of the besotted teens feeling rather threatened.
• Point of Divergence: Danny's mere presence as the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor in the time period of Order of the Phoenix has major ripple effects on the plot of that book, even without considering Danny's ghost powers and everything that comes with it. While Umbridge still appears at Hogwarts as the High Inquisitor, the fact that Danny is actually a kind and competent DADA teacher means that the Golden Trio aren't driven to create Dumbledore's Army as a counter to Umbridge's incompetence as a teacher, which was a major plot point in Book 5.
• Shout-Out: Danny's conversation with Ember on the phone in chapter 12 is the same one that Integra had with Alucard.

  Danny: Em, what did you do?

  Ember: Alright, I'll tell you... but you can't be mad at me.

  Danny: (serious tone) What. Did you do.?

  Ember: Okay, first of all, I was minding my own business.

  Danny: Bullshit!

  Ember: I waaaas!

• Spanner in the Works: Danny initially becomes one to Umbridge in particular by taking the Defense Against the Dark Arts posting at Hogwarts and teaching in defiance of her decrees to not use magic in the classroom. He also becomes one to Voldemort by finding his Diadem Horcrux in Hogwarts and removing the soul shard from it, before choosing to hunt down the rest of his Horcruxes himself and foil the plans of the Death Eaters. In the process, he also becomes one to the entire Ministry of Magic, as after enough of Umbridge's draconian decrees and laws (plus some advice from Clockwork), Danny comes to the conclusion that the only way real change can come about is if the entire magical society of Britain is changed by force. To this end, he begins fermenting a revolution against the Ministry, enlisting a number of disenfranchised communities who have been harmed by the Ministry's laws, as well as a few Ghosts that he personally knows like Ember.

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