All right, this chapter is a lot shorter than I'd originally hoped for. I hope you forgive me. It's somewhat filler for the relationship, somewhat a foreboding sort of thing. Hermione is a lot more powerful than she expects. Oh, what's that at the end? A surprise?

- xHx

They were on the trail again, on their way to the refuge of Helm's Deep. Legolas was far, far ahead of the group, acting as a sentry. It was true that he had the best eyesight of anyone of the group. Why Hermione had let him do this, however, was beyond her.

Two of the Rohirrim, one of whom she now knew by name – Háma – rode past him as she watched. Something was off.

"Lady Hísiven, are you all right?"

Anaya had quickly learned that Hermione had some sense of when things were to happen, and knew the cues: shifting eyes, tensing arms, clenched jaws, and a faint twitch to her left eyebrow.

"I don't know, Anaya. I really don't know," she muttered, her eyes fixed on Legolas. It was him she worried for. She knew it made absolutely no sense to worry, that he could handle himself, but she could not help it.

She heard the screams before she saw Legolas leap from his perch upon a large rock.

"A scout!" she heard him call back.

Oh, damn it all, what next?

Aragorn had run to see what the commotion was about. He came running back, just as Théoden coaxed his horse closer to the front of the line.

"What is it? What do you see?" the king asked.

"Warg! We're under attack!"

Anaya and Arya screamed. She held tightly to the sisters as she took the reins from them, guiding Cúron toward Aragorn.

"I will not fight at your side this time, Aragorn," she said. "Their mother trusts me beyond belief, and they tire so quickly. Good luck to you."

"And the same to you, Hísiven," he said, now mounting his horse.

Everything was chaos. Hermione could only hope that Legolas would understand why she did not fight at his side.

"All riders to the head of the column!"

Hermione ignored the insistences of the women around her to fight and paused beside Éowyn, just as the king reached her.

"You must lead the people to Helm's Deep, and make haste," the king said to his young niece.

"I can fight!" the blonde insisted.

"No!" Théoden seemed angry and worried at the same time that she had suggested this. "You must do this, for me." He looked up at Hermione then. "I am told you can protect the people better than most anyone else. Keep them safe."

Hermione nodded, and the king turned and rode away.

"Make for the lower ground! Stay together!" These were the words Éowyn and Hermione said, urging the people down the hillside.

"Anaya, I need you to hold onto Cúron's reins. She knows to follow the people. You simply need to keep her calm." The girl nodded and took the reins as Hermione closed her eyes, letting the need to see what happened overtake her.

She found her spirit-self rooted to the spot. This didn't feel right. It was something to come.

"Aragorn!" Legolas shouted. Gimli echoed him questioningly.

An Orc began laughing, the sound strangled by the blood in his throat.

Gimli put his axe-blade close to the Orc's throat. "Tell me what happened and I will ease your passing."

"He's –" The Orc hacked a couple of times, "– dead." Legolas did not appear to believe it. "He took a little tumble off the cliff."

Legolas paused before dropping to his knees and gripping the Orc by the front of his clothes. "You lie!"

The Orc then died. Hermione shook. This could not be happening. But it was. Legolas dropped his grip on the Orc and looked into his hand.

The Evenstar pendant, the gift Arwen had given to Aragorn.

Damn it all, Hermione muttered. Legolas was walking away from the corpse and she knew she had to leave. Her feet, now freed, led her to Legolas's side, and she placed her phantom hand on his back. I am sorry, my love.

Arya was tugging on her sleeves when she opened her eyes. They could see the refuge from where they were, but it was distant still.

"We're almost there, my lady," Anaya said.

"Thank you, Anaya. I expect we'll be there before nightfall."

She smiled, trying to keep the same sort of look to her. It wouldn't do to have people suspecting that she knew more about what was happening than she should.

Why were trees so irritating, especially the ones that talked and moved? At least Treebeard wasn't trying to rip her apart, like the Whomping Willow would. He just let her ride on his branches, which was not exactly comfortable. At least she was with Merry and Pippin! They could distract her, if nothing else would!

"Rosmir," Merry began, "what's it like in your home?"

"It's a lot different than it is here, Merry. I'm the only daughter in my family, after a string of six boys. My brothers' names are Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred and George, the twins, and Ron, in order from oldest to youngest. Bill's getting married next summer; Charlie doesn't seem likely to ever get married; Percy's an absolute prat that I don't expect to get married; Fred and George run a joke shop, so I expect at least one of them to get married; and then there's Ron. I think he and Luna have a shot, because Hermione is unlikely to stay in the other world," Ginny said. "Of course, since Bill's marrying Fleur Delacour, I fear that my privacy will shrink considerably around the wedding."

The three were silent for a time, and then Ginny added, "You two remind me of Fred and George."

"Do you miss them?" Pippin asked, leaning towards her.

"I don't miss their incessant pranks, but I miss them. Would you like to hear a song from home?"

The two Hobbits looked at each other and nodded vigorously in agreement.

"I'm only going to sing part of it, so don't expect anything overly brilliant," Ginny said. Then she cleared her throat and began to sing, a Muggle song that Hermione had taught her at the Burrow over the summer before her own fifth year.

"Out on the streets, that's where we'll meet
You make the night, I always cross the line
Tightened our belts, abuse ourselves
Get in our way, we'll put you on your shelf
Another day, some other way
We're gonna go, but then we'll see you again
I've had enough, we've had enough
Cold in vain, she said

I knew right from the beginning
That you would end up winnin'
I knew right from the start
You'd put an arrow through my heart

Round and round
With love we'll find a way just give it time
Round and round
What comes around goes around
I'll tell you why."

The a cappella performance was not unnoticed by Treebeard.

"You have a beautiful voice," he said.

Ginny, her head tilted like a bird's, blinked twice and replied, "Thank you…I think."

"He isn't kidding, Rosmir," Pippin said, reaching his hand out, palm flat and up. Ginny had told them all about high-fives and how common they were in her world. They had adapted to it and actually seemed to enjoy it. She slapped his hand with a grin as he continued with his statement. "You do have a wonderful voice."

"Thank you, Pip," she said.

The song Ginny sang the second verse, pre-chorus and chorus of is Round and Round by Ratt. It's a favorite of mine and I just felt like throwing it in. I am trying to keep the timeline accurate. The song came out in the eighties, which means Ginny would know it.

The next chapter promises to be a beauty.

- xHx