Harry Potter and the Ring of Doom

"Bugger."

"I am in complete agreement with you, Ron."

Ron laughed bitterly. "Even though I know the answer, tell me again why we're so blindingly stupid as to be going to the one place that everyone with half a brain recommends against going?"

Harry laughed, the first real one since he'd broken from the Company three days earlier. "I can't speak for you, but I'm doing it to get rid of a little trinket that nobody wants anymore." He snorted. "I think you should just give an engagement ring back. Throwing it into a volcano - well, that's just tacky, although it is a good way of letting the prson know exactly how you feel."

Ron's snort echoed for a moment. "You are a nutter, Harry."

"Part of my charm, don't you know?" Harry replied. He looked again at the area they were in, and the cliff faces they were exploring, and the humour died in him. "Now we just have to figure out how to get down from these rocks." He shook his head. "Speed was supposed to be our greatest weapon. Now here we are - delayed. I should have left the party upriver, and come down the eastern side, and avoided these mountains. It's too late for that." He grumbled. "Every choice I've made this trip has been wrong - fighting with you guys, choosing to bring the Ring to Mordor, choosing Moria, choosing this route ..."

"... falling in love with Hermione ..." Ron said with a questioning look.

Harry turned to look at the friend he'd known longest. "Possibly. Look at the increased heartache I've caused by heading out alone.If we'd stayed just friends, she probably wouldn't be as angry at me, and hurting less." He sighed. "I should have waited, damn it. She should have given that to someone more deserving."

Ron chuckled a wry chuckle. "I get the impression, chum, that when a girl decides to give you that particular gift, there's no stopping it." At Harry's somewhat surprised look, Ron laughed outright. "It's not like you two have been hiding your ... activities. I know about Galadriel catching the two of you in the woods of Lothlorien, and Draco and I have known where the relationship was going since Rivendell - the day you were blowing up furniture. When we look through the door to see her with her shirt off, and her skirt on its way to the floor, well, it does kind of make it obvious where the relationship is going. Have I told you, by the way, that you are a particularly lucky bastard?" Ron grinned as he finished his statement.

Harry smiled back at him. "Thanks. Would you believe that we didn't, that day at least? That particular bit of luckiness came a bit later." Feeling a little better, he looked around. "Well, we need to keep moving, and hope that we can find a way down. And maybe this scrabbling over rocks has finally lost Gollum. I doubt it, though. I think he can feel the Ring, now that it's out and moving again."

"Cheery thought. I've been leaving my eyes open for the little wanker."

#####

They had slept the night in a rocky little hollow, protected from the easterly winds, but not terribly comfortable, and set out the next day. "Didn't see the little bastard last night. You?" Ron asked.

"No, thank goodness," was Harry's reply. "We absolutely must find a way down today. I do not like the idea of trying to learn to fly here, the hard way, without a broom."

"Unless bouncing counts, I don't think either of us can fly."

"It doesn't, so you're right," Harry chuckled. They began the search.

As it approached nightfall they were still searching. They had spent the day being driven away to their left, away from the edge, in trying to find a pathway. They were so intent on the search that they did not note that they were slowly dropping closer to the local ground level. Finally, they were brought to a halt by an extremely wide gap in the rock that ended in a cliff face, making it worthless to contemplate jumping in any way. They could only go either east or west. West would return them to the hills and further delays, but east would lead them into a ravine of impressive size, and to the outer precipice.

"Looks like we should try this. I'm game if you are," Harry said.

"I imagine I am pretty game by now, since I haven't washed in days," Ron said with a tired grin. "I'll try it, though. Let's get climbing."

It was longer than they expected. Part of the way down they discovered some gnarled trees; birches mostly, with the occasional fir tree. As they finally reached the end of the ravine, Harry leaned out and looked down. "Hey, Ron! I guess we've been dropping as we headed this way, or else the ground has been rising. The ground looks a lot closer."

Ron looked out. "True. If we had some Skele-Gro and Madame Pomfrey at the bottom, I might even be willing to jump."

"Spoilsport," Harry laughed. "Well, shall we work on climbing down?"

Ron looked up. "I think we'd better do it soon, if we're going to. It's getting dark faster than usual - I think we've got a storm coming in."

Harry swung his legs over. Before he began the climb down he said, "Sure glad Hermione's not with us. She'd hate this, and I don't think that I could do a Mobilicorpus that would really work, given the situation right here. Can you imagine trying to climb down this and carry her at the same time?" He dropped out of sight. A few moments later, Ron heard, "Whoa!" and some rocks clattering.

He ran to the edge, lay on his stomach, and shouted down, "Harry!" Snapping his fingers he reached for his wand and invoked "Sonorus!" and shouted for Harry again. The deafening shout that echoed interestingly around the cliffs made him look at the wand he'd used. Yup, grabbed the mithril one. Whispering almost, he said, "Harry, cast Sonorus and Visium Nocturnus if you're okay. Maybe send out some sparks too."

A few moments later he saw sparks from below and heard a rather loud "Shit!" followed by a quieter, "Note to self: sparks then night vision. Sparks then night vision. Got it." A pause was followed with, "I'm okay. Just slid down the wall. I'm on a ledge here. Once my eyes grow back from that flash, I'll let you know what's going on."

Just then lightning flashed and it began raining hard. Ron was sure that anyone standing behind him would have seen two bright spots on the back of his skull, between the lightning flash and the night vision spell. The inarticulate scream of pain from below told him he wasn't alone in that. Again, it echoed quite interestingly, since Harry hadn't removed the Sonorus spell yet.

A few minutes later, Ron could finally see well enough to get into his pack, where he pulled out all three of the lengths of rope that he carried in his pack, and carefully tied them together. He then tied one end around his waist, and made sure that the rest went around the remains of a once tall tree, broken some time in the past, leaving a gnarled and ragged stump. He then began lowering himself down the cliff-side, and was quickly at Harry's side. By this point, Harry was standing, and obviously doing all right; no obviously broken bones. The rain was already slacking off. "Smart thinking, Ron. Tell you what - you keep lowering yourself down, and I'll sort of hold the ropes here gently. Makes it easier for you to get them to me when you're down on the bottom." Ron nodded and continued on his way down. A few minutes later, Harry was down on the ground with him. They coiled the rope as they drew it down the cliff, and soon had the three coils back in Ron's pack. Harry pulled the other one from his pack and handed it to him. "Considering you seem to have the brains to remember the rope, I think you should carry it. That's what, about 400 feet of rope?"

"All together? Yeah, probably something close to that. Tying the three together was more than we needed, but I'd definitely rather have too much than too little." They began to explore the path below them, which was really no easier than it had been above, and finally decided to try to get some sleep beside a boulder at the foot of the cliff they'd climbed down. It offered little in the way of cover, but it was certainly more coverage than out against the ledge.

They had been laying there for a short while when Harry looked up at the cliff and froze. "Ron!" he whispered. "Take a look at the cliff!" Coming down the face of the precipice was a black shape with its thin limbs splayed out. It was coming down the cliff head-first. Occasionally it would stop and look around, and Harry and Ron would see its luminous eyes in the moonlight.

"Y'think he can see us?" Ron whispered.

"Probably not," Harry responded. "Our friends have enough trouble seeing us from a few feet away in these Elven cloaks. I can't see you at all when you're in the shadows. And I think I heard Aragorn or Gandalf say something about him hating the Sun and Moon."

"Why is he coming down here?"

"I think our Sonorus spells gave him a halfway good idea where we might be, Ron. Besides, I think I've heard that his ears are as good as the Elves."

Ron pulled out his wand. "I think we should be prepared for him when he gets here. Petrificus?"

"Works for me."

They watched as he continued to climb down. He was close enough to hear his speech, now. They heard a quick intake of breath that sounded like a curse, and then he began moving toward them again. They could now hear his voice creaking and whistling as he spoke.

"Ach, sss! Cautious, my precious! More haste, less speed. We mustn't risk our neck, must we, precious? No, precious - gollum!" He lifted his head to look at the moon, and quickly shut his eyes. "We hates it," he hissed. "Nasty, nasty shivery light it is - sss - it spies on us precious - it hurts our eyes."

He was lower now, and it was easier to hear his whistles and hisses. "Where is it, where is it: my Precious, my Precious? It's ours, it is, and we wants it. The thieves, the thieves, the filthy little thieves. Where are they with my Precious? Curse them! We hates them."

Finally, he was no more than a dozen feet up, right above their heads. From that point there was a sheer drop, for the cliff was undercut slightly, and even Gollum was unable to locate a handhold. He turned around, obviously attempting to go feet first, when lost his grip and fell, a whistling shriek following him down. As he fell, he curled his legs and arms up around him, like a spider whose descending thread has been snapped.

As he fell, Harry saw Ron's wand come up, and he realized something. He slapped his chest once and said, "Me! Watch!" He then pointed at the creature who had just hit and was coming to his feet and said "Petrify!"

Ron was astonished to see Gollum stiffen, exactly as he would have if Petrificus Totalus had been shouted. "What the hell was that?" he exclaimed.

"Magic is all about intent, Ron. We use Latin, right? Or at least a sort of mock Latin for our spells?" When he got the nod from Ron, he continued. "'Stupefy' is English, Ron, and yet we use that as a spell. Any bets that the full is something like Stupeficatum Totalus?. I think they never bother to teach us the shorter versions of some of the spells because of students like Draco used to be. Imagine how he would have used it, given half a chance? Zap Neville at the top of a long flight of stairs, just to watch him fall?" He laughed. "Look at your mum the time with the sweets the twins invented - all she was shouting was Accio, and they shot at her like crazy. If you have a solid grasp on what you're trying to do, I'd imagine you could grunt your spells. For that matter, I'm wondering about wandless magic - after all, we know it's possible; look at the effects that make most families realize that their child is magical. Me making that glass disappear at the zoo, and talking to the snake." He frowned. "I still think that might be a Potter trait, and not something transferred to me from Voldemort." The frown turned into a scowl at Ron's flinch. "Say the damned name, Ron! Calling him 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named' just gives him greater power than he deserves." Harry suddenly laughed. "Tell you what - start calling him something ridiculous, like Moldiemort, or something like that." He was rewarded with a snort from Ron at that. "Exactly. Never forget that he's powerful, but making fun of him will make it easier to fight him."

Ron looked over at Gollum, who was lying on the ground, petrified. "What do we do with him? You know if we let him go he'll just keep following us. And neither of us can kill him in cold blood, even if he would kill us in cold blood, assuming that everything Gandalf and the Elves told us is true."

"Ron, we'll move him, and then get on opposite sides from him, several steps away from him. He cannot be fast enough to take us both out before we petrify him again."

"But what are we going to do with him?" Ron asked again.

"See if we can get him to lead us into Mordor. All we've got is a map. He's been in there before."

"Why should he help us?" Ron asked.

Harry looked at Gollum, and knew that those eyes were focused on him. He could feel the helplessness, and the anger, and most of all, the fear of this powerful bearer of his Precious. "Because he knows that at least our way, Sauron will never again touch the One Ring of Power. You must come with us, Gollum, and show us the way into Mordor. We shall not kill you, but in return, you will take us to Mordor." He released the petrification spell, and Gollum shrieked.

"No! Gollum hates Mordor, and the wicked Orcses, and the All-Seeing Eye! Gollum went there once by accident, and will not go again!" He leapt as if to escape, but Ron's Petrify! caught him and slowed him down considerably.

"Nice job, Ron," Harry commented. "Not quite, but damned close." He turned to Gollum. "Smeagol," he said as kindly as he could manage, "you know our purpose. It is either that, or hand it directly to the Dark Lord." He snorted. "'Blinky' will never have it again." At Ron's snorted "Blinky?" he responded, "Time to start taking my own advice. This Sauron scared the living hell out of me, but he needs to be ridiculed." He looked back to the cowering creature before him. "You will never again hold the Precious, because if you did, Sauron would grab you and take the Ring from you, and the tortures you experienced when he was getting information from you earlier will seem like a picnic in the park. Will you help us spit in Blinky's eye?" He released the spell on Gollum again.

Gollum looked up at Harry, and both Harry and Ron saw the change come over him. Standing as straight as he could manage, he said to Harry, "Smeagol promises on the Precious to help nice peoples keep Precious from nasty Blinky-eye."

"That is a dangerous oath, Smeagol," Harry cautioned. "You will not see the Precious again. Swear by it if you must, but take heed of my caution - the Ring will twist your words to suit itself. Do you truly wish to swear to our cause by the Precious?"

"Yes, yes! Smeagol will swear by the Precious to help nice peoples into Mordor."

"Good. We shall go as soon as possible. When is comfortable for you, Smeagol?"

"Not while nasty white-face is out. White-face will go away in a while. We leave then."

The two settled down to rest, but made it quite clear that they were not going to sleep. They began to move after the Moon went down.