Weeks, possibly months after Harry's first duel with an ax, they crossed the forest river into the land of the wood elves. They camped there for the night. In the morning, it was obvious that it was quite decidedly winter. Pristine snow capped pine trees, and snow laced seasonal trees glittered in the bright morning sunlight. The effect was only slightly less stunning than Lothlórien in the fall. When Harry was almost done with his morning ax routine, he thought,

You have one day left.

Except it wasn't his thought. Was that Salazar? Probably was, he didn't warn me last time, but Tasuki's world was a mistake… A good mistake though… "Gimli, Legolas, did you hear that?"

They turned and looked at him with concern, and Gimli bluntly said, "No. What did you hear?"

"I think Salazar told me I have one day left. Gimli, can I have one last duel? I think I have gotten better. You have taught me more than I ever thought existed about axes."

Gimli consented to the duel by heaving out his ax and taking the first swing. If Legolas hadn't known that Harry and Gimli were friends, he would have broken them up at the first swing. The two fighters were frowning with the effort to predict the opponent's next move.

Gimli started in on the offensive, cutting at Harry's side. Harry blocked it with the back of his ax, and wove his ax around to attack Gimli's other side. Gimli recovered extremely quickly, anticipated Harry's lower left cut, blocked it, and swung his ax up, and then down towards Harry's head. Harry just managed to leap back, swinging his ax in front of him to protect him from Gimli's up swing.

The fight continued for almost 8 minutes, until Harry leapt back again to dodge another one of Gimli's downswing. His foot found a snow-covered branch, and Harry fell ungracefully down on the ground. He was thankful that the newly fallen snow was powdery enough to provide adequate cushioning, and that the elven made robes were perfect for any weather.

"You have improved much Harry." Gimli offered a hand up.

Harry took it, and with a disappointment on his face, stood up. "You still beat me in five minutes! I'll never be able to protect anyone this way!"

"Harry, Gimli is one of the best ax fighters in the world. He has known how to fight and train for years more than you have even existed. I am sure he is proud of you. You have picked up the methods of the ax faster than any man I have ever known. But you do have plenty of incentive."

"Continue on with your practice, and I am sure you will be able to defeat many opponents."

Harry felt a little better at that. "But I'm still no good with a bow. I can't hit anything consistently over fifty feet away."

"Perhaps you were never meant to fight from the side lines. This does not mean that I think learning the art of the bow and arrow has no value for you. If you are to defeat Voldemort,"

Harry almost smiled. Here in Middle Earth, no one shuddered from the name; it was just another word. One day, he would make it so that no one feared Voldemort in his universe. He would make sure of it.

"You will need the help of others. Perhaps what I have taught you, you can pass onto your allies. You will need many of them, don't ever let a potential ally slip to the other side without trying to save them, or you might loose your war." Legolas said eloquently.

"I will always remember what you have given me. These lessons will most likely prove priceless." Anything that lets me save lives and win the war against Voldemort is priceless to me.

The trio walked into the heart of the Elven village of the Wood Elves a few hours after midday.

"Legolas! You're back!" A young elf, about Legolas' age, dropped out of one of the snow-covered trees in a flurry of fluffy snow.

"Hegelos! I'd like you to meet my friend, Gimli son of Gloin, and Harry Potter!"

"A dwarf? You must be a very notable dwarf, to become friends with our dear Legolas. Come, it is almost dinner. You can eat and share your story then! It must be quite a story; we have heard tales of the ring and the fellowship, but not the story in full. And we have heard no rumors of a young human, just of hobbits in the fellowship."

Hegelos and Legolas were apparently great friends. Hegelos brought them into a beautiful dinning room and the trio was treated to a great feast. Harry listened intently to the stories. It seemed that there was so much to be told; he hadn't even heard all of it before. Some of the connotations were different possibly. Or perhaps, knowing the people and the setting of the story so much more made it seem like a whole new dimension was added to the story.

Dinners here in middle earth were quite long. It wasn't that people actually ate slower, Harry noticed, but they bit into their food less often than on earth, his earth, distracted by telling or listening to a story. So, after Gimli and Legolas finished regaling their audience with the story of the Fellowship of the Ring. Then they moved rooms, into a lounging area, and on to telling about the recent battles against the evil Sauron and his followers.

It was nice, Harry thought, to have no rumors of his life floating around, no one knowing his life story better than him, no gawking admirers… Just normal people… Well, normal elven people. Just listening to his friends. Not worrying about the dark lord as a current problem. In this world, time was most likely different than that in his world. Hopefully…

It truly would be horrible if I get back from this journey too late to save any of my friends… if I never saw Ron or Hermione again…But Salazar is trying to help me, so he will get me back with time to spare… right?

Harry suddenly realized that he would never see Legolas and Gimli again, ever. After tomorrow, he would probably move on to the next stage of his quest. He tuned back into the story that Gimli was currently telling.

"…We thought all was lost, and had almost given up hope, until Aragorn saw the sun rise and convinced the King to ride out of Helms deep and fight once more ... Gandalf arrived with the riders of Rohan … we defeated the Orcs …"

I will miss them, and their stories. No one on earth tells such marvelous stories… If only this were the way history was always told…

"Arise!" A small elf voice cried.

So tired. Harry cracked open one eye, and saw the warm green, ornate ceiling above him.

It was his last morning. He had stayed up almost all night to hear the story of the fight against darkness in Middle Earth for the last time.

Harry shot up out of bed. "Wait! Where are Legolas and Gimli?"

"Eating the morning meal, with everyone else! Come, join us!" The young elf took off along the branches that were almost wide enough for two people to walk on, side by side.

Harry followed, trying to enjoy the view of the delicate yet secure elven village, but having to concentrate on his footing.

"Harry, come sit and eat!" Gimli spoke energetically.

"Harry, we enjoyed your company, and we hope that the fate of your world is as fortunate as ours. We lost some friends, admittedly, but we saved so many, we saved middle earth. We hope you can save your world." Legolas said for both Gimli and himself.

"Thank you," Harry said simply. "I wish you good luck with rebuilding your land."

Harry gathered together his breakfast of lembas bread, lelan leave soup, and reyla berry juice, and had just started eating when Salazar jerked him into the dimension of spiritly travel.

Thank you! You are up this time! Let's see what have you been up to…

For a couple seconds, it felt like all of Harry's memories of Middle Earth flashed before his eyes. They flew so fast, very few ideas were recognizable.

Good work, but a bit too proper… you've got to loosen up a bit.

I am not too proper...

And no insolence, young obi wan. Salazar chuckled to himself. Well, here you are, have fun! And remember, it is Captain Jack Sparrow.

A/N:

Well, someday I will go through all these, and standardize Salazar's speech patterns. For the time being, it's different because different sections of the spiritly travel plane have different effects, some make only mind to mind conversation allowed, some allow regular speech…

Well, thank you to all the people who reviewed the last chapter, and to all the people who will review this chapter. You are a factor of inspiration for this story!