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

60. Expulsion

Dance of the Fairies, Flight of the Phoenix

Chapter 60:- Expulsion

---

Umbridge knew she was in trouble. Her mind was racing, trying to come up with something - anything - that would help her get out of this situation with her head held high. But short of somehow modifying the memories of everyone that had seen her use the Cruciatus Curse on The Boy Who Lived, she had nothing! And even that wasn't on the cards because Dumbledore had disarmed her in the very instant that she thought about it.

Currently she was seated on a bed in the Hospital Wing, where McGonagall had insisted on taking Harry after such a vicious assault, while Dumbledore and Madame Bones adjourned to his office to call the Minister through the fireplace. Harry tried to asset that he was okay multiple times but Madame Pomfrey still forced him to lie down and take Pepper-Up Potion and gave all three of the students some chocolate.

Umbridge simply couldn't believe her own bad luck. She'd allowed her rage to overwhelm her to a phenomenal degree but if she'd just used the Curse in front of Dumbledore and McGonagall alone then she probably would have got away with it. It would have been sticky, but Fudge would have denied anything that the teachers tried to tell him and overturned their protests to allow her to stay and swept the whole incident under the rug.

But Madame Bones was another matter entirely! She was a fierce woman and Umbridge had broken the law right in front of her! How could she be so unfortunate as to snap and attack Harry on the very same night that she happened to have come to the school to visit her niece!?

Of course it was no accident at all, though Umbridge didn't know that. The idea to bring Madame Bones into the picture had slotted neatly into Ron's head as soon as he learned she wasn't willing to just blindly follow Fudge's lead, and Susan Bones had been more than happy to send a letter to her aunt to ask if they could talk in person. While Umbridge had been sneaking out into the forest to follow Harry, Susan and a couple of other Hufflepuff had been very vocally complaining to Amelia about what an awful person Umbridge was and how she was ruining the school. And right when Amelia had decided to talk to Dumbledore about the students' concerns… bam! There was the object of her concern right in front of her, hexing Harry Potter himself!

This was bad! This was bad! This was really bad! All Umbridge could hope for now was a way to shift the focus onto Potter and his schemes and get it off herself!

Soon enough the doors were flung open and Amelia Bones strode in, her stare practically turning half the room to ice on its own. Dumbledore was right behind her, and Fudge scuttled in immediately after. The Minister was flanked by none other than Rufus Scrimgeour and Kingsley Shacklebolt, both of whom had happened to be nearby when Amelia's enraged voice had started coming through the Fudge's fireplace.

"Minister!" Umbridge was on her feet instantly. "Please, if I could just talk to…"

"SIT!" barked Amelia, and Umbridge's expression turned from fearful to enraged at the drop of a hat just from been interrupted with an order. But nevertheless she did as instructed and fell back onto the bed.

"Dolores," Fudge whispered, his face ashen. "Please… tell me it's not true. Tell me you didn't really use an Unforgivable Curse on Harry Potter."

Umbridge flinched. The Minister's face said it all. While he was determined to discredit Harry Potter and convinced that he and Dumbledore were trying to take power, he most certainly did not approve of torturing a teenager. The urge to lie was overpowering, but Umbridge knew full well that would only make her look worse.

"Yes, but you have to understand Minister!" she said quickly, trying to rush out her story. "I did it because I found out he's been sending all those beasts after me. The ones I told you about! They're real, sir, and I overheard Potter telling a centaur in the Forbidden Forest that he's been sending them after me! He's trying to have me removed from power, Minsiter, just like you thought!"

"That's ridiculous!" McGonagall scoffed. "First you blame Hagrid for all of your delusions and now you blame Potter!? Why I've a good mind to…"

"Minerva, please," Dumbledore raised a hand. "I think it best if we allowed the Ministry to deal with one of their own… employees."

Fudge coughed uncomfortably and cleared his throat. "Dolores, I want to believe you - truly I do. But as I said before there's no such thing as harpies or werewolves that can transform outside full moon nights… it's just not possible!"

"But it is!" Umbridge cried. "It is! Go on, ask him! He knows all about them! I saw him talking to the werewolf, planning his next attack on me!"

"That's rubbish!" Harry protested. "There's no way I'd be able to talk to a transformed werewolf without it trying to rip my head off!"

"Don't you lie, Potter!" Umbridge screeched. "Someone get some Veritaserum! Force it down his throat! I'll drink it too! Willingly! I promise you I'm not making it up!"

"Veritaserum will hardly help assess the truth of the situation in this matter," Amelia said, her voice clipped. "After all, the truth potion only makes the drinker tell what they believe to be the truth. If you truly believe non-existent monsters are after you when there aren't then that's still what you'd say!"

"Well if that's not enough then take my memories!"

"Memories can be tampered with. And regardless, we're not here to discuss Potter. We're here to discuss your own transgression, Dolores. You used an Unforgivable Curse on a student!"

"Are we really sure about that?" Fudge asked, clearly trying to grasp at straws. "There's no chance that you could have seen it wrong or…?"

Amelia produced Umbridge's wand, along with her own and touched the tips together. "Prior Incantato," she said, and suddenly a ghostly image of Harry on the floor, writhing and screaming in agony, appeared before her for a few seconds before fading away into wisps of nothingness. "Does that answer your question, Minister?"

"Oh, Dolores…" Fudge whispered. "I can't believe this…"

"No! No, wait, Minister! Please! Yes, I did it and yes, it was awful! I shouldn't have done it and I know that! I'll accept any punishment you give you me without complaint, I promise! Just please! Question Potter! He's guilty, sir, I promise you he's guilty!"

"No, I'm not!" Harry growled. "You want to give my Veritaserum!? Fine, give it to me! I've got nothing to hide, and maybe if you give it to me you'll finally believe me when I tell you what I've been saying about Voldemort is true all along!"

"He's bluffing, Minister! He doesn't really mean that! You'll see if you just talk to him…!"

"No, I'm not bloody bluffing!" Harry yelled. "This lunatic of a woman's been determined to shut me up since term started! She's been trying all sorts of ways to get me to stop talking about Voldemort, but there's no way I'll ever stop until you see the truth! I reckon she just couldn't take my supposed 'lying' anymore cos she just attacked me out of nowhere when I was on my way back from the kitchens!"

"LIES!" Umbridge screamed. "IT'S ALL LIES! HIS LIZARDMAN ATTACKED ME JUST OVER HALF AN AN HOUR AGO! WE CAN GO TALK TO THE CENTAURS! MAKE THEM TALK AS WELL!"

"You think centaurs would ever work with humans?" Harry snorted. "The Centaurs in the Forbidden Forest hate almost every human alive!"

"And how would you know that unless you'd met them before!" Umbridge cried triumphantly.

"Because I met them while on detention with Hagrid during my First Year," Harry replied smoothly.

"That is true," Dumbledore nodded. "Professor Hagrid took them into the Forest to find an injured unicorn as part of their detention. He told me about it later."

"Well…" Umbridge floundered desperately, but Amelia cut across her.

"I've heard enough already!" she sighed. "Look at her, Minister. She looks positively deranged!" And she was definitely right about that - Umbridge's desperation was causing her face to look like she was about to vomit a bunch of frogs and then try and eat them again. "And she's talking complete nonsense! I know you had high hopes of her reforming the school but clearly she's in no state of mind to reform anything, and no matter what drivel she comes out with she attacked a student right in front of me! There is no need for a debate or even a trial. She must be removed from the school and imprisoned at once!"

"She's right," Scrimgeour chipped in. "There's absolutely no way that she's still fit for duty. And if you don't arrest her, you'd be breaking the law right along with her Minister."

Fudge sighed. He could see absolutely no way of salvaging this situation and to be honest, even if Amelia hadn't been there, he would have been thinking along similar lines. Umbridge was losing her grip on reality as far as he could see.

"I fear you are right, Amelia…"

"NO!" Umbridge almost bounded to her feet! "Please, Minister! You must believe me! You know Potter's trying to spread discord throughout the Wizarding World! It makes perfect sense!"

"No it doesn't and you know it!" Harry glared at her. "Stop trying to blame me because you're going mad!"

"MAD!? I AM NOT MAD!" Umbridge screeched, clearing the space between her and Harry almost instantly and causing both McGonagall, Shacklebolt and Bones to tense and reach for their wands, but Umbridge stopped with her face just inches from Harry's own. "TELL THE TRUTH, POTTER! DON'T YOU DARE LIE IN FRONT OF THE MINISTER!"

"Oh I would never lie, Professor," Harry growled, matching Umbridge's practically psychotic stare with a calm one of his own. "Especially not after what you made me do to the back of my own hand!"

Umbridge's face went slack again, her eyes flicking down to the back of Harry's hand where, sure enough, the thin words she'd been forcing him to write in his detentions were still there. They were extremely thin and faint, so much so that you'd need a very keen eye to see them there at all unless you were looking for them. But they were there.

"What!?" McGonagall asked sharply. "The back of your hand? What are you talking about, Harry?"

Harry clenched his fist, the scars standing out a little more. He'd not told any teacher about this before because he'd known McGonagall could do nothing about it and had, at the time, been resentful at Dumbledore for ignoring him. But now… now was the perfect time to reveal all!

"It's disgusting, Professor!" Hermione said from the bed next to him. "She made him carve lines into the back of his own hand with a magical quill, over and over again!"

"She WHAT!?" Amelia cried, and like a tidal wave she surged across the room to physically seize Umbridge's shoulder and shove her aside, snatching Harry's hand and squinting down at the skin. It took her a moment or two to make out the words but when she did, her jaw dropped open in revulsion and horror.

'I must not tell lies,' she whispered out loud. 'By Merlin… this is… macabre!'

"No wait! Please, this isn't about that!" Umbridge floundered desperately. "This is about the half-breeds! Think about the half-breeds, not…"

"Minister, take a look at this. Potter, where is this quill now!" Amelia barked, completely ignoring Umbridge's protests.

"It should be somewhere in her office. A black quill, probably in her top desk drawer," Harry grunted as Fudge stepped up beside Bones to examine Harry's hand.

"Scrimgeour, Shacklebolt!" Amelia cried, and the two Aurors didn't even need to be told what to do. They both turned and marched straight out of the Hospital Wing while Fudge stared in disbelief, and looked like he was about to be physically sick.

"You… did this, Dolores?" the Minister breathed, every fibre of his face and his voice expressing nothing but pure horror at this revelation.

But Umbridge couldn't think of anything to say in response. Even though the Black Quill left physical evidence of its use behind, she'd never been concerned about using it on Harry because she'd been certain it would silence him and because if it hadn't she'd been even more sure that people would believe he deliberately harmed himself in an attempt to gain sympathy. But now… she was screwed… and she knew it!

Sure enough, Scrimgeour and Kingsley returned a few minutes later in Kingsley's hand was the very torture device that Umbridge had been using on Harry for weeks. The back of Kingsley's other hand had a bit of blood on it.

"Here it is, Madame Bones," he said as he handed it over. "I wrote down my name with this on a piece of parchment and immediately the words were cut into the back of my hand. It healed over quickly, but my hand still feels a bit raw. I get the feeling that after repeated use, it wouldn't have healed up so quickly."

"This item is not sanctioned by the Ministry of Magic," Madame Bones whispered. "I have never seen anything like it before! The only conclusion I can draw… did you invent this yourself, Dolores?"

Umbridge's silence spoke volumes. She was feeling more and more like a rat trapped in a corner, and every expression in the room was now either thunderous, like Dumbledore's, or horrified, like Fudge's.

"Why?" Fudge whispered. "Why would you use something like this on… on anyone?"

"YOU SAID TO!" Umbridge suddenly exploded in a last ditch resort. "YOU SAID TO SILENCE POTTER BY ABSOLUTELY ANY MEANS NECESSARY AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I WAS TRYING TO DO! I WAS TRYING TO TEACH HIM NOT TO LIE ABOUT THE DARK LORD. YOU WANTED HIM TO STOP TALKING SO THAT'S WHAT I WAS TRYING TO DO! I DID ALL THIS IN YOUR NAME, MINISTER!"

"I… I didn't say to torture the boy!" Fudge yelled. "I didn't say to inflict physical harm upon him and I most certainly don't condone this! All those times you assured me that you had Harry under control, this is what you meant!? You were actually spilling his very blood!? That is wrong, Dolores!"

"It's more than wrong, it's evil!" McGonagall cried. "This object is clearly something fashioned from Dark Magic and yet our own Defence Against the Dark Arts student has been using it against the Boy-Who-Lived!"

"SO WHAT!? I'D DO ANYTHING FOR THE MINISTRY, FOR YOU MINISTER FUDGE, DON'T YOU SEE THAT!? I WAS JUST PROTECTING US FROM THESE PEOPLE LIKE YOU WANTED ME TO! I HAVE ALL ALONG, LIKE WHEN I SENT THOSE DEMENTORS TO ATTACK POTTER OVER THE SUMMER! I…"

Instantly she clammed up, her eyes bulging. Every pitfall she'd fallen into thus far had been because of Harry, Ron and Hermione's plans but that one… that one was entirely her own fault! And it stunned Harry just as much as everyone else.

"YOU SENT THOSE DEMENTORS AFTER ME!?" he cried. "THOSE THINGS ALMOST KISSED MY COUSIN! YOU WERE TRYING TO KICK ME OUT OF THE SCHOOL BEFORE WE EVEN MET!?"

"So there really were Dementors!?" Fudge cried. "Dolores… you…"

"No… no no no NO NO!… ALL FOR YOU… EVERY BIT OF IT… FOR OUR MINISTRY… AND THE WEREWOLF! THINK ABOUT THE…"

"SILENCIO!" Amelia snapped, lancing her wand so viciously at Umbridge's throat that she almost made contact with it and Umbridge gaped as she suddenly lost the ability to use her own voice. "I've heard more than enough a long time ago, but now I believe we might just have everything. Scrimgeour, Shacklebolt, arrest this woman on the counts of unauthorised use of Dementors, creating an object of Dark Magic, keeping an unauthorised Dark Magical Object, using a Dark Object on a minor, attempted endangerment of a minor and using the Cruciatus Curse on a minor!"

Umbridge tried to make a break for it in the middle of that list of crimes but she was hit by a double Impediment Jinx almost immediately and forced to stand on the spot while Kingsley and Scrimgeour folded her arms behind her back to hold her steady.

"I trust you have no objection to this, Minister?" Amelia asked.

"…No. No, I do not," Fudge shook his head, turning an anguished glance back to the scars on Harry's hand. "Dolores Jane Umbridge… as of this moment you are fired as my Senior Undersecretary and as the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts school. And you are expelled from your post as the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at this school. As of this moment… every title you possess has been completely revoked."

"YEEEEEESSSSSSS!" Harry didn't even try to hide his jubilation, punching his fist in the air and roaring to the ceiling with Ron and Hermione cheering and whooping right alongside him. Umbridge screamed silently in frustration and boiling anger, with fat tears gushing down her cheeks, but not a drop of sympathy for her could be found in anyone else. Umbridge ended up being frog-marched right out of the hospital wing, kicking and thrashing her entire way until the doors shut behind her and she was lost to sight. Instantly Harry and Ron were seizing Harry from either side in massive bear-hugs. One that Harry was also grateful to return, the Boy Who Lived grinning like her was now the lunatic!

But then again he could hardly be blamed!

Finally… they'd won! There was no way she was ever coming back to within fifty miles of the school after that performance. Which meant at long last… the bitch was gone.

"I hope you realise that expulsion's not going to be enough, Minister," Amelia said, with just a little smile. "She'll definitely need to be jailed for this. A life sentence I believe would be justified."

"Couldn't agree more," McGonagall sniffed. "She should count herself lucky that's all she's getting if you ask me."

"Yes, you're… quite right," Fudge heaved a sigh, running a hand across his face and for a moment he looked almost like he'd aged fifty years. "Of course Azkaban's no longer an option so we'll have to ship her off to Nurmengard with the other prisoners… but I still can't believe it came to this. I knew when I hired her that she was a little ruthless but I never could have imagined…"

"It is clear that she did a good job of hiding her talons from most until the end," Dumbledore smiled. "But the important thing is that justice has been done now."

"Indeed," Fudge nodded, before turning to Harry. He looked massively uncomfortable and spent a good thirty seconds opening and closing his mouth as he sought to find the right words, but eventually he was able to get the first of them out and the rest seemed to tumble out in their wake. "Harry… you and I… we don't see eye to eye of course, and we haven't for a while. And I must insist as much as ever that you stop this… claptrap… about You-Know-Who's return when we have far more important things to worry about. Like Fairy Tail.

"But… for what it's worth… I am terribly sorry that it came to this. Torture… whether coming from the Cruciatus Curse or… other methods," he glanced down with revulsion at the back of Harry's hand, "…would never have have received by approval. And despite everything… I hope that perhaps I can find some way to… make it up to you in future."

Harry kept his expression carefully neutral, but he was elated at this moment. The man standing before him now didn't feel like the same man who'd been publicly trying to expel him and discredit him before the public. He felt more like his old self - the kindly but bumbling and slightly awkward man that he had first seen walking into Hagrid's Hut to reluctantly arrest the half-giant in his second year. And this was a man that Harry missed, and very much wished to see more of in future.

For all his multitude of flaws, Cornelius Fudge was a good person at heart. But his love of power and fear had caused him to make some truly poor decisions recently. And it was important to remember that.

"That's alright, Minister," Harry said, choosing his next words very carefully indeed. "You didn't know… and I was too stubborn to mention it earlier. But, if you want to make things up to me, then I think there is something you could do."

"And what's that?"

"You could take an important lesson away from today, and that is that things aren't always what you may think them to be from looking at them on the surface. Don't take everything you see at face value and look a little deeper into the people you're dealing with. You thought Umbridge could be trusted but she let you down in a major way. There could be… other people close to you who aren't as trustworthy as they appear to be. But more importantly… there could be people you're pushing away because you believe them to be enemies, when in fact… they could be good people. Or at the very least they could be just trying to help."

Fudge stared at Harry for some time, the both of them holding eye contact for what felt like an eternity before Fudge finally looked away. The Minister could tell that Harry was talking about himself and Dumbledore… but there were a number of other people that his words could apply to. Sirius Black… the Spirits that kept visiting the Ministry… Fairy Tail themselves. He kept being told repeatedly that they weren't bad people yet he refused to believe them, despite some… compelling arguments that they weren't.

But now a woman whom he had trusted had turned out to be round the twist in more ways than one. In which case… how many other things did he have a wonky perception of?

"I see…" he said slowly. "Well… I am grateful for your understanding. I believe I have… quite a bit of thinking to do when I return to the Ministry. Which I must now do. I'll need to oversee the arrangements for Dolores' imprisonment."

"No need, Minister. I will take care of that," Amelia said quickly. "And it will be my pleasure. You should prepare more on what your statement to the Daily Prophet is going to be for tomorrow's paper."

"…Yes, I suppose I should," Fudge nodded. "Although, Dumbledore… I think we should talk about arrangements to get a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher installed as soon as…"

"Oh, not to worry," Dumbledore smiled. "As it happens, I already have someone in mind."

"You do? But… who…?"

"Not to worry, Cornelius, I will make the arrangements. It'll all be ready within a couple of days I'm sure."

Fudge hesitated - if Dumbledore had a new teacher in mind then that meant he couldn't install anyone else at the school to try and reform the school. Nobody to stop Dumbledore from building a student army against the Ministry. But… as Harry had said… maybe he needed to look a little deeper. Maybe it was possible that Dumbledore wasn't who he needed to fear after all.

"…Very well," he said. "In that case… good evening…"

And with that he hurried out of the Hospital Wing, leaving complete silence in his wake… until Harry and the others were sure that he was out of earshot.

Then:-

"SHE'S GONE!" Ron cheered. "SHE'S FINALLY GONE!"

All three students exploded into cheers and hugged each other while Dumbledore, McGonagall and Amelia all looked on with a smile as Madame Pomfrey ushered over to fuss over giving Harry some breathing space.

---

Word spread throughout the castle like a lightning bolt! It seemed like everybody knew roughly what had happened within ten minutes of Harry being discharged from the Hospital Wing, or at the very least that Umbridge had attacked Harry right in front of a Ministry official and been dragged out of the school. And though it was late in the evening, a party instantly sprang to life in three of the four Common Rooms!

Umbridge might have been cruellest to Harry, but her interference, lack of teaching and priggishness had made sure that even the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws who were not exactly on Harry's side right now were delighted at the news! By contrast, Filch was spotted sulking in the corner and possibly even wiping away a tear while the Slytherins spent the evening in a particularly foul mood. Just a couple of days ago, Umbridge had pitched the idea of forming the Inquisitorial Squad to many of them, and now their chance to bully the other houses within the school rules had gone down the drain.

But nowhere was livelier than the Gryffindor Common Room. Fred and George had gathered a massive amount of Honeydukes sweets, banners and Butterbeers from the Leaky Cauldron in preparation just in case it worked and they immediately broke them out. The atmosphere was so festive that someone could have mistaken it for an early Christmas party! There was even a space cleared in the middle of the room to let some of the students dance, unleashing all of their delight in a frenzy of motion while the onlookers cheered enthusiastically. The twins even started coming up with an adaptation of 'Weasley is our King' that fit the occasion:-

"Umbridge is in jail!
Umbridge is in jail!
Her evil plans were one big fail!
Umbridge is in jail!"

Harry couldn't remember the last time he'd smiled so much. After a disastrous end to the Triwizard Tournament and an entire summer of angst, followed by Umbridge's own campaign to usurp the school, it felt like he hadn't had much to smile about for a long time. Probably not since Gryffindor had won the Quidditch Cup in his first year in fact.

But now he just couldn't stop grinning. It was an absolutely perfect evening. And when he coupled in Umbridge's expulsion and imprisonment along with the knowledge that his friends had stuck with him even after learning he was a Horcrux, he felt such joy that he was even able to overcome his own embarrassment and hit the dance floor a bit himself. He felt like a complete idiot, but he didn't even care.

"I still can't believe she actually used the Cruciatus Curse on you!" Ron grinned over the noise. "It sounds weird to say it, but that was a great bonus! I was just banking on her attacking you in front of Madame Bones to be enough."

"Yeah, I didn't think she'd get that riled up," Harry laughed. "And she did it at just the right time too!"

"We've got to find a way of thanking Susan for this," Hermione nodded. "And Firenze and Daphne too. But Ron… that plan was amazing. I still can't believe it worked as well as it did, but still… it was amazing. I'd never have been able to come up with that."

"Thanks," Ron grinned, leaning back in his chair. "I'm not just a pretty face you know."

"Don't ruin the moment," Hermione threw a cushion at him and all three of them laughed. And as Ron and Hermione avidly discussed and tried to impersonate the look on Umbridge's face every time they kept dropping a new bombshell on her, Harry glanced across the room and seemed to catch Ginny's eye from where she was dancing alongside the twins. Ginny grinned at him and flashed him a thumb up, and Harry felt himself grin back. Ginny's part in the plan had been small but she'd been there right when she needed to be. And since she too knew that Harry was a Horcrux and didn't even mind, Harry could feel a stronger surge of affection for her than ever before welling up in his stomach.

Michael Corner was a lucky guy to have her.

For some reason that thought made his throat tighten a little bit, but he quickly brushed it off. Probably just feeling protective of her.

However, there was a fourth party going on in the school at the time and it wasn't long before Harry and the others slipped out of the Common Room to go and attend it. After all, even though Fairy Tail had comparatively little reason to personally hate Umbridge other than hearing about the things she'd been doing to their newest friends, they never missed an excuse to party.

The Room of Requirement was in the middle of a full out brawl between some of the boys - Natsu socking Gray in the face while Gajeel all but chewed at the top of his head.

Elfman had both Freed and Bickslow in headlocks as Bickslow's dolls crashed into him repeatedly, though all three of them were grinning.

Mirajane had somehow managed to get hold of a guitar and the room had created a stage for her to sing on and she'd somehow managed to coax Erza up there with her, though the redhead was looking uncharacteristically nervous as she tried to falteringly sing along with Mira's lyrics, with a nervous Wendy on the sidelines waiting for her turn to sing alongside Lisanna, who also looked a little nervous but determined to try.

Cana had grabbed a hold of Lucy and was dragging her around in a semi-drunken dance while Lucy tried to extricate herself from the Card Mage's grip, much to the amusement of Juvia and Levy.

And Laxus was leaning against the wall in the sidelines, sitting right alongside his grandfather. Neither of them were speaking or even looking at each other, but both were vaguely smiling. Though Makarov may have been doing so because he had been drinking a bit.

Also hanging out there was Daphne, who clearly didn't want to be around other Slytherins right now, and who was watching everything going on around her with amusement.

"These guys are just… weird," she said as Harry and the others approached her.

"You'll get used to it," Harry promised. "But anyway, we just wanted to say thanks for your help, Daphne. There's no way we could have pulled that off as well as we did without you."

"No duh," Daphne rolled her eyes but looked amused at the same time. "Still, I'm glad it paid off. School's better off without the Pink Putridness in it anyway."

"Well we're thinking about having a DA meeting tomorrow," Hermione said. "You could bring Astoria along with you, if you wanted."

"Er, I already did," Daphne pointed over to where a young brunette girl that Harry vaguely remembered seeing around every once in a while in the middle of an animated discussion with Evergreen. "What, you think I'd leave her in the Slytherin Common Room while I hung around here?"

"…Looks like she's taking things very well," Ron noted.

"…really cool," Astoria was saying with a grin. "I wish I could fly like that! Brooms are alright but wings… those are just so much cooler."

"Well, you never know," Evergreen replied, though it was clear she was allowing herself to bask in Astoria's praise a little bit. "Maybe you will fly like that one day. Considering everything I've seen about this world, I'm surprised nobody's invented a magical set of wings you can don and fly around on. Sounds like it could be more comfortable than sitting on a stick."

"Wow, I like that idea!" Astoria beamed. "I'll get on that! Maybe I could be the one that invents it!"

Daphne smiled. "Astoria's always been more… excitable than I am. I knew she'd fit in comfortably with this lot as soon as she got over the shock. But… I worry about her a lot. She's… quite a frail child."

"Frail?" Hermione asked. "How so? She looks okay to me."

"Yes, she does now," Daphne rolled her eyes. "But she's much less durable than most people. It doesn't take nearly as much exertion to exhaust her as most. She gets sick very easily and has… let's say a low threshold for spell resistance. She could shrug off a Stunning Spell, but if she was hit with two at the same time it could cause her extremely serious injury."

"Wow… I never knew," Hermione breathed.

"Well now you do," Daphne sighed. "She's like that because of a blood-borne curse that one of our ancestors had which has resurfaced in her. And maybe now you understand more why the threat of Death Eaters coming after us to get to my parents is a bloody terrifying one for me. And why I hate, hate, hated the fact the Umbridge wasn't teaching us how to defend ourselves properly. If Astoria can't defend herself… well… it would be so easy for an accident to occur."

"Yeah… I get it," Ron nodded, thinking of how he'd feel if Ginny were like that. It was a highly unpleasant thought.

"And you better bear that in mind when you teach us, Potter," Daphne growled. "It'll be on your head if something happens to her in these meetings."

"Got it," Harry nodded resolutely. "Still… thank you. And I'm glad you're joining us. I never thought one day I'd owe a Slytherin anything but now I really do."

"Okay, okay, I get it," Daphne waved her hand dismissively. "This doesn't make us friends, understand? I don't think could never be friends with a… Muggle-Born…" she coughed, clearly changing her choice of words at the last second there, "…or a Blood Traitor like you. But I'm willing to put up with you if it'll help us learn more and it gets my parents to safety. Though who knows, with Umbridge gone, we might not even need this DA thing of yours anymore."

"Maybe not," Harry said, a little tightly. "But we'll keep doing it anyway. It never hurts to learn more. Though if I could add one more thing, you might want to rethink your whole 'Pureblood Rules' thing you've got going on there. After all… isn't your sister's condition walking proof that having magical ancestors doesn't mean you're perfect? As my friends told me recently, its what you do that defines you, not who your parents are or what abilities you have. And you and Astoria don't need Pure Blood to become great people."

Daphne said nothing in response, but she did bite her lip as the others walked away from her to go and start thanking the various Fairy Tail mages for their contributions to ousting Umbridge, most especially Mavis, Pantherlily, Freed, Bickslow, Cana and Elfman.

"Hey, it's not a problem at all," Cana grinned as she whirled a faintly dizzy Lucy around. "One problem down right?

"I'm not sure if it was particularly Manly of me to terrify a woman like that, but it sure as heck was Manly to rid a school of such a horrible oppressor," Elfman pounded his chest.

"Now we've just got the Death Eaters, Grimoire Heart and this Morgana lady to deal with. No biggie right?" Bickslow cackled.

"Yeah… no biggie," Harry laughed, even that not enough to ruin the mood he was in. And as they settled down to have fun and celebrate throughout the night, it turned out that Lisanna and Wendy were both actually good singers, though the latter needed a fair bit of encouragement.

---

Despite a late night from most of the castle, breakfast the next morning was still a jovial affair. Every Gryffindor was tired but still grinning like loons as they gathered at the breakfast table, some of them contemplating what they were going to do with the free period that was now where their Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons had been before.

Although talk of that was quickly put to rest when Dumbledore got to his feet, commanding the attention of the entire Great Hall before speaking.

"As most of you have probably heard by now, there was an… incident… last night which had resulted in the unfortunate removal of our dear Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Dolores Umbridge, from the school…"

A massive round of cheering followed this words and Harry could help but snort with amusement. Only Dumbledore would continue to feign liking someone so repulsive just for the heck of it.

"Yes, yes, quite," Dumbledore nodded. "But anyway, as I was saying, all detentions that she may have imposed upon students have now been completely cancelled. But your Defence lessons themselves are not. I had to work through the night and pull some quick arrangements but I have already found some replacement teachers to help fill the void that Professor Umbridge has left in her wake."

"Did he say teachers?" Hermione frowned. "As in plural?"

"Could he have gotten Lupin to come back? That'd be great," Ron grinned.

"I don't think so," Harry wrinkled his nose distastefully. "It's out that he's a werewolf now. Parents would still complain. That's why he resigned in the first place, remember?"

"Oh yeah."

But Dumbledore's next words made Harry's heart drop into his stomach.

"I'm pleased to announce that the Defence Post will be taken by none other than the Head of Slytherin himself, Professor Severus Snape!"

"WHAT!?" Harry shouted, his voice raising even above the surprised hubbub that instantly ensued. But he didn't care. A large portion of the joy he'd felt at finally ousting Umbridge for good was immediately robbed from him with this revelation. He loathed Umbridge with a passion, but Snape was still not far behind her in that regard! And looking up at the staff table now, he could see Snape's wide smirk - pure and utter smug satisfaction. The former Potions Master's gaze turned to Harry and he did practically everything but wink at him with that one stare alone.

"I can't believe this! I can't freaking believe this!" Harry hissed to himself.

"Harry, calm down," Hermione insisted quickly, though she herself looked a bit put out by this revelation, most likely because she'd been looking forward to being able to answer questions in class again but knew full well that Snape would ignore her when she put her hand up.

"How can I calm down? This is ridiculous," Harry huffed. "What's Dumbledore thinking, appointing Snape of all people?"

"Well, we didn't exactly leave him with many options," Ron pointed out bitterly. "We did get Umbridge kicked out completely without warning. I guess he just has to compromise."

"Damn it," Harry smacked the table with his fist. "We should have told him what we were doing after all, so he could find a better replacement."

"If we'd told him he would have stopped us," Hermione sighed. "We did technically break the rules to do it after all. He just decided to look the other way when it actually happened."

Harry wanted to vent more but he was cut off when Dumbledore resumed speaking. "That of course means that his position as Potions Master is vacant, but I am very pleased to announce that I have already found a replacement teacher. For the rest of the week Potions lessons are cancelled, but the new teacher should arrive by next Monday. His name is Professor Horace Slughorn, and he was in fact the teacher who filled the post before Professor Snape took the job, so everyone be sure to give him a warm return welcome when he arrives and get settled in. Until then, everyone enjoy their new free periods."

He sat back down and the Great Hall quickly devolved into discussion about this new development. Neville was looking particularly white - he still hadn't lost his fear of Professor Snape and the idea of him teaching a class where you could throw spells at each other was drastically more frightening than one where you sat next to a cauldron the whole time.

But nobody was more displeased than Harry.

"Well that settles it then," he muttered. "We're definitely not stopping the DA. Not now. There's no way I'm going to rely on Snape to teach us what we need to know to defeat Voldemort."

"But Harry, he is on our side you know," Hermione pressed. "I still want the DA to keep going too but Dumbledore trusts him. Maybe this will work out better than you think."

"At least we'll be allowed to cast spells again," Ron agreed. "I don't like this either Harry, but honestly… anything's better than having Umbridge breathe down your neck as you do nothing but read."

Harry grunted, but he had to concede that Ron had a point there. But his thoughts were rudely interrupted by Snape himself, who suddenly stopped next to them and looked down at them over his hooked nose.

"I suppose you weren't expecting this particular repercussion when you were crafting your master plan against Professor Umbridge, were you Potter?" he said, the corner of his lip quirking smugly. "I certainly hope that you don't think about trying something similar with me. I can assure you I will be keeping an eye out for any interference from… outside sources."

Harry gritted his teeth. They both knew Snape was alluding to Fairy Tail when he said that.

"Regardless," Snape said. "It appears we're in business together in some way, if you insist on continuing to run about with your friends learning extra Defence Magic on the sides. Dumbledore has asked me to… overlook… your technically illicit activities so I shall. But just remember, Potter, while you're in my class I am the teacher, not you. You would do well to keep that in mind."

And with that he swept off before Harry could say a word. He ate the rest of his breakfast in a grumpy silence until Dumbledore met him outside the Great Hall, the Headmaster having apparently been waiting for them.

"Please step this way you three," he said, drawing them quickly to one side where he wouldn't be overheard. "Now, I want you to listen to me carefully Harry. In truth, I am grateful for what you did in getting rid of Dolores, but I cannot deny it is a little frustrating. I did not wish to put Severus into the Defence post today. I wanted him to be by my side for as long as possible after all."

Harry frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I'm sure you've heard the stories about how the Defence post has had a curse placed upon it, have you not?"

"Yes, but that's just a story, isn't it?" Hermione asked.

"No, it is in fact not. You haven't just had a string of bad luck with your Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers - I haven't been able to find a single one that lasted longer than a year ever since I turned down Lord Voldemort for the post."

"You what!?" Harry blinked. "Voldemort actually applied!?"

"Oh yes. A long time ago before he'd amassed the reputation he has now, he applied. But I knew he couldn't be trusted and turned him away, and since then no Defence teacher has been able to stay in their post for more than at least three terms. There is no doubt in my mind that Voldemort was able to pull off a curse complex enough to jinx the job. That is why I have continuously denied Severus from getting the job, because I wanted him to remain in the school for longer than that. His value as a double agent cannot be underestimated, Harry. Therefore I would please ask that you not give him trouble in his lessons. Severus has a lot on his plate as it is. Please, do not add to it."

Harry bit his lip. It often seemed to him that having Snape as a double agent didn't seem to make a damn bit of difference. He often didn't have any useful information about exactly what Voldemort was doing before he did it.

But then again, he couldn't deny that Snape had been very useful indeed during the whole Tenroujima incident. If he hadn't bypassed the non-Dark Mark Apparition barrier to bring Dumbledore and Gildarts to the island when he had, they might have been severely screwed over by Morgana before the dragons could arrive to help them out. Much as Harry hated Snape… maybe Dumbledore had a point.

"I… will try," he said reluctantly.

"Good," Dumbledore nodded with a light smile. "Still, I hope to make significant strides in our plans to stop Voldemort by the end of the year anyway."

And with that he strode away, leaving Harry to ponder what lessons with Snape might end up being like… and also plan out his next DA lesson that evening. But before Dumbledore could get too far, Harry suddenly remembered something he'd been planning to do at that meeting.

"Professor, wait!" he cried, hurrying after him. "I don't suppose you could let me have access to your Penseive would you?"

---

It turned out that Dumbledore could do one better - he actually had a spare Penseive and offered to give it to Harry if he decided he wanted to start one. But Harry was pretty certain he was only going to use it this once. After all, while he had many fond memories there were a great many others he never wanted to revisit in as much clarity as a Penseive could bring ever again.

But this time he had made a promise to the members of the DA. And he intended to keep it.

They gathered in the Room of Requirement as normal and those that wanted to see what Harry had offered, which was most of them, lined up before the Penseive. They took turns with about five or six different people entering the memory at a time. It was quite a surreal experience for Harry to be watching others using a Penseive for a change - they just ended up standing there, lost in a memory that wasn't even their own. And every time that they all snapped back to clarity, their blank faces instantly turned completely ashen.

"Holy Jesus," Dean croaked, looking very much like he was going to be physically sick.

"I can only imagine what it must have been like to actually be there," Anthony whispered.

"Harry… you were so brave," Hannah squeaked. "So much braver than I ever could have been."

"Oh Merlin," Seamus slumped back against the wall with his head in his hands. "Oh God… Harry… I'm so sorry I never believed you. You went through all that… and the Ministry's still calling you a liar… I… he really is back…"

"Seamus, it alright," Harry said dourly. "I was asking people to believe a lot. The most important thing is that you get it now."

But Seamus was not the only one who had an apology to make. Harry himself had a pretty massive one and unfortunately he had to wait until almost everyone had seen the memory for him to make it. Cho Chang was in the very last group to view the memory, and as soon as she phased out of it she burst into tears and stumbled away to a corner of the room to hunch over by herself and sob into her knees. Harry shuffled awkwardly towards her and found himself standing above her and fighting to untie his tongue from the knots it seemed determined to tie itself in and speak.

"…Cho…" he grunted. "I… you know, I… I just wanted to say…"

Cho withdrew her face from her knees, her eyes already puffy, and whispered, "You don't have to say anything. I understand."

"Understand… what?" Harry blinked, not having expected that answer.

"This is about what happened last week, isn't it?" Cho sniffled. "When you yelled at me the day you quit the DA."

"Er… yeah… yeah, it is. But also about Cedric. I'm… sorry… that I couldn't save him."

"What could you have done? It all happened so fast… one moment he was fine and then the next he was just… he was just…" Cho had to stop and take a moment to suppress the next bout of sobs that threatened to overwhelm her. "But… thank you… for showing me that memory anyway. You were right… there wasn't much to what happened with him there… but I think I really needed to see it. I think… I needed the closure."

"…Good to know…" Harry whispered. "But… about those things I said to you… I wasn't feeling like myself then and it was absolutely horrible of me to say those things about… you know… you wanting to be close to me because it would be like being close to him and all that stuff. That was cruel and just plain wrong, and I am so… so sorry."

Cho sighed, tears continuing to trickle down her face as she looked down at her shoes. "It was heart-rending," she murmured. "And yeah, it was really horrible of you to say those things… but I do get why you said them. And I think, if I'm being completely honest with myself… you were probably right."

Harry blinked. "What?"

"Not about all of it," Cho added quickly. "Definitely not about the part where you said you didn't deserve to be the leader. But… the other bit. I thought pretty long and hard about what you said that night and I came to realise you were right. It wasn't a conscious decision… but I think I was just latching onto you because Cedric died. I mean… I knew you already liked me. And you were there when Cedric died so I think, unconsciously, I was drawn to you because you were both the quickest and closest thing I could get to… to still being with him."

Harry's heart sank into his chest when he heard those words, and Cho herself looked incredibly guilt-stricken just by saying it. Which was made worse when Harry coughed and said, "Oh… oh, I see."

"I'm really sorry, Harry," Cho whispered. "I've been so torn up about my own feelings that I barely even took yours into account. But… now that I've thought about it hard I think I've come to the conclusion that us… you and me… we can never work. Not now. Maybe we could have done if Cedric and me had fallen out and broken up, but that didn't happen. He died. And it wouldn't feel right at all for me to start a relationship with someone because I'm trying to stay close to my past boyfriend. That's a terrible foundation for a partnership… and it's only going to end in disaster. Not to mention, you deserve a lot better than that. You deserve someone who wants you just for you. And at the moment… I don't think that someone is me."

Harry sighed. He didn't want to hear this any more than Cho wanted to say it, and though his mind tried to deny it at first - tried to convince himself that it could maybe work if they tried hard at it - he was quickly forced to concede that all of Cho's points were excellent ones.

"Yeah…" he whispered. "Yeah, I think you're right… and you deserve a lot better than that too. You deserve a chance to move on and start afresh. And you won't be able to do that with me. I'd just be a constant reminder, wouldn't I? And that would just keep making you feel guilty that you're with me at all, wouldn't it?"

"Probably," Cho whispered, sniffing loudly. "Bottom line… this isn't good for either of us so… maybe we should just stop now before we actually become committed and end up breaking each others hearts in the long run. I'll still come to DA meetings of course. And I hope that we can still be friends, great friends. But… not any more than that."

"…Yeah," Harry nodded, his body feeling slightly hollow inside but knowing it was indeed for the best. "It's… not going to be easy letting go though."

"Not for me either," Cho shook her head. "But… it's better than hurting each other later."

"Thanks Cho," Harry smiled lightly. "Don't worry, I'm sure things will get easier one day. And you'll find another great guy for sure."

"And I know you'll find a brilliant girlfriend too," Cho smiled back, taking the hand that Harry was offering her and letting him pull her to her feet. The two embraced, and Harry allowed Cho to cry into his shoulder for a couple of minutes before they eventually parted ways and headed back to their respective best friends. Harry felt like his gut had been squeezed several times, but he just had to move past it. There was just too much emotional baggage to bear between him and Cho for it to ever work out.

Hopefully the next girl he fell for would come baggage free, whoever she might be.

---

"Alright guys," Harry said, a little awkwardly as he stood before the amassed members of the DA, very much feeling the spotlight at this moment. "As you all know, now that Umbridge has been pushed the hell out of our school at last."

It seemed that news wouldn't fail to cause a mass cheer for some time, and many fists were pumped into the air. Harry couldn't help but grin as he added, "And as many of you read in this morning's Daily Prophet she's already been shipped off to Nurmengard. I know I can't help but grin every time I think of her kicking herself in a prison cell… but the fact remains that since she's gone there's probably no need for any of you to be here anymore. Weird as it will be to have… Snape… as our new DADA teacher, I'm pretty sure he will at least teach us what we need to know to pass our O. … hopefully…"

"Yeah, but this isn't just about exams, is it?" Neville suddenly spoke up. "This is about preparing ourselves for what's out there so we can fight it when we need to. Professor Snape will keep us to the school syllabus but I dunno how much more he'll teach us apart from that."

"Yeah, and besides, given what we saw in that memory of yours Harry," Parvati agreed. "…We have to learn. And we need to do it quickly so… it definitely can't hurt to have two teachers, can it?"

"As long as this stuff continues to not interfere with Quidditch practices, none of us are leaving," Angelina said fervently, to a smattering of assent.

"Good to know," Harry allowed himself a little smile, as his self-esteem rose just a little bit. Most of the people in here still didn't know he was a Horcrux, and he certainly intended to keep it that way, but the faith they all put in him was bolstering once again, rather than annoying as it had been before. "And now, weirdly enough, the DA can move forwards with members from all four Hogwarts houses."

"Sup," Daphne waved from where she and Astoria were both standing to one side. Astoria looked both nervous, excited and a little scathing at the same time, and she was sticking close to Daphne for encouragement.

"I… don't expect you guys to all get along right away, but at least try to be civil if you're not willing to become friends," Harry coughed.

"But you know," Hermione interrupted. "If you want to try making friends then that would be great."

"Whoa, settle down there, Granger," Daphne said. "We're not here to make friends. We're here to learn to fight. There's a pretty big difference."

"Yeah, but there's no reason you can't do both," Hermione replied simply. "The way I see it, we're already more like your friends than many people in your own House."

"…She's not wrong there," Astoria murmured, but Daphne just shrugged.

"Anyway," Harry coughed to regain everyone's attention. "We missed out on last week because of me, so we need to make up for lost time. And not only that, but I've been talking things over with Ron and Hermione and we're going to make a few changes. As you know recently Erza and Mirajane have been giving us a hand, helping us to improve our speed, reflexes and response times on the battlefield. But now… we're going to ask the rest of Fairy Tail to help us out too."

"Correct," Erza smiled from the doorway to the Fairy Tail training hall, her sword already drawn and smirking dangerously at the DA members. "After all, it is not just Death Eaters you have to worry about anymore, but Morgana and Grimoire Heart. Under no circumstances do we recommend trying to take them on, but perhaps we can teach you enough to defend yourselves against some of them until one of us arrives to help. The training will be tough! But we intend to help Harry build you up to be the best that you can as quickly as you can!"

"So, if you'd like to follow Erza through to the other room," Harry chuckled at how pale several of the DA had suddenly become. "We can begin."

---

Half an hour later at the training hall was a cacophony of spells and hexes flying all over the place. To anyone walking in it would have looked like complete and utter chaos, but it wasn't. There were different training exercises going on all over the place, each one trying to teach the participants a different skill set.

Over in one corner, Harry was overseeing a more regular session as some of the DA members tried to master the Impediment Jinx. He walked among them as quickly as he could, stopping to correct Dennis Creevey's posture or give Justin a little tip about his wand movements while casting the spell, and many of them seemed to be picking it up pretty quickly.

Nearby, Erza and Mirajane were doing the same thing as before, charging about the room as five of the older and more experienced DA members tried hard to land a hit on them while simultaneously dodging their attacks. There had definitely been some improvement since the first time they'd performed his exercise, as seen when Katie Bell managed to arch herself backwards far enough for Erza's training sword to sweep right over her without touching her before rolling aside just in time to avoid Mirajane's foot crashing down on top of her. It was a burst of agility she'd never have been able to pull off while not on a broom when they first started out.

"Excellent form!" Mira said encouragingly as she turned to dive in Alicia's direction, swiftly dodging two of her incoming hexes. "You girls are definitely picking up on this."

"Who knows, this kind of thing could improve our skills as Chasers too," Alicia grinned as she leapt backwards to avoid Mira's grabbing claws.

But while Erza and Mira were testing them at all the different skills they'd need on the battlefield at once, other Fairy Tail mages were teaching the other DA members in little lessons that focused on one particular skill at a time.

Lisanna was currently in her catgirl form and was running rings around some of the others. Quite literally. She was helping them to improve their accuracy by trying to hit a moving target and in this form she was one of the most agile of the Fairy Tail members. She twisted and ducked left and right, flipping into angles that made her incredibly difficult for such precise spells to hit. With her were the three Exceed, all of them in their smaller forms and also darting around to provide even smaller targets. Realistically none of the DA's opponents would be as small as the Exceed, but if they could learn to hit a human-sized target as quick as Lisanna or targets as little as the cats were, then they could hit almost any opponent.

Gajeel's skin was covered in his Iron Dragon Scales, and he… was just standing there and letting Ernie and Neville launch Blasting Hexes at him. He was trying to get them to improve the power behind their spells, because he could shrug them off without even flinching like this.

"Come on, boys!" he smirked toothily at them. "Put your backs into it. You can't hurt me so why freaking knock me off my feet already!"

Ernie stabbed his wand forwards and launched a spell that struck Gajeel full in the chest. Again he didn't flinch but this time he was pushed backwards a couple of inches.

"Better. But not good enough! Keep at it!"

Juvia and Cana were attempting to teach some of the others to improve their speed when it came to blocking attacks, by launching quick but relatively weak strikes with their respective water and card magic. They were able to bend their attacks to come sweeping in at any angle, forcing their opponents to react swiftly to fend them all off. And if they did get hit, then it wouldn't hurt too bad. Though they would end up soaked or knocked off their feet at least.

Bickslow was teaching them how to dodge and weave by having his wooden dolls sweep around the battlefield and try to knock into the students around him. They weren't allowed to use their magic to defend - they had to rely purely on their own movements as they would if they suddenly found themselves disarmed in the middle of a fight. One of the students in his group was currently Astoria, but despite her relative frailty she didn't have to worry right now, because Wendy had used some of her support Magic to magically boost her defence. She most likely wouldn't have that in a real fight but it meant that she could take being whacked by one of the dolls as well if not a little better than all the others at that moment.

Gray was teaching Ginny and Luna how to fight against multiple opponents at once by creating Ice Clones of himself multiple times all around the field where the three of them were working. The creations didn't move as Gray's Ice Make Magic was completely static, but Ginny and Luna were working off each other to throw Stunning Hexes at any new one that popped up and whenever they succeeded Gray would make the target crumble and build another one.

Elfman was doing pretty much the exact opposite to his little sister. He was a very easy target, but also a massive one that didn't feel the effects of most regular curses, much like a giant or a troll wouldn't. His opponents were having to use the battlefield to their advantage against him, and the room had provided many crates and bits of debris for them to magically lift up and fling at him.

Evergreen was teaching how to use their other senses to their advantage. The students under her wing were blindfolded and were having to listen as she gently flew around the space they'd been allotted, which was enclosed in one of Freed's barriers to blot out all sound coming from the outside, meaning they had to try and hear her approach in order to turn around and defend themselves. In fact, all of the different activities were enclosed in Freed's barriers to make sure that while people could get through them magic couldn't, so nobody would be hit from behind by a stray spell from another activity.

Unfortunately for Natsu, his magic didn't exactly allow him to be an attacker without risking harm to the students but it had been determined there was something he could teach them with fire - how to put it out. In the middle of a battleground, spells that set the place alight could be very easily cast, and unchecked fire could be just as dangerous as an enemy combatant. She he was setting bonfires alight while the students around him dashed around trying to put them out as fast as they possibly could before the fire spread to stick figures that were supposed to represent innocent people.

And Lucy and Levy were sitting both sitting together on the sidelines, combing through books and highlighting any interesting spell they could find which Harry might one day be able to teach the others. That would, of course, normally be Hermione's job but since she was out there practicing too they had both been eager to take up the mantle for her.

Only Gildarts, Laxus and Makarov weren't participating at all. There was very little any of them could do that wouldn't severely harm the students which the others weren't already doing. So the three of them just stood back and watched the mayhem through the rest of the room as Harry left Ron in charge of teaching the Impediment Jinx so he could go around the room and see how everyone else was getting on.

"You know," Gildarts murmured with a light smile. "I think that they needed this. Up until now, there's still been something of a divide between Fairy Tail and Dumbledore's Army, since we mages can only really hide out in this one big room. We've known each other for a bit yes, but other than occasional conversations snatched in spare time, we've had little real opportunity to really bond with these new kids."

"Indeed. To many of them, we're still like aliens. Friendly, yet separate," Makarov smiled, a flagon of Butterbeer in his hand. "Yet now, perhaps the last of the barriers can be broken down and our friendships can grow. Training is never just training when done right. It's also bonding through combat."

"Well… that is something that Fairy Tail mages do very well. Isn't it Gramps?" Laxus chuckled.

Makarov paused, glancing up at his grandson out the corner of his eyes before murmuring, "Yes, it is, Laxus. Yes indeed it is. And with any luck, it won't be long before all these young students no longer view us as acquaintances, or even teachers… but also as friends."

"Amen to that."

---

Pull back away from the school… away from Earth… through the dimensional barrier and back into Earthland… to focus on the miniature Fairy Tail guild once more…

"Hhhhmmmm… mmmmmhhhh… it's been so long since I inhaled this sweet parfum! You may not be her but you smell exactly like my honey! More! Let me smell more!"

KAPOW!

"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!"

"MMMEEEEEEEENNNNNNNN!"

Laki and Kinana dodged to either side as none other that Ichiya Vandalay Kotobuki went sailing through the air between them to smash into the wall hard enough to put a crater in it. Erza Knightwalker was breathing heavily, several chills running up her spine as she tried extremely hard to make her skin stop crawling. Unlike her counterpart, she had never directly interacted with her world's version of Ichiya… which meant she had not been ready in the slightest for what had just happened.

"Are you okay, Sensei?" cried the three Trimens - Hibiki, Ren and Eve - all at the same time as they hurried to Ichiya's side, only for the surprisingly resilient man to sweep back onto his feet.

"I am fine," he declared, striking a pose and pointing in Knightwalker's direction. "The sweet smell of an Erza has clouded my brain to such a degree that I do not feel pain at all."

"That's our master," the Trimens clapped enthusiastically, leading half the room to facepalm as they yet again changed what they called him.

Mystogan blinked several times as Knightwalker tried to hide behind him. It took a lot to make her cringe… but that would definitely do it. He was quite glad in hindsight that he had not chosen the Blue Pegasus guild to be a part of when he was younger. They seemed to be nice… but there was no doubt that they were also extremely… peculiar people.

Lamia Scale, on the other hand, seemed much more straightforward, with the exception of one odd guy who looked a bit like a dog and was currently yelling at Coco for trying to copy him. After Mystogan had returned, Fairy Tail had finally decided to call on the two guilds and let them know the situation. And several of the core members of both guilds had answered immediately and now Mystogan and Macao had just finished explaining the details to them both before Ichiya's… bizarre interruption.

"It is quite fascinating to consider," Jura Neekis of the Ten Wizard Saints, who towered over everyone else in the room, mused as he stroked his long beard thoughtfully. "Parallel realities, some with carbon copies of ourselves. You truly are the spitting image of Jellal Fernandes, right down to your choice of tattoo."

"I'm struggling to picture a Gray that wears too many clothes," Lyon Vastia shook his head. "It sounds unnatural. But more poignantly, I can scarcely believe the Gray I know is still alive. I thought for sure he was gone."

"And yet he lives," Sherry Blendy smiled. "It's wonderful news. And when he gets back to our world, you'll be able to tell him first hand how much you missed him, Lyon."

"Don't be ridiculous," Lyon turned away stiffly. "The first thing I'll do when Gray gets back is show him how much my power has grown these last six years. I don't imagine his has been doing a lot of growing while he was trapped in time."

"You can hide it all you want, Lyon," Sherry tittered. "But you definitely missed him."

"That's Lyon's love for you," said Sherry's younger cousin, another pink-haired girl named Chelia. Though she herself, unlike everyone else in the room, had never met any of the Fairy Tail mages before she'd nevertheless decided to accompany her cousin on a visit.

"LYON'S NOT IN LOVE WITH GRAY!" Toby Horhorta wheeled around and screamed at Chelia, who covered her ears but otherwise didn't react.

"She didn't say he was. Don't get angry," said Yuka Suzuki automatically.

"Yeah, and if you meet them please make sure you don't say anything like that in front of Juvia," recommended Warren.

"Who's Juvia?" Lyon frowned.

"Anyway!" Ichiya jumped onto a table and struck another random pose before anyone could answer Lyon's question. "Today is a wonderful day. Hope has been lit in a long dead fire of friendship, with this news that our Fairy Tail comrades are out there now waiting on us to do something to bring them home. If there is anything that the Blue Pegasus guild can do to contribute, you can consider it done… Meeeeen!"

"Master Bob will be most ecstatic to learn that Master Makarov still lives," Hibiki agreed. "If you need money then we do have quite a bit that you can potentially dip into if you need that."

"The same goes for Lamia Scale," Jura nodded sagely. "We won't sit idly by either."

"That's very kind of you," Mystogan said. "And most certainly we will need some funding but more than that, we will need manpower to help us build the Anima - it is quite a large construction and will require quite a lot of magical power to work. But more than that, as of right now we need help in figuring out exactly what modifications must be made to the current Anima's designs in order to make it work in this instance."

"Not an easy ask from the sounds of it," Yuka murmured as he looked over the plans that Mystogan had laid out over the table, twiddling one of his enormous eyebrows thoughtfully. "I know that I can't exactly be of much help there. I don't know anything about cross-dimensional magic."

"WE DIDN'T EXPECT YOU TO!"

"Don't get angry."

"Well, I have my Archive," Hibiki acknowledged, pulling up the ovular screen in mid-air thoughtfully. "It holds a pretty vast collection of knowledge in it's depths. I could look through to see if I could find anything useful. And for everyone else there's the Magic Library of course."

"Anything you could dig up with be great," Macao nodded. "Absolutely anything at all, even the smallest detail."

"There's one other important thing that I think everyone's overlooking here," Lyon said. "You're saying that you don't want the Magic Council to find out about this?"

"If at all possible," Macao sighed. "We don't want to risk them deciding to just let our fellow members stay trapped."

"You should put more faith in the Magic Council than that," Jura frowned. "They may be rather officious and self-important but they are not bad at heart. If push came to shove, I am certain the majority of them would vote not to let Fairy Tail remain in enforced exile."

"Maybe, but you can't deny they would not be happy about the idea of us building a large magical device like this. And it's not just them. There are other people we'd like to keep from knowing about all this, like Twilight Ogre. Not to mention the Dark Guilds. Grimoire Heart may still be out there, not to mention Tartaros. And if Zeref heard about this… what if he decided to act on it himself?"

There was a heavy silence after that, but they knew Macao was right. It probably would be better if word didn't get out until at least after their lost comrades had been brought back."

"Well then," Lyon continued. "Where exactly do you intend to build this thing? Out the back of your guild? In the middle of a field somewhere? If it's as big as you claim it to be, where you would you build it where it could still remain a secret?"

"…That… is actually a good point," Mystogan mused. "We'll have to figure that out as well. But for now, our most important step is figuring out how to alter the Anima's current plans. Once we do that, we can work everything else out from there."

"Well then," said a voice from the open doorway behind them. "If that's the case, I'd like to be of help as well."

Startled heads turned to see a young woman in a white minidress, with long green hair and wearing a golden tiara across her forehead. Standing behind her was a tall man with shaggy black hair and heavy looking armour and a couple of other guards, but it was the woman who drew most of the assembled mage's attention.

"Princess Hisui?" Jura gaped, and everyone who didn't know who she was until he spoke immediately hit the floor with their lower jaws. "What are you doing here?"

"I heard about what's going on. I happened to be there when Yukino Aguria-san delivered a letter from Lucy Heartfilia to her father, explaining everything about this alternate universe they're stuck in," the Princess explained. "But let me see if I understood what I just overheard correctly. You have the plans for a machine that can open portals between worlds, but it won't work without some alterations to bring them home, correct?"

"…Yes… that's right…" Mystogan nodded slowly, having already pulled his former mask back on as soon as he realised they had company.

"Well then…" Hisui smiled. "I can't guarantee anything… but it's possible that I might have a solution."