Chapter the Third: Welcome to the New World

Harry felt as if he were falling a great distance. This wouldn't really bother him much, in fact this experience could have been quite exhilarating, if not for two factors that completely negated any thrill factor that could have existed for him in the present. Firstly, was the nauseating movement of colours going by him coupled with a horrendous noise that was so loud, he could hardly hear himself think about how much he hated it. The second factor was how he had come to be within this situation. The most disturbing thing was that if Voldemort had sent him here instead of taking his chance and killing him there and then, it must mean that whatever this spell did must be worse than death, something that Harry would have found hard to believe before he was sent into this horrible column of light and noise. He also had a feeling that he could just be travelling in this thing for eternity. That would just be his sort of luck in the end. To be stuck somewhere he didn't want to be would be just like his entire life up to and including this particular point in it. A smell suddenly filled the column of light, smelling like fresh country air on a summer's day, before he hit something with a sickening crack, and all went dark.

Gandalf looked down on the raven haired boy with curiosity. A day after he had arrived in Rivendell from Rohan, this boy had fallen straight into the hallway, interrupting his lunch with Elrond, whom was currently still going over the boy with various healing spells. Gandalf wanted to know where he came from, as the strange clothes that he wore were not of any kind he had ever seen in Middle-Earth for all of his time there. Elrond walked towards the window in the far corner of the room, and beckoned Gandalf over to him. "How is he?" Gandalf asked as he arrived next to the elf.

"Well enough, but there is a dark presence within him. Focused around that mark upon his head."

"Can it be removed?" Elrond looked grim faced, as he often did.

"Yes but it will cause him much pain, even within his unconscious state. But he should recover quickly, and then be up on his feet in the next day or two, upon which he can finally answer a few questions about himself and where he came from." Gandalf nodded his head.

"It is clear that he comes from somewhere we have not yet discovered ourselves yet, I am not familiar with the style of his clothes."

"Never mind the questions Gandalf, we must press on with the issue at hand." Elrond moved over the boy, and placed his hands hovering over his scar. He proceeded to chant in elvish and the boy's face twisted into one of agony. Screams emanated from the boy as his body writhed. Slowly, a dark cloud started to rise from the scar, letting out an even louder scream. As soon as it had completely been removed, it dissolved into the air, destroyed.

The next day Harry sat up in what was a very comfortable bed. The sun was shining through the windows, and all seemed to be well, apart from a splitting headache coming from the location of his scar. "What day is it?" He asked himself, and was surprised to receive an answer come from next to him.

"It is the 21st of October, and it is eleven o'clock in the morning." Answered the voice, and Harry looked next to him. If he hadn't remembered small parts of how he came to be here, he would have thought it was Dumbledore trying to trick him. It was a wizened old man, with grey robes, and tall and pointy grey hat, but his most recognisable feature was his long grey beard.

"Where am I?" He asked, swinging his legs out of the bed.

"You are in the House of Elrond, but I suspect that was not your question. It can be better answered at lunch, in an hour and a half. Meanwhile, feel free to explore."

Harry decided to take up the opportunity to have a look around his this newest location. Harry wasn't someone who would tolerate sitting around in a bed when he could be up and moving. It was a difference between him and Ron. As he began wandering around, Harry's mind started to turn to his friends. Had Voldemort killed them already, or was he taking his time? Will Dumbledore protect them or not? He looked around him and saw that he had since entered the library. He saw by the fire two comfortable chairs. Heading over to them he sat down, before realising that the other chair was actually occupied by a short man, with greying hair and uncovered hairy feet. Harry was just about to leave, in case he disturbed this man's sleep, when he woke up suddenly and looked at him. "Why hello there. Sit down, sit down you're no bother to an old man." At the invitation, Harry sat back down in the chair, and started to look into the fire. "And who are you young man?" He looked at Harry with some expectation.

"I'm Harry Potter. May I ask your name sir?" The old man chuckled.

"I'm no sir Mr Potter. Bilbo Baggins at your service. Please call me Bilbo"

"Only if you'll call me Harry." That started off a long conversation between them, somehow managing to evade the question of how each got here, swapping tales of dragons and creatures between them. Time passed quickly during the conversation, and it did not seem long to Harry before the bearded old man appeared within the library as well. "I see you have been entertaining our visitor Bilbo." Bilbo jumped slightly, turning to face him.

"Well he's rather fascinating Gandalf. He has some magnificent stories to tell." The man now identified as Gandalf looked at Harry with an inquisitive, piercing gaze. "I'm sure he does Bilbo." He beckoned to Harry, making it clear that it was time to head to dinner, and tell his story to these people. Harry stood, saying goodbye to Bilbo as he walked past.

The dinner table at which Harry sat was strangely quiet. There were only two others sat around the small round table. There was Gandalf, and two men with long hair, one with pointed ears. After having a pleasant dinner, where he learnt the name of the other man at the table, Elrond, they moved on to the task at hand, namely where he had come from. And when Elrond asked, Harry started to tell his story. He started with the murder of his parents, skipping over his childhood with the Dursley's to move on to his first year at Hogwarts. The fight with the troll had Aragorn looking at him strangely, but Harry moved onto his fight with Quirrell. He went through second year and his fight with the basilisk, his battle with the dementors needed some more detail within it, having to actually describe to them what it was like to have one of them near you. Then onto the tri-wizard tournament, his escape from the dragon and search for his friend, and the resurrection of his parent's murderer. Finally, he told the story of how he came to arrive in Rivendell. All three of his audience had pensive looks on their faces, before Gandalf asked the first question. "So you've fought this Dark Lord, a troll, whatever a basilisk is, the manifestation of fear and a dragon, all before you turned 15?" Harry nodded. "I find that rather hard to believe Mr Potter, and it does not explain several things about how you arrived here." Elrond said to him, looking at him suspiciously. He wanted him to explain the thing which came out of his head, but without outright mentioning it. "You can believe what you want Elrond, I'm just telling you what you want to know." Elrond nodded, not getting his answer yet, but he would.

"Thank you Mr Potter." Harry took that with the tone it was said in, a dismissal. He stood up, and left for bed. As the door closed, Elrond turned to Gandalf. "Do you believe him Gandalf?" Gandalf nodded to the question. "I don't think that he has any reason to lie to us, and I don't believe you could make such a story up and not show some sort of mistake. His story retained the same message. I think he might be useful to our quest."

"But he relies on magic, and by what he told us he needs this wand thing to use it, which he no longer has." Gandalf nodded thoughtfully. "We'll get him a sword, and hopefully I'll talk to him about trying to use his magic differently if he can. It seems like a powerful weapon against Sauron."

"We shall see." Elrond said, steepling his fingers in front of him. "We shall see."

Next Chapter: Meeting of the Council