Round 5 Challenge #4: VOTING!
Are you ready to RUMBLE?? This week, we’re rumbling in Perth, Australia! Join us!
Welcome to the fourth week of voting for Round 5 of Dramione LDWS-Rumble Edition!! Looks like the extra time we allowed was beneficial. Enjoy!
A couple of things to remember when deciding which drabbles to vote for (most and least favorite):
Guidelines:
1. Which drabble best incorporates the prompt?
2. Is the drabble clever, different, fresh? Does it evoke an emotional response (good or bad)?
3. Does the drabble contain grammar, canon or spelling errors?
The “feedback” option.
As a voter, you have the option of leaving a brief statement about why you voted the way you did, for both most and least favorite. You can also leave feedback for ALL drabbles in a screened comment if you wish. Your feedback will then be given to the drabble writer (if they want the feedback) ANONYMOUSLY.
Example: Most - #40: the ending was brilliant - OR - Least - #57: the ending fell flat
Now that all of that is done… We present the drabbles for week 4!!
RULES
[1] Choose your most favorite and least favorite drabbles. Favorites will receive +1 point per vote, and least favorites -1 point per vote. Each drabble’s MF and LF scores will be added together. Drabble with most points wins!!
[2] Points will be awarded to the top THREE (3) drabbles, Mod’s Choice, and any other awards we want to throw in!
[3] You may NOT vote for yourself.
Voting ends at 11:59pm, Saturday, October 31, 2009. WE WILL BE POSTING THE NEXT CHALLENGE TOMORROW, ON SCHEDULE.
PROMPT:
AROUND THE WORLD with Draco and Hermione!!
This stop: Perth, Australia! Pick a fact - any fact (historical, a festival, local color - whatever) and incorporate it into your drabble. Drabbles must be written in first person, Hermione’s POV.
Two people did not submit drabbles and are ineligible for rewards this week:
thebigdisaster
moxicrimefightr
If you don't wish to participate in the rest of the rumble, please let us know so we can find someone to fill your spot.
1
Title: A Monument
Author: ayane_tsurugi
Rating: PG
Warning(s): Minor character death.
Word Count: 499
Draco Malfoy liked to think that he learned something new about me every day. A quirk, a mannerism, a bit of my history that he’d never gotten being the prejudiced git his father had raised him to be. That Monday, we’d been engaged nearly three months, together for more than a year, and he learned that his fiancée had a tradition: every year, on the same day, I disappeared. No one knew where I went, not even Ron or Harry, and I wasn’t talking.
Not that he’d pressed the matter, of course; one look at the sadness his question brought to my eyes cut him off at the knees, and he’d quickly apologized.
Wednesday morning, he woke up and I was already gone. I’d already told him that I would be gone, and that I wouldn’t be back until late that night, so it probably surprised him to see a note left on my pillow.
It simply read, I am the Ugly Duckling.
***
“I always knew you were smart enough for me,” I sniffed when I felt him sit down beside me, and I wiped the fresh tears from my cheeks.
He wrapped his arms around me, and I could feel his worried eyes on me. “I’d have been here sooner, but of course you had to give me a clue from a bloody muggle fairy tale. I had to go ask Potter.” I laughed halfheartedly and leaned into his arms, but didn’t answer.
After a long moment, I said, “I needed you to know. To know what, and why. The Swan Bells, they hold a special significance for me.”
I felt more tears forming and saw him bite his lip. He’d always hated seeing the women he cared about cry, and watching me cry made him feel especially powerless.
“In the thick of the war, before Harry, Ron, and I went away, I sent my parents here. I Obliviated them of the magical world, and modified a lot of minds to give them real lives here. I made sure they didn’t remember anything about me or the complicated, dangerous world they were leaving behind.” I breathed deeply, but it sounded ragged even to me. “I came back for them, almost two years after the end of the war. I prepared myself for the worst, for them to hate me, but I couldn’t prepare, not really. The day I finally got up the nerve to come, I found their house empty. A neighbor told me they’d been killed the week before in a car accident. I was a week too late.”
I pulled away from him slightly then, turning my eyes to the bells. “This was being built when I came. Ever since, I come here on the anniversary of that day, and I look at it. My personal monument to my parents.” I looked back at him. “You’re the only one who knows this.”
He kissed me. “Maybe I’ll let you learn something about me tomorrow instead.”
2
Title: From Here to the Moon
Author: bookishwench
Rating: PG
Warning(s): EWE
Word Count: 499
“Your parents are nice,” he says as we walk through Barrack Square. “I think everything went fine.”
“Yes,” I say, breathing a sigh of relief.
This could have been the worst catastrophe since Boris the Bewildered’s dancing trolls, but it turned out much better than I expected, especially since Mum and Dad are still confused by the wizarding world and Draco by the Muggle one.
I hadn’t expected them to stay in Australia after I lifted the spell, but whether it’s a lingering effect or they just liked Perth, it’s their permanent home. It’s rather lonely sometimes, not having any family living in Britain, but Draco is becoming family to me. Still, he did look rather panicked when I suggested he meet my parents. Then again, wizard or not, he’s still a man, and I suppose in some ways they’re all alike.
“What’s that thing?” he asks suddenly, pointing.
“The Swan Bells,” I say, and we stroll in their direction.
Draco laughs, and I give him a curious look.
“I thought it was a rocket ship,” he says, and I laugh too because it’s ridiculous and because it does look like something that might launch itself into space.
“No rides to the moon today,” I say.
“Who’d want to go there anyway?” he says, wrinkling his nose. “Dusty, barren, nothing but rocks.”
“We’ve already been once,” I say, happy to brag about Muggle accomplishments for once.
“So? Wizards got there in 1542,” he says, and I almost give myself whiplash my head turns so quickly.
“You’re kidding!”
“No,” he says nonchalantly. “Ricardinius Ptarmigan Apparated that far.”
“But… the air!” I say.
“Full Body Bubble Charm,” Draco says with a shrug. “He walked around for an hour then went home. He said it was the most boring thing he’d ever seen. No one’s bothered again.”
“And why have I never heard of this before?” I ask, annoyed at not knowing such an important fact.
“Because I just made it up?” Draco says, grinning widely, and I whack him over the head with my purse as he laughs hysterically. “You should have seen your face! You really thought there was something you didn’t know about!”
“I’m going to kill you, Malfoy!” I yell, but I’m laughing too, and he grabs my hands and brings them to his chest, holding them over his heart.
“Really want to find out something you don’t know?” he asks.
“What?”
“I’m going to marry you,” he says, smiling.
I can’t breath, but when I can, I manage to muster enough cheek to say, “No need to ask me?”
“Didn’t think so,” he says, ever the egotist, until a cloud of doubt passes over his eyes and he adds, “is there?”
“No,” I say, and he looks aghast. “I mean yes! I mean I’ll marry you, you stupid sod!”
The Swan Bells begin to ring, and we kiss to an outbreak of spontaneous applause by everyone in the square. Yes, going to Perth was a wonderful idea.
3
Title: Only Time Will Tell
Author: greenschist
Rating: G
Warning(s): None
Word Count: 499
I'm on my knees in the garden, turning compost into the dry earth of my parents' Australian home while sweat dribbles down my back, when it occurs to me that I don't know if I'm doing the right thing.
I've run away to Perth, Australia with Draco Malfoy. I've left my friends and family, my job, my flat, even my cat, to shack up with a man who hated me five years ago and who regards my Muggle relatives with a mixture of condescension and contempt. It's insanity.
I don't usually second-guess myself, but I am now. I wonder if Harry and Ron will ever speak to me again.
Draco and I came here, to one of the most remote cities on earth, after begging the house key off my mother at Christmas. Just for a short holiday, I lied, with an icy rain beating against the windows and Draco's cold hand in mine. I remember the fake smile on his face as he looked at the Muggle appliances in my childhood home. I realize that great bigot took the tea Mum made him but didn't drink it, and I feel a headache building behind my eyes.
I reach up and massage my forehead with my dirty glove. I've lost my mind.
The front door creaks, and the object of my thoughts steps out on the porch.
He's unremarkable. Handsome, yes, but not extraordinarily so, with his too-pointy face and fondness for products that slick his hair back. In his jeans and a t-shirt from His Majesty's Theatre with His Majesty's Shirt screen-printed on the front, there's nothing about him that should make my heart pound, but it does.
He sits on the front steps, stretching his legs out and warming his toes on the hot pavers that make up the front walk. He sets down a plate of toast, proof he has mastered the toaster.
"I don't care what the jar says." He points at the toast. "That stuff is not Marmite."
I look down at the dark spread on perfectly toasted bread and need to clear my throat. "It's from New Zealand. If you want British Marmite,"-It would be crazy to suggest moving back to England for Marmite, just crazy-"We could find you some."
"Or I could just adapt." He takes a bite. "It's different, not bad."
"Everything's different now." My voice sounds shaky, even to me.
"We'll get used to it." He licks the ball of his thumb and wipes dirt off my forehead before pulling me up to sit beside him on the steps. With one toast-filled hand, he waves at our neighbor who calls from his drive, "This must be better than January in England, right?"
"It sure is," Draco calls back with conviction, and right at that moment, with his arm over my shoulders and a sea breeze from the southwest bringing relief from the heat, I almost agree.
I snatch the toast from his hand and take a big bite.
4
Title: Surviving Suburbia
Author: marlaichen
Rating: G
Warning(s): None
Word Count: 484
I sigh heavily and Draco politely ignores me. It's a pattern we've fallen into much too easily, and I still haven't decided whether it's marriage or suburbia that's more to blame.
We're both out of our element here in this life that still has its new-car smell. The fresh cut lawns and the orange streetlights hold no meaning to either of us. It's like walking into a life someone else has left behind.
"Do you think they know we've left by now?" There's a twinge of irony in his voice, but neither of us is really in the mood.
"Who? Your friends, or mine?"
Draco smirks. "By 'friends' you mean the Ministry officials who want me rotting at the bottom of a six foot hole? They're probably content to let the son-of-a-Death-Eater find a hole himself."
"Australia not suiting you?" Moving to Perth was a joint decision, so I know his animosity isn't directed at me. Even still, I can't help but feel a little hurt and I'm ready to go on the defensive. Draco seems to sense this and he doesn't reply.
Every day I become more aware of the distance between England and here. It feels like I'm being pulled in two places at once, not just physically, but also in our relationship. We're somewhere in the middle, between nomadic lovers to a married couple, with neighbors and groceries and patches of grass. The house we're renting now was never meant to be rented. It was meant to be lived in. Two-bedrooms and two-baths and a tiny kitchen in the back, perfect for the young, bright-eyed family just starting out and ready to settle in.
With a jolt I realize that its not the suburban life that's scaring us, but the permanence of it all. I know Draco's the man I want to spend my life with, but it's clear that neither of us have thought very far beyond that. Whirlwind souls, now confined to 1500 square feet and buzzing around like insects in a jar.
A hand on mine brings me back to reality. Draco is studying me, but a softness has come into his eyes. He takes my hand and leads me to the window overlooking the street.
Outside, dusk is slowly descending on cul-de-sac as streetlights flicker to life. Draco stands behind me, looking at our reflections framed in the glass. Arms snake around my stomach from behind and I lean back into them.
"Do you want to live here?"
I can't help but let out a snort. "We don't have much of a choice, do we?"
"But do you want to live here?"
He closes his eyes as he breaths lightly against my hair. I continue looking out into the street. I feel the distance again, tight like a rubber band about to snap, but this time I don't resist.
"Of course I do."
All at once, we're home.
5
Title: The Wrong Ring
Author: midnight_birth
Rating: PG
Warning(s): None.
Word Count: 499
We walk in silence, both lost in our thoughts. It's a welcome moment of peace and quiet. Traveling together proved to be harder than we expected. As Draco says, there is added stress when it comes to travel (and then mumbles, "Especially the Muggle way"), and that stress is, most likely, what makes us fight as much as we do. That and the fact that we're both still Draco and Hermione, Slytherin and Gryffindor, stubborn as mules.
"Where are we, again?" Draco asks suddenly, sounding completely uninterested.
"Botanical gardens of Kings Park." I bite my lip to withhold all the information that threatens to pour out of me that I've read up on Kings Park. It's not that I try to hold back who I am and what I really love to do, exactly, but I know I haven't exactly been a walk in the park to travel with, pun not intended, and Draco had once said in passing that sometimes, he prefers to just walk and look, rather than feel like he's on an organized educational tour.
He stops abruptly and turns to me beside a bush of bright orange flowers that I don't quite recognize.
"Granger," he starts, avoiding my eyes, "you're a pain in my arse. So I guess what I'm trying to say is... would you like to be a pain in my arse forever?"
My brain doesn't process what he says for a long time as I gape at him. It sounds like a proposal, but surely proposals are longer and don't have an insult and the word arse in them twice? Finally, he reaches into his pocket, pulls out a mahogany box and clicks it open. I glance down and frown, unsure whether to laugh or faint or feign adoration, because I'm staring at the ugliest, gaudiest, kangaroo-shaped yellow diamond-set ring.
He follows my confused gaze and his mouth falls open.
"What the hell is this?" he snaps, bringing the box close to his eyes and examining it with a look of pure disgust on his face. "That's not the ring I pointed to in the shop!" He is gradually turning red with anger and, I have no doubt, embarrassment, as I still try to concentrate on breathing. "The ring I chose for you was perfect - tasteful but, obviously, beautiful with a sizeable diamond. Not... Not.. What in the name of arse is that?"
"A kangaroo," I murmur. And then my mind comprehends. What is going on, what Draco is saying.
Slowly, I reach out and pluck the ring out of its holder. It's hideous and I won't deny that, but what it stands for makes it the most special ring in the world, and, thus, the most beautiful. I slide it on my ring finger and look up at him, grinning, as he stares at me in surprise.
"I will gladly accept you being a pain in my arse for the rest of our lives," I say and lean in for a kiss.
6
Title: Devil-may-care
Author: mister_otter
Rating: PG13
Warning(s): none, really
Word Count: 324
“It’s down under, out back, and too bloody far.”
I smile to myself, recalling Draco’s reaction when I told him we would be attending Luna’s Halloween party--in Perth, Australia, the most isolated large city in the world.
“We have an agreement, Malfoy,” I reminded him. “I’ll accompany you to Pansy’s New Year’s Eve bash and in return, you promised to attend the Halloween gathering of my friends.”
”Yes, but that was before I knew they’d be celebrating in Outer Hades,” he grumbled.
Nevertheless, it is now Halloween evening, and I am in our hotel suite in beautiful, sophisticated Perth, waiting for Draco to finish dressing. His costume, he says, is a surprise for me.
The door to the bedroom opens and Draco emerges.
I stare, and then I laugh. I cannot help it, and I cannot stop. Standing before me is a six-foot-tall Tasmanian devil.
“Why are you laughing, Granger? I wanted something Australian themed. Scoured your damned Internet to order this. I’ve had to use an enlargement charm since they only had child-sized ones…it’s called ‘Taz.’ Hermione, pointing is bloody impolite …”
Moments later, I am seated in the Tasmanian devil’s lap, attempting to make up for my inexcusably rude behavior.
“My costume’s awful, isn’t it? I look ridiculous…”
”No, Draco, it’s…I…mmpphh…yes.” I admit, as a fresh round of giggles erupts.
“I’m not going, then.”
“Nonesense.” I smooth the scowl lines on his brow. “Let’s pull the sheets from the bed and I’ll charm them into a sheik costume. Not Australian, but very, very sexy. Could we do that?”
“Maybe.” He seems somewhat mollified.
“Draco…” I whisper, nipping his earlobe. “When the party is over and we are alone tonight, would you put on my favorite costume? Please?”
”And that would be…?”
“Slytherin bad boy.”
”What will I have to wear for that?”
”Absolutely nothing.”
Good humor restored, Draco reaches for the sheets and I congratulate myself on a devilishly brilliant maneuver.
7
Title: Of Hearts and Home
Author: somandalicious
Rating: G
Warning(s):
Word Count: 198
I had wanted to go Home.
And Home, I had promised him, was where the Heart resided. With my parents. The ones, I had told him, that loved me most.
It was a rainy, chilly Tuesday in November when I had left and he never mentioned that his Heart had decided to skip town too.
Couldn’t quite find the words, I suppose, or perhaps, never cared to. Then again, I had never mentioned that I left my Heart in his hands. Maybe I hadn’t known it then.
Yet those who love you most have a way of making you see what you can’t in the mirror. That you’re just a Home without a Heart, searching for the improbable and unattainable.
But rushing from class, overloaded with books and struggling with the flustered disarray of my hair, I found my Heart.
Just there. Standing on the lawn of Edith Cowen University.
It was a warm, sunny Friday and his hair shone brightly in the sunshine, a smirk upon his face, fist casually in his pockets.
I wondered what he was doing in Perth.
He had wanted to go Home.
And Home, he promised, was wherever I wanted to go.
ooo
REMEMBER: Vote for the NUMBER of the drabble, NOT the title. It just makes it easier on the mods!
Poll
NOW, for voters! If you’d like to participate in our side challenge this round, in a screened comment, please rank the 3 drabbles YOU think will place in the top 3. PLEASE use the NUMBER of the drabble, NOT the title.
You may also leave feedback for each drabble if you'd like. This will be helpful for the participants as they continue through this challenge. Since no one will be eliminated, writers will be able to use their feedback to improve week to week. Thank you!
Top 3 Drabbles:
[1]
[2]
[3]
Here's your boarding pass for A Trip Around the World
Click the Pass to Read & Vote!
This Week's destination: Perth, Australia
Voting Ends Saturday, October 31st at Midnight EST (GMT -4)
To Get this Pretty for your Journal - Spread the Drabble Love!
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q243/pokeystar/comms/r5pimp.gif">
Here's your boarding pass for A Trip Around the World
Click the Pass to Read & Vote!
This Week's destination: Perth, Australia
Voting Ends Saturday, October 31st at Midnight EST (GMT -4)
Welcome to the fourth week of voting for Round 5 of Dramione LDWS-Rumble Edition!! Looks like the extra time we allowed was beneficial. Enjoy!
A couple of things to remember when deciding which drabbles to vote for (most and least favorite):
Guidelines:
The “feedback” option.
As a voter, you have the option of leaving a brief statement about why you voted the way you did, for both most and least favorite. You can also leave feedback for ALL drabbles in a screened comment if you wish. Your feedback will then be given to the drabble writer (if they want the feedback) ANONYMOUSLY.
Example: Most - #40: the ending was brilliant - OR - Least - #57: the ending fell flat
Now that all of that is done… We present the drabbles for week 4!!
RULES
[1] Choose your most favorite and least favorite drabbles. Favorites will receive +1 point per vote, and least favorites -1 point per vote. Each drabble’s MF and LF scores will be added together. Drabble with most points wins!!
[2] Points will be awarded to the top THREE (3) drabbles, Mod’s Choice, and any other awards we want to throw in!
[3] You may NOT vote for yourself.
Voting ends at 11:59pm, Saturday, October 31, 2009. WE WILL BE POSTING THE NEXT CHALLENGE TOMORROW, ON SCHEDULE.
PROMPT:
AROUND THE WORLD with Draco and Hermione!!
This stop: Perth, Australia! Pick a fact - any fact (historical, a festival, local color - whatever) and incorporate it into your drabble. Drabbles must be written in first person, Hermione’s POV.
Two people did not submit drabbles and are ineligible for rewards this week:
thebigdisaster
moxicrimefightr
If you don't wish to participate in the rest of the rumble, please let us know so we can find someone to fill your spot.
1
Title: A Monument
Author: ayane_tsurugi
Rating: PG
Warning(s): Minor character death.
Word Count: 499
Draco Malfoy liked to think that he learned something new about me every day. A quirk, a mannerism, a bit of my history that he’d never gotten being the prejudiced git his father had raised him to be. That Monday, we’d been engaged nearly three months, together for more than a year, and he learned that his fiancée had a tradition: every year, on the same day, I disappeared. No one knew where I went, not even Ron or Harry, and I wasn’t talking.
Not that he’d pressed the matter, of course; one look at the sadness his question brought to my eyes cut him off at the knees, and he’d quickly apologized.
Wednesday morning, he woke up and I was already gone. I’d already told him that I would be gone, and that I wouldn’t be back until late that night, so it probably surprised him to see a note left on my pillow.
It simply read, I am the Ugly Duckling.
***
“I always knew you were smart enough for me,” I sniffed when I felt him sit down beside me, and I wiped the fresh tears from my cheeks.
He wrapped his arms around me, and I could feel his worried eyes on me. “I’d have been here sooner, but of course you had to give me a clue from a bloody muggle fairy tale. I had to go ask Potter.” I laughed halfheartedly and leaned into his arms, but didn’t answer.
After a long moment, I said, “I needed you to know. To know what, and why. The Swan Bells, they hold a special significance for me.”
I felt more tears forming and saw him bite his lip. He’d always hated seeing the women he cared about cry, and watching me cry made him feel especially powerless.
“In the thick of the war, before Harry, Ron, and I went away, I sent my parents here. I Obliviated them of the magical world, and modified a lot of minds to give them real lives here. I made sure they didn’t remember anything about me or the complicated, dangerous world they were leaving behind.” I breathed deeply, but it sounded ragged even to me. “I came back for them, almost two years after the end of the war. I prepared myself for the worst, for them to hate me, but I couldn’t prepare, not really. The day I finally got up the nerve to come, I found their house empty. A neighbor told me they’d been killed the week before in a car accident. I was a week too late.”
I pulled away from him slightly then, turning my eyes to the bells. “This was being built when I came. Ever since, I come here on the anniversary of that day, and I look at it. My personal monument to my parents.” I looked back at him. “You’re the only one who knows this.”
He kissed me. “Maybe I’ll let you learn something about me tomorrow instead.”
2
Title: From Here to the Moon
Author: bookishwench
Rating: PG
Warning(s): EWE
Word Count: 499
“Your parents are nice,” he says as we walk through Barrack Square. “I think everything went fine.”
“Yes,” I say, breathing a sigh of relief.
This could have been the worst catastrophe since Boris the Bewildered’s dancing trolls, but it turned out much better than I expected, especially since Mum and Dad are still confused by the wizarding world and Draco by the Muggle one.
I hadn’t expected them to stay in Australia after I lifted the spell, but whether it’s a lingering effect or they just liked Perth, it’s their permanent home. It’s rather lonely sometimes, not having any family living in Britain, but Draco is becoming family to me. Still, he did look rather panicked when I suggested he meet my parents. Then again, wizard or not, he’s still a man, and I suppose in some ways they’re all alike.
“What’s that thing?” he asks suddenly, pointing.
“The Swan Bells,” I say, and we stroll in their direction.
Draco laughs, and I give him a curious look.
“I thought it was a rocket ship,” he says, and I laugh too because it’s ridiculous and because it does look like something that might launch itself into space.
“No rides to the moon today,” I say.
“Who’d want to go there anyway?” he says, wrinkling his nose. “Dusty, barren, nothing but rocks.”
“We’ve already been once,” I say, happy to brag about Muggle accomplishments for once.
“So? Wizards got there in 1542,” he says, and I almost give myself whiplash my head turns so quickly.
“You’re kidding!”
“No,” he says nonchalantly. “Ricardinius Ptarmigan Apparated that far.”
“But… the air!” I say.
“Full Body Bubble Charm,” Draco says with a shrug. “He walked around for an hour then went home. He said it was the most boring thing he’d ever seen. No one’s bothered again.”
“And why have I never heard of this before?” I ask, annoyed at not knowing such an important fact.
“Because I just made it up?” Draco says, grinning widely, and I whack him over the head with my purse as he laughs hysterically. “You should have seen your face! You really thought there was something you didn’t know about!”
“I’m going to kill you, Malfoy!” I yell, but I’m laughing too, and he grabs my hands and brings them to his chest, holding them over his heart.
“Really want to find out something you don’t know?” he asks.
“What?”
“I’m going to marry you,” he says, smiling.
I can’t breath, but when I can, I manage to muster enough cheek to say, “No need to ask me?”
“Didn’t think so,” he says, ever the egotist, until a cloud of doubt passes over his eyes and he adds, “is there?”
“No,” I say, and he looks aghast. “I mean yes! I mean I’ll marry you, you stupid sod!”
The Swan Bells begin to ring, and we kiss to an outbreak of spontaneous applause by everyone in the square. Yes, going to Perth was a wonderful idea.
3
Title: Only Time Will Tell
Author: greenschist
Rating: G
Warning(s): None
Word Count: 499
I'm on my knees in the garden, turning compost into the dry earth of my parents' Australian home while sweat dribbles down my back, when it occurs to me that I don't know if I'm doing the right thing.
I've run away to Perth, Australia with Draco Malfoy. I've left my friends and family, my job, my flat, even my cat, to shack up with a man who hated me five years ago and who regards my Muggle relatives with a mixture of condescension and contempt. It's insanity.
I don't usually second-guess myself, but I am now. I wonder if Harry and Ron will ever speak to me again.
Draco and I came here, to one of the most remote cities on earth, after begging the house key off my mother at Christmas. Just for a short holiday, I lied, with an icy rain beating against the windows and Draco's cold hand in mine. I remember the fake smile on his face as he looked at the Muggle appliances in my childhood home. I realize that great bigot took the tea Mum made him but didn't drink it, and I feel a headache building behind my eyes.
I reach up and massage my forehead with my dirty glove. I've lost my mind.
The front door creaks, and the object of my thoughts steps out on the porch.
He's unremarkable. Handsome, yes, but not extraordinarily so, with his too-pointy face and fondness for products that slick his hair back. In his jeans and a t-shirt from His Majesty's Theatre with His Majesty's Shirt screen-printed on the front, there's nothing about him that should make my heart pound, but it does.
He sits on the front steps, stretching his legs out and warming his toes on the hot pavers that make up the front walk. He sets down a plate of toast, proof he has mastered the toaster.
"I don't care what the jar says." He points at the toast. "That stuff is not Marmite."
I look down at the dark spread on perfectly toasted bread and need to clear my throat. "It's from New Zealand. If you want British Marmite,"-It would be crazy to suggest moving back to England for Marmite, just crazy-"We could find you some."
"Or I could just adapt." He takes a bite. "It's different, not bad."
"Everything's different now." My voice sounds shaky, even to me.
"We'll get used to it." He licks the ball of his thumb and wipes dirt off my forehead before pulling me up to sit beside him on the steps. With one toast-filled hand, he waves at our neighbor who calls from his drive, "This must be better than January in England, right?"
"It sure is," Draco calls back with conviction, and right at that moment, with his arm over my shoulders and a sea breeze from the southwest bringing relief from the heat, I almost agree.
I snatch the toast from his hand and take a big bite.
4
Title: Surviving Suburbia
Author: marlaichen
Rating: G
Warning(s): None
Word Count: 484
I sigh heavily and Draco politely ignores me. It's a pattern we've fallen into much too easily, and I still haven't decided whether it's marriage or suburbia that's more to blame.
We're both out of our element here in this life that still has its new-car smell. The fresh cut lawns and the orange streetlights hold no meaning to either of us. It's like walking into a life someone else has left behind.
"Do you think they know we've left by now?" There's a twinge of irony in his voice, but neither of us is really in the mood.
"Who? Your friends, or mine?"
Draco smirks. "By 'friends' you mean the Ministry officials who want me rotting at the bottom of a six foot hole? They're probably content to let the son-of-a-Death-Eater find a hole himself."
"Australia not suiting you?" Moving to Perth was a joint decision, so I know his animosity isn't directed at me. Even still, I can't help but feel a little hurt and I'm ready to go on the defensive. Draco seems to sense this and he doesn't reply.
Every day I become more aware of the distance between England and here. It feels like I'm being pulled in two places at once, not just physically, but also in our relationship. We're somewhere in the middle, between nomadic lovers to a married couple, with neighbors and groceries and patches of grass. The house we're renting now was never meant to be rented. It was meant to be lived in. Two-bedrooms and two-baths and a tiny kitchen in the back, perfect for the young, bright-eyed family just starting out and ready to settle in.
With a jolt I realize that its not the suburban life that's scaring us, but the permanence of it all. I know Draco's the man I want to spend my life with, but it's clear that neither of us have thought very far beyond that. Whirlwind souls, now confined to 1500 square feet and buzzing around like insects in a jar.
A hand on mine brings me back to reality. Draco is studying me, but a softness has come into his eyes. He takes my hand and leads me to the window overlooking the street.
Outside, dusk is slowly descending on cul-de-sac as streetlights flicker to life. Draco stands behind me, looking at our reflections framed in the glass. Arms snake around my stomach from behind and I lean back into them.
"Do you want to live here?"
I can't help but let out a snort. "We don't have much of a choice, do we?"
"But do you want to live here?"
He closes his eyes as he breaths lightly against my hair. I continue looking out into the street. I feel the distance again, tight like a rubber band about to snap, but this time I don't resist.
"Of course I do."
All at once, we're home.
5
Title: The Wrong Ring
Author: midnight_birth
Rating: PG
Warning(s): None.
Word Count: 499
We walk in silence, both lost in our thoughts. It's a welcome moment of peace and quiet. Traveling together proved to be harder than we expected. As Draco says, there is added stress when it comes to travel (and then mumbles, "Especially the Muggle way"), and that stress is, most likely, what makes us fight as much as we do. That and the fact that we're both still Draco and Hermione, Slytherin and Gryffindor, stubborn as mules.
"Where are we, again?" Draco asks suddenly, sounding completely uninterested.
"Botanical gardens of Kings Park." I bite my lip to withhold all the information that threatens to pour out of me that I've read up on Kings Park. It's not that I try to hold back who I am and what I really love to do, exactly, but I know I haven't exactly been a walk in the park to travel with, pun not intended, and Draco had once said in passing that sometimes, he prefers to just walk and look, rather than feel like he's on an organized educational tour.
He stops abruptly and turns to me beside a bush of bright orange flowers that I don't quite recognize.
"Granger," he starts, avoiding my eyes, "you're a pain in my arse. So I guess what I'm trying to say is... would you like to be a pain in my arse forever?"
My brain doesn't process what he says for a long time as I gape at him. It sounds like a proposal, but surely proposals are longer and don't have an insult and the word arse in them twice? Finally, he reaches into his pocket, pulls out a mahogany box and clicks it open. I glance down and frown, unsure whether to laugh or faint or feign adoration, because I'm staring at the ugliest, gaudiest, kangaroo-shaped yellow diamond-set ring.
He follows my confused gaze and his mouth falls open.
"What the hell is this?" he snaps, bringing the box close to his eyes and examining it with a look of pure disgust on his face. "That's not the ring I pointed to in the shop!" He is gradually turning red with anger and, I have no doubt, embarrassment, as I still try to concentrate on breathing. "The ring I chose for you was perfect - tasteful but, obviously, beautiful with a sizeable diamond. Not... Not.. What in the name of arse is that?"
"A kangaroo," I murmur. And then my mind comprehends. What is going on, what Draco is saying.
Slowly, I reach out and pluck the ring out of its holder. It's hideous and I won't deny that, but what it stands for makes it the most special ring in the world, and, thus, the most beautiful. I slide it on my ring finger and look up at him, grinning, as he stares at me in surprise.
"I will gladly accept you being a pain in my arse for the rest of our lives," I say and lean in for a kiss.
6
Title: Devil-may-care
Author: mister_otter
Rating: PG13
Warning(s): none, really
Word Count: 324
“It’s down under, out back, and too bloody far.”
I smile to myself, recalling Draco’s reaction when I told him we would be attending Luna’s Halloween party--in Perth, Australia, the most isolated large city in the world.
“We have an agreement, Malfoy,” I reminded him. “I’ll accompany you to Pansy’s New Year’s Eve bash and in return, you promised to attend the Halloween gathering of my friends.”
”Yes, but that was before I knew they’d be celebrating in Outer Hades,” he grumbled.
Nevertheless, it is now Halloween evening, and I am in our hotel suite in beautiful, sophisticated Perth, waiting for Draco to finish dressing. His costume, he says, is a surprise for me.
The door to the bedroom opens and Draco emerges.
I stare, and then I laugh. I cannot help it, and I cannot stop. Standing before me is a six-foot-tall Tasmanian devil.
“Why are you laughing, Granger? I wanted something Australian themed. Scoured your damned Internet to order this. I’ve had to use an enlargement charm since they only had child-sized ones…it’s called ‘Taz.’ Hermione, pointing is bloody impolite …”
Moments later, I am seated in the Tasmanian devil’s lap, attempting to make up for my inexcusably rude behavior.
“My costume’s awful, isn’t it? I look ridiculous…”
”No, Draco, it’s…I…mmpphh…yes.” I admit, as a fresh round of giggles erupts.
“I’m not going, then.”
“Nonesense.” I smooth the scowl lines on his brow. “Let’s pull the sheets from the bed and I’ll charm them into a sheik costume. Not Australian, but very, very sexy. Could we do that?”
“Maybe.” He seems somewhat mollified.
“Draco…” I whisper, nipping his earlobe. “When the party is over and we are alone tonight, would you put on my favorite costume? Please?”
”And that would be…?”
“Slytherin bad boy.”
”What will I have to wear for that?”
”Absolutely nothing.”
Good humor restored, Draco reaches for the sheets and I congratulate myself on a devilishly brilliant maneuver.
7
Title: Of Hearts and Home
Author: somandalicious
Rating: G
Warning(s):
Word Count: 198
I had wanted to go Home.
And Home, I had promised him, was where the Heart resided. With my parents. The ones, I had told him, that loved me most.
It was a rainy, chilly Tuesday in November when I had left and he never mentioned that his Heart had decided to skip town too.
Couldn’t quite find the words, I suppose, or perhaps, never cared to. Then again, I had never mentioned that I left my Heart in his hands. Maybe I hadn’t known it then.
Yet those who love you most have a way of making you see what you can’t in the mirror. That you’re just a Home without a Heart, searching for the improbable and unattainable.
But rushing from class, overloaded with books and struggling with the flustered disarray of my hair, I found my Heart.
Just there. Standing on the lawn of Edith Cowen University.
It was a warm, sunny Friday and his hair shone brightly in the sunshine, a smirk upon his face, fist casually in his pockets.
I wondered what he was doing in Perth.
He had wanted to go Home.
And Home, he promised, was wherever I wanted to go.
ooo
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Here's your boarding pass for A Trip Around the World
Click the Pass to Read & Vote!
This Week's destination: Perth, Australia
Voting Ends Saturday, October 31st at Midnight EST (GMT -4)