Disclaimer: The Hobbit belongs to the highly esteemed J.R.R. Tolkien. I'm just dabbling my unworthy fingers in his magnificent world.

Bilbo ran as fast as he could, across the corridor on his tippy-toes. Upon reaching his destination, he slumped against the cool stone of the pillar slightly, not daring to let out a breath.

His fingers were wrapped tightly around the ring; for fear that it would slip off and expose him to the merrymaking elves. Right now, he was standing in the hallway outside the Feasting Hall, and he caught frequent bursts of song floating out from within.

Bilbo looked around again; he didn't see any elves that were not inside the hall, celebrating and feasting and – Bilbo hoped – getting themselves so drunk, they wouldn't notice if he went in to take some food… …

Yes, Bilbo Baggins, extremely reputable hobbit of Bag End, wanted to steal some food from a hall. From elves. Because he was hungry.

He, too, had yet to think of a plan to rescue Thorin and the other dwarves – but that could wait later, couldn't it? After all, food for thought… … Besides, the dwarves were all fed on a regular basis, while he had to scavenge and scrimp on his already depleted – scratch that, non-existent – supply of food. And when he rescued them, who knew when would be their next time to eat?

If he rescued them, anyway.

Shaking his head, he crept a little closer to the hall, hesitant to venture in. The light flooding out from the hall was sharp and bright, and while his shadow was certainly rather faint, it was also very large… … The elves, as observant and perceptive as they were, were sure to notice even a blurry shadow of a stout (he refused to say fat – besides, he had lost so much weight over the past months!) figure!

No, it wouldn't do. Perhaps he could try slipping into the hall when the elves' attention was focused on something? It was a celebratory event after all, surely there had to be a speech of some sort… … However Bilbo didn't even know why the elves were celebrating – sure, he was invisible and could slip into places more or less unnoticed, but he couldn't stick around the elves all the time, now could he? He had to plan the dwarves' rescue, visit them in the dungeons, and eat… …

Eat. Oh, how he longed for his lovely little smial and his fully-stocked pantry… … Fruit tarts with sweet raspberry jam and creamy dough, seedcakes studded with little seeds that he crunched between his teeth, or just a good old, plain cup of hot tea! What he wouldn't give for all that… …

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice an elf, dressed in brown and green garb, walking towards his direction till the elf was three yards away from him.

Bilbo stiffened, immediately flattening himself against the surface of the nearest wall and pressing his little, albeit slightly grubby hands against the wall in an attempt to squash his own body into a flatter shape than it already was (which was not very flat).

The elf paused a yard away from him, and Bilbo's pulse quickened, his blood roaring in his ears. Oh no no, he couldn't be caught now! He had managed to stay unspotted for the past week, but if the elf sensed him… …

Then Bilbo wouldn't even have anywhere to run! He was trapped, completely and utterly trapped.

Where are your wits now, Bilbo Baggins? He thought frantically. He had managed to defeat the spiders, get into the gate uncaptured, and get into the dungeons the dwarves occupied.

Distract him, distract him! His mind yelled.

But how? Bilbo glanced around, his gaze landing on the floor, and he had to slap his hand over his mouth to prevent a yelp from emitting.

His shadow… … It was frozen on the stone tiles, unclear, but still there nevertheless.

Bilbo slowly, oh so slowly raised his eyes to look at the elf's face. The elf, unfortunately for Bilbo, was very quick on the uptake and was now looking curiously at the shadow, seemingly springing out from nowhere – thin air, which just happened to contain an invisible and extremely frightened Bilbo.

The game's up! Bilbo squeezed his eyes shut, clutching the finger on which the ring was on tightly, till the cool metal bit into the soft flesh of his hand.

"Prince Legolas!"

An elf, looking a little drowsy from the wine, stuck his head out from the hall and called – well, he meant to call to 'Prince Legolas', but ended up yelling instead – to the elf standing a few feet from Bilbo and who was terribly close to finding him out.

Legolas glanced up, and his face broke into a smile.

The elf in the hall beckoned frantically, waving his long, slender arms. Though he was clearly rather tipsy, his movements still contained the fluidity and gracefulness of the Eldar, and Bilbo watched intently.

Legolas hesitated, glancing down at Bilbo's unmoving shadow.

Please, please, please just go already.

And maybe it should be lucky that Bilbo had so much luck, perhaps even more than any person would have in his or her lifetime. For once again, it seemed as if his tremendous luck had come into play.

Legolas gave another gracious smile and moved towards the elf in the hall without another backward glance, and Bilbo let out a barely audible sigh of relief.

But still Bilbo refused to let down his guard, and he watched steadily as the two elves' backs retreated into the hall.

Legolas turned around, looking directly at his eyes, and winked.

A/N: Well, that's a wrap! I hope you enjoyed it. It's my first Hobbit fic, all feedback are welcome! :-) I was inspired by other Hobbit fics for this little story, so hannon le to all the writers of the fics.