Harry Potter and the Ring of Doom

"Mr. Potter, the information I'm giving you may well save your life. Please pay attention!" Professor Snape barked as Harry fought valiantly to keep his eyes open.

Harry started. "I'm sorry, Professor. I'm really trying - honestly I am. It's just that I stayed up far too late last night trying to make sure that I had what both you and Professor Flitwick taught us yesterday. Not enough sleep." The frustration started to get to him, and he felt tears welling up in his eyes, but he was not going to give Snape the satisfaction of seeing that he'd driven him that far.

"We'll take a short break, then," Harry heard him say next, with a gentler tone than Harry would have expected. "Get up and stretch your legs, perhaps splash some water on your faces, and be back here in ten minutes." Harry didn't need to be told twice; he shoved himself to his feet, and stumbled out the door.

"Who was that?" Ron asked in the boy's bathroom. "It sure wasn't Snape. He's never given you a fair shake."

A little more awake after the movement and water on the face, Harry replied, "I'm understanding why, after last year. I saw some of the memories he had of school here, and my father was a royal rotter to Professor Snape. I don't like it, but I'm beginning to understand it. I just wish there was a way of starting with a clean slate. I'm not my dad, and I never will be. Dad was privileged, and I've lived with the Dursleys for my entire life. He had more money than God, it seems, and I never really knew what money was until my first year here." He splashed a little more water for luck, more than wakefulness, and sighed. "Well, best get back to class. Don't want him thinking I'm trying to pull something by showing up late."

Back in the classroom, Professor Snape came over to Harry with a glass of potion. "This is a dilute Ennervate potion. This should help you get through this class, and Professor Flitwick's Charms class. I diluted it to give you the chance to actually sleep tonight. If I gave you this much straight, I'd likely have to pry you off the ceiling for the next three days." Harry drank it, and felt energy flow back into himself. He knew he'd be able to survive the class now. "Excellent. Now, since you say that you studied last night, would you care to explain what kind of potion I'd be putting powdered amethyst into?"

"Well, the first two that come to mind, Professor, are a hangover cure and an elixir to prevent drunkenness. I'll admit that I can't think of any more than that right now."

"That is a far better answer than I would have received fifteen minutes ago. There are some far more rare type of potions you would also use it for, but since I do not have the entire year to teach you, I will consider that a good answer. Mr. Weasley - why is yarrow used in practically every potion we make in this class?"

Harry knew that the 'deer-in-the-headlights' look that his friend had did not bode well for a proper answer.

#####

"I wish I could offer you help, Gandalf, but it will be difficult enough trying to learn how to transport our four in place of Frodo and his friends."

"I am far more at ease now, knowing that they are safe, and that you are doing what you can to help us complete our task. I will admit that I will be far more at ease once I am no longer in Saruman's captivity. How soon will you be sending your travellers?"

"I expect it to be soon. Since they are students, we are giving them a highly accelerated course in what we think they might need in your world. If you could tell me what we should avoid, I would greatly appreciate it."

"I need some more information before I can do that. For example, you have not told me what kind of school you run." Dumbledore could hear the smile in Gandalf's voice. "My assumption is that it is some form of school of magic, since that is the method you have used to contact me."

"Correct. Hogwarts is a school for wizards."

"I warn you that powerful magicks are noticeable from quite a distance here. Also, certain styles are noticeable from any distance, such as mine. It is unlikely that any of your students will be wielding my form of magic, so I am not as worried about that." Again, the smile was evident in the other wizard's voice, as if he was laughing at a secret. "Unfortunately, we will not know about their style until they get here. I would recommend that you avoid things that are overly noticeable."

"Ah, then brooms are definitely not to cross with them," Dumbledore said with a slight smile.

"Brooms?" came the bemused question.

"We fly on them. From what you are saying, they would probably be noticeable."

"Yes. And since the Enemy has flying steeds at his command, it would not necessarily save them any time, and might actually ensure their capture." A brief pause. "I wish that Frodo were in a condition to travel. He was much better suited to this than four children not even of this world. I mean no insult to your students or your teaching staff."

"I understand completely, Gandalf. I would prefer not to send children over, either, even if they knew your world better than their own. But our Prophecies demand it."

"And ours are just as demanding, in their own way. Well, I must see to my own release. Tell Frodo that I grudgingly grant him permission to give the Ring to you. I beg of you, do not touch the Ring yourself, if you can avoid it. If he needs proof, tell him about the flash at his Uncle Bilbo's eleventy-first birthday disappearance, and that you must leave soon, but not immediately. I think he will understand that these messages could only have come from me, himself, or Samwise, who you tell me is there with him. Ah, I must go! I hear someone!" With that, the contact was broken.

#####

At dinner that night as they sat around the head table, Dumbledore came in with a small ornate silver box under his arm. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were talking, when suddenly Ron sat up straighter, exclaiming "Of course!" startling Harry and Hermione. "I never expected him to be asking me a First Year question!"

Professor Snape leaned forward. "May I assume that your outburst refers to my question concerning yarrow?"

"Yes, Professor," Ron replied sheepishly. "I didn't answer in class because I thought you were looking for something more than what we'd learned in our first year."

"Which is, Mister Weasley..." Snape asked, and Harry could actually hear some amusement creeping into the man's voice.

"That yarrow is used to improve the efficacy of almost every potion, being a particularly magical herb. It is especially good for medicinal spells." It was obvious that he was quoting.

Snape's eyes slid to Hermione. "Not me or Harry, Professor. That was all him. I'll take a Veritaserum Potion to prove it, too."

The professor nodded. "Excellent. Now, in your own words, Mister Weasley?" He wasn't hiding the smile this time, and it wasn't as nasty as Harry would have thought it might be, considering the source.

"Basically, it makes 'em more powerful and more effective, and it's really good for various healing potions." He grinned at Professor Snape. "I'll admit that if there's more about it, I don't know it."

"Nor would you unless you choose to make the study of Potions a major course of study, Mister Weasley. For purposes of our classes, what you have said is sufficient." After a pause, he added, "Now, may we please get back to our dinners?" The slight smile on his face took most of the sting Ron might have felt away.

"What's that?" Harry asked of Dumbledore, pointing at the box.

"This, Mister Potter, is the thing that Voldemort is after. If the teachers are in agreement, then I believe that you should be leaving soon. I have spoken with Gandalf, and I believe I know a method for getting you to his world." He paused and unfocused his eyes for a moment. "I believe that I would like to find a method of furthering conversations with that man, after you four are successful with your mission. He seems quite interesting."

He refocused and looked at the four students. "I have had you keep travelling packs prepared for the day that you leave. I believe that either tonight or tomorrow morning will be the time. Unfortunately, I have been informed that your brooms are not likely to be much help, and are in fact likely to aid in your capture. It appears that the four of you will be doing quite a bit of walking." He looked to the other teachers around the table. "Do you consider them to be ready, or at least as ready as we can make them?"

Professor Flitwick spoke up. "I thought you were crazy, Albus, when you asked me to return to teach these students, but I don't think I've ever seen any students more driven to learn than these four have been in the last two weeks. I'd love to have more time to teach them more charms and jinxes and curses, but I'll probably be saying that as they graduate next year. I think that they've learned enough to keep themselves alive quite well."

Snape leaned forward. "I must echo Professor Flitwick's comments about their readiness. In complete honesty, I don't believe I've ever seen any of them work as hard as they have these last two weeks. Were we keeping track of House points during this period, I would give each of them twenty points for the hard work they have performed." He paused to allow for the Gryffindor students to goggle at him for a moment, and then added, "I would recommend, however, that as far as their dinners go, they allow for either Mister Malfoy or Mister Potter to do the cooking. I am loathe to imagine Mister Weasley's cooking, and asking the only female in the group to cook does seem rather sexist." He smiled his slight smile at them.

"Who'd they replace Professor Snape with?" Harry whispered to Hermione out of the corner of his mouth.

"I don't know, Harry. I just hope they don't return the original," she smiled back at him in her own whisper.

Minerva McGonagall's eye twinkled in response to that, letting them both know that she had managed to overhear them. "I must agree with my colleagues. These four have been a credit to their Houses, and I also would grant them an equal number of points, were it permitted. More importantly, they have been a credit to themselves, proving that they can be trusted when the situation is important enough."

"Excellent. Then once we have finished our meals, I believe we should adjourn to the library. After all, we must decide who should carry this burden, and make plans for your travel to that world."

"Professor?" Hermione asked. "Have you decided how we'll choose who carries the Ring?"

"I admit that I was hoping to deduce a method as I ate. Do you have a particular one in mind?"

She smiled her quick smile. "Well, an aunt of mine, when she heard I was able to do magic, went out and bought me something. I admit that I have no use for it, since I have no real talents at divination, but I carry a tarot deck with me, just as a reminder of my aunt. Sweet woman, but a little daft," she laughed. "She thinks aliens live in her tool shed."

"Cards - a time honoured method of choosing," he responded. "If you wish to use them for this endeavour, then tarot cards it shall be."

To the others she said quietly, "At least then I'll be able to tell her I've actually used them." Ron and Harry chuckled, while Draco rolled his eyes.

Dinner continued at a relaxed pace, although the teenagers were getting a little nervous, for fairly obvious reasons. Tomorrow at this hour, unless something went horribly wrong, they would be in another world with a Ring whose very existence threatened both worlds.

#####

Finally, the group assembled in the library: the four students, the entire Weasley family (minus Percy), Hermione's parents, and the assembled teachers, including their friend Hagrid. Hermione had brought her tarot deck. She looked over to her parents and said in a wavering voice, "Well, Mum, you can tell Aunt Elizabeth that I've used her gift here at Hogwarts."

She unpacked the deck from the plastic holding it, and took out the slightly oversized cards. "Well, now we need to shuffle these, and choose. High card carries?" she asked, looking at her fellow travellers. Draco shrugged, and the other two nodded. She started an attempt at shuffling that led to her picking various cards from the floor, and did nothing but prove that playing cards was not a regular hobby of hers.

Hagrid's laugh rumbled through the room. "Yer want me to do that, Hermione?" He held his hand out, and she placed the deck in it. The deck looked small in those hands. He then proceeded to surprise everyone with the dexterous moves of an accomplished cards player, riffling the deck, and shuffling in ways that few had ever seen, at least once using only one hand. Suddenly, he realized that every eye in the library was on him. "Sorry. I learned that ter try an' keep from bein' so clumsy."

"Quite all right," Dumbledore smiled. "Virtuousity of any sort is to be admired, not ridiculed. Would you say that they are properly shuffled?"

"Any more and I'll end up puttin' 'em back in their original order," he laughed.

Professor Dumbledore took the deck and placed it on the table. "Miss Granger, since it is your deck, perhaps you would like to draw first?"

She walked forward, looked at the assembled group, and pulled the top card from the deck. Her eyes shot to Harry for a moment, blushed furiously, and said, "Whoops! Forgot to remove the Major Arcana." She dropped the card, face up, and picked the deck up, searching madly for the other twenty-one cards.

Harry moved a little closer, to see which card she had pulled, and just before she dropped 'The Heirophant' on top of it, he saw that she had drawn 'The Lovers'. Shrugging, he turned back to Ron. "Am I being dumb? I don't understand why she reacted that way to that card."

Draco snorted. "I think the word you're looking for, Potter, is 'obtuse'."

Harry thought for just a second and said, "You're probably right, Mal ... Draco." He turned back in time to see Hermione hand the deck to Hagrid again, and to see Dumbledore smiling proudly at him for some reason.

With the cards back on the table, Hermione looked at the deck again. Carefully verifying that the card she'd pulled before was no longer in the deck (amidst some chuckles), she pulled a card from the top of the deck. She relaxed visibly. "Well, unless you three pull really badly, it's not likely to be me. The Four of Wands."

Ron walked over next. "Just curious - are we treating all suits as equal? What I mean is, what if Malf ... Draco and I both pull nines and they're the highest. Do we shuffle and try again, between us?" As he asked, he reached down and pulled a card. Wincing, he looked at it, and then laughed. "Hermione's got a better chance of carrying that Ring than me. Three of Pentacles."

Harry walked over next. "Makes sense to me that if there's a tie, it should be broken by drawing again." He reached down, carefully slid the top card off the deck, and flipped it face up on the table. "Well, that's an ugly image," he murmured, looking at the Ten of Swords.

Draco sauntered over, and casually peeled the top card off. Flipping it on top of Harry's, he laughed. "Ha! No worries about a tie-breaker, Potter! Knight of Cups!"

Dumbledore walked closer to the foursome. After Hermione had carefully placed the cards back into the box they had come in, he set the box with the Ring on the table and lifted the lid. What was contained within was a simple gold ring, rather plain looking. Draco looked in and scoffed, "This is what we're all so worried about?" He reached in and pulled it out with his thumb and forefinger, and then flipped it like a coin into the air. His hand swooped out and caught it, and then he spun his hand around and opened it, showing all present the 'bauble' he toyed with. "This?" He looked at it for a moment, and his eyes lit up.

The others in the room were beginning to get a little disturbed as they watched Draco Malfoy with the Ring. His eyes widened, and an unholy grin spread across his face. "Yes!" he cried, closing his fist around the thing, and throwing his head back to laugh.

Halfway through the laugh, however, it choked off, and the gleam of triumph in Draco's eyes became horror, and his laugh became the most soul-wrenching sound Harry had ever heard - even the scream of his mother that the Dementors had brought forth paled in comparison. Draco hurled the Ring away from himself, and ran for the far end of the library. The three Gryffindors ran to him, Harry absently plucking the spinning Ring from the air even as he headed for Draco, stuffing the Ring into his pants pocket.

Snape started in the boy's direction as well, but McGonagall put a hand gently on his chest. "No, Severus. They're finally working as a team. Let them."

#####

Over in the farthest corner, the three found Draco huddled in as close to a fetal position as is possible while still sitting upright, his arms tightly wrapped around his legs. Without a second thought, Harry was on the floor with him. "Draco? What happened?"

Draco shuddered. "I understand now. Voldemort wouldn't last five seconds against that thing." He finally looked up at Harry, registering that he was actually there. "If it weren't for the fact that it would make him go back to that other world and give the Ring to its maker, I'd say give the Ring to Voldemort, just to watch his head explode. That thing is pure evil, Harry. And it's alive. My god, Harry, that thing is alive! It spoke to me! It showed me exactly what I could do with it, and it was only that paranoid part of me that my father drilled into me that saved me and all of you from it."

"What do you mean?" Hermione said, kneeling on the floor next to Harry.

"'If something seems to be too good to be true, it probably is.' That Ring offered me immense power, if only I'd claim it as my own." He began to loosen his death grip on his own legs. "That thing must be destroyed, Harry, Hermione. I always toyed with the concept of evil. My father enjoyed it; he knew that the kind of power he was after was not gained on the light side; that what he was doing was evil. Well, Voldemort made him pay the price. I'll still kill Voldemort for it, but I know that Dad was only getting back what he did to others." He shook his head, laughing bitterly. "We Malfoys are not meant for soul-searching. You need to have one, first." He looked at the three of them, and said, "If I ever forget, and make a play for the Ring, I want you three to promise me something. Promise me that you'll kill me before I can claim it."

They stared at him for long seconds. This was not the Draco Malfoy they'd known these past five years, and the reason frightened them. Finally, drawing a shuddering breath, Hermione said, "Draco, I promise that if it is necessary, I will see to it that you die quickly and as painlessly as possible. I will also do everything I can to try to prevent that necessity."

Draco relaxed both visibly and audibly, sighing such that it was almost a sob. It quickly became one, and Hermione found herself patting Draco on the back as he cried on her shoulder.

Ron's eyes were so wide that Harry was afraid that they were going to fall from his head. He wasn't so sure that his own weren't that wide as well. What have I got in my pocket? he thought with horror. Without a word between them, he and Ron stepped somewhat back from Draco and Hermione, since they were fairly certain that he would not be in the best of moods when he stopped crying. She looked up at them and smiled sadly, nodding her approval of their actions. Harry's heart almost stopped. My gods, she's ... perfect ...

He shook his head. No! Not my best friend, and not now! Not while I have this ... thing in my pocket.

Finally, the crying subsided, and Draco sat up. Harry and Ron braced themselves for the explosion, but were astonished past the capacity for words when he said, "Thank you, Hermione. And thank you two for helping it be as private as it could be." He got to his feet, a little shakily, and didn't even complain as Hermione openly helped him.

"I'd do that for anyone in pain, Draco. But I won't complain if this opens the possibilities of friendship between you and us."

"No promises. I might slip back into being that thundering git again, but maybe with the help of some friends who aren't dumber than a tree stump, I can keep that from happening."

Harry winced as he said, "Forgive me, Draco, if this sounds more than a little far-fetched. You have been one of the things I've loved to hate about this school. I'm sorry, but it's true."

"I know it's true, Harry, and I can't say that I won't slip back into that. I've got sixteen years practice, after all. But I can try. That Ring showed me a Draco that I didn't like - and I didn't think that possible." He laughed, a little of the old Draco sureness slipping into the sound. "Can we at least agree to give it the old Hogwarts try?"

Harry nodded. "I think I can agree to that." He stuck out his hand. "Shake on it?"

Draco's eyes clouded suddenly, not with anger, but with unshed tears, and his own hand clasped Harry's. Hermione's hand came down on top of the clasp, and Ron's topped Hermione's. "The four of us," Hermione said. "We'll try. That's all anyone can ask of us." She shook her head and smiled suddenly. "Well, we have a quest to start, and I think it best we get moving. Are we agreed?"

They all looked at each other, and any sign of Draco's tears were gone, except for the slight damp spot on Hermione's shoulder. "Let's do it!" Ron exclaimed, amidst the laughs of the others.

When they approached the remainder of the crowd, it was obvious that they were trying very hard to pretend that they had seen nothing. "Is everything set?" Dumbledore asked.

"The Ring!" Draco suddenly exclaimed. "I threw it! Where did it land?"

Harry laughed sheepishly. "In my pocket. I didn't even think about it as we went after you. I grabbed it and stuffed it in my pocket. If it tried to say anything to me, it didn't even have time for a simple 'Hello'."

"You're so lucky it's infuriating," Draco laughed. "Well, let's get our things, and meet wherever the Headmaster says we should leave from."

#####

About thirty minutes later, the three boys met in the great hall of the school, having changed into the Muggle clothing they'd been breaking in during the last two weeks. "Now we just have to wait for Hermione," Harry said. "Gods know how long we'll ha ... ha ... hom ..." he said, ending in a babble.

The reason was striding in the door, wearing her backpack over an outfit that found Harry wishing his own pants were a bit looser. She was wearing a warm sweater, but one that showed that she had developed some not inconsiderable curves in the five years since the boys had met her, and the jeans she wore, only a step or two looser that being painted on, continued that impression. Her backpack was a bit tighter than was good for a long hike, which caused her chest to be thrust slightly forward. Harry sat down quickly.

"I need to readjust this backpack. Harry, be a dear and hold it while I take the pack off," she said in a sweet voice that promised things Harry really didn't want to consider right now, especially since he didn't know exactly what he was considering in the first place.

If this is the way she's going to dress over there, then I think we're all in trouble. "Um, Hermione, can I talk to you for a second?" he asked, setting the backpack down on the table.

"Sure, Harry, what is it?" She looked at him as if she had no idea what she was doing to him. Maybe she doesn't ...

"Um, privately? Over there a few feet?" She smiled and followed him, and Harry couldn't help but laugh at Ron's strangled exclamation of "Cor!"

Once they were a distance away, he turned to face Hermione, and found himself having trouble keeping his eyes on her face. "Umm, Hermione? I don't know who going to be leading this expedition while we're over there, but you might want to think about wearing ... umm ... looser clothing? I ... umm ... how do I say this without offending you?"

"Just say it. I know you're not trying to offend me, so I'll take that into account," she smiled sweetly at him, and his heart skipped a beat.

"Umm ... Gods, you're my best friend, and I'm scared of ruining that. But since I've seen you this summer, I've been thinking thoughts that aren't exactly just friendly, if you catch my drift, and ... well ... making it so obvious that you're a girl is not helping matters."

She bit her lower lip and dropped her eyes. Blushing, she said, "Are you trying to say you're thinking of me ... that way?"

"Yes, and it makes me uncomfortable. You keep dressing like that, and I guarantee you the three of us are going to be walking into trees." Her head shot up, and her eyes were wide. He could tell his were, too. "Oh gods, I've just ruined our frien..." He couldn't finish the sentence, because she had thrown herself at him, grabbed his face in both her hands, and was kissing him rather soundly.

When she had finished a minute later and had stepped away, straightening her clothes, the three boys were all standing with open mouths, staring at her. Dumbledore and the other teachers chose that moment to walk in. "It appears that Miss Granger has been practicing Stupefication spells while she waited," he quipped.

Professor Flitwick replied, "And apparently localized Petrificus spells, if Mister Potter is any judge."

This shook Harry out of his shock, and he quickly straightened his clothes. What the hell was that?!? After a pause, he added, And how do I get her to do it again?

Shaking his head to clear it, which wasn't really working, he squeaked, "So, Professor..." Clearing his throat, he repeated in a more normal, if somewhat shaky voice, "So, Professor Dumbledore. What do we need to do?"

Smiling broadly, he replied, "Of all things, a Muggle rhyme led me to the solution for your travelling to Middle Earth. The rhyme ends ''Let us fly,' said the flea. 'Let us flee' said the Fly. And they flew through a flaw in the flue.' You shall use an oddity of the Floo system to travel to that world. Harry, you shall need to hold this pipe that Merriadoc Brandybuck gave us for the attempt, and concentrate on finding the world it comes from as you activate the Floo. You four shall need to be touching him, and step through with him. That is why I chose the Great Hall fireplace."

"What shall I say to activate it? 'Middle Earth'?"

"You could end up anywhere that way, including in that world's Dark Lord's demesnes. The hobbits were heading to meet Gandalf in a place called 'Bree'. You may wish to try that."

After the group had placed their packs on their backs (Hermione's straps now much more comfortable for all involved), Harry took the pipe in one hand and closed his eyes. "Better touch my shoulders now, guys, 'cause when I'm ready, I'm gonna just walk forward, and you'd better be with me." He concentrated, trying to get a feel for the place this pipe had come from. He felt the pleasant feelings this pipe held for its owner, and smiled as he thought of something. Silently begging Merry's permission, he put it in his mouth and pretended to smoke it. The smile widened to a grin, and he threw the powder into the fireplace, shouting "Bree!" And stepped forward into the silver flames.

...and they fell...