Harry Potter and the Ring of Doom

They appeared in St. Mungo's and followed Professor Dumbledore to the front desk. In short order, they were near the beds of the four children, and Harry immediately knew that these were no children. For one thing, their faces were all wrong for children; they appeared perhaps a little chubby, but their proportions were adult. They had curly hair, and each one had a cast on at least one limb. "They apparently fell a long distance, and were very badly hurt. We've saved them, but they'll be recovering for a while, possibly months."

""May I speak to them?" Dumbledore asked.

"At the moment, only the one with the powerful ring is awake, and he's not entirely connected, I might add, sir," said one of the healers. "He keeps mumbling something about black riders, mushrooms, and maggots, with an occasional reference to something called the Old Forest. Once he cried out for someone named Gandalf."

Hermione and Harry looked at each other and shrugged as Dumbledore looked to them. "Come in with me, you two. It will save me explaining the situation to you afterwards." He strode into the room purposefully, stopping before the four beds. As the healer had stated, three of them were rather obviously either unconscious or asleep. The fourth was awake and trying to be aware of his surroundings.

He turned to face the three from Hogwarts, and a relieved smile came to his face. "Gandalf! I...I don't know what happened. Merry, Pippin, Sam, and I had just left Tom Bombadil when something grabbed us. We fought, but...we couldn't. We fell a long time, and then landed hard in the midst of an alley. Then I awoke here." His hand rose to his chest, and gripped something under the shirt. "I still have The Ring, Gandalf. They didn't take it from me, and I won't let them, unless you tell me to."

Albus smiled. "I am sorry, son, but I am not this Gandalf of whom you speak. My name is Albus Dumbledore, and I believe that you begin to answer a prophecy I received not four hours ago."

"That's about when they landed in the alley, from what I understand," the healer interjected from the door. "They were Apparated directly here, and we began our healing process."

The speaker in the bed looked scared. "Where are we then? And where is Gandalf?"

"I believe that a wizard from our world drew you here, probably with the intention of taking the Ring you carry. It is my intention to return you to your world, possessions intact, if at all possible."

"Thank you, sir," the one in the bed said. "My name is Frodo Baggins, by the by, and the others in their own beds, in order from me, are Samwise Gamgee, Meriadoc Brandybuck, also known as Merry, and Peregrin Took, or Pippin. How soon will you be able to return us?"

Dumbledore looked at the healer. "Not for months," the healer said, and Frodo's face fell.

"I must get this Ring to Rivendell immediately! I can't wait several months! I waited too long to leave as it is," he cried out.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Baggins, but that will be quite impossible. You are all too badly injured. What I can do is attempt to contact this Gandalf person you speak of, and learn what can be done. If possible, I will find a way to have him speak to you."

"Thank you, sir," Frodo replied. He shook his head. "I definitely need to speak with him. This Ring is to be guarded, according to Gandalf, at least until I get it to Rivendell. Elrond can figure out what should be done with it from there."

"Sir," Harry said to Dumbledore, "I know that you've probably already thought of this, but if Voldemort dragged these four through from wherever they came from, then we ought to put a guard around them."

"Excellent thinking, Mr. Potter. I had not yet gotten that far in my own thoughts. I was contemplating the difficulty in contacting their wizard friend." He turned to the healer, who still waited at the door. "Get me a member of the Ministry, please." The healer ran off.

Hermione snapped her fingers. "Of course! That home has been in their family for generations, hasn't it?" Harry looked at her in puzzlement. She looked at him, coming back from the place in her mind where she'd worked out the solution. "One of the others for the trip must be Mr. Weasley - 'Burrow Born'. Now we just need to puzzle out the other two. The only thing that comes up for 'Minerva's Maid' makes no sense - not to say anything against them, but I'm not sure what good a house elf would do on a quest of any sort."

"Excellent thinking, Miss Granger," Albus Dumbledore said. "You were an excellent addition to this. I'm sure Madame McGonagall will be pleased to know that her suggestion has borne fruit."

Harry looked up, startled. Wait a second. 'Minerva's Maid'? Isn't Hermione one of her favourite students? He shook his head. No. Couldn't be. They wouldn't take one of us along with them if they could help it. I'm just reading too much into the phrase.

Arthur Weasley came into the room. "I was still here, Professor. It seems we had similar ideas - these four need protection, if it was Voldemort who brought them here."

"From what Mister Malfoy has told us, it is safe to assume that Voldemort is, in fact, the reason Mr. Baggins and his friends are here," Dumbledore replied.

"Horrible what happened to him. Even if I didn't like Lucius, I can think of any number of other ways I'd have preferred to see him go. Even a Dementor's Kiss might have been kinder than what was left of him in Azkaban."

Harry cleared his throat. "Um, are they sure it was really him? I mean, I remember the bit with Barty Crouch's son, and Peter Pettigrew pretending to be dead. Are they absolutely certain that it really was Mr. Malfoy, and not some double?"

"First thing they thought of, I understand," Arthur Weasley replied. "No doubt at all. And then to go after Narcissa as well? No proof of her even being a Death Eater. I understand Draco escaped only because the Aurors came running as soon as they heard about Lucius. As it was, he was pretty banged up." Arthur shook his head. "Poor boy doesn't even have a home to return to. Apparently his father was paranoid enough to put enough destructive wards on the place that when the Death Eaters showed to deal with Narcissa ... well, it was only Draco's diving out a window that left him alive. He's been at Hogwarts for the time being, while we try to figure out what to do with him. His closest living relative is Andromeda Tonks, and I can't see him staying with her."

"Indeed a tragic situation," Dumbledore said. "We will do what we can for the boy." He looked at Arthur. "I don't know if you've heard, but Madame Trelawney has a Prophecy that appears to involve you." He stated the words of the Prophecy to Arthur before continuing, "Miss Granger here had the rather brilliant idea that 'Burrow Born' refers to you, since you and your family have owned that property for generations."

"Nice idea, Professor, but how precise is this Prophecy of yours? Does it require that the one who is 'Burrow Born' must actually have been given birth to there?"

"I am uncertain, but that interpretation would probably be correct. Otherwise, a different word would have been used, I would imagine."

"Can't be me, then. I was born here in St. Mungo's." He shrugged. "Want me to come over to Hogwarts after my work day is finished?"

"Excellent idea, Arthur. Any extra heads on this matter will be greatly appreciated. Feel free to bring any of your children that wish to help, but remind them that this will not be a holiday - they will be expected to work on this problem with us."

"Understood. Probably end up bringing Molly along as well, then. She's got a good mind for puzzles, and I don't think I've ever heard of a prophecy that wasn't phrased as a puzzle." Harry's eyes met Dumbledore's for only a moment, but the unspoken nod made them both smile slightly. Harry looked away, straight into the piercing gaze of Hermione Granger.

"I'll ask you later about that, Harry. I saw that look." She continued to stare at him for a time, until he felt himself blushing.

Oh yes, I'm definitely thinking I'll need to ask Professor Dumbledore about a 'cold shower' spell before the term starts. If Hermione is doing that to me, I don't want to think how I'll act around Cho or Parvati or even Ginny. He let his thoughts bring up that picture of the group of them going swimming earlier that summer. They'd invited him over, and Arthur had hinted to Vernon that it was also an excellent way to keep Harry as far away as possible. They had also begun the process of teaching Harry to swim. Ginny's swimsuit had reminded Harry uncomfortably that his best friend's only sister was, in fact, rather noticeably female, and pleasantly so. If I tried anything with Ginny, Ron would kill me.

He chuckled to himself at that thought and refocused to see Hermione looking at him still, obviously a bit puzzled. "Mind sharing the joke, Harry?" she asked with a smile.

Harry's brain attempted to shut off. She'll kill me if I tell her I'm thinking that way about her! I can't admit...what do I say? He realized absently that he was probably closely approximating Vernon's colouring this summer as he finally said, "Umm, it would take a bit of explaining what I found funny, and explaining it would probably ruin the humour. Sorry." The look she gave him told him that she certainly did not believe him, thank you very much, and that the subject was not dropped, merely put on hold for the time being.

He looked up at the adults, who were both smiling at the interplay rather knowingly, which actually puzzled Harry a great deal. How can they know what's happening when I don't know what's happening? About then, Kingsley Shacklebolt walked up to the door and stuck his head in. "Arthur Weasley? Just wanted you to know that I'm here to take over guarding these people."

"Thank you, Mr. Shacklebolt. I appreciate it. You understand how important this is, I trust?" His tone carried nothing but business, but Harry knew that Arthur Weasley's eyes spoke another story.

"As I understand it, they were drawn here by You-Know-Who. We're to keep him from getting his hands on them."

"Right. I'll leave you to it then, Shacklebolt. Don't need me in the way," Arthur said, and led everyone from the room. To Dumbledore he said, "I'll sign out a little early and grab Molly and see if Ginny wants to help out. I doubt Fred and George will be back yet." He headed off for the Ministry.

Back at Hogwarts, as they headed back toward the library, Harry slowed down and said, "Professor, could I talk to you for a moment?" As Hermione slowed and began to turn around, he added sheepishly, "Alone? Sorry, Hermione."

She laughed quickly at his body language, so obvious in his embarrassment and desire not to hurt her feelings. "Don't worry, Harry, I understand. I'll see you back at the library." She walked off, around the corner.

"Well, Harry, what's on your mind?" the headmaster asked.

Harry turned pink again as he asked, "Well, umm, I was wondering if there's a spell to...well, I don't know the word I want...is there something like a 'cold shower' spell?"

Harry was glad to see that Professor Dumbledore took him seriously, although there was a hint of humour in the eyes. "Why would you need one, Harry?" His eyes flickered down the hallway for only a second, and he added, "Or does it have something to do with the young lady who just left us?"

"I've never noticed that she's pretty before, Professor. She's my best friend, right up there with Ron. If I'm finding my best friend pretty, what does that mean for the rest of the year? Cho, and Parvati, and thank the gods that Alicia and Angela have graduated, in case I ever manage to get back on the Quidditch team. I'll probably be an unholy terror, as my Uncle Vernon would say at the top of his lungs." He shuddered. "Gods, I'm quoting Vernon."

"Have you considered another possibility, Harry? That you might be realizing that you are falling in love with Miss Granger? That would account for suddenly noticing that she is attractive."

"But she's my best friend!" Harry replied indignantly. "And what about Ron? I think he fancies her too!"

"That is something for the three of you to work out amongst yourselves. As for her being your best friend, can you really think of anyone better, if it is love?"

Harry started to respond, but Dumbledore's last question made him think, so he stayed silent. Am I in love with her? How do I know? How do I deal with it, if it is? And how do I keep Ron's friendship? "Um, sir? How do I ... how can I tell if I am in love? With her, I mean?"

"Ah, Mister Potter, if I knew the answer to that, I would know the answers to all the secrets of the universe. I simply can not tell you because I do not know. I could suggest a few things, but they are obvious with a little thought." Albus Dumbledore straightened his clothing, more as a form of punctuation rather than through any actual need, and said, "As for your question, I am afraid that I do know libido deadening spells, but they are only for certain uses, since they do not eradicate, but merely delay. The side effects are ... unusual, and potentially dangerous, as well, since the longer the deadening effect lasts, the greater the reaction when released. It is possible to die from using a libido deadening spell, and I fear that the way you would use it would lead to your death."

Harry started at that pronouncement, but as unwilling as he was, he had to admit that Dumbledore was right. "So I muddle on through it, right?" he laughed quietly.

"As Muggles and wizards have since time began, my dear Mister Potter." He put his arm around Harry's shoulder and they headed for the library.