Fellowship of Ponies and Horses
Timeline: Harry appears around the time of Bilbo and Frodo's birthday, and there is a debated time of about twenty years that Gandalf is off running around, researching, and getting kidnapped by Sir Chrispher Lee. That's about how long Harry and Luna have been travelling together, mostly in the Northeast.
oOo
AN: Originally the plot of this story was really simple, then I remembered I moved the Ents… So this story got way more plot intensive than I expected that veers wildly from canon and yet will follow the style in which I wrote the Hobbit storyline.
Prologue
Among the many races and peoples of Middle Earth, it is safe to say no one expected that a Valar blessed dragon and the reunion of the entwives with their ents would alter all that which would have been.
For one, the White Dragon, the Blessed Dragon, the Dragon Who Befriended the Moon, Ithilwen united the great lizards of the North. Like the elves of Middle Earth, the drakes were equally weary of the world and their long lives. They did not flick so much as tail when evil began spawning in their mountains.
But Ithilwen's return had sparked a long dying ember in them. For she was something new, different; the promise of change. She was also proof that their makers had not forgotten them. When Ithilwen spread her wings to fly off to combat with the invaders in their lands, the others flew with her.
Such is the reason why the dwarves were so successful in reclaiming Erebor. The North, thus was known as Dragon Territory. It was a treaty of sorts with the remainder of Middle Earth that as long as the other races let them be, the dragons would stay within their own borders.
The Awakening of the ents greatly changed the landscape of Middle Earth. Leaving the Fangorn Forest behind, the ents resettled with their entwives in the Northeast. From north of the Forest River in Mirkwood, surrounding the kingdom of Erebor and reaching all the way East of the Iron Hills, a forest unlike any other was taking root. The Great Gardens were located at the edge of Mirkwood, allowing the shelter of the older trees to the first entlings to be born in an Age.
These changes were wonderful, for the elves especially, and worrying to the forces gathering in the South. The return of the entlings seemed to spark hope in elves, and for many who had planned to depart West, remained a little longer.
The world was changing; the darkness the elves had predicted was indeed rising, yet there was new life in the most unpredictable of places.
Dragons and ents were taking an active role in the world again.
Men remained weak.
The halflings remained in peace.
The dwarves, united under Thorin Oakenshield, King of Erebor, King Under the Mountain, had brought his people into a new golden age in the Northeast.
Never had the elves believed that the ents and dwarves could be such close allies. Neither had the ents for that matter, but the treaties between their peoples indicated to the elves that soon everything east of the Brown Lands and the Sea of Rhun would become a forested place.
Indeed, these were strange times with whispers of new life and the whispers of old evils returning to Middle Earth.
The barren places of their world were growing wild.
The Fellowship of Horses and Ponies
It was clear to Frodo that he was in over his head. The Black Riders were hunting them, their ponies were gone, and now they had to trust their fates to a stranger.
Despite his looking foul and feeling fair, and despite knowing this Strider fellow was Gandalf's friend, he was still a man. Frodo couldn't help wishing it was the Lady Luna and Harry the Black were with them instead.
Lady Luna had lived in Buckland near the Old Forest, she wouldn't have been tricked by Old Man Willow. Frodo was very fond of her, she had visited quite often when Bilbo had adopted him. The stories Bilbo and her would tell were quite fantastical indeed. She was considered odd by many, seeing as not many Big Folk lived that close to Hobbiton. But she was readily accepted by all, especially by Bilbo, Frodo, and Frodo's friends. Yet she often kept her own company. She was known best for raising the most beautiful horses and ponies.
Bilbo said they were descended from Beorn's herd and that Luna had an elven touch which was why they were such lovely creatures. The frequent visits from dwarves and hobbits dwindled as the years stretched ever on. Despite those years, Lady Luna never appeared to age.
Frodo did not know to worry for her until Lady Luna failed to make an appearance at Bilbo and Frodo's great birthday party.
Gandalf's visits to the Shire had also grown less frequent and the wizard had missed Luna's visits to Bag End so they hadn't seen each other in over five decades. It had taken Bilbo and Frodo a few years to realise that Gandalf mistook their remarks about how fair and youthful Lady Luna was to indicate her beauty.
There was no doubt that she was a beautiful woman, but Gandalf hadn't connected that their true meaning had been her elf-like-longevity. Bilbo and Frodo had hoped to surprise Gandalf at their birthday party where they were both sure to show.
Only Luna had not shown.
Frodo was quite worried until a week later, after Bilbo had departed for Rivendell and left his precious ring behind, Luna appeared with her old friend from the West, Harry the Black.
He appeared younger than Gandalf, with startling emerald eyes, glasses, and a bright smile marked by many smile lines, but he was–without a doubt–a wizard. He just had that feel about him and his staff, polished dark cherry wood with carvings of birds and dragons on it looked like it was much more than a fancy walking stick.
Considering he was a wizard, Harry and Luna had gone exploring Middle Earth, finally feeling safe to do so without worrying about her friends. Luna had even taken her herd back to Beorn.
Which brought Frodo back to his current issue, short two wizard friends and Luna who could be anywhere from Rivendell to Erebor.
Strider wasn't even able to find anyone willing to part with a pony, even some tired beast named Old Bill had taken flight when the Black Riders had come through Bree last night.
"Morning, Longshanks!" a man with a distasteful presence about him called to Strider. "Off early? Found some friends at last?"
Strider nodded, but did not answer.
Just then, it was as if someone had been listening to Frodo's prayers, because ahead of them on the road, a familiar voice rang out to them, "Frodo! Sam!"
Lady Luna skipped toward them, leaving Harry the Black and Beardless to try and restrain the herd of horses she had left behind.
Frodo looked in time to see Strider's bleak expression turn to surprised recognition.
"Estel!" Luna exclaimed, changing course from the hobbits toward the man.
Strider's expression broke into a wide smile that completely transformed him, he held out his arms and greeted with palpable warmth, "Luna."
He caught her in his arms and spun her and when they pulled back from each other they said in unison, "You're alive!"
Causing both to laugh.
Luna looked down at the four hobbits and held out her arms, they rushed her in a group hug. Luna had that effect on people, she made you feel joy no matter the trouble of the day.
She ruffled their hair, "Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, look how you've all grown." She glanced back up at Strider, "You especially, Estel."
"Boy am I glad to see you, Mis'Luna," Sam said.
Frodo nodded in agreement.
"Why did you never return to Imedris?" Strider asked.
She merely shrugged, "I had my fill of elves after that journey."
The man who had seen all this after yelling at Strider called again, "Hey Longshanks, with a wife like that why ya always dredging through the gutters?"
Luna flipped her long hair over her shoulder and fixed the man with her strange blue-silver eyes.
The look was enough, the man fell out of his chair and scrambled back inside his little house.
That's when Harry joined them, leading behind him three beautiful large black and white horses and nine fearsome black horses who looked on the edge of bolting. The three normal horses stood to the side with no lead, merely following Harry while giving the other horses plenty of room.
Luna grinned, "Estel, this is my lifelong friend, Harry the Black-"
"And Beardless!" Merry, Pippin, and Sam chimed in together.
Harry took off his pointy hat and bowed to them.
Still grinning, Luna continued, "Harry, this is Estel. The young boy I met in Imedris after accidentally stealing Elledan's horse, Nhile."
"An honour to meet you, Estel," Harry said.
Strider bowed his head, "The honour is mine. You're a wizard?"
Harry nodded, tapping his staff on the ground, "I am and I'm new. I am, also, thankfully not famous."
"He quite enjoys it," Luna told them.
Harry sighed, "We left to give away horses, so naturally, Luna 'found' some more.”
Frodo stared at the beasts, frightening and feral.
Strider cocked his head, "Where did you get these?"
Luna scowled, "They were being ridden by Dementors and such creatures are not fit masters. I don't think these horses will ever let anyone ride them again."
"They look evil," Pippin piped up.
Luna shrugged, "They weren't born this way. They need healing." She looked at Strider, "Do you think your father would shelter them? I can't ask Beorn to watch them, it would break his heart."
Strider blinked at her, "You mean Lord Elrond? He may- how did you separate them from their riders? By dementors, you're referring to the wraiths?"
"They left the horses," Harry said with a smile. "And I left something for them in return."
"Are they enemies of yours?" Luna asked.
"Yes," Strider said, "I fear they are after our hobbits here."
"Good thing we have a third horse. Luna wanted to teach some of the hobbits how to ride," Harry said. "But it would seem there's no time for that now. Frodo and Sam can ride with Luna, she is hardly a weight at all. The other two can ride with us, Estel. The wraiths, as you call them, should be delayed for some time, and once they escape my trap they will be without mounts. If we take the main road we should reach Imladris safely enough."
"Why do you assume that's where we are going?" Strider asked.
Luna pointed at Frodo, "The letter Hedwig delivered, Frodo said that's where Bilbo is. Where else would you go?" she looked at Strider, "And it's your home."
His expression turned grim again, "We shouldn't wait here. If you think we can take the main road, then we best hurry."
Frodo found himself being hoisted onto one of the black and white horses whose whithers were taller than Strider was tall. There was no saddle, just a thick blanket. Sitting in front of Sam, Frodo looked behind himself once.
He caught the gaze of one of the black horses and thought that thing wanted to eat him. It amazed Frodo that the only thing holding the nine horses together was a rope looped around each of their necks and ended in a single strand that Luna held loosely in one hand with the reins.
Bilbo had always said Luna had a funny way about going about things, seemingly get out of all sorts of trouble while turning over new sorts of trouble that no one else could have possibly found.
The scary horses tamely trotting behind them was almost enough to make him believe that Luna had once hugged a dragon.
oOo
Luna was ecstatic to meet Estel again. But she couldn't shake the sense that something was wrong.
She exchanged a look with Harry and he pointed his chin slightly at Frodo. Which made her notice that Estel kept looking at Frodo too.
She knew better than to ask. If Frodo didn't volunteer the information there was a good reason for that. Frodo was a smart kid, though not very experienced, he had a good heart.
She had stopped visiting them as much though when she realized the shadows growing in Bilbo's eyes. She didn't like to watch her loved ones suffer nor did she enjoy the reminder of her immortality.
Even Thorin, who apparently wasn't young when they first met, the days were catching up on him.
Harry, thank the stars, was, in this realm, immortal as her even if he appeared old and she appeared as a woman in her twenties. Though that was certainly preferable to being seen as sixteen for eternity. It was having Harry back in her life that had allowed her to say goodbye to her home in the Shire.
Harry was understandably worried about her. He wanted her to reach out to the elves who would understand even better than he could. As Harry had put it, he had lived a fulfilled life, all the people he loved had moved on naturally and his descendants lived on, whereas Luna who had finally found people who she cared for and who cared for her were passing on while she remained young. It wasn't comparable to the life Harry had lived, because he had aged.
She wasn't, time seemed to move differently, and sometimes her memories were so terribly vivid… Harry said he still forgot things.
She didn't.
The problems were mounting up to the point that Harry had insisted they visit Imedris or return to Mirkwood.
Luna didn't hate her brother, Prince Legolas, and she knew he would greet her warmly if she opened that door between them. She knew it in her bones.
But she also knew that titles, royal titles for a kingdom that big of a people that old… no, she wanted no part of that. More precisely, she didn't want to deal with her birth-father.
King Thranduil was unpleasant, arrogant, greedy, and cold hearted.
She had had a perfectly good father, even if her human father had betrayed her by turning on Harry and siding with the Dark Lord.
She didn't think she could survive another disappointment, and that's what King Thranduil was; a disappointment.
Why else would her birth-mother have run away from him and sent her own daughter into the Lands of Exile?
She had little cause to return to Imladris, thinking that Estel would have been an old man, his still youthful appearance was a question she planned to ask him soon, and she hadn't been truly attached to the other elves there. Lord Elrond and his sons had been kind to her but they weren't her friends.
The only place he had managed to budge her at all was in Haldir who had kept her and Bilbo safe during the Attack of Erebor. She argued that going to Lothlorien was a dangerous idea considering they knew literally nothing about the High Elves but for what the dwarves told them.
None of that information had been particularly encouraging.
Still, Harry Potter was indeed as stubborn as a dwarf, and Luna had written a short letter to Haldir, enquiring how he had been over the years. She hadn't known what to share about herself as they had never been close friends nor was she going to reveal what was now a very tenuous secret about her race.
From what she had learned of elves over the years, elflings were precious, and so few in number that if they knew she was one of them, it wouldn't take them long to identify who her parents had been.
So she wrote, about her horses and Beorn's generosity. She wrote about some of the small but dear deeds and antics of her hobbit friends, and then ended with the news that her friend Harry had returned to her and that he was a true wizard.
She wasn't quite sure why that mattered so very much that she included Harry's identity, but she felt it was important. As much as she loved Harry, she knew he hadn't been reborn here solely because she wanted her best friend back.
No, she sensed that this world needed him. She was wise enough not to share these musings with Harry himself.
He probably already knew, but there would be something about talking about that would make it real and upset him. Harry wanted nothing more in life to be just himself, just a good person.
He would save the world if he had to, but he didn't want to be responsible for the lives of so many again.
"Luna," Harry called.
She looked up.
He frowned at her, "You're getting worse."
"I'm fine."
"You're not."
The hobbits and Estel were looking at her with concern.
It was Sam who asked, "What's wrong, Mis'Luna?"
"Nothing," she said, trying to keep the irritation out of her voice knowing it would upset the black stallions she was leading.
Estel though, was as perspective as he ever was, "You're elf-kin. It's been nearly seventy years. Outside of the elven kingdoms, the passage of time can be quite painful."
He was wrong, she was a hundred-seventy years old, and it had been for as long as her real mother, Pandora Lovegood had died.
Death was a constant reality, it was something she thought she had escaped in this new realm. But that hope just made it hurt worse, shadowed the happy moments as they stood clear in her mind as if it had happened only yesterday.
Luna hummed and returned lightly, "Is that your excuse? You look rather healthy for a man in his late eighties."
"I had an ancestor who was an elf," Estel answered.
Pippin turned round to look up at him, "You're an elf too?"
He shook his head, "No, I am mortal. Unlike Lord Elrond who is more elf than human, I don't have a choice. I am human."
Harry chuckled, "That's not how magic works."
Estel looked at him, "It's blood, not magic."
"Wrong," Harry said. "This world is rich with archaic magic. Your world did not evolve, it was made. From what I've learned, it matters a great deal what you believe, your choices have the expression of creation behind them. If you believe you will age, you will, if you believe you belong to the elves, you won't."
That was a jab at her, not Estel and she stuck her tongue out at him.
Her mother had been an elven queen, her father was an elven king, and given how relatively humble Lord Elrond was and how snobbish King Thranduil was, she doubted very much she could choose to start ageing.
Only her own stubbornness kept the illusion spell on her ears appearing rounded. However, they felt pointed if anyone tried to check for that.
"I doubt that," Estel said.
Harry smiled at him, "Which is why you age. It only takes a spark."
Just give the elves a chance. The dwarves accepted you despite your heritage. Perhaps the elves only appeared cold to you because they keep outsiders at a distance, Harry had encouraged you.
Luna asked Pippin how the season had gone and what trouble he had gotten into.
The rest of the day was filled by his happy chatter with Merry and Sam adding commentary. Frodo, like Estel and Luna, just listened.
Harry, having had so many kids and grandchildren of his own, encouraged the younglings. He did so that night and the next day, allowing Luna to hide from their long standing debate.
It was on the second day of travel she realized it wasn't because he had ceded defeat, but because they were going to Imedris.
Luna sighed internally, at least it would only be Lord Elrond and the twins. She thought she could evade their questions easily enough.
She would have been less hope keeping up the lie, even to herself, if it was her brother she was meeting again.
Her brother who had let her escape despite his father's wishes, her brother who had trusted her and run off, leaving the safety of his own woods behind to find the ents while she ran off to help dwarves.
Yeah, lying to Legolas would be a betrayal, evading interrogation from Lord Elrond, Elladan, and Elrohir was fair game because it was truly none of their business.
Luna held this logic close to her chest, as they ventured closer to the inevitable.
oOo
Haldir had never in his long life been delivered a letter by owl before. The bird itself was beautiful and seemed aware of her beauty, preening as he praised her while untying the missive from her leg.
He could have never guessed at the sender of such a letter though in all honesty had been hoping for any sign of her over the years.
Haldir's brothers, Rúmil and Orophin had long since given up on him in the decades following his return from Erebor. He had been lost, not in memory, but in sorrow, in dying hope.
Haldir had thought that the short time he had spent with Luna would not be enough to fall in love with her, a girl not even in her second decade, a child by human standards. Perhaps he hadn't fallen in love but the effect of parting was the same. She was his heart, and without her, the long years of his life crashed down on him.
Never did he think he would regret being born as he was, never had he wished to be anything else, but his heart was mortal and he was not.
He didn't want to go West, he wanted to be at her side, and she died, he wanted to die with her.
Foolish, overdramatic, impractical.
But he had searched for her, had waited for her, and to find her and to have her be unattainable…
His brothers had tried to persuade him that even if his love was mortal, he could still go to her, still make memories with her, but Haldir refused to invite such sorrow into her life. Because if she reciprocated his sentiments, then she would age when he did not…
The owl bit his finger.
Haldir pulled his hand away, letting out a hissed breath.
The owl was not impressed with him, observing him with reproachful amber eyes.
Shaking his head, he turned his attention away from his melancholy thoughts to the letter in his hand. His name was scrawled in the common language with a rather uncommon script that swirled together.
He opened the letter and found a full page of writing in that strange yet beautiful script. It took him a few moments to decipher some of the letters, but then was able to breeze through the text.
How have you been these last decades?
Haldir frowned, unsure who would be writing to him in the common language, all his relations were elves. The friends he had once had among men and dwarves were many centuries passed. Mithrandir, discounting that the wizard had never written to him before, would if he had done so in elvish.
It brought his mind back to his last dealings with men and dwarves… and hobbits.
He glanced down at the bottom lines: Sincerely Yours, Luna Lovegood.
His pulse jumped in his throat as he relooked over the words their meaning altered, their significance unending.
Luna wrote of her life, she had it seemed, remained in the Shire with Bilbo. Though he was surprised to learn that she was friends with one of the last shapeshifters in the Western part of Middle Earth and that Beorn Bear-touched, had entrusted her with any of his herd. Though after a moment's reflection, he should not have been surprised.
Luna exuded love and kindness to almost all living creatures, he had witnessed the girl hug a dragon.
He continued reading the letter and paused at her friend returning from the West, a wizard by the name Harry the Black. He knew of the Brown, the White, Mithrandir the Grey, and even the Blue wizards that had not been seen in an age, but he had never heard of Harry the Black.
Was it possible that Valar had created a new Istari?
Luna and the dragon, Ithilwen, were the only beings he met from the Lands of Exile, and here she had written that a wizard had also come to Middle Earth from there as well.
The whispers that Middle Earth was changing, for good and ill, were growing. Conflicting tales of evil from the south and from the north, the Ents and Entwives were raising gardens from the north of Mirkwood Realm to the base of the Lonely Mountain.
"Brother?"
Haldir startled, turning to look at Rúmil who stood in the doorway hesitantly.
Haldir took a breath, folding the letter carefully as he asked, "Yes, Rúmil?"
Rúmil frowned at him and the letter in his hand, "The Lady Galadriel has asked to speak with you."
Haldir rose, "Of course, lead the way."
For the first time in his life, he didn't want to answer this summons. He wanted to read between the lines and find in them a reason to depart.
To go find the other half of his soul.
Luna hadn't mentioned a lover or husband, only her friend, Harry the Black, who seemed more like a friend or brother by her description of him.
"Your thoughts are far away," Rúmil remarked as they walked.
Haldir couldn't quite bring himself to look at him as he said, "Luna wrote to me."
Rúmil halted, "I saw no messengers."
Haldir paused, turning to face him to say, "It was delivered by an owl."
"An owl?" Rúmil repeated.
"An owl," Haldir confirmed.
"What did she say?" Rúmil asked.
Haldir sighed, "About her life since we last met; her friends, the places she's travelled. And she asked me about how I have been in turn."
Rúmil got straight to the point, "Did she ask to see you? Did she marry?"
"No, she did not ask to me, nor could I say on the latter. Come, brother, we shouldn't keep our lady waiting."
"You should go to her."
"Rúmil-"
"No, Haldir, you have been miserable since you left her. She reached out to you, she went to the trouble of finding an owl to do so. If you do not go to her, you will regret it forever."
"He is right, Lord Haldir," their Lady said from behind him.
Haldir turned and bowed his head before meeting the far too perceptive gaze. Her smile was both the discussion and the conclusion.
"My Lady–" Haldir wasn't sure what he meant to say, yet Lady Galadriel spared him the need.
"Lord Elrond has summoned a Council, elves, dwarves, men, and even the halflings shall be represented. I wish for you to go in my sted, Lord Haldir."
He bowed, "Of course, my Lady."
There was no conflict left in his heart, even if it was to say goodbye, he would take this last opportunity to meet his heart.
oOo
AN: Posting this despite the writer's block and broken computer. Please, let me know your thoughts, feedback, horses, or shared nerdom love?