Chapter 9: Little slip ups

The following morning Legolas woke with a start.

Oh God, what time is it?

He looked at the sun and figured it was something around 7 o'clock, he didn't really know the exact time as this sun made different orbits around the planet as the one from Middle Earth.

Either way, it was bad! All the kids from his dormitory were probably awake now and wondering where in the hell he was. He quickly untangled himself from Aragorn's limbs, waking him up in the progress.

"W-what are you doing?" he asked, stifling a yawn.

"We overslept, my love. I'm trying to get us out of some more trouble by leaving now."

"By the Valar, I was having such a nice dream. It involved me, you and some deli…."

"Maybe some other time Estel. We really must hurry." Legolas interrupted him.

"Right, right, I'm sorry." He said, standing up and straitening his robes, before following Legolas out of the forest.

Legolas and Aragorn had parted ways as soon as they were inside Hogwarts, so not the arouse any more suspicion.

Alright, I have to make something up, maybe go somewhere.

Think, think Legolas, this is what you are good at, you know how to make dozens of believable excuses out of the top of your hat. You are a Prince after all.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

YES!! I've got it! I'm going to go to the library, pretend I had to look something up! Yes that's it.

Now what sort of books am I going to get?

Ah, I know some Herbology books. Everybody thinks I am getting private lessons anyway!

By Elbereth, my father would be proud of the cleverness of me.

Legolas grinned.

When he reached the library he blindly grabbed some books of the shelves in the Herbology section. He intended to go the Great Hall as soon as possible.

"Hey Prince Legolas."

He spun around as he heard someone saying his name and his appropriate title nonetheless.

He soon spotted the person, who had called him and wasn't surprised to see who it was: Pippin accompanied by his best friend Merry.

"Don't ever call me THAT again!" Legolas spoke angrily, glaring at the little Hobbit, while he strolled up to them. "You do realise you're endangering the mission, do you not?" he hissed.

Pippin looked a little scared at Legolas now. He had never seen the Elf this mad.

"I was only joking. I know you hate that title, sorry." He said in a small voice.

Legolas let out an exasperate sigh. Sometimes he really didn't know for sure if the Hobbit was merely joking or just plain stupid!

"It is alright. Please do not let it happen again." He sighed, smiling a little. "So, what have you little folk been up to lately. I heard you got yourselves in trouble ALREADY."

"Well, I…. We that is, hmmm." Merry started.

"They just kill animals for no reason, what so ever. So when we didn't want to see yet another animal killed, Professor McGonagall got kind of pissed off." Pippin said, clearly angry about the fact.

"They don't kill animals, Pippin, of what I have heard. She just turned a frog back into a stone. It had been a stone all his life. It wouldn't have known how to feed itself or how to walk or jump for that matter. So, it would have died anyway……. And yes the same goes for the turtles." He added quickly, when he saw that Pippin was about to bring them up.

"Are you sure about that Legolas?"

"Yes, positive."

"OH, okay, then it's alright I suppose."

"So you won't cause any trouble in Transfiguration?" Legolas asked, looking at them sharply.

"No, we won't cause any more trouble in TRANSFIGURATION, right Pippin?" Merry asked innocent.

"Right!" Pippin answered, smiling mischievously.

Legolas couldn't bring himself to keep up the straight face and let out a chuckle.

"Just do not do anything, I would not do, alright?" He grinned, before walking away.

"Ah Legolas, there you are. Where have you been?" Ron questioned, when Legolas seated himself at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall.

"I merely went to the library. I needed to get some books about Herbology." He said casually.

"I see." He mumbled a little suspicious, sharing a look with Harry and Hermione.

Uh-oh this does not look good. What am I supposed to do now? Legolas wondered.

Deciding it would be best to just change the topic he quickly turned around to face Harry: "Harry, I was wondering: do you still need a new Quidditch team member?"

"No sorry, we don't. Ron has become our new Keeper."

"Oh, alright."

There was an awkward pause. Legolas could almost touch the tension that was currently present in the air. Finally the tension was broken, by the most unfortunate person, who would only arouse the suspicion of the three even more.

"Good morning. Greenleaf, could I please have a word with you?" came a voice from behind. Legolas turned around to see Gandalf standing behind him.

"Sure professor." As he stood up. He saw that the Hobbits and Aragorn were already waiting by the door. Great! This will only make us look more suspicious!

They all walked silently to an empty classroom, where Gimli was already waiting.

"Gimli!" the Hobbits exclaimed, running up to him. "It's so good to see you again."

"The pleasure is all mine, my dear friends." The Dwarf said, while a warm smile appeared on his face. "So crazy Elf, how have you been faring lately?" He said turning towards his Elven friend.

"Pretty good actually. My staying here has been rather enjoyable. What about yours, stupid Dwarf?"

"Not so good unfortunately, but I'll explain about that later, because there's something Gandalf is meaning to tell you first." He said, looking at the old wizard expectantly.

"Thank you Gimli. You are probably all wondering why you were dragged away from your breakfast so abruptly. Well there have been some negative changes lately. Voldemort, or should I say Sauron has started to gather followers again. We know this as a fact, as Severus Snape is a spy for Dumbledore and has been posing for a Death Eather for some years now. All Death Eaters have some kind of permanent drawing on their arms; a large skeleton skull, which represents the Dark Side. When Voldemort regains his strength the tattoo starts to burn, summoning all Death Eathers to go and find Voldemort and bundle their strength again. Their first meeting found place two days ago and Severus has told us that Voldemort has somehow regained knowledge about our presence here and isn't all too pleased about it, because ….well we defeated him only year ago and he has not forgotten that all too lightly, I suppose." He added smiling a little. "Plus there is also Harry Potter, who has defeated him on several occasions. That may sound a little strange to you, but time travels much faster here. Three weeks in our world is the same as roughly one year in this universe. I think it would be best if we don't inform the boy yet. He has suffered too much already."

"How so?" Pippin interrupted Gandalf curiously.

"Well for one his parents were murdered by the Dark Lord thirteen years ago and one of their friends has spend more over decade in Azkaban, a mind killing prison, which is guarded by some horrible creatures known as Dementors, who suck all pleasant thoughts out of your mind. Oh, this reminds me." He said, looking towards Legolas. "It would be rather unpleasant especially for you, my friend, if you'd ever face them, because I wouldn't be surprised if they could suck your inner light out of you in a second or at least dim it. Either way, just avoid them as much as possible and you should be safe."

"I'll try my best." Legolas said, shrugging a little. He couldn't even imagine creature more horrible than Orcs or the Uruk Hai. He would probably be able to face them anyway. What could possible be so different about these Dementors, besides he could take care of himself just fine! There was no need to baby him!!!

"There are much more traumatizing things I could name about Harry Potter's past." Gandalf continued. "which I won't tell you now. If you're really interested in the matter, I'm sure you can find lots of books in the library about him and his past.

Either way the point is, is that Voldemort is planning an attack on Hogwarts somewhere in the next couple of weeks. I know that's very vague, but that's all that he would tell Severus. He still doesn't trust our Professor very much, so make sure not to slip anything about this to your fellow students, because that would probably mean his immediate dead." The old wizard warned, looking especially towards Merry and Pippin.

"What is he looking at us for?" Pippin whispered to his friend.

"I don't know? He probably doesn't trust us or something. Like we would ever tell anyone about this meeting." Merry whispered back a little hurt.

Gandalf looked at them sternly, shutting them both up, before continuing with his dreadful story. "Dumbledore and I have been talking about this situation for a long time, before finally reaching a decision. I will go back to Middle Earth for a short while. Lady Galadriel will there help me make a potion, which can suck Sauron's spirit out of Tom Riddle's body and trap him. It shouldn't be too hard to destroy him afterwards. A simple evaporating spell will do. The only point is that the potion will have to be thrown upon his body for it to work. We just have to think about that one yet. If you have any suggestions, please give them to me or Dumbledore for that matter, since I'm leaving the day after tomorrow. A new teacher will take over my classes in the period I'm gone, but he could only reach Hogwarts in two days from now. He also knows about our true reason for being here, so don't worry if he asks you some questions.

Well I guess that's all for now. As soon as I have new information I'll inform you about it."

He ended, dismissing them all.

Gimli escorted Legolas and Gandalf to their classroom. Legolas had his first Defence against the Dark Arts lesson today.

"So crazy Elf what have you been up to lately?"

"Probably much more than you, stupid Dwarf."

"And why is that?"

"Well first of all, I'm much faster than you are, so naturally I get things done much quicker and second I have this natural charm, which makes people do anything I ask from them." He joked, speaking in an airily voice. "And we all know you're not the most……."

"Stop right there, Wood fanatic, if you know what's best for you."

"Did I hear you correctly, Cave freak, was that a threat, because if it was you should have known better. Everybody knows you're no match for me. You would be dead before your first stroke fell, you know that." Legolas teased, trying to provoke the Dwarf.

"Well…, you … YOU OBNOXIOUS PIG!!!" Gimli yelled, storming towards Legolas.

The latter evaded him easily, looking quite amused.

Maybe I should let Gimli attack me, that should make things more interesting.

They had reached the classroom by now and everybody was staring at them. Most of the students looked a little scared at the Dwarf, who was clearly furious.

Gandalf looked at the couple bemused, letting them play their little game for now.

As Gimli dived at Legolas again, he was surprised to find that the Elf didn't move away and let him slump him to the floor. Unfortunately for the Dwarf, his feelings of victory soon evaporated as he realised too late that it was merely a trap and Legolas was just toying with him. The Mirkwood Prince quickly pushed the Dwarf off his body and pinned him beneath him.

"Are you willing to take back your earlier statement?" Legolas asked teasingly.

"Never!!!" Gimli answered, looking very smug all of the sudden.

Legolas feared that something bad was to come and…. He was right.

The Dwarf grabbed Legolas by his ears pulling at them hard. His victim cried in pain and shock, quickly releasing Gimli to try to get him to stop this terrible torture.

As soon as Legolas pulled away, Gimli released him.

"By the Valar, Gimli, was that really necessary? You know that my ears are VERY sensitive. I hope for your sake that it hasn't effected my hearing in any way, otherwise you could be in a lot of trouble and not only with me!" Legolas said glaring at the Dwarf, rubbing his ears gently. He really didn't like this, but he had to admit that Gimli had defeated him, even if it was with a little foul play.

"Right." Gandalf interrupted the two. "I think that's enough for today, don't you both agree?"

They nodded silently.

"Well, if you are all ready, I would like to start my class now." He turned towards the Elf. "Do you need to see madam Pomfrey?"

"Who?"

"Madam Pomfrey, the school's nurse?"

"Oh, no thank you. I'm fine." Legolas said, trying to smile a little. His ears still burned like hell, but there was no way that he was going to see the nurse. First of all this was nothing compared to the pain he had experienced on the Quest and second he didn't like that woman Pomfrey at all. She'd probably be all over him again and this time there was no Aragorn to come to the rescue. He smiled at the thought of his lover, he hoped he would see him again tonight.

"Well, crazy Elf, I'll……What??" Gimli asked as he saw Legolas looking at him a little anxious and angry. "Oh." Soon Gimli realized what he had said. He had become so used in calling his friend that way, that he hadn't even realised what he had said, when it was already too late. He looked around casually, seeing if anyone had noticed his little slip up. Fortunately there was only one girl looking at him strangely, but that didn't have to mean anything. Maybe she was still shocked by their little fight and well… he had to admit he still looked out of the ordinary even without his beard and his armour suite.

He smiled at the girl, before swiftly saying goodbye to his friends. It would be best to disappear right away, maybe then she would just forget about the whole incident, the Dwarf mused.

"Come on class, let's go inside and actually learn something valuable today." Gandalf called out, ushering them all inside the large classroom.