A/N: I am not putting this into the crossovers section because it is set in Middle-Earth using only characters from Tolkien. While I am using the magic and the ideas of J.K Rowling, there is no need to have any knowledge of Harry Potter to read the fanfiction.

Bilbo sighed as he ground up the dried pepper into powder. Sat beside the forest with several members of their Care of Magical Creatures class, he couldn't help thinking about how enjoyable it was to run in the forest.

He'd been out three times since he had first managed to transform. It was wonderful.

Bilbo took a deep breath and sighed. The scent coming in off the trees reminded him of the Shire, when the north-easterly wind took the smell of spring from the trees in the old Buckland Forest and towards Hobbiton.

He wondered what it would be like to go and run through the Buckland Forest, whether or not the other animals would welcome him amongst them as a rabbit. He often sat by the edge of the forest as a hobbit, playing with whatever animals came to him there, but he had never actually entered it. No hobbit did.

There were rumours that the trees were alive had kept them from entering the forest. Of course, Bilbo was now aware that trees were alive, and that Ents lived there too. He wondered if the Buckland Forest was anything like Fangorn Forest; apparently there were werewolves and all sorts living in there.

"You're supposed to be grinding that up." A low voice said from just behind Bilbo, making him jump.

"What?" he yelped. "Sorry, what?"

"Those peppers. You've been sat staring into the forest for a while now."

Bilbo's relationship with Thorin was still frosty. The dwarf clearly viewed him as some kind of daydreaming fool.

"I'm sorry. I was just thinking about the Forest near my home. The animals will have just given birth and their younglings will be exploring their new world."

"The Forest near my home is old. It's filled with acromantula."

"I didn't think dwarves lived in forests." Said Bilbo, curiously.

"I didn't say that." Thorin scowled at him, causing Bilbo to shrink down. "I live in Erebor, under the mountain. Mirkwood is close by though."

"Mirkwood?" asked Bilbo, sitting up. "I've never heard of it." Which was irritating. Bilbo loved maps, he had dozens, just of the Shire; he probably had hundreds of middle earth though, going back through the ages. He had though the only Forest near Erebor was the vast Greenwood.

"It's not an official name."

"The Greenwood, then?" asked Bilbo, smiling slightly.

"Yes."

"The Lonely Mountain." Bilbo wondered what it was like there, deep in the mountain. He wondered what the dwarrow halls looked like. He looked up at Thorin and debated whether or not to ask if he was Thorin, son of Thráin, son of Thrór. The scowl on his face put him off, and he returned to grinding up pepper.

While nothing else was said between them that evening, something changed. Bilbo found that Thorin was no longer quite so cold to him. Several times, Thorin had rolled his eyes at something Professor Thranduil had said, and Bilbo had thrilled at being included in his good humour.

The other dwarves of The Company in their Care of Magical Creatures class no longer kept their distance. While they sat looking after their salamander on an evening, the other dwarves would join them. Dwalin would stand near to Thorin as he scowled at Déagol, who was struggling to keep their flame going.

Secretly, Bilbo was glad that he didn't have to be near Déagol. Not only was he Sméagol's cousin, but he was one of the banished river folk. Apparently, Professor Gandalf didn't care who attended his school, because Bilbo had heard all about how they were kin slayers from the hobbits of the Shire.

Fíli and Kíli were friendly. They sat next to Bilbo and would chatter to him about anything that came to mind. Kíli and Éomer's salamander had died a few days ago, so Éomer had happily gone back to concentrating on quidditch. Ori and Fíli's salamander was looking pale, and they were struggling to keep the flame going. Once, Thranduil had had to charm their flame during the night, costing the two some points.

Bilbo assumed that Bombur and Glóin (he could now actually put names to faces with some of the dwarves) had both lost their creatures, because they never seemed to do any work on an evening either.

However, they all sat around and chatted away, sometimes ignoring Bilbo, but generally including him. Bilbo learnt an awful lot more about Thorin than he had ever know.

He found out that although Thorin said he lived in Erebor, he had actually been banished. One of the small, sentient drakes had found its way into the mountain and stolen some kind of heirloom for its hoard. Thorin had been the one in the treasury at the time, and so was blamed for failing to keep it safe.

Bilbo had found the idea horrific. Thorin was not an adult yet, so to have been banished since before he had even started at Hogwarts was beyond his understanding. Bilbo couldn't think of anyone in the Shire banishing a child just because they lost a jewel to something a dangerous as a dragon.

He found out that Thorin's older sister, Dís had left the mountain and had taken her brother and her sons with her. Bilbo had not been surprised to learn that Fíli and Kíli were related to Thorin. All the dwarves of The Company seemed to be related in one way or another.

He enjoyed listening to their banter though. He joined in laughing when they mocked Glóin for having an elf-friend for a twin and he made little comments of his own when they were talking about different pranks they could pull on people. Though, he didn't encourage them to prank his cousin or any of his friends. Merry and Pippin were inventive when they needed to be and could be very well motivated by vengeance.

Best of all though, Thorin now nodded his head whenever he caught Bilbo's eye in the corridors. Sometimes, he even managed a little smile. Bilbo couldn't quite explain the feelings that shot through his body when this happened… or what it did to him when he dreamt at night.

Now, when he met Thorin's eye, he had a tendency to blush.