I'm so sorry for how long it's taken me to update. It's been an insane week and a half-ish. But now I am back in my apartment waiting for school to start and I find I have a ton of free time! So hopefully, the next few chapters will be done in a couple of days :).

As always, nothing belongs to me! Even if I wish it did...

Chapter 4

Fili and Kili

'Oh.' Arianna thought, 'they're dwarves'. Gandalf had hurriedly explained this to the girls after the dwarves had gone inside, all the while giving both of them slightly annoyed looks. In all honesty, Isabella's assumption that they were just "hairy hobbits" had actually made a little sense to her, as neither one of them had ever met or even heard of a dwarf before. They were perhaps half a foot taller than the hobbit, Bilbo, and almost every single one of them was covered in facial hair. Of all the hobbits that they had glimpsed at, none of them had any facial hair and the hair on their heads was just a bunch of soft curls. The girls had believed that these dwarves were just another subset of Hobbits.

"I suppose we had better apologize" Isabella muttered, half to herself and half to Arianna.

"Yes, I suppose you should." Gandalf stated. "After all, you did offend them. Plus, you need to make a good impression, or they won't let you travel with them. So perhaps, for the sake of getting you to Rivendell, it would be best if neither of you spoke at all, unless introducing yourselves." And with that, Gandalf walked into the hobbit hole.

The two girls looked at each other in confusion. "Gandalf, what's Rivendell?" but Gandalf had either not heard her or pretended not to. Exchanging looks and deciding they might as well just accept their fate (for now), the two girls followed him inside.

"Bilbo,' Gandalf began, 'I found these two wandering on the road and determined them to be lost. They aren't a part of the original company, but I feel that we should bring them with us. I trust you can find some room and food for them as well? And perhaps some extra clothes…" he finished, giving the girls torn and dirty clothes a once over.

"Gandalf, there are 12 dwarves in my kitchen! 12! One of them ate my dinner and the others started raiding my pantry! I'm not sure if I'll have enough food to feed myself, not to mention two more people. You are behind this and I want you to get them out!" Isabella thought the hobbit looked adorable, all flustered. So flustered, in fact, he barely gave Arianna and herself a second glance; chosing instead to focus all of his (what looked like) 3-foot-10 annoyance on the wizard. He was obviously trying to be stern and in charge, but the fact that he only came up to Gandalf's navel ruined the effect. Granted, she acknowledged, he did have a right to be angry. She knew that if 12, now 15, people walked into her house demanding food and a place to sleep, she'd try to kick them out too.

Glancing up, she saw a couple dwarves traipsing out of a room, carrying armfuls of food. 'That, I'm assuming, is the pantry he's so distressed about.' She giggled as she watched 5 more dwarves rush back into the pantry, obviously attempting to clear it completely. "Mr. Baggins, I can assure you that we would be the politest of guests" Isabella heard Arianna say. Rejoining the conversation happening next to her, Isabella nodded vigorously and attempted to put on her politest "I am nothing but an Angel" face.

"Oh, very well. Follow me to the kitchen. Perhaps we can squeeze you in somehow." And looking very resigned to his fate, the hobbit led them through the house.

'Well, Bilbo didn't over exaggerate, that's for certain.' Arianna thought in amazement. 'There is absolutely no space left in this room… or on the table, for that matter.' The room was cramped, looking like it had two tables placed together and an odd mishmash of chairs. The table was covered in food and an occasional dwarf, like the blonde one now that walked across it carrying cups of some sort of drink. 'I bet it's not butterbeer' she thought sadly.

Snapped out of her thoughts, Arianna realized that Bilbo was asking for her and Isabella's names. She also realized that all of the dwarves had started staring at both of them… some with narrowed eyes. 'They really didn't like being called hairy hobbits apparently' she thought, attempting once again not to be slightly amused by the name Isabella had given them. "I apologize Mister Baggins. My name is Arianna and this is Isabella." Arianna managed to bring Isabella in front of her, as if presenting her to the group at large. In fact, Arianna had logically deduced that Isabella was, in fact, a Gryffindor and the one responsible for the remark that had now caused all the dwarves to glare at them and therefore should be the one to handle the situation. Elbowing her friend in the back, Arianna gave her her best McGonagall glance.

"I am terribly sorry about my comment earlier. We both are very inexperienced in the world and now that we are in a much brighter setting, we see that you are all indeed dwarves. In fact, I do not know what overcame me, to believe that you fine gentlemen were anything but dwarves." As both girls were hunched over in the room (it's ceiling was not as high as in the foyer) they also managed to look quite contrite as well. 'Laying it on a little bit thick Isabella' Arianna thought with a slight grimace. Some of the dwarves seemed to accept the apology; a few however, like the bald-headed one with the skull tattoos, still looked slightly murderous. Arianna made a mental note to avoid him if at all possible. However, the blond that had walked on the table earlier and the brunette one sitting next to him had partially concealed smiles on their faces and looked like they were greatly amused by the whole ordeal.

"Apology accepted lassies." was all that was said by a dwarf with white hair as he started eating again. Suddenly, the volume of the room once again picked up, as the dwarves started throwing food to a rather rotund fellow sitting at the end, and cheering when he caught it in his mouth. Bilbo had somehow managed to squeeze the girls in at the table, all the while still looking completely harassed and promised to go find them some decent clothes. Looking around, the girls saw that they were sitting next to the grinning blond and brunette. Leaning slightly forward, the blond stuck out his hand.

"Fili" he said simply, still smiling.

"And Kili" the brunette said, mimicking the other.

"Arianna and Isabella" the two girls said for what felt like the hundredth time that day, shaking both of their hands. With that, the two turned to the table and tried to find some food that hadn't already been eaten.

I hope you guys like it!

I realize that the dwarves are not setting out with the intention of going to Rivendell but, Gandalf is lol. So I can see him feeling quite confident that they'll get to Rivendell, one way or another. And the girls of course, won't mention it because they really have no idea about what the heck is going on, so he feels safe enough to confide in them. Slightly.