Chapter Text
The first class of her second year was about to begin in a minute. That was why Ava was running like a mad man. Her bag thumped heavily against her back, knocking each breath she took straight back out. She was down the hall with the door in sight. She knew she looked a mess and on her first day back, it really wasn’t a good way to start. Less than one minute to go.
She ran once more till the door stood in front of her. Ava slammed her hand down on the door handle and shoved the door open just as the bell rang. Taking large breaths, she looked around the lecture hall where the several hundred people stared at her.
“Well good morning to you,” the professor said, standing a few feet in front of Ava, next to the white boards.
“Am I late?” The professor, with light brown curls and a chubby waist, sighed. He gave her a once over and shook his head slightly.
“No, not today. But this better not become a habit.”
“Yes Sir,” Ava sighed and went to find a seat. Most of the people there slumped back in their chairs. A couple had head phones in and Ava swore she saw one or two already asleep. It was only nine in the morning though. She took her seat next to Ori, her classmate from last year. Fili was on Ori’s other side and had pulled his blonde hair back into a pony tail. Ori finally got rid of that bowl cut his brother Dori insisted he kept. It sat short and neat.
“What did you do, sleep in?” Fili asked, learning back to talk behind Ori.
“No! Well sort of,” Ava answered defensively. “I see you’ve gone for the moustache look this year. Very Uncle Thorin.”
“Shut up,” Fili grumbled with a small blush. He spent so much time saying that he wasn’t like his uncle. Ava and his mother, Dis, begged to differ. Technically Thorin wasn’t Ava’s Uncle but her parents were good friends with Thorin, Dis and Uncle Frerin when he was alive. She was raised like a sister that Fili and Kili never had.
“Both of you shut up,” Ori suggested, his eyes forward on the professor. Ava looked to the front of the room where the curly haired, and short, professor stood waiting. There was something about his stare that shut everyone up. Ava saw a couple people pull their headphones out. Scary.
“Hullo everyone,” he began cheerily enough. “My name is Bilbo Baggins but technically you have to call me Professor Baggins. But I’m sure that will shorten down to professor soon enough. Allow me to welcome you to second year lit. For those of you who didn’t take it last year, welcome and I hope you enjoy. For those of you who did,” professor Baggins paused for a moment. “Well, I don’t need to tell you, do I?” A few people chuckled at this. “Now let’s get straight into this. I want you go out and find any book that you’ve never read before. Read a few pages and if it doesn’t feel like it will change your life or at least your opinion on something, put it back. If it’s something you’ve been wanting to read then read it. Read it in your spare time and write down little notes about what you’ve felt while reading each chapter. Since it is the first week, I’ll allow you two weeks to read. Then you have one week to write an analytical report on it, say 1500 words, and a report of your feelings about it in 1500 words. Understood?”
There was a murmur of response and professor Baggins beamed.
“Excellent. Well I don’t know about you, but I’m excited for this year to get started.
Class ended two hours later and Ava felt rather good about her first class. Her next one, business management, was in the afternoon with Fili. Ori stuck with them, chattering about the books he was already wanting to read. Being three years younger, Ori felt left out and alone in his first year. Thankfully Fili knew his older brother Nori from soccer and agreed to look after young Ori, the little genius. Ava simply tagged along and became enamoured by his enthusiasm.
“So where are we off to?” Ava asked, slinging an arm over Ori’s shoulders.
“We have to go find Kili, it’s his first day so I wanna go make sure he’s ok.”
“Oh yeah, I’ll come too!”
“Count me in,” Ori adds, happy to see his cousin as well.
As they were walking, Fili kept his phone in his hand and his eyes glued to the screen, waiting for Kili to text. They went outside and over to one of the large trees Kili was supposed to be under. As they got closer, Ava saw Kili, whose hair was still unruly, standing with two others. One was a tall female with fiery red hair and pale skin. She was smiling at something Kili was say while the man next to her, a blonde haired guy also with pale skin, looked ,mildly amused.
When Kili saw Ava, Ori and his brother approaching, he dashed away from the other two.
“There you are!” He cheered, launching himself at his brother. Fili caught him with a practised hold and wrapped a tight arm around his neck.
“I told you we would meet you!” The blonde grunted, letting his brother slip out from under his arm.
“Ava, Ori!” Kili jumped at them and gave them both hugs.
“Hey Kili, good to see you finally at uni. Are you gonna introduce us?” Ava asked, inclining her head to the two still standing under the tree.
“Oh! Come on!” Kili grabbed Ava by the wrist as Ori and Fili followed. “Ava, Fili, Ori, this is Tauriel and Legolas, their both fourth years.”
“Nice to meet you,” Ava said with a smile as she extended her hand. Legolas was the first to shake her hand and greet her, then Tauriel. Fili and Ori followed along with the greetings.
“So what got you talking to my brother?” Fili asked once the pleasantries were done with.
“Legolas and I were going to the library when I saw Kili standing around.” Tauriel began before Legolas carried on.
“And Tauriel felt the need to look after him so we came over and started talking.” Ava noticed a slight blush on Tauriel’s cheeks.
“Well thank you, both of you. You won’t mind if we take him do you?”
“No, it’s fine, see you around Kili.” Legolas said with a smile.
“Thank you so much! See you guys around!” Kili waved to them as Fili, Ori, Kili and Ava began to walk away.
“Making friends already,” Ava stated with a grin and an arm still over Ori’s shoulders.
“Yeah, they were really nice. It’d be cool to hang out with them again.”
“Give it time brother, it’s still only the first day.”
“Did you know who that Legolas guy was, by the way?” Ori asked as they made their way inside.
“What do you mean?” Ava asked, not understanding either.
“That was professor Thranduil’s son, Legolas Greenleaf.”
“So you mean professor Greenleaf,” Fili corrected mildly. Ori shook his head.
“No one really knows his last name, but everyone calls him Sir anyways. He teaches business management.”
“Oh great, so I can say to him that his son is friends with my brother and get away with stuff.”
“I don’t think that’d work, Fili.”
“Why not?” Ava asked, slightly intrigued.
“Well I heard he’s really strict and has a horrid temper when pushed to it.”
“So kind of like Uncle’s or Ma’s?” Asked Kili with a wicked grin.
“Or Dori’s,” added Fili.
“I wouldn’t know, just be careful Ava and Fili. I don’t think you’d want to see it.” Before Fili could say whatever it was he was about to say, Ava spoke.
“Will do, I don’t feel like starting this year being both late and yelled at.” She played it off jokingly but still, she couldn’t shake the worry that appeared at Ori’s words. The three headed off to find lunch which was just three bowls of fries shared amongst them. They chatted about Thorin’s editing company was doing and how Dwalin was handling the mechanic job he dutifully kept with. He was the only person who would fix Ava’s car for a decent price she could afford. To pay him back even more, she told all of her friends about him which did actually give Dwalin more business. As always, they tried to guess Ori’s older brother Nori’s job. Kili was adamant that he was a spy. Fili and Ava thought something less along the legal lines. Ori kept his mouth shut.
When two o’clock finally ticked around, Ava and Fili headed off to class, Ava not wanting to be late once again. Ori said that he would show Kili the library. There was a hint of excitement in his eye at the possibility of seeing Tauriel and Legolas again. Fili just shook his head at his brother.
The lecture hall was more packed than the lit class and Fili and Ava had to sit nearer the front. Not right at, Fili wouldn’t allow that to happen. They took a seat next to a nice girl called Sigrid with a welsh accent. There was chatter among the class until the professor walked in. Well, glided.
He was a tall man with broad shoulders and a stocky waist. His skin was pale like his hair but his cheeks a slight pink. His hair was cut short and brushed back. It looked windswept. His eyebrows though, were thick and black which was an odd contrast. The professor’s face was impassive as he looked over the sea of faces. From where she sat, Ava thought she saw him huff and thought immediately poorly of him.
“I am professor Thranduil,” He began with a deep, demanding voice. “You will call me Sir and you will not talk when I am. You will not listen to music, eat or sleep in this class. If you have a question then you will raise your hand. I will not wait for you to finish your notes. I will not tolerate tardiness or assessments handed in late or in shoddy quality. Any of you who think that you will not be able to handle such rules will be more than welcome to leave now. I will not have my time wasted.”
There was a stunned silence after that speech. Ava looked to Fili who was equally shocked. He didn’t seem anything like his son even though they had only met him earlier. There were about four people who stood up and left. The professor paid them no mind as he collected a stack of papers.
“What the actual fuck?” Fili whispered, thinking he wouldn’t be caught. But he was.
“What was that?” Thranduil snapped, eyes zeroing on Fili. “Oh, I see. It does not surprise me that a Durin would be so quick to discard the rules, despite them being said merely a few seconds ago.”
Ava watched as Fili became visibly angry at each word professor Thranduil said. Before he could say something equally rude or worse, Ava interrupted.
“It’s my fault Sir, I asked him if he had a pen. Mine ran out.” The professor’s pale blue eyes slid over to Ava, there was no anger or cruelty in his gaze like there was when he was looking at Fili.
“You thought it was wise to come to my class without the proper equipment, miss?”
“Yorke. Ava Yorke. And I apologize, it won’t happen again.”
“It better not.” He says matter of factly and began his next lecture and what to he expected of the students and what they were to expect from the course. It again left everyone speechless. At the end of class, as everyone was packing up, she noticed Fili glaring at the professor.
“What’s your problem?” She asked, looking over to see professor Thranduil sitting at his desk, looking over some papers. They started walking down the steps when Fili answered.
“I hate him already.” Ava sighed, already getting the feeling that it was going to be a long year.
“Well,” she began. “I’m sure he hates you too.” Fili glared at her then grumbled something unintelligible. Ava sighed and chanced a glance over at the professor. She couldn’t help but notice the slight grin on his face. When his blue eyes flicked to her, she turned around quickly, feeling heat rise in her cheeks. It left her confused even as Fili drove them home.