A/N: I thank everyone for Following, Favoriting, and Reviewing the first chapter, I totally didn't expect that much support from all of you. I want to thank you for all the support, and I bring the next chapter of Son of the Eye. Enjoy.
I own nothing.
The Witch King of Angmar looked out over the vastness that was the land of Mordor, ash rose from Mount Doom and blocked out the sun, black sulphurous sand covered the ground, small out croppings of rocks dotted here and there. It truly was a desolate place, and Angmar liked it just fine. Legions of orcs, and their stronger brethren the Uruks milled around below, dark men from east and the south, trolls and other dark creatures. Very recently Azog the Defiler has led a successful journey to the Mines of Moria, a long contested battle ground between the goblins and the forces of Mordor, but it was a rout this time, with no goblins surviving to tell the tale. Their greed had caused them to dig to deep and awaken something in the darkness. Sauron truly had called all to him, and now there were few that remained that could challenge him.
Lands were not the same as they had once been and Men had grown more advanced in their absence, developing weapons that caused destruction on catastrophic scales, but the wizards had remained secretive. As much so as they had, concealing their true strength and numbers, while still retaining the element of surprise. The Black Hand had been sent to learn as much as he could on the wizards that had extended an olive branch to him, and then report back to his master.
The boy was a fool, who was told that their master could see everything through his ring of power, and was unfit to lead anything, even if he was considered the Dark Lords spawn. He was just a means to achieve an end; nothing more. Even Angmar had long ago realized that he was nothing more than a piece on the board, so to speak, and was content with his place.
-Line Break-
Daniel Potter was sitting in the Great Hall reading a copy of the Daily Prophet, and spooning cereal into his mouth, when the magical newspaper was suddenly ripped from his hands. Daniel looked up to find the culprit none other than his longtime friend Ronald Weasley, or just Ron as he preferred to be called. He threw an annoyed look Ron's way, who just grinned and said, "Did you hear?"
Daniel cocked a brown haired eyebrow at this, "Hear what?" he questioned his friend. Ron opened his mouth to answer, but was abruptly cut off as a certain bushy haired witch sat down next to him and answered for him, "Dumbledore invited a special guest to Hogwarts, he's supposed to arrive today."
"How'd you hear about this?" Daniel asked, genuinely curious, his eyes fleeted to Ron who just grinned and said, "Fred and George's extendable ears come in quite handy when you really need them." Daniel cracked a wry smile at the thought of the twin pranksters, but faded at the thought of the towers of homework that he had already received, only a week into the school year no less! Just the other night his class had been assigned a ten page essay in Potions by Snape, who looked a little worse for wear, but Daniel couldn't really tell, the greasy git always did look the same.
Daniel looked up from his bowl of aimlessly floating cereal as student after student began to suddenly depart from the Great Hall, his two friends had noticed two, "Wonder where they're all off to?" Ron asked as he selected a piece of toast and began to spread a thick layer of jam onto it.
As if on cue a loud horn sounded throughout the room, the trio looked at each other and then grabbed their things and rushed off into the mass exodus from the Great Hall. People were pushing and shoving as they made their way to the battlements, it reminded Daniel much of the same way that it had happened last year, when the Tri-Wizard tournament candidates arrived in their own dramatic way.
Once they were all shoving to get a view off the battlements, and chatting excitedly about who this mystery individual could be, another loud horn sounded from down the long bridge, which was clouded this morning by a heavy fog.
Out of the mist came several marching figures in armor, three across and several deep, long sharp pikes were held in the lead three's hands and the, what Daniel assumed to be soldiers, middle soldier had a long black banner hanging from the top of his. With what looked to be a large, crudely drawn, red eye in the middle with lines extending outward from this, as if symbolizing something on fire.
-Line Break-
The Black Hand would not lie Hogwarts was a magnificent sight to behold, but it couldn't compare to the first time that he saw the Black Gates or the peaks or Barad-dûr, or the Eye itself. But impressive nonetheless. Twenty Easterlings, or more accurately dark men from Rhûn, had been sent to come along with him. Not that he would need much assistance should trouble arise, but they were more for show than anything. The envoy marched into the large open square with gaggles of school children surrounding them, and a fountain at its center that let forth a seemingly infinite stream of water. Stopping a few feet away from the old wizard and the same darkly dressed wizard from Dol Goldur along with a very strict looking old woman with a pointy hat on her head.
He was immediately reminded of the Istari that had opposed his father the first time. The soldier in front of him marched to the side as to allow for him to step out of the protective cocoon of soldiers. He greeted the old man with a warm smile that never reached his eyes, and gave a small bow, "I am Professor Dumbledore, I would like to welcome you to Hogwarts," the old man greeted.
"A pleasure," The Black Hand said, as he followed Dumbledore's gaze onto his envoy. Straight back and eyes staring ahead the Easterlings were truly an imposing sight, and their training shone through now. "Friends of yours I take it?" Dumbledore questioned, "You could say that," he remarked.
"Perhaps you would like a tour of the castle?" Dumbledore asked the red eyed teenager, who nodded and called out an order, in a language that was unfamiliar to him, to the group of pike and scimitar wielding soldiers. The soldiers seemed familiar to him, yet he couldn't place how he knew of them.
-Line Break-
When the gaze of the strange hooded man swept over Daniel Potter he felt ice creep up his spine, and involuntarily shivered. The man's skin was as pale as snow, and his eyes were like looking into a pool of molten lava. He couldn't have been much older than they were, who was this guy?
He looked over at Ron, who was crammed in next to him, "He looks like trouble," Ron said to him, and Daniel couldn't help but nod in agreement. "What do you think 'Mione?" he questioned the third member of their trio. Who was currently staring at the strange figure, "He is quite handsome isn't he?" Hermione asked the two boys, Daniel had to hide a snicker as Ron began to grow red in anger and jealousy.
Daniel nudged Ron, "Come on, let's go finish breakfast," Ron could only nod, words eluding him. By the time they were finished with breakfast, Daniel practically had to sprint in order to make sure that he wasn't late to his first class of the day, History of Magic.
Although he slept through the majority of class, much like the rest of his fellow students, he suddenly awoke and took a gaze at the board that sat at the front of the room. An image that looked suspiciously like one of the soldiers from earlier this morning was plastered there.
He tuned into Professor Binn's monotone voice as he said," The people of Rhûn, a race largely considered to be inherently dark wizards and witches, this is one of their foot soldiers," he said pointing at the image, "the nation's boundaries do not appear on any muggle map, this is because some nations in the magical world have stood in the same place for large periods of time are now made up of many other muggle nations. Rhûn encompasses almost all of the muggle nation of Mongolia, a small portion of the eastern part of the country of Kazakhstan, and northwest China."
Binns paused and cleared his throat, apparently it didn't matter to him that he was a ghost, "For example the massive magical nation of Harad covers nearly all of the continent of Africa. But back to Rhûn, the Ministry of Magic has deemed the country off limits to all travelers, and exports from the country are examined in detail before being allowed to enter the country."
If the Ministry had placed so many sanctions and laws on Rhûn, then why was this stranger travelling with several of their soldiers? Was he some kind of general or high ranking officer? Daniel needed to talk to Hermione, and fast.
-Later that Day-
"And here we are back at the Great Hall," Dumbledore said as he finished with his tour and looked at his guest, "An impressive institute you have here Headmaster," The Black Hand stated.
"Mr…" Dumbledore trailed off, realizing that in the entirety of the time that he had been giving the tour, he had yet to learn the man's name. "Call me Maugoth," the Black Hand or Harry filled in. "I've been meaning to talk to you about something, perhaps we could go up to my office and discuss it."Maugoth nodded and was about to issue another order, but was interrupted by Dumbledore's voice, "Alone." He issued an order regardless, and the commanding officer of the soldiers ordered the others to move off in the other direction as they began to make their way up to Dumbledore's office.
Once inside familiar surroundings, he took a seat in his chair, "Lemon drop?" he offered Maugoth who politely declined the offer. "Down to business I suppose," Dumbledore remarked to the young man, who gave a forced smile.
"Now, Professor Snape has told me that you are a very accomplished wizard, and I would like to extend an invitation for you to study this year at Hogwarts," Dumbledore said with a grandfatherly smile. "I will have to think on this overnight," Maugoth told the elderly Headmaster.
A/N: There it is folks, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, the next one will be more action packed. Feel free to Follow, Favorite, and Review. Until next time.