"Exactly!"
"And yet you also maintain that they must be from another world because they did things that nobody in this world could have?"
"Yes!"
...
"Well, there you are then. If they truly are from a different world and can do things we can't, how can you be absolutely sure that they did have help from the inside? We certainly don't know everything about them, do we? Is it entirely without the bounds of possibility that they might be able to do something else that would enable such a thing? Telepathy perhaps? Some kind of magical way of finding people that they know? Who can say but themselves as to what they are capable of?"
Fudge's look wavered, and now he looked like he'd swallowed a frog. "Erm… then you maintain that you had nothing to do with this?"
"Certainly not. But of course if you wish, I would be more than willing to help you track down these people who claim to be from another reality."
"Do you really take us for fools, Dumbledore?" Umbridge suddenly chipped in to the conversation, her wide mouth upturned in a smirk. "What of the prophecy that you made that fraudulent Divination teacher of yours give this morning?"
"Prophecy? What prophecy?" Fudge asked sharply.
"The one that spoke of the Fairies joining the fight of the Wizarding World? Clashing magic? Bygone evil being unleashed? Made it sound like the apocalypse was coming. Honestly, she still thinks she can keep her place in this school with such a ridiculous foretelling?"
"As I told you this morning, Professor Umbridge, that was a genuine prophecy. I had no more to do with organising that than the attack on the Ministry, and when prophecies such as that are foretold, we would all do well to listen to it."
"The… Fairies… did you say?" Fudge asked.
"Yes, exactly," Umbridge nodded. "A ridiculous notion obviously. Fairies are useless in a fight of any kind."
"Perhaps real fairies are… but Fairy Tail on the other hand…! That is what the intruders from another universe referred to themselves as! A wizard guild called Fairy Tail! And do you still claim after that that you truly had nothing to do with this assault on our government, Dumbledore?"
"I assuredly do, Minister. I certainly have no more control over a prophecy than you do. But if you want my honest opinion, I think that it would be a mistake to hunt these people down."
"A mistake, Dumbledore? Don't be absurd. They levelled parts of the Ministry! Whole rooms demolished, panic spread throughout the populace. One of them even destroyed a bunch of Dementors! Dementors, Dumbledore! Vaporised like they were nothing. The newspapers will be reporting on this tomorrow and the people will expect me to take action."
"And take action you should, but not by making them into enemies. You should extend the hand of friendship, make them feel welcome in this world. Surely it would be better to have such powerful people on your side than against you?"
"You think there will be negotiation with these people? Even if they were willing to accept it, which frankly I doubt, the public won't want anything like them to be walking the streets. And if they wanted peace they wouldn't have charged in to attack us like that in the first place."
"Yet you claimed to have two of them in custody. This sounds more like a rescue mission to me than anything else. Can people who would throw themselves into potential danger to rescue a couple of their friends be all that bad?"
"Well…" Fudge hesitated again.
But again, Umbridge intervened. "Oh you'd like that wouldn't you? All part of your big plan I suppose. Get powerful people like them close to our beloved Minister and then when you want to make your move, you'd have incredibly strong allies just waiting in position to help you take control."
Fudge's eyes widened. "Is that what you're thinking, Dumbledore?"
"I am certainly thinking that you could do with powerful people like them by your side in the near future. But more as added protection against another threat…"
"I do not have any need for added protection against the Dark Lord when there is no Dark Lord to need protection against!" Fudge snapped. "You still deny any connection to these Fairy Tail people?"
"I swear to you by the names of the Founders of Hogwarts themselves that I had nothing to do with what happened today," Dumbledore replied.
Fudge stood there and pursed his lips for a second. He couldn't take Dumbledore in for questioning when he had no actual proof that Dumbledore was behind this attack and Dumbledore had not given him any. Yet he remained convinced that Dumbledore was involved in all this somehow.
"This is getting us nowhere," Fudge replied. "I will be in touch, Dumbledore. In the meantime though, I need to begin the manhunt for these people. Whoever they may be, they must be stopped before they, at the very least, render the Statute of Secrecy nothing but history."
"You must do what you feel is best, of course," Dumbledore nodded.
"I'll see myself out," Fudge turned and swept from the room, Umbridge waddling along beside him. Moments before Scrimegeour followed him out, he gave the Headmaster a disgruntled look as if to say that this whole thing seemed stupid to him but that if Fudge was correct he had better watch himself at the same time, before he too followed the Minister down the stairs.
"This whole thing is getting quite out of hand, Headmaster," McGonagall eventually said when she was sure they were out of earshot. "Even if by some miracle he sees sense and extends the hand of friendship to Fairy Tail, what will happen when he finds out that you actually did know who they were, even if you had nothing to do with their actions today. They're fugitives now, after all."
"True, Minerva. But in case you've forgotten we're already harbouring a fugitive. And one who Fudge believes to be a mass murderer. Near as I can tell nobody was killed during that attack from Fairy Tail earlier today. If there was, he would have mentioned it. It is a bridge we must cross when we come to it. For now, we will need to keep Fairy Tail as far away from the Ministry as possible. Especially since we may soon be needing them."
"What makes you say that?"
"Sybil's prophecy. The one she foretold this morning. It has already begun. The fifth Sphere has now lowered and that is when she said the war would begin."
"The fifth Sphere, Headmaster? But there have only been four groups of Fairy Tail that have been found so far."
"You are correct, but you are forgetting that there was another Sphere involved. The one containing Wendy and the Exceed was first. Gajeel's was second. Gray, Juvia and Lisanna's was the third, but Gildarts and Levy did not come out of the fourth Sphere."
"…The Clippers. Those birds. They came out of the fourth," McGonagall gasped.
"Indeed. They may not be Fairy Tail members but they were still in a Sphere. And that means the events today are probably about to kickstart this war. And they have been met with fear, just as Sybil said that they would."
"Well… at least we know that these Fairy Tail members can hold their own in a fight. Even You-Know-Who will surely have a hard time getting the better of them."
"That may be. But something tells me that Voldemort and his followers… may not be the only threat that we will have to face."
"What makes you say that?"
"Some of the other things that Sybil foretold in her Prophecy… Things about doorways… and bygone evil, old battles and devils, and ancient magic… Many of those things could potentially apply to Voldemort, so it could be assumed that Sybil was talking about him. But… I am not so sure that she was. I think she may have been referring to other things too. There is no denying, that even with Fairy Tail with us in this fight, Voldemort is still a major threat to us all. But… there may be more to contend with than just him."
"Like what?" McGonagall wrung her hands together slightly. "What else could there be out there besides him?"
"I couldn't tell you. It is, as they say, a hunch. But as you know… my hunches have been known to be rather disturbingly accurate many times before."