Dance of the Fairies, Flight of the Phoenix
Chapter 36:- My Daughter
Far from the chaos reigning through the Ministry of Magic, three Ministry Aurors trudged their way through the seemingly endless rolling slopes of the Dartmoor National Park. They were grateful for the sun that beat down upon them but they'd already cast protective charms upon their feet that would keep them from receiving blisters from the constant walking.
"Why are we even out here anyway?" one of them - a short man with sandy hair - asked, keeping a tight hold of his broomstick as he hopped over a stream that ran its meandering way through the slopes of the moorland. "It seems pretty obvious to me that whoever did… that… to Chagford is long gone by now. He would have whisked himself or herself away right after causing the damage I'm sure. Scrimgeour has us trawling through this hills for days and days for nothing."
"That may be," said the leader - a man of mid-height with long black hair by the name of Gawain Robards. "But did you see what happened back there? Did you see the state of destruction that that village was in? There was nothing left, Nick! Not a single building through the entire town was left standing. Maybe whoever did that left pretty quickly but if we can find any clue out here as to who it might have been and why… do we even need to be Aurors to be obligated to find it?"
"No… that's true," Nick shrugged his shoulders, shivering as he remembered well his walk through the ruins of Chagford, where bits of rubble were still falling from some of the few walls that had still bee upright, bits of glass littered the streets, smoke billowed up high into the air and the bodies… oh god… the bodies… they'd been all over the place and they'd been slammed about as if smacked with the club of a giant.
It was certainly a thing that a giant would have been able to pull off.
But a giant would have left clues, signals that indicated it was a giant attack such as massive footprints or something, but there had been none. And it would have been almost impossible for a giant to suddenly vanish without any warning whatsoever without some kind of magical back-up so unless it had been acting with an extremely clever group of wizards who had meticulously wiped up all the evidence before whisking the perpetrator away, a giant could be ruled out.
Most of the Auror force had been re-tasked to other places in a bid to track down said perp, and most of them were absolutely convinced that it had been done by a rogue Fairy Tail mage.
"You reckon the Muggles are buying it?" the third Auror - a woman who was also reasonably tall with long brown hair asked. "The story that it was a freak tornado that caused all that destruction?"
"In my experience, Veda, Muggles can be extremely gullible," Gawain sniffed. "They bought all kind of things like that during the First Wizarding War but even then the destruction wasn't so total… and we were getting dangerously close to being unveiled to them before the Potter boy put a stop to You-Know-Who. Still… I never liked lying to them about that. I know why we do it, but the families of those poor people do deserve to know what happened."
"As do we," Nick said. "Do you really think it was Fairy Tail who did it?"
"I don't know what I think, but I don't know of anyone else who could potentially do something like that in such a short space of time," Gawain replied. "We'll find out when we find out."
Just then, with a hooting noise, an owl came swooping silently out of the sky and dropped a newspaper at the feet of the woman before soaring off again without a backwards look. The woman quickly bent down and thrashed it out, before her eyes widened in amazement.
"Perhaps we'll find out soon," she said. "Look at this. Apparently two of them have been sent to Azkaban, look!" She turned the page around to brandish the opening title and photograph in the faces of the other two. There were two pictures actually, one depicting Sirius Black and the other showing Cana and Erza thrashing about upon the page, their heads shaking in silent screams as they were held in the grip of their Dementor bodyguards."
"Whoa…" Nick breathed. "They did it? They actually did it?"
"Maybe they know something," Gawain grinned with no small amount of triumph. "If they can be made to talk, maybe we can stop traipsing around these moors with no significant leads in sight and track down who was really responsible for destroying that village!"
"Should we head back to the Ministry?" Veda asked.
"Not until we receive the message to give up the search," Gawain replied. "But perhaps that call-back will be soon. In the meantime, we keep on looking." He turned around with a slight whirl of his robes and whispered, "Homenum revelio," as they hurried their way over the rocks towards a distant treeline, Veda trying to snatch glimpses at the newspaper as she walked.
But when they reached the trees, Gawain suddenly blinked. "Hold on," he said. "The spell's detecting someone in the distance."
"Another hiker?" Nick asked - they'd come across several so far after all.
"I don't know. I can't even tell what gender it is. But all the same, keep on your guard. You can never be too careful."
The three of them forged on ahead, stepping into the trees as stealthily as any human being could possibly manage, placing silencing charms on their feet to make sure their footfalls didn't make the slightest noise even when they accidentally trod on twigs.
And eventually, up ahead, they could make out a single figure bathed in shadow and walking his way towards them. He strode purposefully… with confidence… and he came to a stop when he caught sight of them.
"Identify yourself," Gawain instructed, three wands extending forward to home in on the man's chest, for they could definitely tell he was male. "What are you doing all the way out here?"
The man didn't respond. He simply stared. None of them could see his face but they could practically feel his eyes boring into them like piercing hexes and it made them all shift uneasily, feeling a sudden and very strong urge to run in the other direction.
"I demand once again that you identify yourself or we will be forced to take you into custody," Gawain steeled his nerve enough to say.
"More weakness," the man suddenly spoke in a gravelly voice. "You are mere children standing before a lion. Is there nobody around here that can raise me up still higher?"
"Who are you?" Gawain demanded, all three of them on high alert now. "Are you with Fairy Tail?"
The sudden silence throughout the woods was ear-shattering… and all three of the Aurors became painfully aware that the birds had stopped singing. Then the man slowly stepped out into the light, his eyes blazing as the ground around him started to tremble, rocks floating into the air around him and the trees quivering like terrified children about him.
"What do you know of Fairy Tail?"
KA-BLAM!
Gawain had a stunning spell on his lips when he was suddenly sent thundering backwards as if struck by an invisible train! Nick and Veda were sent flying along with him, all three of their wands sent flying out of their hands as they crashed to the ground, finding themselves literally unable to get up because all four limbs and their head pinned back against the floor. The trees were really shaking now and as the strange man strode towards them the ground beneath both Nick and Veda began to sink! Literally, a jagged hole seemed to cut its way out of the rock and plunge straight down to form two pits with perfectly vertical walls, each one about ten feet in diameter.
"What… what are you doing?" gasped Gawain, forcing himself to look up which was perhaps the hardest thing he'd ever had to do in his life! And his eyes widened when the man's lifted his hand up to shoulder height and two huge trees were pulled out from the ground to hover up on either side of him. But they weren't uprooted - the entire ground around them lifted up as well.
And Gawain could only watch as the trees were levitated slowly forwards… towards the holes where his fellow Aurors were lying.
"I only need one to talk," the man said.
"NO! NO STOP! DON'T!" Gawain screamed, thrashing about madly as the trees hovered over the pits… but there was no response. The trees plunged down into the holes with a pair of sickening crunches that made Gawain's heart stop. But he didn't have a chance to recover before he suddenly shot off the ground and was catapulted towards the man, his neck thudding into his palm. He was suddenly dangling off the ground, spasming and gasping for breath as the man held him in a close chokehold with just one hand. There was no doubt now. This was definitely the man that had destroyed Chagford!
"Now tell me… what do you know about Fairy Tail?" the man growled, his grip tightening. "Or I'll crush every square inch of your throat to a pulp!"
Gawain gasped and hacked for breath, staring into the intense, unmerciful glare of the strange man. But then… something momentarily distracted him. He'd caught movement out of the corner of his eye and looked down to see… Veda's newspaper. He stared at it for a moment before suddenly summoning it into his other hand and staring right at the picture of the two Fairy Tail mages.
"…Her!"
The six Order members were practically holding their breath as they strode down the causeway towards the foreboding prison. On their own they almost seemed like an extremely meagre force to be taking on such a well fortified structure so riddled with Dementors. Some of them were wondering if it had been a good idea to let Gildarts come with them.
"I can safely say that I never saw myself doing this," Tonks murmured, licking her dry lips nervously as she tried not to trip on the hem of her robes. "When I signed on to be a member of this Order I was expecting to battle Death Eaters, not invade our own prison."
"You might have to do both today, Nymphadora," Moody growled, stumping along on his wooden leg just that little bit faster, his blue eye locked upon the entrance doors to the prison.
"What do you mean?" Hestia asked warily.
"It seems we were not the only ones interested in the prison today. I'm seeing Lucius Malfoy in the entrance hall… surrounded by fifteen more Death Eaters. Two of them are guarding the doors under Disillusionment Charms… they'll see us at any second."
"What do we do?" Lupin asked.
"Act casual," Kingsley replied. "Mad-Eye… warn us if they make a move. But for the moment, we're just an ordinary group sent to escort a new prisoner. Remus, you willing to play?"
"If I must…" Remus nodded, shuffling into the centre of the group and putting his hands behind his back as if they were cuffed. He felt hands around his arms and glanced back to see that Tonks had taken hold of him to march him forwards and make the illusion seem more real.
"Don't worry. I've got your back," she said, grinning slightly but Remus could tell she was doing it for her own confidence levels as well as his.
"Much appreciated," Remus replied stoically as they made their way forwards as if they had nothing to hide.
"It's not really fair is it?" Lucius tutted as he strode across the room before the three Dementors. They spoke no language that he could understand but they could certainly understand English and he was using that to the full effect.
"You may technically be the guards of all these prisoners but in reality you're prisoners here too, aren't you? Banished to this island so that you can be kept away from feasting on the happiness of people on the mainland. Forced to gorge yourselves on meals that have long gone stale, with a fresh new treat only being thrown in once or twice a month, if that. The Ministry seeks to control you… but I assure you that if you were to join the Dark Lord, he would do no such thing. Yes, certainly you would have to obey his commands and fight for him as and when he wishes you to… but other than that, you would be free. Free to feast upon anyone you choose bar the Dark Lord and his most… loyal of supporters. Ask yourselves… isn't that the life you would truly wish to lead."
The Dementors were getting excited, demonstrating as such by twitching and groping the air with their disgusting fingers. Lucius smirked. He'd known this wouldn't be hard right from the bat. He wasn't even putting close to his all into persuading them. Voldemort had been right - the Dementors discontent with their position in the Ministry was obvious beyond belief.
They were not the kind of creature that liked to be regulated. They were not the kind of creature that liked order. They were the kind of creature that liked chaos.
And Lucius was offering the chance to cause it to them on a silver platter.
"All you have to do is agree to the Dark Lord's terms by freeing all of his supporters from their cells in this prison and turning over those two most recent additions, the Fairy Tail mages, to us so that we can bring them back with us. And then, once the Dark Lord makes his move, side with him over the Ministry. I guarantee you… it will be just as you've always… dreamed…"
The Dementors hissed in excitement, their cloaks billowing as a wind seemed to pick up around them. And the tallest one - the one in the middle - pulled down his hood. The coldness throughout the room immediately intensified, but the Dementor made it worth that in Lucius' book because it nodded its head.
Lucius' mouth twisted into a slight smirk. That had been ridiculously easy but then again, he'd never expected it to go down in any other way.
"In that case," he said. "Spread the word to your colleagues. As of this moment, you are free to act as you please against the world. And as your new ally, I request that you release our Death Eater brethren as asked immediately."
The Dementors immediately swung about and began to go through the various small drawers about the room, drawing several out of the walls and placing them on the desk with their scabbed hands. They contained the personal belongings of each of the prisoners, including in this case… their wands. Once they'd gathered a full complement of ten, they made for the door to the back of the prison…
…when…
BOOM!
The doors were blown in, shattering right off their hinges and flying forwards to plough four Death Eaters to the ground. Lucius' instincts saved him from being struck with the spinning edge of one of them, diving to the side and whirling around in time to see the crumpled bodies of the two guards he'd posted and Kingsley Shacklebolt charging through the door with wand already glowing with his next spell!
"It's the Order!" one Death Eater cried needlessly but that individual was immediately struck in the face by a Stunning spell and sent crashing backwards. The room became a sudden whirlwind of action as the Order members spilled into the room while the Death Eaters drew their wands, fanning out and as the air promptly began alive with spells springing back and forth between the two sides.
The Dementors turned around, hissing and advancing instantly to join the fray, but Lucius dashed up to them and cried, "No, not yet. Gather your comrades! We must free our brethren before the Ministry descends upon us."
The nearest Dementor hissed, evidently unhappy that it had been given an order so soon after the bargain was struck, but they consented and whooshed through the door, with Lucius dodging in behind them and slamming it shut, tapping the lock and actually melting it, thus rendering a key or even an Alohomora spell useless, before hurrying off after the Dementors.
The other side of the door was a blaze of light as spell after spell ricocheted about the tight space. Tonks twisted past a jet of blue light and flicked her wand rapidly to either side of her to deflect two red jets with quick shield charms before ducking under a third and slamming a full powered Impediment Jinx under the guard of one of the Death Eaters to freeze him in position. A potted plant, of all things, then came hurting towards her from the side, but Tonks dived past it and flicked her wand over her shoulder to pluck it magically out of the air, sending it zinging past her to crash into another Death Eater, who just managed to raise a shield charm in time to deflect but who didn't count on Tonk's next spell transforming the plant into what appeared to be an angry honey badger.
"AAHHHH!" he screamed as the furious mustelid launched itself at him and Tonks turned away from the gnashing teeth to block another spell rapidly.
Kingsley and Remus were back to back, twisting each other rapidly to defend one another from attacks from all sides with rapid shield teams. One would think they'd worked together many times before but they were just acting on instinct. Lupin sent a shower of sparks flying over two of the Death Eaters, which caught their black robes on fire and made them easy prey for the follow-up Stunning spells as they lashed about wildly in an an attempt to put them out.
Another Death Eater dodged in from the side and slashed his wand through the air to send a blade of purple flame launching through the air and them but Lupin grabbed Kingsley's shoulder and pulled them both into a spinning duck - the flaming projectile slashing down the side of another Death Eater instead. He screamed and fell while Kingsley used a Summoning Charm to bring the first Death Eater hurtling towards him with arms flailing, yelling as Kingsley's fist connected solidly with his face and knocked him out.
"Nice right hook!" Lupin shouted.
"Sometimes it pays to know how to fight like a Muggle. They don't usually see that coming!" Kingsley said as he twisted away from Lupin so a jet of green light could shoot between them, disarming the Death Eater who had fired the Killing Curse and conjuring up a cloak out of thin air that wrapped around his head and sent him swinging about blindly and into the path of a Depulsion Jinx from Mad-Eye.
Moody was keeping an eye on everything at once, calling out across the battlefield whenever he saw something untoward. "Hestia!" he yelled. "To your left!"
"Thanks!" Hestia cried as she pressed herself against the wall to avoid two jets of light - one red and one green - from another pair of Death Eaters. She flicked her wand and suddenly a bunch of the drawers in the walls came cascading out like an avalanche, pummelling at the Death Eaters and making them yell and scream as they batted at them with their arms blindly, allowing Hestia enough time to recuperate as she jumped forward and launched an Incarcerous spell at them.
The ropes that flew from her wand rapidly ensnared them both and sent them crashing to the ground in madly wriggling heaps. Hestia turned to see another had summoned numerous serpents that were slithering across the floor towards Tonks. She responded by turning a fallen piece of rubble into a mongoose, which spat and fell upon the snakes like a hurricane as the Death Eater who summoned them was himself transfigured into what appeared to be a hedgehog be Emmeline.
Emmeline turned around to see no less than three Death Eaters converging on her, firing spell after spell at her in the hopes of mowing her down. Emmeline threw up the most powerful Shield Charm she could muster in response, and she wasn't the only one - Moody had done the same thing to doubly reinforce it and send spells ricocheting all over the place! Emmeline bit her lip and thrust her wand out to the side to turn a piece of the wall into a mirror, firing a Stunning spell at it that bounced off it, shooting around her shield to impact one of the Death Eaters in the side. A second Stunning spell caught a second Death Eater in the same manner and Emmeline took the opportunity to lower her shield and dodge sideways to avoid a Killing Curse from the third. She fired a jet of water from her wand right into his face, sending him stumbling backwards and into the path several flying chunks of rubble from Tonks.
Mad-Eye twisted himself around in time to see a Death Eater firing a cutting hex at his leg, evidently intending to chop off the other one with it. Mad-Eye growled as he blocked it. It was Walden Macnair - he could see through his mask. Moody stumped forwards to send a flurry of Stunning spells his way but Macnair twisted aside to dodge them all and brought his wand high above his head to bringing it swinging down like an executioner's axe. And sure enough, a giant axe formed with the swing, thundering down straight at the top of Moody's head.
Moody was forced to lurch himself awkwardly to the side, crashing to the floor as the axe embedded itself in the stonework where he'd just been. "Ha! I've got you now!" Macnair cried triumphantly as he charged forwards, twirling his wand in preparation to unleash an explosive curse that would consume Moody. But the grizzled Auror flailed his clawed wooden leg up and flicked his wand, sending his fake leg shooting straight out like an arrow. The claws buried themselves through Macnair's mask to rake at his forehead, sending him reeling away with a yell of pain. Which gave Moody more than enough opportunity to sit up properly and hit him with a Stunning spell so powerful he was almost flung through the wall.
The Order members gathered in the centre of the room, looking around at the groaning or totally still Death Eaters littering the place - every one of them had been downed.
"Wow…" said Hestia. "That was a lot easier than I was expecting."
"It shouldn't have been," Moody growled as he reattached his leg magically and was helped to his feet by Lupin. "This lot were mostly small fry. The majority of them were probably new recruits who've never been in a proper duel in their lives. The real threats… Death Eater Elites… are the ones locked up in this very prison and now they're set to be released. Let's get moving!" he stumped towards the door hurriedly.
"Wait, before we go!" Tonks hurried over to the fallen boxes and rummaged through them, shifting through them rapidly with her wand until she found the one she was looking for. "Got them," she grinned, picking up a deck of cards and stowing them within her robes and hurrying over to join the others as Moody blasted the door off its hinges and they flooded through into the prison.
Almost immediately they were confronted by a surge of Dementors that wafted down the corridor towards them at high speed, like something out of a nightmare! They looked almost like Inferi in that moment, clawing at the air as they filled the passageway from floor to ceiling, wall to wall, a blast of cold washing over the Order members like a blizzard without the snow. It was enough to make them all stumble backwards, but the three front-runners - Moody, Lupin and Kingsley, raised their wands and roared at the same time:-
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
A huge silver bear erupted out of Moody's wand and thundered in towards the oncoming wraiths in the great lumbering, but surprisingly fast, gait of a real bear. It was joined by Lupin's wolf and Kingsley's lynx, the three of them ploughing their way in side by side like the world's strangest hunting party. The Dementors screeched and fell back before them, the waves of silver spilling off the animals repelling them like magnets and they seemed to waft through each other in a bid to escape them.
The Order dashed along behind their Patronus bodyguards, rushing up a flight of steps until they reached the main branch of the prison - where the corridor split into several different passageways. The Patronuses herded the Dementors away down them but several of them tried to press forwards to bypass them or even attack them. Their casters had to hold their wands out the entire time to keep them raised as the Dementors battered themselves against them one by one before being repelled, and more Dementors swept their way down a fourth corridor.
Tonks ran forwards to pick up the slack and her silver chameleon rippled its way out of her wand. Though small it scuttled rapidly around the air much faster than a regular chameleon could ever go, its silver tongue lashing out to bop Dementors in the head and almost blast them backwards like it was using a bullwhip!
"Do we have any idea where they might be keeping Cana or Erza!?" Emmeline shouted.
"Most likely in the maximum security part of the prison - dead in the middle!" Kingsley replied.
"Hang on!" Moody's eye swivelled around in his head, probing the walls before he cried, "Yep, I see 'em! Cana's up three flights and in Cell… 287! Erza's a few corridors away in Cell 264! And I see Lucius! He's almost upon them! They'll start freeing the prisoners soon!"
"This way!" Kingsley shouted - he'd been to Azkaban enough times to know his way around. He took point, his lynx rushing ahead of him to claw the Dementors aside. Lupin's wolf and Tonks' chameleon rushed in past the running Order members to join them as they ran past the cell doors of bemused and terrified prisoners within, while Moody's bear brought up the rear. The Dementors swarming in pursuit, prompting the bear to turn around several times to push them backwards with mighty swings of its see-through paws but there were so many Dementors swarming all over the place that their negative effects were seeping past the Patronuses, battering at the minds of each and every member.
Tonks found herself suddenly remembering the time when her grandfather had died, while Lupin almost keeled over for a moment as he was bombarded with a mental image, just for half a second, of a terrifying lycanthropic beast - Fenrir Greyback - launching himself at him. But even as the wolf and the chameleon rippled slightly from their wielders loss of concentration, two more Patronuses exploded into life. A beaver shot out of Emmeline's wand and a donkey out of Hestia's, both of them rushing over to join Moody's bear, filling the passageways with silver mist from the beaver, which seemed to raise a wall before it like a dam while the donkey reared up and flailed its legs to beat them back. You could almost hear it braying!
The Order members made quick progress but Tonks was forced to call back her chameleon as they bypassed other corridors with more Dementors coming in from the side, beating them back until they'd passed and they could join the throng of Dementors coming from behind. But the Dementors were rapidly learning and as their numbers continued to grow, the Patronuses found it ever harder to maintain themselves.
Eventually the group had almost ground to a halt and in the worst possible place - another junction of several corridors and a couple of staircases. The Dementors surged at them from at least five directions at once, forcing each Patronus to continuously charge and whirl around to block one corridor except for Lupin's wolf which dashed around between them.
"We've… got to get them… off our backs!" Emmeline gasped, sweat running down her back as her beaver fought valiantly on. "We can't have them pressing down on us like this the whole time."
"We're gonna be overrun," Tonks agreed. "I'm really beginning to understand why this place is a hellhole!"
"Yeah, but I got a plan that should throw them off for a while!" Moody said. "Lupin, cover my corridor!" And he relinquished the Patronus so the bear fizzled out of existence. The Dementors started forwards until the wolf ran in to block their way and Moody stuck his wand forward to fire a powerful Reductor Curse through the wolf and Dementors both, slamming it into the stone of a nearby wall and blasting it to gravel which went spraying outwards to the sea below.
It was one of the outside walls of the prison! They were specially warded to prevent people from blasting their way through from the outside, but from the inside… that was fair game.
"Push them out!" Moody roared. "Push them out!"
Lupin didn't need telling twice and directed his wolf to pelt forwards like it was aiming to bring down a caribou. They fell back before its onslaught and were pushed backwards through the hole out into the open air. The Order ran down the corridor and past the hole, their Patronuses following them and the Dementors sweeping in to bring up the rear. But once the Dementors reached the hole the Patronuses turned back and drove a few more of them out.
At the same time Moody fired a streak of silver from his wand that shot through the crowd of Dementors and reformed into the bear on the other side of the throng. The Dementors at the back shrieked as the bear attacked them from behind, shoving them forwards into their comrades. Emmeline and Tonks were quick to get the idea and relinquished their own Patronuses, firing them through to reform and join Moody's bear in driving the Dementors forwards.
Trapped between two opposing forces, the Dementors had nowhere else to go but through the hole. They were herded into the outside, spilling through like water from a tap. The Patronuses barrelled out after them, scattering them through the sky before all six wizards and witches worked together to repair the damage to the wall, trapping them out above the sea.
Many of the group turned to look at Moody with a newfound respect in their eyes. Now they could see part of the reason he was such a renowned former Auror. As he reminded everyone often, he was constantly vigilant, and very quick to come up with a plan.
Of the people they knew from their own world, only Dumbledore would have made a better leader for the invasion of the prison.
"That won't hold 'em out forever," Moody growled. "They'll find other ways back in. Come on!"
Lucius could hear the sounds of combat coming from the lower levels and knew he would have to hurry. The Dementor vanguard before him was splitting off now, taking with them the keys and the drawers from the lobby. Lucius was quick to follow the biggest of the Dementors, watching as it inserted the key into the first of the doors it came across and unlocked it.
"Gah!" the Death Eater within cried out, covering his face with a clinking of chains as the Dementor wafted inside. "What the hell do you want!? I didn't do anything this time!"
"Relax Antonin" Lucius smirked as he stepped up to the door and the Dementor leaned over to begin unchaining the surprised black-haired man.
"Malfoy," Antonin Dolohov growled. "You cowardly weasel… what are you doing here?"
"Such vile language against a man here to break you out," Lucius shook his head. "Perhaps I should leave you here to rot. But no, I have my orders. Its been a long time in coming, but your rescue is finally here."
"Rescue?" Dolohov blinked, before his grin turned abruptly savage. "So then it was true. When we felt the Dark Mark burn… it really was the return of the Dark Lord…"
"Indeed. But there is no time for… pleasantries," Lucius said as Dolohov pushed himself to his feet. The blonde-haired man presented his fellow Death Eater with his wand, which he snatched up and clutched close in delight at finally having it back. "The Ministry may be acting imbecilic in their denial of his return but the Order of the Phoenix has still formed again. And several of its members are already within the prison, seeking to stop our escape."
"Then bring them on! I've been itching to kill something for years!"
"I expected nothing less. But we have also been tasked with taking the two Fairy Tail mages back to the Dark Lord. We must not disappoint him."
"I've heard about that lot. What's their deal anyway? They really from another universe?"
"Explanations must wait too. Come. Let us free our brethren."
Dolohov nodded as the two of them spilled out of the cell, the Dementor swishing past them to make for another. The maximum security prison was filled with the sounds of chains clanking uselessly to the floor as Death Eaters spilled out into the hallways, revelling in having their wands back and pulling up their ragged sleeves to inspect the writhing Dark Marks on their arms with delight. So many familiar faces to Lucius… Jugson, Travers, Rookwood, Mulciber… and soon the two brothers - Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange.
"Ah, I see that Azkaban hasn't agreed with you two," Lucius noted.
"It wouldn't have agreed with you either if you'd had the guts to take it on like we did," Rodolphus sneered at him.
"And yet if I had I would not have gained the influence over the Ministry that is now so helpful to the Dark Lord's designs. Where's your wife?"
"Not far. I hear her screeching most every day."
"Then let's…" Lucius started but it was right at that moment that Kingsley burst his way through a nearby door and launched a Stunning spell right at the clustered group. And despite how haggard they were after fifteen years behind bars, their instincts were still as sharp as ever. The Death Eaters sprang aside and Rodolphus instantly fired a killing curse at Kingsley, who turned around to seize Emmeline who was right behind him and rolled them both out of the way so it hit a wall behind them.
"Split up!" Lucius cried, swishing his wand in to fired a Blasting hex that sent bits of rubble falling from the ceiling above them. "Procure the mages or stay and fight! Pick your side now!" he yelled before he was forced to throw himself into a cell to dodge two rapid spells from Moody. The Death Eaters worked like a well-oiled machine, several of them splitting off to accompany the Dementors deeper into the facility while others fanned out through the corridors with intent to come from other directions.
"They're going for Cana and Erza!" Moody shouted, blocked a spell from Mulciber and sending one back that shattered the stonework to his right, his eye watching Travers, Jugson and Rookwood dashing off into the distance.
Tonks instantly dodged into a side-corridor. "We won't let them!" she yelled, dashing off in a whirl of robes and followed closely by Lupin and Hestia. Another Death Eater, Selwyn, rushed out of the corridor ahead of them and brandished his wand but both Lupin and Hestia fired Reductor Curses at the same time that made him dive right back down the hall he'd come from as the floor fractured with the blast.
Hestia wheeled to a stop before him and lashed out with two rapid Stunners, the first of which he blocked and the second of which he dodged. "I've got him! Go on ahead!" she yelled as the two began exchanged a fierce frenzy of flashing lights, their wand hands becoming blurs as they dodged madly from side to side.
Not far away, Kingsley was duelling three Death Eaters at once, taking fire from Dolohov, Lucius and Mulciber all at the same time and swishing his wand around to form constant shield charms and ducking behind a wall while each of them were taking cover behind a cell door, arching around it to send Killing Curses rocketing his way. Kingsley fired a spell at Mulciber's door that ripped it off its hinges and sent it crashing down on top of him, knocking him out, but then Dolohov's cutting curse tore its way across his arm before he could duck away again. He grunted and stumbled sideways in pain but he pushed himself back up to fight on.
Emmeline and Moody were advancing down another corridor, facing both the Lestrange brothers at the same time in a two-on-two. Moody, who couldn't dodge as fast in the tight space of the corridor, was holding up a Shield Charm, but a special one that blocked spells from only one direction and allowing Emmeline to rattle off spell after spell that peppered the corridor or the quick shields of the other two. At one point, another Death Eater named Gibbon appeared in the distance and ran forwards towards the action but Rabastan deflected one of Emmeline's Stunners to send it crashing straight into Gibbon, knocking him out instantly and sending him crumpling to the floor.
But then two Killing Curses streaked forwards towards Moody, and Emmeline dove sideways to impact his side and carry the both of them to the floor, the curses streaking just overhead. But even as Mad-Eye fell he fired an Impediment Jinx that struck Rabastan, while at the same time Rodolphus fired another spell that at first seemed to do nothing… until Emmeline seized Moody's neck and started trying to choke him! Moody gasped, recognisingg the glazed look of the Imperius Curse in Emmeline's eyes and roaring, "Petrificus Totalus!"
Emmeline's limbs snapped into her sides as she fell to the floor, squirming madly, and Moody clawed himself up the wall, blocking another spell from Rodolphus and returning fire with a blast of smoke from his wand that engulfed the corridor, blinding Rodolphus as Moody hauled Emmeline into the nearest cell and began muttering the counter-curse for the Imperius under his breath.
They were being heavily reminded as to why this lot were the elite among Death Eaters.
And the most elite of them all had yet to join the fight. But as Moody worked, he heard the cackling in the distance that let him know the horrible truth.
Bellatrix Lestrange was free.
Seizing her wand gleefully from Rookwood, Bellatrix danced out of her cell and screeched with laughter, sending spells shooting all over the place just because she could to splinter stone and pockmark her old wooden door. "At last! At last!" she squealed delightedly. "I knew he would come for me! I knew he would return for his loyal supporters!"
She ran over to the nearby cell door and looked in through the tiny window for a moment before using a spell to rip it open at the wall without waiting for the key. "What about you, Fairy Tail girl, huh?" she crowed to the shivering brunette within. "Your friends going to come for you?"
Cana shivered and thrashed from side to side, her cold sweat more powerful than ever. The nearby Dementor was focusing all its feeding attentions on her instead of its newfound Death Eater allies and she gasped and yanked on the reinforced chains in an agony of self-anguish.
Those thoughts… those same thoughts of inadequacy were bombarding her again! 'I'll never be worthy of him,' 'I'm just leftovers,' 'I can't even become S-Class…' All things she'd thought but stronger than they'd ever been. It was like they were a physical weight on her mind and shoulders both, pushing her down to the ground as a state of deep depression filled her up from within once more.
"Got nothing to say?" Bellatrix snarled. "I asked you a question, bitch! Answer me! Crucio!"
"GYAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Cana screeched, lurching back in the chains to fall on her side and thrash about in agony - it was like a thousand red-hot needles were stabbing into her all over… through her entire body. Even her bones seemed to be searing with pain as she flailed wildly about. Bellatrix cackled delightedly, revelling in the torment she hadn't been able to deliver in a long time and watching as Cana's writhing caused one of the chains to wrap around her neck slightly, cutting off her air.
But then a scream behind her cut off her enjoyment and she whirled around to see Rookwood get blasted backwards by a powerful Stunning spell. Bolting out of the door, Bellatrix saw another rocketing in towards her and she sprang backwards and aside, only to see another shooting for her face. This one she blocked with a quick slash of her wand and she snarled at the young woman racing in towards her with one arm outstretched.
"Who the hell are you!?"
"What's the matter, Auntie Bella? Don't recognise your own niece?" Tonks growled, dashing forward to rattle off spell after spell that forced Bellatrix to erect a shield that spanned the entire corridor to take them all.
"Niece?" she hissed. "Cissy has no daughter. Then…" her eyes widened. "Andromeda! You're Andromeda's brat!"
Tonks' hair turned blood red as she thrust her wand outwards to generate a sudden blizzard from the tip - snow rushing out down the passageway to batter against Bellatrix's shield. Bella waved her wand to redirect the snow around herself and retaliated with a swift duo of Killing Curses, forcing Tonks to drop and roll as they skewed past her shoulder, coming out of the roll to cast a Summoning Charm on the door behind Bellatrix, ripping it from the wall and sending it thundering towards her back.
Bellatrix heard it coming and leapt into a spinning duck, catching the door with her magic and sending it spinning over her head to rocket towards Tonks. She blasted it to wooden shards with a Reductor Curse but another Killing Curse came rocketing through it straight afterwards. Tonks dodged aside again, the green light narrowly missing her hand and Tonks suddenly found the door shards firing right at her as well like spears. Throwing up a Shield Charm, she was able to send them clattering to the floor instead but a swinging Cutting Spell from Bellatrix put a crack in the hasty shield.
"Tonks!" Lupin cried as he ran up behind her.
"I'm fine! Leave her to me!" Tonks growled, but suddenly her legs buckled and she fell to the floor, Lupin stumbling as well as the Dementor homed in on them, sending shivers down their spines as it opened its arms wide, as if seeking to pull them into its soul-sucking embrace. Tonks coughed and struggled back to her feet, but a silver wolf streaked past her shoulder and pounced on the Dementor shoving it backwards and away with a screech before carrying on to throw itself at Bellatrix, who slashed her wand and send it into a smoky silver explosion.
"I said leave her to me!" Tonks gritted her teeth. "You go help Cana!" she said before reinforcing her Shield Charm and banishing it right down the corridor, slamming Bellatrix backwards with it like it was a giant invisible fist. But Bellatrix quickly recovered with a roll and growled as Tonks ran forwards past Cana's door towards her. The two engaged in a rapid fire blur of spell upon spell, dancing from side to side as the air between them filled with so many projectiles that Lupin couldn't keep track of what was happening.
Lupin had always known Tonks was capable, but he'd never realised how much so. Especially since she was currently the youngest Auror in the entire Ministry. She was a spectacular fighter, not anything like the clumsy, joking young woman he'd come to know at Grimmauld Place.
But Bellatrix seemed to be giving just as good as she was getting and at the moment he couldn't tell who was better!
However he did as Tonks bid, running to the door of Cana's cell and rushing through the door to where she was almost choking herself as she shivered and sobbed. "Relashio!" he shouted and the chains spilt open, ripping out of the wall to collapse in a heap on the ground. Cana didn't react to her sudden freedom until Lupin knelt down beside her to unwind the chain from her neck, casting it aside.
"Who… who are…?"
"It's alright… it's alright, Cana. My name is Remus Lupin and I'm a friend of Sirius'. I'm here to get you to safety. To get you back to your father."
"My… father…?"
"Yes, your father. Gildarts Clive. He's waiting for you."
"…I'm not worthy…" Cana whimpered, sagging to the ground and staring hollowly at a piece of the wall. "He doesn't deserve me for a daughter… I'm just… I'm just… a failure."
"Don't say that. Of course you're not a failure."
"All I do is fail…" Cana sniffed, her eyes beginning to water. "I failed to become S-Class four times… I abandoned my friend on a battlefield so I could get there… I couldn't beat someone even with Fairy Glitter… fail, fail, fail…"
Remus ground his teeth. This was far from what he'd been told about Cana - he'd been told she was usually extremely cheerful, exuberant, bold… the life of the party at almost all times. He had a feeling that he knew what was happening though. Her past failures were among the worst memories she had been forced to constantly relive by the Dementors and even though there was no one beside her, being in their presence for so long had forced her to focus on them and thrust into an uncharacteristic depression. Not to mention the fact it often took a while for the effects of a Dementor's presence to vanish anyway.
But considering their situation, they couldn't afford for her to be depressed right now!
So he opted for the next part of the plan and reached into his shabby robes, pulling out a small handheld mirror. It was Sirius' mirror - one of two in his possession which the Marauders had used at Hogwarts many a time to help co-ordinate their next prank.
And the other mirror was currently being held by…
"Gildarts."
Immediately Gildarts' face appeared in the mirror, practically shoved right up against it. "What's happening? What's going on in there?"
"We've got Cana," Lupin replied. "She's okay but… I think you need to talk to her. Now."
"…Father…?" Cana looked up, blinking at the sound of Gildarts' voice. Lupin pressed the mirror into her hand and Cana blinked when she saw who she was looking at.
"Cana… are you hurt? Did they harm you in any way? If they did then I swear I'll blast every last one of them into atoms."
"…You wouldn't have been captured…" Cana moaned, sagging down against the floor once more.
"Huh?" Gildarts blinked. "What are you talking about?"
"You wouldn't have been caught by those things. You would have just powered through every last one of them and left nothing standing behind you. You're… you're far more powerful than I could ever hope to be. You deserve so much better than me, Father. You deserve Erza or Mirajane or Juvia for a daughter… and instead you got the dregs. I'm sorry… I'm… I'm so sorry that I'm so useless."
Gildarts was momentarily stunned. She'd actually felt that? Those things… had been in Cana's mind all the years he'd known her? He'd had no idea! When Cana had revealed that he was her father to him she hadn't mentioned any of this - she'd only mentioned that she hadn't been able to bring herself to tell him. She'd never actually said why. And then of course Acnologia had struck the island mere minutes afterwards so he'd had no time to find out.
He felt a sudden rush of affection for the girl swoop through his body, as well as a surge of sorrow that he'd never been there for her. Of course he hadn't known they were related but still… he felt he probably should have figured it out somewhere down the line.
"Every time you looked at me…" he said. "Is that what you thought? Did you really feel that way for all the time you've known me?"
"…Yes…" Cana hiccoughed. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'm not good enough for you."
"No!" Gildarts said emphatically, gripping the handle of the mirror so hard that for a moment he was in danger of shattering it, even without his Crash Magic. "Don't you say that. Don't you dare say or think that ever again, Cana. You're more than good enough for me. In fact… if anything, I'm not good enough for you."
"Huh?" Cana looked up, eyes wide. "What… what do you mean?"
Gildarts' lip curled into a warm but sad smile. "I was never around. It's not in my nature to stay still for too long. And because of that I neglected your mother, even though I loved her dearly. I just kept swanning off into the distance and didn't come back for months on end. I was such a terrible husband that I didn't even know I had a daughter. I could have found out easily. You were alive for six whole years after your mother left me. But I never wrote to her. I never asked how she was doing. I didn't even know Cornelia had died until months after it had actually happened. Yeah, sure… I'm strong. But what good is strength if it leads you to neglect your duties as a man?
"But you, Cana… when your friends need you, you're there. You support people, you help them to have fun, you keep them close. And that's infinitely more important than strength."
Cana blinked, her eyes pricking with tears that were threatening to spill their way down her cheeks.
"Regardless of that, you are far stronger than you've given yourself credit for," Gildarts went on. "Perhaps you've just had some bad match-ups now and then but you're far from weak. And even if you were, you carry the true spirit of Fairy Tail. Anyone who Mavis is willing to bestow Fairy Glitter upon is the worthiest person I can think of to be my child."
"…Father…" Cana sniffed, the tears finally spilling over.
"And just so you know, Cana… I would give up every ounce of my power in an instant if I had to, just to see you smile. I asked you, back on Tenroujuma, for the right to love you. And I meant that… the right! You think I would ask you for permission if I didn't think you were worthy of me? I accept you as my daughter fully! It is I you asks you to accept me as a father. And I swear to you, I will try my utmost to be a better father to you than I ever was a husband to your mother."
Cana screwed up her eyes, trying hard not to sob as a wave of happiness she hadn't felt since the island swelled up inside her chest. And Lupin couldn't stop himself from smiling as he watched. He could practically see the effects of the Dementors washing away from her beneath Gildarts words.
"So… I ask you one more time, Cana… can I have the right… the privilege… to call you my daughter!"
"Yes!" Cana shouted, all but hugging the mirror. "Yes, absolutely yes. I'm sorry, father… I'm sorry."
"You never have to apologise to me. Never again, you understand?" Gildarts said, wishing with all his heart that he could reach into the mirror and hug her once more. "Now listen… I know that I've only just started to fill my fatherly shoes but… the facility you're in… Erza is in there to."
"Erza…" Cana breathed, wiping up her tears.
"Yes. And she needs you. She needs a friend in there to help her through what those Dementors are doing to her. She needs someone with the true Spirit of Fairy Tail. So… as your father… I ask you now to stand. Rise up… and use all the power at your disposal to bring Erza to safety! And to come back to me!"
"…Yes…" Cana nodded, pushing herself up into a sitting position. "Yes… you're right…"
Gildarts smiled. "You ready to due your duty, Cana?"
"HELL YEAH!" Cana surged to her feet, her eyes blazing and her fists clenching. "Watch me Father. I gave you the right to love me… now I'm gonna make you proud of me!"
"That's my girl."
Lupin smiled as he took the mirror off Cana and said, "Hold tight, Gildarts. We'll be out soon," before stashing the mirror away in his robes. He turned to Cana and added, "If those Dementors come at you again, think to the happiest memory you have. Really focus on it. Anchor it into yourself and don't let it go. It'll make it harder for them to affect you."
"Got it!" Cana nodded. "But… I don't have my cards…"
"Tonks has got them. We just have to…"
"AAAHH!"
The scream came from outside and both Cana and Lupin immediately bolted through the door in time to see Tonks clutching a bloodied hand. The corridor beneath her had been turned into some kind of bog which she was wedged knee deep into and Bellatrix was cackling as the raised her wand to strike the final blow.
Lupin acted instantly and yelled, "Accio Cards!" The entire deck erupted out of Tonk's robes and flew through the air towards Cana in a mad jumble, but Cana bolted forwards and stretched out her hand, summoning every one of them into it like they were magnetised, pulling two of them out of the deck to yell:-
"BAKUEN!"
She flung three cards down the corridor like throwing knives, all of them transforming into huge fireballs as they went. The middle of these intercepted Bellatrix's Avada Kedavra spell and cancelled it out while the other to blitzed in towards her, forcing her to raise a shield but the blowback from the fireballs impacting on it still throwing her back into the wall. Lupin quickly took the opportunity to levitate Tonks out of the mud with a wet squelch.
"You okay?" he asked her.
"Yeah," Tonks nodded. "Least she didn't hit my wand hand."
"You…" Bellatrix snarled as she vaulted to her feet, a crazed look in her eyes that made her look almost rabid. "DIE!" she screamed as she launched a veritable flurry of green curses down the corridor in a constant bombardment. Cana lifted up three more cards - she didn't know what those spells did but she knew she probably didn't want to find out.
"RAKURAI NO UNMEI!" she shouted as she swept her hands out, instantly triggering a violent lightning storm to blast its way down the corridor, the electricity bolts impacting the green lights and fizzling them out as the rest of it surged its way in towards Bellatrix. She gasped and uttered a spell to transform her wand into a lighting rod, absorbing the attack with visible effort as she was sent skidding back down the passageway.
"NNNGNGH!" she gritted her teeth as she bore the attack through to the end, before spinning around to fling a hurricane force wind down the passageway. Cana, Remus and Tonks were all scooped right off their feet and tossed back like rag dolls, but Cana swept her hand forwards to shout, "WIND EDGE!" to create a similar blast of wind that rushed against Bellatrix's spell and strained against it, the two attacks pushing hard against each other's before Cana's suddenly won through, overpowering Bellatrix's own and forcing her to dive into her own old cell to avoid being swept away. She immediately surged out to find five cards zinging towards her like shurikens. Mad flicks of her wand allowed her to repel them all but Cana was already running in towards her, Lupin and Tonks flanking her as they charged.
As a last ditch effort, Bellatrix thrust her wand straight into the ground and generated a wave of what appeared to be mud or sludge that surged down the corridor like a slow-motion (but still reasonably fast) tidal wave. Cana pulled to a halt but Tonks and Lupin ran past her, casting a combined shield charm that barricaded the entire passage so the sludge washed up against it, piling up and seeking to break its way through. Which was all the time Cana needed to slap one card down upon the ground and shout:- "INORIKO NO FUNSUI!"
The Prayer's Fountain water attacked surged its way forward like it was fired from a cannon, crashing into the back of the shield charm which was promptly lowered to allow it to splurge into the sludge, ripping it apart and sending a backlash of liquid directly at Bellatrix. This time she was unprepared for it and the blast caught her full in the stomach, launching her back down the corridor and sending her rolling, winded and gasping for breath. She was quick to push herself back up to a kneeling position but only a quick dive saved her from the Stunners that were sent her way as the attacking trio converged on her again.
But then suddenly four Dementors whooshed their way out of a side passage between them, twisting around to converge on Cana and the Order members. Cana immediately stumbled in her step, almost falling to the ground at the wash of cold but this time she threw up a barrier in her mind even as she stepped back. She forcibly replayed her father's words from just now in her head and the suddenly felt the effects of the foul creatures dull.
However, he still didn't know how to beat them. Most of her attacks in her previous encounter with them in the streets hadn't had the slightest affect on them.
But the wolf and chameleon that bolted past her helped to answer her question. Her eyes widened as they fell back under the onslaught of the silver animals, turning to look at Tonks and Lupin who's faces were set in concentration as the Dementors were routed backwards.
"How are you doing that?" she asked.
"Patronuses are a positive force that can repel a Dementor!" Lupin explained. "They don't have a soul or feelings so a Dementor cannot affect them. They're the only things that really do."
"…Really?" Cana mused, then her eyes widened when she saw another Dementor approaching from behind them, rattling as it converged on Tonk's back without her realising. But Cana dodged back between them, keeping her father's words in her mind to beat back the Dementors effects as she threw four cards out that landed right before the Dementor with a smoky poof.
"SEKUSHI ONEESAN KADO!" Cana grinned. And suddenly… there were four women in bikinis surrounding the Dementor - all with different coloured hair and all with different coloured swimsuits. And they all launched themselves at the Dementor to glomp it from all sides, seizing its body, its arms, and one even wrapping her hands around its neck! The Dementor looked about as shocked as was possible for a faceless creature to look, screeching as it reeled back, flailing its limbs in a bid to get the women off, but they just pressed themselves in against it, pulling at it like they were having a tug of war with one another and eventually falling over, bearing it to the ground where they pinned it down beneath their combined weight.
"Er… what?" Lupin blinked.
"Hey, whatever works, right?" Cana tossed her hair slightly with a mildly embarrassed grin. "Those women aren't real so they aren't affected by it either. At least that was what I was banking on. Let's just… leave it there and move on before the spell wears off."
"Oooookay…" Tonks murmured, turning back to where Bellatrix had been and finding that she'd vanished. She'd probably taken advantage of the Dementor's distraction to rush off and recuperate. "Still, that was something. That woman is You-Know-Who's top general, easily one of his best fighters, and you were matching her… overpowering her even."
"No time for that now, we have to find Erza. Where is she?"
A sudden scream in the distance answered that question for Cana. "ERZA!" she yelled and dashed forwards, Tonks and Lupin hard on her heels leaving the confused Dementor behind.
Gildarts clenched his fist and gritted his teeth as he looked up at the prison. Dementors were swirling their way around it to find their way back in after they'd been pushed out, and every so often he could hear a distant explosion. His feet were itching to move, to rush forwards and get in there… to do something… but he knew better not to. There were a lot of people in there who he could potentially injure if he went in, including his own daughter. This wasn't a situation where he could just bring the building down and have done with it.
So he waited… on tenterhooks… waiting for something to happen… any sign that his daughter and Erza were okay.
CRACK!
Gildarts spun around - that was the sound of someone Apparating into existence right behind him. And sure enough, suddenly there were two men standing on the platform beside him.
One was Gawain Robards…
And the other man, who was holding him by the neck with one hand and the wrist in the other so that he could hold Gawain's wand hand out of the way but still allow Apparition said, "This is where that girl is?" right before he spotted Gildarts.
"YOU!" Gildarts snarled at the exact same time as the man. For the man was dressed in a blue and black robe with a red sash around his waist, had a slightly hooked nose an immensely long black hair tied back in a ponytail with dark green cloth that ran down almost its entire length.
The man was Bluenote Stinger. The self-same man from Grimoire Heart that Gildarts had faced off against on Tenroujima. The man who had been about to kill his daughter before he'd stepped into the fight.
"Gildarts!" Bluenote growled, flinging Gawain aside so his head impacted against a boulder, knocking him out. "I was led straight to you?"
"What are you doing here?" Gildarts asked with wide eyes searing. "You shouldn't be here! This doesn't make any sense! How can you possibly be in this world too?"
"Why am I here?" Bluenote grinned as he cracked his knuckles eagerly. "I am not sure where here is… but this is surely a fated rematch indeed. This time I shall fly… and you shall be the one sent flying away!"
Gildarts had no time to asking any further questions before Bluenote hurled himself forwards with a heavy fist swinging straight for his face!