Chapter 9
After three days and a lot of running, the woods of Lothlórien came into view. But by this time, Harry was really feeling the effects of the poison now. Soon after they were past the tree line, Harry collapsed breathing hard.
"Harry, what's wrong?" James, Sirius, and Remus all crowded around Harry, frantically trying to find out why he collapsed.
"My time's almost up." Harry rasped, the pain from the poison getting to him as it made his way through his veins.
"What are you talking about? What do you mean your time is almost up, son?" James asked worriedly.
"The poison. When Gandalf fell, I was hit with a poison tipped arrow. I knew we had to get here, so I didn't let anyone know. I-I-I couldn't have anyone else killed because of me. I may only have a few hours left at most before my body goes into a coma to heal itself."
Sirius sighed and said "You need to stop this sacrificing yourself for everyone else. We can't lose you either." Harry just smiled shakily.
Aragorn stood to the side looking calm, but on the inside he was panicking. He knew Harry would die if they did not get him to Lady Galadriel soon. It seemed that James knew this as well as he stood, told Remus and Sirius to stay with Harry and walked to the edge of the clearing before calling out, "I am James, half-elfin son of Lord Elrond of Rivendell and grandson of Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel. My son is poisoned and needs healing, please help us I am begging you."
Soon after, a voice rang out that four people in the clearing never expected to hear again.
"No need to beg James, Harry will be helped." And a man with shoulder length black hair, and midnight black eyes stepped out into the clearing. His voice, chocolate velvet, the only thing new was the smile on his face.
"Severus, it is good to see you with all your memories intact old friend. Harry's over here please help him." James said still stunned.
Severus kneeled down by Harry saying, "Still getting yourself into trouble Harry?"
Harry just chuckled weekly and nodded. Severus just shook his head and sighed, "All right. I will take him ahead and get him to Lady Galadriel, the others will escort the rest of you there. I will come get you when Milady says he is well enough or she needs any of you."
"Thank you Sev, take care of him." James replied. Severus only nodded. He then lifted Harry into his arms bridal style and ran into the woods till he reached his horse. He put Harry on getting up behind him and then spurred his horse into a run hoping he would get there in time.
(Time skip)
Severus walked to where the Fellowship was camped out and took James and Aragorn aside.
"Milady has asked for the both of you to come to our house of healing. She needs to talk to you both separately then together. Harry's fine." Severus added as an afterthought, seeing the worried look on James's face.
When they were all at the house of healing, Severus spoke, "James is to go first, then once he comes back out, Aragorn will go in next. Then she will call James back in. I will take my leave." James grabbed Severus by the arm to stop him from leaving. just yet
"Thank you for saving my son's life. If you had not gotten here quick enough, he would have been dead so thank you."
Severus just nodded and left to get back to the border as he was the March Warden, much to Haldir's dislike. Since Haldir had held the position before Severus reclaimed his post according to the fact that he was older than Haldir by a hundred years, so Severus got his post back.
James walked into the house of healing and saw his son sleeping peacefully and sighed in relief before noticing his grandmother, "Grand-Adra, Thank you for saving my son."
Lady Galadriel laughed lightly, "Of course, he is family but I need to speak with you my grandson. Harry is very special as you know but it is even deeper than you think. When the time comes, he will help Frodo destroy the ring. But only at great cost to himself. I do not know the cost but I do know andfor a while there will be grief but it will not be permanent.
"He will be the turning point and the finality of this war. But he will have those he can lean on. The one he will lean on the most is Aragorn, from what I can see Aragorn will be Harry's strength and happiness in the end. What I cannot see now though, is the fact that Harry will need him more than anyone else, including you." James nodded, starting to understand just what the Gondorian King meant for his son and hoped that he did not hurt him or he would hurt him worse.
"Send Aragorn in please Jamie." James smiled at the old nickname but nodded and left the room and sent Aragorn in behind him.
"Aragorn." Harry whispered in his sleep as the very man entered the room.
Aragorn was shocked to say the least. At least until Harry started to cry out, then Aragorn could not help but rush over to him, taking Harry's hand in his own, running the other through Harry's hair saying, "Shh, Harry rest easy you're safe now. No one will harm you."
Harry calmed and leaned into Aragorn's caress, sighing gently.
"Now you see that he needs you. My grandson has known nothing of love until now, he has known only war, death, and abuse. You are the one who was chosen to help him through this, to be his everything and he yours. He trusts you much a lot already and his trust is hard to gain. When you find out what this truly means understand that it will not be easy but as long as you have each other you can get through anything. Do you understand me Aragorn?" Lady Galadriel asked as she stepped around the bed that Harry lay in.
Without looking away from Harry, Aragorn said "I already know I care about him greatly I just don't know how far that goes yet. I do know I will never abandon him. I will protect him the best I can. I will always be there if he needs me. The more I am around him, the more I want to be for him. I do understand what you are saying Milady and I will honor it." Lady Galadriel just smiled and went to get her grandson.
"You may both stay here with him till he wakes, when he wakes he will be free to go. I will see you all later, just remember what I have told you both." After the Galadriel left the three men alone. Nothing was said until Harry woke and hour later.
(Time skip)
Harry woke feeling groggy until he heard his Dad's voice
"Harry, come on son. Wake up."
Harry was glad his dad was ok and he just had to hope that as was everyone else, at least they could rest easy here.
"I'm up Ada, I'm sorry. I just could not let anyone else be killed because I failed."
"You did not fail, Gandalf did what he had to do and you said yourself, he will be back. But next time, you need to let us know if you are injured so it does not get to this point again. and If you don't, I will box your ears." Harry chuckled but nodded. Then he saw Aragorn.
"I heard you while I slept. You pulled me from a nightmare. No one has ever been able to do that before. Thank you." Harry said gratefully.
Aragorn smiled softly, "You're welcome. I will always be there when you need me, I promise you that."
"Come on, let's go see the rest of the fellowship. They are all worried about you." James said standing up while helping his son stand as well. Soon they were all off to go to the camp where the rest of the fellowship waited.
When they got there, Frodo was the first to see them and came bounding over hugging Harry around the waist.
"I am so glad you're ok. I was so scared you were going to die." Frodo said squeezing Harry tighter thinking about the panic that had set in at seeing Harry collapse due to poison.
Harry hugged Frodo back saying, "It will take a lot more than that to kill me Frodo. I will always come back to you sometime."
Frodo just hugged him tighter. Soon after Harry was bowled over by the rest of the hobbits. He laughed as he was tickled by the four of them. He was given mercy soon after. When he stood up Gimli was the next to embrace him saying, "You have the weirdest luck Laddie bless you."
"Thank you Gimli." Harry said hugging the dwarf back.
"You scared us all young one, but I am glad you're alright you need an older brother to look after you and kick your behind into gear. so Therefore I will take that role and make sure you don't do this again. I am just glad you're ok." Legolas hugged Harry close.
He had become very fond of the younger elf over the time he had spent with him and knew he did think of him as a younger brother that he had to protect and he would.
Boromir just said he was glad that Harry was alright and that he should not have made his father so worried about him then went before going off to sit alone. Soon enough all the fellowship went to sleep, fully resting for the first time in a while without fear.
(Time skip)
Almost a week had passed for the Fellowship as they stayed in Lothlórien. Harry got to know all the members of the fellowship better in this time but he also spent time with his grandmother, Lady Galadriel, who taught him how to communicate with others from a great distance like she could.
When he had gotten it down, he contacted his mother and talked to her about all that had happen since they left Rivendell. For a long while She comforted him about Gandalf, saying he did all he could and scolding him for being careless but saying she was glad he was ok. They promised each other they would talk again soon. Harry was glad he now had a link to his mother, whom he knew would always be there to lend an ear if he needed to talk.
Today was when the day the fellowship was to leave Lothlórien. Harry had said his goodbyes to Severus, whom he was glad was alive and well, and to his grandmother as well.
She had given him his own Evenstar pendent who which he could give to his beloved when he knew who it was and he could not have been happier to have it. He was also given an elfin cloak with a gold leaf broach on it holding the clasp together to remind him he was not alone and never would be.
Soon the fellowship was off in the boats down the river onward towards the next stage of their journey. Harry knew what would happen to Boromir but he had also been working with his powers and knew he could save the young Gondorian and give him another chance at life.