Harry Potter and the High Elves

By: Katerinaki

Published: May 15, 2015

Beta'ed: No

Notes:Thank you to all who have read and reviewed the story. The greatest compliment is to share a story with others, so if you really like this story, please share it with your friends. I would be very grateful.

Please Note! The elves in this story are inspired by Tolkien's elves and use the elvish dialect Quenya, created for the Lord of the Rings book. However this is not a true Crossover, but an Alternate Universe. At no point will any Tolkien character or realm appear in this story.

Chapter 9:

The world was growing darker. It wasn't immediately obvious to most, but to those who knew the truth, the changes were palpable. It was like a heavy membrane had fallen over the Wizarding World that was holding the pressure in. There was an intensity around them, echoed in the actions of their families and friends, and that intensity was growing more and more each day, like the world was looking over the edge and bending its knees, preparing to jump off the precipice into chaos. Everyone who believed Harry and Dumbledore were preparing for the conflict to come. Those who didn't hid their heads in the sand and forced themselves to believe that the storm clouds were not moving in.

Hermione and the Weasley family were no longer at the Burrow. It wasn't safe until new wards were placed, which could take weeks. Each individual ward needed multiple casters, and the wards they intended to cast were so strong that they could only be cast one-by-one with days to rest and regenerate in between. Therefore in the meantime, the Weasleys lived in Headquarters.

Ron and Hermione had been surprised to find out that Ron's parents and many other adults they were familiar with were part of a secret society pledged to see the end of Voldemort. It was called the Order of the Phoenix, and Dumbledore was its leader. Apparently the Order of the Phoenix had existed during the First Wizarding War, and while Ron's parents hadn't been part of it, Harry's parents had, with Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. The new Order of the Phoneix was different from the old one. Many of the older members had been killed during the fight, including Ron's uncles Gideon and Fabian Prewitt and Harry's parents. The new Order of the Phoenix relied on newer members, those who had either chosen to remain on the sidelines for the first war, or were too young to fight then. Ron and Hermione had already met Nymphadora Tonks, Sirius's cousin who was an Auror and around Charlie Weasley's age, and also Kingsley Shacklebolt, another Auror. To Ron's intense disbelief and hatred, Professor Snape was also part of the new Order of the Phoenix.

"The slimy git is probably reporting everything they say back to You-Know-Who," Ron growled, after they had failed yet again to listen into one of the Order meetings. They were staying at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, a nasty, dreary townhome in London that was owned by Sirius's family for generations. Sirius had offered it to be used as Headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix because it was already so well-warded and it was only a simple matter for Dumbledore to place a Fidelius Charm over the prior protections. Hermione wasn't convinced it was the best place, and certainly it was not the safest to live in.

The house had been left abandoned after Sirius's mother, Walburga Black, had died and left only the family's house-elf Kreacher to stay behind and clean. Of course, Kreacher hadn't done much cleaning. Rather he'd mainly listened to Walburga's horrid portrait that hung in the stairs and took pleasure in insulting anyone who dared to venture into her house, including her own son. Not a day went by that someone didn't set Mrs. Black off and the house was filled with her murderous screeches of "Filth! Blood-traitors and Mudbloods! Defiling the house of my fathers!" Sirius had tried to remove the portrait. Dumbledore had tried to remove it. Nothing seemed to make a difference and so they settled for drawing the curtains and tiptoeing up and down the stairs. In the meanwhile, Mrs. Weasley had roped Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and the twins into clean-up duty, attempting to make the rest of the house habitable again. It was slow and dangerous work. The house was prepared to fight back.

"Professor Snape is just as loyal as you or I," Hermione insisted. "Professor Dumbledore trusts him."

Ron scoffed. "Dumbledore didn't even know Snape was one of those elf things. You think Snape can't hide his loyalty too?"

Hermione frowned. "Well I trust him," she declared at last. Even if she could agree he was a right foul git.

In the matter of the Eldar, Hermione had made little headway in the Ministry. The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures had held little more information than she'd already known. It seemed they hadn't had any sort of interaction with the Eldar since the 1940s, and back then they had still called them "elves". It was ignorance at its finest, and it frustrated Hermione to no end. It seemed the only source of knowledge of the Eldar remained to be Professor Snape, and the more she saw him coming and going for Order meetings, the more she was convinced she needed to try to ask him again. This time, though, she wouldn't include Ron.

It wasn't that Ron was uncaring. He cared for Harry a great deal. But to him, Harry was gone. To him Harry was far beyond their reach and there was nothing they could do for him here, so it didn't make sense to keep trying with "this Eldar nonsense". After the Ministry, Ron had counseled her to give up and to his eyes, she'd obliged. But Hermione wasn't one to give up. And so she waited and bided her time. The problem was, Professor Snape never seemed to linger at Grimmauld Place. He always came just before the meeting was to start and left immediately afterwards, never staying for Molly's invitation to supper like Lupin, Tonks, and Kingsley. It was as if he somehow knew she wanted to speak to him, and so he made himself scarce. That, or it was the way that Sirius treated him. To be fair, Sirius did have a reason to hate Snape. Snape had been the one who took him into custody in their third year, and who'd been the most vocal supporter of Sirius being given the Dementor's Kiss right away. Snape had also let slip that Lupin was a werewolf, costing him a desperately needed job. Often time Sirius was downright nasty to Snape, and Snape gave as well as he got.

One of the good points to Grimmauld Place, in Hermione's opinion, was its library. Generations of Blacks had been adding to it for centuries, and while it contained more than a few texts on Dark magic, it also contained many other interesting volumes that Hermione was eager to get her hands on. She had to be careful, though. She'd already been bitten and stung by a few books in the library. A few also had wards on them to keep them out of reach of any witch or wizard who wasn't a Pureblood. Those ones had fueled Hermione's ire and she'd taken to trying her hand at cursebreaking. She didn't have much prior experience, but interestingly enough, Sirius himself was proving most helpful.

It was he who found Hermione in the library, once more pouring over the same creature books, trying to find something that she'd missed before.

"Is there something you're looking for in particular?"

Hermione jumped, not having heard his approach. Sirius grinned good-naturedly from the doorway, his hands folded across his chest. He looked far better than the few times Hermione had seen him during fourth year, when he'd been on the run and living out of a cave above Hogsmeade. He was clean, for one, and dressed in clothing that fit him. Mrs. Weasley seemed to be trying her hardest to "put some meat on his bones", and she seemed to be having some success. He no longer looked thin and emaciated. The only indication of his time in Azkaban that remained were the dark circles under his eyes from restless sleep and the haunted look that would sometimes pass over his eyes.

"No," Hermione replied, far too quickly. It was just that Dumbledore had first suggested that they keep Harry's status as Tar-Eldatur to themselves as extra protection. Hermione didn't agree that it should be kept from Sirius, but she would obey Dumbledore.

Sirius quirked an eyebrow. "Okay." He turned and closed the door of the library behind him. Hermione watched with intense suspicion as Sirius warded the door behind him before taking a seat in one of the high-winged back chairs around the room.

"Now, are you sure you're not looking for anything specific? It's just you and me, and I promise whatever it is I can keep a secret."

Hermione bit her lip and went back and forth in her mind whether she should tell him or not. He was Harry's godfather. He deserved to know the truth. McGonagall and Madame Pomfrey knew the truth, or at least part of the truth. Sirius was Harry's guardian.

"I'm sorry," Hermione apologized. "But Dumbledore—"

"I know that Harry is an eldar."

Sirius couldn't have shocked her more than if he admitted to wearing pink tutus and going out clubbing every other weekend. At first she was stunned, but when her mind caught up once more it made sense. Sirius was Harry's godfather, so Dumbledore must've told him. There was no way Sirius would've taken Harry's "contagious illness" lying down. He would've been at Harry's bedside, hell or high water.

"When did Professor Dumbledore tell you?" she asked.

"He didn't," Sirius replied simply. "I could guess easily enough when he tried to feed me some story about an illness."

"But how could you have guessed? Nobody knew…"

"James knew." Sirius smiled. "Do you honestly think I could be that close to someone for so long, and not know something so important? James was my brother, more than my biological brother. We told each other everything. I was there when James laid the enchantment on Harry to make him appear human. It wasn't hard to guess what had happened. James always thought they'd come for him."

"And you're…okay with Harry just going?"

"Of course not! But he's with them now. James told me about the Last Haven, the Eldar sanctuary. There is no way for a human to even go there, let alone get in."

Hermione sighed heavily. Sirius only confirmed what others had told her too. But something in his words sparked her curiosity.

"James told you about the Eldar?"

Sirius gave her a knowing smirk. "Yes," he replied simply.

"Do you think you could tell me?"

"No," Sirius admitted. "I'm sorry, I swore a Wizard's Oath to him that I wouldn't tell anyone what he'd told me about the Eldar. They are a very private people and they don't share their secrets with just anyone. James and I were blood-brothers before he would even tell me his Eldarin name."

Hermione's face fell as her hopes were dashed. Here stood a source of information almost as good as Snape, but once more she was barred from it, this time by loyalty. It was frustrating, but Hermione wasn't going to push. A Wizard's Oath was serious and could be extremely dangerous if it was broken. Hermione would never put Sirius in that sort of position.

"Well, if you have any books or sources that might help…"

"I promised James I wouldn't tell anyone, but not that I wouldn't show anyone. We were kids then and the wording of the Wizard's Oath wasn't all that specific. If we can get hold of a pensieve, I can show you the memories, and then I wouldn't be telling you and you could still get the information you are looking for."

Hermione was uncertain though. "Are you sure it won't break your oath?"

"I'm the one who swore the oath. Trust me, I know its boundaries. Remus might be able to get us a pensieve. I have some funds stashed away in a few places."

"Does Remus know?"

Sirius shrugged. "Who knows? It's not something we talk about. Lily knew, but I didn't discuss it with her and she didn't discuss it with me. Remus is smart, but the Eldar are something completely different. They're not exactly in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them."

"Won't he be suspicious of what you want the pensieve for?"

Sirius' expression darkened. "No," he assured her. "Remus knows that I…well let's just say Azkaban wasn't the greatest place in the world and it tends to leave a lasting mark. Remus won't mind if he thinks it will help."

Hermione could tell Sirius was already planning how he'd get his hands on a pensieve and part of her was happy to see him enthusiastic about something. He'd been rather morose since Hermione and the others had arrived. Perhaps it was because Harry wasn't there, but Hermione thought it was more to do with his self-inflicted house arrest. Sirius was still a wanted man and the Ministry would occasionally splash his mug-shot across the front page of the Daily Prophet, usually as a way to describe some disappearance or suspicious accident that was typically the fault of You-Know-Who. Dumbledore confined both him and Buckbeak to Grimmauld Place. Buckbeak, Hermione knew, was on the third floor in his own bedroom and often times Sirius would disappear up there for hours.

It was nice to see Sirius with a plan and purpose, and the wizard was obviously happy for it. But most of all, Hermione was simply glad to have an alternative. She wouldn't have to try to corner Snape after an Order meeting to try to wheedle information from him. She wanted to tell Ron about Sirius, but something stopped her. Honestly, since they'd left Hogwarts, Ron had shown a waning interest in finding out about the Eldar, and more than a few times he'd urged Hermione to forget about it too, writing it off as a lost cause. Would Ron truly be interested in Sirius' memories?

She didn't know. It's possible with such a reliable source, but then again maybe he'd prefer to just forget that his best friend was an eldar. Maybe Ron just hoped that when Harry finally returned he would just be Harry again and they would pick up from where they left off. Hermione had hoped that too, in the beginning. But the more she read, the more she came to realize, Professor Snape had been right. His words may have been cruel and designed to push her away at the time, but he was right. Harry would never be "just Harry" again. When he returned, he wouldn't be human, he'd be an eldar. He'd be different.

It didn't take too long to procure a pensieve. They were rather rare magical objects, but "having some funds stashed away" by Sirius Black's standards meant hundreds of thousands of Galleons kept in bank accounts that weren't registered to him so the Ministry didn't know to freeze them. Remus, thinking that Sirius needed the pensieve for his own reflection, was quick to search one down and so it was only about two weeks before Hermione and Sirius were once again in the library with the door locked and warded and a round, stone basin sitting on the wooden table between them. It was empty currently, but Sirius was already drawing his wand to his temple and pulling out long silvery memories to place in the shallow basin. Hermione was nervous and excited all at once. She was eager to see what Sirius knew, but she was also uncertain. She'd never watched someone else's memories before. Harry had told her about it, once when he'd accidentally looked into the Headmaster's pensieve and witnessed the trial of Barty Crouch Jr. He'd described it as rather strange and a bit unnerving.

At last Sirius finished removing memories. In the basin was a sizeable collection, all swirling around on each other. Sirius stirred it with his wand tip, bringing a particular memory up to the top.

"Have you ever used one of these before?" he asked.

"No," Hermione admitted. "Though Harry did once, in the Headmaster's office. I've read about the mechanics."

Sirius nodded. "Alright, well don't try to hold your breath," he counseled.

"Thanks," Hermione replied, before she plunged face-first into the first memory.

She was on the grounds of Hogwarts amongst the trees down by the Black Lake. Technically this was part of the Forbidden Forest, but it was day time and Hermione could admit to sometimes venturing into this part of the forest herself with Harry and Ron before. Only Harry and Ron were nowhere around. Instead, just on the other side of a large tree, was a young Sirius Black and James Potter.

Sirius was sprawled out on the ground among the roots while James was perched up in the branches of the tree, moving about with such nimble grace that one almost forgot he was standing on a swaying branch. Laughing, James jumped off the branch, turned a somersault, and landed on his feet with barely a rustle right in front of Sirius.

"Looking to join the circus?" Sirius teased, lazily swiping at James' legs to off balance him. James skipped out of the way, laughing and taunting him. He was up the tree again in an instant, climbing like he'd been born in the treetops.

"Come on, slow-poke!" he called down.

Sirius growled, jumping to his feet and starting to climb after him, though not half as graceful or economical as James had. Sirius' shoes slipped on the bark as he clambered higher and higher, trying to chase James who had flitted all the way to the topmost branches.

"Well look at that!" James shouted. "Something the amazing Sirius Black can't do!"

"When I get up there, you are so getting it!" Sirius shouted back. He jumped up for the next branch, but it was too weak and it snapped.

"Sirius!" James yelled as Sirius fell. He was too high up and was sure to break his arm or leg, but in the last moment before he hit the ground, the branches of the trees swooped down and caught him, laying him gently among the leaves before returning to their prior position. From above James was frozen, his arms reaching out. When the branches returned to normal he relaxed, hopping down to check on his friend.

"Are you alright?" he asked urgently.

"Ow, yeah," Sirius muttered. "Hit my head though." He felt around the back of his head where a decent knot was forming. He winced as he prodded it.

"Here," James said, and he reached around to the knot, placing his hands over it. There was a flare of pure white magic and it was clear Sirius' pain was gone instantly.

"Whoa! How did you do that?"

James shrugged. "It was nothing," he insisted. "Come on, let's go."

He helped Sirius to his feet, but it was clear the young Sirius wasn't falling for James' excuse.

"Really, what was that? We haven't learned healing charms yet, and you didn't even use your wand."

James stopped, turning to Sirius. "Just don't mention it, okay?" James told him, his voice dropping.

"Not until you tell me what you did."

"I healed you. It's just something I've always been able to do, but I don't do it a lot because it's hard and tiring."

It was easy to see the fatigue in James. Where before he was lively and full of boisterous energy, now his expression looked strained and his shoulders sagged. He looked like he could use a nap. Sirius recognized these signs and nodded slowly.

"Okay," he agreed.

"Okay," James replied.