[Harry Potter] Gen | Whispering; The Last Inch
Title: Whispering
Summary: Who will care for the fallen?
Fandom: Harry Potter [Riddle dystopia verse]
Characters/Pairings: James Sirius, Tom Riddle, ocs + mentions of Lily Luna, Albus Severus, Harry, and Ginny.
Genre: Muggle AU, gen
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Word Count: 296
Author's Notes: For the song prompt 'Whispering by Alex Clare'. hh_sugarquill Term XIII Prompt Table.
They find him in the autumn. To be fair, he hadn't really been hiding from them, not since they took Lily and Albus. Their photos and names had appeared for five seconds on the big screen in London, where he'd been a week ago. He was Walter Adams then.
He's just James Sirius Potter now.
He's standing in the middle of the park where they used to play, Lily and Albus and him. Mom and dad on the stone bench, laughing and talking while keeping an eye on them to make sure that James didn't accidentally trip Albus, or that Lily didn't smack James on the head, or that Albus didn't fall over his own feet.
They grab his hands tight and cuff them in front of his body. A shadow falls over him, and he looks up, tired and sore from running and too little food. Riddle has a top hat on, and a cane's swinging from his fingers. There is no one else in the park except for James and the two men and him.
"At last," he says, voice high and cold, oddly familiar from all the announcements around Britain. "It's been a merry chase, Mr Potter."
James is led out of the park and into the street where the people are grey and huddled in threadbare coats. Their eyes take in his disheveled look, the blank stare, and they turn away to mind their own business.
He wants to tell them that he's sorry, but he doesn't know what else he can do; he's never known what it is that he's supposed to do. He's just a boy, he wants to cry out, but they're not looking at him anymore, and the men are shoving him into the backseat of Riddle's car.
*
Title: The Last Inch
Summary: They let her keep the photograph.
Fandom: Harry Potter [Riddle dystopia verse]
Characters/Pairings: Lily Luna + mentions of James Sirius/Teddy, Harry, Ginny, and Albus.
Genre: Muggle AU, family, gen
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Word Count: 278
Author's Notes: For the prompt 'family'. hh_sugarquill Term XIII Prompt Table.
They let her keep the photograph. Lily doesn't know why. Every night, after dinner, she sits with her back against the farthest corner and looks at it while pretending to sleep, in case they see, in case it had been a fluke, in case they take it away.
She remembers that day. The cherry pie in lieu of Dad's birthday cake, because cake had been deemed 'too boring'. Teddy and James's first kiss, which she had walked in on five minutes before Teddy took up the camera and photographed James's oddly shy grin. The letter from the university offering Albus a scholarship to study anything he wanted.
She smiles at herself in the photograph, one elbow nudging James in the ribs, one hand mussing up Albus's mop of hair. How long has it been? How many years since that slice of cherry pie that had been on the right side of tart and sweet? Mom and Dad are gone now, buried somewhere in Devon. Teddy's in the Resistance. It's based in Wales, last she heard, but they could be anywhere now. He could be in a cell here, but Lily doesn't want to think about that. Albus is here, but she hasn't seen him since they took them away. She remembers biting the man who had betrayed them. He tasted of soot and sweat. James. She hopes James is still free, that he'll find Teddy and they'll be safe.
She remembers and wishes all these things, the same list every night, because that's all she has, until the lights are switched off outside her cell, and she's left in the darkness with a crinkled photograph of the past.
Summary: Who will care for the fallen?
Fandom: Harry Potter [Riddle dystopia verse]
Characters/Pairings: James Sirius, Tom Riddle, ocs + mentions of Lily Luna, Albus Severus, Harry, and Ginny.
Genre: Muggle AU, gen
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Word Count: 296
Author's Notes: For the song prompt 'Whispering by Alex Clare'. hh_sugarquill Term XIII Prompt Table.
They find him in the autumn. To be fair, he hadn't really been hiding from them, not since they took Lily and Albus. Their photos and names had appeared for five seconds on the big screen in London, where he'd been a week ago. He was Walter Adams then.
He's just James Sirius Potter now.
He's standing in the middle of the park where they used to play, Lily and Albus and him. Mom and dad on the stone bench, laughing and talking while keeping an eye on them to make sure that James didn't accidentally trip Albus, or that Lily didn't smack James on the head, or that Albus didn't fall over his own feet.
They grab his hands tight and cuff them in front of his body. A shadow falls over him, and he looks up, tired and sore from running and too little food. Riddle has a top hat on, and a cane's swinging from his fingers. There is no one else in the park except for James and the two men and him.
"At last," he says, voice high and cold, oddly familiar from all the announcements around Britain. "It's been a merry chase, Mr Potter."
James is led out of the park and into the street where the people are grey and huddled in threadbare coats. Their eyes take in his disheveled look, the blank stare, and they turn away to mind their own business.
He wants to tell them that he's sorry, but he doesn't know what else he can do; he's never known what it is that he's supposed to do. He's just a boy, he wants to cry out, but they're not looking at him anymore, and the men are shoving him into the backseat of Riddle's car.
*
Title: The Last Inch
Summary: They let her keep the photograph.
Fandom: Harry Potter [Riddle dystopia verse]
Characters/Pairings: Lily Luna + mentions of James Sirius/Teddy, Harry, Ginny, and Albus.
Genre: Muggle AU, family, gen
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Word Count: 278
Author's Notes: For the prompt 'family'. hh_sugarquill Term XIII Prompt Table.
They let her keep the photograph. Lily doesn't know why. Every night, after dinner, she sits with her back against the farthest corner and looks at it while pretending to sleep, in case they see, in case it had been a fluke, in case they take it away.
She remembers that day. The cherry pie in lieu of Dad's birthday cake, because cake had been deemed 'too boring'. Teddy and James's first kiss, which she had walked in on five minutes before Teddy took up the camera and photographed James's oddly shy grin. The letter from the university offering Albus a scholarship to study anything he wanted.
She smiles at herself in the photograph, one elbow nudging James in the ribs, one hand mussing up Albus's mop of hair. How long has it been? How many years since that slice of cherry pie that had been on the right side of tart and sweet? Mom and Dad are gone now, buried somewhere in Devon. Teddy's in the Resistance. It's based in Wales, last she heard, but they could be anywhere now. He could be in a cell here, but Lily doesn't want to think about that. Albus is here, but she hasn't seen him since they took them away. She remembers biting the man who had betrayed them. He tasted of soot and sweat. James. She hopes James is still free, that he'll find Teddy and they'll be safe.
She remembers and wishes all these things, the same list every night, because that's all she has, until the lights are switched off outside her cell, and she's left in the darkness with a crinkled photograph of the past.