Chapter Three
A Strange Encounter

It was the sound of wood being dropped onto a fire that woke me. I was lying on some kind of bedroll with my cloak rolled up under my head. I could smell the telltale smell of a campfire and something roasting away. Living next to the kitchens for seven years had given me a keen sense of smell for something cooking. That, and I honestly couldn't remember the last time I ate something. The day before yesterday perhaps. It was night now, a large full moon was shining down with more stars than I had ever seen in my life, even in Astronomy.

Slowly, so as not to draw attention to myself I tried to take stock of myself. My bag had been removed, as had my cloak. My wand was still strapped to my wrist holster on my left arm. I was warm at the very least so that was a step in the right direction. I was also covered in a large green cloak that completely dwarfed my smaller frame. My injured right arm was another story. It felt stiff and cold, it was on top of the cloak that was covering me. I slowly turned my head to it. The sleeves of both my school sweater and the white shirt I wore beneath had been cut away. It looked like for the most part, the bleeding had stopped. Where the blood had not stopped flowing it was at least a slow oozing now. The cursed cuts on my arm were wrapped in cloth and something that smelled medicinal, kind of like dittany, and stung also like dittany.

"It's Athelas," a deep voice called out from the other side of the fire.

I looked towards the source of the voice; it was the man I had seen before passing out. He was leaning on the trunk of a tree starring at me. I wondered momentarily how long he had been starring and if he had known I had woken up the moment I did. He had an amused expression on his face, I had a feeling that this was not one that he wore often, so something must have amused him about me. Without the cloak, I took in that he was slim but still muscular. Sky blue eyes were shining with mirth as I continued to peruse in curiosity. I also noted that he had much longer than average hair for a man. Slightly waved and golden hair moved in the subtle breeze. In short; he was a very beautiful man.

I tried for a moment to feel all the wards I had cast in the school. They were all still in place from what I could feel. The house elves wouldn't let them all starve, and if the school was no longer under attack, the teachers would be able to break my wards. I then tried to feel my magical core, it was slowly refilling, the curse on my arm and the protective wards were using the little that was there, but it was refilling. I would probably have to rest longer or have a large meal to refill it while it was still being used. I held eye contact with the man across the fire from me and tried to assess the situation. He had helped me, so he couldn't be all bad. I decided that if he had wanted to hurt me or was working with the Death Eaters, he would have just killed me outright rather than patch me up and try to take care of me. That being the general consensus of my mind, I took a deep breath and spoke.

"I'm Etoile," I started, volunteering the safest information I could think of, "who are you?"

He smiled, looking even more amused for a moment before saying, "I am Glorfindel, and that is Asfaloth."

It was then that I heard the sound of bells shifting and I glanced over towards the river where a beautiful white horse had been grazing. Hearing his master's voice the horse walked over to him. Clearly, the horse had chosen the man as either his only true rider, or had chosen to be the man's familiar. It registered that I had no idea if this man was a muggle or not, it worried me a bit, but so long as I didn't use magic on him it should be fine.

I slowly sat up shifting Glorfindel's cloak with me. Despite the fire, it was a chilly night and a fog was gathering on the river, by day this area would be covered in a dense mist. I flexed the fingers on my cursed arm. Everything was working, if not in a state of pain. The curse should be able to fade out on its own, but I focused a larger portion of what magic I had in reserve to the limb. Sadly, it would probably scar. I blinked, and looked at Glorfindel realizing I had zoned out and that he was asking me questions.

"I'm sorry," I replied, "I zoned out for a bit there could you repeat that please?"

He looked perplexed for a moment, but moved on anyways, "Yes, I asked you where you came from? Bree? Dale, Rohan or perhaps Gondor?"

I looked at Glorfindel confused, "I came from upriver-" I stopped myself not sure what I could say to this person, and I realized I had never heard of any of the places he had listed.

"Upriver is the Ettenmoors, and the old realm of Agmar though the river diverges at the Ettenmoors towards the Misty Mountains," Glorfindel responded losing the amused expression, "there are no human settlements there, or upriver from here."

'Human?' I asked myself, 'I hope that doesn't mean there are werewolves or vampires here...'

Though I had had a werewolf as a teacher in my third year, I didn't want to meet one that was not my previous professor. Vampires, were a magical species that I avoided like the plague. I had a rare blood type, and I was a virgin. The perfect mix according to the one vampire I had met in sixth year had informed me. Luckily, Professor Slughorn had been keeping him well supplied for the party that evening. Those were the closest settlements I could think of that had people that weren't human but looked human. I decided to go on faith that this was defiantly not the right place for me, but cautiously.

Timidly I asked, "Do you believe in magic?"

He laughed, it was a baritone and lovely sound, "of course I believe in magic, child. Else, how would I be here with the Maiar as their emissary?"

I had no idea what a Maiar was, but it must be this place's word for witch or wizard.

"Okay," I responded nodding, "well, I was sent here because of a magical accident with an artifact in my school."

"Where is this school?" Glorfindel asked politely.

"As I'm not the secret keeper, I can't give you an exact location, but it's about an hour's walk from Hogsmead," I answered honestly, "Hogsmead is in Scotland."

Once more, it was Glorfindel's turn to look puzzled. For a moment we sat there in silence, before he seemed to get all the gears turning in his head once more. Once he had done that he started fiddling around with something on his horse's saddlebag. I got a gut feeling that I did not want him taking anything out, or off, of his bags. Even if he wasn't a dark wizard – which I couldn't see him being despite not knowing him – it was not safe. I hurried to think of an explanation, that would be acceptable.

"I ended up in the river because I fell through a magical object where I am from. I don't fully understand what happened yet, but that is what I know," I said quickly, getting ready in case I had to cast a stunner.

"How did you end up in that situation?" he asked and paused with his fiddling.

"That I can answer, but it's a long story if you have the time?" I responded smiling.

When he gave a nod for me to go ahead and explain myself I did just that. I started with the previous couple of days and wrapped it up with where we were now. For all intents and purposes, I was as honest with him as I could be. I didn't have all the answers, but the ones I did have I could extrapolate on when he interjected with questions of his own. At some point during my explanation, whatever he had been cooking was finished. I was sitting happily enjoying some stew, my hunger and thirst quenched, I could feel my magical core refilling quickly once more.

"So," Glorfindel started after a long pause of him thinking, "To get everything sorted: you're a seventh year student at your school, there is a war between magic going on and you were charged with putting the students that could not defend themselves in a safe place during an attack on the school, you managed to get the children to a safe location, but, had to abandon it to draw an attacker away and that is how you ended up in the river? If it wasn't for your strange mannerisms, clothing, and name, I'm not sure that I would be able to believe you. These are dark times."

I nodded, "That's fair, I mean... I'm not quite sure I believe that I might not be on the same planet anymore, but look at the stars, and hand me my school bag I'll show you my Astronomy book."

He handed me my bag, I dug around in it pulling out a few of the wrong books, before I was able to locate my Advanced Astronomy text. I scanned through it rather quickly before stopping in the centerfold that had a map of the relative universe. Handing it to Glorfindel, I pointed out the different planets in the solar system that I was familiar with and some of the constellations that I knew by heart. I then pointed to the night sky, and explained the differences that I was noticing. For his part, he didn't look like he fully understood, but he was a very good listener.

While Glorfindel was scanning through the textbook, I started to go through my bag. My potions knife was still in there and so were my textbooks and the books from the Restricted Section that I had lifted from the library. I had been able to lift more than twenty books, all pertaining to rather dark spells, potions, and curses. I had been instructed by Professors Sprout and McGonagall to find and hide a large list of texts at the beginning of the year. Seeing as how the Room of Requirement was something that the Death Eaters running my school had known about, I had decided that the safest place for these texts to not be used to hurt students was on my own person. I hadn't been able to nail down all of the books that had been on their list, but neither had the Carrows. That left Mrs. Pince or even possibly other teachers to have hidden the books. I made an elective decision that Glorfindel did not have to know about the twenty books I had that were not part of the school's curriculum.

"I think," Glorfindel said after a long pause that made me stop going through my bag, "that this is a lot of information to go through. I think that I should for now abandon my task, though it pains me to do so, in order to escort you to my Lord Elrond."

"None of my business," I started curiously, "but what is the task that you're supposed to be doing? I might be able to help, rather than be a hindrance to getting a job done."

After staring at me for a moment Glorfindel spoke, "sadly this is not something that can be spoken of out here in the wilds of the world. Rest now, little Etoile I shall keep watch for the remainder of the night."

With that he stood, and led Asfaloth to a place to bed down for the evening and then he crossed the bridge, and out of my sight. I looked at Asfaloth and smiled.

"He's a man of few words, eh?" I asked.

Asfaloth responded with a wicker then a snort. I huddled closer to the cloak that had been given to me, and tried to think of something to do that wouldn't be disturbing while I waited either for Glorfindel to return or for dawn to arrive. I pulled out my wand and started casting Orchideous in the general direction of Asfaloth's mane. Small yellow flowers started braiding themselves through the horse's main. I stopped the flow of magic when I was satisfied with the development.

Bored with general tomfoolery with magic, I opened my Ancient Studies text and started studying. I had been taking the elective since sixth year. It was my dream to become a Curse-Breaker for Gringotts. The hope there would be that I would be placed in Egypt where I could fiddle about in ancient tombs. As a child, and a half-blood, my parents had raised me as a Muggle. The younger me had been fascinated with Egypt and archeology, so in fifth year when Professor Sprout was reviewing my grades and what I wanted to do in the future, we planned my schedule around the dream.

Ancient Studies was both an extension of History of Magic, Transfiguration, Ancient Runes, and Charms. As such all three teachers had to teach me in different classes. As I was one of the very few these ended up being mostly one-on-one classes. I had gotten all the necessary grades to continue, though my Potions, Herbology, and Defense Against the Dark Arts went down a little bit I had still passed with mostly Exceeds Expectations, and Outstandings on the other courses. I ended up having to drop the electives Care of Magical Creatures and Divination though. I had never really had the head for them anyway so it hadn't hurt too bad. Besides, NEWTs were coming up, if I studied now, maybe it would still be seventh year when I get back to my school.

Glorfindel dropped down in front of me from a tree surprising me. I looked up at him from my perch on the ground. I almost felt like a second year caught outside of my common room after hours. Which honestly had happened on more than one occasion that year from sleepwalking. Considering what had been attacking students that year I still considered myself more than lucky that I had never met with a sticky end that year.

"I thought I told you to rest," Glorfindel stated.

I blushed a little bit, "I couldn't sleep so I decided to study."

He blinked down to my textbook, "I see. If you would prefer, we can be off sooner than later?"

"Sure," I said, "If you want, I'll put the fire out. I can hide it too if you want?"

When he nodded I proceeded to put out the campfire and magically remove the traces of it. I then gathered up my belongings that had been strewn haphazardly around both where I had been passed out, and by Asfaloth. My arm was giving me signals of pain again, so I looked down to it. My movements must have reopened some of the wounds. At least I could still feel it though.

"Lord Elrond is a masterful healer," Glorfindel stated when he noticed me looking over my bandaged limb, "no doubt he will want to help you with your injuries."

He had been busy saddling Asfaloth up. The horse was standing proudly beside his master, who was looking at the yellow flowers in thought.

"Sorry," I said, "I was bored, and Orchideous doesn't take much magic to cast."

"Why this colour?" he asked quietly.

"Well, for one yellow is my favourite colour," I said ticking off the answer, "for two, yellow is the colour of my house at Hogwarts."

"House?"

"Yea," I started, "Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and then my house, Hufflepuff. Each student is sorted into a house in first year. Supposedly, Gryffindors are brave, Slytherins cunning, Ravenclaws smart, and Hufflepuffs kind… Or exceptionally good finders, take your pick. Each house is named after one of the founders, and the qualities of the students sorted is supposed to reflect the things that particular founder thought was the best."

Glorfindel pulled a small green stone out of one of Asfaloth's saddle bags and walked towards me. He held it out to me, so I took it. I looked at it, confused. It was a chunk of green beryl, or heliodor. Beryl was sometimes a rarely used potions ingredient, when you crushed it into a powder. In Divination, Heliodor had a lot of different meanings from telling someone to let go of unnecessary or unwanted emotional baggage; to give someone courage and confidence to figure out the next steps in their journey, unlocking their own potential. I had a thought back to Glorfindel's task that he was abandoning to escort me who knows where.

"You're looking for something or someone," I said looking at the gemstone.

For a second Glorfindel looked stunned. But I could see I was on the right track. I quickly brought out my wand and cast onto the gemstone without thinking.

"Protego Horribilis," I then handed Glorfindel the gemstone, "I would put that on the other side of the bridge for whomever you are trying to find. Don't worry though, with that charm it shouldn't be picked up by anything with evil intentions, you did say these are dark times."

Quickly, Glorfindel took the gemstone across the large bridge and dropped it into the dirt at the foot of it before coming back to me.

"Have you ever ridden a horse before?" he asked, looking at me quizzically.

"Uh," I blinked, "No, I haven't."

Glorfindel sighed for a moment before mounting Asfaloth. Once he was saddled, he reached down for me. I gave him my hands and slowly he pulled me up in front of him. I tried to remember the girls in my school before Hogwarts. A few of them talked about riding ponies and how to sit and ride with anyone that would listen. I was still wearing Glorfindel's cloak – mine was put into my bag for cleaning in the near future – so at least we weren't touching. It wasn't that I didn't like guys, I just had more to focus on, like my schooling. Besides, the middle of war was not the time or place to form attachments. Awkwardly, I handed my bag to Glorfindel who attached it to Asfaloth's saddle.

"Relax," he said quietly in my ear, "I will not let you fall, and Asfaloth would never allow any rider to fall from his back."

I nodded, blushing, and tried to relax.

After a moment I asked, "how far away is Lord Elrond?"

"We are going to Rivendell, the Last Homely House, "Glorfindel answered, "we are a hundred miles east of the Hidden Valley, but if we ride swiftly, we should be able to get there within two days' time."

I nodded, and held onto Asfaloth's mane when Glorfindel called to his mount, "Noro lim, Asfaloth!"

I had no idea what he had said but it put a proverbial fire under Asfaloth's hooves. The stallion took off like a shot. Which only pushed me suddenly back into the saddle against Glorfindel, who snaked an arm around my waist to keep me from falling. And with that we rode off into the night, the sound of bells following us in a musical trail.

It's been both a BUSY and PEACEFUL last week in college. A fair note: I am Canadian and for the most part, I am trying to use the Canadian/British spelling of words (It's a -3 grade dock in my classes, so I am forcing myself to try not spelling the Americanized way... Sorry for any confusion!)

A quick note: I want to make this as close to two lotr cannons as possible the Book and the Peter Jackson movie. Mostly the movie. I never however thought that it was fair that in every adaptation of the book that Glorfindel is a character that gets replaced (By Legolas in the Ralph Bakshi version and Arwen in the Peter Jackson version respectively.) Without dating myself for knowing about the Ralph Bakshi version (Which came out in 1978, I first watched it in 2000 in a small part and then to completion in 2010 on YouTube) that version scared the daylights out of me as a child so I've avoided Legolas going to pick up Forod and Company (haha just thought of a logo slogan "Frodo and Co. For all your Second Breakfast Needs") I have an equally ANCIENT copy of The Lord of the Rings so I intend to access it when I need to cross reference facts (This copy is so old the cover says it was $1.95 and the "Authorized Canadian Edition of the Famous Heroic Tale") and I intend to use it. As far as Harry Potter, I am using Pottermore and the internet in general to cross-reference my facts and spells. I also have access to a large poster map of Middle Earth, if you look for where I am talking about it is the Last Bridge... In the Hobbit, an arch was broken which ended up killing a horse when it fell into the river, some two between the two Elrond had it repaired.

If you have read the books the chapter Flight to the Ford was when an injured Frodo and Co. come across a green stone and camp at in the Trollshaws, which is where they meet Glorfindel (Origionally) or Legolas/Arwen in the other adaptations.

That being said, this is a crossover... How much will cross over to Harry Potter I'm not sure to be honest... My original rendition of this currently has Etoile (Our Main Character) pretty stuck.

Other than that, how did you all like this chapter? And what do you think of Etoile's name? I had a hard choice between Alice, Etoile, Crystal, and Nora. In the end I left it to an internet choice-maker and it picked Etoile. I like to think the character really likes the name in a kind of silly way. It feels right.

Thank you once more people that reviewed, Favorited, or followed. It means a lot to see those emails coming into my inbox between this busy time!

Have wonderful days everyone!

p.s. "Noro lim" means "Ride on".