Chapter 4

The three Hobbits reluctantly followed Gandalf. The whole way, Sam and Pippin stared at the ground, and Merry whimpered. Finally, Gandalf could stand it no longer. "STOP THAT WHIMPERING YOU PATHETIC NUISANCE!" Merry yelped and fell down. "Some future Master of Buckland!" scoffed Gandalf as he turned to continue. Merry got up and followed although he looked taken aback and quite frightened.

The four of them traveled in silence. None of the Hobbits dared speak, at the chance of upsetting Gandalf. As for Gandalf, he did not speak because he was deep in thought. If only I had a plan before I said "I've got a much better use for you" he thought. Now what will I do? hmmmm... Gandalf began to contemplate all possible 'uses' for the Hobbits. Finally an idea came to him. It wasn't very good but it was the best he could do, considering where his walking had led him.

The three Hobbits stared at the door in horror. "Oh no!" said Sam in disbelief. Pippin grew pale and looked as though he would be sick. Merry looked pleadingly at Gandalf.

"Please, Gandalf...don't make us go...go.." Merry stuttered "in there." he finished in a hushed whisper.

"Well that's exactly where you're going." Gandalf replied mercilessly and knocked on the door.

The door opened and Elrond gasped "Gandalf, why have you brought them here?" He asked, adding a disgusted tone and emphasis to 'them'.

"They will be cleaning your house." Gandalf replied.

"All of it??" The three Hobbits said in unison.

"Yes, ALL of it." Gandalf replied and said to Elrond, "it is their punishment for the terrible deeds they have done to you." and with that, Gandalf pushed the Hobbits into the house and shut the door. He sighed. At least they would be out of his hair for a while. His plan was turning out to be more brilliant then he thought.

Elrond smiled wickedly at the Hobbits. "I expect my home to be in perfect condition when I return. It must be spotless!" He smiled wickedly at them once more, and then he left.

"Well...to look at the bright side of things, at least he won't be around to tell us what to do...and yell at us.." Said Merry. Pippin nodded in agreement.

"Well, where should we start?" asked Sam, although cleaning house was the last thing he wanted to do..it was near time for Elevensies. When Sam received no answer he decided to take charge. "Okay, we'll start in Dining Hall then.." Merry and Pippin followed him into the Dining Hall. It was a beautiful room, with a long table carved from finest wood and chairs to match.

"Ones missing.." commented Merry.

"What do you mean?" asked Sam.

"Six...seven...eight...nine. There's only nine chairs." said Pippin "There should be ten." Sam shrugged.

"I guess he must be using that one elsewhere.." Merry nodded.

"Yeah...you're probably right.." But Merry had the strange suspiscion that something bad had happened to him in one of those chairs...what he didn't know (more like what he didn't remember) was that the night when he and Pippin had gotten drunk the chair he had broken was one of these.

"Hmm..." Sam thought. "This room looks spotless to me...I don't think it needs cleaning...do you?" The other two Hobbits agreed, and so they moved on to Elrond's bedroom. The Hobbits couldn't help but giggle as they remembered past pranks they had played on Elrond. Sam went to make the bed, Merry went to hang up Elrond's robes, and Pippin went to polish Elrond's shiny headband.

Sam picked up something off the floor. "What do you suppose this is?" he asked. "I'd think it was a pillow but there's stuff coming out of it...white fluffy stuff."

Merry looked out from the closed at it. "It looks like a sack of feathers to me" he said. "What do you think, Pip?" Pippin agreed with Merry.

"Well what do you think I should do with it?"

"I don't know..." said Pippin, "but I hope he's not planning on using it to play a trick on us!" After hearing this, Sam decided it would be best to dispose of the item. He found several more, being hidden under the covers, and got rid of those as well. After finishing making the bed, Sam stepped back to admire his neat job. But something was missing.

"Why do you think Elrond doesn't have any pillows?"

"He's an Elf...maybe Elves don't use pillows.." suggested Pippin.

"Do you think Elrond was really planning to use those feathers to get back at us?" asked Merry.

"Most likely!" replied the other two Hobbits in unison. Pippin looked down at the shiny headband. "Hey! I've got an idea!"

"Really?! What is it, Pip?" asked Merry eagerly. Pippin giggled and began to tell the Hobbits of his plan. Sam and Merry agreed that it was brilliant. "Too bad we can't go to the storehouse to get supplies.." said Merry.

"Maybe we can!" said Pippin. "I'll crawl out the window, go to the storehouse, get what we need, and come back. It won't take me long!" And with that, he was gone.

Merry and Sam didn't have to wait long before Pippin jumped back into the room. "Did you get it?" Inquired Merry, and Pippin replied by holding up a bottle of glue triumphantly. Sam ran to get Elrond's shiny headband. He held it out to Pippin and he carefully began putting glue all around the inside. When they were finished they put it back carefully.

The Hobbits went through every room in the house finding each room much too clean to need to be cleaned again. Strangely, the room they found themselves in happened to be the kitchen. The Hobbits eyed the cupboards hungrily. "Maybe.." said Sam, "maybe Elrond wouldn't mind if we had some Dinner. After all, we missed Lunch and afternoon tea."

"I don't know." said Merry thoughtfully "I think he'd mind, and be quite angry at us for 'stealing' his food. I don't think we should eat here." Pippin looked pleadingly at Merry.

"Please Merry." He said in that adorable way of his, along with his saddest puppy-dog eyes.

Merry faltered and said "Well...I suppose it'd be alright." Pippin and Sam grinned.

After the Hobbits had finished eating, and cleaning up the mess they had left in the kitchen, they began to wonder where Elrond had gone and when he was coming back. They decided to wait for him in the Parlor. Merry and Pippin fell asleep in their chairs and Sam began to feel lonely. He wished that Frodo was with him, for he knew Frodo would stay awake to talk with him. Finally Sam couldn't take the silence anymore. He needed something to do. Maybe Merry and Pippin wouldn't notice if he left, just for a little while. Sam slipped out the door and went to visit Frodo.

Later that night Elrond arrived home to find two Hobbits sleeping in his parlor. He reached down to awake Pippin. "No...I don't wanna pet the bunny..." mumbled Pippin in his sleep. Elrond sighed. He was too tired to care, so he decided to just go to bed. When Elrond had disappeared down the hall, Pippin opened his eyes and the last thing he heard before he drifted off to sleep again was, "WHERE ARE MY GOOSE-DOWN PILLOWS??"

I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Sorry it took so long to update, but Amber has been gone on vacation. Yes, and credit for this chapter goes to her...her Pen Name is ZwietenFruhstuck, just so you know! Anyway, I shall have the next chapter here soon! Please Review!