AN: Usual disclaimers...not mine...never going to be mine...no relationship to reality either.

All conversations in italics are in the Elven language.

PHOENIX and DRAGON: Through the World Gate

Chapter 17

"What happened to him?" Gavin grinned, pointing at the wizard's wide eyes and open mouth. Sirius seemed to be trying to say something, but no sound was coming out. "It looks like you broke him!"

"I think he's a little surprised at who our Great Grandfather was," Gwydion answered with a smirk.

"Merlin…I can't believe it…MERLIN…." Sirius raised his head from his hands and looked at the boys again, still in a state of shock. "How…I mean, how old is your Grandfather?"

Gavin looked at Gwydion and raised an eyebrow. Gwydion shrugged and looked back at Sirius. "I think he was 742 on his last birthday, or maybe 743?"

Gavin nodded. "I think it was 742…Great Grandmother Etain would have been 1255 in the spring…." His voice softened to a whisper as he continued. "Llygoden was only 43."

"….Seven…forty…twelve hundred….." Sirius gasped. "How long do elves live?!"

"Half-elves generally live to about 900 years, sometimes a bit longer," Gwydion smiled at his godfather's impression of a fish and waited until the man regained his composure "Most elves and half-elves look like they are only in their 40's until the last 150 or 160 years of their life, and then they start aging…."

"I think the oldest elf I've heard of was that seer in Elderwood," Gavin began, glancing at his brother for confirmation. "The really strange one that was always predicting disasters?"

Gwydion nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, I think so. She insisted she was only 2039, but Grandfather said she had recorded sightings from a couple years before that, so she must have been a little older at least."

"She was…creepy," Gavin said with a shudder. "I was really glad I didn't have to train with her." He shuddered again, thinking about the near miss he'd had. Luckily, Etain had decided to train him herself.

"Gavin and I will probably live longer than most half-elves because of the Lord and Lady." He shrugged again. Right now old age was just an abstract thought. He couldn't imagine living that long with what they were expected to do. "…those stupid prophecies…we'll be lucky if we live long enough to worry about getting old…," he muttered under his breath in Elvish.

"Don't talk like that…it will all work out! We're not going to have to do it all ourselves!" Gavin looked thoughtfully at Sirius. "Do we tell him about all the prophecies? I don't know if he'll take it very well right now…," he whispered, watching Sirius's face as he listened and tried to understand what the boys were saying. "It might help though, if he knew?"

Gwydion sighed and scratched absently at a bug bite on his wrist. "I don't know…he knows about the first one about me…would if really make a difference if he knew about the others? I mean, the goblin ones are a little bit... cryptic…?"

"Is there any reason not to tell him though? He deserves to know what we're up against… especially since we might have to fight the 'Light' side too," Gavin pressed his point by poking his twin in the arm with his forefinger. Gwydion slapped the finger away and went back to frowning at the floor as he thought. "Just think about it at least. I'll let you decide, since he's your godfather."

"Alright, alright…I'll think about it."

"Hemm, hemm." Sirius cleared his throat to get their attention. The boys looked at him in surprise, having forgotten he was even there. "Would you mind speaking English? Some of us don't understand Elvish."

"So, you've not seen anyone visiting the stranger?" Dumbledore popped a lemon drop in his mouth and chewed it thoughtfully as he relaxed back in his chair. Several members of his vigilante group sat restlessly in front of his desk, looking like guilty school children called in for punishment. "You still haven't found out anything about him?" He peered over his half glasses at them, a disappointed expression on his face. "I expected better of you…you will just have to try harder."

"The only people to see him are the Healers," Hestia insisted. "They say it is unlikely he'll wake up anytime soon. The blow to his head caused a lot of damage…and he was hit with a number of stunners." She glared at Sturgis Podmore, clearly showing what she thought of his attempt to capture the man. "You couldn't have questioned him without nearly killing him?"

"Ms. Vance," Dumbledore admonished. "I'm sure he did the best he could, given the circumstances." Podmore glared at the old man, insulted by the comment.

"Kingsley? Is there any news about Sirius Black?" Dumbledore turned his attention to the third member of the Order of the Phoenix present.

"No, there have been no sightings yet. He's staying hidden for now apparently. There are auror's posted in Diagon Alley and Hogsmead. If he show's up at either of those places they'll catch him," the bald man assured Dumbledore. "The Ministry still has his family accounts frozen, so he'll have a hard time getting any money, even if he made it as far as Gringotts. Fudge is talking about increasing the patrols in Knockturn Alley, but nothing has come of that yet. "

"Yes, well…we'll just have to stay vigilant," Dumbledore murmured reassuringly with a twinkle in his eye, all the while thinking furiously. 'Black is a loose canon right now. He's got to be found! If it ever came out that I knew about the change in Secret Keepers all along it could damage my reputation… No, it was better if he was taken care of… quietly… it wouldn't do for him to talk to anyone about what happened. It was a shame I had to get rid of Sirius, but it was for the greater good…couldn't have had a Dark wizard raising the Boy-Who-Lived after all.…'

The bright red and orange phoenix sitting on the ornate brass stand in the corner of the Headmasters office sang a sad note, shaking his head at his bonded's scheming.

"Where could those brats have gone… Lleidiau, is there any word from the Hunters in the human world?" The tall blond elf turned from the window overlooking the central plaza and glared at his aide, straightening his brocade tunic and smoothing out an imagined crease with a frown.

"No, Pen Dyffryn. They are still searching the drift markers. Pen Rhyfygus has ordered them to search for the…human," he spat the word out as if it tasted bad, "...Sirius Black…as well. It is thought that he may know where the children are, since he escaped from the wizard prison so soon after they went missing," Lleidiau answered from across the room. "It is possible the children removed him from there…it is my belief that they are capable of drifting, at least with the markers, and there are no drift wards on the miserable place."

Lleidiau was a rough looking elf, his face scarred by a human wizard during the last rising of the Shadow. It rankled him that the God and Goddess had chosen half-breeds as their avatars. It wasn't right to give that honor to children who should have been drowned at birth, in order to keep the bloodlines pure. His superior had ordered them found and brought back to the High Council…but he wasn't happy about it, and intended to make their journey as uncomfortable as possible once they were found.

"I have not heard from Fflamel… Let him be useful for once…send him an owl and ask him to report on what is happening with the wizard's Ministry of Magic. We don't need them getting involved with this…it would be best if they don't find out we're searching for the boys."Pen Dyffryn ordered curtly. "I don't understand how he can deal with those wizards…let alone pretend to be one," he added with a shudder of distaste. "Sorcerers Stone indeed…how could they be so gullible as to believe that..."

AN – Nickolas Flamel is an elf gasp and has used the rumor of the Sorcerers Stone to hide the fact that he isn't aging. He and his wife have lived within the wizarding world for the last 500 odd years, mostly to keep track of what the wizards are doing and to deflect attention from the occasional elf who is careless enough to be spotted. He acts as the coordinator for other elves placed in the human (muggle) world to monitor the muggles activities as well.

Pen (title for clan chief, usually used for a member of the High Council)