A/N: hey people, it's the first fic I'm putting up on fanfiction. Hope you enjoy this one…

Disclaimer: wish I did, but sigh I don't own any of the characters of the Harry Potter series.

The Life Of A Gnome

Alfie was a garden gnome. He was brown & tiny & his skin was textured like dried leather. He had beady blue eyes, big ears, a big nose & a slit of a mouth. Of course, Alfie looked like an ordinary gnome, but he wasn't quite ordinary.

Alfie detested his fellow mates in the Weasley garden. He was always the odd one out, never fitting in with his crowd. He was so lonely & melancholy all the time that his sorrow had made him quite the poet at heart.

By day, Alfie would strut around, frowning at the other silly gnomes that pranced about the yard. He would stand aside & watch when the degnoming was going on & shake his head as he watched his brothers fly overhead- this way & that. Though, very often, even he would be tripped over & trampled underfoot by the many weasleys that inhabited the burrow… & maybe a few stray chickens.

At night he would sit by the duck pond, in the hydrangea bush, look at the reflections in the water & the fish darting in the moonlight & sing of his woes…

Sometimes, the youngest Weasley boy would come out at night & sit on the bench by the pond. He never happened to notice Alfie sitting at his ear on a low hanging branch. & both of them would, together, gaze at the stars & sigh, their secret wishes & sorrow curtaining them from everything around them. & sometimes the boy would bring with him a quill & parchment, & scribble for a long time…stopping now & then to listen to the wind whistling in the reed or the cricket chirping in the tall grass.

After a few nights in this order, Alfie, intending to introduce himself formally to this potential friend, had climbed down from his usual perch on the bough & onto the boys red head. Alfie didn't quite understand what happened next but he remembered having almost drowned in the pond.

Well, that was rude to say the least… "Hmph! Fine then, I never liked humans anyway!"

The next day, he sensed a lot of excitement at the house & people scurried back & forth all morning. Alfie encountered so many kicks that all he had time for was rubbing his sore rump.

'Why he'd had enough of this! Really! It was more than what a gnome could take!' he would not stick around for anymore of this insulting behavior. He didn't want to be where no one loved him or cared about him or that he existed for that matter. This was it. He would leave. He'd go someplace better where someone would appreciate him, consider his feelings, somewhere where there was love & compassion & fellow feeling. Where it would be peaceful & homey…

As he was pondering a girl with bushy brown hair emerged from the house, followed by the redheaded boy. They sat down on the bench by the pond. The boy was showing her the fish…

Alfie watched her curiously. He thought she had beautiful eyes…& they widened as she stared into the water & the skin at the corners crinkled when she smiled. & then Alfie looked at the boy. His blue eyes were fixed on his friend & a very slight smile tugged at his lips.

She suddenly turned to talk to him & he quickly averted his eyes to the hydrangea bush. That's when he knew he was caught. The boy's eyes went wide & then he shouted, "nother one!" & Alfie was grabbed off his seat by a big rough hand.

"Ron!" the girl screamed, "don't! You'll hurt it!"

"Mione, it's a gnome!" the boy put on a disbelieving look while Alfie hung by a leg from his outstretched hand. He dared not look down into the green water waaaaay below him. It made him dizzy.

"So what if it's just a gnome? It still has feelings you know?"

"Mione, don't start! Isn't spew enough of a lifetime dedication?"

"Its not spew, its S P E W, Ron…!" she started indignantly.

"Whatever I don't care- I'm drowning this one coz they're all nasty blighters & they can snip your fingers & shave your head…"

"I won't let you!" the girl said angrily & snatched Alfie out of his hands "I won't let you drown the gnome Ron, that's so cruel! How could you?"

The boy seemed to be struggling with something inside him.

"How could you be so heartless & insensitive? so rash & impulsive, Ron, don't you realize…"

"I'm not insensitive! You're just being daft- for Merlin's sake, it's a GNOME?"

"Did you just call me daft?" the girl's voice was eerily ominous.

"Yeah I did, why don't you clean your ears more often so you can hear better &-"

"You better not take that tone with me Ronald Weasley-"

"Or what? Huh? What are you going to do miss know it all? Hit me with Hogwarts a history?"

& it went on in that fashion for quite a while & Alfie watched in wonder the progressive darkening color on the boys face as they argued back & forth…

& on & on till…finally, the girl was cut off in mid sentence as the redhead boy abruptly grabbed hold of her & brought his lips, crashing down onto hers. A sec later, Alfie felt a shudder pass from the girl's body to his own & before he knew it, he was falling…

From the ground, he watched them kiss with large round eyes. & suddenly, he felt very light at heart. The young girl had after the initial shock, put her hands about the boy's neck & when the brief caress ended, both of them gazed into each other's eyes.

Alfie listened to the whispered promises of their young, pure love & watched their lips mould the magic their eyes reflected & he suddenly realized …he dint really have to leave the burrow after all. It dint matter that he dint fit in. maybe he ought to regard his uniqueness with more respect…who knows maybe the others could even like him for it - if he would let them come near him…he sensed something in the air now…something that was always there but somehow eluded him…there was an ambiance …an ambiance of love around him & he decided, feeling a new warmth seep into his tiny chest, that it would be his inspiration always…

A/N: so you liked it? Tell me what you think about it…review,plz?