Nira and Legolas rejoined their group in the main room. Most had changed already, finding the clothes rather odd. Nira told them not to carry swords and arrows around with them, but the front pockets of their jeans had been expanded for a knife. Nira wanted to go to dinner in the Great Hall, so Legolas and Haldir accompanied her, while the rest stayed behind.

She told them about different parts of the castle as they passed, laughing at memories each place triggered. She led them into the Great Hall, with many of the students seated at their house tables. The students fell silent as the three of them walked in. Whispers rippled through the crowd, while all eyes were on them.

They walked down the center isle between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables to sit at the end of the staff table. Legolas and Haldir were fascinated with the ceiling and food before them. After dinner had ended, Nira told Haldir and Legolas to go back to their rooms, while she found some friends. They did so, hesitantly. Instead of finding friends, she walked out into the darkened garden.

"The Mudblood walks around at night alone and unprotected," a sneering voice said from the shadows.

Nira turned to see a Slytherin whose name escaped her. She remembered he was a year behind her, making him a seventh year, and a disciple of Malfoy's. He stepped toward her, glaring at her. She held her head high and defiant as he circled her, like a predator to its prey.

He grabbed at her neck, but she leaned out of his reach. His hand caught raven pendant around her neck and pulled on it, breaking the chain. He stepped toward her, throwing her necklace into the darkness. She pulled her knife out of her pocket, but he didn't back off. She flicked her wrist, sending him flying into the door. She threw her dagger at him, and it sank into the wood of the door just above his left ear.

"You have really good aim," he said as she stalked toward him.

She grabbed the handle of the knife and pulled it sharply out of the wood, hissing, "I missed."

The Slytherin boy whimpered and scurried inside. Nira turned to the gardens again, sliding her knife back into her pocket, and began looking for her necklace. She couldn't summon it, because it was made of mithril. She had been looking for ten minutes, about to give up until morning.

"Looking for this?" she heard Ron's voice asked.

She turned to see him holding her necklace in his hand, smiling at her.

"Yes," she replied, returning his smile.

"Why didn't you just summon it?"

"The metal is magic resistant. It's very valuable. It means many things."

Ron looked at the twisted metal in his palm and asked, "What does it mean?"

"It symbolizes my heart. I give it to he whom I wish to give my heart."

"I cannot accept this," Ron whispered to her.

"Good," she said bitterly, taking the necklace from him and putting it around her neck. "It doesn't belong to you."

"What?" Ron hissed in anger. "No, you belong to me."

"I see," Nira snapped, viciously. "You aren't like Aragorn. You were just being chivalrous. You want my heart more than anything in the world, and you can't have it."

"Who's Aragorn? The one it belongs to?"

"No, Aragorn turned down Arwen's heart, because he knew what she would be giving up for him. If you knew, you would not be like him."

She turned away from him, walking toward the door to the castle. Ron grabbed her arm and threw her into the stone wall in the dark shadows of the gardens. He held her wrists in one hand and kissed her harshly. She tried to push him off of her, but she couldn't move him. He slid his free hand under her shirt to cup her breast. She whimpered and closed her eyes, wanting it to end. She wanted someone to see what was happening.

Ron's touch left her suddenly, and she fell forward. Strong, warm arms caught her before she hit the ground. She opened her eyes to see Legolas looking down at her. She looked around to see Aragorn and Haldir holding Ron against the side of the castle with Gimli holding a knife at Ron's chest.

"Let him go," she told them, before standing.

"Touch her again, and you'll have us to answer to," Gimli growled at Ron, before putting the knife away.

The five of them walked back to their rooms for the night. Nira looked out the window in her and Legolas' room. He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Are you alright, Nira?" he whispered.

"I don't know," she replied. "He never acted like he cared much about me in school. Now, he acts like he's always been in love with me, and I should have known."

She shuddered, remembering what he had done to her in the gardens.

"I still feel his touch on me. I keep thinking about what could have happened if you hadn't shown up. I would have given up and left you alone again."

She rubbed her wrists as if trying to wash dirt off them. Legolas stepped around her and grabbed her hands, lifting her wrists to kiss them lightly. She pulled her arms away from him.

"Close your eyes," she whispered to him.

When he did, she unclasped her necklace and put it in his hand, closing his fingers around it. He opened his eyes and looked at the jewelry in him palm. He looked at her and smiled.

"It has always belonged to you, Legolas," she told him, picking up the pendent and putting it around his neck.

Her hands stayed where they were, around the back of his neck, pulling him in to kiss her. He ran his tongue against her lips, which parted allowing him to deepen the kiss. He slid his hand under her shirt and trailed his fingers over the path Ron's had taken erasing any lasting feeling of his touch. Nira leaned into his hand, making him smile.

Nira backed up, pulling Legolas with her. She fell onto the bed, with him on top of her, still kissing deeply. He pulled her shirt over her head, braking contact for a long second. She did the same to him, running her hands over his chest and back.

Legolas pulled away from her, raising an eyebrow at her bra, not knowing what it was. She laughed at his face and sat up, turning her back to him. He fumbled with the clasp, earning more laughs from Nira. She gasped as she felt the cold blade of his knife against her skin. He cut through the annoying article of clothing easily and pushed it off her arms.

He trailed his lips lightly down her spine, placing feathery kisses every few inches. Nira shivered as his warm breath spread over her skin and savoring the sensation. He pulled her to lie back on the bed, wrapping his arms around her.