"To the Bridge of Khazad-dûm!" Gandalf said; everyone was suddenly running from the room, through a door on the other side of the tomb. Ginny, Luna, and Hermione didn't even bother with their wands. They followed Gandalf's lit staff through the place as strange creatures filled the hall from cracks in floor and ceiling. Finally, the company was forced to stop when the creatures surrounded them.
Legolas leaned close, his bow drawn, an arrow notched. "Goblins," he muttered. The trio of ladies shared a nervous glance; these foul creatures with reptilian eyes…were goblins?
The creatures snarled and grimaced at the motley group. Hermione could tell that they wanted to rip each member apart, and probably eat them.
All was silent, for the space of a heartbeat, and then the goblins began to look around at each other, while a flaming light appeared near one end of the hall and the sound of a dragging chain could be heard. Whatever made that noise was enough to scare these hideous things. And then Hermione knew.
This thing, the creature that now made the goblins run from the company, terrified, was the winged beast of black shadow and red flame she had seen in her dream. It had been awakened. Her eyes widened, and she glanced at Legolas, hoping he would reassure her. He was just as terrified, and would not look at her. Instead, he tried to aim his bow, before lowering it, his eyes finally seeing the fiery light.
"What is this…new devilry?" Boromir asked of Gandalf.
He seemed reluctant to answer. "A Balrog," he finally said. "A demon of the ancient world. This foe is beyond any of you. Run!"
Hermione did not hesitate to follow his order. As Gandalf turned to his right, the direction opposite the orange glow, Hermione was right behind him, running side by side with Boromir. She did not know where her friends were in the group now. Gandalf, upon glancing back, looked terrified.
Through the door, she let Boromir pass her, only to find herself half-stumbling as he dropped his torch into the chasm below them. She felt a slim hand on her shoulder and knew she would not fall – forward, that is. She fell onto the stairs they'd run down, Legolas beside her, between her and Boromir now. She gave a slight nod; that was the only thanks he'd get for saving her life that time.
She stood, dusting herself off a little, and glanced below, immediately straightening and wishing she hadn't looked. That would have been the worst way to return to Hogwarts; to fall into the darkness of Moria, she thought.
The company began to run down the stairs, to the right rather than straight forward, but Legolas vaulted himself over the edge of one staircase and landed smoothly on the set below it. Hermione shook her head a little as she ran, now right behind him when she had been far ahead.
She supposed it was better to have Legolas ahead of her, as she finally spotted a broken part of the staircase not far ahead. She probably would've fallen right into it.
He was, in fact, the first to jump across. Hermione watched what he did, and then, mimicking his movements, she leapt across, landing oddly smooth, although she did nearly fall backwards. Legolas grabbed her hand, an odd sort of look in his eyes, and pulled her up.
She took a couple steps down on the staircase, her eyes drawn to the surrounding areas.
"Gandalf!" she heard Legolas call. The staff-light seemed to get nearer to her, and then, sure enough, she heard the whistle of an arrow flying toward them. She pulled her bow and notched a white-fletched arrow, drawing back and releasing it. She struck the very creature that had loosed an arrow toward Gandalf, through what might have been the eye.
She continued firing as Legolas and Aragorn joined the efforts. Occasionally, the room would be lit with a shocking red as Ginny or Luna fired off Stunning Spells at the creatures.
The next spell fired by Luna barely missed Hermione's ear. She turned around to see that she was not on the same side of the staircase. And then an arrow barely missed her, so she resumed releasing arrows at the goblins or Orcs or whatever these things were.
"Merry! Pippin!" Boromir yelled. Next thing heard were their three voices, yelling without words, and a cracking from the stone. Hermione glanced over just in time to watch the piece of stair she herself had jumped from plunging into the depths.
"Protego!" Hermione shouted. A large, translucent blue shield erupted from her wand-tip. It worked only one way, blocking the attacks of the enemies while allowing their own attacks through. It would never work when surrounded, though, and Hermione realized that.
She felt a lot of pointed stares on her as she loosed another arrow. Obviously, they could not believe what she had just crafted.
"Sam!" Aragorn shouted from across the gap. He pulled the Hobbit forward a little, and then flung him to Boromir.
Then, the next thing she heard was Gimli saying, "Nobody tosses a Dwarf." And then he leapt across the gap, only to land almost-horizontal, with his feet on the stone stair. Legolas leaned forward, while Hermione turned back to release a few more arrows at the ones attempting to assail them with arrows.
"Not the beard!" Gimli cried. She couldn't help but smirk at that.
The stairs began to crumble. Ginny leapt back up the stairs, while Aragorn pushed Frodo up and climbed up behind him. Hermione watched the redhead with anxious eyes; if Ginny fell this early into their quest, she'd be the one who had to tell Harry the news, and she did not look forward to that.
She barely heard a word Aragorn said. Her heartbeat was loud in her ears as she watched the door through which they'd come collapse with wide, fearful eyes. The growling and chain-dragging sound echoed, making the wall's crumbling sounds almost insignificant.
A large piece of the wall crashed through a weak point in the staircase with a loud sound akin to an explosion.
The column under Aragorn, Frodo, and Ginny began to crack; the sounds it made battered her ears.
The section of staircase the three stood upon wobbled.
"Hang on!" Aragorn shouted.
Hermione could only watch.
"Lean forward!"
Frodo and Ginny did as Aragorn bade them, and as they leaned, the staircase started to fall. They would land in the arms of their companions, if they were lucky.
As the staircase fragment crashed forward, Legolas caught Aragorn, Boromir caught Frodo, and Hermione caught her best friend, and the company began running again.
Hermione glanced back to watch the piece of staircase crash down, grateful she was still in this world.
"Over the bridge," Gandalf ordered them all. "Fly!"
Hermione, again, did not hesitate. She followed behind Aragorn, amongst the Hobbits. Every once in a while, she'd glance back and make sure Luna and Ginny were still with the group. They ran between Legolas and Gimli, each holding their wands at the ready.
As she glanced back at the halfway point, she saw it.
"Gandalf!" she shouted, letting loose a flare of blue sparks without wanting to, which drew the old wizard's eyes to the flames behind him. He turned, just in time to see the Balrog, as she now knew the creature of black shadow and red fire was called, emerging from the golden flames that crafted a barrier.
It was far larger than it had seemed in her dream. She turned back to her goal, finally making it to the bridge, as Gandalf, too, turned to run.
She, Aragorn, and Boromir had surged to the front of the group, somehow, and Aragorn made sure she went first by dropping his speed slightly. She nodded in thanks.
First on the bridge, first across the bridge, she thought to herself.
She spun around once she reached the other side of the bridge, letting the others run past her. Gandalf might have been last across, if the Balrog had not taken a step onto the edge of the bridge.
"You cannot pass!" he shouted.
"Gandalf!" Frodo yelled.
The Balrog stood up, its flames roaring high and bright.
"I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor," Gandalf said. He seemed determined to destroy the Balrog. A bright white light flared around him as he raised his staff; it formed a shield. "The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn!" The Balrog raised a flame-covered shadow-blade and swung.
Hermione had to cover her eyes against the bright flash of light as the blade connected with the shield, and both objects vanished.
The Balrog roared; Hermione could feel the heat of its breath all the way across the bridge.
"Go back to the Shadow," Gandalf said, wand and staff crossed in front of him.
The Balrog took a step and flashed a long whip crafted of flame.
"You shall not pass!" Gandalf yelled, holding his sword and staff apart, putting them together, and crashing the end of the longer into the bridge.
Another flash of white light, this time from the bridge itself, it seemed.
The Balrog huffed, nostrils flaring, and took another step, only to have the bridge give way under his weight. The demon fell.
Gandalf turned toward his company.
The Balrog's whip cracked up, wrapped around Gandalf's ankle, and began to yank him down.
"No!" Ginny shouted. Hermione wrapped a hand around the redhead's shoulder.
Gandalf pulled himself up and held himself there just long enough to tell them to run. And run they did. Hermione was next to last to leave. She didn't let any of her companions see, but as she ran, tears streaked through the dirt on her cheeks.