#I crafted that Davey fit with my BARE HANDS

[cannibalindsm]

Liberty and Davey outfits from the store today

[dannyphantomrpg]

Visual Aid: 107 Danny Phantom Facts

So I did this again.

(It’s what keeps me occupied when my husband’s asleep and the tablet pen is charging~)

((This one was barely longer than the 10 Years Later, Part 2, but it took all day for some reason...))

Let’s get this thing started~

Hey everybody, Butch Hartman here. I am so excited today because I'm teaming up with Channel Frederator today to talk about my show, Danny Phantom. Can give you the inside scoop.

You guys remember the fandom? Are you kind of curious about the show? Well, relax, we've got something for everybody here as we talk about the 107 facts about Danny Phantom.

For example, did you know that the 2005 Michael Jackson trial was actually features on Vlad's TV on one episode? It's there.

107 Facts: Danny Phantom.

001 Danny Phantom was created by me, Butch Hartman, after I had previously worked on the Fairly Odd Parents with Nickelodeon.

002 When making the show, I drew a lot of inspiration from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Ghostbusters.

003 The title Danny Phantom was inspired by the titles of 1960's cartoons like Jonny Quest. More specifically, I wanted to create a title with a real first name, followed by a last name that was also kind of an action word. Some of these alternative action words were "Danny Thunder" "Danny Lightning" and "Danny Power". "Danny Phantom" was the name I went with cause I thought it sounded the coolest.

004 Some of the alternative first names I had for our hero included "Billy Phantom", "Kenny Phantom", "Jackie Phantom", and "Davey Phantom". I think you'll agree they don't quite have the same ring as "Danny Phantom" does.

005 I came up with the concept for the show Danny Phantom while driving a moving van from Las Vegas to Los Angeles with my mother. Unfortunately, she was more fascinated by the sight of a desert tortoise, than the birth of a new, awesome Nicktoon.

006 Before settling on a superhero show, one of my first concepts for Danny Phantom was a bit more in the main Ghostbusters. It was called Danny Phantom and the Specter Detectors, and it would have focused on a powerless Danny and his friends hunting down ghosts, using an array of ghostbusters-like gadgets.

007 Danny Phantom was pitched to Nickelodeon executives over dinner. Execs treated me  after they ordered more episodes of Fairly Odd Parents, and they happened to ask me if I had any more ideas for TV shows. And, yes, being treated to nice dinners is definitely an appreciated perk.

008 There's some early concept art of Danny showing a surprising design. I originally drew him with the Superman-type body, which was basically a lot of unrealistic buff muscles. I reverted to the slimmer design when I decided it's be more interesting to portray Danny as a fourteen-year-old kid.

009 I decided Danny should be fourteen years old because that age is kind of a bridge between childhood and adulthood. It's more of a period of self-discovery which certainly fits the theme of Danny learning to live and control his ghostly abilities.

010 Danny's skinnier, final design, was the collaborative effort of character designers Steven Silver, Shannon Tyndall, and - surprise - me.

011 Unlike many other cartoon characters, Danny has five fingers. Take that Timmy Turner.

012 You may notice that when Danny goes ghost, only his hair turns white and his eyebrows stay black. They're actually meant to be white as well, but we all thought the white brows made Danny look like an old man so we, uh, kept 'em.

013 Sam and Danny were originally meant to share a psychic connection, so one would know where the other one was at all times. But I scrapped this to keep things simple. Only Danny was finally to have the superpowers.

014 Danny was originally gonna have a pet owl named Spooky that would be able to track ghosts. I scrapped the concept as Harry Potter rapidly gained popularity. I  didn't want his series to be constantly compared to the boy wizard.

015 I wanted to give Danny a really cool ghost motorcycle to use as his primary means of transportation, but then I realized that giving a motorcycle was pointless because, you know, he can fly really fast.

016 The father-son duo of Jack and Danny Fenton are a reference to Jack and Danny Torrance from The Shining, which explains why Jack Fenton constantly accuses his children of being ghosts.

017 I gave Danny an older sibling because, unlike Timmy Turner, I felt that Jazz Fenton would make Danny feel less in control at home and give him somebody to contend with. I thought this lack of control would make Danny's experience with his superpowers all the more satisfying for him.

018 Jazz Fenton was named after a character in John Byrne's 1990's comic book Next Men. I always thought the name Jazz was cool.

019 Tucker Foley's name is a combination of actor and comedian Chris Tucker and Eddie Murphy's character from Beverly Hills Cop, Axel Foley.

020 Danny's teacher, Mr. Lancer, is named after a family restaurant in Burbank called, you guessed it, Lancer's.

021 Vlad Masters was originally going to be a vampire, but Nickelodeon execs thought making him a Vampire could lead to some pretty violent territory and I thought that too. So he was changed into a ghost.

022 A remnant of this scrapped concept can be found in his villain name "Vlad Plasmius". Plasma is found in blood which, you know, vampires kind of have a thirst for.

023 I refer to Vlad Masters as Danny Phantom's Lex Luthor. Like Luthor, Vlad uses his wealth to exert his power, or at least some of it. He also has a personal connection to Danny that gives him the upper hand in most scenarios.

024 Danny's love interest, Paulina Sanchez, is a parallel to Superman's love interest, Lois Lane. Both characters have no romantic interest in the protagonist because they have a crush on the protagonist's superhero alter ego. Lois loves Superman, but not Clark Kent, and Paulina loves Danny Phantom, but not Danny Fenton. Paulina: But you still have no shot with me Oh, the cruel irony.

025 Danny's ghost sense is identical to Spiderman's spider sense. Both senses alert their respective heroes whenever danger is nearby.

026 The parallels of Spiderman don't end there. Dash Baxter is a parallel to Peter Parker's football playing bully, Flash Thompson. Not only do Flash and Dash bully the protagonists of their universes, but they idolize the protagonist's superhero alter ego without realizing the hero is actually the person they bully. Their names both words that describe their quick movement and rhyme with each other.

027 The ghosts of Danny Phantom's world aren't the spirits of the deceased as ghosts tend to be in pop culture. Instead, they're monsters from another dimension. We call them ghosts because it's easier to say and it's more appealing than saying monsters from another dimension.

028 Danny's hometown, Amity Park, is a tribute to the settings of a few famous horror stories. Amityville, Long Island is the location of the famous haunted house known as the Amityville Horror. But Amity Park is also named after Amity Island, the location of the book and Steven Spielberg film Jaws.

029 Danny's high school, Casper High, is named after Casper the Friendly Ghost. Hey, if we hadn't added all these paranormal references, you may have forgotten the show is about ghosts.

030 Quite a few key members from the Fairly Odd Parents had a hand in making Danny Phantom, including writer  Steve Marmel and art director Bob Boyle.

031 One of the major differences working on the Fairly Odd Parents and Danny Phantom was the latter series' more serial format containing everything from character arcs to recurring story lines. Danny Phantom embraces storytelling angle by making the episodes 22 minutes long as opposed to Fairly Odd Parents whose 22 minute run time consisted of 2 eleven minute episodes.

032 One of the most challenging aspects of creating a superhero show like Danny Phantom, was giving all the superhero tropes a unique and interesting twist. We wanted to keep the series fresh an unique.

033 I originally wanted to cast a fourteen year old boy for the role of Danny, but I couldn't find anybody that sounded heroic enough. That heroic voice I searched for was ultimately provided by David Kaufman. Before playing Danny, Kaufman broke into the realm of voice acting when he played Marty McFly in Back tot he Future: The Animated Series.

034 David Kaufman kept his audition for Danny as a CD in his car that he would listen to towards the beginning of the show whenever he drove to the studio to record. He did this to remember what Danny sounded like in order to immerse himself into the character efficiently.

035 I wasn't the only one Kaufman's performance left a deep impression on. His daughter, Grace, calls him Daddy Phantom.

036 Sam Manson is played by actress Grey Griffin. I basically made an effort to include her in every show I created back then. Thus far, she's played Vicky in the Fairly Odd Parents and Kitty Katswell from T.U.F.F. Puppy.

037 Tucker isn't the first loyal friend Ricky D'Shon Collins has played. Before hunting ghosts with Danny, he helped TJ Detweiler keep balance and order on the playground as Vince LaSalle in Disney's Recess.

038 Maddie Fenton's voice actress, Kath Soucie, has essentially crafted a career out of voicing cartoon mothers. She played Dexter's mom in Dexter's Laboratory, Betty DeVille in Rugrats and Miriam Pataki in Hey Arnold.

039 Danny's father, Jack, is played by legendary voice actor Rob Paulson, who's played iconic roles like Yakko Warner, Pinky, Carl Weiser, Experiment 625, Donatello in the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Raphael in the old one, and way too many more to mention here.

040 Although Mr. Lancer is far from hardcore, his voice actor, Ron Perlman, has played quite a few characters throughout his career that redefined the word, He played Hellboy in the Guillermo del Toro films of the same name and he voices Slade Wilson, also known as Deathstroke, on Teen Titans, as well as the Lich in Adventure Time.

041 Valerie Grey was originally played by Grey DeLisle for the episode My Brother's Keeper before renowned voice actress Cree Summer was chosen to take over the role. If her name doesn't sound familiar, you've probably heard her voice as Penny on Inspector Gadget or maybe even as Susie Carmicheal on Rugrats.

042 Valerie isn't the only one that's had a change in her voice. Dani, that's Dani with an I, was voiced with two different actresses through the series. She was played by AnnaSophia Robb in her debut episode Kindred Spirits. The role was then taken over by Krista Swan in the episode D-Stabilized, which was Dani's second and final speaking appearance.

043 Tara Strong plays two of the show's recurring villains: Ember McLain and Penelope Spectra. This is definitely not the first time I've worked with her. You probably know her best as Timmy Turner in the Fairly Odd Parents, which proves she can effectively play both the hero and the villain.

044 Every celebrity guest in the show was cast as a ghost, similar to how celebrity guests would play villains on the 1960's Batman series starring Adam West and Burt Ward. Some of these celebrities include Particia Heaton from Everybody Loves Raymond as the Lunch Lady, and Matthew St. Patrick from Six Feet Under as Skulker, and Will Arnett from Arrested Development as the Ghost Writer, and Martin Mull as Vlad Plasmius.

045 These celebrity voice actors typically played their ghosts for a limited time before different voice actors took their roles. Sometimes as soon as the ghost's second appearance. Series Kath Soucie took over the role of the Lunch Lady and Kevin Michael Richardson became Skulker.

046 Tucker's dad, Maurice Foley, is voiced by Phil Lamarr who voices Hermes Conrad on Futurama and Samruai Jack on Samurai Jack.

047 Mark Hamill plays Undergrowth. He's, of course, best known for playing Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, but also as countless voice acting credits, including the Joker and Fire Lord Ozai.

048 The ghost child Youngblood was played by actor Taylor Lautner when he was just nine years old. Lautner would later be featured in everybody's favorite love story Twilight. Wait, who wrote that? Do I have to say that?

049 Danny's ultimate enemy, Dark Danny, is played by Oscar-nominated acting legend Eric Roberts. His impressive resume includes everything from the Dark Knight to the Cable Guy.

050 The first recording session for Danny Phantom took place on November 21, 2002, about a year and a half before the show premiered. The first episode to be recorded was also the first episode to air: Mystery Meat.

051 In fact, Danny Phantom premiered on April 3, 2004, right after Nickelodeon's annual Kid's Choice Awards.

052 Unlike many other animated shows, the cast of Danny Phantom recorded their dialogue in the same room together. David Kaufman described the experience as something akin to a stage play.

053 It takes the actors around 3 hours to record dialogue for a single episode. David Kaufman knows that shouting "I'm goin' ghost!" so many times made his voice hoarse by the end of the day.

054 In the episode What You Want, I voiced a football announcer that also looks a lot like me except he's, you know, a cartoon. I mean, he looks a lot more like me than Dr. Bender does. I hope.

055 The theme song we hear today wasn't the only one recorded for the show. An alternate version got so far into production that an alternate opening sequence was storyboarded all the way around it. The alternate song sounds very similar to the final product with different lyrics that focus more on explaining Danny's abilities.

056 The theme song was changed because Nickelodeon wanted it to tell Danny's origin story. This way, new views wouldn't feel alienated when watching the show for the first time no matter what episode they started out with.

057 Luckily, changing the lyrics wasn't an overly complicated, make-10-calls, logistical nightmare since I wrote the lyrics of the theme song. Both of them actually.

058 I based the show's theme song after the song The Invisible Man by Queen, one of my favorite bands.

059 One thing I learned from working on the Danny Phantom theme song is that your first idea isn't always your best idea, and to never stop pushing yourself until you've made something truly awesome. You're welcome for that halfway through burst of inspiration.

060 I also co wrote another fan favorite song Remember, performed by Ember in the episode Fanning the Flames, which also happens to be my third favorite episode. Yes, my third favorite. I am very, very specific.

061 Danny Phantom was the first show to be produced by my very own company, Billionfold Inc. which was co-founded with my wife. Billionfold comes from a biblical term, hundredfold.

062 A single episode of Danny Phantom took approximately 10 months to produce, stretching all the way from pre-production to post.

063 While the pre-production phase took place in Burbank, California, Danny Phantom's animation was done by a Korean animation studio called Rough Draft. Rough Draft's resume includes work done on other animated classics like Futurama, The Simpsons, and SpongeBob SquarePants.

064 The individual villains found within Danny Phantom's rogues gallery was based on ideas that I had. Ember McLane stemmed from a pitch regarding an episode about music fads, and the effects they have on teenagers. The Lunch Lady was generated from my very astute knowledge that students tend to hate school prepared lunched.

065 Vlad is a Green Bay Packers fanatic because Danny Phantom's story write, Steve Marmel is a cheesehead himself. We nearly got sued for this, but luckily Marmel was smart enough to make the team colors of the Danny Phantom Packers gold and green instead of green and gold.

066 One scrapped running gag Marmel wanted to incorporate was that Vlad's home would be blown up after every encounter he had with Danny, but this recurring joke was mainly lost in editing.

067 Had the series gone on, Danielle would have been taken in by the Fentons, effectively becoming the younger sister of Danny and Jazz.

068 Technus was intended to have another upgrade, Technus 3.0, in the episode Identity Crisis. The design was scrapped after we decided the upgrade didn't really fit anywhere in the episode's story.

069 The addition of Danny Phantom's logo later in the series was the suggestion of Nickelodeon executives, who thought he needed a symbol akin to heroes like Batman, Superman, and Spiderman. But perhaps more honest reason was because the execs wanted to make the hero more marketable.

070 Danny officially became 99.99% marketable in the season 2 episode, Memory Blank, in which Sam gives him his D logo.

071 The series score was composed by Guy Moon, who is also responsible for the music heard in the Fairly Odd Parents.

072 When Guy Moon and I met to discuss a soundtrack of an episode, I would usually sing over the episode in progress to give Moon an idea of how I wanted the music to sound. Moon would bring a camera to these sessions and record my, admittedly, unskilled singing to remember my instructions.

073 Not everyone can become a half ghost, half human. If Sam or Tucker had gotten caught int the middle of the Fenton's malfunctioning Ghost Portal, it would have likely killed them.

074 Wulf is fluent in Esperanto, a language created in 1887 by Dr. Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof, perhaps better known by his pseudonym of Doktoro Esperanto. Esperanto was created in the hope of replacing every language in the world as the one universal language. Judging by the fact that this video is in English, you can probably guess how that plan worked out.

075 The episode titled Shades of Grey is obviously a play on Valerie's last name, but the title could have a much deeper meaning. The term "shades of grey" refers to an unclear position on the scale of good to evil, usually somewhere in between. This certainly applies to Valerie, as she doesn't necessarily fight ghosts for good or evil. but for her own personal reasons.

076 During Shades of Grey, Danny names the ghost dog Cujo. Cujo's also the name of a horror novel by Stephen King about a dog bitten by a rabid bat, which turns the dog into a cold-blooded killer.

077 The green glowing, double bladed melee weapon Maddie uses to slay the legion of Vlad's monsters in Maternal Instincts is practically identical to Darth Maul's double bladed lightsaber in Star Wars Episode One, save for the red color.

078 Because I know everyone loves multiple Episode One references, the the title of the second season's 9th episode The Fenton Menace is obviously a play on the title of everybody's favorite Star Wars film, the Phantom Menace. Yes. Everybody's favorite Star Wars film.

079 To continue the Star Wars nods, the Danny Phantom universe has its own line of popular toys called Space Wars featuring characters that resemble Chewbacca and R2D2.

080 Some of the computers in the Danny Phantom world have pears in the back of them which you probably guess was a nod to Apple computers. Timmy's dad in Fairly Odd Parents has the same symbol on his laptop.

081 Save for the creepy pictures of Maddie, the programs and icons on both Danny and Vlad's computers are exactly the same, in the exact same order.

082 Skulker's hunt for Valerie and Danny in Life Lessons closely resembles the plot of Richard Connell's famous short story "The Most Dangerous Game". Much like the story, Skulker kidnaps two very skilled humans on his property for the sole purpose of hunting what he considers to be the most challenging prey out there, or, the most dangerous game.

083 Mr. Lancer spouts the titles of books in place of shouting swear words. Some of these exclamations include The Great Gatsby, Chicken Soup for the Soul, and Moby Dick, which is about as close as we'll be getting to colorful language on a Nicktoon, except for maybe Ren and Stimpy, or Rocko, or SpongeBob. We're slick here at Nickelodeon.

084 In the episode What You Want, Paulina transforms into a popular anime cat names Sayonara Pussycat, who resembles the character Hello Kitty. But Sayonara is actually a rather dramatic and final sounding word for "goodbye" in Japanese.

085 In Teacher of the Year, all 13 levels that Tucker shows Technus are based on the eight worlds from the 1990 NES classic Super Marion Bros. 3. The level 0 glitch is a reference to the infamous Minus world from the original Super Mario Bros.

086 Before sending Danny into the Ghost Zone in the episode Prisoners of Love, Tucker can be seen playing Space Invaders on his PDA.

087 Valerie Grey lives on 461 Elm Street, an obvious reference to the classic horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street. She'd probably stand more of a chance against Freddy Krueger than the other kids in the Street as well.

088 Johnny 13 and Kitty's voice actors, William Baldwin and China Phillips, are a married couple in real life. The knot has been securely tied since 1995. Way before they were cast.

089 In Fanning the Flames, Danny quips "Do you take requests? How about Beat It." in addition to telling Ember to hit the road, Danny's referencing Michael Jackson's classic song Beat It. Good one, Danny. And good one, me.

090 Michael Jackson makes a more obvious cameo in the episode Infinite Realms where he's seen in at his 2005 trial while Vlad is flipping through channels.

091 When we see Tucker's report card in What You Want, we learn that Tucker is not only highly proficient in computers, but sewing as well. If Danny ever needs a suit redesign, he who he can call. Not the Ghostbusters, they'll likely kill him. He should call Tucker.

092 The Groovy Gang and Scaredy Cat from The Million Dollar Ghost are an unsubtle jab at Mystery Inc and Scooby-Doo. An additional fact fact for you guys, I actually worked for Hanna-Barbera, the animation studio that created Scooby-Doo.

093 The secret government organization dedicated to eliminating paranormal entities known as the Guys in White are obviously a parallel to the Men in Black who essentially do the same thing but with evil extraterrestrials.

094 I've gone on record saying the reason Danny is not shirtless when he's at the water park is because he gets sunburned very easily.

095 We can all infer that Sam has good taste in films. For instance, a poster for Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange can be seen in her room.

096 In Memory Blank, Sam wants to see Trinity of Doom, a movie starring Femalien, the female version of Alien that’s a Predator, not a Xenomorph, you uncultured swine!, Terminatra, the female Terminator, and Nightmerica, the female version of Freddy Krueger. I'd still go see that.

097 Danny has a birthmark that's shaped like the state of Florida.

098 Timmy Turner's favorite comic book hero, The Crimson Chin, appears at the Ember concert as one of her many adoring fans in the episode Fanning the Flames. I officially sanction your conspiratorial speculations.

099 In the episode What You Want, Danny and Tucker can be seen playing an arcade machine titles Crash Nebula. Crash Nebula is one of Timmy Turner's favorite heroes of the Fairly Odd Parents. The plot thickens!

100 The cross referencing continued over into the Fairly Odd Parents, too. In Poulter Geeks, a wanted poster for Danny Phantom can be seen in the ghost hunting basement of Timmy's parents.

101 Or you guys could be thinking about this all wrong, and Danny could just be a fictional hero. In the Fairly Odd Parents Crash Nebula special, Danny can be seen on the back cover of a comic book. The truth is out there.

102 If Vlad were real, Steve Marmel would have made him the happiest half man/half ghost on the planet. The writer purchased a brick at Lambeau Field, the home of the Packers, and engraved it with "Someday I will rule - Vlad Plasmius".

103 David Kaufman's favorite episodes tend to be the ones in which Danny spends time with one particular member of his family and the plot strengthens their bond and understanding of each other. He cites the episodes Maternal Instinct and My Brother's Keeper as prime examples.

104 Like every great superhero, Danny Phantom has transcended into the realm of video games. His first outing was a Game Boy Advance adaptation of The Ultimate Enemy, a 2D side-scrolling beat-em-up ordeal.

105 The second was called Danny Phantom: Urban Jungle, which was released for both Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS and it was a side-scrolling shooter.

106 There was once a Danny Phantom themed ride at the indoor Nickelodeon Universe theme park at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. Danny Phantom: Ghost Zone's design was that of an Ali Baba. In other words, it consisted of a stationary horizontal gondola with a 360 degree swinging pendulum. Unfortunately, the rise was taken down in 2015.

107 Danny Phantom ran for three season, from 2004 to 2007. A total of 53 episodes were created for the series. The news of Danny Phantom's cancellation was not well received by the fans at all. The Danny fandom took to the streets of New York City and protested outside of Nickelodeon's building to bring the ghost boy back into production. Unfortunately, to no avail. But thank you. Seriously, thank you.

Ok, guys, thanks so much for watching. Hope you guys enjoyed it, 107 facts about Danny Phantom. Don't forget to like and subscribe to the Frederator Channel.

[rbbalmung]

Quiddsies (Newsies/Hogwarts AU)  Chapter 1:

Hey guys! I’ve decided to throw together a short fic to celebrate Newsies being released! If you’ve been following me the past week, you’d know that I’ve been throwing together a Quidditch Newsies Au (Quiddsies was the best name I cam up with, I’m so sorry). If you need a little character background, check out my blog! But for now, here’s chapter 1!

    Jack was known to be a bit of a troublemaker, but being called to the headmaster’s office the first day of school was a new record for him. Seeing Wiesel was never the highlight of his day, and this little meeting he had arranged was causing all of the teachers and underclassmen to give him knowing looks. Of course Jack Kelly would get called down on the first day of school. So much for putting his best foot forward for his seventh year.

    He turned to corner only to find Wiesel’s door still closed. Jack would’ve figured that he should just walk in if it had not been for a lanky Ravenclaw boy standing patiently by the entrance with a book in his hand. Jack rose his eyebrow in confusion and scanned the area before starting up a conversation,” What, were you called down too? I didn’t know that Ravenclaws got into trouble.”

    The boy looked up from his scripture with a polite sense of what Jack could only assume was fear,” We don’t,” He stated defensively,” I’m assuming that Headmaster Wiesel called me down to talk to me about my duties as prefect this year,” He pointed to the shiny badge Jack hadn’t noticed before,” Maybe he’s giving us an explanation together?”

    Jack choked out a laugh,” Me? As a prefect? I think I’d be the last person they’d choose.”

    “Oh, I dunno about that, Jackie,” Said boy visibly brightened when he turned to see his favorite Hufflepuff hobbling down the hall,” If you took school as seriously as you took quidditch, the Gryffindor house would be in great shape!”

Jack and Crutchie went way back. It had been Crutchie’s first year going to Hogwarts, and he was so nervous that he didn’t notice that his pet rat had escaped. The creature somehow ended up in Jack’s compartment, so he gave the first year his pet back and welcomed him to sit with him. To say the two hit it off would be an understatement.

Crutchie turned to the Ravenclaw and sent him a warm grin,” Heya Davey! I hear you’re captain this year! Congrats!”

    The Gryffindor did a double take as he looked from his best friend to this Davey kid,” Oh, you gotta be kidding me. This kid is the new Ravenclaw captain?”

    “He’s Sarah’s little brother,” His redheaded friend pointed out,” I hear he’s pretty good at coming up with strategies.”

    “Thanks Crutchie,” Davey sent the Hufflepuff small smile before turning back to Jack. His brow was furrowed as he observed him, his confused look only dissipating because it had transformed into anger,” Hold on, I know who you are! You’re Jack Kelly! You’re the kid that dated my sister three years ago!”

    Jack felt his stomach dropped as he was forced to relive the stupid decisions fourth year Jack had made. He was a co-captain that year and was head over heels for the new Ravenclaw Captain, a pretty girl who was great at her craft. They had flirted a little bit back and forth until he finally asked her on a date to Hogsmeade. Things went really well for a month, but Jack had closed up in fear of getting too attached. It was a decision he regretted to this day,” Yeah...that was me...”

    Crutchie, sensing his best friend’s discomfort, changed the subject,” So why do you think we’re all here?”

    “Don’t look at me, Davey’s the Ravenclaw,” Jack nudged said boy,” Think up an answer.”

    “Well, isn’t it obvious?” When he was met with the two boys’ blank stares, Davey sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose,” We’re all captains this year. It probably has something to do with Quidditch.”

    Jack ran a hand through his curly brown hair and thought through the boy’s theory,” If that was true, wouldn’t the Slytherin Captain be here too?”

    “Oh, I’ve been here,” The three boys practically jumped out of their skins when they were met with the sight of a Slytherin girl primly sitting on the bench on the opposite wall,” Headmaster Wiesel wanted me to come ten minutes early, but it looks like he didn’t hold up his end of the bargain,” She tilted her head towards the still closed door and frowned,” If I have to miss my lunch for this, I’m going to send in a formal complaint.”

    While neither Jack nor Davey seemed to recognize the girl, Crutchie’s face lit up with another smile,” Heya Katherine! I didn’t know you were Captain this year!”

    “Jordan nominated me,” She replied proudly,” He said he admired my work ethic and the way I still played through the game last year when that bludger broke my arm.”

Davey’s eyes widened, his curiosity grabbing a hold of him,” Hold on, you won that game last year! How on earth did they let you keep playing if you broke your arm?”

She glowed with pride as she explained the event,” The referee didn’t seem to take notice of my injury, so I continued to play through the game. It was only after Slytherin had won that I finally went to the hospital wing.”

    Suddenly, Jack knew exactly who this girl was. He was brought back to the week before during his mother, Medda’s, show. He had climbed up into the private box to keep the pretty girl company, and while she had given him quite the cold shoulder, something about her drew him in. What were the odds that she was not only a wizard like him, but also a quidditch player? Jack felt a grin sneak it’s way onto his face,” A girl captain on the Slytherin team? That’s pretty impressive, seeing that they usually don’t even let girls on the team.”

    Katherine pursed her lips at his comment,” Is that sarcasm, Mr. Kelly?”

    “Nah, I just think that girls who play quidditch are hot.”

    “You think that anyone who plays quidditch is hot,” Crutchie joked, earning an elbow to the side from his friend. Davey snorted in agreement, but didn’t speak up.

    Either she didn’t hear Crutchie’s comment or decided to ignore it, because Katherine turned her attention back to the matter at hand,” So, does the administration have a meeting with all of the captains every year, or is this something new?”

    Jack frowned and shook his head,” I’ve been captain three years now, and this has never happened.”

    Before they could ponder what the circumstances of their get together was, the door opened and headmaster Wiesel stepped forward,” Good afternoon, Mr. Morris, Mr. Jacobs, Miss Plumber, Mr. Kelly,” He opened the door to his office wider and waved them in,” Please find a seat.”

    “Afternoon to you too, Weasel,” Jack snickered, earning a glare from the Headmaster. To say the two didn’t get along well would be an understatement. It started off with Jack being a reckless first and second year, but one could argue that he was a kid and couldn’t know any better. However, the grudge that Wiesel seemed to hold against Jack held firm. He seemed to like getting the Gryffindor in trouble for the littlest things at this point, which only pushed Jack to annoy the man more. It was a lose lose situation that both were too stubborn to give up.

    Davey gave him a pointed look that warned Jack to shut up before he got them all in trouble, but Katherine beat him to commenting on it by grabbing him his tie and yanking him down to level to hiss,” If you ruin this for us, I’ll make you regret it.”

    Jack chuckled,” I didn’t know you were this forward, Ace.”

    She glared at him and pushed him into the office, following behind and closing the door. Crutchie had settled himself in one of the chairs and Davey, being the gentleman he was, had left the other one open for Katherine. She sent him a thankful smile, but waved for the Ravenclaw to take it. Jack didn’t seem to catch this exchange and took the seat for himself.

    Headmaster Wiesel sat himself down at his own chair and looked from one captain to the next, reading each of their curious expressions before finally speaking up,” I assume that you’ve all read the Daily Prophet as of late?” Jack and Crutchie shared blank looks with each other, Davey’s polite smile shifted into a frown, and Katherine’s face paled. Wiesel smirked,” Well, I’m sure that you can’t read, Mr. Kelly, but everybody else seems to be aware of the situation at hand.”

    “Hey, no need to get-” Crutchie nudged his friend before he said something he would regret later. Jack clenched his jaw in annoyance, but continued in a more civil manner,” I can read, thank you very much, but I don’t read the papes. Maybe if I was your age-” He received another elbow from Crutchie,”...Fine. What was in the papes?”

    “In light of an article written near the end of summer detailing just how dangerous Quidditch can be, Hogwarts has decided to place a brief ban on quidditch until the wizard court can decide whether or not to permanently terminate Quidditch-”

    He barely finished his sentence before the room exploded. Jack had shot up from his seat so fast that the chair he was sitting in tipped over, Crutchie’s jaw had dropped open so wide that a baseball could fit through it, and even the level-headed Davey had taken a few steps forward to protest,” Sir, you cannot make that decision without consulting us first-”

    “I can, and I already have,” Wiesel responded smugly,” It’s for the safety of the students-”

    The Headmaster was interrupted when Katherine quickly spun on her heel and hightailed it out of the room without a word to anyone. A tense silence finally settled over what was left of the group, prompting Jack to speak up,” Okay, that was a fun joke an’ all, but I think you’ve taken it too far.”

    “I assure you that this is no joke, Mr. Kelly,” Wiesel folded his hands neatly before looking at the clock on the wall,” But unfortunately, I must ask you to leave my office at this time. I have another meeting in a few minutes. Inform your teams and return to class before the end of lunch.”

    Crutchie shook his head in disbelief,” But that ain’t fair! I have kids who were really looking forward to playing!”

    Jack suddenly felt a pain of sympathy for his friend. Quidditch was one of the only things Crutchie could do that didn’t interfere with his leg, and he knew that a good portion of the Hufflepuff team were misfits in one way or another. He knew without a doubt that they’d be crushed when they heard the news,” Can’t you at least let us play in our freetime?”

    “That is out of the question.”

    “How? Are you saying that you’re banning flying altogether?!”

    Wiesel chose not to respond to Crutchie’s frantic question and waved the boys out,” I don’t like repeating myself. Get out or I’ll give you all detention.”

    Davey placed his hands on the boys’ shoulders,” Come on, there’s nothing we can do. Let’s get out before we get in trouble.”

    With the air of defeat, the three turned to exit the room. Could quidditch really be over? Why would they take it away? For Crutchie, Quidditch was the one thing that he could be normal at. Nobody thought of him as the lousy crip, but instead the amazing seeker that once ended a game within five minutes. For Davey, Quidditch was his chance to finally prove himself. As much as he loved Sarah, he wanted to make his own legacy. He would be lying if he said he hadn’t heard the rumors circulating about how he only recieved his position out of favoritism. This was supposed to be the year that he finally proved them wrong. For Jack, Quidditch was the only reason he was still in school. Quidditch captains of the past had taken Jack under their wing and taught him not only to stand up for himself, but for what he believed in.

    And there was no way in hell that he was going to let that be taken away.

    Jack turned on his heel and glared at the Headmaster, causing the other two boys to look at him in confusion,” This isn’t the last you’ll hear of this, Weasel. I’m not giving up until we’ve got Quidditch players back on the pitch.”