Hidden Wings - Part I

St. Mungo's

The smell of ginger tea filled the office as Mioha and Gandalf sat in two armchairs before a fireplace in his office. Fawkes was perched on the old wizard's shoulder, cooing a soft melody. Mioha had her hands wrapped around the warm teacup and stared into the steaming liquid.
She felt warm and cozy after getting out of the cold, but her mind was still replaying the moments in Swedish Lapland over and over again.

"Mioha?", Gandalf's voice broke her thoughts.
She looked up and found him leaning back in his armchair, lifting his teacup to his lips.
"I imagine you have a lot of questions on your mind."

Mioha nodded mutely.

Gandalf took a sip and sighed with relish. "I love a good ginger tea. Not the sweet kind Dolores makes."
He set the cup down onto the saucer.

"Sir?", said Mioha timidly. "How can you be...?"
Her voice trailed off.

"I think it is best I start at the beginning, Mioha", said the wizard calmly and gazed at her over his half-moon spectacles.
"I come from Valinor, a land which still exists today, but is rarely found unless one knows it is there and where he has to look. Long ago, when a Dark Lord named Sauron threatened Middle-Earth, I was sent from the Valar along with other wizards to help. I was initially called in the North by the name 'Gandalf the Grey', but later on became 'Gandalf the White'."

He took another sip of his tea.

"I was to not only protect the people of Middle-Earth from Sauron, but also the Titans. The Valar feared Sauron would find the Birth Place of the Titans and whoever achieves this, would have absolute control over them."

Gandalf looked at her seriously.
"No one should hold that kind of power. That is why not even I was informed of the Birth Place's location, should I fall into the hands of the enemies.
Over the years, I kept a watchful eye over the six Titans. As humans continued to split into magical and non-magical people, the non-magical slowly forgot about the magical world. The Titans then decided to go into hiding and live in secret, for they had been part of many wars, too many to count, and had learned their lesson."

Gandalf sighed.

"I cannot not die. At least not the usual way humans do. To avoid suspicion and to continue to watch over the Titans safely, I created identities. The latest was Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore."

He winked at her.

"I have a soft spot for long names, you see."

"But aren't you more powerful than Voldemort?", Mioha asked. "Can't you...defeat him easily?"

Gandalf gently held up a hand to motion her to wait.
"When Voldemort threatened the Wizarding World, I decided to offer my help. I was, after all, still meant to protect the beings of this earth from evil harm. But Voldemort should not be underestimated."

Gandalf shook his head grimly.

"He is a powerful wizard, someone who does not shy away from the dark magic and in fact, actually embraces it.
I know we need to be prepared for what is coming and I believe Harry is one of the key figures in Voldemort's downfall. But what I had not anticipated, was that the Titans would disappear completely.
Seven years ago, all contact to them broke off. I could not find them anywhere, but I knew they still existed somewhere."

Gandalf's blue eyes had a serious look in them.
"I have the strong suspicion that the Titans did not disappear voluntarily. They are somewhere in their earthly forms and I am convinced they are trapped in those forms."

"Trapped?", Mioha repeated confused. "Why, sir?"

"I do not know", Gandalf admitted. "But as long as they cannot reach their Titan form, they will remain hidden. A Titan is not meant to be in its earthly form for too long, Mioha. Sooner or later, the creatures of that element will start to perish because their connection to the respective Titan is getting severed. And at the same time, the Titan's start to forget what they really are. It's a doom loop."