And I continue to write! (Well...not really...)

Churros are good when they're hot and it's winter.

Kudos to J.R.R. Tolkien for the Silmarillion, Hobbits, Rivendell, etc.

Chapter Five * * *

The three friends and Ginny woke up early, bathed, breakfasted and returned to Hogwarts right in time for classes. Harry decided not to tell Dumbledore about the dark mark until something strange did happen and he did his best to forget about it in the meantime.

He was not really worried or scared - just a bit confused. "How many times is Voldemort going to come back?" Harry wondered.

Friday was a long day. Harry and Ron got detentions in Divination for tossing Professor Trelawney's incense out the window. She came out from behind her bead curtain just when Ron turned the box of incense over into the lake.

As punishment, they had to scrub the floor of the entire second floor with toothbrushes, no magic and no gloves. Owls were sent to their families and they had to pay for Professor Trelawney's incense.

When they finished scrubbing the floors, their hands were red and blistered, their backs severely hurting, and their knees scraped, yet they managed to laugh about their little caper.

The next morning, as soon as they woke up, Ron had a Howler waiting for him on his night table, but he managed to throw it into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom right before it exploded. He did not feel like being screamed at. Harry just got a letter from Sirius.

Dear Harry,

Real funny prank. ( Sarcasm implied ) Don't go getting yourself into trouble like that. That was a pretty mean thing to do. I don't want to receive another owl like this for a while - not ever if you can help it. Try to stay out of trouble, 'kay?

Sirius

"Gees, you get off easy." Ron said. Harry shrugged in reply. When they went down to breakfast around 9 they saw a big crowd around the Slytherin table.

They just sat at the Gryffindor table and didn't pay attention - until they realized what the commotion was about. For the first time since the first day of school, Lothlorien was eating in the Great Hall.

She had sat down to breakfast with Malfoy but she wasn't eating the school food - she was eating her Elvish food.

"What's all that?" A couple of second years asked.

"It's Elvish food," Lothlorien replied.

"What do you mean, 'Elvish food'? Elves prepare the school food, doesn't that make it Elvish? Why don't you just eat that?" One of them asked.

"This is not Elvish food," Lothlorien said pointing to Malfoy's bacon and eggs.

"Oh, ethnic stuff. So...why you eating it?" the one asked.

"Well...because it's good, and I'm an Elv, I guess," she said. Everyone gasped at this reply.

"You ain't no Elf! Elves is ugly, dirty, lil' things wit' big, floppy ears that wear tea bags like togas and stuff," An American exchange student said.

Lothlorien was a bit offended at this. She had been wondering why Elv history wasn't offered at Wizarding schools. Nearly every Wizard's idea of Elves were exactly as those of the American student.

"I don't understand why they don't teach Elvish history here! In Rivendell schools Wizard history is taught. The people who prepare your meals here are not Elves at all. I guess they must be known as Elves everywhere outside of Rivendell..." Lothlorien trailed off.

"Yep. House Elves. 'Cause that's what they are," said one Slytherin.

"So when you think of Elves, you think of 'House Elves' as you call them, Santa's little helpers and tiny people with wings, do you?" Lothlorien asked.

The crowd replied in the positive. At this point Hermione entered the Great hall.

"Have any of you heard of the Silmarillion?" Lothlorien asked. Hermione heard this and buzzed over.

"I have. It's the history of Elves. I read it over the summer," replied Hermione.

"Right. Elves are not dirty little creatures, and neither are the people who prepare your meals here. That's a horrible way to refer to them. There are many species of naturally magical creatures in the world today. Long ago, however, there were about six major groups - Hobbits, Dwarves, Fairies, Trolls, Orcs, also known as Goblins, and Elves.

Anyhow the different groups all lived in their own kingdoms and did not deal with eachother much. After the Great War of The Rings, which involved everyone...even wizards, many kingdoms were destroyed and the peoples had to leave their homes of old and find new places to live.

The different peoples began to live together and intermix. However, since wizards were the ones who began the War of the Rings for the most part, the magical peoples were skeptical of humans and avoided them. Over the years the humans basically forgot about the magical races..

The little knowledge that remained of them became what are your fairy tales today and all the magical races are collectively referred to as Elves or Fairies in human society...which is not P.C. ( Hermione nodded in assent )

I am an Elv. I'm the princess of Rivendell. As I said before, your 'House Elves' are not elves at all. They are the Kiton people, whose ancestors were Hobbits and Orcs. In Rivendell, the Kiton are not slaves. 'Santa's Little Helpers' are the Dwary people. Their ancestors were Dwarves and Fairies. Giants are the descendants of Trolls and Humans and there are many more races that came about from such intermixing,"

Everyone was fascinated. They contemplated silently for a while and then a hum of conversation began. From then on, Lothlorien had Hermione's respect. At that point, Harry and Ron realized the crowd was gathered around Lothlorien.

"Why is she sitting at the Slyhterin table?" Ron asked.

"She's sitting next to Malfoy," Harry said, frowning.

Hermione began to tell Lothlorien about S.P.E.W., the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare that she had started in the fourth year and how it didn't do so well.

Professor McGonagall approached the crowd with Professor Snape some distance behind her.

"What is all this? Gryffindors sit at your own table. That goes for everyone." Professor McGonagall said. Hermione and Lothlorien joined Harry and Ron at the Gryffindor table.

"Hey, Ron," Lothlorien said with a smile.

"Hey, Lothlorien. Did I introduce you to my best friend, Harry?" Ron asked.

"I don't think so. How are you Harry?" Lothlorien asked.

"Very well, thank you." Harry blushed.

"Hmmm...are you Harry Potter? The famous Harry Potter?" asked the former.

"Yep, that's me." replied the latter.

Harry expected Lothlorien to stare at his scar. Every time a person found out he was the "Famous Harry Potter" their eyes would shoot straight to his scar. Surprisingly, Lothlorien did not do this.

"Umm...so, Lothlorien, how do you like Hogwarts?" Harry asked.

"It's certainly an interesting change for me. I've never really been around humans before. They're not allowed in Rivendell. It's part of some post War of the Rings doctrine." she added to Hermione.

"Aha! I knew you weren't human!" Harry said. "Er... That didn't come out right...So what are you?"

"Elv," Lothlorien smiled and shook her head. Harry was thinking along the lines of the kid who said "But Elves is ugly" but he knew it would be rude.

"Not like House Elves, Harry," Hermione said. "Turns out they aren't Elves at all. There's a great deal of History that for some reason is not being taught to us about magical people. They all live in Rivendell. That's where she's from."

"What exactly is Rivendell? I mean, where is it and all?" Ron asked.

"It used to be here on Earth, long ago. But after the War of the Rings it became a separate realm. You can't exactly say where it is. There's no road that leads there or anything like that. It's a bit hard to explain." she replied.

"What's it like?" Harry asked.

"It is beautiful! It's where the children of Elrond dwell in happiness, where the stars are ancient deities gazing down in admiration of their wonderful creations, where the trees sing and dance in their homes - the forests of old where many great and memorable deeds took place! A place so wondrous and fantastic we mere mortals cannot come close to imagining the likes of it!" Hermione said, as if in a dream.

Harry, Ron and Lothlorien were impressed with the image Hermione's description had placed in their minds.

"Well...at least it used to be. Rivendell is still beautiful but it has changed so much. It's only a shadow of it's former self," Lothlorien said rather sadly.

"What happened?" Harry asked.

"Oh, a lot of things...over time. People change...Now there's some weirdo running around stealing people's magic.

That person is partly the reason I'm here. I want to encourage my people to learn forms of magic that won't require the energy that is being stolen so they'll be able to defend themselves no matter what.

But they have a very low opinion of Wizards and aren't too keen on having to do things the 'Wizard Way'" she said.

"So why don't you make it a law or something? Order them to learn," Hermione said.

"Ha! My father is the biggest mor -I mean- he hates Wizards more than anyone. He's the king. He makes the rules," Lothlorien said.

"Him and Uncle Vernon should go bowling together someday," Harry said.

"So you're the princess...I thought Undomiel was a royal name." Hermione said.

But just then Malfoy came by. He looked at Harry, Ron and Hermione as if they were something disgustingly offensive.

"Come on, Lothlorien. Some seventh years are dueling in the Slytherin common room. It'll be entertaining." He said.

Lothlorien said "Well, I'll see you guys later." and walked away with Malfoy. Harry felt a surge of anger welling up but he managed to suppress it.

"Why the devil does she hang out with that kid?" Ron asked.

The only thing Harry thought about the whole weekend was how much he'd like to pound Malfoy. He kind of had a thing for Lothlorien.

* * *

At 1:27 on Monday morning, Harry woke with a start. His scar was throbbing with pain and that only meant one thing: something terrible had either happened or was about to. He had had a strange dream but he could just barely remember it.

There were two blurry figures speaking to eachother in a beautiful forest. All Harry heard of their conversation was a low, hissing voice, which Harry recognized as Voldemort's, ask "Did you say Hogwarts?" and a young sounding voice slowly ask "What the devil are you?"

Harry was a bit worried, but he calmed down after a while.

"Whatever it means, I can deal with. I've been through so much already, so what can be that bad?" Harry thought.

And he was right. He had "killed" Voldemort some four or five times already, and he figured that with so many consecutive losses to a person less than half his age, Voldemort was not exactly threatening anymore.

He remembered that the Weasleys told him to report any such oddities as soon as possible, but Harry did not feel like dealing with a whole load of drama. When he entered the Great Hall on the first day of school, he was convinced that his sixth year was going to be a peaceful one.

And with that thought, Harry did his best to ignore the pain and he fell asleep once more.