Chapter Six - Rogue Elfling?

Trying to lose a bunch of elves was almost too much effort. But whenever Harry thought what they would do if they caught him, he somehow found more energy to keep on apparating forward. He imagined them dragging him to the nearest town, complaining the whole time it took to get there how their precious hunting trip was cut short. They wouldn't listen to a word Harry would say and would definitely ignore any and all ideas or requests he would have. On top of that he had no intention of revealing his magic skills to these long lived gossipers.

Harry even thought of apparating back in his tracks, maybe where he had spent last night but he really didn't want to backtrack his steps. So, instead he just looked as far as he could see, chose a point again and jumped there.

The elves were wicked fast. He had to give them that. Harry had to apparate five more times in order to get far enough to take a short breathing pause.

"What's gotten into their knickers?" He wondered. "And what did they mean an elfling? That Haldir needs a pair of glasses." Harry puzzled over his escape for a while but then more pressing issues overtook him. Like where to go from here.

His magic was already healing his scrapes and bruises his acquired in his dash for freedom earlier. He didn't feel the need to concentrate on mending his clothes. He would do that later tonight. He felt hungry and tired seeing it had been his resting hour, NOT nap time, but resting hour when the elves begun chasing him. His afternoon snack time was also already way passed. He was also exhausted because of the running and crying and all other embarrassing stuff he had done today.

He pulled out his water bottle that he had attached to his waist. Cold water had never tasted better. Unfortunately he could already hear the elves and if he could hear those silent buggers then they were way too close. It was a good thing he could apparate silently, if it was actually apparition he did. Hermione had had some issues with that.

Luckily Harry could already see where the tree line was a little ahead of him. After that there was supposed to be a walk to the river over grassland planes. Normally it would take two to three days in fast paced jog. He was planning to be there by nightfall.

~o~

Harry hardly had time to enjoy himself.

"Next time I romp through an elf's head I am so gonna take some memories of good apparition spots," he mumbled.

He had tried to look for a good place near the Anduin to end up but Erewan, the snooty Malfoy elf he had legilimenced before, had spent his recent years, or rather recent centuries in Mirkwood and had absolutely no idea where anything was outside of it. Thus Harry was forced to use sight along apparition. Which was safe, but stomach turning. Also it seemed that Erewan was not a cartagropher or then he was suffering from who knows what; the end result was that the 'map' of middle earth that Harry had seen in his mind was not that accurate.

"Three days march my arse. More like two weeks," Harry grumbled while he ate his snack. He had dived into a spot of waist high hay to eat. It kept him safe from prying eyes but he still didn't have time to loose or enjoy himself much. This open land was great to get away from his hunters but the elves had wicked sharp eyesight and as soon as they realized which way he had gone and cleared the woods, they would probably be able to spot him if he wasn't careful. Why couldn't they just leave him be?

Harry stopped munching his sandwich when cold shivers ran down his back. Why were they so insistently chasing him? He knew the elves would hardly care of a little child. Not this much in any case. Unless they thought he was important. Harry quickly conjured up a mirror.

"Meh, well – I don't see it," He talked to himself while squinting in the mirror. "My eyes are the same, my nose is the same – or is it a bit wider? Maybe I'm growing older again?" He grinned at himself and ran his tongue along his teeth.

"My teeth aren't any sharper and my bongee aant lon enof to reef mai nous," He sputtered while trying to make his tongue reach his nose.

His hair was too long again. Black and shiny. Probably shinier than before. "At least I don't look like hedgehog anymore."

"Is my skin sparkling?" Harry poked his cheek but couldn't really tell. He expected to be more tanned.

"Eargh, whas' wrong with them!" He cried aloud when he reached his ears. This needed a closer look. The ears were still his and they weren't exactly pointy like the elves seemed to have but they did seem – stretched.

"Can they even do that? Why are they so weird?" Then Harry couldn't help but try and make his ears flap. Dudley had known how to make his ears move but Harry never could figure it out.

Apparently slightly longer ears didn't make it any easier.

"Can't be helped. I'll just put a glamour on them if they grow anymore," Harry decided and shrugged. "Doesn't make me an elf. I'll worry if my nose starts to go longer as well. I'll be like Dumbo."

Harry finished his bread and packed up his bag. His next jump would be his thirty-second today. When he looked back, he could see the ripples he was doing in the mist when he apparated and that worried him. Or rather he got a bad feeling. He had always believed more in divination than his friends seemed to. Not prophecies, especially given by she-who-shall-remain-unnamed and who drank lots you-know-what. But there wasn't a doubt in his mind that magic could know future. Thus he had begun to rely on those feelings; it was just magic thinking of him. And this creepy feeling right now made him wary of apparating here but what else could he do. Bloody elves. They were definitely somehow related to Dobby.

"Too late to worry about someone noticing the disturbance anymore, probably," Harry muttered. "But maybe I should fly a bit," he wondered and turned to his bag. He pulled out the Potter Plough.

"Hmm," Harry scratched his head as he looked at his brand new broom. "I didn't remember it looked quite - like this," He scratched his head and wondered at the rather malformed branch with thick twigs pointing every which way at the end.

Harry still hopped on it with his bag on his back and for once the altitude limiter wasn't a problem. Any higher and everyone in ten mile radius would be able to spot him.

"Hop, hop and awayyy!" Harry got a nice speed after his running start. He swished on his way in the hay, keeping eyes out for any big rocks.

~o~

Harry was extremely relieved when he finally arrived at the river bend. Though what a river it was. Insanely wide and the water looked dangerous. It was so deep it looked black and he could practically feel the speed the water was flowing. It was not inviting him to have a swim, despite how much he wanted to get a nice soak and clean himself from head to toe.

Above the water sound, he did hear an odd whacking sound now and then. Curious, he followed it around a bend and found the reason. Immediately he got an evil idea in his head. He couldn't help but cackle a bit. Not Voldemort style, more like George Weasley style.

He had accidentally stumbled upon what must be the elven hunting party's boats. Very rickety looking things.

"I'm probably doing them a favor, keeping them from drowning," Harry pointed out to himself while he was opening the knots that tied the small boats to a nearby rock. "These clearly are not safe."

He watched as the dinghies were taken away by the river. And as if to prove his point, one of them hit a rock that was jutting out of the riverbed. It didn't make it far until the water simply suck it down.

"Let them try to run me down now," Harry nodded satisfied.

He felt a bit bad about their boats but he couldn't afford to have them trail him. He had no doubt that an immortal race as them would've mastered many things. Fighting and tracking being only a few. He also didn't think he would win in an honest fight against that many of them. Nor did he ever want to try mess with their heads again. If only to save his own.

His luck turned soon enough when he tried apparating over the river. He wasn't sure if the water itself affected him somehow or maybe he was simply too tired. He was too exhausted to care to solve the why. But he had ended up half a feet too short from the shore and was plunged into the chilly water.

After he had cursed enough and dragged his sorry arse out of the water, Harry felt miserable. Now that he was safe from his pursuers, he couldn't help but notice how hungry and tired he was. And that he looked like a drowned rat. He had also lost another pair of trousers somewhere in the deep water.

"I just want to sleep the rest of this day away," he muttered as he checked his bag was still fine.

Harry saw the mountains were very close now and he would be happy to be rid of these trees, finally. They seemed to have honed on him ever since the elves started chasing him. How nice it would be to just be in peace.

"Nosy twigs." Harry glared the nearest bush.

He wanted to call it a night right there and now but he knew he would have to continue on just a little still. It would be better to rest at the root of the mountain. Just thinking about moving more made him want to give up. But a thought of nice warm place to sleep in and warm meal made him determined to last there. He was twenty, not eight.

At that moment Harry's stomach growled pretty loudly. "Thinking about food –" Harry looked back at the river. It seemed rational that there would be fish there but river this big could have any sort of fish in it. With his luck he would probably end up having a lap full of huge piranhas or something.

"The water looks clear enough, so maybe it has… trouts?"

Harry decided to risk it and said loudly, "Accio trout!"

A huge fish popped up from upstream and almost smacked his face. The fish didn't seem to like the idea of being anyone's dinner and squirmed to get free. Harry hugged it to his chest and stumbled upon a nearby tree where he smacked it hard. He was not going to use the killing curse here when he shouldn't be using any magic at all. He sighed and looked his shirt. It was wet, six sizes too big and clinging to him. On top of that, it was now covered in scales. He looked at the dead fish on the ground. "That's like one third of me!"

After this Harry realized he was too tired to walk and his broom would not help him much in this terrain with big rocks and thick trees. He decided to apparate a few times more.

~o~

Harry was absolutely exhausted when he finally popped in a place he deemed suitable. He was really happy with his progress today and while his magic was still thrumming strongly, it seemed he couldn't keep up with it. He knew better than boost himself up with magic. The hangover of that was awful. He knew. He already had a killer headache.

"I don't think I've ever apparated as many times as I did today," he slurred while he stretched his back. He was sore in very odd places.

After transfiguring yet another pair of trousers and trying to figure out where he was going wrong and why they disappeared so easily, he decided to light a fire and relax a little. He also tried his skill in tent building again, seeing as spending a night on a tree didn't sound that thrilling. Not that there even were trees. His new tent was good and spacious, warm and he finally had stove again. He had his fish prepared and cooking on it in no time. For the first time in days he was eating actual food. Harry put up his tent quickly and used runes to hide his place carefully. He knew another elvish village was too close to comfort. They seemed very zealous of their territory.

"Mmm, heavenly," he muttered as he bit into the fish with lovely butter sauce. That was really the trouble he had with conjuring what he ate. The taste faded. It was as if he couldn't remember it anymore and eventually he was just eating cardboard.

He had also collected some waterleaves from the river bend. When mixed together with magic, he was able to make parchment. True, it was messy and he had to use transfiguration magic and bind the thing with small runes on the side because he really wanted this to stay as parchment. But it helped loads that he had something on the base of the transfiguration. It didn't fight the change so much.

Then he conjured up a sharp quill and begun to draw. He had realized it was difficult to keep track on where he was and where he had been, so a map was necessary. He drew a rough sketch of where he thought he was. The elf's memories helped him a bit despite being very outdated but then again, some things didn't change. The mountains were ahead of him, Anduin was behind. Woods of Lothlórien were south and Mirkwood was in north-east. He would draw the map out as he went.

Harry frowned as he rolled up the parchment. He could feel his magic all over it. Usually he didn't have to do thing this thoroughly but he still wasn't sure what was wrong with his magic. It seemed his power was waning though he didn't feel it himself. Inside him his magic was still going as strong as ever but his creations and spells didn't last as long or were less effective. His magic was also affecting the void that was everywhere, as an empty parallel world or something. His magic had been confused few times. When he had wanted to do something, did the spell like he normally did and then something completely different happened compared to what he had been trying to do.

It was all so confusing.

Harry sat down outside his tent and closed his eyes. He hadn't noticed it before but even the air here was different. Fresher.

"This place really is beautiful," he whispered when he once again caught himself staring up at the night sky and the unknown bright stars. The warm smell of smoke was in the air the left side of his face, which was closest to the fire, was getting warm. He didn't mind though. He felt untroubled. It didn't really matter what he thought of the magic. Magic was magic and it would sort itself out. Or then he would figure something. He was also sure his home was somewhere out there waiting for him and he was determined enough to reach it.

It had been a long while since Harry had last done his occlumency exercises. It was easy to dive inside his head. Harry figured it was mostly due to his change to his younger self. There was a reason kids couldn't occlude. His exhaustion didn't help.

He had done his exercise rigorously when he had begun healing his mind after Snape. But once his defenses were as good as he thought they could get and were tested by several legilimens, he only did the upkeep. But if he was ever to fathom a way back home, he really needed to find out how he was taken here. And he might be a happy-go-lucky kind of guy but he still wanted to know the why and the who as well.

It wouldn't hurt to dig up pretty much everything he had ever learnt as well. Harry really hoped there was something there that could help him here but research was more Hermione's forte.

"I feel like a useless idiot," Harry muttered as he calmed his breathing. There seemed also be a nice bundle of elven memories still floating about. What a mess.

Harry had pretty much gotten rid of the orc's memories. It was funny the way what he 'read' from someone's head lingered behind in his. Not a single text on legilimency ever described something like that. Erewan was a different thing. He had been very lost in there.

Harry sniggered and broke his concentration. "That elf's head really was filled with loads of air."

~o~

Harry woke up just before sunrise. His bed had been soft and the tent warm. He used the last warmth of the stove to make himself porridge to serve as breakfast. His conjured grapefruit was also suitable sour this morning. This was the day he would crossover the mountains. He had officially been gone a week from home.

Harry didn't have much experience with mountain climbing but he figured that would be alright. He was going to cheat anyways.

He transfigured some spare socks he had in his bag into heavier winter clothes. Thick, water resistant trousers and an overcoat. A sort of robe over all that would keep the wind away and also protect him from pretty much anything these mountains had to offer. His goal was to be on the other side today. He put everything away in his bag which he then stretched out to a belt. He felt protected and because of a few nifty charms, he could move as if the heavy clothes weren't there at all. Still, he was pretty sure he looked like stuffed a turkey. But by the end of today he would be gone from the elven lands.

"I'm ready," he nodded to himself while he looked at the mountains ahead.

~o~

"Maybe I was not as ready as I thought," Harry cursed when he once again slipped off a ledge and was forced to quickly apparate to the next which he hardly saw and thus he lost his footing again, fell on his bum and slid to lie against the stony wall. At least this time he didn't slide over the side and plummet downwards. His eyes were hurting because he had been forced to keep his vision charm on too long and the all-white color around him didn't help any nor did the harsh wind.

The first mountain had been easy but he really had no scope of actually how large the mountains were. Even that first climb took forever. His farsight helped a lot because he could actually see where he was going but there were still surprises. Sharp rocks were hidden behind bigger rocks. Dried up treeroots made him stumble, the ground was covered in ice and slippery.

Now that he was finally on the other side of the mountain, there seemed to be top after top after top and these mountains were not small. The valleys between the mountains had become cliffs so deep and black that he couldn't see the bottom. Snow filled the highest mountains and it was sometimes rolling down the side of them like rivers. Wind blew and gathered speed while twirling around. Not to mention that despite being as light as he was, the snow didn't keep him up and so he had, more than once, sunk to the snow chin high. No charm was able to keep him dry. The freezing, cold water dripped everywhere that was supposed to stay dry and warm. Harry was shivering. He had no idea what was considered hypothermia but surely he had that by now. This cold certainly took all his concentration away. He worried he was going in circles because all the mountains looked the same.

The cliffs he could step into were narrow and slick with ice. There was no place to stop and rest for a while. Often times the cliffs were crumbling under his feet without any notice. One time he was even forced to blindly apparate on air when he fell. Luckily he knew some nifty levitation spells. Unfortunately he couldn't just 'fly' over everything. The winds caught him and tossed him about worse than any broom had ever done. The cold seemed to break the rest of his warming charms and he was sure his nose was permanently frozen. He had no concept of what time it was. It felt like he had been going on forever. He could feel his strength being sapped.

Maybe he could've thought up a different strategy but considering he wasn't exactly himself now, he simply fought to stay up minute after minute. He felt he was fighting for survival which meant he was getting desperate, it meant to go all out. His temper was getting a bit short.

"FUCK!" He shouted angrily when once more the wind caught him like a kite. "I've had ENOUGH!" Harry felt his magic surge forward, fast and powerful as a lightning.

The world halted.

There was no whistle of the wind anymore. No echo of great avalanches. No breaking of the frost.

Harry was floating in the air, violet light pulsing around him. Had he thought it better, he would've realized his precarious situation. He had managed to put himself in the middle of both 'worlds'. Halfway in the void and half in the mountains. He turned his head and was swallowed by the mist.

Harry didn't care any more about anything so he simply gathered his magic and pushed more. He had magic to spare and he was going to show this place that he was not to be ordered about or defeated. The mist was getting tumultuous but couldn't fight against him. Maybe it wasn't even trying to resist him but Harry had had enough.

Slowly a vacuum appeared. Had Harry looked around, he would've seen the air distort. But he only looked ahead and was off with a bang. His speed was faster than anything this world had seen before. He was apparating and then not. His anger was making him fly in the apparition. Like a purple comet. He passed the mountains and ravines, things that got in his way were pushed off to the side or then they simply shattered. There was a moment when the mist spilled to the real world and followed after Harry, sparkling golden.

Harry saw the world blur in front of him. He was forced to push more and more of his magic into the spell. He even passed through a huge boulder on a mountainside that crumpled behind him. Harry felt himself being stretched. He was also expending a lot of magical power and despite his almost never ending source of it, he could feel himself being sapped. Without a wand to use as a focus, he didn't have much time. Not to mention that he was physically beginning to feel strange. His eyesight was bit blurry. If he would faint, there was nothing but blackness below him.

Suddenly sunlight blinded him and as the snow lessened, Harry's rage bled away. His eyes felt sore and he was feeling like a lorry had ran over him but he couldn't help but smile. Ahead of him was still a huge plane of white snow but on the other side of it he could see green. This was the last mile.

~o~

A/n. I'm not that happy with this chapter. I had to edit it a lot and I probably will redo some of it later. Now I just wanted to get the story rolling again. Pointers are welcome.