The Unlikely Visitor

Chapter 21.
In which people are ungrateful for a victory handed to them, and lack of flushable latrines is no deterrent.

The next morning, Sauron woke up lying in Sinistra’s arms. The professor was sleeping still, and he took the time to admire her. He was still surprised about his love for her, but despite all the confusion he wouldn’t want it any other way. It would almost make him thank the Valar, were he not convinced that they would never have allowed him something so beautiful had they been able to stop it. No, the Valar had nothing to do with this. The gods -or ancestors, or whatever this world had instead of those wretched Ainur- were kind to him. He didn’t know why they had put Sinistra in his path, but he was forever grateful for it.
“I know you are looking at me…”
The professor opened her eyes and smiled at him. Sauron grinned affectionately.
“Aye, maathûn… you are a sight to behold.”
“How are you feeling?”
Surprisingly well, actually. There was no trace left of the weariness that had overcome him the day before.
“Great, my… my tiredness is completely gone.”
Sinistra stroked his face.
“You know, Ginny Weasley came to see me while you were with Dumbledore.”
“Oh?”
She smiled at the memory.
“Yes, she had just come out of sickbay and came straight to me to tell me that she considered you her best friend and that if I hurt you she would hunt me down and stake me on her spear.”
Sauron laughed heartily.
“Za kaarkarn gaz fukaush… She would have done well in my world…”
Sinistra raised an eyebrow, and he translated.
“That feisty little redhead… I’m sorry for using Black Speech, sometimes my tongue slips.”
“Could you teach me this language of yours, like you taught Ginny?”
“Would you want me to?”
“Don’t sound so surprised, I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t want to now would I?”
Sauron shrugged.
“Even after all this time I’m not used to the fact that the sound of my native tongue doesn’t make people cringe in fear here…”
“It’s all in the connotation. Speaking of which…”
He suddenly remembered what he had half-coherently mumbled before falling asleep, and a blush colored his cheeks. The dark woman chuckled.
“You asked for my hand, didn’t you?”
“I… err… I said that I would, if not for the connotation… I had after all just chopped off a hand.”
Sinistra laughed.
“Ginny also told me something else, namely that –and now I’m quoting- guys who know their way around a sword are rare these days, so I should praise myself a lucky woman for having you.” She kissed Sauron and smiled. “And I do, praise myself lucky. So whether you ask for my hand or not, my heart you have.”
He was speechless for a moment, and when he finally found his words, they surprised even himself.
“That… that is the most precious gift anyone has ever given me. I would like to honor it by following your customs and bind myself to you. I know nothing of your rituals, but I…” He hesitated. “I…” He didn’t get to finish his sentence. Sinistra pressed her lips against his to silence him.
“Shush, you honor my love already by loving me back, Sauron. I do not require any rituals as proof.”
Suddenly aroused, he pulled her closer and stroked her soft curves, whispering,
“Then let me at least love you back properly…”
“I have no objections…”
Dumbledore better not come interrupt them…

You would think that unmasking a dangerous criminal in the teacher’s corps, saving a student from being murdered by a dark wizard, and relieving said wizard of his right hand and a couple of his servants would get you some credit, no? Well… apparently not. Sauron glared at the headmaster, hardly believing what he heard.
“How do you mean, I’m suspended from all classes?”
The bearded wizard sighed.
“Well… You have broken virtually every school rule, and brought another student in danger.”
Sauron’s mouth fell open.
“I have practically solved your dark lord issue all for you!”
“Yes, and that’s what’s keeping you out of Azkaban. You have also committed three counts of murder.”
“Four. You’re forgetting that Wormtail servant.” Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, and Sauron frowned. “So, you’re saying I’m being evicted?”
I’d like to see you try, he thought to himself. That could get amusing.
“No. I convinced the authorities that it would be for the best if you stayed here, where I can keep an eye on you.”
It was a coincidence, but it still made him want to facepalm. Expressions using the word “eye” should be banned from use in his surroundings… Not realizing the irony in his words, Dumbledore continued.
“Nevertheless, I would advice you to consider returning to your home world. Building a life for yourself here will be exceedingly difficult after the events of yesterday.”
They were probably just afraid that he would try to usurp the dark lord position, now that he had clearly come out victorious in a meeting with Voldemort… And in truth, he had considered it… this was exactly the kind of opportunity he had waited for, ever since arriving here. He finally had a decent amount of control over his powers again, and becoming the dark ruler of this world would probably be ridiculously simple, if that Voldemort was the worst they had had to deal with so far. However… Sauron didn’t think it worth it. There was no Melkor in this world, and he held no personal grudge against these people. If he had only had himself to consider, the decision would have been quickly made; he loved power after all. But now there was Sinistra to think of too… and he loved her more than power. Not a lot more, but still enough to tip the scales. Sauron could see how Dumbledore was right, but the thought of returning to Middle-Earth…
“And how do you suggest I do this? I do not know how I got here in the first place.”
He really didn’t want to go back to Middle-Earth. There was nothing left for him there but destroyed buildings, Hobbits, and a possible return to the Void at the hands of that prescient bastard Námo. Not to mention that he didn’t want to leave Sinistra.
“I will be doing research, and you can have access to certain works in the Restricted Section yourself too. I believe that we can possibly devise a method to send you back.”
“I see.”
That was… bad news. Sauron hoped that Dumbledore wouldn’t succeed.
“And then what am I to do in the meantime, if I’m not allowed to follow the classes anymore?”
Dumbledore looked a little uncomfortable. Good.
“This… is an uncommon situation, as you sure understand, and it apparently calls for uncommon solutions. The board of directors didn’t think it wise for you to stay in the Ravenclaw tower, so one of the professors has offered to house you for the time being. You will stay in professor Sinistra’s quarters as of tomorrow. I understand this is inconvenient, but it is the best solution we can offer at the moment. It is only temporarily, of course.”
Now there was a bit of good news. Sauron proficiently hid his smirk…Even if they expected him to just sit around and do nothing, it wouldn’t be as bad with Sinistra close by.
“Then I suppose I’ll go pack my things. Can I leave?”
Dumbledore nodded. Sauron internally grinned at the worried, tired look the old professor had. Even his annoying twinkling eyes seemed far less shiny… If only he would have succeeded at making Olórin look like that… Feeling oddly satisfied, he left the office and walked to his room.

“They want me to go back.”
He had decided to break the news to Sinistra right away, after bringing his trunk to her chambers. The Astronomy professor nodded.
“Yes, so I was told.” She smiled. “Dumbledore kept apologizing me and ensuring me that it would only be temporarily and that you wouldn’t do anything to me…”
Sauron smirked.
“As if. I’m going to do a lot of things to you.”
Sinistra smiled, but her eyes remained serious.
“Sauron… what are you going to do when Dumbledore finds a way to send you back?”
“When? You’re talking as if you’re sure he will find a way.”
He didn’t like where this conversation was going. Sinistra sat down on the bed and sighed.
“It’s not unlikely that he will, and you know that.”
“I won’t go. It’s not as if they can force me.”
He said it with more bravura than he felt, and was met with a sad look.
“And then what? Are you going to grab the power, overthrow the ministry, enslave the people?”
Sauron frowned.
“Is that how you think about me?”
“No. But they won’t give you much other options. I know you. You won’t run, certainly not from a foe weaker than yourself.”
She was right… and it hurt. Irony strikes again, he melancholically thought. For what was probably the first time in his life he had done something that could be filed as “good”, and then he got punished for it anyway. He just couldn’t do anything right, could he?
“Then… you want me to go back.”
He sounded needlessly bitter. Sinistra looked out of the window, ignoring his tone.
“It’s a choice you have to make for yourself. But… know that no matter what you do, I will follow you. I left my home country for you, before I even met you. I would follow you everywhere.”
“You would follow Me. To Mordor.”
Sauron said it flatly, not hiding his disbelief. Sinistra turned and nodded.
“You don’t believe me.”
“No one voluntarily goes to Mordor when they can avoid it.”
“Have you ever known me to lie to you?”
Sinistra had never lied to him indeed, and in her eyes Sauron could see she meant what she said. But he still didn’t believe it.
“You don’t know what you’re saying. You would leave your work, your home, your friends, your species even, to follow me to what is without a doubt the least hospitable place in Arda? There is hardly anything left standing there, the climate is harsh, the living conditions would be unfavorable, and the people won’t exactly be happy to see me again. You would be insane to want to share that fate.”
Not to mention what might happen to her if the Valar caught up on his return… He wouldn’t do that to her. She couldn’t follow him.
Sinistra smiled.
“You’re trying so hard to convince me that I shouldn’t follow you… But Sauron, I have already left so much. All the things you named I left behind me when I came to England. My home, my friends, perhaps even my species. It may seem odd to you, but my people couldn’t be more different from the wizards here. They could just as well have been another species. And my work… as long as your world has stars I can do my work.”
She was taking apart his arguments, and he wouldn’t have it. Glaring, he said.
“It’s insane, Sinistra! You know nothing of how to survive in Arda! It’s… it’s closest to what in your history is called the Medieval Ages. You have none of the skills needed to survive in such a world!”
Sinistra frowned as well now.
“Then teach me! You’re making it sound as if you don’t want me with you!”
“It’s not that I don’t want you with me, Sinistra… I… I don’t want you THERE with me! It’s… I…” Frustrated he exclaimed, “Don’t you see that it’s for your own safety? I don’t want you harmed! You’re safer here, and I would be happier knowing you are safe here.”
“Would you? Be happier without me, I mean.”
Sauron hesitated. He knew the answer was no, not at all… but he couldn’t tell her. Frustrated he growled.
“Can’t you see I’m trying not to be selfish for once?”
“Stop it, it doesn’t suit you. Be selfish for me.”
She stood right in front of him now, her dark eyes both hard and pleading. Feeling his resolve dwindle, Sauron weakly protested.
“There aren’t even flushable latrines in Mordor.”
“I am happy to pee behind a bush for the rest of my days if it allows me to spend those with you, Sauron.”
There was a smile in her voice again, and he couldn’t help but softly chuckle.
“Then I suppose you’re stuck with me.”
The tension he hadn’t realized he was feeling suddenly eased when he admitted that. Sinistra smiled and pulled him closer for a kiss.
“Good.”

Ginny was waiting for him outside the Astronomy Tower.
“Klaarh-izg kul ukhug krum.”
So she had heard about him going back already.
“Agh îst za mol?”
“Flitwick said you would be leaving. I came here because I thought you would go here before leaving, and I wanted to see you.”
Sauron raised an eyebrow.
“I’m not gone yet. So far there is no way known to send me back. Now, did you need me for anything, that you were so anxious to see me?”
Ginny blushed and looked at her shoes.
“I… I just wanted to say goodbye, in case you would be leaving soon… and sorry for cursing at you yesterday.”
“What did I tell you about apologizing?”
“Err… not to do it?”
“Exactly. Besides, of all the things I have been called, “shit-eating bastard-son of a prostitute” is probably one of the more original ones.”
“You’re… you’re not angry?”
Sauron shrugged.
“I have other things to worry about. Getting angry with you would be a waste of energy.”
Not that getting angry cost him any energy. It was one of the things that came naturally to him. “Besides, are you even allowed to talk to me?”
“Probably not, but I don’t care.”
Sarcastically he remarked,
“You’re not scared I will kill or maim you?”
“Why would I? It’s not as if you have something to gain from it.”
That was a valid point. He pensively nodded, and Ginny asked,
“So, what are you going to do now?”
“I have no idea. I’ll see.”
“Are you coming back to us this summer?”
He shook his head.
“No… Most likely not. I’m supposed to stay in the castle until they have found a way to send me back.”
Ginny rolled her eyes.
“As if they could stop you.” She then looked pleading. “If Dumbledore finds a way to send you back before the summer is over… you will come say goodbye before you leave, won’t you?”
The Hat had called her his “little sister”, and of course that was complete nonsense. But nevertheless Sauron knew that no other person would have gotten the answer he gave her.
“I definitely won’t leave before taking revenge on your twin brothers.”
Her smile broadened, and suddenly she had her arms around him. Stiff and uncomfortable, Sauron allowed her to hug him.
“I’m so going to miss you…”
“Yeah, yeah, are you done yet?”
Ginny let go with an embarrassed blush on her cheeks.
“Sor…” The rest of the apology she swallowed.
“You must have something better to do than standing here and annoying me.”
“Not really.”
“Humor me.”
“Fine. As long as you do promise to visit before you leave.”
“Ghadl-izg. Bhoghad?”
Ginny nodded, and left. Sauron watched her leave. He had promised to come see her. Her, the annoying, messy, redheaded she-wizard that he had shared a room with, given love advice to, refurbished a dress for and braved monsters with in that wretched labyrinth. Maybe, just maybe the Hat was right. Ginny Weasley was not his sister, and her lifespan was but the blink of an eye compared to his, but still… had he had a sister, he would have wanted her to be like Ginny. It would be odd, going away just now he was used to things here. He would miss the hot showers… Maybe he should try to figure out how those worked, so he could implement them back in Mordor… Thinking that, Sauron suddenly knew what he was going to do with his time now he was free from classes. It was time for the Industrial Revolution to come to Mordor…

(Author's Apologies)

TRANSLATIONS:
Klaarh-izg kul ukhug krum. = I hear you're going back.
Agh îst za mol? = And you know this how?
Ghadl-izg. Bhoghad? = I promise. Okay?

I'm sorry. I'm just very sorry. Don't have much else to say. This chapter is so much filler. *sigh*