Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am only a writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.

Note: Time jumps are implied here. Everyone's ages are all wonky anyway so bear with me.

Note: Making a change in Harry's attire here. Time passed and he wanted a change.

Time Moves On

#5

Gandalf was enjoying a spot of tea in the home of Harry and Tauriel as his hosts sat across from him. Work was still progressing on their new fortifications but the living space had been finished first.

"What brings you here, Gandalf?" Harry wanted to know as he sipped from a chalice full of a crimson liquid that the gray wizard didn't want to contemplate too deeply.

"Can't I just visit some old friends and offer my continued congratulations on their happy union?"

"You can, but you didn't. Come on, old man, I can see that mind moving behind your oversized eyebrows."

"Harry!" Tauriel scolded, "There's no need to be rude." Turning to the other wizard she added, "Gandalf, I think your eyebrows are charming."

"That is much appreciated, Tauriel. But your mate is right, I did come here for a purpose. I wanted to pick Harry's brain on magic and in regards to the being he faced when we attacked Dol Guldur."

Harry blinked. "You mean Sauron? That was him wasn't it? Galadriel never did get around to explaining it."

"A part of him." Gandalf corrected, "Or rather, I'm trying to figure out if it actually was him or a necromancer with access to a portion of his power. Your experience with him could tell me a great deal."

The vampire and elf shared a look and he shrugged. "Why not. Alright, what happened was-" And Harry explained everything he experienced in the conflict from the telepathic attack to the visions.

"Hm, it is as I feared. The dark lord is not truly dead. Those of the Wise had hoped that his ring had perished in the two and a half millennia since his fall, as he had remained quiet, but it seems that was not the case."

"His ring?" That had the vampire's curiosity raised.

"Yes, he forged it with all his malice, hatred, magic, and necromantic skill to bind a portion of his soul to it. As long as the ring remains he cannot truly die."

"Sounds like a horcrux." Harry noted simply.

"Horcrux? What is that?"

Harry explained the intricacies of the objects in question and how they were made.

"Oh my, that is perhaps the most disturbing thing I have heard in a long time. But no, those horcruxes do seem malignant, but otherwise none functioning unless handled by someone. The dark lord's ring is sentient at all times, can project his will and words, and grant the bearer power while constantly corrupting them. There have been records of people hearing Sauron's voice simply from merely being in its presence. It comes from the dark lord providing a true and pure impression of his very being and forcing it into the object in question during the forging process while focusing an enormous amount of magic.

The room grew very silent except for two people who heard an excited blonde yelling, {I have an idea!}

Luna explained her plan and Harry slowly turned to face the older man. "Gandalf, you are saying that this entire time you've known of magical rings that can project a spirit's voice and essence and you've not mentioned it?"

"Well yes, but why would…. Luna!" He exclaimed at once as he suddenly pieced it together.

"Yes. You and I are going to have words about this oversight later, but for now come on!" He jumped across the table, grabbed Gandalf's arm, and yanked him out into the hall.

"Where are we going, Harry?"

"To the smithy, old man. The two of us are gonna forge ourselves a ring."

"But the process requires an influx of human lives!"

"I have several rapists in the cells of my keep not doing anything but taking up space. Might as well put their lives to use, ey?"

#6

Aragorn, son of Arathorn, stumbled through the forest of Mirkwood trying to find his sense of direction once more. He'd just descended from an outpost in the far north and had lost his way the moment he'd entered these dark woods. For a ranger such as he this was deeply disconcerting and more than a little embarrassing. He'd often prided himself on his fine sense of direction when he was living in Rivendell, and he'd taken that skill with him when he'd been forced to leave to help defend Gondor from the ever present encroachment of Mordor's forces, both obvious and discreet.

Thus it was that he had approached Mirkwood in the first place. Not much was known about the happenings of the ancient forest, but his outpost had heard whispers of a dark monster lurking in the abandoned fortress of Dol Guldur. Of course he'd volunteered to investigate as it would give him a chance to visit Arwen in Rivendell once he was done. First he'd visited the neighboring lands to gather intel, but the people he'd asked had been less than forthcoming. The men of Laketown had simply laughed off his inquiries and told him to 'look and see' for himself what was going on there. The elves of the forest had not even deigned to respond to his missive. Lord Elrond had simply broken down laughing when he asked about the monster of Mirkwood Forest, and Lady Galadriel… she had started talking about someone named Luna and how it was past time she went to visit. Whatever that had meant. It had been strange to see the normally stoic elven lady looking so…. exuberant.

The sun was now starting to set judging by the lengthening shadows of the trees, and he was just determining whether to build a fire or not when he heard a rustling in the branches that had him on his feet at once with sword drawn and ready. He needn't have bothered.

A moment later the leaves parted and eight creatures the likes of which he'd never seen dropped all around him with spears leveled and bows drawn. Each held the lower body of a massive arachnid, but from the waist up their appearance was that of beautiful women, only a wrapping of cloth around the chests protecting their modesty. Their eyes reflected the light back at him and their hungry smiles were full of razor sharp teeth.

Aragorn took in the situation at once and knew that he could not defeat them all, nor could he escape. Their eight legs were bound to be faster over this terrain than his two. Nevertheless he resolved himself to going down fighting and taking at least two or three of them with him, when to his astonishment the beasts began to speak.

"Intruder, come quietly." The voice was a dark hiss. "You trespass through the forest of the Lord of Night."

"There is no such lord that Gondor recognizes." Aragorn defended. "Who is this being and by what right does he claim Mirkwood?"

The arachnids went back and forth for a moment in a clicking language that made no logical sense to the ranger. Then they began to close in until their spear tips were pressed into his chest and back. Their movements had been so disjointed and off-putting that he'd not picked up on them until it was too late to act.

"He has rights beyond your ability to argue. You trespass, and the law is clear for such a crime. If you do not fight us we will not consume you. Our lord will level judgment upon you."

Aragorn dutifully sheathed his sword and marveled that they allowed him to keep it as they marched him through the trees. He figured that if they were taking him to their lord, then he was likely the one he had been looking for anyway. Better to play along, bide his time, and get a feel for what exactly was going on here.

He was driven through the foliage for another hour before they finally broke the tree cover and the sight that befell him literally took the breath from his body. This was impossible. How had he not seen a structure such as this over the trees when he'd entered the forest in the first place?

A large wall faced him, and based on the smoke kicked up from multiple chimneys a town no doubt lay protected behind it. But that was all second to the massive structure rising out of its center. He saw a towerlike keep except it was such a strange design. For one thing, there was not one sole tower, there were five. Four towers made up the edges with a much larger one in the center. Stone bridges and walkways connected each cylindrical structure to the others in a manner reminiscent of the Lothlorien tree bridges and from this distance he could see the small forms of people moving freely between them. It was as if someone had taken the idea of a regular towered castle or keep and removed all the regular walls and foundation. There was no reference for a structure like this in all the world that Aragorn could think of.

"What in the name of the Valar is this?" He asked as a sharp spear jab got him moving once more toward a drawbridge that led to the only gate he could see in the border wall.

The spider-women seemed amused by his question as they answered, "The Lady Luna has very interesting ideas for design and formation." As one they began to chuckle. A sound that came across as a sharp chittering in their throats. "She was the one who also designed our current forms."

The ranger shuddered at such an admission. To design these monstrosities must have taken a monster even more horrendous. His shock only grew as he entered the gate and was marched through the streets. The portal apparently led to an open air market and hundreds of individuals were milling about while vendors stood in stalls, under tents, and in front of carts, displaying and selling their wares. The diversity was staggering. Elves were showing off hand carved furniture, dwarves were hollering about their speciality toys, weapons, and jewelry. Humans from Laketown, based on their clothes, were displaying casks of wine, and there were even a few sets of hobbits showing off large boxes of produce and pouches of pipe weed. Everywhere he looked people were laughing, smiling, and in some cases even singing. This was far from his image of a fort held under the sway of a dark being of Mordor.

"What is all of this?"

"This is Dol Guldur." The lead spider-woman said simply. "A center of trade and commerce." Her kind must have been a normal fixture amongst the populace as no one even looked twice at the eight legged women as they skittered down their street.

Aragorn could hardly believe that, but his eyes did not deceive him, and as he was led further into the town and eventually lost his view to the stone of the central tower when he was pushed inside he had to admit that that was indeed what the market had looked like. Walking the stairs of the tower was a strange experience in and of itself. The stairways seemed to move on their own with some even having steps that rose without him even needing to move his feet. What was just as odd was the method with which his captors ascended the building. They simply walked on the walls to the point they were vertically ascending at the same pace as him, none of them ever took their eyes off of his form.

It took a while but eventually he found himself reaching the top floor where the stairs entered into a large waiting chamber. A statuesque pale woman in what seemed to be a gown of black silk was waiting before a pair of great doors.

"What have you brought before me, daughters?" The woman purred. The overlord had long ago delivered on his promise to help her children evolve. His subjects and allies had dutifully sent him their convicts and he'd begun at once to transfigure their lives into the arachnids. It was a lengthy process, and the tradeoff was difficult (fifteen humans to a spider) but slowly and surely her children were becoming truly intelligent and self-sufficient. It was sad that she could not hear Carmilla's voice or the others for that matter, but she felt an insane level of pride at what they were turning into.

The head captor moved up to her and curtsied, a trippy sight for one such as her, and said, "A trespasser, mother. He had no visible badges or papers of transit and he was far from the road. We brought him here for our Lord's judgment."

"You did well, Carmilla. Lord Harry is… otherwise engaged at the moment, though."

The spiders all sighed. The lady of the castle had been incredibly physical with their lord ever since the hormones had kicked in. The mirror call Harry had made to Elrond to gloat about how soon he'd gotten his elf mate pregnant when it took most of their kind around a century had been hilarious to all of them. None had ever seen an elf so regal look so shell-shocked.

Turning to their human captive, Carmilla stated, "Get comfortable, trespasser. We may be here a while."

Two hours later Shelob tilted her head to focus her hearing and nodded to her daughters. "They are finished and decent."

Aragorn had no idea what was going on, or what those statements had meant, but what he did know was that the beautiful woman in front of the doors was waving him forth and opening them to let him through. He came into what looked like a giant office with a massive desk in the center of the room, and seated in a high backed chair behind it with a redheaded elf on his lap was a new terror.

The creature he beheld was the palest he'd yet seen. He had long black hair pulled back on his head and a pointed goatee. Blood red eyes seemed to stare into the depths of his soul and fingernails long enough to be claws tapped the length of the hardwood before him. The thing that crossed the line completely however was the line of crimson fluid dripping from the corner of his mouth and the clear bite mark on the elven maiden's neck.

"Monster!" He screamed, drawing his sword once more and charging before his guards could even make it through the door after him, "For Gondor!". He had to end this threat now! The beast was clearly evil, as it had already assaulted an elf, and if it had that crowd below under its thrall already then who knew how many more could fall under its sway.

He made it halfway across the floor before a red light impacted his body and froze it solid. However, in the very last second of motion the ranger swung his arm forward and sent his sword soaring towards his foe's heart.

In a move that seemed almost lazy, and that frustrated Aragorn to no end, the monster raised a hand and caught the weapon in mid flight just before it would have impacted him.

For his part, Harry was rather surprised. No one had tried to outright attack him because of his appearance since Radagast. He eyed the sword in his hand shrewdly and remarked, "I'm curious, after killing me what was it you planned on doing?"

Aragorn found his head was free to move and he answered, "I wasn't really thinking that far ahead."

"Fair enough," Harry flicked the weapon away and waved off the spider-women that were all set to impale the man for daring to attack their lord. He was frozen, and incapable of movement, so there was no need for their murderous intentions. It wasn't like the guy had actually gotten close to harming him. "Tauriel," He kissed his love and placed his hands on her hips, "I need to get up for a bit."

"Oh drat." She chuckled into his lips before kissing him back and sliding off his legs. She'd not started showing yet, but she still rested a protective hand on her stomach regardless. "What are we going to do about him?"

"Well his arm is already out, darling." The vampire smirked as he stood from his chair and made his way over to the stranger. He had long ago changed from his longcoat to a more lordly attire. Luna and Tauriel had ganged up on him and declared he needed to look the part after all. His new clothing consisted of an intricate black robe with crimson stitching and a jet-black cape with a high collar that seemed to kiss the floor for how silent it was as he moved. The entire ensemble had been created with spider-silk. An insanely high quality export from his arachnid population, given to him in gratitude for helping them begin to evolve.

"I am Harry Potter, the Darktide, Overlord of Mirkwood. Who are you?" He began to circle his captive like a shark.

"A ranger of Gondor, and that is all you need to know, creature."

"Ooh, creature, how original. I did just tell you my name didn't I? What brings you to my neck of the woods?"

"A dark creature gaining power in the shadows of a previously peaceful realm." Aragorn bit out. He hated the fact that he was powerless before this demon.

Harry stopped circling to stand before him. "And that's me, I imagine. Well, nothing left to do but take your memories and see if anything interesting pops up."

"Wait, what!" The ranger only had time to stare in horror as the monster latched onto his extended wrist like a snake and chomped its enlarged fangs over the pronounced veins. Fire shot behind his eyes for three seconds before pure bliss began to crawl its way up his arm. How could something this violent feel so good? Thankfully, or regrettably, he wasn't sure, the beast pulled away before the feeling could get too intense.

The vampire licked his lips delightedly. This was no mere human. His blood tasted like a sweet bourbon and his memories were certainly unique. "Well, Aragorn son of Arathorn, from what I just saw there is nothing I can say that will convince you I'm not evil. So it's a good thing I know people that can vouch for me." He reached into a pocket in his cape and tossed several particular coins on the ground. An instant later a very confused trio of Elrond, Galadriel, and Arwen arrived in a flash of light. They had a moment of confusion before they noticed the frozen form of Aragorn.

"Harry, what is the meaning of this?" Galadriel wanted to know.

She got her answer as a certain silver ring on his right hand flared with light and the spectral form of Luna came into being before them all with her arms crossed and her foot tapping in annoyance. "That man just tried to hurt my Harry, Galadriel."

"Luna! You have a body!" The elf Lady practically squeed and tried to hug the blonde, only to fall straight through her. As she picked herself up, the Lady of Lorien took note of Harry's new ring and sighed with understanding. "Spiritual projection?"

"Oh yes, Gandalf was oh so helpful in forging it. Now I can talk to everyone in person, even if it isn't in the flesh just yet." She shrugged, "Harry is working on it. He thinks perhaps human transfiguration can be used to make me a new body, but human to human is surprisingly a lot more difficult than human to monster. With them we simply augment, with me we'd be creating from scratch. It's a work in progress."

As Elrond and Arwen started tearing into Aragorn for attacking one of their greatest allies and friends, Galadriel took Tauriel's hands and smiled at her and Harry. "You have done good work here, Master vampire. Tauriel, you are simply glowing."

The redhead blushed under such praise from one of her idols and said, "My thanks, Lady Galadriel."

"Oh none of this 'Lady' business. That's my godchild you are carrying after all." She placed her hand on the other woman's stomach and blinked. "Or should I say godchildren?"

"Huh?" Harry exclaimed quite eloquently.

The Lady of Lorien giggled with Luna chiming in in a like manner at her side. "I believe you are having twins, Harry, if what I just felt is accurate."

The wizard had a moment of stupefied shock before a massive smile practically split his face in half. "That's awesome!" He kissed his still blushing mate's cheek and charged across the room to throw his arm over Elrond's shoulder, "Hey, Elrond, you know how rare it is for an elf child to be created so soon? Well guess who is having twins!?"

For once abandoning all propriety, Elrond turned his face to the sky and exclaimed, "There is no fairness in this world!"

For his part, Aragorn was feeling quite down after the reaming he had received from an elf he considered a mentor and surrogate father, as well as Arwen, the love of his life, but now he found his mind grinding to a halt as Lord Elrond Halfelven of Rivendell began to rant about unfairly virile vampires as all the while that same monster he'd come to kill laughed and clung on to his shoulders. What kind of world had he just walked into?

#7

Harry and Tauriel meandered their way up to Bag End with weary smiles on their faces. Running a land of their own and dealing with two growing children was quite the wearying experience, even though they loved every second of it, and sometimes they enjoyed simply letting their aunty Galadriel or Shelob watch them for an evening while they took varying strolls throughout Middle Earth. On this occasion they had decided to once more visit an old friend.

As they walked, little people would occasionally wave to them and offer words of greeting. By that point they were a semi-regular feature in Hobbiton, and though initially the populace had been fearful of them, once Harry had magically fixed their mill wheels and several other pieces of farming equipment, they'd been welcomed quite heartily.

The couple finally made it to Bag End and knocked on the door, fully expecting Bilbo to stick his head out and welcome them exuberantly inside for tea. Instead they were met with a cherubic little face and shock of brown hair.

"Can I help you?" He chirped up at them.

Harry and Tauriel shared a look as if to ask just how long it had been since they last visited. Time tended to fly for immortals after all. "Ah, yes, we are looking for Bilbo Baggins."

The youth brightened at once, "Oh, uncle Bilbo is writing in his book. Give me a second please." The boy scampered back inside.

"A book?" Harry wondered out loud. "I wonder if it's about me."

"Not everything is about you, darling." Tauriel patted his cheek. "It's probably about his journey to the Lonely Mountain."

"But I am a part of that story, so it would by default be about me."

Before the redhead could further check her mate's surprisingly amusing narcissism, the door opened once more and the boy returned with a harried looking Bilbo in tow.

"Oh, hello Harry, Tauriel, I see you've met my Nephew Frodo." The boy waved and the visitors followed suit.

"His parents sadly perished quite recently and I volunteered to take him in."

The now named Frodo seemed quite sad at the reminder of his orphan status, something that Harry related to quite well, so he knelt down and held a hand before him. "It's nice to meet you Frodo. You can call me, Uncle Harry."

The smaller Hobbit shyly took the hand and shook it firmly as Bilbo had taught him. "It's nice to meet you, Uncle Harry."

Standing once more he said, "Good, now we're all acquainted. Bilbo, I was going to suggest we all share a meal, but what would you say to accompanying us on a walk first so we can learn some more about our new little Hobbit."

Bilbo smiled warmly at his friends and answered, "I'd say give me a moment to get my old walking stick and we'll be right out to join you."