"Kreacher's a House Elf, you see. Many House Elves speak in the third person and I must say its rather unusual for a human to do the same, like you do, dearie. Out of curiosity, why do you choose to talk like that? Is it how you were raised perhaps?"
...
Gray raised a brow at this question. Despite having known Juvia for almost six months now that was a question that he'd never asked her or even thought to ask. He'd just taken it as a personality quirk, like Elfman's constant repetition of the word 'man' and not brought it up. But now he found himself rather curious to know the answer.
Juvia rubbed her arm lightly and said, "Well… Juvia… I mean, I never had any friends when she… I… was a child. Nobody ever wanted to be friends with J… me… because… I… couldn't control my magic for most of my life. Wherever I was, it was always raining. Twenty-four hours idea, seven days a week, for seventeen years. I never saw a blue sky. Nobody ever wanted me around, and those that tried to be my friend mostly gave up quite quickly, always sick of the rain I brought with me. Only Gajeel-kun ever tolerated me but he wasn't really close with anyone back then. It's possible even my parents gave me up because of it - I have no memory of them. I grew up in several orphanages, and was always being shunted from one to another because both the other kids and the staff wanted the sun to come back."
Mrs. Weasley had stopped walking and was staring at Juvia in abject horror. "Oh my goodness… you poor girl… that's… that's one of the most horrible things I've ever heard in my life."
"It's… it's okay… Juvia has… I have control of it now," Juvia smiled slightly. "And I have more friends than I ever thought anyone could have. But it was lonely those seventeen years, where I only had dolls for permanent company. With my dolls I could pretend that I was somebody else and that all the loneliness was happening to another girl. So I started referring to myself in the third person even when not playing with dolls to try and keep up the pretence. It didn't really work but… Juvia guesses the habit stuck. Even now, when she's happy with Fairy Tail."
Gray was staring at Juvia with something akin to admiration. He'd had a traumatic past himself to say the least, but his troubles had been more based around several specific events that caused him great pain to remember. But terrible as they were, he had dozens of happy memories to go with them. For Juvia to spend seventeen years living through the rain and the fact that most everyone hated her for it… he was amazed she'd had the strength to keep going all that time and still be able to become the cheerful and exuberant girl she was now.
Her character was stronger than he'd been giving her credit for.
Mrs. Weasley though quickly hurried forwards and wrapped her arms around Juvia, pulling her into a tight hug. She was shorter than Juvia so the water woman had to look down in surprise, but the redheaded woman murmured, "Even so, no child should have to go through what you have, without the love of family or friends. And let me tell you… I may not be your mother… but I can try my best to be one for you. If you want. There's always room for one more in the Weasley family."
Juvia gasped slightly, her heart swelling in her chest at Mrs. Weasley's kind words. She could feel tears pricking at her eyes as she slowly wrapped her arms around the shorter woman to hold her close. "Th…thank you… Mrs. Weasley. Juvia thinks that… she would like that."
Gray couldn't help but smile at the touching moment, waiting patiently for them to them to break apart so they could head down to eat again. His stomach, however, was not so patient and loudly rumbled. Mrs. Weasley and Juvia both laughed and broke apart, the former smiling while the latter wiped her eyes and sniffed happily.
"Come on, let's get going," Mrs. Weasley said. "Though Gray, I recommend you put your shirt back on."
"GOD DAMNIT!"
The Weasley mother shook her head slightly as Gray scrambled to put his shirt back on before she added, "Where's Lisanna? I'm sure she must be hungry too."
"She's probably still exploring the house," Gray replied. "I saw her heading upstairs towards the attic earlier."
"Towards the… oh gosh!" Mrs. Weasley gasped. "Oh my goodness, how could we forget to tell you!?"
"What? Tell us what?" Gray cried sharply but Mrs. Weasley was already hurrying back the way they'd come and up the stairs. Confused, the two Fairy Tail mages followed quickly behind her, racing up the stairs hard on their heels until they came to the wooden staircase that lead up to the very top floor. Mrs. Weasley bolted up it and threw the door open…
Lisanna looked up from where she was sitting on the floor and said, "Wow, you made me jump there. Is everything okay?"
Gray and Juvia moved in so they could see what was happening and blanched when they saw what Lisanna was sitting next to. They had thought the Clippers were big, but this bird was absolutely massive - the size of a horse easily. In fact… its entire back half seemed to be that of a horse, while its front half looked like some kind of giant, fierce-eyed eagle with grey feathers and a viciously hooked beak. It was currently lying down on it stomach, and allowing Lisanna to run her fingers through its feathers but as it beheld these strangers that had suddenly entered its room, it tensed and cawed at them, eying them beadily.
"Easy, easy," Lisanna murmured slightly, scratching him lightly beneath one wing. "They're friends."
"Oh, thank goodness you're alright," Mrs. Weasley sighed in relief. "I'm so sorry we forgot to tell you about Buckbeak. Good thing you knew how to approach a hippogriff."
"A hippogriff, huh? Is that what he is? I've never heard of them before," Lisanna smiled as Buckbeak lowered his large head down towards her and allowed her to stroke his beak, closing his eyes contentedly.
"You haven't?" blinked Mrs. Weasley. "But then… how did you know the procedure?"
"Procedure? What procedure?" Lisanna frowned.
"The one to approach a Hippogriff? You're supposed to bow to a Hippogriff and then if it bows back you're meant to approach it very slowly. If you don't do it right they usually attack. You mean to tell me you… didn't do that?"
"No. No, I didn't. I came forward cautiously of course but I didn't bow. I didn't know you should," Lisanna shook her head.
"But then… why didn't he…?"
Gray chuckled. "Lisanna's just got a way with animals. Always has. Most of the time they just naturally seem to like her. Takes a very aggressive creature to try and attack her."
"But why is he shut away in this house?" Juvia asked. "Shouldn't a big bird like him be out in the sky, stretching his wings?"
"That would be ideal yes, but poor Buckbeak here was labelled dangerous by the Ministry after he attacked a student at Hogwarts school. He was scheduled to be executed, before Sirius made his escape on him and now he lives here, where the Ministry can't find him."
"Labelled dangerous? Scheduled to be executed?" Lisanna looked up with wide eyes. "But then… what about the Clippers? What if they get labelled as dangerous?"
Mrs. Weasley gasped when she realised she probably shouldn't have said that, quickly remedying, "Well, I gather the student in question ignored the warnings of the teacher and deliberately provoked him. And I also gather he's a rather unpleasant boy who disliked the teacher but has a father who's very influential in the Ministry. I think it was his father who pushed the Ministry to act in such a manner. He has no grudge against the Clippers though so I don't think he'd intervene."
Lisanna grimaced. "But… if they do label them as dangerous…"
Mrs. Weasley hesitated before she sighed and murmured, "They will probably kill them, yes."
There were grimaces on Gray and Juvia's faces too now, before the former said, "And what about our friends still locked in that Sphere? What if they're labelled too dangerous?"
"…I really don't know. I wish I did."
"…We've got the get them out of there…" Lisanna murmured. "All of them - friends and birds. One way or another… we have to get the out of there. And if I ever meet the father of that boy… I swear I will punch him in the face."
"Blimey," Gray murmured. "You've got to be a bad person if you can make Lisanna angry."
...
if you want to support me or just to read ahead of the public release, you can join my p@treon :
p atreon/Moonhorse