Ch.9 Bree

What has happened thus far? One morning Harry Potter woke up without a memory of the last night or any knowledge of where he was. Soon it became clear he wasn't kidnapped nor pranked nor was a diehard fan involved either. Harry is journeying to find a way back home and he has been travelling slowly, in the hopes of meeting someone who could be able to help him. He has met orcs and elves, didn't like either. Harry also seems to be changing in every way. For example he is now far shorter than before. Luckily he has kept his memories and his his magic is a bit wonky and it seems to be because of this world he is in which doesn't remember home at all. In the previous chapter Harry met a Nazgûl and some men and a few spirits.

After leaving the Barrows behind him, Harry trekked on nicely for a while. But he felt like he was getting nowhere fast. There seemed to be so much to see now that he was clearly getting closer to a town. The trees here were wonderful climbing material and he always spotted something he had to investigate. In his last climb he had found this crooked wooden sign, very worn, where he could barely make out words; "Bree, 7 leagues". That had made him think for a while. How long was a league exactly?

The orcs seemed to measure things by days or trees or by rods. Which he didn't get. Who said which rod was used and was it like a walking stick which you carried along and was it the length of the stick or maybe the space between when you hit the stick on the ground while you walked.

The elves on the other hand used days as well. They measured just about everything. Unfortunately, Erewan mostly left that stuff for other elves to do and Harry didn't have any memories of Erewan's when the elf was younger and had to do them. Those memories were a bunch of fragments, very hard to read.

Harry had figured a league was like with those seven league boots where the boy had ran for seven hours to reach. So maybe it would take him that long to get to Bree. In any case it seemed he would, maybe, reach that town today!

He continued to climb the trees to keep a look out for any smoke or higher towers ahead. Like said, the trees were much better here. They didn't talk that much and were much younger. So they just sort of hummed which was fine by him. And after he got away from the burial grounds and swamp land, a lot of small animals were popping up. Harry had seen a hare, lots of squirrels, a deer, some sort of rat animal that burrowed whenever he got closer. That had taken some time when he tried to catch it only to realize there had to be over a dozen of them underground.

Harry laughed at that. Seriously, this land was immense and yet there were only few beings living in it. Sure here was diversity with the elves and the Orc's and what he could see from the Orc's memories, Goblins and Tribe men and Trolls and there were even Giants and many other beings Harry couldn't put a name to. But the numbers were still much smaller than what he was used to. Here was a lot of room for everybody.

That also explained why it was so ridiculously hard to find anyone here.

"Maybe it's time for a snack," Harry mused and then he went in search of a nice place to rest. Perhaps another tree, he just had to find the right one with thick lower branches that were easy to climb.

Harry was not unaware that his breaks had gotten more numerous. He sure could run in circles endlessly or chase after something new or interesting but actually travelling with a purpose... No, couldn't do it. His child stamina instantly shimmered down to nothing. It wasn't like he didn't want to go home, he did. Very much.

After his little brunch, for he had already had breakfast and this couldn't really be called a lunch, Harry decided to quit dallying and dug his broom out as well as his invisibility cloak. He got a warm rush in his belly every time he touched the hallows. They were his. The cloak had followed him all this way and it was really useful now because soon, he was sure of it, he would come across people. He had tried to deny it but he had been sort of afraid, a little. Because maybe there were no other humans around. Maybe the orcs had eaten them all. Meeting Matty and the other travelers last night had really taken a weight off his shoulders. Yet he was still lagging his feet before the very first town he had come across.

In any case his cloak was important now, who knew how others might react to a child riding on a broom? He didn't want to be knows as some demon child right away. Better yet, he didn't want to be known at all. He was on a mission to find information. A spy of a sort.

Harry draped the cloak over himself carefully and attached it with plenty of sticking charms. It was the first time it was helpful to be this tiny. The cloak was enough to cover both him and his broom. Well, it really was enough to cover his broom but since he was so teeny tiny insignificant midget that he could squeeze into anything, it was alright. He simply laid on his broom.

Despite the sticking charms Harry didn't want to push his luck and so he drifted onwards on a very leisure pace. He sort of wanted to twirl his fingers in the grass which felt and looked a lot like a huge green lake when the wind blew across it. It was fun. It had been a while since he had fun.

~o~

Bree 7 miles

"Seven again!" Harry read annoyed. It was only the second signpost he saw but already he was fed up with them. At least he knew how long a mile was. If mile was a mile. There must've been other signs but maybe time had eroded them away and no one had bothered to replace them. Everything couldn't be measured in septets!

He was just coming out a quaint little forest, those seemed to pop up every now and then. They seemed to be filled with smaller animals from birds and squarrels to rabbits. He even saw few foxes and thought he saw a small boar but couldn't be sure. When Harry climbed as high as his broom went, he could see fields further away that looked heavy and yellow with grain. After the Barrows there was no signs of struggles anywhere. This seemed a very calm place to live in. No orcs and he hadn't sighted any trolls either or their tracks or caves.

"Funny," Harry thought out loud. "How there are so many same animals here and home. Trolls, wolves, wizards..." And he was sure there would be loads more once he learnt about them. Maybe even dragons! That would be cool.

Harry sniggered. If it only were so, then he might find out that he really was in some magical island, cut off from everything and yet still in his old world. That would be nice.

~o~

Harry sat in a faraway tree and watched the wooden gate of Bree. He was finally here. The gate was wide open and people milled in and out every so often. There was a gatekeeper but no other guard.

Harry had to admit it, he felt disappointed. He had waited to see a town for so long here. Of course he had known it wouldn't be like any muggle city but he had sort of hoped it, at least, was similar to Diagon alley or Hogsmeade. And maybe, in some ways it was. It certainly looked medieval. It was also bigger, dirtier and noisier. It was very … brown. Nothing there seemed new.

People were walking through the gate, the road was not covered but simply hardened earth. It wasn't that he was a snooty little kid expecting luxury and gold paved roads. It was that now it really hit home and hard that he was somewhere very different. Harry had known to expect this but he had sort of figured they might still have microwave ovens and black and white tv. Even in Britain the muggle world and magical world lived in ignorant harmony, so why not so here. He really hadn't thought this through. It couldn't depress him anymore that there obviously was no help here to get him back home.

There was a woman coming out of the village. She was wearing plain brown skirt and blouse with grey apron. Very practical. She even had a small white coif on her head. She talked shortly with the gatekeeper and they laughed. Another women, this one a bit older and pudgier, followed and seemed to scold the younger. They both headed towards the forest with their baskets.

Harry took a bite of his apple, nicked from the tree he was sitting on, and pondered of how he was going to handle this.

He didn't think there would be anything in this village to help him get home today or tomorrow. He might hear some information, that is, if he didn't become the next town gossip target. And he also could get some decent clothes and maybe a more permanent tent. That would make it a lot easier to move around and make camp. There was probably a blacksmith in town where he could get a sword and some material into which he could better draw his protection runes on. He might even find a horse... or not. Krull-experience had not really taught him how to ride. Maybe it was best to discard that from his shopping list. Not that he even really needed one. And above all, there might be a cartographer in town. He was about ready to kill for a decent map. An accurate map that no elf had been anywhere nearby.

The town of Bree looked like it had seen better days, from where Harry perched at least. It was no wonder, because even in the elf's memories it had been here. Harry didn't plan to stay there for long. An occasional traveller probably didn't gather much attention but a stranger that stayed would.

Next to come out of the gate was someone much shorter. First Harry thought it was a child but it didn't quite move like a child. Not to mention, no matter how safe this area seemed, he doubted anyone would let their offspring wonder outside the city wall when apparently there was no separation from the magical world.

Interested, he jumped on his broom and drifted closer.

"...tuckinborough and Bree... and mighty fine wine," his target was singing merrily.

Harry flew ahead of this person to get a better look at him.

First he figured it was a midget but there was something off. It had huge hairy feet and no shoes. Rosy round cheeks and an awful singing voice though the tune was very accurate.

Harry let his legilimency fly and found no resistance. Funnily enough the hobbit, for that was what it was, was singing the exact same tune in his thoughts that it sung out load. No other thoughts occupied its head. It was a novelty.

Harry found himself wanting to stay in that mind for a while longer. Which was the very reason he immediately withdrew. He had always set himself very clear boundaries of what he would use his legilimency power for. Here he had used it a bit nilly willy. But the hobbit's mind had been such a sunny place. Very honest. There was no threat he could say he felt coming from it that would justify disregarding its privacy.

The hobbit was looking the world behind permanent pink glasses. Yes, Flambard Noakes was a very happy hobbit. Typically jolly and jovial and Harry had never seen such a mind before. It was exactly the sort of mind wars were fought for or at least what Harry had fought his war for. For someone like Flambard to be able to be and stay as he was. Not to know any other suffering besides broken hearts and a missed elevensies that made his stomach feel a bit peckish.

Harry stayed where he was and listened to that silly tune until the hobbit disappeared behind the next bend in the path. His own head was filled with images he had grabbed from Noakes. And that was when he got the idea.

~o~

An hour later another hobbit approached the southern gate of Bree.

"What is your business in town of Bree?" The guard asked somewhat bored. Used to hobbits and clearly exasperated by their manners.

"Name's Furontius, Fudge Mugwort that is. I intend to stay the night and visit my cousin, well, actually he's my cousin twice removed. You might know him actually. Seen any Noakes around lately, have you?"

"Noakes?" The guard stroked his beard and looked like he tried to remember when Harrys' passive listening told that in fact all the hobbits were same to him.

He shook his head. "No, doesn't come to mind. You should try the Prancing Pony. They serve hobbits and have good rooms for you as well."

"Ah," Fudge answered. "Might it be your cousin who owns the place then?" And he put his thumbs behind his belt and leaned backwards, important looking.

"Eh?" the guard said.

"Well, for you to recommend it. I did the same too when my sister's husband's nephew had a small stable," Fudge explained eagerly. "Not that he does anymore, though it was a good place. I even fancied buying myself a pony there. Didn't of course but many others did. And just because I recommended it. Not that my sister, the nephew or that husband of hers, Gundabalt Gubb ever thanked me for it. Can you believe..."

The hobbit was interrupted by the guard, who seemed like he didn't know whether to be insulted or not. "No, can't say I know a Gubb and the proprietor of Prancing Pony now is Barliman Butterbur. No relative of mine. But off you go now, in the village, before there's more travellers coming."

The hobbit looked around and saw no one. Then he looked at the guard again. He opened his mouth to say something more until he noticed the guards frown and decided otherwise.

The hobbit took a few steps and said, "Well, good man, thank you for the advice then. I shall look for my cousin right after a good supper. Or who knows, he might even find me first!" And then hobbit laughed as if that thought was the funniest thing in the world.

The guard shook his head and grumbled something about halflings before returning to his half nap.

~o~

Harry walked around Bree in his ingenious disguise as Fudge. He was pretty pleased he had come up with such a disguise. Although he had begun to wonder if any hobbit blood had somehow managed to find itself in his own home world and the Fudge family blood there. The former minister certainly ate like a hobbit and looked a little like one as well. Harry shrugged and cleared his head. He had things to do.

Bree reminded him faintly of Diagon Alley. Certainly more than what it looked like from the outside. With its two storey brick and wooden houses with pointy roofs. But it was a lot dirtier than he had thought.

Everywhere he went it smelled. There was garbage on the streets and while the walls of the houses had once been white, they were now no lighter than beige. The layout of the town was a maze. It had been seemingly built over and over and in time, houses had popped up here and there. Many of the streets seemed to actually be dead ends since house was built in the middle of a street. It was an old town and still pretty big. All sorts of people were milling about. Harry could swear that he had seen a dwarf walking around. It had looked a lot like a Gringotts goblins. Armed to the teeth and grumpy. Harry doubted it would go over well if he walked up to one such creature and asked if they had some secret tunnels to earth, preferably to Gringotts, London.

"Damn," he cursed when his feet dropped into a muddy ditch. By the smell, there was something there besides mud. He murmured a silent cleaning spell on his foot, and a second and a third. He really didn't think himself as a neat freak but this place gave him the chills.

Open sewers, no help for the smell, dirt everywhere. No single man seemed to be clean so people probably bathed monthly - or yearly.

Harry was getting a headache. And it didn't help that his hopes of finding help for getting home were crushed. Obviously men couldn't help him.

"Hey! Watch where yer going!" A man shouted at him in a thick common dialect and turned his horse drawn carriage to left.

"Sorry," Harry mumbled and leaned to the side of the house he had just passed. He had arrived in a small market.

It took him a while, an hour or two, but he got more used to Bree. Sure, you had to watch where you stepped and people were a bit rough but overall the town seemed happy and sort of friendly. Simple. To a hobbit at least.

He had picked well with his disguise. There was no fear of his hight lessening. His normal form was too close. People seemed to think all hobbits were peaceful, jolly and harmless. This was probably right. He had seen a few strangers, men, wearing dark robes with hoods and everyone was giving them a wide berth. Rangers, they whispered after the men. One small hobbit gathered no notice.

Harry had also found a few interesting looking shops. One sold 'fine leathers' and then there was the 'Travellers trade' that seemed to have tents and other camping equipment, among other things but most importantly they had some maps. He hadn't found the stables yet but as horses were milling around, he was bound to soon.

On the other side of the market place Harry could see a stall where the town smith seemed to be selling his wares. He decided that he might as well get himself a small sword. Get something off his shopping list.

He passed the small fountain and realized someone was singing behind it. It seemed to be the town's bard or something. There was a small tin cup besides him with a few pennies. That was when Harry realized he was penniless. There would be no shopping before he took care of that.

He hopped to sit on the edge of the fountain and listened to the music while he shifted through the bard's minds, searching for how to use money in here. He was lucky he picked the bard because the man had travelled around. It seemed this Middle Earth place was pretty interesting when it came to the ways of money. What he could use depended a lot of the place he was. Here in Bree they used different sort of balance and currency that they used for instance in south.

There were pennies, a lot of them. Shell pennies and at some places wooden pennies were the smallest. Then there were silver pennies and golden pennies. Those would be best kept on him as they seemed to be the ones he could pay with pretty much everywhere. And he could always get local currency in exchange. If he wanted to buy a house or something he should use arkenstones which were ingots of gold. And if he had precious jewelry or gems, there were often traders in bigger towns that would change them to golden pennies. Luckily the look of the coins was mostly the same. They all had the name of the place where it was made and a printed or burnt mark on them and some sort of serial number to cut down forgeries. Again that was the reason silver and gold pennies could be used in most places because they had their value in precious metal. Unchanged. And no one minted them locally, they all came from the 'capital' in south, mainly because most mines were at that direction. At least mines men used. Wooden pennies could easily be carved but their value was so small not many bothered. And the punishment for forgery was high.

Harry walked around the market and had a look of what things were offered there. Once he spotted a man who looked well off, he nicked a few coins from him. Just to see what he would have to transfigure. It seemed in Bree there was also some sort of copper pennies in use.

Harry popped in a back alley and gathered a handful of pebbles. He used his elder wand for this. He didn't want the money to vanish, at all if possible, and to cause hardship for anyone who had them at the time. He didn't make golden pennies. That was the hardest material to do. But with a swish of his wand he had ten silver pennies and ten copper ones as well. He also conjured a small pouch for them, really missing the mokeskin pouch that Hagrid had given him.

Armed with enough money for now, Harry headed to the smith's tent. The man there was huge. In every way.

"Hello there, my good man," Harry jovially greeted the man.

"Good day to you too hobbit," the smith answered, not bothering to take a second look.

"Fudge Mugwort, that's my name. Visiting my cousin, Noakes. Just as soon as I can find him," Harry paused and looked at the man expectantly. Unfortunately the smitty had nothing to say. "You wouldn't happen to have a decent small blade for a fellow of my size?" Harry asked, inspecting the different wares hanging on the walls. There were a few weapons but mostly cutlery and some armor and things he had seen used on horses. Harry couldn't really say but it looked all right. Heavy but that was the point, wasn't it.

"Not many hobbits carry blades these days," the smith said but turned to Harry, sensing a potential paying customer.

"You can never be too cautious," Harry answered and looked closer at a two bladed sword.

"Perhaps so," the smith said while he was humming and trying to find something. "Only thing I have here that might suit you would be a knife but I do not seem to recollect where I stored it. If you can drop by later today or tomorrow morning at the Smith I will look something suitable for you?"

"All right, it is a deal," Harry grabbed the smith's huge hand and shook it. "We shall meet again tomorrow morning then."

Harry waved at the smith when he departed the stall and headed to get some lunch.

Most taverns he had seen, actually the both of them, seemed a little dubious. So Harry bought some groceries from the market. Couple of apples, few tomatoes, two huge mushrooms, bread, a small piece of cheese and some ham. He had wanted to try the bacon but it was a sunny day and the meat looked a tad brown already. He figured the dried ham would be his best bet. He also didn't think himself prissy when he cast a freshening and cleaning charms on the whole lot. Now, all he needed was a place to cook. He hoped the Prancing Pony would be close.

"Excuse me there," he waved to a young boy a bit taller than him. "Can you tell me which way leads to the Prancing Pony?"

"It's right around the corner. You see those hills there?" The boy asked and pointed over the next house.

To Harry it seemed as if this whole village had been built on a hillside. Which it probably had.

"There's the hobbit holes and the inn," the boy continued.

"Thanks lad," Harry said and gave the boy a copper penny for his troubles.

The boy looked at him with round eyes. "Thank you, sir. Thank you!" He shouted and then ran off merrily.

Harry shook his head. If there was one thing more that made this place different from where he came from it was the people. They seemed more honest and caring some way. Not all of course but they were also more polite even though cruder. It was hard to describe but for instance if he was in London and fell down, people would just mill around him. Maybe stare a bit. At least until they realized who he was. Here a young boy ran after a woman that had dropped an apple and not noticed it. In Diagon alley the purebloods wouldn't deem themselves low enough to bend and help others, they'd just gossip about it. And the muggleborns, well, they were really from London weren't they. Only ones that might help were creatures but they seldomnly dared daylight there or the proprietors. Although many of them would only help the high and mighty purebloods. Harry sighed. Why was he missing home again?

"Next thing I'll see is a knight in a shiny armor here," Harry smiled to himself. It wasn't that big of a stretch. There was after all the smith and armoury here and stables.

He hummed the same song Noakes had sung earlier. About the good road, weed and best way to enjoy it. "Shire, tuckinborough and Bree. Old road the best pipeweed comes. You take a puff and a cup of mighty fine wine..." He liked being a hobbit.

~o~

A/n. I was asked about the lovely cover picture. It's by Sakimichan. I was over the moon that I got permission to use it. I don't think Harry is quite that sad most of the time but when homesickness hits… This and other amazing pieces can be found at . Just google.

Thank you loads for all lovely reviews and keeping me in check Specially to Dia for making me laugh while kicking my butt with this a bit.