Peregrin Took had few memories of Bilbo Baggins before he left the Shire, but the ones that he had stood out very well through time.

The clearest was one of Yule, just before the Farewell Party, when his family and the Bagginses were both over at the Great Smials, and some sort of grownup business was going on that meant his mum and dad were away talking. His sisters were all off playing with dolls and he was not particularly in the mood for them, so when his ancient and eccentric cousin offered to take him on an adventure he readily accepted.

“Come on, my lad,” said Bilbo, “let me show you something very special.” They walked dangerously close to the apartments of the Thain and those of his mother, but they did not go inside them. Rather, there was a door that was very old-looking, and bigger than the rest, and he opened it.

Together they stepped inside, and Bilbo closed the door behind them both.

Pippin sneezed. The air weighed down on him heavily.

“Now, Pippin, how old would you say that I am?”

“I don’t know,” said Pippin. “At least sixty-five.”

Bilbo laughed. “No, my lad, I’m much older than that, though I don’t look it. I am,” he paused for effect, “eleventy years old.”

“That’s very old,” said Pippin.

“I know. Much as I don’t like admitting it, sometimes I feel old. And when I need to feel young again, all I do is step inside this room.”

The canopy bed that took up one corner of the room was tattered, though it looked as if it had once been fine. And there was a desk at one corner that leaned to one side, and a good many moldering books in an old bookshelf.

“How well do you know your relations, Pippin?”

“Well enough,” said Pippin. “You’re my first cousin twice removed.”

“Quite. And this room was my grandfather’s, old Gerontius Took.”

“The Old Took?”

“Yes. And the furnishings and everything else are the same from the day that he died. He never liked having things changed, so in memory of that this room has been left nearly untouched since that day many years ago. The maids, of course, come in and keep most of the dust out and cobwebs, but they’ve been told that there’s to be no cleaning apart from that.” He sat unsteadily in one of the armchairs. “It’s a good place to sit and think.”

“Thank you. Is that why this place is so special?”

“Yes. And I thought you might like to see it because you’re a Took, and I’m half-Took, and you might end up being Thain one day, and everyone needs a good thinking place.”

“Would I be able to use these rooms? They’re very grand, for all they’re old.”

“You could do whatever you wished, provided you were willing to deal with the consequences.”

“The what?”

“The results of what you did. Old Gerontius probably wouldn’t mind seeing these apartments lived in once more, but he’d be very upset if the arrangement was changed.”

“Hmm,” said Pippin. “I’ll let you know how I decide.”

“Oh, no; even if I outlive the Old Took himself I’ll be long gone before then. But I appreciate the sentiment.”

And years later, even though he knew it was idle fancy telling him Bilbo might still be alive over in the West, when at last he was in a position to do anything about it Pippin wrote a note detailing the respectful restoration of the apartment and placed it in the hands of one of the Elves at the Havens.