A/N: This is my first fanfiction: I've been piecing it together in my head for years, but never wrote it down or anything. I know this is more like the movie, but there wasn't a subcategory for LOTR under movies, so I used book.

Disclaimer: I don't own LOTR.

The Black Rider

It was a little difficult to get used to since she'd rarely been in the presence of so many others shorter than she was. In no time at all though, the music was carrying her away and she was dancing among the merry Hobbits. It didn't take much longer for her to start laughing with them.

Towards the end of the evening, they were sitting at the tables, drinking and watching the fireworks. Laura, of course, didn't drink anything.

At some point, and older looking Hobbit got up in front of everyone and began making some sort of speech. It was Bilbo, who was celebrating his 111th birthday.

She was far too interested in the scenery around her to care what he was saying. She was watching the rest of the Hobbits. Eventually, her attention was focused back on Bilbo, just in time to see him disappear from sight. She didn't find this at all odd, since she was thoroughly convinced that she was in a dream.

The Hobbits were surprised. Everyone turned to each other, as shocked as their neighbor. Laura noticed that during this commotion, Gandalf had slipped away. But she was the only one who had noticed that.

Ignoring the chaos that was beginning to surround her, she wandered out of the party. With her hands in her pockets, she slowly walked up a hill to the winding paths that led her around the Shire. She sat back against a tree when she got to a nice little stone bridge. She looked out at the water, watching the shadow of the windmill in the distance turn. Unknowingly, she nodded off to sleep.

When she woke up, she nearly panicked. She was in the same place she'd fallen asleep in. She wasn't back home! She quickly sat up and looked around. She was definitely still in that place Gandalf had referred to as "The Shire." In no time at all, she was hurrying around to all of the different Hobbit holes, peeking in any of the windows to see if he was in any of them.

At last, she came across one which she found Frodo in. She burst in the door, scaring him. "Sorry," she apologized.

He quickly recovered himself. "It's all right. I was wondering where you'd gone off to."

"I have no idea how I got here. I thought it must've been some sort of dream, but I never woke up! And now I'm still here, I don't know what to do."

He looked at her curiously. "So you don't have anything to do with the strange things that have been going on?"

"Strange things? How am I supposed to determine what's strange and what's not? This whole thing is out of the ordinary!"

"Okay, well there's no need to panic," he said as he tried to calm her down.

"Oh, there is definitely a need to panic. Frodo.I don't know where I am. Where's Gandalf, he needs to straighten this whole thing out for me."

"Gandalf left in quite a hurry last night. So did my Uncle Bilbo, to the best of my knowledge. Gandalf said he needed to find answers."

"Answers?"

Frodo reached into his pocket and took out a small golden ring. "I found this last night, lying just beyond the door. It was only after I told Gandalf about the markings I saw on it he began acting oddly."

Laura knelt down and examined the ring. "Markings? What are you talking about, it's a ring."

"He put it into the fire, and when we took it out I saw Elvish writing on this ring," Frodo explained.

"Elvish? Is that a language?"

Frodo nodded. "It is the language of the Elves."

She bit her lip, not really believing this. "The Elves? Right."

She looked around, since she'd never been in a Hobbit house before. There were different maps strewn about on a table. She looked at some. They were maps of Middle-Earth. They had the different areas of The Shire, and the different countries, if that's what they could be called.

"Oh wow, my dream location even has its own maps," she said desolately. She sat down at the table.

"I do wish I could provide some comfort to you. Is there anything I could offer you to eat?" he asked.

"No, I'm not hungry. I think I'll go for a walk."

"Okay. Don't get lost!" he said cheerfully.

She scowled as she left and hopped over the fence. Stupid happy Hobbit. So she was taken from Earth? Peachy. She tried to think, but she had absolutely nothing. There had to be some reason she was there, but she couldn't think of a single one. What had she been doing to deserve this?

She thought all day, ending it by sitting by a small body of water which was beautiful. The land was so different than anything she was used to. The air was not polluted, and neither was the water. The "people" living in The Shire actually seemed to respect and know how to use the land they were living on. They weren't in the least bit wasteful. So she never did get bored when exploring what was around. One thing unique about the society was that they did have an awful lot of weedpipes and beer. It was all they drank! But it really wasn't anything she could call sinful, since they had an amazing amount of logic in their lifestyle. The little Hobbit children ran around all day, and the rest worked peacefully all day. The more she observed life around her, the less she felt the need to panic over not knowing where she was. And the more she became herself again.

That night she slept peacefully in a windmill owned by some Hobbit. During her sleep she dreamt of meeting a king in a dark room. When she woke up, she was surprised that she could remember his name, but she figured it was because it was so odd-sounding. His name was Aragorn.

She was wandering around in the woods, on a path just outside Hobbiton. Where was she? And how had she ended up there? Gandalf obviously knew a lot more about it than she did, since his reaction hadn't been shock or surprise at all. But now Gandalf was gone, and she only knew of Frodo. Plus, the other Hobbits just gave her strange looks. She couldn't really blame them. After all, she was the trespasser.

She looked up and saw four Hobbits tumbling down a steep hill. She stopped to watch them. They fell right at her feet as she looked down at them. One of them was Frodo, and he quickly stood up and brushed himself off. He looked up at her. "Still hanging around here, I see," he said smiling.

She nodded. "Did you see Gandalf yet?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact I spoke with him just this morning. We're to meet him at the Prancing Pony in the village of Bree."

"Like I know where that is," she said sarcastically.

"You can come with us." he started to say, but his attention shifted to the path. All of a sudden a chill went down Laura's spine.

"Frodo, do you feel that?" she asked.

He looked at the others. "Get off the road! Quick!" he yelled. Two of them were engrossed in a bunch of mushrooms, but the four of them hid just beneath the roots of a great tree. Laura was able to climb the tree and hide among the leaves so she'd remain unnoticed.