Disclaimer: I have made many characters on my own in this fic. And if you're really a fan of HP or LotR, you will know which ones are mine.
Author's Note: I forgot to tell you that this was 5 years before the ring quest which means that it was year 3013 in third age. I take it will be enough time for Harry,co to learn many things before they help to defend people from orcs along with the dunedain race. By the way, this chapter still hasn't been edited, so bear with me. I'm planning to post this fic next week, but today I only post a fic, so I decide to post this fic's chapter too. Hope you'll like it.
Scene FiveThe Meeting and Argument
At midnight after the attack in the afternoon, Doran gathered all rangers who are not too injured to join him in a meeting he held outside the camp. Harry was still not conscious which worried his godfather and Remus, but Doran assured them that he was okay. That he was too tired and might even sleep for days. Sirius and Remus accepted the reason hesitantly. Doran asked them to join the meeting about the orcs and of course about their strange arrivals. Remus agreed, but Sirius said that he wanted to stay beside his godson, so Doran didn't force him.
Doran brought them breakfast which enclosed soup, and meat. They ate the food hungrily. Having fighting and haven't eaten since yesterday was draining their energy. He asked Remus to go outside when he was finished with his food. He changed Harry's bandage for a new one and smeared the same herb's liquid like yesterday before went out of the camp silently.
When Remus went to the meeting he already saw some people circled the firewood sitting. The only one who stood up was Doran. His arrival drew the attention of the rangers. They couldn't see his face clearly since it was dark and the only thing that illuminated them was the fire from the burned wood. Some of them watched him suspiciously while the ones who didn't go hunting yesterday glanced curiously.
"Ah, Mr. Lupin, come here," Doran called Remus. The suspicious look turned quickly into something akin to curiosity as their leader called the stranger warmly. He was one of the strangers they brought out of the forest. The ones who didn't suspicious of him at all were the ones who saw Remus, co fighting the orcs yesterday with strange power.
Remus himself felt uneasy for being stared at. He was feeling that they were judging him.
"I know that all of you are curious with him and his companions, but for now let's us concentrate with the orcs first. After that I will tell you what exactly happened. I can only assure you that he and his friends won't try to harm any of us." He checked his surrounding to make sure everybody paid attention to him. He smiled slightly when they did.
"Let me hear the reports about the damage this morning."
One of the rangers, a black haired man with a patch on his left eyes stood up. "The casualty from the assault yesterday: 14 of us, including Herath, Yesala, Korath, Merdon and Sargon, dead. They will be burned soon." His face was sour, indicating that he was mourning his comrades' death.
Doran nodded. His face remained expressionless, but his eyes betrayed him. "Thank you, Delan. We'll do that. The others?'
Heran, son of Brein, brother of Herath, stood up. Remus could see the young man in his teen, older than Harry, with brown hair and green eyes. His eyes were red indicating he was crying last night. He was the healer of the group. In the meeting, he tried to make his voice as normal as possible. "13 were seriously injured, especially Rane and Gallan. But I expected them to stay alive and nurse back to heal from their injury." He went back to his seat.The rangers who were sad at the first news were relieved this time. They couldn't help but felt sorry for Heran, whose brother dead in the battle against Sauron's cronies.
"Is there any other report?"
"We've killed the injured orcs and dumped them and the 2 trolls in a hole and burned them before their corpses tarnished the soil. And the shocking thing was that one of the troll was still alive, it howled in pain when we burned it, but surprisingly didn't do anything." At this Remus was shocked. Doran looked at him for an explanation.
"We didn't kill it. We merely stunned the troll." Doran nodded. The others were looking at the direction of his guest oddly.
He sighed. "We've to prepare ourselves to hunt the remaining orcs before they gathered and attack us again." All of the rangers agreed with his plan. "Heran, I want you to stay in the camp along with some others to treat the injured ones. Some others will prepare traps to kill the orcs if they come here when we're out hunting them." He looked expectantly at Weldren. "You know what your job is." Weldren nodded lightly.
"We will soon attack them, so we better prepare ourselves." A tall black haired man came closer to Doran, and together they held the map of the old forest. "I have just discussed it with Esallar and we thought that some of the orcs hide themselves here," he pointed at the south side of the forest in the map. "They would try to cross Withywindle and Baranduin River and out of our reach and then go to the Overbourn swamp in the south." All were looking intently at the map.
After that the discussion turned into the preparation for the hunting. When it was finished, Doran carefully said, "Now that we've finished talking about that, I want to introduce you to Mr. Lupin." A hushed silence fell to the group. "Apparently they're lost. Mr. Lupin, Mr. Black and young Mr. Potter were coming from different world." At this everyone asked their questions. "SILENCE! When I finish talking you can ask." Doran then stared at Remus asking for permission. Remus nodded. After that Doran told them about them being wizards or rather Istari here, though he commented that their magic was rather different from his experience when he met an Istari 30 years ago. He told them about the magical world there and Voldemort, intentionally kept secret about Harry's role. He then informed them the battle in one of the room of Department of Mystery (telling them about the ministry in the way), about the veil and how they were landed here.
Delan raised his hand. "So you fought the orcs with your magic?"
"Yes, we are."
"What about the silver stag that came out from that kid's short staff?" asked another.
"That's not a staff. In our place staff was wield by mage, a very powerful wizard, and it has been centuries since the last mage was born. I believe that Voldemort (at this Remus was glad to see that no one shuddered at the name. Of course the fact that they never met them didn't help at all) and Dumbledore were sorcerers, the lesser mage but much more powerful than the average wizard. We called it wand. It was made to channel our magic. The stag you saw was Harry's patronus. It was considered as advanced spell and very few managed to do it. Every person's patronus is different with others' because it reflected their guardians or something like that," he explained.
"Don't you think that Voldemort was almost the same with Sauron?" asked Faran, the female healer of the rangers calmly. She was one of the most composed members of the group. The fact that she was a woman didn't hinder her.
Remus gazed at her quietly before replied, "Although they are from different world and didn't have any relation or connection, I'm afraid, yes, they are." Remus grasped his hand tightly.
Silence fell to the group.
"Right then! If there are more questions you can ask them themselves later when we've hunted the orcs. For now the meeting is done." With that all split up. Some glanced at the werewolf interested.
It was almost dawn when Doran and Remus went back to the camp where Harry and Sirius were. Remus explained him about the meeting. Remus then asked Doran whether he could go with him to the hunting. He wanted to help them find the orcs with the searching spell, which delighted their host. Sirius decided not to go with him and instead helped to build the traps around their camps to prevent any orcs came in while they were away and so he could with his Godson. Years of being a prankster in his youth days really helped.
"So when will you hunt the orcs?" asked Sirius without turning to Doran as he was watching the peaceful face of the Hogwart's 5th year student.
"Tomorrow or maybe the next day depending when we're ready," replied Doran. "What is your relationship with him?"
"He's my godson. His father is my best friend. So does Moony"
"Who?"
"Oh, Moony is me. That's my nickname," answered Remus lightly.
"Oh. Well I have to go to help preparing the hunt," with that he exited the small tent.
The next day in afternoon
Sirius stretched his muscles when he watched his infamous trap. He helped the rangers construct the traps expertly. The first time he joined them, they were looking at him cautiously, but now they softened and even some of them talked with him a bit. Many of their questions were about his world which they listened excitedly. Because of the friendly atmosphere he felt during his stay there, he was a little happy although his mind was still filled with the thought of his dear godson who was in coma.
Heran, one of the healer, was asked by Doran to care for Harry. He was worried of the teenage whose brother just recently dead, so he tried to occupy his mind with the healings of others. In the tent he met with Remus who after some askings, telling him about his world and about his plan to go with them in the hound.
Heran smiled sadly, "You're lucky. I wasn't allowed to go with them. You have magic. And unlike my brother, I'm not a warrior. I'm only a healer," He gazed at the ceiling remembering his deceased brother.
"A healer that can help people with his ability." Remus informed. "Let me tell you a story of my life. Sirius, me, James, and Peter," he said the last name bitterly which drew a raising eyebrow from his listener, but kept quiet. "Were friends in our year at Hogwarts, the school of witchcraft and wizardry. 14 years ago, James and Lily, his wife, were killed by Voldemort because they openly opposed him. Sirius and I couldn't do anything right then. We blamed ourselves for that. But we knew we shouldn't just mourn over their death. The least we could do was to help their son, Harry," Remus gazed softly at the sleeping person.
Then he stared at him in the eye. "Your brother wouldn't want you to blame yourself. He wants you to go on with your life and carry his ideal to help others. You might not a warrior, but you're a healer. You can help people with your own way. Think about it! You're still young and still have future," he advised wisely.
Heran kept quiet. He pondered his advice. For unknown reason, he felt something heavy was lifted from his shoulder. He looked at Remus and Harry and Remus again than nodded slowly. Remus smiled. "You're right. My brother wouldn't want me like this. But I may not get over my mourning for some time."
"Everyone needs time to get over something like this." Heran bowed respectfully and leaved the tent after finished talking and treating Harry. He met Sirius outside and smiled which was returned by Sirius.
Sirius entered the tent. "Who is he?"
"Who?"
"The lad who just leaved from here," the dog animagus notified.
"Oh, him! He is Heran, a healer of this group."
"Really? Don't you think he's too young to be a healer?" asked Sirius as he walked toward his friend.
"Harry's is younger than him," he pointed out.
"Yeah, and that's why I don't like this, Moony. We jumped to another world which might even more dangerous than our own world. I don't want Harry to fight!"
Remus stopped whatever he was doing to sit down on and stared at his long time friend forlornly. "I know, Sirius. James and Lily wouldn't want it too. But he and we don't have any choice. We don't know the way to come back and Sauron started to build his armies of dark creatures. The only way we can survive from this and later come home, was fighting." He paused. "Even in our world, Harry would have to fight. Voldemort hated him. And he will always try to kill him. Harry would have better chance at fighting dark lord after he learned everything here. You and I can teach him magic, while Doran and others can teach him sword and other things." Remus tried to see the bright side of what happened to them.
"Better chance, ha? Maybe you're right. There's no restriction of underage magic for Harry here. I can even teach him Dark Arts—don't look surprised, Moony. You know that as one of the most influential pureblood family in the magical world, I was taught dark arts. Maybe James wasn't taught of it, but I was. You know the story about my family."
"But—" Padfoot waved his wand to stop Remus interrupt him.
"No, Remus." He said seriously. "As much as I don't want to do it too, Harry need to know about dark arts. The more he knows about it the higher chance he can survive from Voldemort. He has to know his enemy better in order to defeat him," Sirius said that in a tone that it was final and no one not even him could change his mind.
Remus sighed dejectedly. "I'm not afraid that Harry would be like Voldemort, because I know he won't. But the wizarding people will not react well to know that their saviour use dark arts. They will shun him, Sirius! Even if he killed Voldemort! In the end they will be afraid of him and people like Fudge will try to slander him!" His voice was raising a notch as he tried to make Sirius saw the event from his point of view so he would consider his decision.
"Bah! Those fools don't know anything! The magical society is full of morons who always accept any gossip without checking it first. My wrong imprisonment was the proof of their idiocy." He drew a deep breath and spoke quietly as an attempt to calm himself. "Harry is NOT their saviour! They only thought of him like that when they needed him, but when they're not, they can easily throw him up! You know how the Daily Prophet portrayed him this year and how many people believed it."
And now his voice was starting to crack. "Everyone makes mistakes. But when he was the one who makes mistake they ridiculed and scorned him, and sometime will think of him as evil. Even for something he didn't have the power over, like the parseltongue ability for example! What they wanted is a perfect man to save their fucking asses!" he hissed angrily. Remus saw the suffered man in front of him, the man who was wretched from everything he has the right for, such as his freedom and the right to take care his godson when he was sentenced to Azkaban 14 years ago.
"Harry isn't perfect, heck he even had many weaknesses! But for that he is Harry that I know of, the Harry I love and will always care for. He's my godson and I will always protect him, from Voldemort and from the like of them. Harry will kill him not because they wanted him to, but because he took everything from Harry: his parents and his life. He had been always fighting him to survive since Merlin knows how long. And I will help him to achieve that."
Silence
"If they slander him, we'll leave the wizarding world forever. Harry and I have more than enough fortune to make our life comfortable and even support many generations after us. He doesn't need those fools watching him like a hawk watches its prey. His life is his own." He watched Harry softly and then turned back to Remus. "You can come with us, Remus," he said softly, not indicating even the slightest that he was angry before this.
"I can't change your mind, can't I?" the sharp glimpse in Sirius' eyes told him the answer. "Alright, Padfoot I give up!" He saw as Sirius wanted to jump of joy. "But Harry has to agree first about your plan. And I don't want you to force him learning dark arts when he doesn't want to. Do you accept the term?"
"I will, Moony. I will," he was back calling him his nickname again. "I only want him to be happy."
"So do I, Padfoot. Although he isn't my godson, I love him too. Don't forget about that!" The Azkaban's escapee smiled.
"Do you think James and Lily will be mad if I teach him dark arts?"
"No, because it is for Harry's own sake." He gazed at the ceiling.
"Harry looked like so much like James, doesn't he?" Sirius pictured the time he was in Hogwarts with James.
"Yes, he does. I bet he would be a lady man just like James when he grew up," he joked.
"Yeah, but before that we have to build his body first! He can't be a lady man with his current scrawny body," added Sirius. Both of them were laughing heartily.
"I just hope he can follow the lesson."
"Nah, you don't have to worry about that Sirius. He's James' and Lily's son, Hogwarts' protégées. If he could do patronus charm that not everyone can mastered, he can practically do anything."
"But I heard he didn't really do well in his study…"
"Ah, that's the uniqueness of him. Apparently if he didn't put his heart on the study, he would have difficulties. He would have to cast the spell repeatedly before he can cast it correctly. Sometimes I noticed that he doesn't put any effort to master the charms, I don't think that even he himself realized that."
"Realize what?" asked him confused.
"Well, Harry was famous, but he didn't like it. What do you think happened if Harry easily mastered the charms?"
"Uh… get more famous?"
"Precisely! Deep in his heart he didn't want to be more famous than already. So he was repressing his magic although he didn't realize that he did it,"
"Oh. But he mastered patronus."
"Padfoot think with that thick head of yours!"
"Hey!" he retorted, but was ignored.
"He mastered it because he wanted to! It was survival mater, you know. With all the dementors in his third year."
"Sheesh! Okay, okay! No need to shout! Anyway what will we teach him?"
And for the first time in his life after being thrown to Azkaban, Sirius felt that everything would definitely be fine. Actually he started to think that maybe it wasn't bad and even advantageous to be in another world.
TBC…………..
Allright! So you now know about what is Sirius thinking of the wizarding society, or at least what he think in this fic.
Yeah, Sirius will teach him dark arts and the other things along with Remus. They will teach him everything they know, including how to be a troublemaker… Well they're 'Marauders' afterall.
Thanks to whoever reviewed my fic! I really like to read it.