Hello! How are you doing? Finals are finally over, so I have some extra time to type and publish. Hopefully I can stay consistent!

--E--

"Who cares if he barely comes up to my belly-button?" a Gryffindor girl exclaimed in the commons room. "Did you see the bloke's feet?"

"Yeah, the size of boots with furry wigs!" a boy said with wide-eyes. "He makes my dad's look normal."

"Like-like," the girl rambled, "I know lots about magical creatures and things -- I'm planning to go into that field, y'know -- but I've never seen or heard about hobbits before... And did you see his ears? He's like a house-elf or a goblin, but not."

"Dunno, but I'd much rather have hobbits around the school than dementors any day."

"True, true."

While the conversation moved on to potions homework, Harry huffed to himself and removed himself from earshot. He had been eavesdropping, trying to shovel information out of his peers, but still found nothing important or worthy of his time. With Quidditch, O.W.L.S, detention, and Voldemort's return, every second was too expensive to waste, too limited to ignore. Yet, the time he did spare revealed a little more about the creature -- not enough to satisfy him, but enough for him to paint a picture of the hobbit.

During breakfast that morning, after Dumbledore briefly announced the temporary guest, Harry had noticed that Mr. Baggins sat at the end of the teachers' table, sitting on the tallest seat available. It had infuriated him, almost as much as Umbridge's presence, when the hobbit sat in the spot Hagrid usually did. It had flooded fire in his body when the creature, bearing evil, seemed to replace Hagrid, seemed to be the reason why the half-giant was absent. And it did not help that the creature had made fast acquaintances with Professor Grubbly-plank either.

With this, his mood had not improved throughout the day. The slow burn beneath his skin only rose.

Giving up, Harry marched back to the table Ron and Hermione studied at and dropped into his chair. He scowled at his blank parchment, not bothering to look over the Defense Against the Dark Arts homework Umbridge forced upon them. He would much rather have the hobbit run up and bite his ankles off than write another meaningless paragraph.

Ron and Hermione said nothing to him -- unsure of his mood, he guessed -- but, with time, Hermione set down her book and said, "I checked the library earlier, but there's nothing on hobbits. It's either hobbits are a new discovery or they simply don't exist. Even in mythology, they don't exist."

"So, nothing useful, then?" Harry sighed. "Perfect."

"Well," Ron started, "d'you think he's a new species? Like, You-Know-Who created him or somethin'?"

"Seems like it. Sometimes my scar starts hurting when I see him, so it could be something like that. But, it's almost like his magic is in plain sight, but it's hushed up."

"Ah, so he's like one of You-Know-Who's undercover henchmen, then?"

"That's what I'm thinking, but he makes my scar hurt really bad even when he's a room away." Harry picked up a quill and doodled on loose parchment. "Obviously, he's connected, but I think it's a greater connection than most Death-eaters, even if he is as tall as a six year-old... Though he seems to be stronger than most wizards on a magical scale."

After a minute, Ron added on an eye and mouth to Harry's doodle, manipulating it into a morbid frog face.

"Hey, look, it's Umbridge." He smirked, adding hair and an ugly amount of makeup.

"But, we don't know if he is or not," Hermione stated. "He has a connection, but we can't do anything if we don't have proof. Maybe Dumbledore will listen to you again if you talk-"

"He won't," he snapped. "He's being unreasonable again, so it's up to us to fix it. 'Just do what's given to you,'" he mocked. "Everything's given to me, apparently."

"But, Dumbledore has everything in order."

"Not this time. Did you see how he acted when the ripple happened?"

"W-well, no. I couldn't feel it, so I didn't notice. I'm sure a lot of us didn't."

"Voldemort did."

She and Ron flinch.

The commons room grew quiet.

"But," she began again once the air recovered, "if we have solid proof-"

"What else d'you think I've been doing? Between classes, I've been following that thing around and checking the map, but he mostly stays in the kitchen or the library when the hallways are filled... although, I wouldn't mind seeing him swim through that," he murmured bitterly. "Anyway, on the map, he's usually around teachers when they're not teaching, so I'm guessing Dumbledore is making sure he's guarded and watched, making it hard for me to investigate his intentions or for him to commit any evils.

"But, during potions today -- don't ask how I managed to do that; Snape was completely out of it today -- but, during potions today, I noticed that the thing likes to walk about the corridors and courtyards alone. He's made it from the dungeons to the third floor a few times before he went back to the library for a break."

"D'you think he's planning something?" Ron asked.

"No doubt. He's done this every other class."

Before Harry could describe an interesting encounter when Peeves cornered Mr. Baggins -- when all he could see was a frenzy of ink feet running across the map -- George and Fred perched their heads on Ron's shoulders.

"Gossiping about the lil' gent, are we?" they mused in unison.

"None of your business!" Ron shoved them off, but they only drifted to Harry and donated a handful of candies into his bag.

"Wanna try one now?" Fred asked. "It's completely safe, honest."

"After torturing all the first year's with the prototypes?" Hermione frowned. "You both know those are banned."

"But, it's safe! Seriously!"

"In fact, it works all too well," George commented, stealing Harry's quill and doodling beside Umbridge's face. "You can ask Mr. Baggins yourself."

For a thick moment, all Harry could hear was low voices from the couches, the sound of perking ears, and George's quill tip scraping on the parchment -- the drawing of a face without a nose. He exchanged looks with Ron and Hermione.

"You gave him candy?" He gawked, disgusted.

"Why so surprised?" The twins asked. "You look at us like we stole one of Snape's knickers."

A few laughs from the background only made the twins' grins widen.

"Y'see," George started, "during a lecture, Fred and I decided we need to focus our efforts into something more worth our while. So, we went off to tinker, y'know? We had some inventions to make and some we needed to perfect. But, then, we saw the lil' fella sitting on one of the benches in the courtyard. He was writing in his booklet with one hand and playing with a small ball or somethin' in the other. He was all alone, so, of course, we had to help him feel welcomed."

George straightened himself and said in mock-sweetness, "'Excuse us, Mr. Baggins, but are you busy at the moment?'"

Taking a quill from the table, Fred sunk to his knees and pretended to write on his hand. He looked up at George, head all the way back, with a wrinkled expression plastered on his face. "'Hm? Oh, hello, lads. What d'you two have with you there?'"

George offered a candy, thoughtfulness oozing off his slow words as he said, "'We were just wondering if you would like to taste-test these candies of ours. Y'see, kind sir, we need the opinions of our audience before we make it in the big league with the other candy makers. We'd be honored if you could help us out.'"

While the twins acted out every detail, emphasizing details like Professor Trelawney when she proclaimed predictions, a crowd of Gryffindors gathered and spectated with amusement. At least, Harry thought, they were watching because of the twins, not because of him. It took some weight off his heart knowing he was not the center of attention this time.

"So, we gave him a few dud candies to reel him in," George narrated. "But, then, we gave him a nosebleed nougat."

Fred lurched forward, covering his nose, then shook his body with a twitching fit.

George continued, a grin curving his lips. "Then the lil' fella started laughing so hard, saying, 'Magic! I knew you two were trouble! I've been around Phil and Kylie for long enough to know pranks all too well! Guess it's on me for not recognizing it sooner!'"

"Phil and Kylie?" Hermione asked Harry, but he said nothing.

Fred stood up. "Probably one of the most abnormal reactions we've gotten in a while. We can't say we've had an adult react like that before, so I count that as a nice change of pace. Although," he started, "I guess we need to be careful around him. Wouldn't want to such a soft-looking fellow having too many nosebleeds at once."

"Of course," George smirked.

For a moment, they looked at each other. "It would be a shame if someone were to-"

"You will not harass the hobbit!" Hermione yelled through the crowd's eruption of laughter. "For one, that nougat could've damaged his systems if he was unfamiliar to magic, or it could've been too much blood loss for his small body, or, better yet, give him a heart attack!"

"Besides, if you get on his bad side, he might kill you two first." Ron laughed.

"Okay, okay, how about this?" George said. "Instead of asking him --" he ran up to a first year in the crowd and hoisted him into the air "-- we grab him and run off before Hermione can nag our brains out."

"I don't nag!"

"It's foolproof! No one will notice a small kidnapping or two."

As George swung the first year around, yelling, "I caught myself a hobbit!" and as Hermione tried to get Ron to rescue him, Harry stood up. He blocked out the blaring noises and tapped Fred's shoulder.

"Yes?" he sang.

"You guys were saying he was writing something down in a book?"

"I'm pretty sure, yep."

"What was it?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" He smirked at Harry's tightening jaw.

"Fred, please."

"What? We saw him writing, but we didn't read it, ya freak," he chuckled. "But, I'm sure if you follow George's guide to hobbit-kidnapping, then you'd find out some beef."

"Can't you guys dig around for me? Y'see, I'm spread thin right-"

"Say no more!" He slapped his back. "We owe you lots, my friend, so we'll see what we can crack outta him."

"Sounds good."

"A few candies and some rope would do the trick."

"Alright."

With a surveying look, Fred waited a few moments before saying, "You're not concerned if we do crack him?"

"Not really. Beat him for all I care, but just make it secret."

"You're fun."

--E--

Have a golly good day!