I know I don't update on weekends. There's no reason to worry when that happens. Thank you for all the reviews, and here's chapter 13 – lucky thirteen!

- xHx

Upon the stony mountainside, Hermione stood a little apart from the rest of the remaining eleven of their company, gazing across the landscape, trying to keep her sobbing quiet. She knew there was nothing for it; Gandalf could not be saved. But that didn't stop her tears.

Luna and Ginny came near her only after they realized that they were not the saddest.

"It was like losing Dumbledore all over again," Ginny whispered, putting an arm around her best friends' shoulders. "We have to stay strong."

Hermione and Luna nodded, and the three looked at each other, embracing in a group hug, as they were known to do. Then, breaking loose of the embrace, Hermione raised her wand and muttered a short incantation. From her wand-tip burst, not the otter, but a silver gazelle, which cantered away towards its destined recipient in Rivendell. The trio of friends glanced at each other, surprised at the sudden difference to Hermione's Patronus.

This went unnoticed by the rest of the party, lost as they were in their grief. Hermione untied her beaded bag from its place on her hip and rummaged through it until she found her quarry; a bottle of butterbeer, the only one she had brought along. With a sigh, she opened it up and drank the warm contents.

"Legolas, Rosmir, get them up," Aragorn called. Hermione turned to look even though her own name was unmentioned. He was keeping it together, and here she was, moping and drinking butterbeer to calm herself.

"Give them a moment, for pity's sake!" Boromir said. Hermione, despite her constant disagreements with Boromir, agreed with this, but dared not admit it.

"By nightfall, these hills will be swarming with Orcs," Aragorn said. "We must reach the woods of Lothlórien."

"Aragorn, must we move so quickly?" Luna said, approaching the man with her hands slightly extended. She was wearing her handmade hare bracelet, and the little creature was bouncing with every step she took.

"Lothrendis, unless you wish to fight off a larger number of Orcs than we faced in there," he motioned toward Moria, "then we must move with all haste. Come, Boromir. Legolas. Rosmir, Gimli, get them up."

Hermione walked over to where Merry and Pippin were and helped the younger to his feet, wiping his cheeks lightly. Legolas stood with Merry, telling him something in a hushed voice. The two shared a glance and a faint, sad smile. Each knew what the other was thinking; that they were glad to still have their lives, even though the company was now one fewer.

Hermione and Gimli walked side-by-side through the trees in Lothlórien. She could not focus enough on what any one of her companions said, but instead felt overwhelmed with the power the woods seemed filled with.

The whisperings of the stars were true.

Hermione looked around wildly for the source of the graceful voice she heard, but saw only her companions. This voice did not belong to Ginny or Luna. This voice was of someone in the wood.

You have returned, Hísiven Rhovanel, to a world you no longer remember. You feel as though you belong.

Hermione shook her head trying to dispel the voice.

You were meant to live your life here.

She finally stopped walking as she found a drawn bow aimed directly at her face.

"The Dwarf breathes so loud, we could have shot him in the dark." An Elf with hair purer than gold stepped around one of his companions, one whose bow was aimed directly at Aragorn's face, was the one who spoke. Aragorn seemed to know him.

That evening, the company stood upon a leaf-shaped platform. Hermione, Ginny, and Luna all stood with their arms folded, watching the man, Haldir, greet the others in one of the Elvish dialects. Hermione could not identify it, but once Gimli spoke, she knew that it would be tense.

Aragorn picked up on that, too, and turned with a hand to Gimli's shoulder. "That was not so courteous," he said. Hermione and Luna shared a glance, wondering what the Dwarf had said.

Haldir walked around Aragorn to look at Frodo. "You bring great evil with you," he said. "You can go no further."

The Elf turned away, before he remembered something and turned back, walking toward Hermione.

"The rumor heard upon the wind is true, I see now before me. Hísiven Rhovanel, youngest child of Lord Elrond, Wild Star of our people, has truly returned," he said. "Avathar fana i alcarin ohtariel."

Hermione smiled, for the way he'd spoken it left her thinking it was a compliment, but she kept quiet, not knowing what to say in reply. And the man turned again, walking away once more.

Not too much later, Hermione stood beside Legolas, glancing every once in a while at Aragorn and Haldir, who were locked in a heated argument.

"What did he say to me earlier?" she muttered.

Legolas had momentarily forgotten that she could not follow either dialect of Elvish in a spoken manner, but had been learning the letters prior to their departure from Rivendell. With a soft, anxious laugh, he whispered in reply, "He said, 'The darkness veiled the glorious lady warrior.' He said it in reference to your time in the other realm."

Hermione nodded, glancing back at Aragorn and Haldir. "What do they say now?"

"Aragorn is trying to convince Haldir to allow us to continue through Lothlórien and to protect us from those who seek to kill us. Haldir is refusing," Legolas said, his expression solemn.

"Well, that doesn't make much sense," Hermione whispered.

Finally, after quite a span of time waiting for the argument to finish, Haldir said, "You will follow me."

Please read and review. I'm going to need help further in the story with writing pieces after the Breaking of the Fellowship. I'm going to stick to Hermione's little saga like glue; please PM me or review with your choice of Ginny, Luna, or perhaps even Harry. I really want to put some more stuff from him into this, and I've already got a few pieces in my head ready for the future of this story. Please.

- xHx