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The morning air was crisp and cool as Eileen Apparated with Snape to a gentle, windswept hillside.
Before them stretched a verdant expanse of grassy meadows and woodlands, with the charming scenery of Ottery St. Catchpole village unfolding in the distance.
From their vantage point, the village looked like clusters of toy houses, scattered like tiny stars beneath beams of sunlight streaming through the clouds.
"What do you think? Nice place, isn't it?" Eileen asked.
"It's brilliant!" Snape exclaimed. "How did you come up with the idea to build here?"
"I couldn't find anything suitable in the village," Eileen explained. "Then I heard that old Lovegood had a plot of land that hadn't sold for ages, so I went to him and bought it."
She turned and gestured to the two-story wooden house behind them. "When he heard I wanted the land, he was thrilled. Look, he even helped me build this house—and only charged an extra fifty Galleons."
"Lovegood?" Snape said, a touch surprised. "Why would he sell this land?"
"He said it was too close to people for his liking," Eileen replied, hesitating slightly. "Though I disagree. Compared to that bizarre cylindrical house he and his son live in, this place is positively ordinary."
"Well, I like it here!" Snape said with a grin. Since Luna hadn't even been born yet, why should he care about the details?
For the rest of the summer holidays, Snape and Eileen busied themselves furnishing the house and taming the overgrown, weed-choked garden.
Though he'd repeatedly told Eileen that the Trace couldn't pinpoint who cast magic—and that the Ministry relied on wizarding parents to monitor their children at home, a rule he'd argued against countless times—she insisted he follow the regulations.
So, he was left to turn over every clod of soil and plant every seedling by hand.
"Oh, I've had enough!" Snape groaned, leaning on his shovel in the sprawling garden. "Mum, you've got to come see this!"
"What is it?" Eileen poked her head out from behind a window.
A gaggle of garden gnomes, their bald, potato-like heads gleaming, were shrugging their tiny shoulders and slipping through the newly planted hedgerow into the garden.
The hedge hadn't yet grown thick enough to stop them, making their invasion effortless.
"It's not just one or two—they keep coming!" Snape pointed at the gnomes, who were busily burrowing their small bodies into the soil. "At this rate, they'll ruin all the cabbage seedlings we worked so hard to plant!"
He bent down and yanked up a cabbage seedling with a fierce tug. Amid a flurry of thrashing, an ugly gnome was uprooted along with it.
"Let me go! Let me go!" the gnome screeched, kicking and flailing with its calloused little feet.
Ignoring its shrieks, Snape grabbed it by the ankles, hoisted it upside down, and raised it over his head. With a full-body heave, he flung it as hard as he could.
The gnome sailed through the air in a graceful arc before tumbling head over heels down the hillside.
"Severus," Eileen said, astonished, "that throw must've been fifty feet!"
"Fifty feet?" Snape gestured toward the direction the gnome had rolled, exasperated. "Look over there!"
Following his pointing finger, Eileen saw more gnomes, scattered and scrambling, still doggedly climbing up the hillside.
Tracing their path backward, her gaze passed through a tall hedgerow and an orchard, where a lopsided little house peeked into view.
Snape tossed his shovel into the dirt. "We need to pay them a visit."
Knock, knock, knock. Eileen, holding a box of freshly baked custard biscuits, rapped on the front door of the Burrow.
"Bill—go get the door!"
"Mum, I'm busy!"
Moments later, a plump woman in a floral apron hurried to open the door.
"Hello!" Mrs. Weasley's initial scowl melted into a warm smile. "Oh, Eileen, is this your son?"
Eileen nodded with a smile. "Yes. This is Mrs. Weasley, Severus."
"Hello, Mrs. Weasley," Snape said politely.
"Thank you, Eileen." Mrs. Weasley beamed as she accepted the box of biscuits and ushered them inside. "So, you've already moved in?"
"We've been here a while, busy settling the house," Eileen said, sitting down on a chair in the Burrow's cozy living room, looking slightly sheepish. "We should've come to visit sooner…"
Seeing Eileen skirt around the issue, Snape couldn't hold back. "Mrs. Weasley, it's like this," he said, turning to her. "While we were tending the garden, we noticed gnomes—lots of them—coming from here." He jerked his thumb toward the Burrow. "Our hedgerow hasn't fully grown yet, so they're slipping in and digging holes everywhere. So I thought—"
"Oh!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, cutting him off. "Bill, Charlie, come here!"
Two redheaded boys dashed over, each clutching a few wriggling gnomes.
The taller one, with long red hair, Snape guessed was Bill. The stockier boy had to be Charlie.
"Mum, we're doing what you told us—clearing out the gnomes!" Bill said, sounding a bit impatient.
"Forget the gnomes for now. Leave them be for a few months," Mrs. Weasley said to Bill and Charlie. "Take a break today. Go on, let the gnomes go and wash your hands."
The boys thundered off.
"I'm so sorry," Eileen and Snape said in unison, apologizing to Mrs. Weasley. "We've caused trouble and interrupted their work."
"It's no trouble at all," Mrs. Weasley said kindly. "Honestly, I'm used to them by now. Arthur's far too soft on those gnomes. Every time we drive them off, they're back before long."
As they chatted idly, a baby's cry suddenly echoed from a room deeper in the house.
"Oh, Percy, he's awake." Mrs. Weasley flashed an apologetic smile before hurrying out of the living room.
A moment later, she returned, cradling a baby in her arms, softly humming a gentle tune.
Little Percy babbled in her arms, his tiny hands reaching into the air as if trying to grasp something.
Snape leaned closer to get a better look. Percy's small head tilted slightly, his eyes curiously studying the unfamiliar face.
"You're adorable!" Snape couldn't help but tap Percy's chubby little nose with his finger. He glanced at Mrs. Weasley. "May I hold him?"
"Of course," Mrs. Weasley said, showing him how to hold the baby properly. "Support his neck and head with one hand, and the other hand goes here…"
Snape carefully cradled Percy, whispering in a voice only he could hear, "Oh, you sweet little Weasley."
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