Hey! So, I know that I haven't updated this in literally forever. Like a matter of months. I'm sorry. Especially if you thought I abandoned this. I haven't. It's just been really hard for me lately, because my parents are getting a divorce. I didn't want to say anything, because acknowledging it makes it real, and I was hoping everything would go back to normal. But it hasn't. It's happening. Right now my parents are going through this big custody thing with my brother and I, and it's been taking a toll on both of us. So, sorry that I've been neglecting this. I just haven't really felt like writing. Anyways,here is the next chapter of Wizards vs Elves! Hopefully I'll have new chapters of my other fanfics up soon too, but I don't know how long I'm going to make it writing today. Enjoy! :)

SIX

The tribunal was closed to the public, and only those involved in the issue of the two wizards were allowed in. Unfortunately, that included Sophie.

"Why is it that you're always involved whenever something goes wrong, Sophie?" Councillor Bronte chuckled, shaking his head good naturedly.

"At least I'm just a witness this time," Sophie smiled, rolling her eyes at her Inflicting mentor.

Over the two and a half years he'd been her mentor, Sophie and Bronte's relationship had improved exponentially. Now, it was almost like Bronte was another father figure to her, like Alden or Tiergan.

"Well, good luck anyway," Bronte said with a wink, walking over to his throne as the other Councillors glittered into view.

"Please be seated," Councillor Emery's voice boomed. "Thank you all for coming on such short notice. We'll begin with you, Lord Alden."

At Emery's nod, Alden rose. "Yesterday I was investigating…a lead, in the dwarven tunnels. When I arrived home, I was late for dinner. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until I was walking down the hallway toward my office. It was then I first noticed the human thoughts. As I got closer I shielded them, and when I arrived in the office, I found my son, Keefe Sencen, and the two humans in question in my study."

"And which son would that be," Councillor Emery clarified.

"Fitz."

"Thank you. Please continue."

Alden nodded. "After sending my son and Mr. Sencen out of the room, I talked with the humans. They claim to be wizards."

"Wizards?" A collective gasp went up among the Council members.

"Are you quite sure?" Councillor Alina asked.

"Quite sure," Alden answered. "In fact, they claimed to only have arrived in the Lost Cities because of an apparition accident."

"And what exactly is apparition?" Councillor Emery asked.

"I think it would be best if the wizards explained it themselves," Alden said. "I'm still a little unclear on the details myself."

"Alright then. Thank you, Lord Alden. Next we will hear the testimonies of the two wizards. Please stand and state your names."

At Alden's encouragement, Harry stood first. Sophie crossed her fingers he didn't mention anything that would make the Council suspicious. Even though they were a little strange, Sophie found that she really liked the two British wizards. "Hello, my name's Harry Potter."

"Mr. Potter," Councillor Emery's booming voice rang out. "Please tell your version of yesterday's events."

"Alright," Harry said, nervously pulling at the Elvin clothes Fitz had lent him. "Umm, After Professor Tycross gave his speech, me and Ron decided to go to The Three Broomsticks for some butterbeer. Ron kept trying to get me to side-along apparate with him to Diagon Alley to visit his brother's joke shop, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, but I didn't want to because he failed his test the first time when he spliced off half an eyebrow, and I'm still convinced passing his second test was a fluke." He looked at his friend. "Sorry Ron."

Ron just shrugged. "It probably was. I apparated us here, didn't I?"

"Mr. Potter, please stay on subject. You were at the part where you didn't want to apparate with your friend."

"Oh, yes. I didn't want to apparate with Ron because I'm not a bloody idiot, and I told him that, so he offered to buy me a month of free butterbeers whenever I wanted them, but only if I said-along apparated with him to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. I agreed because butterbeer is brilliant, and a month's worth of free butterbeer caught my fancy. So we apparated, and somehow we didn't end up in Diagon Alley, we ended up in a strange city with strange lights and strangely dressed people."

"Says the person who showed up in a black bathrobe," Fitz muttered next to Sophie. She elbowed him in the stomach, but he only acknowledged it with a small exhale of breath. "Really? Do I look like a punching bag to you?"

"Please continue, Mr. Potter," Councillor Emery ordered. "What happened next?"

"Well, Ron and I were discussing the strange lights when two blokes yelled at us from down the alley."

"And the two 'blokes' would be Fitz Vacker and Keefe Sencen, correct?" Councillor Alina verified.

"Why do they always say your name first?" Keefe complained over Sophie to Fitz, earning simultaneous elbows from Sophie and Biana on his other side. "Oww…" he muttered, rubbing his sore ribs as they all turned their attention back to the trial.

"Yes," Harry confirmed. "Well, I believe so. I'm not certain of the surnames…"

"Alright. Go on," Councillor Emery prompted.

"Well, after that they took us back to their castle in a giant bubble, and then we…we, umm…" he trailed off and looked back at Fitz. "What was that thing called again?"

"Light leaping?" Fitz whispered to him.

"Right. We light leapt out of the giant bubble to their castle."

"And what did you do once you got to Evergle…the castle?"

"Well, there were a couple of girls. Sophie and Diana, I think? We went and played this capture the flag type game. I'm not sure, really."

Biana hissed beside Sophie. Literally hissed. "It's Biana, nimrod," she spat.

"Let's see," Emery interrupted. "Sophie Foster and Biana Vacker? Does that sound correct?"

"Yeah!"

"And what about the game? Mr. Vacker?"

Fitz stood up. "Base Quest," he answered, then sat back down.

"Base Quest," Harry mused. "Whatever it was it was brilliant."

"And when did Lord Alden Vacker arrive?"

"Later in the day, after Sophie had gone home."

"And I believe we know everything that occurred after that point." He pressed his hands to his temples, and although Harry looked confused, Sophie knew that he was mediating a telepathic conversation between the Councillors. "Mr. Potter, can you please explain to the Council exactly what apparition is?" Although it was phrased as a question, Sophie knew that a reluctance or inability to answer could get the wizards Exiled. Or worse.

Harry looked nervously at Ron, then back to the Council. After clearing his throat he answered, "Apparition is a method of translocation. Or, as you call it, teleportation."

"And how exactly does it work?"

Harry nervously cleared his throat again. "Well, umm, how our Apparition instructor explained it is that there are three D's. Umm, I think his exact words were, 'One must be completely determined to reach their destination, and they must use deliberation.' Or, something along those lines. Basically, you think of where you want to go, and you can't let anything distract you. Then, when you feel like you're ready, you just move your hand like so"—he demonstrated for them—"and go."

"If you must focus on your destination, how exactly did you end up in Atlantis, a place humans aren't supposed to know exists?"

Harry turned to look at Ron. "Perhaps Ron is a better candidate to explain that part. I wasn't the one that apparated."

"You didn't apparate?" Councillor Alina asked. "Then how did you get to Atlantis?"

"Ron apparated us. He used a method called side-along apparition, where the wizard apparates with the other person holding onto their arm."

"And would you be willing to demonstrate this form of apparition with a member of the Council?" Councillor Emery asked.

Harry turned bright red. "I…umm…I actually don't have my apparition licence yet," he mumbled.

"What was that?" Councillor Bronte asked, leaning in. "You have to speak up, boy. My ears aren't what they used to be.

For a moment, Harry froze. Then he managed, "You…you have pointy ears!"

Bronte rolled his eyes. "Wow. Humans astound me with their powers of observation." It might have been her imagination, but Sophie could have sworn he winked at her. She couldn't quite contain her laugh, and this time it was Fitz who elbowed her.

"Ouch!" she whispered, elbowing him back.

He quickly shushed her and pointed back to the tribunal floor, where Harry was trying to recover from his insensitive blunder. "I aologize, I just didn't expect your ears to be pointy. I mean, no one else's are, and I guess I just thought…wow, I'm making a mess of this, aren't I?"

Bronte grumbled to himself as Councillor Emery sighed. "Once elves reach a certain age, everything but our ears stop aging. Councillor Bronte is a member of a group called the Ancients. They're the eldest members of our society, and therefore have the most experience. They're strictly revered."

"I…I meant no offense!" Harry said, quickly backpedaling. "Ummm, your ears are brilliant! Very…prominent." He cringed and stopped talking, looking for all the world like he just wanted to crawl under the table and never come back out.

"Back to the topic we were discussing," Councillor Alina said, "would you be willing to demonstrate this form of teleportation with a member of the Council?"

"Apparition, actually," Harry murmured, his cheeks flushing.

"What was that?" Councillor Emery asked.

Harry cleared his throat. "Apparition. We wizards prefer to call it apparition."

"Apparition, then. Will you demonstrate this form of apparition with a member of the Council?"

"I don't actually have my licence yet. I don't turn 17 until July, so…"

"What does that have to do with any of this?"

"You need a license to apparate, and you have to be 17 to get a license. Ron has his license, though."

"Yes, your friend. Ronald, is it?"

"Aye." Harry's eyes flicked over to Ron before looking back at the Council.

"And now we'd like to hear from your friend Ronald."

Harry sat with a sigh of relief while Ron stood, practically shaking with nerves.

"Your name is?"

"R-Ronald Weasley," he stuttered.

"And you can apparate?"Councillor Emery asked skeptically.

"Y-Y-Y-Yes."

Councillor Emery raised an eyebrow and shared a significant glance with the other Councillors. "Alright, that's all we need for now."

"Wait, really?" Ron asked, so surprised he forgot to stutter.

"Yes. Tribunal adjourned."

The Councillors all glittered away and Ron was left standing slack jawed. "Brilliant!"

"No, not brilliant," Keefe laughed. "They don't believe you can actually do it. Right now they're having a post-Tribunal meeting on the prospective costs and benefits of sending someone to apparate with someone as blatantly inexperienced as you."

"Blimey, Keefe! You're cheeky today."

"Thank you," Keefe said, running a hand through his hair to stick it up more and striking a model pose. "I pride myself on my facetiousness."

"What did Emery say about the boys at the end there?" Sophie asked, turning to Alden.

"You really need to be less observant. For everyone's sake," Alden sighed, running a hand through his immaculate hair.

"Then you guys need to learn to be less conspicuous."

Another sigh. "The wizards will be returned to Hogwarts tonight. Councillor Emery has already verified their story, so there's no reason to keep them here."

"Wait, when did he say that? And which one's Emery again?"

"Emery was the one dressed in blue," Fitz said. "But Dad, why are they already sending them back? Shouldn't we, you know, probe them or something?"

"Fitz," Alden scolded. "The Council has made their decision, and we will not question it."

Obviously, Alden agreed with Fitz. He didn't want to let the wizards go yet.

"I think it's weird we're sending them back so quickly. It's almost like the Council just wants to get rid of them as soon as possible."

"That's precisely it, Sophie," Alden said. "Now, remember, this was a closed Tribunal." A significant glance at Sophie. Every closed Tribunal since she'd arrived had involved her in some manner. And most of the open ones too. "That means no discussing it outside of this group. Alright?"

"Of course, Alden," the elves chorused.

"Oh, and children?"

"Yes?"

"No one should know the wizards were here." With an Alvar-esque wink, Alden stepped into the light cast by his blue pathfinder, and disappeared.

"So, then, I guess this is goodbye," Sophie said awkwardly, looking down at her feet as she scuffed them on the ground.

"Aren't you coming back to Everglen?" Keefe grabbed her hand and pulled her aside as Fitz pulled out his pathfinder and Biana stepped into the light. The two wizards paused before entering, looking back at Keefe and Sophie with interest. Although they'd been given nexuses, they were still wary of light leaping anywhere.

"I've got to go change, and then I'm heading over to Slurps and Burps to 'not help' Dex around the shop. Kesler left him in charge and he's freaking out."

"But Base Quest is so much more fun than exploding lame pink goop." Keefe paused for a moment. "I can't believe I actually just said that. Pleeeeeeeease can I come with you and watch you blow everything up?"

"No. Like I said, I'm not helping Dex. Meaning that I'm not touching anything. I'm probably not even going to be breathing on anything, because apparently even that can be disastrous when you're Sophie Foster."

"What if I told you that you're my favorite walking disaster in the world?"

"Still no."

"Fine. I'll just show up. I need new supplies anyways." His devious smile made Sophie cringe.

"Keefe, stop. No. You're creeping out the wizards."

"No I'm not. In fact, before they leave, they've got to experience at least one Foster Emergency. It wouldn't be a trip to the Lost Cities without one."

"Keefe," Sophie sighed, rubbing her temples. "Fitz, back me up here."

"Sophie's right, Keefe. And anything you need from Slurps and Burps is just going to get you in trouble. Your pranks can wait another week."

"I'm on a very tight schedule here," Keefe informed them. "I'm testing out some new time sensitive stuff, and if I don't get the new stuff in time, let's just say Lady Galvin's office may not be standing much longer."

"Keefe."

"So it's a plan. I'll meet you there, Foster." With a wink and his signature smirk, Keefe disappeared into the light.

"He's trouble," Sophie warned the wizards good naturedly, "so please don't base your opinions of all elves off of him. We're usually very well mannered."

"Were you and Keefe discussing alchemy?" Harry asked with a significant glance at Ron.

"Yeah, my friend Dex's parents own a shop over in Mysterium."

"Do you think Ron and I could have a look around? We learned a little about alchemy a few years ago, and we'd like to see the difference between your alchemy and ours."

"We did?" Ron whispered to him.

"The sorcerer's stone and Nicholas Flamel, you ninny," Harry said back with a roll of his eyes.

"I don't see why not," Sophie said, looking to Fitz for confirmation.

"Fine," he sighed, twisting his pathfinder until he found the facet that lead to Mysterium. "I guess we'll see you in a few too." Then Fitz and the two wizards had disappeared as well.

Sophie pulled out her home crystal and hurried across Havenfield's vast pastures to get to the house. "Grady, Edaline, I'm heading over to Slurps and Burps!" she shouted as she raced up the stairs, rifling around in her closet for a less fancy tunic and leggings.

"Have fun!" Edaline called from somewhere below as Sophie heard Grady shout, "Try not to explode anything else, please."

"That was one time," Sophie yelled back, laughing as she slipped a relatively clean gold tunic over her head and grabbed a sash before she dashed up to the Leapmaster. "Mysterium," she called, watching the crystal drop as she tied her sash. Then she was whisked away.

Mysterium was exceptionally busy, with more people than usual walking the streets. A few even smiled in her direction as they passed her, which was a huge improvement over the usual response she got in the working class city. "Alright, who put happy-powder in their 'Bottles of Youth' this morning?" she asked as she opened the belching door to Slurps and Burps.

Keefe froze from where he was raiding the shelves and smiled sheepishly. "I swear it wasn't me this time. Although whatever devilishly handsome, good natured troublemaker with great hair that did, I want to meet him."

"Keefe," Sophie sighed, slugging him in the arm as she pushed past him, back to the main lab area. To Sophie's relief, Dex wasn't working on anything she could possibly blow up. Although he was pretty irritated that she'd invited everyone else along.

"This was supposed to be just us."

"News flash, life happens. Keefe decided he was just going to show up when he found out I was coming, and Fitz brought the other two because we're showing them around."

"Who are they? They're acting really strange."

"It's complicated," Sophie sighed. "All I can tell you is that they're essentially tourists, and they're leaving tonight."

"Tourists?"

"Yeah. They're people that—"

"I know what tourists are. Believe it or not, I've watched human movies before, remember? We watched that one last week with my mom."

"Right."

"It's just, they don't come through Mysterium that often. Especially since we're pretty much the only apothecary with such a wide selection. And, not to brag, but my dad's kinda the best."

"So are you! You've been taking on more and more projects, don't think I haven't noticed. Anyways, they're from the Forbidden Cities, but you can't tell anyone, okay?"

"The Forbidden Cities?" Dex asked, immediately turning his gaze to the two wizards. "You brought humans to the Lost Cities? Does the Council know?"

"Yes. No. And yes."

"What?"

"Yes, they are from the Forbidden Cities. No, I didn't bring them here. And yes, the Council knows."

Dex pulled her around the corner and through the doorway into the back of the shop. He closed the door and turned to her. "Sophie, I believe you, but if you didn't bring them here, who did?"

"Actually, it's a funny story. Fitz and Keefe are claiming that they just…showed up in Atlantis."

Dex's jaw dropped. "What? Atlantis? How? I mean, they can't just swim down there. That's one of our most secure cities."

"Apparently they have this method of teleportation called Apparition. Anyways, they're not just normal humans, they're wizards. They claim to have some sort of magical abilities."

"But magic isn't real," Dex told her, wiping his forehead with the back of his powdery hand. "I thought you knew that."

"Maybe not, but some of the things they can do, it's unexplainable."

"Maybe they're just a small sect of humans that developed special abilities?"

"What's really weird is that they have these wooden sticks that seem to control their abilities. They can't use magic without them."

"Weird…" Dex said, trailing off as his face brightened.

"Uh oh," Sophie laughed, backing away in mock fear. "That's your idea face."

"Shut up," he said with a smile. "It's a good one this time. Do you think you could get me one of those wooden sticks? I'd like to take a look at it, see if there's any chance I could replicat—"

Just then there was a tremendous boom that shook the entire house, throwing Sophie into Dex and sending them both into the door. "What the bloody hell was that?" they heard through the door as they disentangled themselves and helped each other up from the floor.

"How much do you wanna bet the humans knocked something over?" Dex groaned as he tugged at the door. But it was stuck shut.

"Hey guys?" Sophie called through the door. "A little help here?"

"Where are you?" Fitz asked as Keefe whooped in the background.

"Do you see this?" Keefe asked animatedly. "This is why I wanted to bring them along. This is so much more trouble than I could've gotten into alone!"

Sophie sighed. "We're stuck behind the door, Fitz. Something's blocking it."

"We don't need Wonderboy," Dex grumbled. "I can handle this." But all his channeling did was rip the doorknob right off the door.

"Great job, Dex. Way to go all Hulk on us." Sophie rolled her eyes. "What happened out there?" she asked Fitz as he started working on the door.

"Some stuff exploded. No big deal."

"No big deal? No big deal?" Keefe asked from deeper inside the shop, laughing manically. "They took out six aisles!"

"I'm sure it was an accident," Fitz reasoned, pounding on the door a few times. "There. That should work."

This time when Sophie and Dex pushed, it opened easily, spilling both of them onto the floor. Which just happened to be covered in sticky blue goop.

"Dex!" Kesler laughed as the door belched, coming in from the street. "I leave you in charge for less than two hours and this is what happens? Blue, really? You could have just told me you wanted to redecorate."

"Sorry Dad," Dex mumbled, trying to wiped the blue goo off his face. "I didn't expect them all to come in."

"Let's just get it cleaned up. Sophie, always a pleasure," he said as he made his way through the spilled shelves to his lab in the back. "And Mr. Vacker, we don't see you around very often. How are you?"

"I'm very good, Mr. Dizznee," Fitz said, tilting his head in acknowledgement.

"Kesler is fine. And Keefe Sencen," Kesler said with a large, friendly smile as he stopped and looked the smirking boy up and down. "Pulled any good pranks lately?"

"Oh, too many to count," Keefe joked, casually trying to keep a hold of all the bottles in his hands. "Keep an ear up for my next prank though. It's going to be my crowning achievement."

Sophie rolled her eyes at her hopeless friend as Kelser laughed and asked, "Anything I can do to help? Aside from ring you up and get you a bag of course." Here he gestured to Dex, who rolled his eyes as he pulled out a bag and crossed the room to help Keefe with his new purchases.

"I got most of the supplies before our guests decided to mix hobgoblin saliva with manticore venom," Keefe said, with a significant glance at the two wizards, "but I still need some sasquatch fur."

"Mixing hobgoblin saliva and manticore venom did this?" Kesler asked skeptically, looking around at the messy interior of his shop.

Dex sighed. "No, the blue color happened when all the serums began to mix after the explosion, which in turn happened when the manticore venom mixed with the ground Mallorn leaves."

"Ohhhh," Kesler laughed. "Ground mallorn leaves? That would do it." He shook his head and laughed again, as if he couldn't quite believe he'd missed it. "Can you go grab a bit of sasquatch fur from the back please, Dex?"

"Sure," Dex sighed, trudging back through the shop to the supply room.

"And who might you two be?" Kelser asked, finally turning to the two wizards.

"Umm, I'm Harry, and this is Ron. We're…not from around here."

"Ah," Kesler nodded knowingly. "Black Swan members? Or former Exillium students?"

Ron and Harry looked at each other for a moment before Ron answered honestly, "Actually, we go to a school called Hogwarts. It's pretty far from here, so I'd assume you've never heard of it. But a brilliant school all the same."

"Hogwarts?" Kesler scratched his head. "Is that one of the schools on the border of the Neutral territories? Wait! It's on the edge of Luminaria, isn't it? I always forget about that one. Hogwarts. What a strange name."

"Yes!" Sophie jumped in. "It's one of the working class schools. In fact, they're training to be…umm…"

"Mentors!" Dex jumped in a little too enthusiastically as he came out of the supply rom with Keefe's bottle. "They're both talentless, so they're training to be Elvin History mentors at Pigmoles after they graduate."

Thankfully, Kesler didn't notice Dex's mistake. "Talentless, eh?" he asked, a pitying look on his face as he looked at the wizards. "I'll let you in on a little secret…I am too. But look what I've made of myself." He gestured around his shop as he spoke. "Although it might not look like much right now, under all the blue slime this is the most successful apothecary in all of the Lost Cities. So don't let those Talentless snobs—present company excluded of course—try to tell you where your place is. You can do whatever you put your mind to."

"Thank you," Harry said after a small pause. "And we're sorry for destroying your shop. We didn't know that manticore venom would react with the hobgoblin saliva and mallorn leaves like that."

"Ah, don't worry about it. Not everyone is meant to be an alchemist. In fact, just ask Sophie over here. She's destroyed this shop more times than I can count."

"Uncle Kesler," she groaned, putting a hand to her forehead.

"It's alright. At least she tries. What did you boys say your names were again?"

"Harry and Ron," Harry said.

"And your family names?" Kesler asked. "I'm sure I've met your parents before. Oh, better yet, let me guess! Lord Saar and Lady Arlia of Eclipse? Or—"

"Uncle Kesler, I'm so sorry," Sophie interrupted pulling Fitz's pathfinder out of his pocket and hurrying across the blue mess to the wizards, "but we're running late! I was supposed to be home twenty minutes ago. I'll see you tomorrow at school, Dex! Goodnight!" She held it up to the light and pushed the wizards into it, grabbing Keefe and Fitz's hands and then stepping in herself.