Early June, 1892 - Warbeck/Farley Household, Tutshill
Delilah Warbeck

Though Mason had indeed sent Miss Warbeck an owl soon after their conversation at the Darrow party, at least about the information on the cat, he couldn't quite pin down when he would be able to bring along the cabbages as they were hardly seedlings at that point and fickle to grow to a point where they could be moved. Not to mention with the flurry of activity that was the end of the spring term, he had to put that on the back burner as it were and wait for the cabbages to be in a good place to transplant.

Fortunately had been able to pot them and bring them home at the conclusion of the school year. Only then had he been able to make arrangements to deliver them to Miss Warbeck, hoping the gnomes had not yet claimed her garden as their own. It with a slight fluster in his chest that he approached Miss Warbeck's home with a set of cabbages magically minimized to fit into a small crate that he carried against his chest. Why he was nervous he couldn't fathom but he did hope she wasn't too disappointed with how long it had taken him to sort the things he had promised. Their correspondence over the matter had seemed pretty easygoing, but it was sometimes hard to tell with only words on a page to look at and no expressions to read.

Knocking on the heavy wooden door, Mason unconsciously held his breath, unsure as to how this was going to go. A member of the staff opened the door and he announced his intentions for the visit, which seemed to do the trick and he was directed around to the gate at the side of the house where apparently Miss Warbeck was already waiting for him. Nodding his thanks, Mason headed in the indicated direction, peering over the wrought-iron fence with curiosity. "Hello?" He called hesitantly as he couldn't immediately see anyone upon first inspection of the garden. It was quite grand, he had to admit, and well kept so far as he could see, which immediately put a more self-assured smile on his face. Mason could always appreciate a well-maintained garden.

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   Delilah Warbeck

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magic by MJ the magnificent

The cat Mister Skeeter had recommended was as cute as Delilah could possibly imagine although she was still trying to teach it which plants it could and couldn’t eat. In fact, he’d been affectionately named Rory because he kept trying to eat the aurora flowers she’d planted earlier in the season. He’d learned to stay away from the venus flytrap at least, only because it nipped at everything that scurried across its path, her own fingers included. The gnomes steered clear from it too, although it just meant that they were causing problems everywhere else, tearing up plants from the root and eating the ones they deemed a delicacy. The gnomes were stomping on Delilah’s last nerve.

She had been thrilled when Mr. Skeeter had offered to bring the biting cabbages they’d talked about earlier – the letters had been friendly and she would have offered to pick them from him had he not offered to bring them first. It was very kind of him. The idea of getting his opinion on the perfect place to plant them too was important, although Lila had spent a lot of time mulling over books that included chomping cabbage sections so she wouldn’t be completely helpless.

She had had every intention of waiting inside for him when one of the staff members had told her there were telling signs the gnomes were active in the garden – Delilah would be devastated to show Mr. Skeeter her garden in ruins, as she worried what he might think of her if it was in shambles. Herbology had always been her favorite subject (hence the reason she was a plant and potion poisoning healer, with an emphasis on plants), and outside of her children her garden was her pride and joy. She spent a lot of hours outside in it even if sometimes her siblings questioned why.

She heard his voice before she saw him peeking over the fence, catching her attention just enough for the gnome that had been taunting her to dive back into its hole. She frowned and wiped at some of the dirt across her cheek before scurrying to open the gate for him. “Mr. Skeeter, it’s great to see you again.” She said as she stepped aside for him. “I hope it wasn’t too much trouble getting here.” Smiling softly at him, her eyes trailed from his face to his chest, which had a small crate that must be housing the cabbage. “You’re just in luck… erm, not in luck? Well, either way there’s a gnome I’ve been chasing all morning, so I know exactly where one is hiding.” But the damn thing was fast and slippery, making it impossible for her to grab and make it dizzy.

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Relieved that he had indeed found the right house, and Miss Warbeck came into view, letting him into the gate. "No, no trouble at all, thank you." He assured her as he stepped through the gate into the garden. He looked around with a wide smile. It was quite the garden, if he was being honest. It looked like she took a lot of care and pride in it. Mason could easily tell, it was his area of expertise after all.

"I should have brought Pepper with me." Chasing gnomes was her favorite hobby after all. With the addition of Miss Bixby's rather large white beast that also frequented the greenhouses with Miss Potts, Mason hadn't seen a garden gnome in months. "I'll see what I can do though." Mason had learned a handy spell or two, since he couldn't exactly summon a gnome from its home most of the time.

With the crate of cabbages still in hand, he pressed further into the garden itself. "Would you mind showing me the layout, so I can figure where best to plant the cabbages?" They could handle the gnome at the same time, of that he was sure.

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magic by MJ the magnificent

Delilah smiled and nodded at him. “Feel free to bring her anytime. I did contact someone for a cat and adopted Rory, but he’s a wee bit terrified of the garden right now. The Venus flytrap got him.” The words were laced with a slight laugh, not at the poor cat because she felt for him, especially when the plant stuck her finger in its mouth. At least he’d taken to chasing the gnomes quite quickly and they didn’t like him at all. 

Tossing a nod over her shoulder, Delilah stepped into the garden. It was L-shaped with bright flowers of differing sizes and types planted in rows; the Venus flytraps were nestled near each side of the garden. Mounds of dirt were sporadic around the flowers from the gnomes digging up the plants. “I like perennials for the inner flowers so I don’t have to change them out and they make for a good backdrop. But the flowers around here,” she paused to motion around, “I like to keep seasonal.” There was something about going to the market and buying flowers every few months that made Lila happy; she often came home with more than she should but well… she made it work.

“I’m starting a small herb garden attached to it, but the gnomes love the clove plant so I can’t seem to get it going. I’m not sure I have time for a potionesque plant garden, but maybe one day.” She wasn’t sure why she was explaining that to Mister Skeeter because it wasn’t at all relevant, but she could talk someone’s ear off about plants. “Do you have anything outside of your greenhouse?” She hummed; a greenhouse was a dream of hers, but she couldn’t fathom having one here.

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Next time. Mason rather felt an interesting tug at his gut at the thought. He wasn't exactly sure what he was getting into, but he had always been the kind to help if he was able and Miss Warbeck and her garden genuinely needed the help, it appeared.

Taking a good look around, Mason could certainly appreciate her design choices. This was no hobby garden, this was a tried and true gardener's garden. "They are not the best climbers, a little wire fence might do the trick." Mason was a fountain of information apparently. When he had started at Hogwarts the place had sort of been overrun by them between terms and he'd had to eradicate a ton of them. He continued to survey the layout to see if he could pinpoint the best place to put the cabbages while he listened to her explain.

Setting the crate of cabbages down, he wiped his hands of the little dirt that had escaped. "At the school, no. I do keep a personal greenhouse at my mother's home in Hogsmeade that I have a former student tend to while I'm away." Miss Simpson was a full fledged herbologist these days, she was more than capable. Not that he kept anything particularly tricky in there, but she was capable regardless.

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magic by MJ the magnificent

“That’s probably why those buggers won’t leave.” She quietly huffed. Maybe one day she’d spend the entire day out here tossing gnomes Rory caught over the iron fence, taking great care to toss them toward the neighbor’s land to wreak havoc on; they could pester some other garden and leave hers alone. Maybe she could even convince Jemima or Jacob to help her and they could keep score or something.

She smiled at the idea as she stepped over a mound, pausing as Mr. Skeeter set down the cabbages. She couldn’t help but peer inside the crates, finding that the plants were quite cute. At least here it wouldn’t have actual food to eat, although it might get the occasional fairy flying through to chomp on.

She nodded as he talked about his own garden. “Well, I’d love to see it —” But in that exact moment a gnome reared its head right where she’d be stepping, and knocked her slightly off balance. Delilah reached out to prevent herself from falling over (how embarrassing that would be!) her fingers wrapping around Mr. Skeeter’s arm in the process. Once she regained her balance, Lila didn’t immediately remove her hand, instead choosing to stare down at the gnome staring at her.

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As oblivious as he could be, Mason was a little older and a little wiser than he once was and so he did not miss the fact that Miss Warbeck kept mentioning future visits. He was intrigued by that, as he thought perhaps this was just a one-time bit of assistance, but it appeared he had at least made an impression.

Those thoughts flew out the window however, as a gnome made itself known, tripping Miss Warbeck right into him. His hand automatically went for her elbow, but he missed and landed more securely on her waist. He waited to make sure she was more in balance, but she didn't move and so neither did he, a little frozen in uncertainty. Her focus was directed at the gnome and so Mason waited to see what was going to happen next.

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magic by MJ the magnificent

The gnome stared at Delilah with beady eyes before its face twisted with confusion, as if wondering what the pair was doing in the garden at all. Its body resembled a potato and she couldn’t help but wonder how many she’d walked past recently without realizing it – its big nose and bony legs gave it away, but she wouldn’t have seen either burrowed into the ground. The gnome moved before she did and dove forward back toward the hole she was standing on.

It ducked under her skirts and in the process tangled itself into the folds of her dress. Lila squeaked as felt moving around near her legs. Her fingers flexed and then she realized, finally, that she was still holding onto Mr. Skeeter’s arm, with his nestled against her waist. A slight blush spread across her cheeks as she slowly retracted her arm in favor of grabbing onto her skirts.

Then she cleared her throat. “I… think I might need some help.” Delilah calmly spoke as she turned her gaze toward him, although she squealed again as the gnome twisted against the fabric, clearly stuck.

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Horrorstruck as the gnome went beneath Miss Warbeck's skirts, Mason didn't really know what to do here. As she pulled her arm back to hoist her skirts, Mason pulled his back with an evident blush on his cheeks. He had never been so forward with a lady before in his entire life and here he was in a garden unsupervised worrying about her skirts and how to remove a gnome from them.

"Ah?" He hesitated, moving his hand to scratch at the back of his head absentmindedly, thoroughly unsure of where to go from here. "How would you like to go about this?" Because there was no way Mason was about to go fishing around in layers of petticoats with out permission or even at all if he could avoid it. Surely there had to be a better way? Gnomes in gardens he could handle, in his sleep probably, but gnomes in skirts was an entirely different debacle Mason was decidedly not prepared for.

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magic by MJ the magnificent

The gnome was almost as unhappy as Delilah was and she shuddered as she felt its grimy little hands against her leg, looking for a way out through the fabric folds. If she hadn’t declared war on the creatures earlier, she was going to now – they’d done nothing but give her grief, and the last she she’d wanted was to put Mr. Skeeter in this situation. (Plus what if Jemima walked by and thought something was going on when there wasn’t?)

Her own cheeks tinged pink as she turned toward him. “Well Mister Skeeter, I think we really only have two options.” She cleared her throat, mortified at the entire situation; Lila was never going to be able to face him after this entire debacle, which was a shame because she found she quite enjoyed his company. “I could lift my skirt and you could erm… grab him. Or, you could unlace my dress and I could step out of it?” There had to be another answer other than him seeing her undergarments. “Maybe even picking me up and swinging me around? It should go flying out. I hope.” She swore she didn’t want to wind up in his arms.

The gnome was growing agitated and Delilah didn’t want to have razor bite teeth marks dug into her leg, so she tossed a look at the poor man who looked like he might fall over and perish from the embarrassment.

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None of these options sounded optimal and so Mason was left at a crossroads. Truthfully, the most practical choice was for her to just lift her skirts and for him to fish out the stupid creature, but the spinning idea could also work. Under now circumstances was he going to have her disrobe in the garden.

"Whatever makes you most comfortable..." He supplied, a sort of half-answer, as he really wasn't sure what the best course of action was. "Perhaps the quickest would be for me to try and grab it." It would probably agitate the creature the least and he would much rather he get bitten than her. He would avert his eyes as best as he could while still trying to remove the gnome from the folds of fabric.

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magic by MJ the magnificent

Delilah made an uncomfortable noise when she felt the gnome twist further into the folds of her skirt; at this point she was going to have to disrobe just to make sure that it found its way out, although that thought was mortifying. It would be her luck that Jacob, Zipporah, or worse, Jemima would wander into the gardens at that exact moment, which would raise questions with answers she wasn’t sure anyone would believe. At least her children were with their nanny.

Lila turned toward him as she nodded. “Sounds like a plan, Mr. Skeeter.” A sheepish grin spread across her lips alongside a blush as she collected her skirts in her hands to raise them slightly off the ground, revealing her boots. Then the woman grimaced as she felt the gnome grasping at the fabric and her legs in a feeble attempt to escape. “Thank you for your help.”But please hurry Lila silently prayed that he would. She squeezed her eyes shut; this was a terrible situation and Mr. Skeeter would probably, rightfully so, avoid her for the foreseeable future.

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Mason, though wholly unprepared for what he was about to do, crouched down so that hopefully Miss Warbeck would not have to raise her skirts too high for him to retrieve the gnome. He could see it's lumpy little form protruding from the fabric so he had a vague idea of where it was; the problem was that is had climbed particularly high into her dress. Inwardly groaning, he took a deep breath, trying not to let the blush on his cheeks get the better of him, and carefully wound one hand into her petticoats to remove the dratted little cretin.

He put one hand at the small of her back to steady her, though truly was not certain it was of any use. He tried to be quick in his acquisition of the gnome, but it proved to be quite entangled into the folds. His hand definitely brushed her leg on more than one occasion, but he was thankful for the cotton of her bloomers to keep it from being even worse than he thought. Not that that he thought being in her skirts was a bad thing, no, well he should be thinking about being in her skirts at all, but he was and now he couldn't stop thinking about it and for fuck's sake he needed to get this over with.

Finally, he managed to get his fingers wrapped around the creature, and in turn it sunk its teeth and claws into him. He yelped, but held on as he extricated his hand from up her dress. It took quite a bit of willpower not to curse at it as he used his other hand to try and pry it from his skin. Blood was trickling down his arm now, soaking into his shirt as he grappled with the gnome. "I got it." He managed, as he tried to pull it off.

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magic by MJ the magnificent

Delilah tried not to squirm as she felt Mr. Skeeter quite literally, up her skirts. It was for the best though, because she really didn’t want a gnome to be stuck up there and her next best option was disrobing. (Which would be embarrassing and she’d rather have the creature bite her than embarrass herself like that.) Her hand rested against his shoulder and she tensed when she felt his hand against the small of her back.

She sucked in a sharp breath, not realizing she was holding it as she felt his hand up her skirt. It was a very odd feeling, but Lila managed to stay still despite feeling him beneath her; every now and then she felt his skin against her bloomers, which caused Lila to dig her feet into the ground. She found that she couldn’t look away, although she was more interested in making sure the gnome was removed than anything else. He yelped and she winced in sympathy, although relief flooded her body and she let out the breath she’d been holding. The gnome was attached to his arm.

“You’re bleeding! Hang on, hold still please, Mr. Skeeter.” Delilah frowned as she stepped forward, her hands wrapping around the gnome to pull it off; it was attached very well to him, so he grabbed the potato shaped him and tugged it until it finally gave way. The grubby creature had blood soaked teeth and she frowned at him before spinning around a couple times to make it dizzy and tossed it as far as she could away from them. Hopefully that would be the end of that. Shaking her head, Delilah stepped forward and gently took his arm into her hand. “We need to wash this to prevent infection, and then I think I have some healing paste inside.” She flicked her gaze up to him and offered him a small smile. “I’m sorry this happened. Thank you for helping me. I’m a healer, so let me help you.” Not that she left him much room for negotiation as she nodded her head to follow her.

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Well. That had been an experience. If he wasn't currently nursing a bleeding hand, Mason might feel a little more awkward about what had just transpired, but he was too preoccupied by the bite marks and sting in his skin to truly think of much else. As Miss Warbeck finally freed his hand, Mason reached for his handkerchief to stem the blood flow. Her toss of the gnome was impressive and he said as much, "I doubt he'll be back." He chuckled even as he grimaced. The little buggers had quite sharp teeth, but at least it was just his hand and not Miss Warbeck.

"Appreciated," He agreed. Had he had forgotten her profession as a healer, which was fortunate at the moment. Not that Mason couldn't have handled it until he got home. He tended to injure himself as often as he made a mess and could tend to most of the minor things. Mason was almost as good at cleaning as he was at making the messes.

"It's no problem at all," Mason, though he would look back on this later in complete mortification, was pleased at least that they were able to handle the problem with minimal overall embarrassment. "I need to be kept on my toes." He added to lighten the mood.

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magic by MJ the magnificent

Delilah couldn’t help but grin at him (she did have a deep hatred of gnomes) although her face morphed into a frown soon after she turned back toward him. His hand was bleeding profusely, and watching him pull out his own handkerchief made her realize she probably should have offered him one; a little blood wasn’t going to hurt anything, and it wasn’t like if it was ruined she’d be depressed over it. She dropped his arm.

Moving to stand beside him, Lila let her fingers linger against his back almost touching him, but knowing that if she actually pressed her fingers against him, things would be even more awkward than they already were. She nodded her head at his comment as her cheeks reddened. His next comment caught her off guard and Lila laughed as she turned toward him, wearing a smile, highly doubting that a professor needed to be kept on their toes. “Well now you can go back to Hogwarts and show everyone your battle scars. The first years will be impressed at least.” She hummed as she walked toward the back door that led into the house. Her son had gotten hurt earlier chasing their new cat, and luckily for them she hadn’t had a chance to put away the healing paste.

Ushering them both inside, Lila reached forward and took his hand within her own without another thought, pulling the handkerchief free with her other hand; she inspected the bite and gave a sympathetic wince once she saw how deep the bite marks were — that was definitely going to leave a mark. “Well, the good news Mr. Skeeter, is that gnome werewolves don't exist, so you won’t be turned into some weird… gnome-wolf every full moon.” Her fingers lightly brushed against the bite. “The bad news is you’ll have to keep it wrapped for a few days, but I think you’re better versed in gnomes than I am. Please go wash it while I get the healing paste, and you’ll get you all fixed up in a jiffy.” She tossed the bloody handkerchief onto a surface as she nodded her head toward the sink before she moved to grab the paste; thank goodness for procrastination.

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