Hi again everybody. First off, I would like to say that I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed, followed or favourited this story - your support means a lot to me, and it's nice to see people enjoying my work even though this is my first Fairy Tail story, and my first big Harry Potter one. I hope everybody is in for a long ride cos this story isn't ending anytime soon.

And secondly, I've decided I'm going to try - try, mind you - to update this story once a week on Fridays if I can. The same day that a new Fairy Tail manga chapter usually appears in English on the web. We'll see if I can keep to that schedule, shall we, but don't be surprised if I end up being late every now and then.

Dance of the Fairies, Flight of the Phoenix

Chapter 7:- The Birds

"Get out of the way!" Gray yelled as he wheeled around, dashing away as the large birds swept in towards him, the frontrunners opening their beaks and cawing as they closed in on his back. Juvia and Lisanna hurriedly joined him in their flight, reaching the top of the hill they'd just climbed up and leaping over the edge to slide straight down it as bird beaks snapped shut right where they'd been. They were so covered in filth and much already that a little more didn't matter.

The Clippers cawed and screeched indignantly and made to follow, but their progress was hindered by the trees blocking their way - their large wings not built for flying in such a comparatively dense forest. But that wasn't about to stop them and with a flurry of green feathers they flapped low over the treetops, following their progress down the hill from above until one of them found and gap big enough for it to dive through.

Gray cursed as he looked up to see a giant bird descending towards him from above, talons outstretched as if seeking out his face. The Ice Mage was reluctant to harm a creature that was basically just an animal defending what it thought was its territory and he dove backwards and out the way on the snaring talons, hitting the ground with his shoulder and rolling back onto his feet.

"Juvia!" he called.

"Yes!?" Juvia's attention was instantly directed towards him.

"Help me out! We'll create a slide to escape from these guys on!"

"You're so clever, Gray-sama!" Juvia took a moment to exult before she threw her arm out and generated a stream of water that whooshed across the ground through the trees ahead of them. Gray instantly thrust his hands into the water and used his magic to freeze it, leaping onto the icy slide and whooshing down it, freezing another section ahead of him whenever what he'd done already was about to run out. He could have easily created a slide without Juvia's help, but it required a great deal less magic from him to freeze water than it would have to mould the ice out of nothing.

As Juvia leapt onto the slide and breezed after him, Lisanna made to follow before she heard a yelling noise behind her and whirled around with wide eyes. One of the Clippers had managed to corner the Jarvey that had brought them to the Sphere they'd been contained inside and was trying to get through the roots of a large, partially overturned tree to try and get at the cowering creature. Lisanna dashed over and thrust her hands out, using her Take-Over to take control of the Clipper and force it to back away.

"Come on, quick!" Lisanna called to the Jarvey.

"You call these guys your friends, Miss Dandruff?" the Jarvey yelled as he broke cover and ran through them.

"No, we don't!" Lisanna answered as more cawing alerted her to another Clipper clattering in from the side and snapping at her with its beak. She abruptly morphed into her Cat shape to flip agilely to the side, scooping up the Jarvey under one arm and bounding onto the slide, sweeping along in the wake of the other two as they continued to work together to extend the slide.

But the Clippers were relentless and with a never-ending cacophony of screeching they set off in pursuit, the entire flock peering through the treetops to try and stick close behind the fleeing trio of humans, breaking through whenever they found the opportunity and taking another lunge at them, only to be dodged as Gray and Juvia swerved the slide abruptly in another direction.

"Lisanna-san!" Juvia called over her shoulder when the catgirl caught up with them. "Can't you use your Take-Over on them to stop them attacking?"

"Not on all of them at once," Lisanna replied. "I could maybe do two, three, maybe four at a time but not the entire flock!"

"We don't appear to be shaking them!" Gray growled, but then he blanched when he saw several of the Clippers had managed to get ahead of them and were advancing through the trees on foot, their ungainly, hoppity-skipping gait looking utterly ludicrous but their vicious beaks more than enough to make them look threatening.

"Hold your breath!" Juvia cried suddenly and flung her arms out wide, her body turning to water and lost its form, spreading out in all directions. Gray and Lisanna both blanched as they were suddenly submerged in what had been Juvia's body, drenching them in an instant flat, but Juvia blasted herself and them with her up and over the heads of the startled Clippers, before she reconstituted her body and restarted the stream of water ahead. Gray promptly froze it again and they continued on like before, slipping their way through the woods like they were on toboggans down a slope.

The Jarvey coughed and spat out water, "Hey! Warn a guy before you do something like that, Hippohips!"

"Hippohips!" Juvia yelled indignantly though she was not sure what 'hippo' actually meant.

"Really not the time for an argument!" Gray called as the birds continued to clatter around them and overhead. They piled all speed onto the slide and, to their relief, it was not long before they were managing to pull away from the angry flock, who were finding it increasingly difficult to get in at them through the treetops.

That is, they were getting away, right up until they point where the tree-line abruptly ended and they suddenly found themselves shooting across open field.

"Shimata!" Gray exclaimed, looking up again as the birds renewed their attack, diving past the trees behind them and wheeling around the sides to start coming at them from all directions, closing in like a swarm of locusts on a farm.

"Gray-sama!" Juvia yelled, and Gray span around when he realised that he hadn't been looking where he was going and suddenly the slide, no longer following the path that Juvia's water had been taking, was taking them straight towards an old stone wall. Gray snarled as he slammed his hands together to create a sharp turn in the slide ahead, but it was too sharp. As the three of them whooshed around the curve they all lost their footing and were thrown clear, tumbling into undignified heaps in the grass. The Clippers cawed in triumph as they descended down on them like a great feathered cloud.

Juvia was first to her feet and she lifted her hands to cry, "WATER DOME!" Abruptly a like half-sphere of water splashed into existence to form a large dome swirling liquid around the three Mages like a physical wall between them and the birds. The Clippers veered away from the attack slightly, confused at this sudden blockade and Juvia quickly began to shoot plumes of water out in all directions from it, dousing feathers and sending them squawking away, shaking their heads.

"Nice, Juvia!" Gray complimented her, and Juvia beamed happily and almost squealed in delight at the praise but she was able to force herself to concentrate on keeping the birds at bay.

"Yeah, but if you keep attacking like that, they'll never leave us alone," Lisanna called. "We need to get them to lose their interest in us."

"Guess we'll have to wait it out a while," Gray prepared more of his magic to freeze the dome, but right before he could there was a yell from outside the dome. It seemed, once again, they'd forgotten the Jarvey and now he'd been caught in the beak of one of the Clippers, which was flapping its broad wings hard to take it up into the air and away - the Jarvey screaming abuse at it as it squirmed helplessly away.

"No!" Lisanna cried and suddenly switched form, taking the shape of a green-and-pink-feathered swan-like bird. "Gray, seal yourselves in!" she cried as she spread her wings.

"What!? But… Lisanna…"

"Don't worry about me! I'll be fine!" Lisanna insisted as she powered herself into the air, plunging straight through the Water Dome and out amongst the swarm of Clippers, shoving a couple of them aside with her wings as she climbed towards the one that had the Jarvey. Several of the birds were quick to notice there was a stranger in their midst and swung around to pursue her, but most of them descended further down towards the Dome - they'd seen it was possible to get through and were now more determined than ever.

"Damn it!" Gray growled before her raised his hands and froze the Dome around himself and Juvia, creating a thick, solid barrier that the Clippers fell upon, scratching and pecking with talon and beak like frenzied vultures at a carcass, trying to break through.

"Gray-sama, what about Lisanna-san?" Juvia asked with wide eyes, fighting the urge to cover her ears at the cawing and scratching sounds coming from all around them - they could see the shadows of the Clippers through the ice and they could tell they were now completely surrounded, the birds trying to find a way in at all angles.

"I'm sure she'll be fine," Gray gritted his teeth. "She knows animals better than any one of us. She'll… she'll be okay."

Juvia bit her lip and looked up, unconsciously moving closer to Gray and peering at the ice walls as if hoping to somehow see what was happening to Lisanna through them. But of course she only saw the shadows of the birds and their relentless pounding on the shield.

"Juvia hopes so," she murmured.

It took close to half an hour before the last of the Clippers lost interest in attacking the dome and finally left, leaving the area around the dome mercifully quiet at last. But Juvia and Gray still sat there inside for quite a while longer, possibly another half an hour though they weren't really keeping track of time. They were both listening intently, silently wondering whether the Clippers really had gone or whether they were close by, waiting for them to try and break cover.

Eventually though, Gray decided he'd had enough. "Come on, let's get out of here," he grumbled, placing his hand on the wall of the dome and re-moulding it slightly, to create a doorway while leaving the rest of it intact. Juvia momentarily reflected that it was like she and Gray had been sitting together in a giant igloo before quickly following him outside.

The skies were mercifully clear. There was no sign of any Clippers. And there was no sign of Lisanna.

But even as Gray stepped around the igloo-dome to have a look at the other side, he froze. There were one Clipper left in the area, perched in the branches of a large, single oak tree that stood alone in the open field. Gray stood rooted to the spot for several seconds, wondering if it'd start attacking again if he moved too quickly, and if it did, would the commotion bring the entire flock back down on their heads from somewhere close by?

But the Ice Mage was suddenly startled when the Clipper said, in Lisanna's voice, "It's alright. The rest of them are long gone. Probably gone off to look for roosts or something."

"Lisanna?" Gray blinked. "You… ah… I see…"

The Clipper giggled slightly before flapping down from the tree and landing on the grass, its body glowing briefly and suddenly Lisanna was standing there in front of them again. "Best way to avoid getting attacked by Clippers is to be a Clipper yourself, so I thought I'd try getting myself a new Take-Over. And it seemed to work."

"Oh, Lisanna-san. Juvia's so glad you're okay. She was so worried," Juvia hurried forwards and embraced the youngest Strauss sibling, who smiled and hugged her back.

"Yeah, but still that was the stupidest thing I've ever seen in my entire life," the Jarvey stated as it popped out of an old rabbit burrow that Lisanna had helped it hide down during the attack. "The hell were you thinking, charging out there trying to save me like that?"

"Hey, you might want to show a little gratitude!" Gray glared at the ferret-like creature, having to strongly resist the urge to kick it. "If it wasn't for Lisanna, you'd be bird chow by now. Bird crap in the morning."

"Well of course I would be, dumbass. You think my skull's as thick as yours? It's nice to be alive but that doesn't change the fact that was a stupid decision."

"Boy, I bet you don't have many friends," Gray muttered.

"Friends? If you must know, I do have a friend, but he's the most antisocial moron I've ever seen in my…"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. So, what exactly happened, Lisanna? Did you invade the body of one of the birds and absorb its power into your soul or something?"

"What? Oh gods no - I would never do something like that to an innocent animal!" Lisanna looked repulsed and shook her head firmly. "Though I could if I wanted. Elf-niichan used that form of Take Over against the Beast back when…" she grimaced and stopped before she could go any further but both Juvia and Gray knew what she was talking about.

But Lisanna just shook her head and carried on, "But that's an extreme case. Using Take Over to change yourself just means you can essentially copy the body and abilities of whatever you're using it on and take its power into yourself. And that's what I did to one of the Clippers. I locked talons with it in my other bird form and focused on it as we fell through the air, imagining that I had not just the body but the soul of the Clipper and that's what allowed me to become one. I can tell you it looked very surprised when it suddenly found itself facing another one of its own kind instead and it let go of my very quickly."

"So its the same as Transformation Magic?" Juvia asked.

"Nah, not really. Transformation magic only alters the body. Take Over alters your very soul, changing everything about you except you mind if you do it right. If you used Transformation to become an animal you'd just be a human with an animal shape, but with Take Over you gain all the animals instincts, its senses, its abilities, everything like that. You become an animal, or a beast or a demon in the case of my brother and sister, with a human mind."

"I think I get it," Gray nodded. "So, if you were to use Transformation Magic to become a dog, you wouldn't gain a dog's sense of smell with it, but if you became a dog with Take Over, you would."

"Exactly," nodded Lisanna. "And of course I can take command of animals and tell them what to do, but not many at a time. I never tried to expand that part because I am essentially forcing animals to do my bidding but based on what happened today I think I might try and develop it more. At least for situations like that."

"Juvia agrees it could be useful, but Take Over certainly sounds more interesting that Juvia initially realised."

"Got that right," Gray chuckled, before his face turned sour and he looked out across the woods beyond. "Still, now that that whole Clipper business is over and done with you realise we're essentially back to square one. We have no idea where we are, where are friends are, or how to find them, and ferret-face down there's not going to be of any help anymore."

"Ferret-face?" the Jarvey laughed. "Oh my gosh, I'm so insulted. Your words have shocked me to the core. How dare you imply my face looks like a freaking ferret when it looks like a freaking ferret. I'm just glad you didn't call me a stoat, Badger-breath, because then I'd have cried for sure."

Gray was now trying very hard to keep his eye from twitching, slowly grinding out, "Anyone got any ideas?"

"I had a little fly around to scout out the area when I was a Clipper," Lisanna replied. "There's not very much but trees and fields for quite a few miles around and I didn't see any signs of more people, let alone more of those golden Sphere things that we were apparently inside. Then I came back to wait for you two to come out. You were in there quite a long time."

"Probably making out," the Jarvey snickered.

"That's it!" Gray muttered as Juvia covered her face in her hands, her face so red there was practically steam coming off it. A moment later and the Jarvey was totally frozen in a block of ice about twice as big as it was, with Gray dusting his hands off and looking rather smug.

"Did you have to do that?" Lisanna frowned disapprovingly.

"I'll defrost him before we go," Gray muttered. "Just couldn't stand anymore of his talking."

"G-G-Gray-sama… and Juvia… making out?" the Water Mage whimpered slightly, holding her hands together and staring into the middle distance, obviously becoming lost in fantasy. Gray grimaced and fought the urge to facepalm, while Lisanna tapped Juvia pointedly on the shoulder to wake her up before it got any more awkward. Juvia coughed and looked down, embarrassed, but quickly changed the subject before going, "Well… maybe we should try and see if there are any towns nearby."

"There doesn't appear to be much more we can do but pick a direction and go in it. And hope that we're still in Fiore," Lisanna murmured.

"Why would you think we might not be?" Gray asked. "That big weasel told us we were still on Earthland."

"Earthland's got more than one country in it," Lisanna pointed out. "And I've looked through lots of books about the wildlife you can find in Fiore. And never once have I read anything about an animal called a Jarvey."

Gray and Juvia digested this news in silence for several moments before Gray sighed and murmured, "Well this just keeps getting better and better. Guess we've got no choice but to pick a direction and hope for the best."

"Juvia agrees. Lisanna-san, do you think you can carry us? We would cover more ground from the air than we would on foot."

"I don't know," Lisanna chewed her lip thoughtfully. "Birds aren't really built for carrying passengers. I think maybe as a Clipper I could carry one of you on my back but I don't know about the both of you."

"Oh, Juvia doesn't think that should be much of a problem," Juvia smiled. "If Juvia turns most of her body into water then she will be much lighter. Does Lisanna-san think she can carry us both then?"

"I suppose," Lisanna nodded. "I guess the only way to find out is to try it." Her body glowed as she switched form into that of a Clipper once again, stretching her wings and turning awkwardly on the spot, lowering herself down to the ground as if she was sitting on a nest. "Climb aboard then."

Gray hesitantly clambered aboard until he was sitting on Lisanna's feathered shoulders. Clippers were large for birds but they were still only slightly bigger than a man so there wasn't much room left for Juvia. She was forced to crouch on her knees right behind Gray on Lisanna's back and as soon as Lisanna tried standing up she almost fell off, prompting her to seize Gray and wrap her arms around him to keep herself in place - an action which made her blush slightly when she realised she'd done it without asking.

"U-um… Gray-sama…?" she asked questioningly.

"Just hang on tight," Gray replied curtly. Juvia grinned and promptly leaned herself further against him, trying to hide a sigh of contentment as she held the man she loved, her head resting between his shoulders. Gray stiffened visibly at this (particularly since he could feel Juvia's chest pressed against his back) but refused to make any comment, negative or otherwise.

"Well, I think I can manage," Lisanna announced, "Though it might take some getting used to."

"Then whenever you're ready," Gray nodded.

"Hold on, Gray. You should unfreeze the Jarvey before we go."

Gray groaned slightly but passed his hand through the air, causing the ice encasing the big ferret creature to vanish into thin air. The Jarvey looked around sharply and yelling, "What? What? How did… what just…" before scowling up at Gray and saying. "Oh, what did you just do to me Strip King?"

"Nothing you need to worry about," Gray grunted. "We'll be going now."

"Thanks for all your help," Lisanna said cheerfully through her bird beak and kicked off from the ground. It took a couple of skittering jumps before she managed to get into the air, but as she flapped off over the tree line she added, "Though Gray, now that he mentions it I feel I have to ask, please can you try and keep your pants on while you're on my back."

"Ghh…" Gray coughed before murmuring, "I'll do my best."

"Juvia wouldn't mind," the Water Mage whispered quietly, but thankfully her words were carried off with the wind before either of the others heard her say it.

And from the ground, the Jarvey watched them go, wrinkling his little button nose distastefully. "Jeez, what a bunch of weirdos. Ain't never seen magic like that before. Not even from the Big Em. Still… I bet he's gonna be very interested in this lot, so he is, so he is."

Harry wondered if the scowl on his face had been there since breakfast, or whether his expression had becoming increasingly more thunderous since then. He hadn't expected the day to start well and he was right. Hermione had been perusing the Daily Prophet that morning to find any sign of what Sirius had mentioned last night and she had indeed found an article about the dragon attack in the Hebrides, which Ron had been eager to read since Charlie was in it.

The second eldest Weasley brother seemed to have been brusque with the reporters, stating that there was no evidence to suggest anything other than a simple clash over territory, albeit a slightly more vicious one than usual where they'd both scored lucky hits on the other, but that they were going to continue investigating anyway.

There had been no mention of the attack on the Muggle Bank at Portree though. Hermione guessed that the Ministry were trying to cover that one up until they knew what exactly they were dealing with.

But it was the news on the front page, which Percy had hinted about in his letter to Ron the previous day, that had really soured his mood - the appointment of Umbridge to becoming the Hogwarts High Inquisitor, giving her the power to inspect the rest of the staff. Under normal circumstances, that might seem to actually be a rather fair thing to do - it was important that the teachers were doing their jobs properly after all. But they now knew the Ministry was only doing this in an attempt to interfere and gain a foothold at the school, all solely as part of their plan to discredit Dumbledore and hopefully unseat him, all because Fudge was becoming convinced Dumbledore wanted power for himself. This had nothing to do with standards of education, only the Ministry's paranoia.

He could only hope that the toad-faced bitch hadn't seen his furious death glare across the Great Hall that morning.

And of course any morning he had to sit through a Potions lesson could not be considered a good one, especially when he learned afterwards that the D that Snape had given him for his homework stood for 'Dreadful' and was the second lowest mark he could have gotten - the equivalent of an E at Muggle schools.

And he'd never thought he'd ever feel sorry for Professor Trelawney considering she predicted his violent death in every single lesson, but after watching the agony of her inspection from Umbridge just now he'd found sympathy even for her, right up until the point where Trelawney had taken out her anger on him with a more graphic description of his death than usual.

But still, his loathing for Umbridge seemed to be increasing by the minute.

"I hate her," he growled under his breath. "I hate that frog-mouthed, evil spawn of… Satan. I hate her."

"Jeez, mate, you might want to dial back the rage before we actually get to her class," Ron patted him on the back slightly. "You're not the only one. I don't think there's a single Gryffindor that likes her. And judging by what I've been hearing from the other houses, she doesn't have many fans in Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw either."

"Who the hell does she think she is though?" Harry clenched his fist. "The way she waddles around the place with that smug face… its like she thinks she's the Headmistress already. Or the Queen of England or the damn world or something."

"Dear God that's an image I could do without," Ron shuddered. "Her sitting on some kind of throne, waving that stubby hand of hers around as people look upon her magnificence and throw up in droves."

Harry snorted in amusement at that last part but his anger still broiled unbidden within him. "You know what I think? I think someone should inspect her lessons. I bet if they did, then they'd find a reason to throw her out pretty quickly considering she's not actually teaching us anything."

"We wish. She's got the Ministry behind her. They won't send anyone who'd do that."

"I honestly don't think that there's been a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher I hated more. And that includes Lockhart."

"Me too, but there's not much we can do but hope she has some kind of accident that gets her carted off to St. Mungos is there? Until then, she's here to stay, I think."

"Oh, I wouldn't count your Plimpies before they hatch," said a dreamy voice from behind them, and both Harry and Ron turned around to see Luna Lovegood was there, practically gliding along through the corridor along with all the other students and giving them a vague smile. "I think its entirely possible that that woman's days in the school are numbered."

"Huh?" Harry asked. "What makes you say that?"

"Just a feeling I have," Luna said, staring a little past them as if remembering something. "I just think that when that woman does get ejected from the school, it will be quite a windstorm. Not unlike that one that occurred at the Quidditch Pitch yesterday."

"Were you there?" Ron asked, a grin spreading across his face. "Did you see the Slytherin team get knocked about?"

"Yes, and it was quite fascinating," Luna nodded simply. "And I can't help but wonder if that windstorm might return to help liberate us all from her tyranny. Or maybe one of its friends."

"One of its friends?" Ron frowned. "Windstorms aren't living things, you know."

"Aren't they?" Luna smiled enigmatically before she breezed between the two and they watched her skipping off, her peculiar radish-like earrings bouncing around erratically as she went.

"…I know calling her things like Loony Lovegood is horrible and all but… she is a pretty odd one," Harry blinked as he watched her go.

"Not entirely sure she has all of her eggs in one basket," Ron shook his head. How can a windstorm have friends? That doesn't even make sense on any level."

Harry had to agree, but Luna had seemed quite sure of what she was saying, though her meaning was totally unclear. He wondered if he would ever actually figure Luna out. She wasn't exactly a prominent person in his life since he'd only spoken to her on three separate occasions, though all of them had been since the train journey here this year. And every time she seemed to leave him feeling flummoxed and unsure what just happened.

But he was grateful she wasn't shunning him like a large portion of the rest of the school were. But it was difficult to know if she believed his tale about Voldemort because of what he's said or whether she believed it because it sounded like an interesting idea.

"Still," Ron added as they continued walking. "The image of Umbridge being scooped up in a gale and getting blown away… that is an appealing one. Hey, have you ever considered trying to do that thing you did to your Aunt where you inflated her without using a wand and she floated off like a big balloon?"

Harry burst out laughing so hard he doubled over and had to find a place to sit briefly so he could laugh it off, which caused a great deal of people to stop and stare at him as if he'd lost it, but since many of them probably thought he had already he didn't care.

"Now I really… really wish I knew what I'd done that day," Harry wiped his eyes beneath his glasses slightly.

"You'd get a standing ovation for it if you could pull it off, I reckon," Ron grinned as he helped Harry up. "Come on, though. I don't think you want to find out what she'll do to you if you're late for her classes."

Realising this was a rather valid point, Harry hurried off with Ron behind him. They met Hermione, who had been at Arithmancy, right before they entered the room where Umbridge was waiting for them, humming sickeningly. And then of course the lesson began and, during the course of it, Harry managed to lose his temper and landed himself in a week's worth of detentions. Again.

It was not long before Lisanna and her two passengers managed to find a settlement.

Unfortunately, it was not a pleasant sight that greeted them.

"Oh no!" Lisanna gasped, catching the attention of the other two. "Look up ahead!"

Gray and Juvia both gasped when they saw the buildings they were approaching. Or, to be more precise, they noted what was on and around the buildings. It seemed like they had found the Clippers again. And the Clippers had evidently decided that the rooftops of all the houses would make the best roosting site.

Which was extremely bad news for the people who lived there. Screams were ripping through the air as people cowered in their parked or crashed vehicles, ducking behind the cover of benches and signposts or made wild dashes for doors, shielding their heads against the onslaught of the aggressive avians. And the streets were not only filled with humans trying to find shelter but also cows, horses, donkeys and dogs. The birds were indiscriminate in their targets, whirling around to dive-bomb and human and aim pecks and slashes at their heads before lifting off and aiming themselves at a cow instead.

And they were showing no signs of stopping.

"Looks like we should have dealt with those birds when we had the chance," Gray growled, watching one of them throw itself off a roof and forcing a mother to grab her child and dive behind a bench to avoid a snapping beak. "All we did was give them a chance to find this place."

"They're attacking everything in sight!" Juvia agreed.

"They're not being malicious though," Lisanna insisted. "I can sense the Clippers' instincts within me. It's driving them to attack in order to protect themselves from potential threats and competition."

"Even so, we've got no choice now," Gray insisted as they winged closer. "We've got to protect those people!"

"But we can't kill them! They're innocent creatures!" Lisanna protected.

"We won't kill them," Juvia agreed. "But Gray-sama is right. We have to do something."

Lisanna groaned but nodded her head. "I guess you're right. Just try not to hurt them too badly if you can. Hang on, guys!" And she swept her wings with all the power she could muster and shot in towards the town like an arrow fired from a bow, Juvia and Gray clinging on for dear life. Lisanna's eyes locked on a Clipper that was diving down towards a lone child that had panicked and run out into the open, crashing into it head-on and seizing it by the wing to pull it off course, spinning around to send it hurtling down into the street in a heap of feathers. The impact knocked Gray and Juvia loose but they were able to flip safely back onto their feet as Lisanna morphed back into human shape and landed near them.

"We should split up," Gray took charge. "Try and cover all the area we can between us."

"Try not to destroy any buildings!" Juvia agreed as she turned to water and blitzed down the road, weaving through the air on her personal water jet towards another Clipper that was trying to beat its way through the windshield of a parked car to get at the terrified people within. The Clipper squawked as Juvia rammed it with her watery shoulder and sent it rolling across the street. Juvia stood upon the hood of the car and called into the startled family. "Get out of here! Juvia will handle this!"

The rain woman looked up with gritted teeth as three more Clippers hissed in her direction, leaping into the air and sweeping down into the street towards her. Juvia leapt off the car and spun around in the air, generating a current of water that blasted all three of them upwards and away, cawing in disgust at their soaking feathers. Two more were snapping at each two people cowering behind a bench on the pavement, but Juvia held up her hands and cried, "WATER LOCK!" forming a sphere of water around them which reduced them to frenziedly beating their wings and spewing bubbles in an attempt to escape.

A loud screech caused Juvia to whirl around in time to see another Clipper descend on her with beak agape but she merely stood there and let the giant bird bite down on her head. The beak passed straight through it, splashing a fair amount of water across the pavement and causing screams from onlookers as it seemed like Juvia's head had been bitten in half… but then stunned silence ensued as Juvia's water body reformed itself until it looked as though she'd never been struck at all.

"Drip, drip, drop," Juvia smiled, uttering a phrase she had not used for quite a long time before she suddenly spotted what looked like a large ford across the road ahead of her. The Water Mage smiled as she dashed towards it and raised her hands up into the air. The ford rose up with them, geysering into the air and several jets peeling away to blast at the squawking, angry birds and push them back anytime any within Juvia's sight made to dive towards the street.

A couple of streets away, Lisanna was having to fight a little more hand to claw. As she ran along, she initially relied solely on her Take Over's effect on the birds, taking control of their bodies and making them cease their attack and fly off, but she quickly came upon a knot of them that she knew she couldn't control at once. And several of these birds had managed to back a group of cows up against a wall. A brave bull had stepped up to defend the females and was swinging his horns at the attackers, but with so many coming from all sides and scratching at him, he was quickly being overwhelmed.

Lisanna glared - no matter what she couldn't watch innocent animals suffer. Leaping over the top of a car she morphed her arms into wings and whooshed down the street, ignoring the cries of shock from the onlookers before she switched again into her giant purple rabbit form in mid-air, colliding with several of the and sending them flying away with a full body slam to fall in feathered heaps in the street. Two more swerved out of the way and converged on her, only for her to kick backwards with her big bunny feet and bullseye them both in the chest, sending them flopping to the ground with the wind knocked out of them.

Quickly reverting back to human form she used her magic to calm the nervous bull and send him and the cows on their way, running for cover. But screams alerted her to more Clippers dive-bombing three men who looked like they'd been drinking but were now heavily sober, lying in the middle of the street with their arms over their faces, trying to defend themselves from slashing beaks and claws. Lisanna ran to help, noticing a couple of horses nearby and taking control of them. The horses immediately charged the birds and leapt over the stunned men, smashing the birds aside and rearing up on their hind legs to beat at the startled birds.

Lisanna dashed over and commanded the birds to fly away, before helping the men to their feet and crying, "Get on the horses and get out of here! Go now!" The men didn't need telling twice and the suddenly calm horses allowed them on before galloping off down the road. But Lisanna's attention was taken again by another piercing scream and she saw one Clipper had managed to grab a young girl, possibly around Wendy's age, and haul her into the air. Lisanna shifted into her Cat form and dashed over on all fours, scooting up the trunk of a tree to land on the back of the Clipper, scrambling over to slash at its shoulders with her claws.

The Clipper screeched and dropped the girl, and Lisanna vaulted off its back the moment it did to seize the girl in her arms in mid-air and land smoothly on her feet, tail poised. She hurried over to the nearest door and ushered the girl through it quickly before she could get nabbed again.

And a short distance away, Gray was in the thick of things, crouched behind a shield of Ice that he'd made as he helped an elderly man with a slightly bloodied leg to his feet and allowed him to hobble over to the door of a house, which Gray kicked in - not caring who the house belonged to - and helped the man inside. "Stay here," he said as the man slumped down the wall, before placing his hands on his leg and applying a thin layer of frost to it. "Sorry that's cold but it'll help to staunch the bleeding," he promised before he ran back out the door again in time to see two women running with handbags over their heads as four Clippers swarmed behind them tearing at the bags.

"ICE MAKE: LANCE!" Gray cried and fired off a volley of long icy spears from his hands that sliced through the air right between the women and the Clippers, forcing the birds to pull up with angry screeches. Gray thundered over, dodging a lamppost and roaring, "ICE MAKE: PRISON!" Instantly a large cage formed around the four birds and dropped to the floor, taking them down with it and trapping them inside, screeching as they attempted to savage the icy bars without success, allowing Gray to leave them to it.

"HELP! HEEELP!" a voice drew his attention up into the air and he blanched when he saw a man clinging to the steeple of a church while a Clipper tried to pull him away by his coat. How he'd got up there but Gray acted quickly and bellowed, "ICE MAKE: CATAPULT!" Instantly a solid ice catapult was formed in the street with himself standing in the sling and a moment later it fired, flinging him upwards through the air towards the top of the church. Forming ice around his fist he punched the bird with it and knocked it for a loop, seizing the man in about the same moment and pulling him free of the steeple. The two of them fell until Gray created an icy slide for them that extended across the street instead of ending abruptly once it reached the ground, allowing them to slip right to the doors of a convenience store, which the man promptly ran into.

"No need for thanks," Gray muttered before he turned around to see another three Clippers flying around what appeared to be a children's playground. Several kids were screaming as they crouched under the climbing apparatus as the Clippers tried to get at them while distressed mothers tried to run to the rescue only to be driven back by more birds diving out of the sky. Gray hurried to assist and leapt over the fence into the playground, yelling, "ICE MAKE: KNUCKLE!" and generating several fists of ice out of the ground which pounded into the birds and knocked them up and away.

"Get out of here, kids!" Gray yelled, and the children quickly obeyed, running to their mothers, except for one little boy that remained rooted to the spot in fear. Gray cursed as he saw more birds coming in for another pass so he ran forward and seized the child in his arms, running with him towards the others, when suddenly a Clipper swept out of nowhere and made a lunge for them both. Gray immediately twisted his body to put it between the bird and the child, yelling as the bird's talons ripped long gouges in his back. But he whirled around with gritted teeth and pummelled the bird aside with a blast of ice before running on anyway and delivering the boy into the arms of his crying mother.

"Thank you! Thank you!" the mother cried, holding the child close, but staring at Gray as if he was some alien life-form, which was quite understandable considering what she'd just seen Gray do. "Who… who are you?"

Gray grunted as he formed a layer of ice over his back to cover his wound before grinning and pounding the mark on his chest.

"We're Fairy Tail."

But the sounds of more birds screeching, plumes of water shooting out over the rooftops nearby and mewling yowls that were probably Lisanna all reminded Gray that the fight was not over yet. So he leapt over the fence again and back into the fray.

For Tonks, her day went from a dull snail's pace to a sudden helter-skelter of activity in practically half a minute flat. So much so, that she was left a little reeling and her brain had to catch up with the rest of her as she Disapparated with the same old familiar loud crack.

She'd had a pretty much sleepless night before, the aftermath of the attack in Portree resulting in a lot of paperwork and debriefings for all of the Aurors present, as well as a long lecture from Scrimgeour about how they needed to keep an eye out for the guy they'd seen on the screens, during which all Tonks could think about was how if Mad-Eye Moody was here, all he'd needed to do is bark, "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" at the amassed Aurors and they'd all get the same message that Scrimgeour was trying to give them with just that.

And then of course it had been her turn to patrol Diagon Alley for a while. All Aurors had to take their turn doing this twice a week just to make sure that nobody started anything in the middle of such a crowded area. Yet, as usual, nothing happened.

Tonks was so proud to be an Auror and was the most recently graduated of the entire force… but boy did her job get boring sometimes.

And then, just as she had been about ready to head home for what she hoped would be a very long and relaxing bath, a silvery Patronus Charm in the shape of a bear came charging through the halls, roaring in Scrimgeour's voice - "All available Aurors report to the briefing room immediately!" - over and over again. Tonks almost tripped over her feet as she rushed to obey the emergency order, but was able to catch herself against a wall and hurry off.

"What's happening?" she called to fellow Auror, Savage, as he ran ahead of her.

"No clue!" Savage called back, and the two of them, along with many other Aurors, hurried into the briefing room, where Scrimgeour was waiting for them with a grim face.

"Listen up!" he announced even as more Aurors were dashing into the room. "I don't have time to explain in detail but we've received an emergency call from a wizard who lives in Brockenhurst down in New Forest in Hampshire. He claims that the town is under attack from a flock of giant birds he doesn't recognise. We're heading out with the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures to help subdue this threat. Be prepared for a vicious attack from the air, but try not to kill any of the birds. But this is a Muggle residence so I need a perimeter set around the town - no Muggle must be allowed to leave until we have modified their memory. Now, let's head out."

That was the way it was in emergency situations. Minimal explanation - an Auror had to adapt quickly to the circumstances since dilly-dallying could result in the loss of innocent lives. Though Tonks had a million and one questions she would have liked to ask, like where these birds might have come from, she had no time to ask them and knew that Scrimgeour probably didn't know the answer anyway.

So, instead, Tonks merely thought the word 'Brockenhurst' clearly in her head since she'd never been there and suddenly she was there in the streets with more Aurors popping into existence in various places around her. Almost immediately she was deafened by the loud cawing and ducked as a shadow fell across her - two large green birds swooping low between the buildings, chasing a terrified dog.

With no time to gawp, Tonks' wand was in her hand in a flash and dashed out into the street, firing a round of quick Stunning Spells up at the birds. She was joined by other Aurors from nearby and one of the two crumpled to the ground with a crash, hit by multiple spells at once, while the other lost the use of its wing and spiralled down slightly, landing on its feet and turning to hiss at the nearest Auror, which happened to be Tonks herself, dashing towards her on slightly ungainly feet. Tonks rolled to the side and fired another Stunner up at the bird in mid-roll, hitting it square in the beak with a ragged squawk before keeling over to fall unconscious onto its front.

Tonks pushed herself to her feet, ignoring the amazed faces of Muggles peering through the windows and hurrying off into the town, aware of more birds wheeling overhead and searching for prospective targets. Other Aurors nearby Disapparated in order to go and form the perimeter but Tonks carried on with what she was doing, seeing another bird swooping low nearby and flinging an Incarcerous spell at it, dodging the bird's fall as it was tangled up in the ropes from the spell and fell to the street in a thrashing heap. Tonks left it there and hurried down another street, spotting more Aurors firing more spells at the birds and adding a few of her own to the mix, pretty sure she managed to take out another one.

The hell is going on here anyway, she thought to herself as she rolled out into the next street and fired an Impediment Jinx at another, freezing it in mid-air and allowing several others to Stun it so that when it unfroze it dropped like a stone.

Tonks then saw another bird nearby which was attempting to get in through the automatic door of a convenience store. It had its head and part of its torso through and was trying to push the door open with wider with one foot, snapping at people inside who were beating at it frantically with whatever they could while one man kept his hand down on the emergency close button for the door. So the Metamorphmagus did the only thing she could - Apparated right into the midst of the crowd inside and firing a Reductor Curse at the bird. It quite literally didn't know what hit it as it was blown backwards out of the door, rolling beak over tail until it collided with a parked car.

Tonks ignored the stunned looks on the faces of the Muggles as she slipped through the door to Stun the bird. She was getting used to it. This wasn't the first time that Muggles had seen her performing magic, and while she found their awe rather amusing now was really not the time for that.

But, it was right then, that Tonks spotted something that made herself pull up short and stare with awe.

The first thing she saw was a girl with what appeared to be blue hair that was tightly curled at the base, running through the street with several of the green birds in pursuit. But even as Tonks moved to help, the girl's body suddenly changed and liquified, turning to water while still retaining its form right before Tonks' eyes. Tonks openly gaped as the girl fired herself into the air on a jet of water from her feet, weaving down the street as the birds clattered after her, two of them colliding with each other head-on and dropping like stones.

But the girl then whirled around on a tight one-eighty in the air and created two large whips of water in her hands. She spun around to knock two of the birds askew with them before lashing another around a third bird's feet and hauling it into the side of a building. Another bird swept in at her but her form suddenly melted away and she split into two plumes of water that whooshed around either side of the bird before reuniting on the other side, solidifying into her human form again. She fired a blast of water from her palms at the bird, catching into into the back and sending it crashing into the street while the girl landed squarely on her feet.

And that was when Juvia Lockser and Nymphadora Tonks both locked eyes for the first time. Juvia, thinking Tonks was just another bystander, waved her arm frantically and yelled, "Take cover, Miss! Juvia will handle the birds!"

"Who are…?" Tonks started to ask but several of the birds Juvia had knocked aside before had gotten back up and were hissing like angry snakes, charging in towards both the women as they lifted themselves into the air once more. Juvia whirled around to face them and brought her arms up, channelling her magic as several drain grates along the side of the road burst upwards with great plumes of water from the pipes below that washed in on the birds and swamped them, crashing them together in a sodden heap.

"Ugh…" Juvia grimaced. "Juvia doesn't know if she wants to control that water again."

Abruptly a loud honking made both Juvia and Tonks turn around to see a car screeching around the corner, beset by two more birds - evidently someone who had just got here to a rather unwelcome sight. Juvia was already in motion as the car swerved wildly, shouting, "SIERRA!" and blasting herself as a burst of high pressure water to smash both the birds backwards but as she landed she saw the driver of the car had seemingly lost control and was swerving so wildly he was about to crash into the side of a building.

Juvia gasped and frantically searched her brain for something to stop the car but Tonks ran in and yelled, "IMPEDIMENTA!" pointing her wand at the car. The entire vehicle suddenly froze in mid-swerve, both its right wheels off the ground as if it was about to tip over. Tonks barrelled in and yanked the car door open, hauling the also frozen man right out of it and pulling him away before suddenly the car unfroze and smashed into a wall with a crumpling of metal.

Juvia's face lit up slightly. "You can use magic," she noted. "Was that some kind of time related magic perhaps? A holder type maybe, if you have to use that stick for it?"

Tonks deposited the dazed man on the side of the road and turned around to point her wand at Juvia, striding slowly towards her. "Holder type? I don't know what you're talking about, girl, but I'm going to have to ask you not to move, or by my authority as an Auror of the Ministry of Magic I will have to place you under arrest."

"Under arrest?" Juvia blanched. "Ministry of Magic? But… Juvia hasn't done anything wrong…"

"Please make it easier on both of us and just answer my questions," Tonks replied shortly. "And I've got many, but here are some of the big ones. Who are you? What the hell kind of magic was that you were using? And what have you got to do with these birds? And…"

It was right at that point where Tonks spotted something else about this girl. Her clothes were torn and her legs and arms were covered in bandages, but on her left leg some of those bandages had been torn away. And Tonks had just noticed a blue mark on her skin there, in a very distinctive shape. It took a moment, but her eyes widened when she realised she'd seen that mark before - on the golden sphere they'd found in Nottinghamshire the other day.

"And… what… is that symbol?"