Oracle of Tolkin

"He's not going to beat me this time; I've taken beatings from him one too many times. He may be a great swordsman but I'm an O'Conner, and I think I've had just about enough. I know I've had enough! Master Orthous might think all us pureblood kids are the same, but I'm going to show him, today, that he couldn't be more wrong!" thought Ashlee O'Conner as she stepped into the Orthous School of Swordsmanship that day.

Ashlee was the youngest descendant of the Ruling Family of the O'Conner Trithear, and she had never yet failed at anything she had been required to learn - or took it upon herself to learn, for that matter. Yet time and time again Master Orthous had been able to defeat her with ease. He might be great, but there was only so much a Trithear Princess could take. Especially one like Ashlee Jolene Riddle O'Conner. This time she was determined to not give ground, or be tripped, or fall for any traps. Ashlee may be a student of Monsieur Louie Orthous, but today the student would teach the teacher!

Louie Orthous was very handsome. He was tall and lithe, and had built up a healthy muscular structure, due to his calling. His hair was strawberry blond, his eyes a dazzling dark sapphire. Many of the village girls sighed and stared when he walked by. However, beyond his dashing good looks, Louie was a great Swordsman, and a superbe teacher of swordsmanship. For years noble and aristocratic Pureblood families had sent their children to him to learn the ancient and traditional art of sword fighting, little knowing that –in all- he had won over fifty duels in his time - quite a few to the death, to his dismay.

One person who did know was Albus Dumbledore. One of the main reasons Dumbledore had suggested Louie teach his granddaughter was because of the Sword Master's dueling record. Dumbledore wished for Ashlee to have real skills, not just ones that were for show. Ashlee didn't mind that, she'd been eager to learn from a new teacher, and real skills were of course preferable to fraudulent ones. What she hadn't counted on was the near constant battering she took nearly every class. Sure, she'd known it would not be easy. It wasn't like anything she had tried to learn before; one couldn't read a book and memorize it, after all. Yet - was it really necessary to be this hard on her? Today Ashlee would show Monsieur Orthous she was not any little witch from any magical family - she was no push over!

Louie for his part had never met such a devoted student. Though he didn't tell her so, he'd confided to Dumbledore that he was surprised and happy with the amount of passion she poured into her classes. She had guts, focus and a determination that paled in comparison to his other students. Dumbledore had actually been the one to grant him permission to push her harder, and now in her sixth year of classes, she was a level Nine.

When Master Orthous entered the sparring room, he saw the look on Ashlee's face and smiled. Ashlee however didn't notice and went on warming up while Master Orthous retrieved their usual steal swords and set up. Ashlee had graduated from the old wooden swords a few years ago, one of the few of Louie's students to ever have done so. When she'd finished the last repetition of stretches, she closed her eyes for a moment to relax and refocus. Then she got up and retrieved her sword from the bench where her master had placed it, and approached the sparring mats.

"Mlle Ashlee, you seem so determined! Is my defeat so important to you?" asked Louie kindly.

"No Master," replied Ashlee," it's just I am growing tired of losing to you. I know your expertise and experience are far greater than any measly level nine student, and that it is not unusual for someone like you to defeat students over and over . . . but," Ashlee sighed forcefully, "any student will get tired of losing, eventually." Louie hid a smile. "But above all that, -if you'll pardon me for saying so- I think you've forgotten that I am no ordinary student.

"I see," he said, "are you ready for today's lesson then?"

The question is are you ready? thought Ashlee, as she moved into the starting ring, her movements precise, eyes cool even as she drew her blade with a twist of her wrist, the blade whistling as it flew from the sheath. Master Orthous followed her lead, stepping in his own starting circle opposite hers.

"On guard, Mlle Ashlee!" cried Master Orthous, unable to hide his smile now.

"On guard Master" echoed Ashlee, her voice betraying her eagerness. The space between them was heavy as the air grew still, master and student carefully sizing the other with their eyes. Ashlee moved slowly, the tip of her sword nearly touching the polished floor even as Master Orthous followed her, his entire body coiled like a predatory animal, his sharp eyes crinkling in amusement slightly. She almost missed the change in posture, but as his arm became a blur, Ashlee raised her own weapon to block, and their swords clashed together. Dueling had never been Ashlee's favorite physical lesson, but she had always attacked it with one hundred and ten percent, and today -it seemed- was no different. With each swing, the older man had a counter, every block drove her further and further backwards.

Ducking a swing, she rolled under the Her Master's outstretched arm and kicked sharply up, catching him hard in the midriff knocking the wind from him and allowing the girl the split second to fall back into a ready stance.

"You have improved." Master Orthous nodded slightly in approval of her movements.

"You haven't" Her wicked grin incited a flick of her teachers blade, shearing close to her head and severing a lock of pink hair, sending the strands scattering through the air. "Okay, now that was just mean."

The two of them dueled skilfully, as Dumbledore watched from a bench nearby, the beauty and savagery of their dance bringing tears to his eyes. So caught up was he in their duel he couldn't even concentrate on the book he'd brought to read. Twinkling blue eyes widened slightly as the pair continued their mock bout. Swords flashed as they performed what would eventually prove to be a deadly dance, when put to work on the battlefield. He glanced back down at the book open in his gnarled hands and realized with amusement that he had lost where on the page he had been reading, so caught up he had been in watching their battle. He could tell that Ashlee was becoming more and more skilled with each passing day. It would be only a matter of time before she would finally be ready. Unfortunately, time was the one thing Dumbledore had just about run out of.

Barreling forward, she attacked with greater ferocity the before. Sparks rang from the clashing swords and her ears buzzed with the ringing of their weapons. She caught the older man's ankle with her foot and managed to twist it sharply enough that he spilled to the floor. Ashlee spun and kicked out with her other foot, knocking the older man's sword from his hand, as he crashed to the hard training room floor.

If she had managed to actually catch his sword as it fell, the moment would have been perfect. As it was, she over reached and tripped over his prone form crashing down on top of him with an odd squeaking noise even as the falling sword landed and skittered across the floor landing far out of arm's reach.

Louie laughed as Ashlee scrambled to her feet and turned to help him up. "Oui - Oui, You have done it! Very good, Superbe." Louie was amazed at her ingenuity and genius. He had not expected to be defeated today, yet it proved that Ashlee could do what she set out to. "Shall we se retirer for today?"

"Yes Master Orthous," replied Ashlee, unable to hide the triumph in her voice, "Thank you for this lesson," she bowed prettily.

'But of course," said Louie. He came close to Ashlee then. "Perhaps we can work on that finisher more next time, Mon petite?' He winked at her and she giggled. "Ah,' he said out loud again "Mlle could take on a true swordsman, Magnifique!"

On the homebound train after wand dueling with Kingsley, Ashlee was stretching her tired muscles on the floor of their compartment, in between bites of a piece of toast that had cream cheese and olive spread on it. Dumbledore was reading his red leather bound book, when he stopped to look at her. It was a sort of sizing up look. Ashlee looked up just in time to see it and wondered what made her Dumbley look at her like that.

"Ashlee," he began, "are you familiar with J.R.R. Tolkin's works?"

"Hmmm," said Ashlee, thinking as she stretched "You mean the guy who wrote about those poor hobbits?"

"Yes, I believe so," returned Dumbledore. He'd never thought of them as 'poor hobbits'. As far as he could tell, the Baggins' were quite rich, in material wealth as well as in friendship.

"Poor things," reiterated Ashlee shaking her head. "If I had written the book things would be different for them." Dumbledore's eyebrows flew up. It was hard for him to conceal the excitement in his voice.

"Really . . . how would you have changed things?" Ashlee never noticed his odd tone.

"Well for one thing Boromir wouldn't die just as he repented." Ashlee frowned. The Muggles might consider it a good book, but it was examples like the Lord of the Rings that made Ashlee wonder if families like the Malfoy's might not be entirely wrong about them. "And I would see to it that Frodo was justly rewarded for all that valor."

"But doesn't he live forever?" asked Dumbledore. Ashlee gave him her 'you-don't-get-it-do-you' look. Dumbledore frowned politely and Ashlee immediately regretted using the look that she usually reserved for people who didn't get what she was saying after she'd explain it to them twice already on him.

"He was going to get that anyway," she said, "remember they made him an Elf Friend at the beginning?" Dumbledore scratched his chin through his beard thoughtfully trying to pretend he hadn't read the book as many times as he had.

"Oh, yes, now I recall. Please continue."

"Right," she said trying not to give him anymore unusual looks, "anyway, I'd make sure he stayed healthier, so that he wouldn't have to leave Middle-Earth as soon as he did." Dumbledore looked ready to comment but held his tongue. "Also I'd make sure that the Uruk-hai didn't get past King Théoden's Rock Fortress thingy. I'd save the kids and that Elf guy who died. Yeah there are many things I'd do, but I'm too busy writing my own story to write a fan fiction." Ashlee sighed and got back to stretching. Dumbledore smiled, this was exactly what he had hoped to hear from her. Now was the moment if ever there was one.

"Ashlee do you remember that mirror of mine you used to say led to another world?" Dumbledore asked, putting forth even more of an effort to sound calm.

"Yes," said Ashlee, thinking it strange for Dumbley to bring such a thing up. It was so long ago. Why should he suddenly remember what she said about the old mirror?

"Tomorrow it will be in my office. I'd like it if you'd come see me first thing in the morning."

~A/N: I was stuck on a few sentences in this chapter so I got my friend HellzCrusader to help out. In between the ' ' indicates where my friend 'kicked it up a notch' Yes that was an Emeril quote but "Eliot from Leverage is better." - HellzCrusader ~