Disclaimer: see below!

When Gandalf came to the door at Bag End and knocked, he was surprised. Not the pleasant type of surprised, but one of the more ugly types. The hobbit he saw wasn't the one he expected. For one thing, she was not Bilbo, and other, her eyes were dark and hollow and she seemed to shrink into the shadows as he came closer.

"Good morning." she greeted him.

"Who are you?" he asked

"Annie, who are you?"

"Gandalf-A very old friend of Bilbo's. Can you let him know I'm here?"

She shook her head, "Im sorry, but Mr. Bilbo has been gone for some time now. He left me with Bag End." she explained.

"Why?"

"As a favor, for an old friend." she told him. Gandalf nodded, and began to rethink his original request. He had wanted a hobbit, and his first preference was Bilbo but since he was unavailable, he might as well go with this one.

"Are you going to let me in?"

Another nod, and she beckoned for him to come moment he entered her house he felt it, a red presence.

"It been here long?"

"Just a few weeks now, since I got back."

"You were gone? Where did you go?"

"I escaped, and Mr. Bilbo was kind enough to give me lodgings until I found my own."

Gandalf then truly looked at her. Even as she smiled at him, she looked sad. Not the typical sad but a deep down heart wrenching sad.

"What on earth happened to you?" he asked her.

After a long pause, she answered in a whisper, "Nothing"

"I have come looking for someone to share in an adventure. It seems like you could use one" he then stated, looking the young hobbit in the eye. She stared at him for a while, and then shook her head.

"No."

"What do you mean, no?"

"No, I'm sorry but I am here now, and I plan to stay here for a long while." she told him, shaking her head.

"I think an adventure is just what you need, to cure what ails you." he told her, motioning towards the red presence. She sighed, "Nothing will make it leave." she whispered.

"No." Gandalf told her, "Only you can do that."

He turned to leave, it was settled and he had made up his mind. She was the one, the hobbit that will come with the company. He felt that she needed it more than Bilbo did.

"Your leaving?" she asked, surprised by his sudden interest in the door.

"Yes, but I can assure you that I will see you again quite soon. May I stop by tomorrow for afternoon tea?" he asked, and she nodded, "of course" she replied, out of politeness. For he seemed of somewhat importance, and thought it would be very unwise to deny him. Plus, what harm came out of tea anyway? As she closed the door, she realized that the wizard left yet. Curiously, she looked through the window and saw he was carving something on the door.

Annie meant to go investigate, she really did but instead she found herself caught up in a fight with the haunt in her house. It occupied her for the rest of the evening, and onto the next day. She was just settling down with a cup of coffee and a book when she heard the bell ring. It startled her, and she almost didn't answer it, thinking it was the presence messing with her again. But she did, and what she found on the other side was even more surprising. It was a Dwarf.

"Dwalin, at your service." he said, and then bowed a deep bow. She curtsied, "Annie at yours." she told him politely, remembering her manners. He apparently had none, for he pushed by her, throwing his coat and axe on the floor. "Have they arrived yet?" he asked.

"What? Uh, no?" Annie told him, "I don't think you-"

"Good! Now wheres the food. He said there'd be food!" he asked, walking by her into the kitchen.

"What no? Who said?" she asked, following him into the kitchen, where she watched in horror as he sat himself down at the table and took a bite out of her biscuit. "Lovely, do you have any ale?" he asked.

"I don't think you have the right house, um, sir." she told him, "I really think you should-"

But she was cut off by the doorbell ringing again! Flustered, she went to answer it and found another dwarf.

"Balin, at your service!" he told her cheerfully, as he bowed, "Annie at yours." she told him, and curtsied. "Am I late?" he answered as he came inside, and seeing Dwalin's coat he sighed in relief , "Thank goodness, I thought Id be the last one!" he exclaimed, and then he saw Dwalin. They laughed and pointed at each other.

"So you know each other?" Annie asked feebly, she was starting to feel very flustered.

"What is happening?" she asked, but they ignored her, more entranced in the food in her pantry.

This happened for the arrival of six more dwarves: Fili, Kili,Bifur, Bofur, Oin and Gloin. Then they started moving the tables around, "oh no, Mr. Bilbo is going to hate this when he returns." she thought to herself as she tried her best to save the best charis from the dawrves clutches. Then the doorbell rang again, feeling slightly frantic, Annie rushed to open it. Out fell four more dwarves: Bombur, Dori, Nori and Oin, and behind the pile, Gandalf.

"Good evening, Annie." he said with a smile. Annie forced a smile back at him, "Evening" she replied, rather coldly. She thought it was slightly rude of the wizard to invite all these strangers to a place that she didn't even own. As the dwarves picked themselves up and greeted each other, she looked sternly at the wizard.

"May I have a word with you, Gandalf?" she asked, then motioned him towards the now very empty pantry.

"Of course." He said, with a sly smilie, and followed the small hobbit. When they were inside, away from the chaos of the living room, she turned to him and said, rather angrily, "Gandalf, I have a tree on my back, and a haunt in my house. I do not need 12 dwarves too. I don't think they fit. Please, no more." she asked with him, her large eyes pleading. That is when Gandalf truly looked at her. He knew something had been wrong the moment he had set eyes on her, but he didn't know what it was until now.

"What do you mean, a tree?"

"That's what she told me what it looked like. I haven't had the heart to look. For all I know it's sprouted flowers and leaves by now."

She turned in the parlor to reach for more bread, and as she did, the sleeve of her sweater fell down over her shoulder and thats when he saw the scars.

"What did they do to you?"

She didn't answer but her look said it all. She quickly hid the branches coming up from her back and left the room as the doorbell rang for the last time that night.

"Excuse me" she whispered, and rushed off to open the door. Behind it she saw a dwarf of most importance, he was Thorin Oakenshield but Annie didnt know that. She scowled slightly at the sight of yet another dwarf. She curtsied politely as he walked past her complaining, "Gandalf, you said this place was easy to find, I lost my way twice. If it hadn't been for that mark I would have missed it completely"

As Thorin entered the hobbit hole he felt it, the red presence but he didn't say anything. Nobody likes to bring up the thought of a ghost. He wondered vaguely if the others felt it too but they weren't as attuned to this sort of thing as he was. He was no stranger to it. When Thorin saw the hobbit Gandalf had chosen, he was taken aback. This was not what he pictured his burglar to be. She was small, and fragile and something in her eyes made him shiver. Thats when he saw it behind her, a pool of red floating in the candlelight. He shook it off as a play of the light and greeted her, handing his over his coat and boots.

"And this is Thorin, the leader of our group." Gandalf introduced him, Annie nodded and curtsied "At your service." she mumbled softly, still annoyed that another dwarf had found his way into her home. The others came and greeted him, excited to get the on with the quest but Thorin lingered in the hallway, eyes never leaving the spot where he saw the pool of red. He turned to Annie, who was standing there in shock, probably from having so many dwarves in her living room.

"You got company?" he whispered, motioning towards the pool.

She shrugged, "off and on" she told him.

And thats when it started, the rumbling. Pots shook off their hangers, the light coming from the window turned red and a long dark unearthly cry came from below. Thorin started, but before he could do anything, it had stopped.

"Good god, what kind of evil do you have here?" Thorin asked shakily, for it seemed that only he had heard it, none of the others had made a notion that they had heard it too.

"It's not evil, just sad. Come on, just ignore it." She told him, and he then stepped through the pool and into the kitchen.

As Thorin stepped through, he felt it, the sadness. And he wondered what on earth could of caused this amount of hurt. He looked at the little hobbit, beneath the mask she was trying so hard to keep up, she looked empty, and very sad. Thorin started to wonder about Gandalf's choice, why on earth did he pick this particular hobbit? She seemed so fragile. He sighed, and than began to address his company.

Annie stood in the shadows and listened to his tale of Erebor, and of Dragons and violence. It made her shudder. What had Gandalf gotten her into?

*Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment, they are like cookies for my eyes :-) Stay tuned for the next chapter, it should be up soon!*

Disclaimer: I decided to put the disclaimer down here, because it kinda gives away the entire story. Parts of it I have borrowed from Toni Morrison, a grand novelist and I truly hope that she does not mind. The majority is borrowed from Tolkien. His characters are indeed his own. The other thing that is mine is Annie.