Real sorry for the delay to this chapter folks, but suffice to say university work has been rather catching up to me recently. Hopefully it won't take me quite so long to get round to the next one, but for now here I am again.

Dance of the Fairies, Flight of the Phoenix

Chapter 16:- Knowledge

Needless to say, Harry didn't get any more sleep that night after that crazy dream. He couldn't drive the visions he'd seen out of his head, and they just kept repeating themselves over and over and over. He'd had strange dreams before… but this one was a whole other level of weird.

And frightening.

Harry wasn't ashamed to admit to himself that he was bloody terrified at this point. Not least because he was already well aware that the person that had been talking to Lucius Malfoy in the dream had not really been him. It had been Voldemort - he was sure of it. But… why had he been looking through Voldemort's eyes? That hadn't happened before. He'd had dreams about Voldemort before last year - dreams which made all too much sense now. But he'd never seen them from Voldemort's perspective until now.

Had something changed? Was the fact that Voldemort now had a body back that changed things?

But why the hell would a change like that be made?

Or was he just overthinking things and that was just some random aspect of the dream and that if he had another one he could be watching it from directly above or something like that instead?

Ugh, his mind was such a mess. Not only was he worrying about all this, but he was also wondering whether he should be worrying at all. All the stuff that had happened in the dream, with Voldemort and Lucius talking about people from another universe… some group called Fairy Tail… all that seemed utterly ludicrous. Since discovering magic existed Harry's imagination had been much more open than before, and even then there had been many times where he'd been left gobsmacked by something he'd just seen. But people from another universe with magic that was effectively like superpowers? Get real.

Head swimming, Harry decided to spend the rest of the night in the Common Room in case he woke someone else up. He tried going over a couple of homework assignments in an attempt to get his mind of it, but gave up in the end. He just couldn't focus on anything but what he'd seen, even the whole thing still sounded nothing but mad… it had just seemed so… real.

Eventually the sun rose and Gryffindor students began to filter down from the dormitories and go to breakfast, some of them nodding to him, others ignoring him. Seamus Finnegan was one of the first up, and looked rather startled to see Harry sitting there, but he quickly bustled on past without saying a word. Harry frowned, trying not to feel angry at the cold shoulder that Seamus had been giving him this year for telling the truth, but honestly considering how well they'd gotten on in previous years, it was hard not to.

Hermione came down shortly afterwards and she too looked rather shocked to find Harry there. "Have you been here all night?" she asked.

"No… not all night…" Harry sighed, rolling up his parchment. "Didn't get much sleep though."

Hermione bit her lip. "This isn't my fault, is it?"

"Huh?" Harry blinked. "Why would it be your fault?"

"Well, you know, the thing I mentioned last night? The idea I had where you… well, you know I don't really want to talk about it in public…"

Harry blinked. The idea of him teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons in Umbridge's place had been completely driven from his head after that dream, but now it all came rushing back. "Oh… no… no, nothing like that. No it's… it's nothing important."

Hermione raised a brow, quite clearly not believing him for a moment, before murmuring, "Right… well… you should probably go and wake Ron up. If you don't then it'll take him hours to crawl out of bed."

"Yeah… yeah, okay," Harry nodded, hefting himself heavily up to his feet and trudging up the stairs once again. While the dream was still on repeat in his mind, now it had suddenly been joined by Hermione's idea. A very large part of Harry still thought it was mad but… Voldemort was definitely out there. And regardless of whether that dream was true or not, which he doubted, he was certainly planning something. They did need someone to teach them… and since nobody else was going to be able to come into the castle while Umbridge was on the prowl… he guessed they'd have to take it upon themselves to do it.

Hmm… it might take some thinking about.

Eventually though he managed to wake Ron, and the redhead came stumbling down the stairs behind him a few minutes later. But when they reached the Great Hall, they found the place in uproar! It was usually quite quiet at breakfast, with many people still half-asleep, but this time everyone was wide away and talking at the tops of their voices just to be heard over one another.

"What the heck's going on?" Ron asked.

"Beats me," Harry replied.

"Harry! Harry! Ron! Hermione!" Neville Longbottom suddenly came huffing up towards them as soon as he caught sight of them, waving a copy of the Daily Prophet in one hand and looking practically panic-stricken. "Have you seen? Have you seen?"

"Neville, slow down," Hermione stepped in quickly. "Seen what?"

"This!" Neville shoved the newspaper into Harry's arms so hard he almost knocked him over. But Harry quickly flipped the paper right side up and felt Ron and Hermione crowd in on either side of him to get a good look. And there was a collective gasp when they caught sight of the title that blared out at them from the front page.

MINISTRY ATTACK! CULPRITS ARE OUT OF THIS WORLD!

"What the hell?" Ron cried, but Hermione shushed him as she leaned over Harry's shoulder and read aloud.

"Yesterday at approximately four in the afternoon, the Ministry of Magic Headquarters in London was subjected to a sudden and terrifying attack from a group of unknown wizards and witches that left a trail of destruction behind them almost too terrifying to comprehend. Several whole rooms and corridors were half obliterated in the struggle and though miraculously no humans was killed in the horrendous assault, there were several dozen left with major injuries."

"You think my Dad could have been one of them?" Ron's face was pale.

"Maybe. But if he's hurt at least we know he's alive," Hermione added before moving on. "Panicked Ministry workers fled in terror as the unknown aggressors tore the Ministry apart and made short work of the Ministry security that attempted to stop them. And they were eventually able to escape through the use of a Portkey cage in the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, which took them away to an unknown location. None of them were captured or arrested.

"Many questions remain, such as who are these people and where did they come from. The fact of the matter is that the answer we have been given is nothing short of extraordinary.

"'This will be difficult to stomach for anyone who hears this,' Minister Fudge gave a statement last night. 'But it seems they came from the meteor shower we experienced last weekend. Shortly after that event a large glowing sphere was discovered on the outskirts of Nottingham and transported to the Department of Mysteries for study. And some of the attackers were inside that Sphere.'"

"Inside the sphere?" Harry breathed, his eyes widening as the image of the glowing spheres from his dream were called to the front of his mind.

The rest of the article detailed what had happened next, how under questioning the two from the Sphere had revealed that they believed to be from a totally different universe, and how without any provocation they had suddenly attacked the Ministry employees while others had, from nowhere, stormed the Ministry to lay waste to it.

"'But despite the staggering odds our Aurors and Security forces rallied and they were forced to make a hasty retreat,' Ministry Fudge stated. 'Yet I am afraid to say that they very much remain at large. And despite how far-fetched their claims may seem, considering their magical abilities we have no choice but to take it at face value for now. They are aliens on our turf and must be stopped. So, for that reason, I am declaring everyone from the mage guild known as Fairy Tail to be public enemies number 1. If you see anything suspicious or if you see anyone with a tattoo of the symbol below then I urge you to call the Auror Office immediately.'

"Ministry officials have assured people that despite the devastation there is no need to panic for next time they shall be much more prepared."

There was quite a hush after that, before Ron cried, "What the actual heck!? People from another universe? They've got to be kidding, right? It's just not possible."

"I don't know, Ron. Even many Muggles believe there could be other universes out there," Hermione rubbed the back of her neck. "It does seem a little… hard to believe though…"

"It's true," Harry said immediately. "I know its true."

"What makes you say that?" said Ron.

"Because… look… I don't really think talking about it here's a good idea…"

"Who's going to hear you? We barely hear ourselves as it is over this noise!" Ron pointed out, gesturing to the frightened looking mass the filled the hall.

Harry hesitated as the three of them took their seats, but after glancing up to make sure that Umbridge wasn't looking his way, which she mercifully wasn't, he said in a voice that required the other two to lean in to hear him. "I had a dream last night. I dreamed about Voldemort again."

Ron coughed at the sound of Voldemort's name and Hermione went a little paler. "That's why you were up so early," she murmured. "I knew there was a reason."

"Yeah… but not just about him. I dreamt about him talking to Lucius Malfoy. And Malfoy was telling him… about something called Fairy Tail. And Voldemort… he's got two glowing spheres with that very symbol on the side of it." He tapped the newspaper. "Whatever's happening, whoever the heck these guys are, Voldemort's got some of them."

"But how can you know that, Harry?" Hermione pressed. "How can you be sure that this wasn't just some dream?"

"What, that he happened to have the evening after the Ministry was attacked but before he'd heard about this lot?" Ron pointed out.

"Yes, I know that part Ron. What I meant is… how can you know what V… Voldemort… is doing? How can you suddenly dream him up and think its fact?"

"It's happened before Hermione. I've dreamed of Voldemort doing things that I've learned he actually did before. I saw him murder an old man once and when our wands connected last year, that man was one of the phantom things I saw come out of Voldemort's wand. Don't ask me how it works cos I sure as heck don't know. But I'd stake my life that I'm right."

"…Blimey…" Ron breathed. "This is nuts. This is like something even Beedle the Bard wouldn't have thought up."

"Oh gosh, can you imagine?" Hermione covered her hand with her mouth. "How confusing and scary it must be to find yourself suddenly in a completely different universe?"

"Doesn't sound like they're that confused and scared to me," Ron pointed out.

"And when has the Daily Prophet printed a totally unbiased and accurate version of a story recently?" Hermione said. "I think we have to take this story with a pinch of salt if you ask me. I mean… who knows what these people must be feeling?"

"You think they might not be bad guys?" Harry asked.

"I didn't say that. I'm just saying we shouldn't assume they are just because the Prophet says they are. After all, the Prophet also says that Harry and Dumbledore are bad guys too."

"That… is very true," Ron blinked.

The three of them sat in silence for a while before Hermione suddenly said, "Harry… I really think that you need to go and talk to Dumbledore about this. And not just because of the fact that you're having strange dreams above V-Voldemort. If you really think its true and he does have some of these Fairy Tail people with him, regardless of whether they're really from another world or not, I think the Order should probably know about it."

Harry grimaced slightly, feeling a familiar anger bubbling up inside him. Why should he go and tell Dumbledore something important when Dumbledore had been neglecting to tell him anything important whatsoever since Voldemort had returned?

But… nevertheless Hermione was right. The Order probably did need to know about this and though he'd rather talk to Sirius about it, that was somewhat out of the question.

"She's right, mate," said Ron. "We've got a free period first thing. You should probably try and talk to him then."

"Yeah… yeah, fine. I'll go," Harry nodded, before he helped himself to some bacon.

It was only when Harry reached the Headmaster's office that he realised he no longer knew the password, which led to him standing outside and feeling rather stupid as he stared at the stone gargoyle that guarded the door, the gargoyle staring right back - immobile but somehow with an air about it that seemed to indicate it was amused.

"Uh…" Harry stood there dumbly, trying to think up what the password would be - Dumbledore usually used some kind of sweet he was partial to, but not necessarily magical ones. But just before he was about to try 'Chocolate Frogs' the door opened. Harry blinked as none other than Luna Lovegood stepped out, a slight expression of relief mixed in with her usual dreamy gaze.

"Oh, hello Harry," she smiled.

"Er… hi Luna… what were you doing in there?"

"Just enquiring after a friend of mine," Luna replied vaguely. "And I take it you're here to talk about what you saw in the paper this morning."

"I… how did you…"

"Well, it's what everyone's talking about, isn't it? And obviously you would be concerned about how this could impact the fight against You-Know-Who and since you and Dumbledore are at the forefront of that it is natural you'd want to speak to him."

Harry blinked several times. He was certain that Luna didn't know a thing about the Order of the Phoenix, and yet for someone who seemed to believe in the existence of Crumple-Horned Skorkacks she was amazingly insightful. "Er… yeah," he said lamely. "Did you ever think that there could be people from another universe?"

"Not until recently. But I'm always telling everyone that they should keep open minds about these things. Things will come as much less of a shock if you assume anything is possible. Anyway, I have to get to class. Bye, Harry."

Harry stared after her, nonplussed, as she skipped down the corridor until she rounded a corner and vanished from sight. He was beginning to wonder how he'd never known about that girl before. She was a right little mystery - he could never figure out whether the things she said made sense or were utterly bonkers.

Still, he had to focus so he turned back to the open door, but right before he could knock he heard Dumbledore's voice from within say, "You may enter."

Dumbledore himself was standing by a window - one of the few that didn't have a windowsill covered in strange devices, and had his back to Harry when he stepped into the office. Without turning around the Headmaster began with, "And what can I do for you today, Mr. Potter."

Harry frowned - normally when he entered Dumbledore's office the Headmaster would greet him with a warm smile, perhaps offer him a sweet and generally be very friendly, but just like at the hearing that summer he was being assertive, distant, perhaps even slightly cold. It was rather unnerving, and part of the reason why Harry had been reluctant to come and talk to him. But he eventually cleared his throat and said, "Professor… I think there's something you should know."

"I think there's a lot of things that I should know," said Dumbledore. "But alas, there are many things that I do not. Still, what is it that you want to tell me?"

"I… I had another dream last night. Like the one I had last year about Voldemort torturing Pettigrew about letting Crouch escape. I think… I think that he may be up to something big."

This caused Dumbledore to turn around and eye him stonily. "Lingering on dreams like this is unwise, Harry. It is true that dreams can sometimes be prophetic but often they really are just nonsense. Still, what was your one?"

"I dreamed that… he was talking to Lucius Malfoy. About the break-in that happened at the Ministry yesterday. He was talking about some kind of… broken prophecy at first I think. I didn't really understand it."

Dumbledore closed his eyes slightly, before asking, "Anything else?"

"Um… yes. Then he asked Lucius about this… Fairy Tail bunch and when he found out what Lucius knew… he said that he wanted to try and find a way of using them to his advantage. And I saw… two golden glowing sphere thingies just like the one described in the paper this morning, and with the same symbol on them. I don't really know what they are Professor, but I know that Voldemort has two of them. I'm sure of it."

Dumbledore said nothing for a while, looking as if he was in deep thought, or possibly as if he'd fallen asleep where he stood. Finally he said, "I see… and may I ask… where was he when this dream took place? Could you see anything that might tell us exactly where Voldemort is?"

"Um… there was a long, dark corridor but other than that I didn't really see much."

"Very well. And you? Where… might I ask… were you?"

"…What do you mean, Professor?"

"Where were you watching the scene take place from in the dream?"

"I was…" Harry swallowed, a lump appearing in his throat and a shiver running down his spine at the recollection. "I was… inside Voldemort. I… saw what he was seeing."

Dumbledore said nothing for several moments, appearing to look through Harry rather than at him which made Harry seriously struggle not to either fidget or trying and get him to stop. But eventually Dumbledore swept across the room until he could slowly settle down into the chair behind his desk, his fingertips pressed together.

"Very well then," he said. "I thank you for calling this to my attention, Harry. You may go."

"Go?" said Harry incredulously. "But… but Professor? Shouldn't we talk about this? About what it means?"

"Harry, I do appreciate you coming here to tell me this, but really what is there to discuss?" Dumbledore looked at him from over the top of his glasses, the familiar twinkle in his eyes very noticeably absent.

"…How about the implications of Voldemort having people from another universe in his possession? How we can stop him from using them? How we can stop him from doing anything at all! Professor, I want to be involved. I'm the one that Voldemort's after so even if you won't let me be out there to fight him why won't anybody talk to me about opposing him!"

"Harry," Dumbledore started, but Harry was on a role now and kept going.

"Why wouldn't you tell me over the summer about the Order until you had to? Why won't you tell me what Voldemort's doing? Why are you just talking to me only as much as it suits you instead of including me in something that started because of me!?"

"Not because of you, Harry. Voldemort's resurrection was not your doing. He would have used another's blood if he could not get hold of your own."

"BUT HE DID GET MINE! HE SPENT A WHOLE YEAR TRYING TO GET TO ME SO THAT HE COULD UNDO MY MOTHER'S PROTECTION! AND EVEN THOUGH I GOT AWAY FROM HIM HE WON'T STOP CHASING ME! SO WHY WON'T YOU LET ME BE INVOLVED! WHY WON'T YOU LET ME FIGHT INSTEAD OF SITTING HERE AND…!"

"HARRY POTTER!" Dumbledore's voice suddenly boomed so loudly that all of Harry's anger evaporated, along with his words, staring at the elderly man who was now on his feet and looked more imposing than Harry had ever seen him. But after a second, Dumbledore closed his eyes and calm returned to the room once more.

"Harry…" Dumbledore said slowly, as if choosing his words carefully. "I understand why you would feel resentment for being kept in the dark about so many things. I understand that it must be frustrating and more than anything I understand your desire to actively participate in the war against a man who had caused you nothing but grief for your entire life.

"But I want you to understand something to. I want you to understand that I have my reasons as to why I do not tell you things and do not want others to tell you things either. Those reasons are many and varied, but they are also valid. One day you will know everything. One day there will be no more secrets, I promise you. That day is not today, but I suspect that it will come sooner than I once anticipated. And I hope when that day comes, you understand why I have acted this way. Why I choose not to tell you. Until then, I must ask you to just trust me. A tall order perhaps given my apparent lack of communication skills… but nevertheless Harry… I am on your side."

Harry opened his mouth, but his brain couldn't seem to come up with any words to send out of it from a while before he coughed and said, "…Yeah… well… alright. Sorry, Professor."

"That is quite alright. Now, once again, thank you for bringing this information to my attention. You may go."

Harry nodded and headed out without another word. As he descended the steps, a little of the bitterness returned, frustration that he'd left the office without a single one of the questions he had rattling around in his brain answered. But while he felt that he could trust Dumbledore with his life, he was damned if he was going to just sit back and do nothing at all like he seemed to want him to.

Suddenly Hermione's idea of learning defence in their spare time was looking far more attractive than before.

Dumbledore sat back down, placing a hand to his forehead and rubbing his temples. He always hated raising his voice, but not as much as he hated having to leave Harry so frustrated and clueless. But he had not been lying. He did indeed have many reasons, though one of them admittedly was the vain hope that Harry could have a somewhat normal childhood whenever possible.

But it truly seemed that that hope was never going to be fulfilled, especially now.

"Well… that was pleasant," said a voice by the windowsill he'd been standing at before, where Mavis was sitting and swinging her legs periodically.

"Far from it," Dumbledore replied with a sigh.

"So, that's him?" said Mavis. "That's the Harry Potter that we've all heard so much tell of?"

"Yes, that is him," Dumbledore nodded. "A boy that truly cannot seem to escape misfortune no matter how many good things also come his way. I had hopes that after so long with such uncaring relatives that Hogwarts could truly be a place where Harry was happy. And yet every year seems to bring new things with it that prevent poor Harry from simply sitting back and enjoying his childhood."

"Everyone should have the chance to enjoy their childhood," said Mavis ruefully. "But not everybody gets it."

"You sound like you are speaking from experience."

"Actually for the most part I very much enjoyed my childhood. But there were definitely a few moments that… left me wishing I could forget what just happened with all of my soul."

"My condolences."

"Thank you. So… perhaps you would be willing to share with me the reasons why you are refusing to tell that boy anything he wants to know?"

"Like I said there are many. And I have not told the full list of them to anybody."

"I see. Then perhaps I could hazard a guess. Based on what I have heard and understand so far… you fear that he has some connection to Lord Voldemort that could possibly mean that Voldemort could look into his mind and know what he knows, see what he sees and hear what he hears. Just as he apparently did to Voldemort in his sleep last night."

"…You are quite brilliant, Mavis Vermilion. What made you deduce that?"

"Simple facts, like how Voldemort apparently has Harry's blood running inside him and the fact that Sirius told me about how even before that happened Harry's scar, which was inflicted on him by Voldemort, hurt whenever something big happened that involved Voldemort. I do not believe I know the full story, but there is clearly some kind of link between them that goes beyond simple fate."

"Indeed. And this new dream of his… it only further raises my suspicions."

"It would be rather traumatic for him to learn that. Is there anything that he can do to block Voldemort from entering his mind, or his own from entering Voldemort's?"

"There are ways, and I will very soon try and implement them before it is too late."

"Well, for what its worth, I do think that you should tell him about us. About Fairy Tail. He already knows we exist and so does Voldemort."

"That is true, but what Voldemort does not know is that you are working with us already, or who you all are or the full extent of what you can do. If he were to discover he could look into Harry's mind and he knew about you, that would spell the end of any element of surprise we had."

"And we will deal with it," Mavis replied simply. "Just as we always do. Fairy Tail had faced down many enemies who think they know who we are and how to deal with us. They have always found us to be more of a surprise than they anticipated. And if Harry thinks we are a second threat, he will be most angry that you knew we were not and you didn't tell him. He would have been worrying for nothing."

Dumbledore pursed his lips. "I will… think on your words, Mavis. But what of you. Now that you have learned that Voldemort has two Fairy Spheres, what do you intend to do?"

Mavis' expression darkened. "At all costs, whoever is in those Spheres must be rescued. I already know that they would never willingly agree to work with someone like Voldemort, no matter how silver his tongue might be. But we cannot allow them to stay in his clutches any more than necessary."

"I agree," Dumbledore replied. "But sadly there is little that the Order can do to help other than what we have already been doing - keeping our ears to the ground in the hope of finding where any bases the Death Eaters may have might be located. He is not using the houses of any of the identified Death Eaters as a permanent base. If he were then we would have found him already."

"The Fairy Spheres will not be easy for him to transport," Mavis pointed out. "Even if he is constantly on the move, wherever he is keeping those will most likely be at his most permanent base."

"Then all we can really do at this time is continue with our efforts to try and find that base. But I can promise you, Mavis, when we do find it, you can count on our full support in retrieving them."

"Thank you," Mavis nodded. "That is greatly appreciated."

"And with that in mind, I think it best that we inform the other members of both our orders and guilds as to what we have learned. Phineas, I need you to head to your portrait at Grimmauld Place and inform anyone you see that Voldemort has two Fairy Spheres in his possession."

"Honestly, Dumbledore," the portrait of Hogwarts' least popular Headmaster sniffed. "I still can't believe that you would leave such destructive beings such as them into my own house. I graciously allow you to use it for the purposes of your war and you do this?"

"Phineas," Dumbledore replied mildly. "If you would be so kind."

The portrait sighed and walked out of frame.

"Now, I don't suppose you would be willing to share with me the rest of your suspicions about Harry Potter, would you?" Mavis asked.

"There is much to tell," Dumbledore grimaced. "And I am rather averse to the idea of telling anyone else. If my suspicions are correct… then the fewer people who know about it the better, for Harry's sake. If Voldemort were to learn of it… everything could be lost."

"And Voldemort would never learn anything from me," Mavis pointed out. "I am an astral body. I may choose to be solid most of the time, but I can be as intangible as any ghost if I so choose. I can only be seen by those I wish to see me, heard by those I wish to hear me, and Voldemort is neither of those things. Nor are any of his followers. He could not capture me, he could not torture me, he could not hear my voice even if I yelled all your secrets down his ear. Not to mention, Dumbledore, two minds are better than one, and it is far better to have someone to confide in that to hold everything inside. I wish to help, Dumbledore. Just as much as Harry does."

Dumbledore spent a moment rubbing his thumb and forefinger together thoughtfully before he said, "We must be blessed indeed that you ended up falling into our universe, Mavis. You and the rest of your guild… very well. I will tell you what I know, but much of what I know is primarily guesswork so do bear that in mind. Tell me… does your universe have anything known as a Horcrux?"

"Ugh, I hate this," Gray growled as paced up and down the kitchen, seriously fighting an urge to pull a Natsu and break something in his frustration, and only just refraining from doing so because of the fact he was a guest in someone else's house. "I can't stand sitting here and doing nothing like this."

"But its all we can do, Gray," Lisanna was wringing her hands together at the table where she was sitting with Juvia on one side and Sirius on the other. "We all feel the same way… but without knowing where to look there's nothing we can do… nothing at all…"

After the additional Fairy Tail members had been brought in, it had been agreed that Gildarts and Levy would stay at Grimmauld Place while Wendy, Gajeel and the Exceed returned to the Hog's Head once again - a situation that made Levy very relieved indeed, as she hoped to high heaven she could get her conflicting thoughts out of her head as long as the Iron Dragon Slayer wasn't around to keep freaking her out. And Tonk had profusely thanked Gildarts after he had accidentally broken the troll's leg umbrella stand in the hallway, splintering it into tiny pieces and thus ensuring that Tonks would never trip over it again.

"We'll keep our ears peeled for any information we can," Lupin promised. "And when we have something we'll inform you straight away, we promise."

"They'll be alright for the time being, won't they?" Levy asked. "As long as the Fairy Sphere remains up then there's no way that Voldemort can get to them, whoever they are, right?"

"Yes, but we don't know how long the Spheres will last," said Lisanna, her voice cracking slightly. "Mavis said that the amount of time they remain up has been totally randomised, but all of us were released from our Spheres within a few days of getting here. Will those Spheres also drop quickly? Or do we have a year in hand before we have to worry about whoever's in there?"

Juvia reached over and placed a hand on Lisanna's shoulder. "Are you okay, Lisanna-san? No, wait, that is a stupid question to ask. Juvia can tell you're not."

"I'm sorry," Lisanna screwed up her face, trying to swallow the lump in her throat and make her heart stop beating. "But I just can't help but fear what would happen if my brother and sister were in that Sphere. Of course I don't want any of them to be in there but…"

"But they're your family. It's natural you should worry," Mrs. Weasley said as she bustled over and placed a warm bowl of soup down in front of Lisanna. "Quite frankly Lisanna, if I was in your position, I would be having a full-blown panic attack. I don't think I could stop crying and fretting until I knew where every single member of my family was for sure. I am amazed you have the strength to not do the same."

Lisanna smiled gratefully. "I guess… there's a part of me that knows if it is Mira-nee or Elf-niichan inside those Spheres… that they'll put up one hell of a fight when they get free. But that doesn't stop me from worrying from the bottom of my soul. And not just for them but for all of the others too."

"And that is why we'll get them out," Sirius said simply. "We may not know where to look for them, but we will get them out. We're not just going to try. We're not just going to attempt it. We are going to make sure that all of you Fairy Tail members are reunited once again. You watch. Dumbledore will put every resource he can into finding them."

"And what if we want to step in and contribute to the search effort ourselves?" said Gray.

"We'll involve you if we can," said Lupin. "But remember you are supposed to be keeping a low profile. Thankfully the Ministry didn't seem to get any pictures of you, but you especially Gray could be a hazard to any mission we send you on."

"Huh? What the hell makes you say that?" Gray asked.

"You read the paper this morning. They may not know your face but the public will be looking out for your guild mark."

"So?"

"Perhaps, Gray," Gildarts smirked. "He is referring to the fact that you keep taking your shirt off without realising it and exposing your guild mark to the world. As you have done now."

"OH CRAP!"

"Regardless, believe me Lisanna, you are not the only one fretting," Gildarts' expression darkened. "If it turns out that my daughter's in there… and if that Voldemort tries to pull something on her… I swear I'll knock him into the middle of next millennium."

"…When you say… 'pull something'…" Gray murmured. "What exactly do you mean by that?"

"…I'm saying if he tries to cop a feel then there will be a retribution!" Gildarts yelled. Everyone else facefaulted.

"Not everyone thinks of copping a feel first you know," Gray murmured.

Juvia squirmed slightly on the spot, not even trying to push several thoughts about Gray copping a feel on her out of her head. If Gray noticed this then he pretended not to notice.

"Like I said though," Sirius said as he pushed himself to his feet. "We will get them back. Don't know how, don't know when, but we will. Remus, do you think you could help me with feeding Buckbeak?"

"Sure," Lupin got up and made a quick exit from the room with Sirius, grabbing a fresh bag of dead ferrets from the fridge as they went.

"Do you think there's something to worry about?" Sirius asked in a low voice as they ascended the stairs. "I mean obviously I'm concerned about the well-being of whoever's in those Spheres but… do you think that's all we'll need to worry about or… is there anything else?"

"You mean the possibility of Voldemort actually succeeding in turning some Fairy Tail members to his cause?"

"…Yeah…"

Remus sighed. "If I'm honest, I don't know. If all the Fairy Tail members are like the ones we know, I do not believe for a second that any one of them would willingly sign up to Voldemort's cause, even without knowing that the rest of their guild are against him. But… Voldemort has always been a master at converting people. We should know that better than anyone."

Sirius grimaced. "Wormtail was a coward, scaring him into submission wouldn't have been too difficult. Fairy Tail members… I get the feeling they would not be so easily swayed."

"True, but fear is not Voldemort's only weapon. He has many others at his disposal. The question is… would any of them work?"

Despite everything that had happened in the last few days, the next few weeks were surprisingly uneventful. Wanted posters featuring the Fairy Tail guild mark appeared up all over wizarding public areas but considering all the Fairy Tail members accounted for spent their time in Grimmauld Place or hidden away in the back of the Hog's Head away from the eyes of the public, with occasional trips to Tenroujima for fresh air, there was nothing for anyone to report. Of course, that didn't stop a few people from crying wolf, and there was more than one occasion where Tonks or Kingsley were called to a place where a suspected Fairy Tail mage had been spotted, but it turned out to be a mistake every time.

The security at the Ministry was certainly upped, which made it much more difficult for the Order members to communicate to one another in the workplace, but they were still able to organise a raid on the Malfoy Manor with the use of an anonymous tip-off, that was actually Moody, informing Arthur Weasley that they might be storing several contraband items in their basement. All a lie of course but their real intention had been to try and discover if the two Fairy Spheres were somewhere in their manor, yet they found nothing.

Despite the increasing tension in the Wizarding community as a whole, many of whom were freaking out at the fact that nobody seemed to know where Fairy Tail had gone or what they might be doing, Sirius was happier than he'd been for some time. He finally had a house constantly full of interesting people to talk to, and he quickly became very popular amongst the Fairy Tail mages. And the same went for the rest of the Order too. While most of them only filtered in on occasion, every one of them were gradually getting used to the existence of these newcomers, and Fairy Tail found themselves becoming less guarded around them in turn.

If only all the Fairy Tail members could become less guarded around each other. Despite making several attempts to approach Gajeel and apologise for the way she was acting around him, Levy kept chickening out and backing away every time, cursing herself for being an idiot, but the more she tried to force the images the Dementors had brought to the surface out of her head, the more they seemed to fester and try and consume her.

But other than that, things almost settled back to as normal as things could be under the circumstances and there were more than a couple of times when Mrs. Weasley or Aberforth had gotten angry at walking into their kitchen or bar and finding most of it had been wrecked when Gray and Gajeel had gotten into a fight. Though Gildarts noted that if Natsu was here, they'd probably be having this problem daily.

Lisanna was the most disturbed of them all, and could often be found by the window staring across at the landscape beyond and wondering where her siblings were, where Natsu was, where any of them were. But when the others found her like this, they were usually able to take her mind of it and bring a smile back to her face.

Yet, there was still one person that remained very much in dark about all the goings on and that was Harry. Though he finished his detentions with Umbridge at last and he was able to get back to things like Quidditch and focus on his homework, he would still often dwell on the vision he had seen, and what Dumbledore had said to him before.

He was so confused. His natural instincts were to follow Dumbledore's advice and trust him, trust that he had his reasons, but he couldn't seem to scrub away the part of him that wondered whether Dumbledore even cared as much as he'd once thought. Sometimes it didn't seem like he cared at all anymore.

Yet unbeknownst to him, he was often being silently watched. Invisible to all, including the ghosts that roamed the Hogwarts Halls, Mavis Vermilion would often sit at the back of a classroom and watch him silently. The things that Dumbledore had told her had very much unnerved her, and she now understood why Dumbledore was keeping things from him. If Voldemort learned what Dumbledore suspected… there was no telling what he might do.

And for an entire prophecy to be made about him no less… it seemed that Dumbledore was right to think that despite everything Fairy Tail did, Harry and Voldemort would still have to settle things between them. Mavis had read many accounts of prophecies from her own world and knew that, just like with this one, they were unavoidable. They were some of the few times when somebody's fate truly was set in stone. At least in some capacity.

The poor boy.

He just couldn't seem to relax and enjoy himself at the moment for longer than a few minutes at a time. The one exception to this was when Hermione's birthday came around, making her officially sixteen. Sometimes it was strange for Harry to think that Hermione was almost an entire year older than him. There weren't even two whole months between the dates of their birthdays and he wouldn't be sixteen for some time yet. But he'd still been granted a much needed chance to unwind that day and just have fun

Harry still didn't know about Fairy Tail, but after his long conversation with Mavis he had agreed to let her be the one to decide when Harry would learn of them. The guild master was now waiting for the opportune moment to tell him as she still felt he had the right to know, and that was why she overheard the conversation that occurred as September slowly began to draw to a close and Hermione approached Harry late at night when the Common Room was mostly empty.

"Harry… have you… you know… thought any more about what we discussed before? You know… about… opposing Umbridge's attempts to get us to sit back and do nothing for a year in her classes?"

"…Yeah… sometimes," Harry nodded, slowly, though the truth was he'd been doing it quite a lot recently.

"So what do you think? Ron and I are quite eager to get started."

"Er… well… yeah, I think it would be really cool," Ron coughed, looking a little edgy just in case Harry got angry again. "I mean… we gotta do something, right? Especially since we think we've got two enemies out there now - You-Know-Who and those weird guys that attacked the Ministry."

Mavis frowned at that, but Harry just said, "Yeah I know. But… but… I think maybe we could do it. I mean, I still think that me being the teacher is just stupid but… yeah, if you guys want to learn I'll definitely help you with the same things you helped me with last year."

"Ah, well there's the thing Harry. It's not like it would just be Ron and me doing it," Hermione's face lit up at his acceptance. "I was thinking that we should invite anyone who might be interested. From any of the years, any of the houses… it's not just us that are in danger after all, Harry. It's all of us. We all need to learn how to defend ourselves against a Death Eater. Or against anyone like them."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa… exactly how many are you hoping I'm going to teach?"

"You never know. There could be as many as fifty students who'd be prepared to do this and that's even with selective asking."

"I hope you don't ask anyone in Slytherin," Ron shuddered. "There's not a single one of them that wouldn't rat us out straight away."

"I had no immediate plans to involve Slytherins," Hermione shrugged. "But you never know. There might even be one or two of them that might want to learn. But… for now I think you may be right."

"Nobody will go for it, Hermione," Harry shook his head. "Everyone in this school thinks I'm a nutter, remember?"

"I think you might be surprised," Hermione smiled. "The general public might be influenced by the Daily Prophet Harry but we students… we know the real you better than they do. There are probably more out there that believe you than you think."

Harry hesitated, not sure what to say to that, before he murmured, "Well, even if that's true, how the heck am I supposed to teach that many people? Let alone without getting caught?"

"We can worry about that later when we know how many are coming," Hermione waved it away. "But first we need to talk about a meeting for the first time. Somewhere secure where none of the staff will overhear us… do you guys know anything about the Hog's Head?"

And from where she was sitting on the back of an empty armchair, a slow smile spread across Mavis' face.

A couple more days passed, and Harry and Ron could only sit back and let Hermione do all the arrangements, preparing for the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend and what it might contain along while they were constantly doing their best to finish homework that Hermione had easily completed a while ago.

But draw away from Hogwarts Castle and its various problems. Draw away from Grimmauld Place, draw away from the Ministry, draw aware from where Voldemort has made his main base… and pull focus down into the centre of the Forest of Dean.

There, nestled far from the path and mostly hidden in dense foliage that were scattered on top of it when it crashed to the ground two weeks ago… lay another Fairy Sphere.

There was also a squirrel hopping across the ground, picking up an acorn in its little paws and chewing on it briefly to ensure it wouldn't germinate before the light of the Fairy Sphere drew its needy eyes. The Sphere pulsed feebly several times before suddenly dissipating, light particles wafting up into the sky and fading away into nothingness like a small flight of tiny fairy lights dancing about like fireflies before they vanished.

For a while there was nothing, before sounds of scuffling could be heard in amongst the leaves. The squirrel watched the branches start to wave and sniffed the air, blanching when it caught a strong smell that it knew very well. The smell of a human.

And with that, the squirrel bolted into the undergrowth just as a slender arm shoved a tangle of leaves aside and a single woman pushed herself to her feet, grunting irritably and brushing at her arms in an attempt to get rid of some of the dirt encrusting them, shaking her head to allow leaves to fall from her brown tresses and peering out at her surroundings through the lenses of her glasses.

"Alright… where the hell am I?" asked Evergreen.