Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or the Lord of the Rings.
A/N: I got my laptop! YAY! It's the best thing ever! Now I can write a lot in my room whenever I want!
Chapter 29: Osgiliath Overrun
Middle Earth had, in some ways, toughened Ginny. She wouldn't have normally grabbed the helmet of the dead sentry, her former comrade, in order to protect her own head. She might not have taken his weapons either. All Faramir had given her when she first arrived in Gondor was a small dagger, "just in case". He would never dream of letting her participate in real battles.
But Ginny wasn't like most girls. She couldn't stand to see others go into battle and leave her behind "in safety". So that's why she took her dead comrade's helmet, sword, and spear and prepared to go back to the river with the rest of the men.
Faramir wasn't paying attention to the soldiers. He was too busy arranging them to attack the enemy. So he never noticed a stowaway in the group. It didn't matter anyway. He could hardly yell at her now, it would give away their position.
Ginny positioned herself with her back to the wall, listening and waiting, her sword drawn. Then she heard splashing noises and the sounds of orcs drawing their swords and stepping onto ground. She and the others waited until the army was well on their way in before lunging out suddenly and attacking.
It was harder than she had anticipated. The orcs were brutal. But at the same time, any orc that assumed women were no good in battle quickly realized how mistaken they had been. Soon none of them seemed to want to go near the fiery girl. She was a natural with a sword, weaving in and out among the orcs, slicing at them and always dodging what would have been fatal blows quite easily. She had definitely inherited the twins' talent.
Hermione was very worried. She had distinctly heard Sam ask Gollum what exactly was in the tunnel they were headed for and then threatening him. The tension between the two of them was thick, and bound to break soon. But that wasn't the worst of it.
Hermione had been struggling to climb the stairs, when she looked over Sam's shoulder and saw Gollum muttering something in Frodo's ear. Frodo said nothing in return, but whipped around, stared at Sam, and gripped the Ring around his neck. It made Hermione very nervous to think what Gollum had been telling him. She had used to feel sorry for the wretched hobbit known as Sméagol, thinking that he was misunderstood and possibly a bit mental, but she had never seen him as truly dangerous. Now she wasn't so sure. If Sam was to be believed, then he wanted to kill them, possibly via the tunnel, or maybe once in Mordor. Hermione shuddered. She always tried to see the good in people, but sometimes people made that very difficult. And now it looked like Gollum had Frodo as an ally.
What'll I do if he tries to sweet talk me? she wondered. Only time would tell what would occur.
Dawn appeared, and Ginny was still at it. The orcs had continued to pour in, and she knew it was only a matter of time before the city was overrun. She could now hardly stand on her own two feet, coming dangerously close several times to being run over.
A huge hairy orc leapt out at Faramir and tackled him to the ground. They rolled around for a few minutes, and the orc found himself on top. He took his sword and was about to plunge it into the man underneath him when he made a gasping noise and saw another blade sticking out of his chest. It rolled over, dead. Faramir looked up and saw who his rescuer was. "Ginny?"
"Not too bad for a girl, eh?" she said, smirking, "Glad I stayed?"
Faramir could only nod wordlessly.
A loud shriek filled the sky. The Witch King had arrived, along with a few other Ringwraiths. Their winged steeds were diving down, grasping men in their claws, and then dropping them from a huge height. It was then Ginny knew that it was all over.
"Pull back! Pull back to Minas Tirith!" yelled Faramir.
"Wait!" cried Ginny helplessly as men everywhere mounted their horses and made a dash for the exit. She was lost. Her own horse wasn't with her. Or so she thought.
A familiar whinny caused Ginny to turn around. "Snout!" she cried. The little black horse with an unusually long nose came galloping toward her. Ginny mounted him and then pulled at the reins. "Let's get out of here!" she yelled. Snout didn't need persuading. He hated orcs. With another whinny they were gone.
Back at Edoras, Harry, Aragorn, and Ron were sitting by one of the city's higher points. "Hey," said Harry suddenly, "Is that a fire on the mountain?"
Aragorn was up in a flash, staring fixedly at the flame. "What is it?" asked Harry in concern.
"It is a signal from Gondor," he replied quietly, "They are calling for aid!" Then he ran off in the direction of the Golden Hall.
"What was all that about?" asked Harry to Ron.
"I think I remember hearing about this," said Ron thoughtfully, "I think it was Eomer who told me. Apparently Rohan and Gondor communicated through a series of beacons set out along the mountains. They did it whenever they needed help from an enemy."
"Wow," said Harry, "But who lights the beacons?"
"I think they have men who live up there that do that."
"They spend their entire lives waiting to see if they need to light a beacon?" asked Harry incredulously.
"I think so. Ask Hermione."
"I can't."
Ron stopped. "Oh yeah," he said softly, "I forgot."
"How could you possibly forget?"
"It's just kind of hard sometimes…you know what I mean?" Ron looked at him uncertainly.
"Yeah, I think so," said Harry. He noticed, for some reason, that Ron looked awkward talking about it, and decided to change the subject. "Come on; let's get back down so we can find out what everyone's doing about Gondor."
Ginny was riding as fast as she could. "Come on Snout!" she moaned. The Ringwraiths were attacking riders right and left. So far, Ginny had managed to avoid them, but she didn't know how long she could continue.
If only I could remember how to do that Patronus spell, she thought. Harry had explained it to the DA. Ginny remembered him saying that the words were Expecto Patronum, and you had to think of something happy, but she had never tried it before.
There was no need. Suddenly a bright white light shone that drove away the Witch King and his minions. Another wizard, Ginny reasoned, but that was impossible, there weren't any wizards living in Minas Tirith. She decided to ride with the rest of them and get the full scoop inside the city.
Everyone inside crowded around as the survivors dismounted and headed for their families. Ginny saw Faramir head for the white-robed figure that had driven away the Ringwraiths. Next to him was a little man with curly brown hair and furry feet. Why, it's a hobbit! she realized with delight. She quickly decided to approach them.
"Hello," she said, "Who are they Faramir?"
"This," said Faramir, "Is Mithrandir, or Gandalf as your friends told you."
"I thought you were dead!" Ginny blurted out in shock.
"I came back," said Gandalf simply, "You must be Ginny Weasley. I've heard so much about you."
"You're Ginny?" said the hobbit, "Fred and George's sister?"
"Merry or Pippin, I presume?" she said with a smile.
"Pippin!" he said eagerly, "Is it true that you hit people with that spell the Bat-Bogey Hex when they annoy you?"
"Did they tell you that?" she asked in amusement.
"A lot more," said Pippin, "How you're good at Quidditch and really clever, hey, do you play Exploding Snap?"
"They said that?" asked Ginny, feeling surprised and touched.
"Yeah, do you play Exploding Snap?"
"Of course! Do you have a deck?"
"Fred gave me one before I left!"
"All right! Let's go somewhere quiet and play! Just be prepared to lose!"
"You are looking at the Champion of Exploding Snap!"
"We'll see," said Ginny. My goodness, she thought, He's exactly like my brothers!
"What's up?" Ron asked Legolas.
"We're riding for Gondor," he replied.
"Excellent!" said Ron, "When?"
"As soon as possible. Eomer's riding out to summon more men as we speak."
"We're going off to battle!" said Fred happily, as if Christmas was early this year.
"Guess what!" yelled Merry enthusiastically, "King Théoden just named me an esquire of Rohan!"
"He what?" exclaimed Fred. George dropped his sword.
"I offered him my service, and he accepted!"
"That's not fair! I want to be an esquire too!" cried George.
"Do you even know what that is?" asked Harry with amusement.
"Who cares?" said Fred, "We'll probably go down in history for it!"
"But you can't all be esquires," said Legolas exasperatedly.
"Why not?"
"Don't you young masters have enough to be doing?" growled Gimli.
"We're not young, we're of age!" protested George. But Harry noticed they did not pursue the matter of Merry's "promotion" anymore.
Gimli stared around at his fellow soldiers. The others knew only too well that he thought, dwarves were far better at war than anyone else. Sure enough, it wasn't long before he let out a snort and muttered, "Horsemen! I wish we had an army of dwarves to aid us, fully armed and filthy!"
"Your kinsmen have no need to ride to war," replied Legolas gravely, "I fear war already marches on them."
"Can you see all that?" asked Ron in amazement.
"A bit," said Legolas, "Only blurs and dark shapes. Nothing definite."
"Could you see my sister?" asked Ron, "I want to know where she is."
"That depends," said Legolas, "I wouldn't know where to look." Catching the worried look on Ron's face he added, "I'm sure your sister is safe. She sounds like a girl who can take care of herself."
"I don't believe it," whispered Pippin.
"Give up yet?" teased Ginny.
"One more game!" said Pippin, "I'll beat you this time!"
"That's what you said last game." At this point Ginny looked up and saw Faramir and Gandalf walking along, deep in conversation.
"I wonder what they're talking about?" said Pippin.
"Faramir's probably telling Gandalf about how we saw Frodo, Sam, and Hermione."
"You did?" exclaimed Pippin, "Where? When? How are they?"
"They're just fine," replied Ginny assuringly, and she proceeded to tell him everything Hermione had told her, about meeting Gollum and the Dead Marshes and how they couldn't get through the Black Gate so now they were headed for a pass by Minas Morgul.
"Minas Morgul," muttered Pippin, "Where've I heard that name before?"
"I don't know too much about it myself, except that it used to be an ancient city in Gondor until the Witch King came along and took it over."
"But isn't that a dangerous way to go?" cried Pippin.
"Pippin, they're going to Mordor," said Ginny.
"Oh right."
"Ok everyone," said Fred solemnly to the group, "Aragorn is riding with King Théoden, so he is missing out on this. You must understand that when we were with the American Muggle-borns at the Quidditch World Cup, we learned some very annoying and some very embarrassing songs. So here are the rules: the race starts from here to the camp at Dunharrow, with breaks when we all stop for the night. Whoever comes in last must ride around Dunharrowsinging the song that George and I pick for you. I'm going to suggest we have a nice clean fight, but we all know that's never going to happen, so I'll say no cheating for anyone underage."
"But that's just me and Harry!" cried Ron indignantly.
"Poor you," said Fred, "Those are the rules. Take 'em or leave 'em. And always remember, it's ok to leave 'em, just be prepared to be looked on as a coward for the rest of your life."
"I'm not a coward!" shouted Ron.
"Never said you were," said Fred calmly.
"You little…I'll show you! Come on, Harry, let's beat these guys so bad they won't know what hit them!"
"I'm sure you'll impress us all," said Fred. Harry followed Ron away, trying not to laugh. Fred, George, Merry, Legolas, and Gimli were not as gracious. They waited until the other two were out of earshot before bursting out laughing.
"Knew he'd go for that," said Fred, "It works every time!"
"What's the song you're going to make him sing?" asked Merry eagerly.
"We're not telling, mostly because we don't know who the loser is. It could be you for all we know," replied George.
"Fine," grumbled Merry. The others could tell he didn't like the idea of being the loser.
A/N: And now, a special message to my readers! It is time for YOU to participate in the story! That's right folks, I need your help! If you can think of a stupid, embarrassing song for the loser of the race to sing, put it in you review! I'm pretty sure I know who the loser will be, so don't worry about that, but if you know a REALLY good song, let me know!
To my reviewers:
Genvessel: You're right! sigh Poor Faramir, he'll never learn will he?
Rogue Kaiya: Wow, I guess I do have silent readers after all! I guess everybody does! Well, thank you for your review, they always make me feel so good!
Prongs-gurl202113: Thanks; I'm doing the best I can!
Harrypfan001 TEACHER LADY: I shall try! Thanks for the review!
Lauren546: Yay, I love battles! That sounds terrible, but they're always the best parts of the movies, with the exception of a Merry and Pippin moment!
Tom Riddle Charlie: That's ok. You're forgiven. As this is RotK, of course there are going to be very serious moments. But you can bet there will be humor too, I feel in my element there.
Brandy Lebeau: LOL, maybe Ginny should sit Faramir and Ron down and have a nice long talk about what she can and can't handle…
LillyFan78: Ooo, I do that all the time too! The ending…ah yes…the ending! Fun fun FUN!
