Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or the Lord of the Rings.
Chapter 31: Alone in the Darkness
Harry and Legolas were almost out of breath when they rounded a corner and spotted refuge in the form of Eomer and Gimli. They had been staring at the gloomy, chilling mountainside when they were interrupted by a strange sight: Ron riding along singing, "I love you, you love me, we're best friends as friends can be…", and then saw their friends fleeing the wrath of Fred and George Weasley.
"We…didn't…do it," panted Harry.
"YES YOU DID! PUT US RIGHT!" screamed Fred.
"Why don't you just do that to yourselves?" asked Eomer, "You are wizards, are you not?"
It was all too true, so the twins pointed their wands at each other's throats and said, "Quietus!"
"I'm gonna have a sore throat something awful," groaned George.
"Now he thinks of that," chuckled Gimli.
"Blimey, what's wrong with the horses?" asked Fred. Some of the men were having to forcibly restrain their normally gentle horses, which were going berserk when they got too close to the mountain.
"They grow nervous under the shadow of the mountain," replied Eomer.
"Hey kids, it's Captain Obvious to the rescue!" whispered Fred. The others doubled over as Eomer glared at him.
"You wanted to know," he said coldly.
"He's only joking mate," said George, "So why are the horses scared of the mountain? Is it cursed?"
"Those are the rumors," replied Eomer, "I wouldn't know. None who venture there ever return."
"Maybe there are giants?" suggested Harry, "There are lots of giants hiding in the mountains in our world."
"You mean trolls?" asked Legolas, "I don't believe so. The legend is that it is the home of the living dead."
"Cooool," said Fred. He and George started to casually edge in the direction of the mountain.
"Don't even think about it," said Harry from behind them. They jumped.
"What? We weren't going to do anything!" protested Fred.
"This is exactly what happened with the time portal remember? You just ran right in and we all ran in after you! And now look what's happened to us! Thanks to you, we're all lost in Middle Earth!"
"I think the word lost may be a bit too strong…"
"Besides, we thought you liked Middle Earth!"
"I do!"
"You have a weird way of showing it then," said Fred.
"Enough of this nonsense!" said Gimli grumpily, "Let's go get some food."
"I'm all for that!" said George cheerfully, and they walked away, all except Harry. He could see Aragorn staring as though transfixed at the mountain.
"What can you see in there?" he asked.
Aragorn jumped. "Oh, it's only you Harry."
"Who else would it be? What were you looking at?"
Aragorn blinked and stared back at the mountain. "Nothing," he said finally, "Nothing Harry."
Hermione woke up to (once again) more yelling. "What's wrong this time?" she grumbled. It felt like she'd only been asleep for minutes. Little did she know.
"The last of the food's gone!" cried Sam, "All of the elven bread! Just gone!"
"Are you sure Sam?" asked Hermione wearily.
"Of course I'm sure…look at the pack, it's completely empty!"
"What I meant was, are you sure that we had some more left before we went to sleep?"
"Yes," said Sam stoutly, "I checked and re-checked!"
"Well it didn't just get up and walk away! And I certainly didn't eat it! And you couldn't have Sam, because you're obviously in shock over this whole thing!"
"Sméagol hates nasty elf bread," volunteered Gollum.
"That's true," said Hermione, "You choked on it in the Dead Marshes. I guess that just leaves Frodo then."
"What?" asked Frodo, and Hermione was startled to find that he sounded a bit angry, "I wouldn't eat it all Hermione!"
"I'm not throwing all the blame on you Frodo," she said impatiently, "But somebody must've eaten it, because it's not here anymore! Was it you Sam?"
"No…" Sam started to say, but Gollum's "evidence" said otherwise.
"Look," he said, pulling at Sam's cloak, "What's this?" He brushed off several crumbs: lembas bread crumbs. Sam stared at them in utter shock. "Crumbs on his jacketses! He took it!" cried Gollum in triumph.
That didn't take too long to find…thought Hermione suspiciously. But if Gollum hadn't eaten it, what had he done with it?
"I've seen him, he's always stuffing his face when Master's not looking," reported Gollum.
That was such a stupid lie that Hermione was all the more enraged when she saw the look on Frodo's face, like he might actually be buying it!
"That's outrageous!" she cried furiously, "Frodo, you know Sam would never do that!"
Gollum rounded on Hermione. "Lies, lies!" he shrieked, "Youse been helping the fat hobbit, haven't you, miss?"
"That's ridiculous!" cried Hermione, but Sam had heard enough. He tackled Gollum to the ground and began to punch his lights out.
"Sam, no!" both Frodo and Hermione yelled in unison, and they pulled him off. Angry though she was with Gollum, she knew attacking him would not make a good impression on Frodo.
"Sam, relax," said Hermione gently.
"I know, I'm sorry," he cried. She hugged him. Then he turned to Frodo, who was starting to look a bit sick, and she decided to leave them alone to talk things out.
This turned out to be a very bad idea.
"Where are you going?" Pippin asked Ginny. She was striding along purposefully to who knew where.
"To the armory," she replied shortly.
"The armory! But does that mean…"
"I've decided to stay with Faramir, yes."
"But that's suicide!"
"Then at least people can say I did something noble and heroic for once!"
"But people do think you're noble and heroic…" Pippin was interrupted as Ginny flung open the doors and found herself face-to-face with: Gandalf.
"Gandalf!" gasped Ginny, "What are you doing here?"
"I'm afraid I was sent here by Faramir," said Gandalf.
"Oh no…"
"And his message to me was this: whatever you do Mithrandir, don't let Ginny go into battle. Not this time. I won't have her die in this particular battle."
"What if I don't care?" asked Ginny, trying to brush past him in vain.
"I'm sorry to disappoint you Ginny, but there are people, myself included, who do care. What would your brothers say if I had only your body to give them?"
"But I can do this! I can fight!" protested Ginny.
"Not this time," he said so firmly that Ginny actually did lower her head. "What if I told you," he asked gently, "that you would see more battles than this?"
"Will I?" she asked hopefully.
"The war will soon be upon Minas Tirith," was all he would say.
"But…" she said, "Even so…I do love Faramir…as an older brother…and, well…"
"If you do, then honor his feelings and do not ride out to death with him."
Ginny nodded. She knew he was right, but it broke her heart all the same.
Hermione felt that she had barely turned her back when she heard Frodo's yells. She turned in time to see him backing away from a startled Sam, clutching the Ring. "I don't want to keep it!" Sam was trying to say, but Frodo would hear none of it.
Gollum crawled up triumphantly. "See? See? He wants it for himself!" he told Frodo.
"No he doesn't!" cried Hermione, "Can't you see he only wants to help you Frodo?"
"No Hermione," he said, very slowly, "Gollum was right. It was Sam all along."
"How can you say that?" gasped Hermione, "That's not true, you know it's not true Frodo…"
But Frodo wasn't listening. He was busy telling Sam to leave. Poor Sam couldn't take it anymore. He burst into tears.
Hermione's heart was torn in two. Part of her was loyal to Frodo, she had promised to help him at the Council of Elrond, after all. The other part of her was heart-broken to see Sam, faithful Sam, cruelly left alone.
Frodo turned to Hermione. "Are you still with me?" he asked.
This is so wrong! she thought.
"Are you?" asked Frodo.
"I…don't know," she said faintly.
"She's betrayed us too, yes she has Master," said Gollum.
"No," said Hermione, now starting to cry herself, "H-He's lying, you know he is…"
In response, Frodo clutched the Ring tighter and left with Gollum. "If you change your mind and decide to fulfill your old promise, let me know Hermione," he said, and they were gone, leaving Hermione to hug a sobbing Sam close to her as possible.
Pippin had been called back into the Hall to serve Denethor. Ginny was now alone, staring out at Osgiliath on the stretch beyond the White Tree. Words failed her, and so did thoughts. She was in a shock, standing, waiting, watching, for the inevitable. She heard the gates creaking open and saw the soldiers riding out to their doom without truly registering it. She recognized Faramir in the lead, and she thought she might've seen some black shapes waiting to meet them, but she only had human eyes, so it was impossible to tell.
Just as things began to get too unbearable, Ginny thought she heard music. It was soft at first, and she couldn't really catch it. But it seemed to come towards her, carried out of the open palace doors through the wind.
It was a boy singing. Or at least that's what she thought at first, until she recognized the voice to be Pippin's. He was singing a strange, sad tune that seemed to fit the scene perfectly. And yet it was strangely comforting. She strained to catch the words…
Home is behind
The world ahead
And there are many paths to tread
Through shadow
To the edge of night
Until the stars are all aligned
Mist and shadow
Cloud and shade
All shall fade
All shall fade.
At that moment there was noise from below. Ginny looked down to see arrows flying into all the men.
All the men…including Faramir…they had been her friends…ordinary men who had families…and they had all looked after her for the longest time…they didn't deserve this sort of fate…
Ginny burst into tears. She lay against the wall, crying, with no one there to comfort her or tell her she should stop. For the first time in her life there wasn't anyone there. And that was what made her feel so alone for the first time as well.
BANG!
"Ha!" yelled Fred, "Finally I'm winning Exploding Snap! Your turn Merry."
Merry didn't move. He wasn't even looking at his cards.
"What's up?" asked George.
"This game just isn't the same without Pippin," he replied sadly.
"So that's why it felt so different!" joked Fred. When nobody laughed, he sighed and said, "Look mate, we miss him too, but we might as well have some fun here!"
"Yeah," sighed Merry. Then he brightened up. "Maybe we'll see him when we get to Gondor! Did you see the armor Eowyn gave me? And the sword? I got it sharpened you know…"
Harry and Ron were walking through the camp, savoring the moment before they had to enter battle again tomorrow. Neither was really looking forward to it, unlike Fred, George, and Merry, but this sort of thing was becoming unavoidable. Right now Ron was enjoying hearing how Harry and Legolas avenged him with the Sonorus Charm. "Serves them right," he cackled, "After what they did…" Nothing too horrific had come out of the experience, with the exception of King Théoden, Gamling, Eomer, and several other soldiers asking him what he meant when he sang that he loved them.
They rounded a corner and were surprised to see Eowyn walking alone, crying. "What's up?" he asked. She just shook her head and walked away from them. "Girls are so weird!" he said, "I wish Hermione was hear so she could translate for us!"
"Or Ginny," Harry found himself saying.
"Or Ginny," nodded Ron, "Or any girl we know for that matter. Except that Luna girl. She'd probably say Eowyn got attacked by the Blibbery-whatchamacallit!"
"Blibbering Humdinger?" asked Harry, laughing.
"Yeah that's it!" said Ron, and they both cracked up. "Where does she get that stuff from?"
"I dunno mate, hey, where are you guys going?" Harry and Ron were standing directly in front of Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli, all armed and leading their horses.
"I have to go into the mountain," said Aragorn, "It has to do with the outcome of the battle. And you're not coming, so don't even ask."
"How come they get to go?" asked Ron furiously.
"I couldn't shake them off," replied Aragorn, glaring at his friends, but Harry knew he was glad they were going.
"Good for them," said Ron, and he whistled for Telien.
"No," Aragorn started to say as Telien came trotting forward. (Ron always forgot to tie him up at night, it was a wonder the horse stayed with him this long!)
"Harry, if you want to come, go get Thalion. We'll wait right here," said Ron as he mounted.
Harry was off in a flash.
"See what you've done?" groaned Aragorn.
"What?" said Legolas innocently, "I never asked them to come!"
"You set an example!" said Aragorn.
Legolas just laughed at him. A few minutes later, Harry was back, ready to go. And so they set off.
Hermione had stopped crying because she knew Sam's need was greater than hers. She sat there, comforting him, when he suddenly wiped his tears away and got up.
"Listen," he said firmly, "You heard what he said. I want you to go back with Frodo."
"No!" cried Hermione.
"Yes, do it. Because if Gollum tries something up there in that tunnel, I want somebody there who can protect him. Just pretend you believe them, and they'll let you back in."
"But…what about you?"
"I suppose I'll start for home," said Sam, gritting his teeth at the thought, "If you need me, call me on the brooch that Lady Galadriel gave you."
"That's right!" cried Hermione, "I'd forgotten about that! How do you suppose it works?"
"I dunno, I'm no elf, but if I hear you, I'll come all right?"
"Thank you Sam," she said, hugging him tightly, "Look after yourself, in case…" She didn't need to finish. It was bitter to part with him, but he spoke sense. Somebody needed to look after Frodo. Frodo certainly couldn't do that himself. So they went their separate ways.
To my reviewers:
HotShot14: LOL, what did you think?
LillyFan78: Sam's situation is worsening. (sigh) Well, he'll be ok, eventually.
Mischievous Puck: I am evil, aren't I? (grins) Well it wasn't totally my idea…but I did choose it! Poor Ron. Such is his life.
Angeles: No more candy for you! LOL Yay, I'm a Marauder!
Brownie/Melody: It's not that bad really, just enough to get annoying at times. Anyway, one time I had a dream that Faramir died in that suicide attack and I woke up all sad, and then I had to hit myself over the head and yell, "You moron! He survived!" hehe
Brandy Lebeau: Sorry, but I think it's less than 10. But do not fear! One day I was having writer's block with this story and thought, whatever, I can just start the sequel, that way there isn't this long gap between both stories like some people do!
Prongs-gurl202113: More like 38. Or maybe 40. Anyway, thanks for reviewing!
Kaladelia Undomiel: KALLE! You're back! I wondered where you went! I can't really remember, but I think it was you who said I should incorporate Arwen into the story somehow, and this was the only thing I could think of! Two people actually sent in the Barney song, that was one of the factors that won me over to that song. Hmm, I'll see if I can find Sabriel, but it might have to go on the waiting list, I've still got a bit more summer reading, Eldest from the Inheritance trilogy, and possibly the Sword of Truth novels. In return though, I suggest you read Pendragon if you haven't already. I'm trying to spread the word about this excellent series!
Fanfictionguy: Welcome to the Wonderful World of Crossover Fanfiction! I'm glad you chose my story first, and most importantly, that you liked it!
Darknesscomes: Vacation's a reasonable excuse. Thanks for reviewing!
Tom Riddle Charlie: Two reviewers actually suggested the Barney song! I know the feeling of having too many stories to read, believe me, I understand! I'm glad you like Ginny!
