I woke up the following morning to the sound of knocking on the bedroom door, I opened it and found an elf-maiden I hadn't met before, she stood there with a tray filled with food.
"Good morning," I said sleepily.
I let the elf-maiden pass into the room and she placed the dishes on the bedside table. I watched, half asleep, as her lengthy blonde hair swayed gracefully as she moved smoothly around the room. She had grass green eyes that shone brightly and a small curve to her mouth as though trying not to laugh. There were a variety of dishes, but the egg on toast had me salivating; 'I had not expected their food to be so similar to what I was used to. I had worried there would be more - exotic foods.'
"Good morning, sir. I'm Gwathrrien and I will be tending to you for the duration of your stay here-" she inclined her head politely- "please enjoy your breakfast, if there's anything you would like, anything that you need, please let me know," she finished, her soft voice was captivating. She then went to leave the room, but turned back to me at the door. "I will return later to retrieve the dishes." She bowed slightly before she left, and gave me no chance to thank her.
With the egg on toast there was a selection of fruits: kiwi and grapes, and the meal was finished off with a tall glass of milk. Unable to wait a moment longer I ate the lot, then started getting ready for the day, it promised to be quite eventful.
I walked towards the library, I decided earlier that the garden and meditating would wait until tomorrow. 'Maybe I will find some information that will help me with my choice. Wait do they even have a library? ' As I looked around I noticed an elf-maiden as she walked in my direction, she was tall, pale with dark hair and bright eyes.
"Excuse me, miss?" I walked towards her admiring her ethereal beauty, I had caught her attention. As I stood in front of her I tried to remember the reason I'd stopped her in the first place, but it was her pale blue eyes that bore into my own making so I felt as though she might have been looking directly into my soul. She stopped in front of me, smiling.
"Hello, Harry Potter, how may I assist you?" Her voice reminded me of the sound of the little streams on my way into Rivendell, as they gently rolled over the river bed, I was dazed and took a moment before answering.
"I- I'm sorry, erm, h- how do you know my name?" My brow furrowed as I tried to remember if we'd already met, but I knew it was a meeting that I would have never forgot.
"My apologies, Harry, my father: Lord Elrond,spoke to me me about you. I was able to recognize you quite easily, there are not many men such as yourself in all of Arda." she smiled, "I am Arwen, daughter of Elrond."
"Oh! I'm sorry Lady Arwen, it's a pleasure to meet you." I bowed hastily, and then straightened just as quick when she reached out to stop me.
"Fear not, it's a pleasure to finally meet you, Harry." She paused then as though she suddenly
remembered something, she smiled. "How may I help you?" Arwen's smile grew, her eyes shined with amusement.
"Yes, I was just wondering if you have a library? I want to try and understand your world a little more…" I trailed off nervously.
"We do, I can take you there now, many of our scripts are in elvish, will you need help deciphering the language?" She turned back in the direction she came from and I easily fell into step beside her. "My father is holding a council soon, there will be someone to represent all free people's of Middle-Earth; hobbits, men, dwarves, elves and Gandalf the Grey. He is one of the Istari." Arwen's voice was soft as she spoke and stopped by a door, it wasn't far from my room.
"Istari...a wizard? Why are you telling me this?" I asked confused, after all I had never expected to be privy to their plans, I was just not used to being in the know.
"It is my father's hope that you will attend this council, and maybe you will seek his counsel before you make your choice, and maybe you will be able to make a decision there."
"I see. I'd like to see what information I can find first, I'll look through the library and if I need to I can speak to your father after? What is the council for?" I questioned as we came to a stop in front of a door.
"The council is to determine the fate of the Ring."
"A ring? Why would they need to determine the fate of a ring?" I was confused. I rubbed the back of my neck as I spoke.
"The One Ring is the centerpiece of this war, an artefact the opposing side is fighting to get a hold of. It's the Dark Lord Sauron's greatest weapon and if they were to succeed in getting it back all would be lost, he would cover the world in a second darkness," she whispered the words slowly, a sad tilt to them. Curious about this Ring, I figured it was best to research it first.
"Very well. Thank you for bringing me to the library, I won't need help translating the scripts."
"You're welcome. I must depart now, we have a patient that I must tend to." she glided past me with a parting smile, headed back in the direction we came.
I turned to the door and opened it as I stepped inside. The room's walls were covered from floor to ceiling in books, it was only medium sized and yet it managed to carry a huge number of volumes. I couldn't help but feel a pang for Hermione and how she would have squealed in delight upon walking into this room. I could remember the many days where the three of us would labour over large dusty tomes to study for exams, or one of our many escapades.
The way Ron would complain about being in the library instead of goofing off in the common room. The day we learned about Nicholas Flamel. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to stop the tears from coming, I desperately tried to get rid of the rush of memories, looking at them was like opening old wounds, the pain was almost unbearable. I opened my eyes again and after a moment my focus was once more on the heavy volumes that were stacked around the room.
The only break in the fortress of books came from a large window, the view overlooked the entrance to Rivendell: there was a stone pathway leading into Rivendell, lined by trees full of golden and orange leaves that were gently swaying in the wind. There were a few elves going about their business, three of them lead horses, presumably off to the stables. At the end of the path, there was a large stone archway, within the face of the rock delicate shapes were engraved, it seemed to be like vines creeping up and around on all sides. I turned around, once more looking at the walls filled with books.
'At least it isn't an overly large library,' I thought, relieved that this would be much easier than I had imagined. 'I had hoped that it would help distract my mind, at least for a little while; but here, all I can think about is Hermione.' I shook the thoughts away, and forced myself to concentrate. 'I wonder if I can summon what I'm looking for?' Figuring it was worth a shot, I took out Draco's old wand.
"Accio, information on the Ring." It took a few seconds before a dusty scroll came sailing through the air and landed in my palm. I was mildly surprised there weren't more. The scroll was thick and wound up tightly, it had a single black ribbon tied around it, the parchment was aged but still smooth to touch. I sat on a plush chair by the window and unraveled it. I felt surprised that I understood the foreign elegant script on the page. 'Maybe Eru decided to give me knowledge of elvish after all. I was going to try a translation spell, but this works much better.' I shrugged and began to read.
The One Ring was a powerful artefact, an artefact many believed to be lost to Anduin the Great. It was crafted by the Dark Lord Sauron during the Second Age, who had learnt the dark arts under the tutelage of Morgoth, a lord of the Valar, whom was banished to Middle-Earth by the rest of his kin. After Morgoth had been vanquished by the Valar - led by Eönwë the Herald of Manwë, Sauron beseeched Celebrimbor to learn his craft, claiming to be changed. Here the three were made.
Secretly, in the fires of Orodruin, also known as Mount Doom, Sauron created a master Ring, a ring that would dominate all life. By crafting the One Ring, Sauron aimed to gain control over the other Rings of Power. Sauron sought lordship over the Elves and all other races in Arda, so he created the nine rings of men, who above all desired power, and seven he gave to the dwarves. In order to give the One Ring enough power to accomplish domination over all other Rings of Power he poured in his cruelty and his malice, his will to dominate; within the ring Sauron placed part of his very soul.
I stopped reading, trying to keep my breathing under control.'He'd made a Horcrux! Of all things, it had to be that. Merlin that is not good at all. Damn it. It couldn't just be an excessively powerful ring could it!?' I squeezed my eyes shut, in an effort to block the image of Voldemort grinning victoriously just before it ended, it was as though he knew what would happen. The sound of talking pulled my attention back to the here and now, I glanced toward the window, noticing it was open a little bit. 'How did I not notice that?'
I turned to where the sound had been coming from, there was a small group of children entering Rivendell; three small males, and on closer inspection I realized they weren't children at all, but the creatures that the Valar had spoken to me of, Hobbits? 'I didn't expect them to be so small, he must be four foot at best.' I looked again and noticed the fourth man, he had wavy black hair that fell to his shoulders, dark eyes and a rough, careworn face, his appearance was shaggy. Memories welled up and I struggled to hold the pain in my chest at bay as a strangled sob escaped my lips.
"Sirius." I whimpered as my hands trembled, the lights in the room momentarily flickered before I reigned in my magic. 'No, he isn't Sirius, whoever he is. Sirius is gone, he fell through the Veil.' I covered my face with my hands, all my focus on breathing in and out until I had finally managed to calm down. Unable to look at the approaching party again, I took my attention back to the weathered scroll on my lap. I skimmed through the history of the Ring and how the battle had been won, I searched for something specific, something that told me about its effects and powers.
When the One Ring was put on, the person would be partly removed from the physical realm and into the unseen realm, this made the wearer invisible to physical beings. This, however, caused them to be visible to the Ringwraiths. Also known as the Nazgûl, they were neither living nor dead. The Nazgûl were those that possessed the nine ring's power given to the kings of men, now they were all servants of Sauron. Their weapons included swords of steel and daggers, while their leader also carried a black mace. Their powerful voices stroke terror into the hearts of mortals. Along with enhanced sense of hearing and smell, they see only in the unseen realm, needing a steed to guide them. Their weaknesses included fire and water.
The One Ring had a great effect on it's bearer, the first being an unnaturally strong attachment, no bearer was able to harm the ring and none were known to have been able to give it up willingly. It would extend the lifespan of a mortal who possessed it. The Ring granted some understanding of the speech of evil creatures and sharpened one's senses. The Ring gave power according to the power of the wielder and would turn the power of the bearer to evil.
The Ring, being imbued with the soul of Sauron, had the will of its true master and could call out to those around it, manipulating and enticing, this often lead to the ring passing from one bearer to the other by one killing their predecessor.
The One Ring's primary power was control over the other rings and domination over the users will. It was also capable of augmenting the abilities and powers of whoever had it. The Ring may change its size to adapt to its wearer or to escape them. If one were able to place the One Ring in a fire, it had been believed that words would appear on it's band. These words could be translated to say; One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.
I rubbed at the bridge of my nose and let all the information sink in. Going by what I skimmed in the history section, Sauron had been the Dark Lord here for an extremely long time and no one had been able to destroy the Ring, killing him for good. I felt amazed Arda had been able to hold him back for so long, and I had a feeling they won't be able to for much longer. 'I guess I've made my choice then. I won't stand by and watch as Middle-Earth falls into the hands of Sauron. We have the Ring in our possession, at least that seems to be what Arwen was saying earlier. They will be having a meeting to decide what to do with it, and it would be best if I participate and know what decision they will make. If only I had basilisk venom or a controlled space for fiendfyre, I could try those. But I can't risk the fiendfyre catching hold of anything, especially the trees. Plus it is extremely likely Sauron was able to protect the Ring from magical fires. If I can manage to get to the Ring at some point then I will take it somewhere and try the fiendfyre. The Sword of Gryffindor would once again come in handy right about now.'
I heaved a sigh, then placed the scroll back on the shelf. I decided to take some time to think about what I had learnt, and opened the door, nearly colliding with one of the Hobbits I had seen earlier.
"Oh, sorry sir!" The Hobbit quickly apologized, before he backed up slightly.
He was a couple feet shorter than me, and had shaggy dark blonde hair that went slightly past his ears. His face was gentle, he wore a half smile but there was a sadness in his brown eyes. His clothes were slightly dirty, and his feet neatly groomed.
"It's alright, Master Hobbit, I wasn't paying attention." I smiled at him slightly.
"Hullo, I'm Samwise Gamgee, but everyone just calls me Sam-" Sam reached his hand out and I shook it- "and that's Strider. He looks like a villain but he's only just gone and saved Mr. Frodo."
I wasn't sure who Frodo was but Sam gestured behind him and I moved my gaze to the man that stood off to one side. I had to hold my breath, just for a moment so I could regain my calm. I tried to maintain my composure and not allow the myriad of emotions to play on my face. It was the man from earlier, the man that reminded me of Sirius; with his curly black hair and dark eyes. He looks so like Sirius it knocked me off balance just knowing he was not Sirius even though he looked remarkably similar. I forced myself to speak up when Strider raised an eyebrow, as I had been silent for longer than was normal.
"H-hi, I'm Harry, Harry Potter. It's a pleasure to meet you both." I internally winced at the initial stutter, glad I was able to control the words better as I spoke them. Part of me waited for recognition to show in their expressions, the usual barrage of questions and exclamations about how excited they were to meet the Harry Potter. I relaxed a little bit when nothing of the sort happened. It was then I remembered that no one actually knew who I am. It would probably take a little longer to get used to being in a different world than my own. "I should be on my way, they probably have my lunch ready by now. Excuse me." I bowed my head slightly and headed back towards my bedroom.
There were new dishes on the table, this time with a salad and glass of iced tea. I quickly ate, and contemplated going to see Elrond but I brushed off the idea, I had gotten a big chunk of information already. Simply knowing the Ring was basically a Horcrux made my skin crawl. I rather doubt they know what it was they were dealing with, aside from the fact that the Ring is dangerous of course, and that it could only be destroyed in the fires of which it was made.I knew that it didn't matter how I helped, whether I fought or just told them what I knew, I just had to help. I couldn't stay out of the war, and I didn't want to fight anymore, but if that was what it came to, I would help save Middle-Earth.