The Queen of Middle-Earth | Aragorn & Hermione

Chapter 20

"I will talk to him." Harry said with a pained face, holding Hermione's necklace in his hands tightly.

It was still night, yet it wouldn't take too long anymore before it would begin to dawn. They were standing on the palace-square, making their farewells. Hermione wanted to leave when the others were sleeping, since she was bad at farewells and so she asked her best friend to talk to the Middle-Earthlings and especially Aragorn. Harry didn't want to know where the portal was, which lead to earth, so they decided to say goodbye before they would search it.

The young witch didn't reply, she couldn't, she knew what Harry was thinking about her leaving, but she had made up her mind, she would go home. She rushed forward and embraced the wizard tightly, feeling the tears running down her face. It was a long and emotional hug and while the witch was crying on his shoulders, Harry looked at Ron and nodded at him almost unnoticeable. The redhead gave him a look, which probably meant something like: 'I'll miss you, but we will be fine.' 

"Say hello to earth from me." Harry chuckled, when his two best friends walked into the castle to look for the portal. Hermione turned around one more time and waved at the black-haired wizard before disappearing behind the door of the King's and Queen's palace entrance, leaving Harry behind at the square, alone.

"This castle is too big Hermione!" Ron stated annoyed, scanning a map of the grounds, which was in his hands, unfortunately the passage to the other world wasn't drawn or shown on it. They had been walking around the castle for over half an hour and the sun was not far from rising. "We'll never find the door!"

The witch sighed, where was it? Where had they been, when her father had pushed her through the door? She tried to recall the images of the happening in her mind. Fire. She saw fire everywhere, but what about their location? Was it a small or a big room? Were they in the halls? Or their chambers? She exhaled irritated, now it annoyed her that she had suppressed everything. Okay, before they entered the room with the door? Where had they been before? Stairs, there were a lot of steps. And dungeons!
"Wait!" Hermione shouted enthusiastic, running after Ron and taking a side of the map in one hand. They halted their pace and she pointed at the room next to the dungeons. "I remember, it was somewhere here! It was near the dungeons!"

"So, you know where to go?" Ron asked. "Even without the map, you'll find it?"

"I think so yeah." She replied confused.

"Good." Ron smirked at her. "You seem to remember more."

The witch didn't answer, she only sighed. Why did he have to mention that? Of course she did, unwillingly, because she was at the place where she grew up.

"Is it that way?" Ron folded the map and signed to a direction with his eyes. Hermione nodded as a reply.

"Well then, let's go!" He started to run excited in the direction of the stair that led to the dungeons.

"Wait!" Hermione called after him, following him in his footsteps and showed the rest of the way.

_______

Harry was standing on a hill, watching the eagles fly over the forest. They were apparently staying there, since he had become the first wizard of Middle-Earth. He exhaled sorrowful. He thought about the many years that the three of them had been friends and now all of the sudden they were separated not only by distance but by space and time as well. He decided to stay on the slope to watch the landscape with the huge birds and to wait until the sun would rise, then he would summon someone to tell the Dúnadain that he wanted to talk to him. He clicked his tongue thinking about the man. After Hermione had told him what had happened that night, he knew that Aragorn wouldn't take the news well.