Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I do not own HP or LoTR.

Author's Note: This chapter will be a bit shorter than others, but it felt like a good place to stop. Please let me know what you think of the story so far. Enjoy!

There was defeat in the air, and while most were willing to do what they could, the king was done. Theoden watched as soldiers barricaded the doors, and there was nothing but despair in his eyes.

"It's over," he said barely above a whisper, "the fortress is taken."

Aragorn heard the king and rushed to his side while his companions worked to fortify the door. As more and more furniture was brought to the door, Minerva worked to transfigure it into more solid materials for reinforcement.

"You said this fortress would never fall while your men defend it," Aragorn said to the desperate king, "they still defend it and they have died defending it."

The cries of multiple children caught his attention and he looked at the fearful faces of the families hiding against the back wall.

"Is there no other way for the women and children to escape?" Aragorn pleaded with Theoden but he remained silent, "Is there no other way?"

It was Gamling who responded instead of Theoden.

"There is one passage," his voice gruff as the adrenaline wore off, "It leads into the mountains, but they will not make it that far with this many on their trail."

Minerva walked over at that point, having exhausted all efforts and furniture to barricade the doors. She caught the end of the conversation, and looked around the room.

"Tell the women and children to take the path," she said, "tell them to barricade the entrance, and I can do what I can on this end as well."

Gamling seemed to be convinced, but Theoden was still hesitant.

"So much death," Theoden said sadly, "what can men do against such hatred?"

Aragorn was the one to bring him out of his thoughts with a simple suggestion, "Ride out with me."

Minerva looked at him and realized he was serious. Aragorn wanted to draw them away from the doors and give the women and children time to escape.

"Ride out and meet them," Aragorn continued and watched as the king began to take interest.

The light was now back in his eyes and Theoden let the renewed passion for the battle run through his veins.

"For death and glory," Theoden smiled.

"For Rohan," Aragorn replied, happy that the king was on his side, "For your people."

"The sun is rising," Gimli interjected as he pointed towards windows facing the East.

"Yes. Yes," Theoden readied himself for a second round of the battle, "The horn of Helm Hammerhead shall sound one last time."

To say that Gimli was excited would be an understatement. Minerva could not understand how he still had the energy to continue, let alone be excited to continue, but it was an energy that others could feed off of. As the battering ram on the other side of the door continued to knock men to the ground, the desire to continue the fight was a welcomed change of pace.

"Let this be the moment we draw our swords together in battle," Theoden said to Aragorn.

Suddenly there was action everywhere. Gimli began to climb a stairway that led to the Horn of Helm Hammerhead, Aragorn and the rest of the soldiers not bracing the doors mounted their horses, and Minvera followed suit. Theoden had given his last battle cry as the horn was blown by Gimli, blasting the sound throughout the Helm. At that moment, the Uruks had broken through the doors and poured through the hall.

Theoden headed what remained of the soldiers through the door and down the streets, slicing through the stunned group of Uruks. Minerva brought up the rear of the group, and used her wand to start floods of water to follow them. Most of the army was caught off guard, and those that were not already slain by the soldiers were washed out the main gates. As the soldiers made their way across the causeway, Aragorn yelled out to Minerva.

"Look to the East, Minerva," Aragorn called out.

She turned and saw what had caught his attention. She could see the majestic white steed that held the man that she loved.

"Gandalf," she all but whispered, thankful to see him and the reinforcements he brought.

Atop a hill to the East, one that Minerva and Aragorn had recently sat upon, Eomer joined Gandalf to look down across the battlements.

"Theoden king stands along," Gandalf said gravely as he looked at the army.

"Not alone," Eomer drew his sword," Rohirrim!"

As he yelled, a large group of riders emerged from the crest of the hill. While there were not as many of them as there were Uruks, they were fresh. None of them were exhausted from the previous fight, and that was what the soldiers below needed.

"To the king!" Eomer commanded as he raised his sword and ushered his men forward into battle.

The Uruk-Hai had moved into formation to meet the new soldiers, and it seemed they would overrun the newcomers with ease; however, as the army was about to meet Eomer, the sunrise perfectly hit the eyes of the enemy blinding them. Rohirrim and Gandalf were granted the first strike and they took the advantage they were given to decimate the Uruk-Hai. With Gandalf and Eomer at the rear and Theoden and his men at the front, the army retreated away from Helm's Deep.

"Protego Diabolica," Minerva casted a spell to keep any of the Uruks from retreating towards the Helm.

A bright blue fire erupted in front of the entrance the to Helm. Several Uruks stopped before they attempted to cross, only to be enveloped by the flames and disintegrate. Aragorn backed away from the flames as he watched it happen.

"You can cross it," she said, "it will only affect the enemy."

Aragorn looked skeptical, but then gently crossed the flames to meet Eomer and Gandalf.

"Victory!" Theoden screamed as he made his way through the flames and chased the remaining Uruks away from the battle ground.

Minerva extinguished the flames and looked towards their saviors. Our white knight on a white horse…how cliche. She smiled at the thought. He would probably be too modest to even entertain the idea of him as a hero, but that's exactly what he was.

"We must make sure they fully retreat," Legolas said as he charged forward on his horse.

Minerva watched as they all took off and she did the same. While the soldiers rode over a ridge into the plains, Minerva followed, but made her way to rest besides Gandalf. He reached out to take her hand and she took his with a squeeze. There was a shared sigh of relief as they each took in the state of the other. Minerva had a couple of cuts and bruises, and she was covered in debris and dirt, but she was in one piece. Gandalf was covered in blood and dirt, but was otherwise untouched.

"Stay out of the forest!" Eomer's words drew everyone's attention as they came to a halt, "Keep away from the trees!"

Minerva turned to Gandalf, "What is he talking about?"

Gandalf smiled at her, "The trees are alive."

"Ah," Minerva said with understanding, thinking back to the Whomping Willow, "So they just walked into-"

"Yes," he nodded as the forest in front of them began to move and the last of the Uruks were finished off.

"I'm claiming those," Gimli said only for Legolas to cut in and start an argument that went on the whole ride back to the Helm.

"We will have to clear the carnage," Theoden mentioned as they made it back and they all took in the scene before them, "We will need a clear path."

Some of the soldiers started to dismount when Minerva stopped them.

"I'll handle it," she said with a flick of her wand.

The bodies around her were soon piled out of the way and anything that had been destroyed was put back in order. She had become quite good at that spell while putting Hogwarts back together. She wasn't proud to admit it, but while everyone had taken time right after the battle to grieve or celebrate, she went straight to work. She had started with the repairs and then had met with the ministry to make sure that term could start again on time. By the time everything was up and running, it was time for the students to come back and she took her role as Headmistress.

"That was quite impressive," Gandalf said quietly from behind her.

"They all needed the rest," she said sheepishly, "and I could get it done in a fraction of the time."

"This was impressive," he said, "but everything else was even more impressive. And I think if anyone could use some rest, it's the person who stayed up all night setting up traps."

"Which one?" Minerva huffed.

"Aragorn came to me first, but Gimli and Legolas were close behind him," Gandalf chucked at her frustrated look, "They simply told me about your marvelous work…and how you had spent all of the night before making it incredibly hard for the army to advance."

"I couldn't sleep anyway," she said and grabbed his hand, "You would have done the same, and it just made it a little easier to stop their advance."

He pulled her close, "I'm not saying you should be ashamed. This was extraordinary and your magic is probably the reason those who lived were able to survive long enough for us to arrive. I'm just saying that you need your rest too."

"It is kind of hard to rest when you are out there doing Merlin knows what on your own," she teased, but her words also held a bit of truth.

It was hard to think of him out on his own without any kind of help, and unlike her world this world did not have any way of alerting each other of danger or loss.

"I can honestly say that you were in more danger than I was," he smiled.

She chuckled before allowing him to pull her in for a kiss. It was nice to know that for a moment they were safe.

"Minerva, Gandalf," Aragorn caught their attention, "We are going to ride up to the rise to check on everything."

Minerva nodded and headed for the horse she had borrowed, but was stopped by Gandalf grabbing her hand and pulling her towards Shadowfax.

"Care to indulge an old wizard in a little more quality time?" Gandalf smirked and Minerva blushed.

"Cheeky wizard is more like it," she said under her breath as he helped her up onto the beautiful white horse.

As they rode up to the rise, Minerva leaned back into the man behind her. It was crazy how much comfort came from simply just being with someone you trusted. There was small talk as the group made their way to the top. Gandalf's voice soon soothed her into a light sleep and the rocking of the horse did nothing to help her stay awake. The group made their way to the top of the rise and Eomer was about to speak when Gimli shushed him.

"Let the poor woman sleep," Gimli said just barely loud enough for them to hear.

"This woman," Minerva said groggily, "isn't so poor and isn't asleep anymore."

Gandalf chuckled as Gimli looked at her a bit frustrated.

"You know it's okay to rest every now and then," the dwarf said sarcastically, "that is if you even know what rest is."

"There will be time for rest shortly," she said while giving him a reassuring smile.

It was nice to have people that cared about her again. She knew her students cared about her, but they cared about their professor and head of house. These people around her right now cared about her as a person, a friend, and even as a lover. War had ripped most of those feelings away from her, and she knew that it would be difficult to build those bonds again. And yet, the Room of Requirement had made easy work of it. Everyone here was at a point in their journeys that made it easy for her to fit in and fill a hole.

"I must thank you all for your help," Theoden broke through her thoughts, "especially both Minerva and Gandalf. Minerva, you gave my men a fighting chance, and Gandalf, you were the savior they were holding out for."

"You never have to thank a friend for helping," Minerva said simply.

"And I just reassured some of your soldiers that you were indeed the man they once knew," Gandalf supplied, "but we are not out from underneath danger's gaze yet. Sauron's wrath will be terrible and swift."

They all looked out over the land and they could see that while the land underneath their feet was safe, the road ahead was nothing but long and arduous.

"The battle for Helm's Deep has been won," Gandalf's deep voice brought them back to that moment, "but the war for Middle-Earth is about to begin. All our hopes now lie with Frodo and Sam."

"They will make it," Minerva squeezed Gandalf's hand, "I know they will."

Later, as they made their way back to the Deep, Minerva and Gandalf spoke to each other just quiet enough that Legolas was the only one of the group to hear it. Gandalf filled her in on the events leading up to his glorious arrival, and Minerva told him about fishing Aragorn out of the river and what she did around the grounds to protect everyone.

"Do you think they know just how sickeningly sweet they are being?" Gimli asked Aragorn, who just smiled at the couple in front of them.

"Do you think she understands what his transformation means?" Legolas said from behind both of them.

"What are you going on about?" Gimli was struggling to turn around on his horse to face the elf.

"It means he is a Maia," both turned to him still confused, "he is immortal."

"What? But we saw him die," Aragorn said, "I figured this was just another trick of magic."

"As a Maia, his physical form can be killed," Legolas explained, "a divine spirit within a mortal form."

"He didn't survive," Aragorn's voice cracked as he realized the truth, "and he will outlive her before long."

"Wouldn't she be immortal too?" Gimli asked.

"I am unsure of the beings in her world, but not all wizards are immortal," Legolas' voice was remorseful as they all realized the inevitable.

"But it's possible?" Aragorn interjected.

"It may be possible," Legolas shook his head, "but it's improbable."

"And she doesn't know," Gimli pulled his horse to a halt and looked towards the pair as they rode off together.

The trio gave the couple some room as they all realized that the war ahead of them may take more precious time away from both of them than Minerva realized.

TBC…