Summary: It sounded easy enough to Natsu. Go to school. Investigate the "strange occurrences" 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]

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Fairy Tail do not belong to me, nor do any of its characters. This story was made for entertainment purposes only and not to make any money whatsoever. The only thing I own is my plot and my imagination.

Rating: T

Word Count: 4,328

A/N: Happy reading! Any questions you may have will be answered at the ending author's note.

Perception

by

oh-woah

"Congratulations! Once again, welcome to Hogwarts," Dumbledore spoke warmly after the last students quieted down. "And to the rest of the students: Welcome back to Hogwarts. I know this will be a great year. Now without further ado, let us enjoy our first school dinner."

Dinner appeared on the tables instantly, and the room filled with the smell of delicious food. There were cries of delight, and though Harry had seen it many times before, it still amazed him.

What also amazed him was how Natsu seemed to appear out of thin air.

Personally, Harry had never seen anyone move so fast in his life. He remembered seeing the pink-haired student from the corner of his eye - he was still far away. And then Harry blinked, intending to fill his plate with some of that scrumptious looking chicken, and Natsu was just there all of a sudden, standing behind Lucy and reaching over her shoulder for the same chicken Harry had set his eyes on.

There were also others around him that seemed to be shocked, but the pink-haired student did not seem to notice. Similarly, Lucy let out a surprised exclamation of, "Natsu!" but she recovered quickly and made room for him. The blonde scooted closer to Harry while her companion settled in quickly and attacked the food.

Literally, that was what it looked like - the boy was an eating machine. Across from him, Neville's mouth dropped open in shock. "Godric's grave, he eats more food than Ron!"

"Welcome to Gryffindor," Harry ventured weakly, trying to override the comment.

There was a barely-caught word of thanks from the fire mage. Lucy turned her apologetic smile on him. "Sorry, he's always like this. I swear, his stomach is a bottomless pit."

"Is not," Natsu shot back, finally swallowing enough to talk - before he dove into his food again. "I just like to eat."

She rolled her eyes, muttering something about too much eating, when Harry quipped, "It's alright, I don't think it's possible for Hogwarts to run out of food."

The pink-haired mage let out a whoop of joy, and Lucy managed to look exasperated, even when she let out a small laugh. "Gods, you've unleashed a beast."

The tension seemed to melt away in that instance. The Gryffindors had left Harry to do the dirty work, so to speak - breaking the ice with the intimidating duo. Now that the first obstacle had been cleared, several others were clearly interested in the new transferees and eager to know more about them. Harry, for one, knew what was going through Ron's mind when he leaned forward and asked, "Lucy Heartphilia, right? Are you French?"

Clearly, Harry was not the only one who understood why the redhead was asking the question. Lucy slightly resembled Fleur Decalour, the pretty Beauxbatons' witch from the Triwizard Tournament. It was widely known that Ron had been infatuated with her during her stay, and had been disappointed to learn that she had started to date his elder brother after graduation.

Hermione hit Ron upside the head, while several others laughed. "Am I missing some private joke?" Lucy asked, a smile on her face as she watched Ron and Hermione bicker from across the table. "You just remind us of a friend, is all," Harry answered.

Ron grinned flirtatiously. By then, Hermione had given up on controlling him - she was rather interested at their two new companions as well.

Lucy nodded and gave him a smile, tolerating smile. Beside her, Natsu sighed in contentment and leaned forward on his elbows. Several plates lay stacked to his right. He answered their earlier inquisition with a slightly bored tone. "We're both full Japanese. But I'm also part dragon."

Ron gaped before he regained his composure. "Impossible. I would know. My brother is a dragon expert in Romania."

Inwardly, Lucy shook her head at him in exasperation. Men. Typical. They always have to show off every chance they get, don't they...?

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Hermione harboring the same expression, and they both glanced at each other and smiled at each other in understanding. Leaning forward on her elbows, Lucy began, "Hogwarts is such an interesting school..."

Hermione grinned at the new girl and proceeded to explain facts and details about the old castle.

The rest of the meal continued in a similar fashion - all small talk, everyone slightly less intimidated by their two newest seventh-year Gryffindors - until they were dismissed for bedtime.

The halls of Hogwarts hadn't changed much from what Harry remembered - there were still the same moving staircases and the same talking portraits and the same talkative ghosts roaming the halls. So he didn't know why Lucy and Natsu were making such a commotion - hadn't they seen this all before, from where they came from? They were acting as excited as first years, and it was slightly embarrassing.

"Haven't you seen this all before?" Harry's brows furrowed as Lucy jumped back from another talking portrait, simultaneously dragging Natsu along so he didn't get left behind.

The poor bloke looked sick to his stomach, an arm wrapped around Lucy's shoulders as she supported him. Probably all the food he ate, Harry mused to himself. "Uh, no. We were kind of... homeschooled," Lucy fumbled for an excuse while Natsu groaned, but Harry didn't seem to notice. "Really? That's different," the wizard exclaimed. Beside him, Ron and Hermione glanced at one another, their eyebrows raised in surprise.

Homeschooled wizards?

Lucy had hoped that her excuse would deter the wizard's curiosity, but it only seemed to encourage him more. When he looked ready to ask her another barrage of questions that Lucy didn't particularly care to answer, she murmured to Natsu, "Anata jishin o issho ni hipparu!" Pull yourself together!

He didn't - instead, the mage muttered, "Karera no shokumotsu to issho ni ittai nani ga machigatte iru?" What the hell is wrong with their food?

Even though it hadn't exactly been what Lucy was asking, it had the desired effect - their words stopped Harry from his questions and he eyed them with concern. "Do you need any help?"

Lucy really had nothing against him - he was nice enough - but at this moment in time Harry was rather irritating. All the blonde really wanted to do was be left to her own devices so she could have a moment to throw a temper tantrum. "Thank you, but Natsu will be fine in a second." Thankfully, they stopped in front of a portrait after they climbed what seemed like endless staircases.

The girl with brown hair - Hermione, Lucy remembered - told them, "The password for the first few weeks is Holt McDougal. Remember the rules: don't tell any other house our password. That's all - goodnight, everyone." She left soon after, heading to another staircase, which Harry explained was the way to the Head Girl Dorms.

Astonishingly, the portrait opened, and the students piled inside. Lucy discovered there was a large common room as well as staircases that led to their rooms. By now, Natsu had managed to separate from her.

The dragonslayer asked hurriedly, "Where's the bathroom?"

Harry blinked. "Upstairs, third door on the left."

"Thanks - " was all he managed to get out before he disappeared and dashed up the steps.

"He seems to do that a lot," Harry thought out loud, referring to the pink-haired mage's random appearances and disappearances.

Lucy laughed. "Yeah, you get used to it."

They lapsed into a awkward conversation, until Harry finally excused himself and joined other seventh years on the other side of the room. Laughter spilled from them, and Lucy supposed that she should be over there, getting to know them all better, but the stellar spirit mage couldn't bring herself to care. She sat on one of the tables in the corner, amusing herself with a magical quill until Natsu arrived and sat across from her.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Better?"

Natsu smiled sheepishly. "Yeah."

Out of the corner of her eye, Lucy noticed quite a lot of students were staring at them and whispering, including the group of seventh years. "Henjin. Karera ni nani o sagashidesu ka?" Weirdos. What are they looking at?

The blonde opened her mouth to reprimand him - until she realized that no one could understand what they were saying. Which meant that they could converse about whatever they wanted, whenever, and not have to worry about confidentiality - she was confident that there were no students who spoke their native language. Lucy grinned at the advantage, suddenly feeling much better. "Watashi wa shitte iru. Sore wa meiwaku no yōna monoda, sore wanaidesu ka?" I know. It's kind of annoying, isn't it?

They laughed, and gradually Lucy found herself relaxing even though she knew the other students were still talking about Natsu and her.

Lucy was immensely glad that she had been sorted into the same house as her teammate - at least she knew she wouldn't have to deal with everything alone. She had a feeling that she wouldn't be nearly as comfortable if he wasn't with her.

The rest of the night passed uneventfully - and before long, Lucy found herself rising and stretching her arms above her head as the remaining students (mainly seventh years) said their goodnights and headed upstairs. "See you upstairs, mate," Harry politely nodded to Natsu as he followed Ron up the staircase.

The same thoughts seemed to be running through both of the Fairy Tail mages' heads, because at that moment Natsu wondered aloud, "Going to sleep already?" while Lucy glanced at him sideways and grinned. "I was just thinking that."

It earned the pair a few strange looks, but otherwise they were ignored. Similar to Lucy's earlier actions, Natsu stood up and stretched, his arm muscles flexing as he wandered to the center of the room while Lucy walked over to the large windows.

"It's dark out," Lucy muttered to herself in surprise and then glanced at the large clock nestled above the fireplace. It was nearly eleven - she had completely lost track of the time. They had only been in this dimension for about four hours.

Reluctantly, they parted and went to their separate dorms to try and get some sleep. The girls there were dressing for bedtime, slipping into their nightgowns and putting their clothes away in their trunks.

Lucy did the same, moving almost on autopilot as the blonde quickly did some mental calculations in her head. They had left Magnolia before noon, and when they arrived at Hogwarts, it was dusk. She had spent three hours getting briefed with Dumbledore, getting sorted into a house, and then eating dinner while conversing with her new classmates. About half an hour was spent as they were brought to the Gryffindor Tower, and then the rest of the hour was used for idle chat.

To her horror, Lucy realized that it was only about three in the afternoon back in Magnolia. If her calculations were correct - which they probably were - then that meant that there was an eight hour difference between their separate worlds. She would never be able to fall asleep now - at the most, she would probably be able to sleep in a couple hours.

By then, though, the lights were turned off and the girls were asleep in their separate beds. Lucy didn't know how long she laid there, tossing and turning, unable to sleep - until she decided she had enough. Carefully, the stellar spirit mage clambered out of bed and dressed, cringing when her trunk creaked. Quickly, Lucy dressed and wandered downstairs again.

She was only slightly surprised to see her pink-haired partner there, before she turned to him for help with their dilemma. To her irritation, the dragonslayer merely shrugged. "Let's kill some time, then."

"Doing what?" He actually seemed to think about her question for a moment, and Lucy hoped that he would come up with something fun to pass the time - after all, that was one of his specialities.

"Let's go explore!"

As her hopes came crashing down, so did her body - Lucy groaned and flopped onto the common room couch with a loud whump. "Idiot - what if we get lost? I am not going to do that."

He sat onto the floor near her face and clasped his hands together. "Aww, please, Luce? It'll be so much fun!"

Her reply was slightly muffled since she was lying face-down on the cushions. "No."

"But it'll only be the stairs!"

The stellar spirit mage pondered that for a second, and Natsu plowed on, taking advantage of her doubt. "We won't get lost - even I can remember how to get to the Gryffindor Tower from the stairs. Besides, you seemed really interested in the freaky moving paintings." He could sense her wavering and gave his strongest point. "We could start our mission early, too. You know, by getting used to how they work and where they lead - and checking for anything suspicious." The pink-haired mage gave Lucy the most innocent face he could manage without collapsing into fits of laughter.

Damn, Natsu could be persuasive when he wanted to be - or maybe it was her own boredom talking - because Lucy could feel herself caving into his logic. She sat up, and the fire mage cheered. "Let's go!"

Despite the fact that Lucy was generally a good girl and not nearly as mischievous as Natsu and Gray, she was in Fairy Tail for a reason. Lucy had a sort of rebellious and adventurous streak within her, and she could feel it flaring up in excitement within her now as they snuck out the Gryffindor Tower.

From what Hermione had told her, the prefects and even the Head Boy and Girl, as well as several teachers patrolled the halls at night, ready to catch any students out past curfew. They couldn't have possibly organized everything so soon, so they were probably safe - that was Lucy's reasoning.

Sure enough, the coast was clear after a cursory glance at the halls she could see from the staircase in which she stood. They could finally explore the moving stairs they had been so curious about earlier.

It was honestly astonishing to the stellar spirit mage - the stairs were still moving and shifting even now, though there was no one but her and Natsu there. To Lucy's disappointment, the paintings were asleep, and only a few cracked open their eyes to peer at them in interest before closing their eyes once more. Natsu didn't seem to care - he leapt from the top staircase and landed on the next with a soft thump.

"Haha~ Luce, come on!" The pink-haired mage held out a hand to her and laughed, excitement flowing through him. It was infectious, and the blonde found herself grinning like a madwoman. There were several doors here, and even more staircases - it was like being in a candy shop for Natsu.

He bounced energetically from door to door, opening each one with reckless abandon. After one particular door where Lucy had sworn she had seen eyes glint back at her, she was far less energetic and settled for watching her comrade, instead. By manipulation of the stairs and Natsu's energy, the Fairy Tail duo eventually found themselves near the bottom of the maze of stairs.

It was noticeably colder, and Lucy rubbed her arms to ward off the cold. The blonde shivered anyway, goosebumps dotting her skin, while she looked down to see where Natsu was. He was about two staircases lower than her, staring curiously at a larger opening farther down. It didn't quite feel right to Lucy - the air was cold and somehow reminded her of a snake.

It made her uncomfortable, for some undefinable reason, and her woman's intuition was telling her that it would be wise to return to their dorms now. "Natsu, let's go back up," she muttered, climbing the steps. "This place feels creepy to me."

She could hear him make his way back up to where she was until he was finally right next to her. "Yeah. It feels weird down their. Like - kind of like Jellal's magic, back in the Etherion Tower. Right?"

She nodded. He paused. "Shouldn't we check it out?"

"We should tell Erza and Gray about it first," Lucy replied. She was glad the dragonslayer didn't insist on jumping from staircase to staircase, like he had before on the way down. "Besides. I'm kinda tired now."

"Man," Natsu whined and put his hands behind his head. They lapsed into a comfortable silence, until they nearly reached the top stairway closest to the Gryffindor Tower. It was taking a while to change, and Lucy could tell Natsu was getting impatient and would jump it soon if she didn't do something. "How long have we been - "

Natsu's hand flew out and stopped her mid-sentence. She was about to protest, until she caught the look on his face - he was concentrating hard on something. Lucy peered ahead, trying to see what he could, even though she knew it was useless since he was a dragonslayer and their senses were much more sharp than a regular human's.

And then she saw him.

A man with gray hair dressed in a black jacket was heading towards them.

Lucy panicked, "Someone's - "

Natsu reacted quickly and covered her mouth with his larger hand, ducking under a small little alcove two stairwells made. Unfortunately, Natsu hadn't been the only one to hear her little slip up.

"Who's there?! Naughty, naughty students... It's not even the first day of school, and we have students out past curfew. You can't hide from me. Right, Mrs. Norris? No one can get away from Filch." Ignoring the last part, it was definitely threatening. The stairs rotated, and both Natsu and Lucy held their breath - until they heard Filch move farther away.

They didn't have much time, though. The stairs would move again, and Lucy knew that it just their misfortune that the next turn would reveal their hiding place to the man. And then they would be caught by Filch and sent to the Headmaster for breaking the rules on the first day - unless they thought of something quickly.

"What do we do?!" Lucy whispered to Natsu frantically. "We can't stay here. We can't make a run for it. What should we do - ?"

"Nothing. Unless..." Natsu cracked his knuckles threateningly and grinned, ready for a battle. Lucy knew he was asking for the go-ahead from her. However, from the looks of it, if she didn't act soon, he would go out and knock the poor man unconscious, regardless of whether he had her permission or not. She had to think, think, think...

And a brilliant thought popped into her head. "Open: Gate of the Twins, Gemini!"

Two blue figures appeared and greeted her, "Hello, Lucy-san!"

Natsu blinked. "Can I go knock him out now?"

"Shut up!" Lucy hissed at Natsu, then quickly gave the spirit her orders. At Lucy's command, they turned into a nondescript brown haired student dressed in the school's robes. Lucy glanced around consciously - they were lucky that they hadn't attracted Filch's attention to this area yet, with all the noise they were making. But that wouldn't last long, she knew. "Gemini, lure him away please, then return to the spirit world once you're far away enough, okay?"

With an affirmative nod, her spirit dashed out of the alcove, and Lucy fervently hoped her plan would work. The staircase would rotate any minute now... To the blonde's immense relief, moments later she heard Filch cackle. "Got you now, brat. Don't think you can run away!"

The stairs rotated and both Lucy and Natsu froze. The dragonslayer was the first to react - he pressed against her tightly against the corner and tried to hide them in the shadows.

For one heart-stopping moment she could clearly see Filch's back over Natsu's shoulder.

If the man turned back around, he would see the Fairy Tail duo in the alcove, as they were directly behind him. Their spot provided no protection, and Gemini's efforts would go to waste.

The world slowed and came to a stop.

Lucy was suddenly aware of everything - she could feel the adrenaline rushing through her veins at the prospect of being caught with Natsu - especially like this.

Every one of her soft curves were pressed against his lean, hard muscles, which were tensed and ready to move at any moment. It was only because they were pressed so intimately against one another that Lucy could clearly feel his racing heart beat in time with hers. Natsu glanced down at her and grinned.

And the world returned to normal, suddenly, when Filch interrupted the spell that had seemed to overtake them. "Hey, get back here! Stop!" Filch ran down the hall after Gemini.

The blonde's eyes widened. "Natsu - this is our chance - "

She didn't need to say any more. The pink haired mage picked her up with ease and moved her so that he was giving her a piggy back ride. Lucy's arms wrapped around his neck, dangerously close to falling, as the dragonslayer dashed out of the alcove. Despite the risk, Lucy still found her mouth opening to protest. "Put me down, Natsu!"

He let out a happy, energized laugh. "It's faster this way!" And he proved it, too, when he leapt from staircase to staircase until they reached the one that led to the Gryffindor Tower. Natsu took off running at top speed - and Lucy couldn't help but let out an exhilarated laugh. They were safe. His arms tightened around her thighs, and then Natsu was laughing too.

She didn't know who had murmured their password, but the next thing Lucy knew was that she was collapsed on the couch, clutching her stomach as she and Natsu laughed their heads off together.

"We actually made it back," Lucy said breathlessly once their laughter had died down to soft chuckles and giggles. "That was so much fun!"

"Told 'ya so," the fire mage drawled. "But I wonder how Gemini is going to get away..." Lucy giggled again, coming down from her adrenaline high. "They'll be fine - I just have to wait until they return to the Spirit World."

Natsu waited with her, and they talked until Lucy felt a pull on her magic which signaled her spirit returning to their world. Giving them a silent thanks, the blonde stood up and stretched. It was almost two in the morning at Hogwarts, and Lucy decided that she would be able to go to bed now.

As she climbed the stairs that led to the tower, she grinned back at her teammate. "Night, Natsu!" He echoed her statement, and with that, Lucy entered the girl's room and fell into her cool sheets for a comfortable sleep.

Lucy felt like she had barely fallen asleep when she was woken up again.

A girl - Lavender, Lucy thought - was standing next to her bed and shaking her shoulder. "Wakey, wakey, transfer - you'll be late for the first day off school!"

The blonde groaned.

A/N: Okay. As usual, sorry for any mistakes grammar/spelling-wise, OCC-ness or confusion. If you found this chapter boring, I promise it'll pick up more next chapter, so please continue reading!

First of all, I would like to thank all of you for the amazing amount of reviews I got for this story. I really didn't expect that much, and I considered discontinuing it - but then I saw the reviews, and I was like, "People actually like what I wrote, omg." So thank you. Reviews fuel my writing passion.

Second, I'm really really really sorry for not uploading in so long, and then I felt like this chapter was poop. I was going to make it a lottttt longer, but I promised myself I would just make it up to you and upload the next one faster. (I said that last time so please remind me! .)

Okay, so. Talia. A lot of you asked about her, and I was going to make her my OC, but then I changed my mind. I think that would be too troublesome, so I decided to scrap that idea. I'm just too lazy to fix the first chapter. Ignore her. Speaking of which, one of your reviews mentioned something about suggestions and ideas - I think that'd be cool! So leave me your ideas in reviews or PM me and I'll consider them :)

If I forgot to answer anything, sorry! Shoot me a PM, I'll answer.