Hey chapter. I still feel bad about taking so long last chapter. So I decided to give you more than one today. Please don't hate me! Anything here that you recognize is from the movie. I DO NOT OWN LOTR. Wish I did.
I wake up early. I doubt that anyone else here is up at the moment. Rivulets of cold sweat trickle down my back. I bring my knees to my chest and rock back and forth on the bed for a while, but since I'm up, I might as well braid my hair up. I sit in front of a mirror looking at my golden brown locks. I don't think that all the brown will ever truly disappear. I think that there's to much of the other Hermione for it all to disappear. I don't think my hair will be quite as fair as the other elves, but that's okay because being different has always been one of my best attributes. However, my eyes aren't brown anymore. They're a brilliant crystalline blue. My ears have reached a full point. It's only been two days and I'm almost done settling into my true body. It's a weird feeling. Don't get me wrong, it's a good weird but it's weird nonetheless.
Having finished the intricate weave of braids for my hair I look into my bag for something to wear. I pull out a simple gown. It's one that would be alright for travel if there's nothing else. It's modest, though shorter than normal. I also find a pair of shoes for for travel. I'm wearing these no matter what. The length of the sleeves of my gown is necessary, should I need hidden weapons. I find a silver basin full with clean water and bathe and dress myself.
Feeling clean, I sit down and think about all that's happening. The council is today, and though I know my path, I'm still scared. I swallow my fear and let the Gryffindor lion in me roar it's way to bravery. I smile softly to myself. I'm ready for a new day. If it's difficult then I'll face it with all I've got. Taking a deep breath, I open the door to my chamber.
Two abnormally short men run into me.
"Excuse is Miss," one of them says bowing deeply.
I smile at him.
"It's fine," I say. "My name is Hermione. Do you happen to know where the council is meeting?"
"Yes Miss Hermione. We're headed there just now. My name is Meriadoc, but if you don't mind, please call me Merry. This here is Pergrin, but he goes by Pippin."
"Could you lead me there? I really have to be there. I have to grab my friends first but-"
"Don't worry Miss Hermione, we'll wait here."
"Thank you Merry," I say with a smile.
Fortunately, I bump into Harry in the hallway. Apparently he was looking for me too.
"Happen to know where Draco went?" I ask.
"He's already at the council meeting," Harry replies with a yawn.
"Tired?"
"Yeah, a bit."
"Sorry Harry. Come with me, I've got guides waiting for us. "
Harry yawns again and we begin the short trek down the hallway."
"Pippin, Merry, this is my friend Harry. Draco's already at the meeting. Don't know how he knows where to go but he's there."
Merry nods.
"Follow us Miss Hermione."
"Hobbits?" I ask as we walk down the hallway."
"Aye," Pippin replies. The first time I've heard him speak though I get the feeling that generally, he's the most talkative of the two.
"What's a Hobbit?" Harry asks me.
"Otherwise known as a halfling. Generally they only reach about half the height of a grown man. Love nature, food, smoking their pipes, and music. Or at least according to the book," I whisper back.
"You sound like a dictionary."
"That's because until now, I'd never met a Hobbit."
"Well, I hope that when this is all done, you've formed something better, becauseif we're still alive, I'm going to ask you this question again at the end of it all. Then, I'll want your opinion on the Hobbits that you've met and probably travelled with. "
I stick my tongue out at him.
He smiles back.
We're here. It's the meeting. Draco's already asked on our behalf of we could join. I admire his thoughtfulness. As we sit down,I tell him so.
He shrugs as the meeting begins.
"Strangers from distant lands, friends of old. You have been summoned here to answer the threat of Morodor. Middle Earth stands upon the brink of destruction. None can escape it. You will unite, or you will fall. Each race is bound to this fate-this one forth the Ring, Frodo.
A Hobbit with curly black hair and startlingly blue eyes comes fourth and places the ring on the pedestal.
"So it is true," someone whispers.
"The Doom of Men," whisperd another.
Another man begins to speak, "In a dream, I saw the eastern sky grow dark. But in the West a pale light lingered. A voice was crying: your com if best at hand." The man speaking approaches the pedestal. "Isildur's bane is found."
He holds his hand out over the ring as if to grab it. Great strikes my heart. Don't take it. I think. Don't take the ring.
"Isildur's bane."
A raven haired elf whom I assume is Elrond jumps up.
"Boromir!" He exclaims.
"Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul,
ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul." Gandalf murmurs. The air darkens.
"One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the Darkness bind them."
Boromir returns to his seat with a look akin to terror.
"Never before has any voice uttered the words of that tongue here in Imladris!" Elrond exclaims.
"I do not ask your pardon, Master Elrond, for the Black Speech of Mordor may yet be heard in every corner of the West! The Ring is altogether Evil!" Gandalf replies.
The same man as before shoes up again, " It is a gift. A gift to the foes of Mordor. Why not use this Ring?" He pauses. Long has my father, the Steward of Gondor, kept the forces of Mordor at bay. By the blood of our people are your lands kept safe! Give Gondor the weapon of the enemy. Let us use it against him!"
My eyebrows knit together in worry for this man. Boromir I believe he is called.
"You cannot wield it! None of us can. The One Ring answers to Sauron alone. It has no other master," apparently someone agrees with me.
"And what would a ranger know of this matter?" Boromir asks. Frankly, I don't like his attitude.
"This is no mere ranger. He is Aragorn, son of Arathorn. You owe him your allegiance," a blonde elf says standing.
"Aragorn? This... is Isildur's heir?" Boromir asks in shock.
"And heir to the throne of Gondor," the elf replies.
Aragorn frowns at the elf." Havo dad, Legolas," he says. I recognize the words at once as sit down Legolas.
"Gondor has no king. Gondor needs no king," Boromir states.
"Aragorn is right. We cannot use it," Gandalf says.
"You have only one choice," Elrond says. "The ring must be destroyed."
A red haired dwarf steps to the pedestal. "Then what are we waiting for?" He asks. With that he brings his axe down onto the ring. His axe shatters but the ring remains unbroken, without the slightest blemish.
"The Ring cannot be destroyed, Gimli, son of Glóin, by any craft that we here possess. The Ring was made in the fires of Mount Doom. Only there can it be unmade. It must be taken deep into Mordor and cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came," Elrond says. "One of you must do this."
"One does not simply walk into Mordor. Its black gates are guarded by more than just Orcs. There is evil there that does not sleep. And the great Eye is ever watchful. It is a barren wasteland. Riddled with fire and ash and dust. The very air you breathe is a poisonous fume. Not with ten thousand men could you do this. It is folly!" Boromir says. This man is truly beginning to annoy me.
"Have you heard nothing Lord Elrond has said? The Ring must be destroyed!" Legolas if I recall the elf's name correctly exclaims standing once more.
"And I suppose you think you're the one to do it?!" Gimili asks incredulously also rising.
"And if we fail, what then?! What happens when Sauron takes back what is his?!" Boromir asks standing as well. I'm tempted to stand myself.
"I will be dead before I see the Ring in the hands of an Elf!" Gimili exclaims. This stirs a feeling in me of anger, and I am obviously not the only one hurt by these words. An argument begins between nearly everyone present.
"Never trust an Elf!" Gimili exclaims. I growl deep in my throat but refrain from joining the commotion.
"Do you not understand that while we bicker amongst ourselves, Sauron's power grows?! None can escape it! You'll all be destroyed!" Gandalf shouts.
The ring begins to chant.
"I will take it! I will take it!" Its the same Hobbit that brought the ring to the pedestal. "I will take the ring to Morodor. Though-I do not know the way."
Gandalf looks to him. "I will help you bear this burden, Frodo Baggins, as long as it is yours to bear."
Aragorn comes to kneel before Frodo. "If by my life or death, I can protect you, I will," he says. "You have my sword."
"And you have my bow," Legolas says also kneeling.
"And my Axe!" Gimili says kneeling as well.
Just then I notice Pippin and Merry are missing.
"You carry the fate of us all little one," Boromir says. "If it is indeeed the will of the Council, then Gondor will see it done."
Finally some sense from that man.
Another Hobbit posts up from nowhere. " Mr. Frodo is not goin' anywhere without me!"
"No indeed, it is hardly possible to separate you even when he is summoned to a secret council and you are not," Elrond agrees looking amused.
"Wait! We are coming too!" So that's where Merry and Pippin went...
"You'd have to send us home tied up in a sack to stop us!" Merry exclaims.
"Anyway you need people of intelligence on this sort of mission, quest... thing," Pippin states.
"Well that rules you out Pip," Merry says. Pippin glasses at him.
"You have my wand," I say standing and walking to Frodo where I kneel.
"And mine," Harry's voice sounds. I sigh in relief. I look to him in gratitude.
"Eleven companions... So be it! You shall be the Fellowship of the Ring!" Elrond says.
"Great!" Pippin exclaims. "Where are we going?"
Merry stares at him in disbelief. I smile.
Yay! Chapter finished. Love you guys, see you soon... 3