BOOM!

One of Gandalf's spectacular fireworks rang out into the night air, falling onto the hobbits in orange and green sparkles. Noelle hadn't seen Gandalf's fireworks in -she counted on her fingers- five years! She had been gone from Earth for four years, and the year before she had left, Gandalf had again done the fireworks for Noelle's Fourth of July party at home. Not that anyone besides her knew that!

Noelle took a sip of fruit punch. She was sitting at a table in a corner by herself. She didn't know anybody here- plus, she wasn't exactly a party girl.

There was so much food though. More than she had ever seen in one place. There were roast pigs, chickens, and turkeys; a huge array of fruits and desserts, and barrels upon barrels of ale, which explained why a lot of hobbits were acting drunk. And there was Bilbo's cake, which was topped with one-hundred and eleven candles!

Yeah, hobbit birthday parties made Earth weddings look childish.

Noelle got up from her seat in the corner and went to find Gandalf, who was clearly having a good time. He laughed loudly as the hobbit children screamed in delight over his fireworks. He spotted her coming.

"Aren't you enjoying yourself?" he asked, pulling another firework out of the back of his cart.

"Yeah, well, I don't really know anybody here besides you and Bilbo!" Noelle yelled above the lively music in the background.

"You know Frodo!" Gandalf was lighting the firework with his staff. "Watch this! WHOA!"

Noelle jumped back in surprise as the firework shot into the night sky and multiplied into a hundred silver spears. She smiled. "Yeah, that is cool. Where's Bilbo?"

Gandalf pointed in some direction. He was clearly preoccupied with his fireworks. "Over there."

Noelle craned her neck above the people and hobbit-kids. Bilbo was sitting in front of a group of hobbit-children. Noelle decided to go over and listen to whatever crazy story he was probably telling them.

"So there I was, at the mercy of three monstrous trolls!"

Noelle sat down next to Bilbo. "I think I know this story," she said mischievously. "It sounds vaguely familiar- like I was there."

"Oh but you were!" said Bilbo abruptly. He continued his story. "They were all arguing amongst themselves, about how they were going to cook us. Whether it be turned on a spit, or whether they should sit on us one by one, and squash us into jelly!"

Noelle smirked. She did remember the trolls arguing. And she remembered almost getting squashed. She glanced around for Gandalf and noticed him dancing with the hobbits. He sure knew how to have a good time anywhere.

"They spent so much time arguing the whether-tos and the why-fors, that the sun's first light crept over the top of the trees, and... POOF! It turned them all to stone!"

"Uh... I don't think that's how it happened," Noelle said under her breath.

"Oh nonsense! Of course it was!" Bilbo corrected.

Noelle shook her head. I guess sixty years was a bigger difference than four year's time, so Bilbo remembered it differently.

Suddenly, Noelle's vision blackened. She put her hand on her head. Was she passing out or something?

"Execute Order 66," came a sinister voice inside her head.

Noelle's vision returned to normal, and she saw hobbits dancing and laughing to the music. She blinked several times to make sure this was real, and not some incredibly unrealistic dream, from which she would wake and find herself on the front lines with Obi-wan Kenobi.

What was that? she wondered. Was the Force trying to tell her something, or was she just having bad PTSD?

BOOM!

The tent behind Noelle was flying high into the air. Some of the hobbits yelled in surprise.

"What the-"

Had Gandalf accidentally set off a firework inside the tent?

The tent flew about thirty feet up and exploded into orange sparkling fireworks, but it didn't fade away. It was still bright and it flew higher. Then it expanded into the wings of a dragon.

Noelle's mouth dropped open. Feeling sick to her stomach, she stumbled backwards. She knew what that firework was supposed to be. But why? Was it some cruel joke of Gandalf's?

The dragon firework was circling back around towards the hobbits. They screamed and tried to run. Noelle ducked to the ground along with them as the dragon flew over their heads. Noelle was too blinded by her own emotions to sense the fear and panic in the crowd. If she had only calmed her mind, she would have realized that the dragon was exploding on the horizon further ahead.

The hobbits all cheered when they realized the dragon was simply one of Gandalf's fireworks.

Noelle sat on the grass, hugging her knees to her chest and taking deep breaths. She knew she shouldn't be so traumatized by a reminder of Smaug- but he was a reminder of her failure to save Laketown. She needed to move past her guilt. One thing the Jedi taught her was you had to live without punishing yourself. But that was something that hadn't seemed to stick with her.

"Noelle?" Gandalf, who had a pipe sticking out of his mouth, was glancing down at her with concern. "Are you alright?"

Noelle forced herself to stand up. "The dragon. Why was the dragon one of those?" she said.

A look of remorse and surprise passed Gandalf's face. "I am sorry, Noelle. I didn't know it would upset you. It was supposed to be a surprise in the end, but these two over here," he coughed, "ruined my surprise."

"These two" were two young hobbits around Frodo's age with wild hair. They were covered in ash.

Noelle raised her eyebrows.

"Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took, Frodo's cousins," Gandalf explained, shaking his head. "I have found some ways to keep them busy if they're bored!"

Gandalf set Merry and Pippin (as they were called) to work washing the dishes. Noelle sat beside him quietly as he watched them. She wondered if she should tell Gandalf about her weird episode earlier, but she decided not to. She didn't really know what advice he could offer her, and it was probably nothing.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the hobbits' clamoring. "Speech! Bilbo! Speech!"

Bilbo took his place in front of the hobbits, underneath the party tree and raised his mug of ale. Everyone clapped and cheered.

"I wonder what the Master of Ceremonies has got planned tonight," Gandalf commented, pipe still in his mouth.

"My dear Bagginses and Boffins! Tooks and Brandybucks!"

Merry and Pippin shouted in response behind Noelle and Gandalf.

Bilbo was still listing off names of hobbit-families. "Grubbs, Chubbs, Hornblowers, Bolgers, Bracegirdles, and Proudfoots!"

"Proudfeet!" a hobbit with exceptionally large and hairy feet objected.

Bilbo snorted and waved his hand. "Today is my one-hundred and eleventh birthday! Alas, eleventy-one years is far too short a time to live among such excellent and admirable hobbits!"

He paused for a moment to let everyone clap politely.

"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

The crowd was silent for a moment, trying to figure out what Bilbo meant. Even though she knew it was unladylike, Noelle spit her water back into the cup out of surprise. Gandalf gave her a look.

"What?!" she mouthed at him.

When Bilbo started speaking again, his tone was different- more somber. "I uh... have things to do..."

Noelle saw him put his hand in his pocket and fumble around. She knew exactly what he was going to do because she and seen him do it a thousand times before. He was going to put on the Ring in front of everyone. Noelle could sense the anticipation from the crowd, as they knew something was up and they were waiting for Bilbo to finish his sentence.

Bilbo glanced down at Frodo. "I regret to announce this is the end!" He looked up at Gandalf. "I am going now. I bid you all a very fond farewell." He looked at Noelle. "Good-bye."

Then he vanished from sight.

The hobbits gasped and began yelling in shock.

Gandalf immediately stood up.

"Where are you going?!" Noelle asked.

"This has gone on long enough!" Gandalf replied.

"What has?" Noelle was genuinely confused.

"The Ring. He's had it long enough-" Gandalf stopped short when he saw Noelle frowning. "The Ring is taking him over Noelle. He must be free of it." With that, Gandalf quickly scrambled out of the party field, which at this point, was in disarray.

Noelle stood up. Not knowing what else to do, she went over to find Frodo, who was staring silently at the ground.

"Are you ok, Frodo?"

Frodo looked up at her. "Yes, I'm fine."

Noelle didn't really believe him, but she changed the subject. "Is there anything I can do to help clean up?"

Frodo nodded. "They need help taking down tents, tables and washing dishes."

"I thought Merry and Pippin were- oh." Merry and Pippin had disappeared from the dishes as soon as Gandalf was gone.

Noelle didn't really want to freak the hobbits out any more by using the Force to take down tents. "I'm not good at tents," she said.

"Sam over here can tell you what to do," Frodo pointed at a friendly-looking hobbit with sandy hair.

Noelle smiled. "Hi Sam, nice to meet you."

"Miss Noelle, the pleasure is all mine!" Sam stumbled with his words. "I've heard so much about you from Mr. Bilbo's stories."

"Well, I hope he hasn't told you everything. What can I do to help?"

"The dishes are over there..." Sam gestured, then he looked away from the area, his cheeks red.

Noelle frowned. She could sense his anxiety over something. Then she noticed a pretty, golden-haired hobbit smiling in Sam's direction.

That's what it was! Sam liked a girl! Noelle decided to poke fun at him, because she hadn't done anything playful in a long time. "That one girl over there is really pretty..."

Sam was avoiding looking at her. "Aye, she is..." His face turned beet red.

"What's her name?" Noelle asked, enjoying Sam's reaction.

"Rosie Cotton."

"Why don't you go talk to her?" she suggested.

Sam shook his head, still looking down. "I can't."

"Why not?"

Sam looked up. "Haven't you ever been in love before, Miss Noelle?"

Noelle was stunned. She hadn't expected that question. Because she hadn't ever been in love. The Jedi weren't allowed to love.

Now it was her turn to look at the ground. "Where I come from, I wasn't allowed to love," she whispered.

"Begging your pardon, Miss Noelle, but that must have been a terribly lonely way to live," Sam commented.

Noelle swallowed. "Yeah, now that you mention it. It was."