Disclaimer: I don't own LotRs, it's characters, plot, etc. My friend owns his OC Melinda but I own my OC Clara. I also own anything added that you don't recognize.

I'm changing a lot from what me and my friend originally had since it's just me writing this now.

The actual lord of the rings part starts chapter 3 (kinda end of chap 2) in case anyone was wondering. Also telling you now Melinda doesn't get sent to Middle Earth, Since that's my friend's OC I'm not comfortable writing her for that long (plus he had a different idea when he did want to write it)

Guest review and response:

From: Sortinghat (Guest)

Sortinghat:Why so intent going thru all thiscrap just to get to ME since it will have no real impact rest of the story. you could've hasd it just be her nearby park,

Response:

Because this was once co-written and I didn't wanna just delete what my friend added/ their character. Plus the story originally had Melinda joining Clara in M.E. so that's why there's so much of her. Also it shows Clara as a person/helps you learn about her/how she acts.

Melinda stared with wide eyes out the window as they approached the estate.

"I don't know why you're surprised." Clara muttered. "They picked us up in a limo." The black limo pulled up to a massive, over-exaggerated gate. Melinda raised her eyebrows and smirked as the gates opened.

"Well, this is interesting." She snickered as they pulled into the driveway which was made of white pebbles and on each side of the driveway, evenly placed trees. The driveway way was rather long and at the end of it was a large marble fountain where the driveway split to go around it. Then, there it was, the 'little house' that Melinda had pictured. To put it simply it was a castle, a renaissance chateau.

There were over 50 windows on the front of the building alone. There were many towers and the main part of the castle had three floors with an extra floor for each tower. It was white with grey roofing and gold trim. An even blanket of snow covered the lawn and the hedges were neatly trimmed despite being half covered in snow. Melinda let out a scream and ran out of the parked limo.

"Sweet Mary, mother of- … this is so….ahhhhh!" She screamed running into the castle as Clara shook her head. Her metallic silver heels clicked on the marble tile that led into the building. She opened one of the two overly sized, elaborate doors to go in. She stopped running and walked into the foyer. "Sweet Mary…"

"Excuse me." A voice called from a nearby door. Melinda turned to that direction to see a beautiful man. He was tall, tan and had the perfect amount of stubble.

"Huh..." She gave him a once-over. He was wiping a decorative dish off with a towel and carefully set it down on a nearby end table that was against the wall and walked over to her, wiping his hands on his trousers.

"I'm Hunter, and um welcome." He said with a half smile holding out his hand. She walked elegantly to him and shook his hand. "Would you like a tour, Miss Clara?"

"Oh, I'm not Clara. My name's Melinda." She said with a smile.

"Ah, yes, Ramsey mentioned she had an adoptive sister." Hunter said with a slight frown. "We didn't know you would be joining Miss Clara."

"Well, I am." She said. "So, about that tour?"

"Ah, well…" Hunter glanced outside. "I'm supposed to give Miss Clara the tour." Melinda frowned.

"She can find her own way around." She said waving a hand. "She likes to explore."

"I'm sorry, I have my orders." Hunter said with an apologetic smile. Melinda mentally frowned then had an idea.

"Look, uh to be honest, Clara gets really nervous around attractive men." Melinda said, smiling as Hunter started to grin slightly. "And new places make her a bit jumpy. I think it's best she explore at her own pace." She said. "Trust me, I know my sister." She said putting her hand on her chest with a sweet smile.

"Well, if you say so then."

"So you can give me a tour and later I can show her anything she missed."

"Alright." Hunter said with a smile. Melinda took his arm and smiled up at him.

"Lead the way." She said.

...

Clara climbed out of the limo, much quieter than her sister. As she did she pulled down the dark green hood of her jacket, letting her light brown hair flow down her back. She stared at the tremendous castle before her; her eyebrows were as high as they could go and her jaw hung open slightly.

"Damn." She breathed. The driver got out of the car and went to get the girl's bags out of the back. Clara blinked before running in after her sister. Her sneakers squeaked as she came to a sudden stop inside. The sound echoed off the walls of the large foyer. She looked around and realized her sister was nowhere in sight. "Mel?" She called. "Goddamn it Mel…" She said with a sigh. Clara looked around before walking up one of the large stairs on the sides of the room.

"How long have you been a servant here, Henry?" Melinda asked, deliberately getting his name wrong, as the two walked at a slow pace.

"Uh it's Hunter and since I was young. Also, I prefer the term butler." He said trying not laugh. They both walked slowly down a hallway which had white tiled flooring and pale-yellow coloured walls. Melinda's arm was still around his as her other hand held her clutch. The only sound was their talking and her heels.

"And how many people work here, to be exact?" Melinda asked, out of genuine curiosity.

"About 30."

"About isn't very exact." Melinda chuckled.

"Miss Clara's grandmother, as you've probably guessed, was a very wealthy woman." Hunter said.

"Oh, I can only imagine." Melinda said with a slight laugh.

"She always hired a lot of people to help them. If they were on the streets she offered them a place in the staff quarters." Hunter explained. Melinda nodded.

"Do you know anything about the family? Why they abandoned Clara?"

"Ah… well… um…" Hunter glanced up before he cleared his throat. "I'm not at liberty to say." Melinda frowned and looked up to where he had. Overhead on a balcony, Ramsey, the oldest butler, was looking down at them as they passed. With a huff, he turned around and disappearing into a dark room.

Clara walked through a long wooden floored hallway. The high pale-yellow coloured walls had many paintings and old fashioned lantern-like lights. The windows, which had silky drapes that matched the walls, filled the hall with light. Clara looked out one of the windows; the landscape was so beautiful and breathtaking, she could see on for miles. She continued walking down another hall before she decided to finally enter one of the rooms. She turned the golden handle and found the door to be unlocked. She slowly peeked her head inside before she entered the room.

"Oh Mel would love this." She said quietly with a small smile. Inside the room were many of those old fashioned mannequins with just the upper half of the body and wire on the bottom to help dresses keep shape. On them were many elegant gowns and dresses, along with matching shoes on the floor beside them. There was a desk in the corner with an assortment of threads next to a sewing machine and a stack of fabrics on the floor next to the desk.

Clara walked deeper into the room and went up to a black gown. It reached the floor and the sleeves stopped at the elbows but had navy draping sleeves with a bit of black lace at the top. Clara gently touched the sleeves and let the fabric slip from her hand as she heard the door open behind her. She turned around to see Melinda and Hunter in the doorway.

"Oh." Melinda said a bit startled by her sister. "Clara this is Hunter, he's a butler." She said with a serious tone.

"Oh, hello." Clara said walking over with a polite smile. Melinda gave Clara the evil eye - making sure Clara knew that she had called dibs - to which Clara mentally rolled her eyes.

"Miss Clara." Hunter said with a bow that made Melinda frown. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Um, you too?" Clara looked at Melinda who shrugged.

"I see you found the gown room." Hunter said. "Your grandmother made all of these." He said with a smile. Next to him, Melinda's eyes were wide and her mouth was open. She pushed past them both and began to touch all of the gowns. One caught her eye in particular. Clara had a knowing smile on her face. Melinda ran her hands over the soft fabric. The gown was floor-length and was pale lavender and had a darker lavender bottom. Around the waist was a salmon coloured wrap. Hunter turned to Clara.

"Your bags have been taken to your room. Melinda's have been taken to a nearby guest room."

"My room?" Clara asked.

"Yes." Hunter nodded. "Mistress Agatha had a room prepared for you… years ago." He said.

"What?" Clara asked with a frown. Melinda, who was still looking at dresses, also frowned as she started to pay attention to their conversation.

"She wished for you to come live with her when you turned 18 but… she had been very ill the past few years. She was bedridden." He said with a frown. "We thought she was getting better… then…" he looked down at the floor. "My apologies." He said as he composed himself. "She was like a mother to me." he admitted.

"I'm sorry." Clara said. Hunter cleared his throat.

"If you'll excuse me, I must prepare lunch." He said with a bow of his head. "Your room is down the hall, fourth door to the right." He said before quickly leaving the room. Melinda frowned and crossed her arms.

"Didn't tell me where my room is." She said with a frown.

"We'll find it." Clara said. "Come on, let's get you out of this room before you spend the rest of the day trying them all on." Clara said grabbing her sister's hand.

"But they're so pretty." Melinda whined as she reached back for them while her sister dragged her out of the room.

…

Clara helped Melinda find the room she'd be staying in, they searched every room until they found her bags. Melinda squealed and ran to her bedroom; the room was huge. It was a green color and had a white marble fireplace. The floors were a dark cherry wood and had several white carpets spread out. The bed was a queen sized with white bedding and a matching canopy. She walked in slowly, throwing her clutch onto a Victorian styled, claw footed, couch.

"This is going to be fun." She said to herself before turning to grin at her sister.

"Well, I'll see you at lunch. I'm going to unpack." Clara said before she closed Melinda's door and headed back to her room.

…

Clara walked down the hall and entered her room. The room was bigger than Melinda's with a blue and white theme. There was one massive white, round rug in the center of the room over wood flooring. On it was a light blue couch and the bottom half of her king sized bed which had an unnecessary amount of small pillows on it. There were a set of white doors leading out to a large balcony. A similar fireplace to Melinda's on one wall with a few framed pictures and fresh flowers in the middle. There was a door beside the fireplace that lead to an en suite bathroom.

Clara walked up to the fireplace and looked at the pictures; the first was of a baby, her green eyes matched Clara's. The next picture was in black and white and was of her grandmother and her grandfather on a beach at their wedding. The third and last one was of a couple. The woman had long dark hair up in a bun and sparkling green eyes, around her neck was a locket. Clara reached up to touch her own. The man, who was tall and had blond hair and piercing blue eyes, stood behind the woman with his arms around her, his hands over the woman's hand that rested on her large belly. The two were smiling, they looked very happy. Clara walked away from the fireplace to the balcony doors and walked out. A breeze blew her hair back and she let out a breath as she closed her eyes. A moment later, Melinda knocked on her door and opened it without waiting for a response.

"Switch rooms with me." Melinda said as Clara walked back inside.

"Hello to you to." Clara muttered. "Why do you want to switch rooms?"

"You have a balcony."

"So?"

"I want a balcony." Melinda said as if it were obvious. Clara rolled her eyes.

"I'm not switching rooms with you. My grandmother had this one made for me."

"So?" Melinda said with a frown as she put her hands on her hips.

"So, she would have wanted me in here. I mean look at this place."

"I know; it's better than mine."

"No, I mean look." Clara slid her finger over the marble of the fireplace. "There's not a speck of dust anywhere. She must have had it cleaned everyday even though no one was ever in here. I mean, there are even fresh flowers in here."

"I don't have flowers in my room." Melinda muttered with a frown. "Fine, keep the room. I'll see you at lunch." She huffed before leaving the room. Clara turned back to the fireplace and looked at the picture of her parents.

…

"Miss Clara." Hunter said as he knocked on her door. She opened it and he bowed his head. "Lunch is ready."

"Hunter, please just call me Clara." She said. Hunter blinked.

"But-"

"Please?"

"As you wish… Clara." He said with a smile. Clara smiled back. "I'll fetch Melinda. If you make your way to the main entrance and go through the right door the dining hall is on your left." Clara nodded.

"Thank you, Hunter." She said. Hunter bowed his head again and turned to leave. "Um." He stopped and turned back to her.

"Yes?"

"I don't mean to sound rude or…" she let out a sigh. "or greedy but when is the reading of the will?"

"Ah, tomorrow after breakfast."

"And, who else will be there?"

"To my knowledge those in attendance will be your Grandmother's son, your uncle Thomas, his ten-year-old son Damien, your second cousin Leah and yourself."

"Only the four of us? What about…?" Clara trailed off. Hunter frowned.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you, your… your birth-mother passed away sixteen years ago and her husband…well… we don't know where he is."

"Oh…" Clara looked down at her feet. "But… he's alive?"

"I… I'm sorry; I do not know. The last I saw of him… I was very young and he and your mother left, she was still pregnant with you."

"How old were you?" Clara asked out of curiosity.

"I was seven." He said.

"Do you know why…?"

"I don't." he said, knowing her question. "I'm sorry." Clara nodded. "But, they loved you very much. They wanted to have you."

"Thank you." Clara said in a small voice. "I'll see you at lunch."

"Oh, I won't be joining you, it wouldn't be proper."

"Well, what if I asked you? I'm sure Melinda would want you to join us." Clara said. Hunter chuckled.

"Oh I'm sure she would, and I would love to but I'm afraid I cannot. But thank you, Clara."

"Okay. I'll see you later then." Hunter nodded before turning and going down the hall. Clara subconsciously reached up and touched her necklace; she felt a small jolt go through her fingers and jumped as she looked down at it.

That night, after dinner, one of the house maids drew Clara a bath – even when she insisted that she could do it herself, the maid insisted that it was her job – and set out a nightgown for her on her bed. The maid had also lit a scented candle after saying that Clara looked tense.

"If you need anything just ring this bell." The maid said as she gestured to a small cord that hung on the wall.

"Thank you very much, Isabel." Clara said with a smile.

"You're very welcome, Miss Clara." Isabel said returning the smile.

"Could you turn off the lights?" Clara asked.

"You want to bathe in the dark? You don't want to fall asleep in the bath, now do you?"

"No, it just find it easier to relax in the dark." Clara said. "And I have my music to keep me awake." She added as she held up her iPod with its mini portable speaker.

"In that case, let me light some more candles for you."

"That's okay, I can do it."

"It's my job, Miss." Isabel said.

"I know… I'm just really not used to this." Clara said. Isabel smiled.

"That's okay, deary, I am. It's not as bad as you think, especially when it's for someone as sweet as you." She said. Clara smiled.

"A bit of a warning if you have to deal with Mel then." Clara said with a sheepish smile.

"Oh don't worry about that. I've dealt with Mister Thomas's son; pretty sure I can handle anything." Isabel said with a small laugh. "Oh do excuse me, I shouldn't speak ill of the boy."

"I've yet to meet either of them." Clara said with a small shrug.

"Well, I hope that boy is nicer to family." Isabel said quietly.

…

As Clara soaked in the tub she let her head rest back against a folded towel and stared up at the ceiling as she listened to her music. She let her eyes close and didn't see her locket's gem start to glow faintly for a brief moment. A second later her eyes snapped open when she heard a loud bang.

"Jeez!" She sat up with a gasp and turned to the window that had blown open and banged against the wall. She was about to get out to close it when she realized her iPod had stopped playing. The candles had blown out and the water was suddenly cold. She knew she hadn't fallen asleep because there was still smoke coming from the wicks. She couldn't figure out how the water had gone from warm and comfortable to cold and numbing in less than a few moments. She stood and grabbed a robe before she pulled it on. Isabel had placed it over the back of the chair beside the tub where Clara's iPod sat. Clara went to the window to close and latch it. She happened to glance out to the woods thought she saw something. She did a double take and stared at the woods. When she saw nothing she went to pick up her iPod, it had paused itself. "That's weird." She said with a frown. She hit play and the song continued where it left off, she hit pause again and put it down. She felt the water again and it was ice cold."The hell?" she shook the water off her hand and wiped it on her robe. "Guess I'm not finishing my bath." She looked at the cord on the wall and contemplated calling for Isabel to draw another, but didn't want to bother the woman. She didn't have an explanation for the water turning cold anyways. Clara grabbed a towel and wrapped up her hair before returning to her room to get ready for bed.

So I looked up genetics and such and there is a chance that a blond father and a brown haired mother could have a brown haired child. There's actually 50% chance of Brown hair, 34% Blond and 16% Strawberry Blond. And with the eyes there's 23% chance green and 77% blue even though there's more of a change of blue there's still a chance of green.

I hope you guys are enjoying this so far ^_^ let me know what you think.