"You were with Hagrid in Knockturn Alley three years ago! And with Firenze a year before that!" The boy exclaimed the moment three of them where moderately away from raging centaurs. Tauriel sighed. There was no point in denying it now.

"Yes, I was. And you two just led that rotten woman into a trap," she didn't make it a question, and apparently children didn't feel the need to answer, because the Granger countered with her own question. "Who are you?"

"I'm Hagrid's friend," she answered mildly, trying to skew from the real answer. The girl was having none of that, though.

"Yes, but who are you?"

The elf gave another long-suffering sigh. "I'm Tauriel. I live in the Forrest. Now you two tell me why you lead her here, and why she listened to you? I know you are not her favourite students."

"How?" Potter boy started, and the elf interrupts him. "I'm also Minerva's friend, and she tells me a great deal more than is strictly permitted. Now. Why are you here?"

Apparently telling them she is friend of two of their trusted teachers was a good move, because children ended up telling her everything, from Potter's vision during the exam, to their attempt to reach Black.

"Are you planning to going to Ministry on your own?" She exclaimed as soon as she understood.

"Yes," Potter answered.

"No," Granger answered at the same time. The boy turned to her immediately, Tauriel completely forgotten. "No?"

"Of course no, idiot, we are coming with you," a new voice spoke and another four children, two girls and two boys, appeared, and for next few minutes were spent in recounting the apparent fight with other Hogwarts students, and then on arguing whether Potter was going to storm the heart of British Magic on his own.

"There is no way any of you are going there," Tauriel sternly interrupted them. Everyone's heads turned to her, and there was a new wave of asking who she was. For a moment, the elf even felt overwhelmed, as she hadn't this much attention turned on her since her Mirkwood days. Yet, she went on. "You can't just storm there and save him, you, Potter, said yourself, Voldemort is torturing your godfather. This is a trap for you! He only wants to kill you."

"And so what?!" The boy exploded into a scream. "Should I just let him die?! Should I just stay here in safety with no way to inform anyone from the Order about Sirius?!"

"So, want it or not, but we are going," the ginger girl, Ginny Weasley, spoke.

"How are we going to do that?" another boy, Neville Longbottom, spoke.

"We will fly, of course," Luna Lovegood, the youngest of them all, answered dreamily, looking somewhere past Tauriel. The elf whirled on her heels, and saw a herd of thestrals.

"Of course," she whispered, petting the closest creature to her. And then she turned back to children, her blood already boiling with anticipation. Hadn't she done the same - went after another when it was an almost sure death for him? How could she in her right mind judge Potter? "I'm going with you. I won't let six teenagers go on their own. This is a very stupid plan. Almost as bad as going on a quest to reclaim a kingdom."

Of course, the joke was lost to them, so Tauriel just helped the Weasley boy climb on the animal he couldn't see. When she was sure everyone was securely on the thestrals, the Potter approached her. "Why the hell are you going with us? You don't know any of us, and this isn't safe."

So now he was thinking about safety. Even if it was not his own. So Tauriel put her hands on his shoulders and said:

"I am not going to let kids get killed in a stupid battle again. And there will be a battle, I can feel it. Now get on your thestral before I change my mind and lead all of you back to the castle."