Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or the Lord of the Rings.

A/N: I find this all highly ironic that the chapter with Theodred's funeral is being posted on the day of Pope John Paul II's funeral. So I'd like to dedicate this chapter to the pope, Terri Schiavo, and anyone else who's lost a loved one recently.

Chapter 17: Debates and Decisions

After the whole scene with Wormtounge, Théoden noticed that his son was missing from the crowd. Eowyn finally managed to tearfully explain that Theodred had died that morning. Ron was horrified to learn that one of his good friends was dead.

Harry found his best friend sitting by Theodred's bed with his head bowed. He walked over to sit next to him. "It's ok, mate," he said softly.

Ron turned to look at him. Harry had never seen him look this upset before. "You don't understand," he croaked, "That guy was one of the best friends I ever had here. He sometimes reminded me of you Harry, he, Eomer, and Eowyn were like the siblings I never had." Catching the look on Harry's face, he added, "It's ok, they'll never replace you. I just feel like he died after I left, and I could've done something, but I didn't, and now it's too late." He stared sadly at Theodred's body.

"There was nothing you could do," said Harry, "Eowyn told me that he wasn't doing too good anyway. You're not a Healer, so don't blame yourself for what's happened."

"What's this?" asked Gimli, walking into the room. Legolas followed right behind. "Who's being blamed for what?"

"Ron's upset because he wishes he had been here to help Theodred," explained Harry, "I told him it's not his fault."

Gimli's normally tough expression softened, and he walked over to where Ron was sitting.

"I'm sorry lad," he said quietly, "I know how you feel. When we first came to Moria, and I found out my cousin Balin was dead, I was so angry and upset, I felt like I should've done something, and all I could think of was revenge!"

"But you can't do that," added Legolas softly, "Sometimes you need to put your feelings aside and move on. There can be more important things in life."

Ron turned to them, looking furious. "What could possibly be more important then your friend dying?"

"Many people are dying," replied Legolas, "But if we don't stand together and instead choose to mourn the past, the world as we know it is doomed."

"We'll still mourn for him and everything," said Harry, trying desperately to cheer up his friend, "But then we have to focus on other things. I don't think Theodred would want you to be miserable right now."

Ron stood up. He looked down at the body of his friend, sighed, and then turned to face the others. "You're right guys," he muttered, "Thanks."

"Hey we'll always be there for you mate," said Harry. Legolas and Gimli nodded.

At that moment some men dressed in dark robes entered. One of them looked sadly at Ron and said, "I'm sorry my lord, but we need to make the final preparations…" He gestured to Theodred's body, indicating that it was almost time to bury him.

"Yeah ok," said Ron. He stepped aside and stood by the wall, looking everywhere but at the men. When they left so did he.

"Do you think he'll be alright?" asked Harry anxiously.

"He'll be fine; he's only grieving," said Gimli.

"I've never seen him act that way before," insisted Harry.

"If this is his first experience with death, then it'll be hard for him, but he'll be alright in the end," said Legolas.

"Where are Aragorn and Gandalf?"

"They are comforting Théoden," said Legolas simply.

Gimli stuck his head outside the door. "It looks like they are almost ready," he said, "Shall we go?"

"Yeah," said Harry, "I'd better go find Ron."

"Don't put pressure on him," said Gimli warningly.

"I won't."


Hermione watched with some amusement as Gollum launched himself into a nearby stream, trying to catch a fish. He thrashed around in the shallow water, but seemed to be having no luck at all.

"Hey stinker, don't go getting too far ahead!" yelled Sam.

Hermione rolled her eyes and caught up with Gollum. "Just ignore him," she muttered.

"What's that miss?" asked Gollum. He was crouching in the water in a catlike position, hunting for the fish. Suddenly he wailed in despair. "No! You made us lose it! It's gone precious, gone!"

"Sorry Sméagol," replied Hermione, "Here…" She waved her wand and muttered, "Accio!" The fish came shooting out of the water and into her hand. Hermione squealed and dropped the cold slimy thing, and Gollum pounced.

"Thanks miss!" he said, smiling with his prize in his teeth. Hermione smiled weakly back, but in reality she felt like she was going to be sick.

Then Gollum realized what she had done. "You made the fish fly miss!" he squealed excitedly, "How does you do that?"

"I'm a witch Sméagol," she said, "I can do magic!"

"Magic? How? How? Show us more miss!" he said eagerly.

"All right," she said, laughing at the expression of ecstasy on his face. "Well, if we wanted to start a fire, all we'd have to do is this!" She pointed her wand at an old log near the bank of the stream and said, "Incendio!" The log burst into flames.

Gollum clapped his hands with delight. "Show us more! Show us more!"

Sam and Frodo, who were having a heated debate, smelled smoke and turned around. "I guess we might as well stop here for the night," said Frodo, looking at the fire that was well under way and would be perfect to usefor cooking.

"Of course Mr. Frodo," said Sam, eager to patch things up. He hated arguing with his master, but sometimes it had to be done.

The hobbit walked over to where Gollum was begging Hermione to show him more magic. "Hey, don't go bothering Miss Hermione now," he said, glaring at the creature. Gollum hung his head.

"That's quite all right," said Hermione, "I don't mind."

Sam rolled his eyes and shook his head as Hermione continued showing Gollum some various simple spells. On the one hand, he wondered if he should just give in and show some more sympathy for the creature. He was feeling slightly left out of the group because of his hatred for Gollum. On the other hand, he didn't trust him one bit, and wished more and more that Frodo and Hermione would be more cautious.


The funeral for Theodred was one of the hardest things Harry had ever witnessed so far. To him, it was like going through having to face Cedric's friends and family all over again. At least this time there was a small improvement: he didn't see any reason to blame himself for the young man's death. With a jolt he suddenly realized what Ron must be going through.

The kings and royalty of Rohan were buried in grave mounds outside of Edoras. Villagers dressed in black robes lined themselves outside their homes in the streets to watch the funeral procession go by. At the head were men carrying Theodred's body, Ron among them. Right behind them was King Théoden, and then Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and Harry. Behind them were the king's guard, and then the villagers began to follow outside.

By the mound Harry could see Eowyn. She had tears in her eyes, and she had begun to sing a hauntingly beautiful song. Harry could not tell what it meant, but he knew it was in the Rohirric language.

As he watched the body going into the grave, a painful feeling shot through Harry. Everyone I know is dying, he thought, My parents, Cedric, Gandalf (even though he came back), Boromir, all the people Voldemort killed, and now Ron's friend… A wave of panic shot through him. How long was this going to last? How many people were going to keep dying? Who was to say he wouldn't be next? All of the sudden he felt a crazy desire to run as fast as he could away from here; go anywhere; do anything, just to get away from this depressing place.

And then it was over. They slid the stone door shut and everyone returned to their homes, everyone except Théoden and Gandalf, who remained by the tomb. Harry trudged wearily up the path to the palace, weighed down by the heavy feeling of despair.

"Harry?"

Harry turned around. It was Aragorn.

"Are you alright?" he asked his young friend with concern.

"I'm fine," said Harry, turning away.

"No you're not. I want you to stop hiding your feelings and tell me what's wrong. I'm your friend, and I want to help you!"

Harry stopped walking. "Ok," he said, "You win." Then he poured out his feelings, especially what he'd been thinking about during the funeral. The ranger listened sympathetically.

"I know how you're feeling Harry," he said, "I've seen a lot more people die in war then I've ever cared for, and it's always hard to watch. You've been very brave to handle all this at such a young age, and I must say that I'm proud to know you."

Harry tried to smile, but it was difficult. "Everyone acts that way around me," he said, "They treat me like a hero. But I don't deserve it!"

"Don't deserve it?" asked Aragorn, sounding shocked. "Of course you deserve it! Anyone who's faced evil the way you have deserves some honor and recognition!"

"Yeah," said Harry, "But the problem is that whenever I get attention, I don't want it, and then when no one pays attention to me, I miss it!"

Aragorn grinned. "You remind me of myself when I was younger," he said, "It is quite a problem, but trust me, you grow out of it! Either that or you'd die of stress!"

"I'll take the first option," said Harry. They looked at each other, and suddenly burst out laughing; neither one of them could help it.

"Come on," said Aragorn, "We'd better go inside." So they did.


Gollum was arguing with himself again. This was not unusual, for him at least, it was just one of the things that came with having a dual personality. But he always did it when the others were asleep. He didn't want them to hear what he was saying.

Right now the current debate topic was whether to kill the hobbits and Hermione in order to get the Ring, or not. Only this time, it seemed like the Sméagol side was winning for a change.

"Master's my friend," Sméagol was insisting.

"You don't have any friends! Nobody likes you!" said Gollum.

"Yes we does! Miss likes us precious!"

"No she doesn't. She's tricksy. She'll use her magic to hurt you!"

"No she won't. Miss is nice."

"None of them are nice! They lie! They want to steal the Precious from us!"

"Miss never touched the Precious. Miss doesn't want it. Baggins stole it!"

"Then kill the Baggins!"

"No. We swore to serve the Master. Master is nice. And Miss wouldn't like it!"

"Miss is nothing! Miss will trick you, just like the Baggins!"

"No."

"Yes they will you murderer!"

He had gone too far. Sméagol refused to look back on that particular dark spot of his past: killing one of his best friends as they fought over the Ring they'd just discovered. "No! No!" he cried, shaking his head, "Go away! I hate you! I hate you!"

Gollum sneered at him, "Where would you be without me? I saved us. It was me. We survived because of me!"

But the Sméagol side had begun to pull free. "Not anymore," he said, "Master looks after us now. Miss protects us with her magic. We don't need you! Leave now and never come back!"

Gollum snarled, but Sméagol began to get more and more excited, all the while crying out, "Leave now and never come back!"

And then there was silence. Gollum, aka Sméagol, could no longer hear the dark side of him whispering all sorts of evil thoughts and ideas. He was free. Joyfully, he began to dance around, squealing, "Sméagol's free!"


Over in Edoras, a new problem had arisen. Gandalf and Théoden had found two children who had ridden all the way from their burning village to warn the king that wild men were attacking. Eowyn was taking care of them now, while the men held a little war council.

Gandalf felt that Rohan should ride out and fight the armies of Saruman, in order to draw him away from the women and children before they caused anymore damage. But Théoden was not keen on further deaths, and wanted to stay out of it.

Harry lost his temper. "Your son just died fighting Saruman's Uruk-hai, and you want to avoid this! War's inevitable. The sooner you send out armies, the sooner we can end this!"

Théoden glanced at him coldly. "I will not be spoken to like that," he said.

Then you don't know Harry, thought Ron. Out loud he said, "Why don't we find Eomer? He'd be glad to help."

"He will be threehundred leagues from here by now," said Théoden.

"That's ok. I'd be happy to look for him!"

"Thank you for your offer Ron, but it would take too long," said the king.

"Then what is the king's decision?" asked Gandalf. He disagreed with Théoden, but unlike Wormtounge, he believed his role as an advisor should be to do just that: advise. He would not force anyone to do anything they didn't want to do.

"We will go to Helm's Deep," said Théoden.

"What's that?" asked Harry.

"One of the great fortresses of Rohan," said Aragorn.

"It's by the Misty Mountains," said Ron.

"Mountains?" asked Gimli eagerly. He loved that type of atmosphere. Legolas on the other hand, groaned. He preferred the wooded areas of the world.

"Now, now, Legolas," said Ron with a grin, "The mountains are not going to hurt you!" He said this remembering the little episode in Fangorn.

"Shut up Ron," replied Legolas, but he was trying not to smile.

"Get to bed, all of you," said Gandalf, "We shall have a very busy day tomorrow."


Hermione woke up to the sounds of Gollum's laughter and squeals of delight. She opened her eyes in time to see him proudly drop some rabbits on Frodo's lap. He had obviously just hunted them. Despite all her beliefs about Gollum changing from his evil ways, she was startled by him performing this kind act of finding them some breakfast.

But now he was still performing some of his old habits, like eating meat raw. Both Frodo and Hermione tried to hide looks of disgust. But as always, Sam was impatient. "You'll make him sick, you will, behaving like that!" he yelled. Gollum backed away. "There's only one way to eat a brice of Coneys!"

Hermione watched in amusement as Sam took out his cooking pots and got ready to start a fire. "Fine Sam," she murmured, "You teach him cooking and manners, and I'll teach him love and compassion!"

"It's not funny Miss Hermione," he said, "Could you light that for me?"

"Sure," she said, "Incendio!"

Gollum's squeals of amazement at the sight of the magic turned to cries of horror as Sam began to cook the rabbits. "What's it doing?" he cried, "Stupid fat hobbit! It ruins it!"

"Sméagol, what did I tell you?" asked Hermione in a warning voice.

"Sorry, sorry, nice hobbit," said Gollum to Sam. Sam couldn't help feeling slightly touched by his apology. "But what is it doing?" wailed Gollum.

"We're cooking it," said Hermione, "It's not healthy to eat the meat raw, and besides, it tastes really good!"

"We always eat meat raw, miss!" said Gollum disbelievingly, "That's good!"

"You're hopeless," muttered Sam. Then he noticed someone was missing. "Mr. Frodo?" he called out. But there was no answer.


It was the next morning in Edoras, and everyone was bustling around preparing to leave. Hama was walking around, shouting orders. Harry, Ron, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli marched behind Gandalf to the stables. Inside they all went over to their horses to start saddling them up. Gandalf went straight to the back where Shadowfax was kept, and he and Aragorn began discussing the fate of Rohan.

Ron walked over to Telien. "Ready for a long ride?" he asked. Telien nuzzled him in answer.

"He likes you," said Legolas, "Where'd you get him?"

"Eomer gave him to me," replied Ron, "We got along great and he didn't belong to anyone else, so I got to keep him. It was almost like he was meant to be mine."

"I wouldn't be surprised if that were true. After all, Arod and I get along great together too."

"I don't," grumbled Gimli, "I hate that horse. I hate riding!"

"No you don't. You like it but you won't admit it," said Legolas.

"I hate it! It's the most uncomfortable way of traveling imaginable! Who came up with it, that's what I'd like to know!"

"Well, you can't deny that it's faster than walking, although we wizards have much better ways of traveling," said Ron.

"Portkeys and Floo Powder are better? You've got to be kidding me!" said Harry.

"Well they are faster!"

"They make me feel nauseous!"

"What are Portkeys and Floo Powder?" asked Legolas.

"Magical methods of traveling," said Harry, "You throw Floo Powder into a fireplace and then you step into the fire and yell your destination and it takes you there. A Portkey is a magical object that you touch at a specific time and it takes you to a certain location."

Legolas and Gimli were stunned. "You go to places that way?" asked Gimli, "How long does it take?"

"Usually seconds," replied Harry, "Useful, but like I said before, it can be so fast it makes me feel sick!"

"I believe you," said Legolas.

At that moment Gandalf came galloping past on Shadowfax. He raced through the doors and out of sight. "Where's he going?" asked Ron.

"He's on a mission," replied Aragorn.

"Now? When we need him the most? Is he crazy?" asked Ron in disbelief.

"Trust Gandalf," said Aragorn, "He knows what he's doing!"

Meanwhile the other men had come in and were saddling up their own horses. Aragorn watched with interest as they tried to calm one of the darker ones, which was rearing and neighing wildly. The ranger approached him cautiously.

"That's Brego," said Ron, "He's crazy. You'd better keep back and let these guys deal with him."

Aragorn ignored him and started speaking gently in Rohirric to the wild horse. Eventually it began to calm down, and began to nuzzle Aragorn.

Ron watched with amazement. "Wow," he said, "No one but Theodred's been able to do that before!"

"Why? What's wrong with Brego?" asked Harry.

"He's been in too many battles, the last I heard. He's seen too much of war, and I guess he just gets frightened whenever people try to ride him because he thinks they're taking him into battle again."

"He'll have to go into battle if he wants to stay with Aragorn," said Harry, as he watched Eowyn go over and talk to the ranger while Brego stuck close to them.

Eowyn left and Aragorn watched her go. He looked deep in thought. Legolas walked up to him. "It's kind of interesting," he said, "You do realize what Brego's name means?"

Aragorn did not look happy. "Yes," he said, "Don't start this again!"

"Why? What's it mean?" asked Harry.

"Brego was one of the kings of Rohan," said Aragorn.

"Oh…" said Harry, catching on, "And you're the king of Gondor! That's ironic!"

"You are?" asked Ron, "Blimey, why didn't you say so?"

"I don't think I can do it," muttered Aragorn.

"Yes you can! You're a great leader!" said Ron.

"We'll see what happens," said Aragorn. He looked embarrassed.

"Does my horse's name have a meaning?" asked Harry, trying to change the subject.

"Oh yes," said Legolas with a grin, "It's an elvish term. And it's rather ironic for you too!"

"Why?" asked Harry.

"It means "hero"," said Legolas.

Harry blanched. "Oh no," he said, stepping back, "I've had enough save-the-world adventures to last me a lifetime! I am not in the mood to do it again!"

"You're doing it right now by helping us," Legolas pointed out.

"Well, yeah," said Harry, "But that doesn't make it anymore appealing!"

"I hear you mate," said Ron, "I hear you!"


"Mr. Frodo?" Sam continued to call.

"Where could he be?" asked Hermione anxiously.

"Over here!" cried Gollum, waving them over. He and Frodo sat crouched down in the grass, watching an army march past. Hermione and Sam got down to watch.

"Not more Easternlings," muttered Hermione.

"Yes," said Gollum, "The Dark One is gathering all armies to him."

"Look!" cried Sam, "An oliphaunt!"

A giant elephant-like creature was lumbering along with Easternlings riding on its back. It had huge tusks armed with barbs sticking out of it. Frodo and Sam gaped at it with awe. Hermione was amazed too, but unlike the hobbits, she'd seen things closer to that size at home when her parents would take her to the zoo.

"No one at home will believe this," said Sam. Then, out of nowhere, arrows came shooting out to attack the army. The oliphaunt bellowed in pain and began to run around, thrashing wildly.

"We'd better get out of the way," said Hermione, and she turned around to run away. What she ended up doing was smacking into the man behind her. She screamed and tried to run by the man grabbed her and held her tightly.

Sam and Frodo turned around to fight, but Gollum had slunk off a while ago and was nowhere to be seen. The hobbits drew their swords but some other men came and pinned them down.

"Wait," begged Hermione, "We don't want to hurt you! We're friends!"

"Friends?" said a voice doubtfully. A man dressed in green came out to face them. Hermione thought he looked a bit like Robin Hood. "We have no friends that we can trust in these dark times."

"We are bound to an errand of secrecy," said Frodo, as fiercely as possible. "Those who claim to oppose the Enemy would do well not to hinder us!"

In her panic, at first Hermione wondered why they didn't just simply tell these men what they were doing, but then she remembered how secret the Quest was and that they couldn't trust these men. They certainly didn't trust her. Their leader ordered his troops to bind them and bring them to their camp. Hermione was terrified. How would they get themselves out of this mess?

To my reviewers:

Kaladelia Undomiel: I know Sam never fell. I came up with another idea of where to use the elvish cloak trick. The reason I leave some stuff out is mostly because it either does not technically concern the HP crew, or I don't think it will affect Harry in anyway. My main focus is how this will all affect Harry. Now I know how screenwriters feel when they are trying to adapt a book into a movie! I loved that fight too; I wanted them to argue about something, and I figured they're already exactly the same height so I might as well do the old "Who was born first?" argument!

Eclipse: Well, good news! Not only did I update, but Ginny is coming soon! Not sure when, but eventually she'll come!

Darknesscomes: Good. Thank you!

Sauron the Destroyer: And I can't wait to write it! I've already got things like the beginning, Christmas, and the end all planned out! Fun, fun, FUN!

Eleniel of the Stars: Glad you liked it!

Infallallthingsaremadesplendid: Ok, just as long as you do update, I understand, because with school and everything, I'm pretty busy myself. And my computer's being stupid too, so I know how it feels! Sorry, but I'm a big Faramir/Eowyn shipper, as well as a big Ron/Hermione shipper, so I just couldn't write that! On a happier note, I am using your idea of making Ron, Legolas, and Gimli close friends. That'll really start to pick up once we get to Helm's Deep!

LillyandJamesforever: Uh-oh! You sound like some of my friends! Except that they never cut to do important things like write fanfiction! Hehe Anyway, I am, most unfortunately, using movie Faramir (ignores groans from people who hated that change). But I have a VERY good reason: It makes the story more dramatic! Ok, ok, that's not a very good reason, but I think it'll all work out the way I've planned it!

The Golden Snitch: Oh good! I love making people laugh! Unfortunately this chapter was a little sad with the deaths and everything, but there should be some more light-hearted moments coming up!

Tom Riddle Charlie: Yeah he does know the king personally, he's really the inside link to all the important people in Rohan, which is of course very useful for our heroes!

Beautystar: Yeah I know, I did that on purpose with the horse, I'm so evil! She does have a horse, but he was really a red herring! Don't be scared, she's fine! I'm glad you all want me to write a sequel, it makes me feel loved!

Genvessel: I feel like such an idiot. Right after I wrote that I remembered that I did know what FictionAlley was! I'm not a member, but maybe I'll join.

Drusilla: I like their relationship too, that's why I wrote it! I put some more into this chapter as well. Harry definitely needs a father figure in his life, since they keep on dying! (Poor thing.)

Sperirl: I shall continue! I love writing fanfiction!