AN: Finally another Chapter...thank you for your patience.....

Summary: Harry Potter's 5th year at Hogwarts a new and strange teacher comes to the school. Lucius is confronted with his past. Was he always this way? (This is AU) Rated R for future chapters.

Bard's Tale

Departures and Arrivals, Part 2

The group arrived at the entrance just as Dumbledore walked in with a hooded, cloaked visitor. The figure was almost as tall as Dumbledore, and Harry could see that it had long thin hands, that were very elegant looking.

"Excellent, Excellent!' Dumbledore said his eyes twinkling. "Just in time."

"Just in time for what?" asked Professor McGonagall. "I still have a great deal to do before term starts"

Harry had never heard McGonagall so irritated at Dumbledore. Dumbledore smiled and patted her on the arm.

"Now Now Minerva, this will only take a few moments" he soothed "I want everyone to be present when our newest DADA teacher arrives. This should proved to be an experienced like you have never before witnessed. If we could all gather outside."

Both the students and the staff looked at each other curiously but moved quickly to follow the headmasters directions, arranging themselves on the steps of the school. Dumbledore turned to the cloaked figure and nodded. The stranger bowed low and moved out onto the lawn. Raising his arms, the assembly could see his long elegant hands, pale in the morning sun. As the figure pushed back its hood a bit Harry could just make out its features, a slightly elongated nose and very large eyes.

Harry whispered to Hermione " Sort of looks like a taller version of Dobby…" before she could answer the aforementioned house-elf moved to stand beside Harry.

"Harry Potter, sir" the small form squeaked, "You is not far from the truth. That is a Warrior Elf!"

Harry could hear the reverence in the Dobby's tone. "Dobby, what is…?"

Ron spoke up" Wicked!! I've heard of them, but I've never seen one before. They rarely come out of their Underhill palaces. They are notoriously insular….well that's what my Dad says!"

Hermione looked impressed at Ron's knowledge. "That's right!" she exclaimed. "I've read about them in Bards, Minstrels and Players, they are called the Sidhe and they are the basis for most muggle myths about elves.

Dobby nodded, his eyes wide as saucers, literally. The warrior elf began to chant in a strange but musical tongue. Dobby was nervously hopping from foot to foot.

"What is it Dobby?" Harry asked "What is he doing?" Harry could see that Dobby was very anxious, to the point of twisting his own ears which looked painful.

"He is creating a gate to the Underhill, Harry Potter. A large gate, this means something very powerful is coming through from the other side" Dobby whimpered. "Very very powerful.."

"Couldn't a large gate just mean something large?" Ron asked. Dobby shook his head no.

"The size of the object passing through is not relevant to the actual physical size of the gate." Hermione said. "It's a power transfer more than a physical transfer. Most of the time the gates can be opened from Underhill quiet easily, only when there is a massive power transfer must the gate be anchored in this world. We studied these gate formulas in my Arithmancy class last year." Hermione was explaining as she was scribbling furiously in the notepad that she always carried with her. Harry and Ron looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

"Goodness Hermione!" Ron said as he watched her in disgust. "School hasn't even started yet and you've got a notebook with you!!" his eyes widened as he saw she had a pile of books in her satchel as well. "You need help, mate!"

Harry look behind them as he noticed Professor Dumbledore had quietly moved up behind them and was peering at Hermione's notebook. Dumbledore looked over and Harry and gave him a wink. Glancing back at Hermione's calculates his eyes widened in surprise, as Harry heard Hermione begin to mutter about how impossible this all was.

"Might I have a closer look at your calculations Miss Granger?" Dumbledore asked, gently taking the pad from the girl. "Hmmm, most impressive.

Professor Snape had also wandered over and Dumbledore tilted the notebook so he could see Hermione's results.

"Impossible!!" Snape sputtered. "Miss Granger you must have made...."

"No" Dumbledore interrupted "Miss Grangers calculations are correct, well done Miss Granger. 20 points to Gryffindor for your quick calculations"

"You can't be serious" Snape looked at Dumbledore in disbelief "a Gate that size would mean that…. "

"Yes, Severus, I am well aware of what Ms Granger's computations mean. This is the best of all possible scenarios." said the headmaster as he handed Hermione's notebook back to her. "Let us speak on this subject in my office after our new teacher has arrived." Dumbledore lead the potions master way from the trio, speaking softly as they went.

"Wicked!! 'Mione, 20 points' said Ron " we are already ahead…

"Hermione. Why were you saying that it was impossible?" Ask Harry

Hermione sighed and gave the boys a grave look. " My calculations have just proven that what is coming through that gate is massively powerful."

"Just how powerful are we talking Hermione?" Asked Harry

"Well.." surmised Hermione " if you were to equate the physical size with the amount of the power coming through you would get a being bigger than the British Isles"

The three looked at each other then back at the gate.

Again my apologies for the long wait, Bad writers block as well as some rewritting of my outline to try to prevent MarySueness .... We will have to see if I succeeded.