The Fellowship was now inside the dark and gloomy entrance and Gimli was thoroughly enjoying himself and was boasting to Legolas who's face clearly read 'get me away from this Dwarf' "Soon Master Elf you shall enjoy the fabled hospitality of dwarves," he bragged "Roaring fires, malt beer, meat ripe off the bone!" While Gimli kept bragging about his ancestry Harry watched Gandalf insert some sort of glowing crystal into the top of his staff and emitting a bright light, "...And they call it a mine, a mine!" Gimli laughed while Legolas looked like he wanted to throttle the dwarf.
Boromir suddenly stopped in his tracks and slowly panned his vision across the hall "This is no mine," he said slowly "It's a tomb."
At that moment Frodo gasped in horror as he looked down and came face to face with a skeleton, skeletons littered the room and Harry cursed himself for not seeing them before and he noticed that every skeleton had similar armour or weapons as Gimli. Some were specked with arrows and some had bodies with no skulls, Gimli roared in horror and despair at the decapitated and arrow ridden corpses, cursing whoever had caused the massacre.
Legolas crouched next to one of the corpses, he snapped off the shaft of an arrow "Goblins," he said hurriedly throwing the arrow away, Harry instinctively drew his sword Istar as the others drew weapons, although Sam had his sword accompanied by a fearsome looking frying pan.
"We make for the Gap of Rohan, we should never have come here," Boromir growled, Frodo looked like he was about to be sick "Now get out of here, GET OUT!" The Fellowship ran out of the hall and through the doorway as fast as their legs could carry them, they stopped to catch their breath once they had got out of Mine and onto the bank of the lake. Frodo yelped loudly and suddenly when his legs were pulled out from underneath him and was dragged away from the Fellowship, Harry turned to see a long snaking tentacle gripping Frodo's ankle and dragging him closer and closer to the lake edge.
"Help!" He cried as writhed and kicked trying to escape the tentacle, the hobbits answered his call and tried to unsuccessfully hack the tentacle off Frodo.
"Stop!" Harry yelled "You're not helping!" Harry lopped the tentacle off with Istar as the hobbits kept on shouting and screaming while dragging poor Frodo away from the bank when even more tentacles sprung out the water and seized Frodo yet again but this time lifting the hobbit off the ground and out of reach. Legolas tried to shoot the now four tentacles wrapped around Frodo but the tentacles dodged as Frodo screamed when a monstrous face appeared from beneath the water and started to lower the panicking Frodo Baggins into its gaping maw. Harry, Boromir and Aragorn worked in perfect harmony of slicing off the tentacles, Harry was practically a spinning knife as he spun and flipped and cut at the monster until nearly all the tentacles were gone "I think I'm getting the hang of this," he panted as he sliced two tentacles off at once.
Aragorn finally managed to slice off the tentacles off the monster that were holding Frodo, who then toppled into Aragorn and Aragorn easily picked him up "Into the mines!" Gandalf shouted as the ten companions ran into the mines once again.
"Legolas!" Boromir howled "Into the cave!" He ordered as Legolas fired arrow after arrow at the great beast's head before reluctantly joining the others, the monster started to pursue them out of the water and into the mine but as it tried to squeeze its great bulk through the doorway the whole entrance crumbled on top of it, killing it but trapping the fellowship in the mine and in darkness.
"We now have one choice," said Gandalf, lighting his staff "We must face the long dark of Moria, be on you guard, there are things older and more fouler things than orcs in the deep places of the world." Harry didn't particularly like the sound of that but he kept walking through the mine "Quietly now," advised Gandalf "It's a four day journey to the other side."
"How can we tell a day in here," Harry muttered.
"Let us hope that our presence goes unnoticed," Gandalf said, not hearing Harry as he walked. The company walked for a many more hours, crossing long narrow bridges to steep staircases and long corridors, when Gandalf suddenly stopped, Harry craned his neck and he saw Gandalf put his hand on some white veins of minerals "The wealth of Moria was not in gold," Gandalf said "or jewels, but mithril," Gandalf lowered his staff and Harry gasped in awe, spread out below him was veins of silvery mithril glowing in the darkness.
"As light as a feather and as hard as dragon scales," Frodo breathed looking at the mithril deposit with a strange look in his eyes.
"Bilbo had a shirt of mithril rings that Thorin gave him," Gandalf said, starting to walk again.
"Oh, that was a kingly gift," gaped Gimli.
"Yes," Gandalf agreed "I never told him but its worth was greater than the value of the Shire," Frodo looked surprised at this fact but didn't say anything.
Many hours later Gandalf suddenly stopped "What is it Gandalf?" Harry asked.
"I have no memory of this place," he said worriedly, Harry followed Gandalf's looked and there were three different paths spread out in front of them.
Soon the whole fellowship was gathered round the three paths in a makeshift camp, a small fire was burning in the corner of the room and Aragorn was sat next to Broromir smoking a pipe, the hobbits however were having a loud whispered conversation between them "Are we lost?" Asked Merry.
"I think we are," said Pippin tiredly.
"Shhh," hissed Sam "Gandalf's thinking," Gandalf was indeed thinking, he was sat on a rock facing the paths as if he were meditating and muttering elvish spells under his breath.
"Merry!" Whispered Pippin, Merry looked up "I'm hungry."
"Nice to meet you Hungry," teased Frodo, Pippin suddenly started having and joking argument with Frodo and Merry when Harry heard something, he turned round and saw a silhouette in the dark, a silhouette that looked a bit like Dobby?
Harry quietly scrambled down the cliffs to the silhouette "Dobby!" He whispered excitedly the creature looked up sharply.
"We's not Dobby" The creature growled, its voice sounded horrible, as if someone was retching but talking at the same time.
"Come here," whispered Harry holding out his hand as if the creature would shake it, the creature edged towards him, its rattling breathing reminding Harry of Dementors, then the creature crawled into the light. It had pale sallow skin, large lamp like eyes, a thin bony frame and was very very ugly.
"What is it precious?" It asked cocking its head, staring at Harry.
"I am Hadrid," Harry said "Hadrid Dagorlad of Rivendell" thinking 'why not Rivendell'.
"Its not elfses" said the creature.
"I am not an elf I am a man."
"Ooh" the creature grinned "We've never had manses before just batses, orcses and nasty sneaky hobbitses.
"Hobbits?" Harry asked "as in you've seen them, was one of them named Baggins."
The creature spat on the floor "We hates Bagginses," It screeched "He stole it! He stole it! He stole the precious!"
"Okay, okay easy now," Harry eased as the creature screeched and shouted at the name of Baggins as if it were deadly poison.
"Gollum, Gollum!" It coughed as it rolled around in the dirt, before he suddenly stopped and stared at Harry, it's voice dropped to a deadly whisper "Does it know Bagginses?"
"No," Harry lied, slowly backing away from the enraged creature who had started crawling towards him "Now I will leave now," he reasoned, but the creature payed no attention, it sprang at Harry but Harry had quick reflexes and he kicked the creature in the chest causing it to fall down and off the edge of the ledge, Harry could tell it was alive but he didn't stick around to find out he climbed back up the way he came, he ran past his companions and up to Gandalf swiftly followed by Frodo, Harry skidded to a halt next to Gandalf "There's something down there!" Harry panted.
"It is Gollum," Gandalf replied.
"Gollum?" Frodo said "The Gollum Bilbo told me about."
"He's been following us for three days," Gandalf said.
"He escaped the dungeons of Barad-dûr?" Frodo gasped.
"Escaped..." Said Gandalf he turned his head towards Frodo and Harry "Or set loose, now the ring has bought him here. He will never be rid of his need for it, he hates and loves the ring as he hates and loves himself, Sméagol's life is a sad story."
"Sméagol?" Harry asked.
"Yes, Sméagol he was once called, before the Ring found him, before it drove him mad," Gandalf replied, solemnly.
"It's a pity Bilbo didn't kill him when he had the chance." Frodo growled.
Harry stared at Frodo as if he were mad "Pity?" He asked "Pity? Pity is probably what stayed Bilbo's hand, I mean I pity him, just like I did a year ago to a traitor," he said thinking of Peter Pettigrew.
"And what did you do to him?" Frodo asked.
"I let him live," Harry said flatly.
"A wise choice Hadrid," said Gandalf "And the right one, you were right also about how pity stayed Bilbo's hand, many that live deserve death and some that die deserve life, can you give it to them, Frodo?" Frodo looked slightly sheepish "Do not be too eager to deal out death and judgement, even the very wise cannot see all ends, my heart tells me that Gollum has some part to play yet, for good or ill, before this is over, the pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many."
Frodo sat down next to Gandalf "I wish the Ring had never come to me," he said sadly "I wish none of this had happened."
Harry smiled and crouched in front of Frodo, he put a hand on Frodo's shoulder "So does everyone else who lives to see such times but if Bilbo hadn't found the Ring then Sauron would have already won, he would of killed Gollum as sure as the sun will rise but that didn't happen we have the Ring, we are winning this war and we just need to hope that a new sun will rise and the world will be better than it is with no sadness or grief or death, that is something we can fight for, sometimes the smallest person can make the largest difference." Frodo smiled a watery smile and stood up.
"I will destroy the Ring," he said "I promise, I want to see the new sunrise."
Gandalf suddenly let out an "oh!" of surprise Harry turned round to face Gandalf who smiled "It's that way," he said inclining his head to the path going left.
Aragorn and Boromir scrambled to their feet "He's remembered!" Said Merry happily jumping to his feet.
"No," said Gandalf "But the air doesn't smell so foul down here, if in doubt Meriadoc always follow your nose.