Author's Note: For Billa, I somewhat built her appearance around Anne Hathaway. Anyway, this story includes a lot of stuff I somewhat created for a more...different sort of past for Belladonna Took and a new future for Billa Baggins. I hope you all enjoy.


She had always been quite odd, that Billa Baggins. All hobbits knew who she was. She was the daughter of the foul Belladonna Took and the respectable Bungo Baggins. Given the odd blood now running through her veins, it was no surprise to anybody in the Shire as to why Billa was the only hobbit who seemed to have feet as tiny as human's, but she still bore brown fur on each. Nor was it a head turner that Billa's ears mirrored that of elves with how more pointer rather than bigger. It was also no surprise that she had the same drive all foul Tooks had to explore the lands outside the Shire and see the world. But...what made it all the more different was even Belladonna Took tried to discourage her daughter's want. Her of all people would want to show her daughter all the places she visited, but when Billa had made a run for it one day to 'see the elves from Mama's stories', Belladonna became shrill in her voice as she grabbed her child in a near death grip, hissing she was never to leave the Shire, no matter what.

Most hobbits only suspected it was because she maybe wanted to turn her daughter into a normal hobbit, but why would she seem so fearful of her daughter leaving? It simply made no sense. But the subject was dropped and the Baggins family were, in a more blunt sense, ignored. Billa grew up, still with the small feet and pointy ears, still odd, but always sheltered. Despite all of this, she was one of the sweetest hobbits to live in the Shire. In the mornings when she skipped down the paths to visit the shops, she would greet anyone outside their homes with a smile and a wave. She soon memorized names and would wish them good mornings. The unearned hatred for her was slowly diminished and they put the thought out of their minds about how weird she really was for the fact that the 'Took oddities' seemed to have been stamped out of her.

Then Bungo and Belladonna died.

Never had they seen bright and happy Billa Baggins so sad and dour. A girl so happy was reduced to silent tears as the names were carved into the headstones. It had taken her months to recover from the loss, returning back into her happy-go-lucky self who sang songs while she tended to her garden, waved to passersby when she passed, and yet...she never left the Shire as she had once wanted. Most people forgot the panic in Belladonna's eyes when Billa would try to leave, so they never thought much on the fact that Billa had followed her wishes after Belladonna left the living.

Some questions were thrown around, of course. What was the persistence for on keeping her in the Shire when she had left it so many times in her youth? None of it made any sense. Nevertheless, things were all the same in Hobbiton. Everyone dined with friends, tended to their prized possessions, had as many meals as they could, and everything was normal.

Until today.

Billa always liked reading on her bench. It gave her a chance to sit back and relax, the daisies on her oddly small feet tickling her ankles with the breeze while a small teacup sat to her right, being sipped at every couple of minutes. The sun was high above, sort of making her dark brown hair glow in a gold sort of way. Yes, it was a picture of pure calm. That is, until something blocked the sun entirely. It was almost as if an unscheduled eclipse was occurring, but she was sure that wasn't the case. Looking up with her eyebrows crinkled together, she jumped slightly to see a large man, draped in grey, standing just before her garden gate, holding a large wooden staff which was probably the same length as his greyed beard.

"Oh, I apologize for the jumping, I didn't see you there," she chirped, her voice somewhat like a music box. "Good morning, sir, are you lost?"

"Not lost, but I am found," he replied. "Most hobbits jumped the same way you did looking upon my person. Is there, perhaps, something weird about my cloak, do you think?"

"No, I think you're dressed quite wonderfully. Though what would I know, I'm no fashion expert. I tend to just dress comfortably." She motioned to her own clothes, which were a tad displeasing to the eye with the many clashing colors of a vibrant yellow and a dark, almost tree-like brown. It did not match at all, but she didn't mind that. She didn't want to sit on her bench constantly situating herself because her skirt was bunching up and making her hot or her blouse was itchy.

"I see, well...thank you for the compliment, even if it comes from a mind of confusion. I do ponder on that fact that you are wondering why I am here, standing before you and interrupting your reading?" he asked, still smiling mischievously down at her. She closed her book after marking her page before folding her hands neatly over her lap.

"Mm, maybe," she shrugged, "after all, most men in grey don't appear here, but who am I to question your actions? That would be like you asking why I tend to my garden."

"Why do you tend to your garden, Miss Baggins?"

"Well, I suppose-" Billa cut herself off. "How do you know my name?"

"I am surprised you are surprised," the stranger chortled. "I would have figured Belladonna Took's daughter would recognize me in an instant with your, apparently not anymore, impeccable memory."

"Forgive me, I do...I suppose things grew quite unclear after my mother and father left this world," Billa apologized, before smiling again. "Perhaps if you give me hints I can guess?" Billa could see hobbits walking around in their homes and giving her very odd looks for conversing with this man, but she paid them no mind. Billa Baggins could never turn her nose up to guests, no matter how odd they seem to hobbits. After all, this stranger was quite fun in such a weird sense that it wasn't weird at all.

"Hm...a hint? Alright, then...you know of my fireworks, my abilities, and of my constant jabs at your father who took it all in good nature."

Billa thought for a moment before her face completely lit up and she got to her feet, the book falling from her lap and into the daisies below. "Gandalf the Grey, yes? Oh, how wonderful it is to see you again! I do commend you on your work with the fireworks, I did enjoy them! As did my mother! Oh...won't you come inside for a spot of tea?"

"Haha! I am glad you have guessed correctly, Miss Billa, I was beginning to think you have forgotten me completely," Gandalf grasped one of her hands and shook it gingerly. "And I also appreciate the invitation, but I cannot use my time to stay at the moment, for you see...I am here with a different sort of purpose."

"What would that be?" Billa asked bemusedly.

"Well...I was here to ask you to join me and others...on an adventure."

Billa froze, her mouth slightly hanging open at a sort of odd angle as she let that sentence sink in. An adventure? But she couldn't. She shouldn't! Her mother had always told her her place was in Bag-End. She had no need of leaving, and she shouldn't leave. All of her mother's tales ending with the same warning that Billa should never see the monsters Belladonna faced. She should never have to deal with the pain Belladonna had endured. Whenever Billa pressed for more details as to why Belladonna felt that way, she'd always change the subject.

But Billa had listened, and she never stepped toe out of the Shire because her mother begged her not to. Her father agreed, though he wasn't as persistent as her mother was.

"I...cannot," she said finally. "I'm terribly sorry, Mister Gandalf, but my mother always insisted that I shouldn't leave the Shire. I promised her and I never break promises, no I do not. I keep them."

Gandalf didn't seem surprised by her answer.

"Your mother is right, you should never leave the Shire...alone, that is. You will not be alone, you will have me and the company also attending," he said. "Did...did Miss Belladonna ever give the reason as to why you should never leave, if you don't mind me asking? I'm never one normally to pry, but I am one to seize the answers to my curiosity."

"Well...no, it was all very vague, but...she insisted, Gandalf. I am not to leave-"

"Don't think of it as leaving, my dear Billa, think of it as...temporary absence. You can return after and it would be like you never left, trust me," Gandalf's eyes slowly trailed up towards the sun, before he nodded curtly. "Yes, I am needed elsewhere. This will be very good for you Billa, and possibly most amusing for me. I'll put you down as a yes."

"But...but I-"

"Your book is crushing your daisies, Miss Billa."

Billa looked down and huffed, reaching down and lifting the book before looking up to press on the fact she just couldn't leave, but Gandalf was no longer there. Eyes widened, Billa looked up and down the path, but he simply just disappeared. Licking her lips, Billa clamped the book to her chest before grabbing her teacup and rushing toward her home, her mind racing with so many questions. For example, why was Gandalf suddenly persistent on her and adventures? What was this adventure exactly? Why was he questioning her mother's wishes of keeping Billa, well, grounded?

It was all very mind befuddling.

Trying to put it out of her mind, Billa spent the day cleaning, humming to herself rather uneasily as she watched the front door as if she expected Gandalf to burst in with other wizards or elves of some sort. He did speak of 'others' attending this adventure. She just wondered who he was gathering. It couldn't be hobbits, seeing as they all looked down on adventures and anything to do with them. She always tried to ignore the stares they had given her when she was younger. Despite her memories being ruined from her parents' deaths, she did remember the equal hatred everyone shared for her because she had an interest in adventuring just as her mother had.

The sun that had been blocked by a wizard once was now hitting the ground, a moon replacing it and putting everything in a white, sort of heavenly glow. Billa still hadn't put Gandalf out of her mind, so she wasn't surprised when she suddenly heard three loud knocks on her round door.

Examining herself in the mirror, she was still wearing the hideous getup from earlier, but she looked less frazzled than she had, so she didn't mind opening the door to see who stood on the other side, jumping back a few feet to see a towering, full grown dwarf on her doorstep.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I just didn't expect-"

"Dwalin," he grunted, leaning forward to seize her right hand and pulling it straight up to his lips, "at your service." He pressed his lips to it gently before releasing it, watching in a bit of a judgmental light as it fell uselessly back to Billa's side. Shaking her head out of it, she opened her arms outward.

"Sorry, sorry, I...I am Billa Baggins. Please...come in."

The dwarf called Dwalin nodded and stepped inside, ducking slightly so he wouldn't hit his head on the doorway.

Yes, this company would be very odd indeed.