So… It looks like every three months is gonna be a thing now. I'm sorry, I really am, but because of schoolwork and other obligations, it's been difficult for me to find time to write. Thank you so much to those of you who have reviewed and favorited and followed this story recently, you guys are so fantastic If can't even begin to say how much I appreciate your support.
I still don't own Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings. If I did, I wouldn't be scouring the internet for the cheapest place to buy decent copies of the special extended dvds. (also I totally wouldn't have done anything like, oh, I don't know, say that one of my favorite canon harry potter ships involving a ginger and a bookworm was a mistake)
Go forth and enjoy, my lovely readers, sorry this chapter is shorter than the last one.
The morning, and the one that followed after, was much of the same. They walked and rode, dismounting when their rear ends got sore and getting back in the saddle when the soreness drifted down to their feet. The company and the people of Rohan talked and laughed, the children ran and whined when they got tired and had to be reminded again and again that no, they were not there yet. Their third day of traveling brought them to a rocky outcropping that ended sharply on one side, dropping vertically to a raging river.
"But I don't understand, isn't that dangerous?" Eowyn asked of Ginny and the twins.
"Oh yeah, Quidditch can be brutal, but it's worth it," George answered.
"The feeling of the wind rushing through your hair as you fly is incredible," Ginny chimed in.
"Of course, you've got to watch out for bludgers and for other players, but it really is amazing," Fred said.
"Unless there are fucking dementors on the pitch," Ginny grumbled under her breath. She may not have been on the team in her second year, but she was still bitter about Hufflepuff's win that day. It was beyond unfair in her opinion. Fred, who heard her grumblings, burst out laughing, patting her on the back in a slightly patronizing way that Ginny would've taken offense to had it been anyone but her brother.
Eowyn opened her mouth to ask them what was so funny but just as she was about to ask, two armored riders rushed past them, up ahead to where Legolas stood atop a small hill, scouting out the terrain ahead. The horses' hooves pounded the earth as they ran, cutting off any words that might have been spoken.
They continued their discussion about Quidditch until a growling, snarling noise met their ears from up ahead. Ginny's head snapped up to see what was happening but the riders had gone over the crest of the hill, beyond their sight.
A whinny, a shout, and the clanging of metal echoed through the air and more growls, more snarling came with it. Legolas disappeared over the crest of the hill and out of the corner of her eye, Ginny saw Aragorn running ahead to see what was going on. She put a hand on her horse - Leobuhr, a brown mare she had been gifted from the royal stables - to steady her, and felt her body subconsciously tensing, ready to spring up into the saddle any second. Up ahead, Aragorn stopped at the crest of the hill and Ginny heard Legolas's voice shout something, but she could not discern what it was. He was too far away, there was too much noise coming from the assembled people. Ginny watched Aragorn take a few steps backwards before turning around and flat-out running back down the hill.
"What is it?" Theoden called out to him, "What do you see?"
"Wargs!" Aragorn shouted back, projecting his voice for all to hear, "We're under attack!"
His words set off a panic behind the warriors at the head of the column. A distressed cry of "Wargs!" echoed from the front to the back of the column until everyone knew just how much peril they were in. Mothers clutched their children close, those children cried out in fear, and people shouting and shrieking for family members only added to the din.
Ginny swung up onto her horse and Fred and George rushed to do the same. Two soldiers helped Gimli up onto his and Legolas's horse, and as Ginny rode to the head of the column, she fell into step beside Aragorn who gave her a reassuring nod.
"All fighters to the head of the column!" Theoden shouted to them all, before riding back to Eowyn, giving her orders to lead the people to safety which she reluctantly followed. Once she got the citizens of Edoras far back enough to be safe from any attack, Theoden turned back to his fighters, leading his horse to the front to lead them.
In the mass of fighters, Ginny turned to look at Aragorn.
"You're not going to try and stop me from fighting like you did in Moria?" she asked him, a playful grin on her face. Aragorn shook his head, suppressing a grin of his own.
"Would it do any good?" he asked her, though he knew the answer already.
"Absolutely not," she said resolutely, her little grin still gracing her lips.
"Follow me!" they heard Theoden order from up ahead, and they were off.
They passed the crest of the hill and saw Legolas shooting the wargs down with his usual precision. With a cry, they charged into battle. Ginny slashed and stabbed at wargs and orcs on all sides, until one particularly determined one decided to go after her. She cut down the rider but the warg persisted in going after her on its own. She urged Leobuhr to ride faster, getting the warg to chase them, until she stopped abruptly. The warg, without Léobuhr's dexterity and agility, charged right past her and Léobuhr, and Ginny slashed it across the throat. Her blow nearly beheaded it, leaving only a centimeter of skin holding its head in place. Nearly headless warg. Hmm, she thought to herself. Okay, focus. The sounds of a dying battle came to her ears, and she was on the outskirts of it, away from the combat. The last of the Orcs and Wargs retreated, with archers and, Ginny noted, the twins chasing after them. Ginny scanned the battlefield, and saw Legolas helping Gimli up from underneath a mound of carcasses that had piled up on top of him. Aragorn was nowhere to be seen.
"Aragorn?" she shouted. There was no answer.
"Aragorn?" she tried again, still no reply. She dismounted Léobuhr to better search the battlefield.
"Aragorn?" she heard Legolas call out. Next Gimli tried, with the same result. No... No! Where is he? Ginny started to panic. He has to be okay. He's okay, Gin, you just have to find him. He's going to be okay. Unbidden, moments from her dream flashed before her eyes. No. He isn't dead. He can't be.
"Aragorn!" Ginny's cry was strangled with worry. "Aragorn!" she heard malicious laughter gurgling from a dying Orc. Gimli grabbed it viciously by the collar. Legolas and Ginny came up on either side of the dwarf.
"Tell us what happened, and I shall ease your passing." Gimli snarled.
"He's gone." the Orc laughed. "Took a little tumble off the cliff." it coughed through its laughter.
And the dream was back. No. No! It can't have happened, it just can't! He didn't fall. He's here somewhere. He has to be! He didn't fall, that can't be the truth!
"You lie!" she cried with audible anger, frustration, and denial. The Orc gave one last laugh before going still. Ginny drew a dagger from her belt and stabbed the Orc in the chest with a cry. She wasn't sure why did that. The thing was already dead. It didn't make her feel any better. She watched as Legolas pried something from the Orc's hand. The small silver and green object glinted in the sunlight. Ginny's eyes widened in recognition. His brooch. "Not idly do the leaves of Lórien fall," his voice echoed in her mind. Legolas stood, walking to the edge of the cliff and staring into the waters. Ginny followed. She knelt down and stared into the water below, and started to lower herself down the rock face to climb down to the river, barely even realizing what she was doing, just knowing that she had to save him. He only just fell! We can find him! He can't be dead!
"Ginny, no!" she heard Fred call to her. She ignored him. She was now sitting on the edge of the cliff, her legs dangling off the edge, ready to drop. She felt a hand grabbing hold of her wrist, holding her back.
"Let me go!" she said, turning to see that it was George who was restraining her. "I can find him!" she persisted. George's eyes were sorrowful.
"Gin, you can't," he said sadly.
"Yes, I can!" she shouted. She was getting hysterical. She shot a stinging curse at George's hand, but he didn't release her. "Let me go!" she yelled at him, tears were welling up in her eyes.
"Gin, I'm really, really sorry about this." George said, pulling out his wand discreetly. "Stupefy," he said, charming Ginny into unconsciousness.
Ginny woke up to find herself slouched in front of someone, the rocking steps of a horse beneath her. She didn't feel groggy or hazy, like she'd naturally fallen unconscious, but rather like she'd just woken up from a nap. She'd been stunned and ennervated. She twisted around to see who she rode with and saw George there, a concerned gaze directed towards her.
"How're you feeling, Gin?" he asked her innocently. She narrowed her eyes at him.
"Awful," was her biting reply. They had taken her from Aragorn. They stopped her from finding him.
"Can we stop a bit?" she asked George, a plan worming its way into her head. George raised an eyebrow at her, making his suspicion very clear.
"Why?"
"Because I need to go to the loo, you git," Ginny replied, the lie rolling easily off her tongue, masked by the biting jibe at her brother. As soon as she got an answering nod from George, she turned away from him, still furious. Once they came across a larger outcropping of boulders, George veered off course from the others, letting Ginny dismount and duck behind the rock, supposedly to do her business.
Once Ginny was behind the rock and out of George's sight, she let her mask of simple anger fall to reveal the grief, denial, and misery that was driving her absolutely mad. She angrily forced herself not to cry and let herself be filled with determination - determination to find Aragorn. And not just find him, but find him alive. Ginny checked herself for all her belongings, making sure that she had her sword, bow, quiver, and daggers, and called out to her brother.
"Hey George?"
"What?" he called back to her.
"You're wrong," Ginny said, leaving no room for argument.
"Wrong - what? What d'you mean, wrong?" he asked. Ginny could practically see his furrowed eyebrows and otherwise puzzled expression.
"He's alive, George. He has to be," she said. "And I'm going to find him."
"Wait - Ginny, don't-" George started to say, but Ginny didn't hear how that question ended. She turned on her heel and with a resounding crack, disapparated. George sprinted around the boulder when he heard the noise only to find his sister gone. He rushed back to his horse, mounted it, and galloped back up to the others, slowing down and falling into pace with Fred, Legolas, and Gimli.
"Where's Gin?" Fred asked concernedly. George took a deep breath before answering.
"We taught her too well, Freddie," he said ruefully.
"What do you mean?"
"She's gone," George said. "Got me to stop for her to go to the loo and she disapparated."
"But where did she go?" Legolas asked.
"Could be anywhere," George answered. He paused in his speech, looking down at his hands on the reins and taking in a deep breath to calm his angry guilt before looking back up at his brother. "She said she was going to go find Aragorn."
Fred had to bite his lip to stop himself from yelling out in frustration. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves before speaking.
"You're right," Fred agreed. "We did teach her too well."
There was no way they could turn back now. As much as the twins wanted to go after her, they had no means to do so. They knew she had gone to find Aragorn, but what they didn't know was where she would go to do that. Ginny could take care of herself. Fred and George knew they shouldn't have to worry about her being okay, but they couldn't help it. They couldn't help but worry about what might happen to her while she was alone and grieving. And it didn't help when they reached Helms Deep and Eowyn asked after Aragorn and Ginny. The pain and worry was still so raw - both Fred and George found that they couldn't speak a word, couldn't force the answers out of their mouths. When Gimli answered for them - "He fell. And she followed him," he had said - Eowyn's whole bearing fell. George took her into his arms and let her process what had happened but there was no time for grief.
There was work to be done.
Thank you so much for reading!
And I would really like to personally thank some reviewers who helped to motivate me to keep writing this chapter.
To dreamcatcher081, thank you so much for alleviating my worry about the whole too-busy-to-update thing. That has been something that has worried me for the longest time and it really meant a lot to me that you said that. Thank you so much! As for Arwen, my plan for her is for her to sail to Valinor. I sort of touched on that in early chapters, but I can understand why that would be confusing.
SahpireBlue78, thank you so much for your praise! It made me smile and helped chase my muse back to this story when it was straying towards other little projects.
And to koryandrs, ManonVarendaz, aesir21, Lady Jamboreemon, foxgoddess07, Concrete63, and Beloved Daughter, I'm so glad you like what I've been writing with the twins and Gimli. I'm so excited to write the outcome of the bet - my fingers have been itching to type it out ever since I got the idea for it.
Thanks again for reading! I absolutely LOVE constructive criticism (and praise, but who doesn't like that), so if you want to review, please do!