It was mortifying to have the Professor and Mr. Remy fussing over her, but there was something about the sense that she was trapped that had Katy's heart racing. It reminded her of her helplessness over the summer, when she'd been Stupefied and at the mercy of a very unkind man. Very. Her cheeks burned, but she couldn't seem to figure out what she needed to do in this moment to free herself. Once the vine was removed, Katy slid to a seated position and gave her knees a white-knuckled hug.

Was she okay? Not at the moment, but she wasn't going to admit that. Instead, she gave a shaky nod and tried to climb back to her feet again. "M'okay. Please don't make me sit this out." And you, Evil 'Head Jerk' Valentine, were just proving your true colors by laughing at someone so obviously in distress. Katy ignored her and held on to Hirsch as she tried to rise. "I think I did too good a job envisioning my vine."

Okay, this was not good. This was not good AT ALL. They were apparently moving on, and Maddie had never gotten the spell to work. Not even one single time. HELPPPPPPP. Not only that, the professor had never answered her five million questions, and it didn't take long for Maddie to figure out why. Katy Toussaint, one of the smartest people she knew, had managed to get herself entangled in the vines. UH OH. If that kind of thing could happen to Katy, what would happen to Maddie?

...and then the box was opened, and six bajillion gnomes were released, adding fuel to the fire, pretty much. "AHHHHHHH!" Maddie exclaimed, gripping her wand in her hand and running in the opposite direction. It was her only defense right now, okay? "Katy, you're not sitting out, are you? I...I never managed to get the spell right," she said, passing by the older girl. She'd help her, wouldn't she?

"Irretio, IRRETIO, IRRETIOOOOOOO!" she said, trying to manage the wand movements as the creatures gained on her. "GO AWAY!" Dear Merlin, did he have to start her out with a fifth year spell?!

Grown, not conjured. Got it. Skylar was listening as aptly as she was able, trying to not pay attention to the fact that like some of her other classes, there was a stranger present. It's all about strategy and doesn't just have to be about trapping a creature. That actually sounded like useful advice, but not merely for this class, rather for her OWL examinations as well. Strategy; she had a strategy, one which was failing given certain circumstances, but it was only October. She had been preparing since last year, so having a lapse wouldn't hurt her chances for success, would it?

As she tried to focus on the incantation and the wand movement, her gaze was distracted when a vine entrapped Katy's leg. Oh no! Well, if that didn't make her nervous, she didn't know what would... If only there were desks in here, she could have the vine wrap around the desk. But she needed something to focus on and using it on another student would probably not be effective...or on herself. Even if it meant Hirsch would come to her aide, right now, she just didn't feel the need for that kind of assistance. For him to ask questions, to look into her eyes, to know something wasn't right.

"Irretio," she pronounced, carefully enunciating. But she still needed something to focus on... oh, for a moment she was about to practice on a blade of grass as Hirsch suggested, but then she realized: she wasn't grouped with the younger kids anymore?! Last year she couldn't WAIT to be grouped with the older kids, and yet now, that she was grouped with the older kids, she was TERRIFIED. When did she become one of the older kids? No, she was not trying this spell non-verbally because she'd never tried non-verbal spells yet at all and would prefer to start with something simple like a summoning charm.

Rock. Rock.

Finding a rock that wasn't occupied by other older students, Skylar inhaled, exhaled, trying to focus. "Irretio," clockwise circular motion over the area, upwards flick... and was it her imagination or did that blade of grass get taller? Yes definitely her imagination... She just wasn't concentrating. Inhale, exhale. She could do this. Be the master of defense.

"Irretio!" And that time something definitely grew upwards... only to flop over. Well, it was a start ... and were those gnomes? Could she maybe get a sample of gnome saliva?

Oh, so the box only held fake annoying gnomes. Emmeline let loose a breath of relief, 'cause gnomes didn't exactly need help looking after themselves at ALL. As soon as Professor Hirsch had released them from their box, the gnomes had gone everywhere at once, and Emmeine was having trouble keeping track of them all. Her gaze darted around the room as she tried to track their positions, her friends' positions, and whatever else was going on in the room. Apparently, Miss Katy had been too good at the new spell and gotten trapped; the second year's eyes widened in horror, but thankfully Professor Hirsch was able to free the pretty older girl realllly quickly. Still, Emmeline knew allllll about feeling -- and actually being -- trapped, and she had just thought about going over to give Miss Katy a biiig hug when a couple of first years' screaming caught her attention instead.

The first year boy in her own House was having issues with the gnomes, and so was Maddie -- and Emmeline was much closer to where Maddie was. She reallllly wanted to help both of them, but she didn't have the hang of this new spell yet at ALL either. Her vines had been super thin and didn't look like they'd stand up to a tiiiiny bit of wind, never mind a gnome. So the Gryffindor sprinted in Maddie's direction instead, calling out: "Maddie! Get behind me!" As soon as she was close enough to the gnome around Maddie, Emmeline brandished her wand at it and cast: "Expelliarmus!" No, that wasn't the spell they were supposed to be using, but she'd been working reallllllly hard on it for the last month. And duh, the gnome didn't have a wand but she had seen the Disarming Charm throw people backwards a bit in dueling club and stuff. She paused for a few seconds, settling into a proper dueling stance a short way away from Maddie and preparing for the gnome if it got past her spell.

He hadn't gotten his vines to grow any further than they already had, but they were moving on. Okay, he could do this.

Definitely once Professor Hirsch opened the box and unleashed what was inside. Some ordinary garden gnomes, of the wizard variety not the cute, decorative muggle ones, of course. And some people were freaking out, which was understandable since these particular gnomes were quite ugly and could be vicious.

Like the one that just ran at his legs and caused him to lose his balance, nearly knocking him over. How were they supposed to use the spell to capture the ugly little things when they did things like that? Wouldn't someone accidentally (or accidentally-on-purpose) cast on a classmate?

Gnome Attack!!

Ace didnt know if he should laugh at the sight or get into defense mode position. Probably both, but the hilarity was certainly taking precedent. Yes there have been some gnome-ing issues at home, but since the House Elves took care of those he got used to seeing them as comical creatures rather than pests yknow?

So today could get interesting....

He started to aim his wand at the grass a few paces in front of him, silently casting Irretio in a real subtle manner, as if he was creating the foundation of what would be a wall of magical snares, springing up the moment the Gnomes come near him....

GNOMES had been hiding in that box?

WOW.

She actually hadn't seen a gnome before in her life. It took her a moment to come to action but when she did she had to assess the situation. Gnomes weren't that tough to fight, right?

Kind of a let down...., thought Olivia, who had secretly been hoping for an Inferi or Zombie to pop up. Her eyes immediately shot to Emmeline who bravely stood in front of Maddie and cast an Expelliarmus! Vi stood her ground and glanced for and then cast the spell from where she stood. Irretio, she thought as she pointed to the grass in front of her, moving her wand in a circular motion, before pointing it towards the gnomes that charged before Maddie and Emmeline. She watched as the vines sprinted up from the ground and turned towards those gnomes over there.

Hopefully that would work, right?

In the meantime, she turned to see how Ace was doing. "You okay?"

AH!! No! No! He wasn't ready yet! Kyle pointed his wand at whichever gnome seemed to be coming his way. "Irretio!" There was more of a sproutlet, but so far it couldn't do much. What kind of herbologist's son was he that he couldn't even grow a vine?! He waved his wand and continued casting, the sprouts getting smaller as his concentration wavered in his panic.

Harriet was glad that they were moving on now. Because she was getting a little bored. And well she did better with practicals where she actually had an aim. She was okay with the practising, but she knew she would get a better handle on the charms when she was aiming towards something. So she was totally excited for the main activity. She wanted to do really good, and hopefully get a better grasp on the spell that they were learning. Though she was hoping that she wouldn't need to do the spell in the first place. She didn't want to hurt any creatures.

But onto the activity. And suddenly there were gnomes. Hattie wasn't really that confident, but she was going to throw herself into it. She could totally do this! They were running at them, so Hattie just aimed her wand, doing the circular motion over the rocks that a gnome was running towards. She quickly flicked her wand up, and said "Irretio" And then she reaallllly hoped that the vines worked.

As Professor Hirsch announced their main activity time, he revealed what was inside the box. Uh oh, attack of gnomes! To be honest, Ava was expecting a more dangerous creature rather than Mr. Potato head-like creature, even though gnomes could be aggressive with their scratching and biting. Also, she thought it would be easier to cast stunning charm against these creatures rather than trap them with growing vines.

But the DADA professor did mention about using other spells, right? So, she would have an alternative if the ensnarement charm.

Okay. Now, bring it on!

As the potato head creatures were released and came approaching them, Ava gathered her hair and put it on ponytail because there could be a possibility they would reach her pretty dark brown hair and grab it. And here it comes... "Irretio!" Concentrating hard, she drew the clockwise circular motion and flicked her wand upward until there was a vine growing from the ground to trap this ugly gnome.

Apparently, yelling 'GO AWAY' at the gnomes didn't work, because Maddie's only line of defense was failing. She just wished she'd mastered the spell before the box had been opened. Either way, there seemed to be always be somebody around to help her, which she was super glad about. First, there was Emmeline, who ordered Maddie to get behind her. "Okay, but what about you?!" she asked, as she dashed behind the slightly older girl. It sounded like Emmeline knew the spell. It bought the hufflepuff girl some time, because for now, none of the gnomes seemed to be coming her way. Maddie knew what Expelliermus did, but she wasn't sure how it worked on gnomes...

Then there was Olivia, who was older than both of them. Maddie held her breath as the vines shot from the ground and turned toward the gnomes. "Thanks! I gotta learn that spell!" she said. She knew it was only a matter of time before they came back for her, though, so while she had a few seconds, she said the spell to herself as practice. "Irretio, Irretio, Irretio!" Then she moved her wand in just the right formation. Hopefully, at least. "Alright. I think I'm ready for 'em." Ready for 'em to go away...

The sound of one of the smaller, louder human (Dahlia) attracted one of the gnomes who, teeth barred, charged RIGHT TOWARDS HER as fast as its tiny feet could carry it.

But then came the lights.

Wide-eyed, it stopped near her and stared at the lights. Big lights, small lights, lights that faded...

STARE.


__________


Five of the goblins ran straight for a group of four humans (Katy, Maddie, Emmeline and Olivia). Feet high but very fast, they barred their teeth as they drew closer....

The Disarming Charm from one of the younger ones (Emmeline) hit a gnome on the chest. It flew backwards in a large arch and fell with a THUMP on the grass. The others ignored this and ran ran ran....

Vines sprang up suddenly in the path of one unseeing gnome, cast by one of the older humans (Olivia). The vines wrapped around the gnome's legs, making it topple face-forwards into the grass. "Geroff, gerrooofffff!" Tug tug tug, went its little fists at the vine.

The remaining three continued to run at them. One jumped straight for the youngest girl's legs (Maddie) to try and topple her over. CLING and TOPPLE!


__________


Two of the gnomes ran straight for an older boy (Ronan). One, cackling, toppled him over and then sat right across its legs, as if it was its throne. You're not going to move NOW, kid.

The other one ran straight for the boy's WAND. It was a woody stick and if they could have it, it was going to be THEIRS. Reaching his hand, it started scratching at the skin to try and get the stick. Come on, hand it over.


__________


Gnomes could sense fear, kid, and that was why one young boy (Kyle) had THREE running after him. The attempts at growing a vine were weak and the worst that happened was that a gnome tripped over them in their haste in getting to him. But vine or not, there were still three running STRAIGHT for him.

But then vines sprung out from the ground from one of the older kids (Tenacius) and trapped one of the gnomes in place. The gnome, whose legs were wrapped up, fell forwards with a soft THUMP. But the force of the fall and the strength of the spell meant that the vine didn't stay rooted in place. A RIP sounded as the vine, root and all, ripped out of the ground but still kept the gnome wrapped up.

Without the use of its legs, the gnome simply rooooooooooolled onwards.

Wheeeeeeee!


__________


Standing still was not going to help, kid.

Two of the gnomes ran right in the direction of one of the older girls (Rhea) who was making life easier for THEM by not moving. They ran around the others and, cackling, gave a great big LEAP OF FAITH and....

.... CLING.

Straight for her legs.


__________


There were two older kids (Hattie and Ava) who were trying very hard to stop them. The vines grew but the four gnomes running for them were particularly mischievous and clever. One fell back, confused by the sudden vines, but the other three potato-heads could be seen dodging, jumping and ducking around the growing vines.

And three shot right at the two girls.

One, in a mad bid to grab the wooden stick, jumped up and clung onto the girl's (Hattie) arm and started swiiiiiiiiiinging! Wheeeeeeeee!

The other two went for the other's (Ava) legs and started trying to climb them. Up and up and up!

Harriet was so glad that Ava was near by. Hopefully if she got into any issues with the gnomes the seventh year would help. And since she was older than her, Hattie figured that she probably knew more spells than her, and could probably do them too.

But for now. She needed to just act on her feet and hope that the vines would stop the gnomes. It kind of worked, until a gnome was suddenly on her arm. "Oh. My. Days" She murmured, waving her arm to try and get the gnome off. But it was just swinging around.

"Whaat. Isss. Liffeee" The girl shouted, dramatically, before she realised that she could use some other spell to get the gnome off of her arm. " Immobulus" She shouted, hoping it would work and that the gnome would go immobile. Then she could try and get the gnome off of her arm.

Hunting GNOMES? Awwwww yes. Scarlett was DOWN for that. Those little things were ALWAYS destroying her parent's garden! Despite what she had said earlier about just letting creatures be - she fully believed gnomes totally deserved everything they were getting.

She practiced the spell under her breath a few times, doing the counter clockwise motion as well and then the flick upwards. Seemed simple enough. She was eager to make some gnomes PAY for all the years of destroyed tomatoes, and eagerly jumped into the battle when she felt she had practiced enough.

She found one right away - it was attacking the poor Paton girl's arm! She had stunned the gnome, but Scarlett was more than happy to help out her fellow Puff. She pointed her wand at the gnome and started the counter clockwise circle before yelling "Irretio!" and then flicking her wand upward, hoping vines would grab the unconscious gnome and whip it off the girl's arm.

Remy gave Katy a gentle smile as he helped her keep her balance while the Professor tugged and sorted out the vine…. And then blinked as she slid to the ground, hugging her knees. Personally, it didn’t look like she was okay, but since she seemed to want the Professor’s help in standing, and to continue with class Remy figured there wasn’t much use in pressing - after all, he didn’t know her that well in the first place and it seemed very rude to poke and press.

Listening to the Professor’s instructions, he left Katy in his very capable hands and moved his own things to the side of the room. Safety and all that jazz. Moving away from his things, and closer to the others in the class Remy once again spared a look towards the rattling, shaking box. Well, now was the time to see what was being kept in there by the----

G N O M E S!!

… Nope. Didn’t see that one coming.

Taking a breath to center his thoughts and concentration, he pointed his wand to the ground, circled his wrist as he thought irretio and thrust it in the direction of one of the gnomes that was barreling towards him. Though, he didn’t have much time to be thankful, because while his vines grew towards one of the gnomes, plenty more were coming at him and his classmates.

So. Many. Gnomes.

No wonder the box had been shaking, with that many of them in there. Sam couldn't help but take a moment to wonder if that was more or less ethical than using a rope or vine. Of course, by the time she'd shaken her head of her thoughts, the gnomes were much closer than they'd been previously, and she gripped her wand tighter in her left hand.

And it seemed a fellow Ravenclaw, Rhea, was in trouble. Sam closed the distance between them, already visualising a vine in her mind and starting the wand movement. "Irretio!" She didn't pause to see if it'd worked before moving onto the other gnome. If nothing else, maybe it'd bought the younger Claw some time to have another go of her own.

Circle of her wrist and lift up. "Irretio!"

Things were going pretty good until FIVE of the gnomes decided to attack all at once. Maddie had to learn that spell, and she HAD to learn it now. "AHHHHH!" she said again, as she caught sight of all their teeth. These things were serious about these attacks, weren't they?! She breathed a sigh of relief as Emmeline's spell managed to get at least one of them away. "YAY, EMMELINE!" she said, but that had only taken care of ONE of their FIVE problems. There were still four more to deal with.

Olivia managed to get another one away from them, but that still left three to deal with. One of them looked like it was coming straight for Maddie's legs, and so the first year decided to try with all her might to finally get the spell right. She could do this. She could DO THIS. She focused on that grass and it turning into a vine. Come on, spell...WORK. "Irretio!" she called out. She did her absolute best to get the wand movement as precise as she could. She really thought she might have a chance this time, but only time would tell. She braced herself for the results...she was either going to get bit, or she was going to capture a gnome.

Almost immediately after laughing at Katy, the head girl felt a stab of guilt at having done so. Really, she wouldn't have thought it funny if the same thing happened to any other student. But Katy was different. Kitty had grown to truly dislike the sixth year Slytherin girl and she knew the feeling was mutual. But despite all that, Kitty couldn't help but feeling slightly ashamed. Maybe later she'd say something nice to her, though that was unlikely to do any good other than relieving her conscience.

Let there be gnomes! All thoughts of Katy and feelings of guilt were shoved to the back of her mind as the little hooligan army stormed out and began climbing on students.

"Hey gnomes!" she shouted, trying to draw their attention. Then she pointed her wand and shouted, "Irretio!"

Was it bad that he was just watching the others? He really didn't think using this charm was the right choice, but he was going to just watch for now. He never understood why wizards didn't just use a killing curse to rid themselves of gnomes altogether. Wouldn't that be easier? They just come back all the other ways. This being nice to be nice stuff was so odd to Eddie, especially if you got nothing in return.

Where was his sister when he needed her? This could be a great opportunity to hit her with the spell and cage her in vines. Maybe he'd go find her later to do just that.

For now though he finally moved from his spot and walked towards the rest of the group. Seeing the gnomes he did the wand movement "Irretio"

When in his panic the gnomes kept coming at him and the vines weren't doing much good, Kyle noted that it wasn't doing him any good. He backed away from the gnomes that were coming at him, even as one that had been wrapped up started rolling his way around. He concentrated now, being careful with his wand movements and remembering INTENT and CONTROL! He had the incantation down, he knew the wand movement... but he needed to remember both intent and control to make these vines happen. He focused on both as he cast again, doing the circular movement and flicking up toward a gnome. "Irretio!" This time a vine finally grew like a full vine and hopefully rooted the gnome. This was no time to celebrate, though. There were two more gnomes, even if one was entangled already. Kyle cast two more times, growing vines finally in hopes of trapping the gnomes.

Text Cut: Thomas

Quote:

Originally Posted by Weasley174

"PROFESSOR!" Thomas was now a little bit frightened. "Your gnomes are moving!" Okay, what was this Gnomeo and Juliet or something? "I think someone been watching too much Gnomeo and Juliet!" Yes, gnomes were not alive, nope, that was just in a film.

Thomas closed his eyes.

"This is all just a dream!" He kept his eyes shut, hopefully, he would be back in his bed and these gnomes would be gone when he opened his eyes.

Even over all the confusion and scrambling and general spellwork, it wasn't hard to miss the sound of a frightened voice calling out for him. Furrowing his eyebrows, Hirsch glanced around to see who it was coming from until his eyes landed on a young Gryffindor who.....

....... was talking about Gnomeo and Juliet? What?

Nevermind. The man wandered over and bent down near him. "Hey, Mr Kingman? What's wrong? Do you want to sit this part out?" Surely, there wasn't anything scary about gnomes, was there?

Text Cut: Katy

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin

It was mortifying to have the Professor and Mr. Remy fussing over her, but there was something about the sense that she was trapped that had Katy's heart racing. It reminded her of her helplessness over the summer, when she'd been Stupefied and at the mercy of a very unkind man. Very. Her cheeks burned, but she couldn't seem to figure out what she needed to do in this moment to free herself. Once the vine was removed, Katy slid to a seated position and gave her knees a white-knuckled hug.

Was she okay? Not at the moment, but she wasn't going to admit that. Instead, she gave a shaky nod and tried to climb back to her feet again. "M'okay. Please don't make me sit this out." And you, Evil 'Head Jerk' Valentine, were just proving your true colors by laughing at someone so obviously in distress. Katy ignored her and held on to Hirsch as she tried to rise. "I think I did too good a job envisioning my vine."

This..... was a sad sight to see. The seating, the knee-hug and the general look on the girl's face. What made it sadder was to know that this was a girl who, from Hirsch's perspective, was good at holding her own.

"Okay," he said quietly, "But the option is available if you need it." He held onto her arms and started to help her up into a standing position. He...... was curious, of course, but something told him that this wasn't the time or the place to start asking questions. But even despite the situation, he couldn't help but smile slightly at her words. "That just shows how good your spellwork is." A silver lining right there.

Ugh, this was really mortifying, and now cutie pie little Maddie was getting into the act. Katy flashed a tired smile at Hirsch, although it didn't quite reach her eyes, and she scooped her wand up from where she'd dropped it. "I'll keep it in mind, sir, and I'd appreciate it if you remember that I'm extra good at spellwork and not that I couldn't remember a severing charm when you have to write my recommendation for uni next term."

She might have said more, and she might have even worked up a real smile but they were suddenly inundated by a very aggressive group of gnomes. And she needed to protect her ickle... all the ickles. Maddie and Emmeline and... Merlin, did Em just take out that gnome on her own? Okay, maybe just Maddie.

"Irretio," with an upwards flick of the wand, tired to a line of green creeping between two stones just ahead of the gnome currently dashing in their direction. The vine appeared, although hesitant at first, and it had barely cleared the stones before the gnome was over the spot. "No you DON'T," she grumbled, flicking her wand again and giving that vine a hard look. Get moving, little vine. It surged forward, snagging the gnome around the middle and snapping it backwards toward the cobblestones.

Nathan moved his wand around as he pointed at the grass. "Irretio!" Although he could only manage a slow growing vine, it still worked. It would take him a few more tries before he could get it right.

BLINKS....BLINKS.

Gnomes?! AH.....those annoying little long beardy things. Urgh, noo...don't touch him. Hates anything touches him...

He would definitely kick them away if he comes close to him. Backs away, letting whoever in front of him to go head first.

Oh forget it. Time to practice was OVER because those gnomes were at it already, jumping around, causing mischief, clinging to her peers legs... "Rheaaa..." Sky started toward seeing one on her fellow fifth year, but then backtracked when Sam came to her rescue. No need to double-attack, was there? Besides, she wasn't even sure that she could properly conjure the vines to entrap the potato heads...

... but she was going to try. Because she had to; her defense grade depended on it.

"Irretio!" She called, encircling her wand at one of the creatures climbing up one of the rocks and flicking it upward. Please, please, maybe, let it work? And if it didn't, well, hopefully the creature wouldn't start on some kind of revenge because she really did NOT want to get bitten. Even if it would mean getting that saliva sample she was curious about ...

YESSS, her spell had totally worked! Emmeline grinned as she watched one of the gnomes sail backwards after being hit by her Disarming Charm. Only, her grin faded FAST 'cause there were FOUR more of them behind it!!! She'd kind of half turned to smile at Maddie and to get a better, more sturdy dueling stance. "You alright, Maddie?", she called. 'Cept she'd paid too much attention to Maddie's "yay" and it let a gnome slip right past her headed for the first year! The Gryffindor crossed her fingers on her free hand as Maddie cast the vines spell... Please work...

And then Miss Olivia and Miss Katy each stopped MORE gnomes heading towards Maddie and her. Emmeline called out "thanks!!!" to both of the older girls and tried to hone her concentration in on the fifth gnome hurling towards them. She realllllly doubted that this would work, but she figured that she should at least try to cast the spell they were supposed to be practicing. The second year spun her wand around in a circle again, then flicked it up towards the gnome's legs and cast:"Irretio!" Only...only nothing happened. She'd forgotten the concentrating part, but it was kinda hard to really focus when she wanted to keep a first year from being bitten by a gnome. Some wizards thought that gnome bites brought good luck, but in Emmeline's experience, the bites only brought pain and blood and annoyance. She took a deep breath, tried to picture vines growing out of the grass in her mind, spun her wand around in a circle again and called, "Irretio!" This time, she ended up with those super-thin, insubstantial looking vines that she'd gotten earlier. 'Cept they didn't look strong enough to do much of anything helpful. Emmeline let out another breath, tried to picture STRONG vines growing in her mind this time, repeated the wand movement and cried: "Irretio!"

Annd the vines that grew still looked super small and thin. But then again, gnomes were small creatures anyways and these new vines didn't look paper thin like the first ones had. The Gryffindor waited patiently until the gnome was nearing the vines, then flicked her wand upwards in a sneaky move designed to trip the gnome. She knew better than to hope for restraints with vines that weak, but hopefully it wouldn't take much to trip one up...