The Veil

I do not intend to plagiarize either works by Rowling or Tolkien; I am merely using my imagination and applying it to their fantastic worlds. I've just tweaked some things to make the story relevant.

Chapters:9 of many

A/N: Okay to address a few burning questions from my readers:

Bellatrix as being portrayed a little less evil here than in the books is probably more suiting for this story, as she is trying to escape her past in a way, and trying to begin a new one, even though she really is kept in the dark about the world around her. Sometimes the things she does doesn't make too much sense, but she's crazy, remember?

I do not want to take the exact dialogue from the movies and insert it here, as that gets a bit boring, so I try to change it a bit for interests sake, and because most of my readers practically know all the lines anyway Plus, the movie's dialogue is more fresh in my mind than the book's (with both series), so those are the plotlines were leaning more towards.

I try to update as often as I can, but as I am starting college in the fall, I get preoccupied with taking care of those issues. The more reviews I get, the faster I write new chapters, hinthint.

I admit, certain events have been a bit rushed, but that was only because either their significance wasn't too great, or because the reality of the situation is rushed. The cut between scenes might be a bit abrupt, but I would be wasting yours and mine's precious time.

Sorry if I offended anyone.

P.S. If you've made it this far, you should know the rating.

oOo

There she was again, atop some horse, in another journey through a forest.

Moss hung down yards from every tree, swiping her shoulders as she rode before Aragorn, making her skin itchy. Everything was a dull grey-green, and to be honest, quite boring.

It was enough that she had to share a horse, with Aragorn no less, it was even worse that the ride had been absolutely monotonous. Aragorn was not much of a talker, and when he did voluntarily speak, it was a short curt answer or a grunt.

She wished that it was possible to share a horse with Gimli.

Past trees, and trees, and more trees, Gandalf lead them on, as usual, for where would they be without him? He was being dodgy towards her as of late, and therefore had not formally spoken to her since his last leave before the battle.

It seemed that she was being ignored by everyone.

And Bellatrix Black needs excitement.

As the company grew closer and closer to their destination, talking had become more and more scarce, only the occasional "this way!" by Gandalf was uttered. White walls were suddenly in view, being revealed by some tall trees, ones, that Bellatrix would note, that were not of similar species to any she had seen before. Tension between the company was high, but was broken suddenly by-

"—except you've never worked a day in your life!"

A voice that shot out in the silence; it sounded much like a young man. Aragorn's once tense shoulders relaxed.

Around the bend, what seemed to be two boys sat amongst rocks and baskets of food, smoking deeply from small wooden pipes. A yell came from Gimli behind her, and upon being seen by the first, and then shortly the second, they stood up, the slightly taller of the two raising his hands up and wide.

"Welcome my Lords, to Isengard!"

The company began to laugh joyously, Gimli speaking out in his roaring and thunderous voice, "Here, you've spent many days it seems, feasting and, and… smoking! Young rascals, such a merry hunt you've led us on!"

The shorter of the two spoke, "Where only enjoying a few well-earned comforts." he waved his hand back toward a shed-looking structure, "You'll find, master dwarf, that the salted pork is particularly good."

"Salted pork?" It came out as a gasp. "Oh…"

Gandalf muttered something disapproving, than turned to survey the area.

"Bloody hell." Bellatrix followed his gaze.

It was a great rink of sorts, well-more like a pool, with a giant obsidian tower directly at the center. In the distance, a river poured from some mountain-like structures, feeding the watery ground. Trees were scattered here and there, picking up dead orcs and tossing them into a pile— Trees?

Bellatrix jumped in Aragorn's lap, and drew her wand instinctively.

These were no Womping Willows. It seemed as though they were talking to each other.

Well, honestly, I really shouldn't be the one to be too surprised. She thought.

"Well, were not the ones running things around here," One of them told Gimli, "we're following orders, Treebeard's orders."

"He's the one who's taken over management."

She relaxed again, but became extremely curious about the two boys.

"Oi!" She directed at them, and upon looking, discovered there overly-large and hairy feet, "Just exactly what are you?"

"Well my Lady," His eyes brightened upon seeing her.

Probably gets this a lot.

"We," he grabbed the others arm, "are hobbits."

"From the Shire!" the other chirped.

"Hobbits." Gandalf muttered.

"What? Horklumps?" Bellatrix questioned.

"No! Hobbits!" The taller pointed to himself, "I am Meriadoc Brandybuck," he bowed slightly, "but you may call me Merry!"

The other bowed lower, his curly hair covering his face, "And I am Peregrin Took, but most call me Pippin!" He rose back up quickly, and smiled in a goofy manner.

"We've been searching for them all this time, Bellatrix." Aragorn told her in her ear, "We believed them to be dead."

"Oh," she said, glad to have, even if it was a bit of information told to her. She recollected her attention to the imps, "I am Bellatrix, Queen of all witches and wizards." She heard Gandalf snort behind her. "Gandalf is my understudy." She winked at the old man, "He's still got a lot to learn."

Pippin's eyes widened. Merry's jaw became slack, just a bit.

"Do not be so gullible, my friends." Aragorn spoke, "Not all that she says is true."

She elbowed him, "Oh, so I guess I'm not allowed to have a bit of fun?" she crossed her arms childlishly, and rubbed her frizzy hair in his face. He made a little sniffle, and held back a sneeze.

Regardless, the little things laughed, "Glad to- glad to be of your acquaintance, my Queen."

Gimli chuckled, "She certainly has the personality of one."

She narrowed her eyes at him, "Don't tempt me."

A tree walked, or stomped, its way toward the company, wading through the water, stepping down and making loud crunches underneath its branches.

"Young master, Gandalf. I'm glad you've come." His voice was the deepest she had ever heard, rumbling and quite overwhelming. "Wood and water, stock and stone I can master, but there's a wizard to manage here; locked in his tower."

"And there he must stay," Gandalf replied, "Under your watch."

Bellatrix lifted her head to look at the furthest tips of the tower. Sharp and black, it stood like a fish out of water, but in water. A white speck could be seen looking down from a balcony, but then disappeared within the towers blackness.

"Let us just kill him and be done with it!" Gimli roared.

"No need Gimli," Gandalf smiled, "He has no power anymore."

Treebeard nodded, in an awkward, tree-like manner. "Trees will come back to live here. Young trees—"

Pippin, seeing something in the water, jumped down from where he was standing, and waded out to it.

"Pippin!"

"Wild trees-"

He picked it out from the pool.

Treebeard gasped, midsentence. "Bless my bark!"

In Pippins hands, was a darkened crystal ball. Bellatrix didn't have much patience for Divination during her Hogwarts years, but could recognize the object upon seeing it.

"Peregrin Took, I'll take that, my lad." Gandalf said, motioning his hand.

Pippin, holding the ball, looked at Gandalf, then at the ball again.

"Quickly now!" Gandalf urged.

Reluctantly, Pippin handed the ball to him. He immediately wrapped and hid it under his brown robes.

"I leave responsibility of Isengard to you Treebeard," Gandalf says, "May you return it to its original state."

"It will be much more better than that, my friend."

"Good, Good." He nods.

The hobbits hopped onto the backs of horses, holding on to the persons in front of them.

Gandalf led the way once more, and from Isengard they all departed.

ooo

Returning to Edoras took some time, Bellatrix complaining that they could all just apparate there, but when they did arrive, she discovered the sight of the village people running around frantically.

Some held baskets of bread, others fruits and sweets, and pairs of men carried barrels of sloshing liquid towards the Meduseld. Mothers were sending their children to bed, many of them protesting.

"What's going on?" She asked Aragorn.

He urged the horse to stables, getting off the horse himself and then offering her a hand that was ignored.

"There is to be a celebration." He said as he watched her get down by herself, nearly falling.

"A celebration?" She asked.

"For the victory." Legolas replied behind them, holding the reins of his horse, Gimli still on top.

"Ah." She said, in a low voice. "Must we all be present?"

A gasp was heard behind her. She turned, finding three girls, all looking relatively identical with their waxy hair and small noses.

"But my Lady!" One of them said, "You are expected to be there! As a hero of war, the people all wish to honor you."

"Oh, codswallop."

ooo

She had been washed.

She had been brushed.

She had been waxed, and had been perfumed.

Her hair was arranged so that her curls looked "gorgeous", pinned here and there with little golden trinkets. She was stuffed into a billowy green dress; low cut, curve-hugging, and extremely feminine. Geaven, Chede, and Astievia "pampered" her till every inch of her scalp felt raw. Her arms were pink, and her toes were the cleanest she had seen then in a long time, free of dirt and most notably, blood.

She felt fucking ridiculous.

She had considered murdering them as soon as they told her to take off her clothes, but stopped herself from doing so.

Gandalf would be furious.

They had no mirror for her to survey the damage. She dreaded leaving the room; she didn't want to know what people would think. They had been all slightly scared of her before, but now they would just think of her as a joke.

Needless to say, she felt self-conscious, maybe for one of the first times in her life.

The girls had left her alone after while leaving a matching pair of shoes by the vanity, a pair that Bellatrix was reluctant to put on, after seeing just how dainty they were. From the window of the room, the sun had begun to set, the red –orange glow illuminating the plains. It was picturesque, Bellatrix couldn't deny, and inside her stomach felt queasy.

This feeling was unlike most she had felt, a nervousness she identified after a few moments.

Nervous… Bella, nervous?

From the hall she could hear laughter, one tinkling, and the other of a deeper tone. A man and a woman.

Love, what did that mean to her? She thought she had it, she thought she deserved it, but she was wrong. Rodolphus hadn't loved her, and neither did—

No. He was history now.

The Dark Lord was only and ink splotch on the pages of her story, unable to be wiped up with out a stain. But she would conquer, she would rewrite that page. She would start over.

The fire by her had consumed its logs, warming her cold limbs. She was always cold, something that had matched her personality.

But she didn't want to be cold anymore.

She was done with her past…

A series of knocks came to the door, and Bellatrix walked towards it, hand on the handle, she pulled it open.

…And was ready for her future.

ooo

The three men watched as Bellatrix was pulled away by the girls, Gimli snickering under his breath.

"Suppose she'll let them dress her up?" Aragorn jested.

"Not sure my friend," Legolas replied, "You know how full of pride she is."

He helped Gimli off his horse, and walked the steed into the stables, making sure the stable hand received him. He, Aragorn, and Gimli were led into one of the main rooms where the males of the fellowship would be sleeping. There, already Gandalf was sitting, watching Merry and Pippin as they fooled around with Èomer. They were dressed nicely, all fresh and scented.

Legolas made his way to one of the four attached washrooms, finding a refilled bath steaming with heat at the center. Soaps and towels lay on the vanity to the side, placed there meticulously.

Making sure the door behind was closed, he removed his tunic and undershirt, folding them neatly, as dirty as they were, and stacking them in a pile on the floor. He stepped to the bath and felt the water. Finding it warm and inviting, stripped himself of his trousers.

He lifted himself in, after making sure his weapons lay close to the bath, and eased himself into the water. He hissed at the heat, but felt his muscles relax after a few moments.

It felt like bliss.

After months of pure outdoors and ruggedness, the elf was thankful to relieve his constant uncomforting feeling of being covered in filth. He raised his hands to release his braids, his scalp singing of joy at being loosened after months of being pulled taut.

Reaching for the soap he lathered his hair, rinsing it in the water and then starting on his body. He rubbed soap suds into the skin on his arms, his legs and his face, freeing them from stickiness and irritation. His hands went to the valleys of his pectorals and his abdominals, rubbing in the soap and making sure they where free from the stink of sweat, most of it not his own.

His mind wandered as he washed his body even further, lingering at the thought of a certain woman.

She had been brave during battle, brave and daring; qualities that he had always found to be lacking in most of the female breed.

She was dark of course, something that he had intended to ask her about, but he reminded himself that no person came without a history.

But as a woman, Legolas found her to be charming… as most elves would have. The nobler kind had always had a soft spot for women, as they embodied everything beautiful and serene in the world.

Granted, Bellatrix wasn't exactly serene, and in some sense not very beautiful, but it only made Legolas more intrigued. He wished to know more about her, to know how she became the way she was.

The morbid, witty, dangerous, mysterious, shadowy, interesting…

Looking down, Legolas noticed just exactly where he was cleaning, and promptly turned red.

Stepping out of the tub after a final rinse and drying himself off, he put on a new set of clothes and made his way to a certain room.

He had to ask a maid just where it was exactly located, and when he finally found the door, it was ajar.

ooo

When she swung the door back, Aragorn stood here, dirt free and odorless.

Well, it certainly did him some good.

He looked slightly off, something about him on a twirk. He shifted his weight from one leg to the other.

"Bellatrix," He nodded, "I have come to escort you to the party."

He lent her his arm. "If you'll have me."

After a few moments of silence, Bellatrix laughed.

"You? Escort me?" She laughed again, "That's a laugh!"

She stepped out of the doorway, making him take a step back, "I'll be the one to escort you, idiot."

She held out her arm, and Aragorn took it. His hand felt warm through the thin bell sleeves of her dress and she led him down the hall, barefoot.

"You do look quite beautiful tonight, my Lady." He said earnestly

That really made her laugh.

ooo

"Tonight, we remember and honor those who gave their blood to defend our country! Hail the victorious dead!"

"HAIL!"

Along long tables in the hall was nearly twice the amount of food Bellatrix had ever seen in one sitting, even when she still went to Hogwarts. Men, and a few women, sat shoulder to shoulder, drinking deeply from large mugs of ale, laughing and singing songs of merriment.

She lost Aragorn a while ago, after the King's speech had ended and the celebration began, and found Legolas and Gimli sitting at a table, Legolas looking a little disappointed. She sat next to him, across from Gimli and leaned her torso on his.

"Oh, itty bitty elfy," she cooed in a baby voice, "What's got your ears in a twist?" She raised her arms to gesture at the whole party, "Come on! Lets celebrate!"

And, as if on queue, Èomer arrived, holding multiple mugs of ale, the liquid spilling from the overflowing tops of a few of them, and set them on the table top.

"No pauses," He said, "No spills." He handed a mug to each of them.

"And no regurgitation!" Gimli lifted the mug to his mouth, and begun to drink deeply from it. A few men around them laughed.

"So it's a drinking game?" Legolas asked.

Bellatrix wrapped her arm around his shoulders, grabbing a mug with her other hand.

"Live a little!" She told him, and proceeded to gulp her drink down.

Gimli raised his head from his mug and laughed loudly, "Last one standing wins!"

Legolas picked up his mug tentatively, and brought it to his lips. She could see from the corner of her eye him reach out the tip of his tongue to shyly taste the liquid before deeming it drinkable, and sipping it.

ooo

Hours must have passed, Bellatrix really didn't know, but what she did know was that she was very, very, very drunk.

The crowd around the four had grown larger, and Bellatrix even had her own little cheerleading team. Every time she would set an empty mug down, the men around her would yell loudly, banging their hands on the tables and joking about the lacking 'manliness' of both the Elf and the dwarf.

Èomer dropped out of the game a while ago, finding it funnier to watch the other three go at it.

Gimli was flat off his rocker, rambling on about things that made no sense. Bellatrix' eyes were barely open, becoming dark little squints, her smile obscuring her vision. She hadn't said a word for a long time, but only because she was giggling non-stop. Legolas looked unaffected, but confused as to why his friends were acting the way they were.

Gimli suddenly let out a great big fart, causing Bellatrix to burst out in giggles, falling on top of Legolas in laughter. In the background, the hobbits could be heard singing and stamping their feet on top of the tables. They had a crowd gathered, cheering them on.

"Oh, you can drink your fancy ales—"

Gimli made a roar-like noise, "It's the dwarves that go swimming," he burped, "with little, hairy women!" He laughed like a frog, something Bellatrix found hilarious, before he picked up another drink.

"I feel something." Legolas announced, looking at his fingers, "A tingle in my fingers." He looked up seriously at Èomer, "I think it's affecting me!"

"You can drink them by the flagon-"

"What did I say?" Gimli shouted, "The lad can't hold his liquor!"

Then, his eyes promptly crossed to his nose, and he fell backwards off his seat.

"But the only brew for the brave and true—"

Legolas looked at Bellatrix, finding her suddenly face-up, laying her head in his lap. She had her eyes closed, but her mouth was open, a slight dribble of drool leaking out the side.

"Game over." He said.

"Comes from the Green Dragon!"

ooo

It was dark when she was woken, being shook awake by a pair of hands. The hall had become quiet, and a few stray snores could be heard, it being well into the night. She could tell that she was still a bit drunk, but it took her a second to realize she was leant against a wooden column on the floor.

Legolas was the one who was shaking her. She pushed his hand away, settling back against the column, not wanting to be disturbed. When he tried again and got the same response, he sat down beside her.

"My Lady, you must retire to your room. Everyone else has gone to bed." He whispered to her.

"Shut it…" She moaned in anger.

He resolved to sitting next to her one the floor.

"I don't understand." He said.

She grunted in response, "Understand what?"

"I don't understand why you are the way you are. Cold, and uncaring. Most women I've had the pleasure of meeting are the extreme opposite of you."

"What?" She muttered.

He whispered back, "You are strong, and brave. You willingly fight for what is just, and you do not show fear."

Bellatrix scoffed sleepily.

"You're wrong." She said.

"How? You embody all of these things complet—"

She growled drunkenly at him, "You would be cold, if you spent years in a prison where your happiness is sucked from you at every moment. You would not care if you lived a majority of your life killing and torturing." She gasped, "You would be strong if you watched your life fall apart at the hands of a Dark Lord."

She sniffed, her closed eyes becoming watery, "You would be the way I am when you pined after someone for years, admiring them devotedly without question, spending every waking day in their step, following their orders, killing for them, becoming their most loyal servant." She had begun to cry, "You would fucking be like me if you loved someone so much, you didn't have your own mind for years!"

Legolas didn't dare touch her, even though it broke his Elven heart to see her cry. Elves didn't cry too often, as the sadness it would take to cry, especially as an older elf, would deliver them near death.

She hiccupped, but continued, "You would be like me if you realized that there is so much more to life, so much more than you ever did see when you were blinded."

Legolas, to say the least was a bit shocked, he never would have suspected this out of her. For the weeks he knew her, she had been like stone, occasionally showing her wicked and playful nature.

She fell back into sleep again, but not before grabbing onto him around his shoulders.

"Take me to my room, you dirty house elf."

OOO

A little longer than usual, to make up for the weeks of neglect. Oh and I don't know if anyone noticed, but a few chapters back, Aragorn told Éowyn that Arwen had left to the undying lands. Thanks to all those who reviewed, I hope you could tell if I answered your review in this installment at all.

The more reviews I get, the faster I write a new chapter. So tell me what you think!