Hey guys. Sorry this chapter was delayed but considering I spent the last couple of weeks in the Bahamas free-diving with sharks and dolphins I was pretty much drained whenever I was back on the shore and it was very difficult to write. But I have literally got back home just now with the next installation ready for posting so… here it is! Hooray!
Dance of the Fairies, Flight of the Phoenix
Chapter 23:- Wolf Day
From the moment that Natsu's fists burst into flames, the Ministry wizards were already in action. "Surround him!" Savage yelled out. "Don't take him head on! Take him from all angles!"
"Quit talking strategy and fight me!" Natsu yelled as he pounded forwards, right at the moment many of the wizards Disapparated and re-appeared in a wide semi-circle around the Fire Dragon Slayer, while several of the ones in front of Natsu ran in to fire Stunning spells at him one after the other. But Natsu was more prepared for the red flashes of light this time and flames exploded from his feet, catapulting him into the air above them and bringing his hands together to form an enormous ball of fire between them, which he raised above his head.
"KARYUU NO… KOEN!" he yelled as he flung it downwards, sending several wizards diving aside to avoid the blast only to be blindsided as it impacted with the ground and exploded outwards, sending them flying in multiple directions at once. Natsu grinned but when numerous other flashes of light were thrown up at him from all angles his grin disappeared quickly and he flipped onto his back, fire bursting from his mouth straight up into the air to send him plunging back towards the ground so the spells flew over the top of him instead, several colliding with each other to explode like fireworks.
Natsu landed on all fours like a cat and spun around, fire still gushing out of his mouth and curving in a wide arc as he swung his head to pulse in the direction of multiple Ministry wizards at once.
"Shields!" Dawlish yelled, and the Aurors lifted their wands and yelled, "Protego!" as one, to form invisible walls in front of them that caught the fire and repelled it, but the flames impacting on the shields with such force that it still pushed several of them backwards.
"Shields? That's not fair!" Natsu growled, right as he was hit in the back with a couple of Repulsion charms that sent him flying towards the shields head-first. But Natsu was quick to twist himself over and use his the momentum to his own advantage. "KARYUU NO TEKKEN!" he roared and slammed his flaming fist right into one of the shields, which shattered under the powerful blow. The shocked Auror was met with a punch to the gut from his other hand which bowled him over, while Natsu landed and spun around to send gouts of fire flashing out from his hands in both directions.
"KARYUU NO YOKUGEKI!"
Many of the Aurors were taken off guard by the speed and ferocity at which Natsu moved and the fire slammed into them and sent them flying every which way, their robes singed and slightly flaming. The ones that managed to re-direct their Shield Charms to block this new attack too quickly fanned out, dodging around him and firing hex after hex at him. But Natsu charged straight through the attacks, dodging and flipping himself over to avoid them by a hairs breadth, sometimes only moving about on his hands and spinning around to chuck a fireball at someone every time he found a gap.
"The snow! Use the snow!" one of the Aurors cried. "Let's put out his fire!"
Several others were quick to take up the idea and with swishes of their wands suddenly the snow around them whisked its way off the ground and blasted in towards Natsu in several miniature snowstorms homing in on one target. Natsu skidded to a halt just as the first blast washed over him and then another, then another until about eight snowy attacks were coming at him from every direction at once, engulfing him, the fire in his hands fizzling out as he shielded his face from the blasts.
"Natsu!" Lucy, who had up until this point stood and watched, cried. But it seemed that she needn't have worried because Natsu suddenly roared and plunged his hands down into the ground, punching two holes in the rocks beneath the snow and bellowing at the top of his lungs. The ground around him split and flamed, a fiery shockwave passing through the ground all around him as flames burst up from beneath the Aurors, who were forced to drop their attacks and Disapparate to avoid being hit.
"Hehe," Natsu grinned and he rubbed his chin, fire practically leaking out of his mouth. "You guys aren't bad. But you're gonna have to try harder than that if you want me to feel the cold."
"Then maybe you'd like this better," yelled one of the Aurors. "Let's see how you like it. Inciendo!" And a spurt of fire flashed out of his wand, and those of several others. Natsu grinned as the flames shot in all around him and blasted into him. But as he was engulfed in the inferno, some of the other Aurors turned towards Lucy - they had forgotten the girl was there until she'd shouted as they'd been a little more focused on the one attacking them.
"Stupefy!" one of them yelled and a jet of red light flashed right in towards the blond. Lucy gasped and dove aside, the red light impacting the giant rock behind her instead. As she flipped back onto her feet, she gritted her teeth and pulled a golden key off her belt.
"If you guys are just going to attack us like that, then I guess we have no choice but to fight back," she lifted the key into the air. "Open, Gate of the Golden Bull, Taurus!"
"MMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" yelled the large bovine Spirit as he appeared in a flash of light, swinging his gigantic axe just in time to block another set of Stunning spells that had been aimed at Lucy. Several of the Aurors gaped, but then Taurus completely ruined his own dramatic entrance by turning back to Lucy with hearts in his eyes and crying, "Lucy! I'm so grateful to see that nice body of yours has survived the seven years you were gone! Your udders are as fine as always even through that winter coat!"
"STOP LOOKING AT MY UDDERS! I MEAN MY… GAH! TAURUS! JUST GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME!" Lucy yelled, covering her chest automatically and growling. "We're being attacked right now, okay?"
"Mooo, anyone who attacks your nice body deserves to be thrashed!" Taurus turned around to glare at the stunned Aurors.
"And these guys are gonna be," Natsu's voice came out of the flames right before they congealed and were sucked straight into his mouth. "Cos now that I've eaten, I'm all revved up!"
"Impossible…" one of the Aurors gasped. "They're… they're monsters!"
"I sure seem to get called that a lot," Natsu turned to the Auror in question as his feet were enveloped in flame, melting the snow under his feet instantly. "Wanna see how monster-like I can be!? KARYUU NO KAGITSUME!" And he sprang into the air and slammed his foot down hard on where the Auror had been moments before, the Auror having Disapparated just in time. "GAH! Fight me straight on, will ya!" Natsu yelled as his foot created a crater in the floor and he blitzed sideways to avoid a blasting hex that wrecked the ground even more.
Meanwhile, a pair of Aurors had fired a Stunning Spell each at Taurus, hoping to drop the Celestial Spirit, but the charging bull seemed to shrug off the effects of the spells as if they were nothing more than a pair of pebbles that had been thrown at him. "Moooooo! Rampage!" he yelled as he brought his axe hammering down into the ground between the two Aurors, fracturing the rock and blowing them both backwards.
Another Auror, Savage, levitated up a giant rock with a swish and a flick of his wand, before firing it straight at Taurus with a Repulsion Jinx. Taurus simply brought his fist back and hammered the rock into powder before leaping in and swinging the axe in at Savage, who quickly cried, "Expelliarmus!" The axe went flying out of Taurus' hands to land nearby but the bull was not deterred and charged in, seizing Savage by his robes and hefting him off his feet to swing him away, right into another Auror right as he Apparated in with a Bludgeoning Charm ready.
Dawlish gasped as he watched Savage lying groaning on the ground. Conventional defence and offensive spells were not slowing these guys down too much. They had to up their game, think outside the box a little. But wait, if the bull had been summoned by the girl then perhaps taking out the girl would defeat the bull!
So he swung around and Apparated in behind Lucy, hoping to stun her from behind. But she heard the crack of his transportation and flung herself sideways, landing on her shoulder and rolling awkwardly in the snow, grabbing the Fleuve d'étoiles from her belt and activating it with a crackling burst of light.
"Call off your creature!" Dawlish cried.
"Stop attacking us first then I might! Come to think of it, why are you attacking us!?" Lucy responded.
"You are a member of Fairy Tail. Your lot have already proven how dangerous you are!" Dawlish replied before he transfigured the snow around him into sharp rocks and banished them right at Lucy. But Lucy had lashed her whip out the side and it had lengthened on its own to wrap around a tree, whereupon she contracted it to yank her sideways and off her feet to avoid the blast. Manipulating the whip's length she swung herself around the tree and up onto the giant rock, whereupon she lashed the whip down right at Dawlish. The Auror rose a Shield Charm to block the attack, but Lucy grinned - she'd anticipated that.
"Chance!" she cried as the whip curled around and lengthened to whip right around the Shield Charm and latch itself around Dawlish's ankle. Before Dawlish could react, it had lengthened still further to grab the feet of three other Aurors, and Lucy hauled backwards on the whip to bring them all crashing onto their backs.
"Nice one, Lucy!" Natsu grinned as he jumped right over Dawlish and lobbed a fireball at another Auror.
"Moooo! Lucy's nice body looks even nicer when its swinging through the air!" Taurus cheered.
"Way to make me feel awkward about my own victory," Lucy muttered. "But the fight's not over!"
"Not yet," Natsu agreed, turning back to look at the ten or so Aurors who could still stand. "Looks like still about a third of them to go." He vaulted over to Taurus' fallen axe and grabbed it by the handle, hefting it into the air and crying, "Hey, cowman! Catch!"
"Got it!" Taurus deftly grabbed it after Natsu flung it and used it to sheer to slice the ground and send a burst of rocks and snow flying towards the Aurors, who were quick to shield themselves again, before several of them grouped in close together and pointed their wands at Natsu and Taurus together.
"Bombarda!" they cried, and fired multiple Bludgeoning Hexes at once. Natsu and Taurus both quickly dodged sideways in opposite directions, and the hexes sailed between them to smash into the giant rock that Lucy was standing on.
Lucy expected the rock to shatter and was ready to jump off at a moment's notice.
What she had not expected was for the rock to bellow in pain and suddenly heave itself upwards. "YAAAGGGH!" she screamed as she was suddenly taken higher into the air, the rock tilting over and forcing her to drop onto her belly and hug with all four limbs, her fingers and toes digging into little grooves as her body rapidly went from horizontal to almost vertical, as the rock got to its feet.
Yes, feet.
Because it was not a rock at all. Not even slightly. It was a gigantic creature about fifteen times taller than a human with thick tree-trunk like legs and a rotund body that led up to its short four fingered arms that ended with short claws. Its body was a light grey colour except for its back and the top of its head, which were dark grey and covered with thick armour plated scales that Lucy now found herself holding onto, and its head was quite difficult to distinguish from its body because it seemed to have very little neck - it just kept going from feet to the strange, black and bulbous lump on the top and front of its head. Its jaws were wide and filled with teeth and it had to twist its body around to turn its small eyes on the men that had just attacked it.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?" cried one of the Aurors.
"GET ME DOWN!" Lucy cried. "SOMEONE PLEASE GET ME DOWN!"
"Hey, that's one of the things from Tenroujima!" Natsu pointed up at the creature. "What the heck is that doing here?"
"Mooo! It's a Doscadon!" Taurus hefted his axe and narrowed his eyes. "And its got my nice body up on its back!"
"I'M NOT YOUR NICE BODY! JUST GET ME DOWN!"
"Yes, yes," Natsu turned to face the Doscadon, which bellowed and stepped in forwards, trying to get a good look at the creatures that had attacked it. Doscadon were heavy sleepers, especially in a totally cold environment like this one, so different from the tropical island that it was used to living on, hence why it had not woken up until it had been directly attacked en masse.
But the Aurors, evidently more than a little freaked out at the appearance of such an enormous creature, panicked. "ATTACK! ATTACK! BRING IT DOWN!" One of them yelled and they instantly launched a barrage of spell after spell at it, throwing everything they could think of from Stunners and Impediment jinxes to more Bludgeoning hexes. The Doscadon reared backwards and bellowed at the onslaught of spells, shaking itself as if trying to shrug off their effects. Lucy yelled as she held on tighter, scrabbling with her feet to keep her grip as she was almost sent flying.
"BASTARDS!" Natsu rounded on the Aurors with eyes ablaze, almost literally. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, PUTTING LUCY IN DANGER!" He and Taurus dove forwards at the same time to attack, but they were too late to stop Savage from pushing himself up from the ground and firing a single spell - a Conjunctivitis Curse - that sailed over the heads of all and sundry to slam the Doscadon right in the eye.
"HHHRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWRRRRRRRR!" The Doscadon's roar shook snow loose from the slopes as it stumbled backwards, shaking its head and tipping over as if about to overbalance. Lucy squealed as she realised that if it fell in this direction she would be crushed beneath it, but luckily the Doscadon was able to catch itself on its tail and push itself back upright again.
But the creature was clearly in pain, shaking and writhing about as if trying to expel a giant fly from its eye, trying to raise its arms up to scratch at it. And as Natsu and Taurus turned back to see if Lucy was okay, Savage let fly with a second curse that slammed right into the Doscadon's other eye!
"GGGRRRAAAAWWWWWWWWRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRHHHHRRRRRRR!" The following bellow practically rattled the mountain itself and the Doscadon quickly decided it had had enough and charge forwards. Despite its enormous bulk and comparatively stumpy legs it was able to move extremely fast, angling its body so it was charging forwards head-first right towards the Aurors. Natsu dove aside just in time to avoid being flattened underneath one of its feet. Taurus was not so lucky and actually was stepped on, pushed straight down onto the snow with a yell of "Moooooo!"
"Taurus!" Lucy cried from her position on the Doscadon's back, but she still had to cling on for dear life as it took off through the Aurors, who apparated out of the way to avoid the same fate as the Golden Bull. As they re-appeared around Natsu, the battle was momentarily lulled as they all watched the Doscadon thunder away.
"Lucy!" Natsu yelled after it.
"NATSU! GET ME DOOOOOOWWWNNNNNN!" Lucy squealed.
"Lucy… That looks so fun!" Natsu cried. "Why do you get to do the cool stuff!?"
"IT'S NOT FUN FOR ME!" Lucy snapped over her shoulder before the Doscadon almost overbalanced and she was forced to grip harder as it shot away.
Natsu sighed. "Guess I'll just have to rescue then. Man, I wish Happy was here."
"Mooo!" Taurus pushed himself to his feet, battered and bruised but still looking raring to go. "How dare that Doscadon make off with Lucy like that!"
"You go back to the Spirit World," Natsu turned to look at him. "You'll wear out Lucy's magic if you stay here."
"Hmm… true… we wouldn't want her to fall off!" Taurus murmured. "Alright then, Natsu-san! It's up to you to make sure Lucy's nice body remains unbruised!"
"Yeah, yeah!" Natsu waved his hand as Taurus vanished in a puff of yellow. He then turned to the the Aurors and yelled, "Oi, bastards! Gotta put this fight on hold! Try to follow me and I'll kick your asses!" And without another word he barrelled off after the Doscadon, which was already some way in the distance, running at full pelt and a speed that surprised the watching Aurors. They made no attempt to pursue, just watching as the Dragon Slayer ran off after the fleeing dinosaur-like creature.
"Who the heck were those guys?" Dawlish murmured as he helped another winded Auror to his feet. "These Fairy Tail mages are more powerful than I thought."
"I thought we were prepared this time," Savage agreed. "But every one of them just pulls off different tricks. I almost wish that You-Know-Who was back. At least then I'd know what the heck I was dealing with with his Death Eaters."
"Is everyone okay?" Dawlish asked. "No casualties."
"I think we're alright, sir," said another one. "A few broken bones and some bad burns but nothing that can't be fixed with a quick trip to St. Mungos."
"Well, that's something at least. But I think we're going to need back-up for this one."
"Agreed," nodded Savage. "Someone send a Patronus to Scrimgeour! Tell him we've engaged Fairy Tail but require reinforcements. "
"And what should we do until he gets it?" asked another Auror.
"Follow them of course," Dawlish nodded firmly. "After that… dinosaur… thing!"
"So you would just call off the search for this… this… menace!" Umbridge fumed, shrieking so loudly that her already high-pitched voice was in danger of rising to a spectrum where human ears would no longer be able to hear it. Something which all the staff members present in Dumbledore's office were very much hoping would actually happen so they wouldn't have to listen to her.
"My dear Dolores, that is not what I said, per se," Dumbledore shook his head calmly, seemingly totally unaffected by how purple Umbridge's face was getting. "All I am saying is that we have combed this castle from top to bottom multiple times and have found no trace of this werewolf you have reported."
"And yet I saw it! Twice!" Umbridge yelled. "And until I see it found and can hang its pelt upon my wall I will not be satisfied! Or are you going to tell me again that I imagined the whole thing!?"
"Please, Professor, be reasonable," Dumbledore interlaced his fingers. "Can you not see that it makes no logical sense for there to be a transformed werewolf on the premises right now? Not only is the moon far from being full, but both times you reported it it was during the middle of the day. Both times where it is impossible for a werewolf to transform. Therefore the only logical explanation is that it could not be a werewolf that you saw."
"I know what a werewolf looks like!" Umbridge screeched. "Those filthy half-breeds have haunted my dreams since I first knew what they were. It was unquestionably a werewolf! And don't try to tell me that it wasn't real! The thing knocked my wand right out of my hand! I felt its… its… disgusting paw against my hand! I know it was there and until you find it…!"
"We will put every available resource into finding your assailant, whoever or whatever it may actually be," Dumbledore cut across her. "But I assure you Professor this castle is secure."
"I want to have a squad of Dementors search the place!" Umbridge demanded.
"That is something I will not allow," Dumbledore replied curtly. "I will not bring such dangerous creatures in amongst my students under any circumstances. I assure you the staff members will be more than enough to carry out the task."
"But I demand…!"
"You do not have the authority to order a search that would jeopardise the safety of my students more than the threat which you claim currently exists," Dumbledore stated firmly. "That is my final word on this, Professor."
Umbridge fumed before whirled around and storming out of the office. Professors McGonagall, Flitwick and Sprout watched her go, wincing at the sound of her heels vanishing down the steps.
"Such a delightful woman," Flitwick murmured.
"Quite," Sprout nodded sourly. "I remember her from when she was a student here. She was always quite the bully even then. You should have seen the things she did to the school Mandrakes in her fourth year."
"And her distaste for anything that she considers a half-breed is well known," McGonagall's voice was clipped with disdain. "But I never thought that she would go so far as to totally invent a story of a werewolf attacking her twice in broad daylight. And she accuses Potter of making up stories."
"I am not certain she is… entirely… making things up…" Dumbledore ran a hand through his beard. "There may be something behind these tales of hers, even if its not what she thinks."
"You're saying there really might be a transformed werewolf on campus?" Sprout raised a brow.
"Oh, I don't believe that for a slightest," Dumbledore absently twiddled his thumbs. "But perhaps this might be a time where we just… turn a blind eye and… see how it unfolds. I believe that it could be… quite interesting."
Umbridge waddled down the corridor, hands held stiff at her sides as she felt bile rising inside her. How dare the Headmaster doubt her word! How dare they stand there and accuse her of… of… well they hadn't really accused her of anything but Umbridge was sure they were thinking it.
She reached a corner, whereupon she instantly froze, unconsciously shuffling against the wall and pressing herself up against it. Tentatively, her heard in her mouth, the squat and toad-faced woman tilted forwards, slipping her fingers around the corner and poking her head forwards just enough so that she could see around it with one eye, expecting to see a lupine shape surging towards her, teeth flashing in the light emanating through the windows to tear in at her throat.
But there was nothing. Just an empty corridor, the light from the sun splashing a window-shaped light up against the wall. A shadow flitted across it suddenly as an owl flew past outside and Umbridge yelped, pushing away from the wall and wheeling around, cursing herself. What the hell was wrong with her! She was on a path to taking over this school and after one day she was jumping at shadows!
How was she ever supposed to become the Headmistress if she couldn't face up to something like this. Was she going to let this werewolf reduce her to skulking about in the corridors of her own establishment!?
"Professor?"
"GAAH!" Umbridge screeched, flailing around and fumbling for her wand, but she was met only by a single student standing in the corridor behind her. A student she recognised as being one of the Slytherin fifth year students - a rather pretty girl with short, shoulder-length blonde hair, high cheekbones and a straight, proud posture.
"Oh… do not startle me like that, Miss… remind me what your name is."
"Daphne Greengrass."
"Yes, of course. Regardless, it is improper to startle your teacher like that."
"I'm sorry, Professor. I was just wondering if you were alright. You seem a little edgy. Is it because of that werewolf that's supposedly been spotted?"
"There's no supposedly about it, young lady! I saw it with my own eyes! How did you hear of it?"
"Word's been going around. Some of the students are quite scared. Others don't believe its true. There's a bit of a divide between the two."
"Well, you tell anyone who doesn't believe it that I do not tell lies! I would never sink as low as to… to…" Umbridge trailed off as she looked over Daphne's shoulder, her face going slack and blood slowly draining out of it, the Slytherin student noticing how it rapidly began trembling. Daphne blinked and whirled around quickly… to see… an entirely empty corridor.
"Um… Professor? Are you alright?" Daphne asked, turning to look back at the whimpering Umbridge as she backed away, raising a stubby finger and pointing over Daphne's head in an almost deranged manner.
"Can't you… can't you see it?" Umbridge hissed under her breath, staring in horror at the burly werewolf striding slowly down the corridor behind Daphne. Saliva dripped from its fangs, its grizzled fur sticking out in such a manner that it was almost bear-like in appearance, every muscle beneath that fur rippling as it splayed its claws and snarled. "It's there… the beast! Stop it! Get back!" She grasped her wand and fired a Stunning Charm. Daphne yelled and threw herself sideways as the red light streaked over her shoulder, zeroing in right at the werewolf's chest.
But the werewolf suddenly dropped to all fours so the curse went straight over its head. Umbridge fired more, causing Daphne to press herself right up against the wall fearfully, but the werewolf nimbly avoided every shot, bounding off one wall and even rebounding off the ceiling until it had bypassed Daphne and was standing between student and Professor.
"IT'S THERE! THEEEERREE!" Umbridge scrambled backwards even as the werewolf stalked in closer.
"P… Professor… there's nothing! There's nobody here but you and me!" Daphne cried, and there werewolf seemed to smirk in response. Umbridge almost dropped her wand in horror as it suddenly thundered forwards right at her. She dropped her wand, screaming bloody murder and rushing off once again with the canine in hot pursuit. But as she rushed around a corner she almost collided slap-bang with another student.
Neville Longbottom.
"Out of my way!" Umbridge screeched, eyes bulging like those of a mad woman as she shoved Neville roughly to one side and kept running. The werewolf skidded to a halt next to Neville, who had collapsed onto his backside and didn't register its presence in the slightest, before taking off after Umbridge again, stalking its prey, enjoying the thrill of the chase.
Neville and Daphne stood there in the corridor for a moment before turning to look at each other with equal expressions of bewilderment. It was rare for any Gryffindor and Slytherin students to see eye to eye… but in this case they were both thinking the same thing. Namely:- what the hell?
"What was wrong with her?" Neville asked as he pushed himself back up to his feet.
"Search me," Daphne sniffed, dusting off her robes and picking up a few rolls of parchment she'd dropped when Umbridge had started firing willy-nilly spells. "She was babbling on about a werewolf and seemed to think it was behind me when it wasn't. I think she thinks she's being chased right now."
"But there was nothing there!"
"I know there was nothing there, Gryffindor. That's what I just said, isn't it?"
"…She's mad…" Neville breathed. "I already didn't like her but… she's totally bonkers!"
"You don't need to tell me that. I can see for myself," Daphne shook her head. "And she's inspecting our teachers? If you ask me, she's the one that needs inspecting. Her head that is."
And without another word she turned and strode off towards the dungeons, leaving Neville staring in the direction that Umbridge had taken with an expression that couldn't seem to decide whether he should be awed or fearful at the fact that his newest teacher was completely nuts.
And from within a nearby broom closet, Fred and George were snickering into their hands while Mavis was sitting on a shelf at the back, kicking her legs and smiling mischievously.
"Oh, that was priceless… just priceless… there really is no word that sums up that situation in the same way," Fred beamed.
"I hear that," George nodded. "How did you do it, Mavis?"
"It's quite simple really," Mavis tilted her head and gave a smile that seemed to bathe the cupboard in light. "All illusions are about showing people a false image. If you know what you're doing you can make different people see different things at once. In the same way that the Exceed look like Exceed to you and some others but like normal cats to everyone else, I can make Pantherlily look like a werewolf to one person and totally invisible to someone else."
"It's like the ultimate version of a Disillusionment Charm," George summarised. "And its… freaking awesome!"
"The plan's going off without a hitch!" Fred grinned. "We got two people who saw Umbridge running away from nothing at all as if the devil itself was chasing her."
"They'll start spreading the word that she's mental and running away from nothing," George continued. "In no time at all the word will have gotten round to the entire school. And one of them was a Slytherin so even they will end up thinking she's barmy!"
"That's actually even better than we hoped," Fred laughed.
"Indeed, but I think we best wrap that up for a few days," Mavis replied. "Give her a bit of a lull before we sic the werewolf on her again."
The twins nodded, before George pushed a brick at the back of the cupboard, which opened up a hidden door. Mavis swept through it backwards and the twins rapidly followed, the wall sliding back into place behind them with a soft click as if they were never there.
Umbridge fled past multiple other students, her curdling screams filling the castle as she ran, screeching for yelp as the werewolf bounded after her, toying with her but steadily drawing the gap between them. The squat woman glanced back over her shoulder as she ran past a couple of third year Ravenclaw girls. The werewolf bounded straight over their heads and they kept staring at Umbridge as if looking right through it.
"WHY CAN'T YOU SEE IT!?" she bellowed, but the werewolf lunged at her and she yelped and practically jumped out of her skin, the clawed paw whistling past her side as she took off so fast she was practically flying.
She rounded another corner, and heard the werewolf crash in behind her, coming in closer. But when she looked over her shoulder again… it was gone.
Vanished.
The terrified Defence Professor seemed to lose control of her feet in her shock, tripping over her own foot to go sprawling in a heap, rolling quickly on her back to stare, petrified, at the empty space behind her.
Why?
WHY!?
"WHERE ARE YOU!?" she screamed, almost foaming at the mouth in her fear and confusion. But the corridor only answered with silence. What the hell was going on? This werewolf… it was dogging her steps, appearing before her and pursuing her before disappearing in the blink of an eye, like it was haunting her. Could it be a ghost? No, that made no sense - if it was a ghost then it would be transparent and have no physical substance but this thing definitely did.
And why had only the students been able to see it? She didn't understand.
And if there was one thing that Umbridge feared, it was something that she didn't understand.
"I… I will not… let you get the best of me… you hear me?" she pushed herself to her feet, trembling from head to toe and her voice sounding more like the squeak of a frightened mouse than a government official. And again, the corridor made no reply, but that only served to unnerve Umbridge even more. She turned and scuttled away, making for the comparative safety of her office with all speed.
When she had gone, Pantherlily emerged from behind a suit of armour in his smaller cat form, where he had ducked away and hidden from Umbridge's view.
"I hear you," he said, before his wings appeared with a flash and he whooshed off in the direction of the Gryffindor Common Room. "But we shall have to see if its true."
But it was not just imaginary wolves that were making themselves known today. But unlike the werewolf stalking Umbridge, these canines were very real.
Clippers had extremely good eyesight. Not quite in the same league as that of eagles and other raptors but definitely high up there. They could spot fish through the reflective surface of the ocean from up to half a mile in the air.
Which meant that it was no surprise that Lisanna, who had taken on the shape of a Clipper in their search of the mountains, was the first of the group to spot the wolves.
Unfortunately though, the wolves had already been spotted by a great many people down below, and all of the group began to hear the screaming at about the same time.
"Oh no! Look!" Lisanna gasped, wheeling her way around in the direction of a particularly high mountain blanketed almost entirely with a thick layer of snow. Enough snow, if fact, to build a ski resort - which was exactly what had been done.
The mountain was none other than Cairn Gorm itself, the mountain which had given the entire range its name. And with winter rapidly approaching it was already beginning to build up a large number of tourists coming in to enjoy the adrenaline rush of whooshing down a mountainside at high speed.
But none of them had been prepared for the adrenaline triggered when a large pack no less than thirty wolves bounded out onto the slopes.
Lisanna had spotted them only a few minutes after their initial appearance, but it was already looking like complete chaos down there. Terrified skiers were slaloming down the slopes and in their fear they were acting rashly, leading to more than a few collisions that sent them tumbling down the slope, scrambling to get back to their feet as the wolves closed in.
Others on the ski lift were dropping onto the slope because several wolves were prowling around the upper end of the lift, and the pack of wild animals were chasing after anything that moved, their jaws slavering and their eyes wild. Additionally, several wolves had blocked off the doors to the visitor centre, leaping up against the doors and snarling at the people on the other side of the glass.
"Oh gods, this is bad!" Levy murmured. "What are they doing?
"It's like I said, they're scared," Lisanna replied. "Wolves are intelligent creatures, but these ones are in a place they don't know and they're lashing out at anything around them. It's a defensive move - lashing out at something because in their confusion they're not sure what's a threat and what's not."
"Well at least they're not hunting," Happy noted. "But we have to do something."
"Such as what?" Snape drawled. "Most of those people down there are Muggles. We can hardly fly in there wands blazing to save their necks. It would risk undoing the Statute of Secrecy."
"There are lives at stake here! Both those of the humans and the wolves!" Lisanna cried. "We can't just hold back and do nothing! And I won't either! Remus… can you lift the Disillusionment Charm off me?"
"Why? What do you intend to do?" Lupin asked.
"My Take-Over should be enough to calm the wolves down if I can just get in close. But it will be easier if the wolves can see me. They will be more likely to trust in something they can see with their own eyes than something they can smell but can't see."
"Do you think you can take control of all of them?"
"Not at once… but maybe in small groups… but I have to try."
Lupin bit his lip. The howls of the wolves seemed to rip through his ears. It was a sound that he had come to hate ever since he had first been bitten. Every time he heard it he was uncomfortably reminded of how he himself produced such a similar noise every time the full moon rose. A reminder that he was not entirely human. A reminder that he almost belonged to two worlds - that of man and that of beast.
Now, down below him, man and wolf were clashing. It was like watching a metaphor for exactly the kind of thing that he went through every month. It made him want to turn around and flee then and there. Flee from the wolf. Flee from the conflict.
But he knew that he could not, in good conscience, do anything like that.
"Alright… we go in…" he nodded.
"Remus!" Snape coughed curtly. "Need I remind you the whole point of us accompanying these Fairy Tail mages was to ensure they did nothing rash?"
"The situation has changed, Severus. There's nothing else to be done. Have your wand at the ready. We'll try to Obliviate anyone that sees us." His wand appeared in his own hand and he twisted his broom around, zooming over Lisanna's head to rap her on the beak with the short stick. Instantly that strange liquidising feeling rushed through Lisanna's bird body and she faded back into sight, in full view of anyone who happened to look up.
"Thanks Remus," she nodded her avian head and tucked her wings in close to her sides, upending and spurting downwards towards the flurrying snow. Her eyes locked onto a particularly large wolf, probably the alpha male, who was bearing down on a twelve year old boy that he evidently fallen over. His parents were further down the slope, trying and failing to get back up towards him, screaming for him to get back up as the wolf closed in on him, lips pulled back to reveal his magnificent set of fangs.
Though loathe to attack an animal, Lisanna angled her body in the direction of the wolf and as it made the final spring she collided with it side-on in a blur of feathers, blindsiding it and sending them both rolling over and over a couple of times in a tangle of green and grey. The wolf barked and snapped at her neck, but Lisanna was quick to pull out of range and power her wings to flap backwards into the air, arcing her way back over the boy and seizing his by the shoulders in her feet. The boy screamed and kicked madly as Lisanna hoisted him into the air, but she merely placed him back on his feet.
"Go," she said to him. And before the boy could turn to stare in shock at the talking bird he was sliding down the slope in the direction of the wolf. Lisanna landed in the snow and turned awkwardly about to stare down the wolf, who had also gotten to its feet and was growling dangerously, now flanked by three others.
Not far away and the other members of her party were making themselves useful too. One wolf sprang at a young married couple only to slam straight into an invisible wall courtesy of a shield charm from Lupin. Similarly two more were suddenly pertially buried in a barrage of snow from Levy's solid script, forcing them to struggle to break loose and give the two teenage girls they'd been targeting time to escape. The girls took off down the slope, eyes wide with confusion as they could both have sworn they'd actually seen the word 'SNOW' appear in the air behind those wolves. But suddenly a flash of silver light washed over them and they forgot about it completely.
"I really cannot believe that this is how I am spending my Sunday," muttered Snape as re-angled his wand, searching out anyone else that needed their memory modifying.
Lisanna flared her wings and screeched at the top of her lungs, her cry reverberating around the snow mountainside. Which was exactly the point as it drew the attention of most of the wolves, who stopped chasing humans to focus on the menacing looking bird instead. The alpha growled and stepped forwards, looking very much like he wanted to spring, but he paused when Lisanna flashed yellow and returned to her human form.
She shivered slightly in the cold, the wind biting at her bare arms and legs, but she couldn't afford to think about that now.
"This one's the alpha," she murmured. "Maybe I don't need to take control of them all. If I can take control of him then maybe all the others will follow him when I lead him away. Okay… focus… focus…"
The wolf's hackles raised, its tongue lolling slightly as it hunkered down on its front legs in preparation to pounce and take this human that dared to challenge it down. But before he could uncoil the muscles in his back legs to make the spring, Lisanna stretched out her hands and closed her eyes, focusing her magic and stretching out her power over not just the alpha, but all the other wolves standing before her for good measure.
There was an effect almost immediately. The Alpha paused, sniffing the air, cautious but less aggressive straight away. Slowly his posture began to relax, his muscles going slack and his lips slipping back down over his teeth as the snarl in the back of his throat stopped. The other wolves were relaxing as well, but Lisanna was pushing most of her effort over the Alpha.
"Come on," she murmured, opening her eyes and stepping forward, her feet crunching into the thick snow as she fought her way up the slope and closer to the wolves. "You've nothing to be afraid of. These humans are not your enemy, nor are they your prey."
The wolves continued to relax, until the Alpha slowly whimpered, wagging his tail like an overgrown puppy as he sat down on the floor before Lisanna. The Take-Over mage beamed at the result, stepping closer with her hand outstretched for the wolf's head, now so close to its muzzle that if it wanted it could bite her fingers without having to move its legs.
"She's doing it," Remus murmured from where he hovered nearby. The wolves were calming. She was reaching deep into their souls and soothing them just like that. He was awestruck and for the first time he wondered whether he had met someone who could tame not just a wolf… but maybe even a fully fledged werewolf.
"That's Lisanna for you," Happy giggled. "She's just that good with animals. I bet she could have gotten these wolves calm even without using her Take-Over. This way's just faster."
"Maybe. But thank goodness it seems to be working," Levy nodded.
And then… everything went wrong.
As soon as the administrators of the ski resort had been alerted to the presence of the wolves (and when they believed that they it was not a prank), they had immediately called in everyone they could think of to help them take care of the threat.
One of which was the Cairngorms Mountain Rescue, who had responded instantly - a task force at their closest base, which was not far, leaping into a helicopter and taking off in the direction of the resort. And they had brought with them several guns! Some regular. Some tranquillisers.
The helicopter was currently swooping overhead and they had seen everything. They'd seen the strange bird appear out of thin air and fly down, and two of them had immediately trained the sights of their guns on it and, through the scopes, seen the bird turn into a girl. In astonishment they continued watching as the girl stepped forwards, holding out her arm and somehow managing to put the wolves under their control.
"What… what is that girl?" one of them breathed.
"She's… she's a freak!" the other cried. "Some… some witch or something… I dunno… what the hell are we seeing?"
"What do we do?" the other asked. "We've never had to deal with something like this before!"
"Look at her! She's controlling those wolves somehow! She's probably the one that sicced them on the ski resort in the first place! I'm taking the shot!"
"Wait! Stop!" the other yelled, grabbing the gun barrel a split second too late as the tranquilliser dart was fired from the tip. It zipped down through the air like a kamikaze mosquito until the needle buried itself in Lisanna's leg just above her guild mark.
"Gah!" Lisanna cried and stumbled backwards, hand flying to her leg and seizing the dart, but her loss of concentration broke the Take-Over effect she had over the wolves. The alpha snarled and instantly lunged, fangs aiming for Lisanna's throat until a red Stunning spell from Lupin's wand caught it in the face and with a yelp he landed next to Lisanna instead, out cold. But the other wolves closed in quickly, and the drug flooding Lisanna's system was rapidly taking effect, the Take-Over mage's eyes rolling back up into her head and falling to her knees, her head spinning.
"Lisanna!" Happy cried, and shot forwards, dropping Levy unceremoniously onto Snape's broom behind the potions master and forcing Levy to grab Snape from behind to keep from falling off as Happy raced in to grab Lisanna and hoist her out of the way, one of the wolves snapping at her feet as she passed. With the alpha downed the wolves were more panicked than ever and raced off in different directions, letting loose bloodcurdling yowls and blitzing after everything that moved.
"Are you okay, Lisanna?" Happy asked urgently.
"Mmm okry… Thnks Happy…" Lisanna slurred, shaking her head to try and keep herself from blacking out.
"What happened?" Levy asked.
"The situation just got more complicated," Snape glared up at the helicopter. "And if you could let go of me that would be very much appreciated, Miss McGarden."
Levy unwrapped her arms from behind Snape as if he was made of molten lead to grip the broom instead, but Lupin just said, "That was a Muggle tranquilliser. I don't know any spells to counteract such drugs. Severus, do you have anything."
"I'm afraid I left all my Muggle medical equipment back in my other robe," Snape said dryly.
"What do we do?" Happy wailed. "Lisanna's in no fit state to control all those wolves now!"
"I… I gotta try…" Lisanna gritted her teeth, fighting to stay awake. "I'm a… a member of Fairy Tail too. We don't give up! We never give up! There has to be some way that we can…"
"RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWRRRRRRRRR!"
The blood of everyone on the mountain froze at the terrible roar that flooded over the slopes, and every eye, including those of the wolves, immediately began looking for the source. And they promptly found it when a gigantic rock formation was suddenly shattered into rubble, an enormous grey dinosaur-like creature barrelling through it headfirst as if it was made of paper.
And when the Muggles saw it, if they had not been screaming before then they were now! Pure pandemonium rocked the mountain as the Muggles crowded round the bottom of the slope, pushing and shoving each other to get inside to find shelter, as the dinosaur creature thundered in towards them.
"What the heck…!?" Lupin gaped.
"A Doscadon!" Levy cried. "Another Tenroujima resident! It must have come out of the same Sphere as these wolves!"
"How are we meant to stop that!?" Happy yelled, but even as he looked the blue Exceed spotted something… unusual…
…There appeared to be a blonde girl riding on the Doscadon's back. And yelling fit to burst as well.
"Get me down! Get me down quick!" she wailed.
"Wait a minute… that's…" Happy's jaw dropped. "No way…"
"Lu-chan!" Levy almost tried to stand up on the broom! "Lu-chan's riding the Doscadon!"
"Another Fairy Tail mage?" Lupin asked.
But before he could get an answer another loud roar managed to reach their ears, and their eyes rolled in their sockets to see fiery explosions racing in pursuit of the Doscadon. Fiery explosions coming from a single figure who was firing jets of fire from his feet to propel him forwards just so he could keep up with the surprisingly fast Doscadon.
"Get back here!" Natsu yelled. "Come back and fight me!"
"NATSU!" Happy cheered, his face lighting up with an intensity that hadn't appeared on his face since he'd come to this world. "NATSU! LOOK, LISANNA! LOOK! IT'S NATSU!"
"I see him…" Lisanna smiled blearily, her eyes welling up slightly in sheer joy. "Natsu's finally here!"