Once we'd made it far enough from Lothlorien that the elve's arrows couldn't hurt us, I had some explaining to do with the fellowship. They knew a bit more about House Elves than the Lothlorien elves, so they weren't as quick to get angry at me. They still demanded to know why I never mentioned having a House Elf, what Dobby meant by being used to punishment, and why I didn't use Dobby to save Gandalf (that last question really stung).

After I explained who Dobby was, who his previous owners were, and how he recently came to be in my employ, they relaxed a little.

"Still." Said Sam. "I reckon we won't be invited back there any time soon."

"Oh, I don't know about that." Gimli said, leaning back comfortably in our canoe. "Lady Galadriel was trying not to laugh as we left."

"We left under a hail of arrows." Boromir pointed out.

"None of them hit us." Pippin protested.

"The Lady Galadriel oft knows more than she reveals." Legolas said. "But I don't believe it would be wise to dwell on going back to Lothlorien so soon. Rather, let us look to the future. Sauron is dead, his ring vanquished, and unless I miss my guess his forces are in disarray. Our Fellowship has no further purpose. Where then, should we go to?"

"Gondor." Boromir said immediately. "My people will welcome us with open arms. And Aragorn has duties there." For some reason, Boromir shot a meaningful look at Strider.

"I see no reason to travel in any direction, especially not in a hurry." Strider said, leaning back and ignoring Boromir's look. "Sauron is dead. As Legolas said, we no longer need to go to Gondor on our way to Mordor."

"Let us travel for a little while!" Merry said, cheerfully. "We can go on a great big adventure, like Bilbo always did!"

I was about to protest, but Gimli got there first. "No." He said, with a frown. "On this matter, at least, I have an opinion. Are world has been saved by our new companion, and as such are we not honor bound to help him in his own quest? The wizard Saruman, who is still a threat in this land, has Ron's friend in the tower of Isengard. Will we leave him to his fate?"

"No." Frodo said with a smile. "Well said Gimli."

"Ever has the Fellowship been protected by a wizard." Legolas said with a smile. "And now it is our turn to repay the debt. Saruman is owed a great reckoning for his betrayal of Gandalf."

"It is settled then." Strider nodded. "We make for Rohan."

Which was Strider-speak for; "We're going to storm Saruman's castle and force-feed him his fluffy white beard."

So we sailed down the river to Saruman's castle. According to Strider, the man was more powerful than the Balrog that killed Gandalf. Apparently, he, Gandalf, the Balrogs, and even dragons in this world, were all formless shapeless… things. And they lived in a faraway place but then a lot of the wicked ones came to Middle-Earth, following a bloke called Melkor who was, if the stories Strider told me are true, a hundred times worse than Voldemort. And no, I'm not going to tell you these stories here.

Anyway, most of the balrogs and dragons got taken care of ages ago, and there were only a few left on middle Earth. But one of them, Sauron, the king of all those evil things, was still alive. So some of the good – uh, spirits. I think Strider called them 'Mayo'? The good ones sent over five wizard to stop him, led by Saruman.

Anyway, all of them but Radagast were dead, and apparently Radagast couldn't be bothered to help out. Saruman had betrayed the order early on in the war, and almost killed Gandalf.

Which left me.

Us.

So, we were going to go down the river and tell Saruman exactly where to stuff it.

Which didn't seem exactly like a safe prospect, if Saruman was more powerful then Gandalf, or a Balrog. But Godric Gryffindor wouldn't have backed down, so neither will I.

According to Dobby, Gandalf thinks that I can make my way home by finding special magic crystals. Each time I find a crystal, it will take me close to where the next crystal is, and so on, and so forth, until I can get home. Dobby says Sirius and Harry are facing a similar challenge. Dumbledore sent Sirius' deranged house-elf Kreacher off to help Harry, and he sent Winky a house elf with a serious case of the mopes, to help Sirius.

So, Harry was in good hands. All I had to do, was find these crystals and get home.

We rowed down the river for days. We had a great deal of fun. Pippin taught me how to play a variety of Hobbit card games, like Old Maid, Go Fish, and Blackjack. Frodo almost always won. I got the feeling that he was the smartest person in the group, except perhaps for Gandalf.

By the second day, of course, Gimli had declared me 'Dawrf friend'. Legolas protested, but Gimli pointed out that elves give away the title Elf-Friend with reckless abandon, and the only reason he didn't think 'dwarf-friends' exist was because there were so few, and didn't merit the gift of another name. During the spaces where we stopped paddling and rested on the shore, Gimli tried to teach me how to fight. I was rubbish at it. I couldn't even throw an axe; Merry's sword was the only weapon big enough for my hands yet light enough for me to actually lift.

As Strider accurately observed, I was not built to be a warrior.

Boromir actually got along quite well with Dobby. They talked a lot about freedom, and the role of a proper leader, and the fashion of socks in Minas Tirith. I was really surprised by how close they got. Boromir even gave him a knife, once Dobby confirmed that the sheath didn't count as 'clothes'.

And Middle-Earth… boy was it beautiful. It was full of mountains, and crisp red-leafed trees. It was a little chilly at nights, outside of Lothlorien, but otherwise it was beautiful.

Three days into our journey, we made it to these giant statues by a waterfall. Imagine a cliff, and imagine sailing below it, and there are two giant men dressed in kingly robes, carved out of the side of the cliffs themselves! I don't know how they managed to get built without wizards. Maybe the wizards helped?

Of course, it wasn't all taking in the wonders of the new world. After we passed the statue, we almost got captured by orcs. Not your standard orcs either, these were huge and they had red skin. Luckily, we were all gathered by the camp when they attacked, so I was able to protect us all with a shield spell while we vacated to the other side of the river.

It was a close call though. They broke through my shield spell halfway through our escape, and their leader (at least, I think he was the leader) had a huge bow and he almost sunk our canoe with one shot. It took Legolas and Strider together ten arrows each to bring him down, and by that time he really had sunk our canoe.

We had to take the long way to Rohan after that. I won't tell you how sore my feet were after hiking through those mountain's foothills.

But Rohan was even more beautiful, no matter how difficult it was to walk for so long. I can't even describe the sheer majesty of the place. I didn't even know it was possibly to have a landscape like that without any buildings or houses in the way.

Once we got down there, closer to Isengard, I was expecting to run into more orcs. But the truth is, they were surprisingly easy to avoid. It came to be known that Legolas had absolutely fantastic eyesight, and in the plains of Rohan he could spot the orc's forces a hundred miles away. Strider covered our tracks, and we managed to avoid them all.

Until we made it to a small little hamlet.

After our boat sank, we lost some of our supplies. We had enough Lembas, but it wasn't very satisfying. It kept you going, but it didn't fill you. So when Legolas spotted the town, we figured it couldn't hurt.

Especially since there was another, smaller force of orcs heading that way, along with some thugs that could give my friend Hagrid a run for his money in the hair department.

Nobody in the town was smiling, but they smiled even less when we told them the news. They didn't even need to pack. Apparently, things had gotten so bad in Rohan with Saruman nearby, that they were ready to leave at a moment's notice. More than one village had been sacked already.

The orcs were still a fair distance away. So we stayed the night. And since I'd given Gimli my chocolate frog (can you believe he's never heard of chocolate before?) he decided to repay me by teaching me the ways of ale.

Apparently, ale was supposed to be so much better than chocolate, you had to be a certain age to be allowed to drink it. It was just that good. I didn't think it was much at first, but over the night it grew on me. It made me feel all warm inside. I was good.

But apparently, somebody must have knocked me out that night. Because when I woke up, I had a splitting headache, and I was tied up and being carried on the back of a horse.

"Ooooh, lemme off." I groaned.

"He's awake." Said the voice of Barmy, the man who gave me and Gimli ale the night before.

"You think we should gag him?" Another guy asked.

"Nah, we're not going to be out here for much longer."

"What's going on?" I asked. My head hurt something awful. And the constant noise of clanging armor didn't help at all.

Thankfully, the horses stopped. But that only meant I could look up, and see the band of orcs in front of us.

"Aaaaaaahh!" I screamed, before Barmy punched me.

"As agreed." The man riding next to us said. "The wizard. Alive, and unspoiled."

"Were is his staff?" The lead orc growled.

The man riding next to it took out my staff. It felt wrong that he had it. Like someone stealing your wand. Even though I couldn't do any magic with my staff yet, it was still so wrong.

"And you'll leave our village alone?" Barmy asked.

"The White Wizard is merciful." The orc said it like mercy was a bad thing. "Your village is spared."

A couple of the red orcs grabbed me and took me off the horse. "Leggo!" I yelled, trying to kick them. Even if my legs were free, I don't think it would have done any good. These guys were built like brick walls, and armored on top of that.

"Gag him." The lead orc ordered. And then once I was behind him, he said; "Your village is spared, but you are forfeit."

I didn't have the strength to look. I just heard Barmy swearing, and then a bunch of orcs shot their arrows.

I was actually starting to panic. And then I heard a voice that really got me panicking.

"You shall not harm Master Wheezy!"

With a small buzzing sound, like Legolas' arrows, Dobby's knife whirred through the air. Like it had a mind of its own, it darted around the group of orcs, not killing, but definitely doing the sort of damage you don't walk away from.

"Find him!" The leader yelled. "Kill the wizard's pet!"

A couple of arrows launched out, and I heard Dobby squeak a little, and I heard the telltale crack of a disapparating house-elf. I caught a glimpse of blue eyes and big ears, before he disappeared again, and three arrows hit the ground where he used to be.

"Dobby!" I yelled. Luckily I wasn't gagged yet. "They want me alive! Get Strider and Gimli! Don't worry about me, just get help –"

One of the orcs kicked me in the jaw. "Quiet you!" He snarled.

The orcs stayed tense for a moment, running around the hills. Then they settled down, when they realized Dobby wasn't there anymore.

"Let's move." The leader snarled, nursing a bleeding wrist. "Before the wizard's imp comes back.

The hefted me over their shoulders and took off at a run, killing the ones Dobby had made incapable of running first.

My headache didn't get any better during the journey, and the sunrise was the same shade of red as the orc's skin.

The jog to Isengard was a terrible experience. I wouldn't recommend orc as a means of travel to anyone. They were loud, rough, and they didn't give me anything to eat. A full day of being carried in the sun across an orc's armor shoulder, and I was feeling very much in need of something cool to drink.

I barely slept at all that night, but at least my headache was gone in the morning. We reached Isengard… sometime around the middle of the day.

Isengard was… well, I got the impression that it could have been impressive. IT's walls formed a perfect ring around it, and Isengard itself was a huge tower, taller than the Astronomy tower at Hogwarts, maybe even three quarters as tall as the mountains. The stairs must be killer.

But the grandeur of it all was ruined by the courtyard. Between the walls and the tower, the entire courtyard of Isengard was filled with pits. Smoke and fire spat out of the pits, noisy machines clanked and pulled, and orcs and wild men ran around carrying various pointy things, and shouting obscene remarks across the pits.

This was not a class joint.

The great red goblins hauled me up the tower, and chained me up to a chair. Then they took off my gag and left me alone in a large room.

"Well?" I asked, pretty sure Saruman would come out at any second to see what he'd caught. "Come on out then. You want me? Here I am, you great bloody…" I choked on the rest of my words. My mouth was way too dry for me to say anything else.

Then with a crack, Dobby appeared.

"Master Wheezy, is you all right?" He asked.

I could only nod, helplessly.

"Strider is planning to help you escape Master Wheezy." Dobby said. "But first, Dobby must search the tower. He must find the crystal." His eyes watered. "Dobby is so sorry he could not protect you. Even though Master ordered Dobby away, Dobby should have saved you…"

"It's alright." I managed to croak out. I remember Harry telling me about Dobby's habit of hurting himself when he feels he's disobedient.

Dobby looked at me with sad, blue eyes. "Master Wheezy is most forgiving." He cried. "Dobby will go now, Master Wheezy sir, but he will return soon, with help."

He disapparated again, leaving me alone in the room. I hoped he wouldn't cry for long. He definitely wouldn't last on a stealthy mission if he did. It was probably only minutes, but it felt like I must have been waiting for an hour, before anybody came to see me.

Before Saruman came.

He looked exactly like he was in the Mirror, except instead of white robes he wore painfully colorful robes. He looked like Gandalf, or Dumbledore, yet somehow different from either of them. His hair was darker, but not greyer. The bags under his eyes were deeper and his nose was more hooked, but he seemed younger, and his face sagged less. From the moment I saw him, I knew he was evil. I knew that he was the man responsible for Gandalf's death, scaring him so badly he wouldn't use magic for fear of Saruman finding him. He was the man who made those giant red-skinned orcs, the ones that killed Barmy and his friend, right in front of me. I mean, it's not like I owed them anything, but Barmy had a family!

So I was very much surprised when his eyes went soft, and he rushed up to help me.

"Oh dear. I am so sorry for how you have been treated, son. I assure you, this was not my intention." With a tap of his staff, the chains keeping me tied to my chair crumbled.

"Here, lean on my staff." He said, helping me up with surprisingly strong hands, and giving me his staff – a tall, black, iron thing that looked a lot like Isengard. "You must be famished." He said. "My dining quarters are in the other room – make your way over there while I retrieve your staff."

Saruman left the room as quickly as he entered, and through the same door.

I… was a little stunned. I mean, I was not expecting him to be so genial. He really did resemble Dumbledore more than I'd thought.

This guy… I didn't think he could be all that bad. I mean, Malfoy was obviously evil. Snape was evil. The Slytherins were evil. Lockhart pretended to be nice, but he laid it on too thick, he was such a ridiculously obvious phony. Same with Umbridge, although she was more creepy-phony than pompous-phony. Pettigrew seemed nice for as long as I'd known him, but that was because he was a rat for as long as I'd known him, once he turned human it was easy to see how evil he was.

Saruman… he wasn't like any of them. You could see the genuine kindness in his eyes. He wouldn't have left me his staff if he was evil, would he?

I was curious. This was the guy I was convinced was evil, but he didn't seem evil at all. Maybe someone else was pulling the strings? Manipulating him from the shadows, setting him up to take a fall? Maybe he was as much a prisoner of these orcs as I was?

Warily, I followed him into the dining room.

He wasn't in there, but some food had arrived. And I was absolutely starving, and the food was delicious looking. So of course I dug in! There were no desserts, but there were generous helpings of meat, and fruits, salted pork and buttered toast, and turkey wrapped in strips of bacon, and a whole host of mouth-watering foods, and some strange drink that I didn't really recognize but tasted better than what the orcs gave me.

Saruman walked back in just as I was finishing my second helping of pulled beef sandwich. "I see you've helped yourself." He said with a smile, handing me my staff back.

I accepted it gratefully, and he took his own staff back. I didn't see anything wrong at the time. In fact, Saruman seemed downright friendly.

"Now, what is your name?" He asked, sitting down at the other end of the table but not touching a morsel of food.

"Ron!" I said, chugging down another cup of that mysterious drink.

"Fascinating. Ron. What does the name mean, in your tongue?"

I stared at him, and I think a bit of meat fell out of my mouth. "It means Ron."

He stared back, although he was much more elegant in his staring. If any judges were nearby, they'd give his staring a solid ten.

"Errr… You can call me Arnbereth if you like." I said, to try and stifle the awkward silence. I reckoned he'd like the elfish name better than my normal name.

"Very well." He said. "The situation stands thusly, Arnbereth. Because of your recent actions, you have plunged the world into chaos."

I immediately felt guilty, but tried to brush it off. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that you have utterly devastated my plans for the remaking of this world." Saruman steepled his fingers, the way Dumbledore sometimes did. "When I first came to Middle-Earth, it was my ambition to destroy Sauron, the greatest evil known to this world."

"You're welcome." I said.

He sighed. "I am not grateful for your assistance." He looked so old suddenly, and I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. "Within my first year in this land, I devised a cunning stratagem. I worked in secret, destabilizing many of the world's most powerful military forces, paralyzing and confusing them. I placed key men in the councils of kings. I control the Haradrim. I control the Southrons. I control the Dunlendings, the WIldmen of Rohan. I am close to controlling all of the Rohirrim, and I am the only source of aid the Steward of Gondor could call for."

"That… sounds evil." I said, having momentarily forgotten who he was. It just didn't seem that important. Anybody could see this man was a leader. He had vision, he had passion – I couldn't imagine a man like that being unjust. Luckily, for a moment, my skepticism shone through.

It didn't last.

"Evil methods, for a goal of greater good." He lamented. "Sauron had already assimilated the Haradrim and the Southrons. And I had the Rohirrim, and my Uruk-Hai."

"Uruk-Hai?" I asked.

He smiled, patiently. "Do you like them? Just as orcs were created from elves, so the Uruk-Hai were created by men. They have no weakness to light, as the orcs and trolls do. They are stronger, more durable, and much more controllable – as the elves fall from pure good to pure evil, humans simply fall from honest to wicked. And my Uruk-Hai's Captain – I made him from a Beorning. Don't ask me what a Beorning is, simply take it from me that the Captain is equal to any troll the Dark Lord could have conquered. I am glad he was able to breed before you killed him. Now I know how much punishment his kind of Uruk can take."

"Er…" I was about to tell him how completely evil this sounded, when he continued.

"While the Dark Lord was hidden, I could not find him." Saruman explained. "So I waited. I knew that Sauron would only reveal himself once he had built up his armies. So I took control of the armies he wanted, the armies he would have to gain control over."

"He needs Men, you see. He hates elves with a passion, but he doesn't want to rule over a barren land of orcs. He wants to rule men too, and make them equally miserable. So he needs the men under his thumb. I ensured my control over all of the men in this world. If they didn't succumb to his charms, then that would have been fine. We could have fought together for the good of Middle Earth. But if they fell to my charms, they would have undoubtedly fallen to his, so better that I corrupt him than he. In the end, all the time Sauron has spent making his own forces strong, has done nothing but make my forces the stronger and place them in strategic positions."

"You're bloody brilliant mate." I said, in awe of his dizzying intellect.

"Well." He shrugged, helplessly embarrassed or so I assumed. "I am the head of the White Council. It is my job to plan these things. I had plans for the dragon too, but Gandalf ruined that as well." I didn't even bother asking what dragon he was talking about.

"In the end, Sauron would have thrown half of his forces at Gondor. They would have crashed upon its mighty walls like water upon a rock, and then my Haradrim would betray him, coming in from behind along with the Corsairs. They orcs would have been pressed from both sides, and suffered a terrible defeat. He would not have had time to recover before my Uruk-Hai and wild men marched on Cirith Ungol, the land of Mordor's secret back door. Moving his forces to deal with the war in that portion of his kingdom, my Haradrim would have formed an alliance with Gondor, and Rohan, and made war at his undefended front gate. By this point, I would have had the One Ring of Power, and with it, subverted Sauron's control on his unkillable servant the Witch-King, and his fellow wraiths. He would have only had a few hundred thousand orcs at his command. Hardly anything. And then?"

"There would have been peace between all races, all united under the banner of the White Hand, and Sauron would have been destroyed."

I began to clap, but then he glared at me.

"At least, that was the plan, into you fumbled into this war like a blind Beorning riding a drunk troll."

I shrank back under the fierceness of his glare, and when he saw that he softened.

"Oh, do not worry." He waved away my fears, and it seemed that they really were waved away. "It is not your fault you're an idiot. I can hardly expect everybody to be as wise as I am. No, I am the wise one. It is truly my fault, that I didn't plan on my grand scheme falling to pieces around me."

"I – I'm sorry." I managed to stammer out. Even in the face of his grandeur, I was still a Gryffindor. "But… I thought it was a good thing? Me destroying the Ring?"

Saruman shook is head. "Ah, the folly of a hero. Young Arnbereth. To take the courageous path is almost never to take the path of wisdom, and future peace. You have caused a great harm on this Middle Earth."

"Out of all the spirits the Valar could have chosen, out of all my peers they would have picked to defeat Sauron, I was chosen among them all, and given seniority over my brothers. I, of them all, even of Gandalf the only one of us who volunteered, was the one whose destiny was to defeat Sauron. And I intended to do my masters proud. I intended to not only liberate Middle Earth, but rule it. Now…"

He looked at me, with sad weary eyes. "Now… the people I have worked so hard to protect will see me only as a monster. The world's kingdoms have been de-stabalized, and by my own hand no less! Certainly, the orcs are gone, tied as they were to their Master's will. But the Uruk-hai will continue, even if I were to sacrifice myself they would live on and continue breeding. Relentless and unstoppable, set to destroy the weak and weary kingdoms of this age."

"Even now, the steward of Gondor sees the state of the world through his looking glass, and has sent his forces to Rohan to make war upon me. Even now his son Faramir is met by Eomer, the leader of the Rohirrim, an angry and troubled man who will doubtless become a king who follows his heart instead of his mind. And he will be king, for they know Rohan's current king is in league with me, and so would kill him."

I was shedding tears by this point. Honest, oh-this-is-so-sad-I-wish-I'd-never-saved-the-world tears.

"It was not your fault." Saruman muttered darkly. "How could you have known?"

"I'm so sorry." I whispered.

"All is well Arnbereth." Saruman said, with a smile. "I am, after all, Saruman of Many Colors. I have many plans, of many varieties to save Middle Earth. And… I wonder if you could help me?"

"Sure!" I said. "Anything! Say the word, and I'll do it mate!"

"I am glad of your aid." Saruman said, with a smile. "I have many plans, and little time to employ them. Firstly, you must teach me your magics. In return, I will make you my apprentice, and when you continue on your way, you will have more power than you could ever have dreamed of!"

That reminded me. Jolted me out of my stupor. "But how do I get on my way?" I asked. "I need to find the crystals…"

"Like this?" I could have sworn Saruman's hand was empty before, but when he held it out to me he had a brilliant shining crystal in his hand. I recognized it. It was a finger. One of Harry's fingers, the one on the hand I'd grabbed to save him, the pinkie finger, and part of the hand, with a gash on it to mark where Umbridge made him write 'I must not tell lies' with his own skin.

"That's it." I said. I knew it. It was as clear as day to me.

His hand closed and the gem disappeared.

"It is yours." He said grandly, as if he was bestowing a great favor. "If you aid me in the reparations to the damage you have done!"

"Alright!" I said, jumping up with energy. "I'll do it!"

Saruman smiled.

And then with a crack, Dobby appeared.

And he brought the Fellowship with him.

I stared. "You can apparate people?" I asked. "Why didn't you disapparate me away from the Uruk Hai?"

"Dobby was trying sir." He said. "But you sent Dobby away before he could."

"And now Saruman, it is over." Legolas said, drawing his bow.

"Wait!" I jumped in front of Saruman, in the way of Legolas' bow. The Fellowship looked stunned. They probably were.

"He's on our side, honest!" I yelled.

"Listen to your own wizard, if you will not listen to me." Saruman said, smiling benignly. "I am, as he said, your ally."

"Ron lad." Gimli growled. "Saruman must have put a spell on you."

"No!" I cried. "Listen! Everything he's done has been to help Middle Earth! I ruined it by destroying Sauron early, but he has a plan to fix it!"

"If he truly was on the side of all that is good, the plans he made would not have backfired with the death of the most evil being in Middle Earth." Frodo said, staring at me intently.

He didn't have the kind of power in his words that Saruman had. He wasn't nearly as charismatic. But… something in me realized that what he was saying was a whole lot smarter than anything Saruman had ever said. Some piece of me Saruman hadn't corrupted realized that I'd been wrong before.

Strider wiped his finger across the inside of the cup I'd been drinking from. He spat it out almost immediately. "Poison." He said. "Not lethal, but doubtless it made you weak. Incapable of resisting the poison of Saruman's words."

"Oh come now." Saruman laughed, and it was the laugh of somebody who knew exactly what he was doing.

Legolas shot an arrow at him, but it exploded the moment it left the bow.

"Do you really think I would need to resort to such crude methods?" Saruman asked. "I, Saruman the wise? Arnbereth, my trusted ally… do you really believe them over me? I am a wizard, the king of wizards! Can this motley crew really be on the side of right, when I am opposed to them?"

Saruman made a whole lot of sense. And it was a whole lot easier to believe him at the moment.

But then I remembered something George (or maybe Fred) told me.

A Gryffindor never does things the easy way.

Granted he was talking about pranking Umbridge at the time, but still…

I shook my head, and looked up at Saruman. "You know… you're right. You're very right on a lot of things. Scarily right. But… I trust my friends more than I trust you. And they say you're evil."

Saruman shook his head, as though I was a poor boy who'd gone nutters. "And these friends of whom you speak… they have never led you astray? No friend of yours have ever given you false guidance?"

He was trying to get his hooks into me again. Trying to persuade me to join him again. Trying to make me doubt what I knew. But this time, he couldn't convince me. Because the answer to his question wasn't something I could be ashamed of, and it wasn't something he could use to twist against me. My answer was immediate and sincere:

"Not once. Stupefy!"

He caught the spell in his hand.

I'd never seen a spell like that before. Usually it was just a streak of light. But when he held it, it was like he was holding a ball of syrup, and a ball of lightning, and a ball of light all at the same time.

And then he threw it back.

Boromir hefted his shield, and blocked it. But then he collapsed, as though the shield were too heavy for him to lift. Strider's sword began to glow red hot in his hand, and he dropped it with a hiss of pain. Gimli threw his axe, and Saruman turned it into a puff of smoke with a wave of his hand. Merry and Pippin charged, but then the floor fell out from under them, and they would have fallen if Strider hadn't leaped across the floor and caught them.

Never leave a muggle to do a wizard's job.

I cast a leg-locking spell at him, which he caught and reflected. I brought up my shield spell, and then cast a bat bogey hex. He didn't bother to get out of the way, I'd misaimed the shot and it flew over his shoulder. With a gesture of his staff, he sent me flying into the wall, even though I had my shield spell up!

I was beginning to think I was in trouble, when Dobby came up behind Saruman and with a snap of his fingers threw him out the window.

I was released from Saruman's spell, but I didn't even have time to relax. Saruman somehow managed to find purchase on the air, and instead of falling he ran back into the tower and swung his staff. I flew backwards again, this time through the double doors and into another atrium.

I hit some sort of pillar in the middle of the atrium. My headache came back, and brought his friends. Then something fell off the pillar, and onto my head. It was some sort of crystal ball, except it was dark and murky, filled with shadows instead of steam like the crystal balls I was used to.

"No!" Saruman stretched his staff out again, knocking Legolas and Gimli back, then drawing the crystal ball into his hand. He blocked a weak attack from Frodo with his staff, and then set the room on fire.

As you can imagine, it can hurt a lot when the floor you're lying on suddenly turned into an inferno! I couldn't move for the pain!

Which was why I was surprised Gimli had the presence of mind to throw me out of the fire.

I managed to cast an extinguishing spell as Gimli and Legolas was out of the room. But even over the roar of the fire next door, I could hear Saruman's laughter as he mocked me; "How prophetic!" H laughed. "Truly, you are the Red Wizard! Red like fire!"

I gritted my teeth. "Expelliarmus!" I called.

This one managed to actually hit him. The crystal ball fell from his hands… as did the shard of crystal that I was after!

"Accio crystal!" I called out. Both finger and ball flew towards me.

"NO!" Saruman yelled.

And then there was a flash of light.

And when I woke up, I was in a downy bed, with several armed men holding pointy things in my direction.

A/N: So, this is the last chapter of Ron's saga in Middle-Earth. He's in a whole other realm of fantasy now! Mwahahahaha!

I hope you like the changes to the original story I made. LOTR was too dependant upon the Ring for me to make it the exact same plot, and so characters react differently. Especially Boromir and Frodo, now that the ring's gone. And I did take some creative liberties with Saruman's master plan. But that just makes him even more of a threat, yes?