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[Weston Stirling]

Seventh year. Weston still wasn't sure how he'd wound up reaching his final year at Hogwarts. Earlier that day, he'd received his parents' annual first day care package, and he had been struck with the realisation that this would be his last first day of school. Ever. He could still remember his life before Hogwarts, and it had been so... empty. All of his friends were at school — what was he supposed to do when he graduated? Would his life revert back?

The thought made Weston even more determined to spend as much time as possible with his friends while he still could. So when he spotted Valencia, he immediately waved her over to the bench where he was sitting. "Valencia! Hey! Want one?" He held out the bag of Bertie Bott's that had come in that morning's care package. "You know what these are, right?" Even though it was hard to imagine someone not knowing about Bertie Bott's, Weston knew Valencia was muggleborn and not always the most well-versed in magical lollies. "They're jellybeans, and they come in every flavour." Weston grabbed a few for himself and in doing so, he accidentally dropped one.

Little did he know, the fallen jellybean had attracted some unwanted attention. In the distance, a gnome poked its head out of the ground and stared at them.

 

[Valencia Addington]

Valencia couldn't believe she had been stuck in this school for seven years. This was her last year and she honestly couldn't believe she had made it this far if she was being honest. Valencia definitely wanted to at least try and make her last year enjoyable, even though she was excited to leave. The Ravenclaw girl had been walking around the great lawn to at least find something to do until she saw her friend on a bench and was calling out to her.

Valencia waved and quickly made her way towards Weston. She shrugged a little as Weston had asked if she wanted some jelly beans. "Sure," Valencia said with a shrug, as she decided to take a jellybean. She frowned a little as Weston had asked if she knew what they were. "Aren't they just jellybeans?" Valencia questioned. But as her friend had explained further on about them, she now clearly understood why he had asked.

She took a bit of the jellybean and her face immediately turned into disgust. "Ew, what is that? Is that... Earwax?" Valencia said, her face still scrunched in disgust, unaware of the presence of the gnome that was watching them.

 

[Weston Stirling]

Weston grimaced in sympathy. Getting earwax on your first try was exceptionally bad luck. "Yeah, I dunno why they made that a flavour, but I guess they have to otherwise it's not really 'every flavour.'" He popped a green jellybean in his mouth and paused. "Huh. Avocado." It was a little strange as a flavour for a lolly, but it wasn't the worst thing in the world. Weston shook the bag a little before holding it back out to Valencia. "Try one of the purple ones. They're usually pretty safe. The worst you'll get is eggplant or something."

As he spoke, more gnomes started to pop up, clawing their way up out of the ground. It was this scratching noise that made Weston look up, and he did a double take, dropping a couple more jellybeans in his surprise. The creatures started to chatter among themselves. "Uh, Valencia?" he said, voice rising slightly. "Don't look now, but we're surrounded by gnomes."

 

[Valencia Addington]

Valencia watched as Weston took another bite of a jellybean, the flavour being avocado. She thought that jellybeans being every flavour was odd, but that didn't mean that she couldn't try more of them. She decided to grab another as Weston had offered to her. She went the safe route and decided to listen to her friend and grab a purple one.

Valencia was about to take a bite of the purple jellybean but paused mid-way as she heard what Weston had just said. She didn't move or turn, looking at Weston with confusion and a little bit of nervousness. "Gnomes? W-what do you mean, Gnomes?" Valencia asked a little terrified. Sure that might have been a stupid question to ask, but she wasn't gonna be thinking properly if they were actually surrounded by gnomes. She hoped that Weston was just pulling a prank on her.

 

[Weston Stirling]

The gnomes were staring at them, and Weston had no idea why. As someone who'd grown up in the city, he'd rarely had to deal with gnomes aside from the occasional run-in while playing in his grandmother's magical garden. He was still pretty sure he still had scars from those encounters. Weston was shaken from his thoughts by Valencia's question, and he gave her a look of confusion. "What do you mean, 'what do you mean, gnomes'?" He knew she was muggleborn, but gnomes weren't a foreign concept to muggles. Some of them even had statues of them in their gardens (though they looked nothing like the real thing). "You know, gnomes. Like garden gnomes."

Weston was going to try and explain further when the first gnome came barreling towards them. "AHHHHH!" He gave an undignified shriek, flinging the bag of jellybeans into the air as he scrambled up onto the bench. Beans rained down on them as Weston tried to stand on the bench, hand scrabbling at his pocket for his wand. Down below, all hell had broken loose, and more gnomes started to make their way towards them.