Disclaimers: See Chapter 1 for more info.

Acknowledgements: To TooLazyToLogin for giving me the original idea for this series. To DoctorWhovian18, for her ideas on pranking, ideas on other things about the story, her advice and helpfulness, and the list go on. I'd also like to thank DoctorWhovian18 for her small idea that's coming up in this chapter. I'd also like to thank ValueMyHeart for reviewing, following, and favoriting this story. To all my readers who are favoriting, following, and reviewing this story. And I'd also like to thank Frodo and the hobbits for their help with this story as well. Yes, that sounds crazy to the normal readers, but I'm still thanking Frodo and his friends anyway.

The poll results are in and final. Thank you for those who participated in voting, as I needed the results to help me with what's to come.

The weather turned colder outside. Frodo probably spent more time wearing his dragon-hide gloves, cloak, and everything warm and comfortable than taking them off, due to his Herbology class being outside and his Potions class in the dungeons. Although he wanted to worry about height, what concerned him most was the cold. He was usually warm-blooded, but could admit to seeing very few winters in the Shire, which made this an entirely new experience.

In the last four weeks, prior to the end of their first term at Hogwarts, Ron tracked down Frodo in the Great Hall at lunch, where he was drinking hot tea from his goblet. Although they weren't well acquainted, Ron knew he had to get Frodo warmed up a bit through distraction.

Ron asked Frodo, getting his attention, "Say Frodo, mind playing wizard's chess for a bit? It'll help warm you up; besides that tea you're drinking."

Frodo glanced up at Ron. Was he serious? "You want to play chess with me?"

"It wouldn't hurt. Have you ever played chess? With wizard's chess, the rules are the same as muggle chess, but the pieces move and talk. Come on, I'll show you. We're setting up now," said Ron, heading over to the Gryffindor table.

Frodo drank some of his tea down, before standing up with it. As he spun around, Frodo spilled his hot tea all over Lotho's green uniform. Lotho yelped in pain. Frodo tried to apologize and searched for a towel, but was grabbed by his vest by Lotho, who looked ready to punch him.

"You'll pay for this, Baggins!" said Lotho, readying his fist.

Professor McGonagall broke the two hobbit boys up with her words. "Mr. Sackville-Baggins, Mr. Baggins, what's happened here?"

"Frodo spilt hot tea all over my clean uniform!" complained Lotho. "He needs to be punished."

"It was an accident, professor. I didn't know Lotho was there," admitted Frodo, an apologetic and truthful look in his eyes.

"Ten points from Slytherin and if I hear another word from you Mr. Sackville-Baggins over an accident, then I hope in the future you learn to behave yourself," said Professor McGonagall. "Now, run off to the hospital wing. You'll want to take care of those burns at once."

"You owe me a uniform, Frodo Baggins," said Lotho, charging out of the Great Hall. "I don't know why you spend your days living in two houses. A proper hobbit would only choose to stay in one hobbit-hole." He wandered off.

"It's a summer house my parents bought, thanks to Bilbo Baggins, Lotho! That's the reason I stayed over at Hobbiton!" called Frodo in frustration.

"That's enough, Mr. Baggins!" called Professor McGonagall back, not in the mood for Frodo and Lotho to start fighting.

Frodo glanced down at his empty goblet. Frustrated and a little parched, Frodo set the goblet down on the table, where he refilled with hot tea. Being careful this time, Frodo made his way over to the Gryffindor table, where indeed Ron and Harry were playing a game of Wizard's Chess. Harry had just lost against Ron, again. Ron and Harry peered up at Frodo, who set his tea down and joined them and Hermione, who were at a part of the table all to themselves.

"Great job with Lotho!" said Ron. "I couldn't help overhearing."

"It was an accident. I didn't see him behind me," admitted Frodo. "Still…" He couldn't help a chuckle.

Hermione said, annoyed, "Honestly, the way you hobbits go after Lotho makes it all seem…"

"Hermione, Lotho's friends with Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle," said Ron. "The least that could've happened to S.B. was a wet uniform."

"That's what everyone nicknames him and his family at home, in the Shire," said Frodo, sheepish.

"All the more reason to give him that abbreviation," said Harry. He changed the subject, asking Frodo, "You were going to play Wizard's chess, too, Frodo?"

Frodo shrugged. "It seems I am." He took another long sip of his tea, before setting it down on the table.

As Frodo moved over to Harry's spot, setting his goblet down a few inches away from the board, Hermione asked him, "So, you're going home too, Frodo? I hear Sam and his siblings are staying at Hogwarts, Merry and Pippin as well. Fredegar's going home, too."

"I am returning home. I miss my parents. I know Merry and Pippin don't have any particular reason for staying here, unless their parents…"

"Well, they are rich," whispered Hermione.

"What? And Frodo's not?" asked Ron.

"I'm average. My father's a respectable hobbit and I love my mother with all my heart. I guess I look up to my father, but he's taken to eating a lot of food. He favors food, especially my grandfather's cooking. I don't see the point," said Frodo.

"You're a hobbit, ain't you? I thought food was a necessity, or so Merry tells us," asked Ron.

"I know. I guess I'm something of an oddball. Maybe that's fine," said Frodo.

"You don't have to be like everybody else, Frodo. You can be you," said Hermione.

"Thanks Hermione," said Frodo, grinning at her.

Ron was clearly annoyed. "All right. Let's play chess. Do you know how to play chess, Frodo?"

"Not really. How do you play?" asked Frodo, curious.

"Well, the rules are fairly simple to understand: basically, you need to keep your king away from the opposing pieces. The queen and all the other pieces protect your king. The goal here is to get your defending pieces to your opponents' king with a check. In the final turn, a checkmate ends the game and you win. Are you with me so far?"

"I think I understand. You have a king and surrounding pieces defending that king. The goal is to complete the game with a check and checkmate when you block your opponent's king," said Frodo.

"Exactly," said Harry. He admitted, "Although, I'm terrible at chess."

"Well, let's see how Frodo does," said Ron, giving some optimism. "And since my chess pieces are white, I get to go first."

And so the game began. Because the chess pieces Frodo was using were Seamus Finnegan's chess pieces, they did their best to instruct Frodo in how to play. Of course, the chess pieces were rather obnoxious and became immediately annoyed if Frodo told a piece to move somewhere that wasn't correct. Eventually, after losing his first match to Ron, a thought crept up on Frodo about a similar game he played in the Shire:

"Now that I think on it, there's a similar game we play in the Shire. It's called Ro-bust, only instead of protecting anyone, you have to knock your opponent's pieces off the board and be victorious by the number of pieces you have over your opponent. It's a rough board game. Our army usually plays it to see whose mentality is better," explained Frodo. "It's quite strategic."

"It's called robust?" Hermione asked.

"Ro-bust, with a hyphen between the "ro" and the "bust"," asked Frodo.

"Oh, Ro-bust," said Hermione, understanding now.

Ron was confused. "What does it matter? It all sounds the same to me."

"It depends. Do you want a game based on strength or would you rather bust up opponent's pieces? It's two different meanings, Ron," said Frodo.

"No it isn't," said Ron, getting into an argument with Frodo.

"Whatever," said Frodo, not wanting to get into an argument.

"It doesn't matter which way it's called. Let's just call it square and move on," said Harry, ending Frodo and Ron's argument right then and there.

Ron asked Frodo, politely, "Ready for another round?"

"All right, but one more round," said Frodo, knowing he had other things to do.

And so Ron and Frodo played another match. Again, Frodo lost. Ron was just too good of a chess player that Frodo couldn't particularly beat him, but then Frodo was getting strategic and figuring out ways to stay on the board a little longer. By the end of the round, Frodo left the Great Hall, waving to the trio in a see-you-later-until-next-time manner. Harry, Ron and Hermione continued their conversation, as Harry returned to his spot before the chess board.

o-o-o

On the second week before Christmas break, Professor McGonagall took down names of those staying at Hogwarts for the holidays. Harry signed up at once. Lotho didn't sign up, for he knew he would be returning home to his dear mother. Frodo didn't sign up either, and though Lotho picked on him for it, Frodo knew he needed to spend time with family, make amends and do whatever it took to be with them. He did not know why he felt this way, but this year would be special. Fredegar was another that didn't sign up, as he missed his sister and wanted to see her dearly. As for Sam, Merry and Pippin, they all signed up. Merry didn't have siblings, but then he wanted for once to see what it was like away from the crowds. Ron and his brothers signed up because their parents were heading to Romania over the holidays to see their brother Charlie.

Also during that week, Hogwarts was covered in several feet of snow. Frodo felt all the more cold and would drink lots of hot tea in the Great Hall, just to rejuvenate himself. This was the only season where he didn't care how tall or short everyone was, but it was still annoying him at times. Or maybe the cold numbed his thoughts. All he could think about was the cold. In a way, he was relieved there wasn't snow in the Shire during the winter months, but then – now that he recalled – the Shire didn't have much of a winter. While he didn't mind the snow, it was the cold that chilled him. He could do without the cold.

While bundled up, on the last week of classes, before the end of term, Frodo received from his brown owl Prim his exam results from his Hobbit Introduction to Magic class. He passed with flying colors! He scanned the page from left to right, finding that on the note read that his Charm spells needed practicing but he made a great effort. At least everything else was flawless and he could now move on to his regular classes without the introduction course. Storing the parchment back in the envelope, Frodo placed his exam results inside his trunk, closing it and locking it. His parents would want to see his exam results, that much was certain. Good thing he wrote his parents a letter, telling them ahead of time he would be returning home for the holidays.

As he walked around the school that Friday afternoon, now free from classes and nearing the end of term, Frodo was met by Merry, Pippin, Sam and Fredegar. They were the only four to still carry around their final exam results. Pippin looked about Frodo for his exam results.

"Where's your exam results from our introduction class?" asked Pippin.

Frodo told the four hobbit boys, "Oh, I already put it away in my dormitory. Sorry."

"How did you do, Frodo?" asked Merry.

"Oh, I did pretty well. With Charms, I still need some work, but the rest is flawless," said Frodo. As the four hobbit boys congratulated him, Frodo turned to Sam and asked him, "How did you do, Sam?"

"Oh, eh… it's nothing," said Sam, doing his best to hide his envelope.

Frodo snatched the envelope from Sam, who flustered at getting it back from him. Opening the parchment, Frodo read the results aloud: "Says here you passed Herbology flawlessly. Your classes still need work, you're acceptable in Charms and… you excel at Transfiguration."

Sam swiped the parchment and envelope away from Frodo. As he stuffed the parchment back inside the envelope, Sam admitted in grief, "That isn't my only concern. I've lost my sister's cat Cotton. She got out again and is now roaming about the castle somewhere."

"Do you know where she ran off? Maybe we can find her," said Merry, welcoming the search.

"I think Cotton wandered off into the kitchens. I'll find her. But she doesn't like me that well. She likes my sister Marigold," admitted Sam. "Anyway, my father will have my head for these grades. I'm relieved I'm staying here. I can go on the search for Cotton."

"Isn't there something we can do?" asked Frodo.

"I don't think so. I mean, we all came here in different years at home. No, I'm on my own for this. Lucky my brothers did a lot better than me," admitted Sam.

"We'll find your cat, Sam," said Pippin, willing to help him out.

"Thank you, you two," said Sam, blushing with enthusiasm at Merry and Pippin, forgetting that Frodo also agreed to help find his cat.

"I probably should head back to the Gryffindor Tower. Get packing," said Fredegar. "Of course, there isn't much to pack."

"I'll come with you. I might as well head to the Ravenclaw Tower for a while, warm up," said Frodo, following the taller hobbit boy. As they walked through the corridors and up the Grand Staircase, Frodo asked Fredegar, "So, how did you do on your exams?"

"Fairly well. All that studying paid off. I got 'Exceeds Expectations' on the spell work. I wonder why we weren't tested in Potions, if you got that part in your exam. Some students did. I didn't," said Fredegar.

"Neither did I. If anything, I'd probably get Exceeds Expectations, nothing higher. I don't like Snape. He picks on me too much. It's almost as bad as Harry," admitted Frodo.

"Well… I hope I see you around when we get back home. Hey, we could have the same compartment," said Fredegar.

"Yeah, we could," said Frodo, unsure how it would be on the train home.

Returning to the Ravenclaw Tower, Frodo felt loneliness creep up on him. He wanted to help find Sam's cat, but Sam, strangely enough, listened to Merry and Pippin more than he. Maybe he missed something. Still, he wanted to drop off his books, supplies and satchel in the Boys' Dormitory. Returning to the dorm, Frodo put away his books and supplies in his trunk. He wouldn't need this stuff until he got back at Hogwarts. Oh well. Maybe he could find Fred and George. Yup, that sounded like a good idea, before term ended.

Frodo left the Ravenclaw Boys' Dormitory with a new mission: find Fred and George Weasley. They were bound to come up with something new… maybe a new secret passageway! Either way, the mischievous side to Frodo Baggins wasn't fully finished yet.

Ro-bust is a game I just invented. I'm not sure if the rules relate to any other games, but I hope this time I invented a game that's new. At least the rules are similar to chess and you players still get to knock off opponent's pieces.