AN: A BIG THANK YOU TO TheFallen9970. YOU KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT ;)
THANKS TO ALL THOSE WHO FOLLOWED, FAVOURITED, READ AND COMMENTED.
Harry landed half a dozen leagues away from Urubaen on a little knoll. Angela slid off the broomstick behind him, clutching a howling Solembum, trying to catch her breath. Harry had ridden at a furious speed.
He got off the broomstick and scanned in the direction they had run away from. There was nothing in sight, the Firebolt outflew everything; Harry felt positive that it could outstrip Galbatorix's dragon if ever cornered in the situation. He faced Angela who was waiting for him, feeling trepidation as he braced himself for the scene that would soon unfold.
"Well I suppose I owe you an explanation and an apology. I didn't plan for the situation to turn out that way." He took a deep breath.
Before he could start Angela cut him short "I know who you are. Mostly who you are not. Well atleast I know where you're from."
Harry's heart missed a beat when he heard Angela. "What do you mean?"
"You're not from Alagaesia, wizard."
Harry's head snapped to the werecat at Angela's feet. He communicated directly with it.
"So you can speak in parseltongue too?"
"Parseltongue? Hmm now that's a word wholly strange to my ears. Does it mean the same as the ancient language?"
"I don't know, does it?
"Wouldn't you love to know that?" the werecat returned coolly.
Angela burst out laughing and sat down on a rock "I never imagined in all the time I spent here that I will ever see a face again from home. And on a Monday too." She laughed so hard that tears poured out. She wiped them from her face. "I do not think I have been this glad to meet anyone in this land. Except Solembum ofcourse."
"You'd be lost without me" he sniffed.
Harry just kept looking at her with his mouth hanging open. He didn't miss the part where she said home. So that meant she was like him, snatched from the same world he once inhabited and brought into this one.
"Dudley I am from your world. I came here years ago, from the same world you did. I should have recognized you of course. Or maybe not. It depends. It is still a Monday after all." She mused.
Harry opened his mouth, then closed it. Still unable to suspend disbelief.
"Of all the stores you walked into, you chose mine Dudley; call it the works of the god or what?"
Harry walked to her and silently sat down, still assimilating. Angela was still chuckling
"When did you get here?"
"A week ago." he replied dazedly ", how long have you been here?"
"Hmm well it has been five years so far. I got caught up in an accident of my own doing. You see. A spell that backfired and send me here. In a way I died. But here, I am alive." she said candidly.
Harry felt a shock when he heard that. "You have been here all this time by yourselves…"
"I have not been idle Dudley. I have applied myself. There's always some evil despot somewhere to fight no matter where you go. I think you know by now the state of this land and the turmoil. I decided that since I am going to be here anyway I may be of some use."
"She works with the Varden in its fight against the mad tyrant"
"So the empires right in pegging me down as a dirty vicious traitor and a rebel in their way, eh? I am proud to be known that way actually. Quite a can of worms we opened today with our theatrical escape from Urubaen. "she returned amiably.
Looking up and smiling at Harry. "Let me reiterate, it's no small comfort to find one of my own kind here. How did you get here?"
Harry didn't spill the beans straight away. "Same way you did. Magical accident."
"What kind of accident?"
Harry replied untruthfully. "I don't really know. I wasn't paying too much attention, it just hit me out of nowhere. I was in school, in Hogwarts". It felt strange hearing himself talk about home to another person; it was only a week but it seemed years since that he heard those familiar dear words on his own tongue. "Then …something happened in the forest and I ended up here."
Angela's expression had suddenly turned unfathomable now. Harry noticed that her features had hardened. He felt wary, wondering if he said something wrong
"So you're from England." She said rather flatly. It was more of a statement than a question.
"That's right, are you from there too?" he asked cautiously.
She nodded.
"How old are you, Dudley?"
"I am 14."
Angela didn't say anything for awhile but stared pensively into the distance.
Harry shared her silence, letting her dwell. After a minute or so he asked her "Can I ask who you were, before you arrived in Alagaesia?"
"Of course you can," she rearranged her features into a smile. ", but I think the circumstances begs of you the same question too."
"I guess you're right". Harry decided it didn't make any sense hiding atleast his identity from her. In any case it might actually be in his odds if she knew who he really was, considering nearly everyone in the wizarding world knew who he was.
"Dudley's not my real name. I am Harry Potter. And -err- I guess you familiar with the name." seeing the double take that Harry by now was very used to.
"The boy who lived." she murmured wonderingly.
Looking down at Solembum who gave her a quizzical look she said "I'll tell you all about it later."
"So what about you? Where do you come from?"Harry probed her.
Angela paused before answering. "My real name is Pandora Lovegood. I had to rely on a false identity when I ended up here, just like you. There wasn't any reason to," she shrugged "but I didn't want to go back to what I was once was seeing how I will never get back. Anyway I once lived in Otherry St. Catchpole in Devon."
"That's where the Weasleys live." Harry remarked, surprised.
"That's right." she replied in affirmative. She hesitated and asked "Do you know who Xenophilius Lovegood is, Harry? Maybe the Weasleys might have mentioned his name to you."
Harry answered thoughtfully "Yeah I remember, he's the editor of the quibbler isn't he? Ginny and Ron mentioned about his paper and Luna…" he stopped dead as the sudden realization struck him, like a big hammer that plunked straight on top of his head out of the sky... looking into her protuberant silvery eyes now full of yearning he murmured the name "Lovegood."
He made the connection. She must have waited this long patiently for him to arrive at this point, hoping against hope that there might be a chance that Harry might know her daughter…
"You're Luna's mum" Harry said quietly.
Pandora Lovegood's face contorted with the effort to keep her tears at bay. Solembum crept up close to her and she reached down and petted him.
Her voice trembled slightly as she intoned "Yes I am her mother. You see know I had to know who you are first…I can't…not knowing if she is still alive…I didn't want to raise my hopes up…" she looked pleadingly at Harry.
Harry spoke eagerly, words spilling out of his mouth like water from a spout, knowing the paramount importance they held for her. "She's very much alive, she's our friend, at Hogwarts my best's mates sisters friend. She's fine Angela- I mean Mrs. Lovegood, sorry."
Angela's smile was watery but it was radiant. It was a smile that had been forced into hiding for a very long time and now had finally dared to venture out in the sun, spreading slowly over her features as tears gathered in her eyes. Relief, gratitude, regret, and unbound happiness all shone through her teary eyes. She dabbed at them.
She chuckled wanly "I apologise, this isn't the way I normally react to anything…but you must realise." Harry nodded ", I didn't dare to hope. I thought my folly took her life as well mine and I spent years in anguish not knowing I if I had killed my daughter."
"Mrs. Lovegood" Harry said firmly ", she spent her hols with the Weasleys and me. All of us together we went to the World Cup together, she's the most cheerful person I know. I don't think she's the type of person who'd blame you for what happened so long ago."
"Tell me more about her, which House is she in? Does she exasperate everyone's patience?"
"No, no, we love her." Harry grinned. "She's great honestly. She's in Ravenclaw and…come to think of it she's a lot like you except without the blond hair… she's the most unique girl you'd find."
"Don't mince words with me Harry Potter!" she laughed "Tell me, does she still wear her butterbeer cork necklace?"
Harry grinned. "Err yes she does. It kinda grows on her though"
"Even in her classes?"
"I'd assume so, she is never without it."
"I knew Philly would ruin her."
They both laughed out loud, both of them reminiscing fondly over the details of their memories. Pandora Lovegood quickly took in everything Harry told her, with shinning eyes and a happy smile.
After a while she spoke more to herself than him, regret weighing down her words.
"It was an accident… I tried something that was never done before and the results as you can see were disastrous. If I only knew, I would have given it all up in a heartbeat."
"You didn't mean to. You didn't have a choice after all. Just like my mum and dad." Harry told her gently
Pandora glanced at him sympathetically "I can see Luna isn't the only one to experience the grief of losing parents."
"How did you really get here Harry? I don't believe you have told me the entire story." she asked.
"Well," deliberating whether he should tell her or not "it's a long story."
"We have plenty of time." she pointed out
Harry decided to tell her the truth, or atleast some of it. "I was sent here … because someone thought I was the new rider…guess they got the wrong person."
"They? Who are you talking about?" Pandora quizzed him.
"The dragons everyone's talking about. On Mt. Marma…they are not from this world Pandora…they're from ours; they are the one who transported me here. Turns out I can talk to dragons and they decided to whisk me here because they thought I was a rider. Which I am not."
She looked very confused. "So you talk to dragons? But that's not possible unless it's a dragon that has already been bonded to a rider because the wild one's don't talk to humans or elves and as far as I know there are no riders in our world."
That makes no sense, he thought as he pondered over Pandora's words. "I am a parseltongue." he said to her as though that explained everything but he knew he was far from solving the riddle of the dragons. Pandora raised an eyebrow at that admission.
Harry spoke fast. "I know it all sounds crazy, but I need you to trust me when I say that there's something very important that the dragons told me. They said they can help me get out of here. But the thing is, only the elves have the power to transport us out of here and back to our world."
Pandora's eyes shone when she heard that piece of information. Still she kept her emotions at bay. There were more pressing matters at hand.
"Do you know where they are?"Harry asked her.
She replied. "Everybody knows where they are. In the great forest of du Weldervarden. I assume you have seen the map." Harry nodded remembering the one unexpected foray into the citadel library where he chanced upon a map of Alagaesia "but key is to find exactly where they live, Harry. You see elves are an incredibly powerful and strong race of creatures. Don't you go about presuming them to be the servile wretched creatures that we use as doormats- that will be the last mistake you'll make-no it is safe to say that elves are the proudest, strongest and fairest beings that ever were."
Solembum added "Locating them, therein lies the difficulty. They are absurdly secretive. Imagine what will happen if every gawking ignoramus stumbles upon their cities. They do not show themselves to anyone. Not just their cities, their entire forest has magical wards placed all over it that confounds, harms and can even potentially kill those who enter uninvited"
"Their forest?" Harry raised an eyebrow ", the entire du Weldervarden falls under their rule?"
"They claim it a part of their kingdom yes"
"And after Galbatorix gained control over the Brodding Empire, the barriers were strengthened; there is no hope of finding them unless we know exactly where to look."
"There is a way." he cleared his throat. "The dragons revealed to me. I don't know if it is going to work but they said to go looking for the new rider. It's possible that the elves themselves are looking for ways to contact him and maybe we can get in touch with them through him, if we find him that is."
"And then straight to Ellesmere." Pandora pondered. "Harry are you sure that the elves can help us?"
"That's what I was promised."
"We must get to the rider then. For Pandora's sake. But it's easier said than done."
"I know" Harry said dryly "we got the entire empire searching every nook and cranny for us. And it's not wrong to say we have earned ourselves considerable attention in the last few hours."
Pandora pondered for a minute. "Hmm. I fear this is going to be amazingly tough. We won't have to contend just with Galbatorix but also with the elves themselves and the Varden and the dwarves. But if it's true what you said," she looked at Harry, "then I may get to see my family again."
"it has to be," Harry reassured her, even though deep down he felt a twinge of helplessness. What if it all failed to work?
"Well then let's not waste anymore time palavering then." Proclaimed Solembum.