A/N: Written for the wee_hobbits Food Challenge on LJ.

Pervinca's Homebrew

Pervinca liked plans and ideas. And she always liked the ones she thought of best of all.

One afternoon she dragged Pippin from (what she thought was) a silly game that involved lining up rocks and twigs and pretending that they were Bilbo and the dwarves, and that he was Smaug.

"Come on," Pervinca said, hauling her brother to his feet and pressing a pail into his hands. "I need you to help me pick grapes."

"But I-" Pippin's protest was forgotten when Pervinca fixed one of her frosty glares upon him.

"It'll be fun," she promised, grabbing her pail and slinging an arm over her brother’s shoulder as they went behind the smial to where vines of wild grapes grew by the fence. "We're going to make something."

At this Pippin perked up. Imagining a jar of delicious grape jam - his favorite - Pippin eagerly filled his pail with dozens upon dozens of sweet, plump, juicy grapes. Soon they had picked enough and they headed indoors, their brimming pails bumping against their knees.

The kitchen was empty, their mother and Pearl having gone to visit a neighbor and Pimpernel helping their father tend to the ponies. Pippin perched on a chair as Pervinca pushed one pail toward him, keeping the other for herself.

"First we have to crush them," she instructed. Rolling up her sleeves to her elbows, Pervinca plunged her hands into the grapes.

"But ‘Vinca," Pippin said hesitantly. "What are we making?"

"Wine," Pervinca replied with a grin.