WHO: Alicia Spinnet and Miles Bletchley, with special appearance by a certain gnome WHAT: Alicia drops off some supplies. WHERE: Outside House 27 WHEN: Monday, around lunchtime. RATING: PG (or PG-13 if you're disturbed by references to gnome nakedness) STATUS: Complete.
Three Outstandings, four Exceeds Expectations, and she was making a living selling candles. In spite of reminders to herself along the lines of how a village economy worked, how they had Harry Potter attending to plumbing in the past and Dumbledore scooping out ice cream (something he appeared to have taken to, actually), and how she was lucky to have a job at all, it was hard for Alicia not to feel bitter. She was on her lunch break currently, a paper shopping bag brushing against her bare legs and trying to keep her thoughts from slipping into dark places that contrasted with the bright noon sun.
Spying Miles with a book on the balcony of House 27, she raised her hand in greeting, pausing at the bottom of the pathway. “I brought over some things for your little friend!” she called out, as if requesting permission to enter.
Anyone familiar with Miles would know that, when he wasn’t playing Quidditch, he’d be sitting somewhere reading. It was clearly one of those cases where the family environment spoke as loudly as the Sorting Hat, and showed that, no matter what the Hat had decreed (or what Miles himself had claimed since the age of eleven) he would have been very happy in Ravenclaw like all the generations of Bletchleys before him.
Enthralled with his reading as he might have been, he still lifted his eyes from the book as soon as he heard Alicia’s voice, greeting her with a small grin. “Did you now? And I thought you’d be here because of my pretty face.”
“Is that why you hexed me? You were jealous of the competition?” Alicia wore a teasing grin of her own, however. “No, these are just some things that he was using while he was staying with us.” She passed the bag over to him, shooting his book a glance. Likewise having Ravenclaw geneaology, books caught her attention. “What are you reading?”
Miles avoided replying to her teasing comment about the hex, both because he knew she was teasing, and because he didn’t really have an answer to that besides “it was for a laugh”. “That’ll make him happy, then.” He showed her the cover. It was The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie. “Just a little light reading.”
“I haven’t heard of that one,” Alicia admitted, correctly assuming that it was a Muggle writer. The wizarding publishing press was fairly tiny, with its limited market. “Anyway, those are just some things that I picked up when I thought that he’d be living with us on a more permanent basis. I included some clothes since I could see it getting a bit awkward living with someone who insists on walking around starkers.”
“Oh, it’s rather interesting. You need to pay attention to the minutest details.” It was also a bit hard to understand unless you took Muggle Studies, but he spent enough time trying to knot her hair during that class to know she wouldn’t have any trouble with it.
The reference to clothes made his eyebrow raise. “You do know he’s a gnome, don’t you? I mean, it’s not the same as giving clothes to an elf, but I still have the feeling they don’t care much for that sort of stuff.”
“Yes, I had noticed that he was a gnome.” Alicia rolled her eyes, but her irritation was perfunctionary. “It’s just a bit weird being able to see the bits and bobs-” however awkward that reference to genitalia was, she managed to keep her face even “-of something that sits down to have his own cup of tea, and who’s sentient enough for basic human speech. But if you don’t mind and if he seems happy, then more power to you.”
Miles couldn’t help but snicker at her choice of words, even if he found the idea of gnomes in clothes ludicrous. “Well, I know I’ll be happy not to be subjected to his ‘bits and bobs’, so I hope he’s keen on the idea. I’ve the feeling that if gnomes objected to their nakedness they’d have done something about it, though.”
“As I said, the option’s there.” This conversation was getting a bit repetitive. She tucked a strand of hair behind one ear. “I’m not going to submit a complaint the village authority about indecent exposure if he doesn’t wear them. His tea set and blankets are also in there.”
“You’re not? I’m disappointed,” Miles said with a grin. “That would be fun.” He stretched teasingly. Like Alicia, he was starting to feel as if the conversation was going in circles. “Should I call the little fellow so that you can see his reaction?”
“Right,” said Alicia, showing a flash of teeth in a brief display of humour. “It would be a pity if no one did. The paperwork would have been memorable, if nothing else. And sure,” she said, shrugging in acquiescence.
“He’s grown on you, hasn’t he?” he said with a grin before turning his head toward the front door and shouting, “Hey you! You’ve got a visit!” It was a bit tiresome to call the gnome “hey you”, but so far he had rejected any name offered to him.
Pretty soon a small naked figure came running from inside. Miles thought to himself that it was a good thing Higgsy wasn’t home at that moment since he seemed to have something against style-cramping roommates - one of the reasons why he didn’t really mind the gnome’s nakedness, though he wasn’t going to tell that to Alicia.
As soon as he saw the girl, the gnome shouted “LISHA!” and started jumping up and down. Now that was one of the things that baffled Miles; if he liked her so much, why did he run back to his place? He really couldn’t get gnomes.
“Hey there!” Alicia bent down, extending one little finger in the manner people did to offer a handshake to babies. Perhaps that’s why she felt so comfortable around the gnome, it reminded her at times of her nephew as a toddler. She was careful to keep her knees together as she crouched - her skirt was on the short side. “You were so eager to get back to Miles that you left your things behind! I have your tea set-” emphasizing the few words that she expected him to pick out from her speech “-and your blankets, and I found a couple of surprises for you at the second hand shop too.”
The gnome gave her a quizzical look. “Surprise?”
“Yes, a surprise.” Alicia decided against explaining the concept of a surprise to him, considering it to be a little beyond the grasp of a garden gnome, even if this one was hardly typical for his kind. She imagined that it would become a misnomer, something like Peter Pan thinking that a kiss was a thimble. “It’s - could I have that bag back for a moment, please? - something that I thought you would perhaps like. You can have tea parties with him.”
“As you wish,” Miles said teasingly as he handed her the bag. He was torn between smiling and feeling sorry for the poor gnome, who looked highly confused with the concept of surprise. He also wanted to roll his eyes at Alicia for the references to a tea set and tea parties. He knew his gnome was weird (and it surprised Miles immensely that he was now referring to him as “his gnome”), but this was a bit too much, surely?
Alicia stifled the urge to roll her eyes once more at Miles. She was giving a tea set to a garden gnome - of course she wasn’t taking this seriously. “Here you are,” she said, reacquainting the gnome with his tea set once more and producing the bunny. “Doesn’t Miles have a name for you yet?”
“He still doesn’t like any name,” Miles commented as the gnome shook his head. Then he noticed the bunny and let out a loud “WHEE!” of joy. “I hope you’ve given him a pointy hat too,” Miles added with a grin. “And perhaps a false beard?”
At this the gnome looked at him and blew a raspberry. “Miles silly,” he said, before turning his attention back to the bunny and squeezing it, a look of utter glee in his face.
“Yes, Miles is very silly,” Alicia agreed. “A gnome of sense,” she added, turning to the Miles in question with a smile this side of smug on her face.
“Of course he’s got some sense,” Miles retorted, trying to mimic her smug smile. “He’s chosen to be my pet, after all.” He gave the gnome and his bunny a glance that betrayed the fondness for the creature that he kept trying not to admit. “Silliness apparently is a good thing.”
Alicia chose to ignore the jibe. “I was in the same common room as the Weasley twins for seven years. You hardly have a monopoly on silliness. Anyway-” she straightened up “-I had better not be late back to work. I’ll leave the two of you be. Bye-bye.” Reserving a significantly warmer tone for the gnome than the wizard, she gave the latter a wave.
Miles stared at Alicia’s figure as she left. “Was it something I said?” he asked the gnome, who was still hugging his new toy and as a result wasn’t really paying attention.
“Ah well,” he said with a sigh, grabbing the bag in one hand (his book tucked carefully inside) and holding out the other for the gnome. “Let’s go inside. You can play with your bunny there, okay?”