Disclaimer: All recognizable (and copyrighted) characters and plots belong to their respectful owners. I'm just taking them out for a walk.

Updated 1/2/16 – As of my typing this, I haven't updated this story since 2013, which is quite ridiculous and absolutely inexcusable. In an effort to get back in the 'head-space' to write it, I decided to go back and reread it. Needless to say, the typos and inconsistencies bothered me, so while I'm not re-rewriting the story, I am updating and editing the chapters a little bit. Story wise, nothing will change, so feel free to pick up right as we let off… though I imagine it's been so long you've likely forgotten. My apologies. Life got in the way. I don't believe I'll let it do so again.

A/N: Welcome back, one and all, to There and Back Again. I realize that my, however temporary, suspension of the story was probably a surprise to many of you, but there is a good reason for it: I didn't like the story any more. I'd, very slowly and reluctantly, come to the realization that there were a lot of missed opportunities in the original, and while it wasn't necessarily a bad story, it wasn't up to my personal standards. I wasn't enjoying it anymore and was giving you all substandard work in an effort to just get through it, which isn't fair to you or me. Therefore, I sat down, did some research, and redid the outline. While the outline itself isn't finished yet, I believe I promised someone I would have this re-posted by Thanksgiving. Which is, as I'm writing this, tomorrow, so I'd better get on it, eh?

A warning: this is not the same story. I've rewritten it almost completely from scratch and there will be very little recognizable from the original save the general plot. If you're here hoping to see that story again, I'm afraid it's gone for good and I apologize for any disappointment. Hopefully you'll give this one a chance and will enjoy it just as much, if not more.

While the world this is set in is AU, I've tried to keep the Harry Potter universe to the books and the Lord of the Rings to the movie, because that's what I'm most familiar and comfortable with. I've almost finished my first reading of The Fellowship and a lot of that will be incorporated into the story, but I don't claim to be an expert on any of the Tolkien books.

I'd like to thank everyone who followed and reviewed the original There and Back Again from the very bottom of my heart. You guys are the only reason I decided not to scrap the story completely and I'd also like to thank Writersbane1 personally for encouraging me to keep going. This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for, among other blessings, my wonderful readers and lurkers for supporting the story.

As always, flames will be met with a report, genuine criticism is encouraged with cookies.

Now. Shall we give this another go?

Chapter 1: The Restricted Section

Really, on top of everything else, the last thing Harry needed was Hermione's advice or her desperate need to prove the library did indeed hold the key to all knowledge.

It wasn't that Harry didn't appreciate her help. He did. He wouldn't have gotten anywhere near where he was now without her, or subsequently the library, but… it seemed to Harry that his fight against Voldemort would be just that: his. His meetings with Dumbledore, the few of them there had been, were geared to preparing him to face the madman, and it was clear enough to Harry he'd eventually have to face The Dark Lord alone. Why Hermione couldn't see that he just didn't know. Nor did he understand why she and Ron both looked at him with expressions of equal parts pity and worry when he so much as glanced at Draco.

Wasn't it obvious he was up to something? What, Harry had no idea, but he knew it was in service of Voldemort. That necklace hadn't ended up in Katie's hands by accident; Malfoy had given it to her, Harry was convinced. Malfoy'd known about it, been in Borgin and Burke's right before school had started and bought it. Just because no one believed him didn't mean it wasn't true. He just needed proof that Malfoy was up to something, then they'd believe him for sure.

As it was, Hermione did agree with Harry on one thing: they had to know as much about Voldemort's past as possible. The most recent meeting with Dumbledore had left her curious, even more so than usual about other things. As usual, she'd locked herself in the library intent on finding something. Clearly she had picked up on something that Harry had missed with Dumbledore's cryptic words about Voldemort's tendency to collect things: Bear in mind this magpie-like tendency, for this, particularly, will be important later. The moment Harry had finished the sentence her eyes had gone all wide and manic, as they do when Hermione'd thought of something brilliant, and she'd bolted off to the library with a muttered goodbye after breakfast.

Ron and Harry had only seen her during class, and even then she'd mostly ignored them and spent most of class scribbling down notes on a very crumpled looking piece of paper, as though determined to remember every thought going through her head the instant she thought it. She hadn't even taken notes during History of Magic, though she had glanced up when Binns had said something about the Third Age, or something similar. Harry and Ron were so surprised by her behavior they'd gone to Parvati Patil and asked her what was going on, not that she'd been much help: "Shouldn't you know?" She'd said, "You three are practically glued at the hip."

Hermione had skipped lunch, and was even absent for dinner which was unusual for even her; despite her rigorous study habits and stubborn refusal to not have a book in her hand, she always took the time to eat something. Harry was really starting to worry, when Hermione pelted into the Great Hall, her hair flying every which way as she darted over to them. She practically fell into her seat, took a swallow of pumpkin juice and said "Later," before Harry or Ron could even get the words out to ask her what was going on.

"Later nothing!" Ron said indignantly, "You've been acting odd all day! Been driving me and Harry bonkers!"

"Later!" she hissed, jerking her chin at Dean and Seamus, who were listening intently. Without another word she piled her plate with food and began eating as fast as she could without choking.

'Later' didn't come until well after midnight. Situated in front of the fire in the common room, Harry and Ron were trying to catch up on a last minute potions essay set by Snape after Seamus' cauldron had bubbled over and soaked the bottom of his robes, when Hermione burst into the room and threw Harry's Invisibility Cloak into his lap.

"Hermione, what-?"

"Wake Ron!" she said excitedly, "I found something in the library, but I need to do more research on it!"

"So," said Ron, sitting up and pulling a piece of parchment off his face, "do research. What'd you need us for?"

Hermione turned to him. "Because Ronald, the book I need is in the Restricted Section and I hardly think any of the professors will want anyone seeing it, especially with what's going on. Now get up Ron! This book could really help Harry!" She demanded, hauling Ron unceremoniously off the sofa.

Harry and Ron had only just covered thrown the cloak over themselves before Hermione started for the door at a fast clip, rushing out the portrait hole so quickly they were already out the door and a ways down the hall before the Fat Lady had had the chance to demand who was there. Harry had no idea how they managed to make it to the library without getting caught, they were moving so hurriedly. There was no way to muffle their footsteps without giving away their position, and they kept bumping into each other in attempts to keep under the cloak and hidden, even though their feet were clearly visible. They'd barely shut the library doors behind them when they heard Filch's wheezing as he stalked by, searching for trouble makers. Hermione didn't allow them so much a sigh of relief and promptly dragged them back to the Restricted Section and threw herself onto the covers, scanning them hurriedly then disregarding them just as fast.

"Hermione, any hint on what we're looking for?" Harry demanded in a quiet whisper.

"A Brief History of Dark Lords," she murmured, ducking down to check books on the bottom shelf.

"Sounds cheery," Ron grumbled, pulling his wand and lighting the tip to check titles.

Hermione threw the cloak off of her head in frustration and continued searching for the book. "And a little too obvious. Why had I never thought to look in this section before?" She muttered, disappearing around the bookshelf to check the other side.

Harry shrugged the cloak off of him and Ron, and carefully stuffed it in his robes to keep from losing it. It took well over two hours to locate the book, and when they finally did it was only to find that whole sections of it were written in different, completely indecipherable languages or runes. Parts had even been ripped out entirely, leaving large chunks of history missing and odd jagged bits of paper stuck inside so that it closed crookedly. A Brief History of Dark Lords was old, dusty, and beat up, but weighed about the same as Harry's Transfiguration and Potions textbooks did combined.

"'Brief', it says," Ron grumbled as they flipped through the dry, cracking pages of the massive book. "This'll take ages to read."

"You forget we have Hermione. She'll have it finished in a week."

Hermione frowned down at the missing pages, and held the book like one might hold their newborn infant. "Oh, I hope they haven't taken out what we need. After all this trouble…" she gingerly stroked the torn edges of the missing pages, as though trying to comfort the abused book. "What some wizards will do just to cover things up," she muttered.

"What's been covered up?" Ron asked.

Hermione ignored him. "We can't keep this book with us; we might get caught with it, and then it'd be destroyed properly. We need a place to hide it when we aren't reading it."

Harry smiled, "I have just the place in mind."