A Partnership in Villainy

This story is an extrapolation of a brief memory that occurred in the story Recaptured.

Llinos

Pippin's memory flitted back to the time he and his cousin had first had chocolate on that Yule. All the hobbit children spending the 12 days in Brandy Hall had been given a piece, there had not been enough for the adults. The doling out had started with the youngest and allocated according to age until it was all gone. Pippin remembered how Merry's face had dropped as Ferdibrand, Merry's junior by a year, was given the last piece.

The littlest Took, who worshipped his Brandybuck cousin, couldn't bear the look of disappointment on his hero's face. But Pippin had gobbled his piece of chocolate with relish the moment he was given it. There had to be something he could do. Pippin had resolved the problem in his own unique way by stealing his sister, Pervinca's chocolate and giving it to Merry.

Pervinca had wailed and told and both boys had been beaten, Pippin over his father's knee and Merry over a chair with a strap, because he was old enough to know better. But it had merely served to form a closer bond between the two – a partnership in villainy had been cemented.

From Recaptured – Chapter 61 – Rough and Tumble

This story explains what really happened…