Hello again everybody! Here I am with another instalment and I have high hopes that you'll all like what I have in mind for the next few chapters. So please enjoy the first part in this stage of the story.

Dance of the Fairies, Flight of the Phoenix

Chapter 21:- The Search Begins

Having impacted the mountainside at such high speed that it had formed it own small crater, the Fairy Sphere nestled in the rock and snow of the Cairngorms shimmered the cool mountain air, glinting in the what sunlight was currently filtering its way through the clouds. It had been sitting here for several weeks now, remote and unseen until the two Muggle hikers had come across it before. They'd spent many hours sitting next to it, tapping on it, wondering if they'd discovered something extraordinary like perhaps an alien spaceship of some kind, before their need to re-stock their supplies had driven them down out of the mountains again.

But long after they'd gone, the Sphere continued to sit there unresponsively, a barrier against the elements and protecting those inside.

Until now…

With a couple of flashes, the Fairy Sphere slowly dissipated, leaving behind nothing but the rounded base of its own crater, and the two bodies lying in the bottom of it.

One male. One female.

And the female was the first to stir.

Lucy Heartfilia's eyelids slowly retracted, blinking a couple of times as the cloudy sky above her flickered into focus. The blond Celestial Spirit Mage stared into space for what felt like an eternity, her body seemingly drained of all energy. She couldn't focus her mind. She struggled to form even one coherent thought through the haze in her brain.

"Wuzgonnon?" she murmured to herself. "This… isn't my house… no wait… I wasn't at my house… I was… we were just…"

Her memories suddenly surged to the surface, and right at the front was the image of the Black Dragon opening his mouth to unleash his attack. Lucy screamed and sat up, then immediately clutched her head at the pounding headache that instantly made itself known, Acnologia's roar ringing in her ears as if he was right there with her. But he wasn't. There was not a dragon in sight. In fact there was not anyone in sight. Except for the body lying next to her.

A body who's pinkish hair and scale-like scarf made him unmistakeable.

"Natsu!" Lucy gasped and immediately crawled over to his prone form. The Fire Dragon Slayer was lying on his front, his mouth open and practically eating the dirt that he was lying in. Ignoring the pain in her head, Lucy rolled him over onto his back to check for signs of life. She grabbed his wrist, hoping to find a pulse in it before before she figured out exactly where to put her finger she noticed his chest was rising and falling slightly. Oh thank goodness, he was alive.

"Natsu… Natsu come on, wake up!" Lucy shook him by the arm, looking around her for any sign of the others - Erza, Gray, Wendy, Happy, anyone… but nothing. "Natsu! Natsu!"

Natsu's eyes suddenly snapped open, his pupils practically the size of full stops. Instantly his fists were alight with fire and with a roar that shook the rocks around them he surged onto his feet. "RRRRAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!" he bellowed and he spun around, his flaming fist pulverising a nearby boulder and narrowly missing hitting Lucy in the face.

"KYYYAAAAAAA!" Lucy yelled as she scrambled away. "NATSU! WHAT THE HELL!?"

"Lucy?" Natsu blinked, staring at her as if she was some strange apparition. "What the… where are we?"

"CAN'T YOU JUST WAKE UP LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!" Lucy cried. "YOU ALMOST TOOK MY HEAD OFF!"

"But… we were fighting! Acnologia was attacking Gramps and we fought back and… where did he go! GET BACK HERE AND FIGHT ME, DAMN IT!" He bellowed up at the very dragon-free sky.

"Ugh…" Lucy ran a hand over her face. "Sometimes I wonder why I even bother to worry about you. We didn't even lay a dent on that dragon and you're already looking for a re-match?"

Natsu hesitated, his eyes widening as all his other memories filled in the gap. "That's… that's right… nothing we did was working… even with three Dragon Slayers… four if you count Laxus… and we couldn't touch him… we were standing in a circle and… where did everyone go?"

"Well that's what I was about to tell you," Lucy said as she got to her feet as well. "I don't know where they are. Last thing I remember was the dragon firing at us and then nothing… until I woke up here on top of this mountain with you lying next to me but nobody else anywhere nearby. And not for miles and miles from the look of it."

Natsu immediately jumped onto another rock raised his nose, sniffing the cold wind and narrowing his eyes. "I don't smell them… I can't smell any of them… just you and me. Where the heck are we? We're not on the island anymore… how the heck did we get all the way up here!"

"I can't answer that question any more than you can," Lucy sighed. "Oh gosh… what are we going to do? What if the others are hurt? What if they're…?"

"Don't say it," Natsu interrupted. Lucy blinked and looked up at him - his face could have been set in stone as he stared out across the landscape. "They're not dead. I refuse to accept that they might be. And we're going to find them, Lucy. No matter what it takes we will find them."

Lucy smiled. "Natsu…" she murmured. It was typical of the Fire Dragon Slayer, refusing to give up no matter the odds stacked against and no matter what he was facing, whether it be a deadly foe, a puzzle that he had no hope of solving whatsoever or searching for someone who had vanished into thin air. After all, that last one was exactly what he'd been doing ever since Igneel, his dragon foster parent, vanished seven years ago. He still hadn't found Igneel but it seemed like the possibility he might never find him again hadn't even occurred to him.

Though… Lucy hoped it wouldn't take seven years for them to find the others.

"Come on, let's go!" Natsu said, as he sprang off the boulder and seized Lucy's wrist, all but dragging her forwards.

"EH!? Right now?"

"No time like the present right?"

"Jeez, at least wait for me to get my strength back!"

"We can't wait. The others might need us now."

"Natsu, I want to find them just as much as you do, but we can't just go charging off without thinking it through. You said you couldn't smell them which probably means they aren't around for miles, at least in the direction that the wind is blowing from right? Maybe we should try going the other way instead."

"Or you could just ask me," said a voice that made both Natsu and Lucy jump. They both looked around to see a man in a black suit and a red tie, with wild orange hair and sunglasses, smiling down at them a short way up the slope.

"Loke!" Lucy beamed. "When did you get here?"

"About five seconds ago," Loke said as he jumped down the slope towards them. "We all sensed that you came out of hibernation at last so I came as quick as I could."

"Hi-burn-ation?" Natsu rubbed the back of his head. "Is that like a word for when you're head's on fire or something?"

"How the heck did you arrive at that conclusion?" Lucy face faulted. "But Loke, what do you EEK!"

Before she knew what was happening Loke had suddenly gathered Lucy up in his arms and pulled her close, squashing her against him in a tight bear hug. Lucy suddenly found her chin resting on his shoulder, and she blinked several times, while Natsu looked on with a rather nonplussed expression on his face.

"Erm… Loke… are you okay?" Lucy asked. "…Only… I seem to recall the last time you hugged me like this you also told me that you were going to die soon."

"Oh, forgive me," Loke pulled back, giving her a smile that only slightly sheepish. "I guess you could say that that was a hug from all of us. We were all watching that day when the dragon attacked, powerless to act, unable to do a thing to help you or any of the others against his wrath. It's impossible for a Celestial Spirit to have heart attacks but when he fired that breath attack at you it certainly felt like we'd all had one."

"So he did hit us then? Then how are we not dead? And what do you mean hibernation?"

"You've been dormant, Lucy. For over six years."

"…Say again?"

"It's quite a long story, but we've been watching ever since that day, waiting for the time where you would be unfrozen from your suspended animation," Loke replied. "I'll try to sum it all up as best I can though…"

"I don't get it," Natsu frowned about ten minutes later. "A dragon that controls space? How can a dragon control space? How can anything control space? Oooh, could he make my house bigger! It does get a little cramped in there sometimes!"

"Maybe because you can't move for all the mess," Lucy muttered. "The point is that we've found ourselves trapped in another world thanks to that dragon, right?"

"That's about the size of it," Loke nodded. "Along with everyone else."

"And they're all safe?" Lucy asked.

"What about Happy? And Lisanna?" Natsu interrupted before Loke could answer. "Are they okay?"

"Ho?" Loke raised a brow. "Why the particular interest in Lisanna, Natsu?"

"…Because she's my friend and Lisanna's the one that got stuck in a different universe before and she was separated from her family for two whole years because of it," Natsu replied, looking slightly confused at the question. "What other reason would I have for asking?"

"…Er… never mind…" Loke shook his head. "Anyway, we've been keeping tabs on what's been going on with the others as best we can but our surveillance from the Spirit World is hardly perfect. We only have a vague idea of what's been going on since you got here. But, near as we can tell, Lisanna is fine. As are most of the others. Not everyone has emerged from their Fairy Sphere yet but those that have are okay."

"Do you know where they are?" Lucy asked.

"The closest ones to you are staying about fifty miles due west," Loke replied.

"Why didn't you tell them where we were?" Natsu wrinkled his nose.

"Oh, Natsu, you really don't have much of an idea of how Celestial Spirit Magic works, do you?" Loke chuckled. "For the entire time that Lucy was frozen in time, all of her Spirits were essentially locked in the Spirit World. For the Fairy Sphere didn't just stop time - it stopped everything, including magic. And our keys were locked inside that Sphere with Lucy."

"But you don't always need Lucy to summon you to come out of the Spirit World."

"No, but we do need the key. The key is our link to the mortal plane and we still need to access its power in order for us to jump into your world. And before you ask, no I cannot go to tell them where you are now. We can only open the portal from the Spirit World in the vicinity of the key. Hence why I could jump in to say hello to you here now that you've been unfrozen but I can't take a message to them now."

"Well, it was a good thought, Natsu," Lucy sighed. "Now what are we going to do?"

"We start walking," Natsu replied. "We know what direction so let's go?"

"You want to walk all the way there?" Lucy whined. "But fifty miles is a long way on foot, especially through mountains like this. Can't we just take a train?"

"NO WAY!" Natsu yelped. "No transportation!"

"It's not like there's a specific train that would take you to where they are around here anyway," Loke pointed out. "I have to say that he's right, Lucy. None of the Spirits you have can fly and you've got no feasible means of transportation. What other options do you really have?"

Lucy pouted. "I am really not wearing shoes designed for hiking through mountains," she muttered.

"Did you want new boots, Princess?"

"VIRGO! DON'T SCARE ME LIKE THAT!"

"Apologies, Princess," said the pink-haired Maid Spirit that had burst out of the ground next to Lucy, offering her a solid pair of hiking boots. "Would you like to punish me perhaps?"

"HELL NO! But… thank you for the boots. It's good to see you again."

"I could very much same the same, Princess," Virgo inclined her head. "But if I may say so, your attire is all wrong for trekking through snowy mountains. It's not just boots you'll need but a complete change. Here, let me help you out of that shirt!"

"KYYAA! VIRGO, NOT HERE! NATSU, LOKE, LOOK AWAY!"

Natsu quickly did as instructed though Loke's gaze remained a little too long and he had to dodge a hiking boot thrown at his head before he too turned his back. When they were allowed to turn around again, Lucy was no longer wearing the orange shirt and red skirt from before but was now wrapped up in a warm-looking long-sleeved jumper and warm trousers… bright and colourful ones like most of the outfits that Virgo gave her, but a little less glamorous and a little more practical than normal.

"Well, this will help I guess," Lucy sighed. "But its too bad that you couldn't give me wings to make the fifty mile trip."

"Wings are something I cannot provide, Princess. Can I be punished for it?"

"You're never going to stop asking me that are you? But seriously, Virgo, thank you for this."

"My pleasure, Princess. We are all grateful to have you back. As before, you can call on us any time."

"Even if you just want to talk," Loke agreed. "We'll be happy to help in any way we can. But for now we'll return and let you get underway."

"Thanks guys," Lucy smiled, as the two Spirits faded away in a shimmer of golden light. She turned back to Natsu and then said, "Oh wait… Virgo didn't give you anything! Hold on, let me call her back."

"No need," Natsu grinned, as everything from the shoulders up was suddenly immersed in flames. "I'm not going to have trouble keeping warm. Look, I'm hibernating. See… I'm burning high up!"

"That's not what it means, Natsu. Still… if we really have no other option… let's get walking."

Natsu grinned at her. "Come on Lucy. It's just like Edolas all over again, when Happy and Charla couldn't fly us anywhere. Except this time we still have our magic and we don't have an angry kingdom out to get us."

"Well thank goodness for that at least."

Of course, Natsu was not entirely right. They certainly didn't have a kingdom out to get them but they were not entirely without their pursuers.

"Can someone explain to me why we couldn't just find out the location of that Sphere from those Muggles directly?" Dawlish the Auror asked as he stumbled over a rock for what felt like the thirteenth time. "Like from their memories?"

"You know as well as I do that that's against regulations," Savage shook his head as he waited for Dawlish to catch up. "Even if we had someone skilled at Legilimency at our disposal we're not supposed to use it unless absolutely necessary. It's the ultimate invasion of privacy after all."

"Yeah, I know that. But we're chasing down some of those Fairy Tail guys aren't we? I'd have thought that a case like this would have demanded a little bit more urgency."

"We're not looking for Fairy Tail people though are we? We're looking for that Sphere thing."

"And we have no idea when that Sphere thing will stop being a Sphere thing and will release whoever or whatever happens to be inside."

"Scrimgeour feels its a risk worth taking."

"Then can't we at least use brooms or something? I know why we can't Apparate because we're supposed to be combing the whole pathway these Muggles took but surely we can use brooms. Why do we have to hike the whole way?"

"For exactly the same reason you're not wearing your Auror robes now. Because there could be other hikers up here. Ones that might see us in the air and there's a chance we won't see them."

"Sounds like a small price to pay to me. What's the harm in one or two Muggles spotting a flying wizard? It's not like we're in the middle of London, is it?"

"Honestly, Dawlish, I agree with you on that point. But did you know that we're actually not that far away from quite a large skiing resort?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, and Scrimgeour doesn't want us to risk anything yet. We've already had two mega incidents that almost broke the Statute of Secrecy when these Fairy Tail guys got involved. He really doesn't want another. Point me." He held up his wand which swivelled on the palm of his hand a couple of times until it focused its point northwards like a laser beam. "Yep, I think we're still on the right track."

"So all the top Aurors are left traipsing through various trails on the mountain in search of that Sphere like we're Muggles ourselves," Dawlish muttered as he clambered up the slope behind Savage. "I'd almost prefer a Death Eater attack right in the middle of London to this."

"Yeah, if there really was a Death Eater attack in the middle of London you wouldn't be…"

Savage stopped talking suddenly and backed away so quickly he almost ran straight into Dawlish, as a sudden, loud snarling noise cut across his sentence. Dawlish drew his wand rapidly and Savage promptly did the same, the both of them wheeling around in search of the origin of the noise.

It didn't take them long to spot it. In fact, it slunk out into plain sight a short distance up the slope, appearing on top of a snowy boulder jutting out ahead. Its grey pelt wafted in the breeze, its white fangs glinted in the sunlight and its haunches quivered as if ready to spring at a moments notice.

There was absolutely no mistaking what it was.

"A wolf?" Savage gasped. "That's… that's a wolf!"

"Yes, Savage I can see that," Dawlish nodded as they both trained their wands on the wolf, tensing up in preparation for a pounce. The wolf eyed them beadily, yellowish eyes trained on them like gun sights on a target, its fangs bared in an unquestionably unfriendly growl.

And it wasn't the only one. More wolves appeared from behind it on the higher rise. About six of them, no eight, no over a dozen of them. All of them had their muscles coiled for the attack, hunkered down to the ground as if stalking, and fanning out almost as if they were planning a pincer-like movement on the two Aurors. But they all looked to the first wolf, who was clearly the Alpha.

"Hey! Go on! Get out of here!" Dawlish called out and fired off a Stunning Spell at the rock that the Alpha was standing on. The wolf skittered back with a growl and Dawlish fired off another one, deliberately missing but getting it close again. Savage fired another Stunning Spell in the general direction of one of the others, which dodged to the side and growled too.

The Aurors gradually let off spell after spell at the wolves, until the Alpha decided it wasn't worth it. Lifting his head and letting loose a low howl to the winds, the Alpha backed away and the rest of the wolves followed him. Breathing sighs of relief, Dawlish and Savage watch as the pack bounded away up the slopes, running at high speed in and out and around one another until they'd vanished from sight over the hilltop.

"Wolves? Freaking wolves, here?" Savage cried a few seconds later.

"Look very much like it to me," nodded Dawlish.

"But that can't be right. There have been no wild wolves in Britain for years. Not since the eighteenth century in fact, if I remember correctly. And there's no way those things could have been werewolves. Full moon's not due for another couple of weeks and even if it was tonight they wouldn't have appeared in the daytime."

"Well, unless we've found an entire clan of unregistered Animagi living up here in the mountains I'd say that we just stumbled onto a pack of genuine wolves."

"Should we report this to Scrimgeour?"

"What for? Is a wolf pack Auror related business?"

"It might be. What if they have something to do with those Fairy Tail mages?"

"How could this have anything to do with them?"

"How should I know? We don't know anything about those guys. Who's to say that one of them doesn't have the ability to conjure wolves out of thin air or something. You can't conjure a living creature in our world perhaps, but what about in theirs?"

"Hmm… you might have a point. Alright then, we'll make the report. Send a Patronus and then let's get back to looking for that Sphere."

To say that Fred and George took the news that the cats that their younger siblings had suddenly acquired were actually from another universe well… was an understatement.

In fact, they were positively thrilled.

"So you actually have wings!" Fred beamed down at Charla and Pantherlily. They'd arranged to meet with the twin Weasley brothers in the Owlery, as it was a good place to go when you didn't want to be overheard as long as you posted a lookout, which was the role Luna and Hermione were currently filling, and you didn't mind the smell of owl droppings.

"Go on, show us!" agreed George.

Charla gave a wry smile and with a flash of light her wings sprouted from her back. Once Fred and George had been clued in to what they were, Mavis' illusion had been dropped to their eyes, so they could see Charla exactly as she was instead of a normal cat. And they stared at Charla's Aera wings with such similar expressions of delight that it was like Charla was seeing double.

"That's awesome!" Fred said. "Wow, I don't suppose you could let us borrow some of your feathers, could you? Who knows what kinds of cool things we could make if we added in flying cat feathers!"

"Nobody's ever created anything with that before," George agreed. "We could be on the forefront of something big with this."

"Erm, boys, I'd rather like to keep all my feathers in my wings if it is all the same to you," Charla coughed. "And I'm pretty sure that Lily would say the same thing, wouldn't you Lily?"

"Undoubtedly," Lily nodded.

"Aww, go on, just one or two," George tried before Ginny interrupted him by aiming a slight kick at his shin. George dodged rather nimbly, but Ginny had gotten her point across.

"This isn't a chance for you guys to improve upon your Skiving Snackboxes. Besides, what sweets you could make with cat feathers that you haven't been making without them is beyond me," the youngest Weasley rolled her eyes.

"Right, yeah," Fred nodded. "But seriously how long have you guys known about all this?"

"Only since yesterday," Ron said. "Just after the meeting was when we… sit down, Pig! I haven't got a letter for you today!" He tried to grab the small fluffy owl zooming excitedly around his head out of the air, but Pigwidgeon was having none of it and swooped around his hand before continuing to zip around like a large rubber ball.

"Yeah, we met with some of the others of this Fairy Tail bunch too," Harry said. He would have been stroking his own owl, Hedwig, right now if it were not for the fact that Hedwig was out - he'd sent her off to Grimmauld Place a couple of days ago. "Apparently they're using the Hog's Head as one of their staging posts. The other being Grimmauld Place."

"Say what?" Fred blinked. "You mean that the Order knows about these guys?"

"Indeed it does," Pantherlily nodded. "I have met with your parents and your older brothers, Charlie and Bill. Delightful people. Especially Charlie I think. He was most curious about Exceed culture and biology."

"So, wait, we're the last of the Weasleys to actually find out about this?" George deflated slightly. "Nobody thought to tell us about this until now?"

"You're only finding out less than a day after I did," Ginny pointed out.

"Yeah, but we're of age! And the Order still didn't feel like including us in on things?" Fred griped.

"The Order had no business telling anyone about us," Charla folded her arms. "We were given exclusive rights as to who finds out about us and when."

"And besides, you're not the last," Ron pointed out.

"Well, we don't count his Royal Gittiness, do we?" George snorted.

"By that I assume you mean your brother Percy?" Pantherlily supplied.

"Bang on the money," Fred nodded. "But like I said we don't count him. Which means I guess that makes us the last affiliated with the Order to know."

"Not quite," Harry looked out of the window to the tiny, slightly forlorn looking hut down by the Forbidden Forest. "Hagrid doesn't know yet after all."

"Oh yeah… oh wow, can you imagine how excited he'll be when he gets back and meets you guys?" grinned Fred. "You think Charlie was ecstatic to meet you - you haven't seen nothing yet."

"Yeah, pity you're not big and monstrous though. If you were then he'd real have a field day," George laughed.

"Is that so?" Lily smirked, and then suddenly glowed and bulged upwards, morphing into his fully grown Exceed battle form right before their eyes. It was a form that towered over every human present, including the lanky Ron, and everyone's jaws fell open at the sight. Even Harry and Ron hadn't seen Lily do this before and the sight took their breath away. It caused an immediate clatter among all the owls though, who shrieked and hooted and took off from the Owlery in a drove or huddled on their perches and looked like they were trying not to breath.

"Am I monstrous enough for you now?" Lily asked, folding his arms and baring his teeth in a slight smirk.

"More than enough," Fred laughed. "Can you still fly in that form?"

Lily's wings extended from his back by way of answer.

"Oh wow! I don't suppose you could come swooping in during our next Quidditch match could you?" George laughed. "I'd love to see the Slytherin team wet themselves at the sight of you…"

Both the twins suddenly went silent before they turned to each other at the same time and smirked knowingly.

"I just love it when this happens, don't you, George?"

"You mean where we simultaneously think of an idea at the same time?"

"Yes, that."

"So you do have an idea then?" Charla asked. "And when I say that I mean, do you have an idea about what we're going to do about this Umbridge woman, not an idea for a silly plan that you're concocting."

"Well… we think that the only real way to get Umbridge kicked out of the school is to drag up some serious dirt on her, like you said," George nodded.

"But with the idea we just had now… we can certainly make her begin to lose whatever edge she tries to gain over the school," Fred continued.

"Anything like that sounds good to me," said Harry.

"Any chance that whatever your plan is could work on Snape too?" Ron chuckled.

"Ron, you know that Snape needs to keep his position in the school to maximise his importance as a spy on You-Know-Who," Ginny chided him.

"Doesn't stop him from being a miserable old git that I'd like to see shafted," Ron pointed out, and Harry couldn't help but wholeheartedly agree.

"That's probably not the way you should be speaking about a man who's just gone out on a mission for us," said a voice from up in the rafters and everyone looked up sharply to see Mavis swinging her legs from where she was sitting on one of the wooden beams.

"Where did you come from?" Fred asked.

"My guess is she was there the whole time," Charla chuckled. "That's Master Mavis. The ghostly First Master of the guild that we were talking about. What are you doing here?"

"I thought I would give you a hand," replied Mavis. "Why did nobody tell me that you wizards are fond of your owls?"

"…It just… never occurred to us that it might be important," shrugged Harry.

"Oh, but it is," Mavis giggled as she hopped off the beam and floated down, closing her eyes and holding her hands together before thrusting them out in the direction of Charla and Lily, who both glowed faintly for a moment. "There. I've altered the illusions around you so that whenever you use your wings, you will now look like an owl. That should give you more freedom to move about the castle unnoticed. All you have to do is make sure that nobody can see you when you make the shift between each one and you'll blend in perfectly. I'll do the same thing for Happy when he gets back."

"What was that you said about Snape and a mission?" Ron asked.

"Oh, the mission to go find the Fairy Sphere hidden in the Cairngorms," smiled Mavis. "It's to be a small party of five this time, in the hope we'll escape drawing too much attention. Happy, Lisanna and Levy volunteered to go from our world, while Misters Lupin and Snape went from this one."

"Snape… on a mission… with a blue cat?" Harry snickered. "Oh, I really wish I was there to see that."

Mavis shook her head slightly. "Never mind that now. It's nice to meet you Fred and George. Now… tell us about this plan of yours."

Snape grimaced as he wrapped his cloak a little tighter around himself, but tried to do it so that the other two wouldn't notice. He was certainly feeling the cold up here in these mountains, but if there was one thing he hated it was people to see weakness in him of any kind… although there was also a bunch of other things he really hated, but that was definitely one of the bigger ones.

As to these Fairy Tail mages… he was still on the fence when it came to them. He quite honestly didn't know what to make of them. But then again, he hadn't exactly made much contact with any of them.

Until now that is. He looked out of the corner of his eye to where Levy and Remus were holding their hands over a blazing word - Levy had written FIRE in mid-air - and talking in quiet voices as they waited for Lisanna and Happy to get back from their scouting. From what he'd been able to gather about this Levy girl she was extremely similar to one Hermione Granger in many ways. And he wasn't sure whether she liked that or not.

Right now, she was questioning Lupin on quite a sensitive subject - his lycanthropy. Naturally they had been made aware of the fact the Lupin was a werewolf on the day they met him, but Lupin had been pleasantly surprised by the fact that none of the Fairy Tail mages had shown him any hostility or fear whatsoever. But that was most likely because they'd had to be brought up to speed somewhat on what a werewolf actually was.

"You are quite fortunate to have no such thing as werewolves in your world," Lupin was saying. "There are many times I wish that there were no such thing as werewolves in this one."

"It does sound like a terrible curse to bear," Levy grimaced. "But while we don't have werewolves, we do have a few… 'were-creatures.' Do you have weretigers in this world?"

"Were…tigers?" Lupin chuckled. "That's a new one to me."

"Well they're not like you, in that they're not humans that turn into animals at certain times… or any time really. They're just big, humanoid cat-like beasts with yellow fur and spots that move at lightning speed."

"Wait a minute… yellow fur and spots?"

"Yes."

"Shouldn't that be a were…jaguar then? Or a wereleopard?"

"…I take it tigers look different in this world."

"Clearly they must do. But you really have nothing from your world that even vaguely resembles the concept of a werewolf?"

"Well… there are Vulcans. That's a bit similar in some ways I guess. A Vulcan's a big ape-like creature that can take over the bodies of humans to transform them into apes but that's more like a possession than a curse."

"Oh… I see," Remus sighed, looking up at the sky wistfully. "I… have to admit… I had hoped that when I heard of a whole new world with a whole new set of magic… that there might be a chance your world had developed a cure for lycanthropy. But… I suppose you can't have a cure for something that doesn't even exist in your world."

"Oh… I'm so sorry."

"It's alright. I have gotten used to the idea that I will spend the rest of my days as a werewolf. To be honest I had not put much hope into the idea."

"Well…" Levy twirled a finger through her hair. "Never say never, Remus. I don't want to supply you with any false hope but… there are some pretty fantastical things in my world. I'll put my mind to it, see if I can think of something. You shouldn't get your hopes up but… yeah… I'll take a stab at it."

Remus gave Levy a vague smile. "Thank you, Miss McGarden. I appreciate it."

"It's no trouble. I'm just happy to help out a friend," Levy smiled. After that, the group lapsed into silence for a moment, which drew Levy's attention over towards the other member of the group. "Are you okay, Mister Snape? You haven't said much since we got here."

"I am perfectly well, thank you," Snape said curtly without turning to look at her. "Rather… disgruntled that the afternoon I had intended to use to restock my potions cupboard has turned into a breezy hike halfway up a mountain, but I shall… cope."

"Um… okay," Levy nodded. "Well… if there's anything you want to talk about…"

Snape remained obstinately silent. Levy bit her lip and turned to whisper to Remus, "Did I do something to upset him?"

"I wouldn't worry too much about it," Remus replied softly. "Severus is not exactly the… chatty kind of person. I don't think I've ever seen him open up to anyone in all the years I've known him."

"How long have you known him?"

"Oh we were in the same year at school together. And we were, shall we say, very much not friends back then. To be honest, we're not really friends now either but I try not to let old schoolboy grudges get in the way of being courteous and I do owe Severus a lot. It's because of him that I happened to be in Hogsmeade today at all - I was retrieving the next batch of Wolfsbane Potion that he makes for me every month."

"Well then… who is he friends with?"

"I am not sure that Severus has anyone that you could call a friend."

"What? But that's… that's horrible. Nobody should be without friends. Doesn't he get lonely?"

"Possibly. But its often very hard to tell what Severus is thinking. He's a bit… cagey with personal questions. Or indeed any kind of questions. And this is, I think, the longest I've seen him in the company of another person without being part of a large crowd. With the Order meetings, whenever he attends, he arrives right before the meeting starts and leaves as soon as it ends. Not one for pleasantries. But then again, most of the others are quite happy with that arrangement. Any time he does talk about something unrelated to Order business, it often ends with either him antagonising Sirius or the other way around."

Levy turned to look at Snape out of the corner of her eye. The standoffish, less than popular guy who once worked for the enemy until he turned to their side and kept to himself except to start an argument. That sounded… very familiar.

"He's like Gajeel," she murmured under her breath, eyes widening at the realisation. At least he was like Gajeel had been before. Gajeel had been getting better ever since Pantherlily came into his life, finding it much easier to open up and talk to others.

But clearly Snape… had never found his own Lily.

Though of course Snape was a double-agent pretending to work for the enemy and that's where the similarity ended. Gajeel certainly wasn't a double-agent himself. That would be absurd, wouldn't it?

Almost without thinking about what she was doing, Levy slowly walked over to Snape. Snape noticed her coming and turned to face her slightly, looking down his hooked nose at her, as she stopped in front of him. "Did you want something, Miss McGarden?" he asked.

"Not anything in particular. I guess… I just want you to know that… you don't have to be alone all the time if you don't want to be. There are many people around you who I'm sure would be willing to give you a shot at friendship if you'd just let them. I know I'd be one of them. And I know everyone else in Fairy Tail would be as well."

"I see…" Snape raised a brow. "And why the sudden interest in my preference for solitude, may I ask?"

"I just think that… having friends just makes your life better. And everyone deserves the chance to be happy. I guess… well…"

"Perhaps you feel… sorry… for me. Is that it?" Snape's brow went even higher.

"Um… well… I wouldn't say that exactly. I mean if you prefer being alone that's your decision but…"

"It is indeed my decision, Miss McGarden. And from all the experiences I have had… friendship… only ends up hurting you in the long run."

"That's a very negative attitude to have, Snape-san. Can I ask what's brought you to that conclusion."

"…I was right. You are indeed a lot like Miss Granger. You have just as big a fascination with sticking your nose into affairs that are not your concern."

"Oh… I'm sorry… I didn't mean to offend you…"

"Then perhaps it would be best if we cut this conversation short here."

"…Okay…" Levy nodded and stepped backwards, hurrying back over to where Lupin was watching a half-amused, half-concerned look on his face.

"That didn't go according to your plan, did it?" he asked.

"Well, I didn't really have much of a plan," Levy murmured. "But… yeah… that could have gone better."

"Don't feel so bad. You're not the only one that's offered him the hand of friendship only for him to push it away."

"Yeah but still… something about him… I don't really know what it is… but he seems like he just lost himself a little somewhere. I don't know. But I'd still quite like to help him if I can."

"Some people don't want to be helped," Lupin shrugged.

"But everyone deserves to be."

Lupin laughed. "I'd encourage you not to take that attitude if you ever come across Voldemort."

"Yeah… I don't think there's a chance of that."

"Hey guys!" called a voice from above and they lifted up their heads to see Happy winging his way down from above.

A few moments later, and a large black dog bounded over the hilltop before them and hurried down towards them. Lupin shook his head at the sight of the dog. Honestly if he hadn't known better he would have instantly assumed it was Sirius. And he heard Snape behind him mutter, "Ugh, it was bad enough when there was just one of that dog around."

The dog reached them and then became Lisanna in a blur of yellowish light as Happy swung down to hover beside her.

"Well?" Lupin asked. "Did you find anything?"

"No sign of the Sphere yet," Lisanna shook her head. "But we definitely saw that we're not alone up here. There are quite a few people hiking all around this area."

"And some of them are definitely wizards," Happy nodded. "There were these two hikers that came up against a pack of wolves, and I saw them firing spells from their wands at them and…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa…" Lupin frowned. "Just backtrack a little there, Happy. Did you say wolves?"

"Um… yes wolves. Grey fur, big dogs like Lisanna's new form but bigger and snarlier. Definitely wolves."

"But that doesn't make sense. There haven't been any wolves in this country for about two-hundred years possibly even more," Lupin frowned. "Except for the werewolf variety of course. But these were just ordinary wolves?"

"Definitely. I could smell them," Lisanna nodded.

"It could be possible that they were released here recently," Snape pointed out. "Perhaps by a wizard, or even a Muggle, that were keeping them illegally."

"Um… I have an alternative explanation," Levy raised a hand. "They might have come out of another Fairy Sphere. Just like the Clippers from before. There were wolves on Tenrou Island. The island's name is Tenroujima… which literally translates to Heavenly Wolf Island and there were many of them there."

"Is that so?" Snape wrinkled his nose. "This trip certainly got better, didn't it?"

Levy ignored Snape's sarcasm and pressed on. "Master Mavis said that she gathered the Fairy Spheres around every life form on the island. Including the wolves. So… it looks like we might have just made a species re-introduction."

"Assuming these wolves are of the same type as the ones that used to live here," Lupin mused. "But do you think that its possible these wolves came from the Fairy Sphere that both we and the Ministry are here looking for?"

"It's possible," Lisanna said. "But you said these mountains are quite large, didn't you? And wolves are known, at least in our world, for being long-distance travellers. It's possible there could have been two Spheres in these mountains without anyone knowing about either of them until now, right?"

"A very distinct possibility, yes."

"Or it could also mean that we and the Ministry are searching for a Sphere that no longer exists because it lowered itself and expelled a pack of wolves in the middle of an unprepared countryside. Meaning we're on a wild goose chase," Snape summarised.

"That is also a distinct possibility."

"Well either way, we know one thing we have to do," Lisanna pointed out. "The Sphere is our top priority, but we can't leave those wolves running around in these mountains any more than we could leave the Clippers behind. We'll need to round them up and get them back to Tenroujima where they belong. So we definitely still have a mission. It's just… changed somewhat."

"There were quite a lot of wolves though," Happy stated. "Should we get some of the others to come and help us?"

"I have been exercising my Take-Over over the last couple of weeks," Lisanna said. "I don't think I'd have what it takes to control more than fifteen animals at a time yet but… I could give it a try. We don't want to hurt the wolves. But they will be dangerous. After all, they have just woken up in a strange land with a much colder climate than they're used to where everything looks and smells different. They're probably very confused right now. And that could make them unusually hostile."

"I'd really not call out some of the other Fairy Tail members unless absolutely necessary," Lupin replied. "Let's just… press on for now and if we run into an unsavoury situation we'll Apparate you all out of here and return with back up. Come on, let's find that Sphere."

"Aye sir! You got it!" Happy cried as he swung his way back up into the air, Lisanna turning back into a dog and bolting off after him, sniffing the air.

"Well, we may not have werewolves, Remus," Levy gave him a wry smile. "But it looks like you may be meeting the wolves we do have pretty soon."

"Let's just hope we find anything else from your world up here before the Ministry does," Lupin said as he led the way after Lisanna.

A fog was beginning to roll in when a lone man entered the remote small town of Chagford, down in Dartmoor.

At about the same time, another man was trying to leave it. A broad man in his late thirties with a scruffy beard and smelling a little strongly of beer had clambered into his car and floored it, driving too fast down the narrow streets and aiming for the nearest road that would take him out out onto the moors, where he could drink the rest of the alcohol he had stashed in the boot without the disapproval of everyone around him.

But as he swerved out onto said road he found himself face to face with a single man, obscured slightly by the fog but walking right down the middle of the road towards him. He immediately slammed on the brake and the car jerked into such a violent emergency stop that he almost hit his face on the wheel even with the seatbelt done up. The car came to a halt inches from hitting the man in the road, who merely stopped too without flinching.

"Oh my God, you little…" growled the bearded man, spilling out of it and advancing around the hood towards the man he'd almost hit. "What the hell do you think you're playing at, huh? Walking out in the middle of the road like that. Haven't you got any sense."

He got no response. The man standing before the car just turned his head to stare balefully at him.

"What the heck are you just standing there for?" roared the bearded man. "Get out of the road, you asshole!… I tell you if you don't get out of my way, I'm gonna run you over, you hear me?"

Still no response. More staring.

"Right, that's it!" the bearded man started forwards. "You asked for this!" And he aimed his fist and took a flying swing right at the man's face. But the man finally responded and calmly raised his hand to catch the blow in his palm. The bearded man howled and staggered backwards, clutching his hand, which was wracked with agony as if it had been broken. But he didn't have the time to dwell on it because the front of his shirt was suddenly seized and he was yanked off his feet, brought eye to eye with the other man.

"Worthless," the man suddenly spoke in a low yet grating voice almost like an emotionless growl. "Useless, every last one of your kind. A blot on the world, a stain on mere existence. I won't be able to achieve anything here. None of you will provide me with a challenge."

"The… the hell are you talking about," the bearded man asked, before his attacker suddenly let go of his shirt. But before he could obey the call of gravity and fall to the ground, the man placed the palm of his hand against the bearded man's chest. The bearded man was suddenly blasted backwards as if he'd become the world's largest bullet, smashing into the wall of the nearest building and smashing right through it in a tumble of brick and mortar.

"Where must I go from here?" the man growled, slipping his fingers underneath the car and suddenly hefting it into the air, tossing it high with seemingly no effort and sending it crashing onto the roof of another building where it exploded. He continued forwards into the village, the ground rumbling around him as the screams started. "What must I do to achieve my goal?"

And as he strode into the town the fog rolled in still further, which made the screams and explosions that followed all the more terrifying to those who could hear them. Until the screams and explosions found them.