Here's the next chapter and I hope it meets everyone's expectations! The next chapter will be out on Wednesday or Thursday.I plan to update at least twice a week!

Thinking!

Thoughtspeak!

Speaking!

A New Life in a New World

Chapter 1

Hobbiton

Bilbo was lying in bed looking out the window.

'I'm 34 years old today and alone.' Just thinking that made his home feel far too large and empty. So he got dressed, ate and packed some food into a bag before walking out the door.

"Happy Birthday, Mr. Bilbo." Hamfast Gamgee called out from the garden. There was a sympathic look on his face but no pity thankfully.

"Thank you Hamfast. I hope you have a good day as well." Bilbo waved as he passed by heading towards the fields behind his home.

There was one reason and one reason only for him to be unhappy today despite it being his birthday. That reason was because he was alone for the first birthday in his life he had no close family to greet him in the morning when he awoke. His father had passed years ago and his mother had lived just long enough for her son to almost reach his majority. Bilbo's father Bungo Baggins had died during the Fell Winter when wolves and orcs invaded the Shire. His mother Belladonna Baggins nee Took had taken wounds from the wolves when they first came and Bungo had left to get the healer. Sadly he never got there as he was attacked and killed before he could return. The Rangers had come to assist the Shire with the Istari Gandalf among them. Despite the healing that was provided by the Rangers, Belladonna's wounds had become infected and it sapped her strength completely. The only thing she could do was will herself to live long enough that Bilbo would be able to survive on his own before joining Bungo in the afterlife. It took 8 years before she let herself pass.

By this time he had been walking from nearly an hour and even now that Bilbo had reached the woods, he was barely seeing his surroundings anymore, so sunk into depression as he was. As he walked along the edge of the wood a small shimmer of silver reflected from the corner of his eye and shaking himself from his thoughts he walked towards it. As soon as he got close enough to see what was reflecting the light he gasped. There on the forest floor was a small child with silvery blonde hair. The child looked to be little more than a toddler! Surveying had him noticing that her hand was clutching something tightly and that something looked to be another child who was not much older than her. This one was a young boy with Ebony hair and he was almost hidden by the foliage that surrounded him.

"Who would leave such small children alone in the woods?" was Bilbo's first outraged thought with the second being, "I do hope they aren't hurt!"

Carefully looking them over as he knelt beside the small girl and shook her shoulder, he saw rounded ears meaning that she was a child of man and looking more closely at the boy told him the same for that child as well. After a few moments that small girl stirred and blinked up at him tiredly. Her eyes widen in fear as clarity came to her and she scrambled to get further away.

"Hush child, no harm will be given to you from me. Are you hurt at all? Bilbo sat back hoping that a little distance will help calm her down. Seeing her relax a little told this was the right decision. She looked around and tensed again seeing the boy lying still next to her on the ground and the fear crept back into her eyes.

Bilbo immediately moved further back as he could tell she worried that he was the cause of the boys state. As he did this she started to shake the other hard trying to wake him. The young boy groaned as he slowly woke. From this distance Bilbo couldn't tell if there was anything worried except maybe a sore head and a few bruises visible on their exposed arms.

The boy looked around just as the girl had and upon seeing Bilbo placed himself in front of her protectively.

"I will not hurt either of you. I just wanted to make sure you are no more hurt than a few bruises. My name is Bilbo Baggins. May I know your names?"

The boy surveyed him closely and looked towards the girl who nodded. "I am Harry and this is my sister Luna. Where are we?"

"You are currently in the Shire, near Hobbiton. Are either of you injured?"

"Just bruises"

"I am glad. Do you know where your family is? That way we can see about getting you home."

"Mama and Papa are dead and we have no more family to take us in. We were to be split up, so we left."

"Oh dear, is there anywhere you of that you go that will welcome you?" the answers he was getting worried Bilbo a great deal, 'This is not how I thought the day would go but I certainly cannot just leave two children on their own to fend for themselves. The Shire is peaceful but not that peaceful!'

"We can live on our own. We know how to survive in the forest."

"You may know how to survive on your own, but that does not mean that you should. No children, no matter how independent should have to live on their own!" Bilbo thought over his options for a minute. "Well I live on my own but there are plenty of empty rooms. You can stay if you like. I will not force you to but it would be better for the both of you." 'I hope they do, it is just not safe on their own!'

Luna looked at Harry and thought to him, "I think this would be good idea. From what I can sense, he is genuinely worried about us and there is an underlying loneliness as well. I think he needs this just as we do. We do need a place to stay as well, at our current ages nobody would hire us to and we don't know how to work our new magic yet either. This will give us chance to learn without having to worry about day to day survival."

Harry considered this for a long moment, "Only if you are sure Luna. I do like the idea though and we were sent here to grow up happy. Surely the Valar, as they called themselves, wouldn't have left us here if we would be unhappy in this place. We should still be careful though, just in case."

Turning to Bilbo Harry agreed, "I will come with you to stay but only if we can leave if we want to."

"Of course you can leave if you want. I just ask that you at least tell me before you go or leave a note so I don't worry. Now we should probably eat before we head off. It is quite a ways to go and will take us at least an hour or two depending on walking speed. I have some food with me so you can snack now and then we can eat properly when we get home." This was said as he pulled a small bundle out of his pack.

"Luna and I have some food as well." Harry said as he pulled his pack closer.

"Excellent! That means that we will have enough time to look over any wounds when we get home before feeding you, bathe and then bed. Don't think I haven't noticed you favoring your side. How old are the two of you by the way?" He said this with a small smile so they didn't think he was angry at them.

"I'm 6 and Luna is 5. Thank you for what you are doing, you did not have to help us after all."

What saddened Bilbo was not so much the words as the fact that they didn't seem to feel as if they needed or deserved someone worrying for them. It was said as if they expected no one to truly care for their wellbeing. Combined with fact that they looked like they were a good 2 to 3 years younger than he first thought showed him a bad picture of how they had grown up before then. Abuse and malnourishment were the only things that could stunt a youngling's growth so. Also because of the stunted growth in their earliest years meant that they would never be very tall. Taller than a hobbit perhaps but they would never be as tall as they should have been.

"It does not matter if I do not have to help. I want to help. There is nothing more important than a child's wellbeing. If you need another reason for my helping you than know that I have been lonely and welcome the opportunity to have someone else in the smial again." As Bilbo spoke he was looking though the food to put together something good for the children that would taste good as well since some children can be picky eaters. "I want someone to raise and care for. I have yet to meet my Balancer for he is not in the Shire which means I may never meet him. If I don't then you are the only children I may ever have. This will be good for all three of us." They left it at that as Bilbo handed the food out.

Once they finished eating and packed the rest of the food away, Bilbo asked, "Do you want me to carry you? As I said before it will take a while to get there and you both look tired." Bilbo felt giving them an option instead of just picking them up was the better idea.

Nodding they both let him pick them up and leaned into his shoulders. Frowning at how light they were Bilbo headed out of the woods towards home. As evidence of just how exhausted the children were they fell asleep within minutes of Bilbo walking.

It took a good 2 hours of walking for Bilbo to get home and was glad he arrived when he did for Hamfast was just getting ready to leave as Bilbo walked up to the gate. Hamfast looked over at him with a greeting on his lips only to pause as his eyes widen at seeing the children in his employers arms.

"Mr. Bilbo? What's going on?"

"Hamfast I'm glad you're here, because I need you to see if Belle can come over. I found the children in the woods and though they said they only had bruises and a few cuts I wanted to heal them as best we can. Your wife has the best bruise salve in the Shire and that will help them heal a lot faster."

"Of course sir I'll get her sir. I'll be back with her shortly. How about I open the door for you before I leave first, that will make it easier to get them inside. We'll just let ourselves in when we get here. Which room will you be in?" He asked this as he opened the door for Bilbo.

"We'll be in the first guestroom on the left. Thank you for this Hamfast and expect a little extra in you pay for all the help your giving us."

"Oh you don't have to worry about that sir! You know we will always help when there are little ones in need."

"Alright Hamfast, why don't you go get Belle and we'll discuss this after the children have been seen to." Bilbo then walked through the door so Hamfast couldn't protest again and carefully closed the door with his foot. Carefully laying Luna in a nearby chair he carried Harry to the guestroom and opened the door. After laying harry down he went and got Luna figuring that they would prefer to be together when they woke up as alone would merely confuse and frighten them.

Once they were resting peacefully on the bed, Bilbo went to the bathing room to draw a bath and get two buckets of warm water. After all the cuts would need to be washed so no infection set in and a bath would help them feel better as well.

Leaving the buckets by the bed, Bilbo went to the room door as he heard the Gamgees arrive to wave them to the right room before heading back to wake the children.

Gently shaking Harry's shoulder he said "Harry wake up please. We would like to look to take a look at your cuts and get them cleaned as well as make sure there is nothing hurt you don't know about." Harry's eyes flew open and he looked ready to attack before recognizing Bilbo and seeing Luna next to him.

"Harry, this is Hamfast and Belle Gamgee. I asked them to take a look at your wounds as they are better healers than I am. I wasn't sure if you would want a female to look you and Luna over or a man for that matter, which is why I asked both to come. If you want Belle can look Luna over in a different room while Hamfast looks you over. It is your choice."

Harry considered this for a few minutes. "He can look me over but would you please stay? I would prefer Mrs. Gamgee to look after Luna."

"That is fine with us Mr. Harry. Just so you know, if any wounds need stitching, my Belle will do it since she has a neater hand at it than I do. I can do everything else."

"Alright, did you want me to wake Luna now?" He said this just before starting to shake Luna awake.

Belle nodded before asking Bilbo "Which room can we use for her examine Bilbo?" she smiled at the boy as he explained what was happening to his sister, glad that he was such a caring brother.

"The room just across the hall should be clean enough Bell. Will this be okay with you Luna?" He wanted to make sure that Luna was as willing for to have an examination as her brother was.

"Yes thank you Mr. Bilbo and Mrs. Gamgee." She said as she slipped from the bed. Belle grabbed the bucket of water before opening the door. The two were just leaving as Bilbo remembered to tell Belle about the bath being ready and she nodded before closing the door behind them.

Turning back to Harry Bilbo said, "Let's us get you sorted out then shall we?"

The children had been healed, fed and bathed before being put back to bed while the adults congregated in the living room.

"Those children have had a very hard life if the scars are anything to go by." Hamfast noted "Do you know anything about their past, Bilbo?"

"I don't know very much. I know they were orphaned and forced to leave their home or be split up. I know that there was no one that could or would take both of them in. they both feel as if they do not need or even deserve help. I know Harry is six and Luna five yet both look much younger. I barely managed to convince them to stay on a trial basis and if they want to leave to tell me or at least leave a note so I know they have left. I also think that if I ever lie that somehow they will know and it will break any trust that they have in me. If they ask something I don't want to answer they I better tell them why and not for any reason like them being too young. If not for their size and age you would never think them to be children. They understand too much to be treated as a child that is for sure."

"I have a feeling you are right sir. They act like they have seen too much and the scars on their bodies confirm that. I hope that the scars were not caused by their parents and that they had at least a little love shown to them. I think the most difficult thing will be teaching them to be children rather than helping them grow up."

"Very true dear. Now Bilbo, I think this will be good for you. Having someone to look after will make you live again instead of just going about your days in a daze the way you have been. You will no longer be alone in this big smial and the children will have a loving family again. It doesn't matter that they are children of Men for they will still be welcomed just as all children are. If all goes well they may even let you adopt them someday though I think you have pretty much unofficially adopted them already. Am I right?" There was a wicked grin on Belle's face that was echoed on Hamfast's as she asked that last question.

Bilbo blushed slightly before saying "You are right as always Belle. I will be legally adopting them the second they say I can. I would love to have them as my children blood related or not I already think of them as family.

"Well I hope they stay for all three of your sakes Mr. Bilbo."

"Thank you both for everything that you have done for us. I hope that your right and everything turns out well."

"You know that we couldn't have done anything different Bilbo. After all that you have done for us in the past and the fact that we are parents as well if we had ignored you then we would never be able to pay you back. Also as parents we will always help children in need. No one in the Shire would have said no to helping you. Well, except maybe Lobelia and Otho. But then there is a bad apple in every bunch."

"Very true, Belle, very true indeed. Well we will just have to see what the future brings either good or bad."

Harry had been listening at the doorway and slipped away before any of the adult could spot him as they moved to go home. As he slipped back in to the bed beside Luna he thought "Maybe this won't be so bad." as he fell asleep.