So when I first started planning this story, I never imagined I would have to split the prologue into three parts! I had intended for this to merely be an intro to the first chapter, and then it kept going and...well, here we are. At least I was able to get this chapter out a little earlier this week. But I swear the main part of the story starts next week!

Prologue Part 3- The Shire's Prince

Seventeen years had passed the sleepy Shire in no time at all. Belladonna Took, the wayward princess, had set out to do all she had promised herself causing quite the stir in her fellow hobbits. Upon returning, she rode her pony straight to the Party Tree, where Baudry Longfoot was celebrating his forty-second birthday. She grabbed poor Bungo Baggins by the lapels of his good jacket and snogged the life out of him. The impropriety of the event was talked about for years, much to the embarrassment of the entire Baggins family. However, Bungo just gave her a lopsided smile and asked her to marry him for the eleventh time. This time she said yes.

When she wasn't busy attending to her new husband and the construction of their new smial, she was pestering her father with trade negotiations on behalf of the dwarrows of Ered Luin. Gerontius Took was perplexed, for while he always knew his eldest daughter to be headstrong, he had never seen her so interested in politics. However, upon revealing the despicable curse that befell the young prince, many on the Hobbit's council were up in arms about how best they could support their neighbors.

It took five years to reach a settlement that was agreed upon by all, and in that time the Durins and their people had finally reached Ered Luin. It had been quite the journey for the dwarrows of Erebor and their royal family. Smaug had attempted to ambush them on their way out with an army of orcs. King Thror led the charge to protect his retreating people that ultimately cost him his life, but cost the great orc General, Azog, his arm.

As King Thrain was new to rule, there was much unrest with his people especially on an alliance with the hobbits who they mistrusted for their Fae-like appearances. Fris and Belladonna were able to broker a contract that would unite their people with betrothal of Prince Thorin to Belladonna's first-born child. The only stipulation in place was that should the true love to break Prince Thorin's curse not be the child of Bungo and Belladonna Baggins, the contract would be immediately terminated. The fact that the wellbeing of the eldest prince was considered at all endeared many to the hobbits and their aid.

Therefore, in spite of the fact that Belladonna was the ninth child of the Thain and in no way close to the line of succession, many dwarrows had still arrived to the Shire on this day, the birth of the hobbit prince, betrothed of Prince Thorin. Bungo paced outside the bedroom, distraught and torn between being there for his wife and his natural need to play host to the dwarrows invading his smial.

Of course, there was King Thrain and Queen Fris with their now three children. Prince Thorin, you would not even imagine as being cursed upon first glance, was growing rapidly into a gangly seventeen year old with the barest hint of a dark beard on his face. Prince Frerin, now twelve, was golden haired and mischievous. Many a time, he was able to drag Thorin and Dwalin, Fundin's youngest, into his tricks and games that resulted in Balin having to intervene in all the exasperation the young adult could manage. Then, there was Princess Dis, all of three in her nappies tugging on Thorin's hand in demand of his attention while his eyes wandered pleadingly over to where Frerin and Dwalin were playing with Balin and Fundin watching on.

Those were just the dwarrows in the house. Many more were stationed in the town of Hobbiton, milling about in the pubs and inns or guarding the smial their royal family currently resided. In short, Bungo Baggins was getting his first real taste of life amongst the dwarrows, and it would have been stressful enough if his dear wife wasn't screaming in the next room over.

Finally, the midwife came out to announce the birth of a healthy baby boy to the new father. Everyone cheered as Bungo was ushered into the bedroom where his wife lay, and he was handed the small crying bundle. Golden curls already graced the crown of his head, and the tufts of his feet. Bungo felt like it was a very appropriate moment to tear up. He leaned in to give his exhausted wife a kiss to her forehead and show her the fruit of her labor. She cooed as she counted his little toes and cradled the babe close to her breast in an attempt to soothe his whimpers.

"He's beautiful. Our little Bilbo." She declared.

Bungo could not argue with her on that. After Bilbo was fed, and both mother and son were cleaned up, they began to usher their guests in to see the new prince of the Shire. Being his intended, Thorin was allowed to enter first with his mother and father. Still a child himself, the significance of this moment was lost on Thorin as he gazed down at the small thing that screamed louder than Dis not even twenty minutes ago with wary hesitation.

"What do you think, Thorin?" Belladonna prompted with a smile as she held the babe out towards him.

Thorin allowed his eyes to wander all over the tiny creature, but he made no move to take it. Partly in fear of breaking the smallest baby he has ever seen, and partly because of one feature that made itself overly apparent to him.

"His name is Bilbo." His mother stated, urging him to speak.

"Why does Bilbo have such big feet?" He finally blurted out earning a swat to his backside.

Belladonna laughed in delight explaining that hobbits had big feet. Thorin had definitely noticed this fact and wanted to argue that dwarrows had beards, but weren't born with them. After all, the hobbit's feet were already bigger than Dis' own! It was odd. However, the fear of another swat stayed his tongue.

"Thorin, don't you have a gift for Prince Bilbo?" His father nudged him.

Thorin blinked, having almost forgotten. He dug around in his pocket before revealing his small token. Even though he was royal, it was still customary for every dwarf to have a Craft. He had been working towards finding his and thought he would try in his hand at carving. An old miner by the name of Bifur who he had become fast friends with showed him how to hold the wood block and sweep the knife with the grain. He still wasn't sure if this was his Craft, but he handed the talisman over anyways. Much like the necklace he wore, he carved an acorn at the base of an oak tree with the Khuzdul word barak etched on the base. It was clumsy and rigid, but the details seemed to bring his first creation to life.

"Go on, tell Princess Belladonna what it means." His mother reminded him as he passed it over to the hobbit woman.

"It says 'shield' in Khuzdul." He mumbled trying to keep from fidgeting. "It's to keep Prince Bilbo safe."

"A little oaken shield." Belladonna mused. "I think it is perfect."

She gave him a smile, and Thorin felt himself beaming. After all, praise of one's Craft was of the highest compliment a dwarf could receive. Now that he had done what was asked of him though, he found himself getting bored. He turned to his mother.

"Can I go play with Dwalin and Frerin now?" He pleaded.

"Don't you want to hold Bilbo?" She questioned.

He took one look at the sleeping babe with the button nose and big feet.

"No." He answered honestly.

Fris sighed before giving him the affirmation he sought. His smile brightened, and with a quick bow to Belladonna and Bungo, he raced to the door and out to the parlor where he last left his friend and brother. The rest of the room laughed while Fris merely shook her head. Clearly, her visions of a romantic love at first sight between the two was dashed much to the amusement of her husband and her friend.

Unfortunately, Belladonna's laughter jostled little Bilbo who immediately started to whine on the verge of a full blown meltdown. Belladonna quickly started to rock him to ease his frustration.

"Such a fussy little gardenia, our Bilbo." She complained.

"A Baggins through and through." Bungo puffed up.

Belladonna rolled her eyes. "That's what I'm afraid of."

The couples shared another laugh while Bilbo kicked and stretched against his mistreatment. Almost as if he realized he was the butt of their little jest; Bilbo blinked against the light and furrowed his little brows. Despite his grumpy and fastidious demeanor, Belladonna only found love in her heart for the babe she had the honor of calling hers.

"Amad! Amad! I wanna see the baby!"

Dis had managed to sneak her way through the open door that Thorin had left and was now pulling on her mother's skirts in demand of the new creature that held everyone's attention. Knowing Dis wasn't the gentlest soul, Fris was hesitant to put the infant in her path.

"Hop up here with me, Dis. We'll hold him together." Belladonna offered patting the bed next to her.

Dis wasted no time in scrambling up to her new perch as she held her hands out expectantly. Fris looked over at Belladonna to make sure it was alright, but the new mother merely smiled warmly and nodded. Fris urged Dis to be very careful as Belladonna placed Bilbo into her lap.

"What do you think of Bilbo?" Belladonna asked her arms around the toddler to guide her hold.

"Bilbo, I love you." Dis declared before bringing her head down to smack into the newborn own.

With Dis being fairly young herself, she had thankfully yet to develop the thick skull of dwarrows, and certainly didn't hit hard enough that the traditional greeting would have any lasting harm on the young hobbit. Still, Bungo released a cry as Bilbo screamed at the top of his little lungs. Fris yanked Dis off the bed taking her into the other room to reprimand her as Belladonna tried to soothe poor Bilbo. Thrain couldn't help releasing a deep belly laugh at the irony of Thorin wanting nothing to do with the baby, and Dis headbutting him in adoration.

"My goodness! What an active hole I've stumbled upon. Dwarflings running rampage, faunts crying, and no one to offer me tea at the door."

Everyone looked up to see Gandalf duck into the bedroom. Bungo sucked in a sharp gasp in realizing that he was making a very poor host indeed.

"That's right! There's supper to start and letters to write and...tea! Of course, tea. I'll be right back, Gandalf!" Bungo declared before nearly running out of the room.

Thrain made his excuses, still chuckling under his breath, to give the two old friends some space. Belladonna merely shot Gandalf a look as she continued trying to rock the still heavily screaming Bilbo.

"Tea, Gandalf? I would think a bit of Shire wine would be more to your liking."

"Tempt me not, Belladonna Baggins. You know my weakness for such spirits." He teased.

She huffed a laugh around her attempts at alleviating the continuous screams of the newborn. Reaching out Gandalf let his hand pass over Bilbo's brow reciting a minor spell to ease the pain. Bilbo tempered some, but stubbornly refused to give up crying altogether.

"My dear fellow, you've barely begun to already have so much to complain about in your life."

Belladonna groaned. "I'm doomed."

Gandalf released a chuckle of his own. "Well, 'get back twice what's been given' I believe is the saying you hobbits use."

Belladonna shook her head with light eye roll while Gandalf smoothed Bilbo's hair until he finally settled down. She looked over the fidgeting bundle with exasperated fondness.

"I suppose you are not just here to give aid to weary mothers with disgruntled faunts."

"Well, not just." Gandalf stated with a twinkle in his eye. "I figured it only fair to offer a blessing onto the first-born child of a dear friend."

Belladonna quirked her head. She knew well that magic was never as whimsical as Gandalf's fireworks made it seem. If Gandalf was offering this to her child, he must have foreseen great things in his future. Belladonna curled Bilbo tighter into her arms. Greatness was not always a happy verdict. However, she would be a fool to refuse so grand a gift. She nodded her consent to continue. Since this wasn't a countercurse, Gandalf did not have to take long to prepare his simple blessing. He merely put one hand on Bilbo's forehead as the words flowed through him.

"Bilbo Baggins, Prince of the Shire, heed well the gifts I offer:

May your curiosity never waver.

May courage always be in your favor.

And whatever your dreams may breach,

May you never find them out of reach."

Sparkles of magic rained down on Bilbo causing the babe to sneeze before they fizzled out. After finishing the job he set out to accomplish, Gandalf let the rest of his visit pass in good company and good food before disappearing the next morning. Bungo and Belladonna's family had been notified via mail, and they stopped by sporadically over the next three days to see their grandson/nephew/cousin. The dwarrows remained until the end of the week, and though reluctant to see their friends go, the worn hobbit parents were relieved to have their smial to themselves again with one very precious addition.

Couple of things: 1) Baudry Longfoot is just an OC I made with no bearing whatsoever to the story. 2)I mentioned at the beginning of this story that I had to warp the timeline to make it fit to my needs so sorry that the ages of the characters don't fit to canon. 3) This is the last of the rhyming couplets (I know I'm disappointed too). 4) After this, we will jump to Bilbo at 33 and Thorin at 50 (almost 51) and there will be no more time skips. I really hope that hasn't been too confusing.

Big thanks to PeonyRose, my only reviewer thus far. I appreciate your support of my story! I would also like to thank KariBookworm, mari oshiro08, firesword01, and sampta for following as well. It's makes it easier to write knowing I have people out there actually watching! Feel free to follow/review, and I will be back next week with the ACTUAL first chapter.

Thanks, Sunny