Natsu Dragneel and the Goblet of Fire

The Dream

"It comes down to this," said Lucy, rubbing her forehead. "Either Mr. Zero attacked Dan, or somebody else attacked both of them when Dan wasn't looking."

"It must've been Zero," said Gray at once. "That's why he was gone when Natsu and Master Makarov got there. He'd done a runner."

"I don't think so," said Natsu, shaking his head. "He seemed really weak - I don't reckon he was up to Disapparating or anything."

"You can't Disapparate on the Hogwarts grounds, haven't I told you enough times?" said Lucy.

"Okay... how's this for a theory," said Gray excitedly. "Straight attacked Zero - no, wait for it - and then Stunned himself!"

"And Mr. Zero evaporated, did he?" said Lucy coldly.

"Oh yeah..."

It was daybreak. Natsu, Gray, and Lucy had crept out of their dormitories very early and hurried up to the Owlery together to send a note to Weiss. Now they were standing looking out at the misty grounds. All three of them were puffy-eyed and pale because they had been talking late into the night about Mr. Zero.

"Just go through it again, Natsu," said Lucy. "What did Mr. Zero actually say?"

"I've told you, he wasn't making much sense," said Natsu. "He said he wanted to warn Gramps about something. He definitely mentioned Libra Jorkins, and he seemed to think she was dead. He kept saying stuff was his fault... He mentioned his daughter."

"Well, that was his fault," said Lucy testily.

"He was out of his mind," said Natsu. "Half the time he seemed to think his wife and daughter were still alive, and he kept talking to Ultear about work and giving him instructions."

"And... remind me what he said about You-Know-Who?" said Gray tentatively.

"I've told you," Natsu repeated dully. "He said he's getting stronger."

There was a pause. Then Gray said in a falsely confident voice, "But he was out of his mind, like you said, so half of it was probably just raving..."

"He was sanest when he was trying to talk about Acnologia," said Natsu, and Gray winced at the sound of the name. "He was having real trouble stringing two words together, but that was when he seemed to know where he was, and know what he wanted to do. He just kept saying he had to see Master Makarov."

Natsu turned away from the window and stared up into the rafters. The many perches were half-empty; every now and then, another owl would swoop in through one of the windows, returning from its night's hunting with a mouse in its beak.

"If Redfox hadn't held me up," Natsu said bitterly, "we might've got there in time. 'The headmaster is busy, Dragneel... what's this rubbish, Dragneel?' Why couldn't he have just got out of the way?"

"Maybe he didn't want you to get there!" said Gray quickly. "Maybe - hang on - how fast d'you reckon he could've gotten down to the forest? D'you reckon he could've beaten you and Master Makarov there?"

"Not unless he can turn himself into a bat or something," said Natsu.

"Wouldn't put it past him," Gray muttered.

"We need to see Professor Bull," said Lucy. "We need to find out whether he found Mr. Zero."

"If he had the Marauder's Map on him, it would've been easy," said Natsu.

"Unless Zero was already outside the grounds," said Gray, "because it only shows up to the boundaries, doesn't -"

"Shh!" said Lucy suddenly.