Harry Potter and the Ring of Doom

"Are you barmy?" Ron asked. "We don't even know this world, and you're offering to go to a mountain we don't even know, and melt this Ring down?"

"Who else, Ron?" he barked back hotly. "No one else is willing to carry this damned thing to be destroyed, and if we don't Voldemort will make another try grab it, and we may not be this lucky next time. It has to be destroyed, Ron. You think I like that I'm taking a trip that could cripple or maim me - or worse?" He laughed. "It's that saving people thing Hermione talked about just before my actions killed Sirius." He turned to Hermione before she could speak. "If I'd actually learned Occulemency, it never would have happened, Hermione, and you know it."

"Well, if you think you're taking this thing by yourself, Mister Potter," Hermione said, "you've been sitting on your brains." She smiled suddenly. "I've suspected that for a while, you know."

Despite himself, Harry laughed, and most of his dark mood disappeared. "At least when I look at you, it tends to be below the waist," he murmured quietly near her ear.

"Harry!" she squeaked, blushing as she realized that the assembly was smiling knowingly at the two of them.

"In all seriousness though, Hermione, I'm the only one of our troupe that should go. I'm the only one assured of surviving the trip."

"If you think 'Mione and me are gonna let our best friend walk into danger without us behind him to help, well, your brains really are in the seat of your pants. Did we let you walk into the Stone Chamber alone? How about the Chamber of Secrets? Yeah, maybe the last part you had to go in alone, but who was with you on the way there?" He walked over to Harry. "Fawkes came you because of who you are. My sister is alive because of you, Harry. I can't repay that." He looked Harry straight in the eyes. "But I can try."

"And you are barmy if you think I'm going let you three leave me behind here. I'm used to harassing you, and I'm not going to lose my fun," Draco said with a smile.

Elrond shook his head with a smile. "Such bonds will serve you well on the road to your destination, Master Harry."

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The Council broke up for the time, for lunch, and for further talk. Gandalf followed the four. "I know not how large the Company shall be, but I suspect that Elrond shall make it Nine, to match the Nine Riders. I believe that I shall join your endeavour, if you would not mind overmuch, Harry."

"A native guide? Of course I'll accept your help!" he laughed, feeling better about his offer than he had since making it. "I was wondering how I was going to find my way around."

"Well, I think I'll look at the maps," Hermione said, "and see if we can get copies made of some of them."

"That should be no problem," Strider said as he walked up to the small group. "We can expect a delay while Elrond sends out emissaries and scouts. Then, when this Fellowship sets out, I shall travel further with you, if you will have my companionship."

"If?" Harry asked happily. "If? Of course I'd be willing to accept you in this folly in whatever way you feel you can help!"

That, and Draco's droll, "No, Harry; tell us what you really feel," brought a smile to Aragorn's face.

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A day or two later, while Harry was unpacking his backpack for purposes of putting things back in a more easily reachable manner, Aragorn came into his room. He was astonished by the sheer volume of things that Harry had with him, since Harry had returned most of it to normal size in order to make it easier to repackage things in a smaller space.

"I had come to ask you something, and now I am uncertain as to whether it is even necessary," Strider said with a slight smile.

"Well, you'll never know unless you mention it, Strider," Harry chuckled.

"True. My question was this: having noted no swords or knives amongst your gear, I was wondering how you defend yourselves when you are unable to wield your magics."

"With difficulty," Harry replied. "Those of us raised by Muggles - sorry, those of us raised by people who have no magical abilities, might have some capabilities with fist fighting, but those raised in the wizarding community simply are very used to using magic to do things."

"Have you never even held a sword?" Strider asked with some incredulity.

"Have to ask the others, but the only time I was ever holding a sword, I wasn't very good with it. In fact, if not for a phoenix, I'd be dead right now."

"Well then, Harry, would you and your friends care to take some lessons from myself and any other teachers I might find willing?"

"Strider, I would love to be able to stand a better chance to come out of this... thing with all my body parts intact."

A sly smile crossed Aragorn's face. "I'd imagine that the lady Hermione would also be interested in such an outcome."

Harry started to blush, but a strangled, "Strider!" from the doorway caused him to break into laughter instead. Hermione stood there doing all the blushing for him.

When he'd finally caught his breath, he asked her, "Did you hear his offer to teach us how to handle a sword?"

A truly vile pun apparently crossed through Hermione's mind, based on the quick flash across her face, but she responded with, "I assume that I'm included in this offer?"

"Milady Hermione, if it involves any of you, it involves all of you. Of course you are included." He bowed deeply before her, and the two students realized that, no matter whether or not he had a smile on his face, he was serious in his respect for her.

"I thank you, Aragorn," she replied with equal respect in her voice.

"I shall leave you two alone, I believe," he said, eyes twinkling. "I have to prepare things for your lessons." He left the room smiling.

"And what are you doing?" she asked as the door closed. "Looks like you're planning to move in here."

"Repacking my stuff. I wasn't very good at it the first time around, I realized, so I decided that a better repack might suit me well."

"Well, let me help, and then we can get to what I originally came here for."

"Which was?" he asked absently, pulling things out of one box and placing them into another.

"Well, I was wondering if you'd be interested in an all day snogathon with me," she giggled. "I rather like the way you kiss, and you certainly seem to have no complaints with the way I use my lips..."

He smiled, but turned serious. "Hermione, we need to have a talk, and now seems as good a time as any." He walked over to her, took her hands, and led her to one of the benches in his room. They sat down on the bench, and Harry could see both puzzlement and a little fear in her eyes. "First of all, if you're worried about me being noble and deciding to leave without you guys, and breaking up with you to protect you - I'm not that stupid. First of all, you'd follow me anyway, and second, I have gotten very lucky to have you care for me after I discovered that I care for you. Breaking up with you would be the stupidest thing I could do right now - after agreeing to take this thing around my neck to throw it into a volcano, that is."

He was confused why this made her eyes widen and her heart come to her eyes again. "Oh Harry, I love you. That was so sweet." Tears seemed on the verge of falling.

He felt his internal censor activate when he started to ask what he'd said that caused that reaction, so he chose to listen to it. He steeled himself. "However, there is something that we appear to be heading for that honestly scares me." She looked up at him, puzzled. "Our conversations, both verbal and non-verbal," he said, gently brushing her lips with his fingertips, "lead me to think that we may end up in bed soon, doing more than just sleeping."

Her smile made his pulse race. "Exactly. I love you, and I don't want this to go too fast. We may already be permanently hurting our friendship if this doesn't work out, although I seriously doubt that." He looked down. "Damn, I think this is the longest coherent speech I've ever made," he laughed slightly. "My body wants to so badly it hurts sometimes, and my mind agrees, to some extent. The part of me that wants to wait though, wants to so that it's something special. I want our first time to be perfect, Hermione, not just because we both decided to... well, release some pressure." He hung his head. "I'm sorry. I've probably just said the wrong thing."

He heard her laugh, but it wasn't a laugh of something she found funny, but the sound that comes from being so happy that the only way to release it is to laugh. "If saying the wrong thing made me love you all the more, Harry, then yes, you said the wrong thing." She pulled his chin up, to look her in the eyes. "I know that's not something that you usually would say, and Ron might say that you were not yourself, but I think that was quintessential Harry Potter, caring so much for another." She kissed his lips very gently. "Whether you get my virginity today, or on our wedding night, our first time will be perfect, simply because you want it to be that way." His eyes widened as he realized what she'd said, and she laughed. "No, I'm not going to trap you into marriage. A girl can think ahead though, can't she?" she ended mischievously enough that he couldn't help but laugh.

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Roughly two weeks later, Hermione sat on the sidelines as she watched the boys practice with Elrond. They had been taking lessons from Boromir, Aragorn, and Elrond, each who had their own style. Interstingly enough, each of the boys had taken to the style of one of their teachers. Draco seemed to work best with Boromir's hard-edged style, whereas Ron seemed to favor Strider's more subdued, but equally as effective style. And Harry? Harry was settling into the Elven style of swordsmanship as if he'd held a blade his entire life. True, at the moment it was a wooden practice blade for each of them...

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Arwen, on the other hand, had been teaching Hermione, and she felt that each of the boys would get a surprise if they ever decided to spar. One of the things that had surprised her was Arwen's insistence, for the first few lessons, to wear as little as possible for the lessons. "You need to learn the way your body moves, Lady Hermione," Arwen had said. "Loose clothing will interfere with your movements by tangling you up; tight clothing by reminding you it is there." Arwen had stripped to complete nudity, so Hermione, a little embarrassed, did the same. As they worked out, Arwen had surprised her again. "So, Lady Hermione, is my advice working?" she had smiled.

"Yes, it is, Lady Arwen. He's very attentive now. I probably would have teased him until he had chosen to make a move, but I'm realizing that he never would; he respects me too much, and would be worried that he was forcing himself on me. By my sneaking into bed with him that night and telling him that I love him, it allowed him to admit things to himself, it seems." She had blushed. "He told me a few days ago that he wanted to wait before we... uh, you know, before we did that, because he wanted our first time to be perfect, rather than merely a rush to do something because we think we should."

"You have quite the prize there, Lady Hermione. Don't lose him, if you can prevent it."

"I have no intention of doing so," Hermione had giggled, which Arwen had surprised her by echoing.

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As she watched the boys, all with their shirts off as they practiced, she heard some others approach; three Elven girls. They leaned up against the fence that Hermione was sitting on and watched for a while, occasionally marvelling as one of them made a particularly impressive move. Before she could stop herself, Hermione got a mischievous look in her eyes and said, "See anything you like?"

One of the girls, with hair that looked as if it were made from spun gold, said, "It is always a pleasure to watch living artwork."

"I know exactly what you mean. I never tire of watching Harry move. I don't think he knows what an incredible physique he has."

"Which one is Harry?" asked another, whose hair was black beyond anything Hermione had ever seen before. "Is he the scarred one, the one who holds your heart in hands so gentle?"

Hermione smiled at the all too accurate description, and knew that he'd blush clear to his waist if he heard that. "Yes, the one in glasses, with the scar on his forehead. I think he's held my heart for years, and we only just realized it these past few weeks."

"Glasses. The device before his eyes?" she asked.

"Yes. He has bad vision, and needs them to improve it. It is... they are lenses of glass, ground very precisely, to compensate for the way his eyes are formed."

"Perhaps Lord Elrond can do something about his sight. It could be very bad on this trip to lose or break something so valuable to him."

Hermione smiled. She stooped to pick up a small twig, and then intentionally broke it. She pulled out her wand and said, "Reparo!" The two ends knitted themselves together again as if it had never been broken. "As for dropping them, well..." She spied Harry's shirt on the ground between herself and the practice. "Accio shirt!" With it in her hand, she giggled, "Maybe I'll make him pay me a toll of a kiss to get it back." They giggled at that. Very young, I'd say. Think these are the first giggles I've heard here, other than my own. And Arwen's.

The black-haired Elf said, "I find that the flame-haired one stirs my appreciation." She looked at the others defiantly. Hermione looked at Ron, quite possibly for the first time, and was shocked by what she saw. Ron had grown tall during the time she'd known him, and she'd always thought of him as gangly. No longer. Now she was looking at a man; a wiry man, with muscles most would never notice if they couldn't get past his extreme shyness with girls.

"Oh my," Hermione breathed. "I think I should be glad I didn't see that when I was hoping he'd ask me out. He's quite the figure." She looked at the last one, who had short silver hair. "Do you round out the trio by fancying Draco the most? The blonde male?" She simply nodded and giggled. They continued to watch in rapt attention at the sheer artistry before them.

#####

For their part, the boys were trying very hard to learn swordsmanship as best they could. As with everything else about this, they realized that it might mean the difference between life and death, and had dived in with everything they had.

Their rapid improvement surprised Boromir, who did not laugh at a pupil who truly wished to learn. Elrond and Aragorn, on the other hand had seen the fire in their charges' eyes, and knew that these three would learn what they could in the time allotted them.

Elrond neatly disarmed Ron and Draco, but was pleasantly surprised by the amount of time it was taking to disarm Harry. Everyone was surprised a moment later when Harry struck low, in a shot that would have hit Elrond squarely in the groin, but at the last second flipped out and knocked the practice sword from the Elven Lord's hand.

After taking a moment to recover from his surprise, Elrond laughed. "I can honestly say that you are the first Man to disarm me in over two thousand years, Harry. You have more you can learn, but I believe that you have proven that you learned the most important lesson we all have tried to teach."

Harry laughed. "I just realized that there was no rule requiring a certain code of conduct. If it had been your life or mine, then I'm going to do whatever it takes to walk away from the fight." He smiled, embarrassed. "I know it was a spar, and I should have followed..."

"Do not apologize, Harry Potter," Elrond said. "You have learned one of the most important things any fighter can learn. Care in your choices can have surprising outcomes." He stepped back, and was the only one of the group who still looked fresh. "I think this practice is finished for the day - you need to recover your strength."

The three breathed a sigh of relief, and Draco walked over to Harry. "Remind me not to get into a sword-fight with you, Harry," he laughed. "I think I like everything right where it is, thank you."

They picked up their shirts; more precisely, Ron and Draco did. Harry saw Hermione standing against the fence, holding his shirt. "Lose something?" she laughed, and the Elven girls next to her giggled. Harry and the boys walked over, and as Harry gave Hermione the kiss she demanded for her return fee, Ron began to put his shirt back on.

"Do you have to?" The raven-haired Elf asked. "I think you are quite attractive the way you are." The look on Ron's face was one of astonishment.

"Me? I'm a scrawny thing!" He disagreed.

Hermione cleared her throat, trying to stifle her laugh, but was unable to. Harry smiled and said, "Ron, I think what she wants to say is that when a beautiful woman tells you she thinks you're good looking, don't argue." Hermione nodded fiercely as she held back the strongest of the laughter. The silver-haired one didn't need words; she and Draco were already walking off, and he seemed to have gotten her to talk, to him at least. Harry picked up a water skin and began to drink.

"Do you share?" asked the golden-haired Elf. Luckily for both the girls, Harry happened to be facing away from them, because there was suddenly a fine spray of water, followed by coughing. "Are you all right, Harry Potter?"

A few coughs later, he replied, "Yeah, I'm okay. You just surprised me." Pounding his chest a few times, he finally said, "Milady, I am new enough into my relationship with the Lady Hermione that even were she to agree to such a thing, I would not be able to properly give such a lovely woman as you the attention she deserves. I apologize."

The golden-haired one smiled. "You are every step the gentleman, Lord Harry Potter." She bowed. "I thank you for your consideration." She turned with a smile, and walked away, humming a beautiful Elven tune.

Hermione pulled him close and nuzzled his ear. "That was probably the most gracious turn down I've ever heard." She looked at him. "Why? You could have had an Elven babe in your arms."

He pulled her close to him; close enough that she could feel his heartbeat. "Because I currently have all the woman I can handle in my arms."

"But she's so much more beautiful than I'll ever be," came the muffled response against his chest.

He snorted. "Says who?" She backed away from him slightly and looked at him with a look that said he'd just gone too far. "What? So they're attractive, as Ron and Draco will obviously attest to. Even you admit that they're attractive. Yeah, they're nice to look at. So what? I don't know them. They're just people we met on the road, so to speak. I'd rather be with the girl who knows me, and wants to be with me anyway; not the girl who wants to be with me because I'm the nearest unusual human, or because I'm 'The Boy Who Lived'." He looked at her carefully.

"Tell me the truth, Harry. What went through your mind as she walked away?"

"Dead honesty, huh? Got a Veritaserum? You won't believe me otherwise." She looked at him. "Hermione, I'm serious about this. In the mood you're in, you won't believe me when I tell you what I thought."

"Try me."

He shrugged. "As she walked away I was thinking 'Nice a... rear end. But Hermione's is better."

She stepped away from him, and crossed her arms across her chest. The meaning was unmistakable, and Harry gritted his teeth. "I refuse to get into an argument over this. I am hot and sweaty, and right now, no matter how much I tell you that I find you more attractive than any woman here, you're not in a mood to listen. I'm going to go get cleaned up."

As he stormed away, she felt tears welling up in her eyes, and she squeezed them shut. The tears insisted, though, and she fell to her knees crying. She remained there until she felt an arm around her shoulder. "What has happened, Lady Hermione?" asked Arwen.

"I had a fight with Harry," she sniffed. "And he's right, it was my fault. He says that he sees me as so much more beautiful than you Elves, but I can't believe him. Why?"

"How do you see yourself, child?"

"I'm a teenager. I live in books. I'm a brain, and no one really looks at me. Yeah, Harry notices me now, but that's because I haven't been very demure recently. I've been throwing myself at him like that..."

"Do you really think so little of him, child? That you could think that the only reason he cares for you is what he can see, and for a sexual conquest?"

Hermione shocked upright. "No! He's sweet and caring; he'd never get involved with a girl just because she was pretty."

"Unless her name is Hermione Granger."

She took a breath to respond, but stopped. That is what I've been saying, isn't it? And I tell him that when I don't believe him; I tell him that he's only after me for sex; well, sexual frustration right now. She laughed humourlessly. "Other than learning to like myself, what can I do?"

"Would you like to know how he sees you?" Arwen asked. Hermione nodded.

Arwen helped her to her feet, and headed toward a small room nearby, cushions for sitting all around the floor. She sat and motioned Hermione to lie down with her head in Arwen's lap. "Close your eyes, and simply let your mind go where it will, Hermione. It will take you where you seek."

Hermione closed her eyes and felt Arwen's gentle fingers at her temples. She let her mind wander, as Arwen had suggested, and it of course came to the subject of how Harry thought of her. As if dreaming, in the distance she saw a light. Heading toward it, she suddenly found herself facing herself the first morning after Arwen's advice. Her hair was dishevelled after a night asleep, she was bleary-eyed... and she was the most beautiful thing she'd ever beheld. She felt an explosion of love deep within her chest, and realized that she was feeling Harry's emotions as well. The scene jumped slightly, and the scene of her stripping off the nightgown hit her, and she was astonished by both the degree that the sight had affected him, and the strength of will it had required to turn away. Finally, the scene just before the fight, where the golden-haired girl walked away. Huh, he's right, she does have a cute butt, and I don't even swing that way. She then felt the very feelings he'd told her he'd had. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes again, and they felt stronger than before. She suddenly realized that she was feeling Harry's, as well as her own. As well as his despair.

She sat bolt upright. "I have to go to him!"

"Why?" Arwen asked. The very tone of her voice told Hermione that she knew the answer, but that she expected Hermione to answer anyway, and that she probably would not be permitted to leave if she didn't answer.

"Because I have greatly wronged my love, and he needs to know that I know that, and that I love him, and that..." Her eyes closed, and she started crying again.

"Stop crying, child, and go to him. Perhaps later you will have reason to cry, but not now."

Hermione wiped her eyes and ran toward Harry's room. She noted that there was a small crowd outside his rooms, and as she got closer, she understood why. The sound of detonations came from inside.

"People, I'll deal with this. Please, let me work this out," she asked, and the crowd dispersed, albeit slowly and not without extreme curiosity about the situation. The only two who stayed behind were Draco and Ron, both with rather rumpled hair. Ron's shirt was open, and Draco's was missing entirely.

"What's with Harry?" Ron asked, the worry evident on his face.

"Me. I did something stupid, and now I have to make it right. Please, let us be while I take my punishment."

"If he hurts you, 'Mione, even if it's Harry, you know I'll..."

"Do nothing. Can you really see Harry hurting any of us? Especially me?"

Scowling, Ron turned around. "We won't be that far away. If we haven't heard anything in half an hour, we're coming in." She nodded, and turned to the door.

As she expected, it was shut magically. "Finite Incantatum!" and she was able to open the door, to find Harry creating items such as chairs, and then doing various destructive things to them. There were shards of created furniture all around the room. Tears came to her again, and she sobbed, "Harry, I'm sorry!" was all she got out before she fell to her knees again, crying uncontrollably.

When she came to her senses again, she was being rocked by Harry as she sobbed against his shoulder. "I don't deserve you, Harry. I insult you so horribly, and you still hold me and let me cry my heart out. Why?"

She felt him pull her chin up, and he looked in her eyes, bloodshot from crying. She had another burst of love in her chest that she knew came from Harry, and her eyes widened in wonder. Even now, with how I must look, he thinks I'm the most beautiful thing he's ever seen!

"I love you, Hermione, and whether you believe it or not, I do think you are by far the most beautiful woman in all Rivendell." He leaned forward and kissed her lips.

Half an hour later, Draco and Ron carefully pulled the door closed behind themselves.