Ok, totally sorry for taking two weeks again. My beta has been really busy and it took her a while to do the proofing. But, the good news is, the next chapter has been written, typed, and betad so it will be up on Sunday.

Review Responses:

John, I figured most of my male readers eyes would glaze over slightly during the girl sleepover thing, so no biggie. It's why I included the boy counterpart. I hope it seemed somewhat realistic seeing as how I'm not a guy, but I kind of took it from the POA movie. It was one of the few scenes that I thought they had done really well.

Harmoni, (sniff) gonna miss your reviews until you get your internet back. (sniff)

Kyra2, yup, things are about to move really quickly as everything starts to come together. Only a few more chapters to go...

Because fanfiction. net seems to have issues in allowing special characters used in these fics. When they are speaking Elvish it will look like this. When telepathy is being used, it will look like this.

A special huge thanks to my beta, PuNKyCoWGiRL, for doing this even though she's busy!

Chapter Thirty-Six

Finding and Preparing

Willow was in the soft haze just before falling asleep when there came a pounding on her and Tara's door. She mumbled into Tara's hair and snuggled further down into her covers. The knocking, however, didn't stop and soon a voice was added to it. "Willow! Tara!" Came Ron's excited voice. "I know how to find them! Open up!"

With a long sigh, Willow untangled herself from Tara and stumbled over to the door. "This had better be good, Ron," she said as she rubbed her eyes.

"I know how to find Frodo and the ring."

Willow's sleepiness fled as the reality of Ron's words hit her. "Hold on, let me wake up Tara. Come on in."

He followed her into the witches' room to see Tara sitting up in bed blinking the sleep out of her eyes. He couldn't stop the corners of his mouth from curling up as he took in the normally neat-looking woman's disheveled appearance.

"What's wrong?"

"Ron says he knows how to find Frodo and Sam," Willow said softly.

"Oh," Tara replied sleepily. Then her eyes popped open. "Oh."

"What's the plan?" Willow asked, sitting back down on the bed. She gestured for Ron to join them, but he began pacing.

"Remember that exercise from a few months ago when I stretched my magic out to search my surroundings?"

"Yeah, 'cause everything is connected," Willow said, her tired brain not seeing where he was going.

"Right! Because everything is connected, including us to Frodo and Sam - wherever they might be!"

"But Ron, none of us are powerful enough to do that on our own," Willow reminded him.

"We could do it together."

"It's never been done before."

"That doesn't mean we can't. We pull our magic from ourselves and our surroundings. Who's to say we can't pull from each other?" Ron said, excitement in his voice.

"My god, Willow, he's right," Tara said, finally coming completely awake. "The three of us together should easily be able to find them."

Willow grinned as she got excited. "We could, couldn't we?"
"Then what are we waiting for?" Ron asked.

After grabbing the map off her desk, Willow motioned for all of them to sit on the floor. They formed a little circle around the map.

"Who wants to do the actual searching?" Willow asked.

"One of you two should," Ron said. "I don't exactly know what I'm looking for."

Willow shifted nervously. "Tara, you had better do it. Remember what happened the last time I got too close to the ring?"

Tara nodded and the three joined hands. Their breathing and heart rates slowed until they seemed to breathe and beat as one. As all sorts of power flooded through Tara, she reached out to find Frodo and Sam's. Her spirit soared across the world toward, what she hoped, was the hobbits beaconing auras. And soon their familiar presence filled her senses.

As she used her mind's eye, she looked at their surroundings. Three pairs of eyes opened as one and they all cried, "Sunnydale?"

XXXXXXXXX

Tara wobbled slightly on her legs as she adjusted from the portkey's stop in Sunnydale. She smiled up at Clem's familiar crypt and knocked on the door.

The friendly demon was soon at the door and he smiled when he saw her. "Hey Tara! I was beginning to worry about you guys. I sent a letter to Buffy last week, but the owl just returned with the letter. I was just getting ready to write one to Willow, but here you are!"

"Let me guess, the letter is about two hobbits named Frodo and Sam?"
"Yeah! How'd you know?"

"We've been looking for them. If we had thought a little more about it, we should have known they'd get pulled here," Tara said, as she followed him inside. She waved at the two hobbits who were sitting on the old couch eating chips. "Hi!"

"Tara!" They cried in excitement, and they ran over to her.

She hugged them tightly. "We've been looking for you for almost two months now."

"How did you know we were in this dimension?" Frodo asked.

"Galadriel sent word."
"What about our friends?"
"They're fine," she assured them. Then she briefly explained the events of the past two months. "But we need to get you to Hogwarts. It's no longer safe for you here." She looked over to Clem. "You want to come with us?"

"Sure, why not?"

Tara pulled out a rumpled piece of paper. "Everybody grab hold of this and we'll soon be at Hogwarts."

"How is that piece of parchment going to get us there?" Sam asked.

"Magic," Tara said with a twinkle in her eyes.

The two hobbits reached out, and once all four were holding on to the paper, there was a tug behind their navel and the world around them swam.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Albus entered his office where several professors and the Scooby gang were waiting. "How are our three guests adjusting?" He asked as he sat down.

"Quite well," Giles said, fiddling with his glasses. "Clem seems to be able to adjust to any environment. The hobbits are amazed by the magic that fills the castle, but technology wise this place is similar to their own dimension. So they are comfortable."

Xander grinned. "It helps that the house elves are feeding them constantly. The only other people I've seen eat that much are me and Faith." The dark haired slayer smacked him on the arm. "Ow, just kidding."

"I know Xan-man," she said, grinning back at him. "I couldn't let it go unpunished, though. So what's the stitch, Al? I know you didn't ask all of us in here to talk about the hobbits and their eating habits."

"I have received word from Miss Zabini's parents." Everyone straightened in their seats at the announcement. "Voldemort has grown frustrated in his search for the ring. He now believes that Harry and I have somehow foiled his plans and are now safeguarding the ring."

"Well that isn't too far from the truth," Wesley grimly said.

Albus sighed. "He is planning another attack on the school."

"And that worked so well the first two times," Snape said with a snort.

"No one said that evil was bright," Anya pointed out. "They're just ambitious."

"Do they know when he plans on attacking?" Giles asked.

"On the twenty-eighth."

"That's only four days away," Willow said. "That's not a lot of warning."

"At least we're getting a warning," Tara said, gently squeezing Willow's hand.

"Is he aware that Harry is no longer in this dimension?" Wesley asked.

Albus allowed a brief smile to cross his face. "Thankfully no. Nor does he know about the other missing students and professors. It seems we have eliminated all of the spies from within the castle."

"But they know we have the ring," Xander pointed out.

Remus shook his head. "That doesn't necessarily mean anything. Harry and Dumbledore have been consistently thwarting his plans over the past seven years. He could just be assuming."

Faith grinned. "And you know what that makes?"

"Faith, please," Giles said, pinching the bridge of his nose, but his eyes held a bit of a twinkle of merriment.

"Do we know what he's attacking with?" Faith asked, bringing her mind back to the business at hand.

"Several trolls and demons who are loyal to him, and of course, his deatheaters," Albus told her. "I believe this to be his last effort and he will go all out."

"Oh dear," McGonagall said. "Thank goodness Harry won't be here for this."

"We need to tell the kids," Faith said.

McGonagall pursed her lips. "Whatever for?"

Faith rolled her eyes. "They aren't stupid, Min. They're going to see us making preparations and know something is up. Since most of the students are gone for Christmas, we can't exactly hide what we're doing. And what's worse is that they'll be more upset that we didn't trust them enough to tell them. These kids are ready. What are you laughing at Al?"

"I seem to recall a similar conversation from nearly a year ago, only it was Buffy and Spike arguing on behalf of the students."

"She has a point," Xander said. "These kids aren't innocent anymore."

"Not to mention all of the training they've received," Willow added. "They won't be walking into this blind."

McGonagall sighed and looked at Snape. "Are you not going to argue?"

"Amazingly enough, no," Snape answered. With an eye roll of his own, he said, "And I can't believe I'm actually going to say this, but I do trust the students. They also have a right. This is their future we're talking about preserving."

Anya grinned and hugged him. "That's my Sevie. Way to be supportive." To the surprise of the others, the man just smiled fondly at the blonde demon.

"Let's get with the kids and make with the planning," Faith said.

XXXXXXXXXX

"What in the bloody hell?" Ron muttered, tripping backwards over his own two feet as he stared at the trees around him. A familiar laugh floated from behind him and he looked up to see Dawn standing over him.

"Hey Ron, whatcha doing on the ground?" She asked, offering a hand up.

"Warn me next time before you do that," he said. "I almost broke my ass."

"You're lucky Hermione or Ginny weren't here to hear you say that."

He smiled good naturedly at her and shrugged. "If I didn't, what else would they have to complain about? How's Ginny?" He asked, suddenly turning serious.

"She's fine, she's awake. There's not a scratch on her, I swear."

"Alright. Willow didn't say..."

"I don't have a lot of time. I was just stopping in to wish you guys a Merry Christmas, but how come I couldn't find Willow and Tara?" Dawn asked.

"We're in a strategy meeting. I guess I fell asleep," he said, running a hand through his red hair. "Voldemort's going to attack the school in three days."
"What? Again? Is he really that stupid?"

"Apparently. But we found the ring..."

"What?" Dawn screeched. "You found the ring! You couldn't have said that straightaway? Like, hello Dawn, nice to see you. Hey we found the ring, ready to come back home? No, you couldn't have said that..."

Ron clamped a hand over her mouth. "You didn't give me a chance. 'Sides, I figured my sister was more important."

She glared at him over his hand.

"Eeeewww!" Pulling his hand back and wiping it on his shirt. "That was gross!"

"Shouldn't have put it over my mouth in the first place," she retorted. Calming herself, she asked, "So you have the ring and Voldemort is about to attack?" Ron nodded. "Alright, it'll take some time to round everyone up. Meet you in the Scooby common room in let's say... an hour your time?"

"Really? You're coming home?"

"Kinda gotta. Make sure you tell the others when you wake up. Oh, and Ron... Wake up!"

Ron suddenly bolted up in his chair and looked around. The Scoobies gave him strange looks and he smiled. "Merry Christmas! They're coming home."

XXXXXXXXXX

The Scooby common room was filled with anxious faces as they waited the portal that would return their friends and family. The hour had already passed and they were beginning to fidget.

"Thank god," Xander breathed as a shimmering light formed at one end of the room.

People that the Scoobies recognized from their own visit to Middle Earth stepped out, along with several strangers, before the ones they had been waiting for. Once everyone was through, Dawn closed the portal and they found themselves enveloped in hugs. Frodo and Sam were besides themselves with glee when they recognized Gandalf. Up until then, they still believed that he was dead.

"Where's Ginny?" Ron asked frantically. "Where's my sister?"

"She's still resting," Harry said. "She wasn't well enough to travel."

"She could've gotten better here!" Ron exclaimed.

Aragorn stepped over to Ron. "Lady Ginny was at death's door only two days ago. I feared that in her weakened state, that traveling through the portal would do more harm than good. I assure you that she is safe in Minas Tirith."

"How would you know?" Ron asked hotly. He turned to Buffy. "How would he know?"

"He's the king of Gondor. Minas Tirith is kind of like the capitol city," Buffy said with a small smile.

Ron turned slightly pink. "Oh, king. What do you know about healing people?"

"My father taught me. He is most skilled," Aragorn answered, slightly amused at how protective Ron was of his sister.

"Oh, maybe you know something then. Sorry," Ron said, still a little put out that his sister didn't return with the others.

"There is no need to apologize. It is quite obvious that care a great deal for your sister."

After a quick round of introductions, everyone sat down. Aragorn and Gandalf hadn't been the only ones to come through the portal with them. The rest of the fellowship along with Éomer, Elladan, and Elrohir had come also, although the elf twins had come more to see another dimension rather than to join the war talk. They wandered around the room studying various objects while the others talked.

Buffy and Spike briefly outlined what had happened in Middle Earth over the past month. Then Giles filled them in on the search for the ring and Voldemort's plans.

"He'll be here in three days," Giles concluded.

"Doesn't give us much time," Buffy said. "We'll need to tell Angel and the others. They can floo here instead of the long way."

"I'll send of letter to Soul-boy," Faith said.

Buffy flashed her a brief grin of thanks.

"Then all is left for us to return the ring to Middle Earth," Gandalf said. "Then find a way to destroy it."
"Just like that?" Snape asked. "I doubt it will be that simple."

"No, Master Snape, it will not," Gandalf said in a grave tone. "For the path to Mount Doom is now covered with more than ten thousand orcs. We have too few men to fight them, we'll have to find another way."

Spike spoke up. "The number of warriors they have would be more useful as a distraction rather than a strike force."

Too bad we couldn't open a portal or apparate right there. Draco told Dawn.

She sharply turned and looked at him. Can you apparate more than one person at a time?

It's possible.

She sent a brief thought to Buffy who turned and smiled at her. That could work. "A diversion is all we need," she told the others.

Everyone turned and stared at the slayer in disbelief.

"All we need is a diversion. After that, we can get Frodo to Mount Doom. We just need to make sure that Sauron isn't watching and that he'd pulled his army away," Buffy said.

"But with so few men, will it be a sufficient distraction?" Éomer asked.

"Should be," Dawn said with a grin. "When I send you back, I'll make sure I make a lot of 'magic noise'. You guys mount up an army and march to Mordor. We'll stay here and finish off Voldemort. By the time we finish here, you should be at the Black Gates of Mordor. Sauron will have to answer your challenge - if only to get to the key. We show up at the last minute with several hundred wizards at our back. Piece of cake."

"Wizards?" Aragorn and Giles asked at the same time.

"Of course," Spike said with a smirk, seeing where the plan was heading. "We haul our crew, including the aurors, to Middle Earth and kick some orc ass. They'll never see it comin'."

Elrohir chuckled. "Amaurëa's plan has merit. Sauron would not be able to resist getting control of the key's power."

"But how would Master Frodo get to Mount Doom?" Sam asked.

"Wizards can transport themselves instantaneously by something called apparating. They can carry someone with them. After we're sure Sauron is distracted, someone pops over to Mount Doom, destroys the ring, and pop back," Dawn replied with shrug.

"If it's that easy, why not do that right away?" Legolas asked.

"Because he might have orcs guarding the mountain," Éomer said, catching on. "With the enemy engaged and Sauron's eye watching, they will never know until it is too late."

"Certainty of death. Small chance of success... What are we waiting for?" Gimli asked around his pipe.

Faith laughed. "Let's kick some orc ass."

The meeting lasted a little longer while they fleshed out the smaller details. Before Dawn opened the portal to send the others back, Ron handed Aragorn a handful of chocolate bars.

"Madam Pomfrey believes this will help them get better faster. It's called chocolate."

Aragorn smiled. "I'll make sure they all eat." Seeing the concern written across Ron's face, he placed a comforting hand on the teen's shoulder. "Do not fear, Master Ron. We will return your sister to you. In fact, she is safer than us at the moment."

Dawn made sure she put a lot of energy into the portal so that Sauron was sure to hear and locate her. The hobbits chose to remain at Hogwarts to protect the ring for as long as possible. The dimensional separation had weakened both Sauron and the ring. They reasoned that the weaker the enemy, the easier it would be to defeat him.

As the last of the people went through the portal, Dawn sent out on last push of magic before closing the portal. She dropped Buffy and Draco's hands and looked at the others. "It's Christmas Day, where are my presents?"