Summary: It sounded easy enough to Natsu. Go to school. Investigate the "strange occurances" in the castle grounds. Beat up bad guys. Then go back home to Fairy Tail. His teammates were not nearly as simplistic. But they sure as hell didn't expect this. Betrayal, lies, and love. How do you know when you're looking at the real thing? [NaLu]

Rating: T

Word Count: 4,048 (admittedly the longest chapter I have ever written. For anything. Ever. Ugh.)

Warning: I have never read any of the Harry Potter books. Ever. So all I know is based on the movies.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter, as well as Fairy Tail is not mine. It never will be. T.T This story is for pure entertainment purposes only, and not made to make any money. Ehem, now on with the story.

Happy Reading!

Perception

by

oh-woah

The sun was beautiful and the birds were chirping as Lucy practically skipped to Fairy Tail.

She had just paid her landlord for this month's rent, and to her surprised joy, she still had some extra money. While it may have been a regular occurence for nearly everyone else, extra money was a rare thing for Lucy. Usually, whatever jewels she had collected at the end of a mission would also be used to pay for the damage Natsu had inflicted during the mission. Then she would use what was left over to pay her rent and bills. Thus, no extra money.

Heheheh. Not this time, Lucy thought gleefully.

Oh, she could already see herself in some gorgeous new heels she had seen through a store window yesterday.

Continuing on her way to Fairy Tail, Lucy had a feeling that it was going to be a wonderful day.

Even as she entered her guild and was immediately met with the onslaught the was typical of their guild, it did nothing to deter her happy mood. With some notable skill, Lucy dodged magic and food and thrown chairs as if they were nothing; the girl simply danced around the projectiles and took a spot on a barstool. Levy, who was occupying the seat next to her, had seen the entire thing. She eyed the sunny blonde suspiciously. "Luce?"

Said stellar spirit mage had not noticed her friend's inquiring gaze. "Oh! Goodmorning, Levy!" Then Lucy gave her a brilliant smile. "Isn't today just amazing?"

"Er, yes. Absolutely." Slightly creeped out by her friend's unusual display of cheerfulness, Levy tried not to let it show on her face and slid off the barstool with as much stealth as she could and high-tailed it out of there. The bluenette knew that whenever the blonde was in one of these moods, she would soon be plotting something devious. It would not end well. Levy would not be involved with whatever scheme was brewing within Lucy's head.

Levy had the right instinct, of course. She knew her friend well. The next moment, Lucy's head whipped up as an idea popped into her head. Maybe, if she went and got a mission done quickly, she would be able to minimize Natsu's usual damage! Lucy knew she could do it. She felt lucky today.

And if we make it home quick enough, I can be home with more money by the time the stores go on sale! Mind made up, she turned quickly, her eyes searching the room for her victim. Or victims.

There.

Four tables away, Lucy spotted her pink-haired partner embroiled in a fight with Gray. Not wanting to waste precious time waiting for Erza to end their bickering, Lucy decided she would pull those two apart herself.

Astonishingly, the well-endowed blonde marched up to them and ended their petty arguement with a harsh yank and a push. Natsu choked - Lucy had grabbed his scarf - and Gray stumbled backwards before sitting down on a bench. Lucy was strong enough to manhandle them if she wanted to, despite her petite size.

"There," Lucy said with a satisfied grin, while they looked surprised.

"Lucy," Natsu whined, "What was that for?"

Gray grunted in agreement.

A small, throbbing vein appreared on her forehead, though Lucy remained smiling. "I need to talk to you two morons. I can't do that while you're both trying to knock each other's brains out. Problem?"

His sense of self-preservation caused Gray to shake his head quickly. Damn. Scary woman.

She immediately brightened and clapped her hands together. "Great!"

And not a moment later, Erza arrived, eyeing the scene with obvious interest. It wasn't everyday that you saw two of Fairy Tail's strongest mages cowering. "Hm. What's going on?"

Lucy greeted the redheaded woman. "You're just in time, Erza! You see, I just got these two settled down."

"From what?" they didn't like the way Erza's eyes glinted.

"A fight!"

"Oh?" And she smacked both of them upside the head.

Lucy cleared her throat. "Anyway, I was going to say: Let's go on a mission!"

That's what they had been so brutally manhandled for? A mission? Despite having had been arguing earlier, Natsu and Gray shared an understanding look that said, "Couldn't this have waited until after we were done fighting?" They shook their heads, but wisely didn't say anything further. Women.

And the two men of Team Natsu remained incredulous as both Lucy and Erza discussed a mission eagerly. Apparently, Erza had come to tell the trio that Makarov was summoning them to his office for an important mission. And Lucy, who had torn their argument apart to demand - er, ask - them to accompany her on a mission was ecstatic and agreed. With that settled, their expectant gazes fell on Natsu and Gray. With the piercing gazes from both women, both the dragonslayer and ice mage had no choice but to reluctantly agree.

Together, the four of them climbed the steps to Makarov's office.

x

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In a span of ten minutes, Natsu had gone from a fighting-mode, to suprised, to scared, and then back to surprised again. Then he burst out laughing.

"W-What did you say? Dumb-door? Harry Potter? Ah, Luce, did'ya hear that?" Natsu guffawed, throwing his head back. Lucy had to admit, the names did sound funny. For a second, she considered laughing along with the pink-haired dragonslayer, but -

Makarov leapt onto his desk and swatted the boy with his fist. "Shut up, brat!"

- she did not want to be subjected to that. The old mage coughed into his fist to draw their attention back to him. "Yes. That's what I said. Dumbledor. And Harry Potter." Their master waited, probably for Natsu to start laughing again, so he could have an excuse to smack the boy upside the head. It didn't come, to Makarov's relief and slight disappointment. He reaccounted to Natsu, Lucy, and Gray what he had already told Erza. "Dumbledor is an old friend of mine. We met and became friends with him many years ago.

Like the case of Edolas, he lives in a separate world - another dimension. He will explain it better to you four later. Anyway. I called you here because of your mission. You will to travel to that dimension and act as temporary students in his school, which he is the headmaster of."

"School? Ugh," Natsu muttered in distaste.

Makarov ignored the interruption and continued, "There is also a strange matter going on in the school grounds that needs some investigation. You will assist Dumbledor in whatever way he sees fit. For payback for a favor I owe him. I suspect that won't be too much for you four to handle. This mission will last an indefinite amount of time, and it has a possibility of changing from a B-rank mission to an S-rank. I chose Team Natsu for specific reasons," Malarov said pointedly. "I trust this group will be able to complete it. As usual, Erza will be the team leader. Any questions? No? Good."

Makarov didn't give them a chance to answer as he uncorked a vial of blue gas and smashed it into the floor. They group was sent into coughing fits, as it made a small popping sound and the room was filled with smoke. Waving it away, they saw that there was now a swirling hole in the floor of Makarov's office. As they eyed the swirling portal and grasped one another's wrists, something occurred to Lucy.

Makarov had said something about a favor. If it was a favor, did that mean they wouldn't get paid? Her eyes widened in realization. No!

"Come on, Luce," Natsu tugged on her wrist. "Don't want you getting separated!"

And then Lucy was pulled into the hole in the floor before she could protest.

Lucy swore that she left her heart and possibly all her intestines somewhere on the floor of Makarov's office. As disgusting as that sounded, it was the only way she could properly describe the intense feeling of falling she was going through at the moment.

Vertigo overcame her and before Lucy could open her mouth to scream she hit the ground hard and her heart came back to her in a grinding halt. A cloud of dust rose in their wake. Lucy had landed on her back, and it seemed that she was not the only one feeling shaken. Natsu was still gripping her wrist tightly as they stared at the sky above them. It was almost dusk now, Lucy noticed with surprise. There was a definite time difference. And apparently, the four of them had landed in a forest. Erza was the first one to recover. Titania stood up slowly and her movement snapped them out of their daze.

"Whoa..." Gray groaned as he sat up, running his hands through his already messy hair in a calming gesture. The boys got up, and Natsu held out a hand to help Lucy up. She took his offered hand gratefully.

"Ahh, Dumbledor told me to expect ya!" A loud booming voice startled Team Natsu. A large looming figure, clothed in all brown with a large black beard stood before them menacingly, before his lit a lantern he was carrying to illuminate his face and area around them. He was smiling at them. There was a pregnant pause as they stood there, taking each other in. Fairy Tail did not quite know what to make of him.

"Well? What're ya waitin' for? Dumbledor's expectin' ya. They're probably waitin' in the Great Hall now. Come on. I'll show ya'," and with that he turned around and they took that as a signal to follow him. He whirled around unexpectedly, nearly giving Lucy a heart attack. "Oh! I forgot to mention, but my name's Hagrid."

They stared at him curiously.

"Nani ga jigoku o itte iru?" Natsu blurted. What the hell are you saying?

Hagrid looked equally confused. "Wha?" Shaking his head, the tall man turned away from them, muttering under his breath as he led them out of the forest. There was an obvious language barrier, and from the looks of it, no one on the team knew how to speak whatever language Hagrid was using fluently. They cursed Makarov for not warning them beforehand.

Something tickled her memory - and then Lucy gasped, distracted, as they reached the end of the forest and stepped out into a clearing. Or, from the looks of it, castle grounds. From the expressions her teammates were currently wearing, they were as shocked as she felt. After their pause they jogged to catch up to Hagrid, who had turned around to grin at them. "Amazin', ain't it? Welcome to Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

Though they were facing the north side of Hogwarts, the castle was not any less intimidating. The sun had set already, and the dusky setting was the perfect backdrop for the castle of Hogwarts. It looked absolutely magical.

"Kore wa gakkōde wa arimasen," Lucy heard Gray mutter. This is not a school.

And then what Lucy had been trying to remember clicked.

"You... You speak English?" Lucy said tentatively to Hagrid, trying to recall the lessons that had been drilled into her at Heartphilia manor. Natsu and the others looked startled when Lucy opened her mouth and spoke the foreign language. Hagrid wore a similar expression before he broke out into a wide grin. The evening was full of surprises, and the day wasn't even over yet.

"Well, bloody hell! You do speak!" Hagrid winked and she knew he had only been teasing. "Glad to know we can communicate."

Lucy nodded, to the further bewilderment of her friends. She could understand?

"Yes. Nice to meet you, my name is Lucy Heartphilia," the blonde replied politely. There was a noticeable japanese accent to her words. Hagrid didn't seem to care.

"Nice to meet you, Lucy."

Growing more confident, Lucy smiled back at the tall man. Those horrible lessons at the Heartphilia manor hadn't been a waste after all! "These are my friends," she gestured to each one in turn. "Natsu Dragneel, Gray Fullbuster, and Erza Scarlet." Realizing that they were being introduced, they each offered a small smile or a grin.

As Lucy continued her conversation with Hagrid, Gray turned to Erza. "Kanojo ga nani o itte iru ue no nin'i no aidea?" Any idea on what she's saying?

Erza shook her head. "Iya." Nope.

"Toki irai rūshī wa chinpunkanpun'na hanashi o hanasu hōhō o manabimashita ka?" Natsu sulked to himself. Since when did Lucy learn how to speak gibberish?

Thankfully, they entered the castle without further incident. There were many people here, dressed in strange black robes. The Fairy Tail group earned themselves quite a few stares from students and ghosts along the way, but that was it. After about ten minutes of walking through a complex set of halls and astonishing moving stairs, the group came to a stop before a statue of a gargoyle.

"Well," said Hagrid. "Here we are. Dumbledor's office."

Then the gargoyle statue shifted to the side, revealing a twisting set of stairs. It was quite intimidating, but with some persuasion from Lucy that it wasn't a trap, Team Natsu climbed the steps to Dumbledor's office. Hagrid didn't follow. Instead, he waved goodbye and walked off.

There, waiting for them at the top of the stairs, was another set of doors, guarded by a small shriveled monster. Lucy grimaced, but the small creature simply slid the door open and closed it once they were inside.

The creature was soon forgotten. The inside was so interesting, with things floating here and there, but the most eye-catching of all was the old man standing at the far end of the room, a large phoenix behind him.

"Welcome," he smiled at them warmly. "The group from Fairy Tail, I presume? Welcome, welcome! I am Dumbledor. My old friend Makarov informed me you were coming."

Natsu nudged the stellar spirit mage when she didn't answer. The blonde started and blushed, embarrased. "Y-Yes. Ah, I am - "

Dumbledor interrupted her. "Lucy Heartphilia? Yes, I know. I know you as well, Erza Scarlet. Gray Fullbuster. Natsu Dragneel." At their silence, Dumbledor continued. "I am aware that besides Miss Heartphilia's limited knowledge of English, none of you understand what is being said. Would you like me to cast a spell before we begin going over the details of the mission?"

Lucy quickly gave her teammates the gist of what he was saying. They quickly agreed. Seeing the acceptance in their eyes, the great wizard took out his wand and simply casted: "Intellectus."

"Better?" Dumbledor could tell by the looks on their faces that it had worked.

"Cool!" Natsu exclaimed.

"Hey, I actually know what you're saying, now..." Gray looked awed.

"Thank you very much," Erza said with calm politeness, her pleasure at being able to understand clear on her face.

The old wizard simply waved it off. "You're welcome. Makarov had the same issue back then. But now onto more serious matters. As you know, Makarov sent you here because there have been some strange incidents happening on castle grounds, lately. I'm concerned for the students, since it might have to do with dark magic. Especially Harry," he paused. "Have you heard of him?"

They nodded. Makarov had mentioned his name.

"You will act as seventh-year students and take 3 mandatory classes. Also, at the opening ceremony you will be sorted into your houses. Under that guise, you will investigate and help protect students. I give you permission to do whatever action you deem necessary. You will be able to leave in the middle of class without the teachers arguing. Agreed?"

They nodded again, and with a flick of Dumbledor's wand, Team Natsu had been changed into a variety of the Hogwart's uniform. All four were dressed in a white button up longsleeve with a black sweater over it and a black silk tie. Both Erza and Lucy were in gray skirts that ended just above their knees, while Gray and Natsu had been changed into black slacks. Everyone kept their own combat boots, except for Natsu. His open-toed sandals had been exchanged for combat boots similar to Gray's.

"Where's my scarf?" Natsu demanded.

Lucy feared that Natsu had offended Dumbledor with his question, but instead he laughed. "Don't worry. Your original clothes have been packed into a suitcase. When you find out what houses you will be in, they will be sent there."

Natsu mumbled under his breath but looked relieved.

"You do not have to wear the long robes. Now let's go to the Great Hall for the opening ceremony."

x

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It was their seventh year at Hogwarts, and also their last. Ron sat to his left, and Hermione to his right. His friends.

Harry couldn't believe how fast the years had gone by. It seemed like yesterday when he had stepped foot into Hogwarts as a first-year student and then in the blink of an eye he was here now, starting the school year of the last time in the Great Hall. Now he would have to think about what he was actually going to do once he graduated, and not to mention the N.E.W.T. exams later on in the year -

a sharp elbow dug into his side and distracted him from his thoughts.

"Harry," Hermione hissed, "Stop spacing out!"

Deciding to listen to his friend's advice, he tuned back into what the powerful wizard was saying and found that it was actually something of interest to him.

"Before we begin the sorting ceremony for the first-year students, there is a bit of news that might be particularly interesting to you all, especially the seventh-years," Dumbledor was saying. "We will have transfer students this year. Five new seventh-years. You are to treat them with kindness and respect!"

A murmur rose through the students.

Transfer students?

From Beauxbatons? Or maybe Durmstrang?

"Silence!" Dumbledor commanded, and a great hush fell over the room. He motioned to people sitting at the first year table, and they stood. There were two boys, one with black hair and another with... pink hair. There was a blonde girl, a redhead, and another girl with black hair.

Dumbledor extended his arm with a great flourish, "Please welcome our new students to Hogwarts: Lucy, Natsu, Gray, Erza and Talia."

There was applause, quite a few snide comments about the boy's pink hair, and then the transfer students took a seat. They quieted down to low whispers as Dumbledor started the sorting ceremony. Harry's attention was rivited elsewhere, however, and he noticed that he was not the only one.

There were several others watching the transfer students with the pink hair and the blonde hair as they bickered over something. Then several of their eyes widened in astonishment and interest as a fire appeared on the hem of the pink-haired boy's sleeves and quickly burned them away until the boy was sleeveless. It was gone as quick as it had appeared. Harry blinked in astonishment. He hadn't even seen the boy draw his wand!

The pink-haired boy was pouting now, as the girl turned away from him in exasperation. Harry noticed a red symbol tattooed on the boy's upper right arm. Upon closer inspection, he realized that the girl had the same symbol on her right hand. Was that symbol a sign of where they were from?

The blonde girl stood up, and Harry jerked in surprise, wondering if he had been caught staring. To his relief, she - Lucy, he heard - was being called up to the sorting hat. She was one of the last ones, and Harry had been spacing out for longer than he had thought. The first years had already been placed into their houses. So had three of the transfer students. The redheaded girl and the black-haired boy had been sorted into Ravenclaw. The black-haired girl was sorted into Slytherin. Harry leaned forward, wondering why he was so eager to find where she was going to be placed -

"Hmm. Interesting. Verrry interesting. I can see that you are intelligent. You remain brave and loyal to your friends, even in the hardest situations. Hardworking, even though you are an heiress. You could have been living in the lap of luxury."

There were several eyebrows raised and a few appreciative whistles at the blonde beauty.

"Gryffindor!"

His house burst into applause, louder than before, and Harry stood up to join his friends in clapping. Without really realizing what he was doing, he waved her over to sit with them. She noticed and gladly took a seat between Neville and him.

"Welcome to Gryffindor!" Several people greeted her, and she replied with a small smile and a thanks.

The pink-haired boy was last.

There was a long period of silence after the hat was placed on his head.

"Can we get on with it? I'm hungry," Natsu broke the tense silence, his stomach rumbling loudly afterwards. His statement earned a few laughs, but they were quickly silenced by teachers.

"How unusual," the hat said at last. "I've never seen something like this before. You are quite extraordinary."

Professor McGonagall, who had been standing off to the side stepped up in concern. The hat shook it off, sounding entirely amused. "Well young man. You have certainly surprised me. That is quite a great accomplishment in and of itself. I can tell you strong purpose in life. You are destined for greatness. I can see that now.

Though at times you are reckless and hot-tempered, when you are faced with battle, you show a prowess in that field like no other. Like a great blank canvas, you hold the potential to be anything you strive for. It is only a matter of the choices you make. You obviously care for your friends very much. You are supportive, brave, strong - in both mind and body."

Natsu swore he heard Gray snort from where he was sitting at the Ravenclaw table and resisted the urge to glare at him.

"Remember who your friends are."

Natsu gave into the urge and glared at the ice mage. Gray smirked back.

"And one more thing. Remember, the price of greatness is responsibility."

Knowing that looking at Gray would only rile him up more, he focused on Lucy, who gave him a reassuring smile and a thumbs up.

"Gryffindor!"

A/N: Well, how was it? Please tell me what you think! Constructive criticism is accepted! :) Especially since I've never written for the Harry Potter fandom before. Also, I don't know if the japanese phrases are right. I looked it up on Google Translate. So if anything is wrong, don't blame me! ;)

Please take the time to review, and tune in for the next chapter of Perception!