Love Lost is Love Gained
Chapter 9: Elvish Expressions
Author's Note: Welcome to Chapter 9: Elvish Expressions, I can't believe I'm on chapter 9 already. I would like to thank my younger brothers, Zach and Ian who are my inspiration for Paris.
Hermione shut the door, and in the grate popped a large crackling fire, and the lamps around the walls burst into light. "There we go," she said to the room. "Now, where was I?" she walked over to one of the chairs sitting near the fire. Artemis looked around the room, surprised to see all her bags laid neatly on a table, and Igby's cage sitting on top of a wardrobe. He hooted softly when the room came into light.
"You were talking about how I should be getting my Elven powers soon."
"Oh," commented Hermione, who had walked across the room to a book shelf that seated dozens of books about magic and magical creatures. "Well, Half Elves reach full maturity after they've made a completely self-less sacrifice, but they never know about the change in their appearance and powers until it happens. So, they can't go around making a bunch of sacrifice's trying to get their powers, it has to be pure. Like I said earlier they excel at Charms, Transfiguration, Ancient Runes, also they have a very special gift with animals, so that should also give you a head start with Care of Magical Creatures. They also are incredibly talented at Astronomy and...Divination." Artemis noticed that she said the last word with a large amount of distaste in her voice. "Elves of the royal blood line, Ilitiaien, are gifted with Foresight, which enables them to see into the future. What else is there? Umm...they are said to be some of the fairest creatures that walk this Earth, and some are able to change certain aspects of their appearance to fit into the regular world better. But once again, you won't be able to do anything like that until you reach Elven maturity. As Dumbledore had said, Elves live in a world called Evelon. The current ruler of Evelon is Aerune Ilitiaien. He has been the ruler for over 4,000 years. True Elves are blessed with immortality, Half Elves aren't. The only way a Half Elf can stay immortal is by going back to Evelon, because time stops there and they can't age. Though Half Elves can't live forever they do have eternal youth. Once again, the age at which they mature is the way they'll look until they die. So say you mature this year when you're sixteen, you'll look sixteen for the rest of your life. That's all that I can think of right now, I have a book on Elves. It was actually written by an Elf. It's in the next room, I'll go get it." She got up from her chair and left the room. Artemis sat on her bed and looked at the ceiling, mulling everything over. 'One entirely self-less sacrifice? I wonder what that would be; it can't be a self sacrifice, because all of the Half Elves lived.' She thought, as Hermione opened the door carrying a large green covered book. She handed the book to Artemis the cover read Elvish Expressions by Äeirel Laemerte.
"This was written by an Elf?" Artemis asked, looking up from the silver embossed title.
"Well, a Half Elf. Either way, she wrote it after she departed from the Earth and while she was in Evelon, she sent it with an Elf who needed to go back to Earth, she said the world needed to know about the Elven culture. Well, I'm tired. That book," she said pointing to it, "will give you more information about Elves and Half Elves than any person could ever. So, good night." She walked out of the room and down the hall.
Artemis looked back down at the book and began to flip through the pages, it was extremely thick, and had very small print. Flipping through it she looked at different diagrams of Evelon and pictures of Elves. Looking through the pages she noted the beautiful sketches of waterfalls and different type of architecture. The main thing that caught her eye was the amazing amount of plants and wildlife featured in the book. She spent all night reading that book, because she was immersed in a chapter about Elven cuisine when Hermione knocked on her door. "Are you up?" she yelled, "Yeah," Artemis replied.
Hermione opened the door took one look at Artemis and said, "You look terrible, did you sleep at all?" Artemis shook her head, and laughed. "Have you been reading that all night?" Hermione asked. Artemis nodded.
"Why are you here?" Artemis asked.
"It's almost 10 A.M., Dumbledore'll be here in a half hour, so get ready and pack."
"Where're we going?"
"Hogwarts of course," she turned around and shut the door.
Artemis got up; looking at her watch she realized that she had been reading the book for a solid fourteen hours. 'Whoa,' she thought, 'I can't believe how long I'd been reading that. I'm not really tired. Oh well.' She chose a red shirt out of her wardrobe, and changed. She went and began to stuff some of the bags into one of her trunks. When she finished she walked downstairs to be met by Hermione sitting at a table with Fred and George.
"Artemis!" George exclaimed, rising from his chair, "How wonderful to see you," he took her hand, "Hermione just telling us about you going to Hogwarts in a few minutes. That's wonderful."
"Yeah" she yawned, though suddenly felt more energetic because of George's boisterous welcome. "Is Dumbledore here yet?"
"Right here," said Dumbledore striding in through the entrance, 'Perfect timing,' Artemis thought. "Are all your things packed?"
Artemis and Hermione nodded, as Fred and George said their goodbyes. "Shall we say hello to Ron for you then?"
"Uh...if you want... I guess." She said uncertainly looking at Dumbledore, who nodded. "Well, yes, please say hello to him and Ginny for me." Fred waved to show that he heard her, and then followed George out of the pub.
"Fred," said George as they walked down a crowded London street. "Shall we go home quickly, before running our errands?"
"Yeah, we haven't been home in a few days, we probably should." They walked off the street into a secluded alley between two building and with a crack, they were gone...
The next thing the twins knew they were standing in front of a large rickety looking house, several chickens were running around, and a fat pig was sun bathing. They walked up the dirt path and into a small kitchen, only to be greeted by a young girl, who also had flaming red hair. "Where have you two been?" she demanded. "Mum is going to be so angry."
"Cool down Ginny, by the way, Hermione said hi." Fred said casually, he wasn't afraid of his mother.
"Hermione?" Ginny asked, "You've been in contact with her?"
"Well, we only saw her this morning; she was at the Leaky Cauldron. Don't worry," he added noting the look on Ginny's face, "she's with Dumbledore, and some other girl. She said she was going back to Hogwarts,"
"Probably to get more extra credit," finished George, "like she needs it." Into the kitchen walked another red head woman, wearing an apron, and a slight frown on her face. She was closely followed by a tall boy with red hair, and Harry.
"Harry!" said Fred, "How long have you been here?"
"Lupin brought him this morning," the women said, "Through the Floo Network, thank God; I wouldn't be able to stand it if they would have taken brooms again. Why haven't you two been home for the past five days? I've been worried sick."
"We've been at the store," said Fred, "and if you were that worried you could have came down and checked on us." Molly's frown deepened and she turned and busied herself with a tea kettle.
"So," asked Harry, "How are things at the store?"
"Business is booming as usual. But nothing really exciting has happened," said George.
"Except for that girl yesterday, about the only interesting that's happened since we've owned the store."
"Unless you count the spill of invisible ink. That was horrible, people kept slipping on it, but we couldn't find the spill."
"So, what about the girl yesterday?" asked a boy called Ron.
"Oh, pretty little number she was. Bought some Snack Boxes, and a box of fireworks. Said they were for her little brother. Anyway, we saw her again in the pub this morning. Apparently she was staying there," Fred lied, Dumbledore had mentioned not to mention her name around anyone, or what she was doing there after he found of she went into number 93.
"Hmm...maybe you can introduce Harry to her; he desperately needs help with that aspect of his social life." Ron said, smiling.
"Shut up, Ron," Harry yelled, "That's none of their business," he added quietly.
"What's none of our business?" Fred and George asked together.
"Nothing is any of your business," Harry shot; he didn't like people prying into his failed social life.
"Anyway," Fred said, "Sorry Mum, but we have to be leaving soon. We didn't open the store yet, and Saturday's ours biggest day. See you either tonight or next week." A crack later and they were gone.
"Okay, so what are we supposed to do?" Asked Artemis looking at an old punctured basketball that Dumbledore had placed in front of her. "Do you want me to throw it out?"
"No, but on the count of three I want you to touch it." He said, looking down at her.
"You...want me to touch the...basketball?" He nodded, "On the count of three," he said. "Ready? One," he and Hermione put their hands on, "two," Artemis put her hand on, completely unaware of why she was doing it. "Three," all of a sudden she felt a jerk in her stomach, and she was surrounded by swirling colors. As soon as she felt the sensation, it stopped, and as she felt her feet hit solid ground, her knees buckled, and she felt like vomiting.
"What the hell was that!? For Christ's sake, you should have warned me!"
"Sorry," muttered Hermione, "it was a Portkey. It's usually not the best feeling the first time you use one."
"Where are we?" Artemis asked, still feeling very queasy.
"Artemis," said Dumbledore, "welcome to Hogwarts."