A/N: Just assume all those little tidbits of information that most people don't know about Middle Earth and Lord of the Rings I got from wikipedia unless I say otherwise; it's a pain re-typing it every chapter.

All spoken language is in Westron unless specified as otherwise.

Enjoy.

Rivendell, Eriador
October 20, 3018 Third Age

"Don't worry Padfoot, Aragorn will be fine. He's probably just being extra careful coming back since he has two hobbits with him."

Sirius sighed and turned away from the balcony overlooking the road towards Rivendell.

"It doesn't take a month to get from Bree to Rivendell. Something must have happened. You know the area has been swarming with orcs recently. I should be out there helping the others look for them!"

"Calm down! There's probably nothing to worry about; they are traveling by foot and hobbits do have short stumpy legs. That and they probably stayed off the main road to avoid the 'trouble' you're so insistent is after them, so it's natural that they'd take longer than usual. And if they did run into trouble, you of all people should acknowledge just how proficient Aragorn is in battle. He could more than sufficiently protect himself and the hobbits from orcs. Now come on and stop sulking, you need to get your mind off it. How about we go and raid the kitchens?"

Now in a much better mood, Sirius agreed.

Currently all those that came from Earth were at Rivendell. Fred and George were there because that's where they live, Sirius was going to meet his honorary nephew there and Remus and Tonks wanted advice as to their situation in Rohan.

The weird thing is that they weren't the only ones that suddenly found themselves visiting Rivendell; the elf prince of Mirkwood Legolas, the heir for the Stewardship of Gondor Boromir and the respected Dwarfs Glóin and his son Gimli, all came throughout the past week for various reasons. Elrond had decided that the reasons were interrelated and that a meeting would be held once Aragorn and the two hobbits he was escorting arrived.

Sirius would have liked to know why Strider was escorting a couple of hobbits to Rivendell, and how it was related to Remus', Tonks' and all the other visitors' various problems. Unfortunately Elrond was being very tight-lipped about it until either Aragorn returned or Gandalf came back from wherever he has been for the past few months. He'd worry about that stuff later, after having his fill of some good quality food.

However, Remus' and Sirius' plans for a kitchen raid were soon disrupted after seeing who was coming speeding up the road.

"Isn't that Gandalf? Huh, this really is the place for a party isn't it? I wonder how many other people are coming."

"The number of people doesn't really concern me as much as why they are coming in the first place. Look how fast Gandalf is riding; I doubt even Tonks could match him at that speed. Something big is happening Sirius, and I don't think we'll like whatever it is."

Sirius could only nod his agreement as they headed towards the entrance to meet Gandalf.

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Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Elrond, Erestor and Gandalf were all sitting in Elrond's study to hear about Gandalf's whereabouts for the past few months and why two hobbits were coming to Rivendell (well Elrond and Erestor already knew the latter, but the others wanted to know).

After sitting around in silence for a while, Sirius began to fidget and Tonks cleared her throat, which finally made Gandalf look up from his arduous task of finding the pipe-weed.

"Huh-hum. Sorry about that my dear, I suppose I should get on with the story, hmmm? Tell me, how familiar are you with the history of Middle Earth, and the Dark Lord Sauron in particular?"

It was to no ones surprise that Remus was the one who answered.

"Sauron was a servant of the Morgoth. Morgoth, or Melkor as he was also known, was one of the higher beings of Arda, a Valar. He was the most powerful one of them all.

But unlike the others, he wanted to destroy, not create and sought to control and undo the very essence of Middle Earth. Sauron was his servant. He was a Maia, a lesser Ainur, and was Morgoth's chief lieutenant. After the other Valar defeated Morgoth and locked him into the Void at the end of the First Age, Sauron, unwilling to face judgement, hid in Middle Earth and continued to plague the land.

In the Second Age, –"

"Woah! Hold it!"

As much as Sirius wanted to find out what was going on, this was sounding disturbingly similar to one of Professor Binns History of Magic lectures, and that was not good. The others (besides Gandalf and the elves of course) weren't looking much better. Tonks had a dazed expression on her face and the twins wore the same expression as they had when their mother would berate and lecture them for hours.

"How about you try that again Moony, but the quick version?"

As Remus sighed and collected his thoughts on the best way to deliver Arda's history (muttering about immature people who have the attention span of baby gnats on a sugar high), Tonks, Fred and George pulled themselves together to listen for real this time.

"Okay. The Valar are like Earth's archangels; they oversee everything and made sure that Arda was made how Eru, the One God, wanted it. Morgoth, one of the angels, didn't want to follow Eru's master plan. He was like Satan and brought evil and destruction to the world.

Morgoth got a lot of followers including Sauron, a lesser angel, to fight the other Valar. He lost. Sauron ran. End of First Age.

In the Second Age, Sauron tried once again to gain control of Middle Earth. Sauron made rings and gave them to the rulers of Middle Earth to help them govern their people. What they didn't know was that he made a master ring (aptly named the One Ring) that bends the owners of the other rings to his will. The elves found out and declared war. Men also joined the war. Everyone fights and a lot of people die.

Finally, Isildur, the prince of Gondor, was able to cut the One Ring off Sauron's hand. Sauron was believed to be gone forever. End of Second Age. Happy?"

Before Sirius could respond, Gandalf took control of the conversation.

"Yes, very good Remus. That about sums it up. However, you forgot to mention the fate of the Ring after the end of the Second Age."

"Sorry." Remus turned back to Sirius. "Isildur kept the Ring until he was ambushed and murdered by orcs, when it went missing. No one knows what happened to it."

"So, why are we talking about it then? This happened over 3000 years ago, what does it have to do with Aragorn escorting a couple of hobbits?"

"Everything. Mr.'s Weasley, do you recall when 60 years ago I came through Rivendell with a group of dwarves and a single hobbit?"

"Why of course we do!"

"How can we forget the wonderful time we had while they were here!"

"Though I don't think that they enjoyed it as much as we did – "

" – Indeed dear brother; those dwarves were awfully sensitive about their beards!"

"It wasn't as if they wouldn't grow back!"

"And the honey just needed a thorough washing, the tangles would have come out eventually!"

Gandalf interrupted before they could continue.

"I meant Bilbo! Tell them about Bilbo Baggins, the hobbit, you insufferable fools!"

"Ah yes, Bilbo!"

"Bilbo Baggins!"

"The bravest hobbit of them all!"

When it looked like Gandalf was going to interrupt yet again, the twins decided to answer seriously. Sort of.

"Okay, okay. What can we say about Bilbo? Well you see, dear Bilbo is about yay high – " George said indicating about 3 and a half feet tall. Fred then took over the narration.

" – with a well rounded belly, quite portly one could say, – "

"That's enough! Just sit and cease your incessant nattering! If you weren't going to put any thought to your words you could have saved me the headache and stayed silent!"

After taking a moment to regain his composure, Gandalf continued talking.

"While on the adventure with the dwarves, Bilbo came across a ring that had the power to turn the wearer invisible. He's had that ring for over 60 years.

Last year, if you'll recall, it was Bilbo's 111th birthday – "

"Too right it was – "

" – a smashing party if I say so myself – "

"Yes, yes, we know. The point is that Bilbo hadn't aged a day since he came into possession of that ring. Over 60 years had passed and he hadn't aged a day! He was also very reluctant to part with the ring; even referring it as his 'precious', the same endearment Gollum, the previous owner, referred to it as."

Tonks then interrupted.

"Gandalf, does this have anything to do how old Bilbo looks now? I mean, I was at the party too, and Bilbo was so healthy. And I ran into him just the other day, and I barely recognized him, he looked so old! He aged so much, just in the span of a year!"

"Never mind that – "

" – don't you see that now we know about this magic ring, we finally have the answer to dear Bilbo's disappearing act?"

"Up doing a speech one second and then the next thing you know – "

" – he's gone! The little bugger never even told us how he did it!"

"If I could speak without any further interruptions! Thank you. When Bilbo decided to pull his little disappearing act at the end of his party, he planned to travel and never return to the Shire, leaving everything, including the ring, to his nephew and heir, Frodo. After his great reluctance to part with the ring, and his uncharacteristic behaviour during the parting (going so far as to accuse me of wanting to steal the ring for myself) I knew that all wasn't as it seemed and set out to do some research.

I had never liked Bilbo's ring; it was useful and greatly helpful in sticky situations, true enough, but something about it put me on edge. I never told Saruman about the ring or my feelings about it because although Saruman has a far greater knowledge of the history of the ring, I had begun to be suspicious of his loyalties when he refused to act against the Witchking 80 years ago.¹

I went to the Minas Tirith archives to find any information I could about the one ring and its fate. There I found a way to test whether Bilbo's ring and the one ring were one and the same.

Unfortunately, it was indeed the one ring of Sauron. I knew that it would only be a matter of time before Sauron and those under his command found out and went after the hobbits to retrieve the ring. I told Frodo to prepare for a journey to Rivendell. His gardener and faithful friend, Samwise Gamgee, eavesdropped on our conversation, so as punishment I bade him to accompany Frodo as well.

While Frodo put his affairs in order, I was going to visit Saruman. As the head of the White Council, he deserved to be updated on the situation we found ourselves in. But unable to quell my doubts about the white wizard, I prepared a backup plan. I told Frodo to leave by his next birthday if he didn't hear from me before then. I would meet him at the Inn of the Prancing Pony. As an extra precaution, I asked Strider to meet the hobbits there if I didn't return in time, and left a letter with the barkeep for Frodo so that the hobbits knew they could trust Strider.

When I went to Isengard, not only did Saruman know more than he should have about the ring resurfacing, he knew things that only those in the Dark Lord's service would know. He admitted to being in contact with Sauron via one of the lost elvish seeing stones. He bade me to join him and take the ring for ourselves.

When I refused, he made me a prisoner of Orthanc tower. I was able to escape 2 months later with the help of the eagles. Once I escaped, I went to Rohan to use one of their great steeds to bear me with haste to Rivendell. And here I am."

After a lengthy pause to absorb the information, Lord Elrond decided to draw the meeting to a close.

"The news of Saruman's treachery is most unfortunate. And there is still the matter of the ring to deal with. This shall be all the talk about such matters until the council. Until then, speak not of what you have heard today to any others."

The dimension travelers got up and left the room. They hoped that everything would be cleared up during the council. Until then, they were going to enjoy their time together.

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Later that evening Erestor, Elrond's children and the dimension travelers waited for Elrond and Gandalf to return. They had suddenly left in the middle of the day to go to Rivendell's western border at the River Bruinen. It was now many hours later, and they hoped that nothing bad had happened (though the elves didn't seem to think so considering the comfortable ease they radiated, compared to the dimension travelers' nervous tension).

When Elrond and Gandalf returned, it was with extra company.

Among them was Glorfindel, who had left almost a week ago to find the ranger and hobbits and help them travel to safety. Aragorn was also in attendance, along with four hobbits instead of the expected two. However it was the last member which caused jaws to drop and knees to go weak.

The last figure was short and slender, only reaching to about 5'6. He had ink black hair with deep red highlights that reached to just above his shoulders in waves. His most striking feature however, was his eyes. They were a bright vibrant emerald green, which seemed to pierce through you and bare your very soul. It was impossible to forget those eyes, even after 450 years.

It was Sirius who first found the ability to speak. But he only managed to whisper a soft "Harry" before the black spots that he had been fighting against since first seeing the figure took over, and then he knew no more.

Yay! Harry's finally here! As if I could have a Harry Potter story without Harry Potter! The scandal!

¹ When the Witchking set up base in the southern part of Mirkwood, Gandalf found out about it and went to report to Saruman. Saruman gave orders that they should just wait and see what he was up to, instead of attacking him. Gandalf reluctantly followed his advice for a while, but then later decided to drive the Witchking out with help from the elves. (In the books it's actually Sauron who's in Mirkwood, but I'm switching it to suit my story)

Does anyone have any ideas what I can call the HP people? I don't want to keep typing their individual names, but I can't call them the wizards (first thing – they aren't wizards anymore; and second thing – there's still Gandalf). I can't call them earthlings, because then it sounds like their aliens, but not the foreign aliens, the slimy green variety. So anyone with ideas let me know.

I don't know when I'll next update this story; I've been neglecting To Do It Right, so I should update that one first (but I probably won't because not many people seem interested in it and I'm having fun writing this story).

Just incase I don't update this for a while, here's some spoilers for the next few chapters:

Chapter 7 is going to be Harry's story, how he ended up in Arda (and Voldemort's demise)

Chapter 8 is going to deal with Sauron and what he's been up to in the past 3000 or so years, plus a bit more Middle Earth history.