Chapter 12 Knealins

The four young elves walked back down the streets of Kalayaana in high spirits. After leaving Diagon Alley, Corin had introduced the three siblings to the wonders of a shopping mall. He couldn't help but shake his head ruefully as he remembered the elves' antics.

They had only just finished buying the movies, a large flat-screen TV and a DVD player when 'Rea and Aranel saw a girls clothing store. After that, they had been dragged from shop to shop with the girls' constantly borrowing money. ('Don't whine Corin, we'll pay you back. Now go try this on.') She would hand him and Oron clothes and chase them into the dressing room.

Occasionally the guys would be able to drag them out of the clothing shops and into a store of their choice... but not often.

Now they were back; the girls victorious, the guys exhausted. It was around five o'clock in the evening and the party was set to start in a half an hour. As the four teens walked in the house, Soron, Serie and Albus chuckled at the worn out expressions on the boy's faces.

Wait, Albus? "Professor Dumbledore?" Corin said with a double-take.

The headmaster's eyes twinkled, "Happy birthday Harry, excuse me, Corintur."

"Thank you sir." Corin gave a hesitant smile.

"Why don't you four go upstairs and put your things away?" Serie suggested, "Then come back down here and we can chat until dinner time." They all nodded and started up the stairs.

Corin laid his many packages out on his bed and started putting them away. Several muggle t-shirts, jeans and sweatshirts were stowed in his drawers and he enlarged the TV and DVD player back to their original size and set them on the floor along the wall. After shopping with the girls for a couple of hours, Oron and he had gone back in another electronics store and bought a stereo system so they could get 'the full effect' of the movie according to the salesperson. Boy, they sure saw us coming... ah well, it's not like I don't have the money to afford it.

He put this along the wall for later as well and then went to his closet. He had several sets of elven clothing to choose from, but ended up with a dark-silver tunic with silver designs and black pants. He took a quick shower, braided the sides of his hair away from his face, changed into his clothes and went downstairs. He fingered his soul-mate ring nervously as he thought about seeing his old Headmaster again, then entered the living room where everyone was seated.

They were in the same seats they'd been in before and no one had joined them, so Corin figured he was the first one down. He took a seat and listened as Soron described elven culture for Dumbledore who seemed fascinated. Finally the conversation got around to the shopping trip that day and the adults laughed at Corin's descriptions of the girls going slightly nuts in the clothing stores.

"I don't know how I ever left that place with money in my pockets..." Corin said with a grin.

"Don't you blame that all on us Corintur Raumoraa! I seem to recall you boys spending at least as much as us on electronics! Honestly, we already have speakers for the TV but no, you need a surround-sound stereo system to go with it." 'Rea walked into the room.

Corin was about to retort back, but Dumbledore spoke. "What's this about a TV?" So they explained about The Lord of the Rings movies and their plan to alter them to run off magic. That got Dumbledore excited as he had read the books by Tolkien and offered to help adjust them to magic on the condition that he was allowed to stay and watch the movies as well.

"Sure! Do you want to look at them right now?" At his agreement, the two stood and headed up to Corin's room. Dumbledore looked like a kid in a candy store when he saw how muggle technology had advanced since he'd seen it last.

While he was tinkering, Albus studied his one-time student. The boy looked happy and comfortable in his new life. Again, he cursed the shadow that had been controlling him, wishing he could have somehow fought its influence. He was glad for Corin, but wished the wizarding world had been wiser.

"I'm glad you escaped my boy," Corin looked up from where he was studying the movie boxes. "You're happy here, and as much as I hate to say it, you fit in here better than you did in the wizarding world with their prejudices and high expectations."

Corin smiled at the Headmaster's understanding of thoughts that had been swirling around in his head since he'd become an elf. He spoke softly, "They don't look at me as a hero here, just another elf; a part of the family." He beamed, "I finally have a family that loves and accepts me."

Dumbledore was about to reply when Miri flew into the room followed by Fawkes. The small snidget flew up to Dumbledore, inspecting him, then flew to Corin and playfully made to perch on his nose. Albus chuckled as the young elf scowled and batted the bird away. Fawkes made an amused noise, then gave Miri a look. Miri sent Corin an image of him changing into Talon for Fawkes.

"Headmaster, do you want to see my animagus forms? Miri told me Fawkes wants to see Talon."

"Of course, let's see them." He showed Quist and Stealth first, and when he changed to Talon, Fawkes gave a trill and landed next to him on the bed to inspect his phoenix form. Albus watched as the two phoenixes trilled and sang to each other for a few minutes and then Corin changed back.

"Did you know Fawkes is three-thousand four-hundred sixty-two years old?" Corin grinned and scratched the phoenix behind the neck.

Albus chuckled, "No, I knew he was old, but not how old." He spoke one more spell over the electronics, "Well, I think that does it." After starting the movie to make sure it worked, they headed back downstairs to dinner.

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After dinner it was time for presents. They all gathered in the living room and watched as Corin opened his first present which was from Ailin. She'd given him a box of his favorite elven candy which tasted like strawberries and honey. After giving Albus (who inquired about their name to give him more password ideas) and everyone else a piece of the candy, he continued onto his next present.

Aranel handed him her gift and he opened it. It was a pair elven boots. They were dark brown, almost black and went up to the base of the knee. They were also made to be silent when walking and were incredibly lightweight.

From Soron and Serie he received a set of elven battle robes in black and dark-silver. They were made of lightweight material for ease of movement and had several protection spells woven into the fabric that would protect against minor spells. Runes and elven designs were woven into the collar, breast and cuffs and around the base of the clothing with silver thread. On the back was stitched his three animagus forms, again in dark-silver thread. This was also accompanied by a shirt of elven chain mail which was also very lightweight and helped protect against many of the more dangerous spells.

From Oron he received an elven sword. The pommel was made out of a dark wood and was long enough for one hand but had room at the base for the second hand to grip for a more powerful swing. The whole sword was slightly curved and made out of an unbreakable silver metal. Along the length of the sword from its tip to the pommel was gold elvish writing and designs. It was very graceful looking and he could tell it was perfectly balanced.

Albus had rescued Corin's trunk from a Ministry holding facility so he received his Firebolt, photo album, and invisibility cloak back as well as the pieces of his wand that the shadow controlling Dumbledore had hidden in his office. He was also given a ring which he placed on right index finger. It was a beautiful gold ring with a ruby imbedded in the center, and around the band was carved a phoenix in intricate detail starting with its head to the left side of the stone and ending with its fiery tail on the right side.

"It's a magical ring," The headmaster explained, "All you have to do is look into the stone and think about a person you'd like to see and an image of that person will form inside the stone. It will even find someone in an unplottable place, so you can make sure your friends are alright or find someone who is in danger."

Finally was the gift from Laurea. She had been very close-lipped about his present, and even with hours of begging, he had no idea what it could be. He gave her a confused look as she got up and left the room, then came back carrying a box with air holes that she'd retrieved from the closet. He looked at the box warily but felt a bit better when he reminded himself that she didn't have the same obsession with dangerous animals as Hagrid. Slowly, he opened the lid. Curled up in the bottom of the box was what looked like two kittens. One was dark-silver and one light-silver, both with black spots.

"'Rea, what...?" Laurea reached into the box and lifted the dark kitten out and placed him in Corin's arms, then reached for the light silver cub and placed it in her own lap. Up close, he could see his was a miniature version of Stealth, but the difference was that the small feline had two silky black feathered wings poking out of its shoulders.

"They are Knealins, winged miniature versions of leopards. They will grow to be about half the size of Stealth, but are incredibly fast and have telekinetic powers. And when they bond to us as familiars, we'll be able to talk to them telepathically in about nine months as soon as they've matured enough. I've named mine Calie which means light."

The little knealin in his lap opened his eyes sleepily and yawned, showing his sharp baby teeth. It looked around the room drowsily then turned its gaze to Corin. Startling blue eyes bore into his own, and he felt a connection form between their two minds that could only be broken in death.

"I'll name him Artue which means noble." He smiled at Artue who was looking at him curiously. The small knealin was about as long as his forearm and his fur was incredibly soft. Calie had woken up by now and had bonded with 'Rea. Calie had the same beautiful blue eyes as Artue and Corin figured the two were brother and sister.

"Corin and Oron, why don't you two go up and get everything you need for watching the movies, we'll set a table and the couches up down here." Serie suggested, "Albus, would you like to stay the night in the guest room so you don't end up apparating back to Hogwarts at two in the morning?" The headmaster agreed and the rest of the night was spent watching the movies and eating snacks until early the next morning.