Sorry it took so long to get a chapter up! School has been literally killing me... you would not believe the amount of work I get. Anyways, if there is anyone still reading this, I'd love a review. But thanks for your patience; here's a nice, lengthy chapter! Review or not, please enjoy!

"Help! Help!"

"Oh God, what's happening?"

"Legolas!"

"Aragorn!"

"Help!"

"Mandy!"

Aragorn and Legolas immediately woke up when they heard all six of the girls shouting for help. Immediately forgetting about their small visit to Middle-earth, the two warriors were standing and sprinted out of thef bedroom and into the hallway. Legolas had out his knives, and Aragorn had grabbed the nearest heavy object in the room, which happened to be a large book. What they saw outside of their bedroom door was chaos.

Brittany was pounding on Mandy's bedroom door, which Mandy always locked when she went to bed. Alex tried to help her by kicking and throwing herself against the door, but the door didn't budge. Summer was trying to calm down Mari and Becky who were both panicking. Abs had the phone in her hand, trying to dial 9-1-1 but in her panic could not push the buttons correctly. When she saw Aragorn and Legolas, she immediately dropped the phone and rushed over to them.

"Something's happening! She's screaming!" Abs yelled in a high voice, shaking with terror.

As if on cue, a scream came from Mandy's bedroom. Aragorn and Legolas needed no more.

Shoving their way down the hallway, they came to Mandy's door and stopped Brittany and Alex from trying to break their way through. Aragorn handed Alex the book he had grabbed, stepped a few feet from the door, and kicked it with all his strength. The door sprang open with a loud noise, and Legolas was in the room first, knives brandished. Aragorn was immediately beside him, and crowded behind both of them were the six teenagers.

The two warriors looked for any intruders, but found none. Instead, they found Mandy thrashing in her covers, and once more a scream came from her lips.

Brittany shoved her way past them all and was immediately by Mandy's bedside, shaking her awake. Tears were streaming down her face as she called out for the older woman to wake up; never before had she seen her guardian like this. Aragorn and Legolas also came to the bedside, while the others stood by the doorway. Mari and Summer held each other close, while the others huddled around them; all of the girls had terrified expressions on their faces, and a couple of them had a few tears. Never before had they seen anything like this. Just minutes ago they were talking and whispering to one another, trying to come up with ways to make their lust object hug or kiss them. Mari was explaining a complicated plan about torturing them with pickles and Britney Spears when the screams had started.

First they could not place who was screaming, but they soon figured out that it was Mandy. It was then that they had started shouting for help and tried to pound the door open. All of them had terrifying images of what could be happening to her.

And now Brittany was trying to get her to wake, but the woman would not come out of her deep, fitful sleep. The young girl could see that Mandy's forehead was beaded with sweat, and that her face was contorted with pain. Brittany tried to shake and call to her again; her tears became faster and made her sight blurry. When Mandy would not wake, Brittany stuttered, "She won't wake up! Why will she not wake up? Oh God, oh God, oh God…" she muttered, her whole body shuddering.

Legolas shot Aragorn a look, and Aragorn nodded. Legolas put his arms around the girl and held her tight as Isildur's heir sat down on the side of Mandy's bed. He gently, but firmly took one of her hands into his left, and laid his right hand on her brow. The Ranger closed his eyes, and started muttering Elvish under his breath.

Except for the occasional sniffle, the room was completely silent as Aragorn tried to bring Mandy into the waking world. He desperately wished he had athelas to aid him, but as he did not he had to work without it. Thoroughly he searched through the dark fog that covered the woman's mind, looking for that part of her that would take her away from the dark dreams she was having. As he searched, the others in the room could see that Mandy was not thrashing about as much, yet the Ranger himself was becoming pale and weary in the face.

Suddenly, a small gasp was emitted from Mandy's lips as her eyes flew open. Her eyes searched frantically about, and she soon saw the man looking down upon her. Confusion came to her, but she then recalled the incidents earlier and remembered that Aragorn and Legolas were now with her. And as she focused on him, she saw that his eyes were filled with concern.

"Are you alright?" he asked quietly.

"I… I am-" Mandy stuttered shakily, "I'm not sure." She noticed that her breathing was fast, yet she could not find the will to calm herself down. Aragorn saw this and he set his hand upon her forehead. The young woman suddenly felt herself calm down, but as she calmed, Aragorn became paler. Legolas, making sure that Brittany was all right, went to support the Dúnadan as the man became faint.

Mandy saw Aragorn's distress, and momentarily forgot about her own horrors as she looked up at the Ranger. "Aragorn? Are you all right?"

Aragorn steadied himself, using his friend and the bed as support, and he gave a small nod. "I shall be fine." Closing his eyes and ignoring his small headache, he asked, "May one of you retrieve a glass of water for Mandy?" When he heard no movement behind him, he turned his head about and looked at the five girls. "Now, if you would," he softly commanded.

It was as if Aragorn had shouted an order at them. The girls finally got out of their stupor and all of them turned for the door.

"Only one of you needs to do it," Aragorn said, slight sarcasm in his voice. One could not blame him for his slightly short temper, considering the circumstances.

"I'll go," Becky said, and she went out of the room to retrieve some water.

Aragorn, satisfied, turned back to Mandy. As he was giving out the order for water, Brittany had rushed to the bed and was currently clutching onto Mandy so tightly that it was as if that she would die if she let go.

"Oh Mandy, I'm so glad you're okay!" Brittany nearly cried into Mandy's shoulder. Mandy just held her, comforting the girl as best she could. Legolas, Aragorn, and the rest of the girls stood quietly beside them, the girls still by the door and the two warriors by the bed.

Finally, Brittany loosened her grasp, a concerned expression upon her face. "What happened, Mandy? You were thrashing around and screaming and… you really scared me. What was happening?"

Mandy closed her eyes to hide the pain and fear that she felt within that realistic dream. It was… terrifying. Absolutely horrifying. She was not sure if she could even describe it, especially to Brittany.

Before she could answer, Becky came back into the room with two glasses of cold water in her hands. She gave one to Aragorn and one to Mandy. "You look really pale, I thought you would need one," Becky explained to Aragorn's quizzical look. Aragorn nodded his thanks and drank down the ice-cold water, and Mandy did the same.

After they were done, Brittany looked at Mandy, expecting an answer. "Mandy, please tell me…" she whispered, concern etched across her face. Mandy took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. After a moment, she nodded.

"Alright…" She took another deep breath. "It was… odd. Very odd. I was once again at the pink castle-"

All of a sudden, there was a loud knock on the door, and everyone jumped.

"Shit!" Summer shouted. She realized what she had said when eight pairs of eyes were staring at her. "Oh… umm, sorry. I'll… I'll go get that." With that, she span and ran to get the door.

"Who in the world would be here at this hour?" Mandy muttered.

"I shall go and see as well," Aragorn said, and he quickly left the room.

In the front hall there was another knock, and Summer peeked out of the peephole of the door. Again she cursed; it was someone she would recognize any day.

She opened the door and gave the person a charming smile. "Hello. What can I do for you, officers? Is there a problem?"

The policemen outside of the doorway glanced at the girl, and then behind her at the apartment, as if they expected there was something going on in there. When they saw nothing, they turned back to the teenager.

"We received complaints of screams and loud noises coming from this apartment just a few minutes ago," said one of them, and then he frowned. "Are your parents home?"

"Oh, yes, my parents… umm, yes, they are, but they're busy," Summer quickly said.

The second officer raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "I… see. May we come in?"

"Umm…" Summer started, but she realized that they were not paying attention to her anymore. Instead, they were staring right behind her, looks of disbelief written on their faces. She turned around, and thankfully did not curse this time. A few feet away, standing right by the entrance to the hallway, was Aragorn. And he was giving them a hard, even glare.

"Is everything well?" the Ranger asked Summer, yet keeping his eyes at the two men outside of the door.

"Yes, everything's fine…" Summer said. She turned back to the policemen, and she could see that they would definitely find a way in if they did not get a reasonable explanation for the noise and the reason why there was a grown man dressed as if he lived 100s of years ago. It was then that she had a stroke of genius.

"I am really sorry for the noise, officers, but we were practicing for our play."

The first officer rose an eyebrow. "Play?"

"Err, yes, play. You see my… dad here, yea, my father here is a main character, and he had to practice a battle scene with another main character." The police officers still looked unconvinced. "You see, we have our opening play early tomorrow afternoon, and it's about three hours from here. We had to practice tonight because we won't have any time tomorrow. I suppose we lost track of time; we were just so into it, you know!" Summer really hoped that her lie sounded convincing.

After a few seconds, the second officer asked, "What play?"

She said the first thing that came to mind. "Tolkien." They gave her blank looks. "We're doing… The Hobbit. Yea, it's really neat. My dad's playing… Bard… yes; Bard is a quiet, grim man. Whenever my dad's in costume, he always acts as his character… which is why he is quiet and grim." She gave them a big smile.

Finally, they seemed to take her word for it. "All right, then, but keep it down!" said the first officer. "The neighbors upstairs complained that it was extremely loud."

"We shall! Have a good night, officers!" She smiled, and then shut the door. Once that was done, she gave a big sigh of relief. "That was close," she muttered.

"Who were they?" asked Aragorn.

"Policemen." He gave her a blank look. "People who enforce the law," she explained. "Like guards of Minas Tirith… only without armor." She shrugged.

He slowly nodded, and then frowned. "'Dad'?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I know you are old enough to be my grandfather, or even great-grandfather, but seriously, no one here looks as good as you at 87," she said with a shrug.

"That is not the point," he argued.

"It was the first thing I could come up with!" she stressed out. "Besides, what would you have had me say? 'Oh, him, he's Aragorn; he's from another world. He's also the heir of a throne or two.' Seriously, they would've put me in the loony bin!" When she saw the look on his face, she frowned. "What's so funny?"

Aragorn simply smiled, and started heading again towards Mandy's room.

Summer mumbled under her breath as she quickly followed him.

O0O0O0O

After Summer and Aragorn explained what had happened at the door, Mandy started to tell the rest of them her dream. She was sitting up in her bed, a warm robe around her, and the girls were gathered around her, the two warriors right behind them. She was now recalling what she had seen in the tower.

"So as I realized what castle I looked upon, a black shape flew to me." She shuddered as she thought about it.

"What did you see?" Brittany asked. "Was that what made you scream?"

Mandy shuddered again. "Yes. It was… well, I do not know what they are called, but they are…" She took a deep breath and looked at each of the people that surrounded her. Aragorn and Legolas, both with obvious concern on their faces, and Brittany with all of her friends, looks of anticipation, concern, and fear all mixed together. Her glance then went to Alex, and her eyes dropped to her hands.

"Harry Potter," she muttered.

Alex blinked. "I'm not Harry Potter."

"No, the book you're holding," she said, pointing the book that Aragorn had handed the girl. "Harry Potter."

Alex frowned and looked down. "Oh. Yes. Aragorn came out of the room with it." Still frowning, she turned to the Ranger. "Why were you carrying a book around?"

Aragorn suddenly found eight pairs of inquisitive eyes on him. "Well, when I heard screaming, I grabbed the nearest heavy object, as I do not have my sword with me…" he explained, trying his best to ignore Legolas' gaze.

Legolas was trying but miserably failing to keep a large smile off his face. "Yes; after all, a book is quite a formidable weapon." The girls started snickering while Aragorn simply narrowed his eyes.

Mandy, however, was still staring at the book. "Alex, may I please see the book?" she asked, her voice slightly shaking. Alex, though a bit confused, nevertheless complied and handed Mandy the novel.

Mandy skipped through the book, glancing at sections here and there. She then flipped to Chapter Five and stopped. There was her answer.

"A dementor," she whispered quietly. "After I saw the castle in the distance… the castle that was unmistakably the Hogwarts castle from the movies… a dementor came flying at me."

There was a loud silence throughout the room. Though outsiders wonder how in the world it would be possible to have a loud silence, those that experience it would know it in an instant. This type of silence continued.

Finally, Legolas spoke. "Excuse my ignorance, but what exactly is a 'dementor' and 'Hogwarts'?"

"A dementor is a creature from the series Harry Potter," Alex quickly explained, "and Hogwarts is the castle that all the young wizards in Britain go to." Before either of the warriors could question further, Alex continued, "But if it was really a dementor, you wouldn't have been able to see it. You're a Muggle, Mandy. Muggles can't see dementors. And besides, dementors don't fly. They glide."

"What is a Mug-" Aragorn started, but Abs interrupted.

"Maybe it's a movie dementor," she said. "I mean, they were flying all around in the film, and we never saw them with Muggles."

"Yea, but still," Alex argued, "it doesn't make sense… why would it be a dementor?"

"You're not a large fan of Harry Potter, are you, Mandy?" Brittany asked.

Mandy shook her head. "No. I read up to the fourth book, and saw all the movies once or twice, but I do not know much about the world. But I know what I saw," she said when Alex was about to argue once again. "It was Hogwarts, and it was a dementor coming at me. And when it came to the window…" Her voice failed her and she looked down at her blankets. She took a deep breath, and looked up at all of them. The group around her could see the fear in her eyes. "What I felt was unimaginable. I felt as if… as if…"

"As if you'd never be happy again," Brittany put in quietly. Mandy slowly nodded.

"It was a terrible feeling. But it then just became worse. The dementor lifted its hood… and… it began to put his mouth to my lips… it was then that I started to scream. I tried to run away, kick at it, punch it, anything, but I was completely immobile. And when it touched me… it was as if my heart was being ripped out of my chest." She grew silent, and her eyes grew wet. Aggravated, she wiped her face to stop the involuntary tears, and was disturbed to find that her hand had begun to shake once more.

Brittany sat down beside her and grabbed her hand. She silently stroked it, and the rest of the group remained silent as Brittany tried to help her guardian calm down. After a few moments, her shakings were quelled.

Mandy took a deep breath. "My apologies," she said in her formal manner. "I am not sure what came over me."

"Fear," Brittany said simply. "I can't imagine what that must have been like. But please don't worry, Mandy… it was only a dream."

Mandy pulled her hand away and shook her head. "No, no, that is where you are wrong. It was not just a dream. No, no…" She sighed, and took a deep breath. "At the beginning, I found myself outside of the pink castle. When I went through the rooms, I found the room that Legolas and I dreamed about. And I was still in the pink castle when I was in the tower and when… all of that happened."

"What does that mean?" Summer asked quietly. "Mandy, you and Brittany have told us about the pink castle and all that other stuff that was in Mirkwood and Rivendell all those years ago, put in by some disgruntled security guard. You told us that… that the pink castle was part of that universe, was stored on the main controls, and then lost just days ago. And yet it is still here… what does it mean?"

Mandy took a deep breath. "It means that we have finally found where the pink castle went." She gave a strange smile. "It was first in the Middle-earth alternate universe. Now, if I remember the name correctly, it is in the Forbidden Forest, right next door to Hogwarts in the alternate Harry Potter universe."