Harry Potter: Helga Hufflepuff (16-22/100)
Clearing out more old drabbles....
Title: Just and Loyal
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Helga, students
Prompt: #40 Sight
Word Count: 100
Rating: G
Summary: Helga's graduation speech, sort of.
Helga surveyed their first handful of apprentices with pride. A handful indeed. They four had gathered five children and a basketful of dreams; all had poured themselves into all the students and into groundwork for something even greater.
Granddaughter of an aetheling abbess, she presided. She'd taken two apprentices first, and now both beamed at her across the table as their teachers raised goblets to them.
"Remember," she told them before they left the little school. "Betrayal is among the worst things you can do. A worse disservice yet can be to give favor unjustly. Be true... but not blind."
Title: The Bravest Thing
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Helga, Salazar; Godric absent
Prompt: #22 Enemies
Word Count: 100
Rating: PG
Summary: Helga as peacemaker.
Salazar did well for himself after Hogwarts. When he found that he missed teaching, he took on older students who sought further training.
He raised an eyebrow when one told him Helga had come.
"Let her in."
"I am in."
The young man left in some haste.
"Well?" Salazar didn't look up from carving a new wand. "Has disaster struck at last?"
"Not the kind you think. Godric's dying."
The knife slipped. "What should I care?"
"He asked for you." They watched the red droplet slide down wood. "The bravest thing, I think, he's ever done."
Silence stretched.
"I'll come."
Title: I Would Have My Students Strong
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Helga
Prompt: #89 Work
Word Count: 100
Rating: G
Summary: Helga's wishes for her students.
I would have my students strong, to stand firm against wind and tide.
I would have my students make the most of time and of themselves, yet I would have them know there are better things than glory.
I would have them judge fairly, and not in haste. I would have them be faithful, and worthy of faith, even when others betray. I would have them lean on each other.
I would have them give their lives to their chosen work.
I would have them turn their hands, despite fear or disgust, disregard or difficulty, to do what needs doing.
Title: Unbound
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Helga
Prompt: #3 Ends
Word Count: 100
Rating: G
Summary: Her thoughts on Salazar's departure.
One hundred years she'd lived and worked; one hundred years she'd known them. Three and one, two and two, four all together, and together they belonged. It had been on her seventh birthday she first met the other three; from the age of reason, she counted the best of her life.
Bitterly they fought; they always had. Like brothers and sisters, where too much caring and too much knowing magnifies any dispute. None had ever truly believed they could be torn apart.
One hundred years later, Salazar walked away, and though she walked still onward Helga felt her heart die.
Title: Sea Change
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Helga, selkie
Prompt: #51 Water
Word Count: 100
Rating: G
Summary: Helga meets a selkie.
The sun was hot that day; the salt drying on Helga's face was half sweat and half sea-spray. She would start home in a few hours.
She hauled in another fish and was gutting it when something jolted her boat. She turned.
A man. Fur slung across his shoulders, a dazzling smile, big brown seal-eyes.
"Hello, beautiful."
Helga shifted her weight to compensate as he climbed aboard. She felt dizzy, yearning. "You're a selkie."
"Is that a problem?"
It was hard to speak. "I would neither slave you nor be deserted."
"I might try being human."
They reached shore together.
Title: Flame and Blade
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Helga, OCs
Prompt: #66 Rain
Word Count: 100
Rating: PG
Summary: Helga, and two Muggles; fire, and a knife.
Under half a moon, flames licked the air; chance-met witch and Muggle stared through them at each other, shadowed eyes hard to meet, though silver light and red gleamed now and again on tears. A child's scream of pain faded to fitful crying.
Magic had lit the fire; with everything drenched from days of rain, nothing else could. And fire had cleansed the knife.
"It's done," Helga told the mother softly, coming around the fire with the child in her arms. "I hated to reopen it, but the cut had turned poison. The fever should go down before long."
Title: Go Barefoot, and Wear Blue
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Helga, other Founders
Prompt: #15 Blue
Word Count: 100
Rating: PG
Summary: Looking for unicorns
"Go barefoot. Wear blue. Above all, be polite to whomever or whatever you meet."
This Helga's Muggle mother had told her about seeking unicorns. Salazar was incredulous, Godric more politely skeptical. Rowena said, "Why not try it?" and turned Helga's dress blue.
Her feet were soft from smooth floors and shoes. In her girlhood they'd always been bare. Now she felt acutely every twig and pebble underfoot.
She let the woods guide her, followed a brook, a path where branches pressed on all sides but gave way ahead. One centaur frowned and walked away.
A unicorn breathed on her neck.
Title: Just and Loyal
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Helga, students
Prompt: #40 Sight
Word Count: 100
Rating: G
Summary: Helga's graduation speech, sort of.
Helga surveyed their first handful of apprentices with pride. A handful indeed. They four had gathered five children and a basketful of dreams; all had poured themselves into all the students and into groundwork for something even greater.
Granddaughter of an aetheling abbess, she presided. She'd taken two apprentices first, and now both beamed at her across the table as their teachers raised goblets to them.
"Remember," she told them before they left the little school. "Betrayal is among the worst things you can do. A worse disservice yet can be to give favor unjustly. Be true... but not blind."
Title: The Bravest Thing
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Helga, Salazar; Godric absent
Prompt: #22 Enemies
Word Count: 100
Rating: PG
Summary: Helga as peacemaker.
Salazar did well for himself after Hogwarts. When he found that he missed teaching, he took on older students who sought further training.
He raised an eyebrow when one told him Helga had come.
"Let her in."
"I am in."
The young man left in some haste.
"Well?" Salazar didn't look up from carving a new wand. "Has disaster struck at last?"
"Not the kind you think. Godric's dying."
The knife slipped. "What should I care?"
"He asked for you." They watched the red droplet slide down wood. "The bravest thing, I think, he's ever done."
Silence stretched.
"I'll come."
Title: I Would Have My Students Strong
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Helga
Prompt: #89 Work
Word Count: 100
Rating: G
Summary: Helga's wishes for her students.
I would have my students strong, to stand firm against wind and tide.
I would have my students make the most of time and of themselves, yet I would have them know there are better things than glory.
I would have them judge fairly, and not in haste. I would have them be faithful, and worthy of faith, even when others betray. I would have them lean on each other.
I would have them give their lives to their chosen work.
I would have them turn their hands, despite fear or disgust, disregard or difficulty, to do what needs doing.
Title: Unbound
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Helga
Prompt: #3 Ends
Word Count: 100
Rating: G
Summary: Her thoughts on Salazar's departure.
One hundred years she'd lived and worked; one hundred years she'd known them. Three and one, two and two, four all together, and together they belonged. It had been on her seventh birthday she first met the other three; from the age of reason, she counted the best of her life.
Bitterly they fought; they always had. Like brothers and sisters, where too much caring and too much knowing magnifies any dispute. None had ever truly believed they could be torn apart.
One hundred years later, Salazar walked away, and though she walked still onward Helga felt her heart die.
Title: Sea Change
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Helga, selkie
Prompt: #51 Water
Word Count: 100
Rating: G
Summary: Helga meets a selkie.
The sun was hot that day; the salt drying on Helga's face was half sweat and half sea-spray. She would start home in a few hours.
She hauled in another fish and was gutting it when something jolted her boat. She turned.
A man. Fur slung across his shoulders, a dazzling smile, big brown seal-eyes.
"Hello, beautiful."
Helga shifted her weight to compensate as he climbed aboard. She felt dizzy, yearning. "You're a selkie."
"Is that a problem?"
It was hard to speak. "I would neither slave you nor be deserted."
"I might try being human."
They reached shore together.
Title: Flame and Blade
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Helga, OCs
Prompt: #66 Rain
Word Count: 100
Rating: PG
Summary: Helga, and two Muggles; fire, and a knife.
Under half a moon, flames licked the air; chance-met witch and Muggle stared through them at each other, shadowed eyes hard to meet, though silver light and red gleamed now and again on tears. A child's scream of pain faded to fitful crying.
Magic had lit the fire; with everything drenched from days of rain, nothing else could. And fire had cleansed the knife.
"It's done," Helga told the mother softly, coming around the fire with the child in her arms. "I hated to reopen it, but the cut had turned poison. The fever should go down before long."
Title: Go Barefoot, and Wear Blue
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Helga, other Founders
Prompt: #15 Blue
Word Count: 100
Rating: PG
Summary: Looking for unicorns
"Go barefoot. Wear blue. Above all, be polite to whomever or whatever you meet."
This Helga's Muggle mother had told her about seeking unicorns. Salazar was incredulous, Godric more politely skeptical. Rowena said, "Why not try it?" and turned Helga's dress blue.
Her feet were soft from smooth floors and shoes. In her girlhood they'd always been bare. Now she felt acutely every twig and pebble underfoot.
She let the woods guide her, followed a brook, a path where branches pressed on all sides but gave way ahead. One centaur frowned and walked away.
A unicorn breathed on her neck.