Chapter 5 - Gnomes

Walking through the halls, he found several colors of the Magic Pigments he needed.

Next to the shades of pink, Ron found the color he needed: Rose Pink.

He held the small bottle of magic pigment, turning it in his hands, analyzing if it really would be the color he wanted.

Ron reached into his pocket, pulling out a few coins. There was the exact amount to buy the vial of magic pigment, but before he turned to go towards the counter, a voice shouted in his direction.

"HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

A short, chubby old man with a huge mustache appeared at the end of the hall. He looked extremely angry.

Ron glanced at him quickly, startled by the volume of the man's voice.

"YOU! You're a Weasley, aren't you?"

The man started walking quickly towards Ron.

"Ron, we already bought the…"

Fred appeared behind them, but froze at the sight of the man.

The man pulled Ron and grabbed his collar angrily. Ron turned his face to the side, trying to stop the man's drool from flying onto his face.

"You think you're up to something here? GET OUT OF HERE NOW! I KNOW YOUR BROTHERS VERY WELL, YOU KID!"

The man yelled, angrily grabbing Ron by his shirt and throwing him out the door.

"AND NEVER COME BACK HERE!"

He yelled angrily, slamming the door shut.

"That old bastard!"

George said irritably.

"Damn, man. At least we managed to buy the fairy larvae."

Fred said, helping Ron to his feet.

"Yeah, but it's going to be impossible to get the Magic Pigment. Even if we gave him twice as much money, he wouldn't let us buy it just out of spite."

Jorge replied, frustrated.

Then, Ron reached into his pocket and took out the Rose Pink Magic Pigment.

"Not exactly."

He said, showing the brothers.

"How did you get that?"

Fred asked in amazement as George took the small vial from Ron's hand, his eyes twinkling.

"At least we now have money to buy some sweets, thanks to you."

George said, relieved.

So, before heading home, the brothers went to the nearest candy stand and bought some Bertie Bott Beans to share.

When she got home, Ginny was jumping up and down excitedly for her siblings to arrive.

"Did you bring something for me? Any bullets? Lollipop? The chocolate frogs?

She said bouncing from side to side.

"We brought some Bertie Bott Beans!"

Ron said, handing the half-eaten bag into Ginny's hand. He had a pale expression on his face, as if he was queasy.

"Bertie Bott Beans?"

Ginny said in frustration, holding up the bag of sweets.

"You can have it all. We weren't very lucky this time."

George said. He looked like he wanted to throw up.

"Oh, what did you take it from?"

Ginny asked, curious.

"Worm!"

George replied, running towards the bathroom sink to throw up, while Ron massaged his stomach, trying to make the nausea go away.

-----

Finally the time to make the potion arrived.

It was the other day and Ron was organizing the recipe and the ingredients they had.

Fred and George were in Ron's room, watching him create the recipe.

"How long do you think it will take to get ready?"

George asked, looking out of Ron's bedroom window.

"Probably a few hours. But if all goes well, I can get it done tomorrow morning!"

Ron replied, chopping the mallow leaves into thin little pieces, like for soup.

"TOMORROW MORNING?"

George shouted indignantly.

"Wow, they're going to dominate the whole garden like that!"

He completed, looking out the window.

Ron's window didn't overlook the garden, so he was just watching the street.

"It's raining, don't be so dramatic! They won't do anything in this rain."

Ron said.

"That's because you don't know them!"

Fred said, crossing his arms.

"By the way, why did this stupid fight start?"

Ron questioned as he started to follow the recipe.

The recipe consisted of:

- Put half the water in the cauldron quickly; - Put the chopped Malva leaves, letting it boil; - So put a fairy larva every 2 minutes and slowly add the blindworm mucus; - Stir for 5 hours straight, until it becomes transparent; - Place the magic pigment with the other half of water, and wait another 12 hours, until the pigment is colored;

"We were small when we started. We were playing in the garden and then they said it was their territory and we should get out of there."

George replied, rolling his eyes.

"We said we weren't going to leave and they threatened to beat us. So we started using them as guinea pigs for our pranks."

Fred continued, stretching in his chair.

Ron put a spell on the wooden spoon to move on its own during the 5 hours. That way, he wouldn't have to spend all his energy on it. During the 5 long hours, the twin brothers remained in Ron's room, looking at the cauldron, anxious to get it ready. Ron had already warned that it would take another 12 hours, but they didn't care.

After 5 hours, Ron closed the book he was reading and walked towards the cauldron. The brothers got up excited, thinking it was over. Ron knelt down in front of the cauldron and took the magic pigment out of his pocket, slowly dropping it into the cauldron.

Slowly, the cauldron changed color, but it never stopped at a specific color. It was like an RGB light, switching between the most beautiful colors.

Fred and George seemed impressed with that, while Ron, after watching for a few seconds, got up and went back to the bed, lying down again and going back to reading.

"It's not done yet?"

Jorge questioned, kneeling beside the cauldron.

"I told you, no. Now we need to wait another 15 hours for it to be ready. When the color we want prevails, then the potion will be ready."

Ron replied as he continued to read the book. The brothers looked frustrated, but accepted.

Bored, they went to their room while Ron continued in the same position.

The next day arrived and Ron, early in the morning, knocked lightly on the door of Fred and George's room.

"What is it? It's 5am."

Fred opened the door with a crumpled face, as if he had just woken up.

"The potion is ready."

Ron answered shortly, turning around and heading back to his room.

Fred kicked George out of bed to wake him up and the two ran towards Ron's room.

Upon arrival, Ron was carefully pouring the potion into a medium-sized glass vial.

"Wow, it's so beautiful!"

George said, approaching the cauldron.

"And it smells so good!"

Fred completed, with his face very close to the potion, almost raising his hand to taste the taste.

The potion had a very striking light pink color, along with a sweet smell, reminiscent of tutti-frutti gum.

"Don't touch her!"

Ron warned.

"I've never tested it before. I don't know if it can have any effect if it touches your skin and… You don't want to be guinea pigs for this!"

Ron completed, closing the glass jar and handing it to them.

"And how are we going to get them to drink?"

George questioned, holding the glass vial.

"Today, we're going to organize a picnic! Let's put pretty cakes, fruits and decorated buns on top of a red tablecloth in the garden. You will put the potion in a jug of juice. After that, you will sit in the middle of the garden and prepare the picnic. They won't let you have fun in peace, so that's when you're going to pretend to fuck around."

Ron started to explain.

"Trega? Is this your plan? I knew we shouldn't have given him the ball...".

George said, rolling his eyes.

"Yes, shit! Of course they won't accept it. Then you'll start insulting them and as soon as they're up, you'll run like two scared kids back home."

Ron continued explaining.

"Okay, your plan is not getting better, in fact, it gets worse by the minute!"

Fred interrupted.

"…And then, they'll think they've managed to scare them off and as a reward, they'll eat the picnic stuff!"

Ron finished.

Fred and George looked at each other. They seemed to be starting to get excited about the plan. That really seemed to work.

"But then, what do we do after they drink the potion?"

Jorge asked, crossing his arms.

"If all goes well, you won't have to do anything. Just observe!"

Ron replied, with a smirk.

"Well, shall we organize things, then? In a few hours they should have lunch, so we have time to prepare everything!"

Ron said, gesturing with his hand towards the door, for them to follow him into the kitchen and prepare the dishes.

George and Fred took an old picnic basket from the closet, along with a checkered tablecloth, while Ron gathered some plates and glasses to put in the basket.

"Take the bread left over from breakfast."

Ron ordered, arranging everything inside the basket, while the brothers handed things over to him.

Ron carefully poured the potion into the clear glass pitcher. The pink color was very attractive, but it still looked strange, however, the sweet smell of something that resembled a tasty juice managed to disguise the suspicion.

He handed the finished basket to the brothers who walked happily skipping to the center of the garden.

Ron made a point of watching the scene from the twins' room, sitting in front of the window.

Fred and George spread the towel in the middle of the green grass, which was surrounded by some pretty flowers.

Fred hummed a strange tune while George helped him clear the plates and position each meal in its proper place. They placed the jug of juice carefully in the center of the tablecloth and sat at one end, slowly eating one of the pieces of bread and pastries left over from breakfast.

"Hmmm, this cake is fantastic!"

George spoke aloud, looking both ways.

"Certainly, my brother Fred. I've never eaten such tasty bread IN MY LIFE!"

Fred pointed out, raising his voice.

'Oh my god, what a performance this is…'.

Ron thought, his arms crossed as he watched the scene from afar.

It was then that he noticed the gnomes starting to approach.

"What do you think you are doing here?"

The grumpy gnome that Ron had pinned approached his brothers.

"Are you so small that your eyes cannot see? We're having a picnic duurrr!"

George said mockingly, eating another piece of cake.

"Now your…"

The gnome started to get irritated.

"Oh, stop it, man. Why don't you relax a bit? Go look for anything to do.".

Fred said, stretching.

"Exactly! Today we don't want to fight. We just want to relax."

George completed, raising the glass with drink as a toast, but without drinking.

"To relax? TO RELAX?"

The gnome yelled angrily.

Then, he started to let out a chuckle that soon became a cackle.

"You will see what I have prepared for you!"

The gnome said, whistling with his thumb and index finger in his mouth.

Many gnomes began to appear around the two brothers, surrounding them.

George and Fred looked at each other in fright.

Ron made a curious expression from the window, intrigued by what they would do.

It was then that the gnomes jumped on top of the two brothers, holding them tightly and dragging them to a nearby tree, and tying them to the tree.

The gnome paced back and forth as if he were the leader of that group.

"Friends and friends. We finally got what we wanted so much: The capture of these two disgusting and disgusting beings that we found in the vicinity of OUR kingdom!"

The gnome started repeating to those around him, while pointing at Fred and George.

Ron put his hand in his pocket feeling the wand and went down the stairs, walking calmly towards the garden of the house.

"This is the moment everyone has been waiting for!"

The gnome said in a loud and clear tone.

"What is this guy talking about?"

Fred asked George.

"I don't know, I don't understand anything."

George replied.

"SILENCE, YOU WORMS! YOU WILL FEEL OUR FURY AND REVENGE AT FULL STEAM!"

The gnome shouted forcefully.

"EEEEEEEEEE".

All the other gnomes cheered at the news.

The lead gnome took a big red apple from his pocket and placed it on Fred's head. Then another gnome, smaller than the lead gnome, handed him a bow and a sharp arrow.

"So, which one of you would like to be first?"

The gnome asked, showing the bow and arrow to the audience.