Chapter 10: The Battle of Helm's Deep

Things were chaotic at the deep. People all over the place, and Eowyn mad at her uncle for not allowing her to fight. Hermione tried to make the best of her free time by helping others. Many people were just frightened of what was turning into a war. They were afraid that they weren't safe at Helm's Deep either. It seemed like forever before the men returned from the fight with the balrogs. Hermione was deeply worried, because the battle wasn't in the books. Ron and Harry rode up to Hermione on their horses, looking very tired. Hermione looked around…someone seemed to be missing.

"Aragorn. Where is Aragorn?" she asked Ron as he dismounted his horse. Ron pulled her into an warm embrace.

"He's gone, Hermione," he whispered into her hair. "He fell off of a cliff while fighting with an orc." Hermione backed away in disbelief.

"This can't be right. Something's wrong here. He's supposed to be King!" she snapped. Harry put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Everything will work on in the end, you'll see 'Mione, things always do," he said. A young boy came over, and offered to take care of their two horses. Ron and Harry obliged, because Hermione looked so stressed out, they were afraid to leave her. A dark shadow suddenly fell over her face.

"We have to get ready," she said quietly. "There will be a great battle here." Hermione's voice was barely audible over the noise of the refugees.

Hermione, Harry, and Ron tried to go on with their lives in the deep. Eowyn was very distraught over Aragorn's death too. Hermione kept telling herself that things weren't right, that Aragorn does become King in the end, but after a few days, she began to doubt everything around her. One day, Ron pulled her off to a secluded part of the deep, so they could be alone for the first time in what seemed like forever. Hermione rested her head in Ron's lap, and nearly fell asleep. Ron had pulled out his newspaper, and began to read aloud.

"We need to find a way to get back, 'Mione," he said to her. "Things aren't looking good for our side. You-Know-Who's becoming more powerful everyday that we're gone." Hermione opened her eyes.

"What I don't get is why Dumbledore would send us to Middle Earth even though it could be deadly to so many people in our world," she said quietly. Ron ran his fingers through Hermione's wavy, dirty blonde hair. "It just doesn't make sense. There must be a reason as to why we're here, and I'm just missing it!"

"Don't get yourself all upset. Right now, we have Aragorn's death to worry about. With him gone, any battles we face are going to become even more difficult to fight." Hermione shook her head.

"That's the other thing that I don't get. Aragorn can't be dead. It's called Return of the King, he comes back! But how can a dead man become King?" Hermione seemed to be talking to herself more than Ron.

A sudden commotion roused both of them to the main gate. There, was Aragorn in a horrible state atop a brown stallion. Hermione and Ron looked at each other, very confused, and followed him up to the main hall. He went straight to Legolas, who handed him something, but nobody could tell what it was. Aragorn then went to go talk to the King.

"How did he survive?" Ron said more to himself than Hermione.

"I don't know, Ron. You're guess is as good as mine," she replied. "But things make sense now. I couldn't figure out what would happen if Aragorn died. Things just wouldn't make any sense if he ended up dead. He does great things, you know." Ron kissed the top of her head.

"Let's go find Harry. He'll want to know about Aragorn."

That evening, it was announced that Helm's Deep was going to be attacked by an army of Uruks, and that all the women and children were to take cover in the caves. Hermione was furious. She wanted to fight. She wasn't going to let one of her best friends, and her boyfriend put their life on the line without her. The three of them were a team, and someone had to understand that. Hermione decided to go to Aragorn. He could talk Theoden into letting her fight.

"Aragorn," she said to him as he made his way to the armory. "I want to fight. Please, you have to let me fight."

"It's too dangerous for a woman," he said simply as he continued to walk.

"We all do respect, Lord Aragorn, but I've fought in many battles, more deadly than the one tonight. My place is beside Ron and Harry. We're a team, and we need to stay a team. Please, I'm begging you." Aragorn stopped walking.

"Just this once, I guess. But don't let Lady Eowyn know. Her Uncle won't let her fight. I'm in charge of you, and I'm telling you that you can fight just this once. Don't ask me again in the future." A huge smile broke out across Hermione's face.

"Thank you! Oh, thank you so much!" she cried out. She then left to go and tell Harry and Ron.

Both Harry and Ron were less than thrilled about Hermione's decision to fight with them in the battle.

"No! I won't have it! This is a dangerous battle 'Mione. I don't want you to get hurt," Ron said, sternly.

"What about those battles back home? The chessboard our first year. Fighting Professor Lupin as a werewolf our third year. The Department of Mysterious last year? Do those mean nothing? Those battles where probably even more deadly, because you can do more with a wand than you can do with a sword. Control people, torture them, drive them mad, or even kill them. With a sword, I can only be wounded, if that."

"Or killed! I won't have it! You're not fighting!"

"You're not in charge of me Ronald Weasley! I'm fighting in this battle, and there's nothing you can do to stop me!" Hermione stalked off to get ready for the first battle she would see in Middle Earth.

"Harry, she's insane fighting in this battle! I can't believe Aragorn let her! It's too dangerous!" Ron exclaimed as soon as Hermoine was out of ear-shot. Harry fastened his sword around his waist.

"She has a point though, Ron. She's been through a lot of fighting back home, and those were probably more deadly than the one tonight," he said.

"Harry, if it was my sister that wanted to fight, would you let her? Would you honestly let Ginny fight in such a large battle like this?"

"I wouldn't have to say anything; you'd stop her from fighting before I could get a word in edge wise. Ron, Hermione's almost a grown woman. She's 18 years old. She's a legal adult in the muggle world now, along with the wizarding. Do you honestly think that she'll listen to you? You obviously don't know your girlfriend very well."

"I just don't understand why she wants to fight so badly. She's putting her life on the line when she has the choice not to."

"Hermione's never been the one to sit on the sidelines. She wants to help these people, and I don't blame her. Let's talk about something else. There's nothing more we can say to get Hermione to change her mind." Ron nodded.

Late that night, all the able bodied men stood on the top of the Deep waiting for a most-certain death. The elves from Lothlorien had come to help, boosting their numbers a little bit, but not enough to insure a victory. Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood on the top of the wall, waiting. No one said anything. At last, you could see the Uruks coming over the field. There were more of them than anyone could ever imagine! Hermione looked at Ron. She gave him a small kiss on the lips, and looked away. She regretted her decision to fight a little bit, but she was doing this for Eowyn too. Eowyn wasn't allowed to fight, by orders of her Uncle, and Hermione knew that she was almost representing her friend in the battle. The Uruks stopped in front of Helm's Deep, and formed ranks. No one moved at first. Suddenly, an arrow flew at one of the Uruks, killing him instantly.

"Hold fire!" Aragorn called out. It was too late though; the Battle of Helm's Deep had begun.

Hermione, Harry, and Ron fought nobly all night long. It was worse than any other battle that they had seen, including the Tasks at the Tri-Wizard Tournament. People, elves, and Uruks were falling around them left and right. After what seemed like an eternity, Theoden called out to the trio, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli to retreat. A bomb, something new to Middle Earth, had breached the deep. The blast had sent Hermione flying off her feet, but she quickly stood up again.

"'Mione, are you alright?" Ron called out. Hermione nodded to her boyfriend. They went back to fighting. Hermione wasn't used to actually killing creatures. Even though they were evil, she felt slightly sorry that she was the last thing the Uruk saw. Shrugging the thought off her shoulders, she went back to fighting to the best of her ability.

It was almost sunrise. The battle had raged all night, taking countless lives with it. The remaining fighters had withdrawn to the Great Hall. Hermione stood in front of the large oak doors, and took her wand out of it's safe place on the inside of her boot.

"Hermione, what are you doing?" Harry asked her.

"I'm buying us some time to get ready," she replied sternly.

"How much time can you give us?" asked King Theoden.

"Not much, just a minute or so. But that should be enough time to get your weapons together or get something to block the door…right?" Theoden nodded. Without saying a word, Hermione cast her spell. A silver mist shot out of her wand, and pressed against the door. She stood there firmly, biting her bottom lip, drawing blood. Harry and Ron could slowly see the energy drain from her.

"Lady Hermione, on the count of three, I want you to stop. Do you hear me?" Theoden ordered. Hermione nodded slightly. "One….two….three." Hermione lowered her wand, and almost collapsed. Ron caught her, and helped her to her feet. The soldiers watch almost in fear as a small silver otter scurried around the hall, and faded into nothing. Ron then pulled Hermione onto his brown horse, and they rushed out to meet what would seem to be their doom.

Thousands of Uruks, no tens of thousands of Uruks were all around the deep. All hope seemed to be lost, but the soldiers fought bravely. They were being led by none other than Aragorn. The sun crept up over the sandy hill, and a horn sounded. Everyone looked up, and there was Gandalf the White. Next to him was Eomer. They raced down the hill on horseback, followed by what seemed like at least a thousand men that had remained loyal to Eomer. The rest of the battle seemed like a blur to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. All they really remembered was the Uruks rushing away from Helms Deep in defeat. Ron then jumped off his horse, and pulled Hermione to the ground. He then pulled her close to him, and kissed her. The Golden Trio, and their friends in Middle Earth shared embraces.

A/N: Yeah, um, sorry about taking forever to update. I hope you can forgive me! Won't take this long (didn't I say that last time, and the time before that, and the time before that? Just checking) next time. This will be the first of a 3 part series (or 2 part, dunno yet). The next fan fiction will be introduced in the final chapter of this one. I hope you know your fantasy series! Here's a hint: 1 movie out, and 1 more coming in just over a year! Let me know what you think it is! I am now using my special Jedi Powers (shoot! Wrong fan fiction!) to make you click the "go" button and review! Until next time!

Tina101