A/N: I own nothing. All goes to Tolkien and JK Rowling.

Chapter 7

It had been nearly 30 years since Bungo had died and left the two of them alone. Bilbo had long since reached his Hobbit age of majority and no longer needed his grandfather's guidance but the siblings and there Took relatives stayed close much to the disappointment of the rest of Hobbiton who found the Tooks a queer lot. But the hobbits had hope in Bilbo who took after his respectable father Bungo and did the Baggins clan proudly.

Emel slowly grew out of her studious reclusion she put herself in, in the wake of her grief over her parent's death and spent a lot of her free time with there Took cousins. Besides her brother Bilbo, she was closest with the Took twins Bingo and Olfurd who worked as Bounders, the border guard of the shire.

This summer was Emel's coming of age year (for a half-elf that is. She aged slower than a hobbit but faster than a full elf due to her human heritage, so she reached her full majority at 50). She was turning 50 years old and despite Bilbo's wishes she refused to have a large hobbitish celebration at the party tree. Though she's lived among the hobbits for a long time now she never forgot her original upbringing at Hogwarts castle among the wizards and witches. In their memory, she wanted to have a witch's birthday party which consisted of getting drunk at a pub with close friends like the 7th years used to do when they turned 17 in her old world.

Bingo Took and Olfurd Took were due back at the border in a week so they made plans to go with Emel to the Prancing Pony in Bree to have a drunken bash to celebrate her coming of age before returning to work. Bilbo sighed in resignation when he couldn't persuade her otherwise and gave her a list of the things, he wanted her to purchase from the tall folk in Bree while she was there.

While she wasn't having a large party, Emel did practice the Hobbit tradition of giving gift's to others on her birthday. Before she left on her short journey with Bingo and his brother, she placed a warped gift for Bilbo on the dining room table.

When the three of them arrived in Bree a couple of days later they booked hobbit sized rooms for them to stay in and to wash away the dirt and grime from there travels.

In her room, Emel gratefully bathed and got ready for the night's festivities. In her pack, She stored a lovely dark blue linen dress which she had sewn together especially for this occasion. It had a corset which accentuated her curves and the skirt belled out and stopped just under her knees. The sleeves were close fitted and ended at elbows which were a lovely hobbitish style that had been all the rage for the last few seasons. With golden thread, Emel had embroidered the hem, sleeves, and collar with a lovely floral pattern and in said pattern, Emel hid runes that represented Love, Luck, and fate. It was her secret whimsical and romantic side that influenced that particular choice.

Once dressed Emel sat in front of the mirror and using her wand she charmed her hair dry and cast a spell to make her wavy silver lock take on tight hobbit-like curls which she had always envied. Now, instead of her hair reaching past her bum, it reached the middle of her back. Using a couple of hairpins, she kept the curls out of her face but left the rest to fall free. slipping on her matching blue slippers, she was ready.

Coming down to the main room of the Inn Emel went and sat down at the table Bingo and Oflurd had chosen. They had been waiting some time for her and they already ordered her a glass of the strongest elvish whiskey the barkeep had on hand. They had every intention of getting her right sloshed tonight and went right into the hard stuff to give her a running start.

"Eh! There you are Em! We were getting worried there for a bit. Though you might have lost your way you were gone so long." Bingo teased.

Taking a sip of her drink she tried not to chock. Not for the faint-hearted clearly.

"Don't mind him Em. You look amazing. I especially like your curls. You could hardly tell you aren't a hobbit!" Complimented Olfred. He was always the more gentlemanly of the two of them.

"Why thank you, Fred! (She called him Fred for short.) It's what I was going for. I wanted to be normal for one night you know? An average girl of the shire, or at least as normal as someone like me can get anyways." She replied, glad to have seemingly succeeded.

Bingo gave her an assessing look before he asked her, "Actually Em, there was something I always wondered about you. If your half-elf, half-man, why are you short and small like a hobbit?"

Emel just laughed. "You know, I wondered the same thing for a while, but I came across some journals my birth father left for me. (Snape had held on to them for her and pack them in her bag before sending her off to middle earth.) Supposedly, my grandmother, my fathers' mother was a terrible shrew of a woman. While she had been pregnant with my father, she had attended some royal event and insulted a foreign dignitary who was short in stature and so he cursed her baby to be as short as he was. It looks like it was passed down to me as well, but I don't really mind. I wouldn't want to be so big that I didn't fit through the door at bag's end."

What Emel had said was mostly the truth. The 'royal event' had been a party at the British ministry of magic and the Foreign dignitary was a high-ranking Goblin from the Gringotts nation. Being ignorant of goblin magic her grandmother had never been able to reverse the cure. Honestly Emel though it could have been much worse so she didn't complain.

The three of them were well into there cups and beginning to feel the effects of the alcohol when a small group of dwarves came in and sat at a table near there own. Being curious and outgoing for a Hobbit Bingo walked over and introduced himself. Soon after Fred and Emel joined him.

The four dwarves introduced themselves as Fili, Kili, Thorin, and Dwalin of the Durin clan. They said they were in town to meet up with an associate who was expected to arrive sometime in the next couple of days. Outside of that, they didn't elaborate, and the conversation was expertly tuned to the happening of the world outside of the shire which the dwarves had come across in their travels.

Everyone got along handsomely, and Fred really took a shine to the youthful exuberance of Fili and Kili. Thorin was the most reserved of the bunch but if you looked closely enough you could tell he watched the antics of his nephews with an ever so slightly fond look in his eyes.

Dwalin was the most striking and imposing of them all. His muscular arms and bald head were covered in Dwarfish tattoos. He was the tallest of the four and the broadest. Looking at him you would never mistake him for anything except for the skilled seasoned warrior that he was. Well into his cups he laughed along with the others. He had a deep baritone voice that rumbled when he laughed and everyone around him could feel it right down to there toes. All of them drank heavily into the night swapping stories which they were not likely to remember in the morning.

It was well into the morning when Emel woke up with a raging headache. Feeling like she was ready to die, Emel pulled the sheets over her head to block out the blaring sunlight from a large window in the room.

It took her some time to remember that the room she had rented for the night didn't have a window. When that realization processed, she bolted into a sitting position and then tried not to be sick from the sudden movement.

Looking around she realized she was in a large human-sized room rather than the Hobbit-sized one she was meant to stay in. Looking around it was clear she was the only one there and figured she must have entered the wrong room in her drunken state last night.

Moving to get out of the oversized bed came upon other, more alarming realizations. She was naked and she was sore. Sore in places that had never ached before as though she had….

Panicking Emel threw back the comforter and discovered the remains of her maidenhead staring back at her as though taunting her. There was no mistaking the red stain soaked into crisp white sheets on the bed. Oooh, she just wanted to crawl into a hole somewhere and die.

Emel had spent the night sleeping with a stranger whom she could no longer remember in the slightest! How mortifying! Her reputation was forever ruined!

Quickly, before she was discovered Emel scurried out of bed and searched for her clothes. Finding her dress crumpled and thrown into the corner, she was horrified to find that the ribbons of her stays had been cut! Obviously, her paramour didn't have the patients to undress her properly.

Groaning, Emel slipped on what was left of her dress and went without the support of corset until she returned to her own room for a change of clothes. Peaking out the door she saw the hallways were deserted with a sigh of relief. Rushing to her room she bathed like her life depended on it and changed back into the trousers, shirt, and boots which she had worn on the trip into Bree.

With no other excuse for delay, Emel left the safety of her room to find Fred and Bingo. As she crossed into the bar side, she spotted her friends tucking into a late brunch with no sign of there dwarfish companions form yesterday eve. Before she could approach them, the barkeep Mr. Butterbur pulled her aside to have a private word.

With a slightly disapproving look, Mr. Butterbur said, "Your, err, companion from last night had to leave early this morning but he left this behind for ya."

Dieing of mortification for a second time, Emel gently took the envelope from him and asked if anyone else was aware of what happened between her and her 'companion' last night. Relived when he said, "No, as far as I know, I'm the only one who saw anything…" Emel ordered some breakfast and doubled the price of her room in a desperate bid he keeps her indiscretion to himself.

Taking pity on her obvious distress he promised to keep mum and offered the fatherly advice of avoiding alcohol in the future.

Making a solemn vow to do just that Emel went over to her friends to have the healing greasy breakfast and tea that was calling her name.

After the noon hour, Emel parted from Fred and Bingo outside of the gate which guarded the entrance to Bree. Emel was returning home to Bag End and the brothers were off to meet up with a ranger to start their patrol of the Shire. Later on, when night fell, Emel made camp out of sight of the road. She finally dug up the courage to read the missive from her mysterious lover. Try as she might all day, she could not remember anything past having been drinking heavily with her best friends on the bar side that night with a group of traveling Dwarfs. She couldn't remember crossing paths with a human male at all last night.

Opening the envelope, she found a small scrap of paper with sharp messy handwriting which read:

Bunnanunê,

Do not fear, as promised, I will return for you someday soon.

Out loud to herself, she bemoaned, "That's it?! No signature? WHO in the world doesn't sign their letters?! What does bunnanunê mean anyway and what promise did I make? Ugh!"

Cursing her bad luck she stuffed the letter back in her bag and crawled into her bedroll to try and get some sleep in what remained of the night.

A/N:

Dwarvish:

bunnanunê means "my tiny treasure"