Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings

With the weight of the Ring gone from his mind, plus no longer having to be constantly on his guard to protect it, Frodo found it a lot easier to trust people. Professor Dumbledore led Frodo up to his office, and was conversing with the Hobbit about his journey, and the fate of Middle Earth these days. Frodo didn't so much have to tell the tale from the beginning, as much answer Dumbledore's informed questions. Frodo found that he had the same presence as Gandalf, but seemed calmer, but then Frodo's recent memories of Gandalf had been when the wizard had been hard-pressed by the fortunes of their world, and ultimately falling into shadow.

They had been in the professor's office about forty-five minutes when Dumbledore was satisfied with the goings on in Middle Earth. Frodo finally took stock of his surroundings and was amazed at all the gadgetry in the professor's office. There was an iridescent red bird on a perch next to Dumbledore's desk. It cocked its head and winked at Frodo when he looked at it.

"This is Fawkes, my Phoenix," Dumbledore informed Frodo. "It is a highly intelligent bird. Two years ago it helped Harry defeat a Basilisk. Its tears have healing properties..." The professor went to a trunk and proceeded to dig through it until he brought out a smoky orb and put it on a small pedestal on his desk. "It is time now to use the Palantir."

"So I wonder who has the remaining Palantirs? Let's see..." said Dumbledore. "If you could please come here, Frodo. I want you to watch because you may recognize certain people or places. You will not be able to communicate with anyone, however. One has to be in close proximity to the Palantir for that."

Frodo approached the desk and looked over the old wizard's shoulders into it. When Dumbledore put his hands over it, the smokiness began to swirl. Dumbledore looked into it intently as Frodo looked on. The smoke coalesced into the shape of a man's face: one that was stern and proud, yet infinitely weary. Frodo stated that he did not know this man.

"Gandalf?" the man in the Palantir asked.

"No, this is not Gandalf, this is Dumbledore," the professor said, "a friend of Gandalf. I am another wizard you probably have never heard of. You are the Steward of Gondor are you not?"

"Are you another stormcrow, come to seek refuge within the walls of Minas Tirith?" parried the man. "Yes I am the Steward, but not for long. Your kind has come too late to change the tide. I have seen the armies of the Dark Lord and they are far, far too vast for Men, Wizards and Elves to stop. I will prepare myself for an honorable way to die, so I will not be denigrated by any foul spawn of Mordor. My eldest son is dead, and my second son is almost certainly...."

A sudden flash of fire interrupted the Steward. A huge, lidless yellow eye wreathed in flames appeared and took over the Palantir. Dumbledore flinched, but hung on. Frodo let out a piercing scream, as he knew exactly what it was, but since he was removed from the stone and did not have the Ring, he knew he wasn't going to be seen. However, it looked as if the life force of Dumbledore was draining quickly. Frodo had never had the Lidless Eye look directly at him before with its undivided attention like it was doing to Dumbledore now; he wanted to help, but he knew this was well beyond his power, and he felt it was unwise to reveal himself, since he had been a Ring-bearer once and the Ring still had a lingering power over him, like it did over Gollum. Dumbledore sagged, rallied a bit, and shouted in Elvish tongue, and leapt away from the Palantir. Dumbledore slumped into another chair as the Palantir went inert again. He began mouthing words silently to start with, and then his voice joined in, but it was cracked and frail. His voice grew stronger and fuller. He was collecting his thoughts out loud.

Dumbledore turned suddenly to Frodo and explained, "Things are not what they seem in Middle Earth. Denethor the Steward did not know of the Quest and the One Ring, and seeing what happened, I was very wise not to have informed him. I cannot risk using the Palantir again, because the Dark Lord Sauron is far too strong. I am going to make a plan and I will see you in the morning, and hope that it will not be in vain. Time is of the essence. Goodnight, Frodo, and get some rest."

With that, Dumbledore accompanied him back to the hospital wing, and locked the door. Frodo initially had trouble falling asleep. His thoughts went out to Sam. If he was still alive, Sam now had the responsibility of the Ring-bearer. How would he find his way now Frodo was no longer there, as Gollum presumably had betrayed him? At least he probably had this Harry Potter boy with him, who was supposedly a young wizard. Everyone he met here seemed to regard Harry in high esteem, but what happened if Harry tried to take the Ring form Sam? Soon, however, his fatigue of the most recent part of the Quest got the better of him, and the fact that he was free of the energy-sapping power of the Ring for the first time in many months enabled him to fall into a deep, dreamless, rejuvenating sleep.

* * *

Frodo woke up shortly after dawn as Mme. Pomfrey was doing her rounds in the infirmary. He got out of bed and thanked her for her help. She wasn't as beautiful as the Elves that had taken care of him in Rivendell, but that didn't seem to matter as much in this world. She had nursed him speedily back to health. Frodo left the ward and came across Dumbledore on his way down from the Hospital wing.

"Ah, Master Frodo," the professor greeted him, "I see that you have recovered well from your adventures. I knew that you would, as Hobbits are very resilient, so I want to waste no time in sending you, Hagrid and Mme. Maxime, if she will come, on a very important mission back to Middle Earth. Do not be afraid of Hagrid; he is very large, a half-giant, but he is one of the kindest and most trustworthy people I have known. Mme. Maxime is also a half-giant, but she is very much a lady."

Frodo was overjoyed at the news that he was returning to Middle Earth so quickly. Although the new world in which he found himself was very interesting, he had been forcibly removed from his world and his Quest. Dumbledore pointed the way out of the castle that would bring him within sight of Hagrid's hut.

As Frodo was walking down the corridors, he started to come across the first students of the day.

The students looked at his feet and said things like, "I suppose that Mme. Pomfrey will sort that out for you soon enough."

"Who did that to you?"

"What curse was it?"

Frodo decided to ignore them, because he liked his feet just the way they were and since he was so much older than these human children, they knew nothing about anything anyway. Presently he made his way out the front door after a few encounters with the moving staircases. He saw the half-giant called Hagrid pottering around his hut.

As Frodo approached, Hagrid caught sight of him and inquired, "Why hello there, Master Frodo! Alrigh'?"

Frodo smiled back after he had taken in the sheer size of Hagrid. Compared to a Hobbit, Hagrid was at least three times as tall.

"Yes, I am!" the Hobbit replied. "I have recovered well. Mme. Pomfrey healed me up just fine. I don't like it in the castle though, because it is too high above the ground. I do not like those moving staircases one bit. It reminded me of the Mines of Moria, although there was no Balrog chasing me this time."

"Ahh, the moving staircases," Hagrid smiled, recollecting the legend of how the staircases came to be like that. "They were put in soon after the Castle was constructed." It all started when Helga Hufflepuff began messing around with her time turner. She went over a thousand years into the future, encountered Muggle escalators in the London Underground, and came back raving about moving staircases and not having to walk to get up and down stairs. In the heady days of inter-universe and time travel, a contractor by the name of Bloody Stupid Johnson was becoming well known for his work for ingenious contraptions for the home and garden. He was hired to build the 'moving staircases' in Hogwarts.

Well, none of the Founders were too happy with the end results - all of them except for Rowena Ravenclaw were positively fuming. Godric Gryffindor wanted to flog Johnson in front of an audience of Muggles and Magic Folk alike. Salazar Slytherin was more for having him as his plaything down in the dungeons. Helga just turned as red as her hair and ran into the Dark Forest, screaming, with a Morning Star to 'let off a little steam': within half an hour there were half a dozen werewolves and a couple of manticores knocking at the door of the castle begging for asylum. Rowena Ravenclaw wisely opted to banish Bloody Stupid Johnson from Hogwarts and environs forever. That was done before the others could get their hands on him.

At this point, two students came walking down toward the hut. One was a boy who was tall, gangly and had red hair, and the other was a girl who had brown curly hair.

Hagrid said by way of explanation, "These are Harry's friends. They will probably want to know what it is like where you came from, so they will know what Harry is up against."

The girl introduced herself as Hermione Granger, and the boy, Ron Weasley.

"I have never met a Hobbit before," began Hermione. "They aren't even mentioned in 'Hogwarts, a History'."

"Then it mustn't be that good of a book!" Frodo laughed. Ron laughed too.

"Hermione puts too much faith in that book," Ron explained.

"I do not!" protested Hermione.

"Enough!" said Hagrid. "I'm sure we all want to hear about where Frodo just came from."

Frodo proceeded to explain about Sauron and the Ring, Gollum and uncle Bilbo's journey, and then his own journey. Hermione and Ron listened intently to all the Hobbit had to say.

"I had parted company with Faramir a few days before to go up a secret staircase into Mordor that Gollum knew about. Gollum had abandoned us by the time Sam and I ran into the Giant Spider," Frodo finished.

"Oh, you mean Shelob?" asked Hagrid. "I raised one of her offspring from an egg that I picked up in Hogsmeade on my first visit when I was in third year at Hogwarts. A Dark Elf sold it to me in the Three Broomsticks."

Frodo viewed Hagrid with mistrust, but Ron said to him that Hagrid always means well with his love for Magical Creatures, but they often get out of hand. Frodo relaxed a bit.

"Did you see Harry?" Ron showed him one of the many pictures that Colin Creevey had taken. Harry wasn't looking too pleased in the photograph, but it was a close enough likeness that it was worth showing.

Frodo looked at the picture of Harry, and replied, "No, I did not see this boy. Last I saw was me falling down because I had been bitten by Shelob."

"What kind of land is Mordor, and what did it look like when you left it?" inquired Hermione.

"It was very bleak," responded Frodo. "There was no blue sky to speak of because everything was covered with a black smoke that was pouring out of Mt. Doom. From what little we saw, there was no fresh water or anything growing at all. It was lifeless. I had no idea how we were going to do it. I expect that we were going to rely on Gollum, but I guess he just wanted to lead us to Shelob so he could get the Ring for himself again. I am sure that Sam will find the way, and he will take care of your friend as well as he took care of me."

"Frodo, please tell us about Sam!" Hermione demanded.

"Sam Gamgee is my best friend," explained Frodo. "He is as stouthearted as many a warrior is. He is a good cook and he has a sweetheart by the name of Rosie back in the Shire. He is as brave as can be and I'm sure that he will protect Harry as he protected me. He almost drowned himself when he tried to join me when I wanted to go alone to Mordor. Now Sam has the Ring, I think, so it will be very difficult for him. I wish I was still at his side, and I miss him dearly." A tear appeared in the corner of Frodo's eye. Hagrid sniffled in sympathy.

"That Gollum sounds like an evil creature!" Ron said, thinking about how similar Peter Pettigrew seemed to Gollum.

"Always slinking about, up to no good!" added Hagrid.

"I wonder if Harry will offer it mercy like he did Peter?" Ron wondered aloud.

"I think that he will. I only hope that it does them a good turn," replied Hermione. "We have to go to class now, Frodo and Hagrid. It was a pleasure to meet you," Hermione said and extended her hand to Frodo, and he shook it.

Frodo turned to Ron, who also offered him his farewell. As Harry's two friends were making their way back to school, Mme. Maxime appeared from the large Beauxbatons carriage and made her way down towards Hagrid's hut.

"'allo, 'agrid!" she exclaimed. "Professor Dumblydore said that he wanted us to meet together, including your new visitor, Froodoo."

Hagrid had been in the process of turning red, but his interest was piqued by Dumbledore's request. Dumbledore had mentioned that Frodo would be coming to see him, but had not implied that there was to be a formal meeting as such. As if anticipating Hagrid's confusion, he saw Dumbledore exiting the castle and walking towards them into the burgeoning late spring morning. The birds were singing, the insects were out in full force and everything was as green as could be - at least nature did not buckle to the will of the dark forces here at Hogwarts.

When Dumbledore arrived at the hut, he said, "I see that we have all arrived. I know that both of our worlds are in trouble. I am sending you three, Mme. Maxime, Hagrid and Frodo, to get some assistance for our world. His name is Beorn. He is a half-giant, an Animagus and a very fearsome warrior as well. He went into self-imposed exile from our world when the giants were allying themselves with the forces of darkness. All he ever wanted to do was to live peacefully with nature - he didn't want to be forced to pick sides. He is not helping either side in the current struggle in Middle Earth, although he is keeping the area around his home free of wargs, goblins and orcs. I think with him on our side, the other giants and half-giants will join with us."

"Yes, I remember uncle Bilbo mentioning something about him from his travels to the Lonely Mountain," Frodo added.

Mme. Maxime appeared slightly confused. "But why do I need to go with 'agrid? I must make sure that my students do not get into trouble."

"Well, Professor McGonagall has agreed to take over those duties," responded Dumbledore, "and believe me, she will run a very tight ship indeed, and you won't be gone for long. I will take over her Gryffindor responsibilities. You are needed because two are more convincing than one. And besides, you two need to get to know each other better. When you find Beorn, Mme. Maxime will return with him, while Hagrid and Frodo will continue on to search for Harry Potter and Samwise Gamgee."

Frodo was very satisfied with the arrangements and looked as if he wouldn't have it any other way. Professor Dumbledore went onto explain that he would send them in to end up just east of the Great River of Wilderland in the land east of the Misty Mountains, but west of Mirkwood.

"We don't have time to send you via California and the Grey Havens," finished the professor, "so we will have to use Stonehenge, as it is the closest magical portal."

* * *

After a while the two companions slowed their pace. There hadn't been any arrows flying in their direction, just shouts from the fortress above responding to the two parties of orcs' find. Since there was no one following them, they assumed that they had not been seen. A few times, Sam looked up in the sky fearfully and decided to hide behind a nearby boulder as they were making their way away from the tower of Cirith Ungol. At the same time that Sam and he were hiding, there was a dull ache in his scar.

Harry was beginning to piece things together about the forces of evil in this new land. Since the scar hurt only in the presence of evil, he figured that there were at least two different entities that were evil at work here. Moreover, whenever Sam became invisible, it seemed to attract them. He was grateful that he hadn't actually seen any so far: one evil Lord was enough for one day.

After about an hour of ducking in and out of shadows to hide these invisible threats and the raised alarm in the fortress, Sam seemed to be more relaxed. They both sat down wearily. Harry was very hungry. As if guessing his condition, Sam dug through his pack and produced something that he assumed was food. It was wrapped in leaves and appeared to be some kind of bread. Harry tasted it tentatively. It did not have much taste, but after eating a few mouthfuls, he felt its reviving characteristics. He judiciously handed the other half back to Sam, partly because he required no further sustenance. The main reason was that he had been watching Sam take stock of their supplies, and he saw that they were low, and given their environment, they weren't likely to come across any more soon.

Harry started off the conversation by saying, "What are you doing in Mordor? Surely this isn't your idea of a holiday?"

Sam looked at him mistrustfully and stated plainly "I can't tell you that."

Harry nettled and retorted, "Well you do owe me an explanation, because I am in serious danger of being killed here, and it seems that there is little you can do to stop that."

Sam answered angrily back, "It's not my fault that you suddenly appeared and master Frodo disappeared and I had to become the Ring-bearer!"

Sam realized too late that he gave away that he had the Ring. He flushed and looked defiant, although he dared not open his mouth again lest he give away anything more. However, he hoped that Harry had not heard of such a thing wherever he had come from.

If his situation hadn't been so dire, Harry would've smiled, because giving the game away without realizing it until too late was also the specialty of his good friend Hagrid. Harry recalled that he saw Sam put a ring around his neck when Harry had first appeared in Middle Earth. This ring must be what the mission or Quest was about that Sam was on. Perhaps this was the key to Sam's invisibility too.

Harry allowed a suitable amount of silence to occur before he asked, "I noticed that you became invisible back there - are you a wizard?"

Sam shouted defensively, apparently not having let down his guard one bit, "It is not your business if I can turn invisible! How comes you haven't told me about your magical powers and how someone as young as you can be a wizard? For all I know, you could be Saruman in disguise!"

"Who in Merlin is Saruman? I think that you owe an explanation, since this seems to be a fool's errand that you are on. I know that there is great evil nearby, so please tell me what happened, and I may be able to help you," replied Harry.

He was talking calmly now and Sam was also calming down. Sam decided that this was the time to fill in Harry on all that had happened since that night in the Shire when he had been listening in on Frodo's and Gandalf's conversation. Sam needed all the friends he could get right now, and since he was the leader of the expedition, he was in charge, and he trusted Harry.

When Sam mentioned the Black Riders, or the Ring Wraiths, Harry remembered his recent encounter with the Death Eaters. The Ring Wraiths sounded a lot more sinister since they were no longer living human beings, but supernatural and superhuman with terrible weapons.

When Harry heard about Strider, or Aragorn, he was reminded of Sirius Black, his godfather. How a noble character such as that was slandered and forced to live a mean existence, whether it was by choice or not, touched his soul.

There were many interesting things about Sam's story. He decided that the Elves of Middle Earth sounded very much like the Veelas of his world. He felt sympathy for Sam when he told Harry about Gandalf's fall into shadow. Gandalf sounded a lot like Dumbledore, and Harry would be equally as depressed if something happened to Dumbledore.

Sam's description of Saruman was second-hand from what he had heard from Gandalf, except for the attempted ascent of Caradhras by Sam and the rest of the Fellowship. Saruman was a very powerful wizard indeed, and understood why Sam had feared him so. Apparently, Saruman could assume different forms, so Sam's fear was not completely unfounded.

Danger had also come to Frodo and thus the Fellowship from another quarter, Harry found out. There was a warrior from Gondor, a land close to Mordor, by the name of Boromir who succumbed to the will of the Ring and tried to take it from Frodo. Frodo used the Ring to escape and he and Sam broke from the Fellowship to set out on their own.

"Meeting up with Faramir in Ithilien must have been tough for you and Frodo," said Harry. "I mean you had to conceal the fact that Boromir weakened in the presence of the Ring and tried to take it."

"Yes it was difficult, but Faramir pieced together that much before Frodo said it outright. Faramir, however did not desire the Ring as his brother had. It was lucky that we met him and his men when we did, for the enemy might have captured us. We also got some provisions, plus some sturdy walking sticks from them."

"And what about Gollum?" Harry asked.

Sam replied angrily, "Curse that evil creature! I swear that he meant us ill with that giant spider back in the tunnels! He probably led us there so it could kill us and then get his 'Precious'. He is still wandering around somewhere nearby, but I think he must be hiding because the orcs are out searching for us. He will follow in due course. But we no longer need him. We can now see our final goal - Mt. Doom."

Sam stood up pointed to a lone mountain many leagues distant on the Plateau of Gorgoroth. Harry also got to his feet and looked eastward. It was a volcano and was spewing ash and fire as they spoke.

"We must cast the Ring into the fires in which it was made," he continued. "That is the only way we can destroy it."

Sam began packing up their things, and Harry helped him. They were both weary, but were not excessively worn out. It was understood that they should try to get as much distance between the tower of Cirith Ungol and Gollum as quickly as possible. They decided to head north for a bit along a road of sorts that went that way, and skirt the mountains to the west because it would furnish them some cover. They knew that their path would not be deserted by any means, as they had seen many armies going to and fro, so they needed to get some disguises, i.e. orc clothing. They wondered where they could get those - they would keep a lookout for dead bodies, or settlements, though the idea of coming across either of them was not very appealing.

They continued their conversation about how to get to Mt. Doom. They decided on this indirect route because they would be harder to find by the forces of Mordor that may be searching for them.

Harry thought about what Frodo had told Sam in the first few days alone together, whilst traversing Emyn Muil, about the various people whom he had offered the Ring, and how and why they had refused it. He was particularly interested in Gandalf's reason that he would become too powerful a wizard, and the Ring would work its evil through him contrary to his intentions. That was a warning to Harry of what to expect if the Ring came his way.

"How does it feel to carry the Ring?" Harry asked.

Sam replied, "It feels heavy around my neck. It also feels that it is draining my energy away from me slowly. It is not that bad yet, but I know that it will get worse, because of what it did to Gollum and was doing to Frodo."

He reflected a bit, "I bet that Frodo is feeling better for no longer having to bear it. I am glad to bear it for him."

Sam felt an unexpected pang of guilt that he took it from him for his own purposes, and that Frodo would try to get it back from him, and would be ungrateful.

"How can he be ungrateful?" he thought to himself, "I was his faithful servant for so long, and made sure that he was safe. How can he deny my having it, just for a bit."

He debated with himself like this for a short while until he realized he was beginning to sound like Smeagol in his own head. When Sam was in his right mind again, he was sure that Frodo would never feel ungrateful towards him. He shuddered, and understood why Gollum was the way he was, and how Frodo could have pity on him, because Frodo knew how it felt to bear this terrible burden. However, Sam could not forgive Gollum for betraying him and Frodo in Cirith Ungol, and would like nothing better for repaying him in kind for what he did to Master Frodo - for all he knew, Frodo could be dead. He felt a cold knot of hatred in his chest, and something else that he had never felt before - the power and the will to carry out this cold-blooded act of revenge.

After their quick meal, the travelers noticed that they were running low on water. They kept their eyes peeled for any streams or creeks emanating from the wall of mountains to the west. They found a couple of isolated pools, but they were thick with black oil and vile waste.

Harry began thinking about his situation. Twenty-four hours ago, he was mentally preparing himself for the Triwizard tournament, without any other care in the world. In that short space of time, his world back on earth turned upside down: Cedric Diggory was dead and the Dark Lord Voldemort had risen again and reacquired a fully functional body. Voldemort had mentioned that there was a spy at Hogwarts - who knows what evil he or she was perpetrating at this moment: Harry had barely escaped himself. He feared for his friends, but was sure that Dumbledore would protect them.

And the situation he was in now was unexpected and very dire. He was absolutely exhausted and his ankle was still sprained, although the splint he had magicked was holding up well. He had no armor and would fall to the first well-aimed arrow. Sam didn't have any armor either, so he would as well. They had been making their way along the road for a few hours now and Harry's mind began wandering unchecked about the Ring. He felt that he would be better off being the Ring-bearer, because he would be able to fix his sprained ankle properly for a start. He was also sure that he could cast the Avada Kedavra spell and wipe out several orcs at a time if he had the Ring, even though he didn't know how to cast it now. He knew that it was an Unforgivable curse, but he was no longer on earth, so it no longer applied. Also these were desperate times, and it was necessary do it, and his victims were evil and lived a tortured existence, so it wasn't like killing a human or anything. With these thoughts, Harry settled down to sleep with Sam keeping guard: they had found a particularly large boulder that had a space under it large enough for two people to be unseen from the air and the road.