Chapter Two

A/N: I OWN NOTHING!

Riley was glad that she kept up on Track training upon her father's insistence. The constant running was murder on her calves, and the sweat racing down her brow quickly replaced the rain as the liquid weighing down her braids. Several times, she managed to trip over practically nothing.

How the hell did I did trip over that? Riley thought as she tossed a pebble out of her way as she picked herself up once more. Sighing, Riley stopped and sat down. She missed Fred and James; not to mention really worried about them. They hadn't landed in the woods with her.

Picking herself up once more, Riley decided to walk for a few minutes. It would be better to arrive at her location without all the scabs and bruises on her legs. She had decided that there was no plausible explanation for her arrival in Middle Earth. Time Turners went back in time, after all. Not worlds.

Unless Hermione had done more than just fiddle with it.

"I'm going to murder him!" Riley growled out and then broke out into a flat run. Figuring that with her luck, Fred and James would be laughing their arses off at the next town while she was struggling in the wilderness. Something, she might add, was not something she was particularly fond of doing. After a couple days, Riley arrived at a beautiful village on a hill—sweat dripping down her brow, her tank top dirty and her legs notably injured.

Sneaking in would the difficult part after all. She wasn't exactly dressed the part of a girl of this time—thank Merlin her father and Harry read them the books when she and James were eight. She'd be totally lost otherwise. Hiding behind a rock, Riley wrung the sweat out of her braids and grimaced at the feeling of liquid in between her fingers.

If only James was here with the Cloak! she thought with a sigh as she debated actually climbing the gate's walls. That plan was nixed when Riley remembered her one big downfall—she hated anything high. That included climbing and flying. In the end, she decided it'd be best to just sneak in as best she could.

"Or I can just run in after that dude," she muttered to herself, noting the entrance of a rider. Despite her aching calves, Riley got up and ran as fast as she could in order to beat the gate closing on her. Sighing in success when she made it, Riley looked around at what had to be Edoras, home to the King of Rohan. Which mean that somehow, James had landed them all in the Two Towers.

"I did mention I was going to murder him?" Riley grumbled as she tried desperately not to be noticed. Luckily, there weren't many people out at the moment. Time to try to sneak into a castle. Hey it couldn't be that hard right? If James could sneak out of Hogwarts castle, she could sneak in to this one.

000

Okay, so it was harder than it looked and ended up in Riley resorting to a couple of charms to hide her presence. In the room, a beautiful woman stood by an old man. The old man was sitting in a throne while the man from the woods was pacing.

"Your son is badly wounded, my lord," the woman announced in a grave voice; kneeling to the king.

"He was ambushed," the man announced, "by Orcs. Orcs bearing the White Hand of Saruman."

This can't be good! Riley thought and then rushed out of there. She knew she had a limited amount of Dittany but if one life could be saved, what did it matter who she used it on? She could always get more at home anyway. Her rushing was stopped by a ruckus in the main room. Acting quickly, Riley wrote a small message on a spare bit of parchment found in her pocket. If Eomer was going to be out of the picture, if what that slimy guy said was true, then Riley wanted someone she could recognize to find her friends.

Sneaking when the muggle couldn't see you was easy enough to do and so Riley just slipped the note in Eomer's pocket. Then she scurried out of there before she changed anything—other than what she wanted to be changed. Riley had never actively admitted to having a crush on anyone with the exception of her diary—which she kept under lock and key in case Fred and James ever found it.

Anyway, she sorta kinda….lied about not having a crush on anyone. Despite the brief amount of screen time he received in The Two Towers, Riley lived for the scenes with Theodred in them—which caused her to wonder how she didn't recognize him at first glance.

To be fair, I did just land in Middle Earth. STOP THAT! It's impossible that I'm in Middle Earth right now, so unless I see visible proof that I am….

Her inward argument stopped upon reaching the infirmary. The slight smell of disease and sick sent shivers up Riley's spine and almost made her turn back. And she was training to be a Healer for Merlin's Sake!

"Got to do it Riles," she muttered and pushed the door open a crack, as to squeeze through. There, she removed the spells that she had around herself to make her movement more fluid—and so if Theodred happened to wake up, he wouldn't freak out seeing bottles move by themselves. There were no nurses at his bedside, something Riley paid no notice of or was worried about. That proved to be a mistake rather quickly.

"Halt!"

Riley froze, and in the act of freezing pondered why she could understand people here. She really shouldn't but she was going to chalk that one up to the Time Turner until she could get her hands on a book or twenty.

"Y-yes?" Riley gulped and turned around. Standing in the doorway, was the Lady Eowyn—wearing a rather pissed off look on her face, one not befitting a lady of her status.

"Who are you and why were you tending to my cousin?" she asked, almost as if she expected an answer. Riley honestly didn't know what else to do. Yes, she was the brain of the Musketeers, but that didn't mean anything here! Riley was ashamed to admit that she gladly passed out in a dead heap on the floor.