Hello! Sorry for the delay, things have been really busy for me and my two beta readers!
Thank you to closetnightmares and Verity Grahams for taking the time to beta read :)
Enjoy!
I was standing in the centre of a medium sized garden, looking up at an enormous cypress tree. 'A tree that size has to be ancient. There were very few trees in the forbidden forest that were this big.' I turned in a small circle where I was and took in the rest of the garden. Small grey stones dotted along the ground, each row made clear pathways, weaved around various plants. I recognised a few of them; a mistletoe bush to the right, amaranth a little ways down with red flowers in full bloom, a lobelia sequestered in the back that had dozens of blue flowers in various states of bloom. To the left of me were various bloodroot plants, small and close to the ground they looked almost like daisies with their white flowers. I turned to the entrance; next, the large black arbour covered with a rose vine that was dotted with deep black flowers. The last plant I recognised were the three ash trees scattered about the garden, each one nearly as large as the cypress.
"Neville would have had a blast here," I whispered out loud, and squeezed my eyes shut against the threatening tears. The image of him being hit with the blood boiling curse right after he beheaded Nagini burned in my memory. 'I should have seen it coming. I should have saved him. I wish you could see this place, Neville, Hermione, Ron. You guys would love it.' I fell back against the sturdy trunk of the cypress and slid down until I reached the grass covered ground. I could feel the magic around me pulse slightly, as though trying to soothe my emotions. I rubbed at my eyes, then dived into myself in search of my core.
I expected to see a medium-sized, ice blue, core. Instead, there was an enormous swirling mass of black and green. My core had become unbalanced due to the wild magic mingling with it. I had become concerned, unsure what this exactly meant. I've had no real issues with my magic being uncontrollable since I got here, but this sight says I should be. I watched the ball of magic, tendrils occasionally slipping away before reattaching.
'It would help if I organised my memories and checked my occlumency shields. I should start meditating regularly and use more magic. Hopefully, it will start settling down then. Some of this extra power is probably from becoming the Master of Death.' I began leaving my core and slipped into a more profound state of meditation when I felt someone had entered the garden and stopped a few feet in front of me. I opened my eyes, body tense and ready to fight, and found a tall elf gazing at me. He had on a long tan coat that covered the clothes underneath, his blonde hair that fell past his shoulders had a fine braid on either side of his head that framed his pointed ears. His eyes were dark blue and curious, his expression soft.
I was stuck in another harsh memory, this one of Draco. There was a spell headed towards me; I hadn't seen it coming, and Draco shoved me out of the way. He died, screaming. 'Why didn't he use magic? Why had he shoved me out of the way?' I began to hyperventilate when the elf spoke up, shattering through the memory and panic with his soft voice.
"I apologise for interrupting your meditation. Should I come back later?" the elf asked, eyes not leaving mine.
I shake my head, "it's okay, I was just about done for today anyway," I stood and offered my hand, "I'm Harry Potter, it's nice to meet you." He took my hand in a firm grip before letting go. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Harry. I am Legolas Greenleaf, son of Thranduil." I went to speak, but stopped when Lindir walked up to us.
"Pardon me, but my Lord Elrond has requested I guide you to the council, Prince Legolas. He also states you are welcome to join, Harry." Lindir turned to each of us as he spoke and it took me a moment to process the fact Legolas was a prince. 'Draco would love that. Though he was pretty much royalty himself.' I frowned, and nodded in acceptance as Lindir took us to a large circular patio.
There were 17 chairs placed in a half circle, facing a stone podium where Elrond stood. I stood next to a dark brown haired Hobbit, who looked extremely nervous. Wondering where the other Hobbit was, I sent my magic out and found three others hiding nearby. I realised they were the other Hobbits I had seen enter Rivendell earlier.
'Friends of the Hobbit beside me, most likely. Maybe he is the Frodo that Sam mentioned.' Next to the Hobbit was an older male, holding a strange staff. I could sense the wild magic as it wrapped around the man in a gentle movement, and I couldn't be sure if he noticed or not. 'Maybe he is one of the Istari? Arwen had mentioned a Gandalf the Grey. He is definitely wearing grey.'
"Master Frodo, if you would bring forth the Ring." Elrond waved his hand toward the podium, and I was caught off guard. 'Why would Frodo have the ring? Maybe no one else can handle it? That's how it had been with Slytherin's locket, I had the least amount of trouble with it.' I held in a sigh as Frodo walked forward, trying to appear calm. The moment the Ring was placed on the podium, its darkness rushed through me and for a second I had been unable to breathe. I took a shaky deep breath before forcing the darkness of the Ring away, glad when it didn't try to overwhelm me once more.
"I think we should use it against our enemy!" A blonde male with a neatly trimmed beard and wearing slightly fancier robes stood up, grinning, his eyes not leaving the Ring.
"Fool, the Ring has no master, it would consume you." It was Strider who replied, and I forced any memories away so I could focus on what was being said.
"What would you know? You are nothing more than a ranger," the blonde growled over at him, his eyes finally left the Ring.
"He is no mere ranger! " Legolas jumped up to join in. "He is Aragorn, son of Arathorn, heir of Isildur."
Strider, who's apparently really Aragorn, looks over at Legolas as he speaks. I don't know why Legolas revealed Aragorn's identity without consent and I almost glared at the elf in irritation but held myself back from doing so, as it would not have helped the situation any. I huffed, and glanced down at the Hobbit beside me who looked terrified but was hiding it well enough for the others to not notice. I knelt down next to him, and showed him my right hand, palm up. Closing my hand when he looked at me, confused, I hope what I want to do with my magic will work.
'Judging by my current core, it should work.' Closing my eyes to concentrate I didn't notice everyone else had shifted their attention to me. Gathering magic into my palm, I began to solidify it into the desired form. A moment later I opened my eyes, noticing everyone else watching me, and let my palm open to reveal a small animated Hungarian Horntail dragon made of black and green ice. 'I was going for a cat, actually. The dragon reminds me of the Triwizard championship too much for it to be comfortable. All those people cheering, the pressure put on me to get the egg from an angered mother who had been scared and confused.' I gently grasped Frodo's hand and let the dragon walk over to him.
"Woah, it's so cool! How did you do that?" Frodo asked, his fear replaced with fascination. I shrugged, not really sure how to explain gathering magic and solidifying it.
"It's a secret, and he will disappear in an hour, you can keep him until then."
"Thanks!" Frodo grinned, watching the dragon walk around his palm. I nodded and stood up, looking to Elrond who inclined his head toward me before turning to the others. They were still staring, the old man's eyes full of curiosity and Legolas was about to speak, but Elrond brought their attention back to the main topic.
"The Ring must be taken to Mordor and destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom," Elrond finished, and I heard as one of the dwarves scoffed before standing, hefting his axe into the air. I quickly moved forward to stop him from doing something stupid, like try to break the Ring with an axe.
"Stop!" I was too late, as the dwarf brings his axe down in one swift movement, it shattered the podium and left the Ring unharmed. At least I was able to get out a wand and cast Protego around Elrond to protect him from being injured.
After a few moments I settled back into my spot next to Frodo, letting the spell be dropped. I left my wand, the elder wand, out just in case as an argument began to break out, eventually getting to the topic of who would take the Ring. I mostly ignored it, until I noticed Frodo shift before slipping from his chair.
"I will take the Ring." Frodo's voice was too soft for anyone else to hear, and dread filled me at his words. 'Why is it the young and the innocent that get sacrificed for the greater good? It's not right.' Frodo repeated himself, walking forward a few more steps. I sighed, casting a silencing spell on everyone arguing. It took a few seconds before they realised they couldn't talk and some began to panic.
"Calm down please, it's only a silencing spell, and I can easily remove it. Before I do though, I believe Master Frodo has something to say." I nodded over at the Hobbit, and he smiled up at me before turning to Elrond.
"I will take the Ring to Mordor. Though I know not how to get there." Checking that another argument wouldn't start, I canceled the spell, several people watching as I waved the elder wand. The older male watching me with a gleam in his eyes that made me slightly confused, and I noticed Legolas also looking at me but with more of a thoughtful expression. 'I suppose that was the first time I had one of my wands out in the open for them to see clearly.'
"If you are certain, then you may take the Ring." Elrond accepted Frodo's offer, and I frowned, unable to let him go without help.
"I wish to go with him, Lord Elrond." I stepped up next to Frodo, wand sliding into its holster once more. It took only a moment before the older male also stepped up, placing his hand on Frodo's shoulder with a smile. Legolas stood next, followed by Aragorn, Gimli and the rude blonde man. I felt glad Frodo had so many willing to help, and Elrond began to speak but stopped when the three Hobbits emerged from hiding and declared they were also going. Elrond smiled at the small group.
"Very well. Ten companions travelling together to Mordor. Let this be the creation of the Fellowship of the Ring." Everyone fell silent, like the weight of what was going to happen had finally sunk in. The silence was broken, though, by a Hobbit.
"Great! So why are we going there?"
Sam groaned. "To destroy the Ring, Pippin, weren't you listening?"
Pippin blushed, shrugging. "Sorry, I was thinking about food."
I looked at each of the people I would be travelling with, trying to gauge their abilities and see who would be most likely to fall victim to the Ring first. I could feel a long trip ahead of us, but glad I would be going so I may help the brave Hobbit, and make sure Master Frodo remains safe. This was my choice, and now I would have to see it through to the very end.