Lord Elrond paused his writing as he heard a knock on the door. His eyes widened in surprise as the small party entered.
"Elladan, Elrohir" said Elrond in greeting. "What do we have here?"
"Father, this is Fili and Kili, the young nephews of Thorin Oakenshield who were travelling with the band of dwarves you told us about who resided in Rivendell several weeks ago. And this young man is called James Potter; he claims to be from another realm."
Elrond studied the group that stood before him before his eyes lit up with recognition.
"Ahh yes" he said. "I recognise you two dwarves now. Tell me, how is it that you have ended up back in my home, separated from your party? It has been many weeks since you stayed here".
Lord Elrond listened intently as Fili recounted the tale, beginning in the misty mountains and ending with the sudden crash-landing into the Rivendell fountain.
"Adar" said Elladan suddenly, "do you think Thranduil….?"
"Yes, my son" said Lord Elrond. He bent down to his desk, where he retrieved a letter from one of the drawers. "I received a letter from Lord Thranduil, the elf King of Mirkwood, a few days ago. He spoke of how a party of dwarves and a strange human were captured after an ordeal with a group of spiders in the forest. The leader of their party, Thorin Oakenshield, withheld information, so they were thrown in the dungeons alongside the strange human, who claims to be called Sirius Black."
"Sirius!" cried James excitedly. "Thank Merlin he's okay!".
"Rest assured, although they may be in the dungeons, King Thranduil would not do anything to harm your friend, or the rest of the company" said Elrond reassuringly.
Fili and Kili groaned suddenly. "Uncle Thorin hates King Thranduil" said Fili dejectedly. "He will be too stubborn to speak, and Thranduil will keep him locked up for the rest of his days!".
"Come Fili, do not despair" said Lord Elrond. "I believe that sense may be talked into King Thranduil, stubborn as he may be sometimes. I have wanted to visit Mirkwood for some time; I believe that now is as good an opportunity as any other."
"Adar, may we be permitted to travel alongside you?" said Elrohir excitedly. "It has been many moons since we last visited Prince Legolas".
"I do not think that would be an issue" said Elrond with a small smile. "At least that way I know our home will still be standing when we get back, if I leave Glorfindel and Erestor in charge."
The twins both paled suddenly as they thought of their teacher. "Speaking of whom" said Elladan slowly, "we may have gotten a little bored this morning and….."
But the young elf never got to finish his sentence, as only a few moments later, the elf in question burst through the study doors looking very angry and soaking wet.
HPTHHPTHHPTHHPTHHPTHHPTHHPTHHPTH
Sirius Black was having the strangest experience of his life. He had landed in a cold damp forest which looked gloomier than the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts, been captured by what he now understood to be an elf and been taken to a palace deep in the heart of the forest. There, he had been separated from the dwarves, then interrogated by this 'King Thranduil' as to where he had come from and what he was doing in the forest. When he had mentioned that he had spent time with some of the dwarves, the king got angry and decided to throw him in the dungeon for 'conspiring with those bothersome creatures'.
Now, he was currently sharing a jail cell with two angry, suspicious, grumpy looking dwarves.
"Who are you laddie, and how did you end up in the forest" said the white-haired dwarf. "Did you follow us?"
"My name is Sirius Black" said the young wizard, "and no I did not follow you. I had no idea you existed until last night. I was transported here, by a force of nature. Who are you both?"
"My name is Balin" said the white-haired dwarf. "This here is Thorin Oakenshield, King under the Mountain."
"Not yet, Balin" muttered Thorin dejectedly.
Sirius' eyes lit up all of a sudden. "So, you must be Kili and Fili's company!".
A look of anguish passed over the dwarves' faces.
"How do you know of my nephews?" said Thorin, pain lacing his voice. "They both perished while we were escaping the goblins in the misty mountains."
"No, they didn't" said Sirius quickly. "They fell down into the caverns, but before they hit the bottom they were transported by a magical force into my realm, where they met me and my friend James. I came back through the same magical force, and that's when I landed in the forest. Knowing what James is like, I can bet that he would have stepped through the force moments later, along with Fili and Kili."
A spark of hope lit up in Thorin's eyes. "They are alive" he whispered. "Thank Mahal".
"I have no idea where they will have ended up though" said Sirius, a sad look passing over his face. "There seems to be no logical pattern to these portals. Kili arrived at my home, and Fili arrived at James' home. We then had to fly to James' house before I ended up here."
"How on earth did you fly laddie?" said Balin, a look of confusion crossing his face.
Sirius suddenly comprehended the fact that these dwarves might not even know about magic, or wizards.
"Doesn't matter" he said quickly. "What are we going to do now? We are currently stuck in these dungeons after all".
"We escape" said Thorin with a look of determination. "We get to Laketown and make our way to Erebor from there".
"How will we manage that?" pondered Sirius.
A small cough from outside the bars of the cell made the three inhabitants jump.
"I might be able to help with that" said Bilbo Baggins.