Yes one gnome down! And would you look at that? Emmeline was rocking it. She had taken out a gnome with the disarming spell. She gave Emmeline an impressed smile and a thumbs up. "Of course. Nice job, Emmeline," she said. Look at that young one go! But there was not much time to celebrate as Maddie was tackled by another gnome. She watched as Maddie tried to cast the spell on the gnome and crossed her fingers, hoping that would work. If not, she had a spell ready to cast at that gnome.

But it looked like Katy had it covered so Vi turned her attention towards the other gnomes that had bolted towards them. She watched as Emmeline cast the spell and then she added her own strength to it. Hopefully together they would be able to stop the gnomes? "Irretio!" She drew a circle around the grass near the rocks and then flicked the wand towards the two other gnomes. Hopefully the vines would trap them. If not that, at least they would trip them.

Before he could get his balance completely back, though, he was run at by two more of the ugly, potato-headed creatures and this time he was knocked completely to the ground. He felt one of the gnomes sit on his legs, while the other was trying to grab his wand. "Oh, no you don't!" he cried out, grabbing the attempted wand stealing gnome by its leg with the hand that wasn't holding his wand. Picking the gnome up, he quickly spun around to his back, knocking the other gnome off his legs and kicking at it hard before pulling himself to his feet.

THUMP!

Hopefully, that was the gnome his foot made contact with. He couldn't really tell, since he was busy keeping the one gnome away from his wand. But just in case....

"Irretio!" he casted at the nasty thing.

Now, it was time to deal with the attempted wand-napper. Ronan shook the ugly thing, hoping to make it disoriented, then tossed it way as far as he could. Take that!

Chaos walking. Or rolling in this regard.

There was a brief hyper-alertness as he watched the Gnomes come at him and his hidden trap of vines, just in case none of what he made works-- but it did catch one, however not completely. This is where that alertness gave way to hilarity, a chuckle escaping his lips as he watched the Gnome roll its way across the ground like a runaway watermelon.

Thing is runaway watermelon was still on a mission with its other two Gnome-patriots, which were going after young Kyle. Ace raised his wand and was about to cast the ensnarement charm when --idea!

He took aim at the rolling Gnome and cast the Depulso spell at it, pushing it about this way and that as he steered it down the path of the other two running Gnomes. Bowling for Gnomes? Here's hoping.

She saw Hattie was standing not too far from her and she could've said hello or something if they were not in the middle of gnome invasion. Apparently she did succeed the ensnarement charm, but the vine was not strong enough to trap the gnomes. What the.... huft. Alright, she would try this charm once again or Ava would go aggressively with this potato-head creatures.

....... Uh oh, she felt something crawling on her leg.

O____________O

Was that a gnome?

Oh, bloody hell. It's not that Ava was afraid of this creature because hello, she's a Gryffindor and she had expected something worse than this. But there's a possibility this little ugly thing climbing into her skirt and.... That was not good. She grabbed the potato head from her leg and shouted. "GO AWAY YOU PERVERT POTATO!"

Gosh, what an annoying creature.

Then she threw the gnome to the ground and cast stunning charm.

.... Faaaaaaaantastic.

They would go for the easy targets, wouldn't they?

Rhea's brain kicked into gear at the last second and, just as the two gnomes leapt towards her, she tried to evade them by diving to the side. She managed to dodge one of the gnomes' attacks, watching as it tumbled face first into the grass, but the other one was clinging to her ankle. And all she could do was stare. They were weird creatures, gnomes. But she knew that it could scratch or bite her at any moment so she tried to focus.

She kept her wand out of reach of the gnomes as it was, with the exception of her fists and legs, her only defence.

SPOILER!!: Sam

Quote:

Originally Posted by hermygirl

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!"

It was a good job someone had faster reaction times than her.

She watched as Sam, a Ravenclaw in the year above her, attempted to take out the gnome that wasn't attached to her leg.

That was all well and good but that gnome wasn't the one that she was the most concerned with right now. She tried to cast the spell herself, visualising the vines growing out of the ground and ripping the gnome from her leg, - "Irretio!" - but that was far from what happened. Roots did indeed grow but, instead of ripping the gnome from her leg, the vines wrapped around her leg and the gnome, effectively trapping it.

.... OUCH!

She'd definitely been bitten. Or scratched. Or something.

And it hurt.

SPOILER!!: Skylar

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhoenixRising

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 ...

And then Skylar got in on the action, too.

Well, that was Rhea assumed was happening based on the fact that she'd recognised the voice that had called her name. But she couldn't even look up at her to check because the pain in her leg was demanding all her attention.

Glaring, she cast a stunning spell at the stupid gnome. At least now it was incapacitated.

So her first try at the incantation was a success. She could do it verbally. Mind you, it probably wasn't the strongest vine, but she'd done it first go around. She knew she could do it so with more practice, those vines would be leaping out of the rocks.

Confidence is key.

Now she could try to do it nonverbally. Concentrating, Noelle focused on the rock that she just pointed her wand at. She breathed out and at the same time, thought the incantation in her head while performing the wand movements. A little tiiiiiiiny vine came forward but then fell flat. Okay. So not enough focus. Breathing in and then out, she focused hard on what she wanted the incantation to do. She watched as the tiiiiiny vine grew bigger. She moved her wand and made it dance upward.

YES!

Professor Hirsch had started talking again and he wanted them to do what? Catch gnomes?? With the vine that was still in the air, Noelle looked around to see what to do with it.

Chaos had erupted. Or that was what it felt like at first glance. But once Noelle concentrated, she saw a gnome with her wifey. She giggled as Ava had stunned the gnome. "I think we're supposed to be catching them love." She told her wifey. Moving her wand, she guided the vine (slower than she would have liked) to the gnome. "Help me out here?" She asked, looking at her wifey.

Wheeeeeeeee!

IIIIIIIIIII'M GONNA SWIIIIIIIIIIING....

The gnome clung onto the girl's (Hattie) arm and started swinging round and round and rouuuuund. She waved it this way and that and it moved this way and that in a mad bid to cling on. There was no getting rid of it NO-

All of a sudden, there was a flash of blue light, a small wind that ruffled the few hairs on the gnome's head and it...... froze. No movements, not even a muscle, just two big eyes looking murderous.

But before it could do more than look at the younger Hufflepuff, vines shot out at it, cast by one of the older kids (Scarlett), and pulled it downwards. The gnome let go and fell to the floor where it lay frozen and unable to move. Well done, Hufflepuffs.

No sooner had the other gnome started climbing that it felt its feet being lifted off. It tried to cling on, scratching and clawing at the girl's (Ava) leg, but it was lifted off and THROWN. The gnome fleeeeeeew, froze in midair and landed with a THUMP.

If the other older Prefect girl (Noelle) thought she was free, she was very wrong. While she was turned around, another gnome ran at her from behind and juuuuuuuuumped.....

..... and CLING.


__________


The older of the Hufflepuffs (Remy) was struggling. While he shot out a vine from the ground, it was weaker than it should be and didn't do anything apart from stop a gnome in its tracks. There was a loud giggle and the gnome came pelting out from around the vine as quickly as it could.

READY OR NOT, HERE WE COME.

The gnome jumped, flew and landed with a THUMP on the tall boy's leg.

CLING.


__________


The girl's (Sam) attempts were a good one but it didn't do anything to the gnome that was clinging onto the other girl's (Rhea) leg. The vines that shot out from the ground grazed the gnome's hairy feet but didn't trap it.

The vine that grew wrapped itself around her leg but kept the gnome attached to her as well. The gnome, in a mad bid to free itself, clawed up the girl's (Rhea) leg. Claw, scratch, claw...

A younger girl's (Skylar) attempt made a vine shoot out from the ground, close to the other vine. Unluckily for her, the vine stopped short a few inches above the other girl's (Rhea) ankles. Pity.

A silver lining? The gnome that was attached to her leg froze in place, but not before it left a few scratches.

Maybe casting together might do the trick...


__________


The girl's (Maddie) attempt was a good one but the direction of her spell was off. The closest gnome clung onto her leg for DEAR LIFE and rooooooolled around it to avoid the growing vine.

The gnome that followed stopped dead in its tracks as vines wrapped around its tiny legs. It tuuuuugged at the vine where it stood but before it could do more than rip the vine off the ground, something else came for it.

If it wasn't for the command, the vine might not have been successful. The vine cast from the older human (Katy) wrapped around the standing gnome's stomach and launched it backwards and away from the group.

The clinging gnome clung harder, digging its fingers into the girl's (Maddie) leg. It was NOT going ANYWHERE.

Meanwhile, one gnome ran straight towards another young girl (Emmeline). Her feeble attempts made the gnome giggle and pelt HARDER towards the young one. Tough luck.

Finally, a vine shot out and wrapped around the gnome's ankle, toppling it over. But the attempt was still more feeble than it should be so instead of ensnaring the gnome, it ripped up from the ground.

The gnome, bound by the vine, continued its journey towards the young girl. Another vine, a stronger vine from (Olivia), shot out but because of the velocity of the rolling gnome, it missed it by inches.

Wheeeeeeeeee!


__________


Unluckily for the Head Girl, three gnomes stopped at the sound and made a beeline straight for her. The vine that grew was larger than one of the gnomes who bumped straight into it and fell backwards. But two more were running, running, running....

One launched itself at her feet and dug its sharp teeth straight into her ankle. Another jumped and clung onto her wand arm.

Swiiiiiiiiiing!


__________


The boy's (Eddie) attempt was a good one but, unfortunately, all it did was attract the attention of two of the gnomes. They looked at each other, grinned, before launching themselves at the young boy.

JUMP.

And CLING.

Straight for the legs to TOPPLE him over. And, for good measure, one bit down on his leg.


__________


A vine sprouted out from the wand of the young boy (Kyle) and wrapped themselves around an oncoming gnome. The gnome wobbled on the spot but couldn't do more than shout, "Gerroff! GERROOOOOOOOFF!" Tug tug.

While the fist attempt was a good one, the second one? Not so much. A very thin and very weak vine shot out of the ground and wrapped around the gnome's leg. There was a loud riiiiiiipping sound as the vine ripped out of the ground and trailed behind the running gnome.

Better luck next time, kid.


__________


Standing there isn't going to do much for you, kid.

Two gnomes, clearly not ready to back away just yet, ran straight for the older boy (Nathan). They jumped in unison, launched themselves at the boy and TOPPLED him right over.

GET DOWN.

One gnome, giggling, moved to the hand with the wand and bit down on his finger.


__________


Claw claw, scratch scratch....

A loud THUMP and a cracking sounded as the gnomes' heads hit each other. Dazed and confused, the one gnome fell back and toppled off of the boy's (Ronan) feet.

A vine shot out and trapped the legs in place but, being confused, it didn't do anything for now.

The second gnome flew back in an arch and landed some feet away from the boy. Dizzy, it shook its head and started walking in a random direction, slightly duck-footed and bumping off of people's legs.

A moment or two later, the first gnome reached out and clung itself onto the young boy's leg, clinging harder than ever. Be careful, it might have grown fond of your leg, kid...


__________



Bowling for Gnomes? You bet.

No sooner had the Depulso spell been cast by an older kid (Tenacius), then the gnome started roooooooooolling this way and that, knocking over more gnomes and hitting people's legs as it did. If he listened closely, he might just hear the sound of the gnome giggling madly.

Maybe you could use this as a tactic, kid...

What. in. the. world?

Junia would've laughed if she'd been safely shielded from the overly rambunctious gnomes, but she wasn't. She was right in the action and that meant she needed to be proactive. So the fifth year made sure she was standing with her back to a classmate close by so she could have some protection in that direction, and she focused her attention on the nearest gnome.

"Irretio!" Her spell was forceful and her movement precise, she just hoped this didn't call too much unwanted attention her way.

...It wouldn't, would it?

URGH. Okay, no fair. He hadn’t had enough time to practice! Though, really he didn’t mind. He was glad that Katy seemed to be okay and as long as he knew the Professor was around no-one would really ge- ….. Did that Slytherin kid just get bitten??? Okay.. So

… F O C U S !!!!!

Just as he pulled his vision back to the gnome that had been running towards him, fully expecting to see it wrapped up in his vines, there was nothing. Nada. Zip. Zi- ”AARRRGGHHH!!!” M E R L I N !!!!

Holding his wand in his hand, staring down at the gnome that was currently trying to climb his leg - Remy quickly cast the first thing that came to mind. Alarte Ascendare! He cast quickly, brandishing his wand and then shooting the gnome upwards quickly. Unsure if he could then control where the gnome went, he decided to try it anyway - after all, what did he have to lose? Carpe Retractum! He cast this time, aiming for the gnome while it was still in the air, and whipped his wand backwards - aiming for the rope to attach to the gnome before whipping it back to hit off the wall - hopefully, knocking it unconscious so he didn’t have to hurt the creature unnecessarily.

Ohhh, there was no way she could fail at this now! Katy was up and helping them, and she was really smart! She probably knew just how handle every last one of these gnomes! Maddie nodded toward Emmeline, but her facial expression said that she wasn't quite sure of herself at all. She'd made a try for the spell, though, and she was hoping with everything in her that it'd word. She did NOT feel like getting bit by a gnome. So many people were helping her now, and she was super grateful, but she didn't have a single second to thank you to any of them. As it was, the gnomes were just about to beat her with her paying them complete and total attention. She didn't want to think about what would happen if she turned her back on them.

"AHHHH!" she said, as all hopes of her spell working were gone and replaced by a gnome attaching itself to her leg. A second one was right behind it, but THANK MERLIN somebody's spell had worked, and the creature was attacked by vines. "Emmeline! What was that spell you used earlier? Uhhh...uhh...," she mumbled. "Expelliarmus!" she exclaimed, pointing her wand at the creature. Apparently, it worked on gnomes without a wand, too.

VICTORY! Scarlett couldn't help but grin when she saw that her attempt to help out Hattie had been successful. BOOM! Hufflepuffs for the WINNNN. Now, to find another target. She turned on her heel, hair flying across her nose as she wildly looked for another potato shaped creature to take out.

Hmmm, that one over by the Gryffindor boy looked like a good target. She turned her wand in a counter clockwise circle as she had before, and then flicked it upwards while shouting "Irretio!" Hopefully she'd be as successful as she had been the first time....

Nathan couldn't get away fast enough before two gnomes suddenly sprung at him. He tripped and fell back on his bum. "OOPH!" Nathan grunted when one of the gnomes jumped on his chest. "GET OFFF ME!!" he shouted at it. But that nasty thing bit his finger. "HEY! THAT HURT!" He pulled his hand back and attempted to wrestle his way out from their clutches. Nathan quickly scrambled to his feet and pointed at the GNOME THAT BIT HIM. "AGUAMENTI!" A jet of cold water conjured at the tip of his wand. "IMMOBULUS!" Using the other spell to freeze the second gnome which attacked him. "IRRETIO! Vines started to grow, hopefully trapping them at the same time.

Was he bleeding a little from where the gnome had scratched him? Why yes, yes he was. But, there wasn't really time to worry about that, because while the gnome he threw had landed away from him (and was walking rather hilariously, to boot), the other gnome had latched on to his leg like a kid clinging to their mother. And the vines had wrapped themselves around its legs as they were supposed to, so it essentially was like he was trapped. "Damn it! Let. Go. Of. Me."

Of course, it wasn't like the gnome was going to listen to him. Ronan aimed his wand at the point where the vine sprouted from the ground. "Diffindo!" And now that the vine was detached from the ground, he started trying to remove the gnomes arms from his leg.

After a few minutes, he was successful. "Depulso!" he casted at the gnome.

Spells were flying everywhere and the gnomes were alll over the place, and Emmeline was sort of getting lost in the chaos. Like, so lost that she wasn't sure what was going on really. She whipped her head around as she heard Maddie call her name, though, and was just about to shout the spell back to the first year when the younger girl cast it herself! She shot the Hufflepuff a small smile and called over, "Nice one, Maddie!" Err...if it worked that is.

Her own spellwork wasn't going so well at the moment. The gnome had RIPPED her last set of vines out of the ground like they were nothing (which was fair, she supposed) and he dodged Miss Olivia's much better ones too. Emmeline gulped 'cause he was still coming right at her, but she moved a step or two to the right to further shield Maddie from this one's path. She already had that one on her leg to deal with, mhm. The Gryffindor tried realllllly hard to think about making nice, strong vines so she could try the spell again, but her thoughts kept getting interrupted by mental pictures of stupid fake annoying gnomes.

Still, she wasn't going to just give up or anything ridiculous like that. Giving up wasn't really in her vocabulary, you know? So the second year fixed a patch of grass with a hard stare, twirled her wand in a circle and yelled, "Irretio!" Annnnd she did make some vines grow out of the grass, but they didn't look any sturdier than her last ones had, really. By this point, she was SUPER frustrated with herself, 'cause she'd practiced this spell LOADS already today and it Still. Wasn't. Working! Emmeline moved her wand in the correct circular motion around a new patch of grass for the 6 billionth time, but red sparks shot out of her wand tip before she could even say the spell. Oooooops...

The sparks didn't look big enough or like the fire-y kind, yay! Buuut the gnome was allllmmoooost on her, so she needed to make this spell work like NOW. The Gryffindor closed her eyes for like half a second so she could properly picture vines growing out of the grass and wrapping around the gnome's legs. C'mon, c'mon..., she mentally chanted as she once again waved her wand in a circle over an empty patch of grass and cast: "Irretio!" Vines grew out of the grass more quickly this time, and they DID look a bit better than the last ones, but still not anywhere near as good as the older kids'. She bit her lip as the gnome got closer and closer, 'cause those definitely weren't gonna hold him. She'd be lucky if he tripped or something...

Harriet really did not like this. She did not like it at all! Yes. She liked magical creatures. But when they were nice and were not trying to attack her. So she did not like it at all. But hopefully she could survive this. It would not be a good day if she ended up dead because of gnomes. But she was sure that the Professor would not let that happen. Though she better not get distracted from the activity. So back to it!

And the gnome was frozen and gone. "Yaay. Thank you Scarlett" The puff beamed at her house mate. Go team work. But she totally needed to look the other gnomes, and try to catch a few. So that they didn't try to hurt her class mates. She would be super sad if anyone got hurt.

Oooh. The headgirl looked like he was in trouble! The fifth year frowned, and quickly ran over to where Kitty was. "Immobulus" Se murmured, trying to freeze the gnomes that were on Kitty. Then she quickly made the cirrcular motion over the rocks, and said "Irreto!" In hope that her vines would come up and get those pesky little gnomes.

Ok so maybe he isnt the most gifted bowler, but his plan of turning the entangled rolly polly gnomey is working well enough. And dare he imagined giggling? From the gnome? Well that would ease his conscience a bit.

The young Slytherin seems to need a hand though. Ace saw him nail one of the gnomes but the other was still on the lose "Kyle-- I'm gonna knock that gnome down, see if you can trap him better when he's not running about." And with another sweep of his wand he Depulso'd the rolling gnome to send him on an intercept course for the running gnome. Will it work? Fingers crossed.

Honestly, everything happened so quickly. One minute the Professor was explaining the activity and the next...there were GNOMES.

Of course she saw the little buggers moving about and creating havoc...and she KNEW what was expected of her but the only thing playing in the Ravenclaw's head was the Professor's warning that they could and would bite. There were only so many reasons why a Professor would tell a class full of creature lovers not to worry about hurting them without fear of the backlash that would cause.

What were the chances they were real gnomes? And if they weren't real, what were the chances the bite would FEEL like a real gnome's bite?

...

.......

If she just stood here, would she be able to test her theory?

She'd get to work, Merlin, of course she would...but just....first...she needed to know this...for science. How did one lure an gnome? Did the Professor have special tricks for that?

Okay so, Etta hadn't really been prepared to face ferocious gnomes at all. She pulled out her wand and stood in a ready position, watching people defend themselves. The girl was standing a little to the side and feeling a little safe after making sure that there was no gnome ready to jump at her, she focused her attention on one particular creature that seemed way too excited.

"Irretio!" She said clearly, aiming her wand at a few rocks and making a circular motion before flicking it upwards.. towards the gnome. EH. She was pretty confident of her spellwork so that should work, yeah? Yeah. Hopefully.. ahem.

Oh no....thought Kitty as three gnomes ran at her and her spell only stopped one. Before she could react, one had jumped on her feet and another was swinging towards her arm.

"Oww!!!" she shouted, screaming in pain as the evil little thing bit her ankle. It hurt so badly she dropped her wand, it clattered to the floor - sending sparks flying. She stumbled sideways and nearly fell to the floor.

The gnomes were still on her and she was angry now. She kicked with her free foot at the gnome who bit her ankle, simultaneously trying to shake the other gnome off her arm. "GET OFF ME YOU LITTLE CREEPS!!!" Her ankle still hurt like crazy.

Luckily she had help from Harriet, who was trying to stun the gnomes. Kitty was too preoccupied to say thank you, but she appreciated the help and tried to position herself so the Hufflepuff's spells hit the gnomes and not her.

SPOILER!!: GNOMES!

Quote:

Originally Posted by GNOMES!

The girl's (Sam) attempts were a good one but it didn't do anything to the gnome that was clinging onto the other girl's (Rhea) leg. The vines that shot out from the ground grazed the gnome's hairy feet but didn't trap it.

The vine that grew wrapped itself around her leg but kept the gnome attached to her as well. The gnome, in a mad bid to free itself, clawed up the girl's (Rhea) leg. Claw, scratch, claw...

A younger girl's (Skylar) attempt made a vine shoot out from the ground, close to the other vine. Unluckily for her, the vine stopped short a few inches above the other girl's (Rhea) ankles. Pity.

A silver lining? The gnome that was attached to her leg froze in place, but not before it left a few scratches.

Maybe casting together might do the trick...

Rhea was not impressed.

It wasn't much of a silver lining. It meant that she now had a frozen gnome and vines attached to her injured leg. She attempted to pull the gnome off her leg, but that proved impossible. Its grip was too strong. Uh... What was she supposed to do about it now? She wouldn't be able to evade other gnomes if they decided to come her way. She certainly couldn't unfreeze the gnome; it'd just attack her more.

Speaking of, the gnome that had missed her when it leapt towards her still hadn't been incapacitated.

"Try again," she encouraged, looking from Skylar to Sam. In fact, she was going to try again, too, even though she had a gnome attached to her leg. At least she wasn't in any immediate danger from that one. Rhea cast the charm over a grassy area in the direction of the other gnome, flicking her wand towards the gnome. "Irretio!" Fingers crossed.

Okay, one down, one rolling weirdly that Tenacious was taking care of, and one left still running at him. He had this. He could do it. What did the Professor each him about casting? Intent- he pictured a strong vine in his head wrapping around the other gnome. Control- he summoned up the magic within him and felt it course through his body, focusing it on the image in his head. Wand movement- He carefully drew a circle around the grassy ground and then flicked up. Incantation- "Irretio!" Did that do it? Is he going to be free of the gnome coming at him?

The gnome was having FAR too much fun clinging onto the tall, tree-like boy (Remy) but that fun was about to end. The spell cast made the gnome fly hiiiiiiiiiiigh up in the air, above everyone’s heads, before being whipped downwards and landing with a THUMP on……

…… an unsuspecting girl’s (Junia) shoulders.

There was a loud GIGGLE as it wrapped its hairy feet around her and started TUGGING at her ear and hair. HELLO.

If she thought that her troubles were over, she was wrong. No sooner had she said her spell, two gnomes ran full pelt in her direction. The vine that shot out in their path was dodged and the gnomes came to a stop near the girl. One bent down, hands crossed in front of it. The other ran, jumped on its fellow’s hands and fleeeeeeeeew and landed with a THUMP around her middle.

CLING.


__________


Maybe it was the determination to get a gnome off of her or the exclamation but the Disarming Spell was more successful than the others. No sooner had the gnome reached her knee than the spell hit its head, causing it to fly backwards and away from the girl (Maddie). It sat up, confused and shaking its head, before crawling BACK to the girl.

Round 2.

The girl (Emmeline) had a lot of determination about her but she needed to work on her spellwork. The first set of vines were easily dodged by the oncoming gnome but the sparks did much more damage to the gnome. One of the sparks hit the hairs on the gnome's head and singed it. The gnome let out a loud GRUNT of fury and LAUNCHED itself at-

Or not.

The girl's second attempt at a vine were enough to make the oncoming gnome trip and fall face-down on the grass. Determined, it continued its journey to her, now crawling like an overgrown gnome-baby would.


__________


The dramatics from the boy (Nathan) earned himself some giggles from the two gnomes. The wrestle and the boy's size worked in his advantage and the two gnomes fell away. But they weren't going to stand there waiting to get hit.

Both gnomes started running for the boy again. A jet of water flew out and hit a gnome full in the face. The Immobulus spell hit half of the second gnome, making half of its body freeze in place while the other half able to move. But, with half its body frozen, the gnome couldn't do anything but stare grumpily at the boy and make a very rude finger gesture.

Vines shot out but instead of trapping both gnomes, it simply wrapped around the frozen leg of the half-immobilised gnome.

The other one, fully functional but still wet, jumped and wrapped both of its arms around the boy's legs again. GUESS WHO.


__________


Gnomes hardly ever listened to humans. Something that was shown with the way the gnome only clung HARDER onto the boy's (Ronan) leg.

CLING.

With the vine cut off, it stopped growing around the gnome's leg and the gnome was free to try and climb further up the boy's leg. But before it could get much further, the Banishing Charm hit the gnome and it flew backwards in an arch and away from the boy.

Time to celebrate? Oh no. No sooner had the gnome been cast away then another one, cast away by another student, hit the boy's back with a THUMP! and clung onto his middle. HELLO.

Vines shot out, cast by one of the older girls (Scarlett), and wrapped themselves around the gnome's legs. But because the gnome was clinging onto the boy with its hairy fingers, all it did was try to drag him down in the process.

Tough luck.


__________


Standing still was not going to do you any favours, kid (Jessa).

Sensing an easy target, one of the gnomes ran at her from behind in an attempt to catch her off guard. It dodged around the rolling gnome that was being followed by an older boy (Tenacius), jumped and fleeeeeeeeew straight towards her.

Not a second flew by when, all of a sudden, it sank those sharp teeth down on a spot near her ankle.


__________


Teamwork was always helpful, wasn't it?

The giggling, rolling gnome continued to roll, guided by an older boy (Tenacius). It knocked against legs, over some gnomes, even bounced off of the shield that was surrounding another boy (Abey) and roooooooooooolled right back to...

... the younger boy (Kyle).

The running gnome that was chasing the younger boy didn't see the rolling gnome coming for it. There was a loud CLUNK as gnome hit gnome and the running gnome was bowled down.

STRIIIIIIIKE!

The four factors of spellcasting worked in the younger boy's favour. A vine shot out of the grass and wrapped themselves around the two gnomes where they lay. But, if they looked closely, they might notice that there was still a lot of wriggle room available...


__________


When the girl (Etta) cast the spell, a thin, spindly vine shot out of the rock but didn't do much in her favour. In fact, all it did was attract the attention of three gnomes who now started running for the Prefect.

One made a giant leap of faith and grabbed onto her wand arm where it started swinging wildly. SWIIIIIIIIIING! The other two latched onto her legs where they started to knock and claw at her knees to make her fall over.


__________


The sparks from the older girl's (Kitty) wand flew out and singed the grass surrounding it. The shout only earned the girl a loud giggle from the gnome holding onto her leg. It started to climb upwards, clawing and scratching as it went.

Luckily for her, help was at hand. The gnome on her leg was immediately immobilised from the spell cast from another girl (Hattie) and stopped clawing up her leg. But the spell had also hit the Head Girl's leg and caused part of it, the part with the gnome, to freeze as well.

To make matters worse, the thin vine that shot out of the rock wrapped itself around the lower half of the Head Girl's, gnome and all.


__________


The frozen gnome on the girl's (Rhea) wasn't going to go anywhere on its own. Maybe the encouragement was what the girls needed right now.

A thin vine shot out from the ground and latched itself around the gnome and the gnome only. The vine tried to pull it backwards and away from the leg but it simply wasn't strong enough to do on its own. Not with the thickness of the vine that was wrapped around the girl's leg.

Teamwork, ladies.

Oops? Her vine got close enough and it seemed to distract the gnome as it froze in place? Were they allowed to cast other spells? Depulso maybe? She was almost sure she heard other spells around the room...

Try again, she heard Rhea say. Yes, all together and maybe it would be efficient in tying up the gnome and freeing it from Rhea's leg. Fortunately Rhea grew a vine around the gnome and didn't tie itself to the girl's leg.

"Irretio!" She cast again, focusing on growing another vine to latch onto the gnome. Perhaps once it was tied up enough, she and Sam could pry it off of Rhea?

Kyle didn't notice the wiggle room the gnomes had. He was just happy his spell worked! He flicked up on the vines surrounding each of the three gnomes to see if he could wrap them up more, but didn't really put any concentration into it. He was fairly certain they were secure. He didn't quite put his wand away yet. There were other gnomes, after all, and any number of them could be coming his way next. He kept an eye out and was ready to cast.

On the contrary, standing still had gotten her exactly what she wanted.

Granted, she hadn't been expecting it to happen so soon after going still, but it was the result she'd been anticipating all the same. If only someone had told her they'd hurt that bad. "Son of a garden gnome!" Jessa bit down on her lower lip, doing her darnedest not to flash her leg in a crazy fashion because that might shake the little guy before she could get a proper look at him.

Was he a pure manifestation of magic? Would that have hurt? Was the pain a part of some sort of intricate illusion she'd fallen under? If so...would any mark disappear once the spell wore off?

......

..........

This hurt a lot. There were jets of pain shooting up from near her ankle and very sharp teeth lodged in her leg.

The Ravenclaw drew in a sharp breath before reaching down to grab at it. She wanted him. His teeth being sunk the way they were, he probably wanted her too. Would Hirsch let her keep him? For as much as she could, she tried to get a good grip on him. This was far more interesting than roping....er...vining them.