Those Who Do Not Learn
Chapter 2
Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings. If I did I would have a MUCH nicer car.
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"Ok, so let me get this straight," Hermione began, "You and Professor Snape are elves and Harry is the last heir to a great kingdom."
"Basically." She led them into another smaller building. "And you should know his name is Elrohir. He isn't quite the pureblood ex-deatheater you think he is."
"Then who is he?" Harry took a seat on the ground near where she was rummaging around.
"He is the son of the greatest of the elf lords. Actually, he and his brother make the Weasly twins look like armatures."
"You're exaggerating." Elrohir stepped in the room.
"Did you say your goodbye's?" she stepped back from a section of the wall and cast a small spell over it. The wall faded away to expose an alcove. Ireth reached in and pulled out the bows and quivers, handing one set to the other elf.
"Yes. Are we ready to go?"
"Were you really worse than Fred and George?" Hermione looked at him curiously.
He glared at her but soon realized in his current form he was less than intimidating. "Elladan and I represented what those two…cretins would have become given five thousand years of practice."
"Oh… So, yes then."
He turned on his heel and left.
"If he is the son of a great elf lord what are you?" Harry looked at his former defense teacher defiantly as he walked.
"She," the former potion master began, "is an elf maiden of exceptional skill and power."
"Now you're exaggerating." Ireth looked out over the land, "I believe we already missed the tide."
"Then you won't object to making one more stop?" Elrohir watched her hopefully.
"We should be ready to sail at sunrise."
"I know. But… Please, Ireth."
She started into his hopeful, pleading eyes a moment before she finally gave in.
"Fine, but we must sail when the sun rises. This land is not safe."
Each elf touched the arm of a student and apperated.
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When they appeared again they were in a forest. Great silver trees rose high above them blocking the sky from view. Without a word Elrohir turned from the group and began climbing a small hill.
"Where's he going?" Harry watched him leave.
"To say good bye." Ireth looked around the small clearing. "Would you two begin collecting branches?" She transfigured a stick into a bucket and went in the other direction.
The two students began collecting the small braches from the ground and piling them near the center. Ireth returned a moment later with a bucket of water. "Pile them and start a fire." she instructed before turning to leave again.
"Where are you going?" Hermione asked.
"To catch your dinner."
Harry and Hermione started a fire and sat quietly around it.
"Hermione, I," Harry began.
"What is it Harry?"
"Do you ever get the feeling our lives just get stranger and stranger?"
She smiled and cuddled next to him. "Yes, but it's more fun this way."
"I wish Ron was here."
"Somehow I don't think that would be allowed."
"What do you mean?"
"I just get the feeling from them that I was only brought to keep you calm."
"They just wanted me." he looked into the fire. "I don't understand what's happening. All of this is so strange. I was just getting used to being the boy- who-lived, now this."
"It doesn't matter what you are. You'll always be just Harry to me."
As she pressed a small kiss to his mouth they were unaware of the eyes watching them from the growing shadows of the forest. Ireth snapped a twig as she walked to alert them and stepped into the clearing. "I hope you like rabbit." she set the animals on the ground and took a seat to clean them.
Hermione watched her a moment before pulling out her wand and transfigured a grill and placed it over the fire.
"So um where are we?"
"We are in the forest of Lothlorien," she answered not looking up form her work, "this forest was once the great home of the elves." Ireth placed the meat on the grill and turned back to the students.
"Would you tell us about it?" Hermione settled in closer to the fire
The elf leaned back and stared into the flames. "I was only here once when my people still lived in middle earth. It was the most beautiful place I had ever seen. The mallon trees blocked the sky with their golden leaves. The great city rose high in the trees. There were elves everywhere. Many invisible in the limbs. The city itself seemed to shimmer and glow."
"You weren't from here?" Harry asked breaking his silent trance.
"No. I lived in Mirkwood."
"Was Professor Snape?"
Shw thought a moment. "Yes and no. He was from Imladris but he spent much of his time here."
"Why?"
"The Lady Galadriel was his grandmother. This was her domain."
"What was Mirkwood like?"
Ireth smiled to herself. "I don't think you would have liked Mirkwood."
"Why?"
"The trees grew tall and thick. So thick in many places they blocked the sun completely. It had this ethereal quiet that always seemed…unnerving. From almost any direction the forest surrounding the city was very dangerous. There were terrible monsters, wargs, giant spiders, and orcs. Hideous, dangerous creatures. Even if you survived the perils of the woodland there was no guarantee you would be welcome in the elvish city."
Hermione looked at Ireth a moment before she chose to ask her question. "Didn't you like other people?"
"We didn't really like anyone. I suppose the isolation of living in a forest so full of peril causes that."
"You're home doesn't sound very nice." Harry pushed the end and of a stick into the fire.
"No, I suppose not. But it was our home. And anyway, it wasn't always like that. There was a time when Mirkwood was green and beautiful. Millennia ago. Before the destroyer came and corrupted it. Even after, there were still places that were very beautiful. In the canopy of the trees, where the sunlight filtered through he leaves. It seemed you could see forever."
"You talk like it's gone."
"It is. It has been for a very long time."
"That's terrible." Hermione watched her with sad eyes.
"It's life. We didn't realize men would so quickly forget the perils of the darker places. Many men died felling Mirkwood forest. It was then we realized there were places that need to be protected from the ignorance of modernization."
"Like that city and this forest?" Harry asked.
"Yes, among other places."
"Like where?"
"The forbidden forest for example."
Both students gave a small shudder. "Was it always that creepy?"
"It was once much worse." Ireth moved the cooked meat from the grill to the plate Hermione was holding.
"Aren't you going to eat?" She asked.
"No." the elf answered quietly.
They sat in silence as the humans ate. Gently at first then slowly gaining volume a sad song began to drift down to them from the hilltop. A multitude of silent voices seemed to join the melody giving it stregnth.
"What is that?" Harry slipped an arm protectively around Hermione.
"It is a lament. A song of mourning to the Evenstar." She saw the veiled confusion in the young faces. "Arwen was Elrohir's sister. She was called the Evenstar because she was said to have resembled an ancient heroine of our people. She fell in love with a mortal and gave up her eternal life to spend it with him."
"What happened to her?"
"Arwen became the queen of Gondor," she looked at Harry, "your ancestor. When the king died she came here and passed on to the next world."
"That's so sad." Hermione looked at Ireth a cross the fire. "What does the song say?"
Ireth cast her eyes up the hill toward the source of the sound. "I haven't the heart to give it words."
The small group settled back around the fire. Though she could not understand the words Hermione began to feel tears fall from her eyes at the despair that seemed to permeate the song.
As slowly and gently as it had started the sound began to fade into oblivion until the trees again stood their silent vigil.
Comments, Criticisms, anything??
A/N: Yeah, I've been out of all fandom for a bit. OK like 5 months but I'm back now. And for anyone who was reading any of my other fics there are updates for Life Goes On and Forgotten Yesterday that will be up with in a week or two. And yeah, I've been told, Ireth is channeling Legolas.
~Dru