Okay folks. Please listen up! As I expected, I did get a couple of people who complained about my choice of a NaLi pairing to this story. And I will reiterate that you please not do that. You were warned right at the start that it would be have a NaLi element to it and if you're going to complain about that then you shouldn't really have started reading the story. Additionally, my choice in pairing has been set. The Natsu and Lisanna interactions are not just something that I've decided to put in because I like the pairing, but they are actually quite integral to the overall plot. My mind is set.
Therefore, complaining about my decision will serve no purpose whatsoever but to upset me. So please, just don't do it. And while Lucy may not be paired with Natsu in this story, I have not left her unpaired and as I hope you can tell from this story, her own interactions with Natsu are still pretty much the same as usual too. Additionally, I'm not just gonna turn Natsu into some romantic guy when he's just… not. He's gonna be the same character as always, but the events of this story will steer things in a slightly different direction than the manga is taking it.
So please be respectful, and even if you are a NaLu fan I hope you can sit back and enjoy this story for what it is even if you'd prefer a different pairing. After all, that is what all NaLi, NaZa, GrayLu etc etc fans have to do when reading the official material.
Dance of the Fairies, Flight of the Phoenix
Chapter 25:- The Salamander
For several moments, nothing on the mountain moved. Or at least nothing living - the gigantic wall of snow thundering down the mountain at speed, growing in height and width as more and more snow was scooped up to join the cascade. Normally on a mountain like this, avalanches were extremely unlikely, but the explosions had rocked the snow at the top enough to get one going, and it poured down the mountain like a solid tidal wave, seeking to engulf everything in its path.
Everything stared, like a multitude of deer caught in the headlights of an approaching car, unable to process what they were seeing. And then, quite suddenly, everything became a clamour all at once. The Muggles trapped in the visitor centre started screaming and fighting, battling each other to hammer on the windows and try to break out and escape the avalanche's path. The Aurors similarly panicked, scrambling over themselves to get towards their comrades who were still trapped in the fluffy pink wool engulfing their bodies.
Scrimgeour was among them, as he yelled, "Break them out! Break them out at all costs! Hurry!" levelling his wand in preparation of Vanish the wool in the air, but before any one of them could cast a single spell all the fluff vanished as if sucked straight down an invisible plug, dropping the Aurors to their ground, yelling as the impact snapped them out of their numbed, over-relaxed state. Scrimgeour blinked and turned to glance at Aries, who had a hand outstretched and an unusually serious look on her face.
'She let them go…' Scrimgeour thought to himself. 'Even though we were fighting moment's earlier!'
"Everyone get out of here!" Lucy yelled at the Aurors.
"Escape while you can!" agreed Levy. "That thing will engulf anyone and everyone still on the slope when it gets here."
"No… it won't," Natsu stepped forwards, tossing his scarf over one shoulder and slamming a fist into his palm, his eyes glowing fiercely as he glared at the incoming snowstorm. "Not if I have anything to say about it."
"Are you crazy?" Scrimgeour gaped at him. "What can you hope to do against something like that?"
"Whatever I have to do!" Natsu grinned dangerously. "I'm fired up!"
And without another word he suddenly charged off up the slope, bolting through the snow and roaring into the wind, his voice somehow carrying even over the rumbling sound from above. "HAPPY! LET'S FLY!"
"AYE!" Happy responded as he whooshed over the slope at Max Speed, jetting over the heads of the stunned Aurors and scooping up Natsu from behind and blazing up the slope, quite literally as Natsu's legs burst into flames and trailed twin streaks of fire behind him like rocket boosters to throw them up even faster. For a moment everything froze again, the Aurors watching in disbelief as the Dragon Slayer and the Exceed rushed in towards the onrushing avalanche.
"Is he mad!?" one of the Aurors, Proudfoot, gasped.
"Possibly," Lucy murmured, with a slight smirk. "But he's not just mad. He's the Salamander."
"Go on, Natsu!" Levy cheered at the same time.
"Happy, drop me now!" Natsu roared as the avalanche closed in on them, the roar of the snow ringing in his ears as it burst down with intent, bellowing like a beast intent on swallowing them all whole.
"Do it, Natsu! Show 'em what you got!" Happy cried as he swung around and released Natsu, sending him arcing down towards a rocky outcropping just in the path of the snow.
"Aye sir!" Natsu grinned, spreading his arms wide as he plummeted earthwards, fire igniting over his fists. "With a flaming right hand and a flaming left hands… when you combine the flames together…" he slammed his fists against each other, merging the flames and raising his arms over his head, a colossal fireball growing between his palms. "KARYUU NO… KKOOOOOEEENNNN!"
He slammed into the rock like a freight train feet-first, and brought his fists slamming down before him a split second later, smashing the fireball into it where it erupted into a gigantic column of flame that engulfed his body and blasted high into the air, the flames licking and twisting like some kind of flaming tornado. But moments later and the tornado shrank downwards a little and blasted out to either side. The mountain seemed to shake as flame fountained out of the ground from Natsu's body outwards, flowing out both left and right to create… a giant wall of fire.
Natsu was creating a barrier with his flames, spreading them out from one side of the mountain to the other as he poured everything he had into the magic to raise the barrier as high, as thick and as wide as he could. And a mere moment later the avalanche crashed against it, and Natsu let loose a terrific roar in defiance, a roar that carried over the rush of the snow to allow every ear on the mountain to hear him!
"NNNNNNYYYYYYYYRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The snow impacting the flaming wall was instantly turned to water, melted under the heat of the broiling flames, but at the same time the water also instantly doused at the flames, becoming an almost literal wave on impact and trying to put out the barrier. Natsu snarled and gritted his teeth, reinforcing the barrier, the flames growing hotter… hotter… HOTTER! Until eventually the snow stopped turning to water and was converted into steam. The avalanche pounded down seeking to bury Natsu in its own body with wave upon wave of snow, but was vaporised just before it reached him.
Aurors gaped. Muggles gaped. Remus and Snape gaped. The wolves would have gaped if they had the capacity too. The flaming wall blazed like something from the depths of hell and Scrimgeour felt himself losing his voice slightly as he stared in utter disbelief.
"Im… possible…" he breathed.
"Not impossible," Lucy shook her head. "That's just what you'd expect from Natsu the Salamander!" But then she gasped when she noticed the steam rising from the clashing of fire and snow was billowing out around Natsu, obscuring him from view. She quickly stepped forwards, cupping her hands around her mouth and yelling, "Natsu! Are you alright!?"
"YOU SEE THIS, GRAY!" Natsu's voice bellowed out of the steam. "FIRE IS TOTALLY MORE BADASS THAN ICE! OR SNOW! WHATEVER, IT'S JUST BETTER DAMN IT!"
Lucy and Levy both covered their faces with their hands. "Yeah… he's fine…" Lucy said, utterly deadpan.
"Seems that way…" Levy agreed.
"Just how strong… are these Fairy Tail mages…" Scrimgeour wondered to himself.
It was a question that Snape was wondering himself, staring up at the wall of flame vaporising an entire avalanche up above them. It took a lot to shock the Potions Professor, but this time he was so amazed by what he was seeing that he momentarily forgot that he was surrounded by a pack of wolves. Not that it mattered much, as the wolves seemed to have forgotten he was there too as they watched what was going on themselves.
"Severus!" Lupin's voice snapped him out of his daze. "We should take this opportunity to get these wolves out of here and back to Tenroujima!"
"And how are we going to do that?" Snape asked, fighting not to look back up at the action up the slope. "You expect to transport every one of them by Side-Along Apparition?"
"No, but we will not need to. On the beach on Tenroujima there's a large cage - a Portkey cage from the Ministry that we used to transport the Clippers back to the island. If we alter the Portkey destination to here, we can use it transport these wolves."
"Then that it something that you have to take care of," Snape replied, glancing back further up the mountain, past the burning Dragon Slayer's barrier and up towards the peak. "I want to investigate something else… namely, whatever it was that caused those explosions that started that avalanche. Though I have a feeling I already know the answer. Besides, I have not been to that island so I cannot Apparate there to get it anyway."
He Apparated away in a whirl of his cloak, leaving Remus standing in the snow surrounded by the pack. Remus grimaced and bit his lip, looking around at the wolves, as they looked to him in turn. They were waiting for instructions that he did not know how to give. He'd somehow managed to replace the Alpha, but he had absolutely no idea how he was supposed to direct his new charges. Would they scatter and go back to panicking if he left for a minute or two to prime the Portkey.
Suddenly though the former Alpha's eyes glazed over slightly and Remus registered heavy footfalls shaking the ground behind him. He turned to face the mighty Doscadon, plodding its way over towards them in its extremely ungainly walk.
"I'll take care of your new pack, Remus," Lisanna said through the Doscadon's mouth. "You go do whatever you have to do to make that Portkey work."
"Thank you, Lisanna," Remus nodded with a smile before with a crack he vanished as well.
Crabbe and Goyle Senior could only gape in sheer horror as the snow of their gigantic avalanche began to peter out, the last vestiges of their self-acclaimed brilliant plan turning to vapours before their very eyes.
"That… that boy… who the hell is he?" Goyle croaked. "It's… it's like Fiendfyre or something but… but not…"
"He's stopped our avalanche like it was nothing," Crabbe breathed. "This isn't how it was supposed to go! We were supposed to bury them all, damn it! Not none of them at all!"
"What do we do? Do we report this to the Dark Lord?"
Crabbe grimaced. "The Dark Lord doesn't like failure," he grunted… before a whirring sound registered in his ears. He looked up to see a second helicopter whirring its way overhead, arcing as low as it dared over the avalanche remains and the wall of fire like a giant bird of prey hovering curiously to get a closer look. It had the letter 'BBC' scrawled across the side, though that meant nothing to either of the Death Eaters.
A savage smirk suddenly spread across Crabbe's face! "So let's tell him we were at least able to kill one or two Muggles before we make our report," he snickered.
"Please tell me you're getting this," the newswoman gasped, her short brown hair whipping about her in the whir of the rotor blades, her voice reaching the ears of the cameraman over the sound through the headphones he was wearing as he leaned out the side of the chopper, his camera mounted on his shoulder to film the action going on below.
"I'm getting it, I'm getting it! This is incredible stuff!" the cameraman gasped, the flames licking across his field of vision as he kept his face pressed to the eyepiece of the camera.
"And we're live? We're broadcasting?"
"Yeah… we're live! I can't believe it! A real life superhero! Can you imagine how much the word will go nuts when this footage…" he was interrupted as a jet of red light flashed upwards and crashed into the back of the plane, a terrific sound of rending metal filling the air as the tail was torn loose. The cameraman almost fell out of the chopper as the aerial machine span about wildly, its tail end flaming and sending up a plume of smoke. The news crew screamed as they clung on for dear life, the pilot yelling as he fought for control that wouldn't come. Another two jets of light struck the helicopter in the side and sent it tumbling over in the air, its rotor blades still blurring as it flipped upside down and spiralled towards the ground.
"What the…!" Natsu whirled around at the sound of the explosion, losing a little of his concentration and momentarily allowing his flame wall to peter out and allow the last of the snow to push through it to try and overwhelm him, shoving him back down the snow several feet before he reinforced the wall, the helicopter plummeting to the ground behind him.
"Oh no!" Lucy cried, before pelting forwards herself yelling, "Aries! Hurry! We have to save them!"
"Right! I'm coming… and I'm sorry!" Aries yelped as she sprang off after her owner, her fluffy boots crunching against the snow as she brought her arms swinging up from her sides and cried, "WOOL CUSHION!"
An enormous spiral of pink wool erupted up out of the ground as if shooting out of a geyser, spreading out in all directions in a single massive sphere, until it resembled a record-breaking ball of cotton candy. The helicopter arced its way down towards the giant cloud of material, ploughing straight into it like a runaway lawnmower. Its rotor blades kept whirling, slicing through the wool and striking the ground beneath it to throw up sparks against the rock, but its fall was broken and the wool acted like a giant airbag, raising it up off the ground even as the blades continued to whirl.
But not for long, as Lucy flung forth her energy whip at those blades, which immediately snagged the whip and yanked round and round, the crackling River of Stars coiling extending to let them as it coiled its way around them, tangling them up. Lucy wrenched back hard on the whip's handle gritting her teet as she dug her feet into the snow.
Eventually the blades became so entangled that they couldn't spin anymore, coils of whip blocking its progress as they ground to a sudden halt. Lucy grinned and struggled to maintain her grip, as she looked over her shoulder and yelled at the stunned Aurors.
"Don't just stand there! Get them out quick!"
Her yell was enough to jolt several of the Ministry wizards into action and they ran forwards, momentarily forgetting their orders to arrest all Fairy Tail wizards as they Apparated up into the helicopter to grab the Muggles and pull them out while Lucy and Aries maintained their hold over the chopper.
Scrimgeour though was not one of the Aurors that acted. He was too busy staring.
"You saved them," he murmured. "You saved the lives of those innocent Muggles. And that fire boy… he saved the lives of everyone on the mountain."
"Of course," Levy glanced over her shoulder at him, flashing him a quick smile. "That's just the kind of thing that a Fairy Tail mage does."
"God damnit!" Goyle cried. "They rescued those Muggles too!"
Crabbe gritted his fist, searching around for something else to try and destroy, but it was at that moment that down below the wall of fire slowly fizzled out, the avalanche having vanished as if it had never existed. Natsu stood alone on the outcropping, panting from breath and falling to one knee. Stopping that thing had exerted a lot of the Dragon Slayer's magic, taking quite a toll on his body. The snow all around him had completely melted, carving a wide line right across the mountainside where his attack had ruined the ski-slope.
But despite the fact the Salamander was tired out, he was by no means down. Even as Crabbe aimed his wand at the Fairy Tail mage, planning to take him out while he had the chance, he pushed himself back up onto his feet already, his eyes scouring the mountainside and his nose twitching, searching for the ones that had caused the explosions. His eyes locked on the spot where Crabbe and Goyle were standing and without warning he charged up the mountain, right at them!
"Gah!" Crabbe cried. "Avada Kedavra!"
The green curse exploded out of the tip of his wand and down, but Natsu saw it coming and kicked off the ground hard enough to flip the side, the light impacting on a rock behind him as Natsu kept running upwards.
"Ah, let's just get out of here!" Goyle suggested.
"Yeah… okay!" Crabbe agreed, and they both whirled on the spot with intent to Disapparate but in the split second before they disappeared, Snape Apparated into existence a short way away and saw them spinning about in preparation to disappear.
Thinking in a flash, Snape whipped out his wand and pointed it at Goyle, muttering a spell under his breath. There was no jet of light, no visible energy but Snape felt the spell take effect right before Goyle disappeared into thin air. He wrinkled his nose. He'd been hoping to find some way of capturing the two of them without them realising it was him. After all their capture could have been a great leap into finally getting the Ministry to believe that Voldemort really was back, but Snape's connection to Voldemort as a spy was too valuable a role to give up and if they'd known it was him that apprehended them it would not have been long before the Dark Lord found out about it, probably from Lucius Malfoy.
In the end though, he hadn't had the chance, and moments later Natsu bounded onto the plateau that they had been standing on, looking around for the culprits and seeing only Snape.
"What!? It was you?" the Salamander blanched, staring at him in confusion. "What the hell's wrong with you? First you revive Lisanna and then you try and kill us all?"
"Wrong, idiot," Snape rolled his eyes. "You're a Dragon Slayer are you not? You have a good sense of smell if you are like the other two. Smell the air. There were another two people here until a few moments ago. They are the culprits."
Natsu immediately dropped onto all fours, scuttling forward slightly with his nose to the ground, sniffing the rock like a dog. Snape just stared, nonplussed at his strange behaviour, but Natsu quickly sat up and said, "Ooh, I smell them yeah. Where are they now?! I'll pound their faces in!"
"They Disapparated. They are long gone. We missed the chance to bring them to justice."
"Nnghhh…" Natsu grunted in disappointment. "Bastards! I'll be sure to remember what you smell like so next time I smell you I'll be sure to pound you into the ground!"
"How poetic," Snape drawled. "In any case, I was able to do something useful in regards to them before they left."
"Huh? What's that?"
"I was able to hit one of them with a Confundus Charm before they disappeared. It was about the only thing I had time to do. I could have tried to Stun him, but the jet of light generated by a Stunning Spell and most out enchantments would never have reached him before he disappeared. Whereas a Confundus Charm has no jet of light. It just takes effect instantly."
"…I don't get it."
"Of course you don't. You're new to this world and know nothing about it. The point is… a Confundus Charm is a spell that confuses the target, often into thinking he did something that he didn't actually do. Such as… this… MORSMORDRE!"
Aiming his wand up into the sky, a greenish jet of light flew from the tip of his wand several hundred feet into the air before exploding outwards into a greenish, eerie globe, that almost looked as though it was made out of poison gas. Natsu watched with wide eyes as the globe rapidly reformed itself, taking on a far more distinct shape… a human skull floating in the air, its eye sockets glaring blankly down across the entire mountain range, and protruding from its open jaws was an enormous green serpent, writhing like a living thing as it coiled around the skull, its fangs bearing. The gaseous forms loomed overhead like a hovering bird of prey, waiting to drop down on anyone that moved.
"OOOHHH! SO COOL!" Natsu exulted. "Hey watch! I can do that too with my fire!"
"Don't do that!" Snape snapped even as Natsu reared his head back. "We're trying to make the Ministry below think it was the enemy that did that, not us!"
"We are…? Why?"
"You will find out in due course I'm sure. For now we need to get out of here so for now, keep your mouth shut. If you think you are capable of that."
"WHAT'D YOU SAY! YOU WANNA GO!?"
"…Evidently you can't. Look, when you go down the mountain, here's what you need to say!"
The Muggles had all been safely retrieved from the helicopter, and as the Aurors checked them over for any damage, Scrimgeour found himself standing next to Levy as if the two of them had not been fighting ten minutes ago. Well… almost.
"Those were some pretty selfless acts," the Head of the Auror Office noted as he looked down at the bluenette he'd once imprisoned in the Ministry headquarters. "Your friend throwing himself into the path of that avalanche like that. What if he hadn't had the power to stop it? And you others saving these Muggles…"
"Like I said, if we can help someone then we help them," Levy replied. "We always put everything we have on the line to keep those around us safe. We really are not the bad guys here, Scrimgeour-san. We may not be of this world, but we want to be friends to its people. Hunting us like you have been so far really serves no purpose."
Scrimgeour wrinkled his nose, his feelings on the matter conflicted. "…Perhaps you may be right. But how do you explain the city down south? All those people… massacred where they stood, their homes levelled, their lives taken. How can I believe that it was not a Fairy Tail mage responsible for that carnage?"
"I guess you really can't believe until you find the real culprit," Levy shrugged. "But again, as I told you, no Fairy Tail mage would do a thing like that. At least not while in his or her right mind, and last time I checked we were all pretty sane. Well… sane-ish… for some of us."
"What do you…?"
"Sir…!" cried another one of the Aurors. "Look! Up there!"
Scrimgeour's attention rapidly switched up the mountain and he gasped at the sight of the misty shape writhing about in mid-air. Levy took a couple of steps back too, her stomach dropping at the sickening visage. "What… what is that?"
"The Dark Mark…" Scrimgeour breathed. "The sign of the Death Eaters…"
"Huh?" Levy's eyes widened.
"Hey! Guys!" Natsu's voice rang out as he dashed down the mountain back towards them. "Is everyone okay?"
"Yeah, I think we're fine… but… WHAT THE HECK IS THAT!?" Lucy pointed up at the mark.
"Uhhh… I dunno…" Natsu rubbed the back of his head. "There were two weirdoes up there in black cloaks when I went up. One of them… fired that thing from his… stick… before they both vanished. Bastards, refusing to fight me head-on!"
"Two men in black cloaks…" Scrimgeour frowned. Black cloaks were something that could be applied to most wizards, so that didn't narrow down the potential suspects very much but… based on the Dark Mark's appearance… could they really be…?
"Anyway, we've gotta go," Natsu pointed down the hill, grinning broadly. "Our friends will be waiting for us!"
Lucy nodded before turning to her Spirit, who was still standing next to her and slowly dissipating the woolly cushion so that the helicopter, which had since been shut down, lowered gently to the ground. "Thanks, Aries. You were amazing."
"I'm sorry if it was too fluffy. I'll try and do better next time," Aries murmured as she disappeared in a puff of light.
"That girl just can't take a compliment," Lucy sighed fondly.
"Wait!" Scrimgeour turned around to face them suddenly. "You're not going anywhere. You need to come back to the Ministry! Several of your friends still destroyed much of our headquarters and you need to answer for that. And until we know what happened here…"
Suddenly the front of his robe was grabbed and he found himself looking right into Natsu's fierce eyes, his ears registering both Levy and Lucy squeaking in shock at Natsu's abrupt action.
"Oi… now listen you…" the Dragon Slayer growled into Scrimgeour's face. "I dunno what's been going on since we got into this universe but I'll tell you one thing right here and now. If you wanna make Fairy Tail your enemy… if you wanna hunt us down… then you better be ready to face the firestorm cos we will not hold back forever. If you push us, we will retaliate. With everything we have! Or… you can leave us be. You can join Fairy Tail's long list of friends, and if you're on that list we'll do anything to help you. We'll give up our lives for you. You're either with us, or your against us! Think about which one you wanna be!"
With that, Natsu released Scrimgeour's cloak and turned to march away down the slope, walking between Levy and Lucy as he did so. Lucy turned to offer the stunned Aurors an embarrassed smile. "S…sorry about him. He just… gets a bit passionate about the guild sometimes… um… bye…" and she hurried off after him, leaving only Levy behind.
"He's right though, Scrimgeour-san," the bluenette said earnestly. "We don't want to be your enemies… but if you force our hand we will need to look after our own. Please… don't make us do that."
And she turned to hurry off as well, leaving the Aurors standing around and watching the hurry down the slope in the direction of the giant Doscadon at the bottom, a winged blue cat swooping down from overhead to join them as they did so.
"Should we pursue them, sir?" Proudfoot asked.
"…No."
"Really? But sir, the Minister…"
"All the Minister needs to know for now is that they got away," Scrimgeour replied sharply. "We have other things to worry about. Namely wiping the memories of all these Muggles. And… getting rid of that…" he glanced up at the Dark Mark gravely. "Not to mention whatever consequences its appearance here will bring."
"Um… sir… we may have one more problem." One of the Aurors standing by the helicopter swallowed, his face a little white.
"What's that?" Scrimgeour frowned. "I don't like the sound of that."
"Sir…?" the Auror held up a large, battered camera. "Have you ever heard of… live TV? My parents are Muggles sir and… well… they have these things called televisions that… you know… functions like a radio but with pictures? And… with the right equipment you can send images into the homes of hundreds and hundreds of Muggles at once. And I think this… would do the job."
"What are you saying?" Scrimgeour asked slowly. Though he had a dreadful feeling he already knew the answer.
"I'm saying… that I think that possibly thousands of Muggles just saw the Salamander guy stop that avalanche. Just saw him… use magic."
It was not too much trouble to return the animals to Tenroujima. Once Remus brought the cage in he was somehow able to direct the wolves into it, though he had to enter it himself and ride with them as they were transported. The Doscadon however was far too large to fit into the cage even without the wolves in it, so Lisanna had to force its body to bend over awkwardly and grip the bars of the cage with its stubby hands from the outside, while all the others did the same.
One jerking, rocking ride later and it was all over - they were on the beach, with several Clippers soaring overhead. And while Natsu instantly ran off to be violently sick behind a rock, Remus gratefully opened the cage door and allowed the wolves to pour out, back safely in their home.
"Go on… shoo…" he pushed the head of the former Alpha and gestured off into the distance. "Go run wild, like you should do."
It took a minute or two to finally get the message but eventually they dispersed, separating off into their smaller packs and running away across the sand and up into the trees.
"It's a shame you can't keep them around," Levy murmured as they watched them go.
"I'm afraid they'd be rather inconvenient houseguests," Remus chuckled. "While I'm sure Sirius wouldn't object to a pack of thirty wolves running around Grimmauld Place and destroying everything, I don't think the rest of the Order would. And keeping them in line would probably be a constant job. No, they're best left here."
"Probably," Levy nodded. "But I have a feeling that they may remember their alpha if you ever meet again."
"…You know… I rather hope so," Remus smiled. "Never before have I been grateful for being a werewolf. And while we certainly made jokes about it in school, I've felt little but revulsion towards wolves in general for most of my life. But you know… they're rather amazing creatures, aren't they?"
"No matter what world they're in," Levy agreed. A plodding noise then drew their attention behind them as they saw Lisanna walking off down the beach, putting some distance between herself and the others before the Doscadon's body started glowing. The light converged into a spot in its back and suddenly Lisanna's popped back into existence as if jumping straight out of the Doscadon's shoulders. Her arms morphed into wings and she winged her way back down to the others as the great dinosaur creature lumbered away, looking no worse for wear.
"Looking no worse for wear then, Lisanna," Lucy smiled as she landed beside them. "Thank goodness."
"Yeah, I do feel a lot better," Lisanna nodded, dispersing her wings. "And I guess owe you for that, Professor Snape. Thank you."
Snape grunted slightly but didn't respond with words, giving off the distinct air that he didn't really care. Lisanna giggled slightly before adding, "Well… all's well that ends well I guess."
"You were great, Lisanna!" Happy exulted. "You stopped that Doscadon in its tracks! Does this mean that you'll be able to turn into one whenever you want now?"
Lisanna nodded. "Yes, it does. Though to be honest, I'm not happy about that. I used my Take-Over to forcibly merge my soul and his together as one, and therefore conjoin my body with his as well. Human and animal souls mixing… that is the very essence of my magic. And now that I have done it, I can alter my soul to change like that again at any time. But it kinda feels… wrong to me. I mean I invaded his body. And while I know that if I turn into a Doscadon now, my soul would only be copying his… it feels like I took a piece of him with me. Even though I really didn't… wow, am I being silly?"
"Not at all," Lucy took her hands and smiled lightly at her. "I guess if you think about it, it's kinda like the bond I have with my Celestial Spirits. If you think about it in a totally literal sense, I'm the Spirit's Master. If I wanted to I could force them to do anything I wanted, even if they didn't want to. But I don't want to be their Master. I want to be their friend. I call on them and they help me when I need them but not because of some contract. Because we're friends. And I think its the same principle with you and your Animal Soul forms. The animals you've copied are your friends, and that friendship allows them to help you out too, whenever you need them. And that includes that Doscadon. After all, by stopping its rampage you may have saved its life."
Lisanna blinked several times, before a wave of relief seemed to wash through her all at once and she smiled. "Thank you Lucy. You're right of course, but I really needed to hear that. I'm grateful."
"What are friends for?" Lucy beamed.
"If we could get away from all this sentimentality for a moment," Snape cleared his throat. "I need to get back to Hogwarts. I have a feeling that Dumbledore is going to want to hear this."
"Quite right. And the rest of us should return to Grimmauld Place," Remus nodded. "We can explain everything to you two newcomers there. Fill in the blanks so to speak."
"As long as we don't have to take the cage again…" Natsu croaked, wobbling back over towards them with a hand still over his mouth. "That had to be the worst kind of transportation ever."
It was quite fortunate Natsu had managed to throw up the contents of his stomach on the beach at Tenroujima because if he hadn't then he almost certainly would have after he was Apparated onto the front step of Grimmauld Place. As it was he twisted so violently that he hammered the door down and fell onto his back, eyes unfocused and heaving for breath as he tried to get his strength back.
"Well, well… look who it is."
"Huh?" Natsu opened his eyes blearily to see Gray standing over him, smirking down at him. "…Gray?"
"Wondered when you were going to get here, Flame-brain," Gray snorted. "Slow on the uptake as usual, aren't you?"
"NGH! WHAT WAS THAT!? YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S SLOW! WHERE WERE YOU WHEN I WAS STOPPING AN AVALANCHE EARLIER!?" Natsu immediately surged onto his feet and slammed his forehead into Gray's yelling straight into his face.
"IDIOT! I WAS AT THE OTHER END OF THE COUNTRY COS WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE LAYING LOW!" Gray immediately yelled back, shoving forwards.
"NOT LIKE I NEEDED YOU ANYWAY! I PROVED ONCE AND FOR ALL THAT FIRE IS BETTER THAN ICE!"
"IN YOUR DREAMS! I COULD PUT OUT YOUR FIRE LIKE BLOWING OUT A MATCHSTICK!"
"YOU WANNA GO!? I'LL MELT YOUR ASS LIKE I MELTED THAT AVALANCHE!"
"JUST TRY IT!"
Both of them automatically reared back, Natsu's fist bursting into flame as Gray slammed his hands together to drop the temperature around him. But before they could do anything Gray was immediately slammed in the head from behind with enough force to batter him into the floor and splinter the floorboards slightly.
"That's enough," Gildarts glowered down at the dazed Ice Make Mage. "In case you'd forgotten, Gray, we're guests in this house. This isn't our own guildhall to wreck whenever we want."
"KA KA KA KA!" Natsu pointed down at Gray mockingly. "You got flattened! Looks like Gildarts is on my sGUH!" he was promptly cut off when Gildarts stepped over Gray and clonked Natsu on the head as well, sending him crashing down too. By the door behind the Dragon Slayer, Lucy and Lisanna were both running a hand over their faces while Happy just shrugged.
"It figures," Lucy sighed. "Even after we're all stranded in a different world those two are fighting the moment they see each other."
"Such are Natsu and Gray," Happy chuckled as Juvia hurried over to help Gray off the floor.
"This… happens a lot then?" Remus asked Levy.
"Oh yeah… all the time…" Levy giggled self-consciously.
Eventually Natsu and Gray were able to stand upright again without their heads spinning and everyone was quick to file into the dining room. Mrs. Weasley was standing at the hob and running to and fro trying to prepare a massive meal, assisted by both Charlie and Bill while several other Fairy Tail and Order members were sat around the table. That number included Wendy and Evergreen, who had come over from the Hog's Head as soon as Wendy had finished healing the Fairy Mage of the injuries she'd sustained that morning to await news of what had been going on in the Cairngorms.
It had been a fairly maddening experience just sitting and waiting, especially when they were all mulling over the terrible destruction of the town many of them had seen that morning. But when Evergreen had appeared, those that hadn't known she was back yet had perked up slightly. And as Natsu and Lucy walked in the door, the mood rose even higher.
"Natsu-san! Lucy-san!" Wendy was immediately out of her chair and ran over to throw her arms around Natsu's waist, hugging him tightly. "I knew it! I knew you'd be okay!"
Natsu grinned. "Glad to see you, Wendy," he said, rubbing the top of her head, before he looked up across the room. "Where's Charla?"
"She and Lily are both on a spy job," Wendy replied. "Happy was on it too. That's where they found out about the Fairy Sphere they found in those mountains."
"Aye. I was like a ninja, Natsu!" Happy grinned.
"A ninja!?" Natsu gaped. "Say what?"
"Yeah. And when we're done here I'll get back to the school to do more ninja sneaking. Jealous, Natsu?"
"Mmmgh! Can I come with?"
"Yeah right," Gajeel snorted. "You sneaking around the school? You couldn't sneak your way through anywhere even if you could turn invisible."
"LIKE YOU'RE ANY BETTER!"
"I'M BETTER AT EVERYTHING THAN YOU, PUNK!"
"WANNA FIGHT!?"
"What did I just say?" Gildarts gripped the back of Natsu's scarf slightly. The Dragon Slayer swallowed and quickly decided he'd like to avoid getting hammered in the head again.
"Erm… right… well… hello," Lucy waved cheerfully at everyone else in the room. "I'm Lucy. And this is Natsu."
"Yes, we worked that one out for ourselves," Moody growled as he stumped around the table towards them. "Having heard quite a lot about you Fairy Tail members it was pretty easy to guess. And might I ask what the chances are of having this entire house collapse on us now that you're staying here?"
"Eh…" Lucy shivered slightly as Moody's magical eye rotated between Natsu and Lucy rapidly while his regular one remained fixed on the Dragon Slayer. "Well… um…" Gods that was creepy.
"Oh, stop it Mad-Eye. You'll make them feel like they're not welcome," Sirius snorted as he clambered to his feet. "Hi, my name's Sirius Black and this is… unfortunately… my house. I would appreciate it if you could not blow it up until after the Order of the Phoenix no longer has need of it. After that, you can send it to the freaking moon for all I care."
"Ooh, I like the sound of that," Natsu grinned. "Last time I threw something at the moon it didn't reach it."
"Is it something you do often?" Sirius raised a brow.
"So, hold on," Charlie Weasley turned around from where he was helping roast some potatoes. "If you're Natsu, then that must mean your the Salamander, right? The one that was raised by a fire dragon?"
"Yep, that's me," Natsu replied, his head promptly bursting into flames right then, which was more than enough to make several Order members take a step back. Dedalus Diggle fell off his chair. "And the dragon's name was Igneel."
"So I've heard," Charlie breathed in fascination. "Then that means that we have all three of you Fairy Tail Dragon Slayers here now? That's great! Natsu, you have to tell me everything about Igneel! I'd love to hear anything you can remember about him. What did he feed you when you were a kid. What kind of things did he do to teach you Dragon Slayer magic? Did he ever let you ride on his back? How did…"
"Alright, alright, Charlie, let them breathe," Tonks said as she walked forwards - she'd got in as quickly as she could after being called in on her day off to help deal with the destruction of the town down south. "And if you're Lucy… wait don't tell me… you're the one that can summon Spirits from another world based on the twelve signs of the Zodiac, right?"
"Yeah. I mean, I only have ten of the keys so I can't summon two of them, but yeah," Lucy nodded brightly.
"That's really cool. You know, my birthday is on June 24th and that means I was born under the Cancer constellation. I don't really believe in astrology and stuff, but since I heard that I was curious if I could meet Cancer."
"Oh, sure, of course," Lucy smiled as she took the key of her belt and rapidly summoned the Spirit. With a flash of light the shades-wearing hair stylist Spirit appeared in the room before them, snipping the scissors held clamped between his hands and flexing the six legs sprouting out of his back as he turned to face Lucy.
"Lucy…" he said, in his rather husky voice. "It's been seven years for you since you had a haircut - ebi. How would you like your hair to be fashioned today - ebi?"
"Ah, I'm okay with my current look," Lucy replied quickly. "I just called you out to meet someone who was interested. This is… um… sorry I didn't get your name."
"Just call me Tonks," Tonks blinked as she stared at Cancer. "You are… not what I expected."
"Most Spirits rarely are," Lucy murmured.
"Humbled to make your acquaintance - ebi," Cancer dipped his head respectfully as he raised his scissors up. "Would you like me to fashion your own hair today - ebi? I can shorten, lengthen, change its colour, anything you desire - ebi."
"Oh no that's alright. I actually don't need a hair stylist - I can change my hair any way I want all on my own, see?" Suddenly her pink hair turned green and lengthened until it fell down to the small of her back. She was expecting Cancer to be impressed… but what actually happened was he reeled backwards in horror and stared at Tonks, slack-jawed.
"No… this cannot be - ebi! A woman who does not need my assistance in any way - ebi?" He fell to his hands and knees and hung his head. "To you, Miss Tonks… I must be nothing… ebi…"
"Um… is he alright?" Tonks asked nervously.
"I think you broke him," Lucy muttered.
"Dear me," Evergreen snorted as she lounged back against her chair. "Even when we're not all here, we're still as bonkers as ever."
"Well, fascinating as these magical demonstrations are, I bet you must be hungry," Mrs. Weasley said as she flicked her wand to start levitating the dishes piled around the work surfaces over to the table. "Dinner is served."
"DINNER!" Natsu cried, excitedly, leaping into a chair and seizing several chicken legs at once. "Thanks, lady! I've been hungry all day!" And he immediately started tearing into the food around him, his table manners utterly appalling. Everyone else took seats around them, and both Fairy Tail and Order members were quick to fill Evergreen, Lucy and Natsu in on just about everything that they had not been able to learn from Loke. As they did, they couldn't help but watch in amazement as Natsu destroyed his plate-load and rapidly filled up again.
"Oh my goodness…" Mrs. Weasley murmured. "Have we finally found someone who can out eat my son, Ron?"
"Not possible surely!" Bill mock-gasped, clutching his hand to his chest as if he was having a heart attack from sheer disbelief.
"Well, dragons have big appetites," Charlie snorted.
"This food is so good!" Natsu exulted. "You could give Mirajane a challenge for her cooking skills! Where is she anyway?"
His comment was an innocent one, but it made Lisanna's face fall slightly and slowly set down her knife and fork with a small sigh. Lucy, who was sitting next to Natsu, noticed and elbowed him sharply in the ribs, making him choke slightly on the potato he was trying to swallow whole. He glanced across at the blonde accusatorially and griped, "What was that for?"
"Obviously Mirajane is one of the ones that hasn't been found yet," Lucy said through gritted teeth, jerked her thumb in Lisanna's direction. Natsu glanced across at the younger Strauss sister and blanched slightly when he saw her expression.
"Oh… oh right… sorry, Lisanna… I didn't mean…"
"Jeez, you really should think before you open your mouth," Gray rolled his eyes.
"And you should put your clothes back on!" Natsu snapped back at him.
"No, no… it's okay," Lisanna raised a hand to placate everyone before another fight could start. "It's okay really. I know you didn't mean to upset me Natsu but… yeah… Mira-nee and Elf-niichan are one of the few remaining members that we haven't found yet. And naturally I'm… very worried about them."
"As are we all," Juvia nodded.
"So if most of you are here," Sirius dusted off his hand and counted the number in the room, remembering to add in a couple of fingers to his count to signify the two missing Exceed. "If I recall correctly there are… eight of you left unaccounted for?"
"Yep," Gildarts nodded sombrely, his arms folding and wrinkling his nose. "The Master of course is one of them. And all the other S-Class mages in our group also remain unaccounted for. Not only Mirajane but Erza as well. And of course my daughter, Cana."
"Don't forget Laxus," Evergreen piped up immediately. "And the other two members of the Raijinshuu - Freed and Bickslow."
"Well, we've been having great success in getting everyone together so far," Tonks said reassuringly. "I mean… yeah… there seem to have been some bumps in the road but its all been working out so far."
"True but… we still don't know who's in the Fairy Spheres that You-Know-Who's managed to get hold of," said Bill.
"SAY WHAT!?" Natsu was on his feet instantly. "That Dark Bastard's got our friends!? Why the hell haven't you done anything about this!?"
"If we knew where to look we would have moved in for sure," Charlie was quick to try and placate him. "I'm sure that if Dumbledore knew where they were he would lead the charge personally to rescue them. But even with Snape acting as a double agent we don't know nearly as much as we'd like about You-Know-Who's dealings."
"To be honest, we don't really know for sure that You-Know-Who has them, right?" Dedalus Diggle squeaked. "All we know for sure is that Harry Potter had a dream about it."
"Yes, but based on what I have heard, when Harry has a dream or a strong feeling concerning Voldemort and what he's doing, he is rarely wrong," Sirius muttered gravely.
The formerly jovial attitude of the room had plummeted rapidly at this conversation and there was a moment of dark silence from all corners. But then suddenly Natsu put his hands behind his head and grinned. "Well, if that's the case then I hope its Gramps they've got in that Sphere. Or Erza or Laxus. Or Mirajane actually," he grinned at the startled Lisanna. "Cos if its any of them and this Dark Lord guy tries to pull a fast one on any of them, then he'll never know what hit him! Any one of them would pulverise him before he could so much as wave his stick, right Lisanna?"
Lisanna stared into Natsu's grinned face for a moment before a small smile slipped into place. "Yeah… you're right. She would, wouldn't she? Actually… I kinda wish that I'll be there to see it. Is that wrong?"
"Not at all. It'd be awesome!" Natsu laughed. "But seriously, don't sweat it, Lisanna. Mira and Elfman are tough customers. They can take care of themselves. But we'll definitely bring them home and until we do, I'll be here to look out for you in their place. We all will, right?"
There was an instant round of nodding from near every head on the table and Lisanna took a moment to bask in the feeling of warmth that reared up inside her at Natsu's words. "Thanks, Natsu," she said. "And don't worry. I'll be around to look out for all of you too, whether you need it or not."
"Cos that's Fairy Tail right!" Natsu seized another chicken leg and bit into it while simultaneously reaching his hand across the table to hold it up for a high-five, which Lisanna was quick to take him up on, slapping her palm down on top of his own brightly.
"Wow… how does he do that?" Sirius shook his head. "Manages to completely put his foot in it one moment and then say exactly the right thing a few moments later."
"Such is Natsu," Happy grinned.
"All the same, I hope we find the others soon," Lucy murmured, shivering slightly. "Some of those remaining are among out most powerful members. I'd hate to see what might happen in an understanding with them."
As night rolled in, Harry found himself unable to sleep. He was fighting a constant urge to punch his pillow in anger. He'd never thought that he would hate anyone in the school more than he hated Snape. But after what Charla had told him that evening, Umbridge had successfully managed to trump Snape in just about every way. She was rapidly getting close to being level with Voldemort himself for how much he hated someone.
He rolled onto his back and traced the scars on the back of his hand, the marks reading 'I must not tell lies' that Umbridge herself had made him put there. Some right she had to make him put marks like that there. Not only had he been telling the truth the whole time but she had been the one lying. He could still remember the words she'd said to Dumbledore way back in the disciplinary hearing he'd been forced to attend for fending off those Dementors during the summer.
'I'm sure I must have misunderstood you, Professor Dumbledore. So silly of me. But it sounded for a teensy moment as though you were suggesting that the Ministry of Magic had ordered the attack on this boy!'
'Bitch!' Harry thought to himself. It hadn't even been the whole Ministry, it had just been her and her alone. And she had the nerve to sit there and suggest that anything like that was totally ludicrous!
His friends had been similarly appalled. Hermione had suggested that they go and tell Dumbledore about this straight away, but surprisingly Ron had pointed out that that wouldn't really make a difference. After all, the only proof they had that Umbridge had done it was the word of a talking cat who was a member of a guild that were a recognised enemy of the Ministry. They would need a lot more solid evidence than that to accuse Umbridge of anything like this.
Not for the first time, Harry regretted that Muggle technology couldn't work in Hogwarts. He'd seen a television program or two where the good guy was able to get dirt on the villain by recording them saying something detrimental. But there was no way that would work here. He could think of no way to prove what Umbridge had done other than somehow tricking her into saying it in front of the right people… but how the hell would they do that without using the Imperius Curse or something?
So wrapped up in his thoughts was he that Harry didn't notice when his eyelids finally drooped shut…
"CRUCIO!"
The two men on the floor screeched so loudly that it was amazing their voice boxes were not destroying themselves under the strain they were being placed under. Harry snarled down at them, pointing his wand like it was a lightning rod and watching them writhe and kick and scream for mercy. But he had none to give.
Eventually he relented and the two men slumped to the floor of the dark room, huffing for breath. Harry strode over to them and stared imperiously down at them. "Tell me…" he growled. "Do either of you know the meaning of the words 'don't draw attention to yourselves?'"
"Yes… yes, my lord," Goyle Senior croaked helplessly. "We just… we just thought that…"
"Thought what exactly?"
"Thought that we should try and take the opportunity to take out some of your enemies," Crabbe cringed.
"That is not what I asked you to do. I asked you to stay low, to monitor the situation, report back to me what happens. I did not tell you to start an avalanche! And while perhaps I can commend you for your creativity in your attempt to dispatch the enemy, what I cannot commend you for is planting the Dark Mark in the sky where everyone in the Ministry could see it!"
"We're… we're sorry, my lord!" Goyle cried. "It was… a… a spur of the moment thing. We wanted Fairy Tail to fear you! After all they are working with the Order now, and they must surely know about you."
Evidently that was the right thing to say. Harry had been planning of murdering these two imbeciles for their discrepancy, but these words took his mind down a completely different path. "Yes," he murmured as he turned around and stepped away, rubbing his chin slightly. "That is… most unfortunate. I had hoped to try convincing anyone that came out of those Spheres we have to join me against the Ministry that is hunting their friends. But if the Order is involved…"
"By all accounts the things we've seen, my lord," Lucius Malfoy's voice came from the door. "These Fairy Tail mages… they have incredible power. And if they're rallying against you… can we really defeat them?"
"I have not come as far as I have, Lucius, to be stopped in my tracks by a bunch of… aliens… and besides, there are other ways to ensure the cooperation of whoever comes out of that Sphere. But you are right. They are strong. It seems that if we have to contend with them in addition to the Order… then I shall have to… accelerate my plans!"
Harry gasped, waking up in a sudden cold sweat, and for several moments he patted his body with his hands just to make sure it was his own… it had happened again… oh god, what was happening to him?
And… accelerate my plans?
What exactly did that mean?