Chapter Eight. All recognized dialogue belongs to the authors of the screenplay. Plot is mine. Hermione, Ginny, and Luna are J.K. Rowling's, I'm just borrowing them. Gandalf, Gimli, Boromir, Aragorn, Sam, Frodo, Merry, Pippin, and Legolas are property of J.R.R. Tolkien. All actions from Hermione, Luna, and Ginny are my thoughts. Modifications to spells, mine also. First known modified spell - was planned from the beginning. Hope you like it.
- xHx
Luna and Ginny sat upon a rock, watching Boromir sparring with Merry and Pippin. The pair had just finished their own exercises with Aragorn, but they both knew that Ginny would have a harder time of fighting with her short sword. Hermione and Legolas had, the entire way to this rocky hillside, discussed different tactics and eventualities, and now the brunette sat beside Frodo, watching the events unfold as well.
"If anyone was to ask for my opinion," Gimli said, "which I note they're not, I'd say we were taking the long way 'round." As he spoke, Hermione patted Frodo on the back, getting up and walking over to where he stood, and Gandalf sat. He continued, oblivious to her approach. She was getting good at this silent-walking thing. "Gandalf, we could pass through the Mines of Moria. My cousin Balin would give us a royal welcome."
She could not explain it, but the thought of going through that place just gave her the chills.
"No, Gimli. I would not take the road through Moria unless I had no other choice," Gandalf replied. Neither noticed her.
Legolas then walked behind her, his bow brushing across her back as he leapt onto a rock. She followed him, perching precariously beside him, though with far less grace and balance.
With a hand on her shoulder, he steadied her, his eyes fixed on a black shape on the horizon.
A commotion behind her from Boromir, Merry, and Pippin drew her gaze for just a moment. The three were tussling on the ground.
"What is that?" Sam said, forcing Hermione's attention back to the shape.
"Nothing," Gimli said very confidently. "It's just a wisp of cloud."
By this time, the tussle with the two Hobbits and the one Man had calmed, and Boromir was staring at the shape, too, as the three got up.
"It's moving fast," he said. She could identify the voices of each member of the group now. "Against the wind."
Legolas's hand tightened on her shoulder, not enough to cause pain, but enough that she could tell he was stressed.
"Crebain from Dunland!" he shouted to the rest.
"Hide! Take cover!" Aragorn shouted. Boromir said something as well. It was possible he was calling for Merry, or telling everyone to hurry.
Legolas led Hermione down into the brush, pulling her under a bush with him. She had no idea if Luna and Ginny had hidden; she was aware that Harry had given Ginny his Cloak of Invisibility, but would there have been enough time to cover with it? Would it work against these creatures? She knew not; Legolas had led her away from the rest of the group.
The creatures were birds; they flew over the hill very closely. Their plummage was pure black, and their cries like that of demonic ravens. Hermione watched as they passed overhead, circling before heading back the way they'd come.
As they all came out, Ginny and Luna swiftly tucked Harry's cloak into Hermione's beaded bag. With a sigh, she took it back from Ginny.
"Spies of Saruman," Gandalf said. "The passage South is being watched. We must take the Pass of Caradhras."
Gandalf pointed up at a snowy mountain above them. The three women shared a look that clearly said, "We're screwed." They were probably wearing the least layers of any of the Fellowship. Tights, tunics, skorts, and equipment. But, when it came to the last, Hermione was probably one of the least-burdened members. Just her bow, her quiver of red-fletched arrows, her twin knives which she had jokingly named Gred and Forge, her wand, and the beaded bag, which carried far more than it showed itself to.
"When we get back," Ginny muttered to Hermione, "if I see even a single snowflake, I'm going to make it explode."
The Fellowship trudged on across the snowy landscape. Luna's teeth were chattering; they could hear it from where she walked at the front of the line. They walked nearer the back, just in front of Boromir. They both tried to catch Frodo as he fell, but both tumbled into the snow. Hermione got up and turned around before Ginny, just as Boromir plucked the chain from the snow.
"Boromir," Aragorn called; he'd caught Frodo.
"It is a strange fate that we should suffer so much fear and doubt over so small a thing," Boromir said, lifting the Ring closer to eye level.
"Boromir, return the ring to Frodo," Hermione said. She tried to keep her voice conversational, but a little bit of acid spilled as she pointed her wand at his back.
"Such a little thing." It appeared he hadn't heard her.
"Boromir!" Aragorn shouted. Boromir's trance broke; he lowered the Ring a fraction. "Give the Ring to Frodo."
A tense minute was experienced by the company as they watched Boromir struggle to regain his composure, and then walk toward Frodo and Aragorn. Hermione's wand-tip never left its position of aim at his back.
"As you wish," he said. Frodo took the ring quickly from him. "I care not." Aragorn's expression, discernable from Hermione's distance, was upset. Boromir ruffled Frodo's hair before turning away.
Further up the mountain pass, Legolas and Hermione walked over the snow, behind the rest of the group, who walked through a trench-like gap. Gandalf was at the front, carving out the path with his staff. Luna and Ginny were right behind him, widening it a bit further with their wands. It was cold and snow flew into her face, trying to hurt her, it seemed.
She leaned closer into the mountain, watching Legolas as he walked ahead.
"There is a fell voice on the air," he said. She had to strain to hear him over the wailing winds, and as she did, she could hear it, too.
"It's Saruman!" Gandalf cried. A deluge of stone fell toward them as he said it.
"He's trying to bring down the mountain!" Aragorn cried. "Gandalf, we must turn back!"
"No!" And Gandalf climbed up, chanting in reply to the voice.
Lightning struck the snow above; they all dove for the mountain wall as an avalanche fell toward them.
Silence fell over the mountain for a moment as the snow settled.
Hermione was second to make her way free; Legolas was first. Luna followed shortly after, and then, last to surface, was Ginny. She'd used a spell to make herself shoot like a bullet from a gun out of the snow. And she wasn't landing.
While Boromir, Aragorn, and Gimli argued, Hermione called to her friend, "What spell did you use?"
Ginny, with her wand lowered, called out a reply. "Ascendio!" Just saying it, though, with her wand in her hand, caused her to shoot another fifteen feet up.
Hermione pinched the bridge of her nose, then called, "Reverse the active word! Instead of up, down! Descend!"
She thought Ginny nodded, and then heard her call out, "Descendio!" This happened far faster than she had risen; she landed on top of the snow with a poof and a groan. Legolas helped the redhead to her feet.
"Let the Ring-bearer decide," Gandalf said. In their distraction with Ginny, they hadn't heard the choices. "Frodo?"
"We will go through the mines," Frodo said.
"So be it."