Chapter 7: The suspicion grows!

"Okay, who wants to be the Keeper?" Hermione asked, glancing at Ron.

"Me." He said immediately. "If no one else wants the job, of course." He added quickly, looking around to see if anyone would object.

When nobody said anything, he smiled. "Well, I'll take that as a no."

Soon they all knew their positions. Hermione and two Hufflepuff girls were the Chasers, who were supposed to put the Quaffle through one of the three hoop's. Seamus and yet another Hufflepuff girl were the Beaters, whose tasks were to protect their team-mates from round flying bludgers and knocking them to their opponents. Legolas was chosen to be the Seeker.

He thought it wouldn't be too hard to locate the little Snitch, but catching it was another thing, especially with Harry as opponent.

His advanced elven sight came in handy now.

As soon as all the balls were released, he quickly looked around in search of the Golden Snitch. In mere seconds he had found it and dove towards it. He accelerated his speed as he saw Harry following him closely. Soon Harry had closed in on him and they were flying next to each other. The snitch went suddenly higher, forcing them to pull up quickly and speed towards it once more. It seemed like the snitch knew they almost had it, because now it suddenly went downwards in a straight line. They both followed again, still side to side.

Legolas was so fixated on the Golden Snitch that he had little eye for everything else.

Therefore he noticed too late that a bludger was coming towards him on high speed. He felt the bludger hitting his thigh hard, knocking him off his broomstick. He quickly turned around cat like and landed gracefully onto the ground. As he cradled his side he looked towards Harry and to his dismay he saw that he had caught the Golden Snitch.

By Elbereth! We just lost the game, because of me!

"Legolas, are you alright?" Hermione asked concerned, landing next to him.

"Yes." He said a little grumpy.

"Are you sure. That bludger seemed to hit you really hard."

"I am faring perfectly well." He said with a dignified huff.

"Well, if you say so."

After an uncomfortable silence, Hermione asked again:

"That was a nice landing you made just yet. Where have you learned to do that? If I'd been knocked off my broom like that I probably wouldn't be standing here, but lying on the floor in great pain. You looked like a cat or something."

"I do not know. I suppose it was just a reflex." Legolas murmured.

Their conversation was interrupted when madam Hooch told them, that they would play another game, because this one had ended so quickly.

Legolas mounted his broom again and flew towards Harry. He could feel his thigh throbbing painfully, but he choose to ignore it and just focussed onto the little golden ball, which was about to be released. It flew around him and wished away in a blink of an eye. Legolas searched the field with his beautiful green eyes. He had soon spotted the Golden Snitch again. Only this time he decided to change his tactics. He saw that Harry hadn't spotted the snitch yet and was now looking intently at Legolas. The Elf pretended to see the snitch in the opposite direction of its true position. As soon as Legolas started to move, Harry was on his tail. When Legolas noticed his pursuit he turned around sharply and speeded towards the opposite direction. Harry, confused, stopped in mid air and turned around to see what he was doing. Too late he realised that it had been a trap and he watched in horror as Legolas caught the Golden Snitch easily. How could he have been so stupid? Harry thought miserable. He'd just lost from a beginner. What a let-down!

Ron cheered loudly as madam Hooch blew her whistle and told them that his team had won this match.

Both teams landed on the soft grass and walked together towards Hooch.

"Well, this was yet another short game, but I don't think we have enough time to start a third. I must say that Mr Greenleaf did well for his first match. You seem to be a natural." She said, smiling up to him. "That's it for today class. I hope to see you all again on Thursday."

Harry walked up to him as they strolled away. "You really are a good seeker, are you sure you haven't played quidditch before?" he asked only half serious.

"Yes, I am sure." He told him kindly.

"How did you locate the snitch so fast?" Harry now asked a bit suspicious.

"I do not know. I think it was just a stroke of luck." He replied casually, looking at the young boy.

"But you did locate it twice, within one minute or so." He continued, seeming to demand an explanatory answer.

Legolas remained silent, not knowing what Harry wanted to hear from him. He had to be careful that Harry didn't get too suspicious, then he would be in some real trouble. And not only him, but his friends and their mission as well.

"Hey Legolas." Ron said running up to them, with Neville at his side. "Great game! Would you like to play a game of Wizard's Chess with me? All the others won't play with me any more, because they are afraid of getting their asses kicked!" he said smirking at Harry.

"I would love to, but unfortunately I have to go to Headmaster Dumbledore now and after that I have an appointment with Professor Strider. He is going to bring me up to date with Herbology."

"Really?" Neville asked. "Can I come with you? I wanted to question him about a few things myself."

"That might not be such a good idea. He has to explain lots of things to me, so I do not know if he has enough time." Legolas explained to him, trying to sound as friendly as possible, as his mind started to scream. They will not ruin my only alone time with Aragorn this week!

"Oh, can I come too?" Hermione begged, who had joined them as well by now. "I really need to ask him about the "Madeliefje" it's such an interesting plant."

Legolas sighed. Brilliant, there went his spare time with Aragorn. There would probably be something else tonight too, to keep them busy. There just had to be! The forces weren't with them on this one. He probably wasn't supposed to do these things on this kind of mission. But he was so completely in love with Aragorn that he couldn't act otherwise even if he wished to.

"Alright, I will come and get you as soon as I am finished with Dumbledore."

"Thank you."

"Ah Legolas, come on in. How was you're first day at school?" Dumbledore asked him, motioning him to sit down.

"Very interesting. I have learned all kinds of things and met some very nice people." He answered politely, trying to suppress the annoyance he was feeling towards Neville and Hermione.

"That's good to hear. Well, I think it would be best if we'd started right away."

"Thank you, sir."

"You're welcome Legolas. But I'm not the one you should thank, because it was you, who had to perform the spells right." Dumbledore smiled. "Oh and please call me Albus. At least when we're alone. You're the elder and royal one here, remember."

Legolas laughed. "I guess you're right Albus. Maybe you should call me Prince Legolas from now on then." He joked.

Aragorn was waiting expectantly for his lover to arrive. He couldn't wait to be in his arms again and to kiss his soft lips. He walked towards the door as he heard footsteps approaching.

Wait a minute. Legolas walks soundless. Maybe he has learned to walk loudly on purpose?! He thought by himself. When he looked out of the many windows he saw to his disappointment a very sad looking Legolas accompanied by a girl and a boy.

"Hello, professor Strider. I hope you don't mind that Neville and Hermione are here too. They apparently needed your help with their homework." Legolas explained, swallowing his anger.

"Of course I do not. Come on in and tell me how I can be of assistance."

"Well, I would like to know, if maybe you know of some books with some background information about the 'Madeliefje'." Hermione said.

"Of course I do. Just wait a minute and I'll try to find the list in this mess that is my desk." Aragorn laughed. He started to search through all kinds of papers at his desk and in it's drawers. "Sorry, I cannot find it." He concluded after a few minutes. "I just haven't had the time to organize everything yet. You know what. I will go to the library after dinner and make a new list, and as soon as I have finished I will copy it and give it to you, alright?"

"That sounds great! Thanks professor." Hermione said happily. "Oh, but do you know the password?"

"Not yet! But I am betting you can give it to me." Aragorn smiled.

"Of course I can. It's: Pig snout."

"Right." He said, while writing it down on his hand. "This way I will not lose it." He added, when he saw the strange look on Hermione's face. "Unless of course someone chops of my hand.

So Neville what was it that you would like to know?"

"Well sir, professor Sprout used to give me private lessons, so I could keep getting good grates. I was wondering if you could help me too. Maybe I can just sit and listen to what you tell Legolas, that alone would help a lot."

"I see, well I think that is not going to be a problem. You do have to remember that I am going to discuss not only the subjects from this year, but also those from the previous ones with Mr Greenleaf. Maybe it would be better if you guys come to me separately from now on."

"Yes, I think the professor has a point here." Legolas popped in. "It would be an insufficient use of your time otherwise."

"I guess you're right, but I don't think that I could ever get enough of Herbology!"

"Now that is settled, I think it would be best if we started with the 'Madeliefje', Legolas, because it is one of the more recent subjects." Aragorn said suggestively.

"Oh, can I please stay, professor. Because I think the plant is fascinating." Hermione begged.

"Why not." Aragorn smiled weakly.

Legolas looked at him, his eyebrows drawn in question. He only shrugged in return, he couldn't send them away now, besides they probably had enough time some other day.

When they walked back to the castle together, Aragorn pulled Legolas beside him.

I'm sorry. I just couldn't come up with a good reason to tell them no. Aragorn explained to him in Elfish

I understand. At what time are we going to patrol tonight?

We?? What are you talking about?
Argh, I wanted it to be a surprise. Dumbledore found a solution. He cave me an invisibility cloak.

That is wonderful news! Aragorn replied enthusiastically, when he was about to hug Legolas he saw Hermione and Neville looking at them in awe.

"What kind of language is that? I never heard of it before. It's beautiful." Hermione questioned.

"Well… hmmm… it is a language called Dutch, yes that's it."

"Really, I've been in the Netherlands on a holiday and their language sounded quite different

to me."

"Ah, you see many people make that mistake, but you have all kinds of sub- languages there and this one is called 'Fries' ."

Legolas looked at him surprised. He knew Aragorn had studied the world they'd be going to, but he was amazed that he would remember such detailed information.

"Right." Hermione said still a little suspicious. "So you're both from Holland?"

"Yes." They said in unison. "Although we lived in Australia for a few years." Aragorn added with a smile, hoping feverishly that the girl would buy his story.

"I see."

As they entered the Great Hall Aragorn said goodbye and headed towards the High Table, the rest took seat at the Gryffindor table.

"So, did you find out what you wanted to know?" Ron asked.

"Yes, and even more." Hermione spoke mysteriously.

Ron was about to ask her about it, when Dumbledore rose and quieted them all.

"If I may have your attention please…. Thank you. As most of you probably know, next week Hogwarts exists exactly a thousand years and that of course is in need of a celebration. So as from upcoming Monday there will be all kinds of festivities and no classes."

The entire Hall sheered and applauded. When everyone had calmed down a bit, Dumbledore resumed. "You all will receive the exact program on Friday, I'm not going to give the all the details away, but I can tell you that there is going to be a ball, a quidditch tournament and all kind of other competitions. I hope you will all enjoy yourselves." With that he sat down and the food appeared on the tables.

While enjoying their meals the students chatted excitingly about the upcoming week.