Previously on Buying Time:

"King Thorin?" Harry questioned and the ghost's eyes moved back to his. The eyes now held sadness and the wizard knew it was because he was sad to let the stone he loved so go. Harry continued thought. "King Thorin, your sword has been used in ages past to assist in victory in battle. You yourself used it to great effect before your passing. I ask that you let me take it to a great warrior who will use it again in battle as it was made for. Will you permit me to take the sword?"

The ghostly eyes looked at him accusingly and Harry could feel the unasked question. He slid his sword from its black leather sheath to show the ghost. "I Sir have my own sword already. It is my family sword and I would not wield another. Beside yours is not suited for my type of fighting. Please I know I ask much of you but we will need every weapon we can to defeat our foes in Mordor. I believe we have already lost Saruman if the word in Fangorn is true and he was a great ally and even greater foe."

Without knowing how powerful some of the artifacts he had in his possession, Harry flew on his broom at top speeds back toward his home. With the dwarfs being attacked he was sure evil had spread elsewhere.

Chapter 6

It felt good to be able to sleep in his own house for once. The fire warmed the air and kept the winter chill out. It had been six months since he had returned home and in that time Harry had tried to figure out a plan as to what he was going to do. As he realized that Middle Earth wasn't going to be attacked right away he had apparated back to Lake Town to give them word that the army they had mustered wasn't needed just yet. It didn't bother the warriors that had grouped together, more than five thousand strong. It gave them more time for training and recruiting. Harry told them he would be back when war broke out and their help was needed.

Boromir still could not be found and Denethor was becoming more and more paranoid. He nearly threw Harry out of the town for advising him to send for aid early before the battles began. As he left he talked with Faramir and did his best to spell his weapons and armor. Harry hadn't studied enchantments as of yet and it looked like it might be a while before he would have the time again. Unfortunately the spells would only last a few weeks before they started to fade. Harry also gave Faramir a few thousand of the arrows he had made as they were far superior to what they were using. Harry worried about the tension between Farimir and his father. It was clear the younger son was not what his father envisioned as his heir. Boromir was much more fitting. Still the hostility was never before shown in the way it was now. The Steward of Gondor seemed to want nothing to do with his youngest son only wishing Boromir back to the city. Something was going on but Harry didn't have time to figure it all out now. After clasping hands, Harry and Faramir wished each other safety Harry 'popped' back to his home.

The rest of the winter Harry spent his time reading up on the ritual to help him build his staff. If a war was coming he wanted the most powerful weapons he could use and the staff would not only give him more enhanced magic but also another physical defense for himself. It was very difficult and the rune sets that were required needed placement and structure to be exact or there might not be a Harry Potter to try making a second staff. The binding potion for the wood and cores was even more difficult then the one he brewed with the Mind Arts ritual. It would take nearly a year to brew properly and would require his presence nearly once a day. It was going to be hard and tedious but worth it later.

The process of making the staff was much like a ritual but not in the sense of the rituals he had preformed before. This one used his magic and blood to choose among all the parts he had collected. He did have to ingest some of the potion and use a silver knife to carve runes into both arms, since he was going to be using it with both hands, but for what reason he didn't yet know. He also had to cut runes down both sides of his face from just below his eyes down to his chest where they circled his heart.

As winter was creeping into spring Harry lay on his bed and thought about what to do. He knew war was coming fast and it would take months, perhaps even years, to perform the ritual. He wouldn't even chance trying to hurry the process as the backlash in the magic would be horrific with such a powerful process. Disheartened about the further wait and not having the weapon in the battles to come, he put aside his plans for the staff for another time and started researching different ways to gain more power.

As the early March snows warmed into April showers Harry knelt in his ritual chamber. He had found a power enhancing ritual in his multi-book that he had practiced the past three weeks strait for. With not having to sleep when he didn't want to it gave him plenty of time to practice the rune set he would have to carve onto his body. He also thought it would be a good way to practice for his staff ritual.

The first thing he needed to do for the ritual was to create a silver dagger and saturate it with as much of his magic as he was physically able to. It was still difficult to conjure silver for him but with work and his increasing powers it was becoming easier. He had become curious as to why a silver knife had to be uses and found that it was one of the most magic conducting metals known that can be found in somewhat large quantities. After conjuring it he spent an hour every day pouring his own power into the blade. By the time of the ritual it shown and pulsed with a crimson energy that as it expanded turned silver until it was a radiant silver color at the most outside edges.

He had used a piece of dull metal and a dye to practice transcribing the runes on his body for weeks and had them all perfect. Many of them he had used before as they dealt with power, transfer and magic but others he had to learn from scratch. The difficult part of carving runes was the fact that a line even five degrees off could change the meaning of said rune and cause a fatal cascading effect by putting the massive amounts of energy all rituals required into purposes that it wasn't meant for.

Confident he knew what he was doing, Harry sat in the middle of his ritual chamber mentally preparing himself for what he was about to do. It would be no easy task as he remembered the pain from previous rituals. He crossed his legs and picked up the already glowing blade. He was slightly worried at the amount of power he was about to absorb. This ritual didn't really give him more power. Really it used the power he forced into the dagger to stretch and expand his already large core and channels. Therefore, once his magic built back up after the ritual it would have a larger space to do so and allow him to use more magic.

Clearing his mind and bringing only the instructions to the ritual to the front he began chanting in a beautiful language. The practiced words and phrases flowed from his tongue like silk lightly caressing the magic in the air and directing it. Harry slid the impossibly sharp knife into his flesh and used the demon-given occlumency to push the pain aside and continue. The flowing runes circled his chest and heart only leaving an inch of unmarred flesh on his chest. He could feel in a deep part of his mind his muscles screaming as the blade severed them. As the circle of runes grew farther and farther out the blade glowed more intensely. The words still flowed from his mouth and the magic gathered around the runes and into the blade. As the continued to cut the blade started shaking with power and even with all his enhanced strength it was difficult to hold it steady. Finally he finished his chest and started working down his arms. The blade made quick work of the flesh and soon a single line of runes ran down the entire length of his arm to the center of his palm. He repeated the process with his other arm. By the time he was finished he could barely hold the blade steady.

Carefully he placed the tip of the blade in the center of the unmarred section of skin on his chest. He didn't dare open his eyes as he could see the power in the blade even with them closed. Taking a final breath the last of the flowing language was uttered and he pressed the dagger into his heart up to the hilt.

Searing power flowed though his body like liquid fire. It coursed though his veins and into every part of him. The carved runes became hot as the blood burned away and silver glowing cuts healed. It was painful but not nearly as much as the demon's ritual. If he had to guess it was slightly worse than the Cruciatus. Minutes passed as the pain didn't stop and the only thing keeping him sane was the fact that he retreated into his mind then closed it off to try to escape the pain before it overwhelmed him. Finally, the pain and power started to decrease after ten minutes.

As the last of the power flowed into his body the silver dagger disappeared and Harry fell to the floor utterly drained. He didn't even bother trying to leave the room for hours. When he did feel like he could move to his room, he stumbled up the stairs, only just managing to make it to the bed before he passed out.

When he woke he was still feeling weak. He looked over his body and noticed that anywhere there weren't runes was covered in now dried blood. It was the sacrifice that was required by the ritual: blood, his life force, for the new magical power he now had. The blood would replenish as would his magic and he would be stronger for it. Stumbling from the bed he ate three of the elf meals as he was so hungry and needed so much energy. He also downed three blood replenishing potions to help along his healing. As the food and potions set to work he began to feel much better. He stood in front of the mirror he could still see the welts covering his chest and arms where the runes had been cut through the dried blood. They were still inflamed but were healing rapidly now that his body had energy to work with. He looked to his bed and grimaced as he noticed the amount of blood all over the sheets. He also had left a trail of blood all the way up into the main part of the house. "I guess not all of the cuts had healed." Harry rasped to himself.

He quickly moved to take a very long bath, probably more than one, to clean himself off. He could already feel his magical powers rejuvenating. It felt strange as though what use to be able for fill up a decent size part of his core now only felt like a drop of water in a lake. Harry could only wonder in amazement what he would feel like once he totally recuperated from his self imposed torture.

'Maybe now I will have the power to stand and face Riddle.' The young man thought to himself.

Remembering the ease Voldemort had created the animated silver hand for Wormtail, Harry thought he might be able to do something to the same level with a decade or so practice on subtlety and refinement. He was quickly narrowing the gap though, making the Chosen One all the more confident that one day he would be able to live in a world that would be free of dark lords out for his blood. It was a good feeling. As he dressed he noticed the griffin tattoo on his chest holding the two balls of energy and wondered again what it meant. Why had a different animal showed up on each of them? As he looked closer he noticed that the two balls of energy had lost their individual colors and were now each looked like balls of crimson flame tipped in silver.

'That's strange. I wonder when that happened.' He thought. There must be some significance to them changing colors. 'Maybe it just means the magic has totally merged into mine.' He didn't really know what to thing of that. He still felt queasy every time he thought of what he had done to Bellatrix. Was he sorry she was dead? No, not at all. But the absolute physical and mental torture that the woman must have gone though as her magic was seeping into Harry's body. Harry also didn't know how he felt that something that had been used for so much harm was now a part of him. It was different when he was able to see that the ball in the tattoo's hand was not a part of him but still Bellatrix. Now all signs of it being another person's was gone. Had the merging of the magics changed him? Made him more like Lestrange? Made him more like the monster that had ruined so many lives? Was that the reason he could kill without feeling now? Harry shuddered violently thinking of all the orcs, goblins, wargs and other creatures of the dark that he had dispatched without much feeling. The war, the one back home, had taken so much from him. Never did he think he would, or even could, one day kill another being. Much less with the efficiency he could do it now. For the first time Harry really understood that he was a different person then he was during his few years of schooling. He would never be able to be the same man he was before he made the decision to move into the Chamber of Secrets. The realization made the man feel empty, like his heart dropped into his stomach. Harry knew what it was that had changed, what he had lost, all because of a selfish man. The innocence that all human children are born with had been stripped from him. Stolen by a half blooded wizard who thought he was better than everyone else. It started the night his parents had died. It had taken nearly sixteen years for that night's effects to come to fruition though. Sighing deeply as he now keenly felt the loss of something so pure and good, Harry moved around the house to clean what he could.

It took nearly a full month for the welts on him to fade completely and his magic to stabilize again but now he felt amazingly powerful. He had practiced some and noticed that he was now being restricted by his wand. Not many would be able to tell and he sincerely doubted Riddle could, but by being able to see the magic while casting he could see the bottle neck that was now created by the magical conductor. Though since you can't feel magic trying to push to get out only pulled from you it would be impossible to notice the restriction without the Mage Sight Magic gave him. Hopefully it wouldn't cause problems in the war to come. It might even be helpful. After all, most of his foes had no magical defense. It would restrict the amount of magic going into each spell therefore allowing him to cast more spells.

Something else had been bothering Harry for the past few weeks as well. He could feel the darkness encroaching and knew it was now time to leave his house. The darkness had spread to his little home and now it was only his wards that kept the dark creatures of the night at bay. He had killed a great number of them as well trying to ensure that their evil wouldn't spread.

As he magically locked the house down and cast another ward to keep people out he double checked that he had everything. In his duster he had his shrunken trunk. He wore his mithril armor under leather pants and a knit black crew neck shirt, one of only two he had remaining. Dragon hide gloves held throwing knives and his wand. Dragon hide boots held his long hunting knife and finally his duster and trusty hat. Commanding his broom to his hand Harry jumped on it and started searching for Rivendell and Elrond.

After days of searching Harry found himself flying over the southern gates of Moria. He had searched long for any sign of the elf village where he believed a gathering of races occurred not too long before. A yell drew his attention to the south and he allowed his broom to glide over to the disturbance. Looking down he could see Boromir and Aragorn fighting what looked like a giant squid in a great polluted lake that use to be a marvelous lake by the edge of the gate. Before the water was much further from the edge of the rock face. Concentrating on the fight below Harry noticed four hobbits fighting and an elf and dwarf that each looked vaguely familiar. Finally Gandalf came into view only to flee with the rest of the company into the open gates.

Harry panicked knowing what was in those mines and before he could react the squid monster had pulled the side of the mountain down to block the passage, uprooting the two once marvelous holly trees that stood as ancient guards of the path. Knowing he had to help Harry, landed and apparated into the cave.

The 'pop' sounded incredibly loud in the dark cave. The only light was that of Gandalf's staff. All attention turned to him as he appeared out of thin air.

"You seem to have made a habit of doing that young Harry." Gandalf said as he recognized the young man in their midst.

"You looked like you could use a little help. Hello again Aragorn, Boromir. Good to see you again."

They all shook hands and clapped each other on the backs. Before they could get any further Harry drew his wand.

"I really don't thing you will be wanting to go that way." Harry pointed further into the caves. "And I don't like being trapped." Harry strode to the cave in and thrust his wand at the fallen rocks. The rocks exploded from the mouth of the cave catching the creature by surprise and the others only watched awed at the powerful wizard.

Harry stood next to the now open gate as the monster screamed its rage and attacked. A wave of the wand severed the tentacle and black blood sprayed over the water's surface. As the animal gathered its wits many other tentacles attacked and Harry drew his sword and attacked as well. A shield of silver sprung to life as one of the tentacles slammed down doing nothing to the wizard. The next second a torrent of fire burned off three appendages and left the face of the still screeching monster blackened.

"Calamari anyone?" Harry laughed as he continued fighting. None of the other knew to what the boy was referring to but they figured it must have had something to do with the now cooked tentacle lying on the beach.

Another wave and loose rocks all around him turned into spears with a command they were sent hurdling into the soft flesh, easily tearing though it. The creature ceased it's attack and thrashed around trying vainly to defend himself. Swinging the wand like a lasso, Harry pointed it at the creature and gave a giant pull. The huge squid/octopus mix flew through the air and smashed into the side to the mountain face. Finally Harry grabbed his wand by both hands lifting it to the sky then swished it down violently and left it pointing at the creature. From the wand came crimson and silver lightening that arced and split in vicious lines to the evil monster. The bolts hit the thing burning and electrocuting every part it touched. It spasmed and twitched as the bolts made deep burning gouges in the things flesh.

Finally it ceased moving and Harry stopped the curse. Seeing what was keeping the water from flowing he sent a powerful Reducto into the damn the thing had made. The wood and filth blew apart and the rancid water drained from the lake.

Harry looked at the defiled land around the foul lake in sadness. It had been so beautiful once. Determination filled him. He wouldn't let the evil take over like it had. Concentrating with all his might he slowly waved his wand across the entire area.

Aragorn had watched in amazement as Harry battled that monster. Never could he have imagined he was so powerful and skilled. Since he had met the youth, who still didn't look a day older than when they had met, he had been so humble and down to earth. Now to know he could wield such powerful magic he felt hope swell in his chest. Maybe they could win this after all.

The group watched as Harry slowly waved his wand from one side of the pond to the other and the amount of pure magic power that erupted from him allowed even them to see the air shimmer as the wave of magic moved across the lake. When the magic passed over a place the filth and foulness vanished along with the polluted water. As the last of the power was released Harry dropped to his knees exhausted.

Boromir and Aragorn were by his side in an instant. The dwarf and elf not far behind as they were still amazed at the now clean lake bottom.

"Are you alright Harry?" Asked a worried Boromir.

"I am old friend. Just tired. That last spell took a lot out of me. Just get me a little food and I will be fine shortly." Harry replied still panting.

Sam, one of the hobbits, moved to bring him some bread and jerky but Harry waved him off as he removed his trunk and resized it. The dwarf, elf and hobbits gasped as a now full sized trunk sat on the ground but the other had seen it before and smiled at the amazement on the other's faces. Harry removed the bottle of water he had gotten from Treebeard's hall and took a few swallows and immediately felt his energy returning. Passing around the refreshing drink he pulled out enough of the elf made dinners for everyone and passed them around.

"Come and look at this Pippin!" Merry said excitedly. As the other hobbit came around to view the trunk the hobbit continued. "There's a room inside the trunk packed full of food all ready to eat. We could have breakfast."

"And after-breakfast." Said Merry in amazement as he looked into the expanded trunk space.

"And before-lunch."

"And Lunch."

"Don't forget after-lunch."

"And then there's…" The hobbits went back and forth excited about how much food there was a possibility of eating.

"Hang on my dear Hobbits. Perhaps it would be better to ask our new friend if he would be willing to share. If he is, save what he has for when we are short on our supplies." Aragorn jumped in at Harry's stricken look at the two overly excited hobbits.

Quickly shaking off his daze Harry smiled at the two hobbits. "Well aren't you two a lively duo. I know two twins who could give you a run for you money though. I already know Gandalf, Aragorn and Boromir. So who might you two be?"

The shorter one with a more pointed face straitened comically and lifted his chin. "I am Perigrin Took, but just call me Pippin and this," He gestured to the somewhat rounder hobbit, "is Merry."

"Hallo good Sir." Said another hobbit stepping up nervously.

"I'm Sam." Harry nodded and smiled. He noticed all the camping and cooking supplies on the stocky hobbit's pack. "Why don't you place your gear in my trunk for the time being. I'm sure it would be easier hiking without the extra weight." Harry asked knowing all that extra weight had to be hard on the little man.

"Oh no thank you good sir I couldn't ask you to burden yourself further." Harry smiled mischievously at the hobbit. "Well," he said with a full blown smile, "if you won't let me carry it for you then let me help you out a bit." Harry waved his wand and Sam's pack glowed white for a moment. "Go ahead and pick it up Sam. Tell me if there is any difference."

The young hobbit moved over to his back and jerked it up, ready for the heavy weight of the cast iron skillets and all the food he had back in it. With a surprise yelp the hobbit fell over with the bag landing on top of him. Harry laughed at the scene and then nearly fell over at the mask of confusion on the hobbit's face.

"Well don't keep us waiting Sam. What happened?" Merry was bouncing.

"It weighs different that's what's different. It feels no heavier than a leaf." He quickly opened the back noticing that everything was still there and when he took out the pans they still weighed the same but when he placed them back into the bag it was feather light. The other hobbits ran over to test the pack and most of the others did as well.

"I could do that for all the bags if you like. It's a charm. It's not permanent but will make what ever I cast it on as light as a feather for a few months time. Should help in our travels."

After the amazement settled Harry cast the charm on all the companies packs. Gandalf noticeably sulked away after Harry charmed his bags. Sighing Harry pulled out some of the cauldron cakes, chocolate frogs and peppermint imps he had in his trunk for the group to share. After explaining about the candy he glanced over to Gandalf again. Still sulking. Shaking his head ruefully he knew things hadn't changed between the old man and him. He was hoping the time they each spent apart would allow the older mage to get over his jealousy. Obviously not.

Harry sat watch that night after explaining to the others that due to a spell he only needed to eat once again and he wouldn't need to sleep and wouldn't get tired. He readied his sword and wand encase anything tried to sneak up on them then leaned back against a rock he had cushioned with magic to prepare his nightly visual. As the others slid into slumber Harry read from one of his multi-books about the basics of enchanting. It was something he had been meaning to do for a while and now seemed to be as good a time as any. Every once in a while he would switch over to his heat vision to see if any unseen creatures were sneaking up on them. The night passed quietly.

Not long after the sun broke the horizon the company began to wake. Sam started breakfast, which Harry helped with by supplying a fire on the hard rock with seemingly no fuel. Sam smiled still amazed with the magic and set to his self-assigned task.

As the group gathered around to eat Harry spoke up.

"I still haven't met everyone in this little fellowship. To all here if you didn't know me before, I am Harry and it is nice to meet you all."

"I apologize Harry for not introducing myself earlier. I was so amazed at your skill with magic it must have slipped my mind. I am Legolas of the elves of Mirkwood."

"That's where I've seen you before." Harry stated brightly. "It was driving me nuts. Your fathers the King. We've met briefly before when I was visiting your father's realm."

"You too seemed familiar and now I know where to place your face. It is amazing that you haven't aged at all in the past twenty odd years."

"Yea well, what can you do." Harry shrugged off the comment and moved his gaze over to the dwarf. "You I know by name alone Master Gimli. I have spent time with your King in Lonely Mountain after you left on your quest."

"Aye I am Gimli and it is nice to meet you properly. You caused much fuss when you first arrived in our halls." The dwarf looked at him shrewdly.

"Fear not Gimli, I wear the armor made for me with pride anytime I leave my house." Harry pulled the tails of his shirt up revealing the gleaming mithril armor. "It has assisted in sparing my life a few times already and I thank your and your kin for their hard work and expert crafting."

All but Gandalf, Gimli and the hobbit not yet named looked in wonder at the amazing armor.

"Mithril." Gimli stated proudly. "It was made at the behest of our King after young Harry here broke the curse on old Smaug's resting place at the bottom of Long Lake. He retrieved all the treasure trapped in the foul worm's skin and scales and brought it back to us as payment."

"I have news for you Gimli." Harry said somberly. "Bad news. But it can wait for just a bit." The dwarf nodded as Harry's eyes slid over to the last remaining member of the Fellowship not introduced. He had noticed the hobbit didn't looked too marveled at the shirt of mithril and the thoughts of what Hermione had told him before he left again ran through his head.

"And you must be Frodo, bearer of the Ring of Power." Harry looked over the pint sized person critically. "You too have many surprises in store for the future. Keep them a secret for now though." Harry's eyes pierced into the hobbits soul. Frodo shivered as he squirmed under the intense gaze.

"May I see the thing?" Harry asked

"See what?" Frodo squeaked, unnerved by the young wizard.

"The Ring of course. May I see the ring that once sat on the hand of our enemy."

"Perhaps that is not the for the best Harry. The Ring entrances those who hold it to do its bidding." Aragorn cautioned.

"No need to fear. No one can bewitch me much less a Ring. My mind is just that. Mine alone. You might remember what occurred when last we rode together?" Harry smiled letting the Ranger know there were no ill feelings but kept his hand held out toward Frodo.

Shaking a little the hobbit pulled out a chain from around his neck. As he held it out to Harry a shiny gold ring loosely dangled from the end of it.

It seemed to happen all at once. There was a deep thump and Harry could feel the massive pulse of magic released from the ring as it tried to worm it's way into Harry's mind. The force was so strong it actually rocked Harry back slightly.

Throwing up his occlumency shields to their full strength the young wizard snatched the ring from Frodo and gazed murderously at the thing.

"So you think to use your compulsion against me do you Sauron." The words seethed from the young wizard's mouth. The magic in the air was so strong even the others could feel it. As Harry clasped the ring in his hand he could see the burning eye trying to gain access into his mind.

"I will bring about your end Sauron." Harry whispered to the eye but his voice held unbelievable power.

"Who are you man to think you can slay me? Other's more powerful than you have tried to defeat me before and all have failed. No one can kill me. I will always return." A voice so horrid and dark came from the link with the ring. The others in the group shrank back at the voice of the most feared being in Middle Earth.

Harry pushed his magic back against the foul force coming from the ring. He pushed harder and harder, grimacing as he poured his power into his legilimency attack. Finally he slammed into the consciousness of the ring and burrowed though the waste and hate to find how the thing was made and how to destroy the thing. He smiled ferally as he found his answer and began to speak once more. "I know your secrets. I know how you keep coming back Sauron. You dark lords seem to always think the same ways. It is of little matter now however as we have what you so dearly seek. You placed a portion of your very soul into the thing." The eye seemed to shrink back as Harry smirked darkly. "That is why you tarry so to find a simple band of gold once more. Because you can't take your mortal form until you have it."

With that Harry released the ring and studied it more. It had become scalding during the conversation and now script flowed across the band. The ancient text of Mordor that darkened even the most cheerful places.

"This is a powerful object. It is a shame it must be destroyed." Harry said thinking of a ritual where he would be able to transfer the power to himself. He would have to find a way to get the piece of soul out of the ring first though and he had absolutely no idea how to do something like that. 'It might be best to just destroy it. Who knows what kind of unexpected problems the horcrux could cause. And why the hell do the bad guys always seem to place a part of their souls in objects to gain their immortality?' The young wizard wondered.

"How do we destroy it?" Asked Harry to anyone willing to answer not having been able to glean the answer previously.

"Elrond says it has to be tossed back into the fires where it was forged. Back into the fire's heart in Mount Doom ... in Mordor." Gandalf answered for him.

"Might you just be able to do your pop travel and take it there for us?" Asked Aragorn looking hopeful.

"No." Harry said and sounded as disappointed and agitated as the rest looked. "I tried to go into Mordor after I left Minas Tirith the last time. Sauron has some type of ward that I am unable to pass. I believe the first thing he did when he became powerful enough was to ensure that no man would be able to enter Mordor therefore keeping the ring away from Mount Doom."

"Bah, clever evil thing he is. That would have made things much easier." Gimli grumbled.

"The wards keep men out." Gandalf smiled slightly and looked to Frodo. "But I'd bet my beard it wouldn't keep a hobbit out."

They talked a while more about their plans and Harry told the news from Lonely Mountain and Gondor.

Thinking of it Harry pulled his trunk over and removed Orcist, the sword he had been gifted by Thorin, and passed it to Boromir.

Looking at the blade Gandalf jumped to his feet in a rage. "A grave robber now are you!"

"That's enough." Harry's wand flicked toward the old mage and an icy beam froze Gandalf in place. "It's time to stop being a jealous idiot about my ability with magic. It is entirely unbecoming of a person of your age and stature. I may be better manipulating magic than you but you are still the leader of this group, our group, if you will have me. I've as much right to try stopping Sauron as you. You are supposed to be the leader of us. Start acting like it."

"Now if you would let me explain instead of jumping to conclusions." Harry flicked his wand again, this time removing the hex from Gandalf. He set about telling them what had happed after the end of the battle and how he came into possession of the Arkenstone and Orcist. He explained how the ghost of Thorin himself had giving Harry his blessings.

Gimli was understandably upset about events but held no rancor toward Harry and Boromir for holding such great treasures that had once belonged to his King. Gandalf, still distant from Harry, explained about the sword's history and told them things even Harry hadn't known before. As Gandalf was telling the story of how they acquired the sword as well as his and Bilbo's little dagger, Sting, they heard one of the other hobbits a ways away calling for them.

Apparently some time during the explanations, Pippin and Merry had moved off to explore the now slightly muddy but clean lake bottom. As the rest drew closer they could see a great cash of weapons laying around where the middle of the lake would have been. There were all sorts, heaps and mountains it seemed, of different swords, axes, daggers and other things Harry wasn't sure what they were. There was even a beautifully made bow that was made out of something Harry, nor any of the others, could place.

"What should we do with all these and where did they come from?" Harry asked Gandalf. He had meant it when he said that the elder was the leader of this adventure. At least when they were all together.

"I believe some of these predate even Galadriel and the end of the First age." Gandalf said in amazement as he examined the bow Harry held. "As to how they came to be I do not know. Some seem new so they could have been used by the dwarfs to fight the monster but the rest…."

"It would be such a waist to leave these here. Look at how beautiful this little dagger is. It makes a perfect size sword for us hobbits. Better than the ones we found in that crazed tree at the beginning of our adventure." Pippin said as he looked at what appeared to be an elf made dagger with sparsely laid jewels.

"I agree with Pippin, Gandalf." Harry said as he lifted an amazing battle ax from the still damp mud. A quick cleaning charm later and a shining silver ax was displayed. "Gimli, come look at this."

The dwarf gazed at the ax in awe. "Mithril handle and blade with gold inlay, studded with sapphires, and the power it holds." The dwarf visibly shivered in excitement and awe. "Look, look lad! These runes are those of Power from ages long since passed. I agree with the youngerlings Gandalf. We should take what we need. They are no use sitting here on the bottom of a lake when they could be used hewing the heads of orcs. I can feel the yearning for battle this ax has and it is old, so old."

"I believe you are correct Gimli. Some of these weapons could be better used in our fight. But how to take them with us? We could each choose what we need but that still leaves us a problem."

"I know." Merry jumped in. "We could use Harry's trunk. He has rooms in there and can make it light and can make it small."

"Yes very good idea Master Merry." Legolas said as he looked at the shear volume of weapons. There had to be thousands of them. "Though I fear it will take another month to sort them all and clean them. I don't even know if there is enough room in our young wizard's trunk to carry them all."

"First pick out what you want." Harry said as he examined the runes in the white material along the bow shaft wondering what they could mean. Some looked similar to those Gimli described as power runes but much more flowy. It was definitely elf make. It was also still in perfect condition. Only the string needed replacing as it had rotted off with the passage of time. He also picked up a stunning knife to replace the cheap one he had bought back in his world and strapped to his boot. The large knife had some of the same runes of power that had shown on the ax Gimli now possessed making Harry think it was probably dwarf make.

After everyone finished choosing they met back by the shore as Harry requested. Each of the hobbits found one of the ancient long daggers that worked perfectly as swords for them. Legolas found a sword that was long and curved to add to his belt. Gimli had shed all his wood and steel axes and replaced them with duplicate designed ancient axes that were plentiful. Gandalf even found a short sword that looked remarkably like Glamdring's, his sword, match. While Boromir found a long knife, a pair of daggers and another short sword. In a pile next to him were two more of the ancient swords, a pair of elf make knives and two more beautiful daggers. Harry assumed they were for Denethor and Farimir.

A few waves of his wand later and the rest of the weapons that had lane on the bottom of the lakebed had been piled at Harry's feet. Another and they were restored and cleaned. Off to the side was a pile of sinister looking weapons that must have been used by an enemy from long ago. Liking how cool some of the weapons looked and thinking it would make a great collection for him, Harry decided to keep them, even the goblin ones.

As the rest looked at him strangely he only said, "A weapon is a weapon when you need it. And I'm thinking of starting a collection. Some of these things look wickedly evil." Then set to moving things in the trunk around until he had an open room and placed everything in it. In time that room in his trunk would become known as the Booty room as Harry continued compiling treasures from all over the world.

It was near night-fall as they finished so they set up camp by the tunnel once more. After a large dinner, supplemented by Harry's food and treats, the others set to examine what they had found that day and Harry sat back and read another section of a book about gaining more control over ones magic.

As everyone fell asleep Harry saw Gandalf stand and start to make his way over to him.

"I have thought about what you said earlier and wanted to ask your forgiveness regarding my actions to you of late. You are correct in that I was and still am jealous to a point. It is difficult for me to come to terms that someone so young has such a command over magic that in centuries I have not been able to achieve."

"Thank you Gandalf and I understand. Even back home I tended to outshine other fully grown wizards much to their displeasure. I think we could learn a lot from each other. I have books on how to make one more powerful if you want to read it."

"No lad, no." the old mage chuckled. "My time here is almost up. I can feel it in my bones. It is not time for me to attempt more power. I wouldn't mind trying to learn some of your spells if you don't mind."

Harry nodded happy. "Only if you show me how to fight with a staff. I'm trying to make my own."

"Gladly my boy, gladly." The old man smiled too.

"I've been meaning to talk to you about that. Does your staff have any sort of core to help amplify you magic…" The two talked long into the night about things only wizards could understand and built the foundations to a great friendship.

Aragorn closed his eyes smiling as two of his close friends patched the rift that had kept them apart for so long.

Boromir pulled his eyes away from Frodo chastising himself once more for wanting to steal the ring and bring it home. He was confused and scared after all Harry had told him of the goings on back home.

AN: I'm glad to be done with this chapter to tell you all the truth. I don't much like it but I it is a filler for the more interesting stuff. My many thanks to my wonderful beta vampgoddesss. She is doing a wonderful job.

In this story Harry really isn't going to be changing events that happen. He is new to this whole 'new dimention' thing and doesn't want to screw everything up. That is likely to change with experiance and time as you will see toward the end of this story. Harry is after all a very curious youth. You know what they say though: Curiosity killed the cat.