De-Gnomers
The group of kids headed straight out into the backyard, which was actually quite large since the Weasley house was located on the outskirts of the village of Ottery St. Catchpole, a rural area.
The moment they stepped into the garden, they found it full of weeds, with grass badly in need of trimming, not to mention the gnarled trees growing alongside the walls and flowerbeds filled with all kinds of lush plants, which seemed to serve both as decoration and for cooking or even treating simple injuries.
Meanwhile, Tyson was interested in the green pond full of frogs.
"So you guys have problems with garden gnomes too, huh?" Percy said while looking around as he walked, though he couldn't find the supposedly round-bellied gnome that looked a lot like Santa Claus the way they normally appeared in gardens.
"What? non-magical people have problems with gnomes too?" Ron asked, correcting himself from saying Muggles, since that was how Harry and Percy usually referred to them. Though he wasn't really sure why they didn't just call them Muggles. He didn't want to sound prejudiced either.
At the same time, he stopped and bent over a peony bush. Grabbing it by the base as though it was something he had done a thousand times before.
"Then it'll be easier with your help. These things always keep coming back," he said while pulling hard with both arms, yanking something out of the ground with the sound of a struggle.
Immediately, the soil split apart and now he had a real gnome in his hands.
A small creature with weathered skin and a large bony head that looked very much like a potato.
Just uglier.
"Let me go! Let me go!" the little gnome shouted while flailing its hands and feet, trying to punch Ron.
Harry and Percy simply stood there staring at the gnome in Ron's grip as it struggled to break free or throw punches at the young wizard.
"I... don't think you were talking about the same kind of gnomes, right?" Harry said to his brother, realizing that the problems Percy meant were simply having to put them back upright after some animal knocked them over or having them disappear only to reappear somewhere else, like what happened in the Dursleys' garden.
Though Harry was fairly certain that had something to do with the two of them forgetting to remove some spell.
Only Tyson looked excited and impressed by such a tiny creature and even said something friendly.
"Little garden man," he said with a smile.
Though for some reason he didn't get too close.
Ron seemed to ignore the expressions on all three of their faces and decided to explain while the gnome kept shouting:
"Let me go!"
"What you do is..." Ron said while grabbing the gnome by its little legs.
And suddenly he started spinning his arm at incredible speed.
"...this."
Percy and Harry's eyes widened as they watched Ron violently whirl the gnome around like a windmill.
Neither of them could help falling even more silent as they stared.
Seeing their expressions, Ron added:
"Don't worry. It doesn't hurt them. You just have to make them really dizzy so they can't find their burrow again," he said before turning around and, using the same momentum, throwing the gnome nearly seven meters away.
The only sound that followed was its impact against the ground with a loud THUD.
Harry was speechless.
Meanwhile Tyson looked sad and concerned for the little garden man.
Only Percy managed to say:
"Wow."
In a rather flat tone.
But any compassion for these little creatures vanished just as quickly as it had appeared when Percy, curious about them, reached out with a finger to poke one.
And promptly got bitten.
The gnome sank its sharp teeth in so deeply that it took considerable effort to shake it loose.
Sending it flying at least twenty meters through the air, watching it disappear like a shooting star.
And after that, it was only a matter of time before the sky was filled with flying gnomes.
Especially with Fred and George turning it into a competition to see who could throw them the farthest.
The only one not participating in the contest was Tyson, who had gathered a group of gnomes in his arms and carefully carried them outside the garden before gently setting them back down.
But the moment those gnomes touched the ground, they immediately ran right back to where they had come from.
Before long, they noticed that the gnomes who had landed out in the field, and there were quite a lot of them, had begun walking away in groups with their shoulders slumped.
"They'll be back," Ron said as he watched them disappear into the hedge on the far side of the field. "They like it here. Dad's too soft on them because he thinks they're funny," he added.
At that moment, the back door of the house opened.
And a small redheaded girl stepped outside, still looking sleepy as she rubbed her eyes.
She was even wearing a long nightgown, making it obvious she had only just woken up.
"Ron, Fred, George. Mum said that the..."
Before she could finish speaking, she seemed to notice everyone standing in the garden.
And her body instantly froze.
Her gaze first passed over Percy, then over Tyson, who still had a gnome hanging from his arm and was trying to make friends with it. The gnome, meanwhile, kept trying to bite Tyson's finger off, though Tyson didn't feel the slightest bit of pain and actually seemed to find it amusing.
And then her eyes landed on Harry.
Her face immediately turned pale and her mouth snapped shut.
"That the what?" Fred asked his little sister.
Though there was a slightly amused smile on his lips as he looked at her.
She didn't answer.
Instead, she slowly stepped backward, as though moving slowly would somehow make her invisible, then suddenly turned around, let out a squeak, and ran back into the house.
Both Fred and George immediately burst out laughing, even smacking each other because they found it so funny.
Fortunately, Ron was there to explain.
"That's Ginny, my little sister. She's been talking about Harry all summer. Yesterday she heard we were going shopping with you today and got all excited. I can't take it anymore. She kept asking when you'd arrive until the middle of the night," Ron added.
The group quickly understood that Mrs. Weasley had probably sent Ginny outside to tell them lunch was ready.
So after finishing their work, they washed their hands outside since they were covered in dirt and headed back into the house.
During lunch, before leaving for Diagon Alley, the table was quite lively.
Arthur kept talking about the raids from the previous night.
The Ministry was extremely busy searching for dangerous or dark magical objects in a very thorough manner.
Of course they were.
Now that the Knights themselves were beginning to enter the magical world with much more determination than before.
Even the Minister himself was frightened.
Ever since the Hero's Broken Sword had been stolen, that was exactly what the magical community feared most.
Arthur also went on to explain the legal loopholes that existed in many magical objects.
Loopholes that, naturally, happened to be in the laws he himself had written.
And it was interesting watching Mr. Weasley explain all of this to one of those very same knights who was currently sitting at the table nodding calmly.
While he was almost certainly memorizing every word so he could verify it later.
But it was obvious how this man might eventually avoid being arrested by the wizards.
Only to possibly be arrested by the knights instead.
If he kept casually listing all the illegal things he did.
Meanwhile, Molly was chatting with Sally like two mothers who had finally found a little time to exchange information.
About a famous wizard who was currently the talk of the magical world.
She even recommended a few books to Sally that dealt with household pests and troublesome magical creatures.
And the methods for basically getting rid of them.
Though it was highly unlikely Sally would ever need them.
Since they already had an expert at dealing with "pests" living in the house.
Just then, the screech of a bird could be heard approaching, bringing the general conversation to a halt.
Making everyone turn toward the window.
As Molly immediately added:
"That must be Errol. He should be bringing the school supply lists. It's exactly what we needed before heading to Diagon Alley today," she said with a smile.
And she wasn't wrong.
The Weasley family owl was indeed approaching the open window, carrying several envelopes tied to one of his legs.
"I bet he crashes into the glass," Ron muttered under his breath, as though he fully expected that from the family owl.
Or rather, he was absolutely certain it would happen.
"Oh yeah? I bet he doesn't," Harry said while briefly looking toward his brother, as though he could predict what happened whenever Poseidon's son was near an owl.
Percy felt Harry's gaze on him and turned to meet his eyes, giving him a confused look in return.
But that turned out to be a terrible idea.
Suddenly, the owl seemed to tilt its head while flying, looking toward the window.
Then, for a brief moment, Percy felt as though it looked directly at him.
And as if it had been blessed with miraculous intelligence, it slightly adjusted its course, increasing its speed even more.
And before Percy could do anything to stop it, the owl flew headfirst straight into him.
Almost knocking him out of his chair.
Harry barely managed to hold back the laughter that was about to explode out of him.
And he told his friend:
"I win."