Strange Alliances

by Erestor

Disclaimer: I own nothing pertaining to The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, or the Harry Potter series. This story was written for entertainment purposes only.

Any similarities between the following plot developments and certain plot developments in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince are entirely coincidental. I read the six HP book after I worked out everything and wrote this chapter.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

'Manwë and Varda are seldom parted...'

-J.R.R. Tolkien, 'The Silmarillion'

Poor Legolas. His life never went right. After escaping from his insane father, he had made it to Rivendell, which should have been a place of safety for him. Alas, that was not to be. Legolas attracted trouble. Now he had antagonized Fëanor.

It was, quite possibly, the worst sort of trouble that he could have brought down on his own head.

Mandos had to admit to himself that he was fascinated. He wanted to know how Fëanor would persuade Legolas to leave Middle-earth. He expected that things would be unpleasant for Legolas, and that, if Legolas were wise, he would be heading for Valinor before nightfall. Or perhaps Fëanor would be more subtle in his attempt to solve the Legolas problem.

In the end, Fëanor chose a dramatic approach to broaching the subject. He grabbed the startled Legolas by the shoulders and hissed, "Go to Valinor".

It is hard to get less subtle than that.

"Er... why?" asked Legolas, because it was the first proper retort he could think of. He should be given due credit for being capable of speech while being pinned by Fëanor's fiery eyes.

"Because I don't like you," said Fëanor. This was true.

Elladan and Elrohir were doing their Cheerful Twin Act, and cracking jokes and being jovial in the face of nearly certain death. Mandos could already tell that they were going to be annoying. People who made jokes always annoyed him. (Glorfindel, at least, had the good sense to be cheerful without the jokes. It is a little known fact that this is possible.)

People disliked by Fëanor had good reason to flee for their lives. Unfortunately, Legolas did not realize that he was dealing with Fëanor. He thought that he was dealing with a lunatic, which was close to the truth, but not quite correct. Legolas tried to back away, proving that he was more than a pretty face: he was smart too. However, Fëanor refused to let go of his shoulders.

(Mandos thought that Legolas looked nearly as unsettled as the man in the pizza store had when Sauron had talked to him.)

"I'm warning you," said Fëanor in conclusion. He gave Legolas a brief but violent shake, let go of his shoulders, and strode out of the room. Everyone gawked after him in amazement. Mandos sipped his tea.

Once he had finished his tea and his scone, Mandos rose purposefully from his chair and went to talk to Glorfindel.

When Varda returned to Ilmarin, she found a caustic and annoyed Eönwë standing at the doorstep on her new welcome mat, rebuffing potential visitors with icy politeness. Apparently everything was in great upheaval. Manwë, certain that Varda's rash actions had been fueled by her distaste of salmon, was nearly frantic with worry. For three days, he had been looking for a second key to the Door in Mandos's office, but to no avail. If there was a second key, it had been carefully hidden. Manwë had repeatedly cursed Mandos for taking such thorough security measures, much to the horror of those nearby. Very few had realized that Manwë was capable of getting annoyed.

"Of course," said Eönwë, as he concluded his description of the hectic past few days, "I don't suppose Lord Manwë will need the second key now."

"He certainly won't," said Varda. "I have returned, and I am alive and well."

"Should I fetch him?" asked Eönwë. He had been greatly harassed since Varda's disappearance, what with trying to calm down Manwë and keep order in Valinor, and now all he wanted was to go to Lórien and have a good night's sleep.

"Yes, please do," said Varda. She took her stars out of her pockets and returned them to their proper places in the sky. Then she went to the kitchen and made salmon sandwiches.

Manwë arrived in minutes, delighted to see his wife again. He swirled her around the kitchen and covered her with loving kisses. Varda thought that perhaps she should go missing more often.

Eventually she said, "We need to talk."

"All right, dearest," said Manwë. He was wondering what Varda had been doing in the Void for three days. He doubted she'd spent her time there complaining about all the salmon.

"I was speaking to Melkor," said Varda, who knew what Manwë was thinking. She smiled reassuringly at him. "I have had a certain theory for a while, and now I am sure it is correct. I wanted to ask him about it."

"You can't expect Morgoth to tell the truth," said Manwë.

"I didn't." Varda finished her sandwich and sat down across from her husband. "Tell me, if you were a Dark Lord, would you expect your minions to be loyal to you?"

"I suppose not..." said Manwë slowly. It was very difficult for him to imagine being a Dark Lord.

Varda nodded. "So, if you were suspicious and couldn't trust anyone, what would you do?"

Manwë thought for a while. "I do not know what I'd do," he admitted at last.

"That is why you would make a very bad Dark Lord," said Varda. (Manwë smiled at the compliment.) "This is what I think Melkor did: I think he put a little piece of his fëa in his most powerful minion. That way, he could watch him closely, and, at the same time, even control his actions somewhat."

"Would that be possible?" he asked.

"I think so. It would be rather cruel, maybe. I know that no proper Vala would do it. But Melkor was very powerful, and he could not trust anyone," said Varda. "It would be a wise precaution for him to have taken if he were strong enough to do such a thing."

"Do you have any proof?" asked Manwë.

"Not really," admitted Varda. "I know that Sauron hid when Eönwë told him to come back to Valinor. Eönwë says that Sauron had seemed repentant enough beforehand."

"The two of them are well practiced in deceit," said Manwë.

"True. But I think that Melkor didn't want the last piece of himself to fall into our hands," said Varda. "Probably Sauron only needed a little nudging, but Melkor must have been there. And when I questioned Melkor, he was hesitant to say anything about his successor."

"Then you're implying that Melkor knows what is happening in Middle-earth, because he can see it through Sauron's eyes," said Manwë.

Varda nodded. "That is indeed what I'm implying. And I'm implying that Melkor could have implanted some of his fëa in Vairë. She brings him dinner sometimes. She wouldn't know he was there, of course, but that doesn't matter."

"Then Morgoth has escaped!" said Manwë, drawing the inevitable conclusion.

Varda nodded again. "He found a way," she said.

"Glorfindel, I want you to stop flirting with my sister," said Mandos. He had some difficulties choking out the word 'flirting'. It was a word he had never used before.

"I'm not flirting," said Glorfindel mildly, because he thought that perhaps he was flirting, and he did not want to sound too defensive.

Mandos scowled. Then he said, "Very well. I want you to stop associating with my sister."

Glorfindel began to get the vague impression that this was a serious matter. "Associating?" he asked carefully.

"You understand what the word means, don't you?" Mandos was being sarcastic. Sarcasm was one of the few joys of speaking. He liked that part.

"Yes!" said Glorfindel, sounding defensive. "You were speaking to Erestor, weren't you?" he asked, after a moment's thought.

Mandos nodded.

"He probably told you that I should do more work," said Glorfindel. "He probably told you a whole sob-story about how much he suffers because of me. About how he slaves away and no one cares."

Mandos nodded again.

"Why do you believe him then?" asked Glorfindel sulkily.

"I suspect that he has told some of the truth. Anyway, I do not like it when you flirt with my sister," said Mandos, getting back to his main topic of conversation.

"Your sister likes it, though," said Glorfindel.

All the candles in the room went out with a creepy puffing sound. (Mandos was very good at making candles all blow out at once. It was a talent that often came in handy in the Halls. Not only that, but Mandos liked the darkness. In his opinion, sunshine was nearly as annoying as Elladan and Elrohir's jokes.) Wind blew around outside in a mournful way. Glorfindel thought that he could hear sinister organ music playing in the background, but he attributed this to paranoia.

Mandos glowered at Glorfindel in the darkness for a moment, before deciding that perhaps Glorfindel had been sufficiently intimidated. He swept dramatically out of the room, much like Fëanor had, and said, over his shoulder, "Go and do some work, for once."

"Oh, all right," muttered Glorfindel. "There's nothing better to do anyway."

Mandos went to the library. He wondered if there was anything good there to read.

Mandos decided that since the library was quite large, and since he had a few thousand years to spend in Middle-earth anyway, he might as well start at one end of the library, and read his way to the other end. It was a good plan.

The first book on the end that Mandos selected went under the promising title of Advanced Mathematics. It was small, thin, and rather dejected and shabby. Still, Mandos liked the logic and rules of mathematics, so he was pleased with it.

Mandos was pleased with it up until the moment when he started reading it. He learned very quickly that Elves were not mathematically-minded. In a half-hearted stab at advancement, the author of the book tried to explain the concept of negative numbers, but failed miserably. Mandos got the impression that the author had realized he was failing miserably, because the explanation grew more and more sheepish as it went on. Eventually the author began to sound apologetic, as though he were very sorry that he had to even bring up such a horrible subject. The explanation dragged on, muddled and miserable, until Mandos stopped reading it, out of pity. And Mandos rarely had pity on anything.

When Mandos looked up, he saw eyes watching him from over the top of a shelf. This was very startling, but Mandos barely blinked. Though all he could see were eyes, and some glossy black hair, there was no doubt in his mind that they belonged to the gloomy Elf from the dining hall. Mandos saw that some books had been placed on the top of the shelf and surmised that Erestor had climbed up a ladder to put the volumes back in their place.

"Well?" asked the possessor of the eyes. "Did you speak with him?"

It was definitely Erestor. Mandos said, "Yes."

The eyes stared over the top of the shelf at Mandos, unblinking. Eventually the disembodied voice asked, "Was he apologetic?"

"No."

"That's a good sign," said Erestor's voice, pleased. "When he apologizes, it means that he's thinking up ways to wriggle out of his duty."

Robes rustled as Erestor clambered a little higher up his ladder. He was now visible from waist upwards. He looked down at Mandos thoughtfully. "You could be my library assistant," he said.

"Really?" Mandos pondered the possibility. The library was dark, cool, and full of ancient wisdom. It was the sort of place he liked. It also contained Erestor, which made it less appealing, but surely such an Elf couldn't be gloomy all the time, thought Mandos. He was making a grave mistake, forgetting that he had been gloomy for almost an eternity.

"Would you like to work here?" asked Erestor. "It's fun," he added sadly. He made it sound as though it were the only fun he was allowed to have.

"All right," said Mandos.

Erestor descended the ladder and disappeared behind the shelves again. Mandos could hear him shelving books vigorously. The Vala glanced down at Advanced Mathematics and winced. He couldn't bring himself to read any more of it. He got up and put it away.

As he was walking towards the feverishly industrious Erestor, Mandos glanced out into the hall and saw Glorfindel chatting merrily with Nienna again. Mandos could scarcely believe it. He had assumed that Glorfindel's less-than-wonderful memories of the Halls of Mandos would have been enough to get him to get away from Nienna as quickly as possible. It seemed that the intimidating tactic would not work. Not on Glorfindel.

Erestor came to stand beside the dumbfounded and dumbstruck Mandos, a stack of books in his arms. He looked smug.

"Told you it would take a Vala," he said.

TBC...