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

A/N: For those of you who actually read other people's reviews and my responses to them, I changed my mind about Faramir. I was originally going to make him like he is in the movie, but then I realized that although I haven't finished reading the book series personally, I prefer the book Faramir too. On the other hand I had this all planned out with the movie version, and I did not want to have to go back to the drawing board. The result? I compromised, meaning that he starts out movie, then goes to book, then goes to movie, then goes back to book and stays book 'til the Return of the King, where I believe his character is back to canon. (At least, I think like the book. He treats Hermione and the hobbits decently, until we get onto the subject of a certain ring…but I've fixed it all, don't worry. It has to happen this way.) So enjoy what I've written, and hopefully you'll accept it!

Chapter 18: Girl Talk

The ranger-like troops that had found Hermione, Frodo, and Sam had them blindfolded and led them through the woods of Ithilien, where their headquarters was located. Hermione was desperately trying to think up a lie, any excuse; that might convince the men to let them go, without actually telling them about the Quest. So far she hadn't come up with anything plausible. If only she could see her surroundings, she might get a better idea of what type of story they would buy.

Hermione eventually did feel herself walking on a smooth stone floor, and judging from the sounds around her, she thought they were probably in some sort of cave. The rangers sat her down with the hobbits and they awaited their fate. Hermione found herself straining to here a conversation nearby between the leader, whose name was Faramir, and someone else.

"Who are they Faramir?"

"Spies I think. They would not give me their names, or tell me where they were going."

"Do you think they work for the Enemy?"

"They claim to be friends."

"Since when has Gondor had any friends it could trust?"

So, thought Hermione, We're somewhere in Gondor. I wonder where. She guessed they were in the forest of Ithilien, which was near the cities of Osgiliath and Minas Tirith.

"I'm not sure where they are from. I shall speak with them now."

Faramir ordered some men to untie the companions, and he sat in front of them. He had just opened his mouth to say something when a wild shriek echoed throughout the room.

"HERMIONE!"

The next thing Hermione knew, a small, red-headed shape had come dashing forward and pulled her into a bone-crushing hug. "G-Ginny?" she gasped.

"Yes!" cried Ginny happily, "Oh I'm so relieved to see a familiar face at last!"

Faramir was sitting there with his mouth hanging open. "Ginny?" he said in shock, "You know them?"

"Of course I do Faramir!"

"Then why didn't you say something?"

"I didn't recognize her. How could I, you had their faces covered!"

"Oh," said Faramir, "Right."

"Where have you been?" asked Ginny eagerly, "Who are these boys?"

"This is Frodo and Sam," said Hermione, "We've had a lot of adventures, and I found Harry, Fred, and George, but…"

"You found them? Oh that's wonderful, where are they? Have you seen Ron?"

"No," said Hermione, "I haven't." She paused, wondering how to continue. It had suddenly occurred to her that these men were from Gondor, like Boromir. What if they reacted to the Ring the way he had? She had not forgotten the little incidents at Rivendell and Caradhas, and Frodo had told both her and Sam what happened at Amon Hen. It would be best to keep the Quest secret, even now. She could explain everything to Ginny later.

"So," said Faramir, "Will you tell us now where you were headed?"

"Yes," said Ginny, "What have you been doing? Where are the others?"

"Well," said Hermione, choosing her words very carefully, "We were headed for…Rohan."

"Rohan?" said Faramir, raising his eyebrows, "That is not the way to Rohan."

"Yes, well, we started out from Rivendell with ten other companions: Harry, Fred, and George obviously, and then Gandalf the Grey, you've heard of him?"

"I have," said Faramir, "Continue."

"And there was also Frodo's cousins: Merry and Pippin, and Legolas the Elf, and Gimli the Dwarf, and two Men, Aragorn and Boromir."

Both Faramir and Ginny's eyes widened. "Do you know Boromir?" asked Hermione.

"Yes," said Faramir slowly, "He was my brother."

Was! thought Hermione. That didn't sound good. In her mind she was back at Amon Hen, remembering the huge fierce Uruk-hai. Had they…was he…? No! she thought. As if to confirm her fears, Hermione's eyes traveled through the room, until they rested on a barrel not too far away. On it was a horribly familiar object. Boromir's horn…split in half. Oh no! thought Hermione.

Faramir was watching them closely. "You were a friend of his?" he asked.

Frodo was looking uncomfortable, but it wouldn't be a good idea to go into the details of how they had parted. "Yes," he said slowly.

Faramir sighed heavily, and Ginny put a comforting arm on his shoulder. "It will grieve you then, to learn that he is dead," he said.

"Well, yes," said Hermione, hoping that Frodo and Sam would be able to cover up their looks of shock and suddengrief. "That's why we were traveling in your land. We separated from the rest of the group because we want to come to Minas Tirith to deliver the news."

"We're really sorry Mr. Faramir," said Sam, who had recovered nicely.

"What happened?" asked Ginny.

"Uruk-hai," explained Hermione, "We were attacked at our camp along the Anduin."

Faramir nodded. "That explains how I found him in the boat. It floated past on the river."

"Yes, well, we didn't have anyway of properly burying him, so we decided to do that." Hermione was amazing herself with her own cleverness when it came to lying. She had never noticed it before, but it was undoubtedly very useful.

"So…will you stay with us for a little while then?" asked Ginny.

"I guess so, if you don't mind?" replied Hermione.

"Of course we don't," said Faramir, "I'm sorry if we got off on the wrong foot. I just didn't know who you were, and it's dangerous to trust strangers in these times."

"Oh we know," said Hermione.

"Come on," said Ginny excitedly, standing up and pulling at her friend's arm. "I'll show you where you can stay, and you can tell me what else has been happening to you!"

"Thanks Ginny," said Hermione with a smile.

Together all four of them walked through the twisting passageways of the cave. "Where is this place?" asked Hermione, "I've never read about it before!"

"I'd be surprised if you had. This is Henneth Annun, the Window on the West. It's kind of a secret headquarters for Faramir's troops," said Ginny.

"Are you a soldier?" asked Sam in shock.

"No," answered Ginny with a scowl, "Faramir won't let me. He thinks it's too dangerous for me. I told him I can fight, but he won't listen!"

"Did you know Boromir well?" asked Frodo.

"Not really. I met him the day he left for Rivendell. See, when I landed in Middle-Earth, I landed somewhere in Anduin, in some rapids, and I was trying to swim, but the current was too strong, and I got carried over the Falls of Rauros."

Hermione gasped in horror. "Were you alright?"

"Of course I was; I wouldn't be standing here if I wasn't!"

"Well, how did you survive?"

"Well, it kind of knocked me out, but luckily I managed to climb up onto a log before I passed out. When I woke up, I was floating past Osgiliath, a fortress on the river. I swam to shore, but I was so exhausted I passed out again, and that's where Boromir found me. He was on his way to Rivendell, but he saw me and rode back to Osgiliath. I've been living here with Faramir ever since."

"Have you been in Minas Tirith?" asked Hermione.

"Oh yes, and it's beautiful!"

"Who runs the place?" asked Sam, "I thought Aragorn was the king, but I guess someone has to be in charge, right? I heard Boromir mention something about stewards once, but I wasn't sure quite what that meant."

"Oh, Denethor," said Ginny, making a face.

"Who's Denethor?" asked Hermione.

"Boromir and Faramir's father. He's the Steward Sam. The Steward basically takes care of the throne while the king is away. Of course, there hasn't been a real king in centuries, which worries me; because if an heir were to return, I know for a fact that Denethor would not be thrilled about giving up power. He loves his position, and sometimes I think he forgets that he's not the actual king!"

"Well, that's not good," said Hermione, "Aragorn's the real king and it looks like he's coming back!"

"How do you know?" asked Ginny, "I thought you were only going to Rohan. Why are you going to Rohan anyway?"

"Erm, well Ginny, if we could talk in private, I promise I'll explain everything!"

"Ok," said Ginny quizzically, "But why all the secrecy?"

"Trust me, this is important," said Hermione.

"Ok," said Ginny. She led them down another corridor and into a little storage space. They hid behind some barrels. "This had better be good," she said.

"Oh it is," said Hermione. She nodded to Frodo. Together, all three began their long tale…


Harry, Ron, and Aragorn were riding along with the people from Edoras on the long trek to Helm's Deep. They listened to Gimli, riding on Legolas' horse, telling Eowyn all about dwarf women and how they were often mistaken for the men. Eowyn was laughing.

"Does he always talk about stuff like this?" Ron whispered to Harry.

"You have no idea," was the reply.

Suddenly Arod took off for no apparent reason and Gimli fell off. Eowyn raced over to see if he was all right. "That was deliberate, it was deliberate," he was saying.

Harry and Ron burst out laughing. Théoden rode up on his horse, Snowmane, and smiled at the sight of his niece laughing and brushing Gimli off. "I have not seen my niece smile in a long time," he said.

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

"She's had a troubled childhood. She was a girl when they brought her father back dead, cut down by orcs. She watched her mother succumb to grief, then she was left alone, to tend her king in growing fear, doomed to wait upon an old man, who should've loved her as a father," he said, his voice full of regret.

"It wasn't that bad," said Ron, "She had me, and Eomer…and Theodred."

"Yes, but because of that, now all she wants to do is ride off into battle with the men. She never really matured in that sense, and now I don't think she wants to. She's not satisfied with her position as a lady."

"Well, in our world, there are a lot of girls like that," said Ron, "It's not strange; most girls are very independent."

"How can that be?" asked Théoden in confusion. Harry had begun to realize a long time ago that this world had a very old-fashioned view about women. He wondered how Ginny was surviving this, and what Hermione's view was. He'd never asked her, and she hadn't brought the subject up. He supposed that the elves never explained it to her, as that would be a somewhat rude thing to do to a guest.

"I think my mum told me that women like Eowyn got fed up with their position in life and decided to fight back." said Ron.

"They had a war against men?" asked Théoden.

"No, no" said Harry, "By fight he means they protested and stuff. And they won, eventually."

"Interesting," said Aragorn, "I wonder if that'll ever happen here."

"Probably," said Harry, "And you might as well treat them as equals, some of them are very intelligent. Like Hermione, she's brilliant!"

"Oh you don't need to tell me that," said Aragorn, "She's proved it many times!"


Right now Hermione had just finished explaining to Ginny everything about the Ring, the Quest, and what really happened to the Fellowship. When she finished her friend was stunned.

"You mean to tell me that you're going to Mordor?"

"That's the plan anyway," said Frodo, "If we ever find Sméagol, that is."

"And he told you there was another way into Mordor? That can't be! It's just the Black Gate…" Here her voice trailed off and she looked like she was thinking hard.

"What?" asked Sam, "You've heard of this place he's talking about?"

"Maybe…what did he say? Secret stairs, and a tunnel?"

"Yes," said Hermione, "What is it?"

"I think it's called…oh, come on Ginny think…I can't remember, but it was by Minas Morgul."

"Minas Morgul?" gasped Hermione, "Isn't that just as bad as the Black Gate?"

"I dunno," said Ginny, "I guess you have a better chance sneaking past there than at a massive gate…"

"Could you take us there?" asked Frodo hopefully.

"Of course not. I don't know exactly how to get to Minas Morgul, so I'd have to ask Faramir. And he'd never let me go!"

"I think it would be best to keep this all from Faramir," said Hermione, "I'm sorry Ginny; I know he's your friend, but…"

"I know. I understand. For now, you'd better stay here. Maybe Faramir's troops will find this Gollum character you're looking for, and he can show you where this tunnel is."

"That would be great," said Hermione, "Thank you so much for helping us!"

Ginny smiled at her. "What are friends for?"


That night, Harry took a stroll around the camp. He found Aragorn sitting alone, puffing his own pipe and looking deep in thought.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Oh, hello Harry," said Aragorn, "Nothing's wrong, I was just sitting here and thinking."

"About what?"

"Nothing really, just memories."

"Is there something wrong?"

"No!" said Aragorn, a little too forcefully. Harry raised his eyebrows.

"It's ok, you can tell me! I've always told you what was bothering me, even if I didn't want to. So now let's just say we're even."

Aragorn smiled at him, but it was a sad smile. "I don't think you can help me Harry."

"Why? Because I'm too young? I hear that more then I want to Aragorn, and it never stopped me before, so you might as well just spit it out!"

"Spit what out!"

"Oh, it's just an expression. And it means you'd better just get on with it and tell me what's wrong!"

"Fine!" said Aragorn, "It's…Arwen."

Of all the things Harry had expected to hear, this was at the very bottom of his list. "Arwen?" he asked, "Why Arwen?"

"Because…well…because I love her."

"Really?" asked Harry. He felt a little awkward, he always did when the subject came to girls or romance. "Does she love you?"

"Yes," said Aragorn with a pained expression on his face.

"And that's supposed to be a bad thing?" asked Harry, not really following along.

"Yes!" said Aragorn, "She's immortal and I'm not! So we're not allowed to be together!"

"Who says that? You should be allowed to marry whoever you want!"

"But Harry, it doesn't work that way," he replied patiently, "Maybe it's different in your world, but Arwen is supposed to go with the rest of the elves across the Sea to the Undying Lands, or Valinor."

"Is Legolas going too?"

"I think he will, eventually, if we survive, although he told me he wants to stay here for a little while longer. But don't you see Harry? If Arwen goes, she can never come back, and we'll be separated forever. But even if she does choose to stay, eventually I'll die, but she won't, and she'll be all alone in the world! I can't let that happen to her, and neither can her father, Elrond. He convinced me to tell her she should leave."

"Why can't she just leave after you die?"

"Once she chooses a mortal life, she is forsaking her old life and can't go. It's rather complicated, but the fact is that I feel like I ruined her life, because I didn't tell her that Elrond wanted me to talk to her; then she'd never leave. But she was so upset when I told her to go to Valinor, and it made my heart break just looking at her."

"Wow," said Harry, "So she's leaving?"

"I think so."

"That's terrible!" cried Harry, "Who cares if you're not immortal? If Arwen really loves you it won't matter!"

"Harry, how would you feel if you were separated forever from everyone you ever loved and cared about? I don't want Arwen to go through that, even if she can't understand that it will happen!"

"If she really wants to stay, I know from experience that nothing and no one will stop her," said Harry, "I'm not an expert on girls, quite the opposite, but that I do know for a fact."

"Yes, well," muttered Aragorn. He looked uncomfortable and eager to change the subject. "What about you? Do you like any girls?"

"Well…I'm not sure," said Harry, "I remember last year how everyone thought Hermione was my girlfriend, but that was some reporter making things up, it wasn't true."

"What's a reporter?"

"What! Don't you guys have newspapers?"

"No. What's a newspaper?"

"It's kind of like a book I guess. It comes out every week with news about what's happening in the world or the immediate area. They're useful if you want direct information, when you become king you should start one. But anyway, reporters are people who write the news, and this one lady named Rita Skeeter wrote something about me and Hermione, and everyone thought we were dating. It was a big mess, but it got cleared up in the end."

"I'm glad," said Aragorn, "But are you actually in love with anyone?"

"Well, Ginny's loved me for a couple of years now, but I think she gave up. It's a bit of a relief if you ask me, she used to turn red every time I went near her and never seemed to know how to talk to me."

"Do you love her?"

"Not really. She's nice and everything, but she's Ron's little sister, so it'd be too weird!"

"It doesn't sound weird to me. After all, Elrond sort of adopted me when I was young, so I guess Arwen would technically be a bit like a sister."

"Now that IS weird!" said Harry. Aragorn laughed. "But, well, I guess you could say I like this one girl, her name is Cho, except I never seem to do anything right when I'm with her, and we got into a big fight, and now she's not speaking to me."

"That doesn't sound like the right girl for you."

"You think? But she's really pretty…I just don't like how she always brings up her dead boyfriend, Cedric, and then starts crying…it make me feel uncomfortable."

"Then she's not the right person for you. If Arwen was ever crying all I'd want to do is comfort her. Besides, if Cedric was her boyfriend, and is this the same Cedric you said you saw die?"

"Yeah."

"Then I don't think she's ready to start seeing other boys, if she really wants to start seeing them again. Try looking for someone else."

"All right, but it won't be easy!"


Ginny walked back to the main area of Henneth Annun, where most of the men were bustling about. She didn't really notice them; she was too deep in thought. She saw Faramir clutching his brother's horn, and was cast back into memories…
Flashback

"Hermione! Wait!" cried Ginny. She dashed into the golden haze, only to find herself hurled about in a whirl of color. Finally it stopped, and she realized she was falling through the sky. She looked down and saw nothing but water. Screaming, she plummeted until she hit Anduin.

The impact was enough to knock the wind out of her temporarily. Then she began to realize she was underwater, and started trying to swim to the surface. Gasping for air, Ginny felt the current pulling her along, to an edge where it dropped into what must be a waterfall. Horrified, the girl started trying to swim to shore, but the current was too strong. With a scream, she was dragged over the waterfall, where she hit a rock and toppled into the water below.

Somehow, someway, Ginny managed to climb up onto a floating log, before everything went black and she knew no more. When she finally did wake up, it was late afternoon, and the log was floating past some great stone buildings. Shaking herself, Ginny got off the log and began heading for the beach on the other side, hoping to fins someone in those buildings who would help her. But she hadn't eaten in a long time, and that bump on the head from the rock had not received any medical attention, so she was exhausted. When she finally did drag herself to the beach, she fell asleep on the sand at once.

Ginny finally became aware of the fact that she was being carried, and that some men were talking above her, but she couldn't make sense of much else.

"Who is she Boromir?"

"I don't know. I found her just outside Osgiliath. She was soaking wet and it looks like she hasn't had a decent meal in days."

"Where does she come from, do you wonder?"

"I have no idea."

Ginny groaned and stirred. When she opened her eyes, she found two men with shoulder-length brown hair staring down at her. "I'm…Ginny," she croaked.

"Hello Ginny, I'm…"

"Boromir!" yelled an irritated voice. Ginny turned her head slightly to see an angry looking man with long grey hair come marching up. "What are you still doing here? I thought I sent you to Rivendell!"

"Yes Father, I was on my way, but…"

"Who is this?" asked the old man, staring at Ginny.

"Some girl I found by the bank of Anduin."

"Well, Faramir can take care of her. You need to go straight to Rivendell!"

"Yes Father," said Boromir, with an air of annoyance that his father didn't catch.

"Good." The man walked away.

"Sorry about this, little brother," said Boromir to the other man, who must be Faramir.

Faramir shrugged. "It's no problem."

"I'm…sorry," said Ginny, "I'll…go…now."

"Nonsense, you look too worn out to go anywhere for the time being! You'd better look after her Faramir."

"I will. Goodbye."

Boromir nodded, got on his horse, and galloped away.

"Come on," said Faramir, turning to Ginny, "Let's get you something to eat…"

End of Flashback


Although she hadn't known Boromir very well, Ginny still felt like he'd saved her life, in a way. And now he was dead. Faramir was all alone in the world. Just like Harry, she thought, making a mental note to keep Faramir company as much as possible. He would certainly need a friend now more than ever.
Far away in Fangorn, Treebeard was still leading the four boys to the Entmoot. They were getting very bored, until Pippin spotted smoke.

"Reckon something's wrong?" asked Fred.

"No," said Treebeard, "There is always smoke rising from Isengard these days."

"Isengard?" they chorused. The boys started climbing the branches, craning to see if they could catch a glimpse of the infamous place, while Treebeard told them how Saruman used to be his friend, until he decided to start experimenting with things like machinery that is.

"So he wasn't always evil?" asked George.

"Evil?" asked Treebeard, "No, no, of course not!"

"But he is now," said Fred, "And we have to stop him!"

"Don't be hasty!" said Treebeard, "We will decide whether to interfere with Saruman's doings or not, when we arrive at the Entmoot."

"If we ever do arrive," muttered Fred. Fortunately, Treebeard didn't hear him.

Merry had another worry. "Look at that," he said, pointing out at a black mass leaving Isengard.

"What is it?" asked George, straining to see.

"It's Saruman's army," said Merry, fear evident in his voice, "The war's started."

"Uh-oh," said Fred, "That can't be good."

A/N: And there you have it! We found everybody! YAY! Now I'm looking forward to getting to the Return of the King! I am SO sorry for not updating; I meant to do it Tuesday, but the computer and Internet were being stupid on me (I'm sure we've all been through that at least once, and if you haven't, I envy you!) Again, my apologies. I'm working on Ch. 19 right now, so I'll try and update faster next time!

To my favorite people on Fanfiction Net: (aka my reviewers!)

Genvessel: Yeah, I think I'd better do something with Hermione and Frodo, she DID choose to go with him after all. But I do love the relationship between Aragorn and Harry too! (Wait 'til we get to the part with the warg battle!) ;)

Kaladelia Undomiel: Look, I said this at the beginning of the first chapter: This fic is based on the movie! I haven't finished reading the books so that's why I do it this way. Aragorn will fall, and Frodo and Sam will split. Though I must say at first I wasn't sure what to do there, because I had no idea where Hermione would fit in to that event. On the one hand, she trusts Gollum, but on the other hand, she's a very loyal person and very smart. She could never be tricked into thinking Sam was bad. So I was stuck. But then I came up with something I'm satisfied with. I hope you are satisfied with it too!

Darknesscomes: Good! Is this chapter ok?

Eclipse: That's ok! To me, what you guys think is very important! That's why I love getting reviews; I want to know what you think! I thought it was elvish too, but someone told me otherwise, I'll double-check though. I wasn't too sure about the Legolas bit either. My one defense is that he's been around these guys for so long, he's bound to have picked the words up, and it may've just slipped out. It could happen I'm sure. I LOVE GINNY TOO! YAY!

Eleniel of the Stars: Thank you, I liked that chapter too! I'm glad you liked the way I made Harry and Ron, I try my hardest to make all the characters right.

Melamb: You were half right. She has been to Minas Tirith before, and in a sense that's important, because like Ron, she's pretty much got the inside scoop on the place.

Pippin Took: You're not bothering me! Review as much as you want, it makes me so happy! I don't have AIM or Yahoo or anything, people keep telling me I should get it, but I never do! If you want to find more HP/LotR crossovers, there's a C2 community on here that has two others on here besides mine. Or if you check my Bio, most of my favorite stories tend to be crossovers. There are some really good ones on here! Glad you liked this one!

Drusilla: Think of Frodo as the parent and Hermione as the older sibling. Frodo is still Gollum's Master, Hermione is his friend who kinda watches out for him and keeps Sam from bullying him too much.

Suuki-Aldrea: Lol, OMG I never thought of that song! I'm definitely going to have to put that one in there somewhere! Where, I have no idea, but I'll try to find a way!

XyBulmaXy: Thanks a lot! Keep reviewing, I really appreciate it!

Ryuichi Sakuma 7: OMG! Someone is asking me for writing tips! (faints in shock and joy) So…where was I? Oh yeah, I think the best advice I could possibly come up with is write about what you love the most, because you'll know more about that than anything else (i.e. If you like romance, write that, or if you like mysteries, write one of those!). I tend to brainstorm on my computer a lot too, that really helps. I'll keep writing as fast as I possibly can!

BGTom: Sort of. She may go back there again, you'll have to wait and see.

Catwraith: I actually had no idea what Henneth Annun was until I looked it up, and then I was like, "Oh yeah, she is there!" I think Ron will go with Aragorn, only because Harry is going to go of course, and Ron would never leave Harry. Except that he's also a sort of lieutenant under Eomer, so he may just go to Pelennor. Which ever works better.

Ancalagon: Thank you! I've done that sometimes, where I find a good fic and I stay up all night reading it! Such fun! I'm glad you like it!

Infallallthingsaremadesplendid: Yeah I read it, but I think I forgot to review. If I did, let me tell you it was amazing! So here's Ginny! What did you think?

Azraeos: OMG! You're the person who's writing "The Black Wizard"! I love your story too! You know, I've started to notice that a lot of the same people review for these HP/LotR stories, it's like we're all one big community or something…Anyway, I'm so happy you liked it!