"Thanks for returning, Harry." Headley said as Harry stood in the middle of the Hall. "We have reached a consensus." Harry said nothing, but nodded, waiting. "You will lead a team to Mount Doom, to destroy the One Ring. To camouflage the expedition, you will be accompanied by a large group, whose public reason for going, will be diplomatic relations with Rohan and Minas Tirith."
It took less than half an hour for Ron, Charlie, Draco, Fred and George to start a quidditch discussion.
It took five minutes longer for Hermione, Katie, Alicia, Angelina, Harry and Nori to start laying wagers.
Fifty-five minutes after leaving Erebor, Hermione huffed as she handed over an IOU for a pair of blankets for the Potter-Weasley twins, when the friendly discussion became a heated debate.
One hour and five minutes after leaving Erebor, Hermione snarled as she threw a second IOU at Harry and got to her feet. She stalked into the tent at the rear of the carpet, taking care to stay away from the carpet's fringed edges, they were flitting along at around 30 mile an hour at roughly one hundred feet above the ground, the last thing they needed was for someone to take a fall. In the tent she lifted her maternity shirt and pulled a shrunken trunk from a tiny pocket behind her belt buckle. Enlarging it, she placed it on its end and enlarged it a second time, she entered it and went to a set of shelves and opened what appeared to be a typical steamer trunk but was in fact a quidditch set from the British National Quidditch Team, that had been custom-made for Harry.
Once the case was open, she lifted out the quaffle and let the trunk close, much to the agitation of the bludgers. As she left the trunk, she absently flicked her wand at a pile of firewood and a small log stretched itself out and formed a large hoop, that she threaded her arm through, before a box of brooms rose into the air and floated along behind her.
Outside, she let the box settle to the carpet's surface and opened it. She waved her wand and the hoop floated out behind the carpet as though tethered, while the broom headed for the still debating quintet on the neighbouring carpet. Once the brooms were where she felt they should be, her attention went to the quaffle. It wafted over the space between the two carpets and hung in the air above the five wizards.
A huff from Hermione and the quaffle fell, landing precisely in the middle of the group.
"What the…?" Charlie reared away from the ball, while Ron reflexively reached for it.
"Mione?" Draco looked over to his wife.
"For Merlin's sake, shut up!" She snarled. "We've been in the air for less than an hour and a half, shut up. There's your bloody quaffle, there's your bloody hoop." She pointed to the tethered hoop. "Go play. Just shut up."
"Yes, dear. Thank you, dear." Draco beamed at her and her frown faded.
"No keepers, no seekers, no beaters, you're all chasing. First to get ten goals, gets to choose desert." Hermione turned to the third carpet. "Fíli, you're the sixth player. You all have your brooms, get moving."
There was a flurry of action and the six players took to the air, soaring and swooping as they tried to defend a singular hoop from each other and still be proactive enough to get to the quaffle.
Hermione watched them for a few moments before she went back to her discussion with the other ladies. An hour later, she happened to look up and spy a yearning look on Natalie's face that was quickly smoothed away, when the younger witch realised that someone was watching. A thoughtful expression settled on Hermione's face and she hummed to herself. Another five minutes and she sighed and rose to her feet.
"Boys!" She yelled. "New Rules. Six players in the air at any given time. Lose the quaffle three times and you trade out with someone not playing. Fred! Swap out with Headley. George! Swap with Natalie. Charlie, you swap with Harry. Fíli, swap with Kíli. Draco, swap with Kressian. Ron, swap with Ori. Move!"
Seven hours later and the four carpets swooped down into a familiar valley, with a familiar herd of black and white ponies contentedly grazing.
"Time out!" Harry called and the half dozen fliers headed for those gathered on Beorn's front lawn. "We'll resume play after departure." With that, Harry landed and headed for Charlie and their twins. "Hey there, little ones, did you miss me?" He gently scooped Ralston into his arms and tickled under a chubby baby-chin, earning himself a pair of sleepy eyes opening and a thumb being inserted into a tiny mouth.
"Let him go back to sleep, love, they've just been fed." Charlie chided him.
"Got it. Sleepy, cuddly baby with a full belly." Harry quickly summoned one of the swathes of fabric that they used as a wrap/sling. And weren't password protected sticking charms marvellous? No knots in the middle of your back and a simple finite wasn't enough to cancel it and cause the sling to unwrap itself.
Just on dark, Neville apparated in and spent a few minutes causing hilarity when he described Galadriel meeting Luna.
Who knew that nargles were real and that they preferred to live in mallorn trees? How one got to England for Luna to see, was a mystery to everyone. The ones that Luna had seen, had apparently been living in a mistletoe infection in an English, or field, maple tree in the woods between the Rookery and the Diggory home. They had been the start of her father's hunt for unknown or seemingly mythical creatures.
When Harry emerged from Beorn's bathing shed, after having taken the most luxurious soak in the shapeshifter's hot spring, he blinked at the sight he was presented with. Bilbo sitting on a tree stump with both Beorn and Buckbeak looking over his shoulders at the gurgling baby in his arms.
"Well, now… what do we have here?" He wandered over.
"I borrowed Regulus from Ron." Bilbo said, unrepentantly. "Charlie has Ralston and Ron was wanting to get in and sort out his workshop. Apparently, he hadn't had the chance before he left."
"Yeah, he left in a bit of a hurry." Harry shook his head. "Hermione had forty-six days to see that everyone had everything they would need but poor Ron had less than thirty hours."
"And what about Arthur and… what was the other man's name?" Bilbo asked.
"Kingsley. Kingsley Shacklebolt. And I don't know."
"Well, we're fine, right here." Bilbo ran a finger down the infant's chubby cheek, causing the baby to shift its head a little. "Why don't you go and find out?"
Harry saw the barely concealed yearning on the hobbit's face. "Thank, Bilbo. If he starts to get restless, come find either me or Charlie. He'll probably want a feed and a clean nappy." He knew that neither Bilbo nor Beorn would let anything happen to his son, and that didn't take into account how interested and protective Buckbeak was being.
He found Arthur down near the stream, sitting on a small boulder, just looking out over the water and the pasture on the other side.
"Hey, Mr Weasley." He sat down close but not right beside him.
"Harry…" Mr Weasley started but trailed off, only to start again. "Harry, I'm sorry, I don't know-"
"Stop." Harry held up a hand and waited until Arthur was silent. "Thank you. Did you give them the recipe for the potion?"
"What?" Arthur reared back in surprise. "No!"
"Did you tell them where to find it?"
"No."
"Did you tell them which potion to use?"
"No."
"Did you give them any ingredients?"
"No… not that I'm aware of." Arthur added to the denial.
"Did you stand over them, demanding they brew the potion?"
"No."
"Did you force Ginny to drink the potion?"
"No, and it's not drunk, it's spelled directly into a witch's uterus."
"Irrelevant." Harry waved it off. "Did you encourage them?"
"No." Arthur was beginning to see where Harry was going with his set of questions.
"Did you condone what they did?"
"No." A tear ran down Arthur's cheek.
"When you were told, did you take action?"
"Yes."
"Did you see to it that they couldn't do it again?"
"As best we could, yes."
"And that's why there is nothing for you to apologise for, Mr Weasley." Harry nodded sharply.
"Arthur, Harry, call me Arthur. You're not a child anymore and you're married to my son." Arthur shook his head. "Why we never saw that coming, I don't know. You were fascinated with Charlie and his dragons, right from the moment you met him."
"Yea, he was kinda… distinctive, wasn't he?" Harry grinned. "Although, it wasn't until Ginny kissed me during the lull in fighting, at Hogwarts, that I finally realised, she was the wrong redhead."
"And now you have two children. How many more will there be?" Arthur waggled his brows at the younger wizard. "You do know that Weasleys tend to have large families, don't you?"
"We've been trying." Harry blushed bright red, but still said it. "Severus and Narcissa think that us not having kids is something to do with Voldemort. They had to do a de-aging and re-age before they got pregnant, so did Draco and Mione. They want to do the same for Charlie and I, but we were kinda hoping that Weasley fertility would override whatever it was that Voldy did."
"But it obviously hasn't…" Arthur sighed.
"No, it hasn't." Harry sighed with him.
"So are you going to do the de-aging?"
"Yeah, we planned it, then this all fronted up." Harry waved his hand in a circular motion.
"How long does it take? For both aging and de-aging?"
"About twenty-four hours." Harry answered. "Six for the de-aging, another six for the setting agent, another six to purge all potions from my system, and a last six hours for the aging part. At least that's how long it took for Remus, we de-aged him back to four years old and re-aged him to mid-twenties. Snape and Narcissa were a half day, but they only went back to their teens and aged forward to mid-twenties. Draco was only a few hours, all up, he de-aged to fifteen, that was when Voldy busted Bellatrix out and Lucius took her and the other Death-eaters in, she was a bit too free with the cruciatus, then he re-aged to be the same age as Mione. But Fred, George, Padma, Parvati, Colin, Natalie and Katie were only a de-aged a few weeks, just enough to take them back prior to the battle."
"And Sirius? And Bill?"
"Ah." Harry grimaced. "Bill decided to de-age and remove Greyback's marks, it was only a year or two, it did make him a little closer in age to Fleur, too, which they both liked. Sirius was a little more… involved. He was never treated well by this family, not once they found out that he was a bearer." Arthur winced and nodded. "Yeah, not good that. He had to go back to… I think he said the first time they used the cruciatus on him, he was seven. Just to be absolutely certain there were no issues, Severus insisted that he be de-aged back to an infant. The problem was that, Siri wasn't sure how old he was when his parents found out he was a bearer."
"Oh, dear." Arthur sighed.
"Yeah. As a result, he was de-aged to a month old." Harry nodded.
"My word…"
"Severus wanted to take me back to much the same, but Remus was able to tell us the date that Siri blood-adopted me. Neither of them want that to be reversed, in fact… Remus, now that he's not a werewolf anymore, wants to do the same… blood-adopt me, that is." Harry hurriedly corrected himself.
"Yes, I can imagine he would." Arthur nodded.
"Anyway… the final decision is, I will be de-aged to thirteen months. But I'm hesitant to do it right now… before we deal with this stupid Ring, I mean." Harry added.
"Yes… It could change you physically, that could have a detrimental effect on what we're going to do." Arthur nodded again.
"Exactly." Harry grinned. "But that wasn't why I came looking for you."
"Oh…?"
"Yeah. Hermione had forty-six days to prepare for my departure through the veil, Ron had less than thirty hours. He made it, though. Got all of his stuff into the trunk Croaker gave him. But… What about you? And Kingsley? Did you get to bring anything with you?"
"Yes and no." Arthur sighed. "I have my Order trunk, but nothing else."
"Order trunk?" Harry asked.
"Fabian and Gideon made trunks for those of us that were hidden members of the Order. Molly never approved of her brothers fighting, so the three of us hid the fact that I usually fought alongside them. The trunk was my supply kit. It held a tent, some clothes, some money, spare wands, potions, that sort of thing. I haven't had a good look at it." Arthur answered.
"And Kingsley?"
"I have no idea, but I would assume that he would have a similar trunk, he was another of the twins' hidden members."
"Hidden members? Do you remember who they were?" Harry asked, curiously.
"The only one still alive was Rosmerta, at the Three Broomsticks." Arthur said after thinking about it. "Oh, and you already have Minerva, Severus, Ollivander, Sirius and Remus. They were regular Order members."
"We do." Harry grinned. "Anyway… you need to check out your trunk and let us know what you need. One of the boxes that Rocksplitter sent with Ron was a goblin storage box, it held the last of the gold from the vault that I gave Hermione to use to help those hurt at Hogwarts. So, there's plenty of money. And Hermione was in charge of supplying the Nest, so there's plenty of stuff there, too. We want you happy, Arthur, and you can't be happy without the essentials."
"Alright." Arthur nodded. "I'll look at my trunk this evening and I'll talk to Kingsley, too. Colin gave us one of those Ready-Built cottages, just a small one, but plenty big enough for Kingsley, Ron and I. We're over there." He pointed to a simple white-washed and thatched cottage on the other side of the creek.
"Nice." Harry nodded. "Let Hermione or Colin know what you need and someone will see to it that you're supplied. But for now, let's go get some supper, yeah?"
Harry looked across the elven platform and sighed. Saruman sat with an 'I'm better than all of you' look plastered on his face. Gandalf looked at the other old wizard as though he could do no wrong. Galadriel was being politically correct and not using her 'gift' to look into anyone's mind. Remus and Severus were sitting as though Harry's gaze was the only thing keeping them in their seats.
And Hermione…?
Harry had seen Hermione angry before… or… he thought he had…
But nothing like this.
Dammit. Time to step up and take over. Again.
He shut his eyes for a second and focused his mind. Opening his eyes, he looked at the blonde she-elf.
'Galadriel!' He yelled in his mind, hoping that it would catch her attention.
Galadriel twitched and her eyes widened, fractionally.
'Galadriel, hear me. Hear me now.' His mental voice was hard and cold. 'You have gifts. Use them, now. Look into my mind and see why my people shake with anger. Look.' He lowered his occlumency shields and let the blonde elf have free access to his mind.
He felt her hesitant mental touch and guided her to the history of his life before directing her towards Hermione's briefing of Tolkien's stories and what they had done to ensure the survival of certain people and the destruction of the One Ring. And what they knew was still to come. She wafted through his mind, her touch gentle.
'What would you have me do, now, young wizard?' Her voice asked, fully of sadness.
'Saruman must be stopped.' Harry thought to her. 'Use you gift. Look into his mind. See for yourself, how far he's fallen.'
'And if I find what you say I will find?'
'I will act. I will stun him. I would ask that you not let your elves attack me or mine.'
'And then?' The blonde elf tilted her head.
'That is for the members of the White Council to decide, not me. And before you ask… No. No-one from Hogwarts will join your council. It holds too many restriction, for our liking. And Hogwarts will never blindly follow anyone ever again. It cost us too much, too many lives.' Harry sighed.
'But Hogwarts follows you.' She arched a brow in challenge. 'Do they not follow blindly?'
'Ha. If you think that, you really need to learn how to read people. They follow me, because as a whole, they unanimously decided that I would lead in this particular venture. But even then, they don't follow blindly. They ask, they question, they argue. They may follow me, but the thing that you have failed to realise, is that while I lead them… I am also answerableto them. As long as my actions are to the benefit of Hogwarts and mean no harm to innocent lives, they'll follow me. The moment that changes…? Hermione, Ron and Charlie would be down on me like a ton of bricks. Not to mention, Remus, McGonagall and Snape… or Luna…'
'Ah…'
'Yeah…' Harry gave her a quick grin. 'Do your thing. If I'm wrong, you've lost nothing. If I'm right? Can you afford to let that possibility slip through your fingers?'
'No, I cannot.' Galadriel looked away from Harry and her mental touch left his mind.
The seconds passed and Harry began to tense. Eventually, her touch returned.
'It is as you said, he has fallen.' Harry saw Galadriel's eyes glisten with unshed tears. 'I have told my elves that they must not interfere. But… Mithrandir… I cannot stop him.'
'Can you warn Severus?' Harry asked and watched as her head dipped in a miniscule nod. 'Then tell him to freeze Gandalf the second that Saruman is stunned.'
'I will.' She paused. 'I have. He says to use parcel-tongue as Saruman is strong and Latin may not be enough. I hope, young wizard, that this means something to you?' Harry ignored Galadriel's mispronunciation of parseltongue.
'It does.' Harry let his mind laugh but didn't explain further.
'Very well. My elves are ready, I am ready, Severus is ready. Are you ready?'
Harry closed his eyes and focused on the memory of the basilisk. When he opened his eyes, he said nothing but he looked from her to Severus, knowing the former spy was watching and waiting for his direction, and tapped his fingers against his arm.
Three.
Two.
One.
§ STUPIFY! § Harry spat in parseltongue, his wand pointing directly at Saruman's heart.
"Immobulus!" Severus snapped before Harry had completed the charm, his wand pointing at Gandalf.
"What are you doing?!" Celeborn lost his calm appearance and began to rise.
"They do what they must, husband." Galadriel laid a hand on his arm. "Curunir has fallen to Mordor. I have seen his mind and it is Dark. His is little but Morgoth's puppet, now."
Celeborn slumped backwards onto his throne-like chair.
Gandalf went slack within Severus' charm, shock and horror on his face.
Elrond looked at Galadriel, stunned. "What do we do, now? Curunir has always guided us. Without his judgement, how do we act?"
"As Mithrandir was so eloquently informed, just recently. We are only being informed as a courtesy. The Ring was found by Master Baggins and it is he that will decide what will happen to it. He, along with the entirety of Hogwarts and the Company of Thorin Oakenshield, have placed Lord Potter as leader of this expedition. Our involvement is naught but a courtesy, from one Lord to another." Galadriel. "And bluntly, husband? The Ring is beyond our grasp, even were you to hold it in your hand, you could not wield it. For which, I am extremely grateful."
Celeborn let his head fall into his hands. "This is payback for marrying Finarfin's daughter, isn't it?" He asked Elrond.
"I'd be more inclined to say Finrod or Aegnor. It's more their style." Elrond corrected. "The Twins take after them. Use their journals as… inspiration…" He ignored the disgruntled noises coming from a pair of identical elves that stood behind him.
"Alight. Master Baggins, Lord Potter? What do you plan to do with… it?" Celeborn asked.
"You want to put a what? Where?" Thengel, son of the king of Rohan, asked a very pregnant Sirius Black.
"We want to put a carpet terminal at Edoras." Sirius replied. "Over there." He gestured off behind himself, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. "There's a rocky outcropping, above the walls. It's not being used for anything. It'd be ideal for a terminal. A small flat-is area, that we can put a platform on as a waiting area, right beside a drop-off, perfect for a carpet to butt up against."
"But why carpets?" Thengel asked.
"Why not?" Sirius answered. "With our carpet service, you can get to Minas Tirith in a single day and back in a second day. Aren't your sisters fostered in Dol Amroth? A carpet could have you there inside two days."
Thengel tilted his head in consideration. Dol Amroth in two days… His mind instantly went to the raven-haired beauty that was his sisters' foster sister. Morwen Steelsheen had caught his heart as a young maiden and now that she was of marrying age, he desired to court her. A two-day journey as opposed to a two week trip? That would certainly allow him more time with her.
"I will talk with my father, we would need to see your construction plans and have a more detailed understanding of your plans." Thengel kept his face calm.
"Ah… You'll need to speak with the Ladies Lavender and Padma and Princess Parvati. They're the ones running this show." Sirius rubbed his hand across his swollen stomach and sighed as the baby inside moved to a, thankfully, more comfortable position. "They've a business plan ready. Each step laid out with what they need and how they plan to achieve each step. They're scarily well organised."
"Then perhaps you might introduce them?" Thengel sighed. Protective uncles were worse than fathers.
Padma sat between her sister and Lavender, with Fíli, Justin and Snape sitting behind them, Fíli and Justin as their husbands and Snape as Lavender's adopted father. Opposite them sat Ecthelion, the current Steward of Gondor, Prince Adrahil of Dol Amroth and a bevy of advisors.
Two hours into negotiations and so far, the three ladies were so far in front, that not even a trio of snitches could win the game for the six men facing them.
"So, you wish to lease or purchase a small plot of land behind the city library to use as a… staging post… for your… carpet service. Am I correct?" Ecthelion summarised.
"Pretty much." Lavender smiled prettily.
"And the same in Dol Amroth?" Adrahil added.
"Yes." Parvati nodded.
Adrahil and Ecthelion exchanged a long speaking look, before Ecthelion sighed.
"Show us your plans. We'll not make uninformed decisions. But if you can cut down travel time between Minas Tirith, Dol Amroth and Edoras? It's not really something we can afford to pass up." The Steward said.
At the same time as Lavender, Padma and Parvati were meeting with the Steward of Gondor and the Prince of Dol Amroth, Harry was leading a small group of three teams to Mt Doom.
Natalie, as chaser with Fred and George as her beaters. Euan with Bill and Remus. And Ori with Kíli and Gimli. The idea being that the three chasers would pass the cannonball-contained-Ring between them, while the beater pairs would ensure that each chaser was kept safe from enemy attacks.
In addition to these, Bilbo was going with them. He had insisted that he needed to go, as he was the one to pick it up, he would be the one to see it destroyed. He'd worked hard with the Quidditch Queens to master the skills of a chaser, he was going to need them, if they were to pull this off.
While Mt Doom was over a hundred miles from Minas Tirith, they weren't using modified brooms. Instead they had heavily charmed quidditch brooms, with extra cushioning charms and a whole slew of additional protection charms. Hermione, Remus, Alice and Snape had spent an entire day layering the charms on each broom.
Then they had waited patiently as Hermione and Snape had removed their magical signatures from the cannonball, meaning that it would melt naturally when exposed to the extreme temperatures of Mt Doom. Snape had suggested putting a stasis back on it, just to ensure that it could not affect them. After that, Alice cast overpowered notice-me-not charms on them, before each of them were hugged and sent on their way with teary farewells.
With Harry leading, they silently swooped away from the white city and headed east. They swung south of the river-split city of Osgiliath and rose high to sweep over the broken crags of Minas Morgol and out over the barren plains of Mordor. Frequently they were forced to swerve to avoid a jet of steam or gas that spewed from the glowing cracks in the ground. But at the speed they were moving, sometimes it was easier to just hold your breath until you were passed.
As they neared the solitary peak, they saw movement on the ground, orcs and goblins, and some type of lizard like creature that raised its head and screeched as they flew overhead. Swooping down into the remnants of an extinct volcano, that butted up against the smoking mountain, Harry gave the signal and Bilbo opened his pouch, letting Harry summon the cannonball from its depths.
A flick and the cannonball flew beside Bilbo. Natalie darted passed and snatched it from the air, banking hard to her left she passed the ball to Ori. He pulled up to the right and passed the ball to Euan, who surged back the way they'd came, passing the ball to Bilbo. This series of 'twist, turn and pass' went on for minutes as they drew ever nearer to the volcano's rim, circling the upper edges until Harry spotted the entrance.
A series of sharp crags and spires protected the entrance, its size deceptive due to the enormity of the mountain. He alerted the fliers and, in a move that would have made the RAF Red Arrows' acrobatics choreographer either weep or swoon with envy, the twelve fliers converged on the entrance and plunged into its shadows. Inside, they slowed and came to a halt clustered around the bridge and its platform.
Natalie passed the cannonball to Harry, who drew his wand and proceeded to cast a pair of timed charms, a cushioning charm and a bubble-head charm. Between them, these should hold for half an hour, then they would dissipate and allow the cannonball to melt in the volcano's molten centre. Lava is hotter than lead or glass and they were two of the cannonball's layers. After casting his charms, Harry held the ball out to Bilbo.
"You picked it up. You get rid of it." He told the hobbit.
"I don't want to touch it." Bilbo screwed his face up in disgust but he reached out took it in his hand before leaning back and heaving the ball into the air.
It rose, then fell.
Plop.
Lava splattered and bubbled, and the ball sank beneath the surface, leaving nary a ripple to mark its path.
"Right. We've got, at most twenty minutes. Let's go." Harry called and as one, the teams pivoted in mid-air and the twelve got the hell out of there.
Back in clear air, Harry nodded to each person and one by one, they rose to flank him. As his speed increased, so did theirs. It took time, far more than Harry wanted to spare, but soon they were flying at the maximum speed that a Firebolt could produce. The ground rose and fell under them, ignored as they pushed as hard as they could, to reach the safety of Gondor. Rising from the Plains of Pelennor, they began to slow, in preparation to land on the balcony of the suites assigned to them.
Touching down, each was hugged by a waiting Alice, who also lifted the notice-me-nots and sent each of them off towards their own rooms.
Harry and Bilbo exchanged a long speaking glance.
"Well done, my Lord." Bilbo nodded regally.
"And to you, as well, Your Highness." Harry did the same.
"Bloody dwarves." Bilbo muttered. "I'm not bloody royalty."
Harry snorted. "You will be, seeing as you finally accepted Thorin's courtship."
Bilbo glared at him. "Get lost, Lord Potter, and keep your mouth shut." The hobbit snarled and stalked away, muttering under his breath.
"Payback's a bitch." Harry called after him, before heading to find his own husband and their sons.