A/N: I do enjoy girl-falls-into-Middle Earth stories, and those that end up on the quest too, well written ones anyway, but most are horribly butchered or rely too heavily on the movies for my taste. And many use the same cliches that drive me nuts. Since I couldn't find one to suit my tastes I thought why not try and write one?

Special thanks: to Kaladelia Undomiel for beta-reading this chapter and story! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own The Hobbit, I only borrow ideas from it for fun and the amusement of others. May JRRT forgive me.

"Into the woods,

It's time to go,

I hate to leave,

I have to, though.

Into the woods-

It's time, and so

I must begin my journey."

"Into the woods

And down the dell,

The path is straight,

I know it well.

Into the woods,

And who can tell

What's waiting on the journey?"

-Stephen Sondheim, Into the Woods

Chapter One: Into the Woods

Gandalf blew another ring of smoke out from his pipe and watched it float through the air. It twisted and wobbled and soon lost its' form. It dissipated from sight in the larger cloud of smoke lingering in the beams of the tavern. A tankard of ale was untouched by his elbow, and a plate of half-eaten food was pushed to the side. He brooded over them; his great wiry eyebrows furrowed as he muttered to himself and took another draw on his pipe. The tavern wenches and other folk gave his table a wide berth, with their eyes wary and suspicious, which he was thankful for. He was in no mood to suffer fools.

He was brooding over a multitude of things; not least among them was the proposed undertaking to liberate Erebor from a fire-breathing dragon. Not long ago he had met Thorin Oakenshield as the dwarf traveled to find companions to follow him to Erebor. Gandalf doubted it would come to much fruition. Erebor wasn't going to be easy to re-take, which is why he had counseled against an army and for a smaller company; one that could slip in easily and quietly reclaim the jewel that would give him the political means to call upon more of his kin for aid.

He had given his word to find the last two members of the company. He knew who the first member of the company was to be, even if the person did not know yet. His talk with Holman Greenhand about Belladonna Took's son had easily reassured him of the Hobbit's suitability. A little nudge and he'd be out the door. However, he still had to locate the other.

They would have need of a burglar to rob the Arkenstone from the mountain and from underneath the dragon's nose. He suspected, despite all claims, that the dragon was alive and well. It would do not to forget the desolation of Smaug. A Hobbit was ideal for that job. He was rather fond of the small, shy folk, and knew how underestimated they were by all the other races of Middle Earth.

As for the second member, he had hoped to engage a healer or someone with some talent for simple magic, but all those he once knew were nowhere to be found, having quietly faded from myth and legend. His second thought was for someone with a touch of foresight, but no elf would be welcome among the dwarves and he would be hard pressed to find another to be trusted among men at this late date. The meeting was just two weeks hence.

Time was growing short, and there were many other things that troubled him, which he needed to look in to. Too many had dismissed the growing darkness to the north and east of where he sat in Bree. He also feared for the line of Durin, there were too many coincidences stacking up for him to ignore. Whether Thorin's kin were to blame, or a darker power, he knew not. However he did not wish to see the end of the line of Durin. He watched the embers in the pipe glow as he set it down to the side for a drink of ale.

There was one thing he might do. Though there was no guarantee it would work. He did not wish to draw too much attention to his actions, though he knew the other members of the council would be busy with their own affairs.

His preparations would have to be swift, and he would have to be vaguer than he wished for the spell to work. Specific magic was a tricky thing, but what he had in mind was simple enough in theory.

With his mind made up, he paid for his drink and meal and left.

Holly checked her phone again to see if her mother had texted her about leaving home yet. She usually sent her a text when she left to let Holly know how long she had to wait. Unfortunately, her mother hadn't sent her anything. Which meant she was in for a half hour wait at the least. Her patience with her mother's propensity to be late was wearing thin. It was irritating on the best of days, but on a freezing day in December when she was caught in the cold and hauling a good amount of things home for the holidays from University it was beyond belief.

She huffed, and hauled her overstuffed backpack, laundry bag, and suitcase over to the lone bench set near the small stand of trees next to the tracks. It wasn't a large station, it had no inside area to wait, nor a large parking lot. It was already late, and she felt nervous being out alone with all her things. The flickering streetlight didn't help either.

She sat down on the bench, holding her arms tighter around herself and burrowing her nose in the scarf wrapped about her head. But as anyone who has ever had to sit still on a winter night knows, it brought little relief. The wind managed to dig itself through her gloves, bite her cheeks, and numb her toes more thoroughly than if she'd just dipped them in glacier water.

She rose to her feet again, stamping to get some feeling back when she heard a rustle in the trees behind her. A dark shape suddenly swooped before her, startling a yell from her, before she realized it was simply a bird.

Feeling stupid, she resettled her backpack on her shoulders and shivered as another gust of wind blasted her face and numbed her cheeks. "Oh, hello." she said, blinking at the creature now perched on the bench and blinking its' beady eyes at her. "I suppose you think I have food, huh?" she asked it, and the bird seemed to bob its' head in agreement, making her giggle.

She thought for a moment, and then dug out the wrapper of a bag of chips she'd had in her pocket. There wasn't much more than a few crumbs left, but she dumped them on the bench all the same and threw the wrapper in a nearby trash can.

The bird fell upon the crumbs, pecking them up, but still keeping an eye on her as if it expected her to steal its' meal back. She was curiously looking the bird over, thinking it looked a little off for a crow, when a crunch in the trees made her jump and the bird to take off in to the trees, the darkness of the branches quickly swallowing up any sight of it she had.

It sounded a bit too loud and close for comfort. There were bears in the area, small black bears true, but bears all the same. She didn't want one to mistake her for a meal. A shiver ran down her back and she stepped past the bench and onto the frozen grass to get a better look, staying within the circle of light cast by the lamp.

She peered in to the trees and saw the vague outline of a deer and smiled at her silliness. She took another step, and then another, leaving her suitcase by the tree line, watching the animal bend gracefully to snuff at the ground, it didn't seem to notice her so she shuffled a bit closer, moving slowly. She started to reach for her phone to take a picture, still holding on to her laundry bag and trying not to make much noise when suddenly the street light behind her went out.

The deer jerked its' head up and bolted. It jumped right past her, so close she could have touched its' side if she had had the presence of mind to do so. Instead it knocked her off balance and sent her crashing to her knees, her hands smacking and sliding painfully against the ground and sending her laundry bag tumbling a few feet away, but still attached to her hands by the drawstring cord she'd wrapped around her wrist.

"Stupid deer," she muttered, brushing her smarting hands off on her jeans, rubbing her fingers over the welt made by the drawstring, and climbing back to her feet again. She turned to the side to collect her laundry bag and then spun around, fully intending to sit back on the bench and not move until her mother finally got there, despite how cold it was.

Only...there wasn't a bench there anymore.

She blinked.

Or a train station.

The next thing that registered was that there wasn't a cold wind attacking her still cool face, or indeed, frost on the ground beneath her feet.

She turned around, looking back at the trees, which looked quite a bit different from the ones next to the train station. She turned around to look again, and saw nothing but darkness settling over rolling hills and grass, and thousands of stars lighting up the sky. Nowhere in her life had she seen so many stars. She whipped her head between the trees, the hills, and the sky several more times before she took a hesitant step forward and touched one of the trees.

Feeling the bark beneath her hands, very real, and not cold to the touch, made her start to hyperventilate. She ripped a leaf from a branch and stared at it until. It was green, a color it shouldn't have been at this time of year unless it was an evergreen, which it certainly was not. Holly let the leaf fall from her fingers and then stooped to touch the ground. It was soft and damp, and not at all cold.

The stars, something was wrong with the stars. She looked harder and realized she recognized nothing. No constellations. She wasn't an expert, but she'd taken a class on astronomy, and gotten an A in it, last summer. That wasn't good. She could hear her Professor's voice explaining in his funny Italian accent how stars could be used to tell when and where you were. She should recognize something; because if she couldn't...if she couldn't...that meant...

She looked a few more times between all the evidence before her eyes and felt herself getting lightheaded. She promptly sat down, her mind spinning (from the implications as well as from nearly giving herself whiplash from turning around and around) and placed her head between her knees. A whimpering noise startled her before she realized it was coming from her.

"Fuck." She swore, and took a deep shuddering breath. Her stomach churned unpleasantly and she scrabbled for the half full water bottle in the side pocket of her backpack. The metal was freezing, and the condensation made her hand slide on it. The cold water left an icy trail through her body and she shivered.

She felt cold and hot all at once, and immediately loosened her scarf, and practically tore her winter clothes away from her body. Then she lay down, curled up in a ball, hugged her laundry bag, and cried.

"Oh god, I'm insane," she choked out, sobs wracking her body and causing her to shudder.

"Insane, insane, insane, insane. INSANE! Insane! Insane insane insane..."

She muttered to herself, rocking slightly back and forth. Every once in awhile she'd look up, only to feel dizzy and tuck her head back under the hood of her jacket and squeeze her laundry bag tighter.

There is only so much freaking out one can do before it grows too wearying to continue, and Holly was more practical than most. Soon she was hesitantly sitting up, wiping her eyes and digging in her backpack for tissues to blow her stuffed nose.

It then occurred to her to check her cell phone. She fumbled it out from her pocket, but was unable to find a signal. She put it on airplane mode, resolving to try and save the battery and try later. It was very dark now, what little light there was had faded, and she wasn't sure she could see well enough to go anywhere.

As much as it was terrifying to be in an unknown place without any inkling of how she'd gotten there in the first place, it was more terrifying to think of spending the night outside, alone, in an unfamiliar place.

She'd been camping before, and she liked it, but she'd never spent a night in anything other than a tent outside. The thought of bears again assaulted her and made her heart beat fast.

She curled tighter against the tree, and took her backpack off and placed it to one side. It had too many books and things to be of any use as a pillow. Her laundry bag with all her clean clothes was more suited, and the ground didn't seem to have too many twigs or anything, as she carefully brushed her hands along the ground. They smarted a bit from when she'd hurt them earlier, but she ignored that in favor of laying her winter coat on the ground. She was still wearing a hoodie beneath and that she pulled up the hood of and curled up to try and sleep.

It wasn't an easy night. Though it was warmer here than back home, there was still a bit of a chill in the air and the unfamiliar sounds of the outdoors had her twitching at every somewhat louder sound. She tossed and turned uneasily, even when she did slip in to sleep. She cried again in the middle of the night, and shouted angrily at whoever landed her here, before uneasily going silent again.

When light came, she woke instantly. She wasn't an early riser by any means, but she could never sleep when there was light. She was stiff, sore, and hungry as she stretched her back and got the kinks out of her neck.

An immediate chill gripped her that had nothing to do with the weather as she looked around her. The surroundings were the same, and she knew she was stupid if she thought she was dreaming. Her mind grappled with the impossibility of what happened to her. People didn't simply turn around and find themselves in a whole other area geographically. It just didn't happen.

Deciding there was nothing she could do for now, she decided to check her phone again, and her heart sunk further at finding no signal.

Looking out over the hills she thought she could see what looked like some kind of road. An unpaved muddy looking one, but a road. A road meant people. Sooner or later. People who could tell her where she was and help her get home again.

The despair gripping her chest lightened a notch. She had nothing to eat, but she took a drink of her water to quell her stomach's rumbling. It reminded her of another thing and she wrinkled her nose as her full bladder made itself known.

Growling to herself, she grabbed a few tissues out of her bag and ducked behind a tree to do her business. She didn't even want to think what would happen when the tissues ran out.

That bit done, she tried to arrange her backpack and laundry bag more comfortably and failed miserably. Both were packed to bursting because of her going home for the holidays, and heavy as a consequence. The backpack wasn't so horrible, but the laundry bag only had one shoulder strap and a drawstring. Both were painful to use in addition to the weight of her backpack. She managed, but walking down the hill and not falling was a challenge.

She quickly grew warm and was forced to remove her hoodie and stuff it in her bag along with her winter outer clothes. She was glad for her boots though. Sturdy hiking boots she always wore in winter. While the rest of her could get cold, her feet always seemed too hot.

She wasn't in terrible shape by any means, but she wasn't exactly an athlete either and by the time she reached the road, she was dripping with sweat and out of breath. She wasn't sure which way to go, but decided west was best and started out along the road in that direction.

"Assuming the sun still rises in the east." she muttered to herself, trying to fight down the rising hysteria left over from the night before.

Another hour, or maybe two, and she still hadn't met anyone, and she was tired of walking. Her arms and back ached, and she knew she had to take a rest. She'd been pushing on, in hopes of finding something sooner rather than later, but beyond the tracks in the road; she saw no sign of anyone about.

She climbed a small grassy knoll, and collapsed, shoving that damned bag away from her. She lay flat on her back, staring at the blue sky for some time. There was a pleasant breeze, and the sun was warm. She could hear the sounds of birds and insects, and the scent of soft fresh grass rose to meet her. Her body was aching in a way that she could never recall it aching before. Her stomach burned dully because of her hunger, but she quickly forgot it. She'd gone more than one day without a meal during finals before after all. Despite her best efforts, the sounds, scents around her added to her exhaustion and she found her eyes sliding closed.

She woke with a start, to the sound of a voice calling to her. She hadn't been aware of falling asleep, and it threw her off balance. She bolted upright and looked at the road blearily.

Before her was a strange sight. An old man with a tall pointy blue hat, long grey cloak, silver scarf, a staff, and a beard that fell down past his waist stood before her. His big black boots were mud spattered and he looked at her with a keen eye beneath the wide brim of his hat and bushy eyebrows. She raised her own eyebrows at the sight and brushed a bit of grass away from her face and out of her hair.

"Hello!" he called to her, "You're looking rather out of sorts."

Relief rushed through her immediately, for she had worried that wherever she was might not be a place that spoke English. The man spoke with a British sounding accent, which was a little alarming to her. Crossing the Atlantic Ocean in the blink of an eye was more than a little disturbing a prospect to her.

Out of sorts. Funny way to say it, but she was sure she looked as weird to him as he did to her. She would figure out that bit of strangeness later, her first priority was getting information and help.

"Yeah. I guess I am." She replied, trying to seem friendly. She paused to pull her backpack back on and hauled her laundry bag up with her as she rose.

She walked down to the road, while the old man leaned on his staff, "Oh? Well what has happened to you?" His voice was full of honest sympathy, and she felt herself responding to it instantly.

"I'm really lost," she started, and tears immediately sprung to her eyes and she couldn't seem to stop. His eyes regarded her kindly and she found herself spilling everything to him, "I-I don't know w-w-where I am! I just f-found myself here. I know it's c-crazy, b-but I can't get my phone to w-work! I've been walking all day a-and I just want to g-go home." she hiccupped and went to wipe her face on her sleeve, instead she found a handkerchief in her face, and she dried her face with it.

"Th-thanks." she said, twisting the bit of fabric in her hands. She took a shuddering breath in, and tried to calm down. She tried to give it back but he waved her off, like some chivalrous knight of old. Her next words were still shaky and uneven but at least she had stopped crying.

"I know it's a lot to a-a-ask for, but can you h-help me? Please?" she almost whispered her plea.

The old man heaved a sigh and she felt her heart drop a bit. He removed his hat, rubbed his head and looked at her with a piercing gaze.

"I will help you. I must apologize however, for putting you in this position. I didn't think that you'd be a woman, or so far from here."

At these nonsensical words Holly had no idea what to think, his appearance struck her again and she narrowed her eyes at him as a thought occurred to her "What? Are you LARPing or something? Can you break character?" She blurted out, the first explanation for his looks and behavior springing to mind. She thought he was a bit old for a LARPer, but then she knew of older SCAdians.

"I beg your pardon, but I am unfamiliar with larping," He looked bemused for a moment and then sighed again, shifting his weight to lean more on his staff and continued, "It is my fault you are here, I summoned you. I suppose I was a little too vague specifying what was needed..." he trailed off, noting her mounting confusion.

"I still don't get it." Holly said, feeling more than a little irritated now. She felt hurt that he was messing with her; after all she'd been through. A cruel stranger was something she didn't think she could put up with. Or maybe he was crazy, she thought with a jolt of alarm. Not that she had anything against people suffering from mental illness, but if he was delusional he wasn't going to be of much help to her.

"I'm Gandalf the Grey, and a Wizard." He introduced himself, effectively stopping her anger and sending her in to shock.

Definitely crazy and delusional. She thought somewhat hysterically. She looked at him again, as if she couldn't quite believe her ears.

"Say again?" she requested, her voice sounding funny over the pounding in her ears.

"I am Gandalf. The Grey." he replied, raising one bushy eyebrow at her. Interesting. She recognized his name, and more than that, she didn't think him real.

"No fucking way." Holly said, paling considerably, and stumbling back a step.

"Impossible. You're lying. I don't believe it. That's really cruel! After e-everything I just told you. Even if you do look the part..." she trailed off and if the ground weren't so muddy she would have slumped down to it. She looked like what little bit of courage she'd been holding on to had been snatched from her.

His great eyebrows furrowed again, "I assure you, I do not jest. This is far too important a matter to have anything less than the utmost seriousness when facing. If you are here, then it means that you will have a part to play in the adventures to come." He said with a frown and great seriousness. He had such a commanding presence that for a moment she believed him. Holly knew then he was either a great actor or that he was convinced everything he said was true.

But part of her did believe it, because there was something different about the old man. Something strange and otherworldly, and real. His boots were truly battered, his beard was really that long, his hair that messy, his presence overwhelming. Because when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. Yesterday ending up in a new place in the time it took to turn around was impossible. The evidence before her eyes now made it improbable, but not impossible, because it happened to her. Her brain spun with Holmesian logic.

Sure, why not Gandalf? Why not after she seemingly magically ended up here? Where the stars were different and nothing looked right. A corner of her mind gibbered in fear while the rest of her felt like bursting in to tears again.

Suddenly, he reached forward and gripped her shoulder, stronger than she would have expected from such an elderly looking guy, and looked her directly in the eye. Shocking her out of her musings and approaching panic attack.

Something about that look was fearsome and still soft, and demanded she listen and believe. "You may deny it all you wish, but you were called here for a purpose. I may have called, but you were the answer. We may yet find that purpose and deliver you through it safely. But first I think we should rest, and talk a little," he stooped and hefted her laundry bag over his shoulder, suddenly a plain old man again, "There is an inn, up the road a ways. We may reach it in time for dinner. I'm sure a meal would do you good."

A meal sounded good; even a meal with someone who was completely mental.

"I-I need proof." she demanded, coming out of her stupor a bit more, "I have questions." He nodded, "Of course, and I will answer them." He started walking without saying else, leaving her to try and order her thoughts in to something coherent.

Coming to a solution, she nodded absently and followed him down the road, catching up to his retreating back quickly. Her legs burned with the effort and she panted a bit as her backpack slammed in to her spine from the jog.

She'd play along for now. If this was a joke or trick, they wouldn't be able to keep it up for long. If it was real...

Well, she couldn't bear to find out what she was in for if it was real.

"I'm Holly. Holly Argent." She said suddenly, and the man turned back to look at her, his sharp eyes assessing.

"Welcome to the Shire, Miss Argent."

A few notes on the chapter:

I chose the name Holly Argent for the significance of the Holly tree, and the last name...well you'll have to wait and see ;)

I picked a Raven and a Deer for Holly to follow in to Middle Earth. The Raven is associated with messages, wisdom, and otherworldly knowledge, and the Deer is a guardian and path-finder. Who better to lead her to Middle Earth? The train station as her point of departure was also symbolic.

I fully intend to go with the idea that Middle Earth and our earth are the same planet, just separated by time. Which means Holly didn't come from another world, she merely slipped back in time.

Holly wouldn't have recognized the stars because the stars have moved significantly in the thousands of years between the time of the Hobbit and the current age.

I'll be messing with some major plot points a bit so that Holly doesn't follow the same path as other oc's. Mostly I'll be pulling events from the book, though I intend to take some dialogue and other things from the movies since the book is very formal stylistically.