The Unlikely Visitor

Chapter 11.
In which there are dragons, candy, and an event that leaves Sauron shell-shocked.

Dragons. The first “task” of the tournament had dragons. Sauron was delighted. The beasts weren’t near the size and intelligence of the dragons he had known in the War of Wrath, but they were impressive and even magnificent in their own right. The candidates were each expected to steal a golden egg from a dragon, and Sauron was already full of expectation for the show he would surely get. Stealing treasure from a dragon was dangerous and prone to fail…
It turned out to be interesting to watch, although not as amusing as he had hoped. None of the contestants got eaten or scorched to ashes, so in that way it was almost disappointing. On the other hand, the risky flying of Harry Potter and the skirt-on-fire incident of Fleur Delacour somewhat made up for the lack of bloody messes.
“He was great, don’t you think? He’s tied for first place at the moment!”
Sauron rolled his eyes at Ginny’s talking.
“I am willing to assist you with your “issue”, Ginny, but don’t fawn over it all the time, it’s annoying. Don’t fawn over it at all, preferably.”
“Wait until you fall in love yourself.”
“It would be a true waste of time to wait for something that won’t ever happen.”
“We’ll see. Do you have dress robes already?”
“Dress Robes?”
Sauron hoped he wouldn’t be expected to wear a dress. After all, you never knew. Ginny grinned.
“Yeah, for the Yule Ball! I can’t believe you didn’t know, it’s all everyone has been talking about lately!”
“I am not everyone. And to answer your question, no I do not have Dress Robes already.”
“We can buy them in Hogsmeade tomorrow, don’t worry. You’ll just have to ask Dumbledore for your allowance then.”
Great. Facing that Olórin-like wizard with his twinkling eyes, again, to ask for money to buy a dress. Life is great, Sauron thought sarcastically.

Dress robes for men weren’t actual dresses, and that was a great relief. To his surprise Sauron even found that he liked the completely black outfit Ginny had helped him pick. The Hogsmeade trip as a whole had been a confusing affair though, especially when Ginny had insisted they would buy sweets. She had bought lots of different things, and urged him to taste everything… with as a result that he didn’t think he would ever again trust confectionaries. There had been chewy beans that tasted like ash and earwax, some kind of nut-shaped candy he was certain had moved in his mouth, sugary things that had actually exploded when he bit them, and last but not least red things on sticks that tasted like blood when he licked them. Sauron didn’t see why anyone would voluntarily eat things like that… although he had enjoyed the “Blood Pops”, much to Ginny’s amazement. All in all it had been another strange experience to add to his ever-growing list. Ginny had had great fun –and he was quite certain it had been at his expense sometimes- but he found that he couldn’t get angry about it. He had glared and rolled his eyes and cursed under his breath, but that was mostly for show; Ginny Weasley was in an advantageous position for the moment, her being the only person in the whole of Hogwarts that didn’t annoy him within ten seconds. Sauron suspected that it was a force of habit; she had pestered him whole summer long and now he had gotten so used to her brand of annoyingness that it didn’t annoy him as much anymore. Either way, the trip had been successful and that was all that mattered.
When they went back to Hogwarts, they met Dumbledore in the Great Hall. The man smiled amiably at them, but Sauron immediately felt uncomfortable.
“Ah, Miss Weasley, Mr Gorthaur… I was waiting for you two.”
“Oh?”
Ginny seemed surprised at well. The old wizard –although no one was really old around Sauron- gave them his usual piercing look.
“I trust you have found everything you need?”
“Yes, we have completed our purchases.”
“Very good. I simply meant to tell you, Mr. Gorthaur, that Professor Sinistra believes tonight will be sufficiently cloudless for your test. You are expected in the Astronomy Tower at nightfall. As for you, Miss Weasley, could you follow me to my office?”
With an uncertain look at Sauron, Ginny followed Dumbledore, leaving the Maia on his own in the great hall. He didn’t trust it, but suppressed the urge to follow them. He had to read up on some astronomy…

“Well, Miss Weasley. Can I please you with a lemon drop?”
“No, thank you, professor. Is… is something wrong?”
“Oh, no, not at all… I wanted to talk with you about your friend, Mr. Gorthaur.”
Ginny fought the need to roll her eyes. What was it with everyone warning her for Sauron? It wasn’t as if he was an evil dark lord bent on destroying the world, or anything. She hesitated a moment. Okay, she wasn’t out of that yet, but so far he hadn’t given her reason to think that he wanted to kill or destroy anything in this world.
“What about him?”
“How would you describe him?”
“Err… he’s really smart… I wasn’t surprised that he got into Ravenclaw. A little grumpy sometimes, but nothing bad. Did he do something wrong?”
“I’m simply curious. As I told your parents, we don’t get a guest from another world every day. I heard that he had taught you his language…”
“Oh, just… a couple words. Nothing special, really. Hello, goodbye, that sort of things.”
Ginny really didn’t want to share her Black Speech lessons with Dumbledore. Normally she was rather fond of the headmaster, but apparently Sauron’s paranoia rubbed off on her. She hoped he wouldn’t try to read her mind or anything.
“I see. I think it is very good you two have made friends...”
“Really?”
“Of course. Acclimatizing always goes better when you have a friend to support you. Tell me, Miss Weasley… Has Mr. Gorthaur told you anything about his homeworld?”
Yes, but she wasn’t planning on telling him about that.
“No, he’s very reserved about that. He hasn’t told me anything, except that it’s a little medieval and stuff. Horses being the main method of transportation and things like that.”
She supposed the headmaster had already guessed that from Sauron’s reactions to some things, so she didn’t think it mattered if she told him that.
“Aha. Should he tell you something that would… shock you… Miss Weasley… can I trust you to come to me?”
“Of course, Professor.”
“Very well, you can go.”
Ginny left the office with an uncomfortable feeling. Perhaps Sauron was right to mistrust the headmaster…

That evening, Sauron went to the Astronomy Tower. The sky was still clouded, but an appointment was an appointment and he wasn’t going to give that blasted headmaser more reason to mistrust him. The Tower was the tallest in Hogwarts, and it took him a while to get all the way to the top. When he got there, he heard a strange singing voice. Slowly he approached the door, making as little noise as possible. The singing wasn’t English, or any of the languages he had heard the delegates of other schools speak, and somehow he could feel there was power in the music. Ainur magic was conveyed through song, and even though this was very different the resemblance was there. It made him shiver…
Sauron carefully pushed open the door. The Astronomy Tower was a circular room, and large magical machinery that showed the progression of the planets stood in the middle of it. The singing resounded more clearly now, but he couldn’t see anyone… until he looked through one of the large windows. On a platform outside, a figure was dancing. Spellbound, he walked closer.
It was a woman, and she was dancing in a circle of symbols, a whirlwind of golden-brown velvet and rustling scarves. Sauron couldn’t see her very well, but either way he couldn’t take his eyes off her. Her bright, deep voice sang words he couldn’t translate; yet while he listened to it he felt that he understood, not consciously but with something in his fëa… He could have listened to it for hours, but suddenly the magical strength of the music increased and the woman fell to her knees in the middle of the circle. Sauron saw how the clouds cleared, quickly, as if they had been commanded to dissipate. A circle of starry sky grew larger and larger above the platform. She had ordered the sky to clear…
Not entirely certain of himself, he opened the door to the platform. He disliked the stars, they reminded him of the Elves, they reminded him of the Valar, and he always felt spied on by Varda when walking under the stars. There was a reason Mordor was always clouded… It didn’t stop him from approaching the woman though. She heard his footsteps and got up, and Sauron received a second surprise when she turned. Her skin was dark. “Dark like the scorched earth of Mordor”, it went through his mind. He couldn’t help but stare. She was tall, although a little smaller than him, and even in the dark of night he could tell that she had a beautifully chiseled face. An unusual face perhaps, and different from the facial features of most women here, but nevertheless beautiful. He didn’t know why he thought about that, but he did. With her bright, slightly accented voice she asked.
“Ah, you must be Sauron Gorthaur.”
“Yes.”
“I see you’ve watched me prepare the classroom.”
“Yes… I haven’t seen magic such as that here before.”
The woman smiled mysteriously.
“Ah yes, that is true. The magic of song isn’t taught at Hogwarts. It is considered to be dark by some.”
“But you still practice it.”
“It pained me too much after a while to have to cancel all my classes. I don’t think we’ve ever had such a cloudy winter before...” She gave him a pointed look. “Do clouds follow your step, perhaps?”
Sauron didn’t know what to say.
“I… I have found that they do, sometimes. I apologize for the inconvenience.”
Mentally he yelled at himself. What? Why are you apologizing? Why are you even telling her that? The professor didn’t seem to notice.
“I am Professor Sinistra, but I suppose you knew that already. You can call me Sinistra.”
“Only if you call me Sauron.”
“Of course.” She looked up at the sky, which seemed lit up by hundreds of little fiery needlepoints. “Tell me, does your world have stars?”
It was the first time that one of the teachers outright asked him after his world… and he couldn’t resist to answer.
“Yes. We have stars too...”
Sinistra nodded slowly.
“Come, sit with me. Tell me where to look for your stars, then we’ll see if the constellations are the same.”
And Sauron sat down with her on the stone platform engraved with symbols, and peered at the sky. The sky was very different; there were constellations he had never seen before.
“I don’t think there is any resemblance.”
“Don’t be too quick to judge, Sauron. You resemble us enough for your world to carry a likeness of ours… why wouldn’t the same go for the stars?”
The longer he watched the night sky, the darker it became and the more stars he could see. He felt as if she had bewitched him somehow, he just couldn’t properly get a hold of himself… Sinistra installed her telescope and urged him to see through it.
“There, that is Mars. It’s not a star, it’s a planet.”
Through the lenses of the telescope, he recognized the bright reddish light, much to his surprise.
“Carnil. We call that one Carnil.”
“See that there is a resemblance?”
She showed him the stars, and although there were many constellations he didn’t recognize, sometimes a similarity hit him. So also when Sinistra pointed her lenses at one particular constellation.
“This is Ursa Major, the Great Bear. Also called the Big Dipper.”
And Sauron recognized it.
“Valacirca…” He whispered.
Valacirca, or the Sickle of the Valar, had been Varda’s warning for his old master Melkor, a reminder of the prophecies of Námo that foretold his downfall. How he had hated that constellation… He gritted his teeth, which caused the professor to respond.
“It is a bad omen in your world?”
“You… you could say that.”
He had felt anger rise at the sight of the offending stars, but when Sinistra spoke it just… faded again. She must have somehow put a spell on him, he thought.
“My people have stories about the stars too. In the country where I was born we see different stars than these though. It is said that the creators of the world had light to spare after they lit up the world, and that’s what they made the stars from, to remind the people of the light of day. The stars tell us that the sun will rise again no matter how dark the night.”
“Beacons of hope.”
“Exactly. You don’t sound convinced? Aren’t the stars hopeful in your world?”
“They are reminders of doom that is to come. I wouldn’t call them hopeful.”
“Ah… I believe in doom too, but I dislike the word. Fate, I would call it. Some things will happen either way, but how, why and with who isn’t defined yet.”
The whole situation was bizarre, Sauron decided. He felt oddly relaxed, and it was pleasant and unnerving at the same time. The woman next to him looked at him and her dark eyes glittered in the starlight when he asked.
“Your song-magic… if it isn’t taught here, where did you learn it?”
“I am a Sangoma, a shamaness of my people, like my mother and my grandmother before me. The magic of song and dance is in my blood through them, and their knowledge passed on to me.” She waited a moment. “Does your world have song-magic?”
“It… it does. We believe that the world was created through song. The Ainulindale, it was named, the song of creation.”
The Ainulindale had been the most profound, most important event in his entire long life… and he had just told this strange dark woman about it, just like that. He hadn’t even told Ginny that! Sauron didn’t know what was wrong with him…
“That is beautiful… It must have been a joy to hear.”
The memory stung, no, burned when it came to mind again, and it made him want to curl up and cry. Then he felt a soft hand touch his, and somehow the pain of remembering lessened. Sinistra didn’t speak; she just watched the sky, her fingers lightly touching his. Sauron didn’t know how much time passed, it felt as if the whole of time just stopped in that instant. Finally the professor said,
“The morning is coming in two hours… You are free to stay here as long as you like, but I have to go to my quarters now. You have passed your test; I would like to tutor you myself. Same time, same place, next week.”
With that Sinistra got up and walked away, her velvet robes shimmering. The bizarre spell that had brought him such calm appeared to break when she closed the door behind her, leaving Sauron in confusion. What did this mean? What had she done to him? He stayed on the platform until daybreak, watching how the rising sun colored the sky red…

(Author's Apologies)
On the topic of Professor Sinistra:
Sangomas are African healers, also known as shamans. They actually exist. I am using various things of south african traditional religion for Sinistra's character. I mean no offense towards people who adhere to this religion or one of its derivates, and I apologize for all mistakes I may make in my explanation of it. Sinistra comes from an african wizarding village, so I suppose that their interpretation of the religion would be different anyway (normally one of a Sangoma's tasks is to protect against witchcraft, after all.)