Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or the Lord of the Rings.
A/N: After this, I think we only have four more chapters of TTT! OMG! The end is in sight!
Very important note: Look, I really, really, appreciate it when you all give me suggestions on how to improve my story and overall writing. But before you give me any more, I just need to explain something to you: This fic is based on the Lord of the Rings movies because I have not read the books! I read The Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Ring, and bits and pieces of The Two Towers and The Return of the King. So while I know little things like Shelob isn't in RotK, and Eowyn calls herself Dernhelm in battle, and that Elrond has twin sons, I don't have enough to go on for a fic. I could never go into detail, and I'd really mess up. Occasionally if I remember something from the series that I like, I may throw it in, but for the most part it's movie version. I'm sorry if some of you don't like that, but that's the way it has to be. But many thanks for all of your suggestions, I do appreciate them!
Chapter 20: Many Arrivals
As he fell, Harry had many thoughts racing through his head. I'm going to die. This is it. I'm never going back to Hogwarts. How are the others ever going to explain this to Dumbledore? Who's going to teach the DA? Who's going to stop Voldemort? WHO'S GOING TO PLAY SEEKER FOR GRYFFINDOR! Oh yeah, I got a life-long ban…
CRASH.
Neither Legolas nor Gimli nor Ron had ever felt this miserable. Though they tried not to show it, it was clear that all three of them were in a state of deep distress.
Finally, Ron managed to control the tears silently flowing down his face, and said, "So what do we do now?"
"What do you mean?" asked Legolas.
"I mean, what are we going to do? Gandalf's gone, and Aragorn was supposed to lead us, but now he's dead, so what do we do?"
"I guess…well…I don't know," said Legolas softly.
"Follow the king I would think," said Gimli gruffly.
"Yes, but then what?" Legolas groaned, "This is all wrong! We should've stayed with Frodo! That's what we were supposed to do in the first place!"
"If you had, you'd never have found me," Ron pointed out.
"Maybe we weren't supposed to meet you! If we hadn't gone to Rohan, Aragorn and Harry wouldn't have died!"
"Oh, so now this is all my fault?" asked Ron, voice steadily rising, "What about my brothers, and those two hobbits, Merry and Pippin? Didn't you need to find them? And what about Gandalf? You wouldn't have known that he was alive!"
"No Ron, that's not what he meant at all!" said Gimli, "He's just very upset, you both are, can't you understand that? I am too! But that's no excuse to start fighting with one another! Aragorn and Harry wouldn't want you to!"
"I doubt it," said Ron with a slight grin, "Harry was always losing his temper."
"Aragorn did too, sometimes," said Legolas, who was also smiling reminiscently, "You should've heard him after the Council of Elrond, where I told everyone that Aragorn was the lost king of Gondor. He was pretty mad!"
"I can't picture Aragorn losing it, with you of all people!" said Ron.
"Haven't you and Harry ever gotten into a fight Ron?" asked Legolas.
"Oh yeah, once, in fourth year. But we made up, it was ok." Ron was looking sad again. "I wish I hadn't given him such a hard time back then."
"That's alright lad, he knew you didn't really mean it," said Gimli, "He used to talk about you and Ginny a lot before we came to Rohan."
"Ginny!" groaned Ron, "How am I ever going to explain this to her! And Hermione? They'll be crushed!"
"They'll be fine, I'm sure," said Legolas, trying to sound as comforting as possible.
"I can't see how, even I'm not so fine right now!" said Ron, "All my friends are dying on me! Theodred, Aragorn, and Harry! And I guess you really can't count Gandalf, since I didn't see him die, and he's alive now."
"No," said Legolas, "You really can't."
"Where IS Gandalf?" cried Gimli, "We could really use him right now!"
"I dunno, he probably went to get help," said Ron, "I say that from now on we stick together, because we're never going to survive this on our own!"
"I agree with that," said Gimli, "But I really hope Gandalf gets here soon!"
Approximately two hours later, Ginny returned to find Faramir and Hermione still engrossed in their conversation. It had gone from elves to other creatures in Middle-Earth to creatures in Hermione's world to magic and eventually a comparison of both worlds. She could see that both of them were thoroughly enjoying the fact that they finally met someone who loved books as much as they did.
Then one of the soldiers came up and whispered something to Faramir. His face was expressionless, but when he turned to Hermione his voice was suddenly deadly serious. "Is there something that you and your friends have not told me?" he asked.
Hermione was trembling. She didn't like his tone. "W-what do you mean?" she asked.
"Was there another with you when you were traveling?"
"Oh!" cried Ginny, and came running forward, "I'm sorry Faramir, I completely forgot to tell you! Hermione told me that they were looking for someone named Gollum, they met him on their way here."
"We found him," said Faramir, "In the Forbidden Pool."
Ginny's face fell. "Uh-oh," she said.
"What's that?" asked Hermione worriedly. Faramir didn't answer. He got up and walked to the room where Frodo and Sam were sleeping. Hermione looked fearfully at Ginny whose expression was one of dread. "Ginny, what's the Forbidden Pool?"
"It's the pool at the base of the waterfall. Anyone who enters it gets punished…by death!"
"What!" cried Hermione, "Oh no! I have to save him!" She started to get up, but Ginny held her down.
"Leave it Hermione," she said grimly.
"Leave it! Sméagol's my friend, I can't let them kill him!"
"I said…leave it!"
"But…"
"Faramir will take care of it. Just leave it! If you interfere you'll only get into more trouble!"
At that moment Faramir came out with Frodo. They both headed outside.
"What's going to happen?" asked Hermione fearfully.
"I'm not sure, let's find Sam," said Ginny.
The first thing Aragorn saw when he opened his eyes was Arwen. Or so he thought. It was actually Brego. The horse dropped down by his side and patiently waited until he could climb on.
Where am I? thought Aragorn, What happened? Why does everything hurt so much? Then he remembered; the battle, the wargs, falling off the cliff with Harry…Harry. Where was he? Was he alive? The mere thought gave Aragorn the strength he needed to mount Brego. Looking around, he was surprised to see Thalion not far away, picking his way through the reeds, obviously looking for his owner. Aragorn patted Brego. "Come on," he muttered, "Let's go find him." They set off along the beach.
"So then, if you'll believe it, Harry just swooped down and caught the Snitch! Can you believe that? And the game only lasted five seconds!" Ron was telling Legolas and Gimli about Harry's finer moments in Quidditch.
"I believe it," said Legolas, "But I'm not sure if I understand Quidditch too much."
"What is there not to understand? Seven players, four balls, two knock the other team off their brooms, one you use to score points, and the other you catch to win the game!"
"Yes, but how do you get the balls to do all that?"
"Magic."
"It sounds pretty dangerous," said Legolas.
"Like you guys have never done anything dangerous before," said Ron with a smirk.
"That's true," said Gimli, "But flying up in the air! You could fall!"
"Harry did once, but he lived. And then there was the time that our teacher jinxed his broom, so it would knock him off and kill him, but that was because he was working for You-Know-Who of course."
"I don't know who," said Gimli.
"Didn't Harry tell you about…" Ron gulped, "Voldemort?" He winced slightly.
"Oh yes, him," said Gimli, "What's the matter?"
"I don't like saying his name if I can help it. Nobody does. We're all still scared of him."
"So you won't say his name? That doesn't make any sense," said Legolas with a frown.
"I dunno why we do it, I'm just used to it by now."
"You should try saying his name more often," suggested Legolas, "It might help you."
"Nah. I'll leave that to Hermione."
"Look!" cried Gimli, pointing ahead, "Helm's Deep!"
It was an impressive sight. The entire fortress was made out of stone, built right into the Misty Mountains. The only way to get in was through a massive wooden gate by a bridge. The rest was all solid wall, except for a small drain where water came through.
"Wow," said Ron, completely awestruck, "I've never been here before!"
"Never? But I thought you were a Rohirric soldier!" said Legolas.
"Well yeah, but I rode through the plains mostly, I never had to go here!"
By now they had ridden up the bridge. Gimli was staring around at the area with approval. "Good stone-work," he was muttering, "Should withstand an invasion, if it were to come."
"You don't think we will be attacked, do you?" asked Ron.
"Saruman will not leave us alone just because we are in the mountains," replied Legolas.
"Are we there yet?" asked Fred, but he knew the answer already. He'd been asking for two days, and the answer was always the same: no.
"Yes of course," said Treebeard, "See?"
Fred's mouth dropped open in shock, to the amusement of his friends. They were indeed in a small clearing, with a stone sticking out in the middle as a center piece. Nearby the woods appeared to be moving. In fact it was filled with Ents representing all different types of trees. They were obviously here for the meeting.
"Beech, oak, chestnut, ash, good, good," said Treebeard, "Many have come."
"I'll say," said George. He looked over at Merry, who looked thrilled with the results. If these creatures went up against Saruman's armies, the old wizard wouldn't stand a chance.
"Now we must decide if the Ents will go to war," said Treebeard.
"And what should we do?" asked Fred.
"You can all stay down on the ground," said Treebeard, "Do whatever you feel like, but don't wander too far. You wouldn't understand the Entmoot anyway, we speak only Old Entish."
So he lowered them on the ground, and the Fearsome Foursome sat down to what they would soon realize would be a very long wait.
Hermione was waiting too, but far more anxiously. Sam had told her and Ginny that Faramir had ordered Frodo to come with him immediately, but had not explained why. When they told him about Gollum, he shook his head. "I always knew he'd lead us to no good, and now look! He's gonna make Captain Faramir very suspicious of us."
"He was suspicious enough," said Ginny with a sigh, "He's always been that way. He has to be, he's so afraid he can't do anything right."
Eventually Frodo walked in. He looked very grave. "Are you all right Mr. Frodo!" asked Sam.
"Fine Sam," he said. "Sméagol isn't, I'm afraid."
"Why? What happened?" cried Hermione.
"They didn't kill him, I asked Faramir if I could go down and speak with him. But when I tried to help him escape, the rangers jumped out and captured him. They were very rough on him. I'm afraid Sméagol thinks I tricked him."
"Uh oh," said Ginny, "That's not good."
"Wh…" Hermione was interrupted by loud squeals. "Sméagol," she muttered, and ran out of the room.
"Oh no," groaned Ginny, "Hermione, wait!" She quickly followed her friend out.
Harry was alive, but badly injured by the looks of it. Aragorn dropped to his knees and was relieved to feel a steady pulse. "Harry," he called, as calmly as possible, "Harry, can you hear me?"
Harry groaned, but didn't answer. "Harry, wake up," said Aragorn, this time more urgently.
Harry's eyes fluttered open. "Ara…gorn?" he croaked, "Are we dead?"
"No," he replied, with a slight smile, "Somehow, we're alive. Come on, let's see if we can get to Helm's Deep."
"Where is everybody?"
"I don't know, but I would assume they are all at the fortress by now."
"They didn't come looking for us?" asked Harry, slightly angry, "Don't they even care?"
"First of all Harry, they may have been killed in battle for all we know. Second, if they are alive, they probably think we're dead. Third, they don't have time to look for us, if Saruman's armies are attacking!"
Harry sighed and closed his eyes. "Harry?" Aragorn called worriedly.
"I'm ok. Just really tired. Aragorn?"
"Yes?"
"Can you promise me something?"
"What?"
Harry smiled. "Could we try to cut down on the near-death experiences here? I'm not sure how long I can keep surviving them."
Aragorn laughed. "I don't know," he said, "This war isn't over yet."
At Helm's Deep, everyone was deeply saddened about the news of Aragorn and Harry's fate, but no one seemed to be taking it harder than Eowyn. She turned pale when she heard and her eyes filled with tears. Ron was doing his best to comfort her. He wasn't doing a very good job.
"It's ok, we're all going to miss them," he said, as gently as possible. "I don't understand why you're so sad though, because you didn't really know them that well."
Eowyn gave him a cold, yet sad stare. "Aragorn was a great leader of men," she said slowly, "He gave us all hope by helping bring my uncle back. It's hard to believe he's gone."
"You know," said Ron, "If I didn't know better, I'd say you fancied him or something."
This was the wrong thing to say. Not only did Eowyn grow, if possible, even paler, but she sounded slightly angry. "I did not," she said, before stalking away.
"What… ah come on Eowyn, come back, I was only joking," called Ron, "I know you don't really like him, I was just joking, I was trying to make you feel better."
"Ah…I don't believe it worked Ron," said Legolas, trying to hide the smile creeping over his face.
"What in the name of Merlin did I say!" asked Ron, throwing up his hands in frustration.
"I don't think you're supposed to ask a girl whether they love someone or not," replied Legolas, "I think they consider that their sacred territory."
"I'll never understand girls with their mad ways!" said Ron with a groan.
"Neither will I," said Gimli.
Heart pounding, Hermione raced through the different passageways, until she found herself in the main chamber by the Window. Gollum had been thrown against a wall, and was now snarling at Faramir and his troops in an angry, animal-like way.
Faramir now took a step towards Gollum, who howled and retreated as far back as possible. Hermione all but lost it. "FARAMIR!" she screamed, grabbing onto his arm and pulling him back. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? LEAVE HIM ALONE!"
But Faramir had a dangerous look in his eyes. "Would you like to go fetch your friends, and then you can tell me the real story about where you're headed?"
Hermione turned, horrified, to Gollum. "Sméagol," she said slowly, "What did you tell them?"
But Gollum seemed to be beyond reasoning. "We wants it, we wants it," he howled, pointing an accusing finger at Hermione, "They stole it from us!"
Hermione turned to Faramir. "I…" she gulped and tried again, "I don't…"
But Faramir also appeared to be beyond reasoning. He turned to walk away and bumped into Ginny. "I'm sorry!" she gasped, "I tried to explain to Hermione about the Forbidden Pool and everything, but she's really attached to Gollum here, you'll have to forgive her if she got out of control…"
Faramir stared at her. "Did they ever mention anything to you about a ring?"
Inwardly, Ginny groaned. She realized that Gollum must've told him about their real mission. But on the outside, she managed to keep her expression blank and say, "No. Why?"
Faramir didn't answer her, but merely stepped around her and headed off to find Frodo and Sam. Ginny turned to Hermione. "Now you're in for it," she said.
"I don't understand," said Hermione, "Why is the Ring so important to him?"
"I don't know," said Ginny, "But we're going to find out." They quickly exited the hall and followed Faramir as fast as they could.
About an hour later, Harry felt a bit better, but he still needed rest and medical attention, and the occasional jolting of his horse was not helping. Aragorn wasn't much better off; he let Brego do the job of finding Helm's Deep.
Then he heard something in the distance. It sounded like an army marching. Harry had heard it too, and looked up. "Aragorn," he said quietly, "What is that?"
Aragorn squinted and instantly blanched. "That's an army of Uruk-hai," he whispered, "It looks like ten thousand at least!"
"At the rate they're going, it looks like they're headed to Helm's Deep!" said Harry.
"We have to warn the others," said Aragorn, nudging Brego forward, "Come on, before they see us." They both galloped away at top speed.
Ginny and Hermione arrived just in time to see that Faramir had discovered the Ring. For once, Hermione wasn't entirely sure what to do. When she'd first heard about Sméagol, she'd pretty much acted on instinct. Now that she was coming to her senses, she felt utterly confused. She knew Faramir wasn't evil, she just knew it. And she also knew that under normal circumstances he would never take the Ring like his brother, for the simple reason that he just wasn't interested in power. But something was different here. She wasn't sure what it was, but something was definitely wrong.
Ginny was more worried about Frodo. Faramir had reached out his sword and was fingering the Ring with it around the hobbit's neck. What disturbed Ginny the most was the way he reacted to it. Frodo seemed to go slack and his eyes grew unfocused. His whole face was oddly pale, and he didn't seem aware of himself. And somehow, Ginny understood those symptoms. She had experienced them a few times before, when she was only eleven…
"Faramir," she said slowly, "Stop. Now."
Faramir didn't even seem to register the fact that anyone else was in the room. His eyes were fixed on the Ring.
"Faramir," she said, this time more urgently, "Please stop." She tugged at his arm, but he shook it off. But Ginny was persistent. "Stop!" she cried, and yanked him back. Frodo instantly relaxed, and Sam ran over to comfort him.
Faramir was staring at Ginny in surprise. "What is it?" he asked.
The girl was now as pale as Frodo had been, and she looked almost angry. "Don't ever do that again," she said in a firm voice that startled even Hermione.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"What's wrong? What's wrong! That thing is dangerous! Couldn't you see the effect it was having on Frodo? He's gotta get rid of it! We have to help him!"
Sam nodded. "That's where we're going," he said, "Into Mordor. To the Mountain of Fire!"
"We really need help," said Hermione.
Faramir may've reconsidered, had it not been for the emergency that was suddenly made known. One of the guards came up to report that Osgiliath was under attack. It left the young captain with minimal options. He told the officer to get ready to leave, then turned to the others. "The Ring will go to Gondor," he said, and he left. As soon as he did, Ginny let out a stream of very colorful language.
"I don't believe him!" cried Hermione, "What is his problem!"
Ginny sighed. "I guess in the long run, you really can't blame him. He's got his army to look out for, his father's expectations are sky-high and continually mounting, and I don't think he really understands what that ring can do. He thinks that if he uses this to save his country, everything he ever wanted in life will come true."
Frodo was breathing heavily. That last Ring attack was clearly still getting to him. "Are you ok Frodo?" asked Ginny with concern.
"Yes," he replied, "Thank you."
"It's fine, I understand," she said with a smile. "I'd better see what the other soldiers are up too." She headed for the door, then turned back. "Sorry about Faramir you guys, he isn't usually like this."
"I know," said Hermione, "I could tell. What about Sméagol?"
"He'll be fine, they won't hurt him. And if they do, I'll see if I can't fix it."
Ron and Gimli were walking along the walls, gazing around at the magnificent fortress. As Ron turned and looked out into the distance, he thought he saw two blurs coming closer and closer. "What d'you reckon that is?" he asked Gimli.
"I'm not sure," he replied, "Where's that elf when you need him!"
They waited, and soon Ron could see it was two riders approaching Helm's Deep at top speed. After a minute or so, however, he was positive he was hallucinating.
"Oh Merlin," he croaked, "It can't be!"
Gimli looked over the wall and gasped. Sure enough, Harry and Aragorn were alive.
Cries came up along the walls, "Open the gates! Open the gates!" The pair rode in and dismounted, wincing slightly as they did so.
"Wow," muttered Harry, "We made it!"
Both of them could hear two very familiar voices yelling, "Where are they? Where are they? Get out of the way; I'm gonna kill 'em!" and, "Hey people move over, come on, that's my best friend over there, move!" Harry watched with some amusement as a couple of people went flying. A spilt second later he was tackled in a hug.
"Ron…get…off…I…think I….broke a couple of….ribs…"
"Oh is that all?" asked Ron sarcastically, "Stop doing this kind of stuff to me! What is this, the millionth time I thought you were dead?"
"Actually, I think it's the fifth."
"Whatever. How did you survive?"
"I'll tell you in a minute, we've got a bigger problem on our hands!"
"You need to see the king?" asked Gimli. Surprised, Harry nodded. Gimli shrugged. "That way," he said, pointing at Aragorn, who was already disappearing into the crowd.
"Why? What's the matter?" asked Ron.
"I'll tell you after we talk to Théoden," replied Harry.
A/N: To my reviewers:
Catwraith: Thank you! I'll see if I can post sooner!
Lisa Riddle: Well, actually, what I meant by the Legolas pairing was that a couple of chapters ago I asked if you guys wanted me to write a sequel where the Fellowship comes to Hogwarts. The answer was yes, so I figured I'd do a Legolas pairing there. I can't do it in this story because Hermione is with Frodo and Ginny is in Gondor and all the other female characters are at Hogwarts. But I'd definitely like to try my hand at romance, only as a subplot, I don't trust myself with a whole story! As for the fall, I forgot about the Neville thing, but don't forget that when Harry fell off his broom in third year he didn't bounce. Silly Ron, not to think of that kind of thing! All I can say is that I've noticed when people are in a state of shock, panic, grief, or all of the above, they don't tend to think straight. (I certainly don't!) ;)
Kaladelia Undomiel: Yup, I'm lengthening my chaps! Once school is done for the summer, I'll be able to devote my time to more writing! I agree with you about high school feeling stressful, sometimes I really wish it could end! I would much rather go to Hogwarts! (sigh) I'll try to bring up the Fearsome Foursome more often, and I think I might be able to bring Arwen back in before the end of the Return of the King. It'll be a bit tricky though, considering it doesn't really affect the HP characters. Hermione was a bit involved though…Anyway, so sorry about Faramir, but I also really want Ginny to see Frodo getting all possessed and stuff, and I really need to do it movie way because I haven't finished reading that particular bit of Two Towers, and would never get it right.
Eclipse: If the literate will inherit the earth, then that's great news for me, as I am a bookworm myself! (I was kinda poking fun at myself there!) hehe Poor Ron, at least he has Legolas and Gimli to look after him now (And no one messes with the Dynamic Duo, as I sometimes like to call them!)
Eleniel of the Stars: Thank you! I hope you were ok about Faramir in this chapter (going between book and movie personality is a little stressful at times!)
Infallallthingsaremadesplendid: Yeah, Luna would love it there! I have an idea about her, I wish I'd put her in here, grr! I'm so stupid! Oh well. Glad you liked it!
SalanTrong: Yay! You reviewed again! And by doing this, you made a certain author very happy!
Beautystar: It's funny you should say that, because as a matter of fact: I HATE THE YANKEES! OMG I did not know there was a player on the team named Arod, that actually really is the horse's name. It's ok, I actually found that funny, considering I'm a big Mets fan and can't stand the Yankees! Weird stuff…
Lialesca: Bea! YAY! Glad to have some support from family and friends! It's interesting, 'cause I hardly show my work to family and friends, I figure when I'm online, I'm anonymous, so it doesn't really matter if no one likes my writing! I'm happy you like it though!
Brandy Lebeau: Hey fellow writer! I would read your story, but there's one small problem: I know next to nothing about X-Men! I know, it's a tragedy in some ways, but all I know is that the people are mutants. That's it. I'll try and post as fast as I can!
Darknesscomes: Thank you!
Genvessel: Congratulations on graduating! That is an excellent excuse for getting behind with fanfics; I hope you had an amazing day! Shelob's lair…groans…I hate that part too, but I'm going to try to make it all very emotional as we get to that part. I hope it all turns out well!
Mischievous Puck: Let's say this should be the last "high-strung" Hermione chapter. I'm sorry if you found her annoying, but as she starts to see the true evil of the Ring, its effect on Faramir and Frodo, etc., she should start to get to be less of a know-it-all. I'll try. I'm glad you like the others though! I honestly don't think I could include Elladan and Elohir, because I really don't know that much about them, except what I read in fanfics, and I really prefer going by movie or canon, to tell you the truth.
