AN: Hello again friends! Welcome back for the first chapter in a while, hope you enjoy it and I'll talk to you again in a bit!
Chapter 9 - You what?
Harry took his first breath of the clean air since they'd been dumped into that place. The birds were singing and the sun was shining bright upon them. But Harry knew that he and Bilbo had no time to waste, goblins would be upon them soon enough and they had to find the others.
The only comfort Harry could find was that they were now out in the open, and from what he had learnt of goblins from his time in Middle Earth was that they hated sunlight. It was in fact the only reason they hadn't encountered any goblins standing guard outside the exit to the caverns.
However the day was growing old and the sun seemed to be slowly setting on the horizon. They kept running until they heard voices, by this time they were deep into the woods, voices that sounded rather like Gandalf and Thorin. Harry turned to his left, it appeared that in their haste down to their current location they had completely missed running past Balin who had obviously heard them and was looking around frantically.
His attention however, was diverted at the sound of a very heated Thorin talking to the company at last.
"..well obviously he has seen this as his chance and taken it. No, I don't think we'll be seeing Mr Baggins again," he continued. Harry looked down towards the hobbit, who had a contemplative look on his face. He leant down slowly so as not to be heard by the rest.
"You can leave you know, no one is stopping you, but remember this, even if you do return to your own home, where you are safe from harm," Harry said in barely a whisper. Bilbo by this point had a wistful smile on his faith at the thought of his own home. But Harry ploughed on "even if you do choose to give up on this quest and go back to your comfortable little life, you won't be any better off for it"
"What do you mean?" Bilbo whispered back, his expression one of confusion.
Harry sighed "You have come too far to turn back now, seen too much for it to go back to the way it was, besides, would you not be abandoning these dwarves, your friends…" he said but Bilbo interrupted.
"But are they my friends? You heard what Thorin said, he doesn't want me here, what if everyone else is of the same opinion,? All I'm doing is holding everyone back" he said, looking at the ground. Harry spared a glance to the group who were looking solemn at the supposed loss of their friend.
"Bilbo, you hear it said scarcely these days, but that doesn't make it any less true, sometimes the littlest of people can make the biggest of differences in the end" he said, inclining his head towards the others. Bilbo looked up towards the faces of the company. He stared for a long while. Eventually he seemed to have come to a decision.
His face set, his eyes determined, he slowly lifted the cloak over his head, and marched into the camp. Harry stared after him. No going back now.
"You won't be getting rid of your burglar that easily, Bilbo Baggins, at your service" Bilbo exclaimed. The reaction of the others was comical, they were all staring at Bilbo in shock. Chaos broke loose as everyone ran up to hug Bilbo, Gandalf especially seemed quite pleased to see the young hobbit.
"Bilbo Baggins, I don't think I've ever been as pleased to see anyone in my entire life" the old wizard exclaimed in relief.
Then came the inevitable questions. Harry got ready for his cue.
"Where's Harry? Wasn't he with you?" asked Bofur, or was it Bifur.
"Um," Bilbo started. That was his cue. Harry tore of the cloak and ran into the camp. Time to put his acting skills to the test.
"Have you got Bilbo with you?" he asked quickly, making a show of being in a panic, Bilbo owed him for this later, he'd never been much of a liar.
"Yes, yes, Bilbo is here, safe and sound, we thought you were lost as well, until we got your message, how on earth did you manage to lose him?" Gandalf exclaimed. Harry tried his best to look sheepish.
"Well, it was dark down there, didn't want to make a light just in case I startled Bilbo when he woke up or if it attracted some goblins, plus hobbits are remarkably light on their feet, quiet as a mouse he was," Harry said, stuttering a bit in the middle, luckily none of the dwarves noticed it, but judging by the slight rise of one of Gandalf's bushy eyebrows he did, Harry continued nevertheless.
"So engrossed was I in my own thoughts I didn't notice until only a short time ago that Bilbo was gone, that is when I got up and rushed towards the exit, and here I am" he finished. He hoped no one questioned why he didn't just pick Bilbo up and run out of there. Luckily everyone had accepted Harry's story as fact and were questioning Bilbo about his tale.
And so it was that over the next couple of hours Bilbo told his tale, minus Harry, of being separated from the group to meeting Gollum in his cave to the game of riddles and then finally his escape.
So engrossed were they in his tale that they didn't notice a low growl that came from the trees around. All except for Gandalf who jumped up immediately.
"RUN!" he exclaimed. "The enemy are upon us!"
Harry jumped up also, it was true, they were almost surrounded by Wargs, most had Orcs riding them. Luckily there was a wide enough gap for them to run into. And did they run, Harry occasionally sending curses back towards the advancing pack.
It wasn't looking good.
There was no way they were going to outrun the enemy, not with Bilbo tagging along to one of the dwarves, was it Dwalin? Anyway, Gandalf seemed to have come to the same conclusion, but he had a plan also.
"Climb the trees!" he shouted. And everyone did so, Bilbo only just got up before a Warg snapped at the air he had previously been in.
Harry surveyed the pack. There were a lot of them that's for sure, luckily none with a rider on had joined the hunt yet, but that wouldn't last. Only then did he notice something that made their situation even worse, if that was possible.
It seemed, that in their panic, they had gotten to the edge of a big cliff. Harry, being one of the tallest, was highest up on the tree and therefore had the longest way to fall if he were to be knocked off. Only Gandalf was higher than him. He apparently had noticed the cliff as well, but he didn't appear to be paying too much attention to it.
He was surveying a pine cone which he had plucked from one of the branches. Harry caught on pretty quickly.
"DO IT!" he shouted over the terrible howls of the Wargs. Gandalf looked over at him, before nodding and raising his staff.
He muttered something and the pine cone went alight. He then hurled it down to the gathered Wargs, who had now been joined by the orcs.
Fire quickly spread around them as the dry leaves caught ablaze. The Wargs howled even louder for they hated fire. The orcs were having a hard time keeping their wargs under control.
Then a loud voice filled the air.
"Ack-lak nyet" it boomed.
Immediately all the Wargs quietened down and turned to the voice. Harry looked too. His eyes widened upon the sight. Of course he'd heard the tales of the Battle of Moria, the battle in which the White Org, most powerful and dreadful of all the orcs, was slain by Thorin who was using nowt but an old log for protection.
It seemed the White Org still lived.
He'd heard rumours of it, but had never seen him with his own eyes. And dreadful he was. His size was the first thing that caught Harry's attention, whereas he was usually as tall as any other orc, this one was much taller than him, taller than Gandalf also. He seemed to loom over them, exuding an aura of malice and cruelty.
Harry saw Thorin looking open mouthed at his enemy, obviously he thought like everyone else that the White Org was dead.
Suddenly Harry heard a cry to his left, and without wasting a second he reached out and caught what turned out to be Bombur who had slipped and would have fallen to his doom Harry not caught him.
Now, you must understand that Bombur was incredibly fat. Harry had to summon nearly all of his strength to even hold onto him. Using his last reserves he heaved Bombur back up onto the branch.
Amidst the wave of thank yous coming from Bombur no one noticed the White Org draw his bow and shoot an arrow into the tree.
Next thing Harry knew a searing pain entered his left shoulder. He looked down to see an arrow protruding from his shoulder. He stared at it in shock. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion as he, already falling backwards, tumbled off of the branch and plummeted to the ground. All this had happened before Bombur even had time to think.
"NO!" the dwarf shouted as he watched the wizard who'd saved his life moments before fall to the ground far below the cliff top.
Gandalf, upon hearing the cry of the dwarf, turned to see the same sight. His eyes widened and he rushed to the edge of the branch to try and do something.
But it was too late.
As Harry fell he felt a strange sense of peace mixed with regret. Peace because after all these years it was finally over for him. But regret that he couldn't help the dwarves more and return to Dee, his Dee.
That was his last thought before blackness engulfed him.
Harry woke up to a bright light.. He had to shield his eyes. This seemed very familiar. Dying, Harry decided, was fast becoming a regular routine. But this time would be the last time, he was sure of it.
Finally, after his eyes had adjusted he sat up slowly. Looking around he saw that he wasn't in Kings Cross and there was no Dumbledore waiting for him. This was good, he didn't particularly fancy going back now. What he did see though took his breath away.
He was in a garden. A beautiful garden. A garden the likes of which could never be seen or had never been seen on either of the worlds Harry had been in. The trees and the flowers seemed to radiate a sense of calm that washed over Harry's entire being. He felt refreshed, rejuvenated, happy. And that was something he hadn't truly felt in a long time, or ever. Dying the first time paled in comparison to this.
The grass was so green and lustrous and the plants so vibrant and colourful that it would have given Professor Sprout a heart attack. The sky was a clear, light shade of blue. The sun shone down upon the garden so magnificently that it made all the different shades of colours look that much brighter.
Harry felt happiness. Harry felt clam. Harry felt joy.
But most of all, Harry felt at peace.
A voice from behind him broke him out of his thoughts.
"Wonderful isn't it?"
Harry turned around to see a tall man standing there. But that wasn't the first thing he noticed. No, the first thing he noticed about this man was that there was a tremoudous power within him that Harry wouldn't have noticed if it was not so large that it was literally radiating off of him. The man himself had dark brown hair, a kind but strict face and startling blue eyes which also radiated power beyond anything Harry had ever felt before.
The man was wearing a long tunic with gold linings which sparkled in the sunlight. Harry gathered up his courage and spoke.
"Yes" was all that came out of his mouth. Harry almost slapped himself, was that the best he could come up with in front of someone as obviously important as this man was. But it seemed that the man didn't mind his lack of words. He chuckled and looked out over the garden.
"Indeed, it is quite magnificent if I do say so myself, we did well in the making of this place" he said with pride in his voice. "Anyway," he continued "you know where you are Harry James Potter, do you not?"
Harry thought over it for a minute before shaking his head "I would like to say that I do, but from what I have learnt of Valinor, I had thought that there were more buildings" he replied, looking around at the completely natural environment.
"Well," the man replied "we are in the area between Valinor and Arda, this place is what we who are members of the Valar like to call Kostos, this is the place where we meet beings who's situations are much more complex than that of others who pass to the shores of Valinor"
Harry sighed. He was getting a strong sense of Deja Vu.
"What makes my death so complex?" Harry asked "And may be so humble as to ask for your name please?"
"Of course, my name is Manwe, I am the King of the Valar, and as for what makes your situation complex will be explained, if you would join me on a walk?" the man replied. Harry nodded.
"Of course" he said. And so they set off.
"First I have a question for you," Manwe started "do you know the reasons for your journey to Middle Earth from your own on?"
"I seem to remember laying on the roof of Grimmauld Place when I made a wish, that is all I remember before I woke up in the woods of Rivendell" Harry replied. Manwe sighed.
"Yes, you did make a wish, but that was not all that brought you to this world Harry Potter, your wish was only the catalyst for things that would have come about anyway, you see it would seem that the One had taken a keen interest in you even before your birth" he said.
"Wait," Harry said "you can't mean THE One, as in Eru, the creator of Middle Earth?"
"You would do well not to interrupt," Manwe said "but yes, I do mean THE One, as you put it, as I was saying, Eru had taken a keen interest in you and intended to keep a close watch on how you faired, despite almost never interfering in the affairs of the worlds below" he said.
"As he watched you grow he became even more convinced that you were the one who would do great things, defeat great evils, his point of view was solidified when you were but 1 year old" he continued.
"When my parents died" Harry said in a whisper to himself. Manwe nodded.
"He saw the first fall of the dark wizard Voldemort and immediately contacted me and the other members of the Valar, you can understand our surprise when he did this, as we had not heard from him in thousands of years, at the grand council he made it abundantly clear to us that when the time was right we were to bring you here so that he could help you fulfil your ultimate destiny" he said. Harry's mind was reeling at this point. Eru himself wanted him. But the question still remained.
"And what is my ultimate destiny? Because I'll be frank with you, I thought the role of destiny in my life ended with the fulfilment of that prophecy" Harry replied. Manwe sighed again.
"It seems that destiny will always have a role to play in your life Harry Potter, and as for your ultimate destiny, that is remained to be seen, for even we do not know yet, ah, it looks like the time has come, good luck and remember, the good of the Valar is shining down upon you always" Manwe finished. Harry was about to ask what time had come when Manwe faded out of existence.
Harry almost jumped out of his skin when a loud, booming voice echoed around the garden and him.
"Are you Harry James Potter, son of James and Lilian Potter, grandson of Charles and Dorea Potter?" the voice boomed. Harry just nodded mutely, unable to form words at the sight that was emerging in front of him. Not even registering the names of his grandparents whom he'd never known, nor the fact that his mother's full name was Lilian, not Lily. His eyes were transfixed on the sight in front of him.
A giant man, taller than the sky itself, was looming over him. He was so tall that Harry could not see his face so he had not idea what the man looked like, but he didn't need to, he could feel the waves of power, quadruple the size of Manwe's, pouring off of this man, no, being.
"Eru" he breathed. And there could not have been a more perfect scenario for that term.
"Very well then, as you seem to not be fond of, or able to talk at the moment I suppose I better explain why you are here" the being, obviously Eru, boomed. Again Harry nodded.
"Well Mr Potter, you have been quite the mystery to me, for long have I wondered when I would find the final member of the Valar, the one who was destined to put to rest any conflict that happened in the lands beyond, and here you come, defeating the most powerful Dark Lord your world has ever seen, when you were just one summer old, that, as you may have heard, was not only due to the love your mother had for you, though it was great, but the power that is sealed away in your very being, just waiting to be released"
Harry, by this time, had lost the function of his mouth, as his jaw had dropped right onto the floor, metaphorically you understand.
"There must be some kind of mistake, I'm nothing truly special as you say I am" Harry spluttered, finally talking.
Eru chuckled, a deep, booming laugh that again echoed around the garden which lay all but forgotten to Harry who was in the midst of a nervous breakdown. "I assure you, I do not make mistakes, not on a matter like this, now, I think it is high time you got back to the living world, you have much to do, don't worry, when you wake up you will know what to do. Oh but first.." he trailed off.
Harry almost ran when a large hand reached down, seeming to shrink as it descended until it was right by his forehead where is was normal sized and touched his forehead.
And for the second time that day, or was it month, Harry James Potter knew no more.
AN: Oooohhh! How bout that! Hey everyone thank you for being patient with me, I know I haven't been updating much lately but hopefully now that exams are over I can start up again. That was a very different chapter, let me know what you think about it. This isn't meant to be a preaching video about religion and stuff, it is all centred around the Tolkein-verse and is in no way representative of reality, but I hope you know that already Thanks again for your patience and reading this fic, BYE!