Disclaimers: I do not own Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings
A/N: This chapter took me longer than I thought (mostly because I had to split it into two) but hopefully it goes over well. Also, this takes place at the beginning of Shadow of War, not Shadow of Mordor, so no Celebrimbor right away.
Initial Encounter
"Ron! Please, come back!", was the last words he heard from Hermione as he stomp out of their campgrounds, never looking back while he did so.
Why did he decide to come on this wild goose chase? Why did he feel that he would contribute something? All he's been doing was getting hurt and slowing everyone down despite none of them knowing even where to go. No doubt all he did was make it awkward for Harry and Hermione to spend some time together.
"Can't believe how much of a git I been! She always wanted him and I was nothing more than a friend, if that!", he shouted to no one in particular as he march off into the woods.
"Mum and Dad always loved Harry and Hermione more than me! Bloody hell, they loved everyone more than me!", he kept ranting, "Bill did this! Charlie did that! Percy was this by the time he was your age! Fred and George open up their own successful business at such a young age! Ginny in on the Quidditch team! Well so was I!"
On and on, Ron rants and gripe while being completely unaware of his surroundings. As he kick the dirt and every small rock he came across, he looks up and finally notice that he was halfway through a large clearing that the group had pass through earlier.
"If I head that way, I might be able to get to Bill's cottage by-", he starts to say before he spots movement in the forest on the other side of the clearing.
"What now?", he wonders as he crouches down in order to hide himself should it be the Snatchers coming, seeing how he was in no position to take them on if it was. Instead, he spots a single figure running out of the forest, but is unable to see any distinct features on them as they were too far away and still slightly immerse in the tree line.
The entire time, Ron never notices that a mysterious and unnatural fog had roll in around him and it was getting thicker with every passing moment. He never realizes that his wand and the Deluminator were starting to actually shake while within the midst of said fog. It wasn't until everything that wasn't directly in front of him was covered by it that the boy took notice and stood back up.
"Bloody hell, what's happening?", he told himself as he moves to pull out his wand, hoping to use it to be able to see.
"Lum- ARGH!", he shouts in mid-cast as his wand basically exploded in his hand, the entire length of it splintering straight down the middle.
"Oh piss off! Of all the bloody-", he started cursing before he realize that the fog was beginning to swirl around him. Slowly at first but then it got faster and faster and the longer it spun the more Ron could feel a strange surge of energy begin to build up within it.
"What the bloody hell is going on?", he cries out and for brief moment in time, with the fog now spun so fast that it was becoming nothing more than a solid wall of white, the young man wonder if he was better off just staying in the tent.
Then there was brief flash of bright light and when the fog lifted, Ronald Bilius Weasley, the youngest son of Arthur and Molly Weasley, was gone from this world.
The first thing he saw when he awoke was fire.
Spewing hot rivers of fire that spray out from a monstrous volcano in the distance that dwarfed everything around it. The stench of sulfur cut deep into his nose and while the ash in the air wasn't thick enough to suffocate him, he found himself hacking up a storm. As far as the eye could see, their was nothing but desolate wastelands and Ron could spot not one tree or blade of grass. The sky upon was nearly pitch black and dark clouds swirl within it. Not far from the base of the volcano, he spots a grand tower, one that could easily dwarf the ones that Hogwarts had. He could barely make-out something glowing at the top of it, but was too far away to say for sure what it was.
"Where am I?", he asks himself as he struggles to stand up, the heat nearly overwhelming him as it stung his eyes as he reaches for his wand and groans loudly upon seeing that it was about as useful to him as a regular stick one would find in the woods.
"That's just great! Once again, nothing is going my way!", he shouts.
"You got that right, Pinkskin!", a voice from behind cruelly laughs and Ron snaps around to see more than a dozen squat, broad, flat-nosed, bow-legged creatures with wide mouths and slant eyes coming out from behind some nearby rocks. They had long arms, dark skin, and fangs and a few of them seem to be clad in rusty and dirty armor but all of them were wielding crude weapons. All of them had sadistic smiles on their lips and all of them were directed at him. But none of them caught Ron's attention more than the last one to appear.
A towering giant that was easily taller than Hagrid though shorter than Grawp with his shoulders as wide as the main door to the Great Hall. It wielded a large metal spike club and as it made its way toward Ron, sporting a grin which showcase it foul teeth while the others parted way for it. The Weasley boy began to back up frantically in a panic but trips over his own feet in the process as the beast came closer and closer.
"So what are we going to do with this Man Filth?", the giant creature bellows as it picks Ron up by his neck with single large hand, "Perhaps we ought of skin him alive and eat his flesh right in front of him!"
"No, no, no! You're going about it all wrong, you gob!", a shorter creature, wielding what seem to be crude spears, yells, "You have to cut off his limbs, one by one and roast them on a spit!"
Ron struggles to breath as the large fingers around his neck began to squeeze before something grabs his foot and violently yanks him free and tosses him back a couple of yards.
"You two gobs are a disgrace!", the third creature said as he walks to Ron and pins him on the ground with his shield, the sheer pressure threatening to crush the boy, "You have to skin him, take each limb off one by one, roasts them over a spit, and then finally eat his flesh in front of him!"
The giant beast lets out a laugh, "That is a good idea! All we have to do is figure out a way to keep him alive during all of that!"
"Well then thank the Dark Lord we have some of those Mystic Tribes fellows with us!", the spear-wielding creature as he raises as spear and aims it at Ron's leg, "Got to make sure you don't get away!"
"LOOKS LIKE MEAT'S BACK ON THE MENU, BOYS!", the massive monster shouts from the back, gaining a roar of approval from the others, including a howl.
"No!", Ron screams but it was too late as the spear was thrust down to his leg…
Only to immediately stop as Ron sees a whitish arrow pierce the monster's left eye and he falls down dead, his hands in a death grip around spear and shield and the arrow vanishing from sight as it did so.
"AMBUSH!", one of the remaining creatures scream out before he too was struck down by an arrow hitting him directly in the middle of his forehead.
"IT'S THE GRAVEWALKER! BE ON GUARD!", Ron heard as the remaining dozen or so monsters began to circle up, with Ron somehow ending up in the middle, looking outward in every direction in order to pinpoint their assailant…
Who suddenly landed in center of their circle, right next to the Weasley boy.
In the extremely brief span of time that Ron was able to get a solid look at this "Gravewalker" person, only one thought cross his mind and it came about by the expression the man wore on his face.
One of focus and dedication, one that convey to the wizard that what this man was about to do he has done many times before as he watches him smoothly reach for the sword on his back and draw it in one swift, smooth motion. The blade shine in the sunlight, so bright that it nearly blinded him and Ron almost miss the fluid way it the man launch himself at the nearest creature and effortlessly detaches his head from his body, blood as black as tar spewing forth from its neck. Before it even hit the ground, the man was on top of the one that was to the right of his first victim, leaping over it and landing with a slash across its chest that sends it to the ground.
"THE TARK WAS BEHIND US! GET HIM!" Ron hears and the next few moments of his life was a fury of metal and blood, the likes of which he has never witness before. One that would be forever etch into his mind and define a significant part of his life.
"Pssst!", Ron suddenly hears next to him from Lavender and snaps out of his memories to see both Kingsley and Professor McGonagall looking at him.
"Mr…Ranger, are the talks regarding the safety of the students here at Hogwarts boring to you?", the Headmaster asks.
Ron suddenly felt like he was back in his sixth year Transfiguration Class where he was caught more than a dozen times sleeping and the elderly woman asks him a similar question. Seeing how the answer he used back then usually work, he decided to see if it could "save" him here as well.
"Of course not, Professor. I just didn't get enough sleep last night", he answers.
Headmaster McGonagall lifts an eyebrow at the answer that was given to her and regards the hooded man in front of her for a moment with an emotionless stare, though Ron could see the slightest bit of confusion in it.
"Did I say the wrong thing?", he thought.
Finally, Kingsley decides to interjects and get the discussion back on track while Lavender stifles a laugh at the whole situation.
"I fail to mention that both Crimson Griffin and Moon Queen were already brief earlier today on the plan, therefore I think it is best that they get to their position before the memorial starts while you and I stay a bit to discuss any concerns you might have", he says before ushering the two Shadows Aurors away.
"That's our cue", Lavender says as she grabs Ron and pulls him away toward the entrance way with a violent tug, the whole time McGonagall watching them until they disappearing down the stairwell.
"Tell me, Kingsley, about that man. I can see what the werewolf brings to the Shadows Aurors' organization, but surely there is more to that man than him just wielding a sword", she states, all the while not even turning around to face the Minister.
"Crimson Griffin wields more than just a sword, Minerva. I have seen him do things that should not even be possible, yet he does them as natural as breathing. For starts, when he and Moon Queen appear on the window ledge, they were not using Apparition", he answers.
The Headmaster snaps her head back at Kingsley, "I beg your pardon?"
"The ward around Hogwarts has been greatly reinforce just for tonight and yet they arrive within Hogwarts' walls without any trouble", he replies, "Crimson Griffin has a unique magical ability that I myself have never seen before and that alone is why he is regarding as one of the more versatile Shadow Aurors that is currently under my employment."
"...So it seems", McGonagall merely says.
"Good luck tonight, Ronald. I feel that both you and Lavender are going to need it", Kingsley thought sullenly while he himself wonder just how exactly he was going to face Arthur and Molly in little under an hour.
"Bloody Hell, you could not have made a bigger arse of yourself than you did just now! Daydreaming in the middle of brief from the big boss himself", Lavender tears into Ron as they come out of the stair into the Marble Staircase Tower, taking a quick look left and right to make sure there were no students sneaking about, "Are you sure you're up for tonight?"
"Oh sure, I'm just fucking peachy right now!", Ron snaps back, "I'm only going to be keeping an eye on the very family I abandoned eight years ago in order to make sure they don't get torn to shred by fangs and claws or hit by a Killing Curse! So you'll have to forgive me if I'm a little out of it right now!"
"Oh, grow the-", Lavender moves to says before snapping her head down the hallway, once more taking whiffs of the air while doing so, "Oh, you have got to be kidding me! Quick, hide us!"
Without a second thought, Ron throws his cloak over the two of them and they seamlessly blended into the darkness of the hallway.
Moments later, they started to hear an all too familiar voice echo through the hall.
"There better not any students lurking about here. All you are suppose to be in bed!", Argus Filch says as he rounds the corner and looks down the hallway outside of the Headmaster's office. When he finds it void of any living soul, he starts scratching his head.
"Could have swore I heard voices just now. Must be that damn Peeves", he says to himself as he turns around and heads back the way he came.
After waiting a bit longer to make sure he was gone, Ron and Lavender reappear out of the dark.
"Aren't you suppose to be able to see people through walls and stuff?", the werewolf questions her partner, "How the hell did we almost get caught by Filch of all people?"
"That only works when I'm concentrating and I have a lot on my mind right now!", Ron answers.
Lavender rolls her eyes, "Whatever, let's just start our patrol now."
"Yeah, yeah, let's just get this over with", Ron complains as the two of began walking, "By the beards of the ancestors, tonight is going to be a long night."
The two Shadow Aurors make their way through the halls of Hogwarts, using all their skills in stealth to avoid the ghosts and living portraits that doted the building. At one point they came across Nearly Headless Nick as he floated down the hallway. While the werewolf was actually a little happy to see the ghost again, Ron, on the other hand….
"Do you ever think he wants to move on?", he found himself asking Lavender as the two of them watch the ghost float around from a secluded corner.
"Huh, don't you remember? He said already gave up his chance because he was afraid of death, so what are you going on about?", she asks before turning around to fact her partner, only to find herself speechless upon seeing the expression on his face. He had a distant look in his eyes that seem to travel far beyond the horizon and across the endless sky.
"Everyone's afraid of death because they don't know what's on the other side, what awaits them", Ron spoke though he wasn't looking at Lavender, "But eventually, one has to get tired of living and want to move on to the afterlife, regardless of whether it's pleasant or not."
Lavender regards Ron for a while with an emotionless stare for she had no idea how to act in a situation like this. She has never seen him like this before and she was at a lost on how to deal with it.
A thought crosses her mind, but she shakes it away before coming to her senses, "We should go check out some of the classrooms before we head to scoop out the Great Hall."
"Yeah", Ron says dishearten, "We should do that", as he led the way, leaving his ex-girlfriend now turn partner to look at his back as he left.
Another thought appear in her head but once more she decides not to voice it before following after him.
The famous Great Hall of Hogwarts.
A place that has been used to hold meals, feast, dueling clubs, teaching lessons, marvelous dances, and examinations over the many centuries since the school's founding. But it has also been a place where lives were cut short and people would gather their wounded and mourn their dead. It was here that the Dark Lord Voldemort was finally defeated and the Second Wizarding War ended during the Battle of Hogwarts.
And it was here on that very night that those who survived that treacherous night would honor the fallen.
Hundreds of candles floated through the room, each one designed to float a set path in order not to bump into one another. Using this unique form of illumination, the scores of guests made their way through the hall, having small chat with one another and helping themselves to the food that was laid out for them.
While the majority of the occupants were performing this tasks, more than a few were attending to other matters.
"Dammit it, we were so close. That was the third cell taken out in the span of two weeks. Who is behind all this?!", the Chosen One asks himself at a table off in the corner of the room while surrounded by Dean, Seamus, and Neville Longbottom, the recently hired Herbology professor at Hogwarts who just about to completed his first full year at the school.
"Perhaps they are fighting among themselves", Dean suggests, "You know, trying to figure out who should be in charge."
"But if that was the case, then there wouldn't be as many bodies as you guys said you found when you raided their hideouts. Can't really be the leader of a group if you kill everybody", Neville states.
"Plus, how many Death Eaters used swords? We found a lot of heads slice clean off or stabbed, and just as many with their throats tore out and covered in claw marks", Seamus added, "Now that I think about it, there wasn't one corpses among them that look like it was done in by a Killing Curse."
"And that reason alone is why we need to find out who is doing this", Harry points out, "Is this infighting or is there now a third party getting involve?"
"Let them wipe each other out; that's what I say", Seamus states and Dean agrees, "Less trouble for us."
Harry shakes his head for a moment before speaking, "Do you honestly believe that if there is an another group wiping out the Death Eaters that they will suddenly stop once they accomplish their goal?"
Seamus glances over at Neville, who shakes his head no.
"I guess not", the Irish wizards answers.
"Exactly, if anything, this is nothing more than getting rid of the competition", Harry explains.
Neville looks over Harry's shoulder for a moment and spots a scene that he felt needed addressing, "Hey Harry, don't you think you ought of give Ginny a hand with your boys?"
The Boy-Who-Lived takes a gander over his shoulder at the banquet table where he spots his wife struggling to make both James and Albus behave.
"She's fine, she knows how to rein those boys in better than me", he admits before turning back around.
Neville rolls his eyes, "Harry, please don't be like this."
"Be like what?", the Auror asks, a slight edge to his voice.
"Everyone knows how you get this time of year and everyone knows why", Neville kept going, ignoring the panic looks both Seamus and Dean were giving him. In the young Professor's mind, it was time someone said something.
"Well, you'll have to excuse me, Neville. The tasks of raising a family, being a Auror, and dealing with the dreadful experiences of the war have taken its toll on me; I almost drowned in a frozen lake case you forgot. And last but certainly not least, let's not forget that there a Dark Wizard out there that thinks themselves the "Second Voldemort" and they may or may not be planning something tonight, so I'm a bit on edge ", Harry hisses in a low whisper as to not have anyone hear that last bit.
Both Seamus and Dean take this as a cue to make their getaway, Dean more so because he notice his fiancé, Parvati, was calling him over, but mostly due to the fact that this wasn't the first time their two friends and former dorm-mates have gotten into it. Both of them even suspect that it was the real reason behind Neville taking the offer to be the Herbology professor at Hogwarts so quickly for he grew tired of taking orders from Harry and dealing with his attitude. It was a miracle that the two of them still invited the other out to social gatherings; though that probably had more to do with Ginny and Luna forcing their husbands to do so. But since Neville was still on the reserve Aurors roster and Harry was under orders to include him in ongoing investigation that might require his skill, the Hogwarts professor was obligated to talk and take orders from him.
But Longbottom had a point, Harry did always got more irritable around the time of the Battle of Hogwarts' anniversary and despite his claims that it was because all the trauma he experienced and stress from work, those close to him secretly knew that that was only half the reason.
"Look, if you won't listen to me about seeing to your family then at least go see to her then", Neville basically pleaded as he points behind Harry, "She's doing the same thing she does every year and it's starting to get depressing."
Harry looks to where Neville was pointing and sees his longtime friend and Deputy Head of the Department of the Regulation and Control of Magical Animals, Hermione Granger….
Adorn in a black strapless dress, her usual bushy hair straighten out while she was currently working on what was most likely a new law that she was hoping to get pass soon.
"Bloody hell", Harry murmurs under his breath.
"Seems like the two of you just can't leave work back in your offices no matter what; even I put aside grading papers for tonight", Neville says before spinning around and walking toward Luna who was currently playing with their daughter, Elizabeth.
Harry watches him go for a moment before returning his attention back to Hermione who was still writing. Shaking his head he was force to admit to himself that Neville was right about his working habits.
Gawain Robards, the head of the Auror Office and his boss, told him specifically to let the Aurors on-duty handle the case while he attended the memorial, damn near order him to. But Harry was headstrong, stubborn, and refuse to let anyone handle, what he consider, his own personal mission in bringing Voldemort's remaining followers to justice. Whenever a case came up regarding the Dark Lord, Harry immediately jump on it. It didn't matter if it was investigating a Death Eaters cells, arresting any financial supporters, or even putting a stop to any wizard or witch who supported violence against all non-Purebloods. Harry was a blood-hound when it came to matters like this and while this mindset has produce spectacular results, it also came with its downside, notably his personal relationships with his friends and family.
"I best go talk to her", Harry thought as he started to make his way over to the witch, "Really hope Rita doesn't see us talking. Definitely not in the mood to deal with her right now or anytime actually."
Back with the Shadow Aurors duo, Ron and Lavender had taken to going about their patrol through the less-traveled corridors of the school, particularly the ones crawling with portraits and ghosts. The ones they had no choice but to take were carefully traverse with a vast degree of stealth.
"We should split up from here", Lavender suggests as the two of them came to the seventh-floor of the castle, "I'll check up to the Divination class and you can check out the Arithmancy class."
Ron rolls his eyes and looks down at his partner, "You know we're here on a job, right? We're not here for you to reminisce and or anything like that."
Lavender merely looks back at Ron with a cold glare. Her eyes didn't shifted colors but they still held the promise of violence if the girl's "suggestion" was not taken. Ron could feel his fingers lightly touch the hilt of his dagger, ready to grab it in an instant should the worse come to pass.
"You know what, fine?", Ron relented, "Go on your little trip down memory lane but meet back up here in ten minutes, got it? We got the rest of the school to patrol."
"Yeah, yeah, I heard you", Lavender says as she started walking one direction and Ron took off in the other.
The man reaches his destination without any incident but found himself standing outside the Arithmancy classroom, staring at the door. Ron could never understand the concept of the class when he attend though he did recall his brothers Bill and Percy excelling it. Plus, he remembers Hermione gushing over it back in their third year with Harry even giving her a book for Christmas in their fourth.
Though now the concept of numbers having magical properties didn't seem all that far-fetch to him.
"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 the Shadows lie. One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie" Ron remembers the verse that was told to him so long ago before turning to look at the night sky through a nearby open window.
"Twenty rings that change the fate of countless men, elves, dwarves, and others and brought forth endless death and suffering", he told himself, "Though for a awhile there were twenty-one but a lot of good that did."
Just reminiscing about that particular inscription cause memories to come back to the surface of his mind, as he now remember the rest of his initial encounter with Talion.
Flashback
The creatures swarm the man, nearly trampling over Ron in the process. Each one of them were attacking with a bestial fury that the boy has never seen before, not even in the various monsters he has encounter over the past seven years and he has encounter way more than his fair share of them.
The man deftly parries a spear thrust, using his sword to bat it away with such strength that it went flying blade-first into the neck of a nearby monster, nearly taking it head off in the process. As black blood spray into the air, the man shoves his sword into the eye-socket of the original wielder of the spear, the blade being embedded so deep that it came out the other side, coated in black liquid.
One of the creatures took the opportunity to attack the man while his back was turn to him and his weapon was preoccupied. But quicker than a wizard could take out a wand and cast a spell, the man withdraws his sword and spins around to take his would-be attacker's head off in a single slice. He then drew a dagger from his side and it impales it into another monster's throat before plunging his sword into the gut of another that was trying to come at him from his blindside.
The man then bobbed and weaved through the sword slashes and strikes, deflecting and blocking as he did while returning them with his own slashes and strikes. Through this storm of death and swordsmanship, something on the man's left hand drew Ron's attention. It was a ring that glow bright blue and even from where he was still laying on the ground, he could feel immense magic coming from it; one that seem vaguely familiar and he was almost certain he felt the same type of magic in the fog he encounter only moments before all this started happening.
But a roar brings him out of his thought and he is shock to see that nearly all of the creatures that attack him were now dead and laying on the ground expect for the large one that was now slamming his club on the ground, a look of primal rage on his face.
"CURSE YOU, TARK! I'LL KILL YOU FOR THIS AND OFFER YOUR CORPSE TO THE DARK LORD!", the monsters shouts though the man didn't seem intimidated at all.
"You are more than welcome to try, Olog-Hai", the man spoke as he reaches down and pulls out the dagger that was still embedded in the monster's from earlier throat and sheathe it.
The monster lets out another roar that echo throughout the area before charging the man. Without skipping a beat, the man puts both hands on his sword, kneels and takes a swing at the brute's right leg, taking it clean off while narrowly avoiding its massive club as one of weapon's metal spikes barely graze the man's cheek as he tilts his head out of the way. As the swordsman appear on the other side of the giant, the creature itself found its balance severely reduce and went crashing to the ground, causing a minor quake in the process.
Ron watches as the man slowly and calmly walks up behind the now struggling behemoth who all the while continued to shouts curses of defiance as it attempt to crawl away.
"DAMN YOU, TARK! MY LADS ARE GOING TO MAKE MINCEMEAT OUT OF YOU! FORGET THE GROG AND MAGGOTY-BREAD, YOU'LL BE THE MAIN FEAST!"
The man gives no answer to these threats nor did he even seem to acknowledge them. He simply walked up alongside the creature until he was next to its head.
"A day like that may come but you will not be around to see it", the man finally replies before driving his sword straight down the back of his enemy's skull, the blade impaling itself in the ground on the other side of it and the body goes limp.
Silence reign in the area for a moment before the man began to remove weapon from the corpse and used his cloak to wipe off the black blood that stain it.
"I have a great many questions for you, lad", he speaks while not looking up at Ron who was still in the same spot he was when the fight began, "But I have neither the time to ask them nor the time to hear you answer them. So I will you leave with two choices."
The man then finish cleaning off his sword and sheathes it before finally directing his full attention at the young wizard for the first time, "Quietly follow me and you might just live to see the sun rise once more or you can stay here and find yourself becoming a corpse before the sun sets this very day."
And with that the man took off down a narrow mountain trail that was behind him, leaving Ron alone with his thoughts in a strange and deadly new land.
Present Day
Ron lets out a sigh as he shakes his head, "Stop getting caught up in days long passed, Ron, you're on an assignment", he tells himself as he activates his Wraith Vision, sees that no one is in the classroom, and then starts heading back the way he came to go check up on Lavender.
A/N: This is my own personal theory, but I like to think that if Ron wasn't around, Harry would have been a lot less social with people even if he did have Hermione. While she was a great friend and all to him, I feel that Ron was someone that Harry could be around and related more to; you know "guy talk" and all. Something that I would like to point out that the movies didn't cover very often.
While Seamus, Dean, and Neville might have given him some degree of friendship and such, it probably wouldn't have been to the same degree as Ron did, seeing how he came from a large family and thus was already extremely sociable.
Also, Harry's behavior is actually pretty straightforward for someone who has a lot of pressure on their shoulders. Harry is dealing with a new "Voldemort" rising, the anniversary of the time where he lost a number of friends and his best mate, along with all the terrible memories of said events as well.
BTW, Hermione actually talks in the next chapter.
