Chapter 17

Disclaimer: Still no rights to the stories and characters.

Everyone had found their place as they waited for the army to make it into range. Aragorn and Legolas looked out over the wall at the enemy as their companions joined them. The archers around them were a mix of elves and militia, and the anticipation of the battle had begun to settle amongst them. Gimli was struggling to see anything other than armor as he attempted to jump and see even a glimpse of what was moving towards them.

"Couldn't have picked a better spot?" Gimli griped after giving up.

Legolas just smirked down at his vertically challenged friend. The crack of thunder above them brought Legolas' attention back to the terrain now made of nothing by Uruk-Hai. There was silence laced with dread as the storm brought its own challenges to this nearly impossible battle. How were they supposed to hold their ground on cobblestones that were slippery?

"Your friends are with you, Aragorn," Legolas said after refocusing on those around him.

"Let's hope they last the night," Gimli said grimly.

Minerva nudged the dwarf before shaking her head. As much as she knew he was just trying to be realistic, the people around them could use a little optimism. If there was anything she had learned from her Golden Trio and the Weasley twins, there was always room to imagine yourself accomplishing the impossible…and maybe even adding some levity to a situation, especially if it helps those around you.

As she watched the dwarf go back to struggling with his view she rolled her eyes and whispered a quick levitation charm under her breath and watched as he immediately began to flail about in the air. Everyone had a good laugh at the expense of the dwarf, but he was too busy enjoying his new view…after a few more seconds of panic that is. He gave her a toothy grin and stuck his tongue out at Legolas in defiance.

Minerva turned her attention to the land below and took note of the spots that her handwork was waiting. The army was within meters of the first set of traps and at the rate they were marching, they would hit them in about a minute. She turned to Aragorn to tell him of her traps when they heard an Orc Commander urging the men forward. This triggered Aragorn to begin his battle cries to rally the troops.

He called out to them in elvish and asked the archers to be ready for the right moment to strike. The Orc below commanded his army to a halt and both army watched each other, waiting for any slight advancement from the enemy to start the fight. Minerva cleared her throat and beckoned Aragorn over.

"You should know there may be a few uh, surprises as they approach," she whispered to him and watched his face turn from confusion to excitement.

"What's happening out there?" Gimli asked attempting to move while still under the levitation charm, "These oafs decided to stand in front of me when there are plenty of other spaces to spectate from."

Minerva turned to see several larger men had taken post directly in front of Gimli and her previous levitation did not allow him to see above them.

"Shall I describe it to you?" Legolas smirked at the once again struggling dwarf, "Or shall we ask Minerva to give you a hand?"

Gimli laughs before pointing at the ground, "She has already made me fly, what more can I ask for?"

"Perhaps just a little more assistance," Minerva chuckled as she lifted him into the air just enough to see over everyone's heads.

The commander below had started to roar and the army joined in with the pounding of their spears. The pounding could still be heard over the thunder as it crashed around them and the rain began to pour. The men and elves readied their swords and bows as the rain thoroughly drenched them. As both armies waited for an order to be given, it was a loose arrow from an older man that lit the fuse. As the arrow flew through the air, Aragorn gave the order to hold, but the arrow soon found its mark and an orc fell to its death. That was all that was needed for the Uruk-Hai to charge.

"Aragorn!" Minerva called over the chaos, "Tell them to hold until they clear that first hill."

Aragorn nodded and relayed the order to his men. Many of them were confused and there was doubt in their eyes as the army charged on to meet them. They were beginning to question the order when suddenly explosions rang out on the field. They all watched as hundreds of Uruk-Hai were thrown across the battlefield. Minerva counted in her head as she waited for the final explosion to go off. She had gotten the potion right. Had there been more time, Minerva would have made more.

"Almost time!" Minerva screamed as the last few spots were about to be triggered.

"Tangado halad! (Prepare to fire!)" Aragorn commanded.

"Faeg I-varv din na lanc… a nu ranc (Their armor is weak at the neck…and underneath the arms)" Legolas advised as he notched an arrow.

As the last explosion rang out and the remainder of the army reached the hill, Minerva called out for Aragorn to release.

"Leithio I philinn! (Release the arrows!)" Aragorn cried and watched as the sea of arrows left the walls and made contact with their targets.

Minerva watched as the arrows continued to rain down upon the enemy and each one seemed to fell an orc, but with the size of the army, when one fell three more took its place. Soon some of her other traps would be set off and while they would slow them down, she could assist in some aerial attacks. Thinking on her feet she thought of a spell that Albus had taught her during her studies for her Transfiguration Mastery.

"Tell them to aim for the blue mass in the sky!" Minerva yelled over her shoulder as she climbed on top of the wall.

Focusing on the desired outcome of the spell, she created a field of light blue in the sky. As the archers fired into it, the field multiplied the arrows by ten and lit them on fire. It was a bit tricky at first, but focusing on the fact that each arrow was the same helped. She just had to imagine the arrows splitting into ten pieces and growing to match the original. The fire was just an added charm to help with the impact on the other end.

With the added fire power and the traps below, the army started to slow slightly. Below they watched as the rest of Minerva's traps were sprung. Fires started erupting taking another hundred or so creatures out of the fight. The ice had also frozen many and as the arrows grazed the frostbitten bodies, they shattered. The enchanted puddles came to life and started actively seeking out living things to envelope. It was growing in size and had cornered part of the army as they attempted to cross it to no avail.

Her more muggle inspired traps started to bring havoc to the army. Spikes, bear traps, and trenches started to take creatures out of the battle or at least bring more to their knees. Vines took the form of ropes and embodied the nature of Devil's Snare as they completely immobilized those around them. The fireworks were the last to be set off and soon a dragon of flames and sparks was engulfing the whole front line of the forces in front of them. Minerva's handiwork had been exhausted, and while the army was still large, several hundred if not thousands were now unable to advance.

Turning to look at Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, she saw looks of surprise and glee at what they had just witnessed.

"When exactly were you going to tell us about all that?" Gimli laughed.

"I wanted to surprise you," she smiled.

"Is that where you escaped to last night?" Legolas asked.

"I wasn't going to sleep anyway, and I knew we could use all the help we could get," she looked out over the wall, "they were going to fight dirty, so why shouldn't we?"

"You may have just given us the upper hand," Aragorn grinned, "And the men hope for a victory."

"You did all of this?" Theoden asked from behind them, hearing the end of the conversation.

"Yes, it wasn't much, but it was as best I could do in a night," Minerva said humbly.

"It was more than we ever expected and more than we could have hoped for," the king said gratefully.

"They are approaching the walls," Legolas broke into the conversation.

Soon there were arrows flying at them as the enemy gained their composure and filled in the gaps left by their dead. Minerva quickly casted a Protego Maxima around the walls and managed to stop the arrows from making contact with any of them. She continued to hold the spell until she heard Aragorn call out about the ladders that were presenting a new problem.

"Minerva, please put me down," Gimli said as he spun in the air attempting to get closer to the fight.

She quickly reversed the spell and let the dwarf down so he could join the fight. Minerva watched as the dwarf went straight for the first Urak-Hai to make it up the ladder and quickly sent a Diffindo towards the intruder.

"Haven't you don enough already?" Gimli scoffed as his would be first kill fell to the ground below.

"You'll have to be quicker than that," she replied before conjuring her sword.

Everyone readied for a close combat and soon the walls were overrun. There wasn't a single person that wasn't engaged in a fight. Legolas and Gimli were neck deep in a competition for the most victories, and so far Gimli was far behind the elf. Minerva was alternating between using the sword and wandless magic to push as many back as she could. They were all surrounded by fighting when the entire wall was rocked by an explosion.

Minerva was thrown to the ground and looked around to see most around her had also been unsteadied by the explosion. She made it to her feet quickly and found Gimli. Below them there had been a group of Uruks protecting themselves and clearing the way for a Bererker to blow a hole in the wall. Theoden was yelling orders the brace the main gate, but it seemed to be in vain as a ram was making quick use of the gate.

"Aragorn!" Gimli suddenly yelled from beside her as he jumped down to assist Aragorn as Uruks flood in around him.

Gimli landed in the middle of the incoming flood of Uruks, but was quickly overwhelmed. Minerva jumped down as well and threw a Depulso towards the group and sent about a third of the group hurtling backwards. Aragorn and the elves surrounding him soon joined in, but not much progress was made in either direction. Trying to maintain their ground was proving to be almost impossible. Every time they gained a little ground, they were pushed back twice as far.

"Aragorn! Fall back to the Keep!" Theoden yelled over the fighting and the storm, "Get your men out of there!"

Aragorn relayed the message to those around him, including Haldir above them still on the wall. Gimli had to be carried away as he wanted to continue the fight, but it was no use given the odds. As they were all retreating, Aragorn and Minerva turn to check on the archers from above and watched as Haldir fell. Aragorn fought his way to the top, and Minerva covered him from behind. Before she could stop him however, he was leaping off the side of the wall towards the Uruks below in frustration and anger.

Minerva looked down as he landed amongst a sea of Uruks and she shook her head. His emotions had gotten the better of him and now she had to keep him from following them to his death. She took one last look at the lifeless Haldir and jumped. On her way down, a well placed Bombarda cleared the way and she was soon trying to catch up to Aragorn as he made his way up the steep outside stairway into the keep.

Using her sword, Minerva cut through the Uruks easily as she marched forward. She was thankfully very skilled in the use of a sword and given that she had made some magical improvements to it, she was doing quite well. She had a few bruises and cuts so far, but overall she was holding up well. She had her emotions under control and her panic attacks seemed to have granted her a reprieve at the moment. Without fear gripping her heart and mind, there was nothing to drain her other than physical exertion.

She used as many wandless spells as she could on top of her blade to ensure that both her and Aragorn were safe. There were a lot of heavily armed enemies in front of them and as she realized they wouldn't stop coming, she decided to start getting creative. Using any charm or spell she could think of, she started shrinking the Uruks down to the size of mice and transfiguring others into actual mice. Anything to get them out of the way. Soon they could see the gate that was under siege. Aragorn called for Gimli and Minerva followed suit.

"We can take them," Gimli said from in front of her, and as she moved to join them she realized what they are talking about.

They were now looking at the other side of the gate where the Uruks were attempting to break through, and if that wasn't enough of a challenge, they would be pinned against a wall for this fight if they even made the jump.

"It's a long way," Aragorn said.

"Toss me," Gimli said reluctantly after a couple seconds.

"What?" Aragorn asked as if he hadn't heard him correctly.

"I cannot jump the distance. You'll have to toss me!" Gimli repeated more than slightly aggravated.

Aragorn looked at him, then to Minerva, then back to him. Suddenly the dwarf caught on.

"I couldn't let her have all the credit," Gimli said proudly, "She's already done more than me and the elf combined."

"If you want Aragorn to still toss you, you just have to say so," Minerva laughed.

"Oh just get on with it woman," Gimli said gruffly as the other two laughed.

"I'll clear some of them away and then get you both over there," Minerva smiled as she moved to stand in front of Gimli and Aragorn, "This will be loud."

Casting Reducto followed by Bombarda, Minerva was able to clear a sizable hole in the mass that surrounded the main entrance. She sent first Gimli then Aragorn across. Minerva used her animagus form to get across before turning her attention to the gate. Uruks were surrounding them already, but she was able to take a few minutes to transfigure some of the wooden planks into stone to help it hold up longer against the onslaught.

Between the three of them they were able to hold their ground, but they were unable to stop the attack on the gate. The causeway was packed tight and there wasn't much room for anything but close combat. Suddenly Minerva heard the cranking of what appeared to be a large crossbow and before she knew it, a massive grappling hook was plunged into the gate. Pushing the Uruk that had attempted to rush her off of her and thrusting her sword into his neck, she bought herself enough time to send a slicing hex towards the rope attached to the hook.

Another hook was sent toward the gate but ricocheted off the stone that she had set in place earlier. At first she thought maybe she could keep up with the hooks as they were launched, but she missed the next two as she was cut across the face from a blade she narrowly missed and was almost impaled as she tried to stop the second hook from making impact. Before she knew it, they had enough leverage on the gate that even the stones she had put in place would do no good. Ladders were soon going up as the hooks were used as pulleys. The Uruk-Hai swarmed the ladders and gained more ground.

The men on the other side of the gate were working tirelessly to reinforce the gate and thankfully they were able to seal the cracks, but the ladders were still in place. They were making it over the walls even with the three fighting to keep them down. Minerva set one of the ladders on fire but it helped for only a second before another one was erected in its place. She grabbed Gimli by the cuff of his shirt and pulled him back just in time to avoid a rather nasty looking Uruk from landing a blow.

"That was great timing," he said before jumping right back into it.

"Gimli! Aragorn! Minerva!" Theoden yelled through the last remaining crack in the gate, "Get out of there now!"

"Up here!" Legolas got their attention as he dropped a rope over the edge from the top of the battlements.

Aragorn grabbed the rope before beckoning the two of them to him.

"Grab hold of Gimli," he told her as he wrapped an arm around her waist.

She did as she was told, much to the displeasure of the dwarf that was trying desperately to kill as many enemies as he could, even while being hoisted up into the air. As they were pulled up, Minerva fired a couple of spells at the creatures climbing the ladders around them, and successfully knocked an entire group of them down. As soon as they cleared the top of the wall, Legolas and a few men pulled them to safety.

Below Theoden and Gamling moved away from the gate and started to pull everyone they could back into the heart of the deep. There wasn't much they could do as more and more of the massive army made its way passed all their defenses. Men fired arrows into the hoards, befalling some, but not making a dent. Before they knew it, the gate was breached and more Uruks streamed in.

"They have broken through! We must retreat," Aragorn yelled, "the castle is breached."

They all retreated to the hall and tried to recollect themselves. Minerva could see the exhaustion on all their faces, and if she was being honest with herself, she could use a reprieve as well. She looked around at the women and children that were cowering in the corner furthest from the entrance. This battle wasn't over, at least it couldn't be until they were at least out of harms way. They just needed to hold on a bit longer.

TBC…