Norman watched the gnome he tossed go flying over the fence until he heard a scream. His dark head whipped around in the direction of the sound, just in time to see Ackerly hide behind Javier. He had to resist the urge to roll his eyes at the tiny gnome snarling at her. That was a bit overly dramatic, wasn’t it? He had half a mind to transform into his animagus form and snarl back at the gnome. Let’s see how he likes it! But he thought a large snarling dog might frighten the students even more than a tiny gnome.

Still someone had to teach that little runt some manners! So he quietly approached the snarling gnome from behind and grabbed it by its ankle. That gnome was about to learn that he was a lot harder to scare than a first year! “Now, now, snarling at students is impolite,” he said in a mock scolding tone, gearing up to toss the gnome over the fence.


Desiree was so glad she’d opted for the dragonhide gloves! She giggled softly to herself as she watched the gnome try and fail to bite her finger. Nice try, Mr. Gnome! She thought. You’re not disfiguring me today! She couldn’t resist waving daintily at the flying gnome as it sailed over the fence. Bye bye, Mr. Gnome!

Hmm, that went better than she thought. Looked like using ballet moves to spin the gnomes around worked, and to Desiree’s surprise, it was actually kind of fun! Okay, who’s next? Her blue eyes scanned the garden in search of her next dance partner. Spotting another ugly potato creature nearby, she grabbed hold of its ankle. May I have this dance, Mr. Gnome?

Had she been in her human form, Celeste would have been laughing bemused as the gnome that had been headed straight for her rushed off in the opposite direction in reaction to her presence. She had certainly caught it by surprise. But it had taken to attacking poor Ms. Ackerly who then sought refuge behind her fellow professor. The little bugger would be lucky as he was gone after by Carton and not her and her temper.

Instead the next unlucky gnome coming her way might have to deal with it. The owl letting out an angry hoot as she shifted on her perch, a ruffle of wings sharing her annoyance.

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Rajesh might have overdone the spinning as he needed to stand still for a few moments to gather his balance. But when he felt stable, the Ravenclaw was ready for another target, and given that he spotted Atlas being swarmed for the food the had taunted them with, he decided to give his fellow seventh year some support. Five against one was no fair, even with gnomes versus humans so maybe he should even the odds a little.

“Not so fast…” he remarked as he came up behind the nearest one and went to grab for him.

Maybe Aurora had overreacted a tiny bit as the tiny Gnome had chosen her as its target but the Ravenclaw had decided that hiding behind Professor Hernandez was where she was going to remain for the rest of the session because as the Groundskeeper it was HIS job to protect her, right? The Gnomes were less likely to attack her when she was stood behind someone much taller and much more intimidating than her petite, 4’5, blonde self. Aurora would make a great snack for a magical creature and now a near fear had been unlocked. She had decided that she was no longer going to participate in this activity, mostly because she had thrown her dragon hide gloves at the gnomes in an attempt to warn them off and therefore had no form of protection from her tiny little fingers from being bitten off by evil Gnomes!

That was until Brandon had come to her rescue and the Ravenclaw gave her fellow first year a little grateful wave and poked her head out from her hiding spot. Unlike the other students, Brandon had decided to be much more careful in his handling of the Gnomes and was placing them over the fence rather than hurling them like they had been instructed. “You’re being too nice!” the firstie directed at him just before the Gnome sunk its teeth into his finger. She yelped a little bit in surprise for her friend and then retreated back behind one of the adults. Sorry Brandon but you were on your own for this one!

It wasn’t long before the Blonde was spotted by another Gnome and her eyes widened in response. Thankfully, before she could scream like a banshee again her Head of House came to her rescue and told the Gnome off. “Thank you Professor Carton” she smiled. SEE?! This was why Ravenclaw was clearly the best house. She poked her tongue out at the Gnome as he was sent off flying to who knows where.

To her relief, the Gnomes started all gravitating towards the boy who was shaking the Bertie’s Beans and not targeting defenceless first years anymore. The boy was clearly a seventh year and could handle himself, giving Aurora time to slip behind Professor Carton and pretend to act brave.

Tapio sensed a vague sense of scratching down around his ankles. Fortunately, this was not his first de-gnoming shindig and he had worn one of his extra sturdy pairs of hiking boots from his days in the Cairngorn Mountains in Scotland, and these were quite good protection against rocks, stinging plants, and gnomes, among other things. Reaching down, Tapio hoisted the gnome attempting to attack his feet up by the ankles and gave him a few good spins before sending him flying off.

"Hello, Javier!" he greeted his host and colleague cheerfully as he let the gnome go. "Nice day for it, eh?"

Even though Hope had selected a rather small gnome and successfully managed to grab it around the ankles, its weight proved to be too much for her small frame and she overbalanced while trying to swing it around, causing both the gnome and herself to fall down on the grass in a heap.

Javier had to admit - these students were definitely getting the gnomes a run for their money! Was it too much to hope that maybe they'd just...NOT come back next term out of fear of the students? Probably not. That was foolishly optimistic, he was aware. Still, these gnomes were getting exactly what he deserved, in his opinion.

"Miss Ackerly!" he exclaimed as the young Ravenclaw took refuge behind him, turning and looking at her with wide eyes. "I promise you, they're more scared of you than you are of them!" he assured her. They were like horses, if they could sense your fear, they were going to take advantage of it! He was going to turn and attempt to encourage her to join the fray once again, but she had moved on and run behind Carton instead.

"Lovely day for it," he said in agreement to Tapio has he joined the battle, grinning at his colleague before his face FELL and...he laid eyes on Atlas. Ooooooh no no no no no. NO GNOMES, NOT THE CHILDREN! They could rush HIM like that and he wouldn't care, but not the students, and not the innocent child who was attempting to lure them with jelly beans.

"Oi! That's enough of that!" he snapped at the gnomes, grabbing two - one in each hand - that had run at the seventh year and began to twirl them skillfully, chucking them both over the fence.