Chapter 3
The Arrival
Harry was staring at the ceiling of his room, still pondering over the letter he had received. his first supposition had been that it was a trap from the deatheaters, some cowardly scheme to capture him after failing so many times. so he decided to ignore it, but one thing still panged his conscience: what if someone really did need his help?
----
Harry woke up late into the night, something was at his window. Harry hastily put on his glasses and reached for the window. harry was surprised a twhat he saw, there perched on his window was a big bird. it wasn't an owl. it looked more like a falcon. Harry opened the window a tiny bit. the bird stared at him stiff as a stone. Harry opened the window very slowly and only after the window was fully open did the bird hop into his room and onto his bed. for a time, Harry was stunned but then he saw a scroll at the bird's feet. Harry didn't know that birds like this were used for delivering messages but He opened the letter anyhow. there was the strangest letter there:
Harry Potter, we are in need of your help. please come to the place that you people call 'park'. make haste.
now Harry was really confused. the place you people call park? what the hell was that suppose to mean. what did the deatheaters call the park these days? the place to capture Harry potter? but once again Harry felt a pang in his heart, what if someone did need his help. but that was absurd. no one in the muggle world knew much about him and no one in the wizarding world would ask him, they would ask the Ministry of Magic. harry looked up to the bird for clues but was astonished to see that it was gone. He didn't know the time he was expected but since it was written to make haste. he supposed he had to go right away. as he went down the stairs and out of the window, he could almost hear Hermione saying 'harry, how could you be so foolish to walk right into a trap?' but harry had his wand and he didn't suppose the deatheaters or whoever would dare use much magic in a muggle area. he reached the back of the park and hid behind a tree.
there was not a soul in sight. Harry waited for about half an hour. but the moment he turned to leave a bright light flashed in the middle of the park nearly blinding him. harry rubbed his eyes and focused on the light. there weren't any deatheaters but they were definitely very weird.
there were six of them. the first was an aged man who looked alo9t like Dumbledore. He had a long white beard and white hair. he wore a pointed hat and robes. he had a stick in one hand from the tip of which was coming the bright light. and Harry was surprised to see the hilt of a sword on his side. th second man was young and tall with shoulder length brown hair and a small amount of hair on his face. he wore a kind of skirt. he too had a sword on his side. the third person had long silvery hair and pointed ears. he wore the same kind of skirt as the former. his eyes looked like those of a hawk, but he didn't carry a sword. the fourth was oddly disfigured. almost four feet in length with a rough, red beard almost as long as himself. he too wore a skirt but it almost reaced his feet. he had a metal helmet on his head and, Harry was surprised to see, he carried an axe. the last two were children with very rough clothes and feet so ugly harry could have puked. he supposed they were the servants. but one of them had a sword on his side.
'Where is he?' the old man cried 'he was supposed to be here'
the young man with brown hair stepped forward and spoke to the old man in a language harry couldn't understand. the old man nodded. suddenly Harry saw the man with pointed ears staring right at him. Harry felt a surge of fear. the man pointed at Harry.
'there he is' he said in a calm voice and they all turned to look straight at harry.
-----
harry knew that he was caught and there was no escape. he took out his wand and approached the strange group.
'what is he doing?' said one of the children 'and why has he got a stick with him?'
nobody answered. the old man took a step forward and stood in front of harry.
'Harry Potter?' he asked
'yes' siad harry knowing that these were deatheaters undercover.
'I am Gandalf' he said
'yeah yeah, and i'm the minister for magic' Harry cried sarcastically
'excuse me' said the old man 'what is this minister of magic?'
'cut it out' said Harry 'i know its you macnair'
'Harry Potter, i am Gandalf the Grey' he said furiously 'i am no macnair'
now Harry was really annoyed and angry. but then suddenly he thought that if indeed these were deatheaters they would have attacked right away, not wait to chat. but he still needed confirmation.
'show me your left arm' Harry said, pointing the wand straight at him
'excuse me?' said the old man calling himself Gandalf in a surprised way 'why?'
'because i want to see if you're a deatheater or not'
'what is a deatheater?' he asked
'just do it' said harry. the old man showed his left arm which did not contain any trace of a dark mark. Harry one by one looked at allk their arms and finally was satisfied that they weren't deatheaters.
'i hope you haveseen that we are not imposters' said the old man
'but who are you?' asked harry
'this is Aragorn' he said pointing to the brown haired man. 'this is Legolas' he pointed to the silver haired one. the short one's name was Gimli and the two children were Frodo and Sam. 'we are the fellowship of the ring' the old man said
'the fellowship of the what?' harry asked
'ring' said Aragorn 'perhaps we must tell you the whole story.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'what's all this got to do with me?' harry asked
'well, it is rumored that the only person ever to have defeated the dark lord Voldemort is you' GAndalf said in finality.
'but can you show me any proof that all of which you have told me is true' said Harry 'for instance, do you know where this ring could be right now?'
'as a matter of fact we do' said Aragorn and he turned to the servant with blue eyes 'Frodo'
Frodo nodded and took out a chain from his neck and showed it to Harry. on the end of the chain was a fine, perfectly smooth golden ring.
'is that the ring?' Harry asked, taken aback 'it looks like an ordinary ring to me'
'Gandalf' said Aragorn 'show him the encryption'
Gandalf struck his stick on the ground and a fire erupted from its end. Frodo held the ring in the fire for a moment or so, harry thought they had all gone mad but the Frodo removed the ring from the fire and held it out for harry.
'are you crazy' said harry 'it must be burning hot'
'its quite cool' Frodo insisted.
harry reluctantly held out his hand and Froodo dropped the ring into his hand. Frodo was right, the ring was cool and harry was in wonder when all of a sudden something else happened. the ring started to glow and shining lines appeared on its surface. it looked like some code.
'i can't understand what ti says' siad Harry
'it is elvish' said the one called Legolas 'it reads: one ring to rule them all, one ring to bind them. one ring to find them all and in ther darkness blind them'
Harry was surprised. Dobby had never told him that there was a separate language for elves. and that message was even weirder.
'okay' said harry 'suppose i say i believe you, then what do you want from me?'
'we want you to destroy Sauron's body' said Gandalf 'because He and Voldemort are now one and the same. their minds are merged but the body is still Voldemort's'
'but can't you destroy him' said harry
'no' said Aragorn 'if we destroy him, it might alter time. we may never be able to go back again'
'so will you help us?' Frodo asked, who harry knew was not a servant after all.
'i still have doubts' said Harry 'what if you people are under the imperius curse?'
'the what?' said Gandalf
'its a way to control people' said Harry
'you must trust us' said Aragorn 'you are our only hope'
'okay' said harry, he had decided to ask Hermione in a letter about how to tell if a person is really whom they say they are 'where do you live?'
'nowhere yet' said Aragorn
Harry was now really annoyed. if he had to take these people to his uncle's house it would create much problems.
'so what are you going to do?' Harry asked
'we will stay here' said Gandalf
'no' said Harry 'that would cause difficulties. what if someone saw you?'
'well then' said Legolas 'you suggest what we do?'
'come with me' said Harry, deeply resenting himself. but he didn't have a choice. these people could get in trouble with the muggle world and the ministry of magic.
'that is very gracious of you' said Aragorn as Harry led them quietly to privet drive. he took great care not to let even a sound escape to his uncle's room and Harry breathed a sigh of relief as they all cramped into his room.
as the rest slept soundly. Harry lay awake. he couldn't believe that just that day, he had been laughing at a muggle fantasy story.
