Hello all! The next chapter will be up on Sunday.

Review Responses:

zayra, thanks for the review.

John, I thought I'd address the issue of Spike's eating habits before somebody else asked. It was one of the few hang ups I had about writing this story. And let's see, two weeks have passed in the Btvs/hp world, so you have two more weeks happening there before you find out where Frodo and Sam are. I know I'm not writing much about them, but they're not really doing much at the moment so it can't be helped.

harmoni, you haven't missed anything about Spike, but it gets explained first thing in this chapter. No forbidden forest, although a lot of people have suggested that one. I put them in a special place. The last place they would think of looking. :)

Kyra2, it will be quite a while before you find out where Frodo and Sam are. They have to be in the btvs/hp world for two more weeks before you find out. But luckily, you find out what Spike has been eating in the first scene of this chapter.

Thank you guys for the reviews! And I'll probably receive howlers for how this chapter ends, but please try to be kind. :)

Thanks to my beta, PuNKyCoWGiRL!

Chapter Twenty

Wargs!

"Buffy, can I talk to you for a sec," Dawn asked as she rode up next to Buffy and Spike.

"What's up?"

"Alone?"

The slayer looked at her strangely but nodded her head. The two moved their horses so they wouldn't be easily overheard. They were thankful that Draco and Spike had been giving them small riding lessons as soon as Éomer had given them horses several days before. It meant they were reasonably confident in their abilities.

"You didn't get a message or anything? I thought you said things were fine back home?" Buffy asked.

"No, nothing like that," Dawn assured her and the blonde relaxed in her saddle. "I was just curious about something. Well, Ginny mentioned it first, but it got me wondering."

"About what?"

"We haven't been exactly all truth giving about Spike's true nature to our friends here."

"No," Buffy agreed. "It's not exactly something we're sure they're going to understand."

"Yeah, I was there for the discussion," Dawn interrupted. "What I mean is, is that Spike's food requirement is different than ours. What has he been eating?"
Buffy laughed. "I wondered how long it was going to take you to ask. He's been drinking blood."

"From where?"

"It's in his canteen. He charmed it to stay cool before we left Hogwarts. He found a butcher back at Edoras and refilled it."

"But that can't be enough," Dawn protested. "Even with his canteen charmed to hold more, he requires more blood than that."

"Not anymore."
Dawn's eyes widened. "Your bonding?"

"Yup. It's one of his benefits. He requires less blood," Buffy said as she looked over at Spike. "Plus, my blood packs an extra kick. Even if it's just a sip."

"You let him drink from you?"

"Had to for that whole bonding thing remember? And he only does it when necessary."
"How many times here?"
"Just once, the night before we entered Fangorn." She looked at her younger sister in faint surprise. "Why didn't you just ask Spike about all of this?"

"It would feel weird discussing his eating habits with him," Dawn said in embarrassment. "I didn't know how to approach him."
"He'll be fine," Buffy said. "I'll let him know you were worried about him."

scenebreak

Blaise was petting Diva, her cat, as she sat on her bed. Pansy and Millicent, her former roommates, were off at a special school for delinquents so she had the room to herself. Personally, it was a nice place to go to get away from everyone else without having to answer a bunch of questions.

Diva required very little from her - food, a pillow next to her head to sleep on, and a daily petting session. Once a day, the black cat would climb into Blaise's lap and insist on being petted. She would close her eyes and soak up the attention, then be on her merry way after fifteen minutes. After that, there was no bothering her.

The Slytherin happily indulged the cat while she contemplated about what to do with the upcoming weekend. It was to be the second Hogsmeade trip of the school year. Since she had so few friends to hang out with and she didn't need anything, she hadn't planned on going. But there was something that could possibly change her mind.

Neville had been carrying on his crusade of getting to know her better ever since Friday night. While all the questions and attention were a little unnerving, it was also kind of nice. It had been so long since anyone took the time to get to know her. And not just what her favorites were, but stories about her childhood, family, and friends.

But what really threw her for a loop, was when he invited her to join his friends at Hogsmeade. The question had surprised her so much that she had lost her composure and her jaw had dropped. He seemed to understand her shock and just said to let him know.

She could hardly believe that a Gryffindor wanted a Slytherin to hang out with him and his Gryffindor friends. True, that happened to Draco. But he was dating a Gryffindor and it took the others nearly a year to truly accept him. Plus, he had fate on his side. Events seemed to be repeating themselves, only there was no fate involve, just a simple boy asking her to hang out with him and his friends.

Blaise knew that Draco was happier now than he had ever been before. But she suspected most of that had to do with Dawn, Buffy, and Spike and the absence of his parents. She remembered the smile on his face when he told her that Ron and Harry wanted to be his friends, how protective he was of Ginny. His life was better because he had taken a step towards possible friendship.

Now, she was being presented with the same opportunity. Not only were these people willing to help her learn to fight the good fight, but also wanted to be her friend. At least, one of them was willing. Who was she to turn down such an offer?

One thing was for sure. No one had ever called her a coward and she wasn't going to give them an excuse to start now. She'd tell Neville tomorrow that she would love to join him in Hogsmeade.

scenebreak

Ginny sighed to herself as she sat atop the horse that she had been given. Brytta was a nice sized bay who seemed to understand his rider's timid nature towards him. Draco had ridden behind her for a few hours the day before to teach her how to ride. She at least understood the basics and the gentleness of her horse calmed her nerves somewhat.

However, even with her limited horse knowledge she could tell that something was wrong. All of them shifted about nervously and their nostrils flared. She looked around to see Buffy and Spike on alert and scanning the horizon.

"Wargs!" They heard a distant voice shout.

"What?" Harry asked from beside her.

"It's a scout!" They heard Legolas cry.

Aragorn came running down towards them. "Wargs! We are under attack!"

"Still confused," Harry said in concern.

"Get them out of here!" Théoden ordered. "All riders to the head of the column!"

Gimli had the men around him help him up onto Arod, while Aragorn quickly mounted Hasufel. Around them, the townspeople screamed in panic.

Théoden rode up next to Éowyn. "You must lead the people to Helm's Deep, and make haste."

"I can fight," she argued.

"No! You must do this, for me." He looked at Buffy and Dawn. "Go with them." Then he rode off.

"He still doesn't get it does he?" Dawn asked.

"Nope, but he's about to. Good thing we aren't from here, otherwise we'd get into huge trouble for this." She turned to Ginny and Harry who had ridden up beside them. "Don't suppose I could convince you two to stay behind?"

"You must be crazy if you think that," Harry snorted.

"Fine. But stick to the fringes and most importantly - don't die." Buffy urged her horse forward and they joined the men.

At the crest of the hill, Buffy could see Legolas firing arrow after arrow. Then he suddenly turned and swung himself into the saddle in front of Gimli. The horse never stopped moving.

"That'd be impossible, even for me," Buffy muttered, momentarily distracted. She turned her eyes to the charging beasts and crinkled her nose in disgust. The things looked like overgrown, shaggy hyenas carrying riders. She figured the riders were the orc things that terrorized the land.

Legolas continued firing arrows as the two groups raced towards each other. Buffy and Dawn pulled out their own bows and tried to do the same.

"Dammit!" Dawn muttered. She couldn't seem to juggle riding, holding the bow, and aiming at a moving target all at once. "Knew I should have taken Haldir up on more lessons."

Buffy only managed a little better with her slayer agility aiding her. She only managed to fire three arrows before the two sides met with a loud crash. The slayer put her bow back onto her back and pulled out her knives. With quick slashes she cut down anything that came near her.

Spike was only a few feet behind her and he prevented anything from sneaking up behind her. He grunted as an orc sword cut his arm and he turned to decapitate it. The warg rose up and he thrust his sword into its chest. It squealed and dropped.

Satisfied, he turned to see Draco take down a warg himself. Draco urged his horse forward and cut down the next orc.

Dawn had fallen off her horse shortly after the battle had begun in earnest and decided that she much preferred to fight from the ground. There, she was able to shoot down any of the beasts before they could reach her and help keep them from sneaking up on others. At least she had thought so right up to the point where Legolas had ridden by and Gimli fell on her.

"Come on lass," he said as he helped her up. "Let's kill some orc."

She grinned back at him and the two stood with their backs together as they faced the oncoming hoard.

Harry looked desperately around the field for Ginny. They got separated early in the fight and he hadn't seen her since. He cursed himself as he was knocked out of his saddle. Spike was always telling him that he got too distracted while fighting.

He looked up to see an orc about to stab him and he rolled out of the way and onto his feet. Harry pulled out his sword and prayed that something of Spike's sword lessons had stuck.

The thing rushed him and he instinctively put his sword up to block. As it moved on the offensive, Harry saw an opening. It swung wide and Harry ducked. Before it could recover, he thrust his sword into its guts. He cringed as black blood oozed over his hand, but he pulled his sword back out to turn and face the next threat.

Ginny stayed on the outside edges of the battle helping where she could. The Rohirrim's spears seemed to work well against the wargs so she cut down any orcs that tried to escape. She saw Aragorn get knocked out of his saddle by one of the creatures, then swung up behind another one.

He head-butted the orc that was riding it, but it knocked him off. Somehow, Aragorn was still holding on, but was now being dragged.

She could see they were approaching a cliff at high speed and she knew she had to stop them before it was too late. With a curt word, she urged Brytta forward.

Aragorn and the orc continued to struggle for dominance over the warg and the Ranger managed to stick his knife into the orc's chest. A second later it was knocked off and he was surprised to see Ginny's face peering down at him.

Calmly inspecting his hand she could see that he had somehow gotten it tangled in the warg's harness. She reached for the dagger she always carried while Aragorn looked ahead and saw the fast approaching cliff.

"Get off! Save yourself!" He ordered.

"You're not king yet, so no giving orders!" She said. She went to cut the straps, but it was too late. They both tumbled over the cliff with the warg.

scenebreak

Gimli drove his axe into a warg that was still struggling on the ground. He looked around to see others killing off the enemy wounded and helping their own.

"Aragorn!" Legolas called out.

"Ginny!" Harry said from behind him.

The two looked frantically about for their missing friends. As they neared the cliff they could hear an orc wheezing and laughing. The others joined them to stand over the dying orc.

"Tell me what happened and I will ease your passing," Gimli growled.

"They're... dead... Took a little tumble off the cliff."
"That's a lie!" Harry said in a low voice.

The orc shook and then died. Legolas pulled Aragorn's knife out of its chest. They all recognized it and grief clouded their features.

"No. No, no, no, no," Harry moaned and he ran over to the edge. He looked down, but could see nothing but rocks and running water far below. "She can't be dead," he cried as he dropped to his knees.

"I'm so sorry, Harry," Draco said softly, crouching next to him.

"What do you care?" Harry screamed, turning his tear streaked face to look at the other boy. "She was just another Weasley to you! I loved her and it's my fault she's dead!"

Draco's eyes narrowed. "You forget yourself, Potter. Don't think you were the only one who cared about her. She was my friend." Then he stood and stalked away.

"He's just hurting," Dawn said softly as her eyes brimmed.

"I know, but he's not the only one," he said angrily as he kicked the dead orc.

Dawn went over and pulled Harry into her arms so he could cry on her shoulder.

Théoden sighed behind them and sheathed his sword. "Get the wounded on horses. The wolves of Isengard will return. Leave the dead."

Legolas looked up in surprise and anger, but reluctantly nodded. He understood the king's decision.

"What?" Harry cried. "We're leaving? We're not going to look for their bodies?"

"We can't," Spike said, his voice thick with raw emotion. "It's too dangerous to stay behind. We need to get to Helm's Deep."

Harry snarled as he approached the vampire. "Fine. Then you can explain to Mrs. Weasley why we were unable to bring back her only daughter's body."

Buffy wrapped a supportive arm around Spike's waist as they watched the angry young man walk away.