“The trick,” Bofur declared to the crowd, “is quite simple! These are magic handcuffs! They’ll only come off if Mister Bilbo and Mister Thorin want them to! Otherwise, they’ll be stuck together forever!”

“Forever?” Several of the children asked.

“Forever!” Bofur declared.

The kids gasped.

Bofur, to make everything more theatric, placed a handkerchief over the handcuffs in a way that covered Bilbo and Thorin’s wrists and hands as well. Then he said some magic words, which were really just gibberish, and pulled the handkerchief away dramatically.

Bilbo winced as he pulled a bit and nothing happened. He blinked a few times before he turned to look at his still-cuffed wrist. He tugged again before he looked up into Thorin’s heavy gaze. Then he cleared his throat and turned to Bofur. “Are you sure you did this right? Maybe you should try again.”

Bofur grinned as he nodded. “All right, all right. One more try.”

They went through the entire process again only to have the same outcome.

Or the one where Bilbo takes Frodo to a birthday party but ends up staying to help out and gets a lot more than cake.