In Half-Dead Phoenix, Harry Potter watches as Trelawney attempts to use a summoning ritual to bring forth a protector, in part to spite the observing Umbridge. Surprisingly, it works, bringing forth a half-ghost boy named Danny, who is homeless and on the run from the Guys in White. This event sends ripples throughout the wizarding world, changing things forever.
- Anti-Magic: Ecto-energy and magic don't really mix well, so Danny can do things like remove objects from walls where they've been magically anchored with intangibility, for example.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Danny asks Umbridge several when she's sitting in on Snape's class.
- Death by Adaptation: Jack, Maddie, Jazz, Sam, and Tucker are all dead before the story starts.
- The Empath: Danny has a limited ability to sense the emotions of others. It can even detect an animagus.
- Fallen Hero: Pariah Dark was apparently genuinely heroic once, but became corrupted by the Veil when investigating its corruption of other powerful ghosts.
- Foreshadowing: When exploring Hogwarts, Danny encounters a wall that he can't phase through. It turns out to be the entrance to the Room of Requirement.
- Invisible to Normals: As in canon, Thestrals cannot be seen by anyone who hasn't seen and understood death. Unlike in canon, Danny somehow temporarily makes some of the Hogwarts Herd visible to everyone.
- Villain Takes an Interest: When Voldemort learns that Danny is a Muggle, rather than explode with anger like expected, he laughs and demands that Snape find out more about how Danny got his powers so he can replicate it for himself.