Dance of the Fairies, Flight of the Phoenix

by Fergus Flamacron

Six years after the attack by Acnologia, a catastrophic event leads the entire island of Tenroujima and everyone on it to be flung headfirst into another world. A world with different people, different magic and different threats. What happens when Dragon Slayers meet with the Boy Who Lived? Pairings mostly, but not entirely, the same as canon. DISCONTINUED

44. Authority

scoobs987 - I'm not sure why I couldn't PM you but I couldn't so I have to reply on here. But the answer is no - Ethernano may have been released into the air of the Harry Potter world but nobody from the Potterverse, wizard or Muggle, will be able to use it. To them it is a foreign substance - harmless but useless, and they do not have the magical containers necessary to harness their power.

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Dance of the Fairies, Flight of the Phoenix

Chapter 44:- Authority

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On the evening of Saturday November 4th, 1995, every witch or wizard on the planet suddenly stopped what they were doing. Numerous magical creatures also suddenly paused in their activities, and every one of them looked around them in bewilderment. Almost all of them had absolutely no idea what had just happened, but they'd definitely sensed something. There had been a faint tingling at the back of their minds, like something very important had just occurred but they didn't have the foggiest idea what it might be.

Most of them forgot about it relatively quickly, but Lord Voldemort knew that he was never going to forget this moment for as long as he lived.

Morgan Le Fay… Morgana Pendragon… a being of legend was now standing before him. Never once in his entire life had Voldemort felt reverence in the way he did now. He had met individuals that he had respect for - Dumbledore for instance and some of the Fairy Tail members for another - but he'd walked around with such a sense of superiority for most of his life that even being mildly awestruck just being in a person's presence was an alien concept to him.

Morgana looked out across the assembled Death Eaters, her lip curling slightly. "A rather shabby bunch," she said. "I thought you would have raised your followers better than this, Voldemort." She turned to look him in the eye as if she'd known him for years, offering him an almost sweet smile. "I return at long last from years of isolation and not one of your band have the decency to bow before their Queen. How insufferably rude."

Voldemort looked round at his followers and noticed they were similarly awed by what they were seeing and feeling. "Oh, quite right," he said almost conversationally to Morgana. "How terribly remiss of them. The last one of you that I see still on their feet will receive half an hour of the Cruciatus Curse."

Instantly every Death Eater dropped to their knees and bowed low, even Bellatrix and she'd only ever bowed before Voldemort himself until now. Voldemort himself inclined his head, knowing full well that this woman was not someone he could instil fear in as with most others. "It is my great honour to be the one to welcome you personally back to the world, Lady Morgana," he said, in a mildly sycophantic tone that he was very unaccustomed to using but which seemed to flow off his tongue naturally in her presence. "I am grateful that you chose me to witness this historic event."

"Historic indeed," Morgana said as she strode forwards until she was but two feet from him. She was slightly shorter than Voldemort but she somehow seemed to be a little taller. "But of course you were the most natural choice. I have been watching you, Voldemort, as I told you before. And you're skills in leadership, your great power and your ability to instil terror wherever you go… they're exactly the kind of things that I value in my allies. I consider myself fortunate that I was able to escape from my prison during your reign."

"Thank you for your kind words," Voldemort purred. "But if I may ask, how were you able to watch me when your prison was set beyond space and time? How could you have communicated with me?"

"Quite simple," Morgana chuckled, gesturing back to the cave she had just exited. "This is the Crystal Cave. Some believe it is the place where the magic of this world was born and it is filled with large magical crystals that allow me to see many things when I look into them. These crystals are not like your cheap balls that some of your kind try and use to determine the future - they are… how do they put it these days… the real deal? Yes, I believe that's the term. Even Muggles can see things in those if they so choose, but for a Seer as powerful as I… I could see practically anything I wished to see. I've been watching the world unfold for the last fifteen hundred years… watching as magic has been swept under the rug and hidden… every with magic cowering under a rock to hide from the non-magical," her face was twisting now into a rictus of disgust. "It's almost worse now than it was back during the time of the Great Purge."

"I agree," Voldemort nodded. "It is the magical who should rule this world, and yet the Muggles think it is they who dominate it. It's utterly repugnant. But you are saying that this… this cave… is the birthplace of our magic…?" he whispered, once again struck with awe at this piece of information. Wizards and witches had speculated for generations as to how magic had originated or from where, but nobody knew for sure. Perhaps the information had simply been lost to the ages.

"It looks so… unassuming…" he murmured. "And set in such an ordinary hillside."

"It was not always set in a hill," Morgana replied. "It used to be set in an ancient and narrow valley known as the Valley of the Fallen Kings, an area that was strong with magic and where few dared to tread. But the land has changed much since I was last here, and the Valley is now lost to us, swallowed up by this channel you see before you when the sea level rose," she gestured out to the Bristol Channel. "That is why I had it appear here when it re-entered existence. It was as close as I could get it to its original location."

"And you've lived for this long, trapped inside that cave… unaging… immortal…" Voldemort breathed.

"I am only still alive because I was free from the constraints of time while in that cave. It's odd… I thought I would feel a lot older now that I am back under its influence, but I feel nothing. However, I intend to bring about some big changes now that I have returned," Morgana smiled. "But the forces that now rally against us are strong. Of course you and I are very powerful, my dear Voldemort… but I think we can both unequivocally say that Fairy Tail, the very same people who allowed me to return by knocking into my prison, have already proven they are a match for you. And I will not make the mistake of underestimating them. I am powerful but I admit, I know very little about their abilities and how they would match up with my own."

"A wise decision," Voldemort agreed, though his face twitched slightly under the remarkably unsubtle reminder of how badly his attempt to forcibly recruit one of them to his cause had gone. "But of course we do have some people similar to them on our side now," he gestured behind him to the three Grimoire Heart mages, who were regarding the scene with vague interest, or outright confusion in the case of Kain Hikaru.

"Woo-woo-wwwweeeeee!" the latter suddenly cried, hammering his arms up and down almost nervously like a toddler having a tantrum. "Would somebody please explain to me what is going on? I'm so confused! Where did Zeref go? What happened to those dragons?"

"All your questions will be answered in due course," Morgana stated calmly, apparently having expected a reaction like that while Voldemort was left nonplussed by it. "But I am grateful you are here, all three of you. It was your passage from one world to another past my place of exile which allowed me to finally claw my way back and while I know you had no active role in freeing me I thank you nonetheless."

"Pleasure," drawled Rustyrose. "But more importantly, who else is coming? Is there anyone else from Grimoire Heart being dragged through to this world."

"Oh yes," Morgana smirked. "Two more actually - I saw them. What did I hear you call them… Yomazu and Kawazu I believe I heard you name them."

"That's it?" Bluenote arced a brow. "Just those two? Granted they were close to the Seven Kin in strength but still… what of Ultear and Meredy? What of Azuma and Zancrow?"

"What of Zeref?" Rustyrose added, his name sparking a reaction in Kain who clapped a hand over his eyes as if afraid he'd suddenly see Zeref standing before him.

"There is nobody else set to come through," Morgana replied. "Apart from those two, everyone else affected by the rip in time and space is now already here. And this… Zeref of yours… he is not one of them. It seems he was somehow able to evade the vortex which sucked the rest of you in."

Rustyrose and Kain looked at each other, apparently unsure whether to feel relieved or disappointed at this news.

"But all is not lost for you," Morgana added. "Of that I can assure you. I can see that what each of you most desire now are two separate things. To go home to your own word and to see Fairy Tail crushed. And I promise you… if you join forces with me… I will see to it that both of those things occur."

"Can you now?" Rustyrose said, clearly sceptical. "And how can you do that? If I'm understanding this whole situation correctly you were unable to get yourself back into your own dimension from just floating around outside it. How do you propose to get us right back across the divide to our own?"

"Granted, I could not get back before, but then the rift between our two worlds was forcibly opened, allowing you and Fairy Tail to pass through. But its still there now - a pathway beyond space that links up our world to yours. If it wasn't there then you wouldn't have been able to cross over at different times as you have been doing. The magic of the Old Religion is very diverse - and I am confident that I will find a way to use it to allow you to return to your own world."

"And what exactly would you have us do for you in return?" Bluenote growled lightly.

"Why, help me to conquer this one of course," Morgana spread her arms out wide, smiling broadly. "The land you are standing in now is my land. I am the rightful ruler of all you see around you and I shall take back what is rightfully mine. But my enemies are strong, so I will require assistance in my ascension. But once I have no further need for your help, I will make sure that you are rewarded with exactly what you want."

"You want us to take on Fairy Tail again?" Kain Hikaru stammered lightly, still not totally up to speed but able to follow at least part of the conversation. "Woo-weee… that didn't exactly go well for us last time, and there were a lot more of us back then. We lost Master Hades too and he was more powerful than any of us."

"He's right," Rustyrose gritted his teeth. "It pains me to say it but they are stronger than we gave them credit for. I believe we are still definitely strong enough to take on most of them in one-on-one combat, but not all. And they greatly outnumber us here from what I have heard."

"I agree," Morgana smiled. "But I have had fifteen-hundred years to plan for my return. I didn't take Fairy Tail into account for that of course but I have a few ideas that will help… level the playing field so to speak. By the time I am finished, you will only be a part of the force I intend to build. But your power would make you a pivotal one nonetheless. So… will you join me?"

The three Grimoire Heart mages glanced at each other before Bluenote suddenly narrowed his eyes. "Tell me this," he stepped forward. "What's to stop us from simply forcing you to find a way to get us home now and then leaving you to deal with Fairy Tail?"

The air around him shook and quite suddenly all the kneeling Death Eaters found themselves flattened against the ground by an intense wave of gravity. Even Voldemort was suddenly forced down to one knee. But Morgana took a wide stance and managed to resist being pushed downwards.

"I had a feeling you would ask me that," she smirked lightly. But suddenly her irises flashed a bright golden colour and she said, "Gestillan hæle brēostcofa."

Bluenote gasped and faltered, his hand clapping to his chest and his gravity magic halting in his tracks. Alarm rippled through the group as Bluenote staggered backwards, falling to his knees and his eyes bulging before he collapsed straight onto his stomach, gasping raggedly for air.

"Bluenote!" Rustyrose cried, dashing over to his side and looking wildly up at Morgana. "What the hell did you do!?"

"I just stopped his heart," Morgana replied sweetly. "Your friend is currently going into cardiac arrest because his blood's no longer being pumped around his body. But not to worry. I don't want you to die after all." Her eyes flashed golden again and suddenly Bluenote heaved for breathe and rolled onto his back, gasping and panting but apparently fine as his heart jumped into overtime to try and catch up for the last twenty seconds it had just skipped.

"Bottom line though," she purred. "I would advise you not to test yourself against me. I won't be so presumptuous as to say that you could never defeat me if you used your full power - I know what you did there was just a taste of it after all… but I believe I have just proved it would be a great risk to you to try."

"Point… made…" Bluenote growled and he slowly pushed himself upwards.

"But I don't want you to think of me as a threat or an enemy. I want us to be partners… allies… both of us helping each other to get what they want. I believe in biological terms this is called symbiosis. If you want nothing to do with me I'll let you go on your own way. I won't interfere with you unless you get in my way. So… I ask again… will you join me?"

"Uh… I'd like to volunteer," Kain Hikaru raised his hand. "I rather like my heart the way it is and I'd like for it to keep going."

"…I suppose it would indeed be… mutually beneficial for us to join you," Bluenote nodded slowly. "Perhaps with your assistance, I will truly be able to fly."

"But to be clear," Rustyrose raised his finger. "We will follow your lead, but you are not our leader. We reserve the right to back out at any time we choose if we feel our partnership with you is leading us downhill, understand?"

"Deal," Morgana replied simply before turning back to face Voldemort at the Death Eaters.

"My Lady, that was remarkable," Voldemort noted. "I have never heard of a spell that makes the heart simply stop beating."

"A great many spells have been lost to the ages. But I remember them all," Morgana said as she strode past him to look out across the Bristol Channel. "Soon this land will bow before me as it once did in ages past… before Merlin and Arthur stole it all away from me. But the Old Religion is returning… it's power has waned over the years but I can feel it now, climbing its way back up to prominence. And we shall rise to prominence with it. Voldemort," she turned around to face him. "What would you say if I offered you the position as Minister for Magic under my regime?"

Voldemort's eyes narrowed slightly. "You are… choosing my position under your rule?" His voice was a light snarl now. He was enthralled that the great Morgana Pendragon herself had appeared before him but he had no interest in becoming her subordinate. He had no desire to be anyone's subordinate. He had not bowed low as his followers had. He was Lord Voldemort - the most powerful Dark Wizard of all time. Morgana might be the most powerful witch, but she did not rule over him.

"Certainly not," Morgana chuckled. "I am simply suggesting where our partnership can lead us to. I will be Queen naturally. It is my birthright after all. But I am suggesting that you take the position of Minister by my side. And the two of us can rule together, ensuring that the magical triumph over the non-magical, coming up with mutual decisions for the good of our people together. If you'd prefer not to be the Minister then you can forge a new position for yourself. What say you?"

Voldemort's suspicions melted and he felt his lip curl into a smirk of delight. "Victory is practically assured," he said. "With the two of us together alongside Grimoire Heart… not even Fairy Tail will be able to stand before us."

"I would not be so quick to say that," Morgana sniffed. "But we will certainly take any means necessary to grind them into the dust… to render them as weak and useless as an actual fairy. But first, we must do some heavy recruiting to our cause. I have seen that you have had success with swaying the giants. The Dementors are on our side should they ever come back from hiding and it appears you are making strides with the werewolves. But we will need more. Much more. And fortunately… I know exactly where to start."

"And where will that be?" Rustyrose asked.

"All in good time," Morgana chuckled. "First things first, this airship of yours," she gestured out to the hulking, black vehicle lying in repose in the bay. "Do you think you can get it up and running? I don't mean entirely fixed right away, but at least able to fly. It may prove invaluable for staying on step ahead of our enemies."

"I have some knowledge of the inner workings of the ship," Rustyrose said. "Fortunately the engines and the base are still mostly intact so we should be able to get it moving. The entire section may have been taken clean off but fortunately there was nothing vital up there. Just the roof, the observation platform that contained Hades' throne room and the Jupiter cannon. It's a pity that we've lost that last one - it was a powerful weapon to be reckoned with."

"If we had Ultear here then she'd be able to repair the whole thing more or less instantly," Kain muttered lightly.

"I wouldn't say that it was all irreparably damaged though," Morgana mused. "It may take a powerful restoration spell but I'm sure that we will get this ship fully operational once again. In the meantime, Voldemort… who would you say you trust most out of all your Death Eaters?"

"That title most certainly belongs to Bellatrix here," Voldemort gestured out to the Death Eater in question, who looked like she was about to explode with pride the moment he said it. "She's been my most loyal supporter for many years now, and one of my most powerful operatives."

"Well I should say so," Morgana turned to regard Bellatrix appraisingly. "Back in my time I was merely expected to stand around and look pretty but women are just as capable of wielding power as any man. Miss Bellatrix… I have a task for you."

"With all due respect… My Lady," Bellatrix said tightly. "I will not follow the commands of anyone by the Dark Lord."

"And I am certain the your Lord will approve of my plan," Morgana purred smoothly. "I want you to head to the British Museum in London. There are many artefacts there from the time of Merlin and myself but the ignorant Muggles don't have the slightest clue what many of them are truly capable of. But there is one object in particular which I am interested in - a large, silver coin with a swirling spiral pattern upon it. Bring that coin to me… it will prove to be most useful indeed in bolstering our forces."

"Do as she says, Bellatrix," Voldemort instructed immediately. "A little ancient magic could be exactly what we need to combat Fairy Tail."

Bellatrix bowed low and departed with a loud crack.

"Excellent," Morgana smiled. "Now, everyone else on board the airship. It will only be a matter of time before it is discovered if we leave it where it is… but fortunately I know the perfect place to moor it for now. Does it float?"

"It does," Bluenote nodded. "It works as a regular ship just as much as an airship."

"Good. Then as soon as we can get it out into the bay, do it. Would everyone like to accompany me onto the deck?"

She raised her hands and suddenly a violent whirlwind ripped out of the ground around her, forcing Voldemort to step backwards a little, watching with wide eyes as Morgana seemed to fade from sight as if she'd dissolved into the wind itself. That was not Apparition but it was definitely some kind of instantaneous transportation spell. Quickly he Apparated onto the deck of the airship and indeed she was there already, looking around curiously at the wreckage. Clearly the battle that had taken place here had been an extraordinarily violent one - the deck was rent asunder in several places, the walls were all but gone and what appeared to be a large golden globe was sitting nestled amongst shattered planks in the corner.

The other Death Eaters quickly Apparated on board too, some of them bringing the three Grimoire Heart mages with them. Jugson was unfortunate enough to be the one who transported Kain, who instantly reeled and collapsed on top of him, almost breaking his spine in the process.

As Rustyrose headed off to patch up the engines, using his Arc of Embodiment to bring some crucial parts he would need into existence for the repairs, everyone else split up to explore the lower decks of the ship. As the ship was designed to house an entire guild it was kitted out with near enough everything they would need to live there, including toilet facilities, various kitchens and even bedrooms. Though there was still the occasional oddity, like opening a door only to find a brick wall on the other side.

Voldemort and Bluenote accompanied Morgana as she wandered through to the centre of the lower decks, coming upon a room right at the back which had once been Hades' own personal dining room, used by him and by his top generals only. It had metal tiled floors of a deep red colour, and a large stain glass window that allowed a view out the back of the ship between the two engines, which resembled two conjoined circles, one raised just above the other and filled with red and blue patterns. There was currently a very large hole in both the ceiling and the roof… and lying crumpled to one side of the room was a corpse.

The body was clad only in what appeared blue shorts while the rest of it was absolutely swathed in bandages, leaving only the hands, feet and a small part of the chest uncovered, along with just over half the face. Even the left eye was covered by the bandages and the man had clearly been very old when he died. His hair and moustache were grey and former was very long, as was his thin, wavy beard which easily reached down to his waist but was now strewn out limply across the floor beside him.

"So… it's true," whispered Bluenote, stepping over to the body and staring down at it almost blankly, as if unable to believe what he was seeing. "Master Hades really has perished."

"This is the man who led you in the fight against Fairy Tail?" Voldemort asked. "It appears he took quite a beating before he died."

"How do you feel, Bluenote?" Morgana cocked her head curiously.

"…I am unsure. I respected the man greatly. I did not like the way he was constantly trying to restrain me from letting loose my power on his enemies but I had great respect for him nonetheless. Certainly more than I've ever had for anyone else I've ever encountered."

"Well, his base is ours now," Morgana sniffed. "And I intend to ensure that it does not go to waste."

Suddenly there was a rumbling, whooshing sound and each of them felt a jerking motion as the airship juddered into life. "Excellent," Morgana smiled. "Now, do you steer this thing?"

"It was personally linked to Master Hades and did whatever he willed it to do. When Master Hades is not on board… or has died… command of the vessel instantly falls to the highest ranking member of the guild on board. Which in this case, would be me."

"Good, then would you please steer us out into the bay?" Morgana asked. "I have a specific destination in mind."

The ship automatically turned itself around, grinding against the sandy bottom of the bay and forcing itself out into deeper water. Morgana led the way quickly back to the topmost deck of the ship remaining, moving to the front of the ship as it broke free of the shallows and pushed off into shallow water, red magic circles swirling around the two thruster-like engines at the back.

"Were are we heading to, my Lady?" Voldemort asked.

"To another place steeped in the Old Religion," Morgana replied enigmatically. "Can you not see it?"

Voldemort's eyes narrowed, trying to pierce the gloom that was descending all around them as the last vestiges of sunlight were disappearing, as well as a thick mist that eerily blanketed the bay. But up ahead, he could vaguely make out… a shape… what appeared to be towers… ancient and crumbling into ruin… rising up out of the water ahead of them.

"A fortress?" he whispered in astonishment. "In the middle of the Bristol Channel?"

"That…" Morgana smirked. "Is the Isle of Blessed… where the High Priestesses of the Old Religion dwelled… a sanctuary for all magical users everywhere until Uther Pendragon came along and left it a ruin. It was once situated in the middle of a lake, but the same rising sea level that flooded the Valley of the Fallen Kings also washed over the lake, merging it with the ocean. But the Isle still stands, lonely and forgotten, but still there. Thousands of Muggles pass within sight of it every day across their bridge, and they don't even see it. And even wizard and witch-kind have forgotten where it is."

"Then it will make a perfect base for us!" Voldemort smirked. "My Lady, your knowledge truly is invaluable to our cause."

"No… it will only serve as a temporary refuge for us," Morgana shook her head. "There is one out there besides myself who remembers the Isle of the Blessed. And it'll only be a matter of time before Merlin joins the fight against me once more."

"…What!?" Voldemort gasped, suddenly completely stunned. "Did you say… Merlin?"

"Oh yes," Morgana growled. "I had hoped that he would die and be done with it by the time I return but it would seem age means nothing to Merlin. He's still very much alive, and still very much the most powerful warlock who ever lived. But do not worry… with what I have in mind, neither he nor Fairy Tail will be able to stand in our way. Before us, they will all crumble into nothingness."

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Nobody really knew what to think when they heard that Morgana had returned. Certainly they'd all felt a little stirring in the world when it happened, some more strongly than others, but it still almost seemed like a dream to them. There was no dramatic event surrounding it to make it seem real as there had been when Voldemort had returned. The sudden death of Cedric Diggory had been nothing short of tragic, but at the very least it provided the punch to the gut that Harry's friends needed to believe what he said.

This time there was only a curious incident where everybody's spine had tingled at the same time, and the word of a single girl who hadn't even heard of Morgana until recently, to make people believe that she really was back. And even Lisanna couldn't really provide any solid evidence to support her words other than saying, "I just felt it. It was like a voice whispering in my ear, telling me exactly what had happened. I can't explain it, but I know what happened. I know it my bones."

Which wasn't a lot to go on really. And several Order members were still more than a little sceptical of the claim.

But not one of the Fairy Tail mages were. Every single one of them believed what Lisanna told them and over the course of the next few days they began training themselves even harder than before. They may not have known anything about Morgana's power but none of them were prepared to take any chances. And the Order definitely noticed their increased efforts too.

"Look, I'm not saying she's not telling the truth," Tonks said to Juvia and Wendy the following day as the two blue-haired mages took a short break from their training. "But how can you just believe her so firmly like that without any physical evidence at all?"

"Because we trust her," Juvia said simply. "She's one of us and we trust her judgement."

"Lisanna-san wouldn't have any reason to lie about this," Wendy agreed. "So until what she says is proved otherwise, we stand with what she said."

"But it can't be as simple as that surely," Tonks frowned. "Don't you need evidence? Or at least an account of exactly what exactly took place and where? Lisanna couldn't tell us a thing about that."

"It is as simple as that for us," Juvia said. "Fairy Tail puts its faith in one another. In every way possible."

Tonks had to admit she was a little envious after that conversation - if she'd been the one to just say that out of the blue, how many of her friends would have believed her? But she ended up training harder herself when she didn't have Auror duties, as did several other members of the Order.

The majority of the DA were still left in the dark on this whole Morgana matter. Harry and the others weren't exactly sure what they could say. Many of them were unsure whether to believe Voldemort was back for a long time, and some of them might still have doubts even now. Harry couldn't shake the feeling that if he told them Morgana was back, based solely on the word of one Fairy Tail member, some of them might actually start to believe the same thing as Fudge, and that the Fairies were trying to sew unnecessary panic and disorder in the magical community to create a dependence on their strength.

But when he expressed this concern to Natsu, the Fire Dragon Slayer didn't seem to care all that much about the ramifications.

"You should tell them," he said simply. "They're your friends, right? You should trust that they'll trust you in return. And if they don't believe you now then they will eventually, won't they?"

"I know… but… what if I tell them the truth and they turn away, thinking I'm crazy. Then they leave the DA and discover the truth the hard way when Morgana makes her move and they haven't learned what they need to learn to protect themselves because I drove them away?"

"…That's a lot of ifs…" Natsu muttered before shaking his head and saying, "But still, how can they prepare themselves for Morgana if you don't tell them exactly what it is they're up against? And why should they trust you if you don't trust them first?"

That shut Harry up rather quickly and gave him quite a lot to think about. But he still didn't tell the DA… because he still wasn't sure he knew the truth himself. He'd been preparing to face Voldemort in one form or another since practically the day Hagrid had told him how his parents had really died. But this whole Morgana thing had come practically out of the blue - it was such a sudden development that part of him wondered if it could possibly be real.

But then again, Fairy Tail had come out of the blue as well hadn't they? And nobody could doubt that they were real.

He knew he was going to need to put some serious thought into this. If Morgana really was back then the DA deserved to know, but… should he just tell them when all even he could do was speculate? And even if he told them, how exactly was he supposed to teach them to defend themselves from such an ancient enemy?

Fairy Tail didn't worry about how they would win - they only sought to bolster their abilities to give them the best possible chance when the time came. And this was going pretty well for most, as evidenced on Monday when Lucy got to her feet and raised two keys at the same time:-

"Open, Gate of the Ram, Aries! Gate of the Goat, Capricorn!"

A deafening cheer erupted throughout the room as both the Spirits appeared in a flash of yellow light, the noise causing Aries to clap her hands over her ears and scream apologies to all and sundry, convinced she must have done something wrong. Lucy looked tired after the double summoning but even as she panted for breath her face split into a massive grin. Which got even wider when Capricorn patted her on the back and said, "Your mother would be extremely proud of you, Lucy-sama."

But things weren't going quite so well for others. Despite her best efforts, Cana still wasn't really coming up with anything that would allow her to develop a brand new style of Card Magic.

"Ugh, I think I've set myself an impossible task," she groaned two nights after Lisanna's announcement that Morgana had returned. "I don't even know what I was thinking. I'm hardly an expert on different magical types am I?"

"Don't say that, Cana," Levy said - the bookworm having agreed to try and help Cana figure it out. "I'm sure we'll be able to come up with something."

"Yeah, maybe. If we had books from our own world to give us a few tips," Cana muttered. "But this room doesn't seem to be able to conjure up anything from our own world, does it? Maybe I should just face it - there's no way I can invent a new use for the Cards I have in my deck."

"Oooh, ooh, I have an idea," said a voice, and both Cana and Levy looked around to see that young Dennis Creevey had broken away from the meeting that the DA were currently having, apparently having been listening in on their conversation. "What if you were able to get some new cards?"

"New cards?" Cana frowned. "Well, that would be a nice thought but where exactly would I get…?"

"You could use mine if you want," Dennis grinned, reaching into his robes and pulling out what were indeed about a dozen cards, smaller than Cana's own but definitely still cards, which he quickly handed to Cana. She frowned when she looked over them - each one appearing to depict some kind of strange animal or creature before she flipped one over to read the words upon the back:-

"Magic The Gathering?" she asked in bemusement. "What does that mean?"

"It's a trading card game," Dennis said eagerly. "When my brother Colin was invited to go to a magic school I got really excited, and I was told by the headmaster himself that I would be accepted into the school one day, but Colin was going to be there two whole years before I could get there. But the next year I heard about a new card game which had been invented called Magic The Gathering so I immediately began to collect as many cards as I could find. It made me feel a little bit closer to what Colin was doing at the time, like I was already a wizard and these were my familiars and powers or something."

"That's kinda cute I guess," Cana smiled as she shuffled through the cards and inspecting the pictures, interested by the many unusual creatures they portrayed. Allosaurus Rider, Rhox, Vagrant Plowbeast, Griffin Sentinel, Lorescale Coatl… so many unusual names. "But I'm not sure how these cards are going to help me exactly?"

"Well… I don't know. Couldn't you use them to… I dunno… create a kind of magic where you could do the things on the cards? Like summon a creature or… or empower yourself with a new ability or something like that. Like… like see this one," he pointed to a card with the title of Spectral Cloak. "If you used this one then maybe you could turn yourself invisible for a while. How cool would that be?"

"It would be pretty neat," Cana chuckled. "But I'm afraid these cards can't really help me. They're just ordinary playing cards with no magic about them, despite their name. It's not like I can just… insert magic into them and poof, I'm doing new stuff. It doesn't quite work like that."

"Oh… okay… sorry…" Dennis looked at the floor, slightly crestfallen.

"Hey, kid. Don't feel bad," Cana said quickly. "I really appreciate you trying to help. It's just I don't think it'll work. Here, you can have your cards back…"

"Nah, you keep them for now," Dennis shook his head. "Even if they can't help you maybe you'll get an idea or two from them later. But I will want them back at some point."

Cana smiled and ruffled Dennis' hair. "You got it, kid. Now go on, get back to your training."

Dennis grinned and hurried after his brother, leaving Cana to show Levy the cards. "He's right," Levy nodded. "It would be pretty cool if you could summon creatures like that to fight. And imbue yourself with different powers from the cards rather than simply firing attacks from them."

"Yeah, but no matter how awesome the idea, we're no closer to making it a reality," Cana groaned. "Right… back to work I suppose… ugh, I'm gonna clear out the Hog's Head tonight, you mark my words."

---

After his initial meeting with Fairy Tail, Hagrid had gone straight back to doing his duty as the groundskeeper and began preparations for his first Care of Magical Creatures lesson, which would be on Tuesday afternoon. And in spite of everything involving Voldemort and Morgana, Harry's most pressing concern was what Umbridge was going to try and pull on him when that happened.

Ron and Hermione were in complete agreement - it seemed almost inevitable that Umbridge would be there to inspect the lesson, but considering Hagrid was refusing to tell anybody exactly what he intended to do they had no way of helping him prepare.

"She's going to tear him to shreds," Ron muttered as he looked out of the window on Monday evening, staring almost blankly across at Hagrid's hut in the distance. "Even if he was the best teacher in the world there's no way she'd ever judge him fairly just because he's a half giant."

"But surely if he does a good enough job then she won't be able to sack him," Hermione wrung her hands. "She might have the right to dismiss the teachers but she doesn't have the right to do so without a good reason."

"Yeah but Hermione - this is Hagrid we're talking about," Harry sighed. "If he brings something like those Blast-Ended Skrewts to the lesson this time then he's done for immediately."

As the three tormented themselves thinking about the many different ways that tomorrow's lesson could go wrong, Charla and Happy looked at each other from across the room. "Do you think there's anything we can do to help?"

"Not unless you can somehow make sure that Hagrid's lesson plan involves something that won't eat the students," Charla replied. "But the answer seems fairly obvious to me."

"It does? What's the answer?"

"We push forward with exactly the same thing we've been doing so far. We need to destroy Umbridge's credibility. And the sooner we do so, the better."

---

The Gryffindor trio traipsed almost reluctantly out towards Hagrid's hut the following afternoon, as if they were going to attend Hagrid's public execution rather than a simple lesson. The other Gryffindors hurried along behind them and sure enough, the Slytherins were not far behind. They were the absolute last thing Hagrid needed at this point. Malfoy had already smugly told Umbridge about what had happened with Buckbeak earlier that year.

This time though when they gathered together, all three of them noticed Malfoy's rather subdued behaviour. Most of the rest of the Slytherins, including Pansy, Crabbe, Goyle, Nott and Zabini, were looking rather excited and were constantly glancing back up to the castle - waiting for Umbridge to come down and give them a real show. But there was one girl among the Slytherins with long brown hair who took the trio by surprise. She didn't seem interested in the potential spectacle that was set to unfold here either. In fact, she actually put her hand on Malfoy's shoulder and squeezed it lightly, almost consolingly. Malfoy glanced across at her and gave her a nod, but didn't really respond other than that.

"Who's that girl?" Ron asked, frowning in clear bemusement.

"Really, Ron?" Hermione rolled her eyes. "Are you telling me you seriously don't know the names of everyone in our year yet?"

"Well… it's not like I want anything to do with the Slytherins is it?" Ron looked a little red in the face. Harry kept quiet, not wishing to draw attention to the fact he didn't know that girl's name either, though Hermione seemed to figure it out.

"That's Daphne Greengrass," Hermione sighed. "She's only been in our year for the past four years, you two."

"She looks kinda worried herself," Harry noted.

"Well that doesn't surprise me," Hermione shrugged. "From what I know about the Greengrass family they were never really followers of Voldemort like the Malfoys, but she's been raised under the same Pureblood supremacy bull that the rest of the Slytherins have been fed on. With Fairy Tail opposing Voldemort, he's going to be doing some heavy recruiting, and I bet she's worried that her own family might soon by drafted into being full-time Death Eaters."

"So why aren't the other Slytherins so bothered by this?" Harry asked. "Crabbe and Goyle don't exactly look worried about their families. Nor does Nott and I know all their Dads work for Voldemort."

"I don't know. Perhaps the reality hasn't sunk in properly for them. After all they didn't just have their houses destroyed. Or maybe they have more blind faith that Voldemort will keep their families safe than Malfoy does. Heck, for all I know they might actually hate their fathers. As to Pansy and Millicent, their families are like Daphne's. They agree with Voldemort's message but are not fully read to stand behind him. Maybe they haven't realised that their families might be put in the firing line soon yet either. But Daphne's pretty sharp. From what I know she's the cleverest of the Slytherins in our year. And she has a younger sister, Astoria, so she's probably worried about her as well."

"Uhhh… this sucks," Ron pulled a hand over his face. "I'm starting to see the Slytherins as actual human beings. It was so much easier when I thought of them as just horrible gits that didn't care about anyone but themselves."

"Well, that's the reality of it," Hermione shrugged. "On both sides of every war, there's always children who are going to worry about what might happen to their parents on the battlefield."

Harry said nothing, merely watching Malfoy and Daphne closely. He'd never really seen the two interact before - Pansy was usually the only girl that Draco seemed to allow to hang around him most of the time. And though he knew squat about Daphne, he had seen her around. And now he thought about it, while she did giggle and titter to the tune of Pansy's insults like the rest of the Slytherin girls she had been doing it less and less over the years. And looking at her now, she seemed to be a lot less upbeat than he remembered her being. Like she too was worried, but was trying to ignore and focus on what was happening right now.

Ron was right. He'd gotten so used to seeing the Slytherins as just enemies that it was kinda weird to see their more human sides.

But he was quickly sidetracked from his thoughts when Hagrid appeared and led them over to the edge of the Forbidden Forest with the carcass of a small cow over his shoulders, which was hardly encouraging for anyone.

And yet when Harry saw the creature that he was going to be teaching them about today… a sense of relief washed over him. Not because the animal in question looked particularly dangerous, but because he might finally get a reason as to why nobody he'd spoken to about these skeletal winged horses could actually see them besides him. Indeed, most of the class seemed utterly bemused when the creatures appeared, looking right through them as if they weren't even there.

"Thestrals," Hagrid announced proudly. "Dead useful creatures these, but there aren't that many of 'em in captivity at them moment. This lot right 'ere - they're probably the only tame herd in all of the United Kingdom."

The class had some very mixed reactions to the invisible creatures. Some looked interested, but most looked puzzled or even frightened. But the regular class was not the only audience that Hagrid had for his lesson. There were four others watching from up in the trees, either concealed by the foliage or sitting out in the open, but also invisible to most of the people down there.

"I can't see anything," Happy frowned, squinting so hard that his eyes were almost completely shut though of course this did nothing to bring the creatures into focus.

"Nor can I," Charla frowned. "That's rather disturbing, but I suppose its a good thing in some ways. It means I haven't seen anybody die after all."

"What about the Master of Caitshelter?" Happy asked.

Charla bit her lip sadly but said, "He was dead before I even met him. He might have faded away in front of us but he didn't die right then and there. You have to see the moment of death, otherwise we'd all be able to see them just because we know Mavis."

"Good point… can you see them Lily?"

"Yeah… I can," Pantherlily nodded grimly. "I've seen a fair bit of death back in Edolas. Times where I watched Erza Knightwalker or some other palace captain or high ranking officer execute someone. What about you, First?"

Mavis was silent, staring at the Thestrals almost vacantly as they tore chunks out of the carcass, their wings ruffling slightly. One of them sniffed the air curiously before turning around and looking right at her. The First Master stared right back - certain that the Thestral couldn't see her but it definitely knew she was there. Quite the clever creature…

"First?" Pantherlily prompted, jolting Mavis out of her reverie.

"Oh um… yeah… yeah, I've seen death before," she whispered. She bit her lip as the smiling face of a young girl in an orange dress with brown hair that was pulled into two mid-length pigtails appeared in her mind's eye. Her childhood friend Zera's face… followed by the faces of many… many… many others. "I've seen… a lot… of death…"

The three Exceed didn't know how to react to her suddenly deeply sorrowful attitude, but before they could think of a response Happy suddenly pointed and hissed, "Look. We've got incoming now!"

Indeed he was right, Umbridge was waddling her way down to the lesson. And just as they predicted the moment she got there she started tearing into Hagrid, deliberately making him feel foolish and undermining his confidence to the delight of the majority of the Slytherins and the fury of every Gryffindor. Hagrid quickly started to stumble and trip over his words, realising that Hermione and the others had been right in that he should have prepared to face this woman better and desperately trying to keep a grip a mere two minutes into the inspection. And it was all Harry could do not to fly forwards and punch her in the face over and over and over again.

"That little…" Charla growled. "If I didn't hate her before… how much more nasty can one person even get?"

"I guess it's time to intervene," Lily whispered. "First?"

"I'm on it," Mavis whispered, raising her hand. And Lily was quick to drop off the branch, growing rapidly in size and landing smack into the middle of the Thestrals in his battle form. Mavis weaved what little of her magic she could still wield expertly, so even though the Thestrals suddenly panicked and bolted, not a single person in the glad could see Pantherlily. Except for one.

"The werewolf!" Umbridge screeched, flailing backwards so violently that she almost collapsed straight onto her backside, gazing in utter horror at the slavering jaws and ruthless eyes of the creature as it lunged from side to side, swiping at the fleeing Thestrals with its massive claws as the skeletal horses screeched in a blind panic. One of them knocked straight into Parvati and buffeted her over as Hagrid hurried around trying to calm them - Pantherlily having to dodge him to make sure they didn't crash together. But as soon as Umbridge shouted, Lily turned his head to face her like an angry dog that had just heard its owner calling.

"Werewolf?" Pansy cried fearfully, looking around wildly. "Where?! Where is it, Professor, where?"

"It's right there!" Umbridge pointed a pudgy finger directly at Lily, scrambling backwards across the ground as the Exceed/werewolf took one slow, deliberate step after the other, stalking his way towards her. "Can't you see it! It's right in front of your noses!"

"There's nothing there, Professor!" Nott insisted, unaware that Lily was actually two feet away from him. "I can't see any werewolf!"

"But it's within arm's reach of you!" Umbridge screamed.

By this point of course Harry, Ron and Hermione had cottoned on to what was happening but quickly feigned looks of confusion, looking around at empty air for any sign of Umbridge's werewolf but this time Lily was invisible to them as well so it wasn't hard to pull off. Umbridge scrambled to her feet and suddenly seized Daphne Greengrass by her robes, grasping the back of her head and physically aiming her gaze right at Lily.

"YOU SEE IT NOW!? YOU SEE IT? YOU SEE IT NOW, DON'T YOU!?"

"OW… No, Professor," Daphne gasped, yelping as Umbridge tugged at the roots of her hair and she stared into nothingness. "There's nothing… there's nothing there. And even if there were, it's impossible, Professor. The full moon isn't until tonight! There's no way a werewolf would be transformed now…"

"I KNOW WHAT I SEE!" Umbridge screamed, shaking Daphne like a doll but it was at this moment that Pantherlily suddenly sprang forwards, raking his claws through the air at them. Umbridge screamed as though the devil himself had jumped at her and shoved Daphne forwards before turning and sprinting away as fast as she could physically make her short legs go. Daphne yelled as she was thrown forwards into Lily's path but the Exceed bounded straight over her and took off after Umbridge, slowly at first but getting slightly faster with ever step, allowing Umbridge to gain a little ground first before he began to really pick up the pace.

Behind him, Daphne sprawled down upon the grass but while most of the others were staring after the fleeing Umbridge in shock, Hermione rushed forwards and gripped Daphne's arm, pulling her up to her feet again quickly.

"Get off," Daphne snapped irritably, pulling her arm out of Hermione's grip as soon as she was upright again.

"You're welcome," Hermione said dryly.

"Yeah, yeah, thanks. Whatever," Daphne sighed, her gaze turning up to watch Umbridge veritably blazing her way across the ground. "What the hell just happened?"

"I don't know," Hermione lied. "But if she's really seeing a werewolf where none of us can see it… she just tried to sacrifice you to it."

Daphne's face went incredibly white, and as she watched Umbridge fleeing for her life, she whispered words that Hermione never thought she would ever hear any Slytherin say about her:-

"That… bitch!"

---

"AAAAHHHHHH!" Umbridge screamed as she bolted in a mad zigzag run back up to the castle. "AAAAAHHHHHHHH! GET AWAY! GET AWAY FROM ME YOU MONSTER! LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Lily couldn't stop himself from grinning almost savagely as he bounded along on all fours - a pose he was not used to but which he could handle quite well. He deliberately took a long, arcing route in his pursuit of Umbridge, allowing her to see him approaching from the side out of the corner of her eye without having to turn around constantly to face him, as well as letting her know exactly how much faster he was than her. He tore across the ground towards her and she swiftly whipped out her wand and let loose a frenzied barrage of curses at him. Most of them were thrown in such haste that they completely missed him but those that would have were easily evaded when Lily bounded straight over them and fell upon Umbridge with a practically rabid snarl.

"HHEEEEEEEEEEE!" Umbridge screeched as she practically threw herself sideways, her pink dress smeared with dirt as the werewolf's claws lashed in a mere inch past the back of her head. Lily hit the ground shoulder first and rolled expertly away, flipping himself back onto his feet as Umbridge staggered back to her own.

"INCARCEROUS!" Umbridge yelled, hurling a deluge of magical ropes from her wand and taking off back to the castle gates before it even had a chance to hit. But Lily was prepared for this too, except he had no plans on dodging! He charged straight into the ropes and allowed them to entangle his body, bellowing as his legs were snared and he went tumbling to the ground, trashing wildly and howling like he was possessed by a deranged demon. Umbridge turned around for a moment to watch him writhe, her heart hammering and a single thought running through her head.

'My spell hit him. He was affected by it. But that can only mean he really is there! I'm not going crazy - he IS real!'

Which was exactly what Lily wanted her to think. But moments later his muscles bulged and with brute strength alone he tore his arms free of the bindings trying to ensnare him, sinking his teeth into more with feral savagery to tear them loose. Umbridge screamed once more at the sight of him breaking loose and took off once again, the distinctive snapping of more ropes filling her ears until the pounding footsteps behind her resumed, the werewolf charging in faster than ever.

It was almost upon her when she finally reached the castle gates and whirled around to slam them shut with a wave of her wand. Lily crashed forcibly against the other side, pounding on the doors with his fists a couple of times while Umbridge cowered on the other side… but his job was now done. He quickly shrank back into his smaller form and lifted off into the air, now disguised as an owl, before he could make enough noise to draw the other students and teachers out of their lessons.

Umbridge stood trembling on the other side for a full two minutes, the sudden lack of noise coming in from the other side the most unnerving thing she could imagine. She hadn't heard the werewolf leave so she could only assume it was still there. So what was it doing? Just… hunkered down and waiting for her to open up the door again? Well fat chance of that! She turned about and scrambled up the stairs, making an immediate beeline for her office and hurling the door wide open as soon as she arrived. She darted to the fireplace and seized a little Floor Powder, throwing it in the fire and shoving her face in after it.

"Minister of Magic's Office," she called, and in a flash of green suddenly she was peering out of a grate set in the side of the office. This was a restricted Floo fireplace that only very few had access to, she being one of them, and to her relief Cornelius Fudge was there, furiously busying himself with a mountain of paperwork.

"Minister," she squeaked, her breathing still ragged from the running. "Minister, it's me!"

Fudge jumped and looked down to the fireplace in alarm. "Dolores?" he blinked, pushing himself to his feet and hurrying over to kneel before the grate. "What are you doing calling me at this time of day?"

"It's urgent, Minister," Umbridge gasped. "Listen, you have to call in an Auror squadron to the school right away. There is a werewolf running loose throughout the premises!"

"I'm sorry… what?" Fudge asked in alarm. "A werewolf, you say? At Hogwarts School?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. Teeth and claws and everything. With a disgusting, slavering snout and the tufted tail - the whole package. Everyone at the school is in danger! We have to mobilise…"

"Wait," Fudge raised a hand, frowning in confusion. "Hold up. Are you saying that this werewolf was in a transformed state… in the middle of the day?"

"Yes, that's what I'm saying!"

"Now hold on a moment, Dolores, you know that's not possible. I know tonight is the full moon, but werewolves only transform after sundown during the full moon. That is simply how it works."

"Well… well, yes, I know that's how its supposed to work but I'm… I'm telling you, Minister, I know what I saw! It was real, and it attacked me! I was inspecting the Care of Magical Creatures lesson when it sprang from out the woods and almost mauled me. I barely escaped with our injury! I barely escaped with my life!"

"…Okay," Fudge said slowly, a little uncertainly. "Then you are saying that there are people who were at this Care of Magical Creatures lesson who can verify what you saw?"

"…Well…" Umbridge faltered, remembering well how nobody else seemed to be able to see the werewolf even though it was right in front of them. "Well… well I'm not sure… but I bet…" she gasped. "I bet that groundskeeper had something to do with it. Maybe you should bring him in for questioning!"

"By that groundskeeper… you are referring to Rubeus Hagrid?"

"Yes, him! That's the one! He must be involved with this werewolf's appearance…"

"Dolores, forgive me but I do not see how that is possible," Fudge shook his head, looking more than a little concerned at this point. "I know Rubeus Hagrid is loyal to Dumbledore to an absolute fault and Merlin knows I'd like an excuse to take him in, but there is no way that he would be able to orchestrate a werewolf attack in broad daylight. There is no magic that can transform a werewolf ahead of time and even if there were Hagrid does not have the means to use such magic."

"Well… but…" Umbridge floundered, aware that she was now losing Fudge's belief rapidly. Maybe he had a point - after all the werewolf had appeared before Hagrid had returned to the school. But there was a large part of her brain insisting that he had to be involved somehow. A filthy half-breed like a werewolf attacking her at the class of another disgusting half-breed… there surely had to be a connection! She couldn't see it now but she was certain there had to be one. "Maybe… maybe a potion that has not been officially registered…?" she floundered. "That's possible, right? And… and we know of a werewolf that is also friendly with Dumbledore… what was his name - Remus Lupin? That's it! It must be him!"

"Remus Lupin was in the Ministry today actually," Fudge said. "He was brought in for questioning by Auror Shacklebolt under suspicion of association with Fenrir Greyback. They were trying to determine if he knew of Greyback's current location, but it seems as though he knows nothing."

"But… but…" Umbridge stammered, struggling to come up with new arguments but the fact was she had no proof whatsoever that she really had been attacked by a werewolf. Nobody to back up her claims. She doubted even the Slytherins that had been at that lesson would vouch for her after what had happened down there. They'd all been looking at her like she was mad… and fear gripped her when she noticed Fudge was looking at her like she'd gone… peculiar… as well.

"Are you sure you're alright, Dolores?" Fudge asked.

"I… yes, Minister," the High Inquisitor eventually coughed. "I'm fine. I… I am sorry to have wasted your time. Perhaps… perhaps I was mistaken about… about what happened. I was so sure but… as you say, it's impossible. Perhaps it was… some kind of prank from one of the students."

"Well, I recommend that you head to the Hospital Wing and get something to help calm yourself," Fudge said kindly. "Do let me know when you're feeling better, won't you?"

"Yes, Minister of course. I absolutely will. I should probably go now. Thank you."

And without another word she pulled her head from the fire and stumbled over to her chair, deep in thought. She was certain that that had been no prank. It had looked, felt and sounded all too real to be a prank. There had to be an explanation that made sense. But without proof, it seemed there was nothing she could do to convince anyone else.

She was alone in facing this monster.

"That wretched half-giant must be involved somehow," she hissed to herself. "And I will prove it. I will get to the bottom of this… one way or the other."

Outside her partially open window, one ghostly girl and three winged cats looked at each other with smiles, having heard the entire conversation.

---

"You should have told us you were going to do that," Hermione griped that evening, sitting on a chair in the Room of Requirement and running a hand lightly over her face.

"Probably," Mavis nodded. "But we wanted a genuine look of surprise from you. That's why we haven't told the rest of the DA about the whole werewolf haunting thing at all. As far as they're concerned, Umbridge really did flip out for no reason back there and we'd like it to stay that way. It's simpler when the reactions are real."

"Yeah but funny as that was you've done the exact opposite of what we wanted," Harry pointed out. "We wanted to keep Hagrid out of Umbridge's crosshairs. Now you're apparently saying that she suspects he's somehow involved with the werewolf project. She's going to come at him harder than ever now."

"Indeed. Just as I predicted," Mavis nodded.

"Huh? You… predicted that?"

"Precisely," Mavis held up a finger as if she were lecturing them. "The eventual aim is to get Umbridge kicked out of the school because the Ministry no longer believes her capable of doing her job. And the quickest way of doing that is to exploit what people already know of her and push at her buttons. The members of Ministry, whether they like her or not, know of her dislike of those she considers to be half-breeds. Just as the Ministry as a whole is paranoid about us, she is specifically paranoid about them, which is why we decided to use a werewolf in the first place. I calculated that if we launched a werewolf attack on her at the Care of Magical Creatures lesson, her natural hatred of people like Hagrid would immediately make her conclude he had a hand in it. And if we play things correctly from here, this belief can play to our advantage."

"How do you figure that?" Ron asked.

"It's quite simple really," Charla stated. "From now, whenever the werewolf appears before her, she's going to be looking for proof that Hagrid is involved. But she'll never find it because from this point forward we will only initiate attacks on her at times where someone can provide Hagrid with an alibi that puts him nowhere near where the incident took place for some time before it happened, and preferably some time after as well. That is why we shouldn't tell Hagrid about it either, just in case she confronts him about it. That way his puzzlement will also be genuine and he can't say anything to accidentally incriminate himself."

Pantherlily nodded and continued, "And so things will continue with her continuously being haunted by a werewolf nobody else can see, convincing herself that Hagrid is involved despite all evidence to the contrary, but never having any proof to back up her claims. She may not be a fool, but she's not as clever as she thinks she is. If we can pull this off properly then she may eventually genuinely snap. If that happens she won't just be removed from the school - she could be removed from power altogether."

"And if the worst comes to the worst and she has Hagrid sacked," Happy finished. "Then it doesn't matter too much because as soon as she's out Dumbledore will reinstate him."

"…I suppose… all those points are valid," Hermione mused. "But… I dunno… don't you feel that we're kind of… using Hagrid a bit?"

"Well yes, we are using him," Mavis smiled. "But something tells me he won't object too strongly in the long run if it gets her out of the school."

"Here's hoping that it does," Harry sighed. "And soon."

"The seed has already been planted," said the deep voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt, taking some of the group by surprise as they looked around to see him, Tonks and a particularly pale looking Lupin standing there. "Minister Fudge called me in earlier today to enquire about my meeting with Remus. He said, and I quote, that he was 'quite worried about Dolores' and that she might be 'cracking under the pressure of her position if she's started hallucinating about werewolves out during the day.' You've already got him questioned her capabilities, if not her sanity."

"Keep pulling at that thread and it may turn out well," Tonks agreed.

"So then you really were there at the Ministry?" Hermione asked Lupin.

"Indeed," Lupin croaked. "Charla used the mirror to call Sirius last night and explain the plan to me. They suspected that I might spring to Umbridge's mind and when we failed to convince them to try something else we concocted a plan to give me an alibi too, just in case."

"After all, we wanted Lupin free to help the Order as much as possible," Mavis smiled.

"That makes sense," Ron nodded. "But er… are you sure you should be here Professor? It's… uh… not going to be long before the sun goes down."

"I know," Lupin murmured. "I'm here to get my monthly Wolfsbane Potion from Snape. As soon as I have it I'll be heading back to Grimmauld Place for the night to lock myself in one of the bedrooms."

In true 'speaking of the devil' fashion, Snape opened the door rather forcefully at that moment, drawing the attention of most of the room. He curtly ignored everyone and made a beeline straight for Lupin, pulling out a small goblet from under his cloak and tapping it with his wand, where it automatically filled with the same steaming potion that Harry remembered Lupin taking in his third year.

"You shouldn't be here, Lupin," he said tightly as he passed the goblet over quickly, the liquid almost sloshing over the side. "I think that this school has had quite enough full moons with you on its premises."

This statement received many glares from the others but Lupin just gave a rasping chuckle and said, "I wholeheartedly agree, Severus. I intend to be out of here quickly, I can assure you."

"Good," Snape said, turning to arch a brow at Pantherlily. "We wouldn't want to have two werewolves running about the campus on the same day now, would we?"

Without another word he turned and strode from the room, slamming the door behind him.

"How the hell did he find out?" Ron snarled. "I'm pretty sure we didn't tell him about it."

"He was there at Grimmauld Place last night when Charla called," Tonks said as Lupin began to tip a little of the potion down his throat. "The Order was discussing the possibility of whether he'd be able to find out anything more about Morgana. Harry said that You-Know-Who was the one talking to her in his dream so it's likely that he's with her now if she's emerged."

"But he doesn't know where Voldemort is now either," Kingsley replied. "And until Voldemort calls him in for another meeting, which he has not done for a couple of weeks now, he won't be able to tell us anything."

There was a moment of silence before Happy suddenly asked, "Who's Fenrir Greyback? The guy that you pretended to call Remus into the Ministry to talk about?"

Tonks and Kingsley both hesitated, glancing at Lupin as he lowered the goblet from his lips, most of the liquid having gone from inside. His grave expression told everyone watching instantly that there was some history between Lupin and this man and none of them even tried to hide how intently they were listening.

But the haggard man answered by gripping the shabby sleeve of his coat and rolling it upwards until they could see his right bicep… more specifically the jagged scars across it that looked suspiciously like they'd been made by teeth.

"Fenrir Greyback is the one who did this to me," he said grimly. "As most of you know by now, the curse of the werewolf is usually received when someone is bitten by a werewolf in their transformed state. Fortunately I myself have never passed the curse along to someone else, but someone had to pass it to me. And that man was Fenrir Greyback. And it is almost certain that he will be allying with Voldemort in the near future. If he has not done so already."

His audience mostly looked a little sick, and even Harry, Ron and Hermione were horrified. They'd of course known that Lupin had to have been bitten at some point in his life, but they'd never asked for the details before.

Fortunately someone else did it for them when asked, "Um… how did it happen?"

Lupin sighed. "Greyback… is an extremely vicious individual. Unlike many of my kind he revels in his transformation. He loves the blood and the thrill of the hunt. And he's made it his life's mission to infect as many people as he can with the curse, so that one day werewolves can reign supreme. The Ministry don't know where he is - he practically lives in the wild, but at full moons he always positions himself deliberately near people so he can attack them. You can bet he'll be doing the same tonight. By this time next morning there will either be new werewolves in the world or people will have been killed. Possibly both."

"…Bastard…" Natsu hissed fro nearby, perfectly mirroring everyone else's opinion. "That sick… sick… bastard…"

"That's one way of putting it," Lupin said dryly, draining the rest of his potion in a single go and grimacing at the repugnant taste. "But one time, back when I was four, he was caught by the Ministry after he killed two Muggle children. But in spite of his savagery he's still pretty clever, and the Werewolf Registry was… shall we say pretty lax back in those days. He pretended to be a Muggle tramp, acting all amazed that the people around him were real wizards and horrified that they thought he could kill two children. They all believed him, except for one man who demanded he be held until the next full moon to make sure, but he was overruled even though they'd only have to wait a single day. And that man… was my father."

"Oh god…" Hermione clapped a hand over her face. Everybody could see where this story was going.

"Yeah," Lupin sighed. "He got angry when he was shot down, yelling that werewolves were all soulless and evil and deserved to die - a view held by a lot of wizards then and now. Greyback… well, he didn't exactly like that. He was able to overpower his escort out of the Ministry before a Memory Charm could be used on him and then he tracked down my Dad's address… and broke into my room just after I'd turned five. My Dad was able to save my life and repel him… but not before he left me with a very permanent reminder of his visit."

This story wasn't just new to the students and the mages. It was the first time that Tonks had heard it as well and she felt sick. She thought being related to a family of Pureblood psychos was bad but having your life so horribly changed… deliberately… for an incident that had only lasted about twenty seconds tops.

"That's terrible," she whispered. And all of sudden when she looked at Lupin he seemed much more… real… to her. More human. Certainly they'd become very good friends but there'd always been that little part of her reminding herself that she was talking to a werewolf through every conversation they had. But that part of her had just been entirely vanquished, and she now saw him as a tired, afflicted man, who probably felt terribly lonely even in spite of all the friends around him.

"It never gets easier to tell that story," Lupin heaved a sigh. " But even though the Ministry eventually realised their mistake, they've never been able to catch Greyback. They never know where he's going to strike next. He inspired a great deal of terror in the First Wizarding War. Voldemort used to threaten to set him on people's children to get them to fall in line behind him."

"So he's a Death Eater?" Erza asked.

"No, Voldemort would never let him be one. He dislikes werewolves as much as most people - possibly more considering his stance on blood purity. But he understands well how useful they can be in spreading fear so Greyback is a known associate of the Death Eaters nonetheless. Part of my work for the Order has been going undercover in the werewolf community to try and locate him before he joins up full time. So far I've been unsuccessful in tracking him down but I've felt his impact. Many werewolves are beginning to rally to him again, just as they did last time. I suspect Voldemort has been in touch with him somehow. He probably won't want the werewolves to fight for him until his return has become public knowledge, but he's readying them for when that time comes."

"Death Eaters… Dementors… giants… werewolves… this Morgana lady…" Lucy murmured. "A couple of Grimoire Heart mages… how big is our list of enemies going to get?"

"That I cannot answer," Lupin shrugged. "But now I need to get myself back to Grimmauld Place. The moon will rise in less than an hour, and I'd rather like to eat my dinner as a human tonight if at all possible. I'll see some of you tomorrow."

And with that, he placed the goblet on a nearby table and left, a pall of silence hanging in his wake.

"I turn into animals every day," Lisanna eventually said. "And yet I get the feeling I don't have the slightest idea what he goes through."

"Your transformations are seamless," Kingsley agreed. "They're practically like another layer over your human self, much like an Animagus. Even with the Wolfsbane Potion, every transformation for a werewolf is absolute agony. The Potion allows him to keep his mind. But for years he went completely without it and when a werewolf transforms without that potion, they lose all sense of self. Even the most peaceable ones become like Greyback in that time."

"I really wish there was something we could do for him," Wendy whispered, a couple of tears spilling down her face. "My magic is supposed to be able to undo curses and bodily anomalies but they don't help Remus-san at all. I've already tried."

"The curse buries itself deep," Hermione swallowed. "It practically changes their cellular structure and becomes a part of them. Nobody's ever worked out how to reverse the process because its engrained into their very being."

"I suppose we should just be grateful that it only happens once a month," Elfman muttered.

"Yeah but… it's been thirty years since he turned five," Levy swallowed. "You realise that means he's gone through this transformation at least three-hundred-and-sixty times since then?"

"Oh yeah, we understand it," Natsu growled, his face lighting into flames. "I understand that it means if I ever come across this Fenrir guy, I'm going to knock out every one of his teeth."

There was a general nodding of agreement from around the room but Gray had narrowed his eyes. He looked down at the floor, clearly deep in thought, which was noticed by his usual shadow.

"Gray-sama," Juvia whispered. "Is something wrong?"

"…No," Gray shook his head. "It's… it's not important. I was just… thinking about the poor people that are going to run into this Greyback tonight… and how such a psychopathic murderer has a name similar to part of mine. That's all."

Juvia frowned. She suspected that wasn't the whole truth, but she decided not to pursue the matter. "Juvia is beginning to wonder… if we did somehow manage to find a way home… Juvia doesn't think she could leave until this world has become a safer place."

"On that," Gray tightened his fist. "We most definitely agree."

---

The following morning, Ministry employees had to hurry to a house in north Cumbria in order to cover up the brutal deaths of a mother and both her children while the father was left alive but with a familiar bitemark upon his thigh. Another werewolf had indeed just been born into the world and it was enough to make front page news on the Daily Prophet.

But far away from the Wizarding World, unaware that magic even existed, a group of Muggles had already begun their day long ago. They'd been up at getting to work right at the crack of dawn, manning their ship and heading out to sea. A thick trawl net had been dumped overboard as soon as they reached deep water and the captain whistled a merry tune to himself as he prepared to rake in another day's worth of fish. Business had been going pretty well recently and he was certain that today, they were going to make a big catch.

He honestly couldn't have been more right. But neither he nor the rest of his crew had anticipated what was about to happen.

The ropes were turning in their winches, hauling the heavily laden net back up towards the surface are a run of several miles. But as a couple of crew members looked over the side to peer down in the water and make sure the net was coming up properly, one of them frowned and pointed down into the depths.

"What the heck is that?" he asked, allowed. His mate followed the point of his finger, expecting to see a dolphin or perhaps a small whale since it was too late in the year for Basking Sharks to be inhabiting these waters. But what he saw made his brow furrow of its own accord.

"Hey boys!" he shouted across the deck. "We've got something weird coming up in the net!"

"Weird!?" the captain leaned out of the bridge and cupped his hands around his mouth to amplify his voice. "What kind of weird!?"

"I don't know! But whatever it is… it's glowing!"

"Glowing? What do you mean glowing?"

"I mean exactly what I said. There's this strange… yellow… glowing… thing coming up in the net. Haven't got the foggiest idea what it is."

And when they successfully hauled the net out and swung it in over the deck, they still didn't have the slightest idea. There in the net, nestled amongst the writhing, flapping fish was a single golden orb. And quite a large one too, shining brightly as its light danced across the scales of the fish. And on its side, flaring out at them all, was a single peculiar symbol.

"What the actual heck?" the captain stared, his expression mirrored by everyone else. Not a single one of them knew what to make of this. Everyone who went to sea had the dream of finding sunken treasure but that wasn't exactly they'd apply to this. It didn't even have a label in their book other than… weird.

"Maybe it's alien," suggested one of sailors uncertainly, thinking that the others would laugh at him but nobody discounted it.

"Lower it down," the captain said eventually, and those manning the net were quick to do just that, lowering the ropes downwards until the net pooled across the floor, spilling fish across the deck while the golden sphere sat in the middle. It was perfectly round but it didn't roll in any direction - as if perfectly balanced on its base somehow. The sailors quickly stepped through throng of their catch and began inspecting it from all sides. One of them tentatively put a hand on it despite warnings from the others but when nothing happened they were all doing it, sliding fingers across the smooth surface in search of any chinks of cracks, but there were none.

They ended up standing there for a full half an hour before the captain eventually said, "Okay, I don't think any of us are going to figure this out. Let's just take it back to land and… see if someone else there can."

"We're going to be all over the news for this," said the bosun. "Whatever we've discovered here, it's got to be something big."

The other men agreed and the boat steered its way around, heading back towards the Scottish shoreline where they'd set out that morning. Normally they'd spend a couple more days out at sea but this was something they wanted to figure out as soon as possible.

Another half an hour passed as the fishermen diligently sorted through their catch all around the Sphere, as they usually would… until the Sphere suddenly flickered.

"Huh?" one of the sailors stepped back when he noticed it. "What what that?"

The Sphere flickered again, and this time they all saw it.

"You don't think it's going to explode do you?" another man swallowed nervously.

Nobody could answer his question but the sphere continued to flicker, the glow intensifying until they were shielding their eyes from it and indeed every one of them was making preparations to jump overboard if it looked likely to blow. But then, quite abruptly, the golden orb vanished in a flash of bright light, dissipating into the air like dandelion seeds blown from the top of the stalk.

And when the fishermen lowered their hands…

"What the hell…" one of them whispered.

That was all any of them could say, leaving the distant calls of gulls and the sloshing of waves upon the hull of the ship the only sound for what felt like miles… until a light grunting interrupted the silence a man with extremely long green hair pushed himself up into a sitting position.

"Ugh… where… what happened…?" Freed Justine grunted, rubbing at his temple and opening his eyes dazedly. "How did I… who are you people?" his hand suddenly flew to the hilt of his sword as he stumbled his way to his feet. The fisherman immediately backed off as soon as they realised what he was holding, the alarm and fear spreading across their faces quickly telling Freed that they were about as surprised as him.

"What's going on here?" he demanded.

"Yeah, you might want to be the ones to tell us that, pal, cos we've got no idea," one of the fishermen retorted.

"I think you can relax your grip, Freed," said the second man to pick himself off the floor. "Whoever these people are, I don't think they're a threat. I don't sense any magic coming from them at all, do you?"

"…You're right," Freed grunted and slowly lifted his hand from his sword. "Are you alright, Bickslow?"

"Good as can be expected given what just happened… or at least what I can last remember happening," Bickslow muttered, pushing his sallet up and away from his eyes, revealing the stickman shaped tattoo running between them and across his forehead. "More importantly, where the hell is everybody else… including Ever… and why is there not a gigantic black dragon blotting out the sun right now?"

"And why are we not dead?" Freed agreed.

"I'm sorry, what did you just say?" another fisherman asked. "Did you just say dragon? Yeah right, there's no such thing as dragons."

"Tell that to the one who tried to vaporise our asses," Bickslow raised a brow, scanning the skies just in case Acnologia chose that moment to come roaring in and snuff out their lives.

"Nnghhh…" another voice grunted behind them and the two of them quickly whirled themselves around, Freed rushing over to kneel beside the short and elderly moustached man swathed in bandages laying sprawled on his back across the deck.

"Master," he whispered urgently.

"Are you hurt?"

Master Makarov's eyelids slowly tilted upwards, his hand crawling up to his chest past the red Fairy Tail mark hidden beneath his bandages and gliding over the gouge marks in his chest, dug by Acnologia's claws when the dragon had had him pinned to the ground. "It appears… that I'm still alive," he grunted, turning his gaze slowly from Freed to Bickslow, who had dragged himself over to Makarov's other side. "And I'm glad… that you two are safe as well."

"Just rest, Master," Bickslow suggested, but Makarov placed his hands upon the deck and heaved himself up until he was sitting, rubbing his balding head which felt like an entire percussion orchestra was currently hammering away at the inside.

"The others…" he pressed through his grimace. "Where are they? Where are my brats?"

"They're not here, Master," Freed shook his head grimly. "We don't know what happened, but we appear to be on a ship rather than the . And they're not here."

"Well," Bickslow conceded. "There is one other… and thank the gods that he's alright too."

All faces turned to the final man who was already now pushing himself to his feet. All the fisherman instinctively took a step backwards as he stood upright - something about him filling each and every one of them with awe at his mere presence. It wasn't the strong, muscled build… it wasn't even the large lightning shaped scar that ran over his right eye. But the aura he projected right across the ship was nothing short of… electrifying.

"So…" Laxus Dreyar said gruffly. "Anyone mind telling me where exactly we are?"

At that moment a particularly large swell of water knocked against the side of the boat and it rocked slightly to side. Laxus' cheeks immediately puffed out, his eyes went glassy and he clapped a hand over his mouth, the other hand seizing his stomach as he dropped to one knee.

"Oh gods…" he croaked. "I'm think I'm gonna hurl."

"NO WAY!" Freed yelled, falling to his knees himself and screaming to the heavens. "Laxus' amazing entrance was completely ruined! WWWHHHYYYYYY!? IT WAS SO COOL!"

"Well we are on a ship," Bickslow couldn't stop himself from chuckling. "It's to be expected."

"…Wait a second…" Makarov frowned, his eyes wide, before everyone was forced to clap their hands over their ears. "ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT MY GRANDSON SUFFERS FROM MOTION SICKNESS JUST LIKE NATSU!? WHEN DID THAT BECOME A THING!? WHY EXACTLY DID NOBODY TELL ME ABOUT THIS!?"

"Urrgh… keep your voice down, old man…" Laxus wheezed as Bickslow seized him by the arm and helped haul him over to the side of the ship so he could lean over the rails and heave into the ocean.

The fishermen could only stare and the captain summed up exactly what all of them were thinking:-

"…What's happening?"