Hello everyone. I know that most of you who didn't read the last chapter due to my warning about it containing spoilers probably aren't going to be reading this anytime soon, but this chapter is Fairy Tail spoiler free so if you would like to keep reading then by all means do so, and I will let you know when I feel its safe for you to go back and read Chapter 33 without spoilers.

Dance of the Fairies, Flight of the Phoenix

Chapter 34:- Three Prisons

"Nnngghhh…" Cana groaned as she came to, her eyes fluttering open and her head pounding as if she was experiencing one of the the worst hangovers ever… and Cana had had a lot of hangovers so she knew what that meant. She found that she was trembling, her skin crawling as if were covered with a thousand spiders made of ice and she couldn't seem to be able to stop herself from shaking.

"Where… where am…?" she moaned as she lifted her head up to glance around blearily. Dank stone walls, a faintly dripping ceiling, a thick wooden door at one end of the small room and not much else… she was in another cell.

Of course, she'd been captured! But her clarity of mind had returned to her for the first time since those… those… things… had appeared!

"Hey!" she shouted, attempting to push herself to her feet only to realise that her limbs weren't quite obeying her properly. Suddenly she realised the feeling of metal around her wrists wasn't her usual bracelets - her hands had been manacled behind her back, each cuff attached to a long chain that linked her to the back wall of the cell. Her ankles were in a similar condition, the only difference being that they weren't attached together, meaning she could still kick them about separately.

Swearing loudly, Cana fought against her bonds to push herself awkwardly to her feet - not the easiest of tasks with her hands bound but she still managed it. Stumbling forwards towards the door, she jerked on her chains until they snapped taut behind her, juddering and sending vibrations through her arms as she leaned forwards and pulled with all her strength.

"Gggghhhgggnn…" she snarled, thrashing her body from side to side like a fish stranded on a riverbank, grinding her teeth and her eyes blazing as she flexed her fingers madly, trying to narrow her hands as if hoping her wrists would somehow slide out through the cuffs, but that certainly wasn't happening - they were clamped too tightly around her. "You… little… get… off…" she grunted, pulling on them spasmodically, as if hoping she could alternatively yank the chains right out of the wall. But as every muscle in her body strained against the metal it quickly became clear that she'd end up pulling her arms out of her sockets before breaking free like this.

Eventually she fell back, panting for breath and her body shining with sweat. "Damn it… if I just had my cards," she growled. But of course they had been confiscated along with her bag… and the bottles of alcohol she kept inside it. Like Lucy she used a Holder-type magic, and like Lucy if she was separated from the objects she required to use her main magic, there really wasn't much else in her arsenal she could turn to instead.

But as her fingers wandered over the manacles, searching for any sign of a weakness or a flaw she could utilise, a distant scream rent the air from beyond the tiny barred window in the door. A heart-rending, anguished scream of despair that Cana recognised instantly.

"ERZA!?" she shouted, thrusting forwards to yank at the chains all over again in a bid to reach the door and try to see through the window, but the chains kept her at least two feet away from it. "ERZA, CAN YOU HEAR ME!? ERZA!"

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" was the only response, long and echoing. Cana could tell that it was coming from quite a distance away, so if she could hear it with such clarity… just how loudly was Erza screaming?

"DAMN YOU!" she roared at whoever her jailers were. "GIVE ME BACK MY FRIEND! WHATEVER YOU'RE DOING TO HER, STOP IT!"

"They won't stop!" a sneering voice filtered faintly through the glass. "The Dementors don't ever stop. You're in Azkaban now, little Princess. What were you expecting it to be like - picnics in the park and sunny beaches?"

"Azkaban? What the hell is an Azkaban?"

"You don't know?" the voice cackled. "Who the hell doesn't know about…? Unless…? Oh, now this is interesting. Are you one of those Fairy Tail mages we've been hearing so much about recently?"

"Why don't you tell me who you are first?" Cana shouted, flinching as more of Erza's screams rose up in the distance.

"Why I'm your new next door neighbour of course! My name is Bellatrix Lestrange, the most devout follower of the Dark Lord that the world has ever seen!"

"Well I'm Cana. And yeah, I'm one of those Fairy Tail mages. So what? Why the hell did they lock me up in this… Azka-thingie. What the hell did I do to deserve this?"

"Oh we've been hearing all kinds of things about you lot," Bellatrix snickered. "How you're a menace to society and all that. Some even say that you lot are trying to become the next Death Eaters. As if you could ever replace us, especially with a ridiculous name like Fairy Tail. How in any world is that supposed to be intimidating?"

"It's not meant to be intimidating at all! And we're not twisted, delusional gits like you obviously are."

"Well don't you know how to make an impression. But they must think you're dangerous if you've been locked up in chains in the high security section like me so I suppose that's something."

"Who care about that!? What are they doing to my friend?"

"Why they're feeding off her of course. Dementors enjoy seeing people in torment so they suck all the happy memories out of people. Your new friends obviously been through hell and back if they're paying this much attention to her. They're all probably gathering around her cell just to enjoy feeling her pain, otherwise they'd be patrolling past our corridors and we wouldn't be in such a lucid state to talk to each other."

"THOSE %&&&! THOSE **$&££ &^!" Cana raged. "LET ERZA GO, YOU MONSTERS! LET US BOTH GO!"

"As I suspected," Bellatrix snorted. "You're far too soppy to be dark mages. Those morons at the Ministry are completely wrong about you. They're terrified of their own shadows these days, I hear. And rightly so. The Dark Lord will rise again and when he does the Ministry will crumble around him. And he'll make sure you Fairy Tail mages are either sent back to your own world or six feet beneath the ground."

Cana didn't respond. Bellatrix continued to rant about the wonder and glory that was the Dark Lord in the background, but she was no longer listening - her mind solely focused on Erza's horrendous screams. From what she knew, Erza had indeed been through hell and back. And now… locked up in this prison… she might as well be right back in the Tower of Heaven as a slave once more.

"We've gotta get out of here," she muttered to herself, going back to feeling the chains in a bid to find a weak link within them anywhere. "And what the hell happened to Sirius?"

"You can't be serious, Dumbledore," Fudge said incredulously, staring at the Headmaster of Hogwarts standing before his desk like he had finally gone stark raving mad!

"I am very serious, Minister," Dumbledore replied politely. "I tried to talk him out of it myself but I am rather afraid he is insisting. And you know as well as I that it is well within his right considering the… personal nature of this case."

"Be that is it may… its just not done, Dumbledore! We can't just allow an underage Hogwarts student to skip his lessons for the day to come and witness an execution. Especially not one who… who… seems to be making a clamour for attention everywhere he goes with all his balderdash about You-Know-Who returning."

"Mr. Potter saw the news article this morning and came straight to me," Dumbledore explained calmly for the third time. "He was very insistent, and while I could order him to return to class I would rather not. He would not be able to focus on his studies today anyway I fear. Sirius Black has caused him so much personal grievance throughout his life… he wishes to see justice done."

"Does he now? And may I remind you, Dumbledore, how he was insisting yet more rubbish less than two years ago, proclaiming that Mr. Black was in reality an innocent man?"

"You know as well as I he was Confunded into thinking so at the time. Mr. Potter himself knows that now too, and that is yet another list of reasons why he wishes to be present when the Dementor's Kiss is initiated. That, along with the fact Mr. Black told Lord Voldemort where his parents were and killed one of his family's best friends and supposedly broke into Hogwarts in an effort to kill him more than once last year… gives him a fairly large repertoire of reasons."

"But… but I cannot just…"

"I am aware that you think of Harry as little more than a troublesome child seeking the spotlight, but put yourself in his shoes Minister. If all of that had happened to you, would you not want to see the perpetrator pay his dues?"

Cornelius pursed and shifted his mouth seemingly at random, a good long pause stretching out through the office as he twiddled his bowler hat in indecision.

"If I were allow him to witness the execution," Fudge said. "Would he finally pack all this… mad rambling about You-Know-Who's return… to rest?"

"That is something that I cannot answer. Only Mr. Potter himself can give one to that question."

Fudge sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose for a moment before saying, "Oh very well then… very well. Have him in the Duelling Chamber of the Auror office by noon. That's where the execution is scheduled to take place."

"Much obliged, Cornelius," Dumbledore bowed his head. "You are making the right decision."

"I had better be," Fudge declared. "If Harry makes another scene at this execution…"

"I assure you that Harry will be perfectly well behaved," Dumbledore replied as he left the room without another word.

"So we're sure about this?" Harry asked. "We definitely think its going to work?"

"It's better than anything else we currently have planned," said Mr. Weasley, who was in the process of exporting him towards the phone booth that made up the visitor's centre just like he had several months ago when he had been called in for his disciplinary hearing. "And don't worry Harry. You can trust the Fairy Tail mages to play their part. I know you don't exactly know them very well and to be honest, neither do I. There's still a lot of things about them that completely mystify me. But then again, you could say the same about Muggles," he chuckled, before his face quickly turned more serious. "But if anyone can help us get your godfather out of the heart of the Ministry, it would be them."

Harry grimaced but nodded. He hated walked slowly like this. He wanted to charge straight into the Ministry, cursing anyone that got in his way and break Sirius out by any means necessary. He knew Fairy Tail had done something like that before already.

But things were different now - security had been greatly tightened to try and keep them from getting back in. And even if they did, the only thing that they would accomplish would be spreading even more fear of them through the populace.

This time… they were going to have to be more subtle. Which was a word that Harry was coming to understand didn't really apply to the vast majority of them.

Still…

…could they really pull this off?

Well there was no going back now at any rate. He clambered into the booth and watched Mr. Weasley dial in a totally different set of numbers to last time. He had been told that this telephone booth had been the way that Fairy Tail had got in before, with Gajeel tearing it to shreds before they descended down into the atrium below. Naturally the Ministry had worked overtime to re-install the entrance, but they had added a ton of extra security measures down beneath it.

And when Harry got down to the bottom, his eyes widened slightly.

The Atrium was even busier than the last time he'd been down here, but with more than just the usual hustle and bustle of wizards and witches going about there day. Now there were checkpoints set up at literally every entrance, including every one of the various Floo fireplaces lining the walls and of course, right in front of the gate of the descending booth. Each one was heavily fortified by multiple Aurors or and various people from other security departments.

But that wasn't all. There were also the huge, hulking forms of at least ten security trolls, even bigger than the ones that had been called into Hogwarts to guard the portrait of the Fat Lady during his third year. They lounged around, fingering their clubs or picking their noses while every human gave them at least a ten foot radius to keep not only out of their reach but also in a futile effort to avoid the bad smell.

"Well, at least there are no Dementors," Harry murmured.

"Ah, but there are," said Arthur, pointing vaguely at a man Harry could barely see at the far side of the room, sitting on a chair next to a big lever in the wall. "If he pulls that lever then holes will open in the ceiling to allow several Dementors to come rushing in."

"Right… so priority one is avoiding that guy," Harry murmured.

"Exactly," Mr. Weasley nodded, before the lift came to a stop and they stepped out and up to the desk. "Ah, evening Jones," he addressed the wizard sitting at it brightly. "You've got the easy desk have you?"

"The dangerous desk they call it," the balding man sitting at it shivered. "Nobody wants to sit at this one because this is where those… Fairy Tail mages… came through last time," he shivered fearfully. "Can you imagine if they came through here now? I wouldn't stand a chance."

"Oh, I'm sure there's little reason for you to worry about them," Arthur waved his hand nonchalantly. "If they've heard the news that some of them have been captured they might want to lay low for a while I expect. Anyway, here's my wand as per."

"Thanks," Jones nodded, turning over the wand, inspecting it and conjuring up what looked like records to make sure that it was definitely the wand that belonged to Arthur Weasley. He then went through a great series of checks, including a magical breath analyser that was designed to test whether someone was using Polyjuice Potion and he used a Probity Probe to make sure he wasn't carrying any other dangerous magical artefacts. He then proceeded to do the exact same thing with Harry.

"Well, you're clean," Jones nodded with visible relief. "You can head through."

"Thank you very much," Mr. Weasley nodded, wrapping his arm around Harry's shoulders to guide him through the checkpoint. They hurried quickly across the Atrium in the direction of the Auror office and just as they were reaching it, they almost ran slap-bang into Kingsley as they emerged from the other side.

"Ah, hello Arthur," Kingsley said just in case anyone was listening. "Pleasant day for an execution, isn't it?"

"No day is a pleasant day for an execution," Mr. Weasley said grimly. "But congratulations on finally capturing him."

"I'm just glad that the manhunt is over," Kingsley shrugged. "But I see you've brought Harry Potter… if you head through there then Scrimgeour will sort you out."

"Of course," Arthur said, guiding Harry through the door. Kingsley watched them go for a moment before hurrying off, making his way towards the Floo fireplaces on the other side of the fountain. While the security checked everyone coming in, they weren't quite so concerned about people going out. He made it through with no fuss and once he was outside, he quickly Apparated to the alleyway of the visitor's entrance.

"Are you guys there?" Kingsley whispered into the shadows.

"Yeah, we're here," a voice said, and suddenly a blond head of hair poked its way out of nothingness. Lucy offered them an anxious smile and said, "Did they get in?"

"They seem to have had no problems," Kingsley confirmed.

"About time you two got here," said another voice as Evergreen pushed up the edge of Harry's Invisibility Cloak, both the Fairy Tail girls wearing traditional Auror robes rather than their usual outfits. "It's pretty cramped under there when you've got three full-sized people under here. Especially when two of them have chests as big as ours."

"I shall try very hard not to take offence to that," Tonks muttered as she pushed herself out the rest of the way. "Though I could have a rack like either of yours if I so wanted. I just don't. Anyway… are we all set to go then?"

"Indeed," Kingsley said. "Do you have your potions?"

"Right here," Lucy nodded as she and Evergreen produced two little flasks from their pockets. "But… do we really have to drink something with hair in it? I mean I want to help but isn't there another way that's less… gross?"

"Not unless you're a Metamorphmagus like me," Tonks said cheerfully. "Or you can do this Transformation Magic I've heard about which neither of you can. Come on then, let's get this show on the road."

"Alright," Lucy nodded.

"Down the hatch," Evergreen appeared no less enthused, but the two of them were quick to drain the bottles. Instantly they gagged and choked, looking like they were about to be physically ill as they forced themselves to swallow. "Ugh!" the Fairy Mage cried. "That was like… like…" she blinked at she felt her skin beginning to crawl and shift, her body beginning to grow and her skin beginning to change colour. All the hair on her head shrivelled away into nothingness and in the space of about ten seconds she was Kingsley Shacklebolt.

"Well it's good to know even a piece of arm hair will work in a Polyjuice Potion," Kingsley said wryly as he stared at his duplicate, before glancing across at Lucy who had morphed into Tonks. But her hair was brown instead of pink. Polyjuice Potion did not give the user the abilities of those they turned into after all so Lucy had Tonks' natural hair colour instead, until a quick flick of Kingsley's wand changed that and she had hair even pinker than Natsu's.

"Whoa… this is surreal…" Lucy whispered as she looked over herself. "I wonder if this is anyway comparable to how Mirajane felt when she turned into me that time."

"Well, Mira's used to turning into other people. She gets a kick out of teasing people with it," Evergreen replied.

"Well, are you ready to go?" Tonks asked.

"Yeah… I think so," Lucy nodded, stashing the cloak in her robes. "We'll do everything we can to save Sirius. And in return… please… rescue Erza and Cana for us."

"We will not come back without them," Kingsley assured them, before both he and Tonks vanished with a CRACK! The two Fairy Tail girls were left alone in the street, disguised as other people and prepping themselves for what was to come.

"We better get moving then," Evergreen said.

"Yeah… is this at all weird for you?" Lucy asked. "You and me… partnered together?"

"Oh its extremely weird, especially when we look like this - I still think its unfair how a simple coin toss ended up with me being disguised as the man. But hey, we've got a job to do. So let's overcome the weirdness and just do it."

"Right," Lucy nodded, lifting up one of her keys from within her Auror robes. "Open, Gate of the Twins… Gemini!"

POOF!

"Piri piri!" the two floating Spirits said automatically as they appeared out of the cloud of pink smoke that billowed into existence before them, waving their stubby limbs erratically. They looked like weird floating bobbleheads… or perhaps embryos with abnormally round heads.

"That's quite odd, seeing our owner as the one in disguise for a change," Gemi noted.

"If we couldn't sense our link to you we would not recognise you," Mini agreed.

"Good, that's what we're going for. You remember the plan?"

"Yep," the Twins chorused, floating up together and touching stubby arms until with another POOF of smoke they took on a brand new shape. Suddenly Remus Lupin was standing in the alleyway as well, the Twins having acquired his form that morning for this very mission.

"Let's get on with it," said Gemini-Lupin, and all three of them filed into the booth together. Evergreen punched in the Code they'd been taught and they waited with bated breath as they descended. Neither of them had been into the Ministry before and while the sight of the atrium impressed them, they had to make a conscious effort not to fidget about.

"Oh, hello Auror Shacklebolt. Auror Tonks," Jones said as they entered. "It's not like you to go through this entrance."

"Um… yes, good morning," Evergreen coughed, Kingsley's rich voice flowing from her mouth sounded so weird to her. "We're just here… escorting Mr. Lupin here to witness… Black's execution. He's a former friend of Black's and was granted permission to be present."

"Not an easy decision to make," Gemini-Lupin shook his head sadly, heaving a great sigh just as Lupin would do. "But… I feel I owe it to my other old friends, James Potter and Peter Pettigrew, to see this through. Now, I need to give you my wand, yes?"

"Indeed, and then just a few other checks," Jones nodded. Gemini produced the wand - they could recreate a person in every way, including any items they had on their person at the time, so even though this was not Lupin's wand, it was more than enough to fool Jones.

But Evergreen and Lucy knew that they too would be asked to go through the checks even if they were disguised as Aurors. And if they happened, they would be found out. And they could practically feel the eyes of the nearby Aurors watching them carefully as they watched everyone.

"Well, everything seems to be in order," Jones said as he handed Gemini-Lupin back their wand. But before he could do anything else, one of the security trolls bellowed and surged forwards, hopping about on one leg almost comically and flailing is club around so wildly that it almost slammed the golden wizard statue in the fountain over. Instantly witches and wizards scattered and other security converged on the troll to get it back under control.

And… just as everyone was distracted by the sudden ruckus…

"Confundus," Gemini-Lupin said quietly, flicking their wand at Jones. It had an immediate effect - Jones' eyes glazing over for a moment before they refocused and he looked oddly confused as he turned back to Evergreen and Lucy.

"Um… your wands please…"

"But you've already checked us," Lucy said, crossing her fingers behind her back that it would work.

Jones blinked several times before murmuring, "Oh yeah… yeah, I have checked you. Okay then… go straight through."

Evergreen and Lucy breathed a sigh of relief and hurried past the desk, falling in step on either side of Gemini-Lupin. As they walked across the atrium, the troll was being guided back to its post and a small man in a mauve top hat was apologising profusely to one of the Aurors.

"I'm so sorry, I just… I just tripped over my own shoelaces. I really should learn the spell to tie them properly or at least learn to do them on my own but it's just so fiddly and difficult you know? And before I knew it I was falling and the cauldron was flying out of control… don't worry though, that potion was harmless, or at least its effects are when applied to the skin, it was just very hot is all. I do hope the troll recovers…"

Evergreen and Lucy quickly looked away from the man but couldn't really hold back smirks of amusement. Neither knew this Dedalus Diggle guy well, but he'd provided his planned distraction right on time. So far, the plan was working.

"Okay," Lucy said under her breath. "Tonks said that the Auror office was on the second floor. Let's get there quickly."

Harry shifted about slightly in the chair he'd been in for the past ten minutes. He just couldn't keep still, anxiously awaiting for something to happen and expecting at any minute to hear the blaring alarms from the Atrium signalling they'd got intruders.

But it never came and he blinked when he saw Remus, Tonks and Kingsley all walking in at last. If he hadn't known Lupin wasn't going to be coming anywhere near the Ministry today he would have thought they were all the real articles.

"Ah, Shacklebolt," the gruff voice of Scrimgeour said. "I see you've brought in Mr. Lupin as requested."

"Er…" 'Kingsley' floundered but Gemini-Lupin quickly came to the rescue.

"Yes… I… I am sorry to be an inconvenience, Mr. Scrimgeour. To be honest, I am really not sure whether I should even be here. Sirius Black was once a trusted friend of mine and… well, let's just say that once he's gone, I'll be the only one of my circle of school friends remaining."

"I see… I can't imagine how hard this must be for you," Scrimgeour's lips tightened over his teeth awkwardly. "But… if I'm honest with you, Mr. Lupin… if you've never seen a Dementor's Kiss then you might want to turn around now. It's an experience I'd rather never see again, not even on my most hated enemy. Let alone an old friend."

"But… but I feel I should… stay…" Gemini-Lupin murmured.

"If you want to stay, you can stay. Just note… I won't be cleaning up your vomit."

Gemini-Lupin seemed to think hard for several moments before sighing and running his fingers over his eyes. "I think… this may have been a mistake," he said, his face creasing into a rictus of grief and pain that looked extremely convincing - no doubt Gemini was pulling real memories from Lupin's head to add to the effect. "…Yes…. yes, I've changed my mind. I would rather not witness this after all… and try to preserve the memories of who Sirius used to be rather than what… he became. Or will become."

"Don't worry, I'll escort you out," Lucy-Tonks placed a hand on their shoulder kindly.

"I'm sorry I wasted your time," Gemini-Lupin murmured as they allowed Lucy to guide them slowly out of the room. Scrimgeour watched them go before turning to Harry.

"What about you, Potter? Are you still sure you want to see this? It's not going to be pretty."

"I'm sure," Harry nodded resolutely. "This man… betrayed my parents. He's the reason they were killed by Voldemort. I think I owe it to them to see it through."

"Very well, but I hope it doesn't give you nightmares," the Head of the Auror Office replied before turning and walking away.

"No more than I already have you mean," Harry muttered.

As soon as Gemini-Lupin and Lucy-Tonks found a secluded area they ducked into it and with another poof of smoke, Gemini dissolved back into their usual form.

"Thanks guys," Lucy said as she pulled Harry's Invisibility Cloak back out from her robes and prepared to don it. "You were great."

"You need to rescue that man," Gemi said earnestly.

"He's a really good person from what we've seen," Mini agreed, referring to the many memories that Lupin had hidden away in his mind.

"We're on it," Lucy nodded firmly as the Cloak pooled around her body and she vanished from sight, as did Gemini because with a final POOF they returned to the Spirit World. Sucking in a deep breath, Lucy stole out of the room and crept her way back towards the Auror Office. She weaved quickly in and out of bypassing personnel, reflecting that there were so many times she could think of where Invisibility would have been a massively useful thing to have, particularly when they'd tried to infiltrate the Tower of Heaven or the castle in Edolas.

But she managed to sneak her way back without incident and when she did, she tapped Kingsley-Evergreen on the shoulder. Evergreen immediately responded by rubbing her arm - the designated signal that let Harry and Mr. Weasley know that Lucy had returned.

Now was the time to put the final stage of their plan into motion.

As the clock crept up to five minutes to noon, Scrimgeour entered the room where they were keeping Sirius. He was sitting in a chair with golden chains keeping his arms pinned down, staring levelly at the two Aurors who had been interrogating him for the past hour.

"Have you been able to get him to talk?" Scrimgeour asked.

"Oh he's been talking plenty," said one of the Aurors. "But it seems pretty clear to me that none of what he's been saying makes any sense. He keeps trying to convince us he's innocent of murdering all those people."

"Perhaps if I had had a proper trial back when I was initially arrested all those years ago, you wouldn't be in this situation right now," Sirius replied calmly. "I'm telling you, the one responsible for killing all those Muggles was Peter Pettigrew, not me."

"The same Peter Pettigrew that blew up?" Scrimgeour asked with a raised brow. "What… was he a suicide bomber?"

"No, he is still alive. He's an unregistered Animagus. He cut off his own finger and transformed into a rat to escape. It was a stroke of cunning I never expected from him but I am telling you I was framed. And no matter how much you don't believe me, I'm not going to change my story."

"See?" the second Auror shook his head. "There's no way we'd believe a story like that, Black. But that's not even why we're here. Tell us about your association with Fairy Tail. What are they planning to do?"

"I only met those two girls that evening. But they didn't seem like terrorists to me. They just seemed polite, sincere and confused at what had happened to them. I don't know anything about Fairy Tail's goals, but I imagine their biggest one is simply finding a way to get home."

Scrimgeour's brow deepened slightly, and just as the Aurors were about to restart interrogating him, he suddenly said, "That's enough. Leave. I want to talk to Mr. Black alone."

The other two didn't protest and hurriedly left the room, allowing Scrimgeour to walk over to the table in front of Sirius' chair and lean himself against it. "You know Mr. Black… I like to think of myself as pretty intuitive. And I believe that you know more about Fairy Tail than you're letting on."

"What do you know about Fairy Tail?" Sirius asked with a smirk. "What do you think of them, Scrimgeour? I don't you very well except by reputation, but I've always heard you were a pretty fair man in the grand scheme of things. And I've been reading about the Aurors' numerous altercations with Fairy Tail mages… do you believe the hype? Are you one of the thousands who are quaking in their boots and believe them to be alien invaders bent on taking over? Because I can tell you, Scrimgeour, those two girls you've sent to Azkaban are far from deserving of such a fate. They were two of the kindest people I've ever had the fortune of meeting."

"…In all honesty, Mr. Black," Scrimgeour said after a moment of silent analysis. "I'm not sure what I believe. I'm getting some very mixed messages here. I agree their personality does not match those of a terrorist but then I see them associating with mass murderers like you. They leave destruction wherever they go and yet when their presence is confirmed their underlying objective doesn't seem so nefarious. And yet we've got a town that's been entirely destroyed in a manner that seems like it could have been done by them and no real evidence to prove it."

"And I don't believe they were responsible for it," Sirius said. "It just doesn't seem like the kind of that people those girls would associate with would do."

Scrimgeour wrinkled his nose. "I see…" he said. "It's unfortunate that the word of a convicted mass murderer will not carry more weight or we would pursue this further. But now… I'm afraid the time has come."

"Ah yes, the long-awaited kiss of a Dementor," Sirius muttered as Scrimgeour summoned the other two Aurors back into the room and they began to unchain him from the chair and re-secured his hands behind his back. "I've been eagerly awaiting this moment to come for years."

But his humour was stretched thin by his white face and the look of pure terror in his eyes as the Aurors took hold of his arms to hold him firmly still.

"There's really not much I can do to put off your sentence, much as I would like to," Scrimgeour replied. "Now… let's get moving."

"You'll regret this, Scrimgeour," Sirius said as he was marched past the Head of the Auror Office. "One day you'll learn that you sentence an innocent man to having his soul removed! And I hope for your sake that the Ministry will realise the truth about Fairy Tail before you have one of their souls removed."

Scrimgeour stood alone for a moment after Sirius had left. He was so confused now. One the one hand, he believed Sirius was a mass murderer and whoever had attacked Chagford was one too - just the kind of person Black should be associating with. But Black was defending Fairy Tail and his expressed view on them seemed to match Scrimgeour's. It honestly made no sense to him at all.

Which one was the truth?

"I really hope he's wrong," he muttered as he moved to follow him to the execution room. "I really hope that we will not end up regretting this."

Voldemort inhaled deeply as he stepped around the prone forms of the Fairy Tail mages before him. He had been expecting them to emerge from the Sphere for some time now but now that he saw them… he was mildly surprised. He hadn't seen any images of them thus far, but he'd assumed that they would look a little different. Not quite human like himself perhaps. But now that he saw these two… they looked pretty normal to him. Granted it was unusual for people their age to have such white hair but in every other aspect they appeared to be two, young, ordinary people.

But that certainly didn't fool him. He could feel the magical potential within them - he could tell that they both had considerable strength.

And considering the stories that he had heard of how one of their comrades had managed to stop an avalanche by himself… he was not about to underestimate them.

"Which one do you think is the more powerful?" asked a particularly large Death Eater with blond hair - after hearing the news that one of the Spheres had lowered, a great many of his forces that had not gone off on their own mission with Lucius Malfoy had gathered in the room to take a look. "I'm betting on the guy. Look at those muscles he's got. He's got to be a stronger one."

"Oh you think so, do you, Thorfinn Rowle?" Voldemort suddenly turned to look up at him. "You believe that musclepower determines the strength of someone's magic? Well then, perhaps you should be the Dark Lord in place of I, for clearly you are stronger than me. Is that correct?"

Rowle instantly went as white as the hair of the mages, pressing himself back against the wall and shaking his head vehemently. "No… no, of course not! I apologise, my Lord, I just…"

"Crucio!" Voldemort hissed remorselessly and instantly Rowle twisted around to land on his back on the floor, almost bowling over two other Death Eaters as he screamed and thrashed like ten-thousand volts of electricity were passing through his body. The other Death Eaters stared with wide eyes, each one trying to make themselves as small as possible under Voldemort's sneering stare until he finally relented, allowing Rowle to heave for breath and lie prone as he tried to recover from the insidious torture.

"We are not Muggles. We are not so crude and primitive as to decide who is strongest by how many pounds they can lift with their arms. You would do well to remember that… GET UP!" he suddenly snapped, and Rowle was back on his feet as if he'd been fired from a catapult.

"As it happens, I am sensing a greater aptitude for magic coming from the woman," Voldemort said as he stepped around them once more. He flicked his wand and suddenly the unconscious Mirajane rose off the floor, delicately hovering with her legs and arms obeying gravity to hang down beneath her like a puppet who's strings had been cut.

"I will be having a little talk with her," Voldemort said as he swept out of the room, Mirajane's body floating along behind him and the Death Eaters parting like the sea before Moses to let them through. "Prep the male as instructed, but do not let him wake up until I give the word! If he does then I'll be holding you personally responsible, Rowle!"

"Yes, my Lord," Rowle gasped as the Death Eaters scurried to obey.

When Mirajane woke up, she did so quite quickly. Her lolling head lifted its way to an upright position and almost lolled straight back down again before she caught herself and looked up, her eyes opening wide and struggling to focus on whatever it was that lay before her.

"Mmmghhh…" she muttered, blinking a couple of times to try and adjust her sight to the dim lighting…

…and then she realised that there was an enormous snake's face inches away from her nose, a forked tongue slipping out and dancing up and down to almost lick her as the serpent inspected her like a piece of meat.

"WHAT…!?" Mirajane started, jerking backwards before her arms were met with resistance. She gasped - her arms were stretched up and out to either side of her, a rope around each of wrists securing her between two pillars! Her ankles were unbound but it took a mere few tugs on her arms to know that with the strength of an ordinary human she wouldn't be going anywhere.

Fortunately her sudden movement seemed to have startled the snake too, for it jerked backwards and away from her. It appeared to be mostly coiled around a thick ceiling beam but after hissing at her indignantly it unravelled itself enough to lower itself to the floor, most of its body falling with a heavy thump but leaving it looking no worse for wear as it slithered across the room away from her. And towards the man who was standing across from her with an amused smile on his face…

His distinctly inhuman face.

Straight away at the sight of him, Mirajane's senses began tingling a warning at her. For a moment she thought he might be a demon, but it didn't take long for her magic to assure her that that was not the case. This guy was human, but he looked to be the closest a human could come to resembling a demon without transforming into one, thanks to his greyish skin, red eyes and distinctive lack of a proper nose. The slitted nostrils running down the middle of his face were just plain creepy.

"Where am I?" Mirajane said, pulling on the ropes warily and gripping them with her hands. "Who are you? And… where… Elfman? Lisanna? Where are my friends? What happened to Acnologia?"

"All good questions, I'm sure," Voldemort said as he strode towards her, closing the gap between them by half. "But not all ones that I can answer I'm afraid. What might your name be, my lady?"

Mirajane grunted as she tried to step away from him, the ropes pulling her up short again. She was pretty sure she could break out of them any time she wanted but only if she transformed into her Satan Soul form. But for the moment she wanted to hold off on doing that. At least until she had some answers.

Obviously she didn't trust the man, but not because of the way he looked. She knew from experience that judging people based on the way they looked was unfair and cruel - the people of her village had judged her the first time she'd used Take-Over on a demon by accident. It wasn't even because he'd tied her up, there were several potentially unmalicious reasons why someone would do that.

But Mirajane counted herself as a pretty good judge of character… and this man… he reeked of evil.

"My name's… Mirajane Strauss…" she replied slowly. "Who are you?"

"Oh… most people do not wish to call me by my name," the Dark Wizard replied with a smile that sent chills down Mirajane's spine. "But I do not condemn those who do. If you wish to know my name then I shall tell you… I am Lord Voldemort. But from this day henceforth, you will address me as 'My Lord.'"

"Will I now?" Mirajane raised a brow. "Forgive me for saying so your Lordship, but you're certainly not my Lord."

"But I am," Voldemort smirked. "The time will come when I am Lord over all that I survey. I am the most powerful wizard in this world, which makes that my right, and even offworlders like you should bow before me."

"Offworlders?" Mira frowned. "What do you mean?"

Voldemort offered her a knowing sneer as the snake raised its head up to allow him to run his fingers over the scales of its head. "Correct me if I am wrong," he said. "But the last thing that you remember before you awoke in this room is standing in a circle with your fellow mages and waiting for a gigantic black dragon to rain death upon you all with its breath attack."

Mirajane's eyes widened and Voldemort's sneer widened with it. He'd been told as such by Lucius, who had been present at the interrogation of Levy McGarden by the Ministry.

"Well… I'm afraid, my dear, that you've fallen into a different universe. But I can tell you that all of your comrades, as far as I know are alive and well," Voldemort said, to which Mira's immediate reaction was to slump slightly in her bonds, an expression of pure relief welling up over her face as she gripped the ropes just to hold herself up. "But… whether that stays the case after today is entirely dependent on you."

"…Eh?" Mira's eyes snapped open, a suddenly dangerous look flashing in them but Voldemort had already pointed his wand at her before she could react and said, "Imperio!"

Mira blinked and suddenly… every muscle in her body became totally relaxed… all the tension easing out of them like water trickling down a pipe until she was just standing there with her arms held out and a semi-glazed look in her eye. She felt… unburdened… as if nothing really mattered at that moment in the whole world. There was nothing to worry about or fear… there was nothing that she particularly needed to do… she had absolutely no problems at all.

"From this day forward, I am your new Master. You will call me 'My Lord,'" Voldemort repeated emphatically at the vaguely smiling Mira. "Just do it. Call me 'My Lord.'"

Yes… that made sense, Mira thought. It made absolute perfect sense that she should be this man's servant. Why would she ever question it?

… No wait… hold on. She already had a Master. Yes, it was a different context but there was only one person that she would ever refer to as Master and that was whoever was in charge of Fairy Tail. Master Makarov. He was her leader, not this man.

"Just call 'My Lord.' Do it, it won't hurt you. Be a good girl and submit yourself into my service."

Sure, why not? No… Yes… No, this wasn't right. This man was evil and she would never consent to serving an evil man…

"All you have to do is say it…"

He made such strong arguments… no he didn't he was just insisting… and hadn't he made a threat against her comrades… but what did that matter really if they were going to serve him to… NO! There was nothing more important to her than her friends, and most especially her brother and sister. What would they think if they saw her calling someone so obviously vile her Master…?

"Are you going to submit? Are you going to become one of my followers?"

"…Sorry…" Mirajane snapped as her clarity returned with a snap, her eyes re-focusing as she concentrated her magic, an almost feral smile appearing on her face. "But I can't accept being taken over. After all, I'm the one who Takes Over demons like yourself."

She flashed yellow and in an instant she had transformed. The ropes around her wrists shredded into pieces as her wrists bulked out, becoming scaly as her lower arms sprouted fin-like projections and her hands reformed into long claws that slashed through her bonds. Her tattered dress was replaced by a tight, dark red one-piece that revealed her back, belly and cleavage with a high-spiked collar that was tied together before her with a pink cravat and her legs were suddenly garbed in red thigh-high high-heeled boots with black markings that looked like jagged blades at the top. Her hair became much longer and wilder, and flowed out above her as if it no longer obeyed gravity, the short front-ponytail elongating greatly. Her ears became large and pointed, and black zig-zag markings appeared over her legs and the right hand side of her face, running over the top of her eye. Not to mention the huge scaly dark tail that sprouted out behind her, waving ominously.

"Begone!" Mirajane Satan Soul growled, her black wings shooting out of her back as she blasted in towards Voldemort like a human-sized bullet.

"Impressive," Voldemort said even as he seized the snake and span around to vanish with a CRACK that left Mirajane punching empty air. He re-appeared at the other side of the room but suddenly Mira was already in front of him again, her eyes wild as her fist powered towards where his nose was supposed to be.

Voldemort was momentarily surprised at her speed but he still reacted instantly and vanished a second time, causing Mira to slam her scaly fist right through the wall… which then exploded inwards right at her as Voldemort hit it with a Blasting Hex from the other side. Mira was flung backwards onto her back and bombarded with rubble, but she battered some of it aside with her tail and flipped back onto her feet, just in time to see a flaming whip come cracking towards her from out the tip of Voldemort's wand. It curled around her wrists and slammed them together in front of her, Voldemort heaving her off the ground and sending her crashing straight into another wall.

But even as she hit it she tore her hands free with brute strength and seized the whip to heave on it and drag Voldemort forwards. He almost fell over and was able to dispel the whip before he lost his balance but Mirajane had already dropped to the ground and kicked a desk into the air, seizing it by one leg and throwing it at Voldemort. With a lash of his wand he stopped it in its tracks a mere second before Mira exploded her way straight through it to take another swipe at him. This time he was ready with a Shield Charm but her fist still slammed its way straight through it to halt inches before his face.

"Very impressive indeed," Voldemort cackled, Disapparating again and slashing his wand to generate several steel blades that went spinning through the air towards her like enormous boomerangs. Mira sprang forward in response to slam several of them aside with her tail and seize two more in claws, which promptly turned into a pair of live boa constrictors that lunged for her and began wrapping around her, trying to pin her arms to her sides with their powerful coils.

"EVIL SPARK!" Mirajane roared, her body flaring with electricity that made the boas hiss and fall away, vanishing into smoke before they could hit the floor. Mirajane flung herself forwards again but Voldemort stabbed his wand out sideways to uproot one of the pillars that Mirajane had been tied to and sending it crashing into her from the side, only for Mirajane to seize in in her arms and spin around with it in her grip, coming straight back at him to use it as a giant club and smash it down on the spot he'd been standing in moments before he Disapparated again with enough force to shatter the pillar into pieces and punch a hold straight through the wooden floor.

As Voldemort appeared in the corner again, he smirked as Mirajane whirled around to face him with claws and wings splayed, ready for more. "Clearly you are a tough adversary. Had I been most anyone else you would have crushed me by now," he said. "But I am not most anyone else. I am Lord Voldemort."

"That means nothing to me," Mira replied harshly. "I still don't fully understand what's happening but I understand enough to know that you need to be dealt with."

"Perhaps. But it shall not be by you. For you are going to become my servant, as I said."

"Your little hypnosis trick failed. Was that not enough to make you give up?"

"There is very little that can, my dear," Voldemort replied with a confident smirk. He swished his wand so that a large mirror suddenly appeared on the wall next to Mirajane. "And there's something that I think you should see."

Suddenly the reflection in the mirror changed, until it was displaying something completely different like the screen of a television. Mira stepped back, listening carefully for any movement from the dark lord as she examined the screen.

It featured another dimly lit room much like the one she was in, except larger, with numerous support pillars dotted throughout its length. It was full of people in black robes, each one wearing a mask in a way that was eerily reminiscent of the grunts of Grimoire Heart except these ones all looked like skulls.

And in the centre of the image:-

"Elfman!" Mira gasped, dashing to the mirror and staring at her brother in horror. He had been secured to one of the pillars with several chains around his bare midsection, holding him upright and pinning his arms to his sides, but his head was bowed forwards and he was quite clearly either asleep or unconscious.

"Where is he?" Mira rounded on Voldemort, his claws carving a deep line in the wall beneath the mirror as she did.

"He is safe," Voldemort smirked. "But only for as long as you choose to let him be. This mirror is connected to a second mirror and the two are displaying images of what's on the other side right now, which means that my followers in the masks on the other side can see and hear us. Watch, I will prove it. Rowle!"

"Yes, my Lord," said a masked man who could have matched Elfman himself for size.

"Awaken him as ordered!" Voldemort instructed, and Mirajane watched as he pointed a wand at Elfman and twirled it in an intricate pattern. A pulse of white light shot out and washed over Elfman, who grunted slightly, shifting against the pillar and groaning.

"Huuhhh… what happened…?" he muttered, his head raising up dully as he tried to clear the fog from his mind. "Ugggh… this is… a real manly headache…"

"Elfman!" Mira cried. "Elfman, can you hear me?"

"Nee-chan?" Elfman looked up, his eyes filling with much more clarity as he realised his situation. "What the hell is this!? Who are you people?"

"Elfman, are you okay? Are you hurt?" Mira shouted imploringly through the mirror.

"I'm fine! But… it's extremely unmanly to hold a Man captive like this!" he growled, flexing his arms in the chains. "Nee-chan, where are you? I'm going to…"

"STUN HIM!" barked Voldemort, and several of the Death Eaters yelled, "STUPEFY" all at once. Mira gasped as about five beams of red light slammed into Elfman's chest. His head lurched back to thunk hard against the pillar before he lolled forward again. Mira's clawed hands lashed up to the side of the mirror, almost breaking it as she stared in horror at what had just happened before whirling around to fix Voldemort with a death glare so powerful that it might have given some people a heart attack.

"Release him! Now!"

"I'm afraid that would be rather detrimental to me."

"If you do anything to him I swear that I'll tear you limb from limb!"

"And I won't do anything to him… if you comply with my demands," Voldemort replied. "But… if you don't…"

A jab of his wand turned a nearby vase into a parrot, which promptly squawked and flung itself into the air with a flutter of its wings. Mirajane blinked in momentary confusion, but Voldemort's motive became clear when he took aim at the parrot and yelled, "AVADA KEDAVRA!"

A flash of green light, a heart-rending squawk and the parrot dropped to the floor, limp as a rag doll. Mira hurried over to inspect it but she could already tell that it was dead.

"You killed it…" she whispered. "With one spell…"

"Not commonplace in your world?" Voldemort cackled. "Well, anyone from my world with enough conviction can use the Killing Curse. And I currently have over a dozen Death Eaters with their wands levelled at your brother, all ready to cast that same Curse upon him on my word."

"No!" Mira surged to her feet, her wings flared and her eyes wide. "Don't! Don't kill him!"

"They won't. Not if you behave yourself. And you should know they also have orders to do it if you either attack me or break that mirror now. You're fast, girl - you've already proven that. But I doubt that you can find him, get to where he is and take out all of my forces to save him in the space of a single second. So… are you going to submit to me?"

Mirajane glared at him, grinding her teeth so hard that she was practically blunting her fangs… before she closed her eyes in defeat. A small flash of light and she reverted out of her Satan Soul back into her usual form.

She just couldn't do it… she couldn't let her brother die… no matter what…

"What… do you want…?"

"Do as I command. Kneel before me and call me 'My Lord.'"

It felt like every muscle in Mirajane's body was trying to lock up, begging her not to go through with it. But she did it anyway, her knee thudding against the ground as she bowed her head before him and whispered just loud enough for him to hear… "Yes… my lord."

"That's better," Voldemort strode forwards until he was standing right in front of her, reaching down with his wand to slip it beneath her chin and lift her head up until they could see eye to eye. He could see the deep burning anger in her gaze and chuckled with amusement.

"As I suspected," he said. "You may bow to me now, but I know your type. The threat of your brother's death will not keep you in line forever - you will constantly be looking for ways to escape. And besides, I would rather have the both of you in my thrall rather than just you. But you've proven yourself resistant to the Imperius Curse as I also predicted. Fortunately though… there are other means to… ensure your permanent compliance."

"What means?" Mira asked, her heart pounding with pent-up rage and no small amount of fear.

To look at Voldemort's look of triumph, you'd think he'd just bested Dumbledore himself in a duel as he said:- "You… Mirajane Strauss… are going to swear your eternal service to me. You are going to make… an Unbreakable Vow."

The silence in the room that followed was broken only by the sound of the giant snake beginning to eat the dead parrot.