"Look, guys… this really isn't a good idea," Tonks murmured as she pretending to check out a menu in her hands, biting her lip as she fought to keep herself from looking around at all the Muggles. She was sitting at a table in a pub off of Whitehall, London and despite the fact she was certain none of the other members of the Ministry out of the Order of the Phoenix knew about her friendship with the Fairy Tail members, being so close to the Ministry headquarters meant it was highly possible there would be one or two people she knew around somewhere.
And considering she was sitting with just about all the Fairy Tail members she knew right now, if there was another Ministry member around it might lead to a couple of questions.
Well, that wasn't precisely true. All the human members of the guild were sitting at another table together, and the Exceed were keeping themselves hidden away on the roof. She herself was actually sitting at her own table with Mad-Eye Moody, who had a bowler hat pulled down slightly over his magical eye so that the Muggles wouldn't see it.
She'd just come to Grimmauld Place briefly to check on Gray, Juvia and Lisanna after a long and well-deserved rest, only to discover that all of Fairy Tail except Mavis were present and all looking rather concerned. It wasn't until then that she learned that the Sphere within the Ministry had faded and now they were all insisting that they head out immediately to join them, or at least go somewhere that they could be close by.
Gajeel in particular had been adamant that they get going now. And whenever Tonks had asked why they needed to go, he just replied, "In case something happens."
"In case what happens?"
"I dunno! Something."
"Do you think this something's going to happen?"
"I don't know if anything's going to happen but just in case something does, we want to be there."
And the conversation had circled around like that several times before Moody finally put his wooden foot down with a loud thunk and declared that they could consent to taking Fairy Tail somewhere they could at least receive a vague understanding of what was going on down below, but that they'd have to do their best to blend in with their surroundings, so to speak.
Which was why they were all sitting in the pub right now, Moody's one real eye staring down at his menu while the eye that had given him his nickname was currently swivelling around in its socket, unseen by the others and looking almost straight downwards through his own chin and the ground beneath them.
Fairy Tail were doing their best to remain casual. Gajeel was quaffing a beer that he'd bought with money Tonks had given him. The man at the bar had asked him for identification, but Gajeel had just given him a look and he'd quickly filled the glass up without asking again. Wendy and Juvia were running their hands through their hair as if comparing them, hoping to give anyone who noticed their blue locks the impression that they'd been rather impressively died. And Lisanna elbowed Gray in the ribs whenever his hand started to pull his shirt up seemingly of its own accord.
To be frank, they weren't doing the best job in the world at blending in, but the grizzled, scarred form of Moody was actually drawing far more attention than they were. Everyone just seemed to notice him like he was setting off warning bells in their heads before they had even set eyes on him.
But he ignored them and focused on staring through the floor.
"It doesn't matter if this is a bad idea or not," Gray stated firmly as he folded his arms, grunting as Lisanna elbowed him for the fifth time since they'd sat down. "Our friends are down there and we'll be damned if we're going to leave them."
"But I thought you said this Gildarts was the most powerful member of your guild," Tonks pointed out. "Surely he, of all people, is the someone you don't need to worry about too much. Or your friend if she's with him."
"Nevertheless, it just wouldn't feel right to sit back and do absolutely nothing. Even if there's nothing we can do, it does make us feel a little better to be… involved somehow."
"I don't see much of a difference, honestly," Gajeel grunted. "Between sitting where we're sitting now and hanging out somewhere else. We should be going in there, trying to bust them out. That's what the Salamander would be doing, don't you think?"
"Well, that just makes me glad that he's not been released from his Sphere yet," Gray scoffed. "You weren't even there the last time something like this happened, when Erza got taken by the Council for show. The idiot went charging in there and made everything worse. He actually tried to convince the Council that he was the real Erza by dressing in a wig and armour he made out of a freaking barrel!"
"GEEHEE! Oh, not that I do wish I could have seen," Gajeel snorted.
"And what are you going to do if something actually does go a bit sour down there?" Tonks questioned.
There was a beat of silence before Wendy rubbed the back of her head and said, "Probably make things a lot worse anyway. Like Natsu-san would."
"Oh brilliant," Tonks sighed. "This idea just keeps sounding better and better. Mad-Eye, why did you let them come here?"
"Ssh, I'm trying to concentrate," Moody growled slightly as he focused down through the floor. "The further I'm trying to see through things the more I have to strain the magic… but I think that I can see the Wizengamot chamber from here if I push myself hard enough… there seems to be a small girl sitting in the chair in the middle… short girl, orange dress… blue hair again - well, isn't that a surprise?"
"That's sounds like Levy-san alright," Juvia raised her head slightly. "Moody-san can see Levy-san from here?"
"Just," Moody confirmed. "My eye can see through solid objects for up to three-hundred yards if I stretch it far enough."
"Well, don't leave us in suspense, man - what's going on down there?"
"She doesn't look happy," Moody said gruffly, his eye twitching minutely beneath his hat. "In fact she looks rather distressed."
"What?" Gajeel bristled slightly. "The hell are they doing to her?"
"It looks like they're just talking."
"What about?"
"Oh yes, I of course have magical ears that can hear whatever my eye sees," Moody turned glower at him slightly while his eye remained fixed on the events below. "She's talking to the Minister and the Wizengamot though so it must be an interrogation."
"Why would they interrogate Levy?" Lisanna's eyes widened slightly. "There's nothing about Levy's personality that could make anyone believe she was a dangerous or even an untrustworthy person."
"I won't pretend to know what's going through Fudge's mind these days," Moody snorted. "And people call me mad." But then he stiffened slightly and said, "Ah…"
"Ah? What's ah? What's going on?" Gajeel snapped.
"Gajeel-kun!" Juvia gripped his arm slightly to prevent him from rising out of his seat and doing who-knew-what? "Moody-san… what's happening?"
"They've called in some Dementors."
Tonks stiffened, a shiver passing down her spine at the mere name. "Oh no… they wouldn't… surely they wouldn't."
"Wouldn't what? What's a Dementor?" Wendy hugged herself, shuddering at Tonks' reaction to them alone.
"Dementors are about the closest thing to a demon we have in this world," Moody wrinkled what remained of his nose. "Creatures that feast on human happiness, draw it out from the air around them as if they're sucking it up through a straw. And when they're done, all anyone who gets close to them is left with is their worst experiences, which are get replayed in their minds over and over again. Spend too long in a Dementors company and people have a tendency to go truly insane, which is what often happens to people sent to Azkaban the wizard prison, where the Dementors act as guards for the Ministry."
Gajeel's hand was now gripping the table so hard he was splintering the wood, while Gray's glass of water had frozen solid in his hand. Even Juvia and Lisanna were looking slightly thunderous.
"They'd bring… creatures like that… close to one of our friends?" Gray's snarl sounded slightly feral.
"Why would they even employ creatures like that!?" Lisanna gasped. "That's… surely that's inhumane."
"It's not like we're happy about it," Tonks protested. "But having the Dementors on our side and guarding a small minority of horrible people is better than having them against us and roaming free across the land. It was a compromise we came up with to prevent them from wreaking havoc on everyone."
"It doesn't look like your friend's reacting well to them," Moody observed. "No, that's definitely a rather violent reaction. She must have one or two horrible memories in her past somewhere."
Gajeel stiffened even more, something that Juvia and Gray both noticed. The Iron Dragon Slayer's eyes were wide but his slitted pupils had shrank to dots, this teeth gritted so hard they would have snapped if he were an ordinary human.
If Levy was reliving some terrible memories then that meant… could one of them be… the one about him?
Abruptly Gajeel surged up from his seat and roared, "That's it! I'm going in!" and he suddenly barrelled out across the room, slamming an unfortunate waiter across a table as he passed and busting the door straight off his hinges as he ploughed into the street.
"Gajeel! Gajeel stop!" Tonks gasped, leaping up and tripping over in a single fluid motion, but she was thankfully caught by Lisanna even as Gray and Juvia thundered out after them.
"Sorry," Lisanna said grimly, as Wendy pushed her way up as well, the both of them helping Tonks back to her feet. "But remember what Gray said about us doing what we felt was best for our friends no matter what? Well… looks like this is one of those times."
"Looks like they might not be needed," Moody said almost conversationally. "The big man down there's just smashed down half the Wizengamot hall and taken the girl off."
"Then hopefully it won't be too difficult to find them," Wendy replied, before she and Lisanna dashed out the door after the others. Tonks ran after them, pausing at the entrance as she watched Whitehall dissolve into chaos - it seemed Gajeel had smashed the hood of a taxi to mulch as he'd run across the street and all the Muggles were gasping and pointing as the three Exceed, who had clearly noticed something was happening, swooped down from overhead to join Fairy Tail as they ran.
"Oh god, this is a disaster," Tonks murmured to herself as she reached for her wand, preparing herself for trouble. "But, how are they planning to get down there? There's no main entrance to the Ministry. There's only the Floo, Apparition and the…"
Her words died in her throat when she saw Gajeel bolt down one particular side-street, closely followed by the others. A side-street that contained…
"Oh no. How did they know about the visitor's entrance?" she gasped.
"I told them about it," Moody growled as he stepped up beside her.
"You told… MAD-EYE!" Tonks yelled at him. "WHAT THE HECK WERE YOU THINKING!?"
"The way I saw it, there were only ever going to be two outcomes to this encounter once the Sphere in the Ministry went down," Moody turned to face her with both eyes, though one still couldn't be seen. "Either everything would go smoothly and the Ministry might gain some new allies in a fight they're so far refusing to fight. But that what sounded far-fetched. This was the far more likely alternative."
"What and you thought you'd just… help them do it!" Tonks blustered.
"Put it this way, Nymphadora," Mad-Eye actually grinned, albeit a little lopsidedly. "Whatever happens here today, perhaps the Ministry will start heeding the advice I myself give to everyone - CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"
"I knew you were going to do that," Tonks wiped some spittle from her cheek.
...
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