Authors' Note: See, here's chapter three, right after chapter two, like we promised! Would we ever lie to you? Besides the whole a-new-chapter-every-two-weeks thing.
Chapter Three
To fully understand the way my life worked, you would have to know what happened after I left Hogwarts.
I arrived in this strange new world that, apparently, I had been born into but didn't remember. It was really beautiful there, full of trees with sprouting leaves and people like my father and Legolas with long hair and pointed ears. I had never seen an Elven woman before that I could remember, but they were even more beautiful than the men were. Their faces were soft and pale, and they let their hair flow in the gentle breeze.
One thing I loved about the new place was their fashion sense. All of them wore clothes of lightweight material that were similar to robes, usually in light colors. The women's clothes were usually flowing dresses that you only saw in fairy tale books. The men wore darker colors, like Earthen browns and greens, but sometimes wore white, as well.
And then, there was Arwen.
She was absolutely gorgeous. You could pretty much say that she was the definition of beauty. Her hair was long and black, her lips full and red, her complexion pale. She had a gentleness about her that made me like her the second I saw her, even though she hadn't actually done anything gentle as of yet.
"Ah, Arwen, my darling!" Elrond cried, opening his arms to his daughter.
"Hello, father. What has taken you so long?" she asked cautiously.
"We had a little bit of . . . trouble," he said simply, gesturing to me. Arwen's eyes widened at the sight of me in my Hogwarts robes, wand in hand.
"Are you Beri?" she questioned softly.
"I think so," I said. Turning to Legolas, I said, "That means Alexandria, right?"
He nodded slightly. "It's a nickname for Alexandria."
"She doesn't know any Elvish at all?" Arwen asked Elrond in horror.
"No, she hasn't been in Middle Earth at all since she was one. She hadn't learned to speak at that time, so she was raised to know English," Elrond said, shaking his head slightly and looking at the ground, as though horribly ashamed of me. I shifted my weight from one foot to the other.
"Stop fidgeting," Legolas reprimanded softly, putting a hand on my shoulder. I stopped.
"What's it like in the other world?" Arwen asked me, awe dancing behind her eyes.
"Uh . . ." I murmured. "Well, uh, people dress like I do – well, the muggles don't dress like this, they usually just wear jeans and a t-shirt –"
"What is a t-shirt?" she asked. Rolling my eyes, I took off my robes to reveal my normal clothes – a pair of dark jeans and a baby blue tee. In the middle of the tee was a circle with a picture of one of the seven dwarves from Disney's film Snow White and the Seven Dwarves holding an axe. The text above and below the picture read Baby under construction.
Pointing to the shirt, I said, "This is a t-shirt."
Arwen's eyes widened even farther as she said, "You wear dwarves as clothing?"
I realized that I had been pointing directly to the dwarf. "No, no, we don't wear dwarves, we wear t-shirts! The whole thing is a t-shirt," I said, gesturing to the whole shirt.
"Oh! I understand," she said. "But why does it say Baby under construction?"
I exchanged a furtive glance with Legolas, whose face hardened. He shook his head ever so slightly, telling me silently not to say a word and let Elrond handle the situation.
"Er, well, that's the second part of the surprise," Elrond said slowly. "Arwen, er, this may come as a bit of a surprise to you, but . . . you're going to be . . . an Aunt."
"An . . . Aunt?" Arwen asked. Suddenly, her eyes lingered on my belly. "So that's the reason for . . . ." She gestured at it again, as though it were some horrible, hideous thing that had popped out of thin air.
"Yeah, is there a problem with that?" I asked, resuming the obnoxious manner to which Elrond and Legolas had quickly become accustomed.
There was that awkward silence where no one knew what to say, especially me. I just sat there, looking around at all of them with a smirk on my face. I could tell that this was the kind of family where having sex before marriage was utterly unspeakable. And yet, there I was, entering their family, seven months pregnant.
"Well," Elrond said gingerly. "Welcome to our family, Beriadanwen."
"Wait a second," I said. "Does that mean that he's my brother?" I asked, jabbing a finger at Legolas.
"Legolas? No, no, of course not! He volunteered to come along and get you," my new father said. "No, your only sibling is Arwen."
I uttered a quiet, "Thank God," under my breath, but I think Legolas must have heard me, because his grip on my shoulder tightened slightly.
"Now, there are many things we need to get done before your . . . child . . . arrives," Elrond said brusquely.
"Dude, we have two months," I snapped.
Elrond took a deep breath and walked over to Legolas. I heard him mutter in his ear, "Please take Arwen away, I can tell that this may get difficult and I don't want to upset her."
Legolas nodded solemnly and went over to Arwen, who was watching quietly.
"Come, Arwen, why don't you show me the garden?" he said. She gave him a look, but followed obediently.
Once she had left, Elrond turned to me sharply. "Beriadanwen, I know you have been raised in a different world, and I know that we just met, but you still need to show me the respect you showed your Earth father."
"Why should I? You guys have been treating me like crap since the second I fell in your line of sight. You completely humiliated me, tore me from my friends, rejected my boyfriend, and made a fool of me in front of my new sister! I don't want to be here, in case you didn't notice, so the least you could do would be to lighten up a bit!"
"This is unacceptable, Beriadanwen, I don't think you understand! A princess of your age should not be expecting a child in two months!"
"Well, I'm sorry, if I knew I was – wait a second, did you just say princess?" I cried.
"Yes, I did just call you a princess. I am King of the Elves, and seeing as you are my daughter, that would make you the princess," he explained, one eye twitching with annoyance.
"So does that mean that one day, I'll have to rule this place?" I shouted, spinning in circles to indicate the entire area of land surrounding me.
"Eventually, yes," Elrond said.
"Are you fucking kidding me?"
Elrond gasped in surprise and clapped his hand to his mouth. "Where did you learn this foul language?"
"You mean it's considered foul here, too? God, I thought I could get away with it here . . ."
"That's it, Beriadanwen, go to your room!"
I raised one eyebrow and asked, "And my room would be . . . where?"
Now furious, Elrond tried to calm himself by breathing a deep sigh, but it only made him more angry, for one reason or another. Without a word, he started walking. He didn't motion to me or anything, but I was smart enough to know to follow him.
The whole escapade reminded me a lot of the song Family Portrait by Pink. Suddenly, I wished for my beautiful pink iPod that Richard Grunning had given me for my birthday before my fourth year at Hogwarts.
Eventually, after much walking, we finally arrived at a room with a tall, wooden door. Engravings were written arching along the top in a language I can only assume was Elvish. I saw Elrond glance up at the text, a tear trickling down his face.
"This is your bedroom," he whispered. "Your wardrobe is over there, you may put your clothes in there if you wish, but you will be expected to wear Elven clothes whenever you appear to us in public."
As his final words, he muttered "Aníron ceni hin lîn síla i 'eladhach," before leaving me completely.
- - -
I was unpacking all of my clothes into the wardrobe when I heard the knock on my door.
"Come in," I called. I really didn't care who it was. I knew that they would keep knocking until I let them in anyway.
"It is Legolas, Alexandria," a voice called to me.
"I already told you, come in."
Quietly, Legolas slipped into the room. "We will be serving dinner in about fifteen minutes. Your father requests that you put on one of the outfits we've provided for you."
"Where are they?" I asked, completely ignoring the words your father.
"In the bottom drawer of the wardrobe. Shoes are under your bed," he said before turning to leave.
"Wait a second, Legolas," I said.
"Yes, milady?" He bowed to me.
"Don't bow to me, it makes me uncomfortable," I said, "but that's not what I wanted to ask of you."
"What is it that you wanted?" he asked.
I sighed and questioned quietly, "What do those words mean at the top of my door?"
"Aníron ceni hin lîn síla i 'eladhach," he said.
"Yeah, Elrond already said it to me in Elvish, but I don't know what it means in English."
"It means, I wish to see your eyes shine when you laugh."
I froze for a second. Something hard hit me when he told me the translation, as though someone had punched me in the stomach. Elrond had actually missed me as a child. He wasn't just doing this because it was his duty and his grandchild was about to be born, he was doing this because he loved me.
"Th-thank you, Legolas," I said quietly.
There was no response, only a few footsteps. I felt him hovering over me for a moment before he asked, "Are you alright, milady?"
"Y-yes, I'm f-f-fine. Don't worry ab-bout it," I said. I gave him a weak smile. He didn't look convinced.
"I'll be waiting outside the door to escort you to the dining hall when you are ready," Legolas said quietly before closing it behind him.
I quickly picked out the prettiest dress I could find, slipped on my shoes, and hurried to dinner.
We were the first ones there. Legolas had me sit in my seat and then walked out.
The long, wooden table was set for four people – Elrond, Arwen, my mother, and myself. I was yet to meet my mother. I could only assume that she was as beautiful and delicate as Arwen, but also kind and gentle in the same way. I was suddenly afraid. My father was one thing. I hadn't been afraid of his impression of me, perhaps because when I first met him, I had no idea who he was. My mother, on the other hand, was my mother. I wanted to make a good first impression. Suddenly, I felt myself wishing that my belly was just a little bit less noticeable.
After a few minutes, Elrond walked in. He stopped at the door upon laying his eyes on me.
"You're early," he remarked in surprise.
"Yes," I said, not quite sure of what to say in response to this.
Elrond sat down at the head of the table, a small smile growing on his face. I was glad to be making him happier.
"Beriadanwen, I wanted to apologize to you for being so rude when I picked you up earlier this evening. I should have done something different, something that would draw less attention. And I also should have given your friend – what was his name, Legolas told me, Severey? – a little more respect as well. I know you two are rather close and I should have at least given him an explanation of what was going on," he said.
"His name is Severus, but thank you for your apology. I should apologize too, however. You were right. I had the right to be mad at you, but I didn't have the right to disrespect your people, your land, and you yourself. I'm sorry."
Elrond's smile grew. "Apology accepted," he said.
That second, Arwen danced into the room, twirling and spinning around in utter delight. "Father, may we set an extra place at the table? Preferably next to Alex?"
"Why is that, my child?"
"Don't ask, just do," Arwen said, giggling playfully.
I raised my eyebrows as she sat down across from me, grinning broadly.
We waited to eat before the last seat was filled and the new seat was placed. A few minutes later, Legolas walked calmly into the room. I assumed that he would be guarding the door, but instead, he took the seat that was supposed to be for my mother.
"Excuse me, but isn't my mother going to sit there?" I asked.
Everyone in the room tensed. I looked from each face to the next, wondering what I had said wrong.
"Well, there's another little bit I haven't told you yet," Elrond said.
My mouth dropped open in horror. "You're my mother!" I cried, pointing to Legolas.
"Me? Don't be ridiculous, of course not!" he exclaimed.
"Your mother isn't here anymore, Beriadanwen, she lives in Valinor."
"So . . . you're divorced?" I asked.
"No, we're not divorced. She got hurt, so she lives in Valinor amongst other Elves."
Then, at the most tense moment in the dinner (so far), the door burst open.
Things were about to get even more tense.
"Sevi!" I screamed. I jumped out of my seat and ran to him, throwing my arms around him.
"What are you doing here? How did you get here? Why aren't you going home? Oh my God, I can't believe you're here!"
Behind me, I heard Arwen giggling.
"I followed the tall guys with the pointy ears after you left. I got your note, and there was no way I was going to just let you leave without seeing me again," he whispered.
"But how did they not see you? How come no one noticed that you didn't get on the Hogwarts express?"
"I flew, coming down from the clouds every so often to check on where you guys were," he said simply.
I pulled back from him. He was smiling brighter than he ever had before, his eyes wide in amazement.
"You look . . . wow," he said, surveying my new Elven attire.
"Why, thank you. You look . . ." I looked at him. He was covered in dirt, but he was still a wonderful site to see. "You look tired," I finished.
"Yeah, I'm wiped."
"Come have dinner with us!" I invited without thinking. Suddenly, my brains kicked in. I looked to my father. He stared at the two of us for a minute, Severus' arms around my waist, before jerking his head up and down in a motion that I can only assume meant yes.
I deliberately took the long way around so I could walk by Arwen. "Thank you!" I whispered excitedly in her ear.
She giggled some more and said, "You're welcome."
"So, Severus, this is my sister Arwen, my father Elrond, and Legolas. He's like a bodyguard," I explained. "And this is your chair, and this is mine."
He sat down gingerly next to me. I sat down, as well.
And the two of us began to get to know my family, and what would hopefully become his.