Needless to say, the four where soon kicked out of the massive Bag End, told to go someplace else until they learned to improve the silence. Laughing and joking, the five sauntered down the small road. Each hobbit was energetic, talking to everyone else at once, not caring if they weren't heard; it was simply for the joy of talking with one another. Suddenly, a voice pierced their conversation. Now, there is a fine line between shrill and simply high pitched. The owner of this voice was flirting with that line.
"Oh, there you are!"
Hannah Noakes was happily trotting down the road towards them. Merry, Sam, Frodo, and Diamond all groaned inwardly. Pippin groaned outwardly and Diamond ground her elbow into his ribs. It wasn't so much of Hannah's annoying, prissy, over-dramatic, outrageous and downright ridiculous behavior that bothered them the most, it was the fact that she was of the Noakes family. Noakes' where known to be considerably....well....dense. Though the Noakes' knew nought of it, they were the butt of almost every joke or chiding remark in Hobbiton. Hannah cheerfully pushed her way into the group of four, putting her arm around Diamond's shoulder, blowing a kiss to Merry, ignoring Sam, and openly making eyes at Frodo. All conversation that had existed previously was silenced and filled by the pointless, non-stop prating of Hannah. Diamond had to repeatedly force herself not to roll her eyes. Sam hummed to himself, attempting to drown out the babble in his mind. Merry stared off into space, wondering what dinner was going to be, offering the occasional, "Yes, of course," or an absent nod. Frodo reasoned to himself about the idea of retreat while concentrating fiercely on a blade of grass he was rolling around in his fingers. Pippin shamelessly ignored Hannah's chatter and began cooking up more mischievous deeds. Soon, each hobbit gave the excuse that "they had to get home" and would scamper off, thanking heaven that they were free. However, Diamond and Pippin didn't have it so easy. Pippin lived across the water, and it was a long way to the Smials. Diamond lived just north of the Tooks, even farther. Hannah wasn't fazed at all. She didn't even come up for air as she continually chattered and gossiped about any topic that came to her mind. Pippin wracked his brain over and over again, trying to find some way to escape. Then, an idea popped into his mind. It wasn't a very good one, provided, but, Hannah was pretty dim....Pippin suddenly stopped and began to walk in a different direction, calling after himself,
"Well, I regret that I must be gone, I shall see you two later."
Then, Pippin stopped and stared especially hard at Diamond.
"Don't worry about looking for me, I'm not getting into any trouble at all."
With that, he darted off.
Hannah just nodded and waved goodbye; Diamond took the hint immediately, even though she was a bit mad at Pip for leaving her alone with Hannah. She allowed Hannah to go on for a little more.
"Well, Hannah, I believe that I should probably go and look for Master Peregrin. Who knows what sort of trouble he may be getting into."
Diamond turned to leave, but was stopped short by Hannah's hand on her arm.
"Wait, Diamond, I need to ask you a question."
Hannah seemed mysteriously serious, and Diamond was almost frightened by it.
"What is it, Hannah?"
Hannah looked down at her feet for a few awkward moments, then looked back up.
"How do you do it?"
Diamond gave a quizzical look.
"How do I do what?"
"How do you get all of the handsome hobbits to surround you? You must have some sort of trick to it! Such a lucky girl...."
Diamond raised her eyebrows.
"Handsome hobbits? What, you mean, Frodo and Pippin and the others?"
Hannah said nothing, but Diamond noticed that she seemed to flush disgustingly when she mentioned Pippin.
"Listen, Hannah, they're all just good friends! I've known Pippin and Merry and Frodo since I was little!"
But Hannah was not convinced.
"Oh come now, Diamond, tell me your secret. Surely you aren't that stingy...."
"Hannah, there isn't any secret to tell!"
Hannah immediately stuck out her bottom lip ever so slightly.
"Please?"
Diamond ignored her and turned on her heel to search for Pippin, leaving a fuming Hannah behind.
There was some little nagging, gnawing thought in the back of Diamond's brain that, no matter how hard she ignored it, continued to nag and gnaw and pester. She constantly shoved it to the side; it was making her mad. It only made her search for Pippin even more frustrating. Where was that confounded Took?
She searched the glade where she had been writing yesterday, she went back to Bag End, she traveled even as far as the Smial's. Finally, she sat down just outside of Hobbiton, disappointed. Her hunt had been fruitless. Fruitless..... Then, she remembered the one spot that she hadn't checked.
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Yeah, I know it was a short chapter, but I hope to have the next one up soon! ^_^ Leave a review if you liked it!
