Wow, a new record for me! I updated my fic in under 5 mins! Don't worry, I'm just trying to make up for making people wait MONTHS for my other one (which I swear on Legolas' and Daniel's lives I will finish, and I could never kill off those two) For now though, enjoy my promptness while it lasts! Oh, and I apologise for killing Gimli. But it wasn't me! Legolas made me do it!
Present Day
25 minutes after the events of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 36: The Only One He Ever Feared.
"So...You Know Who...he's actually returned?"
Cornelius Fudge had barely spoken in the last 25 minutes. With Harry Potter's disappearance from the room his last shred of conviction had gone, leaving him open mouthed at all of Dumbledore's tale. He had barely noticed as he was ushered into a small, private room with a long table and many seats. He had made no complaints as Dumbledore sat at the head of the table, with him taking a far more discreet seat at the back and a few of his most trusted ministers and two or three Aurors firing questions at the silver-haired wizard. But now, as he finally seemed to regain control of his muscles, he felt a strange sense of calm descend upon him, and he could not help but be relieved that he was not, momentarily, the one that everyone was seeking for answers.
"Indeed he has." Dumbledore said solemnly. "As you have all realised far too late. What we now have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."
Silence followed this remark, broken only by the raspy coughing of one of the more elderly ministers.
"But how are we meant to defeat him again?" cried out Fudge at last, unable to bear the silence "We barely defeated him last time, and that was only due to luck."
"True," said Dumbledore, noting Fudge's use of 'we', "But history, as it is said, does repeat itself many times over, as Lord Voldemort..." the room flinched, "...may yet discover to his ruin." And for a brief moment it sounded like he started to talk to himself.
"What do you mean?" snapped Fudge, cross at Dumbledore's continued use of the Dark Lords name.
Dumbledore however did not seem to be listening, causing Fudge to feel even more angry.
"Professor Dumbledore," he said, stressing the 'Professor', desperately needing to remind himself who was the more senior of the two, in rank if not anything else, "We are facing the largest threat to this planet ever. If there is something that may help, then I demand that you tell us."
Dumbledore looked up, his steady blue gaze meeting Fudge's wavering one. "This planet has faced worse threats than this, if not much worse. Evil was overcome then, and I am sure it will be again." Now he stood up as he continued top speak. "Now gentlemen, if you would excuse me, I have told you everything you need to know and then some. Your time is up. I must now return to my school." And with that he disappeared.
There was a momentary stillness in the room, before everyone turned to Fudge to bombard him with the inevitable torrent of questions. And all that the man in question could think as he let his head fall into his waiting arms was 'Why me?'
Thalion, High Councillor to King Legolas Thranduillion, was striding towards His Majesties bedchamber. He paused around the corner to straighten his robes, before walking up to the entrance. He nodded to the guards, who stepped aside to let him enter. He knocked sharply on the doorframe, and without waiting for an answer he walked right into the middle of the room.
"Good morning my..." he started cheerfully, before looking around the room.
Empty.
He rolled his eyes, only briefly so as not to show too much emotion, quickly checking that no one was under the bed or on the ceiling, before walking over to the wide glassless window. The weather was good for this part of the forest, he could even see some of the clear blue sky he knew was above, and the breeze was almost nonexistent. He knew where his king would be.
He cast a brief glance back towards the entrance to see if the two guards were trying to peek inside. On seeing that they were not, he shed off his official cloak and chucked it onto the floor, glad to be rid of it. He then climbed onto the window ledge and looked down. It wasn't that far, only around fifteen feet, so even if he fell, which he knew he wouldn't, he would not be badly hurt, and he had jumped above greater heights before. There were no handy vines by the wall, by order of the Captain of the Guard who had spent seemingly most of his life trying to stop the young Prince Legolas from climbing out of his window at night, so why should he stop just because his charge had become a king? However as Thalion knew this had never prevented any night-time expeditions. It had only stopped the Captain of the Guard from worrying about them.
For even though there was nothing near enough for an elfling or any ordinary elf to grab hold of, there was a sturdy branch hanging but a few metres above and the same distance away from the window, which any strong elf could grab if he propelled himself far enough through the air. Without thinking, and almost by instinct, Thalion did a standing jump, catching the branch with his fingertips. He used the momentum to swing himself upwards, until he was safe and sitting on the branch. Without pausing for breath, he stood upright, and ran off into the forest.
Dumbledore relaxed back into his chair. His meeting with Harry Potter went as well as could be expected, better perhaps. After all, he had just lost his godfather. A little bit of shouting and a few possessions destroyed was the least that he had been expecting. He was slightly surprised his office was still standing.
Just as he was thinking this, Phineas Nigellus crept back into his portrait. "I cannot believe it," he mumbled to himself, as if he was unaware that Dumbledore was even in the room. "The last member of the house of Black, gone. I mean," he said hurriedly as he realised that Dumbledore was staring at him, "It's not as if I ever liked the worthless man, he was my descendant."
"Phineas, please could you take one last message to someone for me tonight?" Dumbledore asked the distraught painting.
"Dead, dead, I don't believe it. it cant be. dead..." the portrait kept mumbling to himself. On realising that he was going to get no more sense out of Phineas for quite a while, he turned to the only remaining portrait that was both awake and, periodically, sane.
"Armando,"
Armando looked quite surprised at being spoken to, but finally managed to drawl out a "Yes Professor."
"Please could you go down to classroom eleven, and tell Firenze that I apologise for the inconvenience but could he please make it up to my office. I know that he finds stairs difficult, but it is of the greatest importance that I see him immediately."
Without a word, Armando ran out of the painting, and Dumbledore had nothing else to do but wait for Firenze to appear.
Thalion approached the clearing carefully, not making a sound as he sneaked towards his prey. He was many metres above the ground, and it was here that the sun broke through the thin foliage, creating one of the only patches of solid sunlight this deep into the forest. He and Legolas used to go there as elflings to play, but they were the only ones who even knew about it. It was the best place in the world to hide from their chores and duties, and they were never going to betray this secret to anybody.
Thalion leapt to the next tree, careful to be as inconspicuous as he could. His target was lying, propped up against the trunk, his eyes closed enjoying the sun. Closer and closer he slid, until his mouth was only a breath away from his goal. He took a silent breath, before shouting as loudly as he could:
"My Lord!"
Legolas opened his eyes with a start, the surprise almost making him fall off the tree. He regained his balance, before rounding on Thalion and shouting back "Do you wish for me to be dead?"
Thalion just laughed, "No," he replied with difficulty due to his hysterics "I just wished for you to fall out of this tree."
Legolas glared at him in a way that only many centuries of ruling could achieve.
"Very well," Thalion chuckled, giving way to 'the glare', "I swear that I will never try to make you fall off this particular tree ever again."
"It's not this tree I am worried about at the moment," Legolas said, seeing the humour in this situation, "Just the thousands of others there are in this forest."
"Well I shall have to use those opportunities another time. For now, however, I shall have to be content with further ruining your day." At his friend's puzzled look he added "The Mirkwood Council is today."
"Fifty years cannot have passed already!" he cried in alarm. He hated these meetings. A whole week with the leader of this and the captain of that and the lord of whatever arguing over what was to be done about the spiders or the borderlines and the suchlike. And all he was expected to do was nod sagely to all points of the argument and then give the same answer that his great-great-great grandfather would most probably have said so that the tradition would not be broken. He rarely did this of course, but that was what was supposed to happen. He was more likely to say the thing which upset the most people, and then go about and do the things the way he thought they should be done. Personally.
It was for this reason that he was such a good king. It was the reason that the ordinary elves of Mirkwood liked him so much. And it was the reason that Thalion had stayed such good friends with him for all this time.
"Well let us go and get ready before anyone is killed. It is amazing just how strongly some of those ministers feel about their cases."
Firenze managed the stairs, with a little difficulty, and walked into Dumbledore's office just as the headmaster was sealing a scroll with his ring.
"Ah, Firenze. It is a pleasure to see you all the way up here. I trust you have been well?"
"Very well indeed headmaster. But I do not believe that was the reason you asked me here."
"No, it isn't," Dumbledore said, trying to decide how to word what he was about to say, eventually deciding to just get straight to the point. "I was wondering if you had heard of the Firstborn."
"Of course. We meet once every five decades. They are the wisest creatures upon this earth, and it is a great honour to share their forest."
Dumbledore was astonished. This was far more than he could have hoped for. "You are in contact with them? You know where they reside? They live in the Forbidden Forest?"
"Indeed. We are privileged to live so close to them, though we meet rarely. They may see us, but they hide themselves well before we even know they are there."
"Do not want to take up too much of your time, and I know that I myself have much work to be done, but I was wondering if you could do my a great favour." At this he held out the letter that he had just been writing so intently, "It may be the greatest favour I have ever asked someone to do, and yet you are the only one I believe could do it."
Legolas and Thalion arrived at the meeting just as everyone was arriving. All present stood as he entered the room, something he abhorred but could do nothing about, and as he sat down and Thalion took his place a little way around the circle, he noted that all the chairs were filled, leaving only a few spaces for those who should be coming very soon.
Even as he was thinking these thoughts, he heard a quiet 'clip-clop' which gradually grew louder and louder, and eventually the cause of this noise stepped into view.
Ronan and Bane trotted into view, guarded by four elves. When the centaurs reached the circle they stood in the empty spaces and bowed to Legolas.
"Greetings, my lords," Bane started.
"May your forest be ever plentiful," Ronan finished for him
"May the stars always shine down on your futures," Legolas replied, "But where is Firenze? I do hope he has not been hurt." He did not dislike either of the two before him. He might not know them well, but they were not cruel and did not hurt any who were careful not to displease them. But even though he had only officially met the younger centaur Firenze but once, fifty years ago, he had taken an instant liking to him. Unlike his friends, he was not as prone to talking in riddles even Mithrandir would have had a hard time working out, and he did speak his mind. He was also the only one of them who had wandered far enough into Legolas' territory to find the King's secret hiding place, and he had enjoyed the occasional secret chat, even though they had talked about little of any consequence.
The centaurs looked at each other, but the only reply they would give was that he could not come.
The council went on as usual, arguments about prices by the merchants, about the amount of forest they were letting the 'mortal scum' (the centaurs flinched at this) into the forest, and then eventually, the usual enquiry as to the position of the spiders.
"As you may remember," the current Captain of the Guard Fornelen started "Just as the last council finished, there was sudden period of unusually organised attacks. These have not died out yet, and we have yet to find the cause of such an uprising. We do believe that it may have come from somewhere outside our usual patrol boundaries though."
At this point everyone turned to stare at the two centaurs. "That is your domain, is it not?" asked one of the elves, no one was quite sure which one. "Why have you not done anything about it?"
"We have not.." began Ronan in his deep, sorrowful voice.
"In fact, it has not been this unsafe to walk the forest since the last time a great evil walked the earth. Has this happened again?" said another indistinguishable voice.
"While many stars are fading, Mars grows brighter by the day."
"If you are going to insult us with not answering a simple question, then at least give us some respect by calling the stars by their proper names!" shouted another, standing and daring the half-man to challenge his authority.
Ronan reared and kicked his hooves towards the old elf, "And who are you to challenge us!" he shouted back, preparing himself to fight the whole council if he had to.
Fornelen caught Legolas' eye. They were both armed, even if in Legolas' case his weapons were concealed so as not to alarm anyone, but they could both see that things were going to get badly out of hand and between them they could probably subdue everyone. If nothing else, the sight of their king readying himself to fight them physically would stop his subjects, and then there was only Ronan and Bane to quieten down. Thalion would help of course so it should be stopped before anyone got badly hurt.
However here was actually no need for either of them to draw any weapon, for at that moment the sound of a loud canter could be heard, and a few seconds later another centaur came into view, this one white haired and frantically trying to get into the circle.
"My lord..." he began, bowing to Legolas,
"You are not welcome here, Firenze." interrupted Bane harshly. All the elves who had only seconds before been trying to attack the centaurs were now looking around confused, surprised at this sudden act of hostility not aimed towards an elf, but to one of the centaur's own kin.
"I am not under your orders any more Bane, I am under orders from the Professor. And if I need to fight you to carry out those orders, then so be it."
"He is a traitor to his kind and should not be allowed here." Bane snapped. The elf who had spoken before whispered "Where did this sudden clarity of speech come from then?", but was quickly silenced by his neighbours.
Legolas however never let his eyes move from his friend. "All are welcome to speak here." he said, waiting to here the news that was worth endangering his life for.
"My lord," he began again. "I carry with me a message from the human Professor Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the school just outside this forest's borders."
Legolas nodded at this. He was, apart from the captain who had joined him for this venture, the only one who had ever ventured close enough to the school to see building, and had always wondered what it was. Now he just needed to learn what a school was. And how come there was one for wizards. Was Mithrandir to be found there?
Firenze held out what looked like a scroll and passed it to him. But before Legolas had even looked at it, Firenze muttered "I must go now. I hope that we may meet again soon." and cantered back into the depths of the forest.
With his departure came a mass of questions, many directed at the two remaining centaurs. Ronan and Bane were, not very politely, asked to leave; which they did in a hurry, leaving most of the questions to be fired at the King. Legolas waited until he had read the whole letter many times through before, when the din had finally been quietened but Fornelen, answering one single question.
"Well what in Middle Earth's name are you going to do about this?"
Legolas thought about his answer for a moment, waiting until there was not a sound in the room.
"I am going to see Professor Albus Dumbledore."
Cummon, review. You know you want to! (well I know I want you to, is that the same thing???)