A/N I am on discord: My username is CypressWand#9912 Feel free to add me.

The Wizard of the Dusk

Saruman had given her his staff. It was at the very top of Orthanc that he had given it to her, on a particularly cloudy late afternoon. Its dark rod felt cold to the touch, yet the magic that flowed through it felt warm in her fingers. A feeling she had long desired to feel again. It felt natural, even. Perhaps even more than the wand she had held for so long, and Saruman had kept secret from her.

It was a test. She had proven herself worthy with the poison garden she had maintained, as well as in the creation of the Fire of Orthanc. It was time for her to show her true powers, and she felt in her soul that she was ready.

'Spells are not mere words,' Saruman explained. 'It is to use your power to declare to the world as though it is still being created. Your power, it holds the authority to shape it to your will, as is the power of all Maiar.'

'But I am not one of the Maiar,' said Lily. 'How could I possibly do what you do?'

'That is for us to find out,' said Saruman. 'You are unique to this world. The first of your kind.'

'Severus is just like me,' said Lily.

'But he is not here,' said Saruman sharply. 'Go stand in the centre, and listen to my words.'

Reluctantly, Lily walked up to the centre and looked up at the sky. The clouds were darkening, and soon the rain would follow. 'If spells are not mere words,' she said, 'then how do I envision what to do?'

'By doing exactly that,' said Saruman. 'Envisioning it. You call upon that that you wish to change, like the clouds that you are gazing upon now, envisioning the stars that lay hidden behind it. That shall be your task; to part the clouds, and make the Evening Star appear.'

'And what do I say?' Lily asked, and felt the first drops of rain falling on her face. 'I barely know any words in Quenya.'

'It is not about the language,' said Saruman as he waved it off. 'The power for change lies within your mind. Just hear it in your head, and let your thoughts shape it outward.'

Lily nodded in understanding, although she wasn't so sure she had entirely understood his meaning. She locked her eyes on the clouds above her, feeling the cold November rain starting to pour. Oh darkening clouds, she thought as though calling to them, and raised the staff up high. I release you from the veil of thunder. May the light of Varda's stars shine though you, and set you free from your earthly bounds.

She felt a warm glow pouring out from the staff. A radiant light shot out from the moon-shaped orb and reached the dark clouds in its centre. The light tore a hole through the veil, and the clouds started to evaporate from the inside out. Within a matter of moments, they had dissolved. The Evening Star above them appeared, and the rain had vanished.

Saruman had wanted to say something, but in the fading light of the sun another cloud appeared, and it moved fast towards them. They announced themselves by their terrible cawing. The Crebain had returned from the Gap of Rohan, and they bore the new that the Wizard of the Dusk was soon approaching.

'We shall speak of this another time,' said Saruman. He took the staff from her hands and gestured towards the hatchet. 'For now, we have work to do.'

...o0o…

'What are you reading about?' asked Gríma.

'I've been learning a lot about the Dwarves,' Lily answered, and looked up from the book on the Dwarves of Nogrod she had been reading. 'Soron Rá, as he became known, was an incredible craftsman, as well as his distant forefather Telchar.'

'Telchar, creator of Narsil, Angrist, and the Dragon-helm of Dór-lomin,' said Gríma, summoning it up.

'Narsil and Angrist I've read all about by now,' said Lily. 'But the Dragon-helm, it's a fascinating history I'd like to know more about. In the portrait you can see the dragon Glaurung was sculptured on top of the helm.' She shoved the book towards Gríma, pointing it out.

'Glaurung means Gold-worm in Sindarin,' Gríma explained. 'The Father of Dragons. The first fire-breathing, though wingless dragon of Middle-earth. Morgoth bred him in the dark pits of Angband, and was used as a weapon against the great armies of Elves and Men. It was during the fifth battle, Nírnaeth Arnoediad, the Battle of Unnumbered Tears in the First Age, that he brought more destruction than ever before, for he had fathered a brood of lesser dragons to follow him into battle. From him, all other dragons of Middle-earth had come. He was eventually slain by Túrin Turambar, but that tale I shall leave to you to read.'

'I am aware of the tragic tale of Túrin,' said Lily. 'Éowyn has told me many great stories before you forcefully took me to this place. But I wonder, how was Morgoth able to do that? I mean, I am curious about the magic that had to have been involved. To breed a dragon out of nothing?'

'He never came from nothing,' said Gríma while lowering his voice, and looked around as though to make sure no-one was listening along. 'He was made from the Nameless Things. They live deep within the depths of Arda, gnawing at the roots of the earth far beneath the deepest delving of the Dwarves. It is implied that they existed long before the arrival of the Ainur in Arda, and they have very little love for those who walk on two legs.'

'And how would you come to know about this?' asked Lily.

'It is the story that was passed on from my mother, and her mother before her,' said Gríma. 'All those that speak with a serpent-tongue know it well. The Nameless Things have been here from the beginning, and shall remain until the End.'

'Have you ever seen one?' she asked, curious to know more.

Gríma shook his head. 'I've never had the fortune to, nor do I believe that the day will ever come. My mother has painted images of them, and it is within those images that they shall live within my mind.'

'Do you think you could draw one for me?' she asked, and shoved a piece of parchment and some charcoal in his direction.

'Why the curiosity?' asked Gríma. 'Do you not wish to know more about Telchar's Helm?'

'Because no matter what I read, serpents appear to be a part of the story told,' said Lily. 'Dragons, Great-Serpents, Long-Worms, Drakes, Snakes...they're all tied in to the history of Arda. Now where I come from, there is a House named Slytherin, and they have a silver serpent on their green banner. My friend, the one I lost, he's from that House.'

'Can he speak with a serpent-tongue as well?' asked Gríma.

'No,' said Lily, yet doubt lingered on her tongue. 'At least, not that I know – considering just how much there is that I don't know. But he did tell me the tale of Slytherin's ability to speak with snakes, and he admired it deeply.'

'Very well,' said Gríma, and grabbed the parchment and charcoal Lily had given him. 'They come in many forms,' he said as he started drawing the tail. 'Most have neither legs nor wings. Then there are those that have fangs, or tentacles – and others beaks. Their very glare can kill all that crosses its path, and it can only die when it sees itself in its own reflection. It is why they live in the dark.' He finished the sketch and shoved it towards Lily to see.

'I think I've seen an image of this before,' said Lily, and her thoughts travelled back to the library of Hogwarts. Most Macabre Monstrosities was a book she had to read for Care of Magical Creatures. In her mind she was leafing through the pages of monstrous creatures, and she landed on the page about Basilisks. Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known also as the King of Serpents. 'The King of Serpents, we call it.'

'It is best if we do not speak of it too much,' said Gríma sharply. 'There are things in this world that even Sauron knows not. I came here not to talk about the serpents of the world, but to let you know that the Blue Wizard has been asking about you.'

Lily's eyes grew wide in surprise. 'He's here!' she exclaimed. 'When did he arrive?'

'He arrived with the rising of the dusk,' said Gríma, and a look of suspicion grew in his pale eyes. 'He's been in long conversation with Saruman all through the night. He claims to have knowledge about you.'

'I've never met the man,' said Lily defensively. 'So whatever it is that he knows about me, I do not know why he would know. Will you take me to him?'

'Follow me,' ordered Gríma, and together they left the library. Along the way Lily wondered how it was possible for a Wizard she had barely heard about in passing could know about her. Had he heard about her while she was in Edoras? Had he been there disguised as someone else? Or had he perhaps met Severus, and had he told him about her. The more she thought about the latter possibility, the more she found herself bouncing on her feet, excited at the prospect that maybe the Blue Wizard could be the key to her escape from Isengard.

Gríma left her by herself in front of Saruman's quarters. With a knock on the door she let herself in, and found the two Wizards talking by the hearth, speaking in whispers. 'Mister...Pallando, if I remember correctly,' she interrupted them. 'Gríma told me that you were asking for me.'

The Blue Wizard turned around, his dark-blue robes as dark as the night sky. His icy blue eyes met with hers, and he extended his hand, which she shook gracefully. Saruman left the quarters in silence, leaving them alone in the dark room. There was something familiar about the tall man in front of her, and it unnerved her a bit. 'Have we met before?' she asked carefully.

'Please, sit,' said Pallando as he gestured towards the vacant chair. 'We have much to discuss.'

Lily did as she was told, unable to shake the feeling that she had seen his face before. 'I'm sorry, but I don't understand,' she said. 'What is there that we need to discuss?'

A smile formed on Pallando's lips, and it was the kind of smile she didn't trust. A feeling of unease rose up in the pits of her stomach, and she was suddenly aware of how alone she was with him. 'You know my name from your history books,' said Pallando. 'Though my name had changed when I arrived in the Land of the Wizards. Here I am Rómestámo, East-helper, but there, they know me as Gellert Grindelwald.'

Lily could feel that her nerves were on fire. Every cell in her body was screaming that she needed to flee. Find a way to climb the very gates of Isengard if she must, and yet her shoes were filled with lead, and she sat as still as a mouse hiding in a corner, wishing to be invisible to the roaming cat. 'How did you get here?' she asked quietly, and the tremble in her voice betrayed her fear.

'It is a long tale,' said Pallando, 'and it is a tale that I will tell you, for you seem to feel uneasy in my presence, and understandably so.' It was there that Pallando started telling the tale of the beginning. Of roaming Middle-earth with Alatar, and of their banishment to the Land of Wizards, where he was cursed to live a mortal life. Lily had gasped in awe at learning that Alatar was Dumbledore, and of the chance that he and Severus could now be together in Rivendell. There were many questions lingering on her mind, but she dared not interrupt him. She learnt more on how Alatar had come to him at Nurmengard, and of their return to Middle-earth, to find his missing students, and to take them back home. 'It is a pity mister Snape isn't here,' he said eventually. 'I had hoped to meet with him instead.'

'Saruman must have told you he's in Rivendell,' said Lily, feeling a bit more at ease now that she could sense that he was not here to harm her. 'Why did you hope to meet him?'

A darkness grew in the depths of Pallando's blue eyes. 'I knew his father,' he said. 'And I knew yours too, though I made sure that he never got to see me. It was Captain Snape I was after. A man weak in leadership – and easily corrupted.'

'You were there, in Normandy,' said Lily, and she could feel her heart starting to pound in her chest. 'I've heard my father speak of it in his nightmares. How he lost all of his friends. How Captain Snape had led them to their death. But I don't understand what you had to do with all of that?'

'I made Captain Snape search for the Holy Grail. Hufflepuff's Cup,' Pallando explained. 'He never found it, and I released him from his duties.'

'The Holy Grail,' Lily muttered to herself. 'You were after eternal life. You made it clear from your tale on why you wanted to go back to Middle-earth. But I don't understand. I never read about any of this in Bagshot's book –'

'—aah, yes. My "great-aunt" Bagshot,' said Pallando with a scoff. 'Remember, Lily of House Gryffindor. History is always written by the victorious. The conquerors. The masters of Fate. We allow it to be written, in the way that we want it to be written.'

'But you lost,' said lily bravely. 'Dumbledore defeated you! You tried to break the Statute of Secrecy, and you failed!'

'You are testing the boundaries of my patience, Red Witch,' said Pallando darkly, and leaned in uncomfortably close. 'If you had any shred of hope that I could be your way out of here, then you are mistaken!'

'I know why you'd rather have met Severus instead of me,' said Lily, and there was a venomous tone lingering on her voice. 'You know about the Ring, don't you? Have you told Saruman? Are you going to send the Orcs after him now?'

'You ask an awful lot of questions,' said Pallando. 'But no. Saruman does not know – at least not yet. To possess the Ring, is to possess the power of the Earth. But don't think that you are useless to me, Lily, for Saruman has told me a great deal about you. You have a fire within you, and the magic in you is strong. You have laced the weapons of the Orcs with deadly poisons. The fires of the furnaces burn hot with your magic. You have shown that you can part the clouds with your light. You have made what he now named the Fire of Orthanc – something that I know, holds a different name from the Muggle world you came from.'

'I'm not proud of it,' said Lily sharply. 'If anything, I fear it deeply.'

'You are naïve,' said Pallando. 'And –'

'-I'm well aware,' Lily cut him off. 'Severus never failed to remind me whenever I tried to see the good in people – and especially when it came to the good within himself. But don't mistake my naivety for an unwillingness to see the other side. You know what Saruman is doing. Of his allegiance to Sauron, and still you walked through the gates of Isengard as if you had expected this to happen – and yet you didn't tell him about the Ring that Severus has. You are here to play your own game, trying to obtain the thing you've wanted all along. Just like you did with Hufflepuff's Cup – and the Deathly Hallows.'

'And what do you know of the Deathly Hallows?' Pallando sneered.

'Because I know someone who has one,' said Lily with an air of confidence. 'Couldn't shut up about how he was related to a Peverell in his poor attempts to woe me. The Wand, the Stone, the Cloak – I know that it's not a mere children's story. Combined they make one a Master of Death. And since you've made it abundantly clear how much you despised your mortal life, you would've done anything, anything to achieve it. Have you been after the Philosopher's Stone too, by any chance?'

Pallando's hands had balled into fists. 'And how is it that a young girl like you knows about the Philosopher's Stone?' he snapped.

Lily shrugged. 'I read the Chocolate Frog cards,' she said nonchalantly. 'Dumbledore is famous for defeating you, for discovering the twelve uses of dragon blood, and for his alchemic work with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. Flamel is so famous that even the Muggles have heard of him for creating the Elixir of Life, though most of course just think of it as a legend. Something I'm sure Dumbledore had something to do with. Kémya was his, wasn't it?'

Pallando didn't answer, but she could sense that there was rage boiling up inside his heart, and the very end of his patience had been reached. 'Did you ever find one of the Hallows?' she asked in an attempt to keep the conversation going.

'Alatar has the Wand,' said Pallando in defeat, but the rage inside of him had far from subdued. 'Disguised as a young man I had stolen it from Gregorovitch the wand-maker many years ago, but no matter what I did, the Wand did not reveal its true powers to me. When Alatar defeated me, the Wand changed its allegiance and became his. It was then that I learnt the Wand would only show its power if it was won from its current owner, rather than taken.'

'Does Alatar still have it?' asked Lily.

'Yes,' Pallando growled. 'It goes wherever he goes.'

'My wand has failed me since I arrived here,' said Lily. 'I don't know of how much use the Elder Wand would be here, too.'

'We won't know until he wields it,' said Pallando.

'I better take my leave,' said Lily, and rose up from her seat. 'If you ever find out what use you have for me, I will hear it when the time comes.' She made her way over to the doors, and from the shadows she could feel a black adder coiling its way up around her leg. Without looking back, she closed the doors behind her, and felt her heart sink to the floor.

The panic she had suppressed by learning that Pallando had been the dark wizard Grindelwald from her world was catching up with her. With weak knees and shaking hands she walked down the many flights of stairs that led to the courtyard, and the tears were falling freely by the time she reached the stables.

The snake that had coiled itself around her leg dropped itself down in the hay and slithered its way up to Gríma, who was already saddling up his own horse. 'You will know too much,' said Lily as she wiped some stray tears with her sleeve. 'I'd prefer it if you didn't keep sending your snakes after me.'

'You keep my secrets, and I keep yours,' said Gríma.

'Your power lies within your knowledge,' Lily snapped. 'The more you know the easier it is to wield it over me. Your words trap me here more than these walls could ever do.'

'I take it your conversation did not go well,' said Gríma, and the snake had gone up to his ear, speaking to him in whispers.

'To the contrary,' said Lily, and laughed a bit despite the seriousness of it all. 'He underestimates me, like so many people do.' She started brushing through Lightfoot's manes, and felt a sense of calmness return. 'I wish to ride alone for once.'

'You know that Saruman will not permit it,' said Gríma.

'Then stay behind me,' said Lily sourly. 'I have a need to clear my head, as I'm sure you'll understand once your snake is done sticking its tongue in your ear.'

Ignoring Lily's bitter stance, Gríma helped her saddling up Lightfoot and hushed her out of the stables, and followed her closely at the heel. She galloped her way along the edge of the wall, as she had now done so many times before. From the long conversation she had had with Pallando, the thing that stood out the most was his telling of Normandy. Severus' father had known him, and so many things from their fathers' time during the war were starting to fall into place. The war that never left them, and had continued to hunt them till this very day. Tobias had been led into a trap. A Wizard wielding his power over him so large that all the blame had fallen onto his shoulders. She had despised the man. Hated him for what he had done to her best friend, but now the story had become much bigger, and for the first time she felt a sense of pity for him. That he was made to be into what he had become – a bitter, angered, tormented man through no fault of his own. She wondered if Severus knew.

She had passed the Southern gate. Its iron bars locked into place, and the Wargs guarding it barked menacingly at her as soon she came too close. As she turned around she faced Orthanc, and in the distance she could see the two Wizards standing on the balcony of Saruman's quarters. The dark-blue robes of Pallando appeared black as it billowed in the wind, and Saruman, who'se white robes must have once appeared as a beacon of light, was dimmed and faded in the faint light of the sun. She knew they were looking at her, as she was looking at them, discussing her fate in the same way that the Dark Lord from her own world was deciding her fate. Frustrated and upset about it all, she tore her eyes away from them, and continued her round around Isengard.

On the North-side, she stopped and looked at the dam. It was still under construction, and many of the Orcs were working day and night to trap the waters of the River Isen, using its power for the industry they were creating. Its weakest place, Lily thought to herself. A Bombarda Maxima may be strong enough to break the beams that were holding the stones together, but for now there was very little water trapped inside of it, and the risk of losing whatever freedom she had left wasn't worth losing over a fickle chance of drowning Isengard – and possibly herself.

She continued her way back to the stables, knowing that she still had a job to do after returning Lightfoot to be looked after. She felt the first drops of rain falling onto her skin by the time she reached the pits to go down below, and made her way down the forges, where Uglúk was already waiting for her.

The forges had multiplied since her arrival. Battleaxes, hammers, spears and cleavers. They were forged like clockwork by the thousands. She followed Uglúk down to the armoury, and from her robes she pulled out several phials of poison she had brewed the day before. With every blade she poisoned, she felt the cuts of their sharp edges cutting away at her very soul.

But above the sorrow of the day, there was a light that shone as bright as the Evening Star that had appeared after parting the clouds. Dumbledore had come – and he was here to take them home.

A/N The Nameless Things: "Far, far below the deepest delving of the Dwarves, the world is gnawed by nameless things. Even Sauron knows them not. They are older than he. Now I have walked there, but I will bring no report to darken the light of day." - Gandalf, The Two Towers.

I'm fascinated by the Nameless Things. Tolkien was possibly influenced by the Norse mythology that speaks of horrible creatures that gnaw away at the roots of Yggdrasil. Specifically the dragon Nidhog and his terrible brood. They are therefore, most likely but unconfirmed, wyrm-like creatures. Which gave me the idea, and I took the creative liberty there, that the Nameless Things could in fact be Basilisks.

Even the Watcher in the Water is suspected to be a Nameless Thing. Gandalf theorised that the Watcher had come from a dark lake beneath the Misty Mountains.

In the Rings of Power adaptation (which I'm only throwing in here carefully because they yeeted canon out the window to the point where it shattered and died) in the second episode, there is a creature implied to be a nameless thing, known only as The Worm when Galadriel is lost in the Great Sea. "The Great Sea, or The Sundering Seas, divides the Undying Lands from Middle-earth - where there are still nameless things in the deepest places of the world." - Chapter 5, The Two Towers.

A/N The dam: Technically, the dam in Isengard only exist in the movies.
"In the afternoon we walked round the circle, and went to have a look at what was going on. There was a great shadowy wood of Huorns at the head of the valley, and another round the northern wall. We did not dare to go in. But there was a rending, tearing noise of work going on inside. Ents and Huorns were digging great pits and trenches, and making great pools and dams, gathering all the waters of the Isen and every other spring and stream that they could find. We left them to it." - The Two Towers.

I liked the addition of the dam in the movies, which is why I decided to keep it in.