Harry Potter and the Fellowship of the Ring

Chapter 5

Ellerosse hurried on next to Aragorn. There had been no sign of the black riders anywhere, so their group had been extremely tense, knowing that they were following Frodo.

“New sword, Griffin?” Aragorn said mildly, using his alias without hesitation. “Was that really all you were looking for? You know we could have just dropped by a blacksmiths to get one.”

“It’s not just a sword.” Ellerosse dismissed. “And it’s not all that I have been instructed to find.”

“And I assume you won’t say more?” Aragorn asked.

“Not until I have completed my task.” He replied, a warning tone in his voice. He wondered where his wand would be. In the lair of some crazy dragon, perhaps? He snorted, remembering the dragon in the first task. No. Fate would probably think that a dragon would be too cliche.

“Lost in your thoughts again?” Aragorn said. “Are you going to walk into a tree again?”

“Sorry, what?” He asked, having heard only fuzzy bits of Strider’s question. The solemn hobbits, who had been quite silent before, suddenly burst into laughter.

“My ol’ Gaffer once walked into a tree when he was thinking about a new fertilizer.” Sam exclaimed, laughing. “I thought only we were capable of it.”

“Apparently not.” Harry grumbled, knowing what Aragorn had referred to. Then, he had to listen, bright red (Which is quite an accomplishment for an elf) as the man told the hobbits that particular adventure when they had first started travelling together, leaving in every detail.

His parallels to Sirius are growing. He thought. He remembered the way Strider had dramatically revealed himself to the hobbits. Although he’s much better at making entrances.

“So.” He changed the subject, hoping to embarrass the ranger. “Finally admitted you love Arwen, have you?”

Aragorn didn’t blush like he’d hoped. How does he do that? Harry thought irritably.

“Yes.” Strider replied, lowering his voice. “Why? Have you fallen in love?”

Harry stopped short. “Once.”

“What? Really?”

Harry kept his face expressionless, pulling his cloak tighter around him. “Her name was Ginny.”

He trudged ahead of the group, ignoring Aragorn as he called out the name he chose. It was moments like this where he felt like he was Harry the Chosen One instead of Ellerosse the elf. It was like he had some magical form of multiple personality disease or whatever those muggles would call it.

He didn’t say anything more until the sun came up, when he managed o get away from being Harry. For now, he resolved, he was Griffin the ranger, and until rivendell, that was all he would be.

        “Hello, Aragorn.” Gandalf said, stepping out into the light. The man jumped up from sharpening a sword he didn’t recognise. After a moment, he relaxed.

“Gandalf.” Aragorn nodded. He went back to what he’d been doing.

“I don’t remember this being your type of sword.” He stated, studying the blade. Aragorn normally had a sword with a nice long blade and a big hilt. This one, however, was thinner and lighter. And shorter, as if it were for a small child.

“This is not for me.” The ranger said. “It is for Ellerosse.”

“And who, exactly, is Ell--”

“I’m back!” A youthful voice yelled. Gandalf turned to see the young elf run in through the doorway, bringing in a satchel. The boy stopped short at the sight of him.

“Dumb… er… who’re you?” He asked.

There was something behind the elf’s eyes (Ellerosse, Gandalf assumed). Something sad. And there was something about him almost…

He flinched inwardly. Magical.

“Forgive me, dear fellow. I am Gandalf the grey. Though your kin would call me Mithrandir.”

“Oh, I know you by Gandalf.” Ellerosse smiled. “Why does everyone have so many names here? It’s confusing.”

Gandalf laughed. “Indeed.” He turned serious. “I need to speak to Aragorn.”

The boy nodded. “I’ll be… well, somewhere.”

Aragorn smiled, and handed Ellerosse his sword. “Why don’t you start your practice.”

He nodded again. They both watched him walk into the woods. Gandalf thought he saw a little smile on the rangers face.

“You like him?” Aragorn asked.

“He’s different.” Gandalf said. “But I came here for another reason.”

“What?” Aragorn asked.

He sighed. “There was a great battle near--”

“The Lonely Mountain.” Aragorn caught on quick. “What happened.”

Gandalf told him the story behind the battle of the five armies.

“...and you would like me to keep an eye out for this… Gollum?”

“Yes. Just report to me if you see anything like him.” Gandalf said. He furrowed his brow. “Why is Ellerosse here?” He asked.

“King Thranduil and Legolas requested that I take care of him. Mirkwood is in no state to raise a child right now.” Aragorn explained.

“So he was born in Mirkwood?”

“No.” Aragorn told him. He shook his head. “Ellerosse, I know has a very dark past. His parents were murdered, and he keeps talking about a bunch of death.” He sighed. Gandalf opened his mouth and he added sharply “I do not find it necessary to question him about something that would cause him so much pain.”

“He has magic.” Gandalf said softly. Aragorn gave him a shocked look. “Do not tell him of this until I can explain to him more, but what I feel in his magic is something I don’t recognize. Something I’ve never seen before.”

Gandalf stared at the now grown man from his window. Technically, he was still a teenager by elf standards, but his magic was developed even more than when he last saw him. And that was a very odd statement, because when he first saw him, his magic had been very, very developed.

The first dream Harry had in rivendell was rather odd. He had seen Neville, of all people, as an old man, looking for the sword of Gryffindor.

Just a dream. He resolved. He wouldn’t worry about that. Right now, he would worry about Frodo