Dance of the Fairies, Flight of the Phoenix

Chapter 4:- Sky Dragon at School

Wendy was pretty sure she would have gotten hypothermia or something on the journey the merpeople were taking her on if she hadn't known a couple of spells to keep herself from doing so. The water was so cold! But she bore it, because she had little other choice,

When they'd finally breached the surface once again after leaving the cave, Wendy had spent the rest of the journey travelling on the back of the merchieftaness, Murcus. The merpeople moved swiftly and sleekly through the water, their powerful tails spurring them onwards at what Wendy could only assume was at least forty miles an hour, possibly more.

But she also noticed that they were swimming against the current, taking her further upriver, which meant that if her friends were still out to sea she was actually heading further away from them. But she knew there was very little she could do about that right now. She had to get herself into an environment that she could actually live in, because right now she couldn't remember the last time she'd had to hold her breath so much, since the merpeople seemed to prefer swimming underwater and Murcus was the only one who ever rose to the surface at regular intervals to allow Wendy to take a breath before ducking back down again.

For a Sky Dragon such as Wendy, this was not too much of a strain, but she was fairly certain that many of the others in her guild would have struggled with this, with the obvious exceptions of Juvia, who could both breathe underwater, and Lisanna, who could become a fish and therefore also breathe underwater.

It was not too long before Murcus finally said, "This will be another big one, girl. Take a deep breath when I go up to the surface again."

Wendy nodded her head, unable to speak back while underwater, but did as bid - sucking in a huge lungful of air moments before Murcus plunged down, down, down until Wendy was pretty sure they were underground again. Almost all the light was blocked out and Wendy couldn't see a thing, so she didn't bother trying to. She closed her eyes against the strong current rushing into her face, bubbles trailing out of her nose as she fought to bear it out until she felt the fresh air on her face once again.

When she finally did, it came with a shock and she coughed and gasped, sucking in precious air as quickly as she could just in case Murcus wanted to dive again. When she didn't and Wendy realised they had slowed down considerably, she sat up a little and pushed hair and water out of her eyes.

When she opened them and saw what lay before her, she gasped in astonishment.

It wasn't the massive lake that made her gasp, though that was impressive, stretching outwards for what Wendy assumed was at least a mile, possibly more. No, it was what was on the shore of that lake which made Wendy gape in disbelief. She'd seen a couple of castles before when she'd gone to Edolas, and both the Royal City and Extalia had been extremely impressive in their own way, but that did not diminish the splendour of the castle before her right now.

With towers that seemed to pierce the sky, the fortress was constructed in a manner that didn't look like it should be physically capable of standing up - an assorted mish-mash of bridges and turrets and towers suspended over thin air and only attached to the rest of the building by the smallest of margins… there was no way that this place could be real unless it was sustained by magic. And boy, Wendy could feel that magic. She could taste in on her tongue - a veritable haze of magic that blanketed the entire area around her like some type of fog.

"What is this place?" Wendy gasped. "I've… I've never felt anything like it before…"

Murcus had to pull Wendy back underneath the water to answer her, powering through the water in the direction of the shore, a phalanx of merpeople behind her. "That is Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where all young humans in this country go and learn how to use magic. We just happen to live in the lake next to it, but we are on good relations with their Headmaster, who is capable of understanding us even above the water. He is a very good man, and we recommend that you seek him out when you head up there. Tell him of your problems and I am sure he will attempt to help you. His name is Albus Dumbledore. Remember that. Albus Dumbledore."

Wendy nodded her head slightly, grunting her assent under the water as the merpeople streamed her along. Dear gosh, she had so many questions. Witchcraft and Wizardry? Headmaster? School? She'd never been to school - they were rare in Fiore and generally only the richer higher-class bothered to send their children to them while everyone else taught their children what they thought they needed to know from home. Which had been what Grandine had essentially done with Wendy until she'd vanished mysteriously seven years ago…

No… wait… thirteen years ago now. Mavis had said she'd spent six whole years frozen in time inside the Fairy Sphere.

A dull throb of sorrow pulsed through her at the thought. Had Grandine noticed her absence? What if the Sky Dragon had decided to start looking for her only to find that she'd vanished off the face of the world. What if Igneel and Metalicana had started doing the same with their own Dragon Slayer children? She had no idea of knowing but… for the first time… Wendy found herself hoping that Grandine had not been looking for her. The thought of not being there to meet her mother when she came back for her… was nothing short of heartbreaking.

But she forced herself to think about the situation at hand instead. There was nothing she could do about Grandine right now. Her other friends who actually were in this universe were more important at this point.

Albus Dumbledore… she had to remember that name.

And it was at this point that she saw something in the distance. Some kind of… dark shadow… slipping through the water like a huge torpedo, but she was unable to make out what it was through the gloom.

Until it came closer…

…and a massive tentacled beast came sweeping over in their direction, huge wide eyes piercing the darkness of the depths as it rose up into the light and each of its ten tentacles flexing to push itself forward towards them.

"GGHHNNM!" Wendy glubbered, bubbles pouring out of her mouth as she kicked around, trying to warn the merpeople. "Shghgh mhrnnstrtrtr. MNNRHSTRTRTR!"

"Calm yourself, child," Murcus chided her with a hiss. "We know it is there and there is nothing to fear from it. That is merely the Giant Squid that shares our domain in this lake. He is perfectly friendly, I assure you."

Wendy blinked, staring at the incoming shape and focusing her magic to create two air bubbles over her eyes to get a better look, which was easier to do now that they were not moving so fast. The Giant Squid arced lazily in one big circle until it pulled pulled up alongside the swimming merpeople, one huge eye rolling down to inspect Wendy briefly. Wendy reached up a hand and waved uncertainly, and she was sure that the Squid started waggling one of its tentacles a little more vigorously as if to wave back.

But then several of the younger merpeople broke away from the group, including the boy that had snatched her away in the first place, and homed in on the squid, which spurted away with a large cloud of ink. The young merpeople motored after it and started chasing the Squid round and round in circles in a way that at first seemed to be something like a hunt but the silly grins on the faces of the young merchildren told Wendy that this was just a silly game. And apparently the Squid seemed more than ready to indulge them, moving at incredible speed considering its massive bulk and weaving in and out and around them, slapping a couple of them gently backwards with its longest tentacles whenever they got close.

Wendy smiled beneath the water as she watched the game, wishing she could join in to some extent. It seemed there were new surprises for her every other minute in this world. What the heck would she find when she finally got back onto land?

It took something rather extraordinary to surprise Luna Lovegood. Yet today was the day she would be.

"Are you quite certain?" she was saying to the merman poking his head out of the water down by the Hogwarts boathouse. "I'm sure I saw one down here just the other day."

The merman rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Dabberblimps are very good at hiding," Luna pointed out. "You may have been living in the lake with them all your life and you would never know they were there. Can you not check for me one last time? My father would be ecstatic to learn there was a population of them in the Hogwarts Lake."

The merman shook his head again.

"I see. Well, that's a shame. Can you at least promise to keep an eye out for them for me?"

The merman nodded his head this time, already certain he would have been looking out for these Dabberblimps even though he was fairly certain they didn't exist.

"Thank you. And now I…" she stopped when she saw an incoming stream of bubbles and saw flashing shapes beneath the water that indicated the presence of more merpeople, and sure enough several more heads with long straggly hair and protuberant slightly fish-like faces emerged. But the head that caught Luna's attention in particular had long, smooth dark blue hair, and looked distinctly human.

"Oh… hello…" said Wendy, blinking as she wiped the water from her eyes and rolled off Murcus' back. "Can you give me a hand?"

"Oh, certainly," Luna stepped to the side of the pier and reached down to take the sopping wet hand of the strange girl and haul her out of the water, aided from behind by a couple of mermaids pushing her gently out. Wendy tottered slightly, shivering under the effects of the cold breeze against her wet skin, but she turned back to smile at the merpeople.

"Thank you for everything," she bowed her head to them. "I really appreciate your help and I hope I can visit again."

The merpeople smiled and screeched slightly before with several lithe, flashing splashes, they were gone.

Wendy suddenly felt hands running through her hair and turned around curiously to see Luna holding up some of her blue locks curiously. Wendy blinked at this strange behaviour, suddenly feeling slightly perturbed, but then it dawned on her that this was actually the first human she had set eyes on in this dimension. And thank goodness she at least looked normal.

But apparently Wendy herself didn't, because Luna asked, "Are you a Metamorphmagus?"

"Am I a what?" Wendy blinked.

"A Metamorphmagus. They are witches or wizards who are born with the ability to change their appearance at will, like their height, facial features, hair colour. I ask because your hair appears to be naturally blue rather than dyed."

"Um… no, I can't do that. But my hair is naturally blue."

"Really? How strange."

"It is?"

"I have never heard of anyone having hair that was naturally your colour," Luna shook her head. "And I have heard of a lot of things that most other people don't even believe in."

"Oh…" Wendy looked down at her hair. It had never been deemed an odd colour before - there were several people she knew that had blue hair - Juvia, Levy, both Jellal and Mystogan… but now suddenly she felt very much like an odd one out.

Well, this was another universe…

"You're cold," Luna observed and Wendy remembered she was shivering.

"U-um… yeah… yeah, I am."

"Hold on," Luna slowly pulled out a small wooden stick and said, "We covered this one in Charms just the other day." She jabbed her wand in Wendy's direction and Wendy gasped as she instantly felt herself grow warmer, nice and toasty from the inside out, making her wonder if this was what Natsu felt like whenever he ate fire.

"Wow… thanks," she smiled pushing more damp hair out of her face.

"I have a towel for you too if you want to dry off," Luna went on, picking up her nearby bag and pulling the towel out. "I always bring one with me when I come down here. You never know when a Dabberblimp will pop up and squirt you in the face."

"Thank you. What's a Dabberblimp?" Wendy asked as she took the towel and began drying her hair with it.

"Oh, it's a small fish-like creature that's actually totally flat for most of the time but when it wants to get away from people it swells up to the size of a beach ball by sucking up a load of water and then expels it rapidly to shoot itself above the surface of the water, where it then sucks in air instead and floats off to a place of safety."

"Wow… I've never heard of it," Wendy replied.

"An astonishing number of people haven't," Luna replied. "By the way, my name is Luna Lovegood. What's yours."

"Oh, I'm Wendy. Wendy Marvell. Pleased to meet you," she instantly bowed her head low as she did whenever meeting someone new.

"I have decided that I like you," Luna replied with a smile. "But why are you here? You're not a student so why have the merpeople brought you to the school? Did they find you lost and thought this would be the best option?"

"Um… yes. Just that," Wendy nodded. "One of them saved me from drowning and I got separated from my friends… I'm supposed to go and talk to someone named Albus Dum… Dumblee… oh no, I've forgotten."

"Oh don't worry, I know who you mean," Luna nodded. "That's the Headmaster. He's funny and very nice. He found me lost in the corridors once in my first year and walked me all the way back to my common room then told me it was a crime that my father had not ended up on a Chocolate Frog card yet."

"Chocolate Frogs?" Wendy looked rather alarmed.

"They're not real frogs," Luna replied simply. "But the company who makes them used to mix Fwooper droppings into them before my father called them on it. Anyway, do you want to go up to the castle and find the Headmaster?"

"Yes, that would be great. Thank you. Thank you so much," Wendy smiled, falling in step beside the taller blonde girl as she rubbed at her back with the towel and they headed up the stone steps from the boathouse together.

"So, what about you? You must be a witch, right?" Luna asked.

Wendy was momentarily affronted before she remembered that Murcus had called this place a school of Witchcraft and Wizardry… so she decided to take Luna's words with a pinch of salt. "Erm… no, I'm not. I'm a Mage."

"A Mage?" Luna's eyes widened slightly. "Like some sort of shaman? For healing people?"

"Well… I can heal people but no, I'm not a shaman," Wendy replied. "I'm a…" she hesitated wondering if she should actually mention she was a Sky Dragon Slayer. Did they have Dragon Slayers in this world? And if they did, what were they like? Would anyone believe that Wendy wielded the magic of dragons within her? She doubted it, so she just said, "Sky Mage. I use Sky Magic."

"What does that do?" Luna asked.

"Well… a lot of things," replied Wendy. "I can heal people's injuries, cure fevers and purge poison, and I can give people power boosts when I need to… and I manipulate air any way I like. Watch…" she closed her eyes briefly and Luna shivered slightly as she felt the air currents change a little, and begin to whirl around them to make their hair whip around briefly before Wendy opened her eyes and the wind died down again.

"Is there any chance that my father can write an article about you in our weekly magazine?" Luna asked. "You're really interesting. You don't even use a wand."

"Um…" Wendy blushed slightly. "I… I wouldn't have to do a… a… photoshoot would I?" she squirmed, remembering all the pictures she'd seen of Mirajane in bikinis in numerous copies of the Weekly Sorcerer back home.

"Oh no, you'd just have to show him what you can do and he'd write about it. This is all so fascinating."

Most people would have probably been questioning if they were dreaming or not at this stage on wondering what the heck Wendy's deal was. But not Luna Lovegood. She was well aware that there was still a great world of mystery out there even now, so the idea of someone with magic she didn't even recognise was not even that shocking to her. It was as if she had always known that this was the case or something.

"So then if you can use magic, that means you can see the castle, right?" Luna went on.

"Um… yes, I can see it. Why?"

"Because when Muggles look at the castle, all they see is an old, unstable looking ruin. It's meant to keep them away."

"Oh. Okay…. what's a Muggle?"

"Do you not know?"

"Would I be asking if I did?"

"Fair point, but it is surprising that you don't know the word for non-magical people. Does not every magical person know that?"

"Oh… I see. We don't call them that where I come from. We just call them… people. Like the rest of us."

"And where do you come from?" Luna asked, as they ascended the top of the steps and they began to walk out onto the grounds.

"Well I…"

Wendy was about to launch into a big explanation but suddenly her attention was distracted by something in the distance, and for a while she forgot about everything important. She forgot about her friends, about her position, about finding this Dumbledore person. She could only stare in amazement at the distant figures of what were unmistakably people flying around in the air.

"Wow…" she gasped, shading her eyes for a better look. "What's going on over there?"

"That is the Quidditch pitch," Luna replied.

"What's Quid Ditch?"

"It's a sport with lots of funny rules where all the players fly around on broomsticks."

"Broomsticks?" Wendy asked, excitedly. "You mean like in all the stories? Oh, can we go and see this? Please. I'd really like a look."

Luna smiled dreamily and nodded, laughing slightly as she watched Wendy hurry off towards the pitch and followed at a more leisurely pace, gliding as if she was some type of ghost.

If she'd been paying a bit more attention, she might have noticed that the people on the broomsticks were wearing green.

Draco Malfoy was feeling smug. Smugger than usual, that is. And after all, why should he not feel smug? Here were the Slytherin Quidditch team, fresh out of tryouts and effectively owning the pitch during this practice session. It was the first one they'd had this year but most of the players knew exactly what they were doing and were extremely adept at flying their Nimbus Two-thousand-and-Ones. The only ones that were under-performing were Crabbe and Goyle - his own personal flunkies who had only just taken up the positions of Beaters on the team for the first time.

But they were getting to grips with it much faster than they did with most other activities. But then again, their role on the team involved smashing things and that was one of the things they both knew and liked to do best. All they needed to work on were their flying skills but anything that allowed them to pelt Bludgers at people seemed to be a crucial skill for them and they were really applying themselves to it.

And the reason for Malfoy's smugness was because of just how badly the Gryffindor Quidditch Team had done yesterday on the pinch. Especially the Weasley boy in his year - Ron. Oh God, that had been beyond hilarious watching him dropping the ball or damaging his own players with it when it was his turn to throw it! What a useless oaf he really was.

"Oi, Malfoy!" suddenly the new team Captain who had taken over now that Marcus Flint had left, Montague, pulled up alongside him and smacked him lightly on the arm. "Pay attention. I know what you're thinking and I won't deny its hilarious, but the fact remains Potter is a better seeker than you need to sharpen up your skills in finding the Snitch. We ain't just got this in the bag cos Weasley's a terrible Keeper."

Malfoy bristled slightly, fuming at the thought that Harry Potter could possibly be better than him at anything. But he knew better than to retort. Instead, he just cracked a smirk and said, "Yeah, yeah, fine. But you know, I was thinking of writing a little song for our house to sing during the match. Something to help throw Weasley off his game even more. And, with any luck, it would even distract Potter a little. You know, cos he'll be watching his friend's reaction rather than the Snitch."

Montague snickered. "I like the sound of that, but that still doesn't change the fact that Potter is better and he has a faster broom so don't leave it to chance, alright?"

"Yeah, I got it," Malfoy rolled his eyes.

But just as he was about to resume the search for the Snitch, they were hailed from the other end of the pitch by the Slytherin Keeper, Miles Bletchley.

"Hey, Montague!" he waved his arm. "Looks like we've got ourselves some extra spectators too!"

Slytherin play came to a stop as all seven of players looked down to the entrance of the pitch. Aside from a few extra Slytherin house members who had turned up to sit in the stands and egg the practice on, there were now two girls standing down on the grass below.

"Oh dear lord, it's that Loony girl from the year below me," Malfoy sneered as he recognised Luna. "Always hanging out with that Weasley girl. Total weirdo that one."

"Well, who's that with her?"

"…Dunno. Don't remember seeing a girl with blue hair in the school before."

"Well, either way, we sure as heck aren't having little spies watching our new techniques," Montague muttered as he pulled around and zoomed down towards the spectators. Malfoy snickered and followed suit, the rest of the airborne players slowly following on.

Wendy waved as they approached but when she noticed the ugly look on Montague's face she slowly lowered her hand and looked suddenly much more wary.

"Hey, get lost, Loony," Montague barked at Luna, who was watching a ladybird crawling over her hand absent-mindedly. "Why don't you go stick yourself in a bin where you belong. A Loony Bin."

"Oh, a bin," grinned Malfoy. "I might use that one in the song about Weasley."

"Go ahead. Now buzz off, you metal little weirdo."

"My father says that those who feel the need to bully others are actually very insecure about their personal status amongst their peers," Luna looked up and said conversationally to Montague. "Are you worried that your team won't take you seriously as the new captain?" she nodded towards the bright captain's badge pinned on his lapel. "Because if you are, I'm sure that a nice sit-down and an inspirational speech would do a better job than yelling at a girl three years younger than you."

Wendy blinked as she stared at Luna in amazement. To most people that would have sounded like an attempt at a comeback, but Luna said it in a manner that implied she was just making an observation and trying to be helpful about it.

Montague, on the other hand, didn't take it very well and dismounted his broom. "You wanna repeat that girl? Or should I just sweep you up like the garbage you are and find that bin for you."

"I don't think you'd actually be able to sweep a human being with a broomstick," Luna replied.

"No, but I could still raise a lump on the back of your head with it! I said get lost!"

"Hey!" Wendy objected and stepped forwards, glaring up at the boy that she guessed was probably around the same age as Natsu or Gray. "You leave her alone. She just came here to let me see the people riding on the broomsticks! You don't have to be so mean!"

"And who are you supposed to be?" Montague sneered down at her. "What the heck is up with your hair, puny one?"

"There's nothing wrong with my hair," Wendy huffed.

"Hold on a moment," Malfoy suddenly strode towards them and used his broom to poke Wendy in the stomach quite a bit harder than necessary. "You're not a student. You can't be, with those weird clothes and stranger hair. You're not from this school, are you?"

"No… no I'm not," Wendy replied. "But…"

"Then that means…" Malfoy whipped out his wand and pointed it right at Wendy's face. "You're trespassing. What are you, a Muggle girl? Oh, please tell me you are. Can you imagine the look on Professor Umbridge's face when she finds out that a Muggle got past the Hogwarts wards? She'd have a field day."

"I'm not a Muggle, I'm a Mage," Wendy glared at him.

"A Mage?" Malfoy laughed. "Who do you think you're talking to, girl? You think I'd be so gullible as to believe that?"

"What's a Mage?" Crabbe asked, interrupting the conversation.

Malfoy rounded on him to glare at him for asking what he considered a stupid and pointless question, but Wendy answered him anyway. "Mages are magic users that specialise in certain areas of magic, although they can learn other kinds. And this one's telling you to leave her and Luna alone."

"This is quite an odd sensation," Luna added. "I don't usually have people that defend me from the bullies except for Ginny."

"That's because that blood traitor is as stupid as you are," Malfoy retorted. "But since you came all this way to see us play, why don't we give the both of you the best possible view? I say we hang them by their underwear from one of the Quidditch posts and Miles has to stop us from hitting them with the Quaffle."

"But then I wouldn't get a turn to do it," Miles snickered. "And I wouldn't get in any practice because I'd be hoping you hit them."

"True, but I still say we should try it," Malfoy sneered. "Teach this little brat not to tell lies to us before we hand her over to Umbridge."

"I'm not lying!" Wendy glared, her wind picking up around her slightly but not really enough to notice. "Why are you being so mean? We've not done anything to you."

"It's probably because of the way they were treated by their parents," Luna nodded sagely. "They've probably been extremely bullied themselves by their families so they don't know any better."

"…Are you insulting my father, you little guttersnipe?" Malfoy suddenly growled and stepped forwards.

"Oh, it looks to me that the Seeker has taken over as the leader for the taunting," Luna observed. "Maybe that inspirational speech won't be enough after all, team Captain."

"Oh you think that's funny do you?" Montague shouldered past Malfoy and seized Luna by the shoulder, practically throwing her backwards hard to come to land on her back painfully. "Well, I happen to think that right there was funny…!"

There was laughter from the Slytherin team and spectators both at this, but it suddenly died in all their throats when they noticed Wendy's hair was now flapping around wildly and dust was rising from the ground around her as a small whirlwind seemed to have sprung up out of nowhere around her.

"If there's one thing that I don't like," Wendy murmured, her quiet voice still somehow audible to everyone even so. "It's a bully picking on younger children. Especially friends like Luna. I don't normally get angry like Natsu-san or Gajeel-san… but you've gone and done it."

"What the hell are you d…" Montague started, but was interrupted when Wendy thrust her arms out to either side of her body and generated a magic circle under each palm.

"Arms! Vernier! Enchant!" Wendy cried, her young eyes blazing slightly before she suddenly burst forwards across the short gap between them, her fist enshrouded in wind as she delivered a powered-up punch right to Montague's chest that lifted him right off the ground and sent him flying backwards to crash into his fellow Chaser, Adrian Pucey, both of whom skidded across the ground and rolled to a groaning stand-still.

"Bloody…!" Malfoy cried and leapt backwards and out of the way as Wendy turned around to face him. The third Chaser of the team, Cassius Warrington, yelled in sudden anger and pulled out his wand, charging in towards Wendy and throwing two Stunning Spells at the young girl. Wendy didn't know what those flashes of red light were going to do if they hit her of course, but she was not stupid enough to stand there and find out. Instead, she zig-zagged past them at blazing speed and sank her foot into Warrington's gut, bowling him over backwards with a thumping crash that laid him out, winded and bruised, on the ground.

Malfoy swore and immediately mounted his broomstick and kicked off and away, not wanting to risk being on the ground with this girl who was blatantly far, far tougher than she looked. The other four members of the team had evidently felt the same way. Crabbe and Goyle both looked rather stumped, as if they just couldn't fathom the fact they were apprehensive to approach a little girl for fear she might knock them over - that had never happened to them before.

"Just leave us alone!" Wendy called up after them. "I don't want to fight, but I will if you make me."

Bletchley growled and wheeled around low on his broomstick, drawing out his wand and yelling, "Impedimenta!" firing off the freezing jinx right at Wendy, assuming he was safe from such a height. He was wrong, and Wendy proved it to him by diving forwards and rolling to avoid the jinx and then jumping, literally leaping up twenty feet into the air with a wind-powered bounce to kick up at him. Bletchley was so shocked by this that he didn't act in time and was kicked right off his broom, which went spiralling out of control while he tumbled to the floor. Fortunately for him though, Wendy caught him on the way down and slowed his fall with the aid of her winds, but not enough to stop the landing from incapacitating him.

Malfoy immediately rose much higher, reaching for his own wand and trying to come up with something that would work, but Crabbe and Goyle seemed to have their own plan and had zoomed up to meet the Bludgers that were still whizzing around the pitch looking for a target. The black balls came whizzing down towards the two Beaters as if they had been fired out of cannons but Crabbe and Goyle displayed considerably more agility in the air than they did on land and swerved around them, smacking them with full force down towards Wendy…

…who caught one of them in her bare hands thanks to the effect of Arms and used it as a bludgeon to slam the other one into the ground.

As the Slytherins watched, gobsmacked, Wendy had a momentary flicker of realisation that she was acting surprisingly like Natsu. Usually when it came to battles she preferred to stay on the sidelines and power up the others, maybe throw in a breath attack every so often when there was an opening to. But she was a Dragon Slayer and was not to be underestimated, and this time none of her friends were present. She was fighting alone, and she knew it. It was a fact that was driving her to fight harder.

It was then that she realised that Crabbe and Goyle had opted for another approach and were shooting in towards her from opposite directions with their bats raised, seeking to hit Wendy with them instead of the Bludgers this time. But Wendy tossed the Bludger in her hands aside and spans around, sweeping her hands through the air and yelling, "TENRYU NO… YOKUGEKI!"

The massive flurries of wind that she expelled from her arms engulfed Crabbe and Goyle before they knew what was happening and they went crashing into the ground and rolling across the pitch for some way before being brought to abrupt stops by a wall for Crabbe and one of the Quidditch hoops for Goyle.

Malfoy blanched and stared in shock, unable to comprehend what he was seeing, but this was the point where several of the people in the stands seemed to come to their senses. Some of them turned to run but some of them drew their wands and began firing an assortment of curses and jinxes right at Wendy.

But Wendy saw the flashes of light coming out of the corner of her eye and danced backwards at high speed, the effects of Vernier still very much in evidence. Sucking in a lungful of air she blew it back out again fiercely in a breath attack that swept up across the stands, low over the heads of the students - meant more as warning shot than anything but still reducing the top three unoccupied rows of the stands to splinters in the windy maelstrom.

All this was something that caught even Luna's full attention, and she'd now gone past curiosity and into amazement. She stared at the girl who must have been two years younger than her in astonishment, in awe of the destructive power she seemed to be able to wield. How come she'd never heard of anything like this before?

Malfoy though quickly saw an opening while Wendy's back was turned and cried, "Petrificus Totalus!" launching a full Body-Bind Jinx at her from behind.

This might have worked if he had learned to cast spells non-verbally.

But Wendy's keen hearing heard his shout and she cartwheeled to the side, staring up at the blond boy with eyes as hard as flint. She then realised that she'd found herself next to a fallen broom and stared at it for a couple of seconds.

Should she?

Why should she not?

The Sky was her domain after all.

But she'd never used a flying broomstick before. She didn't know what she was doing.

But, moments before she grabbed it, a ridiculously loud voice echoed suddenly around the pitch. "WHAT IN BLAZES IS GOING ON HERE!"

Wendy clapped her hands over her ears and fell to her knees, wincing slightly, and looking up to see a woman in long robes with short greying hair and goggles on her forehead looking around at the scene in disbelief, her eyes locking on Wendy with an angry glare, and her wand pointed at her throat to magnify her voice.

"Oh, good afternoon, Madam Hooch," Luna said conversationally as she stepped over to the adult woman. "My friend Wendy was just fighting off a bunch of bullies for me. And quite fantastically too, I should probably say."

"Lovegood, who is this girl?" Madam Hooch blinked owlishly. "She is not a student - if she was I would recognise her from flying lessons. And what was happening - I could see some kind of windstorm going on and…"

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Wendy immediately bowed her head so low it went past her knees. "I… I think I got a bit… carried away…" she said, sheepishly. Wow… she got carried away? Her? That wasn't like her at all… but she actually felt rather proud of herself despite her embarrassment and dismay.

After all, as Natsu always said, going overboard was what Fairy Tail did best.

But it was this point where she was suddenly hit from behind by an Impediment Jinx from Malfoy and was suddenly frozen in place.

"Draco!" Madam Hooch gasped. "What do you think you're doing!?"

"Protecting the school, Madam," Malfoy replied quickly as he swooped in to land not far from Wendy, pointing at her accusingly. "That girl is dangerous! She was using some kind of strange magic to try and kill us in an unprovoked attack. Look at the damage she's done!" he gesticulated wildly to the remains of the stands that had taken a hit from her breath attack.

But even as Hooch looked and Luna opened her mouth to object to Malfoy's words, they all became aware of Wendy… mumbling something… and her body beginning to glow a bright yellow colour.

"Anomaly… Resistance… Enchant… Re-raise!"

And she abruptly unfroze and swung around towards Malfoy, sweeping her hand through the air to generate a wind gust that knocked him over onto his back.

"That's a lie," Wendy turned back to look imploringly at Hooch. "Please, I didn't come here to cause any trouble. I'm here to see the Headmaster. I got lost and was found by some of the merpeople that live in the lake and they're the ones that brought me here. They said the headmaster would be able to help me find my friends."

"Madam!" Malfoy cried as he pushed himself to his feet again, noticing the brush of his broomstick had been partially squashed in his fall. "Did you just see what she did? We have to call in the Ministry to…"

"I saw it with my own eyes quite clearly, thank you, Mister Malfoy," Hooch said in a clipped voice, staring at Wendy up and down in confusion. "And I will make my own judgement on how to proceed if you don't mind. So, little one… you want to come up to the school to see Professor Dumbledore?"

"Yes please," Wendy nodded enthusiastically.

"Well I'm sure you can understand my reservations against allowing you into a place filled with students based on what you've managed to do to the Quidditch stadium."

Wendy flushed and looked down at her sandals. "I'm sorry…"

Hooch's piercing expression softened a little, offering the young girl a more comforting smile. "You are something new," she observed. "I've never seen anything like what you just did before."

"I've been hearing that quite a bit recently," Wendy replied with an embarrassed giggle.

Hooch paused, considering for a moment before she lifted her wand. Wendy blanched, thinking she was about to be attacked again, but Hooch pointed her wand up into the air and a bright silvery light burst out of the tip, swirling in the air before taking on the shape of a glowing hawk that shot off towards the castle.

"There," Hooch replied. "I've just sent a message to the Headmaster. Now he will come out here to meet you instead. I'll let him decide whether you can come up to the school or not."

Wendy beamed. "Thank you, Miss. Thank you so much."

"But Madam…!" Malfoy protested.

"Don't you see what she did to us!?" Montague agreed.

"This is my pitch, boys!" Hooch rapped sharply. "And as long as you are students of this school you will abide by the decisions of the staff members. And I don't want anyone to leave this pitch until the Headmaster arrives and gives you permission to go! Let's see what he thinks about all this!"

The amassed Slytherins grumbled and glared angrily but none of them wanted to cross Hooch lest she deny them access to the pitch for practice as punishment, which she could and would do.

Wendy, meanwhile, moved over to stand next to Luna again.

"That was quite a performance," Luna appraised her.

"It was nothing special really," Wendy rubbed the back of her head. "You should see what some of my friends are capable of doing it. Natsu-san would probably have levelled the stadium."

"Well then, thank goodness it was you that came here first instead of him," Luna replied simply.

It took less than five minutes before the awkward silence over the arena was broken by the arrival of a tall, elderly man that strode with confidence despite his age, out onto the pitch. Instantly all the Slytherins seemed to tense and you could practically see them trying to work out the details of their story in their own minds, while Wendy broke off listening to Luna talk about something called a Blibbering Humdinger to watch.

"Rolanda," the man smiled as he addressed Madam Hooch. "You called for me?"

"Professor Dumbledore," Madam Hooch dipped her head respectfully. "You appear to have a visitor. One who stopped by the Quidditch pitch on her way up to the castle and appears to have caused quite the ruckus."

"So I see," Albus Dumbledore replied, looking up at the stands before his bright blue eyes came to rest on Wendy herself, peering at her from over the top of his half-moon spectacles. Wendy took a step backwards slightly under his gaze.

"Oh dear, I appear to have unnerved you," Dumbledore observed gently. "I do apologise."

"N… no, it's alright," replied Wendy, bowing again. "It's just that… you remind me of someone."

Two someones actually. The tall elderly man with the long beard and the flowing robes had reminded Wendy a great deal of Master Hades of Grimoire Heart, which had intimidated her slightly. But while this man bore some resemblance to Hades, he didn't feel like Hades at all. Hades had had an aura of darkness around him that had practically made the skin tingle, whereas this man almost seemed to have a kindly, benevolent aura about him, as if you knew you could trust him. And in that way, he reminded her of Master Makarov. Makarov didn't really have an aura but Wendy couldn't help but feel reassured, standing here in his presence.

"I see," Dumbledore replied, staring at Wendy for a couple of extra seconds, before he turned around and faced Montague instead. "There appears to be have been quite the kerfuffle here today. You are the captain of this team - would you care to explain?"

"Professor," Montague replied. "We were merely flying around in a typical Quidditch practice session, minding our own business and getting down our techniques so that we could have a shot at victory this year when suddenly it was like we were flying in a hurricane and we were all forced to land on the ground, where that girl assaulted us all with some strange wind magic."

Wendy was about to object loudly, before Luna put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her from doing so. Dumbledore, on the other hand, merely stared at Montague for several seconds before asking, "And why would she do something like that, do you think?"

"How should I know?" Montague shrugged. "The attack came out of nowhere, Professor, isn't that right everyone?"

There was a round of nodding and a cry of assent from each of the Slytherin players, and Dumbledore slowly swung his head around to stare at them all for a considerable length of time until they were all fighting not to fidget uncomfortably beneath his gaze.

"I see," he eventually replied, before turning to Wendy. "And what do you have to say for yourself?"

"They're lying, Mister," Wendy replied. "I was just watching them play when they came down on their own and started picking on me and Luna, who was taking me to see you before we got sidetracked. They called her names, threatened me with their stick things and then pushed Luna over. I… lashed out a bit after that, I admit. But they started attacking me then so I had to fight back."

Dumbledore gave her the same stare that he'd given to everyone else as if he was analysing her and Wendy, unlike the Slytherins, stared rigidly back. She knew that she was telling the truth so she had nothing to hide and she had the feeling that Dumbledore somehow already knew that the others were not being truthful.

"And why were you coming to see me?" Dumbledore asked.

"To ask for your help in finding my friends. I'm lost, you see. We're… we're all a bit lost actually, but I got separated from the others and Murcus-san said that you could help me."

"San?" Dumbledore questioned.

"Oh… where I come from, we add 'san' to the end of someone's name when we want to show respect to them," Wendy replied.

"And where do you come from?"

"…A very, very long way away…" Wendy replied.

Dumbledore examined her shrewdly for several more moments before he nodded and gave her a smile, his eyes twinkling brightly behind his glasses. Then he drew his wand and raised into the air, calling out, "Obliviate!"

There was a flash that lit up the stadium, causing Wendy to shield her eyes, but when she looked again she could see no visible difference to anything. Although, the Slytherins were all looking rather blank for some reason.

"Remain calm, everyone," Dumbledore announced to them. "I would suggest that you all head back to your dormitories and get some rest. That freak wind seems to have taken it out of you all a bit but thankfully it seems none of you are seriously injured. Off you go. Chop, chop."

There were rounds of muttering as dazed Slytherins slowly walked off and away, back towards the school castle. Wendy frowned in confusion as she watched them go, none of them paying her the slightest bit of attention until eventually there was nobody there except for Wendy, Luna, Dumbledore and Hooch.

"Professor," Hooch stared in slight shock. "You just modified all of the memories?"

"Indeed," Dumbledore stowed his wand away. "It's very rare for me to Obliviate a student for any reason - doing so makes me feel as though I am abusing my power as Headmaster over them. But this time I feel it was necessary. I believe, Rolanda, that we have stumbled onto something rather… extraordinary. And I would rather not have word of it spreading until we know exactly what we are dealing with."

"Then why have you not Obliviated me, Professor?" Luna asked curiously.

"Because, Miss Lovegood, you were on the right side of this altercation," Dumbledore smiled. "I believe that I can trust you to keep this a secret, can I not?"

"Of course, Professor."

"Then I would ask you to return to your dormitory now as well. And not a word to anyone - for your new friends own protection."

"Will I be allowed to see her again?"

"I am not yet sure, but I will let you know," Dumbledore replied.

"Okay," Luna nodded. "Bye Wendy."

"Bye…" Wendy waved as she drifted away. "Thank you for everything!"

Once Luna was gone, Dumbledore turned to Hooch and said, "I would much appreciate it, Rolanda, if at least for now you too could keep this a secret. But, I would ask that you find Minerva, Severus, Filius and Pomana and tell them that I wish to see them in my office in two hours time, as well as yourself. Hopefully I shall know more about this by then."

"Very well, Professor," Hooch nodded.

"But if you could try your utmost to keep Dolores Umbridge from finding out, that would be very much appreciated too."

Hooch wrinkled her nose in distate at that name and gave a resolute nod. "Of course."

"I thank you," Dumbledore turned back to the girl who was quietly waiting to be addressed again. "Now, then, Wendy was it not? Would you like to accompany me to my office? You can tell me everything that you need to from there."

"Um… okay…" Wendy nodded, unsure what was really happening but going along for the ride.

And then suddenly there was a flash of fire right over Dumbledore's head that made Wendy scream in surprise and almost fall over, but she stared in amazement as a large bird with crimson feathers swooshed out of the fire and soared up and over their heads, crooning several long and beautiful musical notes from its beak before coming to rest on Dumbledore's shoulder.

"Then if you would kindly like to take hold of one of Fawkes' tail-feathers," Dumbledore replied, taking a gentle grip on one of the long, gloriously golden feathers that trailed down behind the majestic bird so far they almost reached the ground. Wendy hesitated, but she still felt reassured in Dumbledore's company so she moved slowly forwards and laid her hand gently on one of the feathers. It was warm to the touch and she seemed to feel that warmth spreading through her entire body as the bird cocked its head to give her a quizzical look. Its eyes gleamed and Wendy knew that these was an intelligent creature just by looking at it.

But suddenly she was surrounded by fire that whipped up from seemingly nowhere and engulfed both her and Dumbledore. Wendy looked around sharply but she felt no different than before - the fire was not burning at her. And a couple of seconds later the fire vanished and all three of them were standing in a large, circular room with the walls covered in portraits and bookshelves. There were tables everywhere covered in strange objects Wendy couldn't even begin to guess at, many of which were made of silver and some of which were giving off wisps of smoke.

"Wow…" Wendy murmured as she let go of Fawkes and looked around. "That was amazing. Was that some kind of teleportation magic?"

"Phoenixes have many incredible abilities," Dumbledore merely chuckled as Fawkes hopped onto a nearby perch.

"I've never seen a phoenix before," murmured Wendy in awe, reaching out tentatively to touch Fawkes feathers, which the bird seemed to like as it trilled happily and rubbed the back of its head against Wendy's hand. "I've heard of them back home but… I'd always heard they were huge, destructive creatures. Nothing like this."

"Indeed? Well, I have never heard of a phoenix being described as such myself," Dumbledore raised silver-haired brow. "But something tells me, child, that you are more than just lost. And that what would seem commonplace to many of the magic-users around here, would seem almost totally alien to you."

Wendy looked up at him with big eyes. "How do you know that?" she asked.

"I must apologise to you," Dumbledore replied simply as he strode over to his desk and sat in his chair, interlocking his fingers. "You may consider what I did out on the Quidditch pitch as an invasion of privacy, but I used a technique known as Legilimency on you and on the boys. I do not usually do that sort of thing without permission either, but I take the safety of my students extremely seriously and I had to make sure you were not a threat."

"What's Legilimency?" Wendy asked.

"It's a magical ability for navigating through the mind of another person," Dumbledore replied. "If you are well-versed in it, as I am, you can use it to ascertain whether someone is telling the truth to you or not, as I did out on the pitch. Ordinarily I am afraid those boys would have had to have been punished for their actions out there, and especially for lying to me, but under the circumstances I thought it would be best forgotten. However, Legilimency can also be used to rummage through a person's thoughts, their emotions and their memories. I was not attempting to do this with you, but when I had a look I could sense that you are quite unlike anything that I have ever encountered before. But I could tell you were not a threat and that you were telling the truth. Other than that, I know nothing about you. I was just making educated guesses."

"Oh… okay," Wendy nodded.

"You are not upset? Some people would be," Dumbledore remarked.

"No, I'm okay with it," Wendy smiled simply. "I understand you were just doing what you thought was best and you didn't go too far. I think Master Makarov would have done something similar if he could do that. He takes our safety very seriously too."

"Indeed?" Dumbledore replied. "Well he sounds like my kind of man."

"Oh yeah… I shouldn't be talking like you would know what I'm saying," Wendy giggled sheepishly.

"Then perhaps you can enlighten me," Dumbledore replied.

"Well… it's… a very long story," Wendy murmured. "And I don't know… if you'll believe it or not."

"I will believe it, if it is true," Dumbledore replied. "But perhaps, if it truly is so complicated, we can save time. This time I shall ask for permission to use Legilimency on you and look into your mind. It will most likely be much faster than telling your story via word of mouth."

"Oh…" Wendy hesitated. "You… want to look through my memories?"

"If that is alright with you."

"Well… I suppose you would believe me more if you did that but… um… what if there's something I…" she poked her fingers together embarrassedly, thinking about various times things nobody would be comfortable with another person seeing such as being in the bath.

"It would be quite simple to prevent me from seeing anything you did not wish me to. All you have to do is picture a wall in your mind surrounding all the memories you don't wish for me to see. If I come up against that wall in my search I will respect it and not try to delve any further in."

"…Um… okay, I guess I can do that," Wendy nodded, squaring her shoulders slightly. "Alright. Let's do it."

"Splendid," Dumbledore smiled. "Have you got the wall pictured?"

"Mmm-hmm," Wendy nodded, closing her eyes to try and concentrate on the mental wall.

"Then I shall begin," Dumbledore replied leaning forward to focus his eyes on Wendy like they were lasers and murmuring aloud this time, "Focus on all the things you want me to know, if you can. Legilimens."

Instantly both Wendy and Dumbledore found themselves practically immersed in constantly shifting images as if they were standing on the sidelines and watching what was going on. There was Wendy as a tiny little girl staring up at the colossal white form of Grandine the Sky Dragon, a sight which made present Wendy's heart ache slightly.

"But why would you want me to learn Dragon Slayer magic?" Little Wendy asked. "I don't want to fight any Dragons."

"Dragon Slayers are not called that because they slay Dragons although they did indeed do so in ancient times," Grandine's kindly voice seemed to roll over them. "They merely know how to use the same magic as Dragons, and Dragon magic is the most effective against another Dragon. And I would like to see you learn how to use the same magic as me."

The scene suddenly shifted, and Wendy was wondering through the woods, crying her eyes out. "Grandine!" she wailed. "Where are you, Grandine!"

Present Wendy felt her heard pang again, realising this must be right after Grandine had suddenly disappeared for no apparent reason, on the same day as Igneel and Metalicana. She watched her younger self staring up at the sky hoping for Grandine to appear there, only for nothing to come… until suddenly the bushes rustled and a young boy with blue hair, a strange tattoo over the right side of his face and a backpack with a staff emerged in front of her.

It was the young Mystogan - the Edolas version of Jellal before he went by the name of Mystogan.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"She's gone!" Wendy sniffed.

"What?"

"She disappeared!" Wendy wailed before running to Mystogan and grabbing him in a hug, wailing into his shirt as he tentatively held her, not quite sure what to do with her. But then the scene shifted again to see the two of them standing together in the rain.

"No! I wanna come with you!" Little Wendy protested.

"You can't! It'll be dangerous if you come."

"But why? I don't want to leave you, Jellal!"

"If you head past this forest, there's a guild. They'll take care of you there."

"No!"

And this was how it went, as it cycled through scene after scene rapidly, so much so that Wendy felt like she was on some kind of rollercoaster that depicted her life. She watched Roubaul telling her she was now in a guild, watched Charla being born from the egg she found, watched as she heard that an alliance had been made between four guilds to help defeat Oracion Seis and learned that fellow Dragon Slayer, Natsu Dragneel, would be part of the company and therefore immediately volunteered so she could meet him.

She watched as she resurrected Jellal, thinking he was the same one she knew, and the battle to stop Nirvana during which she launched her first ever offensive Dragon Slayer attack. She watched as Roubaul revealed how he had created the guild just for her before passing on and how in her grief, Erza invited her to join Fairy Tail. She watched meeting Mira and Gajeel and the others for the first time. She watched learning the truth about Mystogan and the fight against the Kingdom of Edolas to save the Exceed and the rest of her guild. She watched herself being partnered with Mest for the S-Class exam, learning about Zeref, the battles against Azuma, Zancrow, Bluenote and eventually Hades.

Then came the crucial part where she watched once again as Acnologia attacked the island, and how the Master tried to hold him off before his guild attacked the Dragon anyway, only to be powerless against him despite having four Dragon Slayers with them at the time. She watched as they joined hands and how everything went black just as Acnologia fired upon them.

She watched as she woke up to find only the three Exceed with her and how she met Mavis, who explained what had happened and how they had landed in an alternate universe. She watched as they set out and encountered the wild dragons, only to be separated from the group during this attack. She watched meeting the merpeople and how they had carried her upriver to meet Dumbledore himself.

The visions stopped right up until the point where she met Luna at the boathouse and suddenly Wendy was back in her own body. She opened her eyes to see Dumbledore staring at her, knowing that he had seen every single thing that she herself had just seen.

She got the impression that disbelief was not an expression that appeared on his face very often. But it was there now, for sure.

"Well now…" Dumbledore said eventually. "What in the world am I going to do with you now?"