I am having so much fun writing down this story that I don't even care that I'm sick! No sleep for me! Well, maybe some sleep now that I've posted this chapter. I hope everyone enjoys it!

Disclaimer: I'm not making money! None of it is mine, except for Arianna and Isabella!

"You're cleaning my room for a whole year now. And washing my clothes."

Isabella just groaned and nodded.

"Where the heck are we?"

She couldn't see the castle anywhere. Normally, you could see at least one of the towers rising towards the sky. Also…

"It's not evening anymore."

"What?" replied Isabella.

"It's not evening anymore. It was just dinner time and now it looks more like mid-morning."

Isabella just looked at her. "So… maybe we were transported to a different time as well as a different area?"

"We shouldn't have been transported anywhere! What the heck are we going to do? We don't even know what direction the castle is to start walking back!" Arianna was freaking out just a tad at this point. She hated not knowing where she was and not being able to fix it.

"We have our wands, what about the 'four point' spell?" Isabella grabbed for her wand that she kept tucked up in her robe sleeve and held it flat out in her hand. "Point me."

The wand started spinning, as if it couldn't make up its mind. After a minute of just watching it spin around, Arianna sat down in a huff and put her head on her knees.

"We're either out of magical range of the castle, or it doesn't exist anymore. Brilliant."

"Well, there's only one thing left to do then."

"And what would that be?"

"We'll follow that dirt road over there and find some people to ask directions on how to get back to Hogwarts."

Looking up, Arianna realized that there was indeed a road to their left. She hadn't noticed it because she was so busy making sure Isabella was alright. It was so exhausting being the older of the two. They had practically grown up together, with Isabella spending close to every day and night at Arianna's house. Isabella's home life hadn't been the best and Arianna didn't mind sharing her room with her best friend. Granted, basically living together made them act more like sisters than best friends, one getting annoyed with the other, and often times ending up in arguments. They never lasted longer than a few hours though, with both girls apologizing and giggling over how silly they acted.

"Alright" Arianna sighed, standing up. "Let's go follow the road."

They had been walking for a couple hours. Both girls were tired, hungry, thirsty, and covered in dust. Arianna's jeans were dusty from the knee down and her comfortable study shirt was becoming damp with sweat. Isabella's Hogwarts uniform was a complete wreck. Her once white socks now looked a light brown and her black shoes had scuff marks. Her Gryffindor tie was undone and just hanging around her neck, while her robes were hanging through the strap of Arianna's shoulder bag.

"It's the weekend you know" Arianna said, glancing at Isabella. "How come you were wearing your uniform? You always complain about it."

A grin spread on Isabella's face. "Well, a lot of people wear their Hogwarts uniforms on the weekends… so it's easier to blend in when causing trouble. No one can say 'They were wearing a purple collared shirt with a bright green pair of pants'. All the details they've got now are a Hogwarts robe and white socks." Arianna nodded, knowing that Isabella would have been recognized very easily, seeing how she was probably the only one in the world to own pair of bright green pants, let alone pair them with a purple shirt.

"That's quite clever" a chuckling voice said from behind them, "but what's a Hogwarts robe?"

Both girls whipped around, wands in hand. Before them stood an old man leaning casually on a walking stick, which looked like a twisted mass of thick vines all intertwined together. He was dressed all in grey, with a long grey beard, grey hair, and a tall grey hat. Arianna wondered if there was a specific reason for all the grey, or if he was just unable to match clothing colors and thus eliminated the problem altogether.

"Who are you," Isabella demanded "and how long have you been following us?"

"Easy child, I mean you no harm."

"Then why are you following us?" Arianna chimed in, gripping her wand tighter.

"I am not following you, I am following the road. You just happened to be in front of me and walking slower than I, which caused me to become directly behind you. Therefore, I would appreciate it if you would stop looking like you would love nothing more than to poke my eyes out with your sticks" the strange man stated, looking pointedly at Isabella's out stretched wand.

"Oh. Well, we just found them and figured that we would rather get them dirty than any of our other weapons." Arianna looked at Isabella, hoping she caught her bluff and wouldn't say anything. She didn't want the man to think that they were only defending themselves with what he considered to be twigs or that they could do magic. For some reason, announcing that they could do magic just didn't seem like a very bright idea. Thankfully, Isabella agreed because she smiled sheepishly at the man and said "I thought it had looked pretty and wanted to keep it."

"That is quite understandable my dear. As for your first question, my name is Gandalf the Grey and I am travelling to the Shire, which is where this road ends. However, you two do not look like hobbits, nor do you dress like you are from any place that I have been to."

"Oh? And how many places have you been to?" Isabella's temper was showing and Arianna gave her a look to try and calm her down.

"Why, almost all of them in Middle Earth! Therefore, I find it safe to assume that you are not from any place contained within this land."

"Well, we all know what assuming does. Makes an…ow!" Arianna had stomped on Isabella's foot to keep her from finishing that sentence. She wasn't sure if this Gandalf character knew what "ass" meant and she didn't feel like finding out. She was also unsure if this man was messing with them and she definitely didn't know what a "hobbit" was. Perhaps it was a type of foreign hobo? Being in a foreign country, perhaps Transylvania, could explain why the 'four point' spell was unable to work. Also, the residents here could refer to the country as "Middle Earth" because of it's central-ish location in the European continent. Yes, that seemed to make sense.

She steadfastly ignored the fact that the man had an English accent and could pronounce his "w"'s without any effort.

"You are correct sir, we are not from around here. And we just need some directions to get back. Hogwarts is our home and I'm afraid we miss it greatly. Would you happen to know the way?" She decided that being polite and offering up a little bit of information was the best option in this situation.

"Hogwarts you say? I'm afraid I have never heard of it. I have some friends that might have though; they have been alive for much longer than I and are wise to the ways of the world. I could take you to them, if you would like."

"And this is how we end up dead. Or eaten." muttered Isabella before being elbowed hard in the ribs by Arianna.

"That would be wonderful, thank you."

"Of course, with us travelling together now and you knowing my name, may I at least know what you two refer to yourselves as?" Gandalf asked, looking expectantly between the two girls.

"My name is Arianna and this is Isabella."

"Good, good. A pleasure to meet you Arianna, and you Isabella."

They followed Gandalf, or "Grey-Grey" as Isabella had taken to calling him when she thought he wasn't listening, as he continued down the road in the same direction they had headed all day.

"We shall first be stopping by the house, actually more like the hill, of a Mr. Bilbo Baggins. There we shall get some food, rest, and possibly some entertainment. Come now, don't dawdle. It's still an hour or two away." Both girls groaned, albeit quietly; they had already been walking longer than either was used to.

Evening was soon falling and Arianna watched the sunset; the crimson, pink and purple sky making her feel strangely happy and content, knowing that if nothing else, sunsets were the same. With the evening sights came another sight: little hills, a whole slew of them, with little windows and doors. There weren't many people about and those that were looked no bigger than children. Glancing down, Arianna noticed that they wore no shoes and had large, hairy feet. Catching up with Gandalf, she whispered to him, asking who and what the people were. Chuckling, he replied that they were Hobbits, also known as Halflings.

"But they don't look like hobos. I thought they were supposed to look like hobos!"

"Pray tell, what exactly is a 'hobo'"

"It's… well… a impolite term referring to a person without a home. Mostly, they just wander around and live where ever. And can be considered to be quite dirty." Arianna explained, embarrassed.

"Then no, hobbits are not these 'hobos' and I would strongly suggest that you not mention any of that to Mr. Baggins. He would be most offended."

Nodding in an attempt to show that she understood, Arianna slowed down and waited for Isabella to catch up with her. Explaining everything Gandalf had just told her, including the friendly advice to not call the hobbits 'hobos', Arianna made sure that Isabella was handling everything alright. She seemed okay, and it wasn't until they reached Bilbo Baggins' front door that she discovered just how well her friend was handling the situation.

Crowded in front of a small green round door was a group of about a half dozen…well… Arianna wasn't sure what they were. Upon asking Gandalf (while remaining in earshot of Isabella so she could hear his answer too) just who these short and bearded men were, she heard Isabella say quite loudly "It's obvious, isn't it?" Everyone turned to look at her, including all of the "mystery men" as Arianna took to calling them, a nervous giggle in her head.

"They're hairy hobbits with shoes!"

Great, thought Arianna while taking in the offended looks on the males faces, they're all going to beat us, hobbits or not.

Before any of them could verbally protest Isabella's statement however, the hobbit's door opened, and in tumbled the "hairy hobbits". Arianna could only assume that the tiny man standing there holding the door open, a look of surprise on his small face, was Bilbo Baggins.

Hopefully I didn't offend anyone with my use of the term "hobo". I figured that Arianna would recognize it as slang, and therefore assume that "hobbit" was another term along the lines of "hobo". Wishful thinking perhaps, but I feel like in this sort of situation, everyone would be trying to make as many connections as possible, in order to try and figure out what was going on.

Also, I hope everyone likes my portrayal of Gandalf! Let me know if you think I did a good job or if I need to tweak how I write him a little bit.

Up next: The girls officially meet Bilbo, learn that the "hairy hobbits" are actually dwarves, and meet a grumpy Thorin who is unimpressed by the "hairy hobbit" description. Isabella says "oops!"