A Better Place - The Hobbit Fanfiction

Alternate Entry Eleven - Bilbo's House

I couldn’t accustom myself to walking with a bandage wrapped around my foot. My boot felt tight, my skin felt stiff, and overall everything felt constricted. I accused Freda of using more bandaging than was necessary just to vex me and she didn’t even look up from her crocheting as she drawled, “I can’t rule that out as a possibility.”

I stomped along mostly entrenched in my own absentminded thoughts because I didn’t want to accidentally vent my frustration on anybody. It was a cheery sort of frustration though.

We reached Hobbiton in the second week of August. I was all for knocking, as were the other women, but Dwalin, Bofur and Gloin claimed Bilbo had told them to walk right in. I disagreed, but they had calculated our arrival to be exactly three minutes before four, so Bilbo would have time to put a few more cauldrons of tea on, I expected. They barged in while the two ladies and I shouted warnings ahead of them to Bilbo. The result of which being that while we were yanking on the men’s jackets (Gloni and Gimli didn’t quite know what to make of all this or whose side to take so they stayed back and stayed out of it) and the men were pushing forth we ended up landing mostly in a heap in the center of Bilbo’s entryway. He opened the door and we all flew forward several steps before someone in the front tripped and we all fell on top of them. I ended up on the top because I’d been in the back, and sat up from where I was seated on Freda’s legs. “Oh I quite like this,” I said decisively. “Payback.”

Freda shoved me off and I rolled to the rug at Bilbo’s feet. “Hi Bilbo.” I grinned.

“I’m so glad you all visited!” cried Bilbo, grabbing me under the arms and hauling me to my feet. “And you’re even on time.”

“I don’t think you own enough teabags for the lot of us,” said Freda as she helped Fraeg to her feet and left Gloin to his own devices. Only Gloni and Gimli had been able to avoid our topple, and stood by smirking at the rest of us.

“That’s why I invest in loose tea,” Bilbo quipped, waving us all toward the kitchen. “Easier to dry and reuse. Come on, come on, let’s get the table gently into the hallway before you lot drop it and break the legs like you nearly did last time.”

I was the only one to leave my shoes in the entryway, for which Bilbo thanked me and the dwarves stared at me. I only shrugged. “I like being barefoot.”

Gloin, his sons and Dwalin took the dining room table carefully into the hall at Bilbo’s directions and with a great deal of pointing. Bofur shouted out introductions and I gave Bilbo a proper hug.

“Bilbo, your house is beautiful,” I said, walking through it with my head thrown back. “I love the shape of the ceilings. Does it keep warm well in the winter?”

Bilbo launched into a history of Bag End (as it was apparently called) as the dwarves very rudely raided Bilbo’s pantry. I pointed this out with no small concern to Bilbo but he flapped a careless hand. “Oh don’t worry, I’m used to it.”

I stared at him, mouth open. “What did they do last time they were here?”

He stretched his suspenders with his thumb and grinned. “Far worse.”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh gracious. I feel like the ladies and I will be mothering all the boys by the end of this.”

“Good gracious is that a rabbit?” Bilbo pointed. “Someone help me catch it, it shouldn’t be in here.”

“No no wait that’s my rabbit!” I grabbed him by the arm. “Remember the little one I picked up months ago? It lived! I named her Greenly.”

Bilbo chuckled, astonished. “Really! Will she….”

“I don’t think she’ll poop on the floor. If she does I’ll clean it up.”