Chapter 11: Let's put this Plan in Motion

When he walked out of Dumbledore's office and to the Great Hall, he realised he hadn't told Aragorn about the girl, who had asked him to the ball. Maybe that's only for the better, he thought. Because who knows, maybe Aragorn would get jealous and that wasn't really something he was looking forward too.

He entered the Great Hall and took place next to Ron.

"Hi." Ron said smiling nervously at him.

"Hello Ron, how are you doing?"

"Fine thanks, you?"

"I am fairing very well indeed."

Legolas looked at the Head Table. When he spotted Severus Snape, he was shocked to see what state the man was in. He looked weary and even worse than when he had seen him only hours before. He had his head resting in his hands and stared at his empty plate seemingly deep in thought or just half asleep. The man sure looked like he could use some rest.

The Elf wondered what could have happened today, to change the man so drastically in mere hours. Had it just to do with that potion he had mentioned before? What kind of potion was he taking and what was he needing it for?

Severus suddenly blinked, probably realising he had almost fallen asleep, Legolas mused. As the potions master now grabbed the spoon next to his plate. He began to swirl it between his lean fingers fast, but still his mind looked elsewhere.

Legolas stopped watching the Potions' Master as Dumbledore rose to begin his speech.

"Good evening everyone. As some of you might already know, Professor White is going on a short leave of absence, which means all his Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons should be cancelled."

Faint cheers could be heard amongst the students.

"But..." Dumbledore resumed, "Because I really think you are all going to need those lessons very badly in the future, I have managed to find someone willing to take over the job temporarily, namely: Remus Lupin!"

A clattering sound could be heard from the Head Table, before the entire school, except for some Slytherins started to applaud.

Legolas looked around to see where the sound had originated from and was surprised to see Snape fully alert now and staring intently at the doors. It wasn't long before they opened and revealed a shabby looking figure, with a huge grin on his face.

Remus laughed happily as he approached the Head Table, nodding and waving at some of the students as he did so. When he had reached the Teacher's table he greeted each one of them, some longer than others, before seating himself next to Severus. The Potion's Master didn't seem too happy about this, since he turned his head away disapprovingly and stared in front of him. Remus apparently hadn't noticed this, or just didn't care as he began to talk to him animatedly.

Legolas looked interested at the pair. He wondered how long Remus would keep on talking to the clearly uninterested Snape.

Ron followed his gaze up to the Head table. "Snape hates him." He stated.

"What? Why?" Legolas asked surprised.

"Well Snape really wants to teach DADA, so he hates every teacher who does. But for some unknown reason he hates Lupin even more. It probably has something to do with their past. They went to school together, you know." Ron explained, not revealing the fact that the innocent looking Remus Lupin turned into a raving werewolf each month and had once almost killed Severus, because of a foul prank played upon the both of them by the other Marauders.

"I see." Legolas replied, staring intently at the persons in question.

Snape had apparently decided that ignoring him wasn't going to shut Remus up and was now talking back to him, even though he still stubbornly refused to look at him.

When Snape finished his tale, Remus laughed loudly, laying his hand on Severus' arm, while saying something back. At this Severus looked at the man's hand before looking him in the eye his usual scowl completely gone. Lupin stopped talking and stared back for a moment, before pulling his hand away, while quickly diverting his gaze to his hands and muttering something.

"Wow, that was weird." Ron commented wide eyed. "I wonder what Snape was telling him, I have never heard him say anything funny."

"Maybe that is because he's being very professional in his work." Legolas suggested.

"Riiiiiiiight, I don't…." Ron stopped talking, when he heard Hermione gasp. "What's wr... oh." He said, immediately realising what was wrong, since she was trying hard not to stare at Legolas. When she turned her head she ended up looking at some first years a bit further down the table and gasped in shock again.

"No, no this can't be right." She muttered amazed.

"What's wrong Hermione?" Legolas questioned surprised.

"N-nothing, I just hurt my leg at the table and it's kind of painful." She lied.

"Maybe you should go and see Madam Pomfrey, love?" Ron spoke suggestively.

"Yeah, I think I'd better do that. Help me up, please." Ron grabbed her arms and lifted her up easily.

"Are you coming with us, Harry?" he asked putting an arm around Hermione's waist.

"Sure, why not."

They quickly walked away.

"But madam Pomfrey is sitting at the Head table….." Legolas called after them.

He wondered what had happened just now. It probably had something to do with him and…

He turned his head to see if there was anything wrong with the any of the first years. No, I see nothing wrong here. He said waving at the Hobbits. Wait a minute, the Hobbits, what if she somehow has found a way to discover our true identities! Nah, that can't be, can it? Dumbledore would have taken care of that, right?

He made up his mind and decided to just go after them, before further damage was done. There was no time for him to inform the others, because he had to act quickly.

"Oh my God! You are not going to believe this!" Hermione exclaimed, pulling both of the boys inside an empty classroom.

"Legolas is an Elf?" Harry asked.

"Yes, but there is more. There are four kids from the first year, who aren't who they supposed to be either. Although I don't know from which race they are."

"What! This is really beginning to get weirder with the minute!" said Harry.

"I agree, so shouldn't we inform Dumbledore or something? Who knows they may be Voldermort's spies." Hermione suggested.

"Do you really think an Elf is going to work for Voldemort? They are creatures from the light remember. They probably get ill when they get near something evil as Voldemort." Ron remarked.

"Ron, might have a point here. Why don't we just ask him."

At that precise moment the door swung open to reveal a little angry looking Legolas.

They all stared at him in shock.

"Oh my…" Hermione muttered.

"Oh my indeed! Do you know where you have gotten yourselves into? You should be glad that I realised what was going on, otherwise you could have caused us a lot of trouble!" Legolas led out a deep sigh, shaking his head a little. He had heard the first bit of the conversation all too clearly through the closed wooden door.

"What am I supposed to do with you now?"

Hermione backed away a little, having read about the Elves' powers.

"Maybe you could tell us, what is going on?" Ron suggested boldly.

The Elf smiled at this. "I think that's indeed the best solution, but it would be better if every person, who is involved is present before I proceed any further. If you could just wait for a moment, so I can tell the others. Does that sound fair to you?"

"How do we know, you aren't going to call for back up to capture or kill us?"

"My dear boy, if I wanted to. I would have killed you already by now. You're no match for me, or for any Elf for that matter. You are only children." Legolas replied laughing.

"We might be children, but we can do magic and can defend ourselves pretty well. We have encountered Voldemort many times, you know." Ron said defending themselves.

Legolas just smiled at this, turned around and started to walk away, when…

"Pertrificus Totalus."

The elf immediately froze and fell onto the floor, hard.

"Harry! Why did you do that for?" two voices asked simultaneously.

"Not sure, I just still don't thrust him completely. What if he isn't telling us the truth? Are we just going to believe him THIS easily? Don't you remember all those times, we made the exact same mistake? I'm not going to thrust anyone THAT easily ever again!"

"But what are we going to do now?" Ron asked a little panicked, looking at the clearly scared and angry Elf on the floor. "We can't just lock the guy up forever. Someone is surely going to miss him at some point."

"I know, I actually hadn't thought about that yet." Harry confessed.

"What!" Ron yelled angry. "We're doomed, we are bloody doomed!"

"Ron, calm down." Hermione spoke soothingly. "There is no need to panic. I might have a plan, I only have no idea how we are going to put it in motion."

The boys were all ears now.

"We could place a memory charm on him." Hermione whispered, afraid of even saying it out loud.

"Are you out of your mind?! We aren't qualified to do that spell yet." Ron exclaimed.

"I know someone who can perform that spell." Harry said softly. "Draco Malfoy."

"Malfoy! I'm not going to ask that slimy git for help. Besides how do you know for sure that he can perform that spell perfectly?" Ron asked surprised.

"Well, I heard him boasting about it to his friends, saying he could get away with everything, because he could wipe everyone's mind in a sec." Harry answered after a while.

"It doesn't matter whether Malfoy can perform that spell, or not." Hermione suddenly said. "Because he isn't going to help us anyway."

"Maybe he'll listen to me." Harry said, looking at his shoes.

"And why would he do that?"

"Well, hmmm … I … he … let's just say I have my ways, hah." Harry replied, while already starting to walk away to hide his flushed face.

"You aren't going to harm him, right Harry?" Hermione asked concerned.

"Who cares, it's only Malfoy after all, besides we really need that spell, don't we?" Ron replied for him.

Draco stared bored out of his bedroom window. He had finally been able to get rid of his two friends Crabbe and Goyle. Well at least they had been his friends, lately he had begun to wonder why he actually still put up with them. They were just too stupid for words, he couldn't even have a decent conversation with either one of them, which was very frustrating at times.

He suddenly blinked, startled, before the window was now flying a beautiful snow-owl.

Draco smiled, opening the window quickly. He recognised the bird only too well. It was Hedwig, Harry's owl.

He grabbed the letter on its paw and detached it. It read:

I need your help. Please come to the Owlery as soon as possible. I'll be waiting there for you.

Draco walked down the stairs swiftly and out of the Slytherin common room, before anyone could ask him anything. I wonder where he needs my help for. Draco thought curiously, practically running to the Owlery. Luckily he didn't bump into anybody on his way over and reached his destination in no time. He threw the door open, looking around frankly for the raven-black haired boy. A broad smile crept unto his face as he spotted him sitting in a far away corner.

"Harry." He said, walking up to him.

The other boy stood up and hugged him tightly. "Hey Drac."

"Why did you…." Draco soon stopped talking as he was cut of by Harry, who started to kiss him fiercely.

"Later." He muttered, letting his hands travel around Draco's back.

"Fine with me." The Slytherin breathed, giving in completely in the other boy's touch.

After a few minutes Harry pulled away reluctantly, panting slightly.

"I'd better tell you what's wrong." Harry started.

"Alright, go ahead."

"Do you know Legolas, the new seventh year Gryffindor?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, what about him? You aren't seeing him, are you?" Draco demanded to know, glaring at Harry now.

"No Dray, of course not! What kind of person do you think I am? Anyways that's not the point. Hermione found out a lot about him and we discovered that he isn't who he claims to be." Draco looked a little confused now, but listened silently as his supposed to be arch-enemy explained him everything.

"You really put a freezing charm on him? Wicked!" Draco said, when Harry had finished telling all there was need to be said. "I don't know about the memory charm though. My father did teach it to me, but that's quite some time ago. I hope I can still cast it perfectly."

"You could at least try." Harry suggested.

"I know and I will, but I don't know what the consequences may be, if I perform it incorrectly." Draco responded.

"Alright, now the only thing left to do, is to come up with a very, very good excuse, why you agreed to help me." Harry said thoughtfully.

"Well that's easy. Let's just say we made a bet. You know whether I could actually perform the spell, or not." Draco said simply.

"That's brilliant!" Harry smiled, hugging his boyfriend tightly, before kissing him passionately.

"Now, let's put this plan into motion."