Title: Failsafe (HP/LotR crossover)

Summary: Tackling the last traces of magic Voldemort left scattered around Britain, a magical disaster causes Harry and Ginny to wake up in the dungeons of a ruined fortress. It doesn't take them long to realise that something is very, very wrong…

Pairings: mild, cannon pairings only

Rating: T, for some language and fight scenes

A/N: This starts off slow and it takes a long time for the fellowship to come into play so please be patient. It will pick up eventually. Also I'm not a LotR expert (although I've learnt more from writing this than I ever knew before) so please forgive any small mistakes. Enjoy!

Chapter One

"So… this is the Chosen One's idea of a date?"

Harry Potter blinked, turning away from the bustle of activity to look quizzically at Ginny Weasley, who was surveying the scene with one eyebrow raised.

Harry fought the urge to smirk and instead adopted a horrified expression. "What, you're not super impressed?" he gasped, mocking. "I'll let you know that this site is where I battled actual evil!"

Ginny shot him a grin. "But the sea salt is totally messing with my hair," she teased him, pouting as she flipped her ruby locks over her shoulder.

Harry laughed outright at that, but quickly stopped as the sound echoed and distorted in the dark cavern they were standing in. Unconsciously the two inched closer together and Harry reminded himself that this was why he had asked her here.

Since the downfall of Voldemort barely three months ago Harry had made it his job to ensure that all trace of Voldemort's powers and magicks were wiped from the face of the Earth. Whilst he was confident that the aforementioned Dark Lord was well and truly dead (and he had the body to prove it) it was better safe than sorry. The last thing he needed was an aspiring dark lord to get his hand on any of Voldemort's rituals or dark artefacts. Even worse, it was always possible someone could figure out how to raise him from beyond the grave. His experiences with the Deathly Hallows had shown him that death was not necessarily the completely permanent oblivion he had always supposed.

So, in between fighting, rounding up and prosecuting the remaining death eaters, aiding in the rebuilding of various decimated homes and structures and actually spending time with his friends and family, this was what Harry did with his time. Voldemort cleansing. After all, there was no one else alive that knew as much about the Dark Lord as he.

As Harry looked around the dank entrance to the horcrux cave he had visited with Dumbledore he felt another shiver of apprehension run down his spine. This place, more than any other, haunted his dreams. He didn't know why, but something about this cave always felt sinister and malevolent in his mind. Being here in person certainly didn't do much to dispel that unease, despite the fact that what he should be feeling was relief. This was, after all, the very last thing he had to deal with on his Voldemort 'to-do' list. Maybe that's why he felt both elated and nauseated. Once the cave was cleansed then he would be done. He would have to find a new purpose.

"Hey, Ginny, do you know what you're going to do next?" he asked suddenly of the red head beside him.

She made a face at him. "Unlike some people I still have one more year to finish at Hogwarts," she reminded him, smiling. "Although what good it's going to do when I missed nearly half the year I'm not sure."

"At least you'll have Hermione," Harry pointed out.

Ginny sighed. "True. And detentions won't involve being tortured by the other students so at least that'll be an improvement," she quipped, although shadows in her eyes belied the amusement. She rallied herself quickly though. "I guess I don't need to ask what you're doing next, huh, Mr Chosen One."

Harry rolled his eyes. "You'd think they'd get tired of calling me that now," he commented with weary exasperation as he watched the small team of Unspeakables do their job in dismantling the blood wards that were the key to entering the inner chamber of the cave system. They were a strange quartet and had not given their names, something Harry found odd when you considered that they'd been working together for over a week now. But they quite liked their anonymity so Harry left it at that. In his head he called them simply by numbers.

"Oh, give them time," Ginny said. "I'm sure that given time they'll come up with something new and equally important and hyphenated. Hmm… maybe I'll get Luna to put a few suggestions in the Quibbler," she pondered wickedly.

"Don't you dare!" Harry snapped, half laughing. Dear a friend as Luna was he absolutely hated to think of what horrendous names she and her father could think up for him. It didn't bear even thinking about.

As his and Ginny's laughs faded into the gloom of the cave he reflected suddenly that he had been right to bring her along on this last task. When he'd asked her she had looked surprised, quirking an eyebrow at him. Harry had merely shrugged in response to her unasked question. "This is cleaning up the last bit of my past – I want to spend it looking forward, not backwards," he'd said simply, although his face turned almost as red as hers did when she worked out what he meant.

And meant it he had. Ron and Hermione, though they shared everything with him, would have spent the time in the dark caves either reminiscing over what horrors Harry and Dumbledore had had to face (Ron) or speculating over the possible curses that Voldemort had instilled to destroy visitors (Hermione). He didn't need that, especially not when the cave disturbed his nights too much as it was. He needed a way to banish the blackness of this place; the sound of her laughter would probably do more good than all the Unspeakables in the ministry.

As though summoned by his thoughts, Witch Number Two came up to the couple. "Mister Potter," she greeted, formal but not cold. All the Unspeakables were like that, something Harry had to admit he preferred over the starry-eyed nonsense he occasionally got from other members of the Ministry. "We're just about ready to break through the first layer of enchantments. That should get us into the next chamber. Is there anything else you want to tell us?"

Harry shook his head and she bustled away, already ordering the rest of her team into place. He had already told them of everything he could remember about the chamber; the blood wards, the boat, the Inferi, the cursed potion… he swallowed uneasily and instead focussed on what was happening in front of him now.

Wizards One and Two were standing on either end of the blank piece of rock that concealed the entrance, backs straight and wands held upright. Witch One was standing in between them, a few steps from the wall, wand pointing straight down. She gave a short nod and then suddenly the cave was awash with a bright golden light.

"What are they doing?" Ginny asked, astonished. Harry smiled, remembering his own amazement when he first saw the little team perform this feat a little under a week ago. That had been at the old Gaunt cottage, but even that paled in comparison to what they saw now. The wards on the cave were obviously much stronger than that on the fireplace.

"They're sending out a series of runes to counteract the blood ward magic," he said, carefully pointing with one hand towards one of the golden streams of light. If they squinted you could just make out the graceful shapes in the swirling whorls of glistening light. "There, look – can you see the runes from the blood ward?"

Ginny followed his hand and her eyes widened slightly as she saw dark red runes emerge slowly on the walls surface. They seemed to pulse with an ugly beat but even as they watched a golden rune collided with one of them and there was a shower of sparks as the two melded together and dissolved, leaving the wall free. It had barely dissipated when there was another shower of sparks – and another. Soon the whole wall was alive with golden sparks, spiralling down and out from the centre until all was still.

It was beautiful.

"That was beautiful," Ginny said with a sigh, unknowingly echoing Harry's own thoughts. She looked over at him. "I didn't know you knew so much about runes."

Harry shook his head. "I don't," he said, voice surprisingly regretful. "But I saw them do that a week ago and asked. That's what they told me."

"It kind of makes me wish I had taken Ancient Runes instead of Arithmancy in third year," Ginny said, watching as the last glimmers of golden light faded.

"Well I wish I'd taken anything over than Divination in my third year," Harry grumbled. Aside from being a completely pointless subject his life had been far too entangled with prophecies as it is. If he'd known about the Prophecy he would have steered well clear of Trelawney. "And anyway, you actually need a combination of Arithmancy and Ancient Runes to ward effectively." At Ginny's raised eyebrow he smiled and elaborated. "I asked."

Suddenly there was a great rumble. Both Ginny's and Harry's attention snapped back to the cave just in time to see the cave wall shudder and then, groaning, slide sideways. The three Unspeakables who had been performing the spell sagged but still let out a small cheer. Witch Two, who had been supervising the wall, came over to them.

"Well, Mr Potter, that fell a lot easier than we were expecting," she said, smiling optimistically. "That's the problem with these dark blood wards – the witches and wizards that build them are so sure of their dark power – not to mention the power of blood – that they often don't put in extra measures to stop witches and wizards circumnavigating them and taking them down from behind. We do however believe that the lack of extra precautions here is because the real dangers lie in the inner chamber – in the Inferi and enchantments on the island you told us about."

Harry nodded, although secretly he felt a little twinge of apprehension. He doubted Voldemort ever made anything easy, whether on purpose or not. But then again Voldemort's weaknesses were his arrogance and belief in his superiority and intellect. "Can we go through?"

The witch shook her head. "Not just yet, Mr Potter," she said. "We will send two of us in first to check the immediate vicinity, just in case our taking down of the ward has triggered a different enchantment on the inside than those you told us of." Even as she was telling them this, Wizard Two and Witch One were disappearing into the darkness beyond.

"Well, let us know when it's safe for us," Harry said, trying to fight the nerves he felt when looking at that black hole.

"Of course, Mr Potter."

"Hey. You alright?" Ginny asked him quietly as Witch Two went back to stand with her colleague.

"Fine," he lied automatically.

"Harry…"

"Fine… ok, not completely fine but… this place it – it haunts me, you know," he finished in a rush, not quite sure how he could explain the way this cave was always at the back of his mind… how even standing within sight of the entrance was enough to send his stomach churning and echoes of Dumbedore's pleading reverberated across his mind. If he closed his eyes he could even feel the clammy dead hands of the Inferi as they dragged him towards the lake…

How could he explain that?

He looked down at her and suddenly realised he didn't have to. Her brown eyes were sad but didn't hold any pity. What they held were understanding.

"You know, for years I could never even go near Myrtles bathroom," she commented softly, eyes unfocused. "If my route took me past that landing I would go out of my way to avoid it, even if it added another 15 minutes on my journey. I told you I couldn't remember anything when… when he possessed me and that's true. But once he was gone…" She shuddered and looked directly at him once more. "It was like he'd left echoes of himself in me; echoes that only came out at night. Sometimes when I slept I could feel the bones of the roosters necks snap as I – he…"

"I didn't know," Harry said softly, once again feeling shame. Too often in the past he had forgotten that Ginny had gone through her own terrible ordeal. He felt as self-involved and petty as he had back in fifth year when he was worried about being possessed.

"Why should you?" Ginny asked, with wry humour. "You saved my life, Harry, but you were just a boy and we weren't friends."

"But I still should have – "

"Shush, Potter, that's not why I'm telling you this," Ginny said firmly. "I'm telling you because, five weeks ago, I asked Ron to take me down to the Chamber of Secrets."

Harry stared at her. "You – what?"

"I wrote to McGonagall and bullied Ron into taking me down," she confirmed, looking him straight in the eyes. "It was horrible but it was what I needed. I've been in there, now – Tom is gone, the Basilisk is dead and I have walked through the Chamber and come out in one piece. It was what I needed to finally lay my fears at rest." She took a deep breath and carried on. "What I'm trying to say is that maybe this is your Chamber and this is what you need to do to finally be free of it."

There was silence as Harry continued to stare at her, not knowing what to say. Good Merlin, she was incredible.All those years she had suffered with her memories of the Chamber, with her nightmares. She knew what it was like and had come through it. She had come through it and was one of the most amazing, strongest people he knew.

Ginny blushed and he belatedly realised he'd said that last bit out loud. "I mean it, Ginny," he said, sternly before laughing. "If you can face the Chamber then I can face this cave."

Ginny laughed too. "That's my Chosen One."

"Oh, shut up."

~ Failsafe ~ Failsafe ~ Failsafe ~ Failsafe ~ Failsafe ~ Failsafe ~ Failsafe ~

That's the first chapter! Hope you enjoyed it and like I said at the start – this is slow in terms of getting into the main part of the story (as in to M.E.)!

Love, Hannanora xxx