Disclaimer: Harry Potter and related characters and settings belong to J. K. Rowling. The Lord of the Rings and related mythology belong to the heirs of J. R. R. Tolkien.
A/N Anyway, here I have a chapter title in the Black Speech. In fact, this one is actually the final line of the 'One Ring' verse: "And in the Darkness bind them!"
Chapter 28: Agh burzum-ishi krimpatul
Gilrandir stared at the Fell Beast closing in on him as the world around him fell into slow motion. There was nothing he could do to dodge, nothing he could do to block, nothing he could do to evade. The Immortal Elf from the Undying Lands was now facing certain death upon the mortal lands of Middle-Earth.
And yet, hope there was. Fawkes the Phoenix was flying around over the battlefield, his song bringing hope and life to the Forces of Light and even started filling many of the Death eaters with dread. The Phoenix Song gave hope to the Elves and somehow, Gilrandir knew that his life wasn't going to end right there.
Indeed it wasn't for right before the Fell Beast managed to rip Gilrandir to shreds, none other than Rauthoron swooped out of the sky and tackled the Ring Wraith's creature, claws and beak slashing and shredding.
"The Griffins are here! The Griffins are here!" exclaimed Neville. In the next instant, hundreds of griffins swooped out of the sky and attacked the Nazguls' Fell Beasts and the Orcish Army. Eagle like squawks sounded through the air as the Griffins let loose their full fury, living up to their reputations for their absolute ferocity. The forces of Light cheered as the Griffins made mincemeat of their enemies.
Even with the Griffins taking on the Nazgul and their Fell Beasts however, the Balrogs were still more than a match for the forces of light. While Khamul was busy fighting off Rauthoron, Gothmog II took command and led a charge straight toward the Elves determined to wipe them out once and for all.
It was then when a flaming ball of fire fell from the sky impacting the mighty Balrog. The flames didn't actually do any damage for Balrogs were demons of flame themselves. Rather, Gothmog II was completely stunned by the flames for he had instantly recognized the source of them.
"What? Not possible!" he thundered. No sooner had he exclaimed this when the menacing form of Metimaloche slammed straight into Gothmog II with an earsplitting roar. To say that the Elves were completely perplexed by the state of affairs was an understatement.
"A d-dragon?" said Gilrandir. "B-but why? How?"
"Ha ha! I'll tell you how! Listen to the story!" shouted a voice from behind. Many of the Elves looked behind and noticed a young, tall red-haired wizard standing proudly on top of a small hill, basking in triumph.
"Ron Weasley?" said Neville. "Where's he been all this time?"
"Needless to say, the dragons are on our side now!" shouted Ron. "But it was a harrowing job just getting them to fight for us, ask any of my companions. But here's the outcome and believe me, this time we're gonna win! Look toward the sky!"
Look they did and what everyone saw filled everyone light and dark with both dread and awe. Filling the sky like locusts in the wake of the Griffins were hundreds upon hundreds of dragons, their roars thundering across the clouds. Opaleyes, Ridgebacks, Fireballs, Vipertooths, Welsh Greens, all manners of species of fire-breathers were flying toward the battlefield, ready to do their part of the fighting. And fight they did.
While Metimaloche alone wrestled with Gothmog II, many of the other dragons took on the remaining Balrogs. The dragons were greatly diminished from their ancient ancestors nor could they use their flaming breaths against the fire demons but they still far outnumbered the Balrogs. No matter how hard the Balrogs fought with their powerful weapons and their flaming whips, the dragons ganged up on them at least three to one and the Balrogs were soon overwhelmed. The remaining dragons flew low over the forces of darkness, their flames scorching the Orcs and the trolls as if they were charcoal while the Griffins continued to tear into the Fell Beasts of the Ring Wraiths. The Elves were initially hesitant about the dragons but the Dwarves and Wizards as well as the remainder of their allies soon rallied in the wake of the dragon attack and charged the Orcs head on. Soon, the Elves too were stimulated into action and it wasn't long before the tide of the battle had completely turned.
"Yes! Yes! Success! Success! We did it!" exclaimed Ron, dancing around in jubilation. Perhaps he shouldn't have been too joyful for a flaming arrow suddenly whizzed passed him, his robes catching on fire. "YAAAAH!!! PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!" yelled Ron as he rolled around on the ground, trying to put the flames out. Luckily for him Luna was right next to him and she quickly doused the fire out.
"Don't worry, they won't hurt you anymore," said Luna.
"I have no idea who you mean by they but thanks Luna. I owe you one," said Ron.
"Does it hurt, Ronald?" asked Luna. "Do you want me to kiss it away? They say that three deep kisses summons the cherubs of healing. I think they can help you."
Ron's eyes widened before a shy grin crossed his features. "Well I don't know Looney," he said. "That theory just might need some testing..." He couldn't say anything more as one Luna Lovegood's lips had gotten completely in the way, shoving him to the ground, right there in the middle of the battlefield.
"You traitor!" hissed Gothmog II as he tried to fight off the dragon's claws: a difficult task as Metimaloche's hind legs were savagely digging into the demon's waist and the dragon's tail was tightly wrapped around the demon as well. "You worthless betrayer! You dragons dare to defy our master! You dragons dare to fight for our enemies!"
"What's all this our business?" snarled Metimaloche. "The dragons fight for themselves now. We are free and no stubbornly persistent Dark Lords are going to steal our freedom from us!" With a mighty swipe, the dragon bashed the Balrog's head inward, finishing the fire demon off once and for all.
* * *
Harry crashed into the far wall and fell to the ground with a grunt. He fought a wave of nausea as he managed to pull himself to a sitting position, only to be knocked back into the wall by the Dark Lord's mace. Harry glared at his mortal nemesis as the mace was held before him.
"Any last words, Potter?" said the two voices.
Harry glared at Voldemrot-Sauron before smirking and said, "Yeah... CATCH!"
Knocking Grond out of the way with Anduril, Harry threw the Sword of Gryffindor at Voldemort-Sauron. The Dark Lord stepped out of the way of the twirling blade. Voldemort-Sauron had just started chuckling when Gryffindor's sword suddenly let out a dazzling light. The Dark Lord was stunned as the sword seemingly split into seven, shimmering stag patronuses. The Dark Lord was momentarily stunned as the stags surrounded him. With a signal from Harry, the stags charged at the Dark Lord, running straight through his body, the light of the patronues defusing the dark magic of the Dark Lord. As the last patronus charged Voldemort-Sauron the Dark Lord let out a cry of pain. Looking down, he realized that the Sword of Gryffindor was now stuck in his chest.
Not missing a beat, Harry charged forward past Voldemort-Sauron. With lightning fast speed, he slashed through the Dark Lord with Anduril, the blade releasing a spark as it sliced the dark body of the fiend. Turning around, he calmly summoned Gryffindor's sword into his left hand. "It's over," he said, as Voldemort-Sauron crumbled to his knees.
Fallen, dark energy started to slowly spew forth from the body of the Dark Lord. Harry made his way over toward his fallen mortal enemy, not quite feeling as satisfied as he had hoped upon defeating Voldemort. It was then that the Dark Lord spoke in the voice of Sauron alone.
"You... have done well... Heir of Elessar... truly worthy of the legacy... you belong to..."
"This should be the end of everything," said Harry, "for the both of you. I have been hunted by the Dark Side for so long, for all my life. I now that I have won and fulfilled my destiny I should feel... closure." Harry grit his teeth and the grip on his swords tightened. "So why don't I feel anything?" he snarled. "Why don't I feel the bloody satisfaction I've craved for so long? Why don't I feel the urge to climb to the top of mountain and declare victory to the world? WHY?"
"Why because you haven't collected the spoils yet of course," said Sauron, as if it were the most obvious thing. He held out his right hand in it... the One Ring.
Harry goggled at the Ring, unable to believe what he was being offered. "What?"
"Take it. You deserve it," thundered the voice of Sauron. "There is no greater spoil than this!"
"S... poil...?" said Harry. A voice said in his head, 'Take it. You deserve it after all you've gone through. Imagine the power it could wield.'
But then, another familiar sounding voice said, 'No don't! Something isn't right!'
'Do not listen to her! This can right everything in you life that has ever gone wrong. This can give you anything your heart desires. This is what you want! This is what you deserve! And here it is being offered to you! TAKE IT!'
'Don't do it Harry! Don't! You're better than this! You don't need it! Don't!'
'Take it! Its mine! No one else's! It belongs to me! It is being offered to me! It is mine! My only... MY PRECIOUS!'
Slowly, as if he were hypnotized, Harry reached toward the Ring. "My… precious..."
'NO HARRY!'
"NO HARRY!!!" The familiar voice, the voice of Hermione thundered not just through his head but within the volcano for real. It was enough to snap Harry to his senses.
"NEVER!" yelled Harry. Twisting around, Harry landed a powerful magic fueled kick against the torso of the Dark Lord. Already weakened from the duel the form of Voldemort-Sauron was flung off the ledge, plummeting into the magma far below along with the One Ring. Thus destroyed was the dreaded Lord of the Rings, Sauron the Maia. Thus perished that seeker of immortality, Tom Marvolo Riddle a.k.a. Lord Voldemort.
Letting out a relieved sigh, Harry turned around and saw that Hermione was indeed there. "Heremione, what are you doing here?" he said.
"I had to be here for you," said Hermione. "This was... oh Harry." She rushed forward and enveloped him in a strong hug. They starting raining kisses on each others' faces before Hermione finally pulled back and asked, "Are you OK? How do you feel?"
Harry stared down toward the magma where the Dark Lord had fallen. "Satisfied," he said. He sighed and said, "He tried to offer the One Ring to me; didn't think he was even capable of that."
"If you had taken it, Sauron would've possessed you," said Hermione. "I don't know if he had decided to abandon Voldemort or if they were working together with that: whichever way, if you had taken it you would've ended up becoming a new Dark Lord."
"It was because of you I didn't take it," said Harry. "I heard your voice in my head. You were telling me not to take it... You! You were the power he knew not! They knew not!"
Before Hermione could say anything Harry's lips were on hers. The kiss left her completely dazed. Unfortunately, their kissing session was interrupted when the three chalices suddenly flared up and started erupting a black, smoke like film of magical energy. Harry and Hermione jumped and stared at the chalices: they had completely forgotten about them.
"No!" exclaimed Harry. "Morgoth is coming!"
To be continued...
A/N Finally. Only two more chapters of this fic left. This fic sure took me a ridiculously long time to write. I know a lot of my readers probably got sick of waiting for this fic to be updated but its finally coming to its close. TWO MORE LEFT! TWO MORE LEFT! It's about blasted time I say!