"I love reading too," Levy smiled. "I guess it was sparked by my parents. They were renowned archeologists you see, and they uncovered all kinds of ancient ruins and made their living translating ancient writings so I got into it really young too. I could already read Gheel by the time I was six…"
...
Gildarts cleared his throat. "Much as I'm sure you'd love to compare notes about the things you've read, I think the current situation might be more important to talk about."
"Oh, right," Mavis chuckled, while Levy rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Sorry… I just get enthusiastic about books, but you're quite right. Well, I'll tell you what I know so far. You see, when Acnologia fired his breath attack…"
And so it went that Gildarts and Levy became fully updated with everything that had occurred from the dragon attack to now. Levy, naturally, found it absolutely fascinating and asked a lot of questions along the way, clearly in awe about learning details of an entirely different culture. Gildarts was a little more sombre about it, and when Mavis had finished the big man murmured, "That's all quite a lot to swallow. But… for what its worth… thank you First Master for protecting us as you did. If that dragon had killed us all right after I'd discovered that Cana was my daughter that would have left a sour taste in my mouth in the afterlife."
"CANA'S YOUR DAUGHTER!" Levy gasped, almost falling over in shock at this news and her shout even attracting the attention of the Aurors outside. She blushed slightly at her own reaction before repeating, in a quieter voice, "Cana's your daughter?"
Gildarts smiled. "Surprised? Not half as surprised as I was when I learned it, I can tell you. But are you sure there's been no word of her yet, First Master?"
"Not yet. It's most likely she's still contained in another Fairy Sphere out there somewhere."
"I should be out there trying to find her," Gildarts sighed.
"Well, at least we know she's safe as long as she's inside one of those, right?" Levy piped up. "And its great news to here that Gajeel and the others that have already been released are safe too, right?"
"There is that," Gildarts nodded. "But you say we've gone and landed ourselves in the middle of another conflict against this… Voldemort guy?"
"That's right. And that's part of the reason why it would be better for this Ministry to be on our side if we can manage it. We already have one enemy. It would be better if we didn't have two."
"Definitely less hassle," Gildarts agreed. "Alright then, we'll play nice. But I could really do with stiff drink."
"Well, there's one thing that leans towards Cana really being your daughter," Levy murmured. Gildarts laughed.
...
"There, are you happy now?" Gajeel muttered venomously as he gestured to the three buckets of milk that he'd managed to finally wrestle out of the goats.
"Only three? They can normally produce eight," Aberforth shook his head. "You were still scaring them too much - when they're scared they produce less milk."
"Well then give me another bloody job instead of sticking me with this one!" Gajeel yelled, ignoring the giggles of Wendy and the Exceed from behind him. "Heck, I'd rather do the washing up than have to deal with them again!"
"Do the washing up!? Ha… like I'm letting you get anywhere near my cutlery. I'd quite like to end the day with the same number of knives and forks that I had when I started."
"Can't you just use your magic to conjure new ones!?"
"I could. But that's a hassle and I can't remember what the spell is."
"Well, how's that my problem? All I know is I'm not having anything to do with those damn…"
Suddenly the fireplace flared green and with a yell, Gray stumbled out of it and accidentally kicked one of the buckets, knocking it over as he fell the the floor and sloshing the contents everywhere.
"OH COME ON!" Gajeel roared. "THAT BUCKET TOOK ME AGES TO FILL!"
"Hello, Gray-san," Wendy said, more politely. "Is everything alright?"
"I'm not sure," Gray pushed himself to his feet quickly, clicking his shoulder. "One of the Order just got back from that Ministry place - the guy called Kingsley. He said that the Sphere inside the Ministry's done down."
"What!?" Gajeel gasped, milk forgotten. "Who was inside it?"
"It seems it was Levy…" Gray replied and Gajeel stiffened, eyes widening a little. "…And Gildarts."
"Gildarts!" Happy sprang up. "Gildarts is back! That's great!"
"What a relief," Wendy smiled. "Are they okay?"
"We think so. Luckily Master Mavis was there when the Sphere went down so she stopped them from doing anything like attacking the Ministry, but they're being held there for questioning. Looks like the Ministry might be about to learn about us."
"Well, Gildarts-san and Levy-san are great people. I'm sure they'll like them," Wendy noted.
"…I don't like this," Gajeel bristled slightly.
"What's wrong, Gajeel?" Lily cocked his head. "If you're worried about Levy, Gildarts will look after her."
"I ain't worried about her!" Gajeel denied rapidly. A little too rapidly. "It's just… I've got a bad feeling about this. In my gut… I dunno what it is… but I've learned to trust my instincts over the years and they're telling me now that there's reason to be concerned… Come on, let's go."
"Go?" Aberforth asked as Gajeel seized a handful of Floo Powder. "Go where exactly?"
Gajeel turned to give him a look, and smirked slightly. "Where do you think?"
...
It was perhaps half an hour after they'd been placed in the holding cell that noises from the corridor beyond told Gildarts and Levy that something was happening. They both swung around to face the thick wooden door of the room, which opened suddenly to reveal Scrimgeour looking rather disgruntled on the other side.
"Alright, it's time for questioning," he stated. "And I'm sure you can understand that the Minister wants to question the two of you individually. And apart. So, girl, if you'd like to make my job simpler, which would be nice, please come with me."
Levy stiffened slightly at the prospect. "Why? Why can't it be together?"
"That's just what the Minister wants, kid. Now, are you coming?"
Gildarts scowled slightly - he could tell what was happening. They were hoping that the small and defenceless looking girl would be an easier nut to crack than the grizzled, scarred man when it came to asking questions, and that they would be able to do it easier if they separated her from her only protector.
Still, he'd promised to play nice, so he said, "Levy, it'll be alright. I'm not going anywhere - I'll be right here when you get back."
Levy smiled gratefully at the reassurance before slowly nodding her head and stepping towards the door, which closed behind her with a low thud. She turned to see that Mavis had slipped out of the room as well and was hovering along behind her, so at least she still had someone watching out for her still. That allowed her to walk a little more confidently, even if Mavis was only a ghost.
But that confidence melted a little when the Aurors walked her into a large room with row upon row of wooden seats on three sides of it and a large space in the middle except for a single solitary chair that was set facing the front, where Fudge was sitting in his presiding seat. The other seats were also filled with several dozen men and women all garbed in purplish robes with a silver W on their left pectorals, the majority of them mostly bathed in shadows from the lights of the flickering torches on the walls, and all of them were staring at Levy with interest as she was marched towards the chair.
Once Levy was seated, the Aurors moved to the back of the room, barring the door just in case Levy tried to escape. But any thoughts of escape were quickly put paid to anyway because, just as Levy was about to speak she suddenly felt pressure on her arms. She looked down and gasped when she saw golden chains of some kind wrapping themselves around her wrists and elbows to pin them to the arms of the chair.
"H-HEY!" Levy gasped as she wriggled around slightly, wrenching at her sudden bonds and clenching her fists, her heart rate increasing rapidly. "What's this? What's going on?"
"Be calm, Miss," an authoritative voice came from a woman with a monocle and short grey hair in the seat to the Minister's left. "It's just a precaution to make sure you don't try anything."
"But I wasn't going to try anything!" Levy protested.
"Nevertheless, as I said, we must make sure," the woman replied sternly. "Or at least in this circumstance I have been told that we must."
"We do not know what we are dealing with here, Madam Bones," Fudge responded a little tartly. "Many of the things these people have said have made very little sense. But they are involved somehow in the strange events that have been happening recently, and this emergency session of the Wizengamot is here to find out how."
"Is this a trial?" Levy gaped. "But… but I haven't done anything wrong."
"No, Miss, it is not a trial. We will not be passing a sentence on you - we are just here to learn the truth," Madam Bones replied shortly. "If you have indeed done nothing then you surely have nothing to worry about."
Levy relaxed a little at that - a memory of that time Erza was arrested by the Council coming to mind. That had just been an arrest for show, to assure the public that the Council was on top of things and she remembered how this Fudge had said he wanted the public to know he was taking action. So this must be pretty similar. Thank the gods for that.
"Before we begin, can we offer you a drink?" Fudge asked. "We expect you to do a lot of talking, after all."
"Yes please," Levy licked her lips, suddenly realising in all the excitement just how thirsty and hungry she was. Well, if what Mavis had said was true it had been six years since she'd last eaten.
"Levy, remember that these people have no clue who we are," Mavis pointed out from where she was standing next to her, as an Auror brought a goblet forward and allowed Levy to take a few gulps from it. "The fact we're from another universe will need to be broken to them gently, which is why I haven't revealed myself to them yet because apparently their ghosts are different than ours. When they ask you questions about where you're from and what your magic is like, answer them truthfully, but then I'll need you to act like you're slowly coming to a realisation that you might not be in your own world. So we're mostly being honest with them. Okay?"
Levy managed to disguise a "Mm-hm," as a hum of appreciation as she finished the water and smacked her lips slightly. "Thank you," she said, as she looked up at the Minister.
"Alright then, let's get on with the interrogation. Weasley, are you ready?"
"Yes sir," called a skinny man with short red hair on the front row with a long roll of parchment and a quill.
...
if you want to support me or just to read ahead of the public release, you can join my p@treon :
p atreon/Moonhorse