Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from the Lord of the Rings books, or the Harry Potter books

Chapter 2 - The Guests Arrive

The next morning, the school was buzzing with anticipation as the arrival of their guests drew near.

'Where will they sleep do you think?' asked Harry as him, Hermione and Ron sat down for breakfast.

'No idea. Maybe they should kick out a few Slytherins and they can sleep in their dorm,' suggested Ron.

'Ron, don't be silly, Dumbledore wouldn't-'

'It was a joke Hermione,' sighed Ron shaking his head.

'Travellers,' said Harry thoughtfully, 'I wonder where they're going.'

'Nowhere we'd know I expect,' said Hermione buttering her toast, 'Dumbledore says they've got a long journey.'

'Great. We've got Defence Against the Dark Arts in the afternoon,' said Harry checking his timetable.

'Now, Ron,' said Hermione, 'don't go making any sarcastic comments about who'll be teaching us. You jinxed us yesterday!'

'Me? Jinxed you?' spluttered Ron, 'I like that! It's not my fault if that flea-bag came back.'

'That was a joke Ron,' said Hermione curtly.

Ron fell silent.

'Shall we go and see Hagrid after lessons finish?' suggested Harry.

'Yeah, why not? Maybe he'll tell us why Lockhart's really back,' said Ron, adding under his breath, 'instead of putting the blame on me!'

At that moment Dumbledore stood up and called for silence.

'Now,' he said, 'our guests have arrived. Once your breakfast is finished, you shall meet them.'

Professor McGonagall also stood up. 'I expect you to behave yourselves whilst we have visitors,' she said, glancing over to the Slytherin table at Malfoy, who tried to smile innocently. To Ron's delight, he noticed Malfoy had strawberry jam around his mouth, making it look as if he was wearing lipstick.

Once breakfast was finished and all the plates had been cleared away, everyone turned expectantly to the back of the Hall.

The doors opened and in walked the strangest looking bunch of travellers you could ever see.

First came a tall wizard, cloaked in Grey, carrying a staff. He looked very much to be the leader of the group. Next came two men. Each had longish hair, one had dark hair, and the other, blond-ish, and they both carried lethal looking weapons. Several people shrank back as they walked past.

'What the...' whispered Ron. The Hall was silent apart from the sound of boots hitting the floor.

Next came a short but tough looking creature, very much like a tiny man, with long hair and a long beard. He too, carried weapons the Ron would have loved to use on Malfoy. Behind him walked a tall, fair man. He had long blond hair, and pointy ears, and carried a quiver of arrows on his back. Someone wolf-whisteld at him as he went past, causing him to jump slightly.

Then people's attention came to the back of the line of travellers.

'What the hell are they?' said Malfoy loudly. Professor McGonagall shot him a warning look.

Behind the blond haired man walked four small creatures, smaller even than a majority of the students. They had thick curly hair on the top of their heads and their feet were large and hairy.

Dumbledore stood up to greet the grey wizard, 'Welcome cousin Gandalf,' he said embracing him. He greeted each of them in turn and gestured to a table to the side of the teachers, which had nine chairs set out for them.

'Please, sit down, make yourselves comfortable, let me introduce you to the students,' said Dumbledore. He turned to face the curious sea of faces.

'This-' he gestured towards the wizard, 'is my cousin Gandalf the Grey. With him are Aragorn, Boromir...' the two men nodded.

'Legolas the Elf,' Dumbledore pointed to the tall blond man.

'An elf,' said Harry, 'the only elves I've seen before are house-elves and he looks nothing like them!'

Hermione nodded and Dumbledore continued.

'With them also is Gimli the Dwarf.'

The short man with the long beard nodded politely.

'And in answer to your question Mr. Malfoy,' said Dumbledore. McGonagall glared again.

'These are Hobbits,' said Dumbledore, motioning for the four tiny creatures to join him at the front.

Two of the Hobbits stood up immediately and walked up to Dumbledore. The other two did not seem so eager to be centre of attention.

'Ah, yes,' said Dumbledore as the two keen Hobbits joined him, 'these two are Meriadoc and Peregrin, also known as Merry and Pippin.' The two Hobbits bowed comically as they were joined by the other two.

'And this is Samwise, or Sam, and Frodo,' continued Dumbledore.

Hermione slapped her hand to her forehead, 'Hobbits! Of course! I read about them in a book a few years ago. I thought they had died out.'

Ron slapped his hand to his forehead, mocking Hermione, 'Of course!' he said sarcastically, 'Hermione read about them! I should have known.'

Hermione elbowed him sharply in the ribs.

'Our guest come from Middle Earth, a place far away from here,' said Dumbledore, 'they are on their way to a dark land, known as Mordor.'

Ron waited for Hermione to comment on something she had read about Mordor, but she had turned her back on him.

'I hope you will make our guests feel welcome. Some of them will even be helping you! Gandalf has kindly offered temporarily teach Defence Against the Dark Arts, and Aragorn is an expert on Magical Creatures,' said Dumbledore, 'now, as breakfast is over, could you kindly make your way to lessons.'

'We've got Care of Magical Creatures first!' said Harry, 'I wonder of Aragorn'll help out in Hagrid's class.'