Hi, my name is Klara. Lynn, a friend of mine started writing a crossover fanfiction of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter a few months ago. Since then, she's been sharing it in French on her main account caro-hearts :

s/12242649/1/Blackbird

Since I'm a Potterhead that loves languages, I translated it for her, so that more LoTR and HP fans can enjoy her witty and imaginative stories.

Welcome, oh noble reader. You just walked into a story which has the LoTR's universe as core, yet finds its originality in its unique main character.

Except Olympe and her friends & family, everything here belongs of course to J.K. Rowling and J.R.R. Tolkien.

I hope you have as good a time reading this as I had writing it.

I

The cold was the first thing she noticed. An icy old spreading through her, stinging every inch of her body. For an instant, she thought someone had dropped a bucket of water on her.

She could feel the sharp bite of the wind, maybe she and her roommates had forgotten to close a window before going to bed. Olympe felt around for her blanket, shivering, but all she could find was a wet and earthy surface under her fingers.

Something's wrong.

She slowly opened her eyes. The light surrounding her was blinding and her heart was hammering louder and louder in her chest. She looked around, blinking a couple times – was it a dream? - and discovered she was in the middle of a sea of green, the grass wet with dew.

She couldn't possibly have fallen asleep in the park, could she?

Lifting her gaze, she saw the horizon: a range of snow-topped mountains and infinite valleys, some still in shadows yet untouched by the morning sun.

Struggling to get up, she felt a weight on her shoulders. Her backpack! She hadn't had the strength to put it away the night before as she crawled into bed.

She got on her feet and once steady, she examined the area further. Lush fields and hills, but no trace of Hogwarts - her school - or of the Great Lake and even less of the Forbidden Forest.

« - Merlin's knickers! What the heck is going on? » She couldn't help but ask out loud.

She could feel a knot forming in her stomach. What could possibly have happened? What unusual thing could she have done the night before, that would explain her being there?

She tried remembering. After the banquet, Olympe and her two friends had readied their bags for their usual Nocturnal Expedition. An expedition that consisted of walking around in the castle at night like great explorers and learning more of the secrets the school held.

An expedition that had ended around 3am at Hogsmeade, after traveling through the hidden passage that linked the Come and Go Room to the Hog's Head.

They'd been so tired getting back to the seventh year's dormitory that none of them had bothered changing into their pyjamas.

She checked her clothes: a long-sleeved sweater and trousers, both black, her red and gold scarf the only bright spot - the Hogwarts skirt not being very practical for night escapades.

She noticed her clothes were drenched, as if it had been raining before she woke.

She was surprised to notice that she wasn't wearing her shoes. Her mother would probably have been proud to know that even tired enough to keep her backpack on, she'd still had it in her to take of her shoes - although finding herself on wet earth now wearing only socks turned out to be extremely uncomfortable.

A strike of panic seized Olympe as she patted around her leg. Her wand was gone. She'd modified all of her trousers so they'd have a pocket especially for that, so it would always be at hand's reach. But her fingers only met emptiness.

She dropped her backpack down, imagining all the worst scenarios: being alone, not having magic, as defenceless as a muggle, freezing to death in a place she didn't know, unable to protect herself.

The knot in her belly grew tighter and she ripped her leather bag open and in one quick gesture emptied it on the ground. A large object fell out in a cacophonous crash. Oops, the guitar…

What if there are wild beasts?

It had been magically modified to be a lot larger from the inside. She riffled through it: chocolate frogs, her grimoire, her pencil case, her friend Lisa's makeup bag, her camera…

What if she was faced with an Acromantula? Ever since she'd heard about the rumour saying the Forbidden Forest was home to a colony of them in her first year, she hadn't gone near the woods.

No, stay calm, breath.

… spare parchment, sugar quills, her thermos, cauldron cakes, her bluebell flames jar, hair ties…

Or worse! What if there are werewolves?

Her search grew more frantic. Her blond curls kept falling in her eyes and with an angry toss, she threw them over her shoulder.

… tissues, caramels, liquorice wands, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, …

But there's enough to feed an army in there!

Oh, yes, duh, she'd been in charge of snacks the night before…

She shook her bag again and the desperately needed wand sprang out off one of the front pockets. She grabbed it, sagging down with relief and held her wand tightly, waiting for her heartbeat to slow.

Everything's fine…

Well no, it's not! What do I do now? Did they even realize I've disappeared at school?

Those thoughts kept going in circle in her brain for a good while.

First, she used a spell to dry her wet cloth – which thankfully stopped her shivering - and started organizing her backpack.

How could she contact them? How would they know where she was? She had no owl with her and there was no town nearby!

« Calm yourself down. », she said out loud, taking a deep breath. « Good ol'McGonagall will have contacted the Aurors' HQ and told them about my disappearing and I'll be back to school as if none of this had ever happened. »

But the hours kept slipping away and the sun kept rising in the sky until her panic finally reached a point where she could no longer stay still.

She started walking, hoping to find a town or a village.

She reached something that looked like a trail to her and decided to follow it – she was probably more likely to meet someone that way.

She walked like this for several hours, her gaze turned down, towards her smarting feet, her once white socks now blackened with earth and mud.

To Olympe, it was a hypnotic rhythm to watch: right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot, and so further on.

Walking, walking without interruptions, ignoring the sharp ache of the rocks cutting into her feet. The pain did slow her, forcing Olympe to be careful of what she stepped on.

In that moment, she would have traded all the chocolate frogs in the world for a good pair of walking shoes or just slippers.

Then it struck her! She stopped and muttered « ...apparating. »

If the situation hadn't been this alarming she would laughed out loud! How could she not have thought of it already? Apparition! It was the obvious solution! She'd gotten her permit a year ago and apparating hadn't even crossed her mind!

What an airhead I can be sometimes!

She closed her eyes and focused on her destination: Hogsmeade - you couldn't apparate into Hogwarts anyway.

Seconds ticked away, then minutes. After ten minutes of hard focus Olympe had to admit the obvious: wherever she was, it wasn't a place you could disapparate from.

A few tears of frustration escaped her eyes and shortly she broke down crying.

I'm lost! I'm lost, alone and without a single landmark! I just don't get it! I don't get it! I... don't...understand... Of course, crying wouldn't get her anywhere but right then, it felt like the only thing she was able to do.

A light earthquake caught her attention. Something was getting closer… and either it was something huge or there was a lot of it.

Instinctively, she went to hide in the heights that framed the path.

Better be unseen and observe what was coming than be surprised by whatever it was.

She climbed a few rocks - not without gaining a few scratches in the process -, and lay down on the stone, becoming part of it, hidden in the shadows.

Taking her bag off her shoulders, she got hold of her grimoire. The girl had never had a great memory and except for the very basic enchantments or combat spells, she'd always needed help remembering either the words or the gesture.

That grimoire was Olympe's whole world summed up. She kept pictures, drawings, History of Magic lessons in it and most importantly, the list of all the spells she'd ever studied or cast in her seven years at Hogwarts, all arranged in alphabetical order, then a second time by type.

She used a disillusionment charm and waited. That enchantment would allow her to blend in with her surroundings, just like a chameleon.

When cast properly, you'd have to focus really hard to see the wizard.

She could hear sounds of running and metal clashing.

A dark mass of armoured warriors was getting nearer, going in the same direction she'd been a few minutes ago. She squinted, trying to understand what she was seeing.

...What on Earth is this?

These creatures looked like nothing she had ever seen. They might have had a roughly human shape, but Olympe understood very quickly that these weren't humans - much taller and much more solidly built than men, their legs and arms were thicker. Each of them carried armours and weapons.

Those were the most disgustingly grotesque things she'd ever laid eyes on. Their mouths were too large, twisted with yellow fangs that went over their lips. Their skin was dark and oily, their small mean eyes disturbingly far apart.

If she had asked one of her little brothers to draw her a monster like a cross between a troll and a grindylow, she would have gotten something close to this. And that was without mention of the sickening smell they carried: a foul smell of mould, sweat and flesh in decay.

Those here have probably never heard of soap, she thought, wrinkling her nose.

It reminded Olympe of that time she'd had to clean a humid room in the dungeon, one Filch hadn't opened in over fifteen years. She'd found a two dozens dead rats, some of them still decomposing.

Well, that here came close - only worse. Feeling sick, she finally tore her gaze away from them and tried making herself smaller, praying her chameleon spell would hold, that they wouldn't find her.

There seemed to be about fifty of them and they were marching fast. She caught sight of two children with fair curls hanging to the back of two of these monsters.

Then they were out of sight.

Terrified they would still discover her, Olympe stayed stone-like on the rocks for a good ten extra minutes before getting up. And though they were gone, she could still smell them.

Maybe she should lock herself in her bag and cast an invisibility spell until an Auror came to get her.

But what if a creature like those finds the bag and… I am not even sure I'd fit in it.

Crap. There really were no other words to describe the situation.

There you go, a rather short first chapter but no worries, things are just getting started.

I hope you enjoyed it, I had fun translating it. Please don't hesitate telling me what you think in the comments, I'll be glad to share it with Lynn and answer.

PS: Thank you Lulu, for correcting me and britishing the words up!