I now have a beta who I am very grateful to, so a round of applause for Brightfeather.

Chapter 3 And So It Starts.

August 21

It must have been two or maybe three hours later that he woke up again. He suspected he had been drugged once more but really wasn't sure. That was the part that really killed him. He wasn't sure of anything right now. Hell, for all he knew he was just sleeping so much because of his injuries and the blood loss. As often as he had been injured he knew by now that sleep was nature'sgreatest healer.

Harry sat on the side of the bed and put his feet on the floor. Standing up hurt like bloody hell and took more than a little effort but he finally managed to do it. As a matter of fact he was able to do even more than just stand as he hobbled to the loo to take care of personal business. Once back in the bedroom he again started going over his options and coming up with nothing. Deciding some fresh air would help Harry again managed to gain his feet. The trip to the outside door was difficult but he finally managed it. His hand reached out and he twisted the door knob or at least he tried to twist it. The damned door was locked! Looking for a button or knob to twist he instead found a keyhole. So this was his punishment for his escape attempt. He was locked in the bedroom. 'It could be worse, it could be much worse' he thought but still, it was a hard blow to take. How was he going to escape if he was stuck in this room?

Having nothing better to do Harry spent the afternoon and evening reading. The same female that had brought all of his food so far brought his dinner and she per usual was accompanied by the elf that had purchased him from Voldemort. The blond haired elf's wife came back after he had eaten dinner and again treated his feet but other than that nothing else happened.

Harry was so bored, he was also very worried about what tomorrow was going to bring. That was the day they were going to try to force him to start taking that potion. Harry figured he was going to have trouble sleeping tonight, well that was until the door opened and the blond haired elf came in. He was holding a small vial of potion and Harry cringed away from it and the elf.

"It's just a mild sleeping potion Harry. It won't hurt you."

Harry shook his head and scooted to the far side of the bed placing as much distance between him and elf as the bed allowed. "I won't take it."

The elf gave a sigh before he said softly. "Harry I'm going to take a little time to give you a lesson. You won't appreciate it but I think it's necessary for you to learn this now otherwise you will just use energy you cannot afford fighting for something you cannot win. You were told before that those bands on your wrists and ankles could and would be used to secure you if necessary? Well, they are keyed to my magical signature. Keeping you under control is my responsibility and although I do not like it I will not shirk it. Now learn." He waived his right hand and the bands literally pulled Harry back to the center of the bed. Another wave and his hands were pulled to the top corners. One last wave and Harry's legs were pulled out and down. He fell over onto his back as his limbs stretched out to the four corners of the bed. In less than five seconds Harry was spread eagle on the bed shaking in horror over what was being done to him with so little effort. One final wave of the hand and the force holding him in place released and Harry was once again able to move.

Once Harry sat back up he reached out with a shaking hand and took the potion held out to him. After downing it he handed the vial back then lay down curled on his side his back to the elf. He didn't see the sad look that filled the man's face but he did feel the covers being drawn up and over himself. After the elf left the room Harry cried himself to sleep.

August 22

Harry woke up fairly early in the morning and waited somewhat impatiently for the elves to bring his breakfast to him. He had one last thing he could try but to do that he needed the blond elf. He planned on asking the dark elf to get him as soon as he got here. Harry had read in the book yesterday that the dark elves or Drows as they were called were the most prone to turn to evil which explained why the dark elf had pledged fifty of themselves to Voldemort. High elves always stayed light. He had also read about the features that were used to class elves and Harry had found that although they could have other color hair only high elves could have golden blond hair which meant that the elf that came to see him everyday had to be one. Harry planned to have a heart to heart talk with the man and explain the problems he was trying to deal with and hope and pray it would be enough to convince him that he had to let Harry escape. It was a slim hope but right now it was all Harry had left.

When the two elves entered his room Harry asked the Drow. "The other elf that comes to see me sometimes, do you think you can ask him to come? I need to talk to him."

The dark elf cocked his eyebrow at Harry in surprise. This was really the first time the boy had asked for anything voluntarily and for him to actually ask to speak to Discot. Well it was a surprise for sure. "I'll tell him you wish to speak to him. He would have come to see you later today anyhow. I know his lady will be here after you have eaten to treat your feet and finger."

Harry dropped his eyes before he thanked the man. Of course the elf was going to come by today. He planned on forcing Harry to take that potion. Harry shivered not with cold but with fear because he knew that if he couldn't convince him that's just what he would do too.

It wasn't to long after Harry had eaten breakfast that the two married elves came in. The female immediately unwrapped Harry's feet and started to cluck over them. She conjured a basin full of warm water and poured in a potion then had him soak them for almost thirty minutes before she finally rewrapped them. Fortunately treating his finger didn't take nearly as long and soon Harry was left alone with the male elf.

"I was told you wanted to speak to me Harry. What do you need to talk about?"

Oh man, this was gonna be so hard. Harry was not by nature very outgoing and being forced to share such a personal part of himself with someone he didn't like and didn't trust was not easy. Still, it wasn't like he was being given any choice about it. This was literally his last hope. Taking a deep breath he looked directly into the eyes of the elf and started. "Do you support Voldemort?"

"No child I do not. I'm assuming you have a reason for asking me such a question. What is it?"

"It's because if you force this you're handing him victory on a silver platter. Look, there's stuff that you don't know. Stuff I'm not supposed to talk about but I don't have any choice now." Harry blinked back the tears that were forming in his eyes before he continued. "I'm asking you to just let me go. I need to be at Hogwarts. I need my magic back too. Please, I'm even doing something I promised myself I would never do; I'm begging you if you care about others at all just let me go."

The elf studied Harry silently. Harry could feel a warm presence in his mind and knew that he was using a much gentler form of Legilmency than Harry had ever been subjected to in the past. Although Harry wasn't very good at Occlumency he did have a small gift in that direction so he struggled against his natural tendencies to close himself off and just let the elf explore.

"Tell me this prophesy and why you think it applies to you child." Harry wasn't sure if the elf had spoken aloud or in his head. He guessed either way it didn't matter.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not…And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…" Gulping Harry tried to steady his voice before he continued. "It's me the prophesy is talking about. I'm the only one who can stop him but I can't, don't you see? Not here and not without my magic. Please, you need to let me go and give me back my magic or he'll win."

The elf looked like a burden had been strapped to his back and he almost bowed under the weight"Either must die at the hand of the other." He closed his eyes lost in thought before he slowly repeated "Hand of the other" His eyes snapped open and he studied Harry closely before he said softly and slowly, "Child, prophesies always come true but humans seldom understand them till after the fact. This one I think will be the same. The two crucial parts are 'Hand of the other' and 'Neither can live while the other survives.' You have heard several times that elves never lie and we do not. I know that right now you are afraid and don't trust us and I understand your feelings. I will tell you now to give you what comfort I can that things are not finished yet. You begged me to help you and so I shall. I'm begging you to try to trust us. You will receive your first dose of the potion after you finish your lunch."

Failed, he had failed. Harry wrapped his arms around himself and started to rock back and forth trying to bring himself a little comfort but it was a useless gesture. He had failed and now the world would suffer for it. Harry sat and waited and thought. He thought of his family, of how they had stood by him even when they didn't want to, even when they didn't love him. He thought of his friends, helping him, loving him. He thought of the innocent ones that suffered and died. No chance to help themselves. Harry moaned at the internal pain and shame he felt for having failed and he prayed. 'If there is a God then please help me. Help us.' But no one came, no one helped and although he didn't, couldn't eat his lunch was served and after that the blond elf came. A quick body bind and it was started. Harry cried himself to sleep.

August 25

It had been eight doses since Discot had first forced the potion down his throat and he had to admit that he didn't notice any difference in himself yet, well except for the mental ones and those were more of an attitude adjustment not real change. He had more or less stopped fighting when they came to give him the potion other than a verbal protest. Body binds were just no fun. He had also stopped trying to escape. His last attempt had left him with a dislocated shoulder after he tried to break down his bedroom door. Because they were afraid his body would react badly to other magic being used on him in conjecture with the potion he had only had his shoulder manipulated back into the socket then bound. He now wore his arm in a sling. Of course that didn't mean he had given up, no…he was waiting I guess you could say.

Of course things had changed in the past three days but not too much. His feet had started to heal and he had been given some soft slippers. He wasn't allowed outside without Discot being with him and every night he was escorted back to his bedroom where he was locked in again. He was hardly ever left alone except when he went to bed and usually when he woke up someone was in the room with him.

Harry had been introduced to Discot's daughter and she spent a lot of time with the boy too. As a matter of fact she was one of the few that explained things to him. Kalian had told him that Discot and Meriel had applied to adopt him after he was changed. She had told him he would be her baby brother which Harry had found hilarious because if he had to guess he would have put her age at around ten or eleven. It wasn't till later when he asked how old she was that he found out how wrong he was. It seemed that elves had around the same maturation rate as human magical people did. Humans could live up to about one hundred thirty to one hundred sixty years and sometimes longer which meant that being an adult at seventeen made them mature around eight and a half percent of the way through their lives. An elf on the other hand lived to be about fifteen hundred years old so for them the eight and a half percent placed them at about one hundred and seventy six years old. Meriel was almost one hundred four years old and according to the formula Harry had worked out by elven standards he was only the equivalent of about one and a half years old. Now that had caused him some amusement or at least it did till he figured out that if he didn't manage to escape he was going to be under the direct control of adults for the next ten and a half years of his life. Not something he was looking forward to at all.

In a fit of boredom earlier today he had agreed to submit to lessons on the elvish language. Surprisingly a lot of elves already knew English or at least some human language. Well I guess it wasn't really surprising if you thought about it. Eight hundred years was a long time to learn stuff in. Discot was the teacher which seemed logical. The man did spend a large chunk of the day with him after all.

August 26

Today Discot was teaching Harry about elven numbers. Nothing to exciting until his daughter decided to burst into the room and demand that Harry come play with her. She had dragged in a small trunk that was filled with clothing and accessories to of all things muggle fashion dolls. Harry had snickered till the little girl had thrust a Ken doll in his hands and started digging out his clothes with demands that Harry dress him for a wedding to Barbie.

'Barbie? Wtf?' "Meriel, I don't know how to play with these things. Can't you get one of your other friends to play with you this afternoon?"

"Well, I could but I want to play with my little brother now." She reached into the pile of miniscule clothing and pulled out a pair of black trousers and a top coat. "He needs to wear a suit so that he can be formal. Barbie has a new wedding dress that mommy got me."

Harry sent Discot a look that clearly screamed HELP but was ignored. Well, not really ignored if the grin on the man's face was anything to go by. Discot was amused, very amused by his daughter's actions and he wasn't going to help Harry out of this mess.

Harry turned the doll over in his hands before he asked Meriel with a sigh, "If I play with you long enough to get the two dolls married will you go play with your friends?" Meriel gave a happy nod so Harry bit the bullet as it were and reached for the doll's trousers…

Harry spent the next hour playing with Meriel. He eventually got so involved in the fantasy game of make believe that he even forgot Discot was there with them. In a way the play time was therapeutic for Harry. He could forget for a little bit that he was being held prisoner and was slowly being changed into something not human. He could forget the fears and guilt he stored inside himself at his failings. He could even forget for a time that this was not where he belonged.

After the two children brought the dolls together for the imaginary kiss that Meriel insisted on Harry smiled down at the little girl before handing the male doll back to her. He started to help her put the clothes back into the trunk when a slight noise startled him. Turning toward the sound he saw six elves that he had not seen before watching the play. His face turned red with embarrassment at being caught in such a compromising situation. That embarrassment turned to confusion when he noticed one of the elves was taking notes. As one the group stood and with quick goodbyes to Discot, Meriel and even himself they left the courtyard. Harry looked over at Discot, clearly puzzled by their actions but he was disappointed in that he was not given an explanation for them.

August 29

Harry curled around the cramps that attacked his stomach. He guessed this was better than when the pain centered around his lower back but not by much. Since the pain had started two days ago he had been having difficulties eating. Sometimes even the sight of red meat was enough to turn his stomach and sweets were totally out of the question. Harry knew that was important information but could not quite remember why it was important. Something, something…he read.

Later that day when he woke up from his nap he remembered the half finished thought. High elves couldn't eat refined sugar or red meat. He wrapped his arms around himself and shook. This was the first real proof he had that something was going on inside, that he really was changing. Harry started to hyperventilate in a growing panic. It had been days since he had been kidnapped. Where was the Order? They should have been here by now shouldn't they?

September 8

He slept most of the time now. His keepers would wake him up when it was time to eat or wash or have a physical but other than that he mostly slept. When he was awake he felt hollow and empty. He yearned for something but had no idea what it was. The times he felt the most content was when the woman who he was sure he knew from someplace came and held him. She would sit in the rocking chair and just sing softly to him as she rocked him. Sometimes the girl would come and curl around him and put her arm around him as they snuggled under the covers in the bed and sometimes she would give him a soft plushy toy to hug and hold.

Sometimes he would panic and fight the people around him but it usually didn't last to long because he would forget why he had started to fight in the first place once the man grabbed him and cooed softly to him. His world centered around the room, the three people that held and comforted him, his food, his sleep. He didn't really think much anymore. He just sort of felt. He felt emotions, he felt warmth or cold, he felt hunger or full.

Every now and then he would see flashes of faces or places and he would know that what was happening to him was wrong, unnatural and he would panic and cry. Sometimes he would remember things happening. Flashbacks of events taken out of context. Things he would watch without rhyme or reason but mostly life was simple. He slept, he ate, he relieved himself, he was washed, he was held, he was comforted and he was content.

October 2

Voices talking over him. Sleepy green eyes opening and looking with wonder at the colors held in front of his face. A hand reaches out and brushes the hair out of his eyes and he blinks. Something is put into his hand and he looks down at it. A soft roll. He raises his hand to his mouth and pushes the food in. He is comfortable, warm, dry and loved and at this moment that is enough.

October 3

Oh sure, the healers assured everyone that he would eventual be ok but right now it was heartbreaking to even look at him. He would just lay there curled around a plushy toy. Sometimes he would guild up enough strength to cry but mostly he didn't even bother. What he did instead was search. He searched everyone that came within his field of vision, their faces, and their expressions. Every line, wrinkle and smile only to be disappointed. The healers said he probably didn't even know what he was looking for because he didn't have enough memory left to put a face to a person anymore

Discot and his wife were going through the formal adoption with the boy in the afternoon. Everyone who had gotten involved in his case hoped that by giving him a real family he would calm and become more centered so that the reeducation process could begin. Elves were after all very social creatures and very family oriented and the child was so alone…

October 5

Discot and Meriel sat in the counsel chambers waiting for the high counsel to convene. The group that had been assigned to the boy had a lot of explaining to do and quitefrankly Discot wasn't looking forward to it. He just wanted to take his little family home and spend a quiet evening playing with his children and loving on his wife but that was not to be.

Lamatis called the counsel into session. "We have assembled to investigate what went wrong with the turning of the child Harry Potter. Chavis, you were the one assigned to collect the child from the self styled Dark Lord Voldemort. What was the condition of the child when you first saw him?"

Chavis stood up and looked the counsel over before he answered the question. "The boy was still under the effects of the gas that was used to sedate him from when he was kidnapped from his blood family. He had apparently taken a tumble down a flight of stairs in an ill advised escape attempt just moments before I collected him."

"Was the gas the only magic he was under at the time?" Was the next question.

"No my Lord it was not. Before I put the suppressor collar on the child I removed two tracking charms and one magical block. The child was also covered with a blood ward which I disabled."

"Could any of these reacted with the potion the child was fed?"

"As my Lord was advised the suppressor collar would not react with the potion in a negative mannerand by the time the potion was administered to the child the rest of the magic he had been under was dispelled. There could not have been a reaction."

Lamatis slapped his hand down on the counsel table in frustration before he barked out. "Could not have been? Obviously there was!"

Chavis, like everyone else in the counsel chambers flinched from the noise before he collected himself to explain. "I am not saying there was not an unexpected reaction to the potion My Lord; I am saying that whatever caused the reaction was not due to any known magic applied to the child before the potion was administered."

Terrice, the elder healer cleared her throat to gain the attention of those assembled. "Will the child recover from this unfortunate incident?"

Meriel reached out and grasped her husbands hand before she answered the question. "We believe so My Lady. When he was taken home he calmed almost at once. He has still not made any effort at speech and he still searches for something but we are hoping that with time he will regain what he has lost."

Darlenia, the seer of the counsel closed her eyes before she said in a dreamy voice, "He searches for his twin." Her eyes snapped open once again. "Find this twin son of a different mother for him and he will prosper."

The whole counsel erupted into pandemonium at her words. The child had no siblings so how could he have a twin and how could a twin be born of a different mother? It made no sense.