A/N: See end of chappie for notes

Chapter 4. Hobbits, Dwarrow and a Wizard part 1

The first knock came while Bilbo was about to have dinner with the Four. The two Farfields were lurking in the hallway as a blur topped with white dashed by them to the round green door. In an attempt to keep her excitement from showing, Estar slowly opened the door. Bilbo and the others came into the hallway to see a Dwarf with a bald head with tattoos. She had to step back before Bilbo forced her to.

"Dwalin at your service." the Dwarf introduced himself. Bilbo began to splutter when Dwalin cut in, looking at the younger Hobbits.

"He never mentioned others. They visitors?" he said gruffly.

"What- oh, no not guests. They live with me." Bilbo found his voice.

"Well, where is it? Is it down here?" demanded Dwalin.

"Where's what? Is what down where?" asked Bilbo.

"The food! He said there'd be food and lots of it!" replied the Dwarf.

"He.. He said? Who said?-" the Hobbit started to say as Dwalin made his way to the dining room. Bilbo raised an eyebrow in question at the younger Hobbits. The Farfields and their cousin gave him a knowing look.

"When the others get here, then they can know." stated Bagöl.

"Don't forget that we made Gandalf promise, Bilbo." Rumür added in reminder. They all found Dwalin in the dining room eating what Bilbo was about to before the doorbell rang (A/N writing or even talking about food/eating whether real world or fictitious feels uncomfortable to write/talk about). The door bell rang again (with a "That'll be the door." from Dwalin) and this time, Rumür got there first. He shared a look with his cousins before opening it. On the other side was another Dwarf, this one older looking than Dwalin. His beard was white and his expression appeared less threatening than Dwalin's was. The other Hobbits were in the hallway (having left Dwalin to eating) and Bilbo raised an eyebrow at Rumür.

"Balin, at your service" the Dwarf said as Rumür (rather calmly in Bilbo's opinion), stepped aside for Balin - whom commented on the weather - to enter. At the mention of the Dwarf's name, Rumür shared an expression with Bagöl and Estar which only they could read from each other. The emotion was only to plain: sadness. The others did not know what cause this reaction or how, and they didn't get to ask about it before Dwalin was back. He stopped when he saw Balin (whom happened to be his brother; more specifically, his older brother). Actually, both Dwarrow saw each other (Dwalin not paying attention to them anymore and Balin not doing so in the first place).

"Oh! Ha, ha! Evening brother." Balin greeted Dwalin.

"By my beard... ...you're shorter and wider than last we met." his brother returned.

"Wider, not shorter. Sharp enough for both of us." Balin said, as though conspiratorially.

"Uh, excuse me?" Bilbo cut in. "Sorry, I hate to interrupt." (You just did Rumür thought sarcastically) "But the thing is, I'm not entirely sure you're in the right house."

"Have you eaten?" Balin asked, somewhat randomly (at least in the younger Hobbits' opinions).

"It's not that I don't like visitors. I like visitors as much as the next Hobbit. But I do like to know them before they come "visiting"." Bilbo explained. Bagöl had already left the hallway and when Frodo (whom had followed him) found him, he found him coming out of the pantry carrying a wheel of cheese.

"Where are you going with that?" asked the Baggins.

"To hide it." was what the Farfield said.

"I asked where you were going with it, not what you were going to do with it." the other Hobbit corrected him.

"Like I said: hiding it for when Bombur (A/N and really no offence is intended for Bofur's brother and Bifur's cousin) won't be able to find it." Bagöl answered, and he made his way to Bilbo's study, Frodo following.

"You're hiding it in here?" he asked Bagöl. The Farfield said nothing; just carefully placed the cheese underneath the desk. The two young Hobbits left the study and returned to the hallway. Bagöl had only just hidden Bilbo's mother (Belladonna Took)'s glory box behind his back when, Bilbo had opened Bag End's door to a pair of Dwarrow. They were clearly younger than Dwalin and Balin. One was blonde; the other brunette (and like Dwalin was with Balin, these two were also a pair of brothers; the blonde being the older brother).

"Fili." said the blonde.

"And Kili." added the brunette, his brother.

"At your service." they concluded - simultaneously - their introductions, neither brother noticing the other Hobbits, and Dwalin and Balin having gone back to the dining room.

"You must be Mr. Baggins." said Kili.

"No! You can't come in, you've come to the wrong house." reacted Bilbo - whom wouldn't have confirmed that he was (even if Kili had mispronounced his last name). His reply was met by confused expressions on the faces of both brothers.

"What?! Has it been canceled?" asked Kili.

"No one told us." added Fili.

"Can...!" started Bilbo, before he realised what the Dwarves (Dwarrow) had both said, then he added, "No, nothing's been canceled."

"That's a relief." Kili said.

"Careful with these, I just had them sharpened." said Fili as he and his brother dumped their weapons on Estar and she ended up losing her balance.

"It's nice, this place. Did you do it yourself?" Kili remarked.

"Uh...no, it's been in the family for years." Bilbo corrected, stiffly. He looked around and finally noticed that something was not where he remembered it. "Where's my mother's glory box?" he asked. He quickly checked that Fili and Kili had left the hall before looking at each of the younger Hobbits in turn.

"Which one of you took it? It was there before those two arrived!" he chastised. He caught Frodo looking at Bagöl.

"What are you hiding behind your back?" Bilbo inquired, pointedly. Wordlessly, the young Farfield moved the glory box in front of him.

"Bagöl!" they (including Bilbo) exclaimed.

"I had to," he said "I just did."

"I'll-I'll just take-take that now." Bilbo stuttered as he took the glory box from Bagöl as the latter whispered "Hide it from Kili, just in case." as an afterthought he added "preferably under your bed."

"Then you do it!" Bilbo snapped. The younger Hobbit complied. Bilbo muttered under his breath something about checking on the Dwarves and making sure they didn't destroy his dining room. The Hobbits entered the room just as Dwalin finished speaking and before Kili's answer.

"- give us a hand." (AN: In case that wasn't obvious, Dwalin just spoke)

"Mr Dwalin" (AN: Okay, THAT was Kili)

"Let's shove this in the hole, or otherwise we'll never get everyone in." Balin instructed. Bilbo looked flustered.

"Ev...everyone?! How many more are there?" he asked. One of the younger Hobbits was already moving towards the front door. Bilbo hurried after them.

"Oh, no! No, no." (AN: that was Bilbo saying that btw)

To whoever was on the other said of the door, he called:

"There's nobody home! Go away, and bother somebody else! There's far too many dwarves in my dining room as it is. If...if this is some blockhead's idea of a joke, I can only say, it is in very poor taste!" With that he jerked the door open and eight Dwarves landed on top of the younger Hobbit as Bilbo did so.

"Get off, you big lump!" one of the Dwarves grumbled.

"Bi'o!" came a voice from under the Dwarves. Said Hobbit moved (as best he could) the dwarves off a slightly sheepish Bagöl Farfield looking at him.

tbc