This is an idea for a fanfic that just struck me, so if you like it, maybe I'll continue it.

Note: The after events that where supposed to happen after the LOTR story never happened. Let's put it this way. Some misinformed person wrote some lies about what happened to Pippin in the future. Ignore it. My story doesn't follow those lines.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or places, etc. etc. etc.

Chapter one

Several of the hobbits stared at Pippin as he walked down the lane, only a month after Frodo had left. He felt awkward, unbelonging, a stranger. He was a foot taller than everyone else, and now that he had seen the world, everyone seemed so shallow and dull. Even his own parents didn't understand. The stares he got were mingled with wonder, awe, and fear.

Merry, from what he had heard, was not doing much better. He had decided to go back to Rohan where he felt more at home. Pippin wasn't sure. He would wait, he told Merry, he would wait until Frodo returned to decide what to do. But until then, he would live with the stares, with the rude comments, or the gossip.

And then it happened. One day, Gandalf returned. Pippin knew only that Bilbo anf Frodo where still there, but Gandalf had returned for a while. He had come straight to Pippin's place, and had greeted him first among anyone he might have visited.

"Peregrin," he said the night after he had arrived, "I have returned for an apprectice."

"I don't understand," Pippin said, rather confused.

"Don't try to. Listen." Gandalf answered. "Over time, you have changed from that fool of a Took, which you still are, to a more mature, understanding person. I would like you to become my wizard's apprentice."

Pippin said nothing, but his mouth hung agape. A picture popped into his mind of a hobbit in robes to big for him, wielding a broken staff. ".Me?" he asked, "But I'm just a hobbit!"

"Yes, and a remarkable one at that."

"But why not Frodo? Or Sam? Or Merry?"

"Frodo is tired. He has tramped through Morder, with barely enough food, and he is happy now. Merry is in Rohan, and he is not the right type, nor is Sam, who is happy anyhow."

"Are you sure?" Pippin asked.

"Yes. Will you become my apprentice or not?"

Pippin sipped through his mind. Him? A wizard's apprentice? I didn't seem to make sense to him.

"I accept." He said finally.

So that's chapter one! If you like it, review. If people think it is a good story idea, I may continue it.