Incendio

Ch.5 There and back again

"When I said I wanted to help be part of the rebuilding I think I failed to grasp just how much rebuilding there would actually be," Harry complained as he held a large stone column in place for the dwarf masons to seal it in place.

He may have been a dragon but he'd been holding up this massive, solid stone column for hours, and it was beginning to make his shoulders ache.

"Just a little longer," the lead mason assured.

Harry sighed and resigned himself to continue to hold the column for another hour at least. He'd learned over the last few months of repair that a dwarf's idea of a little longer and his own vastly differed.

It had been several months since the battle for Erebor had ended. The first week had been a series of celebrations. There was a celebration for those who had given their lives in the battle. They had a celebration for their victory over the orcs. The dwarves had celebrated returning to their home. The Men had celebrated their return to Dale. There had been a celebration for Thorin's coronation and crowning as King Under the Mountain. There had been a celebration for Bard being crowned as the King of Dale. A troll had unfortunately (fortunately) crushed the Master of Laketown during the battle leaving Bard as the unchallenged leader of his people.

Even if the Master had lived the former residents of Laketown probably wouldn't have accepted the Master as their leader. Not with the way he had treated them, and stolen from them. He'd moved them all to Dale without any guarantee of their safety once he'd discovered that the dwarves had gotten into the mountain in hopes of stealing the gold right out from under the dwarves' feet. But the Master was gone, and Bard was a much better leader to his people.

It was needless to say that there had been a lot of celebrations as there had been quite a lot to celebrate, and everyone had quite deserved to celebrate all they had gained. The only ones who hadn't joined in the festivities had been the elves who had departed even before the orc corpses had stopped burning.

Their leaving had at least made Thorin and Smaug happy. It was unfortunate that the relationship between the dwarves and the elves hadn't been mended. Gandalf especially was perturbed by the continued animosity as he believed there would come a time when they would need to join together once more to fight a great threat.

Harry knew this because the Gray wizard had pulled him aside before he had departed Erebor for the Shire with Bilbo. The two of them had discussed more in depth what had happened to Harry, and the danger that Harry could possibly still be in. Gandalf worried that Harry may still have some sort of connection to Sauron.

Harry wasn't exactly thrilled to learn that he may have a connection to yet another Dark Lord but for now he had been reassured with the fact that Lady Galadriel had defeated Sauron. The Dark Lord had been vanished back to the void, and it would take him a long time before he could gather enough strength before he was capable of returning to Arda. In that time Gandalf swore to help Harry search for a solution to protect himself from Sauron's control.

Though it wasn't said out loud both of them knew it was imperative to make sure there wasn't a way for Sauron to control him because the Dark Lord would return. There was no doubt for either of them that Sauron would eventually claw his way back to Arda as long as the One Ring survived, and if they couldn't destroy the Ring then they must prepare for his eventual return as much as possible. If Sauron had control of Harry he would be able to control Smaug, and with two winged firedrakes on his side Sauron would be able to sweep a devastating path of destruction throughout Middle Earth.

The conversation with Gandalf had shaken Harry to his core, and for a moment he had almost considered trying to find a way back to Earth. But he couldn't leave, not now. Harry missed his friends but Middle Earth had become his home too, and they needed him. After all he'd promised Lord Elrond that he would help protect it if ever the need arose, and Harry planned on honoring that promise. It seemed that Middle Earth would need the help with Sauron's inevitable return. Harry planned on being here to keep that promise.