Dance of the Fairies, Flight of the Phoenix
Chapter 61:- Eclipse Anima
Ten minutes earlier…
"Are we sure that we want to approach them directly like this, Princess?" Arcadios asked as Hisui's little entourage approached the rugged guildhall, quickly shooing chickens out of the way as he went. "You know as well as I do how imperative it is that this project remain a secret. It is forbidden magic after all. Is it wise to walk in now and more or less give that magic to guild wizards?"
"Wise?" Hisui asked stoically. "…No, perhaps it is not wise. But I'm going to do it nonetheless. Yes, the Eclipse Project must remain under wraps as much as possible but there are two very important facts that spur me to make this decision now. Firstly, we can achieve the best results if we have all twelve of the Golden Zodiac Keys to assist us and ten of them are trapped in this other world along with their current owner. If we find a way to bring Lucy Heartfilia back to this world, then when the time comes she will be here to help us alongside Yukino Aguria."
"That is true, though pseudo Celestial Spirit Magic should do the job in its place," Arcadios pointed out.
"But not as well. And not to mention it would also risk the life of whoever uses it," Hisui said. "But there's a more important second reason as to why I'm doing this. Because… it's the right thing to do. I don't think I could sleep at night, knowing there might be something I could do to help this thoroughly downtrodden guild, to help Jude's daughter reunite with her father, and yet I did nothing about it. I won't have it. There's no guarantee that what we have to offer will even work… but at the very least I intend to try."
Arcadios was rendered momentarily speechless at Hisui's impassioned words before finally he chuckled, "I suppose it would be foolish of me to expect any less of you, Princess. But still, we must be careful with our choice of words. It would be best if they didn't know about your first reason for assisting."
"True," Hisui nodded. "Don't worry, I'll be as discrete as I can.
In the present…
"A solution?" Romeo blurted out, forgetting for a moment he was in the presence of his own country's royalty. "You think you have something that can help bring everyone back home?"
"I hope so," Hisui smiled. "I make no promises, but I can most definitely try. Though I was not expecting to hear that you already had something in mind to help you cross between dimensions. How did you come by these plans?"
Mystogan hesitated, wondering what he should say in this moment, but before he could say anything at all Coco had burst forward to come to a juddering halt right in front of Hisui, stars shining in her eyes. "You're a Princess!?" she squealed in giddy excitement, as if she was a twelve year old girl all over again. "A real live genuine Princess?"
Fortunately this wasn't the first time Hisui had encountered behaviour like this, so she took it in her stride. "Indeed I am," she smiled. "What's your name?"
"My name's Coco. Wow, this is so exciting. This is like history in the making right now. Earthland's princess and Edolas' king in the exact same room! I can hardly believe it!"
"King?" Hisui blinked, but before she could enquire further Erza Knightwalker stepped forwards and lowered herself to one knee, bowing her head respectfully.
"It is a honour to be in your presence, my Lady," she said. "Please, allow me to introduce myself. I am Erza Knightwalker, Captain of the First Brigade of the Edolas Royal Army."
"Hold on," Arcadios suddenly frowned. "I recognise you… you are the Titania, are you not? I thought that your name was Erza Scarlet."
"No… I am afraid you are mistaken," Knightwalker said. "I am not your Titania. And yet, I suppose I am, for I am an Erza from another world - your Titania's doppelgänger if you would. And I must apologise for being on your lands without first receiving permission from you, but given the nature of our arrival through a portal it was impossible for us to do so. I do hope you will not take this as an act of war."
"…No… no, it's okay," Hisui said, rather perplexedly. "You are forgiven… Captain Erza. And… the King?"
Mystogan sighed, knowing there was nothing for it now. "That would be me," he said, stepping forwards besides his Captain. "I am the King of Edolas, and the plans for the portal machine are my own. It was my father's invention actually, when he was King before me."
"If you are a King then why do you hide your face?" Arcadios asked dubiously.
"Because… unfortunately my Earthland doppelgänger is a wanted fugitive. But I assure you, he and I are not the same man," Mystogan sighed as he pulled his mask down. Arcadios instantly recognised his visage and tensed, his hand seizing the hilt of his sword, with only Mystogan's previous words keeping him from drawing it, as well as the immediate support from Jura.
"I can guarantee you that he speaks the truth, Captain," the Wizard Saint said. "He does not even have any magical power within his own body."
He chose not to mention what he had heard about Earthland Jellal and how in truth he did not deserve the blame for the many crimes he had committed. Things were already complicated enough as it was without bringing that into play as well.
"Indeed," Mystogan nodded, bowing his head lightly. "It is my pleasure to meet you, your Grace."
"…Likewise, your Grace," Hisui smiled, adjusting to her surprise quickly and trying to get back on track. "It's always a delight to meet the monarch of another country, and this is a most unexpected meeting."
"That's an understatement. Doubtless we have much to talk about with regard to our separate countries, but for now I think it best if we focus on the Anima."
"That is the name of your portal machine?"
"Yes. It is the magic of the Anima that allowed us to cross from our world to yours. But as it is now, it will not work to return Fairy Tail to where they belong."
He gave Hisui a brief rundown of the quantum mechanics that would need to be addressed in order to make the Anima work in this instance, and Hisui digested the overload of information quickly and efficiently.
"I see," she said, once he had finished. "This is quite fortuitous then. You have a far more cohesive plan already than I had when I walked in here. But… if I understood all that you just said correctly, it is possible that I might have exactly what you need to alter the designs of your Anima for this project."
"And what would that be?" Mystogan asked, as most of the rest of the room watched in awed silence, unsure whether they should be contributing to this meeting of the royals or not.
But Hisui abruptly included them all in the conversation by looking around and asking, "Have any of you ever heard of the Eclipse Gate?"
Her response was mostly blank faces, but Hisui's expression did get a response from Hibiki, who cupped his chin in one hand thoughtfully. "That name is familiar," he said. "I believe I read about it in my Archive once, but all that it said was it was an old legend about a great door that would somehow change the world if the Twelve Zodiac Spirit Keys were ever united. But it didn't specify anything as to how or why or what it even was."
"Well, I know exactly what it is," Hisui said as Arcadios reached into a bag he'd been carrying and pulled out a thick and ancient looking book which he passed to the Princess. Hisui strode over to a table and hefted the book down atop it, allowing those closest to it to see the word 'Eclipse' scrawled in faded gold on the front cover.
"The Eclipse Gate is meant to be a magical device created by the Black Mage Zeref four-hundred years ago," Hisui said. "According to the legends, it has the ability to let people travel through time. And this book contains detailed instructions on how to build it."
"…Say what!?" Lyon blinked, which pretty much summed up everyone's thoughts in that moment, bar the Edolas people that didn't really know who Zeref was.
"Zeref created something that could allow time travel?" Macao breathed. "What could he have wanted to make such a thing for?"
"That part I don't know," Hisui shook her head. "All I know is that he did, and this book is proof of it."
"Why are you in possession of such a book?" Jura frowned. "Shouldn't an artefact created by Zeref have been handed over to the Magic Council upon its discovery?"
"Only if its a dangerous one. But this book doesn't contain any evil magic or a demon like the vast majority of Zeref's books do. This one is merely filled with theory and instructions and is thus not a threat to anyone. And it is quite safe at the library of the Mercurius Palace," Hisui replied smoothy.
"This is truly fascinating," Hibiki opened the book and thumbed through a couple of the pages thoughtfully. "A whole host of information that can't be found anywhere in my Archive. But… I don't quite see how this is relevant to our current situation, Your Highness."
"That's what I was thinking," Sherry nodded. "Surely we need something that would help us travel through space, not time."
"Ah, but the Eclipse Gate does both. In a way," Hisui explained, taking the book from Hibiki and flicking through it until she reached a certain page, depicting a massive door bordered by twelve odd looking keys. The Twelve Keys of the Zodiac!
"The magic that allows the portal to function is one created by Zeref, but he combined it with Celestial Spirit Magic to make time travel easier," she explained. "When the gate is opened, it breaks into the Spirit World's boundary line. Did you know that time in the Celestial Spirit World runs slower than time in our own?"
"That's correct," Hibiki supplemented. "One day in the Celestial Spirit World is equivalent to three months in our world."
"Really? Wow, I never knew that," Warren frowned. "That means an entire year in our world is just four days for them! So that means even though it's been over six years for us since Tenroujima was apparently destroyed… it hasn't even been a month yet for the Spirits? Dang…"
"Indeed, but even though the Spirit World's time runs slower, the Spirits themselves are timeless," Hisui nodded. "They have the ability to perceive time at any speed they choose, so many choose to perceive time at the same rate as the human world. That means that even though they really only know their owners for a relatively short time in their world, they technically know their owners for as long as their owner knows them too. It's best not to think about it too hard, but that's why Spirits can grow to know their owners over ten years while it only being a couple of weeks for them in reality."
"That's amazing," Sherry breathed.
"It doesn't make sense and yet makes sense at the same time," Max frowned. "How weird is that?"
"Anyway," Hisui got back on track. "The Eclipse Portal punches through to the Celestial Spirit World's boundary line and travels back in time across that before punching back into the human world to the equivalent time period there. It takes a massive amount of magic to time travel back even a little, but using the time difference between this world and the Spirit World would theoretically allow someone to go back further with less magic power. It's quite ingenious if you think about it. One could use the portal to travel one year back through the Spirit World and emerge about eighty-four years back in the human world."
"I think I see where you're coming from with this," Mystogan said, stepping forwards to pour over the book right alongside Hisui. "This gate uses the Spirit World as a bypass to make time travel possible. But if we take that particular aspect of it and apply it to our Anima…"
"We could also use the Celestial Spirit World as a bypass, but one to reach other dimensions instead," Hisui concluded. "We already know that portals can be opened from the Spirit World to both the universes in question - the fact Lucy can summon her Spirits where she is is proof of that. The only reason they can't come back through the Spirit World right now is because of the limitations of the Gate Keys."
"So we could force open a portal of our own that would use the Spirit World's boundary line like a tunnel to drag anything we want across in either direction! That is genius!" Mystogan's eyes lit up with excitement. "I don't believe it! Princess Hisui, I think this is could actually work."
"And you're most welcome," Hisui smiled. "If we work together, I'm sure we can figure out a way to combine aspects of the Eclipse to your Anima. It'll be tricky - for instance the Eclipse Gate requires the power equivalent to all Twelve Golden Zodiac Keys to work and there are currently only two in this world, but I'm certain we can figure it out. And not to mention, you now have the full backing of the Royal Treasury. Anything you need to build the Eclipse Anima, we will happily provide you with it."
"YYYYEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" A cheer rang up throughout the guildhall, each of the three present guilds contributing to the din. Despite so many complicated hurdles to overcome when it came to dimension travelling, they were clambering over every one! Every time they felt despair under the weight of yet another problem, they were able to figure it out! And with this last proclamation, it seemed like almost all of those problems had been solved in one go!
"Who would have thought, that so soon after I arrived in this world, the answer to our problems would just walk in through the front door like that," Mystogan chuckled as he held out his hand for Hisui to shake.
"Some might call it a coincidence," Hisui said as she took it. "Others would say that the universe itself might want Fairy Tail to return. I don't know which one it is, but it doesn't matter either way. Together, we can bring them home."
"A fortuitous day this is indeed!" Ichiya cried from atop the nearest table. "This calls for an impromptu party!"
"Hold on," Lyon slammed his hand down on the table to all but knock Ichiya off it before that party could start. "There's still one thing left we need to decide. The same thing I asked before. Where the heck are we going to build this thing anyway?"
"That part can most likely wait until we've made the amendments to the design," Mystogan suggested. "For all we know those amendments will determine how big the device will be."
"For now I suggest that we send everything we've learned to Yukino," Macao said. "So that she can relay it to the others through the Spirit World. If there's anything any of you want to specifically say to the people on the other side, now would be a good time to send it."
"I feel bad for Yukino," Alzack murmured. "She'll have to re-write anything we send to her on Spirit paper with Spirit ink just so that it will get through."
"But she did say she'd be glad to do it," Bisca smiled. "She's a good girl, but all the same it would probably be best to keep the information as brief as possible."
"I've got one or two things I'd like to say to Gray," Lyon chuckled. "Mostly about how much out of his league I am now but… there are one or two other things I suppose."
"After that I suggest you all return to your own guilds until we need your help with the construction of the Eclipse Anima," said Mystogan. "If we're going to keep this a secret we don't want to gather together for too long."
"Agreed," Jura nodded. "But we will be there when we're needed."
"Meeeeen… so… do we get that party or not?" Ichiya asked, sliding back into the middle of the group.
"Feel free," Hisui smiled. "But King… Jellal… and myself have some work to do I think."
Yukino was mildly surprised to find a pile of letters all wrapped together in a single elastic band when she got hope from the guildhall the following day, but her face lit up with delight and fascination when she read them out. They might actually have a way to bring Lucy and the others back, and from the sound of it, she might have even more of a role to play in it all than just a message courier if Celestial Spirit Magic was to be used.
"The Eclipse Gate… the door to change the world is real…" she whispered. "It's just like the legend… perhaps it really will bring the twelve keys together one day."
There wasn't much she could do in helping to construct the thing though, not with Master Jiemma constantly searching for any signs of dissent amongst his members. She might have to find another chance to slip away when the project was completed. But for now she quickly got to work on what she could do from home and penned out the rest of the messages. Most of them were rather short… but there was one that took at least a couple of hours to copy out. A particularly long and especially fascinating piece of information… intended for Wendy Marvell.
"Mail call!" Loke cried as he appeared next to Lucy in the Room of Requirement without warning, making her jump three feet into the air. The Lion Spirit flashed a cheeky grin Lucy's way before holding up the wad of papers in his hand and announcing, "We've got some new messages from Earthland. Some of you have even received a personal letter or two from friends back home."
The mages immediately gathered and Lucy read aloud their plan to merge the Anima with functions of the Eclipse Gate to bring them back home one day.
"The Princess of Fiore herself came to our assistance?" Makarov breathed. "My goodness, I haven't seen her since she was just a little girl. I wonder what she must look like now, especially with such a long time missed in the Fairy Sphere."
"I didn't even know Fiore had a princess at all!" Natsu grinned.
"Gods, how out of the loop are you anyway?" Gajeel rolled his eyes. "Do you know anything about your own country?"
"I know that I don't have to be in it to whoop your ass!"
"That's not a fact about the country at all, and it's not even true!"
"The Eclipse Gate," Levy mused. "I don't know where I've heard that before but I think I read about it once… just in passing, and it didn't really go into detail. Have you heard of it Lucy?"
"No, not once," Lucy frowned. "It sounds like an incredible piece of Celestial Spirit Magic and I've never even heard it's name before. Have you, Loke?"
"Oh, I've heard of it," Loke nodded. "But I don't believe that it's ever actually been used to take someone back in time before. As far as I know it was never actually constructed - it was all only theory. I didn't know that information on how to build it even still existed."
"How ironic," Mirajane whispered. "That it's actually a piece of Zeref's magic that might be the key to getting us back to where we belong."
Lisanna suddenly blinked as she felt a distinct rumbling of unease filtering its way into her mind and ended up looking in Natsu's direction. Igneel? she thought. Was that you?
…Yeah, the Fire Dragon coughed. It's… never mind… it's not important.
Have you heard of the Eclipse Gate before?
…Yeah… I've heard of it. It was one of the few things that Zeref created which didn't end up causing massive damage to the world.
Everything else caused such calamity, Grandine interjected. The Etherious demons, the R-system… your sister is right. It is oddly fortuitous that Zeref created something that could actually be helpful to us for a change.
Heck, it could even be the key to helping us defeat Acnologia… by getting us back home… if you think about it like that, Metalicana agreed slowly.
I suppose… in a way it could, Lisanna agreed. Though she got the distinct impression that the dragons were being… a little careful with their choice of words there. But before she could decide whether to pry any further or not, her attention was taken by what Lucy said next.
"Yukino says that the only thing they don't have yet is a good place to build the thing, where the Council is unlikely to find it."
"Well, ideally it would be nice if we could have it somewhere close to where Tenroujima is supposed to be," Makarov said. "If we bring the island back to its true dimension, it should go back to the same spot it was before if at all possible."
Suddenly Erza gasped loudly, drawing everyone's attention to her. She was staring at a piece of paper that Loke had handed to her, eyes wide and her hands shaking slightly.
"Erza?" Natsu asked quickly. "What's wrong?"
"…It's…" Erza whispered, lowering the paper and staring almost blankly at a nearby wall. "It's Jellal."
"What about him?" Lucy breathed, her heart going into her throat as she remembered the last time she herself had seen Jellal, being taken away by the forces of the Magic Council and told there was a chance he would actually be executed for the crimes he'd committed whilst possessed. "Is… is he…?"
"He's escaped," Erza said. "According to Bisca… Jellal was broken out of the Magic Council's prison over five years ago. And he's been on the run ever since."
"Really? That's awesome!" Natsu beamed. "Way better than rotting away in some dank old Council cell. I've been in one of them," he shivered. "It's boring as hell in those things, let me tell you."
"I think there's more reasons to be glad about it than Jellal being able to keep himself entertained," Gray muttered dryly.
"Still, it's definitely great! Isn't it, Erza?" Lucy smiled brightly at the transfixed redhead.
"…Yes," a faint smile made its way onto Erza's picturesque face. "Yes, it is."
In truth, Erza felt conflicted. On the one hand, it was fantastic that Jellal was out. After spending so long trapped in his own mind, at least he had freedom at long last. But on the other hand it was not true freedom. He was forced to remain on the run, no doubt constantly hunted by the Magic Council and never able to settle anywhere. And they would be even more sure of his guilt now than before, if that was at all possible, since he broke out instead of serving his time. But then again his time would have been for life, so he would never have had a chance to earn his redemption in any other way… it was a tight little knot of pros and cons…
…but perhaps one of the biggest cons was that Jellal probably believed, as with the rest of the world, that Erza was dead. And what if he'd regained his memories in the gap where they were gone? What had he been doing? What had he been thinking? Was he even still alive? Erza had no way of knowing any of it.
She decided to talk to Sirius about it later. Ask him what kinds of things he'd done when he'd been on the run by himself.
Wiping a tiny tear out of her eye before it could properly form, Erza straightened her back and said, "Yes. You're right… it's great news. And… it has given me an idea. An idea about where our comrades might be able to build this Eclipse Anima?"
"Where's that?" Elfman asked. "Somewhere manly?"
"…No," Erza shook her head. "Somewhere very much unmanly actually… at the island where the Tower of Heaven used to be."
"Eh!?" Lucy gasped. "Erza, are you sure? That place holds so many bad memories for so many people. Yourself more than just about anyone!"
"I know," Erza said, clenching her fist resolutely. "It's the place where Rob-ojichan died. It's the place where Simon died. And the Tower of Heaven was created in the name of reviving Zeref. But that's why I think it would be a great place. It's an island so it could work in getting Tenroujima back where it needs to be. But more than anything, it's the place where I first heard about Fairy Tail and so it's the place that, for better or for worse, set me on my path with all of you today. It will be both ironic and fitting to build a machine that uses Zeref's magic there that will this time be used for good. And to set all of us back on the path to home."
"…I really cannot argue with that logic," Gray murmured, with a light smile.
"Nor can Juvia," Juvia whispered. "The Tower of Heaven was the first time that Juvia joined up with and helped Fairy Tail. Despite the predominantly bad memories of the place, it has good ones too. Juvia believes that perhaps its time to create more of the good memories there."
"Not to mention the Magic Council managed to miss the construction of a massive tower on that island for a full eight years," Lucy agreed. "They'll probably miss the construction of a smaller machine now. I'll let them know the idea, Erza. If that's okay with you."
"Yes," Erza smiled. "Please do. Juvia is right. Let's turn the purpose of that island around and wipe the vestiges of evil from it for good."
"…And… Jellal?" Lucy asked. "Should I ask any of them to… look for him? To let him know about us?"
Erza was quiet for a moment before replying. "Jellal is in the wind. I find it very doubtful that any of them will be able to find him for us if he's been eluding the Magic Council for so long."
"You're probably right," Lucy sighed. "Still, I hope he's doing okay."
"Hmmmm…" Gray hummed to himself as he read briefly through a letter that he himself had been given. His facial expression tightened somewhat, which Juvia was quick to take note of. "Is something wrong, Gray-sama?"
"…It's nothing important," Gray shrugged, folding the paper up. "Just a letter from Lyon?"
"Your old friend?" Juvia asked. "Forgive me, Gray-sama, but it didn't look like nothing. You look troubled."
"I'm fine," Gray looked away. "It's just… apparently Jellal isn't the only one in the wind. Lyon just said that Ultear and her little pink-haired friend Meredy are still out there somewhere. But there's nothing I can do about that from here so why dwell on it?"
Juvia bit her lip. Clearly Gray was a little worried, which was perfectly understandable considering who Ultear was. To her great surprise, Juvia's mind didn't immediately drop into a terrified fantasy about Gray choosing Ultear over her or something like that - all she felt was concern for him. Seeing the fake Ultear on Tenroujima recently had been a jarring experience for him. And the same could be said of her seeing the fake Meredy.
"Juvia wonders what Meredy looks like now," she whispered. "After so long… Juvia might not even recognise her if we met again. She might even be a little older than Juvia now! But… it's good to know that for now at least they're both okay, isn't it Gray-sama?"
"…Yeah," Gray nodded, his face slowly transitioning from concern to satisfaction - not quite a smile but pretty close. "Yeah, I suppose it is."
Juvia did smile, pleased that she could at least comfort him to some extent. But as she debated whether or not to try and continue the conversation, Wendy gasped. Loke had passed her a particularly thick wad of papers, and the little Sky Dragon Slayer's eyes were wide as saucers as she read through what was on the first page.
"Wendy?" Charla asked quickly. "Are you alright?"
"I… I don't… believe it…" Wendy whispered, her voice going just that little bit hoarse and her hands trembling enough to practically rattle the pages. "Charla… I… I don't…"
Charla quickly decided to take the initiative and hovered quickly up to Wendy's height to read the letter as best she could over her shoulder. "Wendy, you and I have never met before but I have heard about you. My name is Porlyusica, and I was once a member of the Fairy Tail guild. Now I serve as it's apothecary, and was the primary source of healing arts for the guild until you came along. Makarov told me that you had joined the guild, but the truth is I heard about you long before that. You may have heard I am from Edolas by this point, but what you don't know is that I am the Edolas version of your mother, the Sky Dragon… GRANDINE!" The cat's eyes bugged out of her head, as did approximately every other person in the room.
"WHA!?" Natsu cried. "The old lady's a dragon!? What the heck?"
"That… that doesn't make any sense!" protested Gray.
"Doesn't it?" Pantherlily asked, though he look no less shocked than the others. "Edolas has no dragons at all just as Earthland had no Exceed before we arrived, but it wouldn't be the first case where someone from Earthland is a different species on Edolas, or need I remind you of Nichiya?"
"Please, don't make me think about that," shivered Erza. "But… I had no idea. Porlyusica… and Grandine… now that I think about it I suppose its fitting since she's practiced in the healing arts like Wendy," her hand strayed to her fake eye in astonishment. "But still…"
"Did you know about this, Gramps?" Natsu turned around wildly. "Did you know your old girlfriend was a dragon!"
"…I did not," Makarov looked absolutely stumped. "I've known Porlyusica for a great many years but… she failed to mention that!"
Lisanna focused her eyes on the back of Wendy's head and whispered Is it true? in her mind.
It is indeed, Grandine's voice echoed back and that was when it clicked in Lisanna's head. The Sky Dragon had always sounded oddly familiar to her, but now she realised where from. She hadn't seen or spoken to Porlyusica since before she'd been taken to Edolas, but the voice was definitely the same. I was as surprised as you when I learned about a parallel world where a human version of me lived. But I have a feeling I know why she's telling Wendy this now.
"There's more," Charla said and began to read again. "You might think it strange that I have decided to tell you this via letter, but in truth I have a promise to keep. You see, thirteen years ago Grandine got in touch with me via telepathy. I have never met her in person but she asked me to do her a favour and write down a couple of high-level Sky Dragon Slayer spells that she did not have time to teach you before she disappeared and give them to you if we ever crossed paths. She referred to them as Secret Dragon Slayer Arts, which include the Shattering Light: Sky Drill and the Milky Way Spells. I have enclosed the details I wrote down for her with this letter and I hope you will be able to make use of them. And while I may not be a fan of humans, I do hope that you and I will be able to meet in person one day. Best wishes to you all, Porlyusica."
"Well, how do you like that?" Gajeel smirked. "You wanted some proof that your mother's still out there kid? I'd say this qualifies."
"Didn't have time to teach you," Freed mused. "From the way she wrote that, it almost sounds like the dragons were forced to leave for some reason."
"What could possibly force a dragon to do anything?" Evergreen breathed.
"I don't know," Freed continued. "But this definitely proves that they must have had a good reason for doing what they did, even if its hard to fathom what that reason might be. If Grandine sought a way to keep teaching Wendy even when she couldn't be there to do it, that proves that she most definitely still cares. But why she and the others would leave, I have no clue."
Smart man that one, Grandine said, and Lisanna could practically feel her smile.
Hopefully not too smart, Metalicana added gruffly. If he figures out we're in here and tells them that would be a disaster.
Ah, not to worry Metali. Nobody would ever guess that we'd decide to implant ourselves in our foster children's bodies, Igneel chuckled. After all our reasons were pretty complicated ones.
You realise this is the same guy that prevented our sons from getting out of his rune barrier designed to keep out people over eighty, right? You know as well as I do that happened because of us.
…Good point… Er, Lisanna, could you do us another favour and keep an eye on that one. Just in case.
Good idea, Lisanna murmured, and ended up glancing in Levy's direction. The bookworm also appeared to be in deep thought, mulling over Freed's words. She was definitely another one who could potentially figure it out if anyone could. So she quickly decided to distract their attention by walking right over to Wendy and placing her hand on the young Slayer's shoulder.
"Well there you go, Wendy," she beamed as she crouched down beside. "Now it looks like I've got a study partner, which is great cos I really hate studying. But you and I can learn more about our dragon powers together, right?"
"…Yeah…" Wendy hiccoughed, her eyes brimming with tears but her face filled with naught but utter joy. "Yeah, I guess we can! I can't believe it… she's really still looking out for me even when she's not here! I… I need to send Porlyusica a thank you letter! Thank you… thank you Porlyusica! And thank you Grandine!"
She hugged Lisanna tightly, and Lisanna returned the gesture as Wendy cried into her shoulder which lead to many bright grins from around the room and seemed to have worked in getting Freed and Levy off their current train of thought, at least for now. Lisanna ached to tell Wendy that Grandine was a heck of a lot closer than she thought, but she held herself back. She needed to make sure she was ready by the time that Wendy learned that little piece of information.
"So…" said a voice from nearby, which turned out to be Harry's. He and several other members of the DA had turned up in the middle of all that, but had decided not to interrupt the important conversation. "It sounds like you've got a way back home lined up then? Does that mean you might be leaving us?"
"Not yet," Lucy shook her head. "According to Mystogan, the Eclipse Anima would take several months to complete. After all they don't just have to redesign it and build it - they also have to collect enough magic power for it to be able to work. But yeah… it looks like we will have a way to get back home at some point."
"That's brilliant," Hermione smiled. "I'm really happy for you guys."
"Let's just hope that we can beat Voldemort and Morgana somehow before that happens, right?" Ron murmured.
"Oh, don't worry about that," Natsu grinned, slamming his fist into his palm. "After all, Grimoire Heart's here too. We can't go back to our world before we whoop their asses all over again! And even if they weren't here we'd still stay so we can help knock all this Voldemort guy's teeth teeth out! So we've got a few months before we'll be able to get home? I say we make sure we take out our enemies before that time comes, right?"
"Easier said than done," Gray snorted.
"But he's right nonetheless," Erza agreed with a much broader smile than before. "Now we have yet another incentive for bringing them down with all the speed we can muster. And for as long as we're still here, all of our efforts will be set towards bringing this world to peace."
"Good to know," Harry chuckled. "Speaking of which, we've got another meeting to start tonight? You guys okay with chipping in to help train us again?"
Natsu's grin was practically fearsome. "Not a problem at all!"
Things began to settle down into a more regular routine after that. The Order of the Phoenix followed through on Harry's promise and approached the Greengrass family, who were initially reluctant to accept help until Daphne herself contacted them and told them of the promise Harry had made to keep them out of Voldemort's grasp. Upon accepting, they were offered a chance to live at Grimmauld Place, but they declined and were thus given a separate safe house with full Fidelius Charm protection - Dumbledore acting as the Secret Keeper and telling nobody but Daphne and Astoria where they had been moved.
With Umbridge finally gone, the school began to return to as normal as it could be under the circumstances, but as expected the DA continued to meet regularly to train with Fairy Tail. Now that they no longer had to sneak around quite so much to do it, they were able to come by much more often and intermingle with the Fairy Tail mages outside of training, allowing them to get to know those that they hadn't spent much time with a lot better.
And the same went for the Order. Despite the convenience of the Room of Requirement, Fairy Tail didn't spend all their time there. They frequently went to visit Grimmauld Place, and often they popped over to Tenroujima - more confident in its safety now that Kilgharrah and Aithusa had taken up residence there. Days began to fill up with things like Erza casually playing Wizard's Chess games with Ron or Sirius, Tonks and Mirajane having miniature Transformation contests with each other, Evergreen comparing beauty tips with Fleur, Freed and Bill adamantly discussing the various kinds of runes they knew and teaching the other how to read them, and Gildarts trying to convince Lupin and Mr. Weasley to let themselves loose a little more and have a drink or two.
Wendy found herself growing particularly close with Mrs. Weasley. Despite her gratitude to Grandine for sending her the notes on new Dragon Slayer abilities, which she began to work on straight away, she also felt her sorrow at her mother's absence rekindling as well. And Mrs. Weasley actually helped a little in that regard. She seemed to treat everyone in Fairy Tail - even Makarov and Gildarts - as if they were her own children and fussed over their health and well-being whenever they were around. All of them were grateful for her kindness, but Wendy in particular sought to repay it by helping her out whenever possible.
Other close relationships began to form between the respective groups too. Hermione could spend hours pouring over various books with Levy and Lucy, educating them about the various aspects of their world and finding their reactions to it just as fascinating as the reading. Pantherlily kept hanging out with Luna in the Ravenclaw Common Room even though the need for Exceed spies around the castle had now vanished. And Makarov made a trip out into the Forbidden Forest to help Hagrid with his half-brother at least twice a week. Not to mention Fred and George would spend a great deal of time with Cana and/or Bickslow, planning out ideas for their future joke shop.
Ginny ended up getting closest to Lisanna; their mutual love of animals, particularly cats, giving them much to talk about. Not to mention they were both the younger sisters in their respective families, though Lisanna claimed that technically everyone in Fairy Tail was family so she arguably had a bigger one than Ginny - an observation that amused the Weasley girl greatly. And interest in creatures also brought together two of their other family members - Charlie would spend a great deal of time with Elfman, eager to learn everything about the various creatures present on Earthland.
And Harry… well, he found himself growing close with almost all of them but if he had a best friend amongst them, it would probably have been Natsu. The Fire Dragon Slayer's personality was a direct contrast to his own. He rarely worried about much while Harry worried about everything, but that was what made him quite refreshing to be around. Not to mention Harry's gratitude to him for getting him out of his previous depression and the fact that Natsu had managed to keep his Horcrux secret to himself as promised.
Of the Fairy Tail mages, only Gajeel spent barely any time socialising. The Iron Dragon Slayer still spent much of his time alone or just with Lily… and occasionally with Levy although he didn't say much to her whenever that happened. Most of the DA and the Order didn't particularly try to approach him either. He seemed quite happy by himself and honestly… most of them were a bit too intimidated by him to get close.
And then there was Laxus. He was somewhere in the middle, in that he would often hang around near the others and listen in to their conversations but he rarely contributed to them. Still, over time, the DA and Order started to grow accustomed to his looming presence and gradually began to try engaging him a little more in the talking. Laxus would answer their questions, but usually only with one or two sentences at most and he wouldn't ask any in return. Still, it was enough for them to at least feel comfortable next to him… sort of.
Things at the school settled into a much more regular routine. Horace Slughorn arrived shortly after Umbridge's expulsion and proceeded to make potions classes much more enjoyable than they'd previously been. Harry proved to be better under his tutelage than he had been under Snape's by quite some margin, as did several of the other members of the class including Neville.
Before his arrival, Dumbledore had surreptitiously told Harry to humour him a little if Slughorn tried to recruit him to his own personal Slug Club - it would be a good way of showing gratitude after he'd agreed to divulge his memory of his conversation with Riddle about Horcruxes. And true to form, Slughorn immediately tried to get close to Harry and Harry found him to be a bit bumbling but generally a very friendly man. So much so that he was stunned to learn that he had been a Slytherin.
"I admit my house had definitely had a rocky history with the others as of late," Slughorn said uncomfortably when Harry brought it up. "But I can assure you that back when I was a student we were… far more amicable. It's quite tragic really, to hear of the hostilities that have brewed up in that house since the rise of You-Know-Who. The divide now truly is a great one."
"So it seems," Harry muttered. Though it did make sense. After all, Voldemort's obsession with Purebloods definitely made Slytherin the best house for him to pick his followers from and everything could have quickly been soured from there. And he had a pair of Slytherins in the DA that were living proof that peace could still be made. Daphne still didn't associate with the others much, preferring to keep her distance and do her own thing, but Astoria was massively ingratiating herself into their ranks. She was becoming fast friends with Wendy and Charla, the Creevey brothers and even with Mavis, who seemed to empathise with her about being under a curse… for some reason.
Defence Against the Dark Arts classes were also very different now. Much as Harry still hated Snape's guts, he was an improvement over Umbridge in that he at least taught them useful things and allowed them to practice in his lessons. Harry still wished someone like Lupin could have taken the classes again, but he could at least settle for this over pointless reading. Even though Snape still had a nasty habit of singling him out in class quite often, especially when he was sure Harry wouldn't know the answer.
"You might want to learn this a bit more thoroughly if you want to teach it yourself after class, Potter," was an example of the things he might say whenever Harry sat there looking stumped and embarrassed. Harry growled and almost lost his temper several times, but he was able to hold back this time. He didn't need any more detentions and at least Snape wasn't denying a thing about Voldemort. He'd just have to stomach it.
The only other noticeable difference at the school was Draco Malfoy. He was starting to regain some of his usual swagger and self-importance, and went back to heckling Harry and the others in the corridors wherever possible. He still wasn't as arrogant as he was before but he was definitely starting to shrug off his former worries. And Harry couldn't help but wonder how much he knew about his parents' new allies. Did he know Morgana was back? Did he know about Grimoire Heart? Draco had always been somewhat in the know about the Death Eaters' plans through his father, and perhaps learning about the powerful forces rallying up against Fairy Tail made him feel more confident that his parents would be okay.
Though clearly he still worried. Which was more than could be said of the other Slytherins. Crabbe and Goyle looked as trollish and indifferent as ever, while Pansy Parkinson seemed to be trying to fill the gap that Umbridge had left behind by being as obnoxious as possible and trying to abuse her position as prefect to the maximum. Several times Hermione caught Pansy trying to follow her around the school and had to cut into a secret passageway to throw her off.
The Ministry was still on the hunt for Fairy Tail of course, but there'd been significantly less things about them in the paper recently. For once, the plan to go to ground and stay out of trouble seemed to be working now that they had the Room of Requirement to let themselves loose in.
But that wasn't the only thing. Rufus Scrimgeour brought great hope with him when he turned up at the Hog's Head and revealed that Amelia Bones had been constantly pressing Fudge about arranging a meeting with Fairy Tail to discuss things properly rather than relentlessly pursuing them and that to everyone's surprise, it had actually worked. Perhaps something Harry had said about not looking at things at face value had had an effect on Fudge, but eventually decreed that if Fairy Tail managed to go two whole months without causing panic and destruction anywhere, he would extend them an invitation to meet and talk.
It was a big step and they all knew it.
"Two months without destroying things?" Lucy murmured with an expression utterly deadpan. "That's definitely a tall order for many of us."
"But a simple enough one to follow as long as none of us use magic outside the Room of Requirement," Erza replied.
"Uuuugh, this place is great and all but do we really have to stay cooped up in it for two whole months?" Natsu whined. "I miss the wind."
"If you want wind then just get Wendy to roar at you," Gray snorted. "I'd rather be out and about too but if we can finally get this stupid manhunt over and done with then I'm all for it."
"Long as the booze keeps coming I'm happy," Cana chuckled, quaffing down another Butterbeer.
"At least you won't be stuck in a place that just makes you miserable, like I was," Sirius offered.
"I'd say that you could come to the Burrow if you wanted to get some fresh air every now and then," Mr. Weasley said amicably. "But even though its out in the middle of nowhere someone could turn up there at a moment's notice and see you guys, which wouldn't be ideal."
"We will stay put, and that is final," Makarov said sternly. "We've already got enough of a bad rep with the people of this world. And we will not squander this chance, understood?"
Fairy Tail all agreed, despite the reluctance on the part of some. And Happy very quickly got a lot of death glares when he giggled and boasted about how he could go outside without fear thanks to Mavis' disguise.
All in all though, things just seemed to settle down. Which was both great and extremely worrying at the same time. Because Fairy Tail weren't the only ones keeping themselves hidden. The days ticked on by… on and on… and all without any noticeable activity whatsoever from Morgana, Voldemort or Grimoire Heart!
The Order did their best, prying into what felt like half the dark corners of the country in hopes of hearing something about where they might be or what they could be doing, and yet they came up almost completely empty-handed. Lupin noted that there were some stirrings amongst the werewolf community, as if some of them were getting ready for something, but when he asked around nobody would tell him a thing. But that was really the only real sign there was even an enemy out there at all. Everything else was just white noise.
It was unnerving even to Dumbledore. Voldemort had always been good at hiding in the shadows and going pretty much unseen but he usually left at least some traces behind him that could clue them in to some of his activities if not all. But now he and his Death Eaters were nowhere to be found. He made no contact with Snape, and even Harry had stopped having dreams into Voldemort's mind. It was as if they'd vanished off the face of the earth!
But they were still out there somewhere… and questioning Kilgharrah and Aithusa about what Morgana might be planning had turned out to not be very helpful either.
"Morgana is both subtle and extravagant at the same time," Kilgharrah said. "Depending on what her resources are. When fighting Merlin and Arthur, she would had two different ways of operating. When she was alone, or had very little support, she would work from the shadows like an assassin and seek to undermine and destabilise her enemies individually through trickery and deadly spells inserted into the right places. But when she had an army backing her, she tended to think much bigger and make full-frontal but well placed attacks that either overwhelmed her enemies or caught them completely off guard."
"Well, that doesn't narrow it down by very much," Tonks, who had been the one to ask, muttered. "She does have an army this time though… so I suppose she'll be thinking big right now?"
"Most likely," Aithusa nodded. "Almost definitely in fact. And unlike Voldemort, she prefers not to spread fear and discord before her. Instead she prefers to strike completely without warning. Which is most likely why she's gone to ground to prepare."
"Got any insight into exactly what kind of big move we can expect?"
"There are many things she could try," Kilgharrah stated. "Too many to list, and she has had a great deal of time to think about those options while locked in the Crystal Cave. But one thing is certain. Morgana never, ever makes her final move until she is absolutely certain she can win the day."
It was an unsettling conversation. Clearly Morgana had some kind of master plan she was trying to set up but nobody could begin to guess what her first move would be, let alone the end game. Even Mavis was stumped. There were currently too many potential variables for her to determine what course of action Morgana would take.
"I need to know my enemy more before I can come up with a strategy," Mavis said. "If I know exactly what forces she has, where they are and what their exact objective in the moment is, I should be able to come up with a working plan to counter them. I know what forces she has, but I don't know where they are, and taking over the world is too broad a subject for an objective to come up with an effective counter for it. Until she makes a move, I can't help here. I'm sorry."
"You have no need to apologise, First Master," Makarov hummed. "I am certain that when the time comes, the Fairy Tactician will rear her head in all her glory. But for now, until we learn something else, I suppose we'll just have to play a waiting game."
Fortunately Fairy Tail and their ability to find the fun in most situations was a big help in relieving the tension that would have built up amongst the Order and the DA for as long as the quiet before the storm they all believed they were experiencing remained.
Eventually though the Christmas holidays rolled around, and many of the DA took the opportunity to go home to their families, thus calling off the lessons for now. Among them was Hermione, who hadn't seen her parents for a while. But Harry, Ron and the other Weasleys decided to spend their Christmas at Grimmauld Place with Sirius - which delighted the man no end despite the fact he could technically visit the Room of Requirement whenever he wanted.
And naturally, this meant that most of Fairy Tail also ended up migrating over to the hidden household on regular occasions. They were all rather looking forward to the celebrations.
"I'm surprised you guys have Christmas on your world," Harry said. "In our world, it's technically a holiday to celebrate the birth of a man that a lot of people consider to be the son of God. Is that what it's about in your world?"
"Nah," Natsu grinned, his hands behind his head and his feet up on the table. "It's just a celebration of the winter solstice for us. We don't call it Christmas, and we have another one for the summer solstice. Actually… we have a lot of celebrations."
"Seems to be the way of you guys," Ron laughed. "Always an excuse to party."
"And what's wrong with that?" Mirajane smiled. "Apart from all the broken objects we have to fix that is?"
"Nothing. It's definitely got my approval."
"Dang, I might have to dip into my reserves at Gringott's to get presents for all you guys," Sirius chuckled.
"And I… definitely don't have the money to get presents for everyone," Lupin agreed.
"Oh, screw that," Gray waved it off quickly. "We don't need presents from you guys. You've done too much for us already. Wouldn't feel right to ask you for any more."
"Yeah, and we don't really have anything to offer in return," Wendy pointed out. "Gifts are about giving and I'd feel really bad if we couldn't reciprocate."
"That is somewhat of a relief," laughed Tonks. "Cos I'd really need a bigger salary to get stuff for you all. But you know, there are still some things we can offer you that don't require money."
"Oh yeah? Like what?" Natsu raised a brow.
"You'll see," Sirius smiled enigmatically. "We'll definitely make this a Christmas for everyone to remember."
And they held true to their world. It seemed the Sirius and Mrs. Weasley, neither of whom were in the field very much, had actually pulled together for a change to come up with a few fun ways of getting everyone to have a great day.
Charlie ended up taking the four Dragon Slayers and their Exceed partners on a brief trip to visit his dragon sanctuary in Romania, while the rest of the staff were home with their families for the holiday. Natsu and Wendy in particular were enthralled by the experience as the place was filled with dragons of all species, soaring high above and jostling for position on the cliffs, some of them breathing fire over clutches of eggs that were closely guarding. Even Gajeel ended up smiling as he watched Wendy playing with a baby dragon that seemed to take a liking to her, while Happy ended up fleeing from another and had to be quickly rescued by Laxus creating a lightning bolt to strike the ground between him and the dragon. And he did so without moving his arms at all.
Hagrid took the three Take-Over siblings to a valley deep in the Forbidden Forest that it's resident unicorns enjoyed spending their time in, whinnying to each other and drinking from a stream that almost seemed to sparkle in their presence. Mirajane and Lisanna were completely captivated and seemed to earn the trust of the unicorns immediately, the normally skittish creatures coming right over to them as they approached even without Lisanna trying to use a Take-Over to keep them around. It took a while longer for them to get near Elfman, but eventually even he was feeding one from an entire bale of hay in his arms.
Dumbledore arranged a meeting with the leader of the Merfolk in the Hogwarts Lake and so Juvia was given the chance to spend the day with them, becoming quickly enthralled by their culture and even playing a game of tag with the Giant Squid. She was accompanied by Gray, who was forced to wear a bubble over his head through the whole experience but he was also brought down there because he'd have no trouble with the cold, because Juvia would probably love it even more if he was there and because they really couldn't think of anything that would be more personal to him. But even he ended up enjoying himself greatly and even attracted the interest of a couple of mermaids before Juvia very quickly scared them off.
Gildarts and Cana didn't go anywhere - instead they were treated to their first proper holiday together as father and daughter and stayed at Grimmauld Place with the rest of the Weasleys, Sirius and Harry. Cana tried to act indifferent to it all, but even she teared up a little when Alastor Moody walked in and give her a present that Gildarts had asked him to acquire for him - a personal hip flash like Moody's own but one that was bigger on the inside so it could store a lot of alcohol for long journeys. Mrs. Weasley thought that that was a rather irresponsible thing to get for a woman who clearly drank too much alcohol already, but Cana was touched and actually ended up grabbing Gildarts in a tight hug. After all, it showed that he fully accepted Cana for who she was as his daughter and wasn't going to make any attempt to interfere with her life or change who she was.
Bill gave Freed and Bickslow a private tour of some of the tombs he'd work in before he came back to work at Gringott's bank, while Fleur took Evergreen to see a valley that was absolutely filled to the brim with fairies. And Dumbledore knew of a way for a ghostly or incorporeal person to use a Pensieve, and so he allowed Mavis and Makarov to make use of his own to spend the day visiting Mavis' memories of Makarov's father Yuri, Precht and Warrod Seeken before and after the Fairy Tail guild had been formed.
And Erza… she was given something which at first sounded unusual, but was a lot deeper than it sounded. She was given the chance to ride a broom.
It was Sirius' idea. Over the last couple of months, Erza had opened up to him quite a bit about her time spent as a slave in the Tower of Heaven, Sirius' understanding of what it was like to be imprisoned making him easily able to relate to some of the things Erza had been through. One of those stories was how she'd told her mentor, Old Rob, that one day she'd be like a witch and fly around in the sky on a broomstick. It was an idea she'd never been able to realise before but now Sirius gave her the chance. It hadn't really been a promise… but it still felt like she would be fulfilling one nonetheless.
And Tonks was the one that took her out to Tenroujima with a couple of brooms and taught her how to mount and steer the thing. The two of them were shortly zipping around the island at high speed, and Erza's emotions were soaring higher even than she was. By the time they were done, Erza grabbed hold of Tonks and embraced her for a full five minutes, whispering "Thank you," in her ear over and over again.
But Lucy and Levy actually spent Christmas Day with Hermione at the Granger household, which was judged to be safe since it was very unlikely that Ministry officials would turn up there for really any reason. The Grangers were polite, decent people who were more than happy to put them up for the day. And though they didn't receive any Christmas presents, Lucy and Levy had one in mind for Hermione.
"No, no, really you didn't have to," Hermione said quickly when they announced it. "Like you guys said before, you can't pay for anything in this world."
"No, but we can pay for things back in our own world," Levy smiled. "So, we thought on it together and decided to give you these."
With a flourish, she produced her Gale-Force Reading Glasses from behind her back and handed them over to Hermione, who gaped in astonishment.
"You… you're serious? I can have these?" she whispered hoarsely. She'd seen these glasses in action many times and had even been allowed to use them herself and was stunned and awed by how much reading they let her accomplish. And now they were being given to her!
"Of course," Levy nodded brightly. "I can buy a new pair for myself as soon as we get home.
"We won't be around in this world forever," Lucy agreed. "So we're not just giving you a present, we're giving you a memento. So that when we do eventually have to part ways, you'll have something to remember us by."
"…Thanks guy," Hermione sniffled, and Mr. and Mrs. Granger watched with wide smiles as she embraced both the Fairy Tail girls at the same time. Hermione had always been such a loner in primary school - her habit of butting in with answers and basically trying to always be right often getting on the nerves of the other kids. So it was endearing to see her now with friends that not only accepted her, but understood her too.
Lucy and Levy ended up having such a good time at the Grangers that they actually returned on Boxing Day, after the obligatory Christmas party where Fairy Tail gathered back together in the Room of Requirement on Christmas Night, taking to decision to stay with the Grangers for the rest of the holiday. The days ticked by until eventually, a week later, New Year's Eve rolled around.
"1996," Hermione smiled, the three girls staying up until midnight so they could watch the clock tick over into a brand new year. "Why do I get the distinct impression that this year… is going to be a big one?"
"Cos we're not gone yet?" Levy laughed.
"It's so weird how we have the same month and week system as you guys in our world, but our year system is completely different," Lucy mused. "Heck, I don't even know what month it is back home. I forgot to ask Yukino about it."
"Well, I believe it's a couple of months behind back home if my calculations are correct," Levy mused. "It's probably mid-October in Earthland right now."
"That means we're drawing close to the date when Acnologia attacked the island," Lucy breathed. "In a couple of months it'll be officially seven whole years since we last saw our friends properly."
"You'll get back," Hermione assured them. "It sounds like you've got a lot of good minds working on the problem back home. But… you know… I can't help but hope I'll get a chance to visit your world myself. You guys have told me so much that I feel like I already know it. But I want to experience it for myself. A world where the magical and non-magical mix together… it sounds so free in comparison to all the secrecy in our world."
"Well, if we can sort something out, we'll be happy to show you around," Lucy smiled. "Definitely Magnolia, and probably a little further afield like Hargeon too. Though we don't know if they'll be able to get enough magic power for the Eclipse Anima to make multiple trips back and forth. It could end up being just a single one-way trip."
"…Yeah," Hermione sighed. "But I can hope nonetheless."
"You could always wish upon a star," Levy giggled. "One of the many that Lucy's got in her pocket. After all, they'll be the things helping us get home."
"Ah, but you must be careful what you wish for, little girl," Lucy said, trying to sound like some kind of chubby Fairy Godmother. "Once a wish upon a star is made, it cannot be undone."
The three of them quickly dissolved into giggles.
The following morning the girls got up late and headed downstairs for breakfast, yawning and rubbing the sleep from their eyes, prepared to start the day.
But they weren't prepared at all for what they found when they entered the living room.
Mr. and Mrs. Granger were standing in front of the television, gaping in absolute shock at the news report on the screen. And when Hermione got a look at the title running across the bottom of the screen beneath the stunned news reporter's face, all sleepiness was instantly purged from her body and replaced with absolute horror!
'MAGIC IS REAL! AND IT'S A THREAT!'
"WHAT!?" Hermione cried, running forwards to grab the remote from her father's numb hand and turn the sound up.
"…New Year has got off to an absolutely terrifying start and… honestly… I don't even know where to begin on this one! I… I simply can't believe it myself and yet if I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes," the reporter was saying, his mouth opening and closing and not even attempting to follow a script, if he even had one. "But… for those of you just no joining us… last night at precisely midnight, the annual live event programme held in front of Edinburgh Castle to celebrate the new year, Hogmanay Live… was gatecrashed by… well… I think it might just be best for us to roll the footage. And I think… some of it may be unsettling for younger viewers…"
The screen quickly cut to a scene with a ton of people whooping and cheering as they counted down the seconds to New Year, waiting for the fireworks to go off. "FIVE… FOUR… THREE… TWO…" they cheered, each number with even greater enthusiasm than the last… but at that precise moment a massive lightning bolt thundered from the sky and struck the fireworks the moment before they could go off, a massive explosion rocking the area and sending the crowd into an instant panic!
The camera cut to a woman who was clearly the presenter of the show, screaming "OH MY GOSH! WHAT THE… WHAT HAPPENED…!" before a whirlwind appeared out of nowhere right next to her and a woman stepped out from the instant windstorm. A woman with long raven hair and a flowing black dress that was both elegant and practical at the same time.
A woman that Hermione recognised straight away.
"Morgana…" she whispered, watching in horror as Morgana snatched the microphone from the presenter's hands and her eyes flashed golden, triggering several plants to suddenly stretch their branches out and grab the presenter's arm to fling her out of the way. Morgana then turned to the camera and smirked brightly.
"Happy New Year, people of Albion," she crooned. "Or as you like to call yourself now, the United Kingdom… such a droll name, but a truthful one. Or at least it will be, after my ascension. I suppose many of you are wondering what in the world is going on. Well… allow me to enlighten all of the non-magical people watching this broadcast. Magic is real… and we witches and wizards have spent far too long hiding in the shadows, keeping out of sight of all you boring ordinary people. But no more. We will not stand idly by anymore - the world is meant to belong to the magical and we intend to take it back. And there is nothing, nothing at all, that you can do to stop us."
She stepped aside to let the camera see past her and suddenly the walls of Edinburgh Castle began to shake, the ground rumbling and throwing the audience to the ground. But the camera cut again to focus on a single man standing by the walls of the castle with his hands raised, the walls and the ground around him splintering to rubble!
Bluenote Stinger!
With a single motion, Bluenote thundered his fist into the ground and the castle behind him instantly turned to gravel. The audience screamed and tried to flee only to be set upon by a horde of winged beasts that looked like miniature devils, flying down and plucking people from the ground only to swoop away and drop them. Another man marched through the crowd, one that Levy immediately identified as Rustyrose. He swept one hand out and transformed it into his Jet Black Sword, offering the nearest camera a grin before lashing out and destroying it completely. And the screen then cut to another angle which saw Azuma standing next to the trees nearby, and flexing his arms to make giant wooden fists sprout from the trees around him to grab and smash at the panicked audience. A couple of brave souls tried to rush at him, but he just smirked and the ground around him erupted into a pillar of flame that lanced so high into the sky that it probably could have been seen all across Scotland.
With that, the camera cut back to Morgana, who had one last thing to say.
"We are Fairy Tail," she purred. "And we will not rest until the non-magical bow before the magical, as was always meant to be!"
Then she summoned a flaming skull between her hands, which surged forwards and consuming the camera lens, turning everything black.
Hermione, Lucy and Levy could only stare at the television in utter disbelief. While they had been talking about the future and trying to get some sleep… Morgana had just taken the Statute of Secrecy and completely torn it to shreds! And she'd used Fairy Tail's name to do it!
Magic was real… and now the Muggles knew it! There was no way the Ministry of Magic could cover this one up!
"Well, Hermione," Lucy whispered hoarsely. "You wanted to see a world where the magical and non-magical knew about each other."
"Not like this," Hermione croaked. "This wasn't what I had in mind at all!"