Rings and Medallions
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the obvious, the rest belongs to JK Rowling and JRR Tolkien.
Authors Note: Fudge is along just to be a nuisance, while Dumbledore is there mostly for the comic relief. There will be a bit of Ring-history at the beginning of the chapter, but please bear with it. I also apologise if there is something geographically wrong in this chapter.
Many thanks to my beta and good friend, Paladin Steelbreaker.
Chapter Three
When they had finally got Fudge out of the water and had dried the man off with a quick spell, Harry and his small group turned back to the six people in front of them and started with the introductions.
"I am Harry Potter-Sparrow, Captain of the Raven," Harry began seeing that none of the others would. He extended his hand and the bearded elf grabbed it in a firm shake. He was obviously either the leader of the all the elves of Middle-Earth, or he was the ruler of the Grey Havens. Harry suspected the latter one.
The elf's hands were callused as if they were used to the work that entailed the keeping and steering of ships in all kind of weather. Harry found himself liking the elf at once. "Welcome, Captain Sparrow," the elf declared in his surprisingly musical – yet male – voice. "I am Círdan the Shipwright. These are the other leaders who were able to come." He said indicating to the other five. "This is Elrond Peredhil, Lord of the elven town of Rivendell. These are his two sons, the Lords Elladan and Elrohir."
Harry smiled politely and shook hands and exchanged small pleasantries with the three elves.
Círdan continued. "This is Gandalf the Grey, a wizard; and this is the leader of the Rangers, Aragorn, son of Arathorn."
"Nice to meet you all." Harry said after shaking hands with the last two, then he proceeded to introduce the group which had come with him, ending with: "and this is Cornelius Fudge, a Minister of our world."
Fudge blew himself up proudly, but blinked slightly when none of the six other men took much notice of him. He sulked off back to his group of Aurors, and started talking quietly with Beag Callahan. And those two together was never a good thing, at least not in Harry's opinion.
Harry's discreet observation of the two men was interrupted when Gandalf the Grey stepped forwards and bowed slightly. "If I might speak with all of you here privately, and as soon as possible?" it was clearly more an order than a request, and once again Harry was reminded of Dumbledore.
"That would be wise," Severus spoke up for the first time as well. "We need to see if we have gotten all the facts right, and also we need to know more about your Arda before setting out."
Círdan nodded gravely. "I shall provide for the conference room. If you would all-"
Jack, who had been watching Fudge, had noted the way the man's head had snapped up when he heard Gandalf's words. He also knew that a man as weak as Fudge could ruin everything if he had more information than was good for him, and if he joined this meeting, then everything would go down to Davy Jones Locker faster than one could say Bootstrap's bootstraps. That's why the old pirate captain cut in on Círdan's offer to follow him, and turned to Harry. "Green-Eyes, why don't ye and Albus here go with 'em, and the rest o' us can make sure that dear Cornelius stays away from the water, savvy?"
Harry was quick to agree. "We'll have a meeting later in me cabin." The others in the group nodded, and quickly went to prevent Fudge from reaching Harry and the others. Dumbledore stood there with an amused twinkle and with Fawkes sitting on his shoulder and being discreetly admired by the elves. The phoenix seemed to like it.
"If you would follow me then?" Círdan repeated politely without batting an eyelash at what had been going on. He led the group through the beautiful creations of art that the elves called houses, and in the end they ended up in a comfortable stone room. The windows looked out on the harbour and the sea, and the sun reflected in the ocean beautifully in Harry's opinion.
In the middle of the room stood a round table of stone, and around the table there were elegant chairs of wonderfully carved, dark wood and small pillows to sit upon. The walls were decorated with various tapestries and banners. One of the tapestries, one of a glowing white, swan-like ship, caught Harry's attention. The ship seemed to be floating in space amongst the stars and the moon, and Harry decided to look closer at the tapestry and the tale behind it once the meeting was over.
They sat down and Harry began from the beginning. He told of Jack's loss of the Black Pearl, the mutiny, the cursed Aztec medallions, the moonlight- deal and the adventure which led to Jack getting the Pearl back again. Then, to Harry's dismay, Dumbledore took over the tale and told of Harry's adventures at Hogwarts and up to the destroying of Voldemort eight years ago. The four elves, Gandalf and Aragorn listened to all of this seriously, and when Harry conjured a fake gold coin to show them what the things looked like, they all studied it for long minutes.
"If we find any of these coins, Captain Sparrow, we will alert you," Gandalf said at last and Harry made the coin disappear again. But the grey- robed wizard wasn't done yet. "Now it is our turn to disclose information. Those of us who know where to look, have noted an increase of dark activity. Orcs are breeding in the Misty Mountains and in Mordor, the wargs dare to get closer and closer to settlements, and Sauron's old fortress of Barad-Dur is rebuilt. The One Ring has been found."
Harry and Dumbledore had no idea what all this talk was about, but the elves and Aragorn didn't seem very happy about it.
Seeing the confused looks exchanged by the pirate captain and the old mage, and knowing Gandalf's nature for keeping things secret slightly longer than necessary, Elrond decided to take it upon himself to tell the tale. "It happened a long time ago," the elf-Lord began. "The elves forged a group of magical and powerful rings.
Three Rings for the Elven-Kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the land of Mordor where shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
On Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where Shadows lie." He quoted. "And that is exactly what happened. The Dark Lord Sauron forged a ring to rule all others, and in it he poured his evil and hate for everything free. The elves were able to keep their three rings hidden from Him, and most of the rings of the dwarves were swallowed by dragons long ago and dwarves have a tendency to be as stubborn and difficult as the mountains they mine in; but the nine rings of men Sauron corrupted, making their bearers his slaves, the Ringwraiths."
"Soon after Sauron forged the One Ring, he started to wage a war against all the free people of Middle-Earth," Gandalf continued and gratefully accepted a parchment that Círdan handed him. He unfolded it and put it in front of Harry and Dumbledore. It was a map, seeming rather old-fashioned to Harry. And as Gandalf spoke, both Harry and Dumbledore found the places on the map, connecting them with the tale. "A Last Alliance of men and elves went against him, and on the slopes of Mount Doom they fought the last battle. However, the power of the Ring could not be held at bay for very long, and it turned into slaughter."
Harry winced. He didn't even want to imagine what it must have been like. What was it with Dark Lords anyway? They all wanted to take over the world, and they all refused to stay good and dead after being killed. It was getting annoying to an extent.
"Elendil, the King of men, was killed by Sauron himself and his weapon, the sword Narsil, was shattered as well," Gandalf went on. "Isildur, Elendil's son and the Heir to the Throne of Gondor, took up his father's sword and managed to cut the Ring off Sauron's hand. But instead of destroying the Ring as he was supposed to, Isildur kept it and evil was allowed to endure, and bound the Ring to his own descendants of which Aragorn is the last. Sadly, the newly-crowned King Isildur was killed by orcs and the Ring was lost in the waters of the Anduin for over 2500 years."
"I sense a 'but' here," Harry couldn't help but mumble. A great uneasiness had gripped him as the tale had progressed. The last thing they needed now was for this Ring to have been found and for Sauron to have come back and start a new war against Middle-Earth. 'Wait, didn't the Ulmo-chap say something about a Dark Lord and...? Bloody Dark Lords!' shaking his head, Harry turned back to the tale again.
"The Ring was found by a creature called Gollum and brought to him unnaturally long life. The Ring has a mind of its own, you must remember, and when it heard its Master's call it abandoned Gollum. However, instead of getting back to Sauron's hand, the Ring was picked up by a hobbit of all things, a hobbit by the name of Bilbo Baggins, and it is his nephew, Frodo, who now bears the Ring." Gandalf took a deep breath. "And now we come to the heart of the matter I wanted to discuss with you all, good friends. Frodo knows which Ring he is bearing in his pocket, and Sauron knows that his Ring has been found. He has more than likely sent out people to search for it, and I have sent Frodo off to the village Bree as soon as I realised what Ring it was.
I promised to meet him there, but I fear I won't arrive on time as I must speak with Saruman, the Head of my Order, and he lives in Orthanc, right beside the Gap of Rohan, a journey which will take months, even with the fastest horse I can get a hold of."
"Perhaps not," Dumbledore said thoughtfully. "I could just apparate you there, or at least a part of the way."
Gandalf started curiously at the Headmaster. "A-apparate?" the foreign word stumbled over his tongue slightly.
"Instant transportation from one place to another." Dumbledore explained.
"Very well then, we will do that as soon as possible, but I would still like for one of you to go to Bree and meet up with Frodo and his companion Samwise Gamgee, just in case."
"I will go, Gandalf," Aragorn said, and it was the first time Harry had ever heard him speak. The Ranger looked no older than Harry himself, yet he had an aura of wisdom which only came from a lifetime of wandering around in all kinds of terrain and weather. There was also a certain glint in the grey eyes which Harry had started to associate with powerful people – Dumbledore's twinkle was just constantly working on overtime. Which was very annoying.
"And I will come with you," Harry spoke up after a minute of contemplation. "If you a re willing to wait a day so that I can arrange the groups who will be placed here and there searching for the medallions in that area."
Aragorn nodded slightly hesitantly. "And you will... apparate us to Bree?"
"Sadly I have never learned to apparate, but I know how to make a portkey, which is nearly the same." Harry replied and didn't take his eyes from the other's grey ones.
The should-be-king nodded after a minute of searching the impossibly green eyes of the pirate, and apparently finding what he was looking for. "Alright, we can afford to wait a day, but no longer than noon tomorrow."
Harry nodded and went back to staring at the map in front of him.
"I wonder, how are you going to find these medallions when you do not know where they are?" Elladan asked. Harry had the two twins pegged down easily, as he had had a good deal of practice with Fred and George.
'Mental note: never let the Weasley twins meet the Peredhil twins. Pranks seem to be a twin-thing and better be careful.' He thought.
Dumbledore turned to Harry as well with a raised eyebrow. "Yes, I've been wondering about that myself actually."
Sighing Harry brought out the magical compass that Jack had given him so long before. "Alright Albus, you are finally going to get the answer on how this compass actually works." He explained about the compass and how it worked, then he demonstrated it by putting the compass in the middle of the map and asking where the closest set of medallions were. The arrow spun around fast several times before settling on the direction North, and words appeared above the compass (a thing Harry had added after a few years). The words declared that nine pieces of the cursed gold were moving quickly towards a place called the Shire. A second later the words formed:
'Just crossed the Sarn Ford.'
Gandalf looked thoughtful. "I honestly hope I am wrong in assuming that those nine medallions would be with the nine Ringwraiths."
"Yes, talking about them," Dumbledore said, "why are you so afraid of them?"
This time it was Círdan who replied. "We already told you that the Ringwraiths were the nine Kings of men who were deceived Sauron, and that they are now his personal slaves. At all time they can feel the power of the Ring, and they are drawn to it, never will they stop hunting it or the one who bears it. The Ringwraiths are also the Dark Lord's most powerful servants. They fill one with hopelessness by just coming close, and their shriek strikes fear in the stoutest of hearts – elves, men, dwarves and hobbits alike."
"Sounds a lot like dementors," Harry said.
"Dementors?"
"Creatures from our world just like what you described. They suck the happiness out of you, and if you're unlucky they can suck your soul out, leaving you as an empty shell. Fortunately we have a spell against them," the old Headmaster of Hogwarts continued. "It doesn't kill them, no, but it drives them off for a while. Long enough for you to get somewhere remotely safe if you're quick."
"And how does this spell work?" Gandalf asked. He looked eager to learn something new – especially a new kind of magic – and the spell might just come in hand in the future.
Harry smiled. "I will leave that for Albus here to explain as I don't know much about it, or the theory behind it."
"Do you know how to perform it?" Aragorn asked. "For I fear we might have use of it on our journey from Bree to Rivendell. That is where I assume you want us to lead Master Baggins?" he turned to Gandalf who nodded, and then turned back to Harry.
"I do know how to perform it, but I won't know if it will actually work before I am up against one of these Ringwraiths."
Elrond nodded and stood up along with the rest. "There doesn't seem to be much more to say right now, and we need to get back to Rivendell as soon as is possible."
"I can get a group to apparate you there, if you would wait for an hour or so Lord Elrond." Harry said. "It won't be inconvenient to us, as I want to post a group of my men there if you don't mind?"
The elven Lord nodded. "It will be interesting to experience apparating, and to meet your crew, so I accept."
"Wonderful, I'll have them ready within the hour."
And that was that.
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Harry had indeed kept to his word and an hour later a somewhat nervous Lord Elrond, his sons and a few other elves that had accompanied them to the Grey Havens, disappeared with a 'pop' along with twenty of the pirate crew. Hermione had, of course, threatened her way into going with the group, especially when she heard that Lord Elrond was a wonderful historian and had numerous books on the making of the world. Harry, being a mere and humble pirate (and being rather fond of having his head attached to his shoulders), allowed her to go, with a warning not to bug the poor elves too much.
All the time Gandalf and Dumbledore had been cooped up in a room Círdan graciously had provided, and were talking very in-depth about magic and magical creatures, comparing notes on certain things, etc. and all the while Dumbledore was teaching the Grey Wizard how to perform the Patronus Charm.
Aragorn and Círdan both went with Harry back to the Raven after Elrond and his group had been apparated away, and they had a quick meeting with Jack, Bootstrap and the other captains in Harry's cabin, where Harry shortened the tale of the One Ring and started to divide them into groups. Círdan once again provided the map necessary for finding the medallions, and as most of said medallions seemed to currently reside in Mordor – the land of the Dark Lord – Harry sent most of his men, around half, to various places in Gondor, the kingdom that was closest to Mordor and also the kingdom that Aragorn was supposed to be king of.
"Now remember," Harry told Ron who would be leading the group going to Gondor. "Split up once you get there, and infiltrate as many places as possible, but keep the main strength out in Ithilien – Aragorn tells me they have a group of Rangers there that guard the border – and a good portion of them behind the walls of Minas Tirith. And don't reveal yourself as wizards unless it is completely necessary. We don't want to tell Sauron that we're here."
Ron nodded and gathered his large group of men and woman – all of the Weasleys would be in the group, except Fred and George. As usual the Weasleys had decided to stick together, and even Percy had been persuaded to join the adventure. "We'll owl you once every other week."
Harry shook his head. "Don't owl, too much chance of interception. Use floo- powder instead, or something else if you can't light a fire. Go and good luck."
The largest group disappeared with a loud series of 'pops'. The next group was to be headed by Severus and they were going to Rohan.
"I'm not sure if we'll need a group there," Harry said to the Potion Master as the man started transfiguring his clothes into typical Rohannic garb with advice from Aragorn and Círdan. "But the land is also extremely close to Mordor, and better be safe than sorry."
Severus nodded and looked over his new outfit with a sneer. Harry heard the man mutter something which sounded like 'why do they need colours for, black is perfectly suitable' but he wasn't totally sure.
"Anamaria won't be coming with you," the green-eyed man continued while writing up a list of names of those Severus should bring with him. "She's black and I don't think they have seen many black people except these Haradrim, who apparently are very devoted to the Dark Lord Sauron, and we really don't need more publicity. It will be suspicious enough with groups of people suddenly appearing all over the continent. Sorry mate, but I will place her in Lothlórien, if it is acceptable to Lady Garl... Glad... Gral..." here Harry stumbled over the name and shot a quick look towards Aragorn and Círdan who were sitting in a corner of the cabin and were watching with interest how Harry handled the entire situation and his crew.
"Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn," Círdan said with a nod. "I do not doubt that they already know of your coming to Arda; and if she wishes to, the Lady will contact you herself when the time is right."
"There you go, what he said," Harry handed the list of people to Severus. "And the same I said to Ron goes for you, no showing of magical powers unless completely necessary."
Severus read quickly through the list of names, and raised an eyebrow. "Are you trying to kill me or something, Potter? You have given me both the Weasley twins and Nymphadora Tonks!"
"You know that Tonks can help with her metamorphmagic and that Fred and George are more likely to quickly win favour with people then yourself? Not only that, but they are the few of us who actually can ride horses to some extent, and Aragorn here tells me that Rohan's main method of travel are horses. The land is nicknamed 'Home of the Horse-lords' for a reason I believe. Be careful."
Snape nodded and stalked off.
Just after Harry was finished explaining the situation to Jacqueline, who would be leading the group that went to Lothlórien if Lady Galadriel approved it, Jack came swaggering in followed by James who stared in silent awe at both Aragorn and Círdan. The two from Arda smiled and James shyly stepped up to them only to lose his courage and hurry back to Jack who grinned and pulled his son closer in a one-armed hug. Then the former pirate turned back to Harry with narrowed eyes.
"Yes Jack?" Harry knew that the older man would soon come to demand why the hell he hadn't been sent out with one of the groups.
"Why's ev'ryone else leavin' while I, Gibbs, Bootstrap, the Turners an' some others remain 'ere?" a clear sign that Jack was annoyed or pissed off was when he lapsed back into previous speech-patterns. While he had been a pirate, he had occasionally lapsed back into talking like a fine gentleman for some strange reason. Now it was the other way around.
"Because I need someone te sail down the coast as a backup crew," Harry said calmly. "An' as we don't 'ave many men at disposal, I thought it best te 'ave most o' the experienced sailors aboard the ships."
Jack grumbled over this for a moment, then sighed. "Since when did ye become so bloody hard te argue with, ey? Alrigh', I'll do it, but ye take James 'ere te this Rivendell place and keep 'im there whilst this adventure's ongoing, savvy?"
"Hey!" James protested.
"We're savvy, Jack, I'll get Draco te apparate 'im there once 'e's finished fixin' 'is peg-leg."
"Don't I get a say in this?!"
"Not this time, James," Jack replied his voice stern and warning. The ten-year-old boy sulked but stopped. He knew how far he could push his father before it got really dangerous.
Círdan and Aragorn came over to them and the elvish mariner offered to send along some of his own men with the boats, an offer which was eagerly accepted by Jack and the two sailors walked off to arrange the details leaving Harry, Aragorn and James alone in the cabin.
"You work fast, Captain Sparrow," Aragorn commented. The entire organising and sending the groups off hadn't taken more than half the afternoon, and the sun was barely setting.
"That passed without something insane happening, which is what I am worried about," Harry replied. "Now, let me see..." he looked Aragorn up and down to get an idea of what kind of clothes to transfigure his own into, and shook his head. Mumbling something about 'fashion advice' his own clothes changed to a garb similar to the other man's. "We might as well have dinner aboard the ship before we set out, so come along." The last part was mostly directed at James, but Aragorn followed as well.
In the galley they were met with the sight of Dumbledore and Gandalf sitting and talking.
"Ah, Harry!" Dumbledore smiled. "James, Lord Aragorn," he nodded politely to the other two. "I must say Harry, Gandalf here is one terrific student. He has already mastered the Patronus Charm."
"Congratulations," Harry said and sat down with a bowl of vegetable soup, followed by the Ranger and James. "What does your Patronus turn into?"
"A shooting star," Gandalf replied. "It is a bit tiring, though."
"Probably because it's foreign magic," the green-eyed man nodded. "Albus, would you mind terribly if I stationed you with Lord Elrond in Rivendell?"
"No, no, not at all. I am most eager to invade his library."
"You'll have to wait for it, I think Hermione's already attacked it." Came the amused reply. Somehow there had developed a small contest between Hermione and Dumbledore that involved invading libraries first. Harry didn't know the story behind it, but apparently it had started with a bet between McGonagall and Flitwick upon which one of them was the biggest bookworm.
The old Headmaster frowned. "She's already there, is she? Master Gandalf, would you mind terribly if I transported you and your horse to Isengard at this moment? Good!" Dumbledore went on without waiting for an answer and with a 'pop' both he, Gandalf and a horse in a stable were gone.
"It's probably time for us to pop out as well," Harry said and stood up. He transfigured his cutlass into a straight sword like Aragorn's, and it changed into the Sword of Gryffindor for some strange reason. Quickly hiding the jewels with a spell, the green-eyed man strapped it on, shrunk and hid his pistol and supplies and threw a cloak around himself before picking up a backpack that Mrs. Weasley had prepared once she had heard that Harry was going out into the wild.
Harry picked up a piece of wood meant for the oven, and touched it with a finger whispering, "Portus."
"Please, Uncle Harry," James pleaded. "Can't I come with you?"
"Not now James, but if you're a good boy while I am away, and if the Lady permits it, I will take you to Lothlórien when the time comes." Harry smiled at the now-ecstatic boy, then turned to a slightly amused Aragorn. "Touch the log mate, and prepare for a spin of a ride."
Aragorn steeled his courage and touched the log. James heard a surprised yelp from the would-be-king before both he and Harry were gone leaving him alone in the galley of the Raven.
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AAAAAAAHHHH!!!! It's the Long-Chapter disease!!!!
I hope it's not too terrifically terrible. I tried to make everyone in character, but I'm not sure how well that went.
The conversation between Harry and Dumbledore that we didn't witness in the first chapter will be important later on, so keep it in mind.
Next chapter: Enter hobbits! --cuddles-- And one evil ring.
Thanks to:
Serpent of Light, Lunawolf, chaser1, pIPPINpIRATE, Jedi-Bant, Insane Golden Dragoon of Ra, Discordia-Erebus, eriee, Hecate, HAZZAGRIFF, Phoenixfeathers6988, Elven Warrior1, Avemtilla, Marshes to Banks, chibichibi386, phoenix catcher, grand admiral chelli, cantfindagoodname, A- Brighter-Dawn, Delinka, candidus-lupus-full Moon, Silver-Entrantess-Elf, Kevin-McKay, Digi Bonds, WolfMoon, cheatachu82, daemonwolf, HarryPotter21, Sirithalwen, Liber Creperum-Liber Diabolus, crazley, VB (ME), Cretin, Lady Phasma, Kathy stggvk, TiffanyBlack2004, silverrowan, Inscribson, That Kid Crying In The Corner, Stahchild and JeanieBeanie33.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the obvious, the rest belongs to JK Rowling and JRR Tolkien.
Authors Note: Fudge is along just to be a nuisance, while Dumbledore is there mostly for the comic relief. There will be a bit of Ring-history at the beginning of the chapter, but please bear with it. I also apologise if there is something geographically wrong in this chapter.
Many thanks to my beta and good friend, Paladin Steelbreaker.
Chapter Three
When they had finally got Fudge out of the water and had dried the man off with a quick spell, Harry and his small group turned back to the six people in front of them and started with the introductions.
"I am Harry Potter-Sparrow, Captain of the Raven," Harry began seeing that none of the others would. He extended his hand and the bearded elf grabbed it in a firm shake. He was obviously either the leader of the all the elves of Middle-Earth, or he was the ruler of the Grey Havens. Harry suspected the latter one.
The elf's hands were callused as if they were used to the work that entailed the keeping and steering of ships in all kind of weather. Harry found himself liking the elf at once. "Welcome, Captain Sparrow," the elf declared in his surprisingly musical – yet male – voice. "I am Círdan the Shipwright. These are the other leaders who were able to come." He said indicating to the other five. "This is Elrond Peredhil, Lord of the elven town of Rivendell. These are his two sons, the Lords Elladan and Elrohir."
Harry smiled politely and shook hands and exchanged small pleasantries with the three elves.
Círdan continued. "This is Gandalf the Grey, a wizard; and this is the leader of the Rangers, Aragorn, son of Arathorn."
"Nice to meet you all." Harry said after shaking hands with the last two, then he proceeded to introduce the group which had come with him, ending with: "and this is Cornelius Fudge, a Minister of our world."
Fudge blew himself up proudly, but blinked slightly when none of the six other men took much notice of him. He sulked off back to his group of Aurors, and started talking quietly with Beag Callahan. And those two together was never a good thing, at least not in Harry's opinion.
Harry's discreet observation of the two men was interrupted when Gandalf the Grey stepped forwards and bowed slightly. "If I might speak with all of you here privately, and as soon as possible?" it was clearly more an order than a request, and once again Harry was reminded of Dumbledore.
"That would be wise," Severus spoke up for the first time as well. "We need to see if we have gotten all the facts right, and also we need to know more about your Arda before setting out."
Círdan nodded gravely. "I shall provide for the conference room. If you would all-"
Jack, who had been watching Fudge, had noted the way the man's head had snapped up when he heard Gandalf's words. He also knew that a man as weak as Fudge could ruin everything if he had more information than was good for him, and if he joined this meeting, then everything would go down to Davy Jones Locker faster than one could say Bootstrap's bootstraps. That's why the old pirate captain cut in on Círdan's offer to follow him, and turned to Harry. "Green-Eyes, why don't ye and Albus here go with 'em, and the rest o' us can make sure that dear Cornelius stays away from the water, savvy?"
Harry was quick to agree. "We'll have a meeting later in me cabin." The others in the group nodded, and quickly went to prevent Fudge from reaching Harry and the others. Dumbledore stood there with an amused twinkle and with Fawkes sitting on his shoulder and being discreetly admired by the elves. The phoenix seemed to like it.
"If you would follow me then?" Círdan repeated politely without batting an eyelash at what had been going on. He led the group through the beautiful creations of art that the elves called houses, and in the end they ended up in a comfortable stone room. The windows looked out on the harbour and the sea, and the sun reflected in the ocean beautifully in Harry's opinion.
In the middle of the room stood a round table of stone, and around the table there were elegant chairs of wonderfully carved, dark wood and small pillows to sit upon. The walls were decorated with various tapestries and banners. One of the tapestries, one of a glowing white, swan-like ship, caught Harry's attention. The ship seemed to be floating in space amongst the stars and the moon, and Harry decided to look closer at the tapestry and the tale behind it once the meeting was over.
They sat down and Harry began from the beginning. He told of Jack's loss of the Black Pearl, the mutiny, the cursed Aztec medallions, the moonlight- deal and the adventure which led to Jack getting the Pearl back again. Then, to Harry's dismay, Dumbledore took over the tale and told of Harry's adventures at Hogwarts and up to the destroying of Voldemort eight years ago. The four elves, Gandalf and Aragorn listened to all of this seriously, and when Harry conjured a fake gold coin to show them what the things looked like, they all studied it for long minutes.
"If we find any of these coins, Captain Sparrow, we will alert you," Gandalf said at last and Harry made the coin disappear again. But the grey- robed wizard wasn't done yet. "Now it is our turn to disclose information. Those of us who know where to look, have noted an increase of dark activity. Orcs are breeding in the Misty Mountains and in Mordor, the wargs dare to get closer and closer to settlements, and Sauron's old fortress of Barad-Dur is rebuilt. The One Ring has been found."
Harry and Dumbledore had no idea what all this talk was about, but the elves and Aragorn didn't seem very happy about it.
Seeing the confused looks exchanged by the pirate captain and the old mage, and knowing Gandalf's nature for keeping things secret slightly longer than necessary, Elrond decided to take it upon himself to tell the tale. "It happened a long time ago," the elf-Lord began. "The elves forged a group of magical and powerful rings.
Three Rings for the Elven-Kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the land of Mordor where shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
On Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where Shadows lie." He quoted. "And that is exactly what happened. The Dark Lord Sauron forged a ring to rule all others, and in it he poured his evil and hate for everything free. The elves were able to keep their three rings hidden from Him, and most of the rings of the dwarves were swallowed by dragons long ago and dwarves have a tendency to be as stubborn and difficult as the mountains they mine in; but the nine rings of men Sauron corrupted, making their bearers his slaves, the Ringwraiths."
"Soon after Sauron forged the One Ring, he started to wage a war against all the free people of Middle-Earth," Gandalf continued and gratefully accepted a parchment that Círdan handed him. He unfolded it and put it in front of Harry and Dumbledore. It was a map, seeming rather old-fashioned to Harry. And as Gandalf spoke, both Harry and Dumbledore found the places on the map, connecting them with the tale. "A Last Alliance of men and elves went against him, and on the slopes of Mount Doom they fought the last battle. However, the power of the Ring could not be held at bay for very long, and it turned into slaughter."
Harry winced. He didn't even want to imagine what it must have been like. What was it with Dark Lords anyway? They all wanted to take over the world, and they all refused to stay good and dead after being killed. It was getting annoying to an extent.
"Elendil, the King of men, was killed by Sauron himself and his weapon, the sword Narsil, was shattered as well," Gandalf went on. "Isildur, Elendil's son and the Heir to the Throne of Gondor, took up his father's sword and managed to cut the Ring off Sauron's hand. But instead of destroying the Ring as he was supposed to, Isildur kept it and evil was allowed to endure, and bound the Ring to his own descendants of which Aragorn is the last. Sadly, the newly-crowned King Isildur was killed by orcs and the Ring was lost in the waters of the Anduin for over 2500 years."
"I sense a 'but' here," Harry couldn't help but mumble. A great uneasiness had gripped him as the tale had progressed. The last thing they needed now was for this Ring to have been found and for Sauron to have come back and start a new war against Middle-Earth. 'Wait, didn't the Ulmo-chap say something about a Dark Lord and...? Bloody Dark Lords!' shaking his head, Harry turned back to the tale again.
"The Ring was found by a creature called Gollum and brought to him unnaturally long life. The Ring has a mind of its own, you must remember, and when it heard its Master's call it abandoned Gollum. However, instead of getting back to Sauron's hand, the Ring was picked up by a hobbit of all things, a hobbit by the name of Bilbo Baggins, and it is his nephew, Frodo, who now bears the Ring." Gandalf took a deep breath. "And now we come to the heart of the matter I wanted to discuss with you all, good friends. Frodo knows which Ring he is bearing in his pocket, and Sauron knows that his Ring has been found. He has more than likely sent out people to search for it, and I have sent Frodo off to the village Bree as soon as I realised what Ring it was.
I promised to meet him there, but I fear I won't arrive on time as I must speak with Saruman, the Head of my Order, and he lives in Orthanc, right beside the Gap of Rohan, a journey which will take months, even with the fastest horse I can get a hold of."
"Perhaps not," Dumbledore said thoughtfully. "I could just apparate you there, or at least a part of the way."
Gandalf started curiously at the Headmaster. "A-apparate?" the foreign word stumbled over his tongue slightly.
"Instant transportation from one place to another." Dumbledore explained.
"Very well then, we will do that as soon as possible, but I would still like for one of you to go to Bree and meet up with Frodo and his companion Samwise Gamgee, just in case."
"I will go, Gandalf," Aragorn said, and it was the first time Harry had ever heard him speak. The Ranger looked no older than Harry himself, yet he had an aura of wisdom which only came from a lifetime of wandering around in all kinds of terrain and weather. There was also a certain glint in the grey eyes which Harry had started to associate with powerful people – Dumbledore's twinkle was just constantly working on overtime. Which was very annoying.
"And I will come with you," Harry spoke up after a minute of contemplation. "If you a re willing to wait a day so that I can arrange the groups who will be placed here and there searching for the medallions in that area."
Aragorn nodded slightly hesitantly. "And you will... apparate us to Bree?"
"Sadly I have never learned to apparate, but I know how to make a portkey, which is nearly the same." Harry replied and didn't take his eyes from the other's grey ones.
The should-be-king nodded after a minute of searching the impossibly green eyes of the pirate, and apparently finding what he was looking for. "Alright, we can afford to wait a day, but no longer than noon tomorrow."
Harry nodded and went back to staring at the map in front of him.
"I wonder, how are you going to find these medallions when you do not know where they are?" Elladan asked. Harry had the two twins pegged down easily, as he had had a good deal of practice with Fred and George.
'Mental note: never let the Weasley twins meet the Peredhil twins. Pranks seem to be a twin-thing and better be careful.' He thought.
Dumbledore turned to Harry as well with a raised eyebrow. "Yes, I've been wondering about that myself actually."
Sighing Harry brought out the magical compass that Jack had given him so long before. "Alright Albus, you are finally going to get the answer on how this compass actually works." He explained about the compass and how it worked, then he demonstrated it by putting the compass in the middle of the map and asking where the closest set of medallions were. The arrow spun around fast several times before settling on the direction North, and words appeared above the compass (a thing Harry had added after a few years). The words declared that nine pieces of the cursed gold were moving quickly towards a place called the Shire. A second later the words formed:
'Just crossed the Sarn Ford.'
Gandalf looked thoughtful. "I honestly hope I am wrong in assuming that those nine medallions would be with the nine Ringwraiths."
"Yes, talking about them," Dumbledore said, "why are you so afraid of them?"
This time it was Círdan who replied. "We already told you that the Ringwraiths were the nine Kings of men who were deceived Sauron, and that they are now his personal slaves. At all time they can feel the power of the Ring, and they are drawn to it, never will they stop hunting it or the one who bears it. The Ringwraiths are also the Dark Lord's most powerful servants. They fill one with hopelessness by just coming close, and their shriek strikes fear in the stoutest of hearts – elves, men, dwarves and hobbits alike."
"Sounds a lot like dementors," Harry said.
"Dementors?"
"Creatures from our world just like what you described. They suck the happiness out of you, and if you're unlucky they can suck your soul out, leaving you as an empty shell. Fortunately we have a spell against them," the old Headmaster of Hogwarts continued. "It doesn't kill them, no, but it drives them off for a while. Long enough for you to get somewhere remotely safe if you're quick."
"And how does this spell work?" Gandalf asked. He looked eager to learn something new – especially a new kind of magic – and the spell might just come in hand in the future.
Harry smiled. "I will leave that for Albus here to explain as I don't know much about it, or the theory behind it."
"Do you know how to perform it?" Aragorn asked. "For I fear we might have use of it on our journey from Bree to Rivendell. That is where I assume you want us to lead Master Baggins?" he turned to Gandalf who nodded, and then turned back to Harry.
"I do know how to perform it, but I won't know if it will actually work before I am up against one of these Ringwraiths."
Elrond nodded and stood up along with the rest. "There doesn't seem to be much more to say right now, and we need to get back to Rivendell as soon as is possible."
"I can get a group to apparate you there, if you would wait for an hour or so Lord Elrond." Harry said. "It won't be inconvenient to us, as I want to post a group of my men there if you don't mind?"
The elven Lord nodded. "It will be interesting to experience apparating, and to meet your crew, so I accept."
"Wonderful, I'll have them ready within the hour."
And that was that.
----------------....----------------
Harry had indeed kept to his word and an hour later a somewhat nervous Lord Elrond, his sons and a few other elves that had accompanied them to the Grey Havens, disappeared with a 'pop' along with twenty of the pirate crew. Hermione had, of course, threatened her way into going with the group, especially when she heard that Lord Elrond was a wonderful historian and had numerous books on the making of the world. Harry, being a mere and humble pirate (and being rather fond of having his head attached to his shoulders), allowed her to go, with a warning not to bug the poor elves too much.
All the time Gandalf and Dumbledore had been cooped up in a room Círdan graciously had provided, and were talking very in-depth about magic and magical creatures, comparing notes on certain things, etc. and all the while Dumbledore was teaching the Grey Wizard how to perform the Patronus Charm.
Aragorn and Círdan both went with Harry back to the Raven after Elrond and his group had been apparated away, and they had a quick meeting with Jack, Bootstrap and the other captains in Harry's cabin, where Harry shortened the tale of the One Ring and started to divide them into groups. Círdan once again provided the map necessary for finding the medallions, and as most of said medallions seemed to currently reside in Mordor – the land of the Dark Lord – Harry sent most of his men, around half, to various places in Gondor, the kingdom that was closest to Mordor and also the kingdom that Aragorn was supposed to be king of.
"Now remember," Harry told Ron who would be leading the group going to Gondor. "Split up once you get there, and infiltrate as many places as possible, but keep the main strength out in Ithilien – Aragorn tells me they have a group of Rangers there that guard the border – and a good portion of them behind the walls of Minas Tirith. And don't reveal yourself as wizards unless it is completely necessary. We don't want to tell Sauron that we're here."
Ron nodded and gathered his large group of men and woman – all of the Weasleys would be in the group, except Fred and George. As usual the Weasleys had decided to stick together, and even Percy had been persuaded to join the adventure. "We'll owl you once every other week."
Harry shook his head. "Don't owl, too much chance of interception. Use floo- powder instead, or something else if you can't light a fire. Go and good luck."
The largest group disappeared with a loud series of 'pops'. The next group was to be headed by Severus and they were going to Rohan.
"I'm not sure if we'll need a group there," Harry said to the Potion Master as the man started transfiguring his clothes into typical Rohannic garb with advice from Aragorn and Círdan. "But the land is also extremely close to Mordor, and better be safe than sorry."
Severus nodded and looked over his new outfit with a sneer. Harry heard the man mutter something which sounded like 'why do they need colours for, black is perfectly suitable' but he wasn't totally sure.
"Anamaria won't be coming with you," the green-eyed man continued while writing up a list of names of those Severus should bring with him. "She's black and I don't think they have seen many black people except these Haradrim, who apparently are very devoted to the Dark Lord Sauron, and we really don't need more publicity. It will be suspicious enough with groups of people suddenly appearing all over the continent. Sorry mate, but I will place her in Lothlórien, if it is acceptable to Lady Garl... Glad... Gral..." here Harry stumbled over the name and shot a quick look towards Aragorn and Círdan who were sitting in a corner of the cabin and were watching with interest how Harry handled the entire situation and his crew.
"Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn," Círdan said with a nod. "I do not doubt that they already know of your coming to Arda; and if she wishes to, the Lady will contact you herself when the time is right."
"There you go, what he said," Harry handed the list of people to Severus. "And the same I said to Ron goes for you, no showing of magical powers unless completely necessary."
Severus read quickly through the list of names, and raised an eyebrow. "Are you trying to kill me or something, Potter? You have given me both the Weasley twins and Nymphadora Tonks!"
"You know that Tonks can help with her metamorphmagic and that Fred and George are more likely to quickly win favour with people then yourself? Not only that, but they are the few of us who actually can ride horses to some extent, and Aragorn here tells me that Rohan's main method of travel are horses. The land is nicknamed 'Home of the Horse-lords' for a reason I believe. Be careful."
Snape nodded and stalked off.
Just after Harry was finished explaining the situation to Jacqueline, who would be leading the group that went to Lothlórien if Lady Galadriel approved it, Jack came swaggering in followed by James who stared in silent awe at both Aragorn and Círdan. The two from Arda smiled and James shyly stepped up to them only to lose his courage and hurry back to Jack who grinned and pulled his son closer in a one-armed hug. Then the former pirate turned back to Harry with narrowed eyes.
"Yes Jack?" Harry knew that the older man would soon come to demand why the hell he hadn't been sent out with one of the groups.
"Why's ev'ryone else leavin' while I, Gibbs, Bootstrap, the Turners an' some others remain 'ere?" a clear sign that Jack was annoyed or pissed off was when he lapsed back into previous speech-patterns. While he had been a pirate, he had occasionally lapsed back into talking like a fine gentleman for some strange reason. Now it was the other way around.
"Because I need someone te sail down the coast as a backup crew," Harry said calmly. "An' as we don't 'ave many men at disposal, I thought it best te 'ave most o' the experienced sailors aboard the ships."
Jack grumbled over this for a moment, then sighed. "Since when did ye become so bloody hard te argue with, ey? Alrigh', I'll do it, but ye take James 'ere te this Rivendell place and keep 'im there whilst this adventure's ongoing, savvy?"
"Hey!" James protested.
"We're savvy, Jack, I'll get Draco te apparate 'im there once 'e's finished fixin' 'is peg-leg."
"Don't I get a say in this?!"
"Not this time, James," Jack replied his voice stern and warning. The ten-year-old boy sulked but stopped. He knew how far he could push his father before it got really dangerous.
Círdan and Aragorn came over to them and the elvish mariner offered to send along some of his own men with the boats, an offer which was eagerly accepted by Jack and the two sailors walked off to arrange the details leaving Harry, Aragorn and James alone in the cabin.
"You work fast, Captain Sparrow," Aragorn commented. The entire organising and sending the groups off hadn't taken more than half the afternoon, and the sun was barely setting.
"That passed without something insane happening, which is what I am worried about," Harry replied. "Now, let me see..." he looked Aragorn up and down to get an idea of what kind of clothes to transfigure his own into, and shook his head. Mumbling something about 'fashion advice' his own clothes changed to a garb similar to the other man's. "We might as well have dinner aboard the ship before we set out, so come along." The last part was mostly directed at James, but Aragorn followed as well.
In the galley they were met with the sight of Dumbledore and Gandalf sitting and talking.
"Ah, Harry!" Dumbledore smiled. "James, Lord Aragorn," he nodded politely to the other two. "I must say Harry, Gandalf here is one terrific student. He has already mastered the Patronus Charm."
"Congratulations," Harry said and sat down with a bowl of vegetable soup, followed by the Ranger and James. "What does your Patronus turn into?"
"A shooting star," Gandalf replied. "It is a bit tiring, though."
"Probably because it's foreign magic," the green-eyed man nodded. "Albus, would you mind terribly if I stationed you with Lord Elrond in Rivendell?"
"No, no, not at all. I am most eager to invade his library."
"You'll have to wait for it, I think Hermione's already attacked it." Came the amused reply. Somehow there had developed a small contest between Hermione and Dumbledore that involved invading libraries first. Harry didn't know the story behind it, but apparently it had started with a bet between McGonagall and Flitwick upon which one of them was the biggest bookworm.
The old Headmaster frowned. "She's already there, is she? Master Gandalf, would you mind terribly if I transported you and your horse to Isengard at this moment? Good!" Dumbledore went on without waiting for an answer and with a 'pop' both he, Gandalf and a horse in a stable were gone.
"It's probably time for us to pop out as well," Harry said and stood up. He transfigured his cutlass into a straight sword like Aragorn's, and it changed into the Sword of Gryffindor for some strange reason. Quickly hiding the jewels with a spell, the green-eyed man strapped it on, shrunk and hid his pistol and supplies and threw a cloak around himself before picking up a backpack that Mrs. Weasley had prepared once she had heard that Harry was going out into the wild.
Harry picked up a piece of wood meant for the oven, and touched it with a finger whispering, "Portus."
"Please, Uncle Harry," James pleaded. "Can't I come with you?"
"Not now James, but if you're a good boy while I am away, and if the Lady permits it, I will take you to Lothlórien when the time comes." Harry smiled at the now-ecstatic boy, then turned to a slightly amused Aragorn. "Touch the log mate, and prepare for a spin of a ride."
Aragorn steeled his courage and touched the log. James heard a surprised yelp from the would-be-king before both he and Harry were gone leaving him alone in the galley of the Raven.
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AAAAAAAHHHH!!!! It's the Long-Chapter disease!!!!
I hope it's not too terrifically terrible. I tried to make everyone in character, but I'm not sure how well that went.
The conversation between Harry and Dumbledore that we didn't witness in the first chapter will be important later on, so keep it in mind.
Next chapter: Enter hobbits! --cuddles-- And one evil ring.
Thanks to:
Serpent of Light, Lunawolf, chaser1, pIPPINpIRATE, Jedi-Bant, Insane Golden Dragoon of Ra, Discordia-Erebus, eriee, Hecate, HAZZAGRIFF, Phoenixfeathers6988, Elven Warrior1, Avemtilla, Marshes to Banks, chibichibi386, phoenix catcher, grand admiral chelli, cantfindagoodname, A- Brighter-Dawn, Delinka, candidus-lupus-full Moon, Silver-Entrantess-Elf, Kevin-McKay, Digi Bonds, WolfMoon, cheatachu82, daemonwolf, HarryPotter21, Sirithalwen, Liber Creperum-Liber Diabolus, crazley, VB (ME), Cretin, Lady Phasma, Kathy stggvk, TiffanyBlack2004, silverrowan, Inscribson, That Kid Crying In The Corner, Stahchild and JeanieBeanie33.