Well, looks like I'm back on my regular Friday schedule again, on the day where Fairy Tail manga chapters USED to come out right up until the point I started. Seems they've moved to Monday now for some reason, though I'll keep aiming for Friday. XD Also, well done forgetfulperson for noticing that who appears together in which Fairy Sphere depends on who was standing next to who in the circle they made when they were all holding hands. Hehehe. Thanks to everyone who's reviewing. I greatly appreciate your support. Also, many of you may have noticed that I've changed the title of this story. I hope you all like this alteration. XD

And btw, the things I mention in this chapter about Levy's past are entirely made up by me since we know very little about Levy's life before Fairy Tail. If we ever do learn about it I'll probably come back and edit this chapter to incorporate it.

Dance of the Fairies, Flight of the Phoenix

Chapter 12:- Phantom Fear

"Are you saying, Dumbledore," Professor Dolores Umbridge was turning a rather horrible shade of purple as she stewed in her own bubbling anger. "That I should take the words of that woman seriously? That that… garbage… she spouted at breakfast today was an actual prophecy?"

"You can take it any way that you wish," Dumbledore replied lightly. "I won't deny that our dear Trelawney has always had, shall we say, a flare for the dramatic. I won't pretend to understand Divination. I was terrible at it at school. Sometimes I would make up some ludicrous stories of what I could see in the crystal balls just to see if the teacher would believe me, when all I could really see was swirling mist."

"If we could keep this on topic please, Headmaster," Umbridge huffed from where she was standing before Dumbledore's death, saying the last word as if he was physically sickening to do so. "We both know that your lies, your insistence that the Dark Lord has in fact returned to the world, haven't been bearing the fruit you hoped they would when you started them. Hoping that the masses would flock to your side like frightened sheep. But this is the most blatant and obvious attempt to inspire fear that you've ever done. Convincing that terrible excuse for a Seer to make up something like that in the middle of the Great Hall. It's so desperate, it's almost laughable."

"I did nothing of the kind. In fact I haven't actually spoken to Sybil for almost two whole months - I see her so rarely."

"Then you continue to deny it was a thinly veiled attempt on your part to scare the students away from their faith in the Ministry?"

"On the contrary I very much want them to have faith in the Ministry, though I would prefer it if the Ministry would help us take the necessary actions into ensuring their safety."

"So be it," Umbridge turned to flounce out of the office. "Well, just wait until Minister Fudge hears about this. We'll see what he thinks of this blatant attempt to seize power."

"I would actually be very interested to hear the Minister's opinion. But I must warn you, Dolores. There is a reason I hired Sybil to be the Divination teacher. She may be extremely hard to make sense of but sometimes her words do ring true. You might want to bear that in mind in this case."

Umbridge said nothing else. She merely scoffed slightly before strutting out of the office, leaving Dumbledore alone to his thoughts. As far as he was aware, four of the Fairy Spheres scattered around the place had already been lowered. Wendy and the Exceed had been the first. Gajeel the second. Gray, Juvia and Lisanna the third and the Clippers had been the fourth. And Sybil's warning had been quite clear… the war would begin when the fifth sphere was lowered.

Did this new prophecy nullify the old one?

No, he didn't think so. After all, there was nothing in this new one that suggested as much.

Still… when the fifth sphere was lowered… it seemed that that would be when things truly did kick off.

Even Lucius Malfoy's arrogant expression slipped and he found himself stepping backwards a little, eyes flicking towards the door to make sure his path to it was clear. The man standing before the Ministry personnel was taller than any one of them, and the way he squared his shoulders told them all quite clearly that he meant business. There was just something about that meant every one of them, even Kingsley, were trying hard not to wilt under his stony gaze.

Needless to say, Gildarts didn't have a clue what was going on. He had no more knowledge of the events that had led him to be in this place than any of the other Fairy Tail mages had when they'd awoken from their own suspended animation within the Spheres.

One moment Acnologia. And the next this.

It was enough to throw anyone off pace.

It was Rufus Scrimgeour that spoke first, clearing his throat a little and saying, "You… You are currently in the custody of the Ministry of Magic. We discovered the strange glowing Sphere that you were inside, which apparently fell out of the sky and brought you here until the Sphere dissipated just now. That means you… are our…"

"Please tell me that you are not about to say 'prisoners,'" Gildarts raised a brow, that one motion causing several of the Aurors to flinch slightly. "Because I'm not entirely sure that I would like that."

"Well… not prisoners," Scrimgeour actually found himself floundering a little. "I'm not sure there is a word for it but… we cannot allow you to leave until you've answered our questions. And there are a lot of questions."

"Indeed, like all the ones that my friend Levy just asked. Where are our friends? Where… is my… daughter!?"

The last word was growled out so forcefully that Scrimgeour took a step back as if he'd been physically shoved. Levy, who was still on the ground behind the S-Class Mage, frowned in confusion - not having heard that Gildarts actually had a daughter before. As she pushed herself to her feet, the atmosphere seemed to grow even tenser with both sides wondering if the other was going to strike out at them.

But before something could kick off, someone said, "They can't answer those questions because they don't know the answers." And both Levy and Gildarts' had their attention drawn to the girl with the long blond hair weaving her way hurriedly through the Aurors to the front without touching the ground with her feet. And simultaneously both their jaws dropped, gasping in disbelief. This time Gildarts was the one who took a couple of steps backwards and Levy almost fell over again, the both of them absolutely stunned.

For they definitely knew who this girl was.

"You… you're…" Levy stammered.

"You can't be…" Gildarts breathed.

"I can and I am," Mavis replied quickly. "But please, now is really not the time for questions. Listen carefully - those men behind me cannot see or hear me. They don't know I am here. I am invisible to all who do not have the Fairy Tail mark. Well, mostly, but the point is they don't know the answers to your questions so please don't do anything rash. You're not in danger right now unless you start something first."

"But… how is…" Levy gasped.

"Please, just listen to me. I'm quite real but you need to act natural. And calm… please just pretend that I'm not here because as far as these people are aware, I'm not." Mavis insisted, glancing back over her shoulder to where most of the rest of the room were giving the two mages strange looks now, wondering what was wrong with them.

Fortunately, despite his shock that the First Master of Fairy Tail herself - whom he recognised from when Makarov had shown him the photo taken to commemorate the founding of the guild - was somehow standing in front of him, Gildarts was able to recover quickly and suddenly chuckled, lowering his guard a little and giving the rather bemused Aurors a smirk.

"My apologies if I came off a little intense there," he grinned. "But look at it from our perspective - one moment we were under attack and then suddenly we're in a room with a bunch of strangers with all our friends missing with no knowledge of what happened in between. It's really no surprise we'd be highly strung, is it, Levy?"

"Um… oh… oh no, indeed not," Levy confirmed, forcing herself to look away from Mavis. "We're sorry to trouble you like this but… don't know know where the rest of our friends are? We're so worried about them. They could be dead for all we know!"

Mavis chuckled, recognising that while Levy was talking to the Ministry members, her questions was actually aimed at Mavis. But the ghost let Scrimgeour answer first to avoid confusing overlap.

"I am afraid we do not. We did not even know that there were people inside that Sphere until it suddenly lowered."

"Don't worry, your friends are safe," Mavis then answered. "All of them are alive for I cast the Fairy Sphere over you all to protect you from Acnologia's attack."

Gildarts and Levy both sighed in what might look like frustration, but which was actually profound relief, before Gildarts suddenly questioned. "And this Sphere… you say it fell out of the sky?"

"That's right. Care to explain that?" Scrimgeour asked.

"Events beyond my control unfortunately caused us all to be sent to another dimension," Mavis chipped in. "I had to split the Fairy Sphere up to keep it from falling apart on the journey."

Levy's eyes widened but Gildarts managed to contain his shock and keep up his casual and rather disarming smile, though even he was thanking the gods that the whole Edolas debacle had happened before the S-Class exam because his knowledge of that event made this news much easier to swallow. "Let me ask you, did more than one Sphere fall or was it just us?"

"There were multiple lights in the sky certainly," Scrimgeour nodded.

"Well, to be honest, I'm not entirely sure what's going on," Gildarts shrugged his shoulders. "But my guess would be that those other lights contained our friends. That's good - it means they are probably safe too."

"Oh yes… my guess is they are indeed safe," Scrimgeour's face tightened slightly. "I haven't had the… honour… of meeting any of your friends yet as far as I am aware, but unless I'm very much mistaken… they've been making themselves known to us. And in a pretty big way."

"Scrimgeour, allow me," Fudge stepped forwards and, clutching his hat slightly, he drew himself up as tall as he could and still only came up to about the same level as Gildarts' ribs as he said, "I am Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic! And I demand to know who you are."

Gildarts grimaced slightly, for the name Cornelius reminded him suddenly of his deceased ex-wife, Cornelia, and that just brought thoughts of Cana back to the front of his mind. He ached to go charging out there to find her, but he trusted Mavis' word that she was fine even though he was still dumbfounded that Mavis was here at all.

Still, he quickly ordered his thoughts and held out his hand. "Gildarts Clive, S-Class Mage of Fairy Tail. And this is my young friend, Levy McGarden. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Minister, even though I've never heard of you before."

"Never heard of me?" Cornelius blustered without shaking the hand before him. "How is that possible - I am the Minister for Magic of Great Britain. How could you not know who I am!?"

"Maybe because I'm not from Great Britain?" Gildarts shrugged. "Wasn't trying to offend you - there's lots of people I don't know. Heck, I don't even know the name of the King of my own country."

"And what country would that be?"

"It's called Fiore. And my guess is you've never heard of it before. My guess is that most people you know won't have heard of it before." Gildarts finally lowered his hand, deciding that he didn't particularly want to shake this man's hand anyway.

"Questions about where you come from can wait," Scrimgeour stepped up next to the bristling Minister. "What's more important is learning more about who you are. For instance… that mark I can see on your chest, right there?" He pointed at Gildarts' left pectoral, where his guild stamp was located but mostly covered by bandages. "What exactly does that mark mean?"

"That?" Gildarts looked down and pulled his bandages aside slightly to reveal the whole thing. "That's the mark of Fairy Tail. Everyone in our guild has one."

"Here's mine," Levy spoke up - she decided to let Gildarts do most of the talking since he was probably better at this kind of thing than she was but here she turned around so that they could see the white mark on her left shoulder-blade.

"And what craft does this guild of yours practice?" Scrimgeour knitted his eyebrows.

Gildarts blinked a couple of times. "Magic…" he eventually said. "What else would we practice?"

"I see… well…" Scrimgeour's gaze hardened. "Ever since those lights appeared in the skies there have been a lot of strange people cropping up all over the country. And just yesterday one of our towns was attacked and strange magic users with that self-same mark were spotted at the scene, but eluded us before we could question them about who they were. If they bear that same mark, that means you know them, correct?"

"Indeed it does."

"And are you aware of the damage they caused?" Fudge cried out. "Are you aware of how much work was required to put right the things that they did and keep up the Statute of Secrecy?"

"Well, that sounds like our friends sure enough," Levy sighed slightly. Honestly, sometimes it felt like she was pretty much the only one in the guild that didn't destroy things on a regular basis.

"Whoa, whoa, don't take it out on us, buddy," Gildarts raised his arms slightly. "It's not like we were there. And honestly, can you blame them for being a little confused? After all, we are from…" before he could finish the sentence he suddenly spotted Mavis waving at him out the corner of his eye and slowly shake her head. Gildarts got the message - these people were not aware that they were from another world and it was a subject that would have to be brought up delicately so he simply said, "…a strange place, with no idea how we got here."

"I am not your buddy," Fudge reddened slightly, but Scrimgeour started speaking again before he could go any further.

"Nevertheless, as you are apparently associates with these people we have to hold you accountable for their actions until such a time as we can find them ourselves. And we have no guarantee that everything you have thus far told us is the truth and I can definitely tell there's a few things you're not telling us. So… I suppose that means that you are our prisoners after all."

Levy groaned slightly and pressed a hand over her face. "Dear gosh, no matter what world we're in we just always seem to get in trouble with the authorities," she muttered.

Gildarts though raised a brow again, before giving a lopsided grin and spreading his arms out slightly. "Ah, come on, there's no need for that surely. We certainly don't mean any harm, and we really need to find our friends."

"I'm afraid that there is a need for it," Scrimgeour said primly. "We have to ensure national security, so I'm afraid just saying that you're not a threat is not going to cut it. And based on the kinds of things we've seen your friends doing, we cannot let you leave until we have no more questions for you and we're sure you've answered them all honestly. Please do not try to resist, or we will be forced to stun you and take you to a holding cell."

Gildarts exhaled in annoyance, glancing towards Mavis, who nodded at him.

"It's important that we get these people on our side if we can," Mavis told him. "It would be far less hassle for us if we could get on the side of this world's leaders. It's probably best if we just go along with this for now."

The C-Class mage heaved a great sigh and said, "Alright, alright, fine. We'll co-operate. Lead on and we'll follow."

Scrimgeour nodded and the Aurors quickly fanned out across the room to encircle the two Fairy Tail mages. Levy quickly drew closer to Gildarts, biting her lip a little nervously at this turn of events, but suddenly she felt a large hand grip her shoulder and squeeze it reassuringly. She couldn't help but feel reassured by Gildarts' presence. Honestly, if you had to get stuck with someone in an alternate universe, Gildarts was probably one of the best people to be stuck with.

"Where are you taking them, Scrimgeour?" Fudge demanded immediately.

"I was planning on taking them up to Level Two, Minister," Scrimgeour replied. "To place them in the Holding Cells of the Auror Office."

"And you intend to question them there."

"Indeed."

"Well, I must insist on a change to that plan," Fudge coughed. "When word of this gets out I want people to know that I was personally involved with ensuring their safety. Take them to a holding room on Level Ten. I will be back soon, so do not question them until I get back."

Scrimgeour wrinkled his nose, but nodded, "Of course, Minister." And he led the group out of the door, the Aurors surrounding the two Fairy Tail mages they could actually see to guide them in the direction of the lifts. Gildarts walked with his hand still resting on Levy's shoulder as if he was some mother hen keeping a child under its wing, but as that thought occurred to him he grimaced again, feeling like his other arm should be holding Cana in a similar manner.

When they reached the holding cell and Scrimgeour directed them inside he said, "I must ask you to surrender your wands to us."

"Wands? We don't carry wands," Levy blinked. "I thought people only used wands in the old stories or something."

"Oh did you?" Scrimgeour raised a brow. "Well, I insist that you hand them over and if you do not then we will be forced to search you for them."

"Is that a fact?" Gildarts turned to face the rest of the Aurors, most of which cringed under his heavy gaze. "Well, go ahead and search us because we have nothing to hide but I warn you… if I see a single one of you trying to cop a feel of my companion here you will not like the outcome."

"EEK!" Levy squeaked, looking like she was trying to curl into a ball. "I'm not sure whether you saying that makes me more or less comfortable about the idea!"

"Erm, actually we were going to magically scan you. Not… give you a pat-down," Scrimgeour coughed.

"Ah, well that makes sense," Gildarts chuckled. "Well, get on with it then."

Eventually the two of them were left alone, the search having turned up empty of wands, though they had found Levy's Light Pen and her Gale-Force Reading Glasses, which she kept at all times in magical pockets on the inside of her dress. She bit her lip as she was handed them over reluctantly, but after that, the two of them were shut in the cell and none of the Aurors tried to speak to them. Most of them were dispatched back to their offices but a couple remained outside as guards.

And one of those dispatched was Kingsley. He exchanged a quick glance with the mostly invisible Mavis, who nodded at him, giving him a silent message to tell the others what had happened when he had the chance.

"Well," Levy sighed to herself. "I always hoped I'd be one of the very last members of the guild to find themselves locked in a cell by officials like this. But, I suppose that it was only a matter of time."

"If it helps, I could bust out of here any time I wanted," Gildarts tapped the wall with one finger, causing it to splinter slightly but speaking in a low voice so the Aurors outside wouldn't hear what he was saying. "This cell doesn't have any magical cancelling capabilities like those of the Council."

"That is because the people of this world are generally rendered unable to use most strong magic without the use of their wands," Mavis said as she stepped over to them. "They don't have the same type of magic we do. To put it in our terms, almost every magic is a Holder-type magic for them."

"Like Lu-chan with her keys. Well, that makes sense considering what we learned about the magic of Edolas." Levy nodded, before she remembered that she was actually talking to Mavis and gasped, "But hang on… how is it possible? How can… how can you be here?"

"Yes, I'd quite like to know the answer to that one too," Gildarts turned to face her. "I take it you're a ghost."

"Indeed I am. It's nice to see members of my guild who actually know who I am without me having to tell them."

"Oh, I know all about you," Levy's eyes were shining slightly. "I've read every book in the Fairy Tail library and every word about you that's in there, along with every picture."

"You must like reading then," Mavis beamed. "I loved reading when I was alive. I suppose I still do though I haven't got round to reading many new things since I passed away. But I grew up in a library before I founded the guild so reading was pretty much the only thing I had going for me for some time."

"I love reading too," Levy smiled. "I guess it was sparked by my parents. They were renowned archeologists you see, and they uncovered all kinds of ancient ruins and made their living translating ancient writings so I got into it really young too. I could already read Gheel by the time I was six…"

Gildarts cleared his throat. "Much as I'm sure you'd love to compare notes about the things you've read, I think the current situation might be more important to talk about."

"Oh, right," Mavis chuckled, while Levy rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Sorry… I just get enthusiastic about books, but you're quite right. Well, I'll tell you what I know so far. You see, when Acnologia fired his breath attack…"

And so it went that Gildarts and Levy became fully updated with everything that had occurred from the dragon attack to now. Levy, naturally, found it absolutely fascinating and asked a lot of questions along the way, clearly in awe about learning details of an entirely different culture. Gildarts was a little more sombre about it, and when Mavis had finished the big man murmured, "That's all quite a lot to swallow. But… for what its worth… thank you First Master for protecting us as you did. If that dragon had killed us all right after I'd discovered that Cana was my daughter that would have left a sour taste in my mouth in the afterlife."

"CANA'S YOUR DAUGHTER!" Levy gasped, almost falling over in shock at this news and her shout even attracting the attention of the Aurors outside. She blushed slightly at her own reaction before repeating, in a quieter voice, "Cana's your daughter?"

Gildarts smiled. "Surprised? Not half as surprised as I was when I learned it, I can tell you. But are you sure there's been no word of her yet, First Master?"

"Not yet. It's most likely she's still contained in another Fairy Sphere out there somewhere."

"I should be out there trying to find her," Gildarts sighed.

"Well, at least we know she's safe as long as she's inside one of those, right?" Levy piped up. "And its great news to here that Gajeel and the others that have already been released are safe too, right?"

"There is that," Gildarts nodded. "But you say we've gone and landed ourselves in the middle of another conflict against this… Voldemort guy?"

"That's right. And that's part of the reason why it would be better for this Ministry to be on our side if we can manage it. We already have one enemy. It would be better if we didn't have two."

"Definitely less hassle," Gildarts agreed. "Alright then, we'll play nice. But I could really do with stiff drink."

"Well, there's one thing that leans towards Cana really being your daughter," Levy murmured. Gildarts laughed.

"There, are you happy now?" Gajeel muttered venomously as he gestured to the three buckets of milk that he'd managed to finally wrestle out of the goats.

"Only three? They can normally produce eight," Aberforth shook his head. "You were still scaring them too much - when they're scared they produce less milk."

"Well then give me another bloody job instead of sticking me with this one!" Gajeel yelled, ignoring the giggles of Wendy and the Exceed from behind him. "Heck, I'd rather do the washing up than have to deal with them again!"

"Do the washing up!? Ha… like I'm letting you get anywhere near my cutlery. I'd quite like to end the day with the same number of knives and forks that I had when I started."

"Can't you just use your magic to conjure new ones!?"

"I could. But that's a hassle and I can't remember what the spell is."

"Well, how's that my problem? All I know is I'm not having anything to do with those damn…"

Suddenly the fireplace flared green and with a yell, Gray stumbled out of it and accidentally kicked one of the buckets, knocking it over as he fell the the floor and sloshing the contents everywhere.

"OH COME ON!" Gajeel roared. "THAT BUCKET TOOK ME AGES TO FILL!"

"Hello, Gray-san," Wendy said, more politely. "Is everything alright?"

"I'm not sure," Gray pushed himself to his feet quickly, clicking his shoulder. "One of the Order just got back from that Ministry place - the guy called Kingsley. He said that the Sphere inside the Ministry's done down."

"What!?" Gajeel gasped, milk forgotten. "Who was inside it?"

"It seems it was Levy…" Gray replied and Gajeel stiffened, eyes widening a little. "…And Gildarts."

"Gildarts!" Happy sprang up. "Gildarts is back! That's great!"

"What a relief," Wendy smiled. "Are they okay?"

"We think so. Luckily Master Mavis was there when the Sphere went down so she stopped them from doing anything like attacking the Ministry, but they're being held there for questioning. Looks like the Ministry might be about to learn about us."

"Well, Gildarts-san and Levy-san are great people. I'm sure they'll like them," Wendy noted.

"…I don't like this," Gajeel bristled slightly.

"What's wrong, Gajeel?" Lily cocked his head. "If you're worried about Levy, Gildarts will look after her."

"I ain't worried about her!" Gajeel denied rapidly. A little too rapidly. "It's just… I've got a bad feeling about this. In my gut… I dunno what it is… but I've learned to trust my instincts over the years and they're telling me now that there's reason to be concerned… Come on, let's go."

"Go?" Aberforth asked as Gajeel seized a handful of Floo Powder. "Go where exactly?"

Gajeel turned to give him a look, and smirked slightly. "Where do you think?"

It was perhaps half an hour after they'd been placed in the holding cell that noises from the corridor beyond told Gildarts and Levy that something was happening. They both swung around to face the thick wooden door of the room, which opened suddenly to reveal Scrimgeour looking rather disgruntled on the other side.

"Alright, it's time for questioning," he stated. "And I'm sure you can understand that the Minister wants to question the two of you individually. And apart. So, girl, if you'd like to make my job simpler, which would be nice, please come with me."

Levy stiffened slightly at the prospect. "Why? Why can't it be together?"

"That's just what the Minister wants, kid. Now, are you coming?"

Gildarts scowled slightly - he could tell what was happening. They were hoping that the small and defenceless looking girl would be an easier nut to crack than the grizzled, scarred man when it came to asking questions, and that they would be able to do it easier if they separated her from her only protector.

Still, he'd promised to play nice, so he said, "Levy, it'll be alright. I'm not going anywhere - I'll be right here when you get back."

Levy smiled gratefully at the reassurance before slowly nodding her head and stepping towards the door, which closed behind her with a low thud. She turned to see that Mavis had slipped out of the room as well and was hovering along behind her, so at least she still had someone watching out for her still. That allowed her to walk a little more confidently, even if Mavis was only a ghost.

But that confidence melted a little when the Aurors walked her into a large room with row upon row of wooden seats on three sides of it and a large space in the middle except for a single solitary chair that was set facing the front, where Fudge was sitting in his presiding seat. The other seats were also filled with several dozen men and women all garbed in purplish robes with a silver W on their left pectorals, the majority of them mostly bathed in shadows from the lights of the flickering torches on the walls, and all of them were staring at Levy with interest as she was marched towards the chair.

Once Levy was seated, the Aurors moved to the back of the room, barring the door just in case Levy tried to escape. But any thoughts of escape were quickly put paid to anyway because, just as Levy was about to speak she suddenly felt pressure on her arms. She looked down and gasped when she saw golden chains of some kind wrapping themselves around her wrists and elbows to pin them to the arms of the chair.

"H-HEY!" Levy gasped as she wriggled around slightly, wrenching at her sudden bonds and clenching her fists, her heart rate increasing rapidly. "What's this? What's going on?"

"Be calm, Miss," an authoritative voice came from a woman with a monocle and short grey hair in the seat to the Minister's left. "It's just a precaution to make sure you don't try anything."

"But I wasn't going to try anything!" Levy protested.

"Nevertheless, as I said, we must make sure," the woman replied sternly. "Or at least in this circumstance I have been told that we must."

"We do not know what we are dealing with here, Madam Bones," Fudge responded a little tartly. "Many of the things these people have said have made very little sense. But they are involved somehow in the strange events that have been happening recently, and this emergency session of the Wizengamot is here to find out how."

"Is this a trial?" Levy gaped. "But… but I haven't done anything wrong."

"No, Miss, it is not a trial. We will not be passing a sentence on you - we are just here to learn the truth," Madam Bones replied shortly. "If you have indeed done nothing then you surely have nothing to worry about."

Levy relaxed a little at that - a memory of that time Erza was arrested by the Council coming to mind. That had just been an arrest for show, to assure the public that the Council was on top of things and she remembered how this Fudge had said he wanted the public to know he was taking action. So this must be pretty similar. Thank the gods for that.

"Before we begin, can we offer you a drink?" Fudge asked. "We expect you to do a lot of talking, after all."

"Yes please," Levy licked her lips, suddenly realising in all the excitement just how thirsty and hungry she was. Well, if what Mavis had said was true it had been six years since she'd last eaten.

"Levy, remember that these people have no clue who we are," Mavis pointed out from where she was standing next to her, as an Auror brought a goblet forward and allowed Levy to take a few gulps from it. "The fact we're from another universe will need to be broken to them gently, which is why I haven't revealed myself to them yet because apparently their ghosts are different than ours. When they ask you questions about where you're from and what your magic is like, answer them truthfully, but then I'll need you to act like you're slowly coming to a realisation that you might not be in your own world. So we're mostly being honest with them. Okay?"

Levy managed to disguise a "Mm-hm," as a hum of appreciation as she finished the water and smacked her lips slightly. "Thank you," she said, as she looked up at the Minister.

"Alright then, let's get on with the interrogation. Weasley, are you ready?"

"Yes sir," called a skinny man with short red hair on the front row with a long roll of parchment and a quill.

"Alright then. Interrogation of unknown suspect on the tenth of September. Interrogators: Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister for Magic; Amelia Susan Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Court Scribe, Percy Ignatius Weasley. Would the suspect please give her full name?"

"Levy McGarden," Levy replied dutifully. "Levy spelt with a Y."

"No middle name?" Madam Bones asked sharply.

"If I have one I don't know what it is."

"Very well." Madam Bones swished her wand, but when nothing happened she frowned slightly and fixed her piercing eyes upon Levy. "It appears that we have no witch called Levy McGarden in our records. Which is very interesting considering we are supposed to have a file on every witch and wizard in our country. Care to explain that?"

What Levy tried to say was, "I'm not sure. What country am I in?"

What she actually said was, "That would be because I'm from another universe."

This sentence was followed by an immediate gasp as Levy tried to cover her mouth with her hands, only to be pulled up short by the chains binding her arms. What the hell? Why had she said that? She hadn't meant to say that at all but somehow the words seemed to have strolling out off her tongue totally unbidden.

"Oh no…" she heard Mavis mutter. "They can't… they can't have!"

The rest of the hall was deathly silent, as if everything and everyone in it had suddenly been buried five-hundred feet below the ground. Every eye was staring at Levy with mixed amounts of shock and incredulity - evidently whatever they had been expecting Levy to say, that had not been it. Even the red-haired scribe was staring with an open mouth, allowing ink to drop off the end of his quill and spatter across the parchment.

Eventually Fudge coughed slightly and said, "Excuse me? Where… did you say you were from?"

Levy's brain was struggling with what to say next but her mouth seemed to have a mind of its own and she said, "From another universe. We call that universe Earthland and I live in the city of Magnolia, in the country of Fiore."

"You expect us to believe something like that do you?"

"It's the truth. All the members of my guild that have been running around causing problems recently are from Earthland." Oh Gods, what was happening? She hadn't meant to say that either.

Fudge and Madam Bones took a glance at each other as the rest of the hall broke out into whispers, before Madam Bones cleared her throat and said, "If that fantastical story is true, how did you come to be here now?"

"I'm not entirely sure. Apparently it was something to do with a strange dragon attack that sent me and my friends from my universe to your own," Levy gushed out, even after she'd tried to keep her mouth shut and remain absolutely silent.

"I… see…" Madam Bones asked. "Are we sure she wasn't given a Babbling Beverage?"

"No, quite sure," Fudge was leaning forwards a little, his eyes bulging slightly. "It was definitely Veritaserum that was put in that water. I saw it administered myself. Everything that she's saying… is what she believes to be true."

"You drugged me!?" Levy gasped, shock radiating through her. Oh no! That wasn't fair!

Mavis' hand was over her mouth. She'd made a horrible miscalculation thanks to her lack of knowledge about this world. Truth serums did exist back in their world, but they were extremely rare, and were outlawed anyway. They certainly weren't allowed in trials. But evidently this world… had a very different set of rules.

What should she do? Should she reveal herself or would that just make it worse?

"It's possible there was a mistake in the brewing. Or that this girl is resistant to it. You know people can resist truth serum if they know how."

"Indeed they can… but I very much doubt that anyone seeking to lie to us would come up with a story like that unless they were incredibly stupid," Madam Bones murmured. "And I don't think this girl is stupid. She seems rather intelligent to me."

"P - Please… please understand… it wasn't our fault. We didn't ask to be here - it was a total accident," Levy blustered.

"Well… perhaps… this fantastical story… explains what your friend was talking about when he mentioned you were part of a guild of magic," said Fudge. "Magical guilds have not been around in our society since ancient times. Tell me about yours."

"Our guild's name is Fairy Tail," Levy felt tears appearing in her eyes as she continued to blurt out answers against her will, even though this was the kind of thing she would have said had she been asked about her guild anyway. "Guilds are where magic users, which we call mages in our world, can gather to find work when other people send requests to the guild for certain jobs with money rewards if the mage succeeds."

"You said the mark on your back is the mark of your guild? That means everyone in your guild has that mark?"

"Yes, and nobody else. It's forbidden by magical law for anyone to wear a guild mark unless they are part of that guild."

"You say that you have magic, yet you carry no wands. Do you not use them?"

"No, but we can use other magical items. We have two kinds of magic - Caster Type and Holder Type. Caster type magic is when the magic user channels magic out of their own bodies. Holder type is where they have to use special tools for the magic to work…"

"And what kind do you use?" Fudge seemed to be on a roll now.

"Caster Type."

"Which means you could actually still use your magic right now at this moment?"

"W… Well… my Solid Script Magic requires hand movements to pull it off so I can't really use it that well while chained like this… but I could still use it, yes…"

"Then that means… we haven't disarmed you at all. And your companion back in his cell can still use magic too," Fudge got to his feet amongst the hubbub that was breaking out. "Call in the extra security at once! Do it now!"

A couple of the Aurors hurriedly left the room, but Madam Bones choked a little and protested loudly. "Minister! Can't you see the poor girl is distressed and frightened? Bringing them in would only make the situation worse."

"Until we know exactly what we are dealing with here, I will not take any chances," Fudge growled forcefully.

"No, I really must protest. Don't you think this is a little extreme? She's just a girl that by all accounts doesn't seem to have done anything wrong…"

"We have to maintain our security as well as the security of others. If they can still use their magic that means they are still in a position where they could potentially harm us and I will not take the risk until we know exactly who they are and what they can do!"

"But we don't want to harm you," Levy screamed. "We want to be friends. We really don't want any trouble - we just want to find all of our friends again and then see if there's a way we can get back to…"

Suddenly the words died in Levy's throat and her entire body went rigid, stiffening up as if suddenly petrified. Her entire body suddenly felt as though it had been plunged into icy water, water that was seeping through her skin to chill her insides right down to the bone marrow. A horrible sense of despair began to form seemingly of its own accord in her gut, washing over her like a wave, as she felt every hair on her body stand up, her eyes wide, her mouth agape in a silent scream and feeling as if frost should be forming over her skin when it wasn't.

She faintly heard the heavy wooden doors behind her open again, and heard Mavis gasp slightly. Slowly, trembling without knowing why, Levy turned her head around to look towards the door out of the corner of her eye.

And she saw them. Four of them, gliding eerily, weightlessly, their towering bodies covered by long black cloaks that covered their entire form that billowed across the ground as if they didn't have feet, complete with a deep hood that covered their faces. Levy felt her eyes widening as they approached her, saw the Aurors backing away from them slightly as well, hearing the deathly quiet in the room as everything seemed to get darker and colder around her by the second.

Her heart was pounding in her chest but even it seemed to be feeling the cold that came with the creatures, and it practically stopped as it heard the horrible, unearthly rattling breaths that were coming from deep within the hoods of the… things…

And then a voice… in her head… a voice that wasn't hers, but that she remembered, creeping to the front of her mind unbidden…

"Are you Levy McGarden?"

"Yeah… I am. Who are you?" suddenly her own voice replied, but it sounded younger, a little more high-pitched.

"I'm… so sorry to have to tell you this… but its about your parents."

Levy froze up even more if that was at all possible. Oh gods, what was happening? This conversation… she knew this conversation… and it seemed to ring ever louder in her mind while everything else seemed to fog up, her vision going dark, struggling to see, but at the back of her eyes she could only seem to make out a fuzzy image of the moustached man from that day.

"There was an unfortunate incident at the ruins today. One of the passages that they were excavating… collapsed. There was a huge cave-in and… we spent hours searching for them, trying to dig them out, hoping they were alive but… I'm sorry. They didn't make it."

"….You're… you're lying…!"

"I wish I was, child. I wish I…"

"NO! NO, ITS NOT TRUE!" She could practically feel herself trying to charge past him out the door only to be held back, feel the tears that had started to pour their way down her face. "IT'S NOT TRUE! THEY'RE NOT DEAD! THEY'RE NOT! MUMMY! DADDY! COME BACK! COME BACK AND GET ME PLEASE! PLLLEAASSEEEEEE! MMUUUUMMMMYYYYYYYYYYY!"

Levy was vaguely aware she was breathing heavily, and beginning to sweat despite the intense cold all around her, but she was unable to think clearly. She could barely even wonder why she was suddenly remembering this so vividly. She heard, as if miles away, Mavis calling her name. Heard Madam Bones booming, "Minister, she's having a violent reaction to the Dementors - they shouldn't be here," but all Levy could really focus on was the terror and despair that seemed to be coursing through her veins.

And that's when she heard it. The memory of when she'd learned of her parents deaths faded… to be replaced with the sound of cruel, harsh, cackling laughter.

"Levy! Get back! Run for it!"

"We'll handle this! KNUCKLE PLANT!"

"GUYS NO! STOP! YOU'RE INJURED!" she heard herself screaming as she dimly so the shape of Droy hurling several plant seeds to the ground, which rapidly sprouted out as plant fists, whooshing towards their target. Only for that target to dice the plants into pieces with a whirling leap and flurry of slashes from his sword before landing right in front of Droy and smashing him with the flat of the viciously spiked blade, and send him crashing into a nearby wall hard enough to splinter the bricks.

"DROY!" Jet cried out as he suddenly shot around behind the shadowy man and pile-drove into the back of him with his Falcon Heavenward, only for a metallic clang to ring through the air as the man refused to budge an inch. Jet cried out as he stumbled backwards clutching what might just be a broken leg before their attacker wheeled around to seize him by the neck and whirl him around by it, sending him crashing into Droy just as the latter was trying to get up. And even as the two struggled to rise again, the attacker pounced on them and drove them through the wall entirely with a vicious blow to each of their chests with his two clubs.

"No!" Levy heard herself cry as her past self ran towards them while the attacker lifted both her teammates up by their necks and leered as he watched them struggle for breath. "SOLID SCRIPT: STONE!" she tried to jump into the attack and conjured up a rocky version of the word 'stone' in front of herself, hurling it at him like a cannonball. Only for her to gasp in horror as he flung Jet and Droy into the path of the attack so it hit them instead, shattering to rubble and flinging them back down the street.

"Geeheehee… how cruel for you to attack your own comrades like that," the man stepped forward into the light a little more, revealing his long, ragged black hair, the studs over his face and arms and his terrible red eyes, staring at her like she was prey. "And I thought you Fairy Butts were supposed to stick together or some crap like that."

"You'll pay for this. You'll see - we'll make make you pay…" Levy choked bravely before conjuring the word 'stone' again and throwing it at him once more. But Gajeel, the Phantom Lord S-Class Mage, charged straight into the attack and smashed it to rubble with a metal fist, thundering in towards her and slamming his other fist into her gut before she had a chance to do anything. The impact lifted her off her feet with a strangled cry of agony but before she went flying he seized her by the ankle and slammed her straight downwards into road, fracturing the cobbles beneath her.

Levy heard her cries echo through the street before Gajeel suddenly seized her by the lower face in one hand, clamping his palm over her mouth to silence her and sneered as he lifted her up by it to slam her against the wall, pinning her there by her face even as she struggled feebly.

"Now now. No screaming. I want the pathetic trash you call friends to find out about this when they wake up next morning and not before. But there's quite a bit of time left until dawn… which means plenty of time left for some more fun, don't you agree?"

Even as Levy felt the terror pounding through her veins as the memory filled her consciousness, there was a tiny part of her that was screaming, 'That's not him! He's not like that anymore! He changed! He saved you from Laxus and from Grimoire Heart! He's good now!'

But that part was drowned out by the dread and hopelessness trying to swallow up the rest of her and all Levy could do was scream. Writhe and thrash and kick in the chair, the chains biting into her arms as her wails filled the room.

Mavis was leaning in front of her, unseen to the others and trying desperately to get her to snap out of it but as the cloaked beings closed in around Levy the bluenette's struggles seemed to weaken as her consciousness began to fade. She grimaced as she looked up - whatever these creatures were doing to Levy wasn't affecting her as much, possibly because she was a ghost, but she could still feel a terrible fear seeping through her body. And she could see that many of the people around the room were looking highly uncomfortable themselves, most trying to keep as far away from the Dementors as they could but a couple of the Aurors wondering if they should step in, keep the Dementors away from the prisoner.

What should she do? Should she reveal herself and demand this stop? Those things were hurting Levy just by being nearby. She couldn't allow this to happen!

"Minister, how are we supposed to even question her when she's like this?" Madam Bones pointed out.

"We'll just have to wait for her to adjust," Fudge said firmly. "But until we know what she can do, the Dementors stay as an added precaution. Now, we must…"

BANG!

Just as Levy was on the verge of losing consciousness the entire room was practically thrown off balance. For a fraction of a second, a large lattice of criss-crossing white lines appeared on the heavy wooden doors and about half the back wall before both suddenly exploded inwards, shattering into hundreds of pieces in an instant flat as a single, solitary figure thundered through the door, fist first.

The Aurors were forced to dive forwards to avoid being crushed under falling chunks of brick, while all those in the stands jumped to their feet in shock and most of them fell over. Even the Dementors lurched around and backed away, hissing and rattling. But Mavis could only smile as Gildarts stood there amongst the debris. He must have heard Levy's screams from his holding cell and come thundering to the rescue, and with a single punch to the door he'd shattered pretty much the entire wall!

Gildarts took one look at the slumped Levy chained to the chair and his expression grew thunderous, glaring up at the stunned, cowering Minister for Magic.

"You know, I really was planning to play nice," he said as he strode forwards, his cloak billowing behind him. "But perhaps there's one thing you should understand about our guild. We look out for each other. And we'll do anything… and I mean anything… to protect each other. No matter who the enemy may be."

And his hand crashed down on the back of Levy's chair, disintegrating the entire thing, chains and all, in a second flat. Levy, barely conscious, groaned as she fell but Gildarts caught her and slung her over one shoulder with surprising gentleness.

"I get the feeling you guys aren't really bad, per se," Gildarts announced. "But if this is how you intend to treat even someone as gentle and kind as Levy, I think we're done here. Good day." And without another word he swept around and thundered back towards the massive hole where the wall had been, Mavis right behind him.

"S…STOP HIM! DON'T LET THEM LEAVE!" Fudge gave a strangled cry. One Auror reluctantly tried to obey and pointed his wand, only for Gildarts to swing an arm out and generate a white wave across the ground beneath the Auror's feet, which was blasted to pieces and flung the Auror backwards against a wall, while Gildarts charged out of the gap, down the corridor and away.

"Put everyone on high alert!" Fudge cried. "We've got an extremely dangerous man active within the Ministry! He must be stopped at all costs! Now! After him!"

And with a horrible rattling, the four Dementors whooshed off in pursuit.