Voting Week #4
Read the voting rules, please!
1. Please don’t vote for yourself or ask/coerce/blackmail others into voting for you.
2. If you submitted a drabble, you are required to vote.
3. Please vote for a Most and Second Favorite drabble. If you do not vote for both, your vote will not be counted.
4. Vote for the NUMBER, not the name. For the ease of the mods, please!
5. Don’t forget the prompt: “Dragon Magic"
Feel free to comment about a given drabble; we’ll be sending out feedback from now on.
1.
Author: deirdre_aithne
Title: Work-related Hazards
Word Count: 318
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
“Oh, Bill! What 'az 'appened to you?” Fleur pressed her hand against Bill's reddened cheek as he took up a seat beside her at the kitchen table. He didn't recoil when she touched him, although even the gentle caress of her fingers brought the stinging sensation back into the flesh.
* * *
“What have you been doing to my vault?” Bellatrix Lestrange snapped, glaring dangerously at red-headed wizard in front of her. Clutching the small package in her hands tighter, she took a step closer to him when he did not offer a response. “Tell me why am I being denied entry into my vault!”
Bill turned towards the older witch with an expression of annoyance. “If you must know, Miss Lestrange,” he answered, not bothering to conceal his disgust as he spoke her name, “you are not able to enter you vault because the dragon guarding it has been effecting the protective magic around the door with it's own.”
Bellatrix narrowed her eyes, and he noticed her knuckles whitening from her tight grasp on whatever she was holding. “Then fix it,” she hissed in a low voice.
“Of course,” Bill ground out, growing annoyed with the woman's attitude. “Because I've simply been playing a rousing game of Exploding Snap for the past hou-”
Her hand collided with his face before he realized what had happened, leaving a painful red print against his cheek. She was smirking as she watched him, and waited until Bill had gotten over his shock at her strike to speak.
“Remember who you're dealing with, little Weasley, and learn to watch your tongue.”
* * *
“Bill?” Fleur's voice drew him out of the memory, and Bill gave her a reassuring smile.
“Nothing, love,” he told her, reaching up to squeeze the hand pressed against his cheek. “Simply the product of a work-related hazard, nothing more.”
2.
Author: illusionrain
Title: Dragon Country
Word Count: 487
Rating: PG
Warnings: None. Well, not unless you count the fact Bill has a stalker.
Bill had the unsettling feeling he was being watched.
Every time he brought this up to Charlie, his brother would just laugh it off. “We’re in Dragon country, mate. We’re always being watched.” It wasn’t that his brother was wrong, their actions were being monitored for the sake of the Dragon reserve, but Charlie could have taken his suspicions to heart rather than brush them aside. Especially in the times they lived in now, where trust was limited - or altered to suit ones needs.
On the third night, Bill couldn’t take it any more and devised a trap for the person tailing him. If he wasn’t alone in his recruitment of the Dragon tamers, he would soon know. Friend or foe, it didn’t matter. He had had enough of this skulking around in shadows.
His trap didn’t go to plan, but it succeeded in luring the witch out. A familiar witch, one he despised. She was the same one that had egged Greyback on that night near the Astronomy Tower, the night he had been scarred. Bellatrix Lestrange hadn’t changed much since Dumbledore’s death,. Her eyes were still half-crazed. Her hair just as wild, overgrown as a forest with her thick curls and blood-stained ribbons. Even her heavily shadowed eyes refused to lessen the predatory look on her face, as if she had finally found a prey worthy of her attention.
She laughed and the sound as equally wild and crazed as she looked. Then spun herself around, her wand in the air, and danced to some unsung music. “Ah, for once I see there’s a Weasley not as stupid as he looks!”
Bill stiffened in offense, tempted to strike while she laughed. But that’s only what she wants you to think, he reminded himself, she wants you to act rashly. Then she’ll have the upper-hand. As much as it went against his instincts, he waited. “Why are you here, witch?”
“Don’t you know?” She stopped, her eyes piercing him and remarkably sane in that one moment. “The same reason as you. And I thought you were smart.” She tsked and then made a sound in the back of her throat like a laugh. “Well, as much as I’d like to stay around and chat, I’d better be off. Places to be, people to see -”
“Things to kill,” Bill retorted scathingly. She was already gone, though. Disapparated. He cursed under his breath. While he had set up Apparation wards, they had been dismantled without his notice while he had been watching her dancing.
Nevertheless, there was no time to feel angry or overwhelmed. He had to warn Charlie. Too much was at stake if they lost the Dragons. He dreaded to think what would happen if Charlie’s friends fell prey to Lestrange’s trickery. The war would be lost, long before it was fought. For what war was worth fighting when the carnage outweighed their success?
3.
Author: sweetly_beth
Title: The Key to Catching a Dragon
Word Count: 475
Rating: K
Warnings: none
Bill Weasley was not the patient type of wizard, and that was saying something, considering the sort of upbringing he’d had (eccentric parents, rowdy younger siblings, and an assortment of magical beings running rampant through an odd, ever-changing house). Most of his family had matured into bright, calm, stable people (even George had done his share of growing up), with the eldest being the exception.
His current frustration was the yearling that had escaped from the enclosure (Charlie had given him that pleading look, which meant it would be his pleasure to find the beast and bring it back to its mother) and had eaten up his entire afternoon so that he missed Victoire’s coming home (she was his little girl, more precious than Gringott’s gold).
He found it in the cemetery (not the one Fred was buried in), scurrying between and around the many juxtaposed grave makers and generally causing a scene. Bill considered himself lucky that most people who would be visiting this place were already gone, so he didn’t look like much of a fool chasing the dragon about disrespectfully over the rotting earth housing its rotting inhabitants.
He was about to give up, having missed on his last lunge for the loose-dangling reigns, when a voice, faded old and yet silkily elegant, called to him.
“Young man, don’t you know you’ve harassed your poor beast quite enough for one day?”
He whirled around, ears and face reddening with embarrassment. So he’d been caught…
Bill chuckled awkwardly in front of the beautiful young woman, rubbing frantically at the back of his neck.
“Well, you see, it’s not exactly mine,” he explained, feeling increasingly unnerved as her stony-grey eyes stared straight into his.
She was perched on an old crumbling wall, in a midnight blue robe, yet nothing else about her openly declared her magic-heritage. Was she muggle-born?
“You aren’t a beast caretaker, are you?”
There was a slightly condescending note to her voice, but she seemed interested in helping. Reaching into her breast pocket, she pulled out a small packet. Her chin tilted out; she was looking down at him, a mock-gentle smile on her white face.
“I can help,” she continued, rough-handling the object in her hand, “if it’s what you really want, pureblood.”
The last word struck him as peculiar, but he really wanted to get home now, and Charlie was probably worried sick about his dragon (they were a dying breed, and how would this woman know about dragon-handling anyway?), so he stepped forward eagerly, hand outstretched.
The young dragon snapped its head up, sensing something in the air. Before it could turn tail and flee, there was a flash, and the cemetery was ghostly still. All that was left of the beast was a few torn scales, and a long, slender stick that just vaguely resembled a wand.
1. Please don’t vote for yourself or ask/coerce/blackmail others into voting for you.
2. If you submitted a drabble, you are required to vote.
3. Please vote for a Most and Second Favorite drabble. If you do not vote for both, your vote will not be counted.
4. Vote for the NUMBER, not the name. For the ease of the mods, please!
5. Don’t forget the prompt: “Dragon Magic"
Feel free to comment about a given drabble; we’ll be sending out feedback from now on.
1.
Author: deirdre_aithne
Title: Work-related Hazards
Word Count: 318
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
“Oh, Bill! What 'az 'appened to you?” Fleur pressed her hand against Bill's reddened cheek as he took up a seat beside her at the kitchen table. He didn't recoil when she touched him, although even the gentle caress of her fingers brought the stinging sensation back into the flesh.
* * *
“What have you been doing to my vault?” Bellatrix Lestrange snapped, glaring dangerously at red-headed wizard in front of her. Clutching the small package in her hands tighter, she took a step closer to him when he did not offer a response. “Tell me why am I being denied entry into my vault!”
Bill turned towards the older witch with an expression of annoyance. “If you must know, Miss Lestrange,” he answered, not bothering to conceal his disgust as he spoke her name, “you are not able to enter you vault because the dragon guarding it has been effecting the protective magic around the door with it's own.”
Bellatrix narrowed her eyes, and he noticed her knuckles whitening from her tight grasp on whatever she was holding. “Then fix it,” she hissed in a low voice.
“Of course,” Bill ground out, growing annoyed with the woman's attitude. “Because I've simply been playing a rousing game of Exploding Snap for the past hou-”
Her hand collided with his face before he realized what had happened, leaving a painful red print against his cheek. She was smirking as she watched him, and waited until Bill had gotten over his shock at her strike to speak.
“Remember who you're dealing with, little Weasley, and learn to watch your tongue.”
* * *
“Bill?” Fleur's voice drew him out of the memory, and Bill gave her a reassuring smile.
“Nothing, love,” he told her, reaching up to squeeze the hand pressed against his cheek. “Simply the product of a work-related hazard, nothing more.”
2.
Author: illusionrain
Title: Dragon Country
Word Count: 487
Rating: PG
Warnings: None. Well, not unless you count the fact Bill has a stalker.
Bill had the unsettling feeling he was being watched.
Every time he brought this up to Charlie, his brother would just laugh it off. “We’re in Dragon country, mate. We’re always being watched.” It wasn’t that his brother was wrong, their actions were being monitored for the sake of the Dragon reserve, but Charlie could have taken his suspicions to heart rather than brush them aside. Especially in the times they lived in now, where trust was limited - or altered to suit ones needs.
On the third night, Bill couldn’t take it any more and devised a trap for the person tailing him. If he wasn’t alone in his recruitment of the Dragon tamers, he would soon know. Friend or foe, it didn’t matter. He had had enough of this skulking around in shadows.
His trap didn’t go to plan, but it succeeded in luring the witch out. A familiar witch, one he despised. She was the same one that had egged Greyback on that night near the Astronomy Tower, the night he had been scarred. Bellatrix Lestrange hadn’t changed much since Dumbledore’s death,. Her eyes were still half-crazed. Her hair just as wild, overgrown as a forest with her thick curls and blood-stained ribbons. Even her heavily shadowed eyes refused to lessen the predatory look on her face, as if she had finally found a prey worthy of her attention.
She laughed and the sound as equally wild and crazed as she looked. Then spun herself around, her wand in the air, and danced to some unsung music. “Ah, for once I see there’s a Weasley not as stupid as he looks!”
Bill stiffened in offense, tempted to strike while she laughed. But that’s only what she wants you to think, he reminded himself, she wants you to act rashly. Then she’ll have the upper-hand. As much as it went against his instincts, he waited. “Why are you here, witch?”
“Don’t you know?” She stopped, her eyes piercing him and remarkably sane in that one moment. “The same reason as you. And I thought you were smart.” She tsked and then made a sound in the back of her throat like a laugh. “Well, as much as I’d like to stay around and chat, I’d better be off. Places to be, people to see -”
“Things to kill,” Bill retorted scathingly. She was already gone, though. Disapparated. He cursed under his breath. While he had set up Apparation wards, they had been dismantled without his notice while he had been watching her dancing.
Nevertheless, there was no time to feel angry or overwhelmed. He had to warn Charlie. Too much was at stake if they lost the Dragons. He dreaded to think what would happen if Charlie’s friends fell prey to Lestrange’s trickery. The war would be lost, long before it was fought. For what war was worth fighting when the carnage outweighed their success?
3.
Author: sweetly_beth
Title: The Key to Catching a Dragon
Word Count: 475
Rating: K
Warnings: none
Bill Weasley was not the patient type of wizard, and that was saying something, considering the sort of upbringing he’d had (eccentric parents, rowdy younger siblings, and an assortment of magical beings running rampant through an odd, ever-changing house). Most of his family had matured into bright, calm, stable people (even George had done his share of growing up), with the eldest being the exception.
His current frustration was the yearling that had escaped from the enclosure (Charlie had given him that pleading look, which meant it would be his pleasure to find the beast and bring it back to its mother) and had eaten up his entire afternoon so that he missed Victoire’s coming home (she was his little girl, more precious than Gringott’s gold).
He found it in the cemetery (not the one Fred was buried in), scurrying between and around the many juxtaposed grave makers and generally causing a scene. Bill considered himself lucky that most people who would be visiting this place were already gone, so he didn’t look like much of a fool chasing the dragon about disrespectfully over the rotting earth housing its rotting inhabitants.
He was about to give up, having missed on his last lunge for the loose-dangling reigns, when a voice, faded old and yet silkily elegant, called to him.
“Young man, don’t you know you’ve harassed your poor beast quite enough for one day?”
He whirled around, ears and face reddening with embarrassment. So he’d been caught…
Bill chuckled awkwardly in front of the beautiful young woman, rubbing frantically at the back of his neck.
“Well, you see, it’s not exactly mine,” he explained, feeling increasingly unnerved as her stony-grey eyes stared straight into his.
She was perched on an old crumbling wall, in a midnight blue robe, yet nothing else about her openly declared her magic-heritage. Was she muggle-born?
“You aren’t a beast caretaker, are you?”
There was a slightly condescending note to her voice, but she seemed interested in helping. Reaching into her breast pocket, she pulled out a small packet. Her chin tilted out; she was looking down at him, a mock-gentle smile on her white face.
“I can help,” she continued, rough-handling the object in her hand, “if it’s what you really want, pureblood.”
The last word struck him as peculiar, but he really wanted to get home now, and Charlie was probably worried sick about his dragon (they were a dying breed, and how would this woman know about dragon-handling anyway?), so he stepped forward eagerly, hand outstretched.
The young dragon snapped its head up, sensing something in the air. Before it could turn tail and flee, there was a flash, and the cemetery was ghostly still. All that was left of the beast was a few torn scales, and a long, slender stick that just vaguely resembled a wand.