A/N: Ok, so as I said in the previous chapter, I'm going to start this chapter tonight and post once I get a review, which I will give a shout-out to.

Also, this is totally off topic but I would've started this earlier if not for Attack on Titan Crack videos and Miraculous Season 2's new episode Gorzilla, which btw I was totally 100 percent fangirling over, but whatever.

It's currently 11:09, so besides me sending streaks in the next two minutes, let's hope I don't get distracted! Here we go!

Chapter 8: Pain from the Past

Natsu tried not to let the tears flow from his face as he headed to Dumbledore's office. Why did that stupid kid have to say those things? Why did he have to bring up the pains of my past?

As Natsu continued to walk down the empty corridors, he went from a slow and depressed pace to a full on sprint, taking off in whatever direction was available. The next thing Natsu knew, he was on the floor, staring down at the intricate tiles below him. He didn't dare look up, not because he was scared, but because he didn't want to hurt anybody in his anger.

Back when Fairy Tail was still around, Natsu would beat up anything and everything in sight. Now, he had to be careful not to damage the fragile students and teachers around him. They're all fragile... I can't hurt them like I did Draco. I felt like I barely scratched him when I started punching him... I could've killed that poor kid...

With that thought, Natsu couldn't hold his tears in any more. One by one they began to leak down his cheeks as he looked at the ugly old shoes in front of him... wait, old shoes? Then I must've bumped into..

Natsu looked up to see the kind and concerned eyes of Albus Dumbledore.

"Grampaps..." And before Natsu knew it, he was hugging the old man to the point where Dumbledore's back might snap from the pressure. "I... I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry. I don't know if I can do this.. I just..."

Natsu gently released his hug enough to clutch the soft velvet fabric of Dumbledore's robes in his Now much smaller hands. I hate this body...

"Come, child, we will go to my office and discuss what's wrong, yes? And I have a nice fire going as well as some candy." With a light nod from Natsu, the two headed to the Headmaster's office together, enjoying the company of one another.

A line... lots of dots...

Natsu Sat opposite of Dumbledore, who was sitting in his big, comfy looking leather chair.

"Please, my child, what is wrong?"

Natsu couldn't help but cry even more. He's so much like Gramps... I just want to run up to him and let him hug me until the fire dies out...

Dumbledore however couldn't help but feel like he'd done something wrong. Why was Natsu crying even more now? Did he say something he shouldn't have?

After a moment of silent crying, Natsu finally found the courage to speak. "Sir, I'm sorry for my actions. I take full responsibility for what I am about to tell you." And with that, Natsu explained what had happened to Draco, and how he'd beat the poor kid to a pulp without even realizing it. "Sir, I... there's no excuse for my actions, and I never should have harmed the child in the first place. It's just... he brought up the pains of my past, and I couldn't help but feel like he'd socked me in the gut. And when he called me... a... a demon... I could only think of one person, and two dragons..." The thoughts of battle and war swam back into Natsu's thoughts. Zeref... Acnologia... Igneel... Dad... I... And with those few thoughts, Natsu was sobbing into his hands, moving to wipe snot on his still torn up sleeve from Tartaros.

"Natsu..." Dumbledore knee that what Natsu did was wrong, but this poor child was going through something nobody should ever need to go through. Natsu was on the verge of having PTSD like a soldier coming home from the war, if he didn't have it already, and he was always ready to fight because he was raised that way. How was Dumbledore supposed to go about this situation? In all honesty, he had no clue.

"I... I know I'm a demon, but I still don't want to believe that I'm E.N.D. I wanna believe that I'm human, that I'm not some demonic creature being controlled by my brother. I just... I wanna be as close to normal as I once was. I wanna go back home, to Fiore, to Magnolia... to Fairy Tail." With that, Natsu was down to the last few tears before his eyes ran dry from the workout. "I wish that somebody, anybody, were here. I just need a familiar face..."

Dumbledore felt horrible for the child. Even though he was supposed to remain strictly business, he couldn't help but comfort the child any way he could. So, without a second thought, Dumbledore walked up to Natsu and wrapped him in the best hug he could offer. "Natsu... I'm so sorry. I know things are hard right now, but I know that you can do this. It'll be hard, yes, but I promise that everything will sort itself out in the end. Here, let's go sit at the fire and you can eat some fire and we will share some butterscotch and earwax jellybeans, yes?"

Natsu looked up to Dumbledore, who had placed a hand on the salmon-haired boy's shoulder. With both carrying smiles, they sat at the fireplace the rest of second period before Natsu thanked the headmaster and went to class.

Line thingies... dots... Dip N Dots... now I'm hungry...

The girl and two boys that had stood outside of the headmaster's office were more than a little surprised.

Hermoine turned to Ron and Harry. "Is he really a demon?!?!" she mouthed to the boys, who just stared at her with wide eyes, then eachother, before leaning back against the door.

"I still don't want to believe that I'm E.N.D. I wanna believe that I'm human, that I'm not some demonic creature being controlled by my brother. I just... I wanna be as close to normal as I once was. I wanna go back home, to Fiore, to Magnolia... to Fairy Tail."

The three students couldn't help but feel horrible for the golden-speckled eyed boy sitting on the other side of the door.

Having heard enough, Hermoine snuck back down the stairs as quietly as she could, her two companions frowning at eachother before following.

Once they were out of earshot, Ron spoke up. "Why's we leave, Hermoine?" Ron looked at her curiously while Harry seemed to scold the boy and Hermoine glared daggers at him.

"You're beyond stupid, you know that?" With a sigh, Hermoine continued. "It was wrong of us to be easedropping in the first place, yet alone on something so personal. We can't just invade someone's privacy like that, especially one who's lost everything they had. If you think any of us have it bad, imagine being ripped away from your friends and family and placed in a world you know nothing about. And it seems that Natsu just figured out about being this E.N.D. demon, so he's obviously having trouble coping with all of the stuff that's happening. And judging by his clothes as well, that tells me he was going through some tough times before he got stuck in that rock. So, in all honesty, we should never have even tried listening in on that conversation. Of course, I'll still look into this demon Natsu supposedly is and see what I can find, but that's the only thing we look into, got it? We can't treat Mr. Dragneel any differently or he might figure out we know, and I don't think he'd be happy knowing others knew. So, let's head to third period as if nothing happened, Alright? We'll leave him be for now, and I consider him a friend so let's try to be nice to him and include him in everything but this, got it?" Hermoine glared at the boys until they both nodded in agreement. "Good. Now let's go to class."

Considered ending it here... figured I'd finish at least third period for ya...

Natsu tried his best to hide his feelings behind a smile as he walked into the potions classroom. He was five minutes early, so that was good. He still felt as if he was a lost puppy though, not knowing where to go or what to do. I still don't know anything about this world... ugh this is gonna be a bloody nightmare. I hate learning too... Natsu took the closest available seat, which happened to be next to Ron. "Oh, uh, hi Weasley." Natsu gave the best smile he could before turning to look at the tools in front of him. "So, do you know what any of this stuff is?"

Ron frowned a bit at Natsu's behavior, but answered his question nonetheless. "Not a bloody clue, mate. Not a bloody clue." Ron tried to act as if nothing was wrong, which didn't go unnoticed by Natsu, but he pretended like he didn't see it.

Instead, Natsu asked Ron yet another question. "So, have you and Moine and Harry been to Dumbledore's recently? Your guys' scents are all over his fancy moving stairs." Natsu's faces turned a little green, as did Ron's, both for totally different reasons.

Ugh... just the thought of moving... those things should never move in the first place...

Oh my gosh. Bloody hell. We're caught. How does he know? Nobody has a sense of smell that strong. Unless it's his demon side... what am I going to do?!?!

Ron was mentally panicking as Natsu recovered from his fatigue. Just as Natsu went to ask Ron again, the class door flew open.

"Hello. I'm your potions teacher. Professor Snape. Address me as that and only that name please. Do not call me anything else. Onto the lesson."

After a good 40 minutes to an hour, class was over. Natsu, Harry, and Ron stumbled out of the class while Seamus walked out with a stiff arm grasping a wand, his knuckles white as his face was covered in ashes and his hair stood up in weird directions. As Natsu and the Golden Trio walked by, Natsu placed an arm in on Seamus' shoulder, a giant grin spread across his face.

"That's the coolest looking hairstyle I've ever seen. Love the ashes too! How'd you do it?" Seamus seemed generally confused as Natsu seemed to bounce up and down as he talked to the blown up child.

Ron, Harry and Hermoine considered stopping, but decided against it. They needed to talk without Natsu listening, and this was one of the few options they'd get to be totally alone, as fourth period was a free one, as well as fifth which was lunch.

When they were all a good hallway or two away from Natsu, Hermoine slapped Ron's shoulder. "Ow! Bloody hell! What was that for?"

While Ron glared, Hermoine glared even harder back, her forehead crinkling in anger. "You talked to Natsu, and he seemed curious about something while you looked like you were going to hurl. So I ask you again, what happened in there?" Ron looked at Hermoine before explaining the situation. "Are you serious? So he knows we were there? What do we say? He visits Dumbledore to explain his troubles like he would to a therapist, so he probably would ask Dumbledore himself if we were recently there. Then again, we were there only the other day with Natsu, so I guess we could use that excuse. The question is whether or not he'll have more questions for us, and what extent his abilities are is a major factor in all of this." With a nod of her head, Hermoine seemed like she had a plan. "I'm going to the library. Come if you wish, but I'm going to find out about E.N.D."

As Hermoine seemed to float down the halls, the two boys stared at eachother before tagging along. It's not like they had anything better to do anyway.

Just got a notification that I got a review... so I'll add a little more...

Natsu frowned as he entered the library. He didn't like coming here, but it reminded him of Levy and Lucy. It reminded him of the time he and the rest of Team Natsu had accidentally sent themselves to the past, where Natsu gave himself a scar on the neck.

Remembering the moment of both perspectives, Natsu gently touched the scar under his scarf.

I miss them... Happy, I miss you sleeping on my head and saving me from my stupidity...

Natsu scoffed a little at his internal battles. Calling himself stupid... that was a real put down, which is mean so he shouldn't do that. In fact, confidence and comfort was all he needed right now.

Which was exactly why he was at Hogwarts' library.

They had everything about the wizarding world, which would hopefully make things easier. He had brought the fancy pink librarian looking glasses that Levy had left for him, so hopefully he wouldn't be stuck in this dreadful never-ending room of papers.

With those thoughts, Natsu immediately walked over to the dragon section and picked up a small picture book. Score!

With a smile, Natsu sat down and began to 'read' his picture book. By the end, Natsu was firmly gripping the book, glaring at it like lasers would shoot out of his eyes and vaporize it where it sat as it seemingly mocked him.

How dare they do such horrible things to such beautiful creatures! I have to find one, just one dragon so I can free it. Maybe I'll find a dragon egg and raise it... I'd name him something cool like Magma! Yeeee... Magma... Natsu laughed at his little fantasy while the few students in the library looked over at the salmon-haired, golden-horned, speckled eyed boy wearing torn up black and gold skull clothes with pink glasses as he laughed at the ceiling.

What is wrong with that kid?

On the opposite side of the library sat the Golden Trio as they all stared down at Demon books.

With a sigh, Ron flung his head back, staring at the unnaturally tall library walls. "Ugh... we've wasted almost our entire period in here and still haven't found a bloody thing! Can we just head back to the Common Room and chill there before lunch starts?"

Harry nodded in agreement. "Yeah, Ron's right. We've searched this library like no tomorrow. I say we call it a day and try again tomorrow, yeah?"

Hermoine frowned before looking back down at her book. "I'm not giving up until I know who E.N.D. is, and neither should you."

After a good five minutes of searching, Hermoine gave a small gasp of excitement. "I think I found something. I don't know if it's related to Natsu or not, but it's about a demon... named Mard Geer. He's supposedly the leader of the Tartaros Guild."

Harry frowned a bit. "Ok...? So what's so special about him?"

Hermoine looked directly into Harry and Ron's eyes. "What's so special about Mard Geer... is that he tried to bring back a powerful demon who was supposedly the Guild Master if Tartaros. That's not it though. The person that defeated Mard Geer thousands of years ago... it was Natsu. Natsu Dragneel."

A/N: Ok, so I couldn't help but stop here. I felt like this was a really good cliff hanger to stop at, so yeah! I'm pretty proud of myself for doing this whole thing in just over an hour. It's 12:35 right now, so I'm pretty happy about my progress. Even though it's Easter break for me right now, I still have swim practice tomorrow morning so I gotta catch some z's... right after I give a shoutout to the person who reviewed my story tonight!

Thankyou Sanitoz for reviewing my story! It was short and sweet and made me happy!

So, I'll get started on the next chap tomorrow after swim and if I get another review or a few more followers then I'll gladly update! Without further ado, I wish you all goodnight and hope you Read and Review!