Author's Note: If the summary sounded familiar to you - yes, this story used to be in the HP
section. But as it's a crossover, it can be just as well in this one.
Reason for the change is probably pretty obvious: there are a *lot* more fics in the HP section. And
the two very kind reviews ( thanks to Shadow Mouse and Rachelfan5000) sounded like it was
worth reading - and by that very encouraging anyway, so I thought that if I'm going to put a lot of
work in this, I don't want it to be overlooked.
Rather egoistic, I know. ;-)
It starts in Hogwarts and the first LotR-Character won't show up before chapter three - but they will
- be patient.:-)
Disclaimer: All the HP characters including Hogwarts belong to J.K. Rowling. Everything in
Middle-earth belongs to Tolkien. I don't own anything (beyond the plot) and I don't earn any
money with this.
_.~*~.__.~*~.__.~*~._Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings_.~*~.__.~*~.__.~*~._
"I don't know, why I agreed to this!"
Hermione shook her head as she watched Harry folding his fathers invisibility cloak and
squeezing it into his bag.
"We'll be in so much trouble if we're caught!"
"Nobody forced you to come along!" Ron frowned. "And besides - we're not going to be
caught!"
"Oh - and why not, if you please?"
"Because nobody's down here in the dungeons at this time of night!", Harry threw in. "Not
even Snape!"
"And what makes you so sure about that?"
"It's well after midnight - he's got to sleep sometime!"
Hermione mumbled something that sounded like "I wouldn't rely on that", but left it at that.
Secretly she knew Ron was right. She joined in on this suicide mission by her own choice.
The most likely result of it was going to be that they were expelled. Hermione tried to image
what her life as a witch would be like, if she had to leave school in her fifth year.
She shivered.
// Well // - she thought - // I can still change to Beaubatons. //
Even though the prospect of having to learn French wasn't really exciting, the thought calmed
her down a bit.
"So where is this secret passage?"
Ron looked around. "It was somewhere near - I'm sure about that. I tried to find the one Fred
mentioned. He said the entrance was marked by a rune
"What kind of rune?" Harry looked around as well - but the walls of the dungeon corridor
were smooth an even
"No idea!"
"You don't know?" Hermione couldn't believe it. "Didn't Fred tell you or did you forget about
it?"
"He described it, Hermione, calm down. I know what it looks like - I just don't know its name,
right?"
"Shh!" Harry couldn't believe that deep down in the dungeons in the middle of the night his
friends had nothing better to do than to quarrel. "Don't talk so loud! And what *does* this
rune look like, Ron?"
"Looks like an R. Just with another bow left of the vertical line!"
"Top or bottom?"
"Bottom."
"Did Fred tell you that?" Hermione wanted to make sure.
"No. But the one I found had it at the bottom!"
"Fine!" Hermione tried not to make her voice sound shrilly. "We don't even know whether the
passage you found is the one Fred talked about - or another one!"
"And what does it matter, Hermione?"
"Right!" Harry cut in. "We're down here *now* - we'll try out the passage we find. Or would
you like to go back to the library and check on the rune? Who knows? We really might have
another chance like this during the next two years! We don't need to find out now!"
Hermione swallowed. In fact she really would have felt better if she could have checked on
that rune first before heading into a secret passage not even the Marauders had known about.
They were heading into the complete unknown - and Hermione didn't like that at all.
But Harry was right. The opportunity was perfect - nobody knew whether they would have
another chance like this.
"Then let's find that passage!"
"Splendid!"
Carefully they felt along the walls and lightened the corners with their wands. Suddenly there
was a weak sound.
Harry turned around at once. "What was that?"
They put out their wands and stared into the sudden darkness.
"Was it something scratching?" Hermione whispered.
"Or a cough?" Ron couldn't really decide.
For a while they just stood in the darkness an barely dared to breathe - but there was nothing
to be seen and the sound didn't come back. Finally Harry muttered "Lumos" and looked at his
friends. "Probably just the wind - it's not exactly warm down here and pretty draughty
sometimes."
"Right!" Hermione sounded relieved. "Wind can cause those whistling sounds…"
"You don't say!" Ron lightened his wand as well. "Did you read that in 'Hogwarts: A
History'?" His voice dripping with sarcasm.
Hermione ignored him. "Let's get on or we won't be back at dawn. And *then* we'll be in real
trouble."
They went along the corridor until they reached a junction. Harry looked at Ron. "Well? Do
you remember this place?"
Ron nodded. "I turned left here - we're almost there!"
And really: only a few meters further on they found a tiny rune carved in one of the stones.
"So what now?" Hermione frowned at the rune. She hadn't seen this particular rune in any of
her books so far.
Ron raised his wand. "Alohomora!"
Nothing happened.
Hermione raised an eye-brow. "Ron - that spell opens locked doors! There's neither a door,
nor a lock!"
"So you've got a better idea?"
Hermione ruffled her nose. Then she tipped the rune with her wand and muttered "Revelare
Secretium!"
All three gasped, as thin lines of light grew out of the rune and spread across the wall. The
lines formed some sort of narrow entrance. Above it new runes appeared.
"Now what kind of runes are those?" Harry looked curiously at Hermione. Who shrugged.
"No idea. These are complete different runes - much rounder then those I've seen so far!"
Ron rubbed his nose thoughtfully. "So what now? We can't just give up, now that we've found
the entrance, right?"
"No!" Harry grinned at his friends. "I've got the solution - literally speaking!"
He took a small phial out of his pocket, in which a blue liquid was shimmering.
"Harry - that's Snapes potion!" Hermione looked at Harry in shock. "That's the 'Find-the-
Way-Solution', he showed us! You stole it!"
"So what?" Harry shrugged. "If I remember correctly, you stole boomslangskin from his
private stores when we did the Polyjuice Potion!"
"Exactly!" Ron felt he had to back Harry up. "And Snape can whip up a new one any time,
right? If we had done it ourselves, we'd still be waiting for months!"
Hermione didn't bother to comment on that. In her opinion it made a big difference whether
you stole an ingredient for a potion that would go saving lives or whether you stole a potion
you could have done easily yourself and that wasn't needed urgently.
Yet in this state of the adventure Ron and Harry were obviously beyond the reach of logical
argumentation. And it was too late now anyway - as Harry had started to carefully drop the
solution onto the lines on the wall. Then he stepped back and raised his wand.
Sparks lit up as he pointed it at the entrance - then the stones moved aside and gave way into
the secret passage.
Disappointment spread across their faces, as they looked through the narrow opening.
"Another corridor!" Ron's voice sounded more than disappointed.
Harry bit his lower lip. "So - what are we waiting for!" he looked at the other two. "The path
is free - let's go!"
He stepped into the narrow and low passage way. Ron followed and sighing Hermione did the
same.
They could only walk behind each other and even despite the light of their wands Harry could
barely see anything. The passage seemed to go on without end. They followed it for what
seemed like hours - around many bends and corners - yet there were no junctions. Something
that really calmed Hermione down. At least it wouldn't be difficult to find the way back.
Suddenly they stood in a small room
It was round. Right opposite the passage they had just come threw were three more entrances
- outlined with glowing lines, like their entrance had been. The middle one was a bit larger
than the other two.
"Which one do we want to take?" Ron looked from Harry to Hermione.
Hermione swallowed. "Do we have to take one at all? Can't we just go back?"
Harry and Ron threw each other unbelieving looks.
"Are you joking?" Ron couldn't believe his ears. "We haven't come much further since the
first entrance - we barely found out anything!"
"Ron's right!" Harry agreed. "We haven't found out anything - we've *got* to go through one
of the entrances!"
Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but Ron spoke first.
"Let's take the middle one - it's a bit higher!"
"O.k." Harry moved in front of the entrance an started the potion-procedure. Unnerved
Hermione realized, that her opinion obviously didn't matter at all.
Then the entrance opened.
"Not another corridor, please!" Ron mumbled and his wish came true.
Harry peered through the opening. "It's a room!"
"A room? What sort of room?" Hermione and Ron moved closer.
"No idea!" Harry stepped through the entrance and looked around. The room looked just like
the other ones in the Hogwart's dungeons. Thick walls. Cold. No light.
"HARRY!" Surprised he turned around to see Ron and Hermione stumble through the
entrance almost at the same time.
"What's up. Why are you shouting?"
Ron looked relieved. "You were suddenly gone. We could see the room - but not you!"
Harry looked at him in surprise and went back to the entrance. Carefully he looked back into
the round room from which they'd just come. He turned around again and shrugged.
"Looks like it did before! What do you think, where we are?"
Hermione had walked over to a door at the other end of the room, but it was locked.
"Alohomora!" she mumbled and the door opened.
"There's a staircase - let's find out where we are!"
Ron was grinning from ear to ear. "Maybe this is a secret entrance to the Slytherin common
room!"
"Most certainly not!"
They turned around, as they heard the cold, silky voice they knew only too well. In front of
the entrance stood Snape, who had apparently followed them all the time.
Behind his back light lit up in the entrance and out came Malfoy - grinning. It wasn't hard to
figure out that he had somehow sneaked up on them and overheard their plan and then
informed Snape.
Hermione's eyes widened and she pointed at the entrance. "Professor, look…"
Snape turned around and caught sight of Malfoy. "I told you to stay behind!"
Hermione was still nervously pointing at the entrance. "No, Professor, quick, the entrance!"
Harry saw, what she meant. The light was becoming weaker.
"Yes, Professor - look!"
But Snape didn't turn around. "A very old trick, really!" But when he saw the expression on
their faces he did turn around .
Next second he had raised his wand. Sparks were flying about the entrance - but too late.
The opening was gone and the sparks from Snape's wand only hit the wall. The way back was
closed.
~*~.*.~*~
"The three of you will be expelled for this, that's for sure!"
Snape stared angrily at the Gryffindors.
"What on earth were you thinking? Mm? Potter? Yet again you had nothing better to do than
to get yourself and others into trouble, right?"
"I-" Harry started, but Snape cut him short.
"Although I believe you didn't think at all, Potter! However. You better hope that this room
belongs to the Hogwarts dungeons, because if it doesn't, if we're in a cellar in Hogsmeade - or
wherever - then…" He took two quick steps ahead and brought his face close to Harry's, "then
you three will be in much more trouble than you can imagine!"
Snape couldn't have been more wrong. In fact "wherever" was a pretty exact description of
their current whereabouts. And the troubles that were to be expected didn't only affect Harry,
Ron and Hermione. Oh no.
_.~*~.__.~*~.__.~*~.__.~*~._to be continued _.~*~.__.~*~.__.~*~.__.~*~._
Author's Note: I swear I will update this on a regular basis. I just can't promise that means I'm
going to update fast. ;-) But I'll do my best.
section. But as it's a crossover, it can be just as well in this one.
Reason for the change is probably pretty obvious: there are a *lot* more fics in the HP section. And
the two very kind reviews ( thanks to Shadow Mouse and Rachelfan5000) sounded like it was
worth reading - and by that very encouraging anyway, so I thought that if I'm going to put a lot of
work in this, I don't want it to be overlooked.
Rather egoistic, I know. ;-)
It starts in Hogwarts and the first LotR-Character won't show up before chapter three - but they will
- be patient.:-)
Disclaimer: All the HP characters including Hogwarts belong to J.K. Rowling. Everything in
Middle-earth belongs to Tolkien. I don't own anything (beyond the plot) and I don't earn any
money with this.
_.~*~.__.~*~.__.~*~._Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings_.~*~.__.~*~.__.~*~._
"I don't know, why I agreed to this!"
Hermione shook her head as she watched Harry folding his fathers invisibility cloak and
squeezing it into his bag.
"We'll be in so much trouble if we're caught!"
"Nobody forced you to come along!" Ron frowned. "And besides - we're not going to be
caught!"
"Oh - and why not, if you please?"
"Because nobody's down here in the dungeons at this time of night!", Harry threw in. "Not
even Snape!"
"And what makes you so sure about that?"
"It's well after midnight - he's got to sleep sometime!"
Hermione mumbled something that sounded like "I wouldn't rely on that", but left it at that.
Secretly she knew Ron was right. She joined in on this suicide mission by her own choice.
The most likely result of it was going to be that they were expelled. Hermione tried to image
what her life as a witch would be like, if she had to leave school in her fifth year.
She shivered.
// Well // - she thought - // I can still change to Beaubatons. //
Even though the prospect of having to learn French wasn't really exciting, the thought calmed
her down a bit.
"So where is this secret passage?"
Ron looked around. "It was somewhere near - I'm sure about that. I tried to find the one Fred
mentioned. He said the entrance was marked by a rune
"What kind of rune?" Harry looked around as well - but the walls of the dungeon corridor
were smooth an even
"No idea!"
"You don't know?" Hermione couldn't believe it. "Didn't Fred tell you or did you forget about
it?"
"He described it, Hermione, calm down. I know what it looks like - I just don't know its name,
right?"
"Shh!" Harry couldn't believe that deep down in the dungeons in the middle of the night his
friends had nothing better to do than to quarrel. "Don't talk so loud! And what *does* this
rune look like, Ron?"
"Looks like an R. Just with another bow left of the vertical line!"
"Top or bottom?"
"Bottom."
"Did Fred tell you that?" Hermione wanted to make sure.
"No. But the one I found had it at the bottom!"
"Fine!" Hermione tried not to make her voice sound shrilly. "We don't even know whether the
passage you found is the one Fred talked about - or another one!"
"And what does it matter, Hermione?"
"Right!" Harry cut in. "We're down here *now* - we'll try out the passage we find. Or would
you like to go back to the library and check on the rune? Who knows? We really might have
another chance like this during the next two years! We don't need to find out now!"
Hermione swallowed. In fact she really would have felt better if she could have checked on
that rune first before heading into a secret passage not even the Marauders had known about.
They were heading into the complete unknown - and Hermione didn't like that at all.
But Harry was right. The opportunity was perfect - nobody knew whether they would have
another chance like this.
"Then let's find that passage!"
"Splendid!"
Carefully they felt along the walls and lightened the corners with their wands. Suddenly there
was a weak sound.
Harry turned around at once. "What was that?"
They put out their wands and stared into the sudden darkness.
"Was it something scratching?" Hermione whispered.
"Or a cough?" Ron couldn't really decide.
For a while they just stood in the darkness an barely dared to breathe - but there was nothing
to be seen and the sound didn't come back. Finally Harry muttered "Lumos" and looked at his
friends. "Probably just the wind - it's not exactly warm down here and pretty draughty
sometimes."
"Right!" Hermione sounded relieved. "Wind can cause those whistling sounds…"
"You don't say!" Ron lightened his wand as well. "Did you read that in 'Hogwarts: A
History'?" His voice dripping with sarcasm.
Hermione ignored him. "Let's get on or we won't be back at dawn. And *then* we'll be in real
trouble."
They went along the corridor until they reached a junction. Harry looked at Ron. "Well? Do
you remember this place?"
Ron nodded. "I turned left here - we're almost there!"
And really: only a few meters further on they found a tiny rune carved in one of the stones.
"So what now?" Hermione frowned at the rune. She hadn't seen this particular rune in any of
her books so far.
Ron raised his wand. "Alohomora!"
Nothing happened.
Hermione raised an eye-brow. "Ron - that spell opens locked doors! There's neither a door,
nor a lock!"
"So you've got a better idea?"
Hermione ruffled her nose. Then she tipped the rune with her wand and muttered "Revelare
Secretium!"
All three gasped, as thin lines of light grew out of the rune and spread across the wall. The
lines formed some sort of narrow entrance. Above it new runes appeared.
"Now what kind of runes are those?" Harry looked curiously at Hermione. Who shrugged.
"No idea. These are complete different runes - much rounder then those I've seen so far!"
Ron rubbed his nose thoughtfully. "So what now? We can't just give up, now that we've found
the entrance, right?"
"No!" Harry grinned at his friends. "I've got the solution - literally speaking!"
He took a small phial out of his pocket, in which a blue liquid was shimmering.
"Harry - that's Snapes potion!" Hermione looked at Harry in shock. "That's the 'Find-the-
Way-Solution', he showed us! You stole it!"
"So what?" Harry shrugged. "If I remember correctly, you stole boomslangskin from his
private stores when we did the Polyjuice Potion!"
"Exactly!" Ron felt he had to back Harry up. "And Snape can whip up a new one any time,
right? If we had done it ourselves, we'd still be waiting for months!"
Hermione didn't bother to comment on that. In her opinion it made a big difference whether
you stole an ingredient for a potion that would go saving lives or whether you stole a potion
you could have done easily yourself and that wasn't needed urgently.
Yet in this state of the adventure Ron and Harry were obviously beyond the reach of logical
argumentation. And it was too late now anyway - as Harry had started to carefully drop the
solution onto the lines on the wall. Then he stepped back and raised his wand.
Sparks lit up as he pointed it at the entrance - then the stones moved aside and gave way into
the secret passage.
Disappointment spread across their faces, as they looked through the narrow opening.
"Another corridor!" Ron's voice sounded more than disappointed.
Harry bit his lower lip. "So - what are we waiting for!" he looked at the other two. "The path
is free - let's go!"
He stepped into the narrow and low passage way. Ron followed and sighing Hermione did the
same.
They could only walk behind each other and even despite the light of their wands Harry could
barely see anything. The passage seemed to go on without end. They followed it for what
seemed like hours - around many bends and corners - yet there were no junctions. Something
that really calmed Hermione down. At least it wouldn't be difficult to find the way back.
Suddenly they stood in a small room
It was round. Right opposite the passage they had just come threw were three more entrances
- outlined with glowing lines, like their entrance had been. The middle one was a bit larger
than the other two.
"Which one do we want to take?" Ron looked from Harry to Hermione.
Hermione swallowed. "Do we have to take one at all? Can't we just go back?"
Harry and Ron threw each other unbelieving looks.
"Are you joking?" Ron couldn't believe his ears. "We haven't come much further since the
first entrance - we barely found out anything!"
"Ron's right!" Harry agreed. "We haven't found out anything - we've *got* to go through one
of the entrances!"
Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but Ron spoke first.
"Let's take the middle one - it's a bit higher!"
"O.k." Harry moved in front of the entrance an started the potion-procedure. Unnerved
Hermione realized, that her opinion obviously didn't matter at all.
Then the entrance opened.
"Not another corridor, please!" Ron mumbled and his wish came true.
Harry peered through the opening. "It's a room!"
"A room? What sort of room?" Hermione and Ron moved closer.
"No idea!" Harry stepped through the entrance and looked around. The room looked just like
the other ones in the Hogwart's dungeons. Thick walls. Cold. No light.
"HARRY!" Surprised he turned around to see Ron and Hermione stumble through the
entrance almost at the same time.
"What's up. Why are you shouting?"
Ron looked relieved. "You were suddenly gone. We could see the room - but not you!"
Harry looked at him in surprise and went back to the entrance. Carefully he looked back into
the round room from which they'd just come. He turned around again and shrugged.
"Looks like it did before! What do you think, where we are?"
Hermione had walked over to a door at the other end of the room, but it was locked.
"Alohomora!" she mumbled and the door opened.
"There's a staircase - let's find out where we are!"
Ron was grinning from ear to ear. "Maybe this is a secret entrance to the Slytherin common
room!"
"Most certainly not!"
They turned around, as they heard the cold, silky voice they knew only too well. In front of
the entrance stood Snape, who had apparently followed them all the time.
Behind his back light lit up in the entrance and out came Malfoy - grinning. It wasn't hard to
figure out that he had somehow sneaked up on them and overheard their plan and then
informed Snape.
Hermione's eyes widened and she pointed at the entrance. "Professor, look…"
Snape turned around and caught sight of Malfoy. "I told you to stay behind!"
Hermione was still nervously pointing at the entrance. "No, Professor, quick, the entrance!"
Harry saw, what she meant. The light was becoming weaker.
"Yes, Professor - look!"
But Snape didn't turn around. "A very old trick, really!" But when he saw the expression on
their faces he did turn around .
Next second he had raised his wand. Sparks were flying about the entrance - but too late.
The opening was gone and the sparks from Snape's wand only hit the wall. The way back was
closed.
~*~.*.~*~
"The three of you will be expelled for this, that's for sure!"
Snape stared angrily at the Gryffindors.
"What on earth were you thinking? Mm? Potter? Yet again you had nothing better to do than
to get yourself and others into trouble, right?"
"I-" Harry started, but Snape cut him short.
"Although I believe you didn't think at all, Potter! However. You better hope that this room
belongs to the Hogwarts dungeons, because if it doesn't, if we're in a cellar in Hogsmeade - or
wherever - then…" He took two quick steps ahead and brought his face close to Harry's, "then
you three will be in much more trouble than you can imagine!"
Snape couldn't have been more wrong. In fact "wherever" was a pretty exact description of
their current whereabouts. And the troubles that were to be expected didn't only affect Harry,
Ron and Hermione. Oh no.
_.~*~.__.~*~.__.~*~.__.~*~._to be continued _.~*~.__.~*~.__.~*~.__.~*~._
Author's Note: I swear I will update this on a regular basis. I just can't promise that means I'm
going to update fast. ;-) But I'll do my best.