Chapter eleven
The light cleared and a man stood, dusting himself off. "Oh, 'ello Hermione." He said pleasantly. "Thought I heard you calling." He grinned boyishly and Hermione gasped, before throwing herself on to him, tears falling.
"Oh my god! Sirius!" She cried, hugging him tightly.
"Er, Hermione, I can't breathe." He wheezed out.
"I'm so sorry!" She released him, grinning. "H-how?!" She asked, tears falling freely.
"Well, you see, when I fell through the veil, the last thing I saw was Harry, and his face… but it seemed I woke up… and I was in," He laughed. "Some sort of heaven, I think. I spent years, just watching over you all, but then I heard my name… and you said 'I wish Sirius was here' and boom! I'm suddenly here." He finished jovially.
Hermione blinked.
"Hermione, let me put it in simpler terms, it was magic, my dear, magic." He placed his hand on her shoulder and she grinned.
"Whatever it was, Sirius, I'm glad you're here." She hugged him around the waist again.
"Oh, and who is this?" He asked, gesturing to Legolas.
"Sirius, this is Legolas, Prince of Mirkwood. You're in Middle Earth."
"Middle Earth? Oh, brilliant, I've heard stories about this place. You know, we get elves come through all the time." He said. "Well, Legolas, I'm Sirius." He held out his hand for Legolas to shake, grinning at him.
Legolas took it with a grin of his own, amused at the man's behaviour. They shook hands vigorously, smiling at one another, until Aragorn came up, looking very curious.
"Hello, and who are you?" Sirius asked. "I'm Sirius Black." He held his hand out to Aragorn.
"Aragorn, pleased to meet you. A friend of Lady Hermione, I presume?" He inquired knowingly.
"Yeah, that's me. Uncle Padfoot." He said proudly.
Hermione snickered. "You wouldn't let me call you that back home." She nudged him.
He nudged her right back and she laughed.
"Ah, the magical world, how I don't miss you." He said, faking wistfulness.
Gimli came over to see what the commotion was about. "What's going on around here? We're about to go into battle and you're all sitting around havin' a laugh!" He exclaimed.
"Battle?" Sirius inquired.
"Well, yes, we're uh, about to go into a huge army of blood thirsty things called orcs, with an army of dead soldiers to accompany us." Hermione said. "How are you with a sword?"
Sirius smirked. "You know, growing up with all that pure-blood nonsense was good for something at least." He grinned. "Can I borrow a sword?"
Aragorn smirked. "Aye, Gimli, get the good man a sword."
"Oh, I'm Sirius, by the way!" He called out to the retreating dwarf.
"Sirius," Hermione began. "How are things back home?" She said worriedly. "Are they all okay?"
Sirius chuckled. "Yes, Hermione, don't worry, they're all perfectly fine… well, maybe except Ginny. You see she's…" He trailed off sadly.
"What's wrong with Ginny?!" She demanded.
"She's – she's pregnant!" He made a face and Hermione laughed.
"Oh, thank Merlin, I thought you weren't kidding, and she actually was in trouble!"
Sirius grinned at her, and Gimli came back with a large sword. He handed it to Sirius. "That is one of the finest I could find. One of the few on this ship which aren't orc blade." Gimli made a face at this and Sirius chuckled.
"Are you sure, Sirius?" Hermione asked worriedly.
"Very sure."
"Good, because we're about to arrive." He pointed some ways down the river, where they saw a bank full of orcs waiting for the boats. Legolas smirked, Gimli gripped his axe.
"Alright, we have to be quiet. When we land, we'll jump out and advance. The others won't be visible until we advance. Is everyone ready?" Everyone nodded at Aragorn's words.
They sat quietly for some twenty minutes until the boats came to a sudden halt on the banks. From the outside they heard an orc yell at them.
"C'mon you lazy sea rats! It's about time you got here!" He bellowed viscously.
It was then that they all jumped out of the boat, weapons at the ready.
The orcs looked confused, then grinned hungrily and together took a step toward the guests. However, their malicious grins were turned into sneering grimaces as the five advanced, the army of the dead becoming visible at their third step toward the army.
"There's plenty for the both of us." Gimli said to Legolas who just smirked in reply.
As the group lunged at the orcs, they all vaguely registered the sounds of battle already emanating around them.
Hermione swung her sword, killing an orc to the right of her, then whipped around, using her wand to kill one to her left. Using Avada Kedavra, she took down an orc who was about to plunge his sword into Sirius.
"Hermione, look out!" Aragorn shouted as one lunged at her from behind. She let out an outraged scream as she felt an arrow come in contact with her wand arm.
"Bastard!" She screeched as her wand dropped to the ground. She pulled her sword up and began swinging it wildly around with her good arm, all the while screeching about "BLOODY ORCS! YOU'LL ALL DIE!"
She heard Sirius laugh like a lunatic and looked over to see him watching with hysterical amusement as he cast tantellegra on a group of five orcs. They lost their balance as their legs became like jelly, and looked as if they were trying to dance, whilst regaining their balance.
"Sirius! This is no time for games!" She chastised. "Hurry up and kill them!" She said, showing example by cutting down a few of her own.
"What happened to your wand?" He yelled back, after Avada'ing the orcs.
She pointed to the arrow protruding from her wand arm. "I dropped it!"
He nodded and with an almighty swing of his sword, beheaded a particularly ugly orc.
Hermione's arm was now hanging limp at her side, a dull throbbing pain aching through it. She grimaced and shook it a little, giving her an extra spur of energy to go towards the demise of all orcs.
She grinned manically as Legolas brought down what looked to be a gigantic elephant. Just as she was about to swing her sword at an orc, another came up behind her and slashed his blade across her back.
Oh, now she was mad.
(Okay, so here's the thing, I must apologise to everyone for the whole Merry/Mary spelling thing… I'm sorry I did that with out realising it, and I'll be sure to spell it Merry, okay? Also, this might be a little short for a chapter, but the battle isn't over yet, and Hermione's a bit angry. Thanks for the reviews XD)