Work Text:
Harry and his friends followed Danny and his friends as they led them to a local food joint.
“Trust me, they make the best burgers even if they’re called Nasty Burger," Danny was saying.
Ron was excited to try muggle fast food, but Hermione wasn’t quite on board.
“You know, fast food isn’t very healthy.” she kept saying.
“We know, ‘Mione.” Harry said for what felt like the fifth time.
Just then a ghost flew by.
“Beware! I am the Box Ghost! Give me all your boxes!”
Danny sighed, looking at them apologetically. “Give me just a moment.” he said, then his ‘sprit’ separated from his body and flew off after the ghost.
“What was that!” Hermione exclaimed.
“Hm?” Danny said, tilting his head to the side his expression a little absent.
“Ignore him.” Sam said. “He’s not quite all here when he lets Phantom out.”
“Phantom?” Ron aksed.
Sam nodded in the direction Danny’s spirit had flown after the ghost. “That’s what we call Danny’s spirit manifestation.”
“And who was the first blue guy.” Ron asked. “He isn’t actually called the Box Ghost, is he?”
Sam grimaced slightly. “Yeah, that’s what he calls himself. We get a lot of ghosts with strange names here in Amity.”
Hermione frowned, “But isn’t it rare for people to become ghosts?”
Sam shrugged. “Yeah, but they mostly come from the Zone.”
“The what?” Harry asked, frowning.
“The Ghost Zone.” Tucker said, doing something on his phone. And wasn’t that something? That the Amity Parkers were able to use technology without it exploding?
Sam rolled her eyes. “The Ghost Zone is where ghosts usually hang out. It tends to be where people go if they have unfinished business or were just too stubborn to move on.”
“Then how do they get here?” Hermione asked, beginning to sound on the verge of shaking someone for answers or camping out at the library for the foreseeable future.
Sam sighed. “Ok, so the Fentons, Danny’s parents, built a portal into the Ghost Zone to better study and understand ghosts, their culture, and the afterlife in general.”
Ron frowned. “Ok, but what’s a portal?”
“Think of it like a permanent summoning circle.” Tucker said, putting his phone away and looking toward Sam. “Phantom watch just updated saying that the Box Ghost’s been caught. He’ll be back soon.”
As he finished speaking, Phantom appeared and flew into Danny who blinked a few times and shook himself. “It’s always so weird being in two places at once.” He frowned at Sam. “You were explaining the Zone and the portal, right?”
“Yeah. Though our visitors still look confused.
Danny grinned at them. “Don’t worry too much. It’s pretty confusing to anyone who’s new to Amity. All you need to know is that when ghosts aren’t messing around here in the living Realms they’re hanging out, living their lives in the Ghost Zone. Most of them that come through just want to visit or hang out, though there are a few trouble makers.”
“But there’s a… portal?” Hermione asked, sounding a bit scandalized. “Isn’t that… dangerous?” she asked, and Harry had the feeling she’d been about to say ‘dark.’
Danny shrugged. “My parents monitor it properly now. There’s nothing to worry about.”
“But–”
“Hermione,” Harry cut her off.
“But–”
“Nope.” Ron said, tugging her into the restaurant they’d been standing in front of. “You can look into it more later. Right now I’m hungry, and I can’t wait to try muggle fast food.”
Hermione buried her face in her hands and let off a muffled scream.