Part 2:

When asked later about it, Virginia M. Lewis would only say that the journey through the portal was 'bumpy', 'illuminating' and also 'too bright'. There was no memory or recollection of the experience, and the only thing she really remembered was falling.

*

Lord Elrond watched offhandedly as a girl fell with a small shriek through the air in front of him, to land with a dull 'thud' on the ground with the star symbol; Narrowly missing Legolas, who stood there white-faced as the girl lay slumped on her front, unmoving.

He accepted the polite applause from the spectators, who had bent round to get a better view of the girl. They couldn't quite see her properly, because her dark wet hair covered her face. She wore a thin white shirt and strange black breeches, and very strange footwear. She was also soaked with rain.

The girl groaned, lifting her head slightly off the floor, which seemed softer than she remembered it. Was granite always this hard? But she didn't have time to speculate, because, the portal was not finished transporting.

As if spitting out a leftover, the effervescent halo produced a large black case, which fell through the air to land on the girl's head with another dull thud.

It rolled away, emitting a hollow musical note as well as the sound of twanging strings. A few people found themselves moving away from it.

"Ow." Was all she said. There was a thick pause, and then another object came through the glowing vortex, in a sort of hiccough. It fell on top of her, and appeared to be a large animal skeleton made of metal. But this animal had metal wheels, which were spinning slowly as it bounced off her back. There was a scuffle as everyone tried to move back to his seats.

"Ow." The girl said again. Ginny lay for a few moments trying to think of a logical explanation for everything that had just happened in the last few minutes. Needless to say, she failed. The only conclusion she came up with was that she was in pain.

Taking the initiative nod from Elrond, Legolas moved forward nervously. The girl did not seem to be hurt, she did not fall from a great height, but she wasn't moving very much. He prodded her gently in the small of her back with a finger. The slumped figure groaned and rolled over.

"Girl?" he whispered quietly in the Common Tongue, "Are you awake?"

Ginny blinked. What did that man just say? It was not English. God he sounded so damn sexy. It stirred thrills in her stomach. She didn't understand a word of it though. It sounded like German, or Spanish. But it wasn't, she'd done German at school. What language was he talking in? For a moment she forgot where she was, then remembered she didn't KNOW where she was. She was definitely not at her school. She sat up stiffly.

The council watched her, holding their breaths, preparing themselves for beauty surpassing the Evenstar and Luthien.

When she shook back her hair to reveal her face, there were some screams.

Even Elrond was taken aback. The girl would have been quite nice-looking, if she wasn't wearing those glass eyes over her normal ones. Metal wire held little round panes of glass to her head. When the light reflected off it, it looked like she had bug's eyes.

"What!" Ginny yelled at them when she saw them shrink back, "What's wrong? Where am I? Who the hell are you creeps?!" she exclaimed at the people who looked as if they were at some party or film set. Man, these people, correction, these MEN were gorgeous! They must be film stars or something. So how did she get here?

"Excuse me?" she tried again, "I think I'm lost. Could you tell me how to get to Mansfield high School?"

Legolas stared at the girl for a moment. Then he leant over to Elrond.

"What did she say?"

"I have no idea." Was the reply.

Ginny was annoyed. Why were they whispering about her like that, and in another language too? All she wanted now was to get back.

"HEL-LO!? Can you tell me how to get back to my school? I was there a moment ago, and some weird tornado sucked me up like Dorothy, except it got the wrong Dorothy. It's just that, you know, this doesn't normally happen to me and I'm very sorry to intrude in whatever film you're making." She said as calmly as she could manage, doubting very much they would believe her.

Come to think of it, this did NOT look like a film set. Where were the cameras for instance? The furniture was genuinely antique and the trees that dotted this sunlit patio were natural growing.

So where was she?

"Gandalf, in what language is she talking in? It all sounds like nonsense to me." Elrond called to the old wizard across the patio, his eyes still fixed on the untidy girl in front of him. Ginny was alerted to find that not all the men here were gorgeous film stars. There was that old man in grey, and those little children in a corner.

"I have not heard it before," he replied, "But it does sound very familiar. I do believe it is our own language, Westron."

"Then why can we not understand a word she is saying?"

"That confuses me too."

"But I thought the Star would be able to understand our language," cried Glorfindel in an offended manner, "It says in the book that she can even speak Elven tongues, as well as being able to communicate with animals!"

"Perhaps I could use a language charm," Gandalf said thoughtfully, "It would not hurt, then at least we would know what obscenities she is currently mouthing at us."

"I think that is the best way." Agreed Glorfindel.

Ginny had taken to using all the swear words she knew, but their reaction was always the same: blank indifference. They seemed to be expecting her here, and expecting her to do something, yet fear and apprehension were in their faces. Ginny wouldn't have been surprised if they had intentionally brought her here, which they probably did.

The old man in grey walked over to her, muttered some words slowly in his own language, as if she could understand a word of what he was saying. Then he brought out his stick, no, not a stick. Ginny, on seeing him immediately thought of Albus Dumbledore, though Dumbledore used a wand.

It was a wooden staff. He touched her forehead briefly with the end and muttered some more meaningless words and then:

"Can you understand me, girl?" the old man said, quite clearly and slowly, in a perfect British accent.

"YOU CAN SPEAK ENGLISH!!" she yelled at the man, making her head hurt a lot more, since she had banged it against the floor, "WHO THE FREAKIN' HELL ARE YOU FREAKS?! WHERE THE HELL AM I?"

The man raised a hand.

"Calm down, girl." He snapped, trying not to look at the glass windows that rested on her nose, "I have used magic so now we can understand each other's tongue. I am Gandalf the Grey and this is the Council of Elrond. We summoned you here in order to seek your aid in our plight against the Dark Lord."

"Mm hm." Said Ginny, nodding as if he had just said ' bananas grow on trees.' Her head was swivelling around to look at the scenery, bending down as if to peek under the chairs. Gandalf followed her behaviour curiously, watching her as she peered around bushes and snooped under the trees.

"Ok," she said after a while, "It's been very funny so far, and I don't have a clue how you managed to pull it all off, but the game is up now, so stop. Now, where are the hidden cameras?"

"Camm-raaz?" this girl sure talked funny.

"Oh come on! It's not funny anymore! I was really scared back there! I mean, I love Tolkien, and this is a very good Rivendell, but I am really late for school, and I'll get another detention, which I can't afford. So can you just show we the way out, and I'll collect the prize another day. You can send it to me in the post."

From the look on his face, Ginny surmised that 'Gandalf' had understood less than a half of what she had just said.

"Lemme out, okay?" she said, exasperated.

"But we need you to save Middle Earth!" Elrond cried out.

"THAT'S NOT FUNNY!" she yelled again, "God, are you retards? I just want to get back to school. I see you're all Tolkienists, and I'm very glad to meet you, because I enjoy Tolkien stuff myself, but you couldn't have pulled a prank at a worse time. Most shows have to decency to do it after school time. And you are?"

"Lord Elrond Peredhil," said Elrond.

"Pleasure." Ginny replied pleasantly, devoid of anything else to say. He might as well have been called Ron Weasley.

"Listen to me, girl," Gandalf cried, his patience waning "The fate of Middle Earth may lie in your hands. Do not joke! Accept your destiny! We need you to join the Fellowship!"

"I think you're taking this a bit too far you know," Ginny cowered, moving back. She had obviously landed in a crowd of madmen, gorgeous, yes, but madmen. They were actually acting out the Fellowship! And they wanted her to join! What happened to Naturally Nine?

And then she caught sight of the child, a little curly-haired blue-eyed boy, sitting down and looking wistfully at her. He was not a child.

"H-hobbit?" she asked quavering at Frodo, who watched with great curiosity. He stepped forward.

"Lady, I am Frodo Baggins of the Shire, and now Ringbearer. I plead you to aid us in our Quest. You are strange and . . . fair . . . and possess many powers beyond us. You can guarantee our success!"

Ginny was in shock. Prosthetic feet, ears or even noses could not accomplish this. This was a hobbit. There was no doubt about it. He was pure hobbit. She bent down and poked his feet. They were genuine, and very dirty. This was Frodo Baggins. This was Frodo Baggins, the hobbit.

She gave a sound something like a shriek crossed with a whimper, bred with something that sounded like 'nhuhnrrr'. She tripped and fell backward onto the ground, slumped in a heap on the floor.

"I think she's fainted Gandalf." Said Frodo wistfully.

"It's probably the shock. I'm sure as soon as she accepts it, she will come to her senses, and finally we can get somewhere."

Glorfindel meanwhile, was rummaging through the pages of the green book, as if completely oblivious to the unconscious girl lying on the ground. He was frowning at the diagrams on the page.

A few elves came forward and tried to pick her up and prop her on some chairs, but she gave a snort and sat up again.

"Argh, I can never faint. It's too hard." She said to no one in particular, and then looking at her surroundings said, "Oh crap."

"Yes?"

"I think I get it now."

"You do?"

"Yes. I'm having a dream. I don't think it's a bad dream, yet, but I would like to see Lothlorien before I go. I've always loved trees. Am I an elf?"

Elrond raised an eyebrow at Gandalf, who shrugged, but did not say anything.

Legolas, who had built up his courage, walked over to the girl and pulled her glasses off her face, and inspected the metal frames and tried them on (upside down) himself. He gave a small cry and took them off very quickly, rubbing his eyes afterwards.

"What sorcery is this?"

"Yeah, they are rather strong, but they help me see, see? I can't do much without them. Are you an elf?" Then she saw his ears. Delicate pale leaf- shaped ears with a point at the tip. She whimpered a little. This was completely real. She was really in Middle Earth. In that case, she thought to herself, I might as well enjoy myself while I can.

Glorfindel had stepped forward.

"Are you aware of your Destiny?" he said to her, as if interrogating her.

"What Destiny?"

"Your Destiny to come here?"

"I have a Destiny?! Damn, are you handsome."

"Do you have any magical powers?" he continued, ignoring her remark.

"N-no. not that I'm aware of." She said nervously.

"Mm hm. And you do have any skill with weapons, or any fighting?"

"Well, I had one session of karate once, but that was it. I can't fight really; it's all due to poor reflexes. I can't really fight, unless it's kicking boys where it hurts. Um . . . no."

Glorfindel sighed sadly to himself, but continued in his formal fashion.

"Can you talk to animals?"

"Nope. Why do you ask?"

The Elven lord straightened up to face Elrond.

"The portal has indeed worked . . ." he said, and there was a slight cheer, " . . . but there is a small but important problem. This is not the destined girl. I have no idea who she is, but I think she is merely a commoner, a passer-by. The real Avaniel is still back in her own world, her destiny now unfulfilled. This girl can hardly be called beautiful, has no powers, cannot fight and has no particular strengths of use."

"WHAT?!" Ginny cried, "So you brought me here on purpose!"

"Not you." He said without looking at her.

"Fine, fine. So I'm just an average girl, not Ms. Mary-Sue. But I'M the one who gets sent to Middle Earth. ME! And suddenly, you're all so disappointed that I don't have magical powers or the beauty of the Evenstar. Why didn't you just bring lil' miss perfect Susie?!"

"We were intending to, but there was an accident."

"Oh," She said sadly, "So I'm completely useless? Well let me tell you this, Mr. Glorfindel, I know more about you than you think! I've read the Hobbit, Lord of the Rings AND this Silmarillion, and I'm the one who knows exactly what will happen to Middle Earth. I know that with me or without me, you will succeed! There was no need to bring me here! Your quest will be successful, goddamnit, just not exactly in the way you think! You don't need me! There was no point in bringing me here! So get on with your life and send me back!"

Glorfindel looked sheepish.

"I'm afraid we can't."

"I'm sorry?"

"There is no spell for sending you back."

"Then use the one you did to get me here."

"It will not work the other way."

"How do you know?"

"It's rather like a hollow reed. You can suck through one end and water and will flow only one way."

"Couldn't you just blow the other way?" she muttered, knowing in her heart it was hopeless. She knew a Mary-Sue when she saw one. She had read enough of them already.

"So now I'm stuck here?" Her voice cracked.

There was a pause.

"Yes."

"Oh." She sank down on a vacant chair. This had been a bad day.

"I am grievously sorry."

"Hmm. And this is the real Middle Earth, not just a dream, I take it."

"My utmost apologies . . ."

"Yeah, tell me one thing though, Glorfindel."

"Anything."

"Which one is Legolas, son of Thranduil?"

"I am," Said Legolas, stepping forward.

"You're blond," she said, as if in amazement. He was blond, not blond- blond; it was a sort of nutty blond colour.

"I am not exactly fair haired like Lord Glorfindel, but my hair is fairer than most." He said, his eyes fixed on her, as if seeing if she would cry.

"And your father was blond."

"My father is golden-haired, yes, but not blond. My mother was though."

"That explains how Vanyarin blood got into the house of Oropher."

Legolas was stunned.

"How do you know all this? I thought you were not the Star!"

"Hey, like I've said, I've read the Silmarillion as well as Lord of the Rings, which are fictional books with all of you in." she said almost defiantly, only wishing it were true.

"We are in a fictional book?"

"Either that, or somehow, J.R.R Tolkien came to this world long ago, wrote down all that he had seen and learnt, came back and published it as a fictional book and now I have come to the world, and the story is repeating itself. Which I think means I can't tell you what happens next or it'll upset the flow of time." All this was spoken with rattlesnake speed.

She received many black stares. Normally, she would have been glad if someone gave her the opportunity to come to Middle Earth. To live life rustically, like in the olden days where there was no industry and the air was clear! But now, it became apparent to her just what Lord of the Rings was all about. War, doom, and Death. She couldn't face that.

"Ah, what the hell. Boromir, whoever you are, don't join the Fellowship or you'll die at Rauros!" she yelled.