Another kink-meme fill.

This is going to be me pouring book and movie canon together and stirring it around. A lot. Also, while most of the history here is canon the fact that the Necromancer is Sauron was actually discovered about a hundred years before the quest and Sauron was driven out the year of. Saruman not believing that shit is going down/covering for Sauron at that point in time is a movie thing (although he did actually do that) but I'm running with it because reasons.

Some scenes and lines take heavy inspiration from both LOTR and The Hobbit. Anything you recognise from the books is not mine.

He was not supposed to be the only one on watch. Bombur was supposed to be there with him but the dwarf had drifted off and Bilbo himself was yawning. Despite the recent events Gandalf had been pushing them hard to get somewhere (or rather, to somebody) and the entire company was exhausted, especially as nearly all of their supplies had been lost somewhere between the mountains, the goblins and the wargs so they were marching on little food.

Bilbo stood at the edge of the camp, looking outwards. The light of the little low fire that was still burning cast shadows and he had one hand on his sword hilt. His other hand was turning the ring over and over and running a thumb over its smooth contours. He hadn't had time to really look at it since he'd had the luck to pick it up. Now at least he stood a chance if he should be asked to burgle something, an invisible thief would be impossible to spot if he was as quiet as a hobbit.

Thorin could not sleep. He hadn't said anything of it but the pain from being thrown around by Azog's warg was considerable - even to a dwarf. The pace Gandalf insisted on was not helping. It made it impossible to get comfortable on the ground and, since he was awake, the snores of his companions and the hobbit's constant yawning were irritating. Giving up entirely on sleep he got to his feet as quietly and painlessly as possible, intending on relieving their hobbit of his watch - somebody should benefit from his sleeplessness.

To his surprise the hobbit didn't turn around as he approached, too busy staring down at something in his hands. He coughed as he got closer and the hobbit jumped a foot in the air and disappeared from sight. Thorin stared.

"Oh," came a voice from nowhere, "it's only you." And a second later Bilbo reappeared.

"What was that?" Thorin asked.

"I...erm...you see," Bilbo stuttered, wishing he could just put the ring on again and disappear. Thorin simply continued looking at him. And the whole story of his adventure in the caves came tumbling out. Finding the ring, Gollum, the riddle game (which caused Thorin to raise his eyebrows), finding out what the ring did, catching up to them, the whole thing.

"Well that certainly explains how you managed to escape the goblins," Thorin said, once he was finished. "May I have a look at the ring."

With a strange reluctance Bilbo handed the ring over, it looked delicate and small in Thorin's larger hands. Momentarily the thought of how the ring had managed to fit on Gollum's spidery fingers when it was clearly made for a hobbit hand crossed his mind, but then Thorin began speaking.

"This was forged long ago," Thorin said, "but it is not of dwarf make so I cannot tell you much more. Still, many rings of some little power were made in that time, this seems to be no more than one of them if it does only what you say. Keep it, and may it get you out of more trouble." He handed the ring back to Bilbo. "It may be wise to speak of it to the wizard, if he does not already know of it."

"I'll do that," a ring of invisibility was all well and good but he hadn't considered that it might be anything more. Magic was magic, wasn't it?

"Go and get some sleep," Thorin said, "I'll take your watch." Bilbo was not going to argue with that and darted over to his makeshift bedroll and was asleep within minutes.

As the night moved on Thorin considered the hobbit and his ring of invisibility. He'd heard of the great rings, the seven rings given to the dwarves – like the ring Thror had worn which had thereafter passed to Thrain but had been lost with his father - but never had he heard that they conferred invisibility upon the bearer.

Bilbo meant to speak to Gandalf about the ring early the next day but the wizard had gone ahead before he woke up. There had been instructions left with Thorin as to which direction to continue in and that the wizard would return before sundown.

The dwarves took a somewhat more leisurely pace without Gandalf there, conscious that they were all tired and hungry and, in some cases, injured. There had been neither sight nor sound of Azog's orcs and the eagles had taken them at least a day's journey ahead, but they still had to keep up the pace since the orcs could travel quickly by night even if they had to hide during the day. Still, the walking made Bilbo worry less. He hoped he could speak to Gandalf privately about the ring, he'd wanted to keep it from the rest of the company – it would be nice to be thought of as a competent burglar, even if it was only because of the ring. It was comforting...if that was the right word, to have Thorin approve of him...of his use of the ring. After the various comments about his competency as a burglar he wasn't sure if the dwarves would see the ring as cheating.

Gandalf, as it turned out, returned before sunset with news both good and ill

"I have found you lodgings for tonight at least and maybe a little longer," Gandalf said, "you can rest in safety and resupply before you reach Mirkwood."

"Surely you mean 'we', Mr. Gandalf," Dori said.

"No, I do not," Gandalf said, "I meant to get you over the mountains and that I have done, in a fashion. I am much further east than I ever meant to come with you, for I have some other pressing business to attend to. I may look in on you before this adventure is over, but this was never my adventure to have. I will go with you a little further, to the lodgings I mentioned, but then I must leave."

Bilbo wasn't the only one who protested at that, but the hobbit was the most vocal. After all, he was the one who seemed to get into the most trouble when Gandalf wasn't around. The trolls, the stone giants, the goblins and Gollum had all happened when Gandalf wasn't there. The only one who was silent was Thorin, and Bilbo looked at him curiously while the other dwarves tried to promise Gandalf a share in the gold when they reclaimed it. Surely Thorin would know best of all of them that there was no way they could defeat a dragon without a wizard. Instead Thorin simply looked more solemn and held up a hand for silence, grumbling the dwarves stopped their protestations.

"Thank you Thorin," Gandalf said. "Now, we must head onwards to reach the lodgings before sundown."

They had to ford a river, which was fine for Gandalf and all well and good for the dwarves – since the shallower ford only came up to the chests of the dwarves, maybe a little higher at some of the lower points – but Bilbo was neck deep in the water for the most part and had to keep one hand in his pocket at all times for fear of losing the ring. Fili and Kili had all but plunged into the water, prompting some muttering from the older dwarves who seemed as reluctant as Bilbo to go into the water. Gandalf had proceeded next, since the water came to his waist and did not seem to bother him. Slowly the dwarves had shuffled their way across the water and Bilbo, who (despite an adventurous childhood) could not swim, had to follow. Fortunately Bofur, who was in front of Bilbo, did not mind the hobbit clinging on to the back of his coat and Thorin, who Bilbo found out was behind him, caught him when he slipped and half drowned himself and shoved him back upright. Bilbo was half expecting a comment about that but by the time everybody was safely across, they'd all forgotten about the incident.

Although all anybody wanted to do was lay down and dry off, Gandalf insisted that they keep going. There, at least, Bilbo had some advantage since he was not wearing shoes and his feet dried much quicker than the dwarves boots so he did not have to squelch the whole way until Gandalf held up a hand and they stopped. They'd begun passing huge patches of flowers earlier in the day, patches which reminded Bilbo of his own little garden – although on a much grander scale, since the different types of clovers all looked like they had been planted. Bees buzzed through the air, bees bigger than hornets. It was only when they'd come to an nigh-impenetrable belt of oak trees and a high thorny hedge beyond them that Gandalf had stopped them.

"Now I shall introduce you to your host, but since there are so many of you and he is unaccustomed to guests you had better come two at a time at five minute intervals," said Gandalf, then he turned to Bilbo. "Come along Bilbo, there's a gate around here somewhere."

There was a gate, a huge wooden affair, but beyond that Bilbo almost thought he was back in the Shire's farmlands. He had to trot to keep up with Gandalf as they approached a huge wooden house. Outside it a man was standing, he looked to be about the normal height for Big People until they got closer and Bilbo discovered that he was much bigger. He towered above Gandalf and Bilbo only came up to just above his knees.

"Who are you," demanded the man, "and what do you want."

"I am Gandalf," said the wizard.

"And who's this," the man said, bending down to peer at Bilbo.

"This is Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit of the Shire." The man seemed to mull that over and Gandalf continued, "and I am a wizard. You know my cousin Radagast, who lives in Mirkwood, it was he who told me of you, Beorn."

"Radagast you say," Beorn said, "not a bad fellow, as wizards go, passed by here a few days ago."

"Indeed," said Gandalf.

"What is it you want?" said Beorn, gruffly.

"Your aid, and some shelter. We, that is to say the company I am travelling with, lost our ponies and nearly lost our lives after a rather bad time with goblins and orcs in the mountains." "Goblins and orcs?" Beorn said, in the least threatening tone he had used, "what ever were you doing near them?"

"For the goblins, we did not mean to cross their path, but for the orcs – well that's a longer tale." Gandalf said.

"Then by all means, come inside and tell it," Beorn said.

Eventually Gandalf had told the whole tale, though much of the early part of it was punctuated by the comings of the dwarves (and for some parts thereafter, especially those for which Gandalf had not been present, there were some interjections by the dwarves) until all fifteen members of the company and Beorn were sitting around the table while Gandalf finished the tale with their fortunately timed rescue by the eagles. The sun was dimming and shadows were falling.

"Well that was a fine tale," Beorn said, "the finest I've heard in a long while. You may be making all of it up, but it certainly deserves supper."

He stood up from the table and clapped his hands, Bilbo was not the only one to goggle openly as Beorn's ponies and dogs and sheep made quick work of setting out torches and bringing plates and cutlery to the table. Though the meal contained no meat the dwarves and hobbit fell on it with great gusto. It was Beorn's turn to tell them tales of the forest which barred their way east – Mirkwood that had once been Greenwood the great.

By the time their meal was finished true night had fallen and the animals, at Beorn's call, came in to remove the plates and light the fire pit that was in the centre of the house – which was much bigger than it had first appeared. Beorn excused himself outside and the company found that beds had been laid out for them, only straw mattresses and blankets but better than the hard ground with only their clothes to keep them warm. Though they all were replete and somewhat dozy from the meal, they sat around the fire and Balin told some of the dwarvish legends.

Bilbo had contrived to sit next to Gandalf, hoping to strike up a conversation and mention the ring (especially now he knew that Gandalf would be leaving hem) but with Balin's storytelling, he could not. It was not until the story was over and the dwarves began talking amongst themselves or heading off to bed that Bilbo managed it.

"Gandalf," he said.

"Yes Bilbo," the wizard said.

"I wanted to talk to you about...well about how I escaped from the goblin cave," Bilbo said, once again removing the ring from his pocket and turning it over and over between his fingers.

"Indeed," said Gandalf.

Once again Bilbo told the tale of how he'd fallen and found a ring and then subsequently found out what it could do and escaped.

"I mean, Thorin said it probably wasn't much, but I thought I ought to check." Bilbo finished.

"Well that's quite an adventure," said Gandalf, "will you show me the ring you spoke of."

Bilbo attempted to flip the ring into the air and catch it to show Gandalf, in his mind it looked rather impressive, except that he fumbled the catch and the ring went into the fire.

"Bother." Bilbo said vehemently, looking around for a poker or tongs to get at it.

Thorin, who had been sitting close enough to hear the tale over again, appeared at Bilbo's shoulder and quickly reached into the fire to pick it out. Bilbo gasped but Thorin's hand was unburnt as he dropped the ring onto the flat top of his other gauntlet to let it cool.

Dwarf, hobbit and wizard watched as, slowly, a fiery script began to make itself known around the band of the ring.

More of this will be coming. I have another 10 and a bit thousand words already up on AO3 so I'll update this weekly until that's played out and then hopefully regularly thereafter.

Reviews are always appreciated.