Chapter 2

Bilbo started laughing hysterically at once while Harry scrambled to his feet, utterly mortified. He hadn't done something so embarrassing when faced with an attractive person since his Hogwarts days, honestly.

"Don't worry, Harry," Bilbo said in between snickers. "Lord Glorfindel has that effect on people."

Harry's cheeks, which were already warm, burned even hotter as he refused to meet Glorfindel's overwhelming gaze. Elladan and Elrohir were both looking like they desperately wanted to fall to the ground laughing as well, but they managed to hold themselves back, though they did both sport very amused grins. The name Glorfindel did ring a vague bell with Harry, as though he'd heard it a few times before. Bilbo had been telling him many stories about famous elves doing great deeds in the past but Harry hadn't been able to understand every word of them and he wondered if he'd missed something concerning Glorfindel in those stories.

At the very least it was a small comfort to know that Harry apparently wasn't the first human to make a spectacle of himself when faced with the beauty of the elves. Another good thing was that the tumble he'd taken had snapped him out of whatever thrall had come over him.

Glorfindel said something in the language of the elves and rushed off back into the woods. Harry felt a pang of regret that apparently he'd chased off the elf with his behaviour but before he could sink into an instant depression due to being deprived of Glorfindel's presence, Bilbo had calmed down enough so that he could speak again.

"Harry is a wizard," Bilbo said, sitting up. "And a much better one than Gandalf, let me tell you."

Harry reached down a hand and pulled Bilbo to his feet. "Stop telling my secrets," Harry muttered with clear humour in his voice.

Bilbo brushed himself off, thankfully still in one piece, and then gestured towards the tent. "Come along, my Lords. You have to see this."

Elladan and Elrohir shared a rather confused look between them but followed Bilbo to the tent. And when Bilbo pulled the flap back and told them to look they both let out surprised noises and eagerly joined Bilbo inside.

The first fat drops of rain started falling just as Bilbo yelled, "Harry, fetch us another rabbit, we're having guests for dinner!"

Shaking his head, Harry picked up the rabbit he'd killed earlier and then summoned another one in the same manner. Just as he caught it, Glorfindel stepped out of the woods across from them, a few packs slung over his shoulder and three horses following him. Two large, dark brown ones, almost black, and one stunning white stallion.

Zilib, who'd been grazing nearby, raised her head and gave the stallion a long, approving look. So Harry's horse took after Harry in her tastes.

"You're welcome to join us in the tent. Bilbo's cooking rabbit stew," Harry called out to Glorfindel, who gave a single nod in response, his face carefully neutral.

Inside, Bilbo was giving the twins a tour of the place as though he owned it. The two elves seemed suitably impressed with all the features, even though Harry realized his sleeping compartment was wide open and he hadn't made his bed in days and there were probably lots of dirty clothes strewn about since he hadn't done laundry in a while either. He quickly crossed the tent and pulled his bedroom flap closed.

"Not to worry, wizard," one of the twins said with a knowing little smile. Harry couldn't tell them apart just yet. "We've seen much worse."

Seeing identical twins always sent a pang of grief through Harry's chest. George had never been the same after Fred died and when he was on his deathbed some years back he'd been so excited to see his brother again, finally, even when his children and grandchildren stood around crying. It was all George could talk about in his final moments.

Just as a clap of thunder sounded overhead, Glorfindel stepped through the opening, letting the flap fall closed behind him. He looked around for a few moments, his eyes slightly wider than usual while the rest of his face remained stoic at best. This guy had an awesome poker face, Harry decided, and he'd been playing poker and other card games for years with friends and colleagues, so he'd seen his fair share of them.

"Give us the rabbits, Harry, so I can get the stew on," Bilbo commanded from the kitchen where he was already peeling potatoes.

"Please, have a seat. I'll get you something to drink." Harry waved towards the sofa and gestured for the elves to sit down, which they did, albeit slowly as though they'd never seen a sofa before. But it seemed to meet their approval because after a few seconds of sitting ramrod straight they leaned back and relaxed, stretching out their legs and giving approving nods to each other.

Harry handed the rabbits to Bilbo, who immediately set to work skinning them and cutting them up. After he put the kettle on, Harry took over peeling the potatoes and carrots. He also rehydrated some dried mushrooms, to Bilbo's delight, and peeled a few big onions. All of this was done with a few flicks of his wand. The elves remained quiet but all had their heads craned so they could see what Harry was doing. They didn't seem upset about the open displays of magic, just curious, much to Harry's relief.

After all the prep work for the stew was done and Bilbo started putting it together, Harry made a big pot of tea.

"Make sure you serve it like you always make it for me," Bilbo reminded Harry as he added just a splash of vinegar to the stew, followed by lots of black pepper. Bilbo was an excellent cook, Harry had learned over the past few weeks.

Harry steeped a bag of Earl Grey tea in the pot while he got mugs out, alongside with honey and shelf-stable milk. When he'd put together his provisions Harry had worried he might have gone overboard a little with the amount of tea he'd packed. There was easily a decade worth of English Breakfast tea and Earl Grey stashed away in a cardboard box with an expansion charm on it. This turned out to be a very good thing, because while the people of Middle-Earth did drink tea, as far as Bilbo knew they only drank herbal teas. They weren't familiar with the black tea from the actual tea plant, at least not in the Shire or Rivendell.

Harry poured them all mugs of tea, adding a dollop of honey and a dash of milk to each. Then he handed each of the elves a steaming mug.

"It's a delightful drink," Bilbo called from the kitchen. "We have it for breakfast every morning, and after dinner every evening. But truth is, I could drink it all day but Harry here is rationing his prized tea. Not that I blame him, mind you."

The elves shared curious looks and blew on their mugs before finally taking sips. They blinked and licked their lips, and Harry tried his very best not to stare while he cradled his own mug. Apparently the tea met with their approval because they took bigger sips while the twins offered Harry an grateful smile each.

Glorfindel, while he did enjoy the tea, didn't seem as eager to simply accept Harry's presence. "Where are you travelling from?"

"My land," Harry said, still having some trouble with Westron that saying exactly what he wanted was difficult. "Excuse my language, I only just learned Westron. Bilbo is a great teacher."

"And Harry's a magnificent student," Bilbo said as he joined them, holding his own steaming mug. "Easily the best I've ever had. The lad had a bit of an accident that stopped him aging."

Harry blinked while he stared down at Bilbo in surprise. He had not meant to just divulge that information to everyone they met, but Bilbo prattled on without a care in the world.

"All his family and friends died of old age," Bilbo said, carefully climbing on the sofa between Elladan and Elrohir. "So when he was left all alone he travelled to our world since he'd heard there were plenty of people here that don't age."

Well, that did sum up his entire history in a nutshell, he supposed. The twins gave him sympathetic looks, but Glorfindel had his eyes narrowed in obvious suspicion.

"Harry's not just a wizard, but also a great warrior of his people," Bilbo added with a beaming smile not out of place on the face of a proud father.

Harry held up a hand, suddenly feeling embarrassed of being called a great warrior in front of elves who actually were great warriors, having fought with swords in many battles. Harry had tried to explain what an Auror was to Bilbo with his limited vocabulary and Bilbo had assumed that meant Harry was simply a warrior.

"I fight," Harry said, frantically looking for the right words. "But not with swords. I fight with magic."

"Like Gandalf," Bilbo added with an agreeable nod.

Since the only available spot was next to Glorfindel on the sofa Harry carefully sank down on it, a respectful distance away. He'd felt a little strange standing while everyone else was sitting down. And since Bilbo's stew needed at least an hour and a half of cooking there wasn't anything else to do but wait, especially since it was now pouring rain outside accompanied by regular claps of thunder.

Glorfindel's sapphire gaze was undressing Harry in ways that were decidedly not sexy. "We will bring you before Lord Elrond," Glorfindel finally said and that seemed to be the end of his scrutiny, at least for now. Glorfindel went back to sipping his tea, ignoring Harry again.

"Were you on a hunting trip?" Bilbo asked one of the twins.

"We'd heard of some orcs passing through his area. We were tracking them down."

Bilbo gave the elves a very surprised look. "Orcs? Here?"

Glorfindel nodded. "We are unsure where they came from as of yet. We will escort you to Rivendell, since it is not safe to travel there alone right now."

"Oh, I'm sure Sting would keep us plenty safe," Bilbo said with a laugh while he gestured to the dresser where his sword was leaning against. "But we welcome your assistance anyway."

The way Harry understood it from Bilbo, orcs were vicious beasts that were the enemy of hobbits and elves. And of everyone else, really. Harry was glad the elves would be escorting them. He'd only just got there and he had no desire to end up in a fight for his life so soon already.

Bilbo did most of the talking over the next hour, catching the elves up on some gossip about some dwarves. At least that was as much as Harry got out of the story.

At some point the subject came back to Bilbo's current journey. "We only stayed at the Prancing Pony one night," Bilbo said and then started giggling. "You should have seen Harry's face when he first saw Bree in all its muddy glory."

"It is a shithole," Glorfindel said out of the blue. He'd barely spoken so far, content to listen to Bilbo's stories.

"That's what I said!" Harry looked at Glorfindel in astonishment. Not only was this elf the most handsome being Harry had ever met, he also understood the importance of basic hygiene. "There was shit everywhere. I didn't even dare look for the latrine while I was there."

Glorfindel cracked a brief grin, which did amazing things to his face. "Smart choice. I refuse to stay in Bree altogether. The surrounding forests are so much more comfortable. And clean."

Harry fell back against the couch. "If I had known what it was like I would have pitched my tent in the woods, no question."

Glorfindel looked around the tent again and then glanced at Harry. "Did you make this yourself?"

"Yeah," Harry said with no small amount of pride. It had basically taken a mastery in Charms to manage to create something as complicated as the expanded tent, and Harry had worked hard for years to learn all the magic needed for it. He'd also made sure he knew how to build broomsticks from scratch, just in case he lost the ones he'd brought with him. "It took me a while to learn all the magic needed, but I managed it in the end. It's great for travelling."

"Does it fold up like a normal tent?" Glorfindel asked, eyebrows raised.

"Yep, it fits right in my backpack." Harry gestured with his foot to his backpack that stood near the entrance.

"It's certainly a comfortable way of travelling," Glorfindel said with an approving look.

"It certainly is." Bilbo pushed himself off the couch. "It beats sleeping on bare earth. I'm going to check on my stew."

"What else can you do?" Elladan asked. Harry had noticed that his vambraces were of a lighter leather than his brother's. Also, he wore different jewel around his neck.

"Can you heal?" Elrohir added as he exchanged a glance with his brother.

"Some," Harry said, since he'd learned basic first aid during Auror training and later in his life he'd taught himself a few more healing spells. They always came in handy. "Mostly cuts and bruises and broken bones."

"Harry made me this," Bilbo called from the kitchen, pointing at the wooden step stool Harry had transfigured for him so he could reach the stove. "He took a dead tree, cut out a log and then swished his stick and turned it into this little stool. Magnificent magic. I've certainly never seen Gandalf accomplish such a feat."

"You can turn one thing into another like that?" Glorfindel asked with a dubious look, as though he wasn't sure if Bilbo was simply telling tall tales.

Harry nodded. "In my world we start learning to do that when we are eleven. We start small." Harry fished around in his pocket and found a lone knut. He placed the copper coin on the coffee table, aimed his wand at it and turned it into a button made of white bone.

"That is so useful," Elladan said, leaning over and picking up the button so he could examine it. Elrohir leaned over for a closer look as well.

"Harry's been the perfect travelling companion," Bilbo said as he stirred through the large pot of stew. "Thanks to his talents and his tent this journey has been nothing but comfortable. He even saved us from three ruffians set on robbing us the first night after Bree."

Harry shrugged when Glorfindel looked at him with renewed interest. "It was nothing, really. Those men had followed us from Bree. They'd seen me pay with silver for the horses. I should have been more careful. I had only just arrived in this land."

"Dinner is ready," Bilbo called before any of the elves could react.

Weeks ago Harry had transfigured one of the dining chairs into something resembling a barstool with a backrest so Bilbo could comfortably sit at the dining table. Harry lifted the heavy pan to the table while Bilbo got plates and spoons. The elves sat down around the table, the twins on one side, Harry and Glorfindel on the other side, and Bilbo in his own special chair at the head of the table. Harry poured them all glasses of water while everyone filled their plates with Bilbo's rabbit stew. It was a delicious meal, rich and filling, and the elves went back for seconds when Bilbo urged them to. The hobbit was practically glowing from the many compliments he received for his culinary skills.

After dinner Harry demonstrated, much to Bilbo's delight, how to do the dishes with magic quickly and efficiently.

"Gandalf never did our dishes," Bilbo said as though Gandalf had personally betrayed him because of this.

They had some more tea and Harry was able to ask the elves a few simple questions about Rivendell. It seemed to be a commune of sorts, where everyone did some type of work and in exchange they got room and board. There were no paying jobs to be had, but everything was provided for by the community. That suited Harry just fine. He had plenty of gold, he just needed a place to live and where he could make himself useful. He told the elves as much and they seemed at least open to the possibility of Harry living with them. Of course, ultimately it was up to Lord Elrond to decide if Harry could stay long-term.

"You're welcome to sleep in the tent," Harry offered once he got tired enough to turn in for the night. It was still pouring buckets outside. "There is an extra bed in Bilbo's room, and the sofa also becomes a bed."

That raised a few eyebrows, so Harry quickly demonstrated how to open up the sofa and pull it out into a bed.

"I had no idea," Bilbo said, staring at the new bed in awe. "You never told me this place held even more tricks."

"I wasn't about to give everything away at once," Harry said with a wink, much to Bilbo's delight.

"We will rest here," Elladan said, sitting down on the edge of the sofa bed. "Glorfindel can share with Bilbo."

That seemed acceptable enough to Glorfindel, who followed Bilbo to check out his new accommodations. In the meantime Harry used the toilet and the bathroom, and after showing the twins how to turn off the magical lamps around the tent he turned in for the night. Harry fell asleep almost at once, exhausted as he was from the day's adventures. He dreamed about Hogwarts, as he often did, but this time a handsome elf joined him at the Gryffindor table. Glorfindel smiled at him, sapphire eyes shining, as he sat down beside Harry.

Loud growls and the clanging of metal woke Harry up sometime during the night. He yanked his wand out from under his pillow and ran outside in his pyjamas and on bare feet. Bilbo was standing in the entrance to the tent, clutching his small sword which glowed blue. Horses neighed and hooves slammed against something. The night was pitch black and Harry couldn't see a thing.

"Lumos!" Harry aimed his wand and saw Glorfindel and the twins finishing a fight against what had to be orcs. Glorfindel stood with his torso bare, only wearing his light trousers, his long sword dripping with black blood.

"Some of the horses are hurt," Elladan called, and at once Harry stepped forwards, aiming his light at where the horses should be.

"One is missing," Elrohir said and hurried into the darkness. "We'll track it. Brother, come!" The twins disappeared with their swords drawn.

"Oh no, Luthran," Bilbo said with a worried look. The white pony had long claw marks running down her neck that were gushing blood.

"Hold her, I can heal that," Harry said, holding his holly wand with the light aimed at Luthran's wounds and summoning the elder wand. As always, the elder wand eagerly appeared in his hand, ready for action. Harry took his time running the wand over the cuts while muttering the appropriate healing charm. The bleeding stopped at once and the wounds slowly healed. "It will scar a little, but she'll be fine," Harry told a visibly relieved Bilbo, who patted Luthran on her soft nose.

"Asfaloth is also injured," Glorfindel said once Harry was done. Harry turned to look at the white stallion and noticed a serious wound on his right front leg, as though something had bitten down on it and stripped away a good chunk of skin. "Can you heal this, wizard?"

"Yeah, one moment." Harry summoned his main potions bag from the tent and got out a large jar of healing salve. That would help regenerate the missing skin. "I need to put this on the wound," Harry explained as he approached the clearly nervous horse. Asfaloth was flaring his nostrils and pounding his large hooves into the dirt when Harry came closer. "Or you can do it," Harry said quickly when it became clear Asfaloth wasn't about to let Harry come closer. "Just slather it on as thick as you can. The wound will be healed in an hour."

Glorfindel accepted the jar and went to work. Asfaloth remained completely calm for him as Glorfindel spoke soft words to him under his breath while he used half the jar to treat the horse's injured leg.

In the meantime Harry took a closer look at the four dead orcs that lay on the muddy grass. The rain had stopped but everything was still sopping wet. The orcs looked like nothing Harry had ever seen before. If he would have to call them something, he'd describe them as demons of sorts. Slightly humanoid but with features that were harsh and terrifying and all wrong. Harry leaned a little closer and then quickly pulled back.

"They stink worse than Bree," Harry said with a wrinkle of his nose as he shone his lit up wand over the bodies.

Glorfindel let out a surprised burst of laughter, which was perhaps the most amazing sound Harry had ever heard. Still laughing, Glorfindel closed the jar and handed it back to Harry. "You are not wrong, wizard. Orcs smell truly awful."

Harry shared a quick smile with Glorfindel, much to his pleasure, but then Elladan and Elrohir came back carrying a broken bridle and it was only then that Harry realized that Zilib was missing.

"What happened," Harry asked as he rushed towards the twins. "Where's my horse?"

"No, my friend," Elladan said as he held Harry back with a hand on his upper arm. "There is no need for you to see your horse like that."

"Two wargs got to her before we could. I am sorry," Elrohir added with a solemn nod.

Harry's eyes narrowed as something cold and unforgiving settled in his stomach. "And where are these wargs now?"

"We have taken care of them," Elladan quickly assured him. "They will never harm another horse again."

Harry swallowed and nodded, and then he swallowed again. Poor Zilib. Killed by whatever the fuck a warg even was. Harry had no clue, but if they associated with orcs they were obviously bad news. Bilbo stepped up to Harry and patted him on the elbow.

"Zilib was a fine horse and she will be missed," Bilbo said with a sympathetic smile.

"Yeah," Harry agreed in a small voice. He'd only known her for just over a month but he'd really become attached to her in such a short time, and it genuinely hurt that he'd lost her so unexpectedly and so violently.

Then something dawned on Harry and he stared down at Bilbo. "How am I getting to Rivendell now?"