Chapter 6 - How Does So Much Evil Fit In Someone So Small?

Everyone raised their hands, wishing to be chosen as a starting gnome. Meanwhile, Ron walked towards the garden, a little frustrated with the situation.

"COME, LITTLE GNOMO DINGDING!"

The lead gnome shouted, pointing towards a gnome much smaller than the others, hidden in the middle of the audience.

"Me?"

DingDing asked, his body shaking but looking happy with the news.

"YES! YOU! Come here."

The leader ordered.

DingDing awkwardly walked to the front of the audience, standing next to the leading gnome.

The leader handed him the bow and arrow, helping the little shivering gnome to get into position.

Ron took his wand out of his coat pocket, gripping it tightly.

DingDing positioned himself, aiming at the apple of Fred's head, and slowly released the small 4 fingers that held the arrow, causing it to fly in slow motion towards the Weasley brothers.

Fred closed his eyes, while George widened his eyes in despair at the arrow coming towards him.

It was then that, in a few seconds, the arrow, which was heading perfectly towards Fred's head, unexpectedly moved a few centimeters to the right, causing it to hit the tree.

A few seconds of screaming silence and then Fred opened his eyes, one at a time, and sighed with relief that he was still alive.

"LET'S GO! WHO WILL BE THE NEXT ONE?"

The lead gnome yelled, and then everyone else went back to raising their hands in excitement.

Fred and George looked at each other, startled. Their heartbeats were so loud they could almost be heard.

A little gnome lady was next. The old lady with old glasses and a pink nightgown approached. The leader helped her get ready.

George and Fred seemed a little more relaxed about being an old gnome. She seemed to have trouble seeing straight, so it would be easier for them to get out of this alive.

It was then that, noticing that the brothers were laughing at the situation, the old gnome handed her little woolen jacket to the leader gnome very gently and stretched, doing a back somersault right after.

Fred and George's eyes widened, swallowing the dry saliva in their throats.

The two began to shiver all over.

The old gnome then quickly took the bow and arrow and aimed at Jorge's head, ignoring the presence of the apple.

"I love you, Fred!"

George teared up at Fred.

"I love you too, George!"

Fred replied in a shaky voice.

And then the old lady released the arrow that flew at high speed towards George, but a few centimeters before hitting him, the arrow changed direction, going over his head, just holding a lock of Jorge's hair.

Jorge whimpered looking at the lock of hair trapped by the arrow.

The old gnome snarled in fury at George.

"NEXT!"

The leader shouted, while the little old gnome grabbed the jacket from the hands of the leader's helper gnome with a lot of anger, almost causing him to fall to the ground.

The scene was repeated a few more times, with George and Fred being nearly killed by regular gnomes, fighting gnomes, elderly gnomes, and even child gnomes.

The arrows never hit the brothers.

At the same time that the gnomes celebrated because they would have more chances to participate in the show they were doing, the leader of the gnomes started to get irritated with the situation, as the brothers already seemed unconcerned with the situation.

"So, when do you intend to kill us?"

George said, yawning with sleep.

"You guys are really bad, right? They should have gotten another gun for that. Maybe a slingshot? So it's up to you."

Fred completed, snuggling up in the tree for a nap.

"Slingshot? Give them a toothpick!"

George interrupted, laughing.

"SHUT UP! We're just PLAYING with you."

The lead gnome yelled angrily.

"PLAYING? HAHAHAHAHA."

Fred and George began to laugh out loud.

"IT SEEMS LIKE THEY'RE MISSING ON PURPOSE! HAHAHAHA!"

An ordinary gnome was getting ready to shoot, but the lead gnome, very angry, snatched the bow from his hand, leaving him frustrated.

"WE'LL SEE WHO'S LAUGHING WHEN I'M DONE WITH YOU!".

The lead gnome yelled, preparing to kill the two.

Then he aimed at Fred's head again and let go of the arrow, his eyes bloodshot.

And then again the arrow went sideways, dodging the brothers.

George and Fred looked at each other, holding back their laughter.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

The brothers started to laugh.

"Please stop, my stomach hurts!"

They said while continuing to laugh non-stop.

The lead gnome snarled irritably, clenching his hand into a fist in anger. He hurled the bow to the ground, making the mood between the other gnomes tense, and walked quickly towards one of the larger gnomes who appeared to be a guard. He took the sword from the gnome guard's pocket and thrust it into his hands.

"AAARGH!"

The leader walked quickly towards the brothers, raising his sword to hit Jorge's head.

Jorge and Fred got serious, feeling their bodies freeze.

"I think I'm done playing around, right?"

Ron appeared from the bushes, wand in hand, indicating that he was controlling the arrows.

"What?"

The lead gnome said indignantly.

The gnome guards were about to draw their swords and run towards Ron.

"IMMOBULUS!"

Ron yelled, pointing his wand towards the gnomes, causing them to freeze in place and fall to the ground.

Ron calmly walked towards the brothers, untying them from the tree.

"Didn't I tell you to stick to the plan?"

Ron whispered, throwing the rope away.

"We didn't expect that there would be millions of them hidden."

George whispered, running a hand over his head, realizing he had a hairline flaw.

"Provoking them wasn't the plan!"

Ron whispered angrily, turning to leave.

"Wait, what about our stuff?"

Fred called out, taking a few steps towards the picnic that was still laid out in the garden.

"Leave it there! Next time, don't be so naive about having a picnic next to them."

Ron said aloud, realizing what Fred was doing.

"Want me to leave them my favorite juice? Are you crazy?"

Fred snapped at Ron angrily.

Ron looked at the gnomes, who were already slowly starting to move again.

"If you want to stay to die for a juice, it's your choice!"

Ron said, walking out of the garden.

Frustrated, Fred decided to follow George and Ron out of the garden before anything worse happened.

After a few minutes, the gnomes were fully moving again.

"I can't believe they got away again!"

One of the gnomes said, enraged.

"At least we have his food, right leader?"

The gnome helper pointed to the picnic basket.

"Well, you're right. We leave WITH THE VICTORY, FRIENDS!"

The leader shouted in celebration, while everyone clapped in happiness.

The gnomes gathered around the picnic basket, ready to have a feast. As they were small, that much food and juice was enough to take away the desire to taste the food of everyone there.

The leader's helpers began to distribute the juice and food to everyone.

They looked excited, bouncing around, humming annoying songs and cheering.

"When is it going to happen? I am anxious."

Ron, George and Fred were still in the garden, but this time they were hidden inside a bush, analyzing the whole scene from afar.

"Wait! It needs to take effect."

Ron whispered, motioning with his hand for George to be quiet.

George and Fred were rubbing their hands anxiously, looking as if they couldn't sit still.

A few minutes later, all the gnomes were scattered around the garden with their bellies full. They looked soggy from food, even though there wasn't much food for humans, it was plentiful for gnomes.

"Boss, you... It's turning pink.".

The gnome guard said to the leading gnome.

"What? Pink?".

The lead gnome asked, looking for something to reflect his face.

"Yes, your face is getting pink and… You're getting puffy."

The lead gnome's face was completely pink, taking away the greenish tone of his skin, and it was getting bigger by the minute. The rest of the gnome's body began to grow and turn pink along with his head.

All the other gnomes started to look at that scene scared and then, their bodies started to turn pink and grow like giant gumballs.

The pink and bloated gnomes started to get so bloated that the body started to float, like giant balloons. A scent of tutti-frutti bubblegum filled the air as all the gnomes left the ground, flying higher and higher.

Ron smiled briefly, satisfied with the result. It was exactly what he planned.

George and Fred came out of the bushes running towards the gnomes, impressed with what had happened. As Ron slowly walked the two, following theirs.

"I can't believe you did that!"

Fred said, impressed, looking at all those pink balloons floating around.

"This is better than any plan we've ever had!"

George said, not taking his eyes off the gum gnomes.

"What's the name of this potion?"

George asked.

"Bubbaloo!"

Ron said proudly.

[Ron's Room]

The old book on top of the table began to glow fiercely, making the rays of light that came from inside the pages, pass through the crack in the door, illuminating the wall in front of Ron's room for a few seconds.

Luckily, no one saw it.

[ Garden ]

"I've never heard of it!"

George said, without giving the matter much thought.

"And how long does it take for them to get back to normal?"

Fred questioned.

"I don't know. I didn't think of that. Maybe days, weeks... But that's not my problem."

Ron replied, turning his back and heading towards their house.

Fred and George continued to admire the floating gnomes, playing throwing stones at the giant bubblegum balls, and whoever got the most hits won.

Ron arrived in the room and walked towards the mystery book, excited about the new recipes he might have just released.

Opening the mystery recipe page, Ron noticed something that changed his entire view of what the book meant. The name had been created by Ron, it didn't exist in that world, so that meant it wasn't just a magical potions book, it was a book that helped you create your own potions.

Ron was excited about it, but when he read it, he realized that they weren't fully released yet. It was as if there was still something missing for Ron to evolve the pages of the book.

He sat on the bed thoughtfully. The recipe was ready. Nothing seemed to be missing. He had studied every potion in the book, which ended up making him memorize every detail of every potion. It was impossible to say that he didn't know something yet.

Ron reopened the last released page and there was the answer: He still didn't know the duration of the potion. It was the only information missing to complete. This gave Ron some relief. He knew that his brothers would be bothering the gnomes all afternoon, so they would probably tell Ron how long the potion lasted. It was just a matter of time.

Hours later, George and Fred show up in Ron's room, very excited.

"Hey, Ron. They finally fell."

Fred said, laughing.

"7 and a half hours… Interesting."

Ron said, looking at the clock on the wall. The mysterious book opened in his hands, he quickly wrote the recipe duration by himself, completing the quest.

Apparently, the book only glowed when it wasn't open. He seemed to do this to get the book owner's attention, letting him know that an evolution has happened, like a cell phone notification.

Ron sobered, staring blankly at the book, but inside he was extremely excited to read the next few pages.

"That was too much. Thanks Ron!"

Fred said.

"Well, you can have our cauldron. We hardly ever use it."

George said, lifting his shoulders.

"Thanks."

Ron thanked him, without elaborating too much on the subject.

"Let's go!"

George nudged his brother, informing him that they should leave the room.

Ron waited to hear their step reach the last step and ran to open the next pages.

He was euphoric as he admired the number of pages he had released, but when he started reading the next recipes, he realized that the ingredients were starting to get harder and harder to find, and more expensive.

Unfortunately, being reborn in Ron Weasley's body was like a debuff. He would be a pure-blood wizard, but he wouldn't have the money to facilitate his development.

Perhaps, the easiest way now was to train in magic to get money in another way. He just needed to find out how.