A/N I realise that there's a lot of lore involved in Tolkien's world that the average casual fan may not be familiar with. (I certainly wasn't until my brain decided it wanted to write this story). I will try to explain things to the best of my abilities in A/Ns at the bottom of each chapter, but if you want to delve a little deeper, I recommend using the lotr fandom website and the lotrproject website. If there's something you don't quite understand, it'll tell you everything you need to know.

Chaos at Hogwarts

The Great Lake was fenced off with ribbons and with magic. Half the Department of Security from the Ministry of Magic had shown up, searching the Lake inch by inch in search of any clue or sign of Lily and Severus's whereabouts. Students of age were also permitted to volunteer for the search, and many would after class, using Bubble-Head charms and the supply of Professor Sprout's Gillyweed to go down into the depths of the Lake. Even the Merpeople, who normally did not meddle in the affairs of wizards, had gone off in search of them, and frequently came up with reports baring empty news.

The Daily Prophet seemed to be covering every minute of the disappearance, giving updates in both morning and evening edition. Interviews were held with students of all Houses, asking about who they knew Severus and Lily to be. Were they friends? Were they foes? Had they ever fallen out before? And were they lovers? How did the two ever meet? What was their childhood in Cokeworth like? When it became known that Lily was a Muggle-born witch and Severus a half-blood wizard in Slytherin, there was very little room left for other news on the pages of the Daily Prophet.

'Dumbledore's pacing around his office again,' said James. When he was certain that the Gryffindor common room was free of other students, he opened the Marauder's Map in front of his friends and pointed at the inky little feet. 'It seems to be getting worse with each day.' James, along with Sirius, Remus and Peter had bent over the Map as often as time could spare them. They frantically searched for any sign that Lily and Severus were out there, somewhere. The school grounds were also covered in their Map, including the Lake, but there had been no sign of their nametags ever since their disappearance. It made them fear the worst, as names would not show up if a person were dead. 'I think we should search the westside again.'

'We've already covered every square inch of the westside, Prongs, twice,' said Sirius, and placed a hand on James's shoulder in reassurance. 'At some point you'll have to understand that there is nothing more than we can do.'

'I can't accept that,' said James, shaking his head. 'I've spoken to her parents this morning. I've told them my thoughts about that Snivellus! Of all his dark and dangerous philosophies – and they wouldn't hear of it! Said they were very happy that she met him, and that he was considered a part of the family ever since he set foot over their threshold. That their falling out was nothing more than a quarrel that could be resolved with time. If only they knew! He must've cast some bloody spell on them to think of him that –'

'—At the ripe old age of nine?' Remus interrupted. 'I'm sorry Prongs. I know your mind is set on hating and blaming Snape for her disappearance, but I simply cannot believe that to be true.'

'I know, I know,' James said as he waved it off. 'I'm just angry, and I feel powerless. And the bloody Daily Prophet is not doing her any favours by proclaiming she's a Muggle-born for the whole world to know. These are dangerous times, and now even Dumbledore seems to be at a loss. The whole situation is dire!'

'Agreed,' said Peter. 'But what else can we do but to continue our search and hope for the best?'

James shoved the Map away in frustration. 'It's been too long,' he said, his voice thick with emotion. 'All I'm hoping for is that they're not in the Lake, because if they are, they will surely have drowned. And if they're not. Where could they be? How could they have disappeared from a Lake that goes nowhere?'

…o0o…

Dumbledore was fiddling with his Elder Wand between his fingers, his light-blue robes billowing behind him as he circled around his office. He had been visiting the Evanses and the Snapes in Cokeworth this morning, again, this time bringing along some of Lily's friends to talk about what happened. Not that anyone was getting any wiser, as her friends had neither seen nor heard anything during the moment of their disappearance. Stories of the turbulent relationship between Severus and Lily were shared. Parents in tears. Friends in tears, fearing the worst of the situation.

And so, he paced around till lines started to form on his office floor. His students were no longer in the Lake. Of that he was certain. For the Ministry's sake, he needed to keep up the appearance and keep the castle occupied with the search so that he would have time to think, to really think, on what to do next.

These were dark times in the world in which he had once decided to settle in. And now, dark times were coming to the world he had once left behind. Little over thirty years ago, he believed to have put an end to it all. To live a mortal life in this mortal land. But this choice had come at a great cost. For Gellert Grindelwald, as he had named himself on the day that his feet touched the ground of this new land, did not like the idea of mortality. But Grindelwald was bound to him the moment he chose to bring him, for he loved him so he could not part with him from the Undying Lands after the summons of Oromë.

Bound together they were, and yet their souls felt spliced in half when arriving in Middle-Earth. They had roamed and wandered and fought. With swords and staves, they had inflicted wounds on one another that cut deeper than the flesh they had been given by the Valar. And they healed one another. Slept together under the stars of Varda. Ate the fruit of Yavanna's trees and drank from the rivers created by Nienna's tears.

By Law of the Valar, they had been forbidden to dominate and rule over the Free People of Middle-Earth, for they were there to roam Middle-Earth as equals of the Free People, and this proved to be hard on Grindelwald, for it was easy for him to wield his staff, and have people bow before him. The power corrupted his heart, and it is why he was set on heading East as there lay the realm of Rhûn, where many Men fought amongst each other, and were therefore weakened and easily persuaded.

And all this time he had kept Kémya hidden from him. For the ring was invisible around his finger, rather than making the wearer invisible. The ring had been entrusted to him by Círdan the Shipwright, Master of the Grey Havens, who had received three of the four rings from Gil-Galad, and Gil-Galad had received these rings from Celebrimbor, the forger of the Rings of Power, and who had sent them away for safekeeping.

The ring had given him light. And flowers and trees blossomed where he stood, and it made Grindelwald jealous of him, for admiration did not come easy to him without wielding his power. At the height of his drunken desire for power, he had corrupted the Easterlings into worshipping magic, and create foul things with it, and rather than uniting them, the division of the Men of the East only grew wider and more dangerous than before.

Fearing that soon Grindelwald would find out about his secret, he challenged him to a duel. But the duel could not be held in the East, for first he challenged him to find the Great Lake that lay hidden underneath the ruins of Helcar and Ringil in the middle of Arda. And from there he would have to find the Isle of Almaren, that was once the first home of the Valar. And on that island, he could prove himself to be the Greatest of all Wizards.

Desperate to prove himself as the Greatest of All in the presence the Valar, Grindelwald took on him the challenge, and indeed he found remnants of the very ruins of Helcar and Ringil, hidden deep and forgotten into the grassy plains in the middle of the World. From there, he called upon the Dwarves to help him dig. And with the Dwarves he dug deep tunnels, and in the depths, he found the waters of the Great Lake. The Great Lake poured out from underneath the earth, drowning those who were still delving and dwelling in the deep, and on its surface, it formed a circle around grassy land. The first home of the Valar had been restored to its former glory, and Grindelwald was ready for the duel long promised.

They had set sail to the shore of Almaren, and he was ready to accept whatever faith would befall on him once they stepped onto land. The walked their way up to the very middle, their staves held high into the air. And as they bowed to one another out of respect for the choice they had made, a rumbling fell over them as loud as thunder, and a voice spoke with a tongue of lightening.

Aulë, the Vala of Invention had struck down in between them. He stood tall and mighty, and his beard burned with the flames of his Forge. Angered that the blood of Dwarves, the beings of his own creation, had been spilled in the recovery of the Isle of Almaren. 'You shall not fight but one wizard, Rhómestámo!' he bellowed to Grindelwald. 'But I curse you, and you shall fight many, many more! And you, Mohrinehtar, it is on you that he may never spill blood again, for you are bound to him by choice, and must live with the consequences of your choice!' He raised his hammer up high and struck it down with one mighty blow, and within that mighty blow, he disappeared. The ground trembled and quaked. Waves of the Great Lake came rolling in over the surface of Almaren as treacherous as if it were a stormy sea. The waves swept them of their feet and pulled them under, and the earth closed in on them, covering them in a darkness darker than the Void.

The first thing he saw as he floated to the surface was Kémya slipping of his finger, as though it wanted to return home, and buried itself amongst the seaweed of the Great Lake. The second thing he saw was the sight of a thousand candles floating in the air, illuminating the most beautiful castle he had ever seen. The third, a bumblebee sitting on a white flower.

The recollection of his memories on how he came to be in the Land of Wizards caused him great shame, and tears dripped down to the tip of his crooked nose. It was time to reopen the book that had been closed. It was time to pay Nurmengard a visit.

…o0o…

The four Marauders, along with Alice and Mary, were standing on the edge on the westside of the Great Lake. The harsh wind that carried the brown and golden leaves away from its trees made it evident that Autumn had turned around the corner. 'Well, what are we waiting for?' said Peter. 'It's cold out here!'

'I'm just terrified of the thought of what we would see if we do find them,' Remus answered.

'Let's not dwell on it for now,' said Mary. 'Finding them would be terrible. Not finding them would even be worse. Everyone, hold your hands up. I got the Gillyweed.'

One by one, they dove into the Great Lake, their wands held high to guide them into the dark. Along the way they met some other students and Ministry officials, but none had anything to say.

'Now, if you were Snivellus,' said James with great disdain, 'what would you want to show Lily down here?'

'They're Slughorn's favourites,' said Sirius after thinking for a while. 'There's no denying that ol' Snivy surpasses Slughorn's brewing abilities, and Lily's a close second, I'd say. I think they might've found some interesting Potion ingredients.'

'Good one,' Alice replied. 'Too bad none of us pay as much attention as they do te plants, so I've no idea as to where te start.'

'Well,' Peter said carefully, 'what about the Slytherin common room? You can see it from down here, so maybe he wanted to show her that?'

'I wouldn't be surprised,' said Remus. 'I know I would be curious to see it. Let's go make our way over there.'

The group followed Remus down a trench, and there they found the moss-covered maze of the dungeons that led to the glass dome of the Slytherin common room. 'Looks a lot nicer than I imagined,' said Mary as the group peaked through the glass, 'but no sign of them around here, either.'

'The Lake goes even further down from here,' said James darkly as he pointed at the nothingness below. 'I'd say we give it a try.'

The dove deeper and deeper until the light from their wands bounced back against the bottom of the Lake. Peter gasped. 'Are you all seeing what I'm seeing?'

'What is it, Peter?' said James as he frantically looked around. 'All I see is sand.'

'That's the bloody point!' Peter squeaked back. 'There's seaweed everywhere, but not here! Come, take a closer look.'

All six students pointed their wands straight at the spot Peter had mentioned. It took a moment before everyone realised what they were looking at. A crater, so large it could only be seen in full if you were swimming high above it, had been blasted into the bottom of the Lake. And since no seaweed nor moss grew on it, they knew it had to be fresh.

A/N Vala is singular, Valar is plural.
A/NOromë is one of the Valar and known as the Lord of the Forest. It was he who decided that Alatar had to be send to Middle-Earth to protect the Free People from the rise of Sauron. He was active in the struggles against Morgoth, who was the first Dark Lord in Arda, of whom Sauron was his most powerful servant.
A/N Varda was the most beautiful of all the Valar, and she created the stars in the sky (amongst other beautiful things).
A/N Yavanna Kementári, also a Vala, is considered to be the Queen of the Earth, as she created the first things that grew in the world. Plants and trees, and she loved trees most of all.
A/N Nienna is the Valar who weeps. During the Music of the Ainur, it was her who introduced grief into the World in the beginning. Gandalf was her greatest pupil who once dwelled in her halls, and she taught him pity amongst other things before being chosen to be send to Middle-Earth. From the writings of Tolkien we only know that Nienna wore grey, and it is rumoured that Gandalf chose his grey attire in her honour.
A/N Aulë is a Vala and is the husband of Yavanna. He was responsible for fashioning and crafting is substances of which Arda is composed of. He was a smith and forged Helcar and Ringil. He also created the dwarves against Eru Illúvatar's will.
A/N Canonically Círdan received two rings from Gil-Galad, which were Narya en Vilya. He passed them on to Elrond (Vilya) and Gandalf (Narya). The third ring, Nenya, went directly to Galadriel.
A/N The Years of the Lamps was the first of the three great periods in Arda. The valar Yavanna and Aulë created the pillars of Helcar and Ringil. On Helcar in the North stood Illuin, the sky-blue lamp. On Ringil in the South stood Ormal, the high-gold lamp. The two lamps illuminated all Arda and were destroyed by Melkor (who later became known as Morgoth for stealing the Silmarils). The Valar lived on the Isle of Almaren, which was in the middle of Arda, surrounded by what they called the Great Lake.
A/N Fun fact! Tolkien popularised the term 'dwarves' as the official plural form of dwarf is 'dwarfs.' He did it to differentiate between dwarfs as a fantasy race (such as the ones from Snow White, which were simple beings) and his own dwarves, which were derived from Norse mythology.
A/N Albus is latin for White. Dumbledore is Old English for bumblebee. I still think his Patronus should've been a bumblebee instead of a phoenix.