Chapter 19 Old Friends

Corin ate quietly as professors chatted around him. He'd been questioned about his part in the defense of the train, but had only given very brief answers, much to their disappointment. He'd heard Sirius and Remus explaining to McGonagall their part of the fight. Both had been patrolling the train at the time and had been taken off guard by the yellow mist. It had had the same effects on them as it had on Corin: frightening hallucinations, dizziness and panicking. Fortunately, when the wind had blown the yellow mist away, they'd been able to gather themselves quickly and help defend the students. When the deatheaters had either been stupefied or had escaped, they had been scanned for spells. Apparently, their mask had been spelled to filter out the mist, and that's why it hadn't affected the deatheaters.

He looked over at the Gryffindor table and watched with an amused smile the four first years he had befriended. Jemma and Brice were glaring at each other while Jackson and Raven watched in silent amusement. He was willing to bet that whatever they were arguing over was completely pointless and that only their pride kept them from backing down. He chuckled softly as Jemma grabbed a handful of peas and chucked them at Brice's head. Brice in turn took a handful of stuffing and smashed it on top of her head. He laughed outright at that which caught the attention of the other teachers. They in turn looked at the Gryffindor table as well just in time to see Jemma fling some pudding in Brice's face.

Luckily the impromptu food fight didn't escalate too far because a very displeased McGonagall had made her way over and put a stop to it. She was now in the process of giving them a very long, terse lecture on how Gryffindors should behave and the immaturity of their actions. When Jemma pointed out to her that they had a right to be immature seeing as they were only eleven, five points were taken from Gryffindor by an exasperated McGonagall.

Corin snorted at the first year's audacity, but went back to his meal with a smile. Finally, after dessert was finished, Dumbledore stood up and addressed the school, which had quieted down at his movement.

"Again, welcome back. I have a few announcements to make. All students please note that the Forbidden Forest is, as the name suggests, forbidden. There are many creatures roaming that forest which you would not ever wish to run into. Also, as you've no doubt seen, we have several new teachers as well as a party of elves whom have agreed to help guard the school this year." He introduced Sirius, Remus, and Corin to the student body.

Corin blushed at the enthusiastic response he got from the student body, particularly from the female section of it. He even got a couple of wolf whistles, much to his embarrassment. Laurea, who was sitting at the elves' table, raised her eyebrows at this and giggled at his discomfort. He glared at his soul-mate, but she just blew him a raspberry and grinned. He rolled his eyes, then returned his attention to the Headmaster.

"Now, as it is late, everyone off to your dorms and to bed with you." He made a small shooing motion with his hands, then turned to chat with McGonagall again while the hall emptied.

Corin finished the last few bites of his pie, then stood and began making his way back to his rooms. He had only gone a few steps when he was tapped on the shoulder. He turned and gave a small but wary smile at the expression on Laurea's face.

"Where are you going, mister?"

"Ummm... bed?" He asked confused.

"Try again." She said and gestured towards elven party's healer, who appeared to be waiting for them a ways away.

Before he could even try to say 'I'm fine', he was dragged over, plopped down in a chair and had his shirt removed. He had a deep gash going from the top of his right shoulder blade down to the base of his back. Since both the bleeding had been stopped and he'd put a numbing charm on it at the beginning of the feast, he'd forgotten about the injury completely.

The students still left in the hall gapped at him, but had no time to stare as McGonagall shooed them out the door and to their common rooms. He could feel his back tingling as it began to slowly heal over and Laurea spoke.

"Leave it to you to be the only one on the train besides the deatheaters to be injured." She mumbled as she studied his back.

He rolled his eyes, but gave a small smirk and said slyly, "You're just mad you missed out on beating up some deatheaters."

She narrowed her eyes and flicked him in the ear, to which he yelped, as elven ears are very sensitive.

He was about to turn around and glare at her when he caught some movement out of the corner of his eye. Turning slightly, he froze at the sight of Ron and Hermione walking up to the head table. They didn't see him covertly staring at them as they headed straight for Sirius and Remus. The two teachers had been chatting quietly, but stopped when Corin's former friends stopped in front of them.

"Hello Professors." Hermione said quietly.

"Hey Hermione, Ron. How have you two been?"

They glanced at each other, and then Ron answered for both of them. "We've been okay. Erm, have you heard anything about Harry?" Corin stiffened slightly at the sound of his old name and Laurea placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Sirius got a defeated look on his face and sighed. "No. The headmaster only tells us that he's happy and that we'll have to wait until he's ready to contact us."

Both students nodded, Hermione with tears in her eyes. That's what they had been told as well, but she'd been hoping...

"Thanks Sirius, Remus. We'll see you in class. Goodnight." Ron said, and with that, they both began to slowly make their way out of the hall.

A hand brushed his cheek comfortingly as he stared after his old friends, and he glanced up to see Laurea's face looking at him sympathetically.

"It will be alright, love. I know you'll be able to forgive them eventually, then you can be happy again." She spoke to him in elvish.

"I am happy, beloved."

"The elven part of you is, but the human in you still aches with sadness." She replied.

He nodded understandingly and she sat on his lap and hugged him, her arms going around his waist. They stayed like that for awhile, Corin basking in the comfort she offered. When they had finally glanced up, they saw that the entire hall had emptied and they were alone at the head table. Laughing quietly, they stood up and walked slowly back to their rooms.

When Corin opened the portrait to his common room, he noticed something had changed. Glancing around cautiously, he fingered the dagger hidden up his sleeve as he studied the room. Nothing looked out of place, but there was the feeling that something wasn't right. Finally his gaze fell on Artue who was sitting calmly on the couch. As he studied the knealin closer, he noticed that Artue looked rather subdued.

"Alright you rascal, what have you done this time?" Artue looked up and gave an unhappy mew, then glanced towards the side of the room. "The white fluffy thing put you in time-out?" He said skeptically as he glanced in the direction his knealin was looking, then froze at what he saw.

"Hedwig..." He breathed. His old snowy owl gave him a fond hoot and flew from her perch to land on his outstretched arm. She nuzzled his cheek with her soft head and he framed her face with one hand, stroking her feathers gently as he tried to process the fact that she was back. "Where have you been girl? I would have thought you would have become one of the Hogwarts Post Owls, but I looked in the owlery and you weren't there." She gave a sniff at the thought of becoming a common Hogwarts owl and pointed out the window with her beak towards the forest.

"You've been living in the Forbidden Forest?!" She gave him an affirmative hoot and nuzzled him again. "I've missed you too girl, I'm glad you're all right."


Yes!!! No more writers block!!! I'm sooo sorry for making you all wait for so long! I got halfway through this chapter and ran out of ideas. Yes, terrible of me I know. But I'm back in buisness!! Even have the next two chapters done as well!! But you don't get them yet. On one, I need to get a reference for one point in the story, then I'll get them out. So, love the reviews, can't wait to see what you think!

Arye