Dance of the Fairies, Flight of the Phoenix

Chapter 5:- Iron in the Sky

"Am I in trouble?" Wendy asked, a little nervously.

"Not at all, my dear child," Dumbledore shook his head. "Not at the moment at least. But, I am rather concerned about this. From what I gleaned from your mind, your comrades are not exactly the most… indoor-friendly bunch, are they?"

"That's putting it mildly," Wendy rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "But… they really are all good people."

"Of that I have no doubt. But I'm sorry to say that if they pop up at random times around this Wizarding World as your Master Mavis believes they will, without any clue as to where they are or how they got there, I fear of what might happen. Not just to our world but to them. Destroying the house of someone important would be a very good way of getting on the bad side of the Ministry of Magic."

"Ministry of Magic? What's that?"

Dumbledore drummed his fingers, searching for the right words to describe this situation before saying, "I suppose you could say it is our version of the Magic Council in your world. Though perhaps a little more complex. We used to have a Wizard's Council of our own before the Ministry was created. But essentially the role of the Ministry is to preserve magical law throughout the country, to make sure everyone follows the rules and ensure that our existence remains secret to the Muggle populace."

"Remain secret?" Wendy blinked, once she remembered what the word Muggle actually meant. "You mean… non-magic people don't know about magic people in this world?"

"Indeed not. Back in olden times, when Muggles and sorcerers did live together without secrecy, there were many phases of history where they did live side by side peacefully - the most prominent example being the time of King Arthur and the most powerful wizard that ever lived - Merlin. But there have been just as many times where the Muggles lived in fear of magic, for magic users generally held far more individual power than any one of them did and there were many that used their magic for selfish and destructive purposes. Magic can be a dangerous weapon in the hands of the wrong people and unfortunately you get the wrong people everywhere, in both the magic and non-magic circles. There was a lot of death on both sides whenever these conflicts arose so the Statute of Secrecy was put in place to keep that kind of bloodshed from happening again."

There was a beat of silence before Wendy frowned and said, "But that's such a horrible division in the world," she murmured. "That's so sad."

"I take it that's not the way things are run in your world," Dumbledore noted.

"Didn't you see it in my mind?"

"I looked at your memories certainly but I didn't learn everything. The mind isn't just a book that I can read - I saw mostly the things you were thinking that I should see. I explored no further than that."

"Well, in our world… we're governed by the Magic Council sure but the Mugg… I mean, the ordinary people send special requests to mage guilds like Fairy Tail, asking for the help of a mage to do a certain temporary job like help get rid of a monster or translate some ancient language or something like that and then we at the guild pick and choose which job we'd like based on the reward size and whether we think we can carry it out and then we go do the job, take the money, go home and then look for the next one. It's a system that's worked really well for I think around two-hundred years now. We make our living helping the non-magical people whenever they ask for it."

Dumbledore stared at her critically for several moments before a slow smile spread across his face. "You know, that does sound rather ideal. It's unfortunate that our own world did not work out in the same way as yours did."

"We're definitely happy with it," Wendy smiled.

"Unfortunately I fear that our own world may have already separated the Muggle and Wizard communities too far for that kind of reality to ever really join them back together again to such a degree. But we digress really. The point I was attempting to make is that I fear what may happen when certain people learn of the existence of you and your friends in this world. Even magical people in this world might find your branch of magic… rather dangerous."

Wendy opened her mouth to protest some more about how her friends were not dangerous unless you were an enemy, but she stopped and closed her lips again. She could remember all to well how the Magic Council of her own world was always angry at Fairy Tail because of its members destructive tendencies and how they'd even sent one of their agents, Doranbolt, onto their sacred island in an attempt to find secrets to force them to disband. If the Magic Council from a world that accepted magic like theirs was trying to get rid of Fairy Tail, what hope did they have of getting friendly with a similar version from another world?

"What's going to happen to me now?" the Sky Dragon Slayer asked tentatively.

"I am… not sure," Dumbledore replied. "Ordinarily I would invite you to stay in the castle, give you as much chance to recuperate as you like within the safety of our walls. But there is… a certain woman… dwelling on our campus this year that I would quite like to keep you from meeting."

It was probably a wise precaution. God forbid what might happen if Dolores Umbridge got her hands on Wendy.

"But you'll help me search for my friends, right?" Wendy asked. "Murcus-san said that you would be able to."

"I will certainly do my best to ascertain the whereabouts of your companions but I am, unfortunately rather a busy man. Nevertheless, I will do what I can, and in the meantime I need to think of a place for you to stay, where you will be safe… I have… one idea. A place not too far away where it will be easy for me to contact you if I hear any word of your friends."

"Does that mean that I can't take part in searching for them?" Wendy frowned. "I… feel like I should be out there, doing something… you know what I mean?"

Dumbledore drummed his fingers on the tabletop. For the first time in as long as he could remember, he was facing a situation where he had little to no idea what he was supposed to do about it. This was, after all, unprecedented.

"Well… you are of course free to do as you wish, Wendy," he replied. "You're not one of my students after all so you don't have to do a thing that I say. But if I may be so bold, I think you need rest for now. You have obviously had quite the taxing experience since arriving in this universe."

Wendy blinked and then realised pretty much on the spot how tired she really was. Apart from her spell of unconsciousness before waking up in the cave she'd had pretty much no chance to just relax and get a good sleep.

"I… I suppose you're right," she murmured. "But… I'm just so worried about them."

"I understand that, but you won't be of much use to them when you are exhausted. I honestly do not know what to do next about all this and I think I'll need to talk to some of my staff before I come up with a plan of action but for now, your safety is among my highest priorities. And I know somewhere where you should, hopefully, be just that while you recuperate."

"O…okay."

"Then you'll come?"

"Yes, yes I will."

"Excellent. Armando," he turned to speak to one of the moving portraits lining the walls. "Please inform anyone who comes to visit whilst I am out that I will be back shortly."

"Right you are, Professor," the elderly looking portrait replied, startling Wendy briefly but before she could comment, Fawkes suddenly trilled and turned around on his perch, fanning his tail feathers and spreading them like like those of a peacock. Dumbledore laid his hand gently on one of them and nodded to Wendy to do the same. And the moment Wendy did, there was a flash of fire and once again they were gone.

Once they emerged again it was in the middle of a narrow street with cobblestones underfoot and low walls on either side, except for a single dark and dingy-looking building that they were now standing in front of. Wendy blinked and looked around, noticing that there were more buildings not far away, crammed together on either side of what looked like a bustling street filled with people wearing robes and pointy hats, but for some reason this building was slightly separate from all the others and very few people seemed interested in coming towards it.

She turned to look at the building and saw, as Dumbledore stepped over onto the threshold and pushed the front door open, words scrawled over a sign above the doorway that read:-

The Hog's Head.

"Is this a bar?" Wendy asked, slightly nervously. "Are… are you sure I can go in there?"

"Not entirely," Dumbledore admitted. "But… I believe… this place may be ideal for you to recuperate in. Come, come. Let's go and have a word with the barkeeper."

Wendy slowly followed Dumbledore inside and bit her lip when she saw the interior of the place. Rarely had she seen anywhere that looked more grungy and filthy than this. The only place that could really compete was the ancient city of Nirvana and that had been abandoned for hundreds of years. But this place had windows she could barely see out of, a floor that looked like moles could pop out of it at any second, tables that looked like they were going to fall apart if you so much as touched them and a very ugly looking boar's head mounted on the wall nearby. That last one especially caused Wendy to shiver and she stuck close to Dumbledore as he strode across the room.

There were only two people in the bar, one of them being the barkeeper. And that barkeeper, who had long straggly silver hair, a big beard and robes that looked like they were made of a sack, had seemingly been frozen in the middle of washing out a filthy looking mug, his blue eyes narrowed as he glared reproachfully at the Headmaster of Hogwarts.

"What are you doing here?" he muttered sourly.

"A pleasure to see you too, Aberforth," Dumbledore nodded to him. "I apologise for not giving you advance notice of my arrival, but it was a rather snap decision on my part."

"Is that right?" the barkeeper muttered, putting the mug down with a decisive thud. "Well then, say what you have to say and be done with it." And it was at this point that his eyes settled on Wendy and he froze again.

"Um… hi…" Wendy waved uncertainly.

Aberforth didn't reply. He just stared at her for several seconds before his gaze switched back to Dumbledore. "What's going on here, Albus?"

"Perhaps we can continue with this conversation somewhere a bit more private," Dumbledore suggested.

"No problem. You, out!" he barked at the other person sitting in the corner, who had his face partially hidden in his cloak.

"What? But… I'm not done here…"

"I said out! I've decided to close up early today. Move along."

"But…"

"Don't make me pull out my wand."

The wizard snorted in irritation but pushed himself to his feet and trundled out of the bar and into the street one again, slamming it behind him and leaving the pub devoid of customers.

"There. We're in private. Now, care you explain what's happening?"

"I have come to ask a favour of you," Dumbledore replied calmly, not at all put off by the short-tempered behaviour of the barkeeper. "A favour that had nothing to do with the Order. This is Wendy Marvell - a young girl with a rather… unique set of circumstances. In fact, I am sure that if I explained it all to you, you would be quite convinced that I had gone mad."

"I've had my suspicions you have for a while," Aberforth folded his arms. "Go on then, surprise me."

It took quite a while for Dumbledore to convince the barkeeper of the truth, and Wendy had to put in a word of two of her own to help along the way. Aberforth seemed to be quite sure that Albus had hit his head on something to come into his bar and start prattling nonsense like that, but Wendy was able to finally convince him of the truth behind it all by demonstrating some of her magic to him. Apparently Aberforth liked to keep goats and one of them had fallen sick with something that Aberforth had been trying unsuccessfully to cure, and after he took them into the back and Wendy spent ten seconds with the animal it was running around the room bleating its little heart out.

"Alright," Aberforth murmured. "So I believe it. What does any of this have to do exactly?"

"I was wondering if you would consider watching over her for me for a while. Until such a time as I can find the best way to help her."

Aberforth had an unreadable expression for a moment before he suddenly growled, "So… you want me… to take care of a little girl while you go swanning off playing the glorious hero, is that what you're saying? Huh… you know… that sounds remarkably familiar doesn't it, Albus? Where have I heard that before?"

His gaze switched towards the portrait of a young blond haired girl that was watching them silently from the wall, her painted eyes flicking between Albus and Aberforth with concern written all over her features. Wendy frowned when she saw it, wondering who this girl might be, but Albus' face tightened slightly.

"Aberforth, please…"

"What's the problem with looking after her yourself, may I ask? Is it too much for you? Is she going to get in the way of all of your grand plans?"

"Aberforth…"

"I suppose you doing this is 'for the greater good' in some way, is it?"

"ABERFORTH!" Albus' voice raised slightly and for a fleeting moment Wendy thought she could see a heartrending pain fill his formerly twinkling blue eyes but it was gone in a moment and he sighed. "This… is not like that."

"You can't deny it sounds similar," Aberforth grunted.

"It does, I admit, but if I felt that I could adequately protect her myself then I would do so without a second thought. But you know that these are times where I must tread lightly. With the Ministry imposing itself upon my school, what do you think they would do if learned of Wendy's existence and what she can do. Wizardkind… no… humanity itself, does not exactly have a good history with how they handle things that they do not understand."

"So, you intend to go behind the Ministry's back? And what should happen if they find out you've been hiding some girl from another dimension from them?"

"That is a question with an answer I would rather not speculate on."

"I'd say arrest is certain. And you know the same sentence would be upon me if they found out that I helped you, do you not?"

"I am aware that I am… asking much…" Albus pursed his lips. "But please, Aberforth. She needs our help."

Aberforth frowned and turned to fix his gaze on Wendy. The Sky Dragon Slayer smiled hopefully at him, placing her hands together and interlocking her fingers as she tried not to look away from his eyes, which she noticed were strikingly similar to Albus'. Aberforth only broke his gaze to look back at the portrait of the girl again and as Wendy turned to look as well, she saw the girl give him a reassuring nod, but still said nothing.

"Alright," Aberforth sighed. "Alright, she can stay with me."

"Thank you, Aberforth."

"I'm not doing it for you, Albus. I'm doing it for her."

"I understand completely. Believe me, I do. But if she ends up staying for a while then I will be making regular check-ups on her progress." The Headmaster then turned to Wendy and said, "Aberforth may be a little rough around the edges but he is a good fellow and he will look after you properly. I must get back to the school now, but I will begin trying to find your friends immediately."

"Will I have to stay here very long?" Wendy asked.

"Like I said, I do not govern your decisions. All I would ask is that you stay here for at least one night. Whether you stay longer will depend on what course of action we take, I suppose."

"Okay… please do your best. I'm just… so worried."

"As to be expected. But for now I bid you farewell. I will come back tomorrow with my decision." And he strode out of the door, leaving Wendy and Aberforth behind. They listened to his retreating footsteps together until he had left the pub and then there was a brief crackling of fire and nothing. Albus was gone.

"Um…" Wendy slowly bowed her head to her new caretaker. "I hope that I'm not an imposition on you, Aberforth-san."

"I won't lie and say this is a bit inconvenient. I haven't had anyone actually stay here in goodness knows how long," muttered the barkeeper with a shake of his head. "But I've got food and drink aplenty so, I guess you should just help yourself. I'll make up some kind of bed for you as soon as I figure out where its going to be."

"Thank you, sir," Wendy smiled. "I can be of help around the place - clean and things like that."

"I don't think that will really be…"

"No, I want to do it. I want to be useful while I'm here instead of just a burden. Please, tell me what to do and I'll do it?"

Aberforth stared at her before he chuckled gruffly and said, "You ever milked a goat before?"

"Um… no. But I can try, I think."

"Eh, we'll save that one for later maybe. For now, if you really want to help… I guess I could use some help with the washing up."

"No problem," Wendy grinned and immediately went to the sink to fill it up with water. Aberforth watched her go briefly before he turned to the portrait of the girl, who was now smiling.

"Girl's been here five minutes and already she's reminding me of you, Ariana."

The portrait merely kept smiling and Aberforth eventually sighed and left to find a decent place for Wendy to sleep, conjuring pillows out of thin air with his wand as he did so.

"From another dimension? Are you absolutely sure of it, Albus?"

Dumbledore looked up at his Deputy Headmistress, taking in her pale face and wide eyes, the expression of unmasked shock quite alien on Minerva McGonagall's features. It took an awful lot to leave her looking so stunned, but then again Albus himself was sure he was wearing a similar face when he'd finished viewing Wendy's memories.

"Absolutely," he nodded. "She was not lying. Such an extraordinary story as that can only be one of two things - a ridiculous, bald-faced lie or the truth. And this was the latter. I saw her memories of her world and while there were some things it had in common with our own, in most aspects they were vastly different."

"But, this is incredible, isn't it?" Pomona Sprout breathed as she sat on the edge of one of the tables and shook her head, hardly daring herself to believe it but only doing so because it was Dumbledore talking. "Surely it must be unprecedented."

"Certainly it is since records of our history began," Dumbledore agreed. "If something like this had happened before I feel that it would have been a subject of great interest to me when I took History of Magic at this school."

"But what are we supposed to do with her now?" McGonagall asked. "Keep her hidden away at your brother's incongruous bar forever?"

"That would be little different to keeping her captive," Filius Flitwick squeaked in agreement.

"Even if we wanted to take that course of action, I believe that we would struggle to keep her contained. Especially based on the damage she inflicted to the Quidditch pitch. But no, she is a girl, lost and confused but really no different from some of our own students except for the type of magic that she uses. Poppy would be ludicrously jealous of her healing abilities from what I've seen. But the truth is, I do not know what sort of action we should take beyond simply doing our best to find her friends."

"Should we not inform the Ministry about them?" Flitwick asked. "You're already heavily loathed by the Minister at this stage as it is, Headmaster. If he finds out you've been keeping this from him…"

"I am aware of what would happen, but I must also think of the welfare of Wendy and her companions."

"Why?" the slow drawl of Severus Snape filled the room as the Potions Master and Head of Slytherin house stood in the corner. "Not to put too fine a point on it, Headmaster, but why should we make these people our concern? They are not from our universe and therefore have no place in it."

"What would you have me do, Severus? Just ignore their plight?"

"I am just wondering whether we should keep our efforts focused on the problems of our own universe before we attempt to deal with ones coming from another. Problems such as the impending rise of the Dark Lord once again."

"And therein lies one of my chiefest concerns," Dumbledore drew himself up. "The Ministry's reaction to the presence of these offworlders is but a trivial one. I am far more concerned with what exactly Lord Voldemort will try and do when he finds out they exist. From what I saw in Wendy's mind, her friends all have incredible talents and most of them have not only extremely powerful but also extremely destructive magic at their disposal."

"You think that You-Know-Who will try to kill them?" Sprout bit her lip.

"If he sees them as a threat then he may do. But there is something else he may try - recruiting them. Voldemort is a master of deception at the best of times but these people are confused, lost in a world that they don't understand, that they do not know. I fear how easy it might be to convince some of them to his cause by convincing them that magic users such as them would be slaughtered by Muggles if they were given half a chance. He could take truths such as how Muggles forced wizards into hiding, and twist them to suit his own needs. And that's not even factoring magical control like the Imperius Curse. And the kind of powers I saw in Wendy's mind being used against us, used against Muggles… it is truly a terrifying thought."

"Are they really that powerful?" Flitwick breathed in shock.

"Wendy was strong enough to rip several of the pitch stands apart with a tornado she expelled from her mouth. And from what I saw, she is actually rather far down the list of her friends in terms of power. If her two fellow Dragon Slayers that I saw in her head, Natsu and Gajeel, felt so inclined, I believe they could level Hogsmeade within a couple of minutes flat, and even they are outclassed by some of the others."

There was a long and excruciatingly heavy silence as each of the four Heads of Houses digested this news in stunned silence.

"Then that would explain your primary reluctance to inform the Ministry, I suppose," McGonagall was the first to speak. "If they became aware of what was going on, it would probably be only a matter of minutes before one of He Who Must Not Be Named's spies got word to him about it all."

"Indeed," Dumbledore nodded. All of them were well aware of the fact that Voldemort had a good many spies inside the official circles. It had been another reason why Dumbledore had Obliviated the likes of Draco Malfoy. If he had allowed the memory to remain, how long would it have been before his father Lucius heard about this?

"I assume you don't want me informing him of this myself," Snape muttered.

"If you would be so kind," Dumbledore agreed. "In all honesty though, this situation is mostly outside our control. With the whereabouts of most of the group unknown, it seems to me like the only thing we can do for the most part is keep our ears to the ground and investigate anything that sounds like it could be some of Wendy's companions. But I believe, despite our best efforts, it will most likely not be long before the Ministry and Voldemort learn of these people. Our best hope… is that we can beat them both to finding them. For both their sake… and our own."

"So you'll want to talk to the rest of the Order about this?" McGonagall asked.

"Yes," Dumbledore nodded. "We should organise an emergency meeting. Tomorrow night at the latest. Our purpose is to fight Voldemort and if we can act quickly enough… we may gain allies that will make him seriously consider just staying in hiding forever."

"So… is there a story between you and Dumbledore, Mister?" Wendy asked as she scraped congealed something-or-other off a plate and dunked it back in the sink for a proper rinsing, the small girl having to stand on a chair to get a good reach. "He seems like such a nice man and you didn't look very happy to see him."

Aberforth grunted lightly. "Let's just say it's been many, many decades since my brother and I have really gotten along."

"Your brother?" Wendy looked over her shoulder. "You're related?" She was not entirely surprised by this news - she had guessed that it might be something like that since there was quite a bit of family resemblance between them, particularly in the eyes and the beards.

"Indeed we are, though that's not something that I am particularly proud of. People used to believe that my brother was the greatest wizard in the world. Heck, a lot of people still do. But we don't get along. Oh, he still makes sure to keep in touch with me and I usually help him if he asks me to, but you could definitely say that we're not on friendly terms."

Wendy was desperately wanting to ask why, but she refrained from commenting any further. Clearly something had happened to upset the bond between the two of them and she knew it really was not her place to pry.

"You're doing a pretty good job there," Aberforth noted. "My plates haven't looked so clean in years."

"It's my pleasure. We all try and help each other out back home whenever we can. Even in just the smallest ways."

"That's admirable, I guess. Just remember though, kid. If you're still staying here by tomorrow then don't come into the main bar area. Stay here in the back. Get quite a lot of shady characters coming into this place, and while I can handle the place just fine, you should keep yourself out place."

"Don't worry about me, Aberforth-san. I can take care of myself."

"…I'm sure you can, kid. I'm sure you can."

"So, can you tell me some more things about this world? Your brother didn't really get a chance to tell me a whole lot. Oooh, can you start with this Quidditch thing? I'd really like to know more about that - that looked really cool."

"Insatiable curiosity," Aberforth murmured. "She really is like you… Ariana."

"What an appropriate name," Gajeel murmured to himself as he sat on top of a rocky precipice, staring out across the grassy landscape. It was dotted with several large, cone-shaped hills with flat tops and he was currently perched on the top of the highest one, chewing through a piece of metal he'd taken from the wreckage of the car back in Portree.

But on the way up here, he'd seen a signpost for this particular area that called it, 'The Fairy Glen.'

"To bad it really doesn't help me find out where the bloody hell I'm supposed to go," he muttered to himself. "Jeez, this really is messed up. Beyond words. The heck am I supposed to do now anyway? Wander aimlessly around until I come across some place that actually understands half the questions I ask?"

He tossed a piece of metal that had more than a little rust over his shoulder and picked up another piece to chow down on. How much more ridiculous could this situation get anyway? Surely there was soon going to have to be some light at the end of the tunnel. Not to mention he should probably get something decent to wear - he was still bare-chested after he'd taken the bandages off, and now he looked like that damn ice stripper Gray just sitting here like this.

But even as he sat there, brooding on his next move, he became aware of something. There was a very faint smell tickling at the edges of his nostrils.

His back immediately snapped straight as he shot to his feet, twisting his head around to sniff the air in earnest, using his incredible Dragon Slayer senses to pinpoint exactly which direction the smell was coming from. It quickly became clear it was not the smell of something particularly close by but it was being blown in on the wind. A wind which was coming up from the south.

And it was a rather familiar smell too.

"Now… we're talking," Gajeel grinned, seizing the remainder of his iron scraps in one hand as he leapt off the edge of the precipice, landing hard enough to splinter the rock beneath his feet and sprinting off across the glen, nose twitching as he followed the scent. At last… something was going right.

"Some kind of giant cat with a sword?" Charlie Weasley frowned as he inspected the long gash in the neck of the unconscious Hebridean Black dragon lying prone next to him. "Are you absolutely serious?"

"It was like nothing I'd ever seen before," insisted one of the wizards of the MacFusty clan behind him. "Honest to goodness it was like a big, muscly panther that was standing upright like a human being and it had a sword that was practically as big as it was."

"And it spoke?" Charlie pressed.

"Definitely."

"What exactly did it say?"

"…I can't really remember - I was a bit freaked out by the fact it was standing right behind me…"

Charlie sighed. "Well, I've never heard of anything like that before but this wound does definitely look like it was made by some kind of sword. But no regular sword can pierce dragon hide unless its got one hell of a powerful swing behind it."

"But what about the blunt traumas?" another man asked. "What caused those?"

"I haven't the faintest idea," Charlie shook his head as he stepped around to the dragon's side to run his hand over the bent, cracked scales that indicated something had smashed into the dragon's side with incredible brute force, creating a circular crater of damage across its flank. "But somehow I doubt that something the size of a human had anything to do with this one, even if it was a muscly cat. I'd like to say that the dragons did this to each other but I've never seen a wound like this on them either. I've seen tail smashes that have done damage but they've always been in a long line rather than in a circular pattern like this. It's like it was hit by a giant cannonball or something."

"Do you think they'll be alright though?"

"Oh yeah, they'll be fine," Charlie waved a hand. "We all know here that Hebridean Blacks are tough creatures even if they aren't the toughest dragons. You should keep an eye on them though, to make sure that they don't start fighting again and potentially making these injuries worse. And you should probably periodically check infection and make sure that scale rot doesn't set in, but they'll be more than fine within a week or two, I'm sure."

"Good to know," the man in charge sighed in relief. "Sorry about this, Mister Weasley. I do feel like we might have called you out here for nothing."

"Oh, not nothing - I got to see my family again. And I can never pass up the chance to help a dragon in trouble. I'll keep an eye out for any more dragons bearing injuries like these back home and if I find out what caused it, I'll get back to you."

"Good to know but… um… unfortunately, there is one more thing…" coughed the man in charge slightly. "There's, uh… some reporters for the Daily Prophet who got wind of the attack and are waiting for someone to talk to them. Don't suppose you'd consider… um…"

Charlie groaned. "Ugh, I hate the press, I really do. Fine, fine, let's just get this over with."

"Still," he heard one of the assembled wizards murmur, "I wonder where that cat thing is now."

Pantherlily grunted as he did the equivalent of a stumble in mid-air. The burns on his back were still searing at him and he was pretty sure a couple of blisters had developed beneath his fur. He knew if Wendy was there, he would most likely be completely pain free right about now but sadly they were still looking for the young Dragon Slayer and didn't appear to be any closer to actually finding her than when they started.

Still, that dragon's fire had been seriously hot! Lily had been caught in the middle of a fiery blast from Grimoire Heart's mage Azuma and come out much weakened and damaged but not with anything long-lasting. But Lily was tough, tougher than any other Exceed in existence, and he was not about to let these injuries get to him even if they did hurt. Heck, he'd been shot straight through the torso by Erza Knightwalker and still been able to get back onto his feet shortly afterwards, even if he hadn't been able to do much else for a while longer.

However, Happy and Charla had both heard his grunt and turned back to look at him, before glancing at each other. They'd found land again a short while ago and now they were flying along the coastline searching for any sign of where a human might have managed to get up out of the water, or maybe find a town of some kind where they could enlist help but at the moment there seemed to be very little but cliffs and large bays.

"Maybe we should take a little break," Happy suggested tentatively.

"No!" Lily shook his head stubbornly, flapping his wings until he caught up with the other two and was flying level with them. "We're not stopping just because of a little stinging! We need to find Wendy."

"A little stinging? I'd say its a bit more painful than that."

"I will deal with it. I've dealt with everything any universe has thrown at me so far and I'll deal with this now. Besides, if we find Wendy then I'm as good as fixed right away, aren't I?"

"He does have a point," Charla agreed. "And I would… rather not stop unless we absolutely had to."

"Okay, if you're both sure," Happy nodded slowly, before his stomach rumbled loudly and he grinned sheepishly. "But I could really stop for a fish snack right about now."

"I could really go for a kiwi," Lily agreed.

"You and your stomachs," Charla muttered, before suddenly her own tummy rumbled and she bit her lip. "You didn't hear that. Come on, let's find Wendy."

What the three Exceed were unaware of was the man pounding across the grasslands about a mile away. Gajeel growled as he pounded his way through a boulder rather than take the time to hop over the top or go around it, his feet smashing into the ground like giant iron pistons to push himself across the turf.

"I knew it," he muttered to himself with a savage grin. "I know that smell. I'm hardly going to forget the smell of my own cat! And that's the Salamander's and the little girl's cats too, no question about it."

Dodging boulders and leaping down hills, transforming his hands into iron spikes to help him scramble up over a sheer rock face that stood in his path and sprinting off once he reached the top, his nose was held high and twitching while his hair flayed out from side to side like a giant bullwhip. He was only pulled up short when he reached the coastline but the smell was coming from a short way to the east so he dashed along the clifftops, narrowing eyes fixed on the sky until, sure enough, he spotted three airborne shapes up ahead which could have been birds, but which looked rather too bulky to be birds.

He could also see what looked like a small, long blond-haired girl flying alongside them and for a moment he wondered whether he was seeing things, but he quickly shook that from his mind and roared, "OI! LILY! BLUE CAT! WHITE CAT! IT'S ME! HOOOIIII!"

He kept running as he ran but the wind was still blowing into his face and it quickly whipped his voice away with it, so the Exceed continued flying, unaware that they were being hailed. Gajeel growled in irritation, but then smirked and he drew to a stop, knowing a surefire way to get their attention as he sucked in one deep breath. Then…

"TETSURYUU NO… HOOUUUUKOOUUUUUU!"

Kingsley brushed his hands together as he strode over to where Rufus Scrimgeour was waiting for him.

"Good news?" Scrimgeour asked.

"Yes sir. We've managed to round up anyone that saw exactly what was going on and modify their memories, including the four Muggles who were actually trying to rob the place. Our story that this was some kind of gas explosion should hold firm in everyone's minds now."

"Good," Rufus nodded. "But there was no sign of the man who did this?"

"None. Most likely he's far away by now."

"This is an almost frightening situation, Shacklebolt. I've been at this job for many years and never once have I encountered any kind of attack like the one in that bank. We need to find the man who did this and bring him in for some serious questioning. Most notably, and what the heck he is."

"Sir, I do feel the need to point out that this man appeared to be actually trying to help by stopping the robbers."

"That may be, but he destroyed half the bank in the process, while there were still people inside. Quite clearly he is dangerous, not to mention a serious threat to the Statute of Secrecy - we were lucky that this time it was such a small town that he was in. If he'd done something like that in London it would probably have taken hundreds of us to keep it covered up. Not to mention from the look of that footage, this man looked rather unbalanced to say the least."

"Of course," Kingsley nodded. "Any plans on where to start looking?"

"He's most likely on the other side of the country by now. As soon as we're done here we'll head back to the Ministry. Then we'll…"

He broke off just as a round of gasps suddenly filled the street and dozens of people started pointed to the south and towards the large grey tornado-like surge that whipped up into the air on the horizon. It looked only like a thin, diagonal pillar from this distance and it was only there for a few seconds before it petered out into nothingness but to both Kingsley and Scrimgeour, it was instantly recognisable.

"Looks like he might not be as far away as thought," Kingsley observed.

"Damn it," Scrimgeour growled. "Now we have to start Obliviating people again. Shacklebolt, you're in charge here. Aurors Tonks and Savage with me! We need to find that man now!"

All three Exceed almost fell out of the sky as the Iron Dragon's breath attack whooshed up a short distance from actually hitting them, but all of them instantly recognised who it belonged to. And when they spotted the distant figure of Gajeel waving at them, grins immediately appeared on all three faces, particularly Lily's, as they reversed trajectory and whooshed down towards him, Mavis following a little slower.

"Gajeel!" Lily cried as he landed in front of him. "I cannot tell you how glad I am to see ACK!"

"THANK HEAVEN YOU'RE ALRIGHT, LILY!" Gajeel had immediately seized the small, black Exceed in his strong arms and practically slammed him into a tight hug, almost sobbing hysterically as he rubbed his face against that of his cat's.

"OW! OW! OW!" Lily yelled as Gajeel pressed down on the his burnt back, an action which immediately made Gajeel release him and finally notice his injuries.

"What the… the heck happened to you, Lily?"

"Had a run in with a dragon that didn't end well," Lily muttered.

"A dragon?" Gajeel's eyes widened. "You mean that Acnologia did…"

"No, not him. A different one," Lily shook his head. "It was a black one, but this one breathed fire. Hence the burning. I was trying to protect Wendy and the others from it and ended up getting a little cooked."

"Wendy? The little girl? Where is she? And who's this?" the Iron Dragon Slayer frowned when Mavis pulled to a hovering stop in front of him.

"Good afternoon," Mavis smiled, performing a little curtsy in mid-air. "Pleasure to meet you in person at last, Gajeel Redfox."

"Look, there's a lot to talk about here," Charla interjected before Gajeel's line of questioning could go much further. "And while I'm grateful at last to find a friendly face in this world, Gajeel, I have to insist that we keep moving. We got separated from Wendy yesterday and we've been trying to find her ever since."

"Charla's right," Happy nodded. "Do you think you could help us look for her Gajeel? You've got the nose of a Dragon Slayer just like Natsu so you should be able to right?"

"Course I can. It was by smell that I found you lot otherwise you probably would have flown right past me and been none the wiser. But I can't smell the little girl anywhere right now. She definitely ain't nearby."

"All the more reason for us to keep moving," Charla insisted. "We can answer your questions on the move but please… please Gajeel…" she practically fell to her knees as fresh tears appeared in the corners of her eyes. "Please help us find her. She's all alone now and for all we know she could be dead and I just… I just can't…" she placed her paws over her mouth to try and stop the hiccoughing that shortly followed.

"Charla," Happy held her lightly, and the white cat didn't attempt to stop him.

"Whoa, whoa, alright, alright, don't go crying on me," Gajeel murmured, though he sounded more awkward that annoyed. "I'm sure she's fine. That girl's a lot tougher than she looks… and sounds… and acts. She's a damn Dragon Slayer and we don't go down easy. Trust me, that I definitely know."

"Yeah… yeah, I know… but can we please go. I'm so worried…"

"Fine, but you aren't flying anywhere Lily. Gajeel immediately picked up his Exceed partner and tucked him under one arm. "You need to rest."

"What? But I can…"

"No buts about it, Lily. You're resting and that's that. Now, who wants to carry me?"

"I'll do it," Happy volunteered. "I carry Lucy all the time and she's heavier than Gajeel."

"It is almost a good thing she is not here to hear you say that," Gajeel chuckled dryly before Happy swung around behind him to grip him and hoist him up into the air, straining a little at first since Gajeel weighed more than Natsu but quickly adjusting. "But I want a full explanation as to what the heck's been happening, alright? And especially who she is," he glanced across to Mavis.

"I'm the founding Master of the Fairy Tail guild, Mavis Vermilion," the ghostly girl replied immediately.

"I see. Wait… WHAT!?"

"Believe me, Gajeel," Lily murmured as they flew off down the coastline again. "It's not even been two days, but it is a very long story."

And as the group winged away, beginning to give Gajeel their explanations of what exactly had happened after Acnologia fired at them, three distinct pops indicated the presence of three people Apparating close to the spot where they had been standing not long ago. Scrimgeour, Tonks and Savage remained unnoticed by the departing Exceeds and their companions, but all three witches and wizards definitely saw them, soaring off into the distance.

"Curses," muttered Scrimgeour. "That must be him. We missed him!"

"Wait, has he got wings?" Tonks squinted. "He's definitely not flying a broom. Who the heck is this guy?"

"I do not know but we need to inform the Minister of what we know. And then we need to find this guy."

About an hour later and Gajeel was asking, for about the third time, "Are you sure you're not kidding me?"

"No, Gajeel, we're not. That's the story," Lily insisted.

"And every single part of it is the truth?"

"Yes, yes, it is."

"Huh, sounds like you've been getting more excitement than me. And no offence, Lily, but I'd kinda hoped that Edolas would be the last we see of any universe except for the one that I was born in."

"No offence taken whatsoever," Lily replied. "Especially since there's no Anima in this one that we can use to send us back to Earthland again."

"We can worry about getting back home again when the time comes," Mavis insisted. "For now, the safety of our guild members is our main priority, starting with Wendy and extending to all of the others."

"Not to mention we haven't exactly given a great first impression to the people of this world," Happy noted.

"What I don't get is why those guys back in that town were so shocked by my magic," Gajeel folded his arms. "You said you guys were attacked by people who threw strange magical lights at you yet all those ordinary people didn't seem to have a frigging clue about magic. And they have dragons living not far away from them. What kind of messed up world is this anyway?"

"It is rather strange," Lily agreed.

"Well, we can figure out the mystery another time," Charla insisted. "For now let's stick with finding Wendy. You are trying to locate her scent, right Gajeel?"

"I'll let you know the moment I get a whiff of her, but we don't exactly know where we're going. We could be heading further away from her and we wouldn't have any idea."

"That's not the most encouraging thing you could have said, Gajeel," Lily admonished him.

"Well, I'm just telling it like it is. But this guild's a resilient one, as is everyone in it. We'll find her, we'll find them all, no matter how long it takes us to do it. Heck, that Lisanna girl got thrown into another universe and separated from everyone for two whole years but we found her and brought her back home even though nobody knew what had happened to her. This time, we're out looking. And we'll tear every boulder out of the ground in this entire world just to look under it if we have to, until we're all back together again."

The Exceeds and Mavis all smiled and Happy said, "It's not usually you that gives the rousing speeches, Gajeel. Usually Natsu does that."

"You want to be careful or people will think you're going soft," Lily snickered.

"Shaddup, damned cats, or I'll feed you to the next dragon we see."

"And there's the Gajeel we all know and love."

"Did I not just say shaddup?"

It was several hours later that the Aurors stationed in Portree were able to head back to the offices in the Ministry back in London, although their jobs were far from over since they would each have quite a bit of paperwork to do now to report this incident. Kingsley was fairly certain that he had a headache coming on, and was grateful that people from the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes had been called in to help with the Obliviating - it had lessened the load that they Aurors had had to do considerably.

But when they finally did get back to the Ministry, Dawlish was waiting for them with a report from the events surrounding the glowing sphere in the field in Nottinghamshire.

"There's still been no success in dispelling the thing but they have managed to move it. It has now been transported to somewhere in the Department of Mysteries via Portkey."

"Good work," Scrimgeour nodded. "Tell the Unspeakables in there that they are to keep us informed just in case it turns out to be dangerous."

Dawlish nodded and hurried away, and as everyone else fanned out in order to get back to work, Tonks was finally able to murmur to Kingsley, "You don't think that this guy at Portree could have anything to do with You-Know-Who, do you?"

"We can't discuss this here, Nymphadora," Kingsley replied lightly. "All I can say is that this doesn't exactly fit in with the actions in the shadows he's been taking so far, but honestly I don't know. But we'll discuss this later. For now, we keep doing our jobs."

Aberforth sighed as he leaned against the wall, an unusually clean glass of Firewhiskey clutched in one hand. Wendy was now lying in the other room on the makeshift bed that he had conjured for her, so conked out that he guessed she wouldn't wake up even if he set off a fireworks display in the dingy living room.

It had been quite an experience having someone else staying under his roof again. It was something that hadn't happened in decades, since Aberforth didn't really like the company of anyone other than his goats. But Wendy had been charming, polite and curious about everything and he had found himself remarkably happy to answer most of the questions that she had about this world, while he in turn had been rather fascinated about her own.

Usually he thought of most kids as messy, irresponsible and immature, but Wendy had been none of that. She sounded much older and wiser than most kids her age did, which was presumably as a result of the things that she had experienced, though she had giggled a lot at some of his more amusing stories.

For the first time in a very long time, Aberforth felt rather grateful that Albus had come to ask him for help. His afternoon had been severely brightened by her presence.

Although she would certainly never serve as a replacement for Arania… he could get used to having her around.