Disclaimer: HP and LoTR belonged to their respective authors. Only this story plot and Hannah/Alfirin is mine.
A/N: Warning: some of the paragraphs may seem similiar to you. Reason being I sort oftaken out from HP books itself.
Chapter 2 - Freaked Out
It had been thirteen years since Dumbledore left Harry at the doorsteps of his aunt and uncle; and it had been three years since Harry had been told that he was a wizard, and he would be attending a school named Hogwarts.
It was the summer holidays after his third year at Hogwarts, and Harry was back in Number four, Pivet Drive, with his aunt and uncle. It was nearly midnight when Harry lying on his bed, tossing and turning. Slowly, he drifted off to sleep. It was what seems like seconds when he woke up with a start. A sharp high-pitched voice was heard. "Boy! Wake up now!" Harry groaned, lying in his bed for a while more, before he heard another cry that he stood up and get changed.
Aunt Petunia was already cooking breakfast when he came down. "Now, look after the bacon. Don't you dare to let it burn." Aunt Petunia was still angry about yesterday's breakfast, where Harry had let the sausages burnt while he was reading a letter from Ron saying that he and his father will come fetch him some time this morning.
Harry had just finish scooping out the bacons when Aunt Petunia came in with Dudley, followed by Uncle Veron. They were halfway through the dinner, when they heard loud bangings and scrapings coming from behind the Dursleys' boarded-up fireplace, which had a fake coal fire plugged in front of it. They went into the living room to see what caused the sound.
"What is it?" gasped Aunt Petunia, who walked into the room and was staring, terrified, toward the fire. "What is it, Vernon?"
But they were left in doubt barely a second longer. Voices could be heard from inside the blocked fireplace.
"Ouch! Fred, no - go back, go back, there's been some kind of mistake - tell George not to - OUCH! George, no, there's no room, go back quickly and tell Ron-"
"Maybe Harry can hear us, Dad - maybe he'll be able to let us out-"
There was a loud hammering of fists on the boards behind the electric fire. "Harry? Harry, can you hear us?" The Dursleys rounded on Harry like a pair of angry wolverines.
"What is this?" growled Uncle Vernon. "What's going on?"
Harry approached the fireplace and called through the boards.
"Mr. Weasley? Can you hear me?"
The hammering stopped. Somebody inside the chimney piece said, "Shh!"
"Mr. Weasley, it's Harry... the fireplace has been blocked up. You won't be able to get through there."
"Damn!" said Mr. Weasley's voice. "What on earth did they want to block up the fireplace for?"
"They've got an electric fire," Harry explained.
"Really?" said Mr. Weasley's voice excitedly. "Electric, you say? With a plug? Gracious, I must see that... Let's think ... ouch, Ron!"
Ron's voice now joined the others. "What are we doing here? Has something gone wrong?"
"Oh no, Ron," came Fred's voice, very sarcastically. "No, this is exactly where we wanted to end up."
"Yeah, we're having the time of our lives here," said George, whose voice sounded muffled, as though he was squashed against the wall.
"Boys, boys. . ." said Mr. Weasley vaguely. "I'm trying to think what to do... Yes ... only way. . . Stand back, Harry."
Harry retreated to the sofa. Uncle Vernon, however, moved forward."Wait a moment!" he bellowed at the fire. "What exactly are you going to -"
BANG.
The electric fire shot across the room as the boarded-up fireplace burst outward, expelling Mr. Weasley, Fred, George, and Ron in a cloud of rubble and loose chippings.
Aunt Petunia shrieked and fell backward over the coffee table; Uncle Vernon caught her before she hit the floor, and gaped, speechless, at the Weasleys, all of whom had bright red hair, including Fred and George, who were identical to the last freckle.
"Who is this?" yelled Uncle Veron. "What are you doing in my house!"
Tall, thin, and balding, Arthur moved toward Uncle Vernon, his hand outstretched, but Uncle Vernon backed away several paces, dragging Aunt Petunia. Words utterly failed Uncle Vernon. His shirt was covered in white dust, which had settled in his hair and mustache and made him look as though he had just aged thirty years.
"Ah, you must be Harry's Uncle. Hi, I'm Arthur Weasley, and these are my sons, who are Harry's best friends, Fred, George and Ron." replied Arthur, smiling at Uncle Veron, who stepped back knowing they're wizards. Didn't Harry tell you that we're coming for him?" Then Arthur spent a good 15 minutes telling the Dursleys that Dumbledore had given permission for Harry to spend the rest of his summer at his place, and he had sent a letter to tell Harry to let them know that he was coming today.
"Harry, why did you not tell your aunt and uncle about it?" said Arthur, pretending to be angry. Harry meanwhile tried hard to force back a laugh, as he knew that Arthur would never be angry with him.
"Er - yes - sorry about that," said Mr. Weasley, lowering his hand and looking over his shoulder at the blasted fireplace. "It's all my fault. It just didn't occur to me that we wouldn't be able to get out at the other end. I had your fireplace connected to the Floo Network, you see - just for an afternoon, you know, so we could get Harry. Muggle fireplaces aren't supposed to be connected, strictly speaking - but I've got a useful contact at the Floo Regulation Panel and he fixed it for me. I can put it right in a jiffy, though, don't worry. I'll light a fire to send the boys back, and then I can repair your fireplace before I Disapparate."
Harry was ready to bet that the Dursleys hadn't understood a single word of this. They were still gaping at Mr. Weasley, thunderstruck. Aunt Petunia and Dudley staggered upright again and hid behind Uncle Vernon.
"So, Harry!" said Mr. Weasley brightly. "Got your trunk ready?"
"It's upstairs," said Harry, grinning back.
"We'll get it," said Fred at once. Winking at Harry, he and George left the room. They knew where Harry's bedroom was, having once rescued him from it in the dead of night.
"Well," said Mr. Weasley, swinging his arms slightly, while he tried to find words to break the very nasty silence. "Very - erm - very nice place you've got here."
As the usually spotless living room was now covered in dust and bits of brick, this remark didn't go down too well with the Dursleys. Uncle Vernon's face purpled once more, and Aunt Petunia started chewing her tongue again. However, they seemed too scared to actually say anything.
Mr. Weasley was looking around. He loved everything to do with Muggles. Harry could see him itching to go and examine the television and the video recorder.
"They run off electricity, do they?" he said knowledgeably. "Ah yes, I can see the plugs. I collect plugs," he added to Uncle Vernon. "And batteries. Got a very large collection of batteries. My wife thinks I'm mad, but there you are."
Uncle Vernon clearly thought Mr. Weasley was mad too. He moved ever so slightly to the right, screening Aunt Petunia from view, as though he thought Mr. Weasley might suddenly run at them and attack. Harry could hear the clunk of his trunk on the stairs as Fred and George came back into the room carrying Harry's school trunk.
Just as Harry was about to stepped into the fire, however, a horrible gagging sound erupted behind him, and Aunt Petunia started to scream. Harry turned around. Dudley was no longer standing behind his parents. He was kneeling beside the coffee table, and he was gagging and sputtering on a foot-long, purple, slimy thing that was protruding from his mouth. One bewildered second later, Harry realized that the foot-long thing was Dudley's tongue - and that a brightly colored toffee wrapper lay on the floor before him.
Aunt Petunia hurled herself onto the ground beside Dudley, seized the end of his swollen tongue, and attempted to wrench it out of his mouth; unsurprisingly, Dudley yelled and sputtered worse than ever, trying to fight her off. Uncle Vernon was bellowing and waving his arms around, and Mr Weasley had to shout to make himself heard.
"Not to worry, I can sort him out!" he yelled, advancing on Dudley with his wand outstretched, but Aunt Petunia screamed worse than ever and threw herself on top of Dudley, shielding him from Mr Weasley.
"No, really!" said Mr Weasley desperately. "It's a simple process it was the toffee -my son Fred - real practical joker - but it's only an Engorgement Charm - at least, I think it is - please, I can correct it -"
No matter how Mr Weasley pleaded, the Dursleys would not let him near Dudley. It was only when Dudley's toungue was like four feet long that Uncle Veron agreed to let Mr Weasley shrink it. All this while, Harry stood by the fireplace trying to restrain himself from laughing.
Harry could heard laughter when he reached the Burrow fireplace. He landed on the floor, and Fred offered a hand to help him. "He ate it, didn't he?" asked Fred, grinning.
"Yeah, he did. What was that actually?"
"Ton-Tongue Toffee, we invented it and was looking for someone to try it," said George, laughing.
Mr Weasley were reprimanding them when Mrs Weasley walked in with 2 red-haired men followed by Hermione and Ginny. Those 2 red-haired Harry don't recognise but know that they have to be the older Weasleys, Bill and Charlie.
"Hello Harry," said 1 of the red-haired, holding out a hand which Harry shook.
"I'm Bill, and he's Charlie," pointing to the red-haired beside him. Charlie looks every inch the outdoor type: he has a broad, good-natured, weather-beaten face, and so many freckles that it looks almost like he has a tan. He was shorter and stockier than most of his brothers, and has, of course, the usual Weasley red hair. His body was tanned, as a result being under the sun for too long. Bill, Harry thought, was a Head Boy, would be like Percy, who was dead serious, not pranking sort of a person. But the Bill who stood in front of him is not what he thought to be.
The Bill in front of him is tall and lanky with the usual shock of Weasley red hair, which he wears long in a pony-tail. He has an earring shaped like a fang, and unlike the majority of his family, he is - and there is no other word for it - cool. Harry was immediately struck by Bill's confident and easy-going nature. His clothes wouldn't have looked out of place at a rock concert (except perhaps the dragon-hide boots), and it would have been almost impossible to imagine anyone more different to his self-important brother Percy, in spite of the similarities in their academic careers. Also unlike Percy, Bill has retained a considerable sense of fun.
Mrs Weasley demanded to know what did Fred and George did this time after she greeted and hugged Harry. Reluctantly, Mr Weasley told Mrs Weasley everything. Everyone listened with much enthusiasium. Mr Weasley explain how they were about to go off, after Fred and George came down with Harry's trunk. Fred, who claimed to be an accident, spilled a bad of sweets from his pocket. Harry's cousin went to pick it up and ate it. And how long had Mr Weasley spent persuading the Dursleys to allow him to fix it. All this time, there grasp and shriek coming from Hermione and Ginny, while Mrs Weasley keep shooting the twins with a stern look. Bill and Charlie laughing along with their brothers and Harry.
"Now, now, Molly. I had scolded them already. There's no need for another one. They already regretted it, don't you boys?" said Mr Weasley.
"Yeah, We're regretting now. We'll go upstairs to remorse," replied George, as the twin started to move from the table towards the stairs, with a smirk on their face hidden from their mother.
"You better be!" cried Mrs Weasley. The rest would know otherwise. The twins would never be remorseful.
After the twins went upstairs to their room, Mrs Weasley had Hermione and Ginny to help with dinner, while Bill and Charlie went to the garden to help set up tables for dinner. Meanwhile Ron took Harry up to his room, where Harry would unload his things. It was actually the Weasleys idea to keep Harry from downstairs where they are preparing a secret birthday party for Harry.
Soon, it was time for dinner, and Hermione came upstairs to get the boys. When they went downstairs, the whole room was quiet and empty. Hermione lead the boys out the back door; and when Harry walk out into the garden, everyone shouted "SURPRISE, HARRY!"
Harry was shocked at first, but when he recovered, he was overjoyed. This is his 1st birthday party. Every year on his birthday, he used to spend it alone. He would normally buy a slice of cake, lit a candle on it, and sang happy birthday song to himself. But this year, he had the whole Weasley family, Hermonie, Professor Dumbledore, Professor Mcgonagall, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Hagrid, Neville Longbottom, Dean Seamus and Sean Thomas to celebrate his birthday with him.
"You guys! I can't believe it! Thank you!" exclaimed Harry, smiling.
"You better be, Harry, because this is not a dream," replied Sirus mockingly.
Everyone was having an enjoyable night, especially Harry. They were joking, chatting happily, singing and dancing all night long. It was well pass midnight when Ron and Harry went upstairs to bed. Ron went to bed almost immediately, but Harry sat on his mattress opening some of the presents he received. Suddenly a brown owl flew into the room and landed on Harry's bed. Surprised, Harry examined the owl for a while, then he realise there is an envelope attached to his leg. Once the envelope is removed, the owl flew off through the window. Who is this from? Harry wondered. All of the people he knew were here at the Burrow just now. Curiously, he opened the envelope. Just as he open, a glimpse of light escaped from the envelope. The light is so bright that Harry had to cover his eyes. Suddenly Harry felt he was being sucked into a tornado. Suddenly he was falling, and for what seemed like forever, he finally dropped to the ground flat on his face.
When he open his eyes, he was no longer in Ron's room. He looked around, he was so surprised and stunned with the beautiful environment, that he rubbed his eyes to see if his eyes were playing tricks on him. He pinched himself to see if he was dreaming, but realised it is not, he began to admire the scenery.
Beautiful trees and flowers were grown, the grass were very green and a palace so huge, beautiful and majestic. I know beautiful and majestic shouldn't really put together in the same sentence, but this palace really is. Harry thought. Suddenly. he realised that there were five very beautiful people standing in front of him. Four men and one woman. Well, actually Harry couldn't really differentiate whether they are men or women, for they are all so beautiful, and Harry began to think if they were veelas.
Standing up, Harry suddenly took out his wand, pointing at them and questioned them as they approached him. "Where is this place? Who are you? What do you want? I know, you must be spies sent by Voldermort! Where is he, huh? Afraid to see me? Go tell him I'm not afraid of him. Tell him he need not hide from me. If he wants to kill me come out now!"
"Calm down, Elithron," said one of the five people, who Harry believed to be the leader of the group. A stern looking person who held wisdom in his silvery blue eyes but looked no older than thirty. "We mean you no harm."
"To answer your questions, firstly, this is Rivendell, Middle Earth," said a she elf, calmly. "Secondly,my name is Alfirin." Turning to the elf who talked earlier, "This is Lord Elrond, Lord of Rivendell. These are Lord Elladan and Lord Elrohir, Lord Elrond's sons. And this is Glorfindel." Each of them nodded their head as a gesture.
"Thirdly, no, we are not spies of Voldermort. We are elves. Trusts us, Elithron, we mean you no harm. Elves are on the good side, they will never go to the dark side," she continued, as her voice grow softer and gentler.
"Er, wait a minute. My name is not E-Eli-what do u say my name is?" said Harry.
"Elithron."
"I'm not Eliron, you've got the wrong person!" cried Harry.
"Yes, of course you are. We never make mistakes. You are Elithron, also known as Harry Potter in you world," said Lord Elrond. "Come, I will explain everything to you. But first, you must be tired, you will need a good rest."
"NO! I can't stay here!" cried Harry. "I have to go back. Sirius will get worried if I'm not there. And Mr and Mrs Weasley too. And Ron and Her-"
"Now, now, Harry. Calm down. You can choose not to stay here, but at least stay until tomorrow, when you know the truth, and you can then decide whether you want to stay here or go back to your own world then," said Alfirin, trying to calm Harry down.
Somehow, Alfirin's voice had relaxed Harry a bit. He was no longer tensed as he was earlier. Looking into the she elf's eyes, he could see sadness in it. I think I can trust them. I can't sense any harm in them. They look so...so pure to be harmful. Harry thought. Finally after giving some serious thoughts, he decided to stay for the night. Everyone were happy to hear about this. Lady Alfirin lead Harry to his room, which Lord Elrond had prepared earlier in the day. Two elfmaids were already in the room when Harry entered.
"This is your room. Wash up and get some sleep," said Alfirin. "They will serve you from now on. I will see you tomorrow morning. Goodnight."
"Goodnight," replied Harry.
"Lord Elithron, please do undress, while we put up the bath for you," said one of the elfmaids.
Harry not being used to be served, tried to "chase" the elfmaids out. "Please, I can look after myself. I do not need you to serve me."
"M-My lord, i-is there anything we h-had done wrong?" asked the other elfmaid, timidly.
"No, no, there's nothing you had done wrong. It's just that I'm used to look after myself and I'm not used to being served like that. Please, I can handle it myself. Don't worry."
"In that case, we will take our leave, my lord," said the first elfmaid.
HKHKHKHKHKHKHKHKHKHK
Oh dear. Lord Elrond thought. His thoughts were filled of hatred for the Dark Lord, and his mind was full of revenge. Yet he is still so young. My heart aches to know this. As he, Elladan, Elrohir and Glorfindel walked separate ways from Alfirin and Harry, he couldn't help but feel sad for Harry.
"I can sense he had a heavy burden on his shoulders," commented Glorfindel.
"Yes, he could not even relax on seeing strangers. All he can think of was the strangers were spies sent by the Dark Lord," continues Elladan.
"I am sure Alfirin does feels sad in a way that her muindor had become like that," said Elrohir, sadly.
"Hmmf. All we can do is to try let him feel as home as possible. Afterall, this is his home," said Lord Elrond.
A/N: I forgot to ask you to review last chapter, so... Please review. Thank you.
muindor: brother
