Disclaimer: Anything you recognize from the Harry Potter and Lord of the Ring books and/or movies is not mine.
A/N: Okay. Long time, no update, yeah? I have no excuse to that except for the fact that after what I did have written got deleted, I just gave up on it. Sad, really, but I had no motivation to write the chapter again. But now that I'm sick at home with pneumonia, I decided that I should catch up on this a bit. Sorry about the long wait, guys. I really shouldn't have given up like that.
So, this chapter isn't great. I haven't written this in such a long time and I haven't gotten the feel of it again, yet. Hopefully it's not too bad. Please tell me what you think so that I can try to improve it.
Thanks Uranophobic, HarbringerLady, Twin Tails Speed, stuck-in-a-tree, emeraud.silver, Cherri202, xwolfpupx, TanyaPotter, JuMiKu, jka1, anti-thule, angelkitty77, I-Y-T-Y, Shadow Bete Noire, Skullera, AmethystSiri, Jesp-R, Cap'n BlackRose, Haljaruna, hittocerebattosai, bandgsecurtiyaw, Elys, Myrr, lady sakura cosmos, Ratchadewi, Sssnitch, Dadaiiro, BratCat, Wraith, Ragnhild, RavenXI, crazysquirl, Wolven Spirits, Dr. Masaki, HarrySlytherinson, XinnLajgin, joeb303, koldy, DeAtHsTeNsHi, SwiftShadow, neko-in-tears, Draco is my King, Illucia, Jaryd Alderis, PurelyExplosiv, Heavenly Dancer, and Dragonzice for all the wonderful reviews!
Seeing an Eternity
By: xScenex
Chapter Four
Previously:
"It's alright, Harry. I know these two."
At Gandoof's voice, the two new people looked up and shouted in unison, "Gandalf!"
Gandalf? Oops.
Harry felt blood rise from his neck to his face when he realized the mistake in the elder mans name, but soon his embarrassment turned into suspicion as the two newcomers finally scrambled to their feet and bowed deeply to the taller wizard beside him.
"Gandalf! Gandalf!" a younger sounding voice piped up. He sounded as if he was shocked.
The other cried out, "Gandalf? But - but you -"
"We thought you died!"
Gandalf chuckled deeply, and Harry cast him a questionable look.
"Peregrin Took and Meriadoc Brandybuck. Hobbits of the Shire."
"Pairof… what?"
"Simply Merry and Pippin will do," Gandalf chuckled and waved towards the pair in front of them. Only then did Harry realize that those were the two small men's names.
"Who is he, Gandalf?" asked who he suspected to be 'Pippin', the younger one.
Gandalf motioned towards Harry, who in turn, inclined his head slightly. "He calls himself Harry, the Black."
"He's a wizard?"
"So it seems."
Harry shot a very disgruntled look at the other, but he didn't say anything as Gandalf interrupted any other speech.
"Why are the two of you here? Where is the rest of the Fellowship?"
There was some shifty silence before either or the small men replied. The older, Merry, spoke up.
"We were captured, Gandalf. The Orcs - Uruk-hai got us! We were passing over Amon Hen when they attacked!"
"We had been looking for Frodo, when they ambushed us," Pippin nodded enthusiastically. "Boromir had - h…"
Harry noted that his enthusiasm slowly abated into silence. He felt slightly out of place, but it was interesting to say the least. He'd had no other human - or close to human - contact in so long that he wasn't eager to leave it behind.
Pippin shook his head slowly, but Harry was able to distinguish the movement. "Boromir… died trying to save us."
His head bowed, as did Merry's. Gandalf stood in silence, then he, too, bowed his head.
"'Tis a great saddness, to lose a Steward of Gondor."
Merry sniffed loudly, and his friend actually began sobbing. Harry felt so unsure of himself, standing there within a group of friends that mourned for someone.
He took a few steps back away from the circle of strangers, but a strong hand came to rest on his shoulder. He looked up to see the form of Gandalf next to him.
"Stay, child. This is no place for you to adventure. You will dwell with us, a while."
"I don't want to intrude," he said honestly. "It wouldn't be right."
"To let a child, foreign to the surrounding land, adventure alone would not be reasonable, either," Gandalf spoke; his earnest tone was sincere.
"Stay with us Master Harry," Pippin spoke up with a slightly thick voice as he wiped at tears on his face. "The larger the party, the merrier. Especially in these woods."
Harry grimaced at the name, but shrugged his slender shoulders elegantly. "Fine then."
Besides, he had no where else to go. He had just been wondering around, aimlessly.
"Splendid," Gandalf said in such a tone that reminded Harry so strongly of Dumbledore that he nearly gagged, but was able to hide his discomfort before it was noticeable.
"Can we rest, and maybe eat before we go further?" Merry asked eagerly out of nowhere.
The older wizard chuckled and nodded. "It is nearly dusk already, and wondering in the dark will get us nowhere. We will be safe till dawn."
Sighing happily, the two short men literally flopped down on the soft soil. Harry, though stood and watched as the older man slowly sat down against the trunk of a large tree.
"Got anything to eat, Gandalf? We haven't eaten anything proper in days," the younger one asked keenly.
"Sadly, young Hobbit, I do not. We will have to find berries, or some fruit for the night."
"I don't trust eating fruit growing here," Merry intoned. "I've heard bad things about this forest."
"You've probably heard right," Gandalf said solemnly. "But we will have to make do with what we have."
Harry shifted and pulled his hood back up. "I've lived here for a few months now - I know some of the more edible things in this forest. I can help you find some if you like."
Gandalf laid his staff down across his lap. "Great idea, Harry."
He wasn't sure how to reply to that, so he turned around and began walking off. He figured that the old man wouldn't get up to help, as the whole group seemed exhausted - even if the wizard didn't sound, his energy quivered with the fatigue.
Harry had entered the foliage towards where he had first came and started walking back to the river him and Iris had followed a long ways. He could catch some fish there for them to cook - although only few were actually good.
He was close to the river, when he heard cracking leaves and twigs behind him, and a huffing voice called out.
"Master Harry! I'll help you - wait up!"
He turned, slightly surprised and slightly bewildered. He hadn't expected one of the small men to follow but Gandalf had probably sent him to make sure that Harry would return.
He asked unsurely, "Pippin - right?"
The man nodded eagerly as he came up to Harry - the top of his head came up to Harry's collarbone. Harry was short, but this man had to be a midget.
"Just Harry, please," he said, his voice slightly annoyed. 'Master' reminded him too much of what Dobby would say.
"Harry, then. How come you know your way around here so much?" came the response.
He gave a sideways glance at the man, but answered nonetheless. "I've lived here for nearly half a year. Not in this area, though, but I've been through here recently today."
"Lived? But isn't it dangerous here?"
"Yes," he responded, but smiled. "If you run into the wrong people I guess. I've only ever ran into animals, and an Ent. Nothing too harmful at least."
"An Ent? I thought those were legend."
"They're real," Harry nearly laughed. "I thought I was hallucinating when I first met Ashtwig, but eventually I got used to the idea of a talking tree."
Pippin drew in a sharp breath. "Shh, they'll hear you!"
Harry looked at him incredulously, then laughed outright. The other didn't seem to mind as he chuckled slightly, but still looked around in unease.
"There are none around, trust me. I'd know."
"You can sense them?"
"In a way. I actually see them, but in a different way than you do, I guess."
"Oh."
Harry smiled, his face shadowed by his hood. It was actually nice to talk to someone other than a wise Ent who spoke in riddles and wonders.
"So… what are you?" Harry questioned. It was starting to annoy him - he didn't want to ask if the man was a midget, in literal terms, but he was getting really frustrated not knowing.
The grin was obvious in Pippin's voice. "I'm a hobbit! Not many people know of us, as the Shire is hidden."
"Shire?"
"That's where us Hobbits lived before we set out with Frodo."
Harry nearly gagged. What was with the names?
"Are you alright, Mas- I mean, Harry?" Pippin asked, concerned.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine," he said with a hint of a laugh. "So.. Uh, who's this Fro-toe?"
"Fro-do. He's… one of our friends. One of the Fellowship, he is."
"What's this 'Fellowship' everyone keeps talking about?" Harry asked as they finally came up to the river's bank. He peered over at the water and could see the distant, shiny life of the fish in the depths of the water.
"Are we catching fish?" Pippin inquired curiously while looking down into the dark water.
"We're going to try," he replied, and smiled. "So?"
Pippin looked slightly uneasy in his stance for a second. "I'm not sure if I should tell you, but I trust you not to go telling everyone. We were formed as a kind of group - Me, Merry, Frodo, Sam - we're all hobbits, Strider, Boromir-" his voice cracked slightly. "Legolas - he's an elven prince, Gimli, and of course, Gandalf."
"Oh. What do you do?"
"Protect the Ring," Pippin said unsurely. "Well, protect Frodo, more like it."
"The Ring? The one that Saruman is after?"
"You know?" came the surprised question.
"Gandalf said something about it earlier. Forged to dominate the other rings, and such. Is it really that bad?"
He saw Pippin shrug out of the corner of his eye. "Not too sure myself, but it seems that way."
Harry shook his head and shrugged off his cloak. He'd been fishing a few times with the help of Ashtwig, but had nearly drowned the first few times because of the lack of telling what way was up and down when he dived in deep water. He had gotten better at it, eventually and hoped he would have no problems with it now.
"Are you going in there?" squeaked the 'hobbit' with an awed voice.
"Yeah. Only way to catch the fish - they're close to the bottom. It's not too deep, so it can't be too bad."
Harry pulled his hair back with a tiny rope from inside his pocket so that it wouldn't get in his way.
"But - what if there's something in there? You wont be able to tell - I can't even see fish in that water! I don't trust it!"
"It's fine, actually." Harry grinned mysteriously at the man. "Just, if I don't come up in an hour, you'll know something's wrong."
"But -"
"Trust me, on this. I'm a wizard - I know what I'm doing," he said, using that fact to his advantage.
"Okay.. Can I do anything while you're fishing?"
Thoughtfully, Harry tapped his chin. There were a few waterbed plants that were edible and would taste well in a vegetable based soup.
"If you want, you can help find a few plants for a soup." He kneeled down and reached forward into the water at the bank. The mud underneath the water was cold, but Harry ignored it and dug into it, feeling for roots. Finally, he found what he needed and pulled up a handful of roots and shook the mud off.
They were the color of a dark olive - or appeared to be to Harry.
"See these?" he asked, holding them up to Pippin.
"Those look nasty," came the response.
"But they taste good - just find some of these for me. It's one of the only edible things you'll find around here."
"Alright."
Harry smiled and turned back to the water. He decided that it would be best to keep the majority of his clothes dry, since he didn't feel like wasting time in trying to get them clean - a scrougify spell only worked for so much. So he stripped down to his boxers before taking his first few steps in the water.
Pippin watched him from the bank, digging in the water and muddying his hands. "Be careful!"
"I'll be fine," Harry said with disgruntlement. He'd always hated being babied by people.
The water that slapped around his ankles was icy. He shivered slightly, but otherwise took it well as he waded further until it was up to his waist. He paused there, and stared down into the water so that he could find out just how he should catch the fish.
They didn't seem fast - nor did they seem bothered by the interruption of Harry's legs in the current. They obviously weren't used to being hunted.
Harry lent his upper body forward slightly and flicked his wand out of the holster on his wrist. He held the tip under the water before he forced a stream hot water towards the fish.
In a matter of seconds, the fish scattered, but half a dozen of them hadn't been so lucky to get away - they were hit by the water and in moments, they floated upwards towards Harry unconscious.
Harry grinned, tipped his wand back into the holder, and called out to Pippin, "Here's dinner!"
He gathered up the wet, slippery fish in his arms before he lugged them back to the bank and dropped them onto a pile of grass next to the hobbit.
"How'd you catch so many like that?"
"Magic."
The hobbit stared up in wonder at Harry. "Even Gandalf wouldn't do that."
"I'm not him, though. My magic is kind of different."
"Different?"
"Yeah… see-" Harry brought his wand out one more time and with a mere whispered spell, the water on his body dried.
"Wow! What else can you do?" the excited man asked, standing up to examine the end of his wand. Harry unsurely lowered it away from the others face.
"I can't do a lot of stuff - not a lot compared to others, but I know a decent amount of things."
"Will you show me sometime?" he asked, picking up the pile of plants he'd pulled up in the short time that Harry had been 'fishing'.
"Yeah, sure. I wouldn't mind practicing a bit, myself."
Harry was about to ask him what he'd like to see, but instead, he heard a loud noise - it was Pippin's stomach.
The other laughed slightly, "Guess I haven't eaten in a while."
"Then lets get back and get this cooked. I'm hungry, myself." It was true - he hadn't really eaten in a while either.
Slipping his pants back on, he slung his shirt and his cloak over one shoulder and scooped the fish up in his arms again. No use in getting his shirt dirty.
Pippin gathered up the rest of the reeds, commenting on the fact that they still didn't look edible. Harry only laughed, and led the way back to the others.
A/N: Yay! Finally! I hope you guys don't hate me too much - I'll try to make the next update a lot quicker. And I mean A LOT quicker. This chapter was mainly just introduction, I guess. Nothing much happens. Maybe I'll get some action into the next one, but I'm not too sure how that one will go. Oh well. I hope you enjoyed!