I can't believe I haven't updated in such a long time! I'm really sorry, school has been horrible. And sometimes I can be lazier than Shikamaru – whoever reads the manga "Naruto" knows who I'm talking about.

Mercva: wow, thank you! Uhmm… I think it would depend on the Gryffindor. If he happened to be Ron Weasley, well… In that case, blood would probably be spilled. From both parties. Even if he happened to be another Gryffindor, Victoria would not be happy at all.

Tinkerbell033: You're welcome. I'm glad you still like it.

tenshikoneko03: thank you very much. I am really glad you liked it because I've always feared it would be a boring chapter with all that talking. I didn't want to write another "Council of Elrond – book style"

Lady Vamp1:err… I admit I took my time… I'll try to update sooner the next time!

Author's note: Since has been really annoying with inverted commas, I have decided to change them. From now on,

"speech"

'thoughts'

" /Elvish/ "

I can't remember if bold and italic worked… I hope so. However, I'll update each chapter twice: one with the new format and the other with the regulars – just to see if and when it's going to be fixed!

CHAPTER XX: THE JOURNEY CONTINUES

Author's note: this chapter is a mix between book-verse and movie-verse.

Victoria woke up early that morning. She had rested enough and then, she was quite eager to get away from Galadriel's range of action. Since they had packed all their belongings the previous evening, she didn't have anything to do. So, after gathering a few clean clothes, she walked to the "bathroom" (Truth to be told, it wasn't exactly a conventional bathroom, but she didn't know how to call it).

She came out of there cleaned and dressed and started wandering about the wood.

They had decided to continue their journey on the river, sailing down the Anduin with some boats. That's why the girl decided to have a look at said river. After asking for the direction from a couple of Elves, she finally reached a clear part of the banks. The boats that they were to take with all the other things they would need weren't very far down the riverbank, but from that point she could see only the Great River slowly flowing by between the woods, trees and sky reflected on her surface and the sunrays dancing upon her waters. That was a wonderful sight and Victoria admired it openly. She sat down under a tree near the riverbank, leaning her back against it.

She stayed like that for a long time, without thinking and feeling peaceful for the first time. Suddenly she turned around, hearing approaching footsteps, but her face was lit up by a smile when the other person appeared among the trees. "Good morning, édnie."

"Good morrow, Meril�s." He immediately added, "I hope I haven't disturbed you…"

Victoria shook her head fiercely. "You could never disturb me. Come and sit down."

Boromir smiled at her and sat down in front of her, leaning his back on the trunk behind him. They silently watched the river: such a sight didn't need words. The warrior of Minas Tirith leaned toward the clear water and, slowly, with a kind of magic solemnity, dipped his hand into it. "Anduin…" he murmured. "She runs through Gondor and passes near the walls of my city."

Victoria let her eyes wander on the shining waters. "There's a river…" She whispered "That runs through my city too." She turned to her father. "You also call the Anduin "The Great River," don't you?"

"Aye, she's Middle Earth's longest and largest river…even if here she doesn't look so. Her bed grows wider in the South,"

"And she flows near Minas Tirith…" she whispered to herself as she kept on staring at the water.

Boromir watched his daughter silently. He wouldn't force her to speak if she wasn't ready.

The girl shook her head. "That's pretty incredible…You see, the Po…The river that runs through my city is Italy's longest river. And he's called "the Great River" as well." She was silent for some moments, staring at the water. Then she turned to her father, "Would you tell me about Minas Tirith?"

Boromir couldn't help but smiling. "Haven't you grown tired of hearing about it?"

"How could I?" she replied, smiling back at him. "It's not just the city, Johnny Reb…It's you."

"Me?" he asked, confused.

"Yeah. You have a special way to talk about your city, it's pretty clear that you love it. I never grow tired of listening to you."

"You are flattering me, Meril�s. I'm just a Man and a warrior, I'm not a good storyteller like the Elves."

"It doesn't matter," she replied. "Your words come from the heart and they're worth more than any pretty speech." She shifted against the trunk, making herself comfortable. "Come on, tell me."

Boromir smiled. "As you wish, Meril�s. What do you want to hear?"

"What about the White Tower?"

Boromir smiled again and started describing to her the symbol of the city. Victoria listened to him in awe, not missing a single word.

They were still talking when another member of the Fellowship appeared. "There you are!" Legolas said, startling them for they weren't aware of his arrival. "Come: Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel wish to bid us their farewell before the Fellowship sets forth again."

Victoria let out a sigh and got to her feet unwillingly. She would have liked to disappear in the wood, but it would have definitely been an offence to the landlords, so she had no way out. 'But I really hope that this will be the last time I find myself face-to-face with MacGonagall's clone for a long, long time.'

They followed Legolas to the docks, where the gray boats were waiting for them, and after a few seconds arrived Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel, followed by some Elf-maidens dressed in white who held some clothes between their hands.

Never before have we clad strangers in the garb of our own people. May these cloaks shield you from unfriendly eyes, Lord Celeborn said solemnly.

The maidens unfolded the gray cloaks and wrapped them around the shoulders of the nine companions, fixing them with a leaf-shaped brooch.

When Victoria saw those clothes, her face lost all its colors and she stiffened considerably, as if she had been turned into a statue. As the Elvish handmaid draped the cloak on her shoulders, she felt the urge to rip it away and tear it into pieces, but she couldn't have moved even if she had wanted to. Images of her nightmare flashed in her head. Boromir's body at her feet…and the gray cloak she wore soaked with blood, just like her sword and her hands. Her father's blood.

Lord Celeborn's voice somehow managed to reach her and awake her. "Every league you travel south, the danger will increase. Mordor Orcs now patrol the Eastern shore of the Anduin…Nor will you find safety on the Western bank. Strange creatures bearing the White Hand have been seen on our borders. Seldom do the Orcs journey in the open sun, yet these have done so." He came near the leader of the Fellowship and handed him a dagger. "You are being tracked." Switching to the Common Tongue again, he added, "By river you have the chance of outrunning the enemy to the Fall of Rauros."

Lady Galadriel stepped up. "Before you leave, there are some gifts I wish to offer you in memory of Lothlorien." She started with Legolas, handing him a bow richly crafted and bigger than the one the Elf used. "My gift to you, Legolas, is a bow of the Galadhrim, worthy of the skill of our woodland kin." The Prince of Mirkwood bowed his head, embarrassed. To Merry and Pippin she gave two daggers. "These are the daggers of Noldorin. They have already seen service in war." Then she turned to the youngest Hobbit, who was staring at his weapon doubtfully, and added, "Do not fear, young Peregrin Took: you will find your courage." She turned to the gardener. "And for you, Samwise Gamgee, Elven rope made of hithlain,"

'What's this, an instigation to commit suicide?' Victoria thought.

"Thank you, my lady…" Sam was saying. "Have you run out of those nice shiny daggers?" He blushed, realizing that he had cut out a poor figure.

Galadriel merely smiled maternally and passed him by, stopping in front of the son of Gloin. "And what gift would a dwarf ask of the Elves?"

"Nothing," Gimli replied. "Except to look upon the lady of the Galadhrim one last time, for she is more fair than all the jewels beneath the earth." He coughed, embarrassed. "Actually... there was one thing.. er.. no, no I couldn't. It's quite impossible. Stupid to ask…"

"Speak, I beg of you! I don't want you to be the only guest to depart without a gift."

"Then, my Lady…In this case, if I am allowed to ask, I only wish for a hair of your golden locks," he answered, blushing crimson.

The Lady smiled. "This is a wish I can easily grant…" She cut off three blonde hairs and handed them to the dwarf, who bowed so low that his head touched the ground.

The Lady turned to Aragorn. "I have nothing greater to give than the gift you already bear," she murmured as she lightly touched the pendant he wore around his neck, her eyes full of melancholy for her granddaughter's fate. "For her love, I fear the grace of Arwen Evenstar will diminish…"

Aragorn spoke in spite of the lump clenching his throat. "I would have her leave these shores and be with her people. I would have her take the ship to Valinor."

"That choice is yet before her." She cut him off. "You have your own choice to make, Aragorn. To rise above the height of all your fathers since the days of Elendil, or to fall into darkness with all that is left of your kin. Namarie." Isildur's heir bowed and she lifted his chin so he would look at her in the eyes. "There is much you have yet to do. We shall not meet again, Elessar."

Then it was Boromir's turn, who received a belt of golden leaves, and finally Frodo's. "Farewell, Frodo Baggins. I give you the light of Earendil, our most beloved star. Namarie. May it be a light for you in dark places, where all other lights go out." She handed him a phial full of a crystalline liquid, that yet wasn't water. "Namarie." Galadriel said and then bent down to kiss the Hobbit's forehead.

Victoria felt herself flaring up with anger, barely suppressing the urge to step up and punch the Elf-Queen in the face. 'Hey! What the Hell does she think she's doing!'

The Queen rose and turned to her. "But I have not forgotten the Last Slytherin."

'Damn it, I hoped so!' the girl thought, though her face remained blank.

The lady approached her. "For you I have prepared this small keepsake…" she said, taking a golden bracelet adorned with little red stones and fastening around her right wrist.

"Thank you," Victoria muttered, staring at the Gryffindor-colored jewel.

After a last speech of farewell, they got on the three boats, previously loaded with their bags and some supplies, which basically consisted of Elvish Waybread, or Lembas. Every boat could only hold three of them and a heated argument broke out between Merry, Pippin, Gimli and Victoria. Putting the witch and the Dwarf in the same boat was unthinkable, unless they wanted to make him lose his mind. It was quite clear that Victoria wouldn't have missed a chance to tease him for the crush he had on the Elvish Queen. The best resolution was sending her with Boromir, who was, in Gimli's opinion, "the only one who could put up with that holy terror." But that meant breaking apart Merry and Pippin, who would have had none of it. In the end, they had to give in: young master Brandybuck would have traveled with Legolas and Gimli.

Once this "little" problem was resolved, they went aboard.

"First Infantry, then Alpini, now in the Navy…What do you think, Frodo, next time we'll join the Air Force or the Secret Service?" Victoria remarked, trying to mask her restlessness and to wring a smile out of the Hobbit.

They slowly moved away from the bank, sailing Southward. Galadriel appeared on the shore again to wave them goodbye.

'Turna s�! This is a persecution!' turna s�: (she's) here again – Piedmontese dialect. Victoria couldn't help but thinking as she cast the lady a very unfriendly look.

The young witch kept on rowing and, as soon as the Golden Wood disappeared from their sight behind a bend of the river, let out a sigh. She turned back to her father. "Do you think you can manage it on your own for a couple of minutes, Johnny Reb?"

"Yes, but why are…"

"Thank you," she cut him off as she retrieved her paddle. Under their eyes, she started fighting against the brooch that held her cloak in place and, after a few seconds, she finally managed to unfasten it. Victoria tore the garment away form her shoulders almost hatefully and thrust it in her backpack. The bracelet followed shortly.

"What are you doing?" Legolas shouted, a note of rebuke in his voice.

"None of your business!" she replied harshly.

"The cloak was bothering you, Little Soldier?" Boromir asked to cover up for her even if he didn't understand why she was acting that way.

Victoria nodded, throwing him a look filled with gratitude.

"What about the bracelet?" Pippin asked. "Were you afraid to ruin it?"

Victoria took her paddle again and thrust it forcefully in the water. "I never liked bracelets…" she almost growled. "They cover my wrists with blisters. Especially those with Gryffindor's color."

"How weird that, with her powers, the Lady didn't know," Sam remarked.

'She knew, she knew…' Victoria thought as she rowed angrily. 'Of course she knew!'

Frodo stared silently at the clear water that flowed by grazing the sides of the gray boat. He could feel Sam's worried gaze on him, but he didn't want to turn around and meet those eyes. He was thinking about all the things the Lady had told him during their nocturnal conversation. By now he had understood: he had to leave the Fellowship. Yet, there was a part of him that didn't feel ready to take that step. After all the things they had been through together, now they were…How had Vivi called them? Oh, yes, a band of brothers. A bond as he had never known before had been created and cutting it cost him, cost him a lot.

'And then there's always her…'

His eyes fell on the young witch who rowed on the other boat. The mere thought to leave her made his heart bleed. He didn't want to leave her. If there was a bond between him and his other eight companions, the one that bound him to Victoria was twice stronger. He couldn't understand way, but that was the way it was. Maybe it was because she could understand him perfectly, maybe because he just cared for her.

'Aye, but how much do I care for her? What's the difference from what I feel for Sam or the others? All right, she is a girl, but…damn, I cannot believe I'm so taken with her! It is simply absurd! And in this situation, nonetheless…No, that is impossible. It is just because she understands me…and because she has suffered so much, that is all.' But this took him back to the main problem: would he care for her enough to leave her? 'I must do it for her as well. If I stay, the Ring will hurt her…in a way or another.' He turned his gaze on Boromir, who shared the boat with her. Personally, he had never liked much the warrior. But Victoria was very close to him: if the Ring had won, she would have suffered…And he couldn't allow it. Even if he knew that she was perfectly able to defend herself on her own, he always felt this strange urge to protect her, to console her…But he never followed it.

He resumed to watching her, wondering if he should tell her Galadriel's warning against the Man of Minas Tirith.