Hey folks. The chapters seem to be coming a little quicker now don't they? And I hope to keep it that way for a while before uni work swallows me up again. For now, enjoy this latest chapter.
Dance of the Fairies, Flight of the Phoenix
Chapter 22:- Haunting
"You know… I think maybe Gray should have come instead of me," Levy shivered. "Or at least I really should have dressed warmer than this. What was I thinking? I knew that I was going up into the mountains, I should have thought about the temperature. And the snow."
"Not the most pleasant hike I've ever had," Remus agreed, as he helped Levy up over another rise. They were climbing through snow that came up to their ankles, and Remus had already had to tear a couple of strips of his cloak off so that Levy could wrap them around her feet and trap them in her sandals and even then he had to keep applying warming charms to her. "It's quite funny, isn't it? Snow's an absolute delight when it first begins to fall and then after most people have had some fun with it briefly, it becomes little but an inconvenience to most people. And yet, every winter, we still hope for more to come."
"We just never learn," Levy gave a wry chuckle, before she looked back over her shoulder at Snape who was a short distance behind. The Potions Master caught her eye for a moment and Levy turned away quickly. She didn't want the man to think that she was at all worried about him. She wasn't, at least not in an immediate sense, but he probably wouldn't take it well if he thought she did.
"At least Lisanna doesn't seem to be having too bad a time of it," Levy nodded up a head to where the shaggy black dog was bounding back towards them, bouncing through the snow until she came up in front of them to sit down like an overgrown puppy, wagging her tail for a moment before she morphed back into her regular shape.
"Is everyone okay?" she asked.
Levy looked up at the snowfield they'd entered and shivered. They'd been walking to give both Remus and Snape a break from all the Apparating they'd been doing. While Lisanna and Happy had been more than content to run or fly over snow-covered hills and rises in their natural forms, the rest of them had no chance of making any headway, meaning they had been waiting until Lisanna was just within sight before Apparating to her. They needed Lisanna to do all the running anyway - they'd been relying on her nose to try and sniff out anyone they knew.
Still… she'd found nothing yet.
"We could be doing better," she sighed.
"We're not covering enough ground," Remus agreed. "And we can't afford the split up. The Cairngorms are huge and they could be anywhere in it. The Ministry have got a rough estimation of where this Fairy Sphere actually is even if they don't know its exact location. Still, they have probably found it by now, if its out there. And we don't even know if we're going further away from it or not."
"It's possible that Kingsley or Tonks was put on the patrol sent to find the Sphere, isn't it?" Happy asked as he floated down from above, his tail twitching in the cold air.
"Not likely," Remus shook his head. "There was a sighting of Sirius in Norfolk earlier today - a fake one of course but with Kingsley in charge of that investigation he had to head over there to check it out even though its a waste of time. And Tonks is actually using her day off to visit her parents. Not something she can normally do anymore with both the Ministry and the Order keeping her busy."
"And even if they were there… what could they do with all the Ministry watching?" Levy sighed. "No, I fear we're on our own this time."
"Then surely the best answer is an obvious one," Snape curled his lip slightly. "If searching on the ground is getting us nowhere then we must take to the air. After all, one of the most basic things anyone knows is that if you want to get a better view, get higher up."
"Aye, that's true that one," Happy grinned, cartwheeling through the air. "I should know that after all."
"That's certainly an idea, Severus, but you know the Ministry rules," Remus pointed out. "It's against the law for anyone to ride a broomstick lower than five-hundred metres above the ground except in designated areas, even with Disillusionment Charms in play. And we'll need to be able to see the ground well enough to make things. This won't be like it was when we took Harry away from Privet Drive and Mad-Eye tried to take us through all the clouds."
"Forgive me if I'm wrong, Remus," Snape raised a brow. "But is not the entire Order of the Phoenix that we are both associated with technically acting illegally just associating with these Fairy Tail members? We break the law every minute that we don't hand them over to the authorities. All we have to do is keep an eye out for Muggles spotting us and erase their memory if they do. A simple enough task, it sounds to me."
"He's got a point," Levy shivered. "And I could really do with taking my feet off the ground for a bit."
"It will be even colder a little higher up," Lisanna pointed out.
"Nuuuuh…" Levy groaned.
"Don't worry, I'll get you a sweater and some decent trousers if I can find any that might fit you," Remus said. "Severus, you're quite right of course. We are… I guess the word vigilantes springs to mind right now… so I guess bending a few more laws won't hurt. Everybody wait here while I Apparate back to see if I can't find a few broomsticks for us to try out."
"Oh, Aberforth has a lot of them in his closet," Happy raised a paw.
"Yes, but are they the kind you can fly on?" Snape raised a brow. "Or are you just talking about regular brooms?"
"There's a difference?" Happy blinked. "Can't you just… put a spell on them or something?"
"Creating a broomstick that responds efficiently to your commands is a much more complex process that casting a simple spell," Remus replied. "No, we need to find broom specifically made for flying. I'll be back as quick as I can. Wait here." And he vanished with a sudden crack, leaving behind a shivering Levy and a rather peeved looking Snape. Peeved that he had to be the one keeping an eye on these adolescents. He got enough of that at the school. Even if they were of age at seventeen, they were still young enough to be in his NEWT classes after all.
He stood apart from them and watched as Lisanna turned into one of those strange big birds - a Clipper if he remember correctly - and stood close to Levy to wrap her wings around her for warmth. Levy smiled and thanked Lisanna, who just nodded as Happy landed on her shoulder. Yes… clearly they were a very close bunch.
But… just then… Snape spotted something in the distance, out of the corner of his eye. He frowned and looked up. He could have sworn that he'd just seen someone dressed in black slip out from behind a large rock further up the slope and then scramble to get back behind it again. Instantly he was on the alert, his hand reaching for his wand and his eyes narrowing as he focused on the spot behind the boulder.
"If you would wait here for a moment," he said to the others. "There is something that I must attend to." And before they could ask a stupid question like 'What?' he spun around and Disapparated, appearing again just behind the rock with his wand outstretched. The spell "Expalliarmus!" rolled off his tongue and the two robed figures crouched by the rock yelped as their wands were suddenly jerked from their hands and into Snape's.
But it was only then that Snape realised who they were.
"Well, well…" he mused, almost more to himself than them. "Crabbe and Goyle… what might you two be doing wandering about the fells of the Cairngorms like this?"
"We could ask you the same thing, Severus," said Crabbe sourly. But not Vincent Crabbe who was currently sitting in the Slytherin Common Room, but his father - Mr. Crabbe. And Gregory Goyle's father too. Both of them known Death Eaters.
"What are you doing down there with them lot?" Goyle agreed. "Them kids - they're some from that Fairy Tail bunch that we've been hearing about."
"Yeah. One of them's turning into weird birds and everything," Crabbe agreed. "What are you doing with them?"
Snape lowered his wand and wrinkled his hooked nose and ignored their questions, instead choosing to say, "I see the Dark Lord has gotten wind of Fairy Sphere that is supposed to be somewhere in these mountains. Information from Lucius, no doubt. And he sent you two to investigate, did he?"
"To watch from the sidelines," Crabbe relayed. "So that we could see for ourselves what these Fairy Tail guys was like and tell him about it."
"But you've not answered our questions. What're you doing here," Goyle pointed at him accusatorially. "You're supposed to be at Hogwarts spying on Dumbledore for us, ain't ya?"
Snape raised a brow. Crabbe and Goyle Senior were both more intelligent than their hulking children… but they still were not exactly the sharpest knives in the drawer. He was somewhat relieved that these were the two Death Eaters he'd encountered if there had to be any. Lying to them would be a simpler task than lying to someone like Lucius.
But then again, he didn't exactly have to lie very much.
"What does it look like I am doing?" Snape rolled his eyes. "I am maintaining my cover. If I am to be a spy on the Order of the Phoenix then I have to act the part, don't I? The Order has gotten wind of the Sphere too through its own sources in the Ministry and volunteered to help Fairy Tail in finding their comrades."
"What? You mean Fairy Tail and the Order are working together?" Goyle gasped.
"It is a fairly recent development," Snape said. "One which I planned on telling the Dark Lord at my next opportunity, though telling him through you now seems like a good option to me." And he was being truthful - he was going to tell Voldemort about the arrangement soon. He'd kept it quiet for now but it was not something he could hide from the Dark Lord for long. If he found out another way then it might but him under suspicion and that was something that couldn't happen.
"Obviously I am on this mission with them in an attempt to learn more about them. About their abilities, their relationships - anything that could be useful to the Dark Lord later."
"Why not just kill them? If they think you're with them, what's stopping you from giving a nice Avada Kedavra to their backs?" Crabbe asked.
"Are you a fool?" Snape scoffed. "Not all the Fairy Tail members have been found yet. And we know literally nothing about them unless they tell us or we see if for ourselves. We need to learn as much as we can before we simply go killing them off. Besides, were you not there the night that Harry Potter and the Dark Lord clashed in that graveyard? Do you not remember what happens when Priori Incantatem occurs on a wand. Not everybody in the Order trusts me yet. If I were to return and claim that all the Fairy Tail members on the trip had been killed, some of them would demand they checked my wand to see if I was the culprit. And there would be nothing I could do to cover it up. My usefulness as a spy for Voldemort hinges on the information I can give him, not stabbing his enemies in the back."
Crabbe and Goyle blinked a couple of times but then nodded in understanding.
"Besides," Snape gave them both a smirk. "We do not yet know if they will make good allies for the Dark Lord one day, instead of enemies."
"Oh yeah," Goyle chuckled. "That's what the Dark Lord's planning to do with them Spheres that he's already found."
Snape had, of course, found out about this already, but considering he had not been in touch with any Death Eater since then he feigned surprise. "Oh? Is that so? Where is he keeping them?"
"We don't know," Goyle shrugged. "He won't tell us. Says that its none of our concern."
"I see. Well that's to be expected of course," Snape nodded. Voldemort regularly kept information from his followers after all. In the old days during his first reign of terror, most of the Death Eaters had even only been allowed to know who but a few of the other Death Eaters were just in case one of them tried to turn traitor. That wasn't the case anymore obviously - now everyone knew the names of the most prominent of Death Eaters since they'd been captured or killed by the Ministry Aurors, and many of those Death Eaters were still locked up in Azkaban.
"So what are you going to do now, Snape?" Crabbe asked.
"Obviously I shall re-assume my mission to gather intelligence. You two may continue to follow along if you wish, but you are not really needed here."
"We're not going anywhere," Crabbe stated firmly. "The Dark Lord will be angry if we return from mission without finishing."
"Then make sure you stay out of my way. You must not risk blowing my cover, not for any reason. Besides… if I see the opportunity… perhaps I can arrange for a little… accident… to befall one or two members of my company. Mountains can be such a dangerous place if you don't know what you're doing after all."
Crabbe and Goyle guffawed as Snape gave them back their wands. "Stay out of sight," Snape reminded them sharply before he Apparated back to the others further down the slope. By this point Lupin was back and had cast a Disillusionment Charm over Levy, the others watching in amazement as all the colour seemed to leech out of Levy's skin and clothes and turn the same white as the snow behind her. She lifted a hand in front of Happy's face and her hand instantly turned blue and except for a single eye pattern in the middle.
"Oooooh, now that's cool," Happy said. "Do me next!"
"Ah, Severus," Lupin noted even as he tapped Happy on the head and the charm began to take effect on the cat. "Where did you disappear to."
"To investigate something. And I do believe it was the right call," Snape frowned. "Nobody look around. We are being watched."
"We are?" Lisanna, who was back as a human, tensed up. "Where? Who by?"
"Further up the slope. Two Death Eaters."
"The servants of Voldemort?" Levy whispered. "They're here? Why?"
"Searching for the Fairy Sphere just like us, but they saw me with you so I had to convince them that I am here purely in the interests of the Dark Lord. It was not too hard. It's Crabbe and Goyle after all."
"Ah, the fathers of two delightful boys I had the pleasure of teaching a couple of years ago," Remus chuckled wryly, though everyone could hear the slight sarcasm in his voice.
Lisanna slowly turned back into a dog and raised her head to sniff the air. "Oh yeah," she said. "I can smell them now. I couldn't before so that means they've probably only just got here. What do we do? Should we take them prisoner? Maybe they can tell us where those other Spheres are!"
"They don't know - I already asked them that. We should not be too concerned with them - they're only here for reconnaissance. And if we attack and one of them should escape, suspicion will fall on me that I tipped you off that they were there."
"Severus is right, and it is crucial that he remains in Voldemort's favour," Remus nodded as Lisanna turned back into a human. "All we can do for now is carry on searching for the Sphere and pretend we do not know they are there. If an opportunity presents itself, perhaps we can do something about them. But if they're only here to watch from the background then we leave them be. Let's take to the air. Severus, here's your broom."
"Joy," Snape muttered as Remus passed the Cleansweep he'd managed to find to him and he cast a Disillusionment Charm over himself. Remus did the same over him and Lisanna once the latter had turned into Clipper again and the two wizards mounted their brooms and kicked off as Happy gripped the back of Levy's dress and hoisted her off the ground.
"Let's see what we can see," Lisanna said as she took point.
"And remember, if you see any Muggles, tell us so that we can modify their memories," Lupin agreed, and together the group of five shot out over the hills, leaving a pair of Death Eaters in the proverbial dust.
For now.
Gildarts sighed and ran a hand over his face at the sight before him. The town was an absolute wreck. Not a single building had been left intact, and the ground had been split and unheated almost everywhere, tearing open huge pits and caverns that had not previously existed. And he dreaded to think how few could have survived such a catastrophic event. He was willing to bet that not many had.
He was standing on a rise overlooking the town of Chagford and standing next to him was Mad-Eye Moody, who's magical eye was sweeping backwards and forwards like he was watching a tennis match being played at warp speed. A few other Fairy Tail and Order members were also present, but they couldn't go any closer to the town right now. Not only was it crawling with Muggle police and news teams, but there was a team of Ministry Wizards in there too, assessing the damage.
One of them being Tonks, who had been called in on her day off. She'd been the one to tip the Order off that something terrible had happened, and the available members had acted immediately to see for themselves.
"It's been ruined," Juvia murmured, her hand over her mouth at the sight of all the destruction. "Everything just… levelled."
"Who the heck could have done this?" Gray breathed, his fist clenching so hard that the veins were clearly visible - an image of his own hometown nothing but a smoking pile of rubble replaying on the back of his eyes. "You don't have demons in this world, do you?"
"Not to my knowledge we don't," snorted Moody. "Those kind of things, they only appear in myths. But as to who did this… we were rather hoping that you might be able to answer that question."
"What are you saying?" Gildarts glanced down at the grizzled man with a raised brow. "You think its possible that a Fairy Tail member could have done this?"
That's what the Ministry thinks for certain," said Emmeline Vance, unable to tear her eyes away from the wrecked town.
"And what do you think?" Gray turned to glare at her. "You think that any one of us from our guild is capable of something like this?"
"We don't know everything about you guys yet," Moody's eye swivelled around into the side of his head so he could stare at Gray without having to turn his neck. "But considering the things we've seen your do so far, your comrades would definitely be prime suspects, don't you think?"
"No, it does not!" Gray snapped! "We would never in a million…!" he was cut off when Gildarts raised a hand and he lapsed into silence. He felt Juvia put a hand on his shoulder slightly and closed his eyes, allowing himself to take a deep breath through his nose and calm down.
"…Sorry," he muttered.
"That's quite alright," Gildarts said. "But we really ought to let calmer heads prevail here. Yes, Alastor - there are members of our guild you haven't met yet that could have potentially done this in terms of power. But in terms of character? Not one of them would have ever done a thing like this deliberately. There have been a few times where some of us have levelled multiple buildings as collateral damage for something else we've been doing, but this? Clearly this was a deliberate act of destruction. Not perpetrated by one of us."
"What about that fellow… what was his name? Laxus?" Dedalus Diggle clicked his fingers. "I remember you telling us about him, Gray. How he once tried to kill you and everyone in your hometown with some super powerful magic?"
"Laxus wouldn't have done this either," Gray shook his head vehemently. "Back then he was an arrogant sod, that's for sure. But he was not a bad person at heart, not really. He was simply pushed by delusions of grandeur and fooling himself into thinking that everyone around him was an enemy even though he didn't truly believe it. Master Makarov says that those thoughts had most likely been planted in his head by his father, who definitely is an enemy of Fairy Tail, and they festered and grew within him for years. But he knows better now. He's reformed himself. And even if he hadn't, there's no way he'd just attack a random town like this for no reason."
"It wasn't Laxus," suddenly Gajeel added his voice to the debate. "The wind's blowing towards us from the town now. If Laxus had been anywhere near here in the last day then I'd be able to smell him. I'd be able to smell any of the other Fairy Tail members. But I don't. It was not any of them. This was done by someone else."
"Well, that answers my next question," Moody grunted. "Which was if you think that one of your own could have done this while being controlled. Forced to do it. But apparently not."
"But who could that have been?" Emmeline asked. "If it was not anyone from your world then it must have been someone from ours surely."
"Well you do have your own Dark Lord, don't you?" Juvia pointed out.
"Yeah, but what would You-Know-Who have against a place like this?" Emmeline shook her head. "Nah, this wasn't his work either. In the old days he and his Death Eaters might have found it fun to ransack a place like this but… it doesn't make sense for him to do it now. He's keeping a low profile. He doesn't want the Ministry to know he's back yet."
"No, but the Ministry aren't blaming him, are they?" Moody turned to lock both his eyes on Emmeline. "They're blaming Fairy Tail."
"…You think You-Know-Who could have done this to deliberately antagonise the Ministry against Fairy Tail?" Dedalus squeaked and dropped his hat.
"I'm not saying he did, but its possible."
"That bastard's gonna receive absolute hell when we find him," Gray muttered.
"Juvia agrees. If he is trying to frame us for something we didn't do, Juvia would like to have a private word with him about that."
"I dunno," Gajeel stepped forwards a little, sniffing the air again. "I can't smell anyone else from Fairy Tail but there is a familiar scent here. It's annoying me. This smell in the breeze that know I've smelt before somewhere. Just can't place it."
"That's a mystery we'll have to worry about another time. We should get back now," Moody turned to stump away. "Before we're discovered here by anyone from the Ministry."
"I know I recognise this scent! It's right at the back of my mind," Gajeel growled as he and the others moved over to prepare for Side-Along Apparition back to Grimmauld Place. "I think it was on Tenroujima but I can't remember what it was."
"I guess we'll just chalk it up to one of the many other questions we need to answer," Gray sighed. "And there are too many of those for my liking already."
The three Order members took Gajeel, Gray and Juvia back to Grimmauld Place with loud cracks, momentarily leaving Gildarts alone in the field. The S-class Mage turned to look back at the town again, his eyes narrowing. Gajeel wasn't the only one sensing something familiar. There was just something about all this that tugged at his memory. Perhaps it was the magical power he was sensing.
Whatever it was, he didn't need to see the smoking ruin to know that it spelt trouble.
And then Moody came back to whisk him away as well.
Professor Umbridge strutted through the corridor on her way back up to her Office, the same wide, smug smile pasted over her face as usual as she looked down at the students with an air of superiority so thick that it seemed to surround her like a fog. The way the students would immediately quieten down and stop whatever they were doing as she passed, the power that she held over them within such a short time of being here… oh, it was an exhilarating feeling.
And it was only just beginning. Her influence at the school was still almost negligible compared to what the future held. And she was planning on extracting every last ounce of authority from every last person here, pulling it out with her stubby bejewelled fingers until she alone stood at the top. And anyone who dared to challenge her… would be gone. Simple as that.
She'd been waiting a lifetime for a chance like this. She'd hated her time here when she'd been a child, loathing fellow students even when they'd done nothing specific to rouse her ire and resenting teachers for simply not treating her any better than the rest of them. And ever since she'd left she'd been clawing her way up the Ministry hierarchy by any means necessary until she'd found herself at the coveted position of Senior Undersecretary to the Minister.
But here… when she was done… here she would be completely in charge. For now she still answered to Cornelius of course, but he'd let Dumbledore run things as he saw fit for a long time until now, and when she was Headmistress as she planned to be, then she'd be given the same benefit. Perhaps even more freedom since Fudge trusted her so much. And perhaps after Fudge retired from office… perhaps she herself would become Minister one day.
The thought set her aquiver. The things she could do with that power… push Mudbloods out of Wizarding Society once and for all, for instance. She was no Death Eater but still, as far as she was concerned the Dark Lord had had the right idea in many ways. Not all, but many. And unlike him, Umbridge would make it to the top and rule the roost of all wizard-kind.
So lost was she in her twisted fantasies that the fact she had entered an abandoned corridor - not a student to be seen or heard anywhere, which was just the way Umbridge liked it to be honest. But when she rounded the next bend, she saw something which definitely gave her pause.
There a man standing before a window up ahead, his back turned to her as he stared out through the thick glass. Due to the afternoon light filtering through the window, Umbridge couldn't make anything out besides his silhouette… but he was quite clearly a big man, taller than most of the staff and certainly much more muscle-bound. But he certainly wasn't anyone that Umbridge recognised.
Frowning, she strode forwards, clearing her throat as she did so, "Hem hem… excuse me, sir? As the Hogwarts High Inquisitor, I demand to know who you are and what you are doing here on my campus!"
The man made no response, as Umbridge stopped about halfway down the corridor. She flared her nostrils in irritation; who would dare to ignore someone of her standing? She raised her voice and barked, "Did you not here me? Who are you? If you do not tell me what I want to know then I will have you escorted from my premises! In fact, I may even have you arrested!"
Again the man made no answer. Umbridge growled to herself and reached for her wand, but suddenly the man turned around and gave such a terrifying snarl that Umbridge almost fell over. And the blood drained out of her face when she realised that he wasn't a man at all. Long, fangs dripping saliva protruded from his lengthened snout, his body covered in brown fur, a tufted tail sticking out behind him and his muscled arms ending in huge claws. His beady black eyes stared at the short, horrified woman like she was a piece of meat. It was… a wolf-man! A werewolf, standing right before her!
"Oh… oh my… you…" Umbridge gasped and spluttered at the canine monstrosity stalked towards her. "Stay… stay away! STAY AWAY!"
The werewolf ignored her, a low growl emanating from the back of its throat. Umbridge stumbled backwards, fumbling for her wand but suddenly the werewolf burst forwards with a terrible roar and Umbridge screamed, forgetting her wand and turning around to run for her life. She stampeded down the corridor as fast as her scurrying stumpy legs could take her but she heard the creature's pounding footsteps, slamming the ground like pistons and gaining rapidly on her!
"NO! NO! HELP ME! HEEELP MEEEE!" Umbridge screamed as she heard the creature bellow in triumph and make the leap… cringing and screaming as she stopped and hunkered down, waiting for the end…
…but there was nothing. The teeth and claws that she expected to tear into her never came.
She spent about half a minute trembling, during which time she could hear footsteps hurrying towards her from up ahead, but when she slowly dared to lift her head and turn around the corridor behind her was notably empty. No sign of man, beast or anything of the kind anywhere.
"Whatever is the matter, Dolores?" barked Professor Sinistra as she hurried around the corner up ahead. "What in the world were you screaming about?"
Umbridge hastily tried to recover her composure, but remained slightly hysterical as she stood up and said, "Aurora, there was a werewolf!? This… this enormous beast! It was here! It was standing by that window and… and it charged at me… I… I fought back naturally but then it disappeared! It vanished into thin air… all of a sudden… but it was here! I… I want a full sweep of the school conducted immediately!"
"Slow down, Professor," Sinistra frowned. "A werewolf? What are you talking about? It's not even the full moon yet! And it's broad daylight!"
And as Umbridge babbled on in her rushed explanation, just behind a tapestry a few feet away from her, Fred and George were struggling to stifle their laughter as they crept away down the corridor, a small Pantherlily striding along between them with his hands behind his head. He'd never acted so feral before, but he was quite proud of the performance he'd given out there.
And in front of the three of them skipped the ghost of Mavis. It had been her illusionary magic that had made Pantherlily's battle form look like a werewolf. In times past she would have been able to create the illusion entirely from scratch, but with her limited magic she could only create illusions to disguise another by drawing on some of their own magic to keep the illusion looking real. Which meant Lily had had to act the part and sell the performance. And it seemed like he had.
"I have to admit," Lily chuckled once they were out of earshot. "That was quite fun."
"It was awesome!" George exulted. "Oh, did you hear the way she screamed?"
"Normally we'd never pull anything that might result in screams like those, but this time it was definitely worth it," Fred agreed. "I wouldn't be surprised if she wet herself."
"I'm praying that she did," George crossed his fingers hopefully. "It would so make my day."
"You boys are terrible," Mavis giggled. "But that woman deserved it, so I'll let you off."
"I take it that went well," said Charla when they reached the other end of the hidden passageway.
"More than well. It went just as smoothly as hoped," Fred nodded.
"I never knew that there was a secret passageway here," Hermione said. "But its certainly come in handy this time."
"There's dozens of these, Hermione. Possibly hundreds, all criss-crossing through the castle in ways that would make no logical sense," George said. "There's this one that leads from the ground floor all the way to the seventh with nothing but a gentle slope that I'm pretty sure if there wasn't magic involved would end right over the middle of the greenhouses. Heck of a lot easier than taking the stairs, I can tell you."
"We heard her screams from here," Harry was grinning widely. "It sounded amazing. I wish I could have seen it."
"Me too, but that would have defeated the entire purpose of it, wouldn't it?" Ginny noted.
"I know. It's a shame though. Still… what's our next move?"
A couple of hours had passed and by that point the entire school was abuzz with the news that something unknown had just attacked Professor Umbridge. Harry and the others had struggled to keep straight faces as they'd walked through the corridors, but they'd managed it because they couldn't allow people to think they'd had a hand in it.
So most of them had gone back to their common rooms to do their homework, leaving Fred, George, Mavis and the two Exceed to continue the job.
Umbridge was insistent that she had not imagined the werewolf that had attacked her despite all the evidence that told her that it was impossible, and all the efforts of the other teachers to persuade her that it could not have happened.
"I know what I saw! And I want that filthy half-breed's hide on the wall before the day is out!" she raged.
But eventually people stopped listening to her and went back to their own work. Umbridge ranted and raved that there was a serious threat to security but when nobody listened to her she stormed off on her own, wand drawn and trying to root out the creature herself.
But after another hour, when she'd still found nothing, she couldn't help but wonder if maybe it had been some kind of strange hallucination. Flitwick had suggested that perhaps a student had hit her with a powerful charm to make her see something that wasn't there… if that was true she would find the student that did it and make sure they were expelled for sure.
Eventually though when she'd combed every room in the castle from the bottom up she conceded defeat and, huffing, she started to descend the stairs back towards her office again… unaware that Fred and George were watching her progress on the Marauder's Map that they'd borrowed from Harry. Crouched behind a mirror, they watched the little dot that marked Umbridge's location make its way down towards them, further towards them, level with them… past them.
"Go," George hissed and pushed at the back of the mirror, opening it just enough for Lily's small form to slip out and onto the stairs behind Umbridge. Lily instantly grew back into his bigger form and Mavis hastily re-applied the werewolf illusion. The moment the mirror swung back into place to hide the secret tunnel, Lily roared! Umbridge spun around so fast that she almost fell backwards down the stairs, screaming and fumbling for her wand but Lily jumped forward and slapped the wand right out of her hand to send it flying over the bannister and out of sight.
That very quickly told Umbridge that this was now hallucination, and she with a scream high enough to crack glass she all but fell down the stairs, somehow managing to stay on her feet as she did so. Lily stood at the top of the steps, watching until she reached the bottom before clearing the entire flight in a single bound. Umbridge screeched as he fell down towards her and darted out the way, but as soon as her back was turned Lily popped back into his small form and extended his wings before swooping out of a window that the twins had deliberately leapt open for him and out of sight.
When Umbridge turned to look over her shoulder and found the stairs very noticeably devoid of werewolf, not even the sound of it landing behind her, she pulled to a halt so fast that she actually did trip up and went sprawling onto the landing in front of her. She pushed herself up and rolled onto her back, head swinging about wildly in search of the phantom beast that was hunting her.
"WHERE ARE YOU!?" she yelled. "STOP TAUNTING ME, YOU FILTHY… HORRIBLE HALF-BREED! SOMEONE GET OUT HERE! GET OUT HERE AND PROTECT ME!"
Lily chuckled from where he was hovering above the window and floated up to the next floor where Fred, George, Mavis and Charla were already waiting for him at another window, the latter two perched on the windowsill itself.
"This is going great," Charla smiled. "At this rate we'll be driving her up the wall in no time."
"How long should we wait until the next one?" Fred asked.
"Give it a few hours now at least," Mavis smiled. "Perhaps we can hit her at least once more before she turns in. But, if all goes to plan, she should soon think that she's being haunted by something more primal than anything she's ever experienced before."
"Some kind of ghostly undead werewolf that disappears and reappears in the blink of an eye," George laughed. "There's never been anything like that in recorded magical history as far as I know. But given how much she hates half-breeds, I wonder how long she'll be willing to stay here."
Natsu marched down the sloping path, ignoring the snow that was building up around him, largely because he had coated his feet with a thin layer of fire so that every time he took a step he melted it and ended up stepping on solid rock. He was moving quite fast and Lucy, who was deliberately putting her feet in Natsu's own footprints to try and avoid slipping herself, was having a hard time keeping up.
"Natsu… wait…" she moaned. "Can't we take a break? We've been walking for hours?"
Natsu stopped and turned to watch as she trudged her way towards him. "You're very slow, Lucy," he grinned teasingly. "I'm surprised you haven't called out that clock guy yet so you can sit inside him while he walks."
Lucy rolled her eyes, but the thought had crossed her mind… several times… though she wasn't about to admit that. "I just don't have your endurance, Natsu," she said as she sat down on a rock and lifted her feet off the ground, wiggling her toes within her boots. "You just keep going and going and going and never seem to get tired. I don't know how you do it. But my feet hurt a little. Just give me some time to rest them."
"I could carry you, if you like," Natsu suggested.
"I'm not that helpless! Besides, you heard what Loke said. All of our friends that have come out of their own Spheres are fine so it's not like we're in a hurry. Not like we did in Edolas."
"He also said he can't see everything from the Spirit World that well. I ain't gonna be satisfied until we've got there and seen it for ourselves."
Lucy smiled slightly. "I know what you mean, I guess. I mean I trust Loke but… I suppose sometimes you just need proof. Still… I'm sure we've got at least another forty-five miles to go still. I don't know if my feet will make it that far."
"I said that I…"
"You're not carrying me!"
"Okay, okay, whatever. Just thought I'd mention it. I…" he paused suddenly. Lucy looked up instantly - when Natsu stopped in the middle of a sentence it rarely meant something good. And sure enough he was sniffing the air, his eyes narrowed as he looked down the path they'd been walking down.
"What is it?" she whispered.
"Someone's coming."
And sure enough a couple of minutes later, two men wearing thick woollen clothing emerged from around the bend in the road ahead. As soon as they spotted the two Fairy Tail mages they froze, and a brief staring match ensued, neither side willing to look away from each other. A full thirty seconds of silence passed before Natsu suddenly grinned and said, "Yo! How's it going?"
"Er… hello," one of the man cleared his throat gruffly. "It's… It's going pretty well. Are you okay? You don't exactly appear to be dressed for hiking in the mountains, young man."
"Takes a lot to make me feel cold," Natsu put his hands behind his head. "What are you doing up here?"
"Oh, we're just… two regular hikers, out for… for a hike, obviously," said the other man, a little lamely, which made Lucy's eyes narrow slightly. That sounded very much like a lie to her, but Natsu didn't seem to notice.
"Usually I don't come into the mountains unless there's monsters for me to beat up," the Dragon Slayer said.
"Sorry, what?" one of the men blinked.
"Natsu…" Lucy said slowly and a little warily. But before she could say any more, Natsu certainly said:-
"Oh, I don't suppose you've seen anyone with a mark like this somewhere on them, have you?" and he bared his shoulder to the men, showing off the red Fairy Tail mark in all its glory.
The sight of it made the two men jump back, pulling out small bits of wood warily. "You!" one of them cried. "You guys are Fairy Tail!"
"Hey, you guys know about us! Cool!" Natsu grinned, somehow totally missing their wary reaction and how tense they'd gotten. Lucy though was on her feet and had opened the pouch to her keys. "Does that mean you'll take us to our pals. I heard that they were about…"
"NATSU!" Lucy yelled before he could finish the sentence and grabbed his scarf, yanking him backwards with a yelp just as the two men opened fire with two streaks of red light from their little sticks. They streaked over Natsu's head as he fell flat on his back, and Lucy hissed at him. "I don't know what's going on, Natsu, but those guys aren't friendly."
"Yeah, I got that now…" Natsu's eyes narrowed as the two men came running forwards up the slope, flashes of red darting forth from their wands like bullets from a gun. Natsu flipped back onto his feet and dodged to the side, dragging Lucy behind a boulder to take cover from the barrage before suddenly leaping over the top of it, his hands bursting into flame. "You bastards! What the heck did we do to you!?" and charged in towards them.
"Natsu, wait! You don't know what those things do!" Lucy cried as she sprang up behind him, but it was too late. Natsu swung his fist at the jets of light, his flames searing the air as he blasted several of the spells to bits, an action which caught the two attackers by surprise, but two more of them immediately followed after and struck Natsu dead on. He staggered backwards, his head suddenly spinning along with the world around him.
"Whoa… why's the sky upside down?" he murmured, even as Lucy vaulted over the rock behind him and rushed towards him with a golden key in hand.
"Open, gate of the Scorpion! Scorpio!" she cried, as a flash of light burst from the key at the same time as more red lights jetted from the wands. Lucy dove on top of Natsu and pushed him to the ground before the lights could hit him and even as Scorpio appeared in a flash of light he swung his huge metallic tail around to deflect the reddish beams into the mountainside.
"We are!" the tan-skinned man roared, grinning excitedly and placing a hand on the snow covered ground to aim the tail cannon at the attacking men. "Good to see you, Lucy!"
"What the hell is that?" one of the men cried, taking a shocked step back.
"Did that girl just… conjure him!?" the other breathed.
"Why do you have to always run in headfirst without thinking?" Lucy muttered as she tried to pull the woozy Natsu back upright. "Scorpio, get them!"
"Gotcha! Take this, punks! SAND BUSTER!" Scorpio yelled, and a veritable tornado of sand exploded out of the end of his tail, raking up the snow as it shot down the path towards the two men. They yelled as the maelstrom swept in towards them, but right before it engulfed them they both suddenly disappeared with loud cracks.
"Huh? What happened?" Lucy blinked, with one of Natsu's arms over her shoulders - the Fire Dragon Slayer giggling as if slightly drunk.
"They disappeared," Scorpio's eyes narrowed, before instinct compelling him to whirl around. "Lucy, look out!"
Lucy glanced over her shoulder to see the two men standing there and they'd already fired off at least four more of those red lights. Before she could react, Scorpio had seized both her and Natsu to tuck them under his arms and jump right off the path, dodging the red lights and spinning around in the air to cry, "SAND SPEAR!" This time a long thin streak of sand thundered out of the tip of his tail to lance in and impact the ground right between the two men, exploding outwards to send them both flying. Lucy screamed as they fell towards the snow below, but then Scorpio did something she'd had no idea he could do.
His tail rotated one-eight degrees so it curved underneath him rather than over his head. He then planted his feet on the metallic tail and turned it into a makeshift snowboard, hitting the slop and whooshing down it at high speed, zig-zagging skilfully to dodge a couple of snow covered conifer trees.
"Whoa!" Lucy cried. "Thanks, Scorpio!"
"We are! No problem! Been a while since I've done this!" he grinned, zipping over a small ledge and landing smoothly to continue on down the slope.
It was at this point that Natsu chose to snap out of his daze, but as soon as he realised that he was shooting down a slope his cheeks suddenly bulged and he slumped in Scorpio's grip, his face turning blue. "Mm gonna hurl…" he gagged.
"NATSU! THIS ISN'T TRANSPORTATION! SCORPIO'S HOLDING YOU!" Lucy yelled.
"He is?" Natsu looked up. "Oh, so he is. Well why didn't you say so? Yeehaaa!" he thrust his arms out and whooped, all traces of his motion sickness vanishing as quickly as it had started. Lucy sweatdropped. Why Natsu was okay with being carried by something alive but not by anything else was beyond her.
"Where'd those guys go?" Natsu asked.
"We left them behind at the top," Lucy said. "Those red beams made you really dizzy. If they had just been energy attacks you probably would have just shrugged them off knowing you, but they had some kind of special magical property. That's why you shouldn't just charge in until you know what you're up against."
"Right, got it. Red beams bad," Natsu nodded.
"That's not quite what I meant, but I guess its good enough," Lucy rolled her eyes.
By this point they were reaching the bottom of the slope and Scorpio twisted side one to kick up a flurry of snow as he braked. They came to a stop right up against a huge, grey boulder, and Scorpio jumped up, his tail flipping back into its regular position as he put Natsu and Lucy down.
"You're a lifesaver, Scorpio," Lucy smiled.
"Yeah, thanks!" Natsu gave him a thumbs up.
"We are! No problem! Feel free to call on my anytime!" Scorpio held up his hand with his index and little finger held up in his signature pincer-like manner, before he vanished into a yellow glow and returned to the Spirit World.
Natsu turned to look up at the direction they'd come. "Now I just need to climb back up the slope so I can punch those guys in the face!"
"Oi. That's really not a priority right now
"But I've gotta get my revenge for…"
CRACK!
They both whirled around, to see the two men were suddenly standing there next to them, their clothes a little torn, bruises showing and one of them clutching his arm, but the other lifted his wand into the air and fired off a greenish beam of light that exploded in the air like a firework.
"Should have asked Scorpio to wait," Lucy muttered as Natsu stepped forwards to slam his fist into his palm, flaming bursting out of both as he did so.
"Well I'm more prepared this time," he growled. "You guys aren't going to get me again!"
CRACK!
CRACK!
CRACK!
And then suddenly there were about thirty men standing there, all with pieces of wood drawn and all of them pointed at Natsu and Lucy.
"You were saying?" Lucy asked.
"Big deal! Whether there's two guys or a hundred, the result's always the same," Natsu spread his legs into a fighting stance. "You guys mess with Fairy Tail, then I'll bust you all up!"