One gnome down, a thousand more to go.

And then there was Noelle. Yeah, she knew that they're supposed to catch the gnome. "But not when that potato is trying to crawl inside my skirt." This was just her being all self-defense. Let's just get back to the main task, shall we? "Where do you need me?" Ava asked the Gryffindor prefect before then she got the creature climbed and clung on her back. She was about to help but it seemed like Noelle could handle it better than her.

Observing around, she just noticed that the class was such a total mess. Not to mention the BoG guy did a little action that make the DADA professor upset. Well, whatever happened she kind of hoped there would be an epic duel between them. It's going to be more interesting than dealing with these living potato.

Oh right, back to the gnomes.

Ava tried to use the ensnarement charm once again. Focusing her thought on growing a strong vein, she made a clockwise circular motion with her wand and flicked it upward and hopefully the vein would be strong enough to trap the little ugly creature. "IRRETIO!!!" She cried the incantation until a vine grew up from the ground.

Maisie screamed. A gnome had darted right at her and latched itself on to her leg. Teeth sunk in. Someone, she couldn't tell who, had shot a successful vine spell at her, tying the gnome to her leg. It dug its teeth in more. Maisie screamed again. She tried to call for help, but the words wouldn't come out. She shot panicked glances at the Professor with her teeth clenched together and her eyes wide.

SPOILER!!: GNOMES!

Quote:

Originally Posted by GNOMES!

Luckily for the girl (Rhea), help was at hand.

A spell cast from another girl (Skylar) encouraged another vine to shoot out of the ground. It followed the path of the first vine and wrapped around the gnome and TUGGED.

A ripping sound sounded in the air as the vine around the girl's leg started to rip...

The use of the Diffindo spell from the other girl (Rhea) was exactly what she needed. It hit the vine at the place where it had started to rip and, after a much louder ripping sound, the vine was free from the ground and from the girl.

The two vines that were wrapped around the gnome were now free to send it flying backwards. There was a soft THUMP as it landed on the grass, rooted there and unable to move.

Well done, ladies.

F I N A L L Y.

Rhea had never been so happy to be free.

She turned her attention back to the situation with Emmeline and was genuinely shocked to see what had happened.

SPOILER!!: Emmeline and Professor Hirsch

Quote:

Originally Posted by NifflerFan

The gnome she'd thrown seemed to be flying through the air in slow motion; it felt like it took FOREVER to land, and once it did... It hadn't landed next to the BoGer like she'd planned. No, it had landed ON the old man!!! Emmeline's eyes widened as faaaar as they could go in pure shock. She'd attacked an adult..

Honestly, she'd only meant to make a gnome alarm clock so she moved closer to the old man to say sorry or something. Which was the biggest mistake EVER 'cause HE SET THE GNOME ON FIRE!!!!! Emmeline screamed at the top of her lungs as the fire sprang up; she knew it was a dummy in her head, but all she could see was a gnome burning to death right in front of her. It didn't look fake and the noises it was making... And SHE'D done that to it. Or it was mostly her fault at least. Tears welled up in her eyes and started streaming down her face like mini-rivers. Hadn't she decided after the Niffler Incident with her father a couple of years ago that her new mission in life was to protect creatures?? That was the whoooole reason that she tried so hard in this class. And now she'd thrown a gnome right into another crazy old man's lap. Literally.

Emmeline let out another SCREAM really loud yelp of surprise when she felt super strong vines wrap themselves around her out of nowhere. One summer with Cami and she'd apparently forgotten all of the lessons she'd learned with her family, the first one being: never take your eyes off the threat. She struggled against the vines binding her arms to her sides and her legs together because she needed to RUN, but she wasn't making any progress. Her wand hung uselessly in her right hand, and she was still crying way too hard to say the words of a spell anyway.

And the old psycho man was watching the gnome burn and looked like he ENJOYED it. Enjoyed the smell of burning flesh, the pain and destruction and... Emmeline wasn't exactly sure when or how it happened, but in the next few seconds she was throwing up everywhere. And still the gnome kept burning, burning, burning...

She wanted to disappear.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hermionesclone

Chaos was still erupting and it was as though time was running still.

Or maybe that’s just the way it seemed with the amount of movement in the room.

The man stood off to one side, one eye on the watch and one eye on the goings on of the room taker. Constant vigilance, you know? He watched as a gnome sailed through the air and landed straight onto the lap of the man who was meant to be auditing his lesson. And, what was more, the gnome had gotten a bite out of the man as well.

Amused? He certainly was.

"Three and a half minutes left, everyone! Keep it up, you’re nearly the-"

And then a number of things happened.

The yell from Noah wasn’t noted but it was hard to miss the sight of a burning gnome flying through the air. He watched as it sailed past, at a complete loss for words as to what he should say. But before he could do more than open his mouth, a scream punctured the air and he turned to look at.....

.............

Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no.

Shock and fear settled in faster than you could say ‘vigilance’. Hirsch ran over to the now-entwined Emmeline, trying not to pay too much attention to the pounding of his heart or the icy sinking feeling in his stomach. "Oh Merlin, oh no...." Gnomes were jumped over, vines dodged and green eyes were set on the struggling, crying second year. If he didn’t know better, the man would’ve said that this was out of some kind of nightmare.

Being careful not to step in any of the sick, the man started hacking away at the source of the vine, using both his wand and his shaking hands. "It’s okay, I’m right here, nothing’s going to happen to you..." It was a few moments of struggling where he grew slightly more impatient at the rest of the vine around her that refused to cut away as easily. "I want you to take some deep breaths for me, okay? In....... and out......" Something that, unlike last time, he couldn’t do with her because of his focus on cutting the vines themselves.

Once she was free enough, he took a careful look at her face and eyes. "Are you okay? How do you feel? Do you need some water?" Was a visit to the Hospital Wing needed?

As for the one who’d made this happen, Hirsch stood up and looked over at Noah, eyes blazing. All thoughts about the audit and the fact that his future lay in the hands of this man right here flew out of the window. All he could think about was the fact that there was an upset and possibly terrified young girl standing near him and it was down to this excuse of a man right here. "How DARE you?! You do NOT raise your wand against someone who’s underage, unless you’re helping them."

Maybe he could write that in those ridiculous observation notes of his.

With it, she saw an opportunity. She knew there wasn't long left in the lesson, but she was quite eager to leave if she could. She was sooooo over this lesson. Yes, she was proud of what she'd achieved, but she was done.

Rhea tried to be quick on the draw, before another student offered their help, and rushed over to where Emmeline and Professor Hirsch were. She had to dodge a couple of gnomes and hopping over vines as she went. "You okay?" She asked Emmeline, looking down at the younger girl, briefly wondering if she would recognise her. Then she looked between Emmeline and Hirsch. "Do you need to see the Healer?"

Please let her (Rhea) leave this awful scene.

He didn't think the gnome would go that far but it was certainly an entertaining sight to see. The other gnome-child was screaming and Noah didn't have to look to know why. He figured the kids had more gumption than that but again he was reminded about how terrible Hogwarts had become. The kids were coddled and honestly pathetic. How could he hope to ever see any of his nieces and nephews attending his former school if it was in such a dismal state???

The man would've gone right back to sleep - the sounds of children running around and making noise irritated him to no end - had Hirsch not also added to the choas. He watched, in mild amusement, as the professor frantically tried to cut the vines off of the girl. He made sure to write down exactly how long it took Hirsch to perform that action. In the off-chance that a real emergency would happen, Hirsch's slug-like movements would've gotten all of the little banshees hurt, or worse. So, really, he should be thanking Noah for this teaching moment; to which the BoG member would've graciously accepted the praise for doing a job well done.

He didn't account for the dramatic reaction from the Ravenclaw HoH, nor did he account for the gnome-child's projectile vomiting to fly everywhere. Disgusting. Noah didn't even try to hide his displeasure, and Hirsch's voice only made matters worse. He massaged his temples, honestly exhausted by all of this drama. "If the gnome was better trained then maybe it wouldn't have gotten caught so easily." And by gnome, he meant the crying vomiting child. He had more to say but the professor's presence just made him all the more frustrated. Holding up a finger, to prevent the other man from saying anything else, Noah found himself asleep, again. Was he apologetic? Absolutely not. Would he sit and listen to Hirsch speak again? Not if his life depended on it. Did he think the whole class was a bust? Yes. So much so that he couldn't help but continue sleeping, forgetting all about the ridiculous situation in front of him.

Before the gnome could do more than giggle at the finger bite, it was suddenly flung away from the man (Noah) who had woken up. And, to make matters worse, the fire spell hit the gnome and it lit up at once.

One flying, fiery canonball of a gnome coming through.

The gnome let out a loud SHRIEK as it flew in the air, burning and rolling around mid-air.

Luckily, an older girl (Scarlett) was at hand to sort out the burning gnome. If it wasn't for the seriousness of the situation, the spellwork might be admired. A jet of wire shot out of her wand and engulfed the flaming gnome mid-air, extinguishing the fire almost instantly.

Well done, kid.


__________


Maybe the help of another student was exactly what the Prefect needed.

While the Prefect (Noelle) was being pulled downwards, another vine shot out of the ground, cast by a younger student (Hattie). It wound its way up and wrapped around the gnome itself.

There was a great TUG and the gnome landed on the floor, arms and legs in the air like an overturned beetle.


__________


Maybe she (Maddie) was a magnet for the gnomes.

But there was something about the shout and determination behind the spell that seemed to work in her favour this time round. Vines slightly thicker than before shot out of the ground and wrapped themselves around the oncoming gnome. There was a great TUG of faith and....

... the gnome flew backwards and landed with a THUMP on the floor.

Well done, kid.


__________


The older boy (Remy) was another magnet for the gnomes, it seemed. No sooner had the gnome been flung off, two more gnomes ran towards him, one still dragging a bit of vine around its ankle. Something that didn't work in the gnome's favour.

When the older boy cast the Ensnarement Charm, it didn't wrap around the gnome but grabbed onto the trailing parts of the vine instead. There was a TUG and the vines and the gnome went tumbling backwards and towards an unsuspecting young boy (Eddie) nearby.

Round 2 of Gnome Bowling.

Meanwhile, the freezing charm that shot out of the older boy's wand did what it was meant to and froze the gnome it was aimed at. The aim and direction of the spell meant that parts of the spell also happened to hit the unsuspecting younger boy (Eddie) who was trying to tackle the gnome that was clinging onto it.

The combination of Stupefy and Immobulus was so strong that not only did the gnome get frozen in place, but so did both of the younger boy's legs...

Oops?


__________


The gnome wanted to SWIIIIIIING but being latched onto the girl's (Maisie) leg, it couldn't move very far.

But luckily for the girl, help was at hand.

The older girl's (Olivia) spell hit the struggling gnome, stupefying it instantly. Now they just needed to remove the gnome from her leg and she might be free.

The sound of another spell cast by an older girl (Ava) punctured the air and before they knew it, thick vines shot out of the ground and wrapped themselves around the gnome that was still attached to the younger girl's (Maisie) leg. There was a tug, followed by a ripping sound as some of the vines started to break away...

Hirsch had never met a man who was so infuriating and didn't seem to have any sense of remorse for his actions. An apology would've been acceptable, at the very least, but no. It seemed to him that Noah did not give a care in the world about what he had potentially done to a student. A student who, yes, could take care of herself but also shouldn't be subjected to a wand being raised against her in a harmful way by an adult. She was only twelve, for Merlin's sake. In his eyes, he had every right to be as dramatic and less-than-chill as he wanted.

If the gnome was better trained?! What was he talking about?! Still very much furious, Hirsch opened his mouth to answer back only to have the BoG member silence him. In his classroom, at that. And, what was worse, was that he was doing exactly what he had not come here to do and fallen right to sleep again.

Typical.

The sound of a voice near him made him turn his head and he looked over at Miss Reynolds as she proposed taking Emmeline to the Hospital Wing, followed almost immediately by Miss Durant. The Defence Professor took a deep breath and said, "Yes. Yes, I think that would be wise. Take her there and sit with her and wait for me to come as well." He would need to explain to River what had happened, after all. "Thank you, both of you. You're going to need...." He took out his wand and twirled it around in the air. Twice. A medium-sized bucket, big enough to hold with both hands, appeared in mid air, followed by a goblet filled with water. "The bucket's in case she vomits again." The vanishing charm would really work in their favour. "And the goblet is for water."

Now. Emmeline. "Emmeline, I want you to go with Miss Reynolds and Miss Durant to the Hospital Wing and wait for me there, okay? If you feel any worse in the meantime, please let them know." The three girls got a nod: they were free to go.

Hirsch took another deep breath. His heart was still beating rather wildly but he was, slowly, starting to feel much calmer than he did before. No one else was hurt, right? And he could ignore the existence of that man over there that was using his lesson for naptime. His focus was on the students, after all.

But then his green eyes landed on one Miss Dimple and he.... furrowed his eyebrows. There was something about that panicked look that didn't seem to sit well with him. Miss Holden, Kitty and Ava were all there to help her so he didn't feel too worried but that also didn't mean he wasn't going to keep an eye on that situation over there.

Something that distracted him momentarily was the sound of a familiar voice calling to him. Hirsch glanced sideways and over at Jessa and the swinging gnome on her arm. The furrowed brow look wasn't about to disappear anytime soon, it seemed, because Jessa was making a request that only Jessa Cambridge would. "You...... want to keep him. For one of your experiments?" This was her cue to explain.

As for the rest of the students, "Just under a minute left and then you're free from the gnome attack!" And free to go to lunch as well.


OOC: Just a note to say that you have 4.5 hours left until the main activity is over ^^

Kyle noticed that a gnome had wriggled mostly free and was now dragging itself and the other entwined gnome with him! Oh for goodness sakes! He narrowed his eyes and went back to focusing and concentrating on getting the gnomes wrapped up. With another circular motion and a flick, he called out, "Irretio!" and this time decided to try and get the vines as tightly wrapped around the gnomes as he could.

STRIIIKE!! The Curly Top did a ridiculous joyous little jig at his success, watching Kyle ensnare the Gnomes with his spell. "Good job Kyle!" beamed the Gryffindor Ace as he fist pumped the air from the distance of where he stood.

He was about to approach the young Slytherin and their catch-of-the-day when the another sort of CHAOS erupted on the other side of the room. Everything happened so fast that he could only watch in hilarity horror as gnomes flew about and fires flared and someone lost their lunch eww. But lunches wasnt the only thing that was lost-- Hirsch lost his temper.

What did they say about a good man? Demons run when a good man goes to war. And right now Hirsch looks like he could send all the devil running for the hills with its tail between its legs.

But something caught his attention from the corner of his eye-- one of the gnomes they caught has come lose! "Oh no you dont...." he rumbled as he hastend his pace forward, aimed his wand at the vicinity of the gnome and its still bound up partner and willed Irretio onto the grass surrounding them. And it seems like Kyle had the same thought. Would both their attempts at this really keep these gnomes down finally?

Something was wrong with her brain. It was all blank and frozen and it was kind of like she was seeing things from far away. Emmeline couldn't pay attention to most of the chaos happening around her anymore, and she was way past the point of not being able to breathe when Professor Hirsch came over. It was a good thing, really, that she already trusted Professor Hirsch more than most adults teachers or his raising his wand in her direction would've added to her terror -- even if it was pointed at the vines. As it was, the second year trusted Professor Hirsch LOADS, and even more so 'cause he'd been helping Stasya with her...stuff all term. She tried to follow the directions he was giving her for breathing in...and out... for several minutes while he tore away at the vines trapping her. By the time he had freed her from them, she could breathe almost normally, but her heart was kind of still racing and she could feel herself shaking.

Emmeline slid her wand carefully into its holster, eyeing the puddle of sick that she'd gotten on the grass. "I'm s-sorry, Professor... Thank you," she said quietly -- but only after the crazy old man had seemed to have fallen back asleep. Still, she was STARING at him because she wasn't going to make the mistake of letting her eyes wander off him twice. She swallowed and added still quietly to the professor, "I think...he thinks I'm a gnome." Since she was the one the man had caught rather than an actual gnome.

She'd sort of zoned out as two older girls (Scarlett and Rhea) came over and offered to take her to the hospital wing, only really tuning back in when Professor Hirsch talked to her directly. She nodded and edged towards Rhea a bit; she wanted to get away from the crazy old man like NOW. Plus, even though she was grateful to both older girls for offering, Miss Rhea was the one she really knew from last year. Eyes still leaking a little, she glanced up at the older Ravenclaw girl and asked quietly, "Can we...can we go now? Please?" Before the crazy old man woke up and started firing spells everywhere again.

Remy watched with his heart racing as he watched the gnomes that had been running towards him, to make sure that he had managed to get them to stop attacking his classmates. He watched as his vines wrapped and trapped one of the gnomes, before his eyes went wide as he watched the vine act like a bungee cord, and whip the second gnome backwards across the classroom.

Oh… Merlin… He thought as he watched the vine wrapped gnome roll across the floor towards one of the younger Slytherin’s. Especially considering his freezing charm ended up working not only his own gnome, but that same boys gnome AND his legs. Uhhhhh….. Shoot… That… wasn’t what was meant to happen.

Taking a step closer to the boy, casting another irratio at a gnome that was between him and the boy. He took a large step over the newly attacked gnome, and hoped he could get to the Slytherin before anything happened with the rolling gnome… that was unfortunately heading straight for him. Holding his wand up, he cast a cushioning charm on the floor around the boy - unwilling to cast finite incantatem as it would also undo all of the vine work and spell work that was currently holding the gnomes at bay…

And another gnome between him and the boy - what was with this? Was he a magnet??

Kicking the frozen gnome that was still on her aside, Kitty groaned in dismay as her vines tied themselves around Maisie and the gnome. UGH!!! Why did that always happen? She'd been trying to stop the gnome, not tie Maisie - who she knew was a very and nervous kid.


She caught what happened between Emmeline and the BoG guy right as it was happening. WHAT?! Unfortunately she wasn't able to see if Emmeline was okay (normally she would have run over and made sure) because things with Maisie were still happening.

"I'm sorry Maisie! Sorry! Just hang on." Pointing her wand at the vines which were tying Maisie, Kitty shouted, "Finite!!!" And thankfully, Olivia and Ava were helping - so it looked like things were going to be okay.

With activity dwindling and most gnomes being bound and rooted to the spot, it only made sense for the class to come to a close. Not to mention, after what had just happened, this seemed like a good time to let the students go.

The minute ticked down and when the second hand reached twelve, Hirsch put his thumb and index finger in his mouth and let out a loud whistle. "Okay everyone, that was an excellent attempt! A very well done on trying to arm yourself against the gnomes." Taking out his wand, he made a sweeping motion across the room. At once, the gnomes seemed to stop in place as if they had been frozen there before retreating backwards and towards the box again. Some walked in a more duck-footed manner and some still trailed vines behind them as they went.

Oh, and Abey? The shield surrounding him was lifted too.

"If you've gotten scratches, I have....." He reached into his pocket and fished out a small jar filled with some sort of paste. "some healing paste." That he helped himself to. Thanks, River. "Help yourself! For anything worse, come and see me." He would do his best to heal them but, well, he was no Healer.

"If you don't have any questions, you're welcome to go."


OOC: EEEEEEEEEEE!

That's the end of the activity and the end of this DADA lesson! Whether you came for a question or the entire thing, thank you for participating nonetheless! It means a lot to me and I hope you enjoyed it!

I'm going to keep this thread open for 24 hours if you want to post your charrie leaving. Thank you, once again! ^^

Maisie was relieved to feel the vines loosen from her leg. The gnome was soon following the others back to the rocks after a spell by the Professor. He had some kind of healing paste and she hoped it would help her.

"Professor, I got bitten," She said, limping over to him. Her leg had stopped bleeding but she had a nasty bite. "They're not like komodo dragons are they? Y'know, ninety-nine types of lethal bacteria or something?" Maisie was worried, and a little dazed. "It was a good lesson though, sir,"

SPOILER!!: Prof. Hirsch and sweet Emmeline

Quote:

Originally Posted by hermionesclone

The sound of a voice near him made him turn his head and he looked over at Miss Reynolds as she proposed taking Emmeline to the Hospital Wing, followed almost immediately by Miss Durant. The Defence Professor took a deep breath and said, "Yes. Yes, I think that would be wise. Take her there and sit with her and wait for me to come as well." He would need to explain to River what had happened, after all. "Thank you, both of you. You're going to need...." He took out his wand and twirled it around in the air. Twice. A medium-sized bucket, big enough to hold with both hands, appeared in mid air, followed by a goblet filled with water. "The bucket's in case she vomits again." The vanishing charm would really work in their favour. "And the goblet is for water."

Now. Emmeline. "Emmeline, I want you to go with Miss Reynolds and Miss Durant to the Hospital Wing and wait for me there, okay? If you feel any worse in the meantime, please let them know." The three girls got a nod: they were free to go.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NifflerFan

Something was wrong with her brain. It was all blank and frozen and it was kind of like she was seeing things from far away. Emmeline couldn't pay attention to most of the chaos happening around her anymore, and she was way past the point of not being able to breathe when Professor Hirsch came over. It was a good thing, really, that she already trusted Professor Hirsch more than most adults teachers or his raising his wand in her direction would've added to her terror -- even if it was pointed at the vines. As it was, the second year trusted Professor Hirsch LOADS, and even more so 'cause he'd been helping Stasya with her...stuff all term. She tried to follow the directions he was giving her for breathing in...and out... for several minutes while he tore away at the vines trapping her. By the time he had freed her from them, she could breathe almost normally, but her heart was kind of still racing and she could feel herself shaking.

Emmeline slid her wand carefully into its holster, eyeing the puddle of sick that she'd gotten on the grass. "I'm s-sorry, Professor... Thank you," she said quietly -- but only after the crazy old man had seemed to have fallen back asleep. Still, she was STARING at him because she wasn't going to make the mistake of letting her eyes wander off him twice. She swallowed and added still quietly to the professor, "I think...he thinks I'm a gnome." Since she was the one the man had caught rather than an actual gnome.

She'd sort of zoned out as two older girls (Scarlett and Rhea) came over and offered to take her to the hospital wing, only really tuning back in when Professor Hirsch talked to her directly. She nodded and edged towards Rhea a bit; she wanted to get away from the crazy old man like NOW. Plus, even though she was grateful to both older girls for offering, Miss Rhea was the one she really knew from last year. Eyes still leaking a little, she glanced up at the older Ravenclaw girl and asked quietly, "Can we...can we go now? Please?" Before the crazy old man woke up and started firing spells everywhere again.

Rhea caught the end of what Emmeline was saying about the BoG member calling her a gnome and shook her head. "He can't say anything, the ugly troll," she commented. Ah. "On second thought, he's worse than a troll, wouldn't you say?" She smiled - a rare kind smile - at the young Gryffindor, before listening to what Professor Hirsch wanted them to do.

"Of course, Professor," she said, glancing across at Scarlett and giving her a nod, too. And, like the generous person she was, indicated that she wouldn't be in charge of carrying the sick bucket by plucking the considerably-easier-to-carry water goblet out of the air. *felix shrug?*

She then turned her attention back to Emmeline, who'd inched closer to her while the Professor had been speaking. Even though Rhea's original reason for coming over here was simply that she wanted to leave the classroom, she did actually want to help the younger girl. "Yes," she answered, making a conscious effort to soften her voice. "Let's go." She didn't want to be in this classroom for another minute either. With one more glance at Scarlett, Rhea started leading them out of the classroom.

The Ravenclaw kept her wand at the ready, just in case any gnomes or vines blocked their path but then, once they were to the door, she offered her a small smile and her hand.

Younger kids liked that sort of support, right?